7 ©® A N G L 
AN'GLESEY (Ifleof), is the mod wedern county of 
North Wales. It is twenty-four miles in length, eighteen 
in breadth, and fends one member to.parliament. It is fe- 
parated from Caernarvonlhire by a drait called Menai, and 
on every other fide is furrounded by the fea. It is a fer¬ 
tile (pot, and abounds in corn, cattle, flelh, fidi, and fowls. 
At Port Aethwy, the mod general ferry into the idand, there 
is a great palfage of cattle. It is computed that the ifland 
fends forth annually from 12,000 to 15,000 heads, and 
multitudes of Iheep and hogs. It is alfo computed that 
the remaining dock of cattle is 30,000. I11 1770, upwards 
of 90,000 bufliels of corn were exported, exclulive of 
wheat. The improvement in hulbandry has greatly in- 
creafed fince the fupprellion of fmuggling from the I fie of 
Man; before that time every farmer was mounted on fome 
high promontory, expecting the vefiel with illicit trade ; 
but, fince that period, he applies in earned to indudry and 
cultivation. Not but that the ifland was in a mod remote 
time famous for its fertility: Mon, Mam Gymry, the 
Nurfmg-mother of Wales, was a title it allumed even in 
the 12th century. 
This idand is divided into feventy-four paridies, of which 
mod of the churches are fituated near the fhores. By an 
account given on the 13th of Atigud, 1563, there were 
201 o hcufeholds, or families, inAnglefey; allowing five 
to a family, the whole number of inhabitants in that pe¬ 
riod was 10,050. In 1776; the number of houfes in A11- 
gfefey was about 3,956 : allowing five perfons to a family, 
the whole number of inhabitants was at that time 19,780 ; 
which wants only 340 of doubling the number of inhabi¬ 
tants in the intervening fpace. The chief town is Beaumaris. 
in ancient times this ifland was called Mon, Mona, or 
Moncg. It was the great nurfery of the religion of the 
Druids ; being the reiidence of the Grand Druid, or chief 
pontiff, and confequently of all the learned dodlors in that 
religion. Many ancient monuments of Druidifm dill re¬ 
main in the idand. At Tre’r Dryw, or the habitation of 
the arch druid, are feveral mutilated remains, which have 
been defcribed by Mr. Rowlands. His Bryn Gwyn , or royal 
tribunal, is a circular hollow of 180 feet in diameter, fur- 
rounded by an immenfe agger of earth and dones, evident¬ 
ly brought front fome other place, as there is not the lead 
mark ot their being taken from the fpot. It has only a (in¬ 
gle entrance. This is fuppofed to have been the grand 
conlidory of the drnidical adminidration. Not far from it 
was one of the Gojeddav, now in a manner difperfed, but 
which once confided of a great copped heap of dones, on 
which fat a druid, in(lru£ting the lurrounding people multa 
de Dcomm immortalivm vi ct potefate dijputare, et juventuti 
tradunt. C;ef. lib. vi. Here were alfo the relics of a circle 
of bones, with the cromlech in the midft; but all extreme¬ 
ly imperfeft. Two of the dones are very large ; one, 
which ferves at prefent as part of the end of a houfe, is 
twelve feet feven inches high, and eight feet broad ; and 
another eleven feet high, and twenty-three feet in girth. 
Some fmaller dones yetremain. This circle, whencomplete, 
was one of the temples of the druids, in which their reli¬ 
gious rites were performed. It is the conjecture of Mr. 
Rowlands, that the whole of thefe remains were furround- 
cd with a circle of oaks, and formed a deep and facred 
grove : Jam per fe roborum elcgunl lucos, neqne ulla facra fine 
ea fmnde conjiciunt, Plin. Hid. Nat. xv. 44. Near this is 
Cacr Leb, or the moated entrenchment; of a fquare form, 
'-with a double rampart, and broad ditch intervening, and 
a fmaller on the outlide. Within are foundationsofcircular 
and of fquare buildings. This Mr. Rowland fuppofes to 
have been the reddence of the arch druid, and to have 
given the name, Tre’r Dryw, to the townihip in which it 
bands. At Trev-Wry are feveral faint traces of circles 
of dones, and other vediges of buildings ; but all fo dila¬ 
pidated, or hid in weeds, as to become aimed formlefs. 
Bod-drudan, or the habitation of the druids, Tre’r-Beirdd, 
or that of the bard, and Bodowyr , or that of the prieds, 
arc ail of them hamlets, nearly lurrounding the feat of the 
E S E Y. 
chief druid, compofmg the edential part of his fuitc. At 
the lad is a thick cromlech, reding on three dones. 
The fhore near Porthamel, not far from hence, is famed 
for being the place where Suetonius landed, and put an 
end in this ifland to the Druid reign. His infantry palled 
over in flat-bottom boats, perhaps at the fpot dill called 
Pant yr YJ'craphic, or the vailey of Jkijfs. His cavalry 
eroded partly by fording, partly by fwimming. Of the 
conflict on this occalioit we have the following animated 
defeription by Tacitus: Stat pro lit tore diveifa acits, denja 
armis virifque, intercurj'antibus fizminis in niodum furiarum , 
vejiejc.rali, crinibus dejedlis, faces, prcfcrcbmtr ; druickeque 
circum , preces dirasfublatis ad ccelum manibus fvndcntes. No - 
vitatc ofpeElus percutoc mi/item, tit quaft heerentibus membns, 
immobile corpus vulneribusprccberenl. Dein cchortionibus ducts, 
et ft ipfc Jlimulantcs, ne muliebre et fanaticum agmen paveJce- 
rent, inferunt Jigna, Jlernuntque obvios ct igni juo involvuvt. 
Pra-fidium po/thac impofitum vicis, cxcifque luci, Jaivis JuperJli- 
tionibus facri. Nam crtiore captivo adolere aras, et hominum 
jibris conjulerc dcosfas habebant. Thus Englilhed: “On 
the diore dood a motley army in dole array, and well 
armed ; with women running wildly about in black attire 
with diflievelled hair, and like the furies brandiihing 
their torches; furrounded by the druids, lifting up their 
hands to heaven, and pouring forth the mod dreadful im¬ 
precations. The foldier (lood aflonifhed with the novelty 
of the fight. His limbs grew torpid, and his body re¬ 
maining motionlefs refigned to every wound. At length, 
animated by their leader, and rob zing one another not to 
be intimidated with a womanly and fanatic band, they dif- 
played their enfigns, overthrew all who oppofed them, 
and flung them into their own fires. After the.battle, they 
placed garrifons in the towns, and cut down the groves 
confecrated to the mod horrible fuperditions : for the Bri¬ 
tons held it right to facrifice on their altars with the blood 
of their enemies, and to confiilt the gods by the infpedtion 
of their entrails.” There are no traces of any Roman 
works left in this country. Their day was fo diort, that 
they had not time to form any thing permanent. 
Near the ferry of Moel y Don appear the fine woods of 
Sir Nicholas Bayley, (kir ... . Menai for a confiderable 
way. The wooded part of the ifland is on this fide. It 
commences at Llanidan, and recals the ancient Britilh name 
of Anglefey, Ynys Dyuyll, or the Dark Ifland, on account 
of the deep (hade of its groves: but at prefent it is (ex¬ 
cept in this part) entirely diveded of trees; and the cli¬ 
mate fo averfe to their growth, that in mod parts it is 
with great difficulty the gentry can raife a plantation round 
their houfes. Plus Newydd, the feat of Sir Nicholas Bay- 
ley, lies clofe upon the water, protected on three fides by 
venerable oaks and afhes. The view up and down this 
magnificent river-like firait is extremely fine. The (bores 
are rocky; thofe on the oppofite fide covered with woods; 
and beyond foar a long range of Snowdonian alps. Here 
dood a houfe built by Gwenllian, a defeendant of Cadrod 
Hardd. The manfion has been improved, and altered to 
a cadellated form by the prefent owner. 
In the woods are fome very remarkable druidical anti¬ 
quities. Behind the houfe are to be feen two vad crom¬ 
lechs. The upper done of one is twelve feet feven inches 
long, twelve broad, and four thick, fupported by five tall 
dones. The other is but barely feparated from the fird : 
is almod a fquare, of five feet and a half, and fupported 
by four dones. The number of fupporters to cromlechs 
are merely accidental, and depend on the fize or form of 
the incumbent done. Thefe are the mod magnificent we 
have, and the highed from the ground; for a middle-fized 
horfe may eafiiy pafs under the larged. In the lands of 
Llugwy, indeed, there is a mod dupendous one of a rhom¬ 
boid al form. Tlie greated diagonal is feventeen feet and 
a half, the fmaller fifteen, and the thicknefs three feet 
nine inches; but its height from the ground is only two 
feet: it was fupported by feveral dones. The Welffi, 
who aferibe every thing dupendous to our famous Britilh 
