My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

;94 MY LIFEmaking for home rule, along with the other great subdivisionsof the British Islands, is thoroughly justified.It was late in the autumn of 1841 that we returnedto Kington, and shortly after bade adieu to the wildbut not very picturesque Radnorshire mountains forthe more varied and interesting county of Glamorgan.I have no distinct recollection of our journey, but Ibelieve it was by coach through Hay and Brecon toMerthyr Tydvil, and thence by chaise to Neath.One solitary example of the rhyming letters I usedto write has been preserved, giving my youngerbrother Herbert an account of our journey, of thecountry, and of our work, of which, though very poordoggerel, a sample may be given. After a fewreferences to family matters, I proceed to description." From Kington to this place we cameBy many a spot of ancient fame,But now of small renown,O'er many a mountain dark and drear,And vales whose groves the parting yearHad tinged with mellow brown ;And as the morning sun aroseNew beauties round us to disclose,We reached fair Brecon townThen crossed the Usk, my native stream,A river clear and bright,Which showed a fair and much-lov'd sceneUnto my lingering sight."We had to go to Glamorganshire to partiallysurvey and make a corrected map of the parish ofCadoxton-juxta-Neath, which occupies the wholenorthern side of the Neath valley from opposite thetown of Neath to the boundary of the county at Pont-Nedd-Fychan, a distance of nearly fifteen miles, witha width varying from two to three miles, the boundaryrunning for the most part along the crest of the