228 A TOUR ROUND NORTH WALES. 



Some fay, that ever 'gainft that feafon comes, 

 Wherein our SAVIOUR'S birth is celebrated, 

 The bird of dawning fingeth all night long : 

 And then, they fay, no fpirit walks abroad : 

 The nights are wholefome : then no planets firike : 

 No fairy takes: no witch hath power to charm, 

 So hallow'd, and fo gracious is the time. 



The lower clafs of people of Caernar- 

 vonfliire, Anglefea, and part of Meri- 

 oneth (hi re, have a mode of courtfhip 1 , 

 which, till within thefe few years, was 

 fcarcely ever heard of in this kingdom. 

 The lover generally comes, under the 

 fhadow of the night, and is taken, with- 

 '* out any kind of referve, into the bed 

 of his fair one. Here, as it is generally 

 underflood, with part of his clothes 

 ftill on, 1 he breaths his tender paffion, 

 and a tells how true he loves/' This 

 cultom feems to have originated in the 

 fcarcity of fuel, and in the difagreeable- 

 nefs of fitting together in cold weather, 

 without fire. Much has been faid of 

 the innocence, with which thofe meet- 



