e Chester row is a broad arched stone gallery running
parallel with the street within the facades of the houses; it is partly
open on the side of the street, and just one story above it. Within the
rows, of which there are three or four, are shops, every shop being on
that side which is farthest from the street. All the best shops in
Chester are to be found in the rows. These rows, to which you ascend by
stairs up narrow passages, were originally built for the security of the
wares of the principal merchants against the Welsh. Should the
mountaineers break into the town, as they frequently did, they might
rifle some of the common shops, where their booty would be slight, but
those which contained the more costly articles would be beyond their
reach; for at the first alarm the doors of the passages, up which the
stairs led, would be closed, and all access to the upper streets cut off,
from the open arches of which missiles of all kinds, kept ready for such
occasions, could be discharged upon the intruders, who would be soon glad
to beat a retreat. These rows and the walls are certainly the most
remarkable memorials of old times which Chester has to boast of.

Upon the walls it is possible to make the whole compass of the city,
there being a good but narrow walk upon them. The northern wall abuts
upon a frightful ravine, at the bottom of which is a canal. From the
western one there is a noble view of the Welsh hills.

As I stood gazing upon the hills from the wall a ragged man came up and
asked for charity.

"Can you tell me the name of that tall hill?" said I, pointing in the
direction of the south-west. "That hill, sir," said the beggar, "is
called Moel Vamagh; I ought to know something about it as I was born at
its foot." "Moel," said I, "a bald hill; Vamagh, maternal or motherly.
Moel Vamagh, the Mother Moel." "Just so, sir," said the beggar; "I see
you are a Welshman, like myself, though I suppose you come from the
South--Moel Vamagh is the Mother Moel, and is called so because it is the
highest of all the Moels." "Did you ever hear of a place called Mold?"
said I. "Oh, yes, your honour," said the beggar; "many a time; and
many's the time I have been there." "In which direction does it lie?"
said I. "Towards Moel Vamagh, your honour," said the beggar, "which is a
few miles beyond it; you can't see it from here, but look towards Moel
Vamagh and you will see over it." "Thank you," said I, and gave
some