EVERY VISITOR TO MID-WALES SHOULD PROCURE
A COPY OF
PRYSE'S HANDBOOK
TO THE
BRECONSHIRE AND RADNORSHIRE
Mineral Springs.
* * * * *
Part I. (Breconshire) is from the pen of the Rev. James Rhys Jones
(Kilsby.) Part II. (Radnorshire, &c.,) has been compiled by the
Publisher. The two chapters on the Medicinal Properties of the Waters
are from the pen of R. Richardson, Esq., L.F.P.S.G., Fellow of the
Obstetrical Society of London, Surgeon, Rhayader.
* * * * *
Opinions of the Press.
"This is a very interesting little book; in a very small compass, it
contains a great deal of useful and interesting information relative to
the Welsh mineral springs, coupled with a variety of legendary and
antiquarian lore; descriptions of scenery, and the various other adjuncts
necessary to make up a good guide book. Every one who purposes visiting
the springs should procure a copy, and even those who do not intend
visiting the localities described, will find a variety of entertaining
matter in this very agreeable and pleasant little book. We ought to
mention that a portion of the work has been compiled by the Rev J. R.
Jones, (late of Kilsby,) and that it contains a valuable chapter on the
medicinal properties of the various springs, from the pen of R.
Richardson, Esq., _Surgeon_, of Rhayader."--_Shropshire Conservative_
"The caprice of fashion has rendered famous many old corners of the
earth, while others more deserving the notice of the great world lie
hidden in unmerited obscurity, or at the most have obtained but a mere
local celebrity. The spas of Germany are frequented by quite as many of
the votaries of dissipation, and _Rouge et Noir_, as of the seekers after
the blessings of health; but there are secluded valleys in our own
country which are to the full as deserving of the visits of the lover of
the beautiful, and the tired out workman in the world's great treadmill,
while to the invalid they offer medicaments of nature's own composition,
and scenes untainted by the follies of the frivolous, or the vices of the
designing, who throng the gilded saloons of Hamburg and Baden to prey
upon the gay and gilded butterflies of fashion. To such the little book
whose title we quote above will prove a faithful, and we believe a
welcome guide--for its unpretending pages contain not merely a great
amount of information, but also a considerable fund of recreative
reading. Almost every line of the chapters comprising the first part
betrays the writer's well-know hand. Unlike as Charles Lamb and Carlyle
are to each other, and unlike as he is to either, there is much in his
style that reminds us of both; there is much of the genial quaint humour
of the one, and much, very much, of the eccentricity of the other. There
is no mistaking the pen, whether it is employed in graphically sketching
with a few rapid touches the picturesque scenery of woodland glen, or
wide expanse of solitary moor, or glorious mountain side grand with
precipice, and beautiful with heather bloom--or whether it is rendering
homage to the memory of some worthy of other days, who first saw light
among those hills--or whether it is with the frolic humour of a Cerfantes
giving a vivid word-picture of an exploring expedition, mounted on a
batch of Abergwessin ponies--it is still ORIGINAL, and will be recognised
all over Wales as wielded by no other hand than that of "Kilsby," by
which designation the Rev. James Rhys Jones is by common consent
distinguished from the ten thousand and one of his compatriots who
rejoice in the same surname. We can scarcely conceive the possibility of
his doing anything and not doing it _earnestly_, but this has evidently
been a labour of love, for is it not a description of that Valley of the
Irvon which he thus apostrophises?--
"'Thou birth-place and resting place of my humble forefathers, wisely and
not too well have I loved thee; when I sojourned in the land of the noble
and generous Saxon thou wert my thought by day and my dream by night; it
was my uppermost wish to close my life in thy bosom; I have loved thee
with a love second only to that of woman, and a passion which sober men
pronounce madness: it matters not, for I can pray with the Westmoreland
Bard, "Thou valley embrace me, and ye mountains shut me in."'
"The remaining portion of the book is chiefly a compilation, but one that
has been well and judiciously performed. Mr. Pryse has succeeded in
getting from a variety of sources pretty nearly every thing that can
possibly interest, inform, or amuse, in connection not only with the
mineral springs, but also with the beautiful district in which they are
situated. For the invalid he has brought together the various analyses
of the waters, made from time to time, with the opinions of medical men
as to the best rules for their administration; for the scientific he has
produced the opinions of geologists as to the causes of the impregnation
of the waters, with their health-giving constituents; for the antiquarian
he has collected all that remains of the annals of the ruined abbeys and
castles within a wide circuit, especially all that is known of the
history of the last hours of the gallant Llewellyn, last native Prince of
Wales, whose sad fate has given such melancholy interest to the vicinity
of Builth; and for the poet and the lover of the marvellous he has
recorded the wondrous legends, which in days gone by, were supposed to
account for the healing powers of the springs without resorting to the
philosophic theories of the Murchisons or Richardsons of those times. In
short, he has produced a "Handbook," the possession of which will doubly
enhance the pleasure of a summer ramble amid the scenes which it
describes."--_The Monmouthshire Merlin_.
* * * * *
This Handbook is got up in various styles, so as to suit the pockets of
every visitor. In stiff paper covers the price is 1s. 6d.; bound in
strong cloth boards the price is 2s.; bound in extra cloth, gilt edges,
and lettered on the side, the price is 2s. 6d. All post free for value
in stamps.
* * * * *