their enthufiaftic extravagancies upon the fpot, many of the people, from the country, have been known to continue them for three or four miles of their road home." >>* The Church and Curate of Llanberis. "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 fettled and died at this, place, is, without exception, the most ill-looking place of worship 1 ever beheld. The firft time I vifited the village, I abfolutely mistook it for an antient 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 ftones therein from the view. I thought it, indeed, a cottage larger than the reft, and it was fome time before I could reconcile to myfelf that it was a church. Here is yet to be seen the well of the Saint, inclofed 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 fish which lurks in fome of 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 firft faw him he was employed in reading in an old volume of fermons. His drefs was fomewhat fingular; 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 following is an extract from a letter inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine for September, 1799. P. 741. It is dated from Denbigh, and has the fignature W. M. B. What renders this fect particularly dangerous is, that the preachers are in general inftruments of Jacobinifin, fent into this s country to diffeminate their doctrines; and I affure you, that Paine's Works, and other books of the like tendency have been tranflated into Welsh, and fecretly diftributed about by the leaders of this fect. Thefe are facts which may be depended on, and which are well known to many in this country as well as to ravfelf. Such is the zeal which the enemies of our country exhibit in diffeminating their poifenous principles into the minds of the illiterate and vulgar, who, unable to fee through their fhallow artifices, are fre quently I fear too eally led into their wicked defigns." Diftend Diftend with pride, to be their only chief : "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 observed in the kitchen, I conjectured that her time was employed in spinning wool. The account 1 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 whofe heart is warm, That he is honeft in the facred caufe. To fuch I render more than mere refpect, Whofe actions fay that they refpect themfelves." The following direction, as to the eafieft way of afcending the formidable mountain of Snowdon, may chance to be ufeful to fome of our readers, "The traveller must go from Caernarvon to Dolbadarn Caftle, and then turning to the right, go by the waterfall, Caunant Mawr, up the mountain to a vale called Cwm Brwynog, and proceeding along the ridge, fouth-weft of, and immediately over the vale of, Llanberis, he will come within fight of a black, and almoft perpendicular rock, with a small lake at its bottom, called Clogwyn Du'r Arddu. This he will leave about a quarter of a mile on his right, and then afcending the fteep called Llechwedd y Ré, he muft direct his courfe fouth-weit to the Well (a place fufficiently known by the guides) from whence he will find it about a mile to the highest peak of Snowdon, called Yr Wyddfa, the confpicuous." In the fecond volume there are, one well-written chapter on the Manners and Customs of the Welth; a fecond on "Bardifm and Mufic ;" and a third on the Welfh Language. Fron. the firft of thefe, which contains many judicious reflections, we fhall make fomę brief extracts. "From ancient, I will now defcend to modern, times, from that hardy race of warlike characters, which were with so much difficulty fubdued by the English monarchs, to their prefent peaceful ftate, in which they enjoy happiness, that in feudal times they never experienced. "In thofe mountainous, or fecluded parts of the country, that F13 are are scarcely known to the English tourist, where their manners ftill retain the greatest degree of originality, the lower class of the inhabitants appear to poffefs an innocence and fimplicity of character, unknown in the populous parts of our own country; and amongst these it is, that we are to fearch for that native hospitality, fo much boafted of by the Welsh writers: but, wherever the English have had frequent communication, from their being in general fo profuse of their money, and from the temptation that this has afforded to practise impofitions on them, I have found the people but little iffering from the like clafs amongst us. On the great roads, the feem to take a pride in over-reaching, in moft of their little bargains, their Saxon neighbours, as they denominate the English. A Welsh gentleman informed me, (and in many inftances I have experienced it's truth) that it is a common practice amongst them, to afk nearly as much more for an article, as they mean to take, and with those who know them, it is always ufual to offer them lefs. This is the cafe in fome measure, in our own country, but certainly not fo frequently as in Wales. "The Welsh people have in general a ruftic bashfulness and referve, which by ftrangers, unused to their manners, has been often mistaken for fullennefs. They are generally faid to be very irafcible. This may be fo, but I am inclined to think, that the natural rapidity of their expreffion, in a language not understood, has alone been frequently conftrued into paffion, when there bas been nothing of the kind. Perfons who form ideas from the opinions of others, without taking the pains to make observations for themselves, are very often misled, and fuch I am confident has been the cafe a thousand times, in the judgments that have been formed of this circumftance. 66 They have every appearance of being moft miferably poor. Their cottages are frequently conftructed of ftones, whofe interftices are filled up with peat or mud, and fo careful are they of glafs, that their windows are scarcely large enough to light around their wretched sheds. "Their general food is bread, cheese, and milk; and fometimes, what they call flummery, which is made of oatmeal and milk, mixed together and then boiled. Animal food, or ale, are (is) not among their usual fare. "The women in the mountainous parts are generally about the middle fize, though more frequently below, than above it, and though their features are often very pretty, their complexions are for the most part fomewhat fallow. They wear long blue cloaks,* that defcend almoft to their feet; thefe they are feldom to be feen without, even in the very hotteft weather, owing moft probably, to the fudden fhowers, which the attraction of the mountains renders them liable * "Blue was a favourite colour among the Britons, from the earlieft periods. There is an ancient Welsh proverb, True blue keeps its hue." to to be taken in. In North Wales, they have all hats, fimilar to those of the men, and they wear blue ftockings, without any feet to them, which they keep down by a kind of loop, that is put round one of their toes. In the most unfrequented parts, they feldom wear any fhoes, except on a Sunday, or the market-day, and even then they often carry them in their hands, as they go along the roads; I have feen them by fix or eight together, feated on the bank of a rivulet, after their journies from the neighbouring villages, wafhing their feet, before they entered the towns. In thefe journies, if their hands are not otherwife employed, they generally occupy their time in knitting, and I have fometimes feen that, even a heavy fall of rain would not compel them to give it up. Their employment within doors is chiefly in spinning wool." Of the fuperftition of the Welsh Mr. B. exhibits several inftances, with which we were acquainted before; but he notices one practice, of a different nature, which is perfectly new to us, and which cannot, we think, be too speedily fuppreffed. "The lower clafs of people of Caernarvonshire, Anglefea, and part of Merionethshire, have a mode of courtship, which, till within these few years, was fcarcely ever heard of in this kingdom. The lover generally comes, under the fhadow of the night, and is taken, without any kind of reserve, into the bed of his fair one. Here, as it is generally understood, with part of his clothes ftill on, he breathes his tender paffion, and tells how true he loves.' This cuftom seems to have originated in the scarcity of fuel, and in the difagreeableness of fitting together in cold weather, without fire. Much has been faid of the innocence with which those meetings are conducted; it may be fo in fome cafes, but it is certainly not an uncommon thing, for a fon and heir to be brought into the world, within two or three months after the marriage ceremony has taken place. No notice feems, however, to be taken of it, provided the marriage is over, before the living witness is brought to light. As this cuftom is entirely confined to the labouring people, it is not fo pregnant with danger, as it might otherwise be fuppofed, for both parties being poor, they are constrained to marry, in order to fecure their reputation, and by that means a method of getting a livelihood." ૨ We heartily with that a good reputation was neceffary in all places to obtain a livelihood; as the exiftence of such a neceffity would form the beft remedy for that horrid depravity of manners, and, particularly, for that grofs contempt of matrimony which fo unhappily prevails in most of our large towns, but more especially in the metropolis. The chapter on the Welsh language is curious; it contains a lift of primitive words that will be of ufe to the tourist; and there are fome remarks on the fimilarity between the Welsh Ff 4 and and the Hebrew on which we could wish to expatiate, but we have already exceeded our ufual bounds and, therefore, muft bring this article to a conclufion. Mr. B. has done what it was to be wifhed every tourist would do; in correcting the errors of his predeceffors. If this were a general rule travellers would be lefs frequently led aftray. In chap. XII. vol. II. he cenfures Mr. Pratt for fome mifrepresentations which appeared in his "Gleanings through Wales," and makes the following fevere remark: "Mr. P., throughout the whole of his volumes, feems to have mingled too much of the novelift with his obfervations." The plates which are given with the work do credit to the pencil of Mr. Bingley; and they are engraved in a much fuperior ftyle to any plates which we have lately feen in works of a fimilar defcription." ART. IX. A general View of the Nature and Objects of Chemistry, and of its Application to Arts and Manufactures. By William Henry. Manchefter, printed for Johnson. London. 1799. THIS HIS publication, as we are informed, by an advertisement prefixed to it, contains the fubftance of an introductory lecture to a courfe of Chemistry delivered in Manchefter. The author, if we are not mifled by a fimilarity of names, is a young gentleman already advantageously known to the public by his experiments on carbonated hydrogen gas fome other ingenious papers which have made their appearance in Nicholfon's Journal. The prefent publication is in fubftance as follows: and Natural philofophy, in common language, comprehends under it only thofe facts or changes, which are accompanied with fenfible motion chemical changes, on the other hand, of the moft important kind, often take place without any apparent motion either of the mafs or of its minute parts. Changes belonging to natural philofophy, or mechanical changes, as the author might have called them, produce at most but a change of place in the bodies that are influenced by them; whereas chemical changes always produce an important difference in the external properties of things. Chemistry, therefore, may be defined that fcience, whofe object is to discover and explain the changes of compofition which occur among the conftituent parts of bodies. It may be confidered as a science, that is a collection of general principles or laws under which are arranged individual facts; and us an art, inftructing us in the application |