CAERPHILLY CASTLE. 241 dimensions, and was ornamented in the most elaborate architectural taste of the times. It had its four grand windows with pointed arches, ornamented with double rows of sculptured leaves and fruit. The side walls were decorated with clusters of round triplet pilasters, supported at the bottom with carved busts of exquisite and fanciful workmanship, from which sprang originally the vaulted arches of the roof. At the east end were two doors of the same pointed character, and between them a large arched window with delicate tracery and highly finished carvings. Another apartment to the west corresponded with the great hall, but of smaller dimensions, and a third in continuation, which formed the anteroom at the head of the great staircase. The central buildings sustained at their south-east angle a round tower, which was used as the mint, and close by it another of nearly eighty feet in height, which from some cause, has subsided into a leaning position, and has been retained for centuries in this condition by the strength of the cement which holds its masonry together. From the top, down almost to the middle, runs a large fissure, by which the tower is divided into two separate parts, so that each side hangs over its base, in such a manner that it is difficult to say which is most likely to fall first. Mr. Wood, of Bath, more than sixty years ago, measured its lineal projection by lying on his back, and found its outer part standing eleven feet out of perpendicular, resting only on one part of its side. A long gallery connects the chambers with this part of the building. A lofty wall stretched its strong buttressed line all round, like a rampart of prodigious thickness, and of such extent as to enclose a large and open space of ground, through which ran a copious stream that supplied the garrison with water. This great outer wall was fortified with massy towers, at convenient distances, which communicated with each other by embattled galleries, and the whole strengthened by extensive outworks of bastions, moats, and other defences. This fortress, in its perfect state, included two miles within its outer moat, crossed by thirteen drawbridges. Even now, though ages have rolled away since the period when Caerphilly Castle was the scene of social habitation or of fierce contention, yet are its remains more entire in their connections, and more prodigious in their extent, than any that belong to the history of former times in Great Britain, resembling rather the ruins of a city than of a single edifice. A peaceful monastery, belonging to the piety of the ninth century, and named after its founder, St. Cenydd, first occupied the site of Caerphilly Castle. An irruption of the Mercian Saxons occasioned its destruction, and the first castle that was erected on its foundation was rased to the ground by Rhys Vychan, Prince of South Wales, in the thirteenth century. In a few years afterwards it was rebuilt and fortified by the Norman, John de Breos. In the lapse of time it fell into the possession of the younger Spenser, the worthless favourite of Edward the Second, who greatly enlarged and strengthened it. During this reign it was the refuge of this weak monarch, when pursued by his Queen, Isabella, and his rebellious barons, and stood a siege of the most desperate and obstinate nature. The means by which it was taken, and the adventures of the unfortunate monarch, as related by tradition, throw an air of interest and marvel over this part of its history. The besieging army had for some time been employing all the engines of destruction they possessed, but they found them too weak to make any impression against the massy walls, whilst the soldiers were mortally wounded by the shower of molten iron thrown down upon them. At last a battering ram of huge dimensions, suspended upon a frame supported by twenty large oaks, and moved forward by a thousand men, with muffled feet, in the dead of a dark night, effected a practical breach in the walls. Tre CAERPHILLY CASTLE. 243 mendous large fires, throwing the castle into view as distinct and clear as in daylight, which it took a hundred teams to supply, were kept up to assist the besiegers in working this enormous engine. After the breach was made, the king escaped in the habit of a peasant, and to disguise himself more effectually, as well as to cut off the traces of his retreat, he mingled for awhile amongst the besiegers, assisting for some time, with great apparent zeal, in piling fuel upon the surrounding fires. He soon secretly withdrew from this employment, and in the midst of the dark and stormy night pursued his way, and wandered on for twenty miles westward, through one of the mountainous outlets, for a whole day and night, without knowing the direction which he was taking, till he came to the parish of Langunnoyd. Hungry and worn down, on the second morning he hired himself as a cowherd or shepherd, at a farm that to this day is known by the tradition connected with it. After remaining there for some time, the farmer, finding him an awkward and ignorant fellow, and that he could make nothing of his services, dismissed him. From Langunnoyd the unfortunate monarch found his way to the sanctuary of Neath Abbey. The castle continued to remain in the possession of the family of the Spensers, but it had been so much injured by the many fierce attacks it had endured, that it was abandoned as a residence about the middle of the fourteenth century. Owen Glyndwr took possession of it during the time of his contest for the sovereignty of Wales, and it is described even then, in its dilapidated state, as "Gigantic Caerphilly, a fortress great in ruins." CHAPTER XVI. PONT Y PRYDD-YSTRAD-Y-FODWG--PONT NEATH VAUGHAN--YSTRADFELLTE. METHINKS some musing Wanderer I see, Weaving his wayward fancies. Round him, rock R. Montgomery. THERE are few regions on earth that present more of the sublime and beautiful features of Nature, within the same compass, than are to be found among the mountains, hills, and valleys of the north of Glamorganshire. The Taff, which rises in Brecknockshire, is an inconsiderable river till it enters the boundary of this picturesque county, and receives in succession several large streams. Its capacious channel lies deep within the mountainous ridges that intersect the county, and which shape its sinuous course in the most fantastic manner, creating as it flows rich and fertile valleys that seem to laugh with joy beside its fertilizing waters. At times, when some interposing rock obstructs its progress, or confines it within a narrower compass, it frets and foams like a wrathful torrent; and then, again, when it escapes into a broader sweep, it rolls with a deep and |