asking him, however, to go to the inn and have a friendly
glass, he smiled, and said he had no objection. So we went to the inn,
and had two friendly glasses of whiskey-and-water together, and also some
discourse. I asked him if there were any English employed on the
premises. "None," said he, "nor Irish either; we are all Welsh." Though
he was a Welshman, his name was a very common English one.

After paying the reckoning, which only amounted to three and sixpence, I
departed for Swansea, distant about thirteen miles. Gutter Vawr consists
of one street, extending for some little way along the Swansea road, the
foundry, and a number of huts and houses scattered here and there. The
population is composed almost entirely of miners, the workers at the
foundry, and their families. For the first two or three miles the
country through which I passed did not at all prepossess me in favour of
Glamorganshire: it consisted of low, sullen, peaty hills. Subsequently,
however, it improved rapidly, becoming bold, wild, and pleasantly wooded.
The aspect of the day improved, also, with the appearance of the country.
When I first started the morning was wretched and drizzly, but in less
than an hour it cleared up wonderfully, and the sun began to flash out.
As I looked on the bright luminary I thought of Ab Gwilym's ode to the
sun and Glamorgan, and with breast heaving and with eyes full of tears, I
began to repeat parts of it, or rather of a translation made in my happy
boyish years:--

"Each morn, benign of countenance,
Upon Glamorgan's pennon glance!
Each afternoon in beauty clear
Above my own dear bounds appear!
Bright outline of a blessed clime,
Again, though sunk, arise sublime--
Upon my errand, swift repair,
And unto green Glamorgan bear
Good days and terms of courtesy
From my dear country and from me!
Move round--but need I thee command?--
Its chalk-white halls, which cheerful stand--
Pleasant thy own pavilions too--
Its fields and orchards fair to view.

"O, pleasant is thy task and high
In radiant warmth to roam the sky,
To keep from ill that kindly ground,
Its meads and farms, where mead is found,
A land whose commons live content,
Where each man's lot is excellent,
Where hosts to hail thee shall upstand,
Where lads are bold and lasses bland,
A land I oft from hill that's high
Have gazed upon with raptur'd eye;