rom the extreme cold of an English winter, or from the
swarms of insects inevitably encountered during the heat of an
Italian summer; but those who inhabit this 'Fairy Palace of the
Vale,' might be able from experience at home, to decide the question.
They could afford sufficient employment for an entire
pin-manufactory, to supply impaling machines for all the specimens of
insects that might be collected and classified here. The birds too,
were so vociferous, that we seemed standing in an aviary, and the
locality would not at all have suited Lady ---, who scolded her
gardener for 'letting the sparrows make such a noise under her
windows in the morning.' It is much to be lamented how many
'harmonious blackbirds' annually fall victims to the preservation of
cherries; and though the 'four-and-twenty baked in a pie,' might be
rather too loud when they all 'began to sing,' yet a few in a garden
are so enlivening and delightful, that it would be better never to
taste fruit again than to lose such a concert of natural melody as we
enjoyed at Llangollen."

Mr. Roscoe, in his remarkably interesting "Wanderings in North Wales," is
less enthusiastic than some tourists on the subject of our present
narrative; he says:--

"Plas Newydd, for so many years the residence of the fair recluses of
the lovely vale of Llangollen, stands on a gentle eminence close to
the town, ornamented with a carved railing in front, and decorated
with grotesque gables and ornaments. The present proprietors are
also two maiden ladies, who seem disposed to perpetuate the
conventual celebrity of this place; and are certainly not less urbane
than the former possessors, in permitting visitors to gratify their
taste in the inspection of the beautiful grounds. Attended by my
_cicerone_, the gardener, I passed from one object of natural beauty
to another,--the vale of Pen-gwern surrounded by part of the Berwyn
chain, the woody dingle, and brawling brook of the Cyflymed, with
many others, which are supplied with the most gratifying conveniences
for their leisurely inspection. After all, I must confess, filled as
was my mind by the impressions of the majestic scenes with which it
had become familiar, the miniature landscapes supplied by the
situation of Plas Newydd, fell far short of the anticipation I had
formed, and they forcibl