Wild Wales: Its People, Language and Scenery

for Saxon-Our Congregation-Po

be obliged, in all he had to say to me, to address me in Welsh, and to whom I should perforce have to reply in that tongue. The good lady had told me that there was a tenant of hers who lived in one of the cottages, which looked into the perllan, who, she believed, would be glad to go with me, and was just the kind of man I was in quest of. The day aft

Welsh, "are you the Cumro

th, sir

e that you k

cannot converse in Saxon, nor unders

u read

th, sir

e you rea

hyr-lan, till I have it nearl

hing else besides t

r, sir, when kind fr

Cumr

Saxon a little but not sufficien

spaper do

sir, Yr

a good ne

r, it is writt

are t

our minist

religion

stic Metho

of the Method

s the true re

g than I have, I would prove to you that the onl

o that; had you all the Cumraeg

e you by

gwehyd

ou earn by

shillings

you

ave,

e earn a

he is a good wife, b

you ch

e thre

earn an

times earns a few pence,

mes walk with me

to walk with you, sir, w

l to walk with one of

f the Lloegrian Church whether he thinks it l

ture to walk with one ano

Jones,

lking with a man of tha

is my brother, sir, and what he said to me a

ke very goo

or the Saxon, others have not. I have no Saxon, sir, my wife has digon iawn

hall we

please

place sha

o the Pont y C

is t

ich carries the Camlas ov

the junction, for that I think is the

discoursed on various subjects, and understood each other tolerably well. I asked if he had been anything besides a weaver. He told

said he; "and I was not sorry to go h

"can earn more than

ntlefolks think. The shepherd bears much cold and wet, sir, and he is very lonely; no society save his sheep and dog. Then, sir, he has no privileges. I mean gospel privileges. He does not look forward to Dydd Sul, as a day of llawenydd, of joy and tri

"that you live with your fam

ave friends, very good friends. A good lady of our congregation sent me this morning h

my congregation are; they are always cutting each other

n to Pen Caer Gybi, which you call

you to th

metimes execute commissions. At Beth Gelert I stayed some time. It was there

was he

e was Jo

fore she

ir; there are plenty of the name of Jones in Wales. The nam

is a clever

a Cumro he is c

a C

is not a Sax

then so ve

llen are Saxons; that is, at carnal things-for at spiritual t

is

ttle way below where you live. He is the clebberest man in Llangollen, sir. He can do everything. He is a great

trode over a deep and narrow valley, at the bottom of which ran the Dee. "This is the Pont y Cysswllt, sir," said my guide; "it's th

ly crossing the canal by a little wooden bridge we came to a village. My guide then said, "If you please, sir, we will return by the old bridge, which leads across the Dee in the bottom of the vale." He then led me by a romantic road to a bridge on the west of the aqueduct, and far below. It seemed very ancient. "This is the old bridge, sir," said my guide; "it was built a hundred years before the Pont y Cysswllt was dreamt of." We now walked to the west, in the direction of Llangollen, along the bank of the river. Presently we arrived where the river, after making a bend, formed a pool. It was shaded by lofty trees, and to all appe

w one who has brought up stones from the bottom, I daresay, of deeper pools than eith

ested, and exceedingly good-humoured. It is true, he had his little skits occasionally at the Church, and showed some marks of hostility to the church cat, more especially when he saw it mounted on my shoulders; for the creature soon began to take liberties, and in less than a week after my arrival at the cottage, generally mounted on my back, w