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of the hall which held the conqueror's parliament, turned to the ignoble uses of a common barn. How idle seemed the conflict of human passions-vaulting ambition-the petty pride and glory of kings! He felt the full truth of the psalmist's lament for the slain on the mountains of Gilboa, How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!' and how hollow, base, and vulgar, appeared to him then the pursuit of objects such as monarchs and their minion-lords had made to themselves idols of, at the expense of the happiness of countless millions.* Alas! he thought, how long and dread an account have not ill-starred royalty, aristocratic baseness and treachery, priestly servility and rapacity, to render up of their stewardship,-of vainly and proudly assuming the direction of the destinies of the great family of man. How often have these halls and deserted courts rung with the glad voices of the proudest, the gayest, and the most lovely of England's once-famed nobility! Behold an example of the fortunes of the haughty and the vain-glorious of the earth; and as surely as yon once-towering bulwarks lie levelled with the dust, shall their strength and glory pass away, and their splendour become dim.

Formerly the residence of the native princes, Rhuddlan, after its fall, continued in possession of the English. Repeated attempts were made by the Welsh to regain it, and it sustained continual sieges till the final conquest of the country. It repulsed a terrific attack by Llewellyn and his brother David in the last contest, in 1281, and became the dungeon of the latter prince, previous to his ignominious execution. In the time of Charles I. the castle was occu

-Ambition's honour'd fools!

Yes, honour decks the turf that wraps their clay!

Vain sophistry! in these behold the tools,

The broken tools that tyrants cast away
By myriads, when they dare to pave their way
With human hearts-to what? a dream alone!
Can despots compass ought that hails their sway,
Or call, with truth, one span of earth their own,
Save that wherein at last they crumble bone by bone?'

pied by the royalists; but, after a brief siege, it surrendered to the able general Mytton. In the December following it was dismantled by order of the parliament.

Proceeding towards the elevation on the south side, called Tuthill, whence the fortress was often battered, the Wanderer examined the traces of a still more ancient fortification, surrounded by a deep fosse, including the abbey, which crosses from the margin of the bank, near the ascent of the present road to St. Asaph, to another parallel road, and falls nearly into the southern part of the walled ditch of the castle.

From Rhuddlan, the Wanderer made excursions to some of the neighbouring spots of most interest, as he had before done from Flint to the ancient Caerwys, Halkin, Downing, and Llanasaph. Among these he selected Diserth, Gronant Moor, Prestatyn Castle, Gwaenysgor, where he passed some time in visiting the old sites and remains pointed out by Mr. Pennant, and, on returning, walked about five miles across Rhuddlan Marsh to Abergeley.

His entrance into Denbighshire by this less frequented route, presented him with some novel scenery, combining features of the wilder cast, the steril wastes, the sands, and coast views along the jagged shores, with the milder beauties of the interior,—the picturesque ruins of antique halls and castles, and the hills of Denbigh and Caernarvon, appearing with softened hues in the distance. Situated on the edge of Rhuddlan Marsh, its clear seaair and noble sands render Abergeley, though a mean town in itself, a favourite resort in the summer and autumnal seaAlong the same line of coast he advanced up to Llandrillo, to the still bleaker Penmaen Rhos, Rhos Fynach, and back by Llandulas. Being within a mile of the lofty precipice of Cefn Ogo, near the clayey cliffs which impend over the sea, he sought out the magnificent cavern, the entrance to which has been described as resembling the portal of a noble cathedral, arched and divided within by what has the appearance of a huge column. Tradition states, that in old times the sea here overwhelmed a vast

sons.

tract of inhabited country, extending at least two miles northward; and Mr. Pennant mentions an epitaph on the church-yard wall, shown as evidence on this head :-'In this church yard lies a man who lived three miles to the north of it.'

In the vicinity of Abergeley the Wanderer also visited Cegidoc, formerly annexed to St. Asaph; and high above it the strong position occupied by Owen Gwynedd, after his famous retreat, and in which he foiled all the efforts of the invader.*

Twilight was fast gathering on shore and plain, as the Wanderer bent his way to the beach of Abergeley, intending with the first gleam of dawn to pursue his walks through Denbigh to the more lovely and romantic neighbourhood of Llangollen. Night and silence began to draw closer their veil over the prospect far along the now dim-seen hills, and no sound met his ear but the rippling of the wave, or the dash of the distant oar.

'Soft on the wave the oars at distance sound,
The night-breeze sighing through the leafy spray,
With gentle whisper murmurs all around,
Breathes on the placid sea, and dies away.

As sleeps the moon upon her cloudless height,

And the swoln spring-tide heaves beneath the light,
Slow lingering on the solitary shore,

Along the dewy path my steps I bend,

Lonely to yon forsaken fane descend,

To muse on youth's wild dreams amid the ruins hoar.'

Tour through Wales.

• Henry II., who, after severe losses already alluded to, found his progress effectually checked by the bold impregnable position called Pen y Parc.

Lord Lyttelton that he retreated to the Snowdon hills.

It is stated by

CHAPTER VI.

LLANGOLLEN, VALLE CRUCIS ABBEY, CHIRK CASTLE, &c,

BOLD, beauteous land! where simple piety

And freedom, in thy sanctuary of hills,

Long nurs'd the light of Christian precepts pure,

Where honour walked in the glad muse's train,—

Famed chiefs and loveliest woman homage yielded,
In palace-hall and bower, to song divine,-
Where antique customs-manly sports-frank bearing—
'Neath laws of the good Howel,-left the fame

Of Britain's virtues, brightening still through time.

The Wanderer.

To those who experience pleasure in mere change of scene, and a swift succession of inanimate objects, the characteristics of mind, the exertion of thought and reasoning, warm affections, or sympathy with the vicissitudes and sufferings of a people, too often, perhaps, appear wholly superfluous. Yet, without he carry some human sympathies about him,—some sensibility to the interests, wants, and objects of the people he visits, arising out of a knowledge of their history, the traveller deprives himself of the finest and purest sources of enjoyment; at the best, he only emulates the genius of a surveyor of roads and rivers,-a sort of courier-chronicler of hours, places, and distances, occasionally, perhaps, rising into luminous descriptions of circumstances and details which are pretty sure of being experienced alike, without anticipation, by every tourist.

To one of the Wanderer's temperament, at least, the kind of conventional preparation which such prescription of the beaten route involves, the given how-the when-and the whereabouts-with the annexed description on the most recent scale, and distances in the exactest order,--had a peculiarly anti-locomotive power which

deterred him from taking many an excursion, especially if they applied to a country nearly as familiar to him as his own. He had, unfortunately, early entertained a foolish prejudice in favour of the old travellers, who dwelt with more complacency on manners and on men than on posts and mile-stones,—giving, with more clearness, their own notions of the characteristics and appearances which presented themselves, than the manner of getting over a certain space in a given period of time-agreeably to the latest improved method-and at an expence calculated something between a half-franc and a whole one.

For the same reason, the most elaborate description of external nature, or a succession of the most magnificent scenes and natural objects, could never wholly interest his mind. It was his delight to make himself familiar with the popular character,—the hopes and reminiscences of nations,-previously to his inquiries into their existing habits and pursuits, or their future prospects, like children of the same family whose parts and dispositions he had studied in the great community of man. With these views, the Wanderer had commenced his earliest rambles in the Principality, and he now left the more steril mountain-tracts and shores of Caernarvon and Flintshire for the interior of Denbighshire, where the wild romantic character of the country is agreeably relieved by the milder aspect and far-spreading beauty and fertility of plains and valleys. The signs of modern improvement, as he proceeded, gave rise to a fresh train of ideas, connected with the increasing comfort and prosperity of the inhabitants. Pleased with the contrast which more cheerful views and the happier appearance of the natives produced-for he now met fewer of the swarthy forgers and miners in proportion to the peasantry, cottagers, and woodmen,—he directed his attention to modern institutions, as well as to the more ancient sites to which any stirring or amusing recollections attached. Upon all sides he was struck with the marked changes which the last few years seemed to have wrought in the mind and character, no less than in the external features of the country.

L

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