with the Welsh resembling the ancient Border warfare in the North. To
this day the inhabitants of Gower are distinct from the Welsh, and all
speak the English language. We were informed, and it is a remarkable
fact, that in the south-western portion of Gower, some of the
descendants of the original colonists exist, who do not understand
the Welsh language, rarely intermarry with them, and are otherwise
distinguished by their dress and peculiar dialect. These people, who
have thus successively, for more than seven centuries, preserved almost
unmingled the manners of their progenitors, manufacture lace of the
same fabric as that of Flanders. In the reign of Henry II. Thomas de
Newburgh, son of Henry Earl of Warwick, the conqueror of Gower, parted
with the lordship to the crown. King John, in the fourth year of his
reign, granted the "whole land of Gower" to one of his favourites,
William de Braose, created Lord of Gower, "to be held by the service
of one knight's fee" and it continued in his family till the reign
of Edward II. It afterwards passed, by marriage, to Sir Charles
Somerset, an ancestor of the Duke of Beaufort, who now is hereditary
lord paramount of the liberty of seignory of Gower, and possesses
considerable property therein. Gower had distinct privileges, and was
separate from Glamorgan till the reign of Henry VIII., when, by act of
parliament, it was annexed to that county.

Gower is rich in memorials of the olden times, as will appear by the
sequel to the present paper--those strongholds of ancient despotism,
which, by their very ruin, tell of the nothingness of man's power and
ambition. We append the following observations of Mr. Britton, who has
done more to make the study of antiquities popular, it has been truly
observed, than all other antiquaries, past and present, put together.
They do honour to his head and heart. After stating that "the subject is
replete with amusement on all occasions, and intense interest on many,"