36 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



be on t'other side, therefore the verses to he 

 changed." * 



Here, on the verge of tlie wikl Welsh coast, 

 the way was so uncertam and dangerous that 

 travellers had of necessity to employ guides, who 

 conducted them thence to Bangor, and across 

 Anglesey to Holyhead. The roads in Anglesey 

 were unworthy of the name, and only a little 

 better than horse-tracks ; while the inhabitants 

 of the isle spoke only Welsh, and understood 

 not a word of English. Nearly two liundred 

 years have passed, but although the roads 

 have been made good, the folks of Anglesey 

 speak English no more than they did then, 

 when the guides acted the part of interpreters 

 as well. 



Swift, therefore, is found at Conwaj^, men- 

 tioning the guide who had already brought 

 him safely over PenmaenmaAvr : "I baited at 

 Conway, the guide going to another Inn; the 

 maid of the old Inn saw me in the street and 

 said that was my horse, she knew me. There I 

 dined, and sent for Ned Holland, a Squire famous 

 for being mentioned in Mr. Lyndsay's verses to 

 Day Morice. I there again saw Hook's tomb, 

 who was the 41st child of his mother, and had 

 himself 27 children, he dyed about 1638. There 

 is a note here that one of his posterity new 

 furbished up the inscription. I had read in Abp. 

 Williams' Life that he was l)uryed in an obscure 

 Church in North Wales. I enquired, and heard 

 * See p. 21. 



