94 EEMINISCENCES OF A SPOKTSMAX. 



He feeds yon alms-house, neat, but Yoid of state, 

 Where age and want sit smiling at the gate, 

 Him, portion' d maids, apprentie'd orphans blest, 

 The young who labbiir, and the old who rest. 

 Is any sick ? the Man of Ross relieves. 

 Prescribes, attends, the medicine makes and gives. 

 Is there a variance ? enter but his door, 

 Balked are the courts, and contest is no more. 

 Despairing Quacks, with curses fled the place. 

 And vile attorneys, now an useless race. 

 Thrice happy man ! enabled to pursue, 

 "WTiat aU so wish, but want the power to do, 

 Oh ! say what sums that generous hand supply ? 

 What mines to swell that boundless charity ? 

 Of debts and taxes, wife and children clear, 

 This man possest — five hundred pounds a year." 



On our road to Caermartlien, through Abergavenny 

 and Crickhowel, the bold and grand scenery of moun- 

 tains and craggy rocks, and here and there verdant and 

 fertile valleys well watered by small rapid streams, are 

 most gratifying to the lover of the picturesque. On our 

 left we had for many miles the river Usk, in which are 

 caught excellent salmon and good sized trout. In 

 rocky and commanding situations you occasionally be- 

 hold the ruins of old castles, some built by the ancient 

 Britons as a defence against the encroachments of the 

 Saxons and Normans, and others chiefly by Edward the 

 First to retain his conquest and keep in subjection his 

 newly acquired subjects. The Welsh, like the Swiss, are 

 strongly attached to their native country, and resisted 

 with success, under their princes, all efforts of the 

 Saxons and Normans to subjugate them, until the reign of 

 Edward the First*, who at last fairly starved them into 



* The conquest of Wales was finally achieved by Edward the First 

 in 1223, soon after the battle between the Welsh Prince Llewellyn, and 



