fornia 
 
 mal 
 
 itv
 
 STY OF 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 JOURNEY 
 
 INTO 
 
 NORTH WALES.
 
 SDiarp of a 3Journep 
 
 INTO 
 
 NORTH WALES, 
 
 IN THE YEAE 1774; 
 BT 
 
 SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 
 
 EDITED, WITH ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES, 
 
 By R. DUPPA, LL.B. 
 
 BARRISTER AT LAW. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR ROBERT JENNINGS, 2, POULTRY, 
 
 BY JAMES MOYES, GREVILLE STREET. 
 
 M.DCCCXVI. 
 
 71673
 
 3>A 
 
 7 3/? 
 
 J G3 
 
 TO 
 
 EDWARD SWINBURNE, Es 5 . 
 
 From an uninterrupted intimacy of 
 nearly twenty years, I claim the privi- 
 lege of dedicating these pages to you. 
 
 Dr. Johnson, for his moral and ethical 
 writings, has been too long celebrated, 
 to give his name any additional claim to 
 your attention : but when you read his 
 comparison of the beauties of Hawke- 
 stone and Ham, you will perceive, 
 perhaps for the first time, that he was 
 equally interested in those beauties of 
 nature which have so often delighted you, 
 and which you have so often exquisitely 
 represented.
 
 VI DEDICATION. 
 
 This fragment, as a literary curiosity, 
 I hope will not disappoint you; for 
 although it may not contain any striking 
 and important facts, or luminous pas- 
 sages of fine writing, it cannot be unin- 
 teresting to know how the mind of such 
 a man as Johnson received new impres- 
 sions, or contemplated for the first time, 
 scenes and occupations unknown to him 
 before. 
 
 Accept, therefore, this gift from one 
 who has great pleasure in subscribing 
 himself 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 R. DUPPA. 
 Lincoln's Inn, 
 
 Sept. 18, 1816*.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 To publish whatever has fallen from the 
 pen of a celebrated author, has been 
 reckoned among the vices of our time ; but 
 those who admire great or extraordinary 
 qualities, have also a desire to know the 
 individual to whom they belong, and to 
 have his likeness, and his portrait, as if he 
 were one of ourselves. 
 
 This Journal of Dr. Johnson exhibits 
 his mind when he was alone, when no one 
 was looking on, and when no one was expect- 
 ed to adopt his thoughts, or to be influenced 
 by them : in this respect, it differs from the 
 conversations and anecdotes already pub-
 
 Vlii PREFACE. 
 
 lished : it has also another value, highly 
 interesting, it shews how his mind was 
 influenced by the impression of external 
 things, and in what way he recorded those 
 facts, which he laid up for future reflection. 
 His " Journey to the Western Islands of 
 Scotland," was probably composed from a 
 diary not more ample : for of that work he 
 says, " I deal more in notions than in 
 facts :" and this is the general character of 
 his mind ; though when Boswell expressed 
 a fear, lest his journal should be encum- 
 bered with too many minute particulars, he 
 said, " There is nothing, sir, too little for 
 so little a creature as man. It is by study- 
 ing little things, that we attain the great art 
 of having as little misery, and as much 
 happiness, as possible." 
 
 Dr. Johnson commenced his journey into
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 Wales, July 5, 1774, in company with Mr. 
 and Mrs. Thrale, and their daughter, now 
 Lady Keith, and returned August 25. 
 
 On the same morning that he left 
 Streatham, he wrote a letter to his friend, 
 Bennet Langton, in which he informs him 
 of this excursion, and of the state of his 
 health. 
 
 " I have just begun to print my Journey 
 to the Hebrides, and am leaving the press, 
 to take another journey into Wales, whither 
 Mr. Thrale is going, to take possesion of at 
 least five hundred a year, fallen to his 
 lady. 
 
 " I have never recovered from the last 
 dreadful illness, but flatter myself that I 
 grow belter : much, however, yet remains 
 to mend." 
 
 In the prosecution of this tour, whatever
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 was his own gratification or disappointment, 
 he appears but little to have gratified the 
 curiosity of others ; for Boswell says, " I 
 do not find that he kept any journal, or 
 notes of what he saw in his tour in Wales. 
 All that I heard him say of it was, that 
 instead of bleak and barren mountains, there 
 were green and fertile ones ; and that one 
 of the castles in Wales would contain all 
 the castles that he had seen in Scotland." 
 
 This Diary, which is now for the first 
 time presented to the public, will fill up 
 that chasm in the Life of Johnson, which 
 his biographer was unable to supply. 
 
 For its authenticity, I will pledge myself: 
 but if there should be any who are desirous 
 to gratify their curiosity, or to satisfy their 
 judgment, the original MS. in the hand- 
 writing of Dr. Johnson, is in the possession
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 of the publisher, where it may at any time 
 be seen. 
 
 The Editor acknowledges his obligation 
 to Mrs. Piozzi, for her kind assistance 
 in explaining many facts in this Diary, 
 which could not otherwise have beei* 
 understood. 
 
 Error in page 40, for spots, read sports.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 DR. JOHNSON S JOURNEY FROM STREATHAM TO 
 LLEWENNEY-HALL, IN DENBIGHSHIRE. 
 
 Places he passed through, or visited, on the Way. 
 
 Streatham, 1. Barnet, 2. Dunstable, 2. 
 Lichfield, 2. Ham, 10. Oakover, 10. Chats- 
 worth, 12. Matlock, 15. Ashbourn, 17. Dove- 
 dale, 18. Hopton-Hall, 22. Kedleston, 23. 
 Derby, 30. Buxton, and Pool's Hole, 31. 
 Macclesfield, 32. Congleton, 33. Middlewich, 
 33. Namptwich, 33. Combermere, 35. Sha- 
 vington Hall, 36. Hawkestone, 38. Chester, 
 16. Mold, 49. Llewenney, 49.
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Places visited by Dr. Johnson, during his stay at 
 Llewenney. 
 
 Bach y Graig, 51. St. Asaph, 55. Den- 
 bigh, 58. Llannerch, 67. Holywell, 69. Ru- 
 thin Castle, 75. Bodryddan, 76. Gwaynynog, 
 79> Maesmynnan, 87- 
 
 Places through which Dr. Johnson passed, or visited, 
 on his Return to London from Llewenney. 
 
 Abergeley, 92. Penmaen Rh6s, 93. Conway 
 Ferry, 94. Penmaen Mawr, 96. Bangor, 98, 
 117. Beaumaris, 99. Baron-Hill, 99. Caer- 
 narvon, 102, 115. Bodville, 107. Brynodol, 107. 
 Llanerk, 109. Pwllheli, 114. Llyn Badarn, 
 and Llyn Beris, 115. Snowdon, llo\ Gway- 
 nynog, 118, 122. Kefnamwycllh, 118. Con- 
 way, 120. Wrexham, 125. Chirk Castle, 125.
 
 CONTENTS; XV 
 
 Llanrhaiadr, 125. Oswestry, 127. Shrewsbury, 
 129- Wenlock, 130. Bridgenorth, 131. Hartle- 
 bury, 132. Ombersley, 132. Worcester, 132. 
 Hagley, 134. Leasowes, 138. Birmingham, 
 140. Woodstock, 142. Blenheim, 143. Ox- 
 ford, 146. Beaconsfield, 148. London, Bolt- 
 court, 149. 
 1 
 
 Opinions and Observations, by Dr. John- 
 son, 150. 
 
 Appendix. The character of Mrs. Lucy 
 Porter, Dr. Johnson's step-daughter, 157. Some 
 account of Mrs. Elizabeth Aston, l6l. Some 
 account of Dr. Taylor, 164. A Description 
 of Dovedale, 167. A description of a Roman 
 Hypocaust at Chester, 171. An account 
 of what Dr. Johnson liked best at table, by 
 Mrs. Thrale, 174. General Paoli's first Inter- 
 view with Dr. Johnson, 176. On recollecting
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 past times, 180. On Early Printing, 181. The 
 character of Coulson, of University College, 
 Oxford, drawn by Johnson, in the Rambler, 
 under the character of Gelidus, the philosopher, 
 184. 
 
 Itinerary, 189.

 
 Jc^iK iv JcAfr* lAoVt^vJ*, 0* 9 nt * w 
 
 7 

 
 Y^mL y^jL, c^i_ 7k^ W-U, 

 
 JOURNEY 
 
 INTO 
 
 NORTH WALES, 
 
 THE YEAR 1774. 
 
 July 5, Tuesday. 
 
 We left Streatham a 1 1 a. m. Streatham. 
 
 Price of 4 horses Qs. a mile. 
 
 a A village in Surry about six miles from 
 London; the residence of Mr. Thrale. 
 During the life of Mr. Thrale, his house 
 B
 
 2 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 6. 
 
 Barnet. Barnet 1 . 40'. p. m. 
 
 On the road I read Tully's Epistles. 
 
 At night at Dunstable. 
 Lichfield. To Lichfield, 83 miles. 
 
 To the Swan b . 
 
 was the resort of the most eminent and 
 distinguished characters of his time. Here 
 Johnson was domesticated, and Garrick, 
 and Goldsmith, and Burke, and Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds, were often found. 
 
 * When at this place Mrs. Thrale gives 
 an anecdote of Johnson, to shew his minute 
 attention to things which might reasonably 
 have been supposed out of the range of his 
 observation. " When I came down to 
 breakfast at the inn, my dress did not
 
 NORTH WALES. 
 
 To the Cathedral 
 
 please him, and he made me alter it 
 entirely before he would stir a step with 
 us about the town, saying most satirical 
 things concerning the appearance I made 
 in a riding-habit ; and adding, l 'Tis very 
 strange that such eyes as yours cannot 
 discern propriety of dress : if I had a sight 
 only half as good, I think I should see to 
 the centre.' " 
 
 Johnson has contrived to introduce the 
 city of Lichfield into his Dictionary of the 
 English Language, from its having been 
 the place of his birth. " IAchjield, the 
 field of the dead, a city in. Staffordshire, so
 
 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 To Mrs. Porter's c . 
 To Mrs. Aston's*. 
 
 named from martyred Christians. Salve 
 magna parens." 
 
 c Mrs. Lucy Porter. A step-daughter 
 to Dr. Johnson. Her brother, a captain 
 in the navy, had left her a fortune of ten 
 thousand pounds; about a third of which 
 she laid out in building a stately house, 
 and making a handsome garden, in an 
 elevated situation in Lichfield. Johnson, 
 when he visited Lichfield alone, lived at her 
 house. She reverenced him, and he had a 
 parental tenderness for her, Appendix 1. 
 
 d Mrs. Elizabeth Aston. A daughter of 
 Sir Thomas Aston. She lived at Stow Hill, 
 an eminence adjoining to Lichfield. Jpp. 2.
 
 NORTH WAtES.- 5 
 
 To Mr. Green's 6 . 
 Mr. Green's Museum was much 
 admired, and 
 
 Mr. Newton's f china. 
 
 e Mr. Richard Green was an apothecary, 
 and related to Dr. Johnson. He had a 
 considerable collection of antiquities, na- 
 tural curiosities, and ingenious works of 
 art. He had all the articles accurately 
 arranged, with their names upon labels, 
 and on the staircase leading to it was a 
 board, with the names of contributors mark- 
 ed in gold letters. A printed catalogue 
 of the collection was to be had at a book- 
 seller's. 
 
 f Mr. Newton was a gentleman, long 
 resident in Lichfield, who had acquired 
 a large fortune in the East Indies.
 
 $ A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 8. 
 
 To Mr. Newton's. To Mrs. 
 Cobb's 8 . 
 
 * Mrs. Cobb was a widow lady who lived 
 at a place called the Friary, close to Lichfield. 
 She was a great admirer of Johnson, though 
 it would seem, if Miss Seward's statement 
 be correct, he had but little admiration for 
 her. " Mrs. Cobb knows nothing, has 
 read nothing ; and where nothing is put 
 into the brain, nothing can come out of it 
 to any purpose of rational entertainment." 
 Miss Seward, however, observes, that 
 although she was illiterate, her understand- 
 ing was strong, her perceptions quick, her 
 wit shrewd, comic, sarcastic, and original.
 
 NOKTH WALES. 7 
 
 Dr. Darwin's \ I went again to 
 Mrs. Aston's. She was very sorry 
 to -part. 
 
 h Dr. Erasmus Darwin ; at this time he 
 lived at Lichfield, where he had practised 
 as a Physician from the year 1756, and did 
 not settle at Derby till after his second 
 marriage with Mrs. Pool, in the year 1781. 
 
 Miss Seward says, that although Dr. 
 Johnson visited Lichfield while Dr. Darwin 
 lived there, they had only one or two 
 interviews, and never afterwards sought 
 each other. Mutual and strong dislike 
 subsisted between them. Dr. Darwin died 
 April 18, 1802, in the sixty-ninth year of 
 his age.
 
 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 9. 
 
 Breakfasted at Mr. Garrick's 
 Visited Miss Vyse\ 
 
 1 This gentleman was Mr. Peter Garrick, 
 brother to David Garrick, and bore a striking 
 resemblance to him. Johnson speaking of 
 him to Boswell says : " Sir, I don't know- 
 but if Peter had cultivated all the arts of 
 gaiety as much as David has done, he might 
 have been as brisk and lively. Depend 
 upon it, sir, vivacity is much an art, and 
 depends greatly on habit." 
 
 k A daughter of the Rev. Arch-Deacon 
 Vyse, of the Diocese of Lichfield and 
 Coventry.
 
 NORTH WALES. 9 
 
 Miss Seward 1 . 
 Went to Dr. Taylors m . 
 I read a little on the road in 
 Tully's Epistles and Martial. 
 
 1 Miss Seward was the daughter of the 
 Rev. Thomas Seward, Canon-Residentiary 
 of the Cathedral of Lichfield. Six volumes 
 of letters by this lady, published since 
 her death, have put the public in full 
 possession of the kind of intimacy, or 
 friendship which subsisted between her 
 and Dr. Johnson. 
 
 m Dr. Taylor of Ashbourne in Derbyshire. 
 Dr. Johnson's old friend and schoolfellow ; 
 of whom he said, " He is better acquainted 
 with my heart than any man or woman now 
 living." App. 3.
 
 10 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Mart. 8th, 44, lino pro limo ". 
 
 10. 
 
 Morning, at Church. Company 
 at dinner. 
 
 11. 
 
 Ham. At Ham. At Oakover. I was 
 
 less pleased with Ham than when 
 
 n The verse in Martial is 
 " Defluat, et lento splendcscat turbida limo," 
 
 The epigram is addressed to Flaccus, and 
 in the common editions of Martial it has 
 the number 45, and not 44.
 
 NORTH WALES. 11 
 
 I saw it first, but my friends were 
 much delighted . 
 
 Ham is the celebrated residence of Mr. 
 Porte at the entrance of Dovedale. Not- 
 withstanding Johnson was less pleased with 
 his second visit to Ham than the first, yet 
 he has in this diary given very ample proof 
 that he enjoyed its beauties. 
 
 In July, 1777, Dr. Johnson took Bos well 
 to see this place, which would seem to be 
 the third time, at least, that he had been 
 there ; and this is the account Boswell gives 
 of the visit. " I recollect a very fine 
 amphitheatre, surrounded with hills, co- 
 vered with woods, and walks neatly 
 formed along the side of a rocky steep, on 
 the quarter ne.\t the house, with recesses
 
 12 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 12. 
 
 Chatsworth. At Chats worth. The Water wil- 
 
 low. The cascade, shot out from 
 
 under projections of rock, overshadowed 
 with trees ; in one of which recesses, we 
 were told, Congreve wrote his " Old 
 Bachelor." We viewed a remarkable 
 natural curiosity at 11am ; two rivers burst- 
 ing near each other from the rock, not from 
 immediate springs, but after having run 
 for many miles under ground. Plott, in 
 his " History of Staffordshire," gives an 
 account of this curiosity; but Johnson 
 would not believe it, though we had the 
 attestation of the gardener, who said, he
 
 NORTH WALES. 13 
 
 many spouts. The fountains. The 
 water tree. The smooth floors in 
 the highest rooms. Atlas, fifteen 
 hands inch and half p . 
 
 River running through the park. 
 The porticoes on the sides support 
 two galleries for the first floor. 
 
 had put in corks, where the river Manyfold 
 sinks into the ground, and had catched 
 them in a net, placed before one of the 
 openings where the water bursts out. 
 
 9 This was a race-horse, which was very 
 handsome and very gentle, and attracted 
 so much of Dr. Johnson's attention, that 
 he said ; " of all the Duke's possessions, I 
 like Atlas best."
 
 14 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 My friends were not struck with 
 the house. It fell below my ideas 
 of the furniture. The staircase is 
 in the corner of the house. The 
 Hall in the corner, the grandest 
 room, though only a room of pas- 
 sage. 
 
 On the ground-floor, only the 
 chapel and the breakfast-room, and 
 a small library ; the rest, servants' 
 rooms and offices q . 
 
 A bad Inn. 
 
 * This is the second time Johnson had 
 visited Chatsworth. He saw it, Nov. 26, 
 1772 j and in a letter to Mrs. Thrale he
 
 NORTH WALES. 15 
 
 13. 
 
 At Matlock. 
 
 14. 
 At dinner at Oakover ; too deaf Oakover. 
 
 says, " Chatsworth is a very fine house. I 
 wish you had been with me to see it ; for 
 then, as we are apt to want matter of talk, 
 we should have gained something new to 
 talk on. They complimented me with 
 playing the fountain, and opening the 
 cascade. But I am of my friend's opinion, 
 that when one has seen the ocean, cascades 
 are but little things."
 
 16 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 to hear, or much converse r . Mrs. 
 Gell. 
 
 The chapel at Oakover*. The 
 wood of the pews grossly painted. 
 I could not read the epitaph. 
 Would learn the old hands. 
 
 r Dr. Johnson's hearing was very defec- 
 tive, and a cold made him too deaf to enjoy 
 society. In a letter to Mrs. Thrale, Sept. 
 14, 1773, he says, " I have a cold, and am 
 miserably deaf:" and on the 21st he says, 
 " I am now too deaf to take the usual 
 pleasure in conversation." 
 
 * This chapel is at Burleydam in 
 Cheshire, close to Combermere, built by 
 Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, Mrs. Thrale's 
 uncle.
 
 NORTH WALES. 17 
 
 15. 
 
 At Ashbourn. Mrs. Diot and Ashboum: 
 her daughters came in the morning. 
 Mrs. Diot dined with us. We 
 visited Mr. Flint. 
 
 To ir^u\ov Mupof, to Si aevlefov tiXtn Epa<r/*o?, 
 
 1 " From the Muses, Sir Thomas More 
 bore away the first crown, Erasmus the 
 second, and Micyllus has the third." 
 
 Jacobus Micyllus ; whose real name was 
 Melcher, died 1558, aged 55. In the MS. 
 Johnson has introduced ypev by the side of 
 titev, as if he were doubtful whether that 
 tense ought not to have been adopted. 
 
 > c
 
 18 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 16. 
 
 Dovedale. At Dovedale, with Mr. Langley 
 
 and Mr. Flint. It is a place that 
 deserves a visit ; but did not answer 
 my expectation. The river is small, 
 the rocks are grand. Reynard's 
 Hall is a cave very high in the 
 rock ; it goes backward several 
 yards, perhaps eight. To the left 
 is a small opening, through which I 
 crept, and found another cavern, 
 perhaps four yards square; at the 
 back was a breach yet smaller, 
 which I could not easily have 
 entered, and, wanting light, did not 
 inspect.
 
 ' NORTH WALES. ]<) 
 
 I was in a cave yet higher, 
 called Reynard's Kitchen. There 
 is a rock called the Church, in 
 which I saw no resemblance that 
 could justify the name". ' 
 
 Dovedale is about two miles 
 long. We walked towards the head 
 of the Dove, which is said to rise 
 about five miles above two caves 
 called the Dog-holes, at the foot of 
 Dovedale. 
 
 In One place, where the rocks 
 
 u This rock is supposed rudely to resem- 
 ble a tower \ hence, it has been called the 
 Church.
 
 SO A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 approached, I proposed to build 
 an arch from rock to rock over 
 the stream, with a summer-house 
 upon it. 
 
 The water murmured pleasantly 
 among the stones. 
 
 I , thought that the heat and 
 exercise mended my hearing. I 
 bore the fatigue of the walk, which 
 was very laborious, without incon- 
 venience. 
 
 There were with us Gilpin w and 
 
 w Mr. Gilpin was an accomplished youth, 
 at this time an undergraduate at Oxford. 
 His father was a silversmith in London.
 
 NORTH WALES. 21 
 
 Parker*. Having heard of this 
 place before, I had formed some 
 imperfect idea, to which it did 
 not answer. Brown says he was 
 disappointed. I certainly expected 
 a large river where I found only 
 a clear quick brook. I believe I 
 had imaged a valley enclosed by 
 rocks, and terminated by a broad 
 expanse of water. 
 
 He that has seen Dovedale has 
 no need to visit the Highlands r . 
 
 x John Parker, of Brownsholme, in Lan- 
 cashire, Esq. 
 
 y Mr. Whateley, who visited Dovedale at 
 this time, has given a finished description
 
 22' A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 In the afternoon we visited old 
 Mrs. Dale z . 
 
 17. 
 
 Sunday morning, at church Ka3\ 
 Afternoon, at Mr. Diot's. 
 
 18. 
 Dined at Mr. GellV. 
 
 of it, and he felt the beauties of nature, and 
 described them better, than any author I 
 am acquainted with. See App. 4. 
 
 2 Mrs. Dale was at this time 93 years of 
 age. 
 
 a Mr. Gell, of Hopton Hall, a short dis- 
 tance from Carsington, in Derbyshire'; the
 
 NORTH WALES. 23 
 
 19. 
 
 We went to Kedleston b to see Kedleston. 
 Lord Scarsdale's new house, which 
 is very costly, but ill contrived. 
 
 Father of Sir William Gell, well known 
 for his topography of Troy, and other 
 literary works; born 1775. " July 12, 
 1775, Mr. Gell is now rejoicing, at fifty- 
 seven, for the birth of an heir-male." Dr. 
 Johnson to Mrs. Thrale. 
 
 b In the year 1777 Br. Johnson and 
 Boswell visited Kedleston together : and it 
 is interesting to compare Boswell's account 
 with this which is written by Johnson
 
 24 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 The Hall is very stately, lighted by 
 three skylights ; it has two rows of 
 marble pillars, dug, as I hear from 
 Langley, in a quarry of Northamp- 
 
 himself when he visited it three years before 
 that time. 
 
 " Friday, September 19, after breakfast, 
 Dr. Johnson and I set out in Dr. Taylor's 
 chaise to go to Derby. The day was fine, 
 and we resolved to go by Kedleston, the 
 seat of Lord Scarsdale, that I might see 
 his Lordship's fine house. I was struck 
 with the magnificence of the building ; and 
 the extensive park, with the finest verdure, 
 covered with deer, and cattle, and sheep, 
 delighted me. The number of old oaks, of
 
 NORTH WALES. 25 
 
 tonshire ; the pillars are very large 
 and massy, and take up too 
 much room ; they were better 
 away. Behind the Hall is a circular 
 
 an immense size, filled me with a sort of 
 respectful admiration : for one of them 
 sixty pounds was offered. The excellent 
 smooth gravel roads ; the large piece of 
 water formed by his Lordship from some 
 small brooks, with a handsome barge upon 
 it ; the venerable Gothick church, now the 
 family chapel, just by the house ; in short, 
 the grand group of objects agitated and 
 distended my mind in a most agreeable 
 manner. " One should think (said I) that 
 the proprietor of all this must be happy."
 
 26 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 saloon, useless, and therefore ill 
 contrived. 
 
 The corridors that join the wings 
 to the body are mere passages 
 
 " Nay, sir, (said Johnson,) all this excludes 
 but one evil poverty." 
 
 " Our names were sent up, and a well- 
 drest elderly housekeeper, a most distinct 
 articulator, shewed us the house. Dr. John- 
 son thought better of it to-day, than when he 
 saw it before* ; for he had lately attacked it 
 violently, saying, " It would do excellently 
 for a town-hall. The large room with the 
 pillars (said he) would do for the Judges to 
 
 * This relates to the time when this Diary was 
 made.
 
 NORTH WALES. . 27 
 
 through segments of circles. The 
 state bedchamber was very richly 
 furnished. The dining parlour was 
 more splendid with gilt plate than 
 
 sit in at the assizes ; the circular room for a' 
 jury-chamber; and the room above for 
 prisoners." Still he thought the large room 
 ill lighted, and of no use but for dancing in; 
 and the bed-chambers but indifferent rooms; 
 and that the immense sum which it cost 
 was injudiciously laid out. Dr. Taylor had 
 put him in mind of his appearing pleased 
 with the house. " But (said he) that was 
 when Lord Scarsdale was present. Polite- 
 ness obliges us to appear pleased with a 
 man's works when he is present. No man
 
 28 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 any that I have seen. There were 
 many pictures. The grandeur was 
 all below. The bedchambers were 
 small, low, dark, and fitter for a 
 
 will be so ill bred as to question you. You 
 may therefore pay compliments without 
 saying what is not true. 1 should say to 
 Lord Scarsdale of his large room, * My 
 Lord, this is the most costly room that I 
 ever saw ;' which is true." 
 
 Dr. Manningham, physician in London, 
 who was visiting at Lord Scarsdale's, 
 accompanied us through many of the 
 rooms, and soon afterwards my Lord him- 
 self, to whom Dr. Johnson was known, 
 appeared, and did the honours of the house.
 
 NORTH WALES. 29 
 
 prison than a house of splendour. 
 The kitchen has an opening into 
 the gallery, by which its heat and 
 its fumes are dispersed over the 
 house. There seemed in the whole 
 more cost than judgment. 
 
 We talked of Mr. Langton. Johnson, with 
 a warm vehemence of regard, exclaimed, 
 " The earth does not bear a worthier man 
 than Ben net Langton." We saw a good 
 many fine pictures. We were shown a 
 pretty large library. In his Lordship's 
 dressing-room lay Johnson's small Diction- 
 ary : he shewed it to me with some eager- 
 ness, saying, " Look'ye! Qua regio in terris 
 nostri non plena laboris." He observed,
 
 30 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Derby. We went then to the silk mill at 
 
 Derby, where I remarked a parti- 
 cular manner of propagating motion 
 from a horizontal to a vertical 
 wheel. 
 
 We were desired to leave the men 
 only two shillings. Mr. Thrale's 
 bill at the inn for dinner was 
 eighteen shillings and tenpence. 
 
 At night I went to Mr. Langley's. 
 Mrs. Wood's. Captain Astle, &c. 
 
 also, Goldsmith's " Animated Nature;" and 
 said, " Here's our friend ! The poor 
 Doctor would have been happy to hear of 
 this."
 
 NORTH WALES. 31 
 
 20. 
 
 We left Ash bourn and went to Buxton. 
 Buxton, thence to Pool's Hole, 
 which is narrow at first, but then 
 rises into a high arch ; but is so 
 obstructed with crags, that it is 
 difficult to walk in it. There are 
 two ways to the end, which is, 
 they say, six hundred and fifty 
 yards from the mouth. They take 
 passengers up the higher way, and 
 bring them back the lower. The 
 higher way was so difficult and 
 dangerous, that, having tried it, 
 I desisted. I found no level 
 part.
 
 32 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Macclesfield. At night we came to Maccles- 
 
 field, a very large town in Cheshire, 
 little known. It has a silk mill : it 
 has a handsome church, which, 
 however, is but a chapel, for the 
 town belongs to some parish of 
 another name c , as Stourbridge 
 lately did to Old Swinford. 
 
 Macclesfield has a town-hall, and 
 is, I suppose, a corporate town*. 
 
 * ' The parish of Prestbury. 
 
 d The Corporation consists of twenty- 
 four aldermen, and has such rights and 
 privileges as commonly appertain to cor- 
 porate towns.
 
 NORTH WALES. 
 
 33 
 
 We came to Congleton, where Congleton. 
 there is likewise a silk mill. Then 
 to Middlewich, a mean old town, Middlewich. 
 without any manufacture, but, I 
 think, a Corporation. Thence we 
 proceeded to Namptwich, an old Namptwicb. 
 town : from the Inn, I saw scarcely 
 any but black timber houses. I 
 tasted the brine water, which con- 
 tains much more salt than the sea 
 water 6 . By slow evaporation, they 
 
 e Sea water, in its natural state, is but a 
 weak brine; but its saltness varies in different 
 seas, and at different depths. In the Baltic, 
 the proportion of common salt, and other 
 saline ingredients, to the water in which it,
 
 34 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 make large crystals of salt; by 
 quick boiling, small granulations. 
 It seemed to have no other pre- 
 paration. 
 
 is held in solution, is as one to forty; in the 
 British Channel, a3 one to thirty ; and at a 
 great depth near the Equator, as one to 
 twenty-three : but the average may be 
 estimated as one to twenty-eight. The 
 brine in our salt works undergoes a pro- 
 cess which is called graduation, by which 
 its strength is greatly increased before it 
 is submitted to evaporation. The colour 
 of salt ought to be of a delicate blue- 
 whiteness ; any approach to yellow shews 
 that the brine has been contaminated by 
 the presence of iron* - .
 
 NORTH WALES. 35 
 
 At evening we came to Comber- Combermere. 
 mere f , so called from a wide lake. 
 
 22. 
 
 We went up the Mere. I pulled 
 a bulrush of about ten feet g . I 
 
 f At this time the seat of Sir Lynch 
 Salusbury Cotton, now, of Lord Comber- 
 mere, his grandson, from which place he 
 takes his title. It is situated in Cheshire, 
 twenty-two miles from Shrewsbury. 
 
 s Great Cats'-tail, or Reed-mace. The 
 Typha latifoliaoi Linnaeus. See Classes and 
 Orders of Linnctus, vol, iii. p. 434.
 
 36 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 saw no convenient boats upon the 
 Mere. 
 
 23. 
 
 Shavjngton. We visited Lord Kilmorey's 
 
 house. It is large and convenient, 
 with many rooms, none of which 
 are magnificently spacious \ The 
 furniture was not splendid. The 
 
 h This house, which is called Shavington 
 Hall, is in Shropshire, twenty-one miles 
 from Shrewsbury, and, like Wrottesley 
 Hall in the adjoining county, is said
 
 NORTH WALES. 37 
 
 bed-curtains were guarded. Lord 
 Kilmorey shewed the place with 
 too much exultation. He has no 
 Park, and little water. 
 
 24. 
 
 We went to a chapel, built by 
 Sir Lynch Cotton for his tenants. 
 It is consecrated, and therefore, I 
 suppose, endowed. It is neat and 
 plain. The communion plate is 
 
 to have as many windows, doors, and 
 chimnies, as correspond in number to 
 the days, weeks, and months, in a 
 year. 
 
 *y 4 <> >** o
 
 38 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 handsome. It has iron pales and 
 gates of great elegance, brought 
 from Lleweney, " for Robert has 
 laid all open 1 ." 
 Hawkestone. We saw Hawkestone, the seat of 
 
 Sir Rowland Hill k , and were con- 
 ducted by Miss Hill over a large 
 tract of rocks and woods ; a region 
 
 1 This remark has reference to family 
 conversation. Robert was the eldest son 
 of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, and lived 
 at Lleweney at this time. 
 
 k Now belonging to Sir John Hill, Bart, 
 father of Lord Hill. It is twelve miles 
 from Shrewsbury.
 
 NORTH WALES. 39 
 
 abounding with striking scenes and 
 terrific grandeur. We were always 
 on the brink of a precipice, or at 
 the foot of a lofty rock ; but the 
 steeps were seldom naked : in many 
 places, oaks of uncommon magni- 
 tude shot up from the crannies of 
 stone ; and where there were no 
 trees, there were underwoods and 
 bushes. 
 
 Round the rocks is a narrow 
 path cut upon the stone, which is 
 very frequently hewn into steps ; 
 but art has proceeded no further 
 than to make the succession of 
 wonders safely accessible. The 
 whole circuit is somewhat labo-
 
 40 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 rious; it is terminated by a grotto 
 cut in the rock to a great extent, 
 with many windings, and supported 
 by pillars, not hewn into regularity, 
 but such as imitate the spots of 
 nature, by asperities and protuber- 
 ances. 
 
 The place is without any damp- 
 ness, and would afford an habitation 
 not uncomfortable. There were 
 from space to space seats cut out 
 in the rock. Though it wants 
 water, it excels Dovedale by the 
 extent of its prospects, the awful- 
 ness of its shades, the horrors of 
 its precipices, the verdure of its 
 hollows, and the loftiness of its
 
 NORTH WALES. 41 
 
 rocks: the ideas which it forces 
 upon the mind are, the sublime, 
 the dreadful, and the vast. Above 
 is inaccessible altitude, below is 
 horrible profundity. But it excels 
 the garden of Ham only in extent. 
 
 Ham has grandeur, tempered with 
 softness ; the walker congratulates 
 his own arrival at the place, and 
 is grieved to think he must ever 
 leave it. As he looks up to the 
 rocks, his thoughts are elevated ; 
 as he turns his eyes on the vallies, 
 he is composed and soothed. 
 
 He that mounts the precipices 
 at Hawkestone, wonders how he
 
 42 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 came thither, and doubts how he 
 shall return. His walk is an 
 adventure, and his departure an 
 escape. He has not the tran- 
 quillity, but the horrors, of soli- 
 tude ; a kind of turbulent pleasure, 
 between fright and admiration. 
 
 Iiam is the fit abode of pastoral 
 virtue, and might properly diffuse 
 its shades over Nymphs and Swains. 
 Hawkestone can have no fitter inha- 
 bitants than giants of mighty bone 
 and bold emprise 1 ; men of lawless 
 
 1 Paradise Lost, book xi. v. 642.
 
 NORTH WALES. 43 
 
 courage and heroic violence. Hawke- 
 stone should be described by Milton, 
 and Ham by Parnel m . 
 
 m It ought to be remembered, that John- 
 son has already said that he was less pleased 
 with Ham on this second visit than when 
 he first saw it; and yet, in 1777, three 
 years subsequent to the time when this 
 account was written, he still continued to 
 have the same admiration for its beauties : 
 and what Boswell says upon this subject 
 is the more interesting, as he was wholly 
 ignorant of the existence of this diary, 
 which was written in 1774. 
 
 " Dr. Johnson obligingly proposed to 
 carry me to see 11am, a romantic scene, 
 now belonging to a family of the name of
 
 44 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Miss Hill shewed the whole 
 succession of wonders with great 
 civility. The house was magni- 
 ficent, compared with the rank of 
 the owner. 
 
 Porte, but formerly the seat of the Con- 
 greves. Johnson described it distinctly and 
 vividly, at which I could not but express to 
 him my wonder ; because, though my eyes, 
 as he observed, were better than his, I could 
 not by any means equal him in representing 
 visible objects. I said, the difference be- 
 tween us in this respect was as that between 
 a man who has a bad instrument, but plays 
 well on it, and a man who has a good 
 instrument, on which he can play \ery 
 imperfectly."
 
 NORTH WALES. 45 
 
 26. 
 
 We left Combermere, where 
 we have been treated with great 
 civility. 
 
 The house is spacious, but not 
 magnificent ; built at different times, 
 with different materials ; part is of 
 timber, part of stone or brick, 
 plastered and painted to look like 
 timber. It is the best house that 
 I ever saw of that kind. 
 
 The Mere, or Lake, is large, 
 with a small island, on which 
 there is a summer-house, shaded
 
 46* A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 with great trees ; some, were hollow, 
 and have seats in their trunks". 
 Chester. In the afternoon we came to 
 
 West- Chester ; (my father went 
 to the fair, when I had the small- 
 pox). We walked round the walls, 
 which are compleat, and contain 
 one mile three quarters, and one 
 
 n Combermere stands on the site of an 
 old Abbey of Benedictine Monks, which 
 was founded 1133; and, about the year 
 1540, at the dissolution of the monasteries, 
 was granted, with a great part of the estates 
 of the Abbey, to George Cotton, Esq., an 
 ancestor of the present Lord Combermere.
 
 NORTH WALES. 47 
 
 hundred and one yards ; within 
 them are many gardens : they are 
 very high, and two may walk very 
 commodiously side by side. On 
 the inside is a raH. There are 
 towers from space to space, not 
 very frequent, and, I think, not 
 all compleat. 
 
 The library, which is forty feet by twenty- 
 seven, is supposed to have been the refec- 
 tory. The Lake, or Mere, is about three 
 quarters of a mile long, but of no great 
 width; it is skirted with woods, and from 
 some situations it has the appearance of a 
 river*
 
 4B A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 27. 
 
 We staid at Chester and saw 
 the Cathedral, which is not of the 
 first rank. The Castle. In one of 
 the rooms the Assizes are held, and 
 the refectory of the Old Abbey, of 
 which part is a grammar school. 
 The master seemed glad to see me. 
 The cloister is very solemn ; over it 
 are chambers in which the singing 
 men live. 
 
 In one part of the street was a 
 subterranean arch, very strongly 
 built ; in another, what they called,
 
 NORTH WALES. 49 
 
 I believe rightly, a Roman hypo- 
 caust . 
 
 Chester has many curiosities. 
 
 28. 
 
 We entered Wales, dined at Mold. 
 Mold p , and came to Lleweney q . 
 
 See App. 5. 
 
 p Mold is a small market town, consist- 
 ing principally of one long and wide street. 
 
 ' Lleweney Hall, as I have already ob- 
 served, was the residence of Robert Cotton, 
 Esq. Mrs. Thrale's cousin german. Here 
 Mr. and Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson
 
 50 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 29. 
 
 Lleweney. We were at Lleweney. 
 
 In the lawn at Lleweney is a 
 spring of fine water, which rises 
 above the surface into a stone 
 
 staid three weeks, making visits and 
 short excursions in the neighbourhood 
 and surrounding country. Pennant gives 
 this description of its situation. " Lleweney 
 lies on a flat, has most pleasing views of the 
 mountains on each side of the vale, and 
 the town and castle of Denbigh form most 
 capital objects at the distance of two miles." 
 It now belongs to Mr. Hughes of Kinmel, 
 who lately purchased it, with the estate, for 
 . 150,000.
 
 NORTH WALES. 51 
 
 basin, from which it runs to waste, 
 in a continual stream, through a 
 pipe. 
 
 There are very large trees. 
 
 The Hall at Lleweney is forty feet 
 long, and twenty-eight broad. The 
 gallery one hundred and twenty feet 
 long, (all paved.) The Library forty- 
 two feet long, and twenty-eight 
 broad. The Dining-parlours thirty- 
 six feet long, and twenty-six broad. 
 
 It is partly sashed, and partly 
 has casements. 
 
 30. 
 
 We went to Bach y Graig, where B&chyGraig. 
 we found an old house, built 1567,
 
 59, A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 in an uncommon and incommodi- 
 ous form. My Mistress chattered 
 about cleaning r , but I prevailed on 
 her to go to the top. The floors 
 have been stolen : the windows are 
 stopped. 
 
 The house was less than I seemed 
 
 1 Bach y Graig had been the residence 
 of Mrs. Thrale's ancestors for several gene- 
 rations ; but her father did not live there, 
 and it fell to decay, and on this visit 
 Mrs. Thrale found it very dirty, particularly 
 the stairs, and she required some persuasion 
 to go up, but was at last prevailed upon. 
 My Mistress, was Johnson's familiar epithet 
 for Mrs. Thrale.
 
 NORTH WALES. 53 
 
 to expect ; the river Clwyd is a 
 brook with a bridge of one arch, 
 about one third of a mile. 
 
 The woods have many trees, 
 generally young; but some, which 
 seem to decay*. They have been 
 
 From a letter to Mrs. Thrale, Sept. IS, 
 1777, Johnson would seem to imply, that 
 Wales had only these woods to attract the 
 attention of a stranger. " Boswell wants 
 to see Wales ; but except the woods of 
 Bach y Graig, what is there in Wales, that 
 can fill the hunger of ignorance, or quench 
 the thirst of curiosity ?" Had he been 
 writing to Boswell, instead of Mrs. Thrale, 
 he would probably have been told, that in
 
 54 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 lopped. The house never had a 
 garden. The addition of another 
 story would make an useful house, 
 but it cannot be great. Some build- 
 ings which Clough, the founder, 
 intended for warehouses, would 
 make store-chambers and servants' 
 rooms 1 . The ground seems to be 
 good. I wish it well. 
 
 Scotland there was little else to make an 
 impression on the traveller, but high hills, 
 which, by constantly bounding the view, 
 forced the mind to find entertainment for 
 itself, in contemplating hopeless sterility, 
 or useless vegetation. 
 
 1 Pennant gives a description of this
 
 X0RTH WALES. SS 
 
 31 
 
 We went to church at St. Asaph. St. Asaph. 
 The Cathedral, though not large, 
 has something of dignity and gran- 
 deur. The cross aisle is very short. 
 
 house, in a tour he made into North Wales 
 in 1780. 
 
 " Not far from Dymerchion, lies half 
 buried in woods the singular house of 
 Bach y Graig. It consists of a mansion of 
 three sides, enclosing a square court. The 
 first consists of a vast hall and parlour : the 
 rest of it rises into six wonderful stories, 
 including the cupola ; and forms from the 
 second floor the figure of a pyramid : the
 
 56 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 It has scarcely any monuments. 
 The Quire has, I think, thirty-two 
 stalls of antique workmanship. On 
 the backs were Canonicus, Pre- 
 bend, Cancellarius, Thesau- 
 rarius, Precentor. The con- 
 
 rooms are small and inconvenient. The 
 bricks are admirable, and appear to have 
 been made in Holland ; and the model of 
 the house was probably brought from Flan- 
 ders, where this kind of building is not 
 unfrequent. It was built by Sir Richard 
 Clough, an eminent merchant, in the reign 
 of Queen Elizabeth. The initials of his 
 name are in iron on the front, with the date 
 1567, and on the gate-way 1569.
 
 NORTH WALES. 57 
 
 stitution I do not know, but it has 
 all the usual titles and dignities. 
 The service was sung only in the 
 Psalms and Hymns. 
 
 The Bishop was very civil". We 
 went to his palace, which is but 
 mean. They have a library, and 
 design a room. There lived Lloyd w 
 and Dodwell. 
 
 u The Bishop at this time was Dr. Ship- 
 ley, father to the present Dean of St. Asaph. 
 Upon another occasion, when he dined in 
 company with Dr. Shipley, he said he was 
 knowing and conversible. Their difference in 
 politics would hardly admit of more praise 
 from Johnson. 
 
 w Lloyd was raised to the See of St.
 
 58 a journey into 
 
 August 1. 
 
 Denbigh. We visited Denbigh, and the 
 
 remains of its Castle. 
 
 The Town consists of one main 
 street, and some that cross it, which 
 I have not seen. The chief street 
 ascends with a quick rise for a 
 
 Asaph in 1680. He was one of the seven 
 Bishops who were sent to the Tower in 
 1688, for refusing to permit the publication 
 of the royal declaration for liberty of con- 
 science, and was a zealous promoter of the 
 Revolution. He died Bishop of Worcester, 
 August 30, 1717, at 91 years of age. 
 
 Dodwell was a man of extensive learning:, 
 and an intimate friend of Lloyd, and,
 
 NORTH WALES. 59 
 
 great length : the houses are built, 
 some with rough stone, some with 
 brick, and a few of timber. 
 
 The Castle, with its whole enclo- 
 sure, has been a prodigious pile ; it 
 is now so ruined, that the form of 
 the inhabited part cannot easily be 
 traced. 
 
 There are, as in all old buildings, 
 
 like him, a great friend to the Revolution. 
 He also entertained religious opinions which 
 were, for the greater part of his life, incon- 
 venient to him: but when he became an 
 old man, his reason prevailed over those 
 scruples, which his skill in controversy, in 
 the vigour of his life, had given more im- 
 portance to than they deserved.
 
 60 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 said to be extensive vaults, which 
 the ruins of the upper works cover 
 and conceal, but into which boys 
 sometimes find a way. To clear all 
 passages, and trace the whole of 
 what remains, would require much 
 labour and expense. We saw a 
 Church, which was once the Chapel 
 of the Castle, but is used by the 
 Town : it is dedicated to St. Hilary, 
 and has an income of about 
 
 At a small distance is the ruin of 
 a Church said to have been begun by 
 the great Earl of Leicester 1 , and 
 
 * By Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 
 in 1579- He died Sept. 4, 1588.
 
 NORTH WALES. 6l 
 
 left unfinished at his death. One 
 side, and I think the east end, are 
 yet standing. There was a stone in 
 the wall, over the door-way, which 
 it was said would fall and crush the 
 best scholar in the diocese. One 
 Price would not pass under it. 
 They have taken it down. 
 
 We then saw the Chapel of 
 Lleweney, founded by one of the 
 Salusburies : it is very compleat : the 
 monumental stones lie in the ground. 
 A chimney has been added to it, but 
 it is otherwise not much injured, and 
 might be easily repaired 7 . 
 
 7. The late Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton 
 had no taste for antiquity of any kind ; and
 
 62 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Denbigh. We went to the parish Church of 
 
 Denbigh, which, being near a mile 
 from the town, is only used when 
 the parish officers are chosen. 
 
 In the Chapel, on Sundays, the 
 service is read thrice, the second 
 time only in English, the first and 
 third in Welsh. 
 
 The Bishop came to survey the 
 Castle, and visited likewise St. Hila- 
 ry's Chapel, which is that which the 
 town uses. The hay-barn, built with 
 
 this Chapel was not regarded by him as 
 being in any respect better than a barn, 
 or fit for any other purpose ; and the 
 present proprietor applies it to that use.
 
 NORTH WALES. 63 
 
 brick pillars from space to space, 
 and covered with a roof. A more 
 elegant and lofty Hovel. 
 
 The rivers here, are mere torrents 
 which are suddenly swelled by the 
 rain to great breadth and great 
 violence, but have very little con- 
 stant stream ; such are the Clwyd 
 and the Elwy*. There are yet no 
 
 x Here we see Johnson simply describ- 
 ing the character of these streams; and this 
 description is interesting when compared 
 with a passage in his Journey to the 
 Western Islands, where the same facts 
 become important from the language in 
 which they are given. 
 
 " We passed many rivers and rivulets,
 
 64 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 mountains. The ground is beauti- 
 fully embellished with woods, and 
 diversified with inequalities. 
 
 In the parish church of Denbigh 
 is a bas relief of Lloyd the antiquary, 
 
 which commonly ran with a clear shallow 
 stream over a hard pebbly bottom. These 
 channels, which seem so much wider than 
 the water that they convey would naturally 
 require, are formed by the violence of 
 wintry floods, produced by the accumu- 
 lation of innumerable streams that fall in 
 rainy weather from the hills, and burst- 
 ing away with resistless impetuosity, make 
 themselves a passage proportionate to their 
 mass."
 
 NORTH WALES. 65 
 
 who was before Camden. He is 
 kneeling at his prayers*. 
 
 We rode to a summer-house 
 of Mr. Cotton, which has a very 
 extensive prospect ; it is meanly 
 built, and unskilfully disposed 5 . 
 
 a Humphry Llwyd was a native of Den- 
 bigh, and practised there as a physician, 
 and also represented the town in Parlia- 
 ment. He died 1568, aged 41. 
 
 b This summer-house is in the grounds 
 belonging to Lleweney, and their ride to 
 F
 
 66 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Dymerchion. We went to Dymerchion church 6 , 
 
 where the old clerk acknowledged 
 his Mistress. It is the parish 
 church of Bach y Graig d . A 
 mean fabric : Mr. Salusbury 6 was 
 buried in it. Bach y Graig has 
 fourteen seats in it. 
 
 it was to see the prospect ; the situation 
 commands a very beautiful view. 
 
 Dymerchion is three miles from St. 
 Asaph. 
 
 d Bach y Graig is the name of one of 
 three townships of the parish of Dymer- 
 chion. 
 
 e Mrs. Thrale's father.
 
 NORTH WALES. 67 
 
 As we rode by, I looked at the Llannerch. 
 house again. We saw Llannerch, 
 a house not mean, with a small 
 park very well watered. There 
 was an avenue of oaks, which, in 
 a foolish compliance with the pre- 
 sent mode, has been cut down. A 
 few are yet standing. The owner's 
 name is Davies f . 
 
 The way lay through pleasant 
 lanes, and overlooked a region 
 beautifully diversified with trees 
 and grass. 
 
 f Robert Davies, Esq. At his house 
 there was an extensive library.
 
 68 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 At Dymerchion church there is 
 English service only once a month. 
 This is about twenty miles from the 
 English border. 
 
 The old Clerk had great appear- 
 ance of joy at the sight of his 
 Mistress, and foolishly said, that 
 he was now willing to die. He 
 had only a crown given him by 
 my Mistress 8 . 
 
 e In the MS. in Dr. Johnson's hand- 
 writing, he has first entered in his diary, 
 " The old Clerk had great appearance of 
 joy at seeing his Mistress, and foolishly 
 said that he was" now willing to die:" he
 
 UORTH WALES. .'. 69 
 
 At Dymerchion church the texts 
 on the walls are in Welsh. 
 
 3. 
 
 We went in the coach to Holy- Holywell, 
 well. 
 
 afterwards wrote in a separate column, on 
 the same leaf, under the head of notes and 
 omissions, " He had a crown ;" and then he 
 appears to have read over his diary at a 
 future time, and interlined the paragraph 
 with the words " only" " given him by 
 my Mistress," which is written in ink of a 
 different colour. This shews that he read 
 his diary over after he wrote it, and that
 
 70 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Talk with Mistress* 1 about flattery 1 . 
 
 Holywell is a market town, neither 
 very small nor mean. The spring 
 called Winifred's Well is very clear, 
 
 where his feelings were not accurately 
 expressed, he amended them. 
 
 h Mrs. Thrale. 
 
 1 Johnson had no dislike to those com- 
 mendations which are commonly imputed 
 to flattery. Upon one occasion he said to 
 Mrs. Thrale, " What signifies protesting 
 so against flattery! when a person speaks 
 well of one, it must be either true or false, 
 you know : if true, let us rejoice in his 
 good opinion ; if he lies, it is a proof at 
 least that he loves more to please me, than
 
 NORTH WALES. 71 
 
 and so copious, that it yields one 
 hundred tuns of water in a minute. 
 It is all at once a very great stream, 
 which, within perhaps thirty yards 
 of its eruption, turns a mill, and in 
 
 to sit silent when he need say nothing. 
 Though I like flattery, a little too much 
 always disgusts me : that fellow, Richard- 
 son, on the contrary, could not be content 
 to glide quietly down the stream of reputa- 
 tion, without longing to taste the froth from 
 every stroke of the oar." 
 
 " The difference between praise and flat- 
 tery is the same as between that hospitality 
 that sets wine enough before the guest, and 
 that which forces him to drink."
 
 72 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 a course of two miles, eighteen mills 
 more. In descent, it is very quick. 
 It then falls into the sea. The well 
 is covered by a lofty circular arch, 
 supported by pillars ; and over this 
 arch is an old chapel, now a school. 
 The chancel is separated by a wall. 
 The bath is completely and inde- 
 cently open. A woman bathed 
 while we all looked on. 
 
 In the church, which makes a 
 good appearance, and is surrounded 
 by galleries to receive a numerous 
 congregation, we were present while 
 a child was christened in Welsh. 
 
 We went down by the stream to 
 see a prospect, in which I had no
 
 NORTH WALES. 73 
 
 part. We then saw a brass work, 
 where the lapis calaminaris is 
 gathered, broken, washed from the 
 earth and the lead, though how the 
 lead was separated I did not see; 
 then calcined, afterwards ground 
 fine, and then mixed by fire with 
 the copper. 
 
 We saw several strong fires with 
 melting pots, but the construction 
 of the fire-places I did not learn. 
 
 At a copper-work which receives 
 its pigs of copper, I think, from 
 Warrington, we saw a plate of 
 copper put hot between steel rollers, 
 and spread thin : I know not whe- 
 ther the upper roller was set to a
 
 74 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 certain distance, as I suppose, or 
 acted only by its weight. 
 
 At an iron-work I saw round 
 bars formed by a knotched hammer 
 and anvil. There I saw a bar of 
 about half an inch, or more, square 
 cut with shears worked by water, 
 and then beaten hot into a thinner 
 bar. The hammers all worked, as 
 they were, by water, acting upon 
 small bodies, moved very quick, as 
 quick as by the hand. 
 
 I then saw wire drawn, and gave 
 a shilling. I have enlarged my 
 notions, though not been able to 
 see the movements : and having 
 not time to peep closely, I knew
 
 NORTH WALES. 75 
 
 less than I might. I was less 
 weary, and had better breath, as I 
 walked farther. 
 
 4. 
 
 Ruthin Castle is still a very noble Ruthin 
 ruin ; all the walls still remain, so 
 that a compleat platform, and eleva- 
 tions, not very imperfect, may be 
 taken. It encloses a square of 
 about thirty yards. The middle 
 space was always open. 
 
 The wall is, I believe, about 
 thirty feet high, very thick, flanked 
 with six round towers, each about
 
 76" A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 eighteen feet, or less, in diameter. 
 Only one tower had a chimney, 
 so that there was commodity of 
 living. It was only a place of 
 strength. The garrison had, per- 
 haps, tents in the area. 
 
 Stapylton's house is pretty k : 
 there are pleasing shades about 
 
 k The name of this house is Bodryddan ; 
 formerly the residence of the Stapyltons, 
 the parents of five co-heiresses, of whom 
 Mrs* Cotton, afterwards Lady Salusbury 
 Cotton, was one; but in the year 1774, it 
 was the residence of Mr. Shipley, Dean 
 of St. Asaph, who still lives there.
 
 NORTH WALES. 77 
 
 it, with a constant spring that 
 supplies a cold bath. We then 
 went to see a Cascade. 
 
 I trudged unwillingly, and was 
 not sorry to find it dry. The 
 water was, however, turned on, 
 and produced a very striking cata- 
 ract. They are paid an hundred 
 pounds a year for permission to 
 divert the stream to the mines. 
 The river, for such it may be 
 termed, rises from a single spring, 
 which, like that of Winifred's, is 
 covered with a building. 
 
 We called then at another house 
 belonging to Mr. Lloyd, - which
 
 78 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 made a handsome appearance. 
 This country seems full of very 
 splendid houses. 
 
 Mrs. Thrale lost her purse. She 
 expressed so much uneasiness, that 
 I concluded the sum to be very 
 great ; but when I heard of only 
 seven guineas, I was glad to find 
 that she had so much sensibility of 
 money. 
 
 I could not drink this day either 
 coffee or tea after dinner. I know 
 not when I missed before. 
 
 5. 
 
 Last night my sleep was remark-
 
 NORTH WALES. 79 
 
 ably quiet. I know not whether by 
 fatigue in walking, or by forbear- 
 ance of tea. 
 
 I gave the ipecacuanha. Vin. 
 emet. had failed ; so had tartar 
 emet. 
 
 I dined at Mr. Myddleton's, of Gwaynynog. 
 Gwaynynog. The house was a 
 gentleman's house, below the second 
 rate, perhaps below the third, built 
 of stone roughly cut. The rooms 
 were low, and the passage above 
 stairs gloomy, but the furniture was 
 good. The table was well supplied, 
 except that the fruit was bad. It 
 was truly the dinner of a country
 
 80 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 gentleman 1 . Two tables were filled 
 with company, not inelegant. 
 
 After dinner, the talk was of 
 preserving the Welsh language. I 
 
 1 Johnson affected to be a man of very 
 nice discernment in the art of cookery. 
 Boswell observes, upon one occasion he 
 alarmed a lady, at whose house he was to 
 sup, by this declaration of his skill : " I, 
 madam, who live at a variety of good 
 tables, am a much better judge of cookery, 
 than any person who has a very tolerable 
 cook, but lives much at home ; for his 
 palate is gradually adapted to the taste of 
 his cook ; whereas, madam, in trying by a
 
 NORTH WALES. 81 
 
 offered them a scheme. Poor Evan 
 Evans was mentioned, as incorrigi- 
 bly addicted to strong drink. Wash- 
 ington was commended. Myddleton 
 is the only man, who, in Wales, 
 has talked to me of literature. I 
 wish he were truly zealous. I re- 
 commended the republication of 
 David ap Rhees's Welsh Grammar. 
 
 wider range, I can more exquisitely judge." 
 When invited to dine, even with an inti- 
 mate friend, he was not pleased if some- 
 thing better than a plain dinner was not 
 prepared for him. App. 6. 
 
 G
 
 82 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Two sheets of Hebrides came to 
 me for correction to-day, F. G." 1 
 
 6. 
 
 2)aS-. <J. I corrected the two 
 sheets. My sleep last night was 
 disturbed. 
 
 Washing at Chester and here, 
 5s. Id. 
 
 B F. G. are the printer's signatures, by 
 which it appears that at this time five sheets 
 had already been printed. The MS. was 
 sent to press June 11th. BoszvelFs Life of 
 Dr. Johnson, vol. ii. p. 288.
 
 NORTH WALES. 83 
 
 I did not read. 
 
 I saw to-day more of the out- 
 houses at Lleweney. It is, in the 
 whole, a very spacious house. 
 
 7. 
 
 I was at church at Bodfari. 
 There was a service used for a sick 
 woman, not canonically, but such 
 as I have heard, I think, formerly at 
 Lichfield, taken out of the visita- 
 tion. KaS-. p./few?. 
 
 The church is mean, but has a 
 square tower for the bells, rather 
 too stately for the church.
 
 84 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Dixit injustus, Ps. 36, has no 
 relation to the English. 
 
 Preserve us, Lord, has the name 
 of Robert Wisedome, 1618. Bar- 
 ker's Bible. 
 
 "Battologiam ab iteratione, recte 
 distinguit Erasmus. Mod. Orandi 
 Deum, p. 56 144. 
 
 Southwell's Thoughts of his own 
 Death. 
 
 Baudius on Erasmus". 
 
 n This work, which Johnson was now 
 reading, was, most probably, a little book,
 
 NORTH WALES.- "S5 
 
 8. 
 
 The Bishop and much company 
 dined at Lleweney . Talk of 
 -Gr-eek and the Army. The Dtjke - 
 
 entitled Baudi Epistola, as, in his Life of 
 Milton, he has made a quotation from it. 
 Speaking of Milton's religious opinions, 
 when he is supposed to have vacillated 
 between Calvinism and Arminianism, he 
 observes, " What Baudius says of Erasmus 
 seems applicable to him, magis habuit quod 
 fugeret quam quod sequeretur." 
 
 During Johnson's stay at this place, 
 Mrs. Thrale gives this trait of his character.
 
 86* A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 of Marlborough's officers useless. 
 Read Phocylidis p , distinguished the 
 paragraphs. I looked in Leland : 
 an unpleasant book of mere hints q . 
 
 " When we went into Wales together, and 
 spent some time at Mr. Cotton's at Lleweney, 
 one day at dinner, I meant to please Mr. 
 Johnson particularly, with a dish of very 
 young peas. ' Are not they charming ?' said 
 I to him, while he was eating them. 
 1 Perhaps they would be so to a pig.' 
 This is given only as an instance of the 
 peculiarity of his manner, and which had 
 in it no intention to offend. 
 
 * The title of the poem is Tlofafta vsSetixow. 
 ? Leland's Itinerary, published by Thomas
 
 NORTH WALES. 87 
 
 Lichfield School, ten pounds; 
 and five pounds from the Hospital. 
 
 10. 
 
 At Lloyd's, of Maesmynnan; a Maesmynnan 
 good house, and a very large 
 walled garden. I read Windus's Ac- 
 count of his Journey to Mequinez, 
 and of Stewart's Embassy'. I had 
 
 Hearne, in nine very thin octavo volumes, 
 1710. 
 
 r This book is entitled, " A Journey to 
 Mequinez, the Residence of the present 
 Emperor of Fez and Morocco, on the
 
 &8 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 read in the morning Wasse's Greek 
 Trochaics to Bentley. They appear 
 inelegant, and made with difficulty. 
 The Latin Elegy contains only 
 common-place, hastily expressed, 
 so far as I have read, for it is long. 
 They seem to be the verses of a 
 scholar, who has no practice of 
 writing. The Greek I did not 
 always fully understand. I am in 
 doubt about sixth and last para- 
 graphs, perhaps they are not printed 
 right, for wtoxov perhaps hsoyov. q ? 
 
 Occasion of Commodore Stewart's Embassy 
 thither, for the Redemption of the British 
 Captives, in the Year 1721." 8vo.
 
 NORTH WALES, 8$ 
 
 - The following days I read here 
 and there. The Bibliotheca Literaria 
 was so little supplied with papers 
 that could interest curiosity, that it 
 could not hope for long conti- 
 nuance'. "Wasse, the chief contri- 
 butor, was an unpolished scholar, 
 who, with much literature, had no 
 art or elegance of diction, at least 
 in English. 
 
 14. 
 
 At Bodfari I heard the second 
 
 The Bibliotheca Literaria was publish- 
 ed in London, 1722-4, in 4to. numbers, but 
 only extended to ten numbers.
 
 90 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 lesson read, and the sermon preach- 
 ed in Welsh. The text was pro- 
 nounced both in Welsh and English. 
 The sound of the Welsh, in a 
 continued discourse, is not un- 
 pleasant. 
 
 The letter of Chrysostom, against 
 transubstantiation. Erasmus to the 
 Nuns, full of mystic notions and 
 allegories. 
 
 15. 
 
 Ka3-. Imbecillitas genuum non 
 
 . . , t .- - -- I, ... r . 
 
 * By this expression it would seem, that 
 on this day Johnson ate sparingly.
 
 NORTH WALES. 91 
 
 sine aliquantulo doloris inter ambu- 
 landum, quem a prandio magis 
 sensi \ 
 
 n " A weakness of the knees, not with- 
 out some pain in walking, which I feel 
 increased after I have dined." 
 
 Throughout this Diary, when Johnson is 
 obliged to turn his thoughts to the state of 
 his health, he always puts his private 
 memoranda in the learned languages ; as 
 if to throw a slight veil over those ills 
 which he would willingly have hid from 
 himself. 
 
 The day after this memorandum was 
 made, he wrote a letter to his medical 
 friend, Mr. Robert Levet.
 
 92 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 16. 
 
 We left Lleweney, and went for- 
 wards on our journey. 
 Abcrgeley. We came to Abergeley, a mean 
 
 " To Mr. Robert Levet. 
 
 " Lleweney, in Denbighshire, 
 
 August 16, 1774. 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 " Mr. Thrale's affairs have kept him 
 here a great while, nor do I know exactly 
 when we shall come hence. I have sent 
 you a bill upon Mr. Strahan. 
 
 " I have made nothing of the ipeca-
 
 NORTH WALES. 93 
 
 town, in which little but Welsh is 
 spoken, and divine service is seldom 
 performed in English. 
 
 Our way then lay to the sea-side, Penmaen 
 at the foot of a mountain, called 
 Penmaen Rh6s. Here the way 
 
 cuanha, but have taken abundance of pills, 
 and hope that they have done me good. 
 
 " Wales, so far as I have yet seen of it, 
 is a very beautiful and rich country, all 
 enclosed and planted. Denbigh is not a 
 mean town. Make my compliments to all 
 my friends, and tell Frank I hope he 
 remembers my advice. When his money 
 is out, let him have more. I am, Sir, 
 " Your humble servant, 
 
 " Sam. Johnson."
 
 94 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 was so steep, that we walked on the 
 lower edge of the hill, to meet the 
 coach, that went upon a road higher 
 on the hill. Our walk was not long, 
 nor unpleasant: the longer I walk* 
 the less I feel its inconvenience. 
 , As I grow warm, my breath mends, 
 and I think my limbs grow pliable. 
 
 Conway We then came to Conway Ferry, 
 
 Ferry. 
 
 and passed in small boats, with 
 
 some passengers from the stage 
 
 coach, among whom were an Irish 
 
 gentlewoman, with two maids, and 
 
 three little children, of which, the 
 
 youngest was only a few months old. 
 
 The tide did not serve the large 
 
 ferry-boat, and therefore our coach 
 
 could not very soon follow us. We
 
 NORTH WALES. 95 
 
 were, therefore, to stay at the Inn. 
 It is now the day of the Race at 
 Conway, and the town was so full 
 of company, that no money could 
 purchase lodgings. We were not 
 very readily supplied with cold din- 
 ner. We would have staid at 
 Conway if we could have found 
 entertainment, for we were afraid of 
 passing Penmaen Mawr, over which 
 lay our way to Bangor, but by 
 bright daylight, and the delay of 
 our coach, made our departure 
 necessarily late. There was> how- 
 ever, no stay on any other terms, 
 than of sitting up all night. 
 
 The poor Irish lady was still
 
 96 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 more distressed. Her children 
 wanted rest. She would have been 
 contented with one bed, but, for a 
 time, none could be had. Mrs. 
 Thrale gave her what help she 
 could. At last two gentlemen were 
 persuaded to yield up their room, 
 with two beds, for which she gave 
 half a guinea. 
 
 Penmaen . Our coach was at last brought, 
 
 Mawr. 
 
 and we set out with some anxiety, 
 
 but we came to Penmaen Mawr by 
 
 daylight ; and found a way, lately 
 
 made, very easy, and very safe w . 
 
 1 ! __ 1 1 . 
 
 9 Penmaen Mawr, is a huge rock, rising 
 nearly 1550 feet perpendicular above the
 
 NORTH WALES. 9? 
 
 It was cut smooth, and enclosed 
 between parallel walls ; the outer 
 of which, secures the passenger 
 from the precipice, which is deep 
 and dreadful. This wall is here and 
 there broken, by mischievous wan- 
 tonness. The inner wall preserves 
 the road from the loose stones, 
 which the shattered steep above it 
 
 sea. Along a shelf of this precipice, is 
 formed an excellent road, well guarded, 
 toward the sea, by a strong wall, supported 
 in many parts by arches turned underneath 
 it. Before this wall was built, travellers 
 sometimes fell down the precipices. 
 H
 
 98 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 would pour down. That side of the 
 mountain seems to have a surface of 
 loose stones, which every accident 
 may crumble. The old road was 
 higher, and must have been very 
 formidable. The sea beats at the 
 bottom of the way. 
 Bangor. At evening the moon shone emi- 
 
 nently bright; and our thoughts of 
 danger being now past, the rest of 
 our journey was very pleasant. At 
 an hour somewhat late, we came to 
 Bangor, where we found a very 
 mean inn, and had some difficulty 
 to obtain lodging. I lay in a room, 
 where the other bed had two men.
 
 NORTH WALES. 
 
 99 
 
 19. 
 
 We obtained boats to convey us Beaumaris, 
 to Anglesey, and saw Lord Bulke- 
 ley's House, and Beaumaris Castle. 
 
 I was accosted by Mr. Lloyd, 
 the Schoolmaster of Beaumaris, 
 who had seen me at University 
 College ; and he, with Mr. Roberts, 
 the Register of Bangor, whose boat 
 we borrowed, accompanied us. 
 Lord Bulkeley's house is very mean, Baron Hill, 
 but his garden is spacious, and 
 shady with large trees and smaller 
 interspersed. The walks are straight, 
 and cross each other, with no variety
 
 100 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 i 
 
 of plan; but they have a pleasing 
 
 coolness, and solemn gloom, and 
 
 extend to a great length*. 
 
 Beaumaris The Castle is a mighty pile ; the 
 Castle. 
 
 outward wall has fifteen round 
 
 towers, besides square towers at the 
 
 x Baron Hill, is the name of Lord Bulke- 
 ley's house; which is situated just above 
 the town of Beaumaris, at the distance of 
 | of a mile, commanding so fine a view of 
 the sea, and the coast of Caernarvon, that 
 it has been sometimes compared to Mount 
 Edgecombe, in Devonshire. Lord Lyttel- 
 ton, speaking of the house and gardens, 
 says," The house is a bad one, but the 
 gardens are made in a very fine taste.' r
 
 NORTH WALES. 101 
 
 angles. There is then a void space 
 between the wall and the Castle, 
 which has an area enclosed with 
 a wall, which again has towers, 
 larger than those of the outer 
 wall. The towers of the inner 
 Castle are, I think, eight. There 
 is likewise a Chapel entire, built 
 upon an arch as I suppose, and 
 beautifully arched with a stone 
 roof, which is yet unbroken. The 
 entrance into the Chapel is about 
 eight or nine feet high, and was, 
 I suppose, higher, when there was 
 no rubbish in the area. 
 
 This Castle corresponds with all 
 the representations of romancing
 
 102 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 narratives. Here is not wanting' 
 the private passage, the dark 
 cavity, the deep dungeon, or the 
 lofty tower. We did not discover 
 the Well. This is the most com- 
 pleat view that I have yet had of 
 an old Castle. It had a moat. 
 
 The Towers. 
 
 We went to Bangor. 
 
 20. 
 
 Caernarvon, We went by water from Bangor 
 
 to Caernarvon, where we met Paoli y 
 
 i General Pasquale de Paoli, the distin- 
 guished patriot of Corsica, who, after all
 
 NORTH WALES. 103 
 
 and Sir Thomas Wynne z . Meeting 
 by chance with one Troughton a , an 
 intelligent and loquacious wanderer, 
 Mr. Thrale invited him to dinner. 
 He attended us to the Castle, an 
 
 his exertions failed to render his native 
 country any service, retired to England 
 in 1769, and died in London Feb. 5, 180", 
 in the eighty-second year of his age. See 
 Johnson's first interview with him. App. 7. 
 
 z Sir Thomas Wynne, created Lord New- 
 borough, July 14, 1776. Died October 12, 
 1807. Father to the present Lord New- 
 borough. 
 
 * This gentleman was a lieutenant in the 
 Navy.
 
 104 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 edifice of stupendous magnitude and 
 strength ; it has in it all that we 
 observed at Beaumaris, and much 
 greater dimensions : many of the 
 smaller rooms floored with stone 
 are entire ; of the larger rooms, 
 the beams and planks are all left : 
 this is the state of all buildings left 
 to time. We mounted the Eagle 
 Tower by one hundred and sixty- 
 nine steps, each of ten inches \ 
 
 b Johnson, as appears in the course of 
 this Diary, often amused himself with 
 minute computation, and this was much 
 the habit of his mind. In a letter to
 
 NORTH WALES. 105 
 
 We did not find the Well ; nor 
 did I trace the Moat; but moats 
 there were, I believe, to all castles 
 on the plain, which not only hindered 
 access, but prevented mines. We 
 saw but a very small part of this 
 mighty ruin, and in all these old 
 
 Mrs. Thrale, Oct. 6, 1777, he says, 
 " Mr. Langton bought at Nottingham 
 fair fifteen ton of cheese ; which, at an 
 ounce a-piece, will suffice after dinner for 
 four hundred and eighty thousand men." 
 At another time he says, " JNolhing amuses 
 more harmlessly than computation, and 
 nothing is oftener applicable to real busi- 
 ness or speculative inquiries."
 
 106 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 buildings, the subterraneous works 
 are concealed by the rubbish. 
 
 To survey this place would take 
 much time: I did not think there 
 had been such buildings ; it sur- 
 passed my ideas. 
 
 21. 
 
 We were at church ; the service 
 in the town is always English ; at 
 the parish church at a small dis- 
 tance, always Welsh. The town 
 has by degrees, I suppose, been 
 brought nearer to the sea side. 
 
 We received an invitation to 
 Dr. Worthington. We then went
 
 NORTH WALES. 107 
 
 to dinner at Sir Thomas Wynne's, 
 the dinner mean, Sir Thomas 
 civil, his Lady nothing. Paoli 
 civil. 
 
 We supped with Colonel Wynne's 
 Lady, who lives in one of the towers 
 of the Castle. 
 
 I have not been very well. 
 
 We went to visit Bodville, the Bodville. 
 place where Mrs. Thrale was born, 
 and the churches called Tydweilliog 
 and Llangwinodyl, which she holds 
 by impropriation. 
 
 We had an invitation to the Bryn o dol.
 
 108 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 house of Mr. Griffiths of Brvn o 
 dol, where we found a small neat 
 new built house, with square rooms : 
 the walls are of unhewn stone, and 
 therefore thick; for the stones not 
 fitting with exactness, are not strong 
 without great thickness. He had 
 planted a great deal of young wood 
 in walks. Fruit trees do not thrive ; 
 but having grown a few years, reach 
 some barren stratum and wither. 
 
 We found Mr. Griffiths not at 
 home ; but the provisions were 
 good. Mr. Griffiths came home 
 the next day. He married a lady 
 who has a house and estate at 
 , over against Anglesea,
 
 NORTH WALES. 109 
 
 and near Caernarvon, where she 
 is more delighted, as it seems, to 
 reside than at Bryn o dol. 
 
 I read Lloyd's account of Mona, 
 which he proves to be Anglesea. 
 
 In our way to Bryn o dol, we 
 saw at Llanerk a Church built Llanerk. 
 crosswise, very spacious and magni-? 
 ficent for this country. We could 
 not see the Parson, and could get 
 no intelligence about it. 
 
 24. 
 
 We went to see Bodville. Mrs. Bodville.- 
 Thrale remembered the rooms, and 
 wandered over them with recollec-
 
 110 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 tion of her childhood. This species 
 of pleasure is always melancholy. 
 The walk was cut down, and the 
 pond was dry. Nothing was better . 
 We surveyed the Churches, 
 which are mean, and neglected to 
 a degree scarcely imaginable. They 
 have no pavement, and the earth 
 is full of holes. The seats are 
 rude benches ; the Altars have no 
 rails. One of them has a breach 
 in the roof. On the desk, I think, 
 of each lay a folio Welsh Bible of 
 the black letter, which the curate 
 
 App. 8.
 
 NORTH WALES. Ill 
 
 cannot easily read d . Mr. Thrale 
 purposes to beautify the Churches, 
 and if he prospers, will probably 
 
 * In this tour, Mrs. Thrale records an 
 anecdote of the ignorance of a clergyman 
 in Wales r which, upon this occasion, was 
 very probably in Johnson's mind. 
 
 " A Welsh parson of mean abilities, 
 though a good heart, struck with reve- 
 rence at the sight of Dr. Johnson, whom 
 he had heard of as the greatest man 
 living, could not find any words to an- 
 swer his inquiries concerning a motto 
 round somebody's arms which adorned 
 a tomb-stone in Ruabon* churchyard. 
 
 - * Ruabon is also written Rhia Abon. It is a verj 
 considerable vicarage, within four miles of Wrexham .
 
 112 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 restore the tithes. The two parishes 
 are, Llangwinodyl 6 and Tydweilliog 6 . 
 
 If I remember right, the words were, 
 
 Heb Dw, Heb Dym, 
 Dw o' diggon. 
 
 And though of no very difficult construc- 
 tion, the gentleman seemed wholly con- 
 founded, and unable to explain them ; 
 till Mr. Johnson, having picked out the 
 meaning by little and little, said to the 
 man, ' Heb is a preposition, I believe, 
 sir, is it not?' My countryman recover- 
 ing some spirits upon the sudden question, 
 cried out, " So I humbly presume, sir," 
 very comically. 
 
 " These two parishes are perpetual cura- 
 cies, endowed with the small tithes, which
 
 NORTH WALES. 113 
 
 The Methodists are here very pre- 
 valent. A better church will im- 
 press the people with more reve- 
 rence of public worship. 
 
 in 180Q amounted to six pounds sixteen 
 shillings and sixpence in each parish; but 
 these sums are increased by Queen Ann's 
 bounty; and in 1809 the whole income 
 for Llangwinodyl, including surplice fees, 
 amounted to forty-six pounds two shillings 
 and twopence, and for Tydweilliog, forty- 
 three pounds nineteen shillings and ten- 
 pence ; so that it does not appear that 
 Mr. Thrale carried into effect his good 
 intention. 
 
 I
 
 114 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Mrs. Thrale visited a house 
 where she had been used to drink 
 milk, which was left, with an 
 estate of two hundred pounds 
 a year, by one Lloyd f , to a 
 married woman who lived with 
 him. 
 Pwllheli. We went to Pwllheli, a mean 
 
 f Mr. Lloyd was a Very good-natured 
 man ; and when Mrs. Thrale was a little 
 child, he was used to treat her with 
 sweetmeats and milk ; but what was now 
 remarkable was, that she should recollect 
 the house, which she had not seen since 
 she was five years old.
 
 NORTH WALES. 
 
 115 
 
 t)ld town, at the extremity of the 
 country. Here we bought some- 
 thing, to remember the place. 
 
 25. 
 
 We returned to Caernarvon, where Caernarvon, 
 we ate with Mrs. Wynne. 
 
 26\ 
 
 We visited, with Mrs. Wynne, LlynBadam 
 Llyn Badarn and Llyn Beris, two LlynBeris. 
 lakes, joined by a narrow strait. 
 They are formed by the waters 
 which fall from Snowdon, and the Snowdon. 
 opposite mountains. On the side
 
 116 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 of Snowdon are the remains of a 
 large fort, to which we climbed 
 with great labour. I was breath- 
 less and harrassed. The Lakes 
 have no great breadth, so that 
 the boat is always near one bank 
 or the other. 
 
 Note. Queeny's goats, one hun- 
 dred and forty-nine, I think 6 . 
 
 * Mr. Thrale was near-sighted, and could 
 not see the goats browsing on Snowdon, 
 and he promised his daughter, who was a 
 child of ten years old, a penny for every 
 goat she would shew him, and Dr. Johnson 
 kept the account; so that it appears her 
 father Was in debt to her one hundred and
 
 NORTH WALES. 117 
 
 27. 
 
 We returned to Bangor, where Bangor. 
 Mr. Thrale was lodged at Mr. 
 Roberts, the Register. 
 
 28. 
 
 We went to worship at the 
 Cathedral. The quire is mean, 
 the service was not well read. 
 
 forty-nine pence. Queeny was the epithet, 
 which had its origin in the nursery, by 
 which Miss Thrale was always distinguished 
 by Johnson.
 
 11 8 : A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 20. 
 
 We came to Mr. My ddel ton's, of 
 Owaynynog, to the first place, as 
 my Mistress 11 observed, where we 
 have been welcome. 
 
 Note. On the day when we 
 visited Bodville, we turned to the 
 house of Mr. Griffiths, of Kefnam- 
 wycllh, a gentleman of large fortune, 
 remarkable for having made great 
 and sudden improvements in his 
 seat and estate. He has enclosed 
 a large garden with a brick wall. 
 
 h Mrs. Thrale.
 
 NORTH WALES. ] 19 
 
 He is considered as a man of great 
 accomplishments. He was educated 
 in literature at the University, and 
 served some time in the army, then 
 quitted his commission, and retired 
 to his lands. He is accounted a 
 good man, and endeavours to bring 
 the people to church. 
 
 In our way from Bangor to 
 Conway, we passed again the new 
 road upon the edge of Penmaen 
 Mawr, which would be very tre- 
 mendous, but that the wall shuts 
 out the idea of danger. In. the 
 wall are several breaches, made, 
 as Mr. Thrale very reasonably 
 conjectures, by fragments of rocks
 
 V26 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 which roll down the mountain, 
 broken perhaps by frost, or worn 
 through by rain. 
 Conway. We then viewed Conway. 
 
 To spare the horrors at Pen- 
 maen Rhos, between Conway and 
 St. Asaph, we sent the coach over 
 the road cross the mountain with 
 Mrs. Thrale, who had been tired 
 with a walk sometime before; and 
 I, with Mr. Thrale and Miss, 
 walked along the edge, where the 
 path is very narrow, and much 
 encumbered by little loose stones, 
 which had fallen down, as we 
 thought, upon the way since we 
 passed it before,
 
 NORTH WALES. 121 
 
 At Conway we took a short Conway 
 survey of the Castle, which afforded 
 us nothing new. It is larger than 
 that of Beaumaris, and less than 
 that of Caernarvon. It is built 
 upon a rock so high and steep, 
 that it is even now very difficult 
 of access. We found a round pit, 
 which was called the Well ; it is 
 now almost filled, and therefore 
 dry. We found the Well in no 
 other Castle. There are some 
 remains of leaden pipes at Caer- 
 narvon, which, I suppose, only 
 conveyed water from one part of 
 the building to another. Had the 
 Garrison had no other supply, the
 
 122 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Welsh, who must know where the 
 pipes were laid, could easily have 
 cut them. 
 
 29. 
 
 Gwaynynog. We came to the house of Mr. 
 
 Myddelton, (on Monday,) where 
 we staid to September 6, and were 
 very kindly entertained. How we 
 spent our time, I am not very able 
 to tell 1 . 
 
 1 However this may have been, he was 
 both happy and amused, during his stay at 
 Gwaynynog, and Mr. Myddelton was flat- 
 tered by the honour of his visit. To per-
 
 NORTH WALES. 123 
 
 We saw the Wood, which is 
 diversified and romantic. 
 
 September 4, Sunday. 
 We dined with Mr. Myddelton, 
 
 petuate the recollection of it, he erected an 
 Urn on the banks of a rivulet, in the park, 
 where Johnson delighted to stand and recite 
 verses; on which is this inscription: 
 
 This spot was often dignified by the presence of 
 
 SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.L). 
 
 whose Moral Writings, exactly conformable to the 
 
 Precepts of Christianity, 
 
 gave ardour to Virtue, and confidence to Truth. 
 
 In 1777, it would appear from a letter by
 
 124 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 the clergyman, at Denbigh, where 
 I saw the harvest-men very decently 
 dressed, after the afternoon service, 
 standing to be hired. On other 
 days, they stand at about four in 
 the morning. They are hired from 
 day to day. 
 
 Johnson to Mrs. Thrale, that he was inform- 
 ed that Mr. Myddelton meditated this 
 honour, which seemed to be but little to 
 his taste. " Mr. Myddelton's erection of 
 an urn, looks like an intention to bury me 
 alive ; I would as willingly see my friend, 
 however benevolent and hospitable, quietly 
 inurned. Let him think, for the present, 
 *>f some more acceptable memorial." ..
 
 NORTH WALES. 125 
 
 5. 
 
 We lay at Wrexham; a busy, Wrexham, 
 extensive, and well built town. It 
 has a very large and magnificent 
 church. It has a famous fair. 
 
 7. 
 We came to Chirk Castle. Chirk Castle. 
 
 8, Thursday. 
 
 We came to the house of Llanrhaiadr. 
 Dr. Worthington*, at Llanrhaiadr. 
 
 * Dr. William Worthington, a man of 
 distinguished learning, and an author of
 
 126 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Our entertainment was poor, 
 though the house was not bad. 
 The situation is very pleasant, by 
 the side of a small river, of which 
 the bank rises high on the other 
 side, shaded by gradual rows of 
 trees. The gloom, the stream, and 
 the silence, generate thoughtfulness. 
 The town is old, and very mean, 
 but has, I think, a market. In this 
 town, the Welsh translation of the 
 
 many works on religious subjects. He 
 enjoyed considerable preferment in the 
 church, and lived at Llanrhaiadr; of which 
 parish he was the Rector. He died October 
 6, 1778, aged 75.
 
 NORTH WALES. 
 
 127 
 
 Old Testament was made. The 
 Welsh singing Psalms were written 
 by Archdeacon Price. They are 
 not considered as elegant, but as 
 very literal, and accurate. 
 
 We came to Llanrhaiadr 1 , through Llanrhaiadr. 
 Oswestry ; a town not very little, Oswestry, 
 nor very mean. The church, which 
 I saw only at a distance, seems to be 
 an edifice much too good for the 
 present state of the place. 
 
 1 Llanrhaiadr, being translated into Eng- 
 lish, is The Village of the Fountain, and 
 takes its name from a spring, about a quar- 
 ter of a mile from the church.
 
 128 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 9. 
 
 Llanrhaiadr We visited the Waterfal, which 
 
 Waterfall 
 
 is very high, and in rainy weather 
 
 very copious. There is a reservoir 
 made to supply it. In its fall, it 
 has perforated a rock. There is a 
 room built for entertainment. 
 There was some difficulty in climb- 
 ing to a near view. Lord Lyttel- 
 ton ra came near it, and turned 
 back. 
 
 When we came back, we took 
 some cold meat, and notwithstanding 
 
 m Thomas, the second Lord Lyttelton.
 
 NORTH WALES. 129 
 
 the Doctor's importunities, went that 
 day to Shrewsbury. 
 
 10, 
 
 I sent for G wynn", and he shewed Shrewsbury, 
 us the town. The walls are broken, 
 and narrower than those of Chester. 
 
 n Mr. Gwynn was an architect of con- 
 siderable celebrity. He was a native of 
 Shrewsbury, and was at this time completing 
 a bridge across the Severn, called the 
 English Bridge : besides this bridge, he 
 built one at Acham, over the Severn, near 
 to Shrewsbury; and the bridges at Worces- 
 ter, Oxford, and Henley, are all built by 
 him.
 
 130 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 The town is large, and has many 
 gentlemen's houses, but the streets 
 are narrow. I saw Taylor's library. 
 We walked in the Quarry ; a very 
 pleasant walk by the river. Our 
 Inn was not bad. 
 
 11. 
 
 Sunday. We were at St. Chads, 
 a very large and luminous church. 
 We were on the Castle Hill. 
 
 12. 
 Wenlock. We called on Dr. Adams", 
 
 The Master of Pembroke College, 
 Oxford ; who was also Rector of St. Chads, 
 in Shrewsbury.
 
 NORTH WALES. 
 
 131 
 
 and travelled towards Worcester, 
 
 through Wenlock; a very mean 
 
 place, though a borough. At 
 
 noon, we came to Bridgenorth, Bridgenorth. 
 
 and walked about the town, of 
 
 which, one part stands on a high 
 
 rock; and part very low, by the 
 
 river. There is an old tower, 
 
 which, being crooked, leans: so 
 
 much, that it is frightful to pass 
 
 by it. 
 
 In the afternoon we came through 
 Kinver, a town in Staffordshire ; Kinver. 
 neat and closely built. I believe it 
 has only one street. 
 
 The road was so steep and miry, 
 that we were forced to stop at
 
 132 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Hartlebury. Hartlebury, where we had a very 
 neat Inn, though it made a very 
 poor appearance. 
 
 13. 
 
 Ombersley. We came to Lord Sandy's, at 
 
 Ombersley, where we were treated 
 with great civility p . 
 
 The house is large. The hall is 
 a very noble room. 
 
 15. 
 
 Worcester. We went to Worcester, a very 
 
 p It was here that Johnson had as much 
 wall-fruit as he wished, and, as he told 
 Mrs. Thrale, for the only time in his life.
 
 NORTH WALES. 133 
 
 splendid city. The cathedral is very 
 noble, with many remarkable monu- 
 ments. The library is in the Chap- 
 ter House. On the table lay the 
 Nuremberg chronicle, I think, of 
 the first edition 9 . We went to the 
 china warehouse'. 
 
 * The first edition was printed July 12, 
 1493. The author, or rather compiler of 
 this chronicle, was one Hartman Schedel, 
 of Nuremberg, a Physician. 
 
 r In 1777, Sept. 19, Johnson took 
 Boswell to see the China Manufactory, at 
 Derby, and these are his remarks on that 
 occasion. ** The Derby china is very 
 pretry, but I think the gilding is all super-
 
 134 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 The Cathedral has a cloister. 
 The long aisle is, in nry opinion, 
 neither so wide nor so high as that 
 of Lichfield. 
 
 16. 
 Hagley. We went to Hagley, where we 
 
 ficial ; and the finer pieces are so dear, that 
 perhaps silver vessels, of the same capacity, 
 may be sometimes bought at the same 
 price; and I am not yet so infested with 
 the contagion of china-fancy, as to like 
 any thing at that rate, which can so easily 
 be broken."
 
 NORTH WALES. 135 
 
 were disappointed of the respect 
 and kindness that we expected 8 . 
 
 17. 
 We saw the House and Park. 
 
 which equalled my expectation. 
 The house is one square mass. 
 The offices are below. The rooms 
 of elegance on the first floor, with 
 two stories of bedchambers, very 
 well disposed above it. The bed- 
 
 This visit was not to Lord Lyttelton, 
 but to his uncle, the father of the present 
 Lord Lyttelton, who lived at a house called 
 Little Hagley.
 
 136 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 chambers have low windows, which 
 abates the dignity of the house. 
 
 The Park has an artificial ruin, 
 and wants water ; there is, however, 
 one temporary cascade. From the 
 farthest hill there is a very wide 
 prospect. 
 
 18. 
 
 I went to Church. The Church 
 is, externally, very mean, and is 
 therefore diligently hidden by a 
 plantation. There are in it several 
 modern monuments of the Lyttel- 
 tons. 
 
 There dined with us, Lord
 
 NORTH WALES. 137 
 
 Dudley, and Sir Edward Lyttelton, 
 of Staffordshire, and his Lady. 
 They were all persons of agreeable 
 conversation. 
 
 I found time to reflect on my 
 birth-day, and offered a prayer, 
 which I hope was heard*. 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson particularly disliked to be 
 complimented on his birth-day, or to have 
 the day mentioned, and Boswell frequently 
 annoyed him on that head. In a letter 
 which he wrote to Mrs. Thrale, while he 
 was staying at the Macleods, in the Isle of 
 Skie, he says, "Boswell, with some of his 
 troublesome kindness, has informed this 
 family, and reminded me, that the 18th of
 
 138 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 19. 
 
 We made haste away from a 
 
 place, where all were offended. In 
 
 Leasowes. the way we visited the Leasowes. 
 
 September is my birth-day. The return of 
 my birth-day, if I remember it, fills me 
 with thoughts, which it seems to be the 
 general care of humanity to escape. I can 
 now look back upon threescore and four 
 years, in which little has been done, and 
 little has been enjoyed ; a life diversified by 
 misery, spent part in the sluggishness of 
 penury, and part under the violence of 
 pain, in gloomy discontent or importunate 
 distress. But perhaps I am better than I
 
 NORTH WALES. 139 
 
 It was rain, yet we visited all the 
 Waterfalls. There are, in one place, 
 fourteen falls in a short line. It is 
 the next place to Ham Gardens. 
 Poor Shenstone never tasted his 
 pension. It is not very well proved 
 
 should have been, if I had been less 
 afflicted. With this I will try to be 
 content. 
 
 " In proportion as there is less pleasure 
 in retrospective considerations, the mind 
 is more disposed to wander forward into 
 futurity ; but at sixty-four, what promises, 
 however liberal, of imaginary good, can 
 futurity venture to make? yet something 
 will be always promised, and some pro-
 
 140 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 that any pension was obtained for 
 him. I am afraid that he died of 
 misery. 
 Birmingham. We came to Birmingham, and 
 
 I sent for Wheeler, whom I found 
 well. 
 
 mises will always be credited. I am 
 hoping, and I am praying, that I may 
 live better in the time to come, whether 
 long or short, than I have yet lived, and in 
 the solace of that hope, endeavour to 
 repose. Dear Queeny's day is next ; 
 I hope she at sixty-four will have less to 
 regret. 
 
 " 1 will now complain no more, but tell 
 my Mistress of my travels."
 
 NORTH WALES. 141 
 
 20. 
 
 We breakfasted with Wheeler", 
 and visited the manufacture of 
 
 n Dr. Benjamin Wheeler ; he was a 
 native of Oxford, and originally on the 
 foundation of Trinity College ; afterwards 
 he became a Fellow of Magdalene College, 
 Canon of Christ Church, and Regius Pro- 
 fessor of Divinity. He took his degree of 
 A. M. Nov. 14, 1758, and D. D. July 6, 
 1770; and was a man of extensive learning. 
 Dr. Johnson, in his letters to Mrs. Thrale, 
 styles him, " My learned friend, the man 
 with whom I most delighted to converse."
 
 142 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Papier Mache. The paper which 
 they use is smooth whited brown ; 
 the varnish is polished with rotten 
 stone. Wheeler gave me a tea- 
 board. We then went to Boulton's, 
 who, with great civility, led us 
 through his shops. I could not 
 distinctly see his enginery. 
 
 Twelve dozen of buttons for 
 three shillings. Spoons struck at 
 once. 
 
 21. 
 
 Wheeler came to us again. 
 Woodstock. We came easily to Woodstock. ,
 
 NORTH WALES. 143 
 
 22. 
 
 We saw Blenheim and Wood- Blenheim, 
 stock Park. The Park contains 
 two thousand five hundred acres ; 
 about four square miles. It has 
 red deer w . 
 
 w Dr. Johnson had a great admiration for 
 Blenheim Park, the measure of which may 
 be estimated by this observation of his to 
 Boswell, when they visited it together in 
 1776. " You and I, sir, have, I think, 
 seen together the extremes of what can be 
 seen in Britain the wild rough island of 
 Mull, and Blenheim Park."
 
 144 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Mr. Bryant shewed me the 
 Library with great civility. Du- 
 randi Rationale, 1459 x . 
 Lascaris' Grammar of the 
 first edition, well printed, but 
 
 x This is a work written by William 
 Durand, Bishop of Mende, and printed 
 on vellum, in folio, by Fust and SchoerTer, 
 in Mentz, 1459. It is the third book that 
 is known to be printed with a date, and i9 
 considered as a curious and extraordinary 
 specimen of early printing. An imperfect 
 copy was sold at Dr. Askew's sale, Feb. 22, 
 1775, for sixty-one pounds, to Mr. Elmsly 
 the bookseller.
 
 NORTH WALES. 145 
 
 much less than later editions y . 
 
 t Dr. Johnson, in another column of his 
 Diary, has put down, in a note, " First 
 printed book in Greek, Lascaris's Gram- 
 mar, 4to, Mediolani, 1476." The im- 
 print of this book is, Mediolani Impressum 
 per Magistrum Dionj/sium Paravisi?mm. 
 M.CCCC.LXXVI. Die xxx Januarii. 
 This edition is very rare, and it is probable 
 that Dr. Johnson saw it now for the first 
 time. A copy was purchased for the king's 
 library at Dr. Askew's sale, 1775, for twenty- 
 one pounds ten shillings. 
 
 This was the first book that was ever 
 
 printed in the Greek character. The first 
 
 book printed in the English language was 
 
 :the History es of Troy e } printed in 1471; an 
 
 L
 
 146 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 The first Batrachomyoma- 
 
 CHIA Z . 
 
 The Duke sent Mr. Thrale 
 partridges and fruit. 
 Oxford. At night we came to Oxford. 
 
 imperfect copy of which was put up to 
 public sale in 1812, when there was a 
 competition amongst men eminent for 
 learning, rank, and fortune ; and, accord- 
 ing to their estimation of its value, it 
 was sold for the sum of one thousand 
 and sixty pounds ten shillings. App. 9. 
 
 z The Battle of the Frogs and Mice. 
 The first edition was printed by Laonicus 
 Cretensis, 1486. This book consists of 
 forty-one pages, small quarto, and the
 
 NORTH WALES. 147 
 
 23. 
 
 We visited Mr. Coulson. The 
 Ladies wandered about the Uni- 
 versity. 
 
 24. 
 
 K<*S. We dine with Mr. Coul- 
 son*. 
 
 verses are printed with red and black ink 
 alternately. A copy was sold at Dr, 
 Askew's sale, 1775, for fourteen guineas. 
 
 * Mr. Coulson was a senior Fellow of 
 University College ; in habit and appear-
 
 148 A JOURNEY INTO 
 
 Vansittart b told me his dis- 
 temper. 
 Beacortsfield. - Afterwards we were at Burke's, 
 where we heard of the dissolution 
 
 ance somewhat resembling Johnson him- 
 self, and was considered in his time 
 as an Oxford character. He took his 
 degree of A. M. April 12, 1746. After 
 this visit, Dr. Johnson told Mrs. Thrale 
 that he was the man designated in the 
 Rambler, under the name of Gelidus the 
 Philosopher. See App. 10. 
 
 b Dr. Robert Vansittart, Fellow of All 
 Souls, and Regius Professor of Law ; 
 uncle to the present Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer.
 
 NORTH WALES. 149 
 
 of the Parliament. We went London. 
 home c . Bolt Court. 
 
 c Mrs. Thrale says> " Dr. Johnson had 
 always a very great personal regard and 
 particular affection for Mr. Burke ; and 
 when at this time the general election 
 broke up the delightful society in which 
 we had spent some time at Beaconsfield, 
 Dr. Johnson shook the hospitable master 
 of the house kindly by the hand, and said, 
 1 Farewell, my dear sir, and remember that 
 I wish you all the success which ought 
 to be wished you, which can possibly be 
 wished you, by an honest man?"
 
 150 
 
 
 OPINIONS AND OBSERVATIONS, 
 BY DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 1. Life, to be worthy of a 
 rational being, must be always in 
 progression ; we must always pur- 
 pose to do more and better than 
 in time past. 
 
 2. Of real evils the number is 
 great; of possible evils there is no 
 end. 
 
 3. The desire of fame not regu- 
 lated, is as dangerous to virtue as 
 that of money. 
 
 4. Flashy, light, and loud con-
 
 OPINIONS, &C. 151 
 
 versation, is often a cloke for 
 cunning ; as shewy life, and a 
 gay outside, spread now and then 
 a thin covering over avarice and 
 poverty. 
 
 5. There are few minds to which 
 tyranny is not delightful ; power is 
 nothing but as it is felt ; and the 
 delight of superiority is propor- 
 tionate to the resistance overcome. 
 
 6. Old times have bequeathed us 
 a precept, to be merry and wise ; 
 but who has been able to observe it? 
 Prudence soon comes to spoil our 
 mirth. 
 
 7. The advice that is wanted is 
 commonly unwelcome, and that
 
 152 OPINIONS AND 
 
 which is not wanted is evidently 
 impertinent. 
 
 8. It is very rarely that an 
 author is hurt by his critics. The 
 blaze of reputation cannot be blown 
 out, but it often dies in the socket ; 
 a very few names may be considered 
 as perpetual lamps that shine uncon- 
 sumed. 
 
 9. There is no wisdom in useless 
 and hopeless sorrow ; but there is 
 something in it so like virtue, that 
 he who is wholly without it, cannot 
 be loved, nor will by me at least be 
 thought worthy of esteem. 
 
 10. In the world there is much 
 tenderness where there is no mis-
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 153 
 
 fortune, and much courage where 
 there is no danger, 
 
 1 1 . He that has less than enough 
 for himself, has nothing to spare; 
 and as every man feels only his own 
 necessities, he is apt to think those 
 of others less pressing, and to 
 accuse them of withholding what 
 in truth they cannot give. He 
 that has his foot firm upon dry 
 ground may pluck another out of 
 the water ; but of those that are 
 all afloat, none has any care but 
 for himself. 
 
 12. Attention and respect give 
 pleasure, however late or however 
 useless. But they are not useless
 
 154 OPINIONS AND 
 
 when they are late ; it is reasonable 
 to rejoice, as the day declines, to 
 find that it has been spent with the 
 approbation of mankind. 
 
 13. Cool reciprocations of esteem 
 are the great comforts of life ; hyper- 
 bolical praise only corrupts the 
 tongue of the one, and the ear of 
 the other. 
 
 14. The fortuitous friendships 
 of inclination or vanity, are at 
 the mercy of a thousand acci- 
 dents. 
 
 15. A sudden blaze of kindness 
 may, by a single blast of coldness, 
 be extinguished. Esteem of great 
 powers or amiable qualities newly
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 155 
 
 discovered, may embroider a day or 
 a week ; but a friendship of twenty 
 years is interwoven with the texture 
 of life. A friend may be often 
 found and lost; but an old friend 
 never can be found, and Nature 
 has provided that he cannot easily 
 be lost. 
 
 16. Incommunicative taciturnity 
 neither imparts nor invites friend- 
 ship, but reposes on a stubborn suffi- 
 ciency self-centered, and neglects the 
 interchange of that social officious- 
 ness by which we are habitually 
 endeared to one another. To be 
 without friendship, is to be without 
 one of the first comforts of our pre-
 
 156 OPINIONS, &c. 
 
 sent state. To have no assistance 
 from other minds in resolving doubts, 
 in appeasing scruples, in balancing 
 deliberations, is a very wretched 
 destitution. 
 
 17. Faith in some proportion to 
 fear.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. Pas:e 4. 
 
 The Character of Mrs. Lucy Porter, Dr. 
 Johnson's Step-daughter ; by Miss Seward, 
 of Lichfeld. 
 
 " When she was in her bloom, she had 
 a round face, and tolerably pretty features, 
 though in the shadeless blankness of flaxen 
 hair and eye-brows, and a clear skin. She 
 had never any elegance of figure ; but her 
 rustic prettiness pleased the men. More 
 than once she mis;ht have married ad van-
 
 158 APPENDIX. 
 
 tageously ; but as to the enamoured affec- 
 tions, 
 
 " High Taurus' snow, fann'd by the eastern wind, 
 Was not more cold." v 
 
 u She was one of those few beings, who, 
 from a sturdy singularity of temper, and 
 some prominent good qualities of head and 
 heart, was enabled, even in her days of 
 scanty maintenance, to make society glad 
 to receive, and pet the grown spoiled child. 
 Affluence was not hers till it came to her 
 in her fortieth year, by the death of her 
 eldest brother. From the age of twenty 
 till that period, she had boarded in Lich- 
 field with Dr. Johnson's mother, who still 
 kept that little bookseller's shop, by which 
 her husband had supplied the scanty means 
 of existence. Meantime, Lucy Porter kept
 
 APPENDIX. 159 
 
 the best company of our little city, but 
 would make no engagement on market- 
 days, lest Granny, as she called Mrs. John- 
 son, should catch cold by serving in the 
 shop. There Lucy Porter took her place, 
 standing behind the counter, nor thought 
 it a disgrace to thank a poor person who 
 purchased from her a penny battledore. 
 
 " With a marked vulgarity of address 
 and language, and but little intellectual 
 cultivation, she had a certain shrewdness 
 of understanding, and piquant humour, 
 with the mosc perfect truth and integrity. 
 By these good traits in her character, were 
 the most respectable inhabitants of this 
 place induced to bear, with kind smiles, 
 her mulish obstinacy, and perverse con- 
 tradictions, Johnson himself, often her
 
 160 APPENDIX. 
 
 guest, set tbe example, and extended to 
 her that compliant indulgence which he 
 shewed not to any other person. I have 
 heard her scold him like a school-boy, 
 for soiling her floor with his shoes ; for 
 she was clean as a Dutch woman in her 
 house, and exactly neat in her person. 
 Dress too she loved in her odd way ; 
 but we will not assert that the Graces 
 were her hand-maids. Friendly, cordial, 
 and cheerful to those she loved; she was 
 more esteemed, more amusing, and more 
 regretted, than many a polished character, 
 over whose smooth, but insipid surface, the 
 attention of those who have mind passes 
 listless and uninterested." 
 
 She died January 13th, 1786, in the 
 seventy-first year of her age.
 
 APPENDIX. 161 
 
 No. II. Page 4. 
 
 Some Account of Mrs. Elizubeth Aston, 
 derived from a Conversation between Dr. 
 Johnson and Miss Seward. 
 
 Miss Seward. " I have often heard my 
 mother say, Doctor, that Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Aston was, in her youth, a very beautiful 
 woman ; and that, with all the censorious- 
 ness and spiteful spleen of a very bad 
 temper, she had great powers of pleas- 
 ing; that she was lively, insinuating, and 
 intelligent. 
 
 " I knew her not till the vivacity of her 
 
 youth had long been extinguished, and I 
 
 confess I looked in vain for the traces of 
 
 former ability. I wish to have your opinion, 
 
 M
 
 162 APPENDIX. 
 
 sir, of what she was, you who knew her so 
 well in her best days." 
 
 Dr. Johnson. " My dear, when thy 
 mother told thee Aston was handsome, 
 thy mother told thee truth : she was 
 very handsome. When thy mother told 
 thee that Aston loved to abuse her neigh- 
 bours, she told thee truth ; but when 
 thy mother told thee that Aston had 
 any marked ability in that same abusive 
 business, that wit gave it zest, or imagi- 
 nation colour, thy mother did not tell 
 thee truth. No, no, madam, Aston's 
 understanding was not of any strength, 
 either native or acquired." 
 
 Miss Seward. " But, sir, I have heard 
 you say, that her sister's husband, Mr. 
 Walmsley, was a man of bright parts, 
 and extensive knowledge; that he was.
 
 APPENDIX. 163 
 
 also a man of strong passions, and, though 
 benevolent in a thousand instances, yet 
 irascible in as many. It is well known, 
 that Mr. Walmsley was considerably go- 
 verned by this lady ; as witness Mr. Hin- 
 ton's constant visits, and presence at his 
 table, in despite of its master's avowed 
 aversion. Could it be, that, without some 
 marked intellectual powers, she could obtain 
 absolute dominion over such a man ?" 
 
 Dr. Johnson. " Madam, I have said, 
 and truly, that Walmsley had bright and 
 extensive powers of mind; that they had 
 been cultivated by familiarity with the best 
 authors, and by connections with the learned 
 and polite. It is a fact, that Aston obtained 
 nearly absolute dominion over his will; it 
 is no less a fact, that his disposition was 
 irritable and violent. But Walmsley was
 
 164 APPENDIX. 
 
 a man : and there is no man who can resist 
 the repeated attacks of a furious woman. 
 Walnisley had no alternative but to submit, 
 or turn her out of doors." 
 
 No. III. Page 9- 
 Dr. Taylor of Ashbourn. 
 
 Dr. Johnson, speaking of Dr. Taylor, 
 said, " Taylor is a very sensible, acute 
 man, and has a strong mind ; he has great 
 activity, in some respects, and yet he has 
 such a sort of indolence, that if you should 
 put a pebble upon his chimney-piece, you 
 would find it there, in the same state, a 
 year afterwards. 
 
 " His is a very pleasant house, with a 
 lawn, a lake, and twenty deer and five
 
 APPENDIX. 165 
 
 fawns upon the lawn, and he himself is 
 one of those who finds every hour some- 
 thing new to wish, or to enjoy." 
 
 " Dr. Taylor was much taken up in agri- 
 cultural pursuits, and had great pleasure in 
 having all the stock on his farm of the best 
 quality. In these pursuits, Johnson had no 
 interest ; and in his letters to Mrs. Thrale, 
 while he was staying at his house, at differ- 
 ent times, he says < The Doctor is now all 
 for cattle. I have seen the great bull, and 
 very great he is : I have seen likewise his 
 heir-apparent, who promises to inherit all 
 the bulk, and all the fortunes of his sire. I 
 have seen the man who offered an hundred 
 guineas for the young bull, while he was 
 yet little better than a calf. There has 
 been a man here to-day to take a farm.
 
 166 APPENDIX. 
 
 After some talk, he went to see the bull, 
 and said that he had seen a bigger. Do 
 you think he is likely to get the farm ? 
 7 Our bulls and cows are all well ; but we 
 yet hate the man that had seen a bigger 
 bull. Taylor is now going to have a ram, 
 and then, after Aries and Taurus, we shall 
 have Gemini. While I think on it, I will 
 tell you what I really saw with my own 
 eyes; Mr. Chaplin of Lincolnshire's letter 
 for Dr. Taylor's Cow, accompanied with a 
 draft on Hoare for one hundred and twenty- 
 six pounds to pay for her\ 
 
 " ' The Doctor is busy in his fields, and 
 goes to bed at nine, and his whole system 
 
 a This letter is dated October 22, 1777,
 
 APPENDIX. 167 
 
 is so different from mine, that we seem 
 formed for different elements.'" 
 Dr. Taylor died Feb. 19, 1788. 
 
 No. IV. Page 21. 
 A Description of Dovedale, by Mr. Whateley. 
 
 " Dovedale is about two miles in length, a 
 deep, narrow, hollow valley ; both the sides 
 are of rock ; and the Dove in its passage 
 between them is perpetually changing it's 
 course, its motion, and appearance. It is 
 never less than ten, nor so much as twenty 
 yards wide, and generally about four feet' 
 deep ; but transparent to the bottom, except 
 when it is covered with a foam of the purest 
 white, under waterfalls which are perfectly 
 lucid : these are very numerous, but very
 
 168 APPENDIX. 
 
 different ; in some places they stretch 
 straight across, or aslant the stream ; in 
 others they are only partial ; and the water 
 either dashes against the stones, and leaps 
 over them : or pouring along a steep, 
 rebounds upon those below ; sometimes it 
 rushes through the several openings between 
 them, sometimes it drops gently down; and 
 at other times it is driven back by the ob- 
 struction, and turns into an eddy. 
 
 " In one particular spot, the valley almost 
 closing, leaves hardly a passage for the 
 river, which, pent up, and struggling for 
 a vent, rages, and roars, and foams, till it 
 has extricated itself from the confinement. 
 In other parts, the stream, though never 
 languid, is often gentle ; flows round a 
 little desert island, glides between aits of 
 bulrushes, disperses itself among tufts of
 
 APPENDIX. 169 
 
 grass, or of moss, bubbles about a water- 
 dock, or plays with the slender threads 
 of aquatic plants which float upon the 
 surface. 
 
 " The rocks all along the dale vary as 
 often in their structure, as the stream in its 
 motion, and do not long present the same 
 figure, or relative position : in one place 
 an extended surface gradually diminishes 
 from a broad base, almost to an edge; in 
 another, a heavy top hanging forwards, 
 overshadows all beneath; sometimes many 
 different shapes are confusedly tumbled 
 together ; and sometimes they are broken 
 into slender sharp pinnacles, which rise 
 upright, often two or three together, and 
 often in more numerous clusters. On one 
 side of the dale, they are universally bare; 
 on the other, they are intermixed with 
 wood ; and the vast height of both the
 
 170 APPENDIX. 
 
 sides, with the narrowness of the interval 
 between them, produces a further variety : 
 for whenever the sun shines from behind the 
 one, the form of it is distinctly and com- 
 pletely cast upon the other; the rugged 
 surface on which it falls, diversifies the 
 tints ; and a strong reflected light often 
 glares on the edge of the deepest shadow. 
 " The breadth of the valley is never the 
 same forty yards together ; at the narrow 
 pass which has been mentioned, the rocks 
 almost meet at the top, and the sky is seen 
 as through a chink between them : just by 
 this gloomy abyss, is a wider opening, 
 more light, more verdure, more cheerfulness, 
 than any where else in the dale. Nor are 
 the forms and the situations of the rockjj 
 their only variety ; many of them are per- 
 forated by large natural cavities ; some of 
 which open to the sky, some terminate in
 
 APPENDIX. 171 
 
 dark recesses : and through some, are to be 
 seen several more uncouth arches, and rude 
 pillars, all detached, and retiring beyond 
 each other ; the noise of the cascades in the 
 river echoes amongst them ; the water may 
 often be heard at the same time gurgling 
 near, and roaring at a distance; but no 
 other sounds disturb the silence of the spot; 
 the only trace of men is a blind path, but 
 lightly and but seldom trodden by those 
 whom curiosity leads to see the wonders 
 they have been told of Dovedale." 
 
 No. V. Page 49. 
 The Roman Hypocamt at Chester, described. 
 
 " The Hypocaust is of a triangular figure, 
 supported by thirty-two pillars, two feet
 
 172 APPENDIX. 
 
 ten inches and a half high, and about 
 eighteen inches distant from each other. 
 Upon each is a tile eighteen inches square, 
 as if designed for a capital ; and over them 
 a perforated tile, two feet square. Such are 
 continued over all the pillars. Above these 
 are two layers ; one of coarse mortar, mixed 
 with small red gravel, about three inches 
 thick ; and the other of finer materials, 
 between four and five inches thick ; these 
 seem to have been the floor of the room 
 above. The pillars stand on a mortar-floor, 
 spread over the rock. On the south side, 
 between the middle pillars, is the vent for 
 the smoke, about six inches square, which is 
 at present open to the height of sixteen 
 inches. Here is also an antechamber, 
 exactly of the same extent with the 
 Hypocaust, with an opening in the middle
 
 APPENDIX. 173 
 
 into it. This is sunk nearly two feet below 
 the level of the former, and is of the same 
 rectangular figure; so that both together 
 are an exact square. This was the room 
 allotted for the slaves who attended to heat 
 the place ; the other was the receptacle of 
 the fuel designed to heat the room above, 
 the concamerata sudatio, or sweating cham- 
 ber ; where people were seated, either in 
 niches, or on benches, placed one above 
 the other, during the time of the operation. 
 Such was the object of this Hypocaust ; for 
 there were others of different forms, for the 
 purpose of heating the water destined for 
 the use of the bathers. 
 
 *** See Vitruvius, book v. c. 10 and 11 ; and the 
 plates at the end of Newton's translation, vol. i.
 
 174 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. VI. Page 81. 
 
 Dr. Johnson's Pleasures of the Table, as give/t 
 by Mrs. Thrale. 
 
 " His favourite dainties were, a leg of 
 pork boiled till it dropped from the bone, 
 a veal-pye, with plums and sugar, or the 
 outside cut of a salt buttock of beef. With 
 regard to drink, his liking was for the 
 strongest, as it was not the flavour, but the 
 effect he sought for, and professed to desire ; 
 and when I first knew him, he used to pour 
 capillaire into his port wine. For the last 
 twelve years, however, he left off all fer- 
 mented liquors. To make himself some 
 amends, indeed, he took his chocolate 
 liberally, pouring in large quantities of 
 cream, or even melted butter ; and was so
 
 APPENDIX. 175 
 
 fond of fruit, that though he usually ate 
 seven or eight large peaches of a morning 
 before breakfast began, and treated them 
 with proportionate attention after dinner 
 again, yet I have heard him protest that he 
 never had quite so much as he wished of 
 wall-fruit, except once in his life, and that 
 was when we were all together at Otn- 
 bersley, the seat of my Lord Sandys b . 
 
 " Upon excess in eating, Johnson thus 
 expresses himself: " Gluttony is, I think, 
 less common among women, than among 
 men. Women commonly eat more spar- 
 ingly, and are less curious in the choice of 
 meat ; but,, if once you find a woman 
 gluttonous, expect from her very little 
 
 *> Sept. 13, 1774 r page 132.
 
 176 APPENDIX. 
 
 virtue. Her mind is enslaved to the lowest 
 and grossest temptation." 
 
 No. VII. Page 103. 
 
 General Pasquale de Paoli. His first Inter- 
 view with Dr. Johnson, October 10, 1769- 
 
 " In this interview, the General spoke 
 Italian, and Dr. Johnson, English ; and the 
 interview is thus described by Boswell. 
 
 " Upon Johnson's approach, the General 
 said, ' From what I have read of your 
 works, sir, and from what Mr. Boswell has 
 told me of you, I have long held you in 
 great veneration.' The General talked of 
 languages being formed on the particular 
 notions and manners of a people, without 
 knowing which, we cannot know the Ian-
 
 APPENDIX. 177 
 
 guage. We may know the direct significa- 
 tion of single words ; but by these, no 
 beauty of expression, no sally of genius, 
 no wit, is conveyed to the mind. All this 
 must be by allusion to other ideas. ' Sir, 
 (said Johnson,) you talk of language, as if 
 you had never done any thing else but study 
 it, instead of governing a nation.' The 
 General said, ' Questo e un troppo gran 
 complimento :' this is too great a compli- 
 ment. Johnson answered, ' I should have 
 thought so, sir, if I had not heard you talk/ 
 The General asked him what he thought 
 of the spirit of infidelity which was so pre- 
 valent. Johnson. ' Sir, this gloom of 
 infidelity, I hope, is only a transient cloud 
 passing through the hemisphere, which will 
 soon be dissipated, and the sun break forth 
 with his usual splendour.' ' You think 
 
 N
 
 178 APPENDIX. 
 
 then, (said the General,) that they will 
 change their principles like their clothes.' 
 Johnson. ' Why, sir, if they bestow no 
 more thought on principles than on dress, 
 it must be so.' The General said, that ' a 
 great part of the fashionable infidelity was 
 owing to a desire of shewing courage. 
 Men who have no opportunities of shewing 
 it as to things in this life, take death 
 and futurity, as objects on which to display 
 it.' Johnson. 'That is mighty foolish 
 affectation. Fear is one of the passions 
 of human nature, of which it is impossible 
 to divest it. You remember that the 
 Emperor Charles V. when he read upon 
 the tomb-stone of a Spanish nobleman, 
 \ Here lies one who never knew fear/ 
 wittily said, ' Then he never snuffed a 
 candle with his fingers.'
 
 APPENDIX. 179 
 
 " He talked a few words of French to the 
 General; but finding he did not do it witli 
 facility, he asked for pen, ink, and paper, 
 and wrote the following note: 
 
 " ' J'ai lu dans la geographie de Lucas 
 de Linda un Pater-nOster eerit dans une 
 langue tout-a-fait differente de Tltalienne, 
 et de toutes autres lesquelles se derivent du 
 Latin. L'auteur l'appelle linguam Corsica 
 rusticam : elle a peut-etre passe, peu a peu ; 
 mais elle a certainement prevalue autrefois; 
 dans les montagnes et dans la campagne. 
 Le merne auteur dit la meme chose en par- 
 lant de Sardaigne ; qu'il y a deux langues 
 dans l'lsle, une des villes, l'autre de la 
 campagne.' 
 
 " The General immediately informed him 
 that the lingua rustica was only in Sardinia. 
 
 X)r. Johnson went home with me, and
 
 180 APPENDIX. 
 
 drank tea till late in the night. He said, 
 ' General Paoli had the loftiest port of any 
 man he had ever seen.' " 
 
 No. VIII. Page HO. 
 On recollecting past Times. 
 
 Johnson's reflections on Mrs. Thrale's 
 visiting the house where she was born, 
 tinged his mind with gloom : " such plea- 
 sures are always melancholy :" there were 
 times, however, when he himself enjoyed 
 this retrospective pleasure. " I would have 
 been glad to go to Hagley, in compliance 
 with Mr. Lyttelton's kind invitation, for 
 beside the pleasure of his conversation, I 
 should have had the opportunity of recol- 
 lecting past times, and wandering per
 
 APPENDIX. 181 
 
 montes notos etjiumina nota, of recalling the 
 images of sixteen, and reviewing nay con- 
 versations with poor Ford. But this year 
 will not bring this gratification within my 
 power." July 8, 1771. 
 
 No. IX. Page 146. 
 On early Printing. 
 
 The first book ever printed, with a date, 
 is a Latin Psalter, in black letter; printed 
 by Fust and Schoeffer, in Mentz; August 
 14, 1457. 
 
 The first Latin Classic ever printed, was 
 Cicero's Offices, printed in Mentz, 1465. 
 
 The first Greek book that was printed, is 
 Lascaris's Greek Grammar, printed in 
 Milan, January 30, 1476.
 
 182 APPENDIX. 
 
 The first Greek Classic that was printed, 
 was an edition of the Iliad and the Odyssey, 
 printed in Florence, 1488, in 2 vols, folio. 
 
 The first hook printed in the English Ian-; 
 guage, is the Recueyell of the Historyes of 
 Troye, in 1471; but the first book printed 
 in England, is the Game of Chess, in 1474 : 
 both printed in black letter, by Caxton. 
 
 Down to the year 1540, the University 
 of Oxford had printed but one classic, which 
 was a Book of Tully's Epistles, printed at 
 the expense of Cardinal Wolsey. Cam- 
 bridge had not printed any classic at this 
 time. 
 
 The first Greek book printed in England, 
 was the Homilies, printed in 1543, at the 
 expense of Sir John Cheke, who established 
 the Greek Lecture at Cambridge. 
 
 From these facts, England^ with its two
 
 APPENDIX. 183 
 
 splendid Universities, together with all its 
 resources of wealth and learning, was sixty- 
 seven years later than Milan, in adding to 
 Greek literature from its own press ; and, 
 after Mentz had printed a Latin Classic, 
 Oxford followed at the respectful distance 
 of seventy-five years. 
 
 That commercial cities on the Continent 
 at this aera should have so far out-stripped 
 us in emulation, is extraordinary ; when, 
 in the nineteenth century, to collect the 
 scattered fragments of early typography, 
 without limitation of expense, and without 
 discrimination of their worth, has been 
 sufficient to confer distinction on men of the 
 first rank and fortune of our time. Upon 
 this subject, the reader may be amused and 
 instructed in Mr. D'Israeli's Curiosities of
 
 184 APPENDIX, 
 
 literature. An author, from whose various 
 works much pleasure and information is 
 always to be found ; and his Romance of 
 Mejnoun and Leila gives him a place in that 
 department of English literature, which is 
 not contested by any writer of the present 
 day. 
 
 No. X. Page 148. 
 
 Mr. Coulsdn, Fellow of University College. 
 His Character designated under the Name 
 of Gelidus, in the Rambler, No. 24. 
 
 " Gelidus is a man of great penetration, 
 and deep researches. Having a mind 
 naturally formed for the abstruser sciences, 
 he can comprehend intricate combinations
 
 APPENDIX. 185 
 
 without confusion; and being of a temper 
 naturally cool and equal, he is seldom inter- 
 rupted by his passions, in the pursuit of the 
 longest chain of unexpected consequences. 
 He has, therefore, a long time indulged 
 hopes, that the solution of some problems, 
 by which the professors of science have 
 been hitherto baffled, is reserved for his 
 genius and industry. He spends his time 
 in the highest room of his house, into 
 which none of his family are suffered to 
 enter ; and when he comes down to his 
 dinner, or his rest, he walks about like a 
 stranger, that is there only for a day, with- 
 out any tokens of regard or tenderness. 
 He has totally divested himself of all human 
 sensations ; he has neither eye for beauty, 
 nor ear for complaint; he neither rejoices
 
 186 APPENDIX. 
 
 at the good fortune of his nearest friend, nor 
 mourns for any public or private calamity. 
 Having once received a letter, and given it 
 to his servant to read, he was informed, that 
 it was written by his brother, who, being 
 shipwrecked, had swam naked to land, and 
 was destitute of necessaries, in a foreign 
 country. Kaked and destitute! says Geli- 
 dus ; reach down the last volume of mete, 
 orological observations, extract an exact 
 account of the wind, and note it carefully in 
 the diary of the weather. 
 
 " The family of Gelidus once broke into 
 his study, to shew him that a town at a small 
 distance was on fire, and in a few moments 
 a servant came to tell him, that the flame 
 had caught so many houses on both sides, 
 that the inhabitants were confounded, and
 
 APPENDIX. 187 
 
 began to think of rather escaping with their 
 lives, than saving their dwellings. What 
 you tell me, says' Gelidus, is very probable, 
 for fire naturally acts in a circle. 
 
 " Thus lives this great philosopher, insen- 
 sible to every spectacle of distress, and 
 unmoved by the loudest call of social 
 nature, for want of considering that men are 
 designed for the succour and comfort of 
 each other; that though there are hours 
 which may be laudably spent upon know- 
 ledge not immediately useful, yet the first 
 attention is due to practical virtue ; and 
 that he may be justly driven out from the 
 commerce of mankind, who has so far 
 abstracted himself from the species, as to 
 partake neither of the joys nor griefs of 
 others, but neglects the endearments of his
 
 188 APPENDIX. 
 
 wife, and the caresses of his children, to 
 count the drops of rain, note the changes of 
 the wind, and calculate the eclipses of the 
 moons of Jupiter."
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 That this Work may be rendered more useful, 
 the Editor has subjoined an Itinerary, to 
 sheze, in one view, the relative Distances of 
 the Places mentioned in the Diary, which 
 z&ill assist the Reader, and be of service to 
 the Tourist. 
 
 At Chester, visit the Cathedral, the 
 Castle, the City Walls, and St. John's 
 Church. " Chester has many curiosities." 
 
 From Chester to Caernarvon, (by Flint,) 
 74*- mile*.
 
 190 
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 From Chester to Hawarden 
 
 Chester. 4| miles, Bretton, (in 
 Flintshire.) 7^, pass Hawarden Cas- 
 tle on the left. 7|, Hawarden. 
 
 Flint 
 
 Hawarden. 1|, New Inn Bridge. 
 (A little beyond are the ruins of Eu- 
 loe Castle, in a copse about J of a mile 
 on the right.) 2|, Pentre Bridge. 
 A\ % Northorp. 7|, Flint. 
 
 At Flint is a Castle, the County 
 gaol, and a large smelting-house. 
 
 Holywell ., - - 
 
 Flint. 1| Nant y Moch. 2 
 
 /ci 
 
 7< 
 
 15 
 
 Q.01 
 
 * In the first column is the distance from the preceding 
 town; and in the second, the distance from the town from 
 whence the journey commences.
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 191 
 
 Bagillt. 3f Wallwine turnpike. 
 5 1 Holywell. 
 
 At Holywell, see Wenefrede's wall 
 and mills, for different processes in 
 the preparation of lead, calamine, 
 copper, brass, and cotton. 
 
 About l m. from the town, are 
 the ruins of Basingweck Abbey. 
 
 St. Asaph _. 
 
 Holywell. 1, pass the lead mines. 
 1\, See, on an eminence at a dis- 
 tance on the right, a high round 
 tower, somewhat like an old wind- 
 mill, supposed to have been a Roman 
 Pharos. About 7> or 7|, descend 
 into the vale of Clwyd Extensive 
 prospect; Denbigh at a distance on 
 the left, St. Asaph in front, and 
 
 10 
 
 30 h
 
 192 
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 Rhyddlan Castle on the right. 10, 
 St. Asaph. 
 
 At St. Asaph are the Cathedral 
 Bishop's palace and Deanry. From 
 the top of the Cathedral is an exten- 
 sive view along the vale. 
 
 From St. Asaph, Denbigh is 5|, 
 and Rhyddlan 3. 
 
 Conwy. (Caernarvonshire.) 
 
 St. Asaph. 4, on right is Kin- 
 
 mel, the scat of Hughes, 
 
 Esq. 4f, Llan St. Si6rs, or St. 
 George's. 6f , Abergeley. 9|, Llan- 
 dulas. 18, Ferry- House*. 1 8| 
 Conwy. 
 
 18, 
 
 49 
 
 * Post chaises are kept at this house.
 
 ITINERARY* 
 
 193 
 
 At Conway are the Castle Plas 
 Mawr and poor remains of the 
 Abbey. 
 
 5\ m. South of Conway, is Caer 
 Hen, the Conovium of the Romans. 
 
 The tourist may cross the ferry 
 again, and visit 1^ m. Bodscallon, 
 and beyond it Gloddaeth, two elegant 
 seats of Sir Thomas Mostyn, Bart, 
 and not far distant from these an 
 old Tower, and the few remains of 
 Diganwy Castle. 
 
 Bangor Ferry 
 
 Conway. 5, the mountain Pen- 
 maen Mawr. 7 Lanfair Vechan. 
 9, Aber, (a mile and half from Aber 
 is a celebrated waterfall.) 13, Llan- 
 dygai. 13, on the right is Penrhyn, 
 the seat of Lord Penrhyn. 15, Ban- 
 O 
 
 m
 
 194 
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 gor, (see here, the Cathedral.) 16| 
 Bangor Ferry. 
 
 The Inn at Bangor Ferry is a very 
 good one. 
 
 Caernarvon . . . 
 
 At Caernarvon are the Castle, and 
 Pl&s Mawr. From the rock behind 
 the hotel, and from the Eagle Tower, 
 are extensive views. 
 
 The distance from Caernarvon to 
 the summit of Snowdon, is rather 
 more than 12 miles. 
 
 \ a mile south, is Llanbublic, and 
 near it the remains of the Roman 
 Seguntium. 
 
 Caernarvon, to Llanberis 
 
 Caernarvon. 2|, Pont Rug. 4, 
 on right Llanrug. 6, end of lower
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 195 
 
 Lake. 8, Dolbadfne Castle. the 
 foraantic vale of Llanberis. (near 
 Oolbadrne is a cataract (Caunant 
 Mawr.J 10, Llanberis. 
 
 On the edge of the upper lake is 
 a small copper mine. 
 
 On the left of the village is the 
 lofty mountain Glyder Vawr, and at 
 the end of the vale a most romantic 
 pass. 
 
 From Dolbadrne Castle, is an easy 
 ascent to the summit of Snowdon, 
 only 4 miles distant. 
 
 From Caernarvon, (in an excursion round 
 Anglesea.) 
 
 From Caernarvon to Gwyndy -. 
 
 Caernarvon. 5 cross the straits 
 of Menai, at Moel-y-don Ferry. 5|, 
 
 20
 
 196 
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 about a mile to the right is Plas New- 
 ydd, the seat of the Earl of Uxbridge. 
 i 8, Llandaniel. 11, Llanvihangel 
 I4|, Llangefui. 20, Gwyndy. 
 
 Holyhead 
 
 Gwyndy. 3f , Bodedern. 5, 
 Llanygenedl. 8|, enter Holyhead 
 island. 12, Holyhead. 
 
 Amlwch, about 
 
 Ty Mawr, the inn at Amlwch, is a 
 small house. A mile from Amlwch 
 are the Pary's Copper-mines. 2 miles 
 east is l.lan Elian. 
 
 Beaumaris, about 
 
 At Beaumaris is a castle, built by 
 Edward I. 
 
 | mile, from Beaumaris is Baron 
 Hill, the seat of Lord Bulkeley, 
 
 12| 
 
 20 
 
 20
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 197 
 
 1 mile, is Friars, the seat of Sir 
 Robert Williams, Bart, and near it a 
 barn, built from the ruins of Llanvaes 
 Abbey. 3|, Paenmon Priory; and 
 just off the point, Priestholme Island, 
 celebrated as being the resort of the 
 6pecies of bird called Puffin. 
 
 Caernarvon .. ... 
 
 Cross the ferry to Aber, 3j| ; and 
 go by Bangor, 
 
 20 
 
 08j 
 
 From Caernarvon, (in an excursion to 
 Llanrwst.) 
 
 From Caernarvon to Capel Ca- 
 rig, about 
 
 Caernarvon. 5|, Llanddiniolen. 
 (near this place is an ancient fort, called 
 
 22
 
 198 
 
 ITINERARY! 
 
 Dinas; Dinorrddwig.) 13, Lord Pen- 
 rhyn's slate quarries. Romantic vale 
 of Nant Frangon. \7\, Llyn Ogwen. 
 22, Capel Carig. 
 
 Capel Caiig stands in a fine moun- 
 tainous vale, in which are two lakes. 
 
 - 
 
 Llanrwst, (by Dolwyddelan Cas- 
 tle,) 
 
 Capel Carig. 5, Dolwyddelan Vil- 
 
 Jage. 6, Castle. 12, a cataract on 
 
 the Llugwy, (Rhaiadr y Wenol ) 
 
 13, Pont-y-pair. \Z\, Bettws. 17, 
 
 Llanrwst, 
 
 At Llanrwst, see the Church and 
 
 Bridge. 
 
 | mile from the town is Gwydir, 
 
 the ancient seat of the Wynne family. 
 3 miles north are the poor remains 
 
 of M^enan Abbey. 
 
 17
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 199 
 
 Tan-y-bwlch Inn . ... 
 
 Llanrwst. 3|, Dettws. 5, small 
 cataract on the Conway. 6, the fall 
 of the Conway, (Rhaiadr y Graig 
 Llwyd.J8, Penmachno. 18, Ffes- 
 tiniog ; and near it, the falls of the 
 Cynfael. 19, the Vale of Ffestiniog 
 20, Tan-y-bwlch. 
 
 Caernarvon 
 
 Tan-y-bwlch. 6\, Pont-Aberglas- 
 llyn. 8, Beddgelert. 12, Llyn Cwe- 
 llyn 13, Nant Mill. 15, Bettws. 
 20, Caernarvon. 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 59 
 
 79 
 
 From Caernarvon (round the remainder of 
 . North Wales) to Shrewsbury. 
 
 From Caernarvon to Beddgelert 
 Caernarvon. J, Seguntium and 
 
 12
 
 $00 itinerary; 
 
 Llanbublic -4> Pont Curnant. 5, 
 jtettwf . 6g, on the left, Plas y Nant, 
 a houe belonging to Sir Robert Wil- 
 liams, Bart. ; and on the right, a small 
 cascade at Nant Mill. 7, Llyn Cwe- 
 Jlyn. See Srtowdon on the left. 
 (The tourist who wishes to risk Llyn 
 y Dyttarchen, in which is the Float- 
 ing Island, must turn to the right soon 
 after he has passed Llyn Cwellyn. 
 12, Beddgelert. 
 
 From Beddgelert, the distance is 
 1 mile to Pont-Aberglasslyn, (the 
 Devil's Bridge.) 7, to Penmorfa; 
 and 10, to Criccieth, where are the 
 remains of an old castle. 
 
 The traveller should by all means 
 visit the vale near Beddgelert, called 
 Gwynant. ]g mile on the left, is 
 Dinas Emrys, the place from whence
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 201 
 
 Merlin's prophecies were delivered. 
 2, Llyn-y-dinas. 4$, Llyn Gwynant; 
 not far from which, is a lofty cataract, 
 called Rhaidr y Cwm Dyli: 
 
 Snowdon may be ascended from 
 Beddgelert ; the distance to the sum- 
 mit is about 6 miles ; but the track 
 is much more rugged than that from 
 Dolbadarn Castle, near Llanberis. 
 
 Tan-y-bwlch, (Merionethshire,). 
 
 Beddgelert. 1 , Pont- Aberglas 
 llyn. Along the mountain road, 
 which is excessively bad for carriages, 
 are several extended prospects. 8 m. 
 Tan-y-bwlch. 
 
 Not far from the inn, is Tan-y- 
 bwlch Hall, the seat of Oakley, 
 
 Esq. 
 
 Ffestiniog is about 3 miles distant : 
 
 20
 
 202 
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 near it are the falls of the Cynfael.- 
 The road lays along the vale. 
 
 Harlech 
 
 Tan-y-bwlch. 1, Maentwrog. 
 1^, having passed a small bridge, al 
 eome distance on the left is a cata- 
 ract, (Rhaiadr du). 4, Llyn Tecwyn 
 ticha. 5, Llantecwyn. 5|, Llyn 
 Tecwyn isa. 7, Pont y Crudd. 10, 
 Harlech. 
 
 At Harlech are the remains of a 
 castle. 
 
 Barmouth ... 
 
 Harlech. 1|, Llanfair. 2J, Llan- 
 bedir. (In a field on the right, near 
 Llanbedir, are two tall upright stones, 
 probably what the British, in former 
 fimes, called. Meini Gvvyr, the Stones 
 
 10 
 
 10
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 203 
 
 bfthe Heroes!) 5|, Llandwye. (From 
 hence is a road on the left to Cors- 
 y-gedol ; distant 1 \ mile, an anci- 
 ent seat of the Vaughans, but now 
 belonging to Sir Thomas Mostyn, 
 Bart.) 8^, Llaa Aber. 10, Bar- 
 mouth. 
 
 There is a charming walk along 
 the beach on the bank of the river 
 Maw, near Barmouth. 
 
 Dolgelle ._.. . 
 
 Barmouth. 2|, Glan-y-dwr. b, 
 Llanelltid. 10, Dolgelle. 
 
 From Dolgelle, it is 1 mile to 
 Hengwrt, a seat belonging to tb< 
 Vaughans. 1|, to Y Vaner, or 
 Kemmer Abbey. 6, to the cataract 
 at Dolymelynllyn. 9, to two others. 
 Pistyll y Cain, and Rhaiadr y Maw 
 
 10 
 
 50
 
 04 
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 ddach. After having visited these, 
 you may return, along another road, 
 by the village of Llanfachredd, and 
 Nanney, another seat of the Vaughan 
 family, 
 
 , From Dolgelle, guides may be had 
 to asefnd the mountain Cader Idris, 
 ^vhose summit is about S\ milesdistant. 
 
 Machynlleth 
 
 Doljgelle.t 5, Llyn Trigraienyn. 
 f y a small public house, (the Blue 
 Lion,) from whence a guide may be 
 had td the summit of Cader Idris. 
 4 miles distant, see at a distance Llyn 
 iMwyrjgil.* 14, cross the Dovey. 
 IS, Machynlleth. 
 
 At Machynlleth is an old building, 
 in which Owen Glendwr is said to 
 have assembkd his parliament. 
 
 15
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 205 
 
 t,lanydloes, (Montgomeryshire,) 19 84 
 
 Machynlleth. About half- way, 
 and near lj mile on the right, is a 
 cataract, called Ffrwd y Vennant, 
 Plinlimmon visible at a distance on 
 the right. -Cross the Severn ; and 
 19, enter Llanydloes. 
 
 Newtown 13 97 
 
 Llanydloes. 6|, Llandinam. 8, 
 Cross river to Caer Sws, an old Ro- 
 man station about a mile distant; 
 and return 10, Pen y Strywad. 13, 
 Newtown. 
 
 Dolforwyn Castle is 4 miles dis- 
 tant ; and l| mile on the road to 
 Builth, is a cataract, but not worth 
 seeing, 
 
 Montgomery I 9 lO.'J
 
 206 
 
 JTINERARY. 
 
 At Montgomery see the castle and 
 <hurch. 
 
 Welsh Pool 
 
 Montgomery. 7\ on the left is 
 Powis Castle. 9, Welsh Pool. 
 
 Oswestry, (Shropshire,) 
 
 Welsh Pool, 6, pass the Breiddin 
 Hills on the right. 9, cross, by a 
 ferry, the river Virnwy. 9^, Llany- 
 Inynech. 
 
 At Oswestry, see the Church, St. 
 Oswald's Well, and the Mount where 
 the castle stood. 
 
 Wrexham, (Denbighshire,) 
 
 Oswestry. 5$, Chirk. (See the 
 Church ; the Aqueduct over the vale 
 f Ceiriog ; and 2 miles distant, Chirk 
 
 15 
 
 15
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 207 
 
 Castle, the seat of Richard Myddel- 
 ton, Esq.) View from thence into 
 seventeen different counties. 8, New 
 Bridge. 10, Ruabon, where, in 1798, 
 there was a neat small inn building. 
 (From this place, the tourist may visit 
 Wynnstay, the seat of Sir Watkin 
 Williams Wynne, Bart. ; and near it, 
 Nant y Bele, where there is a fine 
 prospect on the Dee ; 5| miles, is 
 Overton ; and Q, Bangor.) 13|, on 
 the right, is Erddig, the seat of Philip 
 Yorke, Esq. 15, Wrexham. 
 
 See the Church at Wrexham ; and 
 in it a beautiful Monument of Mrs. 
 Mary Myddelton. 
 
 5% miles from Wrexham is Holt, 
 where are the poor remains of a castle 
 
 Mold, (Flintshire,) . . . . . 
 
 12| 
 
 158
 
 208 
 
 JTINERAIIY. 
 
 Wrexham. 4, Cedgidow Bridge. 
 5| Caergurle, near which are a few 
 remains of its Castle. 6, Hope. 
 12, Mold. 
 
 See theChurch, and the B&yley Hill, 
 on which the Castle stood. 
 
 1| from Mold, is Rhual, the seat 
 p{ the Griffith family, near which i> 
 Maes Garmon, where A. D. 448, the 
 famous Alleluia victory was ob- 
 tained by the Britons, over the Picts 
 and Scots. 
 
 Holywell (J 
 
 Mold. 3J, Northop. 6, Halkin. 
 9, Holywell. 
 
 St. Asaph 
 
 Denbigh, (Denbighshire) 
 
 10 
 
 6 I l:
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 209 
 
 St. Asaph. Along the vale of 
 Clwyd. 6, Denbigh. 
 See the Castle. 
 
 Ruthin 
 
 Denbigh. Still along the vale oi 
 Clwyd. 3, Llanrhaidr. (See the 
 Church and Well at this place.) 
 8, Ruthin. 
 
 At Ruthin are the remains of a 
 castle. 
 
 Llangollen 
 
 Ruthin. 10J, enter the vale of 
 Crucis. lli|, pass the pillar of Eli- 
 seg, in a meadow on the left. 11|. 
 on left Valle Crucis Abbey. See 
 Castell Dinas Bran, on an eminence 
 beyond. 
 
 13$, Llangollen. 
 
 '91 
 
 204j
 
 210 
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 Visit Vallc Crucis Abbey the 
 Pillar of Eliseg and Castell Dinas 
 Bran; the latter is about a mile from 
 Llangollen. 
 
 Go round the vale of Llangollen, 
 (about 10 miles). Near Pont Cys- 
 syllte, 4 miles, see an immense Aque- 
 duct, for the Ellesraere canal, over the 
 vale. 
 
 Corwen, ( M erionethshire,) 
 
 Llangollen. 3, on opposite bank 
 of the Dee, see Llandysilio Hall. 7, 
 the place on which Owen Glyndwr's 
 palace stood. 10, Corwen. 
 
 On the hill opposite to the town 
 of Corwen, is a great circle of stones 
 called Y Caer Wen. 
 
 5J miles, from Corwen, on the road 
 to Llanrwst, is Pont y Glyn, where 
 there is a fine cascade. 
 
 10
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 211 
 
 Bala 
 
 Corwen. Enter the vale of Edeir- 
 neon. 2|, Cynwyd, not far from 
 whence is a cataract, called Rhaiadr 
 Cynwyd. 5|, Llandrillo. 9|, cross 
 the Dee, and pass Llanderfel. 12, 
 Lanvawr. 13|, Bala. 
 
 Near Bala are the lakes. Tornmen 
 y Bala, and another mount near the 
 town, on which have been British 
 forts. 
 
 Go round the Lake, 12 miles, (not 
 in carriages, the road will not admit 
 it.) Cross Pont Mwnwglyllyn, and 
 proceed along the east side. 4 miles, 
 Llangower. 6|, cross the Turch, and 
 see the stones carried by the stream in 
 a thunderstorm, in June, 1781. 7\, 
 Llanwchllyn. (A mile beyond is an 
 ancient British fort, called Castel 
 
 131 
 
 228
 
 212 
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 Corndochon.) 8, on right Caergai. 
 11, Llan y cil. 12, Bala. 
 
 Llanrhaiadr, (Montgomeryshire,; 
 
 Bala. 1$, Pont Cynwyd. 2, 
 Rhiwedog. 7, Billter Gerrig. 10A. 
 Langynog. 15, Llanrhaiadr. 
 
 4| miles distant, is the celebrated 
 cataract Pistyll Rhaiadr. 
 
 Shrewsbury 
 
 Llanrhaiadr. 3J, Llangedwin vil 
 lage, and on the left Llangedwin 
 Hall, a seat of Sir Watkin Williams 
 Wynne, Bart. 8, Llan y Blodwel. 
 10, Llanymynech. 14, Knockin 
 18, Nesscliffe. 22, Montford Bridge 
 26, Shrewsbury. 
 
 15 
 
 26 
 
 243 
 
 269
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Abergeley, a mean town 92 
 
 Adams, Dr., Master of Pembroke College, Oxford 130 
 
 Anglesea, ancient Mona 109 
 
 Arithmetical calculation, the habit of Johnson's niihd 104 
 
 Ashbourn 17 
 
 Aston, Mrs. Elizabeth, mentioned 4 
 
 , some account of her 161 
 
 Atlas, a race-horse, admired by Dr. Johnson 13 
 
 B. 
 
 Bach y Graig 51 
 
 , the woods of 53 
 
 , the House of, built by Sir Richard Clough, 
 
 described 55 
 
 , the parish church of 66.
 
 214 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Bangor, Johnson badly accommodated there, 98 ; men- 
 tioned 117 
 
 Barnet 2 
 
 Baron-Hill, mentioned 99 
 
 , compared to Mount Edgecombe 100 
 
 Batrachomyomachia, or the Battle of the Frogs and Mice 146 
 Baudi Epistola quoted from by Johnson, in his Life of 
 
 Milton 85 
 
 Beaumaris Castle, described 100 
 
 Bibliotheca Literaria, mentioned 89 
 
 Birmingham 140 
 
 Birth-day of Johnson, his reflections upon it 137 
 
 Blenheim 143 
 
 Bodfari 83, 89 
 
 Bodryddan, the former residence of the Stapyltons 76 
 
 Bodville, the place of Mrs. Thrale's birth 107, 109 
 
 Boulton's manufactory, spoken of 142 
 
 Brass-work, seen by Johnson 73 
 
 Bridgenorth 131 
 
 Brine, its saltness 33 
 
 Bryant, Mr., the Duke of Marlborough's librarian 144 
 
 Bryn o dol, Mr. Griffith's house 107 
 
 Bulkcley, Lord, his house near Beaumaris, mentioned 99
 
 INDEX. 215 
 
 Pa 8 e 
 
 Bulrush ten feet high - 35 
 
 Burke, Edmund 148 
 
 Burleydam Chapel 37 
 
 Buxton 31 
 
 C. 
 
 Caernarvon, the castle described, 103 ; mentioned 115 
 
 Cascade, to see which, Johnson went unwillingly 77 
 
 Chatsworth, observations on it 12, 15 
 
 Cheese, fifteen ton bought by Bennet Langton 105 
 
 Chester, some account of 46 
 
 China, Johnson's opinion concerning it 133 
 
 Chirk Castle 125 
 
 Clough, Sir Richard, mentioned 56 
 
 Clwyd, the river, has the character of a mountain torrent 63 
 
 Cobb, Mrs., of Lichfield, some account of her 6 
 
 Combermere, mentioned S5 
 
 , the house described 45, 46 
 
 , Lord, mentioned 35 
 
 Congleton 33 
 
 Congreve, said to have written his Old Bachelor in a 
 
 grotto at Ham 1 ?
 
 216 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Conway, so full of company that no lodging could be 
 
 had 95, 120 
 
 Ferry 94 
 
 Cookery, dilated upon by Johnson 80 
 
 , what Johnson was fond of 174 
 
 Copper-work, some of its operations mentioned 73 
 
 Cotton, Sir Lynch Salusbury, mentioned 35 
 
 , a chapel he built for his 
 
 Tenants 37 
 
 Coulson, Fellow of University College, Johnson's 
 
 Gelidus 147, 184 
 
 Cow, sold by Dr. Taylor for 126J 166 
 
 D. 
 
 Dale, Mrs. 22 
 
 Darwin, Dr., disliked Dr. Johnson ; his death 7 
 
 Davies, Robert, of Llannerch 67 
 
 David ap Rliees, his Welsh Grammar recommended by 
 
 Johnson to be republished 81 
 
 Deafness of Johnson, remarked 16 
 
 Denbigh, some account of 58 
 
 , its castle * 59
 
 INDEX. 217 
 
 Page 
 
 Denbigh, its parish church 62 
 
 , servants stand to be hired on a Sunday in the 
 
 afternoon 124 
 
 Derby * 30 
 
 Diot, Mrs. 17" 
 
 D'Israeli, his Works commended 183 
 
 Dodwell, some account of him 58 
 
 Dovedale, some account of 18 
 
 , described by Whateley 167 
 
 Dudley, Earl of Leicester 60 
 
 Dunstable 2 
 
 Durandi Rationale, a copy sold at Dr. Askew's- sale for 
 
 61/. 144 
 
 Dymerchion church 66, 63 
 
 E." 
 
 Elwy, the river .... 63 
 
 Erasmus 17 
 
 , distinguishes rightly between Battologiam and 
 
 iteratione 84 
 
 to the Nuns, full of mystic notions 90 
 
 Evans, Evan, mentioned 81
 
 213 INDEX. 
 
 F. 
 
 Page 
 Flattery, Johnson's opinion concerning it 70 
 
 Flint, Mr. 17 
 
 Friendship, in life, to be without it, a wretched destitution 156 
 
 G. 
 
 Garrick, Peter, Johnson's remark on his natural vivacity 8 
 Gelidus, the Philosopher in Johnson's Rambler, designed 
 
 to represent Mr. Coulson, of University College, 
 
 Oxford 184 
 
 Gell, Mr. 22 
 
 Gilpin, Mr.. . 20 
 
 Goldsmith, Dr., an observation of Johnson concerning 
 
 him ... 50 
 
 Greek verses in praise of Sir Thomas More, Erasmus, 
 
 and Micyllus 17 
 
 Green, Mr. Richard, his Museum mentioned 5 
 
 Griffiths, Mr., of Bryn o dol 108 
 
 , of Kefnamwycllh 118 
 
 Gwynn, John, the architect 12? 
 
 Gwaynynog, the house of Mr. Myddelton ... 79, 118, 122
 
 INDEX, 219 
 
 H. 
 
 Page 
 
 Hagley 135, 180 
 
 Hartlebury 132 
 
 Hawkestone, described 38 
 
 Hebrides, two sheets came to be corrected 82 
 
 Hill, Sir John, Bart, aud Lord Hill, mentioned 38 
 
 HUtoryes of Troye, a copy of, sold for 1060J. 10s. 145 
 
 Holywell 70 
 
 Hughes, Mr., of Kinmel, the present possessor of 
 
 Llewenney 50 
 
 Hypocaust, mentioned, 49 ; described 171 
 
 I. 
 
 Ham, description of it by Boswell 11 
 
 , a comparison of its beauties with Hawkestone, by 
 
 Dr. Johnson 4l 
 
 Iron-work, some of its operations mentioned 74 
 
 K. 
 Kedleston, some account of 23
 
 220 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Kefnamwycllh, the house of a Mr. Griffiths 118 
 
 Kilmorey, Lord, his house described 56 
 
 Kinver 131 
 
 L. 
 
 Langton, Bennet, Johnson's commendation of him 29 
 
 Lascaris's Greek Grammar, a copy sold at Dr. Askew's 
 
 sale for 21/. 10*. 145 
 
 Leasowes 138 
 
 Leland 86 
 
 Levet, Mr. Robert, written to by Johnson from 
 
 Llewenney 92 
 
 Lichfield, Johnson's arrives there, and visits his friends* 2 
 introduced into Johnson's Dictionary of the 
 
 English language 3 
 
 School 87 
 
 Llanerk 109 
 
 Llanuerch, some account of 67 
 
 Iianrhaiadr 125 
 
 Waterfall 128 
 
 Llewenney, mentioned 49, 83, 92 
 
 , described by Pennant 50-
 
 INDEX. 221 
 
 Page 
 Llewenney chapel, converted into a barn 61 
 
 Lloyd, some account of him 57 
 
 Llangwinodyl, the parish of 107, 112 
 
 Llwyd, Humphry, mentioned 65 
 
 Llyn Badarn and I.lyn Beris, two lakes 115 
 
 Lyttelton, George Lord, mentions Lord Bulkeley's house 
 
 at Baron-Hill 100 
 
 , Thomas Lord, mentioned 128 
 
 , Sir Edward 137 
 
 , William-Henry 180 
 
 IE. 
 
 Macclesfield * 33 
 
 Maesmynnan, mentioned 87 
 
 Manningham, Dr. 28 
 
 Manyfold, the river, sinks into the ground 13 
 
 Matlock, mentioned 15 
 
 Methodists 113 
 
 Micyllus, Jacobus 17 
 
 Middlewich S3 
 
 Milton, quoted 42 
 
 Mold, mentioned 49
 
 222 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 More, Sir Thomas 17 
 
 Myddelton, Mr., his house described 79 
 
 , talked to Johnson about literature 81 
 
 , Johnson visits him 118, 122 
 
 , erects an urn in his park to the memory 
 
 of Johnson 123 
 
 N. 
 
 Namptwich, its salt-works 33 
 
 Newborough, Lord 103 
 
 Newton, Mr., of Lichfield 5 
 
 Nuremberg Chronicle, seen by Johnson in the Chapter 
 
 House at Worcester 133 
 
 O- 
 
 Oakover, mentioned 10 
 
 Observations * 84 
 
 Old Bachelor, by Congreve, said to be written at Ham- 12 
 
 Ombersley 132 
 
 Opinions and Observations by Dr. Johnson 150 
 
 Oswestry. 127
 
 INDEX. 223 
 
 Page 
 Oxford 146 
 
 P. 
 
 Paoli, General 102, 107 
 
 , his first introduction to Dr. Johnson- 176 
 
 Papier Mache, how made 142 
 
 Parker, Mr., of Brownsholme 21 
 
 Peas, an anecdote concerning Johnson's eating them at 
 
 Llewenney 86 
 
 Penmaen Mawr, described, 96 ; mentioned again 119 
 
 Penmaen RMs, described 93 
 
 Pennant, quoted 50, 55 
 
 Phocylidis 86 
 
 Pool's Hole 31 
 
 Porter, Mrs. Lucy, the place where she lived mentioned 4 
 
 , some account of her by Miss Seward J.57 
 
 Post horses, the price of four per mile, in 1774 1 
 
 Prestbury, the parish of 32 
 
 Printing, early, some account of 181 
 
 Price, who valued himself on being a great scholar 61 
 
 Pwllheli, a mean towu 114
 
 224 INDEX. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Page 
 Quarry, the walk at Shrewsbury 130 
 
 Queeny, a name given to Miss Thrale 116 
 
 R. 
 
 Riding-habit, an unbecoming dress 2 
 
 Ruthin Castle, some account of 75 
 
 S. 
 
 St. Asaph, its cathedral mentioned 55 
 
 Sandys, Lord 132 
 
 Scarsdale, Lord, mentioned 28 
 
 Sea-water, its proportion of salt 33 
 
 Servants hired on a Sunday at Denbigh 124 
 
 Seward, Miss Anne 9 
 
 , her remarks on Mrs. Lucy Porter 157 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Aston 161 
 
 Shavington Hall, described 36 
 
 Shenstone 139 
 
 Shipley, Dr., Bishop of St. Asaph, mentioned 57, 85
 
 INDEX. 225 
 
 Pagt 
 Shipley, Mb., the Dean of St. Asaph 57, 76 
 
 Shrewsbury 129 
 
 Snowdon 115 
 
 Southwell 84 
 
 Streatham, the residence of Mr. Thrale 1 
 
 Summer-house at Llewenney 65 
 
 T. 
 
 Taciturnity, unfavourable to friendship' 155 
 
 Taylor, Dr., of Ashbourn, mentioned 9 
 
 , his character 164 
 
 Thrale, Mrs., an anecdote by her of Dr. Johnson, while 
 
 they were at the Swan Inn in Lichfield 2 
 
 , lost her purse 78 
 
 Troughton, a lieutenant in the navy 103 
 
 Tully's Epistles, read by Johnson on his journey to 
 
 Llewenney 2 
 
 Tydweilliog, the parish of 107, 112 
 
 Typha latifolia 35. 
 
 V. 
 
 Vansittart, Dr. Robert 148 
 
 Vyse, Miss, mentioned 8 
 
 Q
 
 226 INDEX. 
 
 w. 
 
 Page 
 Walmsley, Mr. 163 
 
 W ashington, mentioned 81 
 
 Wasse, remarks upon him, and his works 88 
 
 Welsh curate, an anecdote concerning his ignorance 111 
 
 Wenlock 130 
 
 Wheeler, Dr. 141 
 
 Windus' account of his Journey to Mequinez, read by 
 
 Johnson 87 
 
 Winifred's Well, described 70 
 
 Wire drawn 74 
 
 Woodstock 142 
 
 Worcester 132 
 
 Worthington. Dr. William- * 106 
 
 , Johnson dines with him 125 
 
 Wrexham ib. 
 
 Wrottesley Hall, mentioned S6 
 
 Wynne, Sir Thomas 103, 107 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 note i, page 38. 
 Page 33, in a note, for " in which it is held," read " in 
 
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 86, for vs&eriKo&y, read va&STtxov. 
 
 92, at the top of the page,/or August 16, read 18. 
 
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