will translate them," said I; and forthwith put them into
English--first into prose and then into rhyme, the rhymed version running
thus:--

"Now to my rest I hurry away,
To the world which lasts for ever and aye,
To Paradise, the beautiful place,
Trusting alone in the Lord of Grace"--

"Well," said he of the pepper-and-salt, "if that isn't capital I don't
know what is."

A scene in a public-house, yes! but in a Welsh public-house. Only think
of a Suffolk toper repeating the death-bed verses of a poet; surely there
is a considerable difference between the Celt and the Saxon.

CHAPTER XXII

Llangollen Fair--Buyers and Sellers--The Jockey--The Greek Cap.

On the twenty-first was held Llangollen Fair. The day was dull with
occasional showers. I went to see the fair about noon. It was held in
and near a little square in the south-east quarter of the town, of which
square the police-station is the principal feature on the side of the
west, and an inn, bearing the sign of the Grapes, on the east. The fair
was a little bustling fair, attended by plenty of people from the
country, and from the English border, and by some who appeared to come
from a greater distance than the border. A dense row of carts extended
from the police-station half across the space, these carts were filled
with pigs, and had stout cord-nettings drawn over them, to prevent the
animals escaping. By the sides of these carts the principal business of
the fair appeared to be going on--there stood the owners male and female,
higgling with Llangollen men and women, who came to buy. The pigs were
all small, and the price given seemed to vary from eighteen to
twenty-five shillings. Those who bought pigs generally carried them away
in their arms; and then there was no little diversion; dire was the
screaming of the porkers, yet the purchaser invariably appeared to know
how to manage his bargain, keeping the left arm round the body of the
swine and with the right hand fast gripping the ear--some few were led
away by strings. There were some Welsh cattle, small of course, and the
purchasers of these seemed to be Englishmen, tall burly fellows in
general, far exceeding the Welsh in height and size.

Much business in the cattle-line did not seem, however, to be going on.
Now and then a big fellow made an offer, and held out his hand for a
little Pictish grazier to give it a slap--a cattle bargain being
concluded by a slap of