THE SWANSEA GUIDE, 
these gentlemen, we are much surprized 
and dissatisfied with the meagreness of 
the volume before us. Mr. Wilson has 
no justifiable apology for rejecting the 
Stores tizat are laid open tohim. The 
great collections in print and MS, by 
-Mr. Baker, are readily accessible at the 
British Museum ; where are also those 
amassed by Mr. Cole. The latter were 
bequeathed upon the condition of their 
not being made public till twenty years 
after the donor’s decease. ‘That singu- 
Jar injunction being fulfilled, the whole, 
‘consisting of sixty volumes, were lately 
opened tor the inspection and adyan- 
tage * of those persons who wished to 
benefit by them. We fear Mr. Wilson 
-is not one of them, or his memorabilia 
would have been more copious, more 
‘satisfactory, and more interesting. ‘ All 
‘that I ean hope on the present occasion,” 
he observes, “ is, that I have executed 
at least a more complete and entertain- 
395 
ing guide to the members and visitants 
of the university, than any which has 
yet appeared.”? That this work may 
be a ditéle superior to the common * Cam- 
bridge Guide” we readily grant. 
The contents of this volume may be 
divided into the four subjects of history, 
topography, description, and biography. 
In the three first it is unsatisfactorily 
concise, and often erroneous in dates 
and spelling. Its only claim to no- 
velty or utility lies in the biographical 
sketches, wherein we occasionally dis- 
tinguish a few touches of the improving 
pencil. Petit views of all the colleges, 
with slight portraits of the founders, are 
given im the volume; but the whole of 
them bear such striking marks of forgery, 
that they must not pass current through 
our hands. ‘They are mere * shadows of 
shades,’ or, to express it more techni- 
cally, they are slovenly copies of copies. 
Art. VIII. The Swansea Guides containing such Information as was deemed useful to 
the Traveller, through the Counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth; from the Exemplifica- 
tions of antient and modern Authors. 
THIS little Cambrian guide contains 
a concise account of all the principal 
towns, villages, castles, abbies, and seats, 
with the natural and artificial curiosities, 
‘included within the: two counties men- 
dioned in the title. Of the latter county, 
the public have already had ample in- 
formation in the history of it, by Mr. 
Williams, in Coxe’s Tour, and in several 
smaller books; but the history and an- 
‘tiquities of Glamorganshire are but little 
known. What is contained in this small 
yolume appears to be the result of per- 
sonal investigation; therefore, though 
short, it becomes very useful. The au- 
thor has not avowed himself, but we are 
informed he is the Rev. Mr. Oldisworth, 
Master of the Free Grammar School 
of Swansea; whose name we announce 
‘with some degree of pleasure, from the 
modesty and unaffectcd simplicity which 
prevail through the book. We trust 
the sale of it will tempt its author to 
‘make considerable additions to his ac- 
_ count of Swansea, and to the whole of the 
county, but for the reasons above stated 
we would recommend him to omit the 
“notices relating to Monmouthshire. From 
this guide it appears that Swansea is a 
flourishing towa, and has greatly aug. 
18mo. pp. 198. 
mented its commercial consequence, and 
its local trade within the last century. 
This has partly arisen from the various 
mines of coal and culm inthe neighbour- 
hood. ‘The vast increase of its shipping 
will be seen in the following statement : 
—‘¢ Number of vessels in the year 1768 
were 694, or 30,631 tons.—Ditto, in 
1790, 1657 vessels, or 74,926 tons.— 
Ditto, from September 29, 1799, to Sep- 
tember 29, 1800, 2590 vessels, or 154,264 
tons.” 
Among other subjects of notice and 
celebrity, appertaining to Swansea, is 
Richard Nash, or Beau Nash, as he was 
commonly called. He was born here 
on the 13th of October 1673, and in a 
very early part of his life gave proofs of 
that volatility and gaiety, for which he 
afterwards became so distinguished. 
The writer of this Guide has related 
many anecdotes and particulars of this 
“ king of fashion,” exemplifying his po. 
lite urbanity of manners, which obtain- 
ed him numerous friends, though his 
governing passion was gaiety and dissi- 
pation. At length settling in Bath, 
which even at the end of the sixteenth. 
century was extremely poor and un- 
fashionable, he accidentally obtained the 
* Sce an account of them, with the character of the collector, in the Monthly Maga-’ 
zine, yol, xvi. p. 23. 
ee 
