even in England will surpass in comfort, cleanliness and the civility of the landlords, the inn at Cernioge, the Goat at Beddgelert, the inns at Tany Bwlch and Capel Curig, the Penrhyn Arms Hotel near Bangor, the Victoria Hotel at Dôlbadarn, and the Belle Vue at Aberystwith. The charges are never exorbitant; being, at the first-rate inns about the same, or perhaps rather less, than they would be at moderate inns in England.

MEANS OF CONVEYANCE.

During half the year, that is, from May to October, both inclusive, conveyances are easily to be met with. Between Shrewsbury and Holyhead, the Mail and Wonder coaches pass daily; the latter is frequently accommodating enough to stop at one or two objects of curiosity on the road, such as Rhaiadr Wennol, and for this reason perhaps the tourist would do well to select this conveyance. From Chester to Caernarvon there are two daily coaches, which, if the tourist is urgent, may be induced to stop at Holywell a sufficient length of time to enable him to visit St. Wenefred's Well. From Caernarvon to Barmouth there is a mail, and from Barmouth a coach three times a week to Chester, passing through Dolgelley, Bala, Druid, Delwer, Ruthin and Mold. A coach runs from Barmouth to Aberystwith, and from Aberystwith to Shrewsbury there are coaches daily through Welsh Pool, Newtown and Llanidloes.

Post-horses and cars are to be met with in abundance on all the principal roads, with the exception of that from Oswestry to Bala, a distance of 30 miles, throughout which there are none to be had. At the principal inns from six to twelve pair of horses are kept; but although the number is so extensive, yet during the height of the season, they are in so great demand, that the traveller would do well to bespeak them immediately upon his arrival at the inn, if he

GUIDES-PROMINENT OBJECTS AND SCENERY. XXV

should be particularly anxious to proceed on his journey at any given time.

A steam-packet plies daily between Liverpool and Bangor, making the voyage in about six hours; and there are likewise steam-boats daily from Liverpool to Rhyl.

Besides these several modes of conveyance, horses may be hired or ponies purchased at the option of the tourist.

GUIDES.

There will be no difficulty in finding guides, and they are in general contented with a slight remuneration; the guides to Snowdon and Cader Idris, however, make regular charges for their personal services, and 5s. for every pony furnished by them. The father of the Snowdon Guides, Richard Edwards by name, lives at Beddgelert, and may be met with at the Goat Inn; and those persons who wish to ascend Cader Idris from Dolgelley will do well to select Richard Pugh, junior, to accompany them; he may be

heard of at the Golden Lion.

PROMINENT OBJECTS AND SCENERY.

For the information of those persons who are unacquainted with the principal beauties of North Wales, a list is here given of the objects and scenery which will, in all probability, afford the highest gratification to the tourist, they are as follow:

Pont Cysyllty Aqueduct—the vale of Llangollen — the road from Cernioge to Bangor, through Nant Frangon, in which are situated Mr. Pennant's slate quarries-the Menai Bridge-the road from the Menai Bridge to BeaumarisBeaumaris Castle-the voyage from Bangor to Liverpoolthe road from Bangor to Conway-Conway Castle and Bridge-the vale of Conway-the vale of Clywd-St. Wenefred's Well at Holywell-Caernarvon and Castle-the

Nantlle pools-the road from Caernarvon to Llanberisthe scenery around Llanberis-the road from Llanberis to Beddgelert-the scenery around Beddgelert-Snowdonthe road from Beddgelert to Tremadoc, passing by Pont Aberglasslyn-the embankment at Tremadoc, and view of Snowdon therefrom-the vale of Ffestiniog-Harlech Castle -the road from Barmouth to Dolgelley-Cader Idris-the vale of Rheidol and the Devil's Bridge.

The chief waterfalls are-Pistyll Rhaiadr-the falls of the Mynach at the Devil's Bridge-the falls in the neighbourhood of Dolgelley-the falls near Maentwrog-the falls of the Cynfael near Ffestiniog-the falls at Pont y Pair, close to the Holyhead and London road-Rhaiadr Wennol, close to the same road-and Rhaiadr Benglog, close to the same road-Rhaiadr Mawr, near Aber, on the Chester and Holyhead road-and Caunant Mawr, at Dolbadarn.

LANGUAGE.

The Welsh language has much intrinsic merit; in the strength of its expressions it is inferior to none; in harmony it is superior to most; nor is it an inconsiderable proof of its copiousness and independency, that without the assistance of any foreign words it fully expresses all the conceptions of the mind.

The Welsh, Cornish and Breton or Armoric languages, have an uniform agreement with each other, in grammar, structure and nomenclature; and the Irish and Erse or Gaelic are fundamentally the same with the Welsh, though differing much in the dialect and pronunciation. They all proceeded from one common head or fountain, the ancient Celtic or British tongue.

It is supposed that there were anciently in the Welsh language no less than 43 letters; 16 of which were radicals,

that expressed the primary sounds, and the rest modulations or dependents on them. For each of these it is probable that there was formerly a simple appropriate character; but, since the invention of printing, and the introduction of Roman letters, it has been necessary, for want of a sufficient variety of cast for the purpose, to adopt two, and in one instance even three, of those letters, to express one sound or character, by which much of the simplicity and beauty of the proper alphabet has been lost.

No letter has any variation of sound except the accented vowels â, ê, ô, ŵ, ŵ, which are lengthened or otherwise according to the power of the accent; and all are pronounced, as there are no mutes.

The tourist, though he will occasionally be perplexed with the reply of Dim Saesnag, no Saxon or English, to a question asked, may proceed through a great part of Wales without being inconvenienced by a want of knowledge of the native language. He may however be frequently at a loss to discover the correct pronunciation of the names of different places. To assist him in this respect the following pronunciation is given of the letters in the Welsh alphabet.

A, has the same sound as the English open a in the word bard.

B, eb, as in English.

C, is always hard, as k, or as c in can.

Ch, which is accounted but one consonant, is a gutteral, as x in Greek, or 7, Cheth, in Hebrew.

D, ed, as in English.

Dd, whether at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, is

an aspirated d, and has the sound of th in the words this, that. Dda, good, is pronounced Tha.

E, as e English in the word bed; or if circumflexed, as a

English in the word same.

F, has the sound of the English v.

Ff, as f English.

G, eg as in go.

Ng, eng, as in the English word long.

H, aitch, as in English.

I, ee, as in hid; or if circumflexed, like our ee in been: thus

cîl is pronounced keel.

L, el, as in English.

Ll, is an aspirated 1, and has much the sound of thl.

M, em, as in English.

N, en, as in English.

O, as o in the English word don, or if circumflexed, as o in

the English word tone.

P, ep, as in English.

Ph, eph, an aspirated P.

R, ar, as in English; at the beginning of a word it is always

aspirated.

Rh, arh, an aspirated R.

S, ess, as in English.

T, et, as in English.

Th, eth, an aspirated T.

V, sounds like i in limb, lime, &c.; when circumflexed, as ee in been.

W, is a vowel, and has the power, when circumflexed, of oo in soon.

Y, is in some words pronounced like i in third; in others like o in honey; and again, in others as the u in mud, dust, &c.

V is sometimes used instead of f. B and P, C and G, and V and Y, are used promiscuously, as were formerly V and M.