Part 10

Bronwen, the fair necked, sister to Bren ap Lyr, Duke of Cornwall, and afterwards King of England, had a castle on this rock called “Twr y Bronwen.” She flourished in the third century, and was married to Matholwch, an Irish chieftain. The highest turret of the present fortress is still called, by the Welsh, after the name of the fair-bosomed princess, who once kept her court at Harlech. Colwyn ap Tango, Lord of Effionydd and Ardudwy, repaired and fortified the castle of Bronwen, and changed its name to Caer Collwyn. Upon the ruins of the British castle King Edward the First raised the beautiful and impregnable fortress of Harlech (the fair rock), and the union of the old and new masonry is still distinguishable in the walls. Owen Glandwr seized this fortress in the year 1404, but resigned it shortly after upon the approach of Henry’s army. Here the wretched Margaret of Anjou took refuge after the defeat of her friends at Northampton, but being pursued and discovered, she fled from Harlech also, leaving her jewels and baggage behind, which were afterwards seized by the Lord Stanley. Dafydd ap Ivan ap Einion, an adherent of the house of Lancaster held out, in Harlech Castle, for nine years after the accession of Edward the Fourth to the throne of England. His determined obstinacy, a quality for which his countrymen have always been remarkable in war, compelled the king to send a powerful army to dislodge him, under the leadership of William, Earl of Pembroke. After a march, both tedious and difficult, across an Alpine country, Pembroke sat down before the castle walls, and summoned the brave Welshman to surrender, but only received from him this singular answer: “Some years ago I held a castle in France against its besiegers so long, that all the old women in Wales talked of me; tell your commander that I intend to defend this Welsh castle now, until all the old women in France shall hear of it.” Sir Richard Herbert, who had the immediate conduct of the siege, finding the impregnable nature of the castle, and stubborn quality of its governor, accepted the surrender upon conditions honourable to Dafydd, guaranteeing to him and to his followers, fifty in number, their lives and estates. Being all persons of consideration, they were at first committed to the Tower, the king designing to put them all to death, notwithstanding the conditions of the surrender. Against Edward’s cruel and dishonourable conduct Sir Richard remonstrated, urging, that the Welsh hero might have held the castle longer for any thing the king’s army could have done to expel him; but the king still continuing in his base resolve, “then, sire,” said Sir Richard, “you may take my life, if you please, instead of that of the Welsh captain; for, if you do not, I shall most assuredly replace him in his castle, and your highness may send whom you please to take him out.” The king was too sensible of Sir Richard’s utility to persevere in his iniquitous determination, so yielded to expediency, and pardoned the captives; but he never became sensible of the value of honour, and dismissed his own brave general without farther reward.

In the civil wars of Charles the First’s time this was the last fortress in Wales held for the king. William Owen, the governor, with about twenty followers, surrendered to General Mytton on the 9th of March, 1647.

MONTGOMERYSHIRE.

THIS is an extensive, fertile, and manufacturing county. It partakes both of Welsh and English in its soil and inhabitants; presenting the most sublime and sequestered scenes, as well as the most primitive and distinct race of people, in the recesses of the mountains; while rich pastoral landscapes, adorned with waving woods, shelter the assembled dwellings of a manufacturing population that occupy the campaign country. The great Plinlimmon, fruitful in springs, the parent of the Severn, the Wye, and the Rheidol, hangs over the southern boundary, and aspires to the height of two thousand four hundred and sixty-three feet. The Berwyn hills rise between this county and Merioneth, and the central district is varied and adorned with the pleasing forms of the Breddyn hills. Montgomeryshire extends about thirty miles in length, by the same in breadth, and occupies a surface of four hundred and ninety-one thousand acres. The counties of Denbigh and Merioneth form a northern boundary; Shropshire joins it on the east; Radnor and Cardiganshires bound it on the south; and it touches both Cardigan and Merionethshires on the west. In this county the manufacture of Welsh flannel is established on a permanent basis and extensive scale. Valuable minerals abound in the interior regions; and traffic in these, as well as in agricultural produce, is greatly promoted by a line of inland navigation, which carried through the country.

Montgomery, the capital and assizes town, is by no means the largest or most prosperous. It is a place of no trade, possess no advantages from position, and is totally eclipsed by Newtown, the Leeds of Wales, and by Welsh Pool, a large, flourishing, and handsome town.

CASTELL GÔCH (WELSH POOL).

THE town of Welsh Pool, the ancient Trellwng, is situated in a rich, open country, near to a small black pool, from whence it is supposed to derive its name. This “Llyn-dû” is included within the spacious demesne of Lord Powys, and is of such a contemptible area, that it seems a dissatisfactory origin of the name of the adjacent town. There is an old prophecy that it will at some period overflow and inundate the settlement; but for this no reason is assigned, and its distance, as well as the great elevation of some of the streets above its surface, render the prediction stupid and uninteresting. The town consists of a spacious avenue, commencing at the bridge which spans the canal, and ascending to the crown of a gentle eminence nearly one mile removed. The county court, market house, and flannel hall stand in the main street, and the church, a handsome gothic structure, is in one of the bystreets, at the foot of a steep bank, which nearly obscures the light on that side, and forms a most inconvenient place of burial. There is a chalice of pure gold, preserved in the plate chest of this parish, capable of holding one quart, and valued at one hundred and seventy pounds. It was presented to the church by Thomas Davies, governor of our African colonies, in grateful thankfulness to the Almighty for his safe return from that early grave of Europeans. The inscription sets forth the name and object of the donor, adding, that the gold was brought from Guinea. The houses are mostly built of brick, and the streets present a neat and respectable appearance. The long established trade in flannels has given this place the means of making an opulent display, which does not frequently fall to the lot of the inland towns of Wales. This was an ancient borough, contributory with Montgomery in choosing a representative, but was deprived of its franchise in the year 1728. The government is committed to two bailiffs, a recorder, and town clerk. The first are magistrates, whose jurisdiction extends over parts of several adjacent parishes.

Powys Castle, or the Castle of Powisland, was first chosen as a military position, and an appropriate site for the palace of a chieftain, by Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, a prince of British extraction, who signalised himself in the reign of Henry the First. He commenced his castle here about the year 1110, but being assassinated by his own kinsman, left his design unfinished. It is rather probable that the assassin took possession of the place, and completed the building of the castle; for in the year 1191, various depredations being committed in the marshes, Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the absence of Richard the First, who was engaged in the Crusades, marched into Wales at the head of a powerful force, and laid siege to the castle, which was then in a state of defence and occupied by the Welsh. It was now fortified anew, and a garrison placed in it, which was very soon after dispossessed by Gwenwynwyn, whose name the fortress then bore. Llewellyn ap Jorwerth next reduced this apparently untenable position, in the year 1223, when it received the newer title of Castell Gôch, or Red Castle, from the colour of the stone in the outer walls. The grandson of Gwenwynwyn continued in possession, and left it to his only daughter, Hawys Gadarn, or Hawys the Hardy. Her uncles being disposed to question the legality of her father’s will, she wisely attached herself to Edward the Second, who bestowed her in marriage on John de Charlton, of Wellington, in Shropshire, in 1268. By the marriage of Sir John Grey, of Northumberland, with Jane, eldest daughter of Lord Powys, the barony and castle passed into that family, and continued with the Greys until the reign of Henry the Eighth, when the title became extinct. Sir William Herbert, second son of the Earl of Pembroke, appears the next occupant, his title being derived by a purchase, effected some time in the reign of Queen Elisabeth. This person was ancestor to the Marquises of Powys. In the year 1644 the castle was taken by Sir Thomas Myddleton, who suffered it to be plundered, and compelled Lord Powys to compound with parliament for his estates. The title became extinct, by failure of issue, in the year 1800, and was revived in the person of Edward, Lord Clive, now Earl of Powys, brother-in-law to the last earl of the former line.

The approach to the castle is through a barbacan, advanced some distance from the citadel, but connected with it by long curtain walls. There is less of the castle than the palace in the character of the defensive works. On the left of the great court is a detached building, of later date than the castle, containing a picture gallery one hundred and seventeen feet in length, hung with choice paintings by the ancient masters, a painting in fresco, found in the ruins of Pompeii, and a portrait of Lord Clive, Governor General of India, executed by Dance. In an adjoining apartment there is a model of an elephant, wearing a coat of mail, and supporting two Indians on its back. This curious piece of workmanship was brought from the East Indies by Lord Clive. The principal apartments are entered by a doorway, communicating with an inner court. The grand staircase is adorned with allegorical paintings, complimentary to Queen Anne, by Lanscroon. The rooms in general possess an air of gloom and heaviness, which is increased by the great thickness of the masonry, by the painted railings; and the tapestried walls. A gallery of statuary and antiques runs through the second story, and is furnished also with some family portraits. The state bedroom is only remarkable for the royal fashion here illustrated of enclosing the bedstead by a railing, which could be opened at pleasure, and admit the courtiers to a conversation. It was considered a mark of great respect paid by Louis the Fourteenth to the Earl of Portland, our ambassador, that he was admitted to an audience not only in the king’s chamber, but within the railing.

Amongst the portraits of remarkable persons suspended here, is one of Roger Palmer, Earl of Castlemain, who obtained his peerage in Charles the Second’s reign, through the influence of his wife, the notorious Duchess of Cleveland. This extraordinary person was sent to Rome, by King James the Second, to procure a pardon for heresy, and a reconciliation between the dissevered churches. But his holiness, knowing the futility of such an attempt, whenever the ambassador approached was always seized with a violent fit of coughing. Palmer at length grew weary of delay, and threatening to take his departure, his holiness observed, “that, since he had come to the resolution of travelling, he would recommend him to set out early in the morning, lest, by over fatigue and the effects of heat, he might endanger his health.” In an allegorical painting on one of the ceilings the daughters of William, second Marquis of Powys, are represented, one as Truth, a second as Virtue, and the third as Wisdom. This picture would not be worth selection from amongst so many works of conspicuous merit, if it were not for the portrait of Lady Mary, who appears as Minerva, or the Goddess of Wisdom. Few females have acted more singular parts on the great arena of life, for some centuries, than this noble lady. At first she engaged deeply in the Mississippi speculation: a marriage with the Pretender was next the object of her ambition: and lastly, she passed into Asturias in search of gold, accompanied by another nobly born adventurer.

The gardens consist of parallel terraces, ranged one below the other for a considerable depth, connected by broad flights of steps, and protected by balustrades decorated with vases and statues. The water-works and some other antiquated embellishments, copied from St. Germain en Large, have been totally obliterated. The library and the terraces of the hanging gardens command an extensive and delightful prospect,—the valley of Pool, a rich country watered by the Severn, is spread out in front, stretching away to the beautiful chain of the Breiddyn hills, where the last remnant of British liberty was rent asunder by the surrender of the brave Caractacus.

The summit of the same hill is now adorned by an obelisk, commemorative of the glorious victory of Admiral Rodney over the French fleet in the West Indies, on the 12th day of April, 1782.

Since the visit of Mr. Pennant to the demesne of Welsh Pool, the castle has not only been put into a habitable condition, but even revived with all that reverence for antiquity which the amiable nationality of that elegant scholar and antiquary could desire. The park, now furnished with many and full grown forest trees, sweeps down the verdant brow of the fine hill below the castle, to the very suburbs of the town; and from the highest apex of the hill, at a spot marked out by an index, that is screened by embowering woods in the approach, a scene commensurate to the greatness of the whole is unfolded to the eye, comprehending distant views of Snowdon, Cader-Idris, and the huge Plinlimmon.

CUSTOMS AND MANNERS OF THE WELSH.

ANCIENT manners are less obliterated by time and the varying modes of life in North Wales, than in most of the other provinces of Britain. In this age of communication and intelligence, few will be credulously eager to imagine that the inhabitants of any one part of our island are materially distinguished in their characters from those of another: yet none can immerge themselves in this romantic country, without being struck by the superior modesty and simplicity of its inhabitants. Removed from active scenes of commercial life, and from corrupting examples of selfish splendour, their minds seem sufficiently occupied in the limited transactions of their own little world, without experiencing interruption from any envious feeling at the triumphs of the greater or more wealthy. It is from the peasantry, the national character of an agricultural district is naturally to be deduced; and those of Cambria undoubtedly present an illustration of the happiest description. The poverty of the soil, scantiness of population, and great distance from populous towns, render Wales a residence unsuited to the agricultural capitalist. The land is subdivided into small portions, and amongst a considerable number of yeomen. Hence it arises, that the children of poverty are not frowned on by contempt, and the humbler classes do not acquire those envious and disreputable habits, by which, in other countries, they are too often tempted to resist the ostentations of the rich. Their manners are obliging without servility, and plain without rusticity; their familiarity springs from kindness, not from disrespect; and they exhibit an independence the more to be admired in proportion to its obviously natural growth.

Our earliest annals inform us that the Cambrians “were a people light and active, and more fierce than strong:” all classes, from the prince to the peasant, were devoted to arms, and prepared to give a ready service at the first summons of the trumpet. Their military spirit was unconfined, and love of their country boundless. The profession of arms was held in so much estimation, that to die in one’s bed was deemed disgraceful, and the field of battle held to be the only honourable grave.

“Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, And asks no omen but his country’s cause.”

ILIAD xii.

Their armour consisted of a short coat of mail, a light shield, and iron greaves: sometimes only of those desiring to be free from all unnecessary incumbrances in accomplishing forced marches through trackless deserts. Their only defensive weapons were the sword, the spear, and the arrow. Their bows were sometimes formed of interwoven twigs, and though of slight materials, and rude workmanship, when bent by a sinewy arm dealt a deadly wound. The men of North Wales were more dexterous in the management of the spear, with which they pierced the closest iron mail: their brethren of South Wales more conspicuous for their great skill in archery.

The dress in time of peace was simple and uncostly. The men wore a woollen garment or _cota_ around the body, kept their hair cut short over the ears and eyes, and rounded every where so as not to obstruct their agile movements in the woods and thickets. It is not improbable that they retained a thick covering of hair on the top of the head, like the glibe of the ancient Irish, as a protection against weather. The beard was shaven off, a mustachio on the upper lip only being preserved. The women wore a turban folded round the head, and rising in a coronul or tuft. Both sexes paid little respect to the protection of the feet, being seldom supplied with slippers or buskins, the men only in the field of battle. The shoes, worn on these occasions were made of the dried skins of animals of the chase, with the hair turned inward, and subsequently of half-tanned leather, attached to the foot by a thong or latchet of the same material, after the manner of a sandal. Both sexes are represented as paying a singular regard to the beauty and whiteness of their teeth, which they cleaned by the application of the leaves and bark of the hazel, and afterwards rubbed with a woollen cloth.

Many of these customs belong to the military character of the ancient inhabitants, and disappeared with the extinction of the feudal system; white others may still be distinctly traced in the existing state of society. The flannel cota (_crys gwlanen_) is worn by miners during working hours, and by the peasantry of the high districts in the rainy seasons. The females retain the ancient cap, which they now surmount with a hat, in a manner both pleasing and peculiar. Their principal garment consists of a short bed-gown, fastened round the waist with a girdle, in a smart and rather graceful style; and their stockings are after the olden fashion, that is, without feet, and held down by a loop that passes round one of the toes; these however are only worn on working days; entire hose of excellent manufacture succeed them upon holidays and occasions of dress. The _tout ensemble_ of a Welsh peasant girl, while it conveys an idea of primitiveness, and appears wisely calculated to resist a cold and fickle climate, is neat, pleasing, and picturesque, resembling much the costume of the female peasants of the Tyrol.

Hospitality has always been classed amongst the characteristics of an ancient Briton, and its genius is acknowledged to hold uninterrupted possession to the present day. Here young Fleance found a secure asylum from the murderous designs of the usurper Macbeth, and here his son, born of a Cambrian princess, dwelt, until a desire to visit the land of his fathers led him to the Scottish court, where he attained the highest tank, and became the ancestor of the royal line of Stuart.

The Earl of Richmond (afterwards Henry the Seventh) found a chair at every festive board, and a couch in every hall in Wales, while he was a wanderer, and a fugitive; nor did these kindnesses originate in any inordinate prospect of honour or of gain, most of the gentlemen from Wales, who subsequently fought under his banner, having declined the grateful monarch’s offers of reward. This domestic virtue is still fondly cherished here, and practised with all its pristine beauty. There is less peculiarity in the mode of living than in other circumstances connected with the national character. The peasant seldom partakes of animal food, cattle being reared for the landlord’s benefit exclusively. Oaten bread, milk, cheese, cords, and butter constitute the principal diet of the working classes.

The ancient Welsh castles have been spoken of elsewhere, and a few mansions of the days gone by described; it remains still to say something of the cottages of the humble. Less architectural externally than those in England, but superior to the hut of the Irish labourer, the cottages of the poor are inferior to none in internal neatness and comfort. They are supplied with a variety of furniture, amongst which a clock, oak dresser, and _settle_ (settee), or pannelled sofa, are always to be found. The spinning wheel has disappeared since the introduction of machinery into the little woollen factories erected on the rills amidst the mountains; and the brass pan for brewing “cwrw ddâ,” presents its broad bright disk beneath the dresser of every respectable farm-house.

The Welsh are remarkable for an extreme sagacity, shrewdness, and cunning in their little commercial transactions. They actually estimate genius by the number of successful efforts to overreach, and esteem the individual who exhibits the greatest dexterity in this way, to be what the world usually term “a man of ability.” This property does not extend to the middle or higher classes, who are no longer distinguished from the inhabitants of the adjacent counties by any peculiarity, but is a quality usually belonging to the peasantry of all remote and separated societies. In the early ages of Welsh history many singular instances occurred of the quick and acute repartee of chieftains, and distinguished men, both in the camp and at the court.