They were Welsh, they
told us, and they were speaking their language to right and left
of us, while they were so courteous to us in English. It was
quite like a church fair in some American village, where,
however, it could not have had the advantage of a ruined Norman
castle for its scene, and where it would not have provided a
range for target practice with air-guns, or grounds for running
and jumping.
The place was filled with people young and old who were quietly
amusing themselves and were more taken up with the fair than with
the castle. I must myself comparatively slight the castle in the
present study of people rather than places, though I may note
that if there is any more interesting ruin in the world, I am
satisfied with this which it surpasses. Besides its beauty, what
strikes one most is its perfect adaptation to the original
purpose of palace and fortress for which the Normans planned
their strongholds in Wales. The architect built not only with a
constant instinct of beauty, but with unsurpassable science and
skill.
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