is freehold, and the recent, with a few unimportant exceptions, comprises houses built under leases granted by the Corporation. The oldest and most interesting building within the old town is the Castle. The Superintendent of the Castle exercised authority over the town as well as the Castle, his duties requiring him to preserve the claims of the Crown and the rights of the English, as well as to ensure that the laws, made in the British Parliament, relating to the Welsh, were duly carried out. As instances of such laws it may be mentioned that no Welshman was permitted to hold any office under the Crown. Marriages with the Welsh were prohibited to the English-speaking portion of the population under penalty of forfeiting their land and property to the Crown. Deeds and agreements were not allowed to be written in the Welsh language. Four years was the limit within which the Welsh were allowed to purchase or hire land. The town was responsible for all offences committed within its walls, and the Welsh were not allowed to have a voice in detecting the offender if he spoke the English language. Such are a few instances of the laws enacted for Wales, and they account for the attempts of Owen Glyndwr, a descendant of the Welsh Princes, for the last time to restore once again their authority over their country. The growth of the town for the first 500 years was slow. A map at the beginning of the last century shows the following streets :-Great Darkgate Street, Pier Street, then called Weeg Street, and Bridge Street, with their complement of houses; and the following streets par- tially filled with houses :-Rosemary Lane, now Princess Street, Barker Lane, now Queen Street, Back Lane, now Gray's Inn Road, Mill Street and High Street. A few houses stood in the upper part of the Marine Terrace, then called the Weeg. The Custom House occupied a site near the Promenade Pier and a wide stone pier projected into the sea opposite the College. Altogether the houses numbered fewer than 350, with a population numbering about 1,500. The whole was freehold and owned principally by three persons, the then owners of the Gogerddan, Nanteos and Fronfraith Estates. The principal road from the town was on the north, leading to Machynlleth, in the position of North Parade. From the date of the Charters to the present time the Crown has claimed certain rents and tolls in respect of the town. One of the most important privileges granted under the Charters was the right of holding fairs and markets and of trading within the walls, but in granting them, it was stipulated that tolls should be paid to the Crown. The amount was ultimately settled at £ 1 annually, which has ever since been continually exacted. Aberystwyth has always been noted for herring fishing, and for the privileges of landing and selling fish in the town the rights of the Crown had to be acknowledged. The original arrangement was to render five score of herrings for the privilege. This was afterwards commuted into an annual payment of £ 1 1os. A Member of the Pryse family held a lease of this Crown