and we cordially saluted the land, that had afforded

such a brilliant display of it.

Yours, &c. S. E.

DEAR SIR,

LETTER II.

WALES may with emphasis be called an historic country. Every ride and walk is strewed with vestiges of ancient warfare, or curious art; and every vale and mountain furnishes some marks to shew,

"Where stern oppression led the close phalanx,

"And wild and desperate freedom made her just defence; "Or led her sons to victory and revenge!"

Nor can the mind of sensibility avoid contemplating, as it passes, the scenes of such transactions; and by an association that memory never fails to furnish on the occasion, becoming a partaker in them. We experience a sort of soothing melancholy, by assimilating our ideas to the face and appearance of a country; and while we feel the most poignant regret at the folly of mankind, and weep over the effects of oppression and cruelty, we feel relief in reflecting, that we live in a period, when the nature of society is much better understood; the powers of the governors, and the privileges of the governed so adjusted, as not to clash with each other; and when that protection and liberty which occasioned

so much bloodshed and slaughter, are the unalienable birth-right of Britons, and guaranteed by the inestimable laws of our country; when armed petitioners are no longer necessary to procure the restoration of property alienated by violence, or to replace the ousted heir in the possession of his patrimony; when these massy piles termed castles are not expedient to procure the obedience of a turbulent society, in the hands of an aspiring aristocracy; or to check the inordinate strides of regal prerogative and oppressive power: a period when the great mass of the people are admitted into the back ground of the national picture; and the opprobrious names of vassal and of villein no longer obtain a place in our statutes: when every individual is included in the family compact; the peer and the peasant are cqually considered in the cognizance of the law, and the life, liberty, and property of the one esteemed of equal importance with those of the other.

Various opinions have been stated respecting the situation and extent of the country inhabited by these warlike Britons, and antiquarians are far from being decisive on the question. Camden, allowing Ptolomy's authority, terms it the Wence Land of Leland, the country called by the Welsh Deheubardd, or the southern territory; comprehending the counties of Hereford, Radnor, Brecknock, and Glamorgan. Tacitus derives their origin from Iberia, on account of their complexion; and F. D. Campo finds the name of Siluria among the Asturias of Spain. Others take it from the islands of Scilly,

formerly denominated Serlings. That they were emigrants of Gaul there can be no doubt, from the similarity of their language, dress, and manners. It has been conjectured that they were called Silures from sil, aspicio, to look at; from their ruddy complexion and dark piercing eyes producing a boldness of countenance which struck terror into their enemies. By this trait they were known and distinguished among the Romans; for they are described by Tacitus, as a formidable fighting race, "Validamque pugnacemque Silurum gentem.'

From this ferocious appearance and their prowess in war, they might have been noticed as the Silou among the petty kingdoms of Britain; and the Romans, to adopt it to the genius of their language, would call them Silures, and the country Siluria.* Even the author of the Affairs of Britain, who, as a Roman, must be partial to his own people, allows that the Britons shewed more courage than their Gaulish neighbours; and the Silures were remarkable for an obstinate intrepidity, dignified by the writer of the Annals with the emphatic term of pervicacia. And a better word could not be found in the Latin language for that determined bravery so frequently displayed in the conduct both of them and their descendants. Had not the author inform

* Lewis Morris derives the word from islwyr, i. e. lowlanders, or the inhabitants of the ower part of Wales, occupying the country between the Severn and the Wye; as he also derives Ordovices from arddyfeich, i. e. the inhabitants north of the Dyfi.

ed us of this, we might have made the same deduction from the long struggle they maintained with the invaders; the vast establishment had recourse to for their reduction, and their late subjugation to the Roman arms. For this event did not take place till near two centuries after the landing of Julius Cæsar; and even subsequent to this period the remnant that fled to the fastnesses of the Ordovices, supported a constant though unequal contest till the death of Titus.

IL

About half a mile from the Ferry is the large Roman camp of Sudbrooke. Those who term it square. cannot have surveyed it, as it is of a semicircular shape, defended by four fosses and three valla, standing on a cliff, rising abruptly from the plain, and perpendicular towards the Severn sea. The length two hundred and forty yards, breadth seventy-four. appears to have been originally much larger, the sea having undermined the cliff, which is continually falling. On the north side, near the outer foss, stands a small Gothic chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The walls are entire, but the roof fallen in. How long this has been in a dilapidated state we could not learn, but on removing some of the rubbish, we found inscribed stones of as low a date as 1745. Such a circumstance, on our first entrance into Wales, gave us no favourable opinion of attention to the state of religion in this part of the principality.

To the south of Sudbrooke the country for miles is one continued flat, known by the name of Caldecot Level; where the meadows are divided by inclo

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sures, called roins, or large tide ditches, similar to lands in the vicinity of the rivers Brue and Ax.

An event that would induce us to think that more attention was formerly paid to this fenny tract than at present, is recorded by Camden.-" Much of it is now frequently inundated by high tides; but in 1666 it suffered a terrible devastation from the Severn Sea, during an equinoxial tide. The sea having been driven back by a south-east wind, and continuing to blow hard for three days and nights, repulsed the waters so forcibly, as to occasion this extensive flat to be overflowed, and the opposite coast of Somerset ; throwing down a variety of buildings, and drowning a number of men and cattle." (vide Camd. II. 715.) In the history of Bristol it is recorded also, that at this time the sea-banks in the neighbourhood of that city were overflowed, and the port for some years considerably injured. From these coincident circumstances, and the gradual encroachment of the sea on the western and southwestern parts of our coast, it would appear that what are termed the Welsh grounds, formed a part of this extensive moor. Through it runs the small river Throggy, said, but with little probability, to have been once navigable to Caerwent. Though a very narrow pill, it contains a considerable depth of water at flood tide. Numerous small vessels are built here, and a ship of four hundred tons was now caulking upon

the stocks.

In the midst of this marshy flat stand the ruins of Caldecot Castle, which is termed by Camden "A.