The elegant description of the valley in the kingdom of Amhara, by Dr. Johnson, is very applicable to Llangollen; for “all the blessings of nature seemed here to be collected, and its evils extracted and excluded.” Without a sigh of regret, not like the discontented Rasselas, I could here pass the remainder of my days, “in full conviction, that this vale contains within its reach all that art or nature can bestow; _I could_ pity those, whom fate had excluded from this seat of tranquillity, as the sport of chance, and the slaves of misery.” Such is the enviable situation of Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsonby, who thus veiled in obscurity have fitted up, in a true characteristic stile, an elegant little cottage, at the west extremity of the town, situated on a knole: the two rooms, which are allotted for the inspection of strangers, are very handsomely furnished; the dining-room is ornamented with drawings, the most favourite spots in the vicinity being selected as the subjects. The window commands a prospect of the mountains, which awfully rise in front. The study, looking on the well-arranged plantations of the garden, was appropriately furnished with a choice collection of books: we regretted, in the absence of the gardener, that we could not gain admittance to the grounds. The vale of Llangollen, and this enviable retreat, have been the subject of much admiration both in verse and prose; and highly deserve the praises, which have been lavished upon it. “Say, ivy’d Valle Crucis; time delay’d Dim on the brink of Deva’s wand’ring floods, Your iv’d arch glitt’ring thro’ the tangled shade, Your grey hills tow’ring o’er your night of woods; Deep in the vale recesses as you stand, And, desolately great, the rising sigh command; Say, lovely ruin’d pile, when former years Saw your pale train at midnight altars bow; Saw superstition frown upon the tears That mourn’d the rash, irrevocable vow; Wore one young lip gay Eleanora’s {151a} smile? Did Zara’s {151b} look serene one tedious hour beguile?” The bridge of Llangollen is thus described by the elegant pen of Mr. Pennant: “The bridge, which was founded by the first _John Trevor_, bishop of _St. Asaph_, {151c} who died in 1357, is one of the _Tri Thlws Cymru_, or three beauties of _Wales_: but more remarkable for its situation than structure. It consists of five arches; whose widest does not exceed twenty-eight feet in diameter. The river usually runs under only one; where it has formed a black chasm of vast depth, into which the water pours with great fury, from a high broken ledge, formed in the smooth, and solid rock, which composes the whole bed of the river. The view through the arches, either upwards or downwards, is extremely picturesque.”