castle, covering about thirty acres,
having three distinct wards, seven gate-houses, and thirty portcullises.
It was here that Edward II. and his favorites, the Despensers, were
besieged by the queen in 1326. The defence was well conducted, and the
besiegers were greatly annoyed by melted metal thrown down on them from
the walls, which was heated in furnaces still remaining at the foot of
the tower. They made a desperate assault, which was partially
successful, though it ultimately failed; and we are told that while in
the castle they let the red-hot metal run out of the furnaces, and,
throwing water on it from the moat, caused an explosion which tore the
tower from its foundations and left it in its present condition. The
fissures made by the explosion are still visible, and it has stood thus
for over five centuries. The castle ultimately surrendered, the king
having previously escaped. The Despensers were beheaded, and their
castle never regained its ancient splendor.

SWANSEA.

[Illustration: NORTH DOCK, SWANSEA.]

Journeying westward from Cardiff along the coast of Glamorganshire, upon
the Bristol Channel, we come to the Welsh Bay of Naples, where the
chimneys replace the volcano of Vesuvius as smoke-producers. This is the
Bay of Swansea, a very fine one, extending for several miles in a grand
curve from Porthcawl headland on the eastern verge around to the
Mumbles, where a bold limestone cliff runs far out into the sea and
forms a natural breakwater. Within this magnificent bay, with its wooded
and villa-lined shores, there is a spot that discloses the bare brown
hills guarding the entrance to the valley of the river Tawe, up which
the houses of Swansea climb, with a dense cloud of smoke overhanging
them that is evolved from the smelting-furnaces and collieries behind
the town. Forests of masts appear where the smoke permits them to be
visible, and then to the right hand another gap and overhanging
smoke-cloud marks the valley of the Neath. The ancient Britons called
the place Aber-tawe, from the river, and there are various derivations
of the present name. Some say it came from flocks of swans appearing in
the bay, and others from the porpoises or sea-swine, so that the reader
may take his choice of Swan-sea or Swine-sea. In the twelfth century it
was known as Sweynsey, and perhaps the best authority says the name came
from Sweyne, a Scandinavian who frequented that coast with his ships.
When the Normans inv