An Expedition - Pont y Pandy - The Sabbath - Glendower's Mount -Burial Place of Old - Corwen - The Deep Glen - The Grandmother -The Roadside Chapel.
I WAS now about to leave Llangollen, for a short time, and to set out on an expedition to Bangor, Snowdon, and one or two places in Anglesea. I had determined to make the journey on foot, in order that I might have perfect liberty of action, and enjoy the best opportunities of seeing the country. My wife and daughter were to meet me at Bangor, to which place they would repair by the railroad, and from which, after seeing some of the mountain districts, they would return to Llangollen by the way they came, where I proposed to join them, returning, however, by a different way from the one I went, that I might traverse new districts.
About eleven o'clock of a brilliant Sunday morning I left Llangollen, after reading the morning-service of the Church to my family. I set out on a Sunday because I was anxious to observe the general demeanour of the people, in the interior of the country, on the Sabbath.
I directed my course towards the west, to the head of the valley.
My wife and daughter after walking with me about a mile bade me farewell, and returned. Quickening my pace I soon left Llangollen valley behind me and entered another vale, along which the road which I was following, and which led to Corwen and other places, might be seen extending for miles. Lumpy hills were close upon my left, the Dee running noisily between steep banks, fringed with trees, was on my right; beyond it rose hills which form part of the wall of the Vale of Clwyd; their tops bare, but their sides pleasantly coloured with yellow corn-fields and woods of dark verdure. About an hour's walking, from the time when I entered the valley, brought me to a bridge over a gorge, down which water ran to the Dee. I stopped and looked over the side of the bridge nearest to the hill. A huge rock about forty feet long by twenty broad, occupied the entire bed of the gorge, just above the bridge, with the exception of a little gullet to the right, down which between the rock and a high bank, on which stood a cottage, a run of water purled and brawled. The rock looked exactly like a huge whale lying on its side, with its back turned towards the runnel.
Above it was a glen of trees. After I had been gazing a little time a man making his appearance at the door of the cottage just beyond the bridge I passed on, and drawing nigh to him, after a slight salutation, asked him in English the name of the bridge.
"The name of the bridge, sir," said the man, in very good English, "is Pont y Pandy.""Does not that mean the bridge of the fulling mill?""I believe it does, sir," said the man.
"Is there a fulling mill near?"
"No, sir, there was one some time ago, but it is now a sawing mill."Here a woman, coming out, looked at me steadfastly.
"Is that gentlewoman your wife?"
"She is no gentlewoman, sir, but she is my wife.""Of what religion are you?"
"We are Calvinistic-Methodists, sir."
"Have you been to chapel?"
"We are just returned, sir."
Here the woman said something to her husband, which I did not hear, but the purport of which I guessed from the following question which he immediately put.
"Have you been to chapel, sir?"
"I do not go to chapel; I belong to the Church.""Have you been to church, sir?"
"I have not - I said my prayers at home, and then walked out.""It is not right to walk out on the Sabbath-day, except to go to church or chapel.""Who told you so?"
"The law of God, which says you shall keep holy the Sabbath-day.""I am not keeping it unholy."
"You are walking about, and in Wales when we see a person walking idly about, on the Sabbath-day, we are in the habit of saying, Sabbath-breaker, where are you going?""The Son of Man walked through the fields on the Sabbath-day, why should I not walk along the roads?""He who called Himself the Son of Man was God and could do what He pleased, but you are not God.""But He came in the shape of a man to set an example. Had there been anything wrong in walking about on the Sabbath-day, He would not have done it."Here the wife exclaimed, "How worldly-wise these English are!""You do not like the English," said I.
"We do not dislike them," said the woman; "at present they do us no harm, whatever they did of old.""But you still consider them," said I, "the seed of Y Sarfes cadwynog, the coiling serpent.""I should be loth to call any people the seed of the serpent," said the woman.
"But one of your great bards did," said I.
"He must have belonged to the Church, and not to the chapel then,"said the woman. "No person who went to chapel would have used such bad words.""He lived," said I, "before people were separated into those of the Church and the chapel; did you ever hear of Taliesin Ben Beirdd?""I never did," said the woman.
"But I have," said the man; "and of Owain Glendower too.""Do people talk much of Owen Glendower in these parts?" said I.
"Plenty," said the man, "and no wonder, for when he was alive he was much about here - some way farther on there is a mount, on the bank of the Dee, called the mount of Owen Glendower, where it is said he used to stand and look out after his enemies.""Is it easy to find?" said I.
"Very easy," said the man, "it stands right upon the Dee and is covered with trees; there is no mistaking it."I bade the man and his wife farewell, and proceeded on my way.
After walking about a mile, I perceived a kind of elevation which answered to the description of Glendower's mount, which the man by the bridge had given me. It stood on the right hand, at some distance from the road, across a field. As I was standing looking at it a man came up from the direction in which I myself had come.
He was a middle-aged man, plainly but decently dressed, and had something of the appearance of a farmer.
"What hill may that be?" said I in English, pointing to the elevation.
"Dim Saesneg, sir," said the man, looking rather sheepish, "Dim gair o Saesneg."Rather surprised that a person of his appearance should not have a word of English, I repeated my question in Welsh.