Full text of "A book of North Wales"

See other formats

Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive

in 2008 witii funding from

IVIicrosoft Corporation

littp://www.arcliive.org/details/bookofnortliwalesOObari

A BOOK OF

NORTH WALES

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME

By S. BARING-GOULD

A BOOK OF DARTMOOR

A BOOK OF THE WEST— TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I. DEVON
,, II, CORNWALL

A BOOK OF BRITTANV

By F. J. SNELL
A BOOK OF EXMOOR

A BOOK OF

NORTH WALES

BY S. BARING-GOULD

WITH KOKTY-MNE ILLUSTRATIONS

METHUEN & CO.

36 ESSEX STREET W.C.

LONDOx\

1903

PREFACE

CONCERNING the purpose and scope of this
little book I have but to repeat what I have
said in the prefaces to my other works of the same
nature — A Book of the West, A Book of Dartmoor,
A Book of Brittany- — that it is not intended as a
Guide, but merely as an introduction to North
Wales, for the use of intending visitors, that they
may know something of the history of that delightful
land they are about to see.

Welsh history is a puzzle to most Englishmen ;
accordingly I have made an attempt to simplify it
sufficiently for the visitor to grasp its outlines. With-
out a knowledge of the history of a country in which
one travels more than half its interest is lost,

I have to return my warmest thanks to kind
friends who have helped me with information,
notably the Rev. J. Fisher, B.D., of Cefn, S. Asaph ;
Mr. J. E. Griffith, of Bryn Dinas, Bangor; the Rev.
E. Evans, of Llansadwrn ; Mr. C. H. Jones, of the
Public Library, Welshpool ; Mr. A. Foulkes- Roberts,
of Denbigh ; Mr. D. R. Daniel, of Four Crosses,

vi PREFACE

Chwilog ; and Mr. R. Williams, of Celynog, New-
town. I am also much indebted to Mr. R. J. Llo)d
Price, of Rhiwlas, for kindly allowing me to re-
produce the portrait of Catherine of Berain in his
possession ; and to Mr. Prys-Jones, of Bryn-Tegid,
Pontypridd, for sending me a photograph of the
painting. But, indeed, everywhere in Wales I have
met with general kindness and hospitality ; and if
I have failed to interest readers in the country and
people the fault is all mine. It is a glorious country,
and its people delightful.

S. BARING-GOULD

Lew Trenchard, N. Devon
May 17///, 1903

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. The Welsh People

PAGE

II.

The English Conquest .

III.

Anglesey

IV.

Holyhead

Bangor and Carnarvon

VI.

Sno\vdon

VII.

Lleyn .

106

\'III.

Conway

125

IX.

S. Asaph

145

Denbigh

163

XI.

Llangollen

183

XII.

DOLGELLEV

205

XIII.

Harlech

231

XIV.

Welshpool

244

XV.

Newtown

271

XVI.

Machynlleth .

291

ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL PAGE
Conway Castle .... Frontispiece

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.
Welsh Women .... To face page 8

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.

Holyhead at Rhoscolyn . . . ,,22

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.

South Stack Light, Holyhead . . ,, 46

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.

South Stack Bridge . . • >> 59

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd.

Carnarvon Castle . . . ,,74

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd.

Nant Bridge, Carnarvon . . ,, 80

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd.

Bethesda . . . • ,, 85

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.

Snowdon . . . . • ,,90

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd.

Aberglaslyn Pass . • . ,, 95

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and .Sons, Ltd.

Llanberis . . . • ,, 99

From a photograph by IMessrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd.

Beddgelert ....,, 102

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd.

Capel Curig . . . . ,, 105

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd.

Conway Castle . . • ,,125

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd.

Plas Mawr, Exterior . . • ,,129

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.
viii

ILLUSTRATIONS

Plas Mawr, Court

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.

Catherine of Berain

From a painting.

Ruthin Castle

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd

Llangollen Bridge

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd.

Berwyn ....

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd

Berwyn, from Castell Dinas Bran

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.

The Ladies of Llangoclen

From an old print.

The Pillar ok Eliseg

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd

Vale Crucis Abbey

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd

Vale Crucis Abbey from within .

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd

Cader Idris

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.

Cader Idris

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.

Torrent Walk, Dolgelley

From a photograph by Jilessrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd

Null, Torrent Walk

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd

Cader Idris

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.

Pistyll-y-Cain

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd

Lyn-y-Groes, Dolgelley .

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd

Halfway House, Dolgelley

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd

Harlech Castle .

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd

Church, Montgomery

From a photograph by F. Bligh Bond, Esq., k.k.i.b.a.

To face page

130
146
163
183
184
1S7
1 88
190
191

195

205
206
208
209
210
216
224
226

231
246

ILLUSTRATIONS

Powis Castle .... To face page 256

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd.

Owen Glyndvvr's Parliament House,

Machynlleth . . . ,, 291

From a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Sons, Ltd.

Old Bridge, Dinas Mavvddwy . . ,, 300

From a photograph by Messrs. F. Frith and Co.

Llanegryn . . . . ,, 308

From a photograph by F. Bligh Bond, Esq., k.k.i.b.a.

IN THE TEXT

Serigi. a Statue at Caergybi

S. Seiriol. Stained Glass, Penmon

Holy Well, Penmon

Base of Shrine, Llaneilian

Cross at Llanbadrig

S. Cybi. Statue, South Doorway, Caergybi

Doorway, S. Cybi's Well .

Bronwen's Urn

Tyssilio's Ring at Saint-Suliac.

GiLDAS. A sixteenth-century Statue at Locmine

PAGE

3.S
39
41
53
III

235
264
279

NORTH WALES

CHAPTER I
THE WELSH PEOPLE

General characteristics— The Iberian race — Linguistic survivals — Bry-
thon and Goidel — Roman conquest — Irish occupation of Wales —
Their expulsion by Cunedda— Saxon occupation of Britain— Causes
of subjection of the Celtic races— The Celt in the Englishman of
to-day — Divisions of Wales.

IT cannot be said that the Welsh have any very
marked external characteristics to distinguish
them from the English. But there is certainly among
them a greater prevalence of dark hair and eyes, and
they are smaller in build. This is due to the Iberian
blood flowing in the stock which occupied the moun-
tain land from a time before history began, at least
in these isles. It is a stock so enduring, that although
successive waves of conquest and migration have
passed over the land, and there has been an immense
infiltration of foreign blood, yet it asserts itself as
one of predominant and indestructible vitality.

Moreover, although the language is Celtic, that is
to say, the vocabulary is so, yet the grammar reveals
the fact that it is an acquired tongue. It is a com-
paratively easy matter for a subjugated people to

2 THE WELSH PEOPLE

adopt the language of its masters, so far as to accept
the words they employ, but it is another matter
altogether to acquire their construction of sentences.
The primeval population belonged to what is called
the Hamitic stock, represented by ancient Egyptian
and modern Berber. This people at a vastly remote
period spread over all Western Europe, and it forms
the subsoil of the French nation at the present
day.

The constant relations that existed betvv^een the
Hebrews and the Egyptians had the effect of carrying
into the language of the former a number of Hamitic
words. Moreover, the Sons of Israel were brought into
daily contact with races of the same stock on their
confines in Gilead and Moab, and the consequence is
that sundry words of this race are found in both
Hebrew and Welsh. This was noticed by the Welsh
scholar Dr. John Davies, of Mallwyd, who in 162 1
drew up a Welsh Grammar, and it is repeated by
Thomas Richards in his Welsh- English Dictionary
in 1753. He says : " It hath been observed, that our
Language hath not a great many Marks of the original
Simplicity of the Hebrew, but that a vast Number of
Words are found therein, that either exactly agree
with, or may be very naturally derived from, that
Mother-language of Mankind."

The fact is that these words, common to both,
belong radically to neither, but are borrowed from
the tongue of the Hamitic people.

This original people, which for convenience we
will call Iberian, migrated at some unknown period
from Asia, and swept round Europe, whilst a second

THE WELSH PEOPLE 3

branch colonised the Nile basin and Northern Africa,
and a third streamed east and occupied China and
Japan.

The master idea in the religion of this people was
the cult of ancestors, and the rude stone monuments,
menhirs, cromlechs, and kistvaens they have left
everywhere, where they have been, all refer to com-
memoration of the sacred dead. The obelisk in
Egypt is the highly refined menhir, and the elaborate,
ornamented tombs of the Nile valley are the ex-
pression of the same veneration for the dead, and
belief in the after life connected with the tomb, that
are revealed in the construction of the dolmen and
kistvaen.

This same people occupied Ireland. It was a
dusky, short-statured race, with long heads, and was
mild and unwarlike in character.

Then came rushing from the East great hordes
of fair-haired, round-headed men, with blue eyes.
Their original homes were perhaps the Alps, but
more probably Siberia. This new race was the Celt.
It was divided into two branches, the Goidels and
the Brythons, and the Goidels came first. Consider-
able difference as well as affinity exists between the
dialects spoken by each. Where a Brython or
Britton would speak of his head as "pen," the Goidel
or Gael would call it " ceann," pronouncing the c hard,
as k. So "five" in Manx is "queig," but in Welsh
" pump," A like difference was found in Italy, where
the Roman would name a man Quinctius (Fifth), but
a Samnite would call him Pontius.

The Gael is now represented by the Irish, the

4 THE WELSH PEOPLE

Manx, and the Highlander : the Britton, so far as
language goes, by the Welsh and Breton.

Where such names are found as Penmon in
Anglesey, Pentire in Cornwall, Pen-y-gent in York-
shire, there we know that the Britton lived long
enough to give names to places. But where we find
Kenmare, Kentire, Kinnoul, there we know that the
Gael was at home.

Now we find it asserted that the Goidels overran
Wales before they swept into Ireland, and that the
Brittons penetrated as a wedge into Powys between
two masses of Goidels.

But the place-names in North and South Wales
are purely British, and not Gaelic. That the latter
were at one time in both North and South Wales is
indubitable, but they were not there long enough to
stamp the mountains and rivers, the headlands and
lakes, with names in their tongue. That was done
by the Brittons who overflowed the whole of Wales
from north to south.

Owing to the weakness of Britain, that had been
in part Romanised, and which was ill-defended by a
few legions, the island became a prey to invaders.
It was fallen upon from all sides.

The Irish or Scots, as they were then called, poured
down upon the western coast ; the Picts broke
over the wall from the north, and the Scandinavians
and Germans invaded the east and north-east.

In 240 the Irish king Cormac MacAirt invaded
Britain and assumed a nominal sovereignty over it.
It was probably about this time that the Irish Gaels
effected a lodgment on the coast of Wales and

THE PICTS 5

occupied Anglesey and all the northern fringe of the
fair lands by the sea and the whole of Southern Wales,

That they were- in the land we know, not only
from the testimony of Welsh ancient writers, but from
the number of inscribed stones they have left behind
them, some with the Ogam script, bearing distinctly
Irish names. All these inscribed stones belong to
the period after the occupation from Ireland, and
none go back to an earlier date, and give any
grounds for supposing that the original population
of North and South Wales were Gaels. The Scots
or Irish held these parts till an event took place
which led to their expulsion.

The incursions of the Picts had made residence in
the land between the Roman walls, i.e. from the Clyde
to Solway Firth, altogether unendurable, and a chief
there named Cunedda, with his sons and a great host
of followers, descended on North Wales to wrest it
from the Irish. This they succeeded in doing.
Cunedda and his sons were Brittons. After a series
of contests they drove the Irish first out of Gwynedd,
and then out of Anglesey. Finally they turned them
bag and baggage out of South Wales as well.
Thenceforth the Gaels never again obtained a foot-
hold for any length of time in Wales.

Ceredig, son of Cunedda, gave his name to Cere-
digion or Cardigan ; Meirion, grandson of Cunedda,
has bequeathed his to Merioneth.

The contest began between 400 and 450, and the
complete sweeping out of the Gael was not accom-
plished till the beginning of the following century.
But by this time the invasion of Britain by the Jute,

6 THE WELSH PEOPLE

Angle, and Saxon had begun on a large scale, and
as the Teutonic warriors advanced, burning and
slaying, they rolled back the unfortunate Brittons
westward.

After the whole of Eastern Britain had been taken
and occupied, the line of demarcation between Celt
and Teuton ran from the Firth of Forth along the
backbone of the Pennine Range to the Forest of
Arden, and thence to Salisbury and to the sea by
Christchurch. But the invaders pressed on. In 577
the Brittons were defeated at Deorham, near Bath,
and those of Wales were cut off from their brethren
in Devon and Cornwall. In 607 they met with a
signal reverse at Chester, and they thenceforth were
separated from the Brittons in Strathclyde. Still the
unsatiated Anglo-Saxons pressed on, and the Brittons
finally retained only the mountains of Wales as their
last refuge. Many, indeed, fled over the sea and
occupied and colonised Armorica, to which they
gave the name of Lesser Britain or Brittany.

The borderland was the scene of bloody skirmishes
for centuries. Till 784 Shrewsbury had been accounted
the capital of the British kingdom of Powys, but then
Offa took the city and advanced the English frontier
to the Wye. He then constructed a dyke or bank
with a moat that ran from the estuary of the Dee to
the mouth of the Wye, as a limit beyond which no
Welshman might pass.

Mona received an English colony under Egbert,
and acquired its new name of Anglesey. Some time
after the battles of Deorham and Chester the refugees
began to call themselves Cymry.

DIVISIONS 7

The name implies " compatriots," and well de-
scribes those of the same blood from all parts of
Britain, now united in a common overthrow, and in
a common resolution to hold for ever their mountain
fastnesses to which they had been driven.

We may halt to inquire how it was that this great
and heroic people, to which belong some of the finest
qualities that are found in man, a people in some
respects more gifted than that which dispossessed
it, should have been so completely routed by invaders
from across the stormy North Sea. The Gaul had
been of precisely the same Brythonic stock, and he
had allowed himself to be buffeted by Caesar and
brought to his knees. Caesar was sharp-witted enough
to detect at a glance the defects in character and
in political organisation of the Gauls, and to take
advantage of them. Caesar could always reckon on
tribal jealousies, and consequently on setting one
clan against another ; and there was not a tribe
in which there were not traitors, who, offended in
their self-esteem, were ready to betray those of their
own race and household, to wipe off some petty
slight, to avenge some personal grudge. Precisely
the same cause led to the ruin of the Brittons when
opposed to Germanic invaders, and, as we shall see
in the sequel, the same cause again acted throughout
the long struggle with the English kings.

The divisions in Wales opened the door for Norman
and English adventurers to come in and possess the
land, and for the monarch to obtain an ever-strength-
ening grip on the land.

A brother was always ready to go over to the foe

8 THE WELSH PEOPLE

to gain some mean advantage ; one sept was ever
prepared to side with the national foe if it thought
thereby to humble another sept, or to acquire
through this means a few more cows and a little
more pasture.

When Jute, Angle, or Saxon crossed the North
Sea they were in the same political condition as were
the Welsh ; they also were tribally organised. But
they quickly learned the lesson never to be taken to
heart and acted on by the Britton, that of sub-
ordination of individual interests to the common
good. The English kingdoms became consolidated
into one ; the British chieftains remained to the end
disunited.

In feudal France province was opposed to province,
in much the same way, till the strong hand of Riche-
lieu consolidated the monarchy.

Even in Armorica, Lesser Britain, to which crowds
of refugees had escaped, the lesson was not acquired.
Attacked from the east by the Franks, ravaged along
the sea-coast by the Northmen, they could not com-
bine. The princes turned their swords against each
other in the face of the common foe.

Alan Barbetorte, godson of Athelstan, had not
been fostered in England without having drunk in
that which made England strong. When he re-
turned to Armorica he succeeded in forcing his
countrymen to combine in a supreme effort to hurl
the pirates back into the sea, and naturally enough
succeeded, by so doing, in freeing the land from
them. But after his death all went back into the
same condition of internal jealousies and strife.

U]:i.Ml UilMKN

THE ANGLO-SAXON 9

Throughout the Middle Ages Brittany was a battle-
field, the dukes and counts flying at each other's
throat, some calling themselves partisans of the
English, some of the French, but all seeking personal
aggrandisement only.

Not till 1490 did peace and unity reign in Brittany,
just five years after Henry Tudor became King of
England, and put a stop to the strife in Wales. The
late Mr. Green, in his The Making of England, laid
stress on the important part that the Latin Church
played in promoting the unity of the English race.
But neither in France nor in Germany, there least
of all, did it serve this end, and it was probably less
the work of the Church that England became one
than the peculiar genius of the Anglo-Saxon race.
For a while we see it divided into three great forces —
the Northumbrian, the Mercian, and the West Saxon
— contending for the mastery, but each actuated by
the dominating belief that so only could England
thrive and shake off her enemies.

Mr. Green perhaps overrates the Anglo-Saxon,
and thinks that the Britton disappeared from the soil
before him as he advanced. At first, indeed, those
who landed from their German keels proceeded to
ruthless extermination. But as they advanced they
ceased to do so ; they were not themselves inclined
to till the soil, they were content to spare their
captives on condition that they became their slaves,
and they certainly kept the women for themselves.
Gildas, a contemporary, says that " some, being
taken in the mountains, were murdered in great
numbers ; others, constrained by famine, yielded

lo THE WELSH PEOPLE

themselves up to be enthralled by their foes ; others,
again, escaped beyond the seas."

The English of to-day are a mixed race, and there
is certainly a great deal more of British and Iberian
blood in our veins than some have supposed. The
Anglo-Saxon possessed rare qualities, perseverance,
tenacity, and power of organisation ; yet some of
the higher qualities of our race, the searching in-
tellect, the bright imagination, and idealism, are due
to the spark of living fire entering into the some-
what heavy lump of the Germanic nature through
contact with the Celt.

Wales was formed into three main divisions —
Gwynedd, Powys, and Deheubarth — but in this
volume we have only to do with the two former.
Each had its independent prince, but as according
to Welsh custom every principality was divided up
among all the sons of a prince on his death, this
led to endless subdivisions, to fraternal quarrels,
and fratricides. Moreover, the boundaries were
incessantly shifting. The king of Gwynedd was
recognised as the Gwledig, or Over-King, and the
supremacy remained in the family of Maelgwn till
817, when it died out with Cynon Tyndaethwy.
His daughter Esyllt married Mervyn Vrych, king of
Powys, who by this means united both portions of
North Wales under his sceptre.

Rhodri the Great, son and successor of Mervyn,
moreover, acquired South Wales by his marriage
with Angharad, daughter of Meurig, king of Cere-
digion. Thus by a series of marriages all Wales
was united under one sovereign and an unrivalled

INTESTINE DIVISIONS ii

opportunity offered for consolidation, and sturdy
united opposition to encroachment from England.
Unhappily the chance was allowed to slip. On
the death of Rhodri, Wales was divided among
his three sons (877) : Anarawd obtained Gwynedd,
Cadell became king of Deheubarth, and Mervyn was
placed in possession of Powys. In 1229 Powys was
subdivided into Powys Vadog and Powys Wenwyn-
wyn. In addition to the main divisions there were
a number of small principalities, whose princes were
engaged in incessant strife with one another and
with the sovereign who claimed supreme rule over
them. They sided now with the English, then those
in Gwynedd would throw in their lot with the princes
of the south. It was these intestine divisions, never
appeased, that exhausted the strength of the country
and made way for the conquest by the English,

CHAPTER II
THE ENGLISH CONQUEST

The contest with the Saxons — William the Conqueror — The Norman
invasion of Wales — The castles— The Welsh kingdoms — Rhodri
the Great — Llewelyn the Great — The last Llewelyn — Edward L's
treatment of the Welsh.

THROUGHOUT the reigns of the Saxon kings
the Welsh had to maintain a contest, on the
one hand with the EngHsh, and on the other with
the Danes and Northmen hovering round the coast.

The Vikings, who carried devastation through
England, did not overlook Wales. Wherever we
find camps of a certain description, there we know
that either Saxon or Dane has been.

These camps consist of earthen tumps or bell-
shaped mounds, usually hollowed out in the middle,
and with base-courts attached, protected by a pali-
sade, and the top of the tump was crowned with a
tower-like structure of timber.

At times the Welsh were in league with one of
the kings of the Heptarchy against another ; at
others they were in league with the Danes against
the English, and when not so engaged were fighting
one another.

When William the Conqueror had subjugated Eng-

THE CONQUEST 13

land he was determined not to leave Wales to its
independence.

But the conquest of Wales was not executed by
one master mind. Wales was given over to a num-
ber of Norman adventurers to carry out the conquest
in their own way, under no control, with the result
that it was conducted with barbarity, lawlessness,
wanton destruction, and spasmodically. In England,
after the battle of Hastings, the Conqueror set to
work to consolidate the kingdom under his sceptre,
and blood ceased to flow. In Wales, in the north,
the Earl of Chester and Robert of Rhuddlan fought
and conquered for themselves in Gwynedd. In like
manner the Earl of Shrewsbury raided in Powys
from his fortress at Montgomery. In the south the
Earl of Hereford carried sword and fire into Deheu-
barth. Frightful cruelties were committed. Orderi-
cus Vitalis, as he records the glory of "the warlike
marquess," or Lord Marcher, Robert of Rhuddlan,
is forced to admit with honest indignation that his
deeds were such as no Christian warrior ought to
commit against his fellow-Christians.

Seeing the importance of Shrewsbury, William
built a strong castle there. Chester, Worcester,
Hereford, and Gloucester were made into fortresses,
and everything was prepared for advance.

In the reign of William Rufus, Deganwy, the old
residence of the kings of Gwynedd, above the mouth
of the Conway, was seized and fortified, and the Welsh
king had to remove to Aberffraw, in Anglesey.

"The conquest which now began," says Mr. Freeman,
" that which we call either the English or Norman conquest

14 THE ENGLISH CONQUEST

of Britain, differed from the Norman conquest of England.
It wrought far less change than the landing at Ebbfleet ; it
wrought far more change than the landing at Pevensey.

"The Britton of these lands, which in the Red King's
day were still British, was gradually conquered ; he was
brought gradually under English rule and English law, but
he was neither exterminated nor enslaved, nor wholly assimi-
lated. He still abides in his ancient land, still speaking his
ancient tongue.

"The English or Norman conquest of Wales was not
due to a national migration like the English conquest of
Britain, nor was it a conquest wrought under the guise
of an elaborate legal fiction, like the Norman conquest
of England."

The process pursued was this. The Norman barons
advanced with their armed men along the shore, and
up the basins of the rivers, till they gained some
point of vantage controlling the neighbourhood, and
there they erected castles of stone. This was an art
they had acquired in Normandy, where stone was
abundant and easily quarried. It was one to which
the Brittons were strange. By degrees they forced
their way further ; they seized the whole seaboard.
They strangled the valleys by gripping them where
they opened out ; they controlled the fertile pasture
and arable land from their strongholds. Towns
sprang up under the shelter of the castles, and Eng-
lish mechanics and traders were encouraged to settle
in them.

The Welsh had never been city builders or dwellers
in cities. They had suffered the old Roman towns
to fall into decay, the walls to crumble into shapeless
heaps of ruins. They lived in scattered farms, and

LAND OF CASTLES 15

every farmer had his hafod, or summer residence, as
well as his hendre, or winter and principal home.
Only the retainers of a prince dwelt about him in
his palace, or caer. And now they saw strongly
walled and fortified towns starting up at command-
ing points on the roads and beside all harbours.
The arteries of traffic, the very pores of the land,
were occupied by foreigners.
As Freeman further observes : —

"Wales is, as everyone knows, pre-eminently the land
of castles. Through those districts with which we are
specially concerned, castles great and small, or the ruins
or traces of castles, meet us at every step. The churches,
mostly small and plain, might themselves, with their forti-
fied towers, almost count as castles. The towns, almost
all of English foundation, were mosdy small; they were
military colonies rather than seats of commerce. As Wales
had no immemorial cities like Exeter and Lincoln, so she
had no towns which sprung up into greatness in later times,
like Bristol, Norwich, and Coventry. Every memorial of
former days which we see in the British land reminds us
of how long warfare remained the daily business alike of
the men in that land and of the strangers who had made
their way into it at the sword's point."

Through the reigns of the Plantagenet kings the
oppression and cruelties to which the Welsh were
subjected drove them repeatedly to reprisals. At
times they were successful.

During the commotions caused by the misrule of
King John and the incapacity of Henry III. the
Welsh took occasion to stretch their limbs and recover
some of the lands that had been wrested from them,

i6 THE ENGLISH CONQUEST

and to throw down the castles that were an incubus
upon them.

There were three Welsh kingdoms, or principalities.
Gwynedd, roughly conterminous with the counties of
Anglesey, Carnarvon, Merioneth, and parts of Den-
bigh and Flint. Powys, sadly shrunken, still comprised
Montgomeryshire and Radnor and a portion of
Denbigh. The third principality, Deheubarth or
Dynevor, composed of Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire,
Carmarthenshire, and Glamorgan, Brecknock was
claimed as part of it, but was an enclave in which the
Normans had firmly established themselves. Mon-
mouthshire also belonged to Deheubarth.

The king of Gwynedd claimed supremacy as head
over the rest, and although this was allowed as a
theory, if practically asserted it always met with
armed resistance. But this was not all that went
to weaken the Welsh opposition. Each prince who
left sons carved up his principality into portions for
each, and as the brothers were mutually jealous and
desirous of acquiring each other's land, this led to
incessant strife and intrigue with the enemy in the
heart of each of the three principalities. A great op-
portunity had offered. Rhodri the Great had united
all Wales in his own hands, as mentioned already.
But the union lasted only for his life ; all flew apart
once more at his death in 877, and that just at the
moment when unity was of paramount importance.

Llewelyn ab lorwerth, surnamed " the Great," was
king of Gwynedd at the beginning of the thirteenth
century, and he had sufficient wit to see that the only
salvation for Wales was to be found in its reunion.

THE LLEWELYNS 17

and he attempted to achieve this. As Powys was
obstructive, he had to fight Gwenwynwyn its king,
then to subject Lleyn and Merioneth.

In 1202 Llewelyn was firmly established in
Gwynedd, and he married Joan, the daughter of
King John, who proceeded to reinstate Gwenwyn-
wyn in Powys. In 121 1 this prince sided with
Llewelyn against John, who, furious at this act of
ingratitude, hanged twenty-eight Welsh hostages at
Nottingham.

Llewelyn now turned his attention to the conquest
of South Wales. He stormed one castle after
another, and obtained recognition as prince of
Dynevor. But in 12 16 the false and fickle Gwen-
wynwyn abandoned the Welsh side and went over
to that of the English. After some fighting Llewelyn
submitted to Henry III. at Worcester in 12 18.

His grandson, another Llewelyn, was also an able
man, but he lacked just that essential faculty of being
able to detect the changes of the sky and the signs
of the times, and that ruined him.

In 1256 Llewelyn was engaged in war against the
English. He had done homage to Henry III. in
1247, but the unrest in England caused by the
feeble rule and favouritism of Henry had resulted in
the revolt of the barons. Llewelyn took advantage
of this condition of affairs to recover Deganwy
Castle and to subdue Ceredigion. Then he drove
the unpatriotic son of Gwenwynwyn out of Powys.
The same year he entered South Wales, and was
everywhere victorious. Brecon was brought under
his rule, and the castles held by the English were
c

i8 THE ENGLISH CONQUEST

taken and burned. But Llewelyn's great difficulty
lay with his own people, though his power was
used for the recovery of Wales from English dom-
ination.

In 1265 he had received the oaths of fealty
throughout Wales, which was now once more an in-
dependent principality. But he made at this point
a fatal mistake. He did not appreciate the strength
and determination of Edward I., the son of the feeble
Henry, and in place of making favourable terms with
him he intrigued against him with some revolted
barons.

But Edward was a man of different metal from his
father, and he declared war against Llewelyn, and in
1277 invaded Wales.

Three formidable armies poured in, and Llewelyn
was driven to take refuge among the wilds of
Snowdon, where he was starved into submission.
All might have gone smoothly thenceforth had
Edward been just. But he was ungenerous and
harsh. He suffered his officials to treat the Welsh
with such brutality that their condition became in-
tolerable. Appeals for redress that were made to
him were contemptuously set aside, and the Welsh
princes and people felt that it would be better to die
with honour than to be treated as slaves.

A general revolt broke out. In 1282 Llewelyn
took the castles of Flint, Rhuddlan, and Hawarden
in the north, and Prince Grufifydd rose against the
English in the south.

Edward I. resolved on completely and irretrievably
crushing Wales under his heel. He entered it with

FIRST PRINCE OF WALES 19

a large army, and again drove Llewelyn into the
fastnesses of Snowdon. Llewelyn thence moved
south to join forces with the Welsh of Dyved, leav-
ing his brother David to hold the king back in North
Wales.

The place appointed for the junction was near
Builth, in Brecknock, but he was betrayed into a trap
and was surrounded and slain, and his head sent to
Edward, who was at Conway.

Edward ordered that his gallant adversary's body
should be denied a Christian burial, and forwarded
the head to London, where, crowned in mockery
with ivy leaves, it was set in the pillory in Cheapside.
Nor was that all : he succeeded in securing the person
of David, had him tried for high treason, hanged,
drawn, and quartered. Llewelyn's daughter was
forced to assume the veil. Thus ended the line of
Cunedda, and Llewelyn is regarded as the last of the
kings of Wales.

Edward was at Carnarvon when his second son
Edward was born, 1301, and soon after he proclaimed
him Prince of Wales.

It has been fondly supposed that this was a tact-
ful and gracious act of the king to reconcile the
Welsh to the English Crown. It was nothing of the
kind. His object was to assure the Crown lands of
Gwynedd to his son.

" Edward's brutal treatment of the remains of Llewelyn,
who, though a rebel according to the laws of the king's
nation, was slain in honourable war, and his utter want of
magnanimity in dealing with David were long remembered
among the Cymry, and helped to keep alive the hatred

20 THE ENGLISH CONQUEST

with which the Welsh-speaking people for several genera-
tions more regarded the English."*

The principality of Wales indeed remained, but
in a new and alien form, and all was over for ever
with the royal Cymric line,

* Rhys and Brynmor Jones, The Wehh People, p. 342.

r. +

iz;

j3)

>
>

-o'o

-S

j: 2:

CA!

•c +

PL,

■a
o

ffi

»»H

et,

rt o

+ M

+ o

-'S-*-5-it

3 rs s

+ +

5 O S

S 2 ^ u

Q +

-,+

CHAPTER III

ANGLESEY

The "Mother of Wales" — Agricola — Invades Mon — Mines — Caswallon
Long-hand — Drives out the Irish— Conquest by Edwin — Aberftraw
— Characteristics of Anglesey — Plas Llanfair — Llandyssilio —
Llansadwrn — Inscribed stone of Sadwrn — Prophecy — Beaumaris —
Bulkeley monuments — Penmon — Church of S. Seiriol — Old gallows
— Puffin Isle — Maelgwn Gwynedd — Gildas — Loss of the Rothesay
Castle — Tin Sylwy — English and Welsh inscriptions — Monument
of lestyn — His story — The Three Leaps — Amlwch — Llaneilian —
John Jones — Llanbadrig — The witches of Llanddona — Goronwy
Owen — Lewis Morris.

ANGLESEY is called the "Mother of Wales,"
_/-\ apparently because of its fertility and as
supplying the mountain districts of the Principality
with corn.

It has not the rugged beauty of the greater portion
of Wales — there is, however, some bold coast scenery
on the north and the west — but it possesses one great
charm, the magnificent prospects it affords of the
Snowdon chain and group and of the heights of Lleyn.
Its Welsh name is Mon, which was Latinised into
Mona, and it did not acquire that of Anglesey till
this was given to it by King Egbert in 828. We
first hear of it in A.D. 78, when the Roman general
Cn. Julius Agricola was sent into Britain. He at

THE ORDOVICES 23

once marched against the Ordovices, who occupied
Powys.

As represented by Tacitus, Agricola was a Roman
of the purest type, a man sincere, faithful, and
affectionate in his domestic relations, and gracious
in his behaviour to all men. He was upright in
his dealings, a fine soldier, an able general, but in-
flexible in his dealings with the enemies of Rome.
The ancient Roman was filled with the conviction
that the gods had predestined the City on the
Seven Hills to rule all nations and languages, and
that such as resisted were to be treated as the
enemies of the gods. No mercy was to be accorded
to them. Much of the same principle actuated the
generals of the Republic and the Empire as did the
followers of the Prophet. With one it was Rome,
with the other Islam, or the sword.

The Ordovices had been most stubborn in their
opposition, and most difficult to restrain within
bounds. In a short but decisive campaign Agricola
so severely chastised them that his biographer says
that he almost literally exterminated them. This is
certainly an exaggeration, but it implies the hewing
to pieces of the chiefs and free men capable of bear-
ing the sword who fell into his hands. Caesar had
treated the Cadurci, after their gallant stand at
Uxellodunum, in the same way, and again the
Veneti of Armorica, without a shadow of compunc-
tion. Whatsoever people opposed Rome was guilty
of a capital crime, and must be dealt with accord-
ingly. Agricola now pushed on to the Menai Straits,
beyond which he could see the undulating land of

24 ANGLESEY

Mona, the shore hned with Britons in paint, and
brandishing their weapons, whilst behind them were
ranged the Druids and bards inciting them to victory
with their incantations and songs.

We can determine with some confidence the spot
where Agricola stood contemplating the last strong-
hold of the Briton and its defenders. It was at
Dinorwic, where now plies a ferry.

He waited till the strong current of the tide had
run to exhaustion and left a long stretch of sand on
the further side. The Britons seeing that he was
without ships feared nothing.

But they were speedily convinced of their mistake.
Agricola's auxiliaries, probably natives of the low
lands at the mouth of the Rhine, had no fear of the
water, plunged in, and gallantly swam across the
channel.

A massacre ensued ; the island was subjugated,
and Roman remains found on it in several places
testify that the conquerors of the world planted troops
there in camp to keep Mona in complete control.
They worked the copper mines near Amlwch.

As the Roman power failed in Britain, Mona
became the stronghold of the invading Gwyddyl or
Irish ; they held it, and erected on its commanding
heights their stone-walled fortresses, and it was not
till the time of Caswallon Long-hand, grandson of
Cunedda, that they were dislodged. He fought them
in a series of battles, drove them from their strong
castles faced with immense slabs of granite, such as Tin
Sylwy, swept them together into Holy Island, then
broke in on their last remaining fortrees. According

HISTORY

to legend, Caswallon was obliged to fasten his Britons
together with horse-hobbles, to constrain them to
fight by taking away from them the chance of escape
by running away. With his own hand he slew Serigi,
the Irish chief, near the entrance to the camp, and

SERIGI. A STATUE AT CAERGYBI

those of the Gwyddyl who did not escape in their
boats were put to the sword. By an odd freak much
like ours in glorifying De Wet and Lucas Meyer,
the Welsh agreed to consider their late enemy as a
martyr, and a chapel was erected where he fell, and
he is figured, very shock-headed and bearing the

26 ANGLESEY

short sword wherewith he was killed, in a niche of the
doorway of the church which now stands in the
midst of the old Gwyddyl fortress.

Caswallon set up his residence on the hill above
Llaneilian, where the foundations may still be traced
— a spot whence in the declining day the mountains
of VVicklow may be seen, the Isle of Man stands out
to the north, and in clear weather Helvellyn may be
distinguished on the rim of the blue sea.

Edwin, king of Northumbria, conquered both Mona
and the Isle of Man in 625. The place of his landing
is still pointed out at Lleiniog, near Beaumaris, and
a mound of the Anglo-Saxon type remains to show
where was his first camp. Here also Hugh the Fat,
Earl of Chester, was killed by the arrow of Magnus
Barefoot. But of this more presently. Driven from
Deganwy, on the Conway, the kings of Gwynedd
made their residence at Aberffraw, in Mona. Of that
palace there are but scanty traces.

There is something remarkable in the character of
Anglesey. The bold mountains of Wales come to
an abrupt fall at the Menai Straits, and thence the
island stretches west in low undulation rising
nowhere to any considerable elevation, and scored
across with depressions from north to south, feeble
and imperfect replicas of the Menai Straits. One is
the furrow occupied by the Malldraeth morass and
sands, but this does not cut completely across the
island. The other is more thorough ; it severs Holy
Island from the main body of Mon, but it is so
narrow that it has been bridged at Penybont and
the railway crosses it on a causeway at Valley.

MONA 27

Anglesey does not impress the visitor as being so
fertile as has been supposed. There are long stretches
of morass and moor strewn with pools. But perhaps
Mon was first called the " Mother of Wales " because
to it, as to a mother's lap, retreated the Cymry when
beaten, wounded, and sore before their oppressors.
If so, it soon ceased to be their place of refuge, but
formed a pomt d'appiii for their enemies, whence to
strike at them from the rear.

Mona, as already said, does not present us with
very striking scenery, except on the coast, but it teems
with interest in other ways. It is dotted with
monuments of the primeval inhabitants — cromlechs
and meini-hirion (the plural of maen-hir). It
possesses very well preserved camps of the Gwyddyl
invaders. It was first the sanctuary and school of
the Druids, and after that, of their spiritual successors,
the Saints. The slope of Mona towards the east is
well timbered and studded with mansions, the park
of Plas Newydd, the residence of the Marquess of
Anglesey, Plas Llanfair, and the palace of the
Bishop of Bangor. This prelate had his residence
near the Cathedral, but this has been sold, and a
lordly mansion has been given to him on the Straits,
where he can turn his back on his Anglesey clergy,
and say to the rest, " Between us and you there is
a great gulf fixed." The beautiful suspension bridge
erected by Telford crosses the Straits at their
sweetest spot. Here the channel is broken by a little
island occupied by the graveyard and church of
Llandyssilio. The church is of no architectural in-
terest. It was founded by Tyssilio, one of the sons of

28 ANGLESEY

Brochwel Ysgythrog, prince of Powys, when he ran
away from Meifod to escape the blandishment of an
over-affectionate sister-in-law.

Llansadwrn Church, beautifully situated and care-
fully restored, contains the tombstone of its patron
saint. This is a small block, now broken, that was
found under the wall of the north transept, and is
now let into the side of the chancel. It bears the
inscription : Hie Beatu{s) Saturninus Se{pultus Pjacit.
Et Sua Sainctd) Coniux. P{ax). The knight was
an Armorican prince, and the brother of S. Illtyd,
founder of Llantwit Major, in Glamorganshire.
Sadwrn and his wife Canna, who was his cousin,
left Armorica, owing probably to some family un-
pleasantness. After his death she married again, and
became the mother of Elian the Pilgrim, of whom
we shall have something to say presently. In the
very interesting church of Beaumaris is a tomb the
sides of which are decorated with delicately carved
figures of Anglesey saints, and among these are two
that may be taken to represent Sadwrn and his wife.
He is shown in armour, his sword sheathed, and hold-
ing a pilgrim's staff in his left hand, whilst giving a
benediction with the right.

When the tubular bridge for the railway was built
it was considered that a prophecy made by a Welsh
bard had been fulfilled, wherein he spoke of rising
from his bed in Mona, of breakfasting in Chester, of
lunching in Ireland, and of returning to sup in Mona.
But the required speed to Ireland has not yet been
attained. Another meaning or interpretation has
been put on the words of Robyn Ddu. He was

BEAUMARIS 29

living at Holyhead when he wrote the Hnes in ques-
tion, and there were two boats by the quay, one
from Chester and the other from Dubhn, and he
breakfasted with the captain at his table in the first
boat, took his midday meal in the cabin of the
second, and returned to his own quarters to sup and
sleep.

Beaumaris is a sleepy little place, only waking to
life when the bathing season sets in. The castle was
erected by Edward I., and took its name from its
situation on the Fair Marsh. It is not a particularly
striking building, and is far gone in ruin.

The church, however, which is of the same period,
and due to Edward I., is worth a visit. The side
aisles contain five two-light Decorated windows. The
chancel is Late Perpendicular, with a very poor east
window containing some fragments of stained glass.
The arcade of the church is Perpendicular. In the
vestry are Bulkeley monuments, removed at the
Dissolution from Penmon. From Beaumaris a de-
lightful excursion may be made to Penmon, which
was a great nursery of saints for Gwynedd. It would
be hard to find anywhere a sweeter or sunnier spot.
The hills fold around the little dell in which lies the
church, shutting off the gales from north and east
and west, and open only to the south to let in the
sun.

Unhappily a marble quarry is close by, and is
eating into one of the arms that is wrapped
lovingly about the old site, and will in time eat its
way through.

In the combe, among ancient walnut and chestnut

30 ANGLESEY

trees and flowering elder, are some relics of the
monastery and its Norman priory church. The
foundation of the cloister may be traced. The
church is cruciform, and is aisleless. The south
transept contains rich Norman arcades, and the
arch into this transept is of the same period and of
equal richness. A square font in the nave, covered
with interlaced and key work, is the base of an old
Celtic cross. A Norman doorway on the south side
gives admission to the nave. This has knotwork
and a monster biting its tail in the tympanum. The
chancel is three steps below the level of the nave. A
fine cross is in the south transept, taken out of the
ruins of the priory, where it had served as lintel to a
mediaeval window.

S. Seiriol, the founder, is represented in stained
glass of the fifteenth century in a window of the
south transept, and a bishop, probably S. Elian, in
one of the north transept. Near the church is the
holy well of the saint, gushing forth from under a
rock, and filling what was once the priory fishpond.
The well is now in request mainly by such as desire
to know what is in store for them in their love affairs,
by dropping in pins and forming wishes.

About a mile distant, on a height where the rock
comes to the surface, are four holes— the sockets for
a pair of gallows, as the Prior of Penmon had
seigneurial rights, and could hang misdoers.

Just off the coast is Ynys Seiriol, or Puffin Island,
with the tower and ruins of a church on it. Hither
retreated the monks of the first Celtic monastery to
die and to be buried, and the soil is dense with their

PUFFIN ISLAND 31

bones. The rabbits turn them up when burrowing.
Here, according to tradition, Maelgwn, king of
Gwynedd, was buried in 547. He was son of Cas-
wallon, who drove the Irish out of Anglesey.
Maelgwn was a remarkable man, tall and noble of

S. SEIRIOL. STAINED GLASS, PENMON

countenance, and a masterful prince. He incurred
the wrath of the ecclesiastics because he had once
been a monk and had thrown aside the cowl. He
was not particularly scrupulous about the rights of
sanctuary claimed by the saints, and he was imperious
in requisitioning meals of them when hunting in their
neighbourhood.

32 ANGLESEY

He was, however, large-hearted and Hberal, and
when Caw, a prince of Strathclyde, and his sons came
helter-skelter into Gwynedd, flying from the Picts,
he generously received them and gave them lands in
Anglesey.

Somewhat later, Gildas the historian, one of the
sons of Caw, when himself safe in Brittany, wrote
his venomous letter on the Destruction of Britain,
and thus indecently and ungratefully attacked
Maelgwn, the protector of his family: —

"Thou island dragon, first in wickedness, exceeding
others in power and in malice, liberal in giving, but more
prompt in sin, strong in arms, but stronger in what destroys
the soul, why dost thou wallow in such a black pool of
crimes? Why dost thou lade thy neck with such loads
of heavy crimes ? Thy conversion once on a time brought
as much joy as now thy accursed reversion to thy disgust-
ing vomit, like a sick dog, has caused sorrow. Thy ears
are not given to listen to sacred hymns, but to the bawling
of a rascally crew howling out lies and frothing phlegm, be-
spattering everyone round about."

Probably Maelgwn was not a good man, but the
family of Gildas owed every yard of land it possessed
to his munificence. By a word only does Gildas
allude to their indebtedness to him ; not an indication
appears of loving pity — all is scurrilous abuse of the
most insulting description. He was a sixth-century
counterpart of Mr. Cutcliffe Hyne's Captain Owen
Kettle, a curious combination of narrow religious-
ness and foulmouthedness. No wonder that in
Brittany his symbol is a snarling cur. And the
meanness of the man is conspicuous throughout. So

PUFFIN ISLAND 33

long as his own skin was safe from the lash it de-
served, he gave no thought to his kinsmen living
under the protection of Maelgwn and other princes
against whom he inveighed — with what unpleasant
consequences to them we shall see presently.

At Ruys, in the Morbihan, is a very beautiful
marble statue of him, set up by his tomb a kw years
ago. It represents a young monk with angelic face,
and a mouth in which butter would not melt. It is
too funny for words to look at that idealised portrait
and read the Destruction of Britain.

And now the bones of Maelgwn lie in Ynys Seiriol.
In 1897 some excavations were made on the island
by Mr. Harold Hughes, who says : —

" On removing the debris of centuries " — near the ruined
church — "with the aid of pick and shovel we have succeeded
in making a considerable clearing immediately to the east of
the structure. We discovered at about four feet from the
surface an ancient tomb. Beneath the rough clay, worn
slabs, and covered with shingle from the shore, lay within
a narrow inclosure, with feet to the east, the skeleton of a
man. Although portions of the skeleton had crumbled
away, many fragments remained, and these, after much
difficulty, I pieced together."

Was this, one may ask, the tomb of the famous
Maelgwn Gwynedd ?

From the island a reef runs into the sea, called
the Causeway of Seiriol, and it is supposed that it
was constructed by the saint as a means of com-
munication with Penmaen Mawr. It disappears
under the Dutchman's Bank, a sandy stretch that
obstructs the entrance to the Menai Straits. Hereon,

34 ANGLESEY

in 183 1, the Rothesay Castle was cast, when a hundred
lives were lost. Miss Martineau, in her History of
the Thirty Years' Peace, tells a striking story of this
wreck : —

" Two men, strangers to each other, found themselves
holding on to the same plank, which, it soon appeared, would
support only one. Each desired the other to hold on, the
one because his companion was old, the other because his
companion was young, and they quitted their grasp at the
same moment. By extraordinary accidents both were saved,
each without the knowledge of the other, and they met on
the shore in great surprise. Few greetings in the course of
human life can be so sweet and moving as must have been
that of these two heroes."

The country for some distance west of Penmon is
commanded by Tin Sylwy or Bwrdd Arthur as it is
also called. It rises 500 feet above the sea and is
crowned by a fortification. The wall is of stone
unset in mortar, faced within and without with slabs
set on end, and within the area are faint traces of
cytiau or circular huts of stone, such as are tradition-
ally attributed to the Irish. Some excavations have
been made here, but not on an extensive scale, and
Roman coins and Samian ware have been found ;
but the extant walling assuredly belongs to the
Gwyddyl invasion and occupation. Below the camp,
between it and the church of Llanfihangel, is a holy
well. In the graveyard may be noticed a token of a
change of- feeling towards the Welsh tongue. To
the date i860, or thereabouts, the inscriptions on
the tombstones are in English, after that date in
Welsh.

LLANIESTYN

There is nothing in the church of Llaniestyn but
the very curious carved slab with a full-length figure
of the saint who founded the church. One very
similar and of the same period, the reign of
Edward III., is in Llanbabo Church. lestyn was a
son of Geraint, the heroic king of Devon and Corn-

HOLY WELL, PENMON

wall, who fell at Langport, in Somersetshire, fighting
against invaders, about the year 522. lestyn was
buried here. He seems to have travelled, and it is
probably of him that a pretty story is told.

He had gone to Brittany, and had found a deserted
habitation at Plestin, of which he took possession.

36 ANGLESEY

The hut had been constructed by an Irish settler
named Efflam, who had departed on a pilgrimage.
On his return Efflam found his cell in the occupation
of a stranger. The question arose as to which should
have it. This they decided to determine in the
following manner. Both seated themselves in the
cabin. The day was overcast, but the clouds were
breaking, and the sun was nearing its setting. He
on whom it first shone should retain the hovel.
Presently the clouds parted, and a golden ray shot
in through the little window and blazed on Efflam's
upturned face. Then lestyn rose, bowed, and
withdrew, and ended his days in Mona. It is by
an artist's licence that on the monument lestyn is
represented wearing a crown. He was, indeed, a
king's son, but he never bore the royal circlet.

The somewhat similar monument is at Llanbabo,
in the north-west of the island. Pabo, after long and
stubborn fighting against the Picts in North Britain,
was driven to take refuge in Wales, and was kindly
received by the prince of Powys. He bears the title
of " The Pillar of Britain."

On the north coast is Pentraeth, at the head of
Red Wharf Bay, and here may be seen the Three
Leaps, by which hangs a tale.

Einion, son of Gwalchmai, was lord of Trefeilir.
Now there was a young lady named Angharad,
daughter of Ednyfed Fychan, who was so beautiful,
and was an heiress of so much, that she had many
suitors. As she professed herself unable to decide
among such an embarras de ricJiesscs of nice young
men, her father proposed that she should marry

AMLWCH z"]

the youth who could jump the furthest. She agreed.
When the suitors came to try their powers, Einion
surpassed the rest, for with a hop, skip, and a jump
he covered fifty feet. The hop, skip, and jump are
marked by three stones, which remain to this day
in the dingle of Plas Gwyn. So Einion became the
husband of Angharad.

His happiness was of short duration, for he was
summoned by Owen Gwynedd to assist in driving
the Flemings out of South Wales, who had been
settled there by Henry I. This was in 1137. Einion
was away for a good many years, constantly engaged
in fighting, and when he did return to Trefeilir he
found that on that day his wife had given her hand
to another suitor, supposing that Einion was dead.
Einion remained without and sent a servant within
to summon her to come forth, and then, striking his
harp, he sang a lay of reproach that has been pre-
served. Then he entered the house and ejected the
gentleman who had presumed to invade his premises.

The Parys Mountain rises to the height of 420 feet,
and is pretty completely honeycombed with mines,
as it is an almost solid lump of copper. It has been
worked continually since the times of the Romans,
and had probably been quarried at in the Bronze
Age before that.

The little town of Amlwch is dominated by this
mountain. It consists of two parts, the town proper
and the port, and a considerable manufacture of
chemical manures is carried on in it. Altogether
Amlwch is in itself not a particularly attractive place.
It has many spots of interest about it, and from it

^S ANGLESEY

can be reached Bull Bay, where there are good sands,
and the place is growing in favour. To the east the
adjoining parish is Llaneilian, that possesses a quaint
and interesting church, which, however, has suffered
cruelly from unintelligent " restoration." Like the
majority of Welsh village churches, it has no side
aisles ; it is a cross church, with battlements and
a western tower, covered from top to bottom in a
panoply of slates. At the " restoration " the old oak
seats were cast forth to make room for deal benches
in preference, and the fine rood-screen with its loft
had all the dainty tracery stripped from its panels
and openings and destroyed, so that now it is a mere
skeleton.

There is a curious little chapel at the south-east
end of the church, differently orientated, and with a
covered passage to it from the chancel.

This chapel has a well-preserved and good carved
oak roof, which the present rector has saved from
destruction by damp. Here is the base of the shrine
of S. Elian. It is of wood, and the panels were
formerly carved, but the tracery is gone. Into this
people crawled, and if they succeeded in turning
themselves about within, believed that they would get
cured of any disease they might have, or, according
to another version, would have their lives extended
by five years.

A painting of S. Elian by an Italian artist of the
seventeenth century is kept in the church, but it is
devoid of merit and is in bad preservation. There
is also a pair of wooden gefail gwn, or dog-tongs,
bearing the date 1748.

LLANBADRIG 39

Above Llaneilian rises the hill on which was
Caswallon's llys, or court. The story goes that
Caswallon promised to Elian as much land as a
stag he was hunting could run round in the day,
and the deer's spring, a leap over a rent in the
rocks, is shown to this day, but it is not any
longer in the parish of the saint.

BASE 01" SHRINE, LLANEILIAN

A late rector of Llaneilian, John Jones, who died
in 1870, and had been curate of the parish for twenty
years and after that rector for thirty-three, kept his
harper and also a pack of hounds.

To the west of Amlwch, in a bold situation, is
Llanbadrig. The church was founded, not by the
Apostle of the Irish, but by a namesake who lived
later and was a member of S. Cybi's monastery at

40 ANGLESEY

Holyhead. According to legend, when he was on
his way back from lona, where he had visited
S. Columba, his frail boat was wrecked on Ynys
Badrig, or the Middle Mouse, an islet off the coast.
Patrick succeeded in making his way to the land,
drank of a fountain near the shore, and scrambled
up the rock, in which the marks of his feet are still
to be seen, to where is the church which he planted
on the edge of the precipice in commemoration of his
providential escape.

Within the church is a very rude cross that may
well date from the time of S. Patrick, The niche at
the east end of the chancel that now contains a repre-
sentation of " Salvator Mundi " has twisted serpents
on the pedestal, and formerly contained a figure of
the patron saint, who was confounded with the Apostle
of Ireland.

The parish of Llanddona is in evil repute, as a
nest of witches. The story goes that a boat came
ashore in Red Wharf Bay without rudder or oars,
containing women and men in a condition of great
destitution. They were Irish. Now it was a common
custom in Ireland to punish malefactors by putting
them in a wicker-work coracle, covered by a single
hide, without allowing them oars or rudder. So
when S. Patrick converted Maughold, the robber, he
bade him drift oarless on the sea, his feet chained
together. He was swept by the winds and waves to
the Isle of Man, and eventually became bishop there.
Now when the good people of Llanddona saw this
boat come ashore thus unprovided with the necessary
apparatus for its guidance, they concluded that those

LLANDDONA

on board were criminals, and would have nothing to
do with them. They would have sent them adrift
again had not a spring of clear water burst forth on
the sands where the coracle had come ashore. The
spring still flows. This was decisive as a token that

CROSS AT LLANBADRIG

Heaven accepted the punishment of the crew, and
desired them to rest where they had landed.

So these strangers remained, and were suffered to
build cottages, but for generations they continued
apart from the Welsh inhabitants, and the}' main-
tained their evil propensities. The men li\ed b)-

42 ANGLESEY

smuggling, and the women supported themselves by
the exercise of witchcraft. It was not possible to
overcome the smugglers in a fray, for they carried
about with them a black fly tied in a knot of their
kerchief, and the moment that the knot was undone
the fly flew at the eyes of their opponents and
blinded them. The women, old and young, were
dreaded for the power they possessed of cursing those
who refused them whatsoever they asked — a fowl, a
loaf of bread, eggs, part of a pig. If this were
denied them, they would imprecate the most awful
curses, of which here is one : —

" May he wander for ages
And find at each step a stile,
And at every stile find a fall.
And at every fall a broken bone ;
Not the largest, nor the least bone.
But the chief neck bone, each time."

If the Llanddona witches attended a market, and
bid for anything, no one ventured to bid against
them. But are not most Welsh girls witches? —
witches, however, that win and do not revolt like
those of Llanddona.

On the further side of Red Wharf Bay, where, by
the way, there is an hotel, and where lodgings may be
had, is Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf There are three
parishes of the name of Llanfair in the island. Llan-
fair means the Llan or Church of S. Mary, the M in
combination becoming/^ as Llanfihangel signifies the
Church of Mi[chael] the Angel.

This Llanfair Mathafarn was the birthplace of
Goronwy Owen, the poet. He was born in 1722 of

GORONWY OWEN 43

extremely poor parents, went to Oxford through
help of Edward Wynne, of Bodewryd. Subsequently
Mr. Wynne despatched him to Jesus College, Oxford,
and maintained him there. From an early age he
gave indications of poetic genius, and he proved
himself to be a ripe scholar in the classic tongues.
He was ordained in 1745, and his great ambition
was to obtain a Welsh curacy and settle down in it.
Lewis Morris did his best for him, but all he could
get was a temporary appointment to his native parish
Llanfair, where the curacy chanced to be vacant.
But- he had been there only three weeks when he
received notice from the Bishop of Bangor that he
must turn out to make way for a young clergyman
of large independent fortune ; so Goronwy was
obliged to depart. He sought curacies in Wales, but
could get no bishop to touch him with the ends of
his fingers, as he had no connections and no fortune.
That he was deeply pious, earnest, a scholar, an
eloquent Welsh preacher, and a poet of singular
merit counted as nothing. Unhappily, though
Goronwy was a genius, he was given to drink, and
could never remain long anywhere. At length he
obtained a curacy at Oswestry, and there he married.
From Oswestry he was removed to Donnington, in
Shropshire, where his rector was a Scotchman and
an absentee, but being a Douglas, rich and with the
means of pushing himself, having neglected his
duties as parish priest, he managed to get himself
nominated and consecrated Bishop of Salisbury.
Lewis Morris did his best to save the poet from his
unfortunate vice, but failed.

44 ANGLESEY

At Donnington poor Goronwy Owen not only acted
as curate to the great absentee rector, but also as
master of the grammar school, and received twenty-
six pounds as his stipend. Thence he shifted, first
into Cheshire and then to Northolt, near London. In
1756 he was living in a garret in town vainly soliciting
employment in his sacred calling, and undergoing
with his family the utmost privations. His Welsh
accent in English stood in his way, and his brilliant
Welsh qualifications were not wanted in Wales. But,
indeed, poor Goronwy, with all his gifts, was not the
man to do much spiritual work.

At length Lewis Morris obtained for Goronwy
Owen the mastership of a Government school at
Williamsburg, in Virginia. Thither he went, and
there he died about the year 1770.

As Lewis Morris has been mentioned in connec-
tion with poor Goronwy Owen, a few words must
be devoted to him.

" Lewis Morris," says George Borrow, " was born at a
place called Trev y Beirdd, in Anglesey, in the year 1700.
Anglesey, or Mona, has given birth to many illustrious men,
but few, upon the whole, entitled to more honourable men-
tion than himself. From a humble situation in life, for
he served an apprenticeship to a cooper at Holyhead, he
raised himself by his industry and talents to affluence and
distinction, became a landed proprietor in the county of
Cardigan, and inspector of the royal domains and mines in
Wales. Perhaps a man more generally accomplished never
existed; he was a first-rate mechanic, an expert navigator, a
great musician, both in theory and practice, and a poet of
singular excellence. Of him it was said, and with truth.

LEWIS MORRIS 45

that he could build a ship and sail it, frame a harp and make
it speak, write an ode and set it to music. Though self-
taught, he was confessedly the best Welsh scholar of his age,
and was well versed in those cognate dialects of the Welsh —
the Cornish, Armoric, Highland Gaelic, and Irish. ... It
was he who first told his countrymen that there was a youth
in Anglesey whose genius, if properly encouraged, promised
fair to rival that of Milton ; one of the most eloquent letters
ever written is one by him, in which he discants upon the
beauties of certain poems of Goronwy Owen, the latent
genius of whose boyhood he had observed, whom he had
clothed, educated, and assisted up to the period when he
was ordained a minister of the Church, and whom he finally
rescued from a state bordering on starvation in London,
procuring for him an honourable appointment in the New
World."

Lewis Morris made a collection of Welsh MSS.,
consisting of about eighty volumes, which arc now
in the British Museum. He died in 1765 and was
buried at Llanbadarn Vawr, in Cardiganshire.

CHAPTER IV

HOLYHEAD

The Menai Straits to Holyhead — Llangadwaladr — The story of
Cadwallon — Cadwaladr — Plague in 664 — Ruskin on Holyhead —
The old caer — Chapel of the Irishman— Story of S. Cybi — The
menhir of Clorach — Cybi and Elian — Church of Caergybi — Chapel
of Llochwyd — Holy well — Chapel of S, Brigid — Breakwater —
The South Stack — Sea-birds — Their eggs — Cytiau'r Gwyddelod —
Old villages — Camp — Construction of the huts — A conservative
people that votes Liberal.

THE line from Bangor to Holyhead, after cross-
ing the Menai Straits, runs through country
that does not impress the traveller with an opinion
that it is fertile or beautiful. The land is for the most
part flat, or slightly undulating ; there are no trees,
much waste land, no mountains — only hills, and these
away to the north. The surface of the island is
speckled with little white houses with whitewashed
roofs, as though a giant's wedding had taken place
there, and it was sprinkled over with the rice cast at
the bride.

The line traverses the Malldraeth Marsh, and
beyond Bodorgan station skirts Llyn Coron, a tarn
with no picturesque surroundings, through which
trickles the River Ffraw, that flows to the Aber, where

LLANGADWALADR 47

once stood the residence, probably of timber, of the
kings of Gwynedd.

Near the Llyn is Llangadwaladr, that takes its name
from the last British prince who bore the title of
King of All Britain. He was the son of Cadwallon
ab Cadfan, and in the church is preserved the stone
that bears the sententious inscription to inform the
world that King Cadfan was " the wisest, the most
renowned of all kings."

The screen at Llaneilian has been already spoken
of. It was delivered over to a joiner, who restored it
by daubing over the paintings that decorated it, by
hacking away the tracery that enriched it. Critics
treat history in much the same fashion. They efface
all the warm colouring that fancy has laid on, and
eliminate all the detail which adorns it, leaving us
but the naked scaffolding of fact.

If we deal in this way with the story of Cadfan
and his grandson Cadwaladr, we arrive at very
meagre and uninteresting outlines. We will there-
fore take the story much as we find it. Ethelfrid was
king of Northumbria, and he sent away his wife,
probably a British woman, and she took refuge with
King Cadfan in Mon, There, shortly after her arrival
at the court of Cadfan, the discarded queen became a
mother, and bore a son to whom she gave the name
of Edwin. About the same time the queen of
Gwynedd bore one also, who was named Cadwallon.

The two boys were sent to be fostered in Brittany
to King Solomon (there happened to be no king there
of that name till two centuries later, but we will not
be hypercritical).

4S HOLYHEAD

In due course, when they were grown to man's
estate, the youths returned to Mona, and remained
either there or at Deganwy till Cadfan died. Then
Cadwallon assumed the crown of Gwynedd and the
title of King of All Britain. Edwin went to
Northumbria, where he was chosen king, and first of
all the invading Angles and Saxons adopted a circlet
of gold as symbol of sovereignty. Now one day
Cadwallon was with his nephew Brian by the River
Dulas when, overcome with the heat of the day, he
laid himself down to sleep, with his head on
Brian's lap.

As he slept, Brian's mind turned to the wrongs
and sorrows that his countrymen had endured at the
hands of the Teutonic invaders, and his tears ran
down, and fell on Cadwallon's face. The king was
disturbed in his sleep by the falling drops, and, half
asleep and half awake, he said, " It rains ! It rains ! "

Then he opened his eyes and saw that the sky
above was blue as a corn-flower, and he remarked,
" It is strange. There has been a shower, and the sun
is shining. But where is the rainbow?"

Then Brian said, " Uncle, on the head of Edwin."
Cadwallon looked in his nephew's face and saw
that his eye-lashes were heavy with tears, and he
asked the reason.

Thereupon Brian told him all that was in his heart,
and Cadwallon rose up and vowed that he would
make a desperate effort to recover the land for the
British people.

So he made war on Edwin, but met with defeat after
defeat, and was finally obliged to escape into Ireland.

CADWALLON 49

There he resolved on seeking the assistance of the
Armoricans, so he took ship and sailed for Brittany,
but encountered a storm and was wrecked on an
island, probably Ouessant, and all on board were lost
save only Cadwallon and Brian.

Through distress at the death of his followers, and
dearth of food, the king fell into a fit of profound
dejection.

Brian was troubled for his uncle, whose heart
seemed to be broken. He went about the island
seeking for food, but could find naught. The sea-
fowl had been disturbed by the gale, and the season
was not that for eggs. He endeavoured to collect
shell-fish, but the waters still boiled and tumbled on
the rocks, and he could obtain none. Then he cut a
slice from his own thigh, lighted a fire, roasted the
flesh, and brought it to the king, and said that it was
venison. Cadwallon, believing this, ate, and his spirit
revived within him, and he determined on making an
effort to reach the mainland. The wind fell, and he
and Brian were able to get their battered ship afloat,
and in it they were wafted over to the coast of
l^rittan}-. They went before King Solomon, who
received them kindly and promised his aid.

So it was resolved that Cadwallon should return to
Wales with a thousand men of Armorica, and that
Brian should make his way in disguise to the court
of Edwin and spy out how matters stood there.

Brian landed at Southampton, and assuming the
rags of a beggar, but armed with a spiked staff, made
his way to York, where was King Edwin. Brian, in
a mendicant's garb, went to the palace and stood out-

50 HOLYHEAD

side among the beggars who waited daily for ahns.
As he thus stood his sister came forth. She had
been taken captive, and had been placed in the house-
hold of the queen. She bore a pitcher, and was on
her way to the well to fetch water when Brian
addressed her in a whining tone. Nevertheless, she
at once recognised him, and they carried on a con-
versation together with caution, lest he should be
discovered. What he particularly desired was that
a certain counsellor of Edwin should be pointed out
to him by whose advice the king was principally
governed, and whom the Britons regarded as a
specially dangerous adversary.

Brian's sister did so as the man issued from the
door with alms for the beggars. Thereupon Brian
pressed through the crowd, and, raising his staff,
struck him in the breast and transfixed him there.
Then he stepped back and disappeared among the
beggars.

Brian now fled to Exeter, where he roused the
Western Britons, and they held the city.

Meanwhile Cadvvallon had arrived, and through
Brian entered into a league with Benda, king of
the Mercians, against Edwin. Both forces marched
into Northumbria, and a battle was fought at a place
called Heathfield, and Edwin was slain and his
Northern Angles routed.

Then, for a while, Cadwallon reigned over all the
British peoples in Wales, Strathclyde, and Devon
and Cornwall.

He was succeeded by his son Cadwaladr, whose
mother was a sister of Bend a the Mercian. He was

SCENERY 51

a good and peace-loving prince, not made of the
same stuff as his father, and although he gained
some victories his reign was marked by loss of ground
on all sides.

He wore the crown for twelve years. In 664 a
terrible plague broke out which spread desolation
over Jkitain and Ireland, and in the latter swept
away two-thirds of the inhabitants. Cadwaladr was
one of the victims, and was buried in the church
that bears his name by Llyn Coron. The church
has an east window to the chancel of a flamboyant
character, with some old stained glass in it represent-
ing the Crucifixion and saints.

The line to Holyhead passes a cluster of lakes of
not much beauty — that of Llyn Penllyn has a little
island in it — then it crosses a causeway into Holy
Isle, and draws up at the terminus of Holyhead,
under Pen Caergybi, the highest elevation in
Anglesey.

Ruskin says : —

"Just on the other side of the Mersey you have your
Snowdon and your Menai Straits, and that mighty granite
rock beyond the moors of Anglesey, splendid in its heathery
crest, and foot planted in the deep sea, once thought of as
sacred — a divine promontory, looking westward, the Holy
Head or Headland, still not without awe when its red light
glares first tlirough the gloom."

The cliff scenery here is of the finest quality, and
Hol)-head well merits a prolonged visit, what with
the stimulating air rushing through one's lungs
charged with sparkles, the look-out on the green
sea flecked with foam and skimmed b}' gulls as

52 HOLYHEAD

flakes of froth that have been detached from the
waves and become ahve, the phmging water on the
beach, the purple folds of the hills, and the abrupt
cliffs, their feet ever bitten into and worried by the
angry waves.

The town is as busy as Beaumaris is inert. It
lives on the Irish trade, whereas Beaumaris picks up
subsistence during a few short months only from
bathers.

The one object of antiquarian interest in the town
is the church, planted in the midst of an old caei%
or fortress, the walls of which still stand in places
1 6 feet high, and are over 6 feet thick. The enclosure
is quadrangular, and measures 220 feet by 130 feet.
To what period the walls belong is hard to determine.
They are constructed of unshaped blocks of granite
rounded by the action of wind and rain, and are
set in mortar made of sea-shells. In places they are
arranged herring-bone fashion. The construction is
too uncouth to be Roman, and the round towers at
the angles are not Irish. It is certainly prior to the
English conquest. A Norman builder would have
disdained to put forth such work, and it is probably
a unique specimen of a caer of late British erection.
The two entrances are much more modern. This
fortress was held by the Gwyddyl against Caswallon
Long-hand. Then the walls were of stones set up
without mortar, and probably faced with huge granite
slabs. Caswallon forced his way in, and slew the
Irish king Serigi with his own hand, where now
stands Llan-y-Gwyddel in the churchyard.

The chapel had a chancel, which has been pulled

S. CYBI 53

down, and it was converted into a grammar school in
1748, but is now disused. After the expulsion of the
Irish the enclosure became a royal cao', and was
occasionally occupied by Maelgwn Gwynedd, who
made it over to S. Cybi.

S. CYBI. STATUE, SOUTH DOORWAY, CAERGYBI

The story of the saint is as follows. Cybi was the
son of Solomon, king of Cornwall, and Gwen, the
aunt of S. David. He was born between the Lynher
and Tamar at Callington, and was sent to school
when aged seven. Till he was twenty-seven years
old Cybi remained in Cornwall, and then he started
on his travels on the Continent. There he made the

54 HOLYHEAD

acquaintance of S. Elian the Pilgrim, and a friend-
ship was formed that was to last through life, though
little did both suppose at the time that they would
be neighbours in their old age. From his travels
Cybi returned to Cornwall, where he became involved
in a political disturbance.

His father had died whilst he was away, and his
uncle Cataw, or Cado, had assumed the rule, but he
was succeeded by the turbulent Constantine. The
arrival in Cornwall of Cybi gave occasion to an
insurrection, and an attempt was made to displace
Constantine, and elevate Cybi to the throne. It failed,
and Cybi was obliged to fly for his life. He took
with him a party of attached disciples and his uncle
Cyngar. After a brief stay in Glamorgan he crossed
into Ireland, and visited S. Enda in Aran, and re-
mained with him for four years,

Cyngar was so decrepit with age that he could eat
no solid food, and Cybi bought a cow with its calf to
supply the old uncle with milk. This led to ructions.
The calf strayed into the meadow of a monk of the
name of Fintan, who impounded it. The consequence
was angry altercation and so much unpleasantness
that Cybi had to leave. He crossed to Ireland, took
boat in Dublin Bay, and landed in Lleyn, the rocky
promontory of Carnarvon, where his wicker-work
coracle got on a reef that tore the leather covering.
However, all reached the shore in safety, and Cybi
founded a church where is now Llangybi, near
Pwllheli.

Maelgwn, king of Gwynedd, was hunting in I.leyn
one day, when a goat he was following fled for refuge

CYBI AND SEIRIOL 55

to Cybi's cell, and this led to the king meeting the
saint. He was so impressed with his goodness and
dignity that he made him a present of the caer at
Holyhead, and to this day the Welsh name for the
town is Caergybi.

Shortly after this " Magna et verbosa epistola
venit e Capreis," the violent tirade of Gildas was
launched at the heads of the British princes. Now
one of the companions of Cybi was Caffo, a brother
of Gildas. Maelgwn insisted on his dismissal, and
Cybi reluctantly obeyed. Caffo left and got as far as
Rhosyr, now Newborough, in Anglesey, when some
shepherds of Maelgwn's queen, incensed at the in-
dignity put on their master, fell on him and killed
him. The church of Llangaffo marks the site of the
murder. This took place about 545, and Maelgwn
died of the yellow plague in 547. Cybi survived him
to about 554.

There is a menhir at Clorach, near Llanerchymedd,
with a curious hunch on it, popularly called " Tyfry-
dog's Thief" The story goes that a thief got into
the church of Llandyfrydog and stole the Bible, put
his spoil on his back, and ran away, but was turned
to stone with the Bible he had carried off.

Not far from this prehistoric monument were two
wells called after S. Cybi and S. Seiriol. Here they
were wont to meet at middeiy, Cybi walking from the
west and Seiriol from the east.

Cybi would start in early morning along the old
Roman road, and he had the sun in his face all
the way, and in like manner Seiriol had it behind
him. They met at noon, and lunched together and

56 HOLYHEAD

drank from their respective wells. Then Cybi turned
west to retrace his steps, so also did Seiriol ; and
consequently Cybi had the evening sun blazing on
his face for his homeward walk, and Seiriol was still
in dusk, with his shadow running before him. The
result was that Cybi was tanned, whereas Seiriol re-
mained fair, and the former on this account obtained
the name of Cybi the Tawny and his comrade from
Penmon that of Seiriol the Fair.

Matthew Arnold wrote a poem on the meeting at
Clorach, but not knowing the place, and not knowing
the directions taken, missed the point of the story.

The church of Caergybi is fine. The chancel is
Early English, with a Decorated east window. There
was intended to have been a central tower, and the
church was a cross church originally. The tower was
never completed. The porch and side aisle are rich
Perpendicular, and there is some quaint carving out-
side the south transept ; and the south doorway
within the porch is peculiarly rich, though the figure
sculpture is poor. Over the door in a niche is the
Trinity, popularly mistaken for a representation of
Maelgwn Gwynedd. A south chapel, in excellent
taste, from the designs of Mr. Harold Hughes, has
been erected, with niches containing statuettes of
Cybi and Seiriol. It contains a recumbent figure of
the Hon. William Owen Stanley, good, but wrongly
placed.

The nave has internally on each side an arcade of
three Tudor arches. On the north, the piers are
octagonal ; on the south, clustered of four shafts,
with general capitals. The arrangement of the tran-

CAPEL Y LLOCHWYD 57

septs is clumsy, like other Welsh examples, running
from north to south, uninterrupted by arches, and
giving the effect of one church set at right angles to
another.

Capel y Llochvvyd is on the mountain. Bishop
Stanley, in 1830, thus describes it: —

"A singular fissure, cleaved in a direct line from the
summit to the base, forms, or rather did form, a passage
of communication of no small celebrity in ancient days,
and retaining its odour of sanctity till very recent date.
It is known by the name of Ogof Lochwyd, ogof signifying
a cave. A spring of crystal water filtering through the
deep strata formed a deep well at the bottom of this
chasm. Situated just at the higher opening of the gorge
was a chapel for the accommodation of pilgrims called
Capel y Llochwyd, of which a considerable remnant in
ruins at the head of this gorge still remains. Till within
sixty years the lonely chapel with its well were from time
unknown the resort of lads and lassies of the island, who,
at a certain annual festival called Suliau y Creiriau, the
Sundays of the ReUcs, and held during three successive
Sundays in July, assembled in troops to ascertain the
contingencies awaiting them. Each diviner into futurity
descended the chasm to the well, and there, if after having
taken a mouthful of holy water and grasped two handfuls
of sand from the charmed font, he or she could accomplish
the re-ascent with them safely, each would obtain the wish
of their heart before the close of the year. About sixty
years ago (1770) the chapel was reduced to ruins, and the
Avell was concealed by filling it with rubbish ; but till
twenty years ago the walls, to the height of seven or eight
feet, remained sufficiently entire to convey a tolerable idea
of the perfect building, which is represented to have been
a substantial though rude and primitive edifice, composed

58 HOLYHEAD

of unhewn stones cemented witli mortar, the windows and
doorways excepted, which were well wrought by the chisel
with considerable labour from some obdurated material, the
whole apparently consisting of one oblong chamber not
exceeding a few yards in length.

" Of the well, however, not a trace was left, though its
existence was proved beyond a shadow of doubt a few years
ago by a party who landed and at length succeeded in de-
tecting the spot, from whence, after removing a quantity of,
sand and loose stone, again gushed the fountain of water
in its pristine vigour and doubtless inherent virtues."

There was at one time a chapel of S. Ffraid or
Brigid on an islet where according to legend she
disembarked from Ireland, This was not the Brigid
of Kildare, but a namesake. The story goes that
being unable to find a boat to serve her purpose,
she cut a sod of turf, threw it into the sea, stepped
on it, and was carried across. The turf lodged on
this hump of rock, and became fast there. But the
wintry waves have eaten away the isle, chewed up
the turf, and torn down the chapel walls.

The breakwater of Holyhead is a stupendous
achievement. It is about a mile and a half long,
and has a lighthouse at the extremity. On the
Skerries also, some seven miles north, is another
lighthouse, and the Government had to buy it from
the owner, a Mr. Jones, for the sum of ;^444,984.

The old Government pier had already cost a million
and a half of money, but it was abandoned when
the London and North Western Railway Company
undertook the construction of the new pier. The
new harbour has a water area of twenty-four acres.

THE COAST 59

Every visitor to Holyhead makes a point of going
to the South Stack, just under four miles from the
town. Cliffe thus describes it : —

"At first you feel disappointed, and it is not until you
descend that you become impressed with the grandeur of
the scenery. At the foot of the formidable stairs, 380 in
number, you arrive at the entrance of a light suspension
bridge. For some years after the lighthouse was erected
(1809) the only means of access across the chasm was
by a rope and basket ; then a bridge of ropes was made,
but the risk was so great that a chain bridge became
necessary. After crossing the bridge you can descend to
look at a vast fissure in the islet, and wonder, if the day be
stormy, how the boats fared that conveyed the materials for
the lighthouse to that rugged and perilous spot, where the
surge of the sea is awe-inspiring. The sea in south-westerly
gales often dashes over the dwellings of the lightkeepers,
when the scene is truly sublime."

The coast is alive with sea-birds, kittiwakes, razor-
bills, guillemots, solan geese, puffin, shag, cormorant,
and tern ; and collections of these birds' eggs can be
obtained at a very small cost in the town. An
ingenious provision of Nature saves the eggs from
being carried by the raging winds from the ledges of
rock on which they are laid, when the mother-bird is
not sitting. If, for instance, a guillemot's Qgg be
looked at, it will be seen that it is so balanced that
the wind, catching it, spins it round on its centre of
gravity, and does not obtain sufficient resistance to
carry it away bodily, and precipitate it into the sea.

There are objects of considerable archaeological
interest in Holy Island, and these are the Cytiau'r

6o HOLYHEAD

Gwyddelod, or habitations of the Irish. There are
several collections, and some were explored by the
Hon. W. O. Stanley in 1871.

They are strewn over the side of Holyhead moun-
tain, but there are others by Forth Dafarch and
Mynydd Celyn.

The sites of ancient habitations have been selected
for shelter from the prevailing winds, and the huts are
usually grouped together forming villages of from
twelve to fifty huts. They are always protected from
hostile attack by rude walls of dry masonry or by
precipitous rocks. They are circular, and have slabs
of granite set on end to face them within and without.
The entrances are to the south. The roofs were
constructed of poles resting on the low walls, brought
together in the middle, and thatched or covered with
turf The walls of the huts enclose a space of from
fifteen to twenty feet in diameter, and the doorway is
formed of two upright stones of about four feet high,
upon which formerly rested a stone lintel.

Some of these huts were dwelling-houses, others
served merely as kitchens, and some were sweating
or bathing chambers, by the production of steam by
throwing water over heated stones.

Mr. Stanley found bronze weapons, jet necklaces,
ornamented spindle-whorls, stone lamps, and moulds
for bronze buttons. The abundance of articles dis-
covered in these dwellings is very unusual and seems
to point to their having been left in a hurry.

There is a strong camp, Caer-y-Twr, on Holyhead
mountain, facing east, and about two-thirds of the way
up to the summit from the town. It is surrounded

DWELLINGS 6i

by a rude wall of dry masonry, following the ridge
of the rock, which in places is almost perpendicular.
The entrance is steep and seems to have been de-
fended by hornwork.

There is a narrow cleft in the face of the mountain
to the west, above debris of rock that has fallen in
some convulsion of nature, leaving a perpendicular
face of rock two hundred feet in height. This gap
forms a passage through which only one person could
pass at a time, and a steep path winds to it between
rock faces. It may have served as a postern to
the camp.

The construction of huts in the fashion described
was derived by the Irish from the original population
of the isle, the people who erected the rude stone
monuments.

A traveller in Gilead and Moab will find precisely
similar collections of hovels, similarly surrounded
with walls of unhewn blocks, and associated, as in
Ireland, with cromlechs and cairns and menhirs, the
relics of the same prehistoric race which through long
centuries, and after long journeys to new lands,
continued to build houses, erect camps, and set up
monuments to their dead in Ireland, Wales, Scotland,
Cornwall, and Northern Africa precisely as they did
in Central Asia and in Palestine. A mysterious people
that never advanced in the art of building, but clung
tenaciously, as the bee, the bird, the spider, and the
ant, to traditional usage in the structure of their
dwellings, and which clung with like tenacity to the
cult of ancestors. It came out of Asia with polished
stone weapons, and only slowly accepted, as foreign

62 HOLYHEAD

importations, axes and swords and personal orna-
ments, made of bronze.

Certainly these were the most conservative people
that ever overran Europe ; and possibly that clinging
to old institutions, that aversion to change, which
brought ruin on the Welsh cause, may have been due
to the large admixture of Iberian blood in the Cymric
veins.

Take the Welshman of the present day. In his
politics he is a Liberal, but in his bent of mind, in his
mode of life, in his social relations, he is the most
conservative of men.

This tenacity to what is old and customary is a
valuable asset ; it counterbalances the volatile and
experimental tendency to adopt every novelty, and
wreck every institution to supplant it with what is
new and untried, but which is loud in promise.

It may be, it probably is the case, that there is
much of this immobility in the English race. It is
because of this that the American and German are
beating us in manufacture and commerce, and if we
are ever routed in the field, it will be due to the clot
of it that has settled in our War Office not having
been expelled.

CHAPTER V

BANGOR AND CARNARVON

Foundation of Bangor — Madog the Fox — The cathedral — Owen
Gwynedd — Visit of Archbishop Baldwin — "Lazy -tongs" —
Llanidan — Shrine of S. Nidan — Curious phenomenon of the
filling stoup— Bust of Edwen — Llanfair — Owen Tudor — The fable
of the Welsh pot-girl — Carnarvon — Elen the Road-maker —
Maximus — Edward of Carnarvon— Hugh the Fat and Hugh the
Wolf — Plas Newydd — Cromlechs — Destruction of prehistoric
monuments — The cult of the dead — Llanddwyn — Story of Dwyn-
wen — The holy well — Curious ofiering in the porch — Penrhyn
quarries — Names of slates — Albert Davies — The Hirlas Horn —
Lakes — Marchlyn.

BANGOR, pleasantly situated in a green valley,
near the sea, sheltered from every rough blast,
communicating with Beaumaris by a steamer, or with
a ferry across the Menai Straits at Garth, backed by
the glorious heathery mountains of Carnedd Dafydd,
Elid}'r Fawr, and Carnedd Llewelyn, with easy access
by the London and North Western line on the one side
with the thronged watering-places on the north coast,
and with the Snowdon district on the other, serves
as a convenient and cheerful centre for excursions,
and is preferable on the whole to Carnarvon. Bangor
was founded by S. Deiniol in the sixth century.
Deiniol was grandson of Pabo Post Prj'dain, whose
monument is at Llanbabo, in Anglesey. His father

64 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

was Dunawd, prince in North Britain, who, to his
lasting disgrace, instead of uniting with his fellow-
Britons against the Picts, attacked the sons of Urien,
king of Rheged or Moray, and met with his deserts,
for the Picts drove him from his principality, and he
and his sons fled helter-skelter to Wales, where he
entered the ecclesiastical estate, as the secular life
was closed to him, and became Abbot of Bangor on
the Dee, in Flintshire.

Then came the massacre of the monks there by
Ethelfrid in 607, and that Bangor came to an end
for ever. Those who had escaped took refuge with
Deiniol, who had already settled in Arfon on lands
granted him by Caswallon Long-hand. Maelgwn
made this new Bangor the seat of a bishop, and
Deiniol was the first of the series.

Bangor had a bishop in the eleventh century who
was a great scoundrel. This was Madog Min, or the
Fox. He was grandson of the king of Tegeingyl.
He entered into a conspiracy with the sons of
Edwyn ab Einion, and by his treachery obtained the
assassination, in 102 1, of Llewelyn ab Seisyll, king of
Powys and Deheubarth and Gwynedd, a noble and
just prince, under whose good government Wales
flourished. Then Madog betrayed Gruffydd, son of
Llewelyn, for three hundred head of cattle promised
him for his treachery by Harold, king of the Saxons.
After the deed was done, however, Harold refused to
pay the price of blood, upon which Madog, execrated
by his people, fled to Ireland, but the ship in which
he was foundered, and of all who were in it he alone
was drowned.

CATHEDRAL 65

The cathedral h'es in a hollow, and though small,
is dignified. It has been repeatedly destroyed, first
by the Saxons in 107 1 and then again laid in ashes
by Owen Glyndwr in 1402. It remained in ruins for
nearly a century. Then it was patched up, and all
the new work was in the Perpendicular style. It has
been restored, and a good deal has been added to
bring out the earlier work, which was Early English.
The Welsh seem never to have developed an in-
dependent architectural school or style of their own
as have the Bretons. The builders of their great
churches were imported from England, and were not
usually first - class designers. The western tower,
which was added in 1532, is as poor and insipid as
may be, the work not even of a second-class architect.
All that remains of the pre-Norman cathedral is a
stone with plait-work, now lying on the floor at the
west end of the north aisle, which has been used as a
sharpener for weapons, and most of the sculptured
work has been by this means worn away.

Of the Norman cathedral also little remains. It
was a cross church with an apse to the choir, but the
foundations are buried beneath the floor of the later
chancel. A Norman buttress and rude round-headed
windows in the south wall of the chancel are all
above ground that recall the church destroyed in .
1071.

At the instigation of King John the city was burnt
in 12 1 2, and Bishop Robert was taken prisoner before
the high altar, but ransomed for two hundred marks.

The structure underwent extensive alterations in
the latter half of the thirteenth century under Bishop

66 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

Anian, who christened the infant son of Edward I.
When Sir Gilbert Scott undertook the restoration of
the cathedral, he preserved and used up in the work
much of the earlier sculptured stone that he found.
He says : " This exhuming and restoring to their
places the fragments of the beautiful work of the
thirteenth century, reduced to ruin by Owen
Glyndwr, used as mere rough material by Henry
VH., and rediscovered by us four and a half centuries
after their reduction to ruins, is one of the most
interesting facts I have met with in the course of
my experience."

In the south wall of the south transept is a tomb
with a niche beside it that is supposed to be that of
Owen Gwynedd, who died in 1169, but from the
style it might be later by a century, Owen had
died excommunicated for marrying his cousin Chris-
tiana. Thomas a Becket, from Canterbury, had
fulminated a sentence of excommunication against
him, but Owen refused to put away his wife, and
preferred dying under the ban. He was, however,
buried before the high altar.

In 1 188 Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, made
a tour through Wales, preaching the crusade, and
used this as an excuse for gaining access to the
•churches of Wales and asserting therein his ecclesias-
tical supremacy. When he arrived at Bangor he was
in a very bad temper. He had found everywhere
that the Welsh princes and ecclesiastics were un-
moved by his appeals, and the few who took the
cross had the intention of slipping out of their
obligation as soon as his back was turned. Having

CATHEDRAL 67

crossed the Menai Straits he was met by Rhodri, son
of Owen Gwynedd and the fair Christiana, and the
archbishop harangued the prince and people on the
shore. Some of the congregation accepted the cross,
but the youths of Rhodri's family sat through the
discourse on a rock, swinging their legs, wholly
unmoved by his eloquence ; and although Rhodri,
out of courtesy to the archbishop, advised them to
take the pledge, they shrugged their shoulders and
refused.

On entering Bangor, Archbishop Baldwin was a
disappointed and offended man, and seeing the tomb
of Owen, Rhodri's father, before the altar, immedi-
ately gave orders that the body of the late king
should be removed from its resting-place and put
in unconsecrated ground. Bishop Guy of Bangor
was forced to promise compliance. Perhaps he did
as bidden, perhaps not ; but certain it is that the
tomb, if it be that of the excommunicated king, was
not erected till later.

Another opinion is that this is the tomb of Bishop
Anian, as there is no sword cut beside the incised
cross upon it. But if it had been that of the prelate,
we might have expected his pastoral staff to be
figured along with the cross.

In the cathedral is preserved a pair of " lazy-tongs,"
used for catching intrusive dogs by the neck and
marching them forth without danger to the sexton.
At Clynnog there are also dog-tongs, with the date
1815 on them. Indeed, dogs seem to have been a
nuisance in churches for a long time. One main
reason for Archbishop Laud's ordering the erection

68 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

of communion rails was to keep these animals away
from the altar and from defiling it.

The churchwardens' accounts of Llanfair Talhaiarn,
in Denbighshire, show that the dog annoyance had
grown to such a pass that in 1747 the parishioners,
in vestry assembled, passed a resolution to inflict a
fine of one shilling on the person who brought his
dog to church during divine service. It does not
seem that this order remedied the nuisance, for
other resolutions were passed in 1749 on the same
matter, and the sexton was granted a quarterly pay-
ment " for keeping the Church clear of 'em " ; and the
vestry provided a stool for the convenience of the
sexton by the church door, that he might be ready
to pounce on any dog that put its nose in, and drive
it out.

The plague of dogs in church was not con-
fined to Wales. It would seem that in 1644 they
found their way into Canterbury Cathedral, for
Richard Culmer, in his Cathedral N ewes from Canter-
bury^ relates how " one of the great canons or pre-
bends there, in the very act of his low congying
(conge-ing) towards the Altar, as he went up to it
in prayer-time, was not long since assaulted by a
huge mastiffe dog, which leapt upright on him once
and againe, and pawed him in his ducking, saluting
progresse and posture to the Altar, so that he was
fain to call out aloud, ' Take away the dog ! Take
away the dog ! ' "

A pleasant excursion may be made from Bangor
to Llanidan, in Anglesey, by taking the ferry-boat
across at Dinorwic.

LLANIDAN CHURCH 69

Llanidan old church is for the most part in ruins,
a new church having been erected in a more con-
venient situation. The church consisted of a nave
and south aisle separated by an arcade. All but the
two western bays and the porches are roofless. In
the portion still covered is preserved the sandstone
shrine of S. Nidan, who was confessor to the monks
of Penmon. It still contains what are believed to be
his skull and some of his bones. At the Reforma-
tion it was not destro}'ed, as it was in the possession
of a hereditary keeper of the relics, and it was re-
tained at a farmhouse in the parish by the family till
recently, when it was surrendered to the church, and
now the fleshless bones of the founder are in the dis-
mantled church he founded.

The Celtic mode of dedicating a church was this,
as described at length by Bede. The founder, having
selected the spot, remained on it in constant prayer
and fast for forty days and nights, eating only a little
after set of sun, and on the Sundays, when he con-
sumed a small piece of bread, one egg, and a little
milk and water. At the end of that period the place
became his, and was called thenceforth after his name.
It is a touching thought, looking on the bones of old
Nidan, to think that there he rests who fourteen
hundred years ago, by prayer and fasting on this
very spot, dedicated it to the service of God.

The south porch is curious. It is overgrown with
moss and fern, and contains a stoup that is ever full
of water. If sponged out, it rapidly fills again. It has
been conjectured that there is a spring underground,
and that the stones of the porch suck up the water

70 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

by capillary attraction, and so supply the stoup. But
the church and graveyard are quite dry.

A similar phenomenon existed at Llangelynin, in
the old church, between Barmouth and Towyn, but
when the roof fell in the stoup became dry. The
explanation is that the drip of the roof fell on the
porch, saturated it, and thus the water drained into
the stoup. And this may be the true explanation of
the phenomenon at Llanidan.

In the church by the shrine is preserved a bust, not
ill carved, of a female wearing a crown. It is possible
that this may have been intended as the head of
S. Edwen, patroness of the daughter parish. She
is said to have been a daughter or niece of Edwin,
king of Northumbria, who, as has been already
related, spent his youth in Anglesey.

From Bangor the train may be taken to Llanfair,
and thence it is a walk to Penmynydd, where is the
Plas, the cradle of the House of Tudor.

The handsome Owen Tudor caught the fancy of
Catherine, widow of Henry V. ; but before she would
marry this Welsh knight she sent a deputation to his
ancestral home to inquire into the respectability of
his family, its antiquity, and its dignity.

The commissioners arrived at the little mansion
and found Owen's mother shelling peas, and sur-
rounded by goats, to which she cast the pods, and
pigeons that pounced on the peas that escaped her
fingers. As to the pedigree, that was soon disposed
of; the old lady could recite the zips back to Anna,
the cousin of the Virgin Mary, an Egyptian princess.
The deputation returned with its report, pulling long

OWEN TUDOR 71

faces. The Tudors were petty Anglesey squires and
nothing more, not largely estated, nor with a great
retinue. But Queen Catherine was very much in
love and very eager to lay aside her widow's weeds.
" Make the most of the pedigree," she said, " but cook
the rest of the report ; write down the goats as serv-
ing-men and the pigeons as ladies-in-waiting."

They did so. The King's Council was satisfied,
and Catherine married Owen, and became, by him,
the mother of Edmund "of Hadham," who was
created Earl of Richmond by Henry VI. in 1453.

His son, Edmund Tudor, married Margaret, daugh-
ter of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and great-
granddaughter of " old John of Gaunt, time-honoured
Lancaster," and so became the father of Henry VH.
Queen Catherine died in 1437, leaving, beside
Edmund, a son Jasper, and another Owen, who em-
braced a monastic life and died early.

As soon as the queen was dead bad times ensued
for Owen. The marriage had been winked at, but
not relished, and he was seized and committed to
Newgate, and the three sons were given into the
custody of the Abbess of Barking.

Aided by his chaplain and a servant, Owen effected
his escape, but he was retaken and delivered to the
Earl of Suffolk to be kept in Wallingford Castle ;
but he was transferred to Newgate. He made his
escape a second time.

In the year 1453 his sons were both made earls —
Edmund was created Earl of Richmond and Jasper
Earl of Pembroke. Owen had an illegitimate son,
named David, who was knighted by his nephew,
Henry VII.

72 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

Owen remained unnoticed till 1459, when his own
son Jasper graciously conferred knighthood on him.
Henry VI. granted him some lands and a revenue,
but a law was passed that henceforth no commoner,
under severe penalties, should presume to marry a
queen dowager of England without special licence
from the king.

In 1461 he fought under the banner of his son
Jasper at the battle of Mortimer's Cross, and would
not quit the field, but was taken with several other
Welsh gentlemen, and was beheaded soon after at
Hereford.

Jones, in his Relicks of the Welsh Bai'ds, 1794,
gives a duet which purports to be translated from the
Welsh, and which is based on the wooing of Owen
Tudor and Catherine. He does not give the original
Welsh. The air as well as the words has a very
modern smack.

The duet begins : —

" Owen. I salute thee, sweet Princess, with title of grace.
For Cupid commands me in heart to embrace
Thy honours, thy virtues, thy favour, thy beauty,
With all my true service, my love, and my duty.

Catherine. Courteous, kind gentleman, let me request.

How comes it that Cupid hath wounded thy breast 1
And chanc'd thy heart's liking my servant to prove.
That am but a stranger to this, thy kind lo\-e ?"

And it all winds up with their saying together : —

" Then mark how the notes of our merry town bells,
Our ding-dong of pleasure most cheerfully tells.
Then ding-dong, fair ladies, and ladies all true.
This ding-dong of pleasure may satisfy you."

THE POT-GIRL 7z

Actually it would seem that the spooning was on
the side of the Queen and not of Owen.

The house of Penmynydd dates from 1370, and is
consequently the same as that visited by the com-
mission. The kitchen is intact, and the Tudor arms
are carved about the building, and there still is the
courtyard in which the ancestress of King Edward VII.
sat shelling peas into a bowl when the deputation
arrived.

Wales is supposed to have provided a grandmother
to queens Mary and Anne, a pot-girl, who married
the brewer whose tubs she scoured, so soon as his
wife died. But the story is as apocryphal as that
of the smuggling into the palace of James II. of a
surreptitious Prince of Wales in a warming-pan.

The Protestant party got up this latter scandalous
fable, and Mary of Modena and the Roman Catholic
faction retaliated with the tale of the Welsh pot-girl-

The story was this. It was confidently asserted
that the wife of the celebrated Lord Clarendon was
a bare-footed Welsh lass who had gone to London
for service and found employment as a " tub- woman "
to a brewer and publican there, who subsequently
married her, and on his death bequeathed to her a
large fortune. As the succession was disputed by
his relations, she sought the professional assistance
of the lawyer Edward Hyde, who introduced her to
his family, and his son Edward married her. She
became the mother of Anne, whom James Duke of
York married. Her granddaughters Mary and Anne
wore the crown.

But the story is contradicted by facts. Edward

74 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

Hyde, who became Earl of Clarendon and High
Chancellor of England, married Anne, daughter of Sir
George Ayliffe, knight. Six months afterwards she
died of small-pox, and childless. Then he married
Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, knight,
and by her became the father of Mary and Anne.

Burke, in his Romance of the Aristocracy, tells the
story somewhat differently. He makes the pot-girl
marry Sir Thomas Aylesbury, by whom she had a
daughter Frances, who married Edward Hyde.

But this story also breaks down. For it is certain
that the wife of Sir Thomas Aylesbury was the
daughter of Francis Denman, rector of West Ret-
ford, and widow of William Darell.

As far as can be ascertained there is not even a
substratum of truth in the story.

Carnarvon lies at a little distance from the old
Roman town of Segontium, or Caersaint, as the
British called it. The river that flows into the sea
beneath the castle walls is the Seiont, or Saint. It
was here that resided Elen the Road-maker, daughter
of Eudaf, chieftain of Erging and Ewyas, who married
the usurper Maximus, called by the Welsh Maxen
Wledig. This Roman general was raised to the
purple by the legions in Britain in 383. He was by
birth a Spaniard, and had acquired a reputation under
the elder Theodosius in a campaign against the Picts
and Scots in 368.

According to Welsh tradition he was a humane
ruler, who showed favour to the native British. Un-
fortunately for himself and for Britain, Maximus did
not content himself with recognition as king in

CARNARVON CASTLE 75

Britain, but aspired to be emperor in Rome. He
assembled a large army of native levies, prepared
a fleet, crossed the Channel. His wife's brother or
cousin, Cynan Meiriadog, a ruler whose home was
near S. Asaph, threw in his lot with him, and led to
his assistance the flower of the youth of Britain.

Maximus established himself at Treves, and his
wife, who was a pious woman, gave up the imperial
palace there to be made into a church. At Treves
she has been confounded with Helena, mother of
Constantine, who never was there at all. This mis-
conception has been made to serve as a basis for the
myth of the " Holy Coat," the seamless robe of Christ,
which she is supposed to have brought from Jerusalem
and to have given to the church of Treves, where it
is preserved as an inestimable relic and exposed at
long intervals. Maximus was finally defeated and
killed at Aquileia in 388. His followers dispersed,
and Cynan Meiriadog and his young bucks never
saw again their native land. " Britain," says Gildas,
" was thus robbed of her armed soldiery, of her
military supplies, of her rulers, of her vigorous youth
who had followed the footsteps of the above-mentioned
military tyrant, and who never returned."

What became of Elen after the death of Maximus
can only be inferred. Probably she escaped from
Treves and came back to her native Wales. She
has been credited by the Welsh with the great paved
roads that traverse the Principality in all directions,
and they bear her name as Sarnau Helen.

The noble castle of Carnarvon was begun by
Edward I., and is picturesque, but not equal to

76 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

Conway. In it Edward "of Carnarvon," who suc-
ceeded to the throne, was born. He was invested
with the PrincipaHty of Wales after the extinction
of the race of Cunedda in blood.

Visitors are shown a room in the Eagle Tower as
that in which Edward first saw the light ; but this
tower was not erected till later, though the castle
itself was begun in 1284. It was not completed till
1322. There had, however, been a fortress here before,
erected by Hugh the Wolf, or the Fat, Earl of Chester.
This Hugh and his namesake, the Earl of Shrews-
bury, were unsparing in their cruelties to the Welsh.
If Hugh of Chester was a wolf in his ferocity, he was
a fox in guile. He inveigled the king of Gwynedd
into a conference, then treacherously imprisoned him,
and the king languished in a dungeon for twelve
years, to 1098. Hugh was sister's son to William
the Conqueror, who delivered over Wales to him to
rifle at an annual rental of £40.

Gruffydd, king of Gwynedd, escaped in 1098, and
at once threw himself into Anglesey. The two
Hughs marched against him from Carnarvon as their
base, and entered Mona. What had happened
before, and was to happen again and yet again,
occurred now. At the supreme moment Gruffydd
flew to Ireland, and Anglesey was at the mercy of
the two Hughs. They set to work to destroy the
crops, burn the houses, and slaughter the inhabitants
in cold blood, after all resistance had come to an end.
When weary of killing, they tore out the tongues,
scooped out the eyes, and hacked ofl' the feet and
hands of the peasantry, out of mere lust of torture.

KING MAGNUS ^^

It so chanced that at this juncture a Viking fleet
appeared off the coast, under Magnus Barefeet of
Norway, and Hugh the F'at of Chester and Hugh
the Proud of Shrewsbury advanced to the coast to
oppose the landing of the Northmen. On board the
king's ship was Magnus of Orkney, a pious, feeble
youth. The Norse king bade him arm for the fight.

" No," replied the young man, " I will not hurt those
who have not hurt me."

" Then go down, coward, into the hold," said
Magnus Barefeet wrathfully. The young prig took
his psalter and obeyed. And as the battle raged
above him, his voice could be heard above the din of
arms repeating the psalms.

The two earls were on the coast near Beaumaris,
where it shelves into the sea, riding up and down
urging on their men.

" Then," says the Icelandic Saga writer, " King
Magnus shot with his bow, but Hugh was clad in
armour, and nothing was bare about him save one
eye. King Magnus let fly an arrow at him, as did
also a Halogolander at his side. They both shot at
once, one arrow struck the nose-screen of the helm
and glanced aside, but the other entered the earl's
eye and penetrated his head, and that was afterwards
recognised as the king's arrow."

When the shaft struck him, Earl Hugh leaped into
the air. " Ah, ha ! " shouted King Magnus, " let him
skip."

The Hugh who fell was Hugh of Shrewsbury,

The Norsemen came ashore, but finding Anglesey
already ravaged, re-entered their boats and spread sail.

78 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

The Magnus who would not fight, but sat in the
hold singing psalms, is he to whom the cathedral of
Kirkwall, in Orkney, is dedicated.

From Bangor, Plas Newydd, the seat of the
Marquess of Anglesey, may be visited. The grounds
are fine, and there is good timber in the park, but the
house is naught. More interesting is Plas Coch, a
fine example of an Elizabethan house, built by Hugh
Hughes, Attorney-General in the sixteenth century.

In the grounds of Plas Newydd are two cromlechs,
or rather what the French would call allees cotivertes.
They are prehistoric tribal mausoleums, and are
perhaps the finest in the Principality. The cap stone
of one is 14 feet long by 13 feet broad, and from
3 to 4 feet thick. There are vast numbers of crom-
lechs in Anglesey, but year by year sees the number
decrease. By the Highway Act of William IV.
(1835) the road surveyor may enter on any waste
or common and dig and search for stone and remove
the same. He may also take stones from any river.
He may go into another parish and do as above,
provided he leaves sufficient stone for the said parish.
He may enter enclosed land, with the consent of the
owner, and remove stone, paying nothing for the
same, but paying for any damage caused by trans-
portation of the stone. If the owner refuses consent,
the surveyor may apply to the nearest justice, who
may authorise him to enter the enclosed land and
remove any stone he requires. Farmers are only
too delighted to have cromlechs and other prehistoric
stone monuments blown up with dynamite and
cleared off. Then visitors will not trespass to see

RELIGION 79

them, and all obstruction to cultivation will be re-
moved. Recently a number have been destroyed in
Anglesey and elsewhere. They are being used up
for roads. The cromlech, kistvaen, and allee couverte
were tombs. Usually a stone was left to be removed,
or a plug was inserted in a holed stone, that could be
taken out at pleasure, to enable the living to enter the
tomb and thrust back the skeletons that were old to
make room for new interments. Perhaps also food
for the dead was passed in to them through these
holes.

On a day in the year, we know not what day it
was, but probably at Samhain, the Feast of the
Underground Spirits, corresponding to our All Souls'
Day, a great banquet was held in commemoration of
dead ancestors, and then the bones of the resurrected
parents and grandparents were brought out, fondled,
scraped, and cleaned up, and then reconsigned to the
family tomb. The family or tribal mausoleum was
the centre round which the family or tribe revolved.
All the religion of these Neolithic and Bronze Age
people centred in their dead and in the world of
spirits. We find among the Welsh, that all their
tribal rights depended on the preservation of their
pedigrees. It was the same idea in another form.

We, in our matter-of-fact and of to-day world,
think nothing of our forbears. I believe it was
Swedenborg who said that Europe had still a great
lesson to learn — he did not specify it — and that this
lesson would be taught it by the Turanian race.
Perhaps the Chinaman will play his part in the
future, and he will bring to us Westerns the doctrine

8o BANGOR AND CARNARVON

of the reverence due to the old people from whose
lives we derive our physical and spiritual and mental
powers.

Monier-Williams, in his Brahniinism afid Hinduism
(1887), says :—

"The neglect of our ancestors, which seems to spring
not so much from any want of sympathy with the departed
as from an utter disbelief in any interconnexion between
the world and the world of spirits, is by some regarded as
a defect in our religious character and practice."

We have lost a great tie to those who have gone
before in the neglect of commemoration of the dead
and realisation of the Article of the Faith, the Com-
munion of Saints. Our modern civilisation, our
culture, our manliness, our refinement, w^e owe to the
straining after an ideal, not always attained, but seen
and sought by those who have predeceased us. We
do not make ourselves, we have been made and
moulded into what we are by the good old folk who
are to us only names in our pedigree. If the sins of
fathers are visited on their children, and of this there
can be no doubt, so also do their virtues descend, and
we owe them something, some recognition, some
kindly thought, some remembrance in our commune
with God, on that account.

So these cromlechs and kistvaens may teach us
something. Anglesey and Carnarvonshire abound in
these monuments, and Mr. J. E. Griffith, of Bangor,
has published a splendid work on them, with photo-
graphic plates representing such as remain.

From Carnarvon Llanddwyn may best be visited.

STORY OF DWYNWEN 8i

To the south-east of Anglesey is a tract of blown
sand from Newborough — in Welsh Rhosyr. A spit
of land runs out into the sea, and bears a lighthouse
that sheds its warning ray over the southern entrance
to the Menai Straits, It encloses a bay, and the
sands extend thence to the Straits.

On this tongue of land stand the ruins of a church
founded by S. Dwyn or Dwynwen, daughter of
Brychan, the Irish king of Brecknock. The place is
not easily reached from Newborough without a guide,
as the sands are over ankle, and in places half-way up
the calf, deep, and the labour of reaching it is great
to anyone who does not know the track. Yet the
place was at one time greatly resorted to, Dwynwen
was the Venus of Wales. She and one Maelor
Dafodril fell desperately in love with each other, but
when he paid her his addresses, in a spirit of caprice
or levity she flouted him, and he retired deeply
offended. She constantly expected him to return,
but he did not ; instead, he published libels about
her. She was miserable, partly because of these
slanders, partly because she loved him still. Then in
her distress she prayed to be relieved of her passion,
and an angel appeared and administered to her some
drops of a heavenly liquid, and at once her heart was
cured of love-sickness.

Next the angel administered the same medicine to
Maelor, and he was congealed to ice, God now gave
to Dwynwen three requests which lie undertook to
fulfil. So she asked to have Maelor thawed, and he
was so ; then she asked that all lovers who invoked
her aid might obtain the object of their desires, or

82 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

become indifferent ; then, lastly, she asked that she
might never again hanker after the married estate.

At Llanddvvyn was a holy well that is now choked
by sand, but till it was smothered up was in much
resort for its oracular answers to questions put to it.
The following is an account of the ceremony from
the pen of William Williams, of Llandegai, written
about 1800: —

" There was a spring of clear water, now choked up by
the sand, at which an old woman from Newborough always
attended and prognosticated the lover's success from the
movements of some small eels, which waved out of the
sides of the well on spreading the lover's handkerchief on
the surface of the water. I remember an old woman saying
that when she was a girl she consulted the woman at the
well about her destiny with respect to a husband. On
spreading her handkerchief, out popped an eel from the
north side of the well, and soon after another crawled from
the south side, and they both met on the bottom of the
well. Then the woman told her that her husband would
be a stranger from the south part of Carnarvonshire. Soon
after, it happened that three brothers came from that part
and settled in the neighbourhood where this young woman
was, one of whom made his addresses to her, and in a little
time married her. So much of the prophecy I remember.
This couple was my father and mother."

A maxim attributed to the saint is, " There is no
amiability like cheerfulness"; i.e. Nothing is so at-
tractive as a cheerful spirit. S. Dwynwen was also
regarded as patroness of the cattle in Anglesey.
The same writer adds : —

" I remember hearing an instance which happened, I
believe, about one hundred and fifty years ago. The

PENRHYN SLATE QUARRIES 8

ploughing oxen at Bo.deon, on April 25th, took fright when
at work, and ran over a steep rock and perished in the sea.
This being S. Mark the EvangeUst's Day, it was considered
that having done work on it was a transgression of a divine
ordinance, and to prevent such accident for the future the
proprietor of the farm ordered that this festival of S. Mark
should be for the future invariably kept a holy day, and
that two wax candles should annually on that day be kept
burning in the church porch of Llanddwyn, which was the
only part of the building that was covered in, as an offering
and memorial of this transgression and accident, and as a
token that S. Dwynwen's aid and protection was solicited to
prevent such catastrophe any more. This was only discon-
tinued about eighty years ago, i.e. 1720."

The Penrhyn slate quarries are reached by a branch
line from Bangor to Bethesda. The quarrying is
carried on upon a vast scale, and the place is in-
teresting to the geologist on account of the presence,
in the midst of a great dyke of greenstone, of an
eruptive rock which has traversed the beds, and
which has been left untouched.

The slates are cut to various sizes. Duchesses are
the larrest; then come Countesses and Ladies. About
the beginning of last century a slate merchant of
the name of Docer, going through the quarry with
Lord Penrhyn, advised him that the slates should be
made of such-and-such a size, and this is the origin
of the name of " Docer." By this time the skill of
the quarryman and of the slater found some new
plan continually. One wanted to do this, and
another that. His lordship failed to please every-
body. His lady, seeing him in this plight, and in
continual trouble, advised him to call the slates after

84 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

the names of the degrees in the aristocracy. He
took up the suggestion, and called the 24 by 12 slate
a Duchess, the 20 by 10 a Countess, and the 16 by 8
a Lady.

This has given occasion to some witty verses by an
old Welsh judge, Mr. Leycester, and I venture to
quote a few of them, though they have already been
enshrined in that most delightful of all handbooks,
TJie Gossiping Guide.

" It has truly been said, as we all must deplore,
That Grenville and Pitt have made peers by the score ;
But now, 'tis asserted, unless I have blundered,
There's a man who makes peeresses here by the hundred.
By the stroke of a hammer, without the King's aid,
A Lady, or Countess, or Duchess is made.
And where'er they are seen, in a palace or shop.
Their rank they preserve, they are still at the top.
This Countess or Lady, though crowds may be present,
Submits to be dressed by the hands of a peasant,
And you'll see, when Her Grace is but once in his clutches,
With how little respect he will handle a Duchess."

An interesting example has been observed in the
quarries of the direction in which a seismic wave
passes. The slates are arranged in a long series.
When a shock of earthquake comes it has been
noticed that the slates click, click, click in succession,
showing the course taken by the vibration of the
earth, from east to west or from north to south.

The quarry presents a busy scene. A horn gives
the signal for the blasting. When it sounds, at once
the workmen disappear under sheds, till the explosion
is over with its consequent rush and rattle of debris.

At Penrhyn died quite recently an old workman,

ALBERT DAVIES 85

Albert Davies, whose life's story may be told, as it
illustrates the intellectual and especially the theo-
logical bent of the Welsh mind. This mind is
speculative and disputative, and it exercises itself by
choice in political and theologic fields.

Albert Davies in his early years was a collier in
South Wales, a member of a Calvinistic Methodist
family, and could speak no other tongue but Welsh.
From boyhood his great craving was for books, and,
above all, for books that treated of sacred matters. In
the dinner-hour it is very general for miners, quarry-
men, and labourers to argue points of divinity, and
Davies became a strong controversialist against the
Unitarian and Socinian notions which were gaining
ground among his associates. By degrees an idea
germinated in his brain that as Calvin, Wesley,
Luther, and other great founders had created organisa-
tions to maintain and propagate their opinions, so,
in all probability, the great Founder of Christianity
had formed a corporate body to carry on His teach-
ing unto the end of time. He had never been brought
into direct contact with the Church of England, and
had an inherited prejudice against it, as purely
English, and as representing Saxon domination
over Wales, and he could think of no Body that
would answer his requirements but the Roman
Church. He accordingly took up the study of its
teaching and claims, and became convinced that if
Christ did found a community, it must be the Catholic
Church, which the Roman Body asserted itself to be ;
and Davies was received into that communion.

After some years, however, his confidence gave

86 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

way ; he found, as he thought, too much creduHty,
too great demands made on faith ; and he took to a
study of the Fathers.

Then his faith gave way ; he separated from the
Roman Communion, and for a while was adrift in
his convictions. He left the colliery in which hitherto
he had worked, and wandered from place to place in
bitterness of spirit, taking up occasional work here
and there, unsettled in every way, spiritually as well
as temporally.

After a while he settled as a quarryman at Pen-
rhyn, and here for the first time came in contact with
Anglican clergy, and found that the Church of Eng-
land, while not pretending to be the whole Church,
considered herself to be part and parcel of the One
Body, with the sacred deposit of faith, orders, and
sacraments. This gave him what he wanted, and
Albert Davies now found his feet on what he thought
was solid ground, and the old argumentative spirit
reawoke in him, and the dinner-hour was once more
the time for theological dialectics.

So years passed, and old age and ill-health crept
on. The quarry work that he could do was ill-paid
and precarious. He lived in chronic hunger, and often
was too poor to afford himself a fire in winter ; for
every penny he could spare was spent in the purchase
of books. He would read none but such as dealt
with theology.

At length he became so ill that he had to be taken
into the workhouse. He struggled against the neces-
sity as long as he could, and then submitted, saying,
" It is God's will, and I must accept what He desires."

PENRHYN CASTLE 87

In the workhouse he received better food, and com-
forts such as he had not been accustomed to as a
poor and failing quarryman. Any Httle gratuity
offered him he accepted to spend on his beloved books,
and in time his library was by no means inconsider-
able. After his death, by his express wish, they have
been divided between Bangor and Beaumaris libraries.

In the workhouse he died peacefully, and content
with his solitary lot. He was a man of rugged
exterior, with a head and face singularly like those
attributed to Socrates.

Such is the story of one man of the people ; it is
characteristic of the Welshman, with strong theologic
bent, that leads one in this direction, another in that ;
the mind is active, inquiring, especially in the direction
of abstruse studies.

In Penrhyn Castle is preserved the so-called Hirlas
Horn. It was discovered among the rubbish, during
some alterations and rebuilding of the castle, and had
probably fallen from the top of one of the towers
from which it had been blown. It bears the arms of
Sir Piers Griffiths, Sheriff of Carnarvonshire in 1566,
and was used for both drinking and blowing. The
name given to it is from the Hirlas horn celebrated
by Owen Cyfeiliog, prince of Powys in the twelfth
century, in a poem famous wherever the Welsh lan-
guage is spoken. It was composed immediately after
a great victory gained over the English in Maelor.

"Up rose the ruddy dawn of day ;
The armies met in dread array,

On Maelor Drcfred's field ;
Loud the British clarions sound.
The Saxons gasping on the ground,

The bloody conflict yield.

88 BANGOR AND CARNARVON

" Fill, fill the Hi lias horn, my boy I
Nor let the tuneful lips be dry

That warble Owen's praise,
Whose walls with warlike spoils are hung,
And open wide his gates are flung
In Cambria's peaceful days.

" This hour we dedicate to joy ;
Then fill the Hirlas horn, my boy,

That shineth like the sea !
Whose azure handles, tipt with gold,
Invite the grasp of Britons bold.
The Sons of Liberty."

The scene is the night after the battle, and the
prince passes the horn round to each of his chiefs,
and reckons up their gallant deeds. Then, turning
to the empty seats of those who have fallen, the
princely bard, who does not fail to blow his own
trumpet, drinks to the memory of the dead : —

" Pour out the horn, tho' he desire it not.
And heave a sigh o'er Morgan's early grave ;
Doomed in his clay-cold tenement to rot,
While we revere the memory of the brave."

From Bethesda a road leads across the mountains
to Bettws-y-Coed (the Bead-house in the Wood) by
the pretty lake Ogwen. There are a number of
picturesque tarns in the neighbourhood — the wildly
beautiful Llyn Idwal, Llyn Bochlwyd, Marchlyn
Mawr (the Great Lake of the Horse), Ffynnon Llugwy,
Llyn Cowlyd, Llyn Eigiau — and several days may
well be spent in exploring the beauties of this
mountain region, but the explorer must be prepared
for vast solitudes and for steep scrambles, and he
must take refreshments with him.

THE WATER-HORSE 89

A word of caution to anyone visiting Marchlyn.
Should he see a horse, however quiet and staid,
browsing near, let him not venture to mount it,
although the beast seems to invite the weary traveller
through the heather to take a seat on its back. No
sooner is he in his seat than all its want of spirit is at
an end. It flies away with its rider towards the lake,
plunges in, and will never be seen again. It is the
Ceffyl y Dwfr, the Water-horse, a spirit that lives in
the depths, with a special taste for human flesh,
which it will munch below when it has its victim at
the bottom of the blue water.

CHAPTER VI
SNOWDON

Beauty of shape of Snowdon — Vortigern retreated to it — Story of his
castle — Merlin — S. Germanus — The last Llewelyn — Dolbadarn —
Owen and David — Treachery — David Gam — Topography of the
Snowdon district — Glacial action — The great red sea — Llanberis
— Church rights a family matter — Married clergy — Beddgelert —
The legend of the hound — Whence it came and how it grew —
Capel Curig — Curig visits Brittany.

SNOWDON is a topic to be approached with
hesitation and reluctance, because it has been so
much and so well written about that it is not easy to
describe the mountain without a sense of falling
behind others who have done the work superlatively
well. It is therefore advisable to touch only on such
topics as have been passed over by other writers, or
not dealt with fully by them.

Snowdon compared with the Alps is of course in-
considerable, so far as altitude goes ; so is Pilatus, but
Snowdon shares with this latter the supreme beauty of
shape, and it surpasses Pilatus in that it does not stand
near giants as those of the Oberland. And hugeness
is not of the essence of beauty. No one looking
on Snowdon can deny that it is a mountain in its
majesty, and that in form it is absolutely perfect.

SNOWDON 91

Snowdon, or Eryri as it is called by the Welsh,
has served as a fastness to which the hard-pressed
princes of Gwynedd could retreat before the over-
whelming power of England. It was an impregnable
stronghold, and the Norman or English could not
penetrate to it, and could only hope to starve into
surrender those who took refuge there. It could not
be approached through broad valleys. It is reached
only by ravines. It was possible at any time for
those sheltering in its recesses to collect unobserved
and swoop down on a town or castle where the
defenders were few. To Snowdon Gwrtheyrn
Gwrtheneu, or Vortigern, retreated before the angry
and resentful British, who laid upon him the blame of
calling in the aid of the Jutes and Saxons, although
he had only so done as the mouthpiece of their
general council.

Nennius tells a strange story of the founding by
him of a castle in Snowdon.

The Histojy of the Britons that passes under the
name of Nennius was composed in Alclud, or
Dumbarton, about the year 679. It was re-edited by
one Nennius in or about 796, and it underwent a
second redaction by Samuel in Buallt, or Builth,
later again, about 810.

The story of Vortigern and his castle in Snowdon
is compounded of two distinct legends that have
been clumsily put together. It is to this effect.
Vortigern desired to erect a residence for himself in
Eryri, but met with difficulties over the foundations.
He consulted his Druids, and they recommended him
to bury under the wall a fatherless child whose

92 SNOWDON

parentage was unknown. The laying of the founda-
tions with a human victim was a common form of
pagan superstition. The reason for selecting a child
of unknown parentage was to avoid the risk of a
blood-feud, should one be taken from a tribe of which
he was an acknowledged member. After some seek-
ing, a brat was discovered that answered the require-
ments, and he was brought before Vortigern, where
he announced to the king that the real reason why
his foundations gave way was that they were laid in
a swamp, and that in the swamp were two reptiles
engaged in incessant conflict. Then he proceeded to
declare that these creatures symbolised the Briton
and the Saxon, that although the latter seemed to
prevail, in the end the Briton would obtain the
mastery and expel the other from the land.

The story goes on, with curious inconsequence, to
relate that the boy informed Vortigern that he was
named Ambrose, and was the son of a Roman consul ;
and then taking a high hand he ordered the king to
depart and leave the fortress and the better portion
of his kingdom to himself, and Vortigern meekly
submitted. But the story gets still further tangled
up, for Ambrose is made to be one with Merlin the
prophet and enchanter.

Now, although the story as it reads is in a muddle,
it is possible to disentangle the threads, and, moreover,
to restore a substratum of truth that has been dis-
turbed by the importation of foreign matter. The
incident of the reptiles and the prophecy must be
eliminated as belonging to a legend of Merlin.
Vortigern, it would seem, after popular feeling had

VORTIGERN 93

turned against him, fell back on the pagan party,
which was still strong in country places, whereas the
Romano-British towns were wholly Christian. That
he actually did have recourse to the pagan practice
of burying a child alive under the foundations of his
castle, or of sprinkling them with its blood, is prob-
able enough under the circumstances. The practice
did not die out for some time. P'rom this fortress
Vortigern was obliged to withdraw through the de-
fection of his followers, and it w^as seized by Ambrose,
who was at the head of the opposed faction. He had
been raised to lead the revolt because descended from
one of the Roman emperors — in fact, from Maximus,
who had married Elen.

Ambrose was supported by S. Germanus, who
excommunicated Vortigern and called down the
vengeance of Heaven on his head.

The palace of Vortigern is now called Dinas Emrys,
or that of Ambrose, and it rises above Llyn Dinas —
some mounds indicate the site — on the summit of an
insulated hill surrounded by woods. It would be
most interesting to explore this spot with pick and
spade — not in quest of the child's bones under the
foundation-stone, nor of the reptiles, but in the hopes
of finding personal ornaments and weapons of the
period of Vortigern and Ambrose, for such are most
scanty and rare in our museums.

Merlin, or, as the Welsh call him, Myrddin or
Merddin, was the son of Morfryn, and he was actually
engaged in conflict against his own brother-in-law
Rhydderch Hael in the north of Britain ; Rhydderch
being the leader of the Christian Britons, Merlin

94 SNOWDON

threw himself into the opposed -party, which was
pagan, headed by Gwenddolew, and was defeated in
a great battle at Arderydd, now Arthuret, in 573.

To Snowdon twice retreated Llewelyn, the last
Prince of Wales of the House of Cunedda.

If it served the Welsh princes as a refuge, it was
also of use to them as a prison, in which they could
hold their most dangerous adversaries, and the tower
of Dolbadarn at the foot of Llyn Peris was their gaol.
The most noted of those who were there confined
was Owen the Red, brother of Llewelyn ab Gruffydd.
On the death of David, son of Llewelyn the Great,
in 1246, the Welsh of Gwynedd chose the brothers
Owen and Llewelyn as joint kings to rule over them
and lead them against the English. It was an in-
judicious choice, for in Wales in a royal family a
man's worst foes were those of his own household,
and the electors might have foreseen that these
brothers would ere long fly at each other's throat.
The two princes had a brother David, who was dis-
satisfied at being left out in the cold, and he hasted
to the court of King Henry III. to obtain his
assistance against his successful brothers. The King
was delighted to have an excuse for fomenting fratri-
cidal war in Wales, and he flattered and encouraged
David, who began to intrigue with Owen against
Llewelyn. Suddenly, in 1255, these two brothers
raised the standard of revolt, but Llewelyn was on
his guard, and he captured both of them and slew
many of their followers.

Owen, as the more dangerous, was sent to Dol-
badarn, and was immured there for twenty years ;

HISTORICAL 95

but David was liberated in 1258, as he feigned the
profoundest contrition.

But David only waited his opportunity, and he
entered into a secret arrangement with Owen, prince
of Powys, to murder his brother Llewelyn, so that
he might secure the crown of Gwynedd. In order
to further this plot, David recommended Llewelyn to
invite the prince of Powys to a great banquet at
Aberffraw, to be followed by hunting parties in Mon.
This was in 1275. Llewelyn, unsuspecting treachery,
agreed. Prince Owen arrived, but his retinue, on
which he relied for obtaining the mastery of the
palace, in the confusion consequent on the murder,
was detained by bad weather and the impassability
of the roads. David was alarmed. He suspected
that Owen of Powys purposed betraying him, and
he took to flight.

Llewelyn, perplexed at the disappearance of David,
questioned Owen, who made full confession of the
plot. The conspirators intended to have surrounded
the bedroom of Llewelyn in the night, and to have
assassinated him in his sleep.

The Prince of Wales, on learning all particulars,
cited David to appear before him and answer to the
charge of high treason ; but David declined to attend,
and, collecting a body of armed men, fell on and
ravaged portions of his brother's territory, and when
Llewelyn marched to chastise him he fled to the court
of Edward I., who received him favourably.

In 1277 Edward invaded Wales, and was greatly
assisted by David, who knew the country and the
people, and was able to foment jealousies among

96 SNOWDON

the Welsh chieftains, and cripple Llewelyn in his
resistance to the advance of the invader, by detach-
ing them from his allegiance. Owen the Red from
his prison contrived to send to Edward his best wishes
for his success.

Llewelyn was now obliged to take refuge in
Snowdon, and was forced to come to terms with
Edward, and by these terms he was compelled to
release Owen. After this we hear little more of this
red-haired fox, and it is probable that his long cap-
tivity had broken his health.

Now the false and fickle David deserted Edward,
and went over to the side of Llewelyn, actuated, not
by patriotism, but by self-interest.

In 1282 King Edward again invaded Wales, but
his advance was checked at Conway. He accordingly
sent a fleet to effect the subjugation of Anglesey,
and to form that a base for operations against
Llewelyn in Snowdon. Having succeeded in this,
Edward exclaimed exultantly, " Now I have plucked
the finest feather out of Llewelyn's tail."

Llewelyn, hard pressed in Snowdon, left that
stronghold to be defended by David, whilst he
hastened south to rally the Welsh under the prince
of Dynevor. He fell into an ambush, as has been
already related, and was killed. David was captured,
and hanged, drawn, and quartered. Another prisoner
detained in Dolbadarn was David Gam of Brecon,
who tried to assassinate Owen Glyndwr. But about
him more when we come to Machynlleth.

To understand the topography of the Snowdon
district we must conceive of Snowdon itself as shaped

GEOLOGY 97

much like a star-fish with the radiating arms curved,
and Httle lakes lying in the hollows between the
ridges. The entire mass, however, forms a rude
triangle with its base at Llyn Dinas and Llyn
Gwynant and the pass of Bwlch-y-Gwyddel, the neck
that attaches Snowdon to the stately mountain mass
of Moel Siabod. North of Llyn Padarn and Llanberis
is again a great mountain bulk.

The geology of Snowdon is too complicated for
the unscientific eye to understand and unravel, but
broadly it may be described as eruptive matter break-
ing through the Cambrian slates. These slates are the
best in England, though their purple tinge is un-
pleasant to the eye, and the silvery grey is far more
grateful. The slate quarries find employment for
armies of workmen, but are detrimental to the beauty
of the scenery, the mountain-sides being sliced and
hacked and hewn into, and over the hideous piles of
debris it will take thousands of years for the grass to
grow.

Even the uninitiated eye will soon be able to detect
the traces of glacial action in scored rocks as the
great ice rivers moved over them, scratching them
with the stones embodied in the frozen stream, in the
fragmentary moraines, and in the eratic blocks.

Once, in that cold remote age, the sea, a red sea,
swept from the mouth of the Dee ov-er Cheshire,
Staffordshire, Herefordshire, to the estuary of the
Severn. Wales was a great mountainous island with
glaciers rolling down the valleys, discharging their
mighty rivers of ice into it. The Wrekin stood up
above the waters, and the waves leaped about it.

98 SNOWDON

The great rollers from the north phmged and shivered
into foam against Wenlock Edge. The swirls formed
the pools that are now still basins full of carp around
Ellesmere ; it deposited its salt in the beds whence
the brine is pumped at Droitwich and in Cheshire.
Rafts of ice broken off from the glacier, descending
the valleys of the Dee, the Severn, and the Wye,
drifted about till they melted, tilted, and discharged
their burdens of stone, brought from the Welsh
mountains, over the sea bed, so that now these are
found strewn around Birmingham and Bromley,
scattered over the Clent and Lickey Hills.

Snowdon, unhappily, is fond of wearing his cloud-
cap, that Tarn-Kappe of Northern mythology which
was supposed to make him invisible who donned it.
In the Niebelungen Lied, one of the four greatest
epic poems the world has produced, when Gunther,
the Burgundian king, goes to court, Brunehild of
Iceland, the virago, informs him she will have none but
such as can overmaster her in hurling and in leap-
ing. Siegfried dons the mist-cap, and puts his hand
behind that of Gunther to assist him in casting the
spear and pitching the stone, and he takes him in his
arms to leap, and so wins the bride for Gunther.
And dear old Snowdon with his mist-cap on has
baffled the forces of Norman and English again and
again as he hugged to his heart the gallant but out-
numbered Welsh. It was not the rugged heights or
the impenetrable ravines alone that bewildered and
held back the invader, but the cap of cloud which
Snowdon drew over the refugees who clung to him
for safety. Standing forward, and looking over the

LLANBERIS 99

western sea, Snowdon attracts the vapours, and they
are fortunate who, ascending it, can see from its
summit the glorious panorama of tossed mountain
ridges and jewelled lakes surrounding it.

And now a few words relative to those places
whence the visitor to Snowdon will explore this
beautiful neighbourhood.

Llanberis, much given over to slate quarrying,
takes its name from a certain Peris, " Cardinal of
Rome," of whom scarcely anything but the name is
known, not even his pedigree,* and that means a great
deal, or rather did so, till the Normans came into
Wales and upset the ecclesiastical order there.

Achau y Saint was the Who's Who of the Welsh
Church. Now when an ecclesiastic founded a church
and obtained land around it, constituting what we
may call his parish, that church and parish became
the hereditary property of his family. It was ac-
cordingly of first importance to establish who he was,
and who were his blood relations. Thenceforth
every pater-familias of his family had rights to land
in the benefice, be he layman or cleric. All the land
in the parish belonged to the family of the saint.
To establish a right to land in it a man had to prove
his descent; consequently, next to fixing the pedigree
of the founder came the preservation of the gene-
alogies of the descendants.

It did not in the least matter whether they were in
Holy Orders or not, they had hereditary rights in the
benefice. If among them there were one, two, or even

* A Peris is, however, given as son of Ilelig ab Glannog (lolo MSS.
p. 124), but is this the same?

lOo SNOWDON

a dozen, who were clerics, all these clerics were co-
rectors — that is to say, they had their rights to land in
the parish as kinsmen of the saintly founder. What
they received in their clerical capacity were surplice
dues. Gerald the Welshman, who lived in the twelfth
century, speaks of it as an " infamous custom." No
doubt it did not work well. There was no responsible
priest with the cure of souls. Some one or other of
the tribe who was in sacred orders celebrated divine
service and administered the sacraments, but all went
on in a hugger-mugger way. Gerald speaks of parishes
with several rectors. Even bishoprics passed from
father to son. Archbishop Peckham, in his visitation
in 1284, complained that this custom was ruinous to
the well-being of the Church. As all the householders
of an ecclesiastical tribe lived on the proceeds of the
benefice, there was scarcely enough coming in to the
share of the actual priest who ministered, to support
him. The principle of co-ownership in land prevailed
in the secular tribes, and it extended to the ecclesias-
tical tribes as well, that is to say, to those of the
saint's kin living about the church on Church lands.
Gerald says : —

" The Church has almost as many parsons or parties as
there are principal men in the parish, and the sons, after
the decease of their fathers, succeed to the ecclesiastical
benefices, not by election, but by hereditary right ; and if a
bishop should dare to presume to appoint or to institute
anyone else, the people would most certainly revenge the
injury on the institution or the instituted."

It was probably to get rid of this mischievous
custom that the Norman conquerors and the English

THE CHURCH loi

barons who occupied castles in Wales turned such
benefices as they could lay their hands on into vicar-
ages under monasteries. Then the abbots or priors
appointed some of their monks to minister in these
parishes, and these men were entirely detached from
all family ties in the place, and could attend to its
spiritual charge and to that only. But till this new
order of things came in— and it came in slowly and
by degrees, and was forced on a reluctant people —
the genealogies of the saints and of their kin were
preserved with the utmost care. People were much
more anxious to remember their pedigrees than the
stories of the lives of the founders. The pedigrees
were the title deeds to the enjoyment of valuable
rights to land and other endowments.

In the Latin Church a saint was remembered for
what he had done, for his holy life ; in the Celtic
Church all that was nothing — he was valued for the
land he had acquired, and which he transmitted to
his posterity.

In the Welsh Church, saints, bishops, abbots, clergy,
as a rule, were married, and took care to transmit
their benefices parcelled up among their sons. When
the Latin ecclesiastics condescended to w'rite the lives
of the Celtic saints they suppressed this fact. Thus
Gildas the historian, Abbot of Ruys, and a reformer
of the Irish Church after the reaction to paganism
that followed the death of Patrick and his devoted
band, was a married man, and the father of some
half a dozen children. He had two biographers.
Neither says a word about this ; each asserts that
from boyhood he was " crucified to the world and

I02 SNOWDON

the world to him " ; that he " scorned transitory
things," and Hved a Hfe of severe self-abnegation.
His son Cenydd, or Keneth, was a hermit in Gower,
and he also had wife and family. But those terrible
genealogies, so carefully preserved by the Welsh, tell
us facts not quite in harmony with the statements of
these " Lives," just as parish registers and the wills
in probate courts make sad havoc of some of the
pedigrees of our gentle families as given in " Burke "
and in county histories.

Beddgelert is visited annually by a crowd of
tourists, who drop a tear on the grave of Llewelyn's
faithful hound. Who Celer was, who has given a
name to the place, is not known. Llewelyn may
have had a dog called Kill -hart, as we shall see
presently, that was true and dear to him, and the
beast may have been buried here — that is possible
enough ; but the story of the death of Gelert, killed
by his master in mistake, is not true — it is an im-
portation. The full legend as connected with Bedd-
gelert appears first of all in Jones's Musical Relicks
of the Welsh Bards (ed. 1794, p. 75) about a dog,
Cylart, at Beddgelert. Then came Spencer's poem,
Beth-Gelert, or the Grave of the Greyhound^ which was
first printed privately as a broadsheet in 1800, when
it was composed. He says : " The story of this
ballad is traditionary in a village at the foot of
Snowdon, where Llewelyn the Great had a house.
The greyhound named Gelert was given him by his
father-in-law, King John, in the year 1205." This is
taken straight out of the note of Jones, date and all.
We may well inquire what was Jones's authority.

AN IMPORTED LEGEND 103

The legend had found its way into Wales at least in
the sixteenth century, for there is an englyn, in a
MS. written in that century, to Llewelyn's hound,
Kilhart, " when it was buried at Beddgelert " ; and
the legend occurs as one of the pseudonymous Alle-
gories, or Fables of Catwg Ddoeth, in the lolo MSS.,
written about the same century, and, as all the other
documents there, in the South Welsh dialect. It is
there entitled, " The Man who killed his Greyhound."
It is therein connected with a man "who formerly
lived at Abergarwan." The tale — infant in cradle,
a greyhound, a wolf — is given complete, and one of
the popular sayings it gave currency to — " As sorry
as the man who killed his greyhound " — is found in
most collections of Welsh proverbs. As to the
allegories of Catwg Ddoeth, the collection was itself
an importation from the popular mediaeval volume
The Sayings of Cato the J Vise, and it was foisted on
S. Cadog of Llancarfan.

With respect to the grave of the greyhound at
Beddgelert, Professor Rhys says that there are still
alive old men there who remember and can testify
to having seen the cairn erected by the landlord of
the Goat Inn.

We have, then, the story traced so far. It was
brought into Wales in one of the popular collections
of tales that circulated in the Middle Ages ; then it
was applied to some man, nameless, at Abergarwan,
in South Wales. Then it attached itself to Llewelyn ;
Jones took the euglyu, invented the date and the
fable that it was presented by King John to Llewelyn.
Next, Spencer composed the ballad which at once

I04 SNOWDON

became popular, and finally the innkeeper at Bedd-
gelert manufactured the grave of the dog. But let
us go a little further back, and track the still earlier
history of the tale.

It appears first of all in the Pantschatantra, a
collection of stories made in Sanskrit (in India) some
centuries before the Christian era. It was trans-
lated into Syriac under the title of Kalilah and
Dinma. This was rendered into Arabic under the
Calif Almansor (754-775), and by this means spread
and became a popular story-book throughout the
Mussulman world. It was translated into Persian
in or about 11 50, and into Greek by Simon Seth
about 1080, and by John of Capua into Latin about
1270. In Spain it had been rendered out of Arabic
by Raymond of Beziers in 1255, and it became a
source of many collections of tales, as that of the
Seven Wise Masters and the Gesta Ronianorian,
that circulated in the Middle Ages throughout the
Western world.

The story of the faithful beast slain by its master
through a hasty conclusion that it had devoured his
son is found in Thibet, in Russia — almost everywhere
in Asia and in Europe.

In its original form in the P antschatantra it stands
thus : —

" The wife of a Brahmin had an ichneumon in the house,
as well as a child. One day she was about to go to the
well lo draw water, and she said to her husband, ' Look
sharply after the baby whilst I am away, lest the ichneumon
do it a mischief.' But the man went off begging, and
neglected his charge. In the meanwhile a venomous black

CAPEL CURIG 105

serpent approached the crib, and the ichneumon flew at it
and killed it. Then the creature ran out, with its mouth
bloody, to meet the woman as she returned from the well.
When she saw the animal with its jaws dripping with gore
she rushed to the conclusion that it had killed her son, and
threw the pail at it and crushed the life out of it."

An ichneumon was not an animal known in
Europe, and so the translators changed it into any
beast that they thought would serve — as a cat, a
weasel, or a dog — and some vaguely describe it as a
" domestic beast." The oldest form of the local legend
is found in a MS. dated 1592. This relates that the
Princess Joan, natural daughter of King John, and
wife of Llewelyn the Great, brought a noble stag-
hound with her from England, and that the dog was
one day fatally wounded by a horn-thrust when on a
chase. In another MS. of the same period the dog
is called Kilhart, and this seems to have been its real,
an English, name, " Kill-hart."

Capel Curig takes its designation from S. Curig ;
he departed by Cornwall to Brittany. In Cornwall
and Wales the Latin clergy speedily displaced him
from the churches he had founded, and put Cyriacus,
a boy martyr of Tarsus, into his room.

But he has been better respected in his adopted
land. At Perros-Guirec is his oratory on a rock in
the bay, to which he was wont to retire from visitors
and troublesome distractions, to read, meditate, and
pray. The tide flows around the rock, so that Curig
was cut off from interference by dancing waves. The
wonderful spire of Kreisker at S. Pol de Leon is
attached to a chapel that he is reported to have
founded, and it is regarded as the finest in Brittany.

CHAPTER VII
LLEYN

The promontory of Lleyn — Resemblance to Cornwall — Watering-
places — Irish camps — Tre'r Ceiri — Nant Gwrlheyrn — End of
Vortigern — Madryn — Holy wells of Llanaelhaiarn and Llangybi
— Castell March — The story of King March— Irddw and the wild
fowl— The tarn of Glasfryn— " Old Morgan "—Screen at Llanengan
— Chest of King Einion — Bardsey Isle — What a saint meant —
Canonisation — Isle of S. Tudwal — Love of the old saints for an
isle— Avallon the Isle of the Blessed— Madog's supposed discovery
of America — Celtic settlers in Iceland — lolo Goch— The meeting
at Aberdaron— Clynnog— The story of S. Beuno — Beuno's mark —
How to raise money for charities.

LLEYN is the promontory of Carnarvon that
^ serves, with the Pembrokeshire headlands of
Strumble and S. David's, to form the Cardigan Bay.
It bears a curious resemblance in outline to Cornwall.
It has its Land's End at Braich-y-pwll, its Mount's
Bay, Forth Nigel, and its Lizard Point at Pencilan.
Bardsey may also be assumed as representing the
Scilly group. The general aspect of Lleyn is also
like that of Cornwall, no trees except in combes,
heathery moors, and little ports between rocky crags.
Curiously enough, a number of Cornish saints
settled here. But Cornwall can show no such bold
heights as Yr Eifl (the Rivals) and Carn Fadryn.
Their elevation is not great. Yr Eifl, rising into three

1 06

WILD AND PICTURESQUE 107

peaks, is only 1,850 feet and Carn Fadryn less — 1,200
feet — but their shapes are finer than those of the tors
of the Cornish moors.

Lleyn has several watering-places on the south
coast, as Portmadoc, Criccieth, and Pwllheli, and
those preferring the more bracing air on the north
coast find what they desire at Nevin.

The peninsula was a stronghold of the Irish, who
tyrannised over the British as the Roman's grip on
Britain relaxed. Their camps remain at Tre'r Ceiri,
Pen-y-gaer, and Carn Bentyrch. The first of these
occupied one of the summits of Yr Eifl, and is the
finest specimen in Wales. From being situated so
high and so far from building sites, it has not been
molested, and the walls are in places fifteen feet high.
It stands 1,500 feet above the sea, and towers precipi-
tously above the village of Llanaelhaiarn in a valley
below. There was a walk around the wall on the
top protected by a parapet, which is perfect in several
parts. The enclosure is of an oblong shape with outer
defences where the side of the mountain was least
steep, and the interior is crowded with cytiau, or hut-
circles. The entrance is well defended, and is quite
distinct, as is also a sally-port.

The situation is extremely wild and picturesque.
The camp cries out to be scientifically and laboriously
explored. It is now menaced by the terrible tripper
coming over in char-a-bancs from Criccieth and Pwll-
heli, who respects nothing, and may amuse his empty
mind by throwing down the venerable walls that are
set up without mortar, the stones kept in position
by their own weight alone.

io8 LLEYN

What has stood in the way of the work of explora-
tion has been the soHtude and height at which stands
the stone castle. Those undertaking the excavation
would have to camp in it, and snatch the chances of
bright days.

Below Yr Eifl is Nant Gwrtheyrn, the Valley of
Vortigern, with some mounds indicating the site of
the wooden hall of this unfortunate king. Hither he
retired as his last place of refuge.

Unable effectively to resist the incursions of the
Picts and Scots, he invited the Germans to come to
his aid. But he did not venture on this upon his
own initiative. He summoned a great national
council to devise a remedy for the distress of Britain
when an appeal to Rome had failed. The unanimous
voice of the assembly authorised Vortigern to call to
his assistance the Teutonic rovers. Hengest and his
brother Horsa, with three tribes of Jutes and Angles,
were accordingly invited over, and they landed in the
Isle of Thanet in 449. With their aid Vortigern
successfully rolled back the tide of northern bar-
barians, and then assigned Thanet to his new
auxiliaries, in the fond belief that this would content
them. He further undertook to furnish them with
provisions in proportion to their numbers. Tempted
by the alluring reports sent home by these adven-
turers, fresh tribes of Angles now poured in, and on
the plea of insufficient remuneration, Hengest and
Horsa led their countrymen to plunder the neigh-
bouring Kent.

At the same time the beautiful Rowena, daughter
of Hengest, arrived, and Vortigern, who met her at a

VORTIGERN 109

banquet, was so fascinated by her charms that to gain
her hand he consented to assign Kent to Hengest.

The Angles still pressed on ; several battles were
fought with various success. In one of these
Vortimer, the gallant son of the king, was wounded,
and, when he died, the exasperated Britons declared
that he had been poisoned by Rowena. Still the
invaders advanced, and the Britons met with a crush-
ing defeat at Ebbsfleet.

Vortigern was doubtless incapable, vacillating, and
weak. The anger of the Britons, now in deadly
alarm, was concentrated on him. A general revolt
against him ensued, and, headed by Ambrosius
Aurelius and encouraged by S. Germanus — not he
of Auxerre, but a nephew of S. Patrick — he was
driven from his throne, and took refuge under the
old Irish fortress of Tre'r Ceiri. Germanus pursued
him, and the wooden structure was set on fire. Tradi-
tion varies as to what became of him. Some sup-
posed that he perished in the flames, others asserted
that he managed to escape and wandered about with
a few followers from place to place, and finally died
of a broken heart. In the palace at the time was his
granddaughter Madryn, wife of Ynyr, king of Gwent,
with her little son. She was allowed to pass out of
the fire, and she fled to the fortified hilltop that
now bears her name — Carn Fadryn. Thence at the
earliest opportunity she took boat, and found a home
for the rest of her days in Cornwall. Her son em-
braced the ecclesiastical profession, and built himself
a church under the shadow of the mountain to which
his mother had fled for refuge.

no LLEYN

In Madr}'n Hall, the seat of the Jones-Parry family,
is a beautiful marble statue of her by an Italian
artist, representing her flying from the burning palace
with her babe in her arms.

Below Tre'r Ceiri, as already mentioned, is the
village of Llanaelhaiarn, with a remarkable spring.
It consists of a tank with stone seats about it for
the bathers who awaited the " troubling of the
waters." This troubling consists in the sudden well-
ing up of a gush of water charged with sparkling
bubbles, first in one place and then in another.

The well has been closed and locked, as it adjoins
the highway and is liable to contamination. To this
was attributed an outbreak of diphtheria in the village
a few years ago, when an order was made for the
closing of the well doors, and the water is now con-
ducted into the village by a pipe.

Aelhaiarn, "the Iron Brow," was, according to the
legend, an over -curious servant of S. Beuno. The
saint was wont to go in the dead of night from
Clynnog to Llanaelhaiarn to say his prayers on a
stone in the midst of the river. Aelhaiarn one night,
to gratify his curiosity, followed him, and was rewarded
by being torn to pieces by wild beasts. Beuno picked
up the poor fellow's bones, and pieced them together,
but " part of the bone under the eyebrow was want-
ing." This he supplied with the iron on his pike-
staff.

Llangybi was the foundation of S. Cybi when he
escaped from the wreck of his boat, after crossing
over from Ireland. His holy well and bath are in
good preservation. This latter is also a tank, and

S. CYBI

1 1 1

there are niches in the wall for the seats of those
who desired to bathe in the salutary waters. On
the rocky height above is shown his chair, a natural

DOORWAY, S. CYBIS WELL

throne in the rock, where he is supposed to have sat
whilst instructing his disciples, who crouched among
the fern and against the oak trees around.

There are several cromlechs about Criccieth, but
not of any great size. Criccieth Castle was erected

112 LLEYN

by Edward I. on the site of a prehistoric caer. It is
now in the last condition of ruin.

Llanarmon must have been founded by, or in
commemoration of, S. Germanus when he smoked
Vortigern out of his last place of refuge.

At Castell March it is fabled that King March,
one of Arthur's warriors, resided, who had horse's
ears. The same story is told of him as of Midas.
In order to conceal the fact, he killed every barber
who trimmed his hair, and then buried him in a
swamp. A piper happened to cut the reeds that
grew there, but the pipe would play but one tune,
" Mae clustiau march i Farch ab Meirchion," and the
attendants on the king, regarding this as an insult,
fell on the piper and killed him. But when one of
them put the pipe to his lips, again it would play no
other tune. It was then discovered where the reed
had been cut, and the whole story came out.

March was the husband of the fair Iseult, who
eloped with Tristan, his nephew. Twenty -eight
knights were sent in pursuit, but failed to catch
the runaways. However, at last they were taken
and brought before King Arthur, who decided that
Iseult should spend half the year with Tristan and
half with March, and it was left to the latter to
decide whether he should have his wife with him
whilst foliage was on the trees or when they were
bare.

He chose the latter, whereupon Iseult exultantly
exclaimed, *' Blessed be the judgment of Arthur, for
the holly and the ivy never drop their leaves, but are
ever green ; so farewell for ever to King March."

GRACE'S WELL 113

An odd story is told of Irddw, great-grandson of
March. He amused himself with taming wild fowl,
by holding meat in the air, and they came for it to
his hand, and he taught them to carry it off in pairs.
He went to the Holy Land to fight the infidels, and
was taken prisoner, but was allowed by the Sultan
to walk in the open air, and he offered to show how
he fed the wild birds. So meat was given to him,
and he called, and multitudes of birds came, and
he caught them by means of the meat, and they in
their efforts to escape soared into the air, carrying
Irddw along with them, and they flew over land and
sea, and did not drop him till they reached his native
Wales. In commemoration of his escape he added
a flying griffin to his arms.

The little tarn of Glasfryn has a story connected
with it that is found in connection with other sheets
of water in Wales, in Ireland, and Brittany.

There was once a well there, but no lake, called
Ffynnon Grassi, or Grace's Well, that was walled
about, and had several holes in the wall for the
overflow to issue thence. Over the well was a door
always kept shut, and it was placed under the charge
of Grassi, who was bidden never leave the door open,
but shut it down after drawing from it the supply
required for domestic purposes. But one da}' she
forgot to do this, and the well overflowed, and the
water spread and formed a lake.

So as punishment for neglect she was changed into

a swan, and in that form she continued to swim on

the lake for successive years. Then, at length, she

died ; but still it is reported that at times her

114 LLEYN

plaintive cry may be heard over the water that has
swallowed up her home and its fair fields.

It is also reported that a mysterious Morgan, a
monster, dwells at the bottom of the lake, and
naughty children are threatened with being giv^en
to " Old Morgan " unless they amend their ways.

At Llanengan is a fine screen with rood-loft. The
carving is coarse but effective. It is remarkable
that in Wales it is the exception to find a screen
without a loft, whereas among the hundred and fifty
screens in Devon there are only two with the ancient
loft left undemolished. The reason is this. The
Devon rood-galleries were supported on fan vaulting,
which, if beautiful, is not overstrong to support much
weight. In Wales it is sustained by three, in some
cases four, parallel rows of posts.

In the church is a huge oak chest, supposed to have
been the coffin of Einion, king of Lleyn, but actually
it was the chest for receiving the offerings made by
pilgrims. Over the tower door is still to be seen
an inscription, which reads " Eneanus Rex Walliae
fabricavit ; " it is, however, very much weather-worn.
The present church was erected many centuries sub-
sequent to his time. It was this prince who founded
Penmon, and placed his brother Seiriol there. He
also gave up the Isle of Enlli or Bardsey to S.
Cadfan.

Bardsey became the Holy Isle of Wales, and the
saints thought it profitable to retire to it for death
and burial. It is said that so many as twenty
thousand repose in it.

The island belonged to the late Lord Newborough,

WELSH SAINTS 115

who erected a cross upon it, with the following
inscriptions on three sides: —

[a] "Safe in this Island

Where each saint would be,
How wilt thou smile

Upon Life's stormy sea."

[d] '' Respect

the Remains of 20,000 Saints
buried near this spot."

[c] " In hoc loco requicscant in pace."

When the Bollandist Fathers undertook to write
their great work on the Saints of Christendom, they
were staggered when they found that Ireland and
Wales claimed to have had as many as all the rest
of Christendom put together. They say of the
Irish, " They would not have been so liberal in canon-
ising dead men in troops whenever they seemed to
be somewhat better than usual, if they had adhered to
the custom of the Universal Church throughout the
world."

The total number of Welsh saints whose names are
known as founders is about five hundred, but there
are the twenty thousand whose bones lie in Bardsey,
and Bishop Gerald of Mayo is said to have had three
thousand three hundred saints under him.

But the fact is, a saint in the Celtic mind was
something very different from one as conceived in
the Latin Church. He was one who had entered the
ecclesiastical profession, and was counted a saint,
whatever his moral qualities were. Piro, Abbot of
Caldey, tumbled into a well when drunk, and was
drowned, but he was regarded as a saint all the same.

ii6 LLEYN

The title of saint has changed its significance. S. Paul
addressed the " saints " at Corinth, but he lets us
understand that a good many of them were very-
disreputable characters, and a scandal even to the
heathen. They were saints by vocation, but not by
manner of life. In precisely the same way the Welsh
called all those saints who took up the religious pro-
fession. Whether they were decent, well-conducted
saints, that was another matter.

Not one of the old Irish saints was canonised, not
even S, Patrick. None of the Welsh saints have been
canonised except S. David.

Canonisation is of comparatively recent introduc-
tion. Originally the names of the dead, good and
moderately good, were read out by the priest at the
altar. Then the bishops took it on them to decide
what names were to be read. Next the metropolitans
claimed to determine this ; and lastly, the sole right
to canonise, that is to say, to include a name in the
canon of the Mass was reserved to themselves by
the popes.

Bardsey is not very easy of access, as a strong
current runs between it and the mainland. A boat
has to be taken at Aberdaron, but now it is best to
.go by steamer, which occasionally takes an excursion
party from Pwllheli.

Another isle is that of S. Tudwal. To this a
Roman Catholic priest retired a few years ago, and
lived there the life of a solitary. It would seem to
have been part of the pre-Celtic religion to believe
in a spirit-land beyond the waters of the west ; and
this belief was taken up by Br}'thon and Goidel

MADOG 117

alike. They looked west and saw the sun go down
in a blaze of glory into the sea. Whither went it ?
What mysterious land did it go to illumine? Hy
Brasil the Irish call the wondrous land to the present
day, and the fishermen on the Galvvay and Clare coast
imagine that at times they can see it above the rim
of the ocean.

This it was which induced the Celtic saints to
hasten, as death approached, to some isle that com-
manded an unbroken view of the sea to the sunset ;
they could die in peace looking over the waste of
waters to the land of delight whither angels would
transport their souls. That was the true Avallon to
which the mysterious barge conveyed King Arthur —

" Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly ; but it lies
Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard-lawns
And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea,
Where I shall heal me of my grievous wound."

It was in quest of this land that Brendan, the
Navigator, set forth on his seven years' voyage ; and
Madog, the Welshman, sailed in quest of it, when life
at home became too troubled for his peace-loving
spirit.

Dafydd ab Owen Gwynedd had obtained the throne
in 1 171 by killing his brother Hywel, but fearing
every kinsman lest he should become a rival, he set
himself to pick quarrels with his surviving brothers
and cousins on one plea or other, and to crush or
expel them.

Madog is described by the poet Llywarch ab
Llewelyn as " the placid one." He was a brother of

ii8 LLEYN

the ambitious and unscrupulous Dafydd. He em-
barked with a picked crew of faithful followers in
Cardigan Bay, and in the year 1170 started on an
exploring excursion to the far west, far beyond
Ireland, " in trouble great and immeasurable."

Dafydd was alarmed ; he feared that his brother
had gone to obtain assistance in Ireland, and know-
ing that the bard, Llywarch, was his intimate friend, he
tortured him with hot irons to wring from him the
secret as to whither and for what purpose Madog had
departed. Llywarch composed a poem whilst under-
going the ordeal, which is extant.

It was said that after a year Madog returned, and
gathered to him other followers, to the number of
three hundred men in ten ships, and again departed
in 1 1 72 for the wondrous land beneath the sunset,
from which he never returned. Consequently he has
been esteemed a forerunner of Columbus. But no-
thing is certainly known about him more than that
he sailed away to the west.

Southey's delightful epic Madoc is based on this
story. The expeditions of Madog are spoken of by
three contemporary poets, and also by Meredydd ab
Rhys, in a poem written before Columbus was
heard of.

In 1790 a young Welshman, John Evans, a native
of Carnarvonshire, fired with these allusions and tradi-
tions of the extensive discoveries of Madog, made
an expedition to America in the hopes of discover-
ing traces there of the colony from Wales settled in
the twelfth century. He ascended the Missouri for
some 1,300 miles, but without success, and returned

ABERDARON 119

to S. Louis on the Mississippi to organise another
expedition. However, he was prostrated by a fever,
and died without accomplishing his object in 1797.

CatHn, in his Manners and Conditiofi of the North-
American Indians, convinced himself that he had
found the descendants of the Welsh colony in the
Mandans, but he has convinced no one else ; and
no other travellers have found a trace of Madog and
his settlers from Wales,

The Celtic saints were children of light, and they
followed the light. It was this that took them to
Iceland in their wicker-work coracles, pursuing the
summer sun.

When, in 870, the Norse refugees, deserting Norway
rather than submit to Harold Fairfair, colonised
Iceland, they found Irish and perhaps Welsh monks
there, and the new-comers called them Papar. These
eventually abandoned the island, as they did not
care to live among heathen ; but left behind them
bells, croziers, and books.

Aberdaron, the little port whence pilgrims started
for Bardsey, has a church of some interest that was
ruinous, but has been recently put in order, and is
empty, swept, but not garnished.

Here, at this harbour, in the house of the Dean of
Bangor, David Daron, took place that meeting which
has been represented by Shakespeare, where those
united against Henry IV. contrived the partition of
the land between them that they had, as yet, not
conquered.

Shakespeare was not historically correct. Harry
Hotspur had fallen at Shrewsbury in 1403, and the

I20 LLEYN

meeting did not take place till 1406. Those who met
were the fugitive Earl of Northumberland, the father
of Hotspur, Owen Glyndwr, and Edmund Mortimer.

Northumberland had, in fact, twice revolted against
Henry IV., and had escaped to Scotland ; he had
lost nerve, as he saw tokens, or suspected them, of an
inclination on the part of the Scots to exchange him
with the English king for Lord Douglas, and he took
ship and fled for France, but put in at the head-
land of Lleyn on his way, for conference with
Glyndwr, who doubtless desired to send messages
to France through the earl. The assembly took
place on February 28th, 1406, and at it the Indenture
of Assent was signed by the three contracting
parties.

Owen had his bard with him, lolo Goch, and the
harper sang the prophecy of Merlin, which declared
that the " mole accursed of God " should come to
destruction, that a dragon and a wolf should have
their tails plaited together and prevail, and that
with them should unite the lion, and these three
would divide the kingdom possessed by the mole.

The three who met at Aberdaron applied the
prophecy to themselves. Owen was the dragon,
Percy the lion, and Mortimer the wolf, and the mole
was none other than the burrowing, crafty Henry
Bolingbroke. Little came of this agreement. Percy
after two years spent partly in France, partly in
Wales, played his last stake in 1408, was taken on
Bramham Moor and was executed.

Clynnog possesses a fine and interesting church,
in which is Beuno's chest.

BEUNO 121

Beuno had been residing near Welshpool, but as
he was walking on a certain day near the Severn,
where there was a ford, he heard some men on the
further side inciting dogs in pursuit of a hare, and he
made sure they were Englishmen, for one shouted
" Kergia ! " (Charge !) to the hounds. When Beuno
heard the voice of the Englishman he immediately
turned back, and said to his disciples, " My sons, put
on your garments and your shoes, and let us abandon
this place, for the nation of the man with the strange
language, whose voice I heard beyond the river
inciting his dogs, will invade this place, and it will
be theirs." Beuno left and went to Meifod, where he
remained but forty days and nights with Tyssilio,
and then went on into the territory of Cadwallon,
king of Gwynedd, who gave him land on which to
settle, far away from the hated Saxon, And he and
his monks began to enclose an area with a mound and
a moat. Whilst thus engaged, a woman came up
with a child in her arms, and asked Beuno to bless it.
" Wait a while," said the abbot, " till we have done a
bit of banking." Then the child began to cry, so that
it distracted the monks, and Beuno bade her still it.

" How can I do that," said she, " when you are
taking possession of the land that belonged to my
husband, and should be that of this little one?"
Beuno at once stopped the work to inquire into the
matter, and found that what the woman had said was
true. Then, in great wrath, he ordered his chariot,
and drove to the palace of Cadwallon, and asked him
how he had dared to give him land which belonged
to the widow and orphan.

122 LLEYN

Cadvvallon answered contemptuously that he must
take that or none at all. So Beuno would not take
it, and swarmed off with his disciples to Clynnog, and
settled there on land given him by the king's cousin,
and there ended his days about the year 640.
Leland, in his Collectanea (ii. p. 648), relates a curious
account given him in 1589 of a custom that prevailed
at that period at Clynnog. John Anstiss, Esq.,
Garter, wrote it.

" Being occasioned the last yere to travaile into mine
owne native countrye, in North Wales, and having taryed
ther but a while, I have harde by dyvers, of great and
abominable Idolatry committed in that countrye, as that
the People went on Pylgrymage to offer unto Idoles far and
nere, yea, and that they do offer in these dales not only
Money (and that liberally) but also BuUockes unto Idoles.
And having harde this of sundrye Persons while I was there
— upon Whitsondaye last, I went to the Place where it was
reported that Bullockes were offered, that I might be an eye
witnesse of the same. And upon Mondaye in Whitsonne
Week there was a yonge Man that was carried thither the
Night before, with whome I had conference concerning the
Maner of the Offerings of Bullocks unto Saints, and the
yonge man touled me after the same Sort as I had hard of
many before ; then dyd I aske him whether was ther any to
be offered that Daye? He answered that ther was One
which he had brought to be offered ; I demanded of him
where it was ? he answered, that it was in a close hard by.
And he called his Hoste to goe with him to see the Bullocke,
and as they went I followed them into the close, and the
yonge Man drove the Bullocke before him (beinge about a
yere oulde) and asked his Hoste what it was worth ? His
Hoste answered that it was worth about a Crowne, the
yonge Man said that it was worth more, his Hoste answered

BEUNO 123

and said that upon Sondaye was senight Mr Viccar brought
here a Bullocke about the Bigness of your Bullocke for
Sixteen Groats. Then the yonge Man said, How shall I
do for a Rope against even to tye the Bullocke with ? His
Hoste answered, We will provide a rope ; the yonge Man
said againe. Shall I drive him into the Church-yarde ? His
Hoste answered, You maye ; then they drove the Bullocke
before them toward the Church-yard ; And as the Bullocke
dyd enter through a litle Porche into the Church-yarde, the
yonge Man spake aloude, ' The Halfe to God and to
Beino.' Then dyd I aske his Hoste, Why he said the
Halfe and not the Whole? His Hoste answered in the
yonge man's hereing. He oweth me th' other Halfe. This
was in the Parishe of Clynnog in the Bishopricke of Bangor,

in the yere of our Lord 1589 Ther be many other

things in the Countrye that are verye gross and super-
stitious ; As that the People are of Opinion, that Beyno his
Cattell will prosper marvelous well ; which maketh the
people more desyrous to buye them. Also, it is a common
Report amongest them, that ther be some Bullockes which
have had Beyno his Marke upon their Eares as soone as they
are calved."

The indignation of the narrator seems to be very
unreasonable. One cannot see what difference there
is between giving in money and in kind for the keep-
ing up of the church.

But that this was the survival of a sacrifice of a
horned animal is possible enough. The custom at
Clynnog spoken of fell into disuse only in the
nineteenth century ; till a little over a hundred years
ago it was usual to make offerings of calves and
lambs which happened to be born with a slit in the
ear, popularly called Nod Beiino, or Beuno's mark.

124 LLEYN

They were brought to church on Trinity Sunday,
and delivered to the churchwardens, who sold them
and put the proceeds into Beuno's chest. Something
of the same sort of thing continues to this day at
Carnac, in Brittany, on the feast of S. Cornelius
(September 13th). After High Mass horned beasts
are blessed at the door of the church. These beasts,
donations of the peasants to Cornelly, are then con-
ducted, with a banner borne before them, to the fair,
where they are sold for the profit of the church, and
are eagerly purchased, for the presence of one in
a stable is thought to guarantee the health of the
rest for a twelvemonth.

We have recourse to other expedients to raise
money for church expenses. I have heard of curates
at a bazaar entering into washing competitions, of
exhibitions of babies, of beauty competitions as well,
of wags grinning through horse-collars, running races
carrying eggs in spoons, to raise a few shillings.

A short time ago a bazaar in aid of the funds of
a hospital was held in a garrison town in one of the
eastern counties. The rector of a certain village not
far distant appeared in the costume of an East End
costermonger, presided at a stall, and conducted an
" auction sale " in the " patter " of the street sales-
man, to the great disgust of decent-minded people.

At harvest festivals we have donations of fowls,
butter, legs of mutton, and hams, to be sold for
the good of the church. The donation of bullocks
is to be ranked in the same category, and it was
a more decent exhibition for a good end than that
of curates making tomfools of themselves at bazaars.

CHAPTER VIII

CONWAY

The town of Conway — The castle — Title of Prince of Wales— Arch-
bishop Williams — The church and its screen — Plas Mawr — Caer
Seiont — Deganwy — The Yellow Plague — The Sweating Sickness —
Llandudno — Overflow of the sea — Gwyddno and Seithenin— Cave
with prehistoric relics — The Steward's Bench — New invasion of
North Wales — The tripper — The railway — The Cursing Well —
Penmaenniawr — King Helig — The Headland of Wailing — Similar
stories — Submarine forests — Chronology of the prehistoric ages —
Conovium — Pen-y-Gaer — The purposes of these camps — Under-
ground retreats — Orvar Odd — The salmon- weir of Gwyddno —
Elphin— Taliessin.

CONWAY is an interesting and eminently pic-
turesque town, surrounded, as it still is, by its
old walls, and possessing the ruins of the finest castle
in Wales — it may perhaps be said in England. This
castle occupies one point of the triangle that encloses
the town, and has the harbour on one side and the
River Gyfifin on the other.

The castle was begun in 1283 by Edward I. on the
site of a Cistercian monaster)', Aber Conwy, and was
constructed after the designs of Henry de EIreton,
the architect of Carnarvon, and it is said that the
workmen emplo)'ed upon it were brought from
Rutlandshire, which produced the best masons in

125

126 CONWAY

England. It is an extensive structure, and possessed
a magnificent dining-hall, built on a curve, the roof
formerly sustained by eight stone arches, but of these
only two remain. It was lighted by nine Early
English windows. At the east end is a chapel, with
an apse and a groined roof, lighted by three lancet
windows.

The castle was in a decayed condition in the reign
of James I. However, it was garrisoned for Charles
in the Civil Wars by the warlike Archbishop Williams
of York, who, huffed at being superseded by Prince
Rupert, went over to the Parliamentary faction and
assisted in the attack on the town in 1646. General
Mytton took the castle, which was defended by Irish
soldiers, and so great was the resentment felt against
these auxiliaries, that he had them all tied back to
back and flung into the river to drown.

Charles II. granted the castle to the Earl of Conway,
who, in 1665, stripped the lead from the roofs and
carried off the timbers to convert them to his own
use. If it had not been for this, what a residence
it would have made for the Princes of Wales, and
how pleased the Welsh people would have been to
have their Prince living among them. !

The Welsh are a loyal people, which the Irish are
not, and they are sensitive to consideration. Why
should not the Prince of Wales have a stately resi-
dence in the Principality? Why should his title be
a title only recalling cruel injustice done to this people
in the past ?

Conway Castle is indisputably finer than any on
the Rhine, and its situation and the grouping of

ARCHBISHOP WILLIAMS. 127

the towers are eminently picturesque. The crimson
valerian has spread as a gorgeous mantle about the
rock on which it is built, and adheres as drops of
blood to the crumbling walls.

A short account of Archbishop Williams will not
come amiss. John Williams was born at Aberconwy
in 1582, and was the second son of William Williams
of Cochwillan, in Carnarvonshire. At the age of
sixteen he entered S. John's College, Cambridge. He
was a young man of good parts, robust constitution,
and with a keen eye for the main chance. It was said
of him that he never required more than three hours
of sleep out of the twenty-four. He became fellow
of his college in 1603. His method in study was
this. If he desired to master a subject, he put every-
thing else on one side and concentrated his attention
upon it, grappled it to him, and did not let it go till
he had thoroughly got to know it in all its aspects.

Having made the acquaintance of Archbishop
Bancroft, he obtained access to the King, who took
particular notice of him, and when he entered Holy
Orders he obtained one preferment after another. In
1 61 7 he was made a prebendary of Lincoln, Peter-
borough, Hereford, and S. David's, in addition to a
rectory in Northamptonshire and a sinecure in North
Wales. He was also chaplain to the King, and had
to receive and entertain that eccentric man Marco
Antonio de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, who
had quarrelled with the Pope and came to England.
In 1619, not satisfied with all his preferments, he
obtained the deanery of Salisbury, and the year
following, that of Westminster. In 1621 he was

128 CONWAY

made Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England,
and was raised to the bishopric of Lincoln, which he
held along with the deanery of Winchester and his
Northamptonshire rectory.

On the death of James I., whom he attended at
the last, he fell out with the Duke of Buckingham,
and Charles L took the Great Seal from him in
1626. Afterwards, on some charges brought against
him in the Star Chamber, he was fined ten thousand
pounds, suspended from all his functions, dignities,
and emoluments, and sent to prison in the Tower
for three years and a half. The King was, however,
soon reconciled to him, cancelled all orders that had
been made against him, and in 1641 he was advanced
to the archbishopric of York.

When war broke out between the King and the
Parliament, he took the side of the former, and had
to fly from York, as the younger Hotham was march-
ing on York, and had sworn to capture and kill him
for having commented strongly on the manner in
which Sir John Hotham had seized on the King's
magazine of arms at Hull.

Archbishop Williams hasted to Conway and forti-
fied the castle for the King, and Charles, by letter
from Oxford, "heartily desired him to go on with the
work, assuring him that whatever moneys he should
lay out upon the fortification of the said castle
should be repaid him before the custody thereof
should be. put into any other hand than his own."

The good people of Conway town placed all their
valuables in the castle for security.

In 1645 Sir John Owen, a colonel in the King's

I'l.AS MAWK. CONWAY

CONWAY CHURCH 129

army, obtained from Prince Rupert the appointment
to the command of the castle. This the archbishop
angrily resented, as the King had assured the
governorship to him till the money he had dispensed
should be repaid. Charles could not raise the requi-
site sum, and the castle was too important not to be
placed under a soldier instead of a churchman. He
accordingly went over to the side of the Parliament,
and with the assistance of Colonel Mytton, the
Parliamentarian officer, forced the gates and secured
that stronghold for the faction against which he had
hitherto contended.

Williams, in fact,had been keen-sighted enough to see
that the King's affairs were falling into ruin in all quar-
ters, and he characteristically joined the winning side.

But if Williams had reckoned on retaining his
archbishopric and other emoluments as the price of
his treachery, he was mistaken. The rest of his life
was spent in seclusion, in vain regrets, and it is said
in sincere repentance, rising from his bed at midnight
and praying on his bare knees, with nothing on but
his shirt and waistcoat. He died at Gloddaith, near
Conway, in 1650, and was buried in Llandegai
Church, where a monument was erected to him by
his nephew. Sir Griffith Williams.

Conway Church is good, with a fine tower and an
Early Decorated chancel that has a Perpendicular
east window inserted. But the greatest treasure of
the church is its magnificent rood-screen ; and there
are good stalls in the choir.

Plas Mawr is a specimen of a Welsh gentleman's
house of the sixteenth century, with panelled rooms

130 CONWAY

and quaint plaster ceilings. The house has fifty-two
doors, as many steps up the tower, and 365 windows.

Rising above Conway is Caer Seiont,where are circles
of stones and embankments, the remains of a camp
probably dating from the Irish possession of Gwynedd.
The railway is carried through a tunnel in a spur
of the hill. A glorious view is obtained from the
summit, of the sea, the Great Orme's Head, and the
valley of the Conway dotted with houses. Near the
mouth of the river on the further bank is Deganwy,
once the royal residence of Maelgwn, king of
Gwynedd, a bold warrior, but terribly nervous about
his health, apparently, for when the Yellow Plague,
in 547, broke out he took to his heels. However, the
plague went after him, and he died of it.

But Maelgwn was not the only one to run away.
Teilo, Bishop of Llandaff, fled, taking with him his
clergy, and sheltered in Brittany till the disorder had
passed. The Yellow Plague would seem to have been a
very infectious sickness attacking the bilious glands
and producing jaundice. It spread to Ireland and
committed frightful ravages both there and in Britain.
As neither Bede nor the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
makes any allusion to it, the plague cannot have
touched the English, but was confined to the Celtic
lands. It, however, broke out again in 664.

The plague of 547-50 created the liveliest panic. In
Ireland it was thought that the only escape from it
was to put " seven waves " between the soil of Erin
and a place of refuge, and monks and princes fled to
the islands. Maelgwn, in a panic, assumed the habit
of a monk, and escaped to the church of Llanrhos,

I'LAS MAWK, CONWAY

SWEATING SICKNESS 131

intending to go further, but died there. It is curious
that twice again a plague was thought to have
originated in Wales, The next was the Sweating
Sickness, the germs of which were carried to Bos-
worth by the army of Richmond, and which after
the victory there spread in a few weeks from Bos-
worth and the Welsh mountains to London. Those
afflicted with it had their powers prostrated as by a
blow ; they suffered intense internal heat, yet every
refrigerant was certain death. Not one in a hundred
who was attacked escaped at first. The physicians
were bewildered ; they turned over the pages of Galen
and found that the disease was not described there,
nor were any remedies prescribed for any malady that
at all resembled it. Death came quickly ; a day and
a night after a man was attacked he was a corpse.
The battle of Bosworth was fought on August 22nd,
1485, and Henry entered London on the 28th. Im-
mediately the Sweating Sickness began its ravages.
The Lord Mayor and six aldermen died within a
week. The sickness struck at the most vigorous
and robust men, and from London it spread like
wildfire throughout the kingdom. The coronation
of the King had to be postponed, and did not take
place till October 30th.

As the physicians were quite at a loss how to deal
with the malady, the people looked to common sense,
and found that the best of doctors. Directly a man
felt the fire in him, and the sweat began to stream
from every pore, he took to his bed, not even sta}Mng
to take off his clothes, and was given only liquids,
and these hot.

132 CONWAY

The plague broke out again in 1551, not exactly
in Wales, but at Shrewsbury. All the spring clammy
fogs had hung over the Severn valley, and suddenly,
on April 15th, the Sweating Sickness again appeared.
The visitation was so general at Shrewsbury and in
the basin of the Severn that everyone believed that
the air was poisoned. The disease came unexpectedly
and without warning — at table, during sleep, on
journeys, in the midst of amusement, and at all
times of the day. Some died within an hour of
the attack ; none who had it mortally survived four-
and-twenty hours.

Crowds of fugitives escaped to Ireland and Scot-
land, some embarked for France or the Netherlands,
but it was remarked that the Sweating Sickness struck
down only the English, not foreigners in England, nor
did it spread from the refugees abroad. Within a
few days nine hundred and sixty of the inhabitants
of Shrewsbury died.

Thence it rapidly spread throughout England. The
banks of the Severn were, however, the focus of the
malady, and a fetid mist was thought to hang over
the river, " which mist," says a writer of the time, " in
the countrie wher it began, was sene flie from towne
to towne, with such a stincke in morninges and even-
ings, that men could scarcely abide it." It lasted
from 15th April to 30th September.

To return to Deganwy, from which we have
wandered. It was struck by lightning in 812, but
was speedily restored. Hugh the Fat, Earl of
Chester, made it his stronghold, but it was taken
and demolished by Llewelyn ab Gruffydd in 1260.

LLANDUDNO 133

Llandudno, on the neck of land connecting the
Great Orme's Head, or Pen y Gogarth, with the
mainland, has grown into a fashionable watering-
place. The Head rises to the height of nearly
680 feet above the sea ; on the Conway side was an
ancient monastic settlement at Gogarth. In the first
half of the sixth century a low-lying tract of land,
now overflowed by the sea, formed a hundred called
Cantref y Gwaelod, in Cardigan Bay. It was prob-
ably a portion of land that had been reclaimed by
the Romans from the waves by strong sea walls.
This district was ruled by two chiefs, Gwyddno and
Seithenin. The story goes that owing to the neglect
of Seithenin, who was a drunkard, and whose duty it
was to see to the repairs of the walls, one stormy
night the rollers coming in with an unusually high
tide and wind, the dykes were overleaped, and the
whole cantref was covered with sea.

With difficulty did the sons of Gwyddno escape
with their lives, and as they had lost their lands and
tribal rights, nothing was open to them save to enter
religion and found ecclesiastical tribes. Among the
sons of the tipsy Seithenin was Tudno, who settled
on the Orme's Head. But here also was a great in-
undation, as we shall see presently. The church,
which is of the twelfth century with a fifteenth-
century chancel, was for some time left in ruins, but
it has been restored, and service is now held in it in
summer. In the interior is an early circular font.

In 1 88 1 a cave in the limestone was discovered
behind Mostyn Street in Llandudno, which had been
inhabited in prehistoric times, for beside the bones of

134 CONWAY

cave bears, were found skeletons of men, and a neck-
lace of pierced teeth of beasts. These were the
relics of that primeval race which began to settle
in the land as the Ice Age came to an end and the
glaciers disappeared.

There are many caves in the limestone rock of the
Head, one fitted up as a summer-house, by some of
the Mostyn family, with stone seats and tables. A
small cromlech and some rude stone remains on
the headland may be seen, but the relics are sadly
mutilated.

Pen y Ddinas overhangs the town, and on it is a
logan rock, the Maen Sigl, which is also called
S. Tudno's cradle.

A stony ledge runs out to sea, and is covered at
high tide with about two feet of water, and is named
the Steward's Bench. Here, according to tradition,
a steward of the Mostyn family, who had been con-
victed of peculation, was compelled to sit naked
during the flow and reflow of two tides.

The entire north coast of Wales, after having been
invaded by the Gwyddyl, and then by the Britons
from Strathclyde, and next by the Normans, has
been invaded by a horde of trippers. It has been
taken possession of by them for the summer months.
The horde derives from Manchester, Liverpool, and
Birmingham ; and every vantage place is laid out
with piers, promenades, pavilions ; and for the
delectation of the holiday-makers there are Ethiopian
serenaders, dancing-dogs, cheap-jacks, organ-grinders,
and monkeys.

The intelligent tourist, knowing that the chief

THE COAST 135

study of mankind is man, will find endless amuse-
ment in observing his fellow-Englishmen and women
when out on a spree. The bow must at times be
relaxed, but when it is, it does not invariably take a
graceful form.

How the North Welsh coast has changed within
a century in its aspect may be gathered from a letter
of Mr. Gladstone, which describes it some eighty
years ago.

"I remember," he says, "paying my first visit to North
Wales, travelling along the North Wales coast as far as
Bangor and Carnarvon, when there was no such thing as a
watering-place, no such thing as a house to be hired for the
purpose of those visits that are now paid by thousands of
people to such multitudes of points all along the coast. It
was supposed that if any body of gentlemen could be found
sufficiently energetic to make a railway to Holyhead, that
railway could not possibly pierce the country, and must be
made along the coast, and if carried along the coast, could
not possibly be made to pay. So firm was the conviction
that — I very well recollect the day — a large and important
deputation of railway leaders went to London and waited
on Sir Robert Peel, who was then Prime Minister, in order
to demonstrate to him that it was totally impossible for
them to construct a paying line, and therefore to impress
upon his mind the necessity of his agreeing to give them
a considerable grant out of the consolidated fund. Sir
Robert Peel was a very circumspect statesman, and not least
so in those matters in which the public purse was concerned.
He encouraged them to take a more sanguine view.
Whether he persuaded them into a more sanguine tone
of mind I do not know. This I know, the railway was
made, and we now understand that this humble railway,
this im[)ossible railway, as it was then conceived, is at the

136 CONWAY

present moment the most productive and remunerative part
of the whole vast system of the North-Western Company."

Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele, Colwyn, Llandudno,
Penmaenmawr, Aber— what a string it forms of
bathing-places, ever extending and threatening in
time to run a continuous line of lodging-houses and
hotels along the entire coast !

S. Elian's Well is a little beyond Colwyn. It is
now filled up, and the structure over it has been
destroyed, for the place was in bad repute, and was
resorted to for no good purpose. The spring was a
Cursing Well, and here from time immemorial a
guardian ministered to the resentments of the ill-
disposed. Anyone who bore a grudge against
another, and believed himself to have been wronged,
would resort to this well to "throw in" his adver-
sary. A writer of the beginning of last century
says : —

*' The well of S. Elian lies in a dingle near the high road
leading from Llanelian to Groes yn Eirias. It was sur-
rounded by a wall of 6 feet high, and embosomed in a
grove; but the trees have fallen and the wall is thrown
down. It was resorted to by the Welsh to call impreca-
tions and the vengeance of the saint on any who had done
them an injury. Mr. Pennant says that he was threatened
by a person he had offended with a journey to the well to
curse him with effect. The ceremony was performed by an
old woman, who presided at the font, in the following
manner. After having received a fee, the name of the
offender was marked on a piece of lead ; this she dropped
into the water, and mumbled imprecations, whilst taking
from and returning into the water a certain portion of it.
It frequently happened that the offending party who had

PENMAENMAVVR 137

been the subject of her imprecations sought through the
medium of a double fee to have the curse removed; and
seldom was this second offer refused by her. On this
occasion she took water from the well three times with the
new moon, select verses of the psalms were read on three
successive Fridays, and a glass of the well water drunk
whilst reading them."

The well became such an occasion for ill-feeling
that a former incumbent of the parish had it
destroyed.

In 1818, at the Flintshire Great Sessions, the
"priest" of the well was sent to gaol for twelve
months for obtaining money under false pretences,
by pretending to put some into the well, and to
fetch some out whom others had put in.

The last "priest" of the well was John Evans,
who died in 1858. Doctor Bennion, of Oswestry,
once said to him, " Publish it abroad that you can
raise the devil, and the country will believe you."
Evans took the advice offered in jest, and confessed
afterwards, " The people in a very short time spoke
much about me ; their conduct when they thought I
held converse with the devil fairly frightened me."

In Ireland there are several cursing wells. There
boulders are placed on the low wall that surrounds
the well, and he who wishes to call down a curse
upon another turns the stone against the sun thrice
whilst repeating the curse and the name of the person
on whom he desires it to fall.

Penmaenmawr, to the west of Conway, is a
favourite watering-place, and takes its name from
the hill, 1,180 feet high, that rises steeply from the

138 CONWAY

sea and commands a tract like Cantref y Gwaelod,
that was about the same time overflowed by the sea.
The story told of this sunken land is that King
Helig was feasting with his lords and ladies where
now lies the sandbank bearing his name, when the
cellarer, having gone down to broach another cask,
rushed up the steps in terror at finding the cellar
under water, and he shouted, " The sea ! the sea is
on us ! " The panic-stricken revellers fled for their
lives, and as they issued from the palace heard the
roar of the waves and could see the gleam of the
manes of the white horses as they overleaped the
sea wall.

Half a mile from Penmaenmawr is Trwyn-y-wylfa,
the Headland of Wailing, for there the survivors con-
gregated and looked over a tumbling sea that covered
what had once been fair pastures and quiet home-
steads. Tyno Helig, the lost land of Helig, stretched
between Puffin Island and Penmaenmawr ; and the
Lavan sandbank covers a portion of it. The story
reappears in many places with variations. In Brit-
tany the same is told of King Grallo. He was
warned to fly from his palace by S. Winwaloe, as
the vengeance of Heaven would fall on it on account
of the disorderly life of his daughter Ahes, and there
the sea encroached and overwhelmed the palace and
town.

But the most curious instance of the reduplication
of the story is found in the marshes of Dol, in Brit-
tany, where is a little lake which, in popular belief,
covers a great city, and it is called la Crevee de Saint
Guinou. Here we have actually the name of Gwyddno

SUBMERGED FORESTS 139

transferred to Lesser Britain. The colonists must
have carried the story with them to their new home,
and located it there. The morass was not formed
till an inundation that took place in 709. The whole
of Mount's Bay, in Cornwall, was also at one time
land, and William of Worcester, in his Itinet-ary,
wrote : " All this region was once covered with dense
forest, and extended six miles from the sea, a suitable
place for wild beasts, and in which at one time lived
monks serving God."

The existence of submarine forests along this
north coast of Wales and in Cardigan Bay, as well
as off the south coast of Cornwall, may have
originated the legend of the sunken land. In 1893,
for instance, after a gale, a submerged forest was
disclosed at Rhyl, nearly a mile east of the pier.
But it is also quite possible that the tradition pre-
serves the memory of a real subsidence.

In Brittany the sinking of the land is still going
on. In an island of the Morbihan are two circles
of standing stones. One is already half under water,
and the other is completely submerged. At Loc-
mariaquer a Roman camp is almost wholly engulfed,
and Roman constructions of a villa that were observed
and described in 1727 are now permanently under
water.

But the submerged forests belong to a much earlier
period than the sixth century, though to a time when
man lived on the land and hunted in these forests.
Gerald of Windsor, in the twelfth century, was
puzzled at the revelation of trees beneath the waters
of S. Bride's Bay. He says : —

I40 CONWAY

" The sandy shores of South Wales being laid bare by
the extraordinary violence of a storm, the surface of the
earth which had been covered for many ages reappeared,
and discovered the trunks of trees cut off, standing in the
sea itself, the strokes of the hatchet appearing as if only
made yesterday ; the soil was very black and the wood like
ebony."

Among the bones found in these underwater forests
are those of the brown bear and the stag ; the trees
were Scotch firs, oaks, yews, willows, and birches,
and they show by the way they have fallen, with
their heads pointing to the east, that the prevailing
wind, then as now, was from the west. The size of
the trees proves that they must have grown at some
considerable distance from the sea-board. Indeed,
the forest land can be pretty well made out. The
whole of Cardigan Bay was above the sea, and the
promontory of Lleyn and Bardsey were heights
rising out of the woodland. The stretch of forest
extended a long way to the north of Wales, and the
coasts of Lancashire and Cheshire were many miles
further out to sea than they are now. The men who
chased in this primeval forest used flint weapons ; the
age of metal had not then dawned.

According to Montelius of Stockholm an absolute
chronology can now be given for periods of prehistoric
civilisation in Europe, because Copper, Bronze, and
Iron Ages are contemporaneous with an historic
period in Egypt and Western Asia, and also because
numerous points of connection are known between
the different parts of Europe and the East from the
beginning of the Copper Age onwards.

PEN-Y-GAER 141

He fixes the periods as follows : —

B.C. 2500-2000 . Copper and Stone.
B.C. 1900-900 . Bronze.
B.C. 800 . . Iron Age.

Now the Stone Age preceded that of Copper. So
we must throw back the period of this vast forest
to something like three thousand years before the
Christian era.

Those who are satiated with the study of the
tripper and the holiday-takers, and can wrench
themselves from the contemplation of their sportive
gambols, will take the train to Tal-y-cafn and walk
thence to Caerhun, that occupies the site of the
Roman town Conovium. This town did not give
its name to the Conway, but took its title from it.

The Dulyn is a tributary of the Conway at Tal-y-
bont (the Head of the Bridge), and it flows from
the little lakes Llyn Dulyn (the Black Pool) and
Melynllyn (the Yellow Pool), the former under fine
crags, and forms a beautiful fall on its way.

Another stream, Afon Porthlwyd, issues from a
much larger lake, the Llyn Eigiau, lying 1,220 feet
above the sea under precipices of rock ; and another
again, the Afon Ddu, or Black River, rises in a still
larger lake, the Llyn Cowlyd.

At Pen-y-Gaer, above Afon Dulyn and the little
church of Llanbedr-y-Cennin, is a prehistoric camp
of stone, with obstacles set in the soil, stones planted
on end on the glacis, so as to break up an onrush
of the enemy, in a manner seen in the Aran Isles
off Ireland, some castles in Scotland, and one in

142 CONWAY

Brittany. Where upright stones were not erected,
sometimes the slope before the walls was purposely
strewn with rubble or slates, and the assailants had
to stumble over these slowly and with difficulty,
exposed to volleys of arrows or stones, before they
could come to close quarters. In some of the camps
are great cairns of stones of a handy size piled up to
serve as a store of missiles for the besieged.

It has often been remarked that these camps are
away from springs and watercourses ; and one
wonders how those who held them managed for
drink. But almost certainly they never were in-
tended to stand long sieges. They were places of
refuge. When an enemy appeared or was signalled
by beacons, the inhabitants of the valleys and plains
fled to them, driving their cattle before them and
carrying their poor possessions on their backs. The
foe came on and endeavoured to storm the strong-
hold ; if he failed to do this at once, he abandoned
the attempt, and did not sit down before it to reduce
it by starvation. In some camps there are under-
ground storehouses rudely constructed of stones set
on end and roofed over, where the treasures of the
tribe were concealed.

There is a story in the Norse Saga of Orvar Odd,
of how he and other northern Vikings came on just
such a subterranean passage. A great flat stone lay
over it, but he chanced to pull it up, and found the
entrance. He went in, and found it full of women in
hiding. One was so pretty that he took hold of her
and tried to drag her out, but the other women,
screaming, held her back.

ELPHIN AND MAELGWN 143

" You shall come with me," said Odd.

" Let me buy my freedom," she pleaded. " I have
gold and silver to pay for it."

" I have plenty of that," answered the Northman.

" Then I have gay clothing I will give," she said.

" And of that I have abundance," he replied.

" Then," said she, " I promise to embroider for you
a beautiful kirtle with gold thread in it, and so
thick with the precious wire that no sword will cut
through it."

" That is something," he said, " But when may I
have it ? "

" Come next year, and the kirtle shall be done,"
she answered. And he agreed, and allowed the
women to remain without further molestation.

In the River Conway at Gored Wyddno was the
salmon weir of Gwyddno, who had lost his land
through the inundation of the sea in Cardigan Bay.
He had a son called Elphin, who had so wasted his
substance that he was obliged to fall back on his
father for help, and Gwyddno consented to allow him
for a while the profit of his salmon weir. Coming
one morning to it he found there a babe in a leather
bag, apparently a leather-covered coracle that had
drifted down-stream. " What a bright-browed little
chap ! " exclaimed Elphin, so Taliessin, or Bright-
brow, became his name, and he grew up to be a
famous bard. At Christmas, long after this, Elphin
was at the court of Maelgwn at Deganwy, and the
bards then vied with one another in flattering the
king and his queen. He was the handsomest, the
wisest, the mightiest of monarchs, and she was

144 CONWAY

the loveliest and most virtuous woman in the world.
Elphin had the indiscretion to demur to this, and say
that his wife was the chastest on earth. The story
runs something like that of Posthumus and Imogen,
but there are differences. Maelgwn, highly incensed,
ordered Elphin to be cast into prison, and sent his
son Rhun to test the lady. But Elphin had time to
forewarn her, and she dressed her maid in her clothes,
and put his ring on her finger. Rhun was completely
deceived ; he returned to Deganwy, and cast a finger
with a ring on it upon the table, and declared that he
had cut it off from the false wife's hand. Elphin
was brought from prison, and was shown the finger.
" It is not that of my wife," said he, " for the finger is
larger than hers, and the ring has not been put on it
further than the middle joint. The nail has not
been cut for a month, whereas my lady trims her
nails every Saturday. She from whom this finger
has been cut has been recently baking rye bread —
you may see the dough under the nail. That is
what my wife never does." So the laugh was turned
against Rhun.

CHAPTER IX

S. ASAPH

Situation of the city — The cathedral — Tomb of Bishop Barrow —
Epitaph of Dean Lloyd — The Red Book of S. Asaph — Dick of
Aberdaron — Parish church — Catherine of Berain — Meiriadog — ■
The legend of Cynan, and of the Eleven Thousand Virgins —
Ffynnon Fair — Cefn caves — Plas Newydd — Cawr Rhufoniog —
Covered avenue — Rhuddlan — The air " Morfa Rhuddlan" — Welsh
airs — Need for careful examination and discrimination — Stories con-
nected with certain tunes — Welshhymn tunes — Gruffyddab Llewelyn
— Constitution of Rhuddlan — Edward "Prince of Wales."

THE city of S. Asaph is pleasantly planted, for
the most part, on rising ground above the River
Elwy, in the vale of the Clwyd, which unites with the
Elwy below this miniature city.

The cathedral is small and not particularly in-
teresting, and the interior effect is spoiled by the
choir being moved under the central tower, and the
transepts being closed in to form vestries, chapter
house, consistory court, and library. The structural
choir is a mere chancel without aisles, and possibly
the dean, canons, and choristers may have felt
cramped in it ; but the alteration has robbed the
interior effect of its dignity. The clerestory windows
are square-headed, and the arches of the nave rise
from pillars without capitals. The chancel was re-
L 145

146 S. ASAPH

stored by Sir Gilbert Scott in the Early English style,
and contains some good modern glass, and some that
is execrable.

Outside the cathedral, at the west end, is the tomb
of Bishop Isaac Barrow, who died in 1680, with the
epitaph : " O vos transeuntes in Domum Domini,
domum orationis, orate pro conservo vestro ut in-
veniam misericordiam in Die Domini,"

In ..i^ cathedral yard is a cross, with eight figures
about it, of those who assisted in the translation of
the Bible into Welsh, but it commemorates especially
the tercentenary of Bishop Morgan's first complete
translation, published in 1588,

One of the deans of S, Asaph, Dr. David Lloyd,
who died in 1663, is said to have made for himself
the following epitaph : —

"This is the epitaph
Of the Dean of S. Asaph,
Who, by keeping a table
Better than he was able,
Ran much into debt
Which is not paid yet."

He was buried at Ruthin, of .which he was once warden,
but there is no monument there to his memory.

In the episcopal library is preserved the Red Book
of S. Asaph, originally compiled in the fourteenth
century, containing a fragmentary life of the saint
who gives his name to the church and diocese, and
early charters and other documents connected with it.

The site was granted to S. Kentigern, of Glasgow,
when driven away by the king of Strathclyde,
Morcant, and he only returned after the defeat, in

CA I IIKKINK III' IIKK'AIX

BERAIN 147

573, of Morcant by Rhydderch Hael. Then he left
his favourite disciple Asaph to take charge of the
foundation he had made on the banks of the Elwy.

In the cathedral library is preserved the polyglot
dictionary of Dick of Aberdaron, a literary vaga-
bond. He is reported to have acquired thirty-four
languages. He was a dirty, unkempt creature, who
wandered about the country, his pockets stuffed with
books. His predominant passion was the acquisition
of languages. A dictionary or a grammar was to
him a more acceptable present than a meal or a suit
of clothes. He had no home, and was sometimes
obliged to sleep in outhouses.

Bishop Carey did what he was able for him, but
his personal habits made him unsuitable to have in a
decent house, and he was impatient of every restraint.
He died in 1843, and was buried at S. Asaph.

The little parish church consists of nave and aisle
of equal length — one dedicated to S. Kentigern and
the other to S. Asaph. It lies at the bottom of the
hill, and has a somewhat original Perpendicular east
window.

Not far from S. Asaph is Berain, the residence
once of Catherine Tudor, an heiress with royal blood
in her veins, for she was descended from Henry VII.,
who, when he was in Brittany collecting auxiliaries
for his descent on England to win the crown from
Richard III., had an intrigue with a Breton lady
named Velville, and became the father of Sir Roland
Velville. Sir Roland's daughter and heiress, Jane,
married Tudor ab Robert Vychan of Berain, and
their only child was Catherine. She is commonly

148 S. ASAPH

spoken of as Mam Cymru, the Mother of Wales,
as from her so many of the Welsh families derive
descent.

She was first married to John Salusbury of Lleweni,
and by him became the mother of Sir John Salus-
bur}^, who was born with two thumbs on each hand,
and was noted for his prodigious strength. At the
funeral of her husband, Sir Richard Clough gave her
his arm. Outside the churchyard stood Maurice
Wynn of Gwydir, awaiting a decent opportunity for
proposing to her. As she issued from the gate he
did this. " Very sorry," replied Catherine, " but I
have just accepted Sir Richard Clough. Should
I survive him I will remember you."

She did outlive Clough and married Wynn. She
further survived Wynn, and her fourth husband was
Edward Thelwall of Plas-y-Ward. She died August
27th, and was buried at Llannefydd, September ist,
1 591, but without a monument of any kind.

Popular tradition .will have it that she had six
husbands in succession, and that as she tired of theni
she poured molten lead into their ears when they
slept, and so killed them. Her last husband, seeing
that her affection towards him was cooling, and fear-
ing lest he should meet with the same fate as her
former husbands, shut her up in a room that is still
shown at Berain, and starved her to death. There
are several supposed portraits of Catherine to be
found in Wales, but not all are genuine. One by
Lucas de Heere, painted in 1568, is in the possession
of Mr. R. J. LI. Price of Rhiwlas, near Bala, and shows
her to have been a very beautiful woman with hard,

THE WHITE-ROBED ARMY 149

dark eyes. Another genuine portrait is at Wygfair,
in the possession of Colonel Howard, and this was
taken when Catherine was an old woman. The re-
morseless stony eye is that of one quite capable of
the trick of the molten lead.

In a lovely situation on the Elwy is Meiriadog,
whence came Cynan, brother or cousin of the road-
building Elen. When Maximus went to Gaul to assert
his claims to the purple, Cynan accompanied him and
never returned. Much fabulous matter has attached
itself to this Cynan. It was supposed that after the
death of Maximus he retired to Brittany, with all the
gallant youths who had accompanied him to the war,
and as they were forbidden to return home they
appealed for a shipload of wives to be sent out to
them. Accordingly Ursula, daughter of Dunawd, a
Welsh king, started with eleven thousand marriage-
able damsels, but they were carried by adverse winds
up the Rhine, and landing at Cologne were there
massacred by the Huns. The walls of a church there
are covered with little boxes containing their skulls.

The earliest mention of these gay young wenches
starting out husband-hunting, and meeting instead
with a gory death, is found in a sermon preached
between 752 and 839, but in it Ursula is not named.
In an addition to the chronicle of Sigebert of
Gemblours, made by a later hand, is an entry under

453:—

" The most famous of wars was that waged by the white-
robed army of ir,ooo Holy Virgins under their leader, the
holy Ursula. She was the only daughter of Nothus (Dunawd),
a most noble and rich prince of the Britons.''

ISO S. ASAPH

She was sought in marriage, the writer goes on to
say, by " a certain most ferocious tyrant," and her
father wished her to marry him. But Ursula had dedi-
cated herself to celibacy, and the father was thrown
into great perplexity. Then she proposed to take
with her ten virgins of piety and beauty, and that to
each, with herself, should be given an escort of a
thousand other girls, and that they might be suffered
to cruise about for three years and see the world. To
this her father consented. And the requisite number
of damsels having been raked together, Ursula sailed
away with them in eleven elegantly furnished galleys.
For three years they went merrily cruising over the
high seas, but at the end of that time, having ven-
tured up the Rhine to Cologne, they were all put to
the sword.

Geoffrey of Monmouth, who died in 1154, gives
another form to the story. He relates that the
Emperor Maximian (Maximus), having depopulated
Northern Gaul, sent to Britain for colonists where-
with to repeople its waste places. Thus out of
Armorica he made a second Britain, which he put
under the rule of Conan Meriadoc, who sent to have
a consignment of British girls forwarded to him. At
this time there reigned in Cornwall a king, Dinothus
by name, and he listened to the appeal and de-
spatched his daughter Ursula with eleven thousand
young ladies, and sixty thousand others of lower
rank. Unfavourable winds drove the fleet to barbar-
ous shores, where all were butchered.

The story is, of course, devoid of a shred of historic
truth, and is a mere romance, and a silly and poor one.

A HOLY WELL 151

But there is something to be added.

Conan Meriadoc has figured largely in fabulous
Breton history. At the beginning of the eighteenth
century a priest of Lamballe, named Gallet, wrote a
history for the glorification of the dukes of Rohan,
and he spun a wonderful tale that imposed on later
serious historians. According to him, Conan or
Cynan Meiriadog, disappointed at not getting Ursula,
married Darerca, the sister of S. Patrick, and from
this union descended the kings of Brittany and the
dukes of Rohan. This he achieved by identifying
Cynan with Caw, the father of Gildas, entirely re-
gardless of chronology, for Gildas, son of Caw, king
in Strathclyde, died in 570, and Cynan was con-
temporary with Maximus, who was killed in 388, and
Patrick was born about 410.

Dom Morice, whose History of Brittany was pub-
lished in 1750, reproduces this absurd and impossible
pedigree, and further identifies Conan with Cataw,
son of Geraint, and uncle of S. Cybi, who died
about 554.

There is a holy well, Ffynnon Fair, in the parish
of Cefn, in a beautiful situation, once very famous,
but the chapel is in ruins, though the spring flows
merrily still. It was the " Gretna Green " of the
district, for here clandestine marriages were wont to
take place, celebrated by one of the vicars choral of
the cathedral, till all such marriages were put a stop
to by the Act of Lord Hardwicke in 1753. The
chapel was of the fifteenth century, and is now over-
grown with ivy, and in a clump of trees. Mrs.
Hemans made this, " Our Lady's Well," the subject

152 S. ASAPH

of one of her poems. In the unpretending-looking
house just across the Elwy was written one of the
earhest printed Welsh grammars (1593).

The Cefn caves are in an escarpment of mountain
limestone high above the river, and have been care-
fully explored. They yielded bones of extinct animals
— the cave bear, wolf, elephas antiquus, bos longifrons,
reindeer, the hyjena, and the rhinoceros — but very
scanty traces of man. The bones are preserved at
Plas-yn-Cefn, the residence of Mrs. Williams- Wynn,
on whose property the caves are. The caves are
worth visiting more for the view from the rocks than
for any intrinsic interest in themselves.

A quaint Elizabethan mansion, Plas Newydd, has
in its wainscoted hall an inscription to show that it
was built by one Foulk ab Robert in 1583 when he
was aged forty-three. It is said to have been the
first house in the neighbourhood covered with slates.
A giant, Cawr Rhufoniog, used to visit there, and a
crook is shown high up near the cornice, on which he
was wont to suspend his hat. Giants, it would
appear, were in days of yore pretty plentiful in this
neighbourhood. The grave of one is pointed out
close by, and another, Edward Shon Dafydd, other-
wise called Cawr y Ddol, lived at an adjoining farm.
His walking-stick was the axle-tree of a cart, with a
huge crowbar driven into one end and bent for a
handle. He and Sir John Salusbury (of the double
thumbs) once fell to testing their strength by up-
rooting forest trees.

Between Plas Newydd and Plas-yn-Cefn, in a field,
is a " covered avenue," only it has lost all its coverers.

WELSH MELODIES 153

It was in a mound called Carnedd Tyddyn Bleiddyn,
with some trees on the top. When these were blown
down in a storm, a little over thirty years ago, the
cromlech within was exposed. It was found to
contain several skeletons, in a crouching position,
of what have been called the Platycnemic Men of
Denbighshire.

Between S. Asaph and Rhyl is Rhuddlan with its
castle in ruins. Formerly the tide washed its walls.
The marsh, Morfa Rhuddlan, was the scene of a great
battle, fought against the Saxons in 796, in which
the Welsh, under their King Caradog, were defeated
with great slaughter, and the prisoners taken were
all put to the sword. The beautiful melody " Morfa
Rhuddlan " has been supposed to pertain to a lament
composed on that occasion ; but the character of the
melody is not earlier than the seventeenth century,
and it apparently owes its name to the verses
adapted to it by lean Glan Geirionydd, who lived
a thousand years after the event of this battle.

Welsh melodies require to be taken in hand by
some musical antiquary and thoroughly investigated
and sifted. It will be found that along with many
noble airs that are genuinely Welsh, a goodly number
are importations from England. This was inevitable,
so mixed up were the Welsh with English families
in the great houses and castles. Edward Jones
published his Musical and Poetical Relicks of the U^els/i
Bards in 1784. He collected the tunes from harpers
and singers, but he knew nothing of old English
music, and was incapable of discriminating what was
of home production from what was an importation ;

154 S. ASAPH

consequently, in his collection, a goodly percentage
consist of English melodies.

He gives us a Welsh air, " Difyrvvch Gwyr Dyfi,"
as a bardic melody, but it is found in Tom D'Urfey's
Pills to purge Melancholy, published in 17 19-1720,
and is the old English melody of " Greensleeves "
spoiled. The melody of " Cynwyd " is none other
than the venerable English air of " Dargason," which
may be traced back in England to the reign of
Elizabeth. A tune given by Jones as " Toriad y
Dydd " is the old English air " Windsor Terrace,"
and " Y Brython " is a country dance published in
The Dancing Master by Playford, 1696. Jones gives
the " Monks' March " as probably the tune of the
monks of Bangor when they marched to Chester,
about the year 603, and it is none other than " General
Monk's March," composed at the restoration of
Charles II., and "The King's Note" is none other
than King Henry VIII.'s " Pastyme with good
company." The "Ash Grove" is doubtful. It first
appears as a popular song in Gay's Beggar's Opera,
1727, "Cease your funning." The Beggar's Opera
became the rage in London, throughout England,
Scotland, and Ireland, and we know that it was
performed also in Wales. Edward Jones in his
Bardic Museum, in the second series published
in 1802, inserted a tune that seems to have been
formed on it, but the resemblance was confined to
the first part. John Parry touched it up and altered
all the second part of the tune to what it is
now. It is, of course, possible that Gay may have
heard a Welsh air and introduced it into his opera.

WELSH MELODIES 155

but it is far more probable that the Beggar s Opera,
which was repeatedly performed in Wales, intro-
duced the melody into the Principality. One Welsh
air Gay did insert in his play, " Of noble race was
Shenkin," and he may have picked up another.

Tunes are like birds of the air that fly from place
to place and light on every tree, and are at home
everywhere. There is a popular melody sung to
very gross words by the peasantry in England. I
picked it up in Devon, and it has also been found in
Yorkshire, and a lady sent it me as heard in Wales,
but without the words. Mr. Chappell has noted
sixteen in Jones's collection that are certainly English,
and he did not exhaust the number.

A curious instance of the manner in which melodies
drift from their original connections is that of the
popular hymn tune " Helmsley," to which is sung
" Lo ! He comes with clouds descending."

Thomas Olivers was born in the village of Tregy-
non, in Montgomeryshire, in 1725 ; his father was a
small farmer, who died when Thomas was a lad, and
he was then committed to the charge of his father's
uncle Thomas Tudor, a farmer at Forden. In his
youth he was of a merry and thoughtless disposition,
and was dearly fond of dancing and all sorts of
amusements. In his autobiography he states ''that
out of sixteen nights and days, he was fifteen of them
without ever being in bed."

Some years after, when he was in Bristol, he
was " converted " by Whitefield, and he became a
Wesleyan Methodist lay preacher, and in 1777 under-
took the printing of Wesley's Arinhiian Magazine.

156 S. ASAPH

But his lack of education stood in his way, and in
1789 Wesley had to take the periodical out of his
hands. In h.\s Journal, Wesley enters his reasons:
" I. The errata are unsufferable. I have borne them
for these 12 years, but can bear them no longer.
2. Several pieces are inserted without my knowledge,
both in prose and verse."

Olivers became noted, however, as a hymn writer,
and especially for his tune " Helmsley," which he
gave to the world, no doubt firmly convinced that it
was original. But this it was not ; it was a remin-
iscence of his old unregenerate days. In fact it is
an opera air, and belongs to The Golden Pippin, in
which occurs the song : —

" Guardian angels now protect me,
Send to me the youth I love."

The Golden Pippin appeared in 1773.

Some of the stories connected with genuine Welsh
airs are delightful. David Owen, of the Garreg Wen,
lay on his death-bed, and fell into a trance. His
mother, who was watching him at the time, supposed
that he was dead. But presently he roused, and said
to her that he had been in an ecstasy, and had seen
heaven open, and the harpers about the throne were
playing a wondrous strain. He called for his harp,
and, with a radiance as of the world he had visited
on his face, played the tune " Dafydd y Garreg Wen."
As the last note died away the flame of life passed
from him. The air became fixed in his mother's
memory, and has thus been preserved.

Another story of the same musician is that he was
returning home from a feast in the early morning,

WELSH MELODIES 157

and daybreak overtook him as he sat on a stone —
still pointed out at Portmadoc — and there, watching
the soaring skylark, he composed the air " The Rising
of the Lark," The melody " Hoffedd merch Dafydd
Manuel" (" The delight of David Manuel's daughter")
is associated with a member of a very remarkable
family. Dafydd Manuel was a poor cottager, born
in Trefeglwys, Montgomeryshire, in or about 1625.
He became a poet, and lived to a very advanced age,
dying in 1726 at the age of a hundred and one. He
left three children, two daughters — also excellent
poets — and a son David. The elder daughter, Mary,
noted for her wit and as a great harpist and singer, is
she whose tune is called " The delight of David
Manuel's daughter." Another member of the family,
John, who fought in Egypt under Sir Ralph Aber-
cromby, was thoroughly conversant in English,
French, and Welsh. His daughter Sarah was quite
illiterate till her thirtieth year, when she learned to
read fluently and became well acquainted with the
current literature of the day. Thomas Manuel, a
sawyer, was illiterate till he grew to manhood, but
accidentally becoming possessed of a French Testa-
ment, he resolved on mastering that language, which
he did very quickly. His son William was a very
remarkable boy, who at an early age — it is said at
four, but this is hardly credible — could read English,
Welsh, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, At the age of
eight he was placed in Christ's Hospital, where he
died of consumption on attaining his twelfth year.
This extraordinary child had two brothers also pos-
sessed of great natural "ifts. Thomas, the eldest,

158 S. ASAPH

was an excellent Welsh, Latin, Greek, and English
scholar. He also died of decline. Edward, the
youngest, gave promise of even more extraordinary
abilities than William. It is asserted that he could
read English, Welsh, German, Latin, Greek, and
Hebrew when only four years old, and he died of
consumption at the age of five. Precocious geniuses
are like candles that blaze away and gutter and are
out quickly. The mother of these remarkable chil-
dren, perceiving the thirst for learning evinced by
them, taught herself to read and translate Latin and
Greek, for the sake of helping them in their studies.

Some of the Welsh hymn tunes are magnificent,
and one cannot but desire that some had been taken
into such popular collections as Hymns Ancient and
Modern, in place of the utterly insipid trash which
has found its place there. But some are quite im-
possible of transference, as " Crug-y-bar," one of the
very best. The Welsh accent so differs from that of
English, that to render the words into English, or
write others to suit the melody that are not nonsense,
is almost impossible.

The Welsh melodies have a charm of their own,
and they are harp tunes ; whereas a great many of
the most popular of our English folk airs are
hornpipes. But, as already said, the thing needed
is a critical investigation and a sifting of Welsh
melodies.

Gruffydd ab Llewelyn, king of Gwynedd (1039-
1069) and prince of Wales, had a fortress at Rhuddlan.
He was a notable man, and he played a conspicuous
part in Welsh history before the Norman Conquest.

LLEWELYN 159

Under him the Cymry developed an amount of
miHtary capacity that was unusual. At the com-
mencement of his reign he raided Mercia and de-
feated the English forces under Edwin, the brother
of Earl Leofric, and slew him in battle. Then
Gruffydd turned his attention to South Wales, and
defeated its prince, Howel, and forced him to take
refuge in Ireland. Two years after Howel returned
at the head of Irish kerns, and was defeated again.
On this occasion Gruffydd captured Howel's wife
and made her his mistress. But in the ensuing year
Gruffydd was himself defeated and made prisoner.
He, however, escaped, and returned to Gwynedd.
Howel, with a fleet from Ireland, entered the Towy,
but was beaten and killed in battle by Gruffydd.

Under Harold an English army assembled at Glou-
cester and marched against the Welsh. Gruffydd
made peace, but next year broke his engagements
and invaded Mercia, which was defended by the
sheriff and the Bishop of Hereford. They were, how-
ever, defeated, and both fell on the field of battle.

In 1063 Harold determined to crush his dangerous
neighbour, and he marched to Rhuddlan and sur-
prised Gruffydd, who, however, escaped in a boat.
Unable to follow, and not strong enough to maintain
his hold on the land, Harold contented himself with
destroying Rhuddlan, and then retired to Gloucester,
but only to concert a plan for a systematic invasion
and subjugation of Wales. He collected a fleet at
Bristol, and sailed along the coast ravaging it, whilst
his brother Tostig, at the head of an arm)^ wasted
Gwynedd.

i6o S. ASAPH

Hitherto the English had been accustomed to fight
in close array, heavily weighted with their armour.
They now abandoned their old methods, and adopted
those of their foes, with the result that the power
of Gruffydd was broken, and some of his Welsh
followers turned against him and murdered him.
" The shield and deliverer of the Britons," says the
Brut, " the man who had hitherto been invincible,
was now left in the glens of desolation, after he had
taken vast plunder, and gained innumerable riches,
and gathered treasures of gold and silver, jewels, and
purple raiment."

The castle of Rhuddlan was rebuilt under the
Earl of Chester at the same time as that of Mont-
gomery, and these formed redoubtable outposts
whence the Welsh could be watched and worried.

After the conquest of Wales by Edward I. a Con-
stitution was drawn up at Rhuddlan in 1284, which
was included among the statutes of the realm.
English law was introduced. In the matter of sue-
cession to land, Welsh custom was to be followed.
Upon a death occurring, estates continued to be
divisible among all the children.

"The general constitutional effect was that the Princi-
pality was considered a distinct parcel of the Kingdom of
England, ruled, however, by English laws, save so far as
these were not modified by the provisions of the statute." *

I have already told the story of Llewelyn, the last
of the Welsh princes, and of his treacherous and
unprincipled brother David, but I may here enter
into fuller particulars of the end of David.

* Rhys and Brynmok Jones, The Welsh People, p. 356.

LAST OF THE WELSH KINGS i6i

He had been a fugitive with his wife and children
in the forests and mountains, hunted from place to
place, with a few tenants accompanying him, grumb-
ling at short commons and wretched quarters, casting
sidelong glances at the English, and wondering
whether they would not secure better meals and
more comfortable lodgings if they turned against
their lord and prince. And this desire took effect ;
for their own base ends they betrayed him to the
English king. With the same measure with which
he had dealt with his brother Llewelyn, it was meted
to him. Delivered over to the hereditary enemies
of his race by men of his own household, tongue, and
blood, he was brought before Edward at Rhuddlan,
and with him were handed over the crown of King
Arthur and the rest of the regalia of Wales.

On the last day of September, 1283, Edward held
a parliament at Shrewsbury for the trial of David,
who was condemned to be hanged, cut down whilst
still breathing, his belly sliced open, and his still
palpitating heart plucked out. Then his body was
chopped in pieces, and the parts distributed for
exhibition in certain English towns. His head,
forwarded to London, was placed on a spike above
the gatehouse of the Tower. His steward, "faithful
found, among the faithless faithful only he," was also
convicted of high treason, and was condemned to be
torn to pieces by horses.

Edward, the second son of the King, was born
at Carnarvon on April 25th, 1284, and the story
goes that King Edward, then at Rhuddlan, having
assembled there the principal men of Wales, an-

i62 S. ASAPH

nounced to them that as the royal race of Cunedda
was extinct, he would give to them a Prince of
Wales who could speak no word of English, and
who was a native of the Principality. The chieftains
replied that this they would accept, and to him
they would yield obedience. Thereupon Edward
presented to them his infant son, recently born at
Carnarvon.

By the death of Alphonso, Edward's eldest son,
at Windsor, this Prince Edward became heir-apparent
to the throne.

Some of the jewels of the Welsh regalia were used
for the decoration of the shrine of Edward the Con-
fessor at Westminster.

In 1399 Richard II. was prisoner at Rhuddlan on
his way to Flint. In 1646 it was captured by General
Mytton from the Royalists, and was dismantled by
order of the Parliament, and has remained a ruin
since.

CHAPTER X
DENBIGH

The colonisation of Denbigh from the north — Denbigh Castle — Sir
John o' the two thumbs — Henry de Lacy — Projected transfer of
cathedral to Denbigh — The Goblin Tower — Thomas Plantagenet —
Robert Dudley — The bowling green — The Duke of Sussex and his
breeches — Sir Hugh Myddelton — Sir Thomas Myddelton — Mrs.
Jordan — Her last song — Llanrhaiadr — Anne Parry's body — "The
Three Sisters " — Ruthin— Contest with Owen Glyndwr — Reginald
de Grey — Oppressive laws — Dean Gabriel Goodman — The Huail
stone — The church — Moel Fenlli — Story of Benlli — Llandegla —
Oblations of cocks and hens,

THE county of Denbigh, together with that of
FHnt, was at one time all but permanently lost
to the Celtic race.

The Angles of Mercia had advanced steadily and
irresistibly along the broad level land from Chester,
planting their stockaded forts where later would
arise the stone-walled castles of the Normans, follow-
ing the banks of the great estuary of the Dee, and
supported by their fleets. They reached the mouth
of the Clwyd, and began to spread up its fertile
basin, driving back the Welsh before them. They
had planted a large colony at Conway, and Deganwy,
the old palace of the kings of Gwynedd, was in their
hands.

163

i64 DENBIGH

Anarawd, son of Rhodri the Great, was king in
North Wales, paying to the king of Wessex a reluc-
tant tribute of gold and silver, and the fleetest of
Welsh hounds ; but he could not roll back the tide
of Teutonic invasion, and he was forced to lurk in
Snowdon and Anglesey, and look down from the
rocky heights and heather-flushed mountains on the
smoke of English farms that rose above the ruins of
many a burned hendt-e of his people.

Then an appeal came to him from the Britons of
Strathclyde, in North Lancashire and Cumberland,
exhausted by the ravages of Danes and Saxons, ask-
ing for help. Anarawd could not assist them with
armed hand, but he pointed to Flint and the vale of
the Chvyd, and invited them to turn out the English
there settling themselves, and " not yet warm in their
seats." They rose to the order, migrated in a mass,
and dislodged the Angle colonists. But sorely mis-
doubting their ability to make good their hold, they
entreated Anarawd to stand by them. He did so,
mustering all the strength of Gwynedd ; he joined
forces with the Strathclyde immigrants, met the
Mercian forces near Conway, and in a pitched battle
(878) drove them back to the Dee, with immense
slaughter, never to return. And thenceforth Flint and
Denbighshire have remained Welsh.

Denbigh stands on a limestone height crowned by
a castle. Din-bach, the Little Fortress or Castle. But
that is not the popular derivation of the name. A
monster, the Bych, occupied a cave in the face of the
rock, now almost choked up. Thence it issued to
ravage the country, but was killed by Syr Sion y

OLD DENBIGH 165

Bodiau, the double-thumbed son of Catherine of
Berain. But as Sir John Salusbury Hved in the reign
of Ehzabeth, it is clear that some ancient myth has
attached itself to him which belonged originally to a
primeval hero. The first certain account of the castle
is at the time of the final conquest of the Principality.
King Henry III. granted the custody of it to
Dafydd ab Gruffydd, that treacherous and unprin-
cipled prince who was the brother of Llewelyn, the
last Prince of Wales of the native stock. After the
execution of David at Shrewsbury in 1283 the fort-
ress was granted to Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln,
who erected the present castle.

Old Denbigh occupied the area in front of the
castle, but this part was abandoned about the reign
of Elizabeth for New Denbigh, built at the foot of
the hill, either because there was lack of water on
the summit of the rock, or because the steepness of
the ascent rendered a residence more convenient
lower down. Now the space within the walls is un-
occupied save by the little church of S. Hilary, and
the ruins of a cathedral begun by the Earl of
Leicester, who proposed to transfer thither the seat
of the bishop from S. Asaph. But it was not com-
pleted. This is to be regretted, as it would have
been a most curious specimen of Gothic in its last
stage of decay. We have plenty of examples of
domestic architecture of the period, and very de-
lightful they are, but of ecclesiastical buildings none.
It was a period of church gutting and pulling down,
and not of erection and decoration. Henry de Lacy
was engaged on building the castle when a fatal

i66 DENBIGH

accident disheartened him, and he left the work in-
complete. He had erected a tower, now called that
of the Goblin, over a well with an unfailing spring in
it, that was to supply the castle. His son Edmund,
a boy of fifteen, was playing in the tower, scrambling
among the scaffolding, when he lost his footing, fell
to the bottom, and was killed.

The water has now been drawn off to a bath-house
outside, at the foot of the rock, and was at one time
supposed to possess curative properties.

The dead boy's spirit is thought still to haunt the
tower, and his white face to be seen peeping out of
the ruined windows.

Henry de Lacy's daughter Alice was married to
Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, and he by
right of his wife became Earl of Denbigh. Edward of
Carnarvon had received his father's instructions before
Edward I. died. Of these the principal were : that he
should persist in the conquest of Scotland, and should
not recall his favourite Piers de Gaveston. These com-
mands were violated by the young King. His first act
was to send for Gaveston, and to confer on him the
royal earldom of Cornwall ; and when, at the corona-
tion of Edward, Gaveston was given precedence
over all the great nobles of the realm, their wrath
knew no bounds. Three days after the ceremony
they called upon the King to dismiss his favourite.
Edward was obliged to give way, and Gaveston to
swear that he would never return. The Pope, how-
ever, released the favourite from his oath, and shortly
after Edward recalled him. The Earl of Lancaster
and Denbigh refused to attend the next parliament

UNLUCKY DENBIGH 167

convoked by the King, and the barons, flying to arms,
captured Gaveston at Scarborough, and by order of
Thomas of Lancaster cut off his head.

The news affected the King with passionate grief,
to which was quickly added a fierce desire for
revenge.

Some time after the death of Gaveston, Edward
found a new favourite, Hugh le Despenser, whose
harsh attempt to enforce feudal law to his own
advantage excited the marchers of Wales to arms
against him. They were joined by Thomas of Lan-
caster, but he was defeated and taken to Pontefract
Castle, where he was executed. Upon his death
Denbigh was conferred on Hugh le Despenser.

The incapacity and favouritism of Edward occa-
sioned a fresh outbreak, and Hugh le Despenser fell
into the hands of the barons, who hanged him after a
hasty trial. Then Denbigh Castle passed to another
favourite, Roger Mortimer, the paramour of Queen
Isabella. He was taken at Nottingham, arraigned in
a Parliament summoned at Winchester, and hanged
at Tyburn.

It really seemed that Denbigh was doomed to
bring ill-luck on its masters. That ill-luck did not
end with the hanging of Mortimer.

In 1566 Elizabeth granted it to her favourite,
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, whom she created
Earl of Denbigh.

His conduct rendered him odious to the inhabitants,
and his extortions drove them to open rebellion
against his authority. He raised rents from ;^250
per annum to i^Soo, he levied fines arbitraril)^ en-

168 DENBIGH

croached on private estates, and enclosed commons.
Two of the young Salusburys of Lleweni pulled
down the fences he had set up on the common land.
He had them arrested, taken to Shrewsbury, and
hanged there. The exasperation against Leicester
became so great that the Queen was compelled to
interfere, and he, with a view to make some satis-
faction for the evils he had inflicted, began the
erection of his cathedral, of which he laid the first
stone on March ist, 1579. But now the fate that
had already fallen on three of the holders of
Denbigh reached him. He died of poison at the
age of fifty-six, on September 5th, 1588. The castle
and lordship then reverted to the Crown, and from
that time till the commencement of the Civil War
drops out of historical importance.

The keep, grand entrance, and Goblin Tower are
undoubtedly the work of Henry de Lacy, The
gateway is best preserved, and over the entrance in
a niche is a mutilated statue of Edward I., with
lovely ball-pattern sculpture in the mouldings of the
niche enclosing it.

The views from the castle over the Vale of Clwyd
are most beautiful ; none finer than from the bowling
green. That was inaugurated by the Duke of Sussex
in 1829.

During the carouse on that occasion, that took
place in the arbour, His Royal Highness had the
misfortune to spill a glass of punch over his lap. As
his breeches were white, and he had not another pair
with him, he was constrained to retire to bed till a
local tailor could fit him out afresh. When the

PURE WATER 169

august visitor to Denbigh re-emerged into the streets,
lo ! already had the httle tailor inscribed over his
shop : " By Special Appointment, Richard Price,
Breeches-maker to his R.H. the Duke of Sussex."
There are two modern churches in Denbigh. The
old parish church, S. Marchell's, is at Whitchurch,
about a mile out of the town. S. Hilary's, in Old
Denbigh, was only the castle chapel. S. Marchell's
is a good fifteenth-century building, and is now used
as a mortuary chapel. The roofs are specially fine.
In it is the tomb of Sir John " of the double
thumbs." He was a man of enormous strength, and
is reported to have killed a white lioness in the Tower
by a blow of his fist. He died in 1578. In the
porch are two brasses of Richard Myddelton, of
Gwaenynog, Governor of Denbigh Castle in the
reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, and of
his wife Jane. Denbigh was the native place of
Hugh Myddelton, who, largely at his own expense,
brought the New River from Ware, twenty miles
distant, to London. He was the sixth son of the
above-mentioned Richard, and was a goldsmith in
Basinghall Street. His elder brother Thomas was a
grocer — so little in those days was trade thought to
be unsuitable for men of gentle birth and good
position. He represented Denbigh in Parliament
several times, and obtained a charter of incorporation
for his native town. A proper supply of pure water
to the Metropolis had often been canvassed by the
corporation, and the wells were frequently contam-
inated and productive of periodical outbreaks of
fever.

I70 DENBIGH

Myddelton declared himself ready to carry out the
great work, and in 1609 "the dauntless Welshman"
began his undertaking. The engineering difficulties
were not all he had to contend with, for he had to
overcome violent opposition from the landowners,
who drew a harrowing picture of the evils that would
result were his scheme carried through, as they con-
tended, for his own private benefit. Worried by this
senseless but powerful party, with a vast and costly
labour only half completed, and with the probability
of funds failing, most men would have broken down
in bankruptcy and despair. But James I. came to
his aid and agreed to furnish one half of the ex-
pense if he were granted one half of the ultimate
profits. This spirited act of the King silenced opposi-
tion, the work went on, and in about fifteen months
after this new contract the water was brought into
London.

The popular story is that Myddelton ruined him-
self by this undertaking, and had to apply for relief
of his necessities to the citizens of London, who,
however, failed to unbutton their pockets for their
benefactor. He fell into poverty, and disguising
himself under the name of Raymond, laboured as a
common pavior in Shropshire.

This is, however, a myth. After the completion of
his great achievement for the benefit of London, Sir
Hugh reclaimed Brading Harbour, in the Isle of
Wight, and undertook the working of Welsh mines,
whose tin and lead brought in a large revenue, but he
sank much money unprofitably in looking for coal
near Denbigh. He died at the age of seventy-sixi

NANTGLYN 171

leaving large sums to his children, and an ample pro-
vision to his widow. When James I. created him a
baronet he remitted the customary fees, amounting to
over a thousand pounds — a very large sum of money
in those days.

But he was not the only Myddelton who was a
benefactor. In 1595 his brother Sir Thomas pur-
chased Chirk Castle and Denbigh from the Crown.
He provided the Welsh "nation" (in 1630) with the
first portable edition of the Scriptures at his own
expense. His brother William gave the Welsh a
metrical version of the Psalms.

In Nantglyn, at Plas, five miles from Denbigh, was
born Mrs. Jordan the actress, if we may trust local
authorities. She made her first appearance at Drury
Lane in 1785, and appeared as Peggy in TJie Coiuitry
Girl, driving her audience frantic with delight. How
she could act in serious parts Charles Lamb has
described in one of the most exquisite passages of
the Essays of Elia. According to some accounts,
she was not Welsh, but Irish ; but this opinion seems
to be due to her having made her debut at Dublin.
Her real name was Dorothy Bland, but she assumed
the name of Frances. To her we owe " The Blue
Bells of Scotland," one of those rare instances of a
woman composing a melody that has taken hold and
remained. It is curious that a Welsh girl — or Irish,
if the Waterford claims to her be maintained — should
have contributed a national air to Scotland. Mrs.
Jordan was not really beautiful, but she had a
most engaging manner and expression of face. Her
voice was not only sweet, but her articulation was

172 DENBIGH

distinct. The last song she sang in pubHc on the

° " Last night the dogs did bark,

I went to the gate to see,
And ev'ry lass has her spark,

But nobody's coming for me.
O dear ! what can the matter be ?

O dear ! what shall I do ?
Nobody's coming to marry me,

Nobody's coming to woo ! "

— one of those dehghtful Enghsh airs that will never
die. This was shortly before her eldest son, George
Fitzclarence, was born — January 29th, 1794.

Mrs. Jordan acquired a good deal of money by
her profession, and she was not an extravagant
person. She had a large family, and was a good
mother. A person who had married one of her
daughters had involved her in a debt of i^2,ooo, and
this so preyed on her spirits that it shortened her
days. She withdrew from England and settled at
S. Cloud, near Paris, and died there July 5th, 18 16,
aged fifty, and is buried at S. Cloud.

Llanrhaiadr is three miles from Denbigh. The
church has some fine old glass in the east window,
representing a Jesse tree. There is a wonderful
genealogical tombstone in the churchyard to a certain
John ap Robert, ap David, ap Gruffydd, ap David
Vaughan, and so on back to Cadell Deyrnlhvg, king
of Powys.

A curious story is connected with an interment in
this churchyard,

" Anne Parry had opened her house for the preaching of
the Methodists in this place, and originated a Sunday-school
in the neighbouring village. She ended a life of laborious

LLANYNYS 173

benevolence by a peaceful death, and forty-three years after
her decease, on the occasion of her son's burial in the same
tomb, her coffin was opened, and the body of this excellent
woman was found to be in a perfect state of preservation,
undecayed in the slightest degree, and her countenance
bearing the hues of living health. The very flowers which
had been strewed upon her body, it is said, were as fresh in
colour, and as fragrant in odour, as when they were first
plucked from their native boughs. The body of this lady
was exhumed about three years afterwards (in 1841), and
was nearly in the same state of preservation. This was
corroborated by the mayor of Ruthin in 1841. The com-
piler of this account received the same information on the
very day the lady had been re-interred, not only from the
parish clerk and the mayor of Ruthin, but from several
other parties who saw the body."*

Some allowance must be made for exaggeration
here. That a body in certain undetermined circum-
stances may remain undecomposed is doubtless true,
but the statement relative to the flowers must be dis-
missed as impossible.

Between Denbigh and Ruthin, and three miles
from the latter, is Llanynys. Here, at Bachymbyd,
an ancient mansion, are " The Three Sisters," noble
chestnuts planted by the three daughters of Sir
William Salusbury. The property passed into the
hands of Sir Walter Bagot through a singular cir-
cumstance. He had been shooting in the neighbour-
hood, and a favourite pointer strayed, and he could
not recover it. Some time after Sir William Salus-
bury found the dog, and sent it to Sir W'alter with
his compliments. This led to an exchange of com-

* The Vale of Clwyd, by W. Davis. Ruthin, 1856.

174 DENBIGH

pHments, and next time Sir Walter Bagot was in the
neighbourhood he called at Bachymbyd to express
his gratitude. He there met the daughters of Sir
William, and fell in love with one of them, proposed,
and was accepted. Before the lady left for her new
home she and her sisters planted these trees.

Ruthin is a pleasant little town, with its castle, but
the latter is not old, having been almost wholly re-
built. Portions of the earlier castle still remain.

The castle was founded in 1281 by Edward I., and
was granted to Reginald de Grey. This man did his
utmost to exasperate the Welsh to fresh insurrection,
and Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, made a
journey into Wales to mediate between the King and
Llewelyn, and allay the irritation. He complained
to Edward, but in vain, of the rapacity of Reginald,
whom he accused of committing the most flagrant
acts of injustice, of depriving officers of the places
they had purchased and of commissions that had been
granted to them, of revoking just sentences when
they jarred with his interests, and of compelling the
peasantry to plough his lands without wages.

A contest about a common called Croesau, between
Ruthin and Glyndyfrdwy, led to the insurrection of
Owen Glyndwr.

During the reign of Richard H. a controversy had
arisen relative to rights over this common. Reginald
de Grey, who held Ruthin Castle, had claimed it.
Owen disputed the claim, and gained his suit in a
court of law. But no sooner was the usurper
Henry of Lancaster on the throne than De Grey
took possession of the common. Glyndwr appealed
to Parliament, but his appeal was dismissed. Not

OWEN GLYNDWR 175

satisfied with this infringement of his neighbour's
rights, De Grey resolved on utterly ruining him.
Henry had summoned Owen among his barons
to attend him on his expedition to Scotland, and
had confided the summons to De Grey to deliver,
De Grey treacherously withheld it, and then repre-
sented Owen as wilfully disobedient. Owen was
accordingly sentenced, unheard, to be deprived of his
lands, and De Grey seized them.

The Bishop of S. Asaph appealed to Parliament
against this injustice, but in vain ; and he warned it
against the imprudence of exasperating an honour-
able and loyal man of extended influence, and
driving him into rebellion to maintain his just rights.
But the Lords scoffingly replied that " they had no
fear of that pack of rascally, barefooted scrubs."

De Grey surrounded Owen's house, but failed to
capture him. He had attempted a most treacherous
plan. He sent to Owen to offer to dine with him
and talk over matters for a reconciliation. Owen
consented on condition that De Grey came with
only thirty followers, and these unarmed. De Grey
accepted the terms, but ordered a large force to
approach and surround the house while he was
within. Glyndwr, however, knew his man, and he
had set his bard lolo Goch to watch. lolo saw the
approach of men-at-arms, so entering the hall he
struck his harp and sang : —

"Think of Lleweni's chief, no slight
A murder on a Christmas night.
The blazing wrath of Shrewsbury keep,
The burning head's avenging heap."

Owen took the hint ; he escaped.

176 DENBIGH

Owen now proclaimed himself Prince of Wales,
and called on all true-hearted Welshmen to rally to
his standard. His first exploit was the capture of
Ruthin in September, 1400. His men had concealed
themselves in the thickets of Coed Marchan, near
the town, and when the gates were thrown open for
a fair, some made their way within disguised as
peasants, and kept the gates open for their con-
federates. Glyndwr's men rushed in, fired the town
in four places, and slaughtered every Englishman
they met. Then, laden with booty, they retreated
to the mountains. Lord de Grey collected a force
and marched against Glyndwr, but fell into an
ambush, and was taken and carried off to the wilds
of Snowdon, where Owen, before he would let him
depart, forced him to marry his daughter Jane and
to pay for his ransom 10,000 marks, which compelled
him to sell his manor of Hadleigh, in Kent.

It was in consequence of Glyndwr's insurrection
that the parliament of 1401 passed a series of the
most oppressive and cruel ordinances ever enacted
against any people — prohibiting the Welsh from
acquiring lands by purchase, from holding any
corporate offices, from bearing arms in any town ;
ordering that in lawsuits between an Englishman
and Welshman, the former could only be convicted
by English juries ; disfranchising every English
citizen who should marry a Welshwoman, and for-
bidding Welshmen to bring up their children to
any liberal art, or apprentice them to any trade in
any town or borough of the realm.

The barony of Grey de Ruthin was made out by

KING ARTHUR 177

patent to Reginald and to his heirs, without specify-
ing that these should be males ; it is therefore one of
the few that devolve through heiresses.

In S. Peter's Square is the picturesque timber and
plaster house in which was born Gabriel Goodman,
Dean of Westminster for nearly the whole of
Elizabeth's reign, and one of Bishop Morgan's
helpers in the translation of the Bible into Welsh.
In front of it, built into the platform, is the Maen
Huail. On this stone, according to tradition. King
Arthur cut off the head of Huail, brother of Gildas.
He was a quarrelsome, turbulent man, who, instead
of serving against the Saxons, was engaged in broils
against King Arthur. But his death was due to
another cause.

Huail was imprudent enough to court a lady of
whom Arthur was enamoured. The king's suspicions
were aroused and his jealousy excited ; he armed
himself secretly, and intercepted Huail on his way to
the lady's house. Some angry words passed between
them, and they fought. After a sharp combat Huail
wounded Arthur in the thigh, whereupon the contest
ceased, and reconciliation was made on the condition
that Huail should never reproach Arthur with the
advantage he had obtained over him. Arthur re-
turned to his palace at Caerwys, in Flintshire, to be
cured of his wound. He recovered, but it caused
him to limp slightly ever after. A short time after
his recovery Arthur fell in love with a lady at Ruthin,
and in order to enjoy her society disguised himself
in female attire, and so got among her companions.
One day when this lady and her maids and the

178 DENBIGH

disguised Arthur were dancing together, Huail saw
him. He recognised him at once, and with a sneer
on his Hps said " the dancing might pass muster but
for the stiff thigh." Arthur overheard the remark,
and exasperated at the allusion, and at having been
detected in such an undignified disguise, withdrew
from the dance, and after having assumed his royal
robes, summoned Huail before him, and ordered his
head to be struck off in the midst of Ruthin, on the
stone that now bears his name.

Gildas was in Ireland at the time ; he at once
hasted to Wales, where he raised such a storm, and
roused so many enemies against Arthur, that the
king was obliged to compromise matters, and he
made over to Gildas and his family some lands in
Denbighshire as blood-fine, after which Gildas gave
him the kiss of peace.

Ruthin Church is puzzling at first sight. It was
made collegiate in 1310 by John, son of Reginald de
Grey. It consisted originally of two churches, the
parochial church of S. Peter, formed of one long nave
and tower, and beyond the tower the collegiate church.

"The choir being destroyed," says the late Professor
Freeman, " the tower forms the extreme eastern portion of
the northern body. Though the upper part has been
rebuilt, the arches on which it rests happily remain un-
altered. In this lies the great singularity of the church.
There are not, and never could have been, any transepts,
but still arches, almost like those of a lantern, are thrown
across the north and south sides. These, however, are
merely constructive or decorative, as it is clear they never
were open. This arrangement is exceedingly rare."

BENLLI 179

The roof is said to have been given by Henry VII.
when he bought the lordship of Dyffrj'n Clwyd. On
it are nearly five hundred different devices. An aisle
has been added to the church, much altering its
character.

In the cliancel is the tombstone of one John Parry,
1636, with the inscription " Hie jacet et (sedes cum
sua) jure jacet." (" Here he lies, and since the pew
is his own, he lies here by right.")

The range of the Clwydian Hills to the east is in
several places surmounted by camps, that have been
occupied by succeeding peoples, for in some are
found flint weapons, bronze, later Roman ware and
coins, and even mediaeval potter}%

The highest point is Moel Famma. Moel Fenlli
is the nearest to Ruthin, and takes its name from
Benlli, king of Powys, who was supplanted by Cadell
Deyrnllwg. He is reported to have retired to this
stronghold. The story is this.

Germanus — not, I hold, the Bishop of Auxerre, but
his namesake, a nephew of S. Patrick, and finally
Bishop of Man — was in western Britain. He came
to Pengwern or Shrewsbury, and asked to be
admitted. But Benlli refused, and Germanus was
forced to spend the night outside the walls. A
servant of Benlli, named Cadell, disregarding his
master's orders, furnished the saint and his party
with food. According to the legend, fire fell from
heaven and consumed the town, and l^enlli escaped
with difficulty. Then Germanus set up Cadell to be
king of Powys in his room.

What seems actually to have happened was that

i8o DENBIGH

Benin, with the pagan party, clung to the side of
Vortigern, and Germanus, stirred up Cadell, a petty
prince of Powys, against him, and that Pengwern was
taken, and Cadell elevated to be king in the room
of Benlli.

Legend has been busy with the deposed king. It
is said that in his camp he suffered tortures from
rheumatism and wild-fire, and that he sought relief
from S. Cynhafal, patron of Llangynhafal hard by,
who refused it to him, as he was a renegade to
paganism. Then Benlli in his pain sought ease
in the cooling waters of the River Alun, but the
stream likewise refused its aid, and dived under-
ground. Again Benlli plunged in, and the water
dived again. He tried a third time, and the
river a third time retreated below the surface. The
story has been invented to explain the fact that
the Alun actually does thrice disappear in its
bed.

At Derwen, in the church, there is a good screen,
but the finest of all in this district is that of Llanrwst.
In most of the Welsh screens the openings are
rectangular, with some dainty tracery introduced at
the top. But at Llanrwst the openings are pointed.
In the Devon and Cornish and Somersetshire screens
these openings are mere Perpendicular windows, and
all in each screen are alike in tracery, and this tracery
is very much the same in all. But at Llanrwst the
design in each window of the screen is different ;
there are, however, no mullions. The face of the
rood-loft is also rich, and only needs the filling in of
the niches with figures to make it complete.

A LEGEND i8i

Llandegla is interesting only on account of its
spring, now all but choked up, on Gwern Degla,
about two hundred yards from the church. Pennant
in his Tours writes : —

" The water is under the tutelage of the Saint (S. Tecla) ;
and to this day is held to be extremely beneficial in the
chvyf Tegla, S. Tecla's disease, or the falling sickness.
The patient washes his limbs in the well, makes an offering
into it of fourpence, walks round it three times, and thrice
repeats the Lord's Prayer. These ceremonies are never
begun till after sunset. If the afflicted be of the male sex,
he makes an offering of a cock ; if of the fair sex, of a hen.
The fowl is carried in a basket, first round the well, after
that into the churchyard, when the same orisons, and the
same circumambulations are performed round the church.
The votary then enters the church, gets under the Com-
munion Table, lies down with the Bible under his or her
head, is covered with the carpet or cloth, and rests there
till break of day ; departing after offering sixpence, and
leaving the fowl in the church. If the bird dies, the cure
is supposed to have been effected, and the disease trans-
ferred to the devoted victim."

This is now a thing of the past. But the oblation
of cocks and hens still goes on in Brittany. At
Carnoet, near Carhaix, is a chapel of S. Gildas. At
his pardon in January the peasants bring fowls, and
in the chai)cl are three ranges of hutches, in which
they arc placed, and where they remain clucking and
crowing during Mass, so that often the voice of the
celebrant is drowned. After service the fowls are
sold by auction, and the money obtained goes for
the maintenance of the chapel. On the floor of the

i82 DENBIGH

chapel is a stone sarcophagus, in which sick people
were wont to lie in the hopes of thereby recovering.
It was, one would suppose, kill or cure. They also
offered a cock or hen, but this has gone out of use in
Brittany as in Wales. No one now sleeps under the
altar at Llandegla, or in the stone coffin at Carnoet.

CHAPTER XI

LLANGOLLEN

The Vale of Llangollen — S. Collen — A Breton Llangollen — Dinas
Bran — Maelor— The old maids— The church— Vale Crucis — The
pillar of Eliseg — Plas Eliseg— Owen ab Cadwgan and Nest — End
of Owen— Corwen — Church rebuilt — English and French capitals
to pillars — Inscribed stones— Cup-markings— Caer Drewyn— Owen
Gwynedd and Henry IL — Rvig— Gruffydd ab Cynan — Image of
Derfel Gadarn — Burning of Friar Forest— Pennant Melangell —
Patroness of hares — The Welsh harper — Different kinds of harps —
Satire on harpers.

THE Vale of Llangollen is proverbial for its
beauty, and possibly because it has been so
spoken, written, and sung about, it disappoints at
first sight, but it is only at first sight that it does
disappoint. Its beauties grow on one. The really
finest portion is at Berwyn, which is the next station
on the line to Bala, and not at the town that gives
its name to the vale.

The mountains are not very lofty, rising only to
1,650 feet, but the Eglwyseg rocks redeem them from
being regarded as hills. Llangollen owes its name
to a founder named Collen in the seventh century.
He descended from Caradog Freichfras who drove
the Irish out of Brecknock, and whose wife, the
beautiful and virtuous Tegau Eurfron, has been made

183

i84 LLANGOLLEN

famous by the ballad of " The Boy and Mantle,"
which is in Percy's Reliques.

A wonderful Life of Collen exists in Welsh that
has not as yet been translated. It relates how that
he went abroad and studied at Orleans, then he
returned to Britain and settled at Glastonbury, where
he was elected abbot. This post he soon resigned
for another that was " heavier and harder," which
consisted principally in going about preaching. He
again got tired of this, and returned to Glastonbury,
where everything went on smoothly for five years,
when he happened to quarrel with the monks, for he
was a peppery Welshman ; and cursing them, he left
for Glastonbury Tor, and made for himself a cell
under a rock, where he could grumble to himself
unmolested.

As he was in his cell one day, he heard two men
talking about Gwyn ab Nudd, and saying that he was
king of the under-world and of the fairies. Collen
put his head out, and told them to hold their peace
and not speak about these beings as if they were
deities, for in fact they were only devils.

" You had best not use any disrespectful words
about Gwyn," retorted they, " or he will serve you out
for doing so."

Now at dead of night Collen heard some raps at
the door of his habitation, and in answer to a call,
" Who is there? " received the reply, " It is I. Gwyn
ab Nudd, king of the nether world, has sent me, his
messenger, to bid you meet him at the top of the
hill."

" I won't go," retorted the saint.

A DREAM 185

Again the messenger summoned him, and still
Collen refused to be drawn.

Then the messenger said, " If you don't come,
Collen, it will be the worse for you."

This disconcerted him ; so, taking some holy water
with him, he went. On reaching the top of the tor,
Collen beheld the most beautiful castle that he had
ever seen, manned by the best-appointed soldiery.
A great many musicians, with all manner of instru-
ments, made glorious music. About the hill were
young men riding horses ; at the palace gate hand-
some sprightly maidens — in fact, every element be-
coming the retinue and appointments of a great
monarch.

Collen, carrying his pot of holy water, was invited
to enter ; he obeyed, and was ushered into a banquet-
ing hall where he saw the king seated in a chair of
pure gold. Gwyn very graciously invited Collen to
take a seat and refresh himself at the table, whereon
were all kinds of dainties. Collen replied churlishly,
" Bah ! I don't browse on leaves."

" Hast thou ever seen," said the king, "men better
dressed than these my servants in red and blue ? "

" The clothing — such as it is — is good enough."

" Such as it is ! " repeated the king. " What do you
mean ? "

" Red for fire, blue for cold," replied Collen, and he
dashed the pot of holy water in the king's face and
the liquid was splashed about on all sides. Instantly
everything disappeared, and Collen was alone on the
tor and the stars were shining down on him out of a
frost}' sky.

i86 LLANGOLLEN

That is the story as he told it to the monks of
Glastonbury, and it was a dream and nothing more,
but so vivid that he believed in its reality.

Collen passed into Brittany, and there is a Llan-
gollen there, near Ouimper, by no means as lovely
a spot as his Llangollen in Wales. Long before
Collen settled here the conical hill that commands
the vale, called Dinas Bran, had been crowned by
a fort, and a fort it remained throughout the
Middle Ages till the fifteenth century, when it was
demolished.

Flintshire was the great doorway, or main gate, of
entrance into North Wales, watched from the strong
fortress of Chester, but the postern was the Vale of
Dee, and to command this Dinas Bran must have
been all-important. On looking at the map it will
be seen that there is a portion of Flintshire detached
from the rest, with no great town in it, but including
Overton and Hanmer and Penley. It is hardly ten
miles long by five miles broad ; it forms a break be-
tween Shropshire and Cheshire, and its Welsh name
is Maelor Saesneg (Saxon Maelor), whereas Welsh
Maelor is on the west side of the Dee.

This was placed by Edward I. under the juris-
diction of the Sheriff of Flint by the Statute of
Rhuddlan in 1284. Why this was done is hard to
understand, yet there must have been purpose in it.

Mr. Godsal explains it thus : —

" Since Maelor Saesneg, as we find it to-day, originated
in a time of war, it is evident that military principles are
likely to prove the best guides to the answers to these ques-
tions. The chief, in fact the dominating military feature on

lil-,l;U \ N IKIIAI (.AM I- LI. I)

DINAS BRAN 187

the eastern side of Maelor Saesneg, is a morass more than
four miles long, and a mile or more wide, that is impassable
to this day except by individuals on foot who know the
ways across. From this morass runs a brook down the
Wych Valley which protects the northern flank of Maelor,
and which must have been very difficult to pass before the
days of roads and bridges. The morass is called on the
Maelor side the Fenns Moss ; on the Shropshire side
Whixall Moss. In ancient times it was covered by a forest."

It had been a stronghold of the British protected
by the fens. Yet we do not see why it was not
placed under the Earl of Shrewsbury instead of
under the Sheriff of Flint, unless it were, in the
event of an attack up the valley of the Dee, that
the Sheriff might hold this portion in check whilst
the Dee valley was entered.

To return to Dinas Bran.

It had been a stronghold of the princes of Powys,
and held to be important as commanding this pass
up the valley of the Dee. Perhaps Collen got across
with the men of Dinas Bran as he had with the
monks of Glastonbury, and in a huff packed up his
duds and went away.

As everyone has heard of the beauties of Llan-
gollen, so has everyone heard of its old maids.
These were Lady Eleanor Butler, sister of John
Earl of Ormonde, and Miss Sarah Ponsonby,
daughter of Chambre Brabazon Ponsonby, Esquire,
grandson of the first Lord Bcssborough. They had
been friends from early girlhood, and their tastes
coincided. Both loved quietude, and neither felt any
vocation for the married life. Many and brilliant

i88 LLANGOLLEN

offers had been made to Lady Eleanor, but she re-
jected every suitor, and in 1779 induced her friend to
retire with her to Llangollen, and there they spent
the rest of their lives — full half a century. They
protested that not once for thirty hours successively
had they quitted their peaceful retreat since they
entered it.

Miss Seward describes this house as it was during
their lives : —

" It consists of four apartments— a kitchen, the lightsome
little dining-room, the drawing-room, and library.

" This room (the parlour) is fitted up in the Gothic style,
the door and large sash-windows of that form, and the
latter of painted glass. Candles are seldom admitted into
this apartment. The ingenious friends have invented a
prismatic lantern, which occupies the whole elliptic arch
of the Gothic door. The lantern is of cut glass, variously
coloured, enclosing two lamps. The light it imparts re-
sembles that of a volcano, sanguine and solemn. It is
assisted by two glow-worm lamps that, in little marble
reservoirs, stand on the chimney-piece. A large ^olian
harp is fixed in one of the windows, and when the weather
permits them to be opened, it breathes its deep tones to
the gale, swelling and softening as that rises and falls.

" This saloon of the Minervas contains the finest editions,
superbly bound, of the best authors ; over them the por-
traits in miniature, and some in larger ovals, of their favoured
friends. The kitchen garden is neatness itself. The fruit
trees are all of the rarest and finest sort, and luxuriant in
their produce."

She further describes their personal appearance : —

"Lady Eleanor is of middle height, and somewhat
beyond the cmhotipoint as to plumpness ; the face round

■| HI' I .M1II.> ' ■! l,l..\.\c_.' ll.l.l^.N

THE CHURCH 189

and fair, with the glow of luxuriant health. She has not
fine features, but they are agreeable ; enthusiasm in her eye,
hilarity and benevolence in her smile. Miss Ponsonby,
somewhat taller than her friend, is neither slender nor other-
wise, but very graceful. A face rather long than round, a
complexion clear, but without bloom, with a countenance
which, from its soft melancholy, has peculiar interest."

Now compare this with the description given by
Charles Mathews : —

" Oh ! such curiosities ! I was nearly convulsed. I could
scarcely get on for the first ten minutes after my eye caught
them. As they are seated there is not one point to dis-
tinguish them from men : the dressing and powdering of
the hair ; their well-starched neck-cloths ; the upper part
of their habits, which they always wear even at a dinner
party, made precisely like men's coats ; and regular beaver
black hats. They looked exactly hke two respectable
superannuated old clergymen."

They were a century before their time. The lamp
so admired, with its rosy light " like a volcano," is
now in every drawing-room ; and as to the dressing
like men ! — why, every girl now tries to rig herself
out like them and ape them in everything, even in
bad manners.

Llangollen Church has been much altered by re-
building, but it retains some points of interest. The
south aisle and chancel are new, but the very fine
roof has been retained, supposed to have been
brought at the Dissolution from Vale Crucis Abbey.

This abbey may possibly take its name from the
pillar stone of Eliseg that still stands after the abbey
has been broken down. But the stone itself has

I90 LLANGOLLEN

suffered. Originally it was twelve feet high ; now it
is broken in half, and what remains is but a little
over six feet in height. It bears an inscription
testifying that it was set up by one C}'ngen in
memory of his great-grandfather Eliseg, a descendant
of Brochwel, king of Powys.

The abbey was never ver}' large. It was founded
in 1 200 by Madog ab Gruffydd Maelor, prince of
Powys, and the remains of the church belong to the
period when founded, or are but little subsequent.

The church was exquisitely beautiful, and in the
dearth of really fine architectural specimens in Wales
it is to be deeply deplored that it was wrecked. The
west end has in it three double-light windows, with
cusped circles enclosed within the arch, and below
them is a beautiful doorway.

Some of the domestic offices remain, and in one
of these is a Decorated window of rich and original
design. Three lights filled in with flamboyant tracery
are surmounted most strangely by bold, uncusped
tracery richly sculptured with foliage.

Plas Eliseg is one of those delightful old timber-
and-plaster houses of which there are so many, and
all so charming and so peculiarly English, in Shrop-
shire and Montgomeryshire ; it is a gem of its style
and quite unspoiled, in an exquisite situation, and rich
with oak panelling and ancient furniture. It contains
Lely's portrait of Cromwell, mole and all, as well
as one of his mother. The house belonged to
Colonel Jones, the regicide, who was executed at
the Restoration ; it has passed out of the possession
of his descendants.

AN OUTRAGE 19^

The place has earlier associations. Hither Owen
ab Cadwgan, a wild blood of the twelfth century,
carried off the Helen of Wales, Nest, daughter of
Rhys ab Tewdwr. Her story is worth recording.

Cadwgan was king of Powys and lord of Cere-
digion. His son Owen "possessed the best and the
worst characteristics of the Cymric princely families."
On Christmas, 1 108, Cadwgan held a great eistedd-
fod at Cardigan, to which he invited all the kings,
princes, and chiefs of the three kingdoms of Wales.
To this gathering came Nest, daughter of Rhys, king
of Deheubarth, who had been sent as a child as
hostage to the English court, and Henry I. had
basely taken advantage of her unprotected position
to seduce her. He, however, quickly married her
to Gerald of Windsor, whom he appointed Governor
of Dyfed, wath his residence at Pembroke. She was
an extraordinarily beautiful woman, and Owen, son
of Cadwgan, seeing her at his father's court, fell
desperately in love with her.

Assembling some wild fellows, he went with them
to Pembroke, attacked the castle and set it on fire.
Gerald had only time to escape by a drain, and so
save himself, but Nest and his two children were taken
by Owen, who carried them off to Plas Eliseg. This
created a great commotion. King Cadwgan, fearing
for the consequences, went promptly to his son and
commanded him to restore at once the fair Nest to
her husband. But the turbulent and enamoured
Owen refused to give back the lady, and only
reluctantly returned the children to their father.

This outracje was the occasion of civil war. Gerald

192 LLANGOLLEN

of Windsor, with his followers, raged against the
Welsh, destroying all around them with fire and
sword. Two uncles of Owen, Ithel and Madog,
were goaded on by the unscrupulous Bishop of
London to take up arms and kill or capture Owen
and his father, the king of Powys, who was guiltless
of connivance in the abduction of Nest. Two other
Welsh princes associated themselves with Ithel and
Madog, urged by revenge, as Owen had killed their
brothers ; and these foes solemnly vowed to bring
Owen and his father, alive or dead, to the bishop,
who was at Shrewsbury. They marched into Cere-
digion, laying waste the country as they went, and
unless the inhabitants had been forewarned all would
have been butchered. The day before these blood-
thirsty human hunters reached the coast Owen had
fled to Ireland, and Ceredigion was devastated, every
house and church burnt, and every human being
come across was massacred.

Cadwgan appealed to King Henry, protesting his
innocence, and at last the English king consented
to allow him to return to desolated Ceredigion, but
exacted from him a fine ; however, he allowed Ithel
and Madog to keep possession of Powys.

Owen, hearing that his father had made peace
with King Henry, returned from Ireland, but his
father refused to see him. Owen went off into
Powys and managed to patch up a reconciliation
with Madog, who had lately sought his life as the
murderer of his brothers. The recent enemies met
and swore a solemn oath of perpetual friendship and
of united hostility to the King of England. Owen,

A WILD SON 193

with a party of ruffians who had come with him
from Ireland, now entered his father's territories in
Ceredigion, and thence made a series of marauding
visits into Dyfed, using for the purpose the ships
in which he had crossed from Ireland. In one of
these he killed a Bishop William of the Flemings,
who was on his way to the English court. The news
reached King Henry whilst Cadwgan was with him
on some business connected with the settlement of
Welsh affairs. The King, exasperated to the last
degree, bitterly reproached Cadwgan for not restrain-
ing this wild son of his, and at once despatched troops
to chastise Owen, who immediately fled to Ireland.

Cadwgan was suffered to return to Powys, but was
there assassinated by Madog, his son's ally, who at
once hastened to announce the news to the Bishop of
London, and was received with favour.

Owen hurried back from Ireland ; Madog was
caught in an ambush, and Owen put out his eyes
with red-hot irons.

Curiously enough, now King Henry received Owen
into his favour, and took him as a companion to
Normandy, where he acquitted himself gallantly, and
was knighted by the King. On his return to Eng-
land Henry sent him into Wales with a commission
and promises of favour and assurances of confidence.
But Gerald of Windsor was awaiting his opportunity.
Owen on entering Wales began to butcher and burn
with the utmost barbarity, and some peasants who
escaped informed Gerald as to his whereabouts.
Gerald hastened to intercept him, surrounded him,
and Owen was pierced to the heart with an arrow.
o

194 LLANGOLLEN

A run of half an hour by train takes us to Corwen,
a dingy little town at the junction of the line to
Ruthin and Rhyl. Lying under steep mountains to
the south, it comes off scantily for sun in winter.

Here the church has been rebuilt in very bad taste,
with hideous plate-tracery in the windows, and a
cumbrous French " Gothic " arcade within. The
English and French architects of the Middle Ages
started with different conceptions as to how to deal
with the arch and the capital of the pillar on which
it rested. The Frenchman made of his arch a hole
bored in slabs of stone with sharp angles. If he had to
sustain it on a circular drum of a pillar, he accommo-
dated the capital to the arch by taking the Ionic
crown as his type and reproducing the horns at the
corners which serve as supports to the four angles of
the arch resting on it.

But the English architect saw how crude and harsh
and unpleasant to the eye was the bald, sharp-angled
arch, and he bevelled it away, substituting delicate
mouldings, and the section of the block of masonry
at the spring of the arch was now not a parallelogram,
but a hexagon. There was accordingly no need for
the Ionic horns, and he treated his capital as a basket
of flowers or foliage, or as a bowl wreathed round
with leaves. This is infinitely more beautiful.

But our architects fifty years ago, when taking a
holiday, rushed off to Normandy and filled their
sketch-books with drawings made in French churches,
and on returning home used them up in " restoring "
our English sacred buildings, or in designing churches
and town halls on foreign lines.

CORWEN CHURCH 195

And what excuse can be found for plate-tracery
that consists in driUing holes in slabs in Caen stone
for windows, when exquisite tracery and moulding
can be wrought out of the same stone ? I should
have liked to take Mr. Ferry, the perpetrator of the
abominations at Corwen, to Vale Crucis Abbey and
shame him by the comparison.

The only portions of the earlier church left at
Corwen are the lancets at the east end, and a bit of
north wall of the chancel.

Over the south porch door into the church is an
early incised cross, that is popularly supposed to be
the impression of Owen Glyndwr's dagger, flung from
the height above, and which left its mark on the
stone. Into the east side of the north porch is built
the leaning Carreg-y-Big-yn-y-Fach-Rewlyd (the
Pointed Stone in the Frosty Corner). It is about
six feet high, and is a prehistoric menhir. The story
goes that the church was begun on another site, but
every night the stones were removed and brought
here and heaped about this block. Accordingly the
builders accepted the intimation and erected the
church where it now stands.

An old cross with interlaced Celtic work on it, and
a short sword in relief, stands in the churchyard.
The Maen Llwyd, near Llandeilo, has also a sword
carved on it, and such stones probably indicate the
burial-place of a warrior. The base is indented with
hollows, like the cup -markings found in menhirs,
dolmens, and flat rocks, which are still a mystery
to antiquaries, but which were perhaps intended as
receptacles for oil as oblations to the viancs of the

196 LLANGOLLEN

dead, for some councils and bishops denounced the
superstitious anointings of standing stones by the
semi-Christianised peasantry.

Beyond the river rises Caer Drewyn. The stone
wall encloses a large area on a steep slope. It does
not occupy the summit of the hill, but a spur near a
spring from which flows a tiny rill. The walls were
of stone unset in mortar, and they have fallen and
form a continuous mound of debris. Within are a
few ruined cytiau. The camp is of the type of the
Irish forts near the coast, but has been supposed to be
earlier and to belong to the Bronze Age, and without
an exploration with pick and shovel there is no
determining its period, for much the same construction
belonged to both epochs.

It was occupied at a much later time. Owen
Gwynedd in 1164 rose in revolt against Henry II.
The English King collected a mixed force, and from
Oswestry ascended the Dee. Owen and his brother
Cadwaladr of Merioneth fought a battle with him at
Crogen, near Chirk. The King's life was saved by
the self-devotion of Hubert de Clare, who, seeing an
arrow hurtling through the air towards his master,
interposed his body, and received the missile in his
breast. The Welsh retreated across the Berwyn
Mountains to Corwen, pursued by the English, and
Owen established himself and his forces within this
venerable ring of stones. They could obtain plenty
of mutton from the mountains and moors at their
back, and there was water in the spring under the
north wall. Henry's army camped on the opposite
hill. The weather broke up, rain poured down, and

LLANDDERFEL 197

the ground of the EngHsh camp became a quagmire.
The EngHsh dared not venture far for fear of falHng
into ambushes among the woods and rocks, and
suffered for want of food. Men and horses dwindled
through sickness and privation. Military stores ran
short, and at length, in the mood of a baffled
tiger, Henry was compelled to withdraw without
having accomplished the end aimed at in this cam-
paign. Raging at his discomfiture, he had the
eyes torn out of the heads of the sons of Owen
Gwynedd and Rhys ab Tewdwr, whom he held as
hostages.

Rug, near Corwen, is the scene of the treacherous
seizure of Gruffydd ab Cynan, king of Gwynedd, in
1080, by Hugh the Fat, Earl of Chester. He invited
the king to come unattended and unarmed to a
friendly conference here, and when he arrived had
him loaded with chains and carried off to Chester,
where he remained a prisoner for twelve years. He
owed his release to a young man of Corwen, who on
some plea obtained access to him in prison, and
carried him forth on his back, chains and all, on
a night when the garrison was keeping high revel
and his guards were drunk. On his return into
Gwynedd, he lurked for some time among the moun-
tains till he had rallied sufficient men about him,
when he swooped down on castle after castle of the
Normans, took and burnt them and drove the in-
vaders out of his lands.

Llandderfel is noted as having been a foundation
of Derfel Gadarn, son of Hywel ab Emyr of Brittany.
Before the Reformation there was a husfe wooden

198 LLANGOLLEN

image of him in the church, which was held in so
great esteem that hundreds resorted to it daily with
their offerings of cows, horses, and money. It was
believed to have power to fetch souls out of
Purgatory. Dr. Ellis Price was sent by Cromwell as
Commissary to get rid of it. He found that on the
day when he visited Llandderfel between five and six
hundred pilgrims had been there. Price was ordered
to send the image to London ; the people were
angry, and offered ^^40 to have it left. When the*
image arrived in London it was resolved to turn it
to a signal purpose.

Friar Forest, a Franciscan, had been chaplain and
confessor to Catherine of Aragon, and he declared
that he " owed a double obedience, first to the King
by the law of God, and secondly to the Bishop of
Rome by his rule and profession."

He was ordered to be burnt at the stake in 1538,
and Latimer was appointed to preach before him on
the occasion. The letter in which the Reformer
accepted this commission is not pleasant reading.
He was ready, since Cromwell desired it, " to play
the fool after his customable manner when Forest
should suffer," and he complained that the unfortun-
ate man was treated with too great leniency by his
ofaolers, and that he was even suffered to hear Mass
and receive the Sacrament.

In Smithfield the pyre was built up, and the
wooden statue of Derfel Gadarn placed on it ;
above all was a pair of gallows from which Forest
was suspended in chains to be slowly burnt to
death, whilst Latimer was haranguing from his

LLANDRILLO 199

pulpit, which at Latimer's own request was placed
close to the pyre.

In the church still remains a portion of a wooden
horse, or rather stag, popularly called Ceffyl Derfel,
and a wooden crozier, his Ffon, that formed part of
the subject. " The common people used to resort
from all parts at Easter in order to have a ride on
Derfel's horse. The horse was fixed to a pole, which
was placed in a horizontal position, and attached to
another, which stood perpendicularly and rested on
a pivot. The rider, taking hold of the crozier, which
was fastened to the horse, was wheeled round and
round, as children are wheeled when they mount a
wooden horse at a fair."

From Llandderfel the old Sarn Helen, or Elen's
Road, runs to Llandrillo ; and with a visit to this
place may be combined one to the Pennant of
Melangell, who was descended from this Elen and
her husband Maximus. Her mother was an Irish-
woman.

The story goes that her father desired to marry
her to a chief under him, but either she disliked the
man or the thought of marriage, and determined to
run away. Accordingly she found an opportunity to
escape, and secreted herself at Pennant, a lonely and
lovely spot at the head of the Tanat. Her story is
represented on the cornice of the carved oak screen
of the church.

In this spot, sleeping on bare rock, she remained
for fifteen years. One day Brochwel, prince of
Powys, was hunting and in pursuit of a hare, when
puss escaped into a thicket and took refuge under

200 LLANGOLLEN

the robe of a virgin of great beauty, whom the
huntsman discovered. She faced and drove back
the hounds. The huntsman then put his horn to his
Hps, and there it stuck as if glued. Upon this, up
came the prince, and he at once granted a parcel
of land to the saint, to serve as a sanctuary, and
bade her found there a convent. This she did, and
she lived in a cell, which still remains, though some-
what altered, at the east end of the church.

She was buried there, and fragments of her beauti-
ful shrine, as it is believed, remain built into the walls,
sufficient to allow of its reconstruction. The cell of
S. Melangell is, as said, to the east of the church, and
has no communication with it. It goes by the name
of Cell-y-Bedd, or Cell of the Grave, and has a door
and a window, and in this cell formerly stood her
shrine,

Melangell is considered the patroness of hares,
which are termed her lambs. Until the eighteenth
century so strong v/as the superstition that no one in
the parish would kill a hare, and even now, when a
hare is pursued by hounds, boys will shout after it,
" God and Melangell be with thee ! " and it is held
that it will escape.

Hqx giuely, or bed, lies on the side of the valley op-
posite to the church, a quarter of a mile further south.
It is a recess in the rocks, overgrown with a bush,
above the road.

In the churchyard is a sculptured stone, on which
is represented a man in armour, with the inscription
" HIC JACET EDWART." This is believed to be the
tombstone of lorvverth (Edward) with the Broken

THE HARP 20I

Nose. He was the eldest son of Owen Gwynedd,
prince of North Wales. Because of the blemish he
was set aside, and the crown accorded to his brother
David, and he was granted a few hundreds in Car-
narvonshire and Merionethshire for his lordship. But
David grudged him even these, and he had to fly from
him to Pennant Melangell, as to a sanctuary. He was
pursued thither, and there murdered at his brother's
instigation.

At Llangollen the Welsh harper may still be heard.
He frequents the hotels and plays for sixpences and
threepenny-bits given him by the visitors. What a
delightful instrument the harp is ! Its resonant
chords thrill those in the human heart in a manner
that the wires of the harpsichord and piano that
have superseded it cannot do. The latter are mere
mechanical instruments compared with harp and
violin and the ancient lute. The harp was adopted,
in the reign of James I., as the arms of Ireland, to
be quartered with those of England and Scotland.
When this was proposed, then said the Earl of
Northampton, "Very suitable symbol for Ireland,
costing more to keep in tune than it is worth."

But Wales would have had as much right to the
harp as symbol as has Ireland ; it had, however, its
own ancient arms — the four lions quarterly. Accord-
ing to the Triads there were formerly in use three
harps — that of the king, that of the bard, and that
of the gentleman. The first two were valued at
1 20 pence, and the last at 60 pence ; but we do not
know in what consisted the distinction.

The performers let their nails grow to claws, and

202 LLANGOLLEN

the strings were twanged with them. In the Romance

of Prince Horn : —

"The King came into hall
Among his knights all
He calleth Adhelberus
His steward and him said thus :
' Steward, take thou here
My foundling him to lere (learn)
To play upon the harp
With his nails sharp.' "

And Chaucer, in his House of Fame, says : —

" For though that the best harper upon live
Would on the beste sounid jolly harpe
That ever was, with his fingers five
Touch all one string, or aie one warble harpe,
Were his nails pointed never so sharp," etc.

The most ancient harp had but a single row of
strings, then a second row was introduced, and, lastly,
a third ; and the final improvement was the addition
of pedals. The number of strings varied from 54,
56, 58 to 60. Formerly the Welsh harp was rested
by the performer on the left shoulder — the treble was
played with the left hand, and the bass with the right
— but now the position is reversed.

That Edward I. ordered a massacre of the Welsh
bards and minstrels is a mere fiction.

"That Edward did this," says Sharon Turner, "seems
rather a vindictive tradition of an irritated nation than
an historical fact. The destruction of the independent
sovereignties of Wales abolished the patronage of the
bards, and in the cessation of internal warfare, and of
external ravages, they lost tiieir favourite subjects and most
familiar imagery. They declined because they were no
longer encouraged."

WELSH BARDS 203

The early Welsh harps seem to have been strung
with hair. Dafydd ab Gwilym, a contemporary of
Chaucer, boasts that his harp had not " one string
from a dead sheep " in it, but " hair glossy black."
The Irish harp was strung with wire. Some of the
Welsh harps of an inferior kind were of leather, and
Dafydd pours scorn on such : —

" The din of the leathern harp " (presupposes it shall not
be played with a horny nail), " of unpleasing form, only the
graceless bears it, and I love not its button-covered trough,
nor its music, nor its guts, sounding disgustingly, nor its
yellow colour . . . nor its bent column ; only the vile love
it. Under the touch of the eight fingers, ugly is the bulge
of its belly, with the canvas cover; its hoarse sound is
only fit for an aged Saxon."

The bards, according to Taliessin, himself one of
them, do not seem to have had a high character,
although, according to the Triad, the bard is equal
to the king.

Taliessin is supposed to have lived in the time of
Maelgwn Gwynedd, in the first half of the sixth
century, and is credited with a satire on the king's
bards ; but the poem was actually composed in the
thirteenth century, and satirises the bards of the
writer's own day : —

"Minstrels persevere in their false custom,
Immoral ditties are their delight ;
Vain and tasteless praises theirs.
At all times falsehood they utter.
Innocent people they turn to jest,
Married women's character they take away
And destroy the innocence of maids.

204 LLANGOLLEN

They drink all night ; they sleep all day,

The Church they hate, and the tavern they haunt.

Tithes and offerings to God they do not pay,

Nor worship Him Sunday or Holyday.

Everything travails to obtain its food.

Save the minstrel and the lazy thief."

It was the degradation of the minstrel that led to
such severe Acts being passed to put him down.
But the harper and minstrel remained attached to
the household of a gentleman as a matter of course
in Wales till the eighteenth century, and, as we have
seen, so late as in the first half of the nineteenth
century an Anglesey parson had his harper as one of
his household.

CHAPTER XII
DOLGELLEY

The Lake of Bala — Estuary of the Mawddach — Barmouth — Cader
Idris — The Torrent and Precipice Walks — " Welsh web" — Numer-
ous lakes — Fishing in Wales — Treachery of David ab Llewelyn —
Gruffydd's attempt to escape — "The Spirit's Blasted Tree" — John
Thomas — Characteristics of the Welsh people — Intelligence great
— None of the coarseness characterising the Anglo-Saxon bumpkin
— Long-heads and short-heads — A Welsh courtship — Untruthful-
ness a product of servitude — Religiousness of the Welsh — The
theatre discountenanced — Old Interludes — Richard Malvine —
Twm o'r Nant — Poetry in Wales — Welsh Nonconformity — The
squirearchy — The Seiet — The old Welsh preachers — Embellishments
— The Hwyl — Reviving the spirit — How the Church was treated —
The Methodist Revival — The Church in Wales.

ONLY as one reaches the head of the Bala Lake,
coming from Ruabon, does the beauty of form
of the Welsh mountains begin to impress one. Then
ensues the rapid descent of the valley of the Wnion,
down which the train gallops, and as Dolgelley is
approached, Cader Idris breaks on the sight.

Beyond Dolgelley expands the estuary of the
Mawddach, and when the tide is in it is hard to
match it for loveliness in the British Isles, especially
when the heather is in bloom. Then the flush is on
the mountains above that mirror, and it is like the
glow of glad surprise on the young girl's cheek when

205

2o6 DOLGELLEY

she contemplates herself in a glass and for the first
time realises how beautiful she is.

Dolgelley and Barmouth are two delightful places
at which to halt and whence to explore the glorious
surrounding scenery. To the former belongs Cader
Idris, and to the latter Llawllech and Diphwys, To
the first the vale of the Mawddach, and to the second
that of the Arthog.

Cader Idris is the throne of the great father of
Welsh song. Who Idris was we hardly know. He
is veiled in mystery, as his throne is wrapped in
mist. But some dim traditions of him have come
down to us.

The Triads celebrate him as Idris Gawr, or the
Giant, one of the three primitive bards of the Isle of
Britain, the inventor of the harp, and withal great in
the knowledge of the stars. It was said that whoso-
ever should pass a night on Cader Idris would de-
scend in the morning inspired with the spirit of
poetry or a frenzied madman.

I said to my guide in Iceland one day, pointing to
a glittering jokull, "Oh, Grimr! would you not like
to stand on the top ? " "I can see the top very well
from down here," was his reply.

A good many of us with old bones, and breath
coming short, will be content to look on Cader Idris
from below, or only to mount the glens to the lakes
that lie around it, and leave the ultimate climb to
the young bloods.

The Town Council of Dolgelley has done its best
to make the place attractive to visitors who have not
this climbing passion on them, by laying out walks

RESORT OF FISHERMEN 207

such as those of the Torrent and the Precipice, to
facihtate the easy reach of striking points of view.

Of the town itself not much can be said. " You
see this decanter ? " said an old gentleman after
dinner. "That is the church"; and, taking a handful
of nutshells and strewing them about the decanter,
he added, " there are the houses."

Dolgelley does a little business. It has long been
noted for the manufacture of the " Welsh web," and
it is a famous resort of fishermen, though the well-
whipped streams do not abound in finny denizens as
they did at one time ; moreover, the fish have grown
uncommonly wary. The neighbourhood has within
reach many lakes more or less deserving of the
angler's attention, and all meriting a visit by anyone
who has an eye for the beautiful. To the fisherman
comes the choice between stream and tarn, between
following up the brawling torrent to its source, linger-
ing by the pools in which the trout glide like shadows,
and dreaming in a boat on one of the lakelets, whilst
a gentle breeze ruffles its surface. Some clever lines
were written by the late Major George Cecil Gooch,
some years ago, contrasting the fishing in England
with that in Scotland. They apply equally to the
contrast between angling in England and in Wales.

" Oh ! yon angler in Kennet and Itchen !

How he creeps and he crawls on his knees.
How he casteth a fly a deep ditch in,

Or on high hangs it up in the trees !
How he stalks a poor trout that is rising.

How he chucks a fly into its mouth !
Then vows that his skill is surprising,

For they manage things so in the South.

2o8 DOLGELLEY

" Let him boast of his fine fishing tackle,

Of his Hnes and his casts and all that,
Of his quills and his cluns let him cackle,

Let him tie a cork band round his hat;
The reward of his toil, do you ask it ?

While he grovels all day on his face.
After all, when he reckons his basket.

He must count all his spoils by the brace.

" Leave the country of hedgerows and meadows,

Where the yellow marsh-marigold grows.
Where the oak and the elm cast their shadows.

Bid adieu to the Land of the Rose.
Come with me to the Land of the Thistle,

Where the waters run rugged and fleet.
To the hills where the wild curlews whistle,

Where a man may stand up on his feet.

" Come with me where the bright sunbeams flicker,

Through the larches above on the brae.
Where the streams by the boulder stones bicker,

And wavelets around are at play.
Throw your line straight across over yonder,

Down, down let it gradually swing.
By the swirl near the rock let it wander.

And you'll hook a trout fit for a king.

" There he comes ! now just hit him and hold him !

Let him rage up and down through the pool !
There are no wretched weeds to enfold him,

He's yours if you only keep cool.
So you have him ! Now try for his cousins.

For his uncles and aunts and so forth.
Never fear but you'll get 'em by dozens.

That's the way that we fish in the North."

Aye ! and in Wales also !

The Precipice Walk is that which will probably be
first taken by the visitor to Dolgelley, carried round
Moel Cynwch, which rises to the height of i,o68 feet,

CIVIL WAR 209

and has on its lower head a prehistoric camp. The
way from Dolgelley leads past Cymmer Abbey, that
was founded by Llewelyn ab lorwerth the Great, who
died in 1240.

His son Gruffydd, a man of noble stature and
majestic beauty, won the hearts of the men of
Gwynedd, and he was preferred by them to his
brother David, whose mother was English ; and
from the moment that the breath was out of the
body of Llewelyn a fierce and sanguinary war broke
out between the half-brothers. At length, by the
interposition of the Bishop of Bangor, a meeting
was arranged to take place between the rival princes,
but David treacherously waylaid his brother, and his
eldest son Owen, on their way to the appointed place
of conference, and shut them up in the castle of
Criccieth.

The bishop, indignant with David for his treachery,
hasted to King Henry and invoked his intervention.
The King accordingly ordered David to release his
prisoners, and when he refused to do so marched
into North Wales. Senena, the wife of Gruffydd,
met the King at Shrewsbury, and concluded a treaty
with him, acting on behalf of her husband.

Henry now marched into Gwynedd and brought
David to his knees. He surrendered Gruffydd and
Owen, but the King, violating his promises, sent
both to the Tower of London.

The Bishop of Bangor, distressed at the perfidy of

the King, in vain pleaded for the liberation of the

captives, as did also the unhappy Senena, who went

to London to plead her cause in person, but all in vain.

2IO DOLGELLEY

As time passed, and Henry showed no inclination
to release them, Gruffydd became desperate, and con-
trived a plan of escape along with his devoted wife,
who had obtained a reluctantly granted permission to
visit her husband and son in prison. He cut up the
tapestry of his chamber, as also his sheets and table-
cloths, into strips, which he twisted and plaited into
a rope, and one night, by means of this frail cable,
attempted to descend from his window, assisted from
above by his son Owen, whilst Senena waited below.
But the great weight of Gruffydd strained and
ravelled out the cable ; it broke, and he fell from so
great a height that his head, striking the ground, was
driven to the chin into his breast, and he was killed
on the spot.

Owen was thenceforth kept in closer durance than
before.

The lovely Llyn Cynwch is under the mountains,
and reflects Cader Idris on its glassy surface, Nannau,
the old residence of the Vaughan family, is near the
Precipice Walk, and in the grounds, where now
stands a sundial, was formerly the " Spirit's Blasted
Tree," alluded to in Marinion. Nannau was the seat
of Howel Sele, a cousin of Glyndwr ; he had
rendered himself obnoxious to his relative by the
zeal with which he had espoused the cause of King
Henry IV. The Abbot of Cymmer, desirous of
effecting a reconciliation, contrived that the cousins
should meet. Howel had the reputation of being an
excellent archer, and as he and Glyndwr were walking
in the grounds of Nannau the latter pointed out a
deer for the purpose of trying his kinsman's dexterity.

BISHOP OF SALISBURY 211

Howel bent his bow, adjusted the arrow, but abruptly
turned its point on Glyndwr and discharged it at his
breast. Happily the latter wore a suit of chain mail
under his kirtle, and the purpose of the assassin was
foiled. Howel was instantly seized by the followers
of his intended victim and thrown into the hollow
trunk of an oak that stood by, and was there left to
perish. His skeleton was not discovered till forty
years later. Glyndwr burnt the house of Nannau,
and committed other devastations on the domain of
his treacherous relative.

The tree fell on the night of July 13th, 18 13. Out
of it has been fashioned a table now at Hengwrt.

Hengwrt is an interesting old house, and stands in
woods that are famous among entomologists as the
haunt of many rare moths ; and the traces of these
latter may be noted on the trees, where they have
been smeared with ale and sugar ; and the lanterns
of these eager scientists wander about the shades of
the oaks at night like wills-o'-the-wisp.

Dolgelley was the native place of John Thomas,
Bishop of Salisbury, He was born in 1681, and was
the son of a porter in the service of a brewer. His
father's employer, seeing that he was a bright, clever
boy, paid the expenses of his education at school and
college. He was ordained and went as chaplain to
the English factory at Hamburg, and owing to the
fluency with which he could speak German, acquired
during his residence in the capacity of chaplain at
that seaport, he attracted the notice of King
George II., who took Thomas along with him when-
ever he visited his electorate of Hanover. Thomas

212 DOLGELLEY

married a Danish woman, and on her death married
a niece of Bishop Sherlock of SaHsbury. He was
made rector of S. Vedast's, Foster Lane, London, and
then prebendary of Westminster and canon of
S. Paul's. In 1743 he was nominated to the
bishopric of S. Asaph, but before he was con-
secrated he was offered and accepted the bishopric
of Lincoln, and was consecrated in 1744. He was
translated to Sahsbury in 1761, and died there in
1766.

" He is," says Cole, who wrote during his lifetime, " a
very worthy and honest man, a most facetious and pleasant
companion, and remarkably good-tempered. He has a
peculiar cast in his eyes, and is not a little deaf I thought
it rather an odd jumble, when I dined with him in 1753 ; his
lordship squinting the most I ever saw anyone; Mrs. Thomas,
the bishop's wife, squinting not a little; and a Dane, the
brother of his first wife, being so short-sighted as hardly
to be able to know whether he had anything on his plate
or no. Mrs. Thomas was his fourth wife, granddaughter,
as I take it, of Bishop Patrick, a very worthy man. It is
generally said that the bishop put this poesy to the wedding
ring when he married her : ' If I survive, I will have five ';
and she dying in 1757, he kept his word."

It is not my intention to describe scenery, perhaps
because as I have not slept on Cader Idris I lack the
proper afflatus, but also because that of Cader Idris
and of the Mawddach valley has exercised better pens
than mine.

Instead of dilating on the scenery I will here give
a few remarks on the characteristics of the Welsh
people, for whom I entertain a great liking.

CHARACTERISTICS 213

The Englishman accustomed to life in country dis-
tricts cannot fail to be impressed with the intellectual
superiority of the Welsh peasant to the English
country bumpkin. The Welsh of the labourer and
small farmer class are brighter, quicker, keener than
those occupying the same position in Saxon land.
The working man has an intellect higher developed
than the little farmer in England. This, in a measure,
is due to his being bilingual. The acquisition of a
second tongue undoubtedly gives flexibility to his
mind. No English labourer dreams of learning
another language than his own, but the Welsh peasant
must do this, and this fact gives to his mind aptitude
for fresh acquisitions, and affords a spur to learning.
He reads more, above all, thinks more. He leads an
inner life of thought and feeling ; he is more im-
pulsive and more sensitive. He is more susceptible
to culture, more appreciative of what is poetical
and beautiful, and does not find in buffoonery the
supreme delight of life.

The horse-play, the boisterous revelry that charac-
terise the enjoyment of country Hodge and Polly
as well as town-bred 'Arry and 'Arriet, when taking
a holiday, are never present on a similar occasion
among the Welsh. The great gatherings of the latter
are their Eisteddfods, and not races and football
matches. They assemble in thousands to hear music
and poetry, and such gatherings are entirely free
from the vulgarities and riot of a collection of
Anglo-Saxons out for a junketing.

A friend of mine, an incumbent for many years in
a purely Welsh parish, who was transferred at length

214 DOLGELLEY

to one that was more than half English, remarked
on the difference to me.

There had been an entertainment in a neighbouring
place, and the English performers had given music-hall
songs of a vulgar type, not without double etitendres,
which were rapturously applauded by those of the
audience who were of English blood, whereas the
Welsh sat mute and disgusted. And my friend said
to me, " Such an entertainment would have been
impossible in a purely Welsh village. The Welshman
has a sense of decorum and a higher standard of
taste, which would make him shrink from such an
exhibition. But possibly it may be this coarseness
and animality that have made the Englishman so
masterful and so successful. It is the outward token
of the tremendous vital force within, that makes him
carry everything before him, undeterred by shyness,
unhampered by sensitiveness, the qualities which
hold back the Celt from the rough-and-tumble
struggle of life."

It is the old story of the round-heads and the
long-heads, as revealed to us by the barrows on our
wolds and moors. The most ancient inhabitants of
Britain had well-developed skulls, with plenty of
brains in them ; had delicate chins and finely formed
jaws, every token that the race was one of a gentle,
highly strung quality. But it was trampled under
foot by an invasion of round-heads, bullet-shaped
skulls, with beetling brows, and jaws that speak of
brute force.

That the Welsh are more moral than the Eng-
lish cannot be maintained. The Celtic idea of

CHARACTERISTICS 215

marriage was not that of the German, and woman
in Celtic lands did not stand so high in dignity and
in popular esteem as Tacitus shows us was the case
among the Teutons. The Welsh laws allowed a man
to divorce his wife and marry another if she were
unfruitful, and for other reasons that seem to us
frivolous.

A Welsh courtship is not conducted in the same
manner as in England. There is not, or rather was
not till recently, any walking-out of couples together ;
that was denounced from the chapel pulpits as inde-
corous. But with the consent or connivance of the
parents of a young woman the suitor would come at
night to the window of the damsel he affected, and
scratch at it with a stick or throw at it a little gravel.
Then she would descend, open the door, and the pair
would spend the greater part of the night together on
the sofa in the parlour, with, as a young man who
had gone through the experience informed me, a
bottle of whisky, a Bible, and a currant cake on
the table before them. Some deny the whisky, some
the Bible, but all allow that refreshment is necessary
when the session is carried on to the small hours of
the morning.

The Welsh are given the character of being untruth-
ful, but with injustice. They are not more so than the
Anglo-Saxon of the lower class. Untruthfulness is a
product of oppression and injustice, and doubtless
the long martyrdom undergone by the Welsh people
forced them to equivocate and seek all manner of
subterfuges, but this has passed away — both the
occasion and the consequence. The consequence

2i6 DOLGELLEY

does not always become extinguished when the
cause has been removed — not at once — but it tends
rapidly to disappear.

Mistresses complain in England that their domestics
are untruthful. Of course they are, if the authority
over them is unjust. Plautus shows us Davus as a
liar through every fibre of his soul, but Davus was a
slave. If mistresses will treat their servants as part
of their family, and trust them, they, in turn, will be
true.

Unfortunately, athletic sports are discountenanced
by the preachers in the chapels as well as the walking-
out of sweethearts ; consequently the discipline of the
cricket field and the struggle of the football are not
for the Welsh, except in a mining district. Football,
however, was formerly a favourite pastime among the
Welsh, but as it was principally played on Sundays
it was put down with stern severity by the Noncon-
formist preachers.

Religion is an integral part of the life of the
Welshman. There is hardly any of that indiffer-
ence to it which everywhere prevails in England.
With us, in a country place, one quarter of the popu-
lation goes to church, another quarter to chapel, and
a half goes nowhere. That half may live, and does
live, a respectable, but it is a godless life. That is
not the case in Wales. There two-thirds of its popu-
lation go to the chapels, one-third to church, and an
infinitesimal proportion holds aloof from either.
Religion enfolds the Welsh man and woman from
infancy. It does much to develop in him the faculty
of self-government ; it moulds his opinions from the

l'IS•^YI.l.-^■-CAl^. dcii.ci.i.i.ilV

CHARACTERISTICS 217

earliest age. But the form of religion he has adopted
has its disadvantages. It narrows his view, it cuts
him off from much that is wholesome and harmless,
and limits his world to his sect. The theatre is
taboo. I was in a little town of some 1,200 in-
habitants, to which came a strolling company of
players, with a programme of perfectly wholesome
and, indeed, edifying pieces. It expected to reap a
harvest of sixpences and shillings, and announced
performances for four consecutive evenings. But no
sooner were the placards up than in all the seven
chapels the ministers denounced " the play " as a
snare of the devil, and warned their congregations
to eschew it as a step to damnation. One told an
anecdote. A young man with whom he was ac-
quainted went to the theatre, resolved to see a
play ; but, raising his eyes, he saw written up,
" This way to the pit." Then, conscience-stricken,
he withdrew. " But," said the preacher, " every way
— gallery, and stall, and box — lead alike to the
bottomless pit."

The result was that no Dissenters went, no Church-
men either, lest they should offend their " weaker
brethren " of the chapel, and the poor players
departed not having pocketed enough to pay their
expenses for a single night.

The Welsh are, however, a people with the dramatic
instinct in them, as is the case with all high-strung,
sensitive races. In former times they had their
" Interludes," just as the Cornish had their Miracle
and secular plays. In Cornwall there exist still the
" Rounds " — great amphitheatres of artificial construe-

2i8 DOLGELLEY

tion, in which plays were wont to be performed in
the open air to crowds of spectators. The Wesleyan
Revival killed these plays, and the Rounds are now
only employed for great preaching bouts.

The Welsh Interludes were poetic compositions,
calling forth the abilities of the village composers. A
great many of these still exist, not perhaps excellent
in dramatic situations, but some of them of no mean
poetic value. The Interlude was the direct offspring
of the old Morality, and it was allegorical rather
than directly dramatic. We have in English, among
our peasantry, still a few of these, such as the " Dialogue
between the Serving-man and the Gardener," and a
score of altercations in verse, very generally sung, in
Cornwall, between a youth and a damsel, who begin
by quarrelling, or with the maiden flouting the young
man, and end in reconciliation and a trot off hand-in-
hand to be married. There is another, once popular
in Cornwall, in which the ghost of a maiden appears
to her lover and sets him hard riddles, which he
answers. Unless he could answer them she would
have drawn him to the grave. Another, again, is
that of " Richard Malvine," where the plot consists
in an intrigue carried on between a parson and the
miller's wife. The wife pretends to be ill, and sends
for her husband.

" O Richard Malvine, O Richard Malvine !
Good husband, I'm like to die,
And medicine alone can me restore

As here on my bed I lie.
I vi^ould drink of the Well of Absalom,
Its water I fain would try,

And oh I for a bottle of ale 1 "

RICHARD MALVINE 219

The husband departs in quest of the Well of
Absalom, and the wife complacently says : —

" Pray God send him a hard journey,
And never to come home."

No sooner is Richard Malvine gone than the wife
sends for the parson, and to him she says : —

" Pray feast with me ;
I have good ale, bread fresh and bread stale.

And withal a venison pasty.
And merry we'll drink and eat and dance,

Right merry I trow we'll be."

Now Richard Malvine had a man who was trusty.
And so soon as the miller went forth, the man
pursued him, caught him up, and said : — -

" O master, good Richard Malvine,

Thou art not gone far from here.
The priest and thy wife are right merrie,

Are having good sport and cheer.
Get into the sack, that I bear on my back,

And what they shall say, thou'lt hear.

" O Richard Malvine, O Richard Malvine !

Thy wife is false to thee.
I'll stand the sack in the chimney-back.

Where thou canst hear and see.
And thou shalt find, when thou hast a mind

To call, I am near to thee."

The parson arrives, and the table is spread — all
this was acted in farmhouses. The wife says : —

" My husband, Richard Malvine, is forth,
A journey afar doth roam,
A bottle to fetch of the water fresh
Of the Well of Absalom."

220 DOLGELLEY

Then the parson sits down and eats with the wife,
and there is much fun, somewhat broad — when out
of the sack in the chimney-back jumps Richard
Malvine, and he shouts : —

'• ' Now into the sack, as I'm Richard Malvine,
' Or thy blood. Sir Priest, I will take !
O good my lady and gentleman,
I heard what you both did say,
The parson I'll dip in the mill-pond quick

Before that I let him away.
And my wife with a rope about her neck
I'll sell next market-day.' "

The waggoner then hoists the sack with the parson
in it on his back, and carries him forth to be ducked
in the mill-pond.

Another such an Interlude was one, not more
edifying, in which occur snatches of a song : —

" Oh the wind and the rain.
They have sent him back again.

So you cannot have a lodging here I "
and : —

" Oh, the wind is in the west,
And the cuckoo's in his nest.

So you cannot have a lodging here I "
and finally : —

" Oh, the devil is in the man.
That he cannot understan'

That he cannot have a lodging here ! "

The half play half game of "Jenny-Jan" is common
in the West of England and in Scotland, alike.

A young man enters the room, when a woman
acting the mother asks : —

" Come to see Jenny, Jan? Jenny, Jan? Jenny Jan?
Come to see Jenny?"

OLD INTERLUDES 221

He. " Can I see her now ? "

She. "Jenny is washing, washing, washing, Jan.

Jenny is washing, Jan, you can't see her now."'

Thefi all say : —

" Morning, ladies and gentlemen, too !
Morning, ladies and gentlemen, too !
Come to see Jenny, Jan ? Jenny, Jan ? Jenny, Jan ? -
Come to see Jenny, and can't see her now."

Next the youth is informed that Jenny is married,
then that she is dead, then that she is buried, and
lastly that her grave is green. "Jenny's grave is
green with the tears that flow." The principal per-
former has to simulate various emotions at the
information given to him.

Now the first of these trifles is certainly derived
from the old prose romance of Friar Rush, the
earliest English printed copy of which is dated 1620,
but which was taken from the German, and this was
printed at Strasburg in 15 15. The story, however,
dates, in all probability, from a much earlier period.

The second is remarkable because the music is
almost note for note as sung not very many years
ago, with the air to the same words as given in
Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book. That Jenny-Jan
must have been common all over England seems to
be implied by the fact of its existing in Devon as
well as in Scotland, though to different melodies.

We can hardly doubt that these plays, in which
three, at the most five, but usually three persons took
part, were common in Wales in the Middle Ages, and,
indeed, down to the Methodist Revival, when all such
things were set aside as of the devil, devilish. Of all
the Welsh composers of interludes, Twm o'r Nant,

222 DOLGELLEY

or Tom o' the Dingle, was the most famous. He
wrote an interlude on John Bunyan's " Spiritual
Courtship," on Naaman's Leprosy, and an allegorical
piece on Hypocrisy. He was born in 1739, and was
married in 1763. His biography is extant and is
very entertaining. His other interludes were " Riches
and Poverty," " The Three Associates of Man — the
World, Nature, Conscience," and " The King, the
Justice, the Bishop, and the Husbandman," and he
was wont to act in them himself.

These were all composed in verse, and were not
without poetic fire, but the allegorical character of
the pieces was against them.

One great cause of the refinement of mind, as well
as of manner, in the Welshman of the lower classes,
is the traditional passion for poetry. The Welsh
have had their native poets from time immemorial.
The earlier poets are hard to be read, often from a
habit they had of introducing words, wholly regardless
of sense, to pad out their lines, or to produce a pleasant
effect on the ear. But all this drops away in the
later poets, and Wales has never failed to produce
a crop of these, and their productions are read,
acquired by heart, and go to mould the taste.

Now look at the English bumpkin. What poetic
faculty is there in him ? Take the broadside ballads
of England. Unless you stumble on an ancient
ballad, all is the veriest balderdash.

" To hear the sweet birds whistle
And the nightingales to sing,"

'=' ■ " As I went forth one May morning
To scent the morning air,"

NONCONFORMITY 223

the final line of which is capable of a double inter-
pretation—the bucolic mind rises to no poetic con-
ception. It looks at Nature with dull, dazed eyes,
and sees nothing in it. It does not distinguish one
plant from another, its only idea of a sensation is a
young woman dressing as a sailor or a soldier to run
after her young man, and its only idea of humour is
grossness.

But the m.oment you come in contact with Celtic
blood a ripple of living fire runs through the veins,
the eyes are open and they see, the ears are touched
and they hear, the tongue is unloosed and it sings.

The sole conception that the vulgar English mind
has of poetry is rhyme, and the rhyme often execrably
bad. In my time I have come upon many a village
poet — but never a poetic idea from their minds, never
a spark of divine fire in their doggerel.

But to return to Welsh Nonconformity. That it
was the revolt of the Conscience against the deadness
of the Church, which had left out of view all its
glorious Catholic heritage, and offered stones in
place of bread, and put wolves in place of pastors
over the sheep, does not admit of question. Nor
can it be doubted that Nonconformity has done an
amazing deal for the development — if one-sided,
yet a development — of the Welsh mind. It has
stunted some of its faculties, but it has expanded
the mind in other directions. Nonconformity exer-
cises a most controlling force upon the Welshman.
He no more dares to think or worship or have an
aspiration beyond his sect, than has a Mussulman
outside his religion. So long as he is in Wales, by

224 DOLGELLEY

a thousand ties he is bound to his sect. He would
wreck his social, his moral influence, his position, his
worldly prospects if he left it.

The bicycle, however, is making a breach in the
bonds that restrain the young people, much as in
France it is emancipating the demoiselle from the
severe tutelage in which the French girl is held. It
is taking those who use the " wheel " beyond the little
area over which their religious community exercises
influence.

We talk of the Irish peasantry as priest-ridden,
but the Welsh are in almost as strict subjection to
the opinion of their chapel body. The emancipation
the bicycle produces has its good effects, but also
those which are evil. The chapel opinion makes for
godliness and a decent life.

The Sciet, or Society, comprises every member of
the denomination, and is a miniature democracy, in
which the affairs of the community are discussed, and
its working is arranged, its religious tenets are shaped,
and its code of morals is fixed. The greatest excite-
ment allowed is the Diwygiad, or Revival, which
may or may not leave good moral results. Some-
times it awakens the indifferent, sometimes deepens
the religious life, but it also occasionally leads to
lapses from virtue.

Revivalism is a two-edged weapon that may cut
the hand that holds it.

The Church is supported principally by the squire-
archy and the dependants on the squirearchy. And,
as a rule, the squirearchy likes to have a religion that
does not make great demands on its time, does not

WELSH PREACHERS 225

exact self-denial, does not require exalted spirituality.
And it is ready enough to pay for a jog-trot religion,
but will button up the pocket against a too exacting
zeal.

Some of the old Welsh preachers at the outburst
of the revolt against the deadness and worldliness of
the Church were very remarkable men, and their
eloquence was great. It would not pass muster at
the present day in their own communities, but it
served its purpose at the time.

There was one, for instance, reminiscences of whose
sermons have survived — Stephen Jenkins, born 181 5,
died 1892.

On one occasion he was preaching upon prayer,
and he suddenly broke forth into a graphic descrip-
tion of the animals entering the ark. After having
seen the lion, the bear, the ape, and the snail enter,
all whose progresses were graphically described, he
went on to speak of the elephant, and he drew a
lively picture of the monstrous beast ascending the
plank that led to the entrance to the house-boat.
"But how is this?" exclaimed the preacher. "The
elephant is higher than the door. By no means can
he walk in. Of no avail for Noah and his sons to
prog him with goads. He cannot enter. The door
is low, and his head is held too high. Then says
Noah, ' Go down on your knees, beast ! ' and the
elephant obeys. Then, Noah, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth thrusting behind, they managed to get the
elephant into the ark. And you, if you will enter
the kingdom of heaven, must go down on your
knees. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way."

226 DOLGELLEY

The story is told differently in a little memoir of
Stephen Jenkins that has been published recently
(Tonypandy, 1902), but I give it as it reached me
some years ago ; probably the preacher used Noah's
ark more than once, and to enforce different maxims.

The following is, however, from the book : —

" When Peter went to Ccesarea to his publication [i.e.
preaching to which invited], ha took Mrs. Peter with him.
And ha was putting up at a farmhouse. And the farmer
took Peter around the farm with him, to show his stock
to 'n. On the way home the bull roared at 'n, but ha didn't
notice that. When ha cam' to the farm-yard, the ould gander
cam' hissing after 'n, but he didn't mind that either. But,
all of a sudden, the ould cock cam' up to 'n quite bould,
and sang Cock-adoodle-doo, and he turned quite pale, and
begged the farmer to let 'n go into the house. ' And when
ha went into the house, Mrs. Peter asked, ' What is the
matter, Peter bach ? ' * Oh, that ould bird again ! ' he
said. . . . Ah, my dear people, ould Conscience will
remind you some way or other, of your past sins, even after
you're forgiven."

This may be absurd, but it served its purpose.
Whether a preacher is justified in drawing so freely
on his imagination is a question I do not enter upon.
The sermon recalls to me one heard in a little
Cornish chapel a few years ago. I believe that I give
the preacher's words without exaggeration. The text
was from Psalm Ivii. 8 : "Awake up, my glory; awake,
psaltery and harp." And this was the opening of the
discourse : —

" My brethren ! King David awoke early in the morning,
just as the sun was rising. There had been wretched bad

WELSH PREACHERS 227

times, rain, rain, rain, all day and night, and the sheep
were cawed [diseased], and the harvest was not got in, the
shocks of corn were standing, the grain was sprouting in
the ears. You know what sort of bread comes of that !
David had been sore at heart, for he knew the farmers were
in a bad way, and the labouring people were also not well
off. So he got out of bed, and opened his window, and
looked out, and smelt the beautiful fresh morning air.
Then he saw the sun come a-peeping up over the eastern
hills, like a spark of gold. So says David, 'There he comes,
and not a cloud in the sky, and there's every promise of
a good day. Wake up, my glory ! wake up, my beautiful
shining luminary, and give us a long fine day, for we want
it sore before the corn is utterly spoiled and done for.'
And then, brethren, he made another remark, and that he
addressed to his Possle-tree [psaltery]. Now, 1 don't pre-
tend to know exactly what sort of a tree a Possle-tree is, but
travellers who have been in Palestine, and learned com-
mentators, do assert that it is a plant that turns her face
to the sun, whichever way the sun be. In short she is
a sort of convolvulus. Now David saw this here possle-tree
drooping, with her blossom heavy with rain, and says he,
with a great shout, ' Possle-tree ! ' says he, ' Possle-tree, my
hearty, wake up ! The glorious sun is up and shining,
and it becomes you also to wake up, and look the glorious
sun in the face, as is your nature and your duty too.'"

How completely Celtic both these addresses were !
To the dull Saxon mind there would be unreality
and trifling in such rich embroidery of sacred facts,
and it would repel, not edify. But the Celtic taste
is not squeamish ; it allows a broad margin for
imaginary decoration, and so long as the moral en-
forced is satisfactory, it does not regard the means
whereby it is reached.

228 DOLGELLEY

Of course this sort of address would be impossible
now in Wales, but in Cornwall the level of culture
is a century in arrear of Wales.

A Welshman is like an Irishman, naturally an
orator, and his highest climax is reached in the
hwyl, the Welsh howl. This consists in a rhythmic
musical intonation, rising to a high pitch. It was
at one time general in extempore preaching, but has
fallen into disuse, as it showed a tendency to become
a mechanical trick, a striving after effect, when the
orator felt that his matter ceased to interest and
arouse.

An amusing story was told me of a religious revival
effected by an old woman and a mendicant.

Said Sheena to Shone, " How is it at Bethesda
now ? "

" Ah, Sheena, dead as ditchwater ! "

" That is a pity," said she. " Let us revive the
spirit."

So they went together to the chapel, and during
an eminently prosy sermon began to rock on their
seats, to moan and utter exclamations. The influence
spread, and presently the whole congregation swayed
and cried out, " Glory be to God ! " at the preacher's
platitudes. Then, little by little, the agitation of
spirits affected him— his voice rose to a cry, and sank
and thrilled ; he flamed, he flung about his arms ;
finally, he howled. Thenceforth all was animation
and unction in Bethesda.

We may doubt whether the Catholic Church ever
gained as firm a hold over the Welsh people as it did
over the English. The best benefices were generally

WELSH PREACHERS 229

given to English or to foreign ecclesiastics who did
not understand a word of the vernacular of the
people, and the poor cures were cast to hedge-priests
who were both ignorant and immoral ; such livings
as were in Welsh hands were very indifferently
served, as the churches belonged to several people,
in or out of Orders, as has been already shown.

The Reformation did not at all mend matters.
During the Tudor period, it is true, the Church did
hold the affection of the Welsh people, and was, for
upwards of a century, ruled by bishops who were
Welsh in name and tongue. But evil days followed.
Bishoprics and livings were given to Englishmen
who did not know Welsh, and who often were non-
resident. The revenues of the Church were drained
into the pockets of English pluralists and men who
ostentatiously neglected their duties.

With the Methodist Revival the Welsh found them-
selves masters of their own religion ; they could form
communities for themselves, invent their own creeds,
and accommodate the worship to their own idiosyn-
crasies.

Although the Welsh are an emotional people, they
are a clear and hard-headed people as well. They
have passed through the period of hysterical religion,
and a preacher who is acceptable must be one who is
worth listening to because he has something to say.
He must be, not a man of frothy eloquence, but one
who has read and thought. One of the drawbacks
of the Cliurch in Wales is that ministers who have
proved themselves to be more or less failures in their
sects have been too much in the habit of comin<r

230 DOLGELLEY

over to the Church and seeking ordination, in the
hopes of being coddled and applauded as " Verts,"
and being put into benefices ; and the bishops have
shown too ready a disposition to receive them.

Such converts are often no gain to the Church and
no loss to Dissent. In Don Giovanni Figaro struts up
and down the stage unrolling a list of his conquests
in the field of love, and it is not edifying or pleasing
to see some of the more vigorous defenders of the
" Establishment " parade in like manner the captures
from Nonconformity. The Church in Wales, except
at Cardiff, has been hardly touched as yet by the
breath of the revival which has transformed the
Church in England. If the Church is to regain her
hold over the Welsh people, it will be by supplying
them with what they cannot have in the sects. They
can obtain Christianity attenuated into the most
vaporous condition, thrown into the most varied
nebular forms, in the several denominations. But
if the Welshman joins the Church, it will not be, like
Ixion, to embrace a cloud, but for a definite creed
and apostolic order.

CHAPTER XIII
HARLECH

Situation — The castle — Bronwen — Bronwen's tomb — Dafydd ah Ifan
— " March of the Men of Harlech" — Prehistoric remains — Llanfair
— Ellis Wynne — Visions of the Sleeping Bard — Sam Badrig — The
drowned land — Ardudwy — Fight of the men — Roman Steps —
Owen Pughe — Fires and destruction of Welsh MSS.

THE situation of Harlech is fine — a rock rising
almost vertically from the level tract of sandy
flats that fringes the sea, surmounted by a castle, and
with the little town clustering behind it and slipping
down the sides.

The castle consists of a rude quadrangle, with
round towers at each angle, and to the east a gate-
way flanked by two more. It is not a particularly
picturesque ruin, and before it fell into ruin must
have been positively ugly. It is not comparable to
Conway in size or in beauty of outline, but Henry
de Elreton, the architect, built for use, and looked to
make it an impregnable stronghold, and did not
consider the picturesque.

The castle occupies the site of Twr Bronwen.

Bran the Blessed was king of Britain, and he had a
beautiful sister called Bronwen.

One day he was in his fortress at Harlech when,
231

232 HARLECH

looking west, he saw a fleet approach. It was that
of Matholwch, king of Ireland, who came to ask for
Bronwen to be his wife. He was well received, and
the wedding was appointed to be kept at Aberffraw,
in Anglesey. So Bran and all his warriors went
thither by land, and the Irish king by sea, and at
Aberffraw a great marriage feast was held.

Now Bran and Bronwen had a half-brother named
Evnyssien, who had not been consulted in the matter,
and out of spite during the night he went to the
horses brought over by the Irish king and "cut off
their lips to the teeth, and their ears close to their
heads, and their tails close to their backs, and their
eyelids to the very bone."

Matholwch was furious at the insult, and was with
difficulty appeased by Bran giving him a silver rod as
tall as himself and a plate of gold as wide as his
face, and by assuring him that the outrage had been
committed without his knowledge and against his
wishes.

Then Matholwch sailed away with his bride. In
the course of a year she bore him a son, whom she
called Gwern, Now the story of the insult offered to
their king circulated in Ireland, and this produced
very bitter feeling against the queen, and Matholwch
was himself so turned against her that he degraded
her to be cook in his palace.

Bronwen reared a starling in the cover of the
kneading trough, and wrote a letter telling her woes
and tied it to a feather of the bird's wing, and let it
fly. The bird departed and reached Caer Seiont, or
Carnarvon, where King Bran then was, lighted on his

BRONWEN 233

shoulder and ruffled its plumes, and, discovering the
letter, he detached and read it. Then, in great wrath,
he collected a force and manned a fleet, and sailed to
Ireland to revenge the wrongs offered to his sister.

Matholwch, unprepared to resist, invited him to a
conference and a banquet, and in compensation for
the wrongs offered to raise his own son Gwern to the
throne, and to abdicate.

Now at the banquet the boy Gwern entered the
hall, and for his beauty and courtesy was by all ad-
mired and fondled save by the malevolent Evnyssien,
who, when the lad came before him, suddenly grasped
him by head and feet and flung him into the fire
that burned before them. When Bronwen saw her
child in the flames she endeavoured to spring in
after him, but was restrained by her brother Bran
and another, between whom she was seated.

This shocking act of violence caused a general
fight between the Welsh and the Irish. Evnyssien
fell and many others on the side of Bran, who was
obliged to retreat to his ships and escape over the sea
to Britain, wounded in the foot in the fray by a
poisoned dart.

On reaching Wales Bran felt that he was death-
struck, and he commanded that his head should be
cut off and taken to London, and buried on the
White Mount, where is now the Tower, and that the
face should be set towards France. Bronwen, who
had escaped, soon after died of a broken heart.
" Woe is me ! " she said, " that ever I was born ; for
two islands have been destroyed because of me ! "

She was buried in Anglesey, in a spot since called

234 HARLECH

Ynys Bronwen. In 1813 the traditional grave was
opened.

"A farmer, living on the banks of the Alaw, having
occasion for stones to make some addition to his farm-
buildings, and having observed a stone or two peeping
through the turf of a circular elevation on a flat not far
from the river, was induced to examine it, where, after
paring off the turf, he came to a considerable heap of
stones, or cdrnedd, covered with earth, which he removed
with some degree of caution, and got to a cist formed of
coarse flags canted and covered over. On removing the
lid, he found it contained an urn placed with its mouth
downwards, full of ashes and half-calcined fragments of
bone."

In the Mabinogion the grave is thus described : —

" A square grave was made for Bonwen, the daughter of
Llyr, on the banks of the Alaw, and there she was buried."

The urn that contained the ashes and bones was
of the well-known Bronze Age type.

According to the traditional pedigrees of the
Welsh, Bronwen was the aunt of the celebrated
Caractacus who so gallantly resisted the Romans,
and who was taken prisoner and conveyed to Rome.
But these very early pedigrees are untrustworthy.

The Bronwen Tower of Harlech Castle is that on
the left of the sea-front as we enter the courtyard.

In 1404 Owen Glyndwr got possession of the
castle and held a parliament in it.

During the Wars of the Roses, the Earl of Pem-
broke and his brother. Sir Richard Herbert, laid siege
to the fortress. It was defended by the governor,
Davydd ab I fan, who there offered an honourable

"MEN OF HARLECH

235

asylum to Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry VI.,
and the Prince of Wales, after the battle of North-
ampton. When summoned to surrender, he replied
that he had held a fortress in France till all the old
women in Wales had heard of it, and he now pur-
posed holding out in Harlech till all the old women
in France heard of it.

BRONWEN S URN

According to a contemporary bard, there was
great slaughter ; he says that six thousand men fell,
but this shows him to have been able to draw the
long-bow as well as to finger the lyre. Eventually,
after a blockade, Harlech was forced to capitulate,
and the whole district was then subjected to
Edward IV. The famous air, "The March of the
Men of Harlech," is said to have been composed
during this siege, more probably long after, in com-
memoration of it.

236 HARLECH

Harlech is not a good watering-place, as the sea
is at some distance from the town, separated from it
by tedious sand-flats. But it commands a magnificent
view of the promontory of Lleyn, with Yr Eifl — in
English the Rivals — rising from it, then Moel Siabod,
Snowdon, and the Glyders ; and many pleasant
excursions may be made from it. The view is
blocked before the principal hotel by the huge bulk
of the castle.

The railroad to Barmouth runs under what were
sea-cliffs, but the sea has retreated, and at the mouth
of the Nant Col and Artro, and between that of the
mouth of the brook Afon Ysgethin, is an exclusive
stretch of Morfa, or sand-dune. So also between
Harlech and the estuary of the Afon Glaslyn.

Near Harlech are several of the Cytiau'r Gwyddelod,
circular stone habitations dating back from the Irish
occupation of the country, if not more ancient still.
But a more interesting monument of prehistoric anti-
quity is the Caer on Moel Goedog, standing 1,210 feet
above the sea, where is a stone fort, and there also
are stone circles. Other relics of a remote antiquity
lie to the south, about Llyn Irddyn, to be reached
by ascending the valley of the Ysgethin. Here are
camps, remains of a prehistoric village, and cairns.

At Llanfair, in the church, is a stained-glass window
to the memory of Ellis Wynne, and his birthplace,
Glasynys, is about a mile and a half from Harlech.
Ellis Wynne was born there in 1671 Some twenty-
five years before he saw the light Harlech Castle had
been the scene of many a fray between Roundheads
and Cavaliers, and of the last stand made by the

ELLIS WYNNE

.•)/

Welsh for King Charles. The remembrance of these
events must have been fresh as he grew up.

In 1703 he published T/ic Visions of the Sleeping
Bard, which has ever since been regarded as a classic
work in Welsh prose. It was not original in its
inception. In 1668 Sir Robert I'Estrange had pub-
lished his translations of Gomez de Quevedo's
Dreams, and this must have fallen into the hands
of Ellis Wynne. Quevedo had his visions of the
World, of Death, and Hell, and Wynne followed in
having the same.

The same characters are represented in both, the
same classes are satirised, and the same punishments
are meted out.

Wynne had also composed a Vision of Heaven, but
when it was detected that he was a plagiarist, he was
so annoyed that he threw his manuscript into the fire.

Nevertheless, The Visions of the Sleeping Bard
remains, and ever will remain, a Welsh classic.

" No better model exists of the pure idiomatic Welsh of
the last century, before writers became influenced by Eng-
lish style and method. Vigorous, fluent, crisp, and clear,
it shows how well our language is adapted to description
and narration. It is written for the people, and in the
picturesque and poetic strain which is always certain to
fascinate the Celtic mind." *

On a summer day the bard ascends one of the
Welsh mountains " spy-glass in hand. Through the
clear, tenuous air and the calm, shimmering heat, I
beheld far, far away over the Irish Sea many a fair

* R. Ci. Davies, The Visions of the Sleeping Bard, translated.
London, 1897.

238 HARLFXH

scene." So he falls asleep, dreams, and finds himself
among the fairies, whom he approaches, and of whom
he requests permission to join their society. They
snatch him up forthwith and fly away with him over
lands and seas, till they reach the Castle Delusive,
where an Angel of light appears, and delivers him
from their hands.

With the angel as his guide he visits the City of
Destruction, and its streets, Pride, Lucre, Pleasure.
Then he soars to the City of Emmanuel.

The whole is allegorical and far-fetched, and abso-
lutely intolerable to modern taste ; but there was a
time, and that not far distant, when allegory was
much appreciated in Wales. In England also, Bishop
Wilberforce, with his Agathos, and Munro, with his
Dark River and other tales of like character, were
the last of a school that has, happily, passed away
for ever.

Ellis Wynne and his guide traverse the Well of
Repentance and come to the Catholic Church, on
the roof of which sit various princes brandishing
their swords as her protectors.

Over the transept of the Church of England sits
Queen Anne, holding the Sword of Justice in the
left hand, and the Sword of the Spirit in the right.
" Beneath the left sword lay the Statute Book of
England, and beneath the other a big Bible. At
her right hand I observed throngs clad in black —
archbishops, bishops, and learned men upholding
with her the Sword of the Spirit, whilst soldiers and
officials, with a few lawyers, supported the other
sword."

GWYDDNO 239

He does not paint the Welsh Church as in a satis-
factory condition in his day. The angel seats him
in the rood-loft of one of them, " and we saw some
persons whispering, some laughing, some staring at
pretty women, others prying at their neighbours' dress
from top to toe, others showing their teeth at one
another, others dozing, others assiduous at their de-
votion, but many of these latter dissimulating"; and
he points out the irreverence and sacrilege caused by
the law that required a man to be a communicant
before he could receive office.

Ellis Wynne died in 1734, and is buried under the
altar at Llanfair.

Mochras Spit, a grand field for finding shells, is
the starting-point of the Sarn Badrig, a reef that
runs for something like twenty miles into the
Cardigan Bay, and is about four yards wide. At
ebb tide about nine miles are exposed, but the foam
about the rest can be traced far out to sea. Tradi-
tionally it was one of the embankments that enclosed
the Cantref y Gwaelod, the low-lying hundred, well
peopled, that contained twelve fortified towns, but
which was submerged in the fifth century through the
folly of the drunken Seithenin, who neglected to keep
up the sea-wall. The story has been told already.

A short poem attributed to Gwyddno, whose terri-
tory was overwhelmed, has been preserved, in which
he laments : —

" Stand forth, Seithenyn, and behold tlie dweUing of heroes,
the plain of Gwyddno is whelmed in the sea,
Accursed be the sea-warden, who, after his carousal, let loose
the destroying fountain of the raging deep.

240 HARLECH

Accursed be the watcher, who, after drunken revelry, let loose

the fountain of the desolating sea.
■ A cry from the sea rises above the ramparts ; to heaven does

it mount, — after fierce excess comes a long lull.
A cry from the sea arouses me in the night season.
A cry from the sea i ses above the winds.
A cry from the sea drives me from my bed at night."

Llanaber Church, which has been restored, deserves
a visit from either Hailech or Barmouth. It was
built in the thirteenth century, and is in the pure
Early En^hsh style. In the east end is a single
lancet. The nave has a clerestory. The exterior is
plain, and all the enrichment is within. An inscribed
stone is inside that was rescued from serving as a
footbridge over the Ceilwart, It bears on it, " Caelexti
Monedorigi."

All the district from Barmouth to the Aber Glas-
lyn comprises Ardudwy, and the mountains are of
Cambrian grit, "an immense block of mountains run-
ning from Maentwrog to Barmouth, and separating
the Harlech country from all the eastern portion
of Merionethshire. Although they all constitute the
same group without a single break, they are called
by different names according to the most prominent
points " (Murray). They are strewn with small tarns
that are interesting, though not enclosed by craggy
walls, and abound in fish.

The story goes that the men of Ardudwy, like the
early Romans, finding themselves short of women,
made an incursion into the Vale of Clwyd and
brought away a number of the fairest damsels, whom
they conveyed into their own country. They were
pursued and overtaken at a place called Beddau

WILLIAM OWEN PUGHE 241

Gvvyr Ardudwy, where a fight ensued. Instead of
the women acting as did the Sabine damsels, rushing
between the combatants and separating them, the
maidens, seeing their ravishers get the worst of it,
precipitated themselves into the lake that now bears
the name of Llyn-y-Morwynion, where they were
drowned, rather than return to their homes.

The mountains are traversed by an ancient paved
road, called the Roman Steps, that comes from the
valley of the Afon Erbu at Pont Grible, and strikes
past the Llyn-y-Morwynion to Llyn Cwm Bychan,
and thence to Talsarnau (the Head of the Roads),
whence passage was made across the Traeth Bach to
Mynffordd. It would seem to have been a branch
from the Sarn Helen, which followed very nearly the
course of the modern road, as straight as an arrow,
from Dolgelley to Maentwrog.

At Egryn, between Llanaber and Llanddwywe,
was formerly an abbey, but of that nothing now
remains, and its site is occupied by a farmhouse.
Here lived in his early days William Owen Pughe,
an enthusiastic antiquary and lover of all things
Celtic. In 1785 he laid the foundation of his great
work, a Welsh-English Dictionary, which was printed
and published in London in 1803. Some idea of the
richness of the Welsh language may be gained from
the fact that, whereas Johnson's English Dictionary,
as enlarged by Todd, contains about 61,000 words,
the first edition of Dr. Pughe's Welsh Dictionary
contained as many as 100,000 words.

Another great work in which he was engaged was
the transcription and editing of the three volumes

242 HARLECH

of the Myvy7'ian Archceology of Wales, a mine of
information on the early history of Wales. It was
published in 1 80 1-7.

As a number of the MSS. printed have been since
destroyed by the fires that have consumed so many
Welsh houses and their libraries, we may well be
thankful that the publication was then made.

One of the most disastrous of the fires which have
caused so much of Welsh literature to perish was
that of Llwyd's collection. Edward Llwyd, born in
1660, devoted his life to the accumulation of materials
relative to Wales. He visited Ireland, Cornwall,
Brittany, and Scotland in quest of MSS., and formed
a compilation of his collections in forty volumes in
folio, ten in quarto, and above a hundred in smaller
size. These were offered, after his death, to Jesus
College, Oxford, but owing to Dr. Wynne, then
Fellow of Jesus, having been on bad terms with
Llwyd, the college, by his advice, refused the offer.

They were then purchased by Sir Thomas Sea-
bright, of Beechvvood, in Hertfordshire, in whose
library they remained till 1807, when they were sold
to Sir Watkyn Williams Wynn, Bart. Some years
afterwards the greater and more valuable portion of
these priceless documents was transmitted to London
to a binder. His premises caught fire, and the result
of Llwyd's life-labours was consumed.

Another disastrous fire was that of Hafod, near
Aberystwyth. This was a residence of the Johnes
family, and in the library was a large collection of
Welsh manuscripts on various subjects — history,
medicine, poetry, and romance. The house and

A PERISHED LITERATURE 243

library were both destroyed in a conflagration that
broke out.

" The fire," says George Borrow, " is generally called the
great fire of Hafod, and some of those who witnessed
it have been heard to say that its violence was so great
that the burning rafters mixed with flaming books were
hurled high above the summits of the hills. The loss of
the house was a matter of triviality compared with that
of the library. The house was soon rebuilt — but the
library could never be restored."

Again, in 1858, the fine collection of Welsh MSS.
at Wynnstay was destroyed by fire. Thus a literature
perishes, and every effort should be made to print
what remains.

CHAPTER XIV

WELSHPOOL

Montgomery— Offa's Dyke— The castle— George Herbert— The church
and its screen — The " Robber's Grave" — Story of John Newton —
Situation of Welshpool — The Severn Valley — Buttington — Parish
church of Welshpool — Cottage of Grace Evans — Escape of Lord
Nithsdale from the Tower — Powysland Museum — Castell Coch —
Cadwgan ab Bleddyn — lorwerth ab Bleddyn — Ghost story — Guils-
field — The church — Old yews — Holy wells — Meifod— Charles
Lloyd — S. Tyssilio — His story — His cook and the conger — Mathra-
fal — Meifod Church — Lake Vyrnwy— Anne Griffiths — The spirit-
stone — The wishing-stone.

THE luckless town of Montgomery has taken
a back seat. The railway runs at a distance
of two miles from it, and it is uncertain whether at
the station a visitor will find a conveyance to take
him to it. And at that station there is no hotel at
which a trap can be hired. A bus does, I believe,
make an occasional trip to it, but as it only now and
then finds anyone there wanting to go to Mont-
gomery it is discouraged and reluctant to go again.

Montgomery is out of the question as a centre,
but it would be a delightful corner into which to
creep from the swirl of business, curl up, and go
to sleep.

The active, vigorous life of the county has been
244

MONTGOMERY 245

drawn away to Newtown and to Welshpool, and the
condition of Montgomery, to all appearances, is
hopeless, unless the line be continued from Minsterley,
in which case it will be put into direct communication
with Shrewsbury. It lies very close to the English
frontier, and Offa's Dyke runs along the edge of
Long Mountains, and through Lymore, close to it,
and that was the boundary set in the eighth century,
beyond which no Welshman was to pass. It is a pity
it was not to be a line of demarcation which every
Norman-English ruffian was forbidden to transgress.

Curiously enough, when Offa, king of Mercia, drew
this line he did not appreciate the importance of
Montgomery, and so left it to the Welsh ; but the
Normans perceived the advantages of such a position
in a moment, seized it, and constructed a formidable
castle therein. The ridge on which the castle stands
dominated the country round and must have had an
oppidum on it, or camp of refuge, from the earliest
time. Whether the .earthworks to the west of the
ruins belong to a prehistoric camp, or to the structure
built by Baldwin de Boilers in 1 121, is uncertain;
they go by the name of Ffridd Faldwyn, bear his
name, but have the look of having been old when
he was born. The castle had been accorded before
him by the Conqueror to Earl Roger de Montgomeri.
It has undergone siege after siege, has changed hands,
been demolished and rebuilt, and was finally destroyed
by the Roundheads after the siege in 1644, when it
had been held for the King by Lord Herbert.

The ridge rises steeply from the town clothed in
woods; the ruins themselves are inconsiderable. In

246 WELSHPOOL

this castle, not then in ruins, according to Izaak
Walton, was born the saintly George Herbert, in 1 593.
He was the fifth son of Richard Herbert, a younger
brother of the celebrated Lord Herbert of Cherbury.
In his fourth year his father died, so that, with his
brothers and sisters, he was left under the sole charge
of that excellent woman his mother, who subse-
quently married Sir John Danvers. He grew up to be
a good scholar, and became an attendant at court,
in expectation of preferment. But at length, weary
of such dancing attendance on court favour, he
retired into Kent, ■' where," says his biographer, " he
lived very privately. In this time he had many
conflicts with himself, whether he should return to
the painted pleasures of a Court life or betake him-
self to a study of divinity and enter into sacred
orders, to which his dear mother had often persuaded
him. At last God inclined him to put on a resolution
to serve at His altar." He was offered the prebend
of Layton Ecclesia, in the diocese of Lincoln, whilst
still a layman.

In 1628 he married Jane, daughter of Mr. Charles
Danvers, a near relative of his stepfather.

" Mr. Danvers having known him long and familiarly
did so much affect him that he often declared a desire
that Mr. Herbert would marry any of his nine daughters,
but rather his daughter Jane, because Jane was his be-
loved daughter. Mr. Danvers had so much commended
Mr. Herbert to her, that Jane became so much a Platonick
as to fall in love with Mr. Herbert unseen. This was a
fair preparation for a marriage ; but, alas ! her father dyed
before Mr. Herbert's retirement ; yet some friends to both

MONTGOMERY CHURCH 247

parties procured their meeting, at which time a mutual
affection entered both their hearts, and love having got
such possession governed, insomuch that she changed her
name into Herbert the third day after this first interview."

A few months after the marriage, the Earl of
Pembroke obtained for him from the King the living
of Bemerton, whilst he was still in deacon's orders,
but he was speedily ordained priest.

" \Vhen, at his induction he was shut into Bemerton
Church, being left there to toll the bell, as the law requires
him, he staid so much longer than an ordinary time before
he returned to his friends, that staid expecting him at
the church door, that his friend Mr. Woodnot looked in
at the church window, and saw him lie prostrate on the
ground before the altar ; at which time and place (as he
after told Mr. Woodnot) he set rules to himself for the
future manage of his life ; and then and there made a vow
to labour to keep them."

He died of consumption in 1633, aged 39.

It is remarkable that Wales should have given to
England two of her sweetest sacred singers, George
Herbert and Henry Vaughan.

The church of Montgomery, an interesting build-
ing with Early English arcade, is cruciform with
a modern tower at the extremity of the northern
transept. It possesses a superb carved-oak screen
with rood-loft and good stalls, but the quaint
misereres have been badly mutilated. The church
contains a good deal of Early English work, but the
east and west windows are Perpendicular.

In the graveyard, in a remote corner, is " The
Robber's Grave," a bare space even with the sur-

248 WELSHPOOL

rounding ground, and it remains bare, although the
grass grows luxuriantly about it.

Fresh soil has been frequently spread over it, and
seeds of various kinds have been sown, but not a
blade for many years was known to spring there — the
soil remained sterile. Until recently the bare patch
was of the size and shape of a coffin, but of late the
surrounding grass has somewhat encroached ; never-
theless the coffin-shape remains. The date of the
grave is 1821.

The story relating to it is this. A widow named
Morris and her daughter occupied a farm called
Oakfield in the parish. The farmer, James Morris,
had been a dissipated, neglectful man, and had left
his wife and child in distressed circumstances. The
little estate had formerly belonged to a yeoman
farmer named Pearce, and Thomas, who now repre-
sented this family, hoped with his savings to be able,
when the Morrises were down, to recover Oakfield.

Jane Morris, the daughter, was a comely wench, and
a farmer of the neighbourhood named Robert Parker
had taken a fancy to her, but as he was much her
senior, she did not receive his addresses cordially.
Shortly before the death of James Morris, a young
man named John Newton had been taken into
service at Oakfield. He was a shy, reserved man,
but honest and hardworking, and with his energetic
help the widow's affairs began to mend, and the
prospect of a sale of the property became remote.
Moreover, Jane and John Newton fell in love with
each other, and the mother considered that the match
would be altogether what was best for the farm.

JOHN NEWTON 249

Both Parker and Pearce were incensed and dis-
appointed, and determined upon being revenged on
John Newton.

An opportunity for accompHshing this purpose
occurred. Newton had been attending a fair in the
neighbourhood, and had been detained by business
to a late hour. He did not leave till six in the
evening, and the night was one in November. At
some little distance from the town Pearce and Parker
awaited him, and after a struggle overmastered him,
brought him back into the town, and took him before
a magistrate, charging him with an attempt to rob
them on the highway. Newton was committed and
tried.

At the assizes he employed no counsel for his
defence, did not cross-question the witnesses, but
contented himself with solemnly protesting his inno-
cence. However, the testimony of the two men
Pearce and Parker was clear, positive, and unshaken.
They were men of respectability and repute, and he
was pronounced " Guilty."

When Newton was asked if he had an}'thing to
say why sentence of death should not be pronounced
upon him, he repeated his assertion that he was guilt-
less. " But, my lord," he said, " if it be true that
I am guiltless in this matter, I am not so in another
with which I am not charged, and of which none know
but myself And I ask of Almighty God to bear
testimony to my innocence of the crime wherewith
I am charged, b)' not suffering the grass, for one
generation at least, to cover my grave."

Newton was executed and buried in this corner

250 WELSHPOOL

of the churchyard, and his grave is the blank spot
spoken of.

Parker soon after left the neighbourhood, became
a dissolute and drinking man, and was killed by the
blasting of the rock in the limeworks in which he had
found employment. Pearce became low, dissipated,
and gradually wasted away.

Curiously enough, the English county border of
Shropshire does not follow Offa's Dyke south of
Montgomery, but stretches inwards a mile and three-
quarters in length, forming a tongue half a mile
across.

A chain of camps extends north and south from
Montgomery above the Severn Valley.

The towns where there is real activity in Mont-
gomeryshire are Welshpool and Newtown.

Welshpool is a pleasantly situated little place
among the hills, about half a mile from the Severn.
It takes its name from the Llyndu, in the park of
Powis Castle ; but the Welsh name for it is Trallwng,
or Trallwm, " across the vortex " — that is to say, the
llyn, which tradition says will some day burst its
bounds and overwhelm the town.

On the west are the wooded slopes of Bron y
Buckley and Gungrog. The little stream that waters
the town is the Lledau.

The Severn for some miles above and below Welsh-
pool flows through a broad valley that is a dead level,
and stretches to the bases of two ranges of flanking
hills which start abruptly from the broad expanse of
river flat. That beyond the river is the Long Mynd
and then comes the Breidden. This stretch of level

THE PARISH CHURCH 251

is caused by the overflow of the Severn, which floods
it all at times, giving to the basin the appearance
of a tidal estuary.

North-east of Welshpool is the quaintly shaped
Rallt, with the steep side towards the Severn, and
dividing that valley from the basin in which stands
Guilsfield.

Below the town by Buttington was the scene of
a complete overthrow of the Danes by the allied
English and Welsh forces, in 894, under Ethelred,
Ethelm, and Ethelnoth, eorldermen, whilst King
Alfred was engaged in fighting another body of
them in Devon. The Danes had formed a camp
near the river on low ground, and the Anglo-Welsh
army surrounded it. The Danes were in such distress
that they ate their horses. Then they burst forth
from their camp and fought desperately. Several
thanes were slain, " and of the Danishmen was made
great slaughter."

The parish church of Welshpool stands on high
ground, and was built about the year 1275. But very
little remains of the original church ; the lower stages
of the tower, with its archway into the nave, and
an Early English window in the north gable behind
the organ are all. At the beginning of the sixteenth
century the nave was rebuilt, with a north and a south
aisle ; but in the eighteenth century the arcade on the
south was removed, and the outer walls rebuilt.

This gives to the church a lop-sided appearance
internally, as the chancel arch is thrown on one side
of the unusually broad nave. The fine rood-screen
was destroyed in or about 1738, when the parishioners

252 WELSHPOOL

appealed to the bishop for permission to remove it,
because " a great number of the very common sorte
of people sit in it (under pretence of psalm-singing),
who run up and down there ; some of them spitting
upon the people's heads below," Hanoverian win-
dows and galleries were added, and the church made
as ugly as well could be. It has, however, been
taken in hand since, and made more decent. It still
retains a fine carved-oak roof in the chancel, supposed
to have come from Strata Marcella Abbey.

The key of the church — in Wales nearly every
church is kept locked — is kept at a picturesque little
black and white cottage at the east end, in which
once lived Grace Evans, who assisted Lady Nithsdale,
a daughter of the Duke of Powis, in effecting her
husband's escape from the Tower of London.

Lady Nithsdale wrote an account of the whole
affair to her sister, and in it she always speaks of the
humble Welsh girl Grace as " My dear Evans."

William Maxwell, fifth Earl of Nithsdale, had been
involved in the Jacobite cause, was taken prisoner,
and committed to the Tower. " As a Roman Catholic
upon the frontiers of Scotland, who headed a very
considerable party, a man whose family had signal-
ised itself by its loyalty to the royal house of Stuart
would become an agreeable sacrifice to the opposite
party," wrote Lady Nithsdale.

But one day was left before the execution. She
appealed to Parliament for permission to intercede
with the King for a pardon, and this was granted.
She flew to the Tower, and " I told the guards as I
passed by that the petition had passed the House —

LADY NITHSDALE

I gave them some money to drink to the Lords and
to His Majesty."

But she had doubts that a pardon would be granted.

" I then sent for Mrs. Mills, with whom I lodged, and
acquainted her with my design of attempting my lord's
escape, as there was no prospect of his being pardoned,
and that this was the last night before the execution. I
told her that I had everything in readiness, and that I
trusted she would not refuse to accompany me, that my
lord might pass for her. At the same time I sent to
Mrs. Morgan, to whose acquaintance my dear Evans had
introduced me, and I immediately communicated my
resolutions to her. She was of a very tall slender make,
so I begged her to put under her own riding-hood one that
I had prepared for Mrs. Mills, as she was to lend hers to
my lord, that in coming out he might be taken for her.
When we were in the coach, I never ceased talking, that
they might have no leisure to reflect. On our arrival at
the Tower, the first that I introduced was Mrs. Morgan
(for I was only allowed to take in one at a time). She
brought in the clothes that were to cover Mrs. Mills when
she left her own behind her. When Mrs. Morgan had
taken off what she had brought for the purpose, I con-
ducted her back to the staircase, and, in going, I begged
her to send me my maid to dress me ; that I was afraid of
being too late to present my last petition that night if she
did not come immediately. I despatched her safe, and
went downstairs to meet Mrs. Mills, who had the precaution
to hold her handkerchief to her face, as is natural for a
woman to do when she is going to take her last farewell of
a friend on the eve of his execution. Her eyebrows were
inclined to be sandy, my lord's were very dark and thick ;
however, I had prepared some paint of the colour of hers
to disguise his with ; I also brought an artificial head-dress
(wig) of the same coloured hair as hers; and I painted his

254 WELSHPOOL

face with white, and his cheeks with rouge, to hide his
beard, which he had not time to shave. The guards, whom
my slight hberality the day before had endeared me to, let
me go quietly out with my companion, and were not so
strictly on the watch as they had been. I made Mrs. Mills
take off her own hood, and put on that which I had brought
for her ; I then took her by the hand, and led her out
of my lord's chamber, and in passing through the next
room, in which were several people, I said, ' My dear
Mrs. Catherine, go in all haste, and send me my waiting-
maid. I am to present my petition to-night, and if I let
slip this opportunity I am undone, for to-morrow will be too
late.' Everybody in the room, chiefly the guards' wives
and daughters, seemed to compassionate me exceedingly,
and the sentinel officiously opened me the door. When I
had seen her safe out, I returned to my lord, and finished
dressing him. When I had almost finished dressing my
lord in all my petticoats except one, I perceived it was
growing dark, and was afraid that the light of the candles
might betray us, so I resolved to set off. I went out lead-
ing him by the hand, whilst he held his handkerchief to his
eyes. I spoke to him in the most piteous tone of voice,
bewailing the negligence of Evans, who had ruined me by
her delay. Then I said, ' My dear Mrs. Betty, for the love
of God, run quickly and bring her with you ; I am dis-
tracted with this disappointment.' The guards opened the
door, and I went downstairs with him, still conjuring him
to make all possible despatch. At the bottom of the
stairs I met my dear Evans, into whose hands I confided
him."

Grace Evans managed a place of concealn:ient for
Lord Nithsdale till he could be smuggled to the
Venetian ambassador's, and thence to Dover, dressed
as a lacquey, behind the ambassador's coach and six.

CASTELL COCH 255

There he was put on board a boat and conveyed to
Calais.

The Powysland Museum deserves a visit. It con-
tains many objects connected with local history and
antiquities, among others a bronze bell of Celtic char-
acter from Llangystennin Church, Roman remains
from Caersws, and mediaeval from Strata Marcella.

But the chief object of interest in the district is
Castell Coch, the Red Castle of Powys,

This stands boldly out on a rock that has been
hewn into terraces. It is a stately Elizabethan man-
sion, but underwent injudicious handling by Sir
Robert Smirke, the architect, at a period when the
true characteristics of mediaeval architecture and that
of the Tudor period were not grasped. The walls
are older than the Elizabethan period, when it was
remodelled. It contains much that is worth seeing —
tapestries, old furniture, and paintings.

James II. raised William Lord Powis to a dukedom
after his flight from England in 1689. The second
Duke of Powis was implicated in the rebellion of
171 5, and was sent to the Tower. The dukedom
became extinct in 1748.

Cadwgan ab Bleddyn, prince of Powys, began to
build a castle here in mo. He and his brothers
Madog and Rhirid ruled in the three portions of
Powys. Filled with ambition, they combined to
attack South Wales, and drove away King Rhys,
who fled to Ireland, but returned, and in a battle
with the sons of Bleddyn the brothers of Cadwgan
were killed. He had, however, two more — lorwerth
and Meredydd.

256 WELSHPOOL

In 1 102 Robert de Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury,
rebelled against Henry I., and induced Cadwgan and
his brothers to make common cause with him. King
Henry, however, opened secret communications with
lorwerth, and by large promises bribed him to arrest
and deliver over his brother Meredydd to him.
lorwerth did this, but when he appealed to Henry
for his stipulated reward the King contemptuously
refused to ratify his engagement, and had lorwerth
seized and imprisoned.

In 1 103 Meredydd found means of escaping, and
returned to Wales. Then ensued the troubles with
Owen, son of Cadwgan, who carried off Nest, wife
of Gerald of Windsor, as has been related elsewhere.

The wily Bishop of Hereford entered into negotia-
tions with Ithel and Madog, sons of the deceased
Rhirid, and nephews of Cadwgan and lorwerth, to
stir up civil war in Powys and Ceredigion.

lorwerth had by this time also left his prison, and
had returned to Powys, and from Mathrafal issued a
proclamation against these turbulent princes. But
Madog, hearing that his uncle lorwerth was at Caer-
einion, near Welshpool, with few attendants, stealthily
surrounded the building and set fire to it. lorwerth
attempted to escape from the flames, but was thrust
back into them by the spears of his nephew's fol-
lowers, and perished.

Not long after, Cadwgan was looking at the works
in progress at Castell Coch, when Madog, with his
attendants, crept through the woods, fell on him, and
murdered him also.

In reward for having done to death his two uncles

CASTELL COCH 257

Henry I. received him favourably, and invested him
with lands and paid him a large sum of money. But
Meredydd, another uncle, remained, and in 1 1 1 1 he
entered the lands of his nephew Madog, discovered
his whereabouts by torturing one of his servants
captured him, and handed him over to Owen, son
of Cadwgan, who put out his eyes.

Owen would have killed him but that he and
Madog had previously sworn friendship and fidelity
to each other.

A rather curious ghost story attaches to Powis
Castle. It occurs in the autobiography of the grand-
father of the late Mr. Thomas Wright, a well-known
antiquary. It was told to Mr. Wright in 1780 by
Mr. John Hampson, a Methodist preacher.

Mr. Hampson, having heard rumours that a poor
unmarried woman who had attended on his ministry
had conversed w^ith a spirit, sent for her and took
down her deposition. It was to this effect. She
was accustomed to get her livelihood by spinning
hemp and flax, and she was wont to go from farm
to farm to inquire for work, and whilst employed
was given meat, drink, and lodging.

One day she called at Castell Coch for this pur-
pose, and was received by the steward and his wife,
who set before her a heap of material that would
occupy her some days to spin.

The earl and family were at that time away in
London.

When bed-time arrived two or three of the ser-
vants, each with a lighted candle, conducted the
woman to her bedroom, which was on the ground
s

258 WELSHPOOL

floor, and handsomely furnished. They gave her a
good fire, and left a candle alight on the table, and
then wished her good night.

She was somewhat surprised at so many servants
attending her, as also at being accorded so grand a
room. Before retiring to bed, she pulled out of her
pocket a Welsh Bible, and began to read a chapter.
Whilst thus engaged she heard the room door open,
and turning her head, saw a gentleman enter in a
gold-laced hat and waistcoat ; he walked to one of
the windows, and resting his elbow on the sill, stood
in a leaning posture with his head in his palm.

Not knowing what to make of this, she watched
the apparition for some time, and then kneeling said
her prayers. Presently the figure turned and left
the room.

After the lapse of a short time, he again appeared
and walked across the room. Then the woman said,
"Pray, sir, who are you, and what do you want?"
He raised his finger and said, " Follow me." She
at once took the candle and obeyed. He led her
through a long panelled passage to the door of a
chamber, which he opened and entered.

"As the room was small, and I believed him to be a
spirit," she said, " I halted at the door. He turned and
said, ' Walk in ; I will not hurt you.' So I walked in. He
said, ' Observe what I do.' I said, ' I will' He stooped
and tore up one of the boards of the floor, and there
appeared under it a box with an iron handle in the lid.
'Do you see that box?' I said, 'Yes, I do.' He then
stepped to one side of the room and showed me a crevice
in the wall, where, said he, a key was hid that would open it.

GUILSFIELD 259

He said, ' This box and key must be taken out, and sent
to the Earl in London. Will you see it done?' I said,
' I will do my best to get it done.' He said, ' Do, and I will
trouble this house no more.' He then walked out of the room
and left me. I stepped to the door and set up a shout. The
steward and his wife and the other servants came in to me
immediately, all clung together, with a number of lights in
their hands. They asked me what was the matter. I told
them the foregoing circumstances, and showed them the
box. The steward durst not meddle with it, but his wife
had more courage, and with the help of the other servants
lugged it out, and found the key."

The box was afterwards forwarded to the earl in
London, and he sent down orders to his steward to
inform the hemp-spinner that he would provide for
her during the rest of her days. And Mr. Hampson
said it was a well-known fact that she had been so
provided for, and was still so at the time she gave
him the account.

The country around Welshpool is marvellously
rich and is splendidly timbered, and the black-and-
white old mansions and farms nestling among the
foliage are most picturesque. But one wonders,
among the gentlemen's seats adjoining one another,
where is room for farmers and cottiers to come in ?

Guilsfield, or Cegidfa, the Hemlock field, is situated
in a basin, rich and fertile, and on the way to it the
delightful timber-and -plaster house of Old Garth
is passed on the right.

The church dedicated to S. Aelhaiarn is Decorated,
with a Perpendicular east window, and a fine carved
ceiling in the chancel. The modern pitch-pine roof-

26o WELSHPOOL

ing of the nave and aisles is mean and out of charac-
ter with the old work, as is also the modern screen,
which is not only coarse in design, but has been
carried half-way up the doorway that gave access
to the ancient loft.

In the churchyard are some fine yews. By one is
a tombstone with the inscription : —

" Under this yew tree
Buried would he be,
For his father and he
Planted this yew tree,"

and the monument is to Richard Jones, who died,
aged ninety years, on December loth, 1707.

The font has on it some curious carving, and in
the porch is an oak chest hewn out of a single trunk.

A holy well a mile and a half distant is in a pretty
dingle ; it is frequented on Trinity Sunday, when its
water is drunk with sugar, and is still regarded as
possessing curative properties.

A more interesting holy well is at Llanerfyl.
Under a grand old yew tree in the churchyard,
said to be the staff of the saint which rooted itself
there, is the only Romano-British inscribed stone
in the county. Some fragments of the saint's shrine
remain.

The well, Pistyll y Cefn, Bedwog, lies in a field
a quarter of a mile distant from the village. It is
in fair preservation, built up and covered with large
granite slabs, but the water has been drained away.
Formerly people assembled there on Whit Sunday
and Trinity Sunday to drink sugar and water at
the well.

MEIFOD 261

Meifod, in the valley of the Vyrnwy, is also in
a fertile neighbourhood. Above the village rises the
mountain called the Hill of the Anchorite, with a
bald head, blushing with heather, and crowned with
ancient earthworks.

Meifod was the summer residence of the kings
of Powys, but was given by Brochwel to his son
Tyssilio when he entered religion, and he founded
here an abbey which became important.

His mother was Arddun, daughter of Pabo Post
Prydain, whose monument we have seen in Anglesey.
He was great-grandson of Cadell Deyrnlhvg, who
founded the dynasty of the kings of Powys after
the expulsion of Benlli by S. Germanus.

The first Abbot of Meifod was Gwyddfarch.
Tyssilio found the old man one day full of the
project of going to Rome. But he was too advanced
in age for such a journey, and Tyssilio said to him,
" I know what this journey to Rome means ; you
want to see the palaces and churches there. Dream
of them instead of going." Then he took the abbot
a long mountain trudge, till he was thoroughly ex-
hausted and declared that he could go no further.
So Tyssilio bade him lie down on a grassy bank and
rest. And there Gwyddfarch fell asleep.

When he awoke, Tyssilio asked how he could
endure a journey to Rome if such a country stroll
tired him. And then the abbot informed him that
he had dreamed of seeing a magnificent city, and that
sufficed him.

Some time after this Gwyddfarch died, and Tyssilio
succeeded him as abbot.

262 WELSHPOOL

On the death of Brochwel this prince was succeeded
by a son, who, however, died two years later without
issue. This son's widow was a strong and determined
character, and after consulting with the chief men
of Powys, resolved on withdrawing Tyssilio from his
monastery, marrying him, and making him king of
Powys.

The times were full of peril, and a strong and able
man was necessary for the post. But Tyssilio was
not the right person for the occasion ; he hated war,
knew nothing of its practice, and, above all, objected
to marrying his deceased brother's wife, and she such
a masterful woman. So he refused. His sister-in-law
took this as a personal affront. She was incapable
of understanding that Tyssilio had a vocation for
the monastic life, could not believe that he was
intellectually and morally unfit for a life of war,
and assumed that his refusal was due to personal
dislike of herself Therefore, as an offended woman,
she did all in her power to injure and annoy the
monks of Meifod.

The position of Tyssilio, close to Mathrafal, where
the slighted widow resided, became intolerable. She
seized the revenues of the abbey ; and Tyssilio, to
free his monks from persecution, fled with a few
attached to his person and left Wales, crossed the
sea, and entered the estuary of the Ranee, near
where now stands S. Malo. The river forms a
broad estuary of blue glittering water, up which the
mighty tides heave gently, the waves broken and
torn by a natural breakwater. Ascending this
river for four miles, he found a point of high land

ABBOT TYSSILIO 263

with a long creek on the north, making of it a
narrow peninsula. On this point of land Tyssilio
drew up his boat, and there resolved on settling.

Tyssilio, like a prudent man, had not left Wales
without taking his cJief de cuisine with him, and this
master of the kitchen, monk though he was, had an
amour with a girl on the opposite side of the Ranee.
He was wont, Leander-like, to swim across and visit
her. On one occasion as he was crossing, a mon-
strous conger eel curled itself about him, and the poor
cook was in dire alarm. He invoked all the saints
to come to his aid — Samson, Malo, his own master
Tyssilio — none could deliver him till he thought on
Maglorius of Sark, and called on him for assistance.
At the same moment it occurred to him that he had
his knife attached to his girdle, and unsheathing that,
he hacked and sliced at the conger till it relaxed its
hold, and so the poor fellow got across alive, and
vowed he would never again go a-courting.

Whilst Tyssilio was in Brittany, news reached him
that his sister-in-law was dead, and his monks wished
him to return to Meifod. However, he was content
to remain where he was, and he declined the invita-
tion. The name by which he is known in Brittany is
Suliau, or Suliac. His statue is over the high altar
of his church on the Ranee, and represents him as a
monk in a white habit, a bald head, and holding his
staff. It is a popular belief that as the staff is turned
so is changed the direction of the wind. The old
woman who cleans the church informed me that her
husband, a fisherman, was returning, but could not
enter the harbour owing to contrary winds. She

264 WELSHPOOL

turned the crozier in the hand of the saint, and at
once the wind shifted, and the boat arrived with full
sails in the harbour. Tyssilio's ring is preserved in
the church.

About three miles up the valley above the junction
of the Banw and Vyrnwy, but on the former, are the
mounds that mark the site of Mathrafal, the former
palace of the kings of Powys after they were driven
from Shrewsbury. They form a quadrangle with a
tump at one angle immediately above the river, and

tyssilio's ring at saint-suliac

there are indications of more extended earthworks
cut through by the road and mostly levelled,

Meifod Church stands in an extensive yard, planted
with avenues of fine trees. It has been much altered
by rebuilding, but on the south side are round-headed
arches, very rude, of early Norman work. The east
window of the south aisle is Decorated, but that of
the chancel is Perpendicular. Within the church is
a richly carved late Celtic pillar with figures on it.
The screen has been removed ; it was late in character,
and is now stuck as a decoration against the wall of
the chancel, and portions are worked into a partition
shutting off the vestry from the church. This vestry
occupies the site of the original church of S. Tyssilio.

Here is buried Madog, eldest son of Meredydd ab

DOLOCRAN 265

Bleddyn, prince of Powys, from whom is named one
of the two divisions of Powys — Powys Fadog. He
is not a man for whom one can feel any respect.
He sided with Henry H. against his own country-
men, and took the command of the Enghsh fleet in
the invasion of Anglesey, and was defeated with
great loss. His second wife was Matilda Verdun,
an Englishwoman ; she had a temper, and he was
of an amorous complexion, and they led a cat-and-
dog life. At last he deserted her. She appealed to
the English king, who ordered each party to appear
at Winchester before him, and it was stipulated
that each should have as retinue no more than
twenty-four horses. Madog arrived with his horses
and one man on each, but the lady with twenty-four
horses and two men riding on each horse. The result
was that she overbore him, and he was ordered to
entail the lordships of Oswestry upon her and her
heirs male, by ivJwnisoever begotten ; and he was
thrown into prison, where he was murdered at her
instigation. Thereupon she married John Fitz-
Alan, Earl of Arundel, and carried the lordship of
Oswestry to the English house. Madog died in 1161.
His body was transported to Meifod.

Meifod is the parish whence came Charles Lloyd,
the founder of Lloyd's Bank. He was born in 1637,
and was a member of a very ancient famil}- that
was estated at Meifod, and his father was a count)'
magistrate. Whilst a student at Oxford he took up
with the new notions promulgated by George Fox,
and became a Quaker. In 1662 he was arrested
and required to take the oath of allegiance. As

266 WELSHPOOL

he refused, the oppressive laws against sectaries
were enforced against him with the utmost rigour.
For ten years he was detained in prison at Welsh-
pool, his possessions were placed under praemunire,
his cattle sold, and the family mansion of Dolobran
allowed to go to wreck and ruin. He was confined
in " a little smoky room, and did lie upon a little
straw himself for a considerable time." His wife, who
had been tenderly nurtured, "was made willing to
lie upon straw with her dear and tender husband."

When released he made over the family property
to his son, and removed to Birmingham, where he
became an ironmaster, realised much money, and
founded Lloyd's Bank.

William Penn is thought to have visited him at
Dolobran, and portions of the panels of oak have been
removed as relics and carried to America.

A contemporary thus describes Charles Lloyd : —

"He was a comely man in person, of an amiable coun-
tenance, quick of understanding, of a sound mind, and
would not be moved about on any account to act contrary
to his conscience, very merciful and tender, apt to forgive
and forget injuries (even to such as were his enemies), and
did good for evil, hated nothing but Satan, Sin, and Self."

He died in 1698.

His brother Thomas accompanied William Penn
to Pennsylvania ; another brother, John, was the
ancestor of that very staunch Churchman, Bishop
Lloyd, of Oxford, who is regarded as the initiator of
the Oxford or Tractarian Movement.

Dolobran is still in the possession of the Lloyd
family. ^

LAKE VYRNWY 267

At Llangynyw, in the church, is a screen in posi-
tion ; there is no loft. The old oak porch is fine.

The adjoining parish is Llanfair Caereinion, the
scene of the burning of lorwerth by his nephew
Madog.

The upper waters of the Vyrnwy have been
dammed and converted into a lake to supply Liver-
pool with water. Now it fell out that when the dam
was in course of construction there was a stone in
the river called Carreg yr Ysbryd, or the Ghost Rock,
and it had to be removed. This was supposed to
cover an evil spirit that had been laid and banned
beneath it. The Welsh labourers engaged on the
works would have nothing to do with shifting the
block ; but the English navvies had no scruples, and
they blasted the rock, and with crowbars heaved out
of place the fragments that remained.

Then was revealed a cavity with water in it ; and,
lo ! the surface was agitated, and something rose out
of it. The Taffies took to their heels. Then an old
toad emerged, hopped on to a stone, yawned, and
passed its paws over its eyes, as though rousing itself
after a long sleep.

" It's nobbut a frog," said the Yorkshire navvies.
" It's Cynon himself," retorted the Welshmen. " Look
how he gapes and rubs his face. You may see by
that he has been in prison."

After that, whenever a Taffy was observed to
yawn, " Ah, ha ! " said his mates ; " clearly you have
but recently come out of prison."

Lake Vyrnwy is nearly four miles long, and is fed
not only by the river that gives its name to the

268 WELSHPOOL

reservoir, but also by many torrents that dance down
the mountain-sides, forming pretty waterfalls. The
work of impounding this sheet of water was com-
menced in 1 88 1, and the water was stopped by
closing the valves on November 28th, 1888. It has
all the appearance of a natural lake, except from the
lower end, where shows the magnificent dam, 161 feet
high, but with 60 feet below of foundation.

Llanfyllin is the nearest station to Lake Vyrnwy.
Near this is Llanfihangel yn Nghwnfa, where was
born and lived one of the sweetest hymn-composers of
Wales, Anne Griffiths. She first saw light at Dolwar
Fechan, a farmhouse in this parish, in 1776, and was
the youngest daughter of Mr. John Thomas, a farmer.
She received such education as was to be obtained
in a country school at that period, and acquired a
smattering of English, some arithmetic, and a know-
ledge of reading and writing Welsh. She grew up
to be a fresh-faced, comely, dark-eyed, and dark-
haired young woman, and was fond of dancing and
other innocent pleasures.

When aged about twenty she joined the Calvinistic
Methodist sect, and thenceforth her life was dis-
tinguished for its devotional character and deep piety.
In October, 1804, she married a Thomas Griffiths,
of Cefn-du, Guilsfield, who came to live with her at
Dolwar. In July, 1808, she gave birth to a child,
that lived but a fortnight, and she survived it but
another fortnight, dying at the age of thirty.

" Thus living and dying in the seclusion and obscurity
of a lonely mountain farmhouse, Anne Griffiths composed
some of the sweetest and most precious hymns in the

ANNE GRIFFITHS 269

Welsh language, if not, indeed, in any language. They
are not numerous — all that have been preserved being
only about seventy-five verses — and they are too often
marred by faults of composition and the transgression of
the simplest rules of prosody, yet many of them are so
rich in poetic fancy, sublime imagery, holy sentiment, and
seraphic fervour, that they can never be forgotten so long
as hymns are sung in the Welsh language. Mothers teach
their babes to lisp them, and many a pious Christian has
been heard faintly to whisper them in the hour of death." *

None of them were published during her life, and,
indeed, it did not occur to her that they would ever
appear in print, or would be esteemed beyond the
circle of her own most intimate friends. She com-
mitted very few of them to writing, but she recited
them to Ruth Hughes, a farm-servant with her, who
treasured them in her memory ; and they were taken
down from Ruth's repetition some time after the
death of Anne Griffiths, They were first published
at Bala in 1806. They have recently been translated
into English, but they do not bear rendering out of
the Welsh in which they were composed.

In the churchyard of Welshpool is a stone — the
Maen Llog. It is shapeless, and is said formerly to
have stood in the abbey of Strata Marcella, and on
it the abbots were installed. After the Dissolution
it was brought to S. Mary's Church, and those who
had to do penance were required to stand on it in
a white sheet with a candle in one hand. During the
Commonwealth the Puritan Vavasour Powell turned
it out of the church, as an object of superstition ; but

* Williams (R.), Montgomeryshire Worthies, p. 79. Newtown, 1894.

270 WELSHPOOL

in the graveyard it continued to be regarded with
some respect, and was in request as a Wishing Stone.
Those very ardently desiring something mounted it,
and turning thrice sunways framed their wish ; and
so, before quitting Welshpool, I took care to mount
it, turned the right way about, and wished prosperity
to this cheerful little town and to its Powysland Club.

CHAPTER XV
NEWTOWN

Manufacture of cloth and flannel— Fine screen and ugly modern
church — Sir John Pryce — Aberhafesp Church — S. Mark's Eve —
Bed of an ancient lake — Caersws — Legend of Swsan — Obligations
of a chieftain — How a tribe would increase — How to reduce the
difficulty of providing land — Llanwnog — S. Gwynnog — Conse-
quences to his family of the publication of the letter of Gildas^
View from Llanwnog — Llanidloes Church — Richard Gwynn —
Chartist riots — Poetical description of them — Robert Owen —
Henry Williams — Richard Davies.

NEWTOWN is new in every particular except
in its manufacture, and that of cloth and
flannel was old enough in Wales, if we may judge
by the spindle-whorls and shuttles found in camp
and cairn ; but the business once spread over the
Principality is now concentrated at Newtown.

The ugly white brick church has taken the place
of one that was old, and contained a magnificent
screen. This has not been destroyed, but is preserved
in a barn at the rectory. There is some talk of
placing it once more in the church, where it would be
like the proverbial jewel of gold in a swine's snout.

Sir John Pryce, fifth baronet, of Newtown Hall,
was born in 1698, and succeeded to the title and
estates on the death of his father in 1720. He

271

272 NEWTOWN

married first his first cousin Elizabeth, daughter of
Sir Thomas Powell. She died in 173 1.

One day Sir John was overtaken by a storm of
rain whilst out shooting, and took refuge under a
tree, and to the same shelter ran a girl, Mary,
daughter of a small farmer of Berriew, named John
Morris. As the rain continued to fall. Sir John Pryce
was given plenty of time to make the girl's acquaint-
ance, to fall in love with her, and to propose. This
led to a second marriage.

But the humble origin of Lady Pryce led to much
spiteful comment, and some people would assert that
she had not been married to Sir John. This was abso-
lutely untrue, but falsehood is believed if venomous.
Whether it were this, or that she could not accommo-
date herself to her new situation, or the fact that
the first Lady Pryce was kept, embalmed, by the
bedside, or perhaps all together combined to weigh
on her spirits, and she died of despondency after two
years of married life. This was in 1739.

In July, 1 74 1, the Rev. W, Felton, curate of New-
town, was dying, when, two days before his death, he
received a long letter from Sir John Pryce, from
which a few passages may be extracted : —

"Dear Mr. Felton, — I waited an opportunity yesterday
of conferring with you in private ; but, not finding the
room in which you sat clear a minute, I am forced to
communicate this way my thoughts. I have abundant
reason to believe that you will immediately enter upon a
happier state when you make an exchange, and I desire
that you will do me the favour to acquaint my two Dear
Wives, that I retain the same tender Affections and the

SIR JOHN PRYCE 273

same Honour and Esteem for their Memories which I ever
did for their persons, and to tell the latter, that I earnestly
desire, if she can obtain the Divine permission, that she
will appear to me, to discover the persons who have wronged
her, and put me into a proper method of vindicating those
wrongs which robbed her of her life and me of all my
happiness in this world.

" I heartily wish you the Divine protection and assist-
ance, and am

" Your Friend and Humble Servant,

"Jon Pryce.

"P.S. — I have sent you a Bottle of Mint Water, which,
if you find too strong, you may dilute with Spring Water
to what size you please."

Sir John wrote an elegy of a thousand lines on his
second wife, in which he affirmed that with his latest
breath he would " lisp Maria's name."

Ere long, however, he fell in love again, and this
time with a widow, Eleanor Jones, and married her.

But when the lady found the bodies of his two
preceding wives embalmed, one on each side of the
matrimonial bed, she absolutely refused to enter it,
and ordered their burial " before she would supply
their vocation."

She also died, in 1748. Immediately Sir John
wrote off to one Bridget Bostock, " the Cheshire
Pythoness," who pretended to heal the sick by the
faith-cure and with her " fasting spittle," which she
supplied in corked and sealed bottles : —

" Madam, — Being very well informed by very creditable
people that you have done several wonderful cures, even
when Physicians have failed . . . why may not God enable
T

274 NEWTOWN

you to raise the Dead as well as to heal the Sick, give sight
to the Blind and hearing to the Deaf? Now I have lost a
wife whom 1 most dearly loved, and I entreat you for God
Almighty's sake that you would be so good as to come here,
if your actual presence is absolutely requisite, to raise up
my dear wife. Dame Eleanor Pryce, from the Dead. , . .
Pray let me know by return of the Post, that I may send
you a Coach and Six and Servants to attend you here, with
orders to defray your expenses in a manner most suitable
to your desires.

" Your unfortunate afflicted petitioner & hble serv*.

"John Pryce."

In compliance with this invitation Mrs. Bostock
visited Buckland, in Brecknockshire, where Sir John
then was, and exerted all her miracle-working powers,
but without effect.

Sir John remained inconsolable — for a while. But
from his will, dated 20th Jvme, 1760, it appears that
he was then meditating a fourth marriage. He,
however, died before it took place. In his will he
speaks of " that dearest object of my lawful and
best and purest Worldly affections, my most dear
and most entirely beloved intended wife, Margaret
Harries, of the parish of S. Martin, Haverfordwest,
spinster."

He died on October 28th, 1761, and was buried at
Haverfordwest.

His son. Sir John Powell Pryce, sixth baronet, was
an unfortunate man. Having by some accident injured
his eyes, his wife applied to them a strong acid by
mistake for a lotion, which entirely blinded him. But
this was not all. Want of management, and waste-

TWO CHURCHES 275

ful living, obliged him to part with one estate after
another, and at last he was thrown as a debtor into
King's Bench, where his faithful wife joined him, and
spent many years with him in the prison, till he died
in 1776. With his son Edward Manley the title
expired.

Three miles up the Severn above Newtown are two
churches without villages attached — Penstrowed and
Aberhafesp — on opposite sides of the Severn.

A story is told of the latter, a modern church with
very bad glass in it. Two men, hearing that he who
remains in the church porch on S. Mark's Eve will
see or hear something concerning those who are to
die in the course of the year, resolved to keep watch
there over midnight. One of them, wearied with the
day's work, fell asleep. Presently, in the dead of
night, the one who was awake heard a voice from
within the church calling his fellow by name. He
roused him, and said, " Let us go — it is of no use
waiting longer here."

In the course of a few weeks, there was a funeral
from the opposite parish of Penstrowed, and the
departed was to be buried in Aberhafesp churchyard.
There is no bridge nearer than that which spans the
river at Caersws, and to take the body that way
would mean a journey of over five miles. It was
determined, therefore, to ford the river opposite
Aberhafesp Church. The person who had fallen
asleep in the porch volunteered to carry the coffin
across the river, and it was placed on the saddle in
front of him, and, to prevent it from falling, he was
obliged to grasp it with both arms.

276 NEWTOWN

The deceased had died of an infectious fever, and
the coffin-bearer was stricken, and within a fortnight
was a dead man, and was the first parishioner who
died in the parish of Aberhafesp that year.

The hills fall back above the two churches and
allow of a broad level basin, once the bed of a fine
lake, before it was silted up at the end of the Glacial
Period. Here the Afon Garno, Paranon, and Ceryst,
meet the Severn at Caersws, which was an important
Roman station, at the junction of several roads, and
where now the Mid-Wales line falls into the Cambrian
Railway.

Caersws derives its name from a traditional Queen
Swsan, that carried on a war with a prince who
reigned over a tribe on the south of the Severn.
One day, seeing the enemy mustered on the Llan-
dinam Hills, she crossed the river with her forces to
give battle to the foe. The prince, occupying higher
ground, was able to repel the attack ; and the queen,
seeing that her men were routed and in full flight,
rode up to the prince and demanded to be put to
death, that she might be buried in a great cairn
beside her braves who had fallen. The prince replied
that she was too gallant to be thus slain, and that he
pardoned her ; and further committed himself to her
hands. Thenceforth their quarrels were fought out
in private.

The Roman castrum may still be traced — it covers
about seven acres. Excavations made here have
given up coins of Vespasian, Domitian, and of later
emperors, also Samian ware. Roman soldiers must
have been very regardless as to the condition of their

MONASTERIES 277

pockets, for wherever they went they dropped their
money.

The plain would seem to have been a debatable
ground from hoar antiquity, for every height about it
is entrenched.

It was one of the first obligations of a chief of a
Celtic tribe to provide every married man who was
subject to him with a farm, with seven acres of arable
land, seven of pasture, seven of woodland, and a
share in commons. Now as the tribe grew and multi-
plied he was put to great straits, and the only way
out of his difficulties, where all the available land was
appropriated, was for him to oust a neighbour from
his territories. This obligation weighed on a chief to
the eighth generation. Now suppose that a man
started to found a tribe, and had three sons, and each
of these sons had three, and all married, and in each
generation had the same number. In the eighth, the
tribe would consist of 2,673 marriageable men
clamouring to be provided with farms of seven
acres of arable land, seven of forest, and seven of
pasture. What could the chief do to satisfy them
but lead them against a neighbour ?

One way out of the difficulty was the establishment
of monasteries. This explains the development of
monachism on the steppes of Tartary, as well as in
Wales and Ireland. On that high and sterile plateau
in Central Asia, only a limited population can be
maintained, and it is to keep down the growth of the
population, as a practical expedient, that so large a
portion of the males is consigned to celibacy. And
it was this practical necessity that provoked the

278 NEWTOWN

ascetic and celibate societies of the Druids first, and
the Christian monks afterwards. When no new lands
were available for colonisation, when the three-field
system was the sole method of agriculture known,
then the land which would now maintain three fam-
ilies at least, would support but one. To keep the
equipoise there were migration, war, and compulsory-
celibacy as alternatives. That this really was a diffi-
culty confronting the old Celtic communities we
can see by a story of what occurred in Ireland in
657. The population had so increased that the
arable land proved insufficient for the needs of
the country. Accordingly an assembly of clergy and
laity was summoned by Dermot and Blaithmac, kings
of Ireland, to take the matter into consideration. It
was decided that the amount of land held by any
one householder should be restricted ; and further
the elders of the assembly directed that prayers
should be offered to the Almighty to send a pestilence
"to reduce the number of the lower class, that the
rest might live in comfort."

S. Fechin of Fore, on being consulted, approved
of this extraordinary proposal. And the prayer
was answered from heaven by a second visitation of
the terrible Yellow Plague ; but the vengeance of
God caused the force of the pestilence to fall on the
nobles and clergy, of whom multitudes, including the
kings and P^echin of Fore himself, were carried off

To this day, in Tyrol, where the farms cannot be
subdivided, owing to the mountainous nature of the
land, on the death of the father the sons draw lots
who shall marry and take the farm. The rest

GWYNNOG

279

work under their more fortunate brother, and remain
single.

Llanwnog Hes under the rounded, heathy moun-
tain of Ddifed, in rear of which are some tarns
lying high. The church has in it a very fine and

GILDAS. A KIKTEENTH-CENTURY STATUE AT LOCMINE

well-preserved screen and rood-loft, and an old
stained-glass representation of the patron saint and
founder of the church.

His name was Gw}'nnog, and he was a son of
Gildas the historian.

At an early age Gildas committed his son to
S. Finnian to be educated. Leaving his master when

28o NEWTOWN

his education was complete, Gwynnog settled in this
spot above the plain of Caersvvs, but the scurrilous
pamphlet issued by his father from his safe retreat
in Brittany seems to have fallen like a bombshell
among those of his family who were in Wales and
Cornwall, and obliged them to leave the territories
of the princes against whom Gildas had hurled in-
vectives. Cuneglas (or Cynlas) was prince of Powys
at the time, Gildas called him " a bear, wallowing
in filth, a tawny butcher."

Cuneglas after this was not likely to deal tenderly
with a son of the pamphleteer, and Gwynnog fled
for his life to Brittany, to his father. It seems not
improbable that he was elected Bishop of Vannes,
where there had been sorry doings and ecclesiastical
scandals, and the Church was looking out for a
respectable ruler.

The Frank historian Gregory of Tours calls him
Eunius, and says that he was over-fond of the bottle.
Weroc II. was Count of Vannes at the time, and he
was engaged in hostilities with Chilperic, king of the
Franks, whom he defeated with great slaughter in
578. Chilperic made terms with the Breton chief,
who undertook to pay tribute, but afterwards made
difficulties about fulfilling his engagement, and sent
Bishop Gwynnog, or Eunius, to Chilperic with a list
of complaints, Chilperic was furious at this breach of
engagements, and resented it against the unoffending
prelate, whom he sent into exile, Gwynnog died at
Angers in 580, just ten years after his father.

The view from Llanwnog across the basin of the
Severn at the mountains up the valleys of the

RICHARD GWYNN 281

Severn and the streams that pour into it is very
beautiful.

A branch line from Moat Lane leads to Llanidloes
at the junction of the Clywedog and Afon Tyhvch
with the Severn. Although the mountains here do
not rise to a great height, they are broken and fine,
and many beautiful walks may be taken up the glens
of the tributaries of the Severn and over the heathy
moors. The Afon Brochan may be ascended to a
tarn from which the stream flows, or to the pretty
lake Llyn Ebyr, three miles to the north.

Llanidloes possesses one of the finest churches
in North Wales, with a richly carved oak roof, the
hammer beams supported by angels bearing shields.

Richard Gwynn was a native of Llanidloes. He
was educated at S. John's College, Cambridge, and
must have been of poor parentage, for he was a
sizar there. He could not reconcile himself to the
religious changes in the reign of Edward VL, nor
to the violence with which fanatics wrecked the
churches ; nor would he accept the claim of Queen
Elizabeth to be "Supreme Governor" over the Church
in England, the objectionable title " Supreme Head "
having been put aside.

He lived quietly with his wife and children, keep-
ing a school, at one time at Overton Madog, then
at Wrexham, Gresford, and again at Overton ; and
had many scholars, as he led an exemplary life, and
was well known for his learning and scholarship. He
does not seem to have been mixed up with any
seditious movements, or to have been associated with
the Jesuits. Nevertheless he was arrested in 1580

282 NEWTOWN

and cast into prison, and kept there for four years ;
he was treated with great harshness, and frequently
tortured to force him to accept the Queen's supremacy.
After several trials he was finally brought up at
Wrexham Assizes in 1584 and condemned to death
for high treason. The sentence was as follows : —

" Richard White {i.e. Gwynn) shall be brought to prison
from whence he came, and thence drawn on a hurdle to the
place of execudon, where he shall hang half dead, and so
be cut down alive, his members cast into the fire, his belly
ripped into the breast, his bowels, liver, lungs, heart, etc.,
thrown likewise into the fire, his head cut off, his body be
parted into four quarters."

" What is all this ? " said Gwynn. " Is it any more
than one death ? "

The sentence was carried out on October 15th,
1584.

Llanidloes was the scene of a Chartist outbreak
in 1839. The weavers armed and requisitioned
contributions from the neighbourhood. Lord John
Russell, who was Home Secretary, sent down three
police officers to cope with hundreds of rioters well
armed with fowling-pieces, pistols, and hand grenades.
The magistrates then, unsupported properly, took
the matter into their own hands and swore in special
constables. The crisis came on April 30th. A man
blowing a horn summoned the Chartists to assemble
on the Bridge, and three men were captured on their
way to the assembly, and were conveyed to the
" Trewythen Arms." The crowd now rushed to at-
tempt a rescue, but was held at bay by fifty special
constables. However, by weight and numbers, the

A CHARTIST OUTBREAK 28

rioters drove them away after a struggle, entered the
inn, and wrecked it ; they liberated the three men
who had been taken, and caught the ex-mayor, who
appealed to the mob to spare his life, as he was a
doctor who had brought many of them into the
world. They let him go, and he left the town to
give the alarm. For five days Llanidloes was ruled
by mob law, but the Chartist leaders saw that no
gross outrages were committed.

Matters had now become too serious to be dealt
with in the mild manner Lord John Russell had
thought might suffice. Military aid was sent. An
old lady has recorded her reminiscences of the time.

' The town," she says, " was in an uproar. The Chartists
had been drilling in the Dingle. The news came that a
regiment of soldiers was coming to put down the riots, and
I can remember watching their arrival. I was standing in
a crowd on the Bank, and the soldiers in red coats and
brass helmets came up the Pool road, the band playing
before them. I shall never forget the scene. The women
and children were crying like wild things, they thought
everybody was going to be slaughtered. The soldiers pro-
ceeded to Newtown Hall, followed by a great and excited
crowd. Here they were met by George Arthur Evors, the
chief magistrate, who gave instructions to fire. But the
officer in charge refused. ' What,' he said, ' fire upon a lot
of women and children? Certainly not.' The soldiers,
after all, did no harm, but in the course of a row one man
was killed with clubs. After that we did not hear much
about the Chartists. Many of them left the country, and
never returned. Some were arrested and put into gaol,
others managed to hide till things had quieted down, and
then came back. But poor Frost, Jones, and Williams
were transported.''

284 NEWTOWN

A schoolmaster of Newtown named George Thomas
wrote a Hudibrastic poem on the riots, containing
allusions and sly hits at local characters that were
much relished at the time.

According to him —

" The rebels had a bullet mould,
A pistol rusty, crack'd and old,
Some bellows, pipes, and lucifers.
Tweezers, card-plates, and goose-oil cans,
With dust and other nameless pans,
Hot water, soapsuds, toasting prongs,
With cat-calls, horns, and women's tongues."

All ended with much noise and little harm done.

" When eggs were spent, tongues peace desir'd,
The spoils of war had brought no crust.
The rebels fled, the troops retir'd.
Covered with glory, sweat and dust."

In the old churchyard of Newtown may be seen
the plain slab that covers the body of Robert Owen,
the Socialist. He was born in the place, but his father
was from Welshpool, and had set up business as saddler,
ironmonger, and postmaster. Robert was born in 1 77 1 ,
and was sent to London to a situation in a haber-
dasher's shop. Thence he removed to Manchester,
where he started cotton-spinning. His life is too well
known to be given in full here, but a few points may
be mentioned. He had imbibed very strong anti-
religious ideas, and he was persuaded that the whole
social world was topsy-turvy, and required reorganis-
ing on the new principles that he had excogitated.

" Character," said he, " is formed for and not by
the individual, and society now possesses the most

ROBERT OWEN 285

ample means atid power to well form the character
of everyone by reconstructing society on its own true
principles " — that is to say, on those devised by Robert
Owen.

In 1797 he started the " New Lanark Twist Com-
pany," in which his theories were to be carried out ;
but although the system was nominally and theoreti-
cally democratic, Robert Owen ruled as an autocrat,
and having a splendid organising and business head
he made the scheme into a commercial success.
Some of the partners could not agree to his plans,
so he bought them out, but took in others, who also
declined to let him rule despotically, and in disgust
he went off to America to found a Socialistic com-
munity there on the wreck of an attempted German
Communistic venture. This, however, failed, and
when he returned to Scotland the partners in the
New Lanark Twist Company had increased in num-
ber, and gave him to understand that they intended
managing it in their own and not in his way.

Then he founded a Communistic Society at Orbis-
ton, in Scotland, but this also slipped from his control.
He next started a weekly paper. The Crisis, and an
" Equitable Labour Exchange." The latter came to
a disastrous end in 1833. After this little was heard
of Robert Owen.

One of his early theories was that the universe
was one great self-acting laboratory, and that all life,
movement, thought, were results of chemical action.

His conception of the formation of character was
bound to end in disappointment. Minds are not mere
bits of blank paper on which )-ou may write what you

286 NEWTOWN

like ; souls are not lumps of putty to be moulded
to what form you will.

My dear father had been impressed with some
of Robert Owen's doctrines, specially with this, and
he set to work to shape my brothers and me each
for a special profession, and to give each a separate
bent ; and the result was that we all went in clean
opposite directions to what he purposed, and adopted
professions which he had intended the others to enter.

Owen finally took up with table-rapping and

Spiritualism, and supposed himself to be a medium

through whom the Duke of Kent revealed the

mysteries of the other world. Finally, as his health

failed, a great longing came over him to return to

his native place and die there.

" And as a hare, when hounds and horns pursue,
Pants for the place from whence at first it flew,"

SO did he come back to Newtown, and there shortly
after expired,

A little way down the Severn below Newtown is
Llanllwchaiarn, a church founded by a brother of
S. Aelhaiarn of Guilsfield. The parish is not of
interest in itself, except as having given birth to,
and been the residence of, a remarkable man, Henry
Williams, of Ysgafell, one of the sturdiest Non-
conformists of the time of the Restoration. His
father owned the farm, which had belonged to the
family for several generations.

The Conventicle Act, which came into force in
1664, imposed a penalty of ^5 or three months'
imprisonment on anyone frequenting a dissenting
meeting, for the first offence; i^io or six months'

THE JUDGMENT OF HEAVEN 287

imprisonment for a second offence ; and for a third
offence a fine of i^ 100 or transportation beyond the seas.

Henry Williams was in prison from time to time
during nine years. On one occasion a part}' of
soldiers beset his house, and in the skirmish, as
they attempted to enter, his father was knocked
down and killed. On another the house was fired,
and Mrs. Williams, taking one child in her arms and
leading another, attempted to cross the Severn from
the soldiery, when one of them cocked his pistol and
vowed to shoot her. However, the officer knocked
the man down, and sent an escort to attend her to
a friend's house.

Another time when Henry Williams was preaching
the soldiers fell on him, beat, and nearly killed him.
They seized his stock and devastated his farm. There
was, however, one field that had been sown with
wheat, not yet sprung up, which they could not or
did not liarm. That field throve amazingly, and the
crop next summer surpassed in yield every other
in the neighbourhood. Nothing like it had been
seen, and at harvest the produce was so abundant
as to repay the family for all its losses. There were
six, seven, and eight full ears upon each stalk. Two
of these stalk-heads have been preserved to the
present day ; one has on it seven ears, the other
eight. The field where this marvellous crop was
grown is known to this day as Cae'r Fendith, the
Field of Blessing.

Some of the principal persecutors of Henry
Williams died so strangel}- that it was regarded
as a judgment of heaven upon them. One dropped

288 NEWTOWN

suddenly from his chair dead whilst eating his dinner,
a second was drowned in the Severn when drunk, and
a third fell from his horse and broke his neck close to
the house of Henry Williams, which he had plundered.
About half-way between Caersws and Machynlleth
is Llanbrynmair, the birthplace of Richard Davies,
known in Wales by his bardic name of Mynyddog,
who is regarded as the Burns of his native land. He
was born in 1833, and his father was a farmer. At
an early age the poetic faculty displayed itself in
him, and he wrote for several Welsh magazines, and
won prizes at local literary meetings. As his education
had been but scanty, he laboured hard as a young
man to make up for this deficiency. He was a tall,
fine man, with an open, pleasant face, was full of
a kindly, never caustic, wit ; and he speedily became
one of the most popular of Welsh poets. There
is a freshness and flavour of the soil in his com-
positions, like those of Burns, but none of the coarse-
ness of the Scotch poet. He died in 1877 at his
residence, Bronygan, in Cemmes. It is hard, almost
impossible, to give anything of the charm of his
compositions in a translation, and I venture on one
with the utmost diffidence.

"BOXER."

" Full many a lusty horse I've viewed,
When following father's team,
Would draw the plough, make furrow and ridge,
With the coulter's after gleam.
Now, fair befall
Good horses all !
But never a one can I recall
That could compare, in my esteem,
With Boxer, my father's horse.

"BOXER" 289

" If I to bet were a bit inclined,
One hundred pounds I'd lay
On every hoof old Boxer had,
The best that fed upon hay.
But he would scorn,
As one well born.
To be accounted not worth a thorn.
He'd toss his head and proudly neigh
Unless he were leading horse.

"The chapel choir for a practice came,
It was upon Monday night.
To the glory of God an anthem sing
In harmony and might.

But each would lead.
And each decreed
That not a note would he proceed.
He'd hold it a purposed slur and slight
Unless he were leading horse.

" A deacon to choose at Tal-y-Coed,
Most woeful discord wrought.
For every chapel-member declared
The office was that he sought.
And he would scorn.
For this thing born.
To be set back, as not worth a thorn,
By all the scict^ a thing of naught !
For he would be leading horse.

" Our Boxer once was set in the shafts
When flow'ry June was gay,
And ordered to draw a wain, upheaped
With burden of balmy hay.
But he thought scorn
As one well born
To be accounted not worth a thorn,
In second place, and behind our bay,
For he would be leading horse.

290 NEWTOWN

" He backed, as stubborn as mule could be,
And, backing over a rock,
Adown he tumbled, with load atop,
A frightful wreckage and shock.
He broke his back,
For he would not hack
As a common cart-horse ; and thus, alack !
The haughty Boxer was dead as a stock
Because he'd be leading horse.

"When folks see merit in any man.
That man will be thrust afore.
But he who elbows and pushes his way
Is surely esteemed a bore.
And I declare
Let all beware
Lest they the fall of Boxer share,
For that's the fate for him in store
Who'll only be leading horse."

CHAPTER XVI
MACHYNLLETH

Pronunciation of the name — Owen Glyndwr — His history — David
Gam — Fish — Lakes — Bugeilyn — Llyn Penrhaiadr — Towyn — In -
scribed stone of S. Cadvan — Who Cadvan was — Tal y Llyn — Bass
fishing — Llanegryn and its screen— Peniarth — The Wynn family —
Welsh names — The Arms of Wales — The Three P'eathers.

THE pronunciation of this name demands a
smattering of knowledge as to how to speak
it intelHgibly to a Welshman ; but the clerks at
railway stations delivering tickets to the place are
prepared to accept every laboured effort to pronounce
and mispronounce it. To ensure being understood,
call the place " Mahuntleth."

The town, a cheerful little place, clean, but without
anything of much interest in it, is one of the six
contributing boroughs of Montgomery. It has not
even an old parish church ; the structure that serves
for the purpose is modern and poor in design. But
it does retain a little plaster-and-timber house, nearly
opposite the gates of the grounds of Plas Machynlleth,
the place of the Marchioness of Londonderry, which
is traditionally held to have been the dwelling in
which Owen Glyndwr assembled a parliament to
consult as to the best means of resisting Henry IV.,

291

292 MACHYNLLETH

and the place also where an attempt was made to
assassinate him by David Gam.

Owen Glyndwr was born about 1359 in South
Wales, but descended from the princes of Powys,
and he takes his name from Gl}'ndyfrdwy in Yale.
He first comes to notice as witness in a remarkable
trial that lasted four years between the houses of
Grosvenor and Scrope relative to rights to a certain
coat-of-arms.

The story of rights over a common, which originated
the struggle between Owen and Lord Grey of Ruthin,
and brought on a contest with the whole power of
England, that lasted through Glyndwr's life, has been
already told.

The treachery of the unprincipled English baron
led to the desolation of Wales, to rivers of blood
being shed, and to a good deal of humiliation to his
master, Henry IV.

It may be remembered that when, in 1400, King
Henry was preparing an expedition against Scotland,
he summoned Glyndwr to join his forces, but con-
fided the summons to Grey to deliver. Lord Grey
purposely suppressed it, and then represented Owen
to the King as a malcontent and a rebel ; where-
upon, without inquiry into the matter, Henry IV.
pronounced his estate forfeit.

The Welsh had sympathised with Richard 1 1., and
they regarded Bolingbroke as a usurper, but would
have contented themselves with singing dirges to the
memory of Richard, had they not been exasperated
to revolt by the violence and injustice of the Marchers.
Owen, enraged against Grey de Ruthin, at first made

OWEN GLYNDWR 293

a personal quarrel of his wrongs ; but this soon
developed and extended until it involved the whole
of Wales, which rose against the English Crown.

In 140 1 King Henry marched into North Wales,
but the natives, and all those who held to Owen,
retired into the mountains ; and Henry returned to
England, having effected nothing. He left Henry
Prince of Wales, then a boy of thirteen, at Chester,
to watch and control the Welsh, with Henry Hotspur,
eldest son of the Earl of Northumberland, as Justice
of North Wales and Constable of the Castles. Shake-
speare has considerably disturbed men's minds relative
to persons and events of the period. He makes the
fiery Percy but little older than Prince Hal, whereas
he was actually older than Henry IV. And Prince
Hal was by no means the roysterer at East Cheap
as represented, but from early days engaged in war,
and carrying on a prolonged contest with Glyndwr,
a wily and able commander, in a country most
difficult to hold.

Owen, finding that Harry Percy and the young
prince were too strong to be attacked, now fell with all
his force on South Wales, harr)'ing the land of the
English and of such Welsh as would not join him.
Then he abruptly turned to the Severn valley, burnt
Montgomery, and was only stopped under the red
walls of the castle of Percy at Welshpool. Now all
Wales was in insurrection, and everywhere Owen was
regarded as one who would deliver the Cymry from
their hereditary oppressors. The rapid progress of his
army spread terror along the Marches, and messengers
on swift horses galloped to London to announce to

294 MACHYNLLETH

the King that unless succour were sent his castles
would fall.

In October, 1401, King Henry and the Prince of
Wales entered the Principality at the head of a huge
army, and pushed on to Bangor, only to find that
the Welsh had retreated to the mountains, carrying
off with them all their goods. The King passed
along the coast to the abbey of Strata Florida in
Cardiganshire, which he gave up to pillage and fire.
Having succeeded in capturing about a thousand
Welsh children without having fought a battle, Henry
ingloriously withdrew.

About this time, moreover, Owen succeeded in
getting hold of his great enemy Lord Grey de Ruthin,
and sent him to his tower of Dolbadarn, there to
languish until he could raise the heavy ransom which
Owen, who was sorely in want of money, demanded
for his release.

Henry Percy, unable to obtain payment for his
services in Wales, and reimbursement for large sums
laid out by himself in the King's service, threw up
his charge and retired to Northumbria to fight the
Scots.

In May, 1402, Owen Glyndwr attacked the Welsh
territories of young Edmund Earl of March, who,
with his younger brother Roger, was held in custody
by the King, on account of his having been acknow-
ledged by Parliament to be the lineal heir to King
Richard.

Sir Edmund Mortimer, their uncle and guardian,
hastened to protect the lands, assisted by the other
Marchers.

OWEN GLYNDWR 295

They met on the border in a narrow valley at
Pilleth, near Knighton, and during the battle the
Welsh tenants went over in a body to the side of
Glyndwr. Eleven hundred men were killed, and
Mortimer was captured.

Then ensued the dispute between Harry Hotspur
and King Henry which has been immortalised by
Shakespeare. Henry Percy's wife was the sister of
Sir Edmund Mortimer, and he was urgent for the
ransoming of the captive. But King Henry was in
sore straits for money, and he was, moreover, not
particularly desirous to have the uncle of the true heir
to the throne at large. What he did was to lead an
army a third time into Wales, whilst a second was
placed under the command of the Prince of Wales,
and a third under that of the Earl of Warwick.

"Never within man's memory had there been such a
September in the Welsh mountains. The very heavens
themselves seemed to descend in sheets of water upon the
heads of these magnificent and well-equipped arrays. Dee,
Usk, and Wye, with their boisterous tributaries that crossed
the English line of march, roared bank-high, and buried all
trace of the fords beneath volumes of brown tumbling
water, while bridges, homesteads, and such flocks as the
Welsh had not driven westward for safety were carried
down to the sea."*

Numbers died of exposure ; the King's tent was
blown over upon him ; and just a fortnight after
having entered Wales in all the pomp and circum-
stance of war, the armies had to retreat, baffled,
draggled, and dispirited, and fully persuaded that

* Bkadlky, Owen Giyndwr, p. 178.

296 MACHYNLLETH

their great adversary was in league with the Spirit
of Evil.

Meanwhile a friendship had sprung up between
Mortimer and his captive, quickened by resentment
against Henry, who had refused to ransom him, and
this led to a closer tie, for he married Glyndwr's
fourth daughter, Joan.

Meantime, also, the anger of Harry Hotspur
against the King had reached a head. He allied
himself with the Scots, and marched upon Shrews-
bury, unhappily for him without having concerted
a plan of operations with Owen, who was away in the
South of Wales, and unaware that the fiery Percy
was about to engage the King.

Tradition will have it that Glyndwr hastened
towards Shrewsbury, and watched the battle from a
tall oak on the Welsh road from Shrewsbury, and
made no attempt to strike at Henry from the rear.
But this is false. Glyndwr, at the time, was in
Carmarthen in total ignorance of the movements of
Harry Percy.

The defeat of Shrewsbury was disastrous to the
cause of the Welsh. Owen, having lost the assist-
ance of his northern ally, entered into negotiations
with the French, who sent him some aid, which was
not very effective, and from this time his power began
to decline. Now it was that Owen summoned a par-
liament of the Welsh to meet at Machynlleth, con-
sisting of four persons of consequence out of every
Cantref in the Principalit}-.

One of those attending it was David ab Llewelyn,
nicknamed Gam, or the " squint-eyed," a little red-

OWEN GLYNDWR 297

haired, long-armed, unprincipled man, who had been
in the household of John of Gaunt. He was a
native of Brecon, no relation to Owen, though he
knew him intimately, and was trusted by him.
Whether at the instigation of King Henry, or
moved thereto by his own treacherous heart, we
know not, but he framed a plot for the assassination
of Owen during the conclave. One of the con-
spirators betrayed the design, and David Gam would
have been executed but that his Brecon friends and
relations intervened. Owen Glyndwr consented to
remit the extreme penalty, and sent him for confine-
ment in prison at Dolbadarn.

In 1405 Glyndwr's forces met with a reverse at
Monnow, where they attacked Prince Henry, and a
battle was fought in which no quarter was given on
either side, and again at Pwll Melyn, in Brecon, where
fifteen hundred Welshmen fell, and among the slain
was Owen's brother.

The King, emboldened by these successes, himself
marched against Owen, but Glyndwr was too cautious
to risk another pitched battle, and Henry had to
retire without having effected anything.

Little is known of Owen's movements for some
while, but his power was certainly on the decline.
The King offered free pardon to all his adherents,
excepting, however, Owen himself, and the Welsh
wavered and many deserted him.

However, in 1407 he met with a notable though
not far-reaching success.

Aberystwyth Castle was held for him, and Prince
Henry determined to take it. At the head of a large

298 MACHYNLLETH

force he invested the fortress, and was suppHed with
cannons sent from Yorkshire to Bristol, and thence
transported by sea. Great stores of bows, arrows,
stone shot, and sulphur were collected at Hereford.
Woods on the banks of the Severn were cut down
to furnish siege machinery, and a troop of carpenters
was despatched from Bristol to erect scaffoldings and
towers for the taking of the formidable castle. But
all failed. The King's particular cannon, weighing
four and a half tons, that was discharged once in
the hour, and made great noise but did little harm,
did not frighten the besieged into surrender.

Prince Henry found the castle impregnable, and
sat down before it to reduce it by starvation. Pro-
visions began to fail within, and Glyndwr's com-
mander, Rhys ab Gruffydd, was constrained to open
negotiations with the besiegers. It was agreed that
unless the fortress were relieved by All Saints' Day
(November ist) the Welsh garrison should surrender.

So confident was the Prince that Glyndwr could
not throw any force into it, that he left Wales, and
only an inconsiderable portion of his army remained
to watch the castle.

Owen seized his opportunity, slipped unexpectedly
into Aberystwyth with fresh forces, and defied the
English once more.

In 1408 Owen's dearly loved and faithful wife and
Sir Edmund Mortimer's children fell into the King's
hands when he captured Harlech, and they were
sent to London.

Owen's fortunes dwindled more and more ; he
was accompanied by a small band only, and was en-

DAVID LLWYD 299

gaged in a guerilla warfare alone. What eventually
became of him is unknown. It was said that finally,
deserted by all, he wandered about the country in
the disguise of a shepherd. It is supposed, with
some good reason, that he found a refuge in the
house of his married daughter at Monnington.

Prince Henry, when he ascended the throne, sent
a special message of pardon to his brave old
antagonist. At Monnington is a tower that bears
Glyndwr's name, and it is deemed to have been that
he occupied, and in the churchyard is a stone without
any name upon it, beneath which he is thought to lie.

Above Machynlleth, in the parish of Llanwrin, is
Mathafarn, where lived a great poet and sooth-
sayer, David Llwyd, who was a bitter opponent of
Richard III., and a partisan of James Earl of Pem-
broke. He subsequently threw himself into the party
of Henry Earl of Richmond, who is said to have
stayed a night at Mathafarn on his way to Bosworth
field in August, 1485. David Llwyd was regarded by
his countrymen as invested with prophetic powers ;
and he had a tame sea-gull that perched on his
shoulder, and was supposed to communicate the
secrets of the future in his ear.

On the occasion of the visit of Henry of Rich-
mond that prince asked him as to what would be the
event of his contest with Richard. David begged to
be allowed the night for consideration. He tossed in
bed, unable to sleep, and his gull afforded him no
counsel. Then his wife asked him why he was so
restless. He told her what his difficulty was. " Fool,"
said she; "prophesy success. If he succeeds, your

300 MACHYNLLETH

future is made. If he fails, he will never return
from the battlefield to reproach you."

This satisfied the seer.

This adventure has given rise to a Welsh proverb :
" Take a wife's advice unasked."

The story goes on to say that Henry heard what
had occasioned the prophecy of good event, and he
said, " Llwyd, as I shall win, lend me your grey
horse." David could not refuse. The earl rode the
grey horse to Bosworth, but the grey mare remained
at Mathafarn.

Some verses composed on Richard III, by the
poet have been preserved. They have been thus
rendered in English : —

" King Henry hath fought and bravely done.
Our friend the golden circlet hath won,
The bards re-echo the gladsome strain
P'or the good of the world crooked R is slain.
That straddling letter, so pale and sad,
In England's realm no honour had.
For ne'er could R in the place of I
Rule England's nation royally."

The " R " so crooked stands for Richard, and the
" I " so upright stands for lorwerth, or Edward IV.

Above Mathafarn is Cemmes Road Station, and
hence a branch line runs up the Dyfi to Malhvyd and
Dinas Mawddwy. The lower portion of the valley,
though pleasing, lacks grandeur, but the scenery
improves as we ascend. George Borrow thus
describes it : —

" Scenery of the wildest and most picturesque description
was rife and plentiful to a degree; hills were here, hills
were there ; some tall and sharp, others huge and humpy ;

"RED-HAIRED BANDITTI" 301

hills were on every side ; only a slight opening to the west
seemed to present itself. What a valley ! I exclaimed. But
on passing through the opening I found myself in another,
wilder and stranger, if possible. Full to the west was a
long hill rising up hke the roof of a barn, an enormous round
hill on its north-east side, and on its south-east the tail of
the range which I had long had on my left — there were
trees and groves and running waters, but all in deep shadow,
for night was now close at hand."

A stream enters the valley of the Dyfi at Malhvyd,
and a capital road ascends it, crosses a shoulder,
and descends into the valley of the Banw, leading
ultimately to Welshpool. It was in the Cwm that
opens upon Malhvyd and its ramifications that
lurked the " Red-haired Banditti of Mawddvvy."

After the cessation of the Wars of the Roses many
lawless men, bred to deeds of violence, found time
hang heavy on their hands, and lacking employment,
a certain number of outlaws or felons gravitated to
this wild region, and made their headquarters in this
valley, whence they sallied forth, marauding, cattle-
lifting, and murdering. Robert Vaughan, the Welsh
antiquary, who flourished shortly after, says that they
never tired of

" robbing, burning of houses, and murthering of people,
in soe much that being very numerous, they did often drive
great droves of cattell somtymes to the number of a hun-
dred or more from one countrey to another at middle day,
as in tyme of warre, without feare, shame, pittie, or punish-
ment, to the utter undoing of the poorer sort."

The occupants of manor- and farm-houses had to
fix scythes and spiked bars in their chimneys to

302 MACHYNLLETH

prevent the marauders entering their houses by de-
scending the wide chimneys at night. And within
the memory of man many such have been removed.

At last a commission was issued to Lewis Owen,
Baron of the Exchequer of Wales, and Sheriff of
Merionethshire, to clear the country of them.

In pursuance of his orders, Owen raised a body of
sturdy men, and stealing up the valley on Christmas
Eve, 1554. when the robbers were keeping high revel,
he fell on them and secured eighty, whom he tried
and hanged on the spot.

The mother of two of the worst scoundrels vowed
vengeance on Owen, and "baring her breasts" before
him, shrieked in his face, " These yellow breasts have
given suck to those who shall wash their hands in
your blood."

The headquarters of the band were at Dugoed
Mawr on the Cann Office Road, and the place of
the execution, a mound about thirty feet high, now
overgrown with trees, on the Collfryn Farm estate.

On All Hallows' Eve, 1555, hardly a year after
the summary execution. Baron Owen was returning
from the Montgomery Assizes with his brother-in-
law and two servants, when he found the road
blocked at a spot, since called Llidiart-y-Barwn, by
fallen trees. They had been felled by some of the
survivors of the band, who had waited for an oppor-
tunity to revenge the death of their fellows. The
spot is two miles from Mallwyd on the Welshpool
road.

As Owen drew up at the barrier, and his servants
proceeded to remove the logs, a shower of arrows

S. TYDECHO 303

was discharged at him from the dense coppice. One
struck him in the face, but he plucked it out and
broke it. Then the ruffians sprang into the road
and attacked him with bills and spears. His son-in-
law, John Lloyd of Ceiswyn, defended him to the
last, but his attendants fled at the first onset. Owen
fell, covered with thirty wounds, and whilst he was
still breathing, the brothers of the slain sons of the
hag who had threatened him ripped the murdered
man open, and actually washed their hands in his
blood, so as to fulfil the curse cast at him by their
mother.

From Dinas Mawddwy Aran may be ascended
(2,972 feet), the highest mountain in Wales next to
Snowdon, and perhaps commanding a finer view. It
is one vast sponge, and he who attempts to climb it
must be careful to avoid the bogs.

A good road follows the River Dyfi to the pass of
Bwlch y Groes and thence to the head of Bala Lake.

About four miles above Dinas Mawddwy is Llan-
y-Mawddwy, where the church is buried in yew trees.
The church was founded by S. Tydecho. He led an
eremitical life in this sequestered valley, and accord-
ing to the legend made the Saethnant run with milk.

The report of his sanctity reached Maelgwn
Gwynedd, and to make unpleasantness for him he
sent him a stud of white horses and bade him
pasture them for him. Tydecho turned them out
on the mountains, where they fed on heather, and
ran wild and were ungroomed. When the king sent
for them they had turned yellow, at which he was
very angry, and seized on the saint's oxen as reprisal.

304 MACHYNLLETH

Thereupon stags came from the forest and allowed
themselves to be yoked to the plough, and a grey
wolf lost its wildness and drew the harrow for him.
Maelgwn came to hunt in the neighbourhood, and
being wearied seated himself on a rock, and adhered
to it, and could not leave till Tydecho released him ;
but as a token of the miracle left the impression of
his person on the rock.

Cynan, prince of Powys, carried off Tegfedd, sister
of Tydecho, who, however, struck the ravisher with
blindness, and obliged him to restore the damsel
unhurt, and to make over some lands in compensa-
tion for the rape.

The land of Tydecho was granted many privileges ;
amongst these was that of Gobr Merched, By Welsh
laws, for every damsel who had been outraged the
ravisher was required to pay a heavy fine. Tydecho's
land was granted the very questionable privilege of
exemption from the law ; in other words, that on it
no girl was under the protection of the law from
assault.

On a rock are shown four holes in the shape of
a cross, said to mark the spot where the saint was
wont to kneel in prayer.

It is possible that it was due to his father's abusive
epistle, which attacked Maelgwn of Gwynedd and
Cuneglas or Cynlas of Powys so fiercely, that
Tydecho had to leave North Wales. Apparently he
retired to the same part of Brittany as his father
and his brother Cennydd or Kenneth, and took up his
abode in the Isle de Groix, where he is known as
S. Tudy, and where he is held to have died.

DELIGHTFUL WALKS 305

Some delightful mountain expeditions may be
made from Machynlleth, as up the River Castell to
the two tarns whence it springs, Glaslyn and
Bugeilyn, " The Shepherd's Pool," This latter and
Llyn Morwynion, " The Fair Maids' Tarn," are
about the only two in North Wales that produce
" trout of an exceptionally fine quality — short, thick,
strong fish, that fight hard when you hook them, and
cut red as salmon and creamy as curd should you be
lucky enough to induce a few to face the cucumber,
I would rather waste my time and energies on
making the acquaintance of half a dozen from either
pool than I would in courting the problematical
attentions of a Dovey sewin." *

Moreover, the walk to the sources of the River
Castell will amply reward the lover of scenery.

Then there is the ascent of the River Dulas, and
the branch from the valley by a good road to Tal-
y-Llyn under red crags, Graig Goch,

Another delightful walk of about five miles is to
Llyn Penrhaiadr, and one can drive to about two
miles from the lake. A little be}-ond the point where
the carriage is quitted, Pistyll-y-Llyn, the waterfall
from the lake, is reached. The water shoots over
a tremendous shelf of rock and plunges into a dark
pool below. It is one of the finest falls in Wales,
and only lacks more trees about it to make it most
impressive. Waterfalls are liable to pall on one. They
are either of the tj^pe of the falls of the Rhine, of
the Giesbach, or of the Staubbach, and when one
has seen these, one does not particularl)- care for

* Lloyd I'kici; (R. J.), Walks in IVales, iSgj, \\ 4^.
X

3o6 MACHYNLLETH

such as are inferior. Waterfalls cease to interest,
but, to my mind, lakes never do. They are infinitely
more varied, and lend themselves to finer pictures in
a way that cascades do not. There are two other
tarns near, lying rather higher than Llyn Penrhaiadr.
A walker will do well to strike across to the head of
the River Hengwm, where is another waterfall, and
to follow the stream down under the splendid crags
of Bwlch Hyddgen, then turn to the left by the
Rhyd Wen, and Machynlleth is reached again.

From Machynlleth a short run by rail takes us to
Towyn, a rising watering-place, with a noble Norman
cross-church. The central tower fell in 1696, and a
western tower was erected in 1736, encroaching on
two bays of the nave. This was pulled down in
1884, and the central tower rebuilt, but the nave is
short of its two westernmost bays.

In the churchyard are four upright stones enclosing
a quadrangular space, within which no burials are
made, and in the church is an inscribed stone, that
apparently stood originally by these four " marks."
On it is an inscription most puzzling to antiquaries,
supposed to be couched in Early Welsh, and to
record that this was the burial-place of S. Cadvan,
and that his great patron Cyngen, prince of Powys
and this portion of Merioneth, lies by him. It has
been thus translated by Professor Westwood :—

" Beneath the mound of Cynvael lies Cadvan,

Where the earth extols his praise. Let him

rest without a blemish.

The Body of Cyngen, and between them will

be the marks."

TOWYN 307

Professor Rhys, however, disputes the reading.
Cadvan was a son of Gwen of the Three Breasts by
her first husband, ^neas of Armorica. Owing to
some dynastic revolution he fled with sundry of his
cousins and followers to Wales, in the fifth century,
and was well received by Cyngen, who gave him
lands. Gwen afterwards married one Fragan or
Brychan, and went with him to Brittany, where she
became the mother of S. Winwalloe, Abbot of Lande-
vennec.

Near the church is S. Cadvan's Holy Well, now
in the yard of a soda-water manufactory, and covered
over and disregarded. Formerly it was much re-
sorted to for baths.

From Towyn the Dysynni valley should be as-
cended to Tal-y-Llyn. The lake occupies the trough
of a valley, and is a mile and a quarter long and a
quarter of a mile wide, and is one of the most fished
lakes in Wales. Although the Dysynni is full of
salmon and sewin, these fish do not enter the lake,
or, if they do, lose all their sporting instincts. The
brooks that feed the lake absolutely swarm with
trout, very small, but very delicious ; and so the
cormorants find them who sit on Craig Aderyn, a
magnificent projecting rock down the valley, and
dream off their last meal till appetite wakes them
and they wing their way, now to fish in the sea and
then to go inland for the trout in the lake and its
tributaries.

At Towyn there is sea-fishing for others beside
cormorants. Good bass angling with a fly can be had
where the river enters the sea, and " these somewhat

3o8 MACHYNLLETH

ungainly productions," says that enthusiastic sports-
man Mr. Lloyd Price, " supposed to be the most
useful adjuncts to the art, with their red bodies, white
and yellow wings, ephemerae of scorn to the salmon-
fishers, displa}- their crude and vulgar proportions in
the windows of almost every shop in the town."

The ascent of Cader Idris can be made from the
head of Tal-y-Llyn Lake, and thence the cirque of
Cwm Cowarch should be visited, and the wondrous
tarn Llyn Caer lying, as it were, at the bottom of a
crater.

Near Towyn is Llanegryn, on a height command-
ing a glorious view, and the church contains a
magnificent rood-screen and loft in excellent preser-
vation. In this parish is Peniarth, the house of the
W}'nns, with its precious legacy of Welsh MSS. The
church is crowded with Wynn monuments.

The Wynns are of Irish extraction, deriving from
one Osborn Wyddel (the Irishman), who came over
in the thirteenth century, and obtained by marriage
an estate in Merioneth. He is supposed to have been
a junior of the House of the Geraldines, but the
evidence is not satisfactory. The family soon became
thoroughly Welsh, as far as names go, bearing those
of Llewelyn, Gruffydd, Einion, lorwerth, and quarter-
ing the arms of Owen Gwynedd.

Peniarth came to them through marriage with an
heiress of the Williams family, whose arms, two foxes
counter-salient, form a sign and give a name to many
an inn in the Williams- Wynn country, which extends
over a large portion of North Wales.

The name of W}'nn was not adopted till the

WELSH NAMES 309

sixteenth century. Before that the sons were all
aps. The adoption of surnames in Wales that be-
came fixed and hereditary began in single instances
with Welshmen who had become familiar with Eng-
lish customs, but it was not general until Rowland
Lee, Bishop of Lichfield and President of Wales and
the Marches, when calling over the panel of a jury
one day, became weary of the repetition of the ap,
and directed that "the ancient and worshipful gentle-
man " Thomas ap William ap Thomas ap Richard ap
Howel ap lefan Fychan, etc., of Mostyn, and the
rest of the jury, should thenceforth severally assume
as a surname either their last genealogical name or
that of their residence. Lee died in 1543. Many of
the names one meets with in Wales are thus derived :
Bowen is ab Owen, Price is ap Rhys, Pritchard is ap
Richard, Bevan is ab Evan, etc. ; and John Jones is
John son of Jones, and Thomas Evans is Thomas
the son of Evan.

When the Welshmen took to giving themselves
surnames, very few adopted place-names ; but there
are some — as Glynne, Trevor, Mostyn. Fewer still
assumed such as were descriptive — as Gwyn (White),
Llwyd, or Lloyd (Gray).

The majority took patronymic names, and thus
we have such swarms of Joneses, Williamses, Davieses,
Evanses, Robertses, and Thomases. It has become
a real nuisance. " It is impossible," says a recent
writer, "to estimate the inconveniences, the annoy-
ance, and even the suffering, occasioned by this
unnecessary dearth of Welsh surnames, and the con-
tinued multiplication of the comparatively few in

3IO MACHYNLLETH

popular use. Indeed, our surnames are so few in
number that they ahuost swamp the population of
England in the statistics compiled to show which
are the most numerous family names in use among
us." *

To obviate the inconvenience, in Wales it is usual
to distinguish one Jones or Williams from another
by appending the name of his home or his profession,
or a descriptive epithet ; but this serves its purpose
only when he is in his native country.

Four of the Welsh members of Parliament bear
the name of Thomas ; and while all share a common
initial, two have no other.

" What tales of infinite trouble and everlasting
worry our Post Office officials in Wales could tell !
How often have our local postmasters to implore
persons of the same name, or of the same name and
like initials, in the postal districts, to come to some
amicable arrangement as to the delivery of their
letters and telegrams ! "

In a Carnarvonshire will case, heard in July, 1894,
the number of Joneses and Robertses called as wit-
nesses during the two days that the action lasted
threw judges and counsel engaged into a condition
of absolute bewilderment, and turned the court into
a patronymical Bedlam.

Sometimes parents, with national enthusiasm, have
their sons christened with a truly Welsh name, and
are not always careful to select such as will pass
smoothly over English tongues, should these sons,
on growing up, go out of the Principality. Such

* Transactions of the Cymmrodorion Society , 1 903.

THE ARMS OF WALES 311

was the case with a Rev. T. Mydir Evans, who in
England became " Passon Murder Evans." And
what stumbhng has been caused over the name of
Dr. Gwenogfryn Evans at Oxford !

It was at Bishop Lee's suggestion, and in the year
of his death, that the shires of Wales were formally
constituted, though earlier, in 1535, the counties of
Denbigh, Montgomery, Merioneth, Glamorgan, Bre-
con, and Radnor had been constructed out of the old
Marches of Wales.

In conclusion, a word must be added relative to
the arms of Wales and the three feathers of its
Prince's crest.

Coats -of- arms were assumed and changed very
arbitrarily in early days, and there does not seem to
have been any fixed rule as to those borne by the
several princes. Owen Gwynedd is said to have had
on his shield vert, three eagles in fess or, membered
and beaked gules, and these are quartered by the
Wynns of Peniarth.

But Rhodri the Great had four banners carried
before him on which were depicted lions, to represent
the principalities of Gwynedd, Powys, Deheubarth,
and the Isle of Man, over which his rule extended.
Yet the red dragon was the symbol and ensign of
the Pendragon, or chief king.

A lion rampant appears to have been the favourite
bearing of the princes of Powys. Gruffydd ab
Cynan of Gwynedd bore three lions passant gardant
in pale argent incensed azure.

Lewis Dwnn, in his Heraldic Visitations of IVa/t's,
says that " the recognised arms of the Principality

312 MACHYNLLETH

were four lions passant gardant quarterly, and that
is the coat now accepted for Wales."

The red dragon was used by Henry VII. as his
crest, and as a supporter on the dexter side, and on
the sinister, the greyhound of York.

Henry VIII. retained the dragon, but discarded
the greyhound for a lion. The unicorn supplanted
the dragon in the reign of James I. The ostrich
feather was not properly a Welsh crest at all, but
was employed as a badge by Edward III. It was
not till the reign of Henry VII. that the three plumes,
to represent the three principalities of Wales, in a
circlet or coronet, were adopted as a cognisance of
the Prince of Wales, and since then have remained
as an appropriate symbol ; for, indeed, Gwynedd,
Povvys, and Deheubarth are feathers in the cap of
our princes of which they may well be proud.

INDEX

Aberdaron, 1 16, 119.

— Dick of, 147.

Aberflraw, 13, 46.

Aberhafesp, 275-6.

Aberystwyth, 297-8.

Achau y Saint, 99.

Aelhaiarn, Saint, no, 259, 286.

Agricola, 22-4.

Alan Barbetorte, 8.

Albert Davies, 85-7.

Allee couverte, 78.

Alun river, 180

Ambrose, 92-3.

Amlwch, 37.

Anarawd, 164.

Anglesey, 5, 6, 22-45, 76-81.

Anne Griffiths, 268-9.

Aran, 302.

Arderydd, 94.

Ardudwy, 240.

Arniorica, 8.

Asaph, Saint, 145-53.

Baldwin, Archbishop, 66-7.
Bangor, 63-70.
Bards, 202-9.
Bardsey, 1 14-6.
Barmouth, 206, 236.
Beaumaris, 29.
Beddgelerl, 102.

Benefices, hereditary, loo-l.

Benin, 179, 180.

Berain, 147.

Breakwater, 58.

Beuno, Saint, 120-3.

Boxer, 288-90.

Bran, 232-3.

Bronwen, 232-4.

Brython, 3.

Buttington, 251.

Cadell Deyrnllwg, 179-S0.

Cader Idris, 206, 208.

Cadvan, Saint, 306-7.

Cadwaladr, 47, 50-1.

Cadwallon, 47-50.

Cadwgan ab Bleddyn, 253-6.

Caer, 15.

Caergybi, 51.

Caersws, 276-7.

Camps, 60, 107, 141 -2, 196,

250.
Canonisation, 116.
Cantref y Gwaelod, 133, 138,

239-40.
Capel Cuiig, 105.
Capel y Llochwyd, 57.
Carnarvon, 74.
Cam Fadryn, 109.
Castles, 15.

313

314

INDEX

Caswallon Long-hand, 24-6.

Catherine of Berain, 147-9.

Cefn, 152.

Celibacy, 277-8.

Ceredig, 5.

Chartists, 282-4.

Chester, 6.

Church lands, 100.

Clynnog, 120.

Collen, Saint, 184-6.

Colwyn, 136-7.

Conan Meiriadog, 149-51.

Conger eel, 263.

Conway, 96, 125-30.

Cormac MacAirt, 4.

Corwen, 195.

Criccieth, 107, iii.

Cromlech, 3.

Cuneglas, 280, 304.

Cursing well, 136-7.

Cybi, Saint, 53-6, iio-ii.

Cymmer Abbey, 209.

Cymri, 7.

Cytiau'r Gwyddelod, 60, 196, 236.

David ap Gruftydd, 94-5, 160-I.

— Gam, 292, 296-7.

— Llwyd, 294-300.

— Manuel, 157.

— Owen, 156.

Deganwy, 13, 17, 130, 132, 143.

Deheubarth, 15, 16.

Deiniol, Saint, 63.

Denbigh, 163-72.

Deorham, 6,

Derwen, 180.

Dick of Aberdaron, 147.

Dinas Bran, 186-7.

— Mawddwy, 300, 303.
Divisions of Wales, 10.

Dog-tongs, 67-8.

Dolbadarn, 94.

Dolgelley, 205-9.

Dolobran, 266.

Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 167-8.

Dwynwen, Saint, 81-2.

Dysynni valley, 307.

Edward L, 18, 19, 95, 125, 160.

— IL, 161-2, 166-7.

Edwen, Saint, 70.

Edwin, 26, 47-9.

Efflam, 36.

Egryn, 241.

Einion, 36-7, 114.

Elen, 74-5, 149.

Elian, Saint, 38-9.

Eliseg, 189, 190.

Ellis Wynne, 236-9.

Elphin, 143.

English race, 10.

Fires, 242-3.
Fishing, 207-8, 305-8.
Forest, Friar, 198-9.
Frog, 268.

Gabriel Goodman, 177.

Gam, David, 292, 296-7.

Gelert, 102-5.

George Herbert, 246-7.

Germanus, Saint, 93, 179.

Ghost story, 257-9.

Giants, 152.

Giidas, 9, 32-3, 55, 101-2, 178,

278-80.
Glasfryn, 113.
Goblin Tower, 166.
Goidels, 3-4.
Goronwy Owen, 42-4.

INDEX

315

Grace Evans, 252-4.
Green, Mr., 9.
Grey de Ruthin, 176-7, 292.
Gruftydd ab Llewelyn, 229-10.
Guilsfield, 259.
Gwenwynwyn, 17.
Gwyddfarch, 261.
Gwyddno, 133, 143. 239-
Gwynedd, 10, 16.
Gwynog, Saint, 279-80.

Hafod, 15.
Harlech, 231, 234-6.
Harold, 64, 159.
Harp, 201-2.
Hebrew affinities, 2.
Helmsley, 155.
Hendre, 15.
Hengwrt, 211.
Henry I., 191-3.

— IV., 292-8.

— VH., 299.

Henry Williams, 286-8.

Hirlas Horn, 87-8.

Holyhead, 51-62.

Holy wells, 30, 35, Si-2, 1 10,

136, 151, 260, 307.
Hugh, Earl of Chester, 26, 76,

132, 197.

Shrewsbury, 77.

Hwyl, 278.

Iberian, 2.
Interludes, 218-22.
lolo Goch, 120, 175.
Irddw, 113.

John Williams, 211-12.
Jordan, Mrs., 17 1-2.

Language, Welsh, 2.

Latimer, Hugh, 198-9.

Lazy tongs, 67-8.

Lewis Morris, 40-1.

— Owen, 202-3.

Llanaber, 240.

Llanbabo, 35.

Llanbadrig, 39-40.

Llanberis, 99.

Llandegla, 181.

Llanddona, 40.

Llandderfel, 197-9-

Llandrillo, 199.

Llandudno, 133.

Llandyssilio, 27.

Llanegryn, 308.

Llanaelhaiarn, no.

Llaneilian, 38-40.

Llanfihangel, 34.

Llanfyllin, 369.

Llangadwaladr, 47.

Llangollen, 183-9, 201.

Llangybi, iio-ii.

Llangynyw, 267.

Llanidan, 68, 70.

Llanidloes, 281-4.

Llaniestyn, 35.

Llanllwchaiarn, 286.

Llanrhaiadr, 172.

Llansadwrn, 28.

Llanwnog, 279-80.

Llanwrwst, 180.

Llanymawddwy, 303.

Llanynys, 173.

Llewelyn ab Gruffydd, I7-I9>

94-6.
— ablorwerth, 16-17, 105.
Lleyn, 106-24.
Lloyd family, 265-6.

3i6

INDEX

Machynlleth, 291-g, 305.
Madog ab Meredydd, 264-5.

— Min, Bishop, 64.

— the Navigator, 11 7- 18.
Madryn, Saint, 109.
Maelgwn Gwynedd, 31-3, 54-5,

130-1, 143-4, 303-
Maelor, 186-7.
Maen Llog, 269.
Mallwyd, 30 1.
March, King, 1 12-13.
Marchlyn, 89.
Married clergy, loi.
Mathafarn, 299-300.
Mathrafal, 262.
Maximus, 74-5.
Meifod, 161-4.
Meiriadog, 149.
Meirion ab Cunedda, 5.
Melangell, Saint, 199-200.
Melodies, Welsh, 153-8, 235.
ISIenai Straits, 26, 46.
Menhir, 3, 55
Mona, Zl-
Monnington, 299.
Montgomery, 244-7.
Morgan, 114.
Myddelton, Sir Hugh, 169-71.

Nannau, 210-11,

Nant Gwrtheyrn, 108.

Nevin, 107.

Newtown, 250, 271-5, 284.

Nithsdale, Lady, 252-4.

Nonconformity, 227-30.

Offa, 6, 245.
Ogam, 5.

Oliver Thomas, 155.
Ordovices, 23.

Owen ab Cadwgan, 19 1-3.

— Glyndwr, 65, 120, 174-6, 195,
234, 291-8,

— Goch, 94.

— Gwynedd, 66, 196.

— Tudor, 70-2.

Pabo post Prydain, 36.

Parry, Anne, 172.

Peniarth, 308.

Penmaenmawr, 137-8.

Penmon, 26-31.

Penmynydd, 73,

Pennant Melangell, 199-200.

Penrhyn, 83-7.

Penstrowed, 275.

Piers de Gaveston, 166.

Piro, 115.

Plague, 130-2.

Plas Eliseg, 190.

Plas Newydd, 78.

Plate-tracery, 194.

Porch, dripping, 70.

Port Madoc, 107.

Pot-girl, 73-4.

Powys, lo-li, 16.

— Castle, 256-9.

— Land Club, 270.
Prehistoric periods, 141.
Prince of Wales, 161.
Pryce, Sir John, 271-4.
Puffin Island, 30-1.
Pwllheli, 107, 116.

Red Wharf Bay, 36.
Red-haired Banditti, 301-2.
Reformation, 229.
Rhodri the Great, 10, 16, 312.
Rhuddlan, 153, 158, 161-2.
Richard II., 162.

INDEX

Z^7

Richard Gwynn, 281-2.

— Malvine, 219-30.
Robber's Grave, 247-50.
Robert Davies, 2S8-9.

— Owen, 284-6.
Roman Steps, 241.
Rothesay Castle, 34.
Ruthin, 174-9.

Sadwrn, Saint, 28.
Screens, rood, 38, 114, i{

271, 308.
Sea-birds, 59.
Seiriol, Saint, 30, 55-6.
Serigi, 25, 52.
Shrewsbury, 296.
Shrine, 69.
Snowdon, 90.
Si)uth Stack, 59,
Strata Marcella, 252, 269.
Submerged forests, 139.

Taliessin, 143-4, 203.
Tal y Llyn.
Towyn, 306-7.

247,

Tre'r Ceiri, 107.
Tudor family, 71.
Tydecho, Saint, 303-4.
Tyfrydog's Thief, 55.
Tyssilio, Saint, 27, 261-4.

Ursula, Saint, 149-50.

Vale Crucis, 189, 190.
Vikings, 12.
Vortigern, 91-3, 108-9.
Vyrnwy, Lake, 267-8.

Welsh arms, 311-12.

— characteristics, 213-17.

— courtships, 215.

— names, 311-12.

— preachers, 225-7.
Welshpool, 250-8, 269-70.
William Owen Pugh, 241-2.
William the Conqueror, 12-13.
Williams, Archbishop, 126-9.
Wynn family, 308-9.

Yews, 260.

PLYMOUTH

WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON

rRINTERS

A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS

AND ANNOUNCEMENTS OF

METHUEN AND COMPANY

PUBLISHERS : LONDON

36 ESSEX STREET

W.C.

CONTENTS

AN'NOUNCEMENTS, .
GENERAL LITERATUKE, .

METHUEn's standard I.ir.KARY,

BYZANTINE TEXTS,

LITTLE LIBRARY, .

LITTLE GUIDES, .

LITTLE BIOGRAPHIES, .

LITTLE BLUE BOOKS

LIBRARY OK DEVOTION,

\\p;STMINSTER COMMENTARIES,

HAN'nBOOKS OF THIiOLOCY, .

churchman's LIBRARY,

churchman's r.IBl.E, .

8-26
26
27
27

PAGE
29
29
30
30
30

leaders of religion,

SOCIAL questions OF TO-DAY,
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES,
COMMERCIAL SERIES, .
CLASSICAL TRANSLATIONS, .
METHUEN's JUNIOR SCHOOL-BOOKS, 31
SCHOOL EXAMINATION SERIES, . 31

TEXTBOOKS OF TECHNOLOGY, . 31

FICTION, 31-39

THE FLEUR DE LIS NOVELS, . . 39

BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS, . 40

THE NOVELIST, .... 40

METHUEN's SIXPENNY LIBRAKY, . 40

APRIL 1903

April 1903

Messrs. Methuen'S

ANNOUNCEMENTS

BY COMMAND OF THE KING

THE CORONATION OF EDWARD VII. By J. E. C

EODLEY, Author of ' France.' Deviy 8vo.
This important bjok is the official history of the Coronation, and has been written
by the distinguished author of ' France,' by command of the King himself. The
Coronation is the central subject, and of it a detailed account is given. But
the book is in no sense an occasional volume, and the Ceremony is treated, not
as an isolated incident, but as an event belonging to European and Imperial history.
At the end of the work there will bean appendix containing official list ofallthe
persons invited to the Abbey, and also lists drawn up with some historical detail of
the Colonial and Indian troops who assisted at the Ceremony. It will therefore be
an historical document of permanent value and interest.

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF CHARLES LAMB. Edited

by E. V. Lucas. With numerous Illustrations, In Seven Vohwies.

Demy ivo. Js. 6d. each.

This new edition of the works of Charles and Mary Lamb, in five volumes (to be

followed by two volumes containing the Letters), will be found to contain a

large quantity of new matter both in prose and verse— several thousand words in

all. Mr. E. V. Lucas, the editor, has attempted in the notes, not only to relate

Lamb's writings to liis life, but to account for all his quotations and allusions—

an ideal of thoroughness far superior to any that previous editors have set before

themselves. A Life of Lamb by Mr. Lucas will follow in the autumn.

FLORENCE, HER HISTORY AND ART. By F. A. Hyett.
Demy %vo. Ts. 6d.
This work is intended to occupy a middle position between the Guides and Histories
of Florence. It tells the story of the rise and fall of the Republic consecutively,
but more succinctly than the works of Napier, Trollope, or Villari, while it treats
of Florentine Art and Letters parenthetically but more systematically than has
been done by either of these writers.

THIRTY YEARS IN AUSTRALIA. By Mrs. Cross (Ada
Cambridge). Demy 2>vo. 7s. 6d.

A highly interesting account of a generation in Australia by a distinguished
writer. Mrs. Cross's style is picturesque, and the book is more attractive than
many novels. The early difficulties of Australian settlers, life in the towns and
life on the farms are vividly described.

THE LAND OF THE BLACK MOUNTAIN. The Adven-
tures of Two Engli.shmen in Montenegro. By R. WvoN and G.
Prance. With 51 Illustrations. Crown Svo. 6s.

Messrs. Methuen's Announcements 3
letters from a self-made merchant to his

SON. By George Horace Lorimer. With Eighteen Illustra-
tions. Crown 8vo. 6s.
This book is a masterpiece of humour and sound sense. It purports to be a collection
of letters written by J. (".raham, head of a great packing company in Chicago, to
his son Pierrepont, and it describes in a racy and interesting form the secrets of
success in business and in life.

WHEN I WAS A CHILD. liy An Old Potter. With
an Introduction V)y Rohert Spence Watson. Crozvn ?,vo. Gs.

THE STORY OF GENERAL BACON : A Short Biography

of a Peninsular and Waterloo \'eteran. By Alnod J. Boger.
With Portraits. Crown %vo. 6s,

A BOOK OF THE COUNTRY AND THE GARDEN.
By H. M. Batson. Illustrated by F. Carruthers Gould and
A. C. Gould. Demy "ivo. \os. 6a'.

SHAKESPEARE'S GARDEN. By J. Harvey Bloom.
With Illustrations. Fcap. ivo. y. 6d. ; leather, ^s. 6d. net.

A CONCISE HANDBOOK OF HERBACEOUS PLANTS.
By II. M. Batson. Fc-ap. ?>vo. y. 6d.

A very complete and concise guide in alphabetical order.

THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG: An Interpretation
embodying Wagner's own explanation, by Alice Leighton
Cleather and Basil Crump. Fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d.

A BOOK OF EXMOOR. By F. J. Snell. Illustrated. Croum
2,vo, 6s.

This book deals with a variety of topics, embracing legend, folklore, dialect, sport,
biography, history, and natural history, and renders accessible to the public a mass
of particulars hitherto attainable only in expensive monographs or in scattered
periodicals. The author has been at immense pains to consult every known source
of information, both printed and oral ', antl his aim has been to produce, not so much
a guide-book, but something more satisfying and substantial, viz. an exhaustive
account of the matters in question. There are numerous illustrations.

CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. By J. F. Bethune Baker.
DcmyZvo. los. 6d. \Haitdbooks of TJuology.

THE PRECES PRIVATAE OF LANCELOT ANDREWES.
Translated with an Introduction and Notes, by F. E. Brightman,
M.A. , of Puscy House, Oxford. Crown ?,vo. 6s.
This elaborate work h.is been in preparation for many years, and is the most com-
plete edition that has eier been pul)Iished of the famous devotions. It contains a
long Introduction, with numerous Notes and References.

THE SPIRIT AND ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN MONASTI-

CISM. By James O. Hannay, M.A. Crown 2.vo. 6s.
THIRTEEN SATIRES OF JUVENAL. Translated by S. G.

Owen. Cnna?t8vo. 2s. 6d. \^Classical Translations.

THE ENGLISH SUNDAY. By E. R. Bernard, M..A, Canon

of .Salisbury. Fcap.%vo. is. 6d.
THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF ENGLAND AND

WALES. By John IIuguks. With a Prefatory Note by Ellis

J. Griffith. Crown 8vo. ^s. 6d.

4 Messrs. Methuen's Announcements

THE EDUCATION ACT— AND AFTER. An Appeal
addressed to the Nonconformists. By H. Hensley Henson, B.D.,
Canon of Westminster. Crown %vo. is.

Z\iC Xlttle Xlbrarg

Poit 8vo, cloth, \s, 6d. net ; leather, 2s. 6d. net each volume.
THE ROMANY RYE. By GEORGE Borrow. With Notes
and an Introduction by John Sampson.

ESMOND. By W. M. Thackeray. Edited by Stephen

GWYNN.

A LITTLE BOOK OF ENGLISH SONNETS. Edited by
J. B. B. Nichols.

THE SCARLET LETTER. By Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Zhc BcDen Sbaftespeare

General Editor— W. J. Craig.
OTHELLO. Edited by H. C. Hart. Demy Zvo. ^s. 6d.
CYMBELINE. Editedby Edward Dowden. DemyZvo. 2,s.Gd.

Xlttlc JiSiograpbies

Cloth, y. dd. ; leather, d,s. net,
THE YOUNG PRETENDER. By C. S. Terry. With 12
Illustrations.

ROBERT BURNS. By T. F. Henderson. With 12 Illustra-
tions.

CHATHAM. By A. S. M'Dowall. With 12 Illustrations.

TENNYSON. By A. C. BENSON, M.A. With 12 Illustrations

Fcap. Svo.

XLbe Xittle (BuiDes

Pott Sz'O, cloth, 3^-. ; leather, 35. dd. net.
CORNWALL. By A. L. Salmon. Illustrated by B. C.
Boulter.

KENT. By G. CLINCH. Illustrated by F. D. Bedford.

HERTFORDSHIRE. By H. W. Tompkins, F.R.H.S. Illus-
trated by E. II. New.

ROME. By C. G. Ellaby. Illustrated by B. C. Boulter.
^bc Xibrarg of Devotion

Pott 8vo, cloth, 2s. ; leather, 2s. 6d, net.
GRACE ABOUNDING. By John Bunyan. Edited by
S. C. Freer, M.A.

Messrs. Methuen's Announcements 5

BISHOP WILSON'S SACRA PRIVATA. Edited by A. E
Burn, B.D.

THE DEVOTIONS OF ST. ANSELM. Edited by C. C. J.
Webb, M.A.

LYRA SACRA : A Book of Sacred Verse. Selected and edited
by H. C. Beeching, M.A. , Canon of Westminster.

Educational Books

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF TEXTILE
DESIGN. By Aldred F. Barker, Author of ' Pattern Analysis,'
etc. With numerous Diagrams and Illustrations. Demy Zvo.

AGRICULTURAL GEOLOGY. By J. E. Marr, F.R.S. With
numerous Illustrations. Croivn %vo. hs.

TECHNICAL ARITHMETIC AND GEOMETRY, for use
in Technical Institutes, Modern Schools and Workshops. By C.
T. MiLLis, M.I.M.E., Principal of the Borough Polytechnic
College. With Diagrams. Crown Zvo. 6j.

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. Edited by A. E. Rubie,
M.A. , Headmaster Royal Naval School, Eltham. Crown ^vo. zs.

[Methuen^ s Junior School Books.

A JUNIOR FRENCH GRAMMAR. By L. A. Sornet and
M. J. AcATOS, Modern Language Masters at King Edward's School,
Birmingham. Crown ^vo. 2s. ^Methuen^s Junior School Books.

THE STUDENTS' PRAYER BOOK. Part i. Morning
AND Evening Prayer and Litany. Edited by W. II.
Flecker, M.A., D.C.L., Headmaster of the Dean Close School,
Cheltenham. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d.

Fiction

LORD LEONARD THE LUCKLESS. By W. E. NORRIS.
Crown Svo. 6s,

THE BETTER SORT. By Henrv James. Cro7vn 8vo. 6s.

ANTHEA'S WAY. By Adeline Sergeant. Cro7vn 87'o. 6s.

OUTSIDE AND OVERSEAS. By G. Makgill. Crown
8vo. 6s.

THE SQUIREEN. By Shan. F. Bullock. Crown 8vo. 6s.
AUNT BETHIA'S BUTTON. By J. RANDAL. Crown 8vo. 6s.

6 Messrs. Methuen's Announcements

LOVE IN A LIFE. By Allan Monkhouse. Crown 8vo. 6s.

A MIXED MARRIAGE. By Mrs. Frank Penny. Cr. 8vo. 6s.

THE SWORD OF AZRAEL, a Chronicle of the Great Mutiny.
By R. E. Forrest, Crown Zvo. 6j.

A FREE LANCE OF TO-DAY. By Hugh Clifford.
Crown ?>vo. 6s.

A STRETCH OFF THE LAND. By C. Stewart Bowles.
Crown Svo. 6s,

THE KNIGHT PUNCTILIOUS. By Arthur Moore.
Crown Svo. 6s.

THE POET'S CHILD. By Emma Brooke. Crown Svo. 6s.

THE DIVERTED VILLAGE. By Grace Rhys. With
Illustrations by DOROTHY GwYN Jeffries. Crown Svo. 6s.

THE RED HOUSE. By E. Nesbit. Illustrated. Crown
Svo. 6s.

WORLD'S PEOPLE. By Julien Gordon. Crown Zvo. 6s.

THE CYNIC AND THE SYREN. By J. W. Mayall.
Crown Svo. 6s.

A BRANDED NAME. By J. Bloundelle Burton. Crown
Svo. 6s,

SILENT DOMINION. By Winefride Trafford-Taunton.

Crown Svo, 6s,

THE MACHINATIONS OF THE MYO-OK. By Cecil
Lewis. Crown Svo, 6s.

ABRAHAM'S SACRIFICE. By Gustaf Janson. CrownZvo,
6s,

PLAIN AND VELDT. By J. H. M. Abbot, Author of 'Tommy
Cornstalk.' Crown Svo. 6s.

BY A FINNISH LAKE. By Paul Waineman. Crown
Svo. 6s.

A LOST ESTATE. By Mary E. Mann. A New Edition.

Crown Svo. 6s,

THE PARISH OF HILBY. By Mary E. Mann. A New
Edition. Crown Svo. 6s,

LITTLE TU'PENNY. By S. Baring-GouLD. A New Edition
Crown Svo. 6d,

Messrs. Methuen's Announcements 7
four novels transferred

New Editio7is. Crown %vo. 3^. bd. each.

TALES OF SPACE AND TIME. By H. G. Wells.
WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES. By H. G. Wells.
LOVE AND MR. LEWISHAM. By H. G. Wells.
THE INVISIBLE MAN. By H. G. Wells.

Ube Novelist

Messrs. Metiiurn are issuing under the above general title a Monthly
Series of Novels by popular authors at the price of Sixpence. Each
Number is as long as the average Six Shilling Novel.

Jan. DRIFT. By L. T. MEADE.

Feb. THE MASTER OF BEECHWOOD. By Adeline

Sergeant.
March. CLEMENTINA. By A. E. W. Mason.
April. THE ALIEN. By F. F. Montresor.
May. THE BROOM SQUIRE. By S. Baring-Gould.
June. HONEY. By HELEN Mathers.

July. THE FOOTSTEPS OF A THRONE. By Max

Pemberton.

IX. A FLASH OF SUMMER.

By Mrs. W. K. Clifford,
in place 0/' The Adventure of Princess Sylvia.'

Jan.
Feb.
March,
April.

May.

Ju7ie.

July.

A STATE SECRET. By B. M. Croker.
SAM'S SWEETHEART. By Helen Mathers.
HANDLEY CROSS. By R. S. Surtees.
ANNE MAULEVERER. By Mrs. Caffyn.
THE ADVENTURERS. By H. B. Marriot Watson.
THE CEDAR STAR. By Mary E. Mann.
MASTER OF MEN. By E. P. Oppenheim.
WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES. By H. G. Wells.
THE TRAIL OF THE SWORD. By Gilbert
Parker.

A CATALOGUE OF

Messrs. Methuen's

PUB Lie ATI ONS

Part I. — General Literature

Jacob Abbot, the BEECHNUT BOOK.
J^dited by E. V. Lucas. Illustrated.
Veiny 161HO. az/o. 2S. i>d,

[Little Blue Books.
W. F. Adeney, M.A. See Bennett and

Adeney.
iEscliylUS. AGAMEMNON, CHOEPHO-
ROE, EUMENIDES. Translated by
Lewis Campbell, LL. D. , late Professor of
Greek at St. Andrews, ^s.

[Classical Translations.
G. A. Aitken. See Swift.
William Alexander, D.D., Archbishop of

Armagh. THOUGHTS AND COUN-
SELS OF MANY YEARS. Selected
from the writings of Archbishop Alex-
ander. Square Pott %vo. zs. 6d.
Aristophanes. THE FROGS. Translated
into English by E. W. Huntingford, M.A.,
Professor of Classics in Trinity College,
Toronto. Crown Zvo. 2S. 6d.

Aristotle. THENICOMACHEAN

ETHICS. Edited, with an Introduction
and Notes, by John Burnet, M.A., Pro-
fessor of Greek at St. Andrews. Demy Zvo.
I Si. net.

' We have seldom, if ever, seen an edition
of any classical author in which what is held
in common with other commentators is so
clearly put, and what is original is of such
value and interest. ' — Pilot,

J. B. Atkins. THE RELIEF OF LADY-
SMITH. With 16 Plans and Illustrations.
Third Edition. Crown Zvo. 6s.

J. B. Atlay. See R. H. Barham.

St. Augustine, THE CONFESSIONS OF.
Newly Translated, with an Introduction
and Notes, by C. Bigg, D.D., late Student
of Christ Church. Third Edition. Pott
Zvo, Cloth, 2S ; leather, zs. td. net.

[Library of Devotion.

' The translation is an excellent piece of

English, and the introduction is a masterly

exposition. We augur well of a series which

begins so satisfactorily.' — Times,

Jane Austen. PRIDE and preju-
dice. Edited by E. V. Lucas. Tzuo
Volumes. Pott Zvo, Each volume, cloth,
IS. td.; leather, is. dd. net. [Little Library.

NORTHANGER abbey. Edited by E.
V.Lucas. Pott Zvo. Cloth,Ts.6d.; leather,
2s. 6d. net. [Little Library.

Constance Bache. BROTHER musi-
cians. Reminiscences of Edward and
Walter Bache. With i6 Illustrations.
Crown Zvo. 6s. net.

R. S. S. Baden-Powell, Major-General.
THE DOWNFALL OF PREMPEH. A
Diary of Life in Ashanti, 1895. With 21
Illustrations and a Map. Third Edition.
Large Crown Zvo. 6s.

THE MATABELE CAMPAIGN, 1896.
With nearly 100 Illustrations. Fottrth and
Cheaper Edition. Large Croivn Zvo. 6s.

Graham Balfour. THE LIFE OF

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. Second
Edition. Two Volumes. Demy Zvo, 25^.
net.

' Mr. Balfour has done his work extremely
well — done it, in fact, as Stevenson himself
would have wished it done, with care and
skill and affectionate appreciation.' — West-
minster Gazette.
S. E. BaUy. A FRENCH COMMERCIAL
READER. With Vocabulary. Second
Edition. Crown Zvo. 2s.

[Commercial Series.
FRENCH COMMERCIAL CORRE-
SPONDENCE. With Vocabulary. Third
Edition, Crown Zvo. 2s.

[Commercial Series.
A GERMAN COMMERCIAL READER.
With Vocabulary. Crown Zvo. 2S.

[Commercial Series.
GERMAN COMMERCIAL CORRE-
SPONDENCE. With Vocabulary. Cro7un
Zzo. 2S. 6d. [Commercial Series.

Elizabeth L. Banks. THE AUTO-
BIOGRAPHY OF A 'NEWSPAPER

General Literature

GIRL.' With Portrait of the Author and
her Dog. Croivn ivo. ts.

' A picture of a strenuous and busy life,
perhaps the truest and most faithful repre-
sentation of the ups and downs of a lady
journalist's career ever given to the public.
A very lively and interesting book.' — Daily
Telegraph.

'A very amusing, cheery, good-natured
account of a young lady's journalistic
struggle in America and London.' — Times.

R. H. Barharn. THE IN GOLDS BY

LEGENDS. EditedbyJ. B. Atlay. Two
I 'oluincs. Pott 8vo. EacJi 7Jolume, cloth,
IS. 6d. net ; leather, 2S. 6il. net.

[The Little Library.
S. Baring-Gould, Author of ' Mehalah,' etc.
THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONA-
PARTE. With over 450 Illustrations in
the Text, and 12 Photogravure Plates.
Gilt top. Large quarto. 36^.

'The main feature of this gorgeous
volume is its great wealth of beautiful
photogravures and finely-executed wood
engravings, constituting a complete pic-
torial chronicle of Napoleon I.'s personal
history.' — Daily Telegraph.

THE TRAGEDY OF 'THE C^SARS.
With numerous Illustrations from Busts,
Oems, Cameos, etc. Fifth Edition.
Royal %vo. t^s.

'A most splendid and fascinating book
on a subject of undying interest. It is
brilliantly written, and the illustrations are
supplied on a scale of profuse magnificence. '
— Daily Chronicle.
A BOOK OF F.\IRY TALES. With
numerous Illustrations and Initial Letters
by Arthur J. Gaskin. Second Edition.
Croivn 8vo. Buckram, ds.
OLD ENGLISH FAIRY TALES. With
numerous Illustrations by F. D. Bedford.
Second Edition. Cr. Svo. Buckram. 6s.

'A charming volume.' — Guardian.
THE CROCK OF GOLD. Fairy Stories.
Cro-rnn ?,vo. 6s.

' Twelve delightful fairy tales.' — Punch.

THE VICAR OF MORWENSTOW : A
Biography. A new and Revised Edition.
With Portrait. Croivn St'o. 35-. 6d.

A completely new edition of the well-
known biography of R. S. Hawker.

DARTMOOR : A Descriptive and Historical
Sketch. With Plans and numerous Illus-
trations. Croivn 8to. 6s.

' A most delightful guide, companion and
instructor.' — .Scotsman.

THE BOOK OF THE WEST. With
numerous Illustrations. Two volumes.
Vol. I. Devon. .Second Edition. Vol. 11.
Cornwall. Second Edition. Crown Svo.
6s. each.

' Bracing as the air of Dartmoor, the
legend weird as twilight over Dozmare Pool,
they give us a very good idea of this en-
chanting and beautiful district.' — Guardian.
A BOOK OF BRITTANY. With numerous
Illustrations. Crown Svo. 6s.

Uniform in scope and size with Mr.
Baring-Gould's well-knownbookson Devon,
Cornwall, and Dartmoor.
BRITTANY. Illustrated by Miss J. WyliE.
Pott Sz/o. Cloth, y. ; leather, 3^-. 6d. net.
[The Little Guide.s.
'A dainty representative of "The Little
Guides." ' — Times.

'An excellent little guide-book.' — Daily
News.
OLD COUNTRY LIFE. With 67 Illustra-
tions. Fifth Edition. Large Cr. Zvo. 6s.
AN OLD ENGLISH HOME. With numer-
ous Plans and Illustrations. Cr. Zi'o. 6s.
HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE
EVENTS. Fifth Edition. Cr. Zvo. 6s.

YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND
STRANGE EVENTS. Fifth Edition.
Crown Zvo. 6s.

STRANGE SURVIVALS AND SUPER-
STITIONS. Second Edition. Cr.Zvo. 6s.

A GARLAND OF COUNTRY SONG:
English Folk Songs with their Traditional
Melodies. Collected and arranged by
S. Baring-Gould and H. F. Sheppard.
Demy ^to. 6s.

SONGS OF THE WEST: Traditional
Ballads and Songs of the West of England,
with their Melodies. Collected by S.
Baring- Gould, M.A., and H. F. Shep-
pard, M.A. In 4 Parts. Parts /., //.,
///., 3.?. each. Part /K, sj. /n One
Volume, French Morocco, 15^.

'A rich collection of humour, pathos,
grace,and poetic fancy.' — Saturday Kei'iew.

W. E. Barnes, D.D. is A i ah. t^vo

Volumes. Leap. Zvo. ^s. net each. Vol. i.
With Map. [Churchman's Bible.

Mrs. P. A. Harnett. A LITTLE liOOK
OF ENGl^ISH PROSE. Pott Zvo.
Cloth, is. 6d. net; leather, 2s. 6d. net.

[Little Library.

R. R. N Baron, M.A. FRENCH PROSE
COMPOSITION. Crown Zvo. 2s. 6d.
Key, y. net.

H. M. Barron, M.A.. Wadham College,
Oxford. TEXTS FOR SERMONS. With
a Preface by Canon Scott Holland.
Crown Zvo. 3^. 6d

C. F. Bastable, M.A., Professor of Econ-
omics at Trinity College, Dublin. THE
COMMERCE OF NATIONS. Second
Edition. Crown &7'0 2s. 6d.

[Social Questions Series.

H. M. BatSOn. See Edward FitzGerald.

A 2

Messrs. Metiiuen's Catalogue

A Hulme BeamaiL PONS ASINORUI^I ;

OR, A GUIDE TO BRIDGE. Second
Edition. Fcap. ?>vo. is.
W. S. Beard, Headmaster Modern School,
Fareham. JUNIOR ARITHMETIC
EXAMINATION PAPERS. Fcap. Src
\s. [Junior Examination Series.

Peter Beckford. THOUGHTS ON
HUNTING. Edited by J. Otho Paget,
and Illustrated by G. H. Jalland. Demy

Sc'<7. lot. M.

William Beckford. THE HISTORY OF

THJC CALIPH VATHEK. Edited by E.

Dkmson Ross. Pott Zvo. Cloth, -is. td.

net; leather, ■zsdd. net. [Little Library.
F. D. Bedford. See E. V. Lucas.
H. C. Beeching, M.A. See Tennyson.
Jacob Behmen. THE SUPERSENSUAL

LIFE. Edited by Bernard Holland.

Fcap. Sto. 3S. 6d.
Hilaire Belloc. PARIS. With Maps and

Illustrations. Croiuii Svo, 6s.
H. H. L. Bellot, M.A. THE INNER
AND MIDDLE TEMPLE. With numer-
ous Illustrations. Crown Zvo. 6s. net.

'A vast store of entertaining material.' —
Liverpool Mercury.

'A delightful and excellently illustrated
book ; a real encyclopaedia of Temple his-
tory.'—/'/7c/.

W. H. Bennett, M.A.. A PRIMER OF
THE BIBLE. Second Edition. Crown
Svo. 2s. 6d.

'The work of an honest, fearless, and
sound critic, and an excellent guide in a
small compass to the books of the Bible.'
— Manchester Guardian.

W. H. Bennett and W. F. Adeney. A

BIBLICAL INTRODUCTION. Crown
Zvo. is. 6d.

' It makes available to the ordinary reader
the best scholarship of the day in the field
of Biblical introduction. We know of no
book which comes into competition with it.'
— .Manchester Guardian.
A. C. Benson. M.A. THE LIFE OF
LORD TENNYSON. With 12 Illustra-
tions. Fcap. Sva. Cloth, ^s. 6d. ; Leather,
^s. net, [Little Biographies.

R. M. Benson, the way of holi-
ness: a Devotional Commentary on the
119th Psalm. CrownZvo. ^s.

M. Bidez. See Parmentier.

C. Bigg, D.D. See St. Augustine, A Kempis,
.and William Law.

C. R. D. Biggs, B.D. THE EPISTLE TO
THEPHILIPPIANS. Edited by. Fcap.
8z'0. js. 6d. net. [Churchman's Bible.

' Mr. Biggs' work is very thorough, and
he has managed to compress a good deal of
information into a limited space."

— Guardian.

T. Herbert Bindley, B.D. THE OECU-
MENICAL DOCUMENTS OF THE
FAITH. With Introductions and Notes.
Crown avo. 6s.
A historical account of the Creeds.

William Blake. See Little Library.

B. Blaxland. M.A. "THE SONG OF
SONGS. Being Selections from St. Ber-
nard. Pott 2vo. Cloth, IS. ; leather, -is.
6d. net. [Library of Devotion.

George Body, D.D. THE SOUL'S PIL-
GRIMAGE : Devotional Readings from
his published and unpublished writings.
Selected and arranged by J. H. Burn,
B.D. PottZvo. 2s.6d.

Cardinal Bona. A GUIDE TO ETER-
NITY. Edited with an Introduction and
Notes, by J. W. Stanbkidge, B.D., late
Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford. Pott
Zvo. Cloth, is. ; leather, 2s. 6d. net.

[Library of Devotion.

F. C. Boon, B.A. A COMMERCIAL
GEOGRAPHY OF FOREIGN
NATIONS. Crown?,vo. 2S.

Commercial Series.

George Borrow. LAVENGRO. Edited

by F. HiNDES Groomk. T7V0 Volumes.
Pott 8vo. Each volume, cloth, is. 6d. net ;
leather, 2S. 6d. net. [Little Library.

J. Ritzema Bos. AGRICULTURAL

ZOOLOGY. Translated by J. R. Ains-
WORTH Davis, M.A. With an Introduction
by Eleanor A. Ormerod, F.E.S. With
155 Illustrations. Cr. Zvo. y. 6d.

C. G. Sotting, B.A. JUNIOR LATIN
EXAMINATION PAPERS._ Fccip. Zvo.is.

[Junior Examination Series.

EASY GREEK EXERCISES. Cr. Zvo. zs.

E. M. Bowden. THE EXAMPLE OK
BUDDHA : Being Quotations _ from
Buddhist Literature for each Day in the
Year. Third Edition. i6i>io. 2s. 6d.

E. Bowmaker. THE HOUSING OF
THE WORKING CLASSES. Croiv/t
Svo. 2S. 6d. [Social Questions Series.

F. O. Brabant, M.A. SUSSEX, illus-
trated by E. H. New. Pott Svo. Cloth,
2S. ; leather, 33-. 6d. net. [Little Guides.

' A charming little book ; as full of sound
information as it is practical in conception.'
— A theniEuni.
THE ENGLISH LAKES. Illustrated by
E. H. New. Pott ?,vo. Cloth, 4,?. ; leather,
^s. 6d. net. [The Little Guides.

Miss M. Br(Jflrick and Miss Anderson

Morton. A CONCISE HANDBOOK

OF EGYPTIAN ARCH/EOLOGY.

With many Illustrations. CrownSvo. 3s. 6d.
E. W. Brooks. See F. J. Hamilton.
C. L. Brownell. THE HEART OF

JAPAN. Illustrated. Cro-dm Zvo. 6s. _
' These lively pages are full of portraits

from the life.' — Morning Post,

General Literature

' It is the work of one who has lived in
Japan among the people.' — Atltencrum.

A more readable and interesting book
about Japan has not been written.'

— Scotsman.

Robert Browning. S E L E C T I O N .s
FROM THE EARLY POEMS OF.
With Introduction and Notes by W. Hall
Griffin. Pott Zvo. is. 6d. net. ; leather,
IS. 6d. net. [Little Library.

0. Browning, M.A. A SHORT HISTORY

OF MEULtVAL ITALY, a.d. 1250-1530.

In T2V0 Volutnes. Croivn Zvo. 5J. each.

Vol. 1. 1250-1409. — Guelphs and Ghibellines.

Vol. II. 1409-1530. — The Age of the Con-
dottieri.
J. Buclian. See Isaak \Valton.
Miss BuUey. See Lady Dilke.
John Bunyan. THE PILGRIM'S PRO-

GRI'JSS. Edited, with an Introduction,
by C. H. Firth, M.A. With 39 Illustra-
tions by R. Anning Bell. Cr. &vo. 6s.
'The best "Pilgrim's Progress.'"—

Educational Times.
G. J. Burcll, M.A., F.R.S. A MANUAL
OF ELECTRICAL SCIENCE. With
numerous Illustrations. Croiun Zvo. 7,s.

[University Extension Series.

Gelett Burgess. GOOPS AND HOW TO
HE THEM. With numerous Illustrations.
Small 4to. 6s.

A. E. Burn, B.D., Examining Chaplain to
the Bishop of Lichfield. AN INTRO-
DUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF
THE CREEDS. Demy Bro. lo^-. 6d.

[Handbooks of Theology.
' This book may be expected to hold its
place as an authority on its subject.' —
Spectator.

J. H. Burn, B.D., F.R.S.E. A MANUAL
OF CONSOLATION FROM THE
SAINTS AND FATHERS. Pott Zvo.
Cloth, 2S. ; leather, is. i>d. net.

[Library of Devotion.

Robert Burns. THE POEMS OF
ROBERT BURNS. Edited by Andrew
Lang and W. A. Ckaigie. With Portrait.
Second Edition. Demy Zvo, gilt toJ>. ds.

J. B. Bury, LL.D. See Gibbon.

Alfred Caldecott, D.D. THE PHIL-
OSOPHY OF RELIGION IN ENG-
LAND AND AMERICA. Demy Zvo.
10s. 6d. [ Handbooks of Tlieology.

'A lucid and informative account, which
certainly deserves a place in every philo-
sophical library.' — Scotsman.

D. S. CalderWOOd, Headmaster of the Nor-
mal School, Edinburch. TEST CARDS
IN EUCLID AND ALGEBRA. In three
packets of 40, with Answers, i^. each. Or
tn three Books, price 2d., 2d., and 31/.

E.F.H.Capey. THE LIFEOF ERASMUS.
With 12 Illustrations. Cloth, ^s. 6d. net;
leather, 4j. net. [Little Biographies.

Thomas Carlyle. THE FRENCH

REVOLUTION. Edited by C. R. L.
F'letcher, Fellow of Magdalen College,
Oxford. Three Volumes. Croivn Zto. 6s.
each. [Methuen's Standard Library.

R. M. and A. J. Carlyle, M.A. BISHOP

LATIMER. With Portrait. Crown Z~'n.
2S. 6d, [Leaders of Religion.

C. C. Channer and M. E. Roberts.

LACE-MAKING IN THE MIDLANDS,
PAST AND PRESENT. With 16 full-
page Illustrations. Croiun Zvo. 2S. 6d.

' An interesting book, illustrated by fasci-
nating photographs. ' — Speaker.

Lord Chesterfield, THE letters OF,

TO HIS SON. Edited, with an Intro-
duction, by C. Strachev, and Notes by
A. Cai.throi'. Tivo Volumes. Crown Zvo.
6s. each. [Methuen's Standard Library.

F. W. Christian. THE CAROLINE
ISLANDS. With many Illustrations and
Maps. Demy Zvo. iis. 6d. net.

Cicero. DE ORATORE I, Translated by

E. N. P. Moor, M.A. Croiun Zz'O. 3s. 6d.

[Classical Translation.^.

SELECT ORATIONS (Pro Milone, Pro
Murena, Philippic 11., In Catilinam). "Trans-
lated by H. E. D. Blakiston, M.A., Fellow
and Tutor of Trinity College, Oxford.
Crown Zz'O. 5s, [Classical Translations.

DE NATURA DEORUM. Translated
by F. Brooks, M.A., late Scholar of Balliol
College, Oxford. Croirn Zvo. ^s. 6d.

[Classical Translations.

DE OFFICIIS. Translated by G. B.
Gardiner, M.A. Crown Zvo. 2s. 6d.

[Classical Translations.

F.A. Cla,rke,M.A. BISHOP KEN. With

Portrait. Crown Zi>o. y. 6d.

[Leaders of Religion.
T. Oobb. THE CASTAWAYS OF

MEADOWBANK. Illustrated. Detny

i6mo. 2s. 6d. [Little Blue Books.

THE TREASURY OF PRINCEGATE

PRIORY. Illustrated. Demy i6mo. 2s.

6d. [Little Blue Books.

E. H. Colbeck, M.D. DISEASES OF THE

HEART. With numerous Illustrations.

Dciny Z-'o. 12s.
W. G. Collingwood, M.A. THE LIFE

OF JOHN RUSKIN. With Portraits.

Cheap Edition. Crown Zvo. 6s.
J. C. Collins, M.A. Sec Tennyson.
W. E. Collins. M.A. THE BEGINNINGS

OF ENGLISH CHRISTIANITY. With

Map. Crown ivo, y. 6d.

fChurcLm,in'a Library.'

Messrs. Methuen's Catalogue

A. M. C/OOk, M.A. See E. C. Marchant.
R. W. Cooke-Taylor. THE FACTORY

SYSTEM. Crown Zvo. is. td.

[Social Questions Series.

Marie Corelli. THE passing OF the

GREAT QUEEN : A Tribute to the Noble
Life of Victoria Regina. Small i,to. is.

A CHRISTMAS GREETING. Sm. i,to. is.

Eosemary Cotes. DANTE'S GARDEN.

With a Frontispiece. Second Edition.
Fcap. Zvo. cloth 2S. 6d. ; leather, 3J. 6d.
net.

Harold Cox, B.A. LAND NATIONAL-
IZATION. Crown Zvo. is. 6d.

[Social Questions Series.

W. J. Craig. See Shakespeare.

W. A. Craigie. A PRIMER OF BURNS.

Crown ^vo. 2S. 6d.
Mrs. Craik. JOHN HALIFAX, GEN-
TLEMAN. Edited by Annie Mathe-
SON. Two Volumes. Pott &vo. Mack
Volume, Cloth, is. td. net ; leather, is. bd.
net. [Little Library.

Richard Crasbaw, THE ENGLISH
POEMS OF. Edited by Edward Hut-
ton. PottZvo. Cloth, is. 6d. net ; leather,
IS. 6d. tici. [Little Library.

F. G. Crawford. See Mary C. Danson.

C. G. Crump, M.A. See Thomas Ellwood.

F. H. E. Cunlifife, Fellow of All Souls' Col-
lege, Oxford. THE HISTORY OF THE
HOER WAR. With many Illustrations,
Plans, and Portraits. In 1 vols. Vol.I.,i^s.

E. L. CuttS, D.D. AUGUSTINE OF
C.-^NTERBURY. With Portrait. Crown
Zz'O. 2^. 6d. [Leaders of Religion.

The Brothers Dalziel. A RECORD OF
FIFTY YEARS' WORK. With 150 lUus-
tr.itions. Large i,to. us. net.

The record of the work of the celebrated
Engravers, containing a Gallery of beauti-
ful Pictures by F. Walker, Sir J. Millais,
Lord Leighton, and other great Artists.
The book is a history of the finest black-and-
white work of the nineteenth century.

O. W. Daniell, M.A. BISHOP WILBER-

FORCE. With Portrait. Crown^ Zyo.
3j. dd. [Leaders of Religion.

Mary C. Danson and F. G. Crawford.

FATHERS IN THE FAITH. Small&vo.
IS. 6d.

Dante Alighieri. LA COM MEDIA DI

DANTE. The Italian Text edited by
Paget ToYNBEE,Litt.D., M.A. Demy'&vo.
Gilt top. Zs. 6d. Also, Crown 5vo. 6s.

[Methuen's Standard Library.
THE INFERNO OF DANTE. Trans-
lated by H. F. Cakv. Edited by Paget
TovNBEE, Litt.D., M.A. Potf&vo. Cloth,
IS. 6d. net ; leather is. 6d. net.

[Little Library.

THE PURGATORIO OF DANTE.
Translated by H. F. Cary. Edited by
Paget ToYNBEK, Litt.D., M.A. PottZvo.
Cloth, IS. 6d. net ; leather, is. 6d. net.

[Little Library'.
THE PARADISO OF DANTE. Trans-
lated by H. F. Carv. Edited by Paget
ToYNBEE, Litt.D., M.A. PostZvo. Cloth,
IS. dd. net; leather, is. 6d. net.

[Little Librarj-.
See also Paget Toynbee.
A. C. Deane. Edited by. A LITTLE
BOOK OF LIGHT VERSE. Pott Sz'o.
Cloth, IS. 6d. net ; leather, is. 6d. net.

[Little Library.
Percy Dearmer. See N. Hawthorne.
Leon DelbOS. THE METRIC SYSTEM.
Crown Zvo. is.

A theoretical and practical guide, for use
in schools and by the general reader.

Demosthenes : THE olynthiacs

AND philippics. Translated upon a
new principle by Otho Holland. Crown

Zvo. IS. 6d.

Demosthenes. AGAINST CONON AND

CALLICLES. Edited with Notes and
Vocabulary, by F. Darwin Swift, M.A.
Fcap. Zvo. IS.

Charles Dickens.

THE ROCHESTER EDITION.

Crown Zvo. Each Volume, cloth, 3.5. dd.
With Introductions by George Gissing,
Notes by F. G. Kitton, and Topographical
Illustrations.

THE PICKWICK PAPERS. With Illustra-
tions by E. H. New. Two Volumes.

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY. With Illustra-
tions by R. J. Williams. Two Volumes.

BLEAK HOUSE. With Illustrations by
Beatrice Alcock. Two Volumes.

OLIVER TWIST. With Illustrations Dy E.
H. New.

THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP. With
Illustrations by G. M. Brimelow. Two
V'olutnes.

EARNABY RUDGE. With Illustrations by
Beatrice Alcock. Two Volumes.

G. L. Dickinson, M.A. , Fellow of King's
College. Cambridge. THE GREEK VIEW
OF LIFE. Second Edition. Crown Zvo.
IS. 6d. [University Extension Series.

H. N. Dickson, F.R.S.E., F.R.Met. Soc.
METEOROLOGY. The Elements of
Weather and Climate. Illustrated. Crown
Zvo. IS. td. [University Extension Series.

Lady Dilke, Miss Bulley, and Miss Whit-
ley. WOMEN'S WORK. Crozvn Zvo.
IS. 6d. [Social Questions Series.

P. H. Ditchfield, M.A., F.S.A. ENGLISH

VILLAGES. Illustrated. Crown Zz'o. 6s.

' A book which for its instructive and

pictorial value should find a place in every

village library. ' — Scotntian.

General Literature

THE STORY OF OUR ENGLISH
TOWNS. With Introduction Ijy
Augustus Jessop, D.D. Second Edition.
Crown Zvo. ds.

OLD ENGLISH CUSTOMS: Extant at
the Present Time. An Account of Local
Observances, Festival Customs, and Ancient
Ceremonies yet Surviving in Great Britain.
Crown Sz'o. 6s.

W. M. Dixon, U.A. A PRIMER OF
TENNYSON. Second Edition. Crown
Zvo, 2s. 6d.

' Much sound and well-expressed criticism.
The bibliography is a boon.'— S^eai:er.

ENGLISH POETRY FROM BLAKE TO
BROWNING. Second Edition. Cro^un
Zvo. 2S, 6d. [University Extension Series.

E. Dowden, Litt.D. See Shakespeare.

J. Dowden, D.D., Lord Bishop of Edin-
burgh. THE WORKMANSHIP OF
THE PRAYER BOOK: Its Literary
and Liturgical Aspects. Second Edition.
Croiun Zvo. y. 6d. [ Churchman's Library.

S. R. Driver., D.D., Canon of Christ Church,
RegiusProfcssorof Hebrew in the University
of Oxford. SERMONS ON SUBJECTS
CONNECTED WITH THE OLD
TESTAMENT. CrouyiZ-jo. 6s.

'A welcome companion to the author's
famous " Introduction.'" — Guardian.

S. J. Duncan (Mrs. Cotes), Author of
'A Voyage of Consolation.' ON THE
OTHER SIDE OF THE LATCH.
Second Edition. Cro7UH Zz'o. 6s.

J. T. Dunn. D.Sc, and V, A. MundeUa.
(;ENERAL ELEMENTARY SCIENCE.

With 114 Illustrations. CroTunSvo. js. 6d.
[.Methuen's Science Primers.

The Earl of Diirham. A REPORT ON
CAN.\D.\. With an Introductory Note.
Demy Zvo. is. 6d. net.

A reprint of tlie celebrated Report which
Lord Durham m:ide to the British Govern-
ment on the state of British North .America
in 1S39. H is probably the most important
utterance on British colonial policy ever
published.

W. A. Dutt. NORFOLK. Illustrated by
B. C. B0UI.TEK. Pott Zvo. Cloth, 3J. ;
leather, 3^. 6d. net. [Little Guides.

Clement Edwards. RAILWAY

NATIONALIZATION. Crown Zto.
2S. 6d. [Social Questions Series

■W. Douglas Edwards. COMMERCIAL

LAW. Crozi'H Sr'O. 2s. [Commercial .Series.
H. E. Egerton, M.A. A HISTORY OF
RRITl.'^H COLONIAL POLICY. Bony
Zvo. 12J. 6d.

'It is a good book, distinguished by
accuracy in detail, clear arrangement of
facts, and a broad grasp of principles.' —
li/anchetter Guardian.

Tliomas Ellwood, THE HISTORY OF
THE LIFE OF. Edited byC. G. Crump,
M.A. Crown Zvo. 6s.

[Methuen's Standard Library.
This edition is the only one which con-
tains the complete book as originally pub-
lished. It has a long Introduction and many
Footnotes.

E. EngeL A HISTORY OF ENGLISH
LITERATURE : FrcJm its Beginning to
Tennyson. Translated from the German.
Demy Zvo. ys. 6d. net.

W. H. Fairbrother, M.A. THE PHILO-
SOPHY OF T. H. GREEN. Second
Edition. Crown Zvo. -^s. 6d.

Dean Farrar. See A Kempis.

Susa,n Ferrier. marriage. Edited by

Miss Goodrich Freer and. Lord Iddes-
LEIGH. T7U0 Volutnes. Pott Z710. Each
volume, cloth, \s. 6d. net ; leather, is. 6d.
net. [Little Library.

THE INHERITANCE. Two Volumes.
Pott Zvo. Each I 'oluvie, cloth, i.r. 6d. net. ;
leather, is. 6d. net. ['fhe Little Library.

C.H. Firth, M.A. CROMWELL'S ARMY:
A History of the English Soldier during the
Civil Wars, the Commonwealth, and the
Protectorate. Crown Zvo. ys. 6d.

An elaborate study and description of
Cromwell's army by which the victory of
the Parliament was secured. The ' New-
Model ' is described in minute detail.

G. W. Fisher, M.A. ANNALS OF
S H R E \\' S B U R Y SCHOOL. With
numerous Illustrations. Demy Zvo. \os.6d.

Edward FitzGerald. THE RUBAIVAT
OF OMAR KHAYYAM. With a Com
mentarybyH. M. Batson, and a Biography
of Omar by E. D. Ross. Crown Zvo. 6s.

E. A. FitzGerald. THE HIGHEST

ANDES. With 2 Maps, 51 Illustrations,
13 of which are in Photogravure, and a
Panorama. Koyal Z"'o. 30^. net.
C. R. L. Fletcher. See Thomas Carlyle.

W. 'Warde Fowler. M.A. See Gilbert

White.
J. F. Eraser. ROUND THE WORLD
ON A WHEEL. With roo Illustrations.
Fourth Edition Crown Zvo. 6s.

' A classic of cycling, graphic and witty.'
— Yo>-ksliire Post.

J. H. Freese. See Plautus.
W. French, M..^.., Principal of the Storey
Institute, Lancaster. P R .\ C T I C A L
CHEMISTRY. Part I. With numerous
Diagrams. Crown Z~.'0. is. 6d.

[Textbooks of Technolotty.
' An excellent and eminently practical
little book.' — Schoolmaster.

Ed. von Freudenreich. DAIRY

BACTERIOLOGY. A Short M.inual for
the Use of Students. Translated by J. R.
AiNSwoRTH Davis, M.A. Second Edition.
Revised. Crown Zvo. is. Cd.

Messrs. Methuen's Catalogue

H. W. Fulford, M.A. THE EPISTLE
OF ST. JAMES. Edited by. Fcap. Zvo.
IS. 6d. net. [Churchman's Bible.

Mrs. Gaskell. CRANFORD. Edited by
E. V. Lucas. Pott Zvo. Cloth, is. 6d. net ;
leather, 2s. 6d. net. [Little Library.

H. B. George, M.A., Fellow of New College,
Oxford. BATTLES OF ENGLISH
HISTORY. With numerous Plans. Third
Edition. Crown Zvo. 6s.

' Mr. George has undertaken a very useful
task — that of making military affairs in-
telligible and instructive to non-military
readers — and has executed it with a large
measure of success. ' — Times.

H. de B. Gibbins, Litt.D., M.A. IN-
DUSTRY IN ENGLAND: HISTORI-
CAL OUTLINES. WithsMaps. Third
Edition. Demy ?iV0. loi. dd.

A COMPANION GERMAN GRAMMAR.
Cro-MH %vo. \s. td.

THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENG-
LAND. Eighth Edition. Revised. \Vith
Maps and Plans. Crown 87/0. 31.

[University Extension Series.

THE ECONOMICS OF COMMERCE.
Crown Zvo. is. 6d. [Commercial Series.

COMMERCIAL EXAMINATION
PAPERS. Crown ivo. is.6d.

[Commercial Series.

BRITISH COMMERCE AND COLONIES
FROM ELIZABETH TO VICTORIA.
Third Edition. Crown Zvo. is.

[Commercial Series.

ENGLISH SOCIAL REFORMERS.
Second Edition, Crown Z''0. is. 6d.

[University Extension Series.

H. de B. Gibbins, Litt.D., M.A., and R. A.

Hadfleld, of the Hecla Works, Shefi'iekl.
A SHORIER WORKING DAY. Crown
Zvo. 2S. Od. [Social Questions Series.

Edward Gibbon. THE DECLINE AND
FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
A New Edition, edited with Notes,
Appendices, and Alaps, by J. B. Bury,
LL.D., Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.
In Seven V'oluvies. Demy 8i'o. Gilt top,
8i-. 6d. each. Also, Crown Sz'O. 6s. each.

'At last there is an adequate modern
edition of Gibbon. . . . The best edition
the nineteenth century could produce.' —
Alunchesier Guardian.

' A great piece of editing.' — Academy.

MEMOIRS OF MY LIFE AND WRIT-
INGS. Edited, with an Introduction and
Notes, by G. Birkbbck Hill, LL.D.
Crown 8vo. 6s.

' An admirable edition of one of the most
interesting personal records of a literary life.
Its notes and its numerous appendices are a
repertory of almost all that can be known
about Gibbon.' — Manchester Guardian.

E. C. S. Gibson, D.D., Vicar of Leeds.
THE BOOK OF JOB. With Introduction
and Notes. Demy Zvo. 6s.

[Westminster Commentaries.
' Dr. Gibson's work is worthy of a high
degree of appreciation. To the busy worker
and the intelligent student the commentary
will be a real boon ; and it will, if we are
not mistaken, be much in demand. The
Introduction is almost a model of concise,
straightforward, prefatory remarks on the
subject treated.' — Athenieuin.
THE XXXIX. ARTICLES OF THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. With an
Introduction. Third and Cheaper Edition
in One Volume. Demy%vo. 11s. 6d.

[Handbooks of Theology.
' We welcome with the utmost satisfaction
a new, che.iper, and more convenient edition
of Dr. Gibson's book. It was greatly wanted.
Dr. Gibson has given theological students
just what they want, and we should like to
think that it was in the hands of every
candidate for orders.' — Guardian.
THE LIFE OF JOHN HOWARD. With
12 Illustrations. Pott Zvo. Cloth, 3^.;
leather, 3^. 6d. net. [Little Biographies.
See also George Herbert.
George Gissing, See Dickens.
A. D. Godley, M.A., Fellow of Magdalen
College, Oxford. LYRA FRIVOL A.
Third Edition. Fcap. &vo. 2^. 6d.
VERSES TO ORDER. Cr.ivo. 2s.6d.nei.
SECOND STRINGS. Fcap. Zvo. 2S. 6d.
A new volume of humorous verse uniform
with Lyra Frivola.

' Neat, brisk, ingenious.' — Manchester
Guardian.

' The verse is facile, the wit is ready.'

Daily Mail.
' Excellent and amusing." — .SV. James's
Gazette.
Miss GOOdrich-Freer. See Susan Ferrier.

P. Anderson Graham. THE RURAL

EXODUS. Crown Hvo. is. 6d.

[Social Questions Series.

F. S. Granger, J\I.A., Litt.D. PSYCH-
OLOGY. Second Edition. Crow7i Zvo.
2S. 6d. [University Extension Series.

THE SOUL OF A CHRISTIAN. Crown
Svo. 6s.

A book dealing with the evolution of the
religious life and experiences.

E. M' Queen Gray. GERMAN PASSAGES
FOR UNS1':KN TRANSLATION.
Crown Svo. 2S. 6d.

P. L. Gray, B.Sc. , formerly Lecturer in
Physics in Mason University College, Bir-
mingham. THE PRINCIPLES OF
MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY:
an Elementary Text-Book. With 181 Dia-
grams. Crown Svo. js. td.

General Literature

G. Buckland Green, M. A., Assistant Master
at Edinburgh Academy, late Fellow of St.
John's College, Oxon. NOTES ON
GREEK AND LATIN SYNTAX. Crown
Zvo. 3^. (>(i.

Notes and explanations on the chief diffi-
culties of Greek and Latin Syntax, with
numerous passages for exercise.

E. T. Green, M.A. THE CHURCH OF
CHRIST. CrownZvo. 6s.

[Churchman's Library.

R. A. Gregory. THE VAULT OF

HEAVEN. A Popular Introduction to
Astronomy. AVith numerous Illustrations.
Crc>7v/i St'O. 2S. 6c/.

[University Exten.sion Series.
W. Hall Griffin, M.A. See Robert Browning.

C. H. Griuling. A HISTORY OF THE
GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY,
1S45-95. AVith Illustrations. Demy Zvo.
-ios. 6ii.

F. Hindes Groome. See George Borrow.

M. L. Gwynn. A BIRTHDAY BOOK.

Royal Zvo. iz-r.

This is a birthd.-\y-book of exceptional
dignity, and the extracts have been chosen
with particular care.
Stephen Gywnn. See Thackeray.

John Hackett, B.D. A HISTORY OF
THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF
CYPRUS. With Maps and Illustrations.
Demy Zvo. 15s. net.

A. C. Haddon, Sc.D., F.R.S. HEAD-

HUNTERS, BLACK, WHITE, AND
15R0N\'N. SVith many Illustrations and a
Map. I'temy'ivo. i$s.

A narrative of adventure and exploration
in Northern Borneo. It contains much
matter of the highest scientific interest.

R. A. Hadfield. See H. de B. Gibbins.

R. N. Hall and W. G. Neal. THE
.ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODESIA.
With numerous Illustrations. Demy i:,7'o.
2ZS. net.

F. J. Hamilton, D.D., and E. W. Brooks.
ZACHARIAH OF MITYLENE. Trans-
lated into English. DemyZvo. 12s. (uf. net.
[Byzantine Texts.

D. Hannay. A SHORT history of

THE ROYAL NAVY, From Eaklv
Times to the Present Day. Illustrated.
T1V0 I'oltimes. Dewy Zvo. js. 6d. each.
Vol. I. I2OO-1038.
A.T. Hare, M.A. THE CONSTRUCTION
OF LAR('>E INDUCTION COILS. With
numerous Diagrams. Demy 'ivo. 6s.

Clifford Harrison. READING AND
R1':ADERS. /'frt/. St'o. 2S. 6d.
[ An extrt-mely sensible little book.' —

Manchester Guardian.

Nathaniel Hawthorne. THE scarlet

LETTER. Edited by Percy Dearmhr,
Pott Zvo. Cloth, IS. 6d. net; leather,
2S. 6d. net. [Little Library.

Sven Hedin, Gold Medallist of the Royal
Geographical Society. THROUGH ASIA.
With 300 Illustrations from Sketches and
Photographs by the Author, and Maps.
T-,ui> TiJliones. Royal &vo. 26s.net.

T. F. Henderson. A LITTLE BOOK OF
SCOTTISH VERSE. PottZvo. Cloth,
IS. 6d. net ; leather, 2S. 6d. net.

[Little Library,
See also D. M. Moir.

W.E.Henley. ENGLISH LYRICS.
Cro2vn S"'0. Gilt top. y. 6d.

W, E. Henley and C. Whibley. A BOOK

OF ENGLISH PROSE. Crown Zvo.
Buckram, gilt top. ts.

H. H. Henson, M.A., Fellow of All Souls',
Oxford, Canon of Westminster. APOS-
TOLIC CHRISTIANITY : As Illustrated
by the Epistles of St. Paul to the Corinthians.
CroQun S7'0. 6s.

LIGHT AND LEAVEN : Historical and
Social Sermons. Crown S7'o. 6s.

DISCIPLINE AND LAW. Fca/. Srv.
2S. 6d,

George Herbert. THE TEMPLE.

lulited, with an Introduction and Notes,
by E. C. S. GiHSOX, D.D., Vicar of Leeds.
J'ott Svo. Cloth, 2S.'; leather, ■is. 6d. net.
(Library of iJevotion.

Herodotus : EASY selections. M'ith

Vocabulary. By A. C. Liudell, M.A.
Fc<xp. 8r'(j. \s. 6d.

W. A. S. Hewins, B. A. ENGLISH TRADE
AND FINANCE IN THE SEVEN-
TEENTH CENTURY. Crown %vo. _

[University Extension Series.

T. Hilbert. THE AIR GUN : or, How
the Mastermans and Dobson Major nearly
lost their Holidays. Illustrated. Demy
i6»!0. 2s. 6d. [Little Blue Books.

THE PEELES AT THE CAPITAL.
Illustrated. Demy i6mo. 2.r. 6d.

[Little Blue Books.

Clare Hill, Registered Teacher to the City and
Guilds of London Institute. MILLIN-
ERY, THEORETICAL, AND PRAC-
TICAL. With numerous Diagrams.
C/v.i'« i"'o. 2S.

[Textbooks of Technology.

Henry Hill, B.A., Headmaster of the Boy's
High School, Worcc^^ter, Cape Colony. A
SOUTH AFRICAN ARITHMETIC.
Cro7vn i7io. ■is. 6d.

This book has been specially written for
use in South African schools.

G. Birkbeck Hill, LL.D. See Gibbon.

Howard C. Hillegas. WITH THE BOER
l'ORt;i',S. \\iih 24 Illustrations. Second
Edition, Crown Zfo. 6s,

Messrs. Methuen's Catalogue

Emily Hobhouse, THE BRUNT OF THE
WAR. With Map and Illustrations. Crown
Zzio. 6s,

L. T. HobhOUSe, Fellow of C.C.C, Oxford.
THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE.
DemyZvo. 21s.

J. A. Hobson, M.A. PROBLEMS OF
P0VP:;RTY : An Inquiry into the Indus-
trial Condition of the Poor. Fourth
Edition. Cro2vn Zvo. 2S. 6d.

[Social Questions Series and University
E.\tension Series.

THE PROBLEM OF THE UNEM-
PLOYED. Crown Zvo. 2S. 6d.

[Social Questions Series.

T. Hodgkin, D.C.L. GEORGE FOX,
THE QUAKER. With Portrait. Crown
Zvo. y.6d. [Leaders of Religion.

Cliester Holcombe. THE REAL CHIN-
ESE QUESTION. Crown Zvo. 6s.

'It is an important addition to the
materials before the public for forming an
opinion on a most difficult and pressing pro-
blem.'— Times.

Sir T. H, Holdich, K.C.I.E. THE
INDIAN BORDERLAND : being a Per-
sonal Record of Twenty Years. Illustrated.
Demy Zvo. 15^. net.

' Interesting and inspiriting from cover to
cover, it will assuredly t.-\ke its place as the
classical work on the history of the Indian
frontier.' — Pilot.

Canon Scott Holland. LYRA APOS-

TOLICA. With an Introduction. Notes
by H. C. Beeching, M.A. PottZvo. Cloth,
2s.: leather, 2s. 6 J. net.

[Library of Devotion.

G. J. Holyoake. the co-operative

MOVEMENT TO-DAY. Third Edition.
Crown Zvo. 2s. 6d.

[Social Questions Series.

Horace: THE ODES AND EPODES.
Translated by A. Godlev, M.A., Fellow of
Magdalen College, Oxford. Crown Zvo.
2S, [Classical Translations.

E. L. S. Horsburgh, M.A. WATERLOO :
A Narrative and Criticism. With Plans.
Second Edition. Crown Zvo. ^s.

'A brilliant essay — simple, sound, and
thorough.' — Daily Chronicle.

THE LIFE OF SAVONAROLA. With
Portraits and Illustrations. Second Edi-
tion. Fcap. Zvo. Cloth, 3i'. 6d. ; leather,
4.f net. [Little Biographies.

R. F. Horton, D.D. JOHN HOWE.
With Portrait. Crown Zi'o. 3.S. 6d.

[Leaders of Religion.

Alexander HoBie. MANCHURIA. With

Illustrations and a Map. DcmyZvo. 10s. 6d.
net.
Q. Howell. TRADE UNIONISM-NEW
AND OLD. Third Edition. Crown Zvo.
ss. 6d, [Social Questions Series.

A. W. Hutton, M.A. CARDINAL MAN-
NING. With Portrait. Crown Zvo. 3^-.
6d. [Leaders of Religion.

See also Fleur de Lis Novels.

Robert Barr. See page 34.

J. A. Barry. IN THE GREAT DEEP.
Crown i7'0. 6s.

George Bartram, Author of ' The People of
Clopton.' THE THIRTEEN EVEN-
INGS. Crown St'O. 6s.

HaroldBegbie. THKAUVENTURESOF

SIR JOHN SPARROW. Cro^fnSvo. 6s.
' Mr. Begbie often recalls Stevenson's
manner and makes "Sir John Sparrow"
most diverting writing. Sir John is inspired
with the idea that it is his duty to reform
the world, and launches into the vorte.\ of
faddists. His experiences are traced with
spacious and Rabelaisian humour. Every
character has the salience of a type. Enter-
tainingly and deftly written.' —

Daily Graphic.
E. F. Benson. DODO : A Detail of the
Day. Cro^vn '&vo. 6s.
THE CAPSINA. Crown %vo. 6s.
See also Fleur de Lis Novels.

Margaret Benson. SUBJECT TO

VANITY. Cro^onZvo. y. 6d.

Sir Walter Besant. A five VEARS'

TRYST, and Other Stories. CroiunZ^io. 6s.

J. Bloundelle Burton, Author of ' The
Clash of Arms." THE YEAR ONE: A
Page of the French Revolution. Illus-
trated. Crown Se'tJ. 6s.
D E N OU N C E I ) . Crown 8 vo. 6s.
THECLASHOFARMS. Cro7tmZvo. 6s.
ACROSS THE SALT SEAS. Cro7vn Zvo.
6s.

SERVANTS OF SIN. Crown St'o. 6s.
THE FATE OF VALSEC. Cro7un Svo.
6s.

'The characters are admir.ably portrayed.

The book not only arrests and sustains the

attention, but conveys valuable information

in the most pleasant guise.' — Morning Past.

See also Fleur de Lis Novels.

Ada Cambridge, THE DEVASTATORS.

Croiun Zto. 6s.

PATH AND GOAL. CrownZvo. 6s.
Bernard Capes, Author of 'The Lake of
Wine.' PLOTS. Crown Zvo. 6s.

'The stories are excellently fanciful and
concentrated and quite worthy of the
author's best work.' — Mornini^ Leader.

Weatherby Chesney. JOHN topP:

PIRATE. .Second Edition. CroivnZTO. 6s.

'IHB FOUNDERED GALLEON.

Cr, 7('« Zvo. 6s.

THE BRANDED PRINCE. Crozvn Zvo.

6s.

'Always highly interesting and surpris-
ing.'— Daily Express.

An ingenious, cleverly-contrived story.' —

Outlook.

Mrs. W. K. Clifford. A WOMAN ALONE.

Crown Zvo, 3?. 6d,

See also Fleur de Lis Novels.

J. Maclaren Cobban. THE KING OF

ANDAMAN : A Saviour of Society.

Crown Zvo. 6s.

WILT THOU HAVE THIS ^VOMAN?

Cro7t'H Zz'O. 6s.

THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT.

Crown Zvo, 6s.
E. H. Cooper, Author of ' Mr. Blake of New-
market.' A FOOL'S YEAR. Crown Zvo. 6s.
Julian Corbett. A BUSINESS IN

GREAT WATERS. Cro2vnZvo. 6s.

Marie Corelli. See page 31.

L. Cope Cornford. CAPTAIN JACOBUS:

A Romance of the Road. Cr. Zz'O. 6s.
See also Fleur de Lis Novels.

Stephen Crane, wounds IN THE

RAIN. Crown Zvo. 6s.
S. R. Crockett, Author of ' The Raiders,' etc.
LOCH INVAR. Illustrated. Second
Edition. Crown Zvo. 6s,

' Full of gallantry and pathos, of the
clash of arms, and brightened by episodes of
humour and love.' — H'cstiainstcr Gazette.
THE STANDARD BEARl^i. Cr. Zvo. 6s.

' Mr. Crockett at his best.' — Literature.

B. M. Croker, Author of ' Peggy of the
Bartons.' ANGEL. T/tird Edition.
Crown Zz'O. 6s.

' An excellent story. Clever pictures of
Anglo-Indian life abound. The heroine is
deliglitful.' — Manchester Guardian.
PE(;GY OF THE BARTONS. Cro%vn
Zvo. 6s.
A STATE SECRET. CrownZvo. 3s. 6d.

Hope Dawiish. A Secretary of

J>EGATI0N. Crown Zvo. 6s.

C. E. Denny. THE ROMANCE OF UP-
FOLD MANOR. Cro-wnZvo. 6s.

Evelyn Dickinson. A viCAR's WIFE.

Crojvn Zvo. 6s.

THE SIN OF ANGELS. Crown Zvo.

2,5, 6d,

Messrs. Methuen's Catalogue

Harris Dickson. THE BLACK WOLF'S

BREED. Illustrated. Second Edition.
Croivn Zvo. 6s.
A. Conan Doyle, Author of 'Sherlock
Holmes," 'The White Company,' etc.
ROUND THE RED LAMP. Eighth
Edition. Crcnun Zvo. 6s.

' The book is far and away the best view
that has been vouchsafed us behind the
scenes of the consulting-room.' — Illustrated
London Ne^vs.

Sara Jeannette Duncan (Mrs. Everard

Cotes), Author of 'A Voj-age of Consola-
tion.' THOSE DELIGHTFUL
AMERICANS. Illustrated. Third Edi-
tion. Cromn 8vo. 6s.

' A rattling picture of American life,
bright and good-tempered throughout.'^
Scotsjnnn.

THE PATH OF A STAR. Illustrated.
Second Edition. Croiun Zvo. 6s.

See also Fleur de Lis Novels.
C. F. Embree. A HEART OF FLAME.
Cro7vn Zvo. 6s.

G. Manyille Fenn. AN ELECTRIC

SPARK. Croiim Svo. 6s.
ELI'S CHILDREN. CrownSvo. zs.6d.
A DOUBLE KNOT. Crown 8vo. zs. 6d.
See also Fleur de Lis Novels.

J. H. Findlater. THE GREEN GRAVES

OF BALGOWRIE. Fourth Edition
Crann Zvo. 6s.

' A powerful and vivid story.' — Standard.

' A beautiful story, sad and strange as
truth itself.' — Vanity Fair.

' A singularly original, clever, and beauti-
ful storj-.' — Guardian.
A DAUGHTER OF STRIFE. Cro-.vn
Zvo. 6s.

See also Fleur de Lis Novels.

Mary Findlater. OVER the HILLS.

Second Edition. Crown Zvo. 6s.
BETTY MUSGRAVE. Second Edition.
Crown Zvo. 6s.

A NARROW WAY. Third Edition.
Cr07on Zi'O. 6s.

J. S. Fietclier. the builders. Croiun

Zvo. 6s.
See also Fleur de Lis Novels.
M. E. Francis. MISS ERIN. Second

Edition. Crown Zvo. 6s.
Tom Gallon, Author of 'Kiddy.' RICK-

ERBY S FOLLY. Cro^vn Zvo. 6s.
Mary Gaunt. DEADMAN'S. Cro-cvn Zvo.

6s.

THE MOVING FINGER. Crown Zvo.

3^. 6d.

See also Fleur de Lis Novels.
Dorothea Gerard, Author of ' Lady Baby. '

THE MILLION. Crown Zvo. 6s.

THE CONQUEST OF LONDON.

Second Edition. Cro7vn Z210. 6s.

THE SUPREME CRIME. Cr. Zvo. 6s.

HOLY MATRIMONY. Second Edition.

Cro7vn Zvo. 6s.
' The love story which it enshrines is a

very pretty and tender one.' — Morning
Leader.

' Distinctly interesting.' — Athcnerttnt.
THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED.

Crown Zvo. 6s.

R. Murray Gilchrist. WILLOWBRAKE.

Crown Zvo. 6s.

Algernon -Gissing. THE KEYS OF THE

HOUSE. Crow7iZTo. 6s.
George GiSSing, Author of ' Demos,' ' In the
Year of Jubilee,' etc. THE TOWN

TRAVELLER. Second Edition. Crown

Zvo. 6s.

THE CROWN OF LIFE. Cro-.imZvo. 6s.
Ernest Glanville. THE KLOOF BRIDE.

Crown Zvo. y. 6d.

THE LOST REGIMENT. Crovjn Zvo.

y. 6d.

THE DESPATCH RIDER Crown Zvo.

2S. 6d.

THE INCA'S TREASURE. Illustrated.

Crown Zvo. 3J. 6d.

' No lack of exciting incident.' — Scotsman.

' Most thrilling and exciting.' —

Glasgozv Herald.

Charles Gleig. bunter'S CRUISE.

Illustrated. Crown Zvo. 3^. 6d.

Julien Gordon. MRS. CLYDE. Crcton

Zvo. 6s.

' A clever picture of many phases of
feminine and American life.' —

Daily Express.
' Full of vivacity, with many excruciatingly
clever and entertaining scenes.'— Pilot.
S. Gordon. A HANDFUL OF EXOTICS.

Crown Zvo. js. 6d.
C. F. Goss. THE REDEMPTION OF
DAVID CORSON. Third Edition.
Cro'.vn Zvo, 6s.
E. M'Queen Gray. ELSA. Crown Zvo. 6s.
MY STEWARDSHIP. CrownZvo. 2S.6d.
A. G. Hales. JAIR THE APOSTATE.
Illustrated. Crmvn Zvo. 6s.

' An extraordinarily vivid story.' — World.

' Mr. Hales has a vivid pen, and the

scenesare described with vigour and colour. ' —

Mortiiiis- Post.

Lord Ernest Hamilton, mary Hamil-
ton. Third Edition. CrownZvo. 6s.
Mrs. Burton Harrison. A PRINCESS
OF THE HILLS. Illustrated. CrownZvo.
6s. _

'Vigorous, swift, exciting.' — Outlook.

'A singularly pleasant story of the Tyrol.' —

Morning Post.

Robert HiChenS, Author of ' Flames,'

etc. THE PROPHET OF BERKELEY

SQUARE. Second Edition. Crcnun Zvo.

6s.

' One continuous sparkle. Mr. Hichens
is witty, satirical, caustic, irresistibly hum-
orous. ' — Birininghain Gazette.
TONGUES OF CONSCIENCE. Second
Edition. Cro^vn Zvo. 6s,
FELIX. Fourth Edition. Crown Zvo. 6s.
' Firm in texture, sane, sincere, and

Fiction

natural. "Felix" is a clever book, and in
many respects a true one. ' — Daily Chronicle.

'A really powerful book.' —

Morning Leader.

'The story is related with unflagging
spirit.'— U^or Id.

' " Felix" will undoubtedly add to a con-
siderable reputation.'- — Daily lilail.

See also Fleur tie Lis Novels.
JOlin Oliver Hobbes, Author of 'Robert
Orange.' THK SKKIOUS WOOING.
Crown ivo. 6s.

'Mrs. Craigie is as brilliant as she ever
has been ; her characters are all illuminated
with sparkling gems of description, and the
conversation scintillates with an almost
bewildering blaze.' — A ihencFum.

Anthony Hope. See page 32.
I. Hooper. THE SINGER OF MARLY.
Cro-.vn Zvo. 6s.

Violet Hunt. THE HUMAN I N-

T1*>R1'",ST. Cro7un %vo. 6s.
C. J. Cutcliffe Hyue, Author of ' Captain

Kettle.' PRINCE RUPERT THK

BUCCANEER. With 8 Illustrations.

Second Edition. Crown Zvo. 6s.

MR. HORROCKS, PURSER. Crown

Zvo. 6s.
W. W. Jacobs. See page 32.
Henry James, Author of 'What Malsie

Knew.' THE SACRED FOUNT.

Crown 8110. 6s.

THE SOFT SIDE. Second Edition.

Crown Svo. 6s.
C. F. Keary. THE JOURNALIST.

Croivn Src. 6^'.

Florence Fincli Kelly. WITH HOOPS

OFSTKKL. Crowii?,vo. 6s.

Hon. Emily Lawless. TRAITS AND

CONFIDI'.NCES. Cr07vnZvo. 6s.
WITH ESSEX IN IRELAND. New
Edition. Crotvn 8vo. 6s.
See also Fleur de Lis Novels.

Harry Lawson, Author of ' When the Billy
Buils.' CHILDREN OF THE BUSH.
Crown 8t'£7. 6^.

' Full of human sympathy and the genuine
flavour of a wild, untrammelled, unsophisti-
cated life. ' — Morning Leader.

' The author writes of the wild, picturesque
life 'out back," with all the affection of a
native and the penetrating insight of long
observation." — Daily 'J'eles^ra/di.

E. Lynn Linton. THE TRUlC HISTOR^•
OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON, Christian and
Communist. Eleventh Edition. Crown
t-o. IS.

Norma Lorimer. MIRRY ANN. Crown

Er'o. 6 s.

lOSIAH'S WIFE. CrownZvo. 6s.
Ctiarlea K. Lush. THE AUTOCRATS.

Crown Sto. 6s.

Edna Lyall. DERRICK VAUGHAN,
NOVELIST. tL2nd thousand. Crown ivo.
3f. 6d.

S. Macnaughtan. THE FORTUNE OF

CHRISTINA MACNAB. Second Edition.
Crown &i'0. 6s.

A. Macdonell. THE STORY OF

TERESA. Cro7un 8vo, 6s.
Harold Macgrath. THE PUPPET

CKOWN. Illustrated. Crown Zvo. 6s.
Lucas Malet. See pace 33.
Mrs. M. E. Mann. OLIVIA'S SUMMER.
Second Edition. Cron-n'&vo. 6s.

' An e.xceptionally clever book, told with
consummate artistry and reticence.' — Daily
Mail.

' Full of shrewd insight and quiet humour.'
— A cade my.

' Wholly delightful ; a very beautiful and
refreshing tale.' — Pall Mall Gazette.

' The author touches nothing that she does
not adorn, so delicate and firm is her hold."
— Manchester Guard ia n.
' A powerful story.'- — Times.

Richard Marsh. BOTH SIDES OF THE

VEIL. Second Edition. Crown&vo, 6s.
THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN.
Crown i,i'0. 6s.

MARVELS AND MYSTERIES. Crown
Z7'o. 6s.

THE TWICKENHAM PEERAGE.
Second Edition. Cro7un Zvo. 6s.

' It is a long time since my Baronite read
a novel of such entrancing interest as 'The
Twickenham Peerage.' He recommends
the gentle reader to get the book. In addi-
tion to its breathless interest, it is full of
ch.aracter and bubbling with fun.' — Punch.

A. E. W. Mason, Author of ' The Courtship
of Morrice Buckler,' 'Miranda of the Bal-
cony,'etc. CLEMENTINA. Illustrated.
Crown Zvo. 6s.

' A romance of the most delicate ingenuity
and humour . . . the very quintessence of
romance. ' — Spectator.

Helen Mathers, Author of 'Comin' thro'
the Rye.' HONEY. Fourth Edition.
Crotvn &V0. 6s,

'Racy, pointed, and entertaining.'—
I'anity Fair,

'Honey is a splendid girl.' — Daily
Express.

'A vigorously written story, full of clever
things, a piquant blend of sweet and sharp.'
Jhiily TclcKraf'h.

L. T. Meade. DRIFT. Cro7vn%vo. 6s.

Bertram Mitf or d. Til?: SIGN OF THE
S1'I1)I-;R. Illustrated. lu/th Edition.
Cro7cn S7>o. 3.V. 6d.

F. F. Montresor, Author of ' Into the High-
waysand Hedges.' THE ALIEN. Second
Eiiition. Crown 87'o. 6s.

' Fre.sh, unconventional, and instinct with

human sympathy.' — Manchester Guardian.

' Miss Montresor creates her tragedy out

of passions and necessities elementarily

human. Perfect .art.' — Spectator.

Arthur Morrison. See page 33.

Messrs. Methuen's Catalogue

W. E. Norris. THE CREDIT OF THE
COUNTY. Illustrated. Second Edition.
Crown Zvo. 6s.

' A capital novel it is, deftly woven to-
gether of the comedy and tragedy of life.' —
Yorkshire Post.

'It is excellent — keen, graceful, diverting.'
— Times.

THE EMBARRASSING ORPHAN.
Crown Zz'o. 6s.

HIS GRACE. Third Edition. Crown
Zvo. 6s.

THE DESPOTIC LADY. CrownZvo. 6s.
CLARISSA FURIOSA. Cro^vnZi'O. 6s.
GILES INGILBY. Illustrated. Second
Edition. Cro-wn Zvo. 6s.
AN OCTAVE. Second Edition. Crown
Svo. 6s.

A DEPLORABLE AFFAIR. Cro7vn Zvo.
2S. 6d.
JACK'S FATHER. Cro7un Svo. 2S. 6d.

See also Fleur de Lis Novels.

Mrs. Oliphant. the two marys.

Crown ?i7io. 6s.

the LADY'S WALK. Cro7mt Svo. 6s.
the PR0DIGALS._ Cro7t>n Zvo. ^s. 6d.
See also Fleur de Lis Novels.

Alfred Ollivant. OWD BOB, THE GREY
DOG OF KENMUIR. Sixth Edition.

Crown Zvo. 6s.

'Weird, thrilling, strikingly graphic' —
Punch.

' We admire this book ... It is one to
read with admiration and to praise with
enthusiasm.' — Bookman.

' It is a fine, open-air, blood-stirring book,
to be enjoyed by every man and woman to
whom a dog is dear.' — Literature.

E. Phillips Oppenheim. WASTER OF

MEN. Second Edition. Crown Svo. 6s.

Gilbert Parker. See page 33.

James Blythe Patton. BIJLI, THE

DANCER. Crown Sto. 6s.

MaxPemberton. THE FOOTSTEPS OF
A THRONE. Illustrated. Second Edi-
tion. Crown Svo. 6s.

'A story of pure adventure, with a sensa-
tion on every page.' — Daily Mail.
I CROWN THEE KING. With Illus-
trations by Frank Dadd and A. Forrestier.
Crown Svo. 6s.

'A romance of high adventure, of love and
war. ' — Daily News.

Mrs. F. E. Penny. A FOREST OFFICER.

Croivn Svo. 6s.
Eden PMUpOttS. See page 34.
'Q.' Author of 'Dead Man's Rock." THE

WHITE WOLF. Second Edition. Cro-Mn

Svo. 6s.

Every story is an accomplished romance

in its own way.' — Scotsman.

' The poet's vein, the breadth of vision, the

touch of mysticism are plain in all.' — Times.
R. Ortou Prowse. THE POISON OF

ASPS. Crown Zvo. 3s. 6d.

Richard Pryce. TIME AND THE

WOMAN. Cro7iin Svo. 6s.
THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. Crown
Svo. 3.J. 6d.
Walter Raymond. Author of 'Love and
Quiet Life.' FORTUNE'S DARLING.
Crown Svo. 6s.

Edith Rickert. OUT OF THE CYPRESS

SWAMP. Crown Svo. 6s.
W. Pett Ridge. LOST PROPERTY.

Second Edition. Crotun Svo. 6s.
_ ' The story is an interesting and animated

picture of the struggle for life in London,

with a natural humour and tenderness of its

own. ' — Scotsman

' A simple, delicate bit of work, which

will give pleasure to many. Much study of

the masses has made him, not mad, but

strong, and — wonder of wonders — cheerful.'

— Times.

A SON OF THE STATE. Croivn Svo.

V. 6d.

SECRETARY TO BAYNE.M. P. Cro-wn

Svo. 6s.
C. G. D. Roberts. THE HEART OF THE

ANCIENT WOOD. Crown Svo. y. 6d.
Mrs. M. H. Roberton. A GALLANT

QUAKER. Illustrated. Crown S^o. 6s.
W. Clark RusseU. MY DANISH SWEET-
HEART. Illustrated. Fourth Edition.

Crown Svo. 6s.

Grace Rhys. THE WOOING OF

SHEILA. Second Edition. CrownSvo. 6s.
' A really fine book. A book that deserves
to live. Sheila is the sweetest heroine who
has lived in a novelist's pages for many a
day. Every scene and every incident has
the impress of truth. It is a masterly ro-
mance, and one that should be widely read
and appreciated. ' — Morning Leader.
W. Satchel! THELANDOFTHELOST.
Crown Sz'O. 6s.

Marshall Saunders. ROSE A CH.iR-

LITTE. Crown Svo. 6s.
W. C. Scully. THE WHITE HECATOMB.
Crown Stjo. 6s.

BETWEEN SUN AND SAND. Crown
Svo. 6s.

A VENDETTA OF THE DESERT.
Cro7vn Svo. 3^. 6d.
Adeline Sergeant. Author of ' The Story of
a Penitent Soul.' A GREAT LADY.
Croicn Svo. 6s.

THE MASTER OF BEECHWOOD.
Crown Svo. 6s.

BARBARA'S MONEY. Second Edition.
Croion Svo. 6s.

' Full of life and incident, and Barbara is
a delightful heroine.' — Daily Express.

' An unusually entertaining story.' —
World.

W. F. Shannon. THE MESS DECK.

Crown Svo. 3.v. 6d.

JIM TWELVES. Second Edition. Crown

Svo. y. 6d.

Fiction

' Full of quaint humour, wise saws, and
deep-sea philosophy.' — Morning' Leader.

'In "Jim Twelves" Mr. Shannon has
created a delightful character.' — Punch.

' Bright and lively reading throughout.' —
Telegraph.

Helen SMpton. THE STRONG GOD

CIRCUMSTANCE. Crown'&vo. 6s.
R. N. Stephens. A GENTLEMAN

PLAYER. Cro7vn Svo. 6s.
See also Fleiir de Lis Novels.
E. H. Strain. ELMSLIE'S DRAG-NET.

Crou'it 8vo. 6s.
Esme Stuart. A WOMAN OF FORTY.

Cymun ?>7>o. y. 6d.

CHRISTALLA. CrownZvo. 6s.

Duchess of Sutherland. ONE HOUR
AND THE NEXT. Third Edition.
Cro7vn Sz'O. 6s.

Annie Swan. LOVE GROWN COLD.

Second Edition. Crown ?,vo. $s.

Benjamin Swift. SIREN CITY. Crown
8r'<J. 6s.
SORDON. Crown Zvo. 6s.

R. B. Townshend. LONE PINE : A Ro-
mance of Mexican Life. Crown Zvo. 6s.

Paul Waineman. A HEROINE FROM

FINLAND. CroumZvo. 6s.

' A lovely la.'ie.' ~3/anchester Guardian.
'A_ vivid picture of pastoral life in a
beautiful and too little known country.'

—Pall Mall Gazette.
Victor Waite. CROSS trails. Crown
%vo. Gs.

H. B. Marriott Watson. THE SKIRTS

OF HAPPY CHANCE. Illustrated.
Second Edition. Crown Svo. 6s.
H. G. Wells.^ THE STOLEN BACILLUS,
and other -Stories, Second Edition. Crown
&V0. 3.9. 6d.

THE PLATTNER STORY and Others.
Second Edition. Cro7un Zvo. -i^s. 6d.

THE SEA LADY. Crown &vo. 6s.

'A strange, fantastic tale, a really beauti-
ful idylV— Standard.

' In literary charm, in inventiveness, in fun
and humour, it is equal to the best of Mr.
Wells' stories.' — Daily News.

'Highly successful farce and plenty of
polished satire. '^ — Daily Mail.
TALES OF SPACE AND TIME.
Crown 8vo. 6s.

WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES.
Crown Zvo. 6s.

THE INVISIBLE MAN. Crozvn?,vo. 6s.
LOVE ANDMR. LEWISHAM. Crown
Z-'o. 6s.
Stanley Wejnnan, Author of ' A Gentleman
of France.' UNDER THE RED ROBE.
With Illustrations by R. C. Woodville.
Seventeenth Edition. Crown iivo. 6s.

' Every one who reads books at all must
read this thrilling romance, from ihe first
page of which to the last the 'oreathless
reader is haled along. An inspiration of
manliness and courage. ' — Daily Chronicle.
Mrs. C. N. WUliamson, Author of 'The
Barnstormers.' PAPA. Second Editioti,
Crow7i 'ivo. 6s.

' Full of startling adventures and sen-
sational episodes." — Daily Graphic.
THE ADVENTURE OF PRINCESS
SLYVIA. Crown Zvo. 35. 6d.

C. N. and A. M. Williamson. THE

LIGHTNING CONDUCTOR : Beinj

the Romance of a Motor Car. Illustrated.

Cro'Mn 8e/i7. 6s.

' A very ingenious and diverting book." —

Morning Leader.
Zack, Author of ' Life is Life.' TALES OF

DUNSTABLE WKIR. Cro%vnZTo. 6s.
X.L. AUT DIABOLUS AUT NIHIL.

Crown 8vo. 3 J'. 6^!'.

Ube fflcur t)e Xls 1Rov?els

Crown Svo. 2^. Gd.
Messrs. Methuen are now publishing a cheaper issue of some of their popular
Novels in a new and most charming style of binding.

Mrs. Dudfeney.

THE Third I-luuic.

Sara Jeannette Duncan.

Andrew Balfour.

To ARMSl

Jane Barlow.

A Creel of Ii;i-,ii hioi;ii s.

E. F. Benson.

THE VINTAUH.

J. Bloundelle-Burton.

IN THE Day ov Auvi;Ksr] v.

Mrs. Caffyn (Iota).

Anne Mauli:\i:rf.r.

Mrs. W. K. Cliflord.

A FLASH OF SfMMliK.

L. Cope Cornford.

Sons of Am i i;si 1 v

A. J. Dawson.

DANtBL WHVI R.

Menie Muriel Dowio.

THE Crook of the H'juch.

A Voyage of Co.nsolatkin.

G. Manville Fenn.

The Star Gazers.

Jane H. Findlater.

Rachel.

Jane H. and Mary Findlater.

Tales that are Told.

J. S. Fletcher.

The Paths of thi; Pridknt.

Mary Gaimt.

KfKKHAM's Find.

Robert Hichens.

BVEWAYS.

Messrs. Methuen's Catalogue

Emily Lawless.

HURRISH.

Maelcho.

W. E. Norris.

Matthew Austin.

Mrs. Oliphant.
Sir Robert's Foktuxe.

Mary A. Owen.

THE Daughter of Alouette.

Mary L. rendered.

AN Englishman.

Morley Roberts.

The Plunderers.

R. N. Stephens.
AN Enemy to thh Kinc,.

Mrs. Walford.
Successors to thh title.

Percy Wtiite.
A Passionate pilgrim.

Crown Zvo. "^^s. 6d.

The Icelander's Sword. By s. Baring-Gould.
Two Little Children and Ching. By Edith E.

Cuthell.
Toddleben's Hero. By M. M. Blake.
Only a Guard-Room Dog. By Edith E. Cuthell.
the Doctor of the Juliet. By Harry Colling-

wood.
Master Rockafellar's Voyage. By \V. Clark

Russell.

Syd Belton : Or, the Boy who would not go to Sea

By G. Manville Fenn.
The Red Grange. By Mrs. Molesworth.
The Secret of Madame du Monluc. By the

Author of ' Mdle. Mori.'
Dumps. By Mrs. Parr.
A Girl of the People. By L. T. Meade.
Hepsy Gipsy. By L. T. Meade, zj. 6d.

THE Honourable Miss. By L. T. Meade.

^be IRoveliet

Messrs. Methuen are issuing under the above general title a Monthly Series
of Novels by popular authors at the price of Sixpence. Each number is as long as
the average Si.\ Shilling Novel. The first numbers of 'The Novelist' are as
follows : —

I. Dead Men Tell no; Tales. By E. W.
Hornung.

IL Jennie Baxter, journalist. By Robert

Barr.

III. The L\CA'S Treasure. By Ernest Glanville.

IV. A SON OF the State. By W. Pett Ridge.
V. Furze bloom. By S. Baring-Gould.

VL Buntkr'S cruise. By C. Gleig.
VII. THE Gay Deceivers. By Arthur Moore.
VIII. Priso.nersof War. By A. Boyson Weekes.
IX. Out of print.
X. Veldt and Laager: Tales of the Transvaal.

By E. S. Valentine.
XI. THE Nigger knights. By F. Norreys

Conne!.
XII. A Marriage at Sea. By W. Clark Russell.

XIII. THE Pomp of the Lavileites. By

Gilbert Parker.

XIV. A Man of Mark. Bv Anthony Hope.
XV. THE CaRISSIMA. By Lucas Malet.

XVI. THE Lady's Walk. By Mrs. Oliphant.
XVII. DERRICK Vaughan. By Hdna Lyall..
XVIII. IN THE Midst of alarms. By Robert
Barr.

XIX. His Grace. By W. E. Norris.
XX. Dodo. By E. F. Benson.
XXI. Cheap Jack Zita. By S. Baring-Gould.
XXII. WHEN VALMONDCAME -lO PoNTIAC. By
Gilbert Parker.

XXIII. THE Human boy. By Eden Phillpotts.

XXIV. THE CHRONICLES OF COUNT ANl ONIO.

By Anthony Hope.
XXV. BY Stroke of Sword. By Andrew
Balfour,
XXVL Kitty alone. By S. Baring-Gould.
X.XVII. Giles INGILBY. By W. E. Norris.
X.XVIII. URITH. By S. Baring-Gould.
.XXIX. THE TOWN TRAVELLER. By George

Gissing.
XXX. Mr. SMITH. By Mrs. Walford.
XXXI. A CHANGE OF AIR. By Anthony Hope.
XXXII. THE KLOOF BRIDE. By Ernest Glanville.

XXXI II. ANGEL. By E. M. Croker.

XXXIV. A COUNSEL OF PERFECTION. By Lucas

Malet.

XXXV. THE BABY'S Grandmother. By Mrs.

L. B. Walford.
XXXVI. THE COUNTESS TEKLA. By Robert Barr

/Hbetbuen's Sijpcnng Xibrarg

THE MATABELE CAMPAIGN. By Major-General
Baden-Powell.

The Downfall of Prempeh. By Major-General
Baden-Powell.

My Danish sweetheart. By W. Clark Russell.

IN THE Roar of the Sea. By S. Baring-
Gould.

PEGGY of THE BARTONS. By B. M. Croker.

The Green Graves of Balgowrie. By Jane
H. Findlater.

The Stolen Bacillus. By H. G. Wells.

Matthew Austin. By w. E. Norris.

THE Conquest of London. By Dorothea
Gerard.

A Voyage of Consolation. By Sara J. Duncan.

THE Mutable Many. By Robert Barr.

Ben Hur. By General Lew Wallace.

SIR Robert's Fortune. By Mrs. Oliphant.

The Fair God. By General Lew Wallace.

CLARISSA FURIOSA. By W. E. Norris.

CRANFORD. By Mrs. Gaskell.

Noemi. By S. Baring-Gould.

The throne of David. By J. H. Ingriham.

Across the salt Seas. By J. Bioundeiie

Burton.
The Mill on the Floss. By George Eliot.
Peter Simple. By Captain Marryat.
Mary Barton. By Mrs. Gaskell.
Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen.
North and South. By Mrs. Gaskell.
Jacob faithful. By Captain Marryat.
Shirley. By Charlotte Bronte.
fairy Tales RH-TOLD. By S. Baring Gould.

The True History of Joshua Davidson.
Mrs. Lynn Linton.

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "A book of North Wales"

See other formats