market-place there is said to be a stone on which King Arthur beheaded
one of his enemies; but this I did not see. All these villages were very
lively, as the omnibus drove in; and I rather imagine it was market-day
in each of them,--there being quite a bustle of Welsh people. The old
women came round the omnibus courtesying and intimating their willingness
to receive alms,--witch-like women, such as one sees in pictures or reads
of in romances, and very unlike anything feminine in America. Their
style of dress cannot have changed for centuries. It was quite
unexpected to me to hear Welsh so universally and familiarly spoken.
Everybody spoke it. The omnibus-driver could speak but imperfect
English; there was a jabber of Welsh all through the streets and
market-places; and it flowed out with a freedom quite different from the
way in which they expressed themselves in English. I had had an idea
that Welsh was spoken rather as a freak and in fun than as a native
language; it was so strange to find another language the people's actual
and earnest medium of thought within so short a distance of England. But
English is scarcely more known to the body of the Welsh people than to
the peasantry of France. However, they sometimes pretend to ignorance,
when they might speak it fairly enough.

I took luncheon at the hotel where the omnibus stopped, and then went to
search out the castle. It appears to have been once extensive, but the
remains of it are now very few, except a part of the external wall.
Whatever other portion may still exist, has been built into a modern
castellated mansion, which has risen within the wide circuit of the
fortress,--a handsome and spacious edifice of red freestone, with a high
tower, on which a flag was flying. The grounds were well laid out in
walks, and really I think the site of the castle could not have been
turned to better account. I am getting tired of antiquity. It is
certainly less interesting in the long run than novelty; and so I was