LLANGOLLEN VALE , INSCRIBED TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE LADY ELEANOR BUTLER , AND MISS PONSONBY . LUXURIANT Vale , thy Country's early boast , What time great GLENDOUR gave thy scenes to Fame ; Taught the proud numbers of the English Host , How vain their vaunted force , when Freedom's flame Fir'd him to brave the Myriads he abhorr'd , Wing'd his unerring shaft , and edg'd his victor sword . Here first those orbs unclosing drank the light , Cambria's bright stars , the meteors of her Foes ; What dread and dubious omens Omens . According to the records of Lewis Owen , the year 1349 was distinguished by the first appearance of the PESTILENCE in Wales , and by the birth of OWEN GLENDOUR . Hollingshed relates the marvellous tale of his Father's Horses , being found that night in their stables , standing up to the middle in blood . The Bard , IOLO GOCH , mentions a Comet , which marked the great deeds of Glendour , when he was in the meridian of his glory . See Mr. PENNANT'S TOUR mark'd the night , That lour'd , ere yet his natal morn arose ! The Steeds paternal , on their cavern'd floor , Foaming , and horror-struck , " fret fetlock-deep in gore . " PLAGUE , in her livid hand , o'er all the Isle , Shook her dark flag , impure with fetid stains ; While " DEATH Isaiah . , on his pale Horse , " with baleful smile , Smote with its blaring hoof the frighted plains . Soon thro' the grass-grown streets , in silence led , Slow moves the midnight Cart , heapt with the naked Dead . Yet in the festal dawn of Richard's Richard the Second . reign , Thy gallant GLENDOUR'S sunny prime arose ; Virtuous , tho' gay , in that Circean fane , Bright Science twin'd here circlet round his brows ; Nor cou'd the youthful , rash , luxurious King Dissolve the Hero's worth on his Icarian wing . Sudden it drops on its meridian flight ! — Ah ! hapless Richard ! never didst thou aim To crush primeval Britons with thy might , And their brave Glendour's tears embalm thy name . Back from thy victor-Rival's vaunting Throng , Sorrowing , and stern , he sinks LLANGOLLEN'S shades among . Soon , in imperious Henry's Henry the Fourth . dazzled eyes , The guardian bounds of just Dominion melt ; His scarce-hop'd crown imperfect bliss supplies , Till Cambria's vassalage be deeply felt . Now up her craggy steeps , in long array , Swarm his exulting Bands , impatient for the fray . Lo ! thro' the gloomy night , with angry blaze , Trails the fierce Comet , and alarms the Stars ; Each waning Orb withdraws its glancing rays , Save the red Planet , that delights in wars . Then , with broad eyes upturn'd , and starting hair , Gaze the astonish'd Crowd upon its vengeful glare . Gleams the wan Morn , and thro' LLANGOLLEN'S Vale Sees the proud Armies streaming o'er her meads . Her frighted Echos warning sounds assail , Loud , in the rattling cars , the neighing steeds ; The doubling drums , the trumpet's piercing breath , And all the ensigns dread of havoc , wounds , and death . High on a hill as shrinking CAMBRIA stood , And watch'd the onset of th' unequal fray , She saw her Deva , stain'd with warrior-blood , Lave the pale rocks , and wind its fateful way Thro' meads , and glens , and wild woods , echoing far The din of clashing arms , and furious shout of war . From rock to rock , with loud acclaim , she sprung , While from her CHIEF the routed Legions fled ; Saw Deva roll their slaughter'd heaps among , The check'd waves eddying round the ghastly dead ; Saw , in that hour , her own LLANGOLLEN claim Thermopylæ's bright wreath , and aye-enduring fame . Thus , consecrate to GLORY . — Then arose A milder lustre in its blooming maze ; Thro' the green glens , where lucid Deva flows , Rapt Cambria listens with enthusiast gaze , While more inchanting sounds her ear assail , Than thrill'd on Sorga's bank , the Love-devoted Vale . Vaucluse , the celebrated Valley near Avignon , in which Petrarch composed his beautiful Sonnets to Laura . 'Mid the gay towers on steep Din's In 1390 , Castel Dinas-Brân , now a bare ruin , was inhabited by the lovely Lady MIFANWY VECHAN , of the House of Tudor Trevor . She was beloved by the Bard HOEL. See MR. PENNANT'S TOUR , adorned by a pleasing translation , in English verse , of one of Hoel's Poems in her praise , and complaining of her coldness . The ruins of Castel Dinas-Brân , are on a conoid mountain of laborious access . It rises in the midst of Llangollen Valley . Branna's cone , Her HOEL'S breast the fair MIFANWY fires . — O ! Harp of Cambria , never hast thou known Notes more mellifluent floating o'er the wires , Than when thy Bard this brighter Laura sung , And with his ill-starr'd love LLANGOLLEN'S echos rung . Tho' Genius , Love , and Truth inspire the strains , Thro' Hoel's veins , tho' blood illustrious flows , Hard as th' Eglwyseg rocks Eglwyseg rocks . Rocks of the Eagles . They are opposite Castel Dinas-Brân . The Rev. Mr. Roberts of Dinbren asserts , that the word Eglwyseg , has that interpretation . Mr. PENNANT derives it from the name of a Gentleman , to whose memory the neighbouring column was erected ; though , in another part of his Tour , he mentions Leland's testimony , that a pair of Eagles built annually in the Eglwyseg rocks , and that a person was let down in a basket to take the young , with another basket over his head , to protect him from the fury of the parent-birds . This tradition favors Mr. Roberts' etymology . That Gentleman has lately added largely to his paternal house , situated on a noble mountain in Llangollen Valley . The house stands near its craggy summit , and looks as if it had begin scooped out of the rocks . A very narrow Valley , containing two sloping copses , and a few bright little fields , with a woody lane winding between them , divides Mr. Roberts' mountain from the opposite elevation of Castel Dinas-Brân . The south-east front of the house looks immediately into this narrow Valley ; the barren , and very singular Eglwyseg rocks on the left , and Castel Dinas-Brân in front . Between the base of the latter , and the sloping foot of his own mountain , Mr. R. has the bird's eye prospect of Llangollen Town , and a part of the Vale . — The Author of this Poem , is indebted to the friendly hospitality of MR. and MRS. ROBERTS , for an opportunity ( during a fortnight's residence with them last Summer ) of contemplating the beauties of their own scene , and of the celebrated VALLEY of LLANGOLLEN . her heart remains , Her smile a sun-beam playing on their snows ; And nought avails the Poet's warbled claim , But , by his well-sung woes , to purchase deathless fame , Thus consecrate to LOVE , in ages flown , — Long ages fled Din's-Branna's ruins show , Bleak as they stand upon their steepy cone , The crown and contrast of the VALE below , That , screen'd by mural rocks , with pride displays Beauty's romantic pomp in every sylvan maze . Now with a Vestal lustre glows the VALE , Thine , sacred FRIENDSHIP , permanent as pure ; In vain the stern Authorities assail , In vain Persuasion spreads her silken lure , High-born , and high-endow'd , the peerless Twain Peerless Twain . RIGHT HONORABLE LADY ELEANOR BUTLER , and MISS PONSONBY , now seventeen years resident in Llangollen Vale , and whose Guest the Author had the honor to be during several delightful days of the late Summer . , Pant for coy Nature's charms 'mid silent dale , and plain . Thro' ELEANORA , and her ZARA'S mind , Early tho' genius , taste , and fancy flow'd , Tho' all the graceful Arts their powers combin'd , And her last polish brilliant Life bestow'd , The lavish Promiser , in Youth's soft morn , Pride , Pomp , and Love , her friends , the sweet Enthusiasts scorn . Then rose the Fairy Palace of the Vale , Then bloom'd around it the Arcadian bowers ; Screen'd from the storms of Winter , cold and pale , Screen'd from the fervors of the sultry hours , Circling the lawny crescent , soon they rose , To letter'd ease devote , and Friendship's blest repose . Smiling they rose beneath the plastic hand Of Energy , and Taste ; — nor only they , Obedient Science hears the mild command , Brings every gift that speeds the tardy day , Whate'er the pencil sheds in vivid hues , Th' historic tome reveals , or sings the raptur'd Muse . How sweet to enter , at the twilight grey , The dear , minute Lyceum Lyceum , — the Library , fitted up in the Gothic taste , the painted windows of that form . In the elliptic arch of the door , there is a prismatic lantern of variously tinted glass , containing two large lamps with their reflectors . The light they shed resembles that of a Volcano , gloomily glaring . Opposite , on the chimney-piece , a couple of small lamps , in marble reservoirs , assist the prismatic lantern to supply the place of candles , by a light more consonant to the style of the apartment , the pictures it contains of absent Friends , and to its aërial music . of the Dome , When , thro' the colour'd crystal , glares the ray , Sanguine and solemn 'mid the gathering gloom , While glow-worm lamps diffuse a pale , green light , Such as in mossy lanes illume the starless night . Then the coy Scene , by deep'ning veils o'erdrawn , In shadowy elegance seems lovelier still ; Tall shrubs , that skirt the semi-lunar lawn , Dark woods , that curtain the opposing hill ; While o'er their brows the bare cliff faintly gleams , And , from its paly edge , the evening-diamond Evening-Star . streams . What strains Æolian thrill the dusk expanse , As rising gales with gentle murmurs play , Wake the loud chords , or every sense intrance , While in subsiding winds they sink away ! Like distant choirs , " when pealing organs blow , " And melting voices blend , majestically flow . " These lines with inverted commas , are from Thomson's Castle of Indolence . But , ah ! what hand can touch the strings so fine , " Who up the lofty diapason roll " Such sweet , such sad , such solemn airs divine , " Then let them down again into the soul ! " The prouder sex as soon , with virtue calm , Might win from this bright Pair pure Friendship's spotless palm . What boasts Tradition , what th' historic Theme , Stands it in all their chronicles confest Where the soul's glory shines with clearer beam , Than in our sea-zon'd bulwark of the West , When , in this Cambrian Valley , Virtue shows Where , in her own soft sex , its steadiest lustre glows ? Say ivied VALLE CRUCIS The picturesque Ruins of Valle Crucis Abbey , one of the most striking objects in this Valley . They are particularly described by Mr PENNANT , and there are engravings of them in his Tour . , time decay'd , Dim on the brink of Deva's wandering floods , Your riv'd arch glimmering thro' the tangled glade , Your grey hills towering o'er your night of woods , Deep in the Vale's recesses as you stand , And , desolately great , the rising sigh command , Say , lonely , ruin'd Pile , when former years Saw your pale Train at midnight altars bow ; Saw SUPERSTITION frown upon the tears That mourn'd the rash irrevocable vow , Wore one young lip gay ELEANORA'S smile ? Did ZARA'S look serene one tedious hour beguile ? For your sad Sons , nor Science wak'd her powers ; Nor e'er did Art her lively spells display ; But the grim IDOL Superstition . vainly lash'd the hours That dragg'd the mute , and melancholy day ; Dropt her dark cowl on each devoted head , That o'er the breathing Corse a pall eternal spread . This gentle Pair no glooms of thought infest , Nor Bigotry , nor Envy's sullen gleam Shed withering influence on the effort blest , Which most shou'd win the other's dear esteem , By added knowledge , by endowment high , By Charity's warm boon , and Pity's soothing sigh . Then how shou'd Summer-day or Winter-night , Seem long to them who thus can wing their hours ! O ! ne'er may Pain , or Sorrow's cruel blight , Breathe the dark mildew thro' these lovely bowers , But lengthen'd Life subside in soft decay , Illum'd by rising Hope , and Faith's pervading ray . May one kind ice-bolt , from the mortal stores , Arrest each vital current as it flows , That no sad course of desolated hours Here vainly nurse the unsubsiding woes ! While all who honor Virtue , gently mourn LLANGOLLEN'S VANISH'D PAIR , and wreath their sacred urn .