The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-05-25 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICES,

Roseoes Wanderings and Excursions in North Wales
W. Webb, Liverpool.
Part four of the new edition of this interesting
penned work has come to hand. The engravings are nu-
merous, and though of various degrees of merit—all fine
specimens of modern illustration. Pleased as we are with
these, we are still more so with the vivid descriptions of the
" Wanderer," who with a rare felicity of diction is largely
imbued with those imaginative powers and lofty poetical sen-
timents, for which his family have so especially been noted,
and without which scenic description sinks into monotony
and insignificance. Rich as are the pictures, Mr. Roscoe
has-set himself to delineate, in the rugged, the beautiful, or
the sublime, and familiar, from the proximity to those dis-
tricts, as are many of them to the traveller, and the tourist,
he.throws around them all the charms of freshness and ori-
'ginality. In the present number, he traverses a portion of
the Snowdonian range, visits'Penrhyn, with its stately castle
and fine slate quarries. Bangor, the Menai Bridge—Carnar-
von—Holyhead—and Beaumoris. We are particularly
pleased with his lively description of the remarkable town,
and Isle of Holyhead ? the latter presenting a headland
lighthouse peculiarly interesting to, though little known in
detail by the community of this emporium of trade and na-
vigation. To supply a few short extracts is certainly not
doing justice to the author, but our limited space constrains
us to the resort. He thus introduces a description of

and well

HOLYHEAD

"'anging the river, crossed by a bridge peculiarly light and
elegant ; while here and there, both above and below it, the
eye falls upon a salmon weir, the distant murmur of which,
humbly imitative of the cataract, comes upon the ear
" the fretful melody
Of water, gurgling through the rugged weir,
_ Brought on the breeze."

" Lismore 'is, therefore, classed high in the list of Ireland's
natural beauties ; and for many centuries it has occupied a
prominent station in its history. The castle is said to have
been originally built by King John ; but the place was
" famous" long before his reign. It is kept in repair at the
cost of the Duke of Devonshire, who occasionally pays it
visits—too few and far between. It is a fine building, with
a noble court-yard ; and although the greater portion of it
is comparatively modern, the ancient parts are sufficiently
apparent to associate with it the memories of by -gone strength
and splendour. It has, nevertheless, a lonely look; our
knock at the entrance door had a hollow sound ; we were
conducted through the apartments by the housekeeper, a
courteous and obliging matron ; but we did not encounter
another person ; the scene was a solitude we would gladly
see broken ; its aspect was the more chilling because every
chamber was furnished as if for an unexpected guest. It
presented a singular and striking contrast to the noise, bustle,
and excitement usually to be found in the vicinity of an Irish
mansion ; even the old eagle, so many years a denizen of the
castle yard, looked as wild as if he had been at liberty ; here
there were no loiterers neglecting profitable labour for the
chance of guiding some visitor " up the avenue," or dogboys
lingering around the gates because " may be the master
would be for sport."