between the
stems of the trees. Just beyond the wall a truly noble prospect
presented itself to our eyes. To the north were bold hills, their sides
and skirts adorned with numerous woods and white farm-houses; a thousand
feet below us was the Dee and its wondrous Pont y Cysultau. John Jones
said that if certain mists did not intervene we might descry "the sea of
Liverpool"; and perhaps the only thing wanting to make the prospect
complete, was that sea of Liverpool. We were, however, quite satisfied
with what we saw, and turning round the corner of the hill, reached its
top, where for a considerable distance there is level ground, and where,
though at a great altitude, we found ourselves in a fair and fertile
region, and amidst a scene of busy rural life. We saw fields and
inclosures, and here and there corn-stacks, some made, and others not yet
completed, about which people were employed, and waggons and horses
moving. Passing over the top of the hill, we began to descend the
southern side, which was far less steep than the one we had lately
surmounted. After a little way, the road descended through a wood, which
John Jones told us was the beginning of "the Park of Biddulph."

"There is plenty of game in this wood," said he; "pheasant cocks and
pheasant hens, to say nothing of hares and coneys; and in the midst of it
there is a space sown with a particular kind of corn for the support of
the pheasant hens and pheasant cocks, which in the shooting-season afford
pleasant sport for Biddulph and his friends."

Near the foot of the descent, just where the road made a turn to the
east, we passed by a building which stood amidst trees, with a pond and
barns near it.

"This," said John Jones, "is the house where the bailiff lives who farms
and buys and sells for Biddulph, and fattens the beeves and swine, and
the geese, ducks, and other poultry which Biddulph consumes at his
table."

The scenery was now very lovely, consisting of a mixture of hill and
dale, open space and forest, in fact the best kind of park scenery. We
caught a glimpse of a lake in which John Jones said there were generally
plenty of swans, and presently saw the castle, which stands on a green
grassy slope, from which it derives its Welsh name of Castell y Waen;
gwaen in the Cumrian language signifying a meadow or uninclosed place.
It fronts the west, the direction from which we were coming; on each side
it shows five towers, of which the middlem