Part 8
Aberystwith, partaking much of the dirt of seaports in general, is situated at the termination of the vale of Rhyddol, in the bay of Cardigan, and open to St. George’s Channel. The environs are stony and rugged; the coast affords indifferent bathing, being much exposed; and the shore is rough and unpleasant. In fine, it is, in almost all respects, the reverse of Tenby, except it has the advantage in the number of houses, and, consequently, more company. At the extremity of the town, upon an eminence, stand the ruins of an ancient castle, of which little now remains but a solitary tower, overlooking a wide expanse of sea. It was rendered famous, by being, at one time, the residence of the great Cadwalader, and in all the Welsh wars was considered as a fortress of great strength: it was built by Gilbert Strongbow, in the year 1107, and rebuilt by King Edward I. in 1277, a few years before his complete conquest of Wales. The ruin of the castle now affords a pleasant walk.
At this castle Edmund Goodere, Esq. farmer of the mines royal in the county of Cardigan, had letters patent, 13th of Charles I., to erect a mint for coinage of such silver as was raised from the said mines royal in Wales; but the castle and houses for the mint were destroyed by the civil war. On the 6th of March, 1646, on his petition to this effect, the smelting house, near the refining mills, was appropriated by Parliament to this purpose, till the castle should be refitted.
But what formerly rendered this town more considerable, were the rich lead mines in its vicinity. These mines are said to have yielded near a hundred ounces of silver from a ton of lead, and to have produced a profit of two thousand pounds a month. Sir Hugh Middleton here made the vast fortune, which he afterwards expended on the New River, constructed for the purpose of supplying the northern side of London with water. But Thomas Bushell raised these mines to their greatest height: an indenture was granted to him by King Charles I. for the coining of silver pieces, to be stamped with ostrich feathers on both sides, for the benefit of paying his workmen. This gentleman was afterwards appointed governor of Lundy Isle. The most considerable lead mine was that of Bwlch-yr-Eskir-his, discovered in the year 1690. The ore was here so near the surface, that the moss and grass in some places scarcely covered it. {104}
Close to the site of the old castle, Mr. Uvedale Price, of Foxley, in Herefordshire, has erected a fantastic house in the castellated form, intended merely as a summer residence.
Aberystwith has of late years been in all respects greatly improved; for being the principal place of summer resort for bathing and pleasure from North Wales and the adjacent English counties, every inducement has been held forth that could attract company from its new competitors: the roads are now good, and the inns and accommodations excellent. The population consists of 2,397 persons.
The bathing is well conducted, and although the beach, as at most of our watering places, is formed of pebbles, still there are generally good sands to bathe on at all hours of the tide. During the season assemblies are held here as at Brighton, Ramsgate, and other English sea-bathing places. Formerly, the town-hall likewise served as a theatre, but another building has now been erected for that purpose. Notwithstanding Aberystwith is prevented by the sand bar at the entrance from receiving vessels of large tonnage, still its trade is considerable and increasing, carried on by vessels from 250 tons burthen down to 18.
Mr. Meyrick’s remarks with respect to this port are perfectly correct. “Were two piers made on those ridges of the rock called the Wey, which afford the strongest foundations, the harbour would be handsome, capacious, and convenient. Besides, by cutting a passage across the road to the north of the town, and carrying it along the marsh into the sea, for the Rhyddol, just at the angle it makes when it takes a south-west course, an excellent back-water would be at hand, and would clear away any bar that might be formed at the mouth of the harbour, and keep it free from mud.”
It has two markets in the week; Monday for butter, &c., and Saturday for meat, besides which, it is generally well supplied with fish, with which it furnishes the interior of the country as far as Shrewsbury and Worcester. The views from the castle and cliffs, not only over Cardigan Bay, but over the cloud-capped summits of Cader Idris and Snowdon, are extensive and sublime.
We determined to pursue the banks of the meandering Rhyddol, in preference to the turnpike road, in our way to Havod.
This valley comprehends every thing that constitutes the beautiful; it is enclosed by high mountains on each side, vegetating to their summits; indeed, all the tints of verdure and diversity of foliage here introduced themselves in one view; the Rhyddol struggling with the huge masses of rock,—its never-ceasing, tumultuous motion,—its sparkling foam;—in fine, every thing that can be imagined, by the most enthusiastic admirer of nature, is blended in this short excursion:—
—“_is not this vale_ More free from peril than the envious courts? Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, The season’s difference, as the icy fang And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind.”
SHAKSPEARE.
“The vale of Rhyddol,” says Mr. Gilpin, “is a very grand and extensive scene, continuing not less than ten miles, among rocks, hanging woods, and varied ground, which, in some parts, become mountainous: while the river is every where a beautiful object; and twice or three times, in its passage through the vale, is interrupted in its course, and formed into a cascade. This is a circumstance in a _vale_, I think, rather uncommon. In a contracted _valley_ it is frequent: but _an extended vale_ is seldom so interrupted as not to give way to the river on one side or the other.”
To the inquisitive pedestrian (for this vale is inaccessible for carriages), the old Church of Llanbadem Vawr, which signifies the Church of Great Paternus, a native of Bretagne, is particularly interesting; who, as the writer of his life expresses it, “by feeding governed, and by governing fed the Church of Cretica.” To his memory this Church, and formerly an episcopal see was founded; but the bishopric, as Roger Hovedon writes, “early declined, because the parishioners slew their pastor.” {107} As we draw near the
DEVIL’S BRIDGE,
a long chain of mountains excited our admiration, encircled half way down with a thick mist, similar in appearance to a girdle: this circumstance seems to justify the bold imagery and beautiful description of a mountain given by the Poet:
“As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm; Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.”
GOLDSMITH.
The comfortable inn, situated near this romantic spot, stands in front of the River Rhyddol, and commanding the most picturesque view fancy can paint, was built by the respectable and truly hospitable owner of Havod.
This celebrated Bridge, so much the object of curiosity and admiration, is so completely environed with trees, that many travellers, not intent upon deep investigation, or in pursuit of Nature’s landscapes, may pass over it without the least suspicion of the dreadful aperture, or the ancient structure that conveys them over the gulf. On the eastern side we descended a deep and treacherous bank, consisting of slate rock, or laminac, I should imagine, near an hundred feet: this is the computed measurement; but the eye, confused by the awfulness of the scene, loses its faculty of judging. From this spot the vast chine, or chasm over which the bridge is thrown, is seen to great advantage. The whole of this fissure was probably occasioned by some convulsion of Nature, as each indenture seems to correspond with the opposite protuberance. Under the bridge the river Mynach, in its confined course, meeting with obstructions of massy rock, and fragments of prodigious size, rushes through the chasm with irresistible violence.
This bridge is called in Welsh Pont-ar Fynach, or Mynach Bridge; it consists of two arches, one thrown over the other. The foundation of the under one is of great antiquity, and vulgarly attributed to the invention of the Devil; it is supposed to have been erected as far back as the year 1087, in the reign of King William II., by the Monks of Strata Florida Abbey, the ruins of which are still visible, about ten miles from hence. Gerald mentions his passing over it, when he accompanied Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, at the time of the Crusades, in the year 1188, and in the reign of King Richard I. The original arch being suspected to be in a ruinous condition, the present bridge was built over it, at the expense of the county, in the year 1753. The width of the chasm is estimated at about thirty feet.
Our Cicerone first conducted us to a fall on the river Rhyddol, unobserved in Walker’s Description of the Devil’s Bridge, and unnoticed by Warner. The character of this fall is remarkably singular: a huge fragment of rock, projecting over the river for a considerable way, precipitates the water in a singular and almost inexpressible direction: the rocks are occasionally variegated by the dark foliage of underwood, and sometimes barren, rugged, and impending.
Description cannot suggest the full magnificence of the prospect which spread before us, on our arrival at the grand Fall of the Mynach; for though it may paint the grandeur of the elegance of outline, yet it cannot equal the archetypes of Nature, or draw the minute features, that reward the actual observer at every new choice of his position: reviewing this thundering cataract, in the leisure of recollection, these nervous lines of Thomson seem to describe much of the scene:
“Smooth to the shelving brink a copious flood Rolls fair and placid, where collected all In one impetuous torrent, down the steep It thundering shoots, and shakes the country round. At first an azure sheet, it rushes broad; Then whitening by degrees, as prone it falls, And from the loud resounding rocks below Dash’d in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shower. Nor can the tortured wave here find repose: But raging still amid the shaggy rocks, Now flashes o’er the scatter’d fragments, now Aslant the hollow channel rapid darts; And falling fast from gradual slope to slope, With wild infracted course and lessen’d roar, It gains a safer bed, and steals at last Along the mazes of the quiet vale.”
The following table, taken from Walker’s Description of the Devil’s Bridge, gives the exact height from the top of the bridge to the water underneath; and the different falls from thence till the Mynach delivers itself into the Rhyddol below.
FALLS, &c.
Feet From the bridge to the water 114 First fall 18 Second ditto 60 Third ditto 20 Grand cataract 110 From the bridge to the Rhyddol 322
The rocks on each side of the fall rise perpendicularly to the height of eight hundred feet, and are finely clothed with the richest vegetation to the loftiest summit.
Near the basin of the first fall from the bridge we entered a dark cavern, formerly inhabited by a set of robbers, two brothers and a sister, called Plant Mat, or Plant Hat, signifying Matthew’s Children. Tradition reports, that they committed various depredations in the neighbourhood, and lived concealed in this “specus horrendum” for many years, from the keen research of “day’s garish eye.” The entrance just admits sufficient light to make “darkness visible.”
With regret we left this romantic spot; where, if retirement ever had “local habitation,” this was her “place of dearest residence.” “One excursion,” says Mr. Cumberland, “to this place, will not suffice common observers; nor indeed many, to the lovers of the grand sports of Nature.” “The Mynach,” in another place he describes, “coming down from beneath the Devil’s Bridge, has no equal for height or beauty that I know of; for, although a streamlet to the famous fall of Narni in Italy, yet it rivals it in height, and surpasses it in elegance.
“After passing deep below the bridge, as through a narrow firth, with noises loud and ruinous, into a confined chasm, the fleet waters pour headlong and impetuous, and leaping from rock to rock, with fury literally lash the mountain’s sides; sometimes almost imbowered among deep groves, and flashing at last into a fanlike form, the fall rattling among the loose stones of the Devil’s Hole—where, to all appearance, it shoots into a gulf beneath, and silently steals away: for so much is carried off in spray, during the incessant repercussions it experiences, in this long tortuous shoot, that in all probability, not half the water arrives at the bottom of its found and sullen grave.”
Four miles from hence, on the Llandiloe’s road, is situated
HAVOD or HAFOD,
the celebrated seat of the late Mr. Johnes. The former part of the road is barren and uninteresting; but, on our first entrance into the grounds, all our past complaints were lost in expressions of admiration. “A philosopher has said,” says a modern Tourist, “that the man, who makes two blades of grass grow, where only one grew before, is greater than the greatest hero. If this be true, Mr. Johnes must rank before all the conquerors of the world, as he has made the barren wilderness around him to smile, and converted the worthless heath into waving woods, luxuriant corn-fields, and pastures.” From October 1795, to April 1801, Mr. Johnes planted more than 2,065,000 trees; besides a great number of acres, that he sowed with acorns. Since this period the plantations have been extended on the same scale with equal spirit; from one to two hundred thousand trees being planted every year. The Mansion is a very elegant piece of architecture, built of Portland stone, and the plan entirely novel, being a mixture of the Moorish and Gothic, with turrets and painted windows. The whole of it indeed does great credit to the architect, Mr. Baldwyn of Bath. It is situated near the banks of the river Ystwith, and beautifully environed by lofty hills, clothed with oak. The interior of the house corresponds in elegance with the exterior.
From the hall we were conducted through a suite of elegant apartments, very judiciously fitted up with paintings, statues, and antiques; but the Library more particularly engaged our notice, containing a choice and valuable collection of books: this octagonal room is built in the form of a dome with a gallery round it, supported by a colonnade of variegated marble pillars of the ancient Doric order, with a circular window at top for the admission of light. We entered through a handsome door, inlaid with a large reflecting mirror: immediately opposite is another door of transparent plate-glass, leading to the conservatory, three hundred feet in length, and containing a number of curious and rare exotics, with a walk down the centre of the building. In fine, the effect of the _tout ensemble_ can better be imagined than described.
Amongst the other things worthy of admiration, a handsome statue, in the library, of Thetis dipping Achilles in the river Styx, more particularly detains attention. We next passed through the Billiard-room, and were conducted to the top of the staircase, to admire two elegant paintings, the subjects taken from Captain Cook’s Voyages: the painter is unknown. Many of the rooms are beautifully furnished with rich Gobelin tapestry.
To give my readers a just conception of the beauties of Havod, I shall beg leave to borrow the elegant description of it, drawn by the pen of Mr. Cumberland.
“Havod is a place in itself so pre-eminently beautiful, that it highly merits a particular description. It stands surrounded with so many noble scenes, diversified with elegance as well as with grandeur; the country on the approach to it is so very wild and uncommon, and the place itself is now so embellished by art, that it will be difficult, I believe, to point out a spot that can be put in competition with it, considered either as the object of the painter’s eye, the poet’s mind, or as a desirable residence for those who, admirers of the beautiful wildness of Nature, love also to inhale the pure air of aspiring mountains, and enjoy that _santo pacé_, as the Italians expressively term it, which arises from solitudes made social by a family circle.
“From the portico it commands a woody, narrow, winding vale; the undulating form of whose ascending, shaggy sides, are richly clothed with various foliage, broken with silver waterfalls, and crowned with climbing sheep-walks, reaching to the clouds.
“Neither are the luxuries of life absent; for on the margin of the Ystwith, where it flows broadest through this delicious vale, we see hot-houses and a conservatory: beneath the rocks a bath; amid the recesses of the woods a flower garden; and, within the building, whose decorations, though rich, are pure and simple, we find a mass of rare and valuable literature, whose pages here seem doubly precious, where meditation finds scope to range unmolested.
“In a word, so many are the delights afforded by the scenery of this place and its vicinity, to a mind imbued with any taste, that the impression on mine was increased, after an interval of ten years from the first visit, employed chiefly in travelling among the Alps, the Apennines, the Sabine Hills, and the Tyrolese; along the shores of the Adriatic, over the Glaciers of Switzerland, and up the Rhine; where, though in search of beauty, I never, I feel, saw any thing so fine—never so many pictures concentred in one spot; so that, warmed by the renewal of my acquaintance with them, I am irresistibly urged to attempt a description of the hitherto almost virgin haunts of these obscure mountains.
“Wales, and its borders, both North and South, abound, at intervals, with fine things: Piercefield has grounds of great magnificence, and wonderfully picturesque beauty. Downton Castle has a delicious woody vale, most tastefully managed; Llangollen is brilliant; the banks of the Conway savagely grand; Barmouth romantically rural; the great Pistill Rhayader is horribly wild; Rhayader Wennol gay, and gloriously irregular,—each of which merits a studied description.
“But at Havod, and its neighbourhood, I find the effects of all in one circle; united with this peculiarity, that the deep dingles, and mighty woody slopes, which, from a different source, conduct the Rhyddol’s never-failing waters from Plynlimmon, and the Fynache, are of an unique character, as mountainous forests, accompanying gigantic size with graceful forms; and taken altogether, I see ‘the sweetest interchange of hill and valley, rivers, woods and plains, and falls, with forests crowned, rocks, dens, and caves,’ insomuch, that it requires little enthusiasm there to feel forcibly with Milton—
‘All things that be send up from earth’s great altar Silent praise!’
“There are four fine walks from the house, chiefly through ways artificially made by the proprietor; all dry, kept clean, and composed of materials found on the spot; which is chiefly a coarse stone, of a greyish cast, friable in many places, and like slate, but oftener consisting of immense masses, that cost the miner, in making some parts of these walks, excessive labour; for there are places where it was necessary to perforate the rock many yards, in order to pass a promontory, that, jutting across the way, denied further access; and to go round which you must have taken a great tour, and made a fatiguing descent. As it is the walks are so conducted, that few are steep; the transitions easy, the returns commodious, and the branches distinct. Neither are they too many, for much is left for future projectors; and if a man be stout enough to range the underwoods, and fastidious enough to reject all trodden paths, he may, almost every where, stroll from the studied line, till he be glad to regain the friendly conduct of the well-known way.
“Yet one must be nice, not to be content at first to visit the best points of view by the general routine; for all that is here done has been to remove obstructions, reduce the materials, and conceal the art; and we are no where presented with attempts to force the untamed streams, or indeed to invent any thing where Nature, the great mistress, has left all art behind.”
Such was the just description of Havod; but this magnificent mansion, with the costly furniture, plate, pictures, and above all to be regretted, the splendid library of scarce and valuable books, was consumed by fire, during the absence of the owner, on the 13th of March, 1807.
All that the most indefatigable industry could accomplish was done by Mr. Johnes, to replace the losses he had sustained; but the Welsh manuscripts, and many other valuable works and specimens of art here destroyed, no labour or money could restore. The actual pecuniary loss suffered by Mr. Johnes, over and above the 20,000_l._ he was insured, amounted to between 50 and 60,000_l._; but, like the destruction of the labours of Lord Mansfield and Dr. Priestley, no estimate can be put on the loss the proprietor and the world experienced, in thus rendering abortive forty years of study, research, and expenditure on literary valuables. Prior to the decease of Mr. Johnes, who did not long survive his loss, the exterior of the building was nearly restored to its former appearance; but the interior arrangement was considerably altered. He likewise again established a most sumptuous collection of books, &c. part of which, the Pesaro library, was on its way from Italy, having been purchased by Mr. Johnes prior to the conflagration: it comprises many very valuable books in the Spanish, French, and particularly the Italian language, rare editions of the classics, and almost all the productions of the Aldine press.
A minute description of the interior of Havod, prior to the fire, is given by Mr. Malkin, which is now particularly interesting. Unfortunately no catalogue of the books and manuscripts was ever taken, Mr. Johnes not having completed his collection.
THE GENIUS OF HAVOD.
Formal slaves of art, avaunt! This is Nature’s secret haunt: The Genius of the landscape, I Guard it, with a jealous eye— Guard it, that no footstep rude Upon her privacy intrude. Here, with mystic maze, her throne Is girt, accessible to none: But to the highly-honour’d few To whom I deign to lend my clue; And chief to him, who in this grove, Devotes his life to share her love: From whom she seeks no charms to hide, For whom she throws her veil aside, Instructing him to spread abroad Scenes for Salvator—or for Claude. Far, oh far hence, let Brown and Eames Zig-zag their walks, and torture streams! But let them not my dells profane, Or violate my Naiad train: Nor let their arrogance invade My meanest Dryad’s secret shade, And with fantastic knots disgrace The native honours of the place— Making the vet’ran oak give way, Some spruce exotic to display: Their petty labours he defy’d, Who Taste and Nature would divide!
ANON.