ithout knowing it, being utterly unacquainted with it, except by
name; but I repeat I do not think I saw it, and I am quite sure that I
did not see it from the top of Dinas Bran on a subsequent ascent, on a
day equally clear, when if I had seen the Wyddfa I must have recognised
it, having been at its top. As I stood gazing around, the children
danced about upon the grass, and sang a song. The song was English. I
descended the hill; they followed me to its foot, and then left me. The
children of the lower class of Llangollen are great pests to visitors.
The best way to get rid of them is to give them nothing: I followed that
plan, and was not long troubled with them.

Arrived at the foot of the hill, I walked along the bank of the canal to
the west. Presently I came to a barge lying by the bank; the boatman was
in it. I entered into conversation with him. He told me that the canal
and its branches extended over a great part of England. That the boats
carried slates--that he had frequently gone as far as Paddington by the
canal--that he was generally three weeks on the journey--that the boatmen
and their families lived in the little cabins aft--that the boatmen were
all Welsh--that they could read English, but little or no Welsh--that
English was a much more easy language to read than Welsh--that they
passed by many towns, among others Northampton, and that he liked no
place so much as Llangollen. I proceeded till I came to a place where
some people were putting huge slates into a canal boat. It was near a
bridge which crossed the Dee, which was on the left. I stopped and
entered into conversation with one, who appeared to be the principal man.
He told me amongst other things that he was a blacksmith from the
neighbourhood of Rhiwabon, and that the flags were intended for the
flooring of his premises. In the boat was an old bareheaded, bare-armed
fellow, who presently joined in the conversation in very broken English.
He told me that his name was Joseph Hughes, and that he was a real
Welshman and was proud of being so; he expressed a great dislike for the
English, who he said were in the habit of making fun of him and
ridiculing his language; he said that all the fools that he had known
were Englishmen. I told him that all Englishmen were not fools; "but the
greater part are," said he. "Look how they work," said I. "Yes," said
he, "some of them are good at breaking stones for the road, but not more
than one