NOTICED IN NORTH WALES. ify | 
the Normans, and the English. This however is not the case. 
The Sassenach has found the way to Dinas, although the hel- 
meted warrior never discovered a path to this sequestered spot. 
Gold is the key which opens every gate except heaven’s, and 
makes a way for carriages where there was formerly only a sheep 
track or a wheelbarrow road. There is one way to Dinas Mowddy 
and another out of it, or, in other words, the way from Mallwydd 
to Dolgelly passes through the town. Other approach or exit it 
has none. Although a regal as well as ecclesiastical city, it is a 
miserably wretched place. The habitations are mean, dilapidated, 
and, judging from their exterior, incommodious and foul within. 
An agent of a London Mining Company informed us that the 
earnings of the inhabitants were not inconsiderable,—18s. to £1 
a week; or more in some cases. They possess all the privileges 
of a civic government: have a mayor, aldermen, etc. The 
recorder was pointed out to us, a poor-looking man, of hardly 
so respectable an appearance as a crossing-sweeper in London. 
There is a plas or mansion in Dinas, naturally beautiful, but, 
like the city, in a ruinous, neglected condition. This curiously- 
situated place lies in a basin surrounded by lofty hills, which 
rather overhang it than bound it. These are entirely destitute 
of trees and everything else but a straggling tuft of short, coarse 
grass here and there. The river flows by it, and by the riverside 
is the only way of ingress or egress. The following old proverb 
is descriptive of the moral state of Dinas two centuries ago, and 
of its physical condition at the present time :— 
“Tn Mawddy black three things remain— 
False men, blue earth, and ceaseless rain : 
Of these they’d gladly riddance gain.” 
Here we were however comfortably housed for the night. 
The following morning, which was raw and foggy, saw us on 
the road by six o’clock. We soon cleared the suburbs and envi- 
rons of Dinas, and found, as we had been forewarned, that we 
should have a steep pull up the acclivity before we reached the 
ridge of the Arran Mountains. During this morning’s walk we 
collected Gentiana campestris and Mentha piperita, the latter far 
enough from any human habitation. Except it may be a shieling 
or so for the miners or shepherds, there is no house between 
Dinas and Croes Foxes, except a miserable abode considerably 
further on than the summit of the mountain-chain, and this last 
