The Argosy — page 137: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Round about Barmouth. 127 the realization of these dreams to be consummated. How many of these sketches, I wonder, will find their way to the walls of the Royal Academy of 1875? During the whole of this walk you are in a wealthy maze of verdure : but verdure now tinted with autumn shades. Gradually ascending, the hanks become steeper, the torrent more profound, adding depth and grandeur to the scene. Here and there the torrent takes a leap and becomes quite an angry cataract; and in one or two places five or six such leaps are visible at once. In one spot especially, towards the end of the walk, the view, looking down into the ravine, is grand and magnificent. Above you the trees throw their shady branches ; and you look through a long vista of trees and branches, shrubs and ferns, all forming a species of natural bower, in which to dream away the hours of a soft, midsummer night. Amidst it all is the ceaseless murmur of the torrent, dashing along on its wild course, singing an endless song to the eternal and exquisite harmony of nature. How susceptible to these impressions must Beethoven have been ; how vivid his imaginative powers; when, in spite of deafness, he could return home from his solitary walks, and give us the songs of the birds, and the sounds of nature, m his wonderful Pastoral Symphony! In such a place as this torrent walk, it might have been composed. The great lonely mind might have soothed itself in wandering about its sylvan beauties and neighbouring hills; imagining a flood of melody from the feathered songsters flying from bough to bough, and glinting amidst the whispering leaves and the sunbeams; whilst he trod the soft mosses beneath his feet, and plucked the rare ferns; or bent his ear to the stream in a vain hope of catching the faintest sound of its murmur. - At length you reach the upper bridge, and find that the carriage has already driven round by the roadway, and 1s waiting to drive you back to Dolgelly for an hour’s rest and lunch. Dolgelly itself looks antiquated enough to have been founded in the days of Noah. As the capital of Merionethshire, it says little for the remaining towns of the county. Its chief object of interest is Owain Glendowr’s house ; though doubt seems to be thrown upon the fact of his ever having lived there. But, as our sketch shows, it is a quaint building, not unworthy its reputation. From Dolgelly the easiest ascent of Cader Idris is made, either on foot or on the back of a Welsh pony. ‘The view from its summit is extensive and fine. On the south are the Plinlimmon and the Brecknock beacons; on the east the Arran and Bala lake; and on clear days, stretching far behind, may be obtained a view of the Wrekin; to the north lies Snowdon; and to the west we see Cardigan Bay and the great ocean. The hotel seemed surprisingly comfortable for so uncivilized a town, and its warm shelter was quitted for a long drive back in the cold, not without a sense of reluctance. But the beauties of mountain and COMNICOC|KS.EO