THIS is one of two fine lakes occupying the beautiful vale between
Beddgelert and Dyffryn Mymbre, or Capel Curig. It washes the lowest
visible part of Snowdon’s base, and is supplied by a noble cataract
issuing from Ffynnon las, {66} one of the pools in the dark recesses of
the great mountain. The hills around it, though picturesque and lofty,
are not sufficiently broken for sublimity. On the southern extremity of
the lake some fragments of a building are still discernible, confidently
believed to be the ruins of a chapel erected by Madoc, the son of Owen
Gwynedd, who dwelt here previous to his emigration to South America. The
vale here contracts, and the grand mountain masses rapidly close in,
forming the hollow of “Cwn Llan,” where Snowdon is observed to tower with
greater majesty than in any other position. Beneath his darkening front,
and encompassed by a noble amphitheatre of mountains, is Plas Gwynant,
the truly romantic seat of Mr. Vaudrey. At this precise spot the beauty
of the scenery increases wonderfully, and the spectator is lost in an
endless variety of rock, and wood, and flood, and mountain. Llanberis
Vale may be more sublime, no valley in Wales is equally beautiful. Nor
is the accompaniment of lake wanting here. Lyn Dinas now opens to the
view, with its dark brown surface and verdant banks. At its extremity
rises a remarkable hill commanding the whole vale, whose rough, bold
sides are in unison with the surrounding objects. Here are the ramparts
of a fortress, which frowned, from its precipices, over the dark waters
of the lake, and commanded the narrow avenues of the valley. This is the
Dinas Emrys, where
Prophetic Merlyn sat, when to the British king
The changes long to come auspiciously he told.
Here Vortigern retired, disgusted with the treachery of his Saxon allies;
and being frustrated in his first essays to raise a fortress, by some
invisible hand, consulted all the wise men of the age, who assured him,
that his palace would always want stability until sprinkled with the
blood of one “without a father born.” In the town of Caermarthen the
child Merlin was found, the circumstances of whose life corresponded with
the advice of the elders. The harmless boy was ordered to be sacrificed,
but his questions so confounded the base advisers of his death, that he
obtained both life and liberty. The legend is thus embodied in poetic
translation by Drayton:
“To that mighty king, which rashly undertook
A strong walled tower to rear, those earthly spirits that shook
The great foundation still, in dragon’s horrid shape,
That dreaming wizard told, making the mountain gape
With his most powerful charms, to view those caverns deep.
And from the top of Bridd, so high and wondrous steep,
Where Dinas Emrys stood, shew’d where the serpents fought,
The _white_ that tore the _red_; from whence the prophet wrought
The Briton’s sad decay, then shortly to ensue.”