1821.] Excursion through North Wales. 20 5 
one terrace to another. These houses 
are chiefly occupied by the lower or¬ 
ders, as fishermen, labourers, boatmen, 
tkc., who are well inured to the dense, 
smoky atmosphere which envelopes 
them.' Barmouth possesses no charm to 
the antiquarian. Here are the remains 
of no time-worn monasteries—no tot¬ 
tering and decaying turrets; all is sand 
—suffocation, andT disagreeableness— 
as far, however, as the town itself is 
concerned. Mr. W. informed us that 
the ruins of an ancient tower w ere to 
be seen in the neighbourhood about 30 
or 40 years ago ; in which, it is said, 
that Henry the Seventh, when Earl of 
Richmond, used to conceal himself 
when he came to W ales to consult with 
his partisans there respecting the pur¬ 
posed revolution. But of this there 
are now no traces, and few are aware 
that it ever existed. A circumstance 
came to our knowledge while at Bar¬ 
mouth, which will not greatly tend to 
prolong an Englishman’s visit there. 
Mr. Barnett— 44 mine host”—not 44 of 
the Lion,” but of the Corsygedol Arms, 
ha's two charges for the commodities 
which it is his happiness to vend—an 
English and a Welch one ; the former 
being nearly double that of the latter. 
As Englishmen, we cannot admire this 
patriotic discrimination—but no doubt 
Mr. Barnett understands his trade; and 
as his is the only inn in the place, we dare 
say he experiences the benefit of his 
ingenuity. 
Since we have been in Wales, we 
have observed that the attendants at 
the inns, with the exception of the 
landlord himself, are generally females, 
very neatly and becomingly attired, and 
extremely civil in their behaviour. Inde¬ 
pendently of (to a Londoner) the novelty 
of this custom, there is a certain charm 
—a peculiar and engaging agreeable¬ 
ness in the attention which these 
femmes de caberet must necessarily, and 
do willingly, pay their guests. For our 
own parts, we would rather he waited 
. upon by a cheerful, modest, 44 w insome 
lassie,” than by the sprucest waiter 
that ever cried 44 Coming, Sir!” at 
Long’s or Stephens’s. And we have 
some idea that we are by no means sin¬ 
gular in this respect. 
In the evening we accompanied Mr. 
W. in a walk among the hills, for the 
purpose of calling upon a poor family, 
whose father, a hard-working, honest 
farmer, had just died. We soon ar¬ 
rived at the house of mourning—a soli¬ 
tary cot, situated on a rugged emi¬ 
nence, from which Barmouth might be 
seen in the valley below, and the beau¬ 
tiful expanse of the Bay of Cardigan 
beyond it. It was a solitary spot, but 
there was an air of comfort about the 
exterior of the humble building, not 
common to a situation so unfertile and 
romantic. There was a. little garden 
in full bloom on one side, and the front 
of the cottage was pleasingly decorated 
with odorous wreaths of honey-suckle. 
The turf and w ood-stacks, too, were in 
good trim, and a small enclosure at a 
short distance from the front of the 
house gave growth to a miniature grove 
of expanded white roses, in fair and 
beautiful feature, amidst so much wild 
sterility. To complete this scene, on 
which the descending sun was mildly 
shining— 
-1_-A mountain rivulet, 
Then calm and lovely in its summer 
course, 
Held by this 44 cot” its everlasting way. 
But there were none of those busy 
signs of rustic activity and cheerfulness 
—none of the customary vivacity of a 
farm-house; but all was as still as night. 
Yet did this little garden look newly 
trimmed; and the spiry volume of 
smoke, which ascended to the clouds, 
evinced that the cottage, silent and so¬ 
litary as it was, w^as occupied. Mr. W. 
left us, and w ent into the house, but 
quickly returned, bearing an earnest 
invitation from the poor widow, that 
we would come in and rest us. We did 
not decline it, but followed our friend 
into the cottage, where we beheld a 
scene, sad and gloomy enough. At one 
extremity of a very neat but small 
apartment, was the sorrowful widow, 
with a fine boy of ten or eleven years of 
age, resting his head in her lap, and 
crying bitterly; and a little girl, con¬ 
siderably younger, fast asleep on a set¬ 
tle near the fire. The poor woman 
rose as we entered, and placed seats for 
us, earnestly pressing us to partake of 
some provisions, with which a large 
table, running nearly the wfliole length 
of the apartment, was plentifully co¬ 
vered. We W'ere at a loss to discover 
why these festive preparations w r ere dis¬ 
played at a period so sad and agonizing, 
but we subsequently learnt that it is 
customary in some parts of Wales* to 
keep a kind of 44 open house ” the day 
before the funeral, for the entertain¬ 
ment of the friends of the family ; and 
w^e had an opportunity of witnessing, 
before Ave left the cottage, one ot the ce¬ 
remonies connected with the burial of 
a Welsh 
