420 



Excursion thnni^-li North Wales 



noiotis name,* J>y tli« way, but desig- 

 iialing as gootl-lieaited a fcllov.- as ever 

 spoke V/elsli. and (o the forracr by our 

 landlord, who infornie',1 us that it con- 

 tained a most remaikablc and ancient 

 yew-tree, whicli had sti.od (here " more 

 than seven hundred ycavs." Tiie tree 

 consists oC one imiiicuse trunk, from 

 which issue seven or ei^ht separate 

 stems, extending sevej-al yard.-i, and 

 forming a most uiagnifieer.t and flour- 

 ishing cupola. This beautiful yew-tree 

 is really a very striking object, for 

 its wide-spreading l)raiicbcs casta som- 

 bre shade ou every tiling around, per- 

 fectly consonant with tiie melauclioly 

 character of the place. 



Then sober sliadc 

 Lets fall a serious gloora upon tlie mind, 

 That checks— but not appals. Such are 



the haunts 

 Rcligiou loves ; — a meek and humble maid, 

 \\liose tender eye bears not the blaze of 



day. 

 The bridge is about half a mile from 

 the village, and consists of one arch 

 thrown across a narrow river, at an 

 immense height above the water. The 

 river was much swollen by the rain 

 which liad fallen in the night, and its 

 rapid streams foaming and roaring 

 thiough the bridge, ,-eemed as if it 

 would detacii the piers of the arch from 

 their foundation, ami liumiiie us into 

 the eddying current l)elow. J)e<cen<l- 

 iug by a very precarious kind of path 

 to the brink of tlie river, we were pre- 

 sented with a most j)!ctures(iue view 

 of its progress thro'tgh the deep wood 

 below. Here, the stream, it's current 

 augmented by a number of small tri- 

 butary rivulets, rolled smoothly and 

 Tcxpidly onward, till it encountered a 

 fragment of rock, over which it dashed 

 with mnch force into a dark and 

 ne;vrly circular pool beneath ; for about 

 twenty yards it pushed silently on its 

 way, when it became impeded by 

 another nutss of rock, too high and 

 large tube surmounted, round tiiis fi;in 

 barrier then it foamed iu seeming wrath, 

 aud went frothing and roaring thiough 

 the forest, concealed from our view l;y 

 the underwood whicli clothed its banks. 



• The Welsh are not half so fond of grand 

 names as they were wont to be. This is as 

 it ought to be, for " what's iu a name •" as 

 Romeo says. Yet nevertheless there me 

 some very " magnificent of sound." We 

 are acquainted with more than oue indivi- 

 dual who can boast of an appellation, every 

 whit a.s sonorous as that ot'our good iVicnd 

 Cadwalladcr (iriffiths. 



[June ], 



There was something excecdiBgly beau- 

 tiful in the spot wiieie we stood watch- 

 ing tiie course of this tierce inuu?itaiu 

 stream, and we were strongly fenijiled 

 to extend our ramble along the jsith 

 whiclv Jiad been formed as close to the 

 brink of the river as the willow and 

 alder-bushes v.onld permit. ISut tin- 

 day was drawing to a dose, and we had 

 yet twelve good miles to travel ere we 

 reached our destination: we th<',rofoJC 

 unwillingly tunied our backs ujion this 

 lovely and seel)uJ< il deiJ. During our 

 absence fri>in the inn, the Abeiysivvitli 

 coach had arriveii, an<l we learut from 

 the landlord, who knew we were bound 

 for Dolgeliey, tliat one of the passen- 

 gers was going there also, and as the 

 evfcuing was fine, intended to walk. 

 He M as moreover, a native of Merio- 

 nethshire, and knew (our host .said) 

 " a load of stories'* about the wild 

 places tliroiigh v. hich we were to pass. 

 Of how many stories the "■ load" 

 actually consisted we could form no 

 estimate, but we were determined to 

 introduce ourselves to the gentleman, 

 and crave the pleasure of accompany- 

 ing him to Doigelley. Weaeconlingly 

 did so, and after a very cordial recep- 

 tion, and the discussion of a bottle or 

 two of t<!!era!)!e port, we were on our 

 way to DoIgeHey, and in a short time 

 found ourselves traxersiug the roman- 

 tic mountains of the beautiful county 

 of Merionetii. 



Our companion was a very agreeable 

 and intelligent person, and a very 

 amusing local antiqi.'ary. Had we 

 trudged on from Malhvyd by ourselves, 

 we should, probably, h.ave lost a great 

 deal of interesting Lnforinatiou, but 

 through the kindness of our. new ac- 

 quaintance, Mr. H — , wc have been 

 enabled to present to *!ur leaders, some 

 entertaining facts relative to the tra- 

 ditionary lore of this part of the prin- 

 cipality. Two miles beyond Mallwyd, 

 we reached a little hamlet, denomi- 

 nated Diiuis Mowddwg, and of all the 

 miserable places we ua^e ever seen, 

 this, without exception, is the most 

 wretched, situated in a deep and dis- 

 mal llollo^v — between high and barren 

 mouutains, composed chiefly of mean 

 biiilding, thatched v.ith straw or fern, 

 and almojt constantly drenched iu 

 rain, Diuas IMowddwg, we think, stands 

 unrivalled in wretchedness ; at all 

 e-veuts, we never, in the whole course 

 of our j>eregrinations (and they have 

 been ueitlier few nor unfrerjuent) be- 

 iield a place, apparently, so destitute 



of 



