It hath great ftore of chambers finely wrought
That tyme alone to great decay hath brought.

It fhews within by double walls and wayes,
A deep device did first erect the fame;
It makes oure worlde to think on elder dayes
Because one worke was form'd in fuch a frame.
One tower or waull the other answers right,

As though at call each thing fhould please the fight:
The rocke wrought round where every tower doth stand
Set forthe full fine by head, by heart, and hand.

The town and castle of Ruthin appear to have been founded by Reginald Grey, fecond fon to lord Grey de Wilton, to whom Edward I. had given nearly the whole of the vale of Clwyd, as a reward for his active fervices against the Welfh. His pofterity, who received the title of earls of Kent, refided here, till earl Richard, having diffipated his fortune by gambling, fold the whole property to king Henry VII.-From this time the caftle, being unroofed, fell into decay, till, along with large revenues in the vale, it was beftowed by the bounty of queen Elizabeth, on Ambrofe earl of Warwick. By him it was repaired, and again rendered tenable.

During a fair that was holden at Ruthin in the year 1400, the foldiers of Glyndwr fuddenly entered the town. They fet it on fire in various places, plundered the merchants, and again retired in fafety to the mountains.

In the civil wars the castle was retained by the royalist party till February 1645-6: it was then attacked, and, after a fiege of near two months, was furrendered to general Mytton. Colonel Mafon was made governor; but in the fame year it was ordered by the parliament to be dismantled.

CHAP. XVIII.

RUTHIN TO LLANGOLLEN.

The Vale of Crucis.-The Pillar of Elifeg.- Valle Crucis Abbey. Singular Explanation of an Infcription.—Llangollen.― Llangolleri Bridge and Church.--Plás Newydd, the Seat of Lady Eleanor Butler and Mifs Ponfonby.-Caftell Dinas Brân.-Craig Eglwy feg.-Hiftory of Caftell Dinas Brán. Myfanwy Vechan. - Excurfion round the Vale of Llangollen.—Aqueduct near Pont y Cyfyllte.Views.-The Inn at Llangollen.

I LEFT Ruthin early in the morning. The clouds began to collect, and a drizzly rain came on, which lafted without intermiffion till I arrived within four miles of Llangollen. I thus loft feveral probably fine views from the high mountains that form the eastern barrier of the vale of Clwyd, over which the road winds. During the greatest part of this jour ney I was fo enveloped in clouds and mift, that I could not, literally, difcern objects that were twenty yards diftant from me.

VALE OF CRUCIS.

About ten miles from Ruthin I defcended into this, one of the most charmingly fecluded vales that our kingdom can boaft, furrounded by high moun

tains,

tains, and abrupt rocks towering rudely into the fky. The bottoms of these were, in many places, clad with wood and verdure. In this vale are feated the venerable ruins of Llan Egwest, or Valle Crucis abbey; and from the road, at a little distance, the fine gothic weft end, embowered in trees, and backed by the mountain, on whofe fummit ftand the fhattered remains of Caftell Dinas Brân, form a scene finely picturesque. The adjacent precipices were enlivened by the browfing flocks, which were fcattered along their fides, and by

Kites that fwim fublime

In ftill-repeated circles, fcreaming loud,

whilft from below I was entertained with

The cheerful found

Of woodland harmony, that always fills
The merry vale between.

The rugged and woody banks of the Dee, upon my proceeding onward, foon added a fresh interest to the scenery of this beautiful retreat. The vale extends nearly to Llangollen; and at the distance of about a mile, the town, with its church and antique bridge, romantically embofomed in mountains, whofe rugged fummits pierced the clouds, became additional features in the landscape.

PILLAR OF ELISEG.

The vale of Crucis is indebted for its name to this crofs, or pillar, which is to be found in a meadow

VOL. II.

M

near

near the abbey; and juft oppofite to the seco mile-ftone from Llangollen*. This pillar is very ancient. It appears to have been erected upwards of a thousand years ago, in memory of Elifeg (the father of Brochwel Yfcithroc, prince of Powis, who was flain at the battle of Chester in 607), by Concenn, or Congen, his great grandíon. The infcription is not at prefent legible t. The shaft was once above twelve feet long, but having been thrown down and broken fome time during the civil wars, its upper part, only about feven feet in length, was left. After thefe commotions it was fuffered to lie neglected for more than a century. At length, in 1779, Mr. Lloyd of Trevor Hall, the owner of the property on which it now ftands, caufed this part of it to be raised from the rubbish with which it was covered, and placed once again on its pedestal.

VALLE CRUCIS ABBEY,

Or, as it is called by the Welfh, Llan Egweft abbey, is about a quarter of a mile from the pillar of Elifeg. It is a grand and majestic ruin, affording fome elegant fpecimens of the ancient gothic architecture.

*Buck fays the vale took its name from the circumstance of the abbey having poffeffed a piece of the true crofs. This, we are informed, was given to Edward I., who, in return for fo valuable a prefent, granted to the abbey feveral immunities. Buck's Antiquities. Matt. Weftm. 371.

+ Mr. Edward Lhwyd copied it when it was in a more perfect ftate. See Gough's Camden, ii. 582.