Our coach was at last brought, and we | set out with some anxiety, but we came to Penmaen Mawr by daylight; and found a way, lately made, very easy, and very safel -It was cut smooth, and enclosed between parallel walls; the outer of which secures the passenger from the precipice, which is deep and dreadful-This wall is here and there broken by mischievous wantonnessThe inner wall preserves the road from the loose stones, which the shattered steep above it would pour down-That side of the mountain seems to have a surface of loose stones, which every accident may crumble -The old road was higher, and must have been very formidable-The sea beats at the bottom of the way. At evening the moon shone eminently bright; and our thoughts of danger being now past, the rest of our journey was very pleasant. At an hour somewhat late, we came to Bangor, where we found a very mean inn, and had some difficulty to obtain lodging-I lay in a room, where the other bed had two men. Friday, 19th August.-We obtained boats to convey us to Anglesey, and saw Lord Bulkeley's house, and Beaumaris Castle. There is likewise a chapel entire, built upon an arch, as I suppose, and beautifully arched with a stone roof, which is yet unbroken-The entrance into the chapel is about eight or nine feet high, and was, I suppose, higher, when there was no rubbish in the area-This castle corresponds with all the representations of romancing narratives-Here is not wanting the private passage, the dark cavity, the deep dungeon, or the lofty tower-We did not discover the well-This is the most complete view that I have yet had of an old castle-It had a moat-The towers-We went to Bangor. Saturday, 20th August.-We went by water from Bangor to Caernarvon, where we met Paoli and Sir Thomas Wynne 3Meeting by chance with one Troughton 4, an intelligent and loquacious wanderer, Mr. Thrale invited him to dinner-He attended us to the castle, an edifice of stupendous magnitude and strength; it has in it all that we observed at Beaumaris, and much greater dimensions: many of the smaller rooms floored with stone are entire; of the larger rooms, the beams and planks are all left: this is the state of all buildings left to time-We mounted the eagle tower by one hundred and sixty-nine steps, each of ten inches-We did not find the well; nor did I trace the moat; but moats there were, I believe, to all castles on the plain, which not only hindered access, but prevented mines-We saw but a very small part of this mighty ruin, and in all these old buildings, the subterraneous works are concealed by the rubbish-To survey this place would take much time: I did not think there had been such buildings; it surpassed my ideas. I was accosted by Mr. Lloyd, the schoolmaster of Beaumaris, who had seen me at University College; and he, with Mr. Roberts, the register of Bangor, whose boat we borrowed, accompanied us. Lord Bulkeley's house is very mean, but his garden is spacious and shady, with large trees and smaller interspersed-The walks are straight, and cross each other, with no variety of plan; but they have a pleasing coolness and solemn gloom, and extend to a great length 2. The castle is a mighty pile; the outward wall has fifteen round towers, be- Sunday, 21st August.-[at Caernarvon]. sides square towers at the angles-There -We were at church; the service in the is then a void space between the wall and town is always English; at the parishthe castle, which has an area enclosed with church at a small distance, always Welsh a wall, which again has towers, larger-The town has by degrees, I suppose, than those of the outer wall-The towers of the inner castle are, I think, eight 1 sea. [Penmaen Mawr is a huge rocky promontory, rising nearly 1550 feet perpendicular above the Along a shelf of this precipice is formed an excellent road, well guarded, toward the sea, by a strong wall, supported in many parts by arches turned underneath it. Before this wall was built, travellers sometimes fell down the precipices.DUPPA.] 2 [Baron Hill is the name of Lord Bulkeley's house, which is situated just above the town of Beaumaris, at the distance of three quarters of a mile, commanding so fine a view of the sea, and the coast of Caernarvon, that it has been sometimes compared to Mount Edgecombe, in Devonshire. Lord Lyttelton, speaking of the house and gardens, says, "The house is a bad one, but the gardens are made in a very fine taste."-DUPPA.] been brought nearer to the sea-side-We received an invitation to Dr. Worthington -We then went to dinner at Sir Thomas Wynne's,-the dinner mean, Sir Thomas civil, his lady nothing 5-Paoli civil-We [Sir Thomas Wynne, created Lord Newborough, July 14th, 1776. Died October 12th, 1807.-DUPPA.] ["Lieutenant Troughton I do recollect, loquacious and intelligent he was. He wore a uniform, and belonged, I think, to a man of war." Piozzi MS. He was made a lieutenant in 1762, and died in 1786, in that rank; he was on half-pay, and did not belong to any ship when he met Dr. Johnson in 1774. It seems then that, even so late as this, half-pay officers wore their uniforms in the ordinary course of life.-ED.] [Lady Catharine Perceval,, daughter of the second Earl of Egmont: this was, it appears, the supped with Colonel Wynne's lady, who lives in one of the towers of the castle-I have not been very well. have no rails-One of them has a breach in the roof-On the desk, I think, of each lay a folio Welsh Bible of the black letter, which the curate cannot easily read-Mr. Thrale purposes to beautify the churches, and if he prospers, will probably restore the tithes The two parishes are, Llangwinodyl and Tydweilliog 3-The methodists are here very prevalent-A better church will impress the people with more reverence of public worship-Mrs. Thrale visited a house where she had been used to drink milk, which was left, with an estate of two hundred pounds a year, by one Lloyd 4, to a married woman who lived with him-We went to Pwllheli, a mean old town, at the extremity of the country-Here we bought something, to remember the place. Monday, 22d August.-We went to visit Bodville, the place where Mrs. Thrale was born, and the churches called Tydweilliog and Llangwinodyl, which she holds by impropriation-We had an invitation to the house of Mr. Griffiths of Bryn o dol, where we found a small neat new-built house, with square rooms: the walls are of unhewn stone, and therefore thick; for the stones not fitting with exactness, are not strong without great thickness-He had planted a great deal of young wood in walks Fruit trees do not thrive; but having grown a few years, reach some barren stratum and wither-We found Mr. Griffiths not at home; but the provisions were good. Thursday, 25th August.-We returned to [Tuesday, 23d August.]-Mr. Griffiths Caernarvon, where we ate with Mrs. Wynne. came home the next day-He married a la- Friday, 26th August.-We visited, with dy who has a house and estate at [Llan- Mrs.5 Wynne, Llyn Badarn and Llyn Bever 2,] over against Anglesea, and near Caer- ris, two lakes, joined by a narrow straitnarvon, where she is more delighted, as it They are formed by the waters which fall seems, to reside than at Bryn o dol-I read from Snowdon, and the opposite mountains Lloyd's account of Mona, which he proves-On the side of Snowdon are the remains to be Anglesea-In our way to Bryn o dol, we saw at Llanerk a church built crosswise, very spacious and magnificent for this country-We could not see the parson, and could get no intelligence about it. Wednesday, 24th August.-We went to see Bodville-Mrs. Thrale remembered the rooms, and wandered over them with recol of a large fort, to which we climbed with great labour-I was breathless and harassed -The lakes have no great breadth, so that the boat is always near one bank or the other.-Note. Queeny's goats, one hundred and forty-nine, I think 7. 3 [These two parishes are perpetual curacies, pence lection of her childhood-This species of endowed with the small tithes, which, in 1809, pleasure is always melancholy-The walk amounted to six pounds sixteen shillings and sixwas cut down, and the pond was dry-ed by Queen Anne's bounty; and, in 1809, the in each parish; but these sums are increasNothing was better. We surveyed the whole income for Llangwinodyl, including surplice churches, which are mean, and neglected to fees, amounted to forty-six pounds two shillings a degree scarcely imaginable-They have and twopence, and for Tydweilliog, forty-three no pavement, and the earth is full of holes pounds nineteen shillings and tenpence; so that it -The seats are rude benches; the altars does not appear that Mr. Thrale carried into effect his good intention.-DUPPA.] [Mr. Lloyd was a very good-natured man: and when Mrs. Thrale was a little child, he was used to treat her with sweetmeats and milk; but what was now remarkable was, that she should she was five years old.-DUPPA. 5 ["Miss Thrale was amused with our rowing on Lake Llyn Beris, and Mrs. Glynn Wynne, wife of Lord Newburgh's brother, who accompanied us and acted as our guide, sang Welsh songs to the harp."-Piozzi MS.] lady of whom Mrs. Piozzi relates, that "for a lady of quality, since dead, who received us at her husband's seat in Wales with less attention than he had long been accustomed to, he had a rougher denunciation: That woman,' cried John-recollect the house, which she had not seen since son, is like sour small beer, the beverage of her table, and produce of the wretched country she lives in like that, she could never have been a good thing, and even that bad thing is spoiled.'" And it is probably of her too that another anecdote is told: "We had been visiting at a lady's house, whom, as we returned, some of the company ridiculed for her ignorance: She is not ignorant,' said he, I believe, of any thing she has been taught, or of any thing she is desirous to know; and I suppose if one wanted a little run tea, she might be a proper person enough to apply to.'" Mrs. Piozzi says, in her MS. Letters, "that Lady Catherine comes off well in the diary. He said many severe things of her, which he did not commit to paper." She died in 1782.-ED.] 1 ["Situated among the mountains of Caernarvonshire."-Piozzi MS.] 2 [Piozzi MS.] 62 6 ["Dolbadarne was the name of the fort."Piozzi MS.] 7 [Mr. Thrale was near-sighted, and could not see the goats browsing on Snowdon, and he promised his daughter, who was a child of ten years old, a penny for every goat she would show him, and Dr. Johnson kept the account; so that it appears her father was in debt to her one hundred and forty-nine pence. Queeny was an epithet, which had its origin in the nursery, by which [ie allusion to Queen Esther], Miss Thrale (whose name was Esther) was always distinguished by Johnson.-DUPPA.] Saturday, 27th August.-We returned | We came to the house of Mr. Myddelton to Bangor, where Mr. Thrale was lodged at Mr. Roberts's, the register. Sunday, 28th August.-We went to worship at the cathedral-The quire is mean; the service was not well read. Monday, 29th August.-We came to Mr. Myddelton's, of Gwaynynog, to the first place, as my Mistress observed, where we have been welcome 1. (Note. On the day when we visited Bodville [Monday, 22d August], we turned to the house of Mr. Griffiths, of Kefnamwych, a gentleman of large fortune, remarkable for having made great and sudden improvements in his seat and estateHe has enclosed a large garden with a brick wall-He is considered as a man of great accomplishments-He was educated in literature at the university, and served some time in the army, then quitted his commission, and retired to his lands. He is accounted a good man, and endeavours to bring the people to church.) In our way from Bangor to Conway, we passed again the new road upon the edge of Penmaen Mawr, which would be very tremendous, but that the wall shuts out the idea of danger-In the wall are several breaches, made, as Mr. Thrale very reasonably conjectures, by fragments of rocks which roll down the mountain, broken perhaps by frost, or worn through by rain. We then viewed Conway-To spare the horrors at Penmaen Rhôs between Conway and St. Asaph, we sent the coach over the road cross the mountain with Mrs. Thrale, who had been tired with a walk some time before; and I, with Mr. Thrale and Miss, walked along the edge, where the path is very narrow, and much encumbered by little loose stones, which had fallen down, as we thought, upon the way since we passed it before. At Conway we took a short survey of the castle, which afforded us nothing new-It is larger than that of Beaumaris, and less than that of Caernarvon-It is built upon a rock so high and steep, that it is even now very difficult of access-We found a round pit, which was called the Well; it is now almost filled, and therefore dry-We found the Well in no other castle-There are some remains of leaden pipes at Caernarvon, which, I suppose, only conveyed water from one part of the building to another-Had the garrison had no other supply, the Welsh, who must know where the pipes were laid, could easily have cut them. (on Monday), where we staid to September 6, and were very kindly entertained-How we spent our time, I am not very able to tell We saw the wood, which is diversified and romantic. Sunday, 4th September.-We dined with Mr. Myddelton3, the clergyman, at Denbigh, where I saw the harvest men very decently dressed, after the afternoon service, standing to be hired-On other days, they stand at about four in the morning-They are hired from day to day. Monday, 5th September.-We lay at Wrexham; a busy, extensive, and well built town-It has a very large and magnificent church. It has a famous fair 4. [However this may have been, he was both happy and amused, during his stay at Gwayny. nog, and Mr. Myddelton was flattered by the honour of his visit. To perpetuate the recollection of it, he (to use Mr. Boswell's words) erected an urn on the banks of a rivulet, in the park, where Johnson delighted to stand and recite verses; on which is this inscription: This spot was often dignified by the presence of Gave ardour to Virtue, and confidence to Truth. In 1777, it would appear from a letter by JohnMr. Myddelton meditated this honour, which son to Mrs. Thrale, that he was informed that seemed to be but little to his taste: "Mr. Myddel- • ton's erection of an urn looks like an intention to bury me alive: I would as willingly see my friend, however benevolent and hospitable, quietly inurned. Let him think, for the present, of some more acceptable memorial."-DUPPA.] 3 ["Rector of Denbigh, was second brother to the owner of Gwaynynog. He had, I suppose, been in the army, for we used to call him colonel."-Piozzi MS.] 4 [It was probably on the 6th Sept. in the way from Wrexham to Chirk, that they passed through Ruabon, where the following occurrence took place: "A Welsh parson of mean abilities, though a good heart, struck with reverence at the sight of Dr. Johnson, whom he had heard of as the greatest man living, could not find any words to answer his inquiries concerning a motto round somebody's arms which adorned a tombstone in Ruabon churchyard. If I remember right, the words were, Heb Dw, Heb Dym, [It is the Myddelton motto, and means, God is all-sufficient!-Piozzi MS. p. 184.] Wednesday, 7th September.-We came | of Chester-The town is large, and has mato Chirk Castle. Thursday, 8th September.-We came to the house of Dr. Worthington 1, at Llanrhaiadr-Our entertainment was poor, though the house was not bad. The situation is very pleasant, by the side of a small river, of which the bank rises high on the other side, shaded by gradual rows of trees -The gloom, the stream, and the silence, generate thoughtfulness. The town is old, and very mean, but has, I think, a market -In this town, the Welsh translation of the Old Testament was made-The Welsh singing psalms were written by Archdeacon Price-They are not considered as elegant, but as very literal, and accurate We came to Llanrhaiadr through Oswestry; a town not very little, nor very mean -The church, which I saw only at a distance, seems to be an edifice much too good for the present state of the place. Friday, 9th September.-We visited the waterfall, which is very high, and in rainy weather very copious-There is a reservoir made to supply it-In its fall, it has perforated a rock-There is a room built for entertainment-There was some difficulty in climbing to a near view-Lord Lyttelton 3 came near it, and turned back-When we came back, we took some cold meat, and notwithstanding Doctor [Worthington's] importunities, went that day to Shrewsbury. Saturday, 10th September.-I sent for Gwynn4, and he showed us the town-The walls are broken, and narrower than those ' [Dr. William Worthington, a man of distinguished learning, and an authour of many works on religious subjects. He enjoyed considerable preferment in the church, and lived at Llanrhaiadr; of which parish he was the rector. He died October 6, 1778, aged seventy-five.-DUPPA. Dr. Johnson thus notices his death in a letter to Mrs. Thrale: "My clerical friend Worthington is dead. I have known him long-and to die is dreadful. I believe he was a very good man."-Letters, v. i. p. 26. ED.] 2 [Llanrhaiadr, being translated into English, is The Village of the Fountain, and takes its name from a spring, about a quarter of a mile from the church.-DUPPA. Mr. Duppa was misinformed. Rhaiadr signifies a waterfall, and not a spring; and a waterfall was, as we shall see presently, the chief feature of the vicinity.-ED.] 3 [Thomas, the second Lord Lyttelton. DUPPA.] ny gentlemen's houses, but the streets are narrow-I saw Taylor's library-We walked in the Quarry; a very pleasant walk by the river-Our inn was not bad. Sunday, 11th September.-We were at St. Chads, a very large and luminous church -We were on the Castle Hill. Monday, 12th September.-We called on Dr. Adams 5, and travelled towards Worcester, through Wenlock; a very mean place, though a borough-At noon, we came to Bridgenorth, and walked about the town, of which one part stands on a high rock, and part very low, by the river-There is an old tower, which, being crooked, leans so much, that it is frightful to pass by itIn the afternoon we came through Kinver 6, a town in Staffordshire, neat and closely built-I believe it has only one street-The road was so steep and miry, that we were forced to stop at Hartlebury, where we had a very neat inn, though it made a very poor appearance. Tuesday, 13th September.-We came to lord Sandys's, at Ombersley, where we were treated with great civility 7-The house is large-The hall is a very noble room. Thursday, 15th September.-We went to Worcester, a very splendid city-The cathedral is very noble, with many remarkable monuments-The library is in the chapter-house-On the table lay the Nuremberg Chronicle, I think, of. the first editions. We went to the china warehouse-The cathedral has a cloister-The long aisle is, in my opinion, neither so wide nor so high as that of Lichfield. Friday, 16th September.-We went to Hagley, where we were disappointed of the respect and kindness that we expected 9. 5 [The master of Pembroke College, Oxford; who was also rector of St. Chads, in Shrewsbury. DUPPA.] 6 [There must have been some unexplained reason why they left the straight high-road from Bridgenorth to Hartlebury, through Kidderminster, to call at the little village of Kinver.-ED.] 7 [It was here that Johnson had as much wallfruit as he wished, and, as he told Mrs. Thrale, for the only time in his life.-DUPPA. See ante, p. 209. It seems they spent here Wednesday, the 14th Sept.-Ed.] [The first edition was printed July 12, 1493. The authour, or rather compiler of this chronicle, was one Hartman Schedel, of Nuremberg, a physician.-DUPPA.] [Mr. Gwynn was an architect of considerable 9 [This visit was not to Lord Lyttelton, but to celebrity. He was a native of Shrewsbury, and his uncle [called Billy Lyttelton, afterwards, by was at this time completing a bridge across the successive creations, Lord Westcote, and Lord Severn, called the English Bridge. Besides this Lyttelton], the father of the present lord, who bridge, he built one at Atcham, over the Severn, lived at a house called Little Hagley.-DUPPA. near to Shrewsbury; and the bridges at Worces- This gentleman was an intimate friend of Mr. ter, Oxford, and Henley, are all built by him.-Thrale, and had some years before invited JohnDUPPA. See ante, p. 234, and post, 19th son (through Mrs. Thrale) to visit him at Hagley, March, 1776.-ED.] ante, p. 277.-ED.] Saturday, 17th September.-We saw the house and park, which equalled my expectation-The house is one square mass The offices are below-The rooms of elegance on the first floor, with two stories of bedchambers, very well disposed above itThe bedchambers have low windows, which abates the dignity of the house-The park has an artificial ruin, and wants water; there is, however, one temporary cascade-From the farthest hill there is a very wide prospect. Sunday, 18th September.-I went to church-The church is, externally, very mean, and is therefore diligently hidden by a plantation-There are in it several modern monuments of the Lytteltons. There dined with us Lord Dudley, and Sir Edward Lyttelton, of Staffordshire, and his lady-They were all persons of agreeable conversation. I found time to reflect on my birthday, and offered a prayer, which I hope was heard. through his shops-I could not distinctly see his enginery-Twelve dozen of buttons for three shillings-Spoons struck at once. Wednesday, 21st September.-Wheeler came to us again-We came easily to Woodstock. Thursday, 22d September.-We saw Blenheim and Woodstock park-The park contains two thousand five hundred acres; about four square miles. It has red deerMr. Bryant showed me the library with great civility-Durandi Rationale, 14595 Lascaris' Grammar of the first edition, well printed, but much less than later editions— The first Batrachomyomachia 7—The duke sent Mr. Thrale partridges and fruit-At night we came to Oxford. Friday, 23d September.-We visited Mr. Coulson-The ladies wandered about the university. Saturday, 24th September.-Ka-We dine 8 [This is a work written by William Durand, Bishop of Mende, and printed on vellum, in folio, by Fust and Schoeffer, in Mentz, 1459. It is the third book that is known to be printed with a date, and is considered as a curious and extraordinary specimen of early printing. An imperfect copy was sold at Dr. Askew's sale, Feb. 22, 1775, for sixty-one pounds, to Mr. Elinsly, the bookseller. DUPPA.] Monday, 19th September.-We made haste away from a place where all were offended In the way we visited the Leasowes-It was rain, yet we visited all the waterfalls-There are, in one place, fourteen falls in a short line-It is the next place to Ilam gardens-Poor Shenstone never 6 [Dr. Johnson, in another column of his Diatasted his pension-It is not very well proved that any pension was obtained for him, has put down, in a note, "First printed book in Greek, Lascaris's Grammar, 4to. Mediolani, -I am afraid that he died of misery. 1476." The imprint of this book is, Mediolani We came to Birmingham, and I sent for Impressum per Magistrum Dionysium PaWheeler 3, whom I found well. ravisinum. M.CCCC.LXXVI. Die xxx JanTuesday, 20th September. We break-uarii. This edition is very rare, and it is probafasted with Wheeler, and visited the manufacture of Papier mache―The paper which they use is smooth whited brown; the varnish is polished with rotten stone-Wheeler gave me a teaboard-We then went to Boulton's 4, who, with great civility, led us ["He was enraged at artificial ruins and temporary cascades, so that I wonder at his leaving his opinion of them dubious; besides, he hated the Lytteltons, and would rejoice in au opportunity of insulting them."-Piozzi MS.-See post, sub 1781, the Life of Lyttelton.-ED.] ["Mrs. Lyttelton, ci-devant Caroline Bristow, forced me to play at whist against my liking, and her husband took away Johnson's candle that he wanted to read by at the other end of the room. Those, I trust, were the offences.". Piozzi MS.] ble that Dr. Johnson saw it now for the first time. A copy was purchased for the king's library at Dr. Askew's sale, 1775, for twenty-one pounds ten shillings. This was the first book that was ever printed in the Greek character. The first book printed in the English language was the Historyes of Troye, printed in 1471; an imperfect copy of which was put up to public sale in 1812, when there was a competition amongst men eminent for learning, rank, and fortune; and, according to their estimation of its value, it was sold for the sum of 10607. 108.-DUPPA.] 7 [The Battle of the Frogs and Mice. The first edition was printed by Laonicus Cretensis, 1486. This book consists of forty-one pages, small quarto, and the verses are printed with red and black ink alternately. A copy was sold at Dr. Askew's sale, 1775, for fourteen guineas.— DUPPA.] 3 [Dr. Benjamin Wheeler; he was a native of Oxford, and originally on the foundation of Trinity 8 ["Of the dinner at University College I reCollege; afterwards he became a Fellow of Mag-member nothing, unless it was there that Mr dalene College, Canon of Christ Church, and Regius Professor of Divinity. He took his degree of A. M. Nov. 14, 1758, and D. D. July 6, 1770; and was a man of extensive learning. Dr. Johnson, in his letters to Mrs. Thrale, styles him " My learned friend, the man with whom I most delighted to converse."-Lett.-DUPPA.] 4 [See post, 22d March, 1776.-ED.] Vansittart, a flourishing sort of character, showed off his graceful form by fencing with Mr. Seward, who joined us at Oxford. We had a grand dinner at Queen's College, and Dr. Johnson made Miss Thrale and me observe the ceremony of the grace cup; but I have but a faint remembrance of it, and can in nowise tell who invited us, or how we came by our academical honour of hearing |