We went by water from Bangor to Caernarvon, where we met Paoli and Sir
Thomas Wynne. Meeting by chance with one Troughton,[1227] an intelligent
and loquacious wanderer, Mr. Thrale invited him to dinner. He attended
us to the Castle, an edifice of stupendous magnitude and strength; it
has in it all that we observed at Beaumaris, and much greater
dimensions: many of the smaller rooms floored with stone are entire; of
the larger rooms, the beams and planks are all left: this is the state
of all buildings left to time. We mounted the Eagle Tower by one hundred
and sixty-nine steps, each of ten inches. We did not find the Well; nor
did I trace the Moat; but moats there were, I believe, to all castles on
the plain, which not only hindered access, but prevented mines. We saw
but a very small part of this mighty ruin, and in all these old
buildings, the subterraneous works are concealed by the rubbish.
To survey this place would take much time: I did not think there had
been such buildings; it surpassed my ideas.