Chirk. Aqueduct.-Church.-Chirk Castle, and extensive View.-Anecdote respecting a whimsical Painting of Pistyll Rhaiadr.-History of Chirk Castle.-Memoranda of Sir John Trevor.-Beautiful Scene at New Bridge.-Ruabon.Church and Monuments.-Dr. David Powell.

EXCURSION FROM RUABON TO BANGOR
ISCOED.

Wynnstay.-Beautiful Scene at Nant y Bele.-Overton.Bangor Iscoed, the most ancient Monastery in Britain.

THE village of Chirk is situated on the brow

of a hill; and from the numerous coal works and other undertakings in the neighbourhood, it appears to be a place of some business.

The Ellesmere canal passes within half a mile of the village, and is carried over the river and vale of Ceiriog by a long aqueduct.

In the church at Chirk there are several marble monuments in memory of the Middletons of Chirk castle: the best of these was erected for sir Thomas Middleton, one of the commanders in the army of the parliament during the civil wars,

CHIRK CASTLE

Is about a mile and half from the village. This building, like that of Powys, still retains a mixture of the castle and mansion. It stands in an open situation, on the summit of a considerable eminence, and commands an extensive view into seventeen different counties. On the exterior it retains much of its primitive aspect. It is a quadrangular structure, having five towers, one at each corner, and the fifth for the gateway, in front. The entrance is into a spacious court yard, a hundred and sixty feet long, and a hundred broad; and on the east side of this there is a handsome colonnade. The principal apartments are a saloon, a drawing room, and gallery; in the latter of which there is a large collection of paintings, consisting, however, almost entirely of family portraits.

In a room adjoining to the gallery 1 observed a singular landscape, in which Pistyll Rhaiadr, the waterfall in Montgomeryshire, is represented as falling into the sea. I asked the cause of this strange impropriety, and was informed that the painter was a foreign artist; he had been employed by one of the Middletons to take a view of that cataract, and when the piece was nearly finished, it was hinted that a few sheep, scattered in different parts, would probably add to its beauty. The painter mistook the suggestion, and nettled that a person whom he judged ignorant of the art should presume to instruct him, replied with considerable tartness, "You want some sheeps in it? Well, well, I will put you some sheeps in it!" He soon dashed out

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the bottom of the picture, and introduced the sea, and several sheeps, (ships) some of which are represented as lying at anchor close to the rocks.

There is a dungeon to this castle, as deep as the walls are high: it is descended by a flight of forty-two steps-The building is on the whole low and heavy, and wants magnitude to give consequence to its appearance.*

History of Chirk Castle.-The present structure was the work of Roger Mortimer, the son of Roger, baron of Wigmore, and founded on the site of a very ancient fortress, called Castell Crogen.

John, earl of Warren, and Roger Mortimer, were ap pointed guardians to the two sons of Madoc ap Griffith, a strenuous partisan of Henry III. and Edward ì. They murdered their wards, and appropriated the estates to their own use. Mortimer's share in the robbery consisted of the lands at Nan-heudwy and Chirk, which belonged to the youngest boy. At the latter of these places he found it. politic to erect a place of defence. This he was suffered to enjoy with impunity till his death, which took place in the tower of London, after an imprisonment of four years and a half, for the commission of some other crime. The property was even suffered to continue in the family, and his grandson sold the castle to Richard Fitz Alan, earl of Arundel, whose son, in the seventh year of Edward III., was made governor, with a confirmation of his father's grant. The Fitz Alans possessed it for three generations, after which it passed to Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, in right of his wife, the eldest sister of Thomas, earl of Arundel. On the duke's disgrace and exile in 1397, it was probably resumed by the crown; for it was afterwards granted to William Beauchamp, earl of Abergavenny, who had married the other sister of the earl of Arundel. On the marriage of the grand daughter of this nobleman with Edward Nevil (afterwards lord Abergavenny), it was, in the reign of Henry VI., conveyed into that family. After this it became the property of sir William Stanley, and on his execution it escheated again to the crown. It was bestowed by queen Elizabeth on her favourite, Dudley, earl of Lei

MEMORANDA OF SIR JOHN TREVOR.

About a mile from the village of Chirk is Brynkinallt, the family seat of the Trevors, descendants of Tudor Trevor. This was the dwelling of Sir John Trevor, master of the rolls, and speaker of the house of commons, in the reigns of James II. and William. Being a man of considerable talents, he found means to ingratiate himself with king James, and during his reign obtained some popularity. He was, however, too fond of money, and this was the cause of his expulsion from the house in 1695. An act was passed for creating a fund towards repayment of the debt due to the orphan charity from the city of London, and Sir John received from the city a purse of a thousand guineas, for his services in influencing the house in their favour. He would have been impeached by the house of commons for this offence, had the parliament not been unexpectedly prorogued. He therefore escaped with no further punishment than his dismissal and disgrace.

Sir John Trevor is said, among his other qualifications, to have been an economist. Of this we have a whimsical anecdote: he one day dined by himself at the Rolls, and was drinking his wine quietly, when his cousin, Roderic Lloyd,

cester. On his death it became the property of lord St. John of Bletso, whose son sold it in 1595 to sir Thomas Middleton, knight, in whose family it yet continues.

In the civil wars sir Thomas Middleton revolted from the parliament, and defended his castle, till one side, and three of the towers, were thrown down by the enemy's cannon. These he, however, rebuilt within twelve months, but at an expence of not less than eighty thousand pounds.

was unexpectedly introduced to him by the side door. "You rascal, (said Trevor to his servant,) and you have brought my cousin Roderic Lloyd, esquire, prothonotary of North Wales, marshal to baron Price, and so forth, and so forth, up my back stairs. Take my cousin, Roderic Lloyd, esquire, prothonotary of North Wales, marshal to baron Price, and so forth, and so forth; you rascal, take him instantly back, down my back stairs, and bring him up my front stairs.' Roderic in vain remonstrated; and whilst he was conveying down one, and up the other stairs, his honour had removed the bottle and glasses.

Sir John Trevor died in 1696.

About two miles from Chirk, in the road to Ruabon, I was much pleased with a view down a woody dell, in the bottom of which ran the river Dee. It was the first time that I had seen this stream surrounded by those romantic features for which it is so justly celebrated.

This scene was interesting, but at

NEW BRIDGE,

About half a mile farther on, it was greatly exceeded. Out of the road, about a hundred yards above the bridge, such a scene presented itself, that with the pencil of a Claude, I could have sketched one of the most exquisite landscapes the eye ever beheld. The river here dashed along its rugged bed, and its rocky banks clad with wood, where every varied tint that autumn could afford added to their effect, cast a