Come, come, I
am going to have a glass of whiskey and water; perhaps you will
take one with me."
"Well, sir!" said the landlord, in rather a softened tone, "I have
no objection to take a glass with you."
Two glasses of whiskey and water were presently brought, and the
landlord and I drank to each other's health.
"Is this a sheep district?" said I, after a pause of a minute or
two.
"Yes, sir," said the landlord; "it may to a certain extent be
called a sheep district."
"I suppose the Southdown and Norfolk breeds would not do for these
here parts," said I, with a regular Norfolk whine.
"No, sir, I don't think they would exactly," said the landlord,
staring at me. "Do you know anything about sheep?"
"Plenty, plenty," said I; "quite as much indeed as about Welsh
words and poetry." Then in a yet more whining tone than before, I
said: "Do you think that a body with money in his pocket could
hire a nice comfortable sheep farm hereabouts?"
"Oh, sir!" said the landlord in a furious tone, "you have come to
look out for a farm, I see, and to outbid us poor Welshmen: it is
on that account you have studied Welsh; but, sir, I would have you
know - "
"Come!" said I, "don't be afraid; I wouldn't have all the farms in
your country, provided you would tie them in a string and offer
them to me. If I talked about a farm, it was because I am in the
habit of talking about everything, being versed in all matters, do
you see, or affecting to be so, which comes much to the same thing.
My real business in this neighbourhood is to see the Devil's Bridge
and the scenery about it."
"Very good, sir," said the landlord; "I thought so at first. A
great many English go to see the Devil's Bridge and the scenery
near it, though I really don't know why, for there is nothing so
very particular in either. We have a bridge here too, quite as
good as the Devil's Bridge; and as for scenery, I'll back the
scenery about this house against anything of the kind in the
neighbourhood of the Devil's Bridge. Yet everybody goes to the
Devil's Bridge and nobody comes here!"
"You might easily bring everybody here," said I, "if you would but
employ your talent. You should celebrate the wonders of your
neighbourhood in cowydds, and you would soon have plenty of
visitors; but you don't want them, you know, and prefer to be
without them."
The landlord looked at me for a moment, then taking sip of his
whiskey and water he turned to the man with whom he had previously
been talking and recommenced the discourse about sheep. I make no
doubt, however, that I was a restraint upon them; they frequently
glanced at me, and soon fell to whispering. At last both got up
and left the room, the landlord finishing his glass of whiskey and
water before he went away.
"So you are going to the Devil's Bridge, sir!" said an elderly man,
dressed in a grey coat, with a broad-brimmed hat, who sat on the
settle smoking a pipe in company with another elderly man with a
leather hat, with whom I had heard him discourse sometimes in
Welsh, sometimes in English, the Welsh which he spoke being rather
broken.
"Yes," said I, "I am going to have a sight of the bridge and the
neighbouring scenery."
"Well, sir, I don't think you will be disappointed, for both are
wonderful."
"Are you a Welshman?" said I.
"No, sir, I am not; I am an Englishman from Durham, which is the
best county in England."
"So it is," said I - "for some things at any rate. For example,
where do you find such beef as in Durham?"
"Ah, where indeed, sir? I have always said that neither the
Devonshire nor the Lincolnshire beef is to be named in the same day
with that of Durham."
"Well," said I, "what business do you follow in these parts? I
suppose you farm?"
"No, sir, I do not; I am what they call a mining captain."
"I suppose that gentleman," said I, motioning to the man in the
leather hat, "is not from Durham?"
"No, sir, he is not; he is from this neighbourhood."
"And does he follow mining?"
"No, sir, he does not; he carries about the letters."
"Is your mine near this place?"
"Not very, sir; it is nearer the Devil's Bridge."
"Why is the bridge called the Devil's Bridge?" said
"Because, sir, 'tis said that the Devil built it in the old time,
though that I can hardly believe; for the Devil, do ye see,
delights in nothing but mischief, and it is not likely that such
being the case he would have built a thing which must have been of
wonderful service to people by enabling them to pass in safety over
a dreadful gulf."
"I have heard," said the old postman with the leather hat, "that
the Devil had no hand in de work at all, but that it was built by a
Mynach, or monk, on which account de river over which de bridge is
built is called Afon y Mynach - dat is de Monk's River."
"Did you ever hear," said I, "of three creatures who lived a long
time ago near the Devil's Bridge, called the Plant de Bat?"
"Ah, master!" said the old postman, "I do see that you have been in
these parts before; had you not, you would not know of the Plant de
Bat."
"No," said I, "I have never been here before; but I heard of them
when I was a boy, from a Cumro who taught me Welsh, and had lived
for some time in these parts.
