The River Dee, its aspect and history, etc

Preface

. N revising these pages for separate publication I have been made very conscious, both of the excellence and charm of their subject on the one hand, and, on the other hand, of the very inadequate and unworthy manner in which the subject is here treated. It would be a most pleasant task to me, if sufficient health and opportunity were granted to me, to endeavour to do more justice to the scenery and history of this river; but many difficulties impeded even the writing of these short chapters ; and I have been compelled in some degree to modify their original plan and arrangement, especially as regards the Estuary. Under these circumstances my friend Mr. Rimmer had the goodness to write the Tenth and Eleventh Chapters, having reference to the architectural topics, with which he is professionally conversant, J. S. II. Col.vyn Ba\Y, July ijtli, 1875.

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ITH reference to the brief Preface which was written by the late Dean Howson, it may be said that he contemplated an enlarged edition, with many subjects added that he could not include in his first limits ; and now, of course, such a hope is past. We had expected to spend a summer holiday among the hills of the Dee, and follow some of its feeders up to their mountain fastnesses. From Llandullo to Corwen is some four or five miles, and the scenery is a happy mixture of the beautiful and the grand. Corwen is a quiet market-town, with the Berwyn hills rising almost abruptly behind ; and there it was our wish to have explored, and gone through mountain roads as far as Montgomery, which, in a direct line, is not more than three miles distant; and this county never approaches nearer the Dee. The quaint old chapel of Rug, also near Corwen, is worth not only a visit, but almost a pilgrimage.

Its ancient carvings and frescoes are fast perishing, but they speak of its former elaboration and richness ; and it stands in what may be called valley scenery of unsurpassed beauty. We had hoped also to have said much more about Owen Glen dower, a character that is almost as romantic as any in the range of history. The almost lurid light in which Shakespeare makes him appear in Henry IV. is confirmed by Sharon Turner in his "History

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. X ofthe Middle Ages." His desire to be friendly with Hotspur at any price, and his long forbearance with the haughty rejoinders of the suture head of the Percys, are all in keeping with the character, more recently drawn, of this Welsh chieftain. It is probable he quite believed in the prodigies that he affirmed had occurred at his birth ; and Mortimer and Percy said no more than truth when they affirmed that the man was not alive that might so have tempted him. The table which appears in the book at page 33, and is called " Glen djwer's Dining-table," may certainly be correctly so named, as its great weight and size would indicate that it must have belonged to the neighbourhood. It could. not have been brought from London, and there was no Birmingham ; and the farmhouse where it dailv dines the labourers, and is not lull even at harvest-time, is within the limits of Glendower's castle-rights.

It is English in form, and quite illustrates the final scenes of his life. Glendower, when he could not restrain his anger against Hotspur, said — " I can speak English, lord, as well as you : For I was brought up in the English court, Where, being but young, I framed upon the harp Many an English ditty, lovely well, And gave the tongue a helpful ornament ; A virtue that was never seen in you." We had hoped, indeed, to throw some more light upon Glendower and his fitful life, and, still even more, to do justice to the beautiful country that is identified with his history. The Vale of Llangollen has changed somewhat since the first edition of this book appeared, and mines and quarries are bringing in a population that consorts little with its ancient claims to beauty. Still, these are only local, and a mile or two brings us into the pleasant old valley in any direction.

Chester was fairly well represented in the first edition ; and, as Dean Howson says, two chapters out of twelve were as much as could lairly be claimed for it, even though so much was left unsaid.

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. XI The visit of the Archæological Society, which is occurring while these pages are written, was a cherished wish of Dean Howson, and he arranged it with the President in the year before his death. Many are the treasures they wall be shown ; and, indeed, there are men of middle age living in Chester that never saw the interior of the houses in Bridge Street Row, some of which contain rooms of great splendour, though they are turned into the humblest uses, even such as receptacles for old furniture and lumber-rooms. The death of Dean Howson, though not sudden, caused a deep gloom in the city ; and the sudden death of his wife only a fort night after appalled the whole community. They were buried in the same grave in the beautiful cloisters of the Cathedra], the Secretary of State at once giving the required permission, though this is an exceptional favour to grant.

The late Dean graduated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and took a double first-class degree in 1836. In the following year he gained the Members' Prize, and also the Norrissian Prize Essay. He also became Hulsean Lecturer ; and shortly after leaving college he was joint author with Dr. Conybeare of the " Life of St. Paul," a work that has long been regarded as a standard classic, and is quite as well known in America as it is in England. Among many other works he wrote a tiny volume of three sermons, called " Good and Bad Habits," free from all dogma, and abounding in sympathy. It was always considered a fortunate opening for the Liverpool College that the services of such brilliant scholars as Conybeare and Howson should be secured, as well as of Dr. Booth, who was the Professor of Mathematics, and at a comparatively early age was made a Fellow of the Royal Society.

The Dean, from being first Master, became Principal of the College in 1849 ; and he held this office for sixteen years. His success as Principal was eminent. There are no better judges of character than boys. They are as a rule much freer from prejudice and worldly considerations, they have an innate sense of justice, and keenly appraise anything in the shape of favouritism;

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. XII yet we were all so thoroughly assured of his fairness and sympathy with every one, that it is not too much to say that in Liverpool College there was not a single scholar who did not regard him as a friend ; and, indeed, any accident or misfortune — had any such ever befallen him — would have been as much a matter of solicitude to every scholar as if the mishap had fallen at his own home. It was after a lengthened residence abroad that it was my privilege to renew his friendship, and among a number of other works we wrote together was this "River Dee." Our journeys along it were very pleasant, with many anecdotes and reminiscences of old times. I had the melancholy satisfaction of designing a sun-dial to his memory, and I cannot conclude this short retrospect better than by quoting an ancient inscription that surrounds the dial, indicating the days that have passed : " Ci/o sed fucunde prœtcriere dies." ALFRED RIMMER. Chester, October, 1886. PAC, e CONTENTS. c