are not capable of enlargement beyond their own limits, and have not the aid of invention, as in works of imagination and fancy, still the progress of time throws upon them a clearer and a steadier light; a few years add immensely to the powers of description and illustration that may be employed on them: they are like minerals, of which new veins are daily being discovered, although they do not increase or multiply by vegetation. We should feel it a pleasing task, did our limits permit, to give our English friends an account of the various periodicals, in the Welsh language, that have for years issued monthly from the press; to enumerate the labours of those literary societies that have been established, in every district in Wales, to preserve our national relics from oblivion. To the Cymmrodorion Society in London, we owe many volumes of excellent Transactions, though it is impossible to speak with unreserved commendation of an institution that left the publication of all the ancient British poetry to one individual, and never has, in the least, assisted the first Čeltic scholar of his day, to publish the most interesting of Cambro-British relics.* It is gratifying, however, to observe, that a patriotic and liberal spirit has of late animated this society, which, if it continue, will still render it the centre of every public-spirited investigation. Availing ourselves, therefore, of these increasing sources of information, and taking advantage of the larger prospect that is afforded us, by the combined labours of the scholar and the traveller, we look forward with hope to the support of the literary public. Whatever may be the condition of Scotland or of Ireland, or the bond of union between them and England, neither of them is united so indissolubly as Wales, to the destinies of her English neighbour: the proudest ancient monuments of English architecture are, in Wales, existing in those gigantic citadels which throw into the shade all the feudal glories of the Rhine, and realize the fictions of romance: the proudest modern effort of mechanic art is in Wales, of which our American visitors are in the habit of observing, "To see the Menai bridge alone is worth a longer voyage!"

Another subject hitherto uninvestigated, is our beautiful remains of Gothic workmanship. An eminent architect, whose researches extend over all the English counties and a large portion of Scotland, observed, on the subject of Wales, that he doubted not there lay concealed in that country many curious and elegant relics of Gothic art, which had hitherto been neglected or unknown. We can inform him, that his opinion is well justified by our own observations. In the progress of our Magazine, we may have occasion to describe and point out these works, in such a way as

• We allude to Dr. Pughe, and his Mabinogion.

to enable an architectural tourist henceforth to understand or to visit them. We care not what the place may be, where we meet with good Gothic; whether it be half hid among the rubbish of some remote parish-church, or placed in glory within the aisles of some English cathedral, we give it our unbiassed admiration: we do more; we consider that, in the latter case, it is already rescued from oblivion, by the labours of the draughtsman and the engraver; while, in the former, it is neither valued, nor protected, nor admired.

We will now advert to Wales, in regard to its romantic natural beauties. The number of guide books on the subject of Wales, is already so great that information is heaped upon the traveller with liberal profusion; but here again, the increased knowledge of ancient Welsh lore, and the change in the surface of the country, demand a novel mode of illustration. It shall be our object, therefore, in our descriptions of natural scenery, to point out the particular spots where the professional or amateur artist will find the various objects arranged in the most advantageous manner; and, in some less-frequented spots, if these remarks of ours are well considered, we may probably be the means of saving time, and adding to the treasures of the portfolio. The English lakes have their "stations;" and we can well remember losing our patience, and our subject, when we wandered about, in defiance of the received opinion. In Wales, the science of the picturesque has not been made familiar to the guides; nor, indeed, are the best points of view so evident as in the North of England. It would be impossible to enumerate the various increasing sources of interest in Welsh scenery. Let us only consider the change that has occurred in Snowdonia within the last few years! The grand Irish road, in smoothness, width, and easy changes of level, superior to the roads of England, carries the tourist through a mountainous district of sixty miles, along places where no carriage could go in the days of Pennant: where, formerly, the barren rock defied cultivation, slate quarries have employed thousands of workmen; where a mansion of no architectural pretensions once existed, we now behold the Anglo-Norman stateliness of Penrhyn castle!

When we look back on the long series of misfortunes that constitutes the history of the great people of whom the Cambro-British nation are the remnant; when we recollect the long struggle that our ancestors maintained against the most overwhelming superiority of numbers; though a conquered, we may fearlessly regard ourselves as an undishonoured nation: the heroes of Waterloo and of Trafalgar, would have considered defeat as far more honourable than victory, if the latter were accomplished by the perfidious and cruel policy of the Norman kings of England. We cannot

consider ourselves as unworthy partakers of the liberties of England, when we recollect, that the high spirit of honour and chivalry which burns so brightly in that favored country, and to which she owes her victories in war, and many of her virtues in peace, first sprung up amid the lonely fastnesses of our fathers. On this subject we will quote from a beautiful address, delivered by Mr. Price to a Bardic Congress at Breckon; and we feel confident that our English readers will not censure the impassioned tone of eloquence so pardonable on such an occasion:

"But I will go farther than even this," (continued he,) "and venture to assert, not only that the admirers of poetry are under obligations to the ancient British bards, but that much of the refinement of civilized life is more intimately connected with the traditions and history preserved by them, than may at first be admitted.

"It will not be disputed, that in the middle ages, even dark and barbarous as they were, there existed a certain system, many of whose maxims would do honour to any age whatever; and which, under the name of chivalry, inculcated principles of the most refined and admirable character, and which laid the foundation of many of the advantages of society in the present day. I shall not attempt to enumerate all the excellencies of that system, for it is sufficiently evident, that its supporters inculcated principles of courtesy and refinement in private life, of honour and manly sentiment in their public conduct, and formed in themselves the great bulwark of Christian independence.* But whence did they derive such principles? and what people was capable of supplying them? For, however the world may since have profited by classic learning, it is clear, that it was not from the heroes of Greece or Rome, that these principles were derived; for the gods of the Capitol had long disappeared, and every trait of Roman character had been swept away, in the deluge of the Gothic invasion. But had they remained, still the pagan heroes of Greece and Rome could never have supplied the exalted principles of Christian chivalry. It therefore becomes interesting to know, whence such principles could have been derived so different and superior to any the world had ever witnessed before.

"I believe it cannot be disputed, that the earliest patterns of knighthood were Arthur and his fellow-warriors; for if we trace the progress of chivalrous feeling, and the machinery of those romantic legends which had such an extraordinary influence upon society, we shall find that they all centered in Wales, and among the Cambrian population of Britain. For we may follow this system, through a long series of ages and countries, in each of which, it probably received some tinge and modification of character, but each of which refers us to some other nation, and some period still more remote, until we come to this very age and people which I have just named, to

"Uthur's son."

"Begirt with British and Armoric knights."

They afforded the only check to the fearful encroachment of the Mahomedan power, which was extending itself in every direction, except where it was opposed by the spirit of chivalry, and however absurd and fanatical they may at present appear, yet had it not been for the prowess and enthusiasm of the Crusaders and their predecessors, in all probability, we should have been at this moment under the dominion of Mahomedan sultans.

"For if we look for the introduction of chivalry into England, we are referred to the Norman conquest; but if we search the history of Normandy for Arthur and his knights, we may hear of their names and exploits, but Normandy was not their country. From here we pass into Bretagne and Provence, and are told that the troubadours and provencal minstrels were the inventors of those tales of chivalry; but whatever embellishments they may have received from the troubadours, yet, with the exception of the Bretons, whom national connexion had induced to join the standard of Arthur, it is evident that the ancient knights of romance were not natives of any part of the continent.

"From here then we turn to the crusaders, and follow them to the Holy Land, but still we find ourselves as far from our object as before, for whatever tinge they may have received from Saracenic intercourse, undoubtedly the early models of chivalry were not of Asiatic origin. Even at the court of Charlemagne and at Roncesvalles, a place whose very name is sufficient to produce the highest tone of romantic feeling, yet here we are equally distant from our object. For though Roland and the Paladins were most gallant knights, yet even they must own still more ancient and more perfect models of conduct. Where then shall we find them? I have already ventured to assert that it is here, in Wales, and even in this very district, in which the present Eisteddvod is held. For it was at Caerleon, the metropolis of Gwent, that the great Arthur held his court, encompassed by his knights, furnishing examples of valour and courtesy to the surrounding nations. And from this land, and from our forefathers emanated that spirit which was destined to contribute so eminently towards the civilizing of the world.

"Among the characters of the romances, and of the bardic histories, though some have been greatly disfigured by the French, and other foreigners, yet the identity of the following must be obvious to every one.

* Gwent is the ancient Siluria, being the southeastern part of Wales. Our readers will recollect this speech was delivered at Brecon, which is in that district. Caerleon is now a small town.

ARDUDWY.

To the Editors of the Cambrian Quarterly Magazine.

GENTLEMEN,

THE vale of Ardudwy is the sea-coast of Merionethshire, between Barmouth and Harlech; and, as there are some remains of antiquity scattered over it, which may deserve a place in the Cambrian Quarterly Magazine, the account of them is submitted to your attention, as lately collected by me, in company with a respected SAIS, to whom the scenes were new, and therefore he was inquisitive.

"This is a very

Our expedition shall commence at Barmouth. odd corner for a town," says the SAIS. Yes, but it being a bathing place, and well known, we pass on. "How came it to have such a no-meaning name?" It came to be so called thus: at a meeting of the masters of the vessels belonging to the port, at an alehouse, in 1768, where I was present, and at the time the shipping there was fast increasing, it was decided to have an English name for the place upon the sterns of the vessels, for the information of strangers; and therefore a sailor who deemed him. self the most profound in the language of the SAESON, proposed to transform the original appellation of Abermaw, or the efflux of the river Maw, into BARMOUTH. Some who were present, however, derided this new term, asking, how could a bar have a mouth; and, besides, there were two bars here, and each ought to have a mouth. But, in spite of cavil, Barmouth was the name adopted: and Bermo, another corrupt appellation, disappeared then from the milestones. "I see that the two mouths are only separated by a narrow bank of pebbles and sand." True: but I remember a rabbit warren there, of about a quarter of a mile long, and about sixty yards broad; and which is one among other evidences you will see, as you proceed, of the encroachment of the sea upon this coast: and, north of the town, there was a green plain, about half a mile long, and about a quarter broad, now entirely swept away; and over which the road went, and instead of it, you see one cut along the sides of those rocks to the right.

Let us now pursue our journey, and pass the parish-church, distant one and a half mile, called Llanaber, or the church on the efflux, and dedicated to St. Mary. "This is a venerable, large

NO. V.

C