has no serious parallel in Wales, for the detached cottage-renting
laborer, who is the mainstay of such gatherings, scarcely exists, and
the farmer has other interests to keep him at home." Evidently the Welsh
farmer does attend to his business in an industrious manner, for he
generally has a substantial and prosperous appearance. People with whom
we engaged in conversation were always courteous and obliging and almost
everything conspired to heighten our good opinion of the Welsh. The
fusion with England is nearly complete and the Welsh language is
comparatively little used except by the older people. King Edward has no
more loyal subjects than the Welshmen, but apparently they do not
greatly incline towards admitting his claims as their spiritual head.
The Church of England in Wales is greatly inferior in numbers and
influence to the various nonconformist branches. This is especially true
of the more rural sections.

We found Monmouth an unusually interesting town on account of its
antiquity and the numerous historic events which transpired within its
walls. At the King's Head Hotel, which of course afforded shelter to
Charles I when he was "touring" Britain, we were able with difficulty to
find accommodation, so crowded was the house with an incursion of
English trippers. Monmouth's chief glory and distinction is that it was
the birthplace of King Henry V, Shakespeare's Prince Hal, whom William
Watson describes as

"The roystering prince that afterward
Belied his madcap youth and proved
A greatly simple warrior lord
Such as our warrior fathers loved."

The scanty ruins of the castle where the prince was born still overlook