Class W 7/0 Book « r\ / r2a THE CAMBRIAN PLUTARCH: COMPRISING MEMOIRS OF SOME OF THE MOST EMINENT WELSHMEN, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT. By JOHN H. PARRY, Esq. LONDON: PRINTED FOR W. SIMPKIN AND R. MARSHALL, STATIONERS'-HALL COUKT, LUDGATE STREET. 1824, J. M'Creery, Tooks court, Chaccery-lane, Loudon, PREFACE In offering the following work to the public, it is impossible for the author not to be influenced by a more than ordinary anxiety respecting its fate. His own comparative inexperience as a public writer, and the consciousness he unaffectedly feels of his imperfections in this respect, might of them- selves be sufficient to justify this solicitude. But there are other circumstances that serve, in a mate- rial degree, to augment the apprehension he enter- tains as to the favourable reception of the Cam- brian Plutarch, and which require some preli- minary notice. It is a fact not to be questioned, that a remark- able degree of ignorance prevails respecting the literature and history of that portion of our island, in which such of the aboriginal race, as had sur- vived the repeated shocks of foreign invasion, sought their last asylum from the swords of their enemies. While the national peculiarities, whether in manners or literature, of Scotland and Ireland, have been industriously explored, and, in many instances, successfully developed, Wales has been a 2 IV PREFACE. regarded with an indifference not easily to be re- conciled with that spirit of enterprise, by which the literary republic of Great Britain is known to be animated. Some efforts, it is true, have been made to describe the peculiar habits and customs of the Welsh; but, in most instances, these, instead of being faithful portraits, have been mere idle caricatures. The writers have, for the most part, enjoyed few or none of those advantages which are indispensable to a just delineation of national characteristics, and many of them have been con- tent to adopt, without examination, the imperfect or distorted sketches of others. To these and similar causes it is owing that so much indifference, to speak generally, has been manifested towards any thing relating to the national features of Wales. The public have judged, upon grounds sufficiently plausible, that a country, of which so little that is interesting has hitherto been divulged, can possess but few resources either for their instruction or en- tertainment. A more auspicious light, indeed, seems recently to have dawned upon the cause of Welsh litera- ture ; and, if it has not as yet been the means of extending the knowledge of it in any material degree, it has apparently awakened a more ge- neral interest in its behalf. This, at least, is true of the natives of Wales themselves, who seem at length to have emerged from the ungerrial apathy, PREFACE. V by which they had been too long overwhelmed. Yet, much remains to be done before the cause, in which they have associated, can make any im- portant progress beyond the confines of the Prin- cipality. It is not sufficient that Welshmen have at last learned to appreciate the value of their ancient literary remains, whether of history or of poetry. In order to do full justice to their na- tional literature, in order to make it an object of interest to others, they should divest it of its native garb, and present it to the world in a form more qualified to allure the general reader. At present, Englishmen have few or no means of esti- mating the justice of that enthusiasm, with which the names of Taliesin, flywel Dda, or Llywelyn, are hailed on the soil of their birth ; and they may well be excused if they continue sceptical in a cause, of which they are not placed in a situa- tion to judge. Such are the circumstances, presenting a mix- ture of discouragement and of hope, under which the present work issues from the press ; and there is reason to believe, that it is the first effort to combine, under one view, any enlarged biogra- phical notices of the more eminent natives of the Principality. On this account it may perhaps be received with indulgence: the author at least hopes, that it will not be condemned with unre- flecting severity. VI PREFACE. The lives embraced in this volume, the reader will perceive, are arranged in a chronological or- der, commencing with the beginning of the sixth century, — a considerable time indeed before the dominion of the Cymry, or Ancient Britons, was exclusively confined to Wales, but still long after the period when they first took possession of that country. Arthur, the first name on the list, may possibly startle those, who have derived their only knowledge of that individual from the fabulous le- gends, of which he is the hero ; but it is proper to add, that none of these were consulted on the oc- casion of writing the present brief memoir, which is drawn, almost entirely, from such sources as have ever been deemed of sufficient authenticity by those, to whom the ancient historical notices of Wales are familiar. Independently of the avowed historical resour- ces, of which use has been made in this volume, there are others that may not appear quite so ob- vious to the general reader. Of these the chief are the ancient Welsh poems and Triads. Some observations on the more remarkable features of the former will be found in the Life of Aneurin; and from these it will be seen, that, as historical documents, where they are connected with the events of the times, the effusions of the ancient bards have a value, which does not, in general, belong to productions of this nature. With re- PREFACE. VII spect to the Triads, which are perhaps peculiar to Welsh literature, they embody, in their quaint form, some of the earliest traditions relating to the history of this island ; and, as they are con- firmed, in numerous instances, by other authori- ties, an equal credit may, without difficulty, be conceded to them in those, in which such confir- mation is wanting. Wherever, therefore, any no- tices connected with this work have been found in the Triads, the author has not hesitated to avail himself of them ; yet these are not numerous, and relate, as will be seen, to the earliest lives. In a word, with reference to the two sources of infor- mation now alluded to, poetry, among the Cymry, had, for ages, anticipated the functions of history, and in the Triads were often preserved what might not admit of diffusion in the strains of the bard. These phenomena, in ancient Welsh literature, had apparently their origin in the Bardic, or Druidical Institution, of which the encouragement of oral tradition, whether by songs or aphorisms, formed a prominent characteristic. The reader must not conclude, that the follow- ing pages embrace all that is worthy of record in the biographical annals of Wales. The few names to which they are confined form a selection out of a considerable number, most of them equally worthy of the pen of the biographer. But the au- thor's plan was originally of a limited nature, and Vlll PREFACE. the chronological arrangement he had adopted made it unexpectedly necessary, in the progress of the work, to curtail it still more. The conse- quence has been, that many lives of interest have been excluded, which, however, if the present humble attempt should be favourably received, may serve to form a supplementary volume. It may be necessary also to premise, that, in making the selection for this work, regard was paid to such individuals only as had, in some re- spect or other, identified themselves with the land of their birth, by a promotion of its literary or political interests. Accordingly, many natives of Wales, who have eminently distinguished them- selves in other countries, but whose labours have in no way been conducive to the immediate inte- rests of their own, have not been considered as being embraced within the design of the Cambrian Plutarch. If any apparent exceptions to these remarks should be found, they must be ascribed to some peculiarity of circumstances, that in- fluenced the mind of the writer, and which it might be tedious here to explain. There is one feature of this work, which, pro- bably, will not pass unnoticed. This is the great number of notes, which, according to the particu- lar taste of the reader, may be regarded either as a blemish or an advantage. The truth, however, is, that the author would gladly have dispensed PREFACE. IX with them, if he could have done so without endan- gering that perspicuity, which he was particularly anxious to cultivate. And this solicitude was na- turally increased by his consciousness of the ge- neral ignorance or misinformation, already advert- ed to, on subjects connected with Wales. In conclusion, it only remains for the author to advert to a departure from the common orthogra- phy of the Welsh language as received at the pre- sent day, that has been adopted in this volume. Allusion is here made to the substitution of v for f, and, except in the case of proper names, of f for ff ; which, however, can only be regarded as an attempt to emancipate the letters in question from the abuses to which they have been too long ex- posed, and thus to restore them to their primitive rights. That this attempt, when opposed to the inveteracy of habit and the influence of autho- rity, will prove abortive, there is too much reason to apprehend. Yet, it may be hoped, that what the example of a humble individual may fail to effect, will, at no distant day, be accomplished by the united efforts of the more enlightened natives of Wales, and especially in a case where the exist- ing corruption has never been defended on any rational grounds. CONTENTS. Page Arthur 1 Aneurin 21 Taliesin 41 Llywarch Hen . 55 St. David . 71 Asser Menevensis 86 Hywel Dda 98 Rhys ab Tewdwr Ill Owain Gwynedd 123 Giraldus Cambrensis . 146 Llywelyn ab Gruff ydd 173 Davydd ab Gwilym 209 Owain Glyndwr 229 Sir Rhys ab Thomas 273 Humphrey Llwyd 299 Dr. John David Rhys 309 Bishop Morgan . 318 Dr. John Davies 329 Edward Llwyd 337 Lewis Morris - 34^8 Thomas Pennant, Esq 357 Rev. Peter Roberts 376 THE CAMBRIAN PLUTARCH ARTHUR. To rescue truth from the embraces of fiction, and to erect on the ruins of fable the fair edifice of genuine history, must be, at all times, a work of no little hazard. And the task acquires a peculiar difficulty, when it concerns those legen- dary productions, in which our infancy has been wont to delight, and which are accordingly associated with our earliest prepossessions. The visions of childhood are not easily dissipated ; for, whatever may be the influence of a maturer experience, it is not without reluctance that the mind emancipates itself from the spell of its former illusions. Where the genius of Romance has spread around her gor- geous creation, we love to linger near the visionary scene — we hold enraptured converse with all its fantastic popula- tion, and, when, at length, the charm is dissolved, we are loath to acknowledge those beings as merely human, whom we have been accustomed to regard as little less than divine. There can be no case more strongly illustrative of the justice of these observations than the history of the re- nowned Arthur ; enveloped, as it has been, in the splendid disguises of chivalry, and in the extravagant decorations of romantic or mythological lore. To strip our hero of these delusive ornaments, and to present him to the world in his real character — not as the triumphant invader of distant countries* — not as the conqueror of giants and kingdoms — not as the possessor of every human excellence, and even of supernatural powersf, but merely as a warrior, distin- guished indeed by his valour and his successes, but not otherwise exalted above his contemporaries — is an under- taking of no common risk. Those, who have from their cradle been taught to admire what resounds In fable or romance of Uther's son, Begirt with British and Armoric knights, will hardly descend to contemplate that same individual, as one exposed to the ordinary vicissitudes of fortune, and pretending to no other reputation than what belongs to the warlike champion of an uncivilized age. Yet at last we may say, with an ingenious writer, that, " when all fictions" in the life of Arthur " are removed, and when those inci- dents only are retained, which the sober criticism of his- * Among the countries, which Arthur is reported by Geoffrey of Mon- mouth and others to have subdued, are Ireland, Denmark, Norway, and Palestine, from which latter place he is modestly recorded to have brought away the holy cross as a trophy. The visions of these romancers are effec- tually dispelled by the more sober testimony of the ancient bards and the Triads. f There is no virtue, actual or ideal, with which the legendary biogra- phers of Arthur have not adorned his romantic character. Geoffrey of Monmouth, with a hyperbolical profaneness, asserts, that " God hath not created, since the time of Adam, a man more perfect than Arthur; and that this perfection was bestowed upon him by God, as an inherent virtue from his birth." Yet even this eulogium is outdone by Joseph of Exeter, who, in his Antiocheis, ascribes to our hero a superiority not only over all former excellence, but over all that may possibly exist hereafter. These are his words : — — reges supereminet omnes Solus ; praeteritis melior mqjorque futuris. tory sanctions with its approbation, a fame, ample enough to interest the judicious and to perpetuate his honourable memory, will still continue to bloom # ." Arthur was the son of Meirig ab Tewdrig, a prince of the Silurian Britons at the commencement of the sixth century, and who is, in all probability, to be identified with our hero's reputed sire, Uthyr, or Uther, of legendary celebrity. For the custom of adopting assumed appellations was by no means unusual with the Britons of that age ; and hence the epithet of Uthyr, or Wonderful, may naturally have been appropriated to Meirig, whose exploits, in his wars with the Saxons, appear to have given him a claim to such a distinction*!-. And it has been plausibly surmised, that the name of Arthur was likewise of the same nature, bor- rowed, perhaps, from some fabulous hero, before eminent in the traditions of the country ; and thus may have origi- nated those extraneous embellishments, which have served to obscure the true history. Nor is it unworthy of notice, that Arthur is, in Welsh, synonymous with the constellation of Ursa Major, a coincidence, to which we may probably trace some of the mythological properties, with which the character of this ambiguovs personage has been invested J. But, whatever may have been the original appellation of the celebrated son of Meirig, the only one, that history has * Turner's " History of the Anglo-Saxons," vol. i. p. 230. t The other name of Pendragon, applied to Uthyr, denotes a supreme leader or ruler, and has no reference, as Camden and others have imagined, either to the " serpentine subtlety" of that chieftain, or to the emblem borne on his banners. % Another constellation, that of Lyra, also bears, in Welsh, the name of the Silurian chieftain. It is called Telyn Arthur, the Harp of Arthur. Yet it is more than probable, that it had this designation long before Arthur's existence, and that it meant, originally, the Harp of the Great Bear, as the words literally imply. B2 transmitted to us, is that, under which he is here presented to the reader. Of the mother of Arthur we have no certain account; for the assertion of Geoffrey of Monmouth, that he was the offspring of an illicit intercourse between his father and a Cornish princess, does not appear to be deserving of much credit*. We learn, however, from some ancient "Welsh records, that he had a sister, named Anna, who was mar- ried to Llew, a brother of Urien, a distinguished chief of the Cumbrian Britons, during that warlike and turbulent age. It was this Anna, that gave birth to Medrod, who was destined by his unnatural treason to have so fatal an influence, as we shall hereafter see, on the fortunes of his renowned uncle. According to some writers, Arthur first saw the light at Tindagel in Cornwall, a country at that time inhabited by a people of kindred extraction and language with the na- tives of Wales, and united with them in one common league against the Saxons. It is not improbable, therefore, that the events of the times may have led Meirig to reside occa- sionally with his family among the Cornish Britons, who may have marched to battle under his banners, as they afterwards did under those of his son. For, whether Arthur was a native or not of this part of the kingdom, he is re- * The intercourse, here noticed, was carried on, as Geoffrey affirms, by the magical contrivance of Merlin, who enabled Uthyr to assume the form of the princess's husband, Gorlois. John Hauvillan, an Anglo-Latin poet, has the following allusion to this happy stratagem : — Facie dum falsus adulter Tindagel irrupuit, nee amoris Pendragon aestum Vincit, et omnifiens Merlini consulit artes, Mentiturque ducis habitus, et, rege latente, Induit absentis prceseutia Gorlois ora. corded, in the Historical Triads, to have had a supreme court in Cornwall, at a place called Celliwig ; the identity of which with Tindagel has been conjectured, yet more, per- haps, from a desire to favour the tradition respecting the place of his birth, than upon any more satisfactory grounds*. Of the juvenile years and early education of Arthur we have no particular memorials. That he was soon initiated in those martial pursuits, in which he afterwards excelled, may be inferred, as well from the manners of that period, as from the early age, at which he was elected to the chief sovereignty of the Britons. And we may conclude, that some attention was likewise paid to his religious instruction, from the circumstance that his father evinced a remarkable zeal in the cause of Christianity, which he considerably promoted amongst his countrymen, by the erection of a college at Llancarvan in South Wales. And the concur- rence of all the popular legends relating to Arthur, in ascribing to him the same laudable spirit in a pre-eminent degree, communicates to the foregoing surmise an addi- tional weight. About the year 517 Arthur was called to take the su- preme command of his countrymen against the growing dominion of the Saxons, and that too by a general suffrage, such as had, in earlier times, conferred a similar distinction on Cassivellaunus and Caractacus, when, in the hour of emergency, they were selected to oppose the powerful arms of Romef. According to some authorities, Arthur was, at * Celliwig has likewise been attempted to be identified both with Lest- withieland Pendennis Castle. But. the truth is now, most probably, beyond the reach of conjecture. + We have the express testimony of Cajsar, that Cassivellaunus, or Cas- wallon, was thus elected. See Bell. Gall. 1. v. c. 9. And with respect to Caradog, the celebrated Caractacus of the Roman writers, he is described 6 this time, no more than fifteen years of age; but, as he is recorded to have exercised, for several years before, the sovereign power over his patrimonial territory in South Wales, it is probable, that, although young, he must have been of a maturer age than that assigned to him at the period alluded to. He is recorded, on this occasion, to have been invested with the insignia of royalty, with great pomp and solemnity, at Caerlleon on XJsk, by Dyvrig, or Dubri- cius, Archbishop of Llandav, and in the presence of se- veral British princes, who were, probably, thus convened to give their sanction to the national vote*. Whatever credit may be due to this account, it is still certain that Arthur was, at an early period of life, entrusted with a pre-eminent military command, and owing, we may reasonably conclude, to the experience his countrymen already possessed of his talents and courage. by Tacitus as one, " quem multa ambigua, multa prospera extulerant, ut caeteros Britannorum imperatores praemineret." — Annal. 1. xii. c. 33. They are both, moreover, recorded in the Historical Triads, as having been raised to the sovereignty by the public vote. See the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 168. * Among the writers who have adopted or embellished the legend of Geoffrey relating to this event, are Matthew of Westminster, Leland, and Churchyard, in his " Worthiness of Wales;" the first of whom thus speaks of the reputation in which Arthur was held when thus raised to sovereign rank : " Erat," he aays, " tam inauditae virtutis atque largitatis, unde tan- tarn gratiam promeruit, nt a cunctis et etiam ab hostibus commendaretur." Churchyard enumerates four kings, those of " Albania, Venedocia, Corn- wall, and Dimetia," as forming part of the royal procession on this occasion, each bearing in his hand a golden sword ; and their queens, he adds, in like manner, carried four white doves. He, moreover, introduces twelve " dis- creet personages of reverend countenance," bearing olive boughs in token of their " ambassage" from the Roman general, Lucius Tiberius, on whose behalf they were come to demand of Arthur the tribute withheld from the Romans since the time of Julius Caesar. Such are the fantastic flowers, with which fiction delights to wreathe the chaste brows of history. From tlie time that Arthur was thus raised to the chief dominion over his countrymen, it is reasonable to presume, that the distracted state of the times must have involved him in much war and bloodshed. His whole life, indeed, from the period alluded to, was, in all probability, a conti- nued series of martial achievements. For, in the north of England, in Wales, and in Cornwall, the Britons, or Cymry*, were still in sufficient force to resist, as they often did with signal advantage, the incursions of their Saxon invaders. Nennius, who in his Historia Brittonum has given a brief outline of the exploits of Arthur, enumerates twelve battles, in which he commanded against the Saxons, and in all of which he ascribes the victory to the British chief. The orthographical obscurities of this writer, however, owing either to his own ignorance or to the carelessness of tran- scribers, render it impossible, in most instances, to speak with any degree of certainty of the local situation of these engagements. The learned historian of Manchester has made an able attempt towards the illustration of some of them; but too much doubt still hangs over the subject to admit of the unqualified adoption of Mr. Whitaker's inge- nious conjectures^- . But, although it would be extremely hazardous to place implicit reliance on the authority of Nennius in this instance, it may be collected from other less questionable sources, that Arthur was engaged in several conflicts as well against * The English reader should here be apprised, that Cymry is the name by which the Welsh have distinguished themselves from time immemorial. It implies a first or aboriginal people, and is pronounced as if written Kumry. It may also be necessary to inform the Welsh reader, that, in compliance with popular usage, the term Britons is often employed in these pages, where Cymry would have been more strictly correct. t See the History of Manchester, voL ii. p. 31, &c. for an interesting, though hypothetical, narrative of the wars of Arthur. 8 domestic foes as against the common enemy. The most important of those fought with the latter is allowed by the concurrent testimony of most early writers to have been the battle of Badon Hill as it is commonly called, fought in the vicinity of Bath*. According to most authorities, this was also the first engagement of note, which Arthur had with the Saxons, although it occurs last in the list given by Nen- nius. Bede, however, a more authentic as well an earlier writer, and who is followed by Usher, fixes this battle in the year ^ve hundred and twenty, about three years after the presumed era of Arthur's election to the sovereign com- mand. The Saxons, on this occasion, were led by the brave Cerdic, who in the preceding year, according to the Saxon Chronicle, had gained considerable advantages over the Britons at a place thence called Cerdicsford, now Chard- ford, in Hampshire. It is by no means improbable, that these successes of Cerdic may have roused the Britons to more vigorous exertions, which terminated with their tri- umph at Badon. And this agrees with the testimony of an ancient Welsh poem, which, in allusion to the event, has the following lines : — i Woe to the miserable ones, on account of the battle of Badon ! Arthur was at the head of the valiant with their blood red blades ; He revenged on his foes the blood of his warriors, Warviors, who had been the defence of the sovereigns of the north. The prodigies of personal valour, ascribed by Nennius * Some writers, without any foundation, have placed the scene of this battle in the north ; but we would rather agree with Camden, who says, it was fought near the hill now called " Bannesdown, hanging over the little village of Bathstone, and shewing in his day," as he tells us, * its bulwarks and rampii e." And it is no small proof of this being the Badon alluded to, that the adjacent vale on the Avon bears still among the Welsh the name of Nant Badon, or the Valley of Badon. 9 to Arthur on this occasion, belong more to fable than his- tory*. But, as it is recorded, that, in a treaty concluded with Cerdic after the engagement, the supremacy of the British chieftain was fully acknowledged, the decisive cha- racter of the battle may easily be inferred. It secured to him, in all probability, the independence of his dominions on both banks of the Severn. It is impossible to enumerate, in their proper order, any of the other battles of Arthur, that intervened between the one just noticed, and the fatal conflict of Camlan. Many, no doubt, were fought as well in the general warfare against the Saxons, as in the civil dissensions amongst the Britons themselves. Two are specified by Llywarch Hen, or Llyw- arch the Aged, ah eminent Welsh bard and a contempo- rary. One of these was fought at Llongborth, and the other upon the Llawen ; but the precise situation in both cases is involved in considerable obscurity. Llongborth was some harbour in the southern coast of England ; and an ingenious writer*!* identifies it with Portsmouth, and sup- poses the battle in question to have been that fought with Porta on his first landing at that place. That the engage- ment, with whomsoever fought, took place after Arthur had been raised to the sovereign power, may be clearly inferred from the expression of the poet above alluded to, who says — At Llongborth were slain to Arthur Valorous heroes, who hewed down with steel, The emperor was he and chief conductor of the toil of war. And, from his general description of the contest, it must * " In this engagement," quoth Nennius with all the gravity of a vera- cious historian, " nine hundred and forty fell by his own hand alone, no one but the Lord affording him assistance." — See Gunn's Translation, p. 36. f Mr. Turner, in his History of the Anglo-Saxons. 10 have been of a most obstinate character ; for he adverts to " men engaged with blood to their knees," and to " biers loaded with innumerable slain :" — expressions, that, with all due allowance for poetical embellishment, must be taken as indicative of a fierce and sanguinary encounter. We are not expressly informed of the event of the battle ; but the general tenour of the poem seems to favour the presump- tion, that Arthur and his followers were triumphant. Of the other conflict, which took place on the Llawen, a river most probably in North Britain, by some supposed to be the Leven, and by others the Lon, we have but a scanty notice, and even that in some respect questionable, as it regards Arthur. It occurs in a passage in which the bard has an apparent allusion to one of his sons as having fought under the British champion upon this occasion*. Although, at this distance of time, we cannot pretend to particularize the numerous actions in which Arthur signa- lized himself against the enemies of his country, we are justified by the general voice of history in ascribing to him a pre-eminent character in this point of view. In addition to Llywarch, already quoted, two other contemporary poets, Taliesin and Merddin, are loud in his praise as a successful warrior and a distinguished commander. Nor is it any de- traction from his reputation in this respect, that he was oc- casionally foiled by the bravery or skill of his adversaries. Cerdic, in particular, to whom it may be presumed he was opposed, even after the combat at Badon Hill, is allowed * The passage in question is to be found in Llywarcb's Poem on his Old Age, in which he speaks of one of his sons as having fought on the Llawen, when " Arthur did not retreat ;" but, as there is a different reading of the original, which excludes all notice of Arthur, the authority is by no means decisive. — vSee Owen's Translation of the " Heroic Elegies of Llywarch H$n," p. 130. 11 frequently to have fought under happier auspices, and to have derived new energy even from his defeats*. But it was not against dexterity and valour alone that Arthur had to contend : he had to oppose the more dangerous machi- nations of treachery and of treason. Among the Britons of this age, of whom we have any memorials, the name of Medrodf has been handed down with peculiar infamy. He was a native of the northern part of the island, and a nephew of Arthur, being, as already incidentally noticed, the son of his sister Anna. Early in life, as it would seem, Medrod was admitted into the court of Arthur, where he became remarkable not less for his insi- nuating address than for his personal prowess. It is pro- bable, therefore, that these qualities served to ingratiate Jhim with his uncle, whose friendship and confidence he ap- pears to have enjoyed in a distinguished degree. For during the absence of Arthur on one occasion, probably in one of his military campaigns J, Medrod was entrusted with the regency, and basely availed himself of the power he thus possessed to plot the destruction of his friend and kinsman. He accordingly entered into a conspiracy with another traitor named Iddog, who appears to have been alike privy to the plans and counsels of Arthur, and to have been equally ready to abuse the confidence he had ac- * Hence the author of the Polychronium observes of Cerdic, " si semel vinceretur, ali& vice acrior surrexit ad pugnam." t Erroneously called Modred by almost all English writers. t Arthur, according to some of his fabulous biographers, was, on this occasion, absent in Armorica; according to others, he was marching for Rome. It is safer to presume, however, that, while Medrod was thus en- gaged in his traitorous enterprise in Cornwall, the British chieftain was em- ployed against the Saxons in some other part of the island, and most pro- bably in the north, which was, for a long period, the scene of the most ob- stinate struggles between the British and Saxon forces. 12 quired*. The secret confederacy thus formed soon ripened into open hostility ; and there is reason to infer, that Me- drod was able to seduce to his cause no inconsiderable number of his countrymen, too willing in that turbulent age to swell the ranks of violence and dissension. Medrod's first act of aggression, after this proof of his villainy and ingratitude, was to lay waste the royal domains of Arthur in Cornwall; and this he is represented to have done in so effectual a manner as to have left nothing uncon- sumed that was capable of being destroyed. And, that his baseness might not want its consummation, he is recorded to have forced Gwenhwyvar, the wife of Arthur, into a compliance with his incestuous passion. The perfidy of Medrod, however, did not remain long without its reward ; for Arthur, upon receiving intelligence of it, took ample re- prisals upon the patrimonial possessions of the traitor in the north, destroying, with an unsparing hand, whatever pre- sented itself to the fury of his revenge. Both these events are recorded in the Historical Triads, and are by no means inconsistent with the lawless spirit of an age, in which social rights were too often made subservient to the gratification of every disorderly passion. Yet, agreeably with the an- cient usages of the Britons, the country was bound to in- demnify the aggrieved from the effects of such public enor- mities ; and hence the acts of violence above related are * This person is called Iddog Corn Prydain in the Triads, where he is twice lecorded for this act of baseness. The conference between him and Medrod, at which their plans were formed, is described to have been held at a place called Nanhwynain.— See the Cambro- Briton, vol. i. pp. 171 and 203. Iddog afterwards embraced a religious life, as if to atone, by an' appearance of piety, for the treachery of which he had been previously guilty. His name is accordingly to be found enrolled amongst those of the British Saints. 13 enumerated in the Triads among the " dear devastations of the Isle of Britain*.'* This reciprocity of private outrage "was soon followed by more general hostilities; for MedrotJ, exasperated, as we may presume, by the summary chastisement which his trai- torous conduct had so justly entailed upon him, united his forces with those of the Saxons. And it is probable, as assumed in the popular legends of Arthur, that this unna- tural league was the source of several engagements between the Britons and Saxons, in which the former were vic- torious, previously to the last important conflict, which determined at once the power and the life of the British warrior. Whatever uncertainty may hang over any other portion of the memorials of Arthur, it seems to be placed beyond a doubt, that he closed his career in the battle of Camlan, fought, according to the most probable calculation, about the year 542. The ancient Welsh writings, whether poet- ical or historical, concur in the statement of this event, which is also adopted by all English authors of any creditf. Different opinions, however, have existed as to the situation of Camlan, some placing it in the North of England, and others in Cornwall. But, the balance of authorities is de- cidedly in favour of the latter conjecture ; and it may be assumed as an historical fact, that the country of Arthur's nativity was also the scene of his death, — * For a translation of the Triad, in which these acts of mutual violence are recorded, see the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 50. t The works of Taliesin and the Triads abound in notices of this event. See the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 204. and vol. ii. pp. 218 and 435. Leland, Camden, and the generality of English writers, have also arrived at the same conclusion. 14 As though no other place in Britain's spacious earth Were worthy of his end but where he had his birth*. This battle is described to have been of a most sangui- nary nature, and, according to the Triads, three only sur- vived its destructive ravagesf. But, although the names of these survivors are particularly specified, it is safer to presume that there is some degree of exaggeration in the statement, which may merely be meant to denote the deso- lating consequences of the conflict. However, be this as it may, the traitor Medrod suffered, on this occasion, the pe- nalty so justly due to his perfidious conduct. He fell on the field, but not before his illustrious and injured rival had also received his death-wound, and that, according to some accounts, from the very hand of his treacherous kinsman. It is also recorded in the Triads, that the fatal issue of this battle, as it concerned Arthur, was chiefly owing to an im- politic division, or exchange, that he made of his forces with Medrod J; thereby weakening his own army, and giv- ing proportionate strength to that of the enemy. Thus fell the British chieftain, and bis fall was a main cause of acce- lerating the overthrow of the ancient Britons, or Cymry, as an independent nation. The power of the Saxons ap- pears from this period gradually to have increased, until the primitive inhabitants were, at length, deprived of their * Drayton, in his Polyolbion. Among the few writers who have declared their scepticism on this point, is Carte in his History of England, who places Camlan at Kirby Lonsdale, in Westmoreland. The current of authorities, however, is in favour of the situation here adopted ; and the battle is sup- posed to have been fought near Camelford, on the banks of the Camel of Alan, anciently, accordingly to Camden, called Camblan, an opinion, which Leland appears previously to have espoused. f See the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 385. t Id. ib. p. 49. 15 ancient dominion, which was ultimately contracted within the mountain barriers of Wales. The interment of Arthur at Glastonbury, to which place his body is said to have been conveyed immediately from the fatal field of Camlan, and the subsequent discovery of his tomb in the reign of Henry II. are not perhaps such events as should be admitted, in an unqualified manner, into a narrative which aims at retaining only what has some pretension to historical truth. The confidence, however, with which the latter circumstance is detailed by Giraldus, a writer certainly of some credit, and who describes himself as speaking from ocular demonstration, deserves that it should not be entirely disregarded. According to this account, then, Henry II., having heard, whilst in Wales # , of an ancient tradition concerning Arthur's burial between two stone pillars at Glastonbury, caused search to be made on the spot, when a flat stone was discovered about seven feet be- neath the surface, having attached to its lower side a leaden cross with the following inscription : — ARTHURIUS IN INSULA AVALONIA. The characters, according to the facsimile given of them by Camden, are of a rude and Gothic form, and are not, from their peculiar construction, to be assigned, without much difficulty, to the age in which Arthur lived. How- ever, the inscription is regarded by Leland f as well as Gi- * It was while on a visit to Kilgaran Castle, in Pembrokeshire, that Henry is said to have received this intelligence. t Leland, in speaking of the cross, which he appears to have handled with a superstitious rapture, says of it — " quam ego curiosissimis content- platus cum oculis et solicitis contrectavi articulis, motus et antiquitate rei et dignitate." — It may here be proper to observe, that the authority of Leland, 16 raldus, both of whom saw it, as a genuine memorial of the hero, whose name it bears. Besides the inscription, and about nine feet lower, the presumed remains of Arthur were also discovered, inclosed in the trunk of an oak tree. They presented bones of an extraordinary magnitude, indicating the almost gigantic stature of the individual to whom they had belonged* ; and on the skull were the still visible vestiges of ten wounds, one of them from its greater size and more gaping appear- ance, supposed to be that which had caused his death. Near this rude coffin was another of a similar description, which was conjectured, from some yellow female hair that was found in it, to contain the remains of one of Arthur's wives. Such is, briefly, the narrative, which Giraldus supplies of this remarkable incident, and to which, it is scarcely necessary to add, he seems to have given implicit credit. That he actually saw the inscription, and the reputed bones of Arthur is unquestionable ; and whatever delusion may belong to the circumstance is not to be ascribed originally to Giraldus. He merely reports what he saw ; and what he reports he seems conscientiously to have regarded as free from any deception. He was, perhaps, too much of a patriot to scrutinize, with any degree of scepticism, an oc- currence so gratifying to his national prepossessions. The last earthly relics of his renowned countryman were, appa- rently, before him, and, dazzled by the spectacle, he suf- fered the improbabilities of the case to be overbalanced by however occasionally worthy of credit, is in general to he received with much caution. The Assertio Arturii is, in fact, a mixture of some truth with almost all that is fabulous in the life of the British champion. * Giraldus says, that the shin-bone, placed by the leg of a very tall man, rose the breadth of three fingers above his kuee. 17 the interesting associations, which forced themselves on his mind. He did not reflect, that six centuries had fully closed their destructive career since the remains of Arthur had been consigned to their silent abode; and the great probability that in so long a period some earlier discovery must have been made, if Glastonbury had been traditionally known to be the place of the chieftain's interment, had, we may conclude, no share of his consideration. Nor did he perhaps call to mind, that none of the bards of Arthur's time that survived his fall, and some of whom were on terms of intimacy with him, have any historical notice of his in- terment ; whilst, on the contrary, Taliesin distinctly alludes to it as "a mystery of the world," which seems to indi- cate, at least, the uncertainty in which the circumstance was involved in that age. Nor is the solution of this " mystery" a matter at present of any moment, even if it were possible; but all vestiges of the tomb and its sa- cred deposit have long ago vanished*. We must, there- fore, be content to trace them, as we can, in the account of Giraldus, which, however exposed to suspicion, deserves, from the currency it has obtained in the world, that it should not be rejected as altogether unworthy of notice. In addition to the main incidents in the life of Arthur * These disputed remains were removed, by the order of Henry, to the great church of Glastonbury, and were there enshrined in a splendid marble tomb, which was afterwards, in the reign of Edward I., placed before the high altar. Here it remained until the furious and undiscriminatiDg zeal of Henry VIII. overthrew the religious houses and all that they contained. Mr. Whitaker, author of the History of Manchester, was at Glastonbury, and saw, as he tells us, the two pillars, which originally stood near the grave of Arthur, and which were then appropriated to some common use. But, how could he have been satisfied as to their identity j or, if he was, what did it prove ? C 18 already recorded, the Triads and ancient Welsh poems have several miscellaneous notices respecting him, to which it may be proper to advert. We learn from these, that his three chief places of residence were in Wales, Cornwall, and the North of England ; between which, in all probabi- lity, his time was divided, as the exigency of his affairs re- quired his presence at one place or the other. His court, according to the same authority, was the grand resort of the valour and beauty of his dominions ; for the Triads have preserved the names of several warriors and distinguished females, that usually formed a part of it. And it may be right here to remark, that neither in these national docu- ments, nor in any other of an authentic character, is their the slightest allusion to the celebrated order of the Round Table, which, indeed, has long been rejected as a mere creature of romance. That Arthur was attached to the fair sex may be inferred from the testimony of the same ancient records ; for the names of four of his wives have descended to us, as well as those of three other females that lived with him in a less honourable character*. He had a sister, who has been before incidentally noticed ; and the names of three of his sons, Llechau, Noe, and Morgant, are to be collected from different sources ; but of Llechau alone are there any certain memorials. He is recorded in the Triads as having devoted himself to scientific pursuits, and, more particularly, to those of Natural History, in which he is said to have eminently excelled^. But he does not appear, on this account, to have been less atten- tive to his duties as a warrior and a patriot ; for he fell, * The Triads, in which the foregoing particulars are to be found, are translated in the third volume of the Cambro-Britorif p. 387 to 394. f See the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 242. 19 fighting against the enemies of his country, in the battle of Llongborth already adverted to, in which his father com- manded. The fame of Arthur must continue chiefly to rest, as it hitherto has, upon his military celebrity; but it appears from the Triads, that he also aspired to a more tranquil sort of renown. For he is numbered among the " irregular bards of the isle of Britain," in consequence of the incom- patibility of the bardic profession, as anciently existing in this island, with the general tenour of Arthur's occupations*. This, together with the patronage he afforded to his bardic contemporaries, and especially to Merddin and Llywarch Hen, sufficiently indicates his partiality to poetical pursuits, however he may have wanted the necessary leisure or talent to cultivate them to advantage. One triplet only, as- cribed to him, has survived the wreck of time ; and, from the simplicity of its structure, it seems to have the character- istics of a genuine composition. It merely designates, with- out any effort at poetical ornament, his three " chief battle- horsemen," a theme, it must be allowed, by no means un- likely to have employed the strains of a warriorf. Such was the renowned British hero, divested of the splendid apparel in which the votaries of romance have been wont to exhibit him. That he was a brave and skilful commander is evident from the concurrence of the most respectable testimony; and, no doubt, his exploits and example contributed materially to the success with which his countrymen often opposed the assaults of the Saxons. But, on the other hand, it must be admitted, that the civil * Id. ib. p. 437. t See vol. i. of the same work, p. 248, for the Triad containing this triplet or englyn. c 2 20 dissensions amonst the Britons themselves, in which he was occasionally engaged, may have had the effect of neu- tralizing, in some degree, the advantages he had gained over the common enemy ; yet, this may justly he regarded as the fault less of the man than of the age. It was an era, in which the dark and unsocial qualities of our nature appear to have been particularly predominant, and when the reputation of a hero was to be sought, not in the exer- cise of the peaceful virtues, but in rushing on, as the tem- pest urged, from slaughter to slaughter, reckless of the load of death and ruin that might fill his sanguinary career*. It is enough, that, under such circumstances, the fame of Arthur has descended to us, not only unsullied by the im- putation of any gross excesses, but as that of a distinguished and gallant assertor of the liberties of his country against the growing torrent, by which they were eventually over- whelmed. * This characteristic of those turbulent times may account for the epithet of u blood-stained warrior," which is given Arthur in the Triads, where he is also, however, more than once celebrated for his bravery. 21 ANEURIN. Before we enter upon the memoir of Aneurin, one of the most eminent of the ancient Welsh bards, it is neces- sary that we should take a cursory view of the nation to which he belonged. It might otherwise appear extraordi- nary, that one, whose birth and lineage are to be traced to the northern parts of Britain, should be numbered among those, who, by their genius or conduct, have shed a lustre upon the annals of Wales. According to the earliest Welsh records, whether in poetry or prose, which we have of this island, its first or aboriginal inhabitants were the Cymry, who are to be iden- tified with the Cimbri and Cimmerii of the Roman and Greek historians*. They are described as having emi- grated from Asia at a very remote period ; but the precise date of the event is now necessarily involved in an impene- trable obscurity. This primitive colonization was followed by other settlements made at various times, previous to the Roman invasion; and among which were those of the Loegrians, the Brython, the Coranians, and Belgae, the last of them, in all probability, about three centuries before * For the Triads, which record the first peopling of this island by the Cymry, see the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 45-7, and vol. ii. p. 97. The course taken by the Cymry in their progress to Europe, as marked out in these Triads, may be compared with similar accounts given of the advances of the Cimmerii and Cimbri by Herodotus, Strabo, Dionysius, Pliny, and other writers. A collection of the various statements, by which the authen- ticity of the Welsh records might be established, would far exceed the bounds of a note. Some judicious remarks on the subject may be seen in the Cambrian Register, vol. i. p. 13, &c. 22 our era # . These successive incursions had the natural effect of forcing the original colonists into the interior of the island, which, accordingly, Caesar describes, upon his arrival, as being inhabited by a people, whom he distin- guishes as indigenousf. By the invasion of the Romans, and afterwards by that of the Saxons, the Cymry were again compelled to retreat, which, we may presume, they did gradually until they finally settled in the extreme parts of the island. Hence, in the sixth century, we find Wales, Cornwall, and the North to be occupied by kindred tribes under one general denomination; and whose resistance to the Saxon arms in each of these places is expressly re- corded ; whilst the other parts of the island, south of the Tweed, had fallen under the dominion of the invaders, with whom the more ancient settlers in the same places, with some few exceptions perhaps, had become incorpo- rated J. The Cymry alone maintained, at the period adverted to, any thing like an independent existence and character ; and, however dispersed, they are to be regarded only as one nation, having not merely an identity of name, but a general affinity of manners and language. Such are the circumstances, that have caused the poets of North Britain, before its subjection to the Saxons, to be claimed * See the Cambro-Brilon, vol. i. p. 47-50, for the Triads which comme. morate the various settlements here noticed. f Bell. Gall. lib. v. c. 12. V t Taliesin, in one of his poems (Gwawd Lludd Mawr\ alludes to three na- tions, besides the Cymry and Saxons, as inhabiting this country in the sixth century. These he denominates Eingyl, Gwyddyl, and Prydyn, Angles, Gwyddelians, and Britons, all of whom appear to have been at that time associated with the Saxons. It appears also from the same poem, that the language of the Cymry consisted then of four dialects, probably those of North Wales, South Wales, North Britain, and Cornwall. 23 by the natives of Wales, who are the only surviving de- scendants of that primitive race, by which both countries were anciently peopled. Among these poets Aneurin, from the length and cele- brity of his principal work, deserves the first rank. He was the son of Caw ab Geraint, styled also the lord of Cwm Cawlwyd, a chieftain of that portion of North Britain, in- cluding the present Northumberland, to whose inhabitants the name of Ottadini was anciently given*. Our bard was born at the commencement of the sixth century, and was one of a numerous progeny, among whom Gildas, well known as a writer of that period, is also to be numbered, if indeed Gildas and Aneurin be not, as has been surmised, different names for the same individual. But the asperity, with which Gildas speaks of the bards, is by no means in favour of this hypothesis, however plausible the reasons by which it may be supported*)-. Of the early years of Aneurin we have no certain ac- count ; but it is probable, from the character of the times, that they were devoted to the cultivation of that martial spirit, which was soon to be called into action against the enemies of his country. For, when arrived, as we may presume, at the age of manhood, we find him opposed, with * The name of Ottadini appears to be derived from Gododini, implying, in Welsh, a people that inhabit a region bordering on the coverts, which is descriptive of the country in question. t The chief grounds alleged for this supposition are two. First, that Aneurin and Gildas, although both mentioned as the children of Caw, do not occur in the same lists; but that, where Gildas appears, Aneurin is omitted, and vice versd,. Secondly, that Gildas seems to be no more than a translation of Aneurin, as Pelagius of Morgan, and some other instances. There is much ingenuity in this conjecture ; but the fact, mentioned in the text, makes it difficult to believe, that Gildas could have been a poet, as Aneurin undoubtedly was. 24 the rest of his countrymen, to the Saxons in the disastrous conflict of Cattraeth, which forms the subject of his prin- cipal poem. The Britons, on this occasion, were com- manded by Urien Rheged, a celebrated warrior of that day, and must have been in considerable force, since Aneur- in alludes to three hundred and sixty-three as wearing the golden torques, an emblem, no doubt, of their preeminent rank or high military distinction*. They were, probably, so many independent chieftains, who, according to the custom of the times, as we learn from the Triads, were at- tended to the field by their particular retinuesf. This battle was fought on the coast of Northumberland;}; about the year 540, and proved fatal to the Britons, owing, it ap- pears, to their inebriated condition when they took the field ; and in consequence of which three chieftains only, * The old bards make frequent allusion to this eustom of wearing the golden wreath ; and we learn from Dio Cassius, that such an ornament was worn by Boadicea. The practice must have been preserved amongst the Cymry for some ages, as Llywelyn, a Welsh chieftain of the twelfth cen- tury, owed to it, no doubt, the epithet of Aurdorchog, (Torquatus,) by which he is known. One of these ancient insignia was found in 1692 at Harlech in Merionethshire ; and two others have been discovered of late years, one at Dolau Cothi in Carmarthenshire, and the other near Caerwys in the county of Flint. Nor was this custom confined to the ancient Britons ; for Propertius tells us, that Britomartus, a chieftain of the Gauls, was thus dis- tinguished. And it appears from a passage in Daniel (ch. v. v. 7 and 29) ? that a chain of gold was, in his time, a mark of high rank in Babylon. f See the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 337, for a Triad, enumerating three of these retinues, and one of which fought in the battle of Cattraeth. Aneurin reckons the number of combatants on this occasion at more than five hundred thousand : and, when we consider that the whole north was, at this period, confederated against the Saxons, this number, however in- credible, may not be greatly exaggerated. We all know what immense armies Boadicea had raised against the Romans four centuries earlier. $ The name of Cattraeth, (apparently derived from cad and traeth, the Battle-Strand,) and the numerous allusions in the Gododin, seem to leave no doubt that the conflict took place on the sea-coast. 25 out of the number above alluded to, escaped the general slaughter. History does not inform us who the Saxon commander was upon this occasion ; but there are reasons for supposing, that it was the celebrated Ida, who is known to have had several contests with the Britons in that part of the kingdom. Although Aneurin had the good fortune to survive the dreadful carnage of Cattraeth, he was not entirely exempted from the evils incident to a battle; for we find from his own authority, that he was taken prisoner by the enemy and treated, during his captivity, with extreme rigour. Loaded with chains, he was thrown into a gloomy dungeon, where he appears to have languished, for some time, in consider- able torture* ; and he would, in all probability, have sunk under his sufferings, if fortune had not sent to his aid a friend and fellow warrior. This was Cenau, a son of the venerable bard Llywarch Hen, who rescued Aneurin from his imprisonment, and has received, in the grateful strains of the poet, the meed of his generous valour. For the latter thus adverts to this interesting event : — From the power of the sword, (noble was the succour), From the cruel prison house of earth he released me, From the place of death, from the cheerless region, He, Cenau, son of Llywarch, magnanimous and brave. Whilst the poet thus records the generosity of his friend, * The following is the passage, in which the poet briefly alludes to his treatment on this occasion : — ' Pierced were the soles of my feet, Lacerated was my knee, In the house of earth, With a chain^f iron around my knees. This can only have reference to a close and cruel incarceration. 26 he, with a true poetical feeling, ascribes the preservation of his own life in the battle, like Horace on a similar occa- sion, to the sacred character of his muse. For, after enu- merating the three chieftains, who had survived the conflict, he observes, " and I too was saved from the shedding of my blood, as the recompence of my fair song." The calamitous issue of the battle of Cattraeth appears to have been the death-blow of the Britons, or Cymry, in that part of the island. Their chieftains, deprived of their territory, sought, in a precipitate exile, the safety no longer to be found in their native land. Among these the father of Aneurin, with such of his family as had been spared by the troubles of the times, fled to Wales. He and some of his sons settled in the island of Anglesey, where lands were allotted to them by Maelgwn, at that time prince of North Wales, and holding the nominal sovereignty of Britain; and in this retreat, enjoying the friendship and hospitality of a kindred people, they spent the remainder of their days. Aneurin, accompanied by such of his brothers as did not choose to remain with their father, retired to South Wales, where he is said to have experienced from Arthur a gene- rous welcome, accordant with the character of that prince. It does not appear, however, that he became, for any time, a resident at Arthur's court ; but on the contrary we learn from some ancient documents, that he took refuge among the inmates of Cadog's college at Llancarvan, apparently the favoured resort of the piety and learning of that age. Here it was, in all probability, that he contracted that in- timacy with the celebrated Taliesin, to which both bards bear testimony*, and which the congeniality of their genius See the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 93. 27 and disposition must have favoured in a peculiar de- gree : — Arcades ambo, Et cantare pares. The same passage in Aneurin, that records this friendship between the two poets, seems also to indicate that the Go- dodin, his chief production, was composed in the propi- tious seclusion of Cadog's college ; for he distinctly men- tions Taliesin's privity to his intention of writing this poem*. And, indeed, the dispersion of the Britons, which must so speedily have followed the decisive battle of Cattraeth, could have left him neither leisure nor inclination to " build the lofty rhyme" to the memory of his country's disasters before his arrival in Wales. The tranquillity, which he must have enjoyed in his monastic retirement, naturally favoured the project. It was there, that, after the agitation of his feel- ings and the violence of his griefs had subsided, he was enabled, for the first time, to retrace with calmness the melancholy vestiges of the past. Indulging in the * luxury of woe," he delighted, perhaps, to dwell on the misfortunes in which he had so largely participated ; or it may have been, that he sought, in his poetical inspirations, that solace for his sorrows, which the muse rarely fails to impart. Such may have been the circumstances that gave birth to the Gododin ; and we may fairly presume that similar pursuits employed the time of the bard during his residence at Llancarvan. How long he remained there we have no means of knowing, but, most probably, during the residue of his life. His death was occasioned, about the year 570, by the blow of an axe from the hand of an assassin, whom * id. ib. 28 the Triads have consigned to infamy for this act of atro- city*. Whatever may have been the devotion which Aneurin paid to his muse, no more than two productions, under his name, have descended to us ; and one only of these bears internal evidence of its genuineness. This is the Gododin, already noticed in the progress of the foregoing memoir ; and even this is obviously in a mutilated and imperfect state. But it is still the longest and most important of all the an- cient Welsh poems; and no account of Aneurin can be complete, that does not embrace an inquiry into its more remarkable characteristics. It may first be proper, however, to take a general view of the prominent traits of Welsh poetry, which distinguish it, in so essential a manner, from that of all other countries, ancient or modern. There is nothing, indeed, in the whole history of Welsh literature more singular than this peculia- rity of its mountain muse, and which has, no doubt, de- terred many from paying her the same homage, that has been vouchsafed to her sisters in other parts of the globe. The eccentricity of her attire has had, at first sight, it would appear, a sort of repulsive effect, which few have afterwards endeavoured to overcome. There can be no discredit in admitting that the poetry of Wales can boast of nothing to compete with the more celebrated productions of other countries. In vain should we look in it for the uniform sublimity which ennobles the strains of Homer, — for the unbending majesty, and elegant propriety, of the Virgilian sentiments,— or for the regular and well-sustained flight of Pope's philosophic muse. The * Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 10. 29 true characteristics of Welsh poetry are of a nature essen- tially different ; not that it is not often pregnant with glow- ing thought, with dignified sentiments, with tender feeling, and with fine moral sense ; but it rarely, if ever, happens, that the Welsh poet holds " the even tenour of his way" in one uninterrupted strain, whether of sublimity or of pathos. It is the irregular flash, the coruscation, of genius, rather than its full and steady blaze, that imparts a splendour to the awen* of Wales ; and hence it is, that the country is far more likely to supply rivals to Pindar or Gray than to Milton or Lucretius. And the lyric excellence of some of its poetry, especially the more ancientf , forms a practical illustration of this hypothesis. But, because the Welsh bards may have produced no- thing to equal the height of " Greek or Roman fame," we are not rashly to conclude that their strains possess no fea- tures, that can interest or delight. What has been said of the inferior poets of Greece may, in a more general sense, be justly applied to them : — Non si priores MaEonius tenet Sedes Homerus, Pindarieae latent Ceaeque, &c. For, although they have not mounted to the very pinnacle of poetical renown, it is not to be concluded that they lie * Awen is the word employed, in Welsh, to denote poetical genius : it means literally a flow of mind, or inspiration. The Poetical Triads contain a fine definition of genius, which it would be difficult to surpass. It is this : — " an eye that can see nature, a heart that can feel nature, and a resolution that dares follow nature." Johnson's laboured definition seems much inferior. t Among these the Odes of Gwalchmai, a poet of the twelfth century, stand pre-eminent ; and of which the muse of Gray has furnished the English reader with some spirited imitations. 30 grovelling at the base of the column. Nor, because they refuse allegiance to the power generally acknowledged within the territory of the muses, are they to be regarded as mere literary outlaws subject to no government, and bound by no legal restraint. We ought rather to admire the spirit, with which they have emancipated themselves from the sovereignty of Parnassus, and maintained, through so many centuries, the integrity of their republican inde- pendence. Among the general causes, to which the peculiar attri- butes of Welsh poetry are to be traced, may be noticed, in the first place, the singular institution of Bardism, formerly existing among the Cymry, and which appears to have grown out of the still more ancient system ascribed to the Druids. The Bards, indeed, composed, originally, one of the orders of the Druidical institution ; and when, in pro- cess of time, that political fabric was deprived of its primi- tive importance, they seem to have formed themselves into a distinct association. Some memorials of the regulations, to which this new institution was subject, as well as of their singular tenets, still survive; but they are, for the most part, so interpolated with the metaphysical subtleties of later times, that it is scarcely possible to distinguish the genuine from the spurious*. Enough, however, remains to shew, that poetry formed an especial object of the care and cultivation of the Bards, whose name has, accordingly, become synonymous with the sons of song. Hence the art was submitted to a strict discipline and a peculiar system of rules ; and it cannot be deemed surprising, if the earlier effusions of the Welsh poets were also impregnated with * For some of these Triads, see the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii, pp. 100, 290, aud 289. 31 the mystical doctrines of Bardism, as, indeed, may be proved to have been the case from some compositions still extant*. The Bards, thus regarding poetry as a necessary part of their institution, were naturally desirous of render- ing it an appropriate medium of the doctrinal or historical lore, which they thus treasured. To this it must be, in a great measure, ascribed, that Welsh poetry combines a richer store of metres than was, perhaps, ever known to that of any other nation, and which have been progressively increased, by the refinements of subsequent times, to the number of twenty-four. These are all dependent on a certain principle of alliteration, called cynghanedd^, which, being peculiar to Welsh prosody, invests the strains, over which it presides, with a certain original air, not easily to be explained to any ignorant of the Welsh tongue. But the influence of the Bardic institution on the ancient poetry of Wales was not confined to its metrical embellishment. It was also productive of a more essential and a more ho- nourable distinction in the love of truth, which it inculcated in its votaries. For " the truth against the world" was not only a favourite axiom of the Bards, but was also adopted as the motto of the order, and the vital principle of its proceedings J; and, by a natural transition, it became a predominant feature of their poetical productions. For * This is peculiarly observable in some of the poems of Taliesin. f The alliteration, implied by this word, must not be confounded with what is commonly understood by the English term. The Welsh word may be periphrastically rendered " an alliteral symphony of certain words govern- ed by metrical rules, and tending to the general harmony of the poem." t Thus, according to the Institutional Triads of Bardism, " to make truth manifest, and to diffuse the knowledge of it," is numbered among the attri- butes of the Bards ; and the Poetical " pure truth" as one of the three purities of poetry. 32 this reason it is, that, in matters of history, the poets have always been consulted as the faithful chroniclers of their times, while, by a singular contrast, the oldest prose com- positions are regarded, for the most part, as the mere vehicles of romance and of fiction. This inversion of the ordinary character of the respective species of writing is, perhaps, peculiar to Wales. Another and a material source of the native originality of the Cambrian muse is to be found in the particular charac- teristics of the Welsh language. Its oriental extraction, the copious significance of its simple terms, with the facilities resulting from the combination of these, added to the gram- matical structure of the language, have conspired to enhance this distinction by means of the various and novel sources of rhythmical harmony, which they have created. From this combination of accidents it has resulted, that the poetry of Wales, and more particularly that of ancient times, conveys to the ear of a person, uninformed of its peculiar properties, something unintelligible and obscure. And any attempt to explain it through the medium of a literal translation must necessarily prove unsatisfactory, as wanting those aids which give to the original the greatest portion of its beauty and energy. Nor is it possible, even in a poetical version, to preserve all the sententious brevity, with the sudden transitions and occasional boldness of figurative expression, peculiar to the muse of the Cymry. A third general cause of the literary phenomenon under discussion, and in sgme degree connected with the one last noticed, is the alliance that has ever existed between the songs of the bard and the strains of the musician. This has been the natural consequence of the harmonious pro- perties, already adverted to as inherent in the Welsh tongue. Hence arose the national custom of singing with the harp, 33 known in Wales from time immemorial, and not yet ex- tinct. The prevalence of this practice has, no doubt, contributed greatly to the formation of that rigid code of laws, by which Welsh poetry is governed, and may have occasioned certain metrical symphonies to be studied at the expense of those loftier aspirations, that confer dignity and immortality on the effusions of the muse. A desire to in- struct the mind, or to delight the fancy, seems generally to have had less influence on the poet than an anxiety to pour his fascinations upon the ear. Such is the concurrence of causes, that seems to have rendered the poetry of Wales less the poetry of thought than of expression. For, although the bard may appear occasionally to emancipate himself, with all the instinctive- ness of genius, from the shackles which impede his flight, there are still certain bounds which he finds himself unable to pass. The light of inspiration may illumine for a while, but it is speedily contracted within the magical circle by which his muse is beset. All this communicates to Welsh poetry, it cannot be denied, a sort of laboured and artificial character, which seems inconsistent with those higher and more alluring qualities that ought to belong to it. Yet it is not without its redeeming virtues. For, independent of its metrical beauties so unrivalled in their variety, it pos- sesses that vigorous terseness of thought and expression, which was anciently common to the poetry of the East. It displays also much splendid imagery, and, if it may want the regular charms of design and execution, that distinguish the more eminent productions of the muse, it is not without those vivid bursts, that indicate the gifted minds of its vo- taries. But, above all, it lays claim to a high historical character, which communicates a peculiar value to the more ancient remains, and would alone justify the estimation, in D si which they have ever been held by the admirers of Welsh literature. Among these intellectual relics, the Gododin of Aneurin has ever held the first rank, and yet not so much for its poetical merit, as for its historical details, the more valuable because the internal proofs of its genuineness are of so de- cisive a character. It does not indeed, like the classical effusions of Greece and Rome, or even like the reputed productions of Ossian, contain a well-contrived fable, em- bellished with all the artful colourings of the muse. It has no regular design, no definite object ; and, least of all, does it aim at flattering the national prepossessions of those, to whom it may be supposed to have been addressed. On the contrary, the subject, chosen by the poet, is, in the highest degree, reproachful to the character of his country- men : he sings of a disastrous defeat, which they had sus- tained, and that too owing to their inordinate indulgence in a low and degrading propensity. This is surely the very last theme, that would have suggested itself for the purposes of imposture : it was scarcely calculated to excite attention, much less admiration. In a word, it is just such a subject as an artless writer, having no desire but to re- port what he saw, may be presumed to have adopted ; and the genuineness of the Gododin, as a work of the sixth cen- tury, might be left with security to rest on this ground alone. But this is not all : the style of the poem, the language in which it is written, and the incidents which it records, are so many positive testimonies to its genuine character. It was the offspring of an age, be it remembered, which, in comparison with those that gave birth to the Iliad and iEneid, cannot but be deemed barbarous ; and it must not, therefore, be placed by the side of the renowned master- 35 pieces of the Maeonian and Maiituan bards. Whatever may have been the original form of the Gododin, it pre- sents now little more than a collection of elegiac and encomiastic strains on the heroes, who fell in a certain bat- tle, in which the poet was also engaged. The style is, like the subject, devious and irregular, and may be likened to an assemblage of mountain oaks in their native rudeness and disorder, rather than to the stately and well ordered forest that owes its grandeur to the care and cultivation of man. Hence the poem is marked more by the bursts of feeling and energy of expression, which it occasionally dis- plays, than by any regular luxuriance or dignity of style. It may rather be considered, in the words of an ingenious writer*, as so many " poetic memoranda of a disastrous con- flict, penned by a friend who had witnessed its events in all the confusion in which they had occurred* than a well-con- ceived and artfully arranged series of individual conflicts, like the poem of Homer, which, though genuine as to the author, yet contains incidents which the poet's invention has arranged as it pleased." But the Gododin is genuine, not only as to its author, but also as to its subject : it is in short a poetical record of a train of calamities, which the bard himself witnessed, and under the influence of which he may almost be said to have written. Hence that undis- guised simplicity, that vivid freshness of style, which com- municates to the poem its most prominent and most attract- ive characteristics. The language is evidently that of a remote age, and, al- though intelligible in its general construction to the Welsh * Mr. Turner in his " Vindication of the ancient Welsh Bards," p. 212. This work is, unquestionably, the ablest defence ever offered of the genu- ineness of the poetical remains of Wales, and entitles the author to the gra- titude of the nation, in whose cause he has volunteered his talents. D2 36 scholar of the present day, contains many words no longer in ordinary use. It abounds too in those dialectical distinc- tions, that were peculiar to the Cymry of North Britain, and is marked, moreover, by the adoption of many com- pound terms, particularly in use among the poets of the sixth century, but of which subsequent ages have furnished comparatively but few examples. The calamitous incidents, recorded in the Gododin, are also strong proofs of its genuineness ; for, independent of their general consistency with the character of that turbu- lent age, many of them are corroborated by the testimony of the Triads and of contemporary bards. It is worthy of remark too, with reference to this point, that they are such events as were very likely to call forth the particular emo- tions evinced by the writer, when they had taken place, as it were, under his eye. Accordingly, he details what he had seen, not merely as a poet but as a man, as it was presented to his feelings not to his imagination. Above all, he dwells with a sort of restless anxiety upon the disgraceful cause of these complicated disasters, — the inebriety of his country- men, — and speaks of it in such a manner, as one who had wit- nessed its effects, and had suffered from them, and such a one only, was likely to do. It is the language of nature, ex- pressing, without embellishment and without disguise, the mental workings of an individual, deeply affected by the calamity and disgrace in which he had participated. Such are the leading features of the Gododin, that seem to render its reputation unquestionable as a genuine pro- duction of the period to which it is ascribed. From what has been already said it will be perceived, that it has no pretension to the character of an epic poem. It is more properly heroic than epic, and is at last but a fragment of the original composition, if it be true, as traditionally re- 37 lated, that the number of its stanzas corresponded at first with the number of chieftains engaged in the battle, who have already been incidentally mentioned as amounting to three hundred and sixty-three. The poem, as we now have it, contains about nine hundred lines, and embraces an in- termixture of heroic and lyric verse, but of which the for- mer predominates. As before remarked, there is no art or method in the conduct of the poem ; it even wants, what most probably it never possessed when perfect, a prepara- tory exordium or invocation. The poet plunges at once into his subject. Like a resolute warrior, he throws him- self, without premeditation, into the midst of the battle, and sets out " by describing, not his plan or purpose, but one of his heroes # ." From this he passes to other similar por- traits, devoting, as he proceeds, to his fellow-warriors the meed of eulogy or lamentation. His transitions are ac- cordingly abrupt and frequent, and his expressions often extremely concise, and sometimes even obscure. Yet, how- ever deficient the poem may be in the embellishments of art, or in the delicacies of contrivance, enough remains to vindicate the genius of the bard, and the current celebrity of his production. The commencement of the Gododin, already alluded to, conveying an animated picture of a young warrior, is in the lyric measure. The following version will give the English reader some notion of it, although it is impossible, even if it were desirable, to transfer to the translation the metrical distinctions of the original. Lo, the yonthj in mind a man, Daring in the battle's van ! See the splendid warrior's speed On his fleet and thick-maned steed, * This is also a quotation from the work mentioned in the last note. 38 As his buckler, beaming wide, Decks the courser's slender side, With his steel of spotless mould, Ermined vest and spurs of gold. Think not, youth, that e'er from me Hate or spleen shall flow to thee : Nobler meed thy virtues claim, Eulogy and tuneful fame. Ah ! much sooner comes thy bier Than thy nuptial feast, I fear ; Ere thou mak'st the foeman bleed, Ravens on thy corse shall feed. Owain, lov'd companion, friend, To birds a prey— is this thy end ? Tell me, steed, on what sad plain Thy ill-fated lord was slain ? The next quotation supplies an example of the full heroic verse, in which the poem is chiefly written, though subject to the disadvantage of being almost a literal prosaic version. The passage contains one of the bard's allusions, already noticed, to the intemperance of his countrymen, as the main source of the deplorable catastrophe he had undertaken to celebrate. At Cattraeth's scene of blood, when nois'd by fame, Humanity will long bewail the loss ; — A powerless throne, a land all desolate. Godebog's progeny, a faithful band, On biers are borne to glut the yawning grave ; Wretched their end, yet true the destiny, As sworn to Tudvolch and to Cyvolch proud, — That, though by blaze of torch they quaff'd bright mead, Though sweet its taste, its curse would long be felt. Another stanza, written in the same metre, will perhaps be sufficient to give the reader an insight into the Gododin. It commemorates a chieftain named Cynon, and is written with much natural feeling. 39 None made the social hall so free from care As gentle Cynon, Clinion's sovereign lord ; For highest rank he never proudly strove, And whom he once had known he ne'er would slight. Yet was his spear keen-pointed, and well knew To pierce, with truest aim, th' embattled line. Swift flew his steed to meet the hostile storm, And death sat on his lance, as, with the dawn, He rush'd to war in glory's brilliant day. There is something in this passage calculated to awaken our classical recollections. It affords, in particular, a pa- rallel to some parts of the Iliad, in which the same interest- ing allusion to the private qualities of a fallen chief accom- panies the commemoration of his heroic virtues ; a feature, that may likewise be traced in the strains of the Bard of Cona. But the poem of Aneurin, it is hardly necessary to repeat, has nothing in common with the general character- istics either of the Homeric muse, or of the reputed effu- sions of Ossian. Such accidental resemblances, as that here noticed, owe their birth to the natural affinities of genius, when acting from the impulse of feeling unembarrassed by any artificial restraints. The other poem, attributed to Aneurin, is entitled " Stanzas on the Months*," and is dedicated, as may be inferred from the name, to a delineation of the more pro- minent features of the respective seasons. These are drawn by touches as it were, and in a forcible and picturesque manner. But the poem obviously wants those innate evi- dences of genuineness, which belong to the Gododin. The popular voice, however, has for centuries ascribed both productions to the same author, and it is now too late to dispute the decree. For this reason, a version of one of * The title, in the original, is Englynion y Misoedd, generally, but erro- neously, tendered u Odes of the Months." 40 these stanzas shall close the specimens of Aneurin's muse. It is that in which the month of March is described. The translation is literal, without an attempt to give it even the appearance of metre. In the month of March the vivacity of birds is great, And bitterly blows the cold blast o'er the furrows ; Yet fair weather shall outlive the foul, As anger is more lasting than grief. Every living thing is eager to bring forth, Every fowl acknowledges its mate: All things shall spring up from the ground, Save the dead alone, — for strong is his prison. The other stanzas are of a similar character, and close, like this, with a moral sentiment ; a mode of writing in parti- cular favour with the Welsh poets, and owing its origin to the Bardic institution, whose instructions were often con- veyed in poetical triplets, the first two lines having gene- rally some image, illustrative of the aphorism in the last. With this we must bring to a conclusion our account of the life and poems of Aneurin, whase fame will be cherished in Wales as long as the literature of the country continues to be an object of interest. And the estimation, in which he was formerly held, is sufficiently proved by the epithets that have been bestowed on him. Aneurin of the Flowing Muse, and Monarch of the Bards*, are the appellations, by which he is known in our old writings ; and, as the au- thor of the most important relic of ancient Welsh poetry, he can scarcely be deemed, even now, unworthy of such a distinction. * The term bard must here be taken in its popular acceptation, and not as having any reference to the ancient institution, of which mention has been made in this memoir. For, Aneurin's warlike occupation was directly at variance with the fundamental principles of the Bardic system, which in- culcated amongst its members the love of peace as one of their first duties. Aneurin, then, could have been no bard in this sense of the word. 41 TALIESIN. Of all the ancient poets of Wales Taliesin has decidedly acquired the pre-eminence in popular repute. Both at home and abroad this distinction has been conceded to him : the partial veneration of his countrymen has found an echo in the gratuitous respect of other nations. That his memory should be peculiarly endeared to the natives of Wales cannot be deemed surprising ; for he was, above all his bardic cotemporaries, wholly and emphatically one of themselves. Born and educated amongst their mountains, he consumed there the taper of life, dedicating to his beloved awen his youth, his manhood, and his declining years. To Taliesin then belongs pre-eminently the appellation of a Welsh bard ; and with his name have been associated those national predilections, which embalm for posterity the re- nown of illustrious men. There is some uncertainty as to the precise period of Taliesin's birth ; but, according to the concurrent suffrages of our early records and the tradition of the country, his life occupied a space of about fifty years during the sixth century*. He thus forms a part of that constellation of poetical genius, which illumines the first epoch of Welsh literature. The account, that we have of the dawn of our poet's existence, is of a somewhat romantic character ; for the first incident recorded of him, is that he was discovered, soon after his birth, in a fishing wear, on the coast of Car- digan, belonging to Gwyddno, a petty prince of that part of the country. Here, it is related of him, exposed, like * According to the received accounts this was from 520 to 570. 42 the infant Moses, in a basket or coracle, he was found by some fishermen, who carried him to Gwyddno, whose only son, Elfin, appears, from that moment, to have taken the little foundling under his own immediate protection. What- ever truth may belong to this relation, though in itself not absolutely incredible, we may at least infer from it, that Taliesin was a native of that part of the country, to which the tradition has been appropriated. Perhaps, having be- come early an orphan, he was charitably received under the care of Elfin; and the narrative of his exposure in the wear may have been adopted to veil with a romantic inte- rest the uncertainty of his parentage*. Gwyddno, the father of Elfin, possessed, as already no- ticed, a small principality or lordship on the coast of South Wales, which was known by the name of Cantrev y Gwael- od, the Lowland Hundred. This territory, according to the Historical Triads, was destroyed by an inundation in the time of Ambrosius, probably about the close of the fifth centuryf ; and the calamity is supposed to have reduced Gwyddno and his son to the necessity of supporting them- selves by the produce of the wear above alluded to. It is after the period of this event, whether the account given of Taliesin's discovery be true or fabulous, that we must ap- parently date his first introduction to Elfin. This connec- * The incident here related rests chiefly on the authority of the " Life of Taliesin" (Hanes Taliesin), of which a copy may be seen in the Archaiology of Wales. It is, for the most part, a mere fabulous compilation. But there seems no reason for rejecting it altogether. The foundation may be worthy of credit, whatever suspicion may attach itself to the superstructure. t For a translation of the Triad, recording this disaster, see the Cambro- Briton, vol. i. p. 361. There is also in the Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 165, a poem on the event, ascribed to Gwyddno himself. The territory, thus overwhelmed, is said to have comprised sixteen large fortified towns. Ves- tiges of the calamity are still to be traced in the neighbourhood. 43 tion appears to have been very propitious to the young bard, who, in a poem, entitled " The Consolation of Elfin"*, alludes, in a pretended strain of prophecy, to the mutual advantages that had been the result of the intimacy. The poem is written in the assumed character of an exposed orphan, and has been ascribed to an early period after the miraculous preservation of the infant bard. The particular object of the poem appears to have been to console Elfin for an accidental failure in his fishery, by opposing to it the benefits that would accrue to him from the future celebrity of his foundling. The composition, if genuine, as it has ever been considered, proves at once the precocity of the young poet's talents, and the cultivation they must have received under the auspices of his patron, to whose amiable qualities he alludes in terms of delicate gratitude. There is also a strain of moral and religious feeling throughout the effusion, which indicates that the author's proficiency was not confined to his poetical acquirements. During the time of Taliesin's residence with Elfin, the latter was taken prisoner in the civil commotions, common at that period, by his uncle Maelgwn, prince of North Wales, and confined in the castle of Deganwy. Upon this occasion we find the gratitude of the young bard again evinced, in a poem addressed to Maelgwn on behalf of his friend and protectory and which appears, from another effusionj, to have had the desired effect, in the release of Elfin from his captivity. In this poem Taiiesin renews .the * See the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 30, for a translation of this poem. f This effusion is entitled The Mead Song, (CanuyMedd). The ori- ginal is to be found in the Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 22. t The Song on the Sons of Llyr, (Cerdd am Veib Llyr), Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 67. There is also an allusion to the same event in p Si of the same volume. 44 acknowledgment of his obligation to his patron, and alludes, in express terms, to some presents he had received from him in addition to the enjoyment of liis general friendship and hospitality*. It is not improbable, that this tribute of the poet's muse was the means of introducing him to Maelgwn, with whom he was afterwards in particular favour. When Taliesin had ceased, as we may presume, to be under the immediate patronage of Elfin, he became a pupil of Cadog, at his college in Glamorganshire, where he had an opportunity of forming the acquaintance with Aneurin, alluded to in the memoir of that bard. About this time too, it is likely, he also contracted that intimacy with Urien Rheged, a Cumbrian chief, which appears to have subsisted during the remainder of their joint lives. Urien was one of those warriors, whom the successes of the Picts and Saxons in the northern parts of the island had driven fugitives into Wales ; and, even in his exile, he seems to have evinced the same liberal patronage of the bards, for which he was distinguished in his native land. Taliesin, among others, experienced his countenance and friendship, and has addressed several poems to him, in which he cele- brates the warlike fame of his new patron, and enumerates the battles he had fought. In one of these effusions he alludes to his own residence near the lake of Ceirionydd, in Carnarvonshire^, whither he may have gone by the invita- tion of Maelgwn, with whom, as we have just seen, he had previously had an opportunity of ingratiating himself. * The expression in the poem is — " Elfin, that gave me wine, ale, and mead, And the fine princely steeds of gay appearance." t The poet's words on the occasion, here alluded to, are — " And I also Taliesin, From the banks of the lake Ceirionydd." 45 The remaining notices of Taliesin are very scanty ; and it cannot be ascertained with any precision where his latter days were spent. His time, after quitting Cadog's col- lege, was probably divided between his friends, Urien and Maelgwn, and the greatest portion of it, perhaps, with the former, whose residence in South Wales must have enabled him to keep up his acquaintance with Aneurin. It is also likely, that, about the same period, he became known to the celebrated Merddin, who had likewise been compelled by the troubles of the north to seek a refuge in Wales*. Among the poems attributed to Taliesin, is a " Dialogue" between him and this poet, which, whether genuine or not as to the reputed author, may safely be taken as a proof of that intimacy between the two bards, which a congeniality of feeling and talent must have rendered so natural. That Taliesin was married we may be allowed to pre- sume. For the Triads record that he had a son named Avaon, who is commemorated for the intrepidity of his martial prowess. He is, on this account, numbered amongst " the bull-like chieftains of Britain," as well as amongst those, " who continued slaughtering on their graves," as if to mark the obstinate and invincible character of his valour. Avaon appears to have been initiated by his father in the peaceful pursuits of the muse, before he became so deter- mined a votary of the god of war ; for a line, traditionally said to be of his composition, has been transmitted to the present dayf. Taliesin is supposed to have died about the year 570. * There were two contemporary bards of this name, Merddin ab Mor- vryn, and Merddin Emrys. The former is the one, of whom mention is here made. Both bards are known to English readers, under the indiscriminate and corrupt appellation of Merlin. f This specimen of Avaon's poetical talent is preserved, among other 46 None of the ancient Welsh poets seem to have been so thoroughly versed in the Bardic or Druidical mysteries, as Taliesin. His poems abound in allusions of this charac- ter, that are now, for the most part, unintelligible. They prove, however, the direction his studies must have taken in an age particularly favourable to the cultivation of any dark or occult science. But, even if this had not been evident from his writings, we should still have had his own acknowledgment of his attainments in this respect. On various occasions he boasts of his proficiency in the mystical lore of the Druids, and even assumes to himself a superio- rity, in this species of knowledge, over the other poets of the day-f*. The doctrine of metempsychosis in particular, which is known to have been espoused by the Druidical sages, appears to have been a favourite theme. Two or three of Taliesin's effusions are expressly devoted to it, and, from the various transmigrations which they represent the bard to have undergone, supply a singular instance of the influence of a wild theory upon a powerful and creative imagination. It is, therefore, evident, that Taliesin's edu- cation, as well, perhaps, as the bent of his mind, favoured similar relics, in the Welsh Archaiology, and is thus introduced — " Hast thou not heard what was sung by Avaon, of honest muse, the son of Talie- sin, * The cheek cannot conceal the affliction of the heart?' " t Among other expressions of this nature are the following : — " I am Taliesin, With the flowing speech of a prophet." Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 25. " I am Taliesin, Chief of the bards of the Welsh. I am versed in every sprig In the cave of the chief prophet."— Id. ib. p. 34. And again, " I am the depository of song, I am a maD of letters." Id. ib. p. 37. 47 the acquisition of Druidical learning ; but it is at the same time to be collected from his productions, that these abstruse researches had not prevented his inquiries into the holier mysteries of Christianity, which were, at this period, an ob- ject of particular cultivation amongst the religious devotees in Wales. It is to be presumed, that his knowledge on this subject was chiefly formed, or, at least, greatly improved, by his residence with Cadog ; and the ascendancy it acquired over his mind sufficiently appears from several of his effu- sions. But it is also observable, that, agreeably with the crude notions of that age, the mystical doctrines, rather than the genuine spirit, of the Christian faith had engaged his attention ; and that these were impregnated in his mind with the mythological peculiarities of his Druidical creed. However, that he was regularly admitted into the rites of the church may be inferred from the Triads, which commemorate him as one of " the Christian or baptized bards" of that age*, when, it is to be presumed, such a dis- tinction was not very common. But the acquirements of Taliesin were not confined to mystical or theological erudition. It is evident from his writings, that he had made considerable progress in clas- sical learning, such as was generally cultivated in that age, when the crude offspring of monkish Latinity held divided empire, over the region of taste, with the immortal produc- tions of Greece and Rome. We cannot feel any surprise, therefore, if the poems of Taliesin should be found to con- tain many pedantic imitations of the ancient writers. This is, in fact, the case ; for not only are several of his effu- sions interlarded with Latin phrases, but he has even en- deavoured to engraft upon our national poetry the metres * See the Cambro-Briton, voi. ii. p. 4S7, for a translation of this Triad. 48 of the classical authors, without regard to their incompati- bility with the genius of the Welsh tongue. But it is not in the structure alone of Taliesin's poetry that his classical knowledge betrays itself: a better taste is occasionally ma- nifested in the happy allusions which he makes to the works of the Latin and Greek poets. In these instances, which, however, are not numerous, he borrows the spirit of their effusions without slavishly adopting their language or style, and is content to present us with the beauties of the originals in the characteristic attire of his own mountain muse*. About eighty poems have descended to us under the name of Talieshrf, from which we may form some idea of the fecundity of his genius, since we may reasonably con- clude, that what have thus survived the ravages of so many centuries formed but a small proportion of the original number. None remain, it is true, of equal length and im- portance with the Gododin of Aneurin ; but the works of Taliesin, taken in the aggregate, are far more voluminous than those of any other contemporary bard. In their cha- racter they are extremely diversified, embracing not only a great variety of subjects, but also most of the metres then used in Wales, in addition to those already alluded to of an extraneous origin. The themes of his muse are, for the most part, mystical, theological, historical, and elegiac. There are besides many of a miscellaneous character not to be referred to any specific class. His historical effusions * Among the ancient poets, whom Taliesin appears to have read, (to judge from the allusions here adverted to,) are Homer, Pindar, and Vifgil. See the Cambrian Register, vol. iii. p. 106. It is probable enough, that his acquaintance with these writers was first formed during his residence with Cadog. t The poems of Taliesin, as well as of all the other early Welsh bards, are preserved in the first volume of the Archaiology of IVales, the most valuable work hitherto published in connection with Welsh literature. 49 are, necessarily, the most interesting ; and, as they are also the most numerous, they form a body of notices of the highest value in illustrating the early annals of Britain. A regard for historical truth makes it necessary, how- ever, here to admit, that the effusions of Taliesin are not often distinguished by those glowing and vivid beauties, which form the peculiar ornament of the muse. This may be ascribed as well to the servility with which he seems to have cultivated the mere mechanism of his poetry, as to the habitual exercise of his mind in the wild mysticism of Dru- idical learning. Hence the artificial and generally obscure character of his productions, such especially as are not purely historical, and whose faults in this respect are but rarely compensated by the flashes of genius, or the indica- tions of a correct judgment. Yet his poetry must not be regarded as a mere literary monster, null& virtute redemptum A vitiis. Occasional bursts of fine feeling and true poetical fancy serve to irradiate the prevailing gloom, as also to mark the genuine character of a mind, which had been more cor- rupted by the rude prejudices of the times than by its own natural propensities. Its vivida vis sometimes displays itself in spite of the opposition of custom and education, as in the following original and picturesque passage* : — * See Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 40. For the benefit of the Welsh reader, the original lines are here transcribed : — " Gwelais wyr gorsawr, A ddygyrcbynt awr ; Gwelais waed ar lawr Rhag rhwthr cleddyvawr: Glesynt esgyll gwawr, Esgorynt yn waewawr." E Llywarch 50 I saw the mighty men, Who thronged together at the shout ; I saw blood on the ground From the assault of swords : They tinged with blue the wings of the morning, When they flung forth their ashen spears. The last two lines convey a fine and uncommon image, not more remarkable for its boldness than for its accuracy, and may be placed in competition with some of the happiest thoughts of the most renowned poets. Nor is it always in mere isolated passages that the native vigour of Taliesin's genius is evinced. In one or two instances it pervades the whole com'position ; and, among his numerous effusions, two may be selected as being sin- gularly exempt from the more prominent characteristics of his muse. These are " The Battle of Argoed Llwyvain", and " The Mead Song" already adverted to. Extracts from these will exemplify what has been now said. The first in order are from a spirited, yet faithful, translation by the late Mr. Whitehead. THE BATTLE OF ARGOED*. Morning rose, — the issuing sun Saw the dreadful fight begun, And that sun's descending ray Closed the battle, closed the dayf . Llywarch Hen, it may be remarked, employs the same beautiful image as that contained in the close of this passage, when he says, " Like the wings of the dawn was the gleaming of the lance of Duawg." " Esgyll gwawr oedd waewawr Duawg." * Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 53. t The poet is thought, in this passage, to have had in mind the following line of Virgil, — Te, veniente die, te, decedente, canebat. Georg. 1. iv. 1. 466. But, 51 Flamddwyn* pour'd his rapid bands, Legions four o'er Reged's lands. The num'rous host, from side to side, Pour'd destruction far and wide, From Argoed's summits,, forest-crown'd, To steep Arvynydd's utmost bound. Short their triumph, short their sway, Born and ended with the day. * * * * * * * * Havoc, havoc raged around, Many a carcase strew'd the ground ; Ravens diank the purple flood, Raven-plumes were dyed with blood : Flighted crowds from place to place, Eager, hurrying, breathless, pale, Spread the news of their disgrace, Trembling as they told the tale. The following extracts from " The Mead Song," which, as the reader will recollect, was presented by the poet to Maelgwn, in order to procure the release of his patron Elfin, are almost literal versions. They want the fire in- deed of the foregoing specimens ; but they afford an instance of a better taste than is generally to be discovered in the works of this bard ; and, in particular, they illustrate that religious turn of mind, to which allusion has already been made. THE MEAD SONGt. To him that rules supreme, our sovereign Lord, Creation's chief, by all that lives ador'd, But, whatever resemblance there may been in the idea, it must be owued that this imitation is of a more equivocal character than others that are to be found in the woiks of Taliesin. up * By this name, it is generally supposed, the Welsh bards have distin- guished Ida, the celebrated leader of the Saxons. The word means, lite- rally, «« Flame-bearer." f Arch, of Wales, vol. i. p. 22. E 2 52 Who made the waters and sustains the skies, Who gives and prospers all that's good and wise j To him I'll pray, that Maelgwn ne'er may need Exhanstless treasure of the sparkling mead, Such as with mirth our hours hath often crown'd, When from his horn the foaming draught went round. * * * * O, chief supreme, prince of the realms of peace, Let Elfin's bondage, I beseech thee, cease, Who, to the beauteous steeds given heretofore, And wine, and ale, and mead, would give me more; He in the paths of peace, if Heav'n so will, Myriads of feasts shall give with honour still. But we must not part with Taliesin without giving the reader a specimen of the general bent of his poetical talent. What has already been said on this point will serve suffi- ciently to introduce the following lines, in which the extra- vagance of a romantic fancy has been engrafted on the no less extravagant notions of Druidism. Some imagi- nary monster seems to be the object of the poet's de- scription*. There is a hideous beast Between the deep and the shallow ; His jaws as wide as the Mountain of Peaks f: Him death shall not overcome, Nor hand nor blades. There is the load of nine hundred wains In the hair of his two paws ; One eye there is in his head, Green like a sheet of ice ; There are three fountains In the nape of his neck ; And sea-monsters thereon Do swim through him. * Id. ib. p. 20. f Mynydd Mynnau, here translated " Mountain of Peaks," is generally considered to be the name of the Alps. 53 In the same grotesque and unintelligible strain does Taliesin generally delight to present us with the inspirations of his muse. What his fancy has suggested takes, for the most part, its colouring from the influence of his mytho- logical theories ; and, when the natural force of his mind would have prompted him to be sublime, he is hurried by the current of his education to adopt what is mystical and perplexed. If he occasionally soar above this barbarous prejudice, it is only to make us regret the more that he should ever have been exposed to its despotism. By nature a poet, he became by habit, and, perhaps at length, by in- clination, a rhapsodist. Unable or unwilling entirely to extricate himself from the maze in which he was involved, he has generally chosen, rather than abandon the paths of the muse, to prosecute his career in mystery and in dark- ness. But, amongst his wildest speculations, his most impro- bable fables, the energy of his genius, as we have already seen, sometimes breaks forth: however impenetrable the gloom of his conceptions, we can occasionally recognize the commanding spirit by which this " palpable obscure" was created. The foregoing remarks have reference chiefly to the spe- culative effusions of Taliesin ; for most of his historical poems are of a different character. If they are not gene- rally distinguished by the ebullitions of genius or the re- finements of taste, they possess features of a more important description in the homely fidelity of their narrative : artless and immethodical as they may be, they are still valuable as illustrating the events of an age, of which we have, compa- ratively, such scanty memorials. This peculiarity, as has been before noticed*, formed a remarkable distinction of * See the Life of Aneurin, p. 31, suprd. 54 the early Welsh poetry, and among it that of Taliesin, where it is unmixed with his occult learning, merits, in this •point of view, a pre-eminent rank. Either for this reason, or on account of the multiplicity and variety of his effu- sions, Taliesin has, from time immemorial, enjoyed amongst his countrymen the title of " Chief of the Bards ; and, while the language of the Cymry continues to he cultivated, this traditional honour will still accompany his name. But it may be said of Taliesin, in a few words, that he has been more praised than read, more read than understood. And, whilst he has been immoderately extolled for merits that did not belong to him, those, which are really his own, have never been duly appreciated. For, after all, it may truly be said of him, that he wants no borrowed plumes to maintain his rank among the most eminent of the ancient Welsh poets. 55 LLYWARCH HEN*. The fifth and sixth centuries, as has been already inci- dentally noticed in the foregoing pages, were remarkably signalized by the long and arduous struggle, which the Britons maintained in the defence of their liberties. The hostility of the Saxons, originating in treachery, and con- tinued in violence, was peculiarly qualified to rouse into action those powerful energies of the mind, which were displayed during the period under consideration, and which communicated their influence as well to the strains of the poet as to the sword of the warrior. Even the names that have descended to the present day bear ample testimony to this fact ; but the remoteness of the age, and the desolating events that have filled up the interval, fully justify the conclusion that the chieftains and bards of that era, of whom we now retain any record, must have borne but a small proportion to those, whose history is entirely lost to us. In no part of the island were the conflicts, consequent on the incursion of the Saxons, more frequent or more severe than in that portion of North Britain, which was anciently called Cumbria. The natives of this extensive district enjoyed a community of language as well as of de- scent with the inhabitants of Wales, and retained in the name of their country the evidence. of this identity*]-. Ex- * It may be proper here to mention, that a great part of this Life is bor- rowed from that which has already appeared, from the same pen, in the Cambro-Briton. See vol. i. p. 287. t The district, called Cumbria, embraced a larger extent of territory than the modern Cumberland, which seems to be a corruption of the old 56 posed on the one side to the Saxons, and to the Picts on the other, the Cumbrians supported a long and unequal contest with varying fortunes, before they were compelled to give way to the united and overwhelming force of their enemies. It was the close of these eventful times, that produced those gifted individuals, whose poetical fame still communicates a celebrity to the first epoch of Welsh lite- rature*. Amongst the Cumbrians of note, whether as warriors or poets, who lived during this period, Llywarch Hen, or Llywarch the Aged, fills an eminent place : eminent for his rank and genius, and still more so for his years and his misfortunes. He was descended from a long line of princes, or military chieftains, who had, in more propitious times, exercised a supreme authority over the whole island. His father was Elidyr Lydanwyn, a prince of the Northern Britons, and fourth in descent from Coel, who, according to the British Chronicle, was the seventy-fifth king of Britain. Nor were the honours, which Llywarch claimed from his maternal ancestry, of an inferior character. His mother, Gwawr, was the daughter of Brychan, an Irish chieftain, whose grandfather, Cormac Mac Carbery, enjoyed a sove- reign sway in the sister island. This Brychan became an exile from his native land, and finally sought refuge in Wales, in the history of which country he is distinguished as the father of one of the " three holy families' 1 *!*. name. It comprised all that part of the North anciently occupied by the Cymry, and reached even to the borders of Scotland. * The reasons for including the poets of North Britain arwong the orna- ments of Welsh literature have been detailed in the Life of Aneurin. See p. 21, supril. Nor must it be forgotten, with respect to these poets, that the asylum they found in Wales proved at once the nurse of their genius and the guardian of their fame. f Brychan settled in that part of South Wales, which has since been 57 The patrimonial possessions of Llywarch were known by the name of Argoed, which has been reasonably conjec- tured to be a part of the present Cumberland, bordering to the west on the great Forest of Celyddon or Caledonia*: and that he exercised a sovereign power over this territory may be inferred from the Historical Triads, in which he is denominated one of the " disinterested princes of Britain." We learn too, from the same authority, that Llywarch spent a part of his early life in the court of Arthur, who had been raised, as we have before seen, by a general vote to the supreme command of the states of Britain. , In the ancient records alluded to he is commemorated as one of the " three intelligent bards," one of the " three counselling knights," and one of the " three free and discontented guests" of the court of Arthur, one of whose chief places of residence, according to the Triads, was in the North. It also appears from a poem of Llywarch's, entitled " An Elegy on Geraint ab Erbin," that he fought under Arthur in one of his battles +; and we learn moreover, from his " Ode to Maenwyn," that his youth was chiefly passed in warlike pursuits, as well against the predatory banditti, who seem to have infested the northern parts of the island in that age, as against the common enemy. This may be collected from the two following stanzas, which occur in the poem last adverted to : — called, after him, Brecknockshire. He is recorded in the Triads as having " introduced the Christian faith to the Cyniry, who were before without faith." — See the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii. p. 169. * Argoed is a Welsh word, implying, literally, lt on or above the wood," and occurs in Wales as the name of several places thus situated. It there- fore points out the precise nature of Llywarch's territory. f This was the battle of Llongborth, mentioned in p. 9, suprd,. 58 Maenwyn, when I was in tby condition, With youth attendant on me ; The outlaw would not have broken my boundary. Maenwyn, whilst I was as thou art, Following the course of my youth, The enemy loved not the fury of my resentment. How long Llywarch remained at Arthur's court it cannot be possible to determine ; but, since he is recorded as one of its "discontented guests," it may be inferred that his stay there was of no great duration. Probably the troubles in which his country was involved, summoned him early away to join the ranks of its defenders. For he does not appear to have taken any part in the civil war between Arthur and Medrod ; and, when the former fell in the fatal conflict of Camlan, Llywarch was most probably engaged in defending the North with Urien, whom, in his elegy on that chieftain, he calls his cousin, his lord, and his pro- tector*. Llywarch, with his numerous issue, united his force to that of Urien and his sons upon this occasion against the growing power of the Saxons ; and there are even grounds for presuming that they all fought under the * Urien was a cousin-german of Llywarch. The bard himself alludes to this relationship in his Poem on his Old Age, where, speaking of one of his sons, he says — My son was a hero, and splendid was his fame : And he was the nephew of Urien. And that Llywarch and Urien were on terms of particular intimacy is appa- rent from another allusion in the same poem, where the poet thus apostro- phizes himself: The horn, given to thee by Urien, With the wreath of gold around its rim, Blow iu it, if thou art in danger. The " Elegy on Urien" contains, likewise, many testimonies to this fact even stronger than the preceding. 59 same banners in the disastrous battle of Cattraeth, in which Urien commanded. At least, in the Gododin of Aneurin, which records that calamity, four of the sons of Llywarch are expressly named as being then engaged ; and there is even an apparent allusion to the aged warrior himself and the force under his command*. But, whether he participated or not in the ruinous consequences of this conflict, we find that the loss of his patrimony, and the fall of most of his sons, was the melancholy result of the unequal struggle in which his country had been engaged. Thus destitute, he was compelled, like the father of Aneurin, to find his safety in flight, with such of his children as had survived ; and a kindred fate induced him also to seek an asylum in Wales, where he was hospitably received by Cynddylan, at that time prince of Powys. To this the bard gratefully alludes in his elegy on the death of that chieftain, and from which it also appears, that Cynddylan resided at that time at Pengwern, or Shrewsbury, the ancient seat of the princes of Powys before the inroads of the Saxons had driven them to Mathravalf. * The passage in the Gododin, which appears to refer to this circum- stance is as follows : — Grievously would I be afflicted for, Fondly would I cherish, The illustrious solitary one, And the men of Argoed. It is hardly possible to apply the expression of " the illustrious solitary one," when associated with the " men of Argoed," to any other person but Llywarch. And if it have that allusion, it proves that an intimate friend- ship existed between him and Aneurin. t The following lines in the u Elegy on Cynddylan" contain the notice of this fact : — Stand forth, ye virgins, and behold the habitation of Cynddylan, The palace of Pengwern, is it not in flames! 60 When Llywarch was received by Cynddylan, he found him and his brother Elvan engaged in a severe contest with a people, whom the poet calls, indiscriminately, Loe- grians and Franks*. They were probably a mixture of such of the adjoining population, including the Roman Britons, as were not then known by the name of Saxons. The expatriated chief immediately took an active part with Cynddylan in this quarrel ; and the battles which ensued, proved, most probably, fatal to the rest of his sons, whose death Llywarch laments, with a parental and affecting fondness, in his " Elegy on his Old Age." We find too, from his poem on Cynddylan, that the issue of this war proved no less disastrous to that prince and his brother, whose fate the bard pathetically deplores in the following lines amongst many others. The hall of Cynddylan is silent to night After having lost its lord : — Great God of Mercy, what shall I do? The hall of Cynddylan, how gloomy seems its roof! Since the Loegrians have destroyed Cynddylan and Elvan of Powys. It appears likewise from the same poem, that Cynddylan was buried at Bassa, probably the place now called Bass- church, in Shropshire. For the bard tells us, that * For an account of the first settlement of the Loegrians (Lloegrwys) in this island, as recorded in the Historical Triads, see the Cambro- Briton, vol. i. pp. 47 and 49. The name, originally, was confined in its application ; hut it appears, in process of time, to have become general in its reference to such of the inhabitants of Britain, excepting the Saxons, as were not Cymry ; and in this sense it seems to be here used by Llywarch. The meaning of the term " Franks" is not so easily to be ascertained, unless it be supposed, that the Franks came over with the Saxons in such numbers, as to cause the introduction of their name as a distinct people. 61 The churches of Bassa are near to night To the heir of Cyndrwyn : The grave-house of fair Cynddylan. No clue is left whereby we can ascertain with precision the abode of Llywarch after the death of his friend and patron. But it appears likely, from some passages in his poems, that his latter years, which formed a period of un- mixed affliction, were spent in Powys. One of his effu- sions is addressed to the " Cuckoo of the Vale of Cuawg ;" and, as it contains strong allusions to his wretched fate, it is likely that it was composed during the latter part of his life, when, accordingly, he may have resided in this vale, which has been conjectured to be in Montgomeryshire*. And it is to be collected from his " Elegy on his Old Age," that he afterwards resided at Llanvor in the county of Merioneth. But, wherever the evening of his days was consumed, it is certain that it was pregnant with sorrows, which he bewails in the most affecting strains in the elegy last mentioned, written after his connexion with Cynddylan was at an end, as is evident from the following passage, which also bears testimony to the infirmity under which he then laboured. Before I went on crutches, I was bold, I was admitted into the congress-house Of Powys, the Paradise of the Cymry. The bard farther appears from this poem to have been weighed down by the accumulated sufferings of age, sick- * The Vale of Cuawg is so called, most probably, from a river of that name : and what almost confirms the conjecture is, that Llywarch, in the same poem, has an allusion to Aber Cuawg, the Mouth of the Cuawg, which may have been the very spot where he resided. There is a place in Mont- gomeryshire, near Machynlleth, still called Dol Giog, which may serve to identify the spot that is the object of our inquiry. 62 ness, and grief, while the agonizing remembrance of his blighted prosperity, and of all his sons, four and twenty in number, fallen a prey to the fury of battle, must have com- pleted a picture of misery not easily to be paralleled. His sons were all of them military chieftains, and distinguished, as such, by the golden torques, of which some account has been given in the life of Aneurin*. The fact is mentioned by the venerable bard in the following lines : — Four ar-d twenty sons I have had Wearing the golden wreath, leaders of armies. The greater number of these fell, as already noticed, in the defence of their native land under Urien ; but Llywarch enumerates at least four*)-, who were buried in North Wales, and who, consequently, must have met their fate in the wars of Cynddylan or of the other Welsh chieftains. An old Welsh manuscript has preserved a fugitive stanza, ascribed to Llywarch, accompanied by an anecdote relating to the death of one of his sons, which may not be out of place here. It is there related that Gw&n ab Llyw- arch had his horse killed under him in battle, and was himself slain some time afterwards. Subsequently to this the skull of the horse was placed, instead of a stepping- stone, over a small brook, near the scene of the animal's death. Llywarch happening soon afterwards to pass that way, the skull was pointed out to him by a companion, who informed him that it had belonged to the horse of his son Gwen. To this the bard replied in the following extempo- . * See the note in p. 24, suprd,. t These are Gwell, Sawyl, Llyngedwy, and Cynllug ; and, apparently, may be added Pyll and Llavyr. The graves of the first four were at Rhiw Velen, Llangollen, Ammarch, and Llug : and, by inference, that of Llavyr appears to have been at Llorien. es rary stanza, which has at least the merit of being extremely natural to the occasion. I have seen that horse's day, (That horse, with the looks of a stag, the thrower up of sods,) When none would have trodden on his jaw, As he carried Gwen the son of Llywarch. Whatever credit may be due to this trivial anecdote, it must, at least, be admitted that it is, by no means, impro- bable. It is recorded of the venerable bard, that he ended his days at Llanvor, near Bala in Merionethshire. A secluded spot in that parish, which still bears the name of Old Llywarch's Cot, Pabell Llywarch Hen, serves to corrobo- rate this tradition, as it was, in all probability, the last scene of that earthly pilgrimage, in which affliction had borne so great a share. The bard himself distinctly al- ludes, as before observed, to his residence in this neigh- bourhood in the " Elegy on his Old Age;" and the circum- stances under which that elegy was written, prove that it must have been in the decline of his life. Dr. Davies, the celebrated author of the Latin- Welsh Dictionary, who lived in the early part of the seventeenth century, even goes so far as to state, that he had seen an inscription, apparently relating to Llywarch, in the parish church of Llanvor over a spot where the poet was traditionally said to have been interred. But, as all traces of this inscription have long disappeared, it may be too much now to rely upon it as an authentic memorial.- Llywarch died about the middle of the seventh century, and, according to an immemorial tra- dition, at the patriarchal age of one hundred and fifty years*, after having long outlived his children, his friends, * It is to be proved from the productions of Llywarch, that he was cotemporary both with Arthur and Cadwallou, and that he survived them 64 and every worldly blessing, which makes existence desi- rable. To use his own emphatic words, Wretched was the fate that was decreed To Llywarch on the night of his birth: Long pains, without being delivered of his load of sorrow*. Of all the early Welsh poetry that of Llywarch Hen is most distinguished by its uniformity as well as by its artless simplicity. It has none of those mystical features, which mark the strains of Taliesin, and is alike free from the ob- scurities occasionally observable in the Gododin. The poems of Llywarch possess a sort of unaffected and primi- tive character, which is among the strongest proofs of their genuineness. The themes too, which the bard has selected, are for the most part such as were, in a manner, interwoven with his own wayward destiny : the battles in which he had fought, the loss of his territory, of his children, and of his patrons, his various sufferings, his infirmities, and his des- titute old age. They are, in a word, the themes of sorrow, and, springing, as they did, from the heart of the poet, cannot fail to find a responsive vibration in that of the both. Arthur died, as we have previously seen, in the year 542, at which period Llywarch was, most probably, about forty years of age. Now, as he also outlived Cadwallon, which his elegy on that chieftain sufficiently proves, he must at that time have been above one hundred and forty ; for the death of Cadwallon is generally appropriated to the year 646. This circumstance, when united with the current tradition on the subject, is sufficient to justify the age above imputed to the venerable bard. * This stanza may be compared with the following verse in the Book of v Job : " Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, there is a man child conceived." — Ch. 3. v. 3. Indeed there is a remarkable affinity between the whole of this affecting elegy and the ancient book just quoted. The circumstances, under which the two lamentations were made, are not very dissimilar. The loss of dominion, of fortune, and of children is common to both. 65 reader. But what communicates to the strains of Lly warch, as to the Gododin of Aneurin, their greatest value, is their historical character. And the memorials they contain are not of a mere hearsay description: the poet himself was a chief actor in the scenes he represents, as well as a principal sufferer in the calamities he records, — " quaeque ipse miserrima vidit Et quorum pars magna fuit."- The poems ascribed to Llywarch, as preserved in the Archaiology of Wales, are twelve in number. Six of these are of the historical character just alluded to, and the re- mainder are devoted to moral or aphoristic subjects. The historical poems, however, bear, in length, a proportion of three to one to the others, and embrace a body of notices respecting the events of the age in which they were written, that, for reasons already mentioned, are peculiarly valu- able, provided their genuineness be satisfactorily ascer- tained. And this seems to be demonstrable from two features, by which the effusions in question are prominently distinguished. One is the uniformity of sentiment, lan- guage, and style, that pervades these as well as all the effusions ascribed to this bard ; and the other is the frequent allusions to himself as the author that occur in the histo- rical pieces. To this it may also be added that the metre, in which the whole are written, is the most ancient of all those known to Welsh poetry. It is entitled the Warrior's Triplet* and its inartificial construction affords abundant evidence of the antiquity traditionally assigned to it. It is not too strong an assumption, then, to set down all the * In the original, Englyn Milwr. It was a metre particularly in use amongst the members of the Druidical institution, by whom it was employed as the vehicle of their aphoristic instructions. F 60 poems imputed to Llywarch, as his, marked, as they all are, by the same simple and energetic narrative, or by the same artless display of sententious morality. Alike homely in their sentiment and style, they must have been the pro- duction of an age, to which the artifices of poetical refine- ment, whether in diction or thought, were wholly unknown; and in such an age Llywarch lived. A few specimens of the poetry of this bard, in addition to those already incidentally quoted, shall now be given ; and, to retain as much as possible the character of the ori- ginals, the translations shall be strictly literal, without any endeavour to throw them into a metrical form. Yet it must not be forgotten, that the passages will thus be ex- posed to a disadvantage common to all poetry in its trans- fusion from one tongue to another. The first extract con- tains the two stanzas or triplets, with which the " Elegy on Geraint" commences, and presents us with a flattering por- trait of that chieftain*. When Geraint was born, the portals of heaven were open, Christ vouchsafed what was supplicated, A countenance beaming with beauty, the glory of Britain. Let all celebrate the blood-stain'd Geraint, Their lord ; I too will praise Geraint, The Saxon's foe, the friend of saints. This Geraint, who was a warrior of considerable celebrity, and is commemorated in the Triads as having commanded a fleet against the Saxons, fell fighting against them in the battle of Llongborth, of which some account was given in the life of Arthur. To the sanguinary character of this * Similar qualifications are ascribed to Geraint in the Gododin of Anew- hi, and in a strain of high panegyric. It would, therefore, appear that he bore a share in the battle of Cattraeth. 67 battle, and the distinguished part performed in it by Ge- xaint, the bard frequently alludes; and the following stanzas on the subject will be found forcible and picturesque. At Llongborth I saw the weapons Of heroes, with gore fast dripping, And after the shout a dreadful descent to earth. At Llongborth I saw the conflicting edges of blades, Men quaking with terror, and blood on the brow, Before Geraint the worthy son of his father. At Llongborth I saw severe toiling Amidst the stones, and ravens feasting on entrails, And on the chieftain's brow a crimson gash. The following lines, in the " Elegy on Urien," paint also, in strong colours, the character of that warrior, while they, at the same time, evince the poetical powers of the bard, who thus addresses his spear. Let me be guided onward, thou fierce ashen spear ! sullen As the ocean's surly laughter was the expanding tumult of war, Where raged Urien, fiery champion. Like the eagle, in his onset a bold and generous foe, Of war the torment, secure of conquest, Was Urien with the grasp of fire. Nor are Llywarch's descriptions confined to the horrors of battle : the following allusions to the desolate mansion of Urien, when its lord was no more, are extracted from among many others of a similar character, and prove that the talents of the poet were equally adapted to the pathetic. This hearth, will it not be overgrown with nettles ! Whilst its protector was yet alive, More familiarized with it was the foot of the needy petitioner. * * * * This buttress here, and that one yonder, More congenial around them would have been The joyous clamour of the convivial host and the voice of harmony, F notwith- standing the bravery it evinced, with the general result of the engagement, seems, for the moment, to have para- lyzed his exertions. For it is extremely probable, that, had Glyndwr taken advantage of the exhausted state of Henry's troops immediately after the battle, while his own were in so fresh a condition, he might, with the co-opera- tion of what yet remained of the forces of the confederates, have torn the laurels from the brows of the conquerors. But a desultory system of warfare seems, on all occasions, to have been most congenial with his disposition f . Ac- * It is said, that Hotspur, previous to the battle, solicited au interview with Glyndwr, which the latter declined. Whether this be true or not, it is certain that there was an obvious want of concert between the insurgent leaders. Mutual jealousies had, perhaps, succeeded to the sanguine antici- pations with which the league was at first formed. t If this were not so evident as it is from the whole history of Glyndwr's insurrection, it would be sufficiently obvious from the following document, 1 to which allusion was made in the early part of this memoir, as being hi- therto, in all probability, unpublished. It appears to have been a sort of circular invitation addressed by Glyndwr to some of his principal partisans* s 258, cordingly in the present instance, as soon as the English army had quitted their position, he seized the opportunity to carry through the neighbouring country all the terrors of pillage and conflagration, the Lords Marchers being, as usual, the principal sufferers. Such, at this moment, was the impoverished state of Henry's finances, that he could make no effective resistance to the desolating career of the Welsh chieftain. He was obliged to restrict his hostility to measures of a defensive character; with which view he repaired and fortified all the castles, possessed by the English, in Wales or the vicinity, and entrusted their defence to individuals of approved cou- rage and fidelity, with strict injunctions to employ all their means in opposing the attacks of Glyndwr, who seems, in The original, of which a transcript exists among the " Myvyrian MSS." be- longing to the Cymmrodorion, is in the doggrel Latin of the age to which it relates. The following is a translation : — " We send you cur love and greet- ing, as we hope, that, by God's and your assistance, we shall be able to de- liver the Welsh nation from the yoke of our enemies the English, who have long time oppressed us and our ancestors. And be assured, that, according to all appearance, the time of their glory is past, and that victory and tri- umph are turning to our side, so that nothing but sloth or discord can pre- vent us from having undoubted success. Agreeably to this, we demand, we require, and even entreat you to summon all resolution, and boldly to come to our aid to whatever place ye shall hear is ravaged by conflagration and slaughter, as we hope to effect such things on our march, and that, by God's help, shortly. This we entreat you not to neglect, as you value your liberty and honour. You could not be blamed, indeed, for your former absence, as you had not received a general intimation previous to our first insurrection ; for we were under the necessity of rising on the first attack of fear and danger. Farewell! May God defend you from evil! Owain ab Gruffvdd, Lord of Glyndyvrdwy." — It must be manifest from the whole tenour of this letter, that it was written in a moment of exultation, immediately after one of Glyn- dwr's most important triumphs, but before he had assumed the title of " Prince of Wales." However, the date is unfortunately wanting, and can- not now be satisfactorily supplied. 259 the mean time, to have been pursuing his predatory career unmolested. Soon after this a treaty, offensive and defensive, was formed between Glyndwr and the king of France* who, having never acknowledged the justice of Henry's title to the English crown, was glad to avail himself of this oppor- tunity to unite, against him, with one, who had proved himself so persevering, if not formidable, in his hostility, as the Welsh chieftain. Accordingly, the latter dispatched ambassadors to France for the purpose of arranging the terms of the treaty, which Was signed at Paris on the 14th of June, 1404, and received the ratification of Glyndwr on the 12th of January in the following year*. This confe- deracy with so powerful a sovereign as the French king may be supposed to have communicated a new importance to Glyndwr's cause ; but the sequel proves* that this im- portance was rather nominal than real. Glyndwr had now reached the crisis of his fortunes* and, whatever partial suc- cesses marked his future career, his union with France does not appear to have given birth to one solid triumph. The commencement of the year 1405 was distinguished by some vigorous operations on the part of Glyndwr against the fortresses possessed by the English in Wales, several of which he took, dismantling some and retaining others. Among these were the celebrated castles of Harlech and Aberystwith, in the counties of Merioneth and Cardi- gan, which were not surpassed by any fortifications in the Principality in the natural and artificial advantages, which * This ratification took place at the castle of Llanbadarn, near Aberyst- with, in Cardiganshire. The individuals, whom Glyndwr appointed as his plenipotentiaries at Paris, for the purpose of arranging the preliminaries of the treaty, were Grnffydd Yonge, LL. D., and his brother-in-law, Sir John Hanmer. 260 they combined*. Glyndwr's next operations were not of so favourable a character ; for, upon marching into Mont- gomeryshire, after the successes just noticed, he was sud- denly encountered by an English army under the command of the Earl of Warwick, by whom he was compelled to re- treat with the loss of many of his followers. But this dis- aster was in a great degree compensated by a triumph, which he soon afterwards gained over the English troops at a place called Craig y Dorth, in the vicinity of Mon- mouthf. Soon after this, however, our hero experienced the re- verses of fortune, whose favours he was not destined again to enjoy, in any extraordinary degree. A party of his fol- lowers, to the number of eight thousand, had been col- lected in South Wales, where, agreeably with the practice of the age, they committed great devastations, burning, in their route, such towns and fortresses as were inimical to their cause. They had not long pursued their career of destruction, before they were encountered by a much in- ferior force of English, under the command of Sir Gilbert Talbot. An engagement ensued ; but, the English, who gave no quarter, completely routed the Welsh troops, not- withstanding the superiority of their numbers ; and the loss of a thousand men, slain on the field, was the result of this decisive defeat. Glyndwr, however, made immediate ex- * Harlech was, anciently, a celebrated fortress of an almost impregnable nature, and is supposed to have been founded by Maelgwn Gwynedd about the year 581. Its original name was Twr Bronwen, or Bron wen's Tower ^ and it was afterwards called Caer Collwyn, the Fortress of Collwyn, from Collwyn ab Tangno, head of one of the fifteen tribes of North Wales, who resided there during the eighth century. t Craig y Dorth lies between Chepstow aud Monmouth, at a short dis- tance from Treleg Common. 261 ertions to repair this misfortune. He dispatched a large body of men under the command of his son Gruffydd, who hazarded another battle with the English only four days after the date of the last*. But the result was most dis- astrous. Not only were fifteen hundred men killed or taken prisoners ; but the Welsh chief had also to bewail the captivity of his son, and the death of his brother Tu- dur, whose near resemblance to Glyndwr occasioned the conquerors at first to exult in the supposed overthrow of the Welsh prince himself. Their joy, however, was but of a transient nature ; for, upon the body being examined, it was found to want a wart over the eye, by which the brothers were distinguished from each other. The battle, here noticed, was fought at a place called Mynydd-y-Pwll- Melyn, in Brecknockshire, according to the most received authority ; but some writers place the scene of action at Uske, in the county of Monmouth. The difference be- tween these two accounts is not worth reconciling, even if it were possible. It is enough to know, that this engage- ment, wherever fought, proved a death-blow to the aspiring Tiopes of the lord of Glyndyvrdwy. The fatal battle of Mynydd-y-Pwll-Melyn was followed by a state of great destitution on the part of Glyndwr. The certainty of his defeat, and the rumour of his death, had caused almost all his principal followers to abandon the standard of insurrection ; and the chieftain was driven td the melancholy extremity of seeking an asylum in ca- verns and desert places, from which he occasionally ven- tured forth to visit a few faithful friends, who supplied him with the common necessaries of life. Tradition has com- * The first battle was fought on the 11th of March, and the second on the 15th of the same month. 262 memorated two caves, one in Carnarvonshire, and the other in Merionethshire, as forming the gloomy residence of the Welsh chief during this part of his existence*. How long he continued thus to lead the life of an anchorite does not appear ; but his retreat was certainly of no very long duration. For in the same year, in which he experienced the defeat last related, we find him in active alliance with the French forces that had arrived in South Wales, in con- formity with the treaty concluded between Glyndwr and the king of France. An army of twelve thousand men landed at Milford Haven, for the purpose of co-operating with Glyndwr ; and the followers of the latter had so far rallied as to enable him to join them with a force of ten thousand men. This junction of the French and Welsh forces took place at Tenby in Pembrokeshire ; and their first operations ap- pear to have been directed against the town of Carmar- then, which, either from the imperfect state of its garrison, or its friendly disposition towards Glyndwr, fell an easy prey to the besiegers. From this place the united army marched towards Worcester, and, on their arrival there, burnt a great part of the town, and laid waste the sur- rounding country. Henry, being apprised of these pro- ceedings, determined to march in person against the inva- ders. The latter, in the meantime, had advanced beyond Worcester, and had exposed the country to all the ravages consequent on the incursion of a hostile army. Upon * A cavern near the sea-side, in the parish of Llangelynin, in Merioneth- shire, still preserves the name of Ogov Gwain, or Owen's Cave, and must have been one of his places of concealment. He is said to have been se- cretly supported there by one Ednyved ab Aron, an individual of distinc- tion in that part of the country. Another of the fugitive chieftain's haunts on this occasion was Moel Hebog, near Beddgelert, in Carnarvonshire. 263 hearing, however, of the advance of the English, the al- lied forces suddenly retreated, and took up a position about nine miles from Worcester, on the Welsh side of that city. The camp of Glyndwr is said to have occupied a part of Wobury Hill, which may be supposed to have been selected in conformity with the common practice of the Welsh chieftains, as well as for the advantages it presented from its contiguity to the borders of Wales. Although the al- lies and the English continued on this occasion to menace each other for several days, it does not appear that any general action took place. There were, indeed, some warm skirmishes, in which the loss, on the side of the French and English, is recorded as nearly equal. With respect to Glyndwr, there is no authority for supposing that he was at all engaged : he seems, with an unaccount- able caution, to have remained wholly inactive for eight days after the arrival of the English, when he made a sud- den nocturnal retreat into Wales, where he was soon fol- lowed by his allies. The historians of this period, it should be observed, are somewhat at variance as to the events now under consideration, some ascribing the first retro- grade movement to Henry, and others to his enemies*. From concurrent circumstances, the latter conclusion seems * Among the conflicting testimonies on this point are those of Monstrelet and Hall. The former attaches the opprobrium of the first retreat to Henry, who, he says, was attacked on the occasion by the French, who captured eighteen provision-waggons. Hal!, an English historian, pn the other hand, relates, that Henry '« chased the enemy from hilles to dales, from dales to wodes, from wodes to marishes, and yet could never have them to any advantage." But he afterwards admits, that, in his retreat, he lost " certayn cariges laden with vitayle, to his great displeasure, and to the great comforte of the Welsh." Hall thus appears to agree, in one par- ticular, with Monstrelet, with the variation, indeed, of making the Welsh the captors instead of the French. 264 the most probable, while it must, on the other hand, be admitted, that, whatever success may have attended the arms of the English monarch, he was not in a condition to pursue his triumph. After having made formidable pre- parations for again invading the Principality, he suddenly relinquished, his design, awed perhaps by the approach of winter, and the experience of former similar enterprises, from which he had reaped neither advantage nor glory. The French, upon their retirement into Wales, seem to have grown weary of the cause in which they had em- barked, and which, in its results, had proved of so barren a nature. For, after passing a few months longer in a state of inactivity, they returned to France ; and thus ter- minated an alliance, which tended, in no respect, to for- tify the interests of Glyndwr. The light of hope was, for a moment, awakened ; but it vanished only to leave a gloom more disheartening than what had preceded it. It may here be proper to mention, that it forms no part of the object of this memoir to enter into a minute detail of all the transactions connected with the insurrection of Glyndwr, and especially of those, in which he was not personally concerned. Accordingly, several sieges and de- vastations, consequent on this protracted hostility, have been passed without notice ; but they have, for the most part, been such as related only to the partisans of the Welsh chief. The aim of these pages is to convey rather a memorial of the man than of the times in which he lived, which, however fertile in events of interest to the historian, cannot, in this point of view, be embraced within the plan of the biographer*. * It is not intended that this remark should have any reference to the " Memoirs of Owain Glyndwr," by Mr. Thomas, already alluded to, which 265 It was in the spring of the year 1406 that the French troops abandoned Wales ; but their place was speedily supplied by another reinforcement, the remnant of a much larger body, that had left the French shores, and which, on its passage, had been taken or dispersed by the Eng- lish*. However seasonable these succours might have proved under different circumstances, it does not appear that Glyndwr was at present in a condition to turn them to any advantage. His friends and partisans were rapidly forsaking him ; and, among the most important defections of this nature, was the revolt of the inhabitants of Ystrad Tywy, in Carmarthenshire, who, from their numbers and martial character, had been regarded among his most powerful auxiliaries. About this period the Earl of Northumberland and Lord Bardolf, who had been exiles in Scotland, having reason to suspect the fidelity of the inhabitants, removed to Wales, where they hoped, under the auspices of Glyn- dwr, to find a more secure asylum. They were received by him with all the hospitality, for which he was distin- guished, and which they continued to enjoy until the fol- lowing year, when the still declining fortunes of their friend induced them to seek a new retreat. And it is probable, was obviously designed rather as an historical view of the affairs of Wales during the time of Glyndwr, as well as before and after that period, than as a mere biographical sketch of the Welsh chieftain himself. The plan of the Cambrian Plutarch, however, does not admit of so extensive a disser- tation. * The French fleet on this occasion consisted of thirty-eight sail, eight of which, laden with troops, were captured by the English. The remainder escaped in the greatest confusion. It does not appear what number ar- rived safely at their destination, or, indeed, whether the troops they con- veyed took any active part on the side of Glyndwr. 266 that, on this occasion, they were influenced as much by a delicate disinclination to be any longer burthensome to their generous protector in the hour of adversity, as by any anxiety to provide for their own safety. Notwithstanding the reverses of the Welsh chieftain, it appears, that he still asserted his regal or rather princely pretensions, as is manifest from a pardon granted, at this time, to some of his countrymen, on which occasion the official instrument is dated in the " sixth year of his reign*." But this was only an effort to retain the shadow when the substance had disappeared. The subsequent years of our hero's existence present little more than a continued series of desultory warfare, directed to no other end than the persecution of such individuals, as continued firm in their allegiance to Henry, or as had forsaken his own standard. The Lords Marchers, as on former occasions, were pecu- liarly exposed to his predatory attacks, several of the towns and fortresses in their possession having suffered severely ; and, in order the more effectually to execute his plans, Glyndwr succeeded in forming a truce with some of these nobles, that he might, with the greater facility, harass the rest. Lord Grey, the original cause of the insurrec- tion, appears to have been included in the number of those, whom Glyndwr had thus rendered subservient to his designs. Henry, when apprised of the fact, dispatched imperative orders, that all pacific arrangements, formed between the Lords Marchers and Glyndwr, should be an- nulled, and, that the former should employ all their forces * The pardon, alluded to, was granted to John ab Hywel ab Ieuan Goch, and is dated at Cevn Llanvair on the 10th of January. On the seal of the instrument was the portrait of Glyndwr, holding a sceptre in his right hand, and a globe in his left. 267 to crush what still remained unsubdued of this obstinate rebellion. This edict, we may presume, had the desired effect, at least so far as to mitigate the violence of the Welsh chief- tain's hostility. For, immediately after this period, his war- like operations were merely of a defensive character. He seems to have retired among his mountain bulwarks, un- conquered indeed in spirit, but greatly weakened in power, and deserted by most of his followers. Such was the condition of Glyndwr when, in the year 1413, Henry V. ascended the English throne. This prince, we have seen, had been particularly active in his earlier years, in his opposition to the Welsh insurgents ; but, upon as- suming the regal dignity, he does not appear to have been actuated by any remarkable animosity against his former antagonists. His attention, indeed, was, at the moment, almost wholly absorbed by his projects against France; and the conquest of Glyndwr was regarded as an object of Comparatively little importance. The Welsh chief mean- time remained secure in his alpine retreat, unwilling or unable to attempt any enterprise of a formidable descrip- tion. The remaining portion of Glyndwr's life was chiefly devoted to the same predatory and irregular warfare, to which his hostility had latterly been confined. His im- pregnable position among the mountains favoured enter- prises of this character, and there is reason to believe, that they were also too congenial with his natural inclination. But, although he had thus ceased to carry on his hostile designs on an extended scale, it may be inferred, that he was still regarded by the English government as an enemy, whom it was worth while to conciliate, and that his for- tunes, accordingly, were not reduced to that state of abso- 268 lute desperation, which some writers pretend*. For, in the year 1415, Sir Gilbert Talbot, who had been opposed to Glyndwr in the field, was deputed by Henry to nego- ciate with him on terms, which secured his personal safety, and that of such of his partisans as still remained faithful to him. Whether Glyndwr lived to enjoy the benefit of this treaty, or, indeed, whether it was even ratified during his life, does not appearf. One thing only is certain, that, on the 20th of September, 1415, this last champion of Welsh independence terminated his earthly career, in the sixty- first year of his age J ; and, according to the most probable testimony, his death took place at the house of one of his daughters in Herefordshire. The more popular tradition appropriates the event to Monington, which was the resi- dence of his youngest daughter, who had been married to Roger Monington of that place, and where, it is said, * The monkish historians of this period ascribe to the latter years of Glyndwr's life the most extreme wretchedness, representing him as endur- ing all the miseries of a fugitive and an outcast. This, however, is totally at variance with the negociation proposed by Henry V., who certainly would not have condescended to treat with a man in such desperate circum- stances. It is probable, that the writers in question have transferred to the close of Glyndwr's life the sufferings which he endured immediately after the battle of Mynydd-y-Pwll-Melin, in 1405, as already related. + The treaty was, however, renewed, after the death of Glyndwr, with his son Meredydd. The event happened on the 24th of February, 1416, and may be regarded as the closing scene of this protracted and turbulent drama. t The year of Glyndwr's death, as well as that of his insurrection, is faithfully preserved in the following englyn. Mil a phedwar cant, nid mwy, — cov ydyw, Cy vodiad Glyndyvrdwy j Aphymtheg, prafeisafwy, Bu Owain hen by w yn hwy. This contradicts the statement of Rapin, who says he died in 1417. 269 Glyndwr was interred*. But, as this honour is also claimed by Kentchurch, in the same county, where another of his daughters lived, the only conclusion, to be drawn from these conflicting pretensions, is, that Herefordshire was, as Rapin asserts, the scene of his death. Nor can any thing be more probable, than that, in his latter hours, he should have sought in the arms of his children that re- pose, which fifteen years of turbulent activity had rendered so necessary. The children of Glyndwr have already been incidentally noticed. By his marriage with the daughter of Sir David Hanmer he appears to have had several, both sons and daughters. The number of the former is uncertain, and we have no particular memorials of their fate, any farther than that some of them fought, and, most probably, fell in their father's cause. One, however, at least, as we have seen by a preceding note, survived him. His daughters were five in number, and were all married; the eldest, Isabel, to Adda ab Iorwerth Ddu ; the second, Alicia, to Sir John Scudamore, of Kentchurch ; the third, Janet, to John Crofts, of Croft Castle, in Herefordshire ; the fourth, Jane, as we have already seen, to Lord Grey ; and the youngest, Margaret, to Roger Monington, above noticed* Glyndwr had also some illegitimate children, chiefly daugh- ters, who were married to persons of respectable family in the Principality. The name of but one son, Ieuan, has been preserved, and this is the only memorial of him. The usual residence of Glyndwr, as before-mentioned, * It is stated upon the authority of the Harleian MSS., in the British Museum, that the supposed body of Glyndwr was discovered at Moning- ton, upon rebuilding the church in the year 1680, that it was entire, and of " goodly stature." But the account is too vague to be entitled to much credit. 270 was Sycharth, respecting the particular site of which there may be some doubt. A celebrated writer* places it in the valley of the Dee, three miles below Corwen, and makes no hesitation in identifying this as the spot, where the chieftain received Iolo, his devoted bard, in whose strains the place is described with so much minuteness. It has, on the other hand, been surmised, with a considerable de- gree of plausibility, that the Sycharth, commemorated by the poet, was in the parish of Llansilin, in Denbighshire, about twelve miles south-east of Glyndyvrdwy*)-. Glyn- dwr, it is known, possessed domains in both these places % and it is, therefore, natural to conclude that he had a mansion in each. And \t must be admitted, that the one called Sycharth, which forms the particular subject of Iolo's "Invitation Poem," was, most probably, situate in Llansilin, on the small river Cynllaith, where the name is retained to this day, and where other peculiarities har- monize, in a remarkable manner, with the poet's descrip- tionj. But the point cannot now be satisfactorily deter- mined : there is ample room, however, for the ingenuity of conjecture. In person the subject of this memoir has been described as tall and athletic ; in his deportment dignified ; and, in his manners easy, courteous, and prepossessing. His na- tural endowments were, it is probable, of a highly respect- * Mr. Pennant. f See the Cambro-Briton, vol. i. p. 458. % This is particularly remarkable in the presumed site of Sycharth, as still to be traced in Llansilin, and in the park, mill, and fish-ponds, evident remains of which are yet to be seen on the same spot. But none of these characteristics, so minutely described by Iolo, are to be traced, or, at least, by no means so satisfactorily on the banks of the Dee. Yet, after all, the matter may be of no great importance ; or, if it be, it does not rest with ns to decide it. — Non nostrum tantas componere lites. 271 able character ; and with these he must have united such borrowed attainments as belonged, in that age, to indivi- duals of his station. At least, it may be assumed, from his early residence in the court of Richard II., and his particular employment near that monarch's person, that he was well skilled in the accomplishments of a military life. His talents as a warrior were not, however, it may be ad- mitted, of the highest order; but it is certain, that he combined with unquestionable courage a great share of policy and circumspection. His military views, indeed, were generally too much distinguished by the cautiousness of their character ; yet, what they may have wanted in grandeur of design was often supplied by the boldness and effectiveness of their execution. His operations were, for the most part, of an isolated nature, directed rather to secure some particular objects, than to promote the gene- ral interests of his cause. He seemed, therefore, to fight more to avenge his private wrongs than to vindicate the li- berties of his country, though it is certain that these latter were never absent from his regard. But the feudal charac- teristics of the age, and the various factions that divided the country, made it impossible for him to appear wholly disinterested. Nor should it be forgotten, that his pa- triotic struggle, long and arduous as it was, had its source in his own personal injuries; Of the more general character of Glyndwr we have but few traits. We have seen that he was superstitious, but this was a fault of the times, and in which, it is probable, he participated frequently as much from policy as inclina- tion. His most conspicuous failings appear to have been the irascibility and vindictiveness of his temper, to which, however, must be opposed a warmth of heart, which en- sured the sincerity of his attachments. In this respect he 272 united those opposite, yet not incongenial, extremes of character, which generally distinguish his countrymen. If he was unforgiving in his enmities, he was not less ardent in his friendships. In domestic life, as we have already seen, his hospitality was unlimited, and the general pa- tronage he extended towards the bards, proves unquestion- ably the natural liberality of his sentiments. In the en- couragement of the national muse, indeed, he evinced an enlightened enthusiasm, worthy of the best ages of Welsh independence. Such was Owain Glyndwr, and, in whatever view we may regard him, he will appear as the most eminent cha- racter which his country produced during the age in which he lived. Born to a private station, he elevated himself, by his own unaided energies, to the rank of a warrior and a conqueror, maintaining an obstinate contest, during fifteen years, against all the resources of a powerful mo- narchy, as well as against the private factions by which he was surrounded at home. The accomplishment of such a task, notwithstanding its ultimate issue, denotes him to have possessed no ordinary qualifications : it proves, at least, that he was bold, persevering, and ardent, in the pursuit of his object. And, if, with this, we consider the sincerity of his belief in the justice of his cause, we shall find it dif- ficult to appropriate to his memory the odium which com- monly attaches itself to unsuccessful treason. They, who regard Owain Glyndwr as a traitor, ought to keep in mind that his sword was only drawn against an usurper, and that whatever excesses marked his military career may find ample palliation in the injustice which had provoked them. 273 SIR RHYS AB THOMAS*. Among the natives of Wales, who acquired any distinc- tion during the fifteenth Century, the subject of this memoir merits an eminent place. Whether we contemplate him with reference to his rank, his endowments, or the part he acted in the political transactions of that period, we shall find his claim on our notice to be of an imperative nature. Descended from a long line of illustrious ancestors, he was indebted to his personal qualities for a reputation, which even eclipsed the nobleness of his birth. Rhys ab Thomas, for it was not until in after life that he acquired his titular designation, claimed a lineal descent from Urien Rheged, an illustrious chieftain, contemporary with Arthur, and of whom some notice occurs in a pre- ceding memoirf. In the female line he also numbered among his ancestors Elystan Glodrydd, head of one of the five royal tribes of the PrincipalityJ. His paternal grand- * This memoir, it may be right to premise, is principally indebted for the facts, upon which it is founded, to a curious life of Sir Rhys ab Thomas, written in the reign of James I. by a person, who appears to have claimed some relationship with the family. This production may be seen in the first volume of the Cambrian Register, and, notwithstanding its quaint and pe- dantic style, must be regarded as an interesting memorial of the times in which it was written. f See page 58, supra. A grandson of Rhys ab Thomas, in the reign of that capricious tyrant Henry VIII., lost his head for assuming the name of Fitzrurien, which Henry was pleased to consider as an indication of his in- tention to aspire to the sovereignty of Wales. This ancient family, it may be here noticed, is now represented by Lord Dynevor, of Dynevor Castle, Carmarthenshire. Z Elystan Glodrydd lived in the tenth century, and is recorded, in the Historical Triads, as one of the " three band-wearing princes of Britain." T His 274 father was Gruffydd ab Nicholas, so celebrated for his mu- nificent patronage of the poets and minstrels of his time, and who fell in the contests between the houses of York and Lancaster, in which he was engaged as an active par- tisan of the Yorkists. Thomas ab Gruffydd, the eldest son of this individual, was the father of Rhys ab Thomas. Being averse to the political feuds in which the country was then embroiled, he retired to Burgundy, where he distin- guished himself by his skill in the chivalrous accomplish- ments of the age, and was for a considerable time in parti- cular favour with the reigning duke, Philip the Good. An affair of gallantry, however^ in which he became involved with a near relative of that prince, compelled him to return rather suddenly to Wales, where, after being engaged in several personal combats, according to the rude manners of the times, he had the misfortune to fail under the hands of an assassin * The subject of this memoir was the third son of Thomas ab Gruffydd, by a daughter of Sir John Griffith, of Abermar- lais, in Carmarthenshire. His two elder brothers, Morgan- and David, ended their days, soon after the death of their father, in some of the sanguinary affrays arising from the po- litics of the times, to which Wales was so miserably exposed. The brothers had espoused opposite sides, and there is some ground for believing, that they fell while actually confronted to each other in the prosecution of this unnatural struggle. Rhys ab Thomas first saw the light at Abermarlais, in His territory was situated in that part of the country which lies between the Severn and Wye. He was also lord of Hereford in right of his mother. • This happened at Pennal, in Merionethshire, just after a personal en- counter, in which he had been successful. Being exhausted, however, by loss of blood, he lay down, and, while in this situation, was stabbed una- wares by a servant or friend of his adversary. 275 Carmarthenshire, in the year 1451 ; and his father appears, on his birth, to have entertained some extraordinary pre- sage of his future celebrity. At least, it is certain, that, yielding to his superstitious feelings in this respect, he had recourse to the occult wisdom of the astrologer, to satisfy his paternal solicitude respecting the destiny of his child; and the oracular responses he received gave a countenance to his most flattering anticipations. Elated by what he re- garded as a preternatural assurance on a subject so inter- esting, he determined to spare no pains or expense in the education of his son; and young Rhys, while yet in his infancy, was placed under the care of Dr. Lewis, a physi- cian, whose talents and attainments rendered him subse- quently a prominent character in the political drama then acted*. From this person Rhys received his earliest in- struction, and, it is probable, continued under his tuition for some years; but, when his father removed to Burgundy, as already related, his favourite child was the companion of his travels, and his education was completed in that country. The court of Burgundy was, at this period, remarkable, above most others in Europe, for the patterns of chivalry in which it abounded*)*; and young Rhys, by his proficiency in the fashionable pursuits of the age, and particularly in feats of horsemanship and arms, and other athletic exer- cises, soon shone a conspicuous luminary amidst the splen- did constellation in which he was placed. His merits, which became the subject of general admiration, at length attrac- * Dr. Lewis was a native of North Wales, and received his education in the University of Padua. t The period, to which this observation has reference, could not have been very long antecedent to the dismemberment of the Duchy of Burgundy, which happened in the year 1477, when part of it was annexed to the throne of France, and the remainder was seized by the Germans. t2 276 ted the personal notice of the Duke, who took him under his own immediate protection. Rhys soon profited in an eminent degree by the advan- tages he now enjoyed, and so much ingratiated himself with his patron, who had made him the companion of his only son, that he appeared to be in the high road to preferment and honour. But this bright promise was destined to be nipped in the bud ; for, after he had risen rapidly to the rank of captain from that of a private soldier*, the indis- cretion of his father, previously noticed, made it necessary for him to return in haste to his native country, and it was the lot of Rhys to accompany him in his flight. In no very long time after this event, Thomas ab Gruff- ydd and his two eldest sons died in the manner already de- scribed, and Rhys succeeded, in consequence, to the posses- sion of his patrimonial estates. His first care, upon being thus at full liberty to act for himself, was to make choice of some persons, most remarkable for their wisdom or experience, upon whose counsel he might rely, as well in the management of his private affairs, as in his general deportment in the po- litical contests of the times. This measure indicated in Rhys a degree of discretion far beyond his years ; and it was his good fortune soon to experience the benefit of it. A deep- rooted enmity had existed between his father and one Hen- ry ab Gwilym, of Court Henry, in Carmarthenshire, who was of an ancient and respectable family, and was also dis- tinguished by his personal qualities, and the influence he possessed in that part of the country. Family feuds 01 this nature were, formerly, of common occurrence in Wales, * It was by his own choice that Rhys was originally placed in a subordi- nate rank ; for the Duke would at first have bestowed upon him the command of a troop of horse, but he modestly declined it, as too much for his youth and inexperience. 271 and, owing to the laxity of the laws, were generally pro- ductive of the most fatal results. In the present instance, there had been many obstinate contests between Thomas ab Gruffydd and his adversary; and the persons, whom Rhys had selected as his advisers, were naturally apprehensive that the quarrel might be continued in the son. For the purpose of preventing what could not but prove highly in- jurious to the interests of their young protege, they resolved upon attempting a reconciliation ; and, with this view, they proposed a matrimonial alliance between the two families. It fortunately happened that the proposal met on each side with the most cordial reception, and Rhys was soon after- wards united in marriage with Eva, daughter and coheiress of Henry ab Gwilym. Independent of the extinction of the old family animosities, which was the natural fruit of this auspicious union, it had the effect also, by considerably augmenting the property of Rhys, of strengthening his local interests in a very essential degree. Immediately after his marriage, the subject of this me- moir appears to have devoted himself entirely to the arrange- ment of his private affairs, and, more especially, of his domestic economy, in which he established regulations of the most liberal nature, tempered at the same time by a due regard to the extent of his resources*. Having thus adopt- * Such, his biographer tells us, was the system of hospitality he had adopt- ed, that " the gentry did continually flock to his house, as to some acade- my, for their civil nurture and education ; by which means his house was so' much frequented, and he so well attended, that, wherever he came, in re- spect of the greatness of his train, he bare shew rather of a prince than a private subject." But, notwithstanding the expense which this liberality must necessarily have entailed on him, the writer adds, that his judgment in the management of his affairs was so great, that " his hospitality no way abated or diminished, shewing the middle way between base avarice and vicious prodigality." 278 ed a system of living suitable with his rank and the manners of the age, he next directed his attention to the condition of his countrymen, which stood much in need of ameliora- tion. A long series of intestine broils had introduced among the lower classes a general contempt of social order and all the common decencies of civilized life. Their chief enjoyment was centred in such acts of violence as resulted from the jealousies and dissensions then prevailing. To remove these abuses, and substitute a system of good order in their stead, became now the avowed object of Rhys; and with this view, he had recourse to the assistance of the Bishop of St. David's, one of his chosen friends, who readily acquiesced in his views. The worthy prelate began his work of improvement by reforming, within his diocese, the ser- vice of the established church, which had been, for some time before, much neglected. The dissemination of a re- ligious spirit throughout the country was the natural con- sequence of this prudent measure ; and Rhys beheld with pleasure the auspicious accomplishment of the first and most important part of his benevolent project. His next care was to establish public games and diversions, for the purpose of alluring the people from the unsocial and turbu- lent occupations in which they had so long indulged. And, in order the more readily to induce them to adopt his plan, he was frequently in the habit of taking part himself in the athletic exercises of the occasion*. * The following is the quaint and curious description, which the biogra- pher of Rhys ab Thomas gives of bis conduct on this occasion : — * l And, be- cause by conversation familiarity is increased, and courtesy engendered, they (Rhys and his advisers), in imitation of the ancient law-makers, insti- tuted certain festival days, to the end that men should assemble together, or entertain public sports ; and places of meeting were appointed, and sum- mer-houses erected, where the women, with dancing and other allowable 279 By this patriotic and politic conduct, lie ingratiated him- self, in a remarkable manner, with his dependants and coun- trymen generally. So great, indeed, was his popularity, that he was able, according to the statement of his biographer, to bring into the field, on any sudden emergency, a force of four or five thousand horse, consisting, for the most part, of voluntary contributions. The ability to command so large a body must, in those troubled times, and particularly with reference to the feudal and independent mode of warfare then in use, have rendered his friendship as desirable as his hostility must have been dangerous. Nor were the tribu- tary supplies of his countrymen confined to those of a mere military nature ; they also forced upon his acceptance por- tions of land to a considerable extent, which, when added to his previous possessions, rendered him the most powerful territorial proprietor in that part of the Principality*. Such was the prosperous condition of the aifairs of Rhys ab Thomas, when the Duke of Buckingham and others had entered into a conspiracy for dethroning Richard III. and placing the crown on the head of the Earl of Richmond. recreations, passed the time, and the men exercised all manly actions, as running, quoiting, leaping, wrestling, and the like; among whom this young Rhys ever made one, not refusing sometimes to decline his gravity, and to dance among his neighbours, but that was seldom, and then too with a de- cent and comely behaviour." It is hardly necessary to mention, that neither in this extract, nor in those in the preceding note, is the orthography of the original observed. * The portions of land, here alluded to, were given generally in exchange for horses, with which Rhys supplied all those who attached themselves to him. The land, as being the donation of so many different people, was necessarily widely scattered, and often selected from the midst of larger estates. It is possible that this custom prevailed in other instances, as there still exists, in some parts of South Wales, a remarkable intermixture of pro- perty^ where isolated patches of land frequently belong to persons having no other property within several miles of them. 280 Buckingham, it is well known, had been rewarded for his services to Richard, whom he had been mainly instrumen- tal in raising to his kingly dignity, with several confiscated estates in the Marches of South Wales, as well as with a considerable authority in those parts. Some time previous to his formation of the plot for the overthrow of his former master, he had, by some arbitrary assumption of power, given deep offence to Rhys ab Thomas, between whose family and the Duke there had existed before a serious mis- understanding, which, it is probable, the extreme popular- ity of Rhys, by rendering him an object of jealousy to this ambitious nobleman, had tended, on his part at least, ma- terially to enhance. When his scheme, however, for the introduction of Richmond, then in France, to the English throne, was nearly ripe for execution, he felt that a recon- ciliation with Rhys would be almost indispensable to its success. For, as there was no part of the English coast on which the new monarch could securely land, it remained that his only chance of an unobstructed disembarkation would be in Wales. Yet, as long as Rhys continued true to the reigning king, this appeared impossible: it, there- fore, formed one of Buckingham's first objects to gain over that individual to his cause. The accomplishment of this desirable result was, however, likely to be attended with much difficulty; for not only did the still existing enmity between Rhys and the Duke present a formidable impedi- ment, but the former had, about this time, renewed to Rich- ard the assurance of his loyalty, in terms the most earnest and unequivocal. As soon as the king was apprised of the full extent and design of Buckingham's conspiracy, he was seized with the apprehensions so natural to his peculiar situation, and had resort to every expedient to ward off the impending danger. 281 From those, whose power placed them above the influence of his bribes or menaces, he was content to exact a new pledge of their fidelity and attachment. Among this num- ber was the subject of the present memoir, from whom Rich- ard directed his Commissioners in South Wales to take a fresh oath of allegiance, and, at the same time, to require his only son as a hostage for its faithful performance. Rhys complied with the first part of the condition, but could not consent to part with his child, then only in his fifth year. He, accordingly, wrote a letter to the king, to excuse a com- pliance with his wishes in this respect, urging the tender age of the boy, with all those other arguments, which the affection of a parent for an only son may be supposed to supply. The application, in all probability, had the desired effect ; for it does not appear that Richard persisted in the exaction of this stipulation, and which he, perhaps, consi- dered the less necessary, in consequence of the solemn pro- testations of loyalty conveyed by Rhys's letter, in which the writer declared, with reference to the apprehended invasion by the Earl of Richmond, that " whoever, ill affected to the state, should dare to land in those parts of Wales, where he had any employment under his Majesty, must resolve with himself to make his entrance and irruption over his body"*. The pledge, thus made by Rhys, seemed by no means calculated to prepare him for giving a favourable reception to the overtures of the Duke of Buckingham, even if he had not been influenced by his personal dislike of that no- bleman. The Duke, however, who was, most probably, aware of the obstacles he should have to encounter, employ- * The letter, here alluded to, is dated "Carmarthen Castle, 1484," the year preceding the landing of the Earl of Richmond, at Milford. 282 ed, as his mediator on the occasion, a person who, of all others, was most likely to bring the affair to a successful issue. This was Dr. Lewis, Rhys's former tutor, whom the Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII.,. had se- lected as her confidential agent in those intrigues which preceded the establishment of her son on the English throne. The Doctor found his old pupil at his castle of Abermarlais, on the eve of departing for Brecon, for the purpose of bring- ing the inveterate quarrel between Buckingham and him- self to a decision, by an appeal to arms, for which he had made formidable preparations. It was scarcely possible for the negotiator to have arrived at a more inauspicious junc- ture ; yet, such was his address, or the influence he pos- sessed over Rhys, that, after a long interview, in the course of which he apprised him of the plans in agitation for the public welfare, and urged him, on this account, to refrain, at least, from his hostile intentions, he so far succeeded as to prevail upon Rhys even to assent to a reconciliation with the Duke. The parties soon afterwards met for the pur- pose, and the differences, that had existed, were adjusted with apparent sincerity and satisfaction. The main point, however, still remained to be accom- plished. Although the old variance between Buckingham and Rhys was thus terminated, it was not as yet succeeded by any cordial alliance ; and the Duke still felt, that, with- out his new friend's active co-operation, the success of his project would be extremely doubtful. Dr. Lewis was, ac- cordingly, instructed to proceed in the work he had so happily begun; but this zealous mediator, unwilling to trust entirely to his own powers, communicated the design to the Bishop of St. David's* and one or two others, whom * It does not exactly appear who filled the See of St. David's at the 283 Rhys, as already noticed, had selected as his confidential advisers, and solicited their aid in the task he had under- taken. To this they readily assented, and availed them- selves of an occasion to make their first effort, when Rhys was reflecting with some feelings of dissatisfaction on the letter he had written to Richard, and which, he began to fear, might, by the sinister interpretation of the tyrant, be converted to his injury, if not to his destruction. While engaged in this train of thought, he was visited by the Bishop and his companions, who spared no argument to induce him to espouse the politics of Buckingham, and be- come an instrument for the establishment of Richmond upon the throne. For a long time, however, Rhys con- tinued firm against all their solicitations, to which his only answer was, that, however criminal the conduct of Richard, he was still his lawful, or, at least, his actual so- vereign, and to whom he was bound not only by the gene- ral allegiance of all subjects to their prince, but, in his case, by the solemn oath he had so recently taken. His spiritual adviser, after endeavouring in vain to overcome these scruples by a variety of exhortations, at length un- dertook to absolve him from his rash vow, if he should still feel conscientiously bound to adhere to it ; and, with respect to that part of his letter to the king, in which he declared, that no disaffected person should enter the coun- try without making a passage over his body, the zealous prelate suggested, that it would be no degradation, in such a case, for him to redeem his pledge by prostrating him- pai ticular period alluded to. The biographer of Rhys calls him John ; but the only bishops of that name, about the time in question, were John De- labere, during the reign of Henry VI. and John Morgan, who succeeded to the see in 1503. 284 self before the new monarch, and thus allow him literally to march over his body to the throne, to which he was the undoubted and legitimate heir. By such accommodating sophistry did Rhys's coun- sellors attempt to bring him over to their cause ; but they still failed in immediately producing the desired result. Although their persuasions had obviously shaken his loyalty to Richard, he could not be induced all at once to abandon the imagined duty, which his oath had imposed upon him. However, after some farther deliberation, he conceived, that to espouse the cause of the Earl of Rich- mond would be most beneficial to the interests of his country, and resolved, accordingly, that his own private scruples should give way to the public good. He had scarcely arrived at this determination, before he received intelligence of the defeat and death of the Duke of Buck- ingham in his rash and ill-concerted enterprise near Glou- cester. For a moment he seemed to regard this blow as fatal to the counsels he had embraced, but, having once taken a bold and decided part, he deemed it unbecoming his character to renounce it. So, notwithstanding that the same friends, who had before urged him to his present conduct, strove now, with a capricious inconstancy, to per- suade him to the adoption of opposite measures*, he man- fully rejected their temporizing counsels, and finally deter- mined to adhere to those he had already espoused. * Upon this occasion, although the greatest part of his friends advised him to remain faithful to Richard, there were not wanting others who en- deavoured to prevail upon him to act a double part, and so preserve his life by the sacrifice of his honour. But such counsels he at once rejected. " 'Tis true," his biographer tells us, " safety and honour were ever both of them the objects of Rhys ab Thomas's care, yet, seeing he was now to make trial for himself, he determined rather to jeopardize his safety than shipwreck his honour." 285 In the resolution he had thus taken he was soon con- firmed, beyond the power of retreating, by letters, which arrived from the Earl of Richmond himself, soliciting his friendship and aid in the enterprise in which he was about to embark, and apprising him of his intention to land on the Welsh coast*. The communication was, as may be presumed, most cordially received ; and, in the answer Rhys returned, he assured the prince of the alacrity, with which he embraced his cause, and of the vigorous prepara- tions he was making to serve him. He also urged him to lose no time in carrying his plans into execution. The die was now cast, and Rhys directed his whole attention to the disciplining of his tenants and other dependants, and making the various military arrangements necessary to the occasion. These proceedings, it will be naturally imagined, did not escape the penetrating observation of Richard ; but, as it does not appear that he made any remonstrance upon the subject, it is probable that he ascribed the acti- vity of Rhys to a zeal in his own service, and to a desire to be prepared against the menaced invasion by Richmond, Nor is it at all unlikely, that Rhys himself gave a counte- nance to the king's delusion, the more effectually to pro- mote the operations he had in viewf. It is certain, at least, * The letters, thus sent by the Earl of Richmond, were written by him at the instigation of his mother, who had sent over one Hugh Conway to Brittany for the purpose. The Countess, being apprised by Dr. Lewis of the indecision of Rhys, thought this would be the most effectual means of turning the scale in her favour. She accordingly, as the writer already quoted observes, " gave instructions for advising her sou speedily to write unto the said Rhys, wishing him withal to season his compliments with large promises of honour." And it is probable, that the Earl did not omit this part of his task ; nor are we justified in supposing, that Rhys was, on the other hand, inaccessible to the influence of such overtures. f During the time that Rhys was taking the measures here alluded to for 286 that, when Henry landed, Rhys had prosecuted his schemes with so much dexterity and effect, that he found himself at the head of a well appointed force of more than two thou- sand horse, consisting of his own immediate dependants, to- gether with a numerous train of followers, many of them individuals of rank and distinction from all parts of the Principality. The Welsh indeed hailed the arrival of Richmond on their shores with peculiar enthusiasm, from a notion that he was, in some respect, to be regarded as their countryman*. And it is hardly to be doubted, that Rhys ab Thomas availed himself of every opportunity to turn this popular feeling to the best account. Henry VII., it is known, landed at Milford in Pembroke- shire on the seventh of August, 1485, when Rhys ab Tho- mas was among the foremost to welcome him. And, that he might not depart from the strict letter of his solemn as- surance to Richard, he is reported to have fallen down be- fore the new monarch, in order to allow him to march over his bodyf. Whether we be justified or not in giving credit to the account transmitted to us of this Jesuitical conduct, it is certain that Rhys, on his first interview with the support of Richmond, Richard lay with his army at Nottingham, and seems to have placed implicit reliance on his Welsh subjects, especially Rhys ab Thomas and Sir Walter Herbert, son of the first Earl of Pembroke of that name, who, he observed, would soon defeat any attempt on the part of Henry. So incorrect was the king's information even on points thus essen- tially connected with the security of his throne. * Henry VII. was the son of Edmund, Earl of Richmond, half brother of Henry VI., and son of Owen Tudor, a Welshman, by Catherine, widow of Henry V. Hence his popularity among the natives of Wales. f Such is the statement of his biographer ; but the tradition of the country is somewhat different. It is said, that he did not literally permit Henry to stride over his body, but that he went under the arch of a small bridge, over which the Earl's passage lay, and there remained until Henry had crossed it. 287 Henry, made him a public tender of his services, and those of his companions in arms, and exhorted him to afford them an immediate opportunity of proving by their actions the sincerity of their professions. This opportunity, as the reader knows, was not long de- layed. For, after the French troops that accompanied the Earl of Richmond, had been supplied with the arms and equipments, of which they stood so much in need, at the expense, for the most part, of Rhys ab Thomas*, the united force marched onwards towards Shrewsbury. The route assigned to Rhys was by Carmarthen ; and persons were employed to precede him on his march, to apprise the country, through which he was to pass, of the part he had espoused. And so great was his popularity, that, upon his arrival at Brecon, his followers had increased to such a degree, that he was under the necessity of making a selec- tion from the number, with which he again joined the Earl of Richmond. The reception he experienced from Henry was so much the more cordial, in consequence of some sus- picions, that had been circulated during their separation respecting the sincerity of Rhys's intentions. It had been even rumoured, that, while thus appearing to support the interests of Richmond, he was in fact levying forces for the secret purpose of opposing his progress. His reappear- ance, therefore, in the ranks of the Earl, attended by a * It appears from the report of Rhys's biographer, that the French troops, which came over with Richmond on this occasion, " wanted both neces- sary furniture of arms and other munition, besides that they were very raw and ignorant in shooting, handling of their weapcus, and discharging the or- dinary duty of soldiers ;' ; and that Rhys "furnished them with all such things as he could spare, without the damage of his own particular, though in heart he wished them back again in Fiance, there being not one man of quality among them to endear future ages to make mention either of his name or service." 288 considerable accession of troops, not only dispelled all the doubts the latter had entertained, but served to animate him with new hopes as to the event of his enterprise. The battle of Bosworth, which decided the fate of Richard, and placed the crown on the head of his adver- sary, speedily followed these events*. In that engagement Rhys ab Thomas is recorded to have performed prodigies of heroism ; and his biographer even ascribes to him the honour of having, by his own hand, terminated the career of the tyrant*)-. But, without intending to insist on the justice of his claim to such a distinction, it is certain, that he and his brave countrymen had a very material share in the triumph of that important day. Of this the honours, immediately afterwards conferred upon him by Henry, are a sufficient proof. He was not only knighted upon the field of battle, but received also the appointment of the King's Justiciary and Chief Governor in South Wales, with full power to reform the abuses then prevalent there. He was, in addition, made Constable and Lieutenant of Bre- con, Chamberlain of the counties of Carmarthen and Car- digan, and Seneschal of the lordship of Buallt. These appointments, from a monarch so sparing of his favours as Henry, denote the high estimation in which the services of Rhys were regarded. As soon as he received them he departed for Wales, where he remained about two years, discharging his high office of Justiciary, as will be seen, with credit to himself, and particular benefit to his country. * It was fought on the 22nd of August, 1485, only a fortnight after Rich- mond's disembarkation. t This is related by the biographer of Rhys, upon the credit of a Welsh tradition, which, however, wants the corroboration of less interested autho- rity. 289 It Las already been noticed that the state of society in Wales, at this period, was extremely disturbed. The wise regulations of Rhys, aided by the exertions of the Bishop of St. David's, had tended, indeed, in some degree, to mi- tigate the evil. But, although the general insubordination had been partially corrected, the cause still remained, and could only be eradicated by far more vigorous measures than any that had yet been adopted. During the absence of Rhys in the military services already noticed, circum- stances had likewise occurred to excite the country into a new ferment. Rhys, upon departing with the Earl of Richmond, had entrusted his two younger brothers with a considerable armed force, both for the purpose of protect- ing his son, whose safety, he naturally presumed, might be compromised in the approaching contest, as well as for se- curing the public tranquillity. Scarcely, however, had he quitted his native soil, before the measure, he had thus pru- dently adopted, seemed to threaten consequences directly opposite to what were anticipated. The soldiers, thus freed from the controul of their former master, broke out into the wildest disorder, and materially aggravated the feuds, which they had been designed to suppress. The general mass of the people, too, no longer influenced by the presence of their natural lord, revived the jealousies and animosities, which had been recently suspended, and a state of civil anarchy was, as may be imagined, the necessary re- sult. Such was the unpromising aspect of affairs in South Wales, when Rhys returned loaded with honours and power to exercise the important functions with which the new king had invested him. It required, as will be ad- mitted, all his influence and address to compose the storm, that had thus gathered in his absence ; and it may be in- 290 ferred, from the very scanty notices which his biographer has supplied of his conduct on this occasion, that his usual prudence did not forsake him*. Acting as well from his na- tural disposition, as from his intimate knowledge of the character of his countrymen, he began by the adoption of the mildest and most conciliatory measures, proceeding afterwards to others of a more rigorous nature, and re- sorting, in extreme cases only, to the last severity of the law, nor even then without considerable repugnancef . By this course of justice, so seasonably tempered with mercy, he succeeded in allaying the feuds and dissensions, under which the country had so long suffered, and was rewarded with the general esteem for the public good he had thus been the means of accomplishing. Rhys ab Thomas, now elevated to his equestrian dignity of Sir Rhys, had been thus beneficially engaged for nearly two years, when he was summoned from his honourable re- treat by the political events that were then passing in Eng- land, in the insurrection of Lord Lovell and the StafFords, and the imposture of Simnel. The speedy suppression of the rebellion in the first instance, however, deprived him of any opportunity of signalizing himself, and he had only time to advance a part of the way towards the expected scene of action, at the head of five hundred horse, which he had hastily raised for the occasion. He had not long returned home before his services were again required, and * It appears from several hints, thrown out by the writer of Rhys's Life, that he had an intention of writing also the history of his civil administration. It may be too late to ascertain, whether the intention was ever executed : most probably it was not, as such a work must, ere this, have been known, from its interesting connexion with the manners of Wales in the times to which it would have related. f His biographer tells us that he always pronounced the sentence of death vocemagis leniter sezerct quam rabidd. 291 we find him engaged in the battle of Stoke against SimneR Such was the suddenness of the summons he received upon this occasion, that he was obliged to go unattended. The king, in consequence, placed him at the head of a body of English horse, with which he appears to have distinguished himself in a remarkable manner, giving eminent proofs of his valour and prowess. He was wounded in this battle, and was otherwise in imminent peril, from which, according to his biographer, he was narrowly rescued by the timely assistance of the Earl of Shrewsbury f. In no great while after this, Sir Rhys accompanied Henry in his abortive expedition against France, where it does not appear he had any opportunity of signalizing him- self. We may collect, however, from Lord Bacon's ac« counts of the events of the campaign, that Sir Rhys and his followers were remarkable for their military appearance and disciplinej. Although Henry failed in his designs of * This battle was fought on the 6th of June, 148iT. f It is said of Sir Rhys, in the memoir of him so often quoted, that " on this day only he fought for his life, elsewhere for his honour, either to give testimony ot his bravery to his new companions, or upon a hurt received by an Irish dart from the hand of a common soldier, while he was in the heat of a single combat witli the Earl of Kildare;" and that, " being somewhat transported with fury, and further carried than wisdom might give him cora s mission, he fell from fighting with one to fight with many." And we learn moreover from the same authority, that, being inspired with new courage npon the appearance of the Earl of Shrewsbury, lt he flew at his enemies, doing such slaughter amongst them, and performing such deeds of arms, as contributed much to that day's victory." It is added by the biographer, that Sir Rhys was rallied upon this occasion by the king, who asked him " whether was belter eating leeks in Wales, or shamrocks among the Irish?'' alluding to the number of the latter nation that were engaged, in the battle of Stoke, on the side of the rebels. To this Rhys answered, that " both were but coarse fare, yet either would seem a feast with such a companion," pointing to the Earl of Shrewsbury." t Lord Bacon, after enumerating the several persons of distinction, that v2 292 territorial conquest, it is known that he succeeded in filling his coffers, by the contributions which he exacted from the inhabitants of Brittany ; and, out of the treasure thus amassed, he made presents to some of his chief commanders. Sir Rhys among the number was not forgotten. The king offered him an annual pension of two hundred marks, which was however rejected, either owing to the supposed inade- quacy of the reward, or from that love of independence, by which Sir Rhys seems ever to have been actuated*. When the kingdom was disturbed by the rebellion con- sequent on the imposture of Perkin Warbeck, Sir Rhys, among other faithful subjects of the king, was again called into action. If his biographer be entitled to credit, he was engaged against the insurgents in the battle of Blackheath at the head of fifteen hundred horsey. And such, as re- accompanied the king on this expedition, says, " and amongst them was Richard Thomas" (manifestly a mistake for Rhys ab Thomas) " much no- ted for the brave troops that he brought out of Wales." Life of Henry VIL p. 108. See also Harding's Chronicle, p. 122. * The historian of Sir Rhys's life relates, that, when the pension alluded to was offered, Sir Rhys " refused it with some indignation, telling the messenger, that, if his master intended to relieve his wants, he had sent him too little, if to corrupt his mind, or stagger his fidelity, his kingdom would not be enough." However well this may sound, it may be fairly as- sumed, that, whatever were Sir Rhys's sentiments on the occasion, he did not express them in such language. When Henry tendered him a token, however inadequate, of the sense in which he regarded his services, he never could have meant to " corrupt his mind/' or undermine his loyalty. The fact is, that the biographer, in imitation of some ancient historians, has thought it occasionally necessary to put fine speeches into the mouth of the individual, whose exploits he is narrating — " dabiturque licentia sumta pudenter." t The battle of Blackheath was fought on the 22nd of June, 1497. The English historians, it is true, make no mention of Sir Rhys having been pre- sent; but, as many other persons of distinction must have passed unnoticed, this circumstance alone can be of no weight. 293 ported, was his fearless and intrepid conduct on the field, that he had two horses killed under him ; but, mounting a third, he made a prisoner of Lord Audley, who was at the head of the rebel force. For this exploit, says the histo- rian of his life, " the king gave him, by way of reward, the goods of the said lord, and, withal, for his more honour, created him banneret on the field, having then many wounds about him"*. The public tranquillity that marked the remainder of Henry's reign, afforded Sir Rhys no farther military em- ployment, and he appears, accordingly, during the whole period, to have confined himself to the discharge of his magisterial duties in South Wales. And such satisfaction had his administration given to the king, that, in 1 506, he conferred on him the order of the garterf, together with the lordship of Narberth in Pembrokeshire J. His biographer * This agrees with what Bacon relates of the conduct of the king after the battle of Blackheath. " And for matter of liberality," says the histo- rian, " he did, by open edict, give the goods of all the prisoners unto those that had taken them, either to take them in kind, or compound for them as they could."— Life of Henry VII. , p. 171. The exploit, for which Sir Rhys ab Thomas was thus rewarded, is particularly mentioned in the peti- tion of Rhys ab Gruffydd, his grandson, who was beheaded in the reign of Henry VIII., in enumerating the loyal services of his ancestors. There can therefore be little doubt of its authenticity, notwithstanding the silence of English writers respecting it. t Fuller, in his u Worthies/' in allusion to the honour bestowed on Sir Rhys on this occasion, says — " The thrifty king, according to his cheap course of remuneration, (rewarding church-men with church preferment and soldiers with honour) afterwards made him a knight of the order, and well might he give Kim a garter, by whose effectual help he had recovered a crown." % This lordship had before been in the family of Sir Rhys. It belonged to his grandfather, the celebrated Gruffydd ab Nicholas, by whom it was conveyed to his youngest son, Owain ab Gruffydd, from whom it appears, by some unexplained means, to have passed to the crown. Upon the at- 294 even adds, that he received the offer of a peerage, which he refused upon the ground that the honour of knighthood was more congenial with the profession of arms, and that, if his descendants should be ambitious of any higher dig- nity, they might exert themselves to obtain it, as he had done for the acquisition of his*. In the year following his accession to this new mark of his sovereign's favour, Sir Rhys instituted a public festival in South Wales, in commemoration of the anniversary of St. George, which was, at the same time, celebrated at court with great pomp. But, the duties of Sir Rhys's of- fice not allowing him to attend, he adopted this method of doing honour to the occasion. The festival, which continued for five days, was conducted on the most munificent scale, embracing all the chivalrous exercises of the age, with a variety of public feasts and entertainments. Many indivi- duals of rank and distinction from all parts of Wales, and especially such as had acquired any military celebrity, were present at the ceremony; and the general harmony that prevailed, afforded another proof of the high esteem in which Sir Rhys was held by his countrymen^. iainder of Rhys ab Gruffydd, alluded to in the preceding note, this lordship, with other property, reverted, by forfeiture, to the crown, and never re- turned to the family of Sir Rhys ab Thomas. * It has already been incidentally noticed, that this family has since been ennobled. The peerage was created in the year 1780, by the title of Baron Dinevor, of Diuevor Castle in the county of Carmarthen. The Right Hon. George Talbot Rice is the present inheritor of the honour. Rhys ab Gruffydd is related to have refused the Earldom of Es?cx, which refusal, as well as his assumption of the name of Fitzurien, formed one of Henry's charges against him. f The account of these festivities is given by Sir Rhys's biographer at great length, and with considerable minuteness ; and it is added, that the affair was so gratifying to the king, that '* he gave Sir Rhys many thanks the year following, when he came to give hisattendance at court." The 295 Upon the accession of Henry VIII. in 1509, Sir Rhys ab Thomas, at that time in his sixtieth year, was confirmed in the important and responsible situation he had filled un- der the late king. He appears, indeed, to have grown into favour with the new monarch in a manner so sudden and remarkable, that it is only to be explained by the respect in which he had been held by his father. Nor was it only in his civil capacity that Sir Rhys experienced the coun- tenance of Henry VIII. : he accompanied him, at his special command, in his campaign in France, where he enjoyed several opportunities of displaying his personal prowess, especially in the battle of Therouenne, and at the siege of Tournay. And, notwithstanding the barren result of this expedition, both he and his son* were, on their return, honoured with new marks of the royal favour, by being ap- pointed respectively Seneschal and Chancellor of the lord- ships of Haverfordwest and Rouse ; which, with the offices already in the possession of Sir Rhys, constituted almost all the honours the crown had to bestow in that part of the kingdom. The remainder of Sir Rhys's life appears to have been entirely devoted to the enjoyment of that otium cum digni- tate, to which his long and meritorious services had so justly entitled him. He resided altogether at the Castle of Carew in Pembrokeshire, in the vicinity of the Bishop of St. David's, with whom he was on terms of the most intimate friendship^ His chief amusement during this tournament, held by Sir Rhys at Carew Castle on this occasion, is said to have been the only one ever celebrated in Wales. * His son had been previously knighted— at least he is called Sir Gruffydd ab Rhys by the writer of his father's life. t During the last four years of Sir Rhys's life the see of St. David's was filled by Dr. Richard Rawlins, who succeeded Bishop Vaughan. 296 period, even at his advanced age, was horsemanship, to which he had been, during his whole life, particularly at- tached ; and, if in any part of his expenses he might be said to be at all profuse, it was in what related to his stables, which were always stocked with animals of the rarest breed and most approved quality*. Recreations of the nature alluded to, united with the general temperance and regu- larity of his living, and an habitual exercise of his religious duties, communicated to his latter days a degree of enviable serenity ; and a gradual and almost imperceptible decay smoothed his passage to his last home. His death took place in the year 1527, in the seventy-sixth year of his age ; and the chasm, which it made in society, was not to be easily filled. Full of years and of honours, he left behind him a reputation, which long continued the pride and de- light of his country. His remains were deposited in St. Peter's Church in Carmarthen, where a stately monument was reared to his memory f. Sir Rhys ab Thomas was twice married. His first wife has already been noticed : by her he had only one son, Sir GrufFydd ab Rhys, whose birth she did not long survive. Sir GrufFydd, who has before been mentioned in the course of this memoir, died in the lifetime of his father, leaving a son, who became the sole legal heir of his grandfather's large possessions^. Sir Rhys took for his second wife * " His numerous stalls," says his biographer, "were ever full of horses of the rarest breed, which he often had drawn out in martial array, as if the enemy were at hand, it being his maxim, that peace was the best season to provide for war ; so that, when it came, it found him ready and prepared to meet it." t This monument has been for more than a century in a state of decay, owing to the perishable quality of the stone employed in its erection ; and no vestiges of the original inscription can now be discovered. t This grandson is the person who has been already alluded to as 297 Janet Matthews, who was of an old and reputable family in Glamorganshire* ; but there was no fruit of this union. However, although Sir Rhys's matrimonial alliances did not tend much to the increase of his family, his illegitimate issue was numerous ; and it is to be recorded to his credit, that he made ample provision for all, and was at pains to marry his daughters into the most respectable families*]-. After what has transpired in the preceding notices re- specting the character of Sir Rhys ab Thomas, it becomes almost superfluous to enter here into any general summary of his more remarkable qualities. It has been seen, that he was distinguished by a remarkable proficiency in the accom- plishments of the times, as well as by most of those virtues, which served to adorn the public situation it was his lot to fill. He was endowed at once with valour and prudence in an eminent degree ; and the generosity of his disposition was sufficiently conspicuous in his conduct towards his de- having suffered decapitation in the reign of Henry VIII., four years only after the death of his grandfather, at the early age of twenty-three, upon a real or imaginary charge of High Treason. The indictment, with his an- swers thereto, may be seen in the Cambrian Register, vol. ii. p. 270. * Such is the account given by the writer of his life, published in the Cambrian Register; but, among the few brief notices of him in Collins '«. "Prfffljrfl (.vol., T^lUJli fi^fi) it is stated, that he married, for his second wife, Elizabeth, sister to William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. And this, it is added, appears from a monument in the chapel of St. Donat's, Glamorgan- shire, in memory of Thomas Stradling, Esq. son of Sir H. Stradling, Knight, who died at Cardiff, 1480, whose widow, the lady in question, be- came the wife of Sir Rhys ab Thomas, and was buried with him in Carmar- then. f One was married to Lewis Sutton, Esq. of Haythog in Pembrokeshire, and another to Henry Wirriott, of Orielton, Esq. whose daughter and sole heiress married Sir Hugh Owen, of Bodowen in Anglesey, ancestor of the present Sir John Owen of Orielton. The sons too intermarried with some of the first families in South Wales, where their descendants still remain. 298 pendants and in his general hospitality. Nor ought the wisdom of his measures, while he was entrusted with the government of South Wales, to be overlooked : the suc- cessful issue of his exertions to reconcile and allay the jar- ring feuds of his countrymen, denotes no common union of talent and energy, while the popularity which he retained to the last, bears abundant testimony to the general mild- ness and equity of his administration. Of him, in a word, it might truly be said, in the language of the poet — And he was once the glory of his age, Disinterested, just, with every virtue Of civil life adorned — in arms excelling. The voice of the contemporary muse of Wales is, as might be expected, loud in his praise ; and the more sober testi- mony of tradition still lives to perpetuate his honourable reputation. 299 HUMPHREY LLWYD. The memoirs of literary men, if we may credit the trite re- mark so often repeated, present but little to interest the great mass of mankind, who, being engaged in the more active business of life, can rarely extend their sympathies to the retired and unobtrusive pursuits of the scholar. The growing lucubrations of the closet, or the gradual develope- ment of genius, supply, it is true, but few charms to those, whose ideas are never elevated above commercial or mecha- nical speculations ; yet we should form but a mean estimate of our nature, by assigning to this portion of society the most important place in the scale of intellectual worth. There exists another and a higher class, whose enjoyments are of a more refined character, who can dwell with more delight upon the peaceful achievements of learning, than upon all the triumphs of the sword, and one of whose choicest pleasures it is to count the laurels that genius ga- thers along her noiseless but brilliant career. The individual, whose life we have now to consider, may not indeed be entitled to rank among the most eminent in the great republic of letters ; but this must be attributed rather to the peculiar nature of his pursuits, than to any de- ficiency in his intellectual claims. Literary greatness, like every other, is comparative ; and he, who has selected the sequestered path, however profound his acquirements, how- ever gifted his mind, must not expect to rival the popula- rity of those who have travelled, with equal pretensions, along the more public road. Humphrey Llwyd was born about the year 1527, at Den- bigh, in North Wales. His father, Robert Llwyd, was of 300 a younger branch of the family of that name, but originally called Rosindale, which resided at Foxhall, in the vicinity of Denbigh, to which place they came from the north of England. Paternally, then, the subject of this memoir was of English extraction ; but through the marriage, as it would appear, of the first of his ancestors that settled in Wales, he claimed his descent also from Einion Evell, a person of note in North Wales during the twelfth century*. Of Humphrey Llwyd's earliest years we have no account. From the first notice that has reached us we find him at the University of Oxford, where his name occurs in 1547 as a commoner of Brasenose College. Here he devoted his time chiefly to the study of medicine, which he designed for his profession, uniting with it the usual branches of academical learning. In 1551, he took his degree of Master of Arts ; and there is reason for believing that he had pre- viously been admitted into the family of Lord Arundel, at that time Chancellor of the University, as his private phy- sician. In this capacity, according to a statement he has himself given us, he continued for fifteen years ; and during the whole of this long period, he tells us, he was entirely es- tranged from the use of the Latin tongue, either in speak- ing or writing — a circumstance, which deserves to be no- ticed, whether we consider the taste of the age, or the sta- tion of the individual with whom he residedf. * The first of the family that came to Wales appears to have been Foulk Rosindale, from whom Foxhall, or Foulk' s Hall, was so called. He mar- ried into the family of the Lloyds of Aston, whence, in all probability, his descendants derived their name, as well as their extraction from Einion Evell. f The passage in which H. Llwyd records this curious fact is as follows. It forms the commencement of his Letter to Ortelius, concerning the Anti- quity of Anglesey. " Antequam ad plenum tua?. epistolae responsum deve- niam, hoc preefari libet ; me, postquam bonas litteras vix a limine salutassem, 301 It was before his introduction to Lord Arundel, or very soon afterwards, that he composed his first work, which in- dicates, that astronomical, or, to speak more correctly, per- haps, astrological pursuits, had occupied a part of his atten- tion at Oxford. The work alluded to is intitled " An Al- manack and Calendar, containing the day, hour, and mi- nute of the change of the moon for ever, and the sign that she is in for these three years, with the names and signs of the planets," and many other particulars explained in the preface. Although this is stated to have been his first pro- duction, the precise time of its appearance is unknown. His next work was a translation of the " Judgment of Urines," which was printed in London in 1551. The only other production of a miscellaneous character, which he gave the world, was a version of the " Treasure of Health," by Petrus Hispanus, to which he added the " Causes and Signs of every Disease," with the " Aphorisms of Hippo- crates." All these were in English ; and, although the date of the last composition is unknown*, it is to be pre- sumed that it was written before he quitted the family of Lord Arundel. It must have been during the period just alluded to that he became acquainted with Lord Lumley, whose sister he afterwards married. He collected for his lordship many curious works, which now form a part of the library in the British Museum. Upon leaving Lord Arundel's family, probably about meipsum in familiam illustrissimi principis coraitis Arundelii inseruisse, ibi- que hos quindecim annos continuos inansisse, ubi nee Latin& loqnendi nee scribendi toto hoc tempore aliqua mini concessa fnit opportunitas, nude contigit mihi Latini sermonis elegantiam servare non potuisse." * It was first published in London, in 8vo, lo85, some years after the au- thor's death. 302 the year 1563, he adopted the resolution of pursuing his profession at his native place, and accordingly retired to Denbigh. His residence there was within the walls of the castle ; and at this time, there is every reason to suppose, his attention was first confined to the study of the history and antiquities of his native country, which an incident, to be noticed in the sequel, induced him afterwards more parti- cularly to cultivate. Much of his leisure time, however, was dedicated to the charms of music, to which he appears to have been particularly attached ; and it is therefore pro- bable he had attained some proficiency in the art. The rank he filled in society at this period, and the re- spect in which he was held by his fellow-townsmen, are to be coEected from the fact of his having been chosen to re- present the borough of Denbigh in Parliament. His duties as a senator necessarily occasioned him to reside much in London, which must also have been frequently his place of abode while living with Lord Arundel. In the capital, it is reasonable to presume, he contracted an intimacy with many individuals then eminent in the literary world. Among these was Ortelius, the celebrated geographer, who was at the time on his travels in England*. It was, most proba- bly, his acquaintance with this person, from the congeni- ality of their literary pursuits, that communicated a new impulse to his cultivation of that branch of antiquarian learning in which he so much excelled. Ortelius was on the eve of publishing his " Ancient Geography," and Llwyd supplied him with maps of England and Wales for * Abraham Ortelius wrs born at Antwerp in 1527, and was so celebrated for his geographical knowledge, as to have been designated by his cotem- poraries, the Ptolemy of the age. His chief work is the " Theatrum Orbis," in folio, which procured for him the situation of geographer to Philip II. of Spain. He died in 1598. 303 its illustration, accompanied by manuscript copies of two of his Latin works on British antiquities, and which he dedi- cated to him, in return, as it would appear, for a " Descrip- tion of Asia," which he had previously received from Orte- lius*. The friendship that thus subsisted between them, though but of short duration, seems to have been particu- larly ardent, and was terminated only by the death of Llwyd, who, in one of his dedications alluded to, written but a short time before his dissolution, styles the individual to whom it is addressed, his " dearly beloved Ortelius." Although it was only in his latter years that he directed his whole attention to the study and illustration of our na- tional history, he had, while residing with Lord Arundel, written an English work on the subject, which has since been published under the title of " The Historie of Cam- bria," and which is, in a great measure, a translation of an old work in the Welsh language. A copy of this " His- toric," under a different title, may be seen among the Cot- ton MSS, in the British Museum, and by which it appears, that it was written in the year 1559, about four years be- fore the author had fixed his abode at Denbighf . Of the two Latin productions above alluded to as being dedicated to Ortelius, the first in chronological order is a short treatise u De Mona Druidum Insula antiquitate suae restituta, et de Armentario Romano," and the other is entitled " Commert- * This appears from his dedication to the Description of Britain. f The Cotton MS., here alluded to, is marked " Caligula A. 6." and is entitled " Chronicon Walliae k rege Cadwaladero usque ad A. D. 1294." This has been represented as a distinct production in some of the notices re- specting H. Llwyd ; but, upon a comparison of it with the printed work, there appears little or no variation, beyond what the editor of the latter has since supplied. It is subscribed " At London, 17th July, 1559— By Huraffrey Lloyd," and may be the hand-writing of the author himself. 304 tarioli Descriptionis Britannicae Fragmentum". They were both written in the year 1568, a short time previous to his decease. It is therefore probable, that the closing years of his life were wholly devoted to literary pursuits con- nected with the elucidation of our national history. In the Epistle to his friend, prefixed to his Description of Britain, dated Denbigh, August 80th, 1568, he repre- sents himself as in expectation of approaching death, in con- sequence of " a very perilous fever with a double tertian," which seized him on his journey from London to Wales. And he apologizes, on this account, for the imperfections of some other works he was about to send to Ortelius, and which, he says, "if God had spared his life," should be sent "in better order, and in all respects perfect*." The illness, to which he here alludes, he did not long survive, but breathed his last in the same year, at his native place, in the forty- first year of his age. His remains were interred in the pa- rish church, " with a coarse monument, a dry epitaph, and a psalm tune under it," to borrow the words of a modern writerf. Humphrey Llwyd had four children, two sons and two daughters. One of the former, named Henry, settled at Cheam in Surrey, and his great grandson, the Rev. Ro- bert Lloyd, who was rector of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, made un unsuccessful effort to claim the Barony of Lumley, * It does not appear to what works he here alludes. It is to be presumed, however, that they were some additional treatises connected with his native country, which he probably did not live to complete, and of which we have now to regret the loss. t Mr. Yorke, in his " Royal Tribes of Wales." The following couplet will exemplify the " psalm tune," of which he speaks: it forms the commence- mentr " The corps and earthly shape doth rest here, tomyd in your sight, Of Humphrey Llwyd, Master of Arts, a famous worthy wight." 305 in right of the sister of Lord Lumley, who, as already men- tioned, was married to the subject of this memoir. Whe- ther any descendants of the family be now living, we have not been able to ascertain. Of the character and habits of Humphrey Llwyd we have but few traces beyond what his works supply. Cam- den, who immediately followed him in the literary world, or was rather his cotemporary, describes him as standing pre-eminent in that branch of antiquarian research, to which he had devoted himself*. The writer of his life in the " Athena? Oxonienses" represents him, besides, as a " per- son of great eloquence, an excellent rhetorician, and a sound philosopher." With these qualifications, of them- selves sufficient for his fame, he united the fashionable ac- complishments of the age, and was, in particular, as we have seen, well skilled in music, which often proved, dur- ing his latter years, the solace of those hours that were snatched from the labours of study, or the duties of his profession. It was, we may presume, the dulce lenimen of all his cares. In his person, if we may judge from a por- trait of him still in existence, he was peculiarly gifted, while the manly beauty of his countenance indicated the corres- ponding intelligence of his mindf. The several literary productions of Humphrey Llwyd have already been specified ; but it may be proper to offer a few more remarks on those relating to Wales. Among this number the " History of Cambria" has been the most * Camden describes him as " a learned Briton, and, for knowledge of antiquities, reputed by our countrymen to carry, after a sort with him, all the honour and credit." — See the chapter on the Ancient Inhabitants of Bri- tain in his •« Britannia." Camden was born in the year 1551, and must, therefore, have been seventeen when Llwyd died. f The original portrait is at Aston: and a beautiful engraving of it may be seen in Mr. Yorke's *f Roya! Tribes." X 306 generally read, and is, accordingly, the most popular. It is founded, as is well known, on the Welsh chronicle of Caradog of Llancarvon. It was left in an unfinished state by the author ; but, a copy of it being in the possession of Sir Henry Sidney, Lord President of the Marches of Wales*, it was published at his solicitation in 1584, by Dr. David Powell, who supplied the deficiency, and enriched it besides with many valuable annotations. It is enough for the reputation of this work to say, that it has become the foundation of the various histories of Wales, that have since appeared. The Fragment of the Description of Britain embraces a geographical and antiquarian view of the whole island, as well as a cursory account of its existing condition, accord- ing to its three divisions of England, Scotland, and Wales, and is remarkable for the boldness with which the author controverts some received authorities respecting the sites of several ancient fortresses and towns. This seems to have been a work of great research, not fewer than sixty-eight authors, native and foreign, being cited in the course of it. It was first printed at Cologne in 1572; and in the follow- ing year an English translation by Twyne, accompanied by several copies of commendatory versesf, was published * He was the father of the celebrated Sir Philip Sidney, author of the " Arcadia." f The compositions of this nature are four, one of which is by the Rev. Thomas Brown, Prebendary of Westminster, and another by the Rev. Ed- ward Grant, Master of Westminster School. The following are extracted from some anonymous lines, and may be cited as a fair specimen of the whole :— . " Thy country, Llwyd, is bounden much to thee, Thou makest it unto us not only known, But unto such as in far countries be, Whereby thy fame the greater way is flown, And eke thy country's praise the more is grown ; 307 under the title of the " Breviary of Britain". Moses Wil- liams too, an able Welsh antiquary*, printed, in 1723, a handsome edition of the original work with annotations. The following specimen of the publication, extracted from Twyne's translation, may not be out of place here. It is a passage, in which the author describes the place of his birth, with reference to its state at the time he wrote. " This fine town", he says, " and my sweet country, being compassed well nigh about with very fair parks, and stand- ing in the entrance of an exceeding pleasant valley, abound- eth plentifully with all things that are necessary to the use of man. The hills yield flesh and white meats. The most fertile valley very good corn and grass. The sweet rivers, with the sea at hand, minister all sorts of fish and fowl. Strange wines come thither forth of Spain, France, and Greece abundantly. And being the chief town of the shire, standing in the very middle of the country, it is a great market town, famous, and much frequented with wares and people from all parts of North Wales. The indwellers have the use of both tongues, and, being endued by Kings of England with many privileges and liberties, are ruled by their own laws"t. The Epistle to Ortelius, concerning the Antiquity of the So by one deed two noble things are chanced, Britain and Llwyd to heaven are advanced." With the exception of the extravagance of the last line, this passage sup- plies a just estimate of the fame Llwyd had acquired amongst his cotempo- raries. * Moses Williams lived in the beginning of the last century : besides this edition of H. Llwyd's works, he published an Index to the Welsh Poets, and was of considerable assistance to Dr. Wotton, in the publication of his " Leges Wallicae." It is probable, that the translation, from the original Welsh, was furnished entirely by Moses Williams, t " Breviary of Britain," p. 66-7. x2 308 Isle of Anglesey, was first published at Antwerp in 1570, afterwards by Richard, son of Sir John Price*, in 1573, and finally, by Moses Williams, with the work previously noticed. It is but a short treatise, and necessarily, from its limited sub- ject, of less importance than the two preceding works rela- ting to Wales ; but it equally bears testimony to the talents and research of the writer. Both this and the Description of Wales, it may be proper to add, are written in chaste and elegant Latin, and prove that the author's long disuse of that tongue, while residing with Lord Arundel, had not impaired his academical attainments in this respectf. Such are the few memorials, which the ravages of time have left us respecting the life and writings of Humphrey Llwyd. As long as the ancient history of the country, and especially of the Principality, continues to be an object of interest, his name will be respected by the patriot and the scholar. He will be esteemed, not merely for his talents and erudition, but as having been the first writer who ex- tended, beyond the boundaries of his native land, an accu- rate knowledge of her history and antiquities J. * Sir John Price, who was a native of Brecknockshire, was an eminent antiquary, and distinguished himself by his Vindication of British History against Polydore Virgil. He also assisted Leland in his " Assertio Artnrii." and was the first to translate the creed, Lord's Prayer, and Decalogue into the Welsh tongue. He died about the year 1553. f He is described by Moses Williams, in the Preface to his edition, as being " in omni genere litterarum scientissimus, multse lectionis, et in di- cendo elegans, cujus paucos pares tulit illnd quo vixit seculum." + If we except the Vindication of British History, by Sir John Price, al- luded to in a preceding note. 309 DR. JOHN DAVID RHYS. Time has left but very few vestiges, to enable us to mark the existence of the subject of the following memoir. Yet, few as they are, it would be an act of injustice not to no- tice them in a work avowedly devoted to the commemora- tion of such natives of Wales, as have most distinguished themselves, whether by their virtues or talents, in promo- ting the interests of their country. And those readers who have formed an acquaintance with Welsh literature, or who know how to estimate the peculiar properties of the Welsh language, will be at no loss to appreciate the services of the individual, who is about to claim their attention. John David Rhys, as he seems commonly to have styled himself*, was born, in the year 1534, at Llanvaethlu, in Anglesey. As nothing has descended to us respecting his parents, it may be presumed that their station in life was not very elevated. The rudiments of his education he pro- bably received at his native place, and, when about the age of seventeen, we find him prosecuting his studies at Ox- ford. In 1555, when in his twenty-first year, he was elected student of Christ Church, and seems soon afterwards to have quitted the University. About this period he left England, for the purpose of set- tling, for a time, in Italy, with the view, as it would ap- pear, of perfecting himself in the study of medicine, in which, we may infer, he had been initiated while at Oxford. Sir Edward Stradlirig, a gentleman of distinguished rank * He is occasionally called John Davies. His father's name was, proba- bly, Davydd ab Rhys. 310 and connections in South Wales, with whom John David Rhys was on terms of peculiar intimacy, is related to have borne the expense of this journey, and which he may, therefore, have urged him to undertake *. However, it is certain that he became a member of the University of Si- enna, in Tuscany, where, after pursuing his professional studies for some time, he took his degree of Doctor of Me- dicine. But, whatever proficiency he may have acquired in the particular science just adverted to, he was by no means in- attentive to others. An attachment to the study of lan- guages seems especially to have influenced him; and he was considered to have arrived at as perfect knowledge of Italian as of his native tongue. He was, on this account, ap- pointed Public Moderator of the school at Pistoia, in which capacity he gave universal satisfaction. During his stay in Italy, and probably during the time of his occupying the station of Public Moderator, he composed, in Italian, a Collection of " Rules for beginning the Latin tongue," which was subsequently published at Venice. He also wrote a treatise, in Latin, on the pronunciation of the Italian language, which was printed at Padua. Both these works were held in high estimation among the literati of Italy, and they bear unequivocal testimony to his masterly know- ledge of the language of the country in which he was now a resident. * Sir Edward Stradling was descended from William de Esterling, one of the twelve Norman Knights, who, as incidentally noticed in the life of Rhys abTewdwr, (p. 121 , suprti), settled in Glamorganshire after the death of that prince. He was the son of Sir Thomas Stradling, Knight, and himself re- ceived the honour of knighthood, in 1575. He was a great patron of men of learning, as well as a considerable collector of books and MSS. He was also deeply versed in the Welsh tongue, of which he is said to have written a Grammar. He died in the year 1609, at a very advanced age. 311 It cannot be precisely ascertained how long he remained in Italy, but there is ground for presuming, that many years had elapsed before he determined upon revisiting the land of his birth. He may have been at this time between forty and fifty*. Upon his return to this country he established himself at Brecon, as a practitioner of medicine, in which character he soon acquired a considerable reputation. His selection of Brecon as his place of abode was, in all likeli- hood, in compliance with the wish of Sir Edward S trad- ling, from whose seat that town is not very remote. And it appears, that much of his time was spent at St. Donat's Castle, in the society of his friend and patron, and in the enjoyment of the literary recreations natural to persons of their congenial habits. In addition to the professional celebrity, which the sub- ject of this memoir attained after his arrival in Wales, he had also acquired a character for general erudition, of the most varied and profound nature. Yet, as his attainments must have been far above the ordinary learning of the age, and especially in the limited circle in which he was destined to move, it is possible that he was regarded with the won- der of ignorance, rather than with the sober feeling of men capable of appreciating what they admired. It is, at least, certain, that the admiration of his superior endowments, was not unaccompanied by the envy and jealousies natural to weak minds; for in the dedication to Sir Edward Strad- ling, prefixed to his principal work, he complains, in the bitterest terms, of the gross injustice to which he had thus been exposed. * This may be inferred from the Dedication prefixed to his Welsh Insti- tutes, which he appears to have commenced in 1590, when about fifty .years of age, and, as it seems, at no very long period after his return to his na- tive country. 312 Yet, whatever annoyance he may, on this account, have experienced in his own immediate neighbourhood, there were not wanting some, and they individuals of learning and talent, who paid a full and sincere homage to his ac- quirements, and, above all, to his profound critical and philological erudition*. His masterly knowledge of Italian has already been noticed, and with that he united a tho- rough acquaintance with the classical languages, as well as with some others of modern Europe ; but what peculiarly entitles him to a place in these pages is his acknowledged skill in the Welsh tongue, of which he has left an imperish- able monument in his much celebrated Grammatical Insti- tutes. The origin of this work appears to have been simply as follows. Upon one occasion, when the author was enjoy- ing the hospitality of St. Donat's Castle, Sir Edward Strad- ling shewed him a Latin poem in praise of that mansion, written by one Thomas Leyson, requesting at the same time, that he would render it into Welsh +. This Dr. Rhys did, and presented the translation, together with one, in the same language, of an Italian poetical epistle in praise of a country life, to his patron, who was so delighted with the excellence of the performance, in both instances, that he urged the writer to undertake a Latin treatise on the Welsh language, and especially with reference to its poe~ tical character, for the instruction of foreigners. Dr. Rhys lost no time in complying with this request, al- * Among these were Camden and Sir John Stradling, as will appear by the seqnel. f Dr. Rhys,'inhis Dedication before mentioned, speaks of this composi- tion as " venustum poema." Thomas Leyson was a native of Neath, in Glamorganshire, and settled as a physician at Bath, where he died. A brief account of his life may be seen in Woods IthetuE Oxonienses. 313 though at the period, as he says, harassed by his private affairs and professional duties, as well as by being involved in several irritating contentions, through the calumnies, which, as already noticed, were continually assailing him. Yet, under all these difficulties and disadvantages, he pro- ceeded with his undertaking, which he seems to have com- pleted in 1592, when in his fifty-third year*. From this period to the time of his death, an interval of sixteen or seventeen years, Dr. Rhys continued to reside at Brecon, or in the vicinity, dividing his time, as we may be allowed to conclude, between his literary pursuits and the avocations of his profession. It is presumed, that, du- ring this period, he composed some other works in illustra- tion of his native language ; but none were ever published, and even the manuscripts have long ceased to exist, unless there be still at Jesus College, Oxford, a " Compendium of Aristotle's Metaphysics," in Welsh, ascribed to Dr. Rhys, and said to have been formerly there. Yet this may, at last, have been the production of those years which were spent at the University *f\ In the work in ques- tion the writer is related to have contended, as he might do successfully, for the capabilities of the Welsh tongue, as fully equal to the Greek in the expression of complex and philosophical terms. Dr. Rhys breathed his last at Brecon, in 1609, in his seventy-fifth year, and, as it would appear, without ever having entered into the matrimonial state. He died in the communion of the Church of Rome ; but it is not certain whether he was originally of this persuasion, or became a convert to it after his residence in Italy. It may, at least, * The work was printed in London in the same year. t The former existence of this MS. at Jesus College is stated in the life of Dr. Rh'vs, in the Athena; Oxonienses. am be assumed, that he professed it during the greatest part of his life *. It now remains to notice more particularly, than has yet been done, Dr. Rhys's principal work, upon which his lite- rary reputation in connection with Wales must be grounded. The work is entitled, " Cambro^Brytannicae Cymraecaeve linguae Institutions et Rudimenta, accurate, et, quantum fieri possit, succincte et compendiose conscripta, cum exacta carmina Cymraeca condendi ratione, &c.+" Accompanying the work are the Dedication to Sir Edward Stradling, al- ready noticed, a Latin Preface by Humphrey Prichard J, and one in Welsh by the author. The work, as the title imports, is rather a treatise on Welsh prosody, than a mere grammar, in the popular sense of the term. The first por- * In the short account of Dr. Rhys, in the Biographia Britannica, it is as- serted that he was not a Roman Catholic, in consequence of an expression used by Humphrey Prictiard, in his Preface to the Grammatical Institutes, which expression will be noticed in the sequel. At present it is sufficient to add here, that, in the " Church History of England from 1500 to 1688," by Charles Dodd, published at Brussels in 1742, Dr. Rhys is numbered among English papists. t In addition to the title, here given, there follows, after the word con- scripta, " ad iuteliigenda Biblia Sacra nuper in Cambro-Brytannicumsermo- nem versa," an obvious interpolation of H. Prichard, to suit his hypothesis alluded to in the preceding note. But it should still be mentioned, that H. Prichard's assertion is merely conjectural : his words are " quantum conjec- tura asseqni possum." $ Humphrey Prichard was a native of Bangor, in Carnarvonshire, and was educated at Oxford; but we have no particulars of his life, or of his connection with Dr. Rhys. His Preface evinces a considerable share of erudition, but it is difficult to account for the error he seems to have com- mitted with respect to the particular object of the work, if we suppose his Prefaee^o have been written with the privity of Dr. Rhys. It isjiotimpra- bable that H. Prichard superintended the printing of the work in London, and inserted the Preface and the interpolation in the title-page, without the knowledge of Dr, Rhys. 315 tion of it, indeed, is devoted to the elementary characteris- tics of the language, and particularly to its orthography and the force of the Welsh letters ; but considerably the greatest part is occupied in illustrating the singular and com- plicated rules of Welsh poetry *. In this respect these In- stitutes have the merit not merely of being the first produc- tion of the kind, but also of never having been since equalled^. It accordingly remains the only work, through which the learned of foreign countries can form any accurate estimate of the metrical properties of the Welsh language. The incident, which gave birth to this production, has already been noticed, and will account for its more promi- nent features. Yet, notwithstanding this, Humphrey Prich- ard asserts, in his Preface, that the writer's chief aim was to facilitate the popular comprehension of the Scriptures, which had recently been translated into the Welsh tonguej. * The Grammar embraces 304 pages, 41 of which are occupied in what may be called the orthographical properties of the language, 87 more in the more prominent grammatical characteristics, and the remaining 176 in Welsh prosody. t The only Welsh Grammar, published before Dr. J. D. Rhys's work, was that of Gruffydd Roberts, printed at Milan in 1567. As this person was also a member of the University of Sienna, it is probable enough that he was on terms of friendship with Dr. Rhys, who, in his Dedication so often quoted, styles him a man of the greatest learning, and a professor of philosophy. The Grammar in question is chiefly confined to the orthogra- phy of the language. Since the appearance of Dr. Rhys's work, there have been published the following Welsh Grammars : 1. That by William Mid- dleton (Gwilym Ganoldrev), published in 1603. 2. That by Dr. John Da- vies, in 1621. 3. That by John Gambold, in 1727. 4. That by John Rhydd- ercb, in the following year. 5. That by the Rev. Thomas Richards, in 1753. 6. That by W. Owen Pughe, Esq., prefixed to his Dictionary, pub- lished in 1803. Of all these the first and last only bear any comparison with Dr. Rhys's Institutes, in reference to their illustration of Welsh poe- try. There were several Grammars in MS. before that of Gruffydd Ro- berts ; but none of them have been printed. 1 The Welsh translation of the Bible was published in 1588. 316 However this effect might have been incidentally produced, it is certain, from the circumstances already alluded to, that the author had no other end in view than to elucidate the peculiar qualities of Welsh versification. His religious propensities must have been wholly at variance with any wish to give a popular currency to the truths of Revelation. The fame, that this work procured for the author during his lifetime, is sufficiently manifest, as well from the Pre- face of Humphrey Prichard, as from some encomiastic po- etical effusions still extant. Among others, those of Cam- den* and Stradlingf, nephew of Sir Edward before men- * Camden's lines are as follow : — Imminuit damnosa dies decora alta Britannum, Linguae splendorem restituitque dies. Sed lans, docte David, tibi cedat, namque laboie, Quae parta est patriae gloria, parta tuo ; Nunc agedum Hectoridas profer te Cambria dignes, En nova lux linguae, Maeonidesque novus. t Two Epigrams by Stradling are prefixed to the work. Tbe following may be cited as the most favourable : — Anie Britannorum nomen, vis bellica, virtus, Ingenium mores, orbis erant speculum : Lingua din latuit neglecta, sed error in illo Extitit, ignotae nulla cupido fuit. tfanc modo tn Graeeis, David, literisque Latinis ./Equasti, gcntis gloria primae tuae. In a volume of Epigrams by the same writer, published in 1607, the fol- lowing also occurs, which proves that Dr. Rhys was at that time living. Rhaese mini charos venerabilis inter amicos, Canities fida sed probitate magis. Mona cui natale solum, Britannia stirpem, Italia ingenium, Sena dedit gradum. Hanc tibi Stradlingus chartam pro munere mittit, Dona, senex, juvenis qualiacunque cape, Europe quamvis pcregrat&, Rhaese, noteris, Forsan et hac chart!, notior esse potes, Sed 317 tioned, which are prefixed to the work, deserve to be no- ticed. But the reputation of Dr. Rhys was not doomed to rest only upon the unstable basis of cotemporary admiration. His merits as a critic in the Welsh language, and as an il- lustrator of its poetical attributes, have been confirmed by the suffrages of more than two centuries ; and his name is still venerated as that of an individual, who has conferred the most essential benefits on Welsh literature. Nor, until the Awen of Cymru shall cease to influence the hearts of his countrymen, will these benefits be forgotten. Sed pereant chart®, expurgatur quicquid in illis ; Ipse tibi, mihi tii pectore charus eris. Stradliug was much esteemed by his cotemporaries for his learning and genius. He succeeded to the estates of his uncle, Sir Edward, in 1609, and was created baronet in 1611. 318 BISHOP MORGAN. 1 here has already been an opportunity for remarking, in the progress of this work, that the chronological order, in which it is written, must occasionally produce an uniformity in the character of succeeding lives, which would not have occurred under a different arrangement. In the former in- stance we had a succession of warriors, who might justly be regarded as the most distinguished individuals of the age, in which they flourished, with reference to the national object of these memoirs. The reader will now have to contem- plate a long unbroken line of literary characters, who, in the more tranquil portion of the Welsh annals, and when the country was no longer agitated by foreign wars or civil commotions, became its most conspicuous ornaments. The days were long past when the sword of the patriot could assert the freedom and independence of his native soil; and it only remained for him to vindicate, with his pen, the learning and the genius of Wales. It is not merely, however, as a literary character that the subject of the present memoir has a claim on our respect. He stands also distinguished as an eminent divine, and as having contributed, in a signal manner, to the spiritual wel- fare of his countrymen, by giving to the world the first com- plete version of the Scriptures in the Welsh tongue ; and it is to be regretted that but little is known of this exem- plary individual. William Morgan was the son of John Morgan, of Gwi- bernant, in Penmachno, in the county of Carnarvon ; but the time of his birth cannot be accurately ascertained. Pa- ternally he claimed descent, according to some accounts, 319 from Nevydd Hardd, and, by others, from Hedd Molwynog, heads of two of the Fifteen Tribes of North Wales ; and by his mother's side he was connected with another of these privileged clans, of which Marchudd ab Cynan was the founder*. It is but a natural inference then to conclude, that his parents filled a respectable station and ranked among the Welsh gentry of that period. His education, of the early portion of which we are not informed, was completed at St. John's College, Cambridge. Nor have any memorials descended to us of the proficiency he made in his academical studies, or of the particular na- ture of his occupation for some years after quitting the University. The first notice, that occurs respecting him, is, that he was instituted to the vicarage of Welshpool, in Montgomeryshire, on the 8th of August, 1575, which, we may presume, was his first preferment in the church; and, although we have no particulars of his life previous to this period, it is extremely probable, that much of it, however unprofitable to himself in a worldly sense, was not unpro- ductive of benefits both to himself and others,. of a more important character. It was employed, we may conclude, in laying the foundation of that work, the Welsh translation of the Bible, which will transmit his name with honour to the latest posterity. From the vicarage of Welshpool, after a residence there of three years, he was removed to the living of Llanrhaidr * The Fifteen Tribes have for their founders so many chieftains or nobles of North Wales, who lived, for the most part, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Most of the principal families in that part of the Princi- pality continue to trace their connection with these tribes. It is possible, that they had their origin in the system of clanship, which anciently prevailed in Wales. There are also Five Royal Tribes, which relate to both divisions of the Principality. 320 Mochnant, in Denbighshire, where he completed his valu- able work. His original intention was to translate no more than the Pentateuch; but, having occasion in 1583, incon- sequence of a dispute with his parishioners, to see Whit- gift, Archbishop of Canterbury, he was persuaded by that prelate to proceed in his undertaking, and a complete ver- sion was the result*. About the year 1587 he went to London for the purpose of committing his work to the press; and, for the year during which he was engaged in super- intending the printing, he resided with Dr. Gabriel Good- man, Dean of Westminster, of whose hospitality as well as of his general kindness on this occasion he speaks in terms of the liveliest gratitudef. In 1588 the Welsh Bible was published, accompanied by a dedication to Queen Eliza- beth ; and in the same year Morgan exchanged the living of Llanrhaidr for the more profitable rectory of Llanvyllin, with which he received also the sinecure of Pennant in the vicinity. Whether his recent services in the cause of the church were the immediate occasion of this promotion, must be left to conjecture ; but it is certain, that they were soon to receive a more worthy acknowledgment. In 1594 the living of Denbigh was added to his other preferments, and in the following year he was raised to the mitre by the express desire of Queen Elizabeth. Thus did the zeal and learning he had evinced 1 in his great work at length meet with an appropriate reward. His first episco- pal preferment was the see of Llandav, which he retained until 1601, when he was translated to the more valuable bishopric of St. Asaph. * This we learn from the Dedication, prefixed to the work, in which he says he also experienced the most liberal assistance and advice from the archbishop with reference to the undertaking. t See his Dedication before noticed. 321 From a correspondence between Bishop Morgan and Sir John Wynn of Gwydir, still extant*, it would appear that the latter was, in some respect, instrumental in procuring the bishop's promotion. Upon one occasion Sir John Wynn observes, in a letter to Morgan, that, " if he had not pointed the way with his finger," Morgan might have re- mained Vicar of Llanrhaidr ; and, in another instance, in a communication to a mutual friend he has the following more explicit remark in the same point, — " Was it not I that first dealt with Mr. Boyer to make him bishop, and make the bargain ? Mr. Boyer was neither known to him, nor he to Mr. Boyer ; ergo, if that had not been, he had continued still Vicar of Llanrhaidr." He also makes an obscure allusion, in the same letter, to something having " been objected against Morgan and his wife," which would have prevented his translation to St. Asaph, but for the good offices of Sir John Wynn and his friends. In answer to these insinuations, the bishop denies that the favours he received from Sir John Wynn were, by any means, so great as the latter accounted them, and, with respect to the inter- ference of that gentleman in procuring his election to St. Asaph, he says, in his letter to the mutual acquaintance before alluded to, — " how much he is deceived herein you and others know." Yet, as he does admit that he was in- debted to Sir John Wynn for some acts of kindness, there may be a partial foundation for the assertions of the latter, * This correspondence may be seen in the Appendix to Mr. Yorke's H Royal Tribes." It had its origin in the refusal on ihe. part of the bishop to comply with a request made by Sir John Wynn, which will be more par- ticularly noticed in the sequel. The letters are dated in 1603, about two years after the bishop's removal to St. Asaph. Sir John Wynn, who was created a baronet in 1615, wrote a small work called " A History of the Gwydir Family," which contains some curious anecdotes illustrative of the manners of that time. He died in 1626, at the age of seventy-three. Y 322 though to assume that he was entirely, or even principally, the means of raising Dr. Morgan to his episcopal dignity, is to suppose (contrary to what has been the common be- lief on the subject) that Queen Elizabeth or her advisers wanted, of themselves, the discernment to appreciate his merit, or the virtue to reward it. The correspondence, to which allusion has here been made, deserves notice also as evincing, on the part of Dr. Morgan, a pertinacious conscientiousness in the exercise of his episcopal functions, which is somewhat remarkable. Sir John Wynn, it seems, presuming upon the kind offices that he had rendered to the bishop, made application to him to confirm the lease of a rectory* : the bishop returns to this an immediate and positive refusal upon the plea of conscience, " which" (he says in his letter to Sir John Wynn) " assureth me that your request is such, that, in granting it, I should prove myself an unhonest, unconscion- able, and irreligious man, — you a sacrilegious robber of my church, a perfidious spoiler of my diocese, and an unna- tural hinderer of preachers and good scholars, the conside- ration of which would be a continual terror and torment to my conscience." Sir John Wynn, who seems not to have been at all prepared for such a result, upon receiving this decisive reply, makes a bitter complaint of the bishop's ingratitude, recapitulating, in two letters, numerous little services he had rendered him, and concluding by desiring Dr. Morgan to " be assured of him as bitter an enemy (if he drive him to it) as ever he was a stedfast friend." There may be something unchristian in this menace ; but it may be doubted, on the other hand, whether the occasion war- ranted, on the part of the bishop, so strict a discharge of his pastoral duties. If, however, his determined refusal to * This was the rectory of Llam wst. 323 oblige a friend and a benefactor in a matter of no great mo- ment was really dictated, as he alleges, by a conscientious regard for the welfare of his diocese, it may easily be con- ceived to what a rigid extreme he must have carried this spirit upon ordinary occasions. He held the see of St. Asaph only three years, as he died on the 10th of September, 1604, and was interred on the following day in the cathedral, without any monumental memorial to mark the place of his sepulture. It may now be proper to offer some fuller account of Bishop Morgan's translation, than what has been inciden- tally given in the course of this memoir. Before the ap- pearance of this work very few efforts had been made to familiarize the natives of Wales with the sacred volume, through the medium of their vernacular tongue. The first publication of this nature was a translation of the portions of Scripture, appropriated to the communion service, which was printed in 1551, under the signature of W. S., the ini- tials of William Salisbury, who afterwards, in 1567, with the assistance of Dr. Richard Davies*, Bishop of St. Da- vid's, and the Rev. Thomas Huetf, published an entire version of the New TestamentJ. Long before either of * Dr. Richard Davies, a native of Denbighshire, was Bishop of St. Asaph, in 1559, and was translated to St. David's in 1561. In addition to the as- sistance he gave W. Salisbury, he was employed in the English version of the Bible, and translated all from the beginning of Joshua to the end of Samuel. He is also stated to have assisted Morgan in his version of the Old Testament ; but this appears to be without any foundation, as he died in 1581, two years before Morgan appears to have determined upon translating the whole of the sacred volume. t He was Precentor of St. David's. i William Salisbury was by profession a lawyer. Besides the work above- mentioned, he published also a treatise on Rhetoric in Welsh, and a small Welsh Vocabulary. \2 324 these publications, indeed, an attempt appears to have heen made to translate the Old Testament ; for Bishop Davies, in the work last noticed, mentions that he had in his youth seen a MS. Welsh translation of the Pentateuch in the pos- session of a near relative of his family. This, however, was never printed, nor is there any other record of its ex- istence, than what is afforded by this casual allusion*. Notwithstanding so little had been done towards promul- gating a knowledge of the Scriptures in Wales before Bi- shop Morgan's undertaking, the necessity of the measure had occupied the attention of the legislature a long time ante- cedently. In the year 1563, the fifth year of Queen Eliza- beth's reign, an act passed, directing that a Welsh version of the Old and New Testament should* under the superin- tendence of the four Welsh bishops and the Bishop of He- reford, be prepared for general use in the Welsh churches on the 1st of March, 1566; and, in the event of a noncom- pliance with this enactment, a penalty of forty pounds was to be inflicted on each prelate. Whether any effort was made to enforce the provisions of this act we are not in- formed : it is probable, that the views of the legislature were not adequately supported by the co-operation of indi- viduals in power, and it is certain, that the penalties, im- * Dr. Llewelyn, in his " Historical Account of the Welsh Versions of the Bible," suggests that the translation, thus alluded to by Bishop Davies, might have been the work of Tindall, who was a native of Wales. But he has obviously no authority for the surmise. It is not improbable, that par- tial versions of the Scriptures may have existed in Wales at a remote age, particularly during the frequeut intercourse thai took place with Armorica in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, when many missionaries came over from that country to Wales, and established numerous colleges and churches for the propagation of Christianity. However, if any such versions existed, we have no longer any vestiges of them. 325 posed on the bishops, were by no means sufficient to inti- midate them into any extraordinary exertions. From whatever cause it happened, twenty-five years had elapsed from the date of the statute alluded to before its object was, without its assistance, accomplished. What a decree of the legislature had failed in effecting was, at length, achieved by the voluntary and disinterested labours of a private individual. In his original conception of this great design, it is likely that Morgan had little hope of emolument or honour : he was satisfied, we may presume, with the reward of his conscience in a case so pregnant with that peculiar species of consolation. His accidental inter- view with Whitgift, and his acquaintance with Dean Good- man*, opened a new field to his enterprise, as well as a brighter prospect of final success. He had also, in the pro- gress of his pious undertaking, secured the friendship of the Bishops of St. Asaph and Bangor, to whom he expresses his obligation for their liberal exertions in his behalff. Thus in possession of patrons, he was also provided with able assistants. Dr. Richard VaughanJ, Dr. David Powell, * Dr. Gabriel Goodman was a native of Ruthin in Denbighshire, wliere he founded a school and a hospital. He supported Camden in his travels, and procured him the appointment of Under Master in Westminster School. He was forty years Dean of Westminster. He is said to have been the au- thor of the English translation of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, as we now have it ; but it does not appear that he afforded Morgan any material assistance in his Welsh version, beyond the supply of books, in which he was extremely liberal. Dr. Goodman died in 1601. t Drs. Hughes and Bellot were, at this period, Bishops of St. Asaph and Bangor. % Dr. Richard Vaughan was a native of Carnarvonshire, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge. He was successively Bi;>hop of Bangor, Chester, and London. His merit as a scholar was very great. Owen, the Epigrammatist, has the following couplet upon him :— 326 the historian*, and Dr. Edmund Prys, Archdeacon of Me- rioneth*^ are named as having been his coadjutors in the translation. The parts, however, which fell to their share, although they cannot be precisely identified, are admitted to have been very inconsiderable in comparison with the labours of Morgan himself. This remark, it should be added, has reference solely to the version of the Old Tes- tament; for that of the New Testament was adopted, with some variation, from the preceding translation by Salisbury. Such are briefly the circumstances connected with the first Welsh version of the bible, from which it may be in- ferred, that Bishop Morgan was the sole projector of the work, and that he brought it to a conclusion without any very material literary assistance. In the edition of 1620, by Bishop Parry, several alterations were introduced, but not of sufficient importance to deprive the original transla- tor of the chief merit belonging to the accomplishment of this great national undertaking. The Welsh bible has always been regarded, even in a mere literary view, as the most valuable work in the lan- guage ; and, in the extravagance of critical eulogy, it has been described as uniting the varied beauties, of which Piaesul es (O Britonnm decns immortale tuorum !) In Londinensi primus in urbe Brito. * Dr. Powell was a native of Denbighshire, and educated at Oxford. He was vicar of Rhiwabon in 1571, and enjoyed afterwards other prefer- ments in Wales. He died in J 598. Besides the assistance he gave to Mor- gan, he published the " Historie of Cambria" in 1584, as has already been noticed in the life of Humphrey Llvvyd. f Dr. Edmund Prys was an eminent Welsh poet as well as a profound scholar. He was a native of Merionethshire, and received his education at Cambridge. Besides the part he had in the translation of the Bible, he also wrote a Welsh metrical version of the Psalms, which is still in use. Several of his Welsh poetical pieces are also preserved. 327 the Welsh tongue is susceptible, with all the native simpli- city and other characteristics of the Hebrew*. That it ap- proaches more closely than the English version to the pecu- liar genius and sublimity of the original, from the nearer affinity of the two languages, will be admitted by all com- petent judges ; but that it is to be considered as a perfect specimen of the purity, copiousness, and expressiveness of the Welsh tongue, will be maintained only by those who suf- fer their judgment to be influenced by the sacredness of the subject, rather than by any other consideration. The Welsh translation, it is true, comprises numerous beauties even as a literary performance ; but, like every other work of man, it is, at the same time, chargeable with many errors and in- accuracies, which are to be ascribed to several causes, inde- pendent of the length of the work, to which some inadver- tencies were unavoidably incident, — for «— — opere in longo fas est obrepere somnum. Among the causes alluded to may be here mentioned, an ignorance of those peculiar capabilities of the Welsh lan- guage, which have since been so ably developed, — too servile a conformity with the popular style of expression in use at the time, arising, no doubt, from an anxious and laudable aim at perspicuity, — and finally, perhaps, an unnecessary de- ference to the authority of the English translation. Hence those inaccuracies of orthography— those verbal contrac- tions and elisions, of mere vulgar currency, and wholly irreconcileable with the classical purity of the language — that unnecessary introduction of weak auxiliaries and other * It is unnecessary to particularize the works to which allusion is here made. Among others, Walters's Dissertation on the Welsh language may be mentioned. 328 expletives*, — that occasional inattention to the various in- flections of verbs, — and that adoption of less felicitous terms of expression than the language would have supplied, which the most enthusiastic admirers of the Welsh version must admit are to be found in it. Whatever errors of a more important character it may possess are to be traced to the comparatively imperfect state of biblical criticism at the pe- riod of its production. But, after all, with the full admis- sion of all these imperfections, which are opposed rather to the inconsiderate praises of enthusiasts than to the genuine reputation of the work, the Welsh version must be regarded as among the noblest attempts to familiarize modern nations with the truths of divine writ, and as an imperishable mo- nument of the zeal, learning, and industry of its author. * The faults thus far alluded to may be considered as having been, in gome degree, recognised by authority. For in 1807 a small stereotype edi- tion of the Welsh Bible was published at Cambridge, under the superin- tendence of an eminent Welsh scholar, who had permission to correct the more obvious blemishes of the nature above described ; and an edition is now in the press at Oxford, which a gentleman of that University, well qua- lified for the task, is, as we understand, to correct in a similar manner, upon the plan of the Cambridge edition. 329 DR. JOHN DAVIES. Among the benefactors of Welsh literature the individual, whose name is here prefixed, holds a distinguished rank. And it is to be regretted, as in some preceding instances, that but few notices respecting his life have descended to our times. According to the accounts generally received, Dr. John Davies was a native of Llanverres, in Denbighshire, where he first saw the light, it is probable, about the year 1570. His father worked at the humble occupation of a weaver ; but his family appears to have been respectably connected*. The subject of this memoir received his early education at Ruthin school, which had been founded some years previ- ously by Dr. Gabriel Goodman. His tutor here was Dr. Richard Parry, afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph, and editor of the Welsh translation of the Bible, published in 1620 ; and the relation of master and pupil, that was thus formed between these two individuals, was subsequently matured by adventitious circumstances into a friendship, which con- tinued during their joint lives. In the year 1589 Dr. Davies entered upon an academical * Mr. Yorke, in his " Royal Tribes/' says lie was of the tribe of Mar- chudd ab Cynan ; and it appears, from a short biographical notice of him m the Cambrian Register, vol.i. p. 158, that he" was maternally descended from Ednyved Vychan, a celebrated Welsh chieftain in the beginning of the thir- teenth century. Dr. Davies himself, too, in one of his letters dated August 26, 1623, alludes to Mr. Vaughan cf Hengwrt, the celebrated antiquary, as his w cousin." See the Cambrian Register, vol. ii. p. 470. His father appears to have been a native of Denbighshire, and was known by the name of David ab John. 330 life, and became a member of Jesus College, Oxford. His first residence in the university did not exceed four years, during which he took a degree in arts, and acquired a re- putation for a considerable share of academical learning. In 1593 he quitted Oxford, and retired to Wales, where he prosecuted his study of divinity, and added to it that of the language and antiquities of his native country*. In the year following his departure from Oxford, he entered into holy orders, but remained without any preferment ten years, an interval which he, no doubt, employed most beneficially in the particular branches of learning to which he had devoted himself. In 1604, a short time antecedent to Bishop Parry's election to St. Asaph, he was presented by the crown with the rectory of Mallwyd, in Merionethshire, and became soon afterwards Chaplain to his friend on his elevation to his episcopal dignity. After a residence of about fifteen years in the country, he returned to Oxford in 1608, and was admitted of Lin- coln College, as Reader of Bishop Lombard's Sentencesf, having first obtained a dispensation for not ruling in arts. The duration of his second residence at the university can- not be accurately ascertained ; but it is probable it was not * His attachment to the cultivation of his native language must have commenced as early, at least, as this period ; for in the preface to his Grammar, published in 1621, he says that he had devoted the leisure of more than thirty years of his life to this pursuit. t The " Books of Sentences," four in number, were the work of Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris, in 1172, forming a compilation of extracts from the writings of the Christian Fathers, whose inconsistencies and contradic- tions the worthy prelate, with true Catholic zeal, endeavours to reconcile. This work, according to Roger Bacon, was in such repute soon after its appearance, that even the Holy Scriptures themselves were deemed of inferior importance. Such was the tyranny, which, in that unenlightened age, scholastic theology exercised over the minds of men. 331 long, as we find him, in 1612, elected a Canon of St. Asaph, and, in 1613 and 1615, presented with the living of Llan-y- Mawddwy, in Merionethshire, and the sinecure of DarOwain, in Montgomeryshire, which, with the preferment he already enjoyed, must have placed him in affluent circumstances. In 1616 he took his degree of Doctor of Divinity, and was, in the following year, appointed to the Prebend of Llan Nevydd, in the diocese of St. Asaph, which was his last promotion in the church. In a few years afterwards he lost his friend and benefactor, Bishop Parry*, and, with him, whatever benefit might still have resulted to him from their long intimacy, during which the knowledge, which that prelate must have acquired of his friend's ta- lents and character, may have disposed him, in a peculiar manner, to reward the merit which he had so many oppor- tunities of appreciating. What may have strengthened the tie between these two persons, in addition to their early connexion, was their joint employment in the revision of Bishop Morgan's Welsh Bible. It is probable, that Dr. Davies was thus engaged soon after his first retirement from Oxford ; and his anxiety to qualify himself for so important a task may have induced him to devote himself at that period, in a particular man- ner, to the cultivation of his native tongue, as well as to the study of Biblical literature. Bishop Parry's translation was published, as already incidentally intimated, in 1620; and it appears from a marginal note on Dr. Davies's Welsh * Bishop Parry was. a native of Ruthin, in Denbighshire, and received his education, first, under Camden at Westminster, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford. He was Chancellor of Bangor, Vicar of Gresford, Dean of Bangor, and ultimately Bishop of St. Asaph, where he died in 1623. He was highly reputed for his learning and piety. 332 Dictionary, that the service he rendered on the occasion was very considerable*. The first work, in elucidation of the Welsh language, which Dr. Davies gave the world, was his Grammar, pub- lished in 1621, under the title of "Antiquse Linguae Britan- nicae Rudimenta," with a dedication to Bishop Parry, and a preface addressed to the venerable Dr. Edmund Prysf . This Grammar is strictly what it pretends to be, a treatise on the rudimental characteristics of the Welsh tongue ; but it has supplied essential aid to subsequent writers in the same branch of literature. It is written in Latin, and in a style which proves the author to have been perfectly mas- ter of that language. In 1632 Dr. Davies published his Dictionary, upon which his literary fame, and especially as an expounder of his native language, must chiefly rest. About forty years * This note is by a Chancellor of St. Asaph, and occurs in an edition of Davies's Dictionary published a few years after the death of the author. — The words are " In Bibliorum ultima et emendata editione Jo. Dav. peru- . tilem impendit operam." In addition to the aid he thus rendered to Bishop Parry, it is also said, that he had previously assisted Bishop Morgan. This is mentioned in the Athena Oxonienses, and in other works which have fol- lowed it, and the statement seems to receive some countenance from an ex- pression of Dr. Davies himself in the preface to his Grammar, in which he says— " Utrique S. S. Bibliorum interpreti Brit, indignus fui adminis- ter." But, as he was at school in the year (1588), in which Morgan's trans- lation was published, it is not probable that he could have afforded any material cooperation, and especially as, according to his admission, it was not until about this period that he began to devote himself seriously to the cultivation of the Welsh tongue. If, then, he was of any assistance to Bishop Morgan, it was merely, we may presume, by making some literal emendations: he could not, at that time, have arrived at any critical pro- ficiency in the language. f A short notice concerning him occurs in the preceding life. He was, at this period, more than eighty years of age. 333 previously, as appears from a letter of his still extant, he had laid the foundation of this work* ; and in 1626, at the request of Sir John Wynn, of Gwydir, he undertook the revisal of a work in manuscript, of a similar nature, by Tho- mas ab William, commonly called Sir Thomas Williams, a distinguished Welsh scholarf. In 1627 he had brought his labours to a close, both by completing his own produc- tion, and by introducing into that submitted to his revision such alterations as he deemed proper : and five years after- wards both works were united in one publication, under the title of "Antiquse Lingua? Britannicae et Linguae Latinae Dic- tionarium Duplex," the Welsh-Latin portion being entirely his own, and the Latin- Welsh comprising the corrected labours of Thomas ab William. The Dictionary is dedi- cated to Charles II., at that time Prince of Wales; but it * The letter here alluded to is one to Mr. Owen Wynn, of Gwydir, a son of Sir John Wynn, dated January 23, 1627, and in which he says that he be- gan his own Dictionary in 1593? the year in which he quitted Oxford, but that he was only, at the time he wrote, beginning to " write it fair," an operation which he expresses a hope of concluding " by the beginning of summer;" but four subsequent summers at least had elapsed before the work saw the light. See the Cambrian Register, vol. ii. p. 473. It is strange that Mr. Lewis Morris, in one of his letters to Mr. Pegge (Cam. Reg. vol. i. p. 370), should have styled Davies's Dictionary " a hasty work," when it is evident, that nearly forty years had intervened between the first conception of the work and its publication. + This fact is stated in the letter to Mr. Owen Wynn, above quoted. He began the revision in the month of April, 1626, and completed it in the fol- lowing January. Thomas ab William was a native of Carnarvonshire, and by profession a physician. He resided at Trevriw, near Llanrwst. Besides the Dictionary above alluded to, he wrote a compilation of Welsh pedigrees, a collection of medical receipts, and a herbal in Welsh, English, and Latin, which exist in manuscript. According to some accounts of him, he was a divine as well as a professor of physic. His death happened about 1620. 334 does not appear that the author ever derived any benefit from this tribute to royalty*. It is hardly necessary to enter into an examination of the acknowledged merits of a work, which, for nearly two centuries, continued the most valuable of the kind in the Welsh tongue. More extensive researches, indeed, have, of late years, added many thousand words to those collect- ed by Dr. Daviesf, gleaned, probably, from sources to which he had not access, especially the works of the more ancient Welsh poets, which have been brought to light by the patriotic exertions of modern times}:. But, notwith- * A quarto edition of this Dictionary was published in Holland, in the last century, by Boxhornius, with the view of promoting inquiries into Celtic antiquities. f This remark has reference to the truly valuable Dictionary, by W. Owen Pughe, Esq. published in 1803, which, in its lucid arrangement of the lan- guage, as to its elementary and derivative properties, has no rival in this or any other tongue. It comprises about eighty thousand words more than any preceding Dictionary, and a great proportion of these authenticated by quotations from the best Welsh writers in prose aud verse. Besides Dr. Davies's work and the one just noticed, the only others of any note are the ArchcEologia Britannica, by Edward Llwyd, the Welsh-English Dictionary, by the Rev. Thomas Richards, and Mr. Walters's English- Welsh Diction- ary, published in 1794. X It is scarcely necessary to say, that the editors of the " Archaiology of Wales" are here contemplated. For this invaluable treasury of the ancient lore of the Cymry, the public are indebted to the late Mr. Owen Jones, a furrier in Thames-street, and a native of Denbighshire ; of whom it is suffi- cient to say, that, by his disinterested and unexampled exertions on this occasion, he has imposed a debt of gratitude on his country, which no time can discharge. The work embraces, in three large volumes, the most im- portant remains of Welsh literature, from the fifth to the close of the thir- teenth century, which were all collected and published at the expense of Mr. Jones, without the slightest chauce of an adequate remuneration. This patriotic individual died in 1814. 335 standing these defects, Dr. Davies's Dictionary will always be regarded as a production of standard excellence, and especially with reference to its collation of the Welsh with the Hebrew and other ancient languages, which, with the learned preface accompanying the work, proves the author to have been, in the language of one of his biographers, " a most exact critic, and an indefatigable searcher into ancient scripts*." To the literary labours already specified, the author add- ed a Welsh translation of the Thirty-nine Articles, and of Parsons's Christian Resolutions. He also made some con- siderable collections of Welsh poems and proverbs, which are still extant in manuscript*!-. But his hours were not exclusively devoted to literary employment : it was the oc- cupation of his leisure rather than the serious business of his life. With his spiritual functions he united the civil duties of a magistrate ; and the general respect and esteem, with which he was regarded by his countrymen, afford the most satisfactory proof of the exemplary manner in which he filled this twofold capacity. But his exertions for the pub- lic good were not confined to those of a professional nature. He devoted much of his private means to charitable and useful purposes ; and it is recorded, that, among other acts of this character, he erected, at his own expense, three public bridges in the parish of Mallwyd, where he resided during the greatest part of his life. The subject of this memoir was united, but at what pe- riod does not appear, to a sister of Rhys Wynn, Esq., of Llywnon, another of whose daughters was married to Bishop * See Athena Oxonienses, vol. i. p. 597. t Some of these, in the hand-writing of Dr. Davies, exist in the Bodleian Library, and among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, 336 Parry* There was no issue of this union ; and whatever property in land Dr. Davies possessed he left between two nephews, one on his side and the other on that of his wife, a son of Bishop Parry, to whom he wished thus to testify the friendship he had entertained for his father. He died at Mallwyd, on the 15th of May, 1644, and was interred in the parochial church of that place. Of the general endowments, whether natural or acquired, of Dr. John Davies, but little remains to be said. While at the university, we are told by Wood, he was reputed to possess a profound and critical knowledge of the ancient tongues, an intimate acquaintance with the history of his own country, and an indefatigable spirit of research into the writings of antiquity, especially such as were curious or rare. With these qualities he afterwards united a remark- able degree of perseverance in those particular studies, to which so great a portion of his life was dedicated ; and, when their unprofitable nature in a mere pecuniary view is taken into consideration*, he must appear to have been actuated solely by a sincere and disinterested desire to diffuse a knowledge of his native tongue, and to vindicate its excellence. On this account he merits, that the grati- tude of posterity should be added to the tribute of re- spect, which he received from his cotemporaries. * In a letter to Sir John Wynn, dated Nov. S, 1623, he says, in allusion to Thomas ab William's work, which Sir John Wynn wished him to revise, — ** Concerning the Dictionary, you know so great a volume cannot be printed without very great charge, which I know no printer will, by any means, undergo, being that printers conceive so small hope of gain by our Welsh books." It is to be hoped, that a change of times has effected a change also in this respect, more creditable to the public spirit of the country : but the circumstance may be noticed to prove that Dr. Davies could have enter- tained but little hope of profit from his literary speculations. 337 EDWARD LLWYD. By a certain class of readers the labours of the lexicogra- pher and the philologist are held in very little repute. The individuals, devoting themselves to such pursuits, are regarded as mere pioneers in the grand march of human science, destined only to clear that ground, which others are to have the glory of occupying. Whatever specious- ness there may be in this opinion, .it is nevertheless certain, that, as long as the knowledge of things is only to be at- tained through the medium of words, he* that extends the boundaries of philological learning, becomes an important contributor to the intellectual interests of his fellow-men. Of such a nature were the benefits conferred on the li- terature of his country by the subject of the present me- moir, whose reputation, as a philologist and antiquarian, will only be forgotten when the language and literature of Wales shall have ceased to be objects of interest. Edward Llwyd was born, about the year 1670, at Llan- vorda, in Cardiganshire, the residence of his family, which was of considerable respectability. . In the year 1687, he became a member of Jesus College, Oxford, where he had for his tutor Dr. Plot, Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. It is, most probably, to this connection that we must ascribe his early attachment to natural history, in which he had made such rapid proficiency, that, upon Dr. Plot's resigna- tion of his office, in 1690, as Keeper of the Museum, Llwyd, then only twenty years of age, was appointed his successor. He seems, upon receiving this appointment, to have de- voted much of his time to the studies particularly connected 338 with it ; and several papers by him, on subjects of natural history, may be seen in the Philosophical Transactions of that period*. It was not, however, until 1699, that he published his most important work of this character, en- titled " Lithophylacii Britannici Iconographia," which was printed at the united expense of Lords Somers, Dorset, and Montague, Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Hans Sloane, and four other eminent characters, who were desirous of evin- cing, in this unusual manner, their respect for the writer's attainments and talentsf. It is certain, then, that he had, at the time in question, arrived at a respectable rank in the republic of letters. But, whatever attention he may have bestowed on the study of natural history, his favourite pursuit, and one to which his genius particularly inclined him, was the investi- gation of antiquities, and especially of such as related to this island. To this object he devoted himself at an early period with unwearied assiduity, and formed a very com- prehensive project for illustrating the ancient languages and history of Great Britain. This, indeed, seems now to have become the grand aim of his existence, and, such was the general confidence in his peculiar qualifications for the undertaking, that a public subscription was established for enabling him to travel, with a view to the extension of his antiquarian and other researchesj. * See Nos. 166, 200, 208, 213, 229, 243, 269, 291,334,335,336,337, 462, and 467, all of which are the work of E. Llwyd. They relate chiefly to natural history ; but there are also some on antiquarian and philological subjects. t A new edition of this work, with the addition of several of Llwyd's letters on fossils, was published by J. Huddesford, in 1760. t It appears that Llwyd was indebted principally, for the patronage and pecuniary assistance he received on this occasion, to the exertions of Sir Thomas Mansel, Bart., of Margam, to whom he accordingly dedicated the first volume of his " Arehaeologia." 339 The precise date of this event is uncertain, but it is to be inferred from some letters of Edward Llwyd, still ex- tant, that he had completed his travels before 1701*, in which year, it also appears, he took his degree of Master of Arts. His travels occupied a space of five years, dur- ing which he visited Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall, and Brittany; and the result of his journey was many valuable collections on antiquarian and philological sub- jects, as well as considerable additions to a cabinet of fos- sils he had previously formed, and which enabled him, on his return, to publish his principal production of this nature above noticed. But the main object of his travels was the collection of materials for his projected work on the anti- quities of Great Britain ; and, to judge from what he gave the world and the unpublished MSS. he left, his aim was ac- complished with considerable success. It appears, however, notwithstanding the rich fruit of his researches, that he had some obstacles to encounter in the countries through which he passed. Even in Wales, where he might least have anticipated any interruption of his laudable designs, it is said he was refused access to some principal libraries t, the owners of which must have been actuated by a narrowness of feeling, of which, it may be hoped, the examples were not numerous. His own ac- count, indeed, is, that he " generally, throughout Wales, received the utmost civility from persons of all qualities, not only as to hospitality, but also in their readiness in communicating any MS., and in mentioning or shewing any thing in the neighbourhood, whether inscriptions or other * See his letter to Mr. Davies of Llanercb, in the Cambrian Register, vol. i. p. 320. t This isstated in all the biographical notices which have yet appeared, and is also traditionally known in Wales. 340 particulars, that might seem to deserve notice*." The ex- ceptions to this " general" practice, it may therefore be presumed, were but few ; and many reasons may be as- signed for Llwyd's omission to particularise them. He has, however, left room for conjecture in the names he has enumerated of those, to whose affability he was most indebted, among whom Sir Roger Mostyn, of Mostyn, in Flintshire, fills a conspicuous place. Besides his exclu- sion from certain libraries, our traveller had also to sub- mit to the occasional ridicule of such as had not talent or generosity enough to comprehend the nature of his enterprise, and who, accordingly, seemed to ascribe it to a spirit of literary Quixotism, rather than to a rational thirst after the hidden stores of antiquity +. And, to crown the whole, while passing through France, with which country we were then at war, he had the misfortune to incur the suspicions of the French authorities, who caused him to be apprehended as a spy, and seized all his papers ; but, after a short incarceration, he was released, through the in- terference of some persons of distinction in England, and permitted to resume his interesting researches^ . In 1707, — about eight or nine years, we may presume, after the completion of his travels, — he published the first volume of his projected work, in folio, under the title of * See the English Preface to the il Archaeologia Britannica." f The passage, in which he alludes to this circumstance, occurs in the dedication prefixed to his " Arebaeologia," and is as follows : " The fa- tigues of five years' travels through the most retired parts of her Majesty's kingdoms I bore without reluctancy, and, which was the greater task, though always requisite in undertakings out of the common road, heard with patience the remarks of those whose education or natural talent dis- posed them to ridicule." X His papers were, on this occasion, examined by several priests and Je- suits, to whom they were wholly unintelligible. 341 " Archaeologia Britannica," devoted exclusively to " Glos- sography." It is divided into the ten following heads : — 1 . Comparative Etymology. 2. Comparative Vocabulary of the languages of Britain and Ireland. S. An Armoric Gram- mar, translated out of the French*. 4. An Armoric Eng- lish Vocabulary. 5. Some Words omitted in Dr. Davis's Dictionary. 6. A Cornish Grammar. 7. Catalogue of British MSS. 8. A British Etymologyf. 9. A Brief In- troduction to the Irish or ancient Scottish language. 10. An English-Irish Dictionary, with a Catalogue of Irish MSS. The foregoing particulars bear abundant testimony to the learning and industry of the writer, who, it should also be mentioned, during the visits he made to the several countries before specified, acquired so perfect a knowledge of their respective languages, as to be able to write long prefaces in each on antiquarian or philological subjects. Had his life been sufficiently prolonged, it was his inten- tion to publish another volume, at least, of the " Archaeo- logia," which was to embrace a lexicographical history of British persons and places to be found in ancient recordsj. The mass of interesting notices he had prepared for the execution of this plan leaves no doubt of the new light it would have thrown on the early history of the country, or of the addition it would have made to the well-merited fame of its author. But his premature death, united perhaps with the want of adequate encouragement, frustrated the design ; and such detached notices, as he contributed to * This was the work of Mr. Williams, the sub-librarian of the Ashmolean Museum. f Principally by a Mr. Parry, who accompanied the author in most of his travels. t See the Welsh Preface to the " Archaeologia." 342 Gibson's edition of Camden's Britannia, and a few pub- lished by Carte, in 1736, are all that the public possess of the valuable materials he had amassed for the occasion. It has been objected to the " Archaeologia Britannica," that its orthography is of an unusual and pedantic descrip- tion, and that it tends to obscure the language which it was the object of the work to illustrate. The letters, used by the author to express the peculiar sounds of the Welsh tongue, are, certainly, arbitrary, and such as have never been universally adopted by any other writer ; but it must, at the same time, be conceded, that, with reference to the particular aim of his work, — the explanation of the Welsh and its kindred dialects to foreigners,— the letters, when once understood, are sufficiently adapted to the occasion. At least they have considerably the advantage, in this re- spect, of the received orthography of the Welsh language, which is distinguished by the singularity of adopting sym- bols for the representation of sounds, with which they have no alliance in the ordinary acceptation of the world*. In March, 1709, the subject of this memoir was elected, by the University of Oxford, Esquire Beadle of Divinity ; but he was not destined long to retain the office, as he * The most objectionable letters of this nature in the Welsh alphabet are Dd, LI, and F, which are used to represent Dh, Lh, and V. It is impossi- ble now to account for the origin of these corruptions, and it were vain, perhaps, to hope for their abolition ; for the law maxim of " malus usus abolendus est" seems to be of no weight in Jhis instance. Of all these anomalies the substitution of F for V, and the consequent exclusion from the alphabet of the last mentioned letter, are the most extraordinary, and the most indefensible. The Cymmrodorion, or Metropolitan Cambrian Institu- tion, have ventured to go so far in the work of reformation as to restore the V ; but it does not appear, that the example has as yet been of any avail against the phalanx of prejudices, which stands up arrayed in defence of the popular absurdity. 343 breathed his last on the 29th of June in the same year. Al- though naturally of a robust constitution, his death, it is said, was, in a great measure, occasioned by his close ap- plication to study, but eventually accelerated by the acci- dent of his having lain in an unaired room at the Ashmo- lean Museum*. He died at /the early age of thirty-nine, and without ever having entered into the matrimonial state. Of the abilities and erudition of Edward Llwyd his la- bours, especially his Archaeology, are the most satisfactory evidence. For natural history he had a great taste, as also a most felicitous talent for the acquisition of languages. He may, therefore, be placed in the first rank among those natives of Wales, who have devoted themselves to philolo- gical literature, and, particularly, with reference to Welsh and its kindred dialects, of which he will ever be regarded as one of the ablest illustrators. It has been asserted that he was far from combining, with these acquirements, any genius for Welsh poetry, or even an accurate comprehension of its peculiar properties, which accounts, it is said, for the few poetical illustrations he has introduced into his workt. But this is to say no more than what has been said in a thousand cases, — that there are certain talents, which are not always compatible. It has, indeed, been observed that — One science only will one genius fit, So vast is art, so narrow human wit. But the Life of Edward Llwyd disproves the infallibility of the rule, since he was, in an eminent degree, at once a philologist and a natural historian. * It appears from some anecdotes respecting E. Llwyd, published by a Mr. Jones, that it was by his own choice he lay at the Museum, notwith- standing the hazard to which he was obviously exposed. t See Mr. Lewis Morris's Letter to Mr. Pegge, in the Cambrian Regis- terj vol. i. p. 370. 344 In his more private character the subject of the present memoir is related to have been cheerful and affable, and not more eager to acquire information than he was willing to impart it to others, deeming, in the well-known words of the poet, that the worst avarice is that of sense. And, when the vast fund of learning, which he had accu- mulated in relation to the ancient history of this island, is considered, he must have been found a truly valuable ora- cle by all who wished to consult him. With the qualities here specified he united an indefatigable spirit of enter- prise, which no obstacles could divert from its purpose. And he was, moreover, distinguished by this peculiarity, that, in his pursuit of any inquiry, he never was satisfied with the information he possessed, as long as better re- mained to be obtained. Hence, in his antiquarian re- searches, he was rarely, if ever, content with such know- ledge as books alone could supply, but, where it was prac- ticable, resorted to ocular proof. In his habits he was of a social turn, and delighted to relax himself, after the fa- tigues of study, in the company of men of literature and science, especially if they were also his countrymen. In this manner, while at Oxford, he commonly spent his even- ings, enjoying that reciprocal intercourse of mind and ta- lent, which forms, perhaps, the most fertile source of in- tellectual enjoyment. An anecdote is related of him about the close of his life, which has, probably, reference to the social circle, to which he was thus attached. The famous Dr. Sacheverell, who seems to have been influenced by some unaccountable anti- pathy against the Welsh, had prevailed upon a person of the name of Holdsworth to write a satire on the nation, which gave birth to the well-known " Muscipula." Upon 345 the publication of the work, Sacheverell, with a malicious pleasure, presented a copy to Llwyd, saying, " Here, Mr. Llwyd, I give you a poem of banter upon your country, which I defy all your countrymen to answer." The Welsh- man, naturally irritated by this, resolved to take up the cause, and had recourse to Mr. Thomas Richards, then a student at Jesus College, and afterwards Rector of Llan- vyllin, Montgomeryshire, to enter the lists against Holds- worth ; at the same time suggesting the subject, and sup- plying him with numerous hints for the treatment of it. Richards, in the course of about a week, produced the " Hoglandia," the merit of which has been generally ad- mitted. It underwent the revision and correction of Llwyd, who also wrote a caustic preface to it in elegant Latin. But, as he died before it was published, the preface was suppressed on account of its severity, and the one, which now accompanies it, substituted in its stead*. We may collect from this trivial incident^ that Llwyd was strongly attached to the national characteristics of his country, and that, when they were assailed, he knew how to resent the affront. As allusion has been made, in the progress of this me- moir, to the unpublished MSS. of our great archaeologist, some farther particulars respecting them may not be unin- teresting here, and especially when considering the singu- lar fate to which they have been exposed. The MSS. in question were comprised in about one hun- dred and fifty volumes of various sizes, embracing, for the most part, ancient chronicles and poems, historical and antiquarian notices respecting the several countries visited * In the composition of this Mr. Richards was assisted by Mr, Anthony AIsop, of Christ Church. 34<6 by the writer, with numerous transcripts of grants, rolls, charters, and other records of this description, relating par- ticularly to Wales. There were also many MSS. on sub- jects of natural history, as well as several volumes of draw- ings connected with the objects of Llwyd's antiquarian re- searches. In the year 1713, about four years after the death of the owner, it was found necessary to dispose of this valuable collection, for the benefit of his estate ; and offers of it were accordingly made to the university of Ox- ford, to Jesus College, and to the Bishop of St. Asaph*. But, owing to some perverse and, as it has since proved, lamentable circumstances, the proposal was, in each case, rejected, and the MSS. became, eventually, the property of Sir Thomas Seabright, of Beechwood, in Hertfordshire. In the month of April, 1807, Sir John Seabright disposed of the whole collection by public auction ; and such MSS., as related to the writer's historical and antiquarian inves- tigations, became the property of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart. Some years afterwards the greatest and most valuable portion of these interesting remains were transmitted to London for the purpose of being bound, and were unfortunately consumed in a fire, that destroyed the house of the person to whom they were entrusted. So, with the exception of the remaining portion still at Wynn- stay, it is to be feared, scarcely a vestige now remains of the materials, which Edward Llwyd had prepared for the completion of his elaborate workf. To the admirers _ , . . _ : — * The refusal of this prelate to become the purchaser was owing to a quarrel he had recently had with Dr. Wynne, Principal of Jesus College. f A more detailed account of this literary calamity may be seen in the Cambro Bnton, vol. ii. p. 200, as well as in the " Transactions of the Cym- nirodorion," vol. i. p. 173. But the account, in both instances, is, in some particulars, inaccurate, and especially in stating, that a portion of Mr. 347 of Welsh literature this is a subject for sincere regret. For, however unfinished and undigested the labours of this dis- tinguished scholar and antiquary, they must still have proved of eminent value, and the more so, as it is scarcely possible, that similar talents and opportunities should again be combined to repair the chasm, which their loss has oc- casioned. Llwyd's MSS. on antiquarian subjects became the property of the late Mr. Johnes of Havod, and were destroyed in the fire which consumed his elegant mansion. It appears from the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1807, vol. Ixxvii. p. 420, that Sir W. W. Wynn, as above mentioned, was the sole purchaser of the MSS. alluded to. 348 LEWIS MORRIS. The subject of the present memoir is one of those indivi- duals, who have owed their literary celebrity more to the popular reputation they have acquired, than to any works which have appeared under their names. Although re- spected in the highest degree among his cotemporaries, for his profound knowledge of the history and antiquities of his native country, as well as for his general information, Lewis Morris is as yet known to posterity by but few proofs of his learning or genius. His countrymen, however, whether of his own or subsequent times, have, with one consent, ac- knowledged the justice of his title to these prescriptive ho- nours ; and it would ill become us to cast any suspicion on the propriety of this decision, by excluding his name from a work, so peculiarly designed to commemorate the virtues and talents of the Principality. Lewis Morris was born at a place called Pentrev Eirian- ell, in the parish of Penrhos Llugwy, in the island of An- glesey, on St. David's Day, in the year 1702. His father originally followed the humble occupation of a cooper, but became afterwards a corn-dealer. As Lewis was the youngest of five children, it is not probable that he derived any great benefit from education. On the contrary, the only advantages he seems to have enjoyed in this respect, were such as his native village school could supply. These must have consisted of mere rudimental instruction of the commonest sort, and of such an imperfect introduction to the English language, as was customary in the retired parts of Wales, at the period in question. Welsh, indeed, was 349 the language of his infancy, and he learnt English after- wards, as he himself tells us, as an Englishman would learn French or any other foreign tongue*. Yet, such was the buoyancy of his natural talents, that it raised him above all these disadvantages; and his self-improvement during his after-life abundantly compensated for these early deficiencies. Although Lewis Morris's father filled so humble a sphere, he contrived to place all his sons in creditable situations ; and two of them, besides Lewis, were distinguished by their literary turn and general abilities +. Lewis was, at an early period, initiated in the business of a land-surveyor, to which, however, he never entirely confined himself. Ac- cident or patronage soon procured for him a post under government, as collector of the customs and salt-duties at Holyhead. In this capacity he continued, in all probabi- lity, several years, during which period it does not appear that he was much distinguished by those literary propen- sities, for which he was subsequently remarkable. In the year 1737 he exchanged the office, he thus held in Angle- sey, for an appointment under the Admiralty, by whom he was commissioned to take what he himself calls " an hy- drographical survey of the coast of Wales:}:," a part of which was published in 1748. * See Lis letter to Mr. Pegge in the Cambrian Register, vol. i. p. 368. f William Morris, who filled an office in the customs at Holyhead, was a good Welsh scholar and botanist, and was a great collector of old MSS. Ri- chard was also well versed in his native tongue, and was selected, in con- sequence, to superintend the two editions of the Welsh Bible in 1746 and 1752. He was also a good Welsh poet. Through the interest of his brother Lewis, he was, for many years, first clerk in the Navy Office. | See his letter to Mr. Pegge, above quoted. 350 It was during the time, in which he was occupied in making this survey, we may presume, that he first directed his attention, in any serious degree, to those topographi- cal and antiquarian researches, in which he is known to have delighted, and for which the occasion must have af- forded him so many opportunities. However, about the year last mentioned, his employment under the Admiralty was brought to a conclusion, and he was soon afterwards nominated surveyor of the crown lands in Wales, collector of the customs at Aberdyvi, and superintendent of the royal mines in the Principality. In this latter capacity he wrote an historical account of the mineralogy of the country, within the sphere of his occupation ; but the work, whatever may have been its merit, was never pub- lished. Of these three offices the only one he retained for any length of time was the last, and that, as appears from his own account, without any emolument. Lewis Morris's residence at this time, and indeed during the remainder of his life, was at Penbryn, in Cardigan- shire, a house, which belonged to him in right of his se- cond wife. At this place he devoted his leisure hours to the improvement of his mind in various branches of know- ledge, but, as might be expected in a person of his irregu- lar education, without any fixed aim. From the natural strength of his intellect, however, he was enabled to make considerable proficiency in natural philosophy and mathe- matics, to which he had been attached from his childhood, in addition to those antiquarian pursuits, with which he was more peculiarly conversant. Music and botany also engaged much of his attention, and his success in the lat- ter, which he describes as a " favourite study," united with a smattering in physic and surgery, made his house the 351 common resort of his poorer neighbours, who were often indebted to his medical skill, inconsiderable as it was, for the relief of their ailments. But, whatever time he may have devoted to these de- sultory pursuits, his paramount literary occupation was always the history and antiquities of his native land, and in which he was, from the natural bent of his mind, pre-emi- nently qualified to excel. It is this peculiarity in his intel- lectual character, that especially recommends him to these pages, which, as there have been former opportunities for remarking, are exclusively dedicated to the commemora- tion of those natives of Wales, whose worth or genius has been identified with the fame of their country. In this re- spect, however unknown to public reputation the fruits of his labours, Lewis Morris stands conspicuous. He had not only devoted considerable time to the enlargement of Dr. Davies's Dictionary, but had also planned a lexicogra- phical work of his own, not very dissimilar from that pro- jected by Edward Llwyd, as noticed in the life of that in- dividual. In one of his letters, still extant, he minutely describes the nature of his project, and, as it is known he had made considerable progress in it, his own words may not be unacceptable here. In a letter to Mr. Pegge, the antiquary, dated February 11, 1761, he says # : — " What has taken up my chief atten- tion for a good while past is making additions to Dr. Davies's British Latin Dictionary, and also another Dic- tionary entirely my own, on the plan of Mareni, which has taken up my spare hours for many years. I call it c Celtic Remains,' or the ancient Celtic empire described in the English tongue, being a biographical, critical, historical, *■** See the Cambrian Register, vol. i. {>. 369. 352 etymological, chronological, and geographical collection of Celtic materials towards a British history in ancient times, in two parts. The first contains the ancient British and Gaulish names of men, places, actions, &c., in an alpha- betical order, wherein not only the true and real Celtic names are discussed, in the ancient and modern orthogra- phy, proved from British authors, and the present names of places, &c, but also the mistakes and errors, whether wilful or accidental, of the several writers, who have treated of the ancient affairs of Britain in any language, are explained and rectified. This is a laborious and great work. The second part contains the Latinized Celtic names of men and places, used by Latin writers who have modelled and twisted them to their own language, with an attempt to shew what they were in the original Celtic, by comparing them with ancient history and the language of the principal branches or dialects of that people, the British or Welsh, the Irish, the Armoric, and the Cornish. This part is, in a great measure, etymological, where fancy has her swing, though kept within bounds as much as possible." To the execution of this project he devoted a great por- tion of his leisure hours ; and the partial result of his la- bours (for he did not live to complete them) remains still unpublished, and is in the possession of a distinguished Welsh scholar, who has long promised to favour the world with it. And it is to be hoped, that he has not abandoned his design ; since, however imperfect the collections in ques- tion may be with reference to the original plan, they can- not fail to prove a valuable acquisition to the general stock of Welsh literature *. * The Rev. Walter Davies, of Manavon, Montgomeryshire, is the gen- tleman here alluded to, and, in the second volume of the Cambrian Register. 353 Besides the pursuits already enumerated, the fascina- tions of the muse had also their attractions for Lewis Morris, who, in early life, had distinguished himself as a Welsh poet, and particularly in pieces of satire and hu- mour. He became, in consequence, in his maturer years, the oracle of such of his young countrymen as happened to be " smit with the love of song ;" and among these were the Rev. Evan Evans, author of " Dissertatio de Bardis," and the Rev. Goronw Owen, who became aftewards so ce- lebrated as a votary of the Welsh muse. Nor was his as- sistance confined to mere literary advice. It was through his bounty that the last mentioned individual was supported in his studies at Oxford ; and, as he had the good fortune to discover his talents, he had thus the generosity to re- ward them. Nor was this a solitary instance of his liberal feeling in this respect. He was also the means of elevating into public notice a harper of the name of Parry, whose skill was unrivalled among the Welsh musicians of that day, and whose name is still associated with some of the happiest recollections of the national minstrelsy. During the latter years of his life, Lewis Morris seems to have suffered severely under a complication of the most serious disorders # , which, at length, terminated his exis- tence on the 11th day of April, 1765, in the sixty-third published in 1796, it was announced that he was then " preparing the work for publication, with numerous additions and improvements." As he has since that time had the benefit of something more than the " viginti anno- rum lucubrationes" for this purpose, it cauuot be unreasonable to indulge a hope that the reverend gentleman's countrymen will soon be favoured with this literary desideratum. He must be aware that he has already greatly transgressed the Horatian rule. * Several of his letters, written in the years 1759, 1760, and 1761, bear testimony to the melancholy state of his health, which, he says, was assailed by ague, dropsy, and asthma. 2 A 354 year of his age. His remains were interred at Llanbadarn Vawr, in the county of Cardigan. The subject of this brief memoir was twice married. His first wife, to whom he was united in 1729, was a Miss Griffith, an heiress of Ty Wrdyn, near Holyhead, by whom he had three children, a son and two daughters. His second marriage with Miss Lloyd of Penbryn, the place of his subsequent residence, was celebrated in 1749; and nine children, five sons and four daughters, were the fruit of this union. Of the talents and attainments of Lewis Morris we are to judge rather, as has already been intimated, by the po- pular credit they have obtained, than by any proofs of them, which he himself has bequeathed to posterity. His " Celtic Remains," if made public, might assist us in form- ing a more satisfactory estimate of his pretensions to the reputation he has thus acquired. But, at present, some Welsh poems, published in the " Diddanwch Teuluaidd," and a portion of his literary correspondence*, embrace all the written evidence which we possess on this point. His letters, however, bear abundant testimony to the diligence of his researches, and the ingenuity of his conjectures, on points connected with the history and antiquities of his country. Among his correspondents he numbered Mr. Pegge, already mentioned, and Mr. Carte, the historian, both of whom seem to have held him in high estimation. The former, upon one occasion, in a letter to a third per- son, speaks of him as " an excellent scholar, and a perfect * This may be seen, principally, in the first and second volumes of the Cambrian Register. There are also, we believe, a few unpublished letters of his among the Collection of MSS. belonging to the Cymmrodorion, for- merly the property of Mr. Owen Jones. master of his own country's language and history * ;" and the latter was indebted to him for many hints in illustra- tion of his History of England, especially the earlier parts of it. The numerous avocations in which Lewis Morris was engaged during the greater portion of his life, united with the competence of his pecuniary circumstances, may ac- count for his not having appeared in the character of an author. What he wanted leisure to accomplish he was not urged by necessity to undertake. In a letter to one of his friends, dated March 28, 1760, he says, "You wonder that I should deal out my knowledge in antiquities by re- tail, and in letters, and not print something for the good of the public. I never have as yet been in those easy circum- stances as to afford time to publish any thing that way cor- rectly, nor in those indigent circumstances, as to be obliged to do it out of necessity f." It was the intervals of business alone, therefore, that he could devote to his favourite pur- suits ; and it may be assumed, that, on such occasions, he was actuated merely by an attachment to the pursuits them- selves, without reference either to profit or fame. During the progress of his researches into the history and literature of his native country, he formed a consider- able collection of Welsh MSS., which are now deposited in the Welsh school in London J. Whatever may be the value of these, they must be regarded as an additional tes- * See Mr. Pegge's letter to Dr, Phillips, in the Cambrian Register, vol. i. p. 355. f See his letter to Mr. Edward Richards, Cambrian Register, vol. i. p. 347. t The Catalogue of this collection may be seen in the Cambrian Register, vol. i. p. 445. The volumes are about eighty in number, and some of them very valuable. O. A O 356 timony to the zeal and industry with which he prosecuted his inquiries into those branches of learning, to which his mind seems to have been so happily adapted ; and they may serve also to enhance our regret, that the memorials he has left of his attainments are not more numerous and more satisfactory. 357 THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. The literary annals of this country supply many instances of the union of high talents with the splendid advantages of birth and fortune, and of the laudable co-operation of these in promoting the interests of philosophy and of learn- ing. Of all these examples none merits our regard more particularly than the subject of this memoir. However elevated above the necessity of resorting to the occupation of an author as a means of subsistence, his whole life was one of unwearied literary activity, eminently creditable to himself, and of distinguished usefulness to the world. The most powerful motives, under which some authors may be supposed to have written, never produced greater exer- tions in this respect than those of Pennant, influenced, as they wholly were, by a voluntary attachment to literature and science. Thomas Pennant was descended from a long line of an- cestors *, who had, for some centuries, filled a high rank among the gentry of North Wales : he was born at Down- ing, in Flintshire, the ancient seat of his family +, on the * Among these was the celebrated Tadyr Trevor, who lived in a re- mote age, and who, from the number of distinguished families that trace their descent from him, may justly be regarded as having added another tribe to the fifteen commonly appropriated to North Wales. See a short note respecting these in page 319, suprd. The heir of Downing was always regarded as the Pencenedl, or head of the family of that name, resembling the chief of a clan in Scotland. t The patrimonial estate, anciently called Bichton, is situated in the pa- rish of Whitford, in the county of Flint. It originally came into the Pen- nant family in the time of Gruffydd ab Cynan, Prince of North Wales, in 358 fourteenth of June, 1726. He received the rudimental part of his education at Wrexham, in Denbighshire, and from thence he removed to Oxford. As early as the age of twelve, Pennant first contracted that taste for the study of natural history, by which his subsequent life was so strongly marked. This was occasioned by the perusal of a work on ornithology, with which he was presented by one of his friends. About eight years afterwards, during a tour into Cornwall, the passion thus awakened received a new im- pulse, through the friendly encouragement of Dr. William Borlase, who directed his attention, in a particular manner, to the study of fossils and minerals, thus enlarging the sphere of his literary enjoyment, and furnishing a new scope for the exercise of his genius. In the year 1 754 Pennant visited Ireland with the view of extending his favourite researches ; but, after traversing a great part of the island, he did not derive much benefit from his excursion. " Such," to use his own words, " was the conviviality of the country, that his journal proved as maigre as his entertainment was gras ; so it was never a dish fit to be set before the public *." In the same year he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, which evinces, that he had, at this period, united an attachment the twelfth century. GrmTydd bestowed it upon Philip O'Piiicdan, one of the chieftains who had followed him from Ireland, and who afterwards mar- ried the daughter of Madog ah Meilyr, Mr. Pennant's ancestor. In allu- sion to his family seat, in his " History of Whitford and Holywell," Mr. Pennant says, " I have Cowley's wish realized, a small house and a large gavdeira." Since his death, however, Downing has been considerably en- larged by his son, David Pennant, Esq., the present worthy proprietor. The house was built in 1627, by John Pennant, Esq. * See his " Literary Life," written by himself, page 2. It may be pro- per here to notice, that, for a considerable portion of this imperfect me- moir, the writer is indebted to the interesting work here quoted. 359 to antiquarian pursuits with his other literary predilections. But his partiality for natural history still continued to main- tain an ascendancy, and it may be considered a sufficient proof of the proficiency he had attained in it, to state, that, in 1755, he entered into a correspondence with the cele- brated Linnaeus, to whom he transmitted, two years after- wards, a description of a concha anomia recently disco- vered, which, having been read before the Royal Society of Upsal, caused him to be elected a member of that body. In his "Literary Life" he speaks of this mark of distinc- tion as the "greatest of his literary honours," and espe- cially as it had been obtained at the instance of Linnaeus himself. His correspondence with this eminent naturalist continued until the age and infirmities of the latter brought it reluctantly to a close*. In the year 1760 he resigned his fellowship in the So- ciety of Antiquaries, owing to a desire he felt to devote himself more exclusively to his studies and the tranquillity of a private life, uninterrupted by those duties, which his continuance in the society might seem to exact from him. His recent marriage, and, as he himself states, his compa- ratively contracted income, during his father's life-time, may also have conduced to this event, by supplying addi- tional motives for this temporary retirement. Pennant had, about this period, laid the foundation of his "British Zoology," his first great work, and that upon which his reputation as a naturalist will ever materially rest. The first portion of this work, embellished with a hundred and thirty-two plates, was published in 1765; and it is highly to the credit of the author, that he designed the profits to be applied to the benefit of the Welsh charity- * Linnaeus died in the year 1778. 360 school in London. But his inexperience in literary under- takings, and the loss to which he was consequently exposed, were the means of defeating his benevolent intention, which, however, he was enabled to carry partially into effect, some years subsequently, upon the publication of the second edi- tion*. His zoological researches were interrupted, in 1765, by a tour which he made on the continent, in the course of which he visited the most remarkable places in France, Germany, and Holland. He here became acquainted with most of the distinguished literary characters of the age, among whom were BufFon, Voltairef, the two Gesners, and Pal- las ; and the reception he experienced from them proves that his fame had preceded him. BufFon, in particular, whose praise must have been peculiarly valuable, expressed himself in the most favourable terms of his labours in na- tural history. Some literary bickerings had, indeed, taken place between them previous to their personal acquaintance, but the cordiality with which they met at Paris, proved that the asperity of the controversy had not survived the occasion of it. And it ought to be added to the credit of BufFon, that, with the liberality of a man of genius, he made ample atonement for any hostility he might have felt * Another instance of his benevolent disposition, connected with this work, may here be related. Mr. Richard Morris, brother of Lewis Mor^ lis, a notice of whose life has already appeared, had been his agent in the publication of this work, and, upon his death, Mr. Pennant permitted his widow, then in confined circumstances, to retain the plates, and make what advantage she could of them. + Of ms visit to Voltaire Pennant thus speaks : (i At Jersey I visited that wicked wit Voltaire. He happened to be in good humour, and was very entertaining ; but, in his attempt to speak English, he satisfied us, that he was perfect master of our oaths and our curses." See his " Literary Life," page 6. 361 towards his rival, by the respect with which he frequently afterwards quoted his name, and made use of his autho- rity*. The friendship which Pennant formed also, on this occa- sion, with the celebrated Pallas, was not less sincere, nor less honourable to the feelings of both ; and our country- man, in noticing the event, seems to have regarded it as forming an important epoch in his life, since it was the means to giving birth to his " History of Quadrupeds," one of his best productions. His epistolary intercourse with Pallas continued many years, and, as he acknowledges, " to his great instruction," and only ceased when the offi- cial duties, in which the latter was engaged under the go- vernment of Russia, compelled him to relinquish all his private correspondence. But Pennant long afterwards con- tinued to receive proofs of his unaltered attachment. Not long after our author's return from his continental tour, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and, in 1768, he published a second edition of such part of his " British Zoology" as had already appeared, and the pro- duce of which, as previously noticed, he appropriated to a charitable institution. In the following year he added to the work another volume, relating exclusively to the rep- tiles and fishes of this island ; and the whole work, com- prised in three volumes, he subsequently enriched with a hundred and three additional plates, and much new mat- terf. * Pennant, in alluding, in his " Literary Life," to this literary contest, says, " our blows were light, and, I hope, neither of us received any ma- terial injury." f These additions appeared in a supplementary volume in 1770. A new edition of the whole work, in three volumes octavo, has been published since the death of the author. 362 The mind of Pennant, as he himself truly observes*, was not formed to stagnate : it was always in a state of progression. No sooner had he exhausted one subject than he was employed on another; and the elasticity of his genius abundantly supported the natural buoyancy of his disposition. Nor did he confine himself to mental exertion alone: his bodily activity, while his physical powers lasted, was always, at least, as great. Thus, in the year 1769, when he had completed his "British Zoology," he published, in conjunction with Sir Joseph Banks and Mr. Gideon Lotenf, several papers on Indian Zoology: these were entirely written by Mr. Pennant, the two indivi- duals just mentioned joining merely in the expense of the plates that embellished them. Of this work little is now known in England ; but it is sufficient for its reputation to say, that it was considered worthy of republication on the continent, both in German and Latin. In the same year he undertook his first journey to the extreme confines of Scotland, which, from the comparative ignorance that then prevailed respecting the country, must have been regarded as an enterprise of no ordinary description. But it is not on account of any difficulties, real or imaginary, which Pennant may have surmounted on this occasion, that this incident is noticed ; it is because the frank and intelligent description, which he gave of the country and its inha- bitants, first served to dissipate the prejudices of the Eng- lish respecting their northern brethren, and opened the door to that friendly intercourse between the two nations, * See his "Literary Life," p. 9. t This gentleman had previously been governor of some of the Dutch islands in the East Indies, where he had made many valuable discoveries in natural history, all of which he very liberally communicated to Mr. Pennant, permitting him, at the same time, to make what use he pleased of them. 363 which has never since been suspended. Surely, then, it is no mean praise to be able to say of him, that he was thus the founder of a system of conciliation, which had for its basis patriotism, and philanthropy for its object. And the flat- tering communications he received, upon the first publica- tion of his Tour in 1771, bear ample testimony to the prac- tical utility of his exertions*. During the year, in which Mr. Pennant visited Scotland, he was honoured by the Royal Academy of Drontheim with being elected a member of that body; and, in 1771, the University of Oxford paid a similar tribute to his lite- rary reputation, by conferring on him, in full convocation, the degree of Doctor of Laws, on which occasion his name was introduced in a manner the most complimentary. The satisfaction, therefore, which the " laudari a laudatis viris" may be supposed to supply, must have been enjoyed in an eminent degree by the subject of this memoir. In 1772 Pennant made a second journey into Scotland for the purpose of pursuing, or rather of completing, his praiseworthy designs respecting that country, in his route through which he received many gratifying marks of the estimation in which his exertions had been already held. Not only was he loaded with the thanks and compliments of private individuals, but many corporate towns, and Edin- * On this occasion, he says, he " laboured earnestly to conciliate the af- fections of the two nations, so wickedly and studiously set at variance by evil-designing people." Among the many " very flattering letters" which he received on the publication of his tour, was one from the Earl of Kin- iioul, in which that nobleman says, " I have perused your book, for which I return my hearty thanks, with the greatest pleasure. Every reader must admire the goodness of the author's heart; and the inhabitants of this part of the kingdom should express the warmest gratitude for your candid re- presentation of them and their country." This, rt will be seen by the sequel, was done in the most liberal manner. 364 burgh among the number, presented him with their freedom, so that, as he himself says, "he returned rich in civic honours*." Nor were these rewards bestowed upon him for mere speculative benefits : he was the means, by the suggestions he offered, of forming several public establish- ments, especially fisheries, which proved ultimately pro- ductive of the most solid national advantages. From Scot- land he extended his tour, on this occasion, to the He- brides, and, in 1774, published an account of the whole, illustrated by many interesting engravings. The spirit of travelling, with the view especially of making topographical discoveries within the British dominions, seems, at this period, exclusively to have possessed the mind of Pennant. From the commencement of the year 1773, to the close of 1777, he was almost entirely engaged in visiting various parts of the islandf, and, in the early part of the period in question, he made an excursion to the Isle of Man ; but the accidental loss of the notes he took on * See his "Literary Life," p. 16. t His tours on this occasion were, principally, in the northern counties of England ; but he also visited several other parts of the kingdom. And all his journies, he tells us, were made on horseback, a mode of travelling for which his partiality continued to the latest part of his life. While at Buck- ingham, in 1776, to adopt his own words, he "narrowly escaped a death suited to an antiquary" : the old church, which he had visited in the morn- ing, fell down a few hours afterwards, and he thus escaped being buried in its ruins.— See his " Literary Life," p. 24. During all his journies, alluded to in this note, he was accompanied by Moses Griffith, a self-taught artist and native of Wales, whom Mr. Pennant had taken under his patronage and protection. His talent for drawing, as the illustrations of Pennant's works abundantly prove, Was very great ; and the public are, no doubt, in- debted to him for numerous interesting scenes, as well as sketches of anti- quarian remains, that might otherwise have never been known. The genius of this man was, indeed, of the highest order, and of a remarkable versa- tility. — He was not only a limner, but a good engraver. — See the "Lite- rary Life," passim. 365 the latter occasion has deprived the public of the benefit of 1 his observations. His other tours have been published at different times, and serve to confirm the opinion, previously formed, of the candour and discrimination which he em- ployed in all his topographical researches. Topography, indeed, next to natural history, appears to have been his favourite pursuit; and, in this interesting department of literature, few, if any, have united the " utile dulci" with happier effect. In 1778 Pennant published the first volume of his " Tour in North Wales," a work which particularly recommends him to these pages # . In addition to a great fund of valu- able topographical information, it abounds in interesting historical, and biographical sketches, connected with that part of the principality. This work has become the basis, on which most subsequent tourists in North Wales have erected their literary superstructures ; and the general ac- curacy of its details abundantly justifies the distinction*)-. After the year 1777 Pennant's ardour for visiting dif- ferent countries had considerably subsided, or seems rather altogether to have declined. A second matrimonial con- nexion, which he formed soon afterwards with the sister of Sir Roger Mostyn, Bart., of Mostyn, in Flintshire, gave, as he tells usj, new charms to his fire-side ; and his lite- rary labours were, in consequence, for a few years, chiefly * The second and last volume of the tour, under the title of " A Journey to Snowdon," appeared in 1781. f Mr. Pennant, in all his journies through Wales, was accompanied by the Rev. John Lloyd, of Caerwys, an eminent Welsh scholar and anti- quary, to whom he acknowledges himself considerably indebted for much valuable information, which he might not otherwise have obtained. t See his « Literary Life," p. 31. 366 confined to miscellaneous papers, and the revisal of his former productions. In 1782, however, he published a new topographical work, entitled " A Journey from Chester to London," which was the result of the frequent excur- sions he had made along that road, and of which, accord- ing to his constant practice on such occasions, he had kept accurate journals. This little work bears the same cha- racter as the rest of our author's tours : it is at once in- structive and entertaining. Notwithstanding the number and variety to which Pen- nant's literary labours had already extended, the mental vigour of the author continued still unabated, and his mine of intelligence unexhausted. Two years after his " Journey from Chester to London" appeared, he published his last great work on natural history, under the title of " Arctic Zo- ology," which embraces, in two volumes, an interesting his- tory of the animals of North America, as well as of those of the northern parts of Europe and Asia. This work was soon afterwards translated into German* and French, and was also very favourably received in America, where it procured for the author the distinction of being elected a member of the Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. He had previously had a similar, and, it may be added, a greater honour conferred on him by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, as also by the Antiquarian Societies of Edinburgh and Perthf. In 1787 he enlarged his "Arctic Zoology" by a supplement, comprising a systematic de- * This was done by Professor Zimmerman, with whom Pennant had long been on terms of particular intimacy, and to whom he expresses his obli- gation for much information of the greatest importance to his researches hi natural history. t These events happened in the years 1784 and 1?>85. 367 scription of the reptiles and fishes of North America, as well as several other interesting additions to the original work. It might be considered tedious to dwell, with any minute- ness, on the remaining works of this voluminous yet agree- able writer. It may sufficiently answer the aim of this humble memoir, and do equal justice to the literary repu- tation of Pennant, to give a general account of the princi- pal labours, to which the latter years of his valuable life were devoted. In 1790 he published his "History of London," a work replete with the usual store of anecdote, whether historical, antiquarian, or biographical, which dis- tinguishes all his productions of this nature ; and the avi- dity with which it was received by the public, as well as the many editions of it that have since appeared, abun- dantly vindicates its claim to popular favour. To this pro- duction succeeded, in 1793, his " Literary Life," which gives a minute and unassuming detail of his literary labours down to that period, and to which these pages are, of necessity, con- siderably indebted. Among the works of his latter years is his " History of the Parishes of Whitford and Holy- well," of which, from his local advantages, united with the particular nature of his pursuits, he was peculiarly qualified to give an interesting description. The work, therefore, as may be conjectured, is enlivened by his accustomed variety of historical and antiquarian research, though obviously written with all the excusable partiality of one, who felt an ardent attachment to the land of his birth*. In the beginning of 1798, at no very remote distance from the close of his active and useful career, appeared the first two volumes of his " Outlines of the Globe," which he had projected some years before, and of which, as its title imports, the plan was most comprehensive. Such was Pennant's in- * This was published in 1796. 368 defatigable industry, that, in the short space of four years*, he had prepared nearly the whole work, embracing four- teen quarto volumes, for publication, and two of them, in addition to those published by the author, have, since his death, been given to the world by his son, David Pennant, Esq. This valuable production, as it was his last, may be regarded as the appropriate apex of that literary monu- ment, which the author has so honourably reared to his me- moryf. To his numerous lucubrations, of a less important nature than those specifically noticed, a general allusion has already been made. Besides some political observations, which the turbulent spirit of the times occasionally drew from his pen, they embrace tracts, of a more permanent character, on questions of science, and especially natural history ; nor are these unaccompanied by the sallies of hu- mour, or the strains of the musej. * See his " Literary Life," p. 41, where he tells us, that, with the ex- ception of one volume, the whole work was composed in the time above mentioned. f The plan of this work is an imaginary voyage to all the known coun- tries of the globe, and the following are the words in which the writer gives an account of his project, or rather of what he had then accomplished. " Respecting these countries," he says, " I have collected every informa- tion possible, from books ancient and modern, from the most authentic and some living travellers of the most respectable characters of my time. I mingle history, natural history, accounts of the coasts, climates, and every thing which I thought could instruct or amuse. They are written on impe- rial quarto, and, when bound, make a folio of no inconsiderable size, and are illustrated, at a vast expense, by prints taken from books, or by charts and maps, and by drawings by the skilful hand of Moses Griffith, and by presents from friends. With the bare possibility of the volumes relative to India, none of these books are to be printed in my life-time, but to rest on my shelves, the amusement of my advancing age."-— See his ** Literary Life," p. 40. The four volumes already published are those here alluded to relating to India. It may be hoped, however, that the literary world is yet to be favoured with some other portion of this interesting production. X Among his lighter productions may be noticed his " Remarks on the 369 But Pennant's literary labours were not confined to those works only, of which he was the sole author. He pro- moted several others, to which he not only extended his patronage and encouragement, as well as his literary aid, but, in some instances, most liberally underwent the ex- pense of the publication. Mr. Lightfoot's " Flora Scotica," and Mr. Cor diner's " Antiquities and Scenery of the North of Scotland," may be particularly noticed as illustrative of Pennant's generosity in this respect, and tend, in an emi- nent degree, to prove the disinterestedness of his views in all his literary designs, which were ever more directed to the public information and the advancement of letters, than to his own private emolument 5 *. Pennant's own account of himself, in his "Literary Life," terminates in 1793, to the close of which year his health and felicity had experienced but few encroachments^ : a " mens sana in corpore sano" had been his peculiar good fortune. Early in the following year the scene began to present a lowering aspect : the illness and subsequent death of a be- loved and amiable daughter threw a shade of melancholy Patagoniaus," " Free Thoughts on the Militia Laws," " Letter from a Welsh Freeholder to his Representative,'' " Letter to a Member of Parliament on Mail-Coaches," several poems and pieces of humour, with a variety of papers on natural history, which have been inserted in the "Philosophical Transactions." * Among the productions promoted by Pennant, may be mentioned several translations of topographical works, by Dr. John Reinhold Foster, He also assisted Gough in his edition of Camden's Britannia, in that part especially relating to North Wales. The " Flora Scotica," above mentioned, which was printed entirely at Pennant's expense, embraces two octavo volumes, and is illustrated by thirty-seven plates. It appeared in J 777. f For the substance of what is here related respecting the latter years of Mr. Pennant's life, this memoir is indebted to the notices on the subject by the present David Pennant, Esq. in his Preface to the third volume of the " Outlines of the Globe." 2 B 370 over his spirits, which was never afterwards entirely re- moved. In 1795 he had also the misfortune to fracture the patella of one of his knees, while descending a flight of stairs, and continued to suffer, more or less, from the accident during the remainder of his life. It was not, how- ever, until 1796, that his bodily ailments were on the point of assuming a more serious character : about this time he was first afflicted with several pulmonary symptoms, that indicated the approach of some dangerous malady. He still persevered, however, in devoting his leisure hours to literary occupations, and, during the greatest part of 1797, was busily engaged, both in revising his works already pub- lished, and in preparing others for the press, thus proving that the vigour of his mind had triumphed over his corpo- ral sufferings. For some time the natural strength of his constitution continued to support him under his increasing infirmities ; but, towards the close of 1798, swellings in the legs, and other alarming prognostics, announced that the fatal crisis of his disorder was at no great distance. But his usual buoyancy of spirits, supported by a resignation which is the necessary result of habitual piety, did not wholly for- sake him : he contemplated his approaching end with true Christian fortitude, and, on the sixteenth day of Decem- ber, 1798, while in his seventy-third year, resigned his breath in the arms of his family, and accompanied by the sincere regret of a large circle of friends. Of the general character of the subject of this memoir it might be said, in a few words, that in his religious prin- ciples he was strictly orthodox, and consequently a staunch friend to the established church; in his politics zealously and sincerely devoted to the true spirit of the constitution ; and exemplary in the fulfilment of all the duties of private 371 life. To say this of him might be sufficient for all the purposes of an honest and dignified reputation ; yet it can* not but be more satisfactory to the reader to receive the testimony of his son, the present respectable representative of this ancient family*, who, in the place adverted to in a preceding note, has supplied the following interesting and more copious information upon the subject. — " His reli- gious principles," says the writer, " were pure and fervent, yet exempt from bigotry* Though firmly attached to the established church, he, by his writings and conduct, conci- liated the esteem of those of a different persuasion. A steady friend to our excellent constitution, he ever laboured to preserve it entire. This induced him to petition for. the reform of some abuses during the administration of Lord North, at a period, when the influence of the crown was supposed to have exceeded its due bounds. This brought him forward, in later times, with additional energy, to resist the democratic spirit, which threatened tenfold evilsf. The duties of a magistrate he exercised with candour, and with a temperate yet zealous warmth to protect the oppressed. His benevolence to the poor was unbounded, and his re- peated exertions to relieve the wants of a populous neigh- * The eldest son of this gentleman was married, in 1822, to the only daughter of the Duke of Marlborough, but has lately been left a widower. f This alludes, it may be presumed, to an association of sixteen parishes in the county of Flint, which took place in 1792, for the purpose of resist- ing the revolutionary principles then spreading throughout the country. Mr. Pennant presided at the first meeting, which was attended by many indi- viduals of the first distinction in the neighbourhood ; and the association proved afterwards of material service in stemming the tide of disaffection to which it was opposed. It may be added, that Mr. Pennant was princi- pally instrumental in the formation of this society, some account of which may be seen in the Appendix to his " Literary Life," p. 135—140. 2b2 372 iourhood, by the importation of corn in times of scarcity, were truly munificent. Temperate in diet, he enjoyed the fruits of abstinence, and, until a few years previous to his decease, possessed an unusual share of health and vigour. His conversation was lively, replete with instruction, and brilliant with sallies of true humour ; yet too great sensi- bility at times lowered his natural flow of spirits, and occa- sioned severe dejection." This general portrait of Pennant, — which, it may be hoped, will not be deemed less valuable, because dictated by filial affection, — leaves nothing material to be supplied. Something, however, may be added with respect to the lighter traits of his character. With the cheerfulness of disposition which he commonly enjoyed, he united a par- ticular attachment to the convivial circle*, especially when enlivened by wit, or refined by intelligence ; and, from his own qualifications in this respect, we may conclude how much he must have contributed, on such an occasion, to the common enjoyment. To the world of fashion too, where his literary distinction, not less than his rank in so- ciety, made him at all times a welcome visitor, he was con- stant in his devoirsf, omitting no opportunity to temper the severity of his literary pursuits by a participation in that innocent gaiety, which, while it relaxes the mind, seldom fails also to improve and enlarge the understanding. The general amenity and benevolence of his disposition have al- ready been partially alluded to ; and of these his affec- tionate notice of his parents in his " History of Whitford and Holywell," and the attachment which he evinced to a * See his " Literary Life/' p. 11. t Ibid. 373 favourite servant, as described in the same work, may be selected as instances*. But his whole life was in happy accordance with these amiable characteristics. To say that he possessed, with these, no particular foibles, would be to assert that he had triumphed over the doom of our com- mon nature; but they were such as might be identified with those eccentricities, which have often been found al- lied with the brightest genius, and are not incompatible with the most eminent virtues. They were those light shades, which only served to render more brilliant the lof- tier tints of the picture. On Pennant's literary reputation it may not be necessary to dwell very long, after the occasional remarks on the sub- ject that have appeared in the progress of this memoir. His genius, if not of the highest order, was, it must be ad- mitted, far above mediocrity; and the advantages which he thus deriyed from nature, were signally improved by ex- tensive reading and unwearied research. As a natural his- torian he stands avowedly in the first rank ; and the avidity with which his works on this subject were received by the public, proves how successfully he had laboured in the hitherto novel attempt to communicate a popular character to this branch of literature. As a writer in general, his talents were singularly prolific, but, at the same time un- equal ; and, if he is not to be classed with those authors who have fathomed the depths of reasoning, or ascended the heights of science, it may be because the subjects he selected were not of such a nature as to demand the gra- vity of philosophical investigation. His manner of treating them, too, had a manifest tendency rather to the orna- * See pages 15, 16, and 103, and also 110 for an affecting allusion to the loss of bis daughter. 374 mental than the profound ; he was content to amuse and instruct where he had no temptation to be abstruse. Works of a zoological or topographical nature, — and such for the most part are Pennant's, — are, of all, perhaps, the most susceptible of that lively and agreeable illustration, in which the subject of this memoir appears to have delighted ; and it is no mean praise to be able to say of him, that, in this species of writing, he has presented a model, which none of his imitators have surpassed. It is peculiarly his merit, as there has been already occasion to notice, that, " as a tourist, he was the first to enliven the dryness of to- pographical research with historical and biographical anec- dote, and to illustrate description with the decorations of the pencil* ;" and, in this point of view, his native country must ever be particularly beholden to him. With a true spirit of patriotism he first disclosed the popular road to those literary treasures, which had hitherto been concealed within the mountains of Wales. It must not be forgotten, in estimating the literary cha- racter of the writer before us, that he was also a poet. His offerings, however, at the shrine of the muses, at least such as have seen the light, were but fewf; but some of them would not have disgraced a loftier name. However, it is on his more known productions that his reputation * These are the words of the writer of the Preface to the edition of Pen- nant's " Tour from London to the Isle of Wight," published in 1801. With reference to the " decorations of the pencil" here alluded to, it may be of interest to state, that his various works are embellished by considerably more than eight hundred plates, from which we may form an estimate of the benefit the art of engraving must have derived from his single exertions. t Three of these may be seen in his t: Literary Life," pp. 11, 15, and 20. Of these the " Ode, occasioned by a Lady professing an attachment to Indifference," may be noticed as particularly indicative of the writer's poetical talents. 375 must rest ; and, with respect to these, we are told that his powers of composition were remarkable for their celerity, and that he rarely corrected his first thoughts*, which proves at once the retentiveness of his memory, and the facility with which he could call into operation the stores of his mind. In a word, in whatever view we regard the distinguished individual whose life is here so faintly and imperfectly traced, we cannot but consider him as shedding a lustre on the land of his birth, in proportion with the ac- knowledged benefits which he conferred on the great re- public of letters. * See the Preface to the third volume of the " Outlines of the Globe." 376 REV. PETER ROBERTS. The difficulty of writing with propriety on events of re- cent occurrence has always been acknowledged. The his- torian has rarely been successful in describing, with im- partial fidelity, the transactions of his own times ; nor has the biographer always drawn with accuracy the portrait of his cotemporaries. Yet, however true this may be as af- fects the opinions either of the biographer or historian, to which private friendship in one case, or political prejudices in the other, might naturally give a wrong bias, it can scarcely be of any weight, as it regards the narration of facts. On the contrary, the authority of the writer in this respect must always be in proportion with the opportunities he has had of witnessing what he relates ; and in this view it is that, in the lives of eminent men, the testimony of their cotemporaries, especially of such as have had a per- sonal knowledge of them, becomes peculiarly valuable. These preliminary remarks have been suggested by the following memoir, which is from the pen of a gentleman, who had the happiness of being intimately acquainted with the learned individual to whom it is dedicated. It details, with a felicitous ease of style, the more prominent events of his life, and is wholly exempt from those false colour- ings, with which the partiality of friendship, or the blind- ness of admiration, too often supplies the place of truth. As our own resources would not enable us to offer any thing of equal authenticity with the following " plain un- varnished tale," the reader will not regret, that it has been 377 adopted as an ornament to the pages of the Cambrian Plutarch*. The late Rev. Peter Roberts was born in the parish of Rhiwabon, in the county of Denbigh, about the year 1760. His father, John Roberts, was the younger son of a free- holder in that parish, and descended from a family, which had, for many generations, occupied their small domain, called Tai'n-y-Nant, without any material change in their circumstances. He was by trade a clock-maker, and esta-^ blished himself in that business, first at his native village, Rhiwabon, but afterwards removed to Wrexham. He was an honest and respectable man ; but, though he enjoyed the means, he inconsiderately neglected the opportunity of establishing his family in a state of comfortable compe- tency. His wife was nearly allied to the ancient family of the Middletons of Chirk Castle. Their son and only child, Peter Roberts, was sent, at a very early age, to the grammar-school at Wrexham, which was then in great repute, under the care of the Rev. Mr. Davis, afterwards rector of Llanarmon Dyfryn Ceiriog. His early proficiency was very conspicuous, and gave, even at that time, no obscure indication of his subsequent cele- brity. He employed his leisure hours upon various me- chanical curiosities, for which he displayed a remarkable genius. Of music he continued, at all times, to be an en- thusiastic admirer, and he was enabled, when very young, to enjoy his favourite amusement, by playing upon a dulci- mer of his own construction. He also attempted to make a telescope. * This memoir first appeared in tu« Cambro-Briton ; and we wish we were at liberty to disclose the name of the writer. As it is, however, we have only to add, that it is here republished, with but very few variations, and those merely verbal. One or two trivial passages are omitted. 378 Having remained at Wrexham until the age of fifteen or sixteen, he removed to the grammar school at St. Asaph, and, as is generally understood, in the double character of pupil and assistant. The school at St. Asaph was then in a very flourishing state, under the superintendence of the Rev. Peter Williams, afterwards vicar of Bettws Alergeley, and, besides a great number of pupils from the neighbour- ing counties, could boast of several from the sister kingdom of Ireland. To some of the latter, John Roberts was, na- turally enough from his situation in the school, engaged as a private tutor; and a circumstance happened at this time, which gave a more permanent character to the connexion between him and his young pupils. Dr. Usher, then a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards professor of astronomy in that university, came over at this period to North Wales, and resided there for several months. By some accident now unknown, or, perhaps, by direct information from the Irish scholars, he became acquainted with Peter Roberts, and, as he highly appreciated his character and talents, strongly encouraged him to transfer his studies, under his auspices, to the uni- versity of Dublin. With this proposal, which, in his finan- cial difficulties, presented, probably, the only chance of an university education, and obviously opened a wide field to his literary ambition, our young student readily complied, and, entering as sizar in that celebrated seat of learning, yery soon attracted the notice, and secured the permanent esteem, of his superiors in the colleger- It is understood, that his old pupils from St. Asaph, as * " A few months before his decease," the writer here adds, " he ex- pressed most strougly to one of his friends a deep sense of gratitude for the kindness which he had experienced from the senior fellows in his youth." 379 they successively entered the university, availed themselves of his private tuition. Astronomy and the oriental lan- guages were, at this time, his favourite studies, and, such was his proficiency in the former, that his patron, Usher, con- templated him as well qualified to succeed him in the pro- fessorship. Mr. Roberts himself had also considered the astronomical chair as the great object of his ambition ; but a different arrangement took place when the vacancy ac- tually happened, and the office was bestowed upon another person, who, with whatever feelings we may reflect on the disappointment of our learned countryman, must be uni- versally admitted to be well deserving of this, high honour. It is believed, that this disappointment, the first of a seri- ous nature the subject of this memoir had ever experienced, was peculiarly painful to him. About the commencement of the French Revolution he travelled in the south-west of France for the benefit of his health, and remained, for some time, at the waters of Bar- reges, near the Pyrennees. Of this tour he left among his papers a manuscript journal, which, however, is not suf- ficiently interesting, nor does it appear to have been ever intended, for publication. Returning to Ireland, he was employed as private tutor in several families. He was after- wards engaged to superintend the education of the present Lord Lanesborough, and his cousin, now Colonel Latouche. Them he eventually accompanied to Eton, where his character became more generally known, and he had an opportunity of acquiring many valuable friends, among whom he used par- ticularly to enumerate Bishop Douglas, Mr. Bryant, and Dr. Heath. By these and other friends he was encouraged to publish his " Harmony of the Epistles," the preparation of which had occupied many years of his life ; and, through their recommendation, the University of Cambridge printed the work at their own expense. The high character of 380 this publication, the most laborious and valuable of all his works, fully justifies the liberal patronage of the Univer*- sity, and will, unquestionably, transmit the author's name as an eminent scholar and divine to future ages. When the education of his pupils was completed, he re- tired to his native country, subsisting upon two annuities, which he received from his former pupils, Lords Lanes- borough and Bolton. His time was now at his own dis- posal, and this was, perhaps, the first uninterrupted pos-^ session of it, which he had ever enjoyed. 'The illustration of his native language, and of the ancient history of the Gymry, became now his favourite pursuits, and he certainly brought to the discussion of these subjects such powers of mind, united with such multifarious and general know- ledge, as few Welshmen have evinced since the time of the celebrated Edward Llwyd. His eminent character for ge- neral literature excited an additional interest for the sub- jects of which he treated, and awakened, in many instances, the curiosity of those who would have turned with disgust from the works of humbler authors, and who had esteemed the investigation of the Welsh history and language as use" less as it was then deemed unfashionable. To the effect of his example and labours may undoubtedly be traced much of that better taste, which now prevails in the Principality, and which we may reasonably hope to see far more widely disseminated under the auspices of the numerous societies now established for that purpose*. Hitherto, however, though he had written much and * The original in this place mentions merely the Cambrian Society, which, at the period when this memoir was written (1&19), was the only insti- tution of the kind in existence. There are now, however, besides the Cymmrodorion or Metropolitan Cambrian Institution, four general provin- cial societies, and several, of an inferior, but not less zeafous character, in most of the principal towns in both divisions of Wales. 381 ably upon theological subjects, none of the dignities or emoluments of his profession had fallen to his share. Of Bishop Douglas's favourable intentions towards him there can be no doubt ; but the death of that prelate put an end to all expectations of preferment from that quarter. Bishop Horsley also, in common with others, entertained a very high opinion of his character, and, in answer to a question hesitatingly put, whether he knew a Mr. Peter Roberts, quickly replied, " To be sure, I do : there is but one Peter Roberts in the world." But his first preferment was de- rived from Bishop Cleaver, who presented him with the living of Llanarmon — a living certainly of little value, but which he had strongly solicited, and perhaps more highly valued, because it was the preferment of his old master and friend Mr. Davies. The cold and retired situation of this place rendered it very unsuitable to his numerous bo- dily infirmities, and to the nervous sensibility of his mind, for which the enlivening intercourse of friendly society was now become indispensable. He therefore spent only a few of the summer months at his living, but continued to make his regular home in the town of Oswestry, in Shropshire, where he was generally respected for his literary talents and private worth. About nine or ten years ago Lord Crewe gave him the living of Madeley, in Shropshire, and, at a later period, that distinguished patron of learning, Bishop Burgess, offered him preferment, which was respectfully declined, within the diocese, of St. David's. In December, 1818, his income received a most important addition, and was, pro- bably, rendered amply commensurate with all his wants, by the living of Halkyn, which Dr. Luxmore, Bishop of St. Asaph, gave him in exchange for Llanarmon. He re- moved to his new preferment in the following February, 382 and, being unable to procure a curate immediately, entered upon what was a new employment to him, the active duties of a parish priest. So little had he been accustomed to parochial duty, that his ministerial labours, in the course of a few months at Halkyn, exceeded, by his own account, those of his whole preceding life. In the pulpit he cer- tainly did not excel ; but this will not appear surprising, if we reflect upon his physical infirmities at this time, and that, until this late period of life, he had never preached any but a few occasional sermons. But his affability, the native benevolence of his heart, and charitable attentions to the poor, rendered him a great favourite with his pa- rishioners. His labours were now approaching fast to their termina- tion, and, it may be hoped, also to their reward. He had been accustomed, for many years, to complain of his low spirits, his head-aches, and other infirmities ; and his friends had in vain recommended to him more frequent exercise in the open air, as the best medicine for his bodily and mental ailments. The exertions, which the personal discharge of his duties at Halkyn called forth, seemed to have a favourable effect on his health, and he represented himself as more than usually exempt from infirmity in the latter end of the Spring of 1819. On Ascension-Day fol- lowing (May 20th,) he read the service of the church with- out any particular inconvenience, and, having returned home, was soon afterwards called to the door by a pauper, who solicited his charity. He was in the act of adminis- tering relief, when he was stretched helpless by an apoplectic attack, and, though he lingered until the following morn- ing, he continued speechless and apparently insensible until he expired. On his table were found several letters, one of which, directed to his patron, the Bishop of St. Asaph, 383 was intended to express to him the happiness he enjoyed in his new situation. So uncertain is the tenure of human happiness in our present state ! In private life Peter Roberts was in the highest degree amiable. As a companion he was distinguished by a play- ful cheerfulness of manner, an inexhaustible fund of anec- dote, and a happy facility of communicating information to others. As a neighbour, he was remarkably kind, friendly, and charitable. His whole conduct was stamped by the most unshaken probity, which was rendered yet more inte- resting by a certain guileless simplicity peculiar to himself. His erudition was unquestionable, and, without any dispa- ragement to living merit, he maybe safely pronounced a more general and profound scholar than any Welshman of the present day. He was particularly skilled in Hebrew and Rabbinical learning. His "Letters to Volney" are suppose to exhibit, in the most advantageous light, the vi- gour of his reasoning powers, as well as his philological and scientific acquirements. As an antiquary, it must be ad- mitted, that, in endeavouring to establish a favourite hypo- thesis, he was sometimes precipitate and fanciful, and that his judgment, upon such occasions, cannot be implicitly de- pended upon. Even his best friends must concede, that his " History of the Ancient Britons," and his " British Kings," display many proofs of inconclusive reasoning and credulous weakness. But these are only partial blemishes ; and his singular learning, with the devotion of his great talents to the literature and history of Wales, will always command the esteem, and, it may confidently be added, ex- cite the emulation of his countrymen*. * Here closes the memoir, as transcribed from the Cambro-Briton ; for the few observations that follow, the author of this work is himself respon- sible. 384 In addition to the works mentioned in the course of this memoir, he also published an Essay on the Origin of the Constellations — The Art of Universal Correspondence — Review of the Policy and peculiar Doctrines of the modern Church of Rome — Manual of Prophecy — Letter to Dr. Milner, on the supposed miracle of St. Winifred's Well*, and the Cambrian Popular Antiquities. Most of these serve to confirm the justice of the reputation he had gene^ rally acquired both for talents and erudition. But, of the Cambrian Popular Antiquities, one of his latest produc- tions, if not the last of all, it must, in candour, be said, that it falls far short of the expectations that might rea- sonably have been excited on the occasion, whether with a view to the interesting nature of the subject, or to the ac- knowledged abilities of the writer. But, it is obviously a work of much haste, and apparently written, rather to set off the plates that accompany it*|-, than for the purpose of treating, in a full and satisfactory manner, the "popular antiquities" of Wales. Yet, sufficient merit remains in the other works of Peter Roberts to establish the fame of the writer on a sure and indestructible basis. Besides, such of his writings as had already seen the light, he had also contemplated some others of importance, and, among these, a Hebrew Lexicon, the plan of which, * St. Winifred's Well is situate at Holywell, in Flintshire. During the prevalence of papal fanaticism in this country, a miraculous efficacy was ascribed to its healing virtues: and even in more modern times some instances of the delusion might be quoted. It is to one of the latest of these, perhaps the very last, that this letter has reference. f In justice to our national customs, it should be stated, that these plates have little or no reference to the subjects to which they profess to be dedi- cated. They are only calculated to mislead strangers in forming their esti- mate of the " popular antiquities" of the principality. 385 when submitted to some distinguished members of the University of Oxford, received a very high commendation. But, neither this work, nor the others alluded to, had been sufficiently advanced for publication. His only production, that has been found worthy of posthumous publicity, is a translation of the " Triads of the Social State," ascribed to the ancient British lawgiver, Dyvnwal Moelmud. This has been recently published among the transactions of the Cymmrodorion or Cambrian Institution, and adds another proof to those previously in existence of the patriotic inte- rest which the writer took in promoting the literature of his country — dysg yr hen gymry da*. — — * — * "The learning of the good old Cymry." Davydd ab Gwjlym". THE END. J. M'Creery, Tooks-court, Chancery-Lane, London. 6:r*y yy LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 021 389 426 2 31 am SIKHS Hi M ^1 ■ We! mumm 1 ■r