Licinius, about the year 140. The Legions at this time employed in Britain had signalized themselves a few years before, under Hadrian, in his Judaic expedition, as may be proved by existing monuments; the title Arabicus occurring on the imperial coins and other memorials of this period. The only nations bordering on the Brigantes were, the Ottadini on the north, and the Ordovices on the south and west; and it may reasonably be supposed that the Greek Geographer intended to express Gwynedd by the term Genounia. This being premised and granted, it appears not improbable that the stone pillar at Tycoch was set up by the ninth, or Arabic Legion, as a record of the services performed in obedience to the imperial order, in ridding the country of the marauding Brigantes.

Gwynedd was so thoroughly reduced under the Roman yoke by the terrible example which Agricola had previously made of the inhabitants, that the remnant, which he left, were glad to avail themselves of the imperial protection against the inroads of the Brigantes, and other warlike tribes, such as the Picts and Belgæ; and hence, in that emergency, which was of so important character as to attract the attention of Pausanias, (probably when on his visit to Rome,) we may conclude that they solicited the aid of the Emperor on their behalf. It may also be observed that the ninth Legion had been employed in the reign of Claudius, in garrisoning Britain; having at that time Hispania engraven on their standard. The inscription alluded to is as follows;

IMP CAESAR, M...

AVREL. ANTONINVS

PIVS. TI. IX. AVG. ARA B.

IX.

Within a short distance of Tycoch, where this stone was found, is a farm-house called Caerhun; both these names indicating the neighbourhood of a Roman station; the former, as having been built of Roman materials.

There is a fact worthy of being recorded, as connected with the late inundations in France. The narrow, bridges, built by the Romans, over the Loire, were found to withstand the swollen current, after having stood the test of seventeen centuries, while those of modern construction were swept

away by the floods. This proof of durability gives consistency to a prevailing tradition, that the bridge over a mountain torrent between the Roman stations of Caerberllan and Cefncaer, in the county of Meirion, was erected by the Romans; for it still remains, unimpaired by the lapse of time, and the action of storms and tempests. A drawing of this singular and interesting remnant of antiquity, might be acceptable to the readers of the Archæologia Cambrensis.

UWCHGWYRFAIWR.

The

[The recovery of the inscription on the stone at Ty Coch, independently of its own historical importance, is of value as determining one of the intermediate points of the Roman road from SEGONTIUM to Aber, and thence to CONOVIUM. distance between these two places, joined to the natural difficulties of the country, renders it highly probable that some intermediate station must have existed: and this we are inclined, for many reasons, to fix at Aber. The choice of this place as a residence for a British chieftain, may have resulted from the previous existence of a Roman post in that locality. At all events, there can be no doubt that the Roman road came down the valley at Aber from CONOVIUM, and thence made a turn round the mountains towards SEGONTIUM. Hence the occurrence of this stone at Ty Coch, and the proof of its being a genuine Roman work, determine one point at least of the Roman road; which, being formed into a line with SEGONTIUM and Aber, gives us something like a verification of the direction of the entire line between those two places.

With regard to the localities in Merionethshire, indicated by our correspondent, we are happy to say, that one of our contributors intends to visit the places indicated; and also, if possible, to determine the directions of the Roman roads through that county. It would be desirable to ascertain whether there was a Roman station at, or near Dolgelly, as we surmise there must have been; and also, to decide whether there was only a single line of Roman road passing through the middle of the county up to HERIRI MOMS, (Tommen y Mûr,) or whether there was not a second line running along the coast from Towyn to Barmouth, and thence to Harlech; and so, by the Traeth Mawr and Dolbenmaen, to SEGONTIUM.]

THIS abbey may, in some respects, be considered as one of the most remarkable monastic institutions in Wales: not more on account of its peculiar situation, and great celebrity, than for the extraordinary contrast offered by its present condition to its ancient fortunes,- for its extreme isolation, and for its almost total destruction. Strange inconsistency of human affairs, that the island once thronged by devout pilgrims from all parts of the country, and that the edifices, which had sheltered from the remotest periods a body of holy men, should now be left to the occupation of a few peasants; and should be visited, at exceedingly rare intervals only, by some stray antiquary, or by some desultory lover of the wonderful and the picturesque! What a complete reversion in the tide of the national feelings must

have occurred, for that spot which once was called "the Gate of Paradise," to be now known merely for its marine productions,

"Nunc sinus tantum et statio male fida carinis."

2

The light of piety which once shone so brightly on Ynys Enlli, has been superseded by a material light, for the passing sailor only; where once there was a band of priests, never failing in the service of the altar, there is not stationed, nor has there ever been since the time of the Spoliation, a single minister of God's Word. The condition of Bardsey is indeed changed:

"Est procul in pelago saxum spumantia contra
Litora, quod tumidis submersum tunditur olim
Fluctibus, hiberni condunt ubi sidera cori;
Tranquillo silet, immotaque adtollitur unda
Campus, et apricis statio gratissima mergis.”

Several authors have treated of Bardsey Abbey in modern times, and some ancient poetical and other notices of it, have been handed down to us: nevertheless, not much of its real history is known. The antiquary will find accounts of it in Dugdale, Tanner, Browne Willis, Pennant, Rees, and the two Williamses, among the moderns; in Giraldus Cambrensis, in Ralph Higden, and in the Life of St. Dubricius, among the medieval writers. It is not attempted in the following brief account of the institution, to bring forward any new facts of its history; though some unpublished MSS. memorials, connected with Bardsey Abbey, will be brought to light; but rather to condense and harmonize the information given by other preceding writers.

It may be well, however, to state, that the only antiquary who seems to have ever set foot on Ynys Enlli, was Pennant; perhaps, however, accompanied by Mr. Llwyd, to whom he was under such deep obligations for much of his antiquarian information. But even Pennant visited it in his younger days, before he was an antiquary; and his account of it is meagre and unsatisfactory, in the extreme. (See Tour, vol. ii, pp. 196, 197.) Since his time, no one with an antiquarian object in view, had ever thought it worth while

1 Cambrian Register; Williams's Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the Cymry,

p. 223.

2 The light-house here, is a lofty and admirable structure, of the most signal utility.

to make the pilgrimage; until, in the summer of 1846, two Archæologists, one being the recent historian of Llanthony, the other the author of this account, performed the somewhat difficult voyage,-paid the usual penalty,―and returned with impressions, not readily to be effaced from their memories. It was no easy matter, at any time, to get to Bardsey. If the pilgrim came from the north, through Caernarvon, his labours began near Clynnog, where he had to mount the steep pass of the Yr Eifl mountains, above Nant Gwyrtheyrn; but found at the top, an hospitium, prepared in a farm-house, held on the tenure of assistance to pilgrims bound to the holy isle. Journeying onward through Llŷn, he would proceed by a well-paved road, still to be traced across certain unenclosed lands, and over various farms, receiving aid on the way from the abbatial tenants, until he reached the shore at Aberdaron. Or if he came from the south, he might land near Pwllheli, where the church of Abererch is supposed to indicate, by its name, the spot of rest for many a coffin on its road to this place of choicest sepulture thence, he might wend his way along the winding coast by St. Tudwal's isle, stretch over the ill-omened shore of the Porth Nigel, and climb the steep sides of Mynydd Rhiw, ere Aberdaron's retired bay came in sight. Once arrived at Aberdaron, the pilgrims would perform their preliminary devotions in St. Hywyn's collegiate church, where now,

"The moping owl doth to the moon complain;"

or the storm drives through the unglazed casement, and the unshingled roof. Here, at all periods, the pilgrims must have been liable to delay; for the strait, between the mainland and the isle, neither does, nor ever did, admit of being crossed in small vessels, at man's will: wind and water must combine to favour the passage, or the transit cannot be attempted. But, if detained, they could wander up to the bold head-land looking towards the isle, and there they would find St. Mary's chapel open to their prayers for a safe passage, and her mysterious well below high-water mark, to test the constancy of their devotion. These spots, if visited now, are resorted to only by those who love to see old Ocean in its wildest mood. There they may witness the eternal war of the deep blue billows, fresh from the Atlantic, thundering against the many-coloured, many-caverned cliffs;