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Prince was attending the wear and lamenting the smallness of his income and the straitness of his circumstances, his men espied a coracle with a child: in it, wrapped in a leathern bag, exposed on the water by the cruelty of some unknown mother; the father was supposed to be better known.

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The Prince, when the child was brought before him, felt compassion, and ordered every care to be taken of him. After this Elphin flourished. Taliesin received an excellent education, and became. the most celebrated bard of that period. When grown up, the accomplished foundling was introduced by Elphin to his Father's Court; where he presented a poem to Gwyddno, entitled, Hans Ta-. liesin, comprehending, in a masterly style of poetry, his own history; and, at the same time, another to his patron, to console him for past misfortunes, and to exhort him, under all present troubles, to trust in Divine Providence. b.

This is a fine moral piece, and artfully addressed by the bard in the character of an exposed infant, prophesying the future prosperity of his benefactor: and, like a true poetical prophet, he is mindful that the events should confirm the. declarations of prophecy. Vid. Spec. of Ancient Welsh Poetry.

This beautiful ode, styled Dyhuddiant Elphin, or Elphin's Consolation, is preserved in E. Evans's collection; and a very poetical translation by a Welsh lady, was printed 1780, in quarto.

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Near the village of Trefriw, the river makes a sudden bend; the tide seldom reaches farther, and

the depth of water only admits of vessels of burthen to this place. From its vicinity to the woods, a number of small vessels are built here, and sent down to Conway at the equinoctial tides. Small boats and numerous coracles are seen both above and below Llanrwst bridge, occupied chiefly in fishing. These the Vitilia navigia of Pliny, took their name from having been made of the skins of beasts, called coria. At present they are formed of wicker work, about five feet long at the broadest end, four feet wide, and two feet in the prow, and covered with a piece of tarpauling, or tarred canvass. A piece of board is placed across the centre, on which the fisherman sits with a small paddle in his hand, and himself strapped upon the seat. With so slender a security do these people commit themselves to the perilous wave in quest of fish; as they generally use the drag, two go in company; with the left hand they manage the net, and with the right, the paddle; at the same time taking the leading ropes in their teeth. It is curious to observe with what adroitness they preserve the balance (the loss of it would be fatal,) while managing their nets. In the season they take quantities of salmon and smelts, with other fish; and when the labour of the day is past, taking their vessels out of the water, and strapping them on their backs, they carry them home, and lay them in front of their cottages to dry till the next voyage. These vessels are still more curious, as the rude efforts of our ancestors to obtain the sovereignty of the ocean; and whoever feels a con

scious pride in living in an age, when the very elements are made subservient to the arts of commerce ; and belonging to a country, whose maritime fame is the envy of the world, cannot but with pleasure survey this infant origin of the British navy. Prior to the Roman Invasion, the ancient Britons dis→ covered their skill and courage in crossing the channel in these precarious vessels; and gave auspicious omens of their future and invincible prowess on their native element, the ocean.

Passing Llyn y Craig, the highest point to which the spring tides flow, a small distance from Trefriw, we entered, over a handsome bridge of three arches, the town of

LLANRWST.

*

This bridge, which divides the counties of Caernarvon and Denbigh, is a very handsome structure, built A. D. 1636, at the expence of Sir Richard Wynne, groom of the bed-chamber to Charles the first, while Prince of Wales, from a design of the English Palladio, Inigo Jones. On the centre of the parapet are the arms of the Wynne family, and the ostrich plume, a compliment to his royal master. A proof of the excellence of the building may be obtained by a person standing at one centre, who may perceive the whole fabric shake, by a blow given

* His real name was Ynir, but after he had travelled into Italy, according to the fashion of the times, he changed it into Ignatius, or Inigo. He is said to have been a native of this part of Wales.

at the other. The centre arch is the portion of a larger circle than the two outer ones; and the segment consists of a chord less than the diameter.

A plate of this bridge is given by Mr. Pennant, who observes, "That the middle arch is fifty-nine feet wide; two are extremely beautiful, and mark the hand of the architect, the third differs greatly, having been rebuilt in 1703, by a very inferior genius."

The difference did not strike me, and had I seen this remark before, it would have led me to have been more particular. I have an engraving of it in my possession, by an architect, where the exact dimensions are professedly given thus :-Centre arch, sixty-one feet in the span, chord twenty-four feet at low water: the two outer arches, span thirty feet and a half, chord fifteen feet; length of the bridge one hundred and seventy feet; diameter of the piers, ten feet; width of the bridge, fifteen feet.

Between two such respectable authorities, who shall decide? Till I have again seen the bridge I must say, Non nostrum inter vos, tantas componere Lites.

The views, both up and down the river, are prodigiously fine; and the whole country, from the source to the mouth of the Conway, is an animating picture, which justly lays claim to being one of the most picturesque in Wales.

Llanrwst, though the principal town of this part of Wales, is not remarkable for the elegance of its

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buildings, or the spaciousness of its streets. Though not a large, it is a populous town, with a good market-hall, and a well endowed free school, in the gift of Jesus College, Oxon; and carries on a small trade in harp making. The market is well supplied, and reasonable.

We entered the town on the market-day, Tuesday; and were not a little entertained at the variety of articles that might be purchased in it. The adjacent towns and villages do not abound with shops of every description, as in England; the marketday, therefore, is the time for buying in supplies for the week; and the market is filled with the luxuries as well as the necessaries of life. Few men are to be seen; the business being conducted by women; and we could not refuse admiring the spirit of industry manifest on these occasions. No person is idle-no hand in pockets, or in fold, is seen, but both the buyer and the seller are employed in knitting; and hundreds may be seen going and returning, earning their subsistence as they walk along.

: How different is this from the manufacturing poor in England, where attendance on a fair, or market, is a general pretext for squandering and idleness. Indeed economy, as well as industry, the two grand hinges on which the happiness and comfort of the lower classes in society turn, may be learnt from all the movements of this people.

The living is a rectory in the patronage of the bishop. The church, situated near the river, is dedicated to St. Rystyd, Archbishop of London, 361;

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