It is, perhaps, hardly fair to set Clwyd and Llangollen in rivalry, as is constantly done: their attractions are essentially different. Clwyd is an ample open placid valley, which may occasionally rise into an almost Claudean grace or grandeur, under favouring "skyey influences;" but which owes its chief secondary charm to the numerous ruins of castles and strongholds, and the recollections of the age to which they belong, which clothe with the purple haze of antiquity alike the hills and the valley. Llangollen has no historical relics of any importance, and no imposing associations; but it has natural charms which abundantly compensate. The valley is narrow and winding: the hills on either hand are steep and lofty: the crystal Dee, a copious stream, winds along the bottom of the vale,-now resting in a deep pool, embosomed in trees, which hardly allow the summits of the distant hills to be discerned; and presently, as it careers along a more open space, forcing its way between scattered masses of rock, or rushing over a blue ledge in sparkling waterbreaks. Thus, while Clwyd, if regarded as a landscape, must be viewed as a whole,-the interest of the parts depending rather on some ruined castle, to which the surrounding objects serve but as a foil,-Llangollen affords a continued succession of altogether independent and various scenes. From the heights, if the eye be turned westward, there are often exquisite views over a long stretch of valley, closed by a grand array of distant mountains; while, eastwards, a softer but even more extensive and delightful prospect extends. And in the valley the companionable river, differing at every turn, serves as the centre of an unfailing succession of charming pictures.

The village of Llangollen*-the centre from which the valley must be explored-is in itself by no means attractive, though its situation is pleasing. The houses are dropped down almost at random; while the picturesqueness that might be expected to result from this chance arrangement, is prevented by their want of character. The church is an old one; but, like the generality of Welsh village churches, is quite plain and poor. It is noteworthy, however, inasmuch as it covers the remains of the saint to whom it is dedicated, and who has given his name to church, village, and valley. Llangollen is the church of Collen. Pennant says, his full name and it is worth while having the full name of one Welsh saint-is Saint Collen ap Gwynnawg ap Clydawg ap Cowrda ap Caradoc Freichfras ap Lleyr Merion ap Einion Yrth ap Cunedda Wledig!

"Bless us! what a name for a holy saint is this!" Old Fuller, speaking of a certain Welsh gentleman of many aps, whose name was called at full on the panel of a jury, says that he "was advised by the judge, in the reign of King Henry VIII., for brevity sake, to contract his name;" and that he did so accordingly. "This leading case," he adds, was "precedential *This, in the books, is generally said to be pronounced Thlangothlen; but the sound is somewhat more like Chlancothlen, the chl being a strong guttural.

to the practice of other gentry in Wales, who (leaving their pedigrees at home) carry only one surname abroad with them, whereby much time (especially in winter) is gained for other employment." Perhaps it was usual, once, to call Welsh demons, as well as Welsh saints and Welsh gentlemen, by their ancestral names; (on the ground that "his Honour was a gentleman!") and this may explain what Hotspur said of Owen Glendower's catalogue of serviceable spirits:

"I tell whatyou

He held me, last night, at least nine hours,
In reckoning up the several devils' names
That were his lackeys."

If Llangollen village be not in itself very attractive it proves a capital first station whereat the tourist may make his early essays in Welsh rambling, and obtain induction into Welsh characteristics. The people of the village talk English pretty generally, but all around the Welsh language prevails: and if he wish to hear it in continuous discourse he may do so by attending the service at either church or chapel on Sunday afternoon. The hills and the crags will serve as exercise-ground on which the incipient pedestrian may test and train his budding powers of walking and climbing. Then there are, moreover, two excellent inns, at either of which, after his day's wanderings, he may solace himself with Welsh fare-prime mountain mutton, Dee trout or salmon (which will be all the better, of course, if he catch them), and for a beverage some genuine cwrw (and that of mine host of the Hand is eminently cwrw dha): while he will be cheered during the breakfast, or dinner-hour by the melody of Welsh tunes, played on a Welsh harp, by a thoroughly. Welsh harper.

This custom, by-the-way, of having a harper stationed in the hall, prevails pretty generally at the hotels through the touring districts. Of the agreeable. ness or otherwise of the practice, opinion seems to differ considerably among both tourists and writers. All who discourse in the high musical dialect laugh it to scorn: to the unlearned, however, while only Welsh tunes are played with merely the simple national variations, the harping is usually not merely pleasing, but the simplicity of structure and frequently plaintive. tone of the airs appeal to the feelings in a way that the bewildering compositions of profound contra-puntists never do. For our part we should be very sorry to lose the harp, but heartily glad if the harpers would give up polkas and waltzes, and stick to their national tunes. Mayfair melodies are sadly out of place among the Welsh mountains.

The harp itself, as the national instrument, claims a word of passing notice; we therefore borrow Mr. Bingley's description of it, which we hope will satisfy our musical readers, acknowledging ourselves ignorance itself' in the matter:-"The harp has been always esteemed the principal musical instrument among the Welsh. Anciently it was strung with hair, and this continued in use until the commencement of

the fifteenth century, up to which period it had only a single row of strings, but the performer was able to produce a flat or sharp by a peculiar arrangement of the finger and thumb; an artifice, it is believed, no longer known. The harp now in common use, is the triple harp. It extends in compass to five octaves and one note. The two outside rows of strings are the diatonics, which are both tuned in unison, and in any key that the performer means to play in. The treble row comprises twenty-seven strings, and extends from A in alt down to C in the bass; and the opposite row or unisons comprises thirty-seven strings, and extends from A in alt down as low as double G in the bass. The middle-row, which is for flats and sharps, comprises thirty-four strings."

So much for the harp. Of the music we will only further remark, that the airs so familiar in England, such as 'Of a noble race was Shenkin,' ' Jenny Jones,' (Yr Gwdlas, and Cader Idris), and the like, are very different in the Welsh version: and it is much to be regretted that some Welsh Moore does not arise to marry the music of his national melodies to verse which shall echo the original sentiment, instead of degrading it by ludicrous or puerile associations.

Llangollen, it was said, affords an abundant variety of those short loitering strolls, which are so pleasant to take in a hilly country. These the tourist will best discover for himself-he can seldom go wrong, if he direct his way to the uplands, or, with pencil or rod in hand, betake himself to the fishermen's paths beside the Dee. But two or three of the more noted spots must be mentioned. The few fragments of a building, which are seen cresting the brow of the lofty hill on the north of Llangollen, are the remains of a fortress; but when built or at what time dismantled are alike unknown. They are too much decayed to be picturesque, or even to afford much clue to their age; and they are of little interest, for, as old Leland said in the time of Henry VIII., "the castle was never big thing." Still Castell Dinas Bran should be visited. The hill stands nearly insulated, and the summit being more than 900 feet above the Dee at Llangollen bridge, there is from it a remarkably fine view of the valley; moreover, the climb will be an excellent fillip to the appetite against the hour of breakfast-for, as the hilltop is only a mile or so from the inn, and the prospect is much the finest as the mists are dispersing, the early morning is assuredly the proper time for the ascent. As far as the prospect is concerned, fine as it certainly is, it is by no means so fine as that obtained from the brow of the Eagles' Crag (Greigiau Eglwysegle), as the remarkable bare scarp is called, which a little farther north towers far above Dinas Bran. This crag consists of a vast limestone cliff, which rises in a range of irregular ledges to a great height. It is very difficult to climb directly from Dinas Bran-and to find an easy ascent will require a rather long walk; but the prospect will repay the labour. The view of the valley downwards with the stream winding through the centre, and crossed by aqueduct and viaduct, and extending

into the open plain beyond, is very fine: while upwards, reaching far away to the lofty mountains, it is really grand. The view of the village and upper Vale of Llangollen, which we have given in the steel engraving, was sketched from the hill that rises immediately behind Llangollen Church.

A day will be well spent in a ramble to Chirk and Wynnstay, returning by the aqueduct and thence along the vale.

The

Chirk is a neat little village, and the village church, with the solemn old yews that stand in the churchyard, has a venerable air. But it is Chirk Castle, with its magnificent park, which the stranger comes to see. The house is a modern mansion of great size and splendour, which has been formed in part out of the old castle that was dismantled by the Parliamentarians, after they had well battered it with their cannon. interior of the house is permitted to be seen by the stranger: but as we have not seen it, we shall merely say that it is highly spoken of by those who have; and that it contains some very good pictures. One landscape-a view of the famous Montgomery Waterfall, Pistyl Rhaider-is universally popular; not on account of its faithfulness. It was painted by one of the many Dutchmen who practised their craft in England prior to the rise of the English school of landscape painters. Mynheer was commissioned to paint the cataract by one of the Middleton family, who, when the picture was brought home, sought to display his connoisseurship by proposing a slight alteration.' "It is very pretty indeed-but don't you think it would give it more animation if a few sheep were added?" "A few sheeps!" exclaimed the astonished artist; "a few sheeps by the waterfall!-ah well, you shall have a few sheeps if you wish for them." Accordingly the picture when sent home again, had the old rocky foreground painted out, and replaced by the sea, on which a few ships" are sailing, and into which the cataract is made to fall.

There is something finer to be seen at Chirk Castle than the interior of the mansion, however splendid that may be. From the terrace there is a prospect of surpassing beauty and of extraordinary extent: on a clear day seventeen counties, it is said, may be seen from it. The park itself is well wooded, has a handsome lake, and affords pleasing views. The valley of the Ceiriog, (the little river which flows below, and is here the boundary between England and Wales), is a scene famous in Welsh annals: the army of Henry II. having been there defeated by the renowned Welsh prince Owen Gwynedd-to the estate of whose descendant we are now to direct our steps.

From Chirk a walk of two or three miles leads to New Bridge, near which is a lodge by which Wynnstay Park may be entered. The path leads along the beautiful glen through which the Dee here makes its way. Nant-y-Belan, or the Glen of the Marten, as it is called, is one of the loveliest in this part of the country. The steep banks are richly clad with light foliage, while the river runs along the bottom, now

foaming over broken and projecting rocks, and presently flowing smooth and noiseless, and reflecting with a softened lustre the rich tints of the pendant trees and grassy knolls. From the end of the glen a path will be found to Belen Tower, a circular building, erected by Sir Watkin Wynne to the memory of the Cambrian officers and soldiers slain in the Irish rebellion of 1798. The building is a conspicuous object for a great distance in every direction: and glorious is the view from it. The whole Vale of Llangollen stretches at your feet. Cysylltau Aqueduct gives a distinctive character to the nearer part of the landscape; Dinas Bran is an important feature in the middle distance; the Dee is traced at intervals along the valley; a lofty barrier of mountains closes the prospect. As the sun is declining in the westward sky, and clothing hill and vale with a milder radiance, the scene is one that might well inspire poet or painter, and which it is hardly possible to gaze upon unmoved. Equally delightful in its way is the prospect over the Marten's Glen. Other parts of the park yield very fine views, but none comparable with these. The park itself is of great extent, and very varied in surface. It has many grand old trees; and noteworthy are the noble avenues. There are also several monuments and buildings in the park besides that we have named. One, a column, 110 feet high, is to the memory of the mother of Sir Watkin the summit commands a wide and splendid prospect. Another conspicuous structure is the Waterloo Tower, raised to commemorate the great victory. The mansion is very large, and the interior is befitting the position and affluence of its owner. The collection of pictures, which includes a good many capital Wilsons, is celebrated. Altogether Wynnstay is a splendid domain-almost the only drawback being that it is too closely neighboured by the mines and works, which emit enormous and everlasting volumes of smoke.

:

Until the last year or two the Cysylltau Aqueduct was the wonder of the lower valley of Llangollen; now it has a rival: we may as well look at them together, only giving precedence, as is fitting, to the elder. The Cysylltau Aqueduct was constructed for the purpose of carrying the Ellesmere Canal across this part of the Vale of Llangollen. Telford was the engineer. The watercourse, which is wholly of cast-iron, is 1,007 feet in length; and is supported on eighteen stone piers. Its height above the surface of the Dee is 120 feet. It was commenced in 1795, and completed in 1805, at a cost, including the embankment, of £47,000.

The other structure to which we referred is the Viaduct which carries the Chester and Shrewsbury Railway over the valley. This is of even more surprising proportions than the Aqueduct. In length it is 1,530 feet; and its height is 150 feet above the level of the Dee. Nineteen arches, each having a span of 90 feet, support the roadway. The cost of construction was upwards of £100,000. In beauty as well as in magnitude, the Aqueduct must unquestionably yield the palm. This Viaduct is in truth a noble structure. Generally the viaducts are the most successful architec

tural objects which railway engineers erect: but this probably surpasses in elegance as well as size all that have yet been raised. It is built almost wholly of stone; the arches are circular; and while there is no unsuitable display of ornament, enough has been done to impart an appearance of architectural character and finish. It is certainly the finest viaduct we have seen, and we believe it is the finest in the kingdom. The lover of beautiful scenery will feel grateful that what might have been a grievous disfigurement is really made an additional ornament to the beautiful vale.

To perceive clearly the vast size of these two structures, the stranger should descend into the valley between them: indeed he should do so if he is regardless of that matter. It is a singular spectacle to stand by the river-side and behold far aloft in the air, on the one hand, a barge floating slowly along; and on the other, a train of carriages flying as on the wings of the wind. It is a singular spectacle, and one suggestive of many thoughts. We were struck too with the view from the towing-path of the Aqueduct it has a curious effect to stand beside a stream on which heavily-laden vessels are floating, and at the same time see a river a hundred and twenty feet beneath you. From this aqueduct too the viaduct has a graceful appearance, seen as it is in connection with the distant landscape.

There is only one place up the vale which we need speak of: namely, Valle Crucis Abbey. (Cut, No. 6.) The ruins will be found in the Vale of Crucis, which meets the Vale of Llangollen about two miles from the village. It is one of those delicious spots the old monks knew so well how to select. Here in this secluded valley did they build their house; where, snugly embayed under sheltering mountains, with a brawling rivulet behind their dwelling, and the wellstored Dee close at hand, they needed to "fear neither winter nor rough weather." The mountain-sides and the clear stream would afford them sufficient fare, as well as walks where they might indulge in solitary meditation. Valle Crucis was a Cistercian monastery founded by Madoc-ap-Griffith, in the beginning of the twelfth century. It flourished till the spoliation of religious houses; when the annual revenues were estimated by the Royal Commissioners at upwards of £200.

The chief portions remaining of the abbey are now the east and west gables: both of which prove that when complete it must have been a handsome pile. The western end (which is shown in the engraving), as seen half-hidden by the tall ash-trees which have grown up around it, and within the walls since the desecration of the church, is remarkably pleasing and picturesque. The long lancet windows, and the tolerably-complete circular window above, are of very good design. The eastern end is not quite so picturesque, but it has some peculiarities which will render it more interesting to the architectural antiquary. The remaining transept and arches add not less to the picturesqueness than to the architectural value of the ruin. Some portions of the conventual buildings are preserved by being

included in the adjoining farm-house; but they are of little interest compared with the church and connected parts-which, let us add, are now carefully preserved.

The ruins of Valle Crucis Abbey are now merely thought of as a pleasing addition to the beauties of Llangollen: but they must once have been regarded with very different feelings by the solitary wanderer. Here on the one hand he saw a secluded dwelling, whose inmates were a band of men who had professedly devoted their days to the service of their Maker, and who lived here in the quiet performance of their religious duties, the instruction of those who sought their aid, the contemplation of Nature, and the pursuit of literature and of art-as those things were then understood and studied-and whose doors were ever open to afford shelter and refreshment to the traveller, and succour and refuge to the distressed and the oppressed. On the other hand he saw, perched on an almost inaccessible rock, a building whose approaches were guarded by every military contrivance, and whose whole appearance, as well as its history, spoke aloud of strife, and tyranny, and rapine. Every castle would not then wear so forbidding an aspect as Castell Dinas Bran, nor every monastery appear as grateful as Valle

Crucis; but with all the faults and all the shortcomings of these religious houses-and even at the best their faults and shortcomings were necessarily very many-it must have been a consolatory thought to the reflective mind, that, as the world then was, there were scattered all over the land places which gave a home to the homeless, and while they proffered to the man of fervid religious spirit a better and more humanising retreat than the solitary hermitage, afforded also to the studious man a place where, undisturbed by anxious forebodings, he might prosecute his researches for the general good. Well is it that the monastic system is with us for ever gone; but let us acknowledge that in its better day it has done our country good service.

A little beyond the ruins of the abbey is a stone cross, which is by some antiquaries thought to have given its name to the valley, and by others to the lofty crags which skirt the vale. It is now known as the Pillar of Eliseg; it is said to have been erected above a thousand years ago, in memory of a British hero, Eliseg, father of Brochwel Ysythroc, Prince of Powis, by his grandson Congen: but we do not, of course, vouch for the truth of the saying. The cross, which had

been defaced and thrown down as a popish relic, was replaced on its pedestal towards the close of the last century. It stands in a lonely spot, surrounded by a network of bare mountains; and was, in all probability, erected in commemoration of some deed of blood-either of battle fought or of prince who fell here.

When at Valle Crucis, the visitor will find it a pleasant short extension of his walk to continue along the Dee, past the Chain-bridge, to the place where the canal unites with the river. The channel of the river is filled with massive blocks of stone and slate; and indeed, the rock and river scenery is unusually bold: while the spot where the canal joins the Dee is a broad smooth semicircular bay, with a wide weir on one side of it.

CORWEN.

The ten miles between Llangollen and Corwen are very pleasant and very varied. For the entire distance the Dee runs beside, and generally somewhat below the road, which is carried along the base of the Moel Ferna Mountains. Where the Vale of Llangollen ends-by the huge Rhisgog-the tourist will instinctively halt to take his parting glance of the famous vale. It is a view well adapted to leave on the memory a favourable impression-especially if the hill be ascended. The valley is then seen in one of its grandest as well as fairest aspects. Dinas Bran stands out majestically from the Eagle Crags ;-which in their turn exhibit to perfection their bold shattered cliffs. The river glitters under the bright morning The light blue smoke curls up unbroken from one homestead and another, and hangs like a vapour over the half-concealed village.

sun.

Onwards is the Valley of the Dee, Glyn Dyfrdwy. The road now keeps at some height above the stream; but it affords no very extensive prospects; for the valley makes many sharp curvatures, and on the left the hill-side rise abruptly from the road. On the right, however, owing to the many tributary dales, there are more open prospects and distant peeps. Still there is a continuous variety of scenery forwards, and no feeling of weariness is likely to creep on. The river lies in a sort of glen on the right; and, as it emerges now and then into view, or sends up a cheerful sound as it leaps along its rocky bed, it is sadly tempting to one who prefers a river side to the main road; and heartily will he repent if he be an angler that he has not brought his rod with him, that he might whip the stream to Corwen, and at the same time enjoy its delicious succession of close, quiet

scenery.

This Valley of the Dee was the patrimony of the redoubted Owen Glyndwr-Shakspere's Glendowerand with many a mountain side and summit do the natives delight to associate his name. Just beyond the seventh mile stone will be seen a kind of tumulus crested with a clump of firs; this is Glyndwr's Mount, and is, we believe, fixed on as the site of his palace,

which his bard described as a fair timber structure on the summit of a green hill." On the brow of the Berwyn Mountain, behind Corwen, is Owen Glyndwr's Seat, and the fine prospect from the stone chair might lead one to fancy him a lover of beautiful scenery, as well as a hardy warrior, but the prosaic guide assures you that he delighted most in the prospect, because it showed him forty square miles of his own land. On one of the walls of Corwen church they show a hole made by the fiery chief's dagger, which he flung from this chair on some occasion when the townsmen had offended him.

Before reaching Corwen the valley opens; the hills recede further apart, are less abrupt, and though not less rocky, the rocks are plumed with wood; and Dee is smooth and dull-you would hardly fancy he could be so buoyant and sprightly a mile or two lower. Just a momentary tarriance will be made at the picturesque village of Llansantffraid, and then nothing will occur to arrest the attention till Corwen be reached.

Corwen is not at all a place to interest the stranger on its own account. But it has an hotel (named after the mighty Owen) whose fame is widely spread; it is a convenient centre from which to explore some very good (though not remarkable) scenery; and it is a favourite fishing station. The town is one of the quietest of its size in Wales-at least of those which lie in a great line of road. It has no manufactures, and only the trade of an agricultural district, with that produced by a wealthy resident gentry, and the summer visitors.

A short distance beyond Corwen, the Dee bends sharply to the left, and the tourist might ascend it to Bala along the Vale of Eideyrnion-one of the loveliest in the principality. Our course however lies right forward: we must diverge little either to the right hand or to the left till we arrive at Conway.

Hardly have we parted company with the Dee when its affluent, the Alwen, comes to the road-side and gives us for some miles its pleasant company. It breaks away to the right just by its confluence with a smaller stream, the Geirw-which in its turn runs alongside the road for half a dozen miles. But Geirw provides a spectacle which the larger rivers did not offer. Close by the sixty-first milestone from Holyhead, the little stream rushes over a series of rocky slopes into a deep glen. The sides of the glen are thickly clothed with trees-too thickly perhaps, for in consequence of the narrowness of the glen and the quantity of foliage, it is difficult to see more at once than a small portion of the waterfall. High above the stream the glen is spanned by a bridge, which is named with the happy descriptiveness so often observed in Welsh nomenclature, Pont-y-Glyn, the Bridge of the Glen.

Three or four miles farther is Cerig-y-Druidon, now only noticeable as a tolerably fair example of a thoroughly Welsh village; but which in Camden's time contained two Kist-vaens, as they were called; Camden seemed to think they were "solitary prisons." These, " and the name of the parish," he says, "are all