LLANARTH--ABERAERON--LLANSANFRIED--LLANRHYSTID--AN ENQUIRY INTO A STRANGE
ASSERTED CUSTOM RELATING TO THE MODE OF COURTSHIP IN
WALES--LLANBADARNVAWR--ABERISTWYTH, AND ITS CASTLE.
We left Cardigan on the road to Aberistwyth, and soon entered upon the
same dreary kind of country that we noticed in the north and north-west
of Pembrokeshire. At the poor village of Blaneporth, on the left of the
road, is a large circular area encompassed by a moat, which is most
probably the remains of a British fortification. Castel-Yn-dalig, a mile
or two further, is a similar work, but much larger and less distinct.
Thence we began to ascend a tract of lofty hills (leaving Penrhyn church
on our left near the sea-shore {98}), and, gaining a considerable
eminence, enjoyed an uninterrupted view over the whole sweep of
Cardigan's extensive bay. This bay, from its southern limit,
Strumblehead near Fishguard, stretching northward, extends a vast gulph
into North Wales, and is at length terminated by Bardsey island in
Caernarvonshire: it often proves a shelter to ships in the Irish trade,
and contains several good harbours. The effect of this extensive display
from the great elevations that we traversed was extremely striking;
stretching from beneath us to a remote horizon the sea, exhibited a
silvery surface of immense magnitude; while the shores presented an
endless variety of bold advancing promontories, overhanging cliffs, and
high swelling mountains wild and desolate; yet here and there a stripe of
green meadow appeared on a favoured slope, and a few woody plantations
disclosed themselves through picturesque hollows. In the distant
boundary of Caernarvonshire, the projecting and receding hills about
Pulhelly bay were conspicuous; opposed to these, the superior magnitude
of Cader-Idris arrested the attention, towering among the craggy summits
of the Merionethshire mountains. From the bay our view roamed over a
dreary uninteresting tract of country, to a ridge of mountains, whose
broken outline mixing with the clouds defined the entrance of
North-Wales; where, proudly rising above competition, the confederated
mountains, forming the pile of "Mighty Plinlimmon," appear in all their
majesty.
The consideration of these distant objects, and the attention demanded by
a stumbling horse, were my chief employments from Cardigan to
Aberistwyth: yet the general tediousness of our ride, upon a rocky track
here called a turnpike, had some relief as we passed through LLANARTH, a
_market-town_, consisting of half a dozen huts seated in a romantic
hollow; and ABERAERON, about four miles further, a neat village near the
seashore, pleasingly situated at the entrance of an abrupt well-wooded
valley. Near its picturesque bridge there is a more comfortable inn than
might be expected in so retired a situation; and, as it afterwards
appeared, the only tolerable one between Cardigan and Aberistwyth. From
this place the road, bordering the sea-shore, became more level; and we
soon came within view of the fragments of a castle on the beach, the
greater part of which appears to have been washed away by the action of
the sea. This fort was probably erected by the Normans to cover their
landing or retreat, when, in the reign of William Rufus, they fitted out
a fleet, and, descending on the coast of Cardiganshire, conquered or
ravaged the maritime country to a considerable distance. Most of the
principal towns then fell into their hands, upon which they affected the
government; but, as a measure of no less necessity than policy, assigned
their power to Kadugan ap Bledin, a British chief of high authority, who
strictly adhered to their interest. His son Owen however, rashly
attacking the Normans and Flemings who had lately settled in the
neighbouring territory southward, was, with his father, obliged to fly
into Ireland. Henry the First then entrusted the country to Gilbert
Clare, who raised many fortifications within the district. Kadugan and
his son Owen were nevertheless soon after restored to their lands; but
this son, committing fresh incursions, was slain by Gerald of Pembroke,
whose wife Nestra he had carried away. Old Kadugan became a prisoner in
England for a length of time, but was in the end restored to his estates;
when he was suddenly stabbed by his nephew Madok. Henry the Second
afterwards gave this tract of country to Roger de Clare; whose son
Richard earl of Clare being slain in a contest with the Welch, Rhys,
prince of South-Wales, attacked and vanquished the Anglo-Normans with
great slaughter, and reduced them under his dominion. But by degrees
Cardigan returned to the hands of the English until the final conquest of
the country by Edward the First.
We soon after passed through the dreary village of LLANSANSFRIED, where a
monastery is conjectured to have existed; and about two miles further
entered LLANRHYSTID, which place is assigned to be the site of another.
As we entered the latter village, "the dark mists of night" fell over us.
We therefore finished our day's journey at the Red Lion inn, a tolerably
decent ale-house, where we were presently joined by a man in a labourer's
habit, whom we had observed on the road in very gallant intercourse with
a peasant girl, and had rallied on the occasion; yet were we not a little
surprized at finding him not only a man of extensive information, but a
classical scholar and a well-bred gentleman. On his leaving the room, we
had an opportunity of enquiring who this character was, and learned from
our landlord that he was a native 'squire, who lived about ten miles
distant, who till lately had been in orders and officiated in London; but
on the death of his father had thrown off the gown and become a man of
pleasure. "Though he is so shabbily dressed," said our host, "it is only
a frolic, for he is a very able man." Now, as the term _able_ in Wales
is synonymous with rich in other places, we enquired the amount of his
income, and found it to be _near a hundred a year_.
This gentleman proved a most agreeable and useful companion during the
evening; but we were sorry to observe in him a professed Epicurean; the
gratification of his appetites he declared to be his great object, and
defended his practice on what he termed the fundamental principles of
nature; nor was he in want of an ingenious sophism against every point of
attack. We concluded that this gentleman's habits would qualify him with
due knowledge on a singular custom that is said to prevail in Wales,
relating to their mode of courtship; which is declared to be carried on
in bed; and, what is more extraordinary, it is averred, that the moving
tale of love is agitated in that situation without endangering a breach
in the preliminaries. Mr. Pratt, in his "Gleanings," thus affirms
himself an _eye-witness_ of the process: "The servant-maid of the family
I visited in Caernarvonshire happened to be the object of a young
peasant, who walked eleven long miles every Sunday morning to favour his
suit; he usually arrived in time for morning's service, which he
constantly attended; after which he escorted his dulcinea home to the
house of her master, by whose permission they as constantly passed the
succeeding hours in bed, according to the custom of the country. This
tender intercourse continued without any interruption near two years,
when the treaty of alliance was solemnized." Our companion, like every
one else that we spoke with in Wales on the subject, at once denied the
existence of this custom: that maids in many instates admitted male
bed-fellows, he did not doubt; but that the procedure was sanctioned by
_tolerated custom_ he considered a gross misrepresentation. Yet in
Anglesea and some parts of North Wales, where the original simplicity of
manners and high sense of chastity of the natives is retained, he
admitted _something of the kind_ might appear. In those thinly inhabited
districts, a peasant often has several miles to walk after the hours of
labour, to visit his mistress; those who have reciprocally entertained
the _belle passion_ will easily imagine, that before the lovers grow
tired of each other's company the night will be far enough advanced; nor
is it surprizing, that a tender-hearted damsel should be disinclined to
turn her lover out over bogs and mountains until the dawn of day. The
fact is, that under such circumstances she admits a _consors lecti_, but
not _in nudatum corpus_. In a lowly Welch hut, this bedding has not the
alarm of ceremony: from sitting or perhaps lying on the hearth, they have
only to shift their quarters to a heap of straw or fern covered with two
or three blankets in a neighbouring cornet. The practice only takes
place with _this view of accommodation_.
At an early hour in the morning we left our "flinty couch" at
Llanrhystid; though rendered, by a day of healthful fatigue, "a
thrice-driven bed of down;" and, skirting the sea, the resumed the views
of the preceding day. Advancing about two miles, we remarked, on a
gentle eminence in a field to the left of the road; several rough-hewn
stones patched over with the "moss of the centuries:" two of these,
remaining upright, are massive paralellopipeds, from eight to ten feet
high, standing within a yard or two of each other; among the other stones
lying about in different directions, I could trace no indication of a
circle; it has, however, been supposed to be a Druidical temple; although
the two upright stones might rather seem to mark the "narrow house" of
some departed warrior. We soon after descended into the abrupt vale of
Ystwith, and crossed its river over a picturesque bridge, venerably
mantled with ivy. {106} Our route continued over the high ridgy hills
that divide the parallel vales of Ystwith and Rhydol, the latter of which
presented an agreeable contrast to the dreary country through which we
had travelled from within a few miles of Haverfordwest.--Here, among
extensive meadows of the richest verdure, the meandering Rhydol wantons
its fantastic course. On a gentle eminence near its banks, in the midst
of the valley, appears the embowered town of LLANBADARN-VAWR, a
picturesque though deserted spot, yet once a Roman city, and afterwards
the seat of an Episcopacy and Monastery established by St. Paternus in
the beginning of the sixth century. The church is yet a handsome
building. Between this town and the sea-coast is a small ancient
fortification, consisting of a square area surrounded by a wall with a
tower at one of the angles. A range of wild hills, backed by the
stupendous Plinlimmon, forms the opposite boundary of this valley; and at
its termination in the sea-coast, the town of Aberistwyth appears in a
very picturesque light on the brink of the sea, with its ruined castle on
a gentle rise to the left.
ABERISTWYTH is a less agreeable town on entering it, than as a distant
object. Most of the streets are narrow and ill-paved; and the stone used
being of a black colour, gives the whole rather a dirty appearance; but
this remark is not applicable to some houses that have lately sprung up
for the genteel company which resorts to it in the bathing-season. Nor
must I mention the bathing at Aberistwyth, without observing, that it is
conducted with more propriety than at any other watering-place that I
have seen in England or Wales. The ladies' and gentlemen's machines are
placed nearly a quarter of a mile asunder; and the indecency of
promiscuous dipping, so disgusting at more fashionable resorts, is in
consequence avoided: the bathing too is excellent, with a good sandy
bottom at all hours of the tide.
The castle, seated on a craggy eminence projecting into the sea, westward
of the town, is so much dilapidated, as scarcely to present a
characterizing form: but there is an agreeable public walk traced through
the ruin, which commands a view of the sea and the neighbouring coast;
with the little port (common to the Rhydol and Ystwith rivers) well
filled with fishing vessels just below the cliff. This spot is also
enlivened by a tasteful residence of Lady Juliana Penn's, lately erected
near the ruin, with much appropriate effect, in the form of a gatehouse.
Aberistwyth castle was founded by Gilbert de Strongbow, son of Richard de
Clare, in the reign of Henry the First; but soon after its erection it
fell into the hands of the Welch princes, and was destroyed in their
intestine quarrels. Powell says, that the present castle was built by
Edward the First, anno 1277, a short time before the complete conquest of
Wales. It appears to have been a strong place, as a garrison of King
Charles maintained it for some time after his death.
Among the mountains in the neighbourhood of Aberistwyth, a number of lead
and silver mines were discovered about three centuries back; and in the
reign of Elizabeth a company of Germans reaped a great fortune in the
enterprize of working them. Sir Hugh Middleton, after them, was equally
successful, netting 2000_l._ a month out of one silver mine. He was
succeeded by a Mr. Bushel, who also gained immense profit from the works;
insomuch that in the civil wars he made King Charles a present of a
regiment of horse, and clothed his whole army. The company of
mine-adventurers worked these mines also with success, until they fell
out among themselves, to their own injury, and that of the mining
interest throughout the country; and I believe that these works have been
deserted ever since.