LIV. BULL BAY (Anglesey) The Curling, 34 feet by 7£ feet, 10 oars.

"READER, have you ever been at Ply- mouth?" asks the versatile Captain Fred- erick Marryatt in opening one of the happiest productions of his fertile pen, and thus introduces his reader to a description of scenery in land and water, unsurpassed in beauty by any bit of coast on the fair shores of the south of England. Reader, we venture to ask, have you ever been at Bull Bay, on the coast of Anglesey ? If yon have you will not fail to go there again; if you have not and want to enjoy quiet rest in a charming sea-side retreat, pack up your kit and go there.

Bull Bay as yet is not disfigured by a promenade, no brass 'band disturbs its calm repose, no touting carriage drivers worry " the visitor with their offers to take him to see disappointing sights, and no bathing machines mar the primitive simplicity of its quaint rock-enclosed beaches. It possesses instead a bold coast line, composed of grey rocks of the Cambrian age, which vary in tint with every change in the weather or the conditions of light; a sea whose blue transparency may with truth be said to rival that of the favoured Mediterranean; hills, which although treeless, possess much beauty; and a climate which may well be envied by the healthiest of British watering-places. The bay is a " deep sea with music in its roar," when northerly winds rouse it into movement, but during the summer months when the prevailing winds are from the south and west it forms a placid sheet of water, where boating and fishing and pleasant diversions are safe, and where sea-going craft of all kinds, including Liverpool pilot boats and tug boats, anchor in perfect safety. The neighbouring cliffs and hills afford fine exercise for the pedestrian, while the bracing air refreshes and invigorates him for a daily change of direction and scenery. The geologist here finds an extensive field for study in the gnarled rocks which are now an enigma to the most distinguished votaries of his science; the mineralogist will find much to interest him in the neighbouring mines ; the botanist cannot fail to discover specimens both interesting and rare, and those who care to examine marine flora and fauna will be provided with abundant occupation in the many rare and curious specimens which occur along the coast and on the sea-bottom. The little hamlet is inhabited by an honest, hardy and industrious race of fishermen, whose families have dwelt in it for centuries, in fact no one can tell how long, and whose simple manners and broken English tend to complete the primeval character of the spot. That element, however, which Dr.

Johnson insisted on as essential to the true beauty of a scene, forms a prominent feature in the landscape. There is a good hotel, which has for a flag-staff the main yard of the " Royal Charter," and a small inn, both of which furnish com- fortable accommodation; while several cottages and farmhouses receive visitors during the sea-side season. So much for the little bay as a pleasant resort for holiday seekers. We have to regard it from quite another aspect. That sea so calm and tranquil in summer, is often by the combined action of strong currents and northerly winds lashed into waves of such size and violence as to render the navigation of the coast extremely perilous.

The huge Atlantic steamers, which during fine weather closely shave the shore, then cautiously give the rocks a wide berth; and the audacious little Liverpool pilot boat, possibly among the finest and best manned craft on the seas, keeps clear of the rocks and numerous islets, and watches under storm sails the shifting wind, while keenly scanning the horizon for a homeward bound liner.

On such a coast, as may be imagined, the wrecks have from time to time been frequent.

Local traditions tell many a tale of wrecks and losses of life, and a complete history would probably form a narrative of disasters and efforts to save imperilled lives as interesting and thrilling as any of those books recounting adventures, shipwrecks, and dangers at sea which have ever possessed such a charm for the boys of England.

There is hardly a headland or a creek which has not been the scene of wreck and loss of life, hardly a sunken rock which has not been fatal to some noble vessel, and not a hill which has not witnessed the foundering of a fine ship and the loss of her crew.

The primitive churchyards of the coast furnish many a distressing story of the early end of poor fellows, who during dark nights and terrific storms have been hurled, drowned and battered upon the rugged shore. One tombstone tells how a mother bewails the loss of her only son, a sailor-boy; another in a little church- yard, perched some hundreds of feet above the sea on a vertical cliff, recounts the loss of a crew of nineteen men; and a monolith in another records the death by drowning of upwards of four hundred souls on one wild October morning.

Many are the sad tales these simple records tell.

We have not the means of ascertain- ing the precise spot where that event occurred which inspired Milton with the lines: " Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless deep Closed o'er the head of your lov'd Lycidas? For neither were ye playing on the steep Where your old bards the famous Druids lie, Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high, Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream!" but judging from corroborated tradition, we are inclined to believe that_Lycidas was drowned at a place known as Porth-y- Paeket, on the south coast of Bull Bay, one of the most rugged parts of a denti- form sea barrier. In those days most of the traffic by sea to Ireland was carried on from Chester, then a more important port than Liverpool, and as the tradi- tional narrative alluded to relates that a packet, taking a large number of pas- sengers, including some soldiers and several men of distinction, from Chester to Dublin, was lost at this point of the coast about the time of the drowning of Milton's friend we think the event the poet deplores must have happened here.

To the east, off Puffin Island, on the 17th of August, 1831, occurred the loss of the "Rothsay Castle," an event co; memorated in a Welsh ode, which secured for the author at Beaumaris Eisteddfod the honour of receiving a medal from the late Duchess of Kent, and our present Royal Patroness Her Most Gracious Majesty, then Princess Victoria. To those who know the Welsh language the fol- lowing extract will prove an analogue of portions of Byron's shipwreck: " Colchai'r tennau'r Rothsay'n ddrylliau A'u hergydiau trwm rhwygiadol ; Cipio degau gyda'r daman, Wnae y tonau annghytunol." Years afterwards came the burning of the "Ocean Monarch" close upon the same scene, and although " she sprang no fatal leak, she ran upon no rock," yet the sad and terrible occurrence is still spoken of as a dire event in the traditional wreck- lore of the coast. The wreck chart of the coast has always been heavily marked with black, but it remained for the deplorable end of the " Royal Charter," to attract special attention to the danger- ous nature of this part of the shores of our islands. Since that memorable ship- wreck, in which upwards of four hundred lives were lost, the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION has supplied no less than six new boats in the vicinity of the spot, and in pursuance of a constant desire to secure for its fleet of boats the highest efficiency and the latest improvements of structure, Bull Bay has now been fur- nished with a new Life-boat, generously presented to the Institution by Miss CURLING of Denmark Hill, the Committee being fully convinced that the crew, which have never yet failed in their duty, will use to their fall extent the'powers of the boat now confided to their care.

Header, if we have succeeded in securing your attention, let us advise you to go to Bull Bay, see the new boat, go out boat- ing on the smooth expanse and swim in its crystal water. You will see the finest ships in the world passing to and from Liverpool, and the boat-house of the Life- boat Institution erected on a site pre- sented by the Marquis of Anglesey.

Above all, if you have a spare coin fail not to deposit it in the box inserted in the door. Time was when " Schwimme wer sohwimmcn kann, AVer zu plump ist geh' unter " was the prevailing misanthropic notion, but now we have all happily discarded that selfish maxim.

Humanity demands mutual aid, and your mite may help to save a drowning sailor.

We cannot close our yarn, however, without telling you how many good services have been rendered the Life-boat cause by the inhabitants of Bull Bay, and more especially by Mr. T. FANNING EVANS of Mona Lodge, who for the past eleven years has energetically and ably managed the affairs of the station, and who has deservedly earned for himself in the vicinity a popularity which any one might envy.