and, as he returned to the footemen, he fell off his horse, and the Welshmen pursued him over the bridge. When the Englishmen saw that, they fled towards the castell, and the Welshmen followed to the hill top, and suddenlie the ambush of horsemen, that laid under the hill, thrust betwixt them that had passed over the bridge, and they that fled turned back with more strength, and so the Welshmen were encompassed on either side, and the bridge so kept that no rescue could come to them, where they were slain for the most part, being all naked men. Then the rest seeing the great number of the men armed, which they looked not for, turned backe, and departed the countrie." In another attack, however, he took and razed the fort, slew the Normans and Saxons who were settled in Cardiganshire, and restored to the Welsh the lands and habitations of which they had been despoiled. The castle was reinstated by Cadwallader, son of Gruffydd ap Conan, and destroyed by his brother, Owen Gwyneth. It continued to experience all the changeful fortune of predatory warfare, alternately fortified and overthrown. Doubtless it was no very difficult matter to demolish the fortifications then used; but, in course of time, a more powerful master possessed it, and even his provisions for its defence were of little avail against the desperate and enthusiastic struggles of expiring liberty. Edward I. rebuilt this castle in the year 1277, and returned to England in triumph; but the rulers of the marches exercised too great severities for peace long to continue between the prince of Wales and the king of England. The year before the subjection of the Welsh was scaled, they numbered among their many brief but

brilliant successes, the capture of this newly-erected English fortress. Many more of the invader's strongholds were at the same time taken by the Welsh, and all the partisans of foreign domination were severely harassed throughout the country. In the year 1404, Aberystwith Castle was taken by Owen Glyndwr. In the time of Charles I., the Parliament permitted it to be used as a mint; some of the pieces of money coined there are frequent in antiquarians' collections, and were of silver from the neighbouring mines. During all the Welsh wars, this fortress was considered of great importance, and, during the civil wars, was regarded as a place of considerable strength. The last and most destructive siege it endured was in the time of the Protectorship, when it was bombarded by the Parliamentary troops, while Mr. Bushel held it for the Royalists.* The besiegers occupied a high mount, called Pen-dinas, on the opposite side of the Rheidol, where Prince Rhys. had formerly made an intrenchment; and since the overthrow the castle then received, a heap of ruins only has been left to tell of its ancient strength and glory.

About a mile from Aberystwith, on the banks of the

* Mr. Bushel established a mint at this place, under license from the king, for coining his silver to defray the current expenses of his various works. This gentleman was once the servant of Sir Francis Bacon. He became afterwards the proprietor of the silver-mines in this neighbourhood; and such were his immense profits, that he made King Charles a present of a regiment of horse, and clothed his whole army. Besides these, he furnished to that monarch a loan of £40,000 towards his necessities, which was afterwards converted into a gift; and when the unfortunate king was sore pressed, he raised a regiment among his miners at his own charge.

Rheidol, are the remains of an old fortified mansion, which the vulgar call Owen Glyndwr's Palace, but which was supposed to have been erected by the monks of Llanbadarn Fawr, the site of whose monastery was contiguous. Of the date of this building nothing now is certainly known. It is believed to have been the residence of the early princes of Wales; for it is mentioned by the bard Eineon ap Gwgan, who flourished in 1244, in his ode on Llewelyn the Great :—

"His spear flashes in the hand accustomed to warlike deeds;

It kills, and puts his enemies to flight, by the palace of the Rheidol." Of this monastery nothing remains save the church, which is of great. antiquity, and most beautifully situated in the lovely vale of the Rheidol. It is believed by some, that subterranean passages led from this monastery to the fortified mansion above mentioned, Plas Crug, and likewise to Aberystwith Castle; but I need hardly remark, that none are known to exist at present. Llanbadarn-the great church of St. Badarn-is supposed to be the Mauritanca where St. Padarn or Paternus founded a monastery and an episcopal see in the sixth century. St. Padarn seems to have been a most ill-used person, for it is recorded that he not only performed the functions of his office without reward, but alleviated the distresses of the poor as far as his ability permitted; and yet these ungrateful people killed their kind-hearted archbishop, and, as a punishment for their crime, the bishopric was sunk in that of St. David, though in the time of Giraldus there was still an abbey under the jurisdiction of a layman. "Vilify not thy parish priest," is a Welsh proverb arising out of this act of cruelty, and

consequent degradation of this see. "There never was a good person of them since," is another provincial saying, and shows how deeply the inhabitants of this place had fallen in the estimation of their countrymen. The monuments in Llanbadarn Church must not be forgotten, amongst which is one, consisting of a long flat stone in the chancel, to the memory of Lewis Morris, the Welsh antiquary. The records of this excellent man's life display the struggles of genius and perseverance amidst difficulties and poverty, in their onward path to fame and respectability, with which he was ultimately rewarded. He was, at the same time, in relation to Welsh literature, critic and historian, poet and musician. In this latter capacity, he taught Mr. Parry, the blind bard, to strike his harp to the simple notes of his native land, and to awaken, with such exquisite effect, those thrilling melodies which slept amongst the chords of his favourite instrument. He died at the age of sixty-three, and left his valuable collection of manuscripts to the Welsh Charity School, in Gray's-Inn Lane, London. Llanbadarn was a city in 987, and was destroyed by the Danes in the reign of Meredydd ap Owen. In now consists chiefly of low, mean cottages, with a few of a better description, and one or two good houses; but at a distance is a very pretty-looking village, in one of the loveliest valleys imaginable. The Rheidol winds through it in a succession of graceful bends, beneath rich hanging woods, craggy mountains, and fair pastures; with here and there a white cottage peering from among the trees, and sending up its curling blue smoke, as if to tempt the mimic pencil of the artist.

The Rheidol is crossed near Llanbadarn by a small

bridge, and at Aberystwith by one of five arches, overlooking the harbour, which is small and inconvenient, and the bar at its mouth prevents vessels of any size entering, except at spring tides. Many lives are lost, and others constantly endangered, for want of a comparatively trifling expenditure in rendering this harbour a safe and commodious one: and when we consider the immense advantages the town and neighbourhood would derive from an improvement so much needed, and so readily to be accomplished, it does seem a marvellous thing, in these enterprising times, that the evil should be tolerated so long.

The town of Aberystwith certainly has not much to engage the attention of the tourist; irregular streets, running in a maze-like confusion, compose its greater part; and these, with sorrow be it said, are thickly adorned with alehouse-signs. The Marine Terrace, however, is an exceedingly agreeable promenade, forming a semicircle on the margin of the sea, and consisting chiefly of comfortable lodging-houses for the accommodation of visitors. Bounded on the north end by the high rock called Craiglais, or Constitution Hill, and on the south by the castle ruins, it commands in front an uninterrupted view of the ocean, which, at Aberystwith, shows its grandest characteristics. A stiff gale blew for some days after my arrival, and, as I sat in my quiet study, on the terrace, I could see the grand waves come rolling in, each like a huge living mountain, bending its proud head over the cavernous depth below, before taking its last landward leap, in scattered, feathery foam; another and another close behind, in endless succession, seemed as if the ocean's boundaries