surrounded, that tradition has not commemorated their homely joys and destiny obscure,' any more than the astonishing cures or miracles which they wrought under the auspices of their ladypatroness, but few having the good fortune of the gentle Saint Winefred. The charter of the abbey offers a striking instance of the superstition of the age, and those delusions to which the minds of princes are equally subjected with that of the rudest peasant. The most ample grants, authority over lakes, rivers, and seas; all kinds of birds and beasts, wild or tame; mountains, woods, things moveable and immoveable; every thing upon or under the lands contained in the deed, with full liberty of digging for hidden treasures,' are among the privileges of the good brethren of old. An antiquarian of great celebrity likewise observes, with reference to their good taste, that 'the abbey is situated in as pleasant a spot as ever he saw. It was, in short, a colony of monks sent away as bees are when the hive is too full. But, idle as they were, the old monks were men of exquisite taste.'

Proceeding along the banks of the river, I passed the bridge, and entered the pretty village of Llanilltyd, pleasantly situated on the banks of the Mawddach, in the hundred of Ardudwy, containing a number of good houses. The parish extends in different directions several miles, embracing in its circuit the ancient abbey already noticed; but so few traces of its once noble castle remain, that its very site is uncertain. It is considered the port to its more important neighbour.

The most exquisite natural charm is ever heightened by a sense of moral beauty. In passing through a succession of those mild and lovely, or bold, romantic districts, in which this part of Merioneth so largely abounds, I felt a satisfaction not experienced in my former excursions, as I contemplated the changes that had already taken place, and those more important and salutary ones fast approaching, which, added to its exterior embellishments and improvements, must confer a moral and intellectual dignity upon the country, more gratifying to the eye of the observer than even her

picturesque falls and streams, or the splendour of her vales and woodlands. The spirit of freedom, industry, and an era better adapted to develope the intellectual energies of the Welsh, was evidently at work, preparing the social mind for some higher and more advanced state of civilisation. I marked a self-respect, a degree of courtesy and propriety, in the demeanour of the labouring classes, I had not hitherto beheld. New sources of employment, and both rural and commercial activity, were producing increased prosperity through the leading districts of the Principality. The enterprising spirit, also, of the public men,-seeking new channels for the investment of capital, leading to an union and extension of interests, led by persons of wealth and influence, at the head of whom names like the Marquis of Anglesea, Lord Mostyn, Lord Clive, Sir W. W. Wynn, Lord Dinorben, Sir Robert Vaughan, Mr. Smith, Mr. Pennant, and others of large mining or landed property, seemed to guarantee success, was a farther earnest of its rapid progress in the race of modern improvement. The patronage of new agricultural societies, those for the diffusion of education and the Scriptures, with the revival of some of the old bardic meetings, and others of a more modern, learned, and literary character, bore equal evidence of that zeal and perseverance in the higher classes, so intimately connected with the welfare of the people at large.

The vale of Llanilltyd can boast of beauties peculiar to itself; and it is to this distinctive feature that so much of the charm we still find in the recurrence of valleys, streams, and woodlands, still unexhausted, is chiefly to be referred. Here, as I saw it, at the close of autumn,-with the murmurs of the river, the sound of the dashing cataract loud on the ear, mingled with the whistling winds from the mountain hollows, the richly diversified foliage assuming still new lights and shadows with the varying clouds, the parting sunbeams or gathering twilight,-it had more of the wild and sombre than the beautiful, for which it has been so often extolled. As I bent my steps along the sedgy banks of the brawling stream,