{0} For much of the present essay I am indebted to the following
works:—Commentarioli Britanniæ descriptionis fragmentum, Auctore Humfredo
Llwyd; Powel’s History of Wales; Edward Llwyd’s Notes, in Gibson’s
edition of Camden’s Britannica; Rowland’s Mona Antiqua Restaurata;
Stukeley’s Medallic History; the Preface to Owen’s Translation of the
Elegies of Llywarch Hen; Jones’s Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh
Bards; the Monthly Magazine, and the first and second volumes of the
Cambrian Register.
{23} Atkins’s Glocestershire.
{24} Grose’s Antiquities.
{25} Warner’s First Walk through Wales.
{26} He was buried in the cathedral church of St. David, and many
hundred years after canonized by Pope Calistus II.—Godwin’s English
Bishops, p. 414.
{35a} Willis’s Landaff, p. 34.
{35b} Grose—Willis.
{47} Vol. II. p. 92.
{53a} Pennarth, eight miles south-west of Swansea.
{53b} From the Welsh Pen Rhys.
{54} William of Malmesbury, p. 158.
{67a} Famous as being the birth-place of Sylvester Giraldus de Barri
(more generally known as Giraldus Cambrensis), nephew of David
Fitzgerald, Bishop of St. David’s; to which see Giraldus himself aspired.
He was twice elected to it by the chapter, but never attained that
dignity, although he had refused, in such expectation, three or four
bishoprics, as well as the Archbishopric of Cashel. Acting as legate to
the Archbishop of Canterbury in Wales, he evinced great spirit in
correcting numerous abuses which had crept into the church in that
principality. The great credit which he derived from these spirited
exertions were greatly added to, by the many valuable works he bequeathed
to posterity, the merits of which have been recently revived under the
fostering auspices of Sir Richard C. Hoare, Bart., who has enhanced the
value and interest of his translation of the Itinerary of Giraldus by
illustrations derived from his own pencil. Seventeen years before his
death he resigned all his ecclesiastical preferments, giving himself up
to his studies: he died in the 74th year of his age, at St. David’s,
where his monument is still remaining.
{67b} The pedestrian will not possibly find time to examine the ruins of
Carew Castle in this day’s route, but will find it more convenient to
visit it in his way from Tenby to Haverfordwest.
{74} The price for two oars seven shillings and sixpence; and twelve
shillings and sixpence for four oars.
{75a} Wyndham’s Tour through Monmouthshire and Wales.
{75b} Philosophical Survey of Ireland.
{82a} “This castle (says an eminent author) is said to have been built
by Gilbert, Earl of Clare, who lived in the reign of King Stephen; and
Camden reports, that Richard, Earl of Clare, made Richard Fitz-Tancred
governor thereof. It was one of those in the hands of the Flemings, when
they first came into Dyvet, or Pembrokeshire.”
{82b} These lines were frequently repeated by Dr. Johnson, whose
partiality to inns is well known.
{84} “This celebrated person was uncle to King Arthur, and son of a
Prince of Wales. After being seated in the see of St. David sixty-five
years, and having built twelve monasteries; after having been exemplary
in the piety of these days, this holy person died, at a most advanced
period of human life; having attained, as it is said, to the age of one
hundred and forty-six years. He was buried in the cathedral church of
St. David, and many years after canonized by Pope Calistus the Second.”
Warrington’s History of Wales, Vol. II. p. 385.
{85a} To whose son a M.S. t. Elizabeth, quoted by Willis, p. 69, gives
Owen’s monument.
{85b} Tan. Bib. Brit.
{85c} Tanner, p. 720.
{87} Pope Calistus, by whom David was canonized, had, it seems, raised
this place to a rank second only to the pontifical city itself, in the
meritorious efficacy of the pilgrimages made to it; having declared that
two visits to St. David’s were equal to one to Rome:—this occasioned a
proverbial rhyme in Welsh, which has been thus translated into Latin:
Roma semel quantum, bis dat Menevia tantum.
{88} Leland, Vol. V. p. 25.
{90} For a description of these monuments, see Wyndham.
{91} “From _Cwrwgl_: in Irish _Curach_. The Greenland boats are also
made of laths, tied together with whale-bone, and covered with
seal-skins. In these slender vehicles they are said to be able to row
upwards of sixty miles a day; and the tops being covered with skins, they
resist the fury of every storm. For when a wave upsets them, the boat
rises again to the surface of the water, and regains its equilibrium.
When Frobisher first saw them, in 1576, he took them for seals or
porpoises. In the voyages of the two Zenos, they are compared to
weavers’ shuttles. They are used, also, in the islands of the
North-Asian Archipelago, where the Russians call them _Baidars_; and are
found to be of such practical use, that Lieut. Kotzebue, in his
expedition along the American coast of the Frozen Sea, took with him
boats of a similar construction, in order to ford any rivers that might
obstruct his journey. Similar boats are used by the Samoides of Nova
Zembla. They are also used in Labrador, Hudson’s Bay, and Norton Sound.
They glide with almost inconceivable swiftness. The Arctic highlanders
of Baffin’s Bay, however, have no method of navigating the water. They
never even heard of a canoe.” _Beauties_, _Harmonies_, _and Sublimities
of Nature_, vol. iii. p. 335. Second Edit.
{94} Itinerary, Vol. V. p. 12.
{95} Over the river Rhyddol.
{97} Near the town of Aberystwith, in the year 1795 or 1796, a very fine
coral stone was found, washed up from the sea, by an exciseman. It is
now in the possession of Mr. Charles Hall, of Aller, in Hilton parish,
Dorsetshire; is extremely fine on one side, near two inches in diameter,
rather flat, but with some convexity. The late Dr. Pulteney, of
Blandford, allowed it to be the finest specimen he had ever seen. Its
colour is a yellowish white, its filaments are finely curved, and very
uneven on the surface.
{100} The additions to Camden, 1695, suppose this Bishop Idnert.
{111} Called in Latin, Vaga.
{112} See an excellent account of the woollen manufactory in the seventh
chapter of Aikin’s Tour through North Wales.
{114} See Pennant’s Snowdonia, p. 89, and likewise Wilson’s excellent
View of Cader Idris.
{116} Mr. Pennant, in his Snowdonia, p. 397, edit. 1781, mentions, that
there are brought annually to Salop “seven hundred thousand yards of web;
and to Welsh Pool, annually, between seven and eight hundred thousand
yards of flannel;” but he does not state the particulars whence he
deduces his general estimate. I have quoted this passage from Aikin’s
excellent chapter (vii.) on the woollen manufacture of North Wales, not
having in my possession Mr. P.’s Snowdonia.
{119} First Walk through Wales.
{144} Dr. Fuller observes—“It would be more facile to find graves for as
many saints, than saints for so many graves.”
{154} Gelert was given to Llewelyn by King John in 1205.
{158a} Evan Thomas worked in the copper-works at Aber Glaslin, and lived
at a place called Dous Coreb, about a mile and a half beyond Beddgelert.
{158b} The most usual and best direction, in which to ascend Snowdon at
the present day, commences between the New Inn and Dolbadarn Castle, near
the Bridge.
{168} “The Cambrian fair would blush as much at the term _courting in
bed_ as any other modest female would, that has never heard of this
custom before. It is not expressed, _Caru-yn-y-Gwely_, which means
_courting in bed_; but _Caru-ar-y-Gwely_, courting on the bed. Should
the lover offer any indecency, his mistress would not only fly from him
with the velocity of lightning, but he would be fortunate if she would so
leave him without giving him a bloody nose at parting. In a few days
also, the tidings of his impudence would reach the ears of every lass in
the neighbourhood; his company would be shunned with the greatest
caution: and were he so successful as to prevail upon a young woman to
accept of his visits, her continency would be considered as doubtful.”
{170a} “Assembled there, from pious toil they rest,
And sadly share the last sepulchral feast.”