You must,
however, take care how much you take of it. Only a few glasses will make
you dispute with your friends, and a few more quarrel with them. Strange
things are said of what Llangollen ale made people do of yore; and I
remember that when I was young and could drink ale, two or three glasses
of the Llangollen juice of the barleycorn would make me--however, those
times are gone by."

"Has Llangollen ale," said I, after tasting the second glass, "ever been
sung in Welsh? is there no englyn upon it?"

"No," said the old church clerk, "at any rate, that I am aware."

"Well," said I, "I can't sing its praises in a Welsh englyn, but I think
I can contrive to do so in an English quatrain, with the help of what you
have told me. What do you think of this?--

"Llangollen's brown ale is with malt and hop rife;
'Tis good; but don't quaff it from evening till dawn;
For too much of that ale will incline you to strife;
Too much of that ale has caused knives to be drawn."

"That's not so bad," said the old church clerk, "but I think some of our
bards could have produced something better--that is, in Welsh; for
example old--What's the name of the old bard who wrote so many englynion
on ale?"

"Sion Tudor," said I; "O yes; but he was a great poet. Ah, he has
written some wonderful englynion on ale; but you will please to bear in
mind that all his englynion are upon bad ale, and it is easier to turn to
ridicule what is bad, than to do anything like justice to what is good."

O, great was the rejoicing for a few days at Llangollen for the reported
triumph; and the share of the Welsh in that triumph reconciled for a time
the descendants of the Ancient Britons to the seed of the coiling
serpent. "Welsh and Saxons together will conquer the world!" shouted
brats, as they stood barefooted in the kennel. In a little time,
however, news not quite so cheering arrived. There had been a battle
fought, it is true, in which the Russians had been beaten, and the little
Welsh had very much distinguished themselves, but no Sebastopol had been
taken. The Russians had retreated to their town, which, till then almost
defenceless on the land side, they had, following their old maxim of
"never despair," rendered almost impregnable in a few days, whilst the
allies, chiefly owing to the supineness of the British commander, were
loitering on the field of battle. In a word, all had happened which the
writer, from his knowled