(a ray, or the spoke of a wheel),** the semidiameter of a circle, or a right line drawn from the centre to the circumference.

**RADNORSHIRE,** an inland county of Wales, lying nearly midway between the southern and northern extremities of the principality on the English border. It is bounded on the north by the counties of Montgomery and Salop, on the east by Hereford, on the south by Brecknock, and on the west by Brecknock and Cardigan. Its outline is an irregular oval, with a rounded protuberance on the north-west. Its greatest length from south to north is about 30 miles, and from east to west, measuring across the protuberance on the north-west, about 33 miles. It possesses an area of 425 square miles, or 272,128 acres, and is thus tenth in order of size of the Welsh counties. The Welsh name is Sir Faesgyf.

The greater portion of this county rests upon the Silurian group of rocks, but there are some tracts of old red sandstone on the east, and throughout the county there are considerable patches of feldspathic ash and greenstone, and on the eastern part, near the town of Old Radnor, there is a large patch of Silurian limestone, which is much used for dressing the land in the neighbourhood.

This district of country continued under the jurisdiction of the Lords Marchers until it obtained the privileges of a county by act of Henry VIII., and was divided into the hundreds of Radnor, Knighton, Painscastle, Rhayader, Colwyn, and Cefn Llys. By the same act it was also empowered to return two members to Parliament, one for the county, and one for the contributory boroughs of Radnor, Rhyader, Knighton, Knucklas, and Cefn Llys. The county is further divided into parishes and townships. The former are fifty-two in number, and all are in the diocese of St David's, except five, which are included in the English diocese of Hereford. New Radnor, said to have been at one period the principal town, is now a very poor village; it was an ancient borough by prescription, and has also had charters granted by Queen Elizabeth, and by George II.

Two-thirds of the whole area of the county are supposed to be uninclosed and uncultivated. An extensive mountainous tract, nearly in the centre, is usually called the Forest. A part of this range still belongs to the crown, although the forests of Radnor and Blathynagh have both been alienated, and are now held by Sir George Cornewall Lewis and Lieut.-Col. Price as foresters. No part of the range attains any great elevation. Its highest summit was ascertained by Colonel Mudge to be 2163 feet above the level of the sea. Within its limits is a torrent, called by a name which, when translated, is "Water-break-its-neck," that falls abruptly from a height of about 150 feet. The higher ranges produce only heath; but the sides and lower parts of the hills, which are less exposed to the winds, are entirely devoted to the pasturage of sheep and small horses. The north-western angle of the county is mountainous and uninclosed, and it was into the recesses of these wilds that the British monarch Vortigern retreated from the Saxons. In the eastern and southern districts the valleys are wider and more fertile, and abound with small rivulets; while the hills are less elevated, and are partially clothed with wood.

The soil of the county is chiefly an open shaly clay, which in sheltered situations yields, under good cultivation, excellent crops of turnips, oats, and Welsh barley. In the east there is an admixture of the red sandstone soils, which are of great fertility and of a loamy character.

The climate is wet and stormy, and the spring months are particularly cold and ungenial. It is nevertheless healthy; there are no peculiar or prevalent diseases, and the inhabitants are robust and long-lived.

The principal river is the Wye, which enters the county at Savan-y-Coed, and, flowing in a south-easterly direction, divides this county from Brecknock. Its tributaries are the Elau, the Ithon, the Edw, and the Marteg. The River Teme forms the county boundary on the north-east, and continues its course by Ludlow to the Severn. The Lug and the Arrow, in the more central parts, form considerable streams before they enter the county of Hereford. There are some small lakes or pools requiring notice only as contributing to the beauty of the scenery. These are—Llyn Llanbychllini, Hendwell Pool, and Llyn Gwyn. A cataract at Rhayader was formerly an object much visited by travellers; but the construction of a bridge has widened the channel, and deprived it of much of its remarkable character.

The agriculture of the county is gradually improving. Irrigation has long been practised to a considerable extent, and its effects on absorbent soils are found to be highly beneficial; but the process is not conducted in the most scientific manner. The ploughing was formerly usually performed by two oxen and two horses; but oxen are now seldom used, and the plough with two horses is in gradual adoption. Most of the farms consist of an equal portion of arable and of grass land. The latter is generally appropriated to the dairy, and the young cattle are reared on the more hilly and barren spots. About one-fifth of the county is under the plough, and one-tenth meadow; the remainder is chiefly occupied as sheep-walks. Large numbers of cattle, chiefly of the well-known Hereford breed, are annually reared; and these, with Welsh sheep, ponies, and butter, form the staple of the agricultural exports.

There is little commerce carried on in this county, as might be anticipated, from its remoteness and difficulty of access. There are some woollen manufactures carried on, chiefly of coarse cloth and flannel.

The county is not known to contain any valuable minerals. A lead mine has been opened and abandoned, and in some places an uncertain belief has prevailed of the existence of copper. Various mineral springs are known; and Llandrindod is a place of great resort on account of the medicinal qualities of its saline, sulphurous, and chalybeate wells. In several other parts there are similar springs, the properties of which have not been accurately ascertained.

In Radnorshire there are many vestiges of antiquity. The abbey of Cwm Hir stood formerly in a singularly retired and romantic situation on the banks of a rivulet which runs into the Wye. A small vestige remains of a castle at New Radnor, which was assailed and destroyed "by the irregular and wild Glendower," previously to the battle noticed by Shakspeare, in the first part of Henry IV., when Mortimer was taken prisoner. It was fought at Pilletth in this county. A Roman road, which reached from Chester to Caermarthen, traversed this county, entering its confines on the northern extremity, in the direction of Newtown, following the valley of the River Ithon, and crossing the Wye into Brecknockshire near the town of Builth. At Cwm, near Llandrindod, the remains of a Roman station on this road are still discernible.

This county returns one member to Parliament, and has done so since 1536. The district boroughs of Radnor, Cefn-Llys, Knighton, Knucklas, Rhyader, and Presteign returns another. The political influence is in the hands of Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Colonel Price of Norton Court, and the De Wintons of Maeslough. The famous Harley, Earl of Oxford, represented the Radnor boroughs from 1690 till 1711.

The population, by the census of 1851, was 24,716, of which number 12,693 were males, and 12,023 females. This gives 58 persons to a square mile, or 11 acres to each person; thus proving it to be the most thinly-peopled part of Wales, or indeed of England and Wales. The number of inhabited houses in 1857 was 4614; uninhabited, 217; building, 28; giving 11 houses to a square mile, and 5-4 persons to a house. The population had decreased in the ten years previous to 1857 by nearly 700 persons. The amount of real property assessed for the income-tax in 1857 was £146,072; the amount of property assessed for relief of the poor was £111,007. It is calculated that upwards of 18 per cent. of the population live by agriculture; nearly 8 per cent. by trade, manufactures, &c.; 50 per cent. of the whole are in the condition of labourers and servants; only 100 persons follow professions, and about 800 possess independent means.

In 1847 there were in this county 43 day-schools for the working-classes, attended by 1381 scholars, and 53 Sunday-schools, attended by 2309 scholars; of these 1146 were at Church of England Sunday-schools, and 1163 at dissenters' schools, chiefly Methodist. In 1847 it was ascertained that there were only from 2500 to 3000 persons in this county who could not speak the English language, out of a population of 25,000, while in the adjoining county of Cardigan only 3000 could speak English, out of a population of 70,000.

(R. G.)