and tower into the sky, caft a pleasing gloom upon the whole landfcape. The more diftant mountains of the vale embofoming the mofs-grown village, with the meadowy flat around it, are feen retiring in lines croffing each other behind in the most picturesque manner poffible, whilft the intermediate space, betwixt the village and the obferver, is filled up with a small lake, whose waters reflecting the mountains which bound it, contract their fombre hue, and render the scene still more interesting. I could almoft have fancied that nature untamed bore here an uninterrupted fway amidst the gloom and grandeur of these dreary rocks, had not the filence been, at intervals, interrupted by the loud blafts from the neighbouring copper mine, which rolled like diftant thunder along the atmosphere.' Vol. i. Þ. 182.

The village of Llanberis is romantic in the extreme; it is fi tuated in a narrow graffy dell, furrounded by immenfe rocks, whose fummits, cloud-capped, are but feldom vifible to the inhabitants from below. Except two tolerable houses in the vale, one belonging to Mr. Jones, the agent to the copper mine, and the other, which is on the fide of the lake, oppofite to Dolbadarn castle, belonging to the agent of the flate quarries; the whole village confifts but of two cottages, apparently the most miferable. They are in general conftructed of a fhaly kind of stone, with which the country abounds, and with but just so much lime as to keep out the keenest of the mountain blafts. The windows are all very fmall, and in addition to this, by far the greater part of them, with having been formerly broken, are blocked up with boards, leaving only three or four panes of glafs, and affording fcarcely fufficient light within to render even "darkness visible." Here I might have expected to find a race of men, who, subject to the inconveniences, without participating in the benefits of civil fociety, were in a state little fhort of mifery. Thefe men, it might again be fuppofed, in this fecluded place, with difficulty contriving to keep up an exiftence, would be cheerless as their own mountains, fhrowded in fnow and clouds; but I found them not fo, they were happier in their mossgrown coverings, than millions in more exalted stations of life; here I truly found that

'Tho' poor the peafant's hut, his feafts tho' fmall,
He fees his little lot, the lot of all;

Sees no contiguous palace rear its head,

To fhame the meannefs of his humble shed;
No coftly lord the fumptuous banquet deal;
To make him loath his vegetable meal;
But calm, and bred in ignorance and toil,
Each with contracting fits him to the foil.
Cheerful at morn he wakes from short repofe,
Breathes the keen air, and carols as he goes.

At night, returning, every labour sped,

He fits him down the monarch of a shed.

There are two houfes in this village, at which the wearied. traveller may take fuch poor refreshments as the place affords. One of thefe belongs to John Clofe, a grey-headed old man, who, though born and brought up in the north of Yorkshire, having oceafion to come into Wales when he was quite a youth, preferred this to his Yorkshire home, and has refided here ever fince. The other house is kept by the parish clerk, who may be employed as a guide over any part of the adjacent country. I found him well acquainted with the mountains, and a much more intelligent man, than guides in general are. He does not speak English well, but his civility and attention were a fufficient compenfation for that defect. Neither of thefe places afford [affords] a bed, nor any thing better than bread, butter, and cheefe, and, perhaps, eggs and bacon..

As I was one day fitting to my ruftic fare, in the former of thefe houfes, I could not help remarking the oddness of the group, all at the fame time, and in the fame room, enjoying their different repafts. At one table was feated the family of the house, confifte ing of the hoft, his wife, and their fon and daughter, eating their bread and milk, the common-food of the labouring people here; a large overgrown old fow making a noife, neither very low nor very mufical, whilft he was devouring her dinner from a pail placed for her by the daughter, was in one corner, and I was eating my bread and butter, with an appetite fteeled againft niceties by the keenness of the mountain air, at a table covered with a dirty napkin, in the other corner. This fcene, however, induced me ever afterwards, in my excurfions to this place, to bring with me refreshments from Caernarvon, and enjoy my dinner in quiet in the open air. But excepting in this fingle inftance, I did not find the houfe worfe than I had any reafon to expect in fuch a place as this. The accom modations in the clerk's house are poor, but the inhabitants feemed very clean and decent people.

The church of Llanberis, which is dedicated to St. Peris, a cardinal, miffioned from Rome as a legate to this ifland, who is faid to have settled and died at this place, is, without exception, the most ill-looking place of worthip I ever beheld. The first time I vifited the village, I abfolutely miftook it for an ancient cottage, for even. the bell turret was fo overgrown with ivy as to bear as much the appearance of a weather-beaten chimney as any thing elfe, and the long grafs in the church-yard completely hid the few pave stones therein from the view. I thought it indeed a cottage larger than the reft, and it was fometime before I could reconcile to myself that it was a church. Here is yet to be feen the well of the faint, inclosed within a fquare wall, but I met with no fybil, who, as Mr. Pennant relates, could divine my fortune by the appearance or non-appearance of a little fith which lurks in fome af its holes.

The curate I faw, and was introduced to; he refides in a meanlooking cottage not far diftant, which feemed to confist of but few other rooms than a kitchen and bed room, the latter of which ferved alfo for his ftudy. When I first saw him he was employed in reading in an old volume of fermons. His drefs was fomewhat fingu lar; he had on a blue coat, which had long been worn threadbare, a pair of antique corderoy breeches, and a black waistcoat, and round his head he wore a blue handkerchief. His library might have been the fame that Hurdis has described in the Village Curate. • Yon half-a-dozen fhelves fupport, vaft weight,

The curate's library. There marshall'd stand,
Sages and heroes, modern and antique :

He, their commander, like the vanquished fiend,
Out-caft of heav'n, oft thro' their armed files,
Darts an experienced eye, and feels his heart
Diftend with pride, to be their only chief:
Yet needs he not the tedious mufter roll,
The title page of each well-known, his name,
And character.

"From the exterior of the cottage, it feemed but the habitation of mifery, but the fmiles of the good man were fuch as would render even mifery itself cheerful. His falary is about forty pounds, on which, with his little farm, he contrives to fupport himself, his wife, and a horfe, and with this flender pittance he appeared perfectly contented and comfortable. His wife was not at home, but, from a wheel which I obferved in the kitchen, I conjectured that her time was employed in fpinning wool. The account I had from fome of the parishioners of his character was, that he was a man refpected and beloved by all, and that his chief attention was occupied in doing fuch good as his circumstances would afford to his fellow

creatures.

• I venerate the man whose heart is warm,

Whofe hands are pure, whose doctrine and whofe life
Coincident, exhibit lucid proof

That he is honeft in the facred cause.

To fuch I render more than mere respect,
Whofe actions fay that they respect themselves.

The vale of Llanberis was formerly almoft covered with wood, but of this, there is at prefent but little left, except a few faplings from the old roots, which only ferve to remind us of the greater want of the rest. Within the memory of perfons now living, there were great woods of oak in different places about these mountains. Leland, who wrote in the reign of Henry VIII. fays, "The best wood of Cairnarvonshire is by Glinne Kledder (Glyn Llwydaw), and by Glin Lhughy (Glyn Llygwy), and by Capel Kiryk (Capel Curig), and at Llauperis.' In the time of Howel Dha, Howel the

Good, who was made prince of Wales in the year 940, the whole country must have been nearly covered with wood, for it is ordered in the Welsh laws, founded by him, that "whoever cleared away timber from any land without the consent of the owner, he should, for five years, have a right to the land fo cleared; and after that time it fhould return again to the owner." Thefe mountains alfo for merly abounded in deer, which even continued in great quantities till much later than the reign of Henry VIII. but after the use of fire arms became general, they were foon all deftroyed.' Vol. i. P. 190.

The ifland of Anglefea, the Mona of the ancient Romans, would of courfe attract the attention of our traveller, and he prefents us with a defcription of this famous refidence of the druids. In this defcription the rich copper mine of Parry's mount forms a diftinguished feature. Returning from Anglefea, Mr. Bingley again fixed his refidence at Caernarvon; and after various rambles into different parts of the adjacent country, he, for the laft time, vifited Snowdon. Of this vifit he gives the following account.

As I had, upon coming into Wales, made a determination to afcend Snowdon by all the tracks that are usually pointed out to travellers, I, for the laft time, undertook the talk, along with a party of four others, from Beddgelert, William Lloyd, the village schoolmafter, (his scholars being always, during the fummer time, engaged in ruftic employments) performing the office of guide,

The distance from Beddgelert to the fummit being reckoned not less than fix miles, and a lady being one of the party, it was thought best for her to ride as far as the could without danger, and for the reft to walk. In this manner therefore we fet out, beginning our mountain journey by turning to the right from the Caernarvon road, at the distance of about two miles and a half from the village. We left the horse at a cottage about half way up, from whence taking a bottle of milk to mix with fome rum we had brought with us, we continued our route over a feries of pointed and craggy rocks. Stopping at different times to reft, we enjoyed, to the utmoft, the profpects that by degrees were opening around us. Caernarvon and the Ifle of Anglefea, aided by the brightness of the morning, were feen to great advantage; and Llyn Cwellyn below us, fhaded by the vaft Mynydd Mawr, with Caftell Cidwm at its foot, appeared extremely beautiful. In afcending, the mountains, which from below appeared of an immenfe height, began now to feem beneath us; the lakes and vallies became more expofed, and the little rills and mountain streams by degrees became all visible to us, like filver lines interfecting the hollows around.

We now approached a most tremendous ridge, over which we had to país, called Clawdd Coch, or the red ridge. This narrow pafs, not more than ten or twelve feet acrofs, and two or three

hundred yards in length, was so steep, that the eye reached on each fide down the whole extent of the mountain. And I am firmly perfuaded that, in fome parts of it, if a perfon held a large ftone in each hand, and let them both fall at once, each would roll above a quarter of a mile, and thus, when they stopped, be more than half a mile afunder. The lady who was with us, to my great surprise, paffed this horrid ridge without the fmalleft figns of fear or trepidation.

• There is no danger whatever in croffing Clawdd Coch in the day time, but I must confess, that though I am one of the last to be alarmed by paffing among precipices, I fhould, by no means, like to venture, as many do who have never feen it, along this track in the night. If the moon fhone very bright I fhould not, to be fure, mind it much, but a cloud coming fuddenly over might even then render it dangerous. There have been several inftances of perfons who having paffed over it in the night, were fo terrified at feeing it the next morning, that they have not dared to return the same way, but have gone a very circuitous round by Bettws. I was informed that one gentleman had been so much alarmed, that he crawled over it back again upon his hands and knees.

"In the hollow on the left, are four small pools, called Llyn Coch, the red pool; Llyn y Nadroedd, the adder's pool; Llyn Gwâs, the blue pool; and Llyn Ffynnon y Gwâs, the fervant's pool.

• Soon after we had paffed Clawdd Coch, we became immerfed in light clouds, till we arrived at the fummit, when a single gleam of funfhine, which lafted but for a moment, prefented us with the majeftic, fcenery on the weft of us. It, however, only ferved to tantalife us, for a fmart gust of wind obfcured us again in clouds. We now fheltered ourselves from the cold under fome of the projecting rocks near the top, and ate our dinners, watching with anxiety the dark fhades in the clouds, in hopes that a feparation might take place, and we be once more delighted with a fight of the grand objects around us. We did not watch in vain, for the clouds by degrees cleared away, and left us at full liberty to admire the numerous beauties in this vaft expanfive scene. The steep rock of Clogwyn y Garnedd, whofe dreadful precipices are, fome of them, above two hundred yards in perpendicular height, and the whole rock a series of precipices, was an object which first struck my companions with terror, and one of them burst out in exclamation, How fearful

And dizzy 'tis to caft one's eyes fo low !

The crows and choughs that wing the midway air
Shew foarce fo grofs as beetles.

• We now stood on a point which commanded the whole dome of the sky. The profpects below, each of which we had before confidered feparately as a great fcene, were now only miniature