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From Lampeter to Cardigan the river Teifi forms the boundary of the county. At Lampeter the boundary strikes east, follows the Craig Twrch, where are several menhirs and cairns and other prehistoric relics, and then reaches the Towy at Twm Shôn Catti's Cave, and thence runs north up the Towy.

Lampeter (Llan-pedr) is the place where is S. David's College, founded in 1822 by Bishop Burgess as a training place for clergy for the Church in Wales. There are good scholarships, and a poor lad of ability can be secure of an excellent education there at an extremely moderate cost. The college obtained a charter in 1852, enabling it to confer the degree of B.D., and in 1865 to grant that of B.A. There are now no religious tests required at the college. It has become a nursery of hard-headed, somewhat unsympathetic, disputative bishops. It may be doubted whether the training is quite the best for a Welsh youth. It would be far more calculated to broaden his mind, and give him a wider outlook in life, were he taken out of the Principality for education. And the same criticism applies, though in a less degree, to Jesus College, Oxford, where Welsh students are congregated under one roof, and shut off to a considerable extent from association with Englishmen of their age.

"Hugh Morgan, cousin of that Hugh

Whose cousin was the Lord knows who,
Was likewise, as the story runs,
Tenth cousin of one David Jones.

David, well stored with classic knowledge,
Was sent betimes to Jesus College;

Paternal bounty left him clear

For life one hundred pounds a year.

*

"It happen'd that his cousin Hugh,
Through Oxford pass'd, to Cambria due,
And from his erudite relation

Receiv'd a written invitation.

Hugh to the college gate repair'd
And asked for Jones ;-the porter stared.
'Jones, sir!' quoth he, 'discriminate,
Of Mr. Joneses there be eight.'

'Aye, but 'tis David Jones,' quoth Hugh;
Quoth porter, 'We'ye six Davids too!"

"Cot's flesh !' cries Morgan, 'Cease your mockings,
My David Jones wears worsted stockings.'
Quoth porter, 'Which it is, heaven knows,
For all the eight wear worsted hose.'
'My Cot!' says Hugh, 'I'm asked to dine
With cousin Jones, and quaff his wine.'
'That one word wine is worth a dozen,'
Quoth porter, 'Now I know your cousin ;
You'll find your friend at number nine-
We've but one Jones that quaffs his wine. "

Chronicle, 1823.

CHAPTER XII

ABERYSTWYTH

The cult of the tripper-Aberystwyth-Llanbadarn Fawr-S. Padarn-The village schoolmaster-The Devil's Bridge-Plant de Bat-Tomb of Taliesin-Taliesin-Plynlymon-Strata Florida-Meeting of Dafydd ab Gwilym and Gruffydd Gryg-Tregaron-Cors Caron-Twm Shôn Catti -His adventures-His courtship-Llanddewi Brefi--Council-The church -The Matcorn-Nightingales-Llangeitho-Daniel Rowland.

AB

BERYSTWYTH is one of those watering-places that lay themselves out to cultivate the tripper. It professes to possess every advantage as a health-resort. The rainfall is there insignificant; the amount of sunshine extraordinary; the air is more charged with ozone than elsewhere; its temperature is equable, its drainage perfect, its grass greener, its buttercups more golden, its sea clearer, than those of any other watering-place. And as just the same is reported of every other watering-place, it is equally true, doubtless, of all.

Aberystwyth certainly does command superb views, is near most beautiful scenery, and is a clean, wholesome town, wholly given up to the worship of the tripper. It possesses the University College of Wales, located in hotel-Gothic buildings, and possesses a museum and a library. The castle is but a ruin. Its one old church has been enlarged and restored in good taste, and in the further part of the town is a new church, altogether admirable as an example of Victorian Gothic, bold and clever in design.

Although Aberystwyth takes its name from the river Ystwyth, it actually lies at the mouth of the Rheidol.

Pen y dinas, a lofty hill surmounted by a camp and a grotesque monument to the Duke of Wellington representing a cannon pointing skyward, separate the two rivers.

The castle of Aberystwyth was erected by Gilbert Strongbow in 1109, but the present ruins are the remains of one built by Edward I. The castle was dismantled by Cromwell's forces in 1644, and was finally reduced to ruins in order to evict a gang of disbanded soldiers who had taken up their abode in it, whence they plundered the inhabitants of the town.

Perhaps the most interesting excursion within an easy stroll is to Llanbadarn Fawr, the seat of a bishop from the sixth century till the last. Idnerth was murdered in 720; after that the diocese was united to that of S. David's. Llanbadarn was founded by S. Padarn, a friend of S. David and S. Teilo, and their companion in travel.

He has been confounded with two namesakes, one a Bishop of Vannes in Brittany, who was appointed to that see in 465, and with another who was Bishop of Avranches, and attended a council at Paris in 556, and who was the contemporary of Padarn of South Wales. It is just possible that Padarn may have gone to Brittany in 547 on the occasion of the Yellow Plague, and that may have led to the confusion. The Life we have of the saint is a jumble of the legends of all three and of no historic value. But thus much may be relied on, that he was the son of Pedrwn, uncle of S. Samson. Pedrwn deserted his wife in Brittany and retired to Ireland, where he embraced the religious life. The boy Padarn often saw his mother in tears, and learned that she bewailed her involuntary widowhood; so when he came to man's estate he passed through Wales and went to Ireland, to endeavour to persuade the old man to return to his wife. He failed to effect this, and then he settled where is now Llanbadarn Fawr. The church is fine, and, in fact, the finest in

LLANBADARN FAWR

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Cardiganshire. The present building is of the twelfth century, with a massive central tower; it has no aisles, and is cruciform. A good porch and doorway form the entrance on the south side. The roofs are later, of the sixteenth century. The church has been carefully restored, and in the process its fine screen has been restored away. In the churchyard are two early crosses. Of these the story goes that S. Samson was threshing corn on Pen y Dinas, two miles away, and was using these stones as a flail. The head flew off and lighted at Llanbadarn, and Samson, using a naughty word, threw the handle after it; and this also alighted, near the head, in Llanbadarn churchyard.

Llanbadarn has lost greatly in picturesqueness of late years. In a cottage in the village are preserved two old crayon drawings of Llanbadarn as it was, in winter and in summer. One of its remarkable features was the old thatched tavern with the sign hung above the roof. Another cottage went by the name of Ty Mal dan y Gaer, the House of Mary under the Wall, or the Abbot's House. In this lived a century ago an old village schoolmaster. In his young days he prepared for Orders, and went to the palace of the Bishop of S. David's to be examined. When the Bishop came into the room, "Well, sir," said he, “and what can you do?"

"My lord, I can jump like a buck," replied the candidate, and suiting the action to the word, he vaulted over the table.

"Very good, very good indeed," said his lordship. "You may go on jumping like a buck, but you shan't jump into Orders, and still less into a benefice."

So the man returned to Llanbadarn and set up as a schoolmaster.

In the door was the old-fashioned hole into which the finger was inserted to lift the wooden latch. One day when he was coming some of his pupils got the poker red