of a church said to have been begun by the great Earl of Leicester, and left unfinished at his death—One side, and 1 think the east cud, are yet standing—There was a stone in the wall over the doorway, which, it was said, would fall and crush the best scholar in the diocese—One Price would not pass under it. They have taken it down—We then saw the chapel of Lleweney, founded by one of the Salusburies: it is very complete: the monumental stones lie in the ground—A chimney has been added to it, but it is otherwise not much injured, and might be easily repaired.—We went to the parish church of Denbigh, which, being near a mile from the town, is only used when the parish officers are chosen— In the chapel, on Sundays, the service is read thrice, the second time only in English, the first and third in Welsh—The bishop came to survey the castle, and visited likewise St. Hilary's chapel, which is that which the town uses—The hay-barn, built with brick pillars from space to space, and covered with a roof—A most elegant and lofty hovel—The rivers here are mere torrents, which are suddenly swelled by the rain to great breadth and great violence, but have very little constant stream; such are the Clwyd and the Elwy—There are yet no mountains—The ground is beautifully embellished with woods, and diversified by inequalities—In the parish church of Denbigh is a bas-relief of Lloyd the antiquary, who was before Camden—lie is kneeling at his prayers.1 Tuesday, Aug 2.—We rode to a summer-house of Mr. Cotton, which has a very extensive prospect; it is meanly built, and unskilfully disposed—We went to Dymerchion church, where the old clerk acknowledged his mistress—It is the parish church of Bach y Graig; a mean fabric; Mr. Salusbury [Mrs. Tlirale's father] was buried in it: Ufich y Graig hns fourteen seats in it. As we rode by, I looked at the house again—We saw Llannerch, a house not mean, with a small park very well watered—There was an avenue of oaks, which, in a foolish compliance with the present mode, has been cut down—A few are yet standing; the owner's name is Ravies—The way lay through pleasant lanes, and overlooked a region beautifully diversified with trees and grass. At Dymerchion church there is English service only once a month—this is about twenty miles from the English border—The 1 Humphry Llwyd was a native of Denbigh, practised there as a physician, and also represented the town in parliament. He died 156S.— Ditfpa. old clerk had great appearance of joy at the sight of his mistress, and foolishly said, that he was now willing to die—He had only a crown given him by my Mistress—At Dymerchion church the texts on the walls are in Welsh. Wednesday, Aug. 3.—We went in the coach to Holywell—Talk with mistress about flattery'—Holywell is a market town, neither very small nor mean—The spring called Winifred's Well is very clear, and so copious, that it yields one hundred tuns of water in a minute—It is all at once a very great stream, which, within perhaps thirty yards of its irruption, turns a mill, and in a course nf two miles, eighteen mills more—In descent, it is very quick— It then falls into the sea—The well is covered by a lofty circular arch, supported by pillars; and over this arch is an old chapel, now a school—The chancel is separated by a wall—The bath is completely and indecently open—A woman bathed while we all looked on—In the church, which makes a good appearance, and is surrounded by galleries to receive a numerous congregation, we were present while a child was christened in Welsh—We went down by the stream to see a prospect, in which I had no part— We then saw a brass-work, where the lapis calaminaris is gathered, broken, washed from the earth and the lead, though how the lead was separated I did not see; then calcined, afterwards ground fine, and then mixed by fire with copper—We saw several strong fires with melting pots, but the construction of the fireplaces I did not learn—At a copper-work, which receives its pigs of' copper, I think, from Warrington, we saw a plate of copper put hot between steel rollers, and spread thin; I know not whether the upper roller was set to a certain distance, as I suppose, or acted only by its weight—At an iron-work I saw round bars formed by a notched hammer and anvil—There I saw a bar of about half an inch dr more square, cut with shears worked by water, and then beaten hot into a thinner bar—The hammers, all worked, as they were, by water, acting upon small bodies, moved very quick, as quick as by the hand—I then saw wire drawn, and gave a shilling—I have enlarged my notions, though, not being able to see the movements, and having not time to peep closely, I 1 " He said that I flattered the people to whose houses we went: I was saucy, and said I was obliged to be civil for two—meaning himself and me. lie replied, nobody would thank me for compliments they did not understand. At G waynynog(Mr. Middleton's), however, he was flattered, and was happy of course."—Piozzi MS.— Croker. know less than I might—I was less weary, and had better breath, as I walked farther. Thursday, Aug. 4.—Rhudlan Castle is still a very noble ruin; all the walls still remain, so that a complete platform, and elevations, not very imperfect, may be taken—It encloses a square of about thirty yards—The middle space was always open—The wall is, I believe, about thirty feet high, very thick, flanked with six round towers, each about eighteen feet, or less, in diameter— Only one tower had a chimney, so that there was 1 commodity of living—It was only a place of strength—The garrison had, perhaps, tents in the area.—Stapylton's house is pretty ;2 there are pleasing shades about it, with a constant spring that supplies a cold bath—We then went to see a cascade—I trudged unwillingly, and was not sorry to find it dry *—The water was, however, turned on, and produced a very striking cataract—They are paid a hundred pounds a year for permission to divert the stream to the mines—The river, for such it may be termed, rises from a single spring, which, like that of Winifred's, is covered with a building—We called then at another house belonging to Mr. Lloyd, which made a handsome appearance—This country seems full of very splendid houses—ilrs. Thrale lost her purse—She expressed so much uneasiness, that I concluded the sum to be very great; but when I heard of only seven guineas, I was glad to find that she had so much sensibility of money—I could not drink this day either coffee or tea after dinner—I know not when I missed before. Friday, Aug. 5.—Last night my sleep was remarkably quiet —I know not whether by fatigue in walking, or by forbearance of tea. I gave [up] the ipecacuanha—Vin. emet. had failed; so had tartar emet. I dined at Mr. Myddleton's of Gwaynynog— The house was a gentleman's house, below the second rate, perhaps below the third, built of stone roughly cut—The rooms were low, and the passage above stairs gloomy, but the furniture was good—The table was well supplied, except that the fruit was bad —It was truly the dinner of a country gentleman—Two tables were filled with company, not inelegant—After dinner, the talk 1 "So " or " little " is here probaldy omitted.—Croker. 2 Bodryddan (pronounced, writes Mrs. Viozzi,Potrothait), formerly the residence of the Stapyltons, the parents of five co-heiresses, of whom Mrs. Cotton, afterwards Lady Salusbury Cotton, was one.—Duppa. 1 " He teased Mrs. Cotton about her dry cascade till she was ready to cry."—Piozfi MS.—Craker. y. C C was of preserving the Welsh language—I offered them a scheme —Poor Evan Evans was mentioned as incorrigibly addicted to strong drink—Worthington was commended '—Myddleton was the only man who, in Wales, has talked to me of literature—I wish he were truly zealous—I recommended the republication of David ap Rhees's Welsh Grammar—Two sheets of Hebrides came to me for correction to-day, F, G.2 Saturday, Aug.6.—Ka^c^oo-ic] cp[airr(k.i)].—I corrected the two sheets—My sleep last night was disturbed—Washing at Chester and here, 5s. Id.—I did not read—I saw to-day more of the outhouses at Lleweney—It is, in the whole, a very spacious house. Sunday, Aug. 7.—I was at church at Bodfari. There was a service used for a sick woman, not canonically, but such as I have heard. I think, formerly at Lichfield, taken out of the visitation. —Kafl. fttrpimt.—The church is mean, but has a square tower for the bells, rather too stately for the church. Observations.—Dixit injustus, Ps. 36, has no relation to the English—Preserve us. Lord,3 has the name of Robert Wisedome, 1618. liarher's Bible—Battologium ab iteratione, recte distin^uit Erasmus. Mod. Orandi Deum, p. 56, 144.—Southwell's Thoughts of his own death i—Baudius on Erasmus.' 1 Johnson's friend, Dr. Worthington, was resident in a Welsh living, which the family afterwards visited, post, 8th Sept.—Croker. 1 F, G, are the printer's signatures, by which it appears that at this time five [? four] sheets had already been printed.—Duppa. 3 This alludes to A Prayer by R. W. (evidently Kobert Wisedom) which Sir Henry Ellis, of the British Museum, has found among the Hymns which follow the old version of the singing Psalms, at the end of Marker's Bible of 1639. It begins, "Preserve us, Lord, by thy dear word, 4 This alludes to Southwell's stanzas Upon the Image of Death, in his Mseonia', a collection of spiritual poems :— '' Before my face the picture hangs. That daily should put me in mind That shortly I am like to find; Robert Southwell was an English Jesuit, who was imprisoned, tortured, and finally, in Feb. 1598, tried, convicted, and next day executed, for teaching the Koman Catholic tenets in England.—Croker. 5 This work, whiuh Johnson was now reading, was, most probably, a Monday, Aug. 8.—The bishop and much company dined at Lleweney '—Talk of Greek, and of the army—The Duke of Marlborough's officers useless—Read Phoeylides,2 distinguished the paragraphs—-I looked in Leland: an unpleasant book uf mere hints—" Lichfield school ten pounds, and live pounds from the hospital."3 Wednesday. Aug. 10.—At Lloyd's, of Maesmynnan; a good house, and a very large walled garden—I read Windus's Account of his Journey to Meqninez, and of Stewart's Embassy4—I had lead in the morning Wasse's Greek Tiochaics to Bcntley: they appeared inelegant, and made with difficulty—The Latin elegy contains only common-place, hastily expressed, so far as I have read, for it is long—They seem to be the verses of a scholar, who has no practice of writing—The Greek I did not always fully understand—I am in doubt about the sixth and last paragraphs; perhaps they are not printed right, for ivrocov perhaps fCflTVYWq?—The following days [11th, 12th, and 13th], I read here and there—The Bibliotheca Literaria was so little supplied with papers that could interest curiosity, that it could not hope for long continuance'—Wasse, the chief contributor, was. an unpolished scholar, who, with much literature, had no art or elegance of diction, at least in English. Sunday, Aug. 14.—At Bodfari I heard the second lesson read, and the sermon preached in Welsh. The text was pronounced both in Welsh and English—The sound of the Welsh, in a continued discourse, is not unpleasant—Boisitij u\(yn—KaO. a. cf>.— The letter of Chrysostom, against transubstantiation—Erasmus to the Nuns, full of mystic notions aud allegories. Monday, Aug. 15.—KciS.—Imbecillitas genuum non sine aliquantulo doloris inter ainbulandum, quern a prandio magis sensi. Thursday, Aug. }6.—We left Llewenev, and went forwards on our journey—We came to Abergeley, a mean town, in which little little book, entitled Baudii Epistoke, as, in his Life of Milton, he has made a quotation from it —Duppa. 1 During onr stay at this place, one day at dinner, I meant to please Mr. Johnson particularly with a dish of very young peas. "Are not they charming?" said I to him while he was eating them. "Perhaps," he answered, " they would be so—to a. pig."—Piozzi MS.— Croker. a The title of the poem is Tloit^ia vovtienwhf,—Duppa. 3 An extract from Iceland's Itinerary, published by Hearne, 1710. —Duppa. 4 To the present Emperor of Fez and Morocco, for the Kedemption of Captives, in 1721."—Unppa. 5 The Bibliotheca Literaria only extended to ten numbers.—Duppa. |