“Without a map, my dear Edith will know nothing of the place I date from, and if she
have a map to refer to, very probably she may miss the name. . . . . What have
we seen? Woods, mountains, and mountain glens and streams. In those words are
comprehended all imaginable beauty. Sometimes we have been winding up the
dingle side, and every minute catching the stream below through the wood that
half hid it, always hearing its roar; then over mountains, where nothing was to
be seen but hill and sky, their sides rent by the winter streams; sometimes a
little tract of cultivation appeared up some coomb-place, so lonely, so
beautiful: they looked as though no tax-gatherer ever visited them. I have
longed to dwell in these solitary houses in a mountain vale,
| Ætat. 23. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 349 |
“So we have eat, drunk, dried ourselves, and grown comfortable; also we have had the pleasure of the landlord’s company, who, being somewhat communicative and somewhat tipsy, gave us the history of himself and family. . . . . I much like the appearance of the Welsh women; they have all a character in their countenances, an intelligence which is very pleasant. Their round shrewd national physiognomy is certainly better than that of the English peasantry, and we have uniformly met with civility. There is none of the insolence and brutality which characterise our colliers and milk-women.
| 350 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 23. |
“At Merthyr we witnessed the very interesting custom of strewing the graves. They are fenced round with little white stones, and the earth in the coffin shape planted with herbs and flowers, and strewn with flowers. Two women were thus decorating a grave—the one a middle-aged woman, and much affected. This affected me a good deal; the custom is so congenial to one’s heart; it prolongs the memory of the dead, and links the affections to them. . . . . This part of Brecknockshire is most beautiful. The Usk rolling through a rich and cultivated vale, and mountains rising on every side: we feel no fatigue, and I get more comfortable every day now our faces are turned homewards.
“God bless you, my dear Edith. Farewell. Now for the Black Mountain and St. David’s.
