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happy to quit this inaufpicious ifland, where fortune had not been over prodigal to us of her favours. The road from this ferry to Caernarvon, winds along the shores of the Menai, and the scenery would have amply repayed me for the fatigue and mortification I had undergone, had I then been in a humour to have enjoyed it; but true it is, that when we cannot enjoy ourfelves, we are not much difpofed to be fatisfied with any thing around us; the finest objects lose their beauty; and what at other times would have afforded the highest gratification, are in thofe hours deprived of their relish. We reached Caernarvon, or Caer-ar-fon (fignifying a walled town), to breakfast; and it was not until I had eaten, or rather devoured, a certain quantity of toast and butter, that I began to recover the accustomed tone of my spirits. I intended to have closed this letter

letter with an account of our transactions as far as the time of our departure from this place; but muft defer the remainder till my next, for fome particular business has fallen upon my hands, which obliges me for the present to fubfcribe myself,

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LETTER V.

TAN Y BWLCH, July 24, 1794.

OF all the ruins which Wales has yet

prefented to me, the caftle of Caernarvon is the moft noble and magnificent. "Vaft as the pride of its founder," it evinces the warlike and invincible genius of the firft Edward, of whose military prowess this country, as well as Scotland, furnish fuch numerous and melancholy proofs. Thank heaven, these fabricks of defpotifm are at length either levelled with the ground, or present a memorable leffon to mankind of the futility of human ambition.

This caftle was erected in order to fecure the paffage into the Isle of Anglesea, and to curb the people of the mountains,

where

where the brave and hardy Britons had taken refuge from their infulting conquerors, refolved to prefer freedom and independance to eafe and fervitude. The eldest son of Edward was born here, and he was prefented to the Welfh as their future prince. Such enormous buildings, abstractedly confidered, excite only my abhorrence; because they have occafioned the exercise of a great deal of tyranny, and useless expence, and have been of no poffible advantage to any nation; but have, on the contrary, afforded fo many afylums wherein the fword of tyranny might take shelter; and were chiefly calculated to keep the furrounding districts in awe and fubjection. Every castle that now remains is a monument of fhame to our ancestors, and of the ignoble bondage under which they bent: and hence in part arifes that fatisfaction, which the

mind

mind is confcious of feeling, in contemplating their ruins; for an affociation naturally takes place; and the recollection of the feudal vaffalage and slavery of former days, is accompanied by the pleasing circumstances of the relative prosperity and freedom which we now enjoy. From this place we made a party of three, and croffed once more into Anglesea, where my ill stars seemed to have pre-ordained that I should meet with nothing but misfortunes. One of my companions was a very skilful botanift, and his botanical furor induced him at all times to despise danger and difficulty, when in purfuit of a favourite plant, and this was the object of our prefent enterprize; but we had scarcely fet foot on that inhofpitable thore, before it began to rain with great violence, and very foon growing dark, we were obliged to make the best of our

way

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