I NATURALLY begin this little hiſtory with the account of Tre Eden Owain, the place where I firſt made my entrance into this buſy world. The principal houſe in this townſhip, Downing, was built in the year 1627.DOWNING. It certainly had no pretenſions to the Engliſh name of Downing, which doubtleſsly was a corruption from Eden Owain, the Tre or townſhip in which it ſtands. The founder was John Pennant, ſon of Nicholas Pennant, a younger ſon of Hugh Pennant, of Bychton. He married the heireſs of the place, and built a houſe, which was much too large for the eſtate. The ſtones were brought from Nant-y-bi, a dingle oppoſite to the houſe. There is a tradition, that the ſtones were rolled along a platform from the top of the quarry, raiſed on an [2] inclined plane till they reached the building, and there were ele⯑vated as the work increaſed in height, till the whole was finiſhed. The houſe is in form of a Roman H, a mode of architecture very common in Wales at that period. On the front is the pious motto frequent on the Welſh houſes, Heb Dduw heb ddim, a duw a dig [...]n, which ſignifies, ‘Without God there is nothing, with God enough.’ There were only four generations of this branch; Thomas, the laſt, died in 1724, and was buried in Whiteford church, on June 6th of the ſame year. He bequeathed his eſtate to my father, who made the houſe his reſidence; his own father being living, and the houſe much better than our paternal.

M. EARTH P [...].TO pre [...] all diſputes about the place and time of [...] [...]th, be it known that I was born on June 14th, 1726, old ſtyle, in the room now called the Yellow Room; that the celebrated Mrs. C [...]ay [...]n, of S [...]rowſbury, uſhered me into the world, and delivered me to Miſs J [...]y Perry, of Merton, in this pariſh; who to her dying day never failed telling me, ‘Ah, you rogue! I remember you when you had not a ſhirt to your back.’

ANTIENT MODE OF NURSING.I WAS, according to antient cuſtom, put out to nurſe at a neigh⯑boring farm-houſe, called Pentre, covered with thatch, and which at preſent would be deemed a cottage. My nurſe's maiden name was Pennant; and from the time of this great event ſhe re⯑ſumed it, notwithſtanding ſhe had long uſed that of her huſband, John Pierce, a freeholder of above a hundred a year. He and ſhe were fond of this charge, which was ever eſteemed a peculiar favor and honor. The affection and connection is ſtill retained in many parts of Ireland; but what is unfortunate in more civilized Wales, both ſeem at preſent almoſt extinguiſhed.

[3]OF the affection between the foſter-father, foſter-mother,AFFECTION OF [...]OSTER FATHERS, &c. and foſter-brother, the inſtances were frequent. The fidelity of Robin ap Inko, foſter-brother to Jevan ap Vychan, of the houſe of Gwedir, in the reign of Edward IV. was a moſt noted one. In a fatal feud between Jevan and his brother-in-law Rys ap Howel, the latter, expecting a fray, provided a butcher to murder Jevan in the confuſion of the battle, and to him he gave orders in theſe terms. The butcher not being acquainted with Jevan, Ap Rys ſaid, ‘Thou ſhalt ſoone diſcerne him from the reſt by his ſtature, and he will make way before him. There is a foſter-brother of his, one Robin ap Inko, a little fellow, that uſeth to match him behind: take heed of him, for be the encountre never ſoe hot, his eye is ever on his foſter-brother;’ —and ſo it happened. Robin ſuſpected the treachery, and ſeeing the butcher watching his opportunity, came behind him and knocked him on the head in the moment in which he had come behind Jevan, and had aimed one at that of his beloved foſter-brother. The patrimony of his faithful follower was in the pariſh of Llanderfel; and to this day retains the name of Tyddin Inko.

IN thoſe days there was great competition for the honor of foſtering the children of great men.HORRID MURDEN. The parſon of Llanvrothen near Traeth-mawr, had taken a child of Jevan ap Robert to nurſe. This ſo grieved the wife of Rys (her huſband having more land in the pariſh than Jevan had) that ſhe determined to have the poor parſon put to death. A woman was ſent to his houſe, who was kindly taken in. At midnight ſhe ſet up hideous cries, pre⯑tending that the parſon had attempted to raviſh her. This only was a pretence for revenge: the woman had, as the hiſtorian ſays, [4] to her brethren three notable rogues ‘of the damned crew fit for any miſchief, being followers of Howel ap Rys.’ Theſe watched the parſon, and as he went one morning to look to his cattle, cruelly murdered him; the ſequel is told in the Welſh Tour, vol. i. p. 291, and the proper end of the villains.—Theſe extracts are taken from the hiſtory of the Gwedir family, a curious pub⯑lication, for which we are indebted to my true friend the Honor⯑able Daines Barrington.

WHEN I came into poſſeſſion of Downing, by the death of my excellent father David Pennant, the houſe had partly tranſome, partly ſaſhed windows. By conſulting a drawing of it in that ſtate, may be known the changes made by myſelf. With the eſtate, I luckily found a rich mine of lead ore, which enabled me to make the great improvements I did. The grounds were much hurt by a vile road running in front and on one ſide of the houſe, and through the middle of the demeſne, to the hamlet called Gwibnant, GWIBNANT. or the meandring glen. The houſe was planted up almoſt to the door, which gave it a very melancholy gloom. But I ſoon laid open the natural beauties of the place, and by the friendly exchange Sir Roger Moſtyn made with me, enlarged the fine ſcenery of the broken grounds, the woods, and the com⯑mand of water. The walks in the near grounds, the fields, and the deep and darkſome dingles, are at left three miles in extent, and the dingle not ill united with the open grounds, by a ſubter⯑raneous paſſage under the turnpike road. I am not a little flattered by the admiration of thoſe who viſit the place. Mr. Boydel has publiſhed a fine engraving of the houſe among his Welſh feats. I have, as a head-piece to p. 1. of this Work, given it in the prettieſt repreſentation.

[5]MY grounds conſiſt of very extenſive walks along the fine ſwelling lands, beneath the ſhady depth of the glens,GROUNDS. or through the contracted meads which meander quite to the ſhore.VIEWS. The views are various towards the hills, and the antient Pharos on Garreg. Over the channel of the Dee, the Hilbree iſles, on one of which had been a cell of Benedictines, dedicated to our Lady, and dependent on Cheſter and poſſibly the hermitage called Hilburghey, which in the ſecond of Edward III. received ten ſhillings a year from a charity belonging to the caſtle at Cheſter. The dreary woodleſs tract of Wiral, a hundred of Cheſhire, ſtretches eaſtward as far as its capital, chequered with black heaths, and with corn, a bad return to the proſpect of our wooded ſlope; yet formerly was ſo well cloathed as to give oc⯑caſion to this diſtich:

But our ſea view is animated with the ſight of the numerous fleets entering and ſailing out of the port of Liverpool, now ſwelled into a vaſt emporium, from (a century and a half ago) a moſt inſig⯑nificant fiſhing town.

THE houſe itſelf has little to boaſt of.HOUSE. I fortunately found it in⯑capable of being improved into a magnitude exceeding the reve⯑nue of the family. It has a hall which I prefer to the rural impro⯑priety of a paltry veſtibule; a library thirty feet by eighteen; a parlor capable of containing more gueſts than I ever wiſh to ſee at a time, Septem, convivium; novem, convicium! and a ſmoaking-room moſt antiquely furniſhed with antient carvings, and the horns of all the European beaſts of chace. This room is now quite out of uſe as to its original purpoſe. Above ſtairs is a good drawing-room, in times of old called the dining-room, and a tea-room, the ſum of all that are really wanted.—I have Cowley's wiſh realized, a ſmall houſe and large garden!

THE library is filled by a numerous collection of books,LIBRARY. principally of hiſtory, natural hiſtory and claſſics. My own la⯑bors might fill an ordinary book-room; many of them receive conſiderable value from the ſmaller drawings and prints with which they are illuſtrated on the margins, as well as by the larger intermixed with the leaves; among the latter are ſeveral draw⯑ings of uncommon beauty, by that eminent hand Mr. Nicholas Pococke. Theſe relate either to the Ferroe iſles, or to Iceland, others to the diſtant Tibet or Boutan. I was favored, by John Thomas Stanley, eſq with permiſſion to have copies made of the firſt, and by Warren Haſtings, eſq of the laſt. Among my own labors,OUTLINES OF THE GLOBE. I value myſelf on my MS. volumes of THE OUTLINES OF THE GLOBE, in xxii. volumes, folio, on which uncommon expence has been beſtowed, in ornament and illuminations.

[8] HALL.IN the hall are ſome very good pictures by Peter Pa [...]ou, a fine painter of animals and birds: four expreſs the three cli⯑mates, two of them are of the Torrid Zone, one the Temperate, and another the Frigid, all illuſtrated by ſuitable animals and ſcenery: the two laſt have much merit. Beſides, there is a romantic view in Otabeite, and another of part of an iſle of ice near the Antartic Circle, with three different ſpecies of thoſe ſtrange birds the pin⯑guins, and two different ſpecies of the petrels; this was taken from an original ſketch made on the ſpot by Doctor John Rein⯑hold Forſter.

PORTRAITS.THE parlor is filled with numbers of portraits, and other paintings. The greater part of the firſt are reduced from the originals by Moſes Griffith, in a moſt maſterly manner. A few excepted, they are family pictures. A very large one covers the end of the room; the figures are three quarters, and dreſſed in the manner in which Vandyk did his; the man has a remarkable good look, long hair, whiſkers, and ſmall beard: his wife is by him; between them a boy with a baſket of flowers, and by him a gre-hound.DAVID PEN⯑NANT WIFE AND CHILD. Theſe repreſent David Pennant, ſheriff of the county in 1643, his wife Margaret Pennant, of Merton, and their eldeſt ſon Piers. This piece is done in a ſuperior ſtyle, a good imitation of Vandyk. A grand column and a rich carpet is intro⯑duced, a flattery of the artiſt, for in thoſe days we were far from being able to pay for even a performance of that value. It pro⯑bably was done in the troubleſome times, when ſome painter of merit might have wandered about the country, and have been glad of working for his meat and his drink, and ſome trifle for other neceſſaries.

[9]MY great, great grandfather was an officer in the garriſon of Denbigh, when it was beſieged and taken by my maternal great, great grandfather general Mytton. My loyal anceſtor ſuffered there a long impriſonment. Bychton was plundered, and the diſtreſs of the family ſo great, that he was kept from ſtarving by force of conjugal affection; for his wife often walked with a bag of oatmeal from the pariſh of Whiteford to Denbigh to relieve his wants.

NOTWITHSTANDING the zeal of his houſe for the loyal cauſe, it ſuffered very little in reſpect to the general compoſition of delinquents; the Bychton eſtate only paid 42l. 14s. whereas Robert Pennant, of Downing, paid not leſs than 298 l. for his eſtate, which was very far inferior to the other. The occaſion was this: Robert Pennant had the misfortune to have a hot-headed young fellow in his houſe, when a ſmall detachment of the adverſe party, with a cornet at the head, approached the place. He perſuaded the family to reſiſt; the doors were barri⯑cadoed, a muſquet fired, and the cornet wounded. The houſe was ſoon forced, and of courſe plundered; but, ſuch was the mode⯑ration of the party, no carnage enſued, and the only revenge ſeems to have been the diſproportionate fine afterwards levied.

NOTWITHSTANDING his brother Hugh is not delivered down to us on canvas,MAIOR HUGH PENNANT. I cannot omit the mention of him as a brave and faithful officer in the royal army ſerving in North Wales. He attained the rank of major, and particularly diſtinguiſhed himſelf in the iſle of Angleſey. In 1648, that iſland, in imitation of ſeveral of the Engliſh counties, roſe in order to ſet the king at liberty, and to reſtore monarchy to the oppreſſed kingdom. Numbers of royaliſts reſorted to this iſland from different parts [10] of North Wales, and made a general muſter in the middle of the iſland, under the command of Thomas lord Bulkeley. The par⯑lement determined on their reduction, and made Conwy the place of rendezvous. General Mytt [...]n was the commanding of⯑ficer; he landed at Cadnant, where Hugh Pennant was poſted, who, after undergoing a ſevere fire from the rocks and hedges, being left unſupported, was obliged to retreat. Two captains poſted at Porth-aethwy, made ſo ſpeedy a flight, that it was ſaid that one of them at leſt had previouſly received the bribe of 50 l. for his treachery. In the battle which ſoon after was fought near Beaumaris, Hugh Pennant charged the enemy with great ſpirit, and was very near taking that brave officer colonel Lo⯑thian priſoner. Some others of the loyal officers conducted themſelves with ſpirit; but, in general, the iſlanders are allowed by their own hiſtorian, a ſchoolmaſter of Beaumaris, to have be⯑haved very ill. An Angleſey captain was directed to keep the church: he poſted his men in it, locked them ſafely up, and then ran away with the key in his pocket. The hiſtorian tells us, that he was called Captain Church to his dying day. They certainly had great valor at diſtant danger. As ſoon as the enemy appeared march⯑ing over Penmaen-mawr, at leſt four miles from Beaumaris, the Angleſey people began to buſtle; drums beat, trumpets ſounded, and great vollies of ſmall ſhot and great were diſcharged; at which the enemy, ſays the ſage pedagogue, took little or no no⯑tice. Major Pennant was probably taken in Beaumaris caſtle, with the royal army, to which place it had retired after the de⯑feat. As ſoon as he obtained his liberty he reſided at Bryn-ſhone, in the pariſh of Yſkivi [...]g, where he died on March 10th, 1669, and was interred at Whiteford.

[11]He was married to Margaret Aungier, baroneſs of Longford, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Cave, of Slimford, in the county of Northampton, knight. This lady had four huſbands; ſhe paid our country the compliment of beginning and ending with a Welſhman: her firſt was Sir John Wynne, of Gwedir, junior, they lived unhappily together, which ſent him on his tra⯑vels into Italy, where he died at Lucca. She then took one of the Mileſian race, for ſhe married Sir Francis Aungier, maſter of the rolls in Ireland, afterwards created baron of Longford. Thirdly, ſhe gave her hand to an Engliſhman, Sir Thomas Wenman, of Oxfordſhire; and, finally, ſhe reſigned her antiquated charms to our valiant major, who in the year 1656 depoſited her with his anceſtors, in the church at Whiteford.

THE next is a ſingle figure, a half-length of Pyers, PYERS PENNANT. ſon of David Pennant, with long hair, a long laced cravat, and in a ſingular gown. His wife is in another frame, a handſome woman, with her neck naked, and long treſſes flowing on each ſide. She was one of the celebrated ſeven ſiſters of the houſe of Gwyſanney, near to Mold, who were all married about the ſame time, and all became widows, and of them only two of them renewed the nuptial vow. Theſe ladies being much talked of, even to this day, I add their names, and thoſe of their ſpouſes. Let me premiſe that they were daughters of Robert Davies, by Anne, eldeſt daughter of Sir Peter Mutton, knight, chief juſtice of North Wales, and owner of Llanerch, in the vale of Clwyd.

• Anne, their firſt daughter, married John Thelwall, of Plaſcoch.
• Katherine, Pyers Pe [...]ant, of Bychton.
• [12] Dorothy, married George Hope, of Doddleſton.
• Elizabeth, Thomas Humphries, of Boddlewiddan.
• Margaret, John Holland, of Tyrddan.
• Ellen, George Wynne, of Leeſwood.
• Jane, Thomas Edwards, of Rhual.

Pyers Pennant, who occaſioned this notice, died in 1623.

I CANNOT well aſcertain the next portrait, which is of a hand⯑ſome young man, in long hair, flowing and curling gracefully on his ſhoulders. He is dreſſed in the military dreſs of the time, a laced turn-over, and an elegant buff coat, much ornamented, and a muſket with an aukward old lock in his hand, and a ſword by his ſide. I ſuſpect him to have been a ſon of Pyers Pennant, who was ſlain the ill-conducted expedition to the iſle Rhi, under the duke of Buckingham, in 1627. He probably was in the company of his neighbor captain Richard Moſtyn, a younger ſon of Moſtyn, who fell in the ſame ſpot.

PETER PENNANT.THE portrait of my grandfather, Peter Pennant, repreſents, what I well remember him to have been, a fine perſon, and of a jovial complexion. He is dreſſed in a white tye-wig, and a red coat. On the death of his firſt wife, Catherine, ſecond daughter of the Wynnes, of Glynne, in Merionethſhire, he went into the army in the reign of Queen Anne, and ſerved at the ſiege of Bruſſels. Diſguſted with his colonel, Sir Thomas Prendergaſt, after demanding ſatisfaction, which Sir Thomas declined, he re⯑ſigned, and paſſed the remainder of his days at Bychton; where he lived in great hoſpitality, and died in October 1736, aged 72.

[13]HIS uncle, John Pennant, in a full brown wig,JOHN PENNANT, OF CHELSEA. and brown g [...]wn. By his jolly rubicund face he appears to have been a tho [...]ough bon-vivant, yet with much the air of the gentleman. The original, a well painted picture, was given to us by John Wynne, of Coperleney, in this neighborhood, who, by the in⯑ſcription on the back, ſeems to have taken as much pride in being thought the friend of John Pennant, as Sir Fulke Grevil did in being the friend of Sir Philip Sydney. Many a bottle had they emptied during their thirty years friendſhip. He reſided at Chelſea, where my father often viſited him during the boyiſh holydays. My father told me he was frequently taken by him to the coffee-houſe, where he uſed to ſee poor Richard Cromwell, a little and very neat old man, with a moſt placid countenance, the effect of his innocent and unambitious life.

I IMAGINE that the coffee-houſe was Don Saltero's, to which he was a benefactor, and has the honor of having his name in⯑ſerted in the catalogue. I have, when a boy, ſeen his gift to the great Saltero, which was a lignified hog. I fear that this matchleſs curioſity is loſt, at left it is omitted in the laſt, or 47th edition of the catalogue.—What author of us can flatter himſelf with delivering his works down to poſterity, in im⯑preſſions ſo numerous as the labors of Don Saltero?

John Pennant died in 1709, aged 69, and was interred in the church-yard of Chelſea, and had a ſmall monument to his memo⯑ry erected againſt the wall of the church, by his wife, daughter to Mr. Parry, of Merton, a houſe and ſmall eſtate which we now poſſeſs, above a mile from Downing. Her affection pro⯑vided [14] the following epitaph, which I give more on that account, than for the excellency of the compoſition.

His arms are thoſe of the Pennants. Her's thoſe of Edwyn, lord of Tegengle.

ROBERT PENNANT.ANOTHER of my kindred lies in Pancras church-yard. I may be excuſed for mentioning him, as his epitaph is far from inele⯑gant. This youth, Robert Pennant, was ſon to Pierce Pennant by Katherine, one of the ſeven ſiſters of Gwyſanney, and was ſnatched away at the age of twenty-four, in the year 1639. He was at⯑tended to his grave, as was then the cuſtom, by a moſt numerous ſet of friends, among whom were the two biſhops, and numbers of [15] the firſt gentry of North Wales, who happened then to be in town. Thus is delivered his amiable character:

MY worthy father was painted at the age of fifteen,MY FATHER. moſt aukwardly in a long flowing wig. He was brought up at Thiſtleworth, under Creech, the tranſlator of Lucretius; after that his education was neglected, but he was abnormis ſapiens, and of the beſt of hearts. He paſſed a uſeful and worthy life to a good old age; and departed, with every expreſſion of piety and reſigna⯑tion, on January 1ſt, 1763, aged 78.

MY good and religious mother is painted in oil,MOTHER. over the chimney-piece; ſhe is dreſſed in blue, her neck naked, her treſſes auburn, long, and flowing. The painter was Mr. Fellowes, an artiſt of ſome merit, who lived at Wrexham and Cheſter. She was called a beauty, 'in ſpite of her teeth,' which were not good. She was third daughter of Richard Mytton, Eſq of Halſton (ſee Tour in Wales, i. p. 246) one of fifteen children, by Arabella, eldeſt daughter of Sir John [16] Houblon, lord mayor of London in 1695, lord of the admiralty in the time of King William, and the firſt governor of the bank of England. See more of his hiſtory in my account of London, p. 455. I have often been aſſured by ſome of my aunts, that (with their father and mother) they had often danced to the number of eight couple. My mother was born September 6th, 1689, and married to my father December 24th, 1724. The courtſhip was carried on at Wynn-ſtay, and the nuptials per⯑formed at the neighboring church of Rhiwabon. That good man Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, in a frolic, jumped on the box, and drove the bride and bridegroom to the church-door. This excellent woman died in London of the ſmall-pox, in the year 1744. She, near to her dying moment, called me to the bed-ſide, and preſented me with her ſilver etwee, and looked as if ſhe could have delivered her tender adieu in the Auguſtan ſtyle (which I engraved on it) VIVE MEMOR AMORIS NOSTRI, ET VALE!

ELIZABETH PENNANT.THE portrait of my venerable aunt, Elizabeth Pennant, was drawn in water colors, in her old age, by Moſes Griffith, and does him much credit. It is a very ſtrong likeneſs, dreſſed in the old faſhion, with a long white handkerchief flung careleſsly over her cap; the countenance ſhews the goodneſs of her heart. I ſpeak gratefully of a friend, who doated on me and mine. I loſt this valuable woman October 2d, 1775; who, with all the con⯑ſciouſneſs of a well-ſpent life, quitted the earthly ſtage with the utmoſt tranquillity.

JOHN MYTTON.MY reſpected uncle John Mytton, of Halſton, born Septem⯑ber 11th, 1690, cloſes the liſt of relations. His countenance in⯑dicates [17] the ſweet diſpoſition he poſſeſſed, and [...]ll his features are amiable. His dreſs, a grey tye-wig, a blue coat, with a ſcarlet mantle flung over one arm. He was bred a merchant, and ſpent much of his time in Portugal; but ſucceeding his eldeſt brother Richard in his eſtate, retired to Halſton, where he ended his benevolent life.

I MUST not forget a ſhade of my affectionate uncle James Mytton, fifth ſon of the ſame houſe, and brother to the laſt,JAMES MYTTON. the kind friend of my youth, with whom I lived long, and ſtrove, to the beſt of my power, to reap from him every advantage that his good ſenſe, good heart, and poliſhed manners, wiſhed to inſtil into my ſuſceptible mind.

I CONCLUDE the accounts of the portraits of our family with my own, in a Vandyk dreſs, by Mr. Willes, an ingenious artiſt, who afterwards quitted the pencil and obtained holy orders, to which he did no diſcredit.

Moſes Griffith furniſhed this room with other reduced por⯑traits. That from the fine picture of Sir Roger Moſtyn, knight,SIR ROGER MOSTYN, KNT. (of whom more will be ſaid when I arrive at the houſe) is an admirable performance.

SUPERIOR even to the portrait of Sir Roger Moſtyn is that of Humphrey Lloyd, taken from the original, on board,HUMPHREY LLOYD. in poſſeſſion of the Reverend John Lloyd, of Aſton, in Shropſhire. This illuſ⯑trious perſon was ſenator, philoſopher, hiſtorian, and phyſician. He repreſented the town of Denbigh, in 1653. He is celebrated alſo as an accompliſhed gentleman, eloquent, and an excellent rhetorician. Camden ſpeaks of his great ſkill in the antiquities of his country. He married a ſiſter of John lord Lumley: and [18] formed his brother-in-law's library, which now is the moſt va⯑luable part in the Britiſh Muſeum. He died in 1658, aged 41. He is painted with ſhort reddiſh hair, rounded beard, and whiſkers, a ſhort quilled ruff, black dreſs, and a triple gold chain; on one ſide of him are his arms and creſt; beneath is this motto: ‘HWY PERY KLOD NA GOLYD.’ ‘Fame is more laſting than wealth.’ On the other ſide is the following inſcription: ‘Aetatis 34. A. D [...]i. 1561. Vera effigies incliti Artium Profeſſoris, earumque dumni Humfredi Lloyd, Cambro-Britanni et Denbighenſis, ortus antiqu [...] R [...]ſ [...]ndalorum familiâ; qui floruit temporibus Mariae et Elizabeth [...] beata memoria regin. Obiitq. An. D [...]i. 156 [...], et cum patribus in eccleſia parochiali de Denbigh ſepultus.’ He was buried at Whichchurch, near Denbigh, with a very neat monument. He is repreſented kneeling at an altar beneath a range of ſmall arches, and dreſſed in a Spaniſh habit.

SIR JOHN WYNNE, JUNIOR, KNIGHT.THIS is over the chimney-piece; above him is the portrait of Sir John Wynne, knight, who died on his travels at Lucca, in 1614. (It is taken from the original at Wynn-ſtay.) He was buried there, in the pariſh of St. John's. I have ſeen numbers of his letters, which ſhew him to have been a moſt obſervant man. He was eldeſt ſon of Sir John Wynne, of Gwedir. He is in black, has a large ruff, laced turn-over, and others at his wriſts, a white girdle ſtuck with points, and a white belt paſſing over his ſhoulders and breaſt. His countenance is good, his hair ſhort and dark, his beard ſmall and peaked.

[19]THE next is oppoſite to the other,SIR RICHARD WYNNE, BART. a head of Sir Richard Wynne, baronet, grandſon to old Sir John, and laſt of the male line.

ABOVE Sir John Wynne is a very fine head of Charles I. by Vandyk. He is elegantly dreſſed in a red jacket,CHARLES I. ſlaſhed and laced. This was purchaſed at the ſale of the late colonel Nor⯑ton, of Southwick, in Hampſhire, by my worthy friend the late Puſey Brooke, eſq and gratefully preſented by him to the late Mr. Edwards, of Brynford, to whom he lay under obligations. It was on his death preſented to my father, and decreed to re⯑main an heir-lome in the family.

OPPOSITE to Charles I. is another Charles, HIS GREAT GRANDSON. great grandſon to the unfortunate monarch. It is a head in oil-colors, after the original by Huſſey. He was a man uncommonly handſome: his fine brown hair is tied behind, and curled on the ſides; his body and arms are clad in armor. In the field he certainly took too great care of his perſon, but I believe the armor to have been the painter's choice. His highneſs had given him⯑ſelf the two orders, for both the blue and the green ribbon grace his ſhoulders.

THIS picture was originally the property of the late Sir William Meredith, baronet. He ſuddenly veered from the Stuart to the Brunſwick line; and thinking it unſafe to have a Stuart, even in canvas, preſented it to my very worthy mother-in-law, Elizabeth Falconer, a true votary of exiled royalty. On her death, the choice of any of her perſonality having been, in the moſt friendly manner, offered by her ſon the Rev. James Falconer, D. D. I fixed on this. The period of Jacobitiſm was over; but I re⯑member [20] the time in which I might have been ſtruck out of the commiſſion for having in my poſſeſſion even the ſhadow of diſaffection.

ANSON.ANSON, the perſevering ANSON, graces the lower end of the room: a head painted when he was a captain, before the year 1742, when he began his celebrated voyage. This was the bequeſt of my uncle James Mytton, who well knew the reſpect I had to the two illuſtrious brothers of Shugborough. Lord ANSON was for⯑tunate, but his good fortune was the reſult of merit, not of chance. During his naval adminiſtration, and during that more arduous one under John earl of SANDWICH, the commerce of BRITAIN in every part was uninterrupted! our colonies protected! our acquiſitions ſecured! and, in the latter war, when we had all the world to combat, our ſquadrons were every where! The ſuperior genius of the man diſpoſed our fleets ſo as to gain all thoſe advantages, without neglecting, without weakening the domeſtic ſafety of BRITAIN, which muſt ever acknowlege his ſalutary ſtrength of mind, and bury his foibles in oblivion. His blemiſhes were thoſe of the private man: his high qualities, public benefits. In his active days ‘No navies yawn'd for orders on the main.’

THE next is a ſmall half-length on copper of Saint Charles Bor⯑romeo, praying before a crucifix.SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO. That illuſtrious prelate was an ornament to his church. He is repreſented in his car⯑dinal's dreſs, with a wan and meagre countenance, the effects of his ſincere auſterities. Thoſe alone ought not to have given him a place in the kalendar: his genuine piety, his benevolence, his great deeds of charity, furniſhed him with the fulleſt clame. Add to this, his courage in facing the peſtilence which raged in Milan, his native city, in all its horrors. He adminiſtered to the diſtreſſed every comfort, ſpiritual and temporal. Like ‘Mar⯑ſeilles's good biſhop,’ he eſcaped, and received his heavenly re⯑ward November 3d, 1584.

Or unknown portraits I have two. One is of an officer,UNKNOWN POR⯑TRAITS. I think by de Gelder, a pupil of Rembrandt's. It is much in the ſtyle of his maſter. The figure is ſtanding, with a good military coun⯑tenance. In one hand is a long ſword, the point reſting on the floor; on his head is a hat and feathers; his body is armed to the waiſt; below are long ſkirts of buff; his helmet is on a barrel, the colors-furled, and reſts againſt the wall; his ſhield and war-ſaddle near them. De Gelder was born in 1645, and died in 1727.

[22]THE other is of a Low Country ſoldier; a ſmall full length; a moſt graceful figure of a young man leaning on a chair, with an emptied glaſs in one hand, and on the floor a flagon, and near is his white hat and feathers; his hair long; he is in a buff coat, a broad leathern belt, with a cloak flung careleſsly over one arm; he has vaſt boots, and a long ſword hanging down from his ſide.

A SMALL, but neat inſide of a Flemiſh church; and a fine painting of a white grous, hung by one foot from a tree, with ſome plants near the foot. Theſe are all the paintings I can boaſt of. The laſt is by Ryſbrack, a painter born at Antwerp about the middle of the laſt century.

I MAY conclude with a very neat drawing by Moſes Griffith, of the antient gardens of Llanerch, in the Italian taſte of the middle of the laſt century, made by Mr. Mutton Davies, after his return from Italy; they were fine (in that ſtyle), decorated with water⯑works, ſtatues, dials, &c. &c. emitting water, to the aſtoniſhment of the ſpectators. The original of the drawing is from an old large picture in my poſſeſſion.

CABINET OF FOSSILS. Downing may boaſt of a good and numerous collection of foſſils and minerals, partly collected by myſelf, partly by my ſon in his extenſive travels; many of the ſpecimens are elegant, and moſt of them inſtructive.

TYDDI [...] UCHA'.ABOVE a mile from Downing is Tyddyn Ucha', a farm-houſe belonging to our family. In the laſt century it was inhabited by my grandfather, during the life-time of his father. My uncle John Pennant, and two of my aunts, were born there. I have often heard it ſaid, with pride, that once three baronets were [23] entertained there by the hoſpitable owner. I vehemently ſuſpect, from the ſize of the houſe, that at leſt two of them muſt have ſlept together.

MY father has often told me a ridiculous ſtory of the effect of a jolly evening paſſed there by ſome of the convivial neigh⯑bors. They had made very free with ſome ale which had been brewed with malt made of ſoul barley, unfortunately mixed with the ſeeds of certain plant, which brought on a temporary blind⯑neſs. The gueſts had not gone far before the ſymptoms ſeized them, and they were led back to their hoſt, who was in the ſame condition. They were ſuddenly alarmed with a violent ſcream in a female voice. It ſeems that the butlereſs, or female butler, had, in her repeated viſits to the cellar, ſipped too plentifully of the cwrw, and, terrified with the effect, betrayed herſelf by giv⯑ing unguardedly full vent to her fears.

IN thoſe days the neighbors were much addicted to terming, TERMING. i. e. brewing a barrel of ale at ſome favorite ale-houſe, and ſtay⯑ing there till it was all drunk out. They never went to bed, even ſhould the term laſt a week; they either ſlept in their chairs or on the floor, as it happened, then awoke and reſumed their jollity. At length, when the barrel was exhauſted, they reeled away, and the hero of this Bacchanalian rout always carried the ſpiggot in triumph. Courſing was very frequently the occaſion of theſe terms; each gentleman brought his gre-hound, and often made matches, more for the glory of producing the beſt dog, than for the value of the bet.

AT half a mile diſtance, ſouth of this houſe, ſtands Merton, MERTON ABBOT. in the townſhip of Merton Uwch Glan; I gave it the addition of [24] Abbot, to diſtinguiſh it from the many others of the ſame name. It was built in the year 1572, and for the time was a tolerable houſe. This and the Holywell eſtate was conveyed into our family by the marriage of David Pennat with Katherine Pennant, daughter and ſole heireſs of John Pennant, of Holywell, and Mary, daughter of Thomas ap Thomas ap Edward, of Merton. John was fourth in deſcent from Nicholas Pennant, laſt abbot of Baſingwerk, and ſon of Thomas ap David, &c. &c. his predeceſſor in the abbotſhip. David Pennant, who made this valuable acquiſition, died in 1666; Katherine ſurvived him till the year 1700. This was the only marriage that added much to our eſtate ſince the time of Madoc ap Thomas ap Meiiir, who ſat down at Bychton with the heireſs of Philip O' Phicdan, hereafter to be mentioned.

THE two Mertons, Uwch Glan and Is Glan, are adjacent town⯑ſhips. They were, at the time of compiling the Doomſday Book, undivided, and known by the Saxon name of Meretone, or the townſhip bordering over the ſea.

COMPLAINTS OF TEGENGL.THE noblemen of Tegengl drew up a memorial, which they preſented to John Peckham, archbiſhop of Canterbury, containing, among numbers of other grievances, the wrong done to the men of Merton. The archbiſhop (whom in 1281 came down on the chriſtian deſign of reconciling the differences between Edward I. and Llewelyn) ſeemed to pity their ſufferings; but it it not pro⯑bable that the king paid any attention to their repreſentations, as he was then in full march againſt our gallant countrymen, de⯑termined to make an effectual conqueſt of an enemy who gave him ſo much ſerious diſturbance.

[25]ABOVE three hundred yards from my houſe,DOWNING UCHA'. on the oppoſite ſide of a dingle, ſtands another Downing, the ſeat of my worthy neighbor and friend Thomas Thomas, eſq His good father came into poſſeſſion of it about the year 1749, by marriage with Miſs Mary Lloyd, heireſs of the place, and deſcended from Edwyn, prince or lord of Tegengl. His Llys or palace was near Northop. My much-lamented friend the Reverend John Lloyd, of Caerwys, was of opinion that the fat figure on one of the tomb-ſtones in Northop church, repreſented this chieftain.

MR. Thomas was of Llechweddgarth in Montgomeryſhire. CRUEL FE [...]D [...]. (See Tour in Wales, ii. 349) deſcended from Brochwel Yſcythrog, prince of Powis, who bore ſable three nags heads eraſed argent. Before Mr. Thomas's arrival, a fierce feud raged between the two houſes, as uſual in days of yore; which, on his appearance, was changed into laſting peace. I cannot but mention a cruel revenge which the Montagues uſed to take on their neighbor Capulet, by the advantage of a ſtream which ran through their grounds in its way to our kitchen, where it was applied to the purpoſe of a jack for the turning of a ſpit. How often has that important engine been ſtopped before it had performed half its evolutions! our poor Capulet ſwearing, lady crying, Cogeſs fuming, and nurſe ſcreaming! But

IN the footway to Bychton is the wood,WHITEFORD WOOD. the Sylva mentioned in the Doomſday Book. At the time of that compilation it was [26] valued at 20 s. only. Poſſibly the value did not increaſe greatly in the beginning of the ſixteenth century, when my anceſtor, Hugh Pennant of Bychton (eighteenth in deſcent from their common ſtock) married Jonet, daughter of Richard ap Howel, of Moſtyn, who led his troops to Boſworth Field. Tradition ſays, that (money being wondrous ſcarce in thoſe days) he was offered this wood as a portion with the lady; which our family rejected, as of no value in a country of foreſts. I cannot eſtimate the thouſands it would have been worth at preſent, or in courſe of time.

A LLYS.IN this wood are the remains of ſome antient Llys, or palace, as my friend, the late antiquary of Cherwys, uſed to maintain. I can only ſay, that to judge of the foundations, our palaces in thoſe days were not very ſplendid.

LINE OF TUDOR TREVOR.THE line of Tudor Trevor, with all its branches, is ſo fre⯑quently ſpoken of, that I ſhall here continue his deſcent. He was ſon of Y [...]ger ap Cadvarch, earl of Hereford, in right of his wife Rhiengar, daughter and heir of Llwdocea ap Karadoc Vreichvras, or the earl of Hereford, grandſon to the ſaid Karadoc, and great-grandſon to Karadoc Vreichvras, earl of Hereford and Marchiogen, in the time of prince Arthur, and who had beſides the honor of being one of the knights of the rou [...] [...]ble. Tudor married Angbarad, daughter to Howel Dda, prince of Wales, renowned for his wiſe laws, who quitted his government and retired to Rome, and there died in 948, whoſe death was ſore bewailed of all men, ‘for he was a prince that loved peace and good order, and that feared God.’ I am ſorry to deprive our anceſtor of his title of earl: the Welſh had none ſuch among them. Our great [27] men had that of Arglwydd or Lord, and the chief or monarch that of T'wiſog or Prince. Tudor had in right of his mother immenſe poſſeſſions in Herefordſhire, and in all that country, then called Ferlys, which lies between the Wye and the Severn. He was alſo lord of Whittington, in Shropſhire (See Tour in Wales, i. p. 250.) and made that caſtle his reſidence. Let me obſerve that many of his eſtates, being in the marches of Wales, he was called of the Tribe of March, to diſtinguiſh him from the other tribes.

THE families deſcended from this chieftain were exceedingly numerous, but thoſe ſtill exiſting in the male line are only the following: Thomas Trevor Hampden viſcount Hampden, Richard Pennant Lord Penrhyn, Sir Roger Moſtyn, and the Moſtyns of Bryngwyn, of Segrwyd, branches of his family, and Sir Pyers Moſtyn, Eytons of Eyton, Wynnes of Gwerninvawr, Jones's, of Llwynon, and Jeffries's, of Acton, exiſting in my friend the Rev. Dr. Jeffries, reſidentiary of St. Paul's, and worthy Rector of Whiteford, and the Pennants of Bychton.

ADJACENT to this wood is my paternal ſeat,BYCHTON. I may ſay the primaeval ſeat of our family. The date, on a piece of wood over an added window, is 1572. This gives an idea of the houſe of a gentleman of middling eſtate in thoſe days. There was a much more antient date on a beam in the barn, which was inadver⯑tently deſtroyed when I new built it. I lived at this ſeat in 1761 and 1762; at that time I recollect buying of the tenant, who with great civility quitted it to me, his ſtock of wheat at 2 s. the hobbet, conſiſting of two meaſures, of forty-one quarts each.

[28]LET me contraſt this to a year of ſcarcity in our country, that of 1637, when I find, by a diary kept by a Peter Roberts, of St. Aſaph, that in the ſame year wheat was ſold at 21 s. the hobbet, rye at 15 s. and vetches at 11 s. Change this into the preſent value of ſilver, the hobbet of wheat at this time would be equal to 29 s. of barley to 20 s. 8½ d. and vetches to 15 s. 2¼d. —a calculation for which I am indebted to the ingenuity of my good aſſiſtant, the Rev. Mr. Henry Parry, of Holywell.

SUMMER-HOUSE.VERY near to the houſe ſtood a ſummer-houſe, (a building very frequent near the ſeats of Welſh gentry) with a cellar be⯑neath. Theſe were uſed as retreats for the jovial owners and their friends, to enjoy, remote from the fair, their toaſts and noiſy merriment. Mine was ſo near to ruin, that I was obliged to pull it down. I remember oaks of a vaſt ſize growing near to the houſe. This, and I may ſay the other lower parts of the pariſh, are finely wooded with that noble ſpecies of tree, which grows ſpontaneouſly: was this part deſerted, it would relapſe into its original ſtate, and become an impenetrable foreſt.

MADOC AP MEI⯑LER.NOW let the whole Welſhman ariſe in me! Let me relate how Madoc ap Meiler (ſurnames were not as yet) ap Thomas ap Owen ap Blydden ap Tudor ap Rhys Sais ap Edneſyd ap Llowarch Ga [...] ap Llyddocca, fil. primogen. TUDOR TREVOR, living A.D. 924. (miſcalled) earl of Hereford, cotemporary with the great king Athelſtan, and the greater Edwal Voel, prince of Wales, did take lawful poſſeſſion of Alice, daughter and heir of Philip o Phicdan, by Margaret, daughter and heir of Dafydd ap Ririd, &c. &c. of Penley in Maelwr. This Philip o Phicdan was ſon (See Har⯑lcian Library, N^o 1792.) to Philip ap Yſwittan Wyddel, of the [29] houſe of Dungannon, in Ireland, one of the Iriſh cavaliers who followed Gryffydd ap Conan out of that iſland, to aſſiſt him to re⯑gain the throne of his anceſtors, about the year 1077, uſurped by Trahaern ap Caradog.

THE great and deciſive victory on the mountains of Carno, in the county of Montgomery, in the ſame year, was owing to the valor of Philip. The uſurper was defeated and ſlain, after the bloodieſt conteſt in our annals. Gryffydd was reinſtated in his lawful dominions, and reigned with great dignity during fifty-ſeven years. He was not ungrateful to his Mileſian general; he beſtowed on him great poſſeſſions in his new-recovered domi⯑nions ^*, of which one of his ſons inherited Bychton. It remained in the male line only one generation after Yſwittan, as we have above ſaid. If we reckon thirty years to a generation, the match between Madoc ap Meiler and Alice muſt have taken place very early in the next century, if not in the ſame. This gives us a pri⯑ority of landed poſſeſſion in the pariſh of Whiteford to any other freeholder: Madoc being only tenth in deſcent from Tudor Trevor.

THIS my anceſtor Madoc probably lived alſo by the ſword, for I cannot with any certainty prove that before this time he had any landed property. I preſume he was content with his acqui⯑ſition of the fair Alice, and the Bychton eſtate (not Putecaine, as the barbarous Normans made it in the Doomſday Book) at which period (Widfor, i. e. Whiteford) was terra unius carucae, et ibi erat cum duobus villanis et XII. inter ſervos, et an⯑cilla ibi piſcaria, and Sylva, or the wood above mentioned. But I fear we had been long before robbed of the wood at leſt, and [30] poſſibly of our piſcaria, &c. either by our own countrymen or the tyrant Saxons. Madoc ſat down quietly on his lands; his offspring ſeem to have been much reſpected, for his ſon Jerwerth married the daughters of two princes; his firſt wife was daughter of Owen, lord of Tegangl, and his ſecond the daughter of the lord of Allington and Ruthenland. We went on begetting ſons and daugh⯑ters for a long ſpace. My ſon may boaſt of being ſixteenth in deſcent from the great Madoc, or twenty-fifth from Tudor Trevor; where, for brevity ſake, I take up the pedegree, otherwiſe I might reach the renowned K [...]rda Wlodig, after paſſing through five moſt celebrated deſcents.

ARMS. Madoc aſſumed the arms of Yſwi [...]tan Wyddel, his wife's grand⯑father, viz. ‘Fyelde ſilver three barres wavey azure, on the mydle barr three ſhieldrakes of the fyrſte,’ and for his next coat, by the name Philip Phichdan, 'three boars in palle ſilver;' theſe are ſo defined, and placed quarterly by that able genealogiſt John Charles Brooke, eſq Somerſet herald, whoſe untimely end I find daily reaſon to deplore. The three boars were the arms of Yona [...] ap Gr [...]wy, of Penley in Ma [...]wr hundred, in the county of Flint. My father had ſome ſmall poſſeſſions in that country, which he ſold to improve our eſtate nearer home. Thoſe pro⯑bably were derived from Philip Phicdan, and devolved to Madoc on his marriage with his daughter Alice.

THE family aſſumed afterwards their proper arms, thoſe of Tudor Trevor. In the year 1580, a patent for a creſt, the an⯑telope's head moſt ſtrangely disfigured with heraldic liberty, was granted to Pyers Pennant, one of the four gentlemen-uſhers to Queen Elizabeth, and to the poſterity of his father Hugh Pennant. In this patent, which I have in high preſervation, the firſt coat is that of the Trevors, ‘the fyelde party par bend, ſiniſter ermen, and ermyne, a lion rampant goulde, langued and armed gules.’ The two next are as deſcribed above, and the fourth by the name of Gruffydd Lloyd, ‘the fyelde azure three flower-de-luces of the fyelde:’ and ſuch is the dictum of Robert Cooke, alias Clarentieux, ROV D'ARMES, 1580.

THE Moſtyns of Moſtyn bear as their creſt, a lion rampant.

THE Trevors, who were the Pen-cenedl, or head of the whole line, had for their creſt the wivern or dragon on a cap of dignity. The preſent Lord Hampden is its true Pen-cenedl; but by heraldic rules, on the deſcent of the Hampden eſtate to his lordſhip, from the alliance of his anceſtor Sir John Trevor with the Hampdens, the talbot, the creſt of that family, ſuperſedes the antient dragon.

THE dragon was worn as a cogni [...]ance by all our princes, particularly by Cadwaledr, who died in 688. It was adopted by Henry VII. who clamed deſcent from him, and wore it in he battle of Boſworth. It took its origin from the legend of Uther Pen-dragon, father of king Arthur, who is ſaid to have received [32] the addition of Pen-dragon, from his wearing that imaginary ani⯑mal on his helmet.

OUR bards united with the poet the office of herald. At firſt our pedegrees were preſerved by oral communication; after⯑wards committed to writing, and preſerved in the houſes of our great men. The heralds office is at preſent a great repoſitory of theſe kinds of treaſure.

BY the firſt we are aſſured of many other illuſtrious deſcents from princes' anceſtors to our Tudor Trevor; from the princes of Powis; from Rywalbon Conwyn, (who, with his brother Kynric, were joint princes of North Wales;) from even Roderic the Great, and from Cadwaladr; and finally from Vortigern, the un⯑fortunate king of the Britons, who fled from the rage of his ſubjects, for his invitation of the Saxons into Britain, and died in⯑gloriouſly about the year 465, in the darkſome Nant y Gwrtheyrn, in the county of Caernarvon ^*.

THE Engliſh heralds attempt to add fame to our race, by telling us that the preſent Sir Roger Moſtyn is nineteenth in de⯑ſcent from the Conqueror, from John of Gaunt, from Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, father to Edward IV. I leave Arthur Collins, (vol. iii. p. 129, 131) to adduce the proofs. Why will my ingenious countrywoman, after admitting theſe honors ^†, deny to us BIRTH, by diſtinction fine as ether, and as imper⯑ceptible, allowing us only the advantage of family! And, not⯑withſtanding the lady's juſtly-favored Johnſon makes birth and lineage ſynonymous, yet my couſin will allow us no more of the former than what that great writer defines the ‘act of coming [33] into the world,’ the act which graced our country with its fair ſynonymiſt.

I HOPE the reader will not think me too warm, for thus vin⯑dicating my clame to birth, in common with my worthy brother-in-law. I am jealous that the honors which I poſſeſs by means of our marriage with his aunt Shonet, ten aſcents higher, ſhould receive any abatement: and I truſt that the lady concerned will, as a Welſh-woman, even applaud my warmth on ſo very intereſt⯑ing an occaſion!

OUR houſe has always been the Pen-cenedl, or chief of the name. We had ſeveral branches, all which, excepting thoſe I have enumerated, are extinct in the male line; unleſs it be in the gentleman who of late years ſpread our celebrity in the capital, under the title of Pennant's Parcel Poſt.

THE firſt who branched from us was the hoſpitable, the uſeful, the valiant Thomas Pennant, abbot of Baſingwerk, ſon of David Pennant ap Tudor, before mentioned. He flouriſhed in the reign of Edward IV. and is highly celebrated by Guttun Owain, a bard of the year 1480, who records the hoſpitality of the abbot, in a poem printed in the collection of Mr. Rhŷs Jones. The poet is ſo liberal of his praiſe as to ſay, That he gave twice the treaſure of a king in wine.

And among his other luxuries I think he enumerates ſugar, which a rich abbot of the fifteenth century might eaſily indulge [34] himſelf in, for it had been a great article of commerce in Sicily as early as the year 1148.

Guttun Owain alſo adds:

A good granary on the other ſide, a malt-houſe, and a houſe of bricks: which laſt was probably a material in building of recent introduction in our country.

Guttun Owain and Tudor Aled, another noted bard, ſpeak not only of his works of utility; of the water and of the wind-mills he erected; of his having enlarged and beautified the abbey, but alſo compliment him on his proweſs in battle. Neither is Guttun ſilent on a ſubject, pleaſing to every Welſh ear, the pedegree of his patron, whom he derives from Edwyn, and from Rhŷs Sais, a direct deſcendant from Tudor Trevor.

IT is probable that our abbot diſcovered that celibacy did not ſuit his conſtitution. He quitted his profeſſion, and became (in the law term) a monk deraigne, and married into the great houſe of Peurbyn, a lady of the name of Angharad. He became the father of four children. Of them, Edward the eldeſt ſucceeded to the fortunes which he ſeems to have ſecured in the pariſh of Holywell. Thomas, the ſecond ſon, became vicar of Holywell. And Nicholas, the third, in due time abbot of Baſingwerk; he was the laſt, and became founder of a family, as I ſhall have occaſion to mention. More alſo will be ſaid of the line of Edward, who may be conſidered as the firſt of the houſe of Bagilt.

WE did not aſſume the name of Pennant, till the time of David Pennant ap Tudor, fifteenth in deſcent from Tudor Trevor; it is a [35] true Welſh name, taken from Pen, a head, and Nant, a dingle, our houſe of Bychton being ſeated at the head of a very conſider⯑able one. The name is very common in North Wales, applied to places, ſuch as Pennant St. Melangl, Pennant Mowddwy, Pennant Lliw, &c. &c. I have found it in Cornwal, and again in the great bay of Douarnenez, in Bretagne, where, among numbers of other Welſh names, is that of Pointe Pennant.

IT has been delivered down to us,GI [...]CS. that in ſome diſtant time a gang of gipſies uſed to haunt this dingle, and that eighteen of them were executed, after which the gipſey race never more fre⯑quented the neighborhood. I cannot learn their crime, poſſibly there was none, for they might have been legally murdered by the cruel ſtatute of the 1ſt and 2d of Philip and Mary, which enacts, ‘that if, within forty days next after proclamation of this preſent act ſhall be made, that then he or they which ſhall not depart and avoid within the ſaid time of forty days, according to the true meaning of this act, ſhall be judged and deemed, ac⯑cording to the laws of this realm of England, a felon and felons, and ſhall ſuffer therefore pains of death, loſs of lands and goods as in other caſes of felony, and ſhall be tried as is aforeſaid, and without having any benefit or privilege of ſanctuary or clergy.’ Sir Matthew Hale tells us, that in Suffolk, a few years before the reſtauration, were executed, at a ſingle aſſizes, not leſs than thirteen; but none, on that barbarous law, have ſuffered ſince that time. In theſe humane days the gipſies may wander in peace, provided they behave inoffenſively whereſoever they chance to make their tranſient abode; for the bloody act was repealed in the twenty-third year of his preſent majeſty.

[36] OUR FIRST M [...] ⯑ [...]GE WITH AN ENGLISHWOMAN. David Pennant was the firſt of us who married into a Saxon family; he took to wife Anne, daughter of John Done, of Utkin⯑ton, in Cheſhire, by Anne daughter of Richard Heaton, of Heaton, in the county of Lancaſter. He begat many ſons and daughters, among them was the famous abbot Thomas, and alſo Sir Hugh Pennant, Offeiriad, or prieſt, whom the great Lhuyd, in his A [...]aelogic, p. 257, calls an able poet, in the time of Henry VIII.; and I find alſo, that in 1575 he was at an Fiſteddfod, at Caerwis, ſecondary ſtudent in vocal ſong, and — he was the only muſical man in all our line.

OUR FIRST SHE⯑RIFF.TILL the advancement of Richard Pennant to the title of Penrbyn, our houſe was never diſtinguiſhed by any honors beyond the moſt uſeful one, that of juſtice of the peace. I ſhould bluſh if a Pennant ſhould be found, who through lack of public ſpirit, ſloth, or ſelfiſhneſe, could decline that great conſtitutional office! The firſt ſheriff of our houſe was Pyers Pennant, who diſcharged that truſt in 1612. He had the lot of marrying the daughter of a family not famed for placidity, or the milder virtues. Valdè valde, irritabile genus! 'And from them, Tom (a moſt worthy aunt of mine uſed often to tell me) we got our paſſion;'—and frequently added the wiſe Welſh caution, Beware of a Breed!

THE fruits of this marriage appeared very ſoon. Thomas, the eldeſt ſon, in a furor brevis, killed his miller: was indicted for the manſlaughter, tried, and convicted; but received his pardon, dated in the firſt of Charles I. or the year 1625. This grace preſerved him from the ignominious part of the ſentence, and the more important advantage of preſerving his perſonality, which would otherwiſe have been forfeited to the crown.

[37]THIS is ſufficient to ſhew that the offence did admit of every palliation; but a ſtronger proof than that may be drawn from the following honor having been conferred on him, when we find that in eight years afterwards, in 1633, he was intruſted with the care of the county of Flint, by having the office of high ſheriff committed to his charge. He died the next year; cujus animae propitietur DEUS! This unfortunate man married a grand-daughter of that nuptial-loving dame Catherine y Berran (See Tour in Wales, vol. ii. p. 29) Mary, daughter of Edward Wynn, of Yſtrad, ſon of Morris Wynn, of Gwydir, fourth and laſt huſband of our famous Catherine. There was no iſſue from this match; ſo Bychton deſcended to David, the next brother.

IN thoſe days, and long preceding,PRESENTS TO SHERIFFS. it was cuſtomary for the friends and neighbors of the ſheriff to make preſents to him to aſſiſt in defraying the expences. I have among my papers two long rolls of gifts. To give the whole would be very tedious. I extract only a few of the moſt remarkable, among which are ſeveral in money, which his friends were not aſhamed to offer: nor the ſheriff to receive. The caſh received in 1612, was £. 10. 18 s. 6 d.; that in 1642, £. 5.

• Imp. From my mother 1 cowe 8 weathers
• Evan ap John ap Llewelyn I weather
• Humffrey Thomas ap Edd VI geeſſe
• Hugh ap Llewelyn VI geeſſe
• William John ap Llewelyn II geeſſe
• [38] Katharinge V^th Evan II geeſſe
• Thomas Barker III geeſſe
• Piers Griffith III geeſſe
• Hugh ap Morris II geeſſe
• From my ſone Harry Conwey VIII hoopes ^* of wheat
• From my mother VI hoopes of wheat, and a paile full of butter
• From my ſiſter Holande III hwps of wheat, and a whole brawne
• From my brother Tho. Kyffin, in goulde II £ IIII^s
• From Jo [...] Roberts, in money VI^s
• From Rice ap Jo^r ap Llewelyn II^s VI^d
• From John ap Jo^r G^r II muttons and a dozen chicks
• Gregor II capons
• Katheringe Penant II capons, II dozen of eggs
• Thomas Price I gooſe
• Thomas ap W [...] ap Meredith one mutton
• M [...] Pennant, in gould XI ſhillings
• S [...] Thomas Wrighte, wyf II geeſſe
• John ap Rie a couple of chiſhes
• My brother W [...] Kyffin II£
• S^• Roger Moſten I£
• From M^r David Holland, in goulde XXXIIII^s
• From M^r Ellis Edwards, of Halliwell VII^s
• From M^r Griffith, of Kayarws XX^s
• From Morris of the mounten X^s
• From my brother Edward Kyffin, in gould X^s
• [39]From M^r Edward Pennant, of Bagillt X^s
• From Richart ap Jevan V^s

To ſhew that the ſenſe of relationſhip was not, in thoſe days, ſoon worn out, Mr. Done, of Utkinton, ſent a veniſon, for which the ſheriff gave as a fee 6 s. 8 d. to the keeper. This ſheriff was in reſpect to the donor fifth in deſcent from the marriage of David Pennant ap Tudor, with Anne, daughter of John Done, of Utkinton, as near as I can gueſs about the year 1440.

• My Lady Moſtyn, 2 muttons, a gallon of ſacke, and 2£
• M^r Griffith, of Cayrwis, 2 ſugar loafs.
• M^r Roger Parry, 1£
• M^r Robert Pennant, 1£
• M^rs Conway, of Nant, 1£
• M^rs Matthew, a ſugar loaf.
• M^r Vaughan, 3 gallons of ſacke.
• M^r Ralph Hughes, a mutton, 6 rabbetts, a dozen pigeons.
• M^r John Jones, a ſugar loafe.
• M^r David Jones, a ſugar loafe.
• M^r Raphell Davis, a veale.
• M^r Hugh Pennant, of Dooning, a mutton.
• M^r William Moſtyn, of Bagillt, halfe a veale, and a pigg.
• Nichlas George, 2 capons.
• Edward ap Thomas, a veale, a pigg, a quart of hony.
• William Parry Wynn, a mutton.
• [40] Margaret Price, of Brinford, a mutton.
• Th [...] ap Roi [...] ap Hugh, 2 capons, and a pigg.
• John ab William J [...], halfe a veale, and a q [...] hony.
• Edward Ethel, a q [...] veale, and a pigg, 6 q [...] claret.
• John Thomas Evans, a q^r veale.
• Jullius Se [...]ſar, a q^r veale, and a q [...] porke.
• Thomas ab Ellis, a mutton.
• Pyers Williams, 2 capons, a q^t hony.
• William Ethe [...]l, a ſugar loafe.
• John Price, of Calcate, 2 hoopes of oates.
• Robert Lloyd, a ſugar [...]oafe.
• Thomas Lloyd, of Mertyn, a q^r veale, a q [...] lambe.
• Petter Hughes, 2 capons.
• Thomas Parry, of Mays guin, 2 capons, and a pigg.
• John ap Robert Shamber wen, halfe a veale.
• Thomas John Cooke, half a mutton.
• Barbara Parry, half a lambe.
• The Deputie Sheriffe, 2 turkies, and a pottle of ſacke.
• John Price, of Pentre, a q [...] veale, a pigg.
• Robert Lloyd, of Taverne y Gennog, halfe a lambe.
• John Humfrey, a veale.
• M [...] Kyffin, a q^r veale, a greate cake.
• M^r Roger Holland, 4 hoops of wheat.
• Andrew Ellis, a gooſe, a q [...] veale.
• Margaret ach Pyers, 2 dozen cakes.
• Thomas ap Thomas, a flitch of bacon, 6 q^t claret, a q^t veale.
• Ellen Foulkes, a q^r veale.
• [41] John ap John, halfe a lambe, a q [...] of mutton.
• John Conway, a q^r veale, a pigg.
• Anne Simon, a q^rt of ſacke.
• Foulke, the joyner, a pigg.
• David, the weaver, a pigg.
• Ellin Lorrance, 2 henns.
• Thomas John ap Ric. a q^r porke, 4 eggs.
• Ales Owen, 2 henns, 2 piggs, 6 chickins, 30 eggs.
• Mar. John Robert, 2 hens, a pigg, three chi.
• Edward John ap Robert, 2 henns, a q^t porke, a pigg.
• John ap Rhytherch, 60 eggs.
• Hugh Barker, a q^r of porke.
• John ap John ap Robert, 2 capons.
• Hugh ap Thomas ap Harry, 2 capons.

IN theſe numerous liſts of preſents I was ſurpriſed at the omiſſion of brandy;BRANDY. probably the fiery dram was not then in faſhion in Wales: yet nurſe, in Romeo and Juliet, calls for it amain, under the name of aqua vitae: ‘Some aqua vitae, ho! my lord, my lady!’ It appears to have been chiefly uſed in thoſe days for medical purpoſes.

IN captain Wyndham's voyage to Guinea there was brandy on board for the uſe of the ſick ſailors. It was ſaid to have been invented by Raymundus Lullius, the famous alchemiſt, who died in the year 1315. Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, came to a moſt horrible end, ſays Mezerey, (i. 954.) who, to reſtore his ſtrength, weakened by debauchery, was wrapped in ſheets ſteeped [42] in [...]au d [...]e. His valet by accident ſet fire to them: after the third day he died in the moſt dreadful tortures, and it is to be hoped thus expiated the crimes of his moſt execrable life. I am indebted for the origin of brandy to a moſt elaborate eſſay on it which I received from Mr. William Taylor, of Norwich, by fa⯑vor of my friend Dr. Atkin.

WILLIAM PEN⯑NANT. G [...] ⯑ [...].I NOW, in gratitude, take up the brief hiſtory of William Pen⯑nant, ſecond ſon to Hugh Pennant, of Bychton, by Sionet, daughter of Richard ap Howel ap Moſton. His good deeds towards the poor of our pariſh, and his good intention towards our family, give him full clame to this token of reſpect. William was a goldſmith and jewelier; he lived at the Queen's Head, in Smith⯑field; and by the ſign of his ſhop, and by the ſeveral bequeſts he made to perſons about the court, he probably was goldſmith and jeweller to the royal family.HIS WEALTH. He made a conſiderable fortune, and died poſſeſſed of the manor of Moxhall, in the pariſh of Andley, in the county of Eſſex; the rectories called Cutcombe and Luxborough, in the county of Somerſet; the leafe of the manor of Thornes, in Haveringe, in the Bower Ward, in the county of Eſſex; the leaſe of the manor of Noxbridge, in the ſame county; and in London, an eſtate in Smithfield and Hoſier Lane; and a houſe called the Blue Anchor, in Candlewick ward, which laſt he bequeathed to the famous Hugh Middleton, afterwards Sir Hugh, the projector of the New River. All the other eſtates he be⯑queathed thus:—His manor of M [...]xhall, and the two rectories, to his nephew Hugh Pennant; and his leaſes of the manor of Thornes to his brother Pyers Pennant, of Mailard Green, in the county of Eſſex, the gentleman uſher before mentioned.

[43]ALL theſe fruits of William Pennant's induſtry were diſſipated by my unfortunate name ſake, mentioned in a preceding page,D [...] BY HIS NE [...]. who luckily died before he had ruined our paternal eſtate.

HIS bequeſt in money to the poor of Whiteford pariſh had a better fate.HIS CHA [...] [...]. It was laid out in the purchaſe of land in the pariſh of St. Aſaph; the produce of which annually clothes completely eighteen poor men or poor women, on the feaſt of St. Thomas. On the expiration of the leaſe of thoſe lands, I truſt that double the number will experience the benefit of this charity.

William Pennant alſo remembered ſeveral of his friends by le⯑gacies, at this time appearing to us very ſingular.BEQUEST TO HIS FRIENDS. Beſides ſome ſmall legacies in money, he bequeathed the following articles:— ‘Item, I give and bequeath unto Sir William Forteſcue, K^•, one chaine of gold and pearle, weighing about 12 ounces and a quarter; one billament of gold and pearle, being 19 pieces; a round ſalt of ſilver, with a cover thereto, weighing 15 ounces, and ſome what more; ſix white ſilver ſpoons; one feather-bed, bolſter, two pillows, two blankets, one blue rugg, a teaſtern of ſatten figured, ruſſet and black, and vallance to the ſame; five curtains of taffety farſanet, on char, and a ſtool with a back of ſatten figured ruſſet; ten black — and ſix ſtools covered with black wrought velvett; and alſo a great cheſt covered with black leather, with an in-lock on it, and all things in it (excepting cer⯑tain plate therein) hereafter bequeathed. Item, I give and bequeath unto — Forteſcue, the daughter of the ſald William Forteſcue, K^t, and god-daughter to my late wife Ellinor, her aunt, one baſon and ewer of ſilver, all gilt, weighing 36 ounces, or thereabouts; one dozen of ſilver ſpoons gilt, [44] weighing 22 ounces, or thereabouts; one ſilver pot hooped, weighing 20 ounces and upwards, with arms on the ſide thereof; a bell ſalt without a cover, partly gilt, weighing 6 ounces, or thereabouts. All which particulars are in the ſaid black cheſt. And I will that the ſame ſhall preſently after my deceaſe be delivered to the ſaid W^m Forteſcue, K^t, for him to keep ſafely in truſt and confidence, to and for the uſe of — —, untill ſhe happen to be married, or untill ſhe ſhall at⯑tain to the age of 21 years, and then to be delivered unto her; and that if the ſaid — — happen to die before ſhe be married, or attain to the ſaid age of 21 years, then I give and bequeath the ſaid legacy to her bequeathed to Roger Forteſcue, her brother, to be delivered to him at his age of 21 years, and untill that time to remain in truſt in the hands of Sir W^m Forteſcue, Kn^t, his uncle. Item, I give and be⯑queath unto my loving and kind friend, Mr. Randall Woolley, merchant taylor, one ounce of fine gold to make him a ring. Item, I give and bequeath unto my loving friend Mr. John Barker, living at Mr. Rob^• Holland's houſe, the like quantity of fine gold to make him a ring. Item, I give and bequeath unto my loving friend Mr. Rich^d Lockſmith, Clerk to Mr. Attorney General, one ounce of fine gold to make him a ring. Item, I give and bequeath to my loving couſin Mr. John Lloide, bencher of the Inner Temple, 34 buttons of gold; to my couſin W^m Lloyd, his brother, 5 l. of money. Item, I give and bequeath to my honorable and late maſter, the ſaid John Forteſcue, Kn^t, one of his Highneſs' moſt honorable privy [45] councel, in token of the remembrance of his love and kindneſs towards me, 20l. in money, to buy him a piece of velvet for a gown. Item, I give and bequeath to my loving friend the un⯑der-named, for the love and kindneſs that hath paſſed between us on this earth, as followeth: that is to ſay; to Sir Robert Ban⯑niſter, knight, clark companion of his majeſty's houſehold, one ounce of fine gold, of 3l. to make him a ring. To Thomas Merry, chief clerk of his majeſty's kitchen, one ounce of the like gold to make him a hooped ſilver pot for his wife. Item, to John Trefearne, one other of the clerks of the kitchen, one ounce of like gold, to make him a ring; and to John Crane, one other of the clerks of the kitchen, the like quantity of gold. Item, to Mr. Lewis Owen, ſerjeant of the larder, the like quan⯑tity of gold Item, to Lewis Rogers, the prince's ſervant, half an ounce of like gold to make him a ring. Item, to John Panton, ſervant to the right honorable the lord chancellor of England, one ounce of fine gold of the like value. Item, to John Price, one of the porters of the ſpiritual court in London, the like quantity of fine gold. Item, to John Legate, of Hornchurch, in Eſſex, eſquire, one ounce of fine gold. Item, I give and bequeath to my loving friend Walter Meredith, 5 l. in money, and alſo a cloak of fine black cloth, with ſome lace about, and lined through with ruſſet taffety.’

THIS will is dated May 4th, 1607; the codicil two years after, and Sir Hugh Myddleton left ſole executor.

THE entertaining James Howel, STRANGE STORY OF JOHN PEN⯑NANT; in the xliiid letter of his Epiſtolae Ho-Elianae, makes John Pennant, third ſon of Pyers [46] Pennant of By [...]h [...]n, and brother of the worthy William, the in⯑ſtrument of preſages to our kingdom, of the evil days and evil times which were advancing with rapid pace. The relation is very properly addreſſed to that mirror of credulity, Sir Kenelm Digby, knight.

[...]D A [...]EN [...]S HEART'It was my fortune,' ſays the ſolemn hiſtorian, ‘to be in a late communication, where a gentleman ſpoke of a hideous thing that happened in High Holborn; how one John Pennant, a young man of 21, being diſſected after his death, there was a kind of ſerpent, with divers tails, found in the left ventricle of his heart, which you know is the moſt defended part, being thrice thicker than the right, and is the cell which holds the pureſt and moſt illuſtrious liquor, the arterial blood and the vital ſpirits. The ſerpent was it ſeems three years ingen⯑dring, for ſo long time he found himſelf indiſpoſed in the breaſt; and it was obſerved that his eye, in the interim, grew more ſharp and fiery, like the eye of a cock, which is next the ſerpent's eye in redneſs: ſo that the ſymptom of his in⯑ward diſeaſe might have been told by certain exterior rays and ſignatures.’

‘GOD preſerve us from public calamities! for ſerpentine monſters have been often ill favored preſages. I remember in the Roman ſtory, to have read how, when ſnakes or ſerpents were found near the ſtatues of their Gods, at one time about Jupiter's neck, another time about Minerva's thigh, there fol⯑lowed bloody civil wars after it.’

THIS portentous ſtory is given moſt ſcientifically by Dr. Edward May, in a thin quarto pamphlet of forty pages. The [47] title-page will inform the reader of his various other titles, which ſavor moſt ſtrongly of quackery.

THE epiſtle dedicatory is ‘to the renowned peere of this king⯑dom, Edward earle of Dorſet,’ the book itſelf to Sir Theodore Maiherne, knight. In that he lays before him the wonderful caſe. He tells us that he was ſent on October 7th, 1637, by Lady [48] Herris, wife to Sir Francis Herris, knight, to diſſect her nephew John Pennant, who had deceaſed the night before, to know the cauſe of his death. The doctor brought with him Maſter Jacob Heyden, ſurgeon, to aſſiſt in the enquiry. Mr. Heydon made in⯑ciſion into the left ventricle of the heart, which was full of blood. On thorough examination, the monſter was diſcovered, the head of which was ſo like to that of a ſerpent, that Lady Herris ſhivered to ſee it. To judge by the prints, all the upper part of it was cylindrical; towards the lower part bifurcated, and each fork divided into five long and ſlender fibrillae. I leave to the reader the peruſal of the reſt of Dr May's moſt curious diſ⯑quiſition.

THIS is not the only inſtance of ſimilar appearances in the heart: but we hear no more of ſerpents; the name was changed to polypuſes, to which, for their numerous ramifications, they might bear the reſemblance. In our Philoſophical Tranſactions are more than one paper on the ſubject. In Mr. Lowthorp's Abridg. iii. p. 70, and tab. p. 120, is an account, and the figure of one found in the heart of a man at Oxford; and in Mr. Martyn's Abridg. ix. p. 135, is the account of ſeveral diſcovered in num⯑bers of ſailors who died immediately on their return from the Weſt Indies. This paper was written by the celebrated Dr. Huxbam; he quotes Malpighius, Bartholinus, Tulpius, and Pechlin, as giving inconteſtible inſtances of the exiſtence of polypi in the heart, in the ſtricteſt ſenſe. This opinion is now exploded. The only uncommon circumſtance (my ingenious friend Dr. Haygarth aſſures me) is, that the left ventricle of the heart, and probably the aorta, which after death are uſually empty, were [49] in theſe caſes full of blood. The craſſamentum, upon coagula⯑tion, had taken the form of the arteries in which it was con⯑tained.

I BREAK a little into chronology,BARBAROUS EVENTS. to conclude with an event relative to another of my houſe; of little moment indeed, but merely to give a picture of the barbarous days, even of the be⯑ginning of the laſt century, which I collected from the journal kept by Peter Roberts, of St. Aſaph, before mentioned. He re⯑cords, that on July 22d, 1615, Hugh Pennant, brother to Pyers Pennant, eſq of Bychton, died of a broken head given him at Denbigh, by Pyers Hughes: That in the year 1626, Rowland Evan, a vicar of St. Aſaph, was killed at an ale-houſe in Llandrillo Eiderneon: That on October 3d, 1628, Mr. Richard Thelwal was ſlain at his own houſe at Ruthen: And that, in 1634, one Foulkes, of Cilowen, killed his wife, and cut his own throat.

THE mention of ale houſe tempts me to ſpeak of a houſe of mine, by the ſea-ſide, in the townſhip of Bychton, LLETTY GONEST. called Lletty Goneſt, or the honeſt houſe. It had been formerly in the higheſt repute for its excellent ale, brewed by a good ale-wife yclep'd Jane, of Lletty, whom I well remember. She acquired both fame and wealth, both of which I may ſay ſhe bequeathed to her deſcendants; who to this day, by their own induſtry, continue to flouriſh on the effect of her's.

THE houſe was originally built by one Smith, from Worceſter, partly for the purpoſes of diſtilling, and partly for a warehouſe. I am told, that it occaſionally had ſerved for the place of con⯑finement for impreſſed men, at the time in which the colliers [50] had ſuch great trade with Dublin. The ſtrong bars in the lower windows favor that notion.

SINGULAR HEAD.ABOVE the door is a very ſingular ſculpture, cut in bas-relief, in ſtone, and let into the wall. One part is a ſtrange chimerical figure of a monſter with four legs, and the head of an owl, fixing its claws in the ſide of a human head. The face is averted, and expreſſing much agony. The eye-lids are drawn up, the eyes the ſame, the mouth half opened, and the teeth cloſely fixed together. The face is young, but has a pair of whiſkers, and is far from being ill cut. It has the character of one of Le Brun's paſſions, article Pain. It evidently never was deſigned for this place, but ſeems originally to have been one of thoſe fanciful gothic ſculptures be⯑longing to ſome antient church.

SMUGGLING.IN the reign of King William, this houſe was remarkable for the violent hands laid on a vaſt ſeizure of French wines, to the amount of ſixty pipes, which had been ſmuggled into the great barn at Trelacre, in the pariſh of Llanaſa, deſtined for the uſe of the Welſh gentry in this and the neighboring counties. It muſt be obſerved, that in thoſe days port-wine was in very little uſe in our country. The officers had conveyed this prize with ſafety as far as Lletty Goneſt, where they intended to ſleep that night. At midnight they were alarmed by the entry of multitudes of colliers, who tied every body in the houſe neck and heels. They removed the wine into other carriages, and conveyed it into places ſo ſecure that it never more could be heard of. Many of the colliers were obſerved to have rings on their fingers, and fine linen. In fact numbers of them were the gentlemen intereſted in the wine, and concerned in the re-capture, who mixed with [51] the colliers, to direct them in their operations. A proclamation was iſſued out for the diſcovery of the offenders; but ſuch was the fidelity of our people, that they were never detected. The poor tapſter, in particular, knew perfectly well who they were, and large rewards were offered to him by the cuſtom-houſe; but nothing could ſhake his attachment to his friends. He lived long after, ſupported by the grateful contributions of the neighboring 'ſquires.

HIGH above Lletty Goneſt ſtands a ſummer-houſe, built by my grandfather, to which he often adjourned with his gueſts, to re⯑gale them with the delicious beer, brewed by the famous Jane. Many years after, when I became maſter of the eſtate, I alſo had my adjournment, but it was either to eat ſhrimps or to drink tea. An honeſt vicar of a diſtant pariſh, who had been a moſt intimate friend of my convivial grandfather, enquired whether I ever went to the ſummer-houſe; and was anſwered, 'Now and then, to drink tea.' Struck with horror at the de⯑generacy of the grandſon, the good man with indignation ex⯑clamed, ‘DRINK TEA! his grandfather would have SCORNED IT!’

THE turnpike road deſigned for the enabling the ſmelters and others to convey our coal to the places of its deſtination, from the Moſtyn and Bychton pits, paſſes by Lletty Goneſt, and goes along the ſhore towards Holywell. In the ſpace of a mile it paſſes by three ſmelting-houſes, Shop-goch, the property of Sir Roger Moſtyn, and Pen-y-Ro and Llanerch-y-môr, belonging to me. The laſt diſputes antiquity with moſt in the county, the late works at Gadlis excepted.

[52]ABOVE the laſt is the neat houſe of Kinſale, inhabited by my good friend and tenant Mr. Ralph Richardſon, who for ſeveral years had with great ſucceſs and integrity carried on the ſmelting buſineſs, with the advantage of ſhipping the produce from the very ſpot, after a ſhort carriage to the veſſels.

A SMALL marſh begins a little beyond Lletty Goneſt, and widens as it extends ſouthward. It borders on the manor of Moſtyn: but itſelf owns no lord but the king. The ſame may be ſaid of the va⯑luable remainder, as far as the manor of Coleſhill, in the pariſh of Flint. The minor of Greenfield, in the pariſh of Holywell, was long ſuppoſed to have been the property of one or other of two clamants, who fell into diſpute about the right. The matter was referred to two gentlemen of the law, eminent for their abilities, and not leſs ſo for their probity. After examining all the proofs adduced by the rivals, they adjudged that neither had any clame to the lordſhip; ſo it is now left to the freeholders under our ſovereign lord the king: a rich tract for future incloſures.

A LITTLE beyond Kinſale is the end of our pariſh on this ſide. The boundary between it and the pariſh of Holywell, is a ſmall [...]ll called Avon Marſh Siambr. AVON MARSH SIAMBR. Above on an eminence is the old ſeat of the Pierces, a family now extinct, and the property paſſed into other hands. It bears the name of Is Glan, from the name of the townſhip in which it ſtands.

ABOUT a mile higher up is Merton, the ſeat of the Reverend Mr. John Foulkes. He derives his right to it from Margaret, daughter and heireſs to Thomas Parry ap William Parry Wynne. She married John Foulkes, of Pen-yeba [...]luy, in the pariſh of Shy [...]iog, great-grandfather to the preſent owner, who died in July, 1667, and was interred in Whiteford church-yard.

[53] Tre Moſtyn bounds Tre Bychton on the weſt.TRE MOSTYN. This town⯑ſhip is conſidered as containing one fourth of the pariſh. It reaches to the ſea-ſide: on which, as well as the whole, trees of every kind grow moſt admirably.

IT is divided from Tre Bychton, in the lower part by the turn⯑pike road, which extends from the ſea-ſide to Henllan, ſixteen miles diſtant, originally deſigned for the conveyance of coal from the pits of this townſhip, and that of Tre Bychton, to the great lime-works near Denbigh. The firſt act was obtained in 1768, the ſecond in 1770: before which our roads were ſcarcely paſſable. If either Sir Roger Moſtyn's family or our own wanted to get to Cheſter, we were to reach the ſea-ſide; then to Flint as we could, and from thence at low water croſs the ford of the Dee, a way not always unattended with danger.

OPPOSITE to Moſtyn gates, on this part of the turnpike road,THE RHEWL. is a hamlet, called the Rhewl, yr Heol, platea, a way or ſtreet. On each ſide are a few houſes. The Swan, a ſmall ale-houſe, my property, was noted for its vaſt trade about the beginning of this century, when the coal trade was in the height of its proſperity: ‘And Cw [...]w da then unexciſed by kings!’ Thomas Edwards, who ſeveral years was tenant there, edu⯑cated a family of numbers of children, at no inconſiderable expence, and is ſuppoſed to have acquired by the tap at leſt fifteen hundred pounds.

FROM the Rhewl opens the principal gates to Moſtyn Hall,MOSTYN HALL. or more properly Moſton Hall, for ſuch, for many ages, was the ſpelling of the names of both the manſion and its antient owners. On this approach is a moſt venerable avenue, which goes for a [54] conſiderable way in a direct line; then turns ſhort, and terminates with a view of the old part of the old manſion. The park is ſmall, but beautifully broken, and cloathed in various parts with fine oaks, and moſt magnificent beeches; but amidſt the trees is ſuffered to remain rugged with the veſtiges of the antient col⯑lieries. The ground ſlopes finely to the ſea, facing the North Eaſt. The trees grow with vigor cloſe to the water, unhurt by the rude winds with which they are affailed.

THE houſe is placed about half a mile from the ſhore. I find ſome difficulty in making a deſcription. I ſhall therefore refer the reader to the firſt plate of Welſh ſeats, by Mr. Boydel, and to my own, as the only method of giving him ſome idea of the ſin⯑gularity of the ſtructure. That plate attempts the front—

For it conſiſts of the moſt antient hall; a leſſer, deſigned for a ſort of ſympoſium for ſervants; and on the outſide, annexed and jutting out, is the quondam chapel, now converted into a bed-chamber. I have a ſketch of the whole as it was in the year 1684, made by a Mr. Thomas Dinely, an attendant on Henry, firſt duke of Beaufort, then lord preſident of the council in the prin⯑cipality of Wales, and lord lieutenant of the twelve counties; who in that year made a reviewing progreſs of the militia of North Wales, and of courſe paid his reſpects to the great man of our country.

I CANNOT trace the time of building of this part of the houſe. It muſt have been at leſt early in the time of Henry VI. but pro⯑bably more antient, for in Bolton Hall, in Bowland, Yorkſhire (the moſt antique ſeat we know) is a hall in a leſſer ſcale indeed, but greatly ſimilar; and in that houſe it is well known that the unfor⯑tunate prince concealed himſelf for a long time. Poſterity may find the account in my ‘Tour in Part of the Mercian and Northum⯑brian Kingdoms.’ The great gloomy hall is furniſhed with a Dais or elevated upper end,THE OLD HALL. and with a long table for the lord and his jovial companions; and another in the ſide, the ſeat of the inferior partakers of the good cheer. To this day the ſimilitude of the old times is kept up when the family is at home. The head ſervants take their dinner at the Dais, and the numerous inferior ſervants fill the long table. The roof is lofty, croſſed with long beams. The nen-bren, or top-beam, was in all times a frequent toaſt, whenever the maſter of the houſe's health was drank; and 'Jached y nen-bren y ty,' was the cordial phraſe. The chimney-piece is magnificently plain, unleſs where the arms of the houſe and its alliances are cut on the ſtone, and properly emblazoned.

THE firſt are the arms (a lion rampant, ermin,COATS OF ARMS. erminé) of Jevan Vychan, of Pengwern, near Llangollen, (ſee Tour in Wales, vol. i. p. 295.) ſixteenth in deſcent from Owen Tudor. By the marriage of Jevan with Angharad, daughter and ſole heireſs of Howel ap Tudor ap Ithel Vychan, of Moſtyn, he added that eſtate to his paternal acres in the reign of Richard II.

IT ſeems (from the Moſtyn pedegree) that in 1444 Jevan had [56] farmed the eſtate. He wiſely determined to turn the leaſe into a perpetuity: and gaining the lady's affections, ‘Connubio junxit ſtabili, propriamque dicavit.’

THE next are the arms of his ſpouſe, the heireſs of Moſtyn: di⯑rectly deſcended from the Edwyn lord of Tegengle before mentioned (argent a croſs engrailed ſable, between four Corniſh choughs.)

THE third are the arms of Gloddaeth, (gules a chevron argent between three plates) acquired by the marriage of Howel ap Evan Vychan, ſon of the former, in 1460, with Margaret, daughter and heir of Gryffydd ap Rhys ap Gryffydd ap Madoc Gloddaeth ap Ma⯑doc ap Jerweth Goch, of Cryddyn, the hundred in which the houſe ſtands.

THE fourth are the arms of Sir Gryffydd Lloyd. Morfydd, one of his daughters and co-heireſſes, married Madoc Gloddaeth, who with her received Tregarnedd, in the iſle of Angleſey, as her portion. That eſtate followed the ſucceſſion of the houſe, till Gloddaeth was united with that of Moſtyn, in which it continued till the year 1750; then it was alienated by the late Sir Thomas Moſtyn, to the late Mr. Owen Williams, of Angleſey.

THE walls are furniſhed in a ſuitable manner with antient mili⯑tia guns, ſwords, and pikes; with helmets and breaſt-plates; with funeral atchievements,FALCON VAST FLIGHT OF ONE. and with variety of ſpoils of the chace. A falcon is nailed againſt the upper end of the room, with two bells, a greater and a leſſer, hung to each foot. On two ſilver rings are inſcribed the name of the owner, Mr. Kinloch, of Kul⯑rie, in the county of Angus, on the Eaſtern ſide of Scotland. With theſe incumbrances it flew from its owner on the morning of the 24th of September, 1772, and was killed near this houſe on the [57] morning of the 26th. The preciſe time it reached our country is not known; therefore we are uncertain whether this bird exceeded in ſwiftneſs the hawk which flew thirty miles in an hour in pur⯑ſuit of a woodcock; or that which made a flight out of Weſt⯑phalia into Pruſſia in a day—inſtances recorded by the learned Sir Thomas Brown.

THE adjacent kitchen is overlooked by a gallery leading to the antient apartments of the lady of the houſe,KITCHEN. at a period when the odors of the pot and ſpit were thought no ill ſavors. From the commanding height of the gallery the good lady might give her orders to her Coges, or ſhe-cook, as Syrus is humorouſly de⯑ſcribed by Terence to do to his ſcullion Dromo:— ‘Let the great eel ſport a little longer in the water.—See that you gut the other fiſhes, and ſtew the great carp well.—Freſhen the ſalt fiſh.— Look to the baked meats, good Douſe.—Criſp the pig nicely.— Pray do not over-roaſt the ſurloin again.—Boil the pudding ſufficiently, and do not ſpare plums and ſuet.—Be ſure not to ſmoke the flummery.—Remember, no onions to-day—neigh⯑bor P. dines with us, &c. &c.’

IN the roof to this gallery are numbers of ſmall rooſting-holes, to which the inferior maidens of the family nightly repair to reſt from their labors.

AT one end of the gallery is a great room,GREAT ROOM. remarkable for a ſingular event. During the time that Henry earl of Richmond was ſecretly laying the foundation of the overthrow of the houſe of York, he paſſed concealed from place to place, in order to form an intereſt among the Welſh, who favored his cauſe on account of their re⯑ſpect to his grandfather Owen Tudor, their countryman. While [58] he was at Moſtyn, a party attached to Richard III. arrived there to apprehend him. He was then about to dine, but had juſt time to leap out of a back window, and make his eſcape through a hole, which,HENRY VII. to this day, is called the King's. Richard ap Howel, then lord of Moſtyn, joined Henry at the battle of Boſworth; and after the victory, received from the king, in token of gratitude for his preſervation, the belt and ſword he wore on that day; he alſo preſſed Richard greatly to follow him to court: but he nobly an⯑ſwered, like the Shunamitiſh woman: ‘I dwell among mine own people.’ The ſword and belt were preſerved in the houſe till within theſe few years. It is obſervable that none of our hiſto⯑rians account for a certain period of Henry's life, previous to his acceſſion. It is very evident that he paſſed the times when he diſappeared from Bretagny, in Wales. Many cotemporary bards, by feigned names, record this part of his life, under thoſe of the LION, the EAGLE, and the like, which were to reſtore the em⯑pire to the Britons: for the inſpired favorers of the houſe of Lancaſter did not dare to deliver their verſes in other than terms allegorical, for fear of the reigning prince.

BEFORE I quit the old houſe, let me ſay, that the beſt view of the chaotic additions backward is from the garden, from a very handſome ſummer-houſe, built by the firſt baronet, as appears by his arms quartered with thoſe of his wife, Bulkeley of Baron Hill. From this ſpot is ſeen great part of the buildings, and the appurtenances to the old houſe, one tacked to the other, as the increaſe or the wants of the family made neceſſary.

IN the year 1631, Sir Roger Moſtyn, knight,NEW HOUSE, 1631. gave to the houſe a very handſome addition; a ſquare maſs, conſiſting of ſix bed-chambers, a very large eating-room, and a dining-room or drawing-room above, with a large bow-window in the middle of each. In that below are the arms of Gwynne and D'Arcy, well emblazoned on glaſs. Theſe are complimentary to two great alliances; the one of Sir Roger himſelf with Mary, daughter of the famous Sir John Wynne, of Gwydir; the other out of reſpect to the alliance with Bridget Savage, daughter of D'Arcie Savage, eſq of Leighton, in Cheſhire, by whom the family acquired the great eſtates they poſſeſs in that county. From the principal gate of the park they have the pleaſing view of thoſe of Beeſton, and thoſe above Parkgate.

OPPOSITE to this window is a fire-place ſuitable to the room. Above are the arms of the numerous alliances of the houſe, [60] beautifully done in ſtucco, dated 1632. Conjoined with them are the arms of Mary Wynne, wife of Sir Roger. Thoſe of Gwydir quarterly with thoſe of Gryffydd ap Conan. In the firſt of the Moſtyn ſide are thoſe of Tudor Trevor, the ſtock of the houſe. The next are thoſe of Llwdocca ap Carad [...]c. 3dly, the arms of Elidir ap Rhys Sais. 4thly, thoſe of Jeſtyn ap Gurgant. 5thly, the bearing of Brochwel Yſcythrog. 6thly, the arms of Edwyn. 7thly, thoſe of Tudor ap Gronw. 8thly, of Ithel Vychan. 9thly, are the arms of Madoc Gloddaeth. 10thly, are thoſe of Sir Gryffydd Lloyd. The 11th, of Goodman; and 12thly, and laſtly, the arms of Shalmeſ [...]orow, which ſeem an appurtenance only to thoſe of Goodman. This is a mere focal ornament, an abridge⯑ment of the thirty-two coats which graced the pedegree of the houſe in the year 1663. Two Termini ſupport the entablature of this genealogical table. The other ornaments are elegant; but unfortunately, as if to daſh the mirth of the company, the architect has added, in full view, the monumental croſs-bones and bared ſkull.

HIS lady's neck (in a picture of the ſame date) is ornamented with a large ruff, ſingle and elevated; her right hand has in it a fan, and reſts on an elbow-chair; on a finger of her left hand is a ring, tied to her arm by ſeveral black ſtrings.

SHE is dreſſed in a handſome long gown, with a ſaſh up to her very arms, exactly like the no-waiſted fair of the preſent days. Her ſhape is contrived to have ſome degree of elegance, notwithſtanding ſhe ſeems to have been a large woman. I wiſh our modern embonpoints reſembled this lady. They ſeem to emu⯑late in faſhion the form of a ſack of wool, bulging out on every ſide, undulating their plump graces, here and there, as motion gives occaſion. Over the mouth of the ſack ſeems to have been oftimes flung by accident a light horſeman's cap, or any other incongruity, inſtead of the venerable coeffure of the Lady Moſtyn, at the ſober age of forty-nine.

HIS ſon Roger, the firſt baronet, created Auguſt 3d, 1660,SIR ROGER, FIRST BARONET. is the middle figure of a picture of the moſt ridiculous compoſition. This diſtinguiſhed character is repreſented a kit-kat length, in a ſtrange long flaxen wig, a breaſt-plate, buff ſkirts, and antique [62] Roman ſleeves; a negro holding his helmet. By him is his ſecond lady, Mary, eldeſt daughter of Thomas, lord Bulkeley, of Baron Hill. She is reading, with one hand on a ſkull, and her little lap-dog placed by her warlike huſband. His third wife is doubled up, and concealed behind the frame. This lady ſhewed ſuch a mercenary diſpoſition, and ſo miſchievous to the children of her predeceſſor, that one of the family affixed this ſtigma. I have taken a peep at her, and may pronounce her countenance to be truly ſymptomatic of her interior.

SIR Roger was a zealous loyaliſt. He raiſed a regiment in ſupport of the crown, conſiſting of fifteen hundred men, in twelve hours time, moſtly colliers. Whitelock, whoſe ſiſter had been married to Sir Thomas Moſtyn, of Kilken, in this county, knight, father to Sir Roger, ſpeaks of him in the following terms; notwithſtanding their principles, and the parts they took were widely different. 'Then the parliament forces (in 1643)' ſays the hiſtorian, at p. 78, ‘took in Moſtyn-houſe, belonging to colonel Moſtyn, the governor of Flint; and in Moſtyn they took four pieces of ordnance and ſome arms.’

‘THIS colonel Moſtyn is my ſiſter's ſon, a gentleman of good parts, and mettle; of a very ancient family, large poſſeſſions, and great intereſt in that country; ſo that in twelve hours he raiſed 1,500 men for the king, and was well beloved there, living very nobly.’

THIS gentleman's loyalty coſt him and the family dear. He ſpent about ſixty thouſand pounds in the ſervice of his majeſty. His houſe of Moſtyn was plundered and ſtripped, ſo that he was obliged to retire to a ſmall houſe called Plas-ycha, about a mile diſtant from Moſtyn. The firſt was built by his grandfather, the [63] old baronet before mentioned: within, in coarſe ſtucco, are his arms, with thoſe of Gwydir, and the date and initials of his and his lady's name—'1603, R. M. M. M.'

SIR Roger had a great intimacy with Pyers Pennant, his cotem⯑porary neighbor at Bychton. Both ſeem to have been boon companions, as is evident from the P. S. to the following cu⯑rious epiſtle:

AT this time money was ſo ſcarce, that 4l. was a price for a pair of oxen; and the baronet of Moſtyn was thought very liberal in ſending his heir apparent to the univerſity with 20l. in his pocket.

THE other portraits are a head of Sir Thomas Moſtyn, the gen⯑tleman who married Bridget Savage, heireſs of the Cheſhire eſtates.

ONE of the late Sir Thomas Moſtyn, when a youth. In him was united the fine gentleman, the polite ſcholar, and the good man. My viſion of a certain youth, I do believe, does not iſſue from the ivory gate.

[64]PORTRAITS of William Vaughan, eſq of Corſygedol, and his brother Evan Lloyd Vaughan, eſq of Bodidris, ſucceſſor to his eſtates, and to his ſeat in parlement for the county of Merioneth.

A SMALL full length of the exiled duke of Ormond, in a Roman dreſs, with a brown full wig, and a plan of a modern fortification, by Vauban or C [...]horn, at his feet.

BILLY BANGOR.LET not the ſhades of the great grow indignant, when I men⯑tion on the ſame page our Billy Bangor, the wit, the jeſter, buf⯑foon, and fool (as he probably was miſnamed) of our country. His ſayings and his pranks are to this day much talked of. His is a half-length, with a pipe in his hand. His look ſavors not of folly, and is full of ſly gravity. The portrait is well painted, I imagine in the beginning of the preſent century, in which Billy flouriſhed.

TWO very good portraits, half-lengths, cloſe the liſt. They are ſaid to have been two painters, who ſate for their pictures to each other. Their countenances are good, their dreſſes ſimilar.

BETWEEN them is a head of Charles II. in his uſual black wig. He is well painted, but without flattery. His coarſe features well vindicate the queſtion he put to poor Riley, the painter, on ſeeing the portrait done by that artiſt: ‘Is this like me?—then, od's fiſh, I am a very ugly fellow ^*!’

BUSTS.IN the room are ſome buſts collected by the late Sir Thomas Moſtyn, when he was at Rome; among them is a beautiful head of a young Faun, in a Phrygian bonnet, placed (by no very un⯑common miſtake) on a female body, which it never owned.

ONE of the Cornelii, with meagre face and lank hair. Au⯑guſtus. A Seleucus, with two wings faſtened to an imperial [65] diadem, ſymbols of diſpatch and expedition. Two heads of old men, one with ſhort curled hair, and long rounded beard; the other with a long ſquare beard, and long flowing hair. Both have a fillet round the head. Neither of theſe are determined. One is conjectured to have been Heſiod; the other Hippocrates.

THIS room is in length thirty-five feet three inches; in breadth twenty feet, from the hollow of the bow-window to the fire-place.

IN paſſing out of this apartment to the great ſtairs is the entrance into a ſmall and darkſome room, mentioned only for the ſake of a picture of a hound bitch, moſt enormouſly fat, doing great credit to the houſe: as another, I am in poſſeſſion of, did to that of Bychton.

THE dining-room is above the parlor.DINING-ROOM. The dimenſions are very ſingular, exceeding in breadth thoſe of the room below about nine inches. On an antient table, made out of one plank (of ſome unknown wood) ſeven feet ten inches in length, and four feet ten in breadth, ſtands a moſt exquiſite buſt of the elder Brutus, BUST OF THE ELDER BRUTUS; which ſeems as if formed in the inſtant that the love of his country got the better of paternal affection; when with a ſteady voice he was delivering to the lictors his Titus and Tiberius, to receive the reward of their treaſons.

ON a glaſs caſe are two buſts in brown alabaſter,OF TWO FAUNS. of a male and female Faun, with the flammeum on their heads. Both are of hideous deformity, but well executed. In the caſe beneath is a very fine model of a man of war of ſixty-four guns:MODEL OF A MAN OF WAR. and beneath that a moſt ſplendid barge. I ſhould have mentioned, that, between the Fauns, is alſo a model of the Edyſtone light-houſe,EDYSTONE. which was burnt down in the year 1755, and ſucceeded by the preſent, the work of our able engineer the late Mr. Smeaton.

[66] PAINTING OF ST. CATHERINE.ON the left hand of this caſe is a moſt charming painting by Leonardo da Vinci, of St. Catherine. The wheel is placed by her, and in her hand is a palm-branch, the ſymbol of martyrdom. Moreri, and the moderate catholic writers, ſeem to be incredu⯑lous, equally with myſelf, as to her hiſtory. The Golden Legend, that flower of martyrologies, is ſuperior to all doubts. She was daughter to king Coſtus, married to our Saviour, and martyred by a wheel ſtuck with razors, under the tyrant Maxentius. The wheel burſt to pieces, and at once killed four thouſand Paynims who attended the execution. Both theſe ſubjects have furniſhed moſt delightful pictures for the beſt maſters. (See more of her in my Outlines of the Globe—Arabia, vol. x. p. 23.)

THE SU [...]ER AT EMAUS.OVER the chimney-piece is a good picture by one of the Baſſans, of the ſupper at Emaus, filled with pots and kettles, and all the characteriſtic culinary furniture of thoſe famous artiſts.

TWO CAVERNS.TWO very good pieces, I imagine of the interior of ſome great quarries, vaſt caverns, with pillars of ſtone left to ſupport the roof. Similar to thoſe are the caves of Cauſſie, in the county of Banff, in North Britain, drawn by my much-lamented protège, the late Mr. Cordiner, (ſee Introduction to the Arctic Zoology, tab. i.) and ſuch as thoſe engraven by Le Bruyn (ii. p. 189. tab. 250, 251, of the Engliſh edition) which he ſaw on the Wo⯑logda, in the province of the ſame name.

DANIEL EARL OF NOTTINGHAM.THE family portraits ſhall be mentioned as they are placed. At the upper end of the room is Daniel, ſecond earl of Notting⯑ham, ſitting in his robes, with a moſt enormous black wig, flow⯑ing on each ſide, almoſt to his waiſt; his complexion ſuitably ſwarthy.

[67]THIS noble peer was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller, and was one of the few pictures which that unprincipled painter, as Mr. Walpole ſays, would not gladly have diſowned the moment it was paid for. The earl of Nottingham was, as Dalrymple repre⯑ſents him to have been, moſt vehement in his political principles, both in church and ſtate, ſo that he could hereby not live in charity with thoſe who differed from him. He undertook the defence of the former againſt the attack made upon it by the famous Whiſton, in a letter in 1719, addreſſed to his lordſhip, which the earl anſwered; for which his lordſhip received from the univer⯑ſity of Oxford, in full convocation, its ſolemn thanks, for his noble defence of the Chriſtian faith. He died January 1, 1729-30. His zeal (as Mr. Walpole obſerves) cauſed him during life to ſuffer many aſperſions. In all probability the following may have been one: a ſtanza in the tranſlation of the 4th Epiſtle, lib. ii. of Horace, Ne ſit ancillae tibi amor pudori, by the Earl of to the Earl of S.

HIS ſecond lady, Anne, only daughter of William, HIS COUNTESS. the laſt viſcount Hatton, is the next portrait, ſitting, and dreſſed in white. According to Collins, ſhe was a moſt profitable veſſel, for ſhe had five ſons and eight daughters, beſides ten other children who died young, and ſeven who were ſtill-born.

[68] LADY ESSEX MOSTYN.LADY Eſſex, her eldeſt daughter, in blue, ſitting without a cap. One lock graces her neck. She was married to Sir Roger Moſtyn, the third baronet. There is a good mezzotinto print of her, by John Smith, from a different portrait, by Kneller. The painter has placed her on a bank, in a rural ſcene, with flowers in her hands.

THE ſecond daughter, lady Charlotte, married to Charles Seymour, duke of Somerſet, in yellow, ſitting.

Mary, counteſs of Thanet, in white, ſitting, married to Sack⯑ville Tufton, earl of Thanet.

Dorothy, counteſs of Burlington, wife to the late Richard Boyle, earl of Burlington. She is in the character of Diana, in white, walking, with a ſpear in her hand.

THOSE two ladies were ſiſters, daughters to William Saville, marquis of Halifax, by his ſecond wife, Mary, only daughter of the pious earl above mentioned, by his firſt wife, lady Eſſex Rich, one of the daughters and coheirs of Robert Rich, earl of Warwick.

SIR ROGER MOSTYN.SIR Roger Moſtyn, grandfather to the preſent baronet. He was pay-maſter of the marines, in the reign of Queen Anne, and one of the tellers of the exchequer in that of George I. He died on May 5th, 1739.

LATE SIR THO⯑MAS MOSTYN.THE late Sir Thomas Moſtyn, and the general John Moſtyn, painted when they were children of ſeven or eight years of age, in one piece. Sir Thomas is dreſſed in a blue ſilver-laced ſuit. His younger brother habited exactly like a girl, in ſtays, a frock, and an apron, with his neck naked: too ridiculous to be attempted by the artiſt, or permitted by the parents.

[69] Savage Moſtyn, afterward admiral Moſtyn. ADMIRAL MOS⯑TYN. His is a very good and ſpirited portrait. It was painted when he was a lieutenant: his hand reſts on a cannon, the ſea and ſhipping in view. His dreſs a red ſhort waiſtcoat, a colored handkerchief round his neck, and a colored worſted night-cap, ſitting lightly on his well-ſhaven head. There is a neat etching of this portrait, by Worlidge. It is ſaid that he firſt introduced the uniform into the navy. He died in 1757.

Algernon Percy, earl of Northumberland. EARL OF NORTH⯑UMBERLAND. That nobleman was not bred to the ſea, yet in 1636 was employed by his majeſty, with a fleet of ſixty ſail, to drive away the Dutch (Kennet, iii. 78.) who would perſiſt in fiſhing on our coaſts. When his lordſhip ſound them indiſpoſed to comply, he took ſome, ſunk others, and drove the reſt away. Soon after which the States were glad to ſubmit to pay the ſum of thirty thouſand pounds for permiſ⯑ſion to continue their fiſheries. In the next year the earl was conſtituted lord high admiral of England. Lord Clarendon ſpeaks of him when he was appointed privy counſel, as if it was done for ornament! He took, in the conſequent troubles, a part adverſe to the king. But in 1648, he voted that his majeſty's conceſſions were ſufficient grounds for ſettling the peace of the kingdom. The army ſoon ſettled that affair. His lordſhip retired from the tyranny of the times, became one of the inſtru⯑ments of the Reſtoration, and died in 1668.

HE is painted as lord high admiral, ſitting (a half-length) with one hand on an anchor, with the view of the deſtroying the buſſes at a diſtance.

[70]A BEAUTIFUL ſmall full-length on board, of a very young lady, in the dreſs of the time of Vandyk. The figure is in height only ſeven inches. It is beautifully copied in oil, after that great maſter, probably by Ruſſel, who is mentioned by the noble author of the Anecdotes of Painting, vol. ii. p. 6.

CHARLES I. AND QUEEN. PROFILES.TWO beautiful half-length portraits of Charles I. and his beau⯑teous queen, both profiles, finely painted. They are called Vandyk's, but I ſuſpect the artiſt. Charles in black, with one hand playing with his ribbon. Henrietta is in white, lightly hold⯑ing her mantle.

CHARLES I. AND QUEEN.THERE is beſides the ſame royal pair in one piece, three-quar⯑ters length, ſmall, evidently by Vandyk. The king is in a light red jacket, laced with ſilver; ſhe in white, a favorite dreſs with her majeſty, and preſenting to him a wreath of laurel. She ap⯑pears pregnant. They are charmingly painted. The dreſs of the king is the ſame as the portrait I mentioned at p. 19, only mine is red, laced with gold.

BEAUTIES OF CHARLES II.DISPERSED in different rooms are twelve ſmall heads of Charles II. and his beauties.

ARMS IN STAINED GL [...].IN the windows of the dining-room are ſeveral honorary me⯑morials of alliances, or of great men, friends of the family, per⯑petuated by their coats of arms in ſtained glaſs.

SIR ORLANDO BRIDGEMAN.THE firſt is of Sir Orlando Bridgeman, a perſon eminent for his piety and charity, in the reign of Charles I. and his ſucceſſor. He was employed on the part of the king as one of the com⯑miſſioners at the treaty of Uxbridge, but fell under ſome cenſure in ſhewing a diſpoſition to make conceſſions in church affairs, [71] which were diſagreeable to his majeſty. Yet lord Clarendon, in his own Life, i. 176. attributes them more to a timidity of diſpoſition than to any ill deſign. At the Reſtoration he was ſucceſſively made chief baron of the exchequer, chief juſtice of the common pleas; and at length lord-keeper of the great ſeals. He ended his days in 1674.

THE arms of Cadifod ap Dyfnwal, quartered with ſeveral coats of arms of the great men in South Wales.

James earl of Derby, his arms quartered with thoſe of his gallant Charlotte de la Tremouille.

SIR Thomas Savage, baronet, afterwards created viſcount Sa⯑vage, by James I.; and in 1639, on the death of his father-in-law lord Darcie, viſcount Colcheſter, became earl Rivers.

ARMS of the Moſtyns and Wynnes of Gwydir.

THE Groſvenours and Moſtyns, in memory of the marriage of Sydney Moſtyn, eldeſt daughter of the old Sir Roger Moſtyn, with Sir Richard Groſvenour, of Eyton, baronet.

Moſtyn and Whitelock, occaſioned by the marriage of Sir Thomas Moſtyn, of Kilken, knight, eldeſt ſon of the old Sir Roger Moſtyn, with Elizabeth, eldeſt daughter of Sir James Whitelock, knight, one of the puiſne judges of the king's bench in 1620, and ſiſter to the famous hiſtorian.

Francis earl of Bedford.

Thomas Egerton, baron Elleſmere. See his origin in my Tour in Wales, vol. i. p. 109.

John Williams, biſhop of Lincoln. Theſe arms have, quartered with his own, thoſe of the ſee of Lincoln, which ſhew that they muſt have been put up before he was removed to the ſee of [72] York, in 1641. Probably all the others were put up at the ſame time.

PORTH-MAWR.IN 1570 William Moſton (for till the time of his ſon, Sir Thomas Moſtyn, knight, that was the manner in which the name was ſpelt) meditated a deſign of building a new houſe. By what he executed it appears to have been planned in form of a quadrangle, the old houſe to have been rebuilt, and to have formed the centre, the other three ſides to have been the offices. He finiſhed only one, which from the great gate-way in the middle bears to this day the name of Porth mawr.

THE date is expreſſed in this manner: ANNO MUNDI 5552. W. M. 1570. If I may compare ſmall things with great, my houſe at Bychton was rebuilt, and my houſe at Merton Uchlan was alſo built in the ſame year; ſo it ſeems to have been an improving age.

LIBRARY.AT one end of this building is the library, a room moſt un⯑worthy of the valuable collection of manuſcripts and books it contains. Few, if any, can boaſt of the number or beauty of the firſt, eſpecially the illuminated; and I ſuſpect that the num⯑ber, rarity, and value of the antient claſſics, medallic hiſtories, gems, and variety of every ſpecies of polite literature, is without parallel. They are of the ſcarceſt editions, and printed by the moſt eſteemed printers. I am indebted to Mr. Edward Clarke, A. M. of Jeſus college, Cambridge, for a ſelect catalogue of the moſt valuable manuſcripts and books. The articles mentioned are attended with our joint notes; but my ſhare muſt candidly be confeſſed to have been the ſmalleſt. Mr. Clarke may be ſaid to be a ſcholar, ex traduce. His mother [73] was daughter to the Rev. Dr. William Wotton, famous for having given a tranſlation of the laws of Howel Dda. His grandfather, WILLIAM CLARKE, M. A. was ſtill more eminent. He aſſiſted Wotton in his labors, by a moſt learned and elegant Latin preface to the Leges Wallicae. But his name will be for ever delivered to poſterity for his celebrated treatiſe, The Connection of the Roman, Saxon, and Engliſh Coins, printed in 1767, by his friend Mr. William Bowyer. Neither muſt I be ſilent in reſpect to Mr. Clarke's father, who favored the world with a very ingenious ac⯑count of Spain, where he had reſided ſome time under the patro⯑nage of the earl of Briſtol, the Britiſh miniſter at the court of Madrid.

THE late Sir Thomas Moſtyn may be ſaid to have been the founder of the library. In the old catalogue (for Mr. Clarke has formed a moſt complete new one) is written, in Sir Thomas's own hand, the following very unneceſſary apology: Satius eſt etioſum eſſe quam nihil agere!

AT Gloddaeth is another large library,GLODDAETH LIBRARY. conſiſting chiefly of old Engliſh hiſtory, and very valuable Welſh MSS. collected by Sir Roger Moſtyn, grandfather to the preſent baronet.

HISTORY OF HOLYWELL PARISH.

AT Avon-marſh Siambr, (ſee p. 52.) we quit the pariſh of Whiteford, and enter the townſhip of Greenfield, in the pariſh of Holywell, along a moſt excellent road. On the left is a continuation of the marſh. Above which is a low cliff, of the ſame nature as thoſe which front the ſhore of the pariſh of Whiteford.

LET me preface this little hiſtory with ſaying that Avon Marſh Siambr is ſix miles diſtant from the rill which divides Holywell pariſh from that of Flint; that its greateſt breadth is three miles from the turnpike road in Greenfield, to the borders of the pariſh of Skyviog; TOWNSHIPS. and that the pariſh conſiſts of the town⯑ſhips of Holywell, Greenfield, Bagillt Vawr and Vechan, Whel⯑ſton, Coleſhill Vawr and Vechan, Brynfordd, and Calcoed. Its [186] boundaries on the eaſt are Flint, and part of Northop pariſhes; on the eaſt Halkin; on the ſouth-eaſt Skyviog; on the weſt Whiteford; and on the north the eſtuary of the river Dee.

S [...]ABOVE Avon-marſh Siambr, on the riſing ground, ſtands S [...]cky [...], a ſmall houſe, which, with the eſtate belonging to it, has been of late years purchaſed by James Potts, publican in Holywell, and the houſe much improved. It originally belonged to a Moſtyn, a younger branch of the Moſtyns of Trelacre; T. M. ſigni⯑fying the name of Thomas Moſtyn, cut above the arms on the mo⯑nument. A daughter of this gentleman, or one of his deſcendants, and heireſs of the place, transferred the eſtate into the very antient family of the Blounts, of Orlton, in the county of Hereford, and with them it remained till the purchaſe by the preſent poſſeſſor.

RIVER DEE COMPANY.THE rights of the freeholders over the marſh extend a certain way to the eaſt. Theſe were ſettled by commiſſioners, in the year 1787, and a plan made, aſſerting the clames, as well of the freeholders, as of the River Dee Company. Theſe were founded on acts of parlement, originating in the years 1732 and the fol⯑lowing, from that of the 11th and 12th of William III. entitled, ‘An act to enable the mayor and citizens of Cheſter to recover and preſerve the navigation of the river Dee.’ It is poſſible that Mr. Andrew Yarrenton might be the primary cauſe of the improvements, by a ſurvey he had made, in the year 1674, of the river Dee and its eſtuary.—I refer my reader to the account I have given, at p. 200 of my Welſh Tour, vol. i. for farther particulars.

THE other acts were paſſed in the years 1740, 1742, and 1752, and the works were begun with vigor. The project was carried on by ſubſcription; and the adventurers were to be [187] rewarded by the lands they were empowered to gain on both ſides, from the White Sands, or the ſea from Cheſter; and between the county of Cheſhire, on the north ſide, and the county of Flint on the ſouth ſide; being ſands, ſoil, and ground not bearing graſs. The tract, as appears by the chart attending the award made in 1787, and preſerved among the records by the clerk of the peace for the county of Flint, terminate on our ſide at the Point of Air, in the pariſh of Llanaſaph: on the Cheſhire ſide at the Little Meels, at the extremity of the hundred of Wiral.

THE adventurers in the River Dee Company have gained a conſiderable quantity of land from the ravages of the ſea, be⯑ginning from the walls of the city of Cheſter, and extending above five miles, even beyond the lower ferry.

THE report of the quantity of embanked land made from the beginning, by the River Dee Company and others (according as it is made to me by Mr. Wedge, agent to the company) is as follows:

MR. WEDGE informs me that the graſs which is found to an⯑ſwer beſt in theſe ſandy incloſures is medicago ſativa, Lucerne. LUCERNE GRASS. It [188] will not however grow to any perfection on land where there is not a depth of at leſt two feet of dry ſand or ſoil beneath the ſurface, and ſucceeds (like moſt other graſſ [...]) in proportion to the quality of the ſoil. All kinds of ſtock are [...] of it; it is of a very feeding nature, and is both grazed [...] [...]rveſted. Cloſe grazing will deſtroy it; but if properly attended to, and aſſiſted with manure about every f [...] ye [...]r, the plants will continue ſtrong for upwards of thirty years. It may be grazed (ſparingly) with ſafety in the ſpring, until the firſt week in May, and alſo in autumn, in the months of October and November, after the ſecond crop is out. The hay, being of a dying nature, ſeems to be much better adapted for feeding ſtock, than either for horſes or milking cows. I know no kind of hay that ſtock will feed faſter upon than Lucerne, if it is well har⯑veſted; as graſs, it will anſwer beſt for ſoiling ſtock, when houſed.

LAST E [...]BANK⯑MENT.NO attempts to embank were made farther to the weſt, till the ſummer of 1794, when about forty ſtatute acres were incloſed by the ſame company, on the white ſands bordering on Green⯑field marſh. Early in the next winter a fierce tide deſtroyed part of the embankment: but it now ſeems to be reſtored in the moſt effectual manner ^*.

PROJECTS.NEAR the extremity of this marſh the turnpike gates croſs the roads leading to Flint and Holywell. A grand and beneficial [189] project was ſome years ago formed, of making two canals. The one to be carried over the marſh (aſſiſted by the Holywell ſtream) down to or near the perch or anchoring-ground; with a lock ca⯑pable of receiving veſſels of a hundred tons burden.

ANOTHER canal was deſigned to have branched from this eaſtward as far as Pentre r [...]k, near Flint-caſtle, for the purpoſe of carrying the coal which was or may be diſcovered on that tract, either to the various mineral works, or into the lock for exportation. I truſt, if ever the plan is reſumed, that it may ex⯑tend a little farther, to the collieries belonging to Sir Roger Moſtyn and myſelf, and others which may be diſcovered here⯑after. Nor ſee we any reaſon for our excluſion by ſo impolitic a partiality! The more choice of ſhops, the cheaper the goods. Both of the plans were taken by the able engineer, Mr. William Jeſſop, in the year 1785, and declared to be practicable. The expence indeed would have been very great; but alas! the aſpect of the times forbids us to flatter ourſelves with the reſumption of the great deſign.

THE Mark, or place where the veſſels lie to receive or diſcharge their lading, is about two miles from the turnpike gate.THE MARK. The channel of the Holywell river is to be ſeen at low water meandring to it, and might prove a uſeful means of improving the commerce of the country. At preſent the veſſels muſt, on the receſs of the tide, lie dry, and in hard gales, before they get afloat, are ſubject to much danger. The ſands alſo ſhift, and make the Mark or an⯑choring-ground often precarious.

THE River Dee Company have power to incloſe as far as the channel of the Dee, which in Holywell pariſh is ſuppoſed to extend [190] as far as three miles from the turnpike road. In a late act of parlement for aſcertaining the rights of the pariſh, and thoſe of the company, in the ſpring of 1791, the agents for the company, after the act to confirm a line of boundary between the property of the company and the part of the marſh which was common, had been twice read, introduced clauſes to render their pro⯑perty extra-parochial, and conſequently to exempt the occu⯑piers from contributing to the church and poor, and other parochial rates of Holywell, Whiteford, or any pariſhes concerned; and alſo to exempt future houſeholders from being liable to execute any offices within thoſe pariſhes; and at the expence of others, artfully attempting to exonerate their tenants from bearing any part of the burdens. But the deſign was diſcovered, and the offenſive clauſe omitted.

THE company have obtained a grant of all their lands from the pariſh of Hawarden to that of Whiteford, under the follow⯑ing circumſtances: ‘Lands derelict by the ſea belong to his prerogative; and being conſequently extra-parochial, the tythes are due to the king; and if he grants them, his patentee ſhall have them.’ Such is the opinion of Sir John Comyns, as conveyed to me by the favor of Edward Jones, eſquire, of Wepre hall.

WAT'S DIKE.ON paſſing the turnpike gate, a ſmall walk brings us to the ſite of the abby and caſtle of Baſingwerk, a place of importance in the wars between the Engliſh and Welſh. The land towards the ſea is ſteeply ſloped. The weſt ſide was protected by a deep gully, formed by the river. The ſouth eaſt by the vaſt ditch, which had hitherto been miſtaken for that made by Oſſa, king [191] of the Mercians. I owe the detection of the error to Mr. John Evans, of Llwyn y Groes, who proves it to b [...] one termination of another ſtupendous work of the ſame kind, called Wat's Dike, which appears by his ma [...]nificent map of NORTH WALES, pub⯑liſhed this year, to have firſt become viſible near Maeſbury mill, in Oſweſtry pariſh, where it is loſt in moraſſy ground; from thence it takes a northern direction to Hên ddinas, and by Pentre'r Clawdd, to Gobowen, the ſite of a ſmall ſort, called Bryn y Caſtell, in the pariſh of Whittington: then croſſes Prys Henlle Common, in the pariſh of St. Martin; goes over the Ceir [...]g, between Brynkinallt and Pont y Blew forge, and the Dee below Nant y Bela; from whence it paſſes through Wynnſtay Park, by another Pentre 'r Clawdd, or townſhip on the ditch, to ERDDIG, the ſeat of Philip Yorke, eſq where there was another ſtrong fort on its courſe: from Erddig it goes above Wrexham, near Melin Puleſton, by Dolydd, Maeſgwyn, Rhôs ddu, Croes oneiras, Mr. Shakerley's Gwerſyllt; croſſes the Alun, and through the townſhip of Llai, to Rhydin, in the county of Flint; above which is Caereſtyn, a Britiſh poſt: from hence it runs by Hope church, along the ſide of Moleſdale, which it quits towards the lower part, and turns to Mynydd Lychdyn, Monachlog near Northop, by Northop mills, Bryn-moel, Coed y llys, Nant y Flint, Cefn y Coed, through the Strand fields near Holywell, to its ter⯑mination below the abby of Baſingwerk. I have been thus mi⯑nute in giving its courſe, becauſe it is ſo often confounded with Offa's ditch, which attends the former at unequal diſtances, from five hundred yards to three miles, till the latter is totally loſt.

IT is obſervable, that there are numbers of ſmall artificial mounts, the ſites of ſmall forts, in many places along its courſe, [192] as well as that of Offa's. Theſe were garriſoned, and ſeem in⯑tended for the ſame purpoſes as the towers in the famous Chineſe wall, to watch the motions of neighbors, and to repel any hoſtile incurſions.

IT is remarkable that Wat's dike ſhould have been overlooked, or confounded with that of Offa, by all writers except by Thomas Churchyard the poet, who aſſigns the object of the work: that the ſpace intervening between the two was free ground, where the Britons and Saxons might meet with ſafety for all commercial purpoſes.

B [...]INGWERK CASTLE.VESTICES of the fortreſs appear in the foundation of a wall on the edge of the ditch, and on the road ſide, near the turnpike gate, oppoſite to the ruins of the abby. Lord Lytteiton ^* ſays, that the founder was an earl of Cheſter. I imagine that it muſt have been Richard, ſon of Hugh Lupus, and ſecond earl of Cheſter, and that the abby was fortified by reaſon of a danger he had incurred near the abby: for even religious [...]tutions had no exemption, tempore neceſſitatis, l [...]lli [...]citum eſt, hoſpitari et in caſtellari in eccleſia ^†.

THE firſt notice I find of it is in the life of St. Werburg, by Bra [...]ſ [...]aw; who informs us, that Richard, on his return out of Normandy, where he had been educated, began his reign with an act of piety. He attempted, in 1119, a pilgrimage to the well of St. Wene [...]rede; but, either in going or returning, was attacked by the Welſh, and obliged to take ſhelter in Baſingwerk. He applied to St. W [...]burg for relief; who miraculouſly raiſed certain ſands between Flintſhire and Wiral, and thus gave means [193] to his conſtable to paſs to his aſſiſtance: which ſands, from that time, were called the Conſtable's Sands. Bradſhaw ſtyles the place of his retreat an abby; a proof that here had been a re⯑ligious community before the time uſually aſſigned for the foun⯑dation of this houſe. I muſt alſo draw from Lord Lyttelton's au⯑thority (for I can find no other) that this caſtle was demoliſhed by the Welſh in the reign of Stephen ^*.

HENRY II. in 1157, after his eſcape from the ambuſcade of Eulo, left Baſingwerk reſtored, well fortified, and manned ^†, in order to ſecure a retreat on any future diſaſter. He did the ſame by the caſtle of Ruddlan. In his days the inland parts of our county were a dangerous wild of foreſt. After his defeat he never truſted himſelf among our woods; but made his marches along the open ſhores.

THE ſame monarch left another ſpecies of garriſon ^‡; for he eſtabliſhed here a houſe of knights templars, a military order introduced into England in the preceding reign. They were firſt inſtituted in the Holy Land for the protection of pilgrims; and poſſibly Henry might have the ſame in view in fixing them here, to ſecure the Engliſh devotees in performing their vows to our neighboring ſaint, who ſeems about this time to have come into reputation. It is ſingular, that theſe religious knights were allowed at their inſtitution only one horſe between two; yet ſo greatly did they flouriſh, that about the year 1240, or a hundred and fifty years after their inſtitution, the order had acquired, in different parts of Chriſtendom, nineteen thouſand manors.

THIS caſtle was but of very ſhort duration; for in 1165, the gallant prince Owen Gwynedd laid ſiege to it, took ^‖ and levelled [194] it to the ground; after which the name occurs no more as a fortreſs. I think at this period it belonged to Hugh de Bello Campo, or Beauchamp, on whom this and Ruddlan caſtle had been beſtowed by the Engliſh monarch ^*.

ABBY.THE abby ^†, of which there are ſome conſiderable remains, was founded in 1131 (according to the opinion of Biſhop Tanner) by Randal the ſecond earl of Cheſter: according to Biſhop Fleet⯑wood, by Henry II. For my part, I believe it to be of greater antiquity; but do not pretend to derive its origin. No light into the matter can be collected from the charters preſerved by Sir William Dugdale. There are three of them, either ſerving to confirm the antient donations, or confer new: in each is mention of the earl as a benefactor; but there is not the leſt hint of his having been the founder. I muſt attribute that honor to one of the princes of Wales; for both Lhewelyn ap Jor⯑werth, and his ſon David, in their reſpective charters recite, that they give and confirm the ſeveral donations to GOD, St. Mary, the monaſtery of Baſingwerk, and the monks, which had been beſtowed on them by their predeceſſors for the ſalvation of their ſouls.

RANDAL was certainly a great benefactor; for it appears, that before his days the monks had only a chapel here. From that period it became conſiderable; and about that time part of the preſent buildings were erected, for the conveniency of its inhabi⯑tants, who were of the Ciſtercian order.

[195]GIRALDUS calls it cellula de Baſingwerk ^*. He lodged here a night in the train of Archbiſhop Baldwyn, on his progreſs through Wales to preach the cruſade. He took with him our eloquent countryman, on account of his ſkill in the Welſh lan⯑guage.

THE architecture is mixed. Here appears what is called Saxon; having the round arches and ſhort columns in ſome parts; and the Gothic narrow ſlips of high-pointed win lows in others. The firſt ſpecies had not fallen out of uſe, and the laſt was coming into faſhion, in the days of the firſt great benefactor.

THE church lay on the eaſt ſide; but is now almoſt deſtroyed. The refectory is pretty entire; and on one ſide has a great receſs, with two round arches. The pillars which ſupport them are very curious, formed of circular ſtones of the form of cheeſes, ſet cloſe one upon the other.

ABOVE were the cells for the lodgings of the monks, with a ſmall window to each.

THE chapel of the knights templars is a ſpacious building. The windows are long, narrow, and pointed; the pilaſters be⯑tween them on the inſide ſlender and elegant.

WHATEVER monuments or inſcriptions might have been in the church, are totally deſtroyed, unleſs that which may be found in one of the out-houſes. It preſerves the memory of a pious emigrant of the laſt century, George, youngeſt and eighth ſon of William ſecond Lord Petre, who, plagued with the fanatical per⯑ſecutions in the reign of Charles I. quitted his country, died at [196] Wexford, and was brought to Baſingwerk for interment. The following is the inſcription:

THERE are ſome remains of offices, uſed at preſent by a tanner. Within leſs than fifty years, much of the habitable part was ſtanding; and ſometimes uſed by the worthy family, the [197] Moſtyns of Trelacre. A lady of the family now living was born within theſe walls.

GREENFIELD HOUSE,GREENFIELD HOUSE. which was built by that worthy friend of mine, the late relict of Sir George Moſtyn, baronet, of Tre⯑lacre, was built as a dower-houſe for her, and the widows of the family. It is a neat brick houſe on the weſt ſide of the turnpike road, oppoſite to the ruins of the abby, commanding a fine view of the eſtuary, and the Cheſhire ſhore. It is at preſent in the hands of the great copper companies, being leaſed to them with part of the ſtream on which their works ſtand.

DURING the preparations for the conqueſt of Wales by Ed⯑ward I. the abby was under the protection of the Engliſh. There are extant two orders for the purpoſe, providing that they had no commerce with what are ſtyled the Welſh rebels ^*. I imagine that the convent was firmly attached to the victor; for I have been informed that there are, among the liſts of ſummons in the Tower, writs for calling the abbot to parlement, in the 23d, 24th, 28th, 32d, and 34th of Edward I.

ACCORDING to the valuation of its revenues in 1534, the groſs ſum at the diſſolution was, according to Dugdale, 150 l. 7 s. 3 d.; to Speed, 157 l. 15 s. 2 d. In 1553, there remained in charge 4 l. in annuities ^†.

THE particular endowments, as I collect from Dugdale ^‡, were theſe: Henry III. by charter, grants and confirms ten librates in Longenedale in Derbyſhire, with the church of Gloſſope, [198] and all its appertenances, to be held by them as freely as William Peverel held the ſame in the time of Henry his grand⯑father. The ſame charter confirms the donations of Ranulph earl of Cheſter, and other barons, viz. Holywell, Fulbrook, the chapel of Baſingwerk, the antient reſidence of the monks, with the mills and their appertenances; likewiſe Holes, and a moiety of Leeche, and one hundred ſhillings of the revenues of Cheſter, the gift of the ſaid earl. Calders with its inhabitants, and finally, Kethlenedei, the gift of Robert Banaſtre.

LHEWELYN AP JORWERTH, prince of Wales, and cotemporary with Henry III. confirms all the donations of his anceſtors; particularly the ſite of their houſe, the mill before their gate, and the land before their doors; which laſt was granted to them by Ranulphus, and his brother Aeneas. The ſame grant gives them alſo the land of Meredeth Wawor, in Holywell; Ful⯑brook; a community of paſturage on the mountains; Hanot de le Wecch, and Creicgraft, with all their appertenances. His ſon and ſucceſſor, David ap Lhewelyn, by another charter, confirms the donations of his father, and adds the lands of Huttred, brother to Meredeth Wawor of Holywell; the church of Holywell, and the chapel of Colſul; and the land and paſturage of Gelli, before granted by his father. He likewiſe empowers them to buy and ſell every thing toll-free in all his territories, for the uſe of their houſe. Alſo, the fifth pan of the fiſh taken in his fiſheries at Ruddlan; and the tenth of the fiſh belonging to him in other parts. He confirms to them all the village of Wenhewm, with all its inhabitants and appertenances, being the gift of Howen de Porkenton, and confirmed by Helyſo. He at the ſame [199] time confirms the lands and paſturage in Penthlin, the gift of his father.

DAVID alſo beſtowed on the monks of Baſingwerk, Folebroc, Feilebroc, or as it is now called Fulbrock, ſeated near the weſtern extremity of the pariſh; which is mentioned in the confirmation of the grant to that convent by Henry II. and again in the confirma⯑tion of the charters renewed to it by Llewellyn ap Jorwerth and his ſon. The monks had a grainge on theſe lands, and right of paſturage on the mountain, in common with the neighboring in⯑habitants ^*. The Grange is at preſent a farm-houſe, the property of Sir Pyers Moſtyn, and ſtill retains its antient name.

THIS charter is dated from Coleſhill in 1240, and witneſſed by Hugh biſhop of St. Aſaph, and his chancellor, the famous Ednyfed Vychan, and others.

TANNER ^† mentions the tithes of Blackbrook, and the wood of Langdon; lands in Chancleſworth; the manor of Weſt Kirkby in Cheſhire; the ſilver mine near Baſingwerk; free warren in Gethli, Menegrange, Ouregrange, Beggerburgh, and Holywell.

THE abby alſo was poſſeſſed of the hoſpital or chapel of Sponne near Coventry, which had been originally founded by Hugh Cevei⯑lioc earl of Cheſter, who probably beſtowed it on theſe monks ^‡.

THE revenues of the abbot amounted in the whole, reck⯑oning thoſe ariſing from the mills, lands, cows, and ſheep, to 46 l. 11 s.

IN the grant to the abby of Baſingwerk, of the lands in the Peak of Derbyſhire, there is a clauſe reſerving the veniſon to the [200] king, with the conſent of the abbot and convent; for the pre⯑ſervation of which two foreſters were appointed by the king: but the grantees were allowed to kill hares, [...]e, and wolves ^*.

IN 1540, the houſe and lands in the neighborhood were granted to Henry ap Harry, of the tribe of Ednowain Bendew; whoſe only daughter Anne, by her marriage with William Moſtyn, eſquire, of Trelacre, conveyed it into that family, in which it now remains.

I CANNOT recover the names of any more than two of the abbots. Thomas ap Dafydd Pennant preſided over the houſe in the time of Guttun Owain, a bard who flouriſhed in the year 1480. Beſide that, and another eulogiſt mentioned in p. 34, I may add a third, viz. Thomas ap Rhys ap Howel, of Stokyn, who pub⯑liſhed an awdl or ode in his praiſe. It is to be found in the Se⯑bright Collection, vol. i. p. 37. among a collection of poems and prophecies delivered by the bard when the awen, or furor poeticus, had full poſſeſſion of him.

I SHALL not here repeat what I have ſaid of this celebrated abbot, in pp. 33, 34, but refer to them for his hiſtory. I ſhall only add here, that the ruins of a noble oak, ſtill to be ſeen near the remains of the abby, is ſuppoſed to have been his co⯑temporary.

I HAVE ſpoken of his ſon and ſucceſſor Nicholas, at pp. 24, 34; and ſhall again, in the article Bagillt, reſume the ſubject.

THE whole road from the abby to St. Wenefrede's well, is moſt remarkably pictureſque, along a narrow but deep valley, bounded [201] on one ſide by hanging woods. In former times the ſacred ſtream hurried to the ſea unconfined by the buſy manufactures. During the reign of pilgrimages nothing but the corn-mills, the property of the monks, found employ for its waters.

BEFORE I advance up the valley, let me obſerve, that notwith⯑ſtanding it has the common cauſes of health, a rapid ſtream, and the greateſt part of the year a briſk wind (uſually from weſt to eaſt) yet it is viſited with the uſual diſeaſes of the country, in a degree even greater than other parts; nor has the angina maligna, hereafter to be ſpoken of, ſpared the children of this little tract.

COMMERCE found its way to the valley about fifty years ago.WHITE AND RED LEAD WORKS. I can remember the building of the works of white and of red lead under the conduct of Meſſrs. Smedley. But prior to theſe, a little above, was a tilting-mill, and an iron-wire mill.IRON-WIRE MILL. The firſt leſſees were Hart and Co. from Yorkſhire. They were ſuc⯑ceeded by Mr. Barker and Sir James Creed, who erected a new one on the lower part of the ſtream. On Mr. Barker's death the remainder of the term was purchaſed by Mr. John Norman and Mr. Rouben Chambers. Under a new leafe Mr. John Chambers converted the old mill into a ſteel-wire-mill; before which his mo⯑ther uſed it for a warehouſe for a coarſe-paper-mill.PAPER MILLS. The Parys mine company ſucceeded to both the premiſes, and covered them with their important edifices.

IT muſt be obſerved, that the antient corn-mills, belonging to the abby, ſtood where the paper-mill was, the molendina quae juxta portam abbatiae habent ^*.

[202] SNUFF MILLSON this ſtream had been three ſnuff-mills; the oldeſt was occu⯑pied by Mr. Edward Jones, tobacconiſt, now living. It joined the old and uppermoſt corn-mill. It was taken down by the cotton company, who on the ſite built part of the new corn-mill, near the Holywell ſpring.

PETER PARRY, tobacconiſt, had two ſnuff-mills, one on the land of John Pierce, joiner, deceaſed, a little below the creſcent cotton-mill. It was purchaſed by the braſs battering-mill com⯑pany, for the ſake of giving their pool a little greater depth of water, which built another for Peter Parry, below their braſs-works.

OLD SMELTING-WORK.AN antient ſmelting-work ſtood in my memory on the ſite of the old cotton-mill, and part of the garden. They were erected before the year 1733, by leaſe from Roger Pennant, eſq of Bagillt. I do not recollect the names of the leſſees, but the com⯑pany was known by that of Madam Kaye and Co. The ſmoke did ſuch injury to the fine woods belonging to Sir George Moſtyn, of Trelacre, bart. as to occaſion many law-ſuits between Sir George and the company; ſo that there enſued a total ceſſation of the ſmelting-trade in theſe works. Whether the ſuit came to a deciſion, does not appear. The ſuit muſt have commenced before March 26th, 1733, from which day all proceedings, which uſed before to be in Latin, were to be carried on in the Eng⯑liſh tongue. Juſt before that period poor Sir George ſuffered a nonſuit, for uſing the word propè inſtead of juxta; and was foiled a ſecond time, by uſing in the proceeding the title of Sir George Moſtyn, inſtead of George Moſtyn, eſq his elder brother being liv⯑ing, and at that time an eccleſiaſtic in the church of Rome: and it [203] is ſaid that he ſuffered a third repulſe, by ſtating that the works were in the townſhip of Greenfield, inſtead of Holywell, or vice verſa.

HOW the affair ended I cannot learn. The building reverted into the hands of the heirs of the leſſors. Edward Pennant, eſq granted a leaſe of it, in 1758, to Mr. Champion, partner and agent in the Wormley company, near Briſtol, who there calcined black-jack. He was the firſt who engaged in ſuch a concern in this country, and probably in Great Britain, which he carried on under the protection of a patent.

A PIN-MILL was built in 1764, for the uſe of James Eden, PIN-MILL. pin-maker, who occupied it about two years, and then failed. The next occupier was Mrs. Chambers, who converted it into a coarſe-paper mill, and continued the uſe of it till 1783, when it fell into the hands of the cotton-company, which turned it into a ſmithy: and, finally, three corn-mills,THREE CORN-MILLS. formed with the above the ſum of the works upon the ſtream, in my early days. The lower of theſe two, reckoning from the well, was pulled down.

IN the year 1766 began the memorable epoch in the annals of our famous ſtream, when the late Mr. Patten of Warrington, FAMOUS EPOCH OF COMMERCE. and Co. built the firſt battering-mill for copper and braſs. In about ten years from that time, Mr. John Smalley, now deceaſed, introduced the firſt manufacture of cotton. By his ſucceſſors, and by the great copper-companies, thoſe behemoths of commerce, our little Jordan was ſoon drunk up. By their ſkill and induſtry they ſucceeded, to the benefit of the ſtate, and to their private emolument. Tho. [204] Williams, eſquire ^*, that uſeful and active character, with unparal⯑leled ſpeed, covered the lower part of the ſtream, or that next to the ſea, with buildings ſtupendous in expence, extent, and ingenuity of contrivance. Theſe great works are under the firm of the PARYS MINE COMPANY.PARYS MINE COMPANY. The buildings were completed in the year 1780, and held under leaſe from Sir Pyers Moſtyn, bart. owner of the whole ſtream, excepting a ſmall part. To Mr. Samuel Williamſon, chief agent of this part of the works, I am indebted for the account of the works carried on here. Theſe are entirely confined to the manufacture of copper.

IN this department is a great forge for heating the cakes of copper, previouſly to their being beat into pans, or rolled into ſheathings, &c. &c. The wheels and machinery are ſet in motion by the water from a large pool, parallel to the road, which is filled from the ſtream, and let out by another channel to effect its purpoſes.

THESE may be called the great magazines for the ſupply of the royal navy with the various neceſſaries in copper, ſuch as ſheath⯑ings, bolts, and nails. Some of the bolts are twenty feet long, and ſo hardened by rolling and battering, as to be capable of being driven almoſt to their heads, in the entrance forward, and run abaft of the ſhips where the beds of timber are the thickeſt; which work is facilitated by boring with an anger two-thirds of the length.

SOME of the nails are a foot in length, and from that ſize to that of a ſadler's cack.

RUDDER bands and braces are here made of an enormous [205] ſize; ſome, deſigned for the largeſt firſt-rates, weighed one ton fourteen hundred.

THE number of men employed in theſe works is ninety-three. This is intended when they are in full employ: the ſame muſt be underſtood of all the reſt.

THE head of water to this mill is about twenty-one feet and a half, and the ſuperficial ſurface of the pool about 112,028 feet.

THE trade of theſe works is not confined to the royal navy. The merchant ſhips are from hence ſupplied with conſiderable quantities of ſheathing, bolts, and nails, as are many of the ſhips in the ſervice of the Eaſt India Company.

FROM hence braziers are furniſhed with copper veſſels of all kinds, and the materials for all the copper branches of their buſineſs.

THE works on this river are ſupplied with their copper from the Parys mine and Mona mine companies; the ore of which is ſmelted chiefly at Ravenhead, and Stanley, in Lancaſhire.

THE Corniſh ores are ſmelted at Swanſey, Neath, Briſtol, and in Cornwal.

THE Duke of Devonſhire's ores, at Whiſton, in Derbyſhire.

THE number of veſſels immediately employed by the copper-companies on this river, to convey the ſeveral manufactures, or the materials to and from Leverpool, and the other places con⯑nected with them, amount to between thirty and forty, from thirty to fifty tons burden.

MR. WILLIAMS has, beſides the works on the Holywell ſtream, two near Marlow, in Buckinghamſhire, upon as large a ſcale as thoſe in Greenfield. There are alſo in this kingdom others be⯑longing [206] to different proprietors, at Congleton and Macclesfield, in Cheſhire, at Swanſey, and Briſ [...], and in Cornwel, and a number in the vicinity of London.

THE COMPANY'S COIN.I MUST not be ſilent on the ſubject of the moſt beautiful coin or token in uſe by this great company, as it exceeds in elegance any which has been yet emitted. On one ſide is the head of a Druid, emblematic of the iſle of Mona, the antient ſeat of the ve⯑nerable order, and which now produces the material of the coin. On the reverſe is the cypher of Parys mountain, with a promiſ⯑ſory legend to pay one penny, or one half-penny, as it happens to be, in London, Angleſey, or Leverpool, to bearer on demand.

VAST quantities of theſe coins are counterfeited at Birmingham, and may be had by public order in any number.

BRASS MELTING-HOUSES.ABOVE theſe works is a great cluſter of vaſt ſquare chimnies, the diſcharge of the tremendous volumes of thick black ſmoke, riſing from the making of braſs. Theſe are the braſs melting-houſes belonging to the Greenfield copper and braſs company, under the direction of Mr. Donbavand, where they have ſix large melting houſes with twenty-four fires, each fire contains nine pots, with metal, fluxes, &c. Here they make plate-braſs for the purpoſe of being manufactured at their battery-mills, plate-braſs for wire for the pin-manufacturers, and ingot-braſs for the va⯑rious founders, &c. At this place they have a mill, places to calcine, buddle, and grind the lapis calaminaris, &c. for the pur⯑poſe of making braſs; alſo a copper forge, not uſed at preſent: the head of water is about 21½ feet, ſuperficial ſurface of the pool about 23,664 feet. The number of the men employed in theſe works, is about fifty. The materials for the making of [207] braſs are all at hand. The copper ſhot and clippings are from the adjacent works, the calamine from our own mines, and the charcoal from our woods. The art of making braſs in early times, is mentioned before at pp. 123, 124. The firſt patent for the calamine ſtone, and the uſe thereof, was granted to William Humſrey, and Chriſtopher Shutz, dated the 17th of September, 1565, at which time the long loſt art in theſe kingdoms began to revive.

IN digging the foundation for the braſs melting-houſes,HYPOCAUST. Mr. Donbavand diſcovered an antient Roman hypocauſt, furniſhed with various flues, with the ſuperincumbent tiles of a fine red color. Theſe artificial hot baths and ſweating-rooms were the greateſt luxuries of the Romans. This proves that they had a ſtationary ſettlement in this place, probably of merchants concerned in the mineral works, which they certainly had on the adjacent moun⯑tains, of which I have given an account in p. 122 of this book.

NOT far from this work, on the eaſt-ſide of the river,WIRE-WORK. is the great manufactory of braſs wire of every denomination. Alſo here are drawn the ſquare materials for making copper nails, which are formed by the common proceſs of beating and heading. This work has a head of twenty-three feet, which is capable, by means of an extenſive pool, that may be formed above, of having a very large work built on the now vacant ſpot.

AT a ſmall diſtance to the ſouth,COTTON-WORK. a moſt magnificent cotton-work ſoars, like the tower of Babel, above all the lower buildings. I ſhall here only ſay, that about ten weeks before its completion, nothing but a void appeared before me: at the expiration of that ſpace, in another ride I took, I cannot expreſs my aſtoniſhment at ſeeing the enormous maſs riſen, as if by magic, out of the [208] ground. It was erected in the ſummer of 1785: is thirty-ſix yards long, ten yards wide, and ſix ſtories high, and is worked with a water-wheel eighteen feet high, and ſeven feet wide, with a fall of water of ſixteen feet.

NE [...] POLLING MILL.AT ſome diſtance beyond this is the NEW ROLLING MILL, erected in 1787 ^*. The largeſt and moſt commodious build⯑ing, for the purpoſe it is applied to, of any in the kingdom. Its area within the walls meaſures eighty-ſix feet in length, by ſixty-nine in breadth, floored with iron flags. Its height in the center is twenty-eight feet and an half. The roof is ſingle, and covered with copper, ſupported in the center by two pillars, eleven feet and a half diſtant from each other; on their tops are tranſverſe timbers ſupporting one end of each beam which more immediately ſuſtains the roof, the other end reſting on the wall.

THE water-wheels are of caſt-iron, upon a curious conſtruction. They are three in number, each of which receives its ſupply of water, at a height of about forty-five degrees, from an iron-pipe fixed in the bottom of the penſtock, and ſo fitted to the buckets of the wheel, that ſcarce any water is waſted (of which we are ſtudiouſly careful.) Wheels ſo receiving their water are called breaſt-wheels, of which kind I believe all the wheels on this ſtream are, excepting that belonging to the corn-mill, and another at this company's braſs-works, which is uſed for grinding calamine; the water by that mode of delivery communicating the moſt powerful impulſe, and the moſt ſteady motion. The iron-wheels here are twenty feet diameter, and they will, when unclogged with [209] heavy weights, perform twenty revolutions in a minute. Now if we ſuppoſe a wheel of that diameter moving upon a plane with the ſame rapidity with which it revolves on its axis, it will, in a year, deſcribe a line nearly equal in length to five circles of our globe at the equator. The yard and reſervoir of water pertain⯑ing to this noble manufactory are ſuitable to its magnitude, and by much the moſt ſpacious on the Holywell ſtream.

THE number of men employed here are about forty-ſix.