vale of Ffestiniog,) and wandered leisurely along, enjoying all the way the most sublime pleasure in contemplating the beauties of the scene before us. There are few vales in this country that afford such lovely prospects as this. Many of the high mountains bounding its sides are shaded with lofty oaks; and the silver Dwyryd, Two Fords, serpentises placidly and silently along the bottom, amidst the richest cultivation. The sea, at a distance, closes the view; and Traeth Bach, a wide arm of it, is seen to receive the Dwyryd, a little below Tanybwlch hall, which is situated on a rising ground, and embowered in woods, at the north west extremity of the vale. The little village of Maentwrog, from whence it takes its name, is seated nearly in the middle. The character of the vale of Ffestiniog is very different from that either of Llanberis or Nant Hwynan: the former is majestic, grand, and sublime; Nant Hwynan bears a middle character, its bottom is varied by insulated rocks, and clad with trees; this is simply elegant, and principally affords charms to the admirer of nature in her most chaste and delicate attire. The bottom is open, and cultivated from end to end, with trees scattered along the walls and hedge-rows. The thick woods on the mountains on the north side soften very beautifully what would be otherwise a bleak and dreary feature in the scene. "With the woman one loves, with the friend of one's heart, and a good study of books, (says lord Lyttleton to his friend Mr. Bower,) one might pass an age in this vale, and think it a day. If you have a mind to live long, and renew your youth, come with Mrs. Bower, and settle at Ffestiniog. Not long ago there died in that neighbourhood an honest Welsh farmer, who was 105 years of age. By his first wife he had thirty children, ten by his second, four by his third, and seven by two concubines: his youngest son was eightyone years younger than his eldest; and 8co persons, descended from his body, attended his funeral.”—I can add another instance of age and fecundity in this vale, which, though far short of this in point of numbers, is still sufficiently great to prove the healthiness of the place. Jane Price, who died in the year 1694, had at the time. of her death twelve children, forty-seven grand children, and thirteen great grand children.' We have now reached the end of the first volume; and we should find it a pleasant task, if our limits allowed, to conduct our readers through some of the romantic scenery which in Volume II. is so chastely, and in appearance so faithfully described. We should gladly also make them acquainted with the chapters which contain the author's views of the character and manners of the antient Welsh, and those of their present descendants; from which they would find that he does not regard the one as an imbecile, and the other as a degenerate race. The antient Britons he represents as a nation of warriors, passionately enamoured of independence, possessed of dauntless bravery and infinite enterprize, and noted for warlike stratagems. He admits the vast copiousness and end. less variety of their language; and he explains and vindicates the structure of their poetry. He does not partake in the least degree of the inveterate antipathy imputed to a Caledonian antiquary, but is the friend and admirer of the original inhabitants of our favoured isle, and his accounts represent them as amiable and estimable. In descriptions of nations as well as of individuals, truth ought doubtless to be our sole object: but if we are to err, we have no scruple in saying that it is more creditable, as well as more beneficial, that it should be on the favourable side. If we persuade an individual or a people that they are of an inferior order, we raise a bar to their improvement that is almost insurmountable.-Mr. B.'s sketch of the History of the Welsh Bards and Music, and his selection, in score, of 16 of their favourite airs, will be acceptable to musical readers. Nothing eludes verbal description more than natural scenery; the elements of our pleasure in this walk are too subtile to be embodied in language; and those who most strongly feel it are at a loss to express it. In this respect, Mr. Bingley practises a reserve which we have more frequently recommended than witnessed. If the pictures sketched by him are less vivid, and his respresentations less animated, than those of some of his brother tourists, he has the advantage over them on the score of accuracy and fidelity; and if he excites less rapture, he engages more confidence. Few readers of these volumes will be able to restrain an ardent wish to have attended the traveller in his walk from Conway to Bangor over Penmaenmawr; to have taken up their quarters with him at Caernarvon, in order to traverse the rapturous vales of Llanberis, Beddgelert, Nantgarmon, and Ffestiniog; to have ascended with him the arduous summits of Snowdon and Cader Idris; and to have marched in his track along Vallecrucis, Llangollen, and Edeirnion, in order to witness the sublime horrors and enchanting beauties of the views in North Wales. It will perhaps be said that these volumes are too much occupied by history and antiquities: but it should be remembered that it is extremely difficult to observe the proper medium in these matters. Until travellers are universally furnished with all that relates to the objects which they behold, that is to be collected from the works of antiquaries or from the records of past times, episodes of this nature are indispensible; since, without this knowlege, either previously stored, or recently acquired, almost all that is sentimental in tours will be lost; without it, a ruin is no more than a mouldering edifice; and the spots, which great events have consecrated, are only so much space. With regard to Natural History, likewise, Mr. B. furnishes many occasional particulars, as also a Flora Cambrica at the end of the second volume, which will be interesting to the lovers of this rational and attractive science. As far as we can collect from his writing, Mr. B. is moreover a goodhumoured traveller; who bears, without murmur or complaint, the inconveniences and privations under which tourists labour, when their curiosity leads them to sequestered and unbeaten tracks. His work is not without faults: but we have judged it to be most for the advantage of our readers to dwell on its excellencies. It is in our opinion the best Vade Mecum that has yet appeared, for a North Wales tour. ART. XII. Sir Tristrem; a Metrical Romance of the Thirteenth Century, by Thomas of Ercildouné, called the Rhymer. Edited from the Auchinleck MS. by Walter Scott, Esq., Advocate. Royal 8vo. pp. 500. 21. 2s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1:04. AS S tradition has almost uniformly ascribed the Scottish version of Sir Tristrem to the bard of Ercildoune, our curiosity was naturally excited to know the history of this skilful personage; who, in an unlettered age, could execute a long poem in quaint Inglis, and surmount the difficulties of a very complicated stanza. Mr. Scott, however, with all his erudion and research, which are confessedly great, and with appropriate opportunities, which few in this part of the island can enjoy, has not been able to discover much that can be deemed satisfactory. It appears that our poet flourished in the thirteenth century, that he possessed soine lands at Ercildoune, (now Earlstoun, a village on the river Leader, in the county of Berwick,) that he probably lived upwards of seventy years, and that with the vulgar he passed for a prophet. Much ingenious dissertation is here expended on the history of the poem. The subject may certainly be traced to the historical Triads of the Welsh; and it seems also to have acquired popularity among the rehearsers or diseurs of France, who expanded it into prose narratives: but various arguments are adduced to prove that Thomas borrowed his materials directly from Celtic sources, and clothed them in an English dress. If English, (says the editor,) or a mixture of Saxon, Pictish, and Norman, became early the language of the Scottish court, to which great part of Northumberland was subjected, the minstrels, who crowded their camps, must have used it in their songs. Thus, when the language began to gain ground in England, the northern minstrels, by whom it had already been long cultivated, were the best rehearsers of the poems already written, and the most apt and ready composers of new tales and songs. It is probably owing to this circumstance, that almost all the ancient English ministrel bal lads lads bear marks of a northern origin, and are, in general, common to the borderers of both kingdoms. By this system we may also account for the superiority of the early Scottish over the early English poets, excepting always the unrivalled Chaucer. And, finally, to this we may ascribe the flow of romantic and poetical tradition, which has distinguished the borderers of Scotland almost down to the present day.' The intricate structure of the verse in this poem, and the peculiar character of the style, (which the editor compares to the Gibbonism of romance,) are, at least, strong presumptive proofs that it was composed by Thomas of Ercildoune. In its present form, it is professedly related on the authority of the Rhymer: I was at [Erceldoune :] Who Tristrem gat and bare. Thomas tells in toun, This auentours as thai ware.' Mr. Scott conjectures that some minstrel, who had access to the Rhymer, had learned the story from his recitation; and, that after it had passed through several hands, the compiler of the Auchinleck MS. committed it to writing. For the sake of the many to whom the original will be nearly unintelligible, we shall sketch an outline of the story. Rouland Rise, lord of Ermonie, having conquered the Duke Morgan, a great and rival baron, again proves victorious in a tournament at the court of Mark, king of Cornwall, and wins the heart of Blanche-flour, sister to that monarch. Sir Tristrem owes his birth to a clandestine interview of the two lovers. Rouland, meanwhile, is apprized by a letter from his faithful friend Rohand, that Morgan, in violation of the late truce, was invading his territories at the head of a powerful army. The lovers forthwith take their departure for Ermonie, and are married in the castle of Rohand: but short was the term of their union; for Rouland, notwithstanding prodigies of valour, was finally subdued, and treacherously slain, and his consort lived only to learn his untimely fate, and recommend her babe to the care of Rohand. The latter educated his charge as his own son, under the inverted name of Tramtrist, until he became a wonderful proficient in minstrelsy, hunting, hawking, 03 hawking, chess, and all knightly games. In his fifteenth year, he boldly accepted the challenge of a Norwegian shipmaster to play at chess, and was so successful, that the sly captain put off with him to sea. As the vessel, however, was terribly tost in a tempest, which the crew imputed to this act of injustice, the youth was landed in Cornwali, with all his winnings. Being conducted to the court by two palmers, his superior style of carving a buck, his skill on the harp, and his varied accomplishments, quickly recommended him to the royal notice and favour. The disconsolate Rohand, who had long roamed in quest of his foster-son, at length traced him to Cornwall, and revealed to Mark the history of his birth. The king not only acknowleged him as his nephew, but dubbed him a knight, and gave him a thousand men, with whom he repaired to the castle of Rohand, accompanied by fifteen knights, and followed by Rohand and his troops; he next went to Morgan's palace, upbraided the Duke, killed him in battle, and recovered Ermonie, which he bestowed as a fief on his foster-father. A more fierce encounter awaited him in Cornwall, where Moraunt, an Irish champion, demanded the accustomed though unjust tribute of three hundred pounds of gold, as many of coined silver, &c. and, every fourth year, three hundred children. Tristrem gave it as his opinion that the exaction should be resisted, and defied Moraunt to the combat. Though wounded by a poisoned weapon, he fatally cleft the skull of his adversary: but so offensive was the gangrene of his own wound, that none had courage to approach his person, except Gouver nayl, his faithful domestic. With this trusty attendant, then, and his harp, he set sail from England, and was driven into the harbour of Dublin. Aware that the queen of Ireland was sister to Moraunt, he again took the name of Tramtrist, and alleged that he had been wounded by pirates. The queen, who was a great proficient in the medical art, being informed that the stranger merchant excelled in minstrelsy, paid him a visit, and was so much delighted that she undertook and effected his cure. The Princess Ysonde then became his pupil, and the theme of his admiration. On his return to his uncle's court, he so warmly extolled the charms of his fair disciple, that the king urged him to bring her over in the quality of royal bride. The barons, who were jealous of Tristrem's ascendency, also exhorted him to execute a commission which, they trusted, would terminate fatally for himself. Regardless but not unconscious of his danger, our hero took with him fifteen knights, disguised, like himself, as merchants; and, without revealing the object of his mission, he sent |