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 safe -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 your 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 a Meeting 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 been brought nearer to the sea-side-We of the inner castle are, I think, eight- 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.]

4 ["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.]

5 [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 Lible 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, endowed with the small tithes, which, in 1809, amounted to six pounds sixteen shillings and six

lection of her childhood-This species of pleasure is always melancholy-The walk was cut down, and the pond was dry-ed by Queen Anne's bounty; and, in 1809, the pence 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.]

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-
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 anec-
dote is told: "We had been visiting at a lady's
house, whom, as we returned, some of the com-
pany 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 ap-
ply 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.]
["Situated among the mountains of Caernar-
vonshire."-Piozzi MS.]
[Piozzi MS.]

62

[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 recollect the house, which she had not seen since she was five years old.—DUPPA.

["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.]

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 [in 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.

(Note.-On the day when we visited Bodville [Monday, 22d August], we turned to the house of Mr. Griffiths, of Kefnamwycllh, a gentleman of large fortune, remarkable for having made great and sudden improvements in his seat and estate He has enclosed a large garden with a brick wall-He is considered as a man of great accomplishments-He was educated in lit[However this may have been, he was both erature at the university, and served some happy and amused, during his stay at Gwaynytime in the army, then quitted his commis- nog, and Mr. Myddelton was flattered by the sion, and retired to his lands. He is action of it, he (to use Mr. Boswell's words) erected honour of his visit. To perpetuate the recolleccounted a good man, and endeavours to bring the people to church.)

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 agrecable 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

5 [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. Elmsly, the bookseller. DUPPA.]

Monday, 19th September.-We inade 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 [Dr. Johnson, in another column of his Diatasted his pension-It is not very well prov-ry, has put down, in a note, " First printed book ed that any pension was obtained for him in Greek, Lascaris's Grammar, 4to. Mediolani, -I am afraid that he died of misery. 1476." The imprint of this book is, Mediolani Impressum per Magistrum Dionysium Paravisinum. 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 manu-ble that Dr. Johnson saw it now for the first time. facture of Papier mache―The paper which A copy was purchased for the king's library at they use is smooth whited brown; the var- Dr. Askew's sale, 1775, for twenty-one pounds nish is polished with rotten stone-Wheeler ten shillings. gave me a teaboard-We then went to Boulton's 4, who, with great civility, led us

We came to Birmingham, and I sent for Wheeler 3, whom I found well.

1

1 ["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 an 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.]

3 {Dr. Benjamin Wheeler; he was a native of Oxford, and originally on the foundation of Trinity College; afterwards he became a Fellow of Magdalene 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.]

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. 10s.-DUPPA.]

[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.]

8 ["Of the dinner at University College I remember nothing, unless it was there that Mr 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