( THE SCENERY, ANTIQUITIES, and BIOGRAPHY, OF §ME) males, from MATERIALS COLLECTED DURING TWO EXCURSIONS IN THE YEAR 1803. By BEN J. HEATH MALKIN, Efq. M.J. F.S.A. EMBELLISHED WITH VIEWS, DRAWN ON THE SPOT AND ENGRAVED BY LAPORTE;, AND A MAP OF THE COUNTRY. LONDON: PRINTED FOR T.N.LONGMAN AND O. REES, PATER-NOSTER ROVT, tY T. KtXSUr, BOLT COURT, riZMT STREET. 1804. DA 7* /las REVEREND WILLIAM WILLIAMS, PREBENDARY OF LLANDAFF, &c. &c. &c. JN TESTIMONY OF LONG ESTABLISHED FRIENDSHIP, AND IN GRATITUDE FOR MANY USEFUL NOTICES ON THE SUBJECT TO WHICH THESE PAGES HAVE BEEN DEVOTED, CJns Volume is tnfrrflbetr. THE AUTHOR. Lonson, May, 1804. I' '. 267 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. On the Legends, Traditions, and Hiftory, of Wales - Page i CHAPTER II. Glamorganshire - - -.- - - - - - - 51 CHAPTER III. Aburthin. . Welfli St. Donatts. . Pendoylan. . HenfoL . Newton Houfe. . Yftradowen . . Afhall. . Chapel Talegam .. Llantrifent - - - - 71 CHAPTER IV. Caftella. . New Bridge. . Duke's Arms. . Porto Bello. . Melin Graffyth. .Pentyrch. . Chapel Llaniltern. . Llandaff. . St. Fagan's. . St. Lythan's Common. . Coedrrwglan . . St. Nicholas. . Duffrin Houfe. . Cotterel. . St. George's. . Peterfton fuper Elwy. . Bonvilfton. . Llantrythid Park. .St. Hilary. . Cowbridge 82 CHAPTER V. St. Mary Church . . Lhancarvan . . Flemingftone . . St. Athan's . . Fonmore Cattle . . Barry Ifle. . Scilly lfle. . Michaelfton le Pit. . Llandough. . Wen voe. . Elwy Bridge ..White Horfe Bridge. . Cardiff 116 CHAPTER VI. Roath..Ceven Mable. .Ruperrah. . Caerphilly Caflle - . - j^y CHAPTER VII. Energln . . Eglwyfilan . . Llanbradach . . Llanvabon . . Ceven Hengoed . . Gellygare . •. Quakers Yard . . Aberdare . . Hirwin Furnace . . Merthyr Tydvil . . Penderyn . . Cyfarthfa Works. . Dowlas Iron Worlcs. . Gelly Vallog. . Llwyn y Pia. . Yilrad- y vodwg. . Llyn Vawr. . Pontneath Vechan *•••'■■•-'- 164 CHAPTER iv CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. Brecknockfliire - - - _-_-.- Page 196 CHAPTER IX. Yftradvellte . . Mounchdeny Mountain . . Pont Stickel . . Chapel Glyncollwm . . Stone Bridge. .Cantrefs.. St. David's. .Brecknock.. The Priory - 207 CHAPTER X. Aberilker Court . . I lanfpyddid . . Penpont . . Abercamlas . . Devynnock . . Trecaftle. . Llywell. . Head of the Ufke River. . Chapel Callwen. . Tywynny. . Cribbath Lime Rock. . Hennoyadd. . Llanvihangel Talyllyn. . Llangors. . Llynfavaddon. . Talyllyn Houfe . . Llangafty . . Tal y Llyn . . Llanfantfred . . Bwlch . . Pentragare . . Pont- prenhurft. . Glanufke. . Llancadock Place. . Dany Park. . Crickhowel - 222 CHAPTER XI. Gwern Vale. . Lan Dair. . Cadair Arthur. . Tretower Ruins . . St. Michael Cwm Du . . Cattle Dinas. . Trevecca. . Treduftan. . Brunllys Caftle. . Talgarth. . Hay 137 CHAPTER XII. Aberllyn. . Three Cocks. . Llangoed Caftle . . Llandevailog . . Llanvihangel Vechan. . Caftle Madoc . . Chapel Llangynog . . Skynog Wood . . Llan Dewi *r Cwm . . Buallt -- - - -----._ 249 CHAPTER XIII. Radnorfhire - --_.-.._ ... 258 CHAPTER XIV. Clyro . . Llowes . . Glalbury Bridge . . Maeflough . . Boughrood . . The Skreeh . . Llan- dilograban. . Llyn Llanbychllyn . . Aberedwy Caftle. . Cregrina. . Colwyn Caftle. . Llyn Llanillyn, a large Pool . . Harpton . . New Radnor . . Llanvihangel Nant Melon . . Llandegles . . Faldan . . Penybont . . Llandrindod Wells. . Cevenllees . . Lan Padern Vawr . . Nantmel . . Abby Cwm Hir . . Llanelweth Houfe. . Ithon Bridge. . Llwyn y Barried. . Rhayader. . Cwmeland. . Llyh Gwyn - - - 271 CHAPTER XV. Cardiganftore - - . * ---,„. ^> a CHAPTER CONTENTS. v CHAPTER XVI. Head of the Iftwid River . . Plynillimon Mountain . . Head of the Severn . . Head of the Wye River. . Head of the Rydoll River. . Cwm Iftwid. . Pentre Brunant Inn. . Havod . . Maen Arthur . . Devil's Bridge . . Havod Arms . . Yfpytty 'r Enwyn . . Pont Herwid . . Fronfaith Houfc.Lan Padern Daawr .. Efkynald .. Piccadilly. . Aberiftwid Caftle - - - ---_. Page 330 CHAPTER XVII. Nanteos . . Crofswood Park . . Llanafan . . Llannwnws . . Yftrad Mirk . . Pentre Rhyd- vcndiged . . Yftrad Fflur Abbey in Ruins . . Llyn Tivy. . Tregaron - 378 CHAPTER XVIII. Cwm Verwin . . Refcob Foreft . . Pont Llanico . . Lan Dewi Brevi . . Millfield . . Kellan. .Lanbeder - - - -- - - -K '• 387 CHAPTER XIX. Pontynen . . Llanwnnen . . Llanvaughan . . Llanwenog . . Rhydowen . . Alltyr Odin. . Llandyflul . . Llanercharron Caftle . . Chencera . . Garengyr . . Tavern Spite . . Me- livor , . Llanrhyftid . . Llanfantfred. . Llannon . . Morva . . Lan Dewi Aberarth . , Aberarron . . Llanarth . . Llandifliliogogo . . Rhydfechan . . Synod Funnonddewy . . Tavernfcour . . New Inn . . Pwllglas . . Caftle Yndalig . . Blaenporth . . Kerry Bridge . . Newcaftle in Emlyn .......... 394, CHAPTER XX. Blaen y Pant . . Pont Llechryd . . Llangoedmor . . Cardigan - 406 CHAPTER XXI. Pembrokeftiire -- - - - - . . . - 415 CHAPTER XXII. St. Dogmael's Priory. . Kilgerran Caftle * - - 434 CHAPTER XXIII. Kenarth . . Trevithel. . Nevern . . Velindree. . Llwyn Gwair. . Newport Caftle 445 CHAPTER XXIV. Llanichbidog . . Pi&on Bridge . , Llanychair Bridge . . Fifcard - - - 45 1 CHAPTER vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXV. Manernawen . . St. Catharine's . . Mathrey. . Gorid Bridge . . St. Juftinian's Chapel . . Ramfey. . The Bifhop and Clerks. . St. David's Head - Page 457 CHAPTER XXVI. Carvai . . Solva . . Pen Dinas . . Newgill Bridge and Sands . . Roch Caftle . . Nolton Haven . . Yrecoyd . . Pelkam Bridge . . Bridell . . Eglwyfwrw. . Pont Cunno . . Pont Seifon . . Hendre Gate . . Pont Llanbiran . . Tavarn y Vach . . Percily Mountain;. New Inn . . Cwm Kerrwn Hill . . Scole's Crofs . . Krogall . . Pendegraft. . Haverford Weft 477 CHAPTER XXVII. Merlin's Bridge . . Cinnamon Grove . . Bolton Hall . . Johnfton . . Robertfton Hall . .. Hubberfton Priory. .Hakin. .Milford Haven ----- 489 CHAPTER XXVIII. Picton Caftle. . Slebitch. . High Tor Wood. . Creffelly. . Carew. . Pembroke 497 CHAPTER XXIX. St. Twinell's. . Caftle Martin. . The Caftles. . Pulflater Bay. . Bofhefton Meer. . Sir Gawaine's Chapel and Head. . Stackpole Court. . Frefh Water Eaft. . Manorbeer. . Lamphey Park. . Tenby - - ...... . 525 CHAPTER XXX. Caermarthenfhire - - 537 CHAPTER XXXI. New Inn. . Pendine. . Llaugharne. . Llandowror. . Whitland - 542 CHAPTER XXXII. Lan Stephan Caftle. . Caermarthen ---.-.. ^g CHAPTER XXXIII. Kidwelly. . Spudder Bridge. . Penbree Hill. . Llanelly. . Daven Bridge. . Chapel Dewy . . Llangranach. . Pont ar Dulas. . Llandebie. . Carreg Cennen Caftle - - 562 CHAPTER CONTENTS. vii CHAPTER XXXIV. Abergwilly Palace. . Allt y Gog. . Cothy Bridge. . Crofs Inn. . Court Henry. . Rhw'r Adar. . Golden Grove. . Newton Park. . Dinevowr Caftle. . Llandilo Vawr 569 CHAPTER XXXV. Gurry. . Talliarris Park. . Talley. . Edwinsford. . Llanfawel. . Cynvil Gaio. . Llando- very. . Yftrad Ffin. . Pont Velindree -_---. 575 CHAPTER XXXVI. Glamorganshire. Swanfea. . Sketty Park. . Lower Sketty. . Oyftermouth Caftle. . Thiftle Boon. .Car- well Bay. .Puldw Point. .Pennarth. . Penmaen. . King Arthur's Stone. . Penrice Caftle. . Oxwich Caftle. .Port Inon Point. . Rofilly Bay. . Worms Head. . Llan- genney. .Llanmadoc. .Cheriton. .Penclawdd. .Logor. .Gellyhyr - - 583 CHAPTER XXXVII. Kilvay Hill. . Morrifton. . Clafemont. . Wern. . Llynwith. . Penllegare. . Crumllyn Ynis y Gerwn. . Melin Court. . Gnoll Caftle. . Neath - 594. CHAPTER XXXVIII. Briton Ferry. . Eagles Bufti. . Baglan Hall. . Aberavon. . Llangonoyd. . Tyncaia Houfe . . Margam Park. . Pyle Inn. . Kenfig Pool. . Newton. . Merthyr Mawr. . Tytheg- fton. . Lalefton. . Bridgend . . Coychurch. . Llanharen. . Newcaftle. . Coity. . Llan- geinor. . Ewenny. . Dunraven. . Marecrofs. . St. Donatts. . Llantwit Major. . Llan- maes. . Llanvihangel. . Llandough, . Llanblethian - . - 601 South SOUTH WALES. CHAPTER I. ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 1 he antiquities of Wales, with the hiftory of its kings and princes, are involved in much obfcurity. It is impoflible, at this period of time, to feparate truth from fable : and as, in the prefent cafe, to afcertain the limits of each might, if practicable, be of little importance ; and the mixture of both, as quaintly and romantically worked up by the elder poets, is far from unintereft- ing ; I ihall interfperfe the dry narration of the chronicles with fuch fpecimens of fabulous tradition as the poetical antiquary will not difdain to recognize, and the traveller receives with intereft, by the fireiide of his homely hoft. It marks the invincible credulity of human nature, when we find the wild tales of other times, which have been confecrated by the pen of genius, diverted of their ornamental trappings, and made the modern theme, the dull matter of fact, on which vulgar fuperftition refts its terrors and its follies. Nor has the caufe of truth much to dread from the alliance. When grave monks and profeffed hiftorians romance, B poets 2 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, poets may claim at lead an equal fhare in the honour and credit attached to hiftory ; for they can fcarcely be lefs authentic, and. are always more engaging. Selden, the great dictator of learning to the Englim nation, has not thought it beneath him to illufbrate the Polyolbion of Drayton ; a poem which Drummond mentions as one of the fmootheft.he has feen in Englim ; poetical and well profecuted. It may fcarcely be confidered as fufficiently refined to fland the faflidious tell of modern criticifm ; but it continues to be held in efteem by the antiquary, and is quoted as an anthority by Hearne, Wood, and Nieholfon. Nor is its author without a moll valuable teflimony to his merit in Mr. Headley, who fays thus : " Drayton adopted a flyle, that, with a few exceptions, the prefent age may perufe without difficulty, and not unfrequently miftake for its own offspring. In a moil pedantic asra he was unaffected, and feldom exhibits his learning at the expence of his judgment." This great Selden, w T ho " inferts out of the Britifh ftory, what he importunes you not to credit, and has in fit place drawn chronologies upon credit of the ancients," has given the following chronology of the kings and princes of Wales, from Arthur, until the end of the Britifh blood in them; prefixing the following caution : " I will not juftify the times of this Arthur, nor the reft, before Cadwallader ; fb difcording are our chronologers : nor had I time to examine, nor think that any man hath fufficient means to rectify them." Year of Chriir, 516. Arthur fucceeded his father Uther Pendragon. 542. Conftantine, fon to Cador, Duke of Cornwal (underftand Governor, or Lord-Lieutenant ; for, neither in thofe times, nor 1 long AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 3 long after, was any fuch title particularly honorary) : he lie- buried at Stonehenge. 545. Aurelius Conan. 578. Vortipor. 581, Malgo. 586. Catheric. In his time the Britons had much adverfe fortune in war with the Saxons ; and then, moil of all, made that feceffion into Wales and Cornwal, yet in name retaining hereof the remembrance. About 600. Cad wan. About 630. Cadwalin, or Cadwallo. The Britons, as in token of his powerful refiftance and dominion againft the Saxons, put him, being dead, into a brazen horfe, and fet it on the top of the weft gate of London ; it feems he means Ludgate. This report is, as the Britiih ftory tells, hardly juftifiable, if examined. 676. Cadwallader, fon to Cadwallo. Nor think I the Britifli and Englifli chronicles concerning him reconcileable. In him the chief monarchy and glory of the Britifli failed. 688. Ivor, fon to Alan, King of Armorique Britain. This Ivor they make (but I examine it not now) Ine, King of Weft Saxons, in our monks; that is, he which began the Peter-pence to Rome. 7 2,0. Roderique Molwinic, fon of Edward Ywrch. 755. Conan Tindaethwy, fon of Roderique. Near 820. Mervin Urich, in right of his wife Efylht, daughter and heir to Roderique. 843. Roderique Maw T r, fon to Mervin and Efylht. Among his fons was the tripartite divifion of Wales into Powife, North, and South Wales. 877. Anarawd, fon to Roderique. 913. Edward Voel, fon of Anarawd. B 2, 940. 4 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, 940. Howel Dha, coufin-german to Edwal, having before the principality of South Wales and Powife. This is he whofe laws are fo famous. 948. Jevaf and Jago, fons of Edwal. 985. Howel ap Jevaf. 984. Cadwalhon ap Jevaf. 986. Meredith ap Owen. 992. Edwal ap Myric. 1003. jEdan ap Blegored. 1 015. Lhewelin ap Sitfylht. 1 02 1. Jago ap Edwal ap Myric. 1037. Gruffyth ap Lhewelin. 1 06 1. Blethin and Rhywallon ap Convin. 1073. Trahaern ap Caradoc. 1078. Gruffyth ap Conan. He reformed the Welfh poets and minftrels, and brought over others out of Ireland to inftrud the Welfh. 1 137. Owen Gwineth ap Gruffyth ap Conan. 1 169. David ap Owen Gwineth. In his time, Madoc his brother difcovered part of the Weft Indies. 1 194. Lhewelin ap Jorwerth ap Owen Gwineth. 1240. David ap Lhewelin ap Jorwerth. 1546. Lhewelin ap Gruffyth ap Jorwerth, the laft Prince of Wales of the Britifh blood. 1283. Edward I. conquered Wales, and got the principality, Lhewelin then flain ; and fince that (Henry III. before gave it alfo to his fon Prince Edward) it hath been in the eldef^fons and heirs apparent of the Englifh crown. " But note, that after the divifion among Roderique Mawr's fons, the principality was chiefly in North Wales, and the reft as tributary to Prince of that part: and for him, as fupreme Kintf AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 5 King of Wales, are all thefe deductions of time and perfons, until this laft Lhewelin." With refpect to Arthur, his hiftory ftands on a fimilar foundation with that of Agamemnon, UlyfTes, or iEneas; Orlando, Rinaldo, or Godfredo : nor need we be faflidious in rejecting the fictions, by which a Spenfer has decorated his Annals, degraded as they have been into tales of the nurfery, while we dwell with delight on the licenfed, and even confecrated, romances of Homer, Virgil, Ariofto, or TafTo. Spenfer, indeed, profefTes to have coloured his allegory with an hiftorical fiction " in the perfon of Arthure, whom he conceives, after his long education by Timon, to whom he was by Merlin delivered to be brought up, fo foone as he was borne of the Lady Igrayne, to have feene in a dream or vifion the Faery Queene, with whofe excellent beauty ravifhed, he awaking refolved to feeke her out; and fo being by Merlin armed, and by Timon throughly inftructed, he went to feeke her forth in Faery Land." But Drayton, lavifhly as he indulges his poetic licence in the perfonification of rivers, plains, and mountains, is underltood, unlike his illuftrious contemporary, to have adhered to popular belief, rather than to have exercifed his own invention, in default of hiftorical documents. In the third fong, therefore, of his Polyolbion, where he alludes to Arthur's tomb, Selden gives the following illuftration of the paflage. " Henry the Second, in his expedition towards Ireland, entertained by the way in Wales with bardifh fongs, wherein he heard it affirmed that in Glaftenbury (made almoft an ifle by the river's embracements) Arthur was buried betw 7 ixt two pillars, gave commandment to Henry of Blois, then abbot, to make fearch for the corps : which w T as found in a wooden coffin (Girald faith oaken, Leland thinks alder), fome fixteen foot deep; but 6 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, but after they had digged nine foot, they found a {tone, on whofe lower fide was flxt a leaden crofs (croflfes fixt upon the tombs of old Chriftians were in all places ordinary), with his name infcribed, and the letter fide of it turned to the flone. He was then honoured with a fumptuous monument, and afterwards the fculls of him and his wife Guinever were taken out (to remain as feparate relics and fpeclacles) by Edward Longfhanks and Eleanor. Of this, Girald, Leland, Prife, and divers others (although Polydore make flight of it), have more copious teftimony. The bards fongs fuppofe, that after the battle of Camlan in Cornwal, where traiterous Mordred was flain, and Arthur wounded, Morgan le Fay, a great Elfin lady (fuppofed his near kinfwoman), conveyed the body hither to cure it; which done, Arthur is to return (yet expected) to the rule of his country. Read thefe attributed to Talieffin, the beft of the bards, expreffing as much : ■ Morgain fufcepit honore, Inque fuis thalamis pofuit fuper aurea regem Fulcra, manuque fibi detexit vulnus honefta Infpexitque diu : tandemque redire falutem Pofle fibi dixit, u fecum tempore longo Eflet, et ipnus vellet medicamine fungi. The fame alfo, in effecT:, Dan Lidgat, an excellent poet of his time, thus finging it : " He is a king crouned in Fairie, "With fcepter and fword and with his regally Shall refort as lord and foveraigne But of Fairie, and reigne in Britaine, And repaire againe the Round Table. My prophefy Merlin fet the date, Among princes king incomparable, His AND HISTORY", OF WALES. 7 His feat againe to Carolin to tranflate, The Parchas fuilren fponne fo his fate, His epitaph recordeth fo certaine Here lieth K. Arthur that fhall raigne againe." In the fourth fong, where the Briton and Englim rivers contend for Lundy, the former thus celebrate Arthur : " As firft, t' affront the foe, in th' ancient Britons right, With Arthur they begin, their mod renowned knight; The richnefs of the arms their well-made worthy wore, The temper of his fword (the try'd Efcalabour) The bignefs and the length of Rone, his noble fpear : With Pridwin his great fhield, and what the proof could bear; His Baudrick how adorned with ftones of wond'rous price, The facred Virgin's fhape he bore for his device : Thefe monuments of worth, the ancient Britons fong. Now, doubting left thefe things might hold them but too long, His wars they took to talk ; the land then overlaid With thofe proud German povvr's ; when, calling to his aid His kinfman Howel, brought from Britany the lefs, Their armies they unite, both fwearing to fupprefs The Saxon, here that fought through conqueft all to gain, On whom he chanc'd to light at Lincoln ; where the plain Each-where from fide to fide lay fcatter'd with the dead. And when the conquer'd foe, that from the conflict fled, Betook them to the woods, he never left them there Until the Britifh earth he forc'd them to forfwear. And as his actions rofe, fo raife they ftill their vein In words, whofe weight beft fuit a fublimated ftrain. They fung how he, himfelf at Badon bore that day, When at the glorious gole his Britifh fceptre lay: Two days together how the battle ftrongly flood ; Pendragon's worthy fon, who waded there in blood, Three hundred Saxons flew with his own valiant hand. And (after call'd, the Pi& and Irifh to withfhnd) How he, by force of arms Albania over-ran, Purfuing of the Pi£t beyond mount Caledon : There ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, There ftrongly fhut them up whom ftoutly he fubdu'd. How Gillamore again to Ireland he purfu'd, So oft as he prefum'd the envious Pitt to aid : And having flain the King, the country wafte he laid. To Goth-land how again this conqu'ror maketh forth With his fo profp'rous pow'rs into the fartheft north : Where, Ifeland firfl he won, and Orkney after got. To Norway failing next, with his dear nephew Lot, By deadly dint of fword did Ricoll there defeat ; And having plac'd the prince on that Norwegian feat, How this courageous king did Denmark then controul ; That fcarcely there was found a country to the pole That dreaded not his deeds, too long that were to tell. And after thefe, in France th' adventures him befell At Paris, in the lifts where he with Flollio fought ; ' The Emperor Leon's pow'r to raife his fiege that brought. Then bravely fet they forth, in combat how thefe knights On horfeback and on foot perform'd their feveral fights : As with what marv'lous force each other they affail'd, How mighty Flollio firft, how Arthur then prevail'd ; For beft advantage how they traverfed their grounds, The horrid blows they lent, the world-amazing wounds, Until the tribune, tir'd, fank under Arthur's fword. Then fing they how he firfl: ordain 'd the circled board; The knights whofe martial deeds far fam'd that table- round ; Which, trueft in their loves; which, mod in arms renown'd: The laws, which long up-held that Order, they report ; The Pentecofts prepar'd at Carleon in his court, That table's ancient feat ; her temples and her groves, Her palaces, her walks, baths, theatres, and ftoves : Her academy, then, as likewife they prefer : Of Camilot they fing, and then of Winchefter. The feafts that under-ground the Faery did him make, And there how he enjoy M the lady of the lake. Then told they, how himfelf great Arthur did advance, To meet (with his allies) that puiflant force in France, By Lucius thither led j thofe armies that whilcere Affrighted all the world, by him (truck dead with fear : Th' re- AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 6 TV report of his great a&s that over Europe ran, In that mod famous field he with the Emperor wan : As how great Rython's felf he flew in his repair, Who raviih'd Howel's niece, young Hellena the fair ; And for a trophy brought the giant's coat away, Made of the beards of kings. Then bravely chaunted they The feveral twelve pitch'd fields he with the Saxons fought : The certain day and place to memory they brought. Then by falfe Mordred's hand how laft he chane'd to fall. The hour of his deceafe, his place of burial." Selden's principal illuftrations of this ftory are as follow. " Arthur's fhield Pridwen (or his banner) had in it the picture of our lady, and his helmet an engraven dragon. From the like form was his father Uther-pen-dragon. To have terrible crefls or engraven beafls of rapine (Herodotus and Strabo fetch the beginning of them, and the bearing of arms, from the Carians) hath been from inmoft antiquity continued ; as appears in that epithet of TopyoXoQoes, proper to Minerva, but applied to others in Ariftophanes, and alfo in the Theban war. Either hence may you derive the Englifh dragon now as a fupporter, and ufually pitcht in fields by the Saxon, Englifh, and Norman kings for their ftandard (which is frequent in Hoveden, Matthew Paris, and Florilegus), or from the Romans, who, after the minotaur, horfe, eagle, and other their antique eniigns, took this beaft; or elfe imagine that our kings joined in that general confent, whereby fo many nations bear it. For by plain and good authority, collected by a great critic, you may find it affirmed of the Aflyrians, Indians, Scythians, Perflans, Dacians, Romans ; and of the Greeks too for their fhields, and otherwife : wherein Lipfius unjuflly finds fault with Ifidore, but forgets that in a number of Greek authors, Pindar, Homer, Hefiod, Plutarch, &c. is copious witnefs of as much. C * Some, io ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, f Some, too hyperbolic, ftories make Arthur a large conqueror on every adjacent country, as the mufe recites : and his feal, which Leland fays he faw in Weftminfter- Abbey, of red wax pi&ured with a r ound, bearing a crofs in his left hand (which was firft JuftinLu's device ; and furely, in later time, with the feal counterfeited and applied to Arthur : no king of this land, except the Confeffor, before the conqueft, ever ufing in their charters more than fubfeription of name and crofTes^, and a fceptre fleury in his right, calls him Britannia, Gallia, Germing Dacia Imperator. The bards fongs have, with this kind of unlimited attribute, fo loaden him, that you can hardly guefs what is true of him. Such indulgence to falfe report hath wronged many worthies, and among them even that great Alexander in prodigious fuppofitions ; and fome idle monk of middle time is fo impudent as to affirm, that at Babylon he erected a column, inferibed with Latin and Greek verfes, as notes ©f his vi&ory; of them you mail tafte in thefe two: Anglicus et Scotus Britonum fuperque caterva Irlandus, Flander, Cornwallis, et quoque Norguey. Only but that Alexander and his followers were no good Latiniffo (wherein, when you have done laughing, you may wonder at the decorum), I Ihould cenfure my lubberly verfifier. to no leis punifliment than Marfyas his excoriation. But for Arthur, yovt fhall beft know him in this eulogy. This is that Arthur of whom the Britons even on this day fpeak fo idly; a man right worthy to- have been celebrated by true ftory, not falfe tales, feeing it was. he that long time upheld his declining country, and even infpired martial courage into his countrymen. H. At Caer-leon in Monmouth, after his victories, a pompous celebration was at Whitfontide, whither were invited divers kings and AND HISTORY, OF WALES. n end princes of the neighbouring coafts ; he, with them, and his queen Guinever, with the ladies, keeping thole folemnities in their feveral conclaves. For fo the Britifh {lory makes it according to the Trojan cuftora, that, in fcftival folemnities, both fexes fhould not fit together. Of the Trojans I remember' no warrant for it ; but among the Greeks one Sphyromachus firft inftituted it. Tournaments and jufts were their exercifes; nor vouchfafed any lady to beftow her favour on him, w T hich had not been thrice crowned with fame of martial performance. For this order (which herein is delineated) know, that the old Gauls (whole cuftoms and the Britilh were near the fame) had their orbicular tables to avoid controverly of precedency (a form much .commended by a late writer for the like diftance of all from the fait, being centre, firft, and laft, of the furniture), and at them every knight attended by his efquire ^owXofpopSvrts, Athenaeus calls them), holding his lliield. Of the like in Henry III. Matthew Paris, of Mortimer's at Kelingworth, under Edward I. and that of Windfor, celebrated by Edward III. Walfingham fpeaks. Of the Arthurian our hiftories have fcarce mention. But Havillan's Architrenius, Robert of Glocefter, John Lidgat, monk of Bury, and Englilh rhimes in divers hands, fmg it. It is remembered by Leland, Camden, Volateran, Philip of Bergomo, Lily, Aubert Miree, and others, but very diverfely. White of Bafingftoke defends it, and imagines the original from an election by Arthur and Howel kings of Armorique Britain, of fix of each of their worthier!: peers to be always affiftant in counfel. The antiquity of the earldom of Mansfield in old Saxony is hence affirmed, becaufe Heger, carl thereof, was honoured in Arthur's court with this order ; places of name for refidence of him and his knights were this Caer-leon, Winchefler (where his table is yet fuppofed to be, but that fcems of later date), and Camclot in Somerfetlhire. C 2, Some ia ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, Some put his number XII ; I have feen them anciently pictured XXIV, in a poetical ftory of him ; and in Denbighfhire, Stow tells us, in the parifh of Lanfannan, on the fide of a ftony hill, is a circular plain, cut out of a main rock, with fome XXIV feats unequal, which they call Arthur's Round Table. Some catalogues of arms have the coats of the knights, blazoned ; but I think, with as good warrant as Rablais can juftify, that Sir Lancelot du Lae flays horfes in hell, and that Tous les chevaliers de la table ronde eftoient pauvres gaigne deniers, tirans la rame pur pafler les rivieres de Coccyte, Phlegeton, Styx, Acheron, et Lethe, quand meflieurs les diables fe veulent efbattre fur l'eau, comme font les bafteliers de Lyon et Gondoliers de Venife. Mais pur chacune paffade ils n'ont qu'un nazarde, et fur le foir quelque morceau de pain chaumeny." Spenfer, who is more poetically felecl: than Drayton in his choice of circumftances, but enlarges more difFufely on thofe he adopts, thus defcribes Prince Arthur's fhield, which is barely; mentioned by the latter : His warlike £hield all clofely covered was, Ne might of mortal eye be ever feen, The fame to wight he never wont difclofe, But when as monfters huge he would difmay, Or daunt unequal armies of his foes ; Or when the flying heav'ns he would affray : For fo exceeding (hone his glift'ring ray, That Phoebus' golden face it did attaint,. As when a cloud his beams doth overlay. — Fairy Queen, B. I. C. VII. This hero of enehantment did not, however, on all occaiions, difdain to employ fupernatural means, in oppofition to mortal prowefs r At AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 13 At laft from his victorious (hield he drew The veil, which did his pow'iful light empeach, And coming full before hishorfes' view, As they upon him prefs'd, it plain to them did (hew. / Like light'ning flaih that hath the gazer burn'd, So did the fight thereof their fenfe difmay, That back again upon themfelves they turn'd, And with their rider ran perforce away. — B. V. C. VIII. We find Arthur incidentally mentioned in the fourth book of iuS-** ^ Cu * the Orlando Furiofo ; a foil from which Spenfer tranfplanted *<-*^7 7 Jt *~ many of his moft romantic and improbable tales : and as the late ir»& M^ /> ^ t Mr. Hoole, one of the moft fpirited and elegant of our Englifh ^-k^ ' translators, has difclofed fome family fecrets refpe&ing the^^ J cV 7 < Prince's birth and parentage, his note on the occafion may 5^/7 ' fuperfede the prolixity of our older fabulifts and chroniclers. y^^ir-^-i * ic " Arthur was the fon of Uther Pendragon, King of England.^ to^c^J--*- Jf JefFery of Monmouth informs us, that Uther Pendragon fell ia ^ ^ t " Ki love with Igerne (or Jogerne), the wife of Gorlois, Prince of ^ ..\-y»*-»^ < Cornwall. In the abfence of Gorlois, Merlin, by his magic, -cJ&^^-j •&' transformed Uther into the likenefs of Jordan, a familiar friend ^£j*~&<~3j of Gorlois, himfelf affuming the figure of oneBricel; by means^^ w .^y ^5 of which artifice Uther enjoyed Igerne, and begot King Arthur, , ^^ who is faid to have been the greateft king that ever lived : he , was fo renowned a warrior, that he flew with his own hand four . /^j*. 0< hundred and fixty men in battle, and added other kingdoms to u€ ^^ ^c^J} his own : he wore a golden helmet, with a dragon for his crefL yj^^j-. Thus Spenfer in his Fairy Queen : His haughty helmet, horrid all with gold, Both glorious brightnefs and great terror bred, For all the creft a dragon did enfold With greedy paws. On i 4 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, On his fhield was engraved the effigies of the Virgin Mary : he bore a lance of uncommon fize and weight, with which he flew his fon Mordites, who had rebelled againft him, and lay in ambufh to aflaffinate him : hence Dante fays, Con efs' un colpo per le man d'Artu. This prince was the firft that eftablifhed the order of the Round Table, with fo many famous knights : his end is uncertain ; fome fay, that he received his mortal wound in fighting againft his traiterous nephew Mordred; but the old Welch bards had a ftrange tradition, that he was not dead, but would return after a time, and reign in as great authority as ever." Mr. Hoole has thus adopted the current tradition, refpecting the origin of the order : but we are informed, in the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, that the round table was not peculiar to the reign of King Arthur, but was common in all the ages of chivalry. Any king was faid to " hold a round table," when he proclaimed a tournament attended with fome peculiar folemnities. Indeed it appears, from the foregoing teflimony of Selden, that the inftitution neither began nor ended with this prince. In the inventory of Arthur's perfonal property, of a fpecies, indeed, that has gone out of fafhion in thefe latter days, Spenfer has prefented him with a horn of wonderful effects : but he feems merely to have copied the ficlion from Arioflo, and not to have been authorized by native legends : Was never wight that heard that fhrilling found, But trembling fear did feel in every vein ; Three miles it might be eafy heard around, And echoes three anfwer'd itfelf again ; Ne falfe enchantment, or deceitful train, Might AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 15 Might once abide the terror of that blaft, But prefently was void and wholly vain ; No gate fo ftrong, no lock fo firm and faft, But with that piercing noife flew open quite and braft. Fairy Queen, B. I. C. VIIL Warton, in his Notes to the Fairy Queen, thinks it rather ftrange that Spenfer mould make fo little ufe of this horn. Yet furely, as a foreign importation, that little was enough. It is true, he introduced the fhield upon various occasions ; but for that he had Britifh authority. In the romance of Morte Arthur, from which Ariofto has borrowed his tale of the enchanted cup, are more fictions of the fame kind : and as that of the cup relates to a lady, with whom we are already acquainted, I ihall tranferibe it in the words of Caxton's translation. " By the way they met with a knight, that was fent by Morgan le Fay to King Arthur ; and this knight had a fair horn all garnifhed with gold, and the horn had fuch a virtue, that there might no lady or gentlewoman drink of that horn, but if me were true to her hufband ; and if fhe were falfe, me mould fpill all the drink ; and if fhe were true unto her lord, me might drink peaceably.'* Fontaine has exercifed his genius on this ftory : fee La Coupe Enchantee. After all, notwithftanding the exaggerations of fancy, and the credulity of early times, our accredited hiftorians have generally agreed, in afcribing a real exiltence to this celebrated name, though the lapfe of ages has deprived them of the touchflone, by which to diftinguifh the fable from the facts. Againfl the kings, who followed Arthur in immediate fucceflion, Gildas prefers the moll: difgraceful charges ; charges which moll: mournfully contrail the character of their age with the fplendid annals of their predecefTor, and urged with the more authority, 16 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, as the accufer was himfelf a Briton, and the moil: ancient of our hiftorians. The firft, of thefe was Conflantine, half-brother to Arthur by the mother's fide ; whom he taxes in general with perjury and adultery, and in particular with the murder of Mordred's two fons with their two governors, before the altar, and in their mother's prefence. The motive for their deaths feems to have been the fecurity of the throne, but ill enfured in fuch turbulent times by the mere will of Arthur. The fecond was Aurelius Conan, whom he charges with cruelties worfe than the former; with the murder of his nearer! relations, and the indulgence of the moft licentious paflions; and wifhes him, being now left alone, like a tree withering in the midft of a barren field, to remember the vanity and arrogance of his father and elder brethren, all of whom came to an early and unnatural end. The third was Vortipor, reigning in South Wales, the fon of a good father, but himfelf a deteftable tyrant, following the murderous example of his predecefTors, and divorcing his wife, that he might gratify his paflions without controul. The laft was Malgo, " the dragon of the illes ;" reprefented as ftronger and greater, in arms and dominion, than any other Britifh potentate. His refidence is fuppofed to have been in Anglefea, whence he derived his legendary appellation. His fpecific crimes were the murder of his uncle, to pave his own way to the throne; after which, he put away his own wife, and betook himfelf to his nephew's confort, whom with her hufband, after a fhort time, he caufed to be put to death. The declamation of Gildas, on the fubjecl: of the atrocities committed in the foregoing reigns, is eloquent. They avenge, and they protect ; not the innocent, but the guilty. They fwear oft, but perjure ; they wage war, but civil and unjufl: war. They punifh rigoroufly them that rob by the highway ; but thofe grand robbers that fit with them at table, they honour and reward. The AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 17 The coincidence of hiflorical narrative, with what is commonly called poetical juflice, is exemplified in the brief fpan of this tyrant's reign, which only lafted five years as chief monarch, though he had before enjoyed a fubordinate principality. Nor can we eafily reconcile it, that Gildas mould have pafTed over fo iingular an inftance of providential retribution, on a culprit who had excited his utmoft indignation ; for he reprefents Malgo as having died without iflue, and left his crown to another : but the fact feems to have been, that he had a fon by the illicit connection before mentioned, and a daughter born in wedlock ; but the efteem in which illegitimacy was held by the princes of Britain prevented the baftard from fucceeding him in the monarchy, and the difadvantage of fex, at a time when the recovery of abridged rights was to be agitated, excluded the daughter. The confequence was, that the kingdom was conferred X on Catheric. In this prince's reign, whofe feat was in Glamorgan, the Britons, though occafionally victorious over the Saxons, were ultimately compelled to retire into that part of the ifland which is now called Wales, and leave the feveral kingdoms of the heptarchy in poffeffion of the remaining diftri£t. It was probably at this period that the people firfl obtained the appellation of Welfh : " for this name of Welfii is unknown to the Britifh themfelves, and impofed on them, as an ancient and common opinion is, by the Saxons, calling them Walfh, /. e. Grangers. Others fabuloufly have talked of Wallo and Waldolena, whence it mould be derived. But you mall come nearer truth, if upon the community of name, cuftoms, and original, betwixt the Gauls and Britons, you conjecture them called Walfh, as it were Gualfh (the W. oftentimes being inftead of the Gu.), which expreffes them to be Gauls rather than ftrangers ; although in the Saxon (which is obferved by Buchanan) it was ufed for the D name. 18 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, ' name of Gauls, Strangers, and Barbarous, perhaps in fuch kind as in this kingdom the name of Frenchman hath by inclufion comprehended all kinds of aliens." — Selden. Still, unfortunate as were the aboriginal inhabitants, the difficulty of accefs fecured the independence of their retreat, which afforded a ready afylum to the perfecuted or difafTected fubjecls of the more profperous powers.' The court of Cadwan, in North Wales, is memorable for having given education as well as protection to the children of Prince Edwin, who was thus enabled to efcape the mares of his injurious brother-in-law, Ethelfred, and after many perils to gain the kingdom of Northumberland ; which, unlike the generality of his contemporaries, he governed on principles of policy and juftice. Nor would he probably have been expofed to thofe dangers, which fo frequently threatened his life, during the reign of Ethelfred, had he not been obliged, in confequence of a quarrel between himfelf and Cadwallo, the eldcft, fon and fucceflbr of Cadwan, to abandon the territories of that prince. So formidable, indeed, continued to be the prowefs of the Britifh chieftains, that this puerile altercation proved fatal in the end to Edwin. For Cadwallo, on his acceffion to diminimed royalty, not having forgotten the refentments of his youth, entered into an alliance with Penda, King of Mercia, to revenge his defeat, and confequent flight into Ireland, during the reign of his father. His adherents, who accompanied him to Ireland, remained with him feven years, without making any claim for their fervices ; hence they were denominated, in the hiftorical triades, one of the three faithful families of Britain ; as the battle fought between Cadwallo and Edwin, which compelled the former to feek for fafety in Ireland, is called, in the fame triades, one of the three difcolourings of the Severn. The remit of the league with Penda was the invasion of Northumberland, with AND HISTORY, OF WALES. r 9 with the defeat and death of little lefs than the beft and greateft in the lift of Anglo-Saxon kings. In the year 634, Cadwallo killed two other Saxon princes ; Ofric, the coufin of Edwin, and Eanfred, the eldeft fon of Ethelfred : after which he ranged at will through their provinces, and ably fupported a feries of continued warfare, oppofing all the refources of his genius againft the eftablifhed power of the ufurpers, but in the moment of fuccefs rioting on the calamities attendant on his conqueft ; till Ofwald, the brother of Eanfred, aflaulted and ilew this formidable antagonift, with the defeat and deftruction of his forces. Thus fell Cadwallo, the moll: powerful of the Britifh princes fmce Arthur, a diftinguifhed patron of the bards, and only withheld by the duties of his ftation from becoming a member of the order. And though his character is blackened with the imputation of cruelty, it is diftinguifhed by a vigorous oppofition to his Saxon rivals, and the hopes his valour held out to the Britons of recovering their country. With refpecl: to Cadwallader, familiar as is the name, the Britifh and Saxon chroniclers are at variance about the perfon ; for which reafon, as Snowdon has attempted to compofe the difference in the Polyolbion, in a fpeech which was fb lucky as to pleafe both parties, the cafe fhali be ftated on fo high an authority, with a fpecial retainer to the learned Selden on the fide of the mountain. Thefe, then, (hall be my theme ; left time too much fhould wrong Such princes as were ours, fince fever'd we have been ; And as themfelves, their fame be limited between The Severn and our fea, long pent within this place, Till with the term of Welfh, the Englifh now embafe The nobler Britons name, that well near was defiroy'd With peflilence and war, which this great ifle annoy'd ; , , Cadwallader that drave to the Armorick fhore : To which dread Conan, lord of Denbigh, long before, D2 His %o ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, His countrymen from hence aufpicioufly convey'd ; Whofe noble feats in war, and never-failing aid, Got Maximus (at length) the victory in Gaul, Upon the Roman powers. Where, after Gratian's fall, Armorica to them the valiant victor gave : Where Conan their great lord, as full of courage, drave The Celts out of their feats, and did their room fupply With people ftill from hence ; which of our colony Was little Britain call'd. Where that diftreffed king, Cadwallader, himfelf awhile recomforting With hope of Alan's aid (which there did him detain), Forewarned was in dreams, that of the Britons reign A fempiternal end the angry pow'rs decreed, A reclufe life in Rome enjoining him to lead. The king refigning all, his fon, young Edwal, left With Alan : who, much griev'd the prince fliould be bereft Of Britain's ancient right, rigg'd his unconquer'd fleet \ And as the generals then, for fuch an army meet, His nephew Ivor chofe, and Hiner for his pheer ; Two mod undaunted fpirits. Thefe valiant Britons were The firft who Weft-Sex won. But by the ling'ring war, When they thofe Saxons found t' have fuccour ftill from far, They took them to their friends on Severn's fetting ftiore : Where finding Edwal dead, they purpos'd to reftore His fon young Roderick, whom the Saxon pow'rs puifu'd : But he, who at his home here fcorn'd to be fubdu'd, With Alfred (that on Wales his ftrong invafion brought), Garthmalack and Pencoyd (thofe famous battles) fought, That North and South- Wales fing, on the Weft-Sexians won. " Cadwallader driven to forfake this land, efpecially by reafon of plague and famine tyrannizing among his fubjects, joined -with continual irruptions of the Englifh, retired himfelf into little Bretagne to his coufin Alan, there king ; where in a dream he was admoniflit by an angel (I juftify it but by the ftory) that a period of the Britifh empire was now come, and until time of \ Merlin's AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 21 Merlin's prophecy, given to King Arthur, his country or pofterity fhould have no reftitution ; and farther, that he mould take his journey to Rome, where, for a tranfitory, he might receive an eternal kingdom. Alan, upon report of this vifion, compares it with the Eagle's prophecies, the Sibyl's verfes> and Merlin ; nor found he but all were concording in pr^ediclion of this ceafing of the Britifh monarchy. Through his advice, therefore, and a prepared affection, Cadwallader takes his voyage to Rome, received of P. P. Sergius, with holy tincture, the name of Peter, and within very fhort time there died ; his body very lately, under Pope Gregory the XHIth. was found buried by St. Peter's tomb, where it yet remains ; and White of Bafingftoke fays, he had a piece of his raiment of a chefnut colour, taken up (with the corps) uncorrupted ; which he accounts, as a Romifh pupil, no flight miracle. It was added, among Britifh traditions, that, when Cadwallader's bones were brought into this ifle, then fhould the pofterity of their princes have reftitution. Obferving concurrence of time and difference of relation in the ftory of this prince, I know not well how to give myfelf or the reader fatisfaclion. In Monmouth, Robert of Glocefter, Florilegus, and their followers, Cadwallader is made the fon of Cadwallo, king of the Britons before him, but fo, that he defcended alfo from Englifh-Saxon blood ; his mother being daughter to Penda, King of Merckland. Our monks call him King of Weft-Saxons, fucceflbr of Kent wine, and fon to Kenbrith. And where Caradoc Lhancarvan tells you of wars betwixt Ine or Ivor (fucceflbr to Cadwallader) and Kentwine, it appears in our chronographers that Kentwine muft be dead above three years before. But howfoever thefe things might be reconcileable, I think clearly that Cadwallader in the Britifh, and Cedwella King of Weft-Saxons in Bede, Malmefbury, Florence, Huntingdon, and other ftories of 22 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, of the Englifh, are not the fame, as Geffrey, and, out of Girald, Randal of Chefter, and others fmce erroneouily have affirmed. But ftrongly you may hold, that Cad w alio or Cafwallo, living about the year 640, flain by Ofwald, King of Northumberland, was the fame with Bede's firft Ced walla, whom he calls King of Britons, and that by mifconceit of his two Cedwals (the' other being, almoft fifty years after, King of Weft- Saxons), and by communicating of each other's attributes upon indiftincl: names, without obfervation of their feveral times, thefe difcordant relations of them, which in ftory are too palpable, had their firft being. But to fatisfy you in prefent, I keep myfelf to the courfe of our ordinary ftories, by reafon of difficulty in finding an exact truth in all. Touching his going to Rome, thus : Some will, that he was Chriftian before, and received of Sergius only confirmation; others, that he had there his firft baptifm, and lived not above a month after; which time (to make all diflbnant) is extended to eight years in Lhancarvan. That one King Cedwal went to Rome, is plain by all, with his new-impofed name and burial there : for his baptifm before, I have no direel authority but in Polychronicon ; many arguments proving him, indeed, a well-wilier to Chriftianity, but as one that had not received its holy teftimony. The very phrafe in moft of our hiftorians is plain that he was baptized and foon died, Anno Chrifti 688. Judicious conjecture cannot but attribute all this to the Weft- Saxon Cedwal, and not the Britifh." But to return to Snowdon's hiftorical fucceffion of the princes, in the perfon of Roderique. Scarce this victorious talk his bloody'd fvvord had done, X But at mount Carno met the Mercians, and with wounds Made Ethelbald to feel his trefpafs on our bounds, Prevail'd againfr. the Pi&, before our force that flew ; And in a valiant fight their king Dalargin flew. Not AND HISTORY, OF WALES. Nor Conan's courage lefs, nor lefs prevail'*! in ought, Renown'd Roderick's heir, who with the Englifh fought The Herefordian field : as Ruthland's red with gore: Who, to transfer the war from this his native fhore, March 'd through the Mercian towns with his revengeful blade : And on the Englifh there fuch mighty havoc made, That Offa (when he faw his countries go to wrack), From bick'iing with his folk, to keep the Britons back, Caft up that mighty mound, of eighty miles in length, Athwart from fea to fea. Which of the Mercians ftrength A witnefs though it (land, and Offa's name does bear, Our courage was the caufe why firft he cut it there : As that molt dreadful day at Gavelford can tell, Where under either's fword fo many thoufands fell With intermixed blood, that neither knew their own ; Nor which went victor thence, until this day is known. Nor Kettles conflict then, lefs martial courage fhew'd, When valiant Mervin met the Mercians, and beftow'd His nobler Britifh blood on Burthred's recreant flight. As Roderick his great fon, his father following right, Bare not the Saxons fcorns, his Britons to outbrave ; At Gwythen, but again to Burthred battle gave ; Twice driving out the Dane when he invafion brought, Whofe no lefs valiant fon, again at Conway fought With Danes and Mercians mixt, and on their hateful head Down-ihowr'd their dire revenge whom they had murthered. 23 " Wales had her three parts, North-Wales, South- Wales, and Powife. The laft, as the middle betwixt the other, extended from Cardigan to Shropfhire ; comprising part of Brecknock, Radnor, and Montgomery. The divifion hath its beginning attributed to the three fons of Roderique the Great, Mervin, Cadelh, and Anarawd; who pofTefl them for their portions hereditary, as they are named. But out of an old book of Welfh laws, David Powel affirms thofe tripartite titles more ancient. " Of the Marches the particular bounds have been certain parts 24 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, parts of Dee, Wye, Severn, and OrTa's dike. The ancienteft is Severn, but a later is obferved in a right line from Strigoil caftle by Chepftow in Monmouth upon Wye, to Chefter upon Dee, which was fo naturally a mere between thefe two countries Wales and England, that by apparent change of its channel towards either fide fuperftitious judgment was ufed to be given of fuccefs in the following year's battles of both nations ; whence perhaps came it to be called Holy Dee. Betwixt the mouths of Dee and Wye in this line (almoft an hundred miles long) was that OrTa's dike call:, after iuch time as he had, befides his before-poffeft Merckland, acquired by conqueft even what is now England. King Harold made a law, that whatsoever Welfh tranfcended this dike with any kind of weapon, fhould have, upon apprehenfion, his right hand cut off; Athelftan, after the conquer!: of Howel Dha, King of Wales, made Wye limit p£ North-Wales, as in regard of his chief territory of Weft-Saxony (fo affirms Malmefbury), which, well underftood, impugns the opinion received for Wye's being a general mere inftituted by him, and withal mews you how to mend the monk's publifhed text, where you read Ludwalum regem omnium Wallenfium, et Conftantinum regem Scotorum cedere regnis compulit. For plainly this Ludwal (by whom he means Howel Dha, in other chronicles called Huwal) in Athenian's life-time was not king of all Wales, but only of the fouth and weftern parts with Powife, his coufin Edwal Voel then having North- Wales; twixt which and the part of Howel conquered, this limit was proper to diftinguifh. Therefore either read Occidentalium Wallenfium (for in Florence of Worcefter and Roger of Hoveden that paffage is with Occidentalium Britonum), or elfe believe that Malmefbury miftook Howel to be in Athelftan's time, as he was after his death, Prince of all Wales." Thus AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 25 Thus as we valiant were, when valour might us deed: With thofe fo much that dar'd, we had them that decreed. For, what Mulmutian laws, or Martian, ever were More excellent than thofe which our good Howel here Ordain'd to govern Wales? which ft ill with us remain. . " Howel Dha, firft prince of South Wales and Powife, after, upon death of his coufin Edwal Voel, of North Wales alfo* by mature advice in a full council of barons and bifhops, made divers univerfal conftitutions. By thefe, Wales (until Edward I.) was ruled. So fome fay ; but the truth is, that before Edward L conquered Wales, and, as it feems, from XXVIII. but efpecially XXXV. of Hen. III. his empire enlarged among them, the Englifh king's writ did run there. For when Edward I. fent commifTion to Reginald of Grey, Thomas Biihop of St. Dewy's, and Walter of Hopton, to inquire of their cuftoms, and by what laws they were ruled, divers cafes were upon oath returned, which by, and according to, the king's law, if it were between lords or the princes themfelves, had been determined ; if between tenants, then by the lord's feizing it into his hands, until difcovery of the title in his court, but alfo that none were decided by the laws of Howel Dha." On the death of Howel Dha, in 948, Jevaf and Jago fucceeded jointly to the fovereignty, as fons of Edwal Voel ; but not in abfolute independence of England, as they paid Edgar a tribute of wolves' heads, which led to the ultimate deftruclion of thofe animals. In 966, arofe a difpute between the brothers, each claiming the whole, which ended in the imprifonment of Jevaf, and that unmanly revenge, too common in thofe days, the putting out of his eyes. Jago then reigned alone, till Howel ap Jevaf made war againfr. his uncle, delivered his father, and took on himfelf the whole principality towards the latter years of Edgar. E Yet 26 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITION'S, Yet had the rival uncle and nephew been tied to the fame oar r as two of eight inferior potentates, on an occafion which marks- the manners of the times. The potentates referred to, Selden, upon comparing the ftories, finds to be Kenneth of Scotland, Malcolm of Cumberland, Malcuze, King of the v Ifles (whom Malmefbury gives only the name of Archpirate), Donald, Siffreth, Howel, Jago, and Inchitil, Kings of Wales. * All thefe, King Edgar (thus touched with imperious affection of glory) fitting at the item, compelled to row him over Dee ; his greatnefs, as well in fame as truth, daily at this time incrcafing, caufed multitudes of aliens to admire and vifit his court, as a place honoured above all other by this fo mighty and worthy a prince : and, through that abundant confluence, fuch vicious courfes followed by example, that, even now was the age, when firft the more fimple and frugal natures of the Englim grew infected wkh what (in fome part) yet we languifh." Cadwalhon ap Jevaf, brother to Howel, fucceeded to the principality of North Wales in 984, and, after a reign of only two years, was put to death by Meredith ap Owen, grandfm to Howel Dha, who added by force the poffeffion of North Wales to his hereditary principality. During this period, Wales, in common with the reft of the ifland, was afflicted by the predatory incurfions of the Danes : which induced the inhabitants of the northern divifion, while Meredith was occupied in the fouth, to receive Edwal ap Myric, the right heir, for their prince, in the. year 993. Edwal, having obtained poffeffion, ftudied only to redrefs the injuries of his people, and defend them from further wrongs. This character, fo little according with the fafhion of ' the age, is authorized by the teftimony of David Powel, in his hiftory. But Meredith, notwithftanding his antagonift's merited popularity, collected his power, with the intention of recovering AND HISTORY, OF WALES-. 27 his fupremacy. Edwal, however, was not backward to meet the attack, and overthrew him in a decifive battle. After his defeat, one great event only diftinguifhed the remainder of his career, in the marriage of his daughter and heirefs with Lhewelin ap Sitfylht, a youth only fourteen years of age at that time : foon after which he died, with the character of the moll reftlefs chieftain even in that turbulent period. After the death of Meredith ap Owen* jEdan ap Blegored ufurped the government of South Wales. In the mean time, the northern free-booters again entered the territories of Prince Edwal, who facrificed his life in refitting their rapacity. He left behind him a fon called Jago. iEdan ap Blegored now pofTeffed himfelf of the weftern part of North Wales, on the fame plea by which he had wretted the South from the lineal fucceffion. He claimed the whole principality, as the direct defcendant from the ancient kings of Wales, and heir to the family of Bran, the fon of Llyr. This Bran was the father of the famous Caradoc, who for more than nine years fuccefsfully oppofed all the powers of Rome, and was victorious over them in more than ttxty battles. He was at length bafely betrayed into the hands of his enemies, by Aregwedd y Voeddig, the daughter of Avarwy, a princefs of the blood-royal of Britain, the Cartifmandua, and the Boadicea of the Romans. This act was denominated one of the three fecret treafons of Britain. Caradoc, with his grandfather Llyr, his father Bran, his mother, brothers, fitters, wife and children, was carried in triumph to Rome. His magnanimous fpeech before the emperor and fenate procured to him his liberty, and permiffion to return to his native country, and refume the government of his people ; not indeed as an independent prince, but in fubjection to the Roman eagle. His father Bran, and others of the family, were detained at Rome as hoftages for feven years; during which E 2, period 28 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, period they were converted to Chriftianity. At the expiration of the term for which he was detained, Bran returned to Britain, and brought with him two Jewifh Chriftians, whofe names were Cyndav and Hid. Thefe three perfons are reprefented in many of the oldeft and moil authentic manufcripts as the £rft who introduced the Chriflian religion into this ifland. Hence do we meet with the appellation of Bran the BlefTed. Such is the account which wrefts from Jofeph of Arimathea his long accredited honours : but the numerous untruths which are connected with that monkim fable appear fo flagrant, that we are inclined to give the more ealy belief to an authority, containing not one fyllable in favour of the impofture. In the tale of Bran, there is nothing that in the leaf!: militates againft the nature of things, the character of that age, or the general complexion of thofe events, which are belt afcertained and moil generally admitted. This fignal event, which happened about the year 60 of the Chriftian era, rendered Bran an il'uftrious character in Britifh hiftory; and from this diftant, but auguft fource, did J&davi affect to derive his claim. Lhewelin ap Sitfylht, on the contrary,, preferred, in the year 1005, being then of full age, more modeft, but better authenticated pretenfions to the principality of South Wales. He claimed in right of his wife, fole heirefs to her father Meredith ap Owen, grandfon of Howel Dha, who was fon of Cadelh, confequently grandfon of Roderique the Great. On this foundation, therefore, he raifed an army, and after a confiderable period had elapfed in preparations, ilrirmifhes, and trials of ftrength, he at length marched again!!: the alleged ufurper. In the year 1015, their refpective forces having met, a furious battle was fought, in which ^dan ap Blegored was flain, and Lhewelin recovered his long- contefled principality, which he governed from that AND HISTORY, OF WALES, 29 that time till the year 103 1, with juftice and to the general Satisfaction, in peace and in profperity. During the reign of Lhevvelin ap Sitiylht, the inhabitants of Wales grew rich ; profperity appeared on the face of the country; the earth yielded its abundance, the feafons ' were benign j peace and juft laws prevailed againft turbulence and iniquity; every inhabitant had his houfe, and every houfe its inhabitant ; every fpot of land its cultivator, and every cultivator his fpot of land : fo that plenty w T as known throughout the region, and the region enjoyed its plenty. But thefe bleffings took their flight, when How el, foil of Edwin ap Eneon, who was brother to Meredith ap Owen, and confequently {landing in the fame degree of confanguinity to Howel Dha, claimed the principality of South Wales, and, jointly with his brother Meredith, raifmg an army, marched againft Lhewelin ap Sitfylht, whom they flew, though they were themfelves put to flight by Lhewelin's brother Conan. Lhewelin's death was aecomplifhed only through the Bifhop of Bangor's treachery. But retribution, however tardy, awaited Howel, who -ft" was killed at Swanfea, in the year 1043, by the hand of Gruffyth ap Lhewelin. /After the death of Lhewelin ap Sitfylht, his widow Angharad married Convin, by whom fhe had children; a circumftance which more embroiled the already tumultuous oppofitions of contending claimants. Jago ap Edwal ap Myric, now grown to man's eftate, aflumed the fovereignty of his forefathers, and reigned from the year 1021 to 1037. „ In the year 1031, the Saxons came into Glamorgan, when Conan ap Sitfylht, brother of the late prince Lhewelin ap Sitfylht, marched with an army againft them, and at Yftradowen a bloody y/~ battle was fought, in which Conan ap Sitfylht and all hi* fons were 30 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, were flain. But his brother Robert ap Sitfylht rallied the army, and animated the Welfh by recalling to their memories the noble achievements of their anceftors againft thefe reftlefs invaders. The confequence was, that they once more attacked their enemies, who in the fecond battle were completely routed, and great numbers of them flain. The reign of Gruffyth ap Lhewelin, who fucceeded Jago in one of thofe bloody alternations, by which the various branches of the royal family were continually fupplanting each other, was diftinguiihed by its connection with a period of hiftory, that gave birth to the nobleft. effort of dramatic genius in this or any tongue or country ; while the confequences of that connection form a link in the chain, which reftored the race of Britifh kings to the fupremacy in the line of Tudor. Owen's defcent has, indeed, been grievoufly questioned, but his pretentions are at lean: not without their plaufibility. Be they, however, what they may in fober truth, Drayton thus ftates them in the perfon of the prophetic Severn: A branch fprung out of Brute, th' imperial top fhall get, Which grafted on the flock of great Plantagenet, The ftem fliall flrongly wax, as flill the trunk doth wither; That power which bare it thence, again fliall bring it thither By Tudor, with fair winds from Little Britain driven, To whom the goodly bay of Milford fliall be given ; As thy wife prophets, Wales, foretold his wiflit arrive, And how Lewellin's line in him fliould doubly thrive. For from his ifTue fent to Albany before, Where his negledled blood, his virtue did reflore, He firfl unto himfelf in fair fuccefiion gain'd The Steward's nobler name ; and afterwards attain'd The royal Scottifh wreath, upholding it in ftate. But not to dwell with implicit faith on this poetical pedigree, let AND* HISTORY, OF WALES. 31 let us have recourfe to whatever light Selden's illuftration may chance to throw on the fubjecT:. " About our Confeffor's time, Macbeth, King of Scotland (moved by predictions, affirming that, his line extinct, the poflerity of Banquo, a noble thane of Loquabry, mould attain and continue the Scottifh reign), and jealous of others hoped-for greatnefs, murdered Banquo, but miffed his defign ; for, one of the fame poflerity, Fleance, fon to Banquo, privily fled to Gruffyth ap Lhewelin, then Prince of Wales, and was there kindly received. To him and Nefla, the prince's daughter, was iffue one Walter. He (afterward for his worth favourably accepted, and through flout performance honourably requited by Malcolm III.) was made lord high fleward of Scotland ; out of whofe loins Robert II. was derived ; fince whom the royal name hath long continued, defcending to our mighty fbvereign, and in him is joined with the commixt kingly blood of Tyddour and Plantagenet. Thefe two were united, with the white and red rofes of York and Lancafler, in thofe aufpicious nuptials of Henry VII. and Elizabeth, daughter to Edward IV. and from them, through the Lady Margaret, their eldefl daughter, married to James IV. Cambria mall be glad, Cornwal mail flourifh, and the ifle fhall be {tiled with Brute's name, and the name of Grangers mall perifti." But though Gruffyth ap Lhewelin,- one of the moll renowned among the princes of Wales, was able to protect the object of Macbeth's jealoufy, he could not ultimately fuflain a contefl with the Englifh power, led by fo formidable a commander as Harold, who fcrupled not to blend treachery with military fkill. After many difficulties and viciffitudes, aggravated by the return of Conan ap Jago from Ireland, worfe to confound the confufion of claims, after his people had given hoflages, and renounced their al!egiance r 3 2 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, allegiance, he was taken prifoner and beheaded, and his dominion of North Wales bellowed upon his two half-brothers, Blethih and Rhywallon ap Convin, on whom the fecond marriage of Angharad had conferred fome colourable title to the widely-contefled fucceffion. In the year 1043, died How el, Prince of Glamorgan, at the very advanced age of 130, and was fucceeded in the government by his nephew Jeftin ap Gwrgant. This Howel ap Morgan Mawr is not, however, to be confounded with Howel, fon of Edwin ap Eneon, who was killed at Swanfea in the fame year. He was brother to Ithel, the reigning prince of Glamorgan, and himfelf became the fovereign after Gwrgant, Ithel's fuccelTor, in the year 1030. Howel was invited to the throne by the unanimous voice of the country, that could not be induced to bear with the government of Jeftin ap Gwrgant, on account of his worthlefs character and untraceable dilpolition. After the death of his uncle, however, the people no longer rejected Jeftin from the Sovereignty. Caradoc mentions Howel as the wifeft and bell: among the princes of Wales. - With refpect to his extraordinary age, it is to be remarked, that this family prefents fome aftonilhing inftances of longevity. Morgan Mawr attained the age of 129; Howel ap Rees reached 124; another fon of Rees died at 130, while Gwrgant and his fon Jeftin lived confiderably beyond the period ufually affigned to man. Glamorgan, in later times, has furnilhed numerous proofs of fimilar protraction in the age of its inhabitants. Blethin ap Convin reigned jointly with his brother Rhywallon, in North Wales, from the death of GrufTyth ap Lhewelin to the death of Rhywallon in 1068. In the time of thefe two princes, the great revolution happened in England, which feated a Norman on the throne, and reduced the Saxons to a level with the AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 33 the Britifh in the fcale of fubjection. Blethin and Rhywallon did not fail to take advantage of the turbulence and confufion to •which political convulfions gave birth : yet their efforts ferved only to mark an impatient fubmiflion to tributary inferiority, without making that imprefiion on the conqueror's refources, which might enable them to affert their independence. Little, indeed, could it be expected, that public liberty mould triumph over that fpirit of revenge, with which the alienation of their inheritance actuated the fons of GrufTyth ap Lhewelin. Inftead of making common caufe with their kinfmen, they met them in hoftile array, when, after a long conteft, Ithel was flain on one part, and Rhywallon on the other; and Meredith fo clofely purfued, that he was ftarved among the mountains, and Blethin remained fole ruler over Powife and North Wales till 1073, when he was flain in battle by Rees ap Owen. Blethin was a vigorous and patriotic character ; he lived in times of violence; yet was his reign diftinguiftied by the reviiion and amelioration of the laws. Blethin ap Convin is one of the moll diftinguifhed' names that grace the royal tribe of Powife. A circumftance is here to be recorded, which led to confequences, vifible to this day in thofe remnants of antiquity, that attach a ftill ftronger intereft to the picturefque fcenes of Glamorganshire. Robert ap Sitfylht, the only furviving brother of the late prince Lhewelin ap Sitfylht, had been for many years at variance with Jeftin ap Gwrgant. About this time a reconciliation was effected between them. Robert had a beautiful daughter by his firft wife Evilian, who was defcended from a family of great note and power in Wales. The name of this daughter was Arddun. She was an only child by that marriage, dearly beloved by her father, and celebrated as not unworthy fo diftinguifhed a parent as the faithful Evilian. Jeftin ap Gwrgant, now a widower, and F growing 34 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, growing old, having buried his firft wife, the daughter of Blethin ap Convin, Prince of Powife, folicited this daughter of Robert ap Sitfylht in marriage : but her father objected to the alliance ;. for Jeftin was now declining into the vale v of years, and the lady. who was the object of his addreffes, difproportionately youngs Jeftin, however, fought an opportunity to violate her, as he had feveral times before dishonoured the daughters of other lords and eminent perfons. This outrage on a family of fuch high rank fo. exafperated Robert ap Sitfylht, that he ever afterwards continued the fw r orn enemy of Jeftin ap Gwrgant. Trahaern ap Caradoc obtained the fovereignty of North Wales,, on the death of Blethin ap Convin, his uncle, in 1073, while the dominion of South Wales devolved on Rees ap Owen the victor. Caradoc and Meilyr, the fons of Rhywallon ap Convin,. followed the fortunes of their coufin Trahaern ap Caradoc ; who maintained his afcendency through a feries of turbulent events,, and notwithstanding the oppofition of Gruffyth ap Conan, till his rival had procured an acceffion of Strength in the fupport of Rees ap Tudor, the right heir of South Wales from Roderique the Great, as Gruffyth of North, fo as to carry on an offenfive warfare, which terminated the life of Trahaern in the fierceft battle recorded in the annals of the principality. After a moft bloody conteft, victory declared itlelf in favour of Gruffyth ap Conan and Rees ap Tudor. Trahaern and his kinfmen fell on. the fatal field, and the victor took poffeflion of a kingdom,, equally due to his merit and defcent, which he governed with dignity during a reign of fifty-nine years, and, to fay nothing of Merioneth, loft to Hugh, Earl of Chefter, but foon recovered,, thence left it continued in his pofterity, until its final abforption under Edward the Firft, in the time of Lhewelin ap Gruffyth.. His ally was lefs fortunate in the duration of his power, though; perhaps AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 35 perhaps equally brave and public-fpirited, owing to the more acceffible nature of his country, the fouth and weft parts of which efpecially were lefs favoured by the frequency of craggy mountains. Eleven years of various fortune elapfed, between his Signal victory over Trahaern, and his violent death at the very •advanced age of 92, by the hand of Jeftin, who afterwards dearly paid for the alliance his ambition had courted. Under William Rufus, the Norman-Englifh. were very defirous of Welfti territory ; and Robert Fitzhamon was but too fuccefsful in wrefting parts of South Wales from their lawful prince, Rees ap Tudor, and afterward from Jeftin, lord of Glamorgan, which he fubjected to the Englifh crown. The circumftance which enabled the Normans, headed by Robert Fitzhamon, to complete the conqueft of Glamorgan, may be traced to perfonal refentment and private pique, rather than to any diminution of valour or abatement of Britiih fpirit in the breafts of the people in general. In the year 1090, Robert ap Sitiylht, to avenge the injuries fuftained 'by himfelf and his daughter from Jeftin, raifed an army of fuch as were difgufted with the wicked and tyrannical conduct of the opprefTor. After they had joined the Normans, a bloody battle was fought on Cardiff Heath. Jeftin and his armies were vanqulfhed. Robert Fitzhamon aflumed the fovereignty of Glamorgan, not altogether by conqueft, but in a great meafure by the confent and invitation of the country; for great numbers of the natives iided with him, tired as they were, and w 7 om out, with the vexatious and arbitrary government of Jeftin. Thofe who acquiefced in a revolution, rendered neccftary by the mifconducT: of their native prince, were not molefted or difturbed in the pofleffion of their eftates. Hence it was that Robert ap Sitiylht, with many others, retained their lands, and their ancient privileges were confirmed to them. Fa ' It 3<5 ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, It has already been mentioned that Gruffyth ap Conan left his fon, Owen Gwineth, in peaceable pofleffion of his dominions, the direct defcent of which was no longer interrupted by the claims of rival kindred. But as the Welfli fpeak much for the glory of their country during this period, in fome inftances difcording with the fuppofitions of the Englifh ftory, the amplifications of Drayton's hiftorical mufe may fairly be admitted, as containing evidence at leaft of the affertions, boldly if not unqueflionably advanced by the Cambrian chroniclers. And let the Englifh thus, which vilify our name, If it their greatnefs pleafe, report unto our fhame The foil our Gwyneth gave at Flint's fo deadly fight, To Maud the Emprcfs' fon, that there he put to flight, And from the Englifh power th' imperial enfign took: About his plumed head which valiant Owen fhook. As when that king again, his fortune to advance Above his former foil, procur'd frefh pow'rs from France,. A furely-level'd fhaft if Sent-clcar had not feen, And in the very loofe, not thruft himfelf between His fovereign and the fhaft, he our revenge had try'd : Thus-, to preferve the king, the noble fubjeft dy'd. As Madock, his brave fon, may come the reft among ; Who, like the godlike race from which his grandfires fprung,. Whilfl here his brothers tir'd in fad domeftic ftrife, On their unnatural breafts bent either's murtherous knife ; This brave adventurous youth, in hot purfuit of fame, With fuch as his great fpirit did with high deeds inflame, Put forth his well-rigg'd fleet to feek him foreign ground, And failed weft fo long, until that world he found To Chriftians then unknown (fave this advent'rous crew) Long ere Columbus liv'd, or it Vefpucius knew ; And put the now-nam'd Welfh on India's parched face, Un.o the endlefs praife of Brute's renowned race ; Ere the Iberian powers had touch'd her long fought bay, Or any ear had heard the found of Florida. " Henry AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 37 " Henry of EfTex, at this time ftandard-bearer to Henry II. in a ftraight at Counfylth near Flint, call down the ftandard, thereby animating the Welfh, and discomfiting the Englifh, adding much danger to the difhonour. He was afterward accufed by Robert of Montfort, of a traiterous defign in the action. To clear himfeif, he challenges the combat: they both, with the royal afTent and judicial courfe by law of arms, enter the lifts; where Montfort had the victory, and EfTex pardoned for his life ; but forfeiting all his fubftance, entered religion, and profeft in the abbey of Reding, where the combat was performed. I remember a great clerk of thofe times fays, that Montfort fpent a whole night of devotions to St. Denis (fo I underftand him, although his copy feems corrupted), which could make champions invincible ; whereto he refers the fuccefs. That it w 7 as ufual for combatants to pray over night to feveral faints, is plain by our law-annals. " About the year 1170, Madoc, brother to David ap Owen, Prince of Wales, made this fea voyage ; and by probability thofe names of Capo de Breton in Norembeg, and Pengwin in part of the Northern America, for a white rock and a white-headed bird, according to the Britifh, were reliques of this difcovery. So that the Welfh may challenge priority, of finding that new- world, before the Spaniard, Genoway, and all other mentioned in Lopez, Marinasus, Cortez, and the reft of that kind." — Selden. North Wales was- the chief principality, and to it South Wales and Pow T ife paid a tribute. The prince of South Wales in the reign of David was Rees ap GrufTyth, whofe daughter Gwenellian married Ednivet Vaughan, anceftor to Owen Tudor, this Rees ap GrufFyth being defcended of Theodor, or Tudor Mawr, fon to Eneon, who was flain by the rebels of Gwentland or Mon mouth fhire. Eneon feems not to have deferred his fate ; for 3 S ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, for he is reprefented as a notable and worthy gentleman, who in liis life did many noble acts. Not fatisfied with this fimple pedigree, Owen Tudor himfelf boafted his royal blood as flowing in upon him from every point of the compafs. Drayton thus makes him deduce his genealogy, in juftifi cation of his boldnefs as the fuitor of Queen Catharine, in his " England's Heroical Epiftles.1' My royal mother's princely flock began From Tier great grandame, fair Gwenellian, By true defcent from Leolin the Great, As well from North Wales, as fair Powfland's feat. This is the Lhewelin, called Leolinus Magnus, Prince of North Wales. But whatever may be decided refpe&ing the merits of this alleged confanguinity, Rees ap Gruffyth, Prince of South Wales, is entitled to the notice of the hiftorian and the refpect of poflerity, as the anchor, hope, and ftay, of his declining country: a prince, who, as he defcended of noble blood, fo he furpafled all competitors in commendable qualities and endowments of the mind. According to Dr. Powel's hiftory, and the Welm poets, he was the overthrower of the mighty, and fetter-up of the weak ; the fcatterer of his foes, and the overturner of their holds : among his enemies he appeared as a wild boar among whelps, or as a lion that for anger beateth his tail to the ground. In the year 1176, he gave an example of the Stethva; for an accurate account of which inftitution, as far at leaft as the obfeurity in which its ordinances are involved will admit, we cannot confult a fuller or better authority, than that of the learned antiquary, from whom we have .already drawn id copioufly. " Underftand AND HISTORY, OF WALES. 39 " Underftand this Stethva to be the meeting of the Brrtifh poets and minilrels, for trial of their poems and mufic fufficienciesy where the beft had his reward, a filver harp. A cuftom {0 good, that, had it been judicioufly obferved, truth of llory had not been fo uncertain: for there was, by fuppofe, a correction of what was faulty in form or matter, or at leaft a cenfure of the hearers upon what was recited. The forts of thefe poets and minilrels, out of Dr. Powel's inferted annotations upon Caradoc Lharcarvan, I note to you : nrfl Beirdhs, otherwife Prydvids (called in Athenaeus, Lucan, and others, Bards), who, fbmewhat like the 'PatyoSoi among the Greeks, fortia virorum illuftrium facia heroicis componta verfibus cum dulcibus lyras modulis cantitarunt, which was the chiefeft form of the ancienteft mufic among the Gentiles, as Zarlino hath fully collected. Their charge alfo as heralds, was to defcribe and preferve pedigrees, wherein their line afcendent went from the Petruccius to B. M. thence to Sylvius and Afcanius, from them to Adam. Thus Girald reporting, hath his B. M. in forne copies by tranfcription of ignorant monks (forgetting their tenant of perpetual virginity, and that relation of Theodofius), turned into Beatam Manama whereas it ftands for Belinum Magnum (that was Heli, in their writers, father to Lud and Cafibelin), to whom their genealogies had always reference. The fecond are, which "play on the harp and croud ; their mufic for the moll: part came out of Ireland with Gruffyth ap Conan, Prince of North Wales, about King Stephens time. This Gniffyth reformed the abufes of thofe minftrels, by a particular ftatute, extant to this day. The third called Atcaneaid ; they fing to inftruments played on by others. For the Englyns, Cycudhs, and Aoudls ; the firft are couplets interchanged of fixteen and fourteen feet, and called Paladiries, Penfels, the fecond of equal tetrameters, the third of variety in; both; 4 o ON THE LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, both rhime and quantity. SubdivHion of them, and better information, may be had in the elaborate institutions of the Cumreg language, by David ap Rees. Of their mufic anciently, out of an old writer, read this : " Non uniformiter, ut alibi, fed multipliciter multifque modis et modulis cantilenas emittunt, adeo ut, turba canentium, quot videas capita, tot audias carmina, difcriminaque vocum varia, in unam denique, fub B. mollis dulcedine blanda, confonantiam et organicam convenientia melodiam." It was of Henry II. that a prophecy of Merlin hath been understood, which ran thus : When the freckle-fac'd Prince (fo t /lL eaftern 52 GLAMORGANSHIRE. eaftern parts of Brecknockfhire, and that part of Herefordshire* lying to the weft of the river Wye. The principality of South Wales contained the prefent counties of Caermarthen, Pembroke, Cardigan, and a great part of Brecknockfhire, with part of Radnorfhire. The traveller enters South Wales from London at Remny bridge, over the river Remny, which conftitutes the boundary between Glamorgan and Monmouthfhires, and fignifies, in the Britifh, to divide. I mail tranfcribe from Drayton's topographical poem, the orderly" and collected catalogue of the highly picturefque rivers, which conftitute the great beauty of this county. In the courfe of the following tour, they have all, not excepting the fmalleft, been vifited, though in a different order from that, in which the poet enumerates them. But I would ftrongly recommend it to the traveller of curiofity and leifure, who fhall, inftead of purfuing a courfe, dictated to me by perfonal convenience, take the direcl: route from England eaft and weft, to begin with Remny from the fea to its fource : then, adhering to that method, to purfue the banks of each river as far as they will lead him with tolerable convenience, in the enfuing fucceffion, the regular chain of which a good map will point out, I can promife him an ample recompence for his labour. Indeed it may be obferved in general, that a ftranger, whofe object is to wander pleafantly through a country, will find his account in following the courfes of rivers, both as to the advantage with which the fcenery will pafs in review, and his fecurity from dangerous or inconvenient aberrations. That Remny, when (lie faw thefe gallant nymphs of Gwent, On this appointed match were all fo hotly bent, Where (he of ancient time had parted, as a mound, The Monumethkui fields and Glamorganian ground, Iatreats GLAMORGANSHIRE. 5 j Intreats the Taff along, as gray as any glafs ; With whom clear Cunno comes, a Iufty Cambrian lafs: Then Elvvy, and with her Ewenny holds her way, And Ogmore, that would yet be there as foon as they, By Avon called in ; when nimbler Neath anon (To all the neighbouring nymphs for her rare beauties known ; Befides her double head, to help her ftream that hath Her handmaids, Melta fweet, clear Hepfey, and Tragath) From Brecknock forth doth break ; then Dulas ami Qedaugh, By Morgany do drive her through her watry faugh ; With Tawy, taking part t' affift the Cambrian power : Then Lhu and Logor, given to ltrengthen them by Gower. Betwixt Neath and Logor in Glamorgan is this Gower, a little province, extended into the fea as a cherfonefe ; out of it, on the weft, rife thefe two rivers meant by the author. With refpect to the picturefque character of this county, it is diftinguimed by unbounded variety. It is full of pictures from one end of the diflrict to the other. It has fea, mountain, vallies, and river9. It furnifhes profpects that remind you of what you have feen in other parts, without perhaps rivalling the moil excellent of thofe detached objects. It is remarked to refemble the ftile of North Wales, more than any of the fix counties. Its mountains are not fo high as thofe of Brecknockfhire, but they prefent in a great degree the appearance of Merionethfhire, by their extreme abruptnefs, which imparts an air of wildnefs to the country, and of elevation exceeding the reality to them. The parifli of Yftradyvodwg exhibits fuch fcenes of untouched nature, as the imagination would find it difficult to furpafs : and yet the exiftence of the place is fcarcely known to the Englifh traveller. The imputation under which Glamorganfhire generally labours is want of wood; but this is only true of its level and molt cultivated parts. The obfervation will not apply either to its eaftern 54 GLAMORGANSHIRE. eaftern or weftern extremities. Thofe who know the banks of the Taff, the two Ronthas, and the Cunno, the wilds of Aberdare and Yftradyvodwg, have feen fuch woods and groves as are rarely to be found. The magnificently clothed hills of Margam, Bagland, Briton Ferry, and the vale of Neath, unite the beauties of cultivation with the unfelled luxuriance of foreft fcenery. There is one peculiarity in the face of this country, which I rauft not omit to mention. In the flat parts of it, and near the fea, at the greateft diftance from the mountains, feeing as you imagine the, whole furface of the ground for a confiderable ftretch, you come Suddenly on an abrupt finking, not deep, but perpendicular as the fide of a crag, of more or lefs extent, forming a rich, woody, and retired fhelter, the picturefque properties of which contraft moft delightfully with the uniform dulnefs of corn fields. You pafs through thefe fequeftered dells, afcend on the other fide, and regain the flat. Inftances of this Angularity are, among others, Llandough, at what is called the lake, and between Flemingftone and St. Athans. An ample account of the manner in which the lordfhip of Glamorgan was won, is to be found in Powel's Hiftory of Wales, written in the time of Elizabeth, or in Evans's edition of Wynne's Hiftory of Wales. The abftracl; of it is as follows : Jeflin ap Gwrgant, of whofe odious character fome particulars have already been recorded, waged war, in the year 1088, againft Rees ap Tudor. Eneon ap Collwyn aflifted him in his enterprize. Not being able to make any imprefiion on his enemy's dominions, Jeftin commiffioned Eneon to go to England, and procure fbme more powerful ally. His propofitions were eagerly received by Robert Fitzhamon and twelve other Norman adventurers, who came to Glamorgan on an expedition, profefTedly for the object of retrieving Jeftin's affairs. The allies marched againft Rees ap GLAMORGANSHIRE. 1 55 ap Tudor, and came up with his forces on the borders of Brecknockfhire. A battle was fought at a place called Hirwin, where Rees was entirely defeated. In his flight he was foon taken prifoner, and put to death. On this occafion, Jeftin exhibited his chara&eriftic treachery, in violating his agreement' with Eneon, to whom he had promifed his daughter in marriage, as a reward for his iervices. This ftipulation he refufed to fulfil, with the aggravation of infult and contumely, which exafperated Eneon to enterprizes of revenge. The Normans had fulfilled their engagements ; and, on obtaining fatisfaclion for their fcrvices, were quietly returning home. But Eneon was afiiduous in reprefenting the injuries he had fuftained at the hands of Jeftin : he painted in tempting colours the hatred of the country to its tyrant. Is it not eafy then, faid he, to obtain poiTeflion of this fertile territory, with the aid of the different princes at variance with Jeftin ? Robert Fitzhamon and his foldiers of fortune caught with eagernefs at thefe intimations and pretences. Suiting therefore their views to the opportunity of the moment, they turned their arms againft their employer, who was unprepared for fo formidable a reverfe. His country therefore was eafily over-run, and he faved himfelf by flight, and died foon after, unlamented and unrevenged. The divifion of property and power, in confequence of this event, is thus laid out by Caradoc Lhancarvan : Robert Fitzhamon took for his {hare the caftles of Cardiff and Kenfig, with the market town of Cowbridge, and the demefne of Llantwit. He appropriated to himfelf the lands appertaining to them, together with the fovereignty of the whole country. William de London had the caftle and manor of Ogmore, w 7 ith the lands belonging to that lordfhip. Richard S*> GLAMORGANSHIRE. Richard Grenville had the cattle and lordfhip of Neath, with the borough town, and the territory adjoining. To Robert de St. Quintin was given the cattle and lordfhip of Llanblethian ; but whether the town of Cowbridge was annexed to the allotment, or referved by Robert Fitzhamon, feems not to have been correctly afcertained. Gilbert Humphreville had the cattle and lordfhip of Penmark. Roger Berclos had the lordfhip of St. Athans. Reginald Sully had the cattle and lordfhip of Sully, fo called after his name. Peter le Soor had the cattle and lordfhip of Peterfton fuper Elwy, which place derives its name from him. John Fleming had the cattle and lordfhip of St. Georges. Oliver St. John had the cattle and lordfhip of Fonmore, which name was given it by the Normans in lieu of Abernant. William de Efterling had the cattle and lordfhip of St. Donatts. Payne Turbervilie obtained the cattle and lordfhip of Coity ; but he profefTed to have derived his title, not from the chance of war, but from the legitimate rights of matrimonial connection. Eneon ap Collwyn poffeffed Caerphilly, with Jeftin' s daughter in marriage, the prize at which he aimed, and the caufe of the difpute. Caradoc ap Jeftin obtained Aberavon, with all the lands between Neath and Avon, as a royal cattle and lordfhip. Howel ap Jeftin had Llantrythid. Rees ap Jeftin obtained the territory between Neath and Tawy. Ancient Welfh names are very commonly retained in moft parts of Wales; but they prevail more in the county of Glamorgan than in any other diftricl: with which I am acquainted. The following appellations of Rritifh origin, ufed promifcuoufly as fir-names, GLAMORGANSHIRE. 57 furnames, or Christian names, are currently to be met with in that divifion of the principality, which is the fubjecl: of our prefent inquiries. Trahaern, Owen, Madoc, Caradoc, Howel, Rees, Lhewelin, Cadock, Blethin, Arthur, Cadwgan, Gruffyth, Morgan, Llywarch, Lleifion, Rhydderch, Illtyd, Jevaf, Myric, Ivor, Goronw, Tudor, Talieffin, Merlin, Meredith, and feveral others, occur with more or lefs frequency to the curious and inquifitive. traveller. Gwenellian, Angharad, Morvudd, Lleian, with a long catalogue befides, are ftill to be met with as applied to women. It was a remarkable ufage of the Welfh, derived from high antiquity, for the fon to take the Chriftian name of his father for his own furname. This cuftom ftill prevails to a very confiderable extent in the mountains of Glamorgan, and in the adjoining counties of Brecknock and Monmouth. It is much lefs commonly retained in the other parts of the principality. After the incorporation of England and Wales in the time of Henry the Eighth, Judge Moftyn and other perfons of confequence in North Wales recommended it to the inhabitants, to adopt regular and permanent family furnames, after the manner of the Engliih. The principal motive for urging this requeft was, to prevent that confufion which, on the ancient fyftem, was perpetually occurring in the law courts, and on many other occafions. Judge Moftyn himfelf fet the example, by adopting the name of his own houfe for his furname. It is to be fuppofed that a famion would be followed, which originated in fuch high authority. Many heads of families took the names of their own houfes, eftates, or places of abode. This practice was moil popular in North Wales, where we find the furnames of Carreg, Madryn, Glynn, Coedmor, Pennant, and many of a fimilar defcription. Others adopted whatever the names of their fathers happened to be, and fixed I them 58 GLAMORGANSHIRE. them as permanent appellations in the family. The latter mode was received with the moil cordial approbation by the Welfh in general, and efpecially by the inhabitants of South Wales. A man, named John, whofe father's name was William, called himfelf John William, and his fon in turn would be William John. The fon of Thomas Richard was Richard Thomas. The fon of Robert Henry was Henry Robert. Hence is derived the Angularity, fo flriking to all travellers in Wales, that there are fo few family names; and hence arife the numerous families, unconnected with each other, of Johnes's or Jones's, Williams's, Richards's, Thomas's, Henry's, Roberts's, and many others. It proceeds from the fame caufe, that the furnames in Wales are generally the fame as the Chrilrian names in common ufe. At the period to w T hich we are referring, the old Welfh names were to the full as prevalent, as thofe that have juft been enumerated. The father of one man was named Trahaern ; the fon was called Lhewelin ; he therefore became, according to the new mode, Lhewelin Trahaern; and Trahaern became from that time alternately convertible with Lhewelin. The father of another was called Howel ; the father of a third Owen ; and fo on through the whole catalogue. When therefore we confider that thefe were Chriftian, though royal names, we are by no means to take it for granted that families, bearing fuch fir-names as Trahaern, Lhewelin, Morgan, or Owen, are for that reafon the more likely to have been defcended from ancient princes, or any other great men of former times, though their prefent opulence and refpeclability may confer on them an importance in fociety more than equal to that which is derived from high and remote origin. It would be quoted as an inftance of very lingular abfurdity, if any Englifhman, on no better evidence than the fact of his bearing the family name of Stevens, were to deduce i his GLAMORGANSHIRE. 59 his extraction from the monarch whofe Chriftian name was Stephen. The defcendants of the old princes are well known; and I am credibly informed that the inftances are very rare, in which the families of thofe houfes have for their fir-name the Chriftian name of any one in the lift of their anceftors. This adoption of fir- names, on either of the principles here laid down, or any other, was not carried into effect all at once, at the time it was firft propofed, but on the contrary took place very gradually. Indeed the degrees by which its progrefs has been carried forward are fo very flow, and the reluctance to innovation is fo rooted in the minds of the Welfh, that the modern fyftem has not yet more than half eftablifhed itfeff among the common people, throughout the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth, with part of Brecknockfhire. The agriculture of this county does not keep pace with the fertility of the foil. South Wales in general is far behind England in this moft important branch of improvement. But Brecknockfhire, Cardiganfhire, Caermarthenfhire, and Pembrokefhire, feem to me to be inhabited by gentry, more intent on the introduction of the modern improved farming, and more determined by perfeverance to conquer the prejudices of the natives. A tract of land can fcarcely be found, more inviting to fcientific cultivation, than the vale of Glamorgan between the mountains and the fea : yet perhaps that very circumftance is unfavourable to induftry and enterprize. In addition to natural fruitfulnefs they have lime every where at command for manure : and this facility afford* a ftrong temptation to that act of cruelty and injuftice, which the farmers call driving the land. With refpect to the rate at which land lets, it is impoflible in this or any of the Welfh counties to afcertain any thing like an average. Situation will every where enter largely into the calculation, as well as quality; but in a I 2, mountainous 60 GLAMORGANSHIRE. mountainous country, the difference of value becomes too great to be reducible to any ftandard. In Glamorganfhire, good land fituated near a confiderable town lets almoft as high as within five miles of London; but land among the northern hills, fcarcely reclaimed, and from its locality irreclaimable to any very lucrative purpofe, is of courfe low in its rent, and occupied only by tenants, natives of the hills, and unacquainted with the fuperior advantages and comforts, enjoyed by the farmer in the vale. Another material consideration which affecls the value of farms, is right of mountain : where that is attached to an eftate, it compenfates in fome degree for diftance from markets or poverty of foil. But what diftinguilhes and enriches this county above all the reft, is the profufion of coal, iron, and lime-ftone, with which it every where abounds. The earth, indeed, of which it is compofed, taken externally and internally, feems to be full of every thing neceffary to the ufe and convenience of man. Manure, metal, and the means of manufacturing that metal, are all found on the fame fpot; fo that induftry is exerted at the leaft poffible expence, and confequently to the greateft poffible advantage. The rivers and mountain torrents, fo remarkable in this diftrict, afford an ample fupply of water for all the purpofes of life, as well as the means of procuring that artificial and cheap conveyance, which is among the moft ingenious improvements of the prefent age. With refpecl: to that moft extenfive bed of lime-ftone, of which nearly the whole of Glamorganfhire forms only a part, it commences with the eaftern extremity of the county, and, taking a direction due weft, runs in a ftraight line to Swanfea Bay, appearing again in Gower, and, having paffed under Caermarthen Bay, is feen to occupy in great part the fouth and weft of Pembrokefhire : it then takes its courfe through. St. George's Channel, and is found in Ireland in that exadt bearing, which GLAMORGANSHIRE. 6x which unqueftionably marks its continuity. Glamorganfhire produces with fufficient liberality oak, am, beech, and all the common foreft trees, except elm, which is obferved not to be indigenous. The antiquity of the cottages is a ftrongly- marked feature in the appearance of this county. There is little doubt that many of them are as ancient as the caftles, to which they were attached. Their architecture is as deferving of obfervation, as that of more oftentatious buildings. The pointed door-ways, and pointed windows, fufficiently evince their date ; and though Welfh towns are univerfally cenfured by ftrangers, for the inelegance and inconvenience of their houfes, the direct reverfe is the fact with refpect to the habitations of the peafantry here. There is no part of England, where the general appearance of the cottages is more neat and refpectable than in Glamorganfhire ; and thofe of them which are ancient Gothic, and they abound in every direction, carry with them the recommendation of a venerable exterior, and a portion of internal room, comfort, and fecurity from the elements, rarely enjoyed by their fellows in any part of the world. In many cafes it may be truly faid, that the labourer is better lodged than his employer. Another circumftance which adds to the refpectable appearance of the cottages is, the univerfal practice of whitening them ; which gives a peculiar neatnefs and gaiety to the villages, though their uniform glare is perhaps a little too dazzling for the eye. This has been the cuftom of the country from very remote ages, and is extended even to the barns and ftables, to the walls of yards and gardens. It is noticed and praifed in the moft ancient Welih poems, and certainly evinces a very early fenfibility to the arts and decencies of life. The price of proviuons in this county has of late years been very high, owing to the increafed demand of the manufacturing diftricts, incapable^ 52 GLAMORGANSHIRE. incapable, from their mountainous fituation, of raifing fufficient for their own fupport. The price of labour is equally enhanced from the fame caufe. Every man knows, that in cafe of difagreement with his employer, he has a probable refource at the various works carried on in the county, where high wages and conftant employment hold out a Strong temptation to exorbitance, in negotiating terms with individuals who are compelled, with Slender purfes, to bid againSt the wealth of Merthyr Tydvil and Swanfea. The increafe of population, owing to the influx of commerce and the magnitude of its establishments, affords another reafon, why the cheap comforts and elegancies of life are no longer to be fought for here.. The number of inhabitants is now computed at above fixty thoufand ; and every year may be considered as augmenting the general proportion, independent of local caufes. With refpect to the fingular constitutions of the Lordfhips Marchers, no hiftorian of Wales has hitherto given any thing approaching to a correct account. Their nature has, indeed, been little underflood. Mr. Warrington's reprefentation is the moll: juft, as far as it goes; but it is very defective. An elaborate hiStory of Wales, comparing the local documents of the country with the memorials of Saxon annalists, would tend very much to elucidate the early hiftory of both nations, disfigured as it now is by animoiity on the fide of the conquered, and on that of the conquerors obfeured by fupercilious contempt. Mr. Warner, and moSt of the tourists, have adopted the ideas of the Honourable Daines Barrington, without examination, and hav« reprefented the Welfh as unable to construct any work of defence beyond a rampart of fods, before King Edward the FirSt taught them the art of fortification, at the expence of that; liberty which might have been preferved by the previous knowkdge. But furely a GLAxMORG AN SHIRE. 6 3 view of the country fumifhes fome reafons for believing the opinions of this gentleman to have been erroneous. If the ignorance of the people was fo profound, and the population fo fcanty, that no native prince or lord could have built Caerphilly Caftle in the thirteenth century, where were the w T orkmen found to defign and execute the cathedrals of LlandafF and St. David's fo long before ? Yet fkill in conftructing works of detence may be fuppofed, in a warlike and turbulent age, to have preceded the lefs obvious and more recondite tafte for edifices of pious magnificence. If the church drew its architects and labourers from England or the continent, to perform what the natives were incapable of accomplifhing, furely the ftate mufi have pofTeffed fome power to command, or fome opulence to entice, the affiftance it required. As I have already referred to thefe Lordfhips Marchers, I fhall here notice what, I believe, has not hitherto been obferved by any topographical writer. The Lordfhip of Glamorgan w r as fubdivided into a great many petty lordfhips, in every one of which their lords exercifed jura regalia, referving, however, to the fubjecT: a right of appeal to the court of the chief lord, or, as he was termed, the lord paramount. There are at leafr. fifty ancient buildings ftill remaining in the diftricl:, univerfally underftood to be the halls, in which the courts of legislation and of juftice were held for the refpe&ive petty lordfhips. They are now commonly called Church Houfes, and belong to the parifhes they happen to Hand in. Thefe halls are large rooms, to which the afcent is by flairs from without. They are at prefent ufed as fchool-rooms, and occafionally for dancing ; an amufement ftill very common in Glamorganfhire, though now beginning to decline. The ground-floor apartments under thefe halls are ufed as alms-houfes for the poor of the parifh, and are in molt inftances about 64 GLAMORGANSHIRE. about three in number, in a few four, in fome others only two. It alfo appears, by fome ancient furveys and other accounts of the lordfhips in which they ftand, that before the reformation a market was held in each of thefe halls every Sunday morning, till the tolling of the firft bell, which is faid to have been intended as a notice for the bufinefs of the market to ceafe. The fecond bell was a fignal of preparation for church, and the third for the commencement of divine fervice, during which, no door but the church door was allowed to be feen open. With refpecl to the Sunday morning markets, for the purpofe of accommodating thofe perfons, who received not their weekly pay till late on the Saturday night, it may be queftioned, whether fuch an ufage, eafily reconciled with regularity and good order, has been wifely or beneficially fuperfeded by a puritanical obfervance, at the expence of comfort to the poor, when only they can enjoy it. It is very remarkable, that great immoralities do not prevail in any part of Wales, not even in places contiguous to large manufactories, efpecially if the Englifh language happens to be but little fpoken. One reafon for this probably is, that though there are accounted to be about two thoufand books in the Welfh language, there are none of immoral tendencies, none that propagate principles of infidelity. Indeed, fo alive are the common people to the dignity of their own literature, that it is probable, no modern refinement in either branch of inftruclion would be tolerated, but would, on the contrary, expofe its author to the indignation of his countrymen, who are not yet aware of the poflibility, that the facrednefs of a printed book ever was, or can be, converted to any but moral and beneficial purpofes. It may perhaps in fome meafure be attributed to their general acquaintance with their own legendary poems and tales, compofed by fcholars in the literature of the age and place, fuch as it was, that there arc GLAMORGANSHIRE. 65 are few if any parts of England, where the lower clafTes of the people fpeak with fo grammatical a propriety. Thofe of them who fpeak Englim, though but a few words, pronounced in an accent that an Englifhman can fcarcely recognize, {till contrive to tranflate literally, but with an unwitting accuracy, their vernacular idioms into a phrafeology, the figurative ftyle of which produces a moft whimfical effect in its foreign clothing. A countryman, who fhewed me one of the lakes in Cardiganfhire, with very great difficulty both to himfelf and me, conveyed an idea of its depth by faying, that a houfe might ftand at the bottom of it, with his forehead under water. This is a moft uncouth perfonification in Englifh ; but I doubt not that he translated his thought in the beft manner he could, and that the expreffion in Welfh would have founded neither abfurd nor far-fetched. The common eonverfation of the country is altogether made up of metaphors and figures : a man in diftrefs has a black cloud hanging over him ; and every object in nature is muftered in regular array, to furnifh a defcription of his joys or fbrrows, his circumftances or wifhes. Another reafon why the people are more refpectable and better informed, than might be expected in a diftrict apparently little calculated for the progrefs of improvement, is, that the advantages of decent education have been longer eftablifhed in Wales, than in moft parts of England. I do not mean to affirm, that at the prefent moment the Welfh peafantry are better taught than the Englim, becaufe the instruction of the poor has of late been taken up in England by perfons of condition; and the benevolent inftitutions of this country, when once their neceffity is felt and acknowledged, are feldom allowed to relax in their progrefs towards univerfal utility. But I apprehend our middle-aged and elderly poor to be much more ignorant, than the middle-aged and elderly poor of Wales, at leaft in that part K with 66 GLAMORGANSHIRE. with which I am acquainted: and a certain portion of knowledge having defcended hereditarily from father to fon for feveral fucceeding generations, it is more firmly rooted and more generally fpread, than where it is of very recent acquirement, though the immediate opportunities are fuperior. It has been urged as an objection to Sunday and other day-fchools with us, that the children unlearn at home with their ignorant parents, fafter than the efforts of their inftructors can induce them to learn : but this objection would rarely be found to apply in the principality. There are few perfons in the towns, who are unable to read ; and even in the villages, and the more mountainous parts, fchools are very common, and in many inftances of ancient eftablifhment. Where there is no hall, as before defcribed, and efpecially in the mountains, the fchool is kept either in the church porch, or in the body of the church. There are many circumftances of local manners, totally differing from the habits and character of their fellow iflanders, w^hich cannot fail to ftrike the moft fuperficial obferver. An uncommon vivacity, both of tone and gefture, meeting halfway the faturnine demeanour * of the Englifh and the caricatured vehemence of the French, with an uniformity and peculiarity of drefs, gives in a great degree a foreign air to every concourfe of the country people. The drefs in Glamorganfhire is not fo ftrongly marked as in moft other counties, except that the women univerfally adopt the man's hat : but they wear it with a very good grace, and are remarkably neat in their attire, as well as comely in their perfons, and graceful in their carriage. It has already been mentioned, that dancing is a favourite amufement with them; and they practife it with a fkill almoft exclufively their own. There are few in the condition of fervants, who cannot dance well ; and the gentry not unfrequently introduce their domeftics into the fet, GLAMORGANSHIRE. 6 7 fet, on occafions of feftivity, when numbers add to the zeft, without detracting from the decorum of their recreation. Their modes of greeting are unufually affectionate, fometimes bordering on the ludicrous, among the women particularly, who are conftantly feen faluting each other at market, and on the moft ordinary occafions of bufinefs : but on occafions of diftrefs, to omit this iympathetic ceremony, even towards the moft ordinary acquaintance, would be confidercd as an inftance, rarely occurring, of pertinacious or mifanthropic oppofition to the common charities of nature. Ill may it befal the traveller, who has the misfortune of meeting a Welfh wedding on the road. He would be inclined to fuppofe, that he had fallen in with a company of lunatics, efcaped from their confinement. It is the cuftom of the whole party who are invited, both men and women, to ride full fpeed to the church porch, and the perfon who arrives there firft has fome privilege or diftinclion at the marriage feaft. To this important objecl all inferior confiderations give way ; whether the fafety of his majefty's fubje&s, who are not going to be married, or their own, incefTantly endangered by boifterous, unikilful, and contentious jockeyfliip. The natives, who are acquainted with the cuftom, and warned againft the cavalcade by its vociferous approach, turn afide at refpectful diftance : but the ftranger will be fortunate, if he efcapes being overthrown by an onfet, the occafion of which puts out of fight that urbanity, fo generally characteriftic of the people. Their cuftoms in cafe of death are not lefs remarkable. The bed on which the corpfe lies is always ftrewed with flowers, and the fame cuftom is obferved after it is laid in the coffin. They bury much earlier than we do in England ; feldom later than the third day, and very frequently on the fecond. This hafte would be confidered here as lefs refpeclful and affectionate : yet, take K z their 68 GLAMORGANSHIRE. their cuftoms in the aggregate, and they will be found to be more fo. Indeed, refpect or the reverfe on fuch occafions is altogether determined by opinion. The cuftom or ceremony is in itfclf nothing, any further than as it is fuppofed to indicate the mind. It appears to me that the cuftom of burying early is in every refpecl: the moft proper, where the evidence of actual mortality is decifive. In this part of the country efpecially it is for the intereft of the living; for the habit of filling the bed, the coffin, and the room, with fweet-fcented flowers, though originating probably in delicacy as well as affection, muft of courfe have a ftrong tendency to expedite the progrefs of decay. The attentions which immemorial prefcription demands from a family, are fuch as could not be continued long without ferious inconvenience. It is an invariable practice, both by day and night, to watch a corpfe ; and fo firm a hold has this fuppofed duty gained on their imaginations, that probably there is no inftance on record of a family fo unfeeling and abandoned, as to leave a dead body in the room by itfelf for a fingle minute, in the interval between the death and burial. Such a violation of decency would be remembered for generations. The hofpitality of the country is not lefs remarkable on melancholy than on joyful occafions. The invitations to a funeral are very general and extenfive ; and the refreshments are not light, and taken Standing, bat fubftantial and prolonged. Any deficiency in the fupply of ale would be as feverely cenfured on this occafion, as at a feflival. With refpecl: to thefe peculiarities, it is to be underftood that they apply rather to the farmers and peafantry, than to perfons of condition, who are apt to lofe their nationality, and contract the manners and opinions of the polite world: but ftrewing flowers and watching the corpfe are univerfal among all ranks and degrees, bccaufe the obfervance or neglect of fuch ceremonies depends on fervants and nurfes, GLAMORGANSHIRE. 69 nurfes, whofe minds are always peculiarly fufceptible of local and fuperftitious prejudices. The grave of the deceafed is conftantly overfpread with plucked flowers for a week or two after the funeral : the planting of graves with flowers is confined to the villages, and the poorer people. It is perhaps a prettier cuftom. It is very common to drefs the graves on Whitfunday, and other feftivals, when flowers are to be procured : and the frequency of this obfervance is a good deal affected by the refpecl: in which the deceafed was held. My father-in-law's grave in Cowbridge church has been ftrewed by his furviving fervants, every Sunday morning for thefe twenty years. It is ufual for a family not to appear at church till what is called the month's end, when they go in a body, and then are confidered as having returned to the common offices of life. The Roman flations, forts, and camps, in this county, are generally underftood to be at Cardiff, Caerphilly, Caera; the Britons generally prefixing the word Caer to places fortified by the Romans, as the Saxons termed them Chefter, both from , / / caftrum: whether the Roman Bovium was at Cowbridge, or , . •/.., *u*»* « at Llantwit Major, the learned have difagreed. The great o •<_♦_ **?*•. Roman road runs over Newton Down, leaving the prefent road • ^Je*. jL on the right, and paffes through Kenfig to Margam, and, as./ qI^Ji* <- c> ftraight as the nature of the country will admit, through Aberavon., ^z,/ hj^^- parifh to Neath. p^^c-f^ In the earlier volumes of the Archaeologia, publiflied by the Antiquarian Society, may be found fome curious papers on Welfh antiquities, well worth the notice of the hiftorian. Mr. Edward Lhuyd's Itinerary through Wales, publiflied in the Philofophical Tranfaclions, alfo deferves attention. Mr. Gough's Anecdotes of Britifh Topography will acquaint the reader with many very rare and curious tracls, in print and manufcript, relating I 7 o GLAMORGANSHIRE. relating to Wales, and indeed to every part of the kingdom, which are but very imperfectly known, Mr. John Wilkins, goldfmith to King James the Firft, furnifhed Drayton with many of thofe curious particulars relative to Wales, which are not to be met with elfewhere. Mr. Davis of Cringell, near Neath, has (J^X^ undertaken a hhtory of Glamorganfhire. [ 11 ] CHAPTER III. ABURTHIN. WELSH ST. DONATTS. PENDOYLAN. HENSOL, NEWTON HOUSE. YSTRADOWEN. ASH ALL. CHAPEL TALEGARN. LLAITTRISENT. 1 he following tour was performed in the months of June, July, Auguft, September, and October, 1803. The plan which I adopted was that of walking ; but taking a fervant on horfeback, for the conveyance of books as w r ell as neceiTaries, without which convenience almoft every advantage of a pedeflrian is loft, except economy, and that is completely frustrated by fb expenfive an addition. It is not in my power to carry my reader from ftage to ftage in the order in which I performed my journey, becaufe I made two circuits of South Wales, one in June and July, the other in Auguft, September, and October, and by this arrangement, enjoyed the beauties of the two feafons. On both occafions I vifited the following places : Llantrifent, Cardiff, Brecknock, Buallt, Rhayader, Aberiftwid, Cardigan, Haverford Weft, Pembroke, Tenby, Llandilo Vawr, Swanfea, Neath, and Bridgend; beginning and ending on both occafions with Cowbridge. At each of thefe places I arrived by a totally different route, which enabled me to comprehend at leaft two-thirds of each county ; and as it would be tedioufly uninterefting to the reader to be informed as to the precife time at which each point of view was obferved, I fhall only draw his attention to perfonal cirCumftances . 72 GLAMORGANSHIRE. on occafions, when the appearance of nature refulted peculiarly from the ftate of the feafons, or when the authenticity of my information was materially ftrengthened, by the fources from which it was derived. On paper, therefore, I fhall for the moll: part fleer my courfe, in the direction pointed out by the map ; a regularity which will, I hope, more than compenfate for the omimon of thofe road fide anecdotes, which fill the page with a very difproportionate entertainment, and little acceffion to the flock of ufeful matter. The vale of Glamorgan has, from frequent viilts and family connection, neceffarily obtained a larger fliare of my refearch, than thofe more diftant parts, which were only vifited in the capacity of a traveller; and as I made many fhort excurfions from Cowbridge, where I was for fome time flationary, for the fake of faving time and labour on my extended tour, I fhall begin my defcription with fome account of thofe places, which were fo vifited. The village of Aburthin lies at a fbort diflance to the north-eafl of Cowbridge. It claims attention on no other ground than that of its prefenting a rural and retired fpot, highly ornamented by fome remarkably neat white cottages, with which this county abounds, with fmall gardens very neatly kept, and well planted both for ornament and ufe. Between Aburthin and Welfh St. Donatts, in a very narrow lane, there is a tree, for fize and luxuriance, well worth the attention of thofe who are curious in fuch particulars. The name of the lafl-mentioned village feems to have been impofed, for the purpofe of diflinguifhing it from St. Donatts by the fea fide, which was occupied by a part of the Flemifh colony, fettled at Llantwit Major : but this village was entirely inhabited by native Welfh ; and it is very remarkable, that though it lies within little more than a mile of the great road #■ WELSH ST. DONATTS. PENDOYLAN. HENSOL. 73 road from England to Milford and Ireland, there is perhaps fcarcely a village in the principality, where lefs Englifh is fpoken. The fituation, particularly that of Mr. Lhewelin's houfe, is agreeable, without being ftriking. In this village are feveral fpecimens of the genuine Welfh pigftye, the conical form and folid fabric of which give an air of architectural dignity to thefe edifices, not granted to the habitations of fo flovenly a race in England. But the pigeon-houfes are in many places really ornamental: their height, fize, and circular conftruction, give them at a diflance the efTecl: of caftellate towers ; and fome of them are actually of very confiderable antiquity. From the top of an elevated common jufl beyond Welfh St. Donatts, you look down on the village of Pendoylan to the right ; and before you lies Henfol, the houfe and grounds belonging to which are feen to more advantage from this fpot, than from any fituation in the neighbourhood. The front of the manfion is completely feen, at a proper diftance ; and its ftyle is particularly impofing in a country which cannot be faid to abound in fpecimens of good building. Samuel Richardfon, Efq. is the prefent proprietor of this eflate, by purchafe from Lord Talbot, who takes from it his fecond title of Baron Henfol. But the Talbot family derived this inheritance from an intermarriage with the furvivor of the Jenkins's, who were the ancient Welfh pofTeffors of Henfol. The Lord Chancellor Talbot married Mifs Mathews, great grand-daughter and heir to David Jenkins of Henfol, one of the Juflices of Wales, diftinguifhed for his learning in his profeffion, and for his Heady adherence to the caufe of King Charles the Firft. He died in the year 1664; his wife died on the 15th of February, 1671. David Jenkins, Efq. his fon, died on the 18th of March, 1696"; Mary his wife died in September, 1667. Richard Jenkins, Efq. grandfon of the Judge, died on the 16th of July, 1731. This L Richard 74 GLAMORGANSHIRE. Richard Jenkins, commonly called Captain Jenkins, was a very good performer on the Welfh harp, and feems to have inherited undiminifhed that affection for Welfh poetry and mufic, which had diftinguifhed the Jenkins's of Henfol from time immemorial. He is faid to have made his own harps. He was a gentleman of very confiderable Angularities, and, as we generally find in fuch cafes, of mixed character : but the good predominated over the bad. He was fo generally refpected and efteemed among his tenantry and in his neighbourhood, that the warmth and wildnefs of his temper were forgotten in the effects of his benevolence. He was the laft Jenkins of Henfol : but he had the fatisfaction of living to fee his fifler well married, and her only daughter become the wife of a man, who was not likely to tarnifh the ancient honours of the houfe, though the name of Jenkins was funk. Catharine his wife died on the 19th of June, 17 19. The late Lord Talbot, fon of the Lord Chancellor, added the two wings with the towers to Henfol, between the years 1 730 and 1 740, which gave it its prefent caftellate appearance, and reftored its outward mow to that rank, which it is faid anciently to have held among the caftles. Its exterior is indeed more in unifon with that character, than that of any modernifed or rebuilt manfion in Glamorganshire. To the late Lord Talbot likewife the place owes its plantations, formed on the infeparable principles of good tafte and utility; indeed, from him it derives all its finished improvements. It was the eldeft fon of the Lord Chancellor, whom Thomfon accompanied in his travels, and whofe death he laments fo feelingly in the introductory lines to his " Liberty." Mr. Richardfon, the prefent owner, feems di/pofed to pay as much attention to the agricultural, as Lord Talbot did to the decorative, improvement of Henfol. He farms about fix hundred and fifty acres ; the high grounds to the north of the 7 houfe, HENSOL. NEWTON HOUSE. YSTRADOWEN. 75 houfe, which at once fhelter, and give an air of grandeur to the place, afford the beft fheep-walk in the county. Mr. Richardfon has greatly improved the demefne by irrigation, the direct object of which of courfe is to produce more copious crops of grafs. But a collateral advantage of this lyftem is, that the channels which he has formed for conveying the water over the land, fervc as drains for the moifture in the lower grounds ; and this is the more important, as the inconvenience could not be fufHciently removed by gutters underneath. There is a very fine piece of artificial water, meafuring twenty-five acres ; and the dimenfions of the pond between the houfe and mill are five and a half. The farm-yard, with its threfhing machine, and other modern improvements, is in a ftyle fuperior to the ufual habits of the country. The grounds in general are rich and pleafmg, and from the fummit of the heights which bound the premifes on the north and weft, command a magnificent and extenfive view of the fertile vale below. On the whole, this place contains a more than ordinary fhare . of domeftic attractions and agricultural capacity, with the addition of much picturefque beauty. Henfol lies on the right of the road from Cowbridge to Llantrifent : on the left is Newton Houfe, belonging to William Gibbon, Efq. It affords an inftance of the remarkable attachment felt by the country gentlemen of Wales for their family refidences. The fituation is low and marfliy, with a very confined profpect, and that neither pleafmg nor various ; yet Mr. Gibbon has for fome years been devoting the furplus of his income to the building of a neat, compact manfion on the fcite of the old houfe, though he has no direct defcendants to inherit it, and his perfonal habits are thofe of privacy and retirement. Yftradowen is remarkable for the battle fought between Conan ap Sitfylht and the Saxons, mentioned in the firft chapter; and L 2, ftili 76 GLAMORGANSHIRE. ftill more fo, for the meeting of the Welm bards, tinder the immemorial patronage of the Henfol family, at whofe expence they were annually entertained, with every indication of native hofpitality, on the 28th day of May. The laft affembly under thefe aufpices took place on the 28th of May, 1720; for though Richard Jenkins, the laft of the family, lived till July 1721, it does not appear that the meeting was patronized as ufual that year; perhaps on account of his declining ftate. It was, however, continued for fome years after his death, though it gradually dwindled into nothing, iri confequence of the new family at Henfol looking with indifference on the inftitution, and withdrawing the accuftomed liberality of the patrons. After the year 1730, or thereabouts, we hear nothing of the bardic competitions at Yftradowen. The houfe where the bards were entertained is ftill {landing. But it is to be obferved, that this affembly was not held according to the moft ancient and approved forms and ceremonies. The moft exact obfervers did not allow it to be regular and canonical, and confequently their difpleaiure, as well as the abfence of the old and fubftantial hofpitalities, may be fuppofed to have contributed to its diflblution. Afhall is the refidence of Richard Aubrey, Efq. Colonel of the Glamorganshire militia, and brother to Sir John Aubrey, Bart, of Llantrythid. This is one of the moft defirable places in the county, on a fmall and unaffected fcale. Viewed from a diftance, it holds out no inducement for the traveller to deviate from his path ; but when arrived there, he is furprifed to find that, from an eminence, gentle and apparently inconfiderable, he commands the whole of the rich and fertile flat between the fpot he ftands on and the Briftol Channel, the view of which, on a bright day, with the Somerfetfhire and Devonshire hills beyond, is Angularly beautiful, while the fituation itfelf is fkirted by a woody fhelter, and ASHALL. CHAPEL TALEGARN. LLANTRISENT. 77 and emboldened by the range of hills bounding the profpect on the north. Without any oflentatious difplay, inconfiflent with the dimenfions of the homeftead, Colonel Aubrey has brought his grounds into a flate of cultivation and beauty, far beyond what they poffeffed when I firft knew them, by the judicious application of moderate labour and expence, and particularly by difencumbering the lawn of thofe {tone fences, by which it was formerly the cuftom of this country to fhut out the beauties of the furrounding fcenery. On the road to Llantrifent, you leave Afhall on the left, and, keeping the boundaries of Henfol on your right, enter on a road which carries you from the track of Englifh converfation and polifhed inhabitants. But nature, growing wilder as more retired, amply recompences the pi&urefque traveller for the lofs. The landfcape becomes bolder and more woody; the hills are nearer, and their magnitude more imposing ; and the fituation of Llantrifent, which fills with its white buildings the lofty pafs between two craggy peaks, imparts no common intereft to his progrefs towards the mountains. The banks of the Elwy about Chapel Talegarn are pleafingly grown about, and the character of the river that of rural and quiet beauty. The afcent to Llantrifent is fteep ; but the profpecls become more and more flriking as you advance, and are perpetually varied by the circuitous direction of the road, till on gaining the church-yard you comprehend the magnificent whole at one view, X in which Penlline Caftle, always looking well at a diftance, forms a finking feature. This town has every thing againft it, except fituation. The houfes, with the exception of two or three, are in a ftyle very inferior, in point of comfort, to thofe even in Welfh towns, efpecially near the fea. But Llantrifent lying out of the high road between Cardiff and Merthyr Tydvil, and at the beginning of the hilly country, its intercourfe with the vale is very 78 GLAMORGANSHIRE. very limited and irregular ; and though a town not of very fmall population, the appearance of a ftranger excites fome curiofity and furprife. It takes its name from the church, dedicated to three faints ; a large Norman edifice. Little remains of the cattle, \/ befides the fragment of a circular tower ; but that little is worth vifiting, for the fake of the Situation and view. One of the circumstances which moft diftinguifhes the parilb of Llantrifent, is that of its having given birth to Sir Lhewelin, or Leolinus, Jenkins, of whofe life it may not be un interesting to give a fhort abftracl. It is an honourable pecukrity in the hiftory and character of this country, and proves its ariflocratical institutions to be tempered with practical freedom, that perfons born in very humble fituations are not unfrequently feen rifing to the firft offices of State : and where fuch elevation is not fufpecled to have been owing to thofe party cabals, which give the needy and unprincipled an opportunity of lending themfelves to the purpofes of men in high Stations ; where no whimfical accident has thruSt greatnefs on moulders not designed to bear it ; there is no page of biography more pleaSing to read, no feature in the portrait of a nation to l:c Studied with more advantage. In the inStance before us, no powerful patronage tore off the veil, which diffidence and want of opportunity too often caft over merit : to bis own affiduity and inceSTant application, joined with a rational dependence on his own powers, this fuccefsful traveller in the road of fortune was indebted for his SirSt advancement, and to unfailing probity for his multiplied and laSting honours. He was the fon of Jenkin Lhewelin, a fmall freeholder, and was instructed in the rudiments of the Latin and Greek languages at a grammar fchool in Cowbridge, whence he was removed to Oxford at the age of Sixteen, and admitted a member of Jefus College in the year 1 64 1. But on the breaking out of the civil wars, after having taken LLANTRISENT. 79 taken up arms for the royal caufe, though he did not long continue in a military capacity, he was under the neceflity of leaving the univerfity, and of returning to Glamorganshire. In a fhort time, he was engaged as a tutor for the fon of Sir John Aubrey, at Llantrythid, which was then an afylum to the perfecuted royalifts. Here he became acquainted with many eminent characters, and amongft others, with Dr. Frewyn, Archbifhop of York, and with Dr. Sheldon, afterwards Archbifhop of Canterbury. Having been forced, by the misfortunes of the times, to leave the kingdom, after a fecond attempt to fettle in Oxford, he travelled, during the period of three years, over a great part of France, Germany, and Holland, by which means he acquired a proficiency in the languages of thofe countries. At the reftoration, he returned to Jefus College, and was elected one of the fellows. Soon after, on the refignation of Dr. Manfel, he was unanimoufly chofen principal of the fociety. When the Dutch war increafed the bufinefs and fatigues of the Court, he was, in confequence of his profound knowledge in civil and maritime law, made anlftant to Dr. Exton, judge of the admiralty: and after he had exercifed his functions jointly for fome time, on the death of the principal he was himfelf appointed fole judge ; in which fituation ( his charges and decifions are defervedly held in repute even to the prefent day. In the year 1668, he was appointed by the Archbifhop of Canterbury, at the exprefs defire of King Charles the Second, to fucceed Dr. Myric as judge in the prerogative court of Canterbury: and his conduct in each court was honourable to himfelf, in proportion as it was Satisfactory and beneficial to his country. Henrietta Maria, the widow of Charles the Firft, died in France in the year 1669. Her property was claimed by her nephew Lewis the Fourteenth. Dr. Jenkins with three others was commifuoned to go to Paris, where So GLAMORGANSHIRE. where he demanded and recovered the queen- mother's effects, difcharged her debts, and provided for her interment : and King Charles the Second, to teftify his high approbation of the fervices performed in this inftance, conferred on him the honour of knighthood on his return to England. His next appointment was to be one of the commiffioners on the part of England, to treat with thofe authorized from Scotland about an union between the two kingdoms. He was chofen a reprefentative in parliament ibr Hythe in Kent, one of the cinque ports, in the year 1671. In 1673, having refigned his fituation as Principal of Jefus College, this rifmg ftatefman was appointed to attend a congrefs at Cologne, as ambaffador and plenipotentiary with others, for the purpofe of attempting to fettle a treaty of peace under the mediation of Sweden, between the Emperor, Spain, and Holland, on the one part, and England and France on the other. The negociation having failed at Cologne, he was appointed one of the mediators in the difcuffion of the treaty, at Nemiguen, in conjunction with the celebrated Sir William Temple. From Nemiguen he was appointed ambaffador extraordinary to the Hague, where having continued a fhort time, he returned to Nemiguen, and fucceeded moil happily in accommodating all differences. In 1679, he returned to England, after having been employed above four years in a tedious treaty. Soon after his arrival in England, he was elected one of the reprefentatives for the univerfity of Oxford. In 1680, he was fworn a privy counfellor, and was appointed fecretary of ftate. He retained the feals about four years, during a period of uncommon difficulty, owing to party rancour and animofity. On refigning his office as fecretary of ftate, in confequence of his declining health, he retired to Hammerfmith, between three and four miles from the metropolis : but having been again elected a member for the univerfity of Oxford, he was fwom of LLANTRISENT. 81 of the privy council, after the acceffion of James the Second. But his indifpofition fpeedily returned, and he died on the firfl of September, 1685. His remains were conveyed to Oxford, and interred in the area of Jefus College chapel, where there is an epitaph written in Latin by his friend Dr. Fell, at that time Bimop of Oxford and Dean of Chrift Church, which enumerates his offices and honours in regular progreffion, and concludes with ftyling him almoil a fecond founder of Jefus. Having never been married, his whole eftate was bequeathed to charitable ufes ; and by far the greater! part of it was left after his death to that college, which he had fo liberally patronized in his life-time. The events, which are here fketched, require no comment: but I would briefly call the attention of my reader to the circumftance, that this diftinguifhed Knight, Doctor of Laws, Judge, Privy Counfellor, and Secretary of State, was not worth a furname. The fon of Jenkin Lhewelin, a common combination to this day, became Sir Lhewelin Jenkin, according to the very fingular cuftom of this country: but the latter noun, to comply with Englifh manners, was pluralized into a permanent furname, and, had he been married, would probably have given birth to a higher race of Jenkins's. It adds not a little to the pleafure, w T ith which we contemplate fo deferved an elevation, that Jenkin Lhewelin and Elizabeth his wife both lived till the year 1667, and confequently ihared in the profperity of their fon. M Si GLAMORGANSHIRE. CHAPTER IV. CASTELLA. NEWBRIDGE. DUKES ARMS. PORTO HELLO. MELIN GRUFFYTH. PENTYRCH. CHAPEL LLANILTERN. LLANDAFF. ST. FAGANS ST. LYTHANS COMMON COEDRRWGL AN. ST. NICHOLAS. DUFFRIN HOUSE. COTTEREL. ST. GEORGES. PETERSTON SUPER ELWY. . . BONVILSTON . . . LLANTRYTHID PARK. . . ST. HILARY. . . COWBRIDGE. The defcent on the northern fide of Llantrifent opens to the view a country, where the effects of cultivation are lefs generally vifible, and the lefs expanded vale partakes the character of the hilly fcenery by which it is furrounded. On paffing the cleft in which the town ftands, the change in the face of nature is very finking, and the contrail of character between a mountain valley and that which you have jufi left, rarely impreffes itfelf more ftrongly on the mind. From this eminence Caftella, a feat belonging to the family of Trahaern, is feen to much advantage, and forms, by its cultivated and inhabited appearance, a gay and brilliant fpot in a landfcape, whofe prevailing ftyle is grand and fombre. It was once, as the name denotes, a fortified place : but what bloody fcenes have been acted there, it has not been my fortune to difcover. Perhaps its retirement within the hills has involved it in a peaceful and happy fecurity. At the bottom of the long defcent, the road on the right leads to Yr Evel Ifla, and acrofs the TafT to Caerphilly Cattle ; but the road to New Bridge carries you ftraight forward up a hill, higher than that you have juft defcended, and places you at once in the unfrequented wilds, which compofe the interior of Glamorganmire. For about three miles, nothing can be conceived more dreary than NEW BRIDGE. 83 than this almoft impaffable road: and it may not be unfeafonable to inform the traveller, that it is impracticable to pafs this way in a covered carriage, but with four horfes, and then at confiderable rifk to the vehicle. At very great inconvenience, and with every fenfation the reverfe of pleafure, is this broad and high ridge croffed over, where the effects of cultivation, fo miferably difproportioned to the toil, imprefs a gloom beyond that of actual barrennefs, without poiTeffing the fublimity of naked nature, to raife and infpire the imagination. But the change, on reaching the brow of a very fleep hill, a mile in length, is inftantaneous and delightful. The vale of Taffdifplays itfelf at orice, in the very fpot where its artificial and natural beauties are moil eminently combined. The confluence of the Taff and Rontha Vawr, each rolling impetuoufly over its bed of rocks; the brawling of fmaller and nearer rills, whofe waters are unfeen, but the found of their fall diftincT: ; the amphitheatre of hills, of which two, the boldeft and molt grand, feem to defend the parfes of the Taff, and to be connected by that flupendous bridge, viewed from this fpot in all the triumphs of its art; the luxuriance of the hanging woods diversified by projecting maffes of rock, that relieve the eye from the fatiety of richnefs ; the hills which clofe in upon the river above and below this wideft part of the vale; all thefe circumstances, milling at once upon the fight, after a long Lent of drearinefs, combine to make up as pleafurable a fcene, as the traveller can wifh to recompence his labours. The effect of the bridge is much more fenfibly felt, if it is firft feen from this eminence, than if your approach is from the Cardiff road ; and I muft take occafion here to obferve, that the vale of Taff is viewed to more advantage, by taking the turnpike road from New Bridge to Cardiff or Llandaff, than by coming up from either of thofe places. The appearance of the bridge from the hill on the Llantrifent road has generally been likened to that of a rainbow, M 2, from 84 GLAMORGANSHIRE. from the lightnefs, width, and elevation, of the arch. Without weighing the exaclnefs of a fimile, I may fafely fay that the effecT: of fuch a flruc~lure, in fuch a pofition between two rocky but well-wooded crags, with a confiderable reach of the river and valley feen through the lofty arch, affords an inftance fcarcely to be paralleled, of art happily introduced among the wildeft fcenes of nature. It is a quefiion therefore to be afked, what eminent artifl, whether from our own or fome foreign academy, furnifhed this extraordinary defign. But as the circumflances of this Welfli bridge-builder were totally different from thofe, in which fo celebrated a work might be fuppofed to have been undertaken, I conceive that it will be adding fomething to the flock of interefting biography, if I fupply the deficiencies of former publications, by the following account, drawn up from the communications of his fon David Edwards, with which I was favoured at his own houfe, in the month of October, 1803. William Edwards was the fon of a farmer, wdio had two other fons and a daughter. The family lived in the parifh of Eglwyfilan, in the county of Glamorgan, very near the fpot which was hereafter to be the foundation of its celebrity. William Edwards was born in the year 17 ig. His father died when he was only two years old. He was the youngeft fon. He, with his other two brothers and filler, lived with their mother on the farm, till he was about fixteen or eighteen years of age. When he had reached his fifteenth year, he frequently repaired the w T alls, or Hone fences, of the farm. Every traveller, who is acquainted with Wales, mud have remarked, that fuch fences are common in the mountain diflricl:. He was obferved to perform his work in a flyle uncommonly neat and firm, and with an expedition furpaffing that of moll: others. Some friends, obferving this, adviled the elder brother to encourage him in this employment, not only on their ow T n farm, but in the fervice of any neighbours, who NEW BRIDGE. 85 who might wifh to engage him. • William readily aflented to this propofal, and worked almoft continually at wall-building, for which occupation his talents were in eager requeft. He added his earnings regularly to the common ftock of his mother and and brothers, who carried on the bufinefs of the farm. The fences in this part of the country are called in technical phrafeology dry walls, from the circumftance of their being conftru&ed without any mortar. Some time after he had exercifed his ingenuity in this way, fome mafons, regularly brought up to the trade, came to the neighbourhood for the purpofe of erecting a ihed for ihoeing horfes at a fmith's and farrier's fhop. William Edwards admired the neatnefs with which they conftructed the pillars, and other parts of the ihed, and felt an anxious wifh for .the ability to do the fame. He often left his work, and came to a field oppofite the fmith's fhop, where the mafons were employed. He obferved that with the common mafon's hammer of the country, one end of which is alfo an axe, they were able to drefs their ftones very neatly ; and this led him to the difcovery, that the principal reafon why he could not do the fame, arofe from his hammer not being fteeled. He made all poffible hafte therefore to procure from a fmith fome hammers better fuited to his purpofe, fuch as he obferved thofe mafons to ufe ; and found that with them he could execute his dry- walling much better, and with a neatnefs far beyond what he had before been able to accompliih. Being thus furnifhed with proper tools, and having acquired a degree of dexterity in the ufe of them, he afpired to a higher rank in his profeffion ; and from a dry- wall builder, hoped to become a builder of houfes. Soon afterwards, he undertook to build a little workihop for a neighbour; and gained great applaufe for the propriety with which he performed his contract. A very fhort period had elapfed, before he was employed to ere & 1 a mill 86 GLAMORGANSHIRE. a mill in his own panm ; and it was in the profecution of this building, that he firft became acquainted with the principles of an arch. When this mill was finiihed, it did not merely meet with cold approbation, but was admired by all approved judges as an excellent piece of mafonry. He was now confidered as the bell workman in that part of the country. Employment was thrufl: upon him on better grounds than Malvolio's greatnefs; and as fkill and fidelity are indifpenfably requifite in a bufinefs, which requires the evidence of time and experience to detect faults, not then to be remedied, application was generally made to William Edwards, by thofe who wiftied to avoid both difappointment and altercation. In 1746", he undertook to build a new bridge over the river TarT, at the fpot, the Angularities of which have introduced him to our attention. This he executed in a ftyle fuperior to any thing of the kind in this, or indeed any other part of Wales, for neatnefs of workmanfhip and elegance ofdefign. It confuted of three arches, elegantly light in their construction. The hewn ftones were excellently well dreffed and clofely jointed. It was admired by all who faw it. But this river runs through a very deep vale, that is more than ufually Woody, and crowded about with mountains. It is alfo to .be confidered, that many other rivers of no mean capacity, as the Crue, the Bargoed TafT, and the Cunno, befides almoft numberlefs brooks that run through long, deep, and well-wooded vales or glens, fall into the Taff in its progrefs. The defcents into thefe vales from the mountains being in general very Sleep, the w r ater in long and heavy rains collects into thefe rivers with great rapidity and force ; raifing floods that in their defcriptions would appear abfolutely incredible to the inhabitants of open and flat countries, where the rivers are neither fo precipitate in their courfes and projections, nor have fuch hills on each fide to fwell them NEW BRIDGE. 87 them with their torrents. Such a flood unfortunately- occurred after the completion of this undertaking, which tore up the largefl trees by the roots, and carried them down the river to the bridge, where the arches were not fufficiently wide to admit of their pafTage. Here therefore they were detained. Brum wood,- weeds, hay, flraw, and whatever lay in the w T ay of the flood, came down, and collected about the branches of the trees, that fhick fail in the arches, and choaked the free current of the water. In confequence of this obflruction to the flood, a thick and flrong dam, as it were, was thus formed. The aggregate of fo many collected flreams, being unable to get any further, rofe here to a prodigious height, and with the force of its prefTure carried the bridge entirely away before it. William Edwards had given the moft ample fecurity, both in his own perfon and the fureties of refpectable friends, for the {lability of the bridge during the fpace of feven years. Of courfe he was obliged to erect another ; and he proceeded on his duty with all poffible lpeed. The bridge had only flood about two years and a half. The fecond bridge was of one arch, for the purpofe of admitting freely under it whatever incumbrances the floods might bring down. The fpan or chord of this arch was one hundred and forty feet ; Jft- its altitude thirty-five feet; the fegment of a circle whofe diameter was one hundred and feventy feet. The arch was finifhed, but the parapets not yet erected, when fuch was the prefTure of the unavoidably ponderous work over the haunches, that it fprung up in the middle, and the key-flones were forced out. This was a fevere blow to a man, who had hitherto met with nothing but misfortune in an enterprize, which was to eflablifh or ruin him in his profeffion. William Edwards, however, poffefTed a courage which did not eafdy forfake him, fo that he was not greatly difconcerted. He engaged in it the third time ; and by means of three 88 GLAMORGANSHIRE.. three cylindrical holes through the work over the haunches, fo reduced the weight over them, that there was no longer any danger from it. Thefe holes or cylinders rife above each other, afcending in the order of the arch, three at each end, or over each of the haunches. The diameter of the loweft is nine feet, of the fecond, fix feet, and of the uppermoft, three feet. They give the bridge an air of uncommon elegance. The fecond bridge fell in 1 75 1. The third, which has flood ever fince, was completed in 1755. It is generally fuppofed, that William Edwards experienced the liberality of fome gentlemen in the county, which was increafed by the gratuities of others, who came from many parts of the kingdom to fee the bridge and its builder: but of this we have no clear or certain accounts ; nor do his family know that he was ever indebted for any emolument but to his own induftry and abilities. Hitherto the Rialto was efteemed the largeft arch in Europe, if not in the world. Its fpan or chord was ninety-eight feet. .But New Bridge is forty-two feet wider; and was till lately, if it is not ftill fo, and I am not aware that its claim to this diflinclion is invalidated, the larger!: arch in the world, of which we have any authentic account. The fame of this bridge introduced William Edwards to public notice ; and he was employed to build many other bridges in South Wales. One of the next bridges that he conftrucled was Ulk Bridge, over the river Ufk, at the town of Ufk in Monmouthmire. It was a large and handfome work. He afterwards built the following bridges, in the order of fucceffion which is here affigned them. A bridge of three arches over the river Tawy ; Pont ar Tawy, over the fame river, about ten miles above the town of Swanfea. This was of one arch, its chord eighty feet, with one cylinder over the haunches. Bettws Bridge in Caermarthenmire, confifting of NEW BRIDGE. 89 one arch, forty-five feet in the fpan. Llandovery Bridge in the fame county, confuting of one arch, eighty-four feet in the fpan, with one cylinder over the haunches. Wychbree Bridge, over the river Tawy, about two miles above Morrifton : this has one arch, ninety-five feet in fpan, twenty feet in altitude, with two cylinders over each of the haunches to relieve them. He built Aberavon Bridge in Glamorganfhire, confifting of one arch, feventy feet in fpan, fifteen feet in altitude, but without cylinders. He likewife built Glafbury Bridge, near Hay, in Brecknocldhire, over the river Wye : it confifts of five arches, and is a tight, elegant bridge. The arches are fmall fegments of large circles on high piers, as beft adapted to facilitate the paflage of floods under the bridge, and travellers over it. William Edwards devifed very important improvements in the art of bridge-building. His firft bridges of one arch he found to be too high, fo as to be difficult for carriages, and even horfes, to pafs over. The fteeps at each end of New Bridge in particular are very inconvenient, from the largenefs and altitude of the arch. This peculiarity, it is true, adds much to its perfpective effecT: as a part of the landfcape ; but the fober market-traveller is not recompenfed for the toil of afcending and defcending an artificial mountain, by the comparifon of a rainbow and the raptures of a draughtfman. He avoided this defect in his fubfequent works ; but it was by a cautious gradation that he attempted to correct his early and erroneous principles, and to confult the eafe of the public, at the fame time that he furmounted the greatefi: difficulties of his occupation. At length he difcovered, not by reading, converfation, or any other mode of extrinfic inftruction, but by dint of his own genius matured in the fchool of experience, that where the abutments are fecure from the danger of giving way, arches of much lefs fegments, and of far lefs altitude, than N general 9 o GLAMORGANSHIRE. general opinion had hitherto required, are perfectly fecure, and render the bridges much eafier for carriages to pafs over, and in every refpect adapt them better to the purpofes of a ready and free communication. ImprefTed with the importance of thofe rules, by which he had afliduoufly perfected his own practice, he was in the habit of confide ring his own branch of architecture as reducible to three great requisites : durability; the freedom of the water flowing under; and the eafe of the traffic paffing over. Thefe are certainly maxims of peculiar importance in bridges of one arch, which are not only the belt adapted to fituations, where tremendous floods occur, but in many cafes are the only bridges fecurely practicable in mountain vallies. The literary knowledge of William Edwards was at firft confined to the Welfh language, which he could read and write from early youth. He was fuppofed to be rather obftinate when a boy; an imputation which generally relts on genius, that fees beyond the fcope of thofe by whom it is controlled. His own account of this alleged temper was, that he always confidered whether any thing that was propofed to him, or any principle he was required to act upon, coincided with his own ideas of rectitude. If he found that it did, he firmly perfifted in it. His general character was that of uncommon refolution and inflexibility. He was very wild, as it is commonly reported of him, till about eighteen years of age. After that period, he became very fleady and fedate. A neighbour instructed him a little in arithmetic. About the age of twenty or twenty-one, he undertook the building of a large iron forge at Cardiff, and lodged with a perfon named Walter RofTer, a baker, and blind. This man taught Englifh reading. William Edwards was alive to every opportunity of improvement, and rapidly acquired what he eagerly purfued. He feems, indeed, to have pofTefled a mind, that could not eafily be NEW BRIDGE. 91 be flopped in its progrefs, To the two languages, however, his attainments in literature were confined ; but their application to the various branches of ftudy in which he was engaged, afforded conftant exercife even to his induftry and fpirit of inquiry. After he had performed his engagement at Cardiff, he built many good houfes, with feveral forges and fmelting houfes, and was for many years employed at works of this nature by John Morris, of Clafemont, Efq. Caerphilly Caftle is in his native parifli. He has often been heard to fay, that he would frequently vifit that celebrated ruin, and ftudy the principles of its excellent mafonry, with all its various peculiarities, appearing in thofe venerable remains. He confidered himfelf to have derived more important knowledge from this, than from any other circumftance. Indeed, his. principles were formed on thofe of the Caerphilly Caftle mafonry. He was, what may with fufficient propriety be termed, a mafon of the ancient caftle, or Gothic fchool. His manner of hewing and dreffing his ftones was exactly that of the old caftle-mafons. He put them together in a ftyle of clofenefs, neatnefs, and firmnefs, that is never feen but in thofe ancient, and, as far as we know, everlafting edifices. His fon is perhaps the only workman remaining, who on any occafion practifes the ancient mafonry : and in the modern he is equally a proficient. The full complement of bufinefs, which ufually attends a high reputation in any line, might be fuppofed to have engrafted all the time and thoughts of a felf-taught man. But William Edw r ards united with his trade the occupation of a farmer during the whole of his life. Nor was Sunday, though a fabbath, a day of reft to him ; for then he had clerical functions to exercife. In his religious fentiments he was a diffenter, of the denomination ftyled Independents. About 1750, he was regularly ordained N z according 92 GLAMORGANSHIRE. according to the ufage of the fed of which he was a member ; and about the fame time was chofen minifler of the congregation meeting at a chapel in his native parim, where he officiated for forty years, and till he died. He was a Calvinift, but of a very liberal description : indeed, he carried his charity fo far, that many perfons fufpected he had changed his opinions, and for that reafon fpoke very unhandfomely of him. For a length, of time, during the laft years of his ministry, he always avoided in his difcourfes thofe points of doctrine that were more peculiarly in difpute between the Calvinifls and other parties. He frequently repeated and enforced a maxim, well worthy the adoption of the moft enlightened and eminent divines : that the love of God and of our neighbour is the ultimate end of all religions, which having attained, their poffefTors had arrived at their object ; and that it is againft the fpirit of Christianity to fuppofe, that among all parties, be they what they may, there are not many who have indifputably obtained this distinguishing characteristic. Few among his party were confidered to be fo edifying in their difcourfes as he was ; and this fpecimen has a Strong tendency to accredit the opinion : but fentiments of fuch liberality and moderation muft have been fufpected of trenching a little on the foundnefs of his Calvinifm. Another principle of his evinced that his judgment was equal to his candour. He always declared it to be the duty of a religious fociety, to fupport their minister decently ; and for this reafon he took from his congregation the Stipulated falary, though he never converted a fingle farthing of it to his own ufe, but distributed the whole among the poor members of the church, and even added very confiderably to this Jargefs from his own perfonal property. He very wifely alleged, that though a lucrative bufinefs would have allowed him to officiate gratuitously, his fucceflbr might be differently circumstanced ; and the NEW BRIDGE. 9$ the people, relieved from a burden for a time, would look with an evil eye on an inftru&or, who had it not in his power to exhibit fimilar difintereftednefs. So judicious a mixture of prudence and generofity might furnifh a leffon to certain undifcriminating enthufiafts, who brand with the opprobrious name of hire thofe fair emoluments, from which refpeclable abilities, however or wherever employed, are entitled to derive eafe and competence. From thefe authentic notices it will fufficiently appear, that thofe who have termed him farcaftically, or by way of ridicule, a methodift preacher, have egregioufly mifreprefented him. He never officiated at any of the methodift meetings. He frequently preached at the dhTenting meeting-houfe of the Rev. Lewis Rees r father of Dr. Abraham Rees, the editor of the New Encyclopedia. ^ This meeting-houfe was fituated near Morrifton, the building of which he fuperintended. Many of his difcourfes were taken down in fhort-hand by William Jones, clerk to Mr. Padley of Swanfea. They were always delivered in Welfli. It may well be fuppofed that he detefted an intolerant or perfecuting fpirit,, and always reprobated the rancour of too many dinenters towards the eftablimed church. He was well refpected by the mod intelligent and liberal of all feels and parties, and died, very much lamented by all who knew him, in the year 1789, and in the feventieth year of his age, in his native parim of Eglwyfilan, where he lies buried in the churchyard. He had fix children : four fons and two daughters. Thomas, David, and Edward, were brought up to their father's trade ; William was mot at Gibraltar in the American war. His fon David is likewife very fkilful in bridge-building, the N principles of which he learnt by working with his father. Among many others, be built in Caermarthenftiire, Llandilo Bridge, of three very light, elegant, and large arches, over the river Towy„ fix 9 4 GLAMORGANSHIRE. fix miles above the town of Caermarthen ; Edwinsford Bridge over the river Cothy; Pontloyrig over the river Taw, that divides X the counties of Caermarthen and Pembroke ; Bedwas Bridge over the Remny, between the counties of. Glamorgan and Monmouth ; and, laft of all, Newport Bridge over the Ufk in Monmouthfhire : and this, if we confider the impediments with which he had to ftruggle here, muft be allowed to have been a very arduous undertaking. The difficulty of making good foundations, together with the hazards attending Welm mountain floods from the land, and the furious Severn tides from the Briftol Channel, might have deterred a lefs enterprifing artift : but he furmounted every obftacle, and completed it in 1 80 r . It confifts of five arches, fupported by high piers. The central arch is feventy feet in the fpan, and twenty-two feet and a half high from the bafe or chord of the arch. The other arches are each fixty-two feet in the fpan, and twenty-two feet in altitude. The piers are fourteen feet wide at the fpringing of the arches. The height, from low-water mark to the top of the parapet, is fifty-feven feet. It is a very ornamental, magnificent, fcientific, and conveniently conftructed bridge. Mr. David Edwards lives at prefent in Glamorganshire, in a good farm of about five hundred pounds per annum. He is very much refpecled in his neighbourhood; fimple in his manners, hofpitable in his houfe, and very intelligent in his profeffion. His fon William, brought up to the trade, is a very fkilful mafon, and particularly fo in all kinds of bridge and water- works. He now fuperintends many of the locks and bridges of the Kennet and Avon navigation from London to Briftol : but his father is not informed whether he has yet entered into a contract for the rebuilding of Caerleon Bridge in Monmouthlhire. The prefent is an uncommon inftance of the fame tafte and talents pervading 3 a family NEW BRIDGE, 9$ a family for three generations. Bridge-building and farming feem deftined to be their hereditary employments. About half a mile above New Bridge on the TafT, is a water-fall of confiderable celebrity, not for its height, but for the grandeur of its concomitant fcenery. The way is along a path, beautifully- overhung, between the bank of the river, and that lofty pile of impending rock, which has been mentioned before as feeming, at a diftance, to be connected with its rival on the other fide by the magnificent arch of New Bridge. The naked terrors of the rock are relieved and rendered picturefque by the wood, which fprings luxuriantly from between its clefts : and I have been informed by a native of North Wales, that he has not been accuftomed in his own country to meet with fo much of mountain ruggednefs and fylvan beauty combined in one fpot. The river exhibits a fcene of uncommon wildnefs : as far as the eye can reach, its bed is choaked with rocks, which in fome places collect the water into deep tranfparent pools, and in others tower above its furfacc in high and irregular maffes. The effect of thefe piles on the character of the ftream, and of its conftant wearing on their forms in return, unites the properties of fmgularity and fublimity in a very high degree. The fall is divided, by the ftrata over which it is projected, into feveral cafcades, which, by their number and variety, atone to the eye of wonder for the inconfiderable defcent of ten feet. In times of flood, thefe feveral ftreams mufl coalefce nearly into one, only interrupted by the large and lofty mafs about the centre of the bed ; and then fo wide a meet of water foaming over the grey rocks, contrafted with the fhadows- which the banks project, and the furrounding verdure, muft indeed be grand. From the rocks in the middle of the river, the reach of the vale is peculiarly advantageous : and perhaps the magic of New Bridge is no where fo impofing, as when viewed from the front ^5 GLAMORGANSHIRE. front of the fall. The abutments on each fide are concealed by a fmall bend of the Taff, and by the intervening foliage of the banks ; and the arch feems to ride unfupported in the air. On the Rontha there are many falls; one of them well known: but I mall defer my remarks on that river till a future occasion. The road from New Bridge to the Duke's Arms, a refpectable inn, paffes along the river fide, with which a very curious canal keeps pace. This canal is efteemed a remarkable inflance of art triumphing over the obftacles thrown in its way by nature. The courfe of the river continues dark, rocky, interrupted, and romantic. The hills that clofe in the narrow vale are lofty and precipitate, but clothed with an almoft exhaufllefs magnificence of wood. As you look towards Cardiff, they encroach ftill more, and apparently converge to a point, where intervolving mountains feem finally to clofe the fcene. As the hills crowd more obtrufively on the bed of Taff, the road is carried higher and higher up their fides, to the unfpeakable gratification of the traveller, whofe eye is kept on the flretch by the rapid fucceffion of fcenery exhibited at every turn. It is with difficulty that the admirer of mountain vallies, whofe route requires him to turn on the left for Caerphilly Caflle, can perfuade himfelf to exchange this theatre of enchantment for that rude and laborious path, which is to conduct him towards the magnificent object of his fearch, but affords him no gratification, except the fight of Energln, till he arrives there. The character ~of the fcenery along the road continues fimilar, though various, till you arrive at Porto Bello, the fpot where the mountains clofe in on each fide, as defcribed above ; and here the mountain, along whofe fide you are journeying, is romantically topped by a very picturefque caflle in ruins. This is a moit characterise fpot, and, as it were, the gate- way of the vale, compofed PORTO BELLO. MELIN GRUFFYTI1. 97 compofed of wood and rock. This cattle was a dependency on Cardiff, and a fort of outpofl: : it derives its Welfh appellation from the high rock of red ilone on which it {lands. Its elevated pofition, and the contour of its half-proftrate walls, render it a moil magnificent addition to the beauties collected on this luxurious fpot. It mull: have been nearly impregnable in ancient times, from its height and fteep afcent. I found the ruins, when I arrived at them, infinitely more confiderable than they appeared to me from the road. But this concealment, effected as it is by the intervention of bufhes and foliage, only ferves to render it more ornamental in the landfcape. The rocky fummit of the mountain, which is of a bluifh tint, forms a fine contrail: with the red foil and thick foliage, fo rich and picturefquely decorative on its fides. From this place the profpect is beautiful and ftriking: on one fide appears the valley above this ftrait in all its romantic variety; on the other, the flat and fertile country ftretching out under the eye, and bounded by the fea. After defcending from the cattle, the face of nature changes, and the valley becomes wider ; the fancy is flill gratified by pleafing, but lefs flupendous views ; and the vicinity of population is anticipated by the more regular and artificial afpect of the country. The tin works at Melin Gruffyth are perhaps the largeft in the kingdom ; not lefs than thirteen thoufand boxes of the very belt tin plates, containing two hundred and twenty-five plates in each box, have been known to be fent within the year from this manufactory to Briftol. The fcraps of iron plates from which the tin is made are converted into bolt-iron for ihip-building. This* place is four miles north of Cardiff. The numerous ranges of buildings for the habitations of the workmen give this part of the vale an air of buttle and bufinefs ; while the canal, patting parallel with the Taff, and not being carried in a ftraight line, O infringes 98 GLAMORGANSHIRE. infringes lefs on nature and beauty, than almoft any other artificial conftruclion of the kind. The banks oppofite the towing path are fteep, though not lofty, and richly ornamented with hanging ■woods. Near this place, the road towards LlandafF croffes the canal, while the Cardiff road keeps ftraight forward. There is nothing particularly defending obfervation, till you reach LlandafF Bridge, a venerable ftrucFure overhung with ivy, and commanding a long reach of the TafF, which has now completely changed its character. It has quitted the obftrucFions of the hills, and keeps on a fteady, tranquil courfe through the plain, its bed deep and unincumbered, its banks fhady and contemplative. There are few occurrences more gratifying to the mind, than the contraft of fcenery higher up the vale, and at LlandafF Bridge. The courfe of the water, from having been rapid, mallow, noily, and narrowed by obtruding rocks, is become gentle and glafFy like a lake, deep, broad, and filent. The bridge is carried over it, where a long reach without any winding lies directly under the eye, and forms a fcene of fylvan beauty, perfect in kind and exquifite in degree. There is Hkewife a turnpike road from Llantrifent to LlandafF", running parallel with that juft defcribed, and paffing through the vale of Elwy, fhut in by thofe hills on the eaft, which bound the vale of TafF to the weft. The character of the country here is altogether different ; it affords perhaps the moft advantageous fpecimen of richnefs and cultivation to be met with in GlamOrganfhire, to fo great an extent. Its inequalities, indeed, and picFurefque intereft are lefs ; but it is woody and pleafingly diverfified, fo as in fome degree to mingle the requifites of the painter with thofe more fubftantial ones of the farmer. At a fhort diftance from Llantrifent on the right, are the ruins of PENTYRCH. 99 of an ancient monaftery, dedicated to St. Cawrdav, fon of Caradoc with the Brawny Arm, though of no great extent, more diftind: and complete than almoft any thing of the kind remaining. Ewenny is at prefent the moil: perfect ; but the dilapidations now beginning to be committed on that venerable remnant of monaftic life will rob Glamorganmire of its proudeft antiquarian honours. It is a trite remark, that the monks always knew how to choofe their fituation. The ftructure of which I am fpeaking ftands on a moderate eminence, overlooking this fertile and pleafant vale. The charms of the fpot are at prefent heightened by a very well-planted park and handfome manfion immediately under the eye at the foot of the hill. The ruins are only worth notice on account of their antiquity. On the left of the road about Pentyrch, are very extenfive collieries among the hills, which likewife abound in iron ore, and are thought to be capable, by the application of induftry and K enterprise, of rivalling Merthyr Tydvil in quality and copioumefs. The country, as in all fuch neighbourhoods, is w r ild and black ; and one of the largeft mountains in Glamorganmire overhanging thefe mines gives a magnificence to the footy complexion of the icene. One of thefe mines has been known to have been on fire for many years; indeed, according to my information, during the memory of the oldefl perfon in the neighbourhood : the fpot was generally to be traced by fmoke hTuing from the fu.rface of the ground, burnt to cinders by the pent-up fire ; and fometimes by flame ivluing as from a miniature volcano. About two years ago Mr. Rickards, jun. the fon of a very refpectable clergyman at Llantrifent, in purfuit of game, fell up to his middle in this heap of allies then burning, and was very much fcorched. His companions, from one of whom I received the account, experienced much difficulty in extricating him ; and, had he been alone, in O2 all ioo GLAMORGANSHIRE. all probability he would have furik much deeper, and muft inevitably have perifhecf. A long {lick pufhed down would at any time, by giving vent to the fubterraneoUs fire, occafion fmoke, and often flame, to afcend : but it is now probably extinguifhed, as it has not been difcovered burning by any of the country people for the laft year ; and I tried the experiment of {lining it repeatedly in vain. The country from Pentyrch to LlandafF is fine, without any very marked objects, except that there is an infcription at Chapel Llaniltern, in the corner of the tower without, faid to be to the memory of Arthur's wife. ^V Myric, King of Glamorgan, and the, whole of the Silures, J^C founded the epifcopal feat of LlandafF, in the middle of the fifth century, and endowed it with all the lands between the rivers TafFand Elwy. St. Dubric, a native of Pembrokefhire, from the banks of the Gwin, where from early youth he had been fo celebrated for his learning, that the whole country round about flocked to his fchool by the river fide, was firft appointed to the new bifhopric of LlandafF, for his zealous oppofition to the Pelagian herefy. This diftinguifhed ecclefiaftic was afterwards confecrated Archbifhop of Caerleon, and made metropolitan of Wales. In this capacity he crowned fuccefTively Uther Pendragon and the great King Arthur; in whofe reign he died, on the 13th of November, 523. He left behind him fome learned declamations in Latin. He was fucceeded in the primacy at Caerleoa by St. David, who procured the tranflation of the archbifhopric to his own town. St. Owdock fucceeded him as Bifhop of LlandafF, in whofe time many parcels of land and large pofTeffions were added to the revenues of the church, by petty kings and princes, as an expiatory penance for murder and injuftice. St. Telean was next in fucceflion to the bifhopric of LlandafF, in the latter part of the fifth and beginning of the fixth centuries. There are feveral LLANDAFF. 101 feveral churches dedicated to St. Telean in South Wales, which are to be known by the circumftance of the parifh to which they belong bearing the name of Llandilo, which is in Englifh the church of St. Telean. This faint was diftinguifhed, with David and Padern, for the zeal with which he preached the gofpel without reward. They were called the three holy vifitors of Britain. This difintereftednefs, however, can only be confidered as applying to their conduct before their confecration. During feveral centuries this bifhopric continued to profit by multiplied compenfations for. crimes : but in the twelfth century, the bifhop of the time complained heavily to the Pope that his brethren of Hereford and St. David's had encroached on the jurifdiclion and revenues of his church, which had once been the miftrefs of all Wales, but was then almoft defolate, and had only two inftead of four-and-twenty canons. Thefe infringements of its territorial rights, together with the improvident difpofal of its property and eftates after the reformation, have reduced it from one of the moft fplendid, to the pooreft fee in Great Britain. The diocefe of LlandafT at prefent contains, befides fome parcels of the adjoining mires, above three parts in four of Glamorgan ; in which county there are two deaneries, LlandafF and Cowbridge ; and all the deaneries are under the Archdeacon of LlandafF. The members of the cathedral are a bifhop, who has, befides the epifcopal throne, the decanal flail in the choir, an archdeacon, treafurer, chancellor, precentor, and nine prebendaries, who conftitute the chapter. The other members are, two prieft-vicars, a fchoolmafter, virger, and bell-ringer. There were formerly four lay- vicars, an organift, four chorifters, and a Latin fchoolmafter; but thefe were put down, that their ftipends might be applied towards repairing the fabric ; a fuppreflion that might have been confidered 102 GLAMORGANSHIRE. considered as meritorious, had the renovation been decently and tafte fully conducted. The hiflory of the building feems to be this: that it was deftroyed at the time of the conqueft, and rebuilt in its prefent form by its bifhop, Urban, in the year 1120, at which time the bones of St. Dubric were tranflated from the place where he died, for more honourable interment in his own cathedral. It was this Urban who complained to the Pope of invafion ; and probably he proportioned the dimenfions of his new edifice to the more circumfcribed limits within which his jurisdiction was confined ; for though the prefent remains evince a high degree of merit and (kill in their architecture, it was on a very fmall fcale as a cathedral, though in the earlier ages its importance was nearly commenfurate with that of St. David's, with which it has by fome been thought to have fhared the archiepifcopal honours for a time. The church, when rebuilt, was dedicated to St. Peter, as before ; but St. Dubric, St. Owdock, and St. Telean, were added to the firm. The welt end had two towers, one of which only remains, and that in ruins, having been damaged by a violent florin in 1703. The north tower was elegantly rebuilt in the reign of Henry the Seventh : but its pinnacles and battlements were alfo deftroyed by the fame tempeft. A considerable portion of the welt front, with fome part of the fide 'walls to the Spring of the arches, affords an elegant and beautiful Specimen of what is commonly called Gothic architecture. There is on the South Side a very richly executed Norman door-caSe : yet the whole being unroofed, Serves only as an entrance to the new building, which the zeal of the chapter, ill Supported by its tafte, has united with the ancient, as an outrageouily incongruous appendage of modern finery. To whom they were indebted for the Y LLANDAFF. x o 3 the defigrr I know not: whoever he was, he played on their unarchiteclural credulity, but altogether at the expence of his own reputation. As it ftands at prefent, the apoftolic church of St. Peter, St. Dubric, St. Owdock, and St. Telean, ferves as a veftibule to a Grecian temple. I wifh the ftipends' of the lay-vicars', the organift, the chorifters, and the Latin pedagogue, had accumulated till this time; for the pains which the prefent chapter have taken in clearing away the rubbifh, that the well-fculptured ruins may be commodioufly feen, together with a laudable anxiety for their preservation, as far as depends upon them, all feem to argue that they would have carried on the line of the nave, if not in a ftyle of correfponding magnificence, at leaft with neatnefs and coniiftency. There is neither crofs aifle, nor middle tower, to this cathedral. This is the moll ruinous church, belonging to a biihop's fee, in Great Britain. It is underftood to have fufFered greatly during the rebellion in the reign of Henry the Fourth. It ftands, as feems to have been the fafhion in this part of the country for buildings of great account, in a bottom, furrounded by rifing grounds, that overlook its higheft battlements. It ferves, therefore, neither as a beacon nor ornament to the neighbourhood : but its fituation, when you come to it, is awful and monaftic, interfperfed as it is with religious remains, and partially overhung with wood, or clothed with ivy. There are feveral ancient, and forhe elegant monuments of bifhops and considerable families. There is one in particular, of an emaciated figure, in which the appearance of ficknefs and morbid wafting is reprefented with admirable fidelity and appeal to feeling. There are alfo two in alabafter, belonging to- the family of Mathews, that are very taftefully executed, and thought to be the work of an Italian fculptor; The cancellated palace of the bifhop was once a refidence fuited to * io4 GLAMORGANSHIRE. to the dignity of the fee ; but nothing now remains, except part of the outer walls, and a very {lately gateway. This manfion is fuppofed to have been built at the fame time with the cathedral, and to have been deftroyed in the fame rebellion by which that venerable edifice fuffered. It probably was never rebuilt or repaired ; nor does it appear that the bifhop fince that time has ever poffefTed a fixed refidence at Llandaff; the confequence of which is, that the chapter only affembles annually at the time of audit. The fite of the palace or caftle now belongs to what is commonly called the court of Llandaff, a manfion adjoining, and is formed into a garden. To thofe who look for the population and magnificence attending the epifcopal ftations in England, the appearance of a Welfh city is attended with confiderable furprife and difappoinment: and though the fituation of Llandaff is beautiful, and has feveral elegant refidences, belonging to dignitaries and other gentlemen, the houfes~of the poorer people, lying away from the traffic of the main road, and yet collected into a town, have unufually little of that neatnefs and accommodation, which either cleanly retirement, or the more frequent intercourfes of fociety, afford. Near Llandaff, to the north-weft, is the rural and retired village of St. Fagan's ; which has a caftle, built in a much more modern ftyle than thofe of Glamorganfhire in general. I have not been able to trace its connection with hiftory: and probably it was defigned rather as a place of dignified retirement, than for political purpofes or defence. The dedication of this church to Chriftian worfhip is much more ancient than that of Llandaff, according to the account both of the Englifh and Welfh writers, ^/ none of whom place the arrival of this miffionary later than the ' fecond century. Drayton, indeed, identifies his exiftence and miniftry in Wales, with the highly doubtful, if not exploded, ftory ST. FAGAN'S. ST. LYTHAN'S COMMON. 105 ftory concerning Jofeph of Arimathea. The paflage is in the twenty-fourth fong : Next holy Jofeph came, the merciful'd of men, The Saviour of mankind, in fepulchre that laid, That to th' Britons was th' apoftle ; in his aid St. Duvian, and with him St. Fagan, hoth which were His fcholars, likewife left their facred relics here ; All denizens of ours, t' advance the Chriftian ftate, At Glaftenbury long that were commemorate. When the fecond civil war broke out in the year 1 648, the Welfh were the firft to take up arms in favour of Charles the Firft. They collected about eight thoufand men. This army met Oliver Cromwell's at St. Fagan's, on the 8th of May, 1648. The republicans were obliged to give way ; but being reinforced with fuch a train of artillery as Wales had never feen, after a bloody conflidt of two hours, the royal army was entirely routed : about three thoufand were flain, and as many taken prifbners. The Elw T y was reddened with blood ; and the battle of St. Fagan's gave fixty-five widows to that fingle parifh, and more than feven hundred to Glamorganshire. The defcent to the river by the caftle wall is pleafing : and the bridge affords a fine view of the Elwy. A fhort diftance brings the traveller into the high road between Cardiff and Cowbridce, at the foot of a fteep hill, on the top of which he comes upon St. Lythan's Common, affording one of the richeft and moft extenfive, but' not moft pi&urefque views in this county, over X the vale of St. Fagan's or Elwy, bounded by the mountains to the north. At the edge of the common, on the right as you proceed towards Cowbridge, is Coedrrwglan, a handfome brick houfe, the property of Lhewelin Trahaern, Efq. This refidence, placed on the brow of a very fteep declivity, bears a very imposing P afped xo6 GLAMORGANSHIRE. afpect when viewed from the bottom about the village of St. Fagan's. The village of St. Nicholas has nothing remarkable about it, except fome very neat cottages, with uncommonly pretty gardens : but a road turns afide to the left, which leads to fome ancient monuments, fuppofed to be druidical, near Duffrin Houfe, in a vale with a village fo called, about fix miles fouth by weft of Cardiff. Thefe monuments bear, in every point of view, the marks of great antiquity. Duffrin is Welfh for vale : and the proper Englim tranflation of the name, by which this eftate goes, would be the vale of worfhip, adoration, or prayer. But there are no traces, not the leaft veftige, of any place here, in which Chriftian worfhip can be fuppofed to have been inftituted. Of druidical worfliip, indeed, there are very obvious and ftriking appearances. The moft remarkable of thefe monuments is a grey ftone, on one of the farms belonging to the Honourable William Booth Grey, about half way between the village of St. Nicholas and Duffrin Houfe, near the abode of the farmer. It is a rude piece of antiquity, and feems to take its clafs among that kind, which in North Wales is termed Cromlech. There is one near Newport in Pembrokeshire, which has hitherto been fuppofed to be the largeft in Wales : but that opinion only arifes from the fingular circumftance, that the objecl: of our prefent inquiries, though in fo public a neighbourhood, has been generally overlooked by thofe travellers, who have favoured the public with the refult of their obfervation. Mr. Salifbury Brereton has noticed it* but with very few particulars. Even the learned and laborious Camden, though fuch refearches have been purfued by him w T ith more diligence than by almoft any other man, makes no mention of this archaeological curiofity. He feems to have taken his road from Cardiff to Cowbridge nearer the coaft. This DUFFRIN HOUSE. 107 This monument at DufFrin is fupported by five large flones, enclofed entirely on the eaft, weft, and north fides, and open to the fouth, forming a confiderably large, though low room, fixteen ^i^» feet in length, fifteen wide, and, at the eaft end, fix feet high, but only four and a half at the weft end. What the real height was originally, cannot be known without clearing away the rubbifh within it, that ftands about two feet and a half, or three feet, above the furface of the field, in which the cromlech is fituated. Some other rubbifh, with a heap of ftones, is placed about it to a greater height on the outfide. The fupporting ftone to the north is fixteen feet long ; that on the weft end about nine feet in length. At the eaftern extremity there are three ftones fet clofely together. The middle ftone is four feet and a half wide ; the northern ftone of thefe three about three feet, and the fouthern nearly two feet in width. Thefe ftones ftanding upright, fupport a large ftone on the top, which forms the roof of this rude apartment. The length of this horizontal ftone is twenty-four feet. It is feventeen feet in its wideft part, and of different breadths at other places. I found it by meafurement to be ten feet at one extremity, and twelve about the middle. I likewife found it to be from two feet to two and a half thick. The top ftone, therefore, having for its mean breadth thirteen feet and a half, if twenty-four feet be multiplied by that mean breadth, the contents will be three hundred and twenty-four fquare feet : by which it appears that this top ftone is nearly thrice as large as that of the cromlech near Newport* in Pembrokefhire. There appears" to have been an immenfe heap of ftones thrown over it ; and it feems as if, fubfequently, this had been in part removed, fo as to open a way into the room. This is a fingular circumftance : but the like appears in a ftruclure of the fame kind near Barmouth in Merionethfhire, and in many P 2, other 108 GLAMORGANSHIRE. other places, according to the beft accounts. For what reafbn thefe collections were made, may be a fubjecT of plaufible conjecture ; but no certain opinion can be formed. The heap of flones about this place occupies fomething like four fquare perches of ground, and is over grown with thorns and brambles, fo that it is not very ealy to get into this curious apartment. About fifty yards fouth, in another field, appear the quarry and rock whence thefe large flones were taken. It is a coarfe kind of freeftone, very durable, of an Ifabella yellow colour, and contains in it a confiderable portion of calamine, or zink ore. It is a kind of flone that in building might be applied to many ufeful purpofes, from its largenefs, durability, and its not being very difficult dr expenfive to work. This piece of antiquity ftands about three quarters of a mile north by well of DurTrin Houfe. There are in the fame field with the quarry two fiat ftones of no inconfiderable, though comparatively fmall dimenfions, fet up nearly in the fame manner, though much incumbered by rubbiih and brambles: there are feveral very large pieces in the quarry, loofened from the main rock ; and the ftile, by which the two fields communicate, is formed by a very mafly piece of the fame ftone, which feems, by its colour and appearance, to have ferved that purpofe for ages. This eftate came to Mr. Grey by marriage with Mifs Price, co-heirefs of Thomas Price, Efq. The grounds about DurTrin Houfe are richly wooded, and the country round variegated and pleafing. The houfe at prefent has little to recommend it on the fcore of outward mow : but it is underftood that Mr. Grey has fome intention of building. About three quarters of a mile diftance to the fouth-eafl of DurTrin Houfe, ftands the greyhound-bitch kennel, in a meadow which derives its appellation from the name of a greyhound-bitch. It is rather fingular, that thefe DUFFRIN HOUSE, 109 thefe cromlechs, as they are called in North Wales, and in fome parts of South Wales, fhould almoft every where in Glamorganfhire, where there are many of them, be known by this uncouth term of greyhound-bitch kennels. Mr. Edward Williams, who pofTefTes more real knowledge and conjectural fagacity on antiquarian fubjecls, than almoft any man of his day, has furnilhed me with the following plaufible fuppofition : that in all probability, the firft Britifh Chriftians, by way of mewing their deteftation, wherever they met with druidical or heathenifli places of worfhip, converted them into dog or bitch kennels. The fecond curiofity in queftion near DurTrin, bearing this odd name, confifts of four large ftones : one on the north, another on the fouth fide, each about ten feet and a half long, and more than feven feet wide or in height, {landing on their edge and very upright, nearly two feet thick. At the weft end, there is another ftone five feet long, and of the fame height as the fides. Thefe three ftones fupport the top, which is nearly fourteen feet long, and thirteen feet wide at the eaft end, where we always ^ find the wideft end of the ftone in ftruclures of this kind. It is narrower at the other end. The mean breadth is about ten feet ; by which multiply fourteen, and the contents in fquare feet will be one hundred and forty, which makes even this larger than the ftone near Newport : and as it is every where about two feet thick, it alfo contains more cubic feet than that. The opening of this is to the eaft. It forms a kind of room eleven feet long, five wide, and feven feet high or more. It has at times been ufed as a houfe for fheltering cattle, and other ruftic purpofes, and, as I have been informed, it was formerly occupied as a ftable for one horfe. It is certainly large enough for any fuch application. There are fome remains of a cam, or heap of ftones, round this, on three fides, but none at the entrance. This heap of ftones has V no GLAMORGANSHIRE. has pombly been diminished, for the fake of building a cottage that Hands juft by. The ftone is of the fame nature as that before defcribed. There is a third ftructure of the fame kind in the neighbourhood : but I have neither been able to difcover its fituation, nor obtain any account of it. There are others, whofe prefent ftate proves that they rauft either have fallen, or been thrown down, or elfe the {tones mull: have been brought to the places where they appear, for the purpofe of erecting fuch edifices. It is not very material to difcover which of thefe conjectures is the truth. We may indeed naturally fuppofe, that after the ftones had been brought, they would of courfe be erected. The probability therefore is, that, when Chriftianity gained the afcendency, they were thrown down as objects of pagan fuperftition and idolatry; and that the largeft were fuffered to remain, only becaufe they were two unwieldy to be overturned. Over thefe poilibly they threw a heap of ftones ; for this was ufed by the ancient Britons as a punifhment of malefactors. When a criminal was condemned to die by the laws, he was fixed to a fpot, and a heap of ftones thrown over him: whoever pafTed by threw a ftone to the heap in token of deteftation. Hence arifes the common Welfh expreffion of a earn murderer, or a murderer that defer ves to have a heap of ftones over him. To the fame origin is to be traced an imprecation much in ufe among the people : " May a heap of ftones lie upon thy face, or be thrown over thee." From thefe inftances it may perhaps be inferred, that the Chriftians, detefting the place of heathen worfhip, might cover it with a heap of ftones. The Druids always worshipped in the open air. It was a ftanding maxim of their religion to do fo. Indeed, all folemn public meetings or affemblies were held in the fame manner, whether religious, legiilative, or judicial. The laws of Howel Dha, DUFFRIN HOUSE. m Dha, the famous Welfh legiflator, were enacted by him and his fenatorial affembly in the open air. The place where they met is as highly venerated, to this day, as is Runny Mead, near Windfor. By thofe laws it appears, that the courts of juflice, efpecially the fupreme courts, were always held in the open air ; and the King or Prince, who was accuflomed to fit as fupreme judge, was placed on the leeward fide of a large flone fixed up for the purpofe. It is very clear, in the oldefl hiflorical documents, that the early Welfh Chriflians, from the middle of the firft to the middle of the fifth century, always met for religious worfhip in the open air. No churches, at leaft fuch buildings as we now term churches, are ever mentioned, or in any fenfe hinted at, before the miffion of the faints Germanus and Lupus, who were fent thither by the Pope in the fifth century, to fupprefs what was called the Pelagian herefy: fo that where I have mentioned St. Fagan's as being dedicated to that Chriflian miHionary, it is not to be underflood of the church as we now term it, or any enclofed building on that or any other fpot, but merely that Chriflian worfhip was eflablifhed there, after the manner of the time. From the fifth century downwards w r e read that there were churches, or places of worfhip, fimilar to thofe we have at prefent. Poffibly thefe cromlechs were places of fhelter for the Druids, and after them, for the firft Chriflian priefls, in rain and other inclemencies of the weather ; unlefs we may fuppofe them to have been oratories, from the tops of which they delivered their difcourfes, or, in times of Druidifm, altars on which victims were offered. Such are the conjectures which I have been able to propofe, from inquiries into the tradition of the fpot, and communication with intelligent antiquarians. If any of the foregoing fuppofitions may be admitted, refpecling the ancient ufe of thefe flructures, we are to fuppofe that fome time after the erection ^r 1 12 GLAMORGANSHIRE. erection of fuch buildings for religious worfhip, as are cuftomary among the moderns, became general, thofe more rude and antiquated places of the druids, and after them of the firft Christians, were confidered as objects of deteftation, and treated with the fame ignominy, that awaited the moft atrocious malefactors. The ^firft object of attention on regaining the turnpike is Cotterel, on the fide of the road from Cardiff to Cowbridge, oppofite the five mile ftone. By the gate that enters into the ■ park, grows a very magnificent wych elm, one of the largeft * trees in the kingdom. At the height of fix feet, it girts twenty feet. At the height of about fixteen or eighteen feet, it divides into two large limbs, and foon after, thefe again fubdivide into many other bulky branches, growing high and Spreading widely. It is a grand object, and has not the leaft appearance of decay. The whole premifes of Cotterel are very beautiful: the park abounds with picturefque inequalities, and the view from the houfe towards the hills is uncommonly fine. It is at prefent the refidence of Mr. Lafcelles. In a field juft oppofite, on the other fide of the road, is a very large ftone, ten or twelve feet high, and about fix or more in width, ftanding on one end, fimilar in appearance to thofe which were to be erected, according to the requifition of the ancient Welfii laws, as juft mentioned, wherever the king prefided in a X a court of juftice. In no part of the kingdom, perhaps, are antiquities of this kind more numerous than in this part of Glamorganshire. St. George's and Peterfton fuper Elwy have each of them their caftles, built by Fitzhamon's knights. In St. George's church there are fome Gothic monuments. The village of Bonvilfton is the next object of attention, which has nothing more remarkable to attract, than a well-wooded view 3 of LLANTRYTHID PAKK. 113 of" the flat, from behind the houfes on the left fide, and fome of the moil ornamental cottages lining the ftreet, that are to be met with any where. Liantrythid Park abounds in romantic and picturefque fpots. It is finely timbered, and its fylvan honours are unimpaired by the refpectable and honourably-defcended proprietor. The houfe was built, according to a family tradition, in the time of Henry the Sixth ; and the truth of this ftory is confirmed by the ftyle of the architecture. The large ftone-framed Gothic window of the dining-room is twelve feet fquare. The other windows are in general large, and in the fame flyle, in the two ancient wings. In addition to thefe, another fuite of rooms was built, fronting the eaft, clofe upon the churchyard, as it fhould feem by the architecture, which is a mixture of Roman and Gothic, in the time of Elizabeth, or foon after. The windows are of flone, with large lutherns. The great window of the principal parlour, looking into the churchyard, is twelve feet wide and nine feet high. Another of the fame room to the fouth is nine feet fquare, and has fome fine painted glafs in it, with coats of arms, and other heraldic and fplendid decorations. This houfe is a very fine fpecimen of the tafte that prevailed in the age to which its building is afcribed : but the introduction of taw T dry ornaments is a puerility in, architecture, from which the better inflrudled moderns muft totally diffent. The Aubreys are one of the moft ancient families in this county, and have been pofTeffed of this eftate for many ages. They were diftinguifhed by their attachment to the caufe of Charles the Firft ; and this place was one of the laft retreats that welcomed the difconcerted fugitives of the party from every quarter of the ifland. Both the gentlemen of the county and the tenantry of the eftate have to regret, that Sir John Aubrey is only an occafional Q vifitor X H4 GLAMORGANSHIRE. vifitor among them. The property is very confiderable ; but Sir John has another large eftate in Ruckinghamfhire, on which he principally refides. There is a large, widely-branching yew-tree in the churchyard, not at all . decayed, which girts eighteen feet fix inches. The graves, in this receptacle of the dead, are planted with flowers, fuch as pinks, carnations, fweet-williams, gilliftowers, and ail the variety that the pious attentions of the relations can procure. Some of them are made fragrant with thyme, hyfTop, fouthernwood, rofemary, and other aromatic productions. This is a very common practice in Glamorganshire ; and it is a maxim never to plant any % flowers or herbs on graves, but fuch as are fweet-fcented. From Llantrythid Park you come upon a down, which opens a fine profpect, though the moorifh common immediately below rather disfigures the fore -ground. The town of Cowbridge in the bottom, the hill and church of Llanblethian, with its caftle beyond, and the boldly fituated cattle of Penlline, altogether form a fcene of much grandeur. On the left is the village of St. Hilary, the refidence of Lhewelin Trahaern, Efq. This fituation almoft vies with Coedrrwglan in point of boldnefs; at the fame time that it is rather more defended from the elements, and therefore more defirable as an abode. Mr. Trahaern is of a long-eftablimed and well-refpecied family in this county. I have never heard that he traces his genealogy to any of the princes whofe name he bears ; and I am well aware that it would be inconfrftent with his unaffected good-fenfe, to entertain a wifh of deriving fuch diftindtion but from the mofl authentic fources. In the year 1091, the town of Cowbridge was encompafTed with a ftone wall by Robert de St. Quintin, who afterwards built the caftle of Llanblethian. It mould therefore fcem as if this place was part of his allotment, and not referved by Robert Fitzhamon* COWBRIDGE. * 115 Fitzhamon, according to Camden's account. One of the gates remains, and is ornamental to the part of the town where it {lands. There is nothing particularly worthy of obfervation here, except the free-fchool, which was endowed by Sir Lhewelin, or Leolinus, Jenkins, who has already been mentioned as fecretary of ftate in the reign of Charles the Second. He was not, as has been erroneously ftated, the founder ; but, on the contrary, his benevolence was probably directed to this object by the recollection, that he had derived the firft elements of his great knowledge from this fource. He may, however, with much propriety be confidered here alfo, as a fecond founder ; for it is to him that the young men on the foundation owe, in addition to a fmall annual ltipend while in fchool, the probability of enjoying conliderable advantages in Jefus College, Oxford, where there are two fellowfhips, two fcholarfhips, and an exhibition, exclufively confined to ftudents educated at this fchool. Its literary reputation has kept pace with its academical advantages, under a fucceffion of able matters. It is at this time under the government of the Rev. William Williams, Prebendary of Llandaff, whofe name I have had occafion to mention in another place, on a fubject io perfonal to my {elf, as not to admit of my enlarging here on the prefent character of the fchool. There is alfo a very good fchool for reading, writing, and accompts ; fo that I queftion whether there be any town in Great Britain, better provided, in proportion to its extent, with the means of inft ruction, both vernacular and fcholaftic. - . Q 2, CHAPTER ■3 w r 116 GLAMORGANSHIRE. CHAPTER V. ST. MARY CHURCH .... LHANCARVAN .... FLEMINGSTONE .... ST. ATHAN'S ...... FONMORE CASTLE BARRY ISLE SCILLT ISLE....MICHAELSTON LE PIT. . . . LLANDOUGH WENVOE .... ELWY BRIDGE ... .WHITE HORSE BRIDGE CARDIFF. The road from Cowbridge to St. Mary Church is through fome of the prettieft, moll: woody, and picturefque country, to be found in the cultivated part of Glamorganfhire. The village itfelf contains nothing remarkable : but there is, in a beautiful field y very near it, a cattle that challenges the admiration both of the antiquary and architect. Whether confidered with a reference to the national events that are fuppofed to have taken place there, or to the hiftory of the fine arts, it merits much more attention than it has hitherto received. Its Welfh and Norman defignations are convertible, and mull: in Englilh be tranilated into * Fair meadow." The princes Lhewelin and Conan ap Sitiylht, GrurTyth ap Lhewelin, and Robert ap Sitiylht, were iucceffively lords of this caftle : and the Cecils, Earls of Exeter and of Salilbury, are lineally defcended from the Sitfylhts of this place. The furnarhe -A' is corrupted or anglicized into Cecil. It is rather a fingular circumftance, that Lhewelin ap Sitiylht, Prince of South Wales by hereditary right of his wife, and of North Wales, it is difficult to fay by what right, fhould keep his court, at leaft very frequently, at this place, w T hich was in another principality, ST. MARY CHURCH. 117 principality, that of Glamorgan ; where he was only the fubje& of a prince lefs powerful than himfelf. An old Welfh adage fays, that the man privileges the place, but place does not privilege the man. But probably this was underftood only in a moral, and not in a legal or jurisprudential fenfe. It is to this day a popular tradition in Glamorganfhire, that this place was formerly the palace of kings : but no perfon ever lived here, excepting Lhewelin ap Sitfylht and his brothers, together with his fon GrufTyth probably for fome time, who in any proper fenfe of the word could have been called a king. The defcent of the noble families juft mentioned from the Welfh princes is thus deduced : Lhewelin, Conan, and Robert ap Sitfylht, were brothers, and fucceffively refided in this caftle, the inheritance of which defcended to Sir James Sitfylht, the fon of Robert. Sir James took part with the Emprefs Maud, and was killed at the fiege of Wallingford Caftle, in the fourth year of King Stephen. He left a fon and heir in the perfon of John Sitfylht, who was taken prifoner at the fiege of Lincoln, after the death of his father, in the fame reign. His fon was named Euftace, and married Sir Walter Pembridge's daughter, by whom he had Sir Baldwin Sitfylht, who was knighted by King Henry the Second, but was flain at the fiege of Cardiff Caftle, during his father's life-time. This Sir Baldwin was married twice. His eldeft fon was Gerald Sitfylht, whofe heir was Robert Sitfylht. The next in defcent was James Sitfylht, who was fucceeded by Gerald, the eldeft fon living at the time of his death. This Gerald Sitfylht was married four times. His eldeft fon by the firft wife was John Sitfylht, who was fucceeded by the valiant and renowned Sk John Sitfylht, in the reign of Edward the Third. His right to J^ the family arms was folemnly adjudged, in confequence of a vehement controverfy, as lineally defcended from James Sitfylht, 1 who n8 GLAMORGANSHIRE. who fell during the fiege of Wallingford Caflle in the reign o( King Stephen. He had a fon and heir named John, who died in his life-time, leaving behind him a fon called Thomas Sitfylht, who fucceeded his grandfather Sir John Sitfylht. Next came Richard ; then Philip Sitfylht, whofe eldeli fon was Philip, and his younger, David Sitfylht, from whom are dsfcended the prefent Earls of Exeter and Salifbury, which titles refpedfcively originate with the two fons of the great Lord Burleigh. It appears, therefore, that the Earl of Exeter, as fprung from the elder branch of Lord *WT Burleigh's family, is rightful heir to the crown of Great Britain in the Welfh line of Sitfylht. Such circumftances are curious and worth mentioning. They might, indeed, have danger in them, where the claims of genealogy are held paramount to every other confideration. But the royal honours of the Sitfylhts have long fince faded, though their nobility remains frefh and untainted. The Britifh fceptre, in the early periods of our hiftory, was alternately wrefted by conquerors, and recovered by hereditary claimants; now the plea of conquefr. and the difputes of pedigree are all abforbed in that fubftantial tenure, by which the free choice of the people placed it in the hands of the reigning family; a choice not announced by a tumultuary mow of hands or fhout of voices, but refulting from the folemn decifion of an affembled legiflature. This has made us an united people, has broken the fpring of civil w r ars, and eradicated every fibre of hazardous ambition from men's breads. The cattle, which has given rife to the foregoing inveftigation, was fold by one of Robert ap Sitfylht's defcendants to Sir Philip BafTet, lord of St. Hilary: but how long either St. Hilary or that cattle remained in the family of the purchafer, or when they y came to the Edmondes's, from whom the prefent proprietor derived St. Hilary by marriage, I have not been able to afecrtain. There ST. MARY CHURCH. 119 There is ftill a tradition in the family of the BalTets in Glamorgan, that the firfl draught of Magna Charta was drawn up at this caftle by Sir Philip Ballet. Yet this is in general thought to be improbable ; for Sir Philip Ballet, lord of St. Hilary, who bought this eflate, was indeed lord chief juftice of England, and in that capacity might well be fuppofed to have been confulted on any great acts of legiflation; but he lived too late to have any fuppofeable concern in modelling the enactments of Magna Charta. Neither do there appear to be any reafonable grounds for imagining, that Magna Charta mould have been drawn up by any one of the Sitiylht family. It may be faid, perhaps, that it is of no great confequence whether it be true or falfe ; yet Hill iiich ancient and eflablimed traditions are worth an inquiry, minute, indeed, but rendered pleafmg by the recollection, that in general there is fome truth to be found at the bottom, the investigation. of which brings out latent facts of hiftory and interesting Sketches of biography. In the prefent cafe, one of the Baffet's might have been concerned in the framing of this important inftrument, though before the time of Sir Philip BafTet. But it is necelTary I Ihouid proceed to the architectural character and Angularities of this place. A family, bearing a furname of the fame import with Hog in Englifh, had hereditarily for many generations pofTelTed and worked fome freeftone quarries near the mouth of Ogmore river. Two brothers of this family, Richard and William, worked thofe quarries about the time of Edward the Sixth and of Queen Elizabeth. They were young men, and, unfortunately, each of them became enamoured of the fame young woman. This occafioned mutual jealouues between them, which at laft ended in a virulent and inexplicable quarrel, fo that they both folemnly fwore never to fpeak the one to the other. They however continued 1 20 GLAMORGANSHIRE. continued to work at the quarry as ufual ; and whenever one of them wanted the affiftance of the other to lift or move a large (tone, or for any other of thofe purpofes that occafionally occurred in the progrefs of their bufmefs, he beckoned, or made fome fign. The mifunderftanding went on thus for fome time : but the young woman having been informed of the fituation in which things flood between the brothers, vowed on her part never to admit either of their addrefTes. This refolution, and the unnatural terms on which he lived with his brother, threw Richard into a deep melancholy. Soon afterwards he left the country, and went no one knew whither. For a long period he was not heard of; but after the lapfe of twenty or thirty years he returned to Glamorganfhire, having been in London, Paris, feveral parts of Italy, and probably over a confiderable portion of the continent, working at his trade of a ftonecutter, or freeftone mafon. In the courfe of his travels he had amduoufly applied himfelf to the ftudy of architecture and fculpture in their various branches, in each of which arts he acquired a very confiderable proficiency. On his return, he found that his brother had left the family quarry, and had difcovered the freeftone quarries of Bridgend, where he had fettled. Richard therefore entered upon the old quarries, and worked at them. The fuperior manner in which he executed his work attracted the notice of the gentry, who refided in this part of Glamorganshire ; and Richard BafTet of this place employed him to do the ornamental parts of the ftonework belonging to his chapel at the caftle, the frontifpiece of which he executed with his own freeftone in the Ionic order. It has over its entrance the arms of the Baffet family carved in ftone, with the Welfh motto fignifying, " Better death than difgrace," in emboffed or relieved letters, and over it the date, 1586. He was afterwards employed to execute the porch, which is of Dundery freeftone, ST. MARY CHURCH. 121 freefone, near Briftol. This is a fine and very ornamental fpecimen of Greek architecture, three ftories high, confiding of the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, and over thefe a fufficiently elegant attic ftory. The capitals of the columns, intaglios, and other fculptures, are finifhed in a very mafterly manner. Over the arch of the entrance are the family arms in very light and bold relief. In the. intercolumniations of the fecond or Ionic ftory, and dado of the pedeftals, are three tablets with the following infcriptions on them: SAY COWLDST THOU £ VER F.YND.OR EVER HEA RE OR SEE: A WORLDLY WRET CHE OR COWARD PROVE A FAYTHFUL FRYNDE TO BE. RYCHARDE BASSET. HAVING TO WYFE KATHARINE DOUGHTER TO SIR THOMAS IOHNS KNIGHT BWYLT THIS PORCHE WITH THE CHYMNYE TUNNES IN ANNO 1600. HIS YERES 6 5 . HIS WYFE 55. The whole is in a very graceful ftyle, and much fuperior to the earlieft examples of Greek and Roman architecture in England, where thofe principles of the art appear to have been firft introduced about this time. There is here, however, a (ingle trait of Gothicifm. The arches of the entrances to the chapel and porch are pointed ellipfes, or, as workmen term it, the ox-eye arch. Thefe anecdotes of Richard and William, of the porch and its architect, though only traditional, there is good reafon to confider as true. I had them from Mr. Edward Williams ; and he derived his information, many years ago, from William and Richard Roberts, freeftone mafons of Bridgend quarries, who were, as they allured him, defcendants of William, whofe pofterity, down to the prefent age, have been in pofTeflion of the freeftone quarries at Bridgend, and have worked them. Thomas Roberts, the laft of this family, who was alfo of the trade, died about the year 1787. I mould think it neceiTary to apologize for my prolixity on R this 122 GLAMORGANSHIRE. this fubject, were it not that thefe facts, hitherto unknown or unnoticed in the hiftory of architecture, go near to invalidate fome very ftubborn opinions. And left it mould be thought that mere traditional affertion, coming from perfons who might think to derive honour from the tale, is infufficient to make more grave and learned authority, I mall take the liberty of premifing, that the inference I deduce from Mr. Edward Williams's information is fufriciently maintained by the unqueftionable evidence of the date, though the whole of the foregoing narrative mould fall to the ground. Tnigo Jones, in the time of James the' Firft, is faid to have been the man who introduced the Greek and Roman architecture into this iiland. In the temple of Britifh worthies at Stow, the Marquis of Buckingham's feat, there is a bull: of this diftinguimed artift, with the following infeription under it: f * Ignatius Jones, who, to adorn his country, introduced and rivalled the Greek and Roman architecture." But Inigo Jones never executed any thing in architecture, at lealt in England, till the reign of James the Firlt : yet this porch was completed three years before the death of Queen Elizabeth ; and the entrance of the chapel, when this great reprefentative of England in one branch of the fine arts, as Sir Jomua Reynolds in another, was but fourteen years of age. Of courfe he could not be the introducer of Greek and Roman architecture into this iiland, though he certainly was its very great improver. Old Somerfet Houfe was the earlielt fpecimen that ever came to my knowledge of Greek and Roman architecture in England ; and I am only able to fpeak of that from the recollection of plates, which are not now at hand. It was taken down about the year 1775. It was built by the Protector Duke of Somerfet, in the time of King Edward the Sixth. The demolition of churches and religious houfes to furnifh materials for this palace, 3 loft X ST. MARY CHURCH. 123 loft the Duke much of his popularity, and involved him in the fufpicion of a ftronger partiality for a fine houfe, than was confident with the decencies of religion, or a due refpect for the facred refting-places of the dead. I have read fomewhere, though my recollection does not ferve to quote the author, that it was executed by Italian artifts or architects. Hence it may fairly be fuppofed, that the Richard above mentioned, when he left Glamorganshire, came to London, and might have worked as a journeyman at the building of Somerfet Houfe, where of courfe he would firft become acquainted with the rudiments of Greek and Roman architecture. The time when he muft have left Glamorganfhire correfponds perfectly with the time when Old Somerfet Houfe was built. Should there be no reafon to queftion the probability of his being thus employed, we may further conjecture, that he might have gone over to Italy, or fome other part of the continent, with a party of the Italian workmen who were on their return home after Somerfet Houfe had been finifhed. .But whoever introduced the Greek and Roman architecture into England, it was this Richard, or at leaft the architect of the porch in queftion, let him be who he will', that brought it into Wales. I believe that there was nothing in Somerfet Houfe equal in delicacy of fculpturc lo this porch. It was of two ftories, if my memory is accurate, for I have not an immediate reference to the prints; the lower was Doric, the upper of the Ionic order; and there was not much fculpture. Horace Walpole, Lord Orford, confiders John of Padua, or Holbein, as entitled to the credit of beginning the reformation in building : and he infers, from the penfion of the former being renewed in the third year of Edward the Sixth, that he owed it to the Protector, and was the architect of his palace. All therefore that can be meant by the infeription at Stow is, that Inigo Jones was the firft who practifed the R % unmixed 124 GLAMORGANSHIRE. unmixed Grecian, and therefore he only could be fivA* to have introduced it in its perfection, and to have rivalled it. This indeed was probable ; for all innovations require time to gain ground: and we find accordingly, that Somerfet Houfe was a compound of Grecian and Gothic, and therefore, though a fpecimen of the new tafte, was more unclafTical than the old in its belt and pureft manner. But the porch of this caftle, and frontifpiece of the chapel, with the exception of one infringement, are as chafte and exact, though on a comparatively fmall fcale, as the moft fplendid of Inigo's defigns ; who himfelf indeed, as in the inftance of St. Paul's cathedral, cccafionally blended the two incongruous ftyles. Whether therefore the name of the architect and his origin be as I have ftated or not, whether he learnt his art at the building of Somerfet Houfe, in Italy, or elfewhere, the dates of 1586 and 1600 prove Wales to have poiTefTed a fpecimen of regular architecture before the time of Inigo Jones, probably one of the earlieft in Great Britain, and certainly more perfect than that of Somerfet Houfe. Should thefe unmethodized, and probably incorrect remarks, obtain for this porch a notice it has not yet received, from fome better-informed amateur, or fome practitioner of the art, I mall confider myfelf as having done fome" fervice, more than equal to the tedioufnefs I have bellowed on my reader, by a prolix detail of provincial tradition. - The houfe is large and ancient ; all of it but the porch and the entrance into the chapel, in that ftyle of Gothic architecture that chiefly prevailed in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. It has clofe by it a very large barn of equal antiquity. The arches of its doors are highly pointed in a very old ftyle. It is on this farm, and in this houfe, that Mr. David Edwards the bridge-builder refides. Here was the laft congrefs of Bards, according to the precife laws of their ancient inftitution, in the feventeenth century. Lhancarvan LHANCARVAN. 12$ Lhancarvan is celebrated as the birth-place of Caradoc the hiftorian, from whofe authority a confiderable part of the hiftorical matter in thefe volumes is derived. He wrote the hiflory of Cambria, from the abdication of Cadwallader to his own time. Of this work there were feveral copies preferved in the abbeys of Conway and Yftradfrlur, which generajly agreed in matter, but differed in phrafeology and the period of their terminations. This apparent variance may be reconciled by fuppofing, that fuch copies were fo many different editions written by him and distributed in the courfe of his life, which terminated, according to fome accounts, in the year 1 156. But probably the time of his death is merely taken for granted, becaufe he ended his collections- with that year. One of his w T orks, printed in the Welih Archaeology, comes down to the year 1 196. But David Powel, who corrected, augmented, and continued, Humphrey Lhuyd's translation, accounts for this circumftance by informing us, that thefe fucceffions and acts of the Britifh princes were afterwards augmented yearly, and compared together every third year, by the Bard in his progrefs from one abbey to the other, at the time of their triennial visitation. This fpecies of register was continued in thofe abbeys till the year 1580, two years before the death of the laft Lhewelin. There is another copy extant which contains the whole down to this lateSt period, but itill without distinction of Caradoc from the hand of his continuator. In David Povvel's time, which w r as that of Queen Elizabeth, there were at leaft one hundred copies difperfed over Wales : and when we coniider that all thefe agreed in every thing but in form and literal phrafe, and that Humphrey Lhuyd inferted what was defective, and corrected what was difcordant, from the authorities of Matthew Paris and Nicholas Trivet, we may reafonably believe that the prefent tranflation, improved as it is from records and authors confulted by 1 26 GLAMORGANSHIRE. by David Powel, forms a fufficiently authentic compendium of Welm antiquities. There was anciently a monaftery at Lhancarvan, founded about the end of the fifth century, by Cadock, fon to Prince Brechan^ The village of Flemingftone derives its name not from the colony of Flemings on the coail;, but from the family of Fleming, who pofTefTed the cattle and lordfhip of St. George's under Robert Fitzhamon. There are {till fome remains of a caftle adjoining the churchyard, fome parts of which are ftill ufed for purpofes connected with hufbandry : and the marks of antiquity about this and all the neighbouring villages are continually recurring in the pointed forms of door-ways and windows. In this village lives Mr. Edward Williams ; a man who is capable of doing the world more fervice, than the world feems willing either to receive or to return. He ftands unrecommended by external rank in fociety ; yet are his mental powers of a fuperior order. He is beft known to the Englifh public, by two volumes of poems, highly meritorious, confidering the difadvantages under which they were compofed : but his bell, claims to diltin&ion are founded on his knowledge as an antiquarian, profound and fagacious in every thing curious relating to the cufloms, manners, and hiftory, of his native principality. He was very unhealthy while a child, and has continued fo through life ; a misfortune that frequently attends more than ordinary expanfion of intellect. It was thought ufelefs to put fo unpromifing a boy to fchool, where his three brothers were kept for many years. He learned the alphabet by feeing his father inferibe grave-ftones. His propenfity to poetry appeared at an early age ; for his mother, who was a woman of good education, taught him to read ; but could never perfuade him to learn from any other book, except a volume of fongs, entitled, " The Vocal Mifcellany," to which his fancy appears to have been FLEMINGSTONE. 127 been directed by his mother's agreeable Tinging. He was born about the year 1747. At that time there were no bookfellers in Wales, and confequently none but Welm books to be bought, which were fold by itinerants. His mother's library confiftcd of the Bible, fome of Pope's works, Lintot's Mifcellany, Steele's Mifcellany, Randolph's poems, Milton's poetical works, a few volumes of the Spectator, Tatler, and Guardian, The Whole Duty of Man, Browne's Religio Medici, and Golding's Tranflation of Ovid's Metamorphofes, in the black letter, with two or three books of arithmetic. This refpectable parent alfo taught him writing, and the principal rules of arithmetic, with fomething of mufic. His flrft attempts in poetry were Welfh, though Englifh. w 7 as the language of his father's houfe. He worked at his father's trade of mafonry from the time he was nine years of age, but never affociated with the children of his neighbourhood, or joined in their amufements. He returned every night to his mother's firefide, where he talked or read with her. If ever he walked out, it w 7 as alone, in unfrequented places. He was penflve, melancholy, and very ftupid in all but his mother's eftimation ; and his cheerfulnefs, when it occurred, was wild and extravagant. His mother died in 1770, and he could no longer be happy at home. He rambled for fome years over a great part of England and Wales. During that time, he chiefly ftudied architecture, and other fciences appertaining to his trade, and compofed Engliili poetry at his leifure hours. In .1777, he returned into Glamorganfhire, and has ever fmce exercifed the humble occupation to which he was originally deftined. His attachment to the caufe of the French revolution, at a time when it prefentcd profpects to the warm-hearted, which are for ever fhut out by rapine, injuftice, and tyranny, created him many enemies before the extinction of party: but this can no longer operate to his prejudice, as events "* have ii% GLAMORGANSHIRE. have convinced him, in common with raoft other men, whofe pride does not Hand in the way of their conviction, that a mixed conftitution, if not theoretically the moft*perfect, is practically the mod conducive to all the worthy and attainable ends of government. But his character perhaps is not fufficiently accommodating, to promote his advancement in life. As an example of a certain pertinacity, which is apt to accompany talents, he had in early life a habit of making refolutions, which he has never broken in a fingle inflance, though in many cafes he has lamented their inconvenience or abfurdity. Many of them however were, under his circumftances, wife. I fhall juft mention one or two of his befl and worft. He knew that his talent for fong-w T riting would procure him many preffing invitations to join the pot-companionfhips of perfons in his own humble fphere. He faw the incongruoufnefs of fuch fociety with his purfuits and inclinations : he therefore made a refolution never to fit down in any public tap-room. A confirmed habit of uncommon abflemioufnefs foon rendered this precaution unneceffary to fobriety; fo that he makes no objection to an appointment of bufinefs at fuch places, if it fuits the convenience of the parties ; he is willing to flay one or two hours, or as long as the affair to be negociated may require ; but always in a Handing poflure. In early life he was frequently invited by the gentlemen of the country, who took a pleafure in hearing him recite his poetry: but he conceived himfelf to be treated with lefs refpecl: than other guefts, and made a refolution never again to repeat his own verfes. He has often offended thofe, who were difpofed to be his patrons, by the refufal ; but is generally willing to lend his unpublifhed manufcripts, though at the rifk of lofing them. He thought his family unkind at his entrance into life, and made a refolution never to enter the houfe of a relation : but he has forgotten FLEMINGSTONE. 129 forgotten all animofity, and converfes with his kindred in the moil friendly manner on the outfide of their own doors. On a review of his refolutions at large, he found the inconveniencies to overbalance the benefits : he therefore, without abrogating what he had already formed, made the wifeft refolution of his life ; never to make any more refolutions : and he has obferved this laft as inflexibly as any of the reft. It is much to be lamented, that his talents, in the line of his profeffion, have been buried where they could not poffibly emerge from their obfcurity. Had they been noticed in early life, the public would probably have gained an eminent architect or fculptor, without lofing a valuable antiquarian. As it is, there are few better judges either of defign or execution in architecture. For fome time paft, he has been employed by the Board of Agriculture in collecting materials for a ftatiftical account of the principality, or at leaft of South Wales. I heard of him at the houfes of the moil intelligent and enlightened gentlemen in Cardiganlhire, through which he had travelled ; and they all concurred in a moil honourable teftimony to the fimplicity of his manners and the extent of his qualifications. 1 am forry to fay that the proverb of a prophet in his own country is but too much verified in him ; for while Mr. Williams the antiquarian is mentioned elfewhcre with the refpecl due to the attainments, without the eftate, of a gentleman, there are few in Glamorganfhire who know him by any other name than that of Ned Williams the ftonecutter. Indeed, he has to complain of injuftice as well as neglect from fome perfons, who have made him' not the flighteft rccompence for the difcovery of very valuable quarries on their eftates : and mch conduct is impolitic as well as mercenary, becaufe it has excited in him an angry difpofition to withhold the remainder" of his knowledge on that iubjecl. This part of Glamorganfhire abounds with very fine S marble, i 3 o GLAMORGANSHIRE. marble, many beautiful fpecimens of which he pofleues, that take a very high polifh. He is married, and has feveral children. The village of St. Athan's derives its name from a faint, who Jived in the beginning of the fixth century. He was the founder of a church, to which he returned, after an abfence of fome years, and was buried here. The cattle was built in the year 1091, the date of the great revolution, and all its dependent antiquities, by Roger Berclos, who divided, his lands with the original proprietor of the whole, and out of his rcferved moiety gave fubfiftence to other families, who had been deprived of their eflates upon the Norman ufurpation. Such liberality and feeling, in an age- when thofe virtues were little known or underftood, prove that Roger Berclos was defigned for fomething better than a conqueror. This caftle {lands on the edge of an extenfive flat, and overlooks one of thofe remarkable Sinkings in the ground, that have been noticed in a preceding chapter. A fmall rivulet runs through the bottom, giving an intereft to this fingular recefs, which is tolerably well wooded, confidering its vicinity to the fea. The ruin is rather piclurefque. A cottage creeled within its walls has lately fallen to the ground, owing to the fuperftitious fears of the vulgar, though it has been offered rent-free to any poor family who would inhabit there. A very luxuriant wild-fig-tree grows out of the cement, of which the chapel walls are compofed; and it is remarkable how much that tree affecls fuch fituations, and that even in the moft expofed afpects. This circumftance feems to hold out a probability, that, the tender Turkey fig might be propagated with more certainty and fuccefs, by grafting it on this fort of wild fig. Perhaps this wilding might be originally produced from the feed of the cultivated fig, planted by the Norman lords in their gardens. The trunk of the ivy, that encom panes the northern part of this cattle, is of an uncommon fubftance. It at lead: FONMORE CASTLE. BARRY ISLE. SCILLY ISLE. 131 Y leaft girts five feet, and in fome years yields large quantities of gum. From this fpot there is a very advantageous view of Fonmore Cattle, which has already been mentioned as one of thofc parcelled out to the Norman intruders. Colonel John Jones, who figned the death-warrant of Charles the Firft, who took his feat in the council of ftate on the commencement of the commonwealth, and died on the fcaffold among the regicides at the restoration, was the pofTeflbr of this caftle, and from him the prefent owner is defcended. It is probably the moft exteniive and auguft of the inhabited caftles in Wales. The kitchen belonging to this caftle is faid to be the largeft in the kingdom. /£ There is here perhaps the fineft portrait extant of Oliver Cromwell, On the fea more near this place are the two ifles of Barry and Scilly, with the Flat-holm and the Steep, of which Drayton fpeaks thus : Of all the inland ifles her fovereign Severn keeps, That bathe their amorous breafts within her fecret deeps (To love her Barry much and Scilly though flie feem, The Flat-holm and the Steep as likewife to efteem), This nobleft Britifh nymph yet likes her Lundy bed, And to great Neptune's grace prefers before the reft. In Camden's Britannia there is the following paflage : u In a rock of the ifland of Barry, in Gl a morganfhire, there is a narrow chink or cleft, to which if you put your ear, you mall perceive all fuch fort of noifes, as you may fancy fmiths at work under ground ; ftrokes of hammers, blowing of bellows, grinding of tools." The accurate and judicious Camden, however, borrows this ftory from Girald, without giving it much credit, as he could S z . not i 3 2 GLAMORGANSHIRE. not perceive any fuch effects in his own time, nor could he find that any credible perfon had ever been ear-witnefs to then*, though the tradition was univerfally prevalent. He thinks, indeed, that the place is miftaken, as iimilar noifes have been defcribed along the weftern part of the coaft. But after all, fuppofmg it to be fo, there is nothing extraordinary; and probably fuch phenomena are frequent along a rocky and continually perforated coaft, and are little noticed except on fpots, where the prodigies of wild and romantic fancy are called in to point the tale of mperftition. It requires but a moderate ftretch of imagination to create this cyclopean imagery, when the fea at high tides is often in pofleffion of cavities, under the feet of the ft ranger, and what we may call its ordinary tone of voice is both modified and magnified by confinement and repercuffion. Thefe two ifles derive their names from a faint and a conqueror. The faint was buried on his ifland, and the Norman fpoiler had the caftle and lordfhip of Scilly on the main land for his fhare m the divifion. From Barry the noble family of that name in Ireland derives its original. I have been told, in oppofition to Camden's incredulity, that a determined liftener may hear thofc founds to this day, or hear them as it were. The Flat-holm and Steep are feen from all this neighbourhood, and the former has its- light-houfe. At Michaelfton le Pit is an elegant villa, in a moft delicious V" retirement, belonging to Mr. Rous. It has lately been laid out and completed. Any thing more beautiful, on a fmall fcale, cannot well be conceived. The houfe, which ftands on a pretty ftream artificially widened and improved, running down into Barry Harbour, looks to the left upon an unterminated dingle, with a picturefque rock of limeftone, furmounting its ample furniture of wood. In MICHAELSTON LE PIT. LLANDOUGH. i 3 j In Tanner's Notitia Monaftica we have an account of an ancient monaftery in Glamorgan, the name *of which, or of the place where it flood, was unknown to him. Cyngar, having fettled one monastery in Somerfetihire, is faid to have come over into this county about the latter end of the fifth century, and to have built another here in fome place, the very veftiges of which are deftroyed, for twelve monks or canons, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and endowed by Paulentius, King of Glamorgan. The writer of the pedigrees or genealogies of the Britiih faints alio mentions him as having founded a congregation or college in Glamorgan. Cyngar was alfo called Docuinus, or Dochen : and it is hence inferred, though it feems to have efcaped both thefe writers, that a place ftill well known, and ftyled Llandough on the law records of the county, as w T ell as on the furveys of the manor, points out the ancient church of Dochen. It is, however, the Llandough on the banks of the Elwy, and not the church of the fame dedication in the neighbourhood of Cowbridge, which the Welfh antiquaries have fixed on, in confequence of a tradition ftill retained, that there was a monaftery there in remote times. In the churchyard there is ftill remaining a very ancient crofs, ornamented with rudely executed Roman frets, fimilar to thofe at Llantwit Major, with a fhort but unintelligible infeription, in the Roman or Britifh characters of the fifth century. The abbot of this place ranked as one of the three great abbots in the diocefe. The abbots of Llantwit Major and Llancarvan were the other two. They are on feveral occafions mentioned as the principal pcrfons, next to the bifhop, at the iynods held in their refpective churches or monafteries, and even in the bifhop's church, or cathedral, at LlandafF. ' Llandough is at the diftance of two miles from Michaelfton le Pit. It ftands on a rifing ground, on the weftern fide of Elwy river, about 134 GLAMORGANSHIRE. about a mile above its fall into Pcnnarth Harbour, and about three miles to the fouth-weft, in full view of Cardiff. The church is in a very antique ftyle, antecedent to the Gothic, though fome Gothic windows have in fubfequent ages been inferted. The village has perhaps from thirty to forty houfes. It has fine views of Cardiff and its wide vale, of Llandaff, with Monmouthmire in the diftance, and down the river to Pennarth Harbour. In the parifh of Llandough ftands Coggan, now the Marquis of Bute's property; a fine old Gothic manfion, well built with hewn {tone, in the ftyle that prevailed in the fifteenth century. It is now inhabited only by a tenant, who has converted the large and noble hall into a barn. The arms of the Herberts, Earls of Pembroke, whofe property it formerly was, are well carved in ftone over the principal entrance. The foil in this part of the country is a ftiff clay or loam, on a limeftone rock, producing wheat, beans, oats, and other articles for confumption, of the fineft quality. It is not equally good for barley. The horned cattle, that are reared on it, thrive very much. It is lefs favourable to meep, efpecially if kept over winter; but in fummer and autumn they fatten on it very rapidly. The butter made on this foil is fuppofed to be the beft in the county. Though the crops here are of backward growth in fpring, wheat frequently ripens as early as in July; whereas on lands in the neighbourhood, feemingly warmer and drier, as being on the gravel, it is not reaped till the month of Auguft is fome way advanced. In the quarries of this parifh are found fine black marble, alabafler, fome fuller's earth, and other ufeful productions. The country is well wooded. It only wants a better ffate of the roads, occafioning a more unreftrained intercourfe, to make it a molt enviable fpot. Wenvoe is the feat of Robert Jenner, Efq. and was built in the caftle form by his maternal grandfather, Mr. Birt. It is a very WENVOE.. 135; very large, handfome, and commodious houfe. But I do not, on the whole, accede to the good tafte of building modern cafties in a country abounding with fuch magnificent fpecimens of that architecture, unlefs where there are remains, which may be preferved and rendered habitable, by additions in a ftyle of mafly grandeur, in fome degree at leaft approaching to the original : and a country gentleman mould poffefs almoft a royal purfe to conduct fuch works, now that he has no longer his-vaftals or their labour at command. The towers at Wenvoe feem rather to aim at the convenience of a bow- window, than at any of thofe purpofes for which fuch ftructures were intended. Indeed, the criterion of true tafte in ail arts is ornamented utility; but the ornament without the utility favours of that falfe and affected refinement, for which the French are difgracefully proverbial. The cafties of antiquity were the protection of their inhabitants : and the beauty of a caftle, as a fpecimen of art, confifts in uniting magnificence with ftrength. We prefer ve thefe monuments of our anceftors as long as we can, becaufe they furnifh ocular proof of their arts, their domeftie habits, and progrefs in civilization : but why mould we erect works of defence, where no defence is wanted? or if it were, fuch works as we can erect poffefs only the outward mow and trappings, without the folid capability of military fortrefTes. We may poffibly feem, to be juftified in this tafte by the circumftance, that the ancient barons built their palaces of recreation in the caftellate form. The reafon was, that in their ftate of fociety, they were liable to furprife from their hoftile neighbours, and could never change the fcene without the attendance of an armed retinue, though lefs numerous than that which they maintained at their eftablifhed ftations of military and political refidence. But we have no hoftile neighbours, no armed retinues : nor is any individual of fufficient weight to be expofed, 3 whatever 136 GLAMORGANSHIRE. whatever may be his wealth or rank, to the danger of a furprii'e, or the honours of a confpiracy. There is a confiderable- domain about Wenvoe, and Mr. Jenner has ventured to a large extent in the patriotically ufeful, but, to individuals, the doubtful experiment of farming. . The grounds are well wooded, agreeable and diverfified; but afford nothing peculiarly adapted either to defcription or the pencil. The village of Wenvoe is neat and pretty. Between Wenvoe and the Cardiff V road lies Caera, which fignifies a fortification. There is here an entire Roman camp, occupying a hill of ten or twelve acres, oblong* and nearly rectangular in figure. The parifh church is fituated within the works, which are formed by high ramparts of earth all round the hill. They are very lofty to the fouth, on which fide the entrance is fteep and narrow. The Porta Decumana is to be feen on the weft, and at the eaft end the General's tent, which is deep and entire, of a circular form, with a very narrow entrance from the camp. From this camp, the traveller comes upon the turnpike road, at the diftance of about four hundred yards, oppofite to St. Fagan's, and croffes Elwy Bridge at no great diffance. ; The flat is enlivened, as he proceeds, by Pennarth and its harbour with the fhipping ; till White Horfe Bridge, over a fmaller arm of the Taff, which feparates itfelf from the main ilream a little higher, and rejoins it juft below, introduces him to the beautiful meadows that ftretch up to Llandaff. Over thefe the eye may now range at will, uninterrupted by what were once " the waylefs woods of Cardiff." Cardiff is the capital of Glamorganmire, though far from the firft of its towns in extent and population. It was built about the year 1079. The requifitions of the Welfh are fo moderate, that they confider this as a neat and agreeable place, though it has little contrivance to boaft in the arrangement of its ftreets, " little CARDIFF. ! 3 7 little of accommodation or iymmetry in the conflrucYion of its buildings. If, indeed, all other features of the principality correfpondcd with the inartificial model of its towns, there would be very flight attractions to induce the vifit of a ftranger. Yet is Cardiff far frqm deficient in objects of intereft to the antiquary, or of more active fpeculation to the enterprifing and commercial mind. Its cattle is among the moil: diflinguifhed by military and political events; though what are called the modern improvements derogate confiderably from its venerable afpect, and fcarcely allow us to fuppofe, from its prefent appearance, trim and fhorn in the interior on the principles of modern gardening, that it was once the fearful feat of Fitzhamon's ufurped fovereignty. It is diftinguifhed in hiftory by a moft barbarous and tragical event, which took place foon after its prefent foundation. The circumftances, which produced and attended it, are prolixly detailed by Drayton, in his Legend of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and more concifely related by Selden, in his Illustrations of the folyolbion, with a legal difquifition annexed, on fome fuppofed articles of releafe. Drayton introduces fortune perlbnified, alluding to the moft atrocious part of the alleged cruelty, in the following terms: The while in Cardiff he a captive lies, Whofe windows were but niggards of their light, I wrought, this Henry's rage not to fuffice, But that he robb'd Duke Robert of his fight, To turn this little piece of day to night ; As though that fenfe, whofe want mould be the lafl To all things living, he the firft mould tafte. That Robert fo unfortunately blind, No outward object might difperfe his care, The better to illuminate his mind, To fee his forrows throughly what they were, To do fo much to this great prince I dare, By taking from him that which fcrv'd him bell. T « Newly i 3 8 GLAMORGANSHIRE. " Newly efcaped out of prifon (whither for flate mifdemeanors he was committed by Henry), he difpatches and interchanges intelligence with molt of the barenage, claiming his primogeniture right, and thereby the kingdom. Having thus gained to him* moil of the Englifh nobility, he lands with forces at Portfmouth-, thence marching towards Winchefler : but before any encounter the two brothers were perfuaded to a peace ; covenant was made, and confirmed by oath of twelve barons, on both parts, that Henry mould pay him yearly two thoufand pounds of filver, and that the furvivor of them mould inherit, the other dying without iflue. This peace, upon denial of payment (which had the better colour, becaufe, at requeft of Queen Maud, the Duke prodigally releafed his two thoufand pounds the next year after the covenant), was foon broken. The King (to prevent what mifchief might follow a fecond arrival of his brother), aflifted by the greateil: favours of Normandy and Anjou, befieged Duke Robert in one of his caftles, took him, brought him home captive, and at length ufing that courfe (next fecure to death), fo often read of in Choniates> Cantacuzen, and other oriental {lories, put out his eyes, being all this time imprifoned in Cardiff Caftle in Glamorgan, where he miferably breathed his laft. It is by Polydore added, out of fome authority, that King Henry after a few years- imprifonment releafed him, and commanded that within forty days and twelve hours (thefe hours have in them time of two floods, or a flood and an ebb) he mould, abjuring England and: Normandy, pafs the feas as in perpetual exile, and that in the mean time, upon new treafons attempted by him, he was fecondly committed, and endured his punimment and death, as the common monks relate. I find no warrantable authority that makes me believe it : yet, becaufe it gives fome kind of example of our obfolete law of abjuration (which it feems had its, beginning from one of the flatutes published under name of the Confeffor),, CARDIFF. i 3f Oonfeflbr), a word or two of the time prefcribed here for his pafTage ; which being examined upon Braclion's credit, makes the report therein faulty. For he feems confident that the forty days in abjuration, were afterward induced upon the flatute of Clarendon, which gave the accufed of felony or treafon, although quitted by the Ordel (that is, judgment by water or fire, but the flatute publifhed, fpeaks only of water, being the common trial of meaner perfons), forty days to pafs out of the realm with his fubflance, which to other felons taking fan&uary and confefling to the coroner, he affirms not grantable ; although John le Breton is againfl him, giving this liberty of time, accounted after the abjuration to be fpent in the fanctuary, for provifion of their voyage necefTaries, after which complete, no man, on pain of life and member, is to fupply any of their wants. I know it a point very intricate to determine, obferving thefe oppofite authors and no exprefs refolution. Since them, the oath of abjuration, publifhed among our manual flatutes, nearly agrees with this of Duke Robert, but with neither of thofe old lawyers. In it, after the felon confefTes, and abjures, and hath his port appointed ; I will (proceeds the oath) diligently endeavour to pafs over at that port, and will not delay time there above a flood and an ebb, if I may have pafTage in that fpace ; if not, I will every day go into the fea up to the knees, afTaying to go over, and unlefs I may do this within forty continual days, I will return to the fanctuary, as a felon of our lord the king ; fo God me help, &c. So here the forty days are to be fpent about the . pafTage, and not in the fan&uary ; compare this with other authorities, and you fhall find all fo dhTonant, that reconciliation is impoffible, refolution very- difficult. I only offer to their confideration, which can here judge, why Hubert de Burch (Earl of Kent, and Chief Juflice of England under Henry III.), having incurred the king's high T 2, difpleafure.. HO GLAMORGANSHIRE. difpleafure, and grievoufly perfecuted by great enemies, talcing fan&uary, was, after his being violently drawn out, reftored ; yet that the fheriffs of Hertford and EfTex were commanded to ward him there, and prevent all fuftenance to be brought him, which they did, decernentes ibi XL. dierum excubiis obfervare : and whether alfo the fame reafon (now unknown to us) bred this forty days for expectation of embarkment out of the kingdom, which gave it in another kind for return ? as in cafe of difleifin, the law hath been that the diffeifor could not reenter without action, unlefs he had as it were made a prefent and continual claim; yet if he had been out of the kingdom in iingle pilgrimage (that is, not in general voyages to the holy land), or in the king's fervice in France, or fo, he had allowance of forty days, two floods, and one ebb, to come home in, and fifteen days, and four days, after his return ; and if the tenant had been fo beyond fea, he might have been eflbigned de ultra Mare, and for a year and a day, after which he had forty days, one flood, and one ebb (which is eafily underftood as the other for two floods), to come into England. This is certain, that the fpace of forty days (as a year and a day) hath had with us divers applications, as in what before, the affize of Frefhforce in cities and boroughs, and the widow's quarantine, which feems to have had beginning either of a deliberative time granted to her, to think of her conveniency in taking letters of administration, as in Artois the reafon of the like is given ; or elfe from the forty days in the eifoign of child-birth allowed by the Norman cuftoms. But you millike the digreffion. It is reported, that when William the Conqueror irv his death-bed left Normandy to Robert, and England to William the Red, this Henry afked him what he would give him ? Five hundred pounds of filver (faith he), and be contented, my fon ; for, in time, thou fhalt have all which I poffefs, and be greater than either of thy brethren." — Selden. In CARDIFF. «. J41 In the year 11 10, Robert Fitzhamon died of a terrible frenzy in his caftle of Tevvkefbury. After this event, King Henry the Firil gave the daughter and heirefs of Robert Fitzhamon to his own natural Con Robert, creating him at the fame time Earl of Gloucefter. This Robert endeavoured to force the Englifh laws on the Welfh of Glamorgan. But Ivor, fon of Cedivor, who was called Ivor Bach, from the fmallnefs of his ftature, contrafted as it was by his formidable prowefs, heading his countrymen, ruflied fuddenly on Cardiff Caftle, broke into it, feized on Robert and his wife, and held them clofe prifoners, till they confented to reftore their ancient laws and liberties to the people, and all their privileges as they had ever ftood, fince the time of Howel Dha, the famous lawgiver. Nor would he releafe them, till the king confirmed thefe extorted conceffions, by folemnly declaring, that he would no further concern himfelf with Glamorgan, than by extending his friendship towards the people on the terms of general union and public league, but private and domeftic independence. It was among the number of thefe ftipulations, that no Welfhman mould be obliged to ferve in any office, or ta render any other performances or aids, but on condition that every one fubjecled to fuch duties fhould have his lands in free tenure, and all his rights and immunities, as due to him without favour, by the nature of his engagement, as well as to all the Welfh. nation under fimiiar circumftances. After all thefe privileges had been confirmed to them, Ivor and his men concluded a peace with the king, and all of them returned to their habitations. Camden places this gallant enterprize a generation later, fuppofing it to have been carried into effect againft William, Earl of Glocefter, Fitzhamon's grandfon by the before-mentioned daughter. In either cafe, the fact, to which he ? and other Englifh. authorities bear testimony, remains the fame. A dark H* GLAMORGANSHIRE. A dark and damp dungeon is frill ihown, which tradition afligns as the prifon of Duke Robert; but the poffibility of exifting there is doubtful. The keep, raifed on an artificial mound, is now called the magazine, from its having been applied to that purpofe, when Cardiff efpoufed the caufe of Charles the Firft. The caftle was bombarded by Cromwell in perfon for three days fucceflively, nor would it fo foon have been gained, but for the treachery of a deferter, whom Oliver executed in an ex poft facto fit of moral indignation. It is enclofed by a higb. rampart, round the top of which a walk is carried, affording an advantageous profpecl: of the town and the furrounding country. The modernifed and habitable afforts ill with the ancient and ruinous part of this fortrefs : the windows are in a ftyle of uncommon violence againft every principle of harmony and tafte ; and the rooms afford nothing but a few family portraits, that confer little luftre on the perfonal graces of their originals. At the eaftern extremity of the town there was a priory of Francifcan Friars, the fhell of which Itill remains, but is continually mouldering. Much of it has fallen within thefe few years, and the reft will foon follow. It continued till the diffolution of religious houfes by Henry the Eighth, after which the property was vefted in the Herberts, who were very great lords and owners in the principality, and to whom Cardiff Caftle gave a title, while it owned their jurifdi&ion. The titles that attach to the chief of the Herberts are among the molt numerous and honourable of "the peerage. They are Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery, Barons Herbert of Cardiff, Rofs of Kendall, Parr, Fitzhugh Marmion, St. Quintin, and Herbert of Shutland ; and they have generally been Knights of the 'Garter. The eldeft fon takes the title of Lord Herbert. The property of Cardiff, however, with their other caftles and lordfhips in this county, has altogether 1 migrated CARDIFF. 143 migrated from this family by intermarriages: and fuch is the revolution occafioned by a few fcores of years, that I am not aware of their pofTeffing a fingle foot of land in any part of the principality at this moment. Their connection with the literary as well as political hiftory of the country, entitles them to fome biographical notice : but as the Pembrokes of other name and flock have borne their part in the tranfactions of their times, I mail, on another occasion, collect into one catalogue the moil prominent, who have been honoured with that illuitrious title. The church has a high tower of peculiar beauty, the parapet of which is richly carved, and crowned with four light Gothic pinnacles at the corners. It is a bold effort of mafonry: for one of the abutments is fupported on a very fmall arch, beyond the centre of which it projects confiderably. The long-tried stability of the building, in defiance of a weight feemingly difproportioned to the means of its fupport, has warranted an experiment that contradicts the eftablifhed rules of mafonic computation. The arch of the weft door- way is rich and good. Within the church, adjoining the north wall, is a monument of Sir William and Sir John Herbert, under a canopy of white marble, fupported by four pillars of black, gilded and painted with all the puerility that confHtuted the magnificence of the age. It is, however, handfome of its kind. There art two figures in a praying pofture, one of them in armour : but the infeription, which appears to have been very long and minute, is nearly obliterated. The tafle would fix it about the time of James the Firft, if we had not the evidence of the perfons to whom it is erected. The organ was built, I believe, about a century ago by Byfield and Harris. It is a much better inftrument than generally falls to the lot of a country church. The diapa/bns are remarkably fine. The body of the church is a plain Norman building, 144 GLAMORGANSHIRE. building, refpectable and commodious, but not on a levtl with the architectural excellence of its more modern tower. There was formerly another church, as there are two parifhes : but St. Mary's was gradually undermined by the river, which has made frequent encroachments on the weftern extremity of the town: the church was at length fwept away fuddenly by an inundation of the fea, in the feventeenth century. There was alfo, in former times, a monaftery of Black Friars without the weft gate. The trade of this town is increafing, and confequently its wealth, population, and profperity. It has the advantage of Pennarth harbour, which enables it to carry on a confiderable traffic with Briftol in the produce of the farm and dairy. From Cardiff there is a very good canal, which eftablifhes that town as the connecting link between the great iron works of Merthyr Tydvil and the Englifh markets. This canal, patting through a country fo rich in collieries immediately on its banks, tends greatly to facilitate the exportation, and rediice the price of coals to the public at large, though it may enhance it near the pits. The future inroads of the fpring tides on the moor between the town and the Briftol Channel are prevented by a fea- wall ; and ^ the tide-lock is remarkable as the only one in the principality. The town is enclofed by a ftone-wall, and there were formerly four gates. The ditch and a watch-tower are ftill to be feen. The bridge over the principal branch of the TarT was built by Mr. Parry in 1 796. VeiTels of four hundred tons burthen come up to the town. But Cardiff is capable of much greater improvements in a commercial point of view, than are yet contemplated by the inhabitants, notw T ithftanding the fuccefsful example of their neighbours. Pennarth harbour, below the town, )( is the beft and fafeft in the Briftol Channel, except Milford Haven. It is formed by the junction of three confiderable rivers, TafF, Elwy, CARDIFF. , 4 £ Elwy, and Remny, juft where they fall into the fea ; though thefe rivers, as we proceed up their banks into the interior of the country, diverge widely from each other. Ships of the greateft burden may at all tides enter into Pennarth harbour, where they may anchor, and lie on very fine mud, without any rocks or fands. Many hundreds of veffels may have ample room there. Very frequently twenty, thirty, and even fifty fail of the Briftol fhipping are obliged to take fhelter in Pennarth harbour. When it is confidered that by the canal Cardiff might be eafily, abundantly, and cheaply fupplied with coal from the collieries, and iron from Merthyr Tydvil, for carrying on the hardware manufactories; with tin-plates alfo from the largeft tin mills in the kingdom, on the banks of the canal, three miles above the town at Melin Grufryth; with copper and brafs by water from Swanfea, Neath, and other eftablifhments in the weftern part of the county ; it is difficult to afcribe a limit to the commercial" capabilities of this place. Briftol is a market, equal to the abforption of any quantity that could be produced of fuch manufactures. Cardiff is fituated in as plentiful a country as any in the kingdom for all kinds of provifions ; and having fo good a harbour for the largeft fhipping, could eafily export its produce and manufactures, not- only to Briftol, but to any part of the world. It could with equal facility import any thing it might want. Birmingham, one of the remoteft towns in this ifland from the fea, with a very long and expenfive land- carriage to and from its fea-ports, of iron and other metal wares, heavy beyond all other articles, rofe into its prefent opulence under thefe difcouragements* and difadvantages, long before it had any inland navigation. Cardiff, on the contrary, poffeffes all the advantages of nature that can in this refpecT: be conceived, and thofe on the largeft fcale. Yet after all, advantageous as fuch extenfions neceffarily muft be U to 145 GLAMORGANSHIRE. to the community at large, it may well be doubted, whether either the comforts, habits, or character, of the immediate neighbourhood would be improved by the fpeculation I have fuggeftcd, if the fubjeel: is to be confidered in any narrower point of view, than that of commercial fplendour and national aggrandifement. The influx of wealth would bring with it wants, which have not hitherto made themfelves known ; while the philofophic beauty of rural manners might poflibly be loft in the purfuits of higher fortune, and the affectation of refinement. CHAPTER t 147 J CHAPTER VI. EOATH .... CEVEN MABLE RUPERRAH .... CAERPHILLY CASTLE. The village of Roath adjoins Cardiff on the eaftern fide, and forms, as it were, the fuburbs of that town. The road, as far as the river Remny, which feparates the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth, is over a dull and dingy moor. The river itfelf is muddy, from the tide about the bridge, and extremely difagreeable at low water ; but when you fkirt it up to Ceven Mable, it becomes interefling, though without any features of grandeur. In order to keep near its banks, it is neceflary to crofs into Monmouthfhire on the turnpike road, and then taking the firft path to the left, to crofs a fecond time into Glamorganfhire at the diftance of about two miles. The character of the country here affimilates with that of Monmouthfhire in general : the meadows to the weft of the river are fertile, and woody in the hedge-rows, and the hills to the eaft of the TafF form the weftern boundary of the profpect on the banks of the Remny. From the main road, Ceven Mable, a large yellow houfe on a confiderable eminence, is feen ftanding due north ; and above that, on a* higher ground in the fame direction, Ruperrah, appearing from a diftance as a fmaller manfion : but when you arrive at Ceven Mable, it feems nearly loft in the magnificence of Ruperrah, backed by ftately groves, and, though in an elevated fituation, placed under the brow of the fuperior heights, that bound the U z vale i 4 « GLAMORGANSHIRE. vale of Caerphilly. Ceven Mable is an ancient feat and park of the Kernes family, whom I apprehend to have come originally out of Pembrokefhire, though they were fettled at this place before the feventeenth century, in the courfe of which they became connected by marriage with the Manfels of Margam. The houfe, in point of architecture, is taftelefs and infignificant, low and irregular ; but it has a length of front that renders it confpicuous from afar. Its profpecl: is rich and extenfive, without being picturefque. Sir Nicholas Kernes raifed a thoufand men within his own county, with whom he joined the forces that were defeated by Oliver Cromwell at St Fagan's in 1.648. Sir Nicholas and his troops retired to Chepftow Caftle, which they defended with great bravery for about three weeks : but Colonel Pride, arriving with his heavy artillery, made a breach, and carried the caftle fword in hand. Sir Nicholas is faid to have been put to death with circumftances of peculiar cruelty. So fatal had been the battle of St. Fagan's to the Welfh, that in the enfuing harveft, the hay was mown, and the corn was reaped, chiefly by women ; nor did men enough furvive in that part of Glamorganfliire for the common bufinefs and purpofes of life. The walk from Ceven Mable to Ruperrah through the meadows Is fingularly beautiful. The afcent to the latter is rather fteep and inconvenient; but the features of the place furnifh fufficient recompence for any little trouble attending the excurfion. This manfion belongs to the Morgans of Tredegar, Machen, and Llantarnam, who are defcended from Cedivor Mawr, the fon of Collwyn, about the period of the conqueft. The death of Cedivor is afligned by the Cambrian Biography to the year 1089. This eftate has been pofleffed by various branches of the family, almoft from time immemorial : but the prefent houfe was built by Inigo Jones, and is the only ftru&ure the principality can boaft of from , ^ 7 that 7 RUPERRAH. i 49 that great architect. It was burnt down fome years ago, after which misfortune the infide was built in the commoneft manner poflible ; but the fhell was preferved ; fo that the exterior Hill exhibits a fpecimen of Inigo. It is, however, defigned after the caftellate manner of the country, which renders it a lefs important and interefting relic, than it would have been, had he exercifed his fancy on the more coftly and tafteful embellifhments of that newly-acquired ftyle, that gave moft fcope to the difplay of his excellence. There are four fronts, with five windows in the centre of each, and four round towers. The hall windows in the fouth front are lower than the reft, which deftroys its uniformity: but this facrince I take to have been made for fome purpofe of internal convenience at the time of the rebuilding, when the dignity of the original defign feems to have given way to other confiderations. I am told that fome among the numerous tribes of Jones's in the principality claim Inigo for a countryman and a relation ; but it is probable that London gave him birth, as he is underftood to have been the fon of a cloth-worker, and bound apprentice to a joiner, when he was noticed either by the Earl of Arundel or the Earl of Pembroke. He might, however, have been of Welfli extraction ; and, at all events, a few brief memoirs cannot be unacceptable, when they relate to an artift of whom Greece or Italy, in its beft times, might have been proud, in a country which has not hitherto been diftingutihed by preeminent knowledge or genius in the fine arts. He was born about the year 1572, and fent over to Italy by one of his patrons, to ftudy landfcape : but he changed his purfuit, and became an architect. He faw the works of Palladio in the ftate of Venice, and profited by the example. The palace at Leghorn and the front of a church are thought to have been executed from his defigns. He was appointed architect to Chriflian the Fourth of Denmark, where 150 GLAMORGANSHIRE. our James the Firft found him, and brought him over in the retinue of Queen Anne. On the death of Prince Henry, to whom he had the appointment of architect, he returned into Italy, and extricated himfelf from the inconfiftencies of the mixed Grecian and Gothic. When the place of furveyor became vacant, he came back again to England, and in the year 1620 was appointed one of the commiffioners for the repair of St. Paul's : but the work was not begun till 1633, when the Bifhop of London laid the firft ftone, and Inigo Jones the fourth. Yet a Roman portico, however excellent, had little affinity with a Gothic church. But his greateft defign was the palace at Whitehall ; and the Banquetting Houfe, though a fmall part of the intended pile, is y fb complete as to furnifh a perpetual example of the moil exquifite and finifhed tafte. He was alfo employed to defign a chapel and a river front for Somerfet Houfe. The acceflion of Charles the Firft introduced no new favourite, to direct the pleafures of the court. He continued to invent the decorations of thofe mafques, for which Jonfon compofed the poetry, Laniere and Ferabofco the mufic ; while the royal family and the nobility acted and danced. Wilton was another diftinguifhed theatre, where the genius of Inigo Jones had to follow that of Holbein. Surgeons' Hall, in London, Covent Garden with its church, and Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, were executed by him, or under his direction. Gunnerfbury, near Brentford, was his; but the portico is thought to engrofs too large a portion of the front. The idea of Greenwich Hofpital is faid to have been borrowed from his papers by Webb. But the civil war interrupted his efforts. He was a royalift and a Roman catholic : he was therefore fined and perfecuted. Grief and misfortunes are faid to have fhortened his days: but furely time may come in for its mare of the difgrace, when it is confidered that he was nearly eighty years of age. • From CAERPHILLY CASTLE. 151 From Ruperrah the gardener conducted me acrofs the park. The profpecl: was uncommonly attractive. The harvefl moon at the full was jult rifen. The erred of it mining on the Briftol Channel, with the bold hills of Somerfetfhire beyond, was in a high degree beautiful. The channel, though from twelve to fifteen miles acrofs, feemed but like an inland river. The mountain-valley of Caerphilly, as you come upon the Newport road, has a powerful effect upon the mind, as feen by a bright moon-light. About a mile to the fouth-eaft of Caerphilly is an ancient houfe in a ruinous flate, formerly a feat of the Lewis's, anceftors to the Earls of Plymouth. Caerphilly Caftle was once the largeil: in Great Britain, next to Windfor, and it is without exception the moft extenfive ruin. Its magnitude and ftrength have caufed the probability of its origin to be much controverted : and it is perhaps too much the cuflom to queftion the authenticity of thofe documents or traditions, which happen not exactly to tally with our own conjectures or preconcerted hypothefes. The memorials which I have been able to collect, from the Welfh Archaeology, extracted for me by Mr. Edward Williams, and from other fources, received as the moll: authentic in that country, furnifh the following broken and interrupted particulars of this place from very early times. Cenydd, the fon of Gildas, the celebrated author of the epiftle De Excidio Britannia?, founded a church and monaftery in the eaftern, and another in the weftern part of Glamorgan. This anecdote is found in a very ancient manufcript account of the Britifh faints, in the Welih language : but no place is affigned to the firft of thefe. To the fecond our attention will be drawn hereafter. But Caradoc Lhancarvan, in a copy differing from that X i s \ GLAMORGANSHIRE. that which Powel tranflated, fupplies the deficiency by informing us, that, in the year 831, the Saxons of Mercia came unexpectedly in the night, and burned the monaftery dedicated to St. Cenydd, Handing where Caerphilly Caftle is now ; though there was at that time a fworn truce between the Britons of Glamorgan and the Mercian Saxons. In the year 1094, the Earls of Arundel and of Glocefter, Arnold de Harcourt and Neale le Vicount, came with an army againft the Welfh of Glamorgan, in aid of Robert Fitzhamon. The armies met, and in the battle of Gellygare, which is five miles north of Caerphilly, the natives flew every one of thofe Norman leaders, and accomplifhed an exemplary vengeance on their enemies, taking from them very rich and copious fpoils. Some of the Normans efcaped into their caftles ; but few of them were fo fortunate; for Ednerth ap Cadwgan, with his fons, GrufTyth and Ivor, followed them very clofely, and flew great numbers in their retreat. Others of the defeated army fled from their purfuers into England ; while fuch of the Normans as had been able to fecure themfelves in their caftles, granted, as they termed it, but more properly reftored to the Welfli, their ancient laws and immunities, with their lands in free tenure. The continuator of Caradoc Lhancarvan informs us, that in the year 13 17, Rees Vechan, Prince of South Wales, took this caftle, but it is not mentioned from whom : the garrifon, however, to impede his operations, from the fuccefs of which they dreaded fummary punifhment, burnt the town. Hence there appears to be fome truth in the tradition at Caerphilly, that the town was formerly much larger than it is now ; but that in early times it had been burnt, during a fiege of the caftle. They ftill fhew in the fields, and other vicinities of the town, many ancient foundations, with various veftiges of buildings ; and fo lately as the year 1802, in digging foundations for a new fulling-mill and other CAERPHILLY CASTLE. 153 other works, deftined for the purpofes of a woollen manufactory, in addition to thofe which are already eftablifhed there, fome very ftrong old foundations were difcovered, with feveral pieces of oak timber, fome of them partly burnt, a great number of old nails, and other remains, that confirmed the traditional relation. Thefe difcoveries were made nearly a quarter of a mile out of the prefent fmall town. It is mentioned in the annals of the fame year, that LheWelin ap Jorwerth, Prince of North Wales, Gwenwynwyn, Prince of Powife, fon of Owen Cyveiliog, and Rees Vechan, Prince of South Wales, confederated to deftroy the caftles of the Normans and Englifh in Wales, and among others, they took the caftle, which is the fubjeCt. of the prefent remarks. But whether we are to understand, that thefe two accounts refer to the fame event, and that the reduction of this caftle was allotted to Rees Vechan, in the arrangement of their concerted operations ; or that he loft it again, and that the allies immediately combined their forces to recover it, is neither eaiy nor important to afcertain. In the year 12 18, Lhewelin ap Jorwerth is reprefented as having taken this caftle once more from Reynald de Brufe, Lord of Brecknock, and having then configned it to the cuftody of Rees, Prince - of South Wales. Rees foon afterwards rafed it to the ground. In 13 19, John de Brufe, fon of William de Brufe, married Margaret, daughter of Lhewelin ap Jorwerth, Prince of North Wales. In 1221, John de Brufe rebuilt and fortified this caftle, with the permiffion and by the advice of his father-in-law, Prince Lhewelin ap Jorwerth. In the year 1570, Lhewelin ap GrufFyth ap Jorwerth, the laft Prince of North Wales, took the Caftle of Caerphilly. This is the firft time it is called by the name of Caerphilly in the Wellh hiftory. It was in earlier times denominated from the founder of the monaftery, on the fite of which, after its X demolition, 1^4 GLAMORGANSHIRE. demolition, the caftle was rebuilt. This is alfo the laft time it is mentioned at all in the Continuation of Caradoc, from which thefe particulars are taken. But there is a more correct, and an ampler continuation of Caradoc extant, which is not at prefent v/ put to the prefs. It is ftrongly fufpected, that there are fome /^ confiderable errors, or at leaft deficiencies, in all the copies hitherto publifhed. It is not diftinctly afcertained, into what hands Caerphilly Caftle paffed after the period of Lhewelin's capture. There may probably be fome notices, difperfed in genealogical manufcripts ; but it is difficult to collect: thofe fhort anecdotes, faintly and imperfectly recorded here and there, in a mafs of confufed materials. In the time of Edward the Firft, it was undoubtedly in the poffeffion of Gilbert de Clare, lord, or prince, as he is fometimes termed, of Glamorgan, who purchafed it, but from whom I know not. On his marriage with Joan of Acres, he fettled this caftle, and the lands belonging to it, on her and her heirs for ever: but the eftates belonging to the lordfhip of Glamorgan, with thofe belonging to his earldoms of Glocefter and Hereford, he fettled on her only for life. After his death, me married, unknown to the king, Ralph de Mortimer, and fettled Caerphilly Caftle, with the eftates belonging to it, on him and his heirs for ever. After her death, Gilbert, fon of the laft Earl de Clare, who was only five years old at the time of his father's deceafe, fucceeded to the lordfhip or principality of Glamorgan. Mortimer, however, remained pofTefled of Caerphilly. This young lord* Gilbert de Clare, was flain at the battle of Bannockburn, in the year 13 14, leaving no iftue. His lordfhips of courfe defcended to his three fillers, coheireffes. One of them, named Eleanor, was married to Hugh Spencer the younger; another, Margaret, to Piers Gavaftone ; and the third, Elizabeth, to John de Bugh. Hugh CAERPHILLY CASTLE. 155 Hugh Spencer the younger came to ponefs the lordmip of Glamorgan by this marriage, and by purchafe or compromiic from the other coheireftes. Among other act.s of depredation, he feized on Caerphilly Caftle, which is faid to have been built in a ftronger manner than hitherto by Ralph de Mortimer. He like wife ufurped the lands belonging to it, and added conuderably to the ftrength and magnitude of the Cattle. He and his father were the great favourites of Edward the Second ; and being countenanced by him in all their licentious proceedings, both the father and fon acled fo directly in violation of all laws and jultice, as to excite the indignation and refentment of the Englifh barons, as well as the hatred of the nation in general. Their Welfh fubjects, who made up the petty fovercignty of Glamorgan, were not backward in exprefting their deteftation : and Roger Mortimer, who was heir at law to Caerphilly Caftle and its eftates, drew up a regular ftatement of his cafe, and accompanied it with a petition, complaining of the unjuft feizure, by which his property wa3 converted to the ufe of young Hugh Spencer. He prefented this memorial to the barons, at a meeting held by them, for the purpofe of taking into consideration the iniquitous conduct of Hugh Spencer. The barons agreed to furnifh him with an army of ten thoufand men : they placed him at the head of it, and encouraged him to enter Glamorgan, and take poifeffion of his eftates. But the Spencers had fo ftrongly fortified and garrifoncd the caille, and had fupplied it with fuch an immenfe {lore of provifions, that they held out for a long time. The queen, fiding with the barons, found means to raife a powerful army. King Edward her hufband, on the other hand, w r as enabled to get into Caerphilly Caftle. But, after a long fiege, the caftle was taken, in confequence of a breach having been effected by means, which it requires fome faith to credit on the teftimony of local traditions X 2, and 156 GLAMORGANSHIRE. v and manuscripts. According to fuch accounts, a battering-ram was worked by one thoufand men, and fufpended to a frame, compofed of twenty large oaks. The breach was made in the depth of a dark night, and King Edward efcaped in the habit of a Wellh peafant. The more effectually to difguife himfelf, he affifted with great eagernefs to pile wood on the tremendoufly large fires, that lighted the befiegers in battering the caftle. Local authorities affert, probably with fome degree of poetical amplification, that one hundred teams were employed to fupply Wood for thofe vail: fires. The Welfh are faid to have affifted the befiegers from all quarters, at a proper opportunity* Edward made his efcape from every danger, and through the dark and ftormy night went on, till he came to the pariih of Llangonoyd, twenty miles weftward, where he hired himfelf as a cowherd or fhepherd, at a farm ftill known by fo fingular a circumftance. After having been there for fome time, but how long is not precifely afcertained, the farmer, finding him but an awkward and ignorant fellow, difmifTed him. Such is the colouring of one account : but another ftory in manufcript relates, that the farmer knew who he was, and befriended him as long as he could. From Llangonoyd he went to Neath Abbey, whence he ifiued a proclamation, ordering his fubjects to take the queen, with other particulars, which are to be found in Rymer's Fcedera. The Spencers were taken in their caftle, where prodigious quantities of fait and frefh provifions were found. Of live cattle, there were lodged within the caftle walls, two thoufand fat oxen, twelve thoufand cows, twenty-five thoufand calves, thirty thoufand fat iheep, fix hundred draught horfes, and a fufficient number of carts for them; two thoufand fat hogs, of fait provifions two hundred beeves, fix hundred muttons, one thoufand hogs, two- hundred tons of French wine, forty tons of cyder and wine, the produce CAERPHILLY CASTLE. 157 produce of their own eftates, with wheat enough to make bread for two thoufand men for four years. In one of the towers, every apartment was crammed full of fait. Under this tower was a furnace for fmelting iron, hot mafTes of which had been thrown by engines on the befiegers, who, when they had got poifeffion of the cattle, let out the fufed iron from the furnace, and threw water upon it. This occauoned a moft dreadful explofion, that rent the tower in two, and deftroyed the fait. What ftands of the tower at prefent is that which overhangs its bafe. The fubfequent fate of the two Hugh Spencers, father and fon, is too well known to need a record on this occafion. Hugh Spencer the grandfon, however, with his faithful garrifon, found means to deftroy, very unexpectedly, a confiderable number of the befiegers, and leading his men to the breach, was able to prevent others from entering. Prefuming on this fuccefs, young Spencer Succeeded in destroying his enemies within, and procuring tolerable terms, by which he was permitted to remain in pofTeflion of the cattle and his eftates, together with' the lordfhip of Glamorgan. His fon Thomas Spencer fucceeded him. The next in the catalogue was a fecond Thomas Spencer ; the laft, and, if poflible, the worft, of this^ tyrannical and unprincipled family. He, after the acceffion of King Henry the Fourth, was on his way home, in confequence of the eonfpiracy being betrayed, and the rebels routed at Cirencefter. He was met there by a great number of the Welfh, who had been deprived of their properties by him and his anceftors. Thefe Welfhmen took him out of his bed at Briftol, and being joined by the populace, beheaded him. He left no male iflue, and only one daughter, Ifabella, his heirefs, who married Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and in her right lord of Glamorgan. There temained in Glamorganshire, of illegitimate iffiie^ feveral families- bearing. i 5 S GLAMORGANSHIRE. bearing the furname of Spencer. The Spencers, lords of Glamorgan, were immenfely wealthy ; and hence we may eafily account for the magnitude of Caerphilly Cattle. This caflle having been thus roughly handled by the queen and barons in the years 1326 and 1327, there are fome reafons for fuppofing, that it was never afterwards inhabited by the lords of Glamorgan. For we find that in the year 1400, the famous Owen Glandwr had obtained pofTeffion of it. A celebrated Welfh bard addrefTes a fine ode to Glandwr, exprefling himfelf after the following manner, making allowance for the difference of idioms. " Bring together a faithful hoft from the territories of the Dauphin : purfue thy courfe to Rofs and Pembroke, and to the region of Breiddin. Then, a protector like Conftantine, bring forth thine armies from gigantic Caerphilly, a fortrefs great in its ruins." It is very probable that it had remained in a flate cf ruin, ever fmce the fiege of the barons. Still, however, it muit have been a place of confiderable ftrength, or it would not have been occupied by Glandwr, after whofe time there is but little mention of it to be met with, for more than a whole century. It feems to have been a place, where its rapacious lords the Spencers amafTed every thing they could poffibly get, by plundering their vaffals or tenants, and the inhabitants in general. From this circumftance arofe the Welfh proverb, It is gone to Caerphilly ; fignifying, that a thing is irrecoverably loft, and ufed on occafions when an Englifhman of no very nice felection would fay, It is gone to the devil. A diftinguifhed Welfh bard of the fourteenth century, David ap' Gwilym, has in a fatirical poem of his the following paiTage, the fenfc and ftyle of which may in fome meafure be prcferved in' Englifh, uncouth as they appear in our phrafeology: 7 " May CAERPHILLY CASTLE. 150 " May all curfe, and I will curfe ; yes, curfe that fellow, and v my curfes will prevail. He of hardened lips; — he with all the courage of exceffive cold; — he, our enemy; — may he become a dead carcafe: — his foul; — may his dog run away with it, or become porTefTed of it, and may his body go to Caerphilly." More paffages of this nature might be collected from the poets; but thefe are fufficient to illuftrate the gloomy ideas which were aflbciated in the minds of the natives, with the feat of fo many horrors and fuch rapacity. Leland, who wrote about the year 1530, mentions Caerphilly Caftle in his Itinerary, as fet among marfhes, with ruinous walls of a wonderful thicknefs, and a tower kept up for prifoners. In the firft volume of the Archaeologia, publifhed by the Antiquarian Society, there is a paper by the late Daines Barrington, at that time one of the judges on the circuit of North Wales. In this communication, he offers fome reafons for fuppofing, that Caerphilly Caftle was built by Edward the Firft, on the ground of the probability, that as he had thought it necefFary to conftrucT: the catties of Conway and Caernarvon, for the purpofe of controlling the northern inhabitants of the principality, he might alfo have erected other caftles in South Wales for the fame purpofe. I believe that the reputation of the author, and the ingenious reafoning of the paper, are generally confidered as having fet the queftion at reft ; for it is attributed to Edward the Firft, in moft. modern publications, on this authority fpecifically, without the flightefl hint of fufpicion or uncertainty. But I apprehend that a clofer inquiry into the fubjecl: would have led that acute and learned antiquary into a train of observation, not altogether confiftent with his hypothefis, and have induced him at leaft to doubt. Glamorgan was one of thofe petty fovereignties, called Lordfbips Marchers, Its lords were its fovereigns. They had their i5o GLAMORGANSHIRE. their parliaments, their courts of juftice, and their other offices executive and jurifprudential, in which they, and not the King of England, were fupreme. They exercifed jura regalia, and did not hold of the crown, but per gladium, as their term was. They were generally, for their greater fafety, in clofe alliance with the King of England, but not his fubjecls. This diftinction, however, is to be understood in reference to thefe lordfhips only; for with refpect to their baronies and eftates in England, they were to all intents and purpofes fubjecls. King Edward had no jurifdiclion at that time in Glamorgan. He could not poffefs an acre of land there, but as a fubjecl: to the lord of the country. It happened, indeed, in fubfequent ages, that in confequence of intermarriages, the lordfhip of Glamorgan devolved on the king of England, and he in that cafe granted it to others on fuch terms as he thought proper, till, in the time of Henry the Seventh, it was united to the crown of England, as were moft of the other Lordfhips Marchers in the fame manner: and this aflumption enabled Henry the Eighth to incorporate the whole of Wales with England. Edward the Firft had united North Wales by conqueft with the crown of England. He had done the fame by that part of South Wales, which had been fubjecl: to the houfe of Dinevowr and its princes : but thofe moft powerful of the Lordfhips Marchers, Glamorgan and Pembroke in South Wales, with thofe of Denbigh and Flint in North Wales, part of the lordfhips belonging to the Earls of Chefter, that of Shrewfbury, and poffibly fome others, continued independent of the crown of England till the time of Henry the Eighth, when the incorporation took place. Thefe circumftances go to prove, that it could not have been Edward the Firft who built Caerphilly Caftle. We have already {cen from hiftorical documents, deduced from the Welfh authors, j^ that John jde Brufe built it in 132 1; that after it had been taken, and CAERPHILLY CASTLE. 161 and of courfe partly ruined, it had afterwards been rebuilt in greater ftrength than it had before poffeffed, by Ralph Mortimer; and in procefs of time was again greatly augmented and flrengthened by Hugh Spencer the fon, whofe wealth appears, by all the accounts we have of him, to have been fully equal to fuch an undertaking: and it may be fuppofed, with fufficient probability, that it was as great, and very poflibly greater, than that of Edward the Firft. The prefent appearance of Caerphilly fully accords with the ideas which ancient records infpire of its ftrength, magnificence, and extent. The area is entered between two dilapidated towers; and the interior view of this great gateway, between its mighty baftions, is as ftriking and perfect as any part of the venerable ftruclure. The circuit of the outer works enclofes a very large tract of ground, though the circumference, great as it is compared ■with that of fortreffes in general, fcarcely renders credible the enormous provifion, related to have been thrown in by the younger Spencer. The wall of the celebrated leaning tower, though but a fragment, is itill between feventy and eighty feet high, and of , a prodigious thicknefs. It hangs eleven feet and a half out of the perpendicular, and feems only to reft: on one part of its fouth fide. It appears as if held together principally by the Urength of its cement, which is of a tenacity unknown to the experience of modern mafons. Its fingularity is beft obferved by an interior examination, or from the moat underneath, whence the effect of its apparently falling mafs is indeed ftupendous. They fhow the mint clofe by this interefting part of the ruin, arched in a curious manner, with two furnaces for melting metal. Thefe furnaces Lkewife dealt out dreadful vengeance on befiegers, and were the means, according to the moft plaufible as well as beft-authenticated accounts, of placing the adjoining tower in that fingular fituation, Y to 162 GLAMORGANSHIRE. to account for which has given rife to fo many conjectures of fancy, and fo many tales of fuperflition. From the mint there is an afcent to a long gallery, which communicated with the different apartments, and afforded a ready intercourfe between the guards, who occupied the embattled towers. This corridor remains entire for the extent of from ninety to one hundred feet on the fouth fide, except where the ftaircafes have been deflroyed, which circumftance prevents its being traverfed: but the view from the extremity, along the vaulted paffage, darkening as it recedes, realizes the awe infpired by the irrational fublimity of chivalrous romance. The defcent of the fally-port is tremendoufly fleep. When once the force of the cattle began to pour down, the alternative refted between victory and death. The declivity impelled the fleps of thofe, whofe fear might have paufed on even ground : and there could be no retreat for the foremoit, while the ranks behind were ruining to the conflict. The great hall is large and complete. It exhibits an auguft example of Gothic grandeur, united with a confiderable degree of elegance. This room is about feventy feet X by thirty, and feventeen in height. It has large windows, and an ornamented chimney-piece in mafterly and fcientific proportions, with clutters of pillars along the fide walls. The north window of the chapel is not only perfect, but uncommonly light and elegant. The window of what my guide, in the fpirit of modern refinement, called the drawing-room, is nearly entire. Clofe by one of the drawbridges is the weflern entrance of the ruin, with a high Gothic arch in the centre, fupported by two ponderous towers in a circular form. This great gateway is grand and perfect, and leads to the flupendous ftructure of the inner court from the welt, as the gate with the hexagonal towers from the eaft. The dungeon has all thofe excellencies of a dungeon, to which the ancient barons knew jhow to give full effect; darknefs, damp, and gloom. The interior has CAERPHILLY CASTLE. 163 has not a great deal of ivy; but the outer walls, particularly to the weft, are venerably clothed. It would be fuperfluous to enter into a defcription of the buildings for the garrifon, or the outworks. Suffice it to fay, that it ftill exifts a monument of magnificence, and an intimation of almoft irrefragable power, in the ancient poffeflbrs of this once important lordfhip. There is from the caftle court a fine view of Energln, the feat of Mr. Goodrich. The trade of Caerphilly is becoming of importance. It was only known as an object of antiquarian curiofity till of late years, when a woollen manufacture was eftablimed. There are now three : and the effect is obfervable in traffic on the roads, and population in the town. There is here one of thofe very large fhops, furnifhed with articles of every defcription, which are eftabliihed in particular ftations of the mountainous country, and by fupplying the wants of the inhabitants, for many miles round, generally enfure a fortune to the induftrious and indefatigable adventurer. Y % CHAPTEJfc r&4 GLAMORGANSHIRE. CHAPTER VII. ENERGLN. . . EGLWYSILAN. . . LLANBRADACH .... LLANVABON. . . CEVEN HENGOED. ... GELLYGARE .... QUAKERS YARD.... ABERDARE .... HIRWIN FURNACE MERTHYR TYDVIL.... PENDERYN...CYFARTHFA WORKS .... DOWLAS IRON WORKS GELLY VALLOG. .. . LLWYN Y PIA . . . . YSTRADYVODWG . ...LLYN VAWR....PONTNEATH VECHAN. The turnpike road from Caerphilly to Merthyr Tydvil winds V through Yftrad vale. I rather chofe the road over Eglwyfilan mountain, which is only a horfe path, as more favourable to the obje&s of my journey. There is fomewhere in this diftricT: a quadrangular monument defcribed by Camden; but it was not my fortune to meet with it, having at this time no guide, and having appointed my fervant, who was better acquainted with the country, to meet me at Merthyr Tydvil. The courtefy between Caerphilly and Energln is reciprocal ; for each affords a moft advantageous view of the other. The latter place is handfome and well laid out, with woods at the back and fides for ornament and fhelter. The front afpecl to the fouth-eaffc is genial and pleafing, and commands a ftriking view of the plain hemmed in by mountains, with its auguft caftle completely under the eye, and impreffively exhibited in its collected mafs. The afcent from Energln to the farm-houfe above opens gradually an extenfive and grand profpecl; of the plain immediately beneath, EGLWYSILAN. GELLYGARE. 165 beneath, and over the nearer mountains to the channel, with almoft an uninterrupted expanfe of country on each fide. Beyond the farm-houfe on the flat top of the mountain, as you retreat from the fouthern fcene, you have Yftrad vale to the right, while you look over into the vale of TafF on the left, and the profpecl: is terminated on that fide by the hills which bound the horizon to the weft of that river. The character of the diftrict is wild, yet not without occafional Specimens of cultivation and beauty. Among thefe is the undulating line of brufhwood in the valley, that overhangs the quiet and concealed courfe of the Remny: the refpectable manfion of Llanbradach, the cottages belonging to the chapelry of Llanvabon below the mountain on one fide, Ceven Hengoed on the other, the improved and well- wooded grounds about Gellygare in front ; while the rude grandeur of the fcene, thus relieved and diverfified, is appropriately terminated by the two lofty and ■^perpendicular peaks of Mounchdeny, which are feen from very diftant parts of South Wales, and thence called the Brecknockfhire beacons, forming part of that continued chain from Llandilo Vawr to Crickhowel. The parifh church is dedicated to Helena, and thence called Eglwyfilan, and the name of the chapel annexed, Llanvabon, imports it to have been confecrated to her fon, who was Conftantine. About two miles from Caerphilly, in this direction, are feveral tumuli, in which burnt bones have been found, but no medals. They were opened about the year 1752, * and have been mentioned in a paper by the Rev. William Harris, read to the Society of Antiquaries, and printed in the Archasologia. The urns were all broken by the workmen. After defcending the mountain, my road lay to the left in the vale near Gellygare, where the memorable battle was fought after Fitzhamon' s conqueft, which proved to the Normans, at their coil, y 166 GLAMORGANSHIRE. coft, how dearly the natives loved their liberty, and how deeply they refented its lofs. The next deviation was tip a fteep afcent, winding round fuddenly on a height, that overlooks the Quaker's Yard, with all its romantic fcenery. This is, on the whole, perhaps the moll: lingular fpot in the vale of TafF. The Quaker's Yard is a burial-place belonging to that feci. Directly beyond it, on the curioufly- contrived turnpike road from Merthyr Tydvil to Cardiff, is a bridge over the Bargoed TafF River, juft at its junction with the TafF; the banks of which have here acquired their woody character, while the valley on each fide is choked up by mountains. The road, carried over a precipice, exhibits the eccentricities of nature in all their extent and variety. I had been informed that the direct road from the Quaker's Yard till within a mile or two of Merthyr Tydvil was a continued range of mountainous and unrelieved barrennefs. I determined therefore to take a circuitous route ; and for that purpofe bent my fteps, near the feeder to the canal, towards New Bridge, by which/ . direction, at different times, I completely explored the richer part of this delicious vale. At the aqueduct, where the canal is ' carried over the river, an iron rail-road, for the prefent, ends ; and from the wharf at this place the canal is the only conveyance for heavy goods to Cardiff. The length of it, as far as it has already been completed, is about ten miles ; but it w r as deilgned to have extended from Merthyr Tydvil to Cardiff; and it is faid that one horfe would have been able to draw forty tons of iron the whole 3 n diffance of twenty-fix miles in one day. I understand, however, that it is not likely to be finifhed : and indeed it is much more neceffary where it is now made, from the occafional want of water, than lower down, where the confluence of many and copious ftreams affords a more certain fupply to the canal. The wonders of art in this neighbourhood almoit rival thofe of 3 nature. QUAKER'S YARD. ABERDARE. 167 nature. There are juft here eighteen locks on the canal in the J I fpace of one mile, eleven of which follow each other in fuch. immediate fucceffion, as to occupy only one quarter of that mile. After purfuing this Interefting part of the road nearly as far as New Bridge, I returned over the aqueduct into the vale of Cunno, or Aberdare. This clear and rapid river pays its tribute to the Taff at this place ; and the romantic narrownefs of the opening between the cluftered mountains to the north- weft, where the two vales meet, ftrongly invites the traveller to deviate, at the cxpence of time, diftance, and intolerable paths. The right bank of the Cunno leads directly through the jparifh, w^hich is many miles in length, to the village of Aberdare. It has already been defcribed as very narrow at the eaftern extremity, but it widens as you advance, and becomes exquifitely beautiful and verdant. It is equally fecluded, but lefs wild than Yftradyvodvvg. About v^ two miles from the aqueduct, there is on the left bank of the Cunno a moft luxuriant and majeftic grove of oaks. The next feature of peculiar attraction beyond, is a very picturefque hollow way overfhadowed with lofty trees. The road, a rough and much-obftru&ed horfe-path, afterwards runs by the fide of the Cunno, the bed of which is fo mallow here, that you may ftand in it, and catch a beautiful view of its reach, encompafTcd by mountains on every fide. Near the place to which I refer is an Alpine bridge, formed by two trunks of trees, with the luxury and fafeguard that does not often occur, of a railing on each fide, to compenfate for its tremuloufnefs under the foot. The river foon becomes broader, and introduces you to a fine view of the vale in its moft open and extenfive part. The track afterwards takes a higher level on the fide of the mountain, and introduces more of the upper grounds into the landfcape. For fome way it runs along a precipice over the w T ater with hanging woods beneath fringing 168 GLAMORGANSHIRE. fringing the river to its edge ; while the nakednefs of the rocks above contrails and fets off the luxuriance and verdure of the meadows and groves below. But there is a confined view, about three miles fhort of the village, which ftruck me as the moft: engagingly romantic and beautiful of the whole. It confifted only of three meadows, furrounded by groves of oak and fir, which completely fhut out the world, and realize the tales of uninhabited inlands, whofe wildnefs is partially pruned and regulated by fome fhipwrecked mariner or exiled fojourner. It is worth while to climb a hill clofe by, for the purpofe of taking a general view of the country down to the Taff, which you have juft examined in detail. It is a bold and rich fcene, and the meadows form a moft pleafing fore-ground. This vale, taken as a whole, is one of the moft fertile and beautiful in the mountains of Glamorgan. All the circumftances of thefe wild diitricls do not correipond in the agreeablenefs of their features. The face of nature is enchanting; but the ftate of human accommodation would be confidered as frightful by the nurfed inhabitants of more populous and better accommodated tracts. A ftronger contraft cannot be conceived than between a cottage in the vale of Glamorgan, and a cottage in the vale of Aberdare or Yftradyvodwg, though probably , there is fcarcely ten miles of intervening fpace in a ftraight line. Yet even to the cottages of Aberdare I can give the negative praife, that I have fmce feen worfe. The diet of the peafants in the hills is of the coarfeft kind : it eonfifts of oatmeal bread, with a relifh of miferable cheefe , and their beer, where they have any, is worfe than none. Their butter and milk are of a more palatable quality. Yet I queftion whether their ignorance of better things, and confequent exemption from the purgatory of comparifon, may not keep them among the moft contented, though pooreft. of the poor. ABERDARE. HIRWIN FURNACE. 169 poor. Their cheerfulnefs among one another, and communicative difpofition towards inquirers, renders it a matter of regret to a ilranger, that he has no common language in which to converfe with them. Having formed my preconceived opinion from what I had witneifed of Yftrady vodwg in the fummer, and the ftyle of the huts I had pafTed in my progrefs up this vale, I found the village of Aberdare more populous and better arranged than I expected. This is to be attributed to its having become, in common with Merthyr Tydvil, a manufacturing place, though its eftablifhments bear no comparable proportion w r ith that metropolis of iron-mafters. It produces a fudden and rather inexplicable fenfation in the mind, to meet with the modern improvements of fcientific ingenuity, and the activity of commercial enterprize, in a country which feems to have precluded all fuch poffibilities, and appeared but juft before like the very head-quarters of folitude. I did not vifit, and of courfe do not defcribe, either the " works of Aberdare belonging to Mr. Scales, or Hirwin Furnace, at the diftance of four miles to the north, whofe columns of fmoke, rifing from its ftation at the black and barren extremity of this Alpine vale, obfcure and ftifle thofe rural images, produced on the fancy by the fportive creations of nature. Such arrangements are every where fimilar; and as I was to fee the mod extenfive and perfect hereafter, I was glad to efcape from the contufion of anvils, the blalr. of furnaces, and the whirl of wheels. The churchyard of Aberdare has fome venerable, but decaying yew-trees, and fome monuments, in all the pomp of gilded cherubims, with a profufion of devices in every talle but the good. It is difficult to conjecture how the fuppofed Simplicity of thefe mountaineers could have conceived, much lefs executed, fuch finery. But the church itfelf is a molt lame and impotent conclufion to this funereal magnificence, though quite as good as ♦ Z * molt ija GLAMORGANSHIRE. mod others in fimilar fituations. The natives of the Welfh mountains worfhip their Maker, where an Englifhman would not litter the moft ignoble quadruped about his houfe ; in darknefs and in damp, pelted through crevices by the elements, and immerfed in dirt more profound and impenetrable than that of their own miferable hovels. In refpect to cleanlinefs, indeed, there is a lamentable difference between the peafants of the mountains and the vallies ; a difference that makes it a queftion, whether that virtue, as it is juftly called, is not rather an invention and refinement of fociety, than an inftincl: of nature, as thofe are apt to imagine, who have been too long in its habits to remember their own initiation. A canal to join the other is begun, and a turnpike road through the vale is in agitation. It is yet doubtful whether either will take effect; The road from Aberdare acrofs the mountain, that divides it from the vale of Merthyr Tydvil, is of rugged and toilfome afcent, and paffes by the works of Mr. Scales. The communication between the two places is conftant, and renders the fcene widely different from the unfrequented wilds of Aberdare. From the fummit, the town of Merthyr Tydvil, with its populous vale, ftretches itfelf under the eye. The firft perception of fingularity that it occafions in the mind, is the extreme difproportion between the population and the vifible means of fuflenance. A mountain valley, overfpread, as far as the eye can reach, with the comparatively commodious habitations of mafters, agents, engineers, and workmen, feems to have been peopled in the teeth of every obftacle, and to affert the triumph of fact over probability. The vale is of confiderable width, and inacceffible to all but the equeftrian traveller, except at the very narrow paffes of the extremities. The mountains are bleak, barren, and devoid of wood i the bottom has its fprinkling of fuccefsful cultivation ; but MERTHYR TYDVlL. j?i but the inhabitants live on the contributions of diflant parts, and enhance the prices far beyond their natural level, at the fame time that they drain the furrounding country of its labourers. It is feldom that fo populous a diftricl: and fo bare a foil are found to coalefce. It is, however, owing to the difficulty of mountain tillage, which ftrong inducements will always overcome, and not to a defecl of vegetative powers when called into action, that this tract exhibits thefe peculiarities, in a fair train for being diminished and effaced by time. Since the eftablifhment of the iron-works, the great increafe of the population, • and the proportionately imperious demand for articles of confumption, the farmers have been excited to improve their lands ; fo that all forts of corn, in very good and plentiful crops, are now raifed upon lands, where it was once taken for granted that no corn could poffibly be produced. Agriculture is perhaps improving here more rapidly, than in parts of the county .more favourable to its efforts; and the energies thus awakened feem likely to be crowned with a fuccefs, not predicted by the moft fanguine hopes of the projectors. Merthyr Tydvil derives its name from Tydvil, the daughter of Brecan, Prince of Brecknockfhire. She was the wife of Cyngen, fon of Cadelh, Prince of the vale royal and part of Powife, about the clofe of the fifth century; and is reckoned among the ancient Britifh faints. She, with fome of her brothers, was on a vifit to her father, then an old man, when they were befet by a party of Pagan Saxons and Irifh Picts, as they are termed in various old manufcripts. Tydvil, her father Brecan, and her brother Rhun Dremrudd, were murdered. But Nevydd, the fon of Rhun Dremrudd, a very young man, foon raifed the country by his exertions, and put the infidels to flight. It mould- feem by this anecdote, as well as others that may be found in the Cambrian biography, derived from the ancient manufcript memorials of the Z 2, Britifh 172 GLAMORGANSHIRE. Britifh faints, that Brecan had his residence, or what the modern language of princes ufually terms court, at this place. Tydvil having been murdered, or martyred in the manner defcribed, a church was here dedicated to her in after times, and called the church of Merthyr Tydvil, which iignifies the Martyr Tydvil, from the Greek word potprup, a witnefs, exclulively appropriated in ecclefiaftical language to the defignation of thofe who have borne teftimony by their fufFerings to the truth of their religion. Thefe are the few and fcanty memorials which have hitherto been difcovered refpecting the hiftory of this place in the earlieft times. But it was in after ages, though inconiiderable in population and political importance, of no contemptible note as a fort of hot-bed, that contributed principally to engender, and kept alive for more than a century, thofe religious dhTenfions, which ftill feparate a larger portion of the inhabitants in Wales, than in any part of England, from the eftablifhed church. Indeed it cannot be, but that the zealous and devout, whether capable or not of appreciating controverted creeds or metaphyseal diftin&ions, will form themfelves into diftincT: focieties, where the fcanty provision of the clergy, and the neglected ftate of the churches, fcarcely admit of that feemlinefs and grave impreffion, fo neceffary to the due effect of public worfhip. Almoft all the excluiively Welfh feels among the lower orders of the people have in truth degenerated into habits of the moll: pitiable lunacy in their devotion. The various fubdivifions of methodifts, jumpers, and I know not what, who meet in fields and houfes, prove how low fanaticifm may degrade human reafon: but the intelligent and enlightened part of the dhTenters, among whom have appeared many luminaries of our learning, are every where refpectable, and no where more refpe&ed, than in the eftimation of moderate and candid churchmen. In this parifh the firft dirTenting congregation Y in MERTHYR TYDVIL. 173 in Wales was formed about the year 1620, or very foon after ; and it was while preaching to this fociety, that Vavafor Powel, a man celebrated in the annals of nonconformity, was taken up and imprifoned in Cardiff gaol. Vavafor Powel was born in Radnorfhire, and defcended on his father's fide from the Powels of Knuckles in that county, an ancient and honourable ftock ; by his mother, from the Vavafors, a family of high antiquity, that came out of Yorkfhire into Wales, and was related to the principal gentry. He was educated in Jefus College, Oxford. When he left the university, he became an itinerant preacher in the principality; and the circumftance of his belonging to the unpopular feci: of baptifts expofed him to much perfecution. In 1640, he and his hearers were feized under the, warrant of a magistrate, but very fhortly difmuTed. In 1642, he was driven from Wales, becaufe he objected to prefbyterian ordination. At that time there were but two dinenting congregations in Wales, of which this at Merthyr Tydvil was one. In 1646, he returned to the exercife of his profeffion with ample testimonials : and fuch was his indefatigable activity, that before the reftoration there were more than twenty baptift focieties,. chiefly formed under his fuperintending care. He was one of the commiflioners for fequeftrations. The ufual fate of bold integrity awaited him ; that of becoming obnoxious in turn to all parties. As an advocate of republican principles, but not for their proftitution to the mockery of freedom, he preached againft the protectorfhip, and wrote fome fpirited letters of remonftrance to Cromwell. For this he was imprifoned. He was known to be a fifth monarchy man: at the reftoration therefore he underwent a feries of perfecutions at Shrewfbury, in Wales, and laftly in the Fleet prifon, which ended only with his death. He was permitted to return to Merthyr Tydvil, after his imprifoment at Portfmojuth i74 GLAMORGANSHIRE. as well as at Shrewsbury : but as he perfifled in exercifmg his functions, he was committed to Cardiff CaStle, and afterwards fent to London, where he expired in the Fleet, and was buried in Bunhill Fields. But it was not to the bloody memory of its martyrs, whether ancient or modern, that Merthyr Tydvil was to owe its rank in the hiftoric page ; for it continued a very inconfiderable village till about the year 1 75$, when the late Mr. Bacon took more notice of the iron and coal mines, with which this tract of country abounds, than they had before excited. For the very low rent of two hundred pounds per annum, he obtained a leafe of a district, at leaSt eight miles long and four w r ide, for ninety-nine years. It is to be understood, however, that his right extended only to the iron and coal mines found on the eState, and that he had comparatively a very fmall portion of the foil on the furface, on which he erected his works for fmelting and forging the iron. He poffeSTed in addition fome fields for the keep of his horSes, and other neceffary ccnveniencies. He at firft constructed one furnace ; and little befides this was done, probably for at lealt ten years. The next advance was the erection of a forge for working pig into bar iron. About the beginning of the American war, Mr. Bacon contracted with government for caSting cannon. Proper founderies were erected for this purpoSe ; and a good turnpike road was made down to the port of Cardiff, along an extent of twenty-Six miles. At Cardiff likewife a proper wharf was formed, Still called the cannon wharf, whence the cannon were Shipped off to Plymouth, Portsmouth, and wherever the fervice required. Thefe were carried in waggons down to Cardiff, at a prodigious expence of carriages, horfes, and roads. There are thofe who do not hefitate to affert, but I know not with what truth, that fixteen horfes were Sometimes employed to draw the MERTHYR TYDVIL. 175 the waggon that contained only one cannon. It is likewife faid, that the roads were fo torn by thefe . heavy waggons and the weight of their loads, that it was a month's work for one man to repair the turnpike after every deportation of cannon. I had no opportunity of inquiring properly and minutely into the truth of thefe relations ; but I cannot help fufpecting them to be matter of fact in the main, hyperbolically aggravated, though I derive the account from very refpectable fources of information. This contract is fuppofed to have been immenfely lucrative to Mr. Bacon ; but he was obliged to relinquilli it about the cloie of the American war, or rather to transfer it to the Caron Company in Scotland, as I have been informed ; where moft, perhaps all, of the cannon are now call:. He made this difpofal, that he might be enabled to hold a feat in parliament, to which he had been elected. Soon afterwards, about the year 1783, he granted leafes, I believe for thirty years, but I cannot anfwer for my own accuracy on this point, of his remaining term, in the following J parcels : Cyfarthfa works, the large!! portion, to Mr. Crawfhay, for five thoufand pounds per annum ; Penderyn to Mr. Homfray, at two thoufand pounds per annum; Dowlas Iron Works to Meflrs. Lewis and Tate, and a fourth part to Mr. Hill. What the rents of thefe two portions are, I have not learned from any direct intelligence ; but I conclude them to amount in the whole to three thoufand poiinds, becaufe it is very generally afTerted and believed, that the heirs of Mr. Bacon have from all thofe works a clear annual income of ten thoufand pounds. Mr. CrawihayY iron works of Cyfarthfa are now by far the largeit in this kingdom; probably, indeed, the larger! in Europe ; and in that cafe, as far as we know, the largeft in the world. He employs conftantly upwards of two thoufand men ; and pays weekly in wages and other expences of the works, twenty-five thoufand pounds. He \ makes 1 1 6 GLAMORGANSHIRE. makes upon an average between fixty and feventy tons of iron every week ; and has lately erected two new additional furnaces, which will foon begin to work; when he will be able to make, one , week with the other, one hundred tons of bar iron. Mr. Horn fray makes weekly, on a moderate average, fifty tons of bar iron and upwards, and is now extending Penderyn and its buildings, which will foon be completed. He will then make at leaft eighty tons per week. Dowlas Iron Works, belonging to MefTrs. Lewis and Tate, are on as large a fcale as thofe of Penderyn, and about to be augmented in an equal proportion. Thofe of Mr. Hill make now T thirty tons of iron weekly, and upwards. Additional buildings are now erecting, which when finifhed w 7 ill make at lean: forty tons per week. At prefent more than two hundred tons of iron are fent down the canal weekly to the port of Cardiff, whence it is fliipped off to Briftol, London, Plymouth, Portfmouth, and other places, and a confiderable quantity to America. It is fuppofed that in the courfe of a year or two they will be able to fend out three hundred tons weekly. The number of fmelting furnaces at Merthyr Tydvil is about fixteen. Six of thefe belong to Cyfarthfa Works ; the reft to the other gentlemen who have been named. Around each of thefe furnaces are erected forges and rolling mills for converting pig into plate and bar iron. This tow T n, as it may propeily be termed, is now by far the largefl; in the whole principality. Its population, in the year 1803, was found to be upwards often thoufand; and it is fuppofed that it amounts at this time, Decembe r 180 3, though at the interval of only one year from the date of the numeration, to confiderably more than eleven thoufand ; and this is to be underftood without including the fuburb, as we may denominate it correctly enough, of Coed y Cummar, on the Brecknockihire fide of the river, the population MERTHYR TYDVIL. i 7z population of which is at leaft one thoufand. Swanfea, heretofore the largeft town in Wales, exceeding every other town by at leaft one thoufand inhabitants, is now nearly, if not quite, doubled by Merthyr Tydvil. It is true, the external appearance of Merthyr Tydvil is not to be compared with that of Swanfea. The hoiife of Mr. Homfray at Penderyn is large and elegant, with fine and well-planted gardens, green-houfes, hot-houfes, and all the accommodations befitting the refidence of a wealthy family: but the lplendours of Merthyr Tydvil begin and end with this manfion. When the firft furnaces and forges were erected, there could not exift the flighteft glimmering of prefcience, that this little obfeure Welfh village would, in lefs than forty years, grow up to fuch a magnitude, as to be- far more populous than any other town in Wales. The firft houfes that were built were only very fmall and fimple cottages for furnace-men, forge-men, miners, and fuch tradefmen as were neceflary to conftrudl the required buildings, with the common labourers who were employed to aflift them. Thefe cottages were moft of them built in fcattered confufion, without any order or plan. As the works increafed, more cottages were wanted, and erected in the fpaces between thofe that had been previoufly built, till they became fo connected with each other, as to form a certain defcription of irregular ftreets, very much on the plan of Crooked Lane in the city of London. Thefe ftreets are now many in number, clofe and confined, having no proper outlets behind the houfes. They are confequently very filthy for the moft part, and doubtlefs very unhealthy. Some ftreets, it is to to be obferved, have within thefe few years been built, and more are building, on a better plan ; in ftraighter lines, and wider, having decent houfes, w 7 ith commodious outlets, and other neceflary attentions to cleanlinefs and health. In fome of the A a early, ffl GLAMORGANSHIRE. early, and rudely-connected flreets, we frequently fee the fmall, rniferable houfes taken down, and larger and very feemly ones built in their flead. Such improvements are increafing with fome degree of rapidity. Shopkeepers, innkeepers, forge-men, fome of them at leaft, and in no inconfiderable numbers, are making comfortable fortunes, and confequently improving their dwellings. Mr. Crawfhay, however, is more confpicuoufly qualified to fet them an example of induftry than elegance. His houfe is furrounded with fire, flame, fmoke, and allies. The noife of hammers, rolling mills, forges, and bellows, inceffantly din and crafh upon the ear. Bars and pigs of iron are continually thrown to the hugely accumulating heaps that threaten to choke up every avenue of accefs. It is more humoroufly than truly faid in the neighbourhood, that fuch fcenery is moil congenial to the tafte, fuch founds mofl lulling to the repofe of the owner. The fact, however, is, that the fituation of the mailer's dwelling was fixed long before Mr. Crawfhay came to it : and when it is confidered how conveniently it lies for the fuperintendence of the bufinefs, few men, brought up in the habits of commercial prudence, would confult agreeable profpects and domeftic elegance, at the expence of that beft fecurity, the everlafting eye of a principal. The machinery of this eftablimment is gigantic ; and that part of it, worked by water, among the mofl fcientifically curious and ' mechanically powerful to which modern improvement has given birth. Watkin George and William are the two principal engineers, and natives of this country. Such is the architectural character of Merthyr Tydvil ; a place that never had a premeditated plan on which to be built, but grew up by accident, and on the fpur of varioufly occurring neceffities. Such obvioufly has been the cafe, unfortunately for convenience and the arts, with many of our greateft cities. It is evident MERTHYR TYDVIL. 179 evident that they confifted originally of cottages, communicating with each other in very confufed directions. The firft inhabitants little dreamt that the rude village would ever grow up to be a populous town, perhaps the metropolis of a mighty empire ; for to fuch an origin may London itfelf be with every probability afcribed. Had Sir Chriftopher Wren's plan been adopted after the fire, we mould have indeed poffeffed a capital, commenfurate with our political rank and commercial greatnefs : but the early reinstatement of the Sufferers was too imperiously demanded, to admit of the delay, which fo expenfive a reformation muft have occafioned. The workmen of all defcriptions at thefe immenfe iron works are Welshmen. The language is almoft entirely Welfh. The number of Englishmen among them is very inconfiderable. But the ill effects, which large collections of the lower dalles produce upon the ftate of manners, are here very obfervable, though by- no means to fo great an extent, as in the manufacturing towns of England. The Simplicity, Sincerity, and difintereftednefs, of the peafant is loft in the mercenary cunning or extortion of the mechanic. But a few miles off, you can fcarcely prevail with the ruftic to accept your gratuity, though he has loft half his day's work by directing you over the mountains : here, you are befet with the demands of the importunate hordes upon your purfe, though the only favour you requeft at their hands, is to view the objects of your curiofity without their intrufion. The people come together at this place from the interior and mountainous parts of Wales; and for that reafon there is lefs Englifh to be heard here in common converfation, than in any other confiderable town of the principality. The men employed at thefe works are too much addicted to drinking ; but in other refpects no great immoralities are to be found among them ; far A a 2, lefs i8o GLAMORGANSHIRE. lcfs indeed than might have been expected, from the tide of diflblutenefs which is ufually found to flow in upon a place, from the rapid increafe of vulgar population. The principal check to immorality arifes from the iron-mafters, as the proprietors are called, being magiftrates of the county. Mr. Maber, the clergyman of the parifli, is alfo a magiftrate ; and the high refpeclability of his character renders him a moft valuable acquifition, where the unite*} influence of example and authority are required, to preferve peace and decorum. Thefe magiftrates appoint a proper number of conftables. The whole fyftem, and the proceedings attendant on its operation, are all fubjected to the quarter and great feflions of the county; and confequently more energetic and effectual than a police veiled in the courts and magiflrates of corporations ; an additional illuftration to the more prominent inftances of Manchefter, Birmingham, and other unfranchifed towns, that the laws and law courts of the country at large are better calculated to preferve good order, than the powers ufually vefted in corporate bodies, and are at the fame time much lefs oppreflive to the community in general. There is a printing-office here, and a bookfeller who communicates with London every week. It cannot be expected that literature fhould have been much cultivated, or the arts of elegance and civilization have been held in much price, in a town which owes its exiftence to rough, unpoliflied induftry. Yet literary improvement has begun to put out fome buds of early promife, and we have only to hope, they may be brought forward to that ftate of ripenefs and utility, which fcience has attained in many other places, originating in flmilar caufes, and blefled with flmilar profperity. There are many of the inhabitants who apply themfelves to the ftudy of mineralogy, chemiftry, and other branches of natural knowledge, in a regular train of fcientiflc initiation. MERTHYR TYDVIL. 181 initiation. Indeed, the nature of the place leads them to fuch investigations. There are feveral book focieties at Merthyr Tydvil, and a philofophical fociety is in its infancy. The parifh church is well attended, and it has been farnifhed with an organ of late years. It is rather large, but not fufficiently fo for the place ; in confequence of which a fpacious and elegant chapel of eafe is now erecting, and nearly finifhed. This is an odtagon building, to be furnifhed alfo with its organ. There are about ten diffenting and methodift meeting-houfes ; and their denominations are thus divided : three baptifts, two prefbyterians, two independents, two in the connection of Wefley, and one, if not two, in that of Whitfield. A theatre has lately been erected at Merthyr Tydvil, where an itinerant company of actors, by no means of the loweft defcription, perform at ftated times. A very good canal, of which fome incidental notice has before been taken, is made from Merthyr Tydvil to Cardiff. It was begun about twelve years ago, and completed in June 1798. From the tide-lock, where it enters Pennarth Harbour, up to the town of Cardiff, it is navigable, as was before mentioned, for fhips of four hundred tons ; but from Cardiff to Merthyr Tydvil it is navigable for barges of one hundred tons. The head of this canal at Merthyr Tydvil Bridge is five hundred and fixty- eight feet five inches higher than the tide-lock two miles below Cardiff, where it falls into Pennarth Harbour. This canal has upwards of forty locks on it in the fpace of twenty-fix miles, which is its whole length ; and it is crofTed by more than forty bridges. Merthyr Tydvil has three market places, that are well fupplied twice every week, on Wednefdays and Saturdays. It has feveral fairs in the year ; and in the fame parifh, on the top of a mountain, about two miles out of town, there is a very ancient market-place, with a large public houfe and a cottage or two. Here weekly markets / 1S1 GLAMORGANSHIRE. markets have been held for at leaft eight hundred years, during the fummer feafon, from the 1 4th of May till the 1 4th of O&ober. This fingular market is in its feafon frequented by great numbers. There are alfo feveral large fairs for cattle chiefly held here. The neighbourhood of Merthyr Tydvil abounds with excellent coal, iron ore, very good mill-flones, and limeftone rocks, in which are found beds of black marble, equal to that of Derbyfhire. They afford marble of various other colours, fome variegated like the Broccatello in the fouth of France. In this country, impregnated with iron, chalybeate fprings abound. Excellent flag-ftones for paving, and a very good kind of flate for covering roofs, are plentifully found in this neighbourhood, and indeed throughout the mountainous diftricl: of Glamorgan. While I am on this fubjeel;, it will not be impertinent to obferve, that though the French are, generally fpeaking, infinitely behind us in all the ufeful arts of life, they have a manifeft fuperiority in their mode * of tiling and flating their houfes. The roof of a houfe in Paris is as fymmetrical a part of the building, as the elegant ftone front ; nor is the one difcernible from the other but by a near and curious examination : but our clumfy and inartificial roofs either disfigure the architecture mofl unmercifully, or are concealed by the unworkmanlike device of a parapet, which contributes neither utility nor ornament, beyond the negative apology of covering a defect. About three miles north-eaft of Merthyr Tydvil, near Gelly Vallog, not further than half a mile out of the old road over the mountains to Brecknock, which I mall purfue hereafter, is a very ancient caftle on the top of a mountain, with its difmantled materials thrown about in the mofl dreary confufion, overlooking a dingle of great depth, and defolate wildnefs beneath, with a X branch of Neath Vechan river running in the bottom. It is defended YSTRADYVODWG. 183 defended naturally on the north and weft fides by the height and fteepnefs of the hill, and by the river at its foot. The fouth and eaft fides, though weak in themfelves, are ftrengthened by a wide and deep trench, cut in the folid rock. The main body of the caftle was built on an area, forming an irregular pentagon ; on the outfide of the trench there are feveral remains of foundations, about three feet and a half thick. The chaotic appearance of the whole on the afcent forbids the expectation of finding any thing entire ; but there is at the end of a narrow fubterraneous paffage, a circular Gothic room with a central pillar, fo buried by the ruins that have fallen about it, as fcarcely to be acceffible. This caftle commands the whole country round. The Taff rifes above Merthyr Tydvil, fomewhat to the weftward of this place. In my firft excurfion, the direction I took from New Bridge to Brecknock, was through the parifh of Yftrady vodwg to Pontneath Vechan : and I queftion whether any part of my tour is better ^ furnifhed with its apology, if an untrodden track may excufe an author for fuppofing, that his obfervations are of fufficient value to come before the public. I have already mentioned the bridge that crofles the Rontha Vawr at its confluence with the TarF, clofe by New Bridge. The fcenery from this bridge to the firft and only known and frequented water-fall on this river, which is a falmon-leap, and frequently miftaken by ftrangers for the cafcade before defcribed on the Taff, is highly interefting, fingular, and impreffive. The progrefs of this river, narrow and rapid, is ftill more turbulent, and more impeded by rocky fragments, than that of the Taff. The vale is very much confined, admitting only a road and a few fields on one fide, and on the other, the cliffs rife perpendicularly from the water in all thejr naked grandeur, but are clothed on the top with fome of the choiceft and i84 GLAMORGANSHIRE. and moil majeftic timber that Glamorganfhire produces. The union of wildnefs with luxuriance, and of fublimity with contracted fize and fpace, is here mofl curioufly exemplified. The diftance to the water-fall is about two miles. About a quarter of, a mile before you arrive at it, there is a very long and tremendoufly lofty Alpine bridge, conftruclied with trunks of trees laid together, and fupported in a fort of reeling equilibrium t>y a prop of timber in the middle of the river, without which the ricketty contrivance could not abide. It is pi&urefque in proportion to its rudenefs. The fall difappoints thofe vifitors, whofe admiration is adjufted by meafurement, and whofe accuracy ' of computation teaches them, that there mull: in all cafes be one third more of the fublime in thirty feet than in twenty. But the fcene addreffes itfelf with peculiar charms to thofe, who have other inducements than to tell their friends in London, with travelled felf- complacency, that they have feen a cafcade or a mountain. I have had the pleafure of vifiting this fpot at three different times; and once, when the river was very full of water. The compofure and folitude of the place, undifturbed by any thing but the roar of the projected {bream and the dafhing of the fpray; the rocks intruding on the precin&s of the flood in maffy portions, fmoothened by attrition and worn into fantaftic fhapes ; the river placid and fhady for a lengthened reach above the fall, but thrown as it were unexpectedly down the fteep, collecting itfelf in dark and profound pools among the fragments, and then driving its impetuous courfe from the fcene of its difturbance ; — all thefe are circumftances and features, which aim at our fenfibility, more than they command our wonder. When the feafon fuits, the fifh-bafket, flung acrofs the fall from a pole fupported by the rocks, affords a fpecimen of ruftic ingenuity, that adds to the pleafures and fpeculations of the moment. 3 The YSTRADYVODWG. 185 The character of the fcenery remains the fame, when you purfue the road beyond the falmon-leap ; but the river, inftead of rippling over rocks, becomes deep and darkly placid, but tranfparent. .Indeed, a principal beauty of the rivers in this rocky country arifes from their perfect clearnefs, uncontaminated, unlefs in very heavy floods, by the lean: tinge of muddy foil or any other fortuitous difcolouring. It may be neceffary to obfervc, that travellers in any fort of carriage, are precluded from adopting this interefting route : for about a mile and a half above the firft water-fall, the Rontha Vawr for a fpace becomes broad and fhallow, over a bed of large, loofe {tones, and the road on the right bank only leading to fome coal-pits clofe by, the traveller, who wifhes to purfue this way towards Yftradyvodwg, is obliged to ford at this place. The almoft impafiable road then continues on the left fide of the river, overhanging it at a confiderable height, with oppofite fcenery precifely of the fame defcription, as what engages the attention in the way to the ford. Yet it is curious to obferve, that the mere circumftance of changing fides, without any heightened features, gives it all the effect of novelty, and creates for it an increafmg intereft. At the diftance of about a mile, there is a fecond fall, the height, force, and concomitant appearances of which are fo nearly alike, that it would be difficult to diftinguifh it from the firft, were it not for one point of difference. The bed of the river above the falmon-leap is narrower; here it widens above the fail, while large oaks on each fide fpread their luxuriant branches to a great extent over the water. To delight in pairs, is generally confidered as unnatural, and confequently taftelefs refinement. The practice of our anceftors, who difpofed their ornamental grounds in pairs of clumps, and correfpondencies of all kinds, is now confidered as the excefs of injudicious vulgarity. Yet, in the prefent inftance, B b nature //. 1 86 GLAMORGANSHIRE. nature feems to have varied from her unbounded variety, and to have amufed herfelf with uniformity where we mould leaft have expected it, in a pair of water- falls. The traveller has fcarcely turned his back on this, before his ears are faluted with the found of a third fall, at the diftance of not more than a quarter of a mile. It altogether differs in character from the other two. It is lefs beautiful, but larger and more grand. Immediately below it, mafly rocks thruft themfelves almofl acrofs the river, leaving it a very narrow, but deep and clear pafTage ; and the depth of courfe gives a darknefs to the hue of the water,, that communicates a degree of fublimity to the general tone. The afcent from this fall is fleep and lofty, and after a fliort fpace prefents a new fcene, at the junction of the two rivers, Rontha Vawr and Rontha Vach, which by their confluence form that more important ftream, whofe banks we have hitherto fkirted. There is a bridge of a fingle arch over the Rontha Vawr, highly ornamental to the diliant profpect, which is here of confiderable extent. The Rontha Vawr rifes in the parifh of Yitradyvodwg, and we mall, with occafional deviations, trace it to its fource, through a country of uncommon wildnefs. The Rontha Vach takes its fource in Aberdare, and flows through a diftrict of lefs romantic character, but very confiderable beauty. I have no doubt but an excurfion to Aberdare would be equally interefting in this direction, as in that which it fuited my arrangements to adopt : but I had no opportunity of trying the experiment, and here took my leave of the Rontha Vach. There is here a grove of oaks, remarkable for their height, occupying the fide of the declivity, from the road to the river. It may be obferved generally, that among thefe mountains, the oak, if it grows at all luxuriantly, , is drawn up to an uncommon tallneis. From the fpot juft defcribed, the road turns to the left, up a i fteep YSTRADYVODWG. 187 fteep and barren hill, without any thing to intereft, till you meet the direct road from Llantrifent through thefe wilds ; on which you turn due north, when the mountain fcenery of Yftrady vodwg breaks upon the view. There is here a gate, which marks the entrance of the parim ; and the way lies at the foot of a rocky ridge, grand in its elevation, and moll: whimfical in the eccentricity of its fhapes. The almoft perpendicular fide is clothed nearly to the top, with dwarfiih, ftunted oaks, fcarcely exceeding the fize of garden fhrubs. The foliage relieves the eye, but the impoverifhed vegetation of the place detracts little from the repuliive grandeur of the landfcape. Towers of limeftone occafionally ftart up, which overhang the road, and feem to endanger the traveller,* while a pleafing, though not rich valley on the left, foftens the general dreaririefs, and reminds us that there are men, with the habitations and the works of men. The defcent down a long hill brings the traveller to a little brook, abounding with fifh, which joins the Rontha Vawr a little way to the eaftward; and at a very fhort diftance from the brook, after defcending another hill, you crofs a bridge over that river, which has difappeared fmce its junction with the Rontha Vach : but from this place the found of it is never loft, though frequently the fight, till you arrive clofe by its fource at the top of the parifh, diftant about ten miles. Here, however, it ceafes to be the leading feature of the profpect. It fertilizes the valley with its pure, tranfparent ftream, rolling over loofe ftones, but is no longer encumbered, yet ennobled, by maiiy projections, or ftately ami afpiring cliffs. Hereabouts, and for fome miles to come, there is a degree of luxuriance in the valley, infinitely beyond what my entrance on this diftrict led me to expect:. The contraft of the meadows, rich and verdant, with mountains the moft wild and romantic, X furrounding them on every fide, is in the higheft degree B b 2, picturefque. ,88 GLAMORGANSHIRE. picturefque. The next objedl of intereft, for fuch it is in a proportion equal to that of a palace in a better inhabited country, is a fubftantial farm-houfe, placed in a moft pleafing folitude, as beautifully fituated as any thing in the parifh. Its name, for it is dignified with a name, is Llwyn y Pia, fignifying the magpie's bulh. It is occupied by Jane Davis, a widow, but its fituation feems little calculated for the feebler exertions of female induftry. Though, in truth, the delicacy, and fuppofed corporeal imbecility of the fair fex are little refpe&ed in thefe mountains. The women at leaft divide the fevereft labour, and feem, by their hardy, robuft constitutions, to triumph over the bleaknefs of their winters, and the ruggednefs of their toils. On the farm of Llwyn y Pia, Handing alone by the road fide, there is the talleft and largeft oak \X that ever I have happened to meet with. There is alfo on the fame estate, if you pafs through a gate on the left, a little beyond the houfe, a very beautiful field, w T ith a magnificent grove at the upper end of it, under the Shelter of a towering rock. A fecond bridge over the Rontha, on the other fide of which the road w T inds to the left, fumifhes a raoft interesting point of view, embracing the country juft traverfed on the one part, and on the other the wilder grandeur of what remains to be explored. I had met with but one perfon of whom I could afk a question fince my entrance into the parifh ; and then only through the medium of my attendant, whofe fervices as an interpreter were not to be difregarded. My ears, therefore, were not unpleafingly afiailed with a fhout, which I found to have proceeded from a few people, with moil powerful lungs, who were exulting over the lifelefs remains of three or four fnakes they had juft killed. Soon afterwards I heard another clamour, Teeming to refent the imputation of folitude, from fome labourers at work in the woods. Such fudden falutations almoft ftartle the wanderer, who can fcarcely YSTRADYVODWG. *9q fcarcely fuppofe that fo much voice could be collected in the diftricl:, deferted as it appears to be by human habitations. The people are, indeed, thinly fcattered, as well as miferably poor: but one would think they were determined to make the throne of filence, and atone for the rare occurrence of focial intercourfe, by giving a loofe to loud and boifterous loquacity. I have mentioned the miferable accommodations of the peafants in the parifh of Aberdare ; in Yftradyvodwg, wilder, lcfs inhabited, without manufactures, and altogether cut off from the commerce of the world, they are, in all thefe refpects, itill worfe, though better than in fome parts of Cardiganshire and Caermarthenmire ;. and it is a finking inftance, how little the ftate of the animal fpirits depends on the pofTemon of external comforts, where the influences of fafhion and competition are excluded, that none of the languor, indifference, and flupidity, fo generally expected among, the inhabitants of fuch regions, is to be found here. Though ignorant and unpolifhed, they are far from dull ; they have enough of boifterous pleafantry, though it is a pleafantry exclufively their own ; and however the faftidious ftranger may lament, what feems to him their mifery, I queftion whether his pity would be juffified by their complaints, or rewarded by their gratitude. About a mile from the bridge juft defcribed, is the church,, near the centre of a parifh more than ten miles in length. I had inquired with fome anxiety for the church, taking it for granted that there I mould find a village, as at Aberdare ; but I only got laughed at by my ruftic informant, who feemed to wonder I mould know fo little of Yftradyvodwg, as to expect to find a village : and, indeed, how can a man be faid to know the world, without knowing Yftradyvodwg ? My error was, however, foon. rectified, and every houfe in the parifh, with its fituation, was enumerated to me in a detail, the length of which was in no danger ir)o GLAMORGANSHIRE. danger of burdening my memory. There is only one houfe within fight of the church, which was formerly a fort of inn ; but now there is neither refting-place nor refremmcnt for man or horfe in a fatiguing, though in general far from dreary fpace of about thirty miles, from New Bridge to Pontneath Vechan. The church is one of the moll: miferable in its ftructure, and moft neglected in its prefervation, of all that have come within my knowledge in travelling through the mountainous parts of South Wales. The churchyard, unlike the gay abfurdity of Aberdare, is wild and overgrown, little occupied by the dead, and little tended by the living. Nettles and thirties fupply the place of thofe flowers, with which the more refined inhabitants of the cultivated vales adorn the lair, dwellings of their departed friends. Yet even here, all was not filent or iolitary: the drowfy hum of mountain Scholars, twanging their guttural accents to their Cambrian pedagogue in the church porch, informs us that ignorance does not reign fupreme and unrivalled, where knowledge would appear to be leafr. producible, and moft difficult of attainment. Thefe children, numerous as they were, muil many of them have come from great diftances for their inftrudlion ; and the attendance on divine fervice, if indeed it is much attended, muil: be highly inconvenient; for the church, though centrically fituated with refpect to the local extent of the parifh, is nearly at the extremity of the inhabited part. After you pafs the church, the fields and meadows of the vale arc found to be narrower and lefs fertile : the rocks and hills gradually clofe in, becoming bolder and more fantaftical in their appearances, while the fides of many are clothed with an apparently inexhauftible opulence of wood. The continual water-courfes, down thofe that are naked, break the uniformity of the pcrfpective with their undulating lines, and affift in communicating a characteriftic YSTRADYVODWG. i 9 i chara&eriftic intereft, to what may not improperly be termed the Alps of Glamorganihire. The bottom is much encumbered with brufhwood, through which the Rontha Vawr takes its courfe, Sometimes vifible, and fometimes concealed ; the fides are formed of a rocky chain, as has been defcribed, alternately bare and woody; and the front of this narrowing dell is filled up by a fingle cliff, high, broad to the top, and as it were regularly and architecturally placed, appearing as much the refult of defign, as thofe on the fides feem to indicate the fortuitous vagaries of fportive nature. The height of this mountain feems much greater than it is, from its rifing abruptly from the level ground, unincumbered by hillocks at its foot, the perpendicular nearly unbroken from the fummit to the river that paries at its bafe. The mountain cattle, which find their way from the other fide, grazing on its brow 7 , add greatly to the general effecl:. By one of thofe miflakes, which may be deemed fortunate by the traveller, who wifhes to fee as much as poflible of a country, I took the road which feemed the bell, and forded the river in front of this mountain, croffing to the left fide. At the diftance of more than a mile, among the moll: romantic fcenery, a narrow brook precipitates itfelf from one of the higheft mountains, and finds its way to the Rontha Vawr below. My vifit to Yftradyvodwg was in the early part of the fummer, when the rains had not long ceafed ; but this and, ilmilar beauties mull: be nearly loft in a dry feafon. It was long fince I had met with any trace of habitation; not fince I quitted the church : but there was a folitary cottage, at the foot of this cafcade, and the mafter was at home. He informed my fervant in Wellli, that inftead of paffing in front of the before-mentioned cliff, and crofting the river, we fhould have purfued a fcarcely perceptible track up another mountain on the right ; and that the path we were now upon would only carry us a few i$2 GLAMORGANSHIRE. a few hundred yards further, and then defert us. We therefore traced back our fteps, and before we began our afcent, fortunately- met with fome cottagers milking, from whom we derived a very feafonable refrefhment, after travelling all day without any opportunity of procuring more fubftantial fuftenance. L mould not have introduced our taking a draught of milk by way of an anecdote, had it not been for the purpofe of illuftrating the difinterefted character and fimple manners of thefe» mountaineers, who could not help teftifying their furprife, at my offering a reward for -what they fo willingly fpared : and it was only by transferring it to the children, that its acceptance could be reconciled to their hofpitable feelings. The path up the mountain, y which is the higheft in Glamorganshire, is winding and difficult; it croffes two torrents near the top, which demand confiderable care from the inexperienced traveller; and from the mountain oppofite the Rontha Vawr tumbles, though not in an uninterruptecf fall; diffinguifhed from the other cafcades of the diftricl; by glittering through woods, that overhang its courfe> the only enfign of vegetation within ken ; — this view alone well repays the labour of the journey, to thofe who affect the grander fcenes of nature. On gaining the fummit, the frefhnefs of the breeze, the extenfive view of the mountain valley, the reach of the llontha Vawr on the oppofite height, feen to its very fource, with its projection down the crag, all bring to the mind the beft defcriptions of Alpine fcenery, though on an inferior fcale. The tops of both mountains are broad : the oppofite feemed flat, and not devoid of herbage, or of cattle to feed on it; ours was ftony, rough, and uneven ; flocked only with a few iheep, that feemed fcarcely able to fubfift, and were as wild as the region they inhabit ; the track impeded by fragments of rock, that had fallen from fome higher peaks,* ftarting up in rude and , inexplicable confufion. 1 he brow YSTRADYVODWG. i 93 brow of this mountain on the northern fide is the moft elevated fpot in the county. It prefents a ftill varied fcene, increafing in grandeur and intereft. The upper part of Yftrady vodwg parilh. is as untameably wild, as any thing that can be conceived ; and the few, who have taken the pains to explore the fcattered magnificence of South Wales, agree in recommending this untried route to the Englifh traveller, as one of the moll curious and ftriking in the principality, not excepting the more known and frequented tour of the northern counties. Hanging over the fteep defcent, you have immediately below you Llyn Vawr, a confiderable lake, the \S largeft in Glamorganfhire. It is of great depth, and feems to be formed by the floods, which in heavy rains mufl pour down the perpendicular fides of the mountain in one broad continued meet. The deeply- furrowed troughs, as far as the pool extends, worn by ftreams which had not long ceafed to flow, affign- a fufficient caufe for fo large and permanent a body of water. This lake affords ample fcope to the fifherman, and attracts the lovers of that amufement from the whole country round. The view is very extenfive, with more of cultivation in the diftant parts, bounded by the Brecknockfhire mountains. A ftranger has confiderable difficulty, in defcending a narrow path, worn upon the fide of an almoft perpendicular declivity. It happened that we faw two or three country people on their little mountain horfes, carrying lime : their courtefy was fignally difplayed in riding on the very edge of the precipice, where one falfe ftep might have precipitated them to the bottom, that they might not interfere with our more cautious progress. The way, after defcending the mountain, is rough and dreary, over barren and unprofitable land. The voices of the herdfmen, ranging over the mountains, to collect their difperfed cattle at the approach of fun-fet, infpired the idea of labour, unrepaid by any lucrative C c • interchange, i 9 4 GLAMORGANSHIRE. interchange, in a tract fo unfavourable to the facilities of commerce. Yet it is not in the nature of man to toil without adequate reward : and when we recollect that this region, defolate and inacceffible in its feeming character, lies within the fcope of a painful journey to Merthyr Tydvil on the one hand, and to Neath and Swanfea on the other, the excitement that ftimulates thefe apparently difproportionate efforts is at once explained and eftimated. A few very poor houfes gathered together, but more like what an Englifnman would call a village, than any thing to be met with between it and New Bridge, relieve the drearinefs of this now uninterefting journey. The fpot is likewife refreshed by a brook, that runs into Neath river. Immediately above Pontneath Vechan there is a fine view of Neath vale, rich and beautiful, contrafting with the rugged afpect of nature, on a retrofpect to the mountains juft defcended. Pontneath Vechan is a miferable collection of dirty cottages, with a very homely public-houfe, which is capable of affording the traveller a complete courfe of eggs and bacon, but nothing more : and I confider it as a neceffary caution to my reader to inform him, that he mull; travel thirty miles from the Duke's Arms in the vale of Taff to Pontneath Vechan, without expecting the mod humble accommodation; and it will be expedient to quit his lodgings at that decent inn with the firlt of the morning, becaufe he muff not calculate the diftance of thirty miles at his accuftomed rate of travelling ; and he muff allow as much time for the journey on horfeback as on foot : if he leaves the Duke's Arms at fun-rife, and reaches the inn at Pontneath Vechan, as it is by courtefy called, a little after fun-fet, he will have performed a laborious tafk. For the place itfelf, it is watered by Neath river, which is every where an interefting object ; it renews the acquaintance of the traveller over the upper part of Yftradyvodwg PONTNEATH VECHAN. i 9S Yflradyvodwg with wood and cultivation, and it affords him a promife of Brecknockfhire fcenery for the next morning, about to gratify his tafte to the very ecftafy of pi&urefque enjoyment, if he has the good fortune of a heavy rain in the night, which the attraction of the neighbouring hills is apt to afford him at molt times, excepting in feafons of peculiar drought. - CC2 CHAPTER [ i 9 5 ] CHAPTER VIII. BRECKNOCKSHIRE. .F or intermixture of rivers, and contiguity of fituation, the inlands of Montgomery, Radnor, and Brecknock, are partly infolded; fo that the nature of the fcenery is through thefe counties very fimilar ; while the Brecknockfhire mountains reach to an elevation, nearly equalling that of thofe in North Wales. The moil famous hills in Brecknock are, Black-Mountain, near Trecaflle ; Mounchdeny, from which the Taff takes its fource, called the Brecknockfhire Beacon ; and Hatterel, above Talgarth, which is commonly called Talgarth Beacon. They are thus defcribed by Drayton: But, whilft thofe would proceed, thefe threatning them to hold, Black -mountain for the love he to his country bare, As to the beauteous Ufke, his joy and only care (In whofe defence t' appear more ftern and full of dread) Put on a helm of clouds upon his rugged head. Mounchdeny doth the like for his beloved Tawe: Which quickly all the reft by their example draw. As Hatterel in the right of ancient Wales will ftand. From Brecan, the fon of Aulach, this county came to be called Brecknockfhire. He fucceeded to it about the year 400, in right of his mother Marchell, the daughter and fole heir of King Tudor. She was married to his father Aulach about the year BRECKNOCKSHIRE. 197 year 382. Brecan is a diflinguifhed character in legendary ftory : his family was reckoned one of the three holy families among the Britons. His twenty-four fons and twenty-five daughters have all been admitted into the calendar of ancient Britifh or Welfh. faints. Nearly all of them embraced a religious life, and were the founders of a great many churches. The powers of the Brecknocldhire floods, as well as the powers of its prince, are recorded by Drayton as far exceeding the floods of North Wales, or the princes of North Wales. The Venedotian floods, that ancient Britons were, The mountains kept them back, and fhut them in the rear: But Brecknock, long time known a country of much worth, Unto this conflict brings her goodly fountains forth : For almoft not a brook of Morgany, nor Gwent, But from her fruitful womb doth fetch her high defcent, For Brecan was a prince once fortunate and great (Who dying, lent his name to that his noble feat), With twice twelve daughters bleft, by one and only wife : Who for their beauties rare, and fan&ity of life, To rivers were transform'd ; whofe purenefs doth declare How excellent they were, by being what they are : Who dying virgins all, and rivers now by fate, To tell their former love to the unmarried ftate, To Severn fhape their courfe, which now their form doth bear ; Ere (he was made a flood, a virgin as they were. And from the feas with fear they ftill do fly: So much they yet delight in maiden company. Tydvil, the twenty-fecond daughter in the catalogue, was the only one married ; me therefore efcaped the honours of transformation. This metamorphofis of Brecan's daughters has been more beneficial to the prince's patrimony, if the modern teftimony of the fenfes may be deemed decifive againft the authority 19 8 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. authority of monkifti tales, than all the fanctity of his numerous fons ; for the former were converted into moll: beautiful and fertilizing ftreams, as the traveller can bear witnefs in the following, among other inftances : Firft our triumphing mufe of fprightly Uike fhall tell, And what of every nymph attending her, befell : Which Cray and Camlas firft for pages doth retain ; With whom the next in place comes in the tripping Brean, With Ifker ; and with her comes Hodny fine and clear, Of Brecknock beft belov'd, the fovereign of the fhire: And Grony, at an inch, waits on her miftrefs' heels. The rivers which find their way into the Wye out of Brecknockfhire are thus mentioned: To whofe old nation's piaife whilft fhe herfelf addreft, From the Brecknodian bound when Irvon coming in, Her Dulas, with Commarch, and Wevery doth win, Perfuading her for them good matter to provide. Among the moft diftinguifhed of Prince Brecan's fons, who gave the name to Brecknockfhire, were Cadock and Canock, both recorded, if not remembered, in the annals of martyrs and confefTors : So Clintack, Brecknock's prince, as from one felf-fame mother, A faint upon that feat, the other doth enfue, Whom for the Chriftian faith a pagan foldier flew. To thefe are to be added St. Keyne, another of Prince Brecan's children, who feems to have inherited the prolific holinefs of the family, and was, according to the accounts, fo highly bleft in his endeavours, as to have been the father of thirty reputed faints. About BRECKNOCKSHIRE. 199 About the latter end of the ninth century, during the reign of Alfred in England, while Anarawd was difputing the equitable divifion of the fovereignty with Cadelh, Brecknock fhire fuffered greatly by that common grievance, with which the whole ifland was afflicted in the predatory ravages of the Danes : but it was not till about the time of Fitzhamon's ufurpation in Glamorgan, or Ihortly after, that any thing like a permanent alienation of this diflricl was effected in favour of foreigners. Barnard Newmarch, a Norman nobleman, obtained the lordfhip by conquer!, but ftrengthened his title by marrying the grand-daughter of GrufFyth ap Lhewelin, by whom he had a fon called Mahael, and a daughter. But Mahael fell a victim to his own fenfe of honour. Having taken offence at the diffolute conduct of his mother, he not only warned her to avoid the infamy to which me was expofing herfelf, but wounded the knight with whom fhc intrigued in a rencontre. His mother determined to avenge herfelf: fhe therefore fvvore, though falfely, that Mahael was not the fon of her hufband. He was difinherited in confequence of this oath, and his filler with the entire eftate was beftowed by King Henry the Firft on Milo, the fon of Walter Conftable, who was afterwards created Earl of Hereford, Lord of Glocefter, Brecknock, and the foreft of Dean. Milo had by his wife five fons, all of whom, excepting one, were fucccffively Earls of Hereford, and Lords of Brecknock, but died without uTue. He had three daughters, the eldeft of whom was married to Humphrey de Bohune, whofe grandfather came into England with the Conqueror. Humphrey de Bohune was in her right Earl of Hereford, and Conftable of England. The fecond daughter's hufband, Philip Brufe, was Lord of Brecknock in her right. The foreft of Dean went with the third daughter. Humphrey de Bohune had two daughters : the elder was married to Thomas 1 Plantagenet, 200 . BRECKNOCKSHIRE. Plantagenet, the fixth fon of Edward the Third, who was created Earl of Buckingham and Duke of GloceSter by King Richard the Second, and Earl of ESTex and Northampton, and ConStable of England, in right of his wife, whofe father had poSTefTed thofe titles. The lordShip of Brecknock likewife devolved on Thomas Plantagenet, whofe fon dying without iflue, his eldeft daughter beStowed it on the Earl of Stafford, in whofe line it continued, annexed to the Dukedom of Buckingham, till an attainder veSted it in the crown. After Barnard New march's conqueft, in the reign of Lhewelin ap Jorwerth of Wales, and Henry the Third of England, while the Welfh Still Struggled for their independence, Brecknockfhire was twice the feat of war; once in 12, 17, and afterwards in 1233, when Lhewelin came with an army, and destroyed all the towns and caftles in the country. At the restoration, James Butler, afterwards Duke of Ormond, was created Earl of Brecknock. Thefe are the leading particulars of the county, as connected with political and historical events. The general afpect of Brecknockfhire is mountainous and grand, affording a fublimity of fcenery, interfperfed with large plots of cultivation, that attaches to it its peculiar character among the Strongly-marked divisions of South Wales. What moft diftinguilhes it from Glamorganshire is, that its vales are more extenfive, more level, lefs interrupted by fwelling hillocks, and have a more Englifh complexion both in their natural appearance, and mode of management : the mountainous tracts are more continuous, more lofty, with hill piled upon hill, but lefs fudden, and lefs unexpectedly come upon. The Scene does not change fo inStantaneouSIy and inceSTantly : it therefore creates . more awe, but lefs furprife ; it calls up more intenfe reflection, but prefents lefs variety of pleafure. Its woods are in very large maSTes, where they occur, but are not very generally distributed : the BRECKNOCKSHIRE. 301 the banks of its principal rivers are, however, very luxuriantly clothed, and it is on the whole . much better clothed with timber than Glamorganfliire. Its rivers are lefs numerous, and confequently lefs univerfally ornamental : but the Ufke and Wye, if indeed the latter is to be called a Brecknockfhire river, are larger and more important. Moll: of the Glamorganshire rivers rife in Brecknockfhire; but ifTuing from among the fouthern hills, repay but parfimonioufly the diftricl: that gave them birth. The grand and beautiful variety of occafional fea views is here denied, except from the tops of fome mountains ; and then too diffcant to produce much fenfation. Vulgar wonder may be excited by an immenfe expanfe, and vulgar pleafure may be materially increafed by the alTurance, that a corner of the feventeenth county may be diftinguifhed, where common tradition had only reckoned up fixteen : but beyond a certain extent, the diftance is filled up by one undiftinguiflied colour, the eye has no object it can embrace or comprehend, the mind no topic, on which to build a fentiment or found an inference. In regard to agriculture, it is confidered to be in an improving ftate. The introduction' of many Englifli purchafers, who have imported Englifli principles of husbandry, is gradually bringing this county to a nearer conformity with the mod approved and general modes. The circumfhmce of its lying contiguous to Herefordshire, than which there are perhaps few parts of England more fertile or better cultivated, is in this refpect of infinite advantage. Glamorganfliire, on the contrary, is fliut out from fuch a profitable contact ; for though Monmouthfhire is made Englifli by authority, its manners, opinions, language, virtues, and vices, are as obftinately and decidedly, Welfh, as in almoft any part of the principality. But it is not only traditional prejudice that arrefts the progrefs of improvement, which might D d. otherwife / ftoa BRECKNOCKSHIRE. otherwife rival the career of its neighbours ; the invincible and acknowledged love of eafe, which marks the character of the natives, and conftitutes their leaft refpectable feature, is an infurmountable drawback to thofe deeply confidered fpeculations, thofe painfully fought out inventions, or actively profecuted accidents and occurrences, to which mankind owe what they poffefs in. philofophical difcoverics or economical improvements, directed to the ufe and comfort of human life. The price of land varies very greatly: the foil on the hills is barren and ftony; but the vales produce corn and grafs with great fertility. They are not very near lime except in the fouth : but land bears the highell: rent in the northern part of the county, on the banks of the Wye. The bell: land about Hay will let as high as four pounds an acre ; and it is worth two guineas in any favourable fituation between Hay and Buallt; but it is much lower on the banks of the Ufke. In the neighbourhood of Crickhowel, the general rate near the water fide is one pound per acre, and the high grounds ten or twelve ihillings. One pound I underftand to be the rent of Dany Park ; and there probably is not a finer farmer's fpot in the vale of Ufke. Immediately round Brecknock, inhabited by many families of condition and fortune, the average is probably much higher ; but that difference arifes from local caufes, and throws no light on the general ftate of agriculture or value of property. With refpeci to the condition of the common people, it invariably {bikes the eye, on entering this county from Glamorganfhire, that the appearance of the cottages, and the condition of the cottagers, changes, for the worfe. - The pride of decorating them, and the comfort of keeping them in repair, feem no longer to enter into the fcale of happinefs. The gardens and potatoe grounds are not univerfal, and feem, where they are potTefTed, not to be very highly BRECKNOCKSHIRE. 203 highly valued. Even in the town of Brecknock, the habitations of the labouring poor are in a much worfe condition, than ftreets ftmilarly occupied in the moft infignificant town of Giamorganfhire, in the vale. Yet Brecknock contains an unufual portion of accommodation for the rich. But the lower claffes feem to be in every refpect poorer, and to live more hardly. They have no large manufacturing eftablifhments, fo that agriculture is the principal object of attention ; yet they make a confiderable quantity of coarfe cloth and {lockings in different places. Proviftons and labour are not fo much advanced as in Giamorganfhire, but are much higher than when you advance to the north or weft. The manners cannot be fuppofed materially to vary in two contiguous -counties. In both the conftant intercourfe with England by the pafTage of a mail-coach, with the frequency of travelling parties, occafions a continually growing conformity. It is weft of Caermarthen that the unmixed Welfh character appears, probably with little variation for centuries. Their countryman Girald afcribes to them good humour, which they preferve uninterrupted to this day; ftrict morals, and exemplary piety. With refpect to the ftrictnefs of their morals univerfally, a curfory traveller has no means of forming a judgment; but as far as decency is an effential of morality, they feem to poffefs it in the fpirit of fincere feeling, as well as in outward femblance. Their piety does not appear very confpicuoufly, either in the attendance or the care of their churches: and where it difplays itfelf in afTemblies of fectaries, except among the regular DifTenters, it is too apt to degenerate into fanaticifm. But Girald, in a fubfequent publication, fets three vices in array againft the previoufly admitted virtues: ficklenefs againft good-humour, breach of faith againft ftrict morals, and a marauding fpirit againft piety. A good-humoured man may be conceived to be fickle ; but how a faithlefs man can D d 2 be 204 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. be moral, or of what avail is the piety of a free-booter, it is not fo eafy to comprehend. The latter afcriptions were probably penned under the influence of fpleen. Occafional visitors do not remain long enough to try their conftancy; but I believe complaints either of pillage or intentional deception on the road to be altogether unknown. The geographical defcriptions of Brecknockfhire hitherto publifhed have been very imperfect ; but it is to be hoped and reafonably expected that thefe and all other defects will be remedied, as far as they can be by the diligence, accuracy, and ingenuity, of any individual, in the hiftory of Brecknockfhire underftood to be forthcoming, by Theophilus Jones, of Brecknock, Efq. His confideration in the county muft open all the channels of the moll: authentic intelligence, and his general qualifications leave no room to doubt, that the befl ufe will be made of the materials extant. I have flrongly to regret Mr. Jones's abfence from Brecknock when I vifited that place the fecond time, as I loft the opportunity of an introduction to him ; and I was led to believe that objects of curiofity would have been pointed out by him, which are now probably overlooked for want of information on the fpot, and might have rendered thefe pages lefs unworthy the perufal of the reader. The principal remains of Roman antiquities are in and near the town of Brecknock : a caufeway running in a direction nearly at right angles with the lfker, and leading probably to the great Roman camp in the neighbourhood ; another Roman road near the bridge of Chapel rhyd y Briw, about feven miles from Brecknock X on the Trecaftle road ; another in a part of the mountains the moft unfrequented at the prefent day. The fituations of Loventium and Bullaeum Silurum remain undetermined by the learned. Even the county of the latter is not agreed, as fome place BRECKNOCKSHIRE. 205 place it at Caerphilly, others at Buallt ; but probably fome little coincidence of orthography and found, rather than any evidence, has given rife to the laft conjecture, fmce I do not understand, either from information on the fpot, or from any archaeological memoirs, that Roman coins, bricks, or any other reliques of antiquity, have been found in the immediate neighbourhood of Buallt. It appears from coins found there, and other evidences, X that Hay was known to the Romans. However much the fcenery of Wales may have been the fubjecT: of poetical panegyric, its towns have obtained a very ilender mare of notice. They have, indeed, little that can light up a poetical imagination. John Philips, who in his burlefque poem of The Splendid Shilling, gave a new appearance both to objects themfelves, and the manner of their reprefentation, by applying Milton's phrafeology to familiar incidents, has introduced the principal town of this county among the places of traffic and refort, to which he with majeftic and fonorous pleafantry reprefents Jiis Welfh farmer as folemnly journeying: But I, whom griping penury furrounds, And hunger, fure attendant upon want, With (canty offals, and fmall acid tiff (Wretched repafl: !), my meagre corpfe fuflain : Then folitary walk, or doze at home In garret vile, and with a warming puff Regale chill'd fingers ; or from tube as black As winter-chimney, or well-polifh'd jet, Exhale mundungus, ill-perfuming fcent : JNot blacker tube, nor of a (horter fize, Smokes Cambro-Briton (vers'd in pedigree, Sprung from Cadwallador and Arthur, kings Full famous in romantic tale) when he O'er many a craggy hill and barren cliff, Upon io6 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. Upon a cargo of fam'd Ceilrian cheefe, High over-fhadowing rides, with a deiign To vend his wares, or at th' Arvonian mart, Or Maridunum, or the ancient town Yclep'd Brechinia, or where Vaga's ftream Encircles Ariconium, fruitful foil ! Whence flow ne&areous wines, that well rnay vie With Mafic, Setin, or renown'd Falern. The population of Brecknockfhire, by the lait account, exceeded thirty thousand; and I take this opportunity of correcting my flatement of the population in Glamorganshire, which was taken from a prior furvey. It now amounts, from the rapid increafe of the various works, to more than feventy thoufand. C 307 ] CHAPTER IX. tstradyellte . . . mounchdent mountain ... pont stickel ...chapel glyncollwm... stone bridge ... cantress .. . st. david's Brecknock. . ..the priory. 1 ontneath Vechan admits of an eafy vint from Neath by any conveyance'; and its furrounding fcenery is fo interefting, that thofe who explore the celebrated vale of Neath mould not reft fatisfied, without committing themfelves to the difcomforts of the Angel Inn for one night, that they may devote the following day to ranging over the beauties of the neighbourhood. This village {lands as it were at the head of the valley, on the confines of the two counties, and at the confluence of five rivers, each of them contributing its rocks, woods, and water-falls, to the general grandeur and magnificence, which here feems to be brought together as in a focus. The Neath river, on which the village ftands, is the principal ; its double head is mentioned by Drayton. The fource of that branch, which fertilizes the fpot in queftion, is at the diftance of fome miles due north; but the Neath Vechan branch rifes far to the north-eaft on Mounchdeny mountain, and ^ after dividing the counties of Brecknocklhire and Glamorganmire in a wide and circuitous fweep, joins its fifter ftream juft at Pontneath Vechan. The other tributary rivers are the Melta and Hepfey, rifing from different, but not far diftant fources, and,, after their "union, pouring themfelves into Purthin river, which, like wife 2o8 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. like wife receives Tragath, and conveys its collected waters into the Neath. Augmented by fuch copious contributions, the Neath river rolls through its vale in a body, and with a force, that are truly majeftic. But its further progrefs muft remain to be defcribed hereafter. The number of cafcades in every direction, within three or four miles of this place, is fo great, that it is difficult, and perhaps unnecetTary, to vifit them all. Neath, Melta, Tragath, and Purthin, have each of them one, befides j\ the wonderful cavern, through which Melta runs ; and Hepfey has five ; not at prefent to mention the three on the Glamorganfhire rivers, that join the Neath between Pontneath Vechan and the fea. Thofe on the Tragath, Hepfey, and Melta, I felected, on . information which proved to have been correct, as molt eafily reconciled with the courfe I meant to purfue, and comprifing the boldeit and moft characteristic features. In order to explore the beauties of thefe rivers, the Merthyr Tydvil road is to be followed, till it leads to a grand pafs, forming as fublime and romantic a fcene, as can well be conceived in this or any country. The Purthin runs to the right, with a line of high grounds at a little diftance parallel to its courfe ; its banks wildly overgrown, and darkened by the projecting fhadows of the impending cliffs. The acclivity on the left is completely clothed with magnificent timber, contrafted with the rougher growth and fometimes naked pinnacles of the oppofing ridge. The Brecknock road above it is intercepted by the wood ; while the front is occupied by an immenfely high, abrupt, and rugged crag, nearly perpendicular. This is certainly one of the firit fcenes in South Wales : its principal features are moft faithfully as well as picturefquely delineated by the ingenious artilt, to whofe pencil I am fo highly indebted. Such is its boldnefs, that it might well be fuppofed to belong to the larger fcenery of the continent. The Merthyr Tydvil road here makes nearly YSTRADVELLTE. 209 nearly a right angle with that of Brecknock over the hill ; but the vifitor of the cafcades has to climb this difficult and awful rock. After gaining the top of the crag, in croffing to the right* you look down upon a dingle, through which Tragath river flows, in its paflage to the Purthin ; and oppofite, you have a fall of Tragath, before it reaches the level of the dingle, forcing its way through fome broken fragments of rock. The fall is the moft inconfiderable in the neighbourhood, but it is not without its beauty. There is here a very curious and uncommon ftratum of marble in the rock, the curvilinear form of which is not unaptly defcribed, by adopting the figurative language of the natives, and calling it the ftone of the bow. It is of grey marble, w r hich bears A^ a confiderable price. The route from Tragath to the falls of the Hepfey is over a wild common, ftony and dreary, but that the dells on each fide enliven the fcene. At the upper end of the ■ common, there is a farm-houfe above the Hepfey, whence the view down the vale of Neath to Swanfea and the Mumbles is very grand as well as extenfive. Beyond the farm-houfe is the point, where the Hepfey and Melta join. The bed of the former is at an irnmenfe depth immediately below, and the two ftreams are feparated by a rich, turfy, well-wooded promontory, forming a frontifpiece to the view, when you look up the courfe of the united rivers. The roaring of the Hepfey cafcades is heard at a confiderable diftance, as they are approached from the upper grounds. On arriving at the edge of the dingle, the great fall burfts at once upon the view : a broad meet of water projecting itfelf over an abrupt ledge of rock, to the depth of fifty feet. The diftance of the fall from the junction of the two dingles with their ftreams is lefs than a quarter of a mile, fo that both thefe objects can be embraced at once from the higher ground. But the general view of fcenes like thefe is never the moft interefting. Ee The aio BRECKNOCKSHIRE. The lefs obtrufive, but molt beautiful features are loft, while the termination detracts from the fublimity. By taking the parts in detail, on the contrary, the attention, undifturbed, is alive to every concomitant circumftance, as well as to the leading, character of the object : nothing is overlooked, becaufe nothing is too diftant, or too perplexed, to be taken in both by the mind and by the eye: every turn prefents fomething new; while the pcrfpective, leflened into obfeurity as it lengthens, holds out the promife of flill unexhaufted variety. The defcent, by which to examine the fall more minutely, is down a rugged and fteep rock, which forms the boldeft feature in the dingle at the bottom,, but affords a very abrupt and hazardous pafTage. The afcent on returning, were it neceflary, would be very difficult ; and there is apparently no other way; for the violence with which fo large a body of water is precipitated, has worn the rock of the bed below the cafcade into a large and deep pool, and the breadth of the water all through the dingle, efpecially whemaugmented by heavy rains in the night, as on the prefent occafion, befides other obflacles not yet appearing, prevents its being forded. It excites therefore a ftrong fenfation of furprife, not unaccompanied with pleafure, in the mind of a ftranger, when he is told, that his road lies very unexpectedly behind or under the cafcade ; for fuch is the rapidity of the torrent, unprepared by previous obflacles for the perpendicular of the precipice, that the interwoven fheet is thrown out fo far, as to leave a clear pafTage, at all times, wide enough for a horfe path, between the falling river and the rock. . V* This path is formed by a rude natural ledge of limeftone, covered with mofs, at about one third of the height from the bottom of the precipice. Its breadth is about three feet, and conftitutes the only projection in what would othcrwife be like a flat wall. The ftone, however, fhelves a little inwards from the topmofl edge,. while YSTRADVELLTE. 211 while the water is forced forwards; fo that the two elements unite in forming as it were a roof or canopy over the head of the paffenger, w T hich affords him an impenetrable fhelter from an occasional ftorm. Mr. Warner, when he vifited this fpot, had occafion to feek the protection of the river from a fhower of rain. The effect of funfhine on the cafcade, when behind it on a fine day, is both grand and beautiful. The particles of water glittering with a filvery brightnefs as they fall ; the uncommon brilliancy of every thing without, feen through fuch a medium, contrafted with the dark green of the mofs, everlaftingly w r et with fpray ; the corroded dinginefs of the rock ; the damp and vaporous gloom of the atmofphere within ; altogether form a fingularly mingled fcene of awe and gaiety. The dark hue of the bafon below, deeply excavated by continual attrition, enhances the contrail: of the thin, tranfparent fluid in its defcent. After pairing the cafcade, the ftranger has to fkirt the further fide of the dingle for a few fteps, in front of the majeftic rock he defcended, when he comes upon another cataract, and a large cavern under the oppofite bank clofe by. Three more follow in immediate fucceffion, and all four within an eighth part of a mile from the firft. The moil: confiderable of thefe is about twenty-five feet in height, and the fmalleft about ten. The laft is the largefl. Thefe four are all feen at once : but, owing to a bend of the river, the great cafcade, though fo near, is not feen even from the firft of thefe. Were the five vifible at one point of view, they would nearly rival the great fall of the Mynach in Cardiganshire, below the Devil's Bridge ; for though they would ftill be very inferior in point of height, the Hepfey is much broader than the Mynach, and in that reipecl; would have the advantage in reipecl: to grandeur. The whole of this dingle is profufely overgrown with wood of various kinds, among which the venerable and clavlic oak predominates. From E c 3 the ii2 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. the laft of the cafcades, the fcarcely difcemible path winds round the front of that promontory, which feparates the two dingles and their rivers. But there is a path ; for the country people drive their cattle this way, and under Hepfey cafcade, when they have occafion to pafs from the Melta to the eaflern fide of the Hepfey. Having gained the high ground, and patted two or three ftony and unproductive fields, the brink of a precipice, not to be defcended, difclofes the great fall of the Melta, which is y/ broader than that of the Hepfey, and feventy feet high. It is very different from the others in point of character. It projects as fuddenly, and, carrying a larger body of water, with more violence. It is therefore more awful and tremendous, but unaccompanied by thofe circumftances of variety and beauty, which adorn and enliven its rival cataract. Here the rocks on each fide are naked and abrupt, fo that the dingle is diverted of its accuftomed clothing for a considerable fpace below the fall. Where the wood commences, it is poorer, more ftunted in its growth, and more wildly entangled ; fo that, on the whole, it forms a dark and rugged fcene. The cafcade is inacceffible from below, as the rocks are not to be climbed, nor the dingle to be threaded, from the confluence of the two rivers upwards. But the great curiofity of this river, fingularly and fublimely characterifed in the catalogue of Britifli fcenery, is a ftupendous cavern between the cafcade and X Yflradvellte, through the dark hollow of which the Melta runs for the fpace of half a mile. The top of this cavern forms the only bridge from one part to the other of the farm, which lies oa the eaft and weft fides of the river. The defcent fromthe upper lands to the bed of the river is by no means difficult ; nor does it at the firft view prefent any thing beyond a rural, quiet landfcape; but as the guide wound cautioufly to the left, rather in a retrograde direction, we fuddenly found ourfelves at the mouth of the cavern, YSTRADVELLTE. 213 . cavern, the opening of which is about forty-three feet wide, and nineteen feet high. Through this Melta river rolls in a finuous courfe, wearing its channel through the rock, deeply perforated into fathomlefs pools, whence it iffues into daylight, after a fubterraneous paffage of at leaft eight hundred yards. There is a jl practicable paffage through it ; but the attempt is imprudent. It is neceffary to carry candles ; and if they are extinguished by the damp vapour, the difficulty and danger become very great. In one inftance, a life was loft ; though my guide had been through feveral times, and was ready to undertake it with any vilitor. We penetrated about an hundred yards, as far as any glimmering of daylight from the mouth directed us : and this fpecimen of Stygian horror was amply fufficient to fatisfy all rational curiofity. The paffage over uneven rocks, with fcarcely a guiding light, and in many places with a bottomlefs gulph directly under on the left, in a mifty atmofphere from the vapour of the place and the exhauflion of a laborious walk, was not to be pleafurably continued for any length of time or diftance : but if the object be worth attaining, any perfon who will enter this cavern as far as the natural light will lead him, may form a juft, and I apprehend no contracted idea, of the claffical Av'ernus and poetical defcent into the infernal regions. On quitting the cavern, the Melta, finding its way into- it through deep and narrow gullets, worn between the rocks, is croffed at the entrance, when a regular and beaten path winds gradually and pleafingly along the weftern bank, with the little village of Yitradvellte in the diltance, and green meadows, delightfully quiet and rural, in the lore-ground. The church ftands well, and is a pleafing object, after a circuit of about feven miles, with cnly one houfe in the way. •■ But the village itfelf miferably difappoints the expectations which its diftant afpect has excited. It confifts of a few miferable cottage's, moil of them in a ruinous 2H BRECKNOCKSHIRE. ruinous condition, inhabited by a ragged and barefooted peafantry, with lefs of natural urbanity, than is ufually experienced in thefe wild, but not uncivil regions. The road from Yftradvellte to Brecknock is over mountains the moil dreary, wild, and defolate, till within three or four miles of the lad-mentioned place. The hills are covered with one unvaried turf, affording excellent fheep-walks, but rifing each above the other, without a fingle twig to relieve the wearied eye. The only object of intereft is another fall of the Melta, about two miles north of Yftradvellte. The angular direction in which the river projects itfelf is wild and romantic. It is now at no great diflance from its fource, and very fhallow, rippling over loofe fragments of rock ; but it is unaccompanied by wood, or any other picturefque cireumftance. After this, the road and profpect become difgufting, toilfome, and unfightly, till on crofting the weftern fide of Mounchdeny Mountain at a confiderable height, but through a cleft with lofty ridges on each fide, the flat country of Brecknockfhire towards the north, with part of Radnorshire, extenfivc, fruitful, and improved, unfolds itfelf to the gladdened fenfe, and proves a farmer's profpecl:, as well as a painter's, to pofTefs fome intereft. The nature of the country here, looking from the mountainous part, feemed greatly to refemble the fineft parts of Leicefterfhire. It is curious to obferve the beginning of cultivation immediately under your eye : the ground on which you tread barren and wafte, but every inch beyond a certain point ufeful and productive. The Melta and Neath rivers both rife in this neighbourhood, and are crofTed near their fource by this rough and little travelled road. There is nothing further that merits defcription on the road to Brecknock in this direction ; I fhall therefore give fome account of the journey from Merthyr Tydvil $o the capital of this county. From PONT STICKEL. CHAPEL GLYNCOLLWM. 2t 5 From the caftle near Gelly Vallog therefore I now purfue the old road to Brecknock over the mountains, when the dingle on the left, through which runs Neath Vechan river, is deep, wild,. j3«~/~/£'> ^ +**~1 and precipitous. The rough and ftony horfe-path, for the new //U^ i*^**- ^ turnpike road winds round the bafes of the mountains to the weft, -w*~ Aubren, or Aber, in Britifh, is as much as to fay, a river's mouth, in Englifh ; as appears by the names of Abergevenni, Abertivy, Aberhodny, fignifying the fall of the rivers Gevenni, Tivy, Hodny, either into the fea, or into larger rivers which receive them. Thus has it been conjectured, that Severn perhaps was firft Hafren, and not fo called from the maid there drowned, who is more likely to have owed her legend to poetical fiction, than the river to have borrowed its name from her. The firft object that arrefts the attention, on the approach to F f * this 2i8 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. this town over the bridge acrofs the Ufke, where it receives the Hodny, is its caftle, ftanding on a hill. The foundations prove it once to have been extenfive and magnificent. Little of the fuperftruclure now remains; but that little, though ruinous, is noble, as well as picturefque. It would be highly interefting, if the fides of the hill were not encumbered and disfigured with -wretched hovels, altogether repugnant to the tafte and temper of its ancient grandeur. It was firft built by Barnard Newmarch, and afterwards greatly augmented and beautified by the laft Humphrey dc Bohune, Earl of Hereford, Efifex, Northampton, and Conftable of England. The fituation is commanding, for every purpofe of thofe days, and feems to have been judicioufly chofen for the purpofe of fecuring his conqueft to the founder. In aid of that object, however, he brought with him many ftrangers, on -whom he beftowed manors and inheritances ; but without eflablifhing his followers in that ftate and fplendour, with which Fitzhamon inverted his ufurping band. How the caftle came into the family of Brufe has already been related. About the year 1 21$, Giles de Brufe, Bifhop of Hereford, fon to William de Brufe, fent his brother Reynald to Brecknock ; and on his own arrival, the caftles of Aberhodny, Hay, and Buallt, were delivered to him. After the death of Giles, Reynald de Brufe, contrary to his promife, and without the knowledge of Lhewelin ap Jorwerth, to whofe interefts he w r as bound by every tie, came to a compromife with Henry the Third of England. Lhewelin ap Jorwerth was much offended, and coming with an army to Brecknockfhire, laid fiege to the town of Aberhodny ; but the burgefles prevailed with him to raife the fiege, by paying a fum of money, and giving hoftages. Reynald de Brufe loft Caerphilly Caftle about the fame time. William de Brufe, fon of Reynald, adhered to Lhewelin againft King Henry, and was taken prifoner; but BRECKNOCK. 219 but the fubfequent peace, and partial fubmiffion of Lhewelin, exonerated him from the neceflity of paying the ranfom he had offered. William de Brufe was afterwards hanged, according to, the current account, for adultery with Lhewelin's wife. But the peace between the Englifh and Welfh princes did not laft. In the year 1231, the Earl of Kent, having been ftationed to defend the Marches, flew a great number of the Welfh, who had entered the forbidden ground on a predatory excurfion. But Lhewelin ap Jorwerth fupported his countrymen ; and among the reft, the caftles of Radnor, Aberhodny, and Rhayader, fuffered by his attack. Two years afterwards, he came again with an army to Brecknockfhire, and deftroyed all the towns and caftles in the country : but fuch was the ftrength of this fortrefs, that though he lay a month before it, he was obliged, after burning the town, to return home without his booty. Some part of the keep ftill remains; but the tower, which perpetuates in fome degree the idea of what the whole once was, is at prefent known as the place where Dr. Morton was confined by order of Richard the Third, and planned, in concert with his. difappointed keeper, the union of the two houfes, and the fuccemon of Henry the Seventh. The caftle is divided from the town by the river Hodny. The main body, the citadel, and all the parts of this ancient fortification, are ftill to be traced, though the tower juft mentioned is the only large mafs of building that ftill preferves its gloomy dignity. But it is not exclufively by works of defence that Barnard Newmarch is known to later times. His religious inftitutions kept pace with his military appointments. He founded both the priories : the one is now a parifh church, and the other was converted into a college by Henry the Eighth. The firft was Benedictine, the fecond Pominican. The Benedictine church, F f 2, which, 220 • BRECKNOCKSHIRE; which, with its precincts, is now called the priory, as the other the college, is very magnificent. It is built in the form of a crofs; but its architecture is not fo ancient as the institution itfelf. From the centre of the crofs there rifes an embattled tower. A paved cloifter extends from the church to the refectory. The extent of the building, and the loftinefs of its fituation, impending over the obftreperous Hodny, whofe banks are (haded by trees of majeftic growth, render it at once picturefque and venerable. It contains feveral monuments and tablets, of decent execution and considerable coll:, but little fculptural distinction, dedicated to no very memorable names. This priory, as well as the caftle, is at the weftern extremity of the town, and adds to the recreation of the inhabitants, as well as the embellifhment of the place, by fome of the moll: delightful walks, which have ever fallen to the lot of a populous vicinity. Their fituation is moft romantic, with the Hodny rolling at the foot of the bank, along the fide of which their level is carried; w r hile its waters are only feen by glimpfes, through the thick wood that fringes its abruptly riling margin, and overhangs its bed. From the weftern boundary of the walks, on the return, occasional fnatches of the monaftic buildings through the long-drawn vifta add much to the folemn and impreffive effect of the fcene. The college ftill remains, transferred from Abergwili by Henry the Eighth, over which the )( Bilhop of St. David's prefides as dean. It contains nothing diftinguifhed either in architecture or antiquarian curiofity, and appears to be much neglected. There is another very magnificent walk running behind the town wall on the fouth, by the fide of the Ufke, and looking over a rich flat, to the chain of mountains magnificently clofing the view, with the rugged and cloud-capped peaks of Mounchdeny. A gloomy day adds much to the grandeur of this profpect. The parifh church within the town is ancient and BRECKNOCK. a2 i and venerable. With refpecl to the town itfelf, it is one of the beft built in Wales, in point of accommodations for perfons of fortune and condition ; but very mean, and often ruinous, in the Streets occupied by the poorer inhabitants, and miferably deficient in its general arrangements. Neither is it neat and cleanly, except in the principal fituations, which is inexcufable in a town, fituated on a gentle Hope, rifing from the confluence of copious and rapid rivers. The trade of Brecknock is not at prefent very confiderable, though it is already much increafed by the completion of its canal. The principal bufmefs is in the line of hat-making, which is eftablifhed on a very refpe&able fcale ; and fomething is done in the manufacturing of woollens. I understand the population to have been taken, by the laffc accounts, at two thoufand five hundred ; and that it is confidered as much on the advance. It appears in raoft refpects to be a very defirable refidence, and is much inhabited by clergy, and gentry of independent fortunes. It is quiet and orderly, without being too retired. The number of fpacious and modern built houfes is greater, in proportion to its fize, than perhaps in any town of Wales. The markets are well, but not very cheaply fupj>lied. The manners of the people are decent and orderly, to which the blank calendar of the judges bears no unfrequent teftimony. The town had formerly four gates, and was ftrongly walled : the principal remnants of fortification are to be feen by the water-fide, where the view is very romantic, particularly when the Ufke fwells into a torrent after rain. The broken fummits of the mountainous ridge, continued into Monmouthfhire in irregular lines ; the difmantled towers of Aberhodny, with its mouldering walls, in wild and various ruin, while the unpicturefque compaclnefs of the modern buildings is favourably concealed ; render this one of the mofl flriking fituations, near any town in the principality. CHAP. BRECKNOCKSHIRE, CHAPTER X. ABERISKER COURT. .. LLANSPYDDID... PENFONT.. .ABERCAMLAS . . . DEVYNNOCK...TRECASTLE...LLYWELL. . . HEAD OF THE USKE RIVER ...CHAPEL CALJLWEN. . .TY WYNNY. . . CRIBBATH LIME ROCK...HENNOYADD...LLANVIHANGEL TALYLLYN... LLANGORS LLYNSAVADDON TALYLLYN < HOUSE LLANGASTY. . . TAL Y LLYN . . . LLANSANTFRED . . . BWLCH . . . PENTRAGARE..PONTPRENHURST..GLANUSKE...LLANCADOCK PLACE. ,.DANY PARK . . . CRICKHOWEL. X he road from Brecknock to Trecaftle, through the upper vale of Ufke, is drftinguifhed by a confiderable number of gentlemen's feats, embellimed with piclurefque, interefting, and appropriate fcenery, of no inferior order. The floping banks of the Uike, bold without being precipitate, the richnefs of the verdure, and the magnificent woods of oak, that clothe the fides of the hills on the north, furnim a pleafing prelude to the more awful and majeftic character of the county, at its fouth-weflern termination. Aberifker is a village at the mouth of the fmall river Ifker, as the name fignifies, when it falls into the Ufke. It is enlivened by the vicinity of Aberifker Court. On a riling ground, near the confluence of thefe two rivers, is a Roman camp, commanding X an extenfive view of the vale between Brecknock and Trecaftle. It is a parallelogram of fix hundred and twenty-four feet by four hundred and fifty-fix, and the longefl: parallels point nearly north and LLANSPYDDID. PENPONT. 223 and fouth. Some part of the enclosing wall remains, and the foundation is entire all round the area. The whole thicknefs of the wall was nearly feven feet and a half. It in every refpect rcfembles the fpecimens of Roman fortification inMonmouthlhire and elfewhere, and proves Brecknock to have been a very important ftation. About a quarter of a mile from this place, on the caufeway, is what Camden and other antiquaries have denominated the Maidenftone, from a tradition among the common people, that it was erected to the memory of two young women, murdered on that fpot. Thefe elder topographers have doubted whether it be Britifh or Roman ; but the more modern opinions are ftrongly inclined, and indeed nearly decifive in favour of the latter. It is believed to reprefent a man and woman, rather than two women, probably a Roman foldier and his wife. Some brafs coins have formerly been found within the camp, and Roman bricks have been ploughed up. Llanfpyddid is a village on the fouth fide of the Ufke, w r ith a fmall, but very neat church, furrounded with large and venerable yew-trees, which expand themfelves in all the majefly of gloomy luxuriance. The natives of the principality pride themfelves much on thefe ancient ornaments of their churchyards ; and it is nearly as general a cuftom in Brecknockfhire, to decorate the graves of the deceafed with flips either of bay or yew, fhick in the green turf for an emblem of pious remembrance, as it is in Glamorganfhire to pay a tribute of iimilar import, in the cultivation of fweet-fcented flowers on the fame fpot. At no great diftance, the Brean pays its tribute to the Ufke ; where the fpacious lawns and extenfive plantations of Penpont adorn the borders of the larger river ; while the family manfion commands a profpecT: up the Brean for feveral miles. The meadows and paftures through which it runs are rich and verdant, while a bridge of three arches gives an air of 224 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. of artificial elegance to the fcene. Abercamlas is known by its name to {land at the mouth of the attendant river Camlas. I was informed it belonged to the Rev. Mr. Williams; but whether to the Canon Refidentiary of St. David's, and Archdeacon of Cardigan, ^n who has a place near Brecknock, I did not inquire ; as I had not then the pleafure of knowing that gentleman. It is a place well adapted to the philofophic and dignified, but hofpitable retirement of a clerical life. The caftle of Devynnock is in a ftate of decay, which will foon level with the ground the already unimportant remains of the ruin. Some Roman medals have been found in this parifh. On the approach to Trecaftle, the fofter features of nature give way to the rude vaftnefs of a mountainous diftrict. After paffing the Cray, the earlieft and neareft ftream that contributes its abundance, the Ufk increafes in torrent-like impetuofity, in proportion to the vicinity of its never- failing fpring, the narrower confinement of its channel, and greatly-inclined defcent from the parent hill. Every circumftance indicates moft ftrongly to the traveller his entrance on a wildly precipitous region. The Black- mountain, towering above Trecaftle, and rivalling Mounchdeny in height, is the leading objecl: of this untameable fcene. This mountain is forked, like Mounchdeny; and it is not decifively afcertained which is the higheft ; though the general opinion is in favour of the latter. When I was on the the Black-mountain, on the third of Oclober, its two peaks were )f covered with fnow, which was expected to lie till May or June ; and inftances have been known, in cold fummers, when the fnow has not melted at all on the higheft points of the mountainous ridge, between Llandilo Vawr and Crickhowel. There was a very powerful fun in the middle of the day, and it was hot for travelling ; fo that the cold and alpine afpecl: of the mountain-top, contrafted with the oppreflive gleams of moift, autumnal heat, imparted HEAD OF THE USKfi. i?$ imparted altogether a continental character to this impreffivtf fpecimen of Britifh fcenery. The village of Trecaftle has nothing to recommend it, but its wild enclofure of furrounding mountains. In front of the inn, the fite of the caftle is clearly to be diftinguifhed ; but all its honours are completely laid low, and every veftige of its flruclure effaced. Beyond Trecaftle is the fmall village of Llywell, better adapted to the wants and comforts of its inhabitants, than might be expe&ed in fo poor and barren a region. The traces of cultivation here, fo different from the fertility of Brecknockftiire in the more level parts, appear as if their returns were jejune and ungrateful. Clofe upon this village Caermarthenihire joins ; and the country from Llandovery hither will be the fubjecl: of a ftiort defcription hereafter. The nearnefs of the Black-mountain communicates a feeling of fublimity, which prevents the unvaried meagrenefs of the extenfive profpecl from becoming painful. The head of the Uike river is on the Black- mountain, whence it forces its way in a deep channel along a lengthened defcent into the Vale. It iffues from three apparently inconfiderable fprings ; but inconfiderable as they may feem, they fumifh a conftant fupply to that noble river, which runs through the heart of Brecknockftiire and Monmouthfhire, and is only furpaffed by the Wye, pervading the north of the former, and the eaft of the latter, county. On eroding the Black- mountain in a fouthern direction from Trecaftle, the afcent is very long, and the affimilation of diftant objeds fo clofely in unifon with the character of the mountain itfelf, as to imprefs the mind with a feeling of tirefome uniformity. There wants a fertile and luxuriant valley, ftretched out before the hills, which bound the horizon. But the defcent into the vale of Tawy is fingularly beautiful. JfC^ The wildnefs of crags, pointing and projecting in every conceivable form, is contrafted.with the incipient foliage immediately below, G g ftretching 2*6 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. ftretching out in the diftance into a widened and luxuriant, but mountainoufly bordered vale. The Tawy rifes from this mountain, at no great diftance from the head of the Uike. Its fource is very- near the path over the mountain. The new-born ftream rufhes impetuoufly over pebbles and fragments of rock, in a mallow and tranfparent rill, fecming to derive more force from the fleepnefs of its defcent, than from the volume of water which fhapes its confined, but everlafting courfe. The early progrefs of this river feemed to me much more pi&urefque than that of the Ufke, though little known and lefs celebrated. This vale of Tawy, even in the upper part, has an afpect uncommon to fuch diflridls, in being fr.udded with white cottages, after the manner of Glamorganfhire. This circumftance communicates a pleafing gaiety to the otherwife fequeftered dell, overfhadowed with mountains rifing above mountains, in the rude and fantaftical majefty of fafhionlefs variety. The grand depofitory of lime, which thefe mountains furnifh for the ufe of the more populous and cultivated parts, with the facility of its conveyance down the .i- neighbouring canal, fufficiently accounts for the fprinkling of ^ inhabitants, who would not otherwife have fought fo bewildered and inclement a fpot. Early in the autumn as it was, the common and only path over the mountain to TrecafHe had been two or three inches deep in fnow, but an hour before our arrival. j There are two villages, confirming each of a few houfes, higher in the vale than Hennoyadd ; Chapel Call wen and Tywynny. But the moil romantic part, and greater! curiofity, of this extraordinary neighbourhood, is the Cribbath lime rock. It rears itfelf jk perpendicularly to an immenfe height, with frequent projections of feemingly decumbent fragments. The abruptnefs of this, like moft of the other rocks, Handing fingly, unincumbered by lower hillocks at its bafe, occafions the fcenery here, as in Glamorganfhire, HENNOYADD. 227 on which it borders, greatly to referable that of North Wales. There is a confiderable excavation near the top of the rock, vifible from the road below : but I did not climb to it, having before bellowed much unrequited labour on fimilar attempts, which in general afford little return beyond the traveller's childifh boaft, of having been there. Unlefs the landfcape is viewed to-peculiar advantage from fuch heights, a cavity of a few feet or even yards fquare, with no hiftory attached to it, and nothing uncommon in its {gratification, furnifhes little to excite fpeculation, and little to gratify curiofity. The river, on reaching the level of the vale, aifumes a beauty nearly equalling the moll: diflinguifhed ftreams of this well-watered country. It is remarkably finuous in its courfe, through meadows rich in verdure, and woods luxuriant in growth and foliage. Its bed is clear; and its rapidity obftreperoufly animating to the paffenger, as well as healthful to the inhabitant and frefhening to the foil. The defcent to Hennoyadd by the rail-road is romantically overhung, and confined between the noble woods on the flope, and the river running at the bottom. The immediate vicinity of Hennoyadd is lefs mountainous ; but the view from the half-demolifhed wooden bridge, up the river, with the loftier mountains terminating the diflance, is uncommonly beautiful, particularly by moonlight. The foft and mellow colour, the interefting obfeurity, by which objecls derive an ideal importance from their indiftinclnefs, the luminoufnefs of the water reflecting the filvery beams, all confpire to render a night-fcene in fuch a region raoft irrefiftibly fafcinating : and I know not whether I was longer detained or more completely fatisfied by any pidturefque occurrence in the courfe of my journey. There is a public-houfe clofe by, at which it is poflible to fleep, though not commodioufly: and I would ftrongly invite thofe of G g 2, . my 22S BRECKiN 1 0CKSH1RE. my readers, who may hereafter travel over South Wales, to explore this vale either from Trecaftle downwards, or up from ~iL Swanfea. It will afford a moft agreeable deviation from the threadbare route along the turnpike roads. Indeed, if we would but accuftom ourfelves to a tenth part of thofe inconveniencies, which we are eager to encounter, fwelling as they do into real difficulties, on a foreign tour, we Ihould entertain higher and more juft notions of that variety, grandeur, and richnefs, difplayed by our home fcenery to thofe, who compare it candidly either with their own obfervations or the bell accounts of continental landfcape. It was remarked by Wilfon, whofe authority is not to be difregarded on his own fubjecl:, that a young ar-tift might find, in fome part or other of this ifland, every thing he could attain by going abroad, or indeed that he could poffibly want to complete his ftudies and form his ftyle, excepting what is diftinclively characterifed as an Italian fky : and it may be much doubted, whether Englifh painters are not fometimes induced to mew that they have travelled, at the expence of propriety. We not unfrequently meet with men of refpectable talents and found judgment in the main, who talk about uniting the brilliancy of Claude with the grandeur and fublimity of Pouffin. But furely fuch a combination of properties is unattainable in practice ; and were it not fb, it would confound all character, and confequently ought rather to be avoided. We never fee fuch heterogeneous mixtures in nature, who brings together fuch circumftances as may harmonize and cooperate with each other, not fuch as muft be eternally at variance. Nor can it be faid with truth, that there is lefs beauty in an Englifh than an Italian fky; fince each will be found to fuit beft with the general complexion of its refpective fcenery. When therefore it is confidered, that an Englifh ftudent generally intends to exercife his talents on his own HENNOYADD. 229 own country, and for his own countrymen, a foreign education feems not fo defirable as it was before we had a refpectable fchool of native growth. A habit of constantly obferving the works of creation as they really exift, rather than as they are fet down in treatifes, or practical fpecimens of mailers, will teach him to vary his ityle, when he takes his fubject from a different climate : but there is no real excellence in ftretching a fky, under w r hich vegetation mull: languiih and be dried up, over a landfcape, whofe verdure could only have been preferved in its luxuriance by the. frequent distillations of a furcharged atmofphere. The prefent head of the Swanfea canal is at this place ; but it is a part of the plan to carry it all through the vale. The formality of its parallel banks, however, would nearly deftroy the picturefque effect of a narrowing valley, too clofely contracted, in the upper part, to admit of their removal from under the eye, almoft for a moment. Unlefs, therefore, the interests of agriculture or commerce were to be very extenfively benefited, by the introduction of human labour among the fports of nature, the lefs learned admirer of artlefs and untamed beauty will concur with the profeffed draughtfman, in wifhing to preferve thefe hallowed retreats from the invafion of bufinefs, and the prophanation of the engineer* The valley widens beyond Hennoyadd ; but as we now enter on Glamorganfhire, it will be further defcribed in the fame chapter with .the weftern fide of that county. At Chapel Coelbren, between Hennoyadd and Yftradvellte, are the remains of a Roman <$? road. An excurfion, in no refpect lefs pleafant, though very different, may be made on the eaft of Brecknock, towards Monmouthfhire, The direct turnpike road to Crickhow T el is carried through a fine country; but the Brecknock canal, which for fome miles obtrudes itfelf on the view, much injures the general effect. The traveller i of 230 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. of tafte and curiofity will therefore deviate from the high road to the left, for the purpofe of infpecting Llynfavaddon more clofely. A road that turns afide about three miles from the town will bring him to the village of Llanvihangel Talyllyn, which derives its name from its vicinity to the lake. The road beyond Llanvihangel Talyllyn, changing into green fward, winds between high hedges, an occafional break in which prefents in a very impreffive point of view this grand expanfe of water, furrounded by dark and melancholy mountains. A fylvan foreground contributes its chaftifed pleafures to the contemplative fcene. You approach the lake on the weftern fide ; but near as it feems, without breaking through enclofures, an act of violence to be defended only in cafes of extreme pieturefque neceffity, you are obliged to crofs the river Lunwy, which iflues from its northern extremity, and bend down towards its eaflern brink through the village of Llangors, confirming of a few very poor houfes, but with a large and refpectable tower to its church. The walk through about four meadows from Llangors to the edge of Llynfavaddon is remarkably pleafant. This lake is larger than any in Wales, except Bala j and is juitly confldered as one of the leading objects in the topographical delineation of Brecknockfhire. It is two miles in length, and in fome places one mile broad. In the latter refpect it is very unequal ; confequently the line of its boundary undulates, and its character is infinitely more ornamental to the landfcape, than if its dimenfions had been more curioufly proportioned as to length and breadth, and its fhape more regular. To fkirt it all round, as near the brink as pofMble, takes in a compafs of about {even miles; nor will the votary of retired and peaceful fcenes be contented with much lefs than a complete furvey of this interefling fpot. It is entirely fhut in by precipitous mountains, fomp woody and fome wafle, except on the north, where the flat LLYNSAVADDOtf. 331 is enlivened and enriched by paftures, groves, and fometimes the corner of a farm houfe, emerging from its woody fhelter. The idea of total feclufion from the world is flill further relieved by Talyllyn Houfe, fituated almoft at the edge of the water on the north, as is the church of Llangafty tat y llyn at the fouthern extremity. This manor, with that of Llanhamlach, was beftowed on the Walbiefes by Barnard Newmarch, on his taking poiTeffion of the county. Talyllyn Houfe was till now the refidence of Champion Crefpigny, Efq. ; but it is at prefent occupied by a farmer. Thefe objects, with the fubflantial tower of Llangors church, introduce to the mind as much of man and his inftitutions, as is capable of conforting harmoniously with the predominant tone and temper of the whole. The river Lunwy pailes through this lake, and finds its way to the Wye in a direction nearly due north. It is obferved not to mix its waters with thofe of Llynfavaddon in its palTage ; and fo complete is the feparation underftood to be, fo infuperable the antipathy between the active and paflive ftate of the fame element, that unlefs immediately after very heavy ftorms, the fifh of the river are not found in the lake, nor thofe of the lake in the river. The depth of Llynfavaddon is faid to be about thirteen fathoms. The ancient tradition of a city being drowned, fo univerfally applied to fuch bodies of water, is too trivial to deferve notice. In the neighbourhood of the pool, at a very fmall diflance, near the head of the Lunwy, are the ruins of a caftle, which was the baronial refidence of Peter Fitzherbert, defcended illegitimately from Henry the Firft, and legitimately from Barnard Newmarch. Lucia, the third daughter of Milo, Earl of Hereford, by the daughter of Barnard Newmarch, was married to Herbert, the {on of Herbert, the illegitimate offspring of Henry the Firft. The foreft of Dean conftituted the principal part of Lucia's portion, and 234 -BRECKNOCKSHIRE. form the fkreen on the right ; on the left, the little valley of St. Michael Cwm Du, ftretching up in a lancet-like direction from the larger vale, is bounded by the mountains above the top of the valley. The front is occupied by one of the raoft confiderable mountains in Brecknock, in point of height and grandeur, which is diftinguiihed by the appellation of Arthur's Chair. It is dark and cloudy in its afpect ; while the continuity of the foreground is finely broken by an abrupt hill ftarting up, with the road winding round it after the long defcent of the Bwlch. The village of Pentragare lies in the bottom ;, and juft beyond it Tretower ruins add their mouldering grandeur to the other attractions of the fcene. After having patted Pentragare, and ftretched along the fide of the before mentioned hill, a bridge, clofe by a few houfes, called Pontprenhurft, carries you over a little brook, running from §t. Michael Cwm Du to the Ufke, which here renews its intercourfe with the traveller, after having fwept round the extended bafe of the Bwlch at a confiderable flifiance. And here it is, nearly at its departure from Brecknockfhire, that the Ufke begins to aflume thofe riper charms/ and that more matronly importance, w T hich characterife its fuller and more majeftic courfe through Monmouthfhire. It is now, to the unfpeakable relief of the inftructcd eye, no longer attended by its ftarch companion, the canal. The banks of the river on both fides from this bridge to Crickhowel are more than ordinarily beautiful. Its very bed is acceffible ; whence the fides, fometimes folding over each other into an amphitheatre, and fometimes, after a long reach of perfpeclive, term mated in a ftupendous frontifpiecc, detain the fenfe of fight agreeably, or afford a {ludy at once for the mind and the pencil. Several gentlemens feats, of elegant appearance, line the banks on each fide. Thofe of the moft taile on the fouth are Glanufk, belonging to Mr. Frederic ; and DANY PARK. CRICKHOWEL. * 3 $ and Llancadock Place, the feat of Admiral Gell. Both thefe are recommended by natural beauty, and the judicious application of art. Dany Park, below Crickhowel, at the eaftern extremity of the county, belongs to an iron-mafter of Llanelly. The houfc and land are at prefent rented by a farmer. The manfion is well backed with wood neatly to the top of the hill, which however exhibits a dark and barren ridge above the line of Vegetation. The fields down to the river are pleafant ; but the country juft here has no marked character of picturefque attraction. On returning from Dany Park, by the fouthern bank of the Ufke, a narrow Gothic ivy-clad bridge carries you over to Crickhowel. From this bridge, there is an advantageous and interesting view of Llancadock Place ; and the bridge itfelf is a fine addition to the landfcape, wherever it is vifible. The ruin of Crickhowel Caftle is by no means extenfive, as viewed from a diftance ; but it forms an objecl of fome intereft on the approach, from the commanding fite of the keep, on a lofty artificial mound. There is little elfc remaining of the ftanding walls, but that little fhews its date to have been early. The ivy, pleafingly interwoven with the venerable mafs it delufively feems to affift in fupporting, confers beauty on / a fragment, too much dilapidated to be important. The foundations, however, may be traced, where the fuperftruclure is completely demolimed, and prove it to have been of no mean fize or ftrength. About two miles further eaftward, the Grony falls into the Ufke. The village of Crickhowel is old and mean ; but it hangs on the fide of a fine hill, and the cottages bear evident marks of having been furniflied with their materials by depredations, which have detracted from the oftenfible ftate and dignity of the caftle. There is Iikewife in the village an ancient palace of the Herberts, which I am rather furprifed to find fo totally overlooked, confidering the eminence of the family to which it belonged, though there is little Hh 2 to 234 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. form the Ikreen on the right ; on the left, the little valley of St. Michael Cwm Du, ftretching up in a lancet-like direction from the larger vale, is bounded by the mountains above the top of the valley. The front is occupied by one of the moll: confiderable mountains in Brecknock, in point of height and grandeur, which is diftinguimed by the appellation of Arthur's Chair. It is dark and cloudy in its afped: ; while the continuity of the foreground is finely broken by an abrupt hill ftarting up, with the road winding round it after the long defcent of the Bwlch. The village of Pentragare lies in the bottomland juft beyond it Tretower ruins add their mouldering grandeur to the other attractions of the fcene. After having patted Pentragare, and ftretched along the fide of the beforementioned hill, a bridge, clofe by a few houfcs, called Pontprenhurft, carries you over a little brook, running from §t. Michael Cwm Du to the Ufke, which here renews its intercourfe with the traveller, after having fwept round the extended bafe of the Bwlch at a confiderable fliflance. And here it is, nearly at its departure from Erecknockfhire, that the Ufke begins to aflume thofe riper charms/ and that more matronly importance, which chara&erife its fuller and more majeftic courfe through Monmouthfhire. It is now, to the unfpeakable relief of the inftruclcd eye, no longer attended by its ftarch companion, the canal. The banks of the river on both fides from this bridge to Crickhowel are more than ordinarily beautiful. Its very bed is acceffible ; whence the fides, fometimes folding over each other into an amphitheatre, and fometimes, after a long reach of perfpeclive, terminated in a flupendous frontifpiecc, detain the fenfe of fight agreeably, or afford a ihidy at once for the mind and the pencil. Several gentlemens feats, of elegant appearance, line the banks on each fide. Thofe of the mofl taile on the fouth are Glanufk, belonging to Mr. Frederic ; and DANY PARK. CRICKHOWEL. 335 and Llancadock Place, the feat of Admiral Gell. Both thefe are recommended by natural beauty, and the judicious application of art. Dany Park, below Crickhowel, at the eaftern extremity of the county, belongs to an iron-mafter of Llanelly. The houfc and land are at prefent rented by a farmer. The manfion is well backed with wood neatly to the top of the hill, which however exhibits a dark and barren ridge above the line of vegetation. The fields down to the river are pleafant ; but the country juft here has no marked character of pi&urefque attraction. On returning from Dany Park, by the fouthern bank of the Ufke, a narrow Gothic ivy-clad bridge carries you over to Crickhowel. From this bridge, there is an advantageous and interefting view of Llancadock Place ; and the bridge itfelf is a fine addition to the landfcape, wherever it is vifible. The ruin of Crickhowel Caftle is by no means extenfivc, as viewed from a diftance ; but it forms an object of fome intereft on the approach, from the commanding fite of the keep, on a lofty artificial mound. There is little elfc remaining of the ftanding walls, but that little fhews its date to have been early. The ivy, pleafingly interwoven with the venerable mafs it delufively feems to affift in fupporting, confers beauty on , a fragment, too much dilapidated to be important. The foundations, however, may be traced, where the fuperftructure is completely demolilhed, and prove it to have been of no mean fize or ftrength. About two miles further eaftward, the Grony falls into the Ufke. The village of Crickhowel is old and mean ; but it hangs on the fide of a fine hill, and the cottages bear evident marks of having been furnifhed with their materials by depredations, which have detracted from the oftenfible ftate and dignity of the caftle. There is Iikewife in the village an ancient palace of the Herberts, which I am rather furprifed to find fo totally overlooked, confidering the eminence of the family to which it belonged, though there is little H h 2 to 236 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. to recommend it to the more faftidious ken of modern obfervation. The wall is perfect towards the ftreet, and the great entrance, with the porter's lodge, furnifhes fome idea of its ancient magnificence. The view from the interior up the vale of Ufke is extremely gay and engaging ; but the fpot itfelf, and the remaining architecture, afford little to exercife the ingenuity of the draughtfman. This palace came to the family of the Herberts by marriage with an heirefs, and continued in it for many generations. Every thing about it indicates it to have been on a magnificent fcale of expence, only to have been fupported by the greateft proprietors and moil powerful gentry of the age. CHAPTER C *37 ] CHAPTER XL GWERN VALE. ...LAN DAIR . . . CADAIR ARTHUR... TRETOWER RUINS... ST.MICHAEL GWM DU... CASTLE DINAS...TREVECCA . .. .TREDUSTAN ....BRUNLLYS CASTLE TALGARTH HAT. On returning from Crickhowel into the heart of Brecknockfhire, along the northern bank of the Ufke, the firft objecl to detain the attention is Gwern vale, deriving its name from a little ftreamlet, which paries through it in its courfe to the principal receiver. There is alfo a village called Lan Dair, of no peculiar intereft or character. This fpot lies near the foot of that afcending pile, hill placed above hill, forming a mountain of gloomy grandeur and bardic celebrity, known by the name of Cadair Arthur. Many places in Wales in hills and rocks are honoured with Arthur's name. At the diftance of about two miles, a narrow, overgrown horfe-path leads to the village and ruins of Tretower, both of which are highly pi&urefque. The fpot is enclofed by hills, fome of them rifing into mountains ; but all within fight are cultivated to the top. The fheaves of corn, hanging on the hills expofcd to the fouth, in all the plenty of a moll: propitious harveft, derive an effect from their placing, with which they are very rarely inverted ; while the Duke of Beaufort's woods on the oppofite fide at once afford a rich drapery of foliage, and a fhelter to the dwelling and labours of the hufbandman. The property about Crickhowel^ a 3 8 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. Crick ho wel, Cadalr Arthur, and Tretower, principally belongs to the Duke of Beaufort, till hereabouts he is joined by V Mr. Macnamara. Time has taken its revenge on the ruins of Tretower, but without deftroying the attendant intereft of their vicinity. It has rather added to their impreffion, by breaking the formal continuity of architecture, without laying low the pride of every tower, or confounding all their honours. There are fome remains of the three towers, from which the place derives its name : but one of them yet rears its weather-beaten bulk in dark and awful majefty, ftill formidable in its elevation, and little dilapidated by the fiege of the centuries that have parTed. The court is intereflingly overgrown with willows, and other trees congenial with the general tone of feeling, while the cattle, rearing their horned fronts in proud porTeffion of thofe doors, once opened by the hand of hofpitality to the traveller, or defended valiantly againU: the inroads of the invader, read a leflbn of mutability to man. Their quaint appearance, where they feem to be intruders, opens new fources of penfive reflection to the moraliii, or picturefque combination to the profefTor. This cattle belonged to a family of Vaughans, one of whom, Sir Thomas, was beheaded at Pomfret by order of Richard the Third. i The road from Tretower acrofs the country winds along the fide of a hill, looking down into the pretty green valley before defcribed. The church and village of St. Michael Cwm Du are ^.\r at the head of it, with Bwlch and Hatterel overtopping them. * Nothing can exceed the fertility of this parifh, of which Tretower is a hamlet, with a chapel of eafe. Nor is the village of St. Michael Cwm Du itfelf lefs to be admired, both on the fcore of fituation, and the habitable comforts of a rural retirement. It is, indeed, a moll: pleafing exception to the comparative ilovenlinefs of the Brecknockfhire villages. It lies, if I may fo exprefs it, on the ledge ST. MICHAEL CWM DU. 539 ledge of the upper valley, looking over the rich meadows of the lower, with a fhort reach of cultivated level behind it, and a fkreen of mere fheep-walks immediately above, rifing to the clouds. The rill that waters this valley runs directly through the village, communicating a cool frefhnefs to the atmofphere, and the means of cleanlinefs to the inhabitants. There are feveral very fubftantial and commodioufly built farm-houfes; and the cottages imbibe the air of general decency. It would not be ea.fy to name a more favoured village in any part of England or Wales. The church is unufually refpectable, both in its internal and external appearance ; but the battlements only of the tower, whitened, produce a lingular and rather quaint effect at a diftance, though they may perhaps ferve as a beacon in cafe of aberration.. The practice is not altogether unufual in this part of the country. After getting above St. Michael Cwm Du, the eroding of Hatterel becomes laborious ; and as the traveller feems gradually to be deferted by the fading landfcape, and removed from the traces of living creatures, except the fheep that bound along the mountain, he naturally begins to fufpect that he may bid adieu to the pleafures of his journey, when a fudden turn on the fummit of the afcent difplays as grand a panoramic view, as any within the compafs of the fouthern principality. The mountain is not fo high as Mounchdeny; but the profpect is to the full as extensive, and though fimilar in many refpects, certainly exhibits finer features. It may fave much trouble to thofe, who travel in fearch of vaft expanfes, to confider, that their object is not neceffarily attained by climbing the higheft tops : a mere hillock, commanding an horizon not intercepted by nearer inequalities, may overlook a greater diltance and more complete circle, than is afforded clfe where by an elevation of many times the meafuredf height, a4© BRECKNOCKSHIRE. height. Llynfavaddon, immediately underneath, is a circumstance of peculiar effect, rarely to be met with in an inland profpect : its wide-ipread furface is not rendered diminutive either by the mountain from which it is feen, or the large track of open country, with which it comes into comparifon, but preferves its importance in the extended fcale, as well as among the more private receffes of its own vicinity. The other principal landmarks are the ridge of black and lowering mountains fouth of Brecknock, clofing up the fouth- weft corner of the view at no great diftance; the villages of Treduftan and Talgarth in the bottom ; the undulating line of the Wye beyond, with Brunllys Caftle on the Lunwy, the north-weft probably bounded by the range of hills between Llandovery and Buallt afar off; while the champaign part of Radnorshire ftretches due north as far as the eye will reach. The defcent of the mountain affords that lively pleafure, which is always felt from feeing the forms of things enlarged to the capacity of the eye, and as it were their parts and limbs diftinct, and liable to the ken of every fenfe, after having looked down on microfcopically reduced objects, or wandered far over a maze of purple diftance, in vacant aftonifhment. Nothing occupies the mind pleafurably for any length of time, but what we can handle and examine, what furnifhes a groundwork for conjecture, a clue to fancy, or a link in the chain of argument. On the fummit of the next hill to Hatterel, is Dinas Caftle, now level with the ground, excepting here and there fome fragments of the wall ; but nothing that in any degree gives an air of fymmetry, or an idea of the ancient ftate to the obferver ; unlefs, indeed, an undigefted heap may be faid to convey a notion of that magnificence, which the materials pofTeffed in their proper array. Nor can it be denied, that any large affemblage of loofe parts, piled up or fpread abroad without form or order, is of itfclf futlicient DINAS CASTLE. TREVECCA. 241 Sufficient to infpire a fenfation of awe, from a mere fuppofition of what they muft have been, when employed in compofition according to the principles of art. I am inclined to think, that if we could conceive for a moment Blenheim to be rafed to the foundation, and the fmall detached fragments to be heaped together on the fpot, our imaginations would form out of fuch a collection Something at leaft as fplendid as the prefent structure, and perhaps more perfect than the genius of Vanburgh was capable of defigning. There are fome traces here of a fubterraneous pafTage, which tradition affirms to have communicated with Brunllys Caftle in the vale, at the diftance of at leaft two miles : but fuch improbabilities almoft univerfally creep into vulgar belief, where places of defence are found to lie at all contiguous to each other. There is likewife a current tale, that the ruin of the caftle was occafioned by the inhabitants fetting fire to it, left it fliould fall into the hands of an enemy, and become the inftrument of their oppreffion. On defcending from thefe prefent haunts of mountain ftieep, and ancient feats of unfociable and diftruftful barons, the traveller arrives fuddenly at a fpot, the raoft incongruous and unexpected that can be conceived in thefe fimple regions. He finds himfelf translated all at once to the Paragon, Profpect Place, Paradife Row, Mount Pleafant, or fome fuch fupreme court of finery, foppery, and folly, as occurs within a circle of five miles round London : a fpace which comprehends raoft of the architectural abfurdities, and moft of the horticultural deformities, to which a vitiated imagination has ever given birth. Yet does Trevecca feem, by combination, to have outdone them all. Here a Gothic arch ! there a Corinthian capital ! Towers, battlements, and baftions ! peacocks cut in box, and lions hacked in holly ! And who is it that has thus deluged his native country with bad tafte ? Is it a I i nabob, 24^ BRECKNOCKSHIRE. nabob, an innkeeper, or a dancing-matter, who, having contrived to raife a fortune by one of thofe trades, which often profper where better fail, prudently determines to record the event, and raife a triumphal monument on the fite of his honefl father's humble cottage? Nay, verily: it is a preacher of the gofpel, profeffedly of the fcricteft perfuafion and moft mortified habits. Howel Harris was born atTrevecca on the 23d of January, 1 7 14. Having a refpectable paternal eftate in reverfion, he was defigned by his family for the church, and having received the rudiments of a claffical education, was entered at St. Mary's Hall in Oxford; but he did not purfue or perfect thofe ftudies at the univerfity,. which might have given him rank and character among its members. When he was about the age of twenty-five, he began his career as an itinerant preacher, facrificing all views of worldly aggrandizement to what he conceived to be his highefr. duty* But a total want of rationality in the purfuit miferably detracted from that approbation, which mult otherwife have been extorted even from his opponents by the unqueftionable refpectability of the motive. He was the friend of Whitefield, with whom he afterwards quarrelled, and the firft importer of the methodiftical tenets and difcipline into the principality, as Vavafor Powel had been among the firfl, to introduce the earlier and more reipected modes of difTent. He actually officiated in the fields ; but, after having undergone much perfecution, and incurred fome danger in his travels, he determined, being, as my landlady at Talgarth informed me, a man of deep religion, to eftablifh a religious family at Trevecca, adopting it as his own, and devoting to it his patrimonial eflates, with all the favings of a parfimonious life. With unaccountable inconfiftency, he built a large and coftly houfe, and laid out the grounds in the flyle I have before defcribed. In this houfe, and on his own eftate, he collected a number of families, TREVECCA. 243 families, profeffing the fame -religious abforption of mind. He even purchafed farms in the neighbourhood, and eftablifhed manufactories, to as great an extent as his finances would admit, or opportunities prefented themfelves of laying out his money. The condition he impofed on thofe who joined his community was, that they mould purfue their, avocations of husbandry or trade folely for the benefit of the common ftock, difclaiming all private property, or interference in the management of the joint capital, renouncing the fociety of ftrangers, and adhering punctually to the rigid obfervances of the family. The inftitution continued to flourifh during his lifetime in almoft a formidable degree. Their farms entirely fupplied their numerous families difperfed over the eflates ; for the manfion-houfe was occupied by his own family and clofer intimates. There was befides a large furplus for the markets ; fince their inflexible fobriety was confidered to have the effect of making them good farmers, though the bufinefs was much interrupted by their unremitting prayers. They alfb manufactured, independent of other articles, large quantities of fine flannels, the quality of which was in high requeft all round the country, and large orders were executed for fo diftant a market as Briftol. Mr. Harris died in July, 1773. I have not been ftrictly correct in ftating the produce of their labours as brought to a common flock, for it was all made over to him without controul, though exclufively and confcientioufly applied to their ufe and the extenfion of the eftablifhment. By his will, he bequeathed the whole of his poffeffions, hereditary and accumulated, to the maintenance of the family for ever on the ftrict principles of its foundation. He left two truftees, with regulations for the replacing them, who were to live in the houfe, receive the earnings of the people, conduct the pecuniary arrangements and devotional fervices, and in every refpect exercife I i z that 244 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. that plenary authority, ^which he had himfelf preferved. He was married, and had a daughter, to whom he left nothing, except an apartment in the houfe, on the fame terms as the others, if ever fhe chofe to become a member of the family. It is, however, to be obferved, in extenuation of what men of lefs deep religion will confider as injuftice towards a deferving child, that her mother's fortune, not inconfiderable, rendered Mifs Harris independent of her father. But this independence, and all worldly cares and poffeffions, fhe was to relinquish, if ever fhe came to Trevecca. It will readily be anticipated, that lhe did not make that election, when the reader is informed that lhe was married to a gentleman of Brecknock, of the name of Prichard, I believe before Mr. Harris's death. There have been, within the recollection of perfons redding at Talgarth, one hundred and forty efficient members of this extraordinary family, befides children : there are now not more than fixty; but the ftricT; ritual of the place is flill preferved; the character of induftrious feclufion and eccentric fanaticifm is feduloufly maintained ; and the vifitor of Trevecca may fee it now, as in the days of the founder. There is ferviee in the houfe three times a day all the year round, the time of harveft not excepted : each perfon is allowed a certain proportion of abfences, on the fame plan as the attendance of chapel is regulated for the ftudents in college, and if the number is exceeded, the offender lofes the benefit of the inftitution, however reafonable may be his excufe, or urgent the plea of his neceffity. The ferviee, though fo frequent, is very long ; and a numerous attendance is by thefe regulations conftantly fecured. It were much to be wifhed, that it were better worth attending ! I happened to arrive there, without any previous knowledge of the place or inftitution, about three o'clock on a Sunday, when a number of decently- drefTed and TREVECCA. 245 and well-behaved people were aflembling, with whofe manners on the outfide of their chapel I was well pleafed ; but the infide exhibited fuch a melancholy exhibition of fanatical fatuity, as, happily for the honour of human intellecl:, is rarely to be met, but among thefe jumping enthuiiafts. The fpeaker, for I will not infult the dignity of our eftablifhment by confidering him as a clergyman, had his face and head completely muffled with a red pocket-handkerchief tied under his chin. The caufe of this might have been candidly afcribed to the tooth-ache, had I not obferved at Brecknock and elfewhere, that the preachers of thefe degradedly methodiftical and jumping feels, which would not be worth noticing in a work of this kind, were they not the unhappy growth of the foil, uniformly array themfelves in a fimilar paraphernalia, probably in an oftentatious fhew of fqualid piety. The reft of his apparel was confiftently mean ; and all his air and manner indicated the loweft ignorance, though I could not judge of his language. Its effe&s, however, atoned in power for what it might want in elegance, or the means of rational conviction. The groans of his hearers, fometimes in a folo part, and fometimes in chorus, correfponded with the fcarcely human contortions and ejaculations of the preacher. Some ftood, fome knelt, and fome were ftretched upon the floor in proftrate humiliation. I did not, however, ftay for the animating found of " Glory to the Lamb," left the forgetfulnefs of fuperftitious enthuiiafm, violating the law r s of hofpitality, might have compelled me alfo to join in the fantaftic rites of light-heeled devotion. But I will no longer weary the patience of my reader on the habits of an inftitution, which has culled with fcrupulous care all the abfurdities and evils of the monaftic life, except the prohibition of marriage, and at the fame time pavTed a fevere edi6t of exclufion againft all its learning and utility. Mr. Harris had a brother, who made a considerable 246 BRECKNOCKSHIRE . confiderable fortune as an army taylor in London, which was, I believe, inherited by Mrs. Hughes, his niece, who has a very handfome manfion near Trevecca. The family are very much refpected ; and it is moil unaccountable, that the zeal of a man, placed by birth and education in the moll: refpectable clafs of fociety, mould have degenerated into fuch unmeaning and irrational mummery. It is true, indeed, that the fenatorial names of Wilberforce and Hill have graced the drivellings of pretended infpiration ; but they have not condefcended to countenance any thing quite fo repugnant to common-fenfe, or fo irreconcileable with the claffical tafte and elegant attainments of a gentleman. Since my return, I have heard accounts of Mr. Harris, not fo favourable to the difinterefted abfurdity of his character and views. I know the imputations under which leaders of feds and parties labour from the mifconflrudtions of their opponents, and pretend not to decide. It is certain that he extorted large fums from the deluded people among whom he travelled, as well as from the labours of his domeftic fraternity. Thefe went in aid of the eftablifhment at Trevecca. The frugality and felf-denial of his habits is alfo controverted; and his tafle in building, which fpeaks for itfelf, corroborates in fome, meafure the fufpicion. His doctrine throughout the principality was, that thofe who came with his credentials were fent of God, and if they wanted a coat, a dinner, or a horfe, the bell: in the pofTeffion of the believer was refpectively to be furniflied. But we are here at the very head-quarters of methodifm, the capital of its empire in the principality. At Treduftan, clofe by Trevecca, is a college founded by Lady Huntingdon, for educating young men, to continue the fucceffion of the miniflry. But it is at prefent untenanted by pupils, though there is occaiional fervice there : I ihall therefore gladly difmifs it, without inquiring into the nature of BRUNLLYS CASTLE. TALGARTH. HAY. 247 of its ordinances, which prooably coincide with thofe eftablifhed elfewhere by the zealous patronefs. Brunllys Caftle is a little way to the left of the high road between Treduftan and Talgarth, on the banks of the river Lunwy ; and embellifhes the profpecl very confiderably. There is little remaining except a circular tower on an artificial eminence; but it is of remarkable height, and picturefquely circumftanced. There is a tradition refpecTing this caftle, that Mahael, the ejected fon of Barnard Newmarch, being on a predatory excurfion, was entertained here by Walter de Clifford for one night. The building took fire, and Mahael, in attempting to efcape, was crufhed to death. The building may probably be afcribed to the Normans, on their firft fettlement in the county. The village of Talgarth is pleafantly fituated, and rather neat ; but has nothing interefting to detain the traveller. Hay is a fmall town, on the confines of Radnorfhire and Herefordfhire. By the many antiquities here found, it appears to have been of fome confequence in the time of the Romans ; V^ and experienced its mare of martial viciffitudes in the contentious ftruggles between the native princes and the crown of England. When King John was prevented from taking the crofs by the rebellion of his barons, Lhewelin ap Jorwerth availed himfelf of the confederacy, raifed an army, and gained the town and caftle of Shrewfbury without ftriking a blow. While he was thus employed, Giles de Brufe, Bifhop of Hereford, and chief of the confpirators, feized the opportunity of eftablifhing himfelf, at the fame time that he promoted the views of the difcontented Welfh andEnglifh. On his arrival inBrecknockfhire, the people received him as their lord, and delivered to him the caftles of Aberhodni, Hay, and Buallt. Lhewelin ap Jorwerth had been excommunicated by the Pope for taking up arms againft King John, though but a fliort M* BRECKNOCKSHIRE. fhort time before he had been commanded to levy war, under peril of a iimilar fentence. The fame authority compelled the Bifhop of Hereford to make his peace, fo that Lhewelin completely loft the benefit of his rapacious ally. But Giles de Brufe died at Gloucester, on his return homeward from the king, and his inheritance defcended to his brother. Lhewelin's policy, in marrying his daughters into fo formidable a houfe, reconciled their interefts, and once more threw the wavering influence of thefe great proprietors into the fcale of national independence. On the landing of the Dauphin, by the invitation of the Englifh barons, King John fled to Hereford, and propofed reconciliation and friendly league with Lhewelin ap Jorwerth and the Brufes. On their contemptuous refufal, his misfortunes had not fo far daunted his fpirit, as to deter him from attempting fome revenge ; among the immediate fruits of which was the complete deftruction of Hay Caftle. It is to be underftood, that the caftle here referred to is the old Roman fortrefs, on the river's bank, near the church ; the only veftige of which is a mound, with entrenchments. The caftle on the fummit of the eminence, on which the town ftands, is of more modern date. A dwelling-houfe, now inhabited by the Wellington family, has been built out of the remains : but a Gothic gateway is ftill preferved, and the large ftacks of antique chimnies give it a venerable afpect. The whole town formerly belonged to the Duke of Buckingham. Though fmall it is populous, and not without trade. There is a thread manufactory, and they yj make fome flannel. There is a very rich, indeed a celebrated view, from the churchyard ; but it has no very picturefque features. From Talgarth to Hay the country lofes its mountainous character, and aflimilates very clofely with Herefordfhire. i £ *49 } CHAPTER XII. ABERLLYN..THREE COCKS.. LLANGOED CASTLE. .LLANDEVAILOG ....LLANVIHANGEL VECHAN. ... CASTLE MADOC .. ..CHAPEL LLANGMOG....SKYNOG WOOD. ...LAN DEWI 'R CWM.... BUALLT. JL here is nothing to be obferved, beyond what fuch a river as the Wye muft neceflarily be fuppofed to afford on its banks, till you come near Aberllyn. Here the fcene is in a ftyle uncommonly gay, luxuriant, and beautiful. The meadows by the river fide, the trim lawn of Maeflough oppofite, on a gently rifing Hope, corn-fields, orchards, and all the delights of fertility and cultivation, detain the feafted eye. There is nothing that is grand, but every thing that is pretty. A large mop, kept by a man, a wool-ftapler by trade, whofe name is Morgan, is the grand emporium of the neighbourhood, and has enabled him to build a genteel houfe. The cultivation of his manners has kept pace with the advancement of his circumftances. He is courteous to ftrangers, much refpected in the country, and well connected by marriage. Aberllyn is the mouth of the Lunwy, taking its courfe from Llynfavaddon, and joining the Wye at this place. There is, a little further onward, a very decent public- houfe, called the Three Cocks, with accommodation fufficient for any traveller, provided he be very modeft in his demands : and juft at that fpot the river makes the moft remarkable horfe-fhoe bend, in the whole extent of its long and finuous courfe. There is one between Chepftow'and Tintern Abbey, which is much noticed, becaufe more feen ; but this is K k infinitely 250 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. infinitely more retrograde, more curious and characteriftic. The "Wye, from the Hay to its fource, much better deferves the % attention of the pi&urefque traveller, than does the navigable part of it from Rofs to Chepftow, which eloquent defcription and the tranfcripts of the engraver have occafioned to be fo much frequented. But as I rather confider the Wye a child of Radnorfhire, though it feparates the two counties, I fhall defer a more particular account of its fcenery between Hay and Buallt, which muft in fome meafure embrace both fides of the river, and for the prefent content myfelf with defcribing Llangoed Cattle on its banks in Brecknockfhire. Llangoed Cattle was purchafed from Sir Edward Williams, Bart. )( by John Macnamara, Efq. barritter at law. It is within, and part of a great manor or lordfhip, the entire of which originally belonged to the ancient family of Wogan, who were Knights Templars. This family quitted Brecknockfhire, and became lords of Wifton Cattle in Pembrokefhire. It is a fact as fingular as true, that Mrs. Macnamara and her children are the only lineal 1 defcendants living from that original ftock of Wogan ; and that after a revolution of ages, in confequence of Mr. Macnamara' s purchafe, they again poffefs a moiety of the great manor and lordfhip, the Earl of Afhburnham being the proprietor of the other moiety. This eftate runs in a direct line from the fouth-eaftern extremity of Brecknockfhire, nearly as far as Buallt, a length of twenty-feven miles, confifting of fifty- four thoufand acres, including mountain and fheep-walks. It comprehends an almoft unbounded variety of bold and picturefque landfcape, while it invites the fportfman, who has more fubftantial pleafures in view, by the lure of game which abounds on its hills. The fituation of the cattle is clofe upon the Wye, and the grounds command one of its fineft reaches. I queftion whether any fpot can LLANGOED CASTLE. 251 can be named, where the habitable is more capable of being combined with the romantic. The prefent manfion is inconveniently irregular, and like moil of the old houfes in Wales, is fo placed as to overlook the domain to the leaft poffible advantage. Indeed, the whole premifes had been neglected in Sir Edward Williams's time, till they had almoft become a wildernefs : but they are tapidly refuming an air of order and cultivation, under the management of Mrs. Macnamara, who, with a tafte not common to ladies of fortune and faihion, hurries every feafon from the gaieties of London, to conduct the improvements, and even the farming concerns, of this her ancient feat. It would perhaps fcarcely be believed, if the aflurance was not derived from my own perfonal obfervation of the fact, that a lady fo circumftanced could folely regulate and fuperintend a farm round the houfe of eighteen hundred acres, with which Mr. Macnamara, whofe tafte does not lie in the direction of agriculture, never interferes. He has been in pofleffion of the eftate between feven and eight years ; and in that fpace of time, an overgrown and ruined extent of two miles along the banks of the Wye has been drained and levelled, while the quality of the foil has been improved and reclaimed almofl: from the condition of a bog, by the mixture of fand with the brick earth, and the more mucky materials of which the ground was compofed. The road, which ran between the river and the houfe, has been taken in, and a new one carried confiderably above the houfe on the other fide ; a bridge has been built for the county acrofs the river Cletur, under the fame aufpices, where there had been none before ; a commodious drive is made about the hilly part of the grounds, commanding good views of the dingles, with frequent bridges acrofs the watercourfes from the mountains ; and a road is made on an inclined plane, to bring Hone from the hills, and fave the heavy labour of horfes. K k 2 The 254 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. The prefent year will probably fee the foundation of a new houfe laid, in a far preferable fituation on the lawn. The gardens are already walled round. This place may be, and perhaps will X. be made, one of the firft in Wales. A range of almoft inexhauftibly wooded hills runs parallel with the Wye : but here they leave, what is not often to be found in mountain vallies, a very fine and fufficiently wide flat, for all the purpofes of utility and comfort, admitting the introduction of minuter ornament among the grandly- folding draperies of nature. It frequently happens, that the occupiers of hilly diftricls pay dear for the pleafures and beauties of their fhort fummer, in the fnows or floods which imprifon and half drown them in the winter. But at Llangoed - Caftle, ample fpace and ingenious contrivance have guarded againft thofe deluging torrents, which fometimes threaten to carry all before them, when unrelieved by artificial conduits. There are fome very' beautiful dingles above the new road ; while the bare fummits of the hills overtop the woody clothing, and prevent thofe features of wildnefs from being loft, in the luxuriance of fertility, and the tamer tendencies of methodical cultivation. The new houfe will be built rather high upon the lawn, which it will command; and the large round top of Hatterel at the extremity of the vifta, though at the diftance of feveral miles, will feem as if it were its immediate boundary. When the road pafled by the river fide, it muft very much have confined thefe grounds, and almoft have deftroyed their beauty; but now, the magnificent and venerable oaks, which hang their wide-reaching arms over the water, and formerly fpread their made for the public traveller, are become a leading ornament of the homeftead. In confequence of Mr. Macnamara's having purchafed the fine woody hill on the Radnorshire fide of the Wye, that noble and fomantic river is as it were domesticated on the eftate, and exhibits all LLANGOED CASTLE. LLANDEVAILOG. 253 all its varied and contrafted features within the precincts of the pleafure-ground. Here a rapid and whitely-foaming current, rolling over a rocky and impeded bed ; there a deep, dark pool, with fcarcely an appearance of motion on its dufkily tranfparent furface. It is feldom that fuch a ftream, in its choiceft part, can be commanded as the central attraction of a gentleman's domain. The character of the Wye about Llangoed Caftle has been reprefented to me as very much refembling the Adige, with little or no inferiority. The Radnorihire banks are equally beautiful ; and there is, at a little diftance, a tremendoufly grand dingle, lying far from any thoroughfare, and therefore little vifited, of which I mould never have heard, but for the hofpitable attention and local information of Mr. Macnamara. I apprehend the Eari of Afhburnham to have derived his title to the other moiety of this eftate from the marriage of John Afhburnham with Bridget, only daughter and heirefs to Walter Vaughan, Efq. of this county. John Afhburnham was created a baron on the acceflion of King William and Queen Mary. Mr. Wogan, who was an acting commimoner on the trial of King Charles the Firft, was of the ** * family, tranfplanted from Brecknockfhire to Wifton. There is a direct road from Brecknock to Buallt, through the middle of the county, the diftance about fifteen miles. I took that route in my fummer excurfion ; and though it does not furnifh the various entertainment of the wider circuit, it has fome objects of curiofity, and fome interefting points of view, perhaps the more alluring for being lefs within the beat of general obfervation. About two miles above Brecknock to the north-weft, and on the top of a high hill, are the remains of a very large Britifh £; encampment, which forms fomething of an oval figure, and is furrounded by three deep and broad entrenchments. It is the more fmgular, that we find no account of it in Leland, Camden, or 3S4 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. or any of the great antiquaries, as there is not in the whole principality a more curious or better preferved fpecimen of Britifli fortification. It occurs on the left fide of the road, juft oppofite to where you fee Llandevailog on the right. There is an ancient monumental flone in the churchyard of Llandevailog. The country hereabouts is woody and agreeable, exhibiting an abrupt fucceffion of undulating hillocks and hollows, as far as Llanvihangel Vechan, about the fifth mile-ftone, through which the " cryftal Hodny" pafTes, and gives an air of rural elegance to what would othervvife be confidered as a very miferable village. About a quarter of a mile further is Caftle Madoc, an agreeable refidence in a wild and romantic fpot, belonging to a family of Powels, of which the Rev. Hugh Price, M. A. rector of Rettenden, and of Little Ilford in EfTex, was till lately the reprefentative. He was a clergyman of the eftablimment, and in every refpe£t an ornament to his profeffion. He had enjoyed the friendfhip of Warburton, who frequently appointed him to preach in the cathedral of Glocefter, on public occafions, when perfons of the firft literary distinction compofed his auditory. He was examining chaplain to Dr. Warburton' s fucceffor, the Hon. Dr. Yorke ; on whofe translation to Ely, the Bifhop expreffed a wifh that Mr. Price would refign the chaplainfhip, that he might have an opportunity of filling up his number of chaplains from Cambridge, of which univerfity he had been a member, and to the neighbourhood of which he was going to remove. He added, that he mould not forget Mr. Price's claims to his profeffional attention. Soon afterwards, his lordfhip acquainted him by letter, that Rettenden, a valuable benefice in the Bifhop of Ely's patronage, was vacant ; and that on account of the Situation being unhealthy, he had already obtained leave of non-refidence from Dr. Lowth, then Bifhop of London. Mr. Price refided on his living of Little Ilford, and CHAPEL LLANGYNOG. SKYNOG WOOD. 255 and only vifited Cattle Madoc occafionally, where he died in the^ month of June 1803. There is in the road at this place a remarkably large fycamore-tree. From Caftle Madoc the old road is over the hills. For fome little way the horfe-path, and there is now no other, lies between hedges of wild rofes, with other fpontaneous flowers and plants, cool and refrefhing. The afcent continues gradual for three miles, which in the language of the country is called a pitch. On the top there was nothing vifible but the downs on which we travelled in dreary uniformity; and on looking back, the high mountains of the fouthern chain, with their tops loft in continually thickening clouds. Little does the reality accord with the fuperncial afpecl: of the fcene ; and a ftranger advancing in a contrary direction would fcarcely believe, that between thefe downs and Mounchdeny in the diftance, a tract feemingly uninhabited, there was a rich vale concealed, with a county town, and all its periodical gaieties and buftle, for high and low, of races, fairs, and affizes. The journey continues as dreary as any thing that can be conceived, till you regain the turnpike road, which had wound round the hills, at Chapel Llangynog. Here is a fteep hill to go down, with Skynog wood on a fine declivity, a grandly expanded vale on the right, and clumps of low-crowned hills in the front. When you arrive at the bottom of the hill, about Lan Dewi V Cwm, the country, though dreary, is on the whole pleafing, becaufe the drearinefs is relieved by tranfient fnatches of wood and cultivation. Within a mile of Buallt, at the bottom of another hill, there is an old and picturefque bridge over Dehonog river, which unites its ftream with the Wye a little to the right. On the left is a very considerable nflure in the rock, through the portal of which the river forces its precipitous way in a foaming cafcade, half intercepted and heightened in beauty by a wild and ihrubby growth*. 256 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. growth, ftarting from the crevices of the broken crags on each fide. The entrance to the town of Buallt this way is at the upper of the two parallel ftreets, built by a fingular arrangement in rude terraces on the fide of a fteep declivity. This upper ftreet is clean and comfortable ; and the church, though without any pretentions to architectural character, is large and rather well looking. But the lower and moil: populous ftreet is as fafhionlefs, as miferable, and as dirty as any thing I have hitherto witnefTed. It is indeed ftrange, that a pofition fo unufually favourable, rifing from one of the fineft rivers in the principality, and attracting a numerous refort by the noted falubrity of its air and waters, as well as by the magnificence of its furrounding fcenery, fhould have been fo little improved. There are, indeed, a few good modern houfes in the upper ftreet, and the neighbourhood ; but the town in general exhibits . that air of impoverifhed and dilapidated antiquity, which fo univerfally befpeaks the negligent and unambitious character of a thinly peopled country. The trade of Buallt extends no further than fupplying neceffaries to the neighbouring farmers and peafantry, who flock thither on the market days ; but meat is expofed to fale in ihops, every day in the week except Sunday : a circumftance which I believe is not known in any other town of Wales, nor in England, except in very populous places. The caftle of Buallt was formerly of fome confequence: we have before obferved it to have been delivered into the hands of Giles de Brufe, Bifhop of Hereford, and to have been detained in that family, not without umbrage to Lhewelin ap Jorwerth. In the year 12 17, when Reynald de Brufe, who had joined moft cordially with Lhewelin ap Jorwerth in oppofition to King John, came to terms with Henry the Third clandeftinely and contrary to his promife, the indignant prince turned BUALLT. 257 turned his arms againft his faithlefs ally, and fpoiled him of all his pofTeffions, except the caftlc of Buallt, which was fo well provided with the means of defence, as to venture on refiftance to the fummons of its fuperior lord. In the year 1221, Reynald de Brufe was befieged in the fame fortrefs by a party of Welfh lords ; but King Henry, to w r hom he had remained conftant, came with an army, and raifed the fiege. In the year 1260, Lhewelin ap Gruffyth took this caftle in the night, without opposition or bloodftied, from Roger de Mortimer, who then pofleffed it, and adhered to the Englifh king, contrary to his folemn promife. The fate of this prince, the laft of that high-minded race, who contended even to death for their natural rights, is known to have been accelerated by the men of this town. At a little diflance, on the Llandovery road, is Ceven y bedd, a farm houfe, built over his grave. There is a very handfome ftone bridge over the Wye at this place, where the river, unfettered by confining rocks, fweeps over a fmall plain, furrounded by wood and mountains, in a broad and majeftic channel. Juft above Buallt, the Irvon joins the Wye, after having been reinforced by the three tributary ftreams of Dulas, Commarch, and Wevery. It is a very romantic river, and in its vale is fituated Llanwrtid, where there is a medicinal well, of much efficacy and very considerable refort. L 1 €HAP. «S* RADNORSHIRE. CHAPTER XIII. RADNORSHIRE. % i Radnorshire is the middle of Wales, abounding with fheep on its mountains. The principal river of this county is the Wye, which fkirts it &om north-weft to fouth-eaft, constituting the boundary between Brecknockfliire and Radnorfhire. The firft tributary flood of any confequence, that attends on its ftream, is Clarwen, with Clarwy; receiving as they do the Eland into their united channels, before they join the Wye. This latter river in its progrefs is increafed by the Ithon, drawing along with it Dulas, Clowedock, and Comran; all of which rife in Radnorfhire; as do Edwy and Match way, the laft contributions the Wye derives from this county. The train of rivers that attends it from the Brecknockfhire fide is neither fo numerous nor fo productive of interesting fcenery and fpeculations connected with the mythological antiquities of the principality. Their topography, as far as it was connected with the progrefs, that gave occafion to thefe remarks, has been delineated in the preceding chapter. The celebrity of the Wye was not lefs generally proclaimed, in ancient times, on the ground of myftical and fuperftitious fanctity, than it now is, for the pictures it prefents, and the beauties it developes. The north-eaftern and central parts of the county likewife abound in forefls, which were once confecrated by all the natural awe of religious RADNORSHIRE, 259 religious inftitutions, and all the fictitious terrors of craftily pretended enchantment ; though time has left few, if any remains of the machinery, by the mouldering fragments of which we are enabled in fome other places to weigh the credulity of the difciples, againft the wit and ingenuity of the inftructors. Of thefe forefts Drayton makes mention : and if we liften to Wye's fpeech in behalf of the Britons, we mall underftand to what a length the joint authority of three attributes, formerly infeparable, poetry, prophecy, and magiftracy, are fuppofed to have extended in ages, which fo humble an obedience w T ill fcarcely allow of being called barbarous or untraceable. The wood-nymphs, fo again, from the Radnorian fide, As Radnor, with Blethaugh, and Knuckles forefts, call To Wye, and bade her now beftir them, for them all: For, if fhe ftuck not clofe in their diftreffed cafe, The Britons were in doubt to undergo difgrace, That ftrongly thus provok'd, fhe for the Britons fays ; " What fpirit can lift you up, to that immortal praifc You worthily deferve ? by whom Gaul firft was taught Her knowledge ; and for her, what nation ever wrought The conqueft you achiev'd ? And, as you were mod dread,. So ye (before the reft) in fo great reverence had Your bards which fung your deeds, that when ftern hofts have flood. With lifted hands to ftrike (in their inflamed blood) One bard but coming in, their murd'rous fwords hath ftaid ; In her moft dreadful voice as thundring heaven had faid, Stay, Britons ; when he fpake, his words fo pow'rful were. So to her native priefts, the dreadlefs druids here, The neareft neighbouring Gaul, that wifely could difcern Th' efle& their doctrine wrought, it for their good to learn,. Her apt and pregnant youth fent hither year by year, Inftru&ed in our rites with moft religious fear." u The difcipline of thofe great philofophers, priefts, and. lawyers, called Druids, was firft found out in this ifle, and y\l> A 260 RADNORSHIRE. afterwards transferred into Gaul; whence their youth were fent hither as to an univerfity, for inftru&ion in their learned profeffions : Caefar himfelf is author of as much, Comment. 6. Although, in particular law learning, it might feem that Britain was 1 requited, if the fatirift deceive not in that : Gallia caufidicos docuit facunda Britannos. — Juvenal, Satyr, 15. which, with excellent Lipfms, I rather apply to the difperflon of the Latin tongue through Gaul into this province, than to any other language or matter. For alfo in Agricola's time, fomewhat before, it appears that matter of good literature was here in a far f higher degree than there, as Tacitus in his life hath recorded. Thus hath our ifle been as miftrefs to Gaul twice. Firft, in the inflitution of their now famous univerfity of Paris ; which was done by Charlemain, through the aid and indufixy of our learned X' Alcuin (he is called alfo Albin, and was fent ambaffador to the Emperor by OfFa, King of Mercland), feconded by the Scots, John Mailros, Claudius Clement, and Raban Maurus. But I know the great men permit it not; nor can I fee any very ancient authority for it, but infinite of later times, fo that it goes as a received opinion ; therefore without more examination in this no more fit pafTage, I commit it to my reader. " Such flrange aflertion find I in ftory of thefe bards powerful enchantments, that with the amazing fweetnefs of their delicious harmonies, not their own only, but withal their enemies armies have fuddenly defifted from fierce encounters ; fo did Mars reverence the mufes. This exactly continues all fitnefs with what is before affirmed of that kind of mufic ; betwixt which (and all other by authentic affirmance) and the mind's affeclions there are certain Mtpypocjcc, as in this particular example is apparent." — Selden. The RADNORSHIRE. 261 The eaftern part of Radnorfhire is, upon the whole, a fine and beautiful country; but it has nothing uncommon in its landfcapes, its buildings ancient or modern, or any of thofe local objects, by which in districts, more decisively marked by art or nature, the Spectator may trace the outline of character, while he furveys the geographical pofition. The Lug is the principal river on this fide, which rifes in the interior of the county, and quits it for Herefordfhire at Preftain. Afterwards, at Lemfter, it takes in the Arro, the fource of which is likewife in Radnorfhire. Offa's dike paffcs along the eaftern boundary of ■ this county, near Knighton. Its extent and geography have been mentioned in a former chapter : its ufe and purpofe are too well known, to need elucidation. Drayton ufhers in the eighth fong of his Polyolbion, with an allufion to the uncertainty, in which the definition of its limits was involved in after times, as well as to the encroaching fpirit of the Englifh, who, while the countries remained Separate, broke in upon their neighbours, wherever the evidence of the vifible boundary became defective through time and neglect. To Salop when herfelf clear Sabrine comes to fhew And wifely her bethinks the way fhe had to go, South- well: ward caft her courfe ; and with an amorous eye Thofe countries whence fhe came furveyeth (palling by) Thofe lands in ancient times old Cambria claim'd her due, For refuge when to her th' oppreffed Britons flew; By England now ufurp'd, who (paft the wonted meers, Her fure and fovereign banks) had taken fundry fhires, Which Ihe her marches made : whereby thofe hills of fame And rivers ftood difgrac'd ; accounting it their ihame That all without that mound which Mercian OfFa caft To run from north to fouth, athwart the Cambrian wafte, Could England not fuffice, but that the ftruggling Wye Which in the heart of Wales was fometime faid to lye, Now only for her bound proud England did prefer. Radnorfliire 262 RADNORSHIRE. Radnorshire is generally considered, in a piclurefque point of View, as the leaSl interesting of the WelSh counties. If this is to be understood as applying to it on the whole, it is undoubtedly true ; for both its grandeur and beauty are, with a few exceptions, confined to its weStern fide, on a narrow edge of the Wye, oppofite BrecknockShire, and to that north-weStern nook, which touches upon the counties of Montgomery and Cardigan, and participates in the irrefragable majefty of their character. But Radnorfhire, independently of the Wye, has infulated fcenes, which vie with any thing to be found in the whole compafs of the district that furrounds it. I need only mention the dingle, through which the Matchway runs, the vale of Edwy, and the beauties of Cwmeland, to illuftrate the truth of my aSTertion. In the two lait efpecially are realifed thofe apparent contrarieties of luxuriance and barrennefs, Sylvan decoration and leaflefs horror, the blended defcription of which, in works of fancy, we are apt to criticiSe as out of nature. They certainly are fo for the moSt part, and our poets, to fay nothing of our painters, cannot eafily be acquitted of dealing in them too profufely and indifcrimately. But they do exiSt as exceptions to a general rule ; and here, feem almoSt to introduce the traveller into fairy land; particularly if his fpirits ♦have become languid, and the elasticity of his expectations has been Slackened, by toiling over the eaStern divifion of the county,, where his imagination is neither kept alive by what is grand, nor his fpeculations as a philofopher or economist excited by the improvements of fcience, working on the higher capabilities of nature. The proportion of mountain to vale is probably lefs than in any county of Wales, excepting Pembrokeshire ; and the quantity of land in cultivation, compared with that which is unbroken, is certainly greater than in raoft, on a fair estimate of their refpective 7 dimensions-. RADNORSHIRE. 263 dimensions. The mountains of Radnorfhire are for the moft part low and broad-crowned, fo that they might be convertible to purpofes of hufbandry, if there was not already a larger proportion of ground in tillage, than the confined knowledge and deficient activity of the natives can turn to a lucrative account. The appearance of the farms, therefore, is in too many places impoverished and hungry; but this is injuriously attributed to nature ; for the moft intelligent and experienced inhabitants aver the quality of the foil to be in general good, though its tendency to fertility is kept down by Slovenly management, local prejudices, and indolent habits, arifing from the want of any adequate incentive to emulation. They can live, as their fathers have lived before them, and they have no defire to live better. The confequence of an agricultural fyftem fo imperfect is, that they depend principally on their fheep ; and this, rather than any intrinfic difference, is the reafon why the price of good land in the heart of Radnorfhire bears fo very disproportionate a relation to the current price in the adjoining counties of Herefordshire and Shropfhire. Cattle and fheep are fuch ftaple articles, that the rate at which farms let is very much governed by their pofTeffing or not poffefTing right of mountain : and as the beft land for tillage in general is not that which lies contiguous to thefe black and barren mountains, this circumftance occafions the apparent abfurdity, that fome of the beft land in the county is let at a lower rent than fome of the worft. Such difcouragements to the occupation of the more even and fertile diftricts, arifing from the difficulty of confulting the general interefts of agriculture, without facrificing local objects, to which long cherifhed opinions, confirmed by the experience of partial benefit, have attached importance, muft continue to deprefs the improvement and confequent value of land below the average ftandard of the times and of the country at large. But >i6$ RADNORSHIRE. But more extenfive and unprejudiced views, a broader calculation of advantages and difad vantages, a lefs fervile adherence to eftablifhed maxims, and a lefs timid investigation of their merits, are making 4 way, though ilowly, in thefe remote regions. Something like a fpirit of adventure is ftirring ; and the men of Radnorfhire begin to try, whether they cannot wipe off from their country the fligma of barrennefs and poverty. It may doubtlefs be questioned, whether the progrefs of agricultural fpeculation, which has of late years fo greatly enhanced the price of land, will ultimately benefit any part of the community except the individual proprietors, or even them. I do not affect a fufficient underftanding of the fubject to folve that doubt ; but it has generally been thought, that the narrow education of ordinary farmers, with their confequent fufceptibility of prejudice and dread of innovation, is extremely unfavourable to improvement. If this be true, the recent changes in the general appreciation of land, and modes of managing it, tend to counteract the difadvantages ftated, in this refpect : the farmer is obliged, •undoubtedly at fome rifk to himfelf, to deviate from the fafe and indolent lyftems of his predecefTors, that he may obtain returns proportioned to the increafed demands of his landlord ; while the experimental efforts of gentlemen, who can afford to fail in thofe efforts better than he can, fet up for him a fort of beacon, to guide him in a path, which it might be dangerous to explore -without affiftance. It is only neceffary to travel through the fix counties, to which thefe pages are devoted, to be convinced that the farming of gentlemen muff be beneficial to the public, -whatever it may be to themfelves. The Welfh hufbandry is defcribed by all writers as generally backward: Radnorfhire is inftanced as particularly fo; yet thofe, who have beheld the effects refulting from the efforts of two or three gentlemen, happening to live near each other, in a part of the county apparently moffc i untraceable, RADNORSHIRE. 265 untraceable, which a few years ago was literally a- wildernefs, cannot but be convinced, that fo magical a transformation could not have been effected but under the aufpices of gentlemen. Thofe traces on the contrary, which prefent no obftacles to the fuccefs of cultivation, languifti under an ignorant, lifelefs, and parfimonious fyftem, becaufe the refident gentry, whofe advice and example might impart energy to the habits of the common farmer, are very thinly {battered. When I have reprefented the rate of land in Radnorshire as comparatively low, I of courfe exclude the immediate banks of the Wye, where, being of fimilar quality, and under {imilar circumftances, it is equal in value to that on the Brecknockfhire fide. It is indeed a general complaint among the inhabitants, and, if the ground of complaint be any thing more than a partial evil, overturns the foregoing arguments, that the introduction of modern and Englifh principles, though flow, has already taken from the county its character of cheapnefs. This may be difaftrous to individuals, whofe convenience has induced them to felect what they hoped to find an economical retirement. But if this enhancement arifes, not from a diminiihed, but an increafed produce, which, inftead of being confumed, as formerly, almoft within the parifli where it was raifed, finds its way, in the fpirit of commercial enterprife, to more diftant markets, the community is benefited. It is better that a conflant and plentiful fupply mould be fecured to the country at large, and particularly to the populous towns, by a facilitated vent for the fuperfluities of lefs populous diftricts, than that there fhould here and there be a cheap retreat for perfons of narrow income, embarrafied circumftances, or penurious habits. With refpect to the natives, the farmer or the gentleman gets more, if he fpends more, and the labouring poor muft be enabled to live by their employers. Neither have M m they 2 66 RADNORSHIRE. they lived worfe, but better, fince the preflure of the times has compelled the higher claffes to look more clofely into their fituation. The impending fear of actual fcarcity, by which we were alarmed fome time ago, has taught us to confider price as an object of indifference, compared with the certainty of plenty. The late fcarcity has produced many good, and we may hope permanent effects. It has led us to inquire more anxioufly than before, how the fruits of the earth may be moll: profitably ufed, as well as mod copioufly produced ; and it has brought an unprecedented proportion of ground into tillage. Thus has abundance, though not cheapnefs, been reftored to the craving neceffities of an increafed population. But mould a temporary glut, in confequence of propitious feafons following one another in unufual fucceffion, produce a depreciation to the former ftandard, though the vulgar might rejoice for the moment, a reaction would commence, the farmer would be unable to pay his high rents, capital and labour would be diverted into other channels, the interefts of agriculture would fuffer, and a few more years bring back the danger and dread of real want. The language of Radnoffhire is almoft univerfally Englifh. In learning to converfe with their Saxon neighbours, they have forgotten the ufe of their vernacular tongue. It is uncommon to meet with a peafant who underftands Welfh. The angle of the county beyond Rhayader to the north-well: is however to be excepted, where the few fcattcred people fpeak nothing elfe. Bat the features and character of this corner participate entirely in thofe of Cardiganshire. It may indeed appear probable, that the people in the eaft, of Radnorshire are not Welfhmen, who by vicinity and intermarriages have gradually changed their fpeech for one more fafhionable, but that they are the direct defcendants of the Englilh Marchers, the Mortimers, the Audelegs, the Cliffords, RADNORSHIRE. 267 Cliffords, the Lciburns, the L'eftrange's, and the Turbervils, with their rapacious followers, who occupied the limits between England and Wales, and were pouring in upon the natives of the Welfh fhires, from Hereford, Shropfhire, and the Englifh part, on every flight pretence of licentioufnefs, difafTeclion, or danger. By thefe means they might have driven the aboriginal Britons ftill further into the mountainous diftricl:, and have eftablifhed themfelves in their feats. I merely offer this as an alternate fuppofition, having never heard or feen the difcontinuance of the Welfh language in Radnorfhire accounted for. After all, the circumftances which occafioned it may be well known. The character of the people accords with that of the Welfh in general, though their tongue differs. They fpeak Englifh with very few vulgarifms, and with remarkably little of provincial accent. They are alfo remarkably figurative in their phrafes and expreflions. They grow a good deal of corn in the eaft, and appear to live with full as much freedom and comfort as the people of Brecknockfhire, and much more than thofe of Cardiganshire. Their cottages in general feem to be fubftantially weather-proof, though they have not the fuperior cleanlinefs and convenience of thofe in Glamorganshire. Sheep have already been mentioned as remarkably numerous in this county, and they conflitute the chief fupport of the induftrious poor. There are no large manufactories eftablifhed, but the people make a fufficient quantity of coarfe cloth,' flannel, and blockings, for their own ufe. The woods and hills abound with game, and the county has been celebrated, almofl: two centuries ago, for its deer. Heaps of ftones, promifcuoufly thrown down, are very common on the Radnorfhire mountains. Their probable origin and purpofes have already been difcufTed. They are found in various fituations and of different dimenfions. They are always circular, and M m 2, generally 268 RADNORSHIRE. generally higheft in the middle. Their diameter- is frequently from fixty to feventy feet. Preftain is at prefent the principal town in the county, where all public bufinefs is tranfacted. It rofe into eminence under the patronage of Martin, Bifhop of St. David's, about the clofe of the thirteenth century, and, as New Radnor declined, became the capital. Old Radnor had been burnt nearly a century before, and about a century after, in the time of the rebellion againft Henry the Fourth, New Radnor fhared the. fame fate, and has never been reftored. This county is not diftinguifhed by the birth of many eminent perfons. Preftain has to boaft of one man, in no mean degree of refpect as a divine in his day. Richard Lucas, whofe father was alfo of the fame name, became a ftudent of Jefus College, Oxford, in Lent term 1664, at the age of iixteen years. He took, his degrees in arts, and entered into holy orders. He was for fome time mafter of the free-fchool at Abergevenni, and was afterwards preferred to the vicarage of St. Stephen's, Coleman ftreet, in London, where he became highly popular as a preacher. His acceptable performance of his functions gained him the lecturefhip of St. Olave's in Southwark, in October 1683, in the room of Dr. John Meriton, who was deprived of his ecclefiaftical honours and emoluments on the ground of fanaticifm. Here he improved the profeffional reputation he had before acquired, and courted the fame of an author, by publifhing feveral fermons and theological tracts, which were very well received at the time. They have not indeed immortalifed him, except in the folios of Anthony Wood. But it may be doubted, whether the popular theologians of modern times, however they may triumph in their ephemeral honours, may not be configned by the next generation to the fame fhelf with the Oxford writers. Nor need they defpife their company. RADNORSHIRE. 269 company. If a fuccincl: and agreeable mode of communicating knowledge has been the chara&ertftic of the century juft elapfed, labour and learning marked that which preceded it. But it is in vain to think of building a literary renown out of controverfy, whether political or religious : an author can only gain the ear of a party among his contemporaries; and pofterity is called off to other difputes, and a new race of polemics. Mr. Lucas afterwards took the degree of doctor in divinity. The merit of his proficiency was the greater, as he had to druggie with the difadvantage of very imperfect eye-fight in his youth, and became totally blind, by the time he had reached the middle period of life. The roads that pafs through the middle of Radnorfhire are remarkably good, wherever it has been my fortune to travel over them. It is not therefore owing to any highway obftacles, that this county is fo little travelled. It is a remarkable circumftance, illuftrative of the retirement, to which the natives of thefe mountains are doomed, that there is only one public carriage kept in Radnorfhire, a poflchaife at Rhayader. In the adjoining county of Cardigan, there are chaifes kept at Aberiftwid and the Havod Arms; but none at the town of Cardigan, though the afiizes are held there, nor any where elfe in the county. Neither is there any poftchaife at Pembroke, though a county town. A party, who want to go from Aberiftwid to Caermarthen, mull: be condemned to perform the journey with the fame chaife and the fame horfes, a diftance of about fifty miles over very bad roads. The cuftom of dancing in the churchyard, at their feafls and revels, is univerfal in Radnorfhire, and very common in other parts of the principality. Indeed, this folemn abode is rendered a kind of circus for every fport and exercife, The young men play at a 7 o RADNORSHIRE. at fives and tennis againft the wall of the church. It is not however to be underftood that they literally dance over the graves of their progenitors. This amufement takes place on the north fide of the churchyard, where it is the cuftom not to bury. It is rather fingular, however, that the afTociation of the place, furrounded by memorials of mortality, mould not deaden the impulfes of joy in minds, in other refpects not infenfible to the fuggeflions of vulgar fuperftitioh. It may perhaps appear, as if I had reprefented in too ftrong colours the lonelinefs of a diftricl:, contiguous to Shropfhire and Herefordfhire ; but I mail be borne out in my affertion, on a comparifon of the fpace which it occupies in the map, with the return of its population to the inquiries inftituted by authority, at lefs thap twenty thoufand. CHAPTER [ m J CHAPTER XIV. CLYRO .... LLOWES .... GLASBURY BRIDGE MAESLOUGH .... BOUGHROOD....THE SKREEN. .. . LLANDILOGRABAN . . . . LLYN LLANBYCHLLYN..ABEREDWY CASTLE. ..GREGRINA...COLWYN CASTLE. ..LLYN LLANILLYN, A LARGE POOL. ..H ARPTON. . . NEW RADNOR. .LLANVIH ANGEL NANT MELON. .LLANDEGLES ...FALDAN..PENYBONT..LLANDRINDOD WELLS. .CEVENLLEES ....LAN PADERN VA WR....NANTMEL....ABBY CWM HIR.... LLANELWETH HOUSE. ..ITHON BRIDGE. ..LLWYN Y BARRIED ...RHAYADER...CWMELAND...LLYN GWYN. 1 he nearefl village in Radnorfhire to Hay, at the fouth-eaftem extremity, is Clyro. There may be feen here, on a headftone in the churchyard, the very great' age of two hundred and nineteen. The fadt will of courfe be doubted ; but there is no perfon in the parifh, who can object to the truth of what appears on this flone. The village of Llowes has nothing very remarkable attached to it; but a village near the Wye in Radnorfhire cannot be otherwife than pleafing. The reader will obferve that I am taking him from the Hay, on the other fide of the river, towards Buallt, and reviewing, from oppofite points, the fcenery that has been before defcribed. The firft very variegated and engaging fcene is at Glafbury Bridge. Here you look from the grounds of Maeflough, which from the oppofite fide is the mod diflant objecT:, to Aberllyn and the Brecknockfhire hills. Mr. Morgan's premifes form a gay and pleafmg feature of the profpecl: ; perhaps more fo than the i trim -tf 372 RADNORSHIRE. sJ trim pretentions of Maeflough, when viewed from the neat habitation of the woolftapler. The country is altogether in the firfl ftyle of beauty, but a beauty very different from what ufually characterifes Wales. The Wye here puts on its milder afpect. It meanders without impediment; its verdant banks flope gently; the meadows are rich, and the cattle fleek ; the wood, difperfed in clumps, fometimes fringes the river's brink, and fometimes recedes, to afford an opening for thofe pafloral beauties, which .enter fo confpicuoufly into the character of the landfcape. The bridge itfelf imparts, by its own elegance, an air of elegance to every thing furrounding it. As a work of art, it has already been mentioned in the biographical fketch of its builder. With refpect to Maeflough, it looks pretty from a diffance, and feems to affect the ftyle of a villa on the banks of the Thames. But when you come up to it, it rather difappoints than gratifies ; for you expect fomething in addition to what the diftant view prefented ; fome more retired beauties, acceffible only on a clofer examination: but you find that a lawn and fhrubbery, a houfe and offices, gardens and hot-houfes, the ordinary achievements of wealth in lefs favoured fpots, make up the whole. The houfe is by no means a good one. It is the property of Mr.Wilkins, member of parliament for the county, who is a very conftant refident, 4?ut with lefs popularity, than generally awaits the refident gentry of thefe parts* The road on this fide of the river is not turnpike, and very bad. It is no where fit for a carriage, and I believe will not admit of one between Aberedwy and the bridge at Buallt. But to horfe or foot travellers, it is, if poffible, more interefting than the Brecknockfhire fide. The fcenery feems to lie better under the eye. There are ferry-boats flationed all the way up, in the deep and tranquil parts : thofe who wifh to explore minutely, will take every BOUGHROOD. 273 every opportunity of crofting, that they may view the various appearances of the country on either fide. For this purpofe, I ferried over the river feven times in the {pace of twenty miles between Hay and Buallt. The way from Maeflough pafles fometimes between hedges, and fometimes open to the river, through a fylvan country, as far as Boughrood, where there is a ferry, oppofite the water-gate of Llangoed Caftle. The village of Boughrood is beautifully embofomed in wood, and iheltered by moderate hills; while the more afpiring ridge on the other fide, that fkirts the lawn of Llangoed, contrails agreeably with the quieter and more modeft recommendations of the humble hamlet. It is well worth while to crofs Boughrood ferry, though you ihould return immediately, for it carries you juft in front of the remarkable horfefhoe before defcribed, and exhibits altogether one of the fineft fcenes upon the Wye. The depth and ftilnefs of the water, its green hue and glafly furface, are all oppofed to the bold and rocky channel above and below, the mallow and perturbed courfe of the ftream, rippling noifily over its impeded bed, and dafhing its whitened fpray into the air ; here a narrow and unfathomable gullet, there a broad ledge of rocks, occafionally rough and broken, that form the flooded fwell into innumerable cafcades. At the other end of Mr. Macnamara's premifes, he has Rationed a fecond boat, clofe by a fpot in no refpecl: lefs interefting. Looking down the river, you have a very confiderable reach, fometimes placid and fometimes turbulent, overhung on either fide by majeflic woods, fhelving from the water's edge. At this place, the Cletur enters the Wye from Brecknock mire, and the Match way from Radnorfhire, directly oppofite each other. The dingles through which they run, particularly the latter, are in the wilder! ftyle poffible. The hills that bound thofe dingles branch out on each fide into a fort of femicircle, and the mountains clofe in N n upon a 74 RADNORSHIRE. upon the Wye beyond, contracting the vale almoft into another dingle. The extremes of nakednefs and luxuriance feem here to meet; but the nakednefs is magnificently formidable, and the luxuriance too ftrongly contrafted to be cloying. There are few fcenes perhaps more uncommon than the dingle of the Matchway. It lies much out of the convenient beat, for thofe who make regular ftages : but I would advife every curious traveller to fee it, though I will promife him any thing except pleafure from the fight. The firft effort is to climb a moffy hill, almoft perpendicular, without either tree or rocky protuberance, to relieve the eye, or affifl and fecure the footing. As the habitable borders of the Wye become evanefcent, the whole fcene aflumes an afpecl of dreary grandeur. It approaches nearer to what may be denominated favage, than any thing that I have feen of its kind; and well accords with the ftories current, of the horrors tranfacled in its receffes. For a time, fome fcanty brufhwood communicates a degree of ornament to the dingle ; but even that fails, and the naked, perpendicular fides infpire ideas of real danger, as well as of imaginary dread. After having traverfed the flippery ridge for fome time, it becomes neceffary to defcend, in order to command a point of view, in which are concentrated all the rudely-fhaped eccentricities of nature, with all the myfterious gloom of vulgar and traditional afcription. The defcent is much more difficult than at the Devil's Bridge ; as there is nothing to break its too great rapidity, but here and there a flump, fome fibres of roots, or a previous footftep, indenting the fmooth furface. Mr.Macnamara's fervant, who was my guide, and a native of the neighbourhood, performed it with a dexterity and eafe, only to be acquired by- early habit. The black earth, with here and there a ftray blade of grafs, or tuft of mofs, was fo parched, as to become completely- glazed by the long drought. He therefore placed both his feet I together, BOUGHROOD. *75 together, and Aid down as if upon the ice, till he gained a refting-place, where he could affift the more ignoble efforts of his follower. The dingle here is apparently terminated by a tremendous rock, rifing athwart the ftream, on the top of which are the foundations of fome very ancient and rude ftructure. I have not been able to trace any authentic account of its hiftory; for it is not mentioned by any of our profeffed antiquarians, ancient or modern; nor have the peculiarities of its fituation fallen in with the route of any lighter tourift. We have therefore no refource, but to extract fenfe and probability, if we can, from the ignorant and marvellous relations of the common people, who delight in impofing on ftrangers a tenfold fhare of thofe local fictions, by which at once their own credulity is fed, and the importance of their long-departed forefathers, in the evanefcent hiftory of an abforbed kingdom, is collaterally amplified. Even its vernacular appellation is loft. It is now only known as the Caftle of the Black Rock ; which is rather a defcription, than a name. The ftory is, that one of their very ancient princes had a caftle here, where he kept his prifoners ; and that he gratified the magnanimous propenfities of his nature, by hurling them, in rotation, from the top of the rock into the dark pool below. If fuch really was the fpirit of his recreation or revenge, his choice of a theatre, on which t"o act the ferocious fcene, muft at leaft be conceded to have been appropriate and happy. Were it not treafon againft nature, w T e might fuppofe her to have acted in concert with his ^wifhes : no Ihelving declination from the perpendicular, no fhrubby growth of the flendereft twigs, branching from the riven fide of the dwarfiihly fructified rock, interferes with the dreadful certainty, that the victim, who might have furvived the violence of his firft projection, muft reach the alternate death awaiting him, in the watery gulph, to which he N n 3 precipitately 276 RADNORSHIRE. precipitately tends. But after all, is it true ? The fpot feems admirably adapted to the purpofe defcribed, and it is difficult to affign any other. It is furrounded by higher ridges, which command it. Scarcely within the verge of military operations, and certainly not of a complexion harmonizing with the pompous refort of political eftablimment, it ftands infulated, and as it were ready made, for the perpetration of any gloomy fuggeftions, engendered by the folitary devices of a tyrannical and gloomy temperament. This is among the few places in South Wales where wild goats are met with in any numbers. After having defcended from the loftier fides of the dingle, and examined thefe terrific foundations, Which fpread a deeper tint of moral gloom over the natural darknefs of the picture, the bed of the river is approached with considerable difficulty, by a fecond defcent, and forded in front of the black rock, by ftepping on the more elevated ftones that encumber the uneven channel. Here a narrow ledge, on the brink of a deeply-worn pool, conducts you, bending double under a mafs of overhanging rock, to a fingular fall of the Matchway, which projects itfelf angularly from behind the caftle, as it finds its way from the upper valley to the lower. The fall is confiderable ; probably about thirty feet. Its pofition and circumftances are eminently grand, though all its features are of a revolting can:. The rocks on each fide of the fhTure fo nearly clofe in upon each other, that in the brighten: weather the light is nearly excluded from the bafon, formed by the attrition of the water : while the fun-beams are playing on the upper part of the cafcade, it is fo placed, that the lower is fcarcely, if at all, vifited by the enlivening influence of the day, aflbciated, as it is accuflomed to be in our minds, with a train of cheerful ideas. The deficiency of rock in general throughout this fcene, and the fubftitution of a dark and crumbling foil, ferve only THE SKREEN. LLYN LLANBYCHLLYN. 277 only to increafe the effect of its collected ftrength in this place. But a profpect, rude and unchaftifed, in an atmofphere damp with fpray, and unmedicated by a free and elaftic current, renders it defirable to quit the object of our curiofity foon, though we have laboured hard to approach it at all. The iharp angle of the black rock prevents the cataract from being fully feen, and its intereft is heightened by the circumftance. On returning by the northern fide of the river, the fides of the dingle appear magnificently lofty and abrupt, but drearily barren. The afcent is at firft extremely difficult, but the difficulty is fooner furmounted than on the fouthern fide. After regaining the banks of the Wye, the next object that prefents itfelf is The Skreen, a pleafing fpot, and in fome meafure remarkable, as being the family eftate of Mrs. Harris, and the fortunate inheritance which refcued her daughter from the neceffity of a conventual profeffion at Trevecca. Llandilograban is a fmall chapelry, dedicated to St. Telean, a patron of Llandaff. This is clofe by Llyn Llanbychllyn, the largeft lake in Radnorfhire. It is fmaller than Llynfavaddon by one third, and its fhape much more formal, as well as its accompaniments lefs interefting. It is by no means fo picturefquely fituated as Llyn Gwyn in this county, though its dimenfions confiderably exceed thofe of the latter. It may perhaps be lefs worth while to deviate from the beaten track, to vifit this lake, than any other in the principality* Thefe characterises of South Wales were little obferved by the older antiquaries. Aberedwy Cattle and its neighbourhood, while clofely connected with Cambrian hiftory, afford picturefque objects the moft attractive, to fix and detain, as well as engage, the attention. The village is denominated from its fituation at the mouth of the Edwy, where that river falls into the Wye. Such fituations are favourable 278 RADNORSHIRE. favourable both to beauty and grandeur, and in no inftance more fo, than in the prefent. The caftle is fo placed, as in a great meafure to command both ftreams. It belonged to Lhewelin ap Gruffyth, the laft independent Prince of Wales, and was his laft refuge. It would appear, indeed, as if the Prince's affairs w T ere not in a defperate fituation, at the time of his death, and that he might ftill have been at lean: troublefome to Edward, but for the treachery of his unworthy countrymen. His friends had, it is true, been overthrown by the king's party, though even there the victory w r as purchafed by the lofs of William de Valence, a promifing youth, and coufin to Edward. In the mean time, Lhewelin ap Gruffyth had laid wafte the country of Cardigan, and fpoiled the lands of Rees ap Meredith, who fided with the Englilh in the war. After this exploit, he unfortunately quitted his army with a few friends, and came to Buallt, which he had taken from the Mortimers. In his caftle of Aberedwy he dellgned to have remained in quiet and obfcurity for a time, plotting with the neighbouring chieftains the deliverance of their country. As he paffed by the banks of the Wye, in his way from Buallt to Aberedwy, he fell in with Edmund Mortimer's party, who, as natives, recognized their lawful prince. Such, however, was their refpecl: for his perfon, that, though attended only by his efquire, he was fuffered to gain the valley of Aberedwy. without interruption, and there held his intended conference with the Welfh lords. The enemy had obtained intelligence of his pofition, and had recovered from the reverential embarraffment into which his firft appearance had thrown them. They defcended from the hill, but found the bridge over the Edwy, near the mouth, fecurely kept, and its paffage manfully defended, by Lhewelin's adherents. The traitors of Buallt, as they have ever fince been denominated, then led the Engliili to a ford, acrofs ABEREDWY CASTLE. 279 acrofs which they fent a detachment, under the command of Walwyn, a gentleman of Hay, fome remains of whofe palace are flill to be {een there. Walwyn thus gained pofTeflion of thte prince's retreat, and attacked the defenders of the bridge in the rear, but not till after Lhewelin had made his efcape. The mow was on the ground ; and the tradition of the neighbourhood is, that he adopted the flratagem of reverfing his horfe's fhoes, to deceive his purfuers ; but the fmith, to whom he had recourfe,. betrayed the circumflance to the enemy, fo that it was with difficulty he reached a narrow dingle, and there concealed himfelfi As far as I have been able to learn, the hiilorians do not record the flratagem, though they agree fubflantially in the relation of the general facls. He was not very far from his main army, to which he was lying in wait to efcape, when he heard the noife of horfemen, furrounding the grove that gave him inciter. He was unarmed and difguifed ; but Adam Franclon, I believe, a common foldier, put him to death without knowing the value of his prey. The few friends, who had followed him in his flight, unacquainted with the melancholy cataflrophe, flood their ground, and fought boldly for fome time, but were at length overpowered by numbers, and compelled to quit the field. The victorious Englifb began plundering the dead of the valuables about their perfons, when Franclon recognized his vidlim, whofe head he fent to the king at the Abbey of Conway. It was received with favage triumph, and indecently exhibited to the populace on the tower of London. The ruin, as it at prefent flands, is interefling, both in itfelf, and on account of its concomitant circumflances. The moll: perfect part, and that of no great extent, is the wall, furmounting the hill, as it rifes at once, and almofl perpendicularly, from the Wye. There is little remaining of the front towards the village. The -iBo RADNORSHIRE. The fpace which it occupied feems not to have been at any time very confiderable. The wildnefs of the fpot, fo finking even In thefe days, renders it likely to have been ufed as a hunting-feat, when the prince wifhed to throw off the parade of flate, and as a concealment in adverfity. After having patted the bridge, juft by the confluence of the two rivers, a path on the right leads up a hill, and to the top of a rock above the Edwy, which bears evident marks of having conflituted a part of the fortification. Here is one of the moft romantic fcenes, within the compafs of thefe obfervations. Both rivers are enclofed between high towering rocks, clothed half-way up with an entangled and foreft-like foliage, while the fummits of the ridges are broken into points, projections, crags, rude pillars, erect and diminifhing, or inverted, with all the wild and fantaflical architecture of creation, at once the model and reproach of human art. At the angle of the cliff, which feparates the valley of the Wye from the dingle of the Edwy, a huge columnar mafs of rock {lands disjointed^ except at the top, where it is united with the main body by, as it were, a moulding or archi- trave which maintains it in the perpendicular from its bafe. Its elevation above all that furrounds it, with the azure of the diflant Iky appearing through the interflice, while it imparts a character of Alpine rnajefty, affociates ideas and recollections, though foreign, not uncongenial with the fcene. I have more particularly defcribed this, as the moft lofty and remarkable, but fimilar perforations meet the eye in every direction, and indicate the molt durable conformations in nature to be incapable of refilling the power of time, and the rage of tempefts. The channel of the Wye is at right angles with that of the Edwy, fo that a long reach of fcenery on the former is comprehended both ways, as well as the grand, but narrow defile of the river, over whofe rocky current the ABEREDWY. 281 the fpectator is impending. Almofl clofe by the foundations, whence I fuppofe the general view to be taken, are the church and church-yard. The view from the latter, including part of the village, with the mill, is exquifitely beautiful. It fhuts out all of the Wye, except the line of mountain ridge that defignates its courfe : but the lofs is amply compenfated by our being introduced to a nearer acquaintance with the delicious features of the Edwy. This church-yard has a great deal of character in itfelf, as well as what it derives from the furrounding objects. There are two uncommonly large yew-trees, evidently of very great age, but in unimpaired luxuriance and prefervation, under the made of which, an intelligent clergyman of the neigh- bourhood informed me, that he had frequently feen fixty couple dancing, at Aberedwy feaft, on the fourteenth of June. The boughs of the two trees intertwine, and afford ample fpace for the evolutions of fo numerous a company within their ample covering. The fcene on this occafion mull: be highly curious to an Englifh ipectator. To convert the refting place of the dead into a theatre for the feftivities of the living, is confiderably &t variance with the common feeling ; but it may be doubted, whether the practice is repugnant to any thing better than prejudice or fuperftition. That the popular eye mould neither be difinclined nor afraid to encounter objects in the moment of recreation, which may call to mind departed friends, or the idea of mortality in general, need not in candour be conttrued into levity or prophanation. Yet all contradictions to his own habits and cuftoms, ftrike the mind of a ftranger, while a numerous and happy affembly on a fpot whofe natural defolation feems augmented by the mouldering veftiges of the times that are gone by, connects the fimple pleafures of ruftic fociety with the reclufe and romantic features of the fcene. The village is mean, but its fituation compenfates for the O o abfence 282 RADNORSHIRE. abfence of all other charms. You enter it from the church-yard, . and wind down the ileep declivity of its little ilreet, to the water's edge oppofite the mill, which, with its accompaniments, forms one of thofe fubjecls moil delightful to the eye, and moil favourable to the pencil of an artiil. There are few of the great mailers in landfcape painting, who have not indulged in fome fuch delineation; nor will the moil admired fpecimens on canvas, whether reprefenting portraits of individual nature, or compofi- tions from various draughts of felecled beauty, excel in pleafurable effect upon the mind the circumilances of this accomplifhed fpot. The place derives an additional intereil and importance, from having attracted and fixed the early iludies of a painter, conii- derably approved in his department, and a native of the neighbourhood. Thomas Jones was a younger fon of a gentleman, poifeffing a landed eilate of fome few hundreds a year in Radnorfhire, near Aberedwy. This eilate was to defcend in the common courfe to the eldeil fon : but as there was an uncle who had figniiitd his intention of providing for the youngeil, by the bequeil of his perfonal property, he was educated for the church, and, in purfuance of that deilination, kept regular terms for two years in Jefus College, Oxford. At the expiration of this time, in the year 1762, this uncle died, without having carried his intentions into effect, by making a will. The law therefore made a different diilribution. On this change of his circum- ilances and views, young Jones quitted college without graduating, and immediately came to London, where, having previoufly, for his amufement, tried his pencil with fome fuccefs on the romantic fcenery of his native place, he engaged himfelf as a regular pupil of Wilfon. It is much to the credit of his memory, that he foon became a diilinguiflied favourite of his ingenious and excellent mailer. Neither is it a flight evidence of powers- in fome f ABEREDWY. 283 fbme meafure congenial, that he began his profeflional career, on terms of ftrict intimacy with the great and lamented Mortimer. He likewife numbered Durno, Wheatley, and many other artifts of high repute at that time, in the catalogue of his friends and companions. He went on improving, and before he went to Italy, painted feveral pictures, which were very well received by the public. A friend of mine, who was well acquainted with him and his works, and is himfelf an artift of long experience, found judgment, and pure tafte, is of opinion, that fome of his performances before he went to Italy were equal, if not fuperior, to the productions of his pencil after his return. If this be £>, it confirms a previous inference from a remark of his inftructor, Wilfon. Had the variety or fublimity of his comprehensions been greatly enlarged by travel, beyond what his native fcenery fuggefted, that enlargement might be expected to have fliown itfelf in more novel inventions, or more perfect imitations. In 1773 his father died; and I have been informed that in confequence of the difappointment from his uncle, his father favoured him in the diftribution of his property, as much as the law, and cuftom identifying itfelf with the law, would allow. To this inftance of kindnefs, and his own fuccefs in his profeflion, it was probably owing, that he was enabled to contemplate, and carry into execution, the darling project of an artift, a vifit to Italy. He arrived in Rome in the year 1776, where he lived in the fociety of Mr. Banks, and other artifts of the firft reputation. He alfo vifited Naples, and in both thofe cities exercifed his talents with confiderable eclat. At Naples particularly, he is faid to have left behind him feveral very honourable fpecimens of Englifh art. His ftay at Naples was prolonged much beyond his original intention, in confequence of his meeting with a German lady there^ whom he afterwards married. On his return to Oo; England, 284 RADNORSHIRE. England, he refumed the exercife of his pencil, and exhibited at the Royal Academy two pictures of the Campi Phlegr^ei, which met with very confiderable approbation from the connoifTeurs. He continued practifing in London for feveral years, where he w T as patronized and encouraged, and many very creditable perform- ances of his are difperfed among the numerous collections of the metropolis. On the death of his brother, he came into poiTeffion of the family eflate, to which he retired, and refided on it till the time of his deceafe, in May 1803. He had two daughters, who continue to refide in Radnorfhire. I apprehend that his wife died before him. He never had any connection with the Royal Academy, having fided with the oppofite party at the time of its inftitution. I cannot help thinking that the principality has fome reafon to be proud of him, though perhaps very few of its inhabitants are at all confeious of the honour. It is true, that he never attained, nor was likely to attain, the higheft rank in his art ; but his talent was very confiderable, and the fphere of his obfervation enlarged by an extenfive acquaintance with fociety, at home and abroad. His literary attainments were fuperior to thofe of artifts in general. I do not mean that a refidence of two years in an univerfity, highly as I refpect thofe learned and valuable eftablifhments, neceiiarily dubs a man a fcholar : but -Mr. Jones had not neglected to build upon that elementary foundation, which is nothing in itfelf, but has fupported the molt flupendous ftructures of intellectual attain- y( ment. His maiter, Wilfon, was indeed a native of Wales, which may boalt of having produced in him, a landfcape painter, whofe eafel bore teftimony to the great truths of nature, whether fimple, elegant, or fublime. He was what Barry calls a Leviathan of the art. But Jones feems more peculiarly the property of the principality, as having fought fame and fortune in the molt diftinguifhed CREGRINA. 285 dittinguifhed capitals of Europe, and having returned to end his days as a country gentleman on his paternal eflate. He did not paint profeffionally after his acceffion to his brother's fortune. I have heard fome vague flory of his undertaking for Mr. Johnes, after that time, what his altered purfuits did not allow him to carry into execution; but I am not malter of the circumflances. I could have wifhed thefe anecdotes of a Welfh painter to have been more full and complete : but I have fome fatisfaction in knowing, that a confiderable body of information concerning thofe artifts, who have died fince the memorable institution of the Academy, may ^C be looked for from the well qualified pen of Mr. Edwards, aflbciate, and teacher of perfpeclive. With regard to the mill, that has given occafion to this biographical fketch, and its correfpondent fcenery, I forbear to enter more at large, as the plate, with which Mr. Laporte has furnifhed me, fuperfedes the neceffity of language in prefenting it to the imagination of the reader. After paffing the mill, in order to proceed up the valley of the Edwy to Cregrina, the fcenery changes from predominant wildnefs, to fuch a mixture, or rather oppofition, of characters, as constitutes a memorable peculiarity in the moll: celebrated landfcapes among the mountains of the continent. The circumstance to which I allude is, that the fide of the hill expofed to the fun is clothed with a profufion of verdure and foliage, infpiring the moil cheerful ideas of plenty, and creating a paradife of luxuriance under the eye. A very fruitful hop-garden, in the narrow flat between the river and the hill, introduces an unexpected variety of richnefs into this favoured fpot. Look to the hill on the other, and literally the wrong fide of the river, and its barrennefs is as exemplary, as the fertility of its oppofite. From the bafe to the fummit is nothing but a rude confufion of loofe Hones and disjointed 286 RADNORSHIRE. disjointed fragments, fome fallen, and fome ready to fall, with fcarcely a blade of grafs to fatisfy the fheep, that forage over an extenfive trad: for a painful and penurious fubfiflence. It is very common, in diftricts like thefe, to obferve ftripes and patches of cultivation fcattered over the prevailing nakednefs of the country; but I have met with no mountain valley in thefe parts of Wales, where fuch oppofite and difcordant furfaces of ground are drawn out fo decidedly in array againft each other, where the difference between funfhine and the want of it is fo ftrikingly exemplified in a ilngle coup d'ceuil. After having patted a confiderable way up this very interefting valley, at a bend of the river, the traveller, inftead of purfuing its circuitous courfe, mounts the hill before him, that leads to Cregrina. Before he arrives at the village, he has occafion to crofs a pretty little dingle, with a brook of neither note nor name, pufhing its fhort and feeble journey to the Edwy. And here I fhall impofe on myfelf a facrifice of fome felf-denial to an author, in fuppremng a very ludicrous rencontre with a perfon of eccentric character. It is too much the cuftom with travellers, when an inftance of individual peculiarity occurs, fuch as they might find at home, if equally obfervant, among the various tempers and deportment of men, to fet that down as a fpccimcn of manners in the country they are defcribing. But all countries, and {till more all cities, have their odd fellows ; and it muft be a bufinefs of fome deliberation for a ftranger to determine, whether ±he ■fmgularity that ftrikes him in a Welfh character for example,- conftitutes an integral part of Welfh character in general, or whether it may not be an excrefcence of perfonal eccentricity, as laughably furprifing and uncommon in Wales, as the fame fmgularity* would be thought in London. The opinion of French vanity or Spanilh pride has not taken root in men's minds from the CREGRINA. *$7 the extravagance of individual inftances, but from repeated obfervations of refpective ubiquity, even where its' exceffes are moderated by good fenfe, education, or commerce with the world. A good ftory is in itfelf fo good a thing, that it may perhaps warrant an occafional digreffion; but a book of travels mould prefent a defcription of country and manners, not a collection of bon mots and anecdotes : if therefore a writer is betrayed, by a defire of lively or furprifing narrative, into the production of any occurrence as characleriftic, which has not been confirmed to himfelf, on every occafion admitting its repetition, or not acknowledged by the candid and intelligent among the people themfelves, he will miflead the public, if he has reputation, and if he has his reputation {till to feek, he will not acquire any that is folid from fuch levities. The village of Cregrina has nothing in it to detain the traveller from his journey. It ftands high in a country, the lower parts of which are the moft defirable. A miferable road leads to Colwyn Caftle, overlooking the Edwy from an eminence. It does not feem to be agreed between the Englifti and Welfh hiftorians, whether a great battle, in the year 1198, when three thoufand feven hundred of the Welftr were flain, was fought here or before Pains Caftle. The caufe of it was, that Gwenwynwyn collected an army, with the intention of extending the limits of Wales to the ancient meres, which had been infringed. He began his eperations by laying fiege either to Colwyn or Pains Caftle, both of which belonged to William de Brufe, who had murdered Gwenwynwyn's coufin Trahaern Vechan. His engineering (kill proved inadequate to the ipeedy capture ; ib that time was allowed for obtaining fuccours from England. The Lord Chief Juftice, with all the Lords Marchers, came in force to raife the fiege. A treaty was in the fir ft inilance propofed to Gwenwynwyn. This 288 RADNORSHIRE. This he rejected, with an aflurance that he would now revenge all his country's wrongs. The Englifli therefore had the policy to fet at liberty a native prince, who was his rival and enemy. Their united armies advanced againft the befiegers, who did not hefitate to abide the event of battle : but the Englifli gained the victory, and Gwenwynwyn fuftained the fevere lofs above mentioned, in which was included many of his officers, befides prifoners. After this victory, the Chief Juftice and Marchers returned home with a large acceffion of military honour. On coming into the high road from Buallt to Preftain, on the top of a very high hill, at the angle between the two roads to > Preftain and Kington, is Llyn Llanillyn, a large pool, of circular fhape, about a mile in circumference. The depth of it is very great, and it occupies the loftieft eminence in the neighbourhood. It is clofe by the road fide. So large a body of water, collected in fuch a fituation, is a circumftance of rare occurrence, and as fuch to be noticed here : but there are phenomena in Cardiganfhire of the fame kind, though of much greater magnitude and curiofity. From this pool the country has bold inequalities, with features not beautiful enough to delight, nor a character fb dreary as to difguft. The Lug, though a river of no peculiar character, is ornamental. At Harpton, between Old and New Radnor, there is a large oak, that girts twenty-feven or twenty- eight feet. With refpect to Radnor, both Old and New, they have been fo long degraded into miferable and almoft depopulated villages, that the vifible traces as well as traditional accounts of their former ftate are nearly loft to the inquirer. Old Radnor Camden fuppofes to have been the Roman ftation in the time of Theodofius the younger, mentioned by Antoninus ; but Horfley, in his Britannia Romana, altogether denies it to have been of Roman antiquity. The mention of them in hiftory is very rare. Caradoc informs i us, RADNOR. 289 us, that about the year 990, Meredith ap Owen deftroyed the town of Radnor, in a ferocious conteft with his nephew, who had been ravaging South Wales with the affiftance of the Englifh and the Danes. This was probably New Radnor, though it is not fpecified by the hiftorian. There are at prefent very few houfes, and no regularity in the arrangement of thofe few. The caftle, of which very little remains, was built on an eminence, commanding the town, and defending the pafs, by which it was approached, between two pointed hills. Warlike implements are found in great numbers by the natives, who bufy themfelves in digging about the caftle hill, in the hope of finding treafure. The clearing out of fome fubterraneous apartments had been begun, but was abandoned. Little more is recorded of it, till the time of its demolition. The foreft of Radnor begins here, but affords no topics of remark. There is within a mile of New Radnor a water-fall, much vifited by travellers. A path along the fide of a fteep mountain, with a brook rolling below, leads to the entrance of the chafm. A hut or two is the only fign of fociety, and there is none of vegetation. In w r et weather, the cataract cannot be approached; but at other times, it is practicable to walk up the courfe of the ftream, between lofty and tremendous cliffs, compofed of rock, the colour of which is aim oft black. The whole fcene is overfpread with loofe fragments, which are broken off by ftorms, and roll down in every direction. Roots and fibres ftart occafionally from the crevices ; but they put forth no fhoots to enliven the dark and dreary grandeur, or add the piclurefque to the aftonifhing. The light from above is nearly fhut out by the projecting crags, which feem ready to fall on the intruder below. The mafTes are very large, their forms uncouthly grand, and their elevations giddy. From the extremity of this chafm, but not from the higheft part, a cataract rufhes over Pp the \T> 2 9 o RADNORSHIRE. the projecting edges of the rock, down a precipice of feventy feet in perpendicular height. Smaller cafcades trickle down fcantily on each fide, and join the larger body below. An infulated mafs of rock Stands erect above the great waterfall, about twenty feet high. The attrition of the water, forcing its paSfage on each fide, has fo far worn its bafe, as to render it much Slighter than the top. The grandeur is much heightened by this circumstance, and perhaps by the fenfation of danger that accompanies it. Notwithstanding thefe Strongly- marked and uncommon features, there are few fcenes fo much talked of, that fo little realize expectation. This [is not the fault of the fpot itfelf, but the country in which it is placed. Were the approach to it through a luxuriant dell, or a woody and romantic dingle, nothing could exceed the furprize it would create, the mingled emotions of awe and pleafure, to which it would give birth. We fhould examine it with a fort of fearful intereft, and look with increafed delight at our return, on the pleafurable contraft of nature in her fmiling mood. But as it is, the accefs is fo dull and barren, that our thoughts are previously led into no train of high expectation, our fancies worked up into no fervour of enthufiafm. We are weary before we arrive, and though we are repaid by fomething Stupendous, there is neither gradation nor variety ; nothing lefs grand in retrofpect, nothing more fublime in profpect, with which to compare it. Another drawback is, that the fupply of water is apt either to be too fcanty for effect, or too full for a near and curious examination. The fpring rifes on the fummit of a mountain, at no great distance from the cafcade, and finds its way to the Lug near New Radnor. At fome feafons therefore it is nearly dry. It is generally the cuStom to return ; though there is a path over the hills towards Penybont. On returning to the great road towards LLANVIHANGEL NANT MELON. LLANDEGLES. a 9 t towards Rhayader, the firft object that greets the eye is the little village of Llanvihangel Nant Melon, rural and well- wooded, with a confiderable portion of neatnefs and comfort in its houfes and gardens. Thus far the road between New Radnor and Buallt is retraced. It continues nearly in a ftraight line, while the road towards Rhayader is on the right. It is very dull till within a fhort diftance of Llandegles, when a profpect prefents itfelf, of rich enclosures, hemmed in on all {ides by a fence of dark, high and rocky hills. The road itfelf is pleallngly circumftanced, as it pafles under the fhadow of a rough and magnificent promontory. The village of Llandegles confifts of very few houfes, but thofe few arc rather intereftingly placed ; while the obliging manners of the people, in furniihing local information, with a degree of intelligence rather fuperior to what might have been expected from their condition, almoft make a ftranger regret, that the accommodations of the little inn are infufficient to admit of his lengthening his vifit. I have more than once remarked the decency of manners, approaching almoft to politenefs, that diftinguimes the lower claiTes of inhabitants in the principality. I do not know that Radnorfhire yields to any county in this particular ; and the attentions an Englishman experiences are not lefs acceptable, for being profferedjn the Englifti language. The addrefs of the hofts and their families, both at New Radnor and Llandegles, but particularly the latter, was highly to their credit, though they were in both cafes very fmall farmers, with very little beiides civility to offer the guefts. Here efpecially, and in a very confiderable degree elfewhere, I obferved the grace with which the women perform the office of attendance at tabic, always prefcnting any article demanded with that fort of ielf-collecled obeifance, fo much noticed by travellers through France in damfels of the fame defcription. In both cafes, this P p z fuperiority 292 RADNORSHIRE. fuperiority of deportment is probably acquired by the univerfal and frequent practice of dancing. While I am on the fubject of provincial peculiarities, I will juft mention an inliance in proof of that quaintly figurative phrafeology, to which I have before alluded as characteristic of the people. My landlord, in fhewing me the fite of Radnor Caftle, expatiated largely on its ancient confequence, and informed me, with refpect to the warlike implements occafionally dug out, that they confuted of battle-axes, cannon-balls, and conjectures of a great many other things. This concife application of the word conjecture, in place of a fentence, appeared to me both original and appropriate ; things of which the ufes, as unknown to modern times, were merely conjectural. A little way further, juft by Faldan, you crofs the fmall river Comran, which rifes a few miles off to the north-eaft, near Llanvihangel Rhyd Ithon, and falls into the Ithon a little below Penybont, {landing on the banks of that river. The iituation is altogether agreeable, and the environs of the river fufficiently pleafing. There are very few houfes. It is fingular, that the Radnorfhire Bank was for fome years in this obfcure hamlet. It was eftablifhed by a Mr. John Price, a man of eccentric life and character, who amaffed a very ample fortune in this fequeftered fpot, firft as a fhopkeeper, and afterwards as the head of the banking firm. His origin is generally underftood to have been obfcure ; but the fairs held in the neighbourhood rendered his trade as lucrative as ufeful, and laid the foundation of the greater concern, which always maintained an extenfive credit. Mr. Price built a neat modern houfe for himfelf, and an inn for the accommodation of the public, very fuperior in extent and convenience to any in the county. The traveller is agreeably furprifed to find himfelf well received, where he could fcarcely have expected to meet with any reception at all. There is, however, PENYBONT. LLANDRINDOD WELLS. CEVENLLEES. 293 however, no poftchaife kept here, nor, as far as I know, any where in the county, excepting one at Rhayader. About four miles to the left, in the direction of fouth-weft, are Llandrindod Wells. Thefe waters have been known generally to poffefs medical virtues for nearly a century and a half, but they were ufed indifcriminately, till about the year 1750. There are, however, three different fprings, all within a few yards of each other, totally different in qualities, and applicable to different cafes. Mr. Grofvenor of Shrewfbury repaired feveral houfes here at a great expence, after having fecured a leafe, and fince that extenfion of the old and miferable accommodations, the refort of company has been very confiderable, while a more fcientific investigation of their properties has rendered the efficacy of the waters more certain, and their ufe more fafe. On the diredl road towards Rhayader, juft beyond Penybont, is Cevenllees, where there is the fite, but without any remains, of an ancient and obfcure fortrefs. It appears to have been flrongly fortified by nature, being almoft furrounded by the Ithon, on the banks of which it Hands. Before the invention of artillery, it muft have been impregnable, except on the north fide, and even there it might eafily have been defended by a few men againft an army. Its demolition has been fo complete, that nothing beyond its mere fite is to be diftinguilhed. Camden mentions it as in ruins when he wrote. On the north fide it lies open to a large and dreary common. It might have been expected that this caftle would have occupied a frequent page in hiftory, from the ftrength and importance of its fituation : but its memory has been laid in -the duft with its honours, fo that it equally eludes the laborious re fear ch of the antiquary, and the carelefs eye of the traveller. Clofe by Cevenllees is a place called Lan Padern Vawr, but we are not to be deceived by the dedication into 2 9 4 RADNORSHIRE. into the belief, that this is the ancient bimopric. Such was the celebrity of the faint, that feveral churches were denominated after him. The country hereabouts is defert and dreary, but it improves as you reach the parifh of Nantmel, the church of which is feen as a diftinguifhed object from feveral points of view. The claims of Radnorfhire to the praife of fertility are in few places more advantageoufly preferred, than in this neighbourhood. The hills are bold, but cultivated ; and the vale enclofed with well-planted hedge-rows. Between Lan Padern Vawr and Nantmel, the road croffes the Clowedock, another tributary ftream to the Ithon, which rifes above the Abby Cwm Hir, a religious houfe in a delightful and fertile dell, about feven miles ^/~> to the north-eaft. There is a flupendous hill to the north of the ruins, with a gradual afcent on one fide called the Park, which was formerly ftocked with deer. Its fragments and ruins, which may ftill be traced, prove it to have been a very confiderable ftructure. There is neither door, window, nor any other diftind part remaining, by which to decide upon its architecture. The accounts of its foundation and defcent are very imperfect, and what there are, not fufficiently curious to invite a repetition. Hendre Vach is the only object worth attention till you come about Rhayader, the defcent to which is truly grand. But before I mention any particulars of Rhayader, I mall briefly trace the courfe of the Wye between Buallt and that place, which, with its defcent from Plynillimon above, will comprife its whole paiTage through Radnorfhire. This is the direct road from Brecknock to Cardiganfhire, which I purfued in the fummer : the circuitous, and as to fcenery lefs -mterefting route through the heart of the county, was afterwards chofen for ITHON BRIDGE. 295 for variety, and from curiofity : but thofe who are confined to one vifit, will find nothing in the interior, to make amends for the lofs of this romantic ftage by the banks of the Wye. From the handfome bridge of fix arches, at Buallt, before defcribed, Llanelweth Houfe forms a well-dreffed object, in a diftrict, whofe general characteristic is wildnefs. After travelling about a mile near the banks of the river, which in the plain is broad and unencumbered, it becomes rocky, confined, rapid, and majeftic. Here its current is concealed by deep and fhady woods, there its foaming waters are overhung by threatening crags, and break with their hoarfe roar the general filence of the lonely fcene. From this place the road bends a little to the right, quitting the Wye for a dreary common of two or three miles in extent, the tedioufnefs of which is terminated at Ithon bridge, and the reft of the journey to Rhayader becomes picturefque, various, and interefting in the extreme. That river, placid, almoft to tamenefs about Penybont, aflumes an air of grandeur as it approaches its junction w 7 ith a more important ftream. Its bed is ftill narrow, but enclofed between high, and perpendicularly rifing cliffs. About the bridge they are for the moft part as a wall, but luxuriantly furmounted with branching trees, in all the variety of lylvan accompaniment. Sometimes the difparted Stratification leaves an opening to the fibres of roots, with which the rock is impregnated, to put forth a dwarfifh growth, that agreeably breaks the continuity of the erect and naked precipice. There is, though it may not be very eaiy to defcribe it, a peculiarity about the fcenery of this little river, that ftrongly diftinguifhes its character from that of any other among the many and beautiful rivers of South Wales. The Ithon is fcarcely out of the traveller's fight before he renews his acquaintance with the Wye, to leave it no more, but I follow a 9 6 RADNORSHIRE. follow all its twiftings and deviations, till he reaches the town of Rhayader. The banks of the river are rich in verdure and foliage, the road on the eaftern fide running at firft at the foot of rocky hills, which increafe with the progrefs of the journey into mountains. The road is afterwards carried over heights, which rife abruptly from the very brink of the river, and command a fucceffion of the raoft pi&urefque landfcapes. Sometimes the mountains, that form the fide fcreens, recede to the right and left, and would feem to leave a freer paflage, but that the front is occupied by new ones rifing to the view. Tke grey mift hanging half way down them on a ftormy evening made it feem like approaching night at fix o'clock, in the month of July. Here we travel through a fine wood ; immediately afterwards, barren rocks obtrude themfelves almoft offenfively on the eye, not naked at the top only, but from their very bafe prefenting no better appearance of herbage, than a little fern. Again the river becomes rocky; new commons are ftretched out in every direction ; but the general nakednefs of the country is relieved by the young plantations about a neat houfe on the right, called Llwyn y barried, on a moderate declivity. From this place to Rhayader is a fcene of uninterrupted beauty. On the weftern fide of the river are feveral ftately groves of oaks : the meadows on the eaftern are rich and cultivated. The pedeftrian traveller may take a nearer and very beautiful path along thefe meadows, which lead him to a new and unflnimed turnpike road, cut with a labour apparently not to be compenfated by any traffic here, out of the mountain again clofing in upon the river. Perhaps the moil engaging fcene in this ftretch of country is about a mile from Rhayader, at the confluence of the Clarwen with the Wye, the former coming in from the weft, in a lancet- like direction, ]/ the two co«ipofing, with their accompaniments of wood and rock, RHAYADER. 297 rock, a rich aflemblage of whatever a painter's art or poet's fancy can combine or imagine. The fituation of Rhayader itfelf is highly romantic ; but its buildings and ftreets are poor and irregular, in more than the ufual degree of Welfh towns. The quarter feffions were held here in the reign of Henry the Eighth ; but were fbon transferred to Preftain, for want of neceffary accommodations. The cattle of Rhayader was built by Rees ap Gruftyth, at the time when thefons of Conan ap Owen Gwineth made war againfthim. The attempt was abortive, but the fons of Rees were more fticcefsful ; for they deftroyed the town of Rhayader, and reduced their father's caftle to afhcs. In the year 1194, Rees proceeded to rebuild the fortrefs : his fons, fearing left he mould revenge their cruelty and want of natural affection, laid wait for their father and took him prifoner. By means of his fon Howel the Saxon, fo named from his having ferved in England, the unhappy parent efcaped from the clutches of his undutiful children. Howel the Saxon was blind. The fons of Gadwalhon ap Madoc took the opportu- nity of thefe family feuds, to gain the caftle and fortify it for themfelves. In the year 1231, King Henry the third, after having remained fome time in the Marches with a great army, returned to England, and left the defence of the boundaries to Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent. Hubert having been informed by fj)ies, that the Welfh made predatory incurfions into the Marches, attacked them near Montgomery, and flew a great number. Lhewelin ap Jorwerth was exafperated at this attack, and in revenge deftroyed, among others, the caftle of Rhayader, then in the hands of the Englifh party. It does not appear ever to have been reinftated. There is nothing remaining of the ftructure ; and the foundation can with difficulty be traced. The church is Q q more 298 RADNORSHIRE. more than ufually refpectable in its architecture ; but there is nothing elfe worth notice in the place. The fouth fide of Rhayader bridge affords a very characteriftic view of local features. The arch of the bridge is very elegant, and the picturefque line of the river, furnifhes one of the molt agreeable morceaus in its whole progrefs. There is a fall of fome feetjuft by the bridge, though of inconfiderable magnitude, Sufficient to have given a name to the town. Mr. Laporte has 7 delineated this fcene alfo with his ufual fidelity and talent. )^ "*" The road into Cardiganfhire may be varied : in the fummer I took occafion to go circuitoully through Cwmeland, and in the autumn directly with the turnpike. Neither can be relinquished without lofs. The former is the moll: engaging, but ample time muft be allowed, and it only can be purfued on foot. This is that north-weft angle of the county, of which I have before fpoken. After keeping along the turnpike for a very fhort fpace, a bye road to the left leads to the banks of the Eland. By croffing the fields, the country is better feen, and the firft view of that romantic river foon prefents itfelf. Not far off it joins the Clarwen and the Clarwy, already united. The Eland is here a ftream of confiderable width, with nothing to controul its tendency to expanfion. It comes rolling along in front, and taking a turn clofe by the prefent path, runs near a refpectable looking old manfion on the left. Here my guide informed me, that he recollected the river narrow in this part, its channel being by fome trees to which he pointed, fo that it made much lefs of a fwcep. He faid that the road had been turned five times, in confequence of its encroachments : once within thefe three years, and that the ground we were Handing on would foon go in a flood, which is fometimes prodigious here. It was the time of fheep-mearing CWMELAND. 299 meep-fhearing, and I was much {truck with the difference between the hilly fheep and thofe of the vale. The former are infinitely more elegant and picturefque in figure. They feemed to have all their wits about them, fo that one would think, the race had acquired its proverbial character of fillinefs by fattening on rich and artificial paftures, without having inherited it originally in the {late of nature. When we got into the lane, we met with a flock of feveral hundred, which live among the rocks all the year round, only coming down at fhearing time. They had us in front, and their fhepherd with his dog in the rear. The bounds that many of them made in avoiding us, were equally powerful and lofty with thofe of the wild goats. Their faces •ftriped black and white, and their black tails depending from a back perfectly white, gave them an air of fingularity and wildnefs. My guide told me wonders of the fox hunters riding down the rocks and hills. Some way further in the valley, there is a retired and neat chapel by the road fide, not far from a good houfe. I was fenfibly ftruck with the effect, produced by the refidence of only three gentlemen in this retirement. The fcene here becomes more and more confined, but mod meritorioufly cultivated in the bottom, while the rocks rife higher and higher. They are all of flate here, except that we pafTed the foot of one y s immenfe lime-ftone rock on our right hand, with another nearly as large on the other fide of the river directly oppofite. There are none elfe of the fame defcription in the valley, but my guide ftated thefe two to be the beginning of that great lime-ftone n 1 bed, which continues behind the oppofite rock, branching out wider and wider in the direction of Brecknock and Glamorgan. The road fometimes pafles through groves of oak, with naked points and mountainous projections impending over their tops. Here the rock is continually burfl: and broken by the fibres of Qq 2 roots Sod RADNORSHIRE. roots which feem to pofTefs no fources of nourifhment equal to the growth they fuftain. My guide was furprifed on our arrival at Mr. Groves's, the principal feat in Cwmeland, at feeing the clover ready for the fithe, nearly at the fummit of hills, which a fhort time ago were without a trace of vegetation. Mr. Groves is a Wiltfhire gentleman, who purchafed ten thoufand of thefe almoft worthlefs acres a few. years fince, and is making a paradife of a wildernefs. We found them here performing the ceremony of fheep-wafhing in the river. They threw them in fo haftily and carelefsly on each others backs, that they had difficulty in faving one from drowning in our prefence. The fcenery beyond becomes wilder : the path lies along the fide of a rock, down which rufhes a mountain brook, frequently bringing w r ith it fuch maffes of {tone as might endanger an incautious traveller. At this point, the channel of the Eland affumes a new afpecl. The rocks choak it, it forces its paffage through curving gullies : the deep gulph of water becomes black and terrific, contracted with the milk-white fchiflus which it excavates. The foot paffenger leaves it to crofs fome cultivated lands, and comes fuddenly upon it again, to pafs a truly Alpine bridge of planks, from rock to rock, over a continued, but no where precipitous water-fall. Immediately tinder this tremendous bridge, the river wears its way at the depth of thirty feet, cutting the fmooth white rock into the greateft pomble variety of fhapes. After rain, the fury of this torrent, confined for feveral miles within a rocky chafm, is awful in the extreme. There is no longer a worn path to lead into the great road. The river ra.uft be croffed repeatedly, where its bed is fhallow and ftony. Cultivation fades, and the whole becomes barren and unpleafing. There is nothing to defcribe. The ftream is the only guide. I fhall now take up the fcenery of the turnpike road. It 9T- LLYN OWYtf. 301 It afcends by a long and fteep pitch of two miles into a bold and hilly region, difparted by fearful precipices, with mountain rifing above mountain, into Montgomeryftiire and Plynillimon. The Wye, almoft in its infancy, with banks of ftinted beauty, and fcarcely incipient luxuriance, forms a predominant feature on the right. By deviating acrofs the heath, to the left, may be gained what moil travellers lofe for want of information ; a view of Llyn Gwyn, the only picturefque lake in Radnorfhire. But this is moft eminently fo. We looked down upon it immediately under us, from the perpendicular heights, by which it is inaccembly furrounded on every fide but the fouth, where it has an outlet, difcharging its excefs of copioufnefs into the Wye below. On that fide is alfo a lower and lefs abrupt hill, covered with the fmeft timber of the foreft. Beyond, is an immenfe reach of the Wye in all its glory, meandering difcernibly at intervals, as low as Buallt, and furniming a rich and gay diftance, in ftriking contrail with the immediate fcene at hand. On returning to the road, the upper Wye again becomes the objecl. After another afcent of a mile, we look on the innumerable mountains of Cardiganfhire, with only the purple heath to enliven them. The road is carried down a fearful defcent, till it finds the Eland in the bottom, where the traveller, after having bent his courfe on foot through the vale, may meet his horfes and fervant, who rnuft go the direct road. CHAPTER 30a CARDIGANSHIRE. CHAPTER XV. CARDIGANSHIRE. 1 he Situation of Cardiganftiire is maritime. The confines of i Pembroke, Cardigan and Merioneth are jointly warned by the Irifli feas. Watling is faid to have gone in a crooked line through v £t J< ~) Shropfhire by Wrekin hill into Cardigan. Drayton expatiates t^>h ih ^^ largely on the beauties and natural curiofities of the Tivy ; befides £T {*^-l? •"**■• giving his ufual catalogue of its attendant ftreams, as well as of other rivers in the county. Sith I muft flem thy flream, clear Tivy, yet before The mufe vouchfafe to feize the Cardiganian more, She of thy fource will fing in all the Cambrian coaft ; Which of thy caftors once, but now canft only boafl The falmons, of all floods mofl plentiful in thee. Dear brook, within thy banks if any powers there be ; Then Naiads, or ye nymphs of their like watry kind (Unto whofe only care great Neptune hath aflign'd The guidance of thofe brooks wherein he takes delight) Aflift her ; and whilft (he your dwelling mall recite, Be prefent in her work : let her your graces view, That to fucceeding times them lively me may mew ; As when great Albion's fons, which him a feanymph brought Amongft the grifly rocks, where, with your beauties caught (Whofe only love furpris'd thofe of the Phlegrian fize, The Titanois, that once againft high heaven durft rife) When CARDIGANSHIRE. 393 When as the hoary woods, the climbing hills did hide, And cover'd every vale through which you gently glide ; Even for thofe inly heats which through your loves they felt, That oft in kindly tears did in your bofoms melt To view your fecret bowers, fuch favour let her win. Then Tivy cometh down from her capacious lin, 'Twixt Mirk and Brenny led, two handmaids that do ftay Their miftrefs, as in ftate (he goes upon her way : Which when Lanbeder fees, her wondroufly (he likes : Whofe untam'd bofom fo the beauteous Tivy ftrikes, As that the foreft fain would have her there abide. But fhe (fo pure a ftream) tranfported with her pride, The offer idly fcorns ; though with her flattering fhade The Sylvan her entice with all that may perfuade A water-nymph : yea, though great Thetis felf fhe were. Mild Mathern then, the next, doth Tivy overtake : Which inflantly again by Dittor is fupply'd. Then, Keach and Kerry help: 'twixt which on either fide, To Cardigan fhe comes, the fovereign of the fhire. Now Tivy, let us tell thy fundry glories here. More famous long agone, than for the falmon's leap, For bevers Tivy was, in her ftrong banks that bred, Which elfe no other brook of Britain nourifhed: Where nature, in the fhape of this now-perifht beafr. His property did feem t'have wondroufly expreft ; Being body'd like a boat with fuch a mighty tail As ferv'd him for a bridge, a helm, or for a fail, When kind did him command the architect to play, That his ftrong caftle built of branched twigs and clay ; Which, fet upon the deep, but yet not fixed there, He eafily could remove as it he pleas'd to fleer To this fide or to that ; the workmanfhip fo rare, His fluff wherewith to build, firft being to prepare, A foraging he goes, to groves or bufhes nigh, And with his teeth cuts down his timber : which laid by, He turns him on his back, his belly laid abroad, When with what he hath got, the other do him load, Till 3°4 -CARDIGANSHIRE. Till laftly by the weight, his burden he hath foond. Then with his mighty tail his carriage having bound As carters do with ropes, in his flaarp teeth he grip'd Some Wronger ftick ; from which the lefler branches ftript, He takes it in the midft ; at both the ends, the reft Hard holding with their fangs, unto the labour preft, Going backward, tow'rds home their loaded carriage led, From whom, thole firft here born, were taught the ufeful fled. Then builded he his fort for ftrong and feveral fights j His paffages conlriv'd with fuch unufual Heights, That from the hunter oft he ifiu'd undifcern'd, As if men from this beaft to fortify had learn 'd; Whofe kind, in her decay 'd, is to this ifle unknown. Thus Tivy boafts this beaft peculiarly her own. But here. why fpend I time thefe trifles to areed ? Now, with thy former tafk, my mufe, again proceed, To fhew the other floods from the Ceretic fhore To the Vergivian fea contributing their ftore : With Bidder firft begin, that bendeth all her force The Arron to affift, Arth holding on her counfe The way the other went, with Werry which doth win Fair Illwid to her aid ; who kindly coming in, Meets Rydoll at her mouth, that fair and princely maid, Plynillimon's dear child, delicioufly array'd, As fits a nymph fo near to Severn and her queen. Then come the fifter Salfcs, as they before had feeii Thofe delicater dames fo trippingly to tread : Then Kerry, Cletur next, and Kinver making head With Enion, that her like clear Levant brings by her. Plynillimon's high praife no longer, mufe, defer; What once the Druids told, how great thofe floods fhould be, That here (moft mighty hill) derive themfelves from thee. Plynillimon is in the confines of Cardigan and Montgomery. Dovey divides the ground of North Wales from that of Cardigan. The neighbourhood of this river, though not pi&urefque, after it has CARDIGANSHIRE. 305 has reached Cardiganshire, is interefting as connected with the hiftory of mines. For fome centuries after the conquefl, the crown allerted its prerogative in the ownerfhip of all mines and minerals. No perfon could fearch for ore, unlefs empowered by the royal grant, which was fometimes confined to particular counties, and fometimes extended to the kingdom at large. The conditions impofed were at the difcretion of the reigning monarch. Edward the Firft directed the tithe of the ore, dug out of the Welfh mines, to be paid to the parochial churches in the vicinity. The owner of the ground, on which a mine was difcovered, derived no profit from its being worked, till the beginning of Henry the Sixth's reign, when the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France, obtained a leafe of all the gold and filver mines within the kingdom for ten years, on payment of a tenth to the church, a fifteenth to the king, and a twentieth to the proprietor of the land. This grant extended to all other metals, containing gold and filver. Neither did it, by fpecifying gold and filver, forego the ancient claim of the crown to the appropriation of mines in general. Henry the Seventh, on his accellion, appointed Jafper, Duke of Bedford, and other eminent perfons, governors of his mines in England and Wales. The Englifh hitherto had but little available knowledge, either in the difcovery or working; of mines. The impofture in fome cafes, in others the felf-deception of alchemy, operated unfavourably on the progrefs of real fcience and ufeful art. It is alfo curious, that the means reforted to for the fuppreflion of the cheat conduced to the very fame end as the cheat itfelf. The act of parliament, which made it felony to ufe the craft of multiplication, expofed the fkilful refiner to the penalties of counterfeiting, under cover of tranfmuting, the precious metals, if his ingenuity led him to gain more from the bafer kinds, than had been obtained before. If therefore an adept Rr in $06 CARDIGANSHIRE. in metallurgy braved the perils of the law, it was more likely to be in purfuit of an enthufiaflic error, or in furtherance of a lucrative delufion, than with a moderate and rational view to the duly apportioned profits of a known art or trade, the advantages of which muft be limited by the induflry applied, and the expence incurred. This act was not repealed till the firft year of William and Mary. In the year 1452, Henry the Sixth had engaged three miners from the continent, with their affiftants, to work his mines ; fo unavailing were the pretended tranfmutations, and fo profound the ignorance of the Englifh. Queen Elizabeth, under better aufpices, imitated a policy, founded in wifdom, but rendered abortive by the circumftances of King Henry's reign. By the advice of her council, fhe fent for fome experienced Germans, to carry on the bufinefs of the mines, as well as that of fmelting and refining minerals. On their arrival, they were no fooner naturalized, than the Queen, by her letters patent, granted to Thomas Thurland and Daniel Houghfetter, and their heirs for ever, licence to fearch for mines of gold, filver, copper, and quickfilver, in the feveral royalties in the counties of York, Lancafter, Cumberland, Weftmoreland, Cornwal, Devon, Glocefter, Worcefter, and the principality of Wales, for their fole ufe and profit, referving to herfelf the tenth of all gold, filver, and quickfilver ores, and the preemption of refined gold and filver, at a lower rate than the current price of thofe metals. A year afterwards fhe made two more grants ; one to Cornelius DevofTe, and the other to William Humphrey and Chriflopher Shutz. This laft was the mofl comprehenfive ; for it included all mines, minerals, and fubterraneous treafures, except copperas and alum, and extended to all parts of England, not appropriated by the former grants. By all thefe inflruments, as well as by thofe of the former reigns, a power CARDIGANSHIRE. 307 a power was given to fink ihafts any where, except in gardens, or underneath the foundations of caftles or houfes. This unlimited invafion of private property and public rights, aflerted immemorially, but irreconcileable to reafon and juftice, was refuted, though unfuccefsfully, by the Earl of Northumberland, in a fuit with the crown, or the perfons holding under it, refpecting the copper mines on his manor of Kefwick. The lawyers, as ufual, wherever they have a decent colouring, decided for the prerogative, on the ground, that gold or filver, found in any mine, conftituted that a royal mine: and as the bafer metals in moft cafes contain fome particles of the nobler, the difcovery of the fmalleft particle, of however little value, transferred that mineral property from the hands of the fubjedl to the crown. Neither was the title of the prerogative to the bafe metals ever abandoned, though it was efteemed more plaulible to prefer it under cover of what they might be fuppofed to contain, till the revolution, when all fuch * exorbitant claims were revifed, and the prerogative more definitely fettled. In the firft year of William and Mary, the crown abandoned its pretenfions to copper, tin, iron, and lead mines, only claiming the gold or filver contained in the ore, whatever may be its quantity, at the current price of the bafe metal, of which the ore profdfedly confifts. But to return to the hiftory of mines, under Thurland, Houghfetter, and the reft, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Thefe patentees, by virtue of the powers and privileges annexed to their feveral grants, divided part of their tenure into mares, which they fold. The original patentees, therefore, under the three grants, with thefe fubfequent purchafers, were incorporated by the ftyle of The Governor, Afiiftants, and Commonalty, of the Mines Royal. William, Earl of Pembroke, was appointed governor. The firft court of afliftants was fclcded from among Rrs the •308 CARDIGANSHIRE. the nobility, the leading citizens, and the raoft intelligent of thofe foreigners, by whofe fettlement in the country the plan was carried into effect. Thefe important meafures were begun and completed between the years 1563 and 1568. Thus were the mineral refources of the whole country, inftead of being dealt out piecemeal to favourites and courtiers, too ignorant or indolent to eftimate their value or purfue their improvement, placed under the direction of fuch a public body, as could remedy in fome degree the baneful effects, without abandoning the high pretenfions of an unlimited prerogative. Thus was the foundation laid for thofe great manufacturing interefts, which required and ultimately obtained a folid independence, fortified againil the attacks of arbitrary power, and expofed to none but the very remote danger of our declining induftry as a people. The attention of the public being now directed into this channel, a rational profpect of gain, from labour and ingenuity fcientincally applied, flatteringly fucceeded the difappointment of what were called metallic tranfubftantiations, for the purpofe of throwing a religious veil over what might otherwife have been punifhed as magic art. Hence the difcovery of mineral veins became fo frequent, that the company, doubting perhaps the fuccefs of all the ventures which were propofed to them, began to farm their exclufive rights to enterprifing individuals. The Cardiganshire mines, among the moll: abundant in lead and filver, during the whole of the feventeenth century, were precifely in this fituation. Sir Hugh Middleton was the iixth fon of Richard Middleton, governor of Denbigh Caftle, in the reigns of Edward the Sixth, Mary, and Elizabeth. The fpeculative genius of Hugh appeared at a very early age, by his attempts to fearch for coal in the neighbourhood of his native place. His firft enterprife not fucceeding, CARDIGANSHIRE. 309 fucceeding, he removed to London, where he became a citizen and goldfmith. He did not, however, lofe fight of his original propenfity, and his fuccefs in trade foon enabled him to farm the principal lead and filver mine in Cardiganfhire, under the governor and company of mines royal, at a yearly rent of four hundred pounds. So judicious was this venture, and fo profitable, the works under his direction, that from one mine, yielding nearly one hundred ounces of filver from a ton of lead, he derived a clear profit of two thoufand pounds a month. This immenfe revenue, fufficient to have eftablimed one of the moft fplendid families in Great Britain, was all expended in another great fpeculation. He undertook to carry into execution the plan, which had been propofed in the reign of Elizabeth, but had terrified every adventurer, of fupplying the city of London with water. In 1608 Mr. Middleton propofed to the Lord Mayor and Commonalty, to begin the work within tw T o months on his own account, and, with the exertion of his beft endeavours, to finifh it in four years. Many were the jealoufies and prejudices with which he had to encounter ; yet did he complete his immortal labour within a year of the time fpecified, by the performance of fuppofed impovlibilities, brought into common practice fince his great example, and by the facrifice of a princely fortune at the fhrine of fame and public utility. The firfl hTue of the waters from the head at Iflington was graced by the prefcnce of King James the Firft, w 7 ith his court, and the corporation of London, with his brother Thomas, lord mayor elecl, founder of the Chirkcaflle branch. He received the honour, firfl of knighthood, and afterwards of baronetcy ; but his refources were exhaufted by the magnitude of the undertaking, and he was compelled to help out his mattered finances by exercifing the profeflion of a furveyor. In this line his talents were particularly ferviceable, when employed. 3 to CARDIGANSHIRE. employed on works of draining or mining. So great was his love to public undertakings, that the mortifying experience of the New. River could not deter him from other attempts. In the Ifle of Wight he gained two thoufand acres from the fea, by means of embanking. Thus did he anticipate our late improvements at all points : but the genius feems to have Slept for more than a century after him, w r hen abandoned projects, refcued from long oblivion, vigorously purfued and liberally patronized, borrow the Shape of novelty, and aSFume the merit of invention. Sir John Wyn of Gwydir near Llanrwft, the year before he died, having heard of Sir Hugh Middleton's great works, wiflied to engage him in the fervice of his own country. In the confines of Merioneth and Cardigan, where the rivers Cunnel and Drurid jointly pour themfelves into the Irifh ocean, are thofe two arms or creeks of the fea, famous through North Wales by their names Traeth Mawr and Traeth Bachan, Signifying the great haven and the little haven. Traeth in Britim means a tract of fand, whereon the fea flows, and the ebb difcovers the Shallows. Sir John Wyn requested his friend and countryman to undertake the recovery of thefe fands, offering him wood and other materials at a very cheap rate, and a contribution of two hundred pounds as a venture. But Sir Hugh excufed himfelf on the ground, that the completion of the work would require thoufands inftead of hundreds ; and that he was himfelf advanced in years, and full of bufmefs elfewhere. His perfonal plea of inability on the fcore of money proves that his works in Cardiganshire were Still very extenfive; for he alleges as an additional excufe, that between the mines and the New River, he ilood even then at a weekly charge of two hundred pounds. This corfefpondence took place in the year 1625, and Sir Hugh died in 1631. This public-fpirited man is a»memorable inftance, illullrating the common fate of fpeculators. His branch tff the family CARDIGANSHIRE. 311 family declined into narrow circumftances, while the property, which he had created, rofe to an unexampled value. He left a number of New River (hares to the poor of the Goldfmith's Company ; yet, in after times, his defcendant and reprefentative, when a widow, was debarred from benefiting even by the charity of her anceftor, becaufe her hufband had not taken up his freedom as a goldfmith. Such was the gratitude of London to the memory* of its greateft benefactor. His brother Thomas, who aimed at mayoralties and city honours r took better care of his wealth ; and if the public are lefs his family is more obliged to him. The Sir John Wyn, mentioned in connexion with Sir Hugh Middleton, was a remarkable character. He was well acquainted with the hiftory of his native country, and wrote a fhort-but curious account of the Gwydir family. He was one of the firfl baronets, on the creation of that honour in 16 15. Mr. Bumel was the fucceflbr of Sir Hugh Middleton at the mines. Sir Francis Godolphin was joined with Mr. Bumel, but lived a very fhort time. Succefsful as they had been, firft in the hands of the company, and afterwards in thofe of Sir Hugh, the lingular privileges, allowed to Mr. Bufhel by Charles the Firft, enabled him to render them more productive under his own management than they had been in the moll: profperous times of his predecefTors. Even the liberty of coining on the fpot, for the facility of paying his labourers, was not denied him ; but Sir Hugh coined at the Tower at his own heavy charge. Mr. Bumel fet up a mint in Aberiftwid Caftle, and fome of his filver coins have been of late years dug up there, probably buried after the commencement of the troubles. They had oftrich feathers ftamped on them. The ifland of Lundy w r as alfo given him, for the purpofe of landing his produce, till he had an opportunity of exporting it. For the further convenience of his trade, he 6 conftructed 3i2 CARDIGANSHIRE. conftru&ed a harbour at Lundy, where his vefTels might lie in fafety, till they could venture their pafTage up the Briftol Channel to the mouth of the Severn. With thefe advantages, operating on a property of boundlefs treafure, Mr. Bufhel had made an immenfe fortune before the breaking out of the civil wars, though the period elapfed fince his entrance on the concern did not exceed eleven or twelve years. Perhaps no fubjecT:, unconnected by clofe and perfonal ties, ever received more favours from his fovereign; and certainly none ever repaid them with a more munificent gratitude. He not only clothed the king's whole army, but furnimed a loan of forty thoufand pounds to his neceflities, which, from the complexion of the times, could be conildered in no other light than as a gift. Neither did his zeal abate with the increafmg prefTure on the royal caufe. Notwithstanding the public calamities, and his own previous difburfements, he raifed a regiment among his miners, and maintained them at his own expence, at a very late period of that unhappy conteft. With the return of peace, he transferred his fpeculations to the Mendip hills. Thefe mines were at their greater!: height in the time of Mr. Bufhel. I apprehend that they, after the restoration, returned to the company of mine-adventurers, in confequence of whofe feuds, fo injurious to their own and the mining intereft in general, they were worked with lefs fpirit and fuccefs. A ferious impreflion had probably been made on their refources by the great undertakings of Sir Hugh Middleton and Mr. Bufhel, fo that they became ever afterwards of inferior confideration and importance. Yet did not the north of Cardiganshire decline in mineral profperity. In the year 1690, other mines, not inferior to thofe which were beginning to fail, were difcovered on the eftate of Gogerthan, belonging to Sir Carbery Price. The ore was fo near the furface of the earth, that the mofs and grafs did but barely cover CARDIGANSHIRE. 313 cover it. Thefe mines in their time were not exceeded by any in the kingdom for riches, and obtained the appellation of the Welfti Potofi. They were worked by the proprietor of the Gogerthan eftate during his lifetime ; but he died without hTue, and the mines came into the hands of Sir Humphrey Mackworth, though the Gogerthan property devolved on another branch of the Prices. The mineral fplendour of the former century feemed to be revived under thefe aufpices. Nor was it without its poetical celebration, though the incenfe was not offered by a prieft of the higheft order. Some cenfure has fallen on Dr. Johnfon, for his recommendation of fuch poets as Pomfret, Blackmore, Yalden, and Watts, whom only he acknowledged to have {elected, to be inferted by Mr. Nichols in his collection. Of the four, I think that he ftands the moft eafily abfolved for the introduction of Yalden. He certainly cannot be placed among the preeminently infpired clalTes ; but a man muft have pofTeffed fbme talent, as well as refpectability, who could reconcile towards himfelf the Whig and Tory friendships of Addifon and Congreve, Hopkins and Atterbury. He was very fuccefsful in his imitations of Cowley, and was certainly entitled to rank higher than Stepney, Walfh, King, or Sprat. He made a very meritorious attempt to unite poetry with fcience, in his epiftle to Sir Humphrey Mackworth, on the mines, late of Sir Carbery Price. Mr. Sargent and Dr. Darwin have fince more clofely allied the fevere and lighter mufes in their refpective poems of the " Mine" and the " Botanic Garden." The poetical works of Yalden are, I believe, very little read, though printed in the edition of the " Englifh Poets." A farcafm has been thrown out on them, and few readers judge for themfelves. As, therefore, he prefers a prior claim to the inveftigation of mineral nature, and has treated his fubject with a confiderable (hare of poetical and characterise expreflion, though not always in numbers of the S s bri Returning laden with the Cambrian ore. V 3i* CARDIGANSHIRE. Her abfent fleet Potofi's race fhall mourn, And wi(H in vain to fee our fails return ; Like mifers heaping up their ufelefs ftore, Starv'd with their wealth, amidft their riches poor. It feems that there had been feveral expenfive law-fuits between Sir Carbery Price and the patentees of royal mines, and that Sir Humphrey Mackworth had propofed an expedient for arranging thofe differences. He himfelf had afterwards confi- derable impediments thrown in his way, by the irregular proceedings of agents, fervants, and dependents, and the quarrels incident on thofe irregularities, to the great detriment of the mining intereft, and the difcouragement of its future profecution. The lead mines of Cwm Iftwid will be fpoken of hereafter. Indeed, the whole of this rugged region is one immenfe refervoir of metallic treafure, awaiting only the fpirit of enterprife, and the hand of induftry, to draw it into light and ufe : but enterprife and induftry are not the characleriftics of this country, except among a few inhabitants of the higher order; and as they are generally men of landed property and ancient family, their attention is turned to agricultural, rather than commercial improvement. Cardiganfhire, in a picturefque and romantic point of view, is the moft ftriking county of South Wales. Its northern bonndaries are fcarcely to be diftinguiihed as to character from Montgomery and Merioneth, on which it borders. It does not poflefs the unintermitted intereft and endlefs variety of Gla- morganshire. We travel over many a dreary mile to reach its beauties : we often find barrennefs without grandeur, or cultivation without fertility : but the fcenes for exhibition are on a large fcale, and in a great ftyle. The journey is notYb pleafant. CARDIGANSHIRE. 319 pleafant, as in the more frequented dhtricts ; yet is it on the whole better worth taking. There is nothing in South Wales worfe than the worn: part of this county ; but Havod and the Devil's bridge, will not fhrink from a comparifon with the fmeft fcenes in North Wales. In one inftance particularly is there a refemblance between the counties of Cardigan and Glamorgan ; though the circumftance is more ftriking in the former, becaufe the dimenfions of the places where it is obferved are more auguft in magnitude, and therefore more furprifing in effect. We are accuftomed to fpeak of the mountains about Havod, the Devil's bridge, the vale of Rydoll, or the vale of Tivy. Yet if we bear in mind the nature and furface of the country, we fhall be apt to confider thofe giddy precipices and ffcupendous dingles produced rather by a profound finking of the earth below its common level, than by the elevation and fwell of hills above it. After travelling as it mould appear, at the foot of mountains for ten miles, we look into the vale of Iftwid at an unexpected depth. After traverfing the dreary inequalities of the tract beyond, with low-crowned hills in front, which feem fcarcely to give dignity to the wildnefs, we come fuddenly on the fearful abyfs, where the waters of the Mynach and the Rydoll join their forces, and purfue their united courfe at a dizzy diftance below. If we defcend to the level of the water, the low-crowned hills are converted into tremendous crags, which almoft exclude the day. I am juftified therefore in confidering Cardiganfhire, particularly towards the north, as a diftrict, abounding as much in gulfs, as in mountains. It may likewife be remarked, that the face of the country, where it is not highly pieturefque, is very rarely pleafant. The ordinary appearance of things, in their prefent flate, is impove- rifhed and hungry ; though much is annually and even daily effected, 320 CARDIGANSHIRE. effected, towards general cultivation and improvement. The banks of rivers, the dingles, the rocks, are either grand or beautiful, and fometimes both : but the flats are for the mod part dreary and uninterefting, affording neither objects, par- ticularly gratifying to the eye, nor topics of fpeculation, with a view to the prefent moment, of fufficient magnitude to engage the economift. In the latter point of view, Cardiganfhire is yet in its infancy ; and this very circumftance, confidering the hopes it holds out for the future, introduces it with peculiar attractions to the perhaps vifionary contemplation of the philofopher. Its capabilities are not eafily to be eftimated up to their extent ; but they muft be eftimated at a high rate. The refident gentry, who are at prefent in the occupation of the eftates, happen in very many inftances to be men, whofe fentiment and knowledge of the world are not confined, as is too often the cafe much nearer the metropolis, within the fphere of their own quarter- feflions and county politics. Thefe gentlemen begin to be animated with the ambition of becoming improvers. Should their example lead the abfentees to return to their own homes, and purfue fimilar objects, the embryo will foon afTume its diftinctive fhape and features, and pufh forward its gradual and healthy growth towards maturity. It is a great misfortune to the northern part of the county, that though there are many ancient manfions, few of them are tenanted, owing either to minorities or voluntary abfence. A perfon, who takes a deep intereft in the profperity of a favourite neighbourhood, enumerated to me a lift of proprietors, all immediately furrounding that neighbourhood, who draw out of the country twenty-five thoufand pounds annually, without ever feeing the fpot from whence they derive their wealth ; confequently, without circulating any part of it either in hofpitality, or in the judicious CARDIGANSHIRE. 32^ judicious and liberal employment of the poor, rather for the fake of employing them, than for the advantage to be derived from their labours ; a duty, which the matters of large property owe to their own fituation in fociety. When it is confidered, that this great fum is taken away, not by one overgrown lord, whofe abfence might be a bleffing, but by feveral landowners of from one to five thoufand pounds a year, a defcription of perfons to form the head-quarters of every thing ufeful where they refide ; when it is confidered further, that it is taken from a poor country, where it conftitutes no mean proportion of the whole rental, the injury will be duly appreciated, and the fad will account for the retarded influence of the example inftituted by the few, but valuable refidents. The fouthern part of the county is better inhabited, and the effect is vifible. Cardiganfhire affords perhaps a flronger contraft to the general condition of things, than almoft any other part of the ifland. To underftand this difference, it will be neceffary to turn our attention towards its local circumftances. It is not that it abounds with rugged inequalities; for the modern facility of communicating between place and place foftens down, where it exifts, the peculiarities which an unufual conformation of nature is apt to engender. North Wales is becoming Englifh. The northern counties of England are relinquishing their cheapnefs and fimplicity, from the influx of (hangers, who make a fafhionable tour. But the cafe is altogether otherwife in Cardiganfhire. Its beauties are only beginning to be the fubjecl: of panegyric; confequently the appearance of ftrangers, except in the neighbourhood of Aberiftwid, is ftill an occurrence of fome wonder. I know of no diftricl: fo confined within itfelf. I have already mentioned that the only poftchaifes in the county are at Aberiftwid and the Havod Arms. I believe, however, that a vehicle of that kind is meditated at Lanbeder, and will probably Tt be 322 - CARDIGANSHIRE. be carried into execution in the courfe of the prefent year, unlefs the war, and the hazardous flate of public affairs, mould interfere to prevent it. The travelling, therefore, is little and difficult. The neareft point at which a mail-coach touches is Llandovery in Caermarthenfhire. A letter is two complete days in going from Havod to Cardigan, a diflance of only forty miles, within the county. This tardinefs and paucity of intercourfe has a flrong tendency to fix the manners of the people, to fupprefs the very idea of wandering or innovation, and rivet the connexion between the refident landlord and his tenants. To this it may in a great meafure be attributed, that, without in the llighteffc degree countenancing the principle of political levelling, there appears a remarkable fellow-feeling; if I may fo exprefs it, a fpeaking acquaintance, between the higher and lower ranks of fociety. The happy refult of this fpeaking acquaintance is affability on one fide, and attachment on the other. I do not mean, by particularizing this circumftance, covertly to fatirize the more diftant demeanour of leading perfons, living in populous and mixed diftri&s. The manners of men neceffarily take their colour as much from their fituations as from their tempers. In fpeaking of what cannot but ftrike every obferver in Cardiganfhire, I would willingly account for certain features in a way as little complimentary as poffible, left I Ihould be accufed of repaying acknowledged obligations with flattery. To take hofpitality as an inftance : I mould be very unwilling to fuppofe it a difpofition which does not equally enter into the character of an Englifhman. Yet would it be impoflible to exercife a promifcuous hofpitality within the verge of our Bath or northern roads. But in thefe remote diftricts, where a ftranger is^ a novelty, a ftranger is an acquifition : and the very circumftance of his appearance there in fome meafure indicates, that he comes with a view of gratifying a tafleful CARDIGANSHIRE. 323 tafleful and liberal curiofity. There is nothing to attract the adventurer, nothing to entertain the votary of diffipation. The refearches of the antiquary therefore are forwarded with the beft knowledge of the inhabitants; the ardour of the picturefque explorer is directed to the more remote and eccentric objects. It is unfortunate, however, that the antiquities of this tract are little underftood by the natives. Tradition feems to have laid afide her office ; and the lettered inquiries of the more enlightened have not in moft inftances fupplied her place very fuccefsfulJy. The grave of Talieffin, than which nothing more venerable in antiquity can be conceived, if it w r ere fatisfaclorily afcertained, is wrapped in a doubt and obfeurity, that leans to the fide of difbelief, with reipecl to the place afligned. The fubjecl of language requires a diitincT: consideration, as it is viewed in opposite lights by intelligent and philofophical individuals among the natives with whom I have converfed. It is, through the greater part of this county, almoil: without exception Welfh. This feparation is, in the opinion of fome, feduloufly to be maintained. A community of language with the Englifh would tend to render thefe ilmple, and, if they were ' acquainted with any thing better, miferable mountaineers, difcontented with their dreary quarters and hard fare, and difpofed to emigrate in queft of high wages, and what are generally termed the comforts of life. But while they are infulated by a tongue of their own, they are tied down by a peculiar neceffity to the place that gave them birth, and their defertion of a poll, to which nature and providence have afllgned them, is not to be apprehended. It is fo far certain, that their gains are fmall, their mode of living coarfe in the extreme, their habitations fqualid, and their very exiftence dependent on the good pieafure of their thinly fcattered employers. From all thefe circurnftances, it is T t 2 the 324 CARDIGANSHIRE. the difpofition of human nature, if pofTeffing the means of. comparifon and choice, to revolt j and it is argued, perhaps with fome plaufibility, that thefe mountainous parts would be deferted, before they could be improved, if their inhabitants were not chained to a contented poverty by the neceffity of the cafe, as well as by the inveteracy againft ftrangers, which the want of a common language is apt to produce in vulgar minds. Another reafon alleged, againft any attempts at the abolition of the Welfh language is, the comparative purity of the Welfh character, as it ftands at prefent. The books to which only the common people can have accefs, are all either of a religious, or ftriclly poetical caft. That letters can be made fertile to purpofes of corruption, as yet remains a fecret. There are no catching tales, as with us, in a phrafeology lowered to the comprehenfion of the vulgar, reprefenting pleafure and fortune as the legitimate objects of life, and within the reach of all who w r ill venture for them; no ftimulants to deferve the gallows, accompanied with cautions how to avoid it. Thefe, it muft be confefTed, are ftrong pleas in defence of eternal Welfh ; yet the difputant on the other fide muft not be denied the privilege of a hearing in reply. The Welfh language undergoes the ferious accufation of caufing a great injury both to religion and law. As it applies more efpecially to this county, I will inftance firft the cafe of law. The judges being Englifh, and the perfons judged Welfh, an interpreter is necefTarily employed. This interpreter, however diftinguifhed may be his fkill, can never convey the exact meaning, the tone, the gefture, as it bears upon the verbal import of the evidence, the confidence or hefitation of the witnefTes. The confequence is, that property or even life may be endangered by a defective interpretation. This is a topic frequently occurring in the fpeculative reviews of thofe, who are ardently folicitous to improve a highly improvable country; CARDIGANSHIRE. 32$ country; and I am credibly informed, that the inftances are neither rare, nor exclusively of ancient date, in which very grievous decifions have followed upon fo confufed a procedure. Such an evil, feverely felt in the adminiflration of juftice, particularly at Cardigan, appears to be irremediable at prefent, and likely to remain fo, unlefs the language of the fuperior country fhall eventually fuperfede the ancient tongue, and become univerfal. With refpecl: to the eftablifhed religion, it fuffers little from this circumftance in Cardiganfhire, becaufe the churches are almoft univerfally ferved in Welfh, and only the genteel part of the congregation, if there be any, is left in the dark. But the fact is different in Glamorganfhire, where, unlefs in the hills, the Englifh and Welfh inhabitants are very nearly equal. Where the fervice is performed in Englifh, the Welfh part of the parifh betake themfelves to conventicles ; and it is highly probable, that this concurs w T ith other caufes, afligned in a preceding chapter, to produce fo indecorous a defertion of the churches in that county. It may be much queftioned, whether the fpirit of emigration w r ould pervade a people, fo indolent and carelefs in their difpofitions, even though the refiraint of language were removed. The greateft fault imputed to the common people by their fuperiors is, the want of a due regard to their own interefls, without which they are never likely to be induftrious, though they may be faithful fervants to their employers. It is the uniform anfwer to every fuggeftion, w T ith refpecl: to the duty of labouring beyond their prefent, and faving for their future neceffities, that they are fure to do well ; Providence will take care of them. It may be faid, perhaps, that this unthrifty argument is characterise of the poor in general, and not peculiar to thofe of Cardiganfhire; but in the more populous and diffipated parts of the country, it proceeds from a difpofition to fpend all they get ; here, from an indifference 326 CARDIGANSHIRE. indifference about getting any thing. The nominal rate of wage^ is very low; yet labour rifes very nearly to a level with the common price, taking into the account the fmall quantity performed. A mafter feldom reckons upon getting more from his men, than what would be confidered in other places as a fair half-day's work. A ftranger, in croffing this county, is much difgufted with the fqualid appearance of the mud cottages, the undiftinguifhed abode of the whole family, human and beftial, and by no means too good for the latter branch. Yet are the peafantry perfectly fatisfied with their accommodations ; and though Mr. Johnes has built many cottages about his eftate, in a ftyle of neatnefs and convenience, befitting his tafte and liberality, they are far from confidering this among his highefl favours, or giving them any decided preference, above the hovels to which they have been accuftomed. The defire of inculcating a more induftrious and manly fpirit, and at the fame time of affording an afylum to a fmall portion of a generous and oppreffed people, has engaged the gentleman jufl named in a project, to which it is not probable that the imperious avocations of government at the prefent moment will allow them to pay the requifite attention. He propofes to invite over one hundred Grifon families, and place them on the high and uncultivated grounds of his eftate, between Havod and the Devil's Bridge, giving them leafes for three lives, and twenty-one years afterwards, on lower and more beneficial terms than have actually been offered by Scotch fhepherds, if government will defray their paffage, and allow a certain fum to each family for the expences of their firft eftablifhment. It is not unlikely, on a nearer view of the fubject, that many untoward circumftances and objections would be found to exift. I apprehend that the Welfh would look upon them with a more jealous eye, than they did upon the Scotch, i^hom Mr. Johnes introduced CARDIGANSHIRE. 327 introduced fome years ago. It would be neceffary, that fome one, for whom they had a refpect, mould be able to converfe with them, remove their difficulties, and regulate their differences. In this refpecl: they would be fortunate, as Mr. Johnes is fo apt a linguifi, that he would foon become familiar with their patois. At all events, a plan mould not be obftinately difregarded, which carries with it the poffibility of eventually bringing into cultivation fo extenfive a wafte. Such was, and in many parts {till continues to be, the proverbial barrennefs of Cardiganshire, that the people of the neighbouring counties in ancient times branded it with the appellation of the devil's grandmother's jointure ; yet we fee in the inftance of Havod that the old lady's property was not altogether without value, and there is little doubt, but that a great part of the land between that place and Rhayader is equally capable of being brought forward, whenever a general fyftem mall be grafted on the previous labours and example of an individual. Before I quit the fubjecl: of provincial character, I cannot help fetting off againft the cenfure of idlenefs and indifference, a very remarkable inftance of decent manners and truft- worthy conduct. On the anniverfary of a particular birth-day, it is the cuftom at Havod to entertain all the tenants and labourers on the eflate, with their wives and families; nor are the doors clofed againft any Grangers from the neighbourhood, who may chance to prefent themfelves in the feftive fcene. The table is fpread, not on the lawn, or in the fervants hall, but m the entrance hall and dining room, ornamented as they are with valuable pictures, and other articles of coftly furniture, rarely expofed to the hazard of fuch guefts. If the v Hi tors are too numerous to be accommodated in thefe, other apartments are thrown open for their reception, or rather none are mut. The family are always at the head of the party, and the dance fucceeds the pleafures of the table. All this 328 CARDIGANSHIRE. this feems a great rifk to an inhabitant of a populous city; but no mifchief, no diforder, no lofs, ever yet occurred. The zeal and activity difplayed, when the farmyard was on fire in the courfe of the laft fummer, and the destruction of thofe complete buildings and their contents was impending, proved that they were not carelefs about the important interefts of a good matter, though they have no objection to defrauding him of a little work. The mountains in this diflricT are almoft univerfally compofed of fchiftus or flate rock. They are therefore of a nature, that will allow the roots of trees to penetrate, and afford nourishment for a luxuriant growth. The land between the mountains confifts in a great meafure of peat earth, which is capable of being rendered highly productive, either in grain or grafs, by the application of draining and lime. The good effects of the Agricultural Society, eftablifhed in this county, are already confpicuous, fupported as it is by gentlemen of fuperior intelligence, as well as large property, and having the advantage of an excellent conductor, well verfed both in the theory and practice of hufbandry, in the perfon of the Rev. Mr. Griffiths its fecretary. Nor can I omit the acknowledgment, that I have been indebted to this gentleman for much polite attention, and many ufeful hints, both with refpect to this county and Pembrokefhire. The attractions which Cardiganshire has held out to travelled men, admirers of nature in her wilder garb, will appear from the perufal of the following chapters to have been highly beneficial both to its picturefque and agricultural improvement. Two men of acknowledged tafte, Mr. Charles Long and Mr. George Cumberland, after a tour among the moll: romantic fcenes of the continent, agreed that, in defpite of climate, this part of their native country, at certain feafons, pofTeffed objects molt worthy of the pencil, and, in particular fpots, charms which are unrivalled. The fame conviction has not only tied down to the place of their birth the CARDIGANSHIRE. 329 the moil: intelligent of the Cardiganfhire gentlemen, but has detached from diftant engagements an acceflion of ftrength and intereft in Mr. Johnes, with his magnificent eftablifhments, and Dr. Steve nfon, on a fmaller, but ufeful fcale of fcientific labours. This county is not without- its portion of antiquarian honours, derived from traces of Roman names, and difcoveries of Roman eftablimments. The river Dovey, the northern boundary of Cardiganfhire, is concluded from its fituation to have been the fame with Stucia. It feems as if Bifhop Gibfon, in his additions, had properly corrected the fuppofition of his author, with refpect to the geography of Loventium. This county has hitherto made little progrefs in commerce. It pofTefTes fcarcely any manufactures, if we except thofe of Llechryd. This has prevented it from becoming fo rich and populous as the introduction of arts and trade may hereafter make it. With fuch incitements, the natives probably would no longer be cenfured for want of induftry; whether they w r ould be praifed, as now, on the fcore of good faith and fimple manners, may admit fome degree of doubt. The prefent population, according to the lateft accounts, exceeds forty thoufand* The following anecdote will ferve to illuftrate, in a more lively manner perhaps than any formal detail, the nature and condition of this county. A perfbn who was endeavouring to fell a confiderable eftate by auction, after having explained the value of the property, the prefent rents, and future capacity of improvement, thus addrefled the company : " And, Gentlemen, there are ten thoufand acres lying , not mentioned in the particulars of the eftate, which will be thrown into the bargain to the purchafer." Uu I 330 J CHAPTER XVI. HEAD OF THE ISTWID RIVER..PLYNILLIMON MOUNTAIN.. HEAD OP THE SEVERN.. .HEAD OE THE WYE RIVER.. .HEAD OF THE RYDOLL RIVER.... CWM ISTWID.. ..PENTRE BRUNANT INN,... HAVOD...MAEN ARTHUR.. .DEVIL'S BRIDGE... HAVOD ARMS... YSPYTTY *R ENWYN...PONT HERWID...FRONFAITH HOUSE... LAN PADERN DAAWR ESXYNALD PICCADILLY ABERISTWID CASTLE. At the conchrfion of the fourteenth chapter, I left the reader at the fpot, where the Aberiftwid road runs parallel with the Eland, and where a party, which may chufe to feparate, and examine refpeclively Cwmeland and Llyn Gwyn, muft appoint their meeting, to purfue their journey in company. Here the three counties meet : all on the eaft and fouth is Radnorshire, all on the north Montgomery (hire in North Wales, and all on the weft, Cardiganshire. From this place to Havod, a diltanc© of nine miles, over terraces, hanging on the fides of mountains,, fometimes at a higher, and fomctimes at a lower level, there is- not perhaps in Great Britain, a more wild or barren, a bolder or .more drearily magnificent highway. The very heath, which? purples the mountains about Rhayader, difappears : the very fheep forbear to colonize the wafle in populous parties. Here and there a wild poney, or fome ftraggling cattle of the country breed may accidentally tenant the precipitous crags ; but of human 7 refidence PLYNILLIMON MOUNTAIN. 331 refidence 'not a veftige is to be feen, except a wretched miner's hut here and there, and thofe at a comfortlefs diftance from each other. The Eland, lofing all character but that of defolation, imparted by the fcene around, is become a mere brook, where the road croffes it near its fource among the mountains on the ri«-ht. Thofe on the left, over which the road is now carried, are the moft rugged ; fometimes fcattered with fallen fragments, and fometimes overfpread with treacherous bogs, till the traveller finds himfelf impending over the Iftwid, at the height of full two hundred feet above it. This is a lefler branch, which rifes clofe by, and runs through this fifture between the double chain, for it is no more. Thus does it cut its narrow channel at a great depth in the rock ; fo that, while the road hangs on the lofty- mountain on the left, the fcenery on the oppofite fide, as you advance weft ward, increafes in elevation and rude magnificence. Art irrfulated mountain terminating in a craggy precipice, and narrowing to a point, rifes abruptly from the bed of the river to the height, as I have been told by thofe who profefs to have computed it, of from two hundred and twenty to two hundred and thirty yards. The pofition in which it ftands, and the fhape of its projections y^» are as fingular and romantic, as its magnitude is imposing. It appears at a diftance as the barrier, which bounds the narrow pafs between the mountains. But, on defcending, and having crofted this arm, as well as the main body of the river Iftwid near its head, we find ourfelves, inftead of emerging into a more level country, at the bafe of Plynillimon. The ftone bridge over the Iftwid, which muft ftrike the moft unobservant pafTenger, from the contraft of its elegant proportions with the mapeleflhefs of every furrounding object, was built by Mr. Johnes for the accommodation of the public. With refpedl to Plynillimon mountain, it is either the fecond or third in Wales, in point of U u 2, fize 33a CARDIGANSHIRE. fize and height. We may indeed compare it with thofe formidable perfonages of poetical creation, who walk with their feet upon the earth, and their heads in the region of the heavens. Its foot is here in Cardigauihire, but its bald and weather- beaten head is at the diftance of feveral miles in Montgomeryfhire. I know not, whether, according to the ancient divifion, it might not have fpurned the limits of a fingle kingdom. Yet after all, it is more properly to be confidered as a vaft bed of mountains, piled one upon another : Alps upon Alps, Pelion upon OfTa, or any other magnificent image which the reader may incline to affect. But the ruggednefs and inhofpitality of its environs is in general fo unrelieved, that it affords little food for the pieturefque enthufiafm of thofe who venture on the labours and perils of the afcent. It is the moft dangerous mountain in Wales, on X account of the frequent bogs, which hold out no warning, concealed as they are under a fmooth and apparently firm turf. It mould never be attempted without a guide, whofe attendance is very precarious. There is however a hovel near the bafe, which will occafionally furnifh a conductor. The leading circumftance in the character of this mountain, is its furnifhing a head to the three rivers, all celebrated among both poets and topographers, of Severn, Wye, and Rydolk To find the fources of two rivers, fo long, fo copious, and yet fo diftant from each other in their courfes, as the Severn and the Wye, with that of a third in a ftill different direction, of fcarcely inferior beauty though lefs volume, all clofe together, fupplied from the fprings of a fingle mountain, is one of thofe unexpected occurrences, with which nature delights to furprife the admirers of her boundlefs {kill and power. So remarkable a feature has not been over- looked in the topographical inquiries of Prayton, who has taken ©ccafion from it to relate the flory of Severn. Yet will the critic PLYNILLIMON MOUNTAIN. 333 critic and antiquary be inclined to look further for the real meaning and origin of the name, than to this poetical etymology. But Rydoll, young'ft, and leaft, and for the others pride Not finding fitting roomth upon the rifing fide, Alone unto the weft dire&ly takes her way. So all the neighbouring hills Plynillimon obey. For, though Moylvadian bear his craggy top fo high, As fcorning all that come in compafs of bis eye, Yet greatly is he pleas'd Plynillimon will grace Him with a cheerful look : and, fawning in his face, > His love to Severn (hews as though his own (he were Thus comforting the flood ; " O ever- during heir Of Sabrine, Locrine's child (who of her life bereft, Her ever-living name to thee, fair river, left) Brute's firft-begotten fon, which Gwendolin did wed, But foon th'inconftant lord abandoned her bed (Through his unchafte defire) for beauteous Elftred's love* Now, that which moft of all her mighty heart did move, Her father, Cornwal's duke, great Corineus dead, Was by the luftful king unjuftly banifhed. When fhe, who to that time ftill with a fmoothed brow Had feem'd to bear the breach of Locrine's former vow, Perceiving ftill her wrongs infufferable were ; Grown big with the revenge which her full breaft did bear, And aided to the birth with every little breath (Alone me being left the fpoil of love and death, In labour of her grief outrageoufly diftra&, The utmoft of her fpleen on her falfe lord to a&) She firft implores their aid to hate him whom fhe found; Whofe hearts unto the depth fhe had not left to found. To Cornwal then fhe fends (her country) for fupplies: Which all at once in arms with Gwendolin arife. Then with her warlike power her hufband fhe purfu'd, Whom his unlawful love too vainly did delude. The 334 CARDIGANSHIRE. The fierce and jealous queen, then void of all remorlc, As great in power as fpirit, whilft: he neglects her force Him fuddenly furpriz'd, and from her ireful heart All pity clean exil'd (whom nothing could convert) The fon of mighty Brute bereaved of his life ; Amongft the Britons here the firfl inteftine ftrife, Since they were put a-land upon this promis'd fhore. Then crowning Madan king, whom (he to Locrine bore. And thofe which ferv'd his (ire to his obedience brought ; Not fo with blood fuffic'd, immediately (lie lbught The mother and the child : whofe beauty when (lie (aw, Had not her heart been flint had had the power to draw A fpring of pitying tears; when dropping liquid pearl, Before the cruel queen, the lady and the girl Upon their tender knees begg'd mercy. Woe for thee Fair Elilred, that thou (houkTft thy fairer Sabiine fee. As (he mould thee behold the prey to her ftern rage Whom kingly Locrine's death fuffic'd not to affuage : Who from the bordering cliffs thee with thy mother caft Into thy chrillen'd flood, the whilft the rocks aghaft Reibunded with your (hrieks; till in a deadly dream Your courfes were diflblv'd into that cryftal dream, Your curls to curled waves which plainly dill appear The fame in water now, that once in locks they were: And, as you went to clip each others necks before, Ye now with liquid arms embrace the wand'riug fhore. Polyolbion, Song 6. In the twenty-fixth forrg, he refers to the fame ftory, connecting it with other fabulous and legendary defcents. What Feck I ? let great Thames, fince by his .fortune lie Is fovereigu of us all that here in Britain be ; From Ifis and old Tame, his pedigree derive, And lor tlae fecond place, proud Severn that doth .drive. Fetch PLYNILLIMON MOUNTAIN. 335 Fetch her defcent from Wales, from that proud mountain iprung, Plynillimon, whofe praifes frequent them among, As of that princely maid, whofe name me boafts to bear, Bright Sabrine, whom (he holds as her undoubted heir. John Philips celebrates this mountain, in the firft book of his poem on Cider. He adduces it as an example, that every foil and climate may be rendered productive and falutary, for all the purpofes of cultivation, if a philofophical fyftem of improvement, adapted to the local indications of nature, without aiming at the impoflible produces of more favoured regions, be purfued with a perfevering indifference to immediate confequences. When we fee what has been done by one man in this neighbourhood, in the fhort fpace of twenty years, it can fcarcely be unreafonable to fay, that fuch an example, if extenfively purfued, might in the courfe of a few generations produce fuch a change, as to render even this mighty hill tributary to the wants, and obedient to the will of man. What mould I more ? Ev'n on the cliffy height Of Penraenmaur, and that cloud-piercing hill, Plinlimmon, from afar the traveller kens Aftonifh'd, how the goats their ihrubby browze Gnaw pendent; nor untrembling canft thou fee, How from a fcraggy rock, whofe prominence Half overfhades the ocean, hardy men, Fearlefs of rending winds, and darning waves, Gut famphire, to excite the fqueamifh guft Of pamper'd luxury. Then, let thy ground Not lie unlabor'd ; if the richeft ftera Refufe to thrive, yet who would doubt to plant Somewhat, that may to human ufe redound, And penury, the worft of ills, remove ? There are, who, fondly fludious of increafe, Rich foreign mold on their ill-natur'd land Induce 336 CARDIGANSHIRE. Induce laborious, and with fattening muck Befmear the roots ; in vain ! the nurfling grove Seems fair a while, cherifh'd with fofter earth : " But when the alien compoft is exhauft, Its native poverty again prevails. The lame poet, in his Cerealia, has again felecled this mountain for the fubjeft of a fimile, in reference to athletic fports and rural diverfions : if indeed the name of Philips, inferted in the hand- writing of Abp. Tenifbn, in the folio copy of 1 706, belonging to the Lambeth library, together with the circumftance of its being publifhed by Bennet, the bookfeller for whom " Blenheim" was printed, be confidered as fufficiently ftrong prefumptive proof of its authentic afcription. Now from th' enfanguin'd Ifter's reeking flood, Tardy with many a corfe of Boian knight, And Gallic deep inguLft, with barbed fteeds Promifcuous, Fame to high Olympus flew, Shearing th' expanfe of heaven with active plume \ Nor fwifter from Plinlimmon's lleepy top The ftaunch gerfaulcon through the buxom air Stoops on the fteerage of his wings, to trufs The quarry, hern, or mallard, newly fprung From creek, whence bright Sabrina bubbling forth, Runs a faft Nais through the flowery meads, To fpread round Uriconium's towers her ftreams. The rudenefs of this fcene is rather augmented than diminifhed by the approach to the lead mines of Cwm Iltwid. Thefe lie on the fide of two mountains, to the right of the river Iflwid, and their entrance is juft above the road. The manorial rights belong to the proprietor of the Nantcos eftate, but the mines are leafed out to Sir Thomas JBonfaL In one of the mountains the lead is acquired CWM ISTWID. PENTRE BRUNANT INN. 537 acquired with eafe near the exterior ; but in the other, the level penetrates to the extent of three hundred yards. The dingy and unfightly piles of drofs and fifted refufe, with the fqualid garb and favage manners of the male and female miners, contribute in no flight degree to embody whatever realities the traveller over diftant and foreign wilds has defcribed, whatever tales the inventor of romance has impofed on the credulity of his reader. Who would fuppofe all this to border on every thing that is cultivated and elegant, with the intervention only of a tingle hill ? Beyond the lead mines, the fmoothnefs of the .road, a narrow ftripe of cultivation by the Iftwid, on which, however poor, the bewildered eye fixes as a refting- place, a hill in front, crowned with the novel ornament of a plantation, befpeak the approach to objects more cheerful, to a fcene of brilliant enchantment, prepared behind the fhifting caverns and magic-ftruck abodes, which feem only placed there to heighten the effect, and be withdrawn. I do not know that I was ever fenfible of more pleafure or relief, than on the unexpected fight of that woody hill, at my firft vifit. The road turning fuddenly to the right, leads up to Pentre Brunant Inn, one of the mod wretched and deftitute imaginable, in a fituation that challenges the residence of a nobleman. It is placed on the edge of a very high hill, overlooking the continuation of Cwm Iftwid into Havod grounds, and backed by a large mountain towering above it, furmounted in its turn by higher elevations, rifing to the top of Plynillimon. The barren and gloomy prevails over the landfcape ; but the foftening features to the left add an inexpreffible charm, and render the fite of this poor inn a fubject of picturefque admiration and envy. The premifes are on the fame eftate with the lead mines. They are miferable, and miferably kept: yet are the attractions of the vicinity fuch, that many parties are induced to bear with the privations of the place X x for 338 CARDIGANSHIRE. for days together, while they explore fometimes the wild, and fometimes the cultivated beauties furrounding them. The entrance to Havod by this approach is at the fhepherd's cot, on the hill to the fouth. The defcent by the foot-path from Pentre Brunant Inn is fteep and romantic. The foot-bridge acrofs the flream affords a fcene of picturefque and entangled wildnels. The hard and milk-white rocks above are worn into a whimfical variety of fhapes. The wood around and below hangs its ornamental fringe over the rugged workmanihip of nature ; while the torrent, foaming between its rough and deepened confines, falutes both the eye and ear in its tumultuous paflage down the declivity. The encircling hills, which hem in the low recefs on every fide, with here and there a fingle cottage on their brows, impofe an afpect of dignified retirement on the whole, while the lower view, penetrating the groves that exquifitely furnifh what the name implies, a fummer retreat, gives a foretafte of the pleafures to be enjoyed within the domain. It is a characteriftic of Havod, that it does not unfold itfelf at firft,: there is no approach by which the Granger's admiration is arretted at the gate. The way by the fhepherd's cot, leading only round the farm, is not a carriage road. It is the leaft finking of all the entrances, and therefore perhaps the bell:. Some of the younger plantations form the only clothing of the hills in this angle ; but thefe promife hereafter to rife into flately woods. For fome little way, we encounter the roughnefs and diforder of an entirely new creation. High as is the ground on which we fland, the ulterior profpect is intercepted by a mafiy rock of great compafs and elevation, protruding its fharp corners land projecting fragments in every direction, almoft divefted of foil, and but lately a mere object of barren horror. Yet has this hopelefs experiment been fubmitted to the planter's hand, and tnat wilh practical fuccefs. Every HAVOD. 339 Every year the hardy firs are extending their bolder fhoots, and more richly adorning that ruggednefs by contraft, which their utmoft luxuriancy can never tame. If fuch be the character of this rock, as you pafs under it on high ground, I need fcarcely fay how ornamentally it appears, when viewed at various points from the depth of the valley. The road winds round this promontory, and efcaping from its obstructions, fuddenly opens on fuch an affemblage of beauty and grandeur, ftretched out to the very limits of the perfpective, as few fpots in this ifland can equal for furprife and fingularity. After having been travelling at the foot of Plynillimon, to find the bed of the Iftwid, with its groves and meadows, ftill far beneath the level on which we are {landing, is fo unexpected a circumftance, that we rather {tart, as at the withdrawing of a curtain from before a picture, than believe it a reality. The winding of the river, here foaming impetuoufly over rocks, there fpreading its broad and glafly furface, like a lake; the endlefs woods, hanging on the mountain fides in long array, fometimes rifing to the top, but oftener contrafled by the naked ridge ; fome planted there by nature, before all attefted evidence of human habitation ; yet more that owe their luxuriance to the novel and well-directed efforts of their owner; tracts of cultivation, picturefquely circumftanced, breaking out in the diftances, and deftroying the uniformity; — all thefe, and a thoufand other undefcribable beauties, confpire to render the firft general view of this place fo fatisfying, as to fet at defiance all hazard of difappointment from the molt fanguine anticipation. Nor will even the annual vifitor look with a fatiated eye at the growing improvements of the fcene, whether natural or artificial. The point of view I am defcribing is {till further adorned by the elegant fpire of a beautiful little church, embofomed in the higheft woods of the oppofite hill. This church was finifhed but X x % a few 340 CARDIGANSHIRE, a few months before my arrival, and had no exigence when the lateft defctiption of Havod was written, but now rifes into one of its firft ornaments, and announces to the ftranger a new order of things in the wilds of Cardiganmire. At the time of my fummer vifit, I had not the advantage of being with the family ; but I had been overtaken by appointment on my way, by an intelligent and indefatigable friend, in whofe company I had determined to explore, whatever we could difcover that was interesting, beyond the route of the cuftomary attendant. We immediately decided to make for the church; and, for that purpofe, leaving the broader road, croffed a wooden foot-bridge, with one rail, piclurefquely overhung with a luxuriant oak, over a deep-bedded, black, and rocky mountain brook. The natural timber here is nurtured and drawn up, under the protection of the warm and Sheltered dingle, to a fize and growth the mod magnificent and flourifhing. The afcent to the church through the wood is fteep, but the path is fecure and fmooth. The churchyard may rival, for romantic accompaniments, that of Aberedwy, and for intereft, almoft Briton Ferry. It commands, through a natural lattice- work of intervening groves, the cultivated valley below, and the naked fheep-walks of the heights oppofite. It is difficult to avoid fmiling at the pompous devices, by which the country people aim at teftifying their refpecl for the deceafed. They fometimes even afpire fo high, doubtlefs by the benefit of clergy, as to tag their vernacular panegyric with a Latin couplet. With refpecl: to the church itfelf, I mall referve what I have to fay of it, till I come to fpeak of the eftablifhments at Havod. We defcended, by another richly fylvan path, through the hanging wood, and came out at the bottom of the mill cafcade, on the mountain brook before mentioned. Here is a fimple alcove, which at once affords accommodation to the admirer of nature, if he wifhes HAVOD. 34 r wiflies to prolong his flay, and adds an unobtrufive decoration to a fpot, frowning on the higher pretentions of art. The volume of water is rather fcanty except in floods; but the fall is fo broken by intervening rock and foliage, and the top altogether fcreened by a huge mafs, that its occafional poverty is not difclofed ; indeed, after tempefts, it forces its way over every obftru&ion, and tumbles headlong in one enlarged and tremendous cataract. It is moft advantageoufly feen from the building, at the diftance of fomc hundred feet. Between it and the alcove there is a ruftic foot-bridge, which compofes well in the picture. The pool at the bottom boils impetuoufly, and the current nifties forward, ftruggling among rocks, or ingulphed in deep cauldrons, and darkened by the fhadows, falling from the excavated fides. The •whole courfe of the brook to the river is fo fteeply inclined, that it furnifhes an uninterrupted fucceflion of fomething approaching to cafcades. We now purfued the path through the w r oods, with occailonal fpots of pafture and tillage, feen through the opening villas, till w r e came to the new carriage road to the houfe. Here the grand maiTes of wood, which clothe the hills, the Iftwid again roaring obftreperoufly along its bed, or fometimes fweeping over its broad and pebbly channel, offered themfelves more amply to our view at every ftep. A fudden turn, moft judicioufly managed, brings the {hanger unprepared, almofl before the very portico of an elegant manfion, which he had been expecting to have defcried from afar. The fituation of the houfe is admirably chofen, commanding the river with its winding vale from the fhelving ground on which it ftands. The lawn flopes elegantly, but naturally, down to the water; and immediately behind it, rifes a moft beautifully wooded hill, as if formed for the purpofe of giving fhelter and an air of repofe to a claflic refidence. Majeftic woods, reaching to a great extent along the acclivity, at once protect and adorn the chofen fpot ; while the fheep- 34* CARDIGANSHIRE. fheep-walks on the other fide the Iftwid, topped by rocks, that thruft their projections among the very clouds, remind us by what a ftyle of nature we are furrounded, in the midft of an artificial paradife. But the principal walks, and thofe of great extent, are on the oppofite fide of the river. On croffing the lawn from the houfe there is an appropriate wooden bridge over the Iftwid, rude and alpine, fupported in the middle by a ftone buttrefs. The frame-work of this bridge is fo conftrucled, as hitherto to have withftood the impetuofity of the torrent; and its fimplicity accords better with the fcene, than the higher efforts of refined art would have done. After having paffed it, by keeping along the road to the farm, you foon begin to rile from the valley in which the houfe and gardens are embofomed. The road goes to the top of the mountain; but after having afcended fome way, a path to the left, carried on a very high level, very narrow, and cut with' great labour out of the folid sock, leads through the moft romantic receffes of this interefting place. The noife of abundant rills, the moffy flones, the wild and tangled underwood, the larger timber, with which the fide of the precipice is clothed, feed and fill the attention, without allowing time to look out for objects beyond, or contemplate the depth below. On a fudden, a mafs of rock in front feems to {top all further progrefs : it thrufts itfelf perpendicularly acrofs the paflage, and its bafe is fixed far beneath. On approaching it, the folid mountain is found to have been perforated, though ks fubftance is fo hard, as to have occafioned the greatell: difficulty, and frequently to have turned the tools of the -workmen. The darknefs of the chafm, with the brawling of JefTer falls immediately underneath, combines a fort of picturefque feeling with the poetical gloom of this unufual paflage. After creeping HAVOD. 343 creeping through, the fmooth and flippery path, narrowing, and becoming more tremendous as it afcends, winds round the front of a moffy promontory, which unfolds, from its awful heights, a full view of the beautiful and fublime effects combined in this extraordinary domain. Standing on a narrow ledge, half way up the rock, with a perpendicular precipice below, and another of equal height above, we have on one fide, the river fweeping through the valley, and dividing it into equal parts, harmonioufly corresponding as well in magnificence as extent. On the other fide, the largeft of thofe many mountain torrents, which embellifh or make grand this glorious fcene, forces its way down to join the Iftwid ; its roar loud and inceffant, its foam fparkling partially at intervals through the network of intervening foliage, or efcaping from behind the rock that obtrudes itfelf on the confined and ovcrfhadowed channel. Cultivated fields, intermixed with all this wild beauty, a range of oppofite hills, precipitous and ftately as thofe on which we are placed, fplendidly arrayed with hanging woods ; the elegant church fpire, juft rifing from among the trees, and afierting its new-born honours in this fylvan retreat, carry your admiration without abatement from point to point, and make us hefitate whether to prefer the nearer or more diftant objects ; — the ruder afpecl of nature in her majeflic mood, or the judicious efforts of fenfible and modell: art, to graft convenience and improvement on the peculiarities of mountain fcenery, without fighting taftelefsly againtl: its character. On emerging from the foreft, we foon arrive on a tumuloufly formed knoll, lofty, verdant, and unincumbered, which commands a (till more extenfive profpect of the valley, and takes in nearly the whole of Havod. It has been regretted by fome, that the houfe was not built on this proud eminence : but it appears to me, that good tafte and comfort 344 CARDIGANSHIRE. comfort were both confulted, in the choice of the prefent fituation. The inducement to explore mould never be withdrawn, by a fweeping furvey from a balcony or a portico : however wide the range, the idea of magnitude is impaired, by the very poffibility of comprehending it all at once. Here are forefts, rifing upon the river on each fide, bordered with rich paftures, and interfperfed with fhepherds' cots; the jagged rock, or fmooth and verdant mountain, near whofe fummit vegetation languifhes; and the bare hills that terminate the fcene, and mingle with the horizon, in contraft with the luxuriance of Havod. But fuch fcenes are better vifited occafionally, than continually fatiating the eye, and palling on the imagination. Nothing can be conceived, if I may fo exprefs it, more domeftically pi&urefque, than the fummer dining room, with the hall door thrown open towards the water, and the rich and claffical little hill rifing before the window on the other fide. This elevated fituation could have afforded nothing fo elegant, or fo appropriately beautiful. After continuing round the brow of this majeftic hill, we fuddenly clofe in upon the brook, which forms fb remarkable a feature in thefe grounds. A cafcade of mighty force immediately announces itfelf by its roar ; and the furprife is the greater ; as the fcene that meets the eye affigns no caufe for the impreffion on the ear. As we creep along the winding and flippery path, a dark hollow in the rock attracts our notice on the right ; the din of falling water reverberates through the cave, and makes us hefitate about committing ourfelves to its damp and gloomy receffes. By a fimple but fuccefsful trial of art, the termination of the paffage forwards feems to difappoint our hopes, when, on turning fuddenly to the left, a rude aperture admits the light, and a fparkling meet of water, in front of the aperture, urges its perpendicular fall from the rock PuMitJuM Pi/Lonaman Ir Jiees. London, March /, /&OA- HAVOD. 345 rock above, into a deep hole below the cave. The place and manner of viewing this portion of a cafcade is the moft happy that could have been devifed ; and the more fo as the mind is left unfatiated, and eager to know through what unufual channel the brook is to find its way downwards, from the unfilled receiver of its abundant waters. It was much my inclination to have furnifhed the reader with a plate of this fingular fall, as feen from the cave ; but on converfing with the artift, to whom I am indebted for all my defigns, it did not appear, that the effect of the reality was capable of being fubdued to the rule and government of the pencil. The circumftances are eccentric and wonderful, but not picturefque. There is neither foliage nor herbage ; nothing but rock and water, confined as it were in one of nature's cabins. The moft ftriking feature, is the lumi- nous appearance of the foaming element, feen from fo dark a ftation, glittering as if with gems. This could fcarcely be reprefented on paper. I have therefore chofen the open view of the upper fall from the bottom, as more intelligibly repre- fenting the ftyle of Havod, and the fort of intereft it excites. I might have given a view of the valley with the houfe, but the limits of a quarto page are ill adapted to extenfive fubjects, unlefs where they are principally aquatic ; and I fhall convey a more juft idea, on what a fcale this place is, by adequately exhibiting the magnificence and richnefs of a fmgle picture, emblematic of the general character, than by attempting to crowd the lengthened perfpective of a mountain valley into the compafs of a miniature. I mail therefore take my leave of the cave, with obferving, that, after heavy rains, it is inacceflible, and proceed to the defcription of the great cafcade. After defcending, by fteps of loofe flate, from the eminence at which the firft jet of the whole brook is feen, a rude bridge Y y leads 346 CARDIGANSHIRE. leads acrofs the channel of the torrent, relieving all uncertainty as to the outlet from the pool below the cave, and accounting for the echoed founds, that have beat upon the ear throughout our pafiage up the ravin. In front of the bridge, at a little diftance, the ftream comes tumbling over in a continued fall of about one hundred feet, including that part of it, which has already been defcribed. The portion, here prefenting itfelf to our admiration, j is where the overflowing of the deep boiler projects itfelf angularly over the fmooth rock, and leaps down the ledges of its rugged and precipitate defcent, in a broken fhower of vexed and ftormy foam. The difpofition of the rocks> that line the bed of this turbulent ftream, to narrow its boundaries and impede its progrefs, helps greatly to give it that individual character, which diftinguifhes its concomitant fcenery from the common place exhibitions of artificial management, where it is attempted to graft exotics on the homely confiftency of nature; to refine her where me meant to be rude, to force her into grandeur or playfulnefs, where it was her will to be fober. Neither is it to thefe leading circumftances of picturefque wonder, that our pleafurable emotions are confined. T he- luxuriance of the herbage is increafing with every year ; the fides of the precipice are clothed with new-fprung moots, or riven by the venerable trunk of fome immemorial oak. After having crofied the torrent, at the bottom of its perpendicular fall, and exhaufted the topics of contemplation, on its brink, we may follow its fteep declivity on the northern, fide, till it joins the main river. There was no walk marked out, when Mr. Cumberland defcribed it ; but the path is now commodious, and the return is agreeably diverfified, by com- mitting ourfelves to its direction. Indeed, the rocks, through which the brook cuts its way, are fo grand, and fo well adapted from HAVOD. 347 from their quality of fchiftus, to receive the mofl varied and romantic fhapes by attrition, that fcarcely any part of the walk can be confidered as more interefting. After defcending a few paces, a refplendent little ri]l trickles down the rock above our heads, and contrails its diminutive beauties with the large and lofty ftature of the great cafcade. The precipice on the other fide, from having been our ftation, is become our object i the line of the path is obfcured by height, and diftance, and intercepting herbage, where the rock relaxes its flerility, and yields by partial fpots to the impregnation of heat and moifture. The fcene is narrow and tortuous, lofty and overfhadowed : a little fall at every angle fixes the foot, and enchains the ear and eye: the ftream, as it winds, is feen alternately, and difappears : as we look down, the rugged bottom feems yawning to receive us ; if we look back, the crag projects above our heads, the downward ruih of the torrent threatens us with its deluge. At length the dingle joins the more extended valley; a long and fteep defcentof rude fteps conducts us to the dam, artificially conftructed for the purpofe of irrigating the meadows. This dam forms a pool, into which falls a regular cafcade of at leaft twenty feet, while the precipitoufly inclined channel of the brook above, furnifhes a ^fucceffion of flaming eddies and whirlpools, cutting through rocks too prominent to be overleaped, or raging over trunks of decayed oaks, which have tumbled long ago athwart the bed of the ftream. A piece of grazing ground, formed with due attention to picturefque inequality, renews our acquaintance with the impetuous Iftwid. After crofting it by the ftone bridge, and again crofling the other mountain brook below the mill cafcade, we decline into a fheltered walk, level with the river, leading to as unexpected a creation of fairy gaiety, as lies within Yy a the 348 CARDIGANSHIRE. the feope of the moft fportive fancy. A gaudy flower garden, with its wreathing and fragrant plats bordered by fhaven turf, with a fmooth gravel walk carried round, is dropped, like an ornamental gem, among wild and towering rocks, in the very heart of boundlefs woods. Nothing can be more enveloped in folitude, nothing more beautiful or genial. The fpot at prefent contains about two acres, fwelling gently to meet the fun-beams, and teeming with every variety of fhrub or flower. But this delicious retreat has not yet arrived at its perfection. It is intended to enlarge it, by making the river the boundary; and it is ftill further to be ornamented by a Doric temple, from a defign in Stuart's Athens. There is another flower garden, of very different character, and ftill more Angularly fituated, to which ftrangers are never admitted. Almoffc behind the wall of the lower garden, there is a very grand rock, lofty and naked, ftanding alone in the midft of woods, too extenfive for the eye to meafura. This rock is an object from almoft every part of the oppofite hills. Its top is a natural platform, as if placed there for the purpofe, on which is to be erected a column to the memory of the late Duke of Bedford. Behind this rock the mountain rifes higher, and is covered with the dwarfifli growth, to which alone the ridges of thefe hills give birth. In the centre of the thicket is planted a flower garden, fo carefully fheltered and judicioufly difpofed, as to realife a paradife in the wildernefs. The tafte in which it is laid out is not fb fludioufly ornamental as that of the garden below: it aims at a coincidence with the peculiarities of its fituation, and exhibits in a nurfed ftate many of the moft curious plants, which are the natural growth of high expofures in foreign climates. The mofs-houfe gives a hermit-like air to the retirement; and the vafe, which I left my friend Mr. Banks in the act of placing HAVOD. 34 9 placing there, infcribed with a few lines from the mufe of Mr. Rogers, to commemorate a domeftic circumftance, will finifh moil happily the contemplative character of the fcene. The cold-bath is the only object, to detain the attention, in the fequeftered path from the lower flower garden to the lawn : but there are many other walks of large compafs and extenfive variety, about the grounds, not to be explored in a {ingle day. In particular, the road towards Yfpytty Iftwid, which I meant to have defcribed, but have dwelt fo long already on the picturefque beauties of this place, that I fhall refer the reader for the reft to Mr. Cumberland's eloquent and fuccefsful " Attempt to defcribe Havod." I fhall only juft obferve, that in tracing the principal walk, I have purpofely taken the direction contrary to that of Mr. Cumberland. At another time, I trod in his fteps, with his book in my hand, and found myfelf aflifted by the accuracy as well as interefled by the vivacity of his detail. The houfe was built by Mr. Baldwyn of Bath, in the Gothic, with pointed windows and pinnacles. It does much credit to the tafte and talents of the architect. It is light and airy, though capacious, and avoids that appearance of over-building, which is I fo generally the fault of manfions that are mown. Originally the offices were differently placed, but, being thought to prefs too forward into notice, were afterwards thrown into their pre- fent form. The arrangements have, indeed, undergone various changes; and the library has been added, under Mr. Johnes's own direction. But the houfe itfelf, as Mr. Baldwyn planned it, has never been altered, nor could it be, for the better r I have indeed heard it objected, that the rooms are not large enough ; but that depends entirely on the object of the owner, which I take to have been rather elegance and comfort, than oftentatious magnificence^ The rooms, which are fubraitted to the curiolity of Grangers, confut 350 CARDIGANSHIRE. confift of a hall, a mufic room, fummer and winter dining rooms, a library, and a drawing room, each rich and appropriate in their ornaments, and furnifhed with Specimens of art, not numerous, but taftefully fele&ed. There are in the hall two large pictures by Hodges, taken from pafTages in the life of Captain Cook. A favourite Newfoundland dog by Opie, a v favourite horfe by Gilpin, and a favourite fpaniel, by the fame painter. A Fruit-piece, by Michael Angelo Caravaggio. This muft have been one of his earlier!: performances ; for he began with fuch fubjects, but afterwards devoted himfelf entirely to hiftory and portraits. Still Life, probably by Roeftraeten, whofe genius inclined him to fuch fubjects, and carried him to as high a degree of excellence as the path he had chalked out to himfelf feemed to admit. The higher views of art, that now prevail, have confiderably diminifhed the value of fuch pieces. Befides thefe, are Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, a copy from Mengs ; the portrait of a lady, both the artift and fubjecl: unknown ; a bull of Caracalla, a copy from that in the villa Borghefe; and two tables of lava from Vefuvius. Over the chimney-piece in the mufic room, is a Holy Family by Baroccio. The religious fubje&s of this artift are peculiarly excellent. He attended equally to correclnefs of defign and harmony of colouring. But he did not lay himfelf out for the praife of original genius. He did not attempt to conceal, that he imitated the bell of his predeceflbrs ; and his models arc eafily to be diftinguifhed. Lord Chancellor Thurlow and Richard Payne Knight, Efq. occupy the lower part of the chimney-piece. The latter is by Lawrence. On the left hand is Herodias with John the BaptifFs head, by Michael Angelo Caravaggio, A Ruined HAVOD. 351 A Ruined Alchymift by Salvator Rofa poiTeiTes that wonderful force of expreffion, which gives fo rare a value to all his genuine works. The attitude and action of the principal figure in this piece unite individual character with all the propriety of general nature. The freedom of pencil, the fpirit and fire of imagination* flrongly mark it as the production of this mailer. " On the right hand is the portrait of Mr. Johnes of Lan Dair* by Sir Godfrey Kneller, whofe art called forth all the inveterate- peculiarities, whether of intrinfic character, or temporary modes,, which render his paintings contemporaneous chronicles of the times with the lighter papers of that great defcriber, Addifon, but leave behind no general inftruction, no topic of imitation to the profeilbr. His wigs are moil faithful and elaborate reprefentations- Under this is a view of the bridge of St. Maurienne, by Deane. Between the doors is the AfTumption of the Virgin, by- Benedetto Luti. This picture was a prefent from Mr. R. P. Knight,- and had been an altar- pieGe at Lugano, where it was purchafed* The works of this artift are much coveted for the tendernefs and delicacy of their manner, the claffical tafte, if not the critical feverity, of their defigning, and the mellow beauty of their tints. The Elijah by Rembrant is a curious picture. It has been faid of this artift, that he painted himfelf in his works. He was a miller's fon, and born in 1606. He began his career of fame and fortune at Amfterdam in the year 1630. His performances foon got into fafhion, and his fchool increafed daily. The literal copyift of whatever came before him, colouring was his great object. As he could fcarcely read, he was very carelefs about the felection of his {lories. The walls of his painting-room covered with old draperies, weapons and grotefque armour, conftituted the whole of his ftudy; and thefe, with a cheft of drawers, full of old clothes and other rubbifh, he was accuftomed to call his 7 antiques* -35* CARDIGANSHIRE. antiques. Yet was he not without a good collection of Italian prints and drawings ; but they had no power of opening his eyes to his own defects. His manner is unfinifhed, and altogether unlike the nicety of his countrymen. His pictures are rough and difagreeable on a near infpection, but at once harmonious and forcible, when viewed at a-convenient diftance. If any fpectator came too clofe to a newly-finiihed picture, he always turned him back, under the pretence that the fmell of the colours would give him the head-ache. He was rather a mannerift, than an enlarged and philofophical ftudier of nature. Cuftom and education attached him to the manners of his own country. Yet was his genius fine, his expreffion exquifite, his ftroke admirable, and his colouring beyond all rivalfhip. His lights were painted with an uncommonly thick body, but he perfectly underftood the nature and property of his colours, fo that he preferved them in all their frefhnefs. He painted few hiftorical fubjects ; and thofe few were, as in the inftance before us, altogether inferior to his portraits. There was a vulgarity in his treatment. His forte was a fimple topic, which required not the higher powers of compofition. His heads of old men are executed with fo laborious an exactnefs, as to reprefent even the hairs of the beard, and to make out minutely the very fur upon their caps. His earlier works were the moil laboured : his enthufiafm evaporated as his reputation increafed ; and he afterwards contented himfelf with the trade of an artift. The Sleeping Cupid is faid to have been by Elizabetha Sirani and Guido ; and Elizabetha Sirani is faid to have been Guido's miftrefs. She has been mentioned by the writers in general as his difciple ; but, on comparing dates, it has been found, that me was only four years old when Guido died. Thefe documents, if correct, fweep away at once both the honour and difgrace. Her father, Andrea Sirani, certainly learned his art from Guido ; and lhe HAVOD. 353 me probably hers from her father, which fufficiently accounts for her performances identifying themfelves with the fchool, of which !he was fo diftinguifhed a proficient. She is recorded as a memorable example of early genius. It is dangerous to poflefs merit in Italy. Elizabetha Sirani was poifoned. At the end of the room is a Defcent from the Crofs, by Vandyck, very much in the ftyle of his matter, Rubens. The moulder of the Magdalen in particular, and indeed all the flefhy parts, exhibit an understanding and practice of colouring, that prove him to have been a clofe obferver of Titian, and no unworthy follower of the Venetian fchool. The child pointing at the wounds is an inftance of that exquifitely natural expreffion, which none but the moil accomplifhed pencils can attain. This is a picture that would do credit to any collection. There are, at this end of the room, feveral other pictures ; particularly two landfcapes, by Berchem and Both. The rivalfhip between thefe matters was fo clofe, that a Dutch burgomafter gave acommiffion to each, with the promife of a confiderable premium, beyond the ftipulated fum, to the artift, whofe work mould be adjudged the bett. On a comparifon of the pictures-, the arbitrators were unable to decide ; and their liberal employer prefented each with a gratuity, equal to what he had defigned for the victor. The latter was diftinguiihed as Both of Italy, from his long abode in that country. He was a pupil of Abraham Bloemaart, as was his brother Andrew, whom De Piles miftakenly calls Henry. The two brothers were infeparable, as well in the exercife of the pencil as in friendfliip, till an unhappy cataftrophe befel one of them, who was drowned in a canal at Venice. John painted the landfcape, and the figures were inferted by Andrew. Yet fo much were they influenced by the fame genius, that the mixture of hands was not difcernible ; and they walked at no Z z very 354 CARDIGANSHIRE. very awful diftance behind the reputation of Claude Lorrainv The figures of Andrew Both were infinitely fuperior to thofe of Claude. After the fatal accident, the furvivor left Italy, and retired to his own country. Under the Vandyck, is a Salvator Hominum. This wonderfully fine head is by Muralez, a Spanifli painter, known in his own country under the furname of El Divino. This diftin&ion might have been conferred either on the excellence of his painting, or the nature of his fubject. The works of this matter are little, if at all, known in England. In addition to thcfe, are two views of Matavai Bay in Otaheite, and Funchal, one of the Azores, by Hodges. There are likewife two pictures by Claude. In the landfcape of one he has introduced a view of the arch at Ancona. Thefe are not in his beft ftyle, but they are believed to be genuine. This young paftrycook, who could fcarcely write his own name, when he went into Italy with the humble view of exercifing his talents on confectionary, might have difputed the palm of ignorance with Rembrant ; but both were well read in the rules of nature, without confulting any inferior author. His firft attempts were in the fervice of Taffi> a pupil of Paul Bril. Claude Lorrain aflifted him in preparing his colours. Taffi and Claude's elder brother John, an engraver of wood cuts, taught him a few principles of the art. He afterwards patted two years at Naples with GofTredi, who taught him landfcape, architecture, and perfpecYive. But on the whole he owed little of his ability to his matters. He fucceeded very indifferently in figures, though he attended the drawing fchool daily during his refidence at Rome. Lauri and Courtois frequently inferted them for him ; but when he did them himfelf, he ufed to fay jeftingly, that he fold the landfcape, and gave the figures into the bargain. He had 6 no HAVOD. 355 no objection to rubbing out. His distances are admirable ; and no man better praclifed a juft and proportionate degradation in the tones of colours. He was indefatigable in obferving the circumftances and accidents of nature in the fky, whether the rifmg or fetting of the fun, rain, thunder-clouds, or any other linking effects. On his return home, he committed his obfervations to canvas, and treafured them as hints to be introduced into his regular works. Sandrart obferves of his trees, that they appear to ruftle, as if put in motion by the wind. Baldinucci has fpoken highly of his knowledge in perfpective : but critics in general have agreed, that this praife mutt be underflood as confined to the aerial, and that he was by no means a perfect matter of the lineal. The truth and frefhnefs of his colouring, his aptitude in reprefenting the time of day, and the varying appearances of light, are the leading features of his excellence. On the whole, he has . generally been confidered as the moft perfecl model for landfcape painters. Tables of verde antico and alabaftro antico, with corners of porphyry, a ftudio of different marbles, and a butt cf Mifs Rofe, daughter of George Rofe, Efq. formerly of the Treafury, by Banks, make up the remaining ornaments of this elegant arid claffical room. In the dining room, there is a family picture by Romney. The perfons introduced are Mr. Mrs. and Mifs Johnes, Major General J. Lewis, and Dr. Stevenfon of LlandyfTul, a particular friend of the family. The likeneiTes are correct and pleafing, and the ttory of the fortune-teller is fufficiently well managed ; but the painting is wafhy and poor, and by no means fit to challenge competition with thofe matters, with whom its ftation in this houfe unavoidably brings it into companion. The chimney-piece in this room is from the claffical Chiflel of Banks. The heads of Socrates, Plato, Alciblades, Sappho, and Z z 2, three 35& CARDIGANSHIRE. three other ancient worthies, form its principal ornament, and the draperies are remarkably well worked. On the chimney-piece ► is an antique figure of Ariadne, which is very beautiful, but the head is not its own. The drapery is admirable ; and the grapes taken up in the folds afford an exquifite fpecimen of elegant defign, and delicate execution. In the winter dining room, over the chimney, is a Cleopatra by Guercino. His ftrong lights and fhadows give wonderful force to this as well as to moil other of his pictures. He preferred the Venetian to the Roman fchool, and devoted his principal ftudy to the attainment of excellence in colouring. There is a powerful and lively expreffion in this piece, which gives a value to the mafter, not only as a colourift, but as an imitator of nature. The pictures on the fide of the room are, the Vale and Cafcatella of Tivoli, by Delany. The temple is artificially introduced, to heighten the effect. Its actual fituation is in the vicinity of the town. The Flemifh landfcape has been fuppofed to be by Wou- vermans ; though, from its rank and character as a performance, it may with more probability be afcribed to fome of his difciples or imitators.. But the Elijah fed by Ravens merits a more detailed attention. The catalogue informs us, that it came from the monaftery of Talley, in the county of Caermarthen, at the reformation ; and was fuppofed to be the work of fome among the earlieft mailers after the revival of painting; Cimabue, Giotto, or perhaps John Van Eyck, the firft painter in oil. It would be molt for the honour of this venerable relic, if we might with fafety attribute it to Giotto. But this very circumftance would be fufficient to deter us from hazarding fuch an opinion. Giotto was far fuperior to his matter Cimabue, who had hi mfelf attained much more elegance, than is to be found in this ftiff compofition. It has been thought that John Van Eyck was more probably the painter HAVOD. 357 painter than either, as there was always a connexion between this country and Flanders, which might account for its early importation. How long it had been in pofTeffion of the monks at Talley, is not known ; but it has remained in this family ever fince. It is undoubtedly a very great curiofity; though more to be valued as fuch, than for the merit of the performance. This confideration has convinced a friend of mine, whofe authority {lands high on the fubjecl of art, that this piece may boaft a ftill higher antiquity, than has hitherto been afcribed to it ; a date more congenial with the ftyle and fuccefs of the effort. He refers it to one of thofe Greek artifts, who were invited to Florence about the middle of the thirteenth century, and infpired Cimabue, confined ^s were their own pow T ers, with the ambition of reftoring the art of painting. Confidered as the attempt of that ignorant age, it reflects the higheft credit on the ingenuity of its author : but if it really came from the father of modern painters, or any of his early fuccefTors, it would but detract from the reputation attached to them for fo foon improving on the models of their rude inftructors. The beft part of the piece is the compartment with the chariot. It poffefles a confiderable portion of elegance and freedom. The lower row confifts of a Sketch by Vandyke, fuppofed to be defigned for Lord Stafford. A View of Newcaftle in Emlyn by Ibbetfon, which does no inadequate juftice to that fingular fpot. The ruin is a fine fubjecl:, and has not been loft upon the artift. A Portrait of Mr. R. P. Knight, by Webber. A View of Aberiftwid, by Ibbetfon, in which the drefs and character of the Welfh peafants are well preferved ; and a Portrait of Mr. Robert Lifton, by Wickftead. Over the doors of this room are four coloured drawings of fcenes within the precincts of Havod, by Jones, of whom fome brier- 35» CARDIGANSHIRE. brief memoirs have already been given. A Buft o( the late Duke of Bedford, by Nollekens, was placed here in the interval between my firft and fecond vifit. It is a correct, but not an animated likenefs. The anti-library is juft completed. A ftaircafc formerly occupied the area, which is now converted into a claflical apartment, fo that it occafioned an incommodious and unfightly accefs to one of the fineft rooms in the kingdom. This anti-library is arranged in the form of a chapel, in which is placed fome very curious painted glafs. In the large window, there is an uncommonly fine portrait of a cardinal, kneeling to his tutelary faint, which may with good reafon be fuppofed to have been done from one of Holbein's portraits. The arms of this cardinal are blazoned on the covering of his kneeling defk, but his name has not yet been difcovered. The higheft excellence of colouring in this branch of art is here attained, while the ufual portion of accuracy in drawing, and fidelity in copying, after the mafter, are far exceeded. The reception, that Holbein met with in this country, was highly creditable to Henry the Eighth and his court. The tafte of the monarch was confpicuous in his patronage of the artiit ; and the liberality of Sir Thomas More, in parting with his valuable pictures to his mafter, for the fake of engaging that powerful protection, was not unkindly rewarded, when Henry returned the pictures, and declared himfelf fatisfied with commanding the hand, that could paint their equals. There is only one other work of art in this room, which is, a buft. of Lord Thurlow, by Jtofli. It is a faithful and characteristic portrait. The fubject is a fine one, and has been finely treated, with the exception of one error, into which the artiit has been betrayed by the proverbial eyebrows of the noble original. In his endeavours to lay hold of fo remarkable a feature, he has fucceeded in making them fufficiently heavy; but HAVOD. 359 but they are not workecHike hair, and the heavinefs is the heavinefs of a folic! lump, not that of a bufhy excrefcence. The library is an octagon, with the light admitted from the dome. It is furrounded by a gallery, fupported on pillars of variegated marble. Thefe pillars are very magnificent, of the Doric order. The Symmetry of this room would be perfect, if the pillars were not fomewhat too large for their height. This circumftance arofe from fome error of meafurement among the workmen, when the room was building. As it is, however, it reflects high credit on the owner of Havod, who was in this inftance his own architect ; and this library is the triumph of the place. It opens into a confervatory, one hundred and fixty feet in length, filled with rare and curious exotics, with a walk down the centre. The doors are all pannelled with plate glafs ; fo that when the entrance-door of the library is fhut, and the communi- cation open, the view from the end of the confervatory, through the library, into a feeming fecond confervatory, almoft realizes the fictitious defcriptions of enchantment. Nor is the firft entrance into the library, with the paradife of rarities beyond, lefs linking. Over the chimney in the library there is an antique head of Ifis, in red granite, and an antique Mofaic from Adrian's villa. On the mantle are bults of Mrs. and Mifs Johnes, by Banks ; a petrifaction found in the old bed of the Nile 5 and a fragment of the bafe of Pompey's column at Alexandria, brought thence by Lieutenant-Colonel James Lhuyd, and given by him to Mr. Johnes. In the confervatory there is a piece of iculpture by Banks, which, for claffical defign and delicacy of execution, would of itfelf place him among the purelt followers of the ancient and heft examples, if his fame had not long fince been eftablifhed on a firm foundation. The fubject is, Thetis dipping Achilles in the river 3$ CARDIGANSHIRE. river Styx. The figures are exquifite; and the monfters of the Styx, carried round the bafe, are poetically fancied, as well as ingeniouily fculptured. There is at the extremity of the confer- vatory, a Maik by the fame artifl. The drawing room is completely furnifhed with Gobelin tapeftxy of great beauty and brilliancy, and the whole furniture is in the French tafte, to correfpond with the hangings. This is the only room which affects fplendour of decoration ; and, as peculiarly appropriated to the ladies, it is judicioufly contrafted with the more fober ltyle of the adjoining apartments. The colonade front is occupied by another fuite, which is never fhown to accidental vifitors. In thefe rooms the fame tafte is preferved ; and they are enriched with many ornaments and curiofities, in harmony with the purfuits of the occupier. Among the number are, a Drawing of Augustus's Bridge over the Nar, by Jacob More ; two Paintings done on wax, from the Vatican, by a Roman ; and feveral coins, Roman rings, and other curioiities of antiquity, found in this . part of Cardiganfhire. Hogarth's South wark Fair is, however, the moft rare and valuable gem in this little collection. The humours have never perhaps been more univerfally collected into one picture. This piece alone would have juftified Lord Orford in characterifing Hogarth as a writer of comedy with a pencil. But it is time to refrain from the enumeration of particulars, and to take my leave of Havod with a fketch of its general character. In laying out the grounds, art has been no further confulted, than to render nature acceffible. Indeed, nature has in this country fo obftinate a will of her own, that Ihe would fcarcely fuffer a tafte, the reverfe of that fo purely difplayed, to interfere with her vagaries. There is one reflection, which is particularly pleafing at Havod. Notwithftanding all that has been done, the place is yet in its infancy. Moft of the fine refidences HAVOD. 361 in England arc finifhed, and many beginning to decay. But Havod, fifty years hence, will ftand alone in grandeur, if the plans of its firft former are not abandoned by its fuccefTors. What we now fee, is the fruit of only twenty years. In 1783, it was a wildernefs. There was, indeed, an old houfe belonging to the family ; but it was deferted as an untenantable refidence, and the very eftate held of little account. In 1783, Mr. Johnes deter- mined to fettle here. In 1803, Havod was as I have defcribed, and as the numerous friends of the owner can bear witnefs to having feen it. Hills, planted by the very hands of the pre- fent inhabitants, have already rifen into opulence of timber; other hills are covered with infant plantations of luxuriant promife; and more of the lofty wafte is now marked out, to be called into ufefulnefs and fertility, in a fucceffion of enfuing autumns. Larch trees have been very fuccefsful on thefe hills : but Mr. Johnes's attempts have not been confined to this fpecies of timber only; he has engaged in an immenfe extent of general plantations, of which it will not be uninterefting to the practical agriculturalift to give fome brief account. From June 1 J96 to June 1 J$7> f° ur hundred thoufand larches were planted, and very few of the plants failed. Befides thefe, in the fame year, two hundred and fifty thoufand other trees were planted, of which fifty thoufand were alders, and the reft elm, beech, birch, afh, and mountain am. They all throve well, but the beech flourifhed more than any, except the larch. About ten thoufand were planted to the acre. From October 1797 to October 1798, ten thoufand oaks were planted, from one to two feet high ; and from October 1798 to April 1 799, fifty-five acres were fet with acorns. In the fame fpace of time, in which the plantation of oaks was going forward, twenty-five thoufand afh trees were planted, of which not more 3 A than 362 CARDIGANSHIRE. than five hundred died, and about four hundred thoufand larch trees. The larches were all two years old feedlings, and were always planted on the upper parts of hills. The larches planted at the height of from eighteen inches to two feet, in the year 1796, were from ten to thirteen feet high in 1802. The medium growth has been from twenty inches to two feet each year ; but the moots of one very favourable feafon were from two feet and a half to three feet, and in fome inftances, three feet eight inches. The whole number of trees planted on the eftate from October 1795 to April 1 80 1, amounted to two millions and fixty-five thoufand, of which one million two hundred thoufand were larches, without including the land fown with acorns. But the fyftem of planting is to be extended, on a ftill larger fcale, till nothing naked breaks in upon the fcenery, except lome rock, whofe picturefque effect exempts it from obedience to the culti- vator. Nor are thefe, great as they may juftly be confidered, the only improvements in progrefs. The general fyftem of farming is purfued with fpirit and judgment, and the dairy may be faid to have been brought to perfection, by collecting the different breeds of milch cows, and comparing their merits. The long eftablifhed prejudice, that varieties of cheefe cannot be produced on the fame land, is completely refuted by the experience of this dairy, which produces Parmefan, Stilton, Glocefter, Chefhire, and every other kind, fo excellent in quality, and fo exact in the imitation of fhape and flavour, as to deceive the moft accurate eye or palate. The crops of wheat, barley, rye, and potatoes, have been abundantly flouriihing in favourable feafons, where it has been confidered as madnefs to attempt their growth. Some even of the very high and expofed grounds have been brought into cultivation, and bid fair, in the courfe of time, to repay the labour and expence. The plan here purfued has been given to the HAVOD. 363 the public, in a little pamphlet, entitled, " A Cardiganfhire Landlord's Advice to his Tenants." More than forty cows have been imported from Holland, and are now naturalized among thefe mountains, befides Devon, Scotch, Guernfey, and moft other breeds. The number of labourers employed about the farm is very great, and their comfortable cottages interfperfed among the woods, with the houfes of the bailiff and gardener afpiring even to elegance, convey more the idea of a flouriming colony, than of a private gentleman's refidence. There are other befides agricultural inftitutions, of a nature fcarcely to be expected in fuch a place. A printing prefs, with all the neceffary materials for carrying on large and extenfive works, is eftablifhed in the grounds. Here Mr. Johnes is printing his translation of FroiiTart, under his own immediate fuperintendance. The firft volume is probably com- pleted by this time. A fchool for the gratuitous education of girls has for fome time been opened, under the direction of the refpec- table patronefs ; and it is propofed hereafter to eftablifh another fchool for boys, on a liberal foundation. A furgeon and apothe- cary has an annual penfion, for his attendance on the cottagers of the eftate ; and there was at one time a difpenfary for the whole neighbourhood once a fortnight at the houfe j but this, for fome reafons of expedience, has been difcontinued. With relpecl to the church, which has been fo often mentioned as giving a finifh to the various profpe&s, it merits particular attention. There was before an old building in very bad repair, ferving as a chapel of eafe to the mother church of Eglwys Newydd. It was firft propofed that this ruinous chapel mould be reinftated at the joint expence of the parifh and the proprietor of Havod ; but the patience of the latter could not accommodate itfelf to the delays and evident reluctance of the former. Wyat gave a drawing with which no 3 A z fault 364. CARDIGANSHIRE. fault can be found, except that perhaps the pinnacles are not fufficiently light and pointed ; and the church rofe into its prefent ornamental form without the affiftance of the parifh. It is attended every Sunday by the Havod family, their vifitors, fervants, and about two hundred of the neighbouring peafantry, comfortable in their appearance, decent and devout in their behaviour. The uniform and characteristic drefs of the people has a peculiar and pleafing effecT:. The fervice is in Welfh, and therefore not very edifying to the Englifh part of the congregation. The interior of the church adds elegance to fimplicity and cleanlinefs. There is already an altar piece by Fufeli ; and the large window in the family feat is to be filled with painted glafs, of a fimilar quality and merit with that in the anti-library. It may well be fuppofed that the farm yards are all furnifhed with buildings and implements the raoft novel, extenfive, and complete. The farm has been entirely furrounded with ftone walls, which, though tremendoufly expenfive, are abfolutely necefTary to the fucceis of agricultural projects in this country. It has of late been a cuftom more entertaining than delicate, to take every opportunity of bringing the modes of private life before the tribunal of the public. On fuch a fubject I fhall content myfelf with obferving generally, that the habits of this family are regular in themfelves, paternal in the care of their dependents, and hofpitable in the reception of their friends. On quitting Havod, we crofTed Maen Arthur, Signifying in Englifh, Arthur's Stone, fo called probably from fome fuppofed memorial of that prince. The hill is bold, rugged, and barren. On gaining the top, the ground continues high, and feems to juftify my having denominated this a country of excavations, when the Llanidloes road opens a partial view of that mighty dingle, where the rivers Mynach and Rydoll unite their torrents. In THE DEVIL'S BRIDGE. 355 In front we had the great fall of the Rydoll, fhrinking apparently v- 3>>>, into a cafcade of fmall dimenfions, by the height and diftance at which we were placed. A gentle defcent gradually unfolds the fcenery to view, till at length it burfts upon the fight in full difplay on the Devil's Bridge. This is a fingle arch between twenty and thirty feet in the chord, thrown over another arch of lefs than twenty feet below, which fpans a tremendous chafm. The hiftory of the bridge is underftood to be this : that the lower arch was thrown over by the monks of Yftrad Fflur Abby, about the year 1087; but that the country people, thinking fo bold an effort above the reach of their fpiritual fathers, afcribed it to the architect, whofe name it bears. But the Abby of Yftrad Fflur was not founded till the year 1 1 64. Either, therefore, it was not the work o£ thofe monks, or it muft be placed a century later. Girald mentions having patted over it in u88, when he travelled through Wales, with Baldwin Archbifhop of Canterbury, to preach the crufades ; fo that it rauft have flood there between fix and feven hundred years, and there it ftill remains. But the defcent muft always have been too abrupt for general convenience ; and the fafety of the bridge itfelf began to be fufpecled. In the year 1753, the prefent bridge was built directly over the original, which was left ftanding. The lower therefore may be ftill reforted to, in cafe of any accident happening to the upper, which is necefTarily wider as the fhTure expands towards the top. Yet it is not the art of conquering the obftacles of this chafm that excites our wonder, but the chafm itfelf, the correfponding fides of which prove how firmly it muft have been united. The cleft has evidently been enlarged, and perhaps originally pro- duced, by the incefTant attack of the impetuous Mynach on the folid wall of rock. The lower arch may be diftin&ly viewed by- looking over the parapet of the upper bridge ; but the whole fcenc 3 66 CARDIGANSHIRE. fcene is fo enveloped in wood, that the depth is not perceived ; and many an incurious traveller has paffed the Devil's Bridge, without diflinguifhing its circumftances from thofe of an ordinary road. On the right of the bridge we made our firft defcent, to the bottom of the aperture, through which the Mynach drives its furious paflfage. This truly acherontic ftream forces itfelf through mafles and fragments of oppofing rocks, hollowing out deep cavities, filled with the awful blacknefs of unfathomed waters, and thickening the mifty gloom of a recefs, impervious to funlhine. Thefe fcenes have of late been fo much the object of attention, that their meafurements have all been curioufly afcertained. The depth from the prefent bridge to the bed of the river is one hundred and fourteen feet. The effect of the double arch with its accompaniments is picturefque as well as fingular, and the narrownefs of the fiflure, darkened by its artifi- cial roof, enhances, rather than abates, the folemn gloom of the abyfs. Thefe dingles are all lined with one vaft foreft, fo that, in this narrower part, the branches of the oppofite trees are almoft interwoven. On regaining the road, we made our fecond defcent at the diftance of a few yards on the other fide of the bridge, to view the four concatenated falls from the point of a rock in front. Each of thefe is received into a deep and agitated pool at the bottom, but fo diminifhed to the eye at the prefent point of view, as to melt the four into one continued cafcade. The firft fall takes place about forty yards fouth-weft of the bridge, where the river is confined to narrow limits by the rocks. It is carried about fix feet over the ridge, and projected into a bafon at the depth of eighteen feet. Its next leap is fixty feet, and the third is again diminifhed to twenty, when it encounters rocks of pro- digious fize, through which it ftruggles to the edge of the largeft 3 cataract, THE DEVIL'S BRIDGE. 367 cataract, and pours in one unbroken torrent down a precipice of one hundred and ten feet. The river, therefore, falls two hundred and eight perpendicular feet, without allowing for the declivity of the three pools. Add to this, one hundred and fourteen, and the per- pendicular depth from the bridge to the junction of the Mynach and Rydoll is three hundred and twenty-two feet or upwards. This confluence of intervolving vallies is as Stupendous for its width, as the dingle above the bridge for its profoundly narrow cleft. Thefe immenfe hollows, branching out on every hand, are all richly clad in exhaufllefs leaf, from ftems that vegetate betw r een the crevices of the rock. From this fpot, with the affiftance of our guide, we found our way to the fall of the Rydoll, not to be approached in time of flood, and feldom vifited, owing to the difficulty of the approach. Yet is it, in my view of the fubject, the perfection of the fcene. The fublime features of this cataract will be better understood from the frontifpiece than from any defcription. The bafon into which it falls is agitated like a fea, by the violence of the mock : the rocks that have planted themfelves acrofs the channel are enormous : the hue of the waters is dark ; the hills ftand upright into the iky; nothing glitters through the gloom, but the foam of the torrent ; nothing invades the deep filenee, but its found. The flaming of the rill from above into the broad cafcade adds inexpremble beauty to its grandeur. Turning from this Stupendous object, we looked along the glen, againft a precipice of forefls, on the brink of which flood the Havod Arms, at the perpendicular height of more than an' hundred and fifty yards. The Rydoll foon meets the Mynach, and their junction may here be traced. The cafcades on the two rivers are not within fight of each other; nor is the Devil's Bridge feen from the falls of the Mynach, as it has been erroneoufly reprefented in fome publifhed engravings- 368 CARDIGANSHIRE. engravings. Thofe falls having been already delineated, and being, in my opinion, too vaft to come properly within fo fmall a compafs, I rather chofe that of the Rydoll, more picturefque perhaps, and never yet given to the public ; while the general view of the dingle, including the Havod Arms, will, I hope, ferve adequately to characterife the magnitude and intereft of the fcenery. After repaying the Devil's Bridge, we defcended, for the fourth time, at the fide of the Mynach falls, to the Robber's Cave, at the jet of the loweft fall ; for years, according to tradition, the hiding-place of two brothers and a fitter, who infefted the neigh- bourhood as plunderers. The cave has in itfelf nothing to repay its vifitors for encountering the obflacles of the path ; but our object was, to examine clofely each of the pools. The four cafcades, thus taken in detail, imprefs the mind more ftrongly than before with the gigantic meafurement of their proportions, becaufe here the extent of the unfathomed pools between each is obvious to the eye. The fecond fall of iixty feet is grand in the extreme. When viewed connectedly and at a diftance from the oppofite ftation, great as they really are, their character is molt diftinguifhingly marked by elegance and beauty. I would recom- mend it to a ftranger, not to be fatisfied without climbing thefe dingles in every direction. Without going to the robber's cave, we mould have loft the bold rocks and luxuriant timber below the point, whence we firft viewed thefe cataracts, hidden as they were by the poiition in which we then ftood. . With the decline of daylight, we returned to the Havod Arms. This houfe is on Mr. Johnes's eftate, and was built by him for the accommodation of travellers. It has hitherto been very ill kept ; but two of his fervants are now fettled there, and the public are likely to benefit by the change. The houfe is to be enlarged by the addition of two YSPYTTY 'R ENWYN. 3^9 two wings, which will render it a handfome building. Its fituation is magnificent. The back windows command the fall of the Rydoll, and overlook the intervening abyfs in all its grandeur. This houfe, in fpite of its difcomforts, has of late years been conflantly full during the fummer months. With a better road between this place and Brecknock, and decent inns at the towns of Rhayader and Buallt, the tour from Glocefter and Monmouth acrofs the country to the fea-coaft of Cardiganshire might be rendered very popular. The vifitors of thefe fcenes feldom go beyond the Devil's Bridge, unlefs their road lies for Llanidloes ; and even then, they are apt to pafs a very curious fpot, lying a little to the left of Yfpytty 'r Enwyn, without notice, for want of information. The village of Yfpytty 'r Enwyn itfelf, though confifting only of a few wretched cottages, is remarkable on account of its origin. This, and Yfpytty Iflwid, are the ancient hofpitia of the monks, who, when Yftrad Fflur Abbey was in its fplendour, Rationed fmall detachments of their brethren at certain intervals, to protecl: and refrefh the traveller on his journey through this defolate track. Wherever the word Yfpytty occurs, it may be traced to a fimilar eftablifhment. Thefe were among the moft beneficial of the monaftic inflitutions, and have fubfifted on the fame footing to modern times upon the continent, wherever they have been per- mitted by the genius of the prevailing religion, and rendered necefTary by the inability of the lay inhabitants, from poverty and want of refort, to open public inns. There is in the churchyard a large, upright ftone monument, with the characters entirely defaced. I could not learn, that any tradition was attached to it in the neighbourhood; and there was nothing in its fhape or appearance, particularly to diftinguifh it from fimilar erections, to be met with in every part of this country. But the fcene to 3 B which #e CARDIGANSHIRE. which I referred is Pont Herwid, juft at the confluence of the rivers Caftel and Rydoll, in a deep and narrow dingle, poflefling more than the wildnefs of thofe I have juft now defcribed, without the attractions of their rich and varied beauties. The rocky fcenery has not degenerated in boldnefs, nor is it entirely defpoiled of vegetation ; but the whole tone of furrounding nature, as well as the furface of the immediate foil, is dark and terrific, and difpofes the mod perfevering enthufiaft to retire, after a curfory examination, from the fpot. A rude bridge is thrown from rock to rock over a chafm, though different in form, fcarcely lefs repulfive in its afpect than that of the Devil's Bridge. Thofe who vifit the place would fcarcely be induced to credit the fad, were I not to fubjoin the name of the gentleman, who performed £o extraordinary a feat of activity; but Mr. Charles Long, late of the Treafury, undertook to leap over this deep-worn bed of many waters, and cleared it in perfect fafety. The next object of picturefque attention is the interefting vale of Rydoll, whether you view it from the ridge, along which the turnpike road runs to Aberiftwid, or fkirt the banks of the river in the bottom of the valley. I took the latter courfe in the fummer, and turned off to the right from the great road. After winding down one of thefe vaft dingles, a narrow foot bridge crofles the Rydoll, juft below no inconfiderable fall. For feveral miles, a fcene of foftened beauty prefented itfelf. We receded from the ftupendous, without lofmg fight of it ; the hills onward were ftill lofty, but gradually retiring from the river, and melting down into mildnefs and compofure. The charms of cultivation again make tbemfelves felt; the bed of the river becomes broader, and its current more tranquil ; the flopes are more gentle, and the wild luxuriance of forefts is exchanged for the gentler made of groves. There is, however, one more bold fcene, before you enter FRONFAITH HOUSE. LAN PADERN. 371 enter on the flat country; a fine fall of the whole river, of confi- derable height, with a mill to give it character in the eye of a painter. After patting near Fronfaith Houfe, the feat of Sir Thomas Bonfal, the fubject of curiofity is the village of Lan Padern, once a bifhop's fee, founded by St. Padern the Great. This Padern was the defcendant of an Armorican prince, and himfelf, as fome fay, a native of Mauritania. He was the coufin of Cad wan, with whom he came into Britain, and attained a high character for fanctity in the college of llltyd. He afterwards removed from that primitive feminary of piety and learning, and erected this fee about the middle of the fixth century; though that date, if correct, feems to be too early for his fuppofed connexion with Cad wan. The congregation confided of one hundred and twenty members, and Padern was dignified with the title of Archbilhop. He has been already mentioned as one of the three bleiTed vifitors. He is recorded to have performed the functions of his office without reward, and to have alleviated the diflrefTes of the poor, as far as his ability extended. But the inhabitants feem to have profited little by fo virtuous an example ; for in procefs of time they killed their bifliop, and the cenfure of the country runs in flrong terms, that there has not been one good man among them ever fince. The bifhopric, for the crime of the people, was funk in that of St. David's ; but there was ftill an abbey, under the jurifdiction of a layman, in the time of Girald, the exiflence of which is ftill to be traced in the form and architecture of the prefent parifh church. It retains many indications of high anti- quity. It is large, and built as a crofs, with nave, and chancel, in the oldefl ftyle of Gothic. Lan Padern, then a city, was deftroyed by the Danes in the year 987, in the reign of Meredith ap Owen. They directed their violence particularly againft religious eftablifh- ments, probably as offering the eafieft and richeft prey. Meredith 3 B x ap 67 \ CARDIGANSHIRE. ap Owen, finding the country unable to repel them by force of arms, confented to pay one penny for every man within his terri- tory. This was called the tribute of the black army. There are a few modern monuments in this church, particularly one to Mr. Lewis Morris, whom that very able antiquary, Mr. Samuel Pegge, has mentioned in a letter to Dr. Philips, as a moft excellent fcholar, perfectly acquainted with the language and hiftory of his own country. It will not therefore be uninterefting to inquire, under what circumftances he gained fo flattering a teftimony. He was the youngeft fon of a cooper and corn dealer in Angleiy, who was not in circumftances to give his children any better education, than what the village fchool afforded. Yet did they all attain a refpectable rank in fociety, and no mean diftinction in fcience, by the diligent cultivation of their natural endowments. Lewis was born in the year 1703, and was brought up to the bufinefs of a land-furveyor ; but he w r as afterwards employed in various offices under government. The leading particulars of his life and character may be collected from his own letters to Mr. Pegge, in which he acknowledges the honour conferred on him by the correfpondence of that gentleman. He reprefents himfelf as having acquired his little ftock of knowledge in a manner by dint of nature. His education, as to language, had not been regular, and his progrefs had been much impeded by want of practice and intercourfe with men of letters. He fays that he had been employed, firft in the cufloms and fait duties, then by the Admiralty, to furvey the coaft of Wales, and afterwards by the Treafury, as furveyor of the king's land revenue, collector of the cufloms at Aberdovey, and Superintendent of the king's mines in Wales ; fo that public affairs had taken up the moft valuable part r of his time. A part of his furvey was publifhed in 174.8. He profefles the Englifh tongue to he as much a foreign language to him, LAN PADERN. 373 him, as the French ; there being whole parifhes, in the moun- tainous parts of Wales, where there is not a word of Engliih fpoken. In the year 1761, at the time of writing this letter, he was, according to his own account, in no public bufinefs, except Superintendent of the king's mines, without a falary. He had retired to a little villa of his own, at Penbryn, where his garden, orchard, and farm, with fome fmall mine works, took up a con- fiderable portion of his time. His knowledge in medicine and furgery brought him the vifits of the poor; and his botanical Studies, which had been his own favourite amufement, were now converted to their benefit. He had attended from his childhood to natural philofophy and mathematics. He had collected fofiils and Shells; but confeffed his knowledge in coins to be very Slender. He had turned his thoughts to models and engines, and made feveral improvements in the branches of mechanics con- nected with them. But his erudition lay chiefly in the line of ancient Britifh hiftory, on which he had prepared a great variety of Sketches, common places, and notes. Thefe he meant to have collected and arranged in a work, to be entitled, " Celtic .Remains," the manufcript of which has Since been entrufled to . the Rev. Walter Davies, for the purpofe of publication in an j[ enlarged and improved Slate. Had Mr. Morris been a man of leifure, and could he have fubmitted to confine his attention to any one branch of fcience, his fuperior faculties would probably have elevated him to the higheft rank in his department. As it was, he became a refpectable proficient in many fciences. He was learned in the theory of mufic, and a good performer on feveral instruments. To his acute difcovery of latent genius, and friendly afliflance in the taSk of elementary instruction, the public were indebted for the harp of Parry. Mr. Morris, in his latter days, fuffered Severely by a complication of difeafes, and died in the 374 CARDIGANSHIRE. the year 1765. His collection of ancient manufcripts is deposited in the Welfh charity fchool in London. He was buried in this church ; and with thefe brief memorials of an interesting and meritorious character, I take my leave of this primitive eftablifh- ment. The remains of fuch a man may not unworthily lie, even by thofe of the venerable St.Padern, who is recorded, in the quaint antithefis of ancient biographers, by feeding to have governed, and. by governing to have fed. The houfes in the village, as well as the church, bear evident marks of high antiquity, and, as is generally the cafe here, are more decent as more ancient. The turnpike road from the Devil's Bridge to Aberiftwid is over a ridge of hills, exhibiting a general view of the vale, as the road by the Rydoll unfolds the fcenery in detail. The village of Efkynald excepted, there is little appearance of an inhabited country. About three miles from Aberiftwid, there is a fine fea view, agreeably broken by a promontory in front of the road. Other picturefque circumftances might be mentioned; but I haften to the defcription of Aberiftwid, which we approached by a turnpike gate, where arc a few houfes, known by the name of Piccadilly. The building of the caftle is thus related. King Henry the Firft, about the year 1109, told Gilbert Strongbow, that as he had frequently petitioned to obtain fome lands in Wales, he might now win and poffefs the lands and inheritance of Cadwgan ap Blethin. Gilbert immediately collected his forces, and having landed in Cardiganshire, reduced the country to fubjection with little difficulty. He then built two caftles ; one in the direction of Pembrokeihire, perhaps at Kilgerran, and the other at this place, \f on the river Rydoll, one mile from Lan Padern. It was of courfe the policy of this intruder, to embroil the native proprietors with the King of England, that his own houfe might be aggran- dized ABERISTWID CASTLE. 375 dized by conquefts and confifcations. About the year 1 1 1 1 , Gruffyth ap Rees came over from Ireland, where he had been brought up from his childhood. He had not refided more than two years in his native country, before he was accufed of aiming at the fovereignty of South Wales. King Henry made feveral attempts to poffefs his perfon ; but the vigilance of his friends defeated every confpiracy. In the courfe of time, he was enabled to act on the ofTenfive. After many other bold and fuccefsful feats, in the year 11 16, he encamped near the fortified maniion on the banks of the Rydoll, between Aberiftwid and the town of Lan Padern, with the intention of laying fiege to the caftle of Aberiftwid on the following day. But a reinforcement from a caftle in the neighbourhood, with a fuperiority of military ftratagems on the part of the enemy, converted the aggrefiion of the Welfh into a defeat. Prince Gruffyth ap Rees fought with better fortune in the year 1135; for he took and razed the caftle of Aberiftwid, and flew the Normans and Saxons that were fettled in Cardiganfhire. Some of thofe who efcaped fled over the fea to England. Gruffyth reftored to the Welfh their lands and habitations, of which they had been deprived. Others of the Normans and Saxons retreated with lefs precipitation from Gruffyth ap Rees ; but they were unexpectedly attacked, near the vale of Neath in Glamor- ganfhire, by the fons of Garadoc ap Jeftin, who flew more than three thoufand of them, and put the reft to flight. Some of them efcaped into Gower, where they found protection in the caftles, that had been erected there by Henry Beaumont. This caftle was reinftated by Cad wall ader, fecond fon to Gruffyth ap Conan, and again deftroyed by Owen Gwineth, the eldeft fon and fucceffor, on account of his brother's contumacy. It continued to experience all the viciffitudes of a predatory warfare, alternately > fortified and overthrown, Such fortifications, as were then in 1 -ufe, 376 CARDIGANSHIRE. ufe, were indeed eafily demolifhed ; but in the courfe of time it owned a more powerful mafter, though even his formidable pro- viiions were not effectual againft the defperate enthufiafm of expiring liberty. King Edward the Firft rebuilt it in the year 1377, and returned to England in high triumph. But the oppreffions exercifed by the rulers of the Marches did not permit the peace concluded between the Prince of Wales and the King of England to continue. Among the brief fucceffes of the Welfh, the year before their fubjection was fealed, is to be numbered the fplendid capture of this newly erected Englifh fortrefs. Many other caftles were taken in that diftrict, and the partifans of foreign domination were grievoufly harafled throughout the Country. This caftle, in the year 1404, was taken by Owen Glandwr, during one of his moft vigorous campaigns. The embattled houfe before mentioned, which now forms an intereft- ing ruin, is reported to have been one of his refidences. What was the origin of this caftellated manuon, does not appear; but we have already feen that it muft be nearly coeval with the firft foundation of the neighbouring caftle; and one of the bards teftifies it to have been inhabited by the native princes. The common {lory prevails, of a fubterraneous communication with the caftle on the one hand, and the fanctuary of St. Padern on the other. The original extent may eafily be traced, and one of the towers is nearly perfect. The apartments have evidently been numerous, and on a large fcale. The eftate now forms a part of Nanteos. The caftle ftands at the extremity of the town, overlooking a wide cxpanfe of fea. Little of it remains, except a folitary tower, lofty and weather beaten, which, with the ruin on the bank of the river, gives a picturefque and dignified air to the approach. The town, though generally reprefented in the tours and direc- tories as irregular and dirty, appeared to me rather above than below ABERISTWID CASTLE. 377 below the level of Welfli towns in general. It is much frequented as a bathing place, efpecially by Shropshire and Herefordfhlre families. The coaft is grand, and the marine profpect particularly fine. The rocks are lofty, black, and excavated ; the layers of flate in general dip downwards, and the cliffs are in every refpecl: of an oppofite character to thofe of limeftone, which line the coaft of Pembrokefhire and Glamorganfhire. The harbour is fufliciently commodious for the utmoft extent of trade, of which the place, from its fituation, is capable. That, indeed, is not inconfiderable ; for lead, calamine, and oak-bark, are exported in fome quantity, as well as a few manufactured goods to Briftol and Liverpool. Should the north of Cardiganfhire ever rife into a ftate of high im- provement, the poflibility of which recent experience can atteft, no difcouragement can be fuppofed to operate againft its interefts from want of a market, fince the intercourfe with large towns, and efpe- cially Liverpool, muft always be ready and advantageous from this port. But the town was in the plenitude of its importance, when the mines were worked to the immenfe profit which has been fet forth in the preceding chapter. The gratitude of Mr. Bufhel has already been recorded ; the fpirit of the people was equally on the fide of royalty; and the caftle, though now a mere fragment, was even at that late period tenable for fome time, againft the forces of the parliament. It is a circumftance not altogether to be difregarded, that the town appears to have been mifnamed ; as it really ftands on the northern bank of the Rydoll. Juft below tltie town, the two rivers mingle their waters with the ocean,, nearly at the fame place. 3C CARDIGANSHIRE. CHAPTER XVII. NANTEOS. . .CROSSWOOD PARK. . .LLANAFAN . . . .LLANNWNWS. . . YSTRAD MIRK PENTRE RHYDVENDIGED. .. .YSTRAD FFLUR ABBET IN RUINS. ..LLYN TIVY.. -TREGARON. 1 he way to Cardigan is either along the coaft, or through the interior of the county by Tregaron. The former is the neareil: by many miles, but the latter prefents objects of more intereft. I traced them both at different times, but reached Tregaron by a very circuitous route, to be purfued for its Angularity and wildnefs ; and, though folitary, not ungraced by the memorials of former times. For a few miles the road is pleaiing, without fumifhing any materials for defcription. Nanteos, on the left, is a family manfion belonging to the Powels, but rented during the prefent minority by a Mr. Pocock. It is one of the firft eftates *' in the county, and it is to be hoped, that when the heir comes -of age, it will not be on the lift of deferted properties. I do not mean to undervalue the advantages which the neighbourhood may derive from the prefent occupier ; but it is impoflible that plans of improvement can be carried on to any extent on fo limited a tenure ; or that a ftranger to the habits and manners of a country, however liberal or praifeworthy his diipofitions, Ihould render himfelf equally ufeful with an hereditary owner, willing to fulfil the important relations which ought to fubfifl: between a gentleman and his dependents. The fituation of Nanteos is very agreeable, NANTEOS. CROSSWOOD PARK. 379 in a little valley, enclofed by moderate hills, except towards the fea, to which it lies open. The houfe is large, fubftantial, and "plainly handfome, with little of architectural embellifhment. It might have Hood much more pleafantly within the grounds. Want of tafte in the placing of their houfes is very generally imputed to the Welfh gentry ; yet good reafons may frequently be affigned for a choice, unaccountable to occafional vifitors, who attend only to the gratification of the eye, but would calculate differently, were they to become refidents. In fituations, like this of Nanteos, for inftance, near an expofed and ftormy coaft, and in the neighbourhood of bleak mountains, fhelter and warmth in the w T inter are more neceffary ingredients of domeftic comfort, than the utmoft gaiety of landfcape in the fummer. The profpect is the more relilhed, for being fought ; and on this principle, it has often happened, that the planners of houfes have wifely and not unfeelingly placed them in a part of the grounds, where there was the leaft to be feen. At Nanteos, in the true fporting ftyle, the dog-kennel is the principal object from the front of the houfe ; but it is difguifed like fomething of a temple. The gardens are remarkably good. There was a celebrated harper at Nanteos, about a century ago, who played there fixty-nine years. His portrait is preferved. Beyond Nanteos is Croflwood Park, the feat of the Honourable Colonel Vaughan, member for the borough of Cardigan, and brother to the Earl of Lifburne. This is a very ancient place. The prefent Lord Lifburne is defcended from Sir John Vaughan, of Croffwood Park, Chief Juftice of the Common Pleas, in the reign of Charles the Second, who traced his lineage up to Colwyn, a diftinguimed chieftain about the clofe of the eighth century. He inhabited a part of Denbighshire, and was the head of a tribe in North Wales. From him feveral of the firft families in the 3 C % principality 380 CARDIGANSHIRE. principality deduce their pedigree. For many years this venerable manfion has been altogether neglected, and has confequently fallen into decay. The late Lord Lrifburne was fo much attached to his beautiful feat in Devonshire, that he never vifited Crofs- wood Park, but for a fhort time when county politics required his attendance. It rauft be confefifed, that before Havod was in existence, the Situation was rather folitary ; yet it muft always have poSTeSTed infinite attractions for the lovers of the rural and picturefque. The fcenery is various and delightful ; the park is magnificently wooded, and Sheltered by hills, which begin to fwell into mountains. If contemplation were a fafhionable pro- pensity, this would be a fafhionable refidence. The houfe, as in the former inStance, is fet down in an obfeure corner of the park, and though large, is laid out in a number of confined and incon- venient apartments. Colonel Vaughan is a very recent inhabitant; but as he informed me, that he had taken fixteen hundred acres into his own hands, it is to be hoped, a place will no longer be without a tenant, which only wants a judicious one, to render it a paradife. It has every natural requifite, and is conveniently fituated for receiving every artificial improvement. Beyond CroSTwood Park lies the village of Llanafan ; and here again we enter upon that region of {tones and barrennefs, which has been fo aptly denominated by the fortunate inhabitants of a more productive district. The afcent is long and fatiguing to a few fcattered houfes, on a high and dreary common, which con- stitute another village called Llannwnws. This is the fouth weStern extremity of that ridge, which terminates with Eglwys Newydd on the north eaSt. In defcending the hill on the fouth eaft, the firft indication of any thing agreeable is the village and neighbourhood of Yftrad Mirk. There is here, on the fide of the declivity, a woody Shelter which derives a double charm from YSTRAD MIRK. 381 from contraft, and gives a picturefque effect to fome grand mattes of rock. Neither is the place devoid of other intereft. The cattle of Yftrad Mirk was built as a fort of outpoft to Aberiftwid, by the Norman adventurer Gilbert, and afforded timely fuccour in the day of danger, when Gruffythap Rees was on the point of retriev- ing the rights of the natives. The ancient hiftorians are of opinion that he would have fucceeded, had he not victualled his army with fome cattle, taken from the fanctuary of the great St. Padern. Florence of Worcefter mentions Gruffyth ap Rees to have died by the deceitful practice of his wife. In the year 1 137, on the accceffion of Owen Gwineth to the fupremacy of Wales, his firft exploit was to overthrow this caftle of Yftrad Mirk. In the year 1150, Rees ap Gruffyth having loft many of his men at the fiege of Llanrhyftid, betook himfelf to this caftle, which he once more fortified and manned. It was of confiderable import- ance in all the fubfequent wars, till in the year 1308 it was de- stroyed by its owner, with other caftles, that it might not fall into the hands of Lhewelin ap Jorwerth. After that period, as far as I can collect, it is not mentioned in hiftory. But this fequeftered retreat among the mountains has an object of more intereft than a mouldered caftle, to engage the attention, in Yftrad Mirk fchool, endowed by the late Edward Richard, a felf-taught fcholar, who was mafter of this fchool for many years. He was a native of this place, and became an eminent Welfh critic, as well as an elegant paftoral poet. He was in habits of clofe correfpondence with Mr. Lewis Morris, Dr. Philips, and other men of his time, learned in the antiquities of Britain. Mr. Lewis Morris's fons were Mr. Richard's pupils ; and it appears from the tenor of the letters which pafTed between thofe two gentlemen, that the latter was more critically verfed in claftical literature, than the generality of thofe who are engaged in the 1 elementary 3 8a CARDIGANSHIRE. elementary department of public inftru&ion. The fcbool has maintained its reputation fince his time, and occafionatly fupplies Oxford with fome of its ftudents. The defcent continues from Yftrad Mirk to the plain, through which the Mirk paffes. The river is to be croffed, before you reach Pentre Rhydvendiged, or the village of the BlefTed Ford, a poor hamlet on the banks of the Tivy, in which it may be for the benefit of fome folitary traveller to be informed, that there is a bed. Such an accommodation is not every where to be met with. It forms a new epoch at Pentre Rhydvendiged, the fame of which had reached my ears at fome diftance; I therefore depended on it, and found it very acceptable at a late hour, though compofed of ftraw. The next morning I went in fearch of Yftrad Frlur, with its ruined abbey. This religious houfe, of reverend repute in monaftic annals, was founded by Rees ap Grufryth, in the year 1 164 ; but to what order of monks it was devoted, is not preeifely agreed among our antiquaries. It immediately became a fort of head-quarters for whatever was civilized, and that was but little, in thofe turbulent times, and in this uncultivated tracl:. It had its hofpitia and its cells eflablifhed in every direction. We have already feen that it divided with Conway the pious and honourable charge of depofiting and carrying on the records of the principality. The bard and pried were aflbciated in this important office. Several copies of Caradoc Lhancarvan were preferved there, and the fucceffions recorded from the year 1156 till the moment of Lhewelin ap GrufFyth's unhappy fall. At that period, thefe reverend gownfmen were the bearers of their prince's remonftrance, and interceded with the Archbifhops of Canterbury and York for their good offices in relieving him from the infults and oppreffions of the Marchers. It was like wife a place of interment for many princes of YSTRAD FFLUR. $3 of Soath Wales. Among others, Owen, the fon of the founder, died here in the year 1 190. Another fon, GrufFyth, who followed his father's fteps, and fucceeded him in martial prowefs, as in government, died on St. James's day, 1202, and was buried here with great folemnity. In 1204, Howcl ap Rees was buried by the fide of his brother GrufFyth. This Howel, being blind, was flain by the machinations of another brother. But not to enumerate every inflance of princely interment at this abbey, Lhewelin ap Jorwerth, in the year 1237, invited all the lords and barons of Wales to Yftrad Fflur, and required from them the oaths of fidelity and allegiance to his fon David. Thofe who now vifit the fpot will fcarcely credit, that the whole country round could furnifh accommodation for fuch a company, or that this could be the theatre of ceremonies, fuch as are folemnized with us under the awful roof of Weftminfter. Lhewelin ap Jorwerth ■was not buried here, but at Conway. During the wars of King Edward the Firft with the Welfh, this abbey was burnt down ; but it was rebuilt, and remained till the difTolution of all fuch eftablifhments. With refpecl: to its fituation, it illuftrates the proverbial good tafle of the monks, who prevailed with their founder to place them in the beft meadow land of a diftricl:, not abounding in fertile fpots, under the protection of mountains not far diflant, on the banks of a frefh and rapid flream. It is to be lamented, that a place of fo much intereft and importance mould have been fo totally fubverted. There is a very fine Saxon arch, of freeftone. This, with the trees about it, forms a very picturefque fubjecl: ; but there is nothing elfe remaining that deferves notice. There is not even the fragment of a tomb or monument. The prefent church is built from the ruins of the ancient, but occupies a very fmall portion of its area. Some part of the cloifter and infirmary may be traced, but nothing is diftincl: enough to afford any gratification, except the gateway. From 384 CARDIGANSHIRE. From Yftrad Fflur Abbey, a guide fhould be procured to vifit Llyn Tivy, and the other lakes, on the fummit of the mountain ^*J «--*-. above. As there is no path, it would be difficult to find them without a companion, to whom their fituation is known; and the lead aberration might expofe a ftranger to the rifk of paffing a night in this inhofpitable region. There is nothing particularly obfervable on the afcent. The vale of Yftrad Fflur, though far from rich, prefents the only features of cultivation within ken, and therefore looks pleafant. The top of the mountain is far diflant, as the acclivity on this fide is by no means abrupt. On this eminence is found a clufter of lakes, fix in number, of which Llyn Tivy is the principal. Its circumference may probably be about a mile and a half. It is faid not to have been fathomed, and is encircled by a high and perpendicular ridge, which at once feeds and confines its everlafting waters. I underftand that this circumftance, with its depth, had led fome late vifitors to con- jecture, that it muft have been a crater ; but the ftones, with which the margins of all thefe lakes abound, and none fo much as Llyn Tivy, bear at prefent no volcanic appearance. The other lakes being higher, there is no profpect here, except in the direction of Yftrad Fflur ; and that, though extenfive, has little beauty. The rocks and ftones, with which the foil is encum- bered, without any relief of wood or kindly vegetation, render the afpect of the mountain itfelf uncouth and repulfive. The diftant hills on this fide have no very ftriking character ; and the flat which intervenes is fo low, and undulates fo little, as to be indiftinct. The Tivy ifTues out from the lake^by fo fmall an outlet, as fcarcely to accredit its relationfhip with the noble river, to which, in my fummer excurfion, I was firft introduced at Cardigan. But, in my fecond journey, I traced it from its earlieft refervoir to the fea, and became acquainted with its minor as well as its more majeftic beauties. Its courfe down the mountain is LLYN T1VY. 385 is much retarded by rocks ; it rumbles through the ftony tract without any decided channel, and is not inverted with the ufual furniture of banks, till it reaches Yftrad Fflur. It receives no reinforcement, till it has paffed Pentre Rhydvendiged, where the Mirk joins it. On leaving Llyn Tivy, a walk of a few minutes will bring you to the fummit of the mountain, and at once in view of four more lakes, each within a few yards of the other. The largeft cannot be much lefs in circumference than Llyn Tivy, and is much lefs formal in its fhape, being narrow in the middle. The fmalleft is circular, occupying the higheft ground, and in appearance much like a crater. Its circumference is about three quarters of a mile. Thefe likewife, as I underftood from my guide, have not been fathomed. Their effect is much heightened by the llrong degree of agitation to which they are fubjected by their expofure, and the fcene, though totally defolate, is very grand. This is the higheft ground in Cardiganfhire ; and * o " the profpect is moll extenfive ; but the clufter of mountains, on the moil elevated of which you are placed, reaches fo far, as entirely to obfcure the vales between the near and diftant hills ; fo that all is wild and rugged, with Plynillimon and Cadair Idris ^ rearing their lofty heads in the north. They are not fo diftant, but that the contrail: of their characters may be fufficiently obferved. The profpect on the fouth-welt extends to the high grounds about Cardigan diftinctly, and beyond them to the fea, undecidedly, and as in a mill. The lixth lake is fome little way off, and there is a feventh, between Pentre Rhydvendiged and Caftle Inon, called Llyn Vathey Cringlas. The only filh in thefe pools are trout and eels. They are much frequented by wild fowl. Llyn Vathey Cringlas is a mile in circumference, of a beautiful oblong form, where the town of Tregaron is faid formerly to have ltood. To return from the lakes with the Tivy, and follow it through the vale towards Tregaron, is a fatiguing length of way, without 3 D any 386 CARDIGANSHIRE. any correfponding intereft. I therefore took the advantage of my guide, to crofs the hills, and come down immediately upon the place of my deftination. One little dingle, into which we defcended, in climbing ridge after ridge, had a fpeck of wood and tillage ; and here was the cottage of my guide, who is a fhepherd. I found it a more wretched hovel than any I have met with, excepting in the upper part of Caermarthenfhire, where human accommodation feems to be on as low a fcale as poffible. Still, however, he appeared content. But in truth he has a moil: dreary neighbourhood. This chain of hills runs, without a fingle break, from Lanbeder to Bifhop's Caftle in Shropfhire, a fpace certainly not lefs than fixty miles, which may be traverfed on horfeback without the interruption of a fingle gate or fence, without any path, without any opportunity of procuring the ilighteft refrefhment, and, in all probability, without meeting a human creature. In fuppofing this courfe, I take it for granted that the mountain track is purfued, avoiding Rhayader by leaving it to the fouth and eaft. But it is time that we mould find our way into the civilized world at Tregaron. This is a fmall, and a very poor place, though I believe it boafts a market. The accommodations of its mean public houfe are of the very worft fort, nor does it contain, as far as I could find, any object on which the eye can reft with tolerable fatisfaction, except its church. This is a better building than might have been expected in fo rude a diftrict, and ftands on a little rocky eminence, regularly circular, making it not unpleafantly a fort of elevated centre to the town. Were it not for this circumftance, there would not be a village in Cardiganfhire more miferable. Brenny river runs through it, and joins the Tivy, which paflcs on one fide, at a little diftance below. The Tivy has not yet afTumed its piclurefque honours. There is a fair here annually, during three days in March. C 387 3 CHAPTER XVIII. CWM VERWJN...RESCOB F0REST...P0NT LLANICO..XAIC DEWI BREVI...MILLFIELD...KELLAN...LANBEDER. I he rivers which have been enumerated in the general chapter on Cardiganfhire, rife within the county, and purfue their journey to the fea, without tranfgrefiing its limits. The neighbourhood of Tregaron, at no great diftance to the eaft, furnilhes the fource of another river, with fome of its earlieft attendants, perhaps fomewhat inferior to the Tivy in the beauty of its riper courfe, but far more pi&urefquely accompanied in the fcenes, through which it firft flows. It takes the direction of Caermarthenfhire, and forms the leading attraction of that county. When Gucndra with fuch grace deliberately doth glide, As Tovy doth entice ; who fetteth out prepar'd At all points like a prince, attended with a guard ; Of which, as by her name, the near'ft to her of kin Is Toothy, tripping down from Verwin's rufliy lin, Through Refcob running out, with Pefcover to meet Thofe rills that foreft loves ; and doth fo kindly greet, As to intreat their ftay ihe gladly would prevail. It occurred to me to viilt the wild trad, mentioned in the foregoing lines of Drayton, in tracing the Tovy upwards through Caermarthenihire. It may be feen with equal convenience from 3 D z Tregaron, 338 CARDIGANSHIRE. Tregaron, by taking the road to Buallt for a few miles, to the borders of Brecknockfhire, where you are very near its fpring. The road lies through Cwm Verwin, and you crofs the Toothy, which ifTues, a fhort way above, from a pool or watry moor, forming another of thofe inland refervoirs, with which this county abounds, to the number of at leafl eleven. Thofe who do not explore in every poffible direction, may make their efcape from this inhofpitable region eaftward to Buallt, or by returning, and bending their fteps towards Lanbeder; but they will lofe the objects to which I particularly wifhed to draw their attention, unlefs they find their way through the defiles of the mountains towards Llandovery, requiring either a guide, or very full and clear directions. The grand fcenery commences with Refcob foreft, on the borders of Caermarthenfhire, and is found in its perfection where the three rivers join. I mail find an opportunity of noticing it hereafter. The country between Tregaron and Lanbeder is dreary and uninterefting, though it improves on the approach towards the latter place. It may be travelled on either fide of the river Tivy; but a ftranger will prefer the eaftern fide, over Pont Llanico to re Lan Dewi Brevi, at the diflance of two miles, as the latter is a place of confiderable antiquarian notoriety, and there is no objeel: of equal intereft near the road to the well: of the river. At a houfe near Pont Llanico, feveral Roman inferiptions have from time to time been difcovered by digging, two of which Camden faw and decyphered. This houfe is in the parifh of Lan Dewi Brevi, where likewife coins, bricks, and large pieces of freeftone neatly wrought, have frequently been found. Thefe circumftances determined Camden, and his fubfequent editors, to abandon alto- gether the idea of Loventium being fituated at Llynfavaddon in Brecknockfhire, which would have involved the vulgar notion of a city LAN DEWI BREVI. 389 a city fivallowed up, and to fix it here, without regard to the conjecture of thofe, who give it ftill another place in their geo- graphy at Newcaitle in Emlyn. This opinion feems to have been generally received. It has been thought, indeed, that Cardigan, as the principal town in the county, would fuit better with Ptolemy's defcription ; but the antiquities found here have given Lan Dewi Brevi the preference, in which deci(ion Mr. Horfley joins his fuffrage to that of Bifhop Gibfon. Nor are thefe the only claims on our attention, preferred by this ancient place. The church, though rude in its ftructure, is not only ancient, but collegiate. Its name implies that it was built in honour of St. David, having been founded by a fubfequent bifhop for a pre- centor and twelve prebends. The reafon for choofing this fpot was, that St. David had preached here at a council, held about the year 520, for the fuppreffion of the Pelagian herefy. The church Hands on high ground, in memory of the miraculous effects, by which the oratory of the illuftrious difputant is faid to have been accompanied. As he rofe in argument and force of eloquence, the ground on which he flood rofe under him into a hillock ; and it was confidered as a fort of pious compliment in after ages, to erect the church on the marvellous pulpit of the patron faint. Nor was this the only inftance in which we are told that St. David had recourfe to fomething beyond ftrong rea- foning. Mr. Lhuyd found an ancient monumental infcription over the door of the chancel, too much defaced to afford any hiftory of the perfon whom it was defigned to commemorate. All of it that could be decyphered, with a conjecture on the vacant fpaces, is given in the Britannia ; but the defect is pre- tended to be fupplied by a traditional tale of fuperftition. It is faid to have related to a perfon who was ftruck dead by St. David for the crime of letting loofe a beaver, after it had been with much 390 . CARDIGANSHIRE. much difficulty caught and confined. There was likewife another ancient infcription, on a ftone erected clofe by the outfide of the church door, which appeared as if confining entirely of abbrevi- ations. Nor muft we forget the horn of an ox, or fomething that feemed like the horn of an ox, feventeen inches in circumference at the root, afferted by the tradition to have been preferved in the church from the time of St. David. On this ftory it will be fufficient to remark, that the church was not founded till fix or feven centuries after the celebrated preaching of St. David. In the time of the commonwealth, and the fale of church lands, V this manor was fold, in 1 650, to John Jones, Efq. for 1 86/. 3J. \d. There is nothing that requires to be particularly defcribed between this place and Lanbeder. The country and the river both improTC in features of attraction ; but it is not till it gets beyond Lanbeder, that it fwells into a rivalfhip with the larger and more majeftic rivers of Wales. I cannot help obferving here, that I have feen many of our modern accounts, which are moft inaccurate in their ftatements refpecting the Tivy. They reprefent the places near it as {landing on the banks of an inconsiderable flream, and in their catalogue of principal rivers omit its very name ; while the Rydoll, and others of lefs volume, more within the verge of general travelling, occupy all their defcriptive talents. There is perhaps no fituation, near which you pafs between Tregaron and Lanbeder, more agreeably circumflanced than Mill- field, on the banks of a little tributary brook, called Mathern, In the parifh of Kellan, Biihop Gibfon notices a remarkable pillar, about fixteen feet high, three broad, and two thick, erected on h the top of a mountain. Whatever might be its original purpofe, the only account of it extant in his time was, that it marked the boundary of the two counties, Caermarthen and Cardigan. The town of Lanbeder, though a metropolis compared with Tregaron, LANBEDER. 39I is in itfelf fmall and poor, with little in its environs to engage attention, beyond the pleafure which a very imperfect cultivation cannot fail of affording, after fo ftrong a prevalence of the bleak and barren from the north of the county downwards. The circle is, however, very contracted ; for this town is very much befet by mountains, riling on the eaft and wefl to a confiderable height. It ilands on the borders of Caermarthenftiire, and trenches on that wild country, in which the Tovy rifes. Lanbeder once was as famous for herds, as the Tivy for beavers, or Radnor for deer; and though it certainly is not at prefent to be considered as pre- eminent in that line, we rauft not therefore difcredit its ancient claim. The tale of the beavers has been treated as fabulous in modern times, becaufe they are not now found on the banks of the Tivy; but the laws of Howel Dha, the authenticity of which has not been queflioned, are fully competent to prove their exiftence formerly. The price of a beaver's fkin is there fet down, and there are ponds or lakes, which from time imme- morial have gone by the name of the beavers' pools. Nor is it any argument for our difbelief of the fact, that they had dis- appeared even fo long ago as Camden's time, fince they are mentioned by Girald, who muft be acknowledged as a writer of no contemptible authority, though a politic conformity to the tafte of his readers might perhaps induce him, in fome inftances, rather to confider what they would admire, than his own accuracy. Had the affertion related to any thing miraculous, or any thing which involved the interefts of the church or the crufade, we might reafonably fufpecl him of an undue incli- nation ; but, in the prefent cafe, he had fome reputation to fupport as a topographer, no intereft to warp him as a church- man. We ihould go againft all rational inference, were we to refolve every alleged exiftence in nature into a fable, which is not 394 CARDIGANSHIRE. not fupported by prefent experience. On that principle, there neyer were wolves in England ; but the beaver, like the wolf, was a mifchievous animal, for which reafon public rewards came in aid of private inclination, and they were ultimately extirpated. The goats are even now in the laft ftage of a fimilar confumption ; and it may be a queftion, a century or two hence, whether thefe mountains ever abounded in wild goats. In fact, they are rapidly difappearing, becaufe, though not without their ufes to the poor, they are deftructive to plantations and agriculture ; fo that they are compelled to give way to a more ufeful and entirely inoffenfive animal in the fheep. I cannot help adding to the errors and overfights of our hafty and ephe- meral writers, a pofitive inaccuracy of Pinkerton, in his geography, who ftates that the Tivy is navigable to Lanbeder. How do the veffels eflay their fomerfet, or fling themfelves to the top of the ftream, when they encounter the falmon-leap at Kenarth ? How do they feud along the twifted channel, with all its obftacles of many-formed and ever-varying rocks, between New- caftle in Emlyn and LlandyfTul ? The fact I apprehend to be, that barges have little occasion to come beyond Pont Llechryd, and that they never have come much further. At prefent, a dam in the river, to fupply a fhort canal, for the purpofes of the tin works, effectually precludes all pafTage beyond the bridge juft mentioned. I do not allude to this circumltance for the purpofe of cavilling at fo valuable a work, but to correct one of thofe miftakes, which mull befal every writer, relying, in a confiderable degree, from the nature of his fubject, on the information, whether oral or written, of others. I am well aware, that many affertions, not altogether borne out, muft have found their way into thefe pages, fometimes from a too fcrupulous refpect for eftablifhed authors, fometimes from the neceffity LANBEDER. 393 neceffity of taking up with the beft local intelligence, without the means of canvaffing it, and fometimes from the fallacious impreffion of the time prefent, taking its {lamp more from perfonal and momentary feelings of pleafure or difguft, than from an advifed regard, or becomingly ferious appreciation. 3E CHAP. 594 CARDIGANSHIRE. CHAPTER XIX. TONTYNEN....LLANWNNEN....LLANVAUGHAN....LLANWENOG.... flHYDOWEN..ALLTYR ODIN...LLANDYSSUL..LLANERCHARRON CASTLE. .CHENCER A.. .GARENGYR.. TAVERN SPITE..MELIVOR... LLANRHYSTID....LLANSANTFRED....LLANNON....MORVA.,.LAN DEWI ABERARTH...ABERARRON...LLANARTH..LLANDISSILIO- GOGO..RHYDFECHAN.. SYNOD FUNNONDDEWY.TAVERNSCOUR. NEW INN. ..PWLLGLAS... CASTLE YNDALIG...BLAENPORTH... KERRY BRIDGE. ..NEWCASTLE IN EMLYN. On quitting Lanbeder, towards Pontynen, there is clofe by the town, a large and ancient feat, with four towers crowned with domes, in the middle of a fine enclofure. It feems at prefent to be uninhabited, and to have experienced a long neglect. Its fituation is woody and pleafant, but we foon pafs again into a more open and naked country, which continues for feveral miles without any object of attraction, except here and there a planted fpot about the villages. Beyond Pontynen is Llanwnnen, on the banks of Grannell River, which joins the Tivy at no great diftance on the left of the road. A little way further on the left, is Llanvaughan, a family feat of John Thomas, Efq. About Llanwenog, the country begins to improve, and the live fences to flourifh, which about the other villages, in fpite of repeated experiments, have all decayed after a time. This tract would not however be unfavourable to tillage, were it not for the diftance at ALLTYR ODIN. 395 at which they have to fetch their lime from the fea-fide, oveir fteep and ftony roads. The crops are principally rye, barley, and oats, which are raifed in tolerable quality and fome degree of abundance ; but a field of wheat is neither very common, nor where it occurs, in general commenfurate in its yielding to the trouble and expence of producing it. From Rhydowen forwards,, the agricultural, as well as piclurefque appearance of things begins fenfibly to improve. As we approach the navigable part of the Tivy, and the more thickly planted refidences of gentlemen, to many of whom the community is highly indebted for their patriotic labours, the icene again becomes interefling. By turning down a bye road to the left, in the village of Rhydowen, a flranger will not only fee the romantic fituation of Alltyr Odin, but by keeping along the banks of the Cletur, till it falls into the Tivy, and then taking the vale to Llandyflul, will command a very interefling reach, which would be loft by adhering to the turnpike. The families of Lhuyd are fo numerous in Cardigan- shire, that the name fcarcely ferves the purpofe of a diftinction, unlefs we were to enter minutely into their genealogies; a proceeding that would be tirefome to the Englim reader, unlefs fome important matter of hiftory or biography were connected with the relation. Llangoedmor, Mabus, and other feats, among the reft Alltyr Odin,„ are pofTeffed by families bearing the fame name, without the flighteft confanguinity. Alltyr Odin is fituated on the fide of a hill, overlooking the beautiful little valley, through which the Cletur runs. It owes much of its- verdure and improvement to the fpirit and tafte of its proprietor. Its fcenery, though of no great extent, is- fufEciently varied to exhibit a happy combination of the ruder features, which have fo long prevailed, with the garden and the plantation, the luxuriance of the meadow in fpring, or the autumnal ornament of the ftanding fheaf. The 3 E z Cletur. X 39& CARDIGANSHIRE. Cletur is every where an engaging object, with all the beautiful tranfparency of a Welfh river. There is a very pleating little fall at fome diftance below the houfe, and fome very ftriking mafles of rock at intervals, all the way down to the junction of the vallies. There are, near the houfe, the foundations of a very- ancient caftle, to be diftin&ly traced, with the fite entirely covered with ftones, on one of the higheft, hills. There is another, Similarly fituated, in the vale of Tivy clofe by, which tradition afligns to Vortigern. There are at Alltyr Odin fome valuable manufcripts chiefly genealogical, which their owner, a gentleman of more intelligence than moft in the country, has furnifhed for the ufe of the Cambrian Regifter; and it is probable that the next volume will be enriched with a part of their contents. The fpot where a fmall river pays its homage to a greater, is generally marked by interefting circumftances. Where the Cletur falls into the Tivy, the accompaniments of the latter begin to affume an air of boldnefs. The line of the banks is frequently broken by an obtruding rock or a lofty precipice, and the whole fcenery becomes various, richly clothed, and grand. From this point to the fea, the Tivy prefents a fucceflion of pictures very rarely to be outdone. After having flurted its banks for fome time, the village of Llandyflul, though poor, is fo exquifitely fituated on a moft pi&urefque reach of the river, as to command the unqualified admiration of the traveller. The church clofe by the water fide is a very fine object. This church, as the very name of the village indicates, is dedicated to Tyflul, a faint who died about the middle of the fixth century. Tyflul was defcended from Cunedda Wledig, who with Bran and Brecan is recorded to have founded the three holy families of Britain. Bran introduced the chriftian religion into the country ; Brecan brought up his children and grandchildren to learning and a religious LLANDYSSUL. ^ religious life ; Cunedda was the firft in this ifland, who united temporal intereft with fpiritual zeal, by granting lands and privileges to the church. Dr. Stevenfon's houfe is on the Caer- marthenfhire fide of the river, in a ftyle of neatnefs and fimplicity, well fuited to the completion of the fpot. This gentleman, delighting in agricultural enterprifes, has created a farm here, at his own very heavy coft, but with a degree of fuccefs, that will amply repay his labour in the courfe of time. He is a very fanguine, but not a mifcalculating fpeculator. The eftate is fmall, but in a train of being improved to the utmoft. The buildings and offices about the farm and houfe are models of ingenious contrivance, for the purpofes to which they are applied. They may perhaps rather exceed what the premifes require, but in every other refpect they are perfect. This place has been much vifited by thofe who are curious in the practice of husbandry. It has equal attractions for the painter. The hanging wood above the garden, ftretching itfelf parallel with the river, as far as the eye can reach, with the village, the venerable bridge, and other circumftanccs, furnifhes an admirable fubject, either for con- templation or the pencil. The higher grounds, as you walk over the farm, afford fome very fine profpects up the river. There is no doubt of this country admitting a very high degree of cultivation, generally equal to this eftate, which has lately been reclaimed, and there are many appearances of its containing very valuable mineral treafures ; but thefe refources are not likely to be called into full activity, till a plan in contemplation for overcoming the obftacles of diftant intercourfe is fuccefsfully arranged. There are natural impediments at the mouth of the Tivy, which muft prevent Cardigan from becoming a great commercial place ; but a cheap communication with Cardigan Bay by means of New Key, would give life to this part of the country. I am inclined I to 39 8 CARDIGANSHIRE. to think that Dr. Stevenfon has not been inattentive to the fubject ; and his active mind is not likely to let a project for improvement die away without examining all its bearings, and urging in the moll: available quarter all its recommendations. At the fame time, as far as the countenance of government is necef- fary to fuch undertakings, it is much to be lamented, that our minifters in all their fucceffions and changes, have been too apt to look with indifference on whatever beneficial fchemes have been fuggefled for the diflant parts of the ifland. Thirty miles round London, as it is the principal fphere of their power and influence, feems to be the only object of their diligent attention ; and though, if individuals are rich and enterprifing enough to. accomplish their ends without affiftance, the hand of power may not thwart them, it has feldom been known to fpare the fmalleft portion of its refources for the purpofe of calling out latent wealth and greatnefs ; or in other words, a government will not lay a foundation of profperity at its own expence, the benefit of which is only to be enjoyed by its fucceffors. Let men in office but fecure the monied intereft and popularity of London, where they are known, and by which they are fupported, the Hebrides and Wales may take care of themfelves ; no matter how much the induftry of the natives is reprefTed, how little their natural means of improvement are encouraged* From Llandyflul I mould particularly recommend the Caermar- thenfhire fide of the river to Newcaftle in Emlyn, over a very bad road, in preference to the ufual route on the other fide, which has only occafional matches of the Tivy. By the courfe I mention, it is fcarcely neceffary to lofe fight of it ; and fome of its molt interefting fcenery is comprifed within thefe few miles. Its bed becomes magnificently rocky juft below LlandyfTul bridge; at another turn, it widens almoft into a lake, fkirted with green meadow, LLANNERCHARRON CASTLE. 399 meadow, and enclofed within an amphitheatre of hanging woods. With thefe alternate changes, it wears its way to Newcaftle in Emryn, where that fortrefs appears in a moft fingular fituation. But I fhall briefly ftate the leading particulars that occur on the fea coaft between Aberiftwid and Cardigan, before I proceed with this defcription. It is impo-ffible not to obferve in travelling along the weftern coaft of this ifland whether in England or Wales, how much milder and more falubrious is the air, than that of the eaftern counties : but it is unnecefTary to enlarge on this circumftance, as Mr. Ray has noticed it long ago. It may indeed be laid down as a general rule, that rather open countries, along lea mores of rocky or fandy ftrands, free from mud, marines, fens, or any collections tending to ftagnation or putridity, are more healthy than the moil favourable diftricts of the interior. We have only to read the grave ftones of church-yards along fuch fea-coafts in every part of the kingdom, comparing the ages with what we fhall find in the inland parts of the country, and we fhall foon be convinced of this fact. This confideration ihould prevail in choofmg places for fea bathing. It is a queftion to be refolved by medical men, whether it is not the purity of air in fea-bathing places, more than any direct effects from that mode of remedy in itfelf, that is favourable to the reftoration of health. Yet in general, except in highly favoured fpots there is little to engage the atten- tion of the traveller in fearch of the picturefque, in journeying di- rectly along the coaft ; and this is particularly the cafe in the prefent inftance. The vale of Iftwid, with the romantic bridge venerably clothed with ivy, near Llannercharron Caftle, is the firft point at all interefting ; immediately afterwards, at Chencera, the hills rifing abruptly, fhut out the country on the left, and leave a very fine fea view, the grand but unvarying and only object. About Garcngyr 4 oo CARDIGANSHIRE. Garengyr the country is fufficiently pleafing, but fuch as to afford few topics of illuftration. Tavern Spite is probably in contra- diftinction to the eftablifhments of the monks ; an hofpitium of later times, open to all travellers, on the fimple condition, that they pay for their accommodation. There is alfo a Tavern Spite in Pembrokefhire. Near Melivor, on the right hand of the road, are two druidical monuments, confiliing at prefent of fingle ftones, ftanding upright, about ten feet and a half high, and five feet and a half broad. They are placed within a yard or two of each other. There are many other ftones lying about, and it ■ is fuppofed to have been an altar; but the circle is by no means to be made out. Llanrhyftid ftands on the banks of the little river Werry, near where it pours itfelf into the fea. It is a narrow, but rapid ftream; and there was fomething curious in obferving the effects of a flood, though only after a {ingle day's rain, in the large body of water it carried. The traces of a monadic inftitution in the buildings at Llanrhyftid are interefting. The eftablifhment was evidently large, and it is underftood to have been a nunnery. Llanfantfred, a miferably built village, is alfo diftinguifhed for its ancient church, which, with its other large buildings, formerly constituted the abbey, mentioned in an old book, defcribing the various endowments of St. David's cathedral and diocefe. The road about Llannon paffes over marihy ground, which has indeed been made firm for the traveller, but much at the expence of his fenfations; for it is moft uncouthly paved with rough ftones, after the manner of a country town. The river Perris falls into the fea near Llannon. The mountain again rifes on the left, and the fields are well cultivated between the road and the fea. The village of Morva ftands near another little brook. The church is almoft clofe by the fea fide, and the road winds towards the fhore, fo LAN DEWI ABERARTH. ABERARRON. 401 f-o that an evening walk, with the noife of the waves and the confinement of the fcene, is folemn and even gloomy. Beyond this place, there is a very fleep hill, with the road winding to the right, feeming as if it led immediately on the cliff. On the top, > however, it takes a fudden turn, and comes down unex- pectedly on the village of Lan Dewi Aberarth. This is one of , the cleanefl, and mod pleafing villages in Cardiganshire. The bridge over the Arth, the neat and well-thatched cottages, dropped down on its banks, without the formality of a jftreet, the fca almoft clofing in upon the village, confpire to give it an intereft- ing appearance in the day-time, and produce a moil perplexing effect by moon-light. The white buildings, from the hill above, feem to be {landing in the water, which predominates over the indiftincl: profpect, and makes it doubtful, whether you really fee a town. Aberarron is about two miles further, another pleafing village, in a rural and well- wooded valley, through which the Arron flows in its near approach to the ocean. This little fcene contrafts agreeably with the ftony nakednefs of the general profpecl. The bridge is highly picturefque, and the river, fwollen with a recent flood, appeared with more than its ufual majefty. The Arron rifes in a mountain by Blaenpenal Chapel, and paffing by Talfarn, waters Llanllir, a Ciftercian nunnery of white nuns, ^ and a cell to Yfirad Fflur. A very pleafant road is carried through the valley, and joins the turnpike from Llanrhyftid to Lanbeder. After eroding the Arron, you mount a hill, which for a time exhibits a better ftyle of country, than what you have lately patted, or are on proceeding further to expect. The vale of Arron is rich and luxuriant, the hills bold, and there are feveral gentle- men's houfes within view. On the coafl, between Aberarron and Llanarth, there are the fragments of a fmall caflle, more than kalf of which has been warned away by the fea. Llanarth is at 3 F the 402 CARDIGANSHIRE. the diftance of four miles from Aberarron ; it is a poor mud-built place, but it has on the right a well-wooded, narrow, deep dingle, folitary and picturefque, with a rapid flream running down to the fea at New Key Head. The fides of this dingle are well covered, and fome tall, fp reading oaks beautify the bottom. Llandiffiliogogo lies out of the road, clofe upon the more. This parifh and Llanarth are remarkable for having given lhelter, on two fucceeding nights, to the Earl of Richmond and his followers, in their progrefs through Wales, before the decifive battle of Bofworth Field. He was received with an hofpitality, fuited to his high fortunes ; and there is now at Golden Grove a magnifi- cently mounted drinking-horn, given as an acknowledgment to* one of his hofts, and afterwards prefented to Richard Earl of Carbery. Tyffilio was the fon of Brochwel, Prince of Powife, who was oppofed to the Saxons, when the monks of the Britifh college at Bangor were maflacred. Tyffilio was in high repute both as a bifhop and a writer. He wrote a hiftory of Great Britain, principally concerning ecclefiaftical affairs, which has ofll/" r 3 ^ late years been recovered, and is found to have been the original, whence more popular compilations have been in a great meafure taken. Six or eight churches in Wales bear his name to the prefent time, of which this is one ; whether founded by him, or fubfequently dedicated to his memory, does not appear. He. nourifhed about the middle of the feventh century.- In the neighbourhood of Rhydfechan, there are feveral old camps on the Jf tops of the mountains ; but w 7 ith the exception of thefe antiqui- ties, the country is not lefs uninterefting than dreary. It is true, indeed, that on afcending the hill of Synod Funnonddewy, where you crofs the Bidder, which purfues its courfe from its fpring in the mountain to the main near Llandiffiliogogo, there is a very fine view of Cardigan Bay. Here, and in the neighbourhood of 3 Tavernfcour, PWLLGLAS. CASTLE YNDALIG, 403 Tavemfcour, the fweep of fea is more extcnfive and uninterrupted. A faint line, barely vifible in the horizon, points out to the ima- gination rather than the fenfe, the coaft of Ireland. The difplay of promontories, cliffs, and ever-varying mores from Strumble Head to Towyn, as you gain the continually recurring elevations, is at times defolately magnificent : the little villages are hid in the vallies, and cultivation is either denied to the projecting points of view, or fo recent as only to make poverty more confpicuous. A tedious journey over a rocky track, which is here dignified with the name of a turnpike road, difpofes the traveller to be pleafed with the fheltered fituation of the New Inn, at the bottom of the hill j but he will find its entertainments moft untoward. Pwllglas is in the parifti of Pebryn, the church of which is on the right hand, near the fea-fhore. Bifhop Gibfon takes notice of a large {lone rudely fhaped, not far from the church, on which was an infcription in deeply graven characters, but he was not fuccefsful in decyphering it. In the fame parifh was alfo found a Britifh o^ ^gold coin, weighing about a guinea, whence it has been concluded, fupported as this inftance has been by others in various parts of the kingdom, that the Britons coined in gold and filver before the introduction of the Romans into the ifland. The land all along this ftretch of country appears as if it had been but newly enclofed ; the hedge-rows, expofed to the fea breezes, are poor and thin, in many places leaving the turf banks, on which they have been planted, nearly bare. Caftle Yndalig is \, a Britifh encampment, very large, and evidently double-trenched, though the line of circumvallation is in fome places deftroyed, fo that the form of the area is no longer as perfect and diftinct as might be wiftied. About two miles further, at Blaenporth, there is another not fo large, but in more complete prefervation. There are near it many large ftones now lying in confufion, but erected anciently, either for a Wnument of fome victory, or as a druidical X 3 F 2, circle. 4©4 CARDIGANSHIRE. circle. At Blaenporth, inftead of proceeding for Cardigan, I abandoned my coafting progrefs, and purfued the road for New- caftle in Emlyn. The defcent is very confiderable for fome time> and the profpeel: improves momentarily as you approach the vale of Tivy in its richeft part, with the Caermarthenfliire and Pem- brokefhire hills bounding the horizon to the fouth. Kerry Bridge affords a very pleafing view of that river, near its junction with the Tivy. There are fome romantic rocks juft here, and the ftream of the Kerry is broad and rapid 1 . The Tivy on the right winds among meadows and enclofures, not having yet loft that finuous tendency, fo Angularly exhibited near the poor and irregular little town, which now calls for our attention. Sir Rice ap Thomas had feveral feats in the counties of Pem- broke and Caermarthen. The town of Newcaftle in Emlyn is partly in Cardiganfhire and partly in Caermarthenfhire. It derived its pre- fent name from the circumftance of the caftle having been rebuilt by this diftinguifhed character, who made it one of his principal refidences. It is highly pi&urefque in its fituation; and, from the nature of its materials, more venerable than might have been expected under the confideration, that it is the moil modern of all the ruined caftles in Wales. In the reign of Charles the Firft, Richard Earl of Carbery in. Ireland, was created Baron Vaughan of Emlyn. He was one of the Vaughans of Golden Grove. But what gives to this fpot a degree of intereft fo peculiarly its own, is the fportive courfe of the river at this place, with the appearance of the caftle, equally pidturefque in its fituation, and in the difpofition of its fragments. The Tivy enters the valley from the north-eaft, and flows in a ftraight line, till it arrives nearly underneath the caftle ; it then takes a fudden turn, and, inftead of winding immediately about the foot of the hill, darts back again for a confiderable way, in a courfe parallel with its firft channel, and clofe by it. It then fweeps round majeftically NEWCASTLE IN EMLYN. 405 majeftically in front, leaving a long and very beautiful meadow between it and the caflle, and comes down again on the oppofite fide, with features of a different character. Here its bed becomes im- peded by rocks, through which it furrows a deep, tortuous, and noiiy courfe, and rolls with much impetuofity under the venerable bridge. Thus is the caftle almoft furrounded with a magnificent natural moat, which is double, where the river firft comes in. The verdure of the valley, thus interfered, adds a high degree of beauty to the Angularity of the circumftance. This horfefhoe bend X is far more curious and ftriking than that on the Wye. The decayed grandeur of the fortrefs, {landing on an eminence in the centre of the fcene, greatly heightens the effect of the whole, con- tracted as it is by a very pretty villa on the hill to the north- weft, and thofe general marks of cultivation which befpeak the neigh- bourhood of a town* In the year 1215, Lhewelin ap Jorwerth won the original caflle, which in the year following he refigned, dividing the principality of South Wales equitably between its rival princes. The prefent ftructure was garrifoned for the royalifls, in the civil wars of King Charles and the commonwealth. The greater part of the building has entirely difappeared ; but it has fallen away in fuch a manner, as to leave what remains the more picturefque. The approach from the town is particularly fine. The arched gateway, about fourteen feet high, fupported by two octagon towers, exhibits the romantic character of the country beyond to fingular advantage. This fragment {lands alone, in front of the river, and has an air of uncommon lightnefs, from whatever point it is viewed. Some coins, and other veftiges of a Roman ftation, are faid to have been difcovered here, and to have occafioned this place alfo to put in its claim to the title of Loventium ; but neither Camden nor his commentators favour the conjecture. CHAPTER: •" 4* CARDIGANSHIRE. CHAPTER XX. BLAEN Y PANT.... PONT LLECHRYD .. . .LLANGOEDMOR ...^ CARDIGAN. In going from Newcaftle in Emlyn to Cardigan, inftead of croffing Kerry Bridgg, it will be raoft advifeable to take the Caermarthen- fhire fide of the river, from the bridge at LlandyfTul, for about three miles below, till you come to the river Keach, dividing the ^T two counties of Caermarthen and Pembroke. Inftead of croffing that river, a path to the right leads up to Kenarth, where there is the noted falmon-leap on the Tivy, mentioned by Girald, the Cambro-Briton. This a fcene, that fhould not be paffed by without a glance. There is alfo a very pleafant excurfion by water, from Cardigan to Kilgerran and Pont Llechryd, whence it may with eafe be vifited, by quitting the boat on the Pembrokefhire fide. I approached in both directions, and mall referve my brief account, till I treat of Pembrokefhire, in which it is fituated. After croffing the bridge at Kenarth, we again enter Cardiganfhire. The firfl object of importance near the road is, Blaen y Pant, a refpectable manfion in a very fine fituation. The name of the family, to which this belongs, is Brigftock. The banks of the Tivy continue interefting, at the fame time that they afTume an air of rcpofe, the whole way between Blaen y Pant and Pont Llechryd. This is a diflarrce of about four miles ; and it affords perhaps the only fpecimen in Cardiganfhire of what may be diftinclively called Englifh PONT LLECHRYD. 4 p 7 Englifh beauty. There is neither barren mountain, nor the wildly covered dingle; but there is hill and dale, cultivation, ■wood, and water. At Pont Llechryd, there is a manufacture of tin plates, on a very large and expenfive footing, which was con- dueled with much fpirit and fuccefs by Sir Benjamin Hamet. The village aflumes an air of buttle and activity, in confequence of this eftablifhment ; though the fcale of bufinefs is confiderably reduced ilnce the death of Sir Benjamin. I know not whether it was accidental, but I was not at all molefled by the mercenary importunities, fo general in manufacturing villages, though I palTed three days and two nights in the place, for the purpofe of making excurfions in the neighbourhood. Sir Benjamin Hamet was much attached to this place ; and it is but juftice to fay, that the natives were much attached to him. He built a very com- modious maniion near the works, which his fbn has lately enlarged;, and another fon has built a romantic villa, overhanging the Tivy. Pont Llechryd is rendered highly picturefque, by the ivy which creeps over its parapets. Thus far the tide flows. A great battle was fought here, between the fons of Blethin ap Couvirt and Rees ap Tudor, in which the former were difcomfited, and two of them ilain. The road for more than two miles, as far as Llangoedmor, commands, from a very confiderable elevation, all the principal reaches of the Tivy. There is a wild path between the hills, by the fide of the river, cut by Sir Benjamin Hamet at very great expence, to render thefe beauties acceffible. It would be well not to neglect either the road or the path ; nor can the fcenery in the neighbour- hood of Cardigan be comprehended in a flay of lefs than two days, even with the convenience of a carriage and horfes. In the parifh of Llangoedmor, there is an ancient monument, confuting of a rude ftone, about nine yards in circumference, and more than half fe yard in diameter. One fide of it is on the ground, and the other fupported 4oS CARDIGANSHIRE. fupportcd by a pillar about three feet high. There are feveral other antiquities in this neighbourhood, generally of the fame -defcription, though differing from each other in fize, pofition, and many more minute circumftances. The appearance of Cardigan is handfomc from a diftance ; but on a clofer acquaintance, it does not fulfil its prom ife. With the exception of a few good houfes, it has nothing to recommend it. J have already obferved, that this can never be a great commercial place, owing to a dangerous bar at the mouth of the Tivy; but at prefent it feems fcarcely qualified to anfwer the limited •demands of the internal trade. The fhops are mean, and appa- rently ill fupplied. I have fo far perfonal experience on which to found my judgment, that this county town could not furnifh me with a pair of ready-made fhoes, of w r hich I flood in need. It evidently, therefore, has nothing to fpare for ftrangers, though it may contain enough for its own fcanty wants. But though the interior of the town is indifferently built, and w r ears an air of poverty, confidering its rank as a capital, its environs, about the edge of the water, are highly interefling. The ancient bridge, the ruins of the caftle, the priory church, with its venerable tower, and fhady precincts, are objects of the moft engaging contemplation. In the reign of William Rufus, the Normans, inflated with the fuccefs of Robert Fitzhamon, and having nearly exhaufted the fyftem of plunder in England, prevailed with the king to turn them loofe upon Wales. Cardiganfhire was at that time invaded by fea, as the other counties by land. In the year 1093, Cadwgan ap Blethin, indignant at this intrufion, with the affiftance of Gruffyth ap Conan, fell defperately on the new fettlers, routed their forces in feveral engagements, and difmantled all the caftles they had built, except two. But they were not uniformly fuccefsful, and were at length obliged to make peace, and CARDIGAN. 409 and accede to the claims of the invaders, by relinquiftiing a part of their own inheritances. In. this new arrangement, the town and caftle of Cardigan remained with Cadwgan ap Blethin. The foundation of this caftle is generally attributed to Gilbert de Clare, in the reign of Henry the Second. He probably rebuilt it ; but it appears clearly from thefe documents, that there had been a fortrefs here for at leaft feventy years preceding ; nor is it likely that the Normans on their firft landing would have neglected an important ftation near the fea, fo neceflary to their fafety, whe- ther they maintained themfelves in the country, or were compelled to retire. This caftle has been highly diftinguiihed in the annals of the bards. It was here that Rees ap Gruffyth held that pompous celebration of the Stethva, mentioned in the firft chapter. Nor was this the only inftance. So long before as the Chriftmas of 1 107, Cadwgan ap Blethin inftituted a fimilar feftival, of which fome account will be given hereafter, before the period when the caftle is alleged to have been built. But when we fhall have occafion to obferve upon the magnitude of the preparations, the nature of the ceremonies, the number and quality of the guefts, and the ferious confequences which enfued, it will be found, perhaps, that this entertainment did not yield in fplendour to that of Rees ap Gruffyth ; and that confequently this fortrefs and palace muft even then have pofleffed confiderable extent and accommodation, as well as ftrength, and its owner have attained no mean degree of courtly and political importance. It does not appear why Gilbert de Clare mould at this diftance of time be denominated the founder, fince there not only was an earlier caftle, but the prefent remains are of a more modern date than Cadwgan, Gilbert, or Rees ap Gruffyth. In the year 1230, we read that Lhewelin ap Jorwerth levelled the caftle of Abertivy, or Cardigan, with the ground, becaufe the Flemings, contrary to $G the 4io CARDIGANSHIRE. the conditions of the peace, concluded three years before, had taken it into their own occupation, and expelled the prince's gar- rifon. It was, however, foon reinftated ; for in the year I2$i, it again fuftained a fiege from Maelgwn, the fon of Maelgwn ap Rees, who had taken advantage of the wars between Lhewelin ap Jorwerth and Henry the Third, to gain for himfelf the higheft applaufe, which the genius of public opinion at the time had to beftow, that of a fuccefsful warrior. The town was eafily taken, and the inhabitants coolly murdered; but it was neceffary for the young captain to confult more experienced executioners, before he could throw down the ftrong fortifications, and wreak his vengeance on their defenders. It feems to have lain in ruins for the next nine years, till the acceffion of David ap Lhewelin ap Jorwerth, when Gilbert Marfhal, prefuming on the inftability of a new reign and a weaker prince, came with an army, and poffeiTed himfelf of this hold, under the protection of new and more formidable works. What we now fee is probably the rem- nant of his caflle, built with a degree of ftrength and durability, adapted to the fcheme of politics which had now developed itfelf, and -was carried to maturity under the next princes of either , country. There was formerly a priory here ; and the delightful vicinity of the river fide ftill retains fomething of a venerable afped. The well felected feat of the monks is at prefent occupied by an elegant villa, commanding the firft reach of the Tivy with its bold fcenery towards Kilgerran. Its prefent occupant is Mr.Bowen, a very refpe&able gentleman, brother to the moll: affiduous agri- culturist in the county, the Rev. Mr. Bowen of Troedyraur. But this fpot has attained a high celebrity, and cannot fail to intereft every vifitor, from the circumftance of its having been the -\}/^ refidence of Orinda, which was the poetical name of Mrs. Catharine Philips. CARDIGAN. |*| Philips. She was bom in London in 1631; was married to James Philips, of the priory of Cardigan, Efq. about the year 1647; and died in June 1664. Her poems have been feveral times printed. She was alfo the writer of a volume of letters, intituled, «' Letters from Orinda to Poliarchus." Poliarchus was Sir Charles Cotterell, her early, conftant, and eftimable friend. Under his tuition, while youth and a fingle life admitted an exclufive devo- tion to the purfuits of literary tafte, fhe acquired the Italian language. When me afterwards turned the powers of a mind, fitted as well to encounter the bufinefs of life, as to repofe in intellectual luxury, towards the object of retrieving her hufband's embarraflments, the powerful intereft of Sir Charles Cotterell affifled thofe endeavours, which were flrft animated by her affec- tion, and uniformly profecuted by her good fenfe and prudence. Her death was graced by an elegiac poem from the pen of Cowley; a mark of attention, that would confer luflre on any character, though, according to his ufual tafle, the aim of the verfe feems rather to be, to difplay the author's power of faying good things, than to utter that language which affects the hearts of others, in proportion as it feems to flow from real feeling. When we are told, that if Apollo had been required to elect a female laureat, he would have preferred Orinda to Sappho or the whole band of mufes ; when we find the poet trumpeting the lafting fame of his fubject, and taking occafion gently to infinuate his own ; when we read, that the illuftrious inftances of friendship in antiquity have all been furpafTed ; and that it was the bufinefs of Orinda's life to qualify herfelf for a future world of poetry and love, as men ftudy the language and manners of a country, where they defign to travel ; it is difficult to believe that grief very profound, which has fpirit enough to fparkle with conceits, or fo much leifure to throw about its claffical allufions. He likewife wrote an ode on 3 G 2, Orinda's 4i« CARDIGANSHIRE. Orinda' s poems, in which he accufes her of violating Apollo's falique law, and reigning in wit as well as beauty; he transfigures verfe into the fire-arms of Cupid, and reprefents his poetical heroine as turning his own artillery againft the god. He then changes his note ; commends what he before had blamed, and concludes with making Merlin prophefy the coming of Orinda. Matthew Prior glances farcaftically at this flattery, in his epilogue to Mrs. Manley's Lucius. Mrs. Catharine Philips was particu- larly courted by thofe of the higher circles, who confidered the patronage, and in fome meafure the pofTeflion, of literary merit, as an indifpenfable appendage of their ftation. The Earl of Rof- common celebrated Orinda in an imitation, drawn from the twenty-fecond ode of the firft book of Horace. He like wife wrote a prologue to her tragedy of Pompey, tranflated freely from the French of Corneille, and acted at the theatre in Dublin. Its reprefentation was honoured with the prefence of the Lord- Lieutenant on the firft night. The Earl of Dorfet and Waller are faid to have affifted her in this translation. Yet, though countenanced by fuch talents and influence, fhe could fcarcely confent to its being brought upon the ftage. Indeed, fhe feems on all occafions to have fhunned that publicity, which a ready pen is generally too eager to court. A furreptitious edition of her poems gave her a fevere fit of illnefs. The reafon of her tragedy being produced in Ireland was, that fhe was under the neceflSty of quitting her retirement at Cardigan, and vifiting that country, in the profecution of her hufband's affairs. She was received with attention there, as in England, by perfons of the firft distinction ; particularly by the Duke of Ormond, as well as by Rofcom*- mon, who was then refident in Dublin, in confequence of a difpute about part of his eftate. It was principally at the fiig- geftion of this latter nobleman, that fhe undertook her dramatic tafk. CARDIGAN. 413 tafk. Nor did her memory fade from public recollection, as foon as thofe lips were cold, which added charms to the pointed repartee; when the fame of the poetefs was no longer fung in ode or fonnet, as an introduction to the acquaintance of the woman. More than forty years after the triumph of the fmall pox over wit, beauty, if fhe had any, and life itfelf,, the facetious Dr. King, in his Art of Love, fubmitting for one fhort moment to be grave, enumerates this lady in his lift of elegant female writers. He clafTes her with the wife of Sir George Chudleigh, a light of his own age ; and the afTociation feems not to have been injudicious. They both printed poems, which were well received in a fplendid era of our poetry ; and the eflays of the latter in profe were in a ftile well adapted to the philofophical ferioufnefs of her fubjects, while the former clothed topics, fcarcely lefs important, in the graces of epif- j tolary freedom. This place was her favourite refidence, before fhe went to Ireland ; though anxiety made it appear to her as a melancholy retirement, after her return. To wear off gloomy impremons,* fhe vifited London, and loft her life. But it was among thefe fcenes, fo favourable to poetical feeling, that fhe cultivated a propensity to the mufes, almoft coeval with the firft indications of reafon. Here it was, that fhe difciplined thofe talents, which appeared to fo much advantage within the verge of courts ; talents fufficiently mafculine, to ftruggle in the conflict of precarious and contending interefts, without lofing that modefty and foftnefs, fo necefTary to the refined pleafures of the focial or domeftic circle. She left behind her only one daughter, who married into v ^ > the Wogan family in Pembrokefhire. It cannot be fufficiently lamented, that fuch a woman fhould have been loft fo foon ;. fmce it is probable, that with her powers, had.her life been longer fpareaY 4 i4 CARDIGANSHIRE. fpared, me might have handed down to pofterity proofs of literary merit, more various and exquifite, than thofe which we poffefs. As it is, me is more read of than read ; but fhe feems to have been capable of furnifhing models to ftimulate the emulation even of an age, when female genius is invited into the lifts, and no longer regarded in the invidious light of eccentricity. CHAPTER [ 415 I CHAPTER XXI. PEMBROKESHIRE. This county is partly Dutch, partly Englifh, partly Welfh; a colony of Flemings having been there planted ; of which the following account is given by Selden, in a note on a parTage of Drayton. " Under Henry the firil:, a colony of Flemings driven out of their country by inundation, and kindly received here in refpect of that alliance which the king had with their earl, (for his mother Maud, wife to the Conqueror, was daughter to Baldwin Earl of Flanders,) afterward upon difference betwixt the king and Earl Robert were out of divers parts, but efpecially Northumberland, where they moll: of all (as it feems by Hoveden) had refidence,. conftrained into Rofs in Pembroke, which retains yet in name and tongue exprefs notes of being aliens to the Cambro-Britons." The circumftances are thus detailed by the poet, with a fpeci- men of the fuperftitions they brought with them, in fome meafure illuflrating their habits and opinions, at that time, highly offenfive and even hateful as they were, to the people among whom they were quartered. But time, as guilty fince to man's infatiate theft, Transfer'd the Englifh names of towns and hou molds hither With the induftrious Dutch fince fojourning together. When wrathful heav'n the clouds fo lih'rally beftow'd, The feas (then wanting roomth to lay their boift'rous load) Upon- 4i5 :■■ PEMBROKESHIRE. Upon the Belgian marfh their pamper'd ftomachs caft, That peopled cities fank into the mighty wafte. The Flemings were inforc'd to take them to their oars, To try the fettiug main to find out firmer fhores; When as this fpacious Ifle them entrance did allow, To plant the Belgian ftock upon this goodly brow : Thefe nations that their tongues did naturally affect, Both generally forfook the Britifh dialect : As when it was decreed by all-fore-dooming fate, That ancient Rome fhould ftoop from her imperious flare, With nations from the north then altogether fraught, Which to their civil bounds their barbarous cuftoms brought, Of all her ancient fpoils and laftly be forlorn, Trom Tyber's hallowed banks to old Bizantium born : Th'abundant Latines then old Latium laftly left, Both of her proper form and elegancy reft ; Before her fmootheft tongue, their fpeech that did prefer, And in her tables fiat their ill-fhap'd chara&er. A divination ftrange the Dutch-made Englifh have, Appropriate to that place (as though fome power it gave) By th' moulder of a ram from off the right fide par'd, Which ufually they boil, the fpade-bone being bar'd : Which then the wizard takes, and gazing thereupon, Things long to come fore-mows, as things done long agone ; 'Scapes fecretly at home, as thofe abroad and far ; Murthers, adulterous Healths, as the events of war ; The reigns and death of kings they take on him to know : Which only to their fkill the fhoulder-blade doth mow. " Take this as a'tafte of their art in old time. Under Henry II. one William Mengunel, a gentleman of thofe parts, finding by his fkill of prediction that his wife had played falfe with him, and conceived by his own nephew, formally drefles the fhoulder- bone of one of his own rams ; and fitting at dinner, (pretending it to be taken out of his neighbour's flock,) requeffo his wife (equalling him in thefe. divinations) to give her judgment ; fhe 3 curioufly PEMBROKESHIRE. 417 curioufly obferves, and at laft with great laughter, cafts it from her. The gentleman, importuning her reafon of fo vehement an affe&ion, receives anfwer of her, that his wife out of whofe flock the ram was taken, had by inceftuous copulation with her hufband's nephew fraughted herfelf with a young one. Lay all together, and judge, gentlewomen, the fequel of this crofs accident. But why fhe could not as well divine of whofe flock it was, as the other fecret, when I have more fkill in Ofteomanty, I will tell it you. Nor was their repute lefs in knowing things to come, than paft ; fo that jealous Panurge, in his doubt de la Coquage, might have had other manner of refolution than Rundibilis, Hippothade, Bridoye, Trovillogan, or the oracle itfelf, were able to give him. Blame me not, in that, to explain my author, I infert this example." — Selden. If we compare thefe accounts with the Welfh hiftories, we fhall find a general confirmation both of the fadls flated, and of the unfavourable character imputed to the fettlers. About the year 1108, according to thefe authorities, fome very high winds blew the fands of the fea more over the face of the Netherlands, in fo definitive a manner, that the habitable part of the country was much injured, and what before had been the natural barrier againfl the inroads of the overwhelming element, became deep fea ; fb that many of the inhabitants were obliged to feek their fortunes in other countries. A part of them came into England, where they did much mifchief, committing depredations on the peaceable inhabitants : King Henry therefore was under the neceflity of driving them into Wales. They landed in Pembrokefhire, and fettled for fome time in that part of the county called Rofs, but at lafl difappeared. This is Caradoc Lhancarvan's account ; and the latter flatement may be recon- ciled to probability by fuppofmg, that fome returned to their native country, and that others, by intermarrying with the 3 H Welfh, 4if 'PEMBROKESHIRE. Welfh, difappeared as a diftinet nation. Some time between the years 1 113 and 11 15, the Flemings came a fecond time into England. The fea had now actually overflowed their lands, where high tides fome years before had deftroyed the hills and banks of fand along their coaft. King Henry, being then in want of men to oppofe Gruffyth ap Rees, prince of South Wales, fent to his garrifons and Norman officers, and to fuch of the Welfh as fided with him, requeuing that they would kindly receive and entertain thefe Flemings, and give them lands for a fubfiftence, on condition that they mould become his liege fubjects, and ferve in his armies when required, in behalf of him, and of thofe who w T ere faithful to him. To this they agreed ; and thofe Grangers had lands granted to them in that part of Pembrokefhire called Rofs, where they eflablifhed themfelves as fubjeCts of the Englifh king. He with much policy, placed among them Englifhmen, or Saxons, as they were termed by the natives, to teach them the Englifh language : and now, accord- ing to the teftimony of Caradoc, it is Englifhmen they are, and the depredators of South Wales, addicted to deceit and falfe iwearing, beyond any people that were ever known in the ifland of Britain. In the year 1154, King Stephen died; and his coufin Henry Plantagenet, fon of the Emprefs Maud, who is called Henry the Second, fucceeded him. In the time of Stephen, many inhabitants of Flanders came with him into Britain, and they were very generally attached to him. He was indeed very boun- tiful to them, becaufe they were the bell:, and the moil to be depen- ded upon, of his partizans. But when Henry the Second afcended the throne, he would not fuffer them to remain in England. For that rcafon many of them came into Wales, and with them great numbers of the Englifh, who had been the adherents of Stephen; and thefe Grangers became the fworn or liege fubje&s of the Norman Chiefs in Pembrokefhire and Cardiganfhire. 6 Thefe PEMBROKESHIRE. 4 i 9 Thefe ftatements, in fome points, do not eafily harmonize with ■each other; for one account fays, that the Flemings were fent on friendly terms by Henry into Wales ; the other inclines more to the opinion of Selden, that he forced them in an unfriendly manner to quit England, in confequence of which they retired into Wales. Such, however, is the evidence of Caradoc Lhan- carvan ; which in facl: folves the inconfiftency, by afcribing their incurfion to two diftincl periods. The firft, made by conflraint, according to Hoveden and Selden, to avoid the king's difpleafure, w r as unmccefsful ; but the fecond, which thofe authors have con- founded with the firft, took place under his aufpices, in league with more powerful ftrangers and licenfed invaders, and therefore they e rooted out. All parties agree in this important particular, that a great many Saxons, or Englifh, came with them into Pembroke- fhire. That confideration well accounts for the prevalency of the Englifh language among them ; and this prevalency was corro- borated by the Engliih being the language of the government to which they acknowledged fubjeclion, and by which they Were protected ; the government of King Henry, not that of the Welfh princes. They have always been charged, not only by Caradoc Lhancarvan, in recording their fettlement, but by the Welfh hiflorians on every occasion, with being a perjured, treacherous, and, in every refpect, an immoral people. How juft the charge might have been originally, I know not ; at prefent, their perfons, characters, and habits, are ftill infulated, and evince as ilrongly as ever their defcent from another flock ; but their virtues and vices are generally fuppofed to be nearly on a level with thofe of their neighbours. In all probability, thefe imputations were in a great meafure the effect of animofity; for the Welfh could not .but have looked on them with an evil eye, which would naturally 3 H 2, lead 420 PEMBROKESHIRE. - lead them to fee all their faults, and in fome cafes, perhaps, to aggravate them beyond the truth. I have been the more fedulous in my attention to this fubjeclr, as many perfons, with whom I have converfed, have been unable to refolve the difficulty of accounting for the Flemings neither retaining their own language, nor adopting that of the people among whom they fettled, but at once abandoning both for a third, which has taken fuch deep root, that nothing elfe is to be heard at this day in the hundreds of Rofs and Caftle Martin. The circumftance is the more ftaggering, as there is no patois in thofe hundreds, like that which prevails in the hundred of St. Dewy's, but they ufe the Englifh language only, and that in a ftate of confiderable correctnefs, though hemmed in by fuch a circle of native Welfh, as might be fuppofed to have prevented the newer modes of fpeech from finding their way into this remote corner. Should the foregoing folution be deemed infufrl- cient, it may be confidered further, that though the Flemings could fcarcely have been fo long in England, as to acquire the Englifh language before they were fent to Wales the £rft time, their fecond vifit was to ferve King Henry's purpofes ; fo that a very large proportion, perhaps the majority, were Englishmen; at leaft the military part of the colony was likely to be compofed of the king's own people ; and they muft have been numerous, to protect the country from the incurfions of the Welfh. It is al fb to be obferved, that during the whole reign of Stephen, which lafted nineteen years, England was overrun with foreigners and military adventurers, who, in the courfe of fo long a refidence in the kingdom, muft at length have become well acquainted with the Englifh language. We have already feen, that many of thofe marauders made their efcape into Wales, when they found the fun of their profperity fet, on the acceflion of Henry the Second to PEMBROKESHIRE. 4 2i to the throne of England. Here they found their own country- men and the Englifh, already in poffeffion for a period of full forty years : this therefore was their home ; and when they had joined their own numbers and phyfical force to the ftrength already collected, they were fufficient within themfelves for every purpofe of defence, and every gratification of focial intercourse. They therefore avoided all connexion with the Welfh ; and fo they do to this day. But this local difcuffion leads me ftill further to confider at large the intermixture of nations that has taken place in this if] and. In the hiflorical triades, the three deteftable traitors of Britain are mentioned. The firft was Gwrgi Garwlwyd, who, having tailed human flefh in the court of Edelfled King of the Saxons, became fo fond of it, that he would never after eat any other flefh. To obtain it, he and his mbjecls leagued with Edelfled the Saxon king, in confequence of which they continually aflailed the Welfh with a view to their favourite repaft, daily feeding on the young, taken either from the fathers who had refilled them in battle, or from the mothers, who yielded themfelves their defence - lefs prey. All the freebooters and moft wicked of the Welfh joined thefe cannibals. The fecond was Medrod, prince or fove- reign of a diflricl: comprehending Lancafhire, Weflmoreland, Derbyfhire, and other neighbouring counties, who leagued with the Saxons againfl Arthur, for the purpofe of fecuring to himfelf the fovereignty of his territories. On this occafion, the Britifh, or as we mould now term them, the Welfh inhabitants of his dominions, became Saxons. The third was Aeddan, the traitor, a prince in the north of England, who, with his fubjects, became Saxons, allying themfelves with that people, that they might the more effectually fubfift by depredations ; for they paid the Saxons the compliment of believing, that they would unite with them in their 422 PEMBROKESHIRE/ their enormities. Owing to thefe three grand treacheries, the Britons loft their rights, and their crown or fovereignty in England. It is confidently affirmed by their indignant hiftorians, that, had it not been for thefe unnatural acts, the Saxons would never have prevailed againft them, or impofed on them the contemptuous name of Welfh. The triades mention three peaceable colonies, that came into the ifland of Britain: firft, the Cymry, who came with Hu; %■ fecondly, the Lloegrians, who came from Gafcony, and were Gauls, of the fame original ftock with the Cymry, or Welfh ; thirdly, the Brython, alfo of the fame original ftock, who came from Aquitain, or Armorica, called in modern language BafTe Bretagne. Thefe were called the three peaceable colonies, becaufe each fettled here by the confent of the others, being of the fame primary family, and of the fame language. They were therefore coequal in rights and privileges. They alfo mention three refugee colonies, that were permitted to fettle here by the confent of the three original or peaceable colonies. The firft of thefe were the Caledonians in the north ; the fecond were the Scots, alfo in the northern parts; the third confuted of the Belgas, who came into this ifland in open boats, when their own country was overflowed and deftroyed by the fea. They were permitted to fettle in the Ifle of Wight, and in the fouthern parts of the main ifland. They were admitted as refugees, fubordinate to the original pro- prietary or peaceable colonies; but were never confidered as inducted to their rights and privileges, till the ninth generation. Befides thefe, there is an account of three predatory colonies, who fettled in Britain. The firft were the Coritani, who came, as it v is faid, from Pwll, fuppofed to be Poland, and who were poflibly Sarmatians. Thefe fettled on the eaftern coafts of the ifland, and along the river Humber. Secondly, the Picts, along the eaftern and PEMBROKESHIRE. 425 and northern coafts of Scotland. The third were the Saxons, with whom the Picts and Coritani joined againft the Britons. Thefe, fo leagued, feduced the Lloegrians, one of the three pro- prietary or peaceable tribes or nations, and won them over to their fide againft the Cymry or Welfh ; fo that all the Lloegrians, or Britons, of England, became Saxons, excepting thofe who inhabited the diftrict north of the Humber, containing Deira, where the court of Northumberland was kept, and Bernicia, or the warlike province of Berwick, and thofe who were in Cornwal. The firft of the three peaceable colonies, who were the Cymry, or Welfh, kept their country and language, but loft their fovereignty. All the other Britons became Saxons, owing to the treachery of the refugee colonies fiding or leaguing with the predatory colonies or nations. It mould feem that fome ancient feeling of envy or animofity had for ages fubfifted between the proprietary colonies or nations and the refugee tribes, inducing the latter to connect themfelves with the predatory parties, and place themfelves under their pro- tection, in pure malice againft the Welfh, or original Britons, who claimed and exercifed the fovereign power, after the Romans had abdicated the ifland. It was by the means above mentioned, according to the oldeft accounts, that the Saxons obtained the ibvereignty of England, and not by exterminating the natives, . as the modern hiftorians generally fuppofe. The account given of Vortigern, in the moft ancient annals and collections, is, that he brought in the Saxons to protect him againft his own fubjects, over. whom he greatly tyrannized; that he married Rowena, the daughter of Hengift, and had a fon by her, named Cotta, or Otta^ on whom he fettled the fucceflion to the fovereignty; and that it was in right of fuch fettlement, rather than in right of conqueft, the Saxon princes claimed in later ages, not only with fuccefs, but with 424 PEMBROKESHIRE. with fome colour of juftice. The inhabitants of England in general, at leaft all the Lloegrians, afterwards put themfelves under the protection of thofe very Saxons, againft their native, but tyran- nical fovereign Vortigern, and thus became a part of the people by whom they were defended. Such, ultimately, have been the effects of tyranny in all countries and in all ages. Their iyftem of plunder, oppremon, and corruption, loft to the Romans their empire of the world, and occafioned their own downfall. The Britifh nation, as well as the Britifh court, during their connexion with Rome, had deeply imbibed the Roman depravities ; nor did they renounce them in their recently acquired fovereignty, which, for that very reafon, was defervedly fhort in its duration. In their endeavours to retrieve it, they difplayed virtues, which would have been fully fufficient for its maintenance. Though the Saxons obtained the fovereignty of the ifland, or rather of that part called England, yet w r ere there fome diftricts in it inhabited by feemingly unmixed Britons or Welfh. In the year 843, a bloody battle was fought between the Welfh and the King of Mercia, when Mervin Urich, King of the Britons, was ilain. In Mervin Urich's time, we are told by the hiftorians, that the Britons of England were obliged to become Saxons, or leave their lands and country within three months. Immediately on his father's death, Roderique the Great began his reign over the Cymry or Welfh; but he was obliged to abandon the Britons of England, who from that time forward became and continued Saxons. In a genealogical manuscript, not yet printed, there are A' '^' fome particulars relating to the tribe or nation inhabiting the diftricl: or country about Dunftable in Bedfordfhire, in the pedi- gree of Cadrod, chieftain of the chalk mountain, or Dunftable, which will throw fome light on our earlier revolutions. In the fixth century, or rather in the beginning of the feventh, a prince reigned PEMBROKESHIRE. 425 reigned over this tribe, whofe name was Cadrod, a Briton. They appear to have been an unmixed community of Britifli extraction. But about the clofe of the feventh century, the defcendants of Cadrod were deprived of their fovereignty, and obliged to retire into Wales, in confequence of which their people from that time became Saxons. A great many anecdotes to the fame purpofe, might be collected from the Welfh hiftorical manufcripts. Thefe reprefentations render it not improbable, that an error has in fome degree crept into our Englifh accounts, and been tranfmitted from earlier to modern times, through the channel of our moft eminent hiftorians. There feems to be fbme reafon for believing, that the great body of the Britons were neither exterminated nor obliged to retire into Wales. When we are told, that the Britons, in confequence of adverfe fortune in war, made a feceffion into Wales and Cornwal, a great diffi- culty, if not abfurdity, arifes from fuppofmg, that Wales or Cornwal, in addition to their own population, could alfo admit within their limits a very large, and perhaps the greateft part of a population, difperfed over the furface of fuch a country as England. That the higher clauses were deprived of their lands, and, what was to them more mortifying, of their exceffive power, applied to every purpofe of tyranny; that they were obliged to retire into Wales, is probably true. That thefe perfons mould reprefent the Saxons, and fuch of the Britons as entered into alliances with them, in the light of cannibals, feeding on human flefh, is only one of thofe arts, to which degraded tyrants and opprefTors in all ages and countries have recourfe, to blacken the characters of thofe who pull them down ; for I cannot but con- fider the imputation in the triades on the Saxons, as flowing from the fame fpirit with the charges of Caradoc Lhancarvan againft the Flemings. That very inveterate animofities fubfifted 3 I between 42 6 PEMBROKESHIRE. between the Saxon chiefs, with all that were fubje<5t to them, whether Saxons or Britons, and the Britifh princes, who claimed and endeavoured to recover the fupreme power, is true beyond a doubt ; and the confequence was, that they engaged in the mod: dreadful wars againft each other for ages. But it may reafonably be inferred from the foregoing fpecimens of early hiftory, that the great body of the- prefent Englifh nation are much more the defcendants of the Britons^ than of the Saxons, who rather pro- tected them againft tire tyranny of Vortigern, and the train of evils by which it was fucceeded, than enflaved them. The Saxon chiefs having thus obtained the government, their language alfb gained an afcendancy over the Britifh ; and the language of the governors, or, as we exprefs it in modern phrafe, the court lan- guage, will ultimately become the language of the governed Thus the Saxon language fuperfeded the Britifh, in the fame manner as the Roman language obvioufly fuperfeded the ancient languages of Gaul and Spain ; for the French and Spanifh are little more than barbarous or greatly corrupted Latin. Yet the old Gauls and Iberians were certainly not exterminated by the Jtomans ; but their legitimate defcendants to this day confiitute the great mafs of the French and Spanifh nations. Should it appear, that thefe fuggeftions refpecling the perma- nency of the ancient Britons in England are at variance with fome preceding remarks on the diftincl: character of the Welfh, I may perhaps retrieve my confiftency by reminding the objector, that the exprefs condition of their ftay was that of conforming to the cuftoms and language of thofe who had gained the political afcendancy. We all know the influence of language over manners. But the more obflinate or high-fpirited preferred the fhelter of a mountainous tract, where they might converfe in the language of their fathers, to the funfhine of court favour under the new order of PEMBROKESHIRE. 427 •of things. This fentiment was not confined to a few breafts ; fo that a principality of ancient Britons was ftill maintained within the kingdom of the modern. The political existence of this principality was at length fupprefTed; but its diftance from the feat of empire was fo great, that it was not worth while to riik the newly acquired fovereignty, by attempting to model the manners, or interfere with the habits of a proud people. Neither was Wales, as a country, fufficiently rich and tempting, to induce the victorious Englifh to fettle there ; they were more defirous of drawing fubfidies from the natives, than of living among them. The Englifh part of Pembrokefhire was numeroufly colonized, under peculiar circumftances ; and the reafon why the inhabitants of Wales did not either drive them out, which they often attempted to do, or compel them to become Welfh, moft afluredly was only that their power was on the wane. The Saxons had a political object, and therefore transformed^the Britons into their own likenefs : the Saxon, or afterwards the Norman Britons had no fuch object of any great force, and therefore left the Cambro- Britons in a great meafure to themfelves ; the Cambro-Britons had the object, but not the means, and therefore the Flemings remain to this day. Before I offer a few general obfervations on this county, I mail illuftrate its leading objects by Drayton's topographical catalogue. To the Pembrokian parts the mufe her ftill doth keep, Upon that utmoft point, to the Iberian deep, By Cowdra coming in ; where clear delightful air, (That forefts moft afFedt) doth welcome her iepair ; The Heliconian maids in pleafure groves delight ; (Floods cannot ftill content their wanton appetite) And wand'ring in the woods, the neighbouring hills below* With wife Apollo meet (who with his ivory bow Once in the paler fhades the ferpent Python flew) And hunting oft with him, the heartlefs deer purfue ; ' 3 I 2 Thofc 428 PEMBROKESHIRE. Thofe. beams then laid afide he us'd in heaven to wear. Another foreil-nymph is Narber, {landing near, That with her curled top her neighbour would aflound, Whofe groves once bravely grac'd the fair Pembrokian ground, When Albion here beheld on this extended land, Amongfl his well-grown woods, the fhag-hair'd fatyrs ftand (The fylvans chief refort) the fhores then fitting high, Which under water now fo many fathoms lie ; And wallowing porpice fport and lord it in the flood, Where once the pole-like oak, and large-limb'd poplar flood : Of all the foreft's kind thefe two now only left. He then proceeds to give an account of the mountains, rivers, and harbours, together with the iflands upon the point of Pembrokefhire, . and other circumftances marking the character as well as geography of the country. With refpect to the eyries of excellent falcons faid to have been found in the rocks of this maritime coafl, he derived his information principally from Girald, whofe authority lias given currency to all the {lories on the fubjecl. Henry the Second, who was a keen fportfman in this way, is faid to have taken the diverfion of hawking here, on his patTage into Ireland. The forefts of Norway were the places whence the higheft flying hawks were brought. You goodly filler floods, how happy is your Hate ! Or (hould I more commend your features, or your fate, That Milford, which this ifle her greatefl port doth call Before your equal floods is lotted to your fall ? Where was fail ever feen, or wind hath, ever blown, Whence Pembroke yet hath heard of haven like her own? She bids Dungleddy dare Iberia's proudefl road, And chargeth her to fend her challenges abroad Along the coafl of France, to prove if any be Her Milford that dare match : fo abfolute is fhe. And Clethy coming down from Wrenyvaur her fire (A hill that thrufts his head into th' etherial fire), Hex PEMBROKESHIRE. 429 Her fitter's part doth take, and dare avouch as much : . And Percily the proud, whom nearly it doth touch, Said he would bear her out ; and that they all fhould know. And therewithal he ftruts, as though he fcorn'd to (how His head below the heaven, when he of Milford fpake : But there was not a port the prize durft undertake. So highly Milford is in every mouth renown'd, No haven hath aught good, in her that is not found : Whereas the fwelling furge, that with his foamy head The gentler looking land with fury menaced, With his encountring wave no longer there contends ; But fitting mildly down like perfect ancient friends, Unmov'd of any wind which way foe'er it blow, And rather feem to fmile, than knit an angry brow. The fhips with fhatter'd ribs fcarce creeping from the feas, On her fleek bofom ride with fuch deliberate eafe, As all her patted ftorms (he holds but mean and bafe, So fhe may reach at length this moll: delightful place, By nature with proud clifrs invironed about, To crown the godly road : where builds the falcon flout, Which we the gentil call ; whofe fleet and adlive wings, It feems that nature made when mod fhe thought on kings: Which manag'd to the lure, her high and gallant flight, The vacant fportful man fo greatly doth delight, That with her nimble quills his foul doth feem to hover,. And ly the very pitch that lufty bird doth cover ; That thofe proud eyries, bred whereas the fcorching iky Doth finge the fandy wilds of fpiceful Barbary ; Or underneath our pole, where Norway's forefts wide Their high cloud-touching heads in winter mows do hide, Oi t-brave not this our kind in mettal, nor exceed The falcon which fometimes the Britifh cliffs do breed : Which prey upon the ifles in the Vergivian walte, That from the Britifh fhores by Neptune are embrae'd; Which ftem his furious tides when wildlielr. they do rave, And break the big-fwoln bulk of many a boitVrous wav«: As, calm when he becomes, then likewife in their glory Do caft their amorous eyes at many a promontory That >. 4 3o PEMBROKESHIRE. That thruft their foreheads forth into the fmiling fouth ; As Rat and Sheepy, fet to keep calm Milford's mouth, Expos'd to Neptune's power. So Grefholm far doth Hand: Scaling Stockholm, with Saint Bride, and Gatholm, nearer land. (Which with their veiny breads intice the gods of fea, That with the luity ifles do revel every day), As crefcent-like the land her breadth here inward bends, From Milford, which {he forth to old Menevia fends ; Since, holy David's feat ; which of efpecial grace Doth lend that nobler name, to this unnobler place. This topographical verfifier then goes on to defcribc Ramfey Ille, the fea-girt rocks, whimfically called the Bifhop and his -Clerks, very near St. David's Head, the rivers Gwin and Nevern, and the town of Fifcard : To Newport falls the next : there we a while will reil ; Our next enfuing fong to wond'rous things addreft. Pembrokefhire is the extreme point of South Wales. The line of its boundary is fo undulating, that it feems to the eye of much more extent upon the map, than it really is upon actual meafure- ment. It has this remarkable circumftance attending it, that it is plentiful without being rich. The price of provifions and the rate of labour are much lower than in any part of Wales, or pro- bably of England; in October 1803* beef in Pembroke market was fourpence a pound, and labourers wages eightpence a day. That the prices are fo kept down, is owing to the flrmnefs of Mr. Mirehoufe and other gentlemen, who furnifhed their cottagers with neceffary articles at the ordinary rate during the fcarcity, but refuted the advance of wages ; while Glamorgan, Caermarthen, Brecknock, and Radnor, were puihed upwards almoft to the prices of the metropolis. Yet there is no where a more contented . - fct PEMBROKESHIRE. 43I fet of cottagers than in Pembrokeihire, becaufe they have many privileges conceded by their employers, which place them on a level with the increafed demands of the times, without raifing their pride or tempting their morals by an addition of pecuniary payment. But men are feldom contented with the circumftances in which they are placed ; and a general complaint is echoed, common to Cardiganfhire and Radnorfhire, that their remote fituation precludes them from the benefits of an advantageous traffic; in which complaint they are joined, though more faintly and with lefs reafon, by the inhabitants of Caermarthenmire and Brecknockfhire. This may feem a ftrange murmur, with fuch maritime advantages at hand ; yet it is a fact, that the produce o{ this county, bountiful and overflowing as it is in the fouth, in proportion to its population, has little or no foreign vent. The population, however, is by no means defective ; as will appear by the circumftance, that on a late rejoicing, when Sir Hugh Owen came of age, five thoufand people were fuppofed to be collected in the little town of Pembroke. It was taken, on a late occafion, at nearly fixty thoufand, which places it the fourth of the thirteen counties, including Monmouthfhire as one. Pem- brokefliire has a very great extent of coaft ; and indeed it feems almoft as if it was appended to the main land on the eaftern fide. The inftances of longevity are numerous and remarkable, fb that perfons living to the age of ninety are by no means of rare occurrence. The country is much fubject to rain, in which nature feems kindly to have provided for the drynefs of the foil. Snow in ordinary feafons is feldom known to lie longer than a day near the coaft. r I he mountains, however, in the north o£ the county have their full fhare. It is a circumftance which has been often noticed, but' may be worth repeating, how curioufly the woods, expofed to the fouth and weft, are fhorn by the winds 432 PEMBROKESHIRE. winds from the fea. The climate has always been confidercd as eminently falubrious, of which long life is the belt proof. With the exception of a fmall tract towards the north, this is the moll: level part of Wales, and feems to bear a refemblance to the general face of Englifh country, as clofe as the affinity of its inhabitants to the Englifh people ; fo that it has been called Little England beyond Wales. The practice of ufing furnames always prevailed here, as in England ; at leaft in the fouthern hundreds. The ftyle of building in the towns is little, if at all fuperior to that of Wales in general ; but the cottages are good and comfortable. Animal food is much more in ufe than among the common people in the neighbouring counties, who live very much on the produce of the dairy. The churches in the Englifh or Fleming hundreds afford a very pleafing contrail: to thofe whofe external meannefs and internal deformity has been fo frequently noticed: here they are never feen without either towers or fpires, and are in general well kept, and adorned with decent monuments. In the places near the coal!, the defalcation from the fimplicity of the Welfh character is very apparent ; and indeed there are few parts of the country where more diflblute manners feem to prevail than about Fifcard, New- port, and St. Dogmaels. The great divifion of the county is into Englifh and Welfh. There are about one hundred and forty-four parifhes ; of thefe, feventy-four are inhabited by the Englifh, and fixty-four by the Welfh. The reft fpeak both lan- guages, or rather neither. The Englifh hundreds, four out of the feven, are thofe of Rofs, Caftle Martin, Narber, and Dung- leddy. So different were the manners, arts, and agriculture, of the two people, that they have fcarcely made an advance towards affimilation, in the fpace of nearly feven hundred years. So eftranged are they from each other, that though they are only feparated rEMBROKESHIP.E. # 433 feparated in fome inftances by a path in the fame village, the common people do not intermarry ; and it has Angularly hap- pened, on more than one occafion, that men from the fame parifh have been on a jury together, without a common lan- guage, in which to confer on the matters fubmitted to their decifion. The pafTage refpecting Narber foreft, in a preceding extract: from Drayton, refers to the general opinion, mpported by evidence, the nature and authority of which will be adduced in a fubfequent chapter, that the whole of St. Bride's bay was, in very remote times, dry land, occupied by a vaft' wood. 3 K CHAPTER 434 PEMBROKESHIRE. CHAPTER XXII. ST. dogmael's priory. ..kilgerran castle. At the end of Cardigan bridge, a chapel was built on the fpot •where Archbifhop Baldwin, in his progrefs through the princi- pality with Girald, flood to preach the crufade. The banks of the river are well worth purfuing as far as the fea, on the Pembroke- lhire fide ; and St. Dogmael's Priory is in itfelf an object of fome intereft, as well as from the circumftance of its giving the pofition of Cardigan with refpect to the mouth of the Tivy at a fingle glance. It was founded by a Norman leader, whofe ion endowed: it with lands, the pofTeffion of which King Henry the Firffc con- firmed. There is nothing flriking in the ruins, as they now remain; but the fituation, embracing the view of a confiderable town, a fea port, and a fine country, muft have given an air of grandeur to the place, when its inftitutions were all in vigour, and its ftiades rendered folemn by the prefence of their venerable inhabitants. There is a church or chapel within the precincts, feemingly built from the dilapidations of the ancient fabric ; but I fliall not think it my duty to give an account of all the filthy and difgraceful churches in thefe villages. I fhall turn to a more agreeable fubject ; an excurfion to Kilgerran by water. The firft reach of the river is through the meadows, with the cattle, the church, and the priory on the left. If you look down- wards, you have the ancient bridge, and the well-planted banks beyond it feen through its arches; if upwards, a plentifully irrigated KILGERRAN CASTLE. 435 irrigated flat, with a bolder fcenery of rocks and hanging woods at the extremity. Thefe, on the approach, are attended with all that effect, which fuch objects derive from an aquatic view, The fecond reach improves in beauty, and is altogether different from the obftreperous character of the Welfh rivers in general. The rocks rife abruptly from the fhores, and to a confiderable height ; but fo well clothed with wood, that their points are only now and then vifible, breaking the continuity of the foliage, without infringing on the lylvan compofure of the fcene. The bend of the river fades from the eye each way, and leaves the gently gliding bark as if in the centre of an unruffled lake. The groves rife on every fide, fometimes receding, and fometimes over- hanging the (tream. On winding round to the third and fined reach, the circumftances do not change, but receive a heightening to their effect by two new features. The hanging woods on the left draw back from the river's edge juft far enough to make room for a very narrow {trip of green meadow, undulating under the eye, in no formal or tedioufly protracted line ; while the rich fcenery on the right is grandly terminated by the overtopping towers of Kilgerran. Thefe however, after the firft glimpfe, are wrefted from the view by the intervening cliffs, and excite a feeling of regret, that fo claffical an ornament mould be fo partially conceded to the fpot ; when on clearing an angular pofition, the lofty ruin, with the commanding rock on which it is placed, ftands at once clofe upon the view, alters the face of the fcene, and calls up frefh ideas. In the centre of this extenfive range, where wood is involved with wood, and hills melt conti- nuoufly into each other, an infulated rock, uncovered but with a partial carpeting of mofs, rifes from the brink abruptly, with its caitellated honours on its brow, that vibrate in reflection on the furface of the water. Nothing can be more {hiking than this 3 K z contraft 43<* PEMBROKESHIRE. contrafl of natural circumflances ; nothing more confonant witfi them, than their artificial accompaniment, mellowed and impro- ved by time and decay, but flill lording it over the peaceful fcene it overlooks. Whenever an ancient caflle is acceffible by water, it appears to moll: advantage from that point of view ; and the remark efpecially holds good in the prefent inflance. But the beauties of this fpot will derive infinitely more credit, than from' any defcription of mine, from the Hatement of the fact, that they particularly drew the attention of our great Englifh landfcape- painter, Wilfon, and have been transferred into more than one of his compofitions. I have been told, that the fine hill on which the caflle flands, is introduced into his maflerly performance of Niobe, but I have not the print at hand to compare it with my own recollections. The coracles lying inverted at the foot of the caflle rock, for the purpofe of being dried in the fun, add another feature of Angularity. Thefe coracles are hiflorically as well as picturefquely curious. They afford a fpecimen of the earliefl Britifh navigation, and are ufed at this day on many of the rivers in Wales, probably without any deviation from their original form. They are made with very flrong bafket-work, and covered with hides, or coarfe canvas, with a thick coating of pitch. Their fhape refembles the fection of a walnut fhell ; their length is generally five feet, and their breadth feldom lefs than four. They contain but one perfon, and it is entertaining to obferve the mode in which they are managed. The dextrous navigator fits precifely in the middle ; and it is no trifling part of his care to keep his jufl balance. The inflrument with which he makes his way, is a paddle. One end refls upon his moulder,, and the other is employed by the right hand, in making a flroke alternately on each fide. The left hand is employed in conducting the net, and he holds the line between his teeth. Thefe veffels were anciently . KILGERRAN CASTLE. 437 anciently ufed, as the means of intercourfe between the inhabitants on the oppoiite banks of the rivers. They are now applied only to the purpofe of fifhing. So frail an invention would probably have been fucceeded by fomething of more ftrength and capacity, had there not been found a remarkable convenience in their lightnefs,. The fifherman, when his labour is over, flings his boat acrofs his back, and marches homewards under the burden of his machine and booty. There is fcarcely a cottage in the neighbourhood of the Tivy, or the other rivers in thefe parts, abounding with fifh, without its coracle hanging by the door. Such is the adroitnefs of thofe who ufe them, that they are very rarely overturned on lakes or rivers ; and they fometimes even venture a little way out to fea, when the weather is perfectly calm. At what time this firft became a military ftation, does not appear with any certainty from the Welfh hiftorians. The opinion that the cattle was founded by Roger Montgomery, and finifhed by Gilbert Strongbow Earl of Strigoil, feems to be merely conjectural, as the fituation of that fortrefs is by no means clearly pointed out; and, at all events, the prefent remains can have no connection with the edifice of that time. In the year 1 165, during the fevere conflict between Henry the Second and. Owen Gwineth, Rees ap GrufFyth is recorded to have laid fiege to the cattle of Kilgerran, and to have levelled it with the ground ; but he immediately threw up new works of much greater ttrength, and manned them with fo powerful a garrifon, that in the following year, the Flemings and Normans held it twice in fiege for a confiderable time, and made many vigorous aflaults, but X were compelled in both inftances to withdraw without making any impreflion, and returned home difcomfited. The ruin as it ftands, confifts principally of two circular towers, with part of a gateway, finely mantled with ivy, and crowning a tremendous precipice. 43-3 PEMBROKESHIRE. precipice. The prefent building is underftood to have been left unfinimed; but it carries with it all the marks of having been intended as a place of great ftrength. The town has been of confiderable confequence, though now reduced to one irregular ftreet. There is generally much jealoufy between near neighbours of oppofite characters. The inhabitants of Kilgerran, fubfifting almoft entirely by nming, and working fome flate quarries in the neighbourhood, are proud of their dilapidated towers and high antiquity. The bufy tin-men of the upftart but flourifhing Llechryd, think that pride conforts ill with poverty ; and taunt- ingly compare their populous little village with the grafs-grown ftreet of old Kilgerran. The parties feem to hold each other in unqualified derifion. Kilgerran is trill further diftinguifhed by having been the refidence, and affording reft to the remains of an early literary character. Doctor Thomas Phayer is faid, by Fuller and Wood, to have been a native of Wales, but this is contradicted by a note in the Cambrian Regifter, which reprefents him as the firft of his family, who fettled in Pembrokefhire. According to this account, his father was Thomas Phayer, of Norwich, Efq. and his mother, Clara, the daughter of Sir William Goodyear knight, of London. He was educated at Oxford, and afterwards came to the metropolis, and began life in the profeffion of the law, at Lincoln's Inn. He married Anne, daughter of Thomas Walter, alderman of Caermarthen ; which probably occafioned his choice of this neighbourhood for his retirement. He was well verfed in the common law, and wrote a book on the nature of writs. It feems not to have been extant in the time of Fuller; for he merely conjectures, that it might have treated of writs in the court of Marches, evidently on this fuppofition that he was a Welshman, and only underftood the laws of his own country. 3 * KILGERRAN CASTLE. 439 It appears, however, that he diiliked the law ; and therefore changed his profeffion to phyfic, in which he proceeded to his do&or's degree- It is as a phyfician, and not as a lawyer, that he is mentioned in old biographical memoirs ; and this may perhaps warrant the fup- pofition, that he prefcribed with more fuccefs than he pleaded. He feems to have been an inveterate author ; for he tranflated Several medical books out of the French. Writing may be thought to have been more to his tafte than the exercife of a profeffion ; for he withdrew himfelf to the banks of this romantic river, and tranflated Virgil, marking at the end of each book the date when finiihed, and the time employed about it. The three firft books of the ^Eneid were completed at Kilgerran, in the year 1555; the fourth at the fame place, in 1556; the fifth in 1557, after an efcape from fome very great danger or calamity,, while on a vifit to his wife's family at Caermarthen ; the fixth and feventh were finiftied at home, in the fame year; the eighth in 1558 ; and the ninth in- April 1560. The tenth was begun, but left incomplete. As it was about the beginning of the fixteenth century that Englifli poetry, after having remained ftationary fince the death of Chaucer, began to experience a gradual and confiderable improvement, it will not be uninterefting to trace the circum- stances which- introduced the ftudy of claflical literature into England, and gave a new turn to our vernacular compofitions. Our intercourfe with Italy, at that period; being free and conflant, the language and manners of that country were too fafcinating r not to have been the fubjecl: of ftudy and imitation. The court of Henry the Eighth was polifhed, though the monarch was violent in his temper. Petrarch was the favourite poet, the ibnnet was the popular model of polite writing, the Italian gave the tone to every fafhionable purfuit, and kindled emulation 4-P PEMBROKESHIRE. iii every pretender to genius. Henry Howard Earl of Surrey, took the lead at once in the gallantries, and in the poetical profi- ciencies of his age. His travels have the air of a romance. The late Earl of Orford has traced Geraldine, of whom the notices in ijis fonnets are obfeure and indirect, and of whom graver hiftory is filent, to Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, fecond daughter of Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, and coufin to the PrincefTes Mary and Elizabeth. Surrey proclaimed her charms through Europe as a fon of chivalry, and was victorious in a knightly appeal to the law of x arms, of which the Grand Duke of Tufcany permitted the decifion at Florence, the original feat of her anceftors. But Surrey did not devote all his time to vanity and idlenefs ; nor was it in the field of gallantry alone that he difplayed the powers of his mind. He had laboured in the more folid departments of literature ; and nature fitted him to exprefs with eafe and render with freedom, what ftudy had enabled him to underfland. He tranflated the fecond and fourth books of the iEneid into blank verfe. This book is extremely fcarce, and highly valuable, both as a curiollty and a work of merit ; for it is the firft compofition extant, in that /V meafure, in the Englifh language. Surrey was beheaded eight years before the commencement of Phayer's general tranflation ; fb that his attempt claims a long priority in point of time. But it w r as not printed till 1557, when Phayer had finifhed the firft four books, , and was proceeding rapidly with the next three. Sir Thomas Wyat the elder] the contemporary and friend of the accomplifhed Surrey, arTecled the fame tafte and purfuits. He began to tranflate the fong of Iopas, in the firft book of the iEneid, in Alexandrian verfe, but left it unfinifhed ; and his poems were never collected or printed, till they were added by Tottell to the fongs and fonnets of his rival in the field of the mufes, the firft edition of which did not appear till either the year 15,57 or KILGERRAN CASTLE. 44 r or IS 59* Though, therefore, Wyat's and Surrey's verfions from Virgil are generally conudered as the firft regular tranflations in Englifh of an ancient claflical poet, Phayer fleps in with his more extended undertaking before their performances were acceffible to the public at large, and may at leafl: divide with thofe authors the merit of bringing his countrymen acquainted with the con- cealed treafures of the Mantuan mufe. With refpecT: to the execution of the work, the teftimonies have been various and difcordant. By fome it has been reprefented as not fufficiently to be commended for its fkill and learning; while the farcafm of the critics in Fuller's time was, that he had transformed the Latin Virgil into an Englifh Ennius. This judgment may, however, be thought harm; fince the meafure of criticifm is only to be applied to the ftandard of the time, and not regulated according to the improvement of later periods. A writer may have well deferved the panegyric of his contemporaries ; that he cannot challenge the fuffrage of fucceeding ages, may be owing to cir- cumftances over which he had no controul. It is in verification that thefe three early translators will bed admit of comparifon ; and it is by comparifon that their merits mull be eftimated. The meafure of Surrey is unqueftionably the moil fuitable, and it is tuned with a purity of rhythm which amply juflifies the tribute of Warton to the ftyle and expreflion of the author. In the very infancy of our higher poetry, when the poffibility of fuftaining harmony without jingle was new to our language, he carried it all at once to a degree of refinement furprifing to thofe who know the difficulties of the art, and fcarcely exceeded by the maturer practice and more mufical proficiency of a later age. Wyat, wanted the judgment of his friend Surrey in his choice of metre, as he confeffedly fell below him in melody of cadence and facility of expreffion. The Alexandrian couplet, confifting of twelve 3 L iyllables 44* PEMBROKESHIRE. fyllables in the firft line, and fourteen in the fecond, applied as it is by us to lighter poetry, by fubdivifion into four, is confidered as ill calculated for the dignity of epic ; though perhaps we have no right to condemn a practice which our own deviation may only have feemed to render incongruous. He underflood, how- ever, the principles of his own verification. He duly obferved the paufes on the fixth of the firft, and the eighth of the fecond, fo that all his couplets might be arranged in quatrains with very little difficulty. But Phayer appears to have been deficient in juflnefs of ear and correctnefs of modulation ; his verfe runs in equal couplets of fourteen fyllables in each line, which we now confine to lyric compofition, and divide into quatrains of eight and fix alternately. The genius of this metre, therefore, requires a paufe upon the eighth fyllable ; yet Phayer either did not fed, or difregarded that mufical propriety. His paufes are fo indif- criminate, that it is frequently impomble to preferve any thing like meafure, and at the fame time maintain the punctuation of the fenfe, or even the integrity of the words themfelves. It muft, I apprehend, be admitted, that he was far inferior in numbers and the knowledge of his art, to thefe early refiners of our lan- guage. Yet, whatever may have been his comparative excellence, he confefTedly ranked high among the men of wit and genius in his day. It was about the year 1557, in the turbulent and fanguinary reign of Queen Mary, that Sackville formed the plan of the Mirror for Magiftrates, which was the great poetical luminary in the dark interval between Surrey and Spenfer. It was to comprife all the, illuftrious unfortunates of the Englifh hiflory, and every perfonage was to recite his own misfortunes in a foliloquy before the poet, who defcends, after the manner of Dante, into hell, conducted by Sorrow. It was intended that the characters mould have KILGERRAN CASTLE. 44i kavt paued in a chronological order of procemon ; and Sackviile began vigorously with the induction. But the poet was foon loft in the ftatefman. He had commenced his biographical fketches at the further end of the feries, with Henry Duke of Buckingham. He therefore adapted the clofe of his induction to the circumftances of his only finifhed legend, and abandoned the defign abruptly. Neither did he relinquifh the project of his own fancy without recommending its completion to Richard Baldwyne and George Ferrers, men of the flrft talent at that period, nor without felecting the moft pathetic incidents and cataftrophes from the chronicles. The magnitude of the attempt, to which his fingle refources had appeared equal, deterred his fucceflbrs from profecuting it without afliftance. They invited the contributions of their contemporaries, and among the reft engaged Churchyard and Phayer. The latter wrote the life of Owen Glandwr, inferted in the quarto collection of 1559, the title of which was as follows: A Myrroure for ^v Magiftrates ; w T herein may be feen, by example of others, with howe grevous Plages Vices are punifhed, and howe frail and unftable worldly Profperitie is founde, even of thofe whom Fortune feemeth moft highly to favour. " Faelix quern faciunt aliena pericula cautum." Anno 1559, iEdibus Thomas Marflie. The translation of Virgil was fufpended during this year, probably in confequence of this engagement. He is fuppofed to have died about the latter end of 1560, as his will was dated the 12th of Auguft in that year. He was buried in the church of Kilgerran. Fuller is uncommonly incorrect in his information refpecting this worthy; he fays that he died in London about the year 1550. His epitaph was written in Latin by Sir Thomas Chaloner, who took occafion to commend his learning and great ikill in phyfic. The Mirror for Magiftrates was reprinted in 1563, l$Jl, 1374, and again in 1587, with an induction, and the addition of many 3 L 2, new -vi/* 1 ^r 444 PEMBROKESHIRE. new lives, by John Higgins. Whether Phayer's poem was thrown; out to make room for the infertions of this editor, I have not been able to afcertain ; but it certainly made a part of the collection on the two firft republications. In the year 1610 the work under- went a complete revifion, with additions by Richard Niccolls, a poet of powers very fuperior to thofe of Higgins. On this occafion the title was changed : " A Mirrour for Magiftrates ; being a true Chronicle Hiftorie of the untimely Falles of fuch unfortunate Princes, and Men of Note, as have happened fince the firft Entrance of Brute into this Ifland, until this our Age: newly enlarged, with a laft Part, called, A Winter's Night Vifion ; being an Addition of fuch Tragedies, elpecially famous, as are exempted in the former Hiftorie ; with a Poem annexed, called, England's Eliza. At London, imprinted by Felix Kyngfton, 1610." This edition contains eighty-fix lives. It has never been reprinted; and is very difficult to be met with. It appears from this, that thefe different copies were in a great meafure different works. We have feen that the work was in fuch high repute during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as to go through five editions; and it furnifhed Shakfpeare with the hint of many fcenes. Contemporary writers were afliduous in preferring its claim to public notice ; among the reft, Sidney, Hey wood, Webbe, and Bolton. Of a work, which called in fo many hands to its compofition, which faw half a century, and almoft a revolution in our language, the merits muft be various. The author of the plan was the -firft that appeared, but the brightefl ftar in the conftellation. The contri- butors next in degree to him, whofe fpecimens were the moft favourable to the fame of thofe popular legends, muft be conceded to have been Churchyard and Niccolls.. CHAPTER ( 445 y CHAPTER XXIIL KENARTH..TREVITHEL..NEVERN..VELINDREE..LLWYN GWAIR.. NEWPORT CASTLE. J. he excurfion by water does not neceflarify end at Kilgerran ; it may be continued to Pont Llechryd, and it well deferves to be purfued. In the meadow on the left, juft oppofite to Kilgerran, there is an elegant white cottage, with a gay garden, which well occupies the bottom, as the turrets the fummit on the other fide. On proceeding upwards, the fcenery changes ; the valley narrows, and the river becomes confined ; but its channel is unimpeded, its waters profound and peaceable. On the Cardiganfhire fide, the woods retain their luxuriance; on that of Pembrokeshire, the perpendicular rock is for the moll: part naked, and the excavations of the flate quarries give an afpecl: of rudenefs to the bordering cliff. On quitting the boat at Pont Llechryd there is a very pleafant walk or ride along the fouthern bank of the Tivy to Kenarth ; and there is the celebrated falmon-leap, which has been already mentioned. The point of view is from the bridge, eroding the river at the village, where the three counties meet. The eye is carried up a moll: romantic hollow, the fides forming lofty and overhanging precipices on either bank, abundantly wooded, and much heightened, when I happened to vifit it, by the autumnal tints. It is poffible, that many perfons may be difappointed by the fall, which does not exceed twelve feet. But the river here is wide, as well as its circumftances grand. It proje&s 44<$ PEMBROKESHIRE. projects itfelf over the ledge in one unbroken meet, and the fpace between it and the bridge is juft fuch, as to difplay its picturefque character to the utmoft advantage. The houfes of Kenarth, not placed too obtrufively, but dropped in a happy diforder about the fhores, inft.il on a retrofpect, the cheerful feeling of population, while the fcene in front breathes the romantic, and feems all folitude and wildnefs. If Mr. Pinkerton had vifited this fpot, he would have been convinced that the Tivy is only navigable up to Lanbeder for falmons. It has never occurred to me, to witnefs their evolutions; but they have been very generally defcribed by the topographical writers from the age of Elizabeth to the prefent time. The falmon of the Tivy is eiteemed the moll: excellent in Wales; the principal filhery, a very abundant one, is between Kilgerran and Llechryd, at which latter place there is a wear. It is obferved of this river, that it is not without fome falmon in feafon at any period of the year ; and that they are found in frefhnefs and perfection even in the depth of winter. The cuftom of killing falmon by fpearing in this country, is as curious as that of timing in coracles. When the fifti come up the river to ipawn, they are watched by the country people, as they turn up the fand and gravel in the mallow places with their fnouts. When they are thus known to have taken their ftation in any particular part, the fimermen come with torches in the night to the water's edge. The light at once allures the falmon to the furface, and d [reels the aim of the fpearer. This is, however, a practice which very much injures the fifhery, and gives little to the fifherman befides the fport ; for the fifh are lean and of little value at the time of fpawning. It is very entertaining to a ftranger, to accompany one of thefe nocturnal parties ; the effect of the torch-light on fcenes fo well difpofed to favour imagination, is interelting ; the whifper of expectance and the fhout of fuccefs found with increased NEVERN, 447 increafed impreflioii, as they interrupt the accuftomed filence of the night. This diverfion is frequently purfued on the Cletur, about Alltyr Odin. Its dingles are well calculated for an illumi- nation ;. but the fifli caught in that river, or fo high up in the Tivy, are worth very little, the reafon of which is generally accounted to be, that in attempting to leap they frequently bruife themfelves againft the rocks, or if they efcape there, beat them- felves againft the banks and fhelves, in travelling along the twifted and difficult channel. Pembrokefhire hitherto has been defcribed as excelling in its fcenery ; but with the banks of the Tivy its romantic features are nearly at an end. It has many ancient caftles, and thofe are generally picturefque fubjecls. The hundred of Cattle Martin is the fineft and raoft fertile part of the county; but the approach from Cardiganfhire is either over a very tedious mountain, or round by the coaft along a flat and dreary tract. The route of the coaft is fo circuitous, and the convenience of travellers fo ill provided for, that it would not be w 7 orth while to purfue it, were it not for the fake of vifiting St. Davids. That pleafure is not however too dearly purchafed, at the expence of unpleafant journies for three days, which it will at leaft coft. The firft town on the fea fhore, if fo poor a place deferves the name of a town, is Newport. There is nothing on the turnpike road to engage the attention ; fo that I mould recommend the eroding a vety wild heath, from St. Dogmael's, to the village of Trevithel, a pretty little recefs, watered by a freftiftream, and deriving intereft from the raoft ordinary circumftances, becaufe the fcene around is deficient in the ufual recommendations of nature. From Trevithel, the country continues to be difmal in the extreme ; but the defcent to Nevern has fomething agreeable mixed with its wildnefs. It feems indeed to have been a fpot well calculated for tkofe 4+ 8 PEMBROKESHIRE. thofe druidical obfervances, of which there yet exifts fo curious ^ memorial. The village of Nevern {lands on the brink of a fine brook, a branch of the larger river bearing the fame name, and "4^ abounding with filh. It carries the appearance of having been of more confequence than it now is. There are at prefent not more than one or two decent houfes ; yet the church and church-yard indicate a neighbourhood, and once a village of fome importance. The receptacle of the dead, with its venerable yew trees, and decent tablets, may well be confidered as the moft civilized feature in the whole arrangement. The abrupt though not high rocks, encircling the place, with their fcanty ornament of wood, give it an appearance of no unpleafing roughnefs. There is a remarkable piece of antiquity clofe by the church porch on the fouth. It is afingle ftone of a quadrangular form, about two feet broad, eighteen inches thick, and thirteen feet high, with a crofs at the top. The carving on every fide exhibits a variety of knot- work, and there is an infeription about the middle. But the moil important relic is the cromlech, of which fome mention has been made in the account of the DufTrin Houfe monuments. This \$ ^P at the diftance of one mile from Newport Caftle. It ftands upon three ftones or pillars, two at the eafl end, and one on the weft, about feven feet or feven and a half high. The top ftone, fup- ported by thefe, is eighteen feet long, nine wide in the wideil: part, and, at one end, between two and three feet thick. At the narrower! end it is only about four feet wide. The mean breadth of courfe is fix feet and a half, which multiplied by eighteen, gives one hundred and feventeen feet in its fuperficies. It will be recollected, that the top-ftone of the fmaller, already defcribed in Glamorganfhire, contained one hundred and forty fquare feet, and thofe of the larger three hundred and twenty four. There are ample accounts of this Pembrokefhire cromlech in moft of 3 the 'NEWPORT CASTLE. 44$ the antiquarians and topographers ; thefe calculations will give its relative magnitude, and it is unneceffary to enlarge here upon its defign, as I have thrown together the conjectures I have been able to collect on a former occafion. There are ftones of the fame kind in three or four other places hereabouts, particularly at Newport itfelf; though thofe which were of lefs magnitude have in many cafes been overturned ; and there can be little doubt but this has formerly been a principal feat of the bards. There was a caftle at Nevern. The village of Velindree is in a pleafing fituation, and is to be remarked for the flaty quality of the hills, which afford better materials for building, than the inhabitants feem to entertain a fufficient feeling of what is comfortable to employ. Llwyn Gwair, the feat of George Bowen, Efq. has (^*>~>-of- l>c~lC:*~j the advantage of fhelter from fome good timber by the fide of the Nevern, in a country where timber is fcarce. In other refpecls, it has nothing to diftinguifh it from the general ftyle of gentlemen's houfes on a fmall fcale. It was on this eftate that marl was firft difcovered, and firft applied in this country* The caftle of Newport on the hill looks well from Llwyn Gwair: thofe who have made their arrangements for flopping at it will wifh that the town looked equally fo on a nearer acquaintance. It is a poor fifhing town, partly on the fands, and partly on an eminence, juft above the confined bay, with its little port at the mouth of the Nevern. They begin the falmon fifhery here and at St. Dogmael's much earlier than at Fifcard, and confequently gain the advantage of a market when the price is high. The lofty fituation of the caftle and its fteep approach, give it an air of fome importance, nor are its fragments without their grandeur. Little of its hiftory is known. In the year 1215, Lhewelin ap Jorwerth, after having taken Newcaftle in Emlyn, turned his arms toward this diftricl, and in the progrefs of his victorious 3 M career, 450 PEMBROKESHIRE. career, levelled Newport Caftle with the ground. I have not been able to afcertain the date of the prefent ftructure ; and it probably has not been fo much a fcene of action as to enable a more diligent inquirer than myfelf to make out any. connected account of it. y There is a kind of freeftone found near Newport, of a dark grey colour for the moil, part, with forae veins of white, and fome of yellow,, intermixed. It is well adapted for building, and has been much ufed in all the caftles of this neighbourhood. It is dug out of the cliff. The {tone in the mountain above Newport is of a different fort, rifing in large maffes, but not difficult to be hewn, yet fufficiently durable for common purpofes of architecture. This mountain is high and fharp, and ftony. The pafture of it was formerly given by the lord of the hundred to the burgeffes of this town, with many other liberties and privileges. Its circumference is five or fix miles, and affords excellent fheep- walks. There is a deep and narrow valley between it and Percily. There are Hate- quarries at Newport, though their quality is not efteemed fo good. jC as that of the hills about Velindree. The working of thefe and the falmon and herring fifhery conftitute nearly the whole trade of the place. There are two or three wears on the river Nevern. The market is very fmall and bad ; it was anciently held on the Sunday morning at fun-rife : and there is a very great fair on the 1 6th of June. The town feems to have been of confequence in the time of Edward the Firft, when there was a large market every Thurfday, and the tenants were prohibited from felling any thing- without firft offering it at the market, and paying toll. The deed; which eftablifhed this market is given in the Cambrian Regifter.. It is at prefent held on Friday. ( 45i ) CHAPTER XXIV. i ■ LLANICHL0ID0G....PICTON BRIDGE.. ..LLANYCHAIR BRIDGE.... FISCARD. 1 he turnpike road to Fifcard keeps clofe by the coafl, leaving the mountain on the left. There is, however, a horfe-path over the weftern fide of the mountain, making a circuitous route, to which I was well advifed to give the preference. For feveral miles, till you come to the poor village of Llanichloidog, there is neither a tree, a houfe, nor a fpot of cultivation, to beguile the tedioufnefs of the journey with a remark, if we except an obfer- vation of Coquebert, a French traveller, who infers a primitive junction from the fimilarity between the fubftances of the Welfh mountains, and thofe of Wicklow in Ireland. But the defcent to Picton Bridge opens fome very pi&urefque fcenery where it is leaft expected, inferior only to that on the banks of the Tivy. The Gwin is the river of moft note in all this wefiern coaft, from Cardigan to Milford Haven. It rifes in Perciiy mountain, running headlong in a fucceffion of little fails, till it reaches this bridge, and then fweeps through the valley, which is very narrow, and, from the height of the ridges fkirting it, affords fhelter for a magnificent covering of timber. It is, perhaps, the only lpot in Pembrokefhire where wood conftitutes the leading feature of the fcene ; nor is it here of much extent ; but it is a precious acqui- fition in a bare country, and difpofed in a form to render it 3 M 3 interefiing N 451 PEMBROKESHIRE. interesting any where. Several little rills increafe, by the fwell or their waters, the rapidity of its courfe, roaring as it does over a channel of pebbles. Among thefe groves was the birth-place, as y^ 1 well as the famous- fchool, of St. Dubric So fequeftered a fpot afforded a fituation, as if devifed for the exprefs purpofe of ren- dering the retreat of a fainted reclufe more holy. It abounds ♦ with rocks, and wilds, and caverns, among which there is one ftill affigned, by the old hiftories, for his hermitage. The facl: is not improbable; fince it was not too remote for a frequent attendance on his inftrudtions, and yet furrounded by obje&s the. inoft in unifou with the feelings of a devotee. Annual games were formerly folerrmized by the country people in one of thefe caves, doubtlefs in memory of this celebrated churchman, fince they were held on the day of his dedication in the calendar; though the institution, as might be expected from vulgar igno- rance, had long furvived the traditional remembrance of its defign. The night overtook me as I was exploring this retirement; fo that I may poffibly have paiTed by Some circumftances in the vale worth recording. The pleafure to myfelf was considerably enhanced by that lucid indrftinctnefs thrown upon objects by a bright moonlight, efpecially when, a canopy of thick foliage frequently overfhadows the path, and involves it in a temporary darknefs. The road for the moll: part hangs perpendicularly over the water, which is more heard than feen : at other times it bends downwards to its level, and at length leads over a bridge to the fouthern fide ; for I mould caution the folitary traveller againft croffing Pidon Bridge, which would carry him out of his way in the direction of Haverford Weft. The fcenery continues equally romantic on the oppofite fide, as far as Llany chair Bridge, over a little brook that takes its rife above, and joins the Gwin at this F1SCARD. 453 this place. We now quit the valley of the latter river, which finds its way to the fea at Fifcard Bridge. After the fummit of the hill is gained, the found of waves announces the cliff to be not far diftant. As the moon was gone down, and the night had clouded over, this made us a little anxious about the fafety of our track ; but we foon reached the place of our deflination. The town of Fifcard is fo filthy, fo ill built, and fo uncivilized, as almoft to be interefting on thofe very accounts.. One generation of fifhermen, mariners, and fmugglers, has fucceeded another, without the knowledge or the energy to avail itfelf of natural advantages. The population is very confiderable, being eftimated at two thoufand in the town, and nearly a thoufand more in the parifh, though there are no ♦manufactures, and little employment or provifion for the people, beyond what a fea-faring life affords. There are no means of obtaining a comparative ftatement of popu- lation in this part of the country. It may ferve to illuftrate the negligent character of the inhabitants, that there is fcarcely a church regifter of twenty years old in any of thefe pariihes. There was no eftablimment whatever for the inftruction of children till a very benevolent gentleman of the place attempted a Sunday School fome few years ago. His efforts were not feconded, as might have been: expected ; fo that the benefits arifing from it fell far fhort of the founder's intentions.. The port is fafe and commodious, not obftru&ed by thofe bars fo frequent all along this coaft. The extent of Fifcard Bay, from eaft to weft, is about three miles, and from north to fouth nearly two. The depth of water is in general from, thirty to feventy feet, and varies with the diftance from, the more, which is of equal boldnefs nearly all round. The harbour might be rendered fit for the reception of the largeft trading vefTels which now ufe St. George's Channel. A. moderate expence might render this a place of confiderable 454 PEMBROKESHIRE. confiderable traffic. Even now there is much building going forward in the town, and much fhipping on the ftocks. The principal exports at prefent are oats and butter. There are flate quarries of excellent quality and great extent, lying conveniently for the water-fide ; but they are not worked to the beft advan- tage, nor even to fo much profit as heretofore. They import goods from Briftol, culm, coal, lime, and timber. The herring fifhery has been much on the decline of late years. They feldom cure any for exportation, as the capture frequently will not mffice to anfwer the demand of the country for an article, which, with potatoes, conftitutes the food of the lower claffes. Expert fifher- men have declared thefe banks to abound with turbot and other fiih of the choicer kinds ; but the attention of the inhabitants cannot be drawn to the fubjecl:, left it mould interfere with their favourite, though unfuccefsful herring fifhery. They lofe the early part of the falmon feafon, in confequence of a prejudice; they think the fifh are not come till they leap out of the water, which they feldom do before the flies make their appearance. The veffels belonging to the port are principally employed in the trade with Briftol, and in carrying coal from Glamorganfhire, Caermarthenfhire, and Milford, to Ireland. The road from the upper to the lower town, cut out of the rock, commanding a fine view of the bay, is the only engaging circumftance about the place. The upper town would, from its fituation, be a fine object from the bridge, were it but decently built. I apprehend it to be, taken altogether, the next in fize and population to Haverford Weft within this county. The church is a moft mean and fqualid building, without either fpire or tower. It was made the prifon of the French troops after their capture in the laft war; nor could any place of confinement more miferable have been devifed. There feems here to be nothing of decency, no alienation 3 from FISCARD. 455 from common purpofes, attached to the idea of a church. The churchyard affords, in fome fort, a market-place. There are hooks all along its wall, on which the meat is expofed ; there is no market-houfe ; the churchyard wall, and the door of the public- houfe oppofite, feem the principal ftations of traffic. Neither have they built for themfelves much better than for God. A hatred of new modes and ftrange faces is among their leading charadteriftics. The ftreets are barely paffable for any fort of vehicle ; the folid rock, worn into frequent holes for the reception of mud, is almoffc equally offenfive to the foot of man or horfe. It is the only town I have ever met with from w^hich dunghills, I do not mean mere heaps of dirt, but literal and bona fide dunghills, are not excluded. This leads me to the mention of the inn : I had been informed on the road that there was no inn at Fifcard, but that Captain Llaugharne received all flrangers. I therefore prepared myfelf in idea for the continuance of that hofpitality I had fo long experienced in my progrefs; but Captain Llaugharne turned out to be an old failor, who receives his gueife privately to fave the trouble of a licence ; and entertains them, as friends always wifh to be enter- tained, with whatever happens to be in the houfe, without any. anxious care about adminiflering to a vicious nicety of palate. It is but juflice to him to fay, that the deficiencies- of his eftablifh- ment are involuntary, and that he means to be civil, after the uncouth mode of his fraternity. I would, however, recommend it to travellers to avoid a night here, if they can. St. David's is fomewhat better, and much quieter. The people of this place feem, to confider themfelves as marked out for depredation. The fort was built by the late Sir Hugh Owen, in confequence of frequent alarms from pirates in the American war ; and the landing of the French in the late war in lome meafure juftifies their habitual jealouly. The number of the invaders amounted to fourteen hundred £ 4*6 PEMBROKESHIRE. hundred : the whole force that Lord Cawdor could collect, horfe and foot, did not reach feven hundred men ; and it is probable that the enemy would hav£ given fome trouble to the country, had it not been for a collection of women on a diftant hill, clad in red mantles peculiar to thefe parts, who were taken for a large reinforcement coming on to the attack. The practice of hufbandry is as backward here as every other ufeful art. The iyftem has remained nearly ftationary for upwards of a century, though it is now beginning to make fome little advances towards induftry and good fenfe. This movement among fo obftinate a race may be accounted for from the circumftance, that the people, till within the laft fourteen years, could never be reconciled to the corruption of their own (implicity by the intro- duction of turnpikes. Within that time, Fifcard has been connected, by very tolerable roads, with Cardigan on the one fide, and Haverford Weft on the other. This intercourfe feems already to have enlarged their understandings in fome fmall degree, and the progrefs of time will probably aflimilate this tempeftuous corner and its rugged occupiers more clofely with the improved ftate of the furrounding diftrict. The language is a ftrange mixture of Welfh and Englifh, intelligible to neither ear. Their manners are rough towards ftrangers, whom they uniformly confider as fpies, to an excefs amounting to infolence. The habit of intoxication is very prevalent ; but in this Fifcard feems merely to partake the character of fea-ports in general ; for the people from the country are fober and decent. The manner in which they drive their oxen, or fometimes two horfes and two oxen, four in hand, fitting in their empty carts, is fingular, and at times rather alarming. They go at the rate of fix or feven miles an hour ; and the oxen confider themfelves as at liberty to change their fide of the road as often as they pleafe. When there are four oxen they confider a rein as either fuperfluous or unavailing. CHAPTER [ 457 3 CHAPTER XXV. MANERNAWEN..ST. CATHARINE's..MATHREY..GORJD BRIDGE... st. justinian's chapel. .ramsey..the bishop and clerks, st. david's head. 1 here is very little, I may venture to fay nothing, in the country between Fifcard and St. David's Head, which can warrant me in detaining the reader with any particular defcription. The poverty of the country is proverbial ; though it deferves lefs to be fo than fbme years back, when its character was drawn by a very ingenious and accomplifhed writer. A little way out of Fifcard, on the right, is Manernawen, formerly the feat of John Lewis, Efq. who furnifhed Bifhop Gibfon with a manufcript hiftory of Pembrokefhire, written by George Owen, Efq. and is refpectfully mentioned on that account in the bifhop's edition of Camden. This place has fome little wood and comfort about it ; but all the reft is a dreary blank. The fweeping winds prevent even a hedge row from contributing its little verdure ; but the foil is not altogether unprofitable, though its afpect is unpleafing. It is indeed confidered as favourable to the growth of barley, of which the cultivation is becoming more extenfive every year. With fo little of the attractive in the face of nature, as little per- haps in the hundred of St. Dewy's as in any other part of this ifland, the fact may be thought ftrange, that the fmalleft parcel of land, on the few occafions when it is underftood to be on the eve of changing owners, is as much an object of competition as in many 3 N more 453 PEMBROKESHIRE. more habitable places. A few miles beyond Manernawen, you crofs Hiog River, taking its rife about St. Catharine's, and finding its way to the weftern branch of the Clethy, which, with its various ramifications conftitutes the great beauty and only gran- deur of this county towards the fouth. At Mathrey there is a very confiderable fair held on Michaelmas day. The country being much moreenclofed now than formerly, the practice of tethering the cattle is much lefs in ufe. I faw no inftance of it, till I had crofifed Gorid Bridge, thrown over a little brook, which rifes within the parifh of St. David's, and runs down through the valley, between the Cathedral and the bifhop's palace. Nor is it very common even in this wild corner. At Gorid bridge, the traveller ' knows that he muft be near the place of his deftination. The bold, but barren rocks by which the coaft is guarded, have long been hailed from a diftance, as unerring guides, but on a near approach, feem to fail in pointing out the fite of the ancient city ; for it is not till you are clofe upon its precincts, that the pinnacles of the great tower catch the eye, when leaft expected, rifing from the deep bog in which the church is placed, to little more than a level ■with the town. Near Gorid bridge there was formerly a chapel ; but there is no veftige of it remaining. I have already faid that this' venerable bifhop's fee is the great object, to induce fo tedious a deviation from the direct route. It will be expected therefore that I mould give fome account of its inftitution ; but I mall not impofe on myfelf fo hopelefs and unprofitable a tafk, as to attempt the reparation of the legendary from the hiilorical part of the tale. The Britons like devout, their meffengers direct To David, that he would their ancient right protect. St. David is as proper to the Welfh, by whom he is called St. Dewy, as St. George to England. Sclden's account of him ST. DAVID'S. 45y is this. " Reports of him affirm that he was of that country, uncle to king Arthur, (Bale and others fay, gotten upon Melaria, a nun, by Xantus prince of Cardigan) and fucceflbr to Dubrice, archbifhop of Caerleon upon Ufke, (whereto a long time the Britifti bishopries as to their metropolitic fee were fubjecl:) and thence tranflated with his nephew's confent the primacy to Menevia, which is now St. David's in Pembroke. He was a Strong oppogner of the Pelagian herefy. To him our country calendars give the firSt. of March, but in the old martyrologies I find him not remembered : yet I read that Calixtus the Second, firft canonized him." He furnished a copious topic for the credulous mufe of Drayton. From thence to Pembroke me doth make, To fee how Milford ftate doth take : The fcattered iflands there doth tell : And, vifiting St. David's cell, Doth fport her all the mores along, Preparing the enfuing fong. It appears as if his pious zeal had not been confined within the limits of his native realm. So David drawn from hence into thofe farther parts, By preaching, who to pierce thofe paynims harden'd hearts? Inceffantly proclaim'd Chrift Jefus, with a cry Againft their heathen gods, and blind idolatry. . «' He was prognosticated above thirty years before his birth ; which with other attributed miracles (after the fafhion of that credulous age) caufed him to be almofl paralleled in monkifh zeal with that holy John, which, unborn, fprang at prefence of the Incarnate Author of our redemption. The translation of the arch- 3 N z bifhopric 460 PEMBROKESHIRE. biihopric was alfo foretold in that of Merlin : Menevia fliall put on the pall of Caerleon ; and the preacher of Ireland fhall wax dumb by an infant growing in the womb. That was performed when St. Patrick, at prefence of Melaria then with child, fuddenly loft ufe of his fpeech ; but recovering it after fome time, made prsedi&ion of Dewy's holinefs, joined with greatnefs, which is fo celebrated. Upon my author's credit only, believe me." — Selden. The cathedral ftands on the fouth fide of the little city, which fcarcely boafts a tolerable houfe unconnected with the church. It is dedicated to St. Andrew, as well as to St. Dewy or St. David. The clofe is about a mile in circumference, and has been fortified. A little brook runs through the churchyard on the weft. The weft front has been rebuilt by Nafh, but ia an incongruous ftyle. , This front, at which the bilhop enters, when he does enter, is feventy-fix feet broad. The body of the church confifts of a nave, and two fide aifles. The cieling of the nave is much and defervedly admired ; it is of Irifti oak. From the weft door to the fteeple, the length is one hundred and twenty- four feet, and the breadth thirty-two between the pillars, which part it from the fide aifles. There are five pillars on each fide, with two pilaftres adjoining the weftern wall, and the rood loft at the other, end. Thefe pillars fupport fix arches, over every one of which, are two leffer arches, reaching to the roof. Under each of thefe lefTer arches are two ftill fmaller, refting immediately on the great arches. Near the rood loft which is over the entrance into the choir, where the organ is placed in moft cathedrals, is the pulpit on the fouth fide ; and clofe by that, Bifhop Morgan's tomb. The bifhop's face is much mangled, as are all the faces upon the monuments. There is fculpture on the fides, which has been much injured, and a mutilated bafTo relievo at the foot, feeming to reprefent the refurredion. From what remains of this, it muft have ST. DAVID'S, 461 Iiavc been an exquifite piece of art. The rood loft is a beautiful building of reddifh ftone. Towards the fouth end is a fine monu- ment of Bilhop Gower, under a {tone arch, taking up in length the whole breadth of the rood loft. Before the rebellion it had a brafs palifade on the fouth and weft, with an infcription to the effecT;, that Archbifhop Henry Gower was the builder of the church and palace. The rebels took the brafs away from this and all the other tombs in the church. There are two other monuments under the rood loft. The aifles are eighteen feet each in breadth, and of the fame length with the 'nave. The choir is confiderably elevated above the body of the church, and occupies the area of the fteeple. The north crofs aifle is St. Anr- drew's chapel, forty-four feet north and fouth, and thirty eaft and weft. Several pieces of very curious fculpture have been difco- vered in this chapel, on removing fome rubbilh. Among the reft, a reprefentation of St. Andrew, with the figure and infignia tolerably diftinct, but with the face fo much mutilated, that the features are fcarcely to be traced. RefpecYing another fragment, Mr. Manby, in his account of St. David's, makes a ftrange miftake. He confiders what remains of it as defigned for a demon offering a child to a venerable perfon at an altar. This demon is clearly the Virgin Mary; her crown remains perfect, and the child has the globe in his hand. The virgin is a beautiful female figure, and the piece, as far as it can be made out, a very fine fpecimen. The organ ftands in the north arch of the choir, and not in the rood loft. At the back of the ftalls, in this chapel, there is a dark room, which was formerly the penitentiary, with fmall holes in the wall* to admit the voices of the priefts officiat- ing in the choir. The fouth aifle is the chanters chapel, forty four feet north and fouth, and twenty-fix eaft and weft. The length of the chancel is fifty- four feet, and the breadth thirty-one. 3 The 4^ PEMBROKESHIRE. The tomb of Edmund Earl of Richmond (rands in its area, of a very beautiful blue marble, fpotted with white. It had for* merly brafs efcutcheons at the four corners, and the effigies of the earl in the fame metal; but the rebels took efpecial care of thefe articles. On the fides of the monument are four efcutcheons, with the royal and Tudor arms. On the fouth fide, near the throne, lies Bifhop Jorwerth in his robes, with his mitre and ftafF. Under an arch within the wall, on the north fide, lies a knight, with his head refting on a cufhion, and a lion at his feet. This is fuppofed to be Owen Tudor, father to the Earls of Richmond and Pembroke, who had married King Henry the Sixth's mother. He was taken and beheaded after the battle of Mortimer's Crofs ; rfo that in all probability this monument was erected to his memory after the interment of his fon. The fhrine of St. David is on the north fide of the chancel; the fingle ftone which com- pofed it is now broken into many pieces. In the fide are four -recefTes, into which the votaries dropped their offerings, and the monks removed them through doors behind. Our kings frequently made pilgrimages to this fhrine, where they paid their devotions to the faint, then in the highefr, repute. In the year 1080 William the Conqueror invaded Wales with a large army, proceeding in A a hoftile manner till he came as far as St. David's ; but there he laid afide the warrior for the votary, and reconciled the princes of the land to the homage he exacted, by the fplendour of his offer- ings, and the humility of his deportment. This was in the time of Bifhop Sulien, whofe fame for fanc"lity contributed much to keep alive in the public mind the veneration of this primitive altar. After having held it five years, fo great was his love of retirement, that he refigned his office to Abraham. On his death, Sulien was compelled by the general voice to refume his charge, which he again relinquifhed a very fhort time after King William's vifit. ST. DAVID'S. 463 vHIt. He died in the year 1089, with the reputation of the bed and wifeft man in all Wales. In the year 1070 Henry the Second paid his offerings at this ihrine, was entertained at dinner by Bilhop David Fitzgerald, Rees ap Gruffyth's coufin, and returned to Pembroke in the evening. The offerings made at all the other chapels were brought hither, and divided every Saturday among the priefts ; the quantity of money is faid to have been fo great, that inftead of being counted, it was meafured out in dimes. Nearly as long as popery lafted this church exceeded every other in celebrity, though, fince the reformation has extinguifhed the merit of pilgrimages, it has fallen, I may almoft fay, into a ftate of unfeeling defertion. It was faid of old, that there was as much merit in going twice to St. David's as once to Rome. There was alfo a fuperftitious idea, highly expreflive of veneration for the " place, that every man muft go to St. David's once, either dead or alive. The mofaic pavement, in the upper part of the choir, was probably laid down by the Earl of Richmond, as the rofes mark it for the period of that conteft. The chancel had formerly two aifles, but the arches are now clofed up, in confequence of the windows having been demolifhed in the rebellion, and the lead from the roof lent by Cromwell to Swanfea> to cover the market- houfe. We are obliged to him, however, for having fpared the cieling of the choir, which was al moil too elegant to have efcaped this furious enemy of the arts. Oppofite the bifhop's throne is the tomb of Rees ap GrufTyth, Prince of South Wales, who fucceeded to his father's honours in 1136, and died in 1196. His character, as drawn by the poets and hiftorians, has already been illuftrated. In the north wall of the chancel there is a door into the north aifle, which is ninety- two feet long from weft to eaft, and: fourteen feet broad. Adjoining the north-crofs aiile is the old chapter*- 4*4 PEMBROKESHIRE. chapter-houfe, and over it the treafury, which is now converted into a fchool for the inftruction of the chorifters. There are feveral monuments of the Wogans, who were Knights Templars, in the north aifle ; the effigies are clad in armour, but much mutilated. On the fouth wall, over a defaced monument, is a very fine, though greatly damaged crucifix, between two faints. The crucifix is the raoft perfect part of this beautiful fpecimen. On the eaft of the choir, behind the altar, is Bifhop Vaughan's chapel, the architecture of which refembles all the buildings of Henry the Seventh's age, and almoft rivals the bell: of them, if not in exuberant richnefs of ornament, in lightnefs, tafte, and elegance of workmanfhip. There are two long lancets in the eaft wall, by which the voice of the officiating prieft might be heard in the north and fouth aifles. It is faid that Bifhop Vaughan, when fitting in his chapel, could fee five mafles per- formed at five different altars. The fcreens, dividing thofe aifles from the chapel, are very highly wrought. The roof of the paflage between this and St. Mary's chapel, though lefs orna- mented, and fomewhat differing in ftyle, is highly beautiful in its limplicity. St. Mary's chapel terminates the building. Its dimen- iions are forty feet by twenty-two. It is completely unroofed ; but the fragments of pillars lying about the area, and the fide walls ftill remaining as high as the fpring of the arches, prove it to have been a mafterpicce of Gothic elegance. There are feveral monuments in this chapel and the aifles adjoining, fome intereft- ing for their antiquity, and fome for their execution. On the whole, there is a rich repaft here either for the antiquary or the draughtfman. As a fpecimen of the early Gothic, large m its dimenfions, and venerable in its ftruclure, an object of equal intereft rarely occurs ; while the appendages of later times, the fret- work and tracery of the chapels, the moft modern, the moft abufed, ST. DAVID'S. 465 abufed, and the mod dilapidated part of this fallen grandeur, blend regret with admiration, and for that very reafon imprefs the mind with more feeling than buildings unimpaired by time or violence. The eye of the artift or critic is gratified by fymmetry unbroken, by the prefervation of every part and the perfection of the whole ; yet, though we would preferve thofe edifices which have hitherto flood out againll: the fiege of ages, it by no means follows, that we would wifh the ivy not to- have crept over our mouldering ruins, the tower not to lean, the grafs not to have grown where the polifh of the marble once betrayed the foot, the fun not to penetrate freely, where the ftoried window once fobered the colour of his rays, the arch not to have fallen, the robber not to have impreifed upon our fenfes the guilt of facrilege, the Protector not to have immortalifed the folly of fanaticifm. The mind is thrown into a train of reflection which compenfates for diminifhed grandeur; the place looks full as faered when it is no longer wealthily endowed ; St. David, in the decline of age and fortune, appeals as ftrongly to our fenti* ments of religious awe as his brother of Canterbury with his more fplendid altars, and all his pompous institutions. It may very generally be remarked, with refpect to foundations of this kind, that in proportion to the plenitude of their authority and great- nefs is their fubfequent neglect and decay, when the revolutions of government, or the partialities of fovereigns, have transferred the enfigns of power, and alienated the revenues which are its bafis. Much attention has been paid of late years to the cathedral of St. David's ; but. it every where bears the marks of having long been abandoned to defolation without pity. Let it then be the praife of the prefent chapter, by configning it to the tafteful care of the canon refidentiary, to have infured, at leafl for a feafon> the general decency of its arrangements, the fupport of what 3 Q remains- 466 PEMBROKESHIRE. remains entire, and the fcrupulous prefervation of its ihterefting fragments. Our choral fervice, difcarding the grimace which turns into ridicule the folemnky of mafs, feems to be of all others the beft adapted to the purpofes it profeffes. Addremng itfelf fb modeftly to the fenfes as to elevate the imagination without bewildering the underftanding, it fleers equally clear of theatrical ihow and lifelefs monotony. It is feldom heard with better effecT:, becaufe no where more properly, though perhaps every where more pompoufly performed, than in this little choir. There are few places which fo forcibly prefent to the mind the firaplicity and privacy of the church in former times. An organ of the fweeteft tone, but very fmall compafs, a very few voices in the ch aunt, a prieft or two in the fhalls, and no congregation ! A city reduced to a village, and that village almofl deferted ! Here too furvive the ancient hofpitia of the monks, rendered almoft as necefTary as formerly by the poverty of the lay inhabi- tants. I had fcarcely befpoken a moft unpromifing meal on my arrival, before I received a fummons to the table of Archdeacon Williams, the canon refidentiary; a welcome contrail: to the fare I had lately experienced : and I have underftood fince my depar- ture from St. David's, that while the archdeacon is in refidence he pays the fame attention to Grangers in general. But it is only in hofpitality that I meant to liken him to a monk ; he has an agreeable family, and is a very candid man. I had the pleafure of paffing a fecond day with him, when we looked over the church, in company with Mr. Carter, the draughtfman. I have not mentioned the monument of the celebrated Girald, called by diftinclion the Cambro-Briton, becaufe the archdeacon doubts jv, 7b . whether it is properly affigned ; it is of no confequence, as there is at all events neither image, infcription, nor any other diftinclive mark remaining of him. On ST. DAVID'S, 467 On the north fide of the church is a quadrangular building, of much beauty, which was formerly the college, founded by John of Gaunt, and Adam Houghton, bifhop of the diocefe. The fervice, even then, had fallen into neglect in the cathedral, after it had ceafed to be metropolitan. It was determined therefore that God fhould at all events be ferved on the north fide of it ; for which purpofe a matter and feven priefts were appointed, with inftructions to fing at the hours of high mafs, to fteer clear of the town and its temptations, and to pay obedience to their fuperiors, the canons. Adam Houghton t built houfes for them, and a cloifter between the cathedral and their own chapel. The area within was feventy-four feet from eaft to weft, and eighty from north to fouth. On the weft there is a magnificent tower, and on the north fide the chapel was built over the charnel houfe, through which runs a ftream of water. This college fell into ruin foon after the reign of Edward the Sixth ; but the hall muft have been an exquifite fpecimen of architecture, when entire. On, the other fide of the brook, to the fouth weft, are the remains of Bifhop Gower's palace. Nothing more evidently beipeaks the fallen ftate of this fee, than the condition of its palaces. It formerly had feven within the diocefe. This of St. David's, Lawhaden Caftle, and Lamphey Park, all three within the county of Pembroke, were in the moft fplendid ftyle of the times. There is now only one, with nothing beyond the elegance of a private gentleman's houfe in a very beautiful fituation. With refpecl to this, it muft have been one of the moft fuperb epifcopal refidences in the kingdom. The walls are unufually high, furmounted with a light gothic parapet, raifed upon arched battlements, in a. manner peculiar to the buildings of this country ; and the effecT: is fo good, that the ftyle might have been expected to have travelled further. The bifhop's apartments, which were large and 3 O 2, magnificent, 468 PEMBROKESHIRE. magnificent, were on the eaft fide. The kitchen, part of which is {landing, will furnifh fome idea of the ftate in which thefe churchmen once lived. There was a large pillar in the centre of the room, fupporting four arches, within each of which was a very fpacious chimney. Adjoining the kitchen, was the bifhop's hall, fifty-eight feet in length, and twenty-three in breadth, within which was a parlour, and at the northern extre- mity an oratory. On the fouth fide of the quadrangle we have what is commonly called King John's hall, erected exprefsly, •according to the current tale, for the purpofe of entertaining Xing John on his return from Ireland. But more than a century .elapfed from the death of King John to the election of Gower ; •fo that either this hall was built at a later period, or the bifhop lofes his credit as an architect, unlefs we might be warranted in iuppofing, that the hall was of ' the earlier date, and that the bifhop's apartments were added, in a flyle to correfpond with its peculiar fplendour. I apprehend however, from the tafte and Jightnefs of the building, that it may with mofl probability be affigned to the time of Bifhop Gower. The arched entrance leading to the hall is fingularly magnificent. The whole palace is built on arches, which were formerly ufed as cellars. The area of the quadrangle is one hundred and twenty feet fquare. There were formerly four gates in the embattled wall of the clofe. What is now called the lower gate, leading towards the town, is the only one of them remaining. When viewed from the church-yard, it exemplifies the phrafe of building caftles in the air. The towers are much noticed for their beauty ; in the cir- cular, heretics are faid to have been confined. The chapter confifls of the precentor who officiates as dean, the treafurer, the chancellor, and three canons, elected from the archdeaconries and prebendaries; the lower chapter is a body corporate, ST. DAVID'S. 469 corporate, having lands within its own jurifdiction, and granting leafes under its own feal, without the interference of the digni- taries. The canon residentiary has a modern houfe with excellent gardens, and the archdeacon of Brecknock a venerable but dilapidated refidence. The other buildings belonging to the clofe are in a ruinous condition. The cathedral and city of St. David's, for the latter, though now mean, was once fplendid, have invited frequent aggreffions by their expofed fituation and collected wealth. The year 810 brought the Well: Saxons to burn the town, and a murrain among the cattle throughout Wales, events which were fuperftitioufly attributed to an eclipfe of the moon on Chriftmas day. In the year 911, a formidable navy invaded and dettroyed St. David's ; the army penetrated, after a great battle, as far as Herefordfhire. X A fimilar devaluation was repeated in the year 981. In 990, the nephew of Meredith ap Owen, with a fubfidiary holt of Englifh and Danes, plundered the territories of Cardigan, Govver, Kidwelly, and St. David's. The church experienced another attack in 1078; and in 1087 the fhrine of St. David, offering a richer booty than the houfes of the citizens, was relieved of its fuperfluous treafures and ornaments, but in every other particular treated with refpect. But it was about the year 1 1 1 4, that the greater!: misfortune happened to this fee, in the forcible intro- duction of Barnard, a Norman bifhop, by Henry the Firlt, contrary to the eftablifhed privilege of free election, veiled in the Welfli clergy. With refpect to the men who have flourifhed in this feat of learning, it would far exceed my limits to give a biographical catalogue of all the bifhops and other eminent characters enrolled among the records. One of the moil diftinguifhed was Girald ; the fketch of his life will be affigncd to the place of his nativity. Aflcr 470 PEMBROKESHIRE. Ailer is another name of note ; but the hiftorians and biographers feem divided about the perfon. David Powel in commenting on , » Caradoc Lhancarvan, affirms Ailer. the Cambrian metropolitan, to have been the uncle of AfTer the monk and hiftorian, chan- cellor of the diocefe, who was received at the court of Alfred, and made an Englifh bifhop, on account of his great learning. The Editor of the Cambrian biography, by quoting the text of Caradoc Lhancarvan refpeciing the archbifhop, in his account of him whom Powel calls the nephew, feems to have confidered them as one and the fame perfon. The Oxonian profeffor^ whether he had an uncle or not, was certainly a native of this city ; and he was at all events the fcholar patronized by King Alfred, who, when he firft founded Univerfity College, made this monk of St. Dewy's grammar and rhetoric reader there. He appears alfo to have been the firft who compofed a grammar of $r the Welfli language, ftill extant under a fomewhat different form. It has been faid that the univerfity of Oxford owes its inftitution to his influence over the king : yet from his book on the acts of Alfred, written in the year 886, and printed in 1574, it fhould feem as if he, though naturally difpofed to extol the beneficence of his royaUmafter, confidered it rather in the light of a revival than a foundation. His authority does indeed ftrongly favour the opinion of thofe who would willingly place this pillar of our learning and arts on the verge of the earlieft antiquity. Polydore, Bale, and other authors ground the prefent eftablifhment entirely * on Alfred's provifion ; but there is every reafon to fuppofe that there were common fchools, though they might not rife to the dignity of colleges, long before his time, whatever degree of credit . we may give to the ftory of Greeklade in the proctors book. AfTer k C i C- j attributes the deficiency of grammarians about Alfred's time to )^}h^ u-y"^-. t j ie i rru ptj ons f the Pagans, by whom he means the Danes; but 3 he ST. DAVID'S, 47 r he mentions a great mathematician, as well as Gildas, both living in the fixth century, and another eminent man in the early part of it/ as having profeffed there, with a numerous attendance of fcholars. Florence of Worcefter gives nearly the fame account ; and attributes the ignorance of Alfred in the loweft elements of literature, after he had completed his twelfth year, not fo much to the weak indulgence of his education, as to the abfolute want of any inftructor to be found within the kingdom. Befides the warlike fpirit of the times, there was another reafon for this total deftitution of learning. The Pelagian and Arian opinions had for fome time been fo prevalent, that the papal authority difcou- raged every thing in the fhape of a public fchool, as preferring a race of brutes to a race of heretics. Affer wrote befides a Britifh hiftory. There were two Patricks : the faint of the Irifh, who has been curforily mentioned in connexion with St. David, was born either in the hundred of Rofs, or in Gower, flourilhed, according to Bale, about the beginning, and died about the end, of the fifth century. He in facl planted chriftianity in this remote corner ; fince he had founded a monastery here before St. David tranf- ferred the epifcopal pall. Wherever the improvement of learning and religion was going forward, he feems to have been found ; for we read of him, about the year 420, as the Superior of Theo- dofius's College at Llantwit Major. The fecond Patrick was a native of St. David's, contemporary with AfTer, in the reign of Alfred. He fludied at Athens, had acquired the Greek, Chaldean, and Arabic languages; had vrfited all the foreign fchools, and feen whatever was worthy of notice, whether in Italy, France, or Conftantinople. He returned to his native place about the year 858, and meant to have devoted his life to retirement; but he could not long efcape the fearch of Alfred in fo great a dearth of fcholars. 472 PEMBROKESHIRE. fcholars. He went therefore into England, where he became the inftructor both of the prince and his children. It feems doubtful whether he may not difpute with Affer the merit of having fug- gefted the foundation or revival of the Oxford fchools. The point is of no confequenee, or, if it were, they might probably fhare the honour, as they both exercifed the functions of readers there in their different branches. Connected with this city are the two Barlowes, father and fon, who were diftinguifhed characters in the fixteenth century. They both bore the name of William. The father was a monk in the monaftery of St. Ofith in Effex. He was - educated at Oxford, and profeffed in the order of Auguftins there. His religious principles feem to have been in fome meafure unfettled; for in the very early part of his life he had travelled into Germany for the fole purpofe of attending the proteftant divines. When prior of Bifham in Berkfhire he was fent on an embauy into Scotland; and fo far ingratiated himfelf with the king, by his own courtly behaviour, and his influence with his brethren at the dnTolution of the monafteries, that he obtained the biftiopric of St. Afaph in 1535, and was tranflated the follow- ing year to St. David's. He formed the project of removing the fee to the more central fituation of Caermarthen ; and fo high was his favour with Henry, that he had juft obtained his confent, when fome friend to the ancient fabric whifpered the monarch, that the remains of his grandfather were depofited in the chancel. So profound a retirement feems not to have accorded with his temper; fo that a few years after he procured a fecond translation to Wells. He was confidentially employed by the king in the negotiation with the pope refpecting Queen Catharine's divorce, which confirmed him in the favour of the court during Henry's reign. /On the acceffion of Queen Mary he was deprived of his j biftiopric becaufe he was married, and thrown into prifon becaufe , ^ c^~^ ~:/C a~&>- iy awe i*Jtu^-*frJr ft+l~L he. ST. DAVID'S. 473 he was a proteftant. He found means, however, of efcaping into Germany, where he languifhed in poverty till the throne was again occupied by a tenant of his own complexion, when he was recalled, and promoted, by the favour of Elizabeth, to the fee of Chichefter, with a ftall at Weftminfter. He died in the year 1568, leaving behind him the character of a learned man, though his labours have long fince ceafed to fpeak for themfelves. He had five daughters, whofe eftablifhment in life was very remark- able. The eldeft, when a widow, married the Bifhop of Hereford. The fecond was the wife of William Day, Dean of Windfor, who fucceeded to the bifhopric of Winchefter. The third was married to the Bifhop of Litchfield ; the fourth to the younger fon of Matthew Parker, Archbifhop of Canterbury, and afterwards to Toby Matthew, Archbifhop of York ; while the palace at Win^ chefter was a fecond time invaded by a Barlowe, in the perfbn of the youngeft daughter, who married Bifhop William Wickham. Bifhop Barlowe has been accufed, I know not how juftly, of having promoted the advancement of his children much at the expence of this church. He is reported to have taken the lead from the roof of the palace, and in other refpects to have com- mitted fuch dilapidations, as the revenue of the fee for twelve years would fcarcely have repaired. He had fix fons. William was born at St. David's while his father was bifhop, and having entered of Baliol College, Oxford, took his degree in arts in 1564, after which he travelled, and made the fcience of navigation his parti- cular ftudy. Some years afterwards he went into the church, where he obtained a flail at Winchefter, and the archdeaconry of Salifbury; but the circumftance, which renders his name memorable at this diftance of time, is that of his having been the firft writer on the nature and properties of the loadftone. Dr. Gilbert did not •publifh his book till twenty years afterwards. 3 P Mr. 474 PEMBROKESHIRE. Mr. Barlowe was uncommonly ingenious and fuccefsful in his experiments, as well as fcientific in his demonftrations upon paper, In 1597 he publifhed a tract on navigation, containing many important principles, with a defcription of feveral inftruments, which he had framed with a view to facilitate the practice. In 1 61 6 he gave to the world his obfervations and experiments on the loadftone, and in 1618 his reply to the animadverfions of Dr. Ridley on his works. This latter gentleman had been phy- fician to the Englifh factory in Ruffia, and afterwards to the Czar. Mr. Barlowe died in the year 1635. The bifhop, though an EfTex man, is fuppofed to have been defcended from the Barlowes of this county. S( Bifhop Watfon, though he reflected little honour on the lawn, if the particulars related of his conduct be true, was involved in the controverfies of times and factions too prominent in the hiftory of the country to be entirely overlooked. When fellow of St. John's College in Cambridge he was made Bilhop of St. Da- vid's by James the Second, in the year 1687, at Lord Dover's recommendation. He feems to have been unpleafantly circum- ftanced during the whole time he held the fee ; for he was very grievoufly infulted and abufed by the rabble in 1688, juit after King James left England for France, in confequence of the patronage from which he had the misfortune to have derived his preferment. It was a topic of common report, for feveral years, that he had purchafed his dignity, and reimburfed himfelf by felling the principal benefices in his gift. In the year 1699 a direct charge of fimony was founded on thefe prevalent rumours, and proved to the fatisfaction of his judges. The ordination of perfons, without tendering the oath required by law, constituted a diftinct offence. He was in confequence deprived, and Bifhop Burnet preffed for a fentence of excommunication. Dr. Watfoia appealed ST. DAVID'S. 475 appealed from the jurifdiction of the archbifhop, but in vain. The fentence was held to be valid, though the friends of the deprived bifhop and his party frequently debated his cafe in parlia- ment, and prevented any appointment to the vacancy for the fpace of five years. Dr. Bull was at length elected in 1 704. It was in reference to this attempt at fkreening Dr.Watfon, that Walfh, a zealous friend of the revolution, inferted the following couplet in his humorous poem of " The Golden Age Reftored," written in 1 703 : Avow'dly now St. David's caufe they own, And James's votes for fimony atone. St. Juftinian's Chapel, clofe upon the coaft, has been a very fine building. There were formerly feveral chapels all round this metropolis of pilgrims; at prefent there are traces of fcarcely any; and none, the remains of which are at all interefting, except this of St. Juftinian's. They were generally placed near the fea-fide or the high road, to catch the earlieft devotions of feamen and paffengers. The triangular ifland of Ramfey has undergone many changes from the continual wearing of the waves. It is uninha- bited, and faid to have been fingularly fruitful ; but I know not in what degree it retains that character. This ifland is much frequented by eligugs, and other migrating birds, of which I fhall have occafion to fpeak hereafter. There is a tradition, that the embarkation for Ireland anciently took place at Ramfey; but feafaring men much doubt the probability of the account, from the circumftances of the tides. To the north- weft are the Bifhop and his Clerks, feven rocks, fo called by a fort of vulgar wit, which has flood the fiege of two or three centuries without yield- ing or variation. We find, from the earlier antiquaries, old manufcripts, and Michael Drayton, that it was thought a very 3 P Z good 47<* PEMBROKESHIRE. good joke at the time of the Spanifh Armada. The (hore here is altogether of unufual boldnefs. St. David's Head is a ftupendous rock, running out into the fea from the main land, with which it is connected by an ifthmus. The whole neighbourhood abounds ^ with remnants of druidical monuments. The fituation could not fail of being marked out for a religious feat under any fyftem into which a fingle particle of fuperflition was allowed to enter. There are fome veftiges of Roman fortifications, and of the old military Li- way, mentioned in Randal of Chefter by the name of Rickeneld ; but whether we are to take thefe great public works upon the credit of the Britifli ftory, or. afcribe them alfo with Camden to the Romans, is a queftion into which I fhall not attempt to enter. We have befides been told that Erming-ftreet began here, and was carried forward to Southampton ; but all evidence of this fad has difappeared, nor is it eafy either to felect or reconcile authorities on thefe points of dubious and remote antiquity. St. David's Head is faid to have been the Octopitarum of the ancient geographers ; but it has been conjectured that this name is a corruption, and that it was called the promontory octopetra- rum, of the eight rocks, confuting of St. David's Head, the Bifhop, and his Clerks. CHAPTER C 477 ) CHAPTER XXVI. CARVAI...S0LVA...PEN DIN AS...NEWGILL BRIDGE AND SANDS- ,.ROCH CASTLE. .NOLTON HAVEN. .YRECOY D..PELKAM BRIDGE ...BRIDELL...EGLWrSWRW...PONT CUNNO...PONT SEISON.... HENDRE GATE..PONT LLANBIRAN..TA VARN Y VACH..PERCILY MOUNTAIN. .NEW INN...CWM KERRWN HILL...SCOLE's CROSS ...KROGALL...PENDEGRAST.-HAVERFORD WEST~ Carvai, within the parifli of St. David's, produces the common ftone, found in the body of the cathedral, as well as that fuperior kind of which the rood loft is built. The magnificent pavilion, under which Bifhop Martin lies, againft the fbuth wall of St. Mary's chapel, is executed with the fame materials, which are peculiar to this place. The cryftals, known by the name of St. David's diamonds, are found here, as well as at St. David's Head, in the chafms of the rock. They are fmall, very hard, and difficult to Separate. They are fometimes found in a dark earth, through which their points appear, and have a very confiderable luftre, if properly fet. A little way out at fea are fome rocks, called the Scrabs. The view of St. Bride's Bay is grand ; but the country is without wood and dreary, till you come to Solva, with its romantic little creek. Here the mixture of trade, fhip-building, and picturefque features, is various and enlivening. Not long ago this was as poor a village as moll in this poor diftricl: ; but it has made fome efforts of late years to rife into confequence, which feem likely to be fuccefsful. The new houfes are in a good ftyle, and! 47 8 PEMBROKESHIRE. and the landfcape much more pleafing than any that has occurred fince we quitted the banks of the Gwin. On afcending the hill, however, beyond Solva, we return to the bare and rugged, till yC the brow of Pen Dinas, a lofty cliff overlooking St. Bride's Bay, opens a fublime profpecl: of thofe refllefs waves, with the con- vulfed and perforated rocks of a more which can fcarcely confine their rage. There is a tradition, that this bay, large as it is, was once a tracl: of low land ; and we read in Girald, as well as in a paffage of Drayton heretofore quoted, that in the time A r of Henry the Second a violent florm laid the fands bare, and difcovered flumps of trees ftanding in the bottom of what is now fea. Mr. George Owen, in his manufcript hiflory commu- nicated to the Cambrian Regifler, mentions a fimilar circumflance as having occurred in his time, as well as that the oppofite fide of Newgill Bridge, in the hundred of Rofs, was called the wood, though there had fcarcely been a tree growing on the land there within the memory of man. On defcending from Pen Dinas to the fands, and eroding Newgill Bridge, we quit the hundred of St. Dewy's for that of Rofs, feparated by a very fmall flream running through the moor, and find ourfelves among a different people. Roch Cattle flands mod fingularly, on the top of a high rock, rifing perpendicularly from an extenfive flat, on which there is no fimilar appearance elfewhere. There is a rock of the fame kind near St. David's ; and, as I have been told, there are others in different parts of this weftern coafl. The caflle, from this circumflance, is feen at a great diflance, and fo completely occupies the fummit, that the artificial fabric is fcarcely to be diftin- guifhed from its natural bafe, but on a near approach. According to the legendary tale, the owner had a foreboding that he mould die by the fling of an adder : he therefore built his manfion in fuch a manner as to place himfelf as much as poflible out of his 3 enemy's NOLTON HAVEN. YRECOYD. PELKAM BRIDGE. 479 enemy's reach. The conclufion of the ftory will naturally be anti- cipated: if he had not died by the fling of an adder, the motive of his choice would fcarcely have been worth recording. The road now bears away from the coaft, and we take our leave of St. Bride's Bay, with a laft look at that part of it called Nolton Haven. The quarries of Nolton furnifh a dark grey kind of free- ftone, of much ufe in building, and particularly well adapted for a maritime expofure. It is nearly of the fame quality with what is found in the cliffs about Newport. It will bear fire better than %f any ftone of this country. About Yrecoyd we were overtaken by great numbers of the country people going to Haverford Weft market. This is a very populous part of the county; and we were aflailed by a tempeft of queftions, all in very plain Engliftu There is nothing remarkable in the face of nature hereabouts; the moll: pleafant part is about Pelkam Bridge, over a brook, which is received into Dungleddy river a little to the eaft. I lhall now proceed to take fome notice of the country, nearly in a ftraight line between Cardigan and Haverford Weft. The enclofures about the little village of Bridell, a few miles from Cardigan, are well cultivated, and contrail: agreeably with the rugged profpect of the three mountains in front. That on the right, near the fea, is the mountain above Newport; the middle, and the largeft in Pembrokefhire, is Percily ; and that placed at the eaftern extremity is Wrenyvaur. From this latter #**-•- the river Clethy rifes, and, after a long courfe near the borders of Caermarthenfhire, meets Dungleddy from, the weft, where they both join to form Milford Haven. As it was Sunday, I looked into the church of Bridell, and found it cleaner than ufual, though, in point of architecture, little better than a barn. A little beyond four roads meet, this towards Cardigan, the road on the right to Newport, that on the left to Newcaftle in Emlyn, and the 4 8o ' PEMBROKESHIRE. the road over Percily mountain to Haverford Weft. Juft here is the neat and pleafing village of Eglwyfwrw, rendered the more n/ inviting by a confiderable quantity of wood {till remaining in a tract, where that ornamental as well as valuable furniture of a country is fo generally deficient. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth there was a wood, or rather foreft, of oak in this manor, con- taining five hundred acres, for the moft part well grown with hazel, thorn, willow, and other underwood. What fu^rounds this very agreeable retreat, is all that is now left. There is a fhopkeeper in this place who has acquired a large fortune by dint of honeft induftry. He does bufinefs in the banking line to the amount of twenty thoufand pounds or upwards annually. Orders are fent to London every month, when books, or any other article, may be procured, with fcarcely any advance upon the prices of the metropolis. Mr, Evans may truly be called an ufeful man, as the benefit of fuch an eftablifhment, in a fituation fo diftant from all the great towns, is more than the inhabitants of thofe towns can eafily conceive. At Pont Cunno, Nevern river, though diverted of every picturefque circumftance in this earlier part of its courfe, relieves for a moment the drearinefs of the fcene on which the traveller is entering. Pont Seifon croffes a little brook, which joins the river Biran a little to the weft, in its pafiage to Nevern river, its receiver. The laft plot of cultivation on this fide extends as far as Hendre Gate, which is to be confidered as the entrance of the mountain. Immediately beyond it Pont Llanbiran crofTes the river Biran, but the afcent does not become laborious till you arrive at Tavarn y Vach at fome little diftance. It is not diffi- cultly fteep in any part, but tedious from its length. Percily mountain is the centre of a long ridge running eaft and weft. It is about feven miles in length and two in breadth, and is to be feen from the diftance of forty miles. The profpecl from the top, though PERCILY MOUNTAIN. NEW INN. 481 though too extenfive and not of a character to be picturefque, has all that impreffive effect which vaftnefs never fails to produce. The whole of Pembrokefhire is vifible from fome part or other of *V this mountain, with a confiderable part of Cardiganfhire, Mont- gomeryfhire, Brecknockfhire, and Glamorganfhire. It affords excellent fheep-walks, copious fprings, and abundance of peat for fuel. The ancient way, called the Flemings Way, was carried A', ft. over this mountainous tract ; and it is affigned as a reafon why they chofe for themfelves the labour of the higheft hill, that it enabled them to difcover and avoid the fnares which the natives were continually laying for them in the narrow paffes and plains. At the beginning of the defcent on the other fide, is the New Inn, about half way between Cardigan and Haverford Weft. A late traveller has informed the public that he got part of a goofe for his dinner at the New Inn. I much fear left this anecdote mould be the means of deluding future travellers with falfe hopes; for I could get nothing. The higheft peak of the mountain is A r - A Gwm Kerrwn Hill, eaftward of the New Inn ; and, as we advance in the defcent, we come in light of Llanvernach mountain. Thefe high grounds to the left intercept entirely the view of Caermarthenfhire, though fituated fo near ; but Caermarthen Bay is diftinctly to be difcerned ; and Gower beyond. Cwm Kerrwn Hill is well known by the failors, who hail it as the firft notice that they are making Milford Haven ; for that coaft is fo low, jk*ff- t* ^ : fl : *^ L that it is not feen for feveral hours after this landmark is difco- /.•/£-* j" k/" 1 ***-^ vered; and government, in the courfe of laft autumn, had it in \y-J £U^<~h~^ ^L contemplation to erect a telegraph or beacon on the fummit. I / ,j s ~& rr c^c~^> have not been informed whether it is yet carried into execution. ^ / u /; After reaching the bottom of the mountain the road continues over a flat country as far as Scole's Crofs, where it begins to be well cultivated, and to aflume that appearance which befpeaks the approach to a confiderable town. At Krogall, juft beyond, 3 Q, the ' 4 »a PEMBROKESHIRE. the country people dreffed for the honour ,of Sunday, in the bcft of their provincial garb, exhibited an appearance of comfort, as well as extenfive population. The road from this place, the whole way to Haverford Weft, was lined with little parties. The women's attire is lingular ; it confifts of a fhort jacket and petti- coat, entirely of brown woollen, like a riding habit, a clofe cap and long lappets, with a man's beaver hat. The whittle here only appears occafionally ; and is a diftin&ion on which the wearer never fails to value herfelf moft highly. It is a fhort red mantle, with a very deep fringe, hanging over the moulders, and communicates a moft awfully military appearance, as General Tate can teftify. Pendegraft was the ancient feat of the Stepneys ; though they have fmce been tranfplanted into Caermarthenfhire. This is an Englifh family, one of whom held an office under the chapter of St. David's, and obtained a permanent fettlement in Pembrokefliire by marriage. The elder branch of the family was raifed to the baronetcy in 162,1. Dr. Johnfbn fays that George Stepney was defcended from this ftqck, but that he knew nothing of his father's condition or fortune. I apprehend him to have been a fon of Sir Thomas Stepney, Knight, who was the younger brother of Sir John Stepney, the flrft baronet. This Sir Thomas was a diftinguifhed courtier, and had travelled into France* as well as- other foreign countries. As the birth of George is fixed to have been in Weftminfter, in the year 1663, it is probable that his father was then in attendance about the court, and that his exam- ple might eafily have biafled the inclinations of his fon, towards the political and diplomatic line of life, in which he was after- wards engaged. George Stepney is fo inconfiderable as a poet, that Dr. Johnfon, who had no other buiinefs with him, thought a fmgle page fumcient to devote to his brief fummary of biogra- phical fads. But the epitaph infcribed on his monument in Weftminfter PENDEGRAST. 4^ Weftminfter Abbey, if any faith is to be placed in the characters awarded by the partiality of furviving friends, reprefents him as poffefling a degree of talent and confideration in fociety, not fb lightly to be paffed over. On the left hand of the pedeftal, the progrefs of his life is fummed up. From thefe notices, I mall endeavour to trace his mare in the public events which diftin- guifhed the reigns of King William and Queen Anne. He was elected into college at Weftminfter, in the year 1676", and to a vacancy at Trinity in Cambridge, in 1683. He took his degree as Mailer of Arts in 1689. At Weftminfter he contracted a very intimate friendfhip with Charles Montague, who relinquifhed the profpect of his own election for the following year, rather than run the rifk of a feparation by being placed at Oxford. In 1683, thefe twin wits of the univerfity wrote each of them a a Latin ode, on the marriage of George Prince of Denmark and the Lady Anne, printed in the Hymenaeus Cantabrigienfis. In 1685, the Earl of Dorfet gave them both an invitation to town, and by his patronage laid the foundation of their future fortunes. At this time Stepney feems to have been attached to the Tory intereft ; for he wrote an addrefs to King James, on his acceffion to the throne. It is to be obferved, that Dorfet had been favourably noticed by the new monarch, but when that nobleman found it expedient to oppofe his violent „ proceedings, and even to coun- tenance the bifhops at their trials in Weftminfter Hall, the apparent tendency of public affairs determined the whole party to embrace the Whig principles in their fulleft extent. It was in the very fame year, when the Univerfity of Cambridge burned the Duke of Monmouth's picture, who was formerly their chan- cellor, that Stepney wrote his verfes in anfwer to the queftion, -fed quid Turba Remi ? fequitur fortunam, ut Temper, et odit Damnatos. 3 Q 3 In 484 PEMBROKESHIRE. In the reign of King William, the circumftance of his having: concurred with his diftinguiihed patrons in the revolution, recom- mended him to employment, and he feems generally in this and the fucceeding reign, to have adopted the politics of the early friend, to whole perfonal kindnefs he owed his advantages. In 1692, when Johnftoun was called home, and made fecretary of ftate for Scotland, Stepney was fent envoy in his room to the Elector of Brandenburg. In 1 693, he went to the Imperial Court; in 1694, his diplomatic talents were employed in a negotiation with the Elector of Saxony. In 1696, he was fent to the Electors of Mentz and Cologne, as well as to the congrefs at Frankfort ; in 1698, he paid a fecond vifit to Brandenburg. In 1699, he was employed at the court of Poland, at a very critical period, when the king was fufpected of intending a change from elective to hereditary monarchy, by the introduction of a Saxon army, under pretences of which the Poles were not unreafonably jealous. The affairs of Poland and of Sweden, the turn of political events at Holltein, the war raifed againft the King of Sweden, and the King of Poland's defigns, furnifhed an additional inducement to the Signing of that partition treaty, which, led to the impeachment of Halifax by the commons, and the difmhTal of the party. In 1 70 1, though the partition treaty of his friends was charged in the houfe of Lords, he was again the bearer of a memorial from this country to the emperor on the fubject of an alliance between the different ftates and princes, for the purpofe of reducing the exorbitant power of France. In the courfe of this year he wrote his effay on the prefent Intereft of England. In J 706, he was fent to the dates general, when it became neceffary to obviate the effect of the reports which the French agents had fpread in both countries, for the purpofe of alienating them from each other. He was very fuccefsful in all thefe negotiations, which only can account PENDEGRAST. HAVERFORJD WEST. 4*5. account for his continued employment in fuch weighty affairs, even at one period when articles were framing againft, the Earl of Orford, Lords Somers, and Halifax. He died at Chelfea, in the year 1707, and was buried in Weftminfler Abbey. His poems were affo- eiated with thofe of Walih and Halifax, in " The Works of the Minor Poets," printed in 1749. His Latin compofitions> if Latin eompofition be a fubjecl; of criticifm, are inferior to Smith and Prior, but preferable to thofe of Halifax. He contributed the eighth fatire, to the motley verfion of Juvenal. It had little> X either of fidelity or fpirit, with which to affifl the reputation of the work. As for his other pieces, I ihall content myfelf with citing the high authority of Dr. Johnfon. " In his original poems, now and then a happy line may perhaps be found, and now and then a fhort eompofition may give pleafure ; but there is in the whole, little either of the grace of wit, or the vigour of nature." One of thefe Stepneys married Vandyck's daughter. Haverford Weft is the principal town of Pembrokefhire, in extent, population, and trade. It owes its advantages principally to the circumftance of flanding on the banks of Dungleddy river,, where it is navigable. It is built on the fleep fide of a high hill^ fb as to be highly inconvenient, if not dangerous, for carriages andhorfes; and the more fo, as the ftreets are very ill paved. There are fome good houfes, efpeeially in the upper part ; but the irregularity of the avenues, and. the narrownefs of all. but one or two ftreets, with the houfes piled confufedly upon one another, the lower windows of fome looking down upon the roofs of others, render it intricate and unfightly on : the entrance, though the approach is finking. The market here is one of the larger! and moll: abundant in Wales, particularly for fifh, in- the greater! plenty and variety. It is alfo a very large corn market ; and there is a great fair for horfes and cattle of all kinds, on the 7th of July, St. Thomas's day; by which they mean St.Thomas a Becket, the: 4 S6 PEMBROKESHIRE. the tutelary faint of the upper town. The caftle is a (lately object from the bridge, though it is confiderably disfigured by a part of it having been converted into a county gaol, fince the feffions have been held here. It is faid to have been built by Gilbert Earl of Clare ; but hiftory is ftrangely barren of events relating to it. It was well fortified with towers, and the walls are of great thicknefs. In fpeaking of Caerphilly Caftle I have noticed the very fuperior workmanfhip of the ancient builders; and this caftle would have given me an opportunity of enlarging on the fubjecl:, had I then neglected it. Thefe fabrics, ere&ed by the Flemings and Normans, are generally extenfive and ftrong throughout Pembrokefhire. When compared with modern fpe- cimens, they in fome meafure juftify, at leaft in one part, a whimfical fort of prophetic proverb, in ufe among the Welfh, that the mafons are to grow worfe, and the carpenters better, to the end of the world. The walk to the priory, without the town, is pleafant, and the ruins, if not highly pi&urefque, are at leaft venerable. The chapel is the moft perfect, part. In the year 1 2,2, i Lhewelin ap Jorwerth, in his wars with the Flemings, burned the town, but was obliged to conclude a truce with the garrifon of the caftle, upon equal terms, and to retire, without having accomplished his objecl. The language of this town is Englifh ; but the Welfh from the upper part of the county come down hither to market, fo that the inhabitants in general find themfelves obliged to acquire fome little knowledge of the Welfh tongue; they, however, take every opportunity of acquainting ftrangers with their defcent, of which they are very proud. The feci: calling itfelf the Unitas Fratrum, but better known by the title of Moravian, is very numerous here. The Rev. John Gambold, one of their moft eminent bifhops, was a native of this county, and ended his days at Haverford Weft. This gentleman was born in the year 171 1, and entered as a fervitor at Chrift Church in Oxford HAVERFORD WEST. 487 Oxford in 1726. The death of his father, two years afterwards, made fuch an impreffion on his mind as to occafion that enthu- fiaftically religious turn which ended in his feceffion from the eftablifhed church. In the year 1733 he was admitted to orders; and, as foon as he could hold a living, was inftituted to Stanton Harcourt, where he refided, and was received with diftinguifhed refpecl: by the family of his patron, Lord Harcourt, whenever he could £o far conquer his inclination to folitude as to venture into company. His manner and appearance in a polite circle muft have been highly whimfical ; for we are told, by his biographer, that his ftyle of converting was in axioms and complete fentences, compounded after the model partly of the ancient philofophers, and partly of the early Chriftians ; fo that he feemed to carry back his audience to the diftance of at leaft fifteen hundred years. His language was elegant, and his turn of expremon peculiarly- delicate. In the year 1737 he became acquainted with Peter Boehler,. a miffionary from the Unitas Fratrum on the continent,, then waiting for a pafTage to America; and in 1739 he was confirmed in his new opinions by the converfation of Count Zin- zendorfF. But he did not yet quit his preferment in the church ; for in the latter end of the year 1741 he preached before the univerfity of Oxford, and the fermon was publifhed at the requeft of the vice-chancellor. The following year he refigned his living, notwithstanding the friendly difTuanons of Lord Harcourt and the Bifhop of Oxford ; for his peculiarities were of a nature the moil: inofFenfive, and his character generally refpected. For the next twelve years, till he was confeerated bifhop, he divided his time between London, Germany, and Haverford Weft, where he had married, and kept a fchool. From 1754 to 1768 he chiefly refided in London, and then returned into Wales to try the effect of his native air on a dropfical afthma, with which he was afflicted. He died at Haverford Weft in the year 1771. His works are pub- 3. liihed^, 4 88 PEMBROKESHIRE. limed, among which there is a curious piece ; a tragedy on the martyrdom of St. Ignatius. Though of fo fpiritual a turn, he always had a ftrong predilection for poetry and the drama. He therefore determined to turn the weapons of the devil againft the devil himfelf. The writer of the preface to his works tells us whim- fically enough, that this piece is not to be confidered as a perfect drama, amenable to the laws of ftrict criticifm, becaufe he has not attended to the unities of time and place; but that this will fcarcely be confidered as a defect by the admirers either of Shakf- peare's tragedies, or the Jephthah and John Baptift of Buchanan. We are alfo informed, that he took no pains with the plot. Ignatius, Polycarp, and Trajan, are the moft confpicuous perfons of the drama. The deaconefs of Antioch is the only female character. This tragedy will however difappoint its readers of every description; for there is nothing fufficiently good to be impreflive, nor any thing fo bad as to be ridiculous. The moil favourable view of the writer's mind is to be obtained from his letters. There his enthufiafm appears recommended by no inconfiderable portion of elegance and feeling, particularly in his letters to a lady and a young man ; nor was he, as is moft frequently the cafe, deficient in that learning, which his religious impreffions occafioned him to undervalue. It is a circumftance, which is not perhaps generally known, that the influence of this feci: in the city of Briftol, reprefented by Mr. Bragge, procured their exemption from perfonal fervice under the General Defence Act, and the extenfion of the provifions affecting Quakers to their cafe. This claufe was not in the original bill, but introduced into the Defence Amendment Act. There is a cotton mill near Haverford Weft, which employs about one hundred and fifty perfons ; and this is the principal manufacture in the county. CHAPTER ( 489 ) CHAPTER XXVIl'. MERLIN'S BRIDGE.. ..CINNAMON GROVE... .BOLTON HALL.... JOHNSTON.. ..ROBERTSTONE HALL....HUBBERSTON PRIORY.... HAKIN....MILFORD HAVEN. The hill leading down from the town towards Milford Haven is very fteep, and renders the accefs to Haverford Weft on that fide inconvenient. Merlin's Bridge crofTes a brook which joins Dun- gleddy river about Ifmefton. The country beyond Merlin's Bridge is flat, but on the whole pleafing. It partakes of the features which ufually diftinguifh the vicinity of the fea. There are a number of gentlemen's feats in this neighbourhood, which is inhabited by many families of large fortune. The country is fo little picturefque as to abfolve me from more than the bare mention of Cinnamon Grove and Bolton Hall, both of which are agreeable refidences. Johnfton is an ancient feat, belonging to Lord Kenfington, which mould not be patted by without a vifit. About a mile beyond Tiers Crofs on the other road, is Robertftone Hall; and, on leaving that, you catch fome fine water views, before you reach Hubberfton Priory. This ruin is not far from the water-fide. A part of the principal gate-houfe is all that remains ; and there is no record left of the eflablifliment, of what order, by whom founded, or whether for monks or nuns. Hakin is feparated from Milford by one of thofe creeks which run up the country out of the haven. The packets for Ireland fail from this place. With refpect to Milford itfelf, the town is juft rifing; but Milford 3 R Haven 49 o PEMBROKESHIRE. Haven in Pembrokelhire has always been of the firft account in the ancient annals of the country, as one of the braveft harbours in the world. It is remarkable for the landing, under very different aufpices, of a king to be dethroned, and a profcribed prince to gain the battle of Bofworth and a diadem. It may be faid, there- fore, to have feen the beginning and end of the conteft between the houfes of York and Lancafter. Daniel thus relates the inju- dicious return of Richard the Second from Ireland, whither he ought never to have gone, in his. hiftory of the civil wars : But at the length (though late) in Wales he lands ; Where thoroughly inform'd of Henry's force, And well advertis'd how his own cafe ftands, (Which to his grief he fees tends to the worfe) He leaves t' Aumarle, at Milford, all thofe bands He brought from Ireland ; taking thence his courfe To Conway (all difguis'd) with fourteen more, To th' Earl of Salifbury, thither fent before. Edward Duke of Aumarle was fon to the Duke of York. Nor could King Richard have trufted his interefts in more treacherous hands; for the Duke reprefented his departure as a cowardly flight, difbanded the whole force, and betook himfelf with five hundred of his followers to the prevailing party. Again, in the fixth year of King Henry the Fourth's reign, the French king fent aid to Owen Glendour, with one hundred and forty mips, ■which landed at Milford Haven. " At Milford haven arrived Henry Earl of Richmont, aided with- fome forces and fums of money by the French Charles VIII. but fo entertained and ftrengthened by divers of his friends, groaning under the tyrannical yoke of Richard III. that, beyond expectation, at Bofworth in Leicefter, the day and crown was foon his."— Selden. It / MILFORD HAVEN. 49 f It will be recollected with what calamities this country was weighed down, while the interefts and affections of the people were thus divided. At that time Gruffyth ap Nicholas, grand- father to Sir Rice ap Thomas, and a great patron of the bards, as *K well as himfelf a poet, after many indications of a difpofition to profit by the diffractions of the time, and ftand on the high ground of independence, attached himfelf to the fortunes of the Yorkifts, and died in the midft of victory at the battle of Mortimer's Crofs. This Gruffyth ap Nicholas boafled his defcent from Urien Rheged, a diftinguifhed chieftain of North Britain, who gained by warfare *i fovereignty, comprehending all the land between the Tavvy and Tivy. It is probable that a frequent and fond contemplation of this illuftrious alliance gave occafion to the dream of Gruffyth's mother ; that the branches of a bay tree, of which her vitals nourimed the root, overfliadowed all between thofe diftant rivers. Thomas ap Gruffyth, father to Sir Rice ap Thomas, is reprefented in the hiftories as a man of a mild difpofition, who preferred ferving in the wars of Burgundy, to being embroiled in thediffen- tions of his native country. It happened however, that he was obliged to return to England, having fallen under the difpleafure of the Duke, the affections of whofe near kinfwoman he had gained, and married her while his firft wife was alive, by difpen- fation from the Pope. From the only fon of this fecond marriage, Mr. Johnes of Havod is defcended. Such was the quarrelfome temper of the times, that Thomas ap Gruffyth, though equally peaceable in his inclination, and fkilful in the ufe of his weapon, was continually involved in duels. After having killed his anta- gonift in the laft he fought, he had lain down on his face to recover breath after his fatigue, when he was mortally wounded by a retainer of his adverfary, who came upon him by ftealth. He left behind him a numerous offspring, of whom Morgan fided 3 R 2, with 492 PEMBROKESHIRE. with York, and David with Lancafter. After the battle of Tewkf- bury, when Jafper Earl of Pembroke, with his nephew, the future king, retired to his caftle of Pembroke, Morgan was employed to befiege him there, and would have reduced the garrifon by famine, if David had not privately insinuated to the very vaflals of Morgan* that their mailer wifhed the Earl to efcape, and thus prevailed: with them to, attack him in difguife. During the confufion, the princely fugitives were conveyed to Tenby, and fafely Shipped for Britany. ' The brothers both fell in the viciuitudes of this long conteft, and Sir Rice ap, Thomas fucceeded to- their honours and eftates. He was educated in Burgundy, under his fathers eye, and in high favour at that court. No fooner had he fuc- ceeded to the inheritance, than he trained, his dependants in military manoeuvres, horferacing, and all kinds of manly exercifes : and fo high was his popularity, that he was called the Great Rice of Wales. During; the reign of King Edward, he confined himfelf within the limits of a magnificent and hofpitable privacy^ but his honourable feelings made him eager to caft the firft ftone at the tyrant Richard. When it was determined that the Earl of Richmond mould land at Milford, it was found to be imprac- ticable without the concurrence of Sir Rice, who found: himfelf fettered by general promifes to Richard, extorted not from affec- tion, but the neceflity of temporizing. The Bifhop of St. David's and the Abbot of Talley argued him by degrees into the belief, that the infraction of a ram vow was justifiable. He therefore declared himfelf to his friends, as a partifan of the Lancastrian fucceffion. But the Duke of Buckingham's fall, which would have difpirited an ordinary courage, fo inflamed Sir Rice's zeal, that his friends could with difficulty difluade him from proclaim* ing Henry the Seventh before his arrival. Nor was his approach very encouraging ; for his Strength fcarcely amounted to two 3 thoufand ; MtLFORD HAVEN. m thoufand ; but Sir Rice immediately iflued from his caftle of Carew with a well appointed army of two thoufand more, confiding of his friends and dependants. Sir Rice, in a- letter to King Richard, dated from Caermarthen, in the year 1484, had engaged that no difarfe&ed perfon fhould land at Milford Haven, without marching over his body. This gallant gentleman, therefore, who had a very literal confcience, extended himfelf on the ground, and required the Earl to perform the ceremony of ftepping over him ; though fome accounts afTert, that he did not fubmit to this degradation, but that he crept under the arch of a bridge, which the Earl had occafion to crofs, and thus fulfilled his vow. It was determined that the Earl ihould proceed in the direction of Cardigan, and Sir Rice in that of Caermarthen, left the French and Welfh foldiers Ihould fall out by the way. Sir Rice's courfe was by Llandovery and Breck- nock, at which place his train became fo numerous, that he was obliged to difmifs a part. The two detachments met near Shrewfbury, and proceeded onwards for Newport, where they were met by Sir Gilbert Talbot, who came from his nephew the Earl of Shrewfbury with two thoufand men, well appointed and well difciplined. They then marched by Litchfield towards Atherfton, where Sir Thomas Bourcher and Sir Walter Hunger- ford joined them. Lord Stanley and Sir William were obliged to temporize, left they ihould endanger the life of Lord Strange, a hoftage in the hands of the tyrant; but their fudden declaration in the heat of battle fully redeemed the want of their earlier countenance. Sir John Savage brought his Chefhire bowmen; Sir Brian Sanford and Sir Simon Digby deferted from Richard:;, and in this ftate of high preparation they met the adverfe army at Bofworth. The alternate gallantry and confcientious horrors of the ufurper on the night before the battle, his waking vigour and fleeping, 494 PEMBROKESHIRE. fleeping tortures, have been delineated by fuch a hand, as could not fail to render the moral leflbn familiar to every reader of the Englifh language. The Welfli aflert a fad, refpedting this battle, which has not found a place in any of our hiftories. The general account is, that after Sir William Stanley, at a critical juncture of the battle, had poured in his frefti forces in aid of Sir Rjce ap Thomas's horfemen, Richard was overwhelmed by numbers ; but they fay that Sir Rice ap Thomas flew him, fighting hand to hand. It feems altogether incredible, that fo great a feat of valour mould not have been afcertained beyond the poffibility of a doubt. That the king ever afterwards called him familiarly father Rice, is a poor argument; becaufe his early adoption of the caufe was fufficient to entitle him to fuch a compliment. Nor is it likely that Henry, fparing as he was of his rewards, would have con- tented himfelf with giving the garter for fuch a fervice. Sir Rice's biographer, indeed, informs us, that he had the choice of two earldoms at the fame time, Pembroke or Effex; but that he confidered knighthood as a foldier's higheft honour, and wifhed his fon to earn his own glory after the example afforded by himfelf. His civil government, as chamberlain of South Wales, was not lefs dignified than his military career had been victorious ; and he lived in aftyle fcarcely exceeded by the moil powerful Welfh princes in the days of their independence. His principal refidences were, Newcaftle in Emlyn, Abermarles Park, Carew, and Dinevowr ; but the latter years of his life were chiefly fpent at Carew. He is mentioned in high terms by Lord Verulam, who miftakenly calls him Richard inftead of Rice ; but he had now little opportunity of fignalizing himfelf as a foldier. He was, however, employed by the king on every occafion of importance, and was ftyled, in the preamble to his patent of knighthood, the purfuerof PerkinWarbeck. He attended Henry the Eighth to France, with the command of five hundred MILFORD HAVEN. 495 hundred horfe, and diftinguifhed himfelf in all the fplendid, butill- confidered operations of the war. After his return, he retired fron* the court and camp to his princely refidence at Carew, where he died at the age of feventy-fix. He left behind him only one fon born in wedlock, but no lefs than fourteen natural children, moll: of whom- either founded, or married into, fome of the leading families in- South* Wales. I principally mention this circurmtance in order to remark upon it, that he placed thefe children, as nearly as the law would: allow, on a level with his legitimate fon and fucceflbr, in point of fortune and eftablifhment ; and that fo juft a diftribution was in thofe days generally cuftomary among the Wellh gentry,, whofe gallantries happened to have been fo attefted. The length of Miiford Haven, from the junction of the two* rivers to the fea, is about iixteen miles. Its mean breadth may be taken at one mile, though it increafes to full two miles a little way above the mouth of the harbour, which turns fuddenly to^ the fouth-eaft, and gives this noble fheet of water, from molt points of view, the appearance of an immenfe lake. The new town is making rapid grogrefs ; and the ftyle of building in general is far fuperior to what this part of the country has hitherto been accuftomed to adopt. Whether the commercial vifions, which magnify the future Miiford into a rivalftiip with our firfiV trading towns, are likely to be realized, I pretend not to conjecture;: but it is obvious, that if ever internal dhTenfions or foreign artifice Ihould break the bond which connects this country and Ireland^. Miiford Haven would become a point of the molt urgent import- ance in a military view. At prefent, the fortifications, abandoned- after a molt unwarrantable expence, are a ftanding monument of the manner in which the public money is fquandered by projectors.. It furely did not require twenty thousand pounds to difcover that the fort and dockyard were commanded by hills. In point of capacity, , 496 PEMBROKESHIRE, capacity, it is generally apprehended to be the frrft harbour of Great Britain ; and would be the moll complete, were it not fo nearly land-locked. It would contain more than the whole navy of England. As to its piclurefque features, they are of the firil aquatic beauty, and are feen to the higheft advantage by taking a .boat from Milford to Pembroke. The banks are well cultivated., and rife in gentle hills, the outline of which flows pdeafingly; but they have little rock or wood to refcue them from the imputation of tamenefs. The fcene, therefore, fails of exciting intereit, to an eye pampered with the romantic ; but 1 queftion whether any part of this fbuthern tour would more highly gratify the general tra- veller, who can be fatisfied with beauty and utility, without requiring nature to turn painter or fcene-fhifter for his amufement. As you proceed up the harbour, this magnificent piece of water is forked by a peninfula in front, dividing the great reach up to Burton Ferry from Down Pool, which forms fo interefting an approach to Pembroke. Here, as in all the numerous eiluaries and creeks branching out from the great body, the fcenery becomes richer as lefs expanded. Fertility and beauty combine. The approach from the water mews the caftle and the town to the utmoft poffible advantage. The noble and extenflve ruin, hanging •on the edge of the pool, with the mouth of the cavern opening as a fally-port, and the buildings of the ancient borough crouching under its command, the petty trade giving life to the fcene, without obfeuring its predominant features of rural interefr. ; call for the delineation of the pencil in aid of detailed and indLftincl: narrative. ( 4*7 ) CHAPTER XXVIII. PICTON CASTLE.. .SLEBITCH... HIGH TOR WOOD...CRESSELLY... CAREW.... PEMBROKE. Iicton Caftle is the feat of Lord Milford, who has one of the largeft eftates in this part of the country. His lordfhip is defcended from John Philips, Efq. created a baronet in 162, I. This family is of great antiquity in South Wales, and traces its pedigree up to V X Cedivor the Great, the fon of Colwyn. The caftle and domain came to Sir Thomas Philips, the father of John, the firft baronet, //: 3. in right of his wife, defcended from the Wogans. Thefe Wogans, who were alfo feated at Wifton Caftle, have already been men- tioned as perfons of large pofleffions and high command in this country. Though a gallant defence was made by this caftle for King Charles, it efcaped the vengeance of Cromwell ; fo that it is diftinguilhed as one of the few which ftill continue to be inha- bited. It owed its foundation to William de Picton. It is a noble refidence, very much in the Engliih ftyle, both with refpecl; to natural character and artificial improvement. The plantations are extenfive and flouriihing. The houfe, which is in the old fafhion of grandeur, commands a fine view of the water towards Land- fhipping, where the two rivers meet, and join their forces to make Milford Haven. The grounds of Slebitch unite with thofe of Piclon Caftle. Slebitch was anciently a commandery, fettled on the knights of St. John of Jerufalem, with a confiderable 3 S allotment 49* PEMBROKESHIRE. allotment of lands, on the conditions impofed on the order, of" ferving as champions for the recovery of the holy fepulchre. This place is very beautifully fituated on the Clcthy. High Tor Wood,, ftretching along the banks of this broad river, as far as the eye can reach, reminds the Englifh traveller, in fome degree, of the fcenes to which he has been accuftomed in the well-planted neighbourhood of the Thames above Windfor. There is here one of the beft modern houfes in South Wales, built by the late Mr. Barlowe, and now belonging to Mr. Philips. After vifiting thefe elegant and celebrated feats, I croffed the ferry, and purfued my courfe through a very pleafant country by Creflelly, with its luxuriant plantation of firs, to Carew. The changes of foil in Pembrokefliire are fo frequent and fudden as to occafion a remark, that when a traveller enters a town, the people can diftinguifti by his fhoes from what part of the country he is come. Through the greater part of this tracl, from the fouth-eaft of the Clethy to Carew, the foil is of that remarkable colour, almofl as if it had been the effect of fire. Creffelly feems to pofTefs a comfortable eftablifhment ; but my attention was not directed to any thing worth defcribing. Milford Haven is inex- preffibly ornamental to thefe parts, not only in itfelf, but in thofe numerous branches which diverge from it, and interfecl; the country. To this circumftance Lawreny owes a large portion of its beauty. It is alfo to be obferved, that this is the moft woody part of Pembrokefhire ; perhaps the only part which is fufficiently fo. It is on one of thefe arms that the noble caftle of Carew is iituated, in a rich and beautiful country. Its ruins are among the moft fumptuous of the principality. The precife time of its foundation feems not to be clearly afcertained j but it muft have been about the reign of William Rufus, when the other ftrong places were built by the Norman invaders. It was for many generations CAREW. 499 generations in the pofleffion of the Carews, who were defcended from Gerald, fteward of Pembroke. They mortgaged it to Sir Rice ap Thomas, who made it his refidence for feveral years, and gave it that magnificence as a palace which it boafls even in its dilapidated ftate. The north front, looking over this branch of the harbour, may be decided to have been one of his additions, of which Leland fpeaks, as it is fcarcely caflellated, and the large bow- windows, with the general ftyle of ornament, at once fix its date, and its appropriation rather to feftivity than warlike defence. The moll: memorable circumftance in the hiftory of this caftle is, the celebration of a tilt and tournament held here by Sir Rice ap Thomas, after he had indulged his tafte in decorating this favourite fpot, and had received the order of the garter. Thefe exercifes were proclaimed in honour of St. George's day. The company afTembled from all parts of Wales. Not only his own family and neighbours were prefent, but the Vaughans of Tretower out of Brecknockfhire, the Manfels and Herberts from Glamorgan and Monmouthfhire, and many other diftinguifhed gentlemen from greater diftances. Thefe guefts of the firft rank were all lodged within the caftle. Befides them, five or fix hundred more, of decent quality, were drawn together to be fpectators of thefe unufual folemnities. Tents and pavilions were pitched all about the domain for the reception of the inferior vifitors, with provifions, beds, and every other fpecies of accommodation. The feftival lafted five days, commencing with the eve of St. George's eve, when Sir Rice reviewed his military guefts, amounting to five hundred, and divided them into five troops. On St. George's eve they were exercifed in various evolutions. On St. George's day they vifited the Bifhop of St. David's, then refiding at Lamphey Park, at the diftance of little more than a mile. Sir Rice was queftioned at the gate, Why he came thither in military array ? He juftified 3 S z himfelf 500 PEMBROKESHIRE. himfelf as one of St. George's knights, whofe duty it was to appear in foldierly equipage on that day. His object, however, was peaceable ; to pray for the foul of St. George, and the pros- perity of King Henry, the fovereign of the honourable order ; in which fervice he entreated the affiftance of the Bifhop. His petition of courfe was not refufed ; but he and his afTociates were required to robe themfelves in their civil and fcholaftic livery. The Abbot of Talley and the Prior of Caermarthen affifted the bifhop in doing the honours; the parties complimented each other ; fang and prayed ; walked thrice round the court, and then proceeded to the chapel. There the fame ceremonies were per- formed as in St. Georgs's Chapel at Windfor ; after which the clergy returned with the company to dinner at Carew. Each of the five captains had his particular tent in the park, where he entertained his foldiers and other friends ; whilfr. Sir Rice prefided in the caflle. Over the great gate was a picture of St. George and St. David embracing. In the great hall there were two long tables, and a crofs table left vacant for the king. This is one of the mod modern parts, in the higheft flyle of the ornamented Gothic, well deferving the contemplation of the antiquary, as connected with this extraordinary ceremony. The bifhop faid grace ; the king's chair was turned, in token of his abfence ; the guefts put on their hats, and dined ; the bards attended in their places, and the infipidity of general converfation was relieved by mufic in the intervals. A folemn challenge for the honour of the ladies, fervice in the chapel, and a formal fupper, ended the cere- monial of the day. The next day the tournament took place, between Sir William Herbert, challenger, and Sir GrurTyth Rice> fon of Sir Rice ap Thomas, defendant ; each with their afliflants, their efcutcheons and mottos. The parties tilted well, and inno- cently; Sir Rice, the judge of the combat, laboured under a polite CAREW. 501 polite incapacity of deciding ; and facetioufly advifed the com- batants to look anxioufly to the honour of thofe ladies whom they had fo manfully fupported. Divine fervice and dinner occupied the reft of the evening. On the fifth day, the day of parting, a wager of a fupper at Caermarthen was to be decided between Sir William Herbert and Sir Grufryth Rice, by fkill in gymnaftic exercifes* Sir Rice ap Thomas, inflexibly well bred, gave his verdicl by pre- vious agreement againft his fon. After dinner they rode to Caermarthen; — a long ride after dinner; — there they fupped, faw a play performed by the domeftics of Carew, and parted. I ought, perhaps, to apologize for the length of this defcription ; but it is the only inflance of fuch a folemnity on record in the principality, and, as I apprehend, a fort of liberty permitted to fo great a favourite, as far as relates to the inftitutes of the garter. This caftle, with the other eftates, was forfeited to the crown on ths attainder of Rice Gruffyth, the grandfon of Sir Rice ap Thomas, in the reign of Henry the Eighth ; afterwards it was leafed out for a term of years to the Perrots, but the remainder was purchafed by the Carews, though the building was fufTered to fall into ruin. The caftle might even now be reinftated, and form one of the moft dignified antique refidences in the kingdom ; but the furrounding eftate is alienated, with the exception of a meadow or two ; and every year muft contribute to efface the grandeur of this noble pile. The walls are very thick, and conftrucled, in oppofition to the Welfh practice in general, of folid mafonry. It was in the reign of Queen Mary that this lordfhip and caftle were leafed out to Sir John Perrot, fuppofed to be a fon of Henry the Eighth. The village of Carew is very poor. There is by the fide of the road a crofs, carved all over, fourteen feet in height, and fafhioned out of a fingle ftone.. This country abounds with objecls of antiquarian and hiftorical intereft.. 502 PEMBROKESHIRE. intereft. Within five miles of Carew is Pembroke, with its caftle and earldom, among the raoft confpicuous in our annals. The Earl of Pembroke is aflociated with the Earl of Kent, in the compliment which Ariofto was pleafed to pay the Britifh nobility, in the tenth book of the Orlando Furiofo, where Rogero vifits England, on his return to Europe with the griffin- horfe, and is pre- fent at a review of the forces. Hiftory, whether political or literary, furnifhes us with abundance of anecdotes refpe&ing this place, and the families who have borne its honours. Caradoc Lhancar- van informs us, in one of the copies lately printed with variations, that in the year 1090, during the wars of Robert Fitzhamon in Glamorgan, Arnulph, fon to the Earl of Shrewfbury, won large tra&s in Pembrokefhire. Wherever the Normans fettled, they creeled catties, and fortified towns for their fecurity, robbing the rich, and dividing the fpoils among the poor, by thefe means feducing the ignorant and lower clafles, who had no afTeclion for their own princes, or pride in their own nation. It was by fuch flratagems, by fuch cunning artifices, rather than by dint of prowefs, that the Normans fucceeded fo well in Wales, in the fame manner as the Saxons had infinuated themfelves long before, and thus defpoiled the Britons of their fovereignty, privileges, and lands, corrupting the peafantry with their bribes, and winning them over to their intereft. This conduct of the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, is noticed by Caradoc in other pafTages. It is clear, I may venture to fay, from all the hiftories of the world, that the fuccefs of conquerors has depended principally, and almoft entirely upon the difafrection of the lower clafles to their own governors ; and it has been the policy of fuch conquerors to ameliorate, at leaft oftenfibly, the condition of thofe clafles, while that of the higher orders has been rendered truly wretched. Such were the means by which the Goths fucceeded in pulling down the vaft R oman PEMBROKE. 503 Roman empire. But all ranks and conditions ultimately find it to be a lamentable delufion ; and we may confidently trull:, that it is too grofs to be pra&ifed on the people of England in the nineteenth century. About the year 1094, the cattle of Pembroke was committed to the keeping of Gerald, the king's deputy or lieutenant, who defolated the country about St. David's. This was in the time of William Rufus. It thus appears that Pembroke caflle was built before this time, and probably by Arnulph in iooo r or very ibon after. In the year 1108, Cadwgan ap Blethin prince of Powife, who had obtained pofTeffion of Cardigan, as mentioned in another place, made an honourable feaft, in his caflle of Cardigan, to which he invited all the nobles and gentry of Wales from every part by proclamation ; and to mew the higheft. poflible refpect for his guefls, afTembled the bards and muficians of vocal and inflru- mental mufic, the moll: profoundly fkilled in the principality, ordering chairs for them, and appointing difputes and contefls, according to the ufage of Arthur's court. He at the fame time inftituted regulations, immunities, and honorary rewards for the bards and other candidates, after which he difmifTed them with prefents, each to his own country or home. At this reaft, Owen* the fon of Cadwgan, faw Nefl, the daughter of Rees ap Tudor, who was the wife of Gerald, lieutenant or deputy of Pembroke caftle. So great was her beauty, and the elegance of her manners, that he became violently enamoured of her, and foon afterwards, collecting his friends about him, prevailed with them to embark in his caufe. By their affiftance, he got into the caftle, and carried Neft away by main force into Powife, where he perfifted* in detaining her, notwithflanding the urgent remonftrances of his father Prince Cadwgan, as well as thofe of King Henry, who exerted all their, influence to procure the refloration of »the lady 504 PEMBROKESHIRE. to Gerald. When Henry faw that this availed him nothing, he encouraged the nobles of Powife to drive Owen out of the country, -which they did, and not content with that, expelled his father Cadwgan from his dominions, • fpoiling his lands, fo that he and his fon Owen were obliged to efcape into Ireland. But Cadwgan foon returned, and fubmitted to the king, at the fame time giving him fumcient proof that he was not to be blamed for the licentious conduct of his fon. On his reprefentation, the king was pacified, and reinftated him in his principality and eftates, exacting a fine of one hundred pounds. In lefs than a year afterwards, Owen came back from Ireland, and endeavoured to procure a recon- ciliation with the king. Failing in this, he then combined with Madoc ap Rhiryd, his coufrn, though they had hitherto been enemies to each other. They cemented their alliance by' mutual oaths, after w T hich with incredible faith and piety, they committed depredations all over the country, without regarding the advice and intreaties of friends or relations. Their enormities made it neceftary for them to take refuge in Ireland ; but Owen returned in a fhort time, and purchafed his peace from the king, by paying a forfeiture of one hundred pounds, and giving up his accomplice Madoc to juftice. He was then put in poflemon of his eftates and honours, foon after which, Madoc alfo, for the fum of one hundred pounds, was reconciled to the king, and obtained his eftates. In 1 1 1 1, Owen went to the court of King Henry, where he was knighted ; he afterwards accompanied his royal patron to Normandy, and w T as loaded with honours. Caradoc is of opinion, that honours from a Saxon king well became a traitor and free-booter in his own country. In 1112, Sir Owen, fon of Cadwgan, returned from Normandy to Powife, where he was vifited with every demonftration of refpect, by King Henry. About this time, the Welfh invited GrufTyth, the fon of Rees ap 3 Tudor, PEMBROKE. $03 Tudor, from Ireland into Wales, where he was appointed their king. He was affifted by his brother in law, Gerald, Lord of Pembroke Caftle, who had married his fitter Neft. King Henry hearing of this, thought it neceffary to crum the newly elected prince in time, before he could collect an army. When this came to the know- ledge of GrurTyth, he put himfelf under the protection of GrutTyth ap Conan, Prince of North Wales, who received him with feeming good-will and apparent honour ; nor was he backward in friendly promifes of fupport. Soon afterwards How el, another fon of Rees ap Tudor, efcaped from the prifon of Arnulph in the caftle of Montgomery, and went to his brother GrurTyth at the court of GrurTyth ap Conan. When the king heard this, he fent meflengers in the mod flattering manner to GrurTyth ap Conan, inviting him to his court in London, with a princely guard for his fafe conduct. Having entertained him nobly for fome time, and beftowed on him very numerous and rich prefents of gold, filver, and jewels, the king difclofed his mind to his royal gueft, and reprefented what danger it would be to him and his princi- pality of North Wales, to protect or affift GrurTyth ap Rees. He promifed to GrurTyth ap Conan his dominions and eftates, to be held freely, and his rights or prerogatives according to his own will and wilhes, with whatever fupport he might on any occaflon want, if he would only fend GrurTyth ap Rees a prifoner to him, or elfe put him to death privately, and tranfmit his head as an inconteftible evidence of the deed. Cruel and difgraceful as fuch an act muft have appeared, GrurTyth ap Conan bound himfelf to the king by an oath to perform it. But he related this in a fit of intoxication at the king's court, and was overheard by one of Gerald's relations, who fent a meflenger on full fpeed with the information. Gerald acquainted his wife Nell:, fifter to GrurTyth ap Rees, with the whole affair; and-fhe, with all poffible hafte, 3 T fent 5 o6 PEMBROKESHIRE. fent mefTengers to her brothers in North Wales to inform them of the plot againft. their lives. As foon as they heard of it, they put themfelves into the fanctuary of the church. When GrufTyth ap Conaji returned to North Wales he inquired for his two guefts, and on being informed where they were, fent an armed force to fetch them away. This the ecclefiaflics would not fufFer, alleging it to be inconfiftent with their holy office to confent that the fanctuary of God and his faints mould be violated. While this was in debate between the clergy and the officers of the prince, a fhip from Pembrokefhire arrived off the coaft. The failors, compaffionating the two princes, took them into their fhip, and conveyed them in fafety to South Wales. It does not appear when or how Gerald had his wife reflored to him. There is very little more in the Welih hiftories under the name of Pem- broke, though it frequently takes the lead in our Englifh annals. In feveral fubfequent paffages of Caradoc it is faid, that all the caftles of Pembrokefhire were demolifhed by the Welfh princes in their various wars. In all probability, Pembroke, in its original form, was among the number. It was when Henry the Second flopped at Pembroke, in his way to Ireland, that the bards, who were affembled for his enter- tainment, declared to him the burial place of Arthur, which he was naturally anxious to afcertain, on account of the dangerous tradition, that he was not dead, but deftined to return at fom* future time. Drayton thus celebrates the circumftance : O memorable bards, of unmixt blood, which ftill Pofterity fhall praife for your fo wondrous fkill, That in your noble fongs, the long defcents have kept Of your great heroes, elfe in Lethe that had flept, With theirs whofe ignorant pride your labours have diftlain'd ; How much from time, and them, how bravely have you gain'd ! Mufician, PEMBROKE. 507 Mufician, herald, bard, thrice may'ft thou be renown'd, And with three feveral wreaths immortally be crown'd ; Who, when to Pembroke call'd before the Englifh king, And to thy powerful harp commanded there to fing, Of famous Arthur told'ft, and where he was interr'd; In which, thofe retchlefs times had long and blindly err'd, And ignorance had brought the world to fuch a pafs As now, which fcarce believes that Arthur ever was. But when King Henry fent th' reported place to view, He found that man of men : and what thou faid'ft was true. The earldom of Pembroke was firft conferred by King Stephen on Gilbert Strongbow. From him it defcended to his fon Richard Strongbow, Earl of Strigoil, the firft conqueror of Ireland, in the reign of Henry the Second. It came to the Marfhals, who derived their name from their hereditary office in the king's palace, and not, as fome have fuppofed, from their military prowefs, by the marriage of William Marfhal with the only daughter of Strongbow, Earl of Strigoil. This diftinguifhed nobleman was the great fupporter of King John's party, and the preferver of the crown to his fon. He was fucceeded in the titles and eftates by William Marfhal the younger, who united in his own perfon the blood of the Strongbows and the Marfhals. This brave warrior fought in Ireland with a prowefs fcarcely inferior to that of his grandfather. Either from the father or the fon, Lhewelin Prince of Wales fuftained a fevere defeat, in which nine thoufand of his moft valiant fubjedls were either taken prifoners or killed. Nor were thefe chieftains lefs involved in the civil than the military .tranfactions of thefe two memorable reigns. I fhall felect a pafTage or two from the fubjecl: of the charters from Selden, as a legal authority, in preference to any of the hiftorians. " No fooner had Pandulph tranfacled with the king and Ste- phen of Langton was quietly poffefl of his archbifhopric, but 3 T 3 he 5 o8 PEMBROKESHIRE. he prefently, in a council of both orders at Paul's, ftirs up the hearts of the barons againft John, by producing the old charter of liberties granted by Henry I. comprehending an inftauration of St. Edward's laws, as they w r ere amended by the Conqueror, and provoking them to challenge obfervation thereof as an abfolute duty to fubje&s of free ftate. He was eafily heard, and his thoughts feconded with rebellious defigns; and after denials of this purpos'd requeft, armies were muttered to extort thefe liber- ties. But at length, by treaty in Runingmede near Stanes, he gave them two charters; the one, of liberties general, the other of the foreft, ; both which were not very different from our Grand Charter and that of the Foreft. The pope at his requeft con- firmed all ; but the fame year, difcontentment (through too much favour and refpect given by the king to divers ftrangers, whom fmce the compofition with the legate, he had too frequently, and in too high efteem, entertained) renewing among the barons,, ambafladors were fent to advertife the pope what injury the fee of Rome had by this late exaction of fuch liberties out of a king- dom, in which it had fuch great intereft (for King John had been very prodigal to it of his bell: and moft majeftical titles), and with what commotion the barons had rebelled againft him, foon obtained a bull curfing in thunder all fuch as flood for any longer maintenance of thofe granted charters. This (as how could it be otherwife?) bred new, but almofl incurable broils in the ftate betwixt king and fubjecl: : but in whom more, than in the pope and his archbifhop, was caufe of this diffenfion ? Both, as wicked boutefeus, applying themfelves to both parts ; fometimes animat- ing the fubjecl; by cenforious exauthorizing the prince, then affifting and moving forward his pronenefs to faithlefs abrogation, by pretence of an interceding univerfal authority. This note fomewhat inftrucls you in what you are to remember, that is, the grand PEMBROKE. 5 o 9 , grand charters granted and (as matter of fact was) repealed by King John, his fon Henry III. of fome nine years age (under pro- tection firft of William Marfhal Earl of Pembroke, after the earl's death, Peter de Roches Biftiop of Winchefter), in the ninth year of his reign, in a parliament held at Weftminfter, defired of the baronage (by mouth of Hubert de Burch propofing it) a fifteenth: whereto, upon deliberation, they gave anfwer: Quod legis petitionibus gratanter adquiefcerent, fi illis did petitas Liber- tates concedere voluiiTet. The king agreed to the condition, and prefently under the great feal delivered charters of them into every county of England, fpeaking as thofe of King John (faith Paris), ita quod chartas utrorumque Regum in nullo inveniuntur diffimiles. But I return to Henry : he, within fome three years, fummons a parliament to Oxford, and declares his full age, refufing any longer Peter de Roches his protection ; but taking all upon his own perfonal government, by pretence of pad nonage, caufed all the charters of the foreft to be cancell'd, and repeal'd the reft, and made the fubject with price of great fums, rated by his Chief Jultice Hugh de Burch, renew their liberties, affirming that his grant of them was in his minority, and therefore fo defeafible: which, with its like (in difinheriting and feizing on his fubjects pofTeffions, without judicial courfe, beginning with thofe two great potentates Richard Earl of Cornwal his brother, and William le Marfhal Earl of Pembroke), bred molt inteltine trouble betwixt him and his barons, although fometime difcon- tinued, yet not extinguifhed even till his declining days of en- throned felicity." The elder Marmal was not more remarkable for his talents and prowefs than for his fteadinefs to the royal party againft both the barons and the French. The younger joined the ftandard of the difatTected for a fhort time, but returned to his allegiance, and fided. 5*0 PEMBROKESHIRE. iided with his father againfr. the French at the battle of Lincoln, which decided the conteflbetween the young King Henry and Lewis the Dauphin. The fate of the war was in a great meafure deter- mined by the refolution with which a noble lady defended Lin- coln Caftle, after the befiegers had obtained poifeffion of the city. But the high character of the earl, after the death of his father the protector, could not long defend him from the arbitrary exactions of that fovereign, whofe filter he had married, and whofe throne he had contributed to eftablilh. The great Pem- broke, who fucceeded Strongbow, left five fons. The fecond of thefe, Earl Richard, on coming to his brother's inheritance, united himfelf with the difcontented barons, and became the king's moft formidable opponent. He entered into a league with that Lhewelin to whom his family fo often had been oppofed, and fo greatly harafled the king's forces in Wales, that it was thought neceflary to decoy him into Ireland, by the invafion of his property there. On that theatre of military glory to his pre- decefibrs, he maintained the character of the family; but his murder was infamoufly contrived by the Bifhop of Winchefter, and perpetrated by the treachery of his own men. The earldom having devolved fucceflively on the five brothers, all of whom died without iflue, King Henry conferred it on William Valence, his own brother by the mother's fide, married to a niece of the laft earl. This promotion of a foreigner and a favourite, whofe infolence was reprefented as intolerable, whofe levity and rafhnefs could little bear a comparifon of character with the dignity of his predeceflbrs, highly aggravated the difpleafure of the Englifh nobility. A perfonal quarrel between the new Earl of Pembroke and Simon Mountford was the means of bringing the conflict of parties to that extremity which ended in the rebellion of the baronage. After the battle of Lewes, in which he had fought by the PEMBROKE. 5II the fide of Prince Edward, he fled into France ; but returned with frefh fuccours, when the prince's efcape encouraged the royalift barons, and thofe who had been difgufted by the pride of the Mountfords, to attempt the king's releafe. He was prefent at the battle of Eufham, and participated in the honour of the victory. His fon, who fucceeded him in the earldom, acquired his military renown in the wars of Scotland ; but his fortune was not unchequered, nor his victories without reverie. It was into his hands that Pierce Gavefton confented to furrender himfelf. Pem- broke feems not to have forgotten the contemptuous appellation of Jofeph the Jew, as the Earl of Warwick mofl notably made him feel the dog of Arden : Conduced thus to Dedington at laft, Where th' Earl of Pembroke will'd me to be flay'd, To underftand before they further paft, What by the king could on my fide be faid About this bufinefs, and tow'rds Edward went, T' acquaint him with the general intent. The Legejnd of Pierce. Gaveston. But in the commotions, fubfequently kindled by the excefTes of the Spencers, Pembroke is to be found on the part of Edward, with Edmond Earl of Kent, the king's brother, Richmond and Arundel. Thefe three, to fay nothing of Edmond, were among the moft powerful of the Englifh earls, and prefented a formidable front againft the force of the baronage. Drayton thus introduces the circumftances of the battle and victory at Burton Bridge in his " Barons Wars :" When Edward fearing Lancaster's fuppHes, Proud Richmont, Surry, and great Pembroke fent, On whofe fuccefs he mightily relies, Under whofe conduct half his army went The Six PEMBROKESHIRE. The neareft way, conduced by the fpies ; And he himfelf, and Edmond Earl of Kent, Upon the hill in fight of Burton lay, "Watching to take advantage of the day. Stay, Surry, ftay, thou may'ft too foon be gone ; Paufe till this heat be fomewhat overpaft ; Full little know'ft thou whither thou doll run ; Richmont and Pembroke, never make fuch hafte, Ye do but ftrive to bring more horror on. After the defeat at Borough-bridge, Pembroke, with the other lords of the king's party, fat in judgment on Lancafler, and paused fentence of death. It was confidered as a fignal retribution by the hiftorians of the time, that none of his fucceflbrs ever faw a fon for five generations. In the reign of Henry the Sixth, Jafper, the fon of Owen Tudor, half-brother to the king, was created Earl of Pembroke. He was in the firft battle at St. Al- ban's, on the 53d of May, in the thirty-third year of the king's reign. The force with which King Henry fet forward from London to encounter the Duke of York, amounted to twenty thoufand men. The principal nobility on the Lancaftrian fide were Humphrey Duke of Buckingham, and Humphrey his fon Earl of Stafford, Edmond Duke of Somerfet, Henry Piercy Earl of Northumberland, James Butler Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, Thomas Courtney Earl of Devonfhire, John Lord Clifford, the Lords Sudley, Barnes, Rofs, and others. The Duke of York, with the lords of his party, muftered his forces at a place called Key- field. The king's army potted itfelf very difadvantageoufly in the town; where being affailed, and wanting room to ufe their opportunity, they were miferably - overthrown and flaughtered. On the king's fide were flain the Duke of Somerfet, the Earl of Northumberland, the Earl of Stafford, Lord Clifford, Sir Robert Vere, PEMBROKE. 513 Vere, and many other perfons of diftinction, befides common foldiers to the number of five thoufand. On the part of the lords, the lofs did not exceed fix hundred. The Duke of York, with the leaders of his party, came to the king and craved mercy and forgivenefs on their knees that they had committed fuch an acl; in his prefence ; but averred moll: folemnly that they intended it for the good both of him and his kingdom. They then removed him to London, and appointed a parliament for the ninth of July following. The Duke of Somerfet left behind him three fons, Edmund, Henry, and John. The battle of Mortimer's Crofs is thus defcribed in " The Miferies of Queen Margaret :" Edward of March, the Duke his father flain, Succeeding him, whilft things thus badly fort, Gathering an army, but yet all in vain, To aid his father, for he came too fhort, Hearing that Pembroke with a warlike train Was coming tow'rds him ; touch'd with the report, His valiant Marchers for the field prepares To meet the Earl, if to approach he dares Jafper, by birth half-brother to the king, On bright Queen Catherine got by Owen Tether, Whom Henry's love did to this earldom bring, And as from Wales defcended, fent him thither, And of South Wales gave him the governing, Where in fhort time he got an hoft together, Cleaving to Henry, who did him prefer, As an ally to th' houfe of Lancafter. Upon their march when as they laflly met, Near to the crofs that Mortimer is nam'd, Where they in order their battalions fet; . The Duke and Earl with equal rage inflam'd, With angry eyes they one the other threat, Their deadly arrows at each other aim'd : And there a fierce and deadly fight begin, A bloodier battle yet there had not been. 3U The 5 i4 PEMBROKESHIRE. The Earl of Orraond an aflbciate then With this young Tudor, for the king that flood,. Came in the vanguard with his lrifli men, With darts and fkains ; thofe of the Britifli blood With fliafts and gleaves them feconding again, And as they fall ftill make their places good : That it amaz'd the Marchers, to behold Men fo ill arm'd upon their bows fo bold. Now th* Welfh and Irifh fo their weapons wield, As though themfelves they conqu'rors meant to call ; Then are the Marchers matters of the field, With their brown bills the Welflimen fo they maul,^ Now th' one, now th' other likely were to yield ;, Thefe like to fly, then thofe were like to fall : Until at length (as fortune pleas'd to guide) The conqueft turn'd upon the Yorkifts fide. Three funs were feen that inftant to appear, Which foon again fhut up themfelves in one, Ready to buckle as the armies were, Which this brave Duke took to himfelf alone, His drooping hopes which fomewhat feem'd to cheer, By his mifhaps near lately overthrown ; So that thereby encouraging his men, Once more he fets the white rofe up again. Pembroke and Ormond fave themfelves by flight* Four thoufand foWiers of both armies dead, But the great lofs on the Lancaftrians light, So ill the friends of poor King Henry fped ; When Owen Tudor taken in the flight, (This young Earl's father by Queen Cath'rine's bed) At Hereford, not far away from thence, Where others with him dy'd for their offence. On the acceffion of Edward the Fourth, Sir William Herbert, for his eminent fervices, particularly againll: Jafper Tudor and Ormond, was created. Earl of Pembroke. His honours were many; PEMBROKE. 5,5 many ; for he obtained the caftles, towns, and lordfhips of Haver- ford Weft, Pembroke, Tenby, Kilgerran, and Lan Stephan, the -H" . hundreds of Caftle Martin, Dungleddy and Rofs, the lordfhips of St. Florence, Newcaftle in Emlyn, St. Clare, and Walwyns Caftle, the moiety of Burton Ferry, and many other grants in the princi- pality. But he did not enjoy them long ; for an infurreclion took place in Yorkshire ; in confequence of which King Edward fent to him, to raife his Welfh forces, and withftand the progrefs of the rebels towards the fouth. He immediately muftered fix thoufand men out of his own lordfhips, with the affiftance of his brother Richard Herbert, to whom were added to increafe their ftrength, eight hundred bowmen felecled from among the choiceft of the Marchers, under Lord Stafford. The Herberts, under- {landing the northern army to be advancing in the direction of Northampton, determined to interrupt their pafTage ; and for that purpofe, charged them in the rear with a divifion of two thoufand horfe. The Lancaftrian party were too vigilant to be furprifed, and wheeled about with fuch dexterity and expedition, that they repulfed the Welfh with confiderable lofs. While they were thus trying their ftrength, the two armies encamped on Dane- more, near the town of Edgcoat, within three miles of Banbury. Sir Henry Nevil attacked the Herberts in their camp, with a fkir- mifhing party of light horfemen. He was taken prifoner, and with a barbarity but too common on both fides in thefe wars, hurried to immediate execution. Juft afterwards, a trivial difpute occurred between the chiefs, which gave the friends of young Nevil an opportunity of enforcing a fignal retribution. While they were in the town of Banbury, Pembroke, whofe temper was fufficiently imperious, by his authority as general, diflodged Stafford from the inn he was in the habit of frequenting, becaufe it afforded the beft accommodation. This outrage was the more galling, as an 3 U 2, affair 5i(5 PEMBROKESHIRE. affair of gallantry was interrupted by the arrangement. Stafford, in high difpleafure, abruptly withdrew from the army with his archers, and left the Herberts to abide by themfelves the iffue of the conflict. When the rumour of this circumftance reached the oppofite camp, it immediately brought on a general battle. Richard Herbert performed prodigies of valour, and would pro- bably have gained the victory, if his fpies had not fallen into the fnare contrived for them by Clapham, who had collected five hundred diforderly recruits in the neighbourhood of Northampton, and by difplaying Warwick's enfign of the bear, induced a belief among the Welfh, that the great earl was advancing in perfon. Under this impreffion, they fled from the field in a panic, and five thoufand of them were flain in the purfuit. Both the Herberts w T ere taken, and expiated with their lives, their feverity againft Sir Henry Nevil. The earl's fon fucceeded, but exchanged the title for that of Huntingdon, at the exprefs requifition of King Edward, who wilhed his eldeft. fon to be invefled with the earl- dom of Pembroke. Yet the claimant in the line of Tudor, did not tamely furrender his pretentions ; for he came with the Earls of Warwick and Oxford to revenge thofe wrongs on Edward,, which recoiled on his own head, after the battle of Tewkfbury. But the battle of Bofworth decided this perilous conflict of factions. The leading of the van was beftowed by Richmond on the Earl of Oxford with his picked bow-men ; Sir Gilbert Talbot, with a force principally levied in the north, took the right wing, and Sir John Savage, with the Lancafhire and Chefhire men, the left. The earl himfelf, the theme of the quarrel, was placed in the main body, with the Earl of Pembroke at his fide, who commanded his own countrymen the Welfh ; from the landing at Milford, to the final overthrow of Richard, the principal flay and fupport of the Lancaftrian caufe, which they always favoured, though PEMBROKE. ST y though circumftances compelled them for a time to ferve on the other fide, and military honour fpurred them on to ferve ably. After the coronation of King Henry, Jafper Tudor was created Duke of Bedford. Anne Bullen was made Marchionefs of Pem- broke by Henry the Eighth. About the year 1550 the earldom was beftowed by Edward the Sixth on another member of the Herbert family, in which it has continued ever fmce. So high a fenfe had Queen Mary of this nobleman's fervices, in forming a party for/ her proclamation, that he flood among the foremoft in her favour. Afterwards, when Philip, receiving with indignation the intelli- gence of Henry's defign to violate the truce of Vaucelles, was anxious, by the alacrity and magnitude of his preparations, to prove his father in no error becaufe he refigned into his hands the reins of government;— when he had fuccefsfully exerted his influence to prevail on England to embrace his quarrel ; — the Earl of Pem- broke was employed to lead on a reinforcement of eight thoufand Englifh to the army of fifty thoufand men, already affembled in the Low Countries. The chief command was entrufted to Ema- nuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, who advanced by rapid marches and invefted St. Quentin in Picardy, after alarming France on the fide of Champagne, while Philip fixed his refidence at Cambray, that he might be near the fcene of action. In the memorable battle of St. Quentin the Englifh obtained their full fhare of glory under their gallant leader. But now, in the better periods of our hiftory, when letters began to be a national concern, this family became as diftinguifhed by the patronage and cultivation of genius, as it had hitherto been either in politics or war. Neither were the females excluded from this praife. Henry, the fon of the laft-mentioned earl, married Mary, the accomplifhed and amiable fifter of the eelebrated Sir Philip Sidney. The particulars of her life are fufrl- 3 ciently ii8 PEMBROKESHIRE. ciently well known ; but the men whom me encouraged, and the men by whom fhe was praifed, are at once the hiftory and panegyric of her character. Spenfer addreffed a fonnet, fent with the Fairy Queen, " To the Right Honourable and moft vertuous Lady, the Countefle of Pembroke ;" befides dedicating The Ruines of Time " To the right noble and beautiful Lady, Mary, CountefTe of Pembroke." His gratitude to her deceafed brother and refpect to her are equally fhewn in this feeling dedication. It was to her perception of merit that the public in a great meafure owed Daniel, who left the univerfity, at the expiration of about three years, without taking a degree, and profecuted his ftudies for fome time at Wilton. In the dedication of his " Defence of Rhyme" to her fon William Earl of Pembroke, Lord Steward of the Houfehold, and Chancellor of Oxford, he acknowledges his beft fchool at Wilton in terms of affecting and grateful remem- brance. In 1594, when he publimed his tragedy of Cleopatra, written after the manner of the ancients, with a chorus between each act, a piece much efteemed at that time, he dedicated it by a copy of verfes to the Countefs of Pembroke. There is, among Donne's Divine Poems, a piece upon the tranilation of the Pfalms, by Sir Philip Sidney and the Countefs of Pembroke, which juftifies, in a fmall compafs, all Dr. Johnfon's acute and judicious remarks on the metaphyseal poetry of this writer and his fol- lowers. It is difficult to conceive, that Donne's verfe, whether the thought or expreflion be confidered, mould have been written in the fame age with that of Daniel, or that Daniel's profe mould have preceded that of Milton. This lady's literary labours feem to have been confined to tranflations ; among the number of which are a tragedy, and a difcourfe on life and death. The panegyrics on her while living, which are mentioned above, are perhaps little remembered ; but Jonfon's epitaph will not be foon forgotten : Underneath PEMBROKE. 519 Underneath this marble herfe Lies the fubje& of all verfe, Sidney's fifter, Pembroke's mother ; Death, ere thou haft flain another, Learn 'd, and fair, and good as {he, Time fhall throw his dart at thee. Her fon, William Herbert Earl of Pembroke, is known to have inherited her tafte, and was, in all refpecls, among the moil accompliihed characters of his age. He alfo was the patron of Daniel, who addreifed to him his Defence of Rhyme. This piece is in profe, and was publifhed in 161 1, in anfwer to fome obfer- vations on the art of Englifh poefy. He undertakes to prove demonilratively, that rhyme is the iitteit harmony of words. Lord Pembroke's office of lord chamberlain to his majefty conferred on him the prefidency over the ingenious and learned of his time ; and the poets feem to have approached him with more than the ordinary routine of compliment. Browne dedicated the firft book X of Britannia's Paftorals to him, in a copy of verfes, addreiTed as to the truly noble and learned. It was probably owing to this intro- duction that the friend of u well-languaged Daniel" patronifed this poet alfo, after he had quitted the univerfity with his pupil Robert Dormer, Earl of Caernarvon. Few particulars of Browne have reached poilcrity, though he obtained the higheft honours of the poetical and learned age in which he lived. In the long lift of thofe who uihered his publication into the world, according to the cuftom of the time, by complimentary verfes, were Drayton, Selden, Jonfon, Chriftopher Brooke, W. Herbert, Charles Croke, Unton Croke, John Glanville, John Davies of Hereford, George Wither of Lincolns-Inn, Edward Heyward, Fr. Dynne, Thomas Gardiner, W. Ferrar, Fr. Oulde, John Morgan, Thomas Heygate, and Auguilus Caefar of the Inner Temple. Many of thefe names 520 PEMBROKESHIRE. are nearly loft to the world of letters; but they had reputation in their day, and prove the degree of efleem in which the object of their panegyric was held. To Selden, Jonibn, Drayton, Chriftopher Brooke, John Davies of Hereford, and Wither, he has paid back the tribute of applaufe in his works. In the fifth fbng of the firft book of Britannia's Paftorals he has bewailed the death of Henry Prince of Wales, whofe lofs was fo juftly a fiibject of national regret, in a ftrain of elegy which feems to flow as if he really loved his character, and believed in the virtues he recorded. It may afford fome hope or confolation to poets and little men to be informed that Browne xt got wealth and purchafed an eftate ;" as well as that " he had a great mind in a little body." To the raoft noble William Earl of Pembroke, lord chamberlain, Jonfon dedicated his works, as to the great example of honour and virtue ; befides addrefling to him an epigram, of which the following are the firft lines : I do but name thee, Pembroke, and I find It is an epigram on all mankind, Againft the bad, but of, and to the good : Both which are afk'd, to have thee underflood. Drummond wrote fome verfes on his death, w r hich were intended as an epitaph; but they are compofed in a moralizing ftrain, equally applicable to any other character, or any other event. He was fucceeded by his brother Philip, who has been cha- racterized as a memorable fimpleton. He married the juftly celebrated Lady Anne Clifford, Countefs of Dorfet, whofe high and magnificent fpirit was elated by adding Pembroke and Mont- gomery to her titles. She alfo was inflamed with the defire of patronizing genius. Daniel was her tutor, and paid many flatter- ing compliments to her beauty and literary proficiency in his poems. A long time after his death fhe erected a monument of gratitude PEMBROKE. s *t gratitude to his memory in the church of Beckington, where he was buried. She feems to have had a paffion for this fpecies of tribute; unce fhe is faid to have given monuments to Spenfer and Drayton. The hufband of this high-fpirited lady was fucceeded by his fon Philip, and his grandfon William, who died unmarried; fo that the title devolved on his half-brother Philip. He married the Duchefs of Portfmouth's lifter, and was introduced, for the purpofe of furnifhing a fimile, into an eflay upon fatire, written jointly by Dryden and the Earl of Mulgrave, and containing fome very fevere reflections on the duchefs, Rochefter, and other lead- ing characters. ■ Thus Dorfet, purring like a thoughtful cat, Marry'd, but wifer pufs ne'er thought of that : And firft he worried her with railing rhyme, Like Pembroke's maftives at his kindeft time ; Then for one night fold all his flavifh life, A teeming widow, but a barren wife ; Swell'd by contact of fuch a fulfom toad, He lugg'd about the matrimonial load ; Till fortune, blindly kind as well as he, Has ill reftor'd him to his liberty ; Which he would ufe in his old fneaking way, Drinking all night, and dozing all the day ; Dull as Ned Howard, whom his brifker times Had fam'd for dullnefs in malicious rhymes. This earl died without iflue male, and was fucceeded by his brother Thomas, who not only wore the honours of the family, but enhanced its credit in his own perfon. In 1697, he was appointed plenipotentiary at the treaty of Ryfwick, with the Earl of Jerfey and Sir Jofeph Williamfon for his colleagues. Prior was fecretary ; and received a prefent of one hundred guineas from 3X the 0* PEMBROKESHIRE. the Lords Juftices, for bringing over the treaty when concluded to England : but we have never heard that he returned the money when he changed his party, and joined the Tories in impeaching that fyftem of politics, to which he had minifteriaily contributed. Prior's fervices were next transferred to the Lord Lieutenant of. Ireland, to whom he was made fecretary. The Earl of Pembroke was afterwards Lord High Admiral of England; which office was forced upon him contrary to his inclinations, if Burnet was rightly informed. He feems to have inherited the defire of patronizing fuperior abilities. He was influenced by the reputation of King, to take up his fortunes. The Earl of Rochefter, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, had a more perfonal motive for advancing a man, who was related to the family of Clarendon. Jn 1703, by their united interefts he was made judge of the admiralty in Ireland, com- miffioner of the prizes, keeper of the records in Bermingham's Tower, and vicar general to Dr. Marfb the primate. He after- wards appeared as a zealous tory and high-churchman, fharing in the oppofition levelled againfl all the meafures of the Whigs. Lord Pembroke's character is no lefs juftly than favourably delineated by Halifax in his Man of Honour. On higher fprings true men of honour move, Free is their fervice and unbought their love : "When danger calls, and honour leads the way,. With joy they follow, and with pride obey : When the rebellious foe came rolling on, And (hook with gathering multitudes the throne, Where were the minions then ? What arm, what force, Could they oppofe to flop the torrent's courfe ? Then Pembroke, then the nobles firmly flood, Free of their lives, and lavifh of their blood ; But, when your orders to mean ends decline,. With the fame conftancy they all refign. He PEMBROKE. 525 He received befides an incidental tribute of refpecl: from the more exquifite pen of Garth in his Difpenfary. But fame, that neither good nor bad conceals, That Pembroke's worth, and Ormond's valour tells ; How truth in Burnet, how in Cavendifh reigns, Varro's magnificence with Maro's drains ; But how at church and bar all gape and ftretch If Winnington but plead, or South or Only preach ; On nimble wings to Warwick-lane repairs, And what the enemy intends, declares. It was this nobleman, who made that admirable collection of antiques at Wilton, and adorned the place, where the talents of Holbein, Inigo, and Vandyck were domiciliated, with the richeft foreign fpoils, collected from the whole world of art. His exqui- fite tafte is noticed by Pope, in the opening of his epiflle to the Earl of Burlington ; and a bare mention in fuch company, and in an eifay, which recommends good fenfe by the beft writing, conftitutes of itfelf the moft valuable praife. *Tis ftrange, the mifer fhould his cares employ To gain thofe riches he can ne'er enjoy : Is it lefs ftrange, the prodigal Should wafte His wealth to purchafe what he ne'er can tafte ? Not for himfelf, he fees, or hears, or eats ; Artifts muft choofe his pictures, mufic, meats ; He buys for Topham drawings and defigns ; For Pembroke ftatues, dirty gods, and coins ; Rare monkifh manufcripts for Hearne alone, And books for Mead and butterflies for Sloane. The Herberts are at prefent fo completely eftranged from the principality, that I forbear to trace them any further ; but I cannot forbear jufi to mention the prefent Countefs of Pembroke, in 3 X? connection 524 PEMBROKESHIRE. connection with the diftinguiihed females of this family. Thofe who have the honour of belonging to it, will juftify me in faying, that with the talents of both, there is the congenial mind of Sidney's fifler, rather than Clifford's daughter. Pembroke Caftle is among the moil fplendid monuments of antiquity in South Wales. The architecture is a mixture of the Norman and early Gothic. The towers commanding the water, the entrance from the town, and the round tower are the parts of the building in beft preservation. The top of the round tower is flill covered in with a vaulted roof of {tone. Its height is feventy five feet, and the diameter of the ground floor twenty-five. It appears to have been divided into four {lories. The walls are fourteen feet thick. There are other fragments worth obferving. The chapel in particular, though very much injured by time, ftili retains fome of its architectural proportions ; and they lhew the )( chamber, in which King Henry the Seventh was born. The court of the caftle is kept with an unufual degree of neatnefs. The town is old, and has declined in the fame proportion as, Haverford Weft has rifen in importance. The buildings about the water-fide, and generally in the fuburbs, are verging faft on a ftate of decay ; but the principal ftreet, which is long and wide, has a very refpectable appearance, though without the air of bufmefs, generally expected in a county town. It has, however, its attractions, to call the population of Caftle Martin together on days of great rejoicing. Sir Hugh Owen's roafted ox produced as jovial a confufion as could have been witneffed in a better place. It is fituated in a plentiful country : it has little or no trade ; and under thefe circumftances affords a cheap retirement to many families with {lender incomes. CHAPTER ( 5*5 ) CHAPTER XXIX. st. twinell's.... castle martin. ...the castles. ..pulslater bat....bosheston meer....sir gawaine's chapel and head..stackpole court.. fresh water east..manorbeer ...lamphey park.. .tenby. 1 he hundred of Caftle Martin is little England beyond Wales in fcenery as well as in language. It is generally enclofed, and well cultivated ; not fufficiently woody ; but that want is compenfated by fea views from every rifing ground. The churches of this diftricT: form an agreeable contrafl with thofe of Wales in general. They are almoft univerfally placed on high grounds, fo as to be confpicuous throughout the country; and their architecture is fuch as to render them ornamental. Their fpires are generally lofty, well proportioned> and elegant. They are kept in good repair and clean condition both within and without; fo that the people have all the inducements, which a decent ceremonial can hold out, to worfhip after the manner of their forefathers. Among the beft villages and neateft churches is St. Twinell's, whence are to be feen three others nearly in a line on the fame ridge. One of thefe is Caflle Martin, in which parifh we find the newly-formed reiidence of Mr. Mirehoufe. The ground now occupied by the houfe and lawn was a field twenty years ago. Mr. Mirehoufe began in the fame year with Mr. Johnes ; and the prefent ftate of the premifes evinces the judgment with which his operations 5 ,.6 PEMBROKESHIRE. operations have been conducted. By the method of planting thick, fo as that the one mould afford a fhelter to the other, the coppices have been enabled to triumph -over the blafts from the Atlantic. The gardens, which were doomed by friendly fore- bodings to eternal barrertnefs, are fo fheltered by thick plantations between them and the fea, as to have been made among the mod productive of the Country. A very fimple contrivance, which might eafily be adopted in all expofed fituations, contributed materially to avert the ill confequences of the violent winds: flat ftones were fet up along the walls, in the form of rude battlements, and were found effectually to break the force of the guft, which no height of building, or fence doubled upon fence, had before been able to oppofe. Mr. Mirehoufe is efteemed one of the beft gentlemen farmers in the kingdom ; his farmyard and offices are on a large fcale, and admirably arranged. In the year 1800 the gold medal for improving walte moors was adjudged to this gentleman by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manu- fadtures, and Commerce. The land, which is within a mile of Mr. Mirehoufe's refidence, lies between two hills, about a quarter of a mile from the fea. It had been probably for ages a morafs, inacceilible to cattle, except on its borders. Its length was two miles, and its breadth about a quarter of a mile. By an expence of five hundred pounds, part of it was made the raoft valuable meadow in the neighbourhood. It contained two hundred and feventy-four acres, of which one hundred is now arable, and the remainder pafture. It was fuppofed, when the medal was adjudged, to be worth fifteen millings an acre in one holding, or more, if let to the farms adjoining. The arable part produces excellent wheat, while the reft yields hay abundantly, and breeds a confiderable number of cattle. The rocks along this coaft are well worth examining, on account THE CASTLES. 527 account of their fingular Gratification, here horizontal, there per- pendicular, and immediately afterwards oblique, producing fuch an appearance of nature as feems to have been the effect of fome violent concuffion. The coaft from Lenny to Sir Gawaines is Jl C*v*+*J. altogether grand and uncommon. The cliffs are the moft lofty of any from Towyn to the mouth of the Severn ; and the whole line is broken by the force of the elements into figures the moft romantic, arches, promontories attached or infulated, caverns, deep cauldrons, formed by the continual inroads of the fea, and every col- lected feature of fublimity attendant on fo tempeftuous an expofure. The caftles form a very magnificent fpecimen of this kind. They are two very high rocks, evidently disjoined from the main land by the continued impreffion of the waves, completely furrounded even at low water, and deriving their name from the refemblance of their fmooth and abrupt perpendicular to the efforts of human art. They are {hiking at all times ; but between the months of March and Auguft they exhibit a very remarkable curiofity. The eligugs, a fpecies of migrating birds, cover them during that time. They are in form and colour not unlike the parrot ; they come hither for the purpofe of laying their folitary egg, and hatching the young one, which they do on thefe heights. They make no neft ; but fupport the egg or young bird on the fhelving rock with their foot, the warmth of which is of itfelf fufficient for the purpofe of hatching. When their young are able to take care of themfelves, they move them down into the water, and leave the rock to make room for others, which cover the furface of the waves, waiting for an opportunity of depofiting their burden. They never leave their ftation voluntarily till their office is at an end : if they are difturbed or frightened, during the procefs, their charge falls into the fea, and is loft. Another peculiar circumftance attending them, is, that they cannot take wing from the land, nor fly to any diftance 528 PEMBROKESHIRE. diftance from the water over land ; but they raife themfelves to a great height from the water, and their flight is very ftrong out at fea. Though the diftance from Mr. Mirehoufe's to Stackpole Court cannot exceed four or five miles by the road, the beft part of a day muft be devoted to the circuit of the coaft between thofe two feats. The continual recurrence of pools, pits, fea-breaches, and fubterraneous excavations, renders it neceflary to pay for curiofity by many a weary round. Of all thefe marine encroachments, the land is moft deeply indented by Pulflater Bay. The whole tract is full of what may not improperly be called fea-wells; large circular cavities in the ground at fome diftance from the ihore, with perpendicular fides, as deep as the height of the cliff, into which the fea finds its way with much noife and violence. The communication is frequently to be difcovered from the edge; fometimes by fpacious arches worn in the folid rock ; at others, by narrow apertures, which increafe with the difficulty of the paflage and the exclufion of light, the turbulence and blacknefs of the gulph. Of this kind is Bofhefton Meer, at the diftance of about a furlong from the fea. The opening at the top is fmall, but the circumference enlarges downwards. It is faid to be very much agitated before a ftorm, and its found to be heard afar off. Many attempts have been made to found it, though without fuccefs. But the great display of fcenery is at Sir Gawaine's Chapel and Head. This valiant knight has been transformed by popular error into a faint. He is mentioned in the fourth book of Orlando Furiofo, where Rinaldo, fent on an embafly to England, is caft by a tempefl on the coaft of Scotland : Rinaldo that, and all th' enfuing day, Was driven by tempefts o'er the watery way: From morn till eve the wind unceaiing blew ; Now to the weft, and now the north they drew ; At SIR GAWAINE'S CHAPEL AND HEAD. 529 At lafl: upon the more of Scotland light, Where Caledonia's forefts rofe to fight, That 'midft its ancient oaks was wont to hear The riven target, and the fhiver'd fpear : Here once were feen, beneath thefe {hades rever'd, Each errant-knight in Britain's combats fear'd : From regions far and near, well known to fame, From Norway, Germany, and Gallia came Each gallant chief, who nobly fcorn'd his life, Where death or conqueft crown'd the glorious flrife ! Here Triftram mighty deeds perform'd of old, Galaffo, Launcelot, and Arthur bold, Galvano brave ; with more that titles drew Both from the ancient table, and the new ; Knights, who have left to fpeak their valiant mind, More than one trophy of their worth behind. Mr. Hoole has given us the following note on this pafTage of his own tranflation : '* Galvano (or Gawaine), there were two of this name, one the nephew of Arthur, a man of great valour, and one of the round table ; the other was under Amadis de Gaule : they were both great knights, and achieved many adventures. On the beach of the fea, near Milford Haven, is a natural rock ihaped into a chapel, which tradition reports to have been the burying-place of Sir Gawaine, the nephew of Arthur." This chapel is approached by rude fteps cut in the cliff. It is fituated rather below midway, and formed out of a fiffure evidently pro- duced by fome violent difunion of the mafs. The fuperftitious ftories, to which this fingular polition of a confecrated building has given rife, are without end. I have been informed, that it is occafionally the fantaftic humour of fome couples to be married here. Below the chapel there is a celebrated well, with powers of healing afcribed to it, the tnoft various and contradictory. Sir Gawaine's Head is a bold and romantic projection, {landing out 3 Y into j 3 o PExMBROKESHIRE. into the fea, and fpread around with large fragments of rock, lying in confufed heaps, with crags that threaten every moment to flart from their adhefion, and precipices that feem to overhang their fea- worn bafes. On the other fide of Broad Haven is Stackpole Head, at a little diftance from which is Lord Cawdor's feat of Stackpole Court. This is a completely Englifh place, in a deep and ftieltered valley, laid out and ornamented at a very great expence. The houfe is- large and handfome ; the park and grounds are richly wooded, with a better mare of verdure than might be expected from the neighbourhood of fo ftormy a coaft. The water is much admired; and fo it ought to be, as far as a lavifli difplay of art deferves admiration. It may, however, be queftioned, whether, in a country like this, of which the aquatic are among the leading beauties, a correct tafte would have indulged itfelf in any fuch. attempts. In fome of the midland counties in England, where nature has dealt this prime ornament of the landfcape but fpar- ingly, opportunity and liberality may well be employed in remedying her defects ; art may attack her feeble with its forte, but can never cope with her on her guard and in her ftrength. Yet, notwithstanding, it mufl be allowed in the prefent cafe, that if it ought to have been done at all, it could not have been done better. The country between Stackpole Court and Pembroke is unin- terefting. The better way, therefore, is to crois Frefli Water Eaft, and come immediately to Manorbeer, a place holding out fome attraction in the remains of its caftle, which imprels the mind with an idea of extent and magnificence more than commen- furate with any events recorded of it in the page of hhtory. Its maritime fituation, commanding Frefh Water Bay, with its pro- minent cliffs, is very fine; nor have the ravages of time taken from MANORBEER. S3l from the dignity of the venerable fortrefs, though they haye ren- dered its battered towers more gloomy, and converted its courts into a wildernefs. It is fuppofed to have been built by one of the Norman chiefs, about the time of William Rufus, and to have been veiled in the crown from the reign of Henry the Firft to the reign of James the Firft, who granted it to a family of Bowens. It came into the family of Philips by marriage. Girald, who has been fo frequently quoted as an early authority on antiquarian fubjecls, was born in the parifh of Manorbeer. If we may give credit to his own complaint, he was very unfortunate ; for the Englifh did not love him, becaufe his mother was a Welfh- woman, and the Welfli hated him, becaufe his father was an Englishman. He was defcended, on his mother's fide, from Rees ap Tudor, and his father was of the Barry family. In his memoirs of himfelf he is profufe in his inftances of early devotion to the church. His uncle, David Fitzgerald, was Bifhop of St. David's, and, in all probability, not only affifted in his education, but con- tributed to determine his choice of a profeffion. He went to France for improvement about the year 116*9, and was made rector of the public fchools in Paris. He returned at the end of three years with a high reputation as a rhetorician. He imme- diately entered the church, and, with a laudable zeal for its welfare, obtained a vice-legantine authority to enforce ftricl: difcipline, together with the tithes of wool and cheefe, all of which had been fcandaloufly neglected in the diocefe of St. Da- vid's. The Archdeacon of Brecknock, who was old and infirm, found himfelf unable to comply with the requilitions of his order, by leading a fingle life ; for which reafon it was deter- mined that Girald, who from his youth and vigour might be fuppofed competent to live alone, and unlikely to commit the crime he profecuted in another, mould fupply the place of the 3 Y 2, fufpended 532 PEMBROKESHIRE. fufpended ecclefiaflic. In the year 1 1 76, when Girald was not more than thirty years of age, his uncle the bifhop died, and the chapter elected him for the fucceflbr ; but he declined the appointment, for fear of giving umbrage to the king, who had not been con- fulted, and was' not likely to have approved a man of powerful family intereft in the principality. The Archbifhop of Canterbury wifhed the election to have been confirmed ; but the very argu- ment of the candidate's great learning and high connexions pleaded ftrongly againft the meafure in the mind of a jealous monarch. After this queftion was decided, Girald went to Paris a fecond time, and was elected profeflbr of canon law in that univerfity; but he refufed the honour, and returned to his native country about 1 190, when he found the diocefe in commotion. The chapter had joined with the inhabitants in driving away Bifhop Peter, and the adminiftration was committed to Girald, who feems to have exercifed his authority honeftly for the reform of abufes. There were many appeals to Rome on contefted points ; but the quarrel was at length reconciled, and the bifhop reftored; He was now made chaplain to Henry the Second, and continued in his fervice for feveral years, but without any acceflion of ecclefiaftical dignity. He went with Prince John to Ireland as his fecretary; but refufed two bifhoprics, rather than incur obli- gations to a patron in whom he difcovered early marks of hoftility to the church. On his return from Ireland he finifhed his topo- graphy of that country, and went to Oxford for the purpofe of reciting it in public. This academical exercife lafted three days, during which time he fed the body as well as the mind ; for he entertained the poor of the city on the firft day, the doctors and eminent fcholars on the fecond, and the ordinary fludents, the citizens, and the foldiers of the garrifon, on the third. His pro- grefs through Wales, to preach the cruiade with Baldwin, has • been MANORBEER. 533 been already noticed ; and to this journey we owe the Itinerary, to which fubfequent topographers have been very coniid rably indebted. Having been figned with the crofs for the voyage to the holy land, he was obliged to procure a difpenfation, that he might ftay behind to affift the Bifhop of Ely in the government, during the abfence of King Richard. During this time he might have had the bifhopric either of Bangor or LlandafF, but he rather chofe to wait for that of St. David's, to which he was nominated on the vacancy. He had previouily given offence to the archbifhop, by contending for the exemption of that fee from the metropolitan authority of Canterbury; in confequence of which the canons received a mandate to elect the Prior of Llantony Abbey. The caufe was referred to Rome, and Girald was appointed fpiritual and temporal adminiftrator by the pope during the period of liti- gation. After fome time, growing weary of a hopelefs Struggle againft fuperior power, he defifted from all further oppofition, and refigned his archdeaconry in favour of his nephew. The remainder of his life was principally pafled in retirement, and in the purfurt of his literary labours. The leading feature of his character feems to have been a fervent defire at once for the aggrandizement and reformation of the church. In early life, it can fcarcely efcape the fufpicion of having been ambitious or mercenary; but thofe motives feem to have fubfided, and to have given place to purer views. As a writer, his puerilities are not to be endured, if tried by the Standard of the prefcnt age; but his composition is elegant, and his matter ufeful, in a degree that could fcarcely be expected from the literature and manners of the times in which he lived. There is a very uncandid life of him in the Biographia Britannica; but Dr. Kippis has in fome meafure foftened its afperity by his con- cluding note. On the road between Pembroke and Tenby is Lamphey Park,. with. 534 PEMBROKESHIRE, with its ruined palace, built in the cancellated manner, exactly after the model of the palace at St. David's, with which it is pro- babfy coeval. It is generally faid to have been the work of Biihop Gower. This is one of the feven epifcopal palaces ; but it was alienated from the fee in the time of Henry the Eighth, and granted to Lord Hereford, afterwards Earl of EfTex, whofe heirs fold it to the Owen family. It has that remarkable character of architecture peculiar to this country. A confiderable part of two great halls and a round tower is Hill preferved. One of theft halls was nearly eighty feet by twenty, and the other fixty by almoft thirty. The whole building was moated ; and the fouth gate remains nearly -~> /*-- > altogether a princely refidence for a churchman. From Lamphey , -^ ^t-/-"^y ,tc o Park to Tenby is a fine ride, along a bold and elevated ridge, commanding extenfive views of Pembrokefhire on one fide, and i^ oh^ a Caermarthen Bay, clofe at hand/'on the other, and occafional * . ^«^~~f--^j-glances at Milford, with its numerous creeks, on looking back. The town of Tenby is fecn at the diltance of about four miles by this approach. It covers the fummit, and in part the afcent, of a long and narrow rock, riling abruptly out of the fea, by which it is fo nearly furrounded at fpring tides that the communication with Pembroke is interrupted till the ebb, except by a circuitous route. The direct road, coming down upon the fands, is under water for more than a mile. The fpire of the church is very lofty, which renders the appearance of the place the more ftriking ; and the intermixture of rocks, houfes, fand wood, ] on the fheltered fide, produces a moft fingular effect. It does not appear when the caltle was built ; but Caradoc Lhancarvan informs us, that in the year 1 150 the inhabitants of Tenby prepared an ambufcade for Cadelh, the fon of Gruffyth ap Rees, and fet on him fiercely, juft as he was uncovering his hounds, in purfuit of his favourite diverfion. Being LJC U-3, TENBY. S3S Being unarmed, he was fo feverely wounded, that though he efcaped with his companions, his life was for fome time in great danger. Two years afterwards his brothers, Meredith and Rees, took the caftle by fcaling the walls in the night time, and revenged his injuries by laying a heavy hand on the affaflins. Again, in 1 1 88, Maelgwn ap Rees brought his whole power againft the town, and reduced it to afhes. This nobleman is repre- fented by the Wellh hiftorians as eminently endowed with the firfl qualities of perfon as well as mind, and the terror of the Flem- ings. The caftle has been very large, but with the air of a palace rather than a place of defence. The apartments were ranged along the fides of a quadrangle, the area of which muft nearly have divided •„ <^ J~t.»v*-*h the fummit of the rock with the town. The north wall, which ftill continues in good prefervation, is built of a very confiderable thicknefs, with large ftones ftrongly cemented. There are the remains of a large hall, more than one hundred feet in length, with other apartments and extenfive offices. Over the gateway are the arms of England and of Lancafter. The church is a very large building, of venerable afpect, containing fome fine old monuments. The weftern door is a curious fpecimen of mixed Gothic, and the carved cieling of the nave is well executed. This place has for fome years been a favourite refort of fea-bathers. The fituation itfelf is more romantic and interefting than that of either Aberiftwid or Swanfea ; but it has not fuch environs in which to make excurfions when the novelty of the fpot and its objects is exhaufted. The part of the town, which overlooks the harbour, has a very fine effect at fome diflance on the water. The houfes are built with tolerable regularity, and in fome meafure affume the crefcent-like figure of the cliffs on which they are placed. All travellers are much ftruck with the remarkable pofition of Tenby. There is befides a wild- nefs in the maifes of fhapelefs rock which form the iflands of St. 535 PEMBROKESHIRE. St. Catharine's, St. Margaret's, and Caldy. The latter is about a mile long, and half a mile broad, at the diftance of two miles from the main land, oppofite the town. It had formerly a priory, a pariili church, and a chapel. It is faid to yield good corn; but the other two are mere rock, without any trace of vegetation. St. Ca- tharine's is riven afunder in the middle by the violence of the waves, and is perforated in more than one place befides. There are feveral very fine natural caverns on this part of the coaft; but not of fuch extent and magnificence as are to be found in Glamor- ganihire. There was formerly a very confiderable fifhery here; but it has much declined. The Tenby oyfters are of a very large fize, and are known all over South Wales; but they are by no means equal in quality to thofe of Milford. ( 537 J CHAPTER XXX. CAERMARTHENSHIRE. 1 have mentioned in a former chapter, the fource of the Tovy among the Cardiganshire mountains. On its entrance into this county it is reinforced by a continual acceffion of thofe numerous flreams, frequently of much beauty, whofe order, and in fome cafes their properties, are particularifed in the Polyolbion. Then Tranant nicely treads upon the watry trail ; The lively fkipping Brane, along with Gwethrick goes, In Tovy's wandi ing banks themfelves that fcarcely lofe, But Mudny, with Cledaugh, and Sawthy, foon refort, Which at Langaddoc grace their fovereign's watry court. Beyond Langaddoc, Dulas enters the Tovy. This is not the firft time that a ftream of this denomination has occurred ; fb that it fcarcely affords a diftinguifhing mark without fome addi- tion : but it is to be obferved, that as in England the names of Avon, Oufe, Stoure, and fome other; fo in Wales, before all, is Dulas, a name very often of rivers in Radnor, Brecknock, Caer- marthen, and elfewhere. Before the Tovy reaches Caermarthen, it receives the Cothy and Gwilly. The other rivers of the county, unconnected with the Tovy, are the Cowen, bringing with it Towa and Carkcnny ; and the Taw which receives Morlas and Cair. The furface of this county in general is hilly ; fo that $Z the 538 CAERMARTHENSHIRE. the features of the landfcape are characterized by the bold and linking. The vales are many of them among the richefl of the principality ; though they may not perhaps be accompanied with fo many pi&urefque cifcumflances. The villages near the fea coafl are frequently beautiful ; but in the north of the county their condition, and that of the folitary cottagers, is the moll: miferable that can be conceived. The manners of the people are not on the whole fo pleafing as in moil parts of Wales. There is, particularly ajL the weflern extremity, a jealoufy and rudenefs, which arifes from the neighbourhood of people fprung from different families. The adjoining hundreds of Pembrokeshire are Englifh ; and I apprehend that there is no part of the principality in which an Englishman is fo unpopular. To the north and eafl the hills rife into mountains. The vale of Tovy is feldom more than two miles in breadth ; and it abounds with beauties. The vallies through which the fmaller rivers run, are in general retired and pleafing; but their afpec~l is more uniform than thofe of Glamorgan and Cardigan. The rural character is not heightened by fo many fcenes of pleafing wildnefs. The mountains, which occupy a confiderable proportion of the county, are in general black and dreary, with every thing to excite a feeling of wretch- ednefs, and nothing to infpire an idea of fublimity. This obferva- tion does not apply to the tracl on the north of Llandilo Vawr and Llandovery, but the flyle of nature there is intirely that of Cardiganfhire on which it borders, though the geographical divifion requires it to be noticed under the head of Caermarthenfhire. The climate and fertility of this county are much celebrated, though they are not found to be favourable to wheat. Barley and oats are the mofl profitable crops, and great quantities of the latter are exported to Briflol. The black cattle and horfes bred on the hills, fill all the fairs of the neighbouring diflricl:, and contribute CAERMARTHENSHIRE. 5:9 contribute in a great meafure to the fupport of the farmers, who depend much on the right of mountain. The woods have fuffered greatly of late years ; but they are flill abundant. There is plenty of limeflone and coal in many places. The want of the latter article is much felt in Cardiganfhire and a great part of Pembroke- mire j but the fkilful manner in which they make up their balls of culm or peat, compenfates in a great degree for the deficiency. I did not obferve the fame inconveniences to arife from this kind of firing in Wales, which are generally experienced, efpecially for culinary purpofes, in thofe parts of England where it is necefTary to refort to a fimilar fubftitute ; and this muft arife from a fupe- rior mode of manufacturing the balls, which make a clear and bright fire. The trade of this county is very confiderable, though there feems at prefent no probability of its rivalling Glamorgan- shire. It has toboall: of its iron works, tin works, and lead mines; but I have been informed that the latter have much difappointed the avaricious dreams of their proprietors. Befides furnifhing its own confumption, it exports oats, butter, ftone-coal, bark, and oak timber in very confiderable quantities. There is an unaccountable mixture of pofTeffions in this county, as well as in thofe of Pembroke and Cardigan, where it is not unufual to find half an acre, or an acre of land, furrounded by a circle of contiguous property, belonging to a different perfon ; ' and it frequently happens, that the owner of this infulated patch has no other poffeffion within feveral miles, and fcarcely knows how even this came into his family. Such was particularly the cafe with the eftates of Sir Rice ap Thomas, which, befides the demefnes attached to his caftles and manors, were difperfed all .over this country in fmall and unconnected tenements. There are feveral veftiges of Roman ways, particularly about Llandovery; -V~ and many fcpulchral monuments of the Romans, as well as of the 3 Z. 2 ancient 54Q CAERMARTHENSHIRE. ancient Britons. Roman coins of a very early date have been dug up in a camp near Whitland ; and in the fame neighbourhood there ^ is a circle, resembling Rollrich Stones in Oxfordshire. Between the rivers Cowen and Towa, there is a remarkable barrow, with the Stone cheSt for the reception of the body remaining in the centre. There rs alfo a curious Spring, of which, with two others Still more lingular in the principality, Selden gives the following account. " It is in the parifh of Kilken in Flintshire, where k ebbeth and floweth in direct, oppofite times to the fea ; they call it Finon-Leinw: Such a one is there about a furlong from the Severn fea, by Newton in Glamorganshire, and another ebbing and flowing, (but with the common courfe of the moon, afcend- X ing or fetting) by Dinevor in CaermerdhinShire. Nor think I any reafons more difficult to be given, than thofe which are moSt Specially hidden, and moft frequently Strange in particular qualities of floods, wells, and Springs ; in which (before all other) nature feems as if She had, for man's wonder, affecled a not intel- ligible variety, fo different, fo remote from conceit of moll: piercing wits ; and fuch unlooked for operations both of their SirSt and fecond qualities (to ufe the fchool phrafe of them) are in every chronograph er, naturalist, and historian." The To vy is called Tobius by Ptolemy. With refped to the remarkable characters CaermarthenShire has produced, I Shall notice them occasionally as I proceed, and only Stop here to mention James Howel, born at Abernant, where his father was the clergyman. He was educated at the free fchool at Hereford, and was admitted of Jefus College, Oxford, in 1610, at the age of Sixteen. He took his degree in arts, and entered on life with the world completely before him ; for he inherited neither lands nor leafed ; had neither private home nor public occupation. By the pecuniary auiilance of his father I and CAERMARTHEN SHIRE. 541 and friends, fcantily fupplied in proportion to their means, he was enabled to travel for three years in different countries, and confe- quently to obtain a command of languages. After his return, he was fen t into Spain, in the year 1622, to recover an Engliih fhip, feized by the viceroy of Sardinia. Sometime afterwards, he was appointed fecretary to the Earl of Sunderland, Prefident of the North. He w T as rcprefentative of Richmond in Yorkfhlre, to the parliament beginning in 1627. Four years afterwards, he went with the Earl of Leicefter to Denmark, as fecretary to the embaffy, where he entertained the king and his children with {omc quaint Latin fpeeches of condolence on the death of the Queen Dowager, grandmother to Charles the Firft of England. In the beginning of the civil war, he was made Clerk of the Council ; but was committed to the Fleet, after the king's fepa- ration from the parliament. He fupported himfelf in prifon by his writings, which procured him a comfortable fubfiftence. In confequenee of his having temporized with the party of the commonwealth, he was not reftored to his former office, but was appointed hittoriographer to the king, the firffc who bore that title. T his however was a mere honour, with little or no emolu- ment ; fo that he depended almoll entirely on his rapid and multifarious pen, to the very time of his death in 1666. His pieces were chiefly written on the fpur of the moment, under the prefiure of neceffitous circum fiances ; to which, rather than to the want of talent, it is perhapsowing that they have notfurvived. It only falls to the lot of the moft unqueftionable genius to write carekfsly, and yet to write well ; or to extort lafting fame out of trifling fubjecls. James Howel was buried in the Temple church ; but his monument was taken away in 1683, when that fabric was repaired and beautified. CHAPTER 54* CARMARTHENSHIRE. CHAPTER XXXI. NEW INN....PENDINE....LLAUGHARNE....LLANDOWROR..,. WHITLAND. X here is a very fine aquatic excurfion from Tenby Harbour acrofs Caermarthen Bay, paffing Monkflone Head, and making either for Llaugbarne Point at the mouth of the Taw, or for Lan Stephan Point at the mouth of the Tovy, which is navigable as far as Caermarthen Bridge. A party may hire a fluff at Tenby, and accomplilh their landing under Lan Stephan Cattle in one tide ; but they will in all probability be obliged to find their way by land, like myfelf, from that place to Caermarthen, notwith- flanding the afTurances of the boatmen to the contrary. For thofe who do not affecl; the pleafure of failing, there is a fine walk or ride, principally along the fands, from Tenby to Llaugbarne. It is necefTary to mention New Inn, nearly half way between the two places, for the purpofe of informing the traveller that there is no inn, nor any fpecies of public entertainment, to be met with there. There are a few fiihermen's huts upon the beach, and a number of collieries belonging to Lord Milford in the neighbourhood. This place marks the boundary of the two counties. At a little diftance there is an old manfion, about the date of Queen Elizabeth, built as a marine villa, clofe upon the fand, now the feat of Captain Ackland. The remainder of the way is highly interefling; the views of the bay from the high grounds PENDINE. LLAUGHARNE. 543 grounds comprehend the whole fweep from Worm's Head to Caldy. The white buildings of Tenby, hanging on the point of the rock, are picturefque from their fituation, and too diftant to be offenfively glaring. Near Pendine there is a natural cavern * j> under the road, which the country people reprefcnt as one of the S greateft curiofities in Wales, and would fend a flranger twenty miles to fee without the leaft remorfe. It is fo low that a man can fcarcely fland upright at the entrance ; and the rill paffing^ through it is altogether infignificant. The outlet of- the water fhews it to be of confiderable length. The fcenery about it is verdant and pretty, with a little wood, always a luxury near the fea. The defcent to Llaugharne is highly romantic; the town is built on the edge of a marih, in a very low fituation, open to the fea, and backed by very high grounds. It is one of the moil fequeflered places that can be conceived ; and is much inhabited by half-pay officers, and families which feek an economical retire- ment. It is by far the beft built little town in Caermarthenfhire, and very well fupplied with provifions ; but its heat in fummer is intolerably oppreffive. The church is large, handfome, and in good condition; with fome refpe&able monuments. The church- yard is remarkable for occupying the fide of a rather fleep declivity. The view from the upper part of it is very rich ; it is well planted with fome large yew as well as other trees. The church and churchyard are more than ufually ornamental to the place. The cattle is a pi&urefque fubjecT:, in the point of view at which it is taken in the annexed plate ; but the proprietor has laid out the inner court as a modern garden, and in every refpect done his utmofl to deflroy the ch.aract.er of the ruin towards the water. Not only the area, but even one of the towers, is con- verted to the purpofes of horticulture, and filled with the incongruous ornaments of evergreens and flowering fhrubs. The building, 5H CAERMARTHE'NSHIRE. building, however, has a very noble appearance towards the flrect, as you come down from the direction of Tenby. Its date may pro- bably be afcribed to the fettlement of the Normans and Flemings in thefe parts ; but the events that have taken place in it are little known to hiftory. In 12 15 it was demolished by Lhewelin ap Jor- werth. The Englifh fettlement extends as far as the middle of this town, and here terminates abruptly. It is divided into the Englifh and Wellh part ; and the inhabitants of the two divifions neither mix with each other, nor even underftand one another's fpeech. Llaugharne is alfo to be noticed as the birth-place of Dr.Tucker, Dean of Glocefter, a man eminent for political fagacity, as well as for the temper with which he handled controverted fubjects. He was born here in the year 171 2. His father was a farmer, who, on the acquisition of a fmall eftate in Cardiganfhire, deter- mined to give his fon a claffical education. Jofiah, by his proficiency at Ruthin fchool, procured an exhibition in Jefus College, Oxford, and fct forward for the feat of the mufes with his bundle at the end of his flick. About the year 1735 he went into orders, and obtained a curacy in Glocefterfhire. Two years afterwards he came to Briftol to ferve a church, and was made one of the minor canons in the cathedral. His Situation in a large trading city greatly favoured his political and commercial ftudies ; while his clerical conduct recommended him to the notice of the bifhop, who appointed him his chaplain, and afterwards procured his elevation to a prebendal flail. He likewife got the living of which he had been curate in Briftol. But the circumftance which introduced him to general fame was the bill for naturalizing the Jews, of which he became the public advocate by his celebrated letters. This great meafure raifed the bigots of all denominations to arms; and the citizens of Briftol expreffed their indignation at the fup- pofed apoftafy of their divine by burning his letters, and his effigy LLAUGHARNE. 545 in full canonicals. Pamphlets and magazines, newspapers and hand- bills, were all enlifted for the crufade, and waged a warfare of bitter invective, till fome new theme of pious virulence diverted their forces from the attack, and feafonably gave a refpite to the victim of their zeal. In 1753 Mr. Tucker publiflied his pamphlet on the Turkey trade, in. which he argued very forcibly againft the fyftem of chartered companies. He feems to have regained his popularity with the people of Briflol ; for about this period Lord Clare, afterwards Earl Nugent, owed his election in a great degree to Mr. Tucker's exertions in his own parifh. In 1758 his lordfhip obtained the deanery of Glocefter for his partifan, who on that occafion took his doctor V degree. About this time he drew up a treatife on commerce, at the requeft of Dr. Hayter, then tutor to the prefent king, and afterwards Bifhop of London, for the ufe of his royal pupil. This work, which gave the fulleft Satisfaction, was printed, but never publifhed. Warburton, who had been his colleague in the chapter of Briftol, and was afterwards his bifhop, was very much difpofed to depreciate both his talents and probity. He once faid of him, that his dean's trade was religion, and religion his trade. The obfervation was fufficiently coarfe ; but the wit went no further than the verbal antithefis, and an incori- fequent allufion to the Subject of his writings. Religion was his trade only as it was the trade of the bifhop, and of every clergy- man who lives on the revenues of his profeffion ; and there was little reafon why a man mould be faid to make a trade of his reli- gion, who ftepped forward on every proper occafion as its able and moderate advocate. It furely was not lefs confident with clerical dignity to take up his pen on Subjects of the firft national import- ance than to become the editor of a poet, or to engage in any of thofe literary labours by which our clergy, in common with other learned men, have added So materially to the general flock of 4 A information. 54* CAERMARTHENSHIRE. information. In 1772 the dean published his Apology for the Church of England ; and fome time afterwards a letter to Dr. Kippis on his vindication of the proteftant dhTenting minifters. Nearly about the fame time he publifhed his Directions for Tra- vellers. During the American contefl he publifhed A Statement of the Pleas and Arguments refpecting the Mother Country and the Colonies : an Inquiry whether Separation or Connexion would be for National Advantage, and Anfwers to Objections againft the Separation from America. Thefe pieces drew down upon him the refentment of Mr. Burke, to whom he addrefTed a forcible and manly letter of vindication. That gentleman's diflike is fuppofed to have been exafperated by the dean's adherence to Lord Nugent's intereft in Briftol. In 1777 he publiihed his View of the Diffi- ^ culties of the Trinitarian, Arian, and Socinian Syflems, with Seventeen fermons. In 1 778 a fingle lady of large fortune, one of iiis pariihioners, left him her dwelling-houfe in Briftol, with a handfome legacy. While ^the terrors of invaiion w r ere prevalent, during the American war, he wrote and circulated feveral fenfible papers, under the fignature of CafTandra, reprefenting the diffi- culties of the attempt. In 1781 he publifhed his treatife on civil government, which he had printed long before, in oppofition to the doctrines of Locke. This book was anfwered by Dr. Towers, and feveral other writers of ability on the popular fide of the queftion. In the following year he wrote his pamphlet called Cui Bono? in which he recapitulates his former arguments on the fubject of wars and colonies. He afterwards publifhed a tract on the difpute between Great Britain and Ireland. He wrote feveral other pieces, theological, political, and mifcellaneous. The dean died in 1 799, at a very advanced age. He was a liberal man, with very moderate preferment. He fupported the celebrated John Hcnderfoh at the univerfity, who would have had no means of LLANDOWROR. WHITLAND. 54^ of fatisfying his third after knowledge but for the patronage of Dr. Tucker. About the year 1790 he applied to the chancellor for leave to refign his rectory in favour of his curate. The refignation would have been willingly accepted, but the privilege of nominating a fucceflbr was refufed ; in confequence of which he determined to hold the living till he could attain his object. He communicated his defign to the parifhioners, and procured a petition from them in favour of a worthy man with a large family, which was figned by the whole body, dhTenters as well as members of the eftablifhment. It is no longer a queftiqn, whether chan- cellors have hearts, for the application was fuccefsful. The dean married very late in life. At the diftance of a few miles from this place is the village of Llandowror, on the fouthern bank of the Taw, near the junction of the vallies, where that river receives the Cair. The fcenery /!-/•" # v ^ c ~~ is highly beautiful, and has been defcribed very well by Mr. Ar- i^h~ 7 ^ ^7 ^ thur Young, in the eighth volume of his Annals of Agriculture. f^hl-J' * — - Another excurfion is to be made from Llaugharne to Whitland, where the vefliges of an ancient abbey are to be traced. Near it is the field where, about the middle of the tenth century, Howel Dha refided in a houfe formed of white wattles, while he and his legiflative aifembly from every part of Wales were framing the ^7/^. ^v~ *- ^*- code of laws which bears his name. This field is at the village of ^^ : * ^7 £ Whitland. The ftyle of common building for private perfons muft ML» *-**-* have been fimple indeed, when a Structure of fuch materials was,- , ^ ^^ deemed fufficient for a prince in.the fulleft exercife of his fovereign ' authority. When this great work of legislation was completed, three copies were written, one of which was to follow the prince's court, for his perfonal guidance, and the two other to be depofited for the ufe of the provinces, one at the palace of Aberfraw, and the other in that of Dinevowr. Neither did this indefatigable 4A2 prince 548 CAERMARTHENSHIRE. prince reft fatisfled even with this folemn enactment. He went to Rome with a company of bifhops and learned men, for the purpofe of reciting the provifions before the pope, who gave them the fanction of his authority. All caufes relating to inheritance of land were to be adjudged by the king or prince in perfon, who fat on an elevated chair, with an elder on each fide, and the freeholders ranged next to the elders. In another divifion of the court, before the king, on a lower feat, fat the chief juftice of the principality, with the prieft on his right hand, and the ordinary judge of the diftrict on his left. As foon as the court was opened, the plaintiff entered the third divifion on the left fide, and took his ftation facing the ordinary judge, with his ferjeant at his right hand, his advocate behind him, and his champion in the rear of the advocate. The defendant occupied the right fide of the court, with his attendants in the fame order, and ftood facing the prieft. The witnefTes were placed at the lower end, between the champions of either party, oppofite the chief juftice. The middle fpace of the third divifion was kept clear, that the witnefTes might be diftindtly feen by the prince and chief judge while they were giving their evidence. When the depofitions were concluded, on a fignal given by the ferjeants, the chief juftiee, prieft, and ordinary judge, retired to frame their verdict for the coniideration of the king or prince, who, on receiving it, confulted with the elders, and paused fentence, if the right was clear, or referred it to be tried by the champions, if it was obfcure. This court was not held in any hall or covered building, but in the open air. From Whitland the neareft way to Caermarthen is by the village of St. Clare ; but the traveller in purfuit of objects fhould return to vifit Lan Stephan Caftle and Kidwelly, whence he may either make his way to Caermarthen, or crofs Barry River to Cheriton in Gower. There was a monaftcry or nunnery at St. Clare. [ 549 1 CHAPTER XXXII. LAN STEPHAN CASTLE. ...CAERMARTHEN. J. he village of Lan Stephan is peculiarly interesting. It is clean and well built, at the foot and along the fide of a very beautiful hill, uniting the quiet and retirement of an inland hamlet with all the advantages of a fine maritime fituation, where one of the fineft rivers in Wales throws itfelf into the fea. Three or four houfes were building when I was there, in a very good ftyle; and the whole place wears the appearance of comfort and profperity. So near as it is to Caermarthen, it is ftrange that it mould not be the refort of occafional vifitors ; but it would foon be fpoiled if it were. It was with difficulty I could get a breakfaft ; and there is no licence for felling fpirits in the village. It is efteemed one of the moil fruitful fpots throughout the country; and frequently reminded me of the marine villages on the coaft of Devon. My firfl vifit was in the time of the hay harveft, and the bury fcene was unufually gay and attractive, heightened as its effect was by the decent appearance of the peafantry. There is a handfome modern houfe on the hill, in contrail: with the dufky antiquity of the caftle, finely placed on the fummit of a perpendicular cliff. This ruin is a moil picturefque object, from whatever point it is viewed, whether by land or water. The structure is much broken away; but it compofes, perhaps, the better on that account with the furrounding landfcape. The foundations of the walls prove the 5£o CAERMARTHENSHIR.E. the area they enclofe to have been large. The windings of the Tovy up towards Caermarthen on the one hand, and the expanfe of fea on the other, render the profpect from the caftle as various and magnificent as the view of it on the approach was picturefque. It is fuppofed to have been built about the beginning of Owen Gwineth's reign, and was taken, after a great battle, from the Flemings and Normans, by Cadelh, Meredith, and Rees, about " the year 1143. The defeated party collected all their ftrength, and returned fuddenly to the attack ; but Meredith, to whofe defence the caftle was entrufted, preferved by policy what he had obtained by valour. He was aware of their approach under the cover of the night, and fuffered them to mount their fcaling ladders. When the befiegers thought themfelves fecure of their poueffion, the watch-word was given, and the ladders were all overthrown or broken down. In 1180 Rees ap GrufFyth, who was then at variance with his fon Maelgwn, brought an army againft this caftle, and won it, together with that of St. Clare. Thefe two caftles, with thofe of Llaugharne and Caermarthen, experienced a nmilar fate from Lhewelin ap Jorwerth in 1215. The vale of Tovy is among the moft celebrated of South Wales ; and it owes its celebrity partly to its own beauty, and partly to the verfe of Dyer, who was a native of this county, and bred among thefe fcenes, where he wandered as an itinerant painter before he went into the church. The late Mr. Gilpin, in his Obfervations on the River Wye, objects to him as a defcriptive poet, that though bred to the pencil, and in poiTeffion of a piclurefque fubject, he has not produced a perfect landfcape. He imputes to ? him a confufion of diftances and fore-grounds, and all thofe other -defects of contraft and perfpective which may be venial in poets 4 only, but mould have been avoided by a profeflbr of the fitter arts. Dr. Johnfon, too, has been adverfe to Dyer's claims ; and his CAERMARTHEN. SSI his reputation has probably fuffered with that cfafs of readers which requires to go in leading-firings. Dr. Anderfon, in his very able vindication of the poet, has admitted, in fome degree, the juftice of Mr. Gilpin's cenfure, but has defended him with fpirit and fuccefs againft the degrading fentence of the great critic. I (hall not prefume to enter into the controverfy, but refer my readers to the life of Dyer by each of his biographers ; obferving only, that Dr. Anderfon refts his higheft pretenfions on thofe of his poems which are the leaft known. He infmuates rather broadly, that Dr. Johnfon did not eafily praife his contemporaries; and we muft all be fenfible of an unreafonable antipathy againft Whigs and blank verfe. Yet, after allowing for the want of a highly poetical mind, and deducting for party prejudice, it remains true, that he executed a tafk, for which nature perhaps had not eminently qualified him, with a felicity rarely equalled by thofe who have thought themfelves impelled by genius, or have really been guided by a prefiding inclination to the department of letters they have occupied. The whole of this vale, from Lan Stephan to Yftrad Ffin, abounds in interefting objects of every defcription. The firft ftretch of country to Caermarthen is rich and beautiful. It is well clothed with trees in the hedge-rows, as well as with more extenfive plantations. The road lies for the moft part along the weftern ridge, continually commanding the river and all its luxuriant accompaniments. The hills are cultivated to the top ; the meadows are verdant, and the cornfields fruitful. The firft view of Caermarthen from the eminence is particularly ftriking. The three diftincl hills by which the town is backed, of confider- able magnitude and various character, with the decorated villas of the neighbourhood, the caftle, the bridge, and the veffels on the mer, confpire to form a grand and impreflive fcene. The town itfelf 55-i ... CAERMARTHENSHIRE. /- ^K^f-of"' 1 *-^ docs not make good its promife. It is large, but the ftreets \j- h "Y-^^.are ileep and irregular. I expected fbmething better, from having fy^^h^ heard it called little London. In what the refemblance confifts, I could not difcover. The houfes are in general whitened, but the chimnies of a red brick ; which at a little diilance produces a mod difagreeable effect to the eye. This I noticed efpecially at the entrance of the town from Lan Stephan ; and a houfe of red brick here and there among the white ones adds to the general glare. There are fome very good houfes, but they are not in general advantageoufly placed. The fituation of the principal inn, y. P>. the Ivy Bulh, removed to what was lately a gentleman's feat on the banks of the river, is one of the beft in the town. The rooms command a charming reach of the river up to Abergwilly Palace. The late Ivy Buili was the houfe of Sir Richard Steele, who obtained it and his property in this neighbourhood by marriage with the only child and heirefs of Jonathan Scurlock, Efq. He died here on the ift of September, 1729; and there are two or three very old people ftill living in the town who recollect his perfon. Sir Richard, in the courfe of his theatrical career, has introduced many a magician to the public ; I mall therefore avail myfelf of his example and authority, while I ftate the pretenfions of mine. " According to Jeffery of Monmouth, the famous magician Merlin was born at Kaermardin, i. e. Caermarthen, named by Ptolemy Maridunum. Merlin's mother, who was a niece and . daughter of the King of Demetia (or South Wales), giving an account of her wonderful conception of her fon, a philofopher explains it, that it was fome demon, or incubus, fome guileful fpright, partaking partly of the nature of man, partly of angels, and amiming a human fhape, which begot Merlin; and this explains what Ariofto fays, that Merlin was the fon of a demon." — Hoole. Di Merlin dico, del demonio figlio.- — C. 33. Spenfer CAERMARTHEN. 553 Spenfer gives a noble defcription of the cave which was the fcene of Merlin's incantations. Britomart, and her nurfe old Glauce, go to confult this magician : To Maridunum, that is now by change Of name Cayr Mardin call'd, they took their way ; There the wife Merlin whilom went, they fay, To make his wonne, low underneath the ground, In a deep delve, far from the view of day, That of no living wight he mote be found, When fo he counlell'd with his fprights encompafs'd round. And if thou ever happen that fame way To travel, go to fee that dreadful place : It is an hideous, hollow cave, they fay, Under a rock that lies a little fpace From the fwift Barry, rumbling down apace, Emongft the woody hills of Dynevowre ; But dare not thou, I charge, in any cafe, To enter into that fame baleful bower, For fear the cruel fiends fhould thee unwares devour. But {landing high aloft, low lay thine ear, And there fuch ghaftly noife of iron chains, And brazen cauldrons, thou fhalt rumbling hear, Which thoufand fprights with long enduring pains Do tofs, that it will ftun thy feeble brains ; And often times great groans, and grievous ftounds, When too huge toil and labour them conllrains : And oftentimes loud ftrokes, and ringing founds From under that deep rock raoft horribly rebounds. Ariofto, with the liberty of a romance-writer, places Merlin's grot in France, and removes the fcene of feveral of his a&ions to that place. 4 B A little 554 CAERMARTHENSHIRE. -A little while, Before that Merlin dy r d, he did intend A brazen wall in compafs to compile About Caermarthen, and did it commend Unto his .fprights to bring to perfect end ; During which time the lady of the lake, ' Whom long he lov'd, for him in hafte did fend, Who therefore forc'd his workmen to forfake, Them bound till his return, their labour not to flake. In the mean time by that falfe lady's train, He was furpriz'd and bury'd under bier, Ne ever to his work return'd again. — Fairy Queen, B. III. C. III. This lady of the lake appears to have been a fairy or nymph, with- whom Merlin was enamoured: the ftory of her deceiving him is- thus related in the romance called Morte Arthur, or the Life and Death of Prince Arthur, printed by Caxton in 1485. " The lady of the lake and Merlin departed ; and by the way, as they went, Merlin fhewed to her many wonders, and came into Cornwaile ; and alwaies laid about the lady for to have her favour ; and me was ever palling weary of him, and fain would have been de- livered of him ; for fhe was afraid of him, becaufe he was a divell's fon, and fhe could not put him away by no meanes. And fo, upon a time it hapned that Merlin fhewed to her in a roche whereas was a great wonder, and wrought by inchantment, which went under a flone ; fo by her craft and working fhe made Merlin to go under that ftone, to let him wit of the marvailes there. But me wrought fo there for him, that he never came out, for all the craft that he could do." In the life of Merlin this adventure is related with circumftances nearer the account given by Arioflo in the third book of the Orlando Furiofo. " Merlin's mother having fecretly conceived by a demon was, after CAERMARTHEN. sss after her delivery, condemned to be put to death, for breach of chaftity ; but her fon, an infant, defended, and fet his mother at liberty. Merlin, being grown up, went to the court of Uther Pendragon, where he eftabliihed the famous round table, wrought many wonderful works, and uttered a number of proprieties ; here he fell in love with the lady of the lake, whom he ufed to call the white ferpent ; before his death, he erected a tomb, in the foreft of Nortes, capable to hold him and his miftrefs; and having fhewed it to her, he taught her a charm that would clofe the ftone, fo that it could never be opened. The lady, who fecretly hated him, began one day to carefs him exceedingly, and at laft made him go into the tomb, in order to try whether it was large enough : Merlin being entered, me clofed the ftone upon him, where he died : his fpirit being like wife confined by the force of the fpell, continued from time to time to fpeak, and give anfwers to fuch queftions as were put to him." Drayton, after having faid that Merlin intended to build a wall of brafs round Maridunum, in the following lines, alludes to this ftory of the lady of the lake, and to this marvellous cave. How Merlin by his fkill and magic's wond'rous might From Ireland hither brought the Stonendge in a night ; And for Caerrnarthen's fake would fain have brought to pafs About it to have built a wall of folid brafs ; And fet his fiends to work upon the mighty frame ; Some to the anvil ; fome that flill enforc'd the flame ; But whilft it was in hand, by loving of an elf (For all his wond'rous fkill) was cozen'd by himfelf. For walking with his fay, her to the rock he brought In which he oft before his necromancies wrought ; And going in thereat his magics to have fliown, She ftopt the cavern's mouth with an inchanted ftone : Whofe cunning flrongly croft, amaz'd whilft he did ftand. She captive him convey'd into the fairy land. 4 B 2 Then 55$ CAERMARTHENTSHIRE. Then how the lab'rtng fpirits to rocks by fetters bound, With bellows rumbling groans, and hammer's thund'ring found A fearful horrid din flill in the earth do keep, Their matter to awake, fuppos'd by them to fleep ; As at their work how flill the grieved fpirits repine, Tormented in the fire, and tired in. the mine. Polyolbion, fongiv, Spenfer thus tings of his birth. And footh men fay that he was not the fon Of mortal fire, or other living wight, But wond'roufly begotten and begun, By falfe illufion of fome guileful fpright On a fair lady. B. iii. C. hi. Of Merlin and his fkill what region doth not hear ? Who of a Britifh nymph was gotten, whilft fheplay'd With a feducing fpirit. Polyolbion, fong^T. "•Two Merlins have our ftories : One of Scotland, commonly titled Sylvefter, or Caledonius, living under Arthur ; the other, Ambrofius, born of a nun (daughter to the king of South Wales) in Caermardhin, not naming the place, (for names in Britifh his name is Merdhem) but the place (which in Ptolemy is Maridu- nura) naming him ; begotten, as the vulgar, by an Incubus. So is the vulgar tradition of Merlin's conception. Untimely it were, if I mould flip into difcourfe of fpirits faculties in this kind. For my own part, unlefs there be fome creatures of fiich middle nature, as the Rabinnic conceit upon the creation fuppofes : and the fame with HefiodY nymphs, or Paracelfus his Non-adams, I lhail not believe that other than true bodies on bodies can gene- rate, except by fwiftnefs of motion in conveying of ftolen feed fome unclean fpirit might arrogate the improper name of gene- ration. CAERMARTHEN. 557 ration, Thofe which St. Auguftine calls Dufii, forte Drufii (quod vult Bodinus lib. 2. cap. 7. dsemonoman.) quafi Sylvani, aut Dryades, in Gaul, altogether addicted to fuch fllthinefs, Fauns, Satyrs and Sylvans, have had as much attributed to them. But learn of this, from divines upon the Beni-haelohim in holy writ, Gen. 6. z, paflfages of the fathers upon this point, and the later authors of difquilitions in magic and forcery, as Bodin, Wier, Martin del Rio, others. For this Merlin (rather Merdhin, his true name being Ambrofe) his own anfwer to Vortigern was, that his father was a Roman Conful (fo Nennius informs me) as perhaps it might be, and the facl: palliated under name of a fpirit ; as in that of Ilia fuppofing, to fave her credit, the name of Mars for Romulus his father. But to interlace the polite mufe with what is more harm, yet even therein perhaps not difpleafing, . I offer you this antique paffage of him. -the meflagers to Kermerdin come, And you children bivore the yate pleyde hii toke gome, Tho fede on to another, Merlin wat is the, Thou faderlefe flrewe, my mifdoftou me, For icham of kinges icome, and thou nart nought worth a fille, For thou naddeft nevere nanne fader, therefore hold the flille. Tho the meflagers hurde this hii aftunte there, And eflie at men aboute wat the child were. Me fede that he ne had never fader that me might underftond, , And is moder au king's doughter was of thulke lond, And woned at St. Petre's in a nonnerie there. Shrew, now a word applyed to the ihrewim fex ; but in Chaucer, Lidgat, and Gower, to the quieter alfo. — Selden. The opinion of the commentator feems very clear upon the point ; but fo much learning would fcarcely have been thought neceflary at this time of day, to prove that a man was not the 7 fon 558 CARMARTHENSHIRE. fon of an incubus. Merlin and Arthur could fcarcely reproach each other on the ground of parentage. Though Selden confiders Merlin as having derived his name from the town, already denominated nearly as at prefent, the general opinion is, that Caer-Merdin, or Merlin's town, is fo called of Merlin's being found there. With refpect to the interview between Vortigern and Merlin, it is thus related. " In the firfh declining ilate of the Britifh empire, Vortigern, by advice of his magicians, after divers unfortunate fucceiTes in war, refolved to erecl a ftrong fort in Snowdon hills (not far from Conway's head in the edge of Merioneth) which might be as his lafl and fureft refuge againft the increafing power of the Englifh. Mafons w T ere appointed, and the work begun ; but what they built in the day, was always fwallowed up in the earth next night. The king afks counfel of his magicians touching this prodigy : they advife, that he rauft find out a child which had no father, and with his blood fprinkle the Hones and mortar, and that then the caftle would ftand as on a firm foundation. Search was made, and in Caer-Mardhin was Merlin Ambrofe found : he, being hither brought- to the king, flighted that pretended fkill of thofe magicians, as palliated ignorance; and with confidence of a more knowing fpirit, undertakes to fhew the true caufe of that amazing ruin of the flone work ; tells them, that in the earth was a great water, which could endure continuance of no heavy fuperftructiori. The workmen digged to difcover the truth, and found it fo. He then befeeches the king to caufe them make farther inquifition, and affirms, that in the bottom of it were two fleeping dragons : which proved fo likewife, the one white, the other red ; the white he interpreted for the Saxons, the red for the Britons ; and upon this event here in Dinas Emyrs, as they call it, began he y thofe prophecies to Vortigern, which are common in the Britifh #ory." — Selden. Not CAERMARTHEW. 55f Not far from Caermarthen, is a hill called Merlin s hill, near the brow of which, is a rock, known by the name of Merlin's ehair, in which it is faid, that famous prophet ufed to fit, when he uttered his prophefies. Little is known of the caftle, though it was the feat of the princes before the royal refidence was transferred to Dinevowr. What now remains is converted into the county gaol. We have no account of its foundation ; but it was entrufted by the Nor- mans and Flemings, in the year inoy to Owen ap Caradoc, and Rhydderch ap Tudor, to take the defence of it for Henry the Firft, by alternate fortnights. Gruffyth ap Rees underftand- ing that there was a favourable opportunity, came fuddenly with his forces upon the town. Owen ap Caradoc who was then on duty, rufhed immediately to the point of attack, expect- ing his men to have followed him : but the greater part of them fled, and Owen was flain. The town was deftroyed, and the caftle much defaced. Owen Gwineth burned Caermarthen in the year 1137, the firft of his reign. About the year 1143, the caftle was rebuilt by Gilbert Earl of Clare, but almoft immediately relinquished to Meredith and Rees, who befieged it, on terms of fafe conduct to the garrifon. In 1 195, Rees ap- Gruffyth befieged and overthrew both the town and caftle. Lewis Bayly, Bifhop of Bangor in the reign of James the Firft, and author of a celebrated piece called The Practice of Piety, was a native of Caermarthen, and received his education at Oxford. He was chaplain to Prince Henry r and rector of St. Matthew, Friday Street, in London, where he became an eminent preacher. King James appointed him one of his own chaplains, and in the year j 6 16 promoted him to the fee of Bangor. A few years afterwards he was committed to the Fleet Prifon. His crime is not known. It has been faid to have been immorality; but that is feldom punifhedr X -&0 CAERMARTHENSHIRE. punifhed as a political offence. It is more probably conjectured, that it might be owing to fome interference in Prince Charles's match with the Infanta of Spain. There were great difputes about the manner of his trial. His Practice of Piety was dedicated to this prince; and its object was to extract from the chaos of endlefs controverfies the old practice of piety, which prevailed before thofe controverfies were engendered. As a proof of its popularity, the octavo edition of J 734 was the fifteenth. It was translated into French, as well as Welfh ; and a preacher in the chapel of Somerfet Houfe complained, that it rivalled the Bible in the eflimation of the common people. It has been faid, that Dr. Bayly purchafed it of a puritan minifler's widow. No proof -of this aiTertion has been produced ; and fuch invidious doubts of literary originality have fo frequently been raifed on flender grounds, that themfelves now labour under ftronger fufpicions than thofe by which they attempt to invalidate the fame of others. Bifhop Bayly died in 1632, and was buried in the cathedral of Bangor. In the chancel of St. Peter's church there is a monument to Sir Rice ap Thomas, with two figures recumbent, which tradition, rather than any evidence of the monument itfelf, declares to have been Sir Rice and his lady. There is not even the trace of an infcription. So perifhable was the ftone of which the fabric was compofed, that nothing can be made out but the armorial bear- ings of the family, with the garter round the arm. The body had been removed from the church of the White Friars in the fuburbs. In point of population, Caermarthen is the fourth town in all Wales. Its numbers were returned under the late Population Act, at thoufand five hundred and forty eight. The trade of the place is considerable ; but there is no internal manufacture to employ the CAERMARTHEN. 5 6i the poor, who are very numerous, very burdenfome to the inha- bitants, and very profligate. Without any opportunity of obferv- ing the fact, I have been aflured that the ftate of morals is more relaxed in this capital of South Wales, than in any other part of the principality. We may be permitted to hope, that it has not been called Little London on this account. 4C CHAPTER 562 CAERMARTHENSH1RE. CHAPTER XXXIII. KIDWELLY. ..SPUDDER BRIDGE. ..PENBREE HILL...LLANELLY... DAVEN BRIDGE. ..CHAPEL DEWY. ..LLANGRANACH .... PONT AR DULAS...LLANDEBIE...CARREG CENJSEN. CASTLE. With the exception of fea views, and Lan Stephan Caftle after croffing the ferry, there is nothing particularly to be noticed in the coafting excurfion till we reach the little trading town of Kidwelly, which is of high antiquity. In the year 990 Edwin ap Eneon, with an army of Englishmen and Danes, attacked the pofleffions of Meredith ap Owen in South Wales. Gower, Kid- welly, St. David's, and Cardigan, in turn felt the effects of his hoftile progrefs ; but he contented himfelf with taking hoftages of the principal inhabitants, and did not lay the country entirely wafte. Meredith revenged himfelf on the territory of Glamorgan ; but the two chieftains were foon afterwards reconciled, and the trade of deftru&ion ceafed for a time. William de London, one of the Norman knights who conquered Glamorganshire, not content with his allotment there, about three years afterwards invaded the territories of Grufryth ap Rees ap Tudor, Prince of South Wales, and took from him, among other fpoils, the lordfhip of Kidwelly. Prince GrurTyth ap Rees was at that time very young, and a voluntary exile for his own fecurity in Ireland ; but he returned to his country and friends about the year mi, and in 11 14 won back the caftle of Kidwelly from William de London, wafting his 3 eftates, KIDWELLY. 563 eflates, and carrying away great fpoils. He was aflifted in this enterprife by his noble relations from Cardiganshire, Cedivor ap Goronw, Howel ap Idnerth, Trahaern ap Ithel, and many others, by means of whofe cooperation he reconquered a large portion of his father's territory, demolished many caftles, and eftablifhed to himfelf the fame as well as fortune of a warrior. When King Henry heard of this, he fent to Sir Owen, fon of Cadwgan, called in South Wales Owen the traitor, and to Llywarch ap Trahaern, promising them great rewards if they would oppofe Prince Gruffyth ap Rees. Owen and Llywarch obeyed the king ; but no fooner had Gerald, lieutenant of Pembroke Cattle, heard that Owen had arrived in Cardigan, than he remembered the injuries and difhonour he had fuftained when his wife Neft was forcibly carried away, and immediately determined on revenge. In this fpirit he and his followers came fuddenly upon Owen and his men ; and before the battle had well begun, Owen was flain by an arrow. Thus it befel that lawlefs ruffian in the gratification of his paffions, who had fo greatly injured the Welfh nation. The confequences of his conduct are reprefented by the hiftorians as having been more detrimental to the interefts and independence of the native princes than any events which are recorded in their annals either before or fince. In the year 11 90 the caftle was rebuilt by Rees ap Gruffyth. In the viciffitudes of thefe turbulent times it returned to the pofterity of William de London, from whom, by the marriage of an only daughter and heirefs into the houfe of Lancafter, it became parcel of the duchy. It was granted by Henry the Seventh to Sir Rice ap Thomas, and again, on the forfeiture of Sir Rice's grandfon, to the Vaughans of Golden Grove, when Lord Carbery was prefident of Wales. The Situation of this place is fingular, and far from inviting, as you approach it from the higher grounds. It is built in a marfh, 4 C 2, and 564 C AERMARTHEN SHIRE. and feems in perpetual danger of being inundated. The old town is much decayed, though it was in ancient times ftrongly walled, with three gates. The caftle is well worth attention, if the tra- veller is not already faturated with caftles. The ruins are large, and indicate its former magnificence. It feems to have been more uniform in its architecture than moft of the Welfh buildings. It is erected on an artificial mount, and was double walled. Many of the apartments may be made out, and fome of the ftaircafes are acceffible. There is a very fine gateway. The trade of Kidwelly was once very confiderable; fo much fo, that it is faid to have rivalled, if not exceeded, Caermarthen. If fo, it mull have declined greatly indeed ; but there is ftill the appearance of fome activity. The towns in the fouth of this county are generally fuperior in every refpecl to thofe in the north. In the new town, there was a priory of Benedictines, as a cell to Sherborne. The road to Llanelly is over the marfhy flat, through which the canal is carried to the coal-works. After eroding Spudder Bridge we begin to mount Penbree Hill, from which elevation the furrounding fcenery is viewed to the greateft poffible advan- tage. Caermarthen Bay and the Briftol Channel to the oppofite mores of Devonfhire compofe the marine profpect, while the inte- rior is marked by confiderable inequalities, with a large proportion of heath. This is the higheft hill in the fouth of Caermarthen- fliire, and feems higher than it is as it rifes at once out of Kidwelly Marfh. Llanelly is a fmall, irregular, and dirty town;, nor does, the appearance of its inhabitants, who are chiefly miners and failors, contribute to render it more inviting. The Llanelly coal is efteemed remarkably good, and the gentlemen's families in. Cardiganlhire are principally fupplied with it. We now return to a region of collieries and furnaces. There is here an old deferted feat of Sir John Stepney. Thofe who wiih to proceed for Gower will LLANELLY. DAVEN BRIDGE. LLANGRANACH. 565 will purfue the ftraight road to the ford over the Logor ; but the eaitern boundary of this county is well worth tracing upwards ; and for that purpofe the road to the left mult be taken at Daven Bridge, near which is the fmall ruin of Chapel Dewy, with its picturefque yew-tree. The Jandfcape, immediately on the change of direction, rifes in beauty. The road accompanies the Logor, which for fome time divides the two counties, almoft to its fource. This river is thus characterifed in the fifth fong of the Polyolbion: Thus have we overgone the Glamorganian Gowr, Whofe promontory (plac'd to check the ocean's pow'r) Kept Severn yet herfelf, till being grown too great, She with extended arms unbounds her ancient feat, And, turning laftly fea, refigns unto the main What fovereignty herfelf but lately did retain, Next, Logor leads the way, who with a lufty crew (Her wild and wand'ring fteps that ceafelefsly purfue) Still forward is inforc'd ; as Amond thrufts her on, And Morlas (as a maid (lie much relies upon) Intreats her prefent fpeed ; afluring her withall, Her beft-beloved ifle, Bachannis, for her fall Stands fpecially prepar'd, of every thing fupply'd. The Logor here is a fine object from Llangranach, a houfe in a fanciful but elegant tafte, which was not finifhed when I had the pleafure of feeing it. When the tide is full, it forms a broad and magnificent piece of water. The country is rich and pleafing, and the buildings have that air of neatnefs and comfort which opulent manufacturers always communicate to a neighbourhood. But the intrufion of kilns and furnaces, w T ith the fmoky atmofphere of a manufacturing diflrict, detracts from the charms of nature as much as it increafes the appearance of wealth. The works here 5 66 CAERMARTHENSHIRE. here are not, however, fo numerous as materially to disfigure the fcene. Llangranach ftands on the banks of the Morlas, a tri- butary ftream to Logor. This Morlas is a fecond river of the name. The firft comes out of Pembrokefhire, and immediately, on its entrance into Caermarthenfhire, replenifhes the Taw with its contents. The fimilarity and repetition of names, whether of hills, rivers, or towns, is perplexing to a traveller, not acquainted with the country, in arranging his plan of operations. From Llangranach the road continues through the vale of Logor to Pont ar Dulas, the fituation of which is very interefting. The bridge over the little river Dulas, which here joins the Logor, feparates the counties of Caermarthen and Glamorgan. The breadth and importance of the larger river, and the engaging cha- racter of the fcenery, with the lengthened reach of the vale down to Burry River, which is the mouth of the Logor, diftinguifhed by a different name, render this folitary houfe a deferable place for ftrangers to flop at, particularly as the accommodations are good; and it is frequently the refort of parties from Swanfea. The great road to the left by New Bridge, Bryn y Maen, and Llannon, through a country rather rugged, is the courfe which the mail takes from Glamorganfhire to Caermarthen. The fitu- ation of Llannon is elevated, and the view from the churchyard extenfive ; but there is nothing in this ftretch of country to repay the labour of paffing over it. Not fo between Pont ar Dulas and Llandilo Vawr. To Llandebie the road for the moll part runs on high ground, and is traced along the ridge of a hill, overlook- ing a valley on each fide, with hanging woods, cultivated fields, and enclofures thickly planted. Towards the north-eaft the Black Mountains raife their heads above the tops of the fruitful hills which line the vale of Logor. This river now no longer forms the boundary. At the diflance of a mile or two Amond River comes #- LLANDEBIE. CARREG CENNEN CASTLE. 567 comes in from the eaft. After palling a common you come down on the upper vale of Logor, and overlook a great part of the rich country towards Llandilo Vawr. A little beyond, Logor River is to be forded. It now becomes a ilender and mallow 1 ftream, except after a heavy rain, when it is rapid and dangerous. The village of Llandebie is far from mean ; it can boaft a (hop, with Haberdafher written over the door. There are few rides more various and pleafing than from Llanbedie to Llandilo Vawr. V^ The wood is luxuriant and extenfive. There are in one place fome remarkably fine oaks, lining the road on each fide, and meeting over head. But the traveller mull: not be diverted by the pleafure of the way. from exploring Carreg Cennen Caftle. The path is wild, and difficult to be found without a guide. This extraordinary fortrefs is built on the point of a perpendicular cliff, not lels than two hundred feet in height, on every fide but one, where alfo the accefs is difficult. The caftle does not occupy more than an acre ; which is the utmoft of the fpace allowed by this infulated rock. The conftruc"lion of the building is fo fimple, as to warrant the fuppofition, that its date is much earlier than any notice of it at prefent to be met with in hiftory. Some travellers have ventured to pronounce it the work of the ancient Britons; while others have affigned it to the Normans in the time of Henry the Firft. It is mentioned in the continuation of Caradoc, as taken about the year 1347 Dv ^ ees Vechan, whofe mother had delivered it to the Englifh, at the mere inftigation of an unnatural antipathy to her fon. This is the only mention of it which has occurred to me. There is a winding cave, forming a fubterraneous gallery, bored through the folid rock, the breadth of which, on an average, is from five to fix feet, and the height about ten. It is carried, on a moderate defcent, through the 5 68 CAERMARTHENSHIRE. the rock, by the northern edge of the precipice. An aperture here and there gives light to this repulfive paflage. Entirely furrounded by mountains, with an approach fcarcely paiTable, and a gulph on three tides at which the head turns giddy, the mind recoils at any lengthened flay in fo inhofpitable an abode. The ruins, independently of their elevated bafe, are themfelves of an uncommon height. This is one of the objects to which the atten- tion of travellers is more particularly directed ; and it deferves all the attention they can beftow on it ; yet there are perhaps few fubjects lefs capable of being reprefented with advantage on paper. It may, indeed, be obferved of Caermarthenfhire in general, that though there may be found a great deal of beauty, and much rural landfcape, yet of infulated objects, picturefque and well grouped for the pencil, the county has not many. CHAPTER £ 5*9 } CHAPTER XXXIV. ABERGWILLY PALACE.. .ALLT Y GOG...COTHY BRIDGE. ..CROSS INN. ...COURT HENRY.. ..RHw'r ADAR.... GOLDEN GROVE.— NEWTON PARK...DINEVOWR CASTLE.. .LLANDILO VAWR. We are now to return to the vale of Tovy from Caermarthen upwards. The range of hills on the left, and the river on the right, are the leading features of this varied and beautiful fcene. The flream itfelf is feeble, compared with many others ; but it does not for this aflimilate the lefs with the quiet and peaceful character of the tracl it fertilizes in this part of its courfe. But this remark applies only to its flate as when I faw it, for I was informed at Lord Dinevowr's that its floods in rainy feafons are moil impetuous, and frequently produce ferious mifchief to the hufbandry of the vale. The firfl objecl we have to particularize here is Abergwilly Palace, the only habitable refidence of the feven which formerly belonged to the Bifhop of St. David's ; and even this was in a very dilapidated condition till repaired and improved by Lord George Murray, the late bifhop. Under his manage- ment the grounds were brought into a flate of high cultivation and beauty, though in the fimplefl tafle ; and the houfe has been refitted in a flyle well according with the fuppofed character of its profeffional inhabitant. The people of the village fpoke very feelingly of his lofs, though they had been led to expecl: good things from his fucceflbr, whom they had not then feen. But Lord 4 D George, 570 CAERMARTHENSHIRE. George, who improved every thing about him except his own fortune, employed great numbers of the poor ; and this is a mode of being ufeful which never fails of its reward, if the praifes and good-will of a dependent neighbourhood are a reward. In the prefent cafe they could not but be fincere ; for the ear to which only they could have been mercenarily addrefled was clofed againft flattery or cenfure ; and the family were become aliens from the fpot their inheritance had been impoverifhed by cultivating. About Allt y Gog the range of hills on the left rifes to greater height, and is for the mofr, part clothed with magnificent woods, continued to the very fummit, with occafional patches of culti- vated land. Without enumerating every interefting point of view, I mail juft mention Cothy Bridge, near the fall of that delightful river into the Tovy. On the left of Crofs Inn is Court Henry, built by Henry ap Gwilym, who fought eight or ten duels with Sir Rice ap Thomas's father. Sir Rice extinguished the family feuds by marrying Eva, daughter and coheirefs of Henry ap Gwilym. It belongs at prefent to the family of Dyer; and juft here is the fpot to which the poet has given fo juft a celebrity. A little before fun-fet, on the evening of a very brilliant day, was a favourable time for enjoying a fcene of which I mould quote the defcription, if it were not familiar to every reader of tafte. Nearly oppofite Rhw'r Adar is Golden Grove, on the other fide of the Tovy. I had been fo often afked whether I had ever feen Golden Grove, and there is fbmething ib inviting in the name, that I confefs myfelf not a little difappointed on arriving at the place. It is by no means in the happiefr. pofition that might have been felected in this charming vale. It has, indeed, a very grand object in Dinevowr Cattle, ftanding majefti* cally on the lofty and well-wooded hill. The houfe approaches 7 almoffc NEWTON PARK. DINEVOWR CASTLE. 571 almoft to meannefs ; and the fituation is flat and low. The name is no longer applicable ; for the groves, with the exception of a little fhelter to the houfe, are all demolifhed. I have already had occafion to mention this family of Vaughans as defcended from the Earls of Carbery in Ireland, one of whom was created Baron Vaughan of Emlyn in this county. Mr. Vaughan is lately dead, and has left a confiderable part of his eftates to Lord Cawdor. He was a very confiderable landholder. Newton Park, within the precincts of which is found the royal refidence of Dinevowr Cattle, appears to me unqueftionably to be the firft finifhed place in South Wales. The views of the vale are extenfive and picturefque ; the furface of the park is undulat- ing and unequally difpofed ; the mafles of full-grown timber are large and frequent, the foliage fplendidly profufe. When to all this is added fuch a river rolling at the foot of the hill, and encompafling two fides of the domain in its meandring courfe, the native princes mull be fuppofed not to have been fo fimple in their tafte, but that they chofe their refidences with a view to beauty and magnificence as well as fecurity from the attacks of their enemies. It occupies a clufter of hillocks, rifmg above the town of Llandilo Vawr. The prefent manfion is not fo placed as to command the park to the beft advantage. It is a plain ftruc- ture, of a fquare form, with turrets at the corners ; but the houfe in itfelf has no very linking recommendations. The ancient and princely palace of Dinevowr rifes out of a dark wood, w r hich har- monizes with the gloomy grandeur of the dilapidated towers. The caftle is fuppofed to have been built by Roderique the Great in the year 877. In the year 13 14 Rees Vechan, after having burned the town of Llandilo Vawr, fuftained a fiege from his nephew with the Englifh forces, and defended the fortrefs fo manfully, that the befiegers were glad to obtain it on terms of 4D2 honourable 572 CAERMARTHENSH1RE. honourable capitulation, little known to the uncourtly warfare of thofe times. Henry's army was defeated by the Welfh under Lhewelin ap Gruffyth near this place, and the fiege of the caflle raifed in 1257; and it was taken in the year 1387 by Rees ap Meredith. Many other particulars are to be found in mofl hiflories of Wales, and a confiderable number of anecdotes in the Cambrian Regifler. Rice Gruffyth, being attainted, was executed in the twenty-third o( Henry the Eighth, and his eflates confis- cated. Queen Mary gave back a fmail part of the eftate, amounting to about fourfcore pounds a year ; and Ch arles the Firft reflored to the family what remained in the hands of the crown, to the value of about two hundred pounds at that time ; and this is all that is now in their poffeffion. The direcl: defcent of the family was in the following fucceflion. Sir Rice ap Thomas, Sir Gruffyth Rice, Rice Gruffyth, attainted; Gruffyth Rice, whofe blood was reflored by a<5l of parliament, Sir Walter Hice, and Henry Rice, to whom the eftate was reflored, and continued in a direcl: line down to the prefent time. For mofl of thefe notices refpecting the caftle and family, I am indebted to the obliging communications of Lord Dinevowr. There have probably been few acls of injuftice more flagrant than the attainder to which I have before referred. The accufation was of a confpiracy to depofe Henry the Eighth, and crown James the Fifth of Scotland ; and this confpiracy was fuppofed to have been founded on an abfurd prophecy, that James of Scotland with the red hand, and the raven, which was Rice's crefl, mould conquer England. In the thirty-third year of Henry the Eighth's reign, it was made felony to build prophecies on any external marks, or other corporeal peculiarity. The circumflance of Rice's having afTumed the iurname of Fitzurien, which had been in his family for more than a thoufand years, was confirmed into an attempt at affuming the DINEVOWR CASTLE. 573 the principality of Wales to himfelf. Such was the gratitude of Henry to the grandfon of the man who had placed his father on the throne. A room in one of the towers was ufed for occafional parties till within thefe few years, when the interior was deftroyed by fire. The view from the walls exhibits the fineft part of the vale in its greateft beauty. The hill is a precipice on the fouth and wed ; but the wood by which it is furrounded takes off from all the unpleafant impreflions of fuch a fituation. The courfe of the river immediately underneath is highly beautiful, and the meadows through which it panes gay with verdure and plantation. In con- trail: with this rich clothing, on the left there is a naked mountain, with Golden Grove at its bafe, fcarcely forming an object of any magnitude or intereft from fo great a height. On the right, but nearly oppofite, the famous hill of Dyer advances on the plain ; and beyond, at a turn of the vale, a high fugar-loaf hill, with a caftle, grand in its appearance, on the top, finifhes the picture. On turning to look eaftward over the park, its cultivated beauties are contrafted with the chain of black mountains which clofe in upon the upper vale. In this direction the Tovy is enclofed within narrower boundaries; and the features of its courfe, which for the moft part have been gay and attractive, as far as we have hitherto met it, change into a lowering boldnefs. The lofty ruins of Carreg Cennen Caftle are vifible from another part of the grounds. The deer park has fome fequeftered and highly interefting ipots. Time has added, and is adding greatly, to the magnificence of this place. Nor is it likely foon to be defpoiled of its honours. Lord Dinevowr, indeed, carries the prefervation of his woods almoft to a fault; but there is no reafon for fearing left his fault fhould have many imi- tators. There is a great deal of old timber, which might be cut down without at all detracting from the fylvan character of the fcene ; 574 CAERMARTHENSHIRE. fcenc; and the young plantations which are thriving fafl, would more than fupply the lofs. The florins every year fplit or root up many, which injure others in their fall, and are in themfelves of lefs value, than if they were regularly felled ; but his Lordfhip cannot be prevailed with to anticipate the ftroke of the elements. This veneration feems to be hereditary ; for the late Lady Dine- vowr preferved many large trees, by encircling their trunks with ftrong hoops, as they were occafionally riven by the frequent thunder- florms. Several of them have flood from ten to twenty years ; and I need fcarcely add, that they will fland as long as poffible. His lordfhip, like mofl of the leading gentlemen in his neighbourhood, is in the farming line. The town of Llandilo Vawr occupies a fine fltuation on the fide of a fleep hill, rifing from the river, but it is old and dirty. The church-yard in the middle of the town, is interfecled by the high road ; and there is a row of houfes, along the upper fide of it, which commands a rich and varied profpect. Little as this place has in itfelf to recommend it, its environs in every direction are exquifitely beautiful. Befides the manfions belonging to large eflates, there are more gentlemen's houfes on a fmall fcale within five miles round Llandilo Vawr, than any where in South Wales, excepting fome parts of Glamorganfhire. I fhould certainly recommend this town, in preference to Caermarthen, as a head- quarters, from which to make daily excurfions about the county. The flyle of country, efpecially to the north and eaft of this place, is highly interefling and picturefque. It was at Llandilo Vawr, that the decifive battle was fought between Lhewelin ap Grufryth and the Englifh forces under the Earl of Glocefler and Sir Edmund Mortimer, the tragical confequences of which in the neighbourhood of Aberedwy have already been related. The lofs in this encounter, though fuccefsful, fell very feverely on King Edward's party. CHAPTER I 575 3 CHAPTER XXXV. GURRY..... TALLI ARRIS PARK TALLEY EDWINSFORD LLANSAWEL...CYNVIL GAIO...JLLANDQVERY...YSTRAD FFIN... PONT VELINDREE. 1 he road to Llandovery is carried through the vale, along which the Tovy feels its way, by the fide of mountains encroaching on its courfe. But this part of the country will bear a fecond vifit.; when the ride or walk may be varied by turning off at the turnpike gate of Gurry, and taking the Lanbeder road as far as Llanfawel, and then croffing the hills. In this direction, hillocks and hollows, woods and cultivated fields, with the barren moun^ stains frowning in the diftance, form a feries of picturefque attract tions. The extenfive woods adjoining Talliarris Park, conftitute a principal ornament of the fcene. Many years ago, thefe groves, were feverely handled by their proprietor ; but they have retrieved: their honours in a great degree, which are likely rather to be improved than impaired by the fpirit and tafte of their prefent proprietor. On the other fide of the road, at fome diftance, \^ is Abermarles Park, once the feat of Sir Rice ap Thomas. When commiffioners were fent into Wales to inquire intoabufes, inconfe- quence of grievous complaints, Gruftyth ap Nicholas Sir Rice's grandfather, met them near Llandovery with four or five ragged attendants, offering with all humility to conduct them to the end of their journey. The commiffioners were much rejoiced to find, how greatly the authority and refources of this chieftain had been over rated. When they came to Abermarles Park, Thomas the 576 ' CAERMARTHENSHIRE, the fon of Gruffyth met his father, with a hundred retainers well mounted. The commiffioners began to doubt how far the accufed would ftand to their award. They proceeded about five miles further, to Newton Park. Here the fecond fon Owen, received his father with a guard of two hundred horfe. The invitation to caroufe, given by ib formidable a hoft, could not well be refufed. The principal commiffioner loft his credentials out of his pocket. Gruffyth ap Nicholas was offended at his unauthorized pretenfions, and fent him back under the engage- ment of an oath, to juftify the Wellh, and take fhame to himfelf and his colleagues.* Abermarles had become the property of Thomas ap Gruffyth, by marriage with the daughter of Sir John Gruffyth. It was here that Sir Rice ap Thomas entertained the Duke of Buckingham, after their reconciliation. The place came to Sir Rice in right of his mother. A little way further ftands the monaftery of Talley, on a fine and luxuriant little flat, fkreened by a lofty ridge on each fide, and looking down over a rich country towards the vale of Tovy. There are confiderable remains of the building ; and it ranks among the moft venerable fpecimens of ecclefiaftical eftablifhments in this part of the principality. It was very richly endowed ; fo that the abbot was fcarcely inferior in power and influence, to any churchman within the diocefe, except the bifliop. I have already mentioned, that Mr. Johnes poflfeffes a fpecimen of the tafte, with which the apartments of this religious houfe were decorated. During the latter part of the conteft between the houfes of York and Lan- cafter, the Abbot of Talley was a principal inftigator of Sir Rice ap Thomas, to adopt the Lancastrian party. There had been, and fubfifted afterwards, a clofe connection between the monks of Talley and that family. 1 have before noticed the connection of the Johnes's with the fame family ; and it is probable that old EDWINSFORD. sn old friendfhip induced the fraternity to make a prefent of the picture when they could no longer keep it themfelves. There is no doubt of its authenticity. There are two pools of rather a large fize clofe by the monattery. The next object of attraction is Edwinsford, a feat of Mr. Hamlyn Williams, member for the county, on the banks of the Cothy. It is a very delightful fpot, with a houfe about a hundred years old, the more refpectable for not having attempted to make oft the clumfy decorations of its period. An ancient avenue leads up to it from the road, and the grounds are rich in well grown plantations, as well as diverfified by a pleafing inequa- lity of furface. The furrounding circle of mountains, though too low and broad- crowned to be picturefque, gives an appropriate finifh to the character of the grounds. The principal charm is the Cothy, frefh and rapid, with no inconfiderable breadth at this place. There is a mill a little way above, and fome rocky fcenery. This ranks among the prettieft rivers of the inferior clafs. I have to thank Sir James Hamlyn for fome ufeful direc- tions refpecting this part of my journey, as well as for the pleafure of tracing the Tovy above Llandovery. Llanfawel is a pleafing fpot, on a branch of the Cothy. The village is decent, and there is a tolerable inn. The relt of the way to Lanbeder is flerile in the extreme. I therefore turned to the right, up a wild common, and after a laborious afcent, reached the fummit of Cynvil Gaio. This is a mountain on the road between Lanbeder and Llandovery, which commands almoft the whole of the rugged country between thofe two places, with a par- tial glance upon the vale between Llandovery and Llandilo Vawr, as overlooking the intervening hills. Here and there you have a pretty fcene on the approach to Llandovery ; but nothing of very marked character, till you come to the bridge of one arch 4 E over 578 CAERMARTHENSHIRE. over the Tovy, before mentioned to have been built by William Edwards. Thus far, though the vale has narrowed, it has pre- ferved its features of cultivation and fertility. The reach down- wards is rich and beautiful, though confined ; upwards, it contracts into a dingle, crowded by mountains larger in fize, barren, rocky, and lowering. The town of Llandovery is one of the worft in Wales. Its buildings are mean, irregular, and unconnected ; its ftreets filthy and difgufting. The place is fmall ; but it has a large market much frequented from the confines of Brecknockfhire and Car- diganshire. It is generally given in the books, as fituated on a bank of the Tovy ; but this is incorrect, for its fite is on the Brane, which lofes itfelf in the Tovy at a little diftance below. On a mount commanding that river, nearly in the centre of the town, is the caftle, fmall in its dimenfions, and much of it deftroyed. It is deeply trenched ; but little is known either of its foundation or hiftory. In the year 1116, it was befieged by GrurTyth ap Rees, who, burned the outer ward, and flew a great part of the garrifon, but loft fo many of his own men, that he was obliged to abandon the attempt. After Rees Vechan had evacuated Dinevowr caftle in 12 14, he left this caftle well fortified and manned, while he attended his wife and children to a. place of fafety. In his abfence, the governor delivered it without a blow to an army of Welfti and Normans, who threatened to inveft it. This feems to have been a death-blow to the fortunes of Rees Vechan ; for he was foon after taken and lodged in the king's prifon at Caermarthen. Llandovery is remarkable for the birth and refidence of Rees Prichard, its celebrated vicar. Having pafifed through the forms of a regular education, he was inducted to this living in the year 1605. In 1636, he was made Chancellor of St. David's, and died at LLANDOVERY. S79 at Llandovery in 1644. Such is the jejune account given of him by Anthony Wood, and I have been able to procure no other. He was the author of what is known all over Wales as the Vicar's Book ; a collection of very fimple poetry, chiefly, but not alto- gether, on religious fubjects, which the people are to this day in the habit of committing to memory. Thefe compofitions are faid to have contributed more largely to good moruls, than any book in the Welfh language. He left lands for the purpofe of endowing a free fchool ; but the hufband of his grand-daughter by fome means procured a commutation of the lands for an annual payment in money to the matter. This was continued for a fhort time, till a flood carried away the fchool houfe ; which was never after rebuilt, and Wood tells us that even in his time, the fchool was in a manner forgotten. At Llandovery I expected to have obtained fome particulars of a man, who certainly deferves to be recorded among the chief ornaments of his country. It happened unfortunately, that the prefent vicar was abfent ; but with the moft diligent enquiry I could make, all the information to be procured was, that fuch a man once lived there. The perfon who mewed me the church, feemed to feel for the general want of feeling : it is not even known where he was buried; whe- ther under the communion table, or in the church-yard. There is neither ftone nor infcription to his memory. I was fhewn the grave of his wife and daughter ; without any memorial, overgrown with weeds and nettles, which is the general condition of the graves here. My guide, who was a native of Llandovery, could not help admitting it to be one of the moft uncivilized places in the princi- pality. The houfe which was the vicarage inRees Prichard's time, is in a dilapidated condition, and converted either into a granary, or to fome other ufe of that kind. It wears the appearance of Something bordering on magnificence, very unlike the character 4E 2 of 5 8o CAERMARTHENSHIRE. of Wel'fli parfonages in general. Mr. Prichard had another living*, befidcs his. preferment and office in the chapter of St. David's ; fa that he was probably a man of more than ufual opulence for that period. From Llandovery to. Trecaltle a new road has been made to wind round the bafes of the mountains through a deep valley,, exhibiting a fueceflion. of the moll romantic feenery. The old road is carried over the mountains ; but belides its difficulty, it has infinitely lefs to repay the curiofity of the traveller. On quit- ing Llandovery, Pont Velindree crofTes the Gwethrick, a rapid ffoeam which runs from left to right, and,, turning under fbme rocky projections, at the foot of a mountain, unites its waters with fhofe of the Brane very near this fpot. The road rifes a little above the level of this meandering rivulet, which it keeps on the left for feveral miles. A cottage here and there breaks in upon the foli- tude, and a mill, turned by the ftream, contributes its mare of beauty to the general effect. The character of the mountains is various as well as grand ; alternately naked; and woody, but in general riling gradually from their bafes to their fummits, without thofe projecting crags which diftinguifh the hilly tract a little farther onwards. The foil is rather of a red call; and thofe mountains which are not wooded, difplay a rich luxuriance of turf and flowering herbage. The numerous flocks, feeding up. and down, form a completely paftoral landfcape. The valley, clofes in gradually till it terminates in, a romantic pafs, formed by a chafm between two large mountains. On the other fide the pafs the hills recede, and the Gwethrick diverges from the road; but the peaks of the great Black Mountain, riling above the nearer range, indicate the ftyle of country we are to expect on our arrival; at Trecaflle. In every refpect. different from this fcene is that of the Tovy in? its YSTRAD FFItt. §$, its defcent from its fpring in Cardiganfhire, through the defiles of the mountains into the vale between Llandovery and Llandiio Vawr. There is no part of South Wales where the country is wilder, or the people fo wild. Wherever nature has room to- unbofom her fertility, it is fhewn in the moft luxuriant and inte- refting forms; but in general the rocks and nills, which are crowded on each other, and reach an unufual height, rife abruptly from the fkirts of the little valley, or even from the narrow bed of the river. The windings of the dingle produce a fuccemon of inte- refting circumftances, till the great object of the vifit is attained in the magnificent fcenery of Yftrad Ffin, formed by the junction of the Toothy, reinforced by Pefcover, with the Tovy under cir- Gumftances of peculiar grandeur.. The valley is now narrowed into a ravin, of which the former has the pofTeflion, while the latter finds its way down the fides of a high mountain, not in a. precipitous fall, but in a fuccemon of leaps from rock to rock, fometimes foaming over every impediment, at others wearing its obftructed courfe between or behind the overhanging crags, till it meets the Toothy in the bottom. The woods, with which thefe precipices are partly clothed, darken its channel with their fhadow, while the larger mafles of Refcob Foreft beyond add a pleafing richnefs to the fpot, whofe other features are fo eccentric. At the top of the mountain, clofe by the firft declination of the Tovy, there is a cave, about four yards fquare, to which a ftory Jf is of courfe attached. It is faid to have been the retreat of Thomas John, the fon of Catharine, a noted robber, who afpired to marry the heirefs of Yftrad Ffin. The lady, though fhe pro- fefled to difdain the match, feems not entirely to have refufed a parley; for while her fuitor was pleading at her window, by fome accident fhe put her hand through, when he feized it, and fwore ke would cut it off unlefs fhe vowed folemnly on the fpot to become 5 8a CAERMARTHENSHIRE. become his wife. The country people fend every ftranger to fee the chamber of Thomas John in the rock. The cave of itfelf would not be worth the labour and danger of mounting to it ; but the command of the falling river, with all its accompaniments, feen through the thick foliage in which the hollow is enveloped, is fufficient to compenfate for the difficulty of the accefs. In climbing up by the rocks and trunks of trees you are continually palling other cavities, undignified by a legend, and the fummit appears as if it had been perforated, in every direction, by the force of florms from every quarter of the compafs. Cwm Cothy, on the other fide of this chain of hills to the weflward, exhibits fpe- cimens of fcenery fomewhat refembling this, but on a much larger fcale. CHAPTER I 5*2 ] CHAPTER XXXVI. GLAMORGANSHIRE. SWANSEA... .SKETTY PARK. ...LOWER SKETTY....OYSTERMOUTH CASTLE. ..THISTLE BOON...CARWELL BAY...PULDW POINT... PENNARTH....PENMAEN....KING ARTHURS STONE... .PENRICE CASTLE. ..OXWICH CASTLE.. .PORT INON POINT.. .ROSILLY BAY ...WORMS HEAD...LLAJSGENNEY...LLANMADOC...CHERITON... PENCLAWDD...LOGOR...GELLYHYR. 1 am now to conclude thefe obfervations with the weftern part of Glamorganshire, which the unexpected bulk of my volume admoniihes me to trace with much lefs minute attention than I have beftowed on the eaftern. The province of Gower fhall be the fubject of the prefent chapter. In the year 1099 Henry Beaumont came into Gower againft the fons of Caradoc ap Jeftin, and won from them large portions of their territories. He built the caftles of Swanfea, Logor, Llan- ridian, and Penrice. This laft was ereded on the fpot where Rees, the fon of Caradoc ap Jeftin, was flain. By thefe pre- cautions he fortified himfelf in this country; and, for his further fecurity, introduced Saxons, as the Welfh hiftorians, ancient and modern, fo inveterately denominate the Englifh, to whom he gave lands. Of all the oppreffions exercifed by the Normans, thofe of Henry Beaumont in Gower were the mofl intolerable. Swanfea, * 584 GLAMORGANSHIRE. Swanfea is in that diftricl: of Glamorgan called Gower. I am not aware that it is mentioned in any of the ancient hiftories before this time. All the caftles mentioned above are likewife in Gower, and very confiderable remains are ftill extant both of Logor and Penrice; but no veftiges can now be difcovered of Llanridian. -Gruffyth de Gower was the founder of a family in Some rofe of maiden blujh This is not perfectly correct ; for it is the white rofe that is always planted on a virgin's tomb. The red rofe is appropriated to the grave of any perfbn diftinguifhed for goodnefs, and efpecially benevolence of character. Stanza BRITON FERRY. 6c T Stanza X. Thefe to renew.] In the Eafter week raoft generally the graves are newly drefled, and manured with frefh earth, when fuch flowers or evergreens as may be wanted or wifhed for are planted. In the Whkfuntide holidays, or rather the preceding week, the graves are again looked after, weeded, and otherwife drefled, or, if neceflary, planted again. It is a very common faying of fuch perfons as employ themfelves in thus planting and dreffing the graves of their friends, that they are cultivating their own freeholds. This work the neareft relations of the deceafed always do with their own hands, and never by fervants or hired perfons. Should a neighbour aflift, he or fhe never takes, never expects, and indeed is never infulted by the offer of any reward, by thofe who are acquainted with the ancient cuftoms. In the fourteenth ftanza, gradual heat fupplies, is fubjoined asa different reading for grateful heat applies, in Mr. Mafon's own hand-writing. In the fifteenth ftanza the poet touches- on Gray's omiflion of thefe circumftances, apparently as a fort of delicate apology for venturing to follow his friend in a churchyard elegy. Gray cer- tainly muft have feen Briton Ferry ; for he as well as Mafon was an occaflonal vifltor to Mr. Thomas at Baglan Hall. But it is probable that, writing for the Englifh reader, he chofe only to notice fuch circumftances as are to be met with in churchyards in general, without entering into peculiar and local cuftoms. May I not venture to fuggeft, that this forbearance was in unifbn with a pure and chaftifed tafte, though the adoption of the idea might have added a beautiful ftanza or two to the poem ? The topic is natural and proper in Mr. Mafon's elegy, and he has expatiated on it very feelingly. Stanza XXV. That breathes from vulgar rofemary and rue.] The poet is here miftaken; for rue, being an ill-fcented plant, is never. admitted ~l .6^8 GLAMORGANSHIRE. admitted on graves, unlefs in a fpirit of derifion. Thefe cuftoms have prevailed from time immemorial; and the new do&rine on the fubjeft of population is but juft broached. We may therefore attribute it to a.clownifh ignorance, infenfible to the fuperior duties of celi- bacy, that the vulgar and illiberal prejtidic©againft old maids and old bachelors fubfifts among the Welfti in a very difgraceful degree ; fo that their graves have not unfrequently been planted by fome fatirical neighbours, not only with rue, but with thiftles, nettles, henbane, and other noxious weeds. It is only owing to fome circumftance of this kind that Mr.Mafon could have feen rue, if indeed he faw it at all. In addition to the foregoing remarks, it may beobferved of the Glamorganfhire cuftoms, that when a young couple are to be married, their ways to the church are ftrewed with fweet-fcented flowers and evergreens. When a young unmarried perfon dies, his or her ways to the grave are alfo ftrewed with fweet flowers and evergreens ; and on fuch occasions it is the ufual phrafe, that thofe perfons are going to their nuptial beds, not to their graves. There feems to be a remarkable coincidence between thefe people and the ancient Greeks, with refpecT: to the avoiding of ill-omened words. None ever moleft the flowers that grow on graves ; for it is deemed a kind of facrilege to do fo. A relation or friend will occafionally take a pink, if it can be fpared, or a fprig of thyme, from the grave of a beloved or refpecled perfon, to wear it in remembrance ; but they never take much, left they fhould deface the growth on the grave. This cuftom prevails principally in the moft retired villages; and I have been aiTured, that in fuch vil- lages where the right of grazing the churchyard has been enforced, the practice has alienated the affections of very great numbers from the clergymen and their churches; fo that many have become dhTenters for the fingularly uncommon reafon, that they may bury their friends in duTenting burying-grounds, plant their graves EAGLES BUSH. 609 graves with flowers, and keep them clean and neat, without any danger of their being cropt. This may have been the facl in fome places ; but I confidently believe, that few of the clergy would urge their privileges to an unfair or offenfive extent. There is in the world an unfeeling kind of falfe philofophy, which will treat fuch habits as thefe with ridicule. Mr. Mafon juftly calls fuch philofophers " Thofe only who are curfed with breads of fteel." Thefe elegant and highly pathetic cuftoms of South Wales make the beft impreffions on the mind. What can be more affecting than to fee all the youth of both fexes in a village, and in every village through which the corpfe pafles, drefled in their beft apparel, and ftrewing with fweet-fcented flowers the ways along which one of their beloved neighbours goes to his or her marriage-bed ? The annexed plate comprehends the whole of this interefting coaft, terminating with the Mumbles Point. But it is time that I fhould proceed. I forgot to mention Eagles Bum, a beautiful refidence, fituated on high ground, between Neath and Briton Ferry. The fcenery about Baglan is fcarcely lefs delightful ; nor can any thing well be conceived more rural, tranquilized, and fafcinating, than Baglan Hall. On my firft acquaintance with this county I had the pleafure of knowing Mr. William Thomas, the worthy aflbciate of fuch men as Gray and Mafon. It has been faid, that Mr. Mafon, of whofe fcience the public may judge by his work on church mufic, was the inventor of the piano forte ; I find, however, on inquiry, that it is decidedly 'of German origin, not invented at any one time, but the refult of various experiments and improvements on the harpfichord. The country becomes lefs interefting about Aberavon, which is a dirty and difagreeable village on the banks of the Avon, with fome great copper- works in the neighbourhood. The carriage road to Bridgend is near the coaft ; but there is a grand ride over the mountains by Llangonoyd, near which village 4 1 may 610 GLAMORGANSHIRE. may be found an old cromlech, partly demolished, called, in the language of the country, the old church ; and the field in which. X it ftands is called old church field. This furniihes a frefh evidence of the ufes to which thefe ftru&ures were applied. It will be remembered, that this wild village on the mountain is alfo famous as having afforded a retreat to Edward the Second in his adverfity. Beyond Aberavon on the turnpike road, the country again becomes pleafing, when you reach Tyncaia Houfe, the feat of the Rev. Dr. Hunt. Juft here you come in view of Margam Park, with its magnificent hills of wood, fhorn by the fea breeze as if by the hand of art. The mountain, though of eonfiderable height, is completely clothed. The abbey was founded by Robert Earl of Glocefter in 1147, for Ciftercian monks, and dedicated to St. Mary. In the fixth year of his reign King John confirmed to it its lands and privileges. It is reprefented by all the elder antiquaries as the firft Ciftercian houfe in thefe parts. The church is a fine Norman building : part of it is ftill uied' as a parifh church ; there are feveral marble monuments of the Manfels, by marrying into which family the Talbots became poffefTors of the property. The traces of the cloifters are ftill vifible acrofs the court ; but the celebrated chapter-houfe is now a heap of ruin. It was ftanding when I firft vifited Glamorgan- shire ; and was a circular room, fifty feet in diameter, of the moft elegant proportions, with a vaulted roof, fupported by a cluftered column rifing from the centre. The proportions of the pointed windows, twelve in number, the turn of the arches, and the general fymmetry of the ftru&ure, were all in the moft exquifite ftyle of beauty. It is unaccountable that fome method fhould not have been devifed of protecting this fine fpecimen of Gothic architecture from the ravages of time; but its danger probably was not perceived till too late. The green-houfe was built MARGAM PARK. PYLE INN. KEN FIG POOL. 611 built to receive a collection of orange and lemon -trees, which were wrecked on the eflate. There are more than one hundred trees, bearing well-flavoured fruit. It is three hundred and twenty-feven feet in length, and eighty-one in breadth. In the fummer the trees are removed, and very beautifully difpofed in a fequeftered part of the garden. At each end of the green-houfe, there is a room containing models and antiques ; among the latter there is a buft of Pallas, and two fepulchral altars, which are highly deferving of attention. The doors of the flables and offices retain marks of their high antiquity. There is at prefent no manfion houfe. On the top of a hill within the limits of Margam Park there is a pillar of four feet in height, and one in breadth, erected as a fepulchral monument. The village lies very pleafingly under the fhelter of a lofty hill and luxuriant woods. Pyle Inn is a noble houfe, built a few years ago by Mr. Talbot for the accommodation of the county, and let to the tenant at an eafy rate, on condition that he was moderate in his charges. If well-founded complaints were made on this fubjecl:, the rent was to be raifed. I know not whether Mr. Marment pays more rent now than he did at firft. Before his marriage Mr. Talbot pafTed a great deal of his time at this inn, where he had an apartment. The church at Pyle is handfome. The caftle of Kenfig, one of Fitzhamon's refidences, flood on a mount ; but it has been fo fur- rounded and enveloped by fands, that there are fcarcely any traces remaining of its walls. Kenfig pool is a lake of fome extent, in the midft of naked fands. It is faid never to have been fathomed. Here alfo we are told of a town ingulphed ; and they go fo far ■as to fay, that at times the tops of the buildings may be feen : but this is rather too much. Newton is a commodious and J£ agreeable bathing-place, with a fine more. I have before men- tioned the remarkable fpring, with that near Dinevowr Caftle. 4 I % Merthyr 6ia GLAMORGANSHIRE. Merthyr Mawr is a well-wooded, pretty place, on the weftem bank of Ogmore River. On the eaftern fide, at the confluence of the rivers Ewenny and Ogmore, William de London, after having obtained the lordfhip of Ogmore, built a ftrong caftle. Its remains, though of no great magnitude, are interefting. It devolved, by marriage, from the pofterity of William de London to the duchy of Lancafter. Near this place there are feveral pits like thofe in Gower, hedged round to protect the caftle. At Tythegftone, on the eftate of Henry Knight, Efq. there is a demolifhed cromlech, with a heap of ftones thrown over it. The top ftone is vifible, and a fmall hole under it has been opened lately. Lalefton will be thought interefting by the antiquary, as connected with the improvement at leaft, if not the introduction of the caftle architecture, and probably the Gothic, into Gla- morgan. In the year 1 1 1 1 , Richard Grenville, who had obtained the lordfhip of Neath from Robert Fitzhamon, returned from a pilgrimage to the holy fepulchre, and founded the abbey of Neath, as was mentioned before, granting to it a great part of his lands. The other part he reftored to the original proprietors,, from whom they had been wrefted at the Norman ufurpation. He brought with him from the holy land a perfon named Lales, a man very fkilful in the art of building, whom he employed to conftruct the abbey of Neath. This man afterwards built feveral abbies and churches, with many caftles, and other confiderable works. He had lands granted to him at Llangonoyd, whence he removed the church to another village which he had built, and had called after his own name, Lalefton. He afterwards went to London, and became architect to King Henry the Firft* He taught his art to many of the Welfh and Englifh. Bridgend is* fituated at a little diftance from the high road, on the banks of Ogmore River. Near this place Dr. Price was born, I BRIDGEND. 613 born, and here his connections are fettled. To attempt even a fketch of his public life, would be to involve myfelf in the hiftory of theology, politics, and fcience, for the laft fifty years. His works fpeak for him \ and I fhall content myfelf with fubjoining a lift of them. His Review of the principal Queftions in Morals was firft published in 1757. Two years afterwards, a Thankf- giving Sermon, preached at Newington Green, on the fubject of Britain's happinefs, and the proper improvement of it. In the years 1763 and 1764, an EfTay was read at the Royal Society, on the Method of calculating the exact Probability of all Conclufions founded on Induction, written by Mr. Bayes, with an appendix and fupplement communicated by Dr. Price. In 1766, he pub- limed a fermon, for the benefit of the Charity School in Gravel- Lane, Southwark, and in 1767, his four celebrated and admirable DhTertations. In 1770, he publifhed a fermon preached at Hack- ney, on the Vanity, Mifery, and Infamy of Knowledge without fuitable Practice. In 1771, his Obfervations on Reverfionary Payments appeared, with feveral other efiays on fimilar fubjects. In I772> his Appeal to the Public on the National Debt, with very valuable tables. In 1776", two excellent tracts on civil liberty, the war with America, and the finances of the kingdom. In 1778, was published the correfpondence between Dr. Price and Dr. Prieftley, on materialifm and neceffity. In 1 yyg y a Fail Sermon, preached at Hackney. In 1780, his EfTay on the Popu- lation of England. In 1781, another Faft Sermon. In 1783, The State of the Public Debts and Finances at figning the Preliminaries of Peace ; with the Plan for redeeming the Public Debt, which Mr. Pitt afterwards found fb ufeful, though in a: flate of mutilation. In 1784, his Obfervations on the Importance of the American Revolution. In J 786, a volume of Sermons on the Chriftian Doctrine, as held by different Denominations, with other fubjects. In 1787, a Difcourfe on the Evidence for a future Period 6i4 GLAMORGANSHIRE. Period of Improvement in the State of Mankind, delivered before the Supporters of the Hackney Academy, then juft founded, and fihce overturned. His laft publication, in 1789, was the Difcourfe on the Love of our Country, which fet Mr. Burke almoft befide himfelf. Such were Dr. Price's writings, on fubjects the moft important, in a ftyle of luminous fimplicity, the reiult of profound knowledge and a clear conviction of the truth. I might enlarge, from the bell opportunities of obfervation, on his perfonal cha- racter ; but fuch teftimony would weigh little with ftrangers of oppofite opinions, who have been pleafed to reprefent him as a fire- brand in fociety ; and it is not wanted by thofe, who either approved his principles, or were acquainted with the tenor of his life. . The ride from Bridgend to Llantrifent through Coychurch and ^ Llanharen is rural and pleafing. The fituation of Newcaftle, which forms a part of Bridgend, is bold, and commands a fine profpect of the furrounding country from the church-yard. At Coity there are the remains of the largeft cattle in Glamorganfhire, excepting Caerphilly, but it is by no means fo picturefque in its circumftances, as many others. Its origin has been already mentioned. There is a way from Neath to Bridgend, over a grandly mountainous country, through the parifh of Llangeinor, where there are fome ^J( very curious caves of great extent. You regain the great road through the vale at Ewenny, where there is a priory, which has hitherto been the moft perfect fpecimen of a monaftic eftablifh- ment in England. When I was there laft, the proprietor, who mould have been better advifed upon the fubject, was beginning to pull fome part of it to pieces, for the purpofe of modernizing a refidence for himfelf. It may ftill be an interefting fragment ; but it is much to be lamented that it mould have flood till the autumn of 1803, and no longer, in the ftate in which it was inhabited. The church is evidently one of the moft ancient within the compafs of thefe obfervations. The arches are circular, the DUNRAVEN. 615 the columns large, round, and fhort, the capitals fimple but uni- form. The exterior of the tower is highly piclurefque. The outer walls have been ftrongly fortified with towers and embattled gates, which are now finely clothed with ivy. In the chancel of the church there is an ^ancient monument of the Turbervilles, and a coffin-maped ftone, with Saxon characters, too much defaced to be legible. There is a fquare camp on the hill above this place. Ewenny was a cell to the abbey at Glocefter, dedicated to St. Mi- chael, and founded, after the Norman ufurpation, for monks of the Benedictine order. Dunraven is the feat of Thomas Wyndham, Efq. who repre- sents the county in parliament. The ancient name of this place fignifies the triangular fortrefs. Traces of a vallum or entrench^ ment in this form are ftill vifible.. Dunraven is a corruption of later ages from the old orthography. Caradoc Lhancarvan fays, that in the year 1050 the Saxons came over the Severn Sea or ' Briftol Channel from Somerfetfhire, and burned the caftle of Dunraven, with another in the neighbourhood. This depredation of the Saxons was committed in violation of the profound peace which then fubfifted between the princes of Glamorgan and the Saxon kings or earls, as their title is frequently expreffed by the Welfh hiftorian. During the abfence of William de London on the expedition againft Kidwelly, the Welfh of Glamorgan laid fiege to his caftle on the banks of Ogmore River. His butler, whofe name was Arnold, defended it bravely, and compelled the enemy to abandon their operations, and depart. When William de London returned, he rewarded his faithful butler with the caftle and manor of Dunraven, where his pofterity, bearing the furname of Butler, continued for many generations, till in the courfe of time it came by marriage to a family of Vaughans. The coaft is exceedingly ftormy and dangerous ; and there is a tradition, that the laft proprietor of this name pradifed the infa- mous ^r 616 GLAMORGANSHIRE. -mous device of fetting up lights along the fhore to miflead feamen, that they might be wrecked on his manor. The lofs of three fons in one day by drowning made Mr. Vaughan begin to fufpect that his conduct had not been ftrictly proper ; he therefore fold the manfion to an anceftor of the prefent proprietor, and the unfor- tunate mariners were no longer expofed to more perils than nature had placed in their way. There was nothing worth prefervation in the old building, or I am inclined to think that it would have been preferved. It was altogether inadequate to the hofpitable requifitions of its owner, who has nearly completed a large and handfome Gothic manfion. This will be one of the beft houfes in the county, in point of tafte as well as in the magnitude of its fcale. As a marine fituation Dunraven pofleffes the higheft gran- deur. It is fituated on the top of a romantic cliff, one hundred feet in height, commanding an extent of coaft the moft picturefque in its features, and a magnificent fwell of fea, broken into furf by the rocks which line the more. With all thefe beauties are con- nected the ufual difadvantages of fuch an expofure in the general nakednefs of the land profpect. There are fome of the moft curious caves to the weft of Dunraven. One of them is a rude piazza, worn through a projecting ftack of rocks, in a direction parallel with the fhore. It may be entered either from the eaft or fouth. There is befides this a cavern, feventy-feven yards in depth from the entrance, with feveral fpiracles opening on the top of the cliff, at a diftance from its edge, up which the tide and a frefh fouth-eaft wind raife an air fufficiently ftrong to blow away any thing placed over the vent. This excavation runs nearly at right angles to the cliff, turning a little to the eaftward. In the infide there are many loofe blocks of ftone, and others projecting from the fides and top, which difplay a beautiful variety of colour, like that produced by the rays of the fun paffing through a prifm. This cave can only be entered at fpring tides, and even 3 then MARECROSS. ST. DONATT'S. 6ij then a ftranger muft procure the attendance of fome perfon from the neighbourhood, as there is danger of being furrounded foon ' after the tide begins to flow, while to all appearance the entrance is perfectly fecure. There are feveral other cavities of fmaller thmenfions. Thefe' cliffs afford fine ftudies of rock for an artift; and there is perhaps nothing in nature which landfcape painters in general have ftudied more negligently. The modes of ftratifi- cation, and the peculiar characters of the different kinds, are feldom fufficiently diftinguifhed, even where they are required to be moft ftrongly marked. Near Marecrofs there is another ancient cromlech, called to this day the Old Church ; and they have ftill a tradition, both here and at Llangonoyd, that thefe rude ftru&ures, or old churches, were for- merly the places of worfhip belonging to the villages. Since writing my account of Lhancarvan, I have been informed that there were ftanding in that parifh, till about thirty years ago, three large pillars of grey ftone, obvioufly the remains of a cromlech. There is alfo a caftle at Marecrofs, and all round the neighbourhood curious and interefting fpecimens of antiquity, which my limits will not allow me to enumerate. The principal are a monaftic ruin, with immenfe barns and granaries ; and an ancient armoury. The building of the caftle at St. Donatt's was begun in the year 1103, at the fame time with the other caftles of the neighbourhood, in a ftronger manner than heretofore ; for before this time thefe edifices were conftructed of timber. We have to attribute the caftles in moft other parts of this country nearly to the fame time, when they were built by the Normans for their greater fecurity. This lordfhip continued in the family of the Efter- lings, who furvived all the defcendants of Fitzhamon's comrades, for the long period of fix hundred years ; after which it came into the poneflion of the Manfels. A great deal of it is ftill in a habitable 4 K condition, 6iS GLAMORGANSHIRE. condition, and is occupied by tenants. It is a large pile, and has been magnificent. It is difficult to obtain a general view of it from the circumffcance of its being clofely furrounded by trees. The gardens are conftrucled on terraces, defcending from the walls to the Briftol Channel, and commanding a charming fea ■view. The church, in the bottom of a dell, may be mentioned among the moft fequeftered and picturefque. It contains feveral monuments of former time ; and there is in the churchyard, which is among the firft. in point of neatnefs, a very ancient crofs. The watch-tower is a lofty building, from the top of which, according to the tradition of the place, vefTels in diflrefs were defcried, not with a view to their affi fiance, but for the purpofc of being ready to take pofTeffion of the wreck. Near this place there is another cave, not inferior in extent or grandeur to the largeft about Dunraven, but altogether of a different character. Frequent parties are made to vifit this cave, and dine on the T rocks. Llantwit Major requires a more detailed examination. Illtyd, fbn of Bicanus, a Breton, accompanied the faints Germanus and Lupus into Britain, on a miffion from Pope Celefline, for the purpofe of fupprefling the Pelagian herefy, as we are commanded to term it on the authority of the church, about the year 430. The firfl meafure they adopted was to eftablifh fchools of learning, in which the Britifh clergy might be properly educated. The two firft and principal fchools were thofe of Dubric and of Illtyd, both difciples of St. Germanus, who appointed the latter head or V"#. fuperintendent of Theodofius's college or congregation, fo called becaufe it had been founded by the emperor of that name. It had, however, been demolifhed about two years before by the Irifh pagans, who carried Patrick, its fuperior, a prifoner into Ireland. This fchool or college, reftored or founded a fecond time LLANTWIT MAJOR. 6j 9 time under the aufpices of Germanus, and patronized by the King of Glamorgan, was at this place, henceforth called after the name of Illtyd, Llantwit, fignifying by contraction the church of Illtyd, with the addition of Major, to diftinguifh it from other places in the county of Glamorgan, alfo bearing his name. Illtyd is besides ho- noured by the Welfh as having introduced a plough of a conftruction greatly fuperior to any before known to the natives. He died about 480, according to fome, and indeed the mod probable accounts ; but according to others, in 501 or £02. He was fucceeded by Peirio, brother to Gildas, and fon of Caw, a northern chieftain. We are told, in the Cambrian Biography, and the pedigrees of the faints in the Welfh Archaeology, tha£ Peirio died on the very next day after his appointment, and was fucceeded by Samfon, who was Illtyd' s fcholar, and had been preferred to an archbifhopric in Bretagne, but returning into his native country juft at the time of Illtyd's death, took upon himfelf the fuperintendence of the fchool, and erected a monumental crofs to his teacher in the churchyard behind the church, as appears by the infcription on its ihaft. On the eaft fide is written in ancient characters, " Samfon pofuit hanc crucem pro anmia (for anima) ejus ;'* on the weft fide, " Crux Iltuti. Samfon Redis. Samuel Egifar," which may probably be meant for excifor. He alfo erected the large monumental crofs, with the circular top loft, ftanding againft the eaft fide of the porch belonging to the old church, as we are likewife informed by the infcription on its fhaft : " In nomine Di (for Dei), fummi incipit crux. Salvatoris quae pre- paravit Samfoni a pati pro anima fua et pro anima Juthahelo Rex et Artmali tegam." In the churchyard of Margam there is an ancient monumental crofs in the fame ftyle as thefe at Llantwit, infcribed with fimilar characters ; and, what is very remarkable, it is fuppofed to have been erected by the fame Samfon, for his name appears on it, as well as on another ancient crofs of the 4 K 2 fame 620 GLAMORGANSHIRE. fame description in the churchyard of Coychurch near Bridgend, ■where alfo appears the name of Samuel, the fculptor who executed that of Illtyd. Leland fays, that the fchool of Illtyd flourilhed like an univerfity among the Britons. Befides Samfon, there are ^T mentioned among his fcholars the celebrated Gildas ; David the firft Bifhop of St. David's, who was confidered in later ages as the tutelary faint of Wales; Paulinus, who founded a fchool of learn- ing and a monaftery at Whitland in Caermarthenfhire ; and St. Maglorius, another bifhop of the Armori-can Britons in France; with many others. To thefe the Britim hiftorical manufcripts add the names of the renowned Britim bards Talie#in, Aneurin the brother of Gildas, and fome more. In the year 860 the Saxon pagans demolifhed all the monafteries and churches in Glamorgan, and among them the monaftery or college of Illtyd. In the year 959 Owen, the fon of Howel Dha> demolifhed the college of Illtyd, and that of Cadock at Lhan- carvan, becaufe there were fome noble Saxons among the ftudents. In the year 975 the Danes deftroyed the monaftery of Illtyd, as well as the monafteries of Lhancarvan, Lan Padern, and others. In the year 987 the Danes came into the Briftol Channel, and, on their landing, deftroyed the college of Illtyd, that of St. Cadock, and thofe of LlandafT and Llandough, mentioned by Tanner in his Notitia Monaftica as the college or monaftery of Cyngar, though he fuppofes the place where it flood to be unknown at prefent, but certainly fome where in Glamorgan. In the year 993 the colleges of Illtyd and Cadock were deftroyed by Eneon, the fon of Owen, Prince of South Wales, with a view of feizing Edwal ap Myric, Prince of North Wales, who was about that time an exile in Glamorgan, under the protection of Ithel, Prince of that country. Edwal ap Myric had been inftructed by Ithel in fuch branches of learning, as were molt neceffary for a fove- reign, LLANTWIT MAJOR. 611 reign, and had been fupported by him in the colleges of St, Illtyd and St. Cadock. In the Norman invafion of Glamorgan, in the year 1090, the monafteries and colleges of Illtyd, Cadock, Cyngar, and indeed all within the diftrift, with the cathedral of Llandaff, and many other churches, were deftroyed. Caradoc then informs us, that in the year nil, Robert Earl of Glocefter fortified the town of Cardiff with a wall, and reftored, or founded again the college of Illtyd. This is the laft mention of Llantwit, or the college or monaftery of Illtyd, hitherto found in the old Welfh hiftories. But in the ancient regifler of LlandafT, a copy of which is in the Britifh Mufeum, and another in Jems College library at Oxford, there are the names of the Abbots fuccemvely, and I believe the whole of them uninterrupt- edly from Illtyd down to the commencement of the twelfth century, or perhaps lower. This manufcript is in Latin. There are feveral other ancient infcriptions in the church and churchyard, befides thofe before quoted ; among the reft, a crofs in the fame flyle as that to the memory of Illtyd, lying flat on the ground before the church door, w 7 ith part of the circular top broken off, and the letters feemingly defaced. There is alfo an infcription on a grey marble flab, rudely ornamented with a crofs fleury, in the tower pavement. Moft of the letters have been defaced ; but the characters appear to be thofe in ufe from the fifth to the eighth century ; though the crofs fleury, which as I have been informed, was not ufed in fculpture or heraldry before the tenth or eleventh century, is fcarcely to be reconciled with fo high an antiquity, as I have attributed to this infcription. In the old church, there is a monumental flone in the form of an ancient Egyptian coffin, the cover forming three fides of at leaft a deca- gon. One fide is ornamented with frets, another with intaglios and foliage in the Roman tafte, not inexpertly executed. At the tipper end the face is reprefented as appearing through a hole in the 62« GLAMORGANSHIRE. the cover of the coffin. Clofe by this, on another monument, there is a recumbent figure at full length in a facerdotal habit. Round the edge of the head and right fide, there is a firing of abbreviations, which it would be difficult, if not impoffible, to explain. In the veflry behind the altar-piece, feveral fragments of very curious Gothic fculpture are preferved, and among them a gigantic figure in freeftone with the name Richard Hopkins, on a kind of collar in Roman capitals. The drefs of this figure belongs to the age of Henry the Seventh or Eighth. On another fragment of a flone window we find a date fuppofed to be I4i4> and a name which feems to have been Jofeph, with the firft letters broken off. This is probably one of the oldeft Englifh infcriptions in Wales. A late tourift is miftaken, in faying that the altar-piece at Llantwit Major is of wood. It is of fine freeftone, from quarries near Bridgend ; an excellent piece of Gothic archi- tecture and fculpture. The fame tourifi is alfo miftaken in faying, that there is not a trace of the Celtic tongue among them ; for though the inhabitants commonly converfe with each other in a barbarous kind of Englifh, yet they can all fpeak Welfh, and indeed make as much ufe of it among themfelves as of the Englifh. In this they differ from the Flemifh colony in Pern- brokefhire and Gower, of which they are a divifion ; but occu- pying a fmaller area, they have been probably obliged to mix more with the Welfh, and therefore have degenerated from the purity of both languages. The tours which have hitherto been publifhed, though many of them ingenious, have been haftily drawn up ; nor fhould I have ventured on fubmitting this account to the public, had I met with any author who has paid the fame attention to South Wales, which Mr. Pennant has beflowed on North. The writer to whom I have before referred, tells us that the confiderable walls and foundations of buildings, which were vifible at Llantwit Major^ in Camden's time evinced * LLANTWIT MAJOR. 623 evinced its former extent. Had he ftaid to look about a little, he might have feen the fame veftiges ftill remaining in great num- bers. There are even now, as Camden fays there were, feveral ftreets, many of them long ; in moft the houfes are thinly fcat- tered, and in general detached. Between them however we ftill fee ruins and trace foundations, which fhew the place to have been formerly large and populous. The prefent houfes are for the moll: part in a very old ftyle, with ftone doors and windows. Veftiges of high antiquity are more numerous in thefe vicinities, than in almoft any other place in Wales. If all the houfes whofe foundations can be clearly traced* were now to be rebuilt, Llan- twit Major would rank itfelf among the large towns of Wales. Even in its prefent ftate, the population, taken under a late act of parliament, was feven hundred and twenty-nine ; while that of Cowbridge was no more than {even hundred and fifty-nine. Indeed the number of houfes is greater in Llantwit Major than at Cowbridge, though they are not fo numeroufly inhabited. The town, for fb it is ftill called, was deprived of its charter, according to aWelfh hiftorical document, in confequence of fome depredations in Brecknockfhire, committed by its inhabitants in the time of Henry the Seventh. Among other ads of wickednefs, they murdered Sir Roger Vaughan of Tretower. Llantwit Major had anciently a market ; and ftill the butchers make a point of flaughtering weekly a few fheep, a bullock, a hog, a calf, a lamb, or fome other miferable victim, in a public ilaughter-houfe, or market-houfe, where there are proper hooks to hang up the meat. They always do this on a Friday, under an idea that by this ceremony they keep up their claim and right to hold a weekly market. There is a large fair eftablifhed here on the 53d of June for fheep, lambs, horned cattle, and other produce of the country. It is fuppofed to be the greateft and beft lamb fair in South Wales. There are five or fix tolerable public- 6a* GLAMORGANSHIRE, public-houfes here, as many decent mops, three or four bakers, three fchools, and feveral other remnants of its former confe- rence ; but the place wants fome manufactory, or other means of employing the poor inhabitants, who are not fufficiently engaged by its agriculture, though that may be faid to be by no means inconfiderable. Near the church fome ruinous walls of the fchool or college founded by Illtyd are flili remaining ; and they are fufficiently indicated to be of fuch high antiquity by the circular and fegment arches, in the true Roman ftyle, to be feen to this day. The door of the old church is alfo in the fame ftyle, circular and plain. The monaflery of St. Illtyd flood in a field, covered with ruins and old foundations, to the north-well: of the churchyard. The gateway to the monaflery is flill flanding, converted into a cottage, with a granary over it for the ufe of the tithe-barn, which {lands near, and is alfo a very ancient and large building in the Gothic flyle. There are the vefliges of feveral Roman camps in the vicinity of Llantwit Major ; one near the )X village ; a fecond Jin a field near the neighbouring village of Llanmaes ; a third, very large and in good prefervation, on the fea fide. There is alfo a very complete Britifh camp on the brink of the fea cliffs. This is circular, and in that refpect differs from ^ the Roman camps, which are always fquare or angular. It may be obferved, that Llantwit Major flands in one of the richeit tracts in the county for foil ; and is alfo in a very wholefome air, which is fufficiently evinced by the numerous inflanccs of uncom- mon longevity the neighbourhood affords. The old parifh regifter of Llanmaes records facts which demand a clofer invefligation of a fubjeci to which I have adverted cur- forily more than once in the courfe of thefe pages. Many more examples, equally extraordinary, might be furnifhed from tradition and manufcripts ; but I think it mofl proper to give only fuch as LLANMAES. 625 can be authenticated either from parifti regiilers, monumental flones, or printed books. It will appear from a general review of cafes, that longevity feems to be, in a confiderable degree, here- ditary. Plutarch, whom Camden quotes, reprefents the Britons as only beginning to look old at the age of one hundred and twenty. Whether the Welfh may be ftill found to be a long living people, as the defcendants of the ancient Britons, or from any other caufe, I know not, but probably their habits and employ- ments are the principal occafion of their frequently attaining a great age. In facl, it has already been urged, that the great body of the Englifti nation is derived from the ancient Britons ; and Lord Bacon, in his Hiftory of Life and Death, fays that Britain is one of the very few countries where inftances of longevity beyond the ufual period are the moil frequent. It is a remark founded on experience, that thofe parts of our ifland which are not moun- tainous, but diversified by moderate inequalities, having fufficient defcents for rivers, brooks, and rain water, on a dry, rocky bot- tom, with a healthy and confiderably fertile foil, where vegetation is vigorous, afford the moil numerous and remarkable cafes of longevity. Such a country is the fouthern part, or vale of Gla- morgan; open, but not a dead flat Of courfe there are no ftagnant waters, bogs, or other collections tending to putridity. It has an undulated, or gently rifing and falling furface, on a dry fubftratum of limeftone. The land is enclofed with good hedges, moftly hawthorn. Large quantities of elm and elder, wormwood and; nettles, grow every where ; and a notion prevails among the inhabitants, that thefe trees and plants never abound but in a good air. To the north and north-eaft the vale is well fheltered by moun- tains from the fharp winds of thofe quarters. To the fouth it has the dry rocky mores of the Briftol Channel, without any fens. Of the fame character, in moil particulars, are the counties of Flint 4 L and 626 GLAMORGANSHIRE. and Denbigh in North Wales, where I have been informed that many examples of very great age occur. Similar inftances are found in the counties of Somerfet, Glocefter, Hereford, and others of the fame defcription. It has already been obferved, that the inhabitants whitewafh their houfes within and without very frequently in the year, and even their barns, walls of yards, gar- dens, and all their other buildings. Mr. Howard, in feveral of his publications, warmly recommends whiteAvafhing as the very bell: prefervative againft infection and impure air. He relates very remarkable inftances of the effects produced by whitewafhing the lazarettos in Italy, which was done at his defire. The cottagers and farmers have maintained their rank from very remote anti- quity among the moft generally cleanly people in the kingdom. The habits of living among the common people in Glamorgan are favourable to health. They generally wear flannel fhirts ; and molt of thofe who wear linen have flannel waiftcoats under it. Though we mould not fuppofe it at a funeral, or on any occasion of conviviality, there is habitually lefs malt liquor drank here than in any part of the kingdom, and lefs animal food eaten. Their drink is in general w T ater, or milk and water. Tea is alfo very much ufed. Their food is chiefly good wheaten bread, with cheefe, butter, and milk in farm-houfes. They ufe vegetables of all forts in large quantities, and many kinds of food prepared from apples, goofeberries, and other fruits. Flummery made with oat- meal is ufed frequently in the vale, and almoft daily in the moun- tains. Broths made from all forts of meat are much ufed; in which large quantities of potherbs and other vegetables form a principal ingredient; abundance of leeks, onions, fhalots, parfley, favoury, pennyroyal, marjoram, thyme, crefTes, beets, lettuces, fpinage, and other productions of the garden. Herb broth, as it is called, is much ufed by the common people. It may be confidered as the Welfh foup LLANMAES. 627 foup maigre. It is water, thickened a very little with oatmeal, into which they put large quantities of fuch herbs as may be at hand, or in feafon. They reiifh it with a little fait, put into it a little butter, and take it with bread. All thefe habits are favour- able to health and long life. Contrary to the common opinion, the moil remarkable and moft numerous inftances of longevity are found in the vale and along the fea-fhore ; not in the mountains. I have already men- tioned, that in the vale all eat good wheaten bread; in the mountains fome oaten bread is ufed, but not fo generally as in former times. In Gower they eat barley bread for the moft part ; and I believe that the inftances of longevity among thofe people are lefs numerous than in other parts of the country. After all, there may perhaps be fomething in the different races of people. The inhabitants of Gower are, at leaft in about feven or eight parifhes, defcendants of the Flemings. The following are extra&s from Llanmaes regifter : Ivan Yorath buried a Saterdaye the xvii daye of July, Anno Doni 1 62 1, et anno regni vicefimo primo annoq; cetatis circa 180. -o^ He was a foldier in the fighte of Bofwoorthe, and he lived at Llantwit Major, and he lived much by timing. John Sherry e and Margaret Portrey maried a Tuefday, viz. xxviii . Februarii, Anno Dom. 1586, & domi nore Regine Eliza-- bethe vicefimo nono. A licence from the Chancellor. John Sherrey was buried the vii th . daye of December Anno Dom. 16.34, age 102. In, another place he is thus regiftered in Latin: Johannes Sherrey fepultus fuit feptimo die Decembris Anno Domini 1634, astat. circa 104. Thomas Watkin fepultus fuit decimo odtavo die Martii, Anno Dom. 1628, astat. circa 100. Elizabeth Yeorath, the wife of Thomas Wilkins, rector of this 4L2 parifh, r 62S GLAMORGANSHIRE. parifh, was buried the 13 th . day of Ffebruary, in the year of* our Lord God 1668, age 177." Elizabeth Yeorath was probably, if not his daughter, at leaft of the fame family as the foregoing Ivan Yorath. From this, and a great number of other inftances, it fhould feem that longevity is in a confiderable degree hereditary; or, as the common people exprefs it, runs in a family, or in the blood. Cicill, daughter of Edward Lhewelin, was born 2d of June 1650. Mr. Edward Williams remembers her well. She and her hufband, Peter Meare, lived for many years in apartments which they rented in his father's houfe. It appears by the Llantwit regifter, that me died Dec. 20th, 1757, at more than one hundred and feven years of age. She is afterwards regiftered thus at Llanmaes : Cicill Lhewelin was born in the year one thoufand fix hundred and fifty. We likewife find, by the Llantwit regifter, that the Peter Meare before mentioned, died at Llantwit Major April 8th, 1771, aged 103. I fhall now felecl a few facls afferted on other authorities. Ann Richman, of the parifh of Penmark, died in 1760. She remembered the battle of St. Fagan's between the parliament and King Charles the Firft, on the 8th of May 1648. She therefore muft have been about one hundred and twenty years of age when fhe died. Chriftian of Porthkerry died foon after, about 1761. She has often been heard to fay, that fhe was a little girl beginning to practice milking, and then at her employment, when the army of the parliament pafled by on the morning of the battle at St. Fa- gan's ; fo that fhe muft have been full as old. Kate Butler died about 1769, aged about 106. She placed the period of her own marriage at the age of twenty-five ; and fhe had a fon living at the time of making the aflertion, known to be eighty years old. Thomas LLANMAES. 629 Thomas French, of Wenvoe, died about 1790, upwards of 100. He worked at watch-making to the laft year of his life, and cracked nuts with his teeth. In the Hereford Journal for Auguft 8th, 1782, we have the following notice : " Died at Llantrythid in Glamorganshire, John Roberts, a blackfmith, in the hundred and eleventh year of his age, who was in good health till within a few days, and retained his fenfes till within an hour of his death." His daughter, now living, has allured Mr. Edward Williams that on a proper fearch of regifters, by thofe who queftioned his great age, he was found to be one hundred and eighteen years old. On a ftone in the pavement of the belfrey at Llantwit Major there is the following infcription : " Hear lyeth the body of Ma- th ew Vofs, bured 1531, aetat. 129 " X, In the church of Caera, near Cardiff, may be found this infcrip- tion under the fouth window : " Heare lieth the body of William Edw ds . of the Caera, who departed this life the 24 of February, Anno Domini 1668, annoque aetatis fun 168." $C O happy change, And ever bleft, When griefe and pain is Changed to reft. Till lately there was the following in this church : " Heare lieth the body of Vaughan Edwards, Gent, deceafed 4 day of Decem- ber, Anno Domini 1669,. aged 83." The clerk of the parifli has lately taken this ftone away, and laid it down as a hearth-ftone in his houfe, with the infcription downwards. The Welfh bard, Thomas ap Jevan ap Rees, who died about 16 1 5, had been a monk in the Abbey of Margam. He fays in one of his poems, that he had been expelled thence for his Lollardifm, 6^o GLAMORGANSHIRE. Lollardifm, and had been imprifoned for heretical opinions in Kenfig caftle, whence he addreffed a petition in verfe to Sir Matthew Caradoc of Swanfea, imploring that gentleman's intereft to procure his liberation. Sir Matthew Caradoc died about 1500 ; and a monk could not be admitted before the age of twenty-five. I have been favoured with a pafTage to the following effect in Englifh, from a manufcript collection of this bard's works. One thoufand fix hundred exactly, with four years entirely, the begin- ning of January, a fair account, I am one hundred and thirty years V old. He of courfe muft have been more than one hundred and •forty years old ; for it can be fatisfactorily proved, that he was living in 16 15, which makes him one hundred and forty-one, according to his own account. How long he lived after that period, I have not been able to learn ; and for that reafon I take it for granted that he died about that year, or foon after. There is a poem on the restoration of Charles the Second, under his name ; but furely it muft have been fictitioufly affixed ; and this is the more probable, as the party animofities of the time rendered it prudent for authors to conceal themfelves, for fear of a reverfe in politics. It is probably in reference to this piece, that his age is concluded from his own works to have been about two hundred years, in the Cambrian biography ; but his death is placed in 15 10, which I take it for granted is an error of the prefs. Elizabeth Davies of the Wheatmeaf at Swanfea, remembered the revolution of 1688. She died about 1799. In the church yards and difTenting burying grounds of Swanfea, feveral infcriptions appear, recording ages from one hundred to one hundred and ten. Similar memorials occur in the church yard of Llangevelach near Swanfea, and in the parifh church and church yard of Llangonoyd, with thofe of Llantrifent, Aberdare, and other places.- I have been told, that longevity occurs more frequently LLANMAES. 631 frequently in the burying grounds of diffenters, than in parifli church yards, and that it is accounted for by a greater regularity of living among diffenters : but I fee no reafon to believe that regu- larity of living fliould be much, if at all affected by any fuch circumflance. This folution feems to have fomething in it of party fpirit ; as if meant to convey an idea, that temperance was not the virtue of the eftablifhed church. .The following infeription is in Baglan church yard. Here lyeth the body of Walter John, who died the 6th of March, 1698, aged 96. Here alfo lyeth the body of Cecil Howel, the wife of Walter John, who died the firft of May 1734, aged gg. Brown Willis, in his account of Llandaff, mentions that Bifhop Herewold of that diocefe, died in the year 1103, aged one hundred years. He alfo mentions Edward Davies, Rector of St. Bride's near Bridgend, and of Michaelfton on the banks of the Elwy, Prebendary of Llandaff, andMafter of Arts in the Univerfity of Oxford, who died on the twenty-fixth of December 1672, at the age of one hundred and eight. In the early part of this work I have mentioned a fucceflion of long-lived princes, beginning with Morgan Mawr, and ending with Jeftin ap Gwrgant, on the authority of Caradoc Lhancarvan and the Cambrian Biography. To thefe may be added a recent inftance, from the Swanfea paper of February 15th 1804. " Friday se'nnight, about eight o'clock, a poor woman, aged 105, on her way from Cardiff to Newport, fell into a gravel pit, having a fmall quantity of water, and was unfortunately drowned." But it is time to defift ; as I am probably nearer the end of my reader's patience, than the end of my catalogue. I have not found on enquiry, that many perfons attain the age of one hundred years in the moil mountainous parts either of Wales or England. The caufe may perhaps be conjectured to exift, not in the greater keennefs of the air on mountains, for 3 probably 632 GLAMORGANSHIRE. probably that might be favourable to long life ; but in its greater crudenefs and more irregular temperature in the mountain vallies, where, and not on the upper parts of mountains, the population is principally found. Thefe vales in winter have but very little fun, fome of them none at all, for many weeks. Even in fummer, the fun muft be high before it mines into them. In many vales, it is not felt till the morning is advanced as far as eight, nine, or even ten o'clock ; and then it comes upon them in nearly its utmoft fervour, producing a violent tranfition from a, crude and chilly morning, to almoft a tropical heat ; for fuch it is, when the fun is fo pent in by the hills on both fides. A heat is often experienced in fuch vallies, which is never felt in more open countries. The coup de foleil is not uncommon in thefe filia- tions ; but it feldom, if ever occurs in any part of Britain, in the open countries. In the evening thefe vales lofe the fun very early; at three or four o'clock, when a fudden fhade and chill takes place. In open countries, on the contrary, the fun appears early with a mild warmth, increafing by an eafy and falutary gradation, and as gradually defcending in the evening. It may indeed be faid to be many more hours above the horizon of open countries, than of deep mountain vallies. Confumptions and fluxes are more general in the latter than in the former. It is a fact founded on experience, that among the mountains weak conftitutions are exhaufted early in life. In the vale, or ibuthern part of Glamorgan, valetudinarians live to a confiderable age. In the mountains to the north of the county, they feldom laffc much beyond twenty-five ; and it requires not only the abfence of difeafe, but an uncommon portion of ftrength, to live to any great age. To this it is owing, that there is a fmaller number of fickly per- fons in thofe parts, which has given rife to the very general but miftaken idea, that the inhabitants of mountainous diftricts arc more healthy and long lived than thofe of more open or level countries. LL AN VIH ANGEL. LLANDOUGH. 633 countries. If we contraft fenny or marfhy diftricts with moun- tains, the cafe will be different. Fens and dead levels will have ftagnant waters in great quantities ; and thefe will render the ait lefs falubrious than that of mountains. Thefe confiderations prove, that we labour under a grofs miftake, in ranking open, dry-bottomed, gently rifing and falling tracts of country, with fens, levels, and other diftricts known to be unwholefome ; or in denying them a degree of falubrity, fuperior to that enjoyed by Alpine elevations. Vulgar remarks may be founded in fome degree on truth ; but they are feldom fufficiently discriminative. They are for the raoft part local and partial, for which reafon they are not to be trufted as general maxims. Thefe topics have carried me fo far, that I muft barely mention Llanvihangel, belonging to Mr. Wyndham, but occupied by John Franklin, Efq. Treafurer to the Agricultural Society of the county, who is coniidered to be in his own perfon one of the mofl fucceff- ful practical farmers in Glamorganfhire. Llandough caftle is on jl^ Mr. Talbot's eftate, but at prefent the refidence of Major Arm- ftrong. There are few fituations more beautiful on a fmall fcale. The road from the village under the wood to Cowbridge, by the mill, whether the furrounding foliage is made vocjI by the night- » ingales in the fpring, or recommended to the eye by the varied tints of autumn, retains its attractions undiminimed after all the fuc^ ceffion of fcenery I have attempted to dcfcribe. I have before touched upon its peculiar character. The village of Llanblethian, occupying the foot and fide of a fteep hill, with a great deal of wood interfperied among the houfes, is remarkably rural and picturefque ; while Sir Kobert Lynch Blofle's little villa adds to its gaiety. The caftle, of which a gateway remains, clothed with ivy, and furrounded by trees, happily difpofed for the fubject of a drawing, has been men- tioned under the general divifion of the county. In the year 1763, 4 M there 634 GLAMORGANSHIRE. there was a decayed tomb ftone lying in the churchyard, near the fouth eaft end of the chancel/ which Sir Lhewelin Jenkins had caufed to be placed there, to the memory of his parents. The Principal and Fellows of Jefus College, Oxford, in gratitude to their liberal benefactor, caufed a copy of the infcription to be engraved on a neat marble tablet, which Wrfs affixed within the church. This fecond founder of Jefus College and Cowbridge School, gave the tenor bell to the tower of this church, and twenty pounds every fourth year to the poor of the parifh for ever. There are feveral other gentlemen's feats and pleafing villages within three or four miles to the weft of Cowbridge ; but I feel that I have trefpafTed too long on the indulgence of my readers* I am aware that many circumftances in the foregoing pages will be found, if examined, to have been haftily and incorrectly ftated; a cenfure always attaching to remarks and enquiries made prin- cipally on the fpot, with a very fallible eye, and no means of afcertaining the real worth of local information. If, however, fome few points of antiquity mall be thought to have been pur- fued beyond the furface, or here and there a fketch of biography and manners faithfully drawn, I fhall liften with thelefsfhame to that lecture on prefumption, which moft authors muft expect to receive, when thcv venture before the tribunal of the public. THE END. Directions to the Binder for placing the Plates, TheFalloftheRydoli - Frontifpiece. Map - - - Oppofite Page I New Bridge - - - 83 Caerphilly Caftle - - - 161 The Pafs from Pontneath Vechan to Merthyr - 508 Aberedwy - - * 2$2 Rhayader - - - 298 The Upper Fall at Havod - - - 345 Havod Inn - .. - 368 Pembroke Caftle and Town - - 49^ Llaugharne Caftle - - 543 Melin Court Fall - - S97 Briton Ferry - - 609 Lately publijbtd by the fame Author, ALMAHIDE and HAMET; A tRAGB.Hr. To which is prefixed, A LETTER to JOHN PHILIP KEMBLE, Esq. O H DRAMATIC COMPOSITION. Printed by T. Bcnfley, Bolt Coirt, Fleet Street, London. 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