1774.] Holywell. 503 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 eruption, turns a mill, and in a course of 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 the copper. We saw several strong fires with melting pots, but the construction of the fire-places 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 knotched records that he once said to her: You think I love flattery, and so I do, but a little too much always disgusts me. That fellow Richardson [the novelist] on the contrary could not be contented to sail quietly down the stream of reputation, without longing to taste the froth from every stroke of the oar.' Piozzi's Anec. p. 184. See ante, iii. 333, for Johnson's rebuke of Hannah More's flattery. 1 1 Johnson, in his Dictionary, defines calamine or lapis calaminaris as a kind of fossile bituminous earth, which being mixed with copper changes it into brass. It is native siliceous oxide of zinc. The Imperial Dictionary. hammer 504 Ruthin Castle. [1774. hammer and anvil. There I saw a bar of about half an inch, or 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 know less than I might. I was less weary, and had better breath, as I walked farther. AUGUST 4. Ruthin Castle is still a very noble ruin; all the walls still remain, so that a compleat 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 commodity of living. It was only a place of strength. The garrison had, perhaps, tents in the area. Stapylton's house is pretty3: 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 an 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. 1 See ante, iii. 186. ''No' or 'little' is here probably omitted. CROKER. "The name of this house is Bodryddan; formerly the residence of the Stapyltons, the parents of five co-heiresses, of whom Mrs. Cotton, afterwards Lady Salusbury Cotton, was one. DUPPA. 'Dr. Johnson, whose ideas of anything not positively large were ever mingled with contempt, asked of one of our sharp currents in North Wales, "Has this brook e'er a name?" and received for answer, Why, dear Sir, this is the River Ustrad." "Let us," said he, turning 56 We 1774.] Preserving the Welsh language. 505 We called then at another house belonging to Mr. Lloyd, which made a handsome appearance. This country seems full of very splendid houses. Mrs. 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. AUGUST 5. Last night my sleep was remarkably quiet. I know not whether by fatigue in walking, or by forbearance of tea'. I gave the ipecacuanha. Vin. emet. had failed; so had tartar emet. man. 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 gentleTwo tables were filled with company, not inelegant. After dinner, the talk 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 is the only man, who, in Wales, has talked to me of literature. I wish he were truly zealous. I recommended the republication of David Rhees's Welsh Grammar. ap Two sheet of Hebrides came to me for correction to-day, F. G.* to his friend, "jump over it directly, and shew them how an Englishman should treat a Welsh river." Piozzi's Synonymy, i. 82. 1 See ante, i. 363, note 2. . On Aug. 16 he wrote to Mr. Levett:-'I have made nothing of the Ipecacuanha.' Ante, ii. 323. Mr. Croker suggests that up is omitted after I gave.' See post, p. 517. F. G. are the printer's signatures, by which it appears that at this AUGUST 6. 506 The library at Lleweney. AUGUST 6. [1774. 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 out-houses at Lleweney. It is, in the whole, a very spacious house. AUGUST 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. 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, has the name of Robert Wisedome, 1618.-Barker's Bible. Battologiam ab iteratione, recte distinguit Erasmus.—Mod. Orandi Deum, p. 56–1443 time four sheets (B, C, D, E), or 64 pages had already been printed. The MS. was 'put to the press' on June 20. Ante, ii. 318. 1 The English version Psalm 36 begins,- My heart sheweth me the wickedness of the ungodly,' which has no relation to 'Dixit injustus.' This alludes to A prayer by R. W.,' (evidently Robert 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 Barker's Bible of 1639. It begins, 'Preserve us, Lord, by thy deare word, CROKER. Proinde quum dominus Matth. 6 docet discipulos suos ne in orando multiloqui sint, nihil aliud decet quam ne credant deum inani verborum strepitu flecti rem eandem subinde flagitantium. Nam Græcis est βαττολογήσατε. Βαττολογεῖν autem illis dicitur qui voces easdem frequenter iterant sine causa, vel loquacitatis, vel naturæ, vel consuetudinis vitio. Alioqui juxta precepta rhetorum nonnunquam Southwell's 1774.] The library at Lleweney. 507 Southwell's Thoughts of his own death'. AUGUST 8. The Bishop and much company dined at Lleweney. Talk of Greek—and of the army3. The Duke of Marlborough's officers useless. Read Phocylidis', distinguished the paragraphs. I looked in Leland: an unpleasant book of mere hints. Lichfield School, ten pounds; and five pounds from the Hospital. AUGUST 10. At Lloyd's, of Maesmynnan; a good house, and a very laudis est iterare verba, quemadmodum et Christus in cruce clamitat. Deus meus, deus meus: non erat illa Barroλoyía, sed ardens ac vehemens affectus orantis.' Erasmus's Works, ed. 1540, v. 927. This alludes to Southwell's stanzas Upon the Image of Death,' in his Mæonia, [Mæoniæ] a collection of spiritual poems: 'Before my face the picture hangs That daily should put me in mind But, yet, alas! full little I Do thinke hereon that I must die.' &c. Robert Southwell was an English Jesuit, who was imprisoned, tortured, and finally, in Feb. 1598 [1595] executed for teaching the Roman Catholic tenets in England. CROKER. 2 This work, which Johnson was now reading, was, most probably, a little book, entitled Baudi Epistolæ. In his Life of Milton [Works, vii. 115], he has made a quotation from it. DUPPA. 3 ' Bishop Shipley had been an Army Chaplain. Ante, iii. 285. 4 The title of the poem is Ποίημα νουθετικόν. DUPPA. This entry refers to the following passage in Leland's Itinerary, published by Thomas Hearne, ed. 1744, iv. 112. 'B. Smith in K. H. 7. dayes, and last Bishop of Lincolne, beganne a new Foundation at this place settinge up a Mr. there with 2. Priestes, and 10. poore Men in an Hospitall. He sett there alsoe a Schoole-Mr. to teach Grammer that hath 10. 7. by the yeare, and an Under-Schoole-Mr. that hath 5. 7. by the yeare. King H. 7. was a great Benefactour to this new Foundation, and gave to it an ould Hospitall called Denhall in Wirhall in Cheshire.' large |