Beneath their “broad brown branches” we discovered several cromlechs, the monuments of Druidical superstition; several stones of enormous size support two others placed horizontally over them. {192} For what purpose these ancient relics were originally erected, it is not for us puisne antiquarians to discuss; and with eager impatience we hurried to visit the noble mansion, which has not yet received the finishing stroke of the architect; sufficient, however, is accomplished to form a conjecture of its intended splendour and magnificence. The whole is built, stables included, in a Gothic castellated form, of a dark slate-coloured stone: on entering the vestibule, we, for a short time, imagined ourselves in the chapel, a mistake, though soon discovered, to which every visitor is liable; the ceiling having Gothic arches, with a gallery suitable to it, and several niches cut in the side walls: we were next conducted through a long suite of apartments, the design of them all equally convenient and elegant. The landscape from the Gothic windows is both beautiful and sublime: a noble plantation of trees, the growth of ages; the winding strait of the Menai, gay with vessels passing and repassing: and, beyond this tranquil scene, the long range of the Snowdon mountains shooting into the clouds, the various hues of whose features appear as beautiful as their magnitude is sublime. The house is protected from the encroachments of the sea by a strong parapet embattled wall; in fine, this magnificent seat of the gallant Marquis seems to possess many conveniences peculiar to its situation: the warm and cold baths, constantly filled by the Menai, are sequestered and commodious, and every part of the house is abundantly supplied with water. Since the last edition of this work was published, this splendid residence has been finished in a style corresponding to the promises it held forth, and now ranks amongst the first in the principality. The park, though small, is well wooded, and laid out with taste; and the woods extending along the bold cliffs of the Menai, with the parapeted bastion wall, which supports the terrace at the bottom of the lawn, cause this elegant edifice, with its turrets and gilded vanes, surrounded by its venerable groves, to be viewed to great advantage from the water or opposite shore. The front is composed of a centre nearly semilunar, with two wings semioctagonal; these receive a bold and happy finish from octagonal turrets rising from the basement of each angle of the front and wings, several feet above the embattled parapet, finishing in small spires surmounted by gilt vanes. Behind the house are two of the largest cromlechs; the upper stone of one is twelve feet seven inches long, twelve broad, and four thick, supported by five upright ones; the other is close to the first, and is only about five feet and a half square.