re joined,
according to previous arrangement, by Bishop Hobart, of New York, who
remained with us till two o'clock next day, and left us to complete his
hasty tour through North and South Wales. In the afternoon arrived my
old college friend and youthful companion among the Alps, the Rev. R.
Jones, and in his car we all proceeded to the Falls of the Conway,
thence up that river to a newly-erected inn on the Irish road, where we
lodged; having passed through bold and rocky scenery along the banks of
a stream which is a feeder of the Dee. Next morning we turned from the
Irish road three or four miles to visit the 'Valley of Meditation' (Glyn
Mavyr) where Mr. Jones has, at present, a curacy, with a comfortable
parsonage. We slept at Corwen, and went down the Dee to Llangollen,
which you and dear Lady B. know well. Called upon the celebrated
Recluses,[39] who hoped that you and Lady B. had not forgotten them;
they certainly had not forgotten you, and they begged us to say that
they retained a lively remembrance of you both. We drank tea and passed
a couple of hours with them in the evening, having visited the aqueduct
over the Dee and Chirk Castle in the afternoon. Lady E. has not been
well, and has suffered much in her eyes, but she is surprisingly lively
for her years. Miss P. is apparently in unimpaired health. Next day I
sent them the following sonnet from Ruthin, which was conceived, and in
a great measure composed, in their grounds.

[39] The Lady E. Butler, and the Hon. Miss Ponsonby.

A stream, to mingle with your favourite Dee,
Along the _Vale of Meditation_ flows;
So named by those fierce Britons, pleased to see
In Nature's face the expression of repose, &c. &c.

We passed three days with Mr. Jones's friends in the vale of Clwyd,
looking about us, and on the Tuesday set off again, accompanied by our
friend, to complete our tour. We dined at Conway, walked to Bennarth,
the view from which is a good deal choked up with wood. A small part of
the castle has been demolished for the sake of the new road to
communicate with the suspension-bridge, which they are about to make to
the small island opposite the castle, to be connected by a long
embankment with the opposite shore. The bridge will, I think, prove
rather ornamental when time has taken off the newness of its supporting
masonry; but the mound deplorably impairs the majesty of the water at
high-tide; in fact it destroys its lake-like appearance.