A ROYAL RESIDENCE FOR WALES.
[To THE EDITOR OF TUE "SPECTATOR.") SrE,—In the recent shuffle of Royal residences—the palatial game of "general post" which naturally follows the demise of the crown—no very original idea seems to have been struck out. The King's abandonment of Osborne is the one new feature, and generous as is the gift, and benevolent the design, one cannot help joining in the regret that the ruler of the waves should no more survey from his island home his fleet gathered beneath at Spithead. Much more to be lamented, however, is the ill-success of the plea so forcibly urged in the Spectator for a Royal residence in Ireland. Nothing, I am convinced, would give greater satisfaction to loyal Irishmen than a princely Viceroy living in their midst; and surely, now that Irish demesnes are so grievously deserted, it would not be difficult to secure a suitable palace. The noble house of the Conolly family at Castletowa at once occurs to one's mind: a mansion fit for an Emperor, but now "in the hands of the stranger," near enough to Dublin for convenience, and yet well removed beyond "the fragrance of the quays." But, Sir, no one, I believe, has given a thought to the claims of Wales, where national feeling is every whit as strong as in the slater Celtic land, and whose loyalty is wholly beyond cavil. The Principality has its Prince, but the Prince has no residence, nor has any Prince of Wales lived in his Princi- pality since Edward IL was born, "regardless of pomp and nice accommodation," as old Pennant puts it, yet "shrouded in tapestry and" (in a bold bathos) "made as comfortable as possible," in the little chamber in the Eagle Tower of Car- narvon Castle. Six centuries have passed since then, and the Castle still belongs to the crown. It has been of late years most tenderly cared for and repaired with scrupulous veracity by the Deputy Constable, Sir Llywelyn Turner, but it would necessarily need a great deal done to it before the present Prince of Wales could be "made as comfortable as possible." Oarnarvon is obviously the natural residence of the descendant of the first Prince who was there shown to the people. It is the proper seat of one whose predecessor, the Black Prince, was seized of the lordahips, castles, and towns of Carnarvon, Con-
way, Beaumaris, and Anglesey. The statue of Edward L over the King's Gate, in which Pennant imagined that the conqueror was represented as "menacing his newly acquired subjects" with a half-drawn blade, is now so defaced that the menace— if menace it were—is smoothed away. It is time to re. sculpture the face,—to replace the menace, not with a blank countenance, but with a gracious expression. According to the Deputy Constable, Caruarvon Castle "was erected to secure the King's hold on the Welsh people, and was clearly intended as the future residence of the Prince of Wales." However this may be as a matter of history, there can be no possible doubt that if Carnarvon Castle were the present eocasional residence of the Prince of Wales, "the King's hold on the Welsh people," strong as it is, would be yet more firmly established.—I am, Sir, &c., EXAMINEE, PRIPTSOOL CYMRU.,
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