I70 BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 



in wait. If the poets had spared it their fine 

 speeches, and their comphments fledged with 

 suave metre, Llangollen could be appraised with 

 a fresher eye and admired to the utmost of its 

 mild deserving without antagonism and without 

 disappointment. Also, if it is seen on the way 

 into Wales instead of on the way out of it, it will 

 occupy with fitting distinction its place in the 

 crescendo of Welsh scenery, undiscounted by the 

 coming fortissimo : to be one of the last notes in 

 a diminuendo is quite a different thing. 



Probably it was the two unparalleled persons 

 known as the Ladies of Llangollen who did most 

 for its fame. They ran away from their Irish 

 homes to go and live there, which in itself, from 

 our point of view, suggests eccentricity. Perhaps 

 it was in lifelong penance for this act that ever 

 after they wore riding-habits, summer and winter, 

 indoors and out. After a fortnight spent in riding- 

 habits we could appreciate such an expiation, even 

 though the equipment we had dedicated to the 

 Tommies did not include powdered hair and cart- 



