at this time, he took it and despoiled it 1196 after quelling the unnatural rebellion of his two undutiful sons. In the reign of John, 1215, it was taken, and the castle razed by Llewelyn, 1222. It was allotted to Maelgan the uncle of Rys, but at that time in possession of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. Llewelyn, however, taking advantage of the Earl's absence in Ireland, took this and Cardigan, putting the garrisons cruelly to the sword, and regarrisoned both places with his own men. It was soon afterwards again in the custody of the English troops, as we find, when the same Earl of Pembroke confederated with the Welsh against the English. It sustained a three months blockade, provisions being thrown into the garrison by means of the river, the Earl thought it most advisable to raise the siege.

The remains of this important fortress are still visible on a rocky eminence, and lately additions have been made, and it is used as the county gaol. When this territory was erected into a principality by the crown of England, the chancery and exchequer courts were held here; and it was created a borough town 38th of Henry VIII. with the privilege annexed of sending one member to parliament.

The streets of the town are infested with beggars ; indeed mendicity seems systematically pursued, both here and in many parts of South Wales. The police is badly attended to, and the morals of the people appear peculiarly depraved. A general ambition prevails to imitate and be thought like the English, since the intercourse is become so frequent and easy; and it is too obvious to pass unobserved, that they copy the worst points of the original, and generally adopt the worst examples for imitation.

This is too often the evil attendant on all imitations of manners and character: you will recollect it was the case when the Romans aped the follies and vices of Greece; and it is notoriously true near home, when our travelled gentry return largely freighted with the ridiculous fashions and dangerous sentiments of a neighbouring nation.

The Justices of West Wales, as we were about leaving the town, had opened their commission of oyer and terminer for this part of the principality. The novelty of an assize, held in a language so different from our own, excited the curiosity of the company. Nor was it long before this was amply gratified several criminal cases, and a numerous list of causes at nisi prius bar occupied the cognizance of the court, and engaged our attention for some days; nor could any thing exceed the ridicule excited by such a medley of solemnity and frivolity, of such pretensions to right, and such perversions of it, as was exhibited on this occasion: and every humane mind must feel an unusual degree of indignation at the mode in which justice is administered here, and reprobate in the strongest terms the melancholy consequences. The judges were men of the highest respectability: the one at the crown bar a native of North Wales, a man of the most unshaken integrity, and famed for the acuteness and solidity of his judgment; qualities you would at once suppose, with the assistance of an upright Jury, would ensure to the parties at issue the most fair and honourable decisions. Happy would it be for this country, if the upright intentions of the bench could at all times be crowned with the wished

for effect but the language of North and South Wales are so different, as scarcely for the people of { the two counties to be able to understand each other. This gives rise to a considerable degree of confusion between the parties and the Judge. The counsel are principally English: the witnesses, unable to speak English, are examined by an interpreter, who, though he is sworn faithfully to interpret to the best of his judgment, is not always impartial between the parties; and if he be, is not always able to deliver extempore the exact sentiments of the witness: for it is well known how much of the spirit and meaning of testimony may be lost, or its nature changed, in translating it from one language to another, more especially in languages so opposite in their origin and construction as the Welsh and English; not to mention that the very same sentiments, delivered in a different tone of voice, will appear to have a different, and ofttimes a quite contrary meaning. The interpreter is generally some attorney of the court, and if he should be a person of respectable character, yet such is the nature of man that he must be more than human if he act without bias in the questions he puts, or the answers he gives; then add the influence he has over the poor ignorant witness, now not confronted to the Jury, but oft to a powerful tyrant of his neighbourhood, whose anger expressed or understood he momentarily dreads more than the displeasure of his God. It is not, I am sensible, peculiar to a Welsh court for the attorney in the cause to be admissible evidence at the bar; but it is more frequent and less noticed in these than in

English courts:* and it not unfrequently happens, from the confused account of a common witness, and the clearer detail which a man of education and technical knowledge is able to give, for the Jury to decide upon the last and most artful evidence. To determine exactly the credibility of a witness, and the proper force of evidence, is a point of the utmost importance in every equitable system of legislation. "Every man of common sense," says the amiable and judicious Beccaria, "is capable of being a witness as to facts; but the credibility of his evidence ought to be measured by the proportion with which he is interested in declaring or concealing the truth, and this should diminish in proportion to the hatred or friendship subsisting between the parties," and, I may add, the relative interest they may have in the issue of the cause. These essential points not being attended to as they ought, you will not be surprised to hear tha: the courts of judicature in Wales are less beneficial to the subject than those of England. The cases we heard were strongly illustrative of these remarks. I could detail -but I forbear. They made a strong and lasting impression upon my mind, and I could not help exclaiming in an audible voice on the occasion: if ever my life or property should be subject under the law to the decision of a Jury, O! may it be a Jury of my peers-a Jury impannelled to the east of the Severn!

I am ever Yours, J. E.

* From this circumstance you will often find a cause depending for its issue on the opposite attornies swearing agailist each other, and the impression made on the minds of the Jury by their profane vociferations and the grossest personal abuse of each other.

Q

LETTER IX.

DEAR SIR,

IF Fany thing could add to the inexpressible delight afforded by early rising, it is the experience of it in a richly varied country. The celebrated charms of the upper vale of the Towy had excited desires to behold them, and the eve of fruition stimulated our little party to extraordinary alacrity. At a very early hour the company was on the alert, and the refreshing breeze furnished us with a flow of spirits adapted for exertion and enjoyment. The morning was grey, and the blue mists sat close embracing the distant hills before us, while the mountains in the back ground were deep involved in shade. The river, rolling its placid waters, gave a vivid appearance to the scene; and the umbrageous woods on the margin, contrasting their various greens with the greys of the atmosphere, displayed their foliage to advantage. All was serene and placid, a solemn silence prevailed undisturbed by a single noise, save the twittering of the poor little chaffinch, that bespoke we might soon expect the different choristers of the grove. Gradually, yet rapidly, the morning burst forth from the bosom of the mountains, in the brilliant robes of beauty; and the harbinger of day, in the most majestic splendour and unparalleled grandeur, saluted our eyes as we passed Llangynor. The sight made us blush at the recollection, how often we had neglected to avail ourselves of this noble view, and for two or three hours of debilitating indolence refused to enjoy the salu