The women may often be seen dressed in the picturesque costume of Wales, and having their heads surmounted by the high-crowned broad-brimmed hat. Many curious customs and superstitions still survive. On the occasion of a marriage, a " bidder " goes from house to house inviting the inmates to the wedding. It is expected that all the guests are to bring presents of money and provisions. The marriage always takes place on a Saturday ; but the guests assemble on Friday with their presents. All these are set down on paper, that repayment may be made if demanded; but this seldom happens. The furnishing of the bride is also brought home on this day. On Saturday ten or twenty of the man s friends who are best mounted go to demand the bride. She is placed on a horse, behind her father, who rides off as fast as he can. He is soon, however, over taken. Presents continue to be received on Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday they are sold, and sometimes with the money received realize 50 or 60.
There are numerous British and Roman antiquities in the county, consisting of cromlechs, tumuli, camps, and stations, and also the remains of a Roman road (the Sarn Helen) about four miles from Tregaron, and the Roman town Loventium at Llanio.
The castles of Aberystwith, Cardigan, and Newcastle Emlyn are interesting ruins, and the remains of Strata Florida Abbey are among the most beautiful of the eccle siastical antiquities of South Wales. The church of Llan- badarn Fawr (once the seat of a bishopric) is a fine example of a severe type of Early English architecture, and the collegiate church of Llanddewi Brefi marks the site of the synod in which, according to the legend, St David confuted the Pelagians.
The early history of the district is obscure, but at the time of the Roman invasion it was tenanted by the Demetae, a Celtic tribe, within whose limits was comprised the greater portion of the south-west of Wales Mingled with it, though living at perpetual variance, was a Gaelic popu lation (drawn, probably, from Ireland), which in the 6th century had got the upper hand, and in turn was subdued by the sons of Cunedda, who came as liberators from North Britain. One of these sons was Caredig. who con quered and gave the name to the province of Caredigion, which was nearly co-extensive with the present county of Cardigan. In the 8th century it formed part of the dominion of Sitsylt (from whom it received the name of Seissyltwg), and was hotly disputed by the descendants of his sons and daughter. Ultimately it fell to the latter, and at the close of the 1 1th century had been reduced to sub mission to the Norman sway, from which, in spite of short lived successes, it never escaped.
Cardigan was one of the counties involved in the singular disturbances known as the Rebecca riots.
Cardigan, a market town and municipal and parlia mentary borough of England, the capital of the county of the same name, is situated on the south-east of Cardigan Bay, about 36 miles by rail from Carmarthen, at the mouth of the Teifi, which there divides the county from Pembrokeshire. The houses are mostly constructed of slate rock, and the streets are narrow, steep, and irregular. The principal structures are the church of St Mary s, a fine and spacious edifice of considerable antiquity, the county jail, erected in 1793, the national school dating from 1848, and a large block of buildings which includes a town hall, an exchange, a grammar school, a public library, and various markets. Besides being the commercial centre of a pretty extensive district, Cardigan engages in the coasting trade and the fisheries, and exports slates, oats, barley, and butter. Its harbour is unfortunately obstructed by a bar, so that the entrance is dangerous for vessels of more than 300 tons burden, except at high spring tides, when it is passable for vessels drawing 15 to 18 feet of water. The imports in 1874 were valued at 3035, the exports at 52. The borough, in conjunction with Aberystwith, Lampeter, and Adpar, has returned one member to Parliament since 1836; and in 1874 the district had a constituency of 1981. The population in 1871 was 3461 in the municipal borough, and 4939 in the parliamentary, which is partly in Pembrokeshire.
Cardigan, called by the "Welsh Aberteifi, fiom its position at the mouth of the river, first rose into importance about the time of the Norman conquest. In 1136 the English army, under Randolph, earl of Chester, suffered a severe defeat in the neighbourhood at the hands of the Welsh. The town was fortified by Rhys ap Gryffydd, prince of South Wales, to whom was also ascribed the foundation of the castle, which is still represented by a few ruins near the bridge. His grandson Maelgwn razed the castle to the ground, and ravaged the town ; but the effects of his vengeance were not long after repaired, and the castle continued to be a post of some import ance down to the Parliamentary wars, when it was held for a while by the Royalist forces. In the neighbourhood there was, before the Reformation, a small priory of Benedictine monks, which, a,s a private dwelling in the 17th century, obtained some celebrity as the residence of Orinda (Catherine Philips), the friend of Jeremy Taylor. About a mile and a half distant was the more important priory of St Dogmael ; and about three miles up the river are the ruins of Cilgerran Castle.
of England, lieutenant-general, was the eldest surviving son of the sixth earl, and was born at Hambledon in Hamp shire, October 16, 1797. He studied for several terms at Christ Church, Oxford; and in 1818 entered Parliament as member fcr the borough of Marlborough under the patronage of Lord Ailesbury. He entered the army in 1824 as cornet in the 8th Hussars, and was promoted in 1832 to be lieutenant-colonel in the 15th Hussars. With this regiment he made himself one of the most unpopular of commanding officers. He gave the reins to bis natural overbearing and quarrelsome temper, treating his men with excessive rigour and indulging in unscrupulous licenti ousness. W r ithin two years he held 105 courts-martial, and made more than 700 arrests, although the actual strength of his regiment was only 350 men. In consequence of one of his numerous personal quarrels, he left the regiment in 1834; but two years later, at the urgent entreaty of his father, he was reinstated in the army, and appointed to the command of the llth Hussars. He played the same part as before, and was censured for it ; but he was allowed to retain his post, and the discipline and equipment of his regiment, in which he took great pride, received high commendation from the duke of Wellington. He suc ceeded to the peerage on the death of his father in August 1837. In September 1840 Lord Cardigan fought a duel, on Wimbledon Common, with Captain Tuckett, an officer of his regiment. The latter was wounded, and Lord Cardigan was tried before the House of Lords on a charge of feloniously shooting his adversary. But the trial was a mere sham, and on a trivial technical ground he was acquitted. In 1854, at the outbreak of the Crimean War, the earl of Cardigan was appointed to the command of the light cavalry brigade, with the rank of major-general, and he spent a very large sum in the purchase of horses and on the equipment of his regiment. He took a prominent part in the early actions of the campaign, and displayed throughout the greatest personal courage and the greatest recklessness in exposing his men. The feat which made his name famous was the charge of his brigade, numbering 600 men, on a body of Russian heavy cavalry 3600 in number at the battle of Balaclava (October 25, 1854). He forced his way through the enemy, but half his men and horses were left dead on the field. The charge, celebrated by Tennyson in his well-known lyric, has been
the subject of much controversy, some critics having an eye