Burnet, of their being the fragment of a demolifhed world.

In the evening we rode along the fea coaft, which is here very cold. The grandeur of the ocean, corresponding with that of the mountains, formed a majestic and folemn fcene; ideas of immenfity fwelled and exalted our minds at the fight; all leffer objects appeared mean and trifling, fo that we could hardly do justice to the ruins of an old caftle, fituated upon the top of a conical hill, the foot of which is washed by the sea, and which has every feature that can give a romantic appear❤

ance.

Next morning being fair, we ventured to climb up to the top of the mountain, not indeed fo high as Snowdon, which is here called Moel Guidon, that is, the neft of the eagle; but one degree lower than that called Mael Happock, the nest of the hawk; from whence we faw a Phænomenon, new to our eyes, but common in Wales; on the one fide was midnight, on the other bright day. The whole extent of the mountain of Snowdon, on our left hand, was wrapped in clouds, from top to bottom; but on the right the fun fhone most gloriously over the fea-coaft of Carnarvon. The bill we ftood upon was perfectly clear, and the way we came up a pretty easy afcent; but be

fore us was a precipice of many hundred yards,and below, a vale, which though not cultivated, has much favage beauty; the fides were fteep, and fringed with low wood.

There were two little lakes, or rather large pools, that stood in the bottom, from which iffued a rivulet, that serpentined in view for two of three miles, and was a pleafing relief to the eyes.

་

But the mountains of Snowdon, covered with darkness and thick clouds, called to my memory the fall of Mount Sinai, with the laws delivered rom it, and filled my mind with religious awe. LORD LYTTLETON

SECT. LIX.

OF CARNARVON,

AND THE ISLE OF

ANGLESEA.

WHEN I arrived at Carnarvon, I had a very

fine view of the fea, and one of the finest towns I had seen in England or Wales; the old walls of which, with the towers and bulwarks, are al

moft

At

most entire; they are high and ftrongly built. The towers are round, and rather more of the Roman than the Gothic form of architecture. one end they join to the wall of the castle, which is a vaft and noble building, of which the outfide is likewise well preferved, but the infide is demolished. The people here fhow the remains of a chamber, where King Edward II. was born, and received the submission of all the nobility in Wales in his cradle. The castle itself was built by his father, and is indeed a noble work.

་

As we rode from Carnarvon, the country about was foftened into a fcene of the moft pleafing kind, and was rendered more fo by the contrast with that from which we came. We travelled along, the fhore of Menai, an arm of the fea, as broad as the Thames, oppofite to Lord Duncannon's. Our road led us over fine fhady lawns, perfumed fo with honeysuckles, that they were a paradissetto; and, over gentle hills, from whence we had a lovely view of the Menai and the isle of Anglefea, which lies on the oppofite fide of it, and then loft them again in agreeable valleys, like those of Reading, or the Hertfordfhire vales. We enjoyed these feenes for fome miles, till we came-to-a ferry, by which we paffed into Anglefea, and landed at the feat of Sir Nicholas Bayley, which is the pleasanteft,

fpot in the ifland. He has Gotherifed an old houfe with good judgment and tafte. The view from it is charming. He fees the sweet country, through which we had travelled, from Carnarvon to Snowdon above it, which ennobles the prospect; the Menai winds in a most beautiful manner, juft under his windows; his woods fhade the banks of it on each fide, quite down to the water; above which, intermixed with them, are ever-green lawns, which, if helped with a very little art, would, together with his wood, make a garden or park, of the most perfect beauty; but all is yet in a rude and neglected ftate. From thence we went to Baronhill, the seat of Lord Bulkeley, above the town of Beaumaris, in the fame ifland, it has a view of the sea, and coast of Carnarvon, which is indeed very fine, but I think inferior to that of Lord Edgecombe's, with which I have heard it compared. The houfe is a bad one; the gardens are made in a very fine tafte; but upon the whole, I like it much less than Sir N. Bailey's, though the reputation of the former is greater in Wales.

All the rest of the ifle of Anglefea is a naked and unpleasant country, without a tree or hedge to be seen in it, uncultivated ftill, from the obftinacy of the people, in adhering to the ignorance of their forefathers; fo that I am told it does not

produce

produce the tenth part of what the land is capable if improved by the agriculture of England. From Beaumaris we rode over the lands, at low water to Penman Mawr, a high and rocky mountain, the paffage over which must have been very frightful, before they built a wall along the edge of the wood, which fecures you from the danger of falling down the precipice that is below it into the fea but with this guard it is very agreeable, the prospect of the fea and country being very fine.

I never faw any thing that struck me more than the first view of Conway castle, to which we foon came, after paffing this mountain. It was built by Edward the Firft, in much the fame ftyle with that of Carnarvon; but stronger and more regular. The fituation is noble, and it stands upon a rock of confiderable heighth; instead of a ditch, three fides of it are defended by an arm of the fea, and four turrets that rife above the towers, befides two others at one end ftanding below the others, about the middle of the rock that over-hangs the fea. The walls between are battlements, and look very strong; they are, in fome places, fourteen or fifteen feet thick, in none lefs than twelve. The whole together hath the grandeft appearance of any building I ever beheld, especially as the walls of the town, which are built like those of Carnarvon, but with bolder and handsomer towers,