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NOTES.
ON
THE FIRST PART.
_________
Silent and thoughtful, and apart from all,
Stood Madoc. -- I. p. 4.
Long after these lines had been written, I was pleased at finding the same feeling expressed in a very singular specimen of metrical autobiography: --
A Nao, despregando as velas
Ja se aproveita do vento;
E de evidente alegria
Os Portuguezes ja cheios
Sobre o conves estam todos;
Na terra se vam revendo
Igrejas, Palacios, Quintas,
De que temrn conhecimento,
Daqui, dalli apontando
Vam ledamente co dedo.
Todos fallando demostram
Seus jubilos munifestos;
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Mas o Vieira occupado
Vai de hum notavel silencio.
Seu excessivo alvoroco
Tumultuante, que dentro
No peito sente, lhe causa
De sobresalto os effeitos.
Quanto mais elle chegrando
Vai ao suspirado termo,
Mais se lhe augmenta o gostoso
Susto no doce projecto."
Vieira Lusitano.
Mona, the dark island. - I. p. 4.
Ynys Dowyll, the dark island.
Aberfraw. - I. p. 5.
The palace of Gwynedd, or North Wales. Rhodri Mawr, about the year 873, fixed the seat of government here, which had formerly been at Dyganwy, but latterly at Caer Seiont in Arvon, near the present town of Caernarvon. "It is strange," says Warrington, "that he should desert a country where every mountain was a natural fortress, and, in times of such difficulty and danger, should make choice of a residence so exposed and defenceless." But this very danger may have been his motive. The Danes, who could make no impression upon England against the great Alfred, had turned their arms upon Wales. Mona was the part most open to their ravages; and it may have been an act as well of policy as of courage in the king to fix his abode there. He fell there, at length, in. battle against the Saxons. A barn now stands upon the site
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of the palace, in which there are stones, that, by their better workmanship, appear to have belonged to the original building.
Richly would the king
Gift the red hand that rid him of that fear. -- I. p. 6.
"It was the manner of those days, that the murtherer only, and he that gave the death's wound, should fly, which was called in Welsh Llaewrudd, which is a red hand, because he had blouded his hlands. The accessories and abettors to the murtherers were never hearkened after." -- Gwydir History.
David! King Owen's son ... my father's son, ...
He wed the Saxon ... the Plantagenet! -- I. p. 8.
This marriage was, in fact, one of the means whereby Henry succeeded for a time in breaking the independent spirit of the Welsh. David immediately sent a thousand men to serve under his brother-in-law and liege lord in Normandy, and shortly after attended the parliament at Oxford upon his summons.
He is the headstrong slave
Of passions unsubdued. -- I. p. 11.
Caradoc represents Davydd as a prince greatly disliked on account of his cruelty and untractable spirit, killing and putting out the eyes of those who were not subservient to his will, after the manner of the English! Cambrian Biography.
The guests were seated at the festal board. -- II. p. 12.
The order of the royal hall was established by law. "The men to whom the right of a seat in the hall belongs
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are fourteen; of whom four shall sit in the lower, and ten in the upper, part of the hall. The king is the first; he shall sit at the pillar, and next him the chancellor; and after him the gliest, and then the heir apparent, and then the master of the hawks. The foot-bearer shall sit by the dish opposite the king, and the mead-maker at the pillar behind him. The priest of the household shall be at another pillar, who shall bless the meat, and chant the Pater Noster. The crier shall strike the pillar above the king's head. Next him shall be the judge of the palace; and next to him the musician, to whom the right of the seat belongs. The smith of the palace shall be at the bottom, before the knees of the priest. The master of the palace shall sit in the lower hall, with his left hand towards the door, with the serving-men whom he shall choose; and the rest shall be at the other side of the door; and, at his other hand, the musician of the household. The master of the horse shall sit at the pillar opposite the king, and the master of the hounds at the pillar opposite the priest of the household." -- Laws of Hoel Dha'.
Keilriog;... and Berwzyn's after-strife. - II. p. 14.
1165. The king gathered another armie of chosen men, through all his dominions, as England, Normandy, Anjow, Gascoine, and Gwyen, sending for succours from Flanders and Brytain, and then returned towards North Wales, minding utterlie to destroy all that had life in the land; and coming to Croes Oswalt, called Oswald's Tree, incamped there. On the contrarie side, Prince Owen and his brother Cadwallader, with all the power of North Wales; and the Lord Rees, with the power of South Wales; and Owen Cyveilioc and the
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sonnes of Madoc ap Meredyth, with the power of Powyss, and the two sonnes of Madoc ap Ednerth, with the people betwixt Wye and Seavern, gathered themselves togither, and came to Corwen in Edeyrneon, proposing to defend their country. But the king understanding that they were nigh, being wonderfull desirous of battell, came to the river Ceireoc, and caused the woods to be hewn down. Whereupon a number of the Welshmen understanding the passage, unknown to their captains, met with the king's ward, where were placed the picked men of all the armie, and there began a hote skirmish, where diverse worthie men were slaine on either side: but in the end the king wanne the passage, and came to the mountain of Berwyn, where he laid in campe certaine days, and so both the armies stood in awe of each other; for the king kept-the open plains, and was afraid to be intrapped in straits; but the Welshmen watched for the advantage of the place, and kept the king So straitlie, that neither forage nor victuall might come to his camp, neither durst anie soldiour stir abroad. And, to augment their miseries, there fell such raine, that the king's men could scant stand upon their feete upon those slipperlie hilles. In the end, the king was compelled to retura home without his purpose, and that with great loss of men and munition, besides his charges. Therefore in a great choler he caused the pledges eies, whom he had received long before that, to be put out; which were Rees and Cawdwalhon the sonnes of Owen, and Cynwric and Meredith the sonnes of Rees, and other." -- Powell.
The fool that day, who in his masque attire
Sported before King Henry. - II. p. 14.
"Brienstone in Dorsetshire was held in grand sergeantry by
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a pretty odd jocular tenure; viz., by finding a man to go before the king's army for forty days, when he should make war in Scotland (some records say in Wales), bareheaded and barefooted, in his shirt and linen drawers, holding in one hand a bow without a string, in another an arrow without feathers." -- Gibson's Camden.
Though I knew
The rebel's worth. - II. p. 15.
There is a good testimony to Hoel's military talents in the old history of Cambria, by Powell. "At this time Cadel, Meredyth, and Rees, the sons of Gruffyth ap Rees, ap Theodor, did lead their powers against the Castle of Gwys; which, after they saw they could not win, they sent for Howel the sonne of Owen, Prince of North Wales, to their succour, who, for his prowesse in the field and his discretion in consultation, was counted the flowre of chivalrie; whose presence also was thought only sufficient to overthrow anie hold."
Seest thou never
Those eyeless spectres by thy bridal bed. -- II. p. 15.
Henry in his attempt upon Wales, 1165, "did justice on the sons of Rhys and also on the sons and daughters of other noblemen that were his accomplices very rigorously; causing the eyes of the young striplings to be pecked out of their heads, and their noses to be cut off or slit; and the eares of the young gentlewomen to be stuffed. But yet I find in other authors that in this journey King Henry did not greatly prevail against his enemies, but rather lost many of his men of war, both horsemen and footmen; for by his severe proceeding against them, he rather
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made them more eager to seek revenge, then quieted them in ant tumult" -- Holinshed. Among these unhappy hostages were some sons of Owen Gwynedh.
I hate the Saxon. -- II. p. 16.
Of this name Saxon, which the Welsh still use, Higden gives an odd etymology. "Men of that cowntree ben more lyghter and stronger on the see than other scommers or theeves of the see, and pursue theyr enemyes full harde, both by water and by londe, and ben called Saxones, - of Saxum, that is, a stone; for they ben as hard as stones. and uneasy to fare with." -- Polycronycon, 1. 26.
The page who chafed his feet. - II. p. 16.
"The foot-bearer shall hold the feet of the king in his lap fiom the time when he reclines at the board till he goes to rest, and he shall chafe them with a towel; and, during all that time, he shall watch that no hurt happen to the king. He shall eat of the same dish from which the king takes his meat, having his back turned toward the fire. He shall light the first candle before the king at his meal." -- Laws of Hoel Dha.
The officer proclaimed the sovereign will. - II. p. 18.
The crier to command silence was one of the royal household: first he performed this service by his voice, then by
__________
Accubuerit is the word in Wotton's version. It is evident that the king must have lain at his meal, after the Roman fashion, or this pedifer could not have chafed his feet.
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striking with the rod of his office the pillars above the king's head. A fine was due to him for every disturbance in the court.
The Chief of Bards
Then raised the ancient lay. -- II. p. 18.
The lines which follow represent the Bardic system, as laid down in the following Triads of Bardism.
"12. There are three Circles of Existence: the Circle of Infinity, where there is nothing but God, of living or dead, and none but God can traverse it; the Circle of Inchoation, where all things are by Nature derived from Death, -- this Circle hath been traversed by man; and the Circle of Happiness, where all things spring from Life, .. this man shall traverse in Heaven.
"13. Aninated Beings have three States of Existence: that of Inchoation in the Great Deep, or Lowest point of Existence; that of Liberty in the state of Humanity; and that of Love, which is Happiness in Heaven.
"14. All animated Beings are subject to three Necessities: beginning in the Great Deep; Progression in the Circle of Inchoation; and Plenitude in the Circle of Happiness. Without these things, nothing can possibly exist but God.
"15. Three things are necessary in the Circle of Inchoation: the least of all animation, and thence Beginning; the materials of all things, and thence Increase, which cannot take place in any other state; the formation of all things out of the dead mass, and thence Discriminate Individuality.
"16. Three things cannot but exist towards all animated Beings, from the nature of Divine Justice: Co-sufferance in the
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Circle of Inchoation, because without that none could attain to the perfect knowledge of any thing; Co-participation in the Divine Love; and Co-ultimity, fiom the nature of God's Power, and its attributes of Justice and Mercy.
"17. There are three necessary occasions of Inchoation: to collect the materials and properties of every nature; to collect the knowledge of every thing; and to collect power towards subduing the Adverse and the Devastative, and for the dives tation of Evil. Without this traversing every mode of animated existence, no state of animation, or of any thing in nature, can attain to Plenitude."
Till Evil shall be known,
And; being known as Evil, cease to be. - II. p. 18.
"By the knowledge of three things will, all Evil and Death be diminished and subdued; their nature, their cause, and their operation. This knowledge will be obtained in the Circle of Happiness." -- Triads of Bardism, Tr. 35.
Death The Enlarger. - II. p. 18.
Angau, the Welsh word for Death, signifies Enlargement.
The eternal newness of eternal joy. -- II. p. 18.
Nefoedd, the Welsh word for Heaven, signifies Renovation. "The three Excellences of changing the mode of Existence in the Circle of Happiness: Acquisition of Knowledge; beautiful Variety; and Repose, from not being able to endure uniform Infinity and uninterrupted Eternity.
"Three things none but God canl do: endure the Eternities of the Circle of Infinity; participate of every state of
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Existence without changing; and reform and renovate every thing without the loss of it. " The three Plenitudes of Happiness: Participation of every nature, with a plenitude of One predominant; conformity to every cast of genius and character, possessing superior excellence in One; the Love of all Beings and Existences, but chiefly concentred in one object, which is God; and in the predominant One of each of these will the Plenitude of Happiness consist." - Triads of Bardism, 40, 38, 45.
- - - he struck the harp
To Owen's praise. - II. p. 19.
"I will extol the generous Hero, descended from the race of Roderic, the bulwark of his country, a prince eminent for his good qualities, the glory of Britain: Owen, the brave and expert in arms, that neither hoardeth nor coveteth riches.
"Three fleets arrived, vessels of the main, three powerful fleets of the first-rate, furiously to attack him on the sudden: one from Iwerddon, * the other, full of well-armed Lochlynians, making a grand appearance on the floods; the third from the transmarine Normans, which was attended with an immense though successless toil.
"The dragons of Mona's sons were so brave in action, that there was a great tumult on their furious attack; and before the prince himself there was vast confusion, havoc, conflict, honorable death, bloody battle, horrible consternation; and, upon Tal Malvra, a thousand banners. There was an outrageous carnage, and the rage of spears, and hasty signs of violent
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* Ireland
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indignation. Blood raised the tide of the Menai, and the crimson of human gore stained the brine. There were glittering cuirasses, and the agony of gashing wouncds, and the manngled warriors prostrate before the chief, distinguished by his crimson lance. Loegria was put into confusion; the contest and confusion was great; and the glory of our Prince's wide-wasting sword shall be celebrated in an hundred languages to give him his merited praise." -- Panegyric upon Owen Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, by Gwalchmai the son of Melir, in the year 1157. -- Evan's Specimens of Welsh Poetry
Dinevaeor. -- III. p. 21.
Dins Vawr, the Great Palace, the residence of the Princes of Deheubarth, or South Wales. This also was erected by Rhodri Mawr.
Hoel seiz'd the throne. - III. p. 21.
I have taken some liberties here with the history. Hoel kept possession of the throne nearly two years. He then went to Ireland to claim the property of his mother Pyvog, the daughter of an Irish chieftain. In the mean time, David seized the government. Hoel raised all the force he could to recover the crown, but, after a severe conflict, was wounded and defeated. He returned to Ireland with the remains of his army, which probably consisted chiefly of Irishmen, and there died of his wounds. -- Cambrian Biography.
- - - hast thou known the consummated crime,
And heard Cynetha's fate? - III. p. 26.
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The history of Cynetha and his brothers is very honestly related in the Pentarchia.
Cadwallonis erat primoevus jure Cynetha;
Proh pudor! hunc oculis patruus privavit Oenus
Testiculisque simul, fundum dum raptat avitum;
Honel ab irato suspensus rege Johanne,
Et Leolinus, cum privarunt lumine fratres.
This curious summary of Welsh history still remains unprinted.
As thy fair uplands lessen'd on the view. -- IV. p. 34.
"Two of the names of Britain were derived from its hills, -- Clas Merddlin, the high lands in the sea; and Clas Meiddlin, the hilly lands or fields." -- E. Williams's Poems.
Seen, low lying, through the haze of morn. -- IV. p. 35.
What sailors call Cape Fly-away.
St. Cyric.- IV. p. 41.
The saint to whom sailors addressed themselves; the St. Elmo of the Welsh.
It was usual for all, even females, who went from North Wales in pilgrimage to St. David's, to pass the dangerous strands and sail over the rough bays in slight coracles, without any one to guide or assist them; so firmly were they convinced that that saint, and St. Cyric, the ruler of the waves, would protect them." -- E. Williams's Poems.
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Gwenhidwy. -- IV. p. 41.
"A Mermaid. The white foamy waves are called her sheep; the ninth wave, her ram. The Welsh have two proverbs concerning her: Take the Mermaid's advice, and save thyself; Take shelter when you see the Mermaid driving her flocks ashore. -- E. Williams.
Where at their source the floods, for ever thus,
Beneath the nearer influence qf the Moon,
Labor'd in these mad woorkings. -- IV. p. 42.
Everyche flood aryseth more in Oecean than in the grete see, that is for the hole togyder is myglhtyer and stronger than ony partye by hymself. Or for the hole Oecean is grete and large, and receyved more workynge of the mone than ony partye by hymselfe that is smaller and lasse." -- Polycronycon, L. 1. c. 9.
Did the Waters
Here on their utmost circle meet the Void. -- IV. p. 42.
"The see of Oecean beclyppeth all the erthe abowte as a garlonde, and by times cometh and goth, ebbying and flowynge, and flodeth in sees, and casteth them up, and wyndes blowen therein." -- Polycronycon, 1. i. c. 9.
Or this Earth,
Was it indeed a living thing. I -- IV. p. 42.
"Physici autumant mundum animal esse, eumque ex variis elementorum corporibus conglobatum, moveri spiritu, regi mente; qume utraque diffusa per membra omnia, mternm molis vigorem exerceant. Sicut ergo in corporibus nostris
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colnmercia sunt spiritalia, ita in profundis Oceani nares quasdam mundi constitutes, per quas emissi anhelitus, vel reducti, modo;effilent maria modb revocent." -- Solinus, cap. 36.
"I suppose the waters," says Pietro Martire, "to be driven about the globe of the earth by the incessant moving and impulsion of the heavens, and not to be swallowed up and cast out again by the breathing of Demogorgon, as some have imagined, because they see the seas, by increase and decrease, to flow and reflow." -- Dec. 3. c. 6.
- - - gentle airs which breath'd,
or seem'd to breathe, fresh fraegrance from the shore. -- IV. p. 43.
"Our first notice of the approach of land was the fragrant and aromatic smell of the continent of South America, or of the islands in its vicinity, which we sensibly perceived as a squall came from that quarter." -- M'Kinnin's Tour through the British West Indies. Dogs always are sensible when land is near, before it can be seen.
Low nets of interwoven reeds. -- V. p. 47.
"And for as much as I have made mention of their houses, it shall not be greatly from my purpose to describe in what manner they are builded. They are made round, like bells or.round pavilions. Their frame is raysed of exceeding high trees, set close together, and fast rampaired in the ground, so standing aslope, and bending inward, that the toppes of the trees joyne together, and bear one against another, having also within the house certain strong and short proppes or posts,
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which susteyne the trees from falling. They cover them with the leaves of date trees and other trees strongly compact and hardened, wherewith they make them close from winde and weather. At the short posts, or proppes, within the house, they tie ropes of the cotton of gossampine-trees, or other ropes made of certain long and rough roots, much like unto the shrubbe called Spaertunz, whereof in old time they used to make bands for vines, and gables and ropes for shippes. These they tie overthwart the house from post to post; on these they lay, as it were, certain mattresses made of the cotton of' gossampine-trees, which grow plentifully in these islandes. This cotton the Spanyards call Alyodon, and the Italians Boinbasine; and thus they sleepe in hanging beddes." -- Pietro Martire.
Will ye believe
The wonders of the Ocean, how its shoals
Sprang from the wave. -- V. p. 48.
I have somewhere seen an anecdote of a sailor's mother, who believed all the strange lies which he told her for his amusement, but never could be persuaded to believe there could be in existence such a thing as a flying fish. A Spanish author, who wrote before the voyage of Columbus, describes these fish as having been seen on the coast of Flanders. "Hay alli unos pescados que vuelan sobre el agua; algunos dellos atravesaban volando por encima de las galeras, e ann algunos dellos calan dentro." -- Coronica de D. Pero Nino.
A still earlier author mentions such a sight in the Straits as a miracle. "As they sailed from Algeziras, a fish came flying through the air, and fell upon the deck of the Infante's Galley, with which they had some fresh food that day; and
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because I, who write this history, have never heard or seen of any like thing, I here recount it, because it appears to me a thing malrvellous, and in my judgment out of the course of nature." -- Geones Eannes.
"At Barbadoes, the negroes, after the example of the Charaibs, take the flying fish very successfully in the dark. They spread their nets before a light, and disturb the water at a small distance: the fish, rising eagerly, fly towards the light, and are intercepted by the nets." -- McKinnen. -- These flying fishes, says the writer of Sir Thomas Roe's Voyage, "are like men professing two trades, and thrive at neither."
Language cannot paint
Their splendid tints. -- V. p. 48.
Atkins, with some feeling, describes the dolphin as a glorious-coloured fish. A labored description of its beauty would not have conveyed so lively a sense of admiration. He adds, quite as naturally, that it is of dry taste, but makes good broth. -- Voyage to Guinea in his Majesty's Ships the Swallow and Weymouth.
Herbert has given this fish a very extraordinary character upon the authority of the ancients.
"The Dolphin is no bigger than a salmon: it glitters in the ocean with a variety of beautiful colors; has few scales; from its swiftness and spirit, metonymically sirnamed the Prince and Arrow of the Sea; celebrated by many learned pens in sundry epithets; Philalthropoi, for affecting men, and Monoganzoi, for their turtle constancy; generated they be of sperme, nourisht like men, imbrace, join, and go 10 months great. In faciem versi dulces celebrant hymenaos Delphines,
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similes hominis complexibus hoerent. A careful husband. over his gravid associate, detesting incest, abhorring bigamy, tenderly affecting parents, whom, when three hundred years old, they feed and defend against hungry fishes, and, when dead (to avoid the shark and like marine tyrants), carry them ashore, and there (if Aristotle, AElyan, and Pliny erre not) inhume and bedew their Sepulchres; they were glad of our company, as it were affecting the sight and society of men, many hundred miles in an eager and unwearied pursuit, frisking about us; and, as a poet observed,
Undique dant saltus, multaque aspergine rorant
Emerguntque iterum, redeuntque sub sequora rursus,
Inque chori ludunt speciem lascivaque jactant
Corpora, et acceptum patulis mare naribus efflant."
Herbert's Travels.
The Stranger's House. -- V. p. 52.
"There is in every village of the Susquehannah Indians a vacant dwelling called the Stranger's House. When a traveller arrives within hearing of a village, he stops and halloos; for it is deemed uncivil to enter abruptly. Two old men lead him to the house, and then go round to the inhabitants, telling them a stranger is arrived fatigued and hungry. They send them all they can spare, bring tobacco after they are refreshed, and then ask questions whence they come and whither they go." -- Franklin.
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- - - a race
Mightier than they, and wiser, and by Heaven
Beloved and favored more. -- VI. p. 54.
"They are easily persuaded that the God that made Englishmen is a greater God than theirs, because he hath so richly endowed the English above themselves; but when they hear that, about sixteen hundred years ago, England and the inhabitants thereof were like unto themselves, and since have received from God clothes, books, &c., they are greatly affected with a secret hope concerning themselves." -- A Key into the Language of America, by Roger Williams, 1643.
Her husband's war-pole. -- VI. p. 55.
The war-pole is a small peeled tree painted red, the top and boughs cut off short. It is fixed in the ground opposite the door of the dead warrior, and all his implements of war are hung on the short boughs of it till they rot." -- Adair.
This author, who knew the manners of the North American Indians well, though he formed a most wild theory to account for them, describes the rites of mourning. "The widow, through the long term of her weeds, is compelled to refrain from all public company and diversions, at the penalty of an adulteress, and likewise to go with flowing hair, without the privilege of oil to anoint it. The nearest kinsmen of the deceased husband keep a very watchful eye over her conduct in this respect. The place of interment is also calculated to wake the widow's grief; for he is intombed in the house, under her bed;. and, if lihe was a war-leader, she is obliged, for the first moon, to sit in the daytime under his mourning war-pole, which is decked with all his martial trophies, and must be
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heard to cry with bewailing notes. But none of them are fond of that month's supposed religious duty, it chills or sweats and wastes them so exceedingly; for they are allowed no shade or shelter."
Battlements that shone
Like silver in the sunshine. -- VI. p. 59.
So dazzlingly white were the houses at Zempoalla, that one of the Spaniiards galloped back to Cortes to tell him the walls were of silver." -- Bernal Diaz, 30.
Torquemada also says "that the temple and palace courts at Mexico were so highly polished, that they actually shone like burnished gold or silver in the sun." -- T. 1. p. 251.
I have described Aztlan like the cities which the Spaniards found in New Spain. How large and how magnificent they were; may be learned from the "True History of the Conquest of Mexico," by Bernal Diaz. This delightful work has been abridged into English by Mr. Keating; and, if the reader has not seen it, he may thank me for recommending it to his notice.
Gomara's description of Zempoallan will show, that cities, as splendid in their appearance as Aztlan, did exist among the native Americans.
"They descried Zempoallan, which stoode a myle distant from them, all beset with fayre orchardes and gardens, verye pleasaunte to beholde: they used alwayes to water them with sluices when they pleased. There proceeded out of the towne many persons to behold and receyve so strange a people unto them. They came with smiling countenance, and presented unto them divers kinde of floures and sundry fruites,
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which none of our menne had heretofore seene. These people came without feare among the ordinance. With this pompe, triumph, and joy, they were received into the citie, which seemed a beautifull garden; for the trees were so greene and high, that scarcely the houses appeared.
"Sixe horsemen, which hadde gone before the army to discover, returned backe as Cortez was entering into the citie, saying that they had scene a great house and court, and that the walles were garnished with silver. Cortez commanded them to proceed on, willing them not to show any token of wonder of any thing that they should see. All the streetes were replenished with people, whiche stoode gaping and wondering at the horses and straungers. And, passing through a great market-place, they saw, on their right hand, a great walled house made of lyme and stone, with loupe-holes and towers, whited with playster that shined lyke silver, being so well burnished, and the sunne glistering upon it; and that was the thing that the Spaniards thought had beene walles of silver. I doe believe, that, with the imagination and great desire which they had of golde and silver, all that shined they deemed to be of the same metall." -- Conquest of the Weast India.
Cortes himself says of Cholula, that he counted above four hundred temple-towers in that city; and the city of Iztapalapa, he says, contained from twelve to fifteen thousand inhabitants. -- Carta de Relacion, 16, 20.
A floating islet. -- VI. p. 59.
Islets of this kind, with dwelling-huts upon them, were common upon the Lake of Mexico. They were moved at
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pleasure from bay to bay, as the inhabitants wanted sunshine or shelter." --
Clavigero.
Each held a burning censer in his hand. -- VI. p. 60.
"Tendilli," says the old translator of Gomara, "according to their usance, did his reverence to the captaine, burning frankincense, and little strawes touched in bloud of his own bodie. And, at Chiauiztlan, the lord toke a little chafyng-dishe in his hande, and cast into it a certaine gum, whyche savoured in sweete smel much like unto frankincense; and with a censer he smoked Cortez, with the ceremonye they use in theyr salutations to theyr gods and nobilitie. So also the Tlascallan embassadors burnt copal before Cortes, having thrice made obeicence; and they touched the ground with their hands, and kissed the earth.
The nexte day, in the morning, the Spaniards came to Chololla; and there came out near ten thousand Indians to receyve him, with their captaynes, in good order. Many of them presented unto him bread, foules, and roses; and every captayne, as he approached, welcomed Cortes, and then stood aside, that:the rest, in order, mighte come unto him; and, when he came entering into the citie, all the other citizens receyved him, maryelling to see such men and horses."
After all this came out all the religious menne, as priests and ministers to the idols, who were many and straunge to behold, and all were clothed in white, lyke unto surplices, and hemmed with common threede. Some brought instruments of nlusicke like unto cornettes; others brought instruments made of bones; others an instrument like a ketel covered with skin; some brought chafing-dishes of coals, with
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perfumes; others brought idols covered; and, finally, they al came singing in their language, which was a terrible noyse, and drew neere Cortes and his company, sensing them with sweete smelles il their sensers. With this pomp of solemnitie, which truely was great, they brought him unto the cittie." -- Conquest of the Weast India.
Gage's. account of Mexico is copied verbatim from this old translation, even, in some places, to the literal error of using the hard c instead of z, which the g with the cedilla lrepresents.
The Great Temple: 'twas a huge, square hill. -- VI. p. 60.
The great Cu of Mexico -- for thus these mounds were called - had a hundred and fourteen steps to the summit; that of Tezcuco, a hundred and fifteen; of Cholula, a hundred and twenty. Gold and jewels, and the different seeds of the country, and human blood, were thrown in the foundations. The Spaniards found great treasures when they levelled the Cu at Mexico to make room for a church to Santiago. -- Bernal Diaz.
The lines which follow describe its structure, as related bv Clavigero and by the Spanish conquerors. The Tower of Babel is usually painted with the same kind of circuitous ascent.
The Tambour of the God. -- VI. p. 61.
Gumilla (c. 36) describes a prodigious drum used as a signal to assemble the people, in time of danger, by some of the Orinoco tribes, especially by the Caverres, to whom the invention is ascribed. It is a hollowed piece of wood, in thickness about an inch, in girth as much as two men can clasp,
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in length about eleven or twelve feet. This is suspended by a with at each end from a sort of gallows. On the upper surface are three apertures like those in a fiddle; and in the bottom of the instrument, immediately under the middle of the middle aperture, which is shaped like a half-moon, a flint about two pounds in weight is fastened with gum. This is said to be necessary to the sound. Both ends of this long tube are carefully closed; and it is beaten on the middle aperture with a pellet, which is covered with a sort of gum called Currucay. Gumilla positively affirms, and on his own knowledge, that its sound may be heard four leagues round. This is scarcely possible. I doubt whether the loudest gong can be heard four miles; and it is not possible that wood can be made as sonorous as metal.
Ten Cities hear its voice. -- VI. p. 61.
There, in the great Cu, they had an exceeding large drum; and, when they beat it, the sound was such, and so dismal, that it was like an instrument of hell, and was heard for more than two leagues round. They said that the cover of that drum was made of the skin of huge serpents." -- Bernal Diaz.
After Cortes had been defeated, he always heard this drum when they were offering up the reeking hearts of his men. The account in Bernal Diaz of their midnight sacrifice, performed by torchlight and in the sight of the Spanish army, is truly terrific.
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Four Towers
Were piled with human skulls. -- VI. p. 61.
These skull-built temples are delineated in Picart's great work: I suppose he copied them from De Bry. They are described by all the historians of Mexico. Human heads have often been thus employed. Tavernier and Hanway had seen pyramids of them in Persia erected as trophies. The Casa dos Ossos at Evora gave me an idea of what these Mexican temples must have been. It is built of skulls and thigh-bones in alternate layers; and two whole bodies, dried and shrivelled, are hung up against the walls, like armor in an old baron's hall.
He lights me at my evening banquet. -- VI. p. 64.
The King of Chalco, having treacherously taken and slain two sons of the King of Tetzcuco, had their bodies dried, and placed as candelabras in his palace to hold the lights." -- Torquemada, i. 151.
This same king wore round his neck a chain of human hearts set in gold, -- the hearts of the bravest men whom lie had slain or taken, and sacrificed." -- Ditto. 152.
The more usual custom was to stuff the skin of the royal or noble prisoner, and suspend it as a trophy in the palace or the house of the priest. Gomara's account of this custom is a dreadful picture of the most barbarous superstition which ever yet disgraced mankind. "On the last day of the first month, a hundred slaves were sacrificed: this done, they pluckt off the skinnes of a certaine number of them; the which skinnes so many ancient persons put, incontinent, upon their naked bodies, all fresh and bloudy as they were
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fleane from the dead carcases. And, being open in the backe parte and shouldcers, they used to lace them, in such sort that they came fitte upoln the bodies of those that ware them; and, being in this order attired, they came to daunce among many others. Ian Mexico, the king himself did put on one of these skinnes, being of a principall captive, and daunced among the other disguised persons, to exhalte and honour the feast; and an infinite number followed him, to behold his terrible gesture; although some hold opinion, that they followed him to contemplate his greate devotion. After the sacrifice ended, the owner of the slaves did carry their bodies home to their houses, to make of their fieshe a solemlne feaste to all their friendes, leaving their heads and heartes to the priests, as their dutie and offering; and the skinnes were filled with' cotton-wool or strawe, to be hung in the temple and kyng's palayce for a memorie." -- Conquest of the Weast India.
After the Inga Yupangui had successfully defended Cuzco against the Chancas, he had all of them who were slain skinned, and their skins stuffed and placed in various attitudes, some beating tambours, others blowing flutes, &c., in a large building which he erected as a monument for those who had fallen in defending the city." -- Herrera, 5, 3, 12.
Oh, what a pomp,
And pride and pageantry of' war! -- VII. p. 69.
Gomara thus describes the Tlascallan army: "They were trimme felowes, and wel armed, according to their use, although they were paynted so, that their faces shewed like divels, with great tuffes of feathers and triumphed gallantry.
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They had also slinges, staves, speares, swordes, bowes and arrowes, skulles, splintes, gantlettes, all of wood, gilte, or else covered with feathers or leather; their corslets were made of cottonwoole; their targettes and bucklers, gallant and strong, made of woode covered with leather, and trimmed with laton and feathers; theyr swordes were staves, with an edge of flint stone cunningly joyned into the staffe, which would cutte very well, and make a sore wounde. Their instruments of warre were hunters' hornes, and drummes, called attabals, made like a caldron, and covered with vellum." -- Conquest of the Weast India.
In the inventory of the treasure which Grijalva brought fiom his expedition are a whole harness of furniture for an armed man, of gold, thin beaten; another whole armor of wood, with leaves of gold, garnished with little black stones; four pieces of armor of wood, made for the knees, and covered with golden leaf. And among the presents designed for the king were five targets of feathers and silver, and twenty-four of feathers and gold, set with pearls, both curious and gallant to behold.
They pil'd a heap of sedge before our host. -- VII.. 70.
When the Spaniards discovered Campeche, the Indians heaped up a pile of dry sedge, and ranged themselves in troops. Ten priests then came from a temple, with censers and copal, wherewith they incensed the strangers, and then told, them by signs to depart, before that pile, which they were about to kindle, should be burnt out. The pile was immediately lighted; the priest withdrew without another word or motion; and the people began to whistle, and sound
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their shells. The Spaniards were weak, and many of them wounded; and they prudently retired in peace." -- Bernal Diaz, 3.
At the sacring of the popes, when the new-elected pope passeth (as the manner is) before St. Gregory's Chapel, the master of the ceremonies goeth before him, bearing two dryreeds, at the end of the one a burninfg wax candle tied, and at the end of the other a handfull of flax, the which he setteth on fire, saying, with a loud voice, Pater Samete, sic transit gloria mundi. -- Ccamerarius.
The Arrow of the Omen. -- VII. p. 70.
The Tlaxcaltecas had two arrows, which they regarded with great reverence, and used to augur the event of a battle. Two of their bravest chiefs were to shoot them at the enemy, and recover them or die. If the arrow struck and wounded, it was held an omen that the fight would be prosperous; but, if they neither struck nor drew blood, the army retired." -- Torquemada, i. 34.
This is more particularly noticed by Gomara. "In the warres, the Tlascallans use their standerde to be carried behynde the army; but, when the battyle is to be fought, they place the standerde where all the hoste may see it; and he that commeth not incontinent to hys ancient payeth a penaltie. Their standerde hath two crossebow arrowes set thereon, which they esteeme as the relikes of their ancestors. Thys standerde two olde soldiers and valiant menne, being of the chiefest captaynes, have the charge to clrrie; in the which standerde, an abusion of southsaying, eyther of losse or victory, is noted. In. this order they shote one of these arrowes
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against the first enemies that they meete; and, if with that arrowe they do eyther kill or hurte, it is a token that they shall have the victorie; and, if it neyther kill nor hurte, then they assuredly believe that they shall lose the field." -- Conquest of the Weast India.
The bowmen of Deheubarth ...
Gwyneth's spears. -- VII. p. 71.
"Sunt autem his in partibus (Arducldwy) lancee longissimma sicut enim arcu prevalet Sudwallia, sic lanceis prfevalet Venledotia, adeo ut ictum hic lancea cominus datum ferrea loricae tricatura minime sustineat." -- Giraldus Cambrensis.
Thus also Trevisa, in his lame rhymes:
The south hete Demecia,
And the other Venedocia;
The first shoteth and arowes beres,
That other dealeth all with spere.
Polycronicon.
The white deer-skin shroud. -- VIII. p. 78.
"The Indians use the same ceremonies to the bones of their dead as if they were covered with their former skin, flesh, and ligaments. It is but a few days since I saw some return with the bones of nine of their people, who had been two months before killed by the enemy. They were tied in white deemskins separately; and, when carried by the door of one of the houses of their family, they were laid down opposite to it, till the female relations convened, with flowing hair, and wept over them about half an hour. Then they carried
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them home to their friendly magazines of mortality, wept over them again, and then buried them with the usual solemnities. The chieftains carried twelve short sticks, tied together in the form of a quadrangle, so that each square consisted of three. The sticks were only peeled, without any painting; but there were swanfeathers tied to each corner. They called that frame the White Circle, and placed it over the door while the women were weeping over the bones." -- Adair.
On softest fur The bones swere laid. -- VIII. p. 79.
When the body is in the grave, they take care to cover it in such a manner that the earth does not touch it. It lies as in a little cave, lined with skins, much neater, and better adorned, than their cabins." -- Charlevoix.
Adair was present at one of their funerals. "They laid the corpse in his tomb in a sitting posture, with' his feet towards the east, his head anointed with bear's-oil, and his face painted red; but not streaked with black, because that is a constant emblem of war and death. He was dressed in his finest apparel, having his gun and pouch and trusty hickory bow, with a young panther's skin full of arrows,.alongside of him, and every other useful thing he had been possessed of, that when he rises again they may serve him in that tract of land which pleased him best before he went to take his long sleep. His tomb was firm and clean inside: they covered it with thick logs so as to bear several tiers of cypress-bark, and such a quantity of clay as would confine the putrid smell, and be on a level with the rest of the floor. They often sleep over these tombs; which, with the loud wailing of the women,
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at the dusk of the evening and dawn of the day, on benches close by the tombs, must awake the memory of their relations very often; and, if they were killed by an enemy, it helps to irritate and set on such revengeful tempers to retaliate blood for blood."
'Twas in her hut and home, yea, underneath
The marriage bed, the bed of widowhood,
Her husband's grave was dug. -- VIII. p. 79.
The Mosqueto Indians, when they die, are buried in their houses, and the very spot they lay over when alive,'and have their hatchet, harpoon-lances, with mushelaw and other necessaries, buried with them; but, if the defunct leaves behind him a gun, some friend preserves that from the earth, that would soon damnify the powder, and so render it unserviceable in that strange journey. His boat, or dorea, they cut in pieces, and lay over his grave, with all the rest of his household goods, if he hath anv more. If the deceased leave behind him no children; brothers, or parents, the cousins, or other his relations, cut up or destroy his plantations, lest any living should, as they esteem it, rob the dead." -- The Mosqueto Indian and his Golden River, by M. W. Lintot and Osborn's Collection.
Pabas. -- VIII. p. 79.
Papa is the word which Bernal Diaz uses when he speaks of the Mexican priests; and in this he is followed by Purchas. The appellation in Torquemada is Quaquil. I am not certain that Bernal Diaz did not mean to call them Popes, and that Purchas has not mistaken his meaning. An easy
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alteration made it more suitable for English verse than the more accurate word would have been.
I perceive by Herrera (3, 2, 15) that the word is Mexican, and that the Devil was the author of it, in imitation of the church.
Ipalnemoani, He by whom we live. -- VIII. p. 81.
"The Mexicans had some idea, though a very imperfect one, of a supreme, absolute, and independent Being. They represented him in no external form, because they believed him to be invisible; and they named him only by the common appellation of God, or, in their langunage, Teotl; a word resembling still more in its meaning than its pronunciation the Teos of the Greeks. But they applied to him certain epithets, which were highly expressive of the grandeur and power which they conceived him to possess, Ipalnemoani, "He by whom we live;" and Tloque Nahuaque, "He who has all in himself." -- Clavigero.
Torquemada has a very characteristic remark upon these appellations. "Although," says he, "these blinded men went astray in the knowledge of God, and adored thn Devil in his stead, they did not err in the names which they gave him, those being truly and properly his own; the Devil using this cunning with them, that they should apply to him these, which, by nature and divine right, are God's; his most holy Majesty permitting this on account of the enormity and shamefulness of their depraved customs, and the multitude of their iniquities." -- L. vi. c. 8.
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The Great Spirit, who in mountain caves
And by the fall of waters
Doth make his being felt. -- VIII. p. 81.
About thirty miles below the Falls of St. Anthony is a remarkable cave of an amazing depth. The Indians term it Wakon-teebe; that is, the dwelling of the Great Spirit. The entrance into it is about ten feet wide; the arch within is near fifteen feet high, and about thirty feet broad. The bottom of it consists of fine clean sand. About twenty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance; fobr the darkness of the; cave prevents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it. I threw a small pebble towards the interior parts of it with my utmost strength. I could hear that it fell into the water; and, notwithstanding it was of so small a size, it caused an astonishing and horrible noise, that reverberated through all those gloomy regions. I found in this cave many Indian hieroglyphics, which appeared very ancient; for time had nearly covered them with moss. They were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the walls, which were composed of a stone so extremely soft that it might easily be penetrated with a knife, -a stone everywhere to be found near the Mississippi. The cave is only accessible by ascending a narrow, steep passage, that lies near the brink of the river." -- Carver.
The prince had no sooner gained the point that overlooks this wonderful cascade (the Falls of St. Anthony) than he began with an audible voice to address the Great Spirit, one of whose places of residence he supposed this to be. He told him he had come a long way to pay his adorations to him, and now would make him the best offerings in his power. He accordingly
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first threw his pipe into the stream; then the roll that contained his tobacco; after these, the bracelets he wore on his arms and wrists; next an ornament that encircled his neck, composed of beads and wires; and, at last, the ear-rings from his ears. In short, he presented to his God every part of his dress that was valuable. During this, he frequently smote his breast with great violence, threw his arms about, and appeared to be much agitated.
"All this while, he continued his adorations, and at length concluded them with: fervent petitions that the Great Spirit would constantly afford us his protection on our travels, giving us a bright sun, a blue sky, and clear, untroubled waters; nor would he leave the place till we had smoked together with my pipe in honor of the Great Spirit." -- Carver.
The Spirit of the Lord
That day was moving in the heart of man. -- VIII. p. 84.
There is a passage in Bede which will illustrate the different feelings whereby barbarians are induced to accept a new religion.
"Edwin of Northumbria had summoned his chiefs and counsellors to advise with him concerning his intended conversion. The first person who delivered his opinion was Coifi, the Chief Priest of the Idols. 'For this which is preached to us,' said he, 'do you, O King, see to it, what it may be. I will freely confess to you what I have learnt, that the religion which we have held till now has no virtue in it. No one of your subjects has devoted himself to the worship of our Gods more earnestly than I, and yet many there are who have
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received greater bounties and greater favours from your hand, and have prospered better in all their undertakings and desires. Now, if our Gods could have done any thing, they would rather have assisted me than them.' To this another of the nobles added, 'The present life of man upon earth, when compared with the future, has appeared to me, O King, like as when you and your Chiefs and servants have been seated at your supper, in winter time, the hearth blazing in the centre, and the viands smoking, while without it is storm, or rain, or snow, and a sp arrow flies through the hall, entering at one door and passing out at another; while he is within, in that little minute he does not feel the weather, but after that instant of calm, he returns again to winter as from winter he came, and is gone. Such and so transitory is the life of man, and of what follows it or what preceded it we are altogether ignorant. Wherefore, if this new doctrine should bring any thing more ceriain, it well deserves to be followed." -- Lib. 2. c. 13.
John Wesley has preserved a very interesting dialogue between himself and the Chicasaws.
"Q. Do you believe there is One above who is over all things? Paustoobee answered, We believe there are four Beloved Things above, the Cloud, the Sun, the Clear Sky, and He that lives in the Clear Sky.
"Q. Do you believe there is but one that lives in the Clear Sky?
"Q. We believe there are Two with him; Three in all.
"Q. Do you think He made the Sun and the other Beloved Things?
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"A. We cannot tell. Who hath seen?
"Q. Do you think He made you?
"A. We think He made all men at first.
"Q. How did He make them at first?
"A. Out of the ground
"Q. Do you believe He loves you?
"A. I do not know. I cannot see him.
"Q But has He not often saved your life ?
"A. He has. Many bullets have gone on this side, and many on that side, but he would never let them hurt me. And many bullets have gone into these young men, and yet they are alive.
"Q. Then cannot He save you from your enemies now?
"A. Yes, but we know not if he will. We have now so many enemies round about us, that I think of nothing but death; and if I am to die, I shall die, and I will die like a man. But if He will have me to live, I shall live. Though I had ever so many enemies, He can dcstroy them all.
"Q. How do you know that?
"A. From what I have seen. When our enemies came against us before, then the Beloved Clouds came for us; and often much rain and sometimes hail has come upon them, and that in a very hot day. And saw when many French and Choctaws and other nations came against one of our towns, and the ground made a noise under them, and the Beloved Ones in the air behind them, and they were afraid, and went away, and left their meat and their drink, and their guns. I tell no lie, all these saw it too.
"Q. Have you heard such noises at other times?
"A. Yes, often; before and after almost every battle.
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"Q. What sort of noises were they? ...
"A. Like the noise of drums and guns and shouting
"Q. Have you heard any such lately ?
"A. Yes; four days after our last battle with the French.
"Q. Then you heard nothing before it?
"A. The night betore I dreamed I heard many drums up there, and many trumpets there, and much stomping of feet and shouting. Till then I thought we should all die; but then I thought the Beloved Ones were come to help us. And the next day I heard above a hundred guns go off before the fight began, and I said, when the Sun is there the Beloved Ones will help us, and we shall couquer our enemies; and we did so.
"Q. Do you often think and talk of the Beloved Ones?
"A. We think of them always wherever we are. We talk of them and to them, at home and abroad, in peace and in war, before and after we fight, and indeed whenever and wherever we meet together.
"Q. Where do you think your souls go after death?
"A. We believe the souls of red men walk up and down near the place where they died, or where their bodies lie, for we have often heard cries and noises near the place where any prisoners had been burnt.
"Q. Where do the souls of white men go after death?
"A. We cannot tell; we have not seen.
"Q. Our belief is that the souls of bad men only walk up and down: but the souls of good men go up.
"A. I believe so too; but I told you the talk of the nation.
"Mr. Andrews. They said at the burying they knew what
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you was doing. You was speaking to tile Beloved Ones above to take up the soul of the young woman.
"Q. We have a book that tells us many things of the B¢loved Ones above; would you be glad to know them?
"A. We i.ave no time now but to fight. If we should ever be at peace, we should be glad to know.
"Q. Do you expect ever to know what the white men know?
"Mr. Andrews. They told Mr. O. they believe the time will come when the red and white men will be one,
"Q. What do the French teach you?
"A. The French Black Kings (the Priests) never go out. We see you go about: we like that; that is good.
"O. How came your nation by the knowledge they have?
"A. As sooon as ever the ground was sound and fit to stand upon, it came to us, and has been with us ever since. But we are young men, our old men know more; but all of them do not know. There are but a few whom the Beloved One chuses from a child, and is in them, and takes care of them and teaches them. They know these things, and our old men practice, therefore they know: but I do not practice, therefore I know little." -- Wesley's Journal, No. 1. 39.
Dolwyddelan. -- X. p. 93.
"Dolwyddelan is situated in a rocky valley, which is sprinkled with stunted trees, and watered by the Lleder. The boundaries are rude and barren mountains, and, among others, the great bending mountain, Seabod, often conspicuous from most distant places. The castle is placed on a high rock, precipitous on one side, and insulated. It consists of two square
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towers, one 40 feet by 25; the other, 32 by 20: each had formerly three floors. The materials of this fortress are the shattery stone of the country, yet well squared, the masonry good, and the mortar hard. The castle yard lay between the towers." -- Pennant's Snowdon.
The rudeness and barrenness of the surrounding mountains I can well testify, having been bewildered and benighted upon them.
"In the beginning of Edward the Fourth his reign, Dolwyddelan was inhabited by Howell ap Evan ap Rhys Gethin, a base son, captain of the country, and an outlaw. Against this man, David ap Jenkin rose and contended with him for the sovereignty of the country; and, being superior to him in the end, he drew a draught for him, and took him in his bed at Penanonen with his concubine, performing by craft what he could not by force; for, after many bickerings between Howell and David, David being too weak, was fayne to fly the country, and to goe to Ireland, where he was a year or thereabouts. ITn the end he returned, in a summer time, having himself and all his followers clad in greene; which, being come into the country, he dispersed here and there among his friends, lurking by day and walking by night for fear of his adversaries; and such of the country as happened to have a sight of him and of his followers, said they were fayries, and so ran away." -- Gwydir History.
Nor turned he now
Beside Kregennan, where his infant feet
Had trod Ednowain's hall. -- X. p. 94.
At some distance beyond the two pools called Llynian Gragenan,
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in the neighborhood of Cader Idris, near the river Kregennan, I saw the remains of Llys Bradwen, the Court or Palace of Ednowain, chief of one of the fifteen tribes of North Wales, either in the reign of Gruffydd ap Cynan, or soon after. The relies are about thirty yards square; the entrance about seven feet wide, with a large upright stone on each side by way of doorcase; the walls, with large stones, uncemented by any mortar. In short, the structure of this palace shows the very low state of architecture in those times; it may be paralleled only by the artless fabric of a cattle-house." -- Pennant's Snowdon.
The Hirelas. -- X. p. 95.
Mr. Owen, to whose indefatigable industry Cimbric literature is so much indebted, has favored me with a literal version of this remarkable poem:
When the dawn uprose, a shout was given;
Foes were sending a luckless destiny.
Mangled with ruddy wounds, our men, after heavy toil,
were seen scattered about the wall of the Vale of Maelor
I chased away the strangers inured to contention,
dauntless in the conflict, with red stained weapons.
Who insults the brave let him beware his presence!
The result of molesting him is a source of affliction.
Pour out, thou Cup bearer, thus yielding pleasure,
The Horn in the hand of Rhys, in the hall of the director of bounty,
the hall of Owen, that has ever been maintained on spoil,
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The feasting of a thousand thou mayest hear; open are the gates.
Cup-bearer! I am sad and silent: has he not left me?
Reach thou the Horn for mutual drinking:
Full of sorrow am I for the leader of the hue of the ninth wave;
long and blue its characteristic, gold its cover:
so bring it forth with Bragod, a liquor of exalted pledge,
into the hand of the froward Gwgan, to requite his deed.
The whelps of Goronwy are mighty in the path of wrath,
aptly springing whelps, confident their feet,
men who claim a reward in every difficulty;
Men in the shout greatly valued, of mighty deliverance.
The Shepherd of Havern (Severn) it elates the soul to hear them
Sounding the Horns of mead that greatly rouse desire.
Pour out thou the Horn covered with a yellow top,
honorably drunk with overfrothing mead;
and, if thou seekest life to one year's close,
diminish not its respect, since it is not meet;
And bear to Grufydd, the crimson-lanced foe,
wine with pellucid glass around it;
the dragon of Arwstli, safeguard of the borders,
the dragon of Owen, the generous, of the race of Cynvyn,
a dragon from his beginning, and never scared by a conflict
of triumphant slaughter or afflicting chase.
Men of combat departed for the acquirement of fame,
armed sons of the banquet with gleaming weapons;
__________
* The ninth wave is an expression much used by the Welsh poets. It occurs in the "Hoienau" of Myrddin: "I will prophesy before the ninth wave." -- Arch. p. 135. So in the eulogy on Eva: "Eva, of the hue of the spraying foam before the ninth wave." -- Ach. p. 217.
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they requited well their mead, like Belyn's men of yore;
fairly did they toil while a single man was left.
Pour out thou the Horn, for it is my purpose
That its potent sway may incite a sprightly conversation,
in the right hand of our leader of devastation,
gleaming beneath the broad, light shield;
in the hand of Ednyved, the lion of his land irreproachable;
all-dexterous in the push of spears, shivered away his shield.
The tumult hurries on the two fearless of nature;
they would break as a whirlwind over a fair retreat,
with opposing fronts in the combat of battle,
where the face of the'gold-bespangled shield they would quickly break.
Thoroughly stained, their shafts, after head-cleaving blows;
Thoroughly active in defending the glory-bounded Garthran;
and there was heard in Maelor a great and sudden outcry,
with horrid scream of men in agony of wounds;
and, thronging round the carnage, they interwove their paths.
as it was in Bangor round the fire of spears,
when two sovereigns over horns made discord,
when there was the banquet of Morac Morvran.
Pour thou out the Horn! for I am contemplating
where they defend both their mead and their country.
Selyc the undaunted, of the station of Gwygyr,
look to it, who insults him of eagle heart!
and Madoc's only son, the generous Tudyr of high renown,
and the claim of the wolf, a slayer with gleaming shafts.
Two heroic ones, two lions in their onset,
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two of cruel energy, the two sons of Ynyr;
two, unrestrained in the day of battle their onward course,
of irresistible progress and of matchless feat.
The stroke of the fierce lions fiercely cut through warriors
of battle leading forms, red their ashen thrusters
of violence, bending in pursuit with ruthless glory.
The shivering of their two shields may be likened
to the loud-voiced wind, over the green sea-brink
checking the incessant waves; so seemed the scene of Talgarth.
Pour out, thou Cup-bearer! seek not death,
the Horn with honour in festivals
the long blue bugle of high privilege, with ancient silver
that covers it, with opposite lips,
and bear to Tudyr, eagle of conflicts,
a prime beverage of the blushing wine.
If there come not in of mead the best of all
the liquor from the bowl, thy head is forfeit
to the hand of Moreiddig, the encourager of songs:
may they become old in fame before their cold depositure!
Brothers blameless! of highly soaring minds,
of dauntless vigour earning your deserts,
warriors who for me have achieved services,
not old with unsightliness, but old in dexterity,
toilers, impellers, leaders that are wolves
of the cruel foremost rank, with gory limbs.
Brave captains of the men of Mocnant, a Powysian land,
both possess the prowess of the brave;
the deliverers in every need, ruddy are their weapons,
securely they would keep their bounds from tumult,
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praise is their meed, they who are so blest. --
Cry of death, was it? be the two to me then changed!
O my Christ! how sad am I from these wounds!
By the loss of Moreiddig, greatly is his absence felt.
Pour thou out the Horn, for they do not sigh for me!
the Hirlas, cheeringly in the hand of Morgan,
a man who deserves the homage of peculiar praise.
Like poison to the happy is the track of his spear;
a matter accursed is the abiding his blade,
smooth its two sides, keen its edges.
Pour out, thou Cup-bearer! from a silver vessel
the solemn festive boon with due respect.
On the Plain of Great Gwestun I saw the raw throbbing.
To baffle Goronwy were a task for a hundred men;
the warriors a mutual purpose did accomplish there,
supporters of the battle, heedless of life.
The exalted chief did meet the dispersed ones of slaughter,
a governor was slain, burnt was a fort on the flood mark of the sea;
a magnanimous prisoner they fetched away,
Mairyc, son of Grufydd, the theme of prophetic song.
Were they not all bathed in sweat when they returned,
for full of sunshine were the extended hill and dale?
Pour thou out the Horn to the mutually toiling ones,
the whelps of Owen with connected spears in united leap;
they would pour abroad in a noted spot
a store where the glittering irons go rebounding;
Madoc and Meiler, men nurtured in depredation,
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for iniquity the stemming opponents,
the instructors for tumult of a shield-bearing host,
and froward conductors of subjects trained for conflicts.
It is heard how from the feast of mead went the Chief of Catraeth;
upright their purpose with keen-edged weapons;
the train of Mynyddoc, for their being consigned to sleep,
obtained their recording, leaders of a wretched fray!
None achieved what my warriors did in the hard toil of Maelor, --
the release of a prisoner belongs to the harmonious eulogy.
Pour out, thou Cupbearer sweet mead distilled
of spear impelling spirit in the sweating toil,
from bugle horns proudly overlaid with gold
to requite the pledge of their lives.
Of the various distresses that chieftains endure
no one knows but God and he who speaks.
A man who will not pay, will not pledge. will abide no law,
Daniel the auxiliary chief, so fair of loyalty.
Cup-bearer, great the deed, that claims to be honoured,
of men refraining not from death if they find not hospitality.
Cup-bearer, a choicest treat of mead must be served us together,
an ardent fire bright, a light of ardently bright tapers.
Cup-bearer, thou mightest have seen a house of wrath in Lledwn land,
a sullenly subjected prey that shall be highly praised.
Cup-bearer, I cannot be continued here: nor avoid a separation;
Be it in Paradise that we be received;
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With the Supreme of Kings long be our abode,
Where there is to be seen the secure course of truth.
The passage in the poem would have stood very differently; had I seen this literal version before it was printed. I had written from the faithless paraphrase of Evans, in which every thing characteristic or beautiful is lost.
Few persons who read this song can possibly doubt its authenticity. They who chose to consider the Welsh poems as spurious had never examined them. Their groundless and impudent incredulity, however, has been of service to literature, as it occasioned Mr. Turner to write his "Vindication," which has settled the question for ever.
St. Monacel.- X. p. 100.
"In Pennant-Melangle church was the tomb of St. Monacella, who protecting a hare from the pursuit of Brocwell Yscythbrog, Prince of Powis, he gave her land to found a religious house, of which she became first abbess. Her hard bed is shown in the cleft of a neighboring rock; her tomb was in a little chapel, now the vestry; and her image is still to be seen in the churchyard, where is also that of Edward, eldest son of Owen Gwynedh, who was set aside from the succession on account of a broken nose, and, flying here for safety, was slain not far off, at a place called Bwlch Croes Iorwerth. On his shield is inscribed, "Hic jacet Etward." -- Gough's Camden.
I had procured drawings of these monuments, designing to have had them engraved in this place; but on examination it appears that Mr. Gough has certainly been mistaken concerning
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one, if not both. What he supposed to be the Image of St. Monacel is the evidently only the monumental stone of some female of distinction, the figure being recumbent, with the hands joined, and the feet resting upon some animal.
The place of meeting was a high hill-top. -- XI. p. 102.
The Bardic imeetings, or Gorseddau, were held in the open air, on a conspicuous place, while the sun was above the horizon; for they were to perform every thing in the eye of light, and in the face of the sun. The place was set apart by forming a circle of stones, with a large stone in the middle, beside which the presiding Bard stood. This was termed Cylc Cyngrair, or the Circle of Federation; and the middle stone Maen Llog, the Stone of Covenant.
Mr. Owen's very curious introduction to his translation of Llywarc Hen has supplied me with materials for the account of the Gorsedd, introduced in the poem. That it might be as accurate as possible, he himself and Edward Williams the Bard did me the favor of examining it. To their knowledge, and to that of Mr. Turner, the historian of the Anglo-Saxons, and to the liberality and friendliness with which they have ever been willing to assist me therewith, I. am greatly and variously indebted.
The Bard at these meetings wore the distinguishing dress of his order, a robe of sky blue, as an emblem of truth, being unicolored, and also as a type, that, amid the storms of the moral world, he must assume the serenity of the unclouded sky. The dress of the Ovydd, the third order, or first into which.the candidate could be admitted, was green. The Awenyddion, the Disciples, wore a variegated dress of blue,
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green, and white, the three Bardic colors; white being the dress of the Druids, who were the second order. The Bards stood within the circle, bareheaded and barefooted; and the ceremony opened by sheathing a sword, and laying it on the Stone of Covenant. The Bardic traditions were then recited.
Himself, albeit his hands were stain'd with blood,
Initiate; for the Order, in the lapse
Of years and is their nation's long decline,
From the first rigor of their purity
Something had fallen. -- XI. p. 102.
"By the principles of the Order, a Bard was never to bear arms, nor in any other manner to become a party in any dispute, either political or religious: nor was a naked weapon ever to be held in his presence; for under the title of Bardd Ynys Prycdain, Bard of the Isle of Britain, he was recognized as the sacred Herald of Peace. He could pass unmolested from one country to another, where his character was known; and, whenever he appeared in' his unicolored robe, attention was given to him on all occasions: if it was even between armies in the heat of action, both parties would instantly desist." -- Owen's Llywarc Hen.
Six of the elder Bards are enumerated in the Triads as having borne arms in violation of their Order; but in these latter days the perversion had become more frequent. Maeiler, the Bard of Grufydd ab Cynan, distinguished himself in war; Cynddelw, Brycdydd Mawr, the Great Bard, was eminent for his valor; and Gwalchmai boasts in one of his poems that he had defended the Marches against the Saxons." -- Warrington.
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The Bard's most honorable name. - XI. p. 105.
No people seem to have understood the poetical character so well as the Welsh; witness their Triads.
"The three primary requisites of poetical Genius; an eye that can see Nature, a heart that can feel Nature, and a resolution that dares follow Nature.
"The three foundations of Genius; the gift of God, man's exertion, and the events of life.
"The three indispensables of Genius; understanding, feeling, and perseverance.
"The three things which constitute a poet; genius, knowledge, and impulse.
'The three things that enrich Genius; contentment of mind, the cherishing of good thoughts, and exercising the memory." -- E. Williams's Poems. Owen's Llywarc Hen.
Cimbric lore. -- XI. p. 105.
The Welsh have always called themselves Cymry, of which the strictly literal meaning is Aborigines. There can be no doubt that it is the same word as the Cimbri of the ancients; they call their language Cymraeg, the Primitive Tongue." -- E. Williams's Poems.
Where are the sons of Gavran, where his tribe
The faithful? -- XI. p. 106.
"Gavran, the son of Aeddan Vradog ab Dyvnwal Hen, a chieftain of distinguished celebrity in the latter part of the fifth century. Gavraln, Cadwallon, and Gwenddolau were the heads of the three faithful tribes of Britain. The family of Gavran obtained that title by accompanying him to sea to
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discover some islands, which, by a traditionary meimorial, were known by the name of Gwerdonnau Llion, or the Green Islands of the Ocean. This expedition was not heard of afterwards, and the situation of those islands became lost to the Britons. This event, the voyage of Merddin Emrys with the twelve Bards, and the expedition of Madoc, were called the three losses by disappearance." -- Cambrian Biogqraphy.
Of these Islands, or Green Spots of the Floods, there are some singular superstitions. They are the abode of the Tylmwyth Teg, or the Fair Family, the souls of the virtuous Druids, who, not having been Christians, cannot enter the Christian heaven, but enjoy this heaven of their own. They, however, discover a love of mischief, neither becoming happy spirits, nor consistent with their original character; for they love to visit the earth, and, seizing a man, inquire whether he will travel above wind, mid wind, or below wind: above wind is a giddy and terrible passage; below wind is through bush and brake: the middle is a safe course. But the spell of security is to catch hold of the grass; for these beings have not power to destroy a blade of grass. In their better moods, they come over and carry the Welsh in their boats. He who visits these islands imagines on his return that he has been absent only a few hours, when, in truth, whole centuries have passed away.
If you take a turf from St. David's Churchyard, and stand upon it on the sea shore, you behold these islands. A man once, who had thus obtained sight of them, immediately put to sea to find them; but they disappeared, and his search was in vain. He returned, looked at them again from the enchanted turf, again set sail, and failed again. The third time
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he took the turf into his vessel, and stood upon it till he reached them.
The inhabitants of Arran More, the largest of the south isles of Arran, on the coast of Galway, are persuaded that in a clear day they can see Hy Brasail, the Enchanted Island, from the coast, the Paradise of the Pagan Irish." -- Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis: Bealsford's Ancient Topography of Ireland.
General Vallancey relates a different history of this superstition. "The old Irish," he says, "say that great part of Ireland was swallowed up by the sea, and that the sunken part often rises, and is frequently to be seen on the horizon from the northern coast. On the North-west of the island, they call this enchanted country Tir Hudi, or the City of Hud, believing that the City stands there which once possessed all the riches of the world, and that its key lies buried under some druidical monument. When Mr. Burton, in 1765, went in search of the Ogham monument, called Conane's Tomb, on Callan mountain, the people could not be convinced that the search was made after an inscription, but insisted that he was seeking after an enchanted key that lay buried with the hero, and which, when found, would restore the enchanted city to its former splendor, and convert the moory heights of Callan mountain into rich and fruitful plains. They expect great riches whenever this city is discovered."
This enchanted country is called O Breasil, or O Brazil, which, according to General Vallancey's interpretation, signifies the Royal Island. He says it is evidently the lost city of Arabian story, visited by their fabulous prophet Houd, .. the City and Paradise of Irem! He compares this tradition with
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the remarks of Whitehurst on the Giant's Causeway, and suspects that it refers to the lost Atlantis, which Whitehurst thinks perhaps existed there.
Is that very remarkable phenomenon, known in Sicily by the name of Morgaine le Fay's works, ever witnessed on the coast of Ireland? If so, the sulperstition is explained by an actual apparition. -- I had not, when this note was written, seen Mr. Latham's account of a similar phenomenon at Hastings (Phil. Trans. 1798), which completely establishes what I had here conjectured. Mr. Nicholson, in his remarks on it, says the same thing has been seen from Broadstairs, and that these appearances are much more frequent and general than has usually been supposed.
In his crystal Ark,
Whither sail'd Merlin with his band of Bards,
Old Merlin, master of the mystic lore? -- XI. p. 106.
The name of Merlin has been so canonized by Ariosto and our diviner Spenser, that it would have been a heresy in poetry to have altered it to its genuine orthography.
Merddin was the Bard of Emrys Wledig, the Ambrosius of Saxon history, by whose command he erected Stonehenge, in memory of the Plot of the Long Knives, when, by the treachery of Gwrtheyrn, or Vortigern, and the Saxons, three hundred British chiefs were massacred. He built it on the site of a former circle. The structure itself affords proof that it cannot have been raised much earlier, inasmuch as it deviates from the original principle of Bardic circles, where no appearance of art was to be admitted. Those of Avebury, Stanton Drew, Keswick, &c., exemplify this. It is called by
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the Welsh Gwaith Emrys, the work of Ambrosius. Drayton's reproach, therefore, is ill founded:
Ill did those mighty men to trust thee with their story,
Thou hast forgot their names who reared thee for their glory.
The Welsh traditions say that Merddin made a House of Glass, in which he went to sea, accompanied by the Nine Cylveirdd Bards, and was never heard of more. This was one of the three disappearances from the Isle of Britain. Merddin is also one of the three principal Christian Bards of Britain: Merddin Wyllt and Taliesin are the other two. -- Cabrian Biography.
A diving House of Glass is also introduced in the Spanish Romance of Alexander, written, about the middle of the 13th century, by Joan Lorenzo Segura de Astorga.
Unas facianas suelen les gentes retraer,
Non yaz en escrito, e es grave de creer;
Si es verdat e non. yo non he y que veer,
Pero no lo quiero en olvido poner.
Dicen que por saber que facen los pescados,
Como viven los chicos entre los mas granados,
Fizo cuba de vidrio con puntos bien cerrados,
Metios en ella dentro con dos de sus criados.
Estos furon catados de todos los meiores,
Por tal que non oviessen dona los traectores,
Ca que el o que ellos avrien aguardadores,
Non farien a sus guisas los males revoltores.
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Fu de bona betume la cuba aguisada,
Fu con bonas cadenas bien presa e calzada,
Fu con priegos firmes a las naves pregada,
Que fonder non se podiesse e estodiesse colgada.
Mando que quinze dias lo dexassen hy durar,
Las naves con todesto pensassen de test andar,
Assaz podrie en esto saber e mesurar,
Metria en escrito los secretes del mar.
La cuba fue fecha en quel Rey acia,
A los unos pesaba, a los otros placia:
Bien cuidaban algunos que nunca ende saldria,
Mas destaiado era que en mar non moriria.
Andabal bon Rey en su casa cerrada,
Seia grant corazon en angosta posada;
Veia toda la mar de pescados poblada,
No es bestia nel sieglo que non fus y trobada.
Non vive en el mundo nenguna creatura
Que non cria la mar semejante figura;
Traen enemizades entre si por natura,
Los fuertes d los flacos danles mala ventura.
Estonce vio el Rey en aquellas andadas
Como echan los unos a los otros celadas
Dicen que ende furon presas e sossacadas,
Furon desent aca por el sieglo usadas.
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Tanto se acogien al Rey los pescados
Como si los ovies el Rey por subiugados,
Yenien fasta la cuba todos cabezcolgados,
Tremian todos antel como mozos moiades.
Juraba Alexandre per lo su diestro llado,
Que nunca fura domes meior accompannado;
De los pueblos del mar tovose por pagado,
Contaba que avie grant emperio ganado.
Otra faciana vio en essos pobladores,
Vio que los maiores comien a los menores,
Los chicos a los grandes tenienos por sennores,
Maltraen los mas fuertes a los que son menores.
Diz el Rey, soberbia es en todolos iugares,
Forcia es enna tierra e dentro ennos mares:
Las aves esso mismo non se catan por pares,
Dios confunda tal vicio que tien tantos lugares.
Nacio entre los angelos 6 fizo muchos caer.
Arramolos Dios per la tierra, e dioles grant poder,
La mesnada non puede su derecho aver,
Ascondio la cabeza, non osaba parecer.
Quien mas puede mas face, non de bien, mas de mal,
Quien mas a aver mas quier, e morre por ganal;
Non veeria de su grado nenguno so igual:
Mal peccado, nenguno no es a Dios leal.
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Las aves e las bestias, los omes, los pescados,
Todos son entre si a bandos derramados;
De vicio e de soberbia son todos entregados,
Los flacos de los fuertes andan desafiados.
Se como sabel Rey bien todesto osmar,
Quisiesse assimismo it derechas iulgar,
Bien debie un poco su lengua refrenar,
Que en tant fieras grandias non quisiesse andar.
De su gradol Rey mas oviera estado
Mas a sus criazones faciesles pesado;
Temiendo la ocasion que suel venir privado,
Sacaronlo bien ante del termino passado.
The sweet flow of language and metre in so early a poem is very remarkable; but no modern language can boast of monuments so early and so valuable as the Spanish. To attempt to versify this passage would be laborious and unprofitable. Its import is, that Alexander, being desirous to see how the fish lived, and in what manner the great fish behaved to the little ones, ordered a vessel of glass to be made, and fastened with long chains to his ships, that it might not sink too deep. He entered it with two chosen servants, leaving orders that the ships should continue their course, and draw him up at the end of fifteen days. The vessel had been made perfectly water-tight. He descended, and found the fish as curious to see him as he had been to see the fish. They crowded round his machine, and trembled before him as if he had been their conqueror, so that he thought he had acquired
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another empire. But Alexander perceived the same system of tyranny in the water as on the land, the great eat the little, and the little eat the less; upon which tyranny he made sundry moral observations, which would have come with more propriety from any other person than from himself. However, he observed the various devices which were used for catching fish, and which, in consequence of this discovery, have been used in the world ever since. His people were afraid some accident might happen, and drew him up long before the fifteen days were expired.
The poet himself does not believe this story. "People say so," he says; "but it is not in writing, and it is a thing difficult to believe. It is not my business to examine whether it be true or not; but I do not choose to pass it over unnoticed." The same story was pointed out to me by Mr. Coleridge in one of the oldest German poems; and, what is more remarkable, it is mentioned by one of the old Welsh bards. Davies's Celtic Researches, p. 196. Jests, and the fictions of romance and superstition, seem to have travelled everywhere.
Flathinnis. -- XI. p. 106.
Flath-innis, the Noble Island, lies surrounded with tempests in the Western Ocean. I fear the account of this paradise is but apocryphal, as it rests upon the evidence of Macpherson, and has every internal mark of a modern fiction.
In former days, there lived in Skerr * a magician † of high
__________
* Skerr signifies, in general, a rock in the ocean.
† A magician is called Druidh in the Gaelic.
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renown. The blast of wind waited for his commands at the gate; he rode the tempest, and the troubled wave offered itself as a pillow for his repose; his eye followed the sun by day; his thoughts travelled from star to star in the season of night; he thirsted after things unseen; he sighed over the narrow circle which surrounded his days; he often sat in silence beneath the sound of his groves; and he blamed the careless billows that rolled between him and the Green Isle of the West.
One day, as the Magician of Skerr sat thoughtful upon a rock, a storm arose on the sea. A cloud, under whose squally skirts the foaming waters complained, rushed suddenly into the bay; and from its dark womb at once issued forth a boat, with its white sails bent to the wind, and hung around with a hundred moving, oars; but it was destitute of mariners, itself seeming to live and move. An unusual terror seized the aged magician: he heard a voice, though he saw no human form. "Arise! behold the boat of the heroes! arise, and see the Green Isle of those who have passed away!"
He felt a strange force on his limbs: he saw no person, but he moved to the boat. Immediately the wind changed; in the bosom of the cloud he sailed away. Seven days gleamed faintly round him; seven nights added their gloom to his darkness; his ears were stunned with shrill voices; the dull murmurs of winds passed him on either side; he slept not, but his eyes were not heavy; he ate not, but he was not hungry. On the eighth day, the waves swelled into mountains; the boat was rocked violently from side to side; the darkness thickened around him; when a thousand voices at once cried aloud, The isle! the isle! The billows opened wide before
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him; the calm land of the departed rushed in light on his eyes.
"It was not a light. that dazzled, but a pure, distinguishing, and placid light, which called forth every object to view in their most perfect form. The isle spread large before him, like a pleasing dream of the soul, where distance fades not on the sight, where nearness fatigues not the eye. It had its gently sloping hills of green: nor did they wholly want their clouds; but the clouds were bright and transparent, and each involved in its bosom the source of a stream,-a beauteous stream, which, wandering down the steep, was like the faint notes of thebhalf-touched harp to the distant ear. The valleys were open and free to the ocean; trees loaded with leaves, which scarcely waved to the light breeze, were scattered on the green declivities and rising ground; the rude winds walked not on the mountain; no storm took its course through the sky. All was calin and bright; the pure sun of autumn shone from his blue sky on the fields. He hastened not to the west for repose, nor was he seen to rise from the east: he sits in his mid-day height, and looks obliquely on the Noble Isle.
In each valley is its slow-moving stream: the pure waters swell over the bank, yet abstain from the fields; the showers disturb them not, nor are they lessened by the heat of the sun. On the rising hill are the halls of the departed, -- the high-roofed dwellings of the heroes of old.'
The departed, according to the tale, retained, in the midst of their happiness, a warm affection for their country and living friends. They sometimes visited the first; and by the latter, as the Bard expresses it, they were transiently seen in
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the hour of'peril, and especially on the near approach of death. It was then that at midnight the death-devoted, to use the words of the Tale, were suddenly awakened by a strange knocking at their gates; it was then that they heard the indistinct voice of their departed friends calling them away to the Noble Isle; "a sudden joy rushed in upon their minds, and that pleasing melancholy which looks forward to happiness in a distant land." Macpherson's Introduction to the History of Great Britain.
"The softer sex among the Celtae," he adds, "passed with their friends to the fortunate isles. Their beauty increased with the change; and, to use the words of the Bard, they were ruddy lights in the Island of Joy."
Where one emerald light
Through the green element for ever shines. -- XI. p. 107.
I have supplied Merlin with light when he arrived at his world of mermankind, but not for his submarine voyage; let Paracelsus do this.
"Urim and Thummim were the Philosopher's stone; and it was this which gave light in the Ark.
"For God commanded Noah to make a clear light in the Ark, which some take for a window; but since the text saith, Day and night shall no more cease; it seems it did then cease; and therefore there could be no exterior light.
"The Rabbis say that the Hebrew word Zohar, which the Chaldees translate Neher, is only to be found in this place. Other Hebrew Doctors believe it to have been a precious stone hung up in the Ark, which gave light to all living creatures therein. This the greatest Carbuncle could not do, nor
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any precious stone which is only natural. But the Universal Spirit, fixed in a transparent body, shines like the sun in glory; and this was the light which God commanded Noah to make." -- Paracelsus' Urim and Thummim.
Rhys ab Grufydd ab Rhys. -- XlI. p. 110.
Was one of the bravest, wisest, most liberal, and most celebrated of the princes of South Wales. He is thus praised in the Pentarchia:
Quis queat heroena calamo describere tantum,
Quantus ut ipse fuit, modeo civibus Hectoris instar,
Fortis in hostiles modo tarmas instar Achillis.
Ultus avos patrise fere sexaginta per annos,
Quot fusas acies. quot castra recepta, quot urbes,
Spes patrise, columen pacis, lux urbis et orbis,
Gentis honos, decus armorum, fulmenque duelli,
Quo neque pace prior, neque fortior alter in armis.
In Hearne's Collection of Curious Discourses are these funeral verses upon Lord Rhys, as preserved by Camden:
Nobile Cambrensis cecidit diadema decoris,
Hoc est Rhesus obiit, Cambria tota gemit.
Subtrahitur, sect non moritnr, quia semper habetur
Ipsius egregium nomen in orbe novum.
Hic tegitur, sect detegitur, quia fama perennis
Non sinit illustrem voce latere ducem.
Excessit probitate modcum, sensu probitatem,
Eloquio sensum, moribus eloquium.
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Rhys ap Gryffith, say the Chronicles, was no less remarkable in courage than in the stature and lineaments of his body, wherein he exceeded most men. Royal Tribes.
Beavers. -- XII. p. 111.
When Giraldus Cambrensis wrote, that is, at the time whereof the poem treats, the only beavers remaining in Wales or England were in the Towy. Inter universos Cambrise, seu etialn Loegrik fluvios, solus hic (Teivi) castores habet.
The beaver is mentioned also in the laws of Hoel Dha; and one of those dark, deep resting-places or pits of the, river Conway, which the Spaniards call the remanzsos del rio, is called the Beavers' Pool.
The Great Palace, like a sanctuary,
Is safe. -- XII. p. 114.
Dinas Vawr, the Great Palace. It was regarded as an asylum.
Goauan of Powys-land. -- XII. p. 116.
Properly Gwgan; but I have adapted the orthography to an English eye. This very characteristic story is to be found, as narrated in the poem, in Mr. Yorke's curious work upon the Royal Tribes of Wales. Gwgan's demand was for five pounds, instead of ten marks: this is the only liberty I have taken with the fact, except that of fitting it to the business of the poem by the last part of Rhys's reply. The ill-humor in which the Lord of Dinvawr confesses the messenger had surprised him, is mentioned more bluntly by the historian: "Gwgan
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found him in a furious temper, beating his servants and hanging his dogs." I have not lost the character of the anecdote by relating the cause of his anger, instead of the effects.
The Bay whose reckless waves
Roll o'er the Plain of Gwaelod. -- XIII. p. 120.
A large tract of fenny country, called Cantrev y Gwaelod, the Lowland Canton, was, about the year 500, inundated by the sea; for Seithenyn, in a fit of drunkenness, let the sea through the dams which secured it. He is therefore distinguished, with Geraint and Gwrtheyrn, under the apellation of the Three Arrant Drunkards. This district, which forms the present Cardigan Bay, contained sixteen principal towns of the Cymry, the inhabitants of which, who survived the inundation, fled into the mountainous parts of Meirion and Arvon, which were till then nearlv uncultivated. Gwyddno Garanhir, one of the petty princes, whose territories were thus destroyed, was a poet. There were lately (and I believe, says Edmund Williams, are still) to be seen in the sands of this bay large stones with inscriptions on them, the characters Roman, but the language unknown." -- E. Williams's Poems. Cambrian Biography.
The two other arrant drunkards were both princes. The one set fire to the standing corn in his country, and so occasioned a famine; Gwrtheyrn, the other, is the Vortigern of Saxon history, thus distinguished for ceding the Isle of Thanet, in his drunkenness, as the price of Rowena. This worthless king is also recorded as one of the three disgraceful men of the island, and one of the three treacherous conspirators,
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whose families were for ever divested of privilege. Cambrian Biography.
Bardsey. -- XIII. p. 121.
"This little island," says Giraldus, "is inhabited by certain monks of exceeding piety, whom they call Culdees (Calibes vel Colideos). This wonderful property it hath, either from the salubrity of its air, which it partakes with the shores of Ireland, or rather from some miracle by reason of the merits of the saints, that diseases are rarely known there; and seldom or never does any one die till worn out by old age. Infinite numbers of saints are buried there."
On his back,
Like a broad shield, the Coracle was hung. -- XIII. p. 195.
"The Coracles are generally five feet and a half long, and four broad; their bottom is a little rounded, and their shape nearly oval. These boats are ribbed with light laths or split twigs in the manner of basket work, and are covered with a raw hide or strong canvas, pitched in such a mode as to prevent their leaking; a seat crosses, just above the centre, towards the broader end. They seldom weigh more than between 20 and 30 pounds. The men paddle them with one hand, while they fish with the other; and, when their work is completed, they throw the coracles over their shoulders, and, without difficulty, return with them home.
"Riding through Abergwilly, we saw several of these phenomena resting with their bottoms upwards against the houses, and resembling the shells of so many enormous turtles; and indeed a traveller, at the first view of a coracle on the shoulders
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of a fisherman, might fancy he saw a tortoise walking on his hinder legs." -- Windham.
The Saxon pirates ventured to sea in vessels of basketwork covered with skins: they were also used by the ancient Spaniards. Perhaps the Coracle succeeded the canoe, implying more skill than is necessary to scoop out a tree, or hollow it with fire, and less than is required to build a boat. The boats of bark, which the savages of Canada use, are equally ingenious, and possess the same advantages.
Prince Hoel's lay of love. -- XIV. p. 136.
Eight poems by Prince Hoel are preserved; they are here given in Mr. Owen's translation.
1.
My choice is a lady, elegant, slender, and fair, whose lengthened white form is seen through the thin blue veil; and my choicest faculty is to muse on superior female excellence, when she with diffidence utters the becoming sentiment; and my choicest participation is to become united with the maid, and to share mutual confidence as to thoughts and fortune. I chuse the bright hue of the spreading wave, thou who art the most discreet in the country, with thy pure Welsh speech, chosen by me art thou: what am I with thee? how! dost thou refrain from speaking? ah! thy silence even is fair! I have chosen a maid, so that with me there should be no hesitation; it is right to choose the choicest, fair one; choose, fair maid!
2.
I love the white glittering walls on the side of the bank,
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clothed in fresh verdancy...
cloathed in fresh verdancy, where bashfulness love, to observe the modest sea men's course; it would be my delight, though I have met with no great return of love in my much desired visit on the sleek white steed, to behold my sister of flippant smile; to t.alk of love since it has come to my lot; to restore my ease of mind,. and to renew her slighted troth with the nymph as fair as the hue of the shore beating wave.
From her country who is bright as the coldly-drifted snow upon the lofty hill, a censure has corne to us, that I should he so treated with disdain in the Hall of Ogyrvan.
Playful, from her promise was new-born expectation; .. she is gone with my soul away: I am made wretched! .. Am I not become for love like Garwy Hir to the fair one of whom I am debarred in the Hall of Ogyrvan!
3.
I love the castle of proud workmanship in the Cyvylei, where my own assuming form is wont to intrude; the high of renown, in full bustle, seek admittance there, and by it speaks the mad resounding wave.
It is the chosen place of a luminary of splendid qualities, and fair; glorious her rising from the verge of the torrent, and the fair one shines upon the now progressive year in the wild of Arvon, in the Snowdonian hills.
The tent does not attract; the glossy silk is not looked on by her I love, with passing tenderness: if her conquest could be wrought by the muse's aid, ere the night that comes, I should next to her be found.
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4.
I have harnessed thee to-day, my steed of shining gray; I will traverse on thee the fair region of Cynlas; and I will hold a hard dispute before death shalll cut me off in obstructing sleep, and thus obstructing health; and on me it has been a a sign, no longer being the honoured youth, the complexion is like the pale blue waves.
Oppressed with longing is my memory in society; regret for her by whom I am hated! whilst I confer on the maid the honoured eulogy; she, to prosper pain, deigns not to return the consolation of the slightest grace
Broken is my heart! my portion is regret, caused by the form of a slender lady, with a girdle of ruddy gold; my treatment is not deserved, she is not this day where my appointed place was fixed. Son of the God of Heaven! if before a promise of forbearance she goes away, woe to me that I am not slain.
5.
When the ravens rejoice, when blood is hastening, when the gore runs bubbling, when the war doth rage, when the houses redden in Ruzlan, when the red hall is burning, when we glow with wrath; the ruddy flame it blazes up to heaven; our abode affords no shelter; and plainly is the bright conflagration seen from the white walls upon the shore of Menai.
They perished on the third day of May, three hundred ships of a fleet roving the ocean; and ten hundred times the number the sword would put to flight, leaving not a single beard on Menai
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6.
Five evening tides were celebrated when Frence was saved, when barbarian chiefs were made to fly, when there was pressure round the steel-clad bodies; should a weapon yet be brandished round the beard, a public triumph would my wrath produce, scouring the bounds of Lorgyr, and on her habitation hurling ruin; there should be the hand of the hastening host upon the cross, the keen edge slaughtering, the blade recking with blood, the blood hue over the abject throng, a blood veil hiding its place of falling, and a plain of blood, and a cheek suffused with gore.
7.
I love the time of summer; then the gladly-exulting steed of the warrior prances before a gallant chief; the wave it crowned with foam; the limb of the active more quickly moves; the apple tree has arrayed itself in another livery; bordered with white is my shield on my shoulder, prepared for violence I have loved, with ardency of desire, the object which I have not attained.
Ceridwen, fair and tall, of slowly languid gait, her complexion vies with the warm dawn in the evening hour, of a splendid delicate form, beautifully mild and white hued presence! in stepping over a rush nearly falling seems the little tiny fair one; gentle in her air, she appears but scarcely older than a tenth year infant. Young, shapely, and full of gracefulness, it were a congenial virtue that she should freely give; but the youthful female does more embarrass good fortune by a smile, than an expression from her lips checks impertinence.
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A worshipping pilgrim she will send me to the celestial presence; how long shall I worship thee? stop and think of thine office! If I am unskilful, through the dotage of love, Jesus, the well-informed will not rebuke me.
8.
Fair foam-crowned wave, spraying over the sacred tomb of Ruvon the knave, the chief of princes, behold this day I love the utmost hate of England, a flat and unergetic land, with a race involved in every wile. I love the spot that gave rne the much desired gift of mead, where the seas extend a tedious conflict. I love the society and thick inhabitants therein, ard which, obedient to its lod, directs its view to peace. I love its sea-coast and its mountains, its city bordering on its forest, its fair landscape, its dales, its water and its vales, its white sea-mews and its beauteous women. I love its warriors and its wll-trained steeds, its woods, its strongholds, and its social domicil. I love its fields clothed with tender trefoil, where I had the glory of a mighty triumph. I love its cultivated regions, the prerogative of heroism, and its far extended wild, and its sports of the chase, which, Son of God! have been great and wonderful: how sleek the melodious deer, and in what plenty found! I atchieved by the push of a spear an excellent deed between the chief of Powys and happy Gwynez, and upon the pale hued element of ever-struggling motion, may I accomplish a liberation from exile. I will not take breath until my party comes; a dream declares it, and God wills it to be so, fair foam-crowned wave spraying over the grave.
Fair foam-crowned wave, impetuous in thy course, like in
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colour to the hoar when it accumulates; I love the sea coast in Meirionyz, where I have had a white arm for a pillow. I love the nightingale upon the privet-brake in Cymmer Denzur, a celebrated vale. Lord of heaven and earth, the glory of the blest, though so far it is frorn Ceri to Caerliwelyz, I mounted the yellow steed, and from Maelienyz reached the land of Reged between the night and day. Before I am in the grave, may I enjoy a new blessing from the land of Tegyngyl of fairest aspect! Since I am a love-wight, one inured to wander, may God direct my fate! fair foam-crowned wave of impetuous course.
I will implore the divine Supreme, the wonderful in subjugating to his will, as king, to create an excelling muse for a song of praise to the women, such as Merzin sung, who have claimed my bardic lore so long, who, are so tardy in dispensing grace. The most eminent in all the west I name, from the gates of Chester to the port of Ysgewin: The first is the nymph who will be the subject of universal praise, Gwenliant, whose complexion is like the summer's day. The second is another of high state, far from my embrace, adorned with golden necklace, fair Gweirvyl from whom not token nor confidence have I obtained, nor has any of my race; though I might be slain by two edged blades, she whose foster brother was a King, should be my theme; and next for the handsome Gwladys, the young and modest virgin, the idol of the multitude, I utter the secret sigh; I will worship her with the yellow blossoms of the furze. Soon may I see my vigour rouse to combat, and in my band my blade, bright Leucu, my companion, laughing, and whose husband laughs not from anxiety. Great anxiety oppresses me, makes me sad; and longing,
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alas! is habitual for fair Nest, for her who is like the apple-tree blossom; and for Perwewr, the centre of my disire; for Generys the chaste, who grants not a smile for me: may continuance not overcome her! for Hunyz, whose fame will last till the day of doom; for Hawis, who claims my choicest eulogy. On a memorable day I had a nymph; I had a second, more be their praise; I had a third and a fourth with prosperity; I had a fifth, of those with a skin white and delicate; I had a sixth, bright and fair, avoiding not the temptation, above the white walls did she arrest me; I had a seventh, and this was satiety of love; I had an eighth in recompence for a little of the praise which I sang: but the teeth must opportunity bar the tongue.
Ere ever Saxon set his hateful foot
Upon the beautiful Isle. -- XV. p. 148.
"The three names of this island: the first, before it was inhabited, it was called the Water-guarded Green Spot; after it was inhabited, it was called the Honey Island; and after its subjection to Prydain, the son of Aedd Mawr, he gave it the name of the Isle of Prydain." -- Camblrian Register.
"This name was appropriately given to it; for Ynys Prydain signifies the Beautiful Isle." -- Cambrian Biography. E. Williams.
The contumnacious Prince of Mathraval. -- XV. p. 144.
"Oenum de Cevelioc, quia solus inter Walliae principes Archipraesuli cum populo suo non occurrerat, excommunicavimus. Oenus iste pra aliis Cambrim principibus, et lingnu dicacis extiterat, et in terrae sum moderamine ingenii perspicacis." -- Giraldus Cambrensis.
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Even as Owen in his deeds
Disown'd the Church when living, even so
The Church disowns him dead. -- XV. p. 148.
Owen Gwyneth was buried at Bangor. When Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, coming to preach the crusade against the Saracens, saw his tomb, he charged the bishop to remove his body out of the Cathedral, when he could find a fit opportunity so to do; in regard that Archbishop Becket had excommunicated him heretofore, because he had married his first cousin, the daughter of Grono ab Edwyn, and that notwithstaiiding he had continued to live with her till she died. The bishop, in obedience to the charge, made a passage from the vault through the south wall of the church, under ground, and so secretly shoved the body into the churchyard. -- Royal Tribes. From the Hengwrt MS.
Winning slow Fanmine to their aid. -- XVII. p. 162.
I am much affected," says old Fuller, "with. the ingenuity of an English nobleman, who, following the camp of King Henry III. in these parts (Caernarvonshire), wrote home to his friends, about the end of September, 1243, the naked truth indeed as followeth: 'We lie in our tents, watching, fasting praying, and freezing: we watch for fear of the Welshmen who are wont to invade us in the night; we fast for want of meat, for the half-penny loaf is worth five-pence; we pray to God to send us home speedily; we freeze for want of winter garments, having nothing but thin linen betwixt us and the wind.,'"
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Be not thou
As is the black and melancholy yew,
That strikes into the grave its baleful roots,
And prospers on the dead. -- XVII. p. 163.
Borrowed from an old play, by John Webster:
Like the black and melancholic yew-tree,
Dost think to root thyself in dead men's graves,
And yet to prosper?
Webster's White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona.
Never shall her waking eye
Behold them, till the hour of happiness,
When death hath made her pure for pesfect bliss. -- XVII. p. 168.
"The three Restorations in the Circle of Happiness; Restoration
of original genius and character; Restoration of all that was beloved;
and the Restoration of Remembrance from the origin of all things; without these, perfect happiness cannot exist." -- Triads of Bardism, 32.
I have thought it unnecessary to give a connected account of the Bardic
system in these notes, as it has been so well done by my friend, Mr.
Turner, in his Vindication of the Ancient British Poems.
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