The county encompassed by the Severn is undoubtedly of great antiquity, and of very aristocratic reputation. The capital of it—Shrewsbury—dates back to that indefinite and undiscoverable period familiarly called “time immemorial.” A local historian says that one of the earliest names by which it has been recognised is Careg Hydwyth, “the rock covered with shrubs.” The Britons called it Pengwerne, a brow or hill of elders, because there were numbers growing on the spot. The Welsh gave it one of those awful names which tax the courage of Englishmen to encounter, but which signified “an eminence surrounded by water.” The Saxons named it Scrobbesbyrig, an appellation which may have been derived either from the fact that the town was encompassed with shrubs, or, not from the natural aspect of the place, but from the name of some possessor of “Sciropescire” or district territory, under the denomination of Scrope, Scropesbyrig. Subsequently the Normans slightly altered the designation to Sciropesberie, afterwards Schrosberie, and Salopesberie, whence we have Salop and Shrewsbury. Who laid the foundations of Shrewsbury, and at what period they were laid, are questions which have elicited various opinions. Tristram Shandy maintained in a grave and elaborate argument there was no doubt whatever that he had been born; and so we suppose with equal certainty there can be no denial that Shrewsbury was built by some person or persons unknown. The first thing we hear about it is that it was a city of refuge for the Britons to whom it offered a retreat when they were driven by the Saxons from the ancient fortress of Uriconium. For the Saxons—valorous and patriotic, but fierce, warlike, barbarous, the German “Scourges of God”—after conquering Kent, carried on their ambitious struggles with the Britons until the latter all over the little island were completely defeated, the Silures in Pengwerne, though the most heroic of the Britons, among the rest. Cynddrwyn about the middle of the sixth century had possession of Uriconium. His son, Cynddylan, was a British chieftain and had his royal palace at Shrewsbury; and when the devastating Saxon, in his career of spoliation, made inroads into this district for the purpose of expelling the Britons from Uriconium, Cynddylan led an armed force from Shrewsbury over the Tern by Atcham for the defence of his father. But the Britons were defeated in the battle which ensued, and, having lost Cynddylan who was slain in the encounter, fled to Shrewsbury, which they called Pengwerne. Llywarc Hên, a prince of the Cambrian Britons, who lived in the 6th century, mentions that name in his writings; and from him it also appears that several of the principal towns of the county had their rude beginnings in that early period. The theme of Llywarc’s metrical composition is our mountains, our river, and our “dwelling-places.”