diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33336-0.txt | 1625 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33336-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 36484 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33336-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 38148 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33336-h/33336-h.htm | 1815 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33336.txt | 1626 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33336.zip | bin | 0 -> 36353 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
9 files changed, 5082 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33336-0.txt b/33336-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0197373 --- /dev/null +++ b/33336-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1625 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Welsh and Their Literature, by George +Borrow + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Welsh and Their Literature + from The London Quarterly Review, January 1861, American Edition + + +Author: George Borrow + + + +Release Date: August 3, 2010 [eBook #33336] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WELSH AND THEIR LITERATURE*** + + +Transcribed from the 1861 “The London Quarterly Review,” (American +Edition) pages 20 to 33, by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + The Welsh and their Literature + by George Borrow + + + taken from the “The London Quarterly Review”, 1861, pages 20–33. + + * * * * * + + NEW YORK: + PUBLISHED BY LEONARD SCOTT & CO., + 79 FULTON STREET, CORNER OF GOLD STREET. + + * * * * * + + 1861. + + * * * * * + +Art. II.—_The Sleeping Bard_; _or Visions of the World_, _Death_, _and +Hell_. By Elis Wyn. Translated from the Cambrian British by George +Borrow. London, 1860. + +The Welsh style themselves Cymry or Cumry, a word which, in their +language, means a number of people associated together. {20} They were +the second mass of population which moved from Asia into Europe. They +followed and pushed forward the Gael or Gauls; were themselves impelled +onward by the Slowaks or Sclavonians, who were themselves hunted, goaded, +and pestered by a wild, waspish race of people, whom, for want of a +better name, we will call Tatars or Tartars. The Cymry have left their +name behind them in various regions far eastward of the one where they +now sojourn. The most easterly countries which still bear their name, or +modifications thereof, are Cambia, ‘which is two dayes journey from the +head of the great river Bruapo,’ and the Cryme or Crimea. In those +parts, and ‘where Constantinople now is,’ they tarried a considerable +time, and increased and multiplied marvellously: and it was whilst +tarrying in those regions, which they called collectively Gwlad yr Haf, +or the summer country, that an extraordinary man was born amongst them, +who was called by Greeks and Romans, hundreds of years after his death, +Hesus, but whom the Cymry called, and still do call, Hu or Hee, with the +surname of Cadarn, or the Mighty. This Hu or Hesus taught his countrymen +the use of the plough, and to a certain extent civilized them. Finding +eventually that the summer country was becoming over-populated, he placed +himself at the head of a vast multitude and set off towards the west. Hu +and his people fought or negotiated their way through various countries +possessed by the Gael, till they came to the shore of the sea which +separates the great isle of the west from the continent. Hearing that it +was only thinly peopled they determined to pass over to it; and put their +determination into execution, crossing ‘the hazy sea,’ at present termed +the German Ocean, in boats made of wicker work and skins, similar to but +larger than the coracles which the Cymry always carried with them in +their long expeditions. + +This great island was called Alban, Albyn, or Albion. Alban is a Gaelic +or Gaulic word, signifying properly a hill-region. It is to be found +under various modifications in different parts of the world, but only +where the Gaulic race have at some time sojourned. The word Afghan is +merely a modification of Alban, or Alpan; so is Armenia; so is Alp; so is +of course Albania. The term was given to the island simply because the +cliffs which fronted the continent, where the sea between the two lands +was narrowest, were very high and towering. The island at the time of +the arrival of the Cymry had, as has already been intimated, a scanty +population. This population consisted of Gael or Gauls, a people of +cognate race to the Cymry, and speaking a language much the same as +theirs, differing from it, however, in some respects. Hu and his people +took possession of the best parts of the island, either driving the few +Gaels to other districts or admitting them to their confederacy. As the +country was in a very wild state, much overgrown with forests in which +bears and wolves wandered, and abounding with deep stagnant pools, which +were the haunts of the avanc or crocodile, Hu forthwith set about +clearing it of some of its horrors, and making it more fit to be the +abiding place of civilized beings. He made his people cut down woods and +forests, and destroy, as far as was possible, wild beasts and crocodiles. +He himself went to a gloomy pool, the haunt of the king of the efync, +baited a huge hook attached to a cable, filing it into the pool, and when +the monster had gorged the snare drew him out by means of certain +gigantic oxen, {21a} which he had tamed to the plough, and burnt his +horrid, wet, scaly carcass on a fire. He then caused enclosures to be +made, fields to be ploughed and sown, pleasant wooden houses to be built, +bees to be sheltered and encouraged, and schools to be erected where song +and music were taught. O, a truly great man was Hu Gadarn! though a +warrior, he preferred the sickle and pruning-hook to the sword, and the +sound of the song and lute to the hoarse blast of the buffalo’s horn:— + + The mighty Hu with mead would pay + The bard for his melodious lay; + The Emperor of land and sea + And of all livings things was he. {21b} + +For many years after the death of Hu the Cymry retrograded instead of +advancing in civilization; they ceased to be a united people; plunder and +devastation were of daily occurrence among them; every one did as he +pleased, as far as in his power lay; there was no law, but the law of the +strongest; and no justice, save that which was obtained from clemency and +courtesy. At length one Prydain arose, who, either from ambition or a +nobler motive, determined to introduce a system of government amongst +them. By strength of arm and character he induced the Cymry of the lower +country to acknowledge him for their head, and to obey certain laws which +he enacted for the regulation of conduct. But neither his sovereignty +nor his laws were regarded by the Cymry of the hilly regions. Prydain +was the first king amongst the Cymry; and from his time the island was +called Britain, which is a modification of his name, and the inhabitants +Britons. The independent Cymry, however, disdained to call themselves or +their districts after him, but still styled themselves Cymry, and their +districts Cumrie-land and Cumberland; whilst the Gael of the North, who +never submitted to his sway, and who knew little about him, still called +themselves Gael, and their country Caledon and Alban. + +Various kings succeeded Prydain, during whose reigns the Britons +continued in much the same state as that in which he had left them; on +the coming of one Dyfnwal Moelmud, however, to the throne, a mighty +improvement was effected in their condition. This prince was the great +lawgiver of the Britons, and the greatest benefactor which the race had +known since the days of Hu Gadarn. Tradition differs as to his exact +origin, but there is ground for believing that he was the chief of a +Cornish tribe, and that he was elected to the throne on account of his +wisdom and virtue. He gave a regular system of laws and a constitution +to the kingdom, and appointed magistrates in every place, whose duty it +was to administer justice without respect of persons in all disputes, and +whenever the law had been violated. This great and good man is believed +to have lived about 400 years before the Christian era. + +After the Cymric or British race had been established in the island about +1300 years, they were invaded by the Romans, under Julius Cæsar. The +king, who at that time ruled in Britain, was called Caswallon; he was a +great warrior and much beloved by his subjects. In him and his Britons +the Romans found their match and more, for after a month’s hard fighting +and skirmishing, they were compelled to betake themselves to Gaul, the +country from which they had come. + +Mighty was the triumph in Britain, says an old chronicler, on the retreat +of the redoubted foe; and Caswallon gave a grand festival at Caer Lud, or +London, which was reckoned in after times one of the three grand +festivals of Britain. A grand festival indeed it must have been, if, as +an ancient bard says, + + ‘Full twenty thousand beeves and deer + Were slain to find the guests with cheer.’ + +Britain was not subdued by the Romans till the time of Claudius Cæsar. +When conquered it was still permitted to possess a king of its own, on +condition that he should acknowledge the authority of Rome, and pay +tribute to her. The first king in the world to confess the faith of +Christ was a British king, tributary to Rome. This king, whose name was +Lles ap Coel, made his confession as early as the year 160. The +Christian faith is supposed by some to have been first preached in +Britain by Joseph of Arimathea; by others, by St. Paul himself. After +remaining several centuries under the sway of Rome, the Britons again +became independent, the Roman legions being withdrawn from the island for +the defence of their own country, threatened by barbarian hordes. They +did not, however, enjoy their independence long; a ferocious race, of +mysterious origin, whom they called Gwyddelian Fichti, invaded them, and +filled their country with horror and devastation. Unable to offer any +effectual opposition to these invaders, they called to their assistance, +from the neighbourhood of the mouth of the Elbe, the Saxons or _men of +the knives_, a bold and adventurous, but treacherous and bloody people, +who at first fought stoutly for them, but soon turned against them, and +eventually all but extirpated them from Southern Britain:— + + ‘A serpent that coils, + And with fury boils, + From Germany coming with arm’d wings spread, + Shall subdue and enthral + The broad Britain all + From the Lochlin ocean to Severn’s bed; + + And British men + Shall be captives then + To strangers from Saxonia’s strand; + They shall praise their God, and hold + Their language, as of old, + But except wild Wales they shall lose their land.’ {22} + + _Taliesin_. + +Yes; the Cymric or British race were dispossessed of Britain with the +exception of that part which they still emphatically call Cumrie, but +which by other people is called Wales. There they remained independent +for a long time, governed by their own princes; and there, though now +under the sway of England, they still preserve their venerable language, +the oldest in the world, with perhaps the exception of the Gaulic or +Irish, with which it is closely connected. Wales is not a Cymric but a +Saxon or Teutonic word, bestowed on the land of the Cymry by the seed of +Hengist. Like the Gaelic word Alban, it means a hilly or mountainous +region, and is connected with wall, wold, and wood. The Germans, from +very early times, have called the Cymry Welsh or Waldenses, and the +country where they happened to be, Welschland. They still apply to Italy +the name of Welschland, a name bestowed upon it by their ancestors, +because it was originally principally peopled by the Cymry, whom the +Germans called Welsh from the circumstance of their inhabiting some +mountainous or forest country in the far East, when they first came in +contact with them. + +We now proceed to give some account of the literature of the Cymry. We +commence with their poetry, and from a very early period, quoting from a +Cymric Triad:—‘These are the three artificers of poetry and record +amongst the nation of the Cymry: Gwyddon Ganhebon, who first in the world +invented vocal song; and Hu the Mighty, who first invented the means of +recording and preserving vocal song; and Tydan, the father of the muse, +who first gave rules to vocal song and a system to recording. From what +these three men effected Bards and Bardism were derived; the dignities +and customs pertaining to which were arranged systematically by the three +original bards, Plenydd, Alon, and Gwbon.’ Three ranks or orders +constituted what was called barddas, or bardism; that of bard or poet, +that of ovydd or philosopher, and that of druid or instructor. The motto +of this institution was—‘Y Gwir yn erbyn y byd,’ or The Truth against the +world; from which it would appear that bardism was instituted for the +purpose of propagating truth. Bardism, or as it is generally though +improperly styled, druidism, was the fount of instruction, moral and +religious, in Britain and in Gaul. The vehicle by which instruction, or, +as it was probably termed, truth, was propagated, was poetry. The bard +wrought the philosophy of the ovydd into song, and the druid or +instructor, who was also minister of such religion as the Celts and Cymry +possessed, whatever that was, communicated to his pupils the result of +the labours of the bard and ovydd. The Druidical verses then probably +constituted the most ancient poetry of Britain. These verses were +communicated orally, and were never written down whilst bardism or +druidism lasted, though the bards and druids at a very early period were +acquainted with the use of letters. Whether any genuine bardic poetry +has been preserved, it is impossible to say; it is the opinion, however, +of Cymric scholars of reputation, that certain ancient strains which the +Welsh possess, which are composed in a measure called Englyn milwr, are +either druidical strains or imitations of such. Each of these +compositions is in three lines; the entire pith however of the triplet, +generally consisting of a moral adage or a piece of wholesome advice, +lies in the third line, the two first being composed of trivial and +unconnected expressions. Many of these stanzas are called the stanzas of +‘The Mountain Snow,’ from the circumstance of their commencing with ‘Eiry +Mynydd,’ which has that signification. The three lines rhyme together at +their terminations; and a species of alliteration is observable +throughout. A word or two here on Cymric rhyme and measures. + +In Welsh poetry rhyme is found in a twofold shape: there is alliteration, +that is rhyme produced by the same letters following each other at +certain distances in the body of the line, then there is the common +rhyme, produced by two or more lines terminating with the same letters. +In the older Welsh poetry, by which we mean that composed before the +termination of the first millennium, both rhyme and alliteration are +employed, but in a less remarkable manner than in the bardic effusions of +comparatively modern times. The extent to which the bards of the middle +ages, and those of one or two subsequent centuries, carried rhyme and +alliteration seems marvellous to the English versifier. We English think +we have accomplished a great feat in rhyme when we have made three lines +consonant in their terminations; but Dafydd Benfras, or David of the +Thick Head, would make fifty lines rhyme together, and not think that he +had accomplished anything remarkable in rhyming either. Our English +alliterative triumph is the following line, composed by a young lady in +the year 1800, on the occasion of a gentleman of the name of Lee planting +a lane with lilacs:— + + ‘Let lovely lilacs line Lee’s lonely lane!’ + +in which not only every word, but every syllable commences with the same +letter—_l_. + +But what is this English alliterative triumph of the young lady compared +with the Welsh alliterative triumph of Dafydd Nanmawr, who wrote a poem +of twelve lines, every syllable of which commences with the letter g, +with the exception of the last, which begins with n? + +The earliest Cymric or British metre seems to have been a triban or +triplet, in each line of which there were in general six syllables. The +bards of the sixth, seventh, and several succeeding centuries used this +metre, and likewise others, invented by themselves, in which the lines +are of various length. There was no regular system of prosody till the +year 1120, when one was established under the auspices of Grufydd ap +Cynan, prince of Gwynedd. This Ap Cynan, who, though of Welsh origin, +was born in Dublin, and educated at the Danish Irish court, was +passionately fond of poetry, and was not only well acquainted with that +of the British bards, but with the strains of the Icelandic skalds and +Irish fileas. Shortly after his accession to the throne of Gwynedd, of +which he was the rightful heir, he proclaimed an eisteddfod, or poetical +sessions. At this eisteddfod, which was numerously attended by poets of +various nations, a system of prosody was drawn up by competent persons, +at his instigation, for the use of the Welsh, and established by his +authority. This system, in which Cymric, Icelandic, and Irish forms of +verse are blended and amalgamated, has with a few unimportant variations +maintained its ground to the present time. It contains three primary +measures, termed respectively, englyn, cywydd, and awdl. Of the englyn, +there are five kinds; of the cywydd, four; and of the awdl, fifteen. +Each particular species of englyn, cywydd, and awdl has its appropriate +name, which it is needless to give here. These three primary metres, +with their modifications, make together twenty-four measures, which +embrace the whole system of Welsh versification, in which, as somebody +has observed, each line, word, and letter, are so harmonized by +consonancy, chained so accurately, woven so closely and correctly, that +it is impossible to extract one word or even letter without causing a +hideous gap. Whoever has ventured to compose out of these measures, +since the time of their establishment, has been considered by the Welsh +scholar as unworthy of the name of poet. + +The earliest recorded poet of the Cymry, after the days of Gwyddon +Ganhebon and the other personages mentioned with him in the triad, is +Merddin, Beirdd Emrys Wledig, or Merddin, Bard of Prince Emrys. He +flourished about the middle of the fifth century, the period when the +Saxons arrived in Britain, under the command of Hengist and Horsa. +Besides poetry he was skilled in mathematics, and is said by the Welsh to +have been the architect of Stonehenge. He has been surnamed Ambrosius, +which is the Latin modification of the name of his patron Emrys. He is +the Merddin, or Merlin, who has had to father so many of the prophecies +which since his death have been produced. None of his poems are extant. + +During the period which elapsed between the first coming of the Saxons, +and the expulsion of the British from the Southern and Eastern parts of +the island, lived Aneurin, Taliesin, Llewarch Hen, and Merddin, surnamed +Wyllt or the Wild, all celebrated poets, the latter of whom has generally +been confounded with Merddin Ambrosius. Aneurin was a chief of the +Ottadinian Britons, and his principal poem is the one styled Gododin, a +word which probably means that which relates to the Ottadini. It is +descriptive of the battle of Cattraeth, fought between the Britons and +the Saxons, in which the former were so completely worsted that only +three, amongst whom was Aneurin himself, escaped with their lives. The +poem is composed in lines remarkably short, consisting in general of only +six syllables. Aneurin was the Gildas of ecclesiastical history, and the +name of Gildas is merely a Saxon translation of Aneurin, which signifies +golden grove. Taliesin Ben Beirdd, or Taliesin Prince of Bards, was a +North Welshman, but was educated at Llanreithin, in Glamorgan, under +Catwg, celebrated for his aphorisms, who kept a school of philosophy +there. He was called Prince of Bards because he excelled all his +contemporaries in the poetic art. Many of his pieces are extant; amongst +them is an awdl or ode, containing an abridgment of the history of the +world, in which there is a stanza with regard to the destiny of the +ancient Britons as sublime as it is true:— + + ‘Their Lord they shall praise, + Their language they shall keep, + Their land they shall lose + Except wild Wales.’ + +Llewarch Hen, or Llewarch the aged, was a prince of Cumberland. Driven +from his domain by the Saxons, he sought a refuge at the place which is +now called Shrewsbury, and subsequently on the shore of the lake of Bala, +a beautiful sheet of water in Merionethshire, overlooked on the south by +the great mountain Arran. There he died at the age of one hundred and +fifty years. His poems consist chiefly of elegies on his sons, +twenty-four in number, all of whom perished in battle, and on his +slaughtered friends. They are composed in triplets, and abound with +simplicity and pathos. Myrddin Wyllt, or Myrddin the Wild, was a Briton +of the Scottish border. Having killed the son of his sister, he was so +stung with remorse that he determined to renounce the society of men, and +accordingly retired to a forest in Scotland, called Celydon, where he was +frequently seized with howling madness. Owing to his sylvan life and his +attacks of lunacy, he was called Merddyn Wyllt, or the Wild. He composed +poetry in his lucid intervals. Six of his pieces have been preserved: +they are chiefly on historical subjects. The most remarkable of them is +an address to his pig, in which he tells the woes and disasters which are +to happen to Britain: it consists of twenty-five stanzas or sections. In +all of them a kind of alliteration is observable, and in each, with one +or two exceptions, the first line rhymes with all the rest. Each +commences with ‘Oian a phorchellan’—listen, little porker! The +commencement of one of these stanzas might be used in these lowering days +by many a grey-headed yeoman to his best friend:— + + ‘Oian a phorchellan: mawr eryssi + A fydd ym Mhrydan, ac nim dorbi. + + Listen, little porker! mighty wonders + Shall occur in Britain, which shall not con me.’ + +Many and great poets flourished in the times of the Welsh princes: the +three greatest were Meilyr, Gwalchmai, and Dafydd Benfras. Meilyr was +bard of Gruffudd ap Cynan, prince of Gwynedd or North Wales, who died in +1137. He sang the praises of his master, who was a celebrated warrior +and a bountiful patron of the muse, in whose time and under whose +sanction those forms of composition, generally called the twenty four +measures, were invented and promulgated. Gwalchmai lived in the time of +Owain, prince of Gwynedd, about whom he sang a piece which is to a +certain extent known to the English public by a paraphrase made by Gray, +which bears the title of ‘The Triumphs of Owain.’ Dafydd Benfras was +domestic bard of Llywelyn ap Jorwerth, also prince of Gwynedd and titular +king of Wales, who flourished during the first half of the thirteenth +century. In one of his odes addressed to his patron, there is an +animated description of a battle won by Llywelyn over King John: + + ‘Llywelyn of the potent hand oft wrought + Trouble upon the kings and consternation; + When he with the Lloegrain monarch fought, + Whose cry was “Devastation!” + Forward impetuously his squadrons ran; + Great was the tumult ere the shoot began; + Proud was the hero of his reeking glaive, + Proud of their numbers were his followers brave. {25a} + O then were heard resounding o’er the fields + The clash of faulchions and the crash of shields! + Many the wounds in yonder fight receiv’d! + Many the warriors of their lives bereaved! + The battle rages till our foes recoil + Behind the Dike which Offa built with toil. + Bloody their foreheads, gash’d with many a blow, + Blood streaming down their quaking knees below. + Llywelyn we as our high chief obey, + To fair Porth Ysgewin extends his sway; + For regal virtues and for princely line + He towers above imperial Constantine.’ + +Dafydd ab Gwilym was born at Bro Gynan, in Cardiganshire, in 1293, about +forty years after the whole of Wales had been subjected to the sway of +England. He was the Ovid of Wales, the poet of love and nature. In his +early years he was very dissipated, but towards the latter part of his +life became religious. He died at the age of sixty-three, and was buried +within the precincts of the great monastery of Strata Florida. {25b} +Such was the power of his genius, that the generality of the poets who +succeeded him for the next four hundred years were more or less his +imitators. Iolo Goch, or Red Julius, whose real name was Llwyd, was the +bard of Owen Glendower, and, amongst other pieces, composed a graphic ode +on his patron’s mansion at Sycharth, and the manner of life there:— + + ‘Its likeness now I’ll limn you out: + ’Tis water-girdled wide about; + It shows a wide and stately door, + Reach’d by a bridge the water o’er; + ’Tis formed of buildings coupled fair— + Coupled is every couple there; + Within a quadrate structure tall + Muster the merry pleasures all; + Conjointly are the angles bound, + No flaw in all the place is found. + Structures in contact meet the eye + Upon the hillock’s top on high; + Into each other fasten’d they + The form of a hard knot display. + There dwells the chief we all extol + In timber house on lightsome knoll; + Upon four wooden columns proud + Mounteth his mansion to the cloud. + Each column’s thick and firmly bas’d, + And upon each a loft is plac’d; + In those four lofts, which coupled stand, + Repose at night the minstrel band. + Four lofts they were in pristine state, + But now partition’d form they eight. + Tiled is the roof. On each house-top + Rise smoke-ejecting chimneys up. + All of one form there are nine halls, + Each with nine wardrobes in its walls, + With linen white as well supplied + As fairest shops of fam’d Cheapside. + + * * * * * + + What luxury doth this hall adorn, + Showing of cost a sovereign scorn! + His ale from Shrewsbury town he brings; + His usquebaugh is drink for kings. + Bragget he keeps, bread white of look, + And, bless the mark, a bustling cook. + His mansion is the minstrels’ home, + You’ll find them there whene’er you come. + Of all her sex his wife’s the best, + The household through her care is blest; + She’s scion of a knightly tree, + She’s dignified, she’s kind and free. + His bairns approach me, pair by pair, + O what a nest of chieftains fair! + Here difficult it is to catch + A sight of either bolt or latch; + The porter’s place here none will fill; + Here largess shall be lavish’d still, + And ne’er shall thirst or hunger rude + In Sycharth venture to intrude.’ + +Iolo composed this ode two years before the great Welsh insurrection, +when he was more than a hundred years old. To his own great grief he +survived his patron, and all hopes of Welsh independence. An englyn, +which he composed a few days before his death, commemorates the year of +the rising of Glendower, and also the year to which the chieftain lived:— + + ‘One thousand four hundred, no less and no more, + Was the date of the rising of Owen Glendower; + Till fifteen were added with courage ne’er cold + Liv’d Owen, though latterly Owen was old.’ + +Glendower died at the age of sixty-seven: Iolo, when he called him old, +was one hundred and eighteen. + +Gwilym ap Ieuan Hen flourished about 1450. He was bard to Griffith ap +Nicholas, chieftain of Dinefor, in whose praise he wrote an ode, +commencing with lines to the following effect:— + + ‘Griffith ap Nicholas! who like thee + For wealth and power and majesty? + Which most abound—I cannot say— + On either side of Towey gay, + From hence to where it meets the brine, + Trees or stately towers of thine?’ + +Griffith ap Nicholas was a powerful chieftain of South Wales, something +of a poet and a great patron of bards. Seeing with regret that there was +much dissension amongst the bardic order, and that the rules of bardism +were nearly forgotten, he held a bardic congress at Carmarthen, with the +view of reviving bardic enthusiasm and re-establishing bardic discipline. +The result of this meeting—the only one of the kind which had been held +in Wales since the days of the Welsh princes—to a certain extent +corresponded with his wish. In the wars of the Roses he sided with York, +chiefly out of hatred to Jasper Earl of Pembroke, half-brother of Henry +VI. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Mortimer’s Cross, which was +gained for Edward IV. by a desperate charge made by Griffith and his +Welshmen at Pembroke’s Banner, when the rest of the Yorkists were +wavering. His last words were: ‘Welcome death! since honour and victorie +makes for us!’ + +Dafydd ab Edmund was born at Pwll Gwepra, in the parish of Hanmer, in +Flintshire. He was the most skilful versifier of his time. He attended +the Eisteddfod, or congress, at Carmarthen, held under the auspices of +Griffith ap Nicholas, and not only carried off the prize, but induced the +congress to sanction certain alterations in the poetical canons of +Gruffudd ab Cynan, which he had very much at heart. There is a tradition +that Griffith ap Nicholas commenced the business of the congress by the +following question: ‘What is the cause, nature, and end of an +Eisteddfod?’ No one appearing ready with an answer, Griffith said: ‘Let +the little man in the grey coat answer;’ whereupon Dafydd made the +following reply: ‘To remember what has been—to think of what is—and to +judge about what shall be.’ + +Lewis Glyn Cothi lived during the wars of the Roses. He was bard to +Jasper Earl of Pembroke, son of Owen Tudor and Catharine of France, and +brother uterine of Henry VI. He followed his patron to the fatal battle +of Mortimer’s Cross as a captain of foot. His pieces are mostly on the +events of his time, and are full of curious historical information. + +Ieuan Deulwyn was bard and friend of Ryce ap Thomas, to whom he addressed +a remarkable ode in stanzas of four lines on the principle of +counter-change, by which any line in the quatrain may begin it. His +friend and patron Ryce ap Thomas was the grandson of that Griffith ap +Nicholas who perished at the battle of Mortimer’s Cross, fighting against +Lancaster. Ryce, however, when Richmond, the last hope of Lancaster, +landed at Milford Haven, joined him at the head of ‘all the Ryces,’ and +was the main cause of his eventually winning the crown. He was loaded +with riches and honours by Henry VII., and was an especial favourite with +Henry VIII., who used to call him Father Preecc, my trusty Welshman. He +was a great warrior, a consummate courtier, and a very wise man; for +whatever harm he might do to people, he never spoke ill of anybody. His +tomb, bearing the sculptured figures of himself and wife, may be seen in +the church of St. Peter, at Carmarthen. + +Sion Tudor was born about the middle of the sixteenth century. He had +much wit and humour, but was very satirical. He wrote a bitter epigram +on London, in which city, by the bye, he had been most unmercifully +fleeced. William Middleton was one of the sea captains of Queen +Elizabeth; he translated the Psalms into several of the four-and-twenty +measures whilst commanding a ship of war in the West Indian seas. Twm +Sion Cati lived in the days of James I.: he was a sweet poet, but—start +not, gentle reader! a ferocious robber. His cave amidst the wild hills +between Tregaron and Brecknock is still pointed out by the neighbouring +rustics. In the middle of the seventeenth century was produced a +singular little piece, author unknown: it is an englyn or epigram of four +lines on a spider, all in vowels:— + + ‘O’i wiw wy i weu e â,—o’i au, + O’i wyau y weua; + E wywa ei we’ aua,’ + A’i weuai yw ieuau ia.’ + +A proest, or kind of counterchange, was eventually added to it by one +Gronwy Owen, so that the Welsh now can say, what perhaps no other nation +can, that they have a poem of eight lines in their language, in which +there is not a single consonant. It is however necessary to state, that +in the Welsh language there are seven vowels, both w and y being +considered and sounded as such. The two parts may be thus rendered into +English: + + ‘From out its womb it weaves with care + Its web beneath the roof; + Its wintry web it spreadeth there— + Wires of ice its woof. + + And doth it weave against the wall + Thin ropes of ice on high? + And must its little liver all + The wondrous stuff supply?’ + +Huw Morris was born in the year 1622, and died in 1709, having lived in +six reigns. The place of his birth was Pont y Meibion, in the valley of +Ceiriog, in Denbighshire. He was a writer of songs, carols, and elegies, +and was generally termed Eos Ceiriog, or the Nightingale of Ceiriog, a +title which he occasionally well deserved, for some of his pieces, +especially his elegies, are of great beauty and sweetness. Not +unfrequently, however, the title of Dylluan Ceiriog, or the Owl of +Ceiriog, would be far more applicable, for whenever he thought fit he +could screech and hoot most fearfully. He was a loyalist, and some of +his strains against the Roundheads are fraught with the bitterest satire. +His dirge on Oliver and his men, composed shortly after Monk had declared +for Charles II., is a piece quite unique in its way. He lies buried in +the graveyard of the beautiful church of Llan Silien, in Denbigshire. +The stone which covers his remains is yet to be seen just outside the +southern wall, near the porch. The last great poet of Wales was a little +swarthy curate;—but this child of immortality, for such he is, must not +be disposed of in half a dozen lines. The following account of him is +extracted from an unpublished work, called ‘Wild Wales,’ by the author of +‘The Bible in Spain’:— + + ‘Goronwy, or Gronwy, Owen was born in the year 1722, at a place + called Llanfair Mathafrn Eithaf, in Anglesea. He was the eldest of + three children. His parents were peasants and so exceedingly poor + that they were unable to send him to school. Even, however, when an + unlettered child he gave indications that he was visited by the awen + or muse. At length the celebrated Lewis Morris chancing to be at + Llanfair, became acquainted with the boy, and, struck with its + natural talents, determined that he should have all the benefit which + education could bestow. He accordingly, at his own expense, sent him + to school at Beaumaris, where he displayed a remarkable aptitude for + the acquisition of learning. He subsequently sent him to Jesus + College, Oxford, and supported him there whilst studying for the + Church. At Jesus, Gronwy distinguished himself as a Greek and Latin + scholar, and gave proofs of such poetical talent in his native + language that he was looked upon by his countrymen of that Welsh + college as the rising bard of the age. After completing his + collegiate course, he returned to Wales, where he was ordained a + minster of the Church in the year 1745. The next seven years of his + life were a series of cruel disappointments and pecuniary + embarrassments. The grand wish of his heart was to obtain a curacy, + and to settle down in Wales. Certainly a very reasonable wish, for, + to say nothing of his being a great genius, he was eloquent, highly + learned, modest, meek, and of irreproachable morals; yet Gronwy Owen + could obtain no Welsh curacy, nor could his friend Lewis Morris, + though he exerted himself to the utmost, procure one for him. It was + true that he was told that he might go to Llanfair, his native place, + and officiate there at a time when the curacy happened to be vacant, + and thither he went, glad at heart to get back amongst his old + friends, who enthusiastically welcomed him; yet scarcely had he been + there three weeks when he received notice from the chaplain of the + Bishop of Bangor that he must vacate Llanfair in order to make room + for a Mr. John Ellis, a young clergyman of large independent fortune, + who was wishing for a curacy under the Bishop of Bangor, Doctor + Hutton. So poor Gronwy, the eloquent, the learned, the meek, was + obliged to vacate the pulpit of his native place to make room for the + rich young clergyman, who wished to be within dining distance of the + palace of Bangor. Truly in this world the full shall be crammed, and + those who have little shall have the little which they have taken + away from them. Unable to obtain employment in Wales, Gronwy sought + for it in England, and after some time procured the curacy of + Oswestry, in Shropshire, where he married a respectable young woman, + who eventually brought him two sons and a daughter. From Oswestry he + went to Donnington, near Shrewsbury, where, under a certain Scotchman + named Douglas, who was an absentee, and who died Bishop of Salisbury, + he officiated as curate and master of a grammar school for a + stipend—always grudgingly and contumeliously paid—of three-and-twenty + pounds a year. From Donnington he removed to Walton in Cheshire, + where he lost his daughter, who was carried off by a fever. His next + removal was to Northolt, a pleasant village in the neighbourhood of + London. He held none of his curacies long, either losing them from + the caprice of his principals, or being compelled to resign them from + the parsimony which they practised towards him. In the year 1756 he + was living in a garret in London, vainly soliciting employment in his + sacred calling, and undergoing with his family the greatest + privations. At length his friend Lewis Morris, who had always + assisted him to the utmost of his ability, procured him the + mastership of a Government school at New Brunswick, in North America, + with a salary of three hundred pounds a year. Thither he went with + his wife and family, and there he died some time about the year 1780. + + ‘He was the last of the great poets of Cambria, and with the + exception of Ab Gwilym, the greatest which she has produced. His + poems, which for a long time had circulated through Wales in + manuscript, were first printed in the year 1819. They are composed + in the ancient bardic measures, and were, with one exception, namely, + an elegy on the death of his benefactor, Lewis Morris, which was + transmitted from the New World, written before he had attained the + age of thirty-five. All his pieces are excellent, but his + master-work is decidedly the Cywydd y Farn, or Day of Judgment. This + poem, which is generally considered by the Welsh as the brightest + ornament of their ancient language, was composed at Donnington, a + small hamlet in Shropshire, on the north-west spur of the Wrekin, at + which place, as has been already said, Gronwy toiled as schoolmaster + and curate under Douglas the Scot, for a stipend of three-and-twenty + pounds a year.’ {28} + +The prose literature of Wales is by no means so extensive as the +poetical; it, however, comprises much that is valuable and curious on +historical, biographical, romantic and moral subjects. The most ancient +Welsh prose may probably be found in certain brief compositions, called +Triads, which are said to be of Druidic origin. The Triad was used for +the commemoration of historical facts or the inculcation of moral duties. +It has its name because in it three events are commemorated, or three +persons mentioned, if it be historical; three things or three actions +recommended or denounced, if it be moral. To give the reader at once a +tolerable conception of what the Triad is, we subjoin two or three +specimens of this kind of composition. We commence with the historical +Triad:— + + ‘These are the three pillars of the race of the isle of Britain: + First, Hu the Mighty, who conducted the nation of the Cumry from the + summer country to the island of Britain (bringing them from the + continent) across the hazy sea (German Ocean). Second, Prydain, son + of Aedd Mawr, the founder of government and rule in the isle of + Britain, before whose time there was no such thing as justice except + what was obtained by courtesy, nor any law save that of the + strongest. Third, Dyfnwal Moelmud, who first reduced to a system the + laws, customs, and privileges of his country and nation. + + ‘The three intruding tribes into the island of Britain are the + following: First, the Corranians, who came from the country of Pwyl. + Second, the Gwyddelian (silvan, Irish) Fichti (Picts), who came to + Alban across the sea of Lochlin (Northern Ocean), and who still exist + in Alban by the shore of the sea of Lochlin (from Inverness to + Thursoe). Third, the Saxons . . . ’ + +So much for the historical Triad: now for the moral. The following are +selected from a curious collection of admonitory sayings, called the +‘Triads of the Cumro, or Welshman:’— + + ‘Three things should a Cumro always bear in mind lest he dishonour + them: his father, his country, and his name of Cumro. + + ‘There are three things for which a Cumro should be willing to die: + his country, his good name, and the truth wherever it be. + + ‘Three things are highly disgraceful to a Cumro: to look with one + eye, to listen with one ear, and to defend with one hand. + + ‘Three things it especially behoves a Cumro to choose from his own + country: his king, his wife, and his friend.’ + +After the Triads, the following are the principal prose works of the +Welsh:— + +1. ‘The Chronicle of the Kings of the Isle of Britain;’ supposed to have +been written by Tysilio, in the seventh century. This work, or rather a +Latin paraphrase of it by Geoffrey of Monmouth, has supplied our early +English historians with materials for those parts of their works which +are devoted to the subject of ancient Britain. It brings down British +history to the year 660. + +2. A continuation of the same to the year 1152, by Caradawg of +Llancarvan. It begins thus: “In the year of Christ 660, died Cadwallawn +ab Cadfan, King of the Britons, and Cadwaladr his son became king in his +place; and, after ten years of peace, the great sickness, which is called +the Yellow Plague, came over the whole isle of Britain.” + +3. The ‘Code of Howel Da;’ a book consisting of laws, partly framed, +partly compiled, by Howel Da, or the Good, who began to reign in the year +940. It is divided into three parts, and contains laws relating to the +government of the palace and the family of the prince, laws concerning +private property, and laws which relate to private rights and privileges. +It is a code which displays much acuteness, good sense, and not a little +oddity. Many of Howel’s laws prevailed in Wales as far down as the time +of Henry VII. + +4. ‘The Life or Biography of Gruffydd ap Cynan.’ This Gruffydd, of whom +we have had more than once occasion to speak already, was born in Dublin +about the year 1075. He was the son of Cynan, an expatriated prince of +Gwynedd, by Raguel, daughter of Anlaf or Olafr, Dano-Irish king of Dublin +and the fifth part of Ireland. After a series of the strangest +adventures he succeeded in regaining his father’s throne, on which he +died after a glorious reign of fifty years. He was the father of Owen +Gwynedd, one of the most warlike of the Welsh princes, and was grandsire +of that Madoc who, there is considerable reason for supposing, was the +first discoverer of the great land in the West. A truly remarkable book +is the one above mentioned, which narrates his life. It does full +justice to the subject, being written in a style not unworthy of Snorre +Sturlesen, or the man who wrote the history of King Sverrer and the +Birkebeiners, in the latter part of the Heimskringla. It is a +composition of the fifteenth century, but the author is unknown. + +5. The Mabinogion, or Juvenile Diversions, a collection of Cumric +legends, in substance of unknown antiquity, but in the dress in which +they have been handed down to us scarcely older than the fourteenth +century. In interest they almost vie with the ‘Arabian Nights,’ with +which, however, they have nothing else in common, notwithstanding that +all other European tales—those of Russia not excepted—are evidently +modifications of, or derived from the same source as the Arabian stories. +Of these Cumric legends two translations exist: the first, which was +never published, made towards the concluding part of the last century by +William Owen, who eventually assumed the name of Owen Pugh, the writer of +the immortal Welsh and English Dictionary, and the translator into Welsh +of ‘Paradise Lost;’ the second by the fair and talented Lady Charlotte +Guest, which first made these strange, glorious stories known to England +and all the world. + +The sixth and last grand prose work of the Welsh is the ‘Sleeping Bard,’ +a moral allegory, written about the beginning of the last century by Elis +Wyn, a High-Church Welsh clergyman, a translation of which, by George +Borrow, is now before us:— + + ‘The following translation of the Sleeping Bard,’ says Mr. Borrow, in + his preface, ‘has long existed in manuscript. It was made by the + writer of these lines in the year 1830, at the request of a little + Welsh bookseller of his acquaintance, who resided in the rather + unfashionable neighbourhood of Smithfield, and who entertained an + opinion that a translation of the work of Elis Wyn would enjoy a + great sale, both in England and Wales. On the eve of committing it + to the press, however, the Cambrian Briton felt his small heart give + way within him: “Were I to print it,” said he, “I should be ruined. + The terrible descriptions of vice and torment would frighten the + genteel part of the English public out of its wits, and I should to a + certainty be prosecuted by Sir James Scarlett. I am much obliged to + you for the trouble you have given yourself on my account—but myn + Diawl! I had no idea, till I had read him in English, that Elis Wyn + had been such a terrible fellow.” + + ‘Yet there is no harm in the book. It is true that the author is + anything but mincing in his expressions and descriptions, but there + is nothing in the Sleeping Bard which can give offence to any but the + over fastidious. There is a great deal of squeamish nonsense in the + world; let us hope, however, that there is not so much as there was. + Indeed, can we doubt that such folly is on the decline, when we find + Albemarle Street in ‘60 willing to publish a harmless but + plain-speaking book which Smithfield shrank from in ’80?’ + +The work is divided into three parts, devoted to three separate and +distinct visions, which the Bard pretends to have seen at three different +times in his sleep. In assuming the title of ‘Sleeping Bard’ Elis Wyn +committed a kind of plagiarism, as it originated with a certain poet who +flourished in the time of the Welsh princes, some nine hundred years +before he himself was born, and to this plagiarism he humorously alludes +in one of his visions. The visions are described in prose, but each is +followed by a piece of poetry containing a short gloss or comment. The +prose is graphic and vigorous, almost beyond conception; the poetry wild +and singular, each piece composed in a particular measure. Of the +measures, two are quite original, to be found nowhere else. The first +vision is the Vision of the World. The object of the Bard is to describe +the follies, vices, and crimes of the human race, more especially those +of the natives of the British Isles. In his sleep he imagines that he is +carried away by fairies, and is in danger of perishing owing to their +malice, but is rescued by an angel, who informs him that he has been sent +by the Almighty with orders to give him a distinct view of the world. +The angel, after a little time, presents him with a telescope, through +which he sees a city of a monstrous size, with thousands of cities and +kingdoms within it; and the great ocean, like a moat, around it; and +other seas, like rivers, intersecting it. + +This city is, of course, the world. It is divided into three magnificent +streets. These streets are called respectively the streets of Pride, +Pleasure, and Lucre. In the distance is a cross street, little and mean +in comparison with the others, but clean and neat, and on a higher +foundation than the other streets, running upwards towards the east, +whilst they all sink downwards towards the north. This street is the +street of True Religion. The angel conducts him down the three principal +streets, and procures him glances into the inside of various houses. The +following scene in a cellar of what is called the street of Pleasure, +goes far to show that the pen of Elis Wyn, at low description, was not +inferior to the pencil of Hogarth:— + + ‘From thence we went to a place where we heard a terrible noise, a + medley of striking, jabbering, crying and laughing, shooting and + singing. “Here’s Bedlam, doubtless,” said I. By the time we entered + the den the brawling had ceased. Of the company, one was on the + ground insensible; another was in a yet more deplorable condition; + another was nodding over a hearthful of battered pots, pieces of + pipes, and oozings of ale. And what was all this, upon inquiry, but + a carousal of seven thirsty neighbours,—a goldsmith, a pilot, a + smith, a miner, a chimney-sweeper, a poet, and a parson who had come + to preach sobriety, and to exhibit in himself what a disgusting thing + drunkenness is! The origin of the last squabble was a dispute which + had arisen among them about which of the seven loved a pipe and + flagon best. The poet had carried the day over all the rest, with + the exception of the parson, who, out of respect for his cloth, had + the most votes, being placed at the head of the jolly companions, the + poet singing:— + + ‘O where are there seven beneath the sky + Who with these seven for thirst can vie? + But the best for good ale these seven among + Are the jolly divine and the son of song.’ + +After showing the Bard what is going on in the interior of the houses of +the various streets, and in the streets themselves, the angel conducts +him to the various churches of the City of Perdition: to the temple of +Paganism, to the mosque of the Turk, and to the synagogue of the Jews; +showing and explaining to him what is going on within them. He then +takes him to the church of the Papists, which the angel calls, very +properly, ‘the church which deceiveth nations.’ Some frightful examples +are given of the depravity and cruelty of monks and friars. The dialogue +between the confessor and the portly female who had murdered her husband, +who was a member of the Church of England, is horrible, but quite in +keeping with the principles of Popery; also the discourse which the same +confessor holds with the young girl who had killed her child, whose +father was a member of the monastery to which the monk belonged. From +the Church of Rome they go to the Church of England. It is lamentable to +observe what an attached minister of the Church of England describes as +going on within the walls of a Church of England temple a hundred and +fifty years ago. Would that the description could be called wholly +inapplicable at the present time! + + “Whereupon he carried me to the gallery of one of the churches in + Wales, the people being in the midst of the service, and lo! some + were whispering, talking, and laughing, some were looking upon the + pretty women, others were examining the dress of their neighbours + from top to toe; some were pushing themselves forward and snarling at + one another about rank, some were dozing, others were busily engaged + in their devotions, but many of these were playing a hypocritical + part.” + +The angel finally conducts the Bard to the small cross street, that of +True Religion, where, of course, everything is widely different from what +is found in any of the other streets. In that street there was no fear +but of incensing the King, who was ever more ready to forgive than be +angry with his subjects, and no sound but that of psalms of praise to the +Almighty. + +The second section is a Vision of Death in his palace below. The +author’s aim in this vision is less apparent than in the preceding one. +Perhaps, however, he wished to impress upon people’s minds the awfulness +of dying in an unrepentant state, from the certainty, in that event, of +the human soul being forthwith cast headlong down the precipice of +destruction. The Bard is carried away by sleep to chambers where some +people are crying, others screaming, some talking deliriously, some +uttering blasphemies in a feeble tone, others lying in great agony with +all the signs of dying men, and some yielding up the ghost after uttering +‘a mighty shout.’ He is then conducted to a kind of limbo or Hades, +where he meets with his prototype the Sleeping Bard of old and two other +Welsh poets, one of whom is Taliesin, who is represented as watching the +caldron of the witch Cridwen, even as he watched it in his boyhood. From +thence he is hurried to the palace of Death, where he sees the King of +Terrors swallowing flesh and blood, who, after a time, places himself on +a terrific throne, and proceeds to pass judgment on various prisoners +newly arrived. They are dealt with in an awful but very summary manner. +It is to be remarked that all the souls introduced in this vision are +those of bad people, with the exception of those of the poets which the +Bard meets in limbo. A dark intimation, however, is given that there is +another court or palace, where Death presides under a far different form, +and where he pronounces judgment over the souls of the good. There is +much in this vision which it is very difficult to understand. The gloss, +or commentary, called ‘Death the Great,’ abounds with very fine poetry. + +The last Vision, that of Hell, is the longest of the three. The Bard is +carried in his sleep by the same angel who in his first vision had shown +him the madness and vanity of the world, to the regions of eternal horror +and woe, where he beholds the lost undergoing tortures proportionate to +the crimes which they had committed on earth. After wandering from nook +to nook, the Bard and his guide at last come to the court before the +palace of the hellish regions, where, amidst thousands of horrible +objects, the Bard perceives two feet of enormous magnitude, reaching to +the roof of the whole infernal firmament, and inquires of his companion +what those horrible things may be, but is told to be quiet for the +present, as on his return he will obtain a full view of the monster to +whom they belong, and is then conducted into the palace of Lucifer, who +is about to hold a grand council. The Arch-Fiend is described as seated +on a burning throne in a vast hall, the roof of which is of glowing +steel. Around him are his potentates on thrones of fire, and above his +head is a huge fist, holding a very frightful thunderbolt, towards which +he occasionally casts uneasy glances. In the midst of the palace is a +gulf, of yet more horrible and frightful aspect than hell itself, which +is continually opening and closing, and which, the angel says, is the +month of ‘Unknown’ or extremest hell, to which the devils and the damned +are to be hurled for ever on the last day. The council is held in order +to devise measures for the farther extension of the kingdom of Lucifer. +The Arch-Fiend, in a speech which he makes, boasts that three parts of +the world have already been brought to acknowledge his sway, chiefly +through the instrumentality of his three daughters—Pleasure, Pride, and +Lucre; and he hopes that eventually the whole world will be brought to do +the same. He is particularly desirous that Britain should be subject to +him, and requests the advice of his counsellors as to the best means to +be employed in order to accomplish his wish. Various infernal potentates +then arise and give him their advice, each of whom is a personification +of some crime, vice, or folly. The debate is frequently interrupted by +the sound of war; for, as the angel observes, there is continual war in +hell. There is at one time a terrible disturbance and outbreak, arising +from a dispute between the Papists, the Mahometans, and the bloody-minded +Roundheads, as to which has done most service to the cause of hell,—the +Koran, the Creed of Rome, or the Solemn League and Covenant. Lucifer is +only able to quell this disturbance—during which Mahomet and Pope Julius +assault each other tooth and nail—by causing his old picked soldiers, the +champions of hell, to tear the combatants from each other. Amidst +interruptions like these the debate proceeds. Each of the personified +crimes and vices in succession—amongst whom are Mammon, Pride, +Inconsiderateness, Wantonness, and the Demon of _Tobacco_—offers to go to +Britain and do his best to further the views of his master. Lucifer, +however, after listening to them all and acknowledging the peculiar merit +of each, says that none of them is of sufficient power to be relied upon +in the present emergency, but that he has a darling friend, who, with +their co-operation, is equal to the enterprise. The friend turns out to +be Ease—pleasant Ease—on whose merits he expatiates with great eloquence, +and with whom he requests them to co-operate. ‘Go with her,’ says he, +‘and keep everybody in his sleep and his rest, in prosperity and comfort, +abundance and carelessness, and then you will see the poor honest man, as +soon as he shall drink of the alluring cup of Ease, become a perverse, +proud, untractable churl; the industrious labourer change into a careless +waggish rattler; and every other person become just as you would desire +him . . . Follow her to Britain,’ he says in conclusion, ‘and be as +obedient to her as to our own royal Majesty’! + +Then comes the finale:— + + ‘At this moment the huge bolt was shaken, and Lucifer and his chief + counsellors were struck to the vortex of extremest hell, and oh! how + horrible it was to see the throat of Unknown opening to receive them! + “Well!” said the Angel, “we will now return; but you have not seen + anything in comparison with the whole which is within the bounds of + Destruction, and if you had seen the whole, it is nothing to the + inexpressible misery which exists in Unknown, for it is not possible + to form an idea of the world in extremest hell.” And at that word the + celestial messenger snatched me up to the firmament of the accursed + kingdom of darkness by a way I had not seen, whence I obtained, from + the palace along all the firmament of the black and hot _Destruction_, + and the whole land of forgetfulness, even to the walls of the city of + Destruction, a full view of the accursed monster of a giantess, whose + feet I had seen before. I do not possess words to describe her + figure. But I can tell you that she was a triple-faced giantess, + having one very atrocious countenance turned towards the heavens, + barking, snorting, and vomiting accursed abomination against the + celestial King; another countenance, very fair, towards the earth, to + entice men to tarry in her shadow; and another, the most frightful + countenance of all, turned towards Hell to torment it to all eternity. + She is larger than the entire earth, and is yet daily increasing, and + a hundred times more frightful than the whole of hell. She caused + hell to be made, and it is she who fills it with inhabitants. If she + were removed from hell, hell would become paradise; and if she were + removed from the earth, the little world would become heaven; and if + she were to go to heaven, she would change the regions of bliss into + utter hell. There is nothing in all the universe, except herself, + that God did not create. She is the mother of the four female + deceivers of the city of Destruction; she is the mother of Death; she + is the mother of every evil and misery; and she has a fearful hold on + every living man: her name is Sin. “_He who escapes from her hook_, + _for ever blessed is he_,” said the angel. Thereupon he departed, and + I could hear his voice saying, “_Write down what thou hast seen_, _and + he who shall read it carefully_, _shall never have reason to repent_.” + +The above is an outline of the work of Elis Wyn—an extraordinary work it +is. In it there is a singular mixture of the sublime and the coarse, of +the terrible and ludicrous, of religion and levity, of the styles of +Milton, of Bunyan, and of Quevedo. There is also much in it that is +Welsh, and much that may be said emphatically to belong to Elis Wyn +alone. The book is written in the purest Cambrian, and from the time of +its publication has enjoyed extensive popularity in Wales. It is, +however, said that the perusal of it has not unfrequently driven people +mad, especially those of a serious and religious turn. The same thing is +said in Spain of the ‘Life of Ignatius Loyola.’ Peter Williams, in +‘Lavengro,’ the Welsh preacher who was haunted with the idea that he had +committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, is frequently mentioning the +work of Elis Wyn. Amongst other things, he says that he took particular +delight in its descriptions of the torments of hell. We have no doubt +that many an Englishman, of honest Welsh Peter’s gloomy temperament, when +he reads the work in its present dress will experience the same kind of +fearful joy. + +The translation is accompanied by notes explanatory of certain passages +of the original beyond the comprehension of the common reader. These +notes are good, as far as they go, but they are not sufficiently +numerous, as many passages relating to ancient manners and +customs—perfectly intelligible, no doubt, to the translator—must, for +want of proper notes, remain dark and mysterious to his readers. In the +Vision of Hell, a devil, who returns from the world to which he has been +despatched, and who gives an account of his mission, says that he had +visited two young maidens in Wales who were engaged in turning the shift. +Not a few people—ladies, amongst the rest—will be disposed to ask what is +meant by turning the shift. Mr. Borrow gives elsewhere the following +explanation: ‘It was the custom in Britain in ancient times for the young +maiden who wished to see her future lover to sit up by herself at +Hallowmass Eve, wash out her smock, shift, or chemise, call it which of +the three you please, place it on a linen-horse before the fire, and +watch it whilst drying, leaving the door of the room open, in the belief +that exactly as the clock began to strike twelve the future bridegroom +would look in at the door, and remain visible till the twelfth stroke had +ceased to sound.’ + +Of the notes which Mr. Borrow has given, the most important is certainly +that which relates to Taliesin, who, in the Vision of Death, is described +as sitting in Hades, watching a caldron which is hanging over a fire, and +is continually going bubble, bubble. We give it nearly entire:— + + ‘Taliesin lived in the sixth century. He was a foundling, discovered + in his infancy lying in a coracle on a salmon weir, in the domain of + Elphin, a prince of North Wales, who became his patron. During his + life he arrogated to himself a supernatural descent and + understanding, and for at least a thousand years after his death he + was regarded by the descendants of the ancient Britons as a prophet + or something more. The poems which he produced procured for him the + title of “Bardic King.” They display much that is vigorous and + original, but are disfigured by mysticism and extravagant metaphor. + When Elis Wyn represents him as sitting by a cauldron in Hades, he + alludes to a wild legend concerning him, to the effect that he + imbibed awen or poetical genius whilst employed in watching “the + seething pot” of the sorceress Cridwen, which legend has much in + common with one of the Irish legends about Fin Macoul, which is + itself nearly identical with one in the Edda describing the manner in + which Sigurd Fafnisbane became possessed of supernatural wisdom.’ + +It is curious enough that the legend about deriving wisdom from _sucking +the scalded finger_ should be found in Wales, Ireland, and Scandinavia. +But so it is, and Mr. Borrow is clearly entitled to the credit of having +been the first to point out to the world this remarkable fact. In his +work called the ‘Romany Rye,’ published some years ago, a story is +related containing parts of the early history of the Irish mythic hero +Fion Mac Comhail, {33} or Fin Mac Coul, in which there is an account of +his burning his thumb whilst smoothing the skin of a fairy salmon which +is broiling over a fire, and deriving supernatural knowledge from +thrusting his thumb into his mouth and sucking it; and Mr. Borrow tells +the relater of that legend, his amusing acquaintance Murtagh, that the +same tale is told in the Edda of Sigurd, the Serpent-Killer, with the +difference that Sigurd burns his finger, not whilst superintending the +broiling of a salmon, but whilst roasting the heart of Fafnir, the +man-serpent, whom he had slain. + +Here, in his note on Taliesin, he shows that the same thing in substance +is said of the ancient Welsh bard. Of the three versions of the legend, +the one of which Sigurd Fafnisbane is the hero is probably the most +original, and is decidedly the most poetical. + + + + +Footnotes + + +{20} It is but right to state that the learned are divided with respect +to the meaning of ‘Cumro,’ and that many believe it to denote _an +original inhabitant_. + +{21a} Yehen banog: humped or bunched oxen, probably buffaloes. Banog is +derived from ban—a prominence, protuberance, or peak. + +{21b} Above we have given what we believe to be a plain and fair history +of Hu Gadarn; but it is necessary to state, that after his death he was +deified, and was confounded with the Creator, the vivifying power and the +sun, and mixed up with all kinds of myths and legends. Many of the +professedly Christian Welsh bards when speaking of the Deity have called +Him Hu, and ascribed to the Creator the actions of the creature. Their +doing so, however, can cause us but little surprise when we reflect that +the bards down to a very late period cherished a great many druidical and +heathen notions, and frequently comported themselves in a manner more +becoming heathens than Christian men. Of the confounding of what is +heavenly with what is earthly we have a remarkable instance in the ode of +Iolo Goch to the ploughman, four lines of which, slightly modified, we +have given above. In that ode the ploughman is confounded with the +Eternal, and the plough with the rainbow:— + + ‘The Mighty Hu who reigns for ever, + Of mead and song to men the giver, + The emperor of land and sea + And of all things which living be, + Did hold a plough with his good hand, + Soon as the deluge left the land, + To show to men, both strong and weak, + The haughty hearted and the meek, + There is no trade the heaven below + So noble as to guide the plough.’ + +To the Deity under the name of Hu there are some lines by one Rhys, a +Welsh bard of the time of Queen Elizabeth, though they are perhaps more +applicable to the Universal Pan or Nature than to the God of the +Christians:— + + ‘If with small things we Hu compare, + No smaller thing than Hu is there, + Yet greatest of the great is He, + Our Lord, our God of Mystery; + How swift he moves! a lucid ray, + A sunbeam wafts him on his way; + He’s great on land, and great on ocean, + Of one more great I have no notion; + I dread lest I should underrate + This being, infinitely great.’ + +{22} The poetical translations in this notice are taken from Borrow’s +‘Songs of Europe.’ + +{25a} + + ‘Oedd balch gwalch golchiad ei lain, + Oedd beilch gweilch gweled ei werin.’ + +In this couplet there is three-fold rhyme. We have the alliteration of +lch in the first line:— + + ‘ba_lch_ gwa_lch_ go_lch_iad;’ + +and of the _w_ in the second:— + + ‘g_w_eilch g_w_eled _w_erin;’ + +secondly, we have the rhymes of balch and gwalch; and thirdly, the +rhyming at the lines’ ends. + +{25b} Of this celebrated place we are permitted to extract the following +account from Mr. Borrow’s unpublished work, ‘Celtic Bards, Chiefs, and +Kings’:— + + ‘After wandering for many miles towards the south, over a bleak moory + country, you come to a place called Ffair Rhos, or something similar, + a miserable village consisting of a few half-ruined cottages, + situated on the top of a hill. From the hill you look down on a wide + valley of a russet colour, along which a river runs towards the + south. The whole scene is cheerless; sullen hills are all around. + Descending the hill you enter a large village divided into two by the + river, which here runs from east to west, but presently takes a turn. + There is much mire in the street; immense swine lie in the mire, who + turn up their snouts at you as you pass. Women in Welsh hats stand + in the mire, along with men without any hats at all, but with short + pipes in their mouths. They are talking together; as you pass, + however, they hold their tongues, the women leering contemptuously at + you, the men glaring sullenly at you, and causing tobacco-smoke to + curl in your face. On your taking off your hat, however, and + inquiring the way to the Monachlog, everybody is civil enough, and + twenty voices tell you the way to the monastery. You ask the name of + the river: “The Teivi, Sir, the Teivi.” The name of the bridge: + “Pont y Rhyd Fendigaid—the Bridge of the Blessed Ford, Sir!” You + cross the bridge of the Blessed Ford, and presently leaving the main + road you turn to the east, by a dunghill, up a narrow lane, parallel + with the river. After proceeding a mile up the lane amidst trees and + copses, and crossing a little brook which runs into the Teivi, out of + which you drink, you see before you in the midst of a field, in which + are tombstones and broken ruins, a rustic-looking church; a farmhouse + is near it, in the garden of which stands the framework of a large + gateway. You cross over into the churchyard, stand on a green mound + and look about you. You are now in the very midst of the Monachlog + Ystrad Flur, the celebrated monastery of Strata Florida, to which in + old times popish pilgrims from all parts of the world repaired. The + scene is solemn and impressive. On the north side of the river a + large bulky hill, called Bunk Pen Bannedd, looks down upon the ruins + and the church; and on the south side, some way behind the farmhouse, + is another hill which does the same. Rugged mountains form the + background of the valley to the east, down from which comes murmuring + the fleet but shallow Teivi. Such is the scenery which surrounds + what remains of Strata Florida; those scanty broken ruins compose all + that remains of that celebrated monastery in which kings, saints, and + mitred abbots were buried, and in which, or in whose precincts, was + buried Dafydd ab Gwilym, the greatest genius of the Cimbric race, and + one of the first poets of the world.’ + +{28} It must be mentioned, however, in justice to Douglas, that in the +autobiography of Dr. Carlyle, lately published, we find that ‘John +Douglas, who has for some time been Bishop of Salisbury, and who is one +of the most able and learned men on that bench, had at this time (1758, +some years after Gronwy had left him) but small preferment.’ + +{33} In a late number of the Transactions of the Dublin Ossianic +Society—a most admirable institution—there is an account of the early +life of Fin ma Coul, in which the burnt finger is mentioned; but that +number did not appear till more than a year subsequent to the publication +of the ‘Romany Rye,’ and contains not the slightest allusion either to +Fafnisbane, _i.e._ the slayer of Fafnir, or Taliesin—to the Eddacal or +the Cumric legend. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WELSH AND THEIR LITERATURE*** + + +******* This file should be named 33336-0.txt or 33336-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/3/3/3/33336 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/33336-0.zip b/33336-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..71b07ba --- /dev/null +++ b/33336-0.zip diff --git a/33336-h.zip b/33336-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2876019 --- /dev/null +++ b/33336-h.zip diff --git a/33336-h/33336-h.htm b/33336-h/33336-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f35685 --- /dev/null +++ b/33336-h/33336-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1815 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Welsh and Their Literature, by George Borrow</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 30%; } + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Welsh and Their Literature, by George +Borrow + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Welsh and Their Literature + from The London Quarterly Review, January 1861, American Edition + + +Author: George Borrow + + + +Release Date: August 3, 2010 [eBook #33336] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WELSH AND THEIR LITERATURE*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1861 “The London Quarterly +Review,” (American Edition) pages 20 to 33, by David Price, +email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>The Welsh and their Literature<br /> +by George Borrow</h1> +<p style="text-align: center">taken from the “The London +Quarterly Review”, 1861, pages 20–33.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">new +york</span>:<br /> +PUBLISHED BY LEONARD SCOTT & CO.,<br /> +79 <span class="smcap">fulton street</span>, <span +class="smcap">corner of gold street</span>.</p> +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">1861.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p><!-- page 20--><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +20</span>Art. II.—<i>The Sleeping Bard</i>; <i>or Visions +of the World</i>, <i>Death</i>, <i>and Hell</i>. By Elis +Wyn. Translated from the Cambrian British by George +Borrow. London, 1860.</p> +<p>The Welsh style themselves Cymry or Cumry, a word which, in +their language, means a number of people associated together. <a +name="citation20"></a><a href="#footnote20" +class="citation">[20]</a> They were the second mass of +population which moved from Asia into Europe. They followed +and pushed forward the Gael or Gauls; were themselves impelled +onward by the Slowaks or Sclavonians, who were themselves hunted, +goaded, and pestered by a wild, waspish race of people, whom, for +want of a better name, we will call Tatars or Tartars. The +Cymry have left their name behind them in various regions far +eastward of the one where they now sojourn. The most +easterly countries which still bear their name, or modifications +thereof, are Cambia, ‘which is two dayes journey from the +head of the great river Bruapo,’ and the Cryme or +Crimea. In those parts, and ‘where Constantinople now +is,’ they tarried a considerable time, and increased and +multiplied marvellously: and it was whilst tarrying in those +regions, which they called collectively Gwlad yr Haf, or the +summer country, that an extraordinary man was born amongst them, +who was called by Greeks and Romans, hundreds of years after his +death, Hesus, but whom the Cymry called, and still do call, Hu or +Hee, with the surname of Cadarn, or the Mighty. This Hu or +Hesus taught his countrymen the use of the plough, and to a +certain extent civilized them. Finding eventually that the +summer country was becoming over-populated, he placed himself at +the head of a vast multitude and set off towards the west. +Hu and his people fought or negotiated their way through various +countries possessed by the Gael, till they came to the shore of +the sea which separates the great isle of the west from the +continent. Hearing that it was only thinly peopled they +determined to pass over to it; and put their determination into +execution, crossing ‘the hazy sea,’ at present termed +the German Ocean, in boats made of wicker work and skins, similar +to but larger than the coracles which the Cymry always carried +with them in their long expeditions.</p> +<p>This great island was called Alban, Albyn, or Albion. +Alban is a Gaelic or Gaulic word, signifying properly a +hill-region. It is to be found under various modifications +in different parts of the world, but only where the Gaulic race +have at some time sojourned. The word Afghan is merely a +modification of Alban, or Alpan; so is Armenia; so is Alp; so is +of course Albania. The term was given to the island simply +because the cliffs which fronted the continent, where the sea +between the two lands was narrowest, were very high and +towering. The island at the time of the arrival of the +Cymry had, as has already been intimated, a scanty +population. This population consisted of Gael or Gauls, a +people of cognate race to the Cymry, and speaking a language much +the same as theirs, differing from it, however, in some +respects. Hu and his people took possession of the best +parts of the island, either driving the few Gaels to other +districts or admitting them to their confederacy. As the +country was in a very wild state, much overgrown with forests in +which bears and wolves wandered, and abounding with deep stagnant +pools, which <!-- page 21--><a name="page21"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 21</span>were the haunts of the avanc or +crocodile, Hu forthwith set about clearing it of some of its +horrors, and making it more fit to be the abiding place of +civilized beings. He made his people cut down woods and +forests, and destroy, as far as was possible, wild beasts and +crocodiles. He himself went to a gloomy pool, the haunt of +the king of the efync, baited a huge hook attached to a cable, +filing it into the pool, and when the monster had gorged the +snare drew him out by means of certain gigantic oxen, <a +name="citation21a"></a><a href="#footnote21a" +class="citation">[21a]</a> which he had tamed to the plough, and +burnt his horrid, wet, scaly carcass on a fire. He then +caused enclosures to be made, fields to be ploughed and sown, +pleasant wooden houses to be built, bees to be sheltered and +encouraged, and schools to be erected where song and music were +taught. O, a truly great man was Hu Gadarn! though a +warrior, he preferred the sickle and pruning-hook to the sword, +and the sound of the song and lute to the hoarse blast of the +buffalo’s horn:—</p> +<p class="poetry">The mighty Hu with mead would pay<br /> +The bard for his melodious lay;<br /> +The Emperor of land and sea<br /> +And of all livings things was he. <a name="citation21b"></a><a +href="#footnote21b" class="citation">[21b]</a></p> +<p>For many years after the death of Hu the Cymry retrograded +instead of advancing in civilization; they ceased to be a united +people; plunder and devastation were of daily occurrence among +them; every one did as he pleased, as far as in his power lay; +there was no law, but the law of the strongest; and no justice, +save that which was obtained from clemency and courtesy. At +length one Prydain arose, who, either from ambition or a nobler +motive, determined to introduce a system of government amongst +them. By strength of arm and character he induced the Cymry +of the lower country to acknowledge him for their head, and to +obey certain laws which he enacted for the regulation of +conduct. But neither his sovereignty nor his laws were +regarded by the Cymry of the hilly regions. Prydain was the +first king amongst the Cymry; and from his time the island was +called Britain, which is a modification of his name, and the +inhabitants Britons. The independent Cymry, however, +disdained to call themselves or their districts after him, but +still styled themselves Cymry, and their districts Cumrie-land +and Cumberland; whilst the Gael of the North, who never submitted +to his sway, and who knew little about him, still called +themselves Gael, and their country Caledon and Alban.</p> +<p>Various kings succeeded Prydain, during whose reigns the +Britons continued in much the same state as that in which he had +left them; on the coming of one Dyfnwal Moelmud, however, to the +throne, a mighty improvement was effected in their +condition. This prince was the great lawgiver of the +Britons, and the greatest benefactor which the race had known +since the days of Hu Gadarn. Tradition differs as to his +exact origin, but there is ground for believing that he was the +chief of a Cornish tribe, and that he was elected to the throne +on account of his wisdom and virtue. He gave a regular +system of laws and a constitution to the kingdom, and appointed +magistrates in every place, whose duty it was to administer +justice without respect of persons in all disputes, and whenever +the law had been violated. This great and good man is +believed to have lived about 400 years before the Christian +era.</p> +<p>After the Cymric or British race had been established in the +island about 1300 years, they were invaded by the Romans, under +Julius Cæsar. The king, who at that time <!-- page +22--><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>ruled +in Britain, was called Caswallon; he was a great warrior and much +beloved by his subjects. In him and his Britons the Romans +found their match and more, for after a month’s hard +fighting and skirmishing, they were compelled to betake +themselves to Gaul, the country from which they had come.</p> +<p>Mighty was the triumph in Britain, says an old chronicler, on +the retreat of the redoubted foe; and Caswallon gave a grand +festival at Caer Lud, or London, which was reckoned in after +times one of the three grand festivals of Britain. A grand +festival indeed it must have been, if, as an ancient bard +says,</p> +<p class="poetry">‘Full twenty thousand beeves and deer<br +/> +Were slain to find the guests with cheer.’</p> +<p>Britain was not subdued by the Romans till the time of +Claudius Cæsar. When conquered it was still permitted +to possess a king of its own, on condition that he should +acknowledge the authority of Rome, and pay tribute to her. +The first king in the world to confess the faith of Christ was a +British king, tributary to Rome. This king, whose name was +Lles ap Coel, made his confession as early as the year 160. +The Christian faith is supposed by some to have been first +preached in Britain by Joseph of Arimathea; by others, by St. +Paul himself. After remaining several centuries under the +sway of Rome, the Britons again became independent, the Roman +legions being withdrawn from the island for the defence of their +own country, threatened by barbarian hordes. They did not, +however, enjoy their independence long; a ferocious race, of +mysterious origin, whom they called Gwyddelian Fichti, invaded +them, and filled their country with horror and devastation. +Unable to offer any effectual opposition to these invaders, they +called to their assistance, from the neighbourhood of the mouth +of the Elbe, the Saxons or <i>men of the knives</i>, a bold and +adventurous, but treacherous and bloody people, who at first +fought stoutly for them, but soon turned against them, and +eventually all but extirpated them from Southern +Britain:—</p> +<p class="poetry"> ‘A serpent that +coils,<br /> + And with fury boils,<br /> +From Germany coming with arm’d wings spread,<br /> + Shall subdue and enthral<br /> + The broad Britain all<br /> +From the Lochlin ocean to Severn’s bed;</p> +<p class="poetry"> And British men<br /> + Shall be captives then<br /> +To strangers from Saxonia’s strand;<br /> + They shall praise their God, and hold<br /> + Their language, as of old,<br /> +But except wild Wales they shall lose their land.’ <a +name="citation22"></a><a href="#footnote22" +class="citation">[22]</a></p> +<p style="text-align: right" class="poetry"><i>Taliesin</i>.</p> +<p>Yes; the Cymric or British race were dispossessed of Britain +with the exception of that part which they still emphatically +call Cumrie, but which by other people is called Wales. +There they remained independent for a long time, governed by +their own princes; and there, though now under the sway of +England, they still preserve their venerable language, the oldest +in the world, with perhaps the exception of the Gaulic or Irish, +with which it is closely connected. Wales is not a Cymric +but a Saxon or Teutonic word, bestowed on the land of the Cymry +by the seed of Hengist. Like the Gaelic word Alban, it +means a hilly or mountainous region, and is connected with wall, +wold, and wood. The Germans, from very early times, have +called the Cymry Welsh or Waldenses, and the country where they +happened to be, Welschland. They still apply to Italy the +name of Welschland, a name bestowed upon it by their ancestors, +because it was originally principally peopled by the Cymry, whom +the Germans called Welsh from the circumstance of their +inhabiting some mountainous or forest country in the far East, +when they first came in contact with them.</p> +<p>We now proceed to give some account of the literature of the +Cymry. We commence with their poetry, and from a very early +period, quoting from a Cymric Triad:—‘These are the +three artificers of poetry and record amongst the nation of the +Cymry: Gwyddon Ganhebon, who first in the world invented vocal +song; and Hu the Mighty, who first invented the means of +recording and preserving vocal song; and Tydan, the father of the +muse, who first gave rules to vocal song and a system to +recording. From what these three men effected Bards and +Bardism were derived; the dignities and customs pertaining to +which were arranged systematically by the three original bards, +Plenydd, Alon, and Gwbon.’ Three ranks or orders +constituted what was called barddas, or bardism; that of bard or +poet, that of ovydd or philosopher, and that of druid or +instructor. The motto of this institution +was—‘Y Gwir yn erbyn y byd,’ or The Truth +against the world; from which it would appear that bardism was +instituted for the purpose of propagating truth. Bardism, +or as it is generally though improperly styled, druidism, was the +fount of instruction, moral and religious, in Britain and in +Gaul. The vehicle by which instruction, or, as it was +probably termed, truth, was propagated, was poetry. The +bard wrought the philosophy of the ovydd into song, and the druid +or instructor, who was also minister of such religion as the +Celts and Cymry possessed, <!-- page 23--><a +name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>whatever that +was, communicated to his pupils the result of the labours of the +bard and ovydd. The Druidical verses then probably +constituted the most ancient poetry of Britain. These +verses were communicated orally, and were never written down +whilst bardism or druidism lasted, though the bards and druids at +a very early period were acquainted with the use of +letters. Whether any genuine bardic poetry has been +preserved, it is impossible to say; it is the opinion, however, +of Cymric scholars of reputation, that certain ancient strains +which the Welsh possess, which are composed in a measure called +Englyn milwr, are either druidical strains or imitations of +such. Each of these compositions is in three lines; the +entire pith however of the triplet, generally consisting of a +moral adage or a piece of wholesome advice, lies in the third +line, the two first being composed of trivial and unconnected +expressions. Many of these stanzas are called the stanzas +of ‘The Mountain Snow,’ from the circumstance of +their commencing with ‘Eiry Mynydd,’ which has that +signification. The three lines rhyme together at their +terminations; and a species of alliteration is observable +throughout. A word or two here on Cymric rhyme and +measures.</p> +<p>In Welsh poetry rhyme is found in a twofold shape: there is +alliteration, that is rhyme produced by the same letters +following each other at certain distances in the body of the +line, then there is the common rhyme, produced by two or more +lines terminating with the same letters. In the older Welsh +poetry, by which we mean that composed before the termination of +the first millennium, both rhyme and alliteration are employed, +but in a less remarkable manner than in the bardic effusions of +comparatively modern times. The extent to which the bards +of the middle ages, and those of one or two subsequent centuries, +carried rhyme and alliteration seems marvellous to the English +versifier. We English think we have accomplished a great +feat in rhyme when we have made three lines consonant in their +terminations; but Dafydd Benfras, or David of the Thick Head, +would make fifty lines rhyme together, and not think that he had +accomplished anything remarkable in rhyming either. Our +English alliterative triumph is the following line, composed by a +young lady in the year 1800, on the occasion of a gentleman of +the name of Lee planting a lane with lilacs:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘Let lovely lilacs line Lee’s +lonely lane!’</p> +<p>in which not only every word, but every syllable commences +with the same letter—<i>l</i>.</p> +<p>But what is this English alliterative triumph of the young +lady compared with the Welsh alliterative triumph of Dafydd +Nanmawr, who wrote a poem of twelve lines, every syllable of +which commences with the letter g, with the exception of the +last, which begins with n?</p> +<p>The earliest Cymric or British metre seems to have been a +triban or triplet, in each line of which there were in general +six syllables. The bards of the sixth, seventh, and several +succeeding centuries used this metre, and likewise others, +invented by themselves, in which the lines are of various +length. There was no regular system of prosody till the +year 1120, when one was established under the auspices of Grufydd +ap Cynan, prince of Gwynedd. This Ap Cynan, who, though of +Welsh origin, was born in Dublin, and educated at the Danish +Irish court, was passionately fond of poetry, and was not only +well acquainted with that of the British bards, but with the +strains of the Icelandic skalds and Irish fileas. Shortly +after his accession to the throne of Gwynedd, of which he was the +rightful heir, he proclaimed an eisteddfod, or poetical +sessions. At this eisteddfod, which was numerously attended +by poets of various nations, a system of prosody was drawn up by +competent persons, at his instigation, for the use of the Welsh, +and established by his authority. This system, in which +Cymric, Icelandic, and Irish forms of verse are blended and +amalgamated, has with a few unimportant variations maintained its +ground to the present time. It contains three primary +measures, termed respectively, englyn, cywydd, and awdl. Of +the englyn, there are five kinds; of the cywydd, four; and of the +awdl, fifteen. Each particular species of englyn, cywydd, +and awdl has its appropriate name, which it is needless to give +here. These three primary metres, with their modifications, +make together twenty-four measures, which embrace the whole +system of Welsh versification, in which, as somebody has +observed, each line, word, and letter, are so harmonized by +consonancy, chained so accurately, woven so closely and +correctly, that it is impossible to extract one word or even +letter without causing a hideous gap. Whoever has ventured +to compose out of these measures, since the time of their +establishment, has been considered by the Welsh scholar as +unworthy of the name of poet.</p> +<p>The earliest recorded poet of the Cymry, after the days of +Gwyddon Ganhebon and the other personages mentioned with him in +the triad, is Merddin, Beirdd Emrys Wledig, or Merddin, Bard of +Prince Emrys. He flourished about the middle of the fifth +century, the period when the Saxons arrived in Britain, <!-- page +24--><a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 24</span>under +the command of Hengist and Horsa. Besides poetry he was +skilled in mathematics, and is said by the Welsh to have been the +architect of Stonehenge. He has been surnamed Ambrosius, +which is the Latin modification of the name of his patron +Emrys. He is the Merddin, or Merlin, who has had to father +so many of the prophecies which since his death have been +produced. None of his poems are extant.</p> +<p>During the period which elapsed between the first coming of +the Saxons, and the expulsion of the British from the Southern +and Eastern parts of the island, lived Aneurin, Taliesin, +Llewarch Hen, and Merddin, surnamed Wyllt or the Wild, all +celebrated poets, the latter of whom has generally been +confounded with Merddin Ambrosius. Aneurin was a chief of +the Ottadinian Britons, and his principal poem is the one styled +Gododin, a word which probably means that which relates to the +Ottadini. It is descriptive of the battle of Cattraeth, +fought between the Britons and the Saxons, in which the former +were so completely worsted that only three, amongst whom was +Aneurin himself, escaped with their lives. The poem is +composed in lines remarkably short, consisting in general of only +six syllables. Aneurin was the Gildas of ecclesiastical +history, and the name of Gildas is merely a Saxon translation of +Aneurin, which signifies golden grove. Taliesin Ben Beirdd, +or Taliesin Prince of Bards, was a North Welshman, but was +educated at Llanreithin, in Glamorgan, under Catwg, celebrated +for his aphorisms, who kept a school of philosophy there. +He was called Prince of Bards because he excelled all his +contemporaries in the poetic art. Many of his pieces are +extant; amongst them is an awdl or ode, containing an abridgment +of the history of the world, in which there is a stanza with +regard to the destiny of the ancient Britons as sublime as it is +true:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘Their Lord they shall praise,<br /> +Their language they shall keep,<br /> +Their land they shall lose<br /> +Except wild Wales.’</p> +<p>Llewarch Hen, or Llewarch the aged, was a prince of +Cumberland. Driven from his domain by the Saxons, he sought +a refuge at the place which is now called Shrewsbury, and +subsequently on the shore of the lake of Bala, a beautiful sheet +of water in Merionethshire, overlooked on the south by the great +mountain Arran. There he died at the age of one hundred and +fifty years. His poems consist chiefly of elegies on his +sons, twenty-four in number, all of whom perished in battle, and +on his slaughtered friends. They are composed in triplets, +and abound with simplicity and pathos. Myrddin Wyllt, or +Myrddin the Wild, was a Briton of the Scottish border. +Having killed the son of his sister, he was so stung with remorse +that he determined to renounce the society of men, and +accordingly retired to a forest in Scotland, called Celydon, +where he was frequently seized with howling madness. Owing +to his sylvan life and his attacks of lunacy, he was called +Merddyn Wyllt, or the Wild. He composed poetry in his lucid +intervals. Six of his pieces have been preserved: they are +chiefly on historical subjects. The most remarkable of them +is an address to his pig, in which he tells the woes and +disasters which are to happen to Britain: it consists of +twenty-five stanzas or sections. In all of them a kind of +alliteration is observable, and in each, with one or two +exceptions, the first line rhymes with all the rest. Each +commences with ‘Oian a phorchellan’—listen, +little porker! The commencement of one of these stanzas +might be used in these lowering days by many a grey-headed yeoman +to his best friend:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘Oian a phorchellan: mawr eryssi<br /> +A fydd ym Mhrydan, ac nim dorbi.</p> +<p class="poetry">Listen, little porker! mighty wonders<br /> +Shall occur in Britain, which shall not con me.’</p> +<p>Many and great poets flourished in the times of the Welsh +princes: the three greatest were Meilyr, Gwalchmai, and Dafydd +Benfras. Meilyr was bard of Gruffudd ap Cynan, prince of +Gwynedd or North Wales, who died in 1137. He sang the +praises of his master, who was a celebrated warrior and a +bountiful patron of the muse, in whose time and under whose +sanction those forms of composition, generally called the twenty +four measures, were invented and promulgated. Gwalchmai +lived in the time of Owain, prince of Gwynedd, about whom he sang +a piece which is to a certain extent known to the English public +by a paraphrase made by Gray, which bears the title of ‘The +Triumphs of Owain.’ Dafydd Benfras was domestic bard +of Llywelyn ap Jorwerth, also prince of Gwynedd and titular king +of Wales, who flourished during the first half of the thirteenth +century. In one of his odes addressed to his patron, there +is an animated description of a battle won by Llywelyn over King +John:</p> +<p class="poetry">‘Llywelyn of the potent hand oft +wrought<br /> +Trouble upon the kings and consternation;<br /> +When he with the Lloegrain monarch fought,<br /> +Whose cry was “Devastation!”<br /> +Forward impetuously his squadrons ran;<br /> +Great was the tumult ere the shoot began;<br /> +Proud was the hero of his reeking glaive,<br /> +<!-- page 25--><a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +25</span>Proud of their numbers were his followers brave. <a +name="citation25a"></a><a href="#footnote25a" +class="citation">[25a]</a><br /> +O then were heard resounding o’er the fields<br /> +The clash of faulchions and the crash of shields!<br /> +Many the wounds in yonder fight receiv’d!<br /> +Many the warriors of their lives bereaved!<br /> +The battle rages till our foes recoil<br /> +Behind the Dike which Offa built with toil.<br /> +Bloody their foreheads, gash’d with many a blow,<br /> +Blood streaming down their quaking knees below.<br /> +Llywelyn we as our high chief obey,<br /> +To fair Porth Ysgewin extends his sway;<br /> +For regal virtues and for princely line<br /> +He towers above imperial Constantine.’</p> +<p>Dafydd ab Gwilym was born at Bro Gynan, in Cardiganshire, in +1293, about forty years after the whole of Wales had been +subjected to the sway of England. He was the Ovid of Wales, +the poet of love and nature. In his early years he was very +dissipated, but towards the latter part of his life became +religious. He died at the age of sixty-three, and was +buried within the precincts of the great monastery of Strata +Florida. <a name="citation25b"></a><a href="#footnote25b" +class="citation">[25b]</a> Such was the power of his +genius, that the generality of the poets who succeeded him for +the next four hundred years were more or less his +imitators. Iolo Goch, or Red Julius, whose real name was +Llwyd, was the bard of Owen Glendower, and, amongst other pieces, +composed a graphic ode on his patron’s mansion at Sycharth, +and the manner of life there:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘Its likeness now I’ll limn you +out:<br /> +’Tis water-girdled wide about;<br /> +It shows a wide and stately door,<br /> +Reach’d by a bridge the water o’er;<br /> +’Tis formed of buildings coupled fair—<br /> +Coupled is every couple there;<br /> +Within a quadrate structure tall<br /> +Muster the merry pleasures all;<br /> +Conjointly are the angles bound,<br /> +No flaw in all the place is found.<br /> +Structures in contact meet the eye<br /> +Upon the hillock’s top on high;<br /> +Into each other fasten’d they<br /> +The form of a hard knot display.<br /> +There dwells the chief we all extol<br /> +In timber house on lightsome knoll;<br /> +Upon four wooden columns proud<br /> +Mounteth his mansion to the cloud.<br /> +Each column’s thick and firmly bas’d,<br /> +And upon each a loft is plac’d;<br /> +In those four lofts, which coupled stand,<br /> +Repose at night the minstrel band.<br /> +Four lofts they were in pristine state,<br /> +But now partition’d form they eight.<br /> +Tiled is the roof. On each house-top<br /> +Rise smoke-ejecting chimneys up.<br /> +All of one form there are nine halls,<br /> +Each with nine wardrobes in its walls,<br /> +With linen white as well supplied<br /> +As fairest shops of fam’d Cheapside.</p> +<p style="text-align: center" class="poetry">* * * * *</p> +<p class="poetry">What luxury doth this hall adorn,<br /> +Showing of cost a sovereign scorn!<br /> +<!-- page 26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +26</span>His ale from Shrewsbury town he brings;<br /> +His usquebaugh is drink for kings.<br /> +Bragget he keeps, bread white of look,<br /> +And, bless the mark, a bustling cook.<br /> +His mansion is the minstrels’ home,<br /> +You’ll find them there whene’er you come.<br /> +Of all her sex his wife’s the best,<br /> +The household through her care is blest;<br /> +She’s scion of a knightly tree,<br /> +She’s dignified, she’s kind and free.<br /> +His bairns approach me, pair by pair,<br /> +O what a nest of chieftains fair!<br /> +Here difficult it is to catch<br /> +A sight of either bolt or latch;<br /> +The porter’s place here none will fill;<br /> +Here largess shall be lavish’d still,<br /> +And ne’er shall thirst or hunger rude<br /> +In Sycharth venture to intrude.’</p> +<p>Iolo composed this ode two years before the great Welsh +insurrection, when he was more than a hundred years old. To +his own great grief he survived his patron, and all hopes of +Welsh independence. An englyn, which he composed a few days +before his death, commemorates the year of the rising of +Glendower, and also the year to which the chieftain +lived:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘One thousand four hundred, no less and +no more,<br /> +Was the date of the rising of Owen Glendower;<br /> +Till fifteen were added with courage ne’er cold<br /> +Liv’d Owen, though latterly Owen was old.’</p> +<p>Glendower died at the age of sixty-seven: Iolo, when he called +him old, was one hundred and eighteen.</p> +<p>Gwilym ap Ieuan Hen flourished about 1450. He was bard +to Griffith ap Nicholas, chieftain of Dinefor, in whose praise he +wrote an ode, commencing with lines to the following +effect:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘Griffith ap Nicholas! who like thee<br +/> +For wealth and power and majesty?<br /> +Which most abound—I cannot say—<br /> +On either side of Towey gay,<br /> +From hence to where it meets the brine,<br /> +Trees or stately towers of thine?’</p> +<p>Griffith ap Nicholas was a powerful chieftain of South Wales, +something of a poet and a great patron of bards. Seeing +with regret that there was much dissension amongst the bardic +order, and that the rules of bardism were nearly forgotten, he +held a bardic congress at Carmarthen, with the view of reviving +bardic enthusiasm and re-establishing bardic discipline. +The result of this meeting—the only one of the kind which +had been held in Wales since the days of the Welsh +princes—to a certain extent corresponded with his +wish. In the wars of the Roses he sided with York, chiefly +out of hatred to Jasper Earl of Pembroke, half-brother of Henry +VI. He was mortally wounded at the battle of +Mortimer’s Cross, which was gained for Edward IV. by a +desperate charge made by Griffith and his Welshmen at +Pembroke’s Banner, when the rest of the Yorkists were +wavering. His last words were: ‘Welcome death! since +honour and victorie makes for us!’</p> +<p>Dafydd ab Edmund was born at Pwll Gwepra, in the parish of +Hanmer, in Flintshire. He was the most skilful versifier of +his time. He attended the Eisteddfod, or congress, at +Carmarthen, held under the auspices of Griffith ap Nicholas, and +not only carried off the prize, but induced the congress to +sanction certain alterations in the poetical canons of Gruffudd +ab Cynan, which he had very much at heart. There is a +tradition that Griffith ap Nicholas commenced the business of the +congress by the following question: ‘What is the cause, +nature, and end of an Eisteddfod?’ No one appearing +ready with an answer, Griffith said: ‘Let the little man in +the grey coat answer;’ whereupon Dafydd made the following +reply: ‘To remember what has been—to think of what +is—and to judge about what shall be.’</p> +<p>Lewis Glyn Cothi lived during the wars of the Roses. He +was bard to Jasper Earl of Pembroke, son of Owen Tudor and +Catharine of France, and brother uterine of Henry VI. He +followed his patron to the fatal battle of Mortimer’s Cross +as a captain of foot. His pieces are mostly on the events +of his time, and are full of curious historical information.</p> +<p>Ieuan Deulwyn was bard and friend of Ryce ap Thomas, to whom +he addressed a remarkable ode in stanzas of four lines on the +principle of counter-change, by which any line in the quatrain +may begin it. His friend and patron Ryce ap Thomas was the +grandson of that Griffith ap Nicholas who perished at the battle +of Mortimer’s Cross, fighting against Lancaster. +Ryce, however, when Richmond, the last hope of Lancaster, landed +at Milford Haven, joined him at the head of ‘all the +Ryces,’ and was the main cause of his eventually winning +the crown. He was loaded with riches and honours by Henry +VII., and was an especial favourite with Henry VIII., who used to +call him Father Preecc, my trusty Welshman. He was a great +warrior, a consummate courtier, and a very wise man; for whatever +harm he might do to people, he never spoke ill of anybody. +His tomb, bearing the sculptured figures of himself and wife, may +be seen in the church of St. Peter, at Carmarthen.</p> +<p>Sion Tudor was born about the middle of the sixteenth +century. He had much wit and humour, but was very +satirical. He wrote a bitter epigram on London, in which +city, by the bye, he had been most unmercifully <!-- page 27--><a +name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +27</span>fleeced. William Middleton was one of the sea +captains of Queen Elizabeth; he translated the Psalms into +several of the four-and-twenty measures whilst commanding a ship +of war in the West Indian seas. Twm Sion Cati lived in the +days of James I.: he was a sweet poet, but—start not, +gentle reader! a ferocious robber. His cave amidst the wild +hills between Tregaron and Brecknock is still pointed out by the +neighbouring rustics. In the middle of the seventeenth +century was produced a singular little piece, author unknown: it +is an englyn or epigram of four lines on a spider, all in +vowels:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘O’i wiw wy i weu e +â,—o’i au,<br /> +O’i wyau y weua;<br /> +E wywa ei we’ aua,’<br /> +A’i weuai yw ieuau ia.’</p> +<p>A proest, or kind of counterchange, was eventually added to it +by one Gronwy Owen, so that the Welsh now can say, what perhaps +no other nation can, that they have a poem of eight lines in +their language, in which there is not a single consonant. +It is however necessary to state, that in the Welsh language +there are seven vowels, both w and y being considered and sounded +as such. The two parts may be thus rendered into +English:</p> +<p class="poetry">‘From out its womb it weaves with care<br +/> + Its web beneath the roof;<br /> +Its wintry web it spreadeth there—<br /> + Wires of ice its woof.</p> +<p class="poetry">And doth it weave against the wall<br /> + Thin ropes of ice on high?<br /> +And must its little liver all<br /> + The wondrous stuff supply?’</p> +<p>Huw Morris was born in the year 1622, and died in 1709, having +lived in six reigns. The place of his birth was Pont y +Meibion, in the valley of Ceiriog, in Denbighshire. He was +a writer of songs, carols, and elegies, and was generally termed +Eos Ceiriog, or the Nightingale of Ceiriog, a title which he +occasionally well deserved, for some of his pieces, especially +his elegies, are of great beauty and sweetness. Not +unfrequently, however, the title of Dylluan Ceiriog, or the Owl +of Ceiriog, would be far more applicable, for whenever he thought +fit he could screech and hoot most fearfully. He was a +loyalist, and some of his strains against the Roundheads are +fraught with the bitterest satire. His dirge on Oliver and +his men, composed shortly after Monk had declared for Charles +II., is a piece quite unique in its way. He lies buried in +the graveyard of the beautiful church of Llan Silien, in +Denbigshire. The stone which covers his remains is yet to +be seen just outside the southern wall, near the porch. The +last great poet of Wales was a little swarthy curate;—but +this child of immortality, for such he is, must not be disposed +of in half a dozen lines. The following account of him is +extracted from an unpublished work, called ‘Wild +Wales,’ by the author of ‘The Bible in +Spain’:—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Goronwy, or Gronwy, Owen was born in the +year 1722, at a place called Llanfair Mathafrn Eithaf, in +Anglesea. He was the eldest of three children. His +parents were peasants and so exceedingly poor that they were +unable to send him to school. Even, however, when an +unlettered child he gave indications that he was visited by the +awen or muse. At length the celebrated Lewis Morris +chancing to be at Llanfair, became acquainted with the boy, and, +struck with its natural talents, determined that he should have +all the benefit which education could bestow. He +accordingly, at his own expense, sent him to school at Beaumaris, +where he displayed a remarkable aptitude for the acquisition of +learning. He subsequently sent him to Jesus College, +Oxford, and supported him there whilst studying for the +Church. At Jesus, Gronwy distinguished himself as a Greek +and Latin scholar, and gave proofs of such poetical talent in his +native language that he was looked upon by his countrymen of that +Welsh college as the rising bard of the age. After +completing his collegiate course, he returned to Wales, where he +was ordained a minster of the Church in the year 1745. The +next seven years of his life were a series of cruel +disappointments and pecuniary embarrassments. The grand +wish of his heart was to obtain a curacy, and to settle down in +Wales. Certainly a very reasonable wish, for, to say +nothing of his being a great genius, he was eloquent, highly +learned, modest, meek, and of irreproachable morals; yet Gronwy +Owen could obtain no Welsh curacy, nor could his friend Lewis +Morris, though he exerted himself to the utmost, procure one for +him. It was true that he was told that he might go to +Llanfair, his native place, and officiate there at a time when +the curacy happened to be vacant, and thither he went, glad at +heart to get back amongst his old friends, who enthusiastically +welcomed him; yet scarcely had he been there three weeks when he +received notice from the chaplain of the Bishop of Bangor that he +must vacate Llanfair in order to make room for a Mr. John Ellis, +a young clergyman of large independent fortune, who was wishing +for a curacy under the Bishop of Bangor, Doctor Hutton. So +poor Gronwy, the eloquent, the learned, the meek, was obliged to +vacate the pulpit of his native place to make room for the rich +young clergyman, who wished to be within dining distance of the +palace of Bangor. Truly in this world the full shall be +crammed, and those who have little shall have the little which +they have taken away from them. Unable to obtain employment +in Wales, Gronwy sought for it in England, and after some time +procured the curacy of Oswestry, in Shropshire, where he married +a respectable young woman, who <!-- page 28--><a +name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>eventually +brought him two sons and a daughter. From Oswestry he went +to Donnington, near Shrewsbury, where, under a certain Scotchman +named Douglas, who was an absentee, and who died Bishop of +Salisbury, he officiated as curate and master of a grammar school +for a stipend—always grudgingly and contumeliously +paid—of three-and-twenty pounds a year. From +Donnington he removed to Walton in Cheshire, where he lost his +daughter, who was carried off by a fever. His next removal +was to Northolt, a pleasant village in the neighbourhood of +London. He held none of his curacies long, either losing +them from the caprice of his principals, or being compelled to +resign them from the parsimony which they practised towards +him. In the year 1756 he was living in a garret in London, +vainly soliciting employment in his sacred calling, and +undergoing with his family the greatest privations. At +length his friend Lewis Morris, who had always assisted him to +the utmost of his ability, procured him the mastership of a +Government school at New Brunswick, in North America, with a +salary of three hundred pounds a year. Thither he went with +his wife and family, and there he died some time about the year +1780.</p> +<p>‘He was the last of the great poets of Cambria, and with +the exception of Ab Gwilym, the greatest which she has +produced. His poems, which for a long time had circulated +through Wales in manuscript, were first printed in the year +1819. They are composed in the ancient bardic measures, and +were, with one exception, namely, an elegy on the death of his +benefactor, Lewis Morris, which was transmitted from the New +World, written before he had attained the age of +thirty-five. All his pieces are excellent, but his +master-work is decidedly the Cywydd y Farn, or Day of +Judgment. This poem, which is generally considered by the +Welsh as the brightest ornament of their ancient language, was +composed at Donnington, a small hamlet in Shropshire, on the +north-west spur of the Wrekin, at which place, as has been +already said, Gronwy toiled as schoolmaster and curate under +Douglas the Scot, for a stipend of three-and-twenty pounds a +year.’ <a name="citation28"></a><a href="#footnote28" +class="citation">[28]</a></p> +</blockquote> +<p>The prose literature of Wales is by no means so extensive as +the poetical; it, however, comprises much that is valuable and +curious on historical, biographical, romantic and moral +subjects. The most ancient Welsh prose may probably be +found in certain brief compositions, called Triads, which are +said to be of Druidic origin. The Triad was used for the +commemoration of historical facts or the inculcation of moral +duties. It has its name because in it three events are +commemorated, or three persons mentioned, if it be historical; +three things or three actions recommended or denounced, if it be +moral. To give the reader at once a tolerable conception of +what the Triad is, we subjoin two or three specimens of this kind +of composition. We commence with the historical +Triad:—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘These are the three pillars of the race of +the isle of Britain: First, Hu the Mighty, who conducted the +nation of the Cumry from the summer country to the island of +Britain (bringing them from the continent) across the hazy sea +(German Ocean). Second, Prydain, son of Aedd Mawr, the +founder of government and rule in the isle of Britain, before +whose time there was no such thing as justice except what was +obtained by courtesy, nor any law save that of the +strongest. Third, Dyfnwal Moelmud, who first reduced to a +system the laws, customs, and privileges of his country and +nation.</p> +<p>‘The three intruding tribes into the island of Britain +are the following: First, the Corranians, who came from the +country of Pwyl. Second, the Gwyddelian (silvan, Irish) +Fichti (Picts), who came to Alban across the sea of Lochlin +(Northern Ocean), and who still exist in Alban by the shore of +the sea of Lochlin (from Inverness to Thursoe). Third, the +Saxons . . . ’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>So much for the historical Triad: now for the moral. The +following are selected from a curious collection of admonitory +sayings, called the ‘Triads of the Cumro, or +Welshman:’—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Three things should a Cumro always bear in +mind lest he dishonour them: his father, his country, and his +name of Cumro.</p> +<p>‘There are three things for which a Cumro should be +willing to die: his country, his good name, and the truth +wherever it be.</p> +<p>‘Three things are highly disgraceful to a Cumro: to look +with one eye, to listen with one ear, and to defend with one +hand.</p> +<p>‘Three things it especially behoves a Cumro to choose +from his own country: his king, his wife, and his +friend.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>After the Triads, the following are the principal prose works +of the Welsh:—</p> +<p>1. ‘The Chronicle of the Kings of the Isle of +Britain;’ supposed to have been written by Tysilio, in the +seventh century. This work, or rather a Latin paraphrase of +it by Geoffrey of Monmouth, has supplied our early English +historians with materials for those parts of their works which +are devoted to the subject of ancient Britain. It brings +down British history to the year 660.</p> +<p>2. A continuation of the same to the year 1152, by +Caradawg of Llancarvan. It begins thus: “In the year +of Christ 660, died Cadwallawn ab Cadfan, King of the Britons, +and Cadwaladr his son became king in his place; <!-- page 29--><a +name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 29</span>and, after +ten years of peace, the great sickness, which is called the +Yellow Plague, came over the whole isle of Britain.”</p> +<p>3. The ‘Code of Howel Da;’ a book consisting +of laws, partly framed, partly compiled, by Howel Da, or the +Good, who began to reign in the year 940. It is divided +into three parts, and contains laws relating to the government of +the palace and the family of the prince, laws concerning private +property, and laws which relate to private rights and +privileges. It is a code which displays much acuteness, +good sense, and not a little oddity. Many of Howel’s +laws prevailed in Wales as far down as the time of Henry VII.</p> +<p>4. ‘The Life or Biography of Gruffydd ap +Cynan.’ This Gruffydd, of whom we have had more than +once occasion to speak already, was born in Dublin about the year +1075. He was the son of Cynan, an expatriated prince of +Gwynedd, by Raguel, daughter of Anlaf or Olafr, Dano-Irish king +of Dublin and the fifth part of Ireland. After a series of +the strangest adventures he succeeded in regaining his +father’s throne, on which he died after a glorious reign of +fifty years. He was the father of Owen Gwynedd, one of the +most warlike of the Welsh princes, and was grandsire of that +Madoc who, there is considerable reason for supposing, was the +first discoverer of the great land in the West. A truly +remarkable book is the one above mentioned, which narrates his +life. It does full justice to the subject, being written in +a style not unworthy of Snorre Sturlesen, or the man who wrote +the history of King Sverrer and the Birkebeiners, in the latter +part of the Heimskringla. It is a composition of the +fifteenth century, but the author is unknown.</p> +<p>5. The Mabinogion, or Juvenile Diversions, a collection +of Cumric legends, in substance of unknown antiquity, but in the +dress in which they have been handed down to us scarcely older +than the fourteenth century. In interest they almost vie +with the ‘Arabian Nights,’ with which, however, they +have nothing else in common, notwithstanding that all other +European tales—those of Russia not excepted—are +evidently modifications of, or derived from the same source as +the Arabian stories. Of these Cumric legends two +translations exist: the first, which was never published, made +towards the concluding part of the last century by William Owen, +who eventually assumed the name of Owen Pugh, the writer of the +immortal Welsh and English Dictionary, and the translator into +Welsh of ‘Paradise Lost;’ the second by the fair and +talented Lady Charlotte Guest, which first made these strange, +glorious stories known to England and all the world.</p> +<p>The sixth and last grand prose work of the Welsh is the +‘Sleeping Bard,’ a moral allegory, written about the +beginning of the last century by Elis Wyn, a High-Church Welsh +clergyman, a translation of which, by George Borrow, is now +before us:—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘The following translation of the Sleeping +Bard,’ says Mr. Borrow, in his preface, ‘has long +existed in manuscript. It was made by the writer of these +lines in the year 1830, at the request of a little Welsh +bookseller of his acquaintance, who resided in the rather +unfashionable neighbourhood of Smithfield, and who entertained an +opinion that a translation of the work of Elis Wyn would enjoy a +great sale, both in England and Wales. On the eve of +committing it to the press, however, the Cambrian Briton felt his +small heart give way within him: “Were I to print +it,” said he, “I should be ruined. The terrible +descriptions of vice and torment would frighten the genteel part +of the English public out of its wits, and I should to a +certainty be prosecuted by Sir James Scarlett. I am much +obliged to you for the trouble you have given yourself on my +account—but myn Diawl! I had no idea, till I had read him +in English, that Elis Wyn had been such a terrible +fellow.”</p> +<p>‘Yet there is no harm in the book. It is true that +the author is anything but mincing in his expressions and +descriptions, but there is nothing in the Sleeping Bard which can +give offence to any but the over fastidious. There is a +great deal of squeamish nonsense in the world; let us hope, +however, that there is not so much as there was. Indeed, +can we doubt that such folly is on the decline, when we find +Albemarle Street in ‘60 willing to publish a harmless but +plain-speaking book which Smithfield shrank from in +’80?’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The work is divided into three parts, devoted to three +separate and distinct visions, which the Bard pretends to have +seen at three different times in his sleep. In assuming the +title of ‘Sleeping Bard’ Elis Wyn committed a kind of +plagiarism, as it originated with a certain poet who flourished +in the time of the Welsh princes, some nine hundred years before +he himself was born, and to this plagiarism he humorously alludes +in one of his visions. The visions are described in prose, +but each is followed by a piece of poetry containing a short +gloss or comment. The prose is graphic and vigorous, almost +beyond conception; the poetry wild and singular, each piece +composed in a particular measure. Of the measures, two are +quite original, to be found nowhere else. The first vision +is the Vision of the World. The object of the Bard is to +describe the follies, vices, and crimes of the human race, more +especially those of the natives of the British Isles. In +his sleep he imagines that he is carried away by fairies, and is +in danger of perishing owing to their malice, but is rescued by +an angel, who informs him that <!-- page 30--><a +name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 30</span>he has been +sent by the Almighty with orders to give him a distinct view of +the world. The angel, after a little time, presents him +with a telescope, through which he sees a city of a monstrous +size, with thousands of cities and kingdoms within it; and the +great ocean, like a moat, around it; and other seas, like rivers, +intersecting it.</p> +<p>This city is, of course, the world. It is divided into +three magnificent streets. These streets are called +respectively the streets of Pride, Pleasure, and Lucre. In +the distance is a cross street, little and mean in comparison +with the others, but clean and neat, and on a higher foundation +than the other streets, running upwards towards the east, whilst +they all sink downwards towards the north. This street is +the street of True Religion. The angel conducts him down +the three principal streets, and procures him glances into the +inside of various houses. The following scene in a cellar +of what is called the street of Pleasure, goes far to show that +the pen of Elis Wyn, at low description, was not inferior to the +pencil of Hogarth:—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘From thence we went to a place where we +heard a terrible noise, a medley of striking, jabbering, crying +and laughing, shooting and singing. “Here’s +Bedlam, doubtless,” said I. By the time we entered +the den the brawling had ceased. Of the company, one was on +the ground insensible; another was in a yet more deplorable +condition; another was nodding over a hearthful of battered pots, +pieces of pipes, and oozings of ale. And what was all this, +upon inquiry, but a carousal of seven thirsty neighbours,—a +goldsmith, a pilot, a smith, a miner, a chimney-sweeper, a poet, +and a parson who had come to preach sobriety, and to exhibit in +himself what a disgusting thing drunkenness is! The origin +of the last squabble was a dispute which had arisen among them +about which of the seven loved a pipe and flagon best. The +poet had carried the day over all the rest, with the exception of +the parson, who, out of respect for his cloth, had the most +votes, being placed at the head of the jolly companions, the poet +singing:—</p> +<p>‘O where are there seven beneath the sky<br /> +Who with these seven for thirst can vie?<br /> +But the best for good ale these seven among<br /> +Are the jolly divine and the son of song.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>After showing the Bard what is going on in the interior of the +houses of the various streets, and in the streets themselves, the +angel conducts him to the various churches of the City of +Perdition: to the temple of Paganism, to the mosque of the Turk, +and to the synagogue of the Jews; showing and explaining to him +what is going on within them. He then takes him to the +church of the Papists, which the angel calls, very properly, +‘the church which deceiveth nations.’ Some +frightful examples are given of the depravity and cruelty of +monks and friars. The dialogue between the confessor and +the portly female who had murdered her husband, who was a member +of the Church of England, is horrible, but quite in keeping with +the principles of Popery; also the discourse which the same +confessor holds with the young girl who had killed her child, +whose father was a member of the monastery to which the monk +belonged. From the Church of Rome they go to the Church of +England. It is lamentable to observe what an attached +minister of the Church of England describes as going on within +the walls of a Church of England temple a hundred and fifty years +ago. Would that the description could be called wholly +inapplicable at the present time!</p> +<blockquote><p>“Whereupon he carried me to the gallery of +one of the churches in Wales, the people being in the midst of +the service, and lo! some were whispering, talking, and laughing, +some were looking upon the pretty women, others were examining +the dress of their neighbours from top to toe; some were pushing +themselves forward and snarling at one another about rank, some +were dozing, others were busily engaged in their devotions, but +many of these were playing a hypocritical part.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The angel finally conducts the Bard to the small cross street, +that of True Religion, where, of course, everything is widely +different from what is found in any of the other streets. +In that street there was no fear but of incensing the King, who +was ever more ready to forgive than be angry with his subjects, +and no sound but that of psalms of praise to the Almighty.</p> +<p>The second section is a Vision of Death in his palace +below. The author’s aim in this vision is less +apparent than in the preceding one. Perhaps, however, he +wished to impress upon people’s minds the awfulness of +dying in an unrepentant state, from the certainty, in that event, +of the human soul being forthwith cast headlong down the +precipice of destruction. The Bard is carried away by sleep +to chambers where some people are crying, others screaming, some +talking deliriously, some uttering blasphemies in a feeble tone, +others lying in great agony with all the signs of dying men, and +some yielding up the ghost after uttering ‘a mighty +shout.’ He is then conducted to a kind of limbo or +Hades, where he meets with his prototype the Sleeping Bard of old +and two other Welsh poets, one of whom is Taliesin, who is +represented as watching the caldron of the witch Cridwen, even as +he watched it in his boyhood. From thence he is hurried to +the palace of Death, where he sees the King of Terrors swallowing +flesh and blood, who, after a time, places <!-- page 31--><a +name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>himself on a +terrific throne, and proceeds to pass judgment on various +prisoners newly arrived. They are dealt with in an awful +but very summary manner. It is to be remarked that all the +souls introduced in this vision are those of bad people, with the +exception of those of the poets which the Bard meets in +limbo. A dark intimation, however, is given that there is +another court or palace, where Death presides under a far +different form, and where he pronounces judgment over the souls +of the good. There is much in this vision which it is very +difficult to understand. The gloss, or commentary, called +‘Death the Great,’ abounds with very fine poetry.</p> +<p>The last Vision, that of Hell, is the longest of the +three. The Bard is carried in his sleep by the same angel +who in his first vision had shown him the madness and vanity of +the world, to the regions of eternal horror and woe, where he +beholds the lost undergoing tortures proportionate to the crimes +which they had committed on earth. After wandering from +nook to nook, the Bard and his guide at last come to the court +before the palace of the hellish regions, where, amidst thousands +of horrible objects, the Bard perceives two feet of enormous +magnitude, reaching to the roof of the whole infernal firmament, +and inquires of his companion what those horrible things may be, +but is told to be quiet for the present, as on his return he will +obtain a full view of the monster to whom they belong, and is +then conducted into the palace of Lucifer, who is about to hold a +grand council. The Arch-Fiend is described as seated on a +burning throne in a vast hall, the roof of which is of glowing +steel. Around him are his potentates on thrones of fire, +and above his head is a huge fist, holding a very frightful +thunderbolt, towards which he occasionally casts uneasy +glances. In the midst of the palace is a gulf, of yet more +horrible and frightful aspect than hell itself, which is +continually opening and closing, and which, the angel says, is +the month of ‘Unknown’ or extremest hell, to which +the devils and the damned are to be hurled for ever on the last +day. The council is held in order to devise measures for +the farther extension of the kingdom of Lucifer. The +Arch-Fiend, in a speech which he makes, boasts that three parts +of the world have already been brought to acknowledge his sway, +chiefly through the instrumentality of his three +daughters—Pleasure, Pride, and Lucre; and he hopes that +eventually the whole world will be brought to do the same. +He is particularly desirous that Britain should be subject to +him, and requests the advice of his counsellors as to the best +means to be employed in order to accomplish his wish. +Various infernal potentates then arise and give him their advice, +each of whom is a personification of some crime, vice, or +folly. The debate is frequently interrupted by the sound of +war; for, as the angel observes, there is continual war in +hell. There is at one time a terrible disturbance and +outbreak, arising from a dispute between the Papists, the +Mahometans, and the bloody-minded Roundheads, as to which has +done most service to the cause of hell,—the Koran, the +Creed of Rome, or the Solemn League and Covenant. Lucifer +is only able to quell this disturbance—during which Mahomet +and Pope Julius assault each other tooth and nail—by +causing his old picked soldiers, the champions of hell, to tear +the combatants from each other. Amidst interruptions like +these the debate proceeds. Each of the personified crimes +and vices in succession—amongst whom are Mammon, Pride, +Inconsiderateness, Wantonness, and the Demon of +<i>Tobacco</i>—offers to go to Britain and do his best to +further the views of his master. Lucifer, however, after +listening to them all and acknowledging the peculiar merit of +each, says that none of them is of sufficient power to be relied +upon in the present emergency, but that he has a darling friend, +who, with their co-operation, is equal to the enterprise. +The friend turns out to be Ease—pleasant Ease—on +whose merits he expatiates with great eloquence, and with whom he +requests them to co-operate. ‘Go with her,’ +says he, ‘and keep everybody in his sleep and his rest, in +prosperity and comfort, abundance and carelessness, and then you +will see the poor honest man, as soon as he shall drink of the +alluring cup of Ease, become a perverse, proud, untractable +churl; the industrious labourer change into a careless waggish +rattler; and every other person become just as you would desire +him . . . Follow her to Britain,’ he says in conclusion, +‘and be as obedient to her as to our own royal +Majesty’!</p> +<p>Then comes the finale:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘At this moment the huge bolt was shaken, +and Lucifer and his chief counsellors were struck to the vortex +of extremest hell, and oh! how horrible it was to see the throat +of Unknown opening to receive them! “Well!” +said the Angel, “we will now return; but you have not seen +anything in comparison with the whole which is within the bounds +of Destruction, and if you had seen the whole, it is nothing to +the inexpressible misery which exists in Unknown, for it is not +possible to form an idea of the world in extremest +hell.” And at that word the celestial messenger +snatched me up to the firmament of the accursed kingdom of +darkness by a way I had not seen, whence I obtained, from the +palace along all the firmament of the black and hot +<i>Destruction</i>, and the whole land of forgetfulness, even to +the walls of the city of Destruction, a <!-- page 32--><a +name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 32</span>full view of +the accursed monster of a giantess, whose feet I had seen +before. I do not possess words to describe her +figure. But I can tell you that she was a triple-faced +giantess, having one very atrocious countenance turned towards +the heavens, barking, snorting, and vomiting accursed abomination +against the celestial King; another countenance, very fair, +towards the earth, to entice men to tarry in her shadow; and +another, the most frightful countenance of all, turned towards +Hell to torment it to all eternity. She is larger than the +entire earth, and is yet daily increasing, and a hundred times +more frightful than the whole of hell. She caused hell to +be made, and it is she who fills it with inhabitants. If +she were removed from hell, hell would become paradise; and if +she were removed from the earth, the little world would become +heaven; and if she were to go to heaven, she would change the +regions of bliss into utter hell. There is nothing in all +the universe, except herself, that God did not create. She +is the mother of the four female deceivers of the city of +Destruction; she is the mother of Death; she is the mother of +every evil and misery; and she has a fearful hold on every living +man: her name is Sin. “<i>He who escapes from her +hook</i>, <i>for ever blessed is he</i>,” said the +angel. Thereupon he departed, and I could hear his voice +saying, “<i>Write down what thou hast seen</i>, <i>and he +who shall read it carefully</i>, <i>shall never have reason to +repent</i>.”</p> +<p>The above is an outline of the work of Elis Wyn—an +extraordinary work it is. In it there is a singular mixture +of the sublime and the coarse, of the terrible and ludicrous, of +religion and levity, of the styles of Milton, of Bunyan, and of +Quevedo. There is also much in it that is Welsh, and much +that may be said emphatically to belong to Elis Wyn alone. +The book is written in the purest Cambrian, and from the time of +its publication has enjoyed extensive popularity in Wales. +It is, however, said that the perusal of it has not unfrequently +driven people mad, especially those of a serious and religious +turn. The same thing is said in Spain of the ‘Life of +Ignatius Loyola.’ Peter Williams, in +‘Lavengro,’ the Welsh preacher who was haunted with +the idea that he had committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, is +frequently mentioning the work of Elis Wyn. Amongst other +things, he says that he took particular delight in its +descriptions of the torments of hell. We have no doubt that +many an Englishman, of honest Welsh Peter’s gloomy +temperament, when he reads the work in its present dress will +experience the same kind of fearful joy.</p> +<p>The translation is accompanied by notes explanatory of certain +passages of the original beyond the comprehension of the common +reader. These notes are good, as far as they go, but they +are not sufficiently numerous, as many passages relating to +ancient manners and customs—perfectly intelligible, no +doubt, to the translator—must, for want of proper notes, +remain dark and mysterious to his readers. In the Vision of +Hell, a devil, who returns from the world to which he has been +despatched, and who gives an account of his mission, says that he +had visited two young maidens in Wales who were engaged in +turning the shift. Not a few people—ladies, amongst +the rest—will be disposed to ask what is meant by turning +the shift. Mr. Borrow gives elsewhere the following +explanation: ‘It was the custom in Britain in ancient times +for the young maiden who wished to see her future lover to sit up +by herself at Hallowmass Eve, wash out her smock, shift, or +chemise, call it which of the three you please, place it on a +linen-horse before the fire, and watch it whilst drying, leaving +the door of the room open, in the belief that exactly as the +clock began to strike twelve the future bridegroom would look in +at the door, and remain visible till the twelfth stroke had +ceased to sound.’</p> +<p>Of the notes which Mr. Borrow has given, the most important is +certainly that which relates to Taliesin, who, in the Vision of +Death, is described as sitting in Hades, watching a caldron which +is hanging over a fire, and is continually going bubble, +bubble. We give it nearly entire:—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Taliesin lived in the sixth century. +He was a foundling, discovered in his infancy lying in a coracle +on a salmon weir, in the domain of Elphin, a prince of North +Wales, who became his patron. During his life he arrogated +to himself a supernatural descent and understanding, and for at +least a thousand years after his death he was regarded by the +descendants of the ancient Britons as a prophet or something +more. The poems which he produced procured for him the +title of “Bardic King.” They display much that +is vigorous and original, but are disfigured by mysticism and +extravagant metaphor. When Elis Wyn represents him as +sitting by a cauldron in Hades, he alludes to a wild legend +concerning him, to the effect that he imbibed awen or poetical +genius whilst employed in watching “the seething pot” +of the sorceress Cridwen, which legend has much in common with +one of the Irish legends about Fin Macoul, which is itself nearly +identical with one in the Edda describing the manner in which +Sigurd Fafnisbane became possessed of supernatural +wisdom.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>It is curious enough that the legend about deriving wisdom +from <i>sucking the scalded finger</i> should be found in Wales, +Ireland, and Scandinavia. But so it is, and Mr. Borrow is +clearly entitled to the credit of having been the first to point +out to the world this remarkable fact. In his work called +the ‘Romany Rye,’ published some years ago, a story +is related containing parts of the early history <!-- page +33--><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 33</span>of +the Irish mythic hero Fion Mac Comhail, <a +name="citation33"></a><a href="#footnote33" +class="citation">[33]</a> or Fin Mac Coul, in which there is an +account of his burning his thumb whilst smoothing the skin of a +fairy salmon which is broiling over a fire, and deriving +supernatural knowledge from thrusting his thumb into his mouth +and sucking it; and Mr. Borrow tells the relater of that legend, +his amusing acquaintance Murtagh, that the same tale is told in +the Edda of Sigurd, the Serpent-Killer, with the difference that +Sigurd burns his finger, not whilst superintending the broiling +of a salmon, but whilst roasting the heart of Fafnir, the +man-serpent, whom he had slain.</p> +<p>Here, in his note on Taliesin, he shows that the same thing in +substance is said of the ancient Welsh bard. Of the three +versions of the legend, the one of which Sigurd Fafnisbane is the +hero is probably the most original, and is decidedly the most +poetical.</p> +<h2>Footnotes</h2> +<p><a name="footnote20"></a><a href="#citation20" +class="footnote">[20]</a> It is but right to state that the +learned are divided with respect to the meaning of +‘Cumro,’ and that many believe it to denote <i>an +original inhabitant</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote21a"></a><a href="#citation21a" +class="footnote">[21a]</a> Yehen banog: humped or bunched +oxen, probably buffaloes. Banog is derived from ban—a +prominence, protuberance, or peak.</p> +<p><a name="footnote21b"></a><a href="#citation21b" +class="footnote">[21b]</a> Above we have given what we +believe to be a plain and fair history of Hu Gadarn; but it is +necessary to state, that after his death he was deified, and was +confounded with the Creator, the vivifying power and the sun, and +mixed up with all kinds of myths and legends. Many of the +professedly Christian Welsh bards when speaking of the Deity have +called Him Hu, and ascribed to the Creator the actions of the +creature. Their doing so, however, can cause us but little +surprise when we reflect that the bards down to a very late +period cherished a great many druidical and heathen notions, and +frequently comported themselves in a manner more becoming +heathens than Christian men. Of the confounding of what is +heavenly with what is earthly we have a remarkable instance in +the ode of Iolo Goch to the ploughman, four lines of which, +slightly modified, we have given above. In that ode the +ploughman is confounded with the Eternal, and the plough with the +rainbow:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘The Mighty Hu who reigns for ever,<br /> +Of mead and song to men the giver,<br /> +The emperor of land and sea<br /> +And of all things which living be,<br /> +Did hold a plough with his good hand,<br /> +Soon as the deluge left the land,<br /> +To show to men, both strong and weak,<br /> +The haughty hearted and the meek,<br /> +There is no trade the heaven below<br /> +So noble as to guide the plough.’</p> +<p>To the Deity under the name of Hu there are some lines by one +Rhys, a Welsh bard of the time of Queen Elizabeth, though they +are perhaps more applicable to the Universal Pan or Nature than +to the God of the Christians:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘If with small things we Hu compare,<br +/> +No smaller thing than Hu is there,<br /> +Yet greatest of the great is He,<br /> +Our Lord, our God of Mystery;<br /> +How swift he moves! a lucid ray,<br /> +A sunbeam wafts him on his way;<br /> +He’s great on land, and great on ocean,<br /> +Of one more great I have no notion;<br /> +I dread lest I should underrate<br /> +This being, infinitely great.’</p> +<p><a name="footnote22"></a><a href="#citation22" +class="footnote">[22]</a> The poetical translations in this +notice are taken from Borrow’s ‘Songs of +Europe.’</p> +<p><a name="footnote25a"></a><a href="#citation25a" +class="footnote">[25a]</a></p> +<p class="poetry">‘Oedd balch gwalch golchiad ei lain,<br +/> +Oedd beilch gweilch gweled ei werin.’</p> +<p>In this couplet there is three-fold rhyme. We have the +alliteration of lch in the first line:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘ba<i>lch</i> gwa<i>lch</i> +go<i>lch</i>iad;’</p> +<p>and of the <i>w</i> in the second:—</p> +<p class="poetry">‘g<i>w</i>eilch g<i>w</i>eled +<i>w</i>erin;’</p> +<p>secondly, we have the rhymes of balch and gwalch; and thirdly, +the rhyming at the lines’ ends.</p> +<p><a name="footnote25b"></a><a href="#citation25b" +class="footnote">[25b]</a> Of this celebrated place we are +permitted to extract the following account from Mr. +Borrow’s unpublished work, ‘Celtic Bards, Chiefs, and +Kings’:—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘After wandering for many miles towards the +south, over a bleak moory country, you come to a place called +Ffair Rhos, or something similar, a miserable village consisting +of a few half-ruined cottages, situated on the top of a +hill. From the hill you look down on a wide valley of a +russet colour, along which a river runs towards the south. +The whole scene is cheerless; sullen hills are all around. +Descending the hill you enter a large village divided into two by +the river, which here runs from east to west, but presently takes +a turn. There is much mire in the street; immense swine lie +in the mire, who turn up their snouts at you as you pass. +Women in Welsh hats stand in the mire, along with men without any +hats at all, but with short pipes in their mouths. They are +talking together; as you pass, however, they hold their tongues, +the women leering contemptuously at you, the men glaring sullenly +at you, and causing tobacco-smoke to curl in your face. On +your taking off your hat, however, and inquiring the way to the +Monachlog, everybody is civil enough, and twenty voices tell you +the way to the monastery. You ask the name of the river: +“The Teivi, Sir, the Teivi.” The name of the +bridge: “Pont y Rhyd Fendigaid—the Bridge of the +Blessed Ford, Sir!” You cross the bridge of the +Blessed Ford, and presently leaving the main road you turn to the +east, by a dunghill, up a narrow lane, parallel with the +river. After proceeding a mile up the lane amidst trees and +copses, and crossing a little brook which runs into the Teivi, +out of which you drink, you see before you in the midst of a +field, in which are tombstones and broken ruins, a rustic-looking +church; a farmhouse is near it, in the garden of which stands the +framework of a large gateway. You cross over into the +churchyard, stand on a green mound and look about you. You +are now in the very midst of the Monachlog Ystrad Flur, the +celebrated monastery of Strata Florida, to which in old times +popish pilgrims from all parts of the world repaired. The +scene is solemn and impressive. On the north side of the +river a large bulky hill, called Bunk Pen Bannedd, looks down +upon the ruins and the church; and on the south side, some way +behind the farmhouse, is another hill which does the same. +Rugged mountains form the background of the valley to the east, +down from which comes murmuring the fleet but shallow +Teivi. Such is the scenery which surrounds what remains of +Strata Florida; those scanty broken ruins compose all that +remains of that celebrated monastery in which kings, saints, and +mitred abbots were buried, and in which, or in whose precincts, +was buried Dafydd ab Gwilym, the greatest genius of the Cimbric +race, and one of the first poets of the world.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote28"></a><a href="#citation28" +class="footnote">[28]</a> It must be mentioned, however, in +justice to Douglas, that in the autobiography of Dr. Carlyle, +lately published, we find that ‘John Douglas, who has for +some time been Bishop of Salisbury, and who is one of the most +able and learned men on that bench, had at this time (1758, some +years after Gronwy had left him) but small preferment.’</p> +<p><a name="footnote33"></a><a href="#citation33" +class="footnote">[33]</a> In a late number of the +Transactions of the Dublin Ossianic Society—a most +admirable institution—there is an account of the early life +of Fin ma Coul, in which the burnt finger is mentioned; but that +number did not appear till more than a year subsequent to the +publication of the ‘Romany Rye,’ and contains not the +slightest allusion either to Fafnisbane, <i>i.e.</i> the slayer +of Fafnir, or Taliesin—to the Eddacal or the Cumric +legend.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WELSH AND THEIR LITERATURE***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 33336-h.htm or 33336-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/3/3/3/33336 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +</pre></body> +</html> diff --git a/33336.txt b/33336.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a165f9a --- /dev/null +++ b/33336.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1626 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Welsh and Their Literature, by George +Borrow + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Welsh and Their Literature + from The London Quarterly Review, January 1861, American Edition + + +Author: George Borrow + + + +Release Date: August 3, 2010 [eBook #33336] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WELSH AND THEIR LITERATURE*** + + +Transcribed from the 1861 "The London Quarterly Review," (American +Edition) pages 20 to 33, by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + The Welsh and their Literature + by George Borrow + + + taken from the "The London Quarterly Review", 1861, pages 20-33. + + * * * * * + + NEW YORK: + PUBLISHED BY LEONARD SCOTT & CO., + 79 FULTON STREET, CORNER OF GOLD STREET. + + * * * * * + + 1861. + + * * * * * + +Art. II.--_The Sleeping Bard_; _or Visions of the World_, _Death_, _and +Hell_. By Elis Wyn. Translated from the Cambrian British by George +Borrow. London, 1860. + +The Welsh style themselves Cymry or Cumry, a word which, in their +language, means a number of people associated together. {20} They were +the second mass of population which moved from Asia into Europe. They +followed and pushed forward the Gael or Gauls; were themselves impelled +onward by the Slowaks or Sclavonians, who were themselves hunted, goaded, +and pestered by a wild, waspish race of people, whom, for want of a +better name, we will call Tatars or Tartars. The Cymry have left their +name behind them in various regions far eastward of the one where they +now sojourn. The most easterly countries which still bear their name, or +modifications thereof, are Cambia, 'which is two dayes journey from the +head of the great river Bruapo,' and the Cryme or Crimea. In those +parts, and 'where Constantinople now is,' they tarried a considerable +time, and increased and multiplied marvellously: and it was whilst +tarrying in those regions, which they called collectively Gwlad yr Haf, +or the summer country, that an extraordinary man was born amongst them, +who was called by Greeks and Romans, hundreds of years after his death, +Hesus, but whom the Cymry called, and still do call, Hu or Hee, with the +surname of Cadarn, or the Mighty. This Hu or Hesus taught his countrymen +the use of the plough, and to a certain extent civilized them. Finding +eventually that the summer country was becoming over-populated, he placed +himself at the head of a vast multitude and set off towards the west. Hu +and his people fought or negotiated their way through various countries +possessed by the Gael, till they came to the shore of the sea which +separates the great isle of the west from the continent. Hearing that it +was only thinly peopled they determined to pass over to it; and put their +determination into execution, crossing 'the hazy sea,' at present termed +the German Ocean, in boats made of wicker work and skins, similar to but +larger than the coracles which the Cymry always carried with them in +their long expeditions. + +This great island was called Alban, Albyn, or Albion. Alban is a Gaelic +or Gaulic word, signifying properly a hill-region. It is to be found +under various modifications in different parts of the world, but only +where the Gaulic race have at some time sojourned. The word Afghan is +merely a modification of Alban, or Alpan; so is Armenia; so is Alp; so is +of course Albania. The term was given to the island simply because the +cliffs which fronted the continent, where the sea between the two lands +was narrowest, were very high and towering. The island at the time of +the arrival of the Cymry had, as has already been intimated, a scanty +population. This population consisted of Gael or Gauls, a people of +cognate race to the Cymry, and speaking a language much the same as +theirs, differing from it, however, in some respects. Hu and his people +took possession of the best parts of the island, either driving the few +Gaels to other districts or admitting them to their confederacy. As the +country was in a very wild state, much overgrown with forests in which +bears and wolves wandered, and abounding with deep stagnant pools, which +were the haunts of the avanc or crocodile, Hu forthwith set about +clearing it of some of its horrors, and making it more fit to be the +abiding place of civilized beings. He made his people cut down woods and +forests, and destroy, as far as was possible, wild beasts and crocodiles. +He himself went to a gloomy pool, the haunt of the king of the efync, +baited a huge hook attached to a cable, filing it into the pool, and when +the monster had gorged the snare drew him out by means of certain +gigantic oxen, {21a} which he had tamed to the plough, and burnt his +horrid, wet, scaly carcass on a fire. He then caused enclosures to be +made, fields to be ploughed and sown, pleasant wooden houses to be built, +bees to be sheltered and encouraged, and schools to be erected where song +and music were taught. O, a truly great man was Hu Gadarn! though a +warrior, he preferred the sickle and pruning-hook to the sword, and the +sound of the song and lute to the hoarse blast of the buffalo's horn:-- + + The mighty Hu with mead would pay + The bard for his melodious lay; + The Emperor of land and sea + And of all livings things was he. {21b} + +For many years after the death of Hu the Cymry retrograded instead of +advancing in civilization; they ceased to be a united people; plunder and +devastation were of daily occurrence among them; every one did as he +pleased, as far as in his power lay; there was no law, but the law of the +strongest; and no justice, save that which was obtained from clemency and +courtesy. At length one Prydain arose, who, either from ambition or a +nobler motive, determined to introduce a system of government amongst +them. By strength of arm and character he induced the Cymry of the lower +country to acknowledge him for their head, and to obey certain laws which +he enacted for the regulation of conduct. But neither his sovereignty +nor his laws were regarded by the Cymry of the hilly regions. Prydain +was the first king amongst the Cymry; and from his time the island was +called Britain, which is a modification of his name, and the inhabitants +Britons. The independent Cymry, however, disdained to call themselves or +their districts after him, but still styled themselves Cymry, and their +districts Cumrie-land and Cumberland; whilst the Gael of the North, who +never submitted to his sway, and who knew little about him, still called +themselves Gael, and their country Caledon and Alban. + +Various kings succeeded Prydain, during whose reigns the Britons +continued in much the same state as that in which he had left them; on +the coming of one Dyfnwal Moelmud, however, to the throne, a mighty +improvement was effected in their condition. This prince was the great +lawgiver of the Britons, and the greatest benefactor which the race had +known since the days of Hu Gadarn. Tradition differs as to his exact +origin, but there is ground for believing that he was the chief of a +Cornish tribe, and that he was elected to the throne on account of his +wisdom and virtue. He gave a regular system of laws and a constitution +to the kingdom, and appointed magistrates in every place, whose duty it +was to administer justice without respect of persons in all disputes, and +whenever the law had been violated. This great and good man is believed +to have lived about 400 years before the Christian era. + +After the Cymric or British race had been established in the island about +1300 years, they were invaded by the Romans, under Julius Caesar. The +king, who at that time ruled in Britain, was called Caswallon; he was a +great warrior and much beloved by his subjects. In him and his Britons +the Romans found their match and more, for after a month's hard fighting +and skirmishing, they were compelled to betake themselves to Gaul, the +country from which they had come. + +Mighty was the triumph in Britain, says an old chronicler, on the retreat +of the redoubted foe; and Caswallon gave a grand festival at Caer Lud, or +London, which was reckoned in after times one of the three grand +festivals of Britain. A grand festival indeed it must have been, if, as +an ancient bard says, + + 'Full twenty thousand beeves and deer + Were slain to find the guests with cheer.' + +Britain was not subdued by the Romans till the time of Claudius Caesar. +When conquered it was still permitted to possess a king of its own, on +condition that he should acknowledge the authority of Rome, and pay +tribute to her. The first king in the world to confess the faith of +Christ was a British king, tributary to Rome. This king, whose name was +Lles ap Coel, made his confession as early as the year 160. The +Christian faith is supposed by some to have been first preached in +Britain by Joseph of Arimathea; by others, by St. Paul himself. After +remaining several centuries under the sway of Rome, the Britons again +became independent, the Roman legions being withdrawn from the island for +the defence of their own country, threatened by barbarian hordes. They +did not, however, enjoy their independence long; a ferocious race, of +mysterious origin, whom they called Gwyddelian Fichti, invaded them, and +filled their country with horror and devastation. Unable to offer any +effectual opposition to these invaders, they called to their assistance, +from the neighbourhood of the mouth of the Elbe, the Saxons or _men of +the knives_, a bold and adventurous, but treacherous and bloody people, +who at first fought stoutly for them, but soon turned against them, and +eventually all but extirpated them from Southern Britain:-- + + 'A serpent that coils, + And with fury boils, + From Germany coming with arm'd wings spread, + Shall subdue and enthral + The broad Britain all + From the Lochlin ocean to Severn's bed; + + And British men + Shall be captives then + To strangers from Saxonia's strand; + They shall praise their God, and hold + Their language, as of old, + But except wild Wales they shall lose their land.' {22} + + _Taliesin_. + +Yes; the Cymric or British race were dispossessed of Britain with the +exception of that part which they still emphatically call Cumrie, but +which by other people is called Wales. There they remained independent +for a long time, governed by their own princes; and there, though now +under the sway of England, they still preserve their venerable language, +the oldest in the world, with perhaps the exception of the Gaulic or +Irish, with which it is closely connected. Wales is not a Cymric but a +Saxon or Teutonic word, bestowed on the land of the Cymry by the seed of +Hengist. Like the Gaelic word Alban, it means a hilly or mountainous +region, and is connected with wall, wold, and wood. The Germans, from +very early times, have called the Cymry Welsh or Waldenses, and the +country where they happened to be, Welschland. They still apply to Italy +the name of Welschland, a name bestowed upon it by their ancestors, +because it was originally principally peopled by the Cymry, whom the +Germans called Welsh from the circumstance of their inhabiting some +mountainous or forest country in the far East, when they first came in +contact with them. + +We now proceed to give some account of the literature of the Cymry. We +commence with their poetry, and from a very early period, quoting from a +Cymric Triad:--'These are the three artificers of poetry and record +amongst the nation of the Cymry: Gwyddon Ganhebon, who first in the world +invented vocal song; and Hu the Mighty, who first invented the means of +recording and preserving vocal song; and Tydan, the father of the muse, +who first gave rules to vocal song and a system to recording. From what +these three men effected Bards and Bardism were derived; the dignities +and customs pertaining to which were arranged systematically by the three +original bards, Plenydd, Alon, and Gwbon.' Three ranks or orders +constituted what was called barddas, or bardism; that of bard or poet, +that of ovydd or philosopher, and that of druid or instructor. The motto +of this institution was--'Y Gwir yn erbyn y byd,' or The Truth against +the world; from which it would appear that bardism was instituted for the +purpose of propagating truth. Bardism, or as it is generally though +improperly styled, druidism, was the fount of instruction, moral and +religious, in Britain and in Gaul. The vehicle by which instruction, or, +as it was probably termed, truth, was propagated, was poetry. The bard +wrought the philosophy of the ovydd into song, and the druid or +instructor, who was also minister of such religion as the Celts and Cymry +possessed, whatever that was, communicated to his pupils the result of +the labours of the bard and ovydd. The Druidical verses then probably +constituted the most ancient poetry of Britain. These verses were +communicated orally, and were never written down whilst bardism or +druidism lasted, though the bards and druids at a very early period were +acquainted with the use of letters. Whether any genuine bardic poetry +has been preserved, it is impossible to say; it is the opinion, however, +of Cymric scholars of reputation, that certain ancient strains which the +Welsh possess, which are composed in a measure called Englyn milwr, are +either druidical strains or imitations of such. Each of these +compositions is in three lines; the entire pith however of the triplet, +generally consisting of a moral adage or a piece of wholesome advice, +lies in the third line, the two first being composed of trivial and +unconnected expressions. Many of these stanzas are called the stanzas of +'The Mountain Snow,' from the circumstance of their commencing with 'Eiry +Mynydd,' which has that signification. The three lines rhyme together at +their terminations; and a species of alliteration is observable +throughout. A word or two here on Cymric rhyme and measures. + +In Welsh poetry rhyme is found in a twofold shape: there is alliteration, +that is rhyme produced by the same letters following each other at +certain distances in the body of the line, then there is the common +rhyme, produced by two or more lines terminating with the same letters. +In the older Welsh poetry, by which we mean that composed before the +termination of the first millennium, both rhyme and alliteration are +employed, but in a less remarkable manner than in the bardic effusions of +comparatively modern times. The extent to which the bards of the middle +ages, and those of one or two subsequent centuries, carried rhyme and +alliteration seems marvellous to the English versifier. We English think +we have accomplished a great feat in rhyme when we have made three lines +consonant in their terminations; but Dafydd Benfras, or David of the +Thick Head, would make fifty lines rhyme together, and not think that he +had accomplished anything remarkable in rhyming either. Our English +alliterative triumph is the following line, composed by a young lady in +the year 1800, on the occasion of a gentleman of the name of Lee planting +a lane with lilacs:-- + + 'Let lovely lilacs line Lee's lonely lane!' + +in which not only every word, but every syllable commences with the same +letter--_l_. + +But what is this English alliterative triumph of the young lady compared +with the Welsh alliterative triumph of Dafydd Nanmawr, who wrote a poem +of twelve lines, every syllable of which commences with the letter g, +with the exception of the last, which begins with n? + +The earliest Cymric or British metre seems to have been a triban or +triplet, in each line of which there were in general six syllables. The +bards of the sixth, seventh, and several succeeding centuries used this +metre, and likewise others, invented by themselves, in which the lines +are of various length. There was no regular system of prosody till the +year 1120, when one was established under the auspices of Grufydd ap +Cynan, prince of Gwynedd. This Ap Cynan, who, though of Welsh origin, +was born in Dublin, and educated at the Danish Irish court, was +passionately fond of poetry, and was not only well acquainted with that +of the British bards, but with the strains of the Icelandic skalds and +Irish fileas. Shortly after his accession to the throne of Gwynedd, of +which he was the rightful heir, he proclaimed an eisteddfod, or poetical +sessions. At this eisteddfod, which was numerously attended by poets of +various nations, a system of prosody was drawn up by competent persons, +at his instigation, for the use of the Welsh, and established by his +authority. This system, in which Cymric, Icelandic, and Irish forms of +verse are blended and amalgamated, has with a few unimportant variations +maintained its ground to the present time. It contains three primary +measures, termed respectively, englyn, cywydd, and awdl. Of the englyn, +there are five kinds; of the cywydd, four; and of the awdl, fifteen. +Each particular species of englyn, cywydd, and awdl has its appropriate +name, which it is needless to give here. These three primary metres, +with their modifications, make together twenty-four measures, which +embrace the whole system of Welsh versification, in which, as somebody +has observed, each line, word, and letter, are so harmonized by +consonancy, chained so accurately, woven so closely and correctly, that +it is impossible to extract one word or even letter without causing a +hideous gap. Whoever has ventured to compose out of these measures, +since the time of their establishment, has been considered by the Welsh +scholar as unworthy of the name of poet. + +The earliest recorded poet of the Cymry, after the days of Gwyddon +Ganhebon and the other personages mentioned with him in the triad, is +Merddin, Beirdd Emrys Wledig, or Merddin, Bard of Prince Emrys. He +flourished about the middle of the fifth century, the period when the +Saxons arrived in Britain, under the command of Hengist and Horsa. +Besides poetry he was skilled in mathematics, and is said by the Welsh to +have been the architect of Stonehenge. He has been surnamed Ambrosius, +which is the Latin modification of the name of his patron Emrys. He is +the Merddin, or Merlin, who has had to father so many of the prophecies +which since his death have been produced. None of his poems are extant. + +During the period which elapsed between the first coming of the Saxons, +and the expulsion of the British from the Southern and Eastern parts of +the island, lived Aneurin, Taliesin, Llewarch Hen, and Merddin, surnamed +Wyllt or the Wild, all celebrated poets, the latter of whom has generally +been confounded with Merddin Ambrosius. Aneurin was a chief of the +Ottadinian Britons, and his principal poem is the one styled Gododin, a +word which probably means that which relates to the Ottadini. It is +descriptive of the battle of Cattraeth, fought between the Britons and +the Saxons, in which the former were so completely worsted that only +three, amongst whom was Aneurin himself, escaped with their lives. The +poem is composed in lines remarkably short, consisting in general of only +six syllables. Aneurin was the Gildas of ecclesiastical history, and the +name of Gildas is merely a Saxon translation of Aneurin, which signifies +golden grove. Taliesin Ben Beirdd, or Taliesin Prince of Bards, was a +North Welshman, but was educated at Llanreithin, in Glamorgan, under +Catwg, celebrated for his aphorisms, who kept a school of philosophy +there. He was called Prince of Bards because he excelled all his +contemporaries in the poetic art. Many of his pieces are extant; amongst +them is an awdl or ode, containing an abridgment of the history of the +world, in which there is a stanza with regard to the destiny of the +ancient Britons as sublime as it is true:-- + + 'Their Lord they shall praise, + Their language they shall keep, + Their land they shall lose + Except wild Wales.' + +Llewarch Hen, or Llewarch the aged, was a prince of Cumberland. Driven +from his domain by the Saxons, he sought a refuge at the place which is +now called Shrewsbury, and subsequently on the shore of the lake of Bala, +a beautiful sheet of water in Merionethshire, overlooked on the south by +the great mountain Arran. There he died at the age of one hundred and +fifty years. His poems consist chiefly of elegies on his sons, +twenty-four in number, all of whom perished in battle, and on his +slaughtered friends. They are composed in triplets, and abound with +simplicity and pathos. Myrddin Wyllt, or Myrddin the Wild, was a Briton +of the Scottish border. Having killed the son of his sister, he was so +stung with remorse that he determined to renounce the society of men, and +accordingly retired to a forest in Scotland, called Celydon, where he was +frequently seized with howling madness. Owing to his sylvan life and his +attacks of lunacy, he was called Merddyn Wyllt, or the Wild. He composed +poetry in his lucid intervals. Six of his pieces have been preserved: +they are chiefly on historical subjects. The most remarkable of them is +an address to his pig, in which he tells the woes and disasters which are +to happen to Britain: it consists of twenty-five stanzas or sections. In +all of them a kind of alliteration is observable, and in each, with one +or two exceptions, the first line rhymes with all the rest. Each +commences with 'Oian a phorchellan'--listen, little porker! The +commencement of one of these stanzas might be used in these lowering days +by many a grey-headed yeoman to his best friend:-- + + 'Oian a phorchellan: mawr eryssi + A fydd ym Mhrydan, ac nim dorbi. + + Listen, little porker! mighty wonders + Shall occur in Britain, which shall not con me.' + +Many and great poets flourished in the times of the Welsh princes: the +three greatest were Meilyr, Gwalchmai, and Dafydd Benfras. Meilyr was +bard of Gruffudd ap Cynan, prince of Gwynedd or North Wales, who died in +1137. He sang the praises of his master, who was a celebrated warrior +and a bountiful patron of the muse, in whose time and under whose +sanction those forms of composition, generally called the twenty four +measures, were invented and promulgated. Gwalchmai lived in the time of +Owain, prince of Gwynedd, about whom he sang a piece which is to a +certain extent known to the English public by a paraphrase made by Gray, +which bears the title of 'The Triumphs of Owain.' Dafydd Benfras was +domestic bard of Llywelyn ap Jorwerth, also prince of Gwynedd and titular +king of Wales, who flourished during the first half of the thirteenth +century. In one of his odes addressed to his patron, there is an +animated description of a battle won by Llywelyn over King John: + + 'Llywelyn of the potent hand oft wrought + Trouble upon the kings and consternation; + When he with the Lloegrain monarch fought, + Whose cry was "Devastation!" + Forward impetuously his squadrons ran; + Great was the tumult ere the shoot began; + Proud was the hero of his reeking glaive, + Proud of their numbers were his followers brave. {25a} + O then were heard resounding o'er the fields + The clash of faulchions and the crash of shields! + Many the wounds in yonder fight receiv'd! + Many the warriors of their lives bereaved! + The battle rages till our foes recoil + Behind the Dike which Offa built with toil. + Bloody their foreheads, gash'd with many a blow, + Blood streaming down their quaking knees below. + Llywelyn we as our high chief obey, + To fair Porth Ysgewin extends his sway; + For regal virtues and for princely line + He towers above imperial Constantine.' + +Dafydd ab Gwilym was born at Bro Gynan, in Cardiganshire, in 1293, about +forty years after the whole of Wales had been subjected to the sway of +England. He was the Ovid of Wales, the poet of love and nature. In his +early years he was very dissipated, but towards the latter part of his +life became religious. He died at the age of sixty-three, and was buried +within the precincts of the great monastery of Strata Florida. {25b} +Such was the power of his genius, that the generality of the poets who +succeeded him for the next four hundred years were more or less his +imitators. Iolo Goch, or Red Julius, whose real name was Llwyd, was the +bard of Owen Glendower, and, amongst other pieces, composed a graphic ode +on his patron's mansion at Sycharth, and the manner of life there:-- + + 'Its likeness now I'll limn you out: + 'Tis water-girdled wide about; + It shows a wide and stately door, + Reach'd by a bridge the water o'er; + 'Tis formed of buildings coupled fair-- + Coupled is every couple there; + Within a quadrate structure tall + Muster the merry pleasures all; + Conjointly are the angles bound, + No flaw in all the place is found. + Structures in contact meet the eye + Upon the hillock's top on high; + Into each other fasten'd they + The form of a hard knot display. + There dwells the chief we all extol + In timber house on lightsome knoll; + Upon four wooden columns proud + Mounteth his mansion to the cloud. + Each column's thick and firmly bas'd, + And upon each a loft is plac'd; + In those four lofts, which coupled stand, + Repose at night the minstrel band. + Four lofts they were in pristine state, + But now partition'd form they eight. + Tiled is the roof. On each house-top + Rise smoke-ejecting chimneys up. + All of one form there are nine halls, + Each with nine wardrobes in its walls, + With linen white as well supplied + As fairest shops of fam'd Cheapside. + + * * * * * + + What luxury doth this hall adorn, + Showing of cost a sovereign scorn! + His ale from Shrewsbury town he brings; + His usquebaugh is drink for kings. + Bragget he keeps, bread white of look, + And, bless the mark, a bustling cook. + His mansion is the minstrels' home, + You'll find them there whene'er you come. + Of all her sex his wife's the best, + The household through her care is blest; + She's scion of a knightly tree, + She's dignified, she's kind and free. + His bairns approach me, pair by pair, + O what a nest of chieftains fair! + Here difficult it is to catch + A sight of either bolt or latch; + The porter's place here none will fill; + Here largess shall be lavish'd still, + And ne'er shall thirst or hunger rude + In Sycharth venture to intrude.' + +Iolo composed this ode two years before the great Welsh insurrection, +when he was more than a hundred years old. To his own great grief he +survived his patron, and all hopes of Welsh independence. An englyn, +which he composed a few days before his death, commemorates the year of +the rising of Glendower, and also the year to which the chieftain +lived:-- + + 'One thousand four hundred, no less and no more, + Was the date of the rising of Owen Glendower; + Till fifteen were added with courage ne'er cold + Liv'd Owen, though latterly Owen was old.' + +Glendower died at the age of sixty-seven: Iolo, when he called him old, +was one hundred and eighteen. + +Gwilym ap Ieuan Hen flourished about 1450. He was bard to Griffith ap +Nicholas, chieftain of Dinefor, in whose praise he wrote an ode, +commencing with lines to the following effect:-- + + 'Griffith ap Nicholas! who like thee + For wealth and power and majesty? + Which most abound--I cannot say-- + On either side of Towey gay, + From hence to where it meets the brine, + Trees or stately towers of thine?' + +Griffith ap Nicholas was a powerful chieftain of South Wales, something +of a poet and a great patron of bards. Seeing with regret that there was +much dissension amongst the bardic order, and that the rules of bardism +were nearly forgotten, he held a bardic congress at Carmarthen, with the +view of reviving bardic enthusiasm and re-establishing bardic discipline. +The result of this meeting--the only one of the kind which had been held +in Wales since the days of the Welsh princes--to a certain extent +corresponded with his wish. In the wars of the Roses he sided with York, +chiefly out of hatred to Jasper Earl of Pembroke, half-brother of Henry +VI. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Mortimer's Cross, which was +gained for Edward IV. by a desperate charge made by Griffith and his +Welshmen at Pembroke's Banner, when the rest of the Yorkists were +wavering. His last words were: 'Welcome death! since honour and victorie +makes for us!' + +Dafydd ab Edmund was born at Pwll Gwepra, in the parish of Hanmer, in +Flintshire. He was the most skilful versifier of his time. He attended +the Eisteddfod, or congress, at Carmarthen, held under the auspices of +Griffith ap Nicholas, and not only carried off the prize, but induced the +congress to sanction certain alterations in the poetical canons of +Gruffudd ab Cynan, which he had very much at heart. There is a tradition +that Griffith ap Nicholas commenced the business of the congress by the +following question: 'What is the cause, nature, and end of an +Eisteddfod?' No one appearing ready with an answer, Griffith said: 'Let +the little man in the grey coat answer;' whereupon Dafydd made the +following reply: 'To remember what has been--to think of what is--and to +judge about what shall be.' + +Lewis Glyn Cothi lived during the wars of the Roses. He was bard to +Jasper Earl of Pembroke, son of Owen Tudor and Catharine of France, and +brother uterine of Henry VI. He followed his patron to the fatal battle +of Mortimer's Cross as a captain of foot. His pieces are mostly on the +events of his time, and are full of curious historical information. + +Ieuan Deulwyn was bard and friend of Ryce ap Thomas, to whom he addressed +a remarkable ode in stanzas of four lines on the principle of +counter-change, by which any line in the quatrain may begin it. His +friend and patron Ryce ap Thomas was the grandson of that Griffith ap +Nicholas who perished at the battle of Mortimer's Cross, fighting against +Lancaster. Ryce, however, when Richmond, the last hope of Lancaster, +landed at Milford Haven, joined him at the head of 'all the Ryces,' and +was the main cause of his eventually winning the crown. He was loaded +with riches and honours by Henry VII., and was an especial favourite with +Henry VIII., who used to call him Father Preecc, my trusty Welshman. He +was a great warrior, a consummate courtier, and a very wise man; for +whatever harm he might do to people, he never spoke ill of anybody. His +tomb, bearing the sculptured figures of himself and wife, may be seen in +the church of St. Peter, at Carmarthen. + +Sion Tudor was born about the middle of the sixteenth century. He had +much wit and humour, but was very satirical. He wrote a bitter epigram +on London, in which city, by the bye, he had been most unmercifully +fleeced. William Middleton was one of the sea captains of Queen +Elizabeth; he translated the Psalms into several of the four-and-twenty +measures whilst commanding a ship of war in the West Indian seas. Twm +Sion Cati lived in the days of James I.: he was a sweet poet, but--start +not, gentle reader! a ferocious robber. His cave amidst the wild hills +between Tregaron and Brecknock is still pointed out by the neighbouring +rustics. In the middle of the seventeenth century was produced a +singular little piece, author unknown: it is an englyn or epigram of four +lines on a spider, all in vowels:-- + + 'O'i wiw wy i weu e a,--o'i au, + O'i wyau y weua; + E wywa ei we' aua,' + A'i weuai yw ieuau ia.' + +A proest, or kind of counterchange, was eventually added to it by one +Gronwy Owen, so that the Welsh now can say, what perhaps no other nation +can, that they have a poem of eight lines in their language, in which +there is not a single consonant. It is however necessary to state, that +in the Welsh language there are seven vowels, both w and y being +considered and sounded as such. The two parts may be thus rendered into +English: + + 'From out its womb it weaves with care + Its web beneath the roof; + Its wintry web it spreadeth there-- + Wires of ice its woof. + + And doth it weave against the wall + Thin ropes of ice on high? + And must its little liver all + The wondrous stuff supply?' + +Huw Morris was born in the year 1622, and died in 1709, having lived in +six reigns. The place of his birth was Pont y Meibion, in the valley of +Ceiriog, in Denbighshire. He was a writer of songs, carols, and elegies, +and was generally termed Eos Ceiriog, or the Nightingale of Ceiriog, a +title which he occasionally well deserved, for some of his pieces, +especially his elegies, are of great beauty and sweetness. Not +unfrequently, however, the title of Dylluan Ceiriog, or the Owl of +Ceiriog, would be far more applicable, for whenever he thought fit he +could screech and hoot most fearfully. He was a loyalist, and some of +his strains against the Roundheads are fraught with the bitterest satire. +His dirge on Oliver and his men, composed shortly after Monk had declared +for Charles II., is a piece quite unique in its way. He lies buried in +the graveyard of the beautiful church of Llan Silien, in Denbigshire. +The stone which covers his remains is yet to be seen just outside the +southern wall, near the porch. The last great poet of Wales was a little +swarthy curate;--but this child of immortality, for such he is, must not +be disposed of in half a dozen lines. The following account of him is +extracted from an unpublished work, called 'Wild Wales,' by the author of +'The Bible in Spain':-- + + 'Goronwy, or Gronwy, Owen was born in the year 1722, at a place + called Llanfair Mathafrn Eithaf, in Anglesea. He was the eldest of + three children. His parents were peasants and so exceedingly poor + that they were unable to send him to school. Even, however, when an + unlettered child he gave indications that he was visited by the awen + or muse. At length the celebrated Lewis Morris chancing to be at + Llanfair, became acquainted with the boy, and, struck with its + natural talents, determined that he should have all the benefit which + education could bestow. He accordingly, at his own expense, sent him + to school at Beaumaris, where he displayed a remarkable aptitude for + the acquisition of learning. He subsequently sent him to Jesus + College, Oxford, and supported him there whilst studying for the + Church. At Jesus, Gronwy distinguished himself as a Greek and Latin + scholar, and gave proofs of such poetical talent in his native + language that he was looked upon by his countrymen of that Welsh + college as the rising bard of the age. After completing his + collegiate course, he returned to Wales, where he was ordained a + minster of the Church in the year 1745. The next seven years of his + life were a series of cruel disappointments and pecuniary + embarrassments. The grand wish of his heart was to obtain a curacy, + and to settle down in Wales. Certainly a very reasonable wish, for, + to say nothing of his being a great genius, he was eloquent, highly + learned, modest, meek, and of irreproachable morals; yet Gronwy Owen + could obtain no Welsh curacy, nor could his friend Lewis Morris, + though he exerted himself to the utmost, procure one for him. It was + true that he was told that he might go to Llanfair, his native place, + and officiate there at a time when the curacy happened to be vacant, + and thither he went, glad at heart to get back amongst his old + friends, who enthusiastically welcomed him; yet scarcely had he been + there three weeks when he received notice from the chaplain of the + Bishop of Bangor that he must vacate Llanfair in order to make room + for a Mr. John Ellis, a young clergyman of large independent fortune, + who was wishing for a curacy under the Bishop of Bangor, Doctor + Hutton. So poor Gronwy, the eloquent, the learned, the meek, was + obliged to vacate the pulpit of his native place to make room for the + rich young clergyman, who wished to be within dining distance of the + palace of Bangor. Truly in this world the full shall be crammed, and + those who have little shall have the little which they have taken + away from them. Unable to obtain employment in Wales, Gronwy sought + for it in England, and after some time procured the curacy of + Oswestry, in Shropshire, where he married a respectable young woman, + who eventually brought him two sons and a daughter. From Oswestry he + went to Donnington, near Shrewsbury, where, under a certain Scotchman + named Douglas, who was an absentee, and who died Bishop of Salisbury, + he officiated as curate and master of a grammar school for a + stipend--always grudgingly and contumeliously paid--of + three-and-twenty pounds a year. From Donnington he removed to Walton + in Cheshire, where he lost his daughter, who was carried off by a + fever. His next removal was to Northolt, a pleasant village in the + neighbourhood of London. He held none of his curacies long, either + losing them from the caprice of his principals, or being compelled to + resign them from the parsimony which they practised towards him. In + the year 1756 he was living in a garret in London, vainly soliciting + employment in his sacred calling, and undergoing with his family the + greatest privations. At length his friend Lewis Morris, who had + always assisted him to the utmost of his ability, procured him the + mastership of a Government school at New Brunswick, in North America, + with a salary of three hundred pounds a year. Thither he went with + his wife and family, and there he died some time about the year 1780. + + 'He was the last of the great poets of Cambria, and with the + exception of Ab Gwilym, the greatest which she has produced. His + poems, which for a long time had circulated through Wales in + manuscript, were first printed in the year 1819. They are composed + in the ancient bardic measures, and were, with one exception, namely, + an elegy on the death of his benefactor, Lewis Morris, which was + transmitted from the New World, written before he had attained the + age of thirty-five. All his pieces are excellent, but his + master-work is decidedly the Cywydd y Farn, or Day of Judgment. This + poem, which is generally considered by the Welsh as the brightest + ornament of their ancient language, was composed at Donnington, a + small hamlet in Shropshire, on the north-west spur of the Wrekin, at + which place, as has been already said, Gronwy toiled as schoolmaster + and curate under Douglas the Scot, for a stipend of three-and-twenty + pounds a year.' {28} + +The prose literature of Wales is by no means so extensive as the +poetical; it, however, comprises much that is valuable and curious on +historical, biographical, romantic and moral subjects. The most ancient +Welsh prose may probably be found in certain brief compositions, called +Triads, which are said to be of Druidic origin. The Triad was used for +the commemoration of historical facts or the inculcation of moral duties. +It has its name because in it three events are commemorated, or three +persons mentioned, if it be historical; three things or three actions +recommended or denounced, if it be moral. To give the reader at once a +tolerable conception of what the Triad is, we subjoin two or three +specimens of this kind of composition. We commence with the historical +Triad:-- + + 'These are the three pillars of the race of the isle of Britain: + First, Hu the Mighty, who conducted the nation of the Cumry from the + summer country to the island of Britain (bringing them from the + continent) across the hazy sea (German Ocean). Second, Prydain, son + of Aedd Mawr, the founder of government and rule in the isle of + Britain, before whose time there was no such thing as justice except + what was obtained by courtesy, nor any law save that of the + strongest. Third, Dyfnwal Moelmud, who first reduced to a system the + laws, customs, and privileges of his country and nation. + + 'The three intruding tribes into the island of Britain are the + following: First, the Corranians, who came from the country of Pwyl. + Second, the Gwyddelian (silvan, Irish) Fichti (Picts), who came to + Alban across the sea of Lochlin (Northern Ocean), and who still exist + in Alban by the shore of the sea of Lochlin (from Inverness to + Thursoe). Third, the Saxons . . . ' + +So much for the historical Triad: now for the moral. The following are +selected from a curious collection of admonitory sayings, called the +'Triads of the Cumro, or Welshman:'-- + + 'Three things should a Cumro always bear in mind lest he dishonour + them: his father, his country, and his name of Cumro. + + 'There are three things for which a Cumro should be willing to die: + his country, his good name, and the truth wherever it be. + + 'Three things are highly disgraceful to a Cumro: to look with one + eye, to listen with one ear, and to defend with one hand. + + 'Three things it especially behoves a Cumro to choose from his own + country: his king, his wife, and his friend.' + +After the Triads, the following are the principal prose works of the +Welsh:-- + +1. 'The Chronicle of the Kings of the Isle of Britain;' supposed to have +been written by Tysilio, in the seventh century. This work, or rather a +Latin paraphrase of it by Geoffrey of Monmouth, has supplied our early +English historians with materials for those parts of their works which +are devoted to the subject of ancient Britain. It brings down British +history to the year 660. + +2. A continuation of the same to the year 1152, by Caradawg of +Llancarvan. It begins thus: "In the year of Christ 660, died Cadwallawn +ab Cadfan, King of the Britons, and Cadwaladr his son became king in his +place; and, after ten years of peace, the great sickness, which is called +the Yellow Plague, came over the whole isle of Britain." + +3. The 'Code of Howel Da;' a book consisting of laws, partly framed, +partly compiled, by Howel Da, or the Good, who began to reign in the year +940. It is divided into three parts, and contains laws relating to the +government of the palace and the family of the prince, laws concerning +private property, and laws which relate to private rights and privileges. +It is a code which displays much acuteness, good sense, and not a little +oddity. Many of Howel's laws prevailed in Wales as far down as the time +of Henry VII. + +4. 'The Life or Biography of Gruffydd ap Cynan.' This Gruffydd, of whom +we have had more than once occasion to speak already, was born in Dublin +about the year 1075. He was the son of Cynan, an expatriated prince of +Gwynedd, by Raguel, daughter of Anlaf or Olafr, Dano-Irish king of Dublin +and the fifth part of Ireland. After a series of the strangest +adventures he succeeded in regaining his father's throne, on which he +died after a glorious reign of fifty years. He was the father of Owen +Gwynedd, one of the most warlike of the Welsh princes, and was grandsire +of that Madoc who, there is considerable reason for supposing, was the +first discoverer of the great land in the West. A truly remarkable book +is the one above mentioned, which narrates his life. It does full +justice to the subject, being written in a style not unworthy of Snorre +Sturlesen, or the man who wrote the history of King Sverrer and the +Birkebeiners, in the latter part of the Heimskringla. It is a +composition of the fifteenth century, but the author is unknown. + +5. The Mabinogion, or Juvenile Diversions, a collection of Cumric +legends, in substance of unknown antiquity, but in the dress in which +they have been handed down to us scarcely older than the fourteenth +century. In interest they almost vie with the 'Arabian Nights,' with +which, however, they have nothing else in common, notwithstanding that +all other European tales--those of Russia not excepted--are evidently +modifications of, or derived from the same source as the Arabian stories. +Of these Cumric legends two translations exist: the first, which was +never published, made towards the concluding part of the last century by +William Owen, who eventually assumed the name of Owen Pugh, the writer of +the immortal Welsh and English Dictionary, and the translator into Welsh +of 'Paradise Lost;' the second by the fair and talented Lady Charlotte +Guest, which first made these strange, glorious stories known to England +and all the world. + +The sixth and last grand prose work of the Welsh is the 'Sleeping Bard,' +a moral allegory, written about the beginning of the last century by Elis +Wyn, a High-Church Welsh clergyman, a translation of which, by George +Borrow, is now before us:-- + + 'The following translation of the Sleeping Bard,' says Mr. Borrow, in + his preface, 'has long existed in manuscript. It was made by the + writer of these lines in the year 1830, at the request of a little + Welsh bookseller of his acquaintance, who resided in the rather + unfashionable neighbourhood of Smithfield, and who entertained an + opinion that a translation of the work of Elis Wyn would enjoy a + great sale, both in England and Wales. On the eve of committing it + to the press, however, the Cambrian Briton felt his small heart give + way within him: "Were I to print it," said he, "I should be ruined. + The terrible descriptions of vice and torment would frighten the + genteel part of the English public out of its wits, and I should to a + certainty be prosecuted by Sir James Scarlett. I am much obliged to + you for the trouble you have given yourself on my account--but myn + Diawl! I had no idea, till I had read him in English, that Elis Wyn + had been such a terrible fellow." + + 'Yet there is no harm in the book. It is true that the author is + anything but mincing in his expressions and descriptions, but there + is nothing in the Sleeping Bard which can give offence to any but the + over fastidious. There is a great deal of squeamish nonsense in the + world; let us hope, however, that there is not so much as there was. + Indeed, can we doubt that such folly is on the decline, when we find + Albemarle Street in '60 willing to publish a harmless but + plain-speaking book which Smithfield shrank from in '80?' + +The work is divided into three parts, devoted to three separate and +distinct visions, which the Bard pretends to have seen at three different +times in his sleep. In assuming the title of 'Sleeping Bard' Elis Wyn +committed a kind of plagiarism, as it originated with a certain poet who +flourished in the time of the Welsh princes, some nine hundred years +before he himself was born, and to this plagiarism he humorously alludes +in one of his visions. The visions are described in prose, but each is +followed by a piece of poetry containing a short gloss or comment. The +prose is graphic and vigorous, almost beyond conception; the poetry wild +and singular, each piece composed in a particular measure. Of the +measures, two are quite original, to be found nowhere else. The first +vision is the Vision of the World. The object of the Bard is to describe +the follies, vices, and crimes of the human race, more especially those +of the natives of the British Isles. In his sleep he imagines that he is +carried away by fairies, and is in danger of perishing owing to their +malice, but is rescued by an angel, who informs him that he has been sent +by the Almighty with orders to give him a distinct view of the world. +The angel, after a little time, presents him with a telescope, through +which he sees a city of a monstrous size, with thousands of cities and +kingdoms within it; and the great ocean, like a moat, around it; and +other seas, like rivers, intersecting it. + +This city is, of course, the world. It is divided into three magnificent +streets. These streets are called respectively the streets of Pride, +Pleasure, and Lucre. In the distance is a cross street, little and mean +in comparison with the others, but clean and neat, and on a higher +foundation than the other streets, running upwards towards the east, +whilst they all sink downwards towards the north. This street is the +street of True Religion. The angel conducts him down the three principal +streets, and procures him glances into the inside of various houses. The +following scene in a cellar of what is called the street of Pleasure, +goes far to show that the pen of Elis Wyn, at low description, was not +inferior to the pencil of Hogarth:-- + + 'From thence we went to a place where we heard a terrible noise, a + medley of striking, jabbering, crying and laughing, shooting and + singing. "Here's Bedlam, doubtless," said I. By the time we entered + the den the brawling had ceased. Of the company, one was on the + ground insensible; another was in a yet more deplorable condition; + another was nodding over a hearthful of battered pots, pieces of + pipes, and oozings of ale. And what was all this, upon inquiry, but + a carousal of seven thirsty neighbours,--a goldsmith, a pilot, a + smith, a miner, a chimney-sweeper, a poet, and a parson who had come + to preach sobriety, and to exhibit in himself what a disgusting thing + drunkenness is! The origin of the last squabble was a dispute which + had arisen among them about which of the seven loved a pipe and + flagon best. The poet had carried the day over all the rest, with + the exception of the parson, who, out of respect for his cloth, had + the most votes, being placed at the head of the jolly companions, the + poet singing:-- + + 'O where are there seven beneath the sky + Who with these seven for thirst can vie? + But the best for good ale these seven among + Are the jolly divine and the son of song.' + +After showing the Bard what is going on in the interior of the houses of +the various streets, and in the streets themselves, the angel conducts +him to the various churches of the City of Perdition: to the temple of +Paganism, to the mosque of the Turk, and to the synagogue of the Jews; +showing and explaining to him what is going on within them. He then +takes him to the church of the Papists, which the angel calls, very +properly, 'the church which deceiveth nations.' Some frightful examples +are given of the depravity and cruelty of monks and friars. The dialogue +between the confessor and the portly female who had murdered her husband, +who was a member of the Church of England, is horrible, but quite in +keeping with the principles of Popery; also the discourse which the same +confessor holds with the young girl who had killed her child, whose +father was a member of the monastery to which the monk belonged. From +the Church of Rome they go to the Church of England. It is lamentable to +observe what an attached minister of the Church of England describes as +going on within the walls of a Church of England temple a hundred and +fifty years ago. Would that the description could be called wholly +inapplicable at the present time! + + "Whereupon he carried me to the gallery of one of the churches in + Wales, the people being in the midst of the service, and lo! some + were whispering, talking, and laughing, some were looking upon the + pretty women, others were examining the dress of their neighbours + from top to toe; some were pushing themselves forward and snarling at + one another about rank, some were dozing, others were busily engaged + in their devotions, but many of these were playing a hypocritical + part." + +The angel finally conducts the Bard to the small cross street, that of +True Religion, where, of course, everything is widely different from what +is found in any of the other streets. In that street there was no fear +but of incensing the King, who was ever more ready to forgive than be +angry with his subjects, and no sound but that of psalms of praise to the +Almighty. + +The second section is a Vision of Death in his palace below. The +author's aim in this vision is less apparent than in the preceding one. +Perhaps, however, he wished to impress upon people's minds the awfulness +of dying in an unrepentant state, from the certainty, in that event, of +the human soul being forthwith cast headlong down the precipice of +destruction. The Bard is carried away by sleep to chambers where some +people are crying, others screaming, some talking deliriously, some +uttering blasphemies in a feeble tone, others lying in great agony with +all the signs of dying men, and some yielding up the ghost after uttering +'a mighty shout.' He is then conducted to a kind of limbo or Hades, +where he meets with his prototype the Sleeping Bard of old and two other +Welsh poets, one of whom is Taliesin, who is represented as watching the +caldron of the witch Cridwen, even as he watched it in his boyhood. From +thence he is hurried to the palace of Death, where he sees the King of +Terrors swallowing flesh and blood, who, after a time, places himself on +a terrific throne, and proceeds to pass judgment on various prisoners +newly arrived. They are dealt with in an awful but very summary manner. +It is to be remarked that all the souls introduced in this vision are +those of bad people, with the exception of those of the poets which the +Bard meets in limbo. A dark intimation, however, is given that there is +another court or palace, where Death presides under a far different form, +and where he pronounces judgment over the souls of the good. There is +much in this vision which it is very difficult to understand. The gloss, +or commentary, called 'Death the Great,' abounds with very fine poetry. + +The last Vision, that of Hell, is the longest of the three. The Bard is +carried in his sleep by the same angel who in his first vision had shown +him the madness and vanity of the world, to the regions of eternal horror +and woe, where he beholds the lost undergoing tortures proportionate to +the crimes which they had committed on earth. After wandering from nook +to nook, the Bard and his guide at last come to the court before the +palace of the hellish regions, where, amidst thousands of horrible +objects, the Bard perceives two feet of enormous magnitude, reaching to +the roof of the whole infernal firmament, and inquires of his companion +what those horrible things may be, but is told to be quiet for the +present, as on his return he will obtain a full view of the monster to +whom they belong, and is then conducted into the palace of Lucifer, who +is about to hold a grand council. The Arch-Fiend is described as seated +on a burning throne in a vast hall, the roof of which is of glowing +steel. Around him are his potentates on thrones of fire, and above his +head is a huge fist, holding a very frightful thunderbolt, towards which +he occasionally casts uneasy glances. In the midst of the palace is a +gulf, of yet more horrible and frightful aspect than hell itself, which +is continually opening and closing, and which, the angel says, is the +month of 'Unknown' or extremest hell, to which the devils and the damned +are to be hurled for ever on the last day. The council is held in order +to devise measures for the farther extension of the kingdom of Lucifer. +The Arch-Fiend, in a speech which he makes, boasts that three parts of +the world have already been brought to acknowledge his sway, chiefly +through the instrumentality of his three daughters--Pleasure, Pride, and +Lucre; and he hopes that eventually the whole world will be brought to do +the same. He is particularly desirous that Britain should be subject to +him, and requests the advice of his counsellors as to the best means to +be employed in order to accomplish his wish. Various infernal potentates +then arise and give him their advice, each of whom is a personification +of some crime, vice, or folly. The debate is frequently interrupted by +the sound of war; for, as the angel observes, there is continual war in +hell. There is at one time a terrible disturbance and outbreak, arising +from a dispute between the Papists, the Mahometans, and the bloody-minded +Roundheads, as to which has done most service to the cause of hell,--the +Koran, the Creed of Rome, or the Solemn League and Covenant. Lucifer is +only able to quell this disturbance--during which Mahomet and Pope Julius +assault each other tooth and nail--by causing his old picked soldiers, +the champions of hell, to tear the combatants from each other. Amidst +interruptions like these the debate proceeds. Each of the personified +crimes and vices in succession--amongst whom are Mammon, Pride, +Inconsiderateness, Wantonness, and the Demon of _Tobacco_--offers to go +to Britain and do his best to further the views of his master. Lucifer, +however, after listening to them all and acknowledging the peculiar merit +of each, says that none of them is of sufficient power to be relied upon +in the present emergency, but that he has a darling friend, who, with +their co-operation, is equal to the enterprise. The friend turns out to +be Ease--pleasant Ease--on whose merits he expatiates with great +eloquence, and with whom he requests them to co-operate. 'Go with her,' +says he, 'and keep everybody in his sleep and his rest, in prosperity and +comfort, abundance and carelessness, and then you will see the poor +honest man, as soon as he shall drink of the alluring cup of Ease, become +a perverse, proud, untractable churl; the industrious labourer change +into a careless waggish rattler; and every other person become just as +you would desire him . . . Follow her to Britain,' he says in conclusion, +'and be as obedient to her as to our own royal Majesty'! + +Then comes the finale:-- + + 'At this moment the huge bolt was shaken, and Lucifer and his chief + counsellors were struck to the vortex of extremest hell, and oh! how + horrible it was to see the throat of Unknown opening to receive them! + "Well!" said the Angel, "we will now return; but you have not seen + anything in comparison with the whole which is within the bounds of + Destruction, and if you had seen the whole, it is nothing to the + inexpressible misery which exists in Unknown, for it is not possible + to form an idea of the world in extremest hell." And at that word the + celestial messenger snatched me up to the firmament of the accursed + kingdom of darkness by a way I had not seen, whence I obtained, from + the palace along all the firmament of the black and hot _Destruction_, + and the whole land of forgetfulness, even to the walls of the city of + Destruction, a full view of the accursed monster of a giantess, whose + feet I had seen before. I do not possess words to describe her + figure. But I can tell you that she was a triple-faced giantess, + having one very atrocious countenance turned towards the heavens, + barking, snorting, and vomiting accursed abomination against the + celestial King; another countenance, very fair, towards the earth, to + entice men to tarry in her shadow; and another, the most frightful + countenance of all, turned towards Hell to torment it to all eternity. + She is larger than the entire earth, and is yet daily increasing, and + a hundred times more frightful than the whole of hell. She caused + hell to be made, and it is she who fills it with inhabitants. If she + were removed from hell, hell would become paradise; and if she were + removed from the earth, the little world would become heaven; and if + she were to go to heaven, she would change the regions of bliss into + utter hell. There is nothing in all the universe, except herself, + that God did not create. She is the mother of the four female + deceivers of the city of Destruction; she is the mother of Death; she + is the mother of every evil and misery; and she has a fearful hold on + every living man: her name is Sin. "_He who escapes from her hook_, + _for ever blessed is he_," said the angel. Thereupon he departed, and + I could hear his voice saying, "_Write down what thou hast seen_, _and + he who shall read it carefully_, _shall never have reason to repent_." + +The above is an outline of the work of Elis Wyn--an extraordinary work it +is. In it there is a singular mixture of the sublime and the coarse, of +the terrible and ludicrous, of religion and levity, of the styles of +Milton, of Bunyan, and of Quevedo. There is also much in it that is +Welsh, and much that may be said emphatically to belong to Elis Wyn +alone. The book is written in the purest Cambrian, and from the time of +its publication has enjoyed extensive popularity in Wales. It is, +however, said that the perusal of it has not unfrequently driven people +mad, especially those of a serious and religious turn. The same thing is +said in Spain of the 'Life of Ignatius Loyola.' Peter Williams, in +'Lavengro,' the Welsh preacher who was haunted with the idea that he had +committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, is frequently mentioning the +work of Elis Wyn. Amongst other things, he says that he took particular +delight in its descriptions of the torments of hell. We have no doubt +that many an Englishman, of honest Welsh Peter's gloomy temperament, when +he reads the work in its present dress will experience the same kind of +fearful joy. + +The translation is accompanied by notes explanatory of certain passages +of the original beyond the comprehension of the common reader. These +notes are good, as far as they go, but they are not sufficiently +numerous, as many passages relating to ancient manners and +customs--perfectly intelligible, no doubt, to the translator--must, for +want of proper notes, remain dark and mysterious to his readers. In the +Vision of Hell, a devil, who returns from the world to which he has been +despatched, and who gives an account of his mission, says that he had +visited two young maidens in Wales who were engaged in turning the shift. +Not a few people--ladies, amongst the rest--will be disposed to ask what +is meant by turning the shift. Mr. Borrow gives elsewhere the following +explanation: 'It was the custom in Britain in ancient times for the young +maiden who wished to see her future lover to sit up by herself at +Hallowmass Eve, wash out her smock, shift, or chemise, call it which of +the three you please, place it on a linen-horse before the fire, and +watch it whilst drying, leaving the door of the room open, in the belief +that exactly as the clock began to strike twelve the future bridegroom +would look in at the door, and remain visible till the twelfth stroke had +ceased to sound.' + +Of the notes which Mr. Borrow has given, the most important is certainly +that which relates to Taliesin, who, in the Vision of Death, is described +as sitting in Hades, watching a caldron which is hanging over a fire, and +is continually going bubble, bubble. We give it nearly entire:-- + + 'Taliesin lived in the sixth century. He was a foundling, discovered + in his infancy lying in a coracle on a salmon weir, in the domain of + Elphin, a prince of North Wales, who became his patron. During his + life he arrogated to himself a supernatural descent and + understanding, and for at least a thousand years after his death he + was regarded by the descendants of the ancient Britons as a prophet + or something more. The poems which he produced procured for him the + title of "Bardic King." They display much that is vigorous and + original, but are disfigured by mysticism and extravagant metaphor. + When Elis Wyn represents him as sitting by a cauldron in Hades, he + alludes to a wild legend concerning him, to the effect that he + imbibed awen or poetical genius whilst employed in watching "the + seething pot" of the sorceress Cridwen, which legend has much in + common with one of the Irish legends about Fin Macoul, which is + itself nearly identical with one in the Edda describing the manner in + which Sigurd Fafnisbane became possessed of supernatural wisdom.' + +It is curious enough that the legend about deriving wisdom from _sucking +the scalded finger_ should be found in Wales, Ireland, and Scandinavia. +But so it is, and Mr. Borrow is clearly entitled to the credit of having +been the first to point out to the world this remarkable fact. In his +work called the 'Romany Rye,' published some years ago, a story is +related containing parts of the early history of the Irish mythic hero +Fion Mac Comhail, {33} or Fin Mac Coul, in which there is an account of +his burning his thumb whilst smoothing the skin of a fairy salmon which +is broiling over a fire, and deriving supernatural knowledge from +thrusting his thumb into his mouth and sucking it; and Mr. Borrow tells +the relater of that legend, his amusing acquaintance Murtagh, that the +same tale is told in the Edda of Sigurd, the Serpent-Killer, with the +difference that Sigurd burns his finger, not whilst superintending the +broiling of a salmon, but whilst roasting the heart of Fafnir, the +man-serpent, whom he had slain. + +Here, in his note on Taliesin, he shows that the same thing in substance +is said of the ancient Welsh bard. Of the three versions of the legend, +the one of which Sigurd Fafnisbane is the hero is probably the most +original, and is decidedly the most poetical. + + + + +Footnotes + + +{20} It is but right to state that the learned are divided with respect +to the meaning of 'Cumro,' and that many believe it to denote _an +original inhabitant_. + +{21a} Yehen banog: humped or bunched oxen, probably buffaloes. Banog is +derived from ban--a prominence, protuberance, or peak. + +{21b} Above we have given what we believe to be a plain and fair history +of Hu Gadarn; but it is necessary to state, that after his death he was +deified, and was confounded with the Creator, the vivifying power and the +sun, and mixed up with all kinds of myths and legends. Many of the +professedly Christian Welsh bards when speaking of the Deity have called +Him Hu, and ascribed to the Creator the actions of the creature. Their +doing so, however, can cause us but little surprise when we reflect that +the bards down to a very late period cherished a great many druidical and +heathen notions, and frequently comported themselves in a manner more +becoming heathens than Christian men. Of the confounding of what is +heavenly with what is earthly we have a remarkable instance in the ode of +Iolo Goch to the ploughman, four lines of which, slightly modified, we +have given above. In that ode the ploughman is confounded with the +Eternal, and the plough with the rainbow:-- + + 'The Mighty Hu who reigns for ever, + Of mead and song to men the giver, + The emperor of land and sea + And of all things which living be, + Did hold a plough with his good hand, + Soon as the deluge left the land, + To show to men, both strong and weak, + The haughty hearted and the meek, + There is no trade the heaven below + So noble as to guide the plough.' + +To the Deity under the name of Hu there are some lines by one Rhys, a +Welsh bard of the time of Queen Elizabeth, though they are perhaps more +applicable to the Universal Pan or Nature than to the God of the +Christians:-- + + 'If with small things we Hu compare, + No smaller thing than Hu is there, + Yet greatest of the great is He, + Our Lord, our God of Mystery; + How swift he moves! a lucid ray, + A sunbeam wafts him on his way; + He's great on land, and great on ocean, + Of one more great I have no notion; + I dread lest I should underrate + This being, infinitely great.' + +{22} The poetical translations in this notice are taken from Borrow's +'Songs of Europe.' + +{25a} + + 'Oedd balch gwalch golchiad ei lain, + Oedd beilch gweilch gweled ei werin.' + +In this couplet there is three-fold rhyme. We have the alliteration of +lch in the first line:-- + + 'ba_lch_ gwa_lch_ go_lch_iad;' + +and of the _w_ in the second:-- + + 'g_w_eilch g_w_eled _w_erin;' + +secondly, we have the rhymes of balch and gwalch; and thirdly, the +rhyming at the lines' ends. + +{25b} Of this celebrated place we are permitted to extract the following +account from Mr. Borrow's unpublished work, 'Celtic Bards, Chiefs, and +Kings':-- + + 'After wandering for many miles towards the south, over a bleak moory + country, you come to a place called Ffair Rhos, or something similar, + a miserable village consisting of a few half-ruined cottages, + situated on the top of a hill. From the hill you look down on a wide + valley of a russet colour, along which a river runs towards the + south. The whole scene is cheerless; sullen hills are all around. + Descending the hill you enter a large village divided into two by the + river, which here runs from east to west, but presently takes a turn. + There is much mire in the street; immense swine lie in the mire, who + turn up their snouts at you as you pass. Women in Welsh hats stand + in the mire, along with men without any hats at all, but with short + pipes in their mouths. They are talking together; as you pass, + however, they hold their tongues, the women leering contemptuously at + you, the men glaring sullenly at you, and causing tobacco-smoke to + curl in your face. On your taking off your hat, however, and + inquiring the way to the Monachlog, everybody is civil enough, and + twenty voices tell you the way to the monastery. You ask the name of + the river: "The Teivi, Sir, the Teivi." The name of the bridge: + "Pont y Rhyd Fendigaid--the Bridge of the Blessed Ford, Sir!" You + cross the bridge of the Blessed Ford, and presently leaving the main + road you turn to the east, by a dunghill, up a narrow lane, parallel + with the river. After proceeding a mile up the lane amidst trees and + copses, and crossing a little brook which runs into the Teivi, out of + which you drink, you see before you in the midst of a field, in which + are tombstones and broken ruins, a rustic-looking church; a farmhouse + is near it, in the garden of which stands the framework of a large + gateway. You cross over into the churchyard, stand on a green mound + and look about you. You are now in the very midst of the Monachlog + Ystrad Flur, the celebrated monastery of Strata Florida, to which in + old times popish pilgrims from all parts of the world repaired. The + scene is solemn and impressive. On the north side of the river a + large bulky hill, called Bunk Pen Bannedd, looks down upon the ruins + and the church; and on the south side, some way behind the farmhouse, + is another hill which does the same. Rugged mountains form the + background of the valley to the east, down from which comes murmuring + the fleet but shallow Teivi. Such is the scenery which surrounds + what remains of Strata Florida; those scanty broken ruins compose all + that remains of that celebrated monastery in which kings, saints, and + mitred abbots were buried, and in which, or in whose precincts, was + buried Dafydd ab Gwilym, the greatest genius of the Cimbric race, and + one of the first poets of the world.' + +{28} It must be mentioned, however, in justice to Douglas, that in the +autobiography of Dr. Carlyle, lately published, we find that 'John +Douglas, who has for some time been Bishop of Salisbury, and who is one +of the most able and learned men on that bench, had at this time (1758, +some years after Gronwy had left him) but small preferment.' + +{33} In a late number of the Transactions of the Dublin Ossianic +Society--a most admirable institution--there is an account of the early +life of Fin ma Coul, in which the burnt finger is mentioned; but that +number did not appear till more than a year subsequent to the publication +of the 'Romany Rye,' and contains not the slightest allusion either to +Fafnisbane, _i.e._ the slayer of Fafnir, or Taliesin--to the Eddacal or +the Cumric legend. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WELSH AND THEIR LITERATURE*** + + +******* This file should be named 33336.txt or 33336.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/3/3/3/33336 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/33336.zip b/33336.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cdf6087 --- /dev/null +++ b/33336.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b75730 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #33336 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33336) |