the distance of a couple of miles from Llanidloes, within which parish Pumlumon is partly included.

Llanidloes is a small town, containing between two and three thousand inhabitants, pleasantly situated near the Severn, and which has of late years undergone very great improvements. It has a handsome stone bridge over the river, a church dedicated to St. Idloes (from which the town derives its name), and a very ancient edifice used as a market, and a petty-sessions house. Llanidloes is one of the five contributory boroughs of the county of Montgomery, and possesses a mayor and other officers of a corporate town. The principal industrial pursuit of the inhabitants is the manufacture of flannels, and there are at present upwards of 40 carding engines, 18 fulling mills, and 35,000 spindles, in constant work. The flannel is generally woven in the houses of the people. The modern streets are spacious and well arranged, and many of the ancient houses of framework and timber have given way to buildings of more substantial materials. The hills in the neighbourhood yield a species of coarse slate, and a good building stone, both in abundance.

Population of the town, 2562; the parish, 4261. Lord Mostyn is Lord of the Manor.

Inns.-The Trewithan Arms Hotel, the Queen's Head, the Lion, the New Inn, and the Crown, are the principal houses of entertainment. They are all respectable, and furnish good accommodation to the traveller.

Two fine waterfalls, the largest called Ffrwd Vawr, are within eight miles of Llanidloes, in the parish of Llanbrynmair, and will amply repay the time spent in visiting them. Ffrwd Vawr has a perpendicular descent of more than a hundred and thirty feet.

Between Llanidloes and Newtown are several objects of interest. The road winds with the river through a romantic valley.

The

tourist must pause to note the encampment of Gaerfechan (Little Fortress). It is on the summit of a hill, and is indented with several fosses. It is of British origin. CAERSWS, now a little hamlet, was once a Roman station, and the site of the encampment may still be seen, consisting of a quadrangular rampart, a hundred and fifty yards square. Some tiles and other Roman remains have been dug up here. Amongst the churches passed on the way are that of Llanddinam, pleasantly overhanging the vale, and that of Penystry wad, remarkable for its Lilliputian size. A very large yew tree flourishes in the churchyard there. A pleasant route through pasture and corn fields brings the traveller to

Newtown (with the adjoining suburban parish of Llanllwchaiarn) contains seven thousand inhabitants, and is situated on the banks of the river Severn. It has risen into some importance as a principal seat of the flannel manufacture during the last half century, and a hall of handsome appearance has lately been erected, in which a market for the sale of the staple commodity of the place is held weekly. The extent of the flannel trade may be inferred from the following statistics :-Fifty factories are in operation, employing as many carding machines, 50,000 spindles, and 12,000 looms. Occupation is thus afforded to a great number of hands, and the fortnightly sales of the finest flannel amount to 1500 pieces. Founderies, tanneries, potteries, malt and lime kilns, &c., also flourish.

Newtown possesses two churches, an ancient structure, dedicated to St. Idloes, and containing many marble monuments, and a handsome new edifice, the screen, altar piece, and font of which are curious, from their workmanship and antiquity, the two last having been brought from the Abbey of Cwmhir, in Radnorshire. A prosperous "Athenæum exists, and the principal denominations of dissenters have chapels.

At a distance of four miles, on the banks of the Severn, stand the remains of Castell Dolforwyn (the castle of the Virgin's meadow). It is stationed on the summit of a high cone-shaped hill, on the accessible sides of which deep trenches ascend through the solid rock. According to Evans the castle was erected by Bleddyn ab Cynvyn, between the years 1065 and 1073. Other authorities assign to it a more recent date; Dugdale, for instance, thinking it was the work of Davydd ab Llywelyn, and built about the year 1242. The building was quadrangular, but of no great strength. A small part of the north wall, and some remains of the interior, are now left. The name, "Meadow of the Virgin," is thought to refer to the story of Havren, the daughter of Locrinus, son of Brutus, the first king of Britain, by Essyllt, a daughter of the king of Germany whom he had taken captive in his wars against the Huns. For a poetical version of the legend connected with the death of this princess, who was thrown into the river (thence called Havren, afterwards Sabrina, and lastly Severn,) by a revengeful stepmother, we refer the reader to the beautiful description of Sabrina in Milton's Masque of Comus.

In this vicinity the antiquary may discover the traces of an ancient Roman road, running in a direction from Caersws to Meivod, and presenting vestiges distinctly visible as far as the banks of the Vyrnwy, near Llyssin.

Amid the rugged mountains of Carno, a pleasant village eleven miles from Newtown, the most sanguinary battle recorded in the annals of Wales was fought in the year 1082, between Grufydd ab Cynan, the legitimate heir to the throne of North Wales, with his ally, Rhys ab Tewdwr, Prince of South Wales, and the army of Trahairn ab Caradoc, the assumptive monarch. The contest was fierce and bloody, every inch of ground being obstinately disputed. At length victory declared for Grufydd, the forces of the usurper were defeated, and he himself slain.

Markets, Tuesday and Saturday.

Inns.-The Boar's Head, the Angel, and the Elephant.

Welshpool is so called to distinguish it from Dorsetshire Poole, the town being locally called Pool only. It is the assize town for the county of Montgomery, and one of the associated Parliamentary boroughs. It is large, neat, and populous. The manners of the inhabitants are thoroughly English, and a very small proportion of them are able to converse in the language of the Principality. The town derives its name from a small black lake (now included in Powis Park), popularly believed to be unfathomable, and respecting which there is a prophecy, believed by many, that it shall some time overflow and deluge the place. Its ascertained average depth is about 300 feet.

Welshpool consists of two straight and regular streets, intersecting each other at right angles, both paved and well-lighted with gas. The old church (comparatively old, being built in 1774) contains among the sacramental plate a gold chalice, worth £170, presented by Thomas Davies, an English Governor on the Coast of Africa, as a thank-offering for preservation in that climate. A new church, in the Anglo-Norman style, has lately been erected to commemorate the majority of Lord Clive. It may be visited for the sake of the very extensive and beautiful prospect commanded by its elevated site, one of the most conspicuous features of which is the magnificent castle of the Earl of Powis. Contrary to the case in most of the Welsh towns, the dissenters are outnumbered here by the members of the Established Church. There are, however, several nonconformist places of worship. A small endowment supports a free school.

The county hall is built of brick, in the centre of the principal street. It has a colonnade and pilasters of stone, and presents an appearance of elegance. The upper apartments are fitted up for the transaction of county business and the administration of justice; and beneath are a spacious corn-market, a space for the sale of miscellaneous articles, and a court for holding the assizes or great sessions.

The large county hall on the second floor measures 64 feet by 25, and is 18 feet high. A grand Eisteddfod, or meeting of Welsh bards, was held here in 1824.

Welshpool has a mayor and town council, and a population of about six thousand.

Inns.-The Royal Oak and the Bear.

EXCURSIONS FROM WELSHPOOL.

Powis Castle lies at the easy distance of a mile from the town. It is called by the Welsh Castell Coch, or Red Castle, from its being built of red stone. It occupies a commanding site, and is altogether a fitting residence for a great baron.

This castellated mansion is by no means destitute of historical interest. The original building dated from the year 1109, when its erection was commenced by Cadwgan ab Cynvyn, who was murdered by his nephew before he had time to finish his work. It was, however, continued by Gwenwynwyn, governor of this part of Powis-land. The castle was dismantled in 1233, by Llywelyn ab Jorwerth, but restored by Owen ab Grufydd, to whose daughter it descended, her husband being ennobled by the title of Baron Powis. During the civil wars Percy, Earl Powis, declared for Charles, and garrisoned this castle. He was, however, compelled to surrender to General Sir Thomas Myddleton, in 1644, when the walls were greatly damaged and the place pillaged. The estates were of course forfeited to the Parliament, but afterwards restored to the noble owner by compromise. Amongst the state rooms now shown is a bed-chamber, preserved as it was originally prepared for the use of Charles I.

The interior of the castle is full of objects of interest. Amongst them are a good collection of paintings, sculpture, and antiquities, and a museum of curiosities brought from India by the renowned Lord Clive. They consist of rare and valuable birds and fossils, and other illustrations of the natural history and ethnography of British Asia. On the walls and grand staircase are some fine paintings in fresco by Lanscrome.

The scenery, viewed from the various apartments and from different parts of the extensive grounds, is of a very rich and varied character, and forest scenes and pastoral quiet equally abound.