corn; a little farther on was a green grove, behind which rose up a moel.
A more bewitching scene I never beheld. Ceres and Pan seemed in this
place to have met to hold their bridal. The sun now descending shone
nobly upon the whole. After staying for some time to gaze, I proceeded,
and soon met several carts, from the driver of one of which I learned
that I was yet three miles from Bala. I continued my way and came to a
bridge, a little way beyond which I overtook two men, one of whom, an old
fellow, held a very long whip in his hand, and the other, a much younger
man with a cap on his head, led a horse. When I came up the old fellow
took off his hat to me, and I forthwith entered into conversation with
him. I soon gathered from him that he was a horsedealer from Bala, and
that he had been out on the road with his servant to break a horse. I
astonished the old man with my knowledge of Welsh and horses, and learned
from him--for conceiving I was one of the right sort, he was very
communicative--two or three curious particulars connected with the Welsh
mode of breaking horses. Discourse shortened the way to both of us, and
we were soon in Bala. In the middle of the town he pointed to a large
old-fashioned house on the right hand, at the bottom of a little square,
and said, "Your honour was just asking me about an inn. That is the best
inn in Wales, and if your honour is as good a judge of an inn as of a
horse, I think you will say so when you leave it. Prydnawn da 'chwi!"

CHAPTER XLIX

Tom Jenkins--Ale of Bala--Sober Moments--Local Prejudices--The
States--Unprejudiced Man--Welsh Pensilvanian Settlers--Drapery
Line--Evening Saunter.

Scarcely had I entered the door of the inn when a man presented himself
to me with a low bow. He was about fifty years of age, somewhat above
the middle size, and had grizzly hair and a dark, freckled countenance,
in which methought I saw a considerable dash of humour. He wore brown
clothes, had no hat on his head, and held a napkin in his hand. "Are you
the master of this hotel?" said I.

"No, your honour," he replied, "I am only the waiter, but I officiate for
my master in all things; my master has great confidence in me, sir."

"And I have no doubt," said I, "that he could not place his confidence in
any one more worthy."

With a bow yet lower than the preceding one the waiter replied with a
smirk and a grimace, "Thanks, your honour, for your good opinion. I