structure, and placed so near the sea withal." Yes; and it may probably be thus explained: there are some indications of there having been formerly only one aber, or efflux to the river Maw; and the present course of that one is towards this spot, and so it gave name to the church; and which is one of six, within the short space of seven miles, along our road to Harlech. This great number of churches, and in such an out-of-the-way district, we may account for as we proceed.

"We are arrived at a milestone, three and a half miles from Barmouth, and, looking eastward to the hills, I observe a structure of other times, on the farther side of the field." Our direct way from hence to one of the principal objects of our excursion, situated upon a mountain plain, not seen from hence, just beyond that first high ground, would be to pass the old mansion, the name of which is Egryn; but our plan will be better executed, if we proceed a mile and a half farther along the Harlech road, and return by the ancient works now alluded to. But that old house, which attracted your attention, is one among several others of a similar character in this vale. It was originally the residence of a cymmro of some rank; and, in the fifteenth century, it was tenanted by friars. The inside is curious: the roof is supported by pointed arches, of fine Irish oak, springing from the basement, and dividing the building into three compartments. Over half of the middle one, which is the largest, there was till lately a gallery of communication between the apartments in each end, and protected by a balustrade, as if intended for an audience to hear and see what occurs on the earth below. "How should you be so well acquainted with what you now describe?" Since I acquired this knowledge, a whole generation has passed away from hence to another world: in that house lived my parents, who have departed; my brothers and sisters too, most of whom are gone. Let us proceed.

We have passed another milestone: and here let us go down that lane to our right, for about a hundred yards, to a house called Caer Elwan, or the fort of Elwan, of which no traces are seen; but our object here is that upright stone, of which about seven feet appears out of the ground. "Can you tell its history?" Look at that smooth and towering eminence to the north-east, standing in advance of the regular chain mountains, and whose summit may be nearly three miles distant, as the crow flies, and which is called Moelvre, or the bald hill. Any native would inform you, that the redoubtable giant, Arthur, threw this stone from the top of Moelvre, as a mark to which he intended playing at quoits. But, if I might be pardoned the temerity of doubting such a fact, I would infer that the stone before us is the monument of Lia the Irishman, of whom the following notice is re

corded in the verses on the graves of the warriors of the isle of Britain:

"Bedd Llia Wyddel yn argel Ardudwy,
Tàn y gwellt.'

"The grave of Llia the Gwydhelian is in the covert of Ardudwy, beneath the sod."

The

Proceeding nearly a mile we come to Llandwywe, a church dedicated to St. Dwywe, the daughter of Gwallog ab Llenog, and the mother of Deinioel, the patron saint of Bangor. A small chapel, on the north side of the chancel of this church, contains the monuments of the ancient family of Cors-y-gedol, the present representative of which is the patriotic Sir R. W. Vaughan, member of parliament for the county. To shorten our tour, by your permission, it may suffice to mention briefly what may be deserving of notice on the road onward to Harlech, so that we may turn up to the mountains forming the eastern boundary of the vale. At the distance of three quarters of a mile, and half a mile west of the road, you see Llanenddwyn, or the church of a female saint, named Enddwyn. A mile and a half farther, the road passes through the village of Llanpedr, or the church of St. Peter. only thing remarkable traditionally bruited here, is an embarrassment as to the site of the church. About forty yards to the right of the road, there are four or five slabs of stones, standing upright, about eight feet high; and it was there they began to erect the church; but all the work they repeatedly did by day, was always found removed in the night, by the evil one, to where the church now stands, and, at length, the builders gave way to his whim. Going along a causeway over a marsh, for three quarters of a mile, there is a bridge to be crossed, over a small river, called the Artro, which expands to an estuary of about a mile long to the sea, and on the north side of which is the isthmus of Mochras, on which there is one farm only. And here the vale of Ardudwy terminates; for the sea forms a right angle round the point of the isthmus, and comes within a furlong of the bridge before noticed, and then makes nearly another right angle along the shore of Harlech marsh to the estuary of the two sands. Close upon that last angle is Llandanwg, or the church of St. Tanwg, who was the son of Ithel the Generous, of Armorica. The sea now approaches so near this church, that the waves at times sprays about its walls; and all that remains of the parish not overwhelmed, is the farm of Mochras already mentioned, besides a few small tenements and cottages along the Artro river upwards, and on the land side; and this is another proof of the encroachment of the sea upon the coast. Three quarters of a mile from the bridge, farther on the road, is Llanvair, or St. Mary, the parish-church of Harlech. The fine old castle at this place has been so frequently described by tourists that we may pass it over. There are also the graves

Ardudwy.

of the men of Ardudwy, on the high ridge, about three miles east of the town, which also need not our notice, from having been treated of by Pennant. But Harlech marsh demands a few words: it is a sandy plain, about three miles along, and nearly a mile wide, covered with verdure, remarkable for its breed of ponies and parts of which have been lately brought under cultivation. The sea must have formed it, and then receded; and, as a proof of this, a limekiln, full of lime, was discovered, some twenty years ago, just beneath the present surface of the marsh, and close to the rock whereon the castle stands.

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Leaving the vale, to proceed on our journey upwards, we pass between the two lodges, and enter that straight avenue, of about a mile in length, leading to the now deserted mansion of Cors-ygedol. Having come about two hundred yards, we must clamber over the wall on our left, to look at a stone, of about ten feet long, eight feet wide, and about twenty inches thick, recumbent upon other stones scarcely above the surface of the ground. And this is a quoit, which all about will tell you was thrown by Arthur, from the top of Moelvre. throw, as the mark he sent before must be a good mile from hence. Surely he must have made a bad I see some one has actually carved, as it were, the impression of a hand at the edge of the stone." Carved, indeed! why, there is not a boy about here but will tell you, that the marks you say are carved, are the real marks of Arthur's fingers, where he took hold of the stone to throw it. "His hand must have been pretty large, as these fingers are about eighteen inches long; to be sure, it required a large hand to throw such a stone." Is it seemly for you to laugh at such a fact? But let us pass the mansion before us; and, after pointing out to you a cromlech, nearly at the northern extremity of the ascent of Moelvre, of which there is a description in Camden, we will get into the rear of that mountain, so that you may have a view of Drws Ardudwy, the door of Ardudwy, one of the sublimest scenes in Wales, and which is scarcely known to strangers, owing to its being so out of their way. most stupendous, certainly, and repays for all our toil. I now 'Well, this is recollect seeing a view of it in Pennant; but what a poor idea we have of it there." Yes, poor enough.

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Let us now retrace our steps over the ridge to our right, and then you will see three lakes, which you did not observe in coming, and situated in a little world of desolation, far from the haunts of men. "I now see one down before us." That is Bodlyn; there is another to the east, above it, concealed from our sight, called Dulyn; and yonder you see a large one, nearly a mile long, to the south-west, that is Llyn Urddyn, or the sacred lake; and we are to pass along the margin of it, to arrive at objects I promised to show you upon the mountain plain.

"We proceed then. We will avoid that gloomy lake with

its overhanging precipices, which you call Bodlyn, and hasten to the somewhat more cheering shores of the sacred lake. I have often heard of fairy-land; methinks we are in it at last." No, it is only an illusion now to you; but to me, some sixty years ago, it was really the land of fairies; for, whenever I entered its borders, on misty days particularly, I used to be anxious to walk on the grass, and avoid the stony places. "Why so?" The fairies-not such pigmies as you have in England-will suddenly catch you up, and unless you can lay hold of a blade of grass, which they have not the power of breaking, they will take you up, but civilly giving you the choice of three courses, either below wind, mid wind, or above wind. "What then?" What then, indeed! I well recollect a person who had a defect in the nasal organ, which was attributed to the rough usage of the fairies, the country people used to call him "Twndrwyn," or broken nose. He used to relate how that blemish had been occasioned; and it was thus: The first time of his being snatched up by the fairies, he simply chose to be carried below wind; and so they took him through all the bushes and brakes they could find; and, among the many scratches and bruises, he had his nose broken. After that, he took care to choose the mid wind course, whenever he had a journey through the air. Then, do you wonder that, while this remained fairy-land to me, I should be careful of seeking a path along its green grass? But all the fairies are now departed hence.

Having come to the banks of the sacred lake, you see that we are even with the southern end of Moelvre, which is a fine object from this point. "Yes, it is; but it must have been subject to a violent eruption some time or other, as indicated by that great scab, of about seven score yards long, and of nearly half as much in breadth." You may rest assured that is no eruption, as that eminent bank has always been in a healthy state. What you deem an eruption was the effect of accident, as you shall hear. You see by that torrent below us, midway between us and the hills, what seems a lofty castle, the name of which is Craig y Dinas, the fortress rock. A cawres, or giantess, resided there in days of yore, and the summit of Moelvre was her favorite retreat in the fine days of summer, where she designed to build a seat, from whence she might view the surrounding objects at her ease. For that purpose she collected her apronful of stones, and had nearly reached the top of the hill with them, when the string of her apron broke, and down went the stones along the declivity, as you now see them. Other Cawresi had their apron-strings broken, in a similar manner, on our mountains. There is one accident of the kind, by the road-side, on the cap of the two stones above Penman Mawr.

We proceed a mile farther to the south-west, and come to

Carneddi Hengwm, or the stone heaps of the old defile, and which are two in number, and, according to Wynne's History of Wales, were raised as monuments of those who fell in battle.

The largest of these heaps, which is south of the other, and distant about thirty yards, is sixty yards long, and twenty broad. At the east end, it has a cist vaen, or stone chest, as such erections are popularly called; and midway, on the north side, it has a cromlech, or recumbent stone, under which there is a room, with seats on two sides of it, where eight persons may sit and cook their picknicks on a fire in one of the corners. The other heap is about forty yards long, and fifteen broad, with a pillar within two thirds of its western extremity, near which there is a row of flat stones, extending across the heap, as if covering some graves. But we are now close upon them, and-O! there have been Goths here, as well as at Abury; they have, under an enclosure Act, dilapidated these venerable monuments, to build their boundary walls. It is some satisfaction to me, in having taken the annexed views of these antiquities on passing them in July 1800, as a memorial for posterity.

In the first view, we look at the carneddi, eastward, and see part of the chain of mountains, extending from the river Maw, on the south, to Carnarvonshire, on the north. Of this nothing further need be said, but just observing that, to give strangers an idea of our situation, if another sketch of a view northward were made, to fill up the intervening space, between the two here given, to form a segment of a panoramic circle, the fine hill of Moelvre, which is about two thousand feet above the shore below, would appear directly in front of us, to the north.