Owain Goch, by the author of The cavalier [signed Lee Gibbons] 3 vols

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Chap. II

■ Safe station'd in a secret bay, Rough of descent, and brown with pendent pines, That inurmur'd to the gale, our bark was moor'd,"

Mallet.

w e left Watkin Pendarvis and his attendant in the act of ascending the hill above Plas y traeth ; and on attaining the height, where, as we have before remarked, the road disappeared amid an embowerment of trees, the lawyer turned upon his heel, and leisurely surveyed the expanse of waters before him, into which, as in a golden bed, the physical light of the world was sinking to rest. Like a hero, the refulgent orb set in fire ; and as he appeared gradually to sink below the waves, which were now agitated alone by the tide, a ruddy gleam was spread over the firmament, and threw every rock and tree into a powerful and enchanting relief. It was some time before this magic colouring disappeared ; and Pendarvis, though little accustomed to bestow much time upon sentimental reverie, lingered until the last beam of sunshine was withdrawn. He then drew his cloak around him, and was preparing to return homeward, when his attendant requested him to stop ; and before he could enquire the reason of his entreaty, a boat, of a light and canoe-like build, was seen making her way round the western headland, close in with the shore. There were only two men in her, who, with a cautious oar, ran her up high on the beach, and jumped on shore. .The curiosity of Pendarvis and his companion was now considerably excited, and they continued from a thicket beside the path to watch with eager eyes the motions of the boatmen. But it was not long before Apsly recognised in one of them the tenant of the cottage, and he communicated his discovery to his master, who instantly dispatched him towards the beach. He did not, however, make such haste but that his approach was c 4

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observed by the boatmen, one of* whom walked away towards the western headland, as if purposely to avoid his scrutiny. The other, who with affected bustle hauled his nets ashore, awaited his approach with unconcern, and addressed him without ceremony.

" Harkee, Master Ap-sly ! bear a hand : yon lazy lubber always walks the deck with clean hands,"

" By the way, Master Watch," cried the bailiff, affording the service required, " let me counsel ye to be careful of your jokes, your Ap-slys, and so forth, when you are under the lash of the law."

¥ The lash of the devil, for your lawyers are no better !" cried the boatman, bending his dark visage upon the bailiff j •'how am I under your lash?"

H Pr'ythee, man, be not angry — it's a quittance for your Ap-sly, nothing more," Cl led the timid clerk ; «« or, if any thing, a small arrear of rent, for which I have long had orders to distrain ; but old acquaintance, Master Watch — "

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The boatman interrupted hira by drawing forth a leathern bag; and taking thence a gold coin, he put it in the hands of the bailiff.

" Write your acquittance, and let me have it, Lawyer Ap-sly," said Watch; " but another turn will serve ; so you can turn out your toes and be off."

" Well, well, I'm in no hurry," replied Apsly : " I came down to have a little chat with you — to learn the news, and so forth. Marry, beshrew me, but you fishermen and lads o' the coast know more o' that's going on than you care to speak of."

" So we should, if the loud wind could tell a plain tale," said Watch.

" But have ye heard nothing of the brave King William?" said Apsly, " how he fares in his Irish wars ?"

"Ay," replied the boatman bluntly, " that he's like to have his hands full."

" How, full ?" said the bailiff : " do the rebels make any stand before his excel-

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lent Majesty ? — have they not melted, as it were, like butter in the sun ?"

" No, lawyer," cried Watch ; " your Irish are none such butter-hearted fellows."

" Indeed are they not," returned the bailiff, who thought he might get more information by accommodating himself to the surly humour of Watch, than by opposing it: "your Irishman is a blade of true metal — he will not warp ; and you must use a mighty force to break him. It will be well if King William overshoot not his mark."

" We boarded a transport off Llandudno," said the fisherman, " and heard something about a body of soldiers marching by way of Llancoch to the Head — have ye seen them ?"

" No," answered Apsly.

" Nor heard of their coming ?"

" Nay, that is not direct ; we have indeed been ordered to hold quarters in

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liam's French troops ; but they are to be fixed at Llancoch."

** At Llancoch! wherefore?"

Uam."

" Who should attempt to rise ?" cried Watch.

" Many who now wear orange, and cry King William louder than thou or I. Who are they, dost think, that have set on that bloody-minded savage, Owain Goch, to spoil the country, and draw to him thieves and Jacobites ?"

" Owain Goch a savage !" cried the boatman with a laugh : " speak with reverence of the descendant of Owain Glyndwr — he has the blood-royal of Wales in his veins, Master Bailly ; and if he gets wind of your fine names, the Lord of Plas-mawr will not buckle you against his dagger."

The bailiff was a good deal alarmed at this intimation, and replied, " Some devil assists that marauder : folk say he was at

To keep the country for King Wilc 6

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Hoylake when the great Duke Schomberg embarked for Ireland."

" Very like," answered Watch, who now seemed impatient to be rid of his companion ; " but I have little time to spend in blarney, Master Bailly ; and beside — "

" Nay, but tarry a few minutes," said Apsly: " what man is that with you ?"

" What? yon lazy-backed lubber," cried Watch : " he's a fellow I picked up at sea, and for any good he's worth, you may take him and make a bailly's running footman of him ; but I can't stay, Master Apsley."

M Tarry a minute," said the bailiff.

M Devil a minute will I tarry longer ; and, beside, you'll scarce like to pass the Tull du yourself after dark : the widow Ogwen has her bed in the cleft."

" The dusk is coming on," said the bailiff; "but I shall reach Plas-mawr before dark."

" The wind is getting up," cried Watch : u we shall have a squall."

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" I think no rain, or yon sky deceives me," returned Apsly.

" Owain Drwndwn is on the cruise to-night. I heard it from a man of the up-country that I met on the shore."

" What is Owain Drwndwn to me ?" said the bailiff.

" Right ; but his snaphance was once levelJed at your lord," replied Watch ; "and he might look at the livery and not the man."

The boatman's suggestion seemed to produce a sensible change in Apsly, who turned away, and, without speaking a word, bent his steps homeward with a hurried pace.

Watch eyed him for a short time with a leering eye, and then entered the cottage. The bailiff, on ascending the height where he had left his master, found him in the same situation, whence he had been a spectator of the scene below ; and after they had proceeded a short distance on their return, Pendarvis asked his attendant some questions rela-

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tive to his interview with the fisherman. The report of'Owain Drwndwn being in the neighbourhood was, of course, not omitted by Apsly, who imagined, by the effect which it had upon himself, that this information would put his master into a high trot ; but the bold and haughty soul of Pendarvis was merely roused into rage, which speedily subsided into a contemptuous indifference.

This little stir of the patrician's passions seemed, however, to induce a considerable portion of awe in the mind of his companion, for he hung behind, and ceased his loquacity.

They thus proceeded about half a mile, when the road, which had hitherto pursued a serpentine track amid the sand-hills on the shore, now shot into a narrow and rocky pass, darkly overshadowed with oak, elm, and other branchy trees, which, overhanging the cliffs on either side of the glen, produced a solemn and funeral gloom. This was the Tull du, or black cleft. The pathway, after following the

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bottom of the pass for nearly a quarter of a mile, ran up its western side, and approached within half a score yards of a mountain cataract, which, in accordance with the name of the glen, as well as from the dark hue of its waters, was called Rhaiadr du, the black waterfall. The glen, the waterfall, and the scenery around, which was in the highest degree grand and picturesque, had for ages been the seats of superstitious excitement. Here, it was supposed by the ignorant and credulous rustics, was the Cylch Cyngrair, or Circle of Congress, in which anciently were held the Gorseddau, or meetings of the bards ; here were the Carnedds, or tumuli, where rested the bones of bards whose minstrelsy had lent a fire to the courage of their warriors j and here were theMeiniGwyr, orStones of the Heroes, a name consecrated to designate the tombs of the mostgallant of theCymry. Here, in the ancient times, had the disciples of the "sapientite magistri," as Tacitus calls the druids, assembled to

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celebrate their orgies ; and since then, the astrologers of an humbler class, the witches and wizards of the vulgar, had chosen this glen as a sanctum sanctorum of their mysteries. Our readers, therefore, aware that Master Apsly was well acquainted with all the lore of tradition, will easily conceive that he did not pass through this cleft or valley without a beating heart and a dazzled eye. He crept close to his master, forgetful of that ire which had lately urged him to a distance, and endeavoured, with the usual vanity of a fearful man, to encourage himself by humming a song. But he had scarcely begun, before herememberedthat the song was a favourite one of that old crone, the widow Ogwen, who, in passing this glen by night, had fallen from a cliff and broke her neck. His tune was immediately hushed, and he peeped around through the dusk of the twilight, towards the high and rugged rock beneath which the mangled body of the ancient woman was found. Happily for him her sprite

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was not then on guard ; and a little assured by her absence, he pressed on more sturdily at the heels of his silent and thoughtful master. The road had taken a turn or double in the ascent of the hill, to cut off the abruptness of the acclivity, and came forward again close to the side of an enormous rock of limestone, over which the water gushed into the abyss below. The rise here was pretty steep ; and the pathway, unseparated by any fence from the profound gulf which received the cataract, was strait, rocky, and dangerous. Up this track, with caution equal to the danger, Pendarvis and his companion were clambering, when a loud halloo, in the native mountain dialect, arrested their steps and their attention. The lawyer and his satellite looked up, and beheld on the top of the rock, beside the margin of the cataract, where the waters shot down the gulf in one unbroken sheet, not, gentle readers, the ghost of the widow Ogwen, but a man of a robust and active figure,

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clad in a cloak somewhat between the military and the rustical, who, like the spirit of the mountain, held forth his arm, and appeared to bar their progress. The fears of Apsly woidd have converted the figure into that of the unfortunate widow, but his master soon perceived it was her son. We have observed that Pendarvis was a man of courage ; and it was, moreover, of that steady kind which is formed not by want of opposition and contempt of inferiors, but by collision with the high and haughty spirits of the world, — yet here it would be idle and untrue to say he felt no anxiety. The man who had before, in revenge of an injury fancied or received, attempted his life, now had him at his mercy, if, as the probability was, he were armed, and not only instigated, as in the former attempt, by his own personal wrongs alone, but whetted on to bloodbythe desire of avenging hismother. This argument soon demonstrated itself to the lawyer, and caused him for a moment .to sicken with fear ; but despair, which,

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as the mighty Nelson said, made the worst of cowards brave, soon restored Pendarvis to a frame of active courage. He fiercely grasped a stout cane, the only weapon he bore, and advanced up the pass, followed by Apsly, whom fear had nigh sunk into the ground; but they had made few paces when Owain with the Broken Nose drew a long deer-gun from beneath his cloak, and levelled it at Pendarvis. The sight of the piece made the stout-hearted gentleman wink, but he still betrayed no fear : affecting to be ignorant of the mountaineer's person, he cried out, " Hollo, friend ! wherefore bar ye the way 7"

" Dim Sarsnig," cried the fierce Briton, still preserving the aim of his piece.

" Dim Cymraig," replied Pendarvis, " I am ignorant of Welsh. Apsly, speak to the man."

But the bailiff) overcome with dread, could not articulate a single word.

" What !" cried the mountaineer; " a Welshman, and cannot speak Welsh.

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What man is hur that on the mountains of Wales can speak but with a Saxon tongue. Hur is hardy to use the tongue of her foes in the bowels of her strength."

f* I am — " stammered the lawyer.

" Watkin Pendarvis," cried Drwndwn, fiercely ; " I know hur well ; there's not another gentleman in Wales that is not proud of hur language. Watkin Pendarvis, the son of Ogwen knows hur well, for hur has cause. Tyrant, robber, hard man to the poor, hur did scape my shot erewhile, but now — "

" I fear thee not," answered Pendarvis, resolutely j " but yet, if thou wilt forego thy revenge, I will make thee satisfaction."

" Satisfaction ! for what ?" shouted the mountaineer. "For clapping hur up in prison ? Yea, and hur would accept it ; but what amends will hur make for the widow's broken heart — for hur life of sorrow, and death of blood ? Answer, Watkin Pendarvis, what amends ?"

" You wrong me, Owain," said Pendarvis, calmly, and with a wiliness peculiarly legal. ** Your committal, as I will show you, time fitting, was not at my instigation, for the country knows I am a naught sportsman. For any opposition of mine, shoot at thine ease the prime game of the principality : I will not let thee, on mine honour. From this conviction," he pursued more briskly, observing that Drwndwn was about to interrupt him, "all the after circumstances have arisen ; — that unfortunate shot, your worthy mother's sorrow and death, and your flight, which, as heaven may help me, I bitterly deplore."

The mountaineer groaned, but sank his gun, at which indication of peace the trembling bailiff raised his head. " Good Owain," said Apsly, " be satisfied, his worship is not to blame ; and if to a man of broken substance a good heavy purse will be worth having, doubtless his worship—"

Pendarvis took the hint, and drawing out his purse, which was better stored than that of the monk robbed by Gil Bias, he held it out to the mountaineer, who immediately descended from the rock, and clutched the money in his hand.

" Go in peace," said Drwndwn ; " for time to come hur will forget the past. Watkin Pendarvis, hur is safe from Owain's revenge. With this money hur will make an offering on the grave of hur mother. But let hur counsel ye, wring not the poor ; the times are wild ; the poor man cannot command law, but hur can take justice for hurself."

He pointed to his gun, and with a smile, which betokened as much contempt as satisfaction, darted down the path, and disappeared in the glen.

The fallen-crested lawyer and his attendant hastened out of the valley, and, threading a wood, through which, upon the banks of the stream, the footpath ran, they emerged into an open road. This

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was the highway to the small town of Llancoch ; but, instead of pursuing it, Pendarvis and the bailiff turned off into a private way, which led to the mansion of Plas-mawr. They soon arrived at the lodge, and passing through a pair of immense gates, upon the pillars of which reposed two griffin-like figures, the cognisance of the house of Pendarvis, they entered an avenue of stately trees, oak, elm, and Spanish chesnut, which here grew to an enormous size, and, by their bulk and aged appearance, bore testimony to the family antiquity. In a short time they reached the mansion, which, for the benefit of our readers, we will endeavour to describe. It was a house becoming the pride of an ancient Welsh family, bearing all the marks of an aristocratical architecture. Situate on a rising ground on the eastern bank of a small river, Plas-mawr was surrounded by trees similar to those which formed the avenue. The house was built of large square blocks of granite, in the form of a quadrangle, and

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inclosing a court of considerable dimensions. Narrow windows, with the pointed Gothic arch, and secured with iron stanchions, were general throughout the building ; but a few, of a wider and more light construction, which appeared in the lower rooms of that part of the quadrangle in which were the best apartments, declared that the modern occupants were tired of those dark and prison-like apertures which had satisfied the old knights of Plas-mawr. In front of the house was a long terrace, gravelled, balustraded, and ornamented with leaden statues, which, at this time, were fashionable in England. The terrace communicated with the court by means of an ancient barbican, or gatebouse, which was defended by an iron grating, and which lent the mansion an air of defence and security. The grounds of Plas-mawr were very extensive, and contained all those kinds of scenery which both astonish and delight. Rocks, rough and bare, beetled over the swelling slopes and verdant lawns, which were thickly

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planted with the proudest trees of the forest. The river we have already mentioned meandered in serpentine sweeps through the park of Plas-mawr, here exposing its silver waves in the open meads, in another place penetrating the recesses of the woods, and shrinking, with nymphlike coyness, from the gaze of the traveller. Sometimes it rolled along between walls of rock, whose compression gave depth to its bed and silence to its course : a little further, and the water-course, expanding its surface, suffered the stream to brawl over the stones with harmless impetuosity. The park, which on the southern and western sides was open to the mountains for a considerable space, was well stocked with red and fallow deer, as well as with all kinds of other game ; so as to render the estate (in the language of Garraway*s) a most desirable residence tor a sporting gentleman ; and, indeed, often during the life of Sir Jorwerth, had hill and valley rung with the note of hound and horn. So passionately fond

VOL. I. D

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was the old cavalier of this his merry disport, that the tenantry asserted he still continued his wonted exercise, that the ponderous and marble jaws of the grave had not been heavy enough to detain the Knight within his prison-house; but that, mounted on his roan gelding, a noted rusher (as sporting, men term headstrong horses) in his living days, and at the tail of his large fox-hounds, Sir Jorwerth Pentlarvis still led the field.

It was as dark as a fine autumnal night usually is, when Watkin Pendarvis and his attendant reached the mansion, which they found in an unusual bustle. The hall, which was seldom used by the family, was lighted up, and several officers of an infantry regiment, seated around the fire, were enjoying themselves with great satisfaction. One of superior rank, rising from his chair at the entrance of Pendarvis, addressed him in terms of highflown courtesy, and gave him to understand that they belonged to the regiment of Monsieur Cambon, then on service 19

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under King William, in Ireland; that tliey had received orders, whilst stationed at Chester, to advance on their route towards Holyhead, and to station themselves in the neighbourhood of the seacoast until they received further commands for embarkation. He also stated, that a part of his company had proceeded to Caernarvon, whilst the remainder, under his immediate command, were quartered at Llancoch. " Monsieur," continued the Captain, for such was his rank, " je suis Mons. le Capitaine Coquincourt, a votre service : this gentilhomme is my Lieutenant Ribaudier ; and this my Ensign Du Puy."

" Monsieur Captain, and Messieurs Ribaudier and Du Puy," replied Pendarvis, with proper etiquette, " you are welcome to Plas-mawr. I am much grieved that a necessary absence should have prevented me from receiving you on your arrival. I fear you have lacked a proper entertainment ; but the ill health of my wife must plead our apology." d 2

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" Monsieur !" cried the captain, with great vivacity, " you are very polite. The life of the soldat is la chose de hazard ; the game of chance : he is often called to bear privation. But here, Monsieur, we are in riches : we have good beef, good mutton, and very good vin : a la sante du Monsieur."

The other officers, with familiarity equal to their captain's, likewise pledged the lord of the mansion, who with no little gravity returned the compliment. Having reseated themselves, they soon gave a loose to that vivacious, tree, and licentious spirit which characterises the military of a mercenary corps. Coquincourt, the captain, was a short, thin, middle aged, and active man, whose mercurial temperament allowed little rest to his body. A heavy dozy Englishman might have envied the alertness, the never-failing alacrity, of the French captain. He was not deficient in a knowledge of letters or of the world, but the first served only to make him vain,

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flippant, and pragmatical, and the latter frothy and foppish, — a slave to form, and a rebel to morality. He, nevertheless, was a more estimable character than his lieutenant, Ribaudier, who, to a savage and gigantic person, added the most brutal manners. The ensign, Du Puy, being the youngest, was the best of the three ; but as he was very young, the probability was that his innocence would be corrupted by fellowship with his comrades.

ft Monsieur," said the captain to Pendarvis, " you are here very well appointed,— a fine house, find grounds, and a quiet country. You enjoy you rselfew prince."

N Monsieur, il est marie," said Ribaudier ; u une petite maitresse pour moi. La peste soit de 1'homme that would be tied to von vife, unless you might change her avec la cravate. The best way, Monsieur, is to marry en militaire, sauter la hallebarde."

o 3

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" At my time of life, gentlemen," answered Pendarvis, " a man finds one wife quite sufficient."

" And more than sufficient, Monsieur," said Du Puy, " if she be a megere."

" Ha, pauvre diable !" cried Ribaudier, with a coarse laugh, " Du Puy est du bois dont on fait les flutes, he would be what you English call hen-peck, his wife's lover will use him en maquereau."

" Peste !" muttered the ensign between his teeth, while his handsome countenance was darkened by a frown : " Ribaudier is ever in the camp-kitchen amid rogues and trulls. Celles-ci sont ses amis du sexe feminin."

" Messieurs ! Bienseance !" said the captain, very gravely, then turning to Pendarvis, he pursued: "Your house, Monsieur, is as good as a family-tree, — it very well declares the remote age of your line. Par ma foi, it gives me marvellous delight to behold these an-

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cient fabrics, which resemble those of my own country, la belle Bretagne."

" Was it not from Bretagne," said Ribaudier, " that this island was peopled ?"

" Ha, non !" exclaimed Coquincourt, with learned impatience, " but la Bretagne from hence. How say you, Monsieur, is it not so ? was not a tribe of Britons led into France by your great hero Cadwal — Cadwallader? — "

" CadwalJader, mort de ma vie, quel nom !" exclaimed Ribaudier ; " c'est le nom d'un sauvage."

" Ribaudier 1" said the captain, " pour la fois seconde, bienseance. Cadwallader was a brave prince, whose fate was to submit to the fortune de la guerre. If all tongues have not the melting softness^ the harmonious tones of the French, yet all languages have beauties peculiar to themselves. You are skilled in the manege and the sword exercise ; you are a respectable officer ; let these content you, and leave history and language aux gens instruits."

d 4

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" D'accord !" cried the lieutenant, "si les gens instruits will leave the manege, and sword exercise, and military tactique to us that they belong to."

"Ribaudier," continued the learned captain, without paying attention to the retort of his comrade, "you are a man of to-day. Your mind is ignorant of the past as of the future. Behold, comrade, behold the figure of that warrior at the top of the hall ; look at the fashion of his armour, and tell me, if you can, the date of its fabrication."

He pointed to the figure of a knight in complete armour, which stood majestically at the top of the hall ; but the French lieutenant was utterly at a loss to declare to what age the fashion of the steel was to be assigned. The captain regarded him with a smile of contempt, and proceeded : — " To me, comrade, and doubtless to Monsieur, these arms speak of Crescy, of Poictiers, of Agincourt, and of battles less honourable to the English, when our gallant ancestors set an example mum goch.

of chivalry to the envious and admiring world ; an example which will never cease to fire the breasts of both nations to the glory of martial achievements. Monsieur, may I crave to know the name of the chevalier to whom this harness belonged?"

"To Sir Howel Pendarvis, usually called the Red Dragon of Pen-mawr," replied his host ; " a knight whose renown was exceeded by that of few of the Black Prince's worthies."

The young ensign rose from his seat, and with instinctive awe of the steel which had defended the Cambrian hero in so many fights, approached and examined it from head to foot. He admired the ponderous lance which lifted its head aloft, and the huge double-handed sword, which was bound to the body of the figure. Against the walls, in various fantastic forms, were also arranged implements of ancient warfare ; long-bows and cross-bows, pikes, maces, and battleaxes, divers kinds of fire-arms, from the d 5

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ancient petronel and caliver to the more modern snaphance and carbine. All these arms, which had done the work formerly, engaged the attention of the ensign, who, indeed, seemed glad to make use of his curiosity as an excuse for quitting the bottle. To do the captain justice, he appeared no more inclined to make progress in his libations than Du Puy ; but Ribaudier, who talked little, contrary to the genius of the French, limited his amusement to the discussion of the wine. He did occasionally throw out a sentence, but it was usually couched in such reprehensible terms as to call for the formal correction of his superior officer. A lively conversation ensued between Pendarvis andCoquincourt relative to the Revolution, and the progress of the King's arms in Ireland, wherein the French officer warmly eulogised the military genius of the renowned Duke Schomberg, who at this time commanded in chief in that kingdom. With the native assurance of a Frenchman he chalked out a plan for the instant reduction of Ireland to the allegiance of King William, and avoiding or jumping over all the suggestions and objections which the lord of Plas-mawr opposed to his schemes, he concluded that no other means than those of his own conception could accomplish the submission of the disaffected country.