Such converts are often no gain to the Church and no loss to Dissent. In _Don Giovanni_ Figaro struts up and down the stage unrolling a list of his conquests in the field of love, and it is not edifying or pleasing to see some of the more vigorous defenders of the “Establishment” parade in like manner the captures from Nonconformity. The Church in Wales, except at Cardiff, has been hardly touched as yet by the breath of the revival which has transformed the Church in England. If the Church is to regain her hold over the Welsh people, it will be by supplying them with what they cannot have in the sects. They can obtain Christianity attenuated into the most vaporous condition, thrown into the most varied nebular forms, in the several denominations. But if the Welshman joins the Church, it will not be, like Ixion, to embrace a cloud, but for a definite creed and apostolic order. [Illustration: HARLECH CASTLE] CHAPTER XIII HARLECH Situation--The castle--Bronwen--Bronwen’s tomb--Dafydd ab Ifan--“March of the Men of Harlech”--Prehistoric remains--Llanfair--Ellis Wynne--_Visions of the Sleeping Bard_--Sam Badrig--The drowned land--Ardudwy--Fight of the men--Roman Steps--Owen Pughe--Fires and destruction of Welsh MSS. THE situation of Harlech is fine--a rock rising almost vertically from the level tract of sandy flats that fringes the sea, surmounted by a castle, and with the little town clustering behind it and slipping down the sides. The castle consists of a rude quadrangle, with round towers at each angle, and to the east a gateway flanked by two more. It is not a particularly picturesque ruin, and before it fell into ruin must have been positively ugly. It is not comparable to Conway in size or in beauty of outline, but Henry de Elreton, the architect, built for use, and looked to make it an impregnable stronghold, and did not consider the picturesque. The castle occupies the site of Twr Bronwen. Bran the Blessed was king of Britain, and he had a beautiful sister called Bronwen. One day he was in his fortress at Harlech when, looking west, he saw a fleet approach. It was that of Matholwch, king of Ireland, who came to ask for Bronwen to be his wife. He was well received, and the wedding was appointed to be kept at Aberffraw, in Anglesey. So Bran and all his warriors went thither by land, and the Irish king by sea, and at Aberffraw a great marriage feast was held. Now Bran and Bronwen had a half-brother named Evnyssien, who had not been consulted in the matter, and out of spite during the night he went to the horses brought over by the Irish king and “cut off their lips to the teeth, and their ears close to their heads, and their tails close to their backs, and their eyelids to the very bone.”