39 



subject to bear patiently, and a wager, bottles round — not of " the waters " it is 

 to be presumed ! — was very quickly the result. The salmon was to be produced 

 bodily to the assembled company within twenty-four hours. Sure enough the 

 very next evening the great ironmaster appeared at the window holding it up 

 by the tail with great satisfaction. The thin lanky sides of the fish bearing 

 •witness to the cruel useless murder — and since there was no Fishery Preservation 

 Act in those days — the wager had no counterpoise. And this was the way of 

 it; finding all his skill of no avail, he had sent ofif an express messenger on 

 horseback more than forty miles, with a peremptory order to five of his men to 

 start immediately with his salmon nets, and thus he had accomplished his object, 

 albeit ingloriously ! "That's the spirit that draws the metal from the rock," 

 was the remark of a man who knew him welL 



Then again (between the next glasses probably) you will be shown a 

 Druidical circle of stones, in which the belief of the district and of the ex- 

 hibitors too, perchance, is rapidly growing. A Druidical circle ! no such thing ! 

 It is sinaply an enduring emblem of practical fun, made with the stones which 

 formerly marked the road across the common, and if he should appear who could 

 play the part of Edie Ochiltree with Monkbarns' imaginary Roman encampment, 

 " Pretorian here ! Pretorian there ! I mind the bigging o't," it would be no less a 

 personage— can it be believed ? — than a grave and dignified Inspector of Education 

 who was here " drinking the waters," After this it is surely unnecessary to give 

 further examples of their exhilarating effects. Practical jokes of lesser degree 

 abound— indeed they seem to be the natural effervesence of the place. 



Come then, poor careworn humanity, sick, or surfeited, come to Llan- 

 drindod and drink health, strength, and vivacity from its springs ! Come, and 

 be boys once more ! No one it is said ever stays there three days without 

 wishing to stay longer and resolving to come again, and surely three days is a 

 period short enough for the eradication of morosity and care. 



The Club unfortunately could only remain a few hours. These passed 

 agreeably enough, and after a prosperous journey home through the lovely vale 

 of the "Wye, their memory remains as bright and pleasant as the day was fine. 



