be of the nature of a loan, and has been fued for and recovered at Jaw." P. 287. Vol. I. The general ftate of agriculture in Brecknockshire, foils, farms, cattle, manures, labour, &c. &c. occupies the remainder of the volume; to which a long appendix is added, containing the ftate of the population, tables of ge nealogy, lifts of sheriffs, judges, reprefentatives in parlia ment, &c. The fecond volume commences with a preface, which contains fome reflections on the guardians of literature (the Reviewers), for neglecting the former volume. With regard to ourselves, we frankly acknowledge that, except in particolar cafes, our rule is to wait for the final completion of a literary undertaking. We can have no fcruple in affirming, that this work on Brecknockshire might well justify a violation of our ordinary proceedings. We have feldom perufed a work combining fo many just claims to commen, dation. This fecond volume will, to the general reader, per, haps, afford lefs gratification than the firft; but to the inhabitants of the county will be of conftant and per, petual intereft. It contains the topography and a parochial defcription of the county, a furvey of the Archdeaconry of Brecon, and a correction of the errors in Ecton's Thefaurus. The plates occur in great numbers, and there are alfo many portraits, armorial bearings, monuments, &c. Of thefe, fome are very beautiful, which may truly be faid of Cilhepfte waterfall, engraved by Landfeer. It feems a mat◄ ter of juffice to give a fpecimen of this part of the work, and with this we shall conclude. LLANDDEWI-ABERGWESSIN. "I am now travelling into the wildest, most uncultivated, and uninhabitable parts of Brecknockshire, Where the gilt chariot never mark'd the way,' "And where no carriage, unlefs it be the fmall wheel cart and fledge, can pafs with fafety; a few narrow glens, (where fmall inclosures, low cottages, and one manfion houfe only excepted are interfperfed here and there) interfect the dreary wafte: man feems doomed here to furrender thefe regions to the fheep, and to those of his own race only, who are accustomed to collect the produce, watch the habits, and occafionally protect these useful and profitable little animals from the perils of the ftorm or fnow. If I have been fortunate enough to retain the attention of my reader, and to lead him thus far into the bowels of the land, land,' I beg he will ftop here, and meet me when I return to the more cultivated vallies of Breconfhire; if, however, he perfe veres, though my journey lies through feveral parishes, whofe defcription must be nearly fimilar, I promife that I will detain him upon these bleak and dreary mountains for as short a time as I can. "The parish and chapel of Llanddewi Abergweffin is appendant and appurtenant to Llangamarch, and is dedicated to Saint David, as its name (Saint David's on Gweffin-fall) clearly indicates. Llanvihangel Abergweffin is placed with tolerable accuracy, by Adams, in latitude 52 16, longitude 3 34; he has omitted Llanddewi Abergweffin; but the churches are fo near one another, the latter being a few yards weftward of the Irwon, and the former on the other fide, juft on the junction of the Gweffin, that the above distances will apply to both, as the space between is fo fmall that is hardly worth noticing. There is nothing worthy of remark or obfervation in the church or church-yard, or indeed within this parish, which has come to my knowledge. Nant y Flaiddaft, or the brook of the fhe-wolf, one of the Termini, mentioned in the charter of Rees ap Griffith to the monks of Ystradfflur, is the name of a rill, and now also of a small farm within this precinct; on the western boundary was formerly the manfion of John Lloyd, who defcribes himfelf of Towy, but who very fenfibly changed his refidence and removed to a more sheltered fpot; he was the fon of Thomas Lloyd, the lineal defcen dant in the elder line of Elyftan Glodrydd, by Angharad, his fecond wife, daughter of Morgan ap Evan Lloyd. This Thomas Lloyd was a partizan of the Earl of Richmond, after wards Henry the Seventh, and probably joined him with a confiderable body of men in Caerdiganfhire, on his march to the battle of Bofworth Field; as a reward for his fervices, he had ample poffeffions beftowed upon him by the crown, and was ap pointed lord lieutenant of the county of Brecon, which office he held for forty years: his only fon by the fecond wife, John Lloyd, went early into England, and ferved in the French and Scotch wars, under Henry the eighth; he was afterwards, as the infcription on a plate of brafs in Builth church informs us, Squer to the bodie, (Efq. to the body) of Queen Elizabeth, the first sheriff and juftice of the peace, who refided in the county after the union, and steward of the manor or lordship of Builth, under Walter, earl of Effex and earl marshal of Ireland, who was buried at Carmarthen. "The pubic are indebted to the writer of this epitaph, whoever he may have been, for the account of the appointment or grant by the crown to the earl of Effex, of this manor, which has efcaped the notice of hiftorians, as well as antiquaries, and of the indefatigable and learned Dugdale among the reft. Upon the attainder of the gallant but eccentric and unfortunate Ro. bert, bert, earl of Effex, I prefume, the lordship reverted to the crown. "Sometime previous to his deceafe, which happened in 1585, he refided at his manfion of Porth y crwys, or the gate of the crofs, in Llanynis; no veftige of this house now remains, but its fituation in a field, being part of a farm called Cefnllys gwin is very well known; and here a difficulty occurs, which I know not well how to folve. By his will in the register office, proved foon after his death, wherein he ftill defcribes him felf as John Lloyd of Towy, efquier,' though then living in a different parish, he gives his foul to God and his body to be buried in the parish church of Llanynis, yet the infcription in Builth church afferts that he lieth there; on the one hand it is hardly to be fuppofed that his fon would have difobeyed an in junction thus folemnly impofed upon him, and in thofe days al ways religiously obferved; and on the other, I am loath to dif believe the affertion in his epitaph: upon the whole I incline to think that it was a mere inaccuracy, that instead of here lieth,' memoriæ facrum, or facred to the memory, was only intended, and that this monument of gratitude to a benefactor to the town and country, was placed there at the expence of the inhabitants and his friends, as being a more public place than the church of Llanynis, where he was actually buried. "He proceeds by his will above noticed to give his fecond fon, John Lloyd, Tyr Jeuan ap Gwilym Jeuan dew yn y Felindre, Tyr Brithwernydd, Tyr Jeuan with hir, Cae Jeuan Llwyd, Gardd Meredith ap Morgan, Gardd Hugh ap Rhys in the Caftle-ftreet, Ty Madoc David Morgan at Brigend, Ty yn y Fynwent, alias Ty Robert Dio ap Howel, Ty Howel Madoc, Ty Mallt verch Jenkin Owen, and Ty John Bannor* all in Builth, to be holden for twenty-one years, provided he gave his elder brother, David Lloyd, a band + to furrender it up at that time; he alfo gave his fon, John, his dyrie, (dairy) cattle and chattels, at Cae du, to Gwenllian, viz. William, his woyret, twelve heifers to Robert John, his woyre, and to his other grandchildren, other legacies. In his inventory, is a debt due from Robert Toy, of Carmarthen, merchant, of forty marks, given into the hands of Robert Kerver, his man, to be delivered over to him at a daie long past; and another from David ap Meredith, Efq. recovered at the laft affizes for the county of Radnor, being nineteen pounds and fix fhillings, whereupon he says he had tow capiafes, one upon his bodie "Corruptly for Barwn, a furname.” +"A bond, thus written in the reign of Elizabeth, and the Welsh ftill pronounce it band." "Wyr, a grandfon. This Welsh word continually occurs in old wills, the remainder of which are written in English.” and different from thofe which I have had in my eye. My allufions relate chiefly to Scotland, to Scottish husbandry, fcenery, and manners. At the fame time, I will venture to fay, that the modes of cultivation which I recommend are not, ftrictly speaking, local. That the fcenery and manners are local, or rather national, is true; but the rules of agricultural improvement which I have inculcated, whether by defcription or direct precept, are equally fuitable to both divifions of the island. It may here be remarked, that the crops, in many diftricts north of the Tweed, are at least equal to any that England can boast of; and that, in truth, Scotland has found a compenfation for the inferiority of her foil and climate, in the skill and enterprise of her husband. men." P. 3. The truth is, that Mr. Grahame muft always hold a refpectable place among rural poets; and though the equable and moderate ftyle of his Mufe, feldom reaches the heights attained by fome of his predeceffors; yet fo pleafing is the picture of real nature which he has exhibited, (as poetical pictures of real nature always are) that every lover of nature and of poetry will contemplate it with pleasure, and return to it with frequent fatisfaction. The poem is in twelve books, because the author does not, like Thompson and Bloomfield, take the feasons, but the months for his divifions. Nor is this difference without its advantage. It produces a more frequent change of character in the fubject; and the books, being proportionably fhort, do not fatigue the attention of the reader. Each book has a few notes; not ambitiously accumulated, but usefully fubjoined, either to confirm the author's opinions or illuftrate his allufions. From these, as well as from the poem itself, we shall colle& a few fpecimens. As the Georgics here given are thofe of Scotland, a part of their merit is that of delineating the manners and customs of that divifion of our island. The fcenery alfo is often improved by it. In the first books, after a folemn and poe. tical apoftrophe to Night, the author thus describes the welcome given by his countrymen to New Year's Day. "Long ere the lingering dawn of that blithe morn Flapping his wings, repeats his laurum fhrill; But on that morn no bufy flail obeys His roufing call; no founds but founds of joy "The firft vifitant who enters a house on new-year's-day is called the firft-foot" That fudden on the floor is welcome heard, In the fame book we have a lively defcription of the Scottish game of Curling, a game fimilar in its rules to Quoits, but played with large ftones on the ice. In this game, neighbouring parishes hold contefts of rivalry, as in England at Cricket, in a different season. "Now rival parishes, and fhrievedoms, keep, While love of conqueft lights their beamless eyes, New nerves their arms, and makes them young once more. "Appointment. ice. The marks.” A match at the game of curling on the "In fome parts of Scotland, the ftones with which curlers play are called cooting, or coiting ftones. C BRIT. CRIT. VÒL, XXXVIII. JULY, 1811. "Keen, |