Note 75, page 220, col. 2.

Prince Hoel's lay of love. Eight poems by Prince Hoel are preserved: they are here given in Mr Owen's translation.

1.

My choice is a lady, elegant, slender, and fair, whose lengthened white form is seen through the thin blue

veil; and my choicest faculty is to muse on superior

female excellence, when she with diffidence utters the becoming sentiment; and my choicest participation is to become united with the maid, and to share mutual confidence as to thoughts and fortune. I chuse the bright hue of the spreading wave, thou who art the most discreet in thy country, with thy pure Welsh speech, chosen by me art thou; what am I with thee? how! dost thou refrain from speaking? ah! thy silence even is fair! I have chosen a maid, so that with me there should be no hesitation; it is right to chuse the choicest fair one, chuse, fair maid!

2.

I love the white glittering walls on the side of the bank, clothed in fresh verdancy, where bashfulness loves to observe the modest sea-mew's course; it would be my delight, though I have met with no great return of love in my much-desired visit on the sleek white steed, to behold my sister of flippant smile; to talk of love since it has come to my lot; to restore my ease of mind, and to renew her slighted troth with the nymph as fair as the hue of the shore-beating wave. From her country, who is bright as the coldly-drifted snow upon the lofty hill, a censure has come to us, that I should be so treated with disdain in the Hall of Ogyr

van.

Playful, from her promise was new-born expectation ;-she is gone with my soul away: I am made wretched!-Am I not become for love like Garwy Hir to the fair one of whom I am debarred in the Hall of Ogyrvan!

deigns not to return the consolation of the slightest grace.

Broken is my heart! my portion is regret, caused by the form of a slender lady, with a girdle of ruddy gold; my treatment is not deserved, she is not this day where my appointed place was fixed. Son of the God of Heaven! if before a promise of forbearance she goes away, woe to me that I am not slain.

5.

When the ravens rejoice, when blood is hastening, when the gore runs bubbling, when the war doth rage, when the houses redden in Ruzlan, when the red hall is burning, when we glow with wrath; the ruddy flame it blazes up to heaven; our abode affords no shelter; and plainly is the bright conflagration seen from the white walls upon the shore of Menai.

They perished on the third day of May, three hundred ships of a fleet roving the ocean; and ten hundred times the number the sword would put to flight, leaving not a single beard on Menai.

6.

Five evening tides were celebrated when France was saved, when barbarian chiefs were made to fly, when there was pressure round the steel-clad bodies; should a weapon yet be brandished round the beard, a public triumph would my wrath procure, scouring the bounds should be the hand of the hastening host upon the cross, of Loegyr, and on her habitation hurling ruin; there the keen edge slaughtering, the blade reeking with blood, the blood hue over the abject throng, a blood veil hiding its place of falling, and a plain of blood, and a cheek suffused with gore.

7.

I love the time of summer; then the gladly-exulting steed of the warrior prances before a gallant chief; the wave is crowned with foam; the limb of the active more quickly moves; the apple tree has arrayed itself in another livery; bordered with white is my shield on I love the castle of proud workmanship in the Cy-my shoulder, prepared for violence. I have loved with vylci, where my own assuming form is wont to intrude; ardency of desire, the object which I have not obthe high of renown, in full bustle, seek admittance tained. there, and by it speaks the mad resounding wave.

3.

It is the chosen place of a luminary of splendid qualities and fair; glorious her rising from the verge of the torrent, and the fair one shines upon the now progressive year in the wild of Arvon, in the Snowdonian hills.

The tent does not attract; the glossy silk is not looked on by her I love, with passing tenderness: if her conquest could be wrought by the muse's aid, ere the night that comes, I should next to her be found.

4.

I have harnessed thee to-day, my steed of shining grey; I will traverse on thee the fair region of Cynlas; and I will hold a hard dispute before death shall cut me off in obstructing sleep, and thus obstructing health; and on me it has been a sign, no longer being the honoured youth, the complexion is like the pale blue

waves.

Oppressed with longing is my memory in society; regret for her by whom I am hated; whilst I confer on the maid the honoured eulogy; she, to prosper pain,

Ceridwen, fair and tall, of slowly languid gait, her complexion vies with the warm dawn in the evening hour, of a splendid delicate form, beautifully mild and ¦ white-hued presence! in stepping over a rush nearly falling seems the little tiny fair one; gentle in her air, she appears but scarcely older than a tenth year infant. Young, shapely, and full of gracefulness, it were a congenial virtue that she should freely give; but the youthful female does more embarrass good fortune by a smile, than an expression from her lips checks impertinence.

A worshipping pilgrim she will send me to the celestial presence; how long shall I worship thee? stop and think of thine office! If I am unskilful through the dotage of love, Jesus, the well-informed, will not rebuke me.

8.

Fair foam-crowned wave, spraying over the sacred tomb of Ruvon the brave, the chief of princes, behold this day I love the utmost hate of England, a flat and unenergetic land, with a race involved in every wile. I love the spot that gave me the much-desired gift of

Note 76, page 222, col. 1.

Ere ever Saxon set his hateful foot
Upon the beautiful Isle.

mead, where the seas extend a tedious conflict. I love recompense for a little of the praise which I
the society and thick inhabitants therein, and which, the teeth most opportunely bar the tongue.
obedient to its lord, directs its view to peace. I love
its sea-coasts and its mountains, its city bordering on its
forest, its fair landscape, its dales, its water, and its
vales, its white sea-mews, and its beauteous women. I
love its warriors and its well-trained steeds, its woods,
its strong-holds, and its social domicil. I love its fields
clothed with tender trefoil, where I had the glory of a
mighty triumph. I love its cultivated regions, the pre-
rogative of heroism, and its far-extended wild, and its
sports of the chase, which, Son of God! have been
great and wonderful: how sleek the melodious deer,

and in what plenty found! I achieved by the push
of a spear an excellent deed between the chief Powys
and happy Gwynez, and upon the pale-hued element of
ever-struggling motion may I accomplish a liberation
from exile. I will not take breath until my party
comes; a dream declares it, and God wills it to be so,
fair foam-crowned wave spraying over the grave.

Fair foam-crowned wave, impetuous in thy course, like in colour to the hoar when it accumulates; I love the sea-coast in Meirionyz, where I have had a whitearm for a pillow. I love the nightingale upon the privetbrake in Cymmer Denzur, a celebrated vale. Lord of heaven and earth, the glory of the blest, though so far it is from Ceri to Caerliwelyz, I mounted the yellow steed, and from Maelienyz reached the land of Reged between the night and day. Before I am in the grave, may I enjoy a new blessing from the land of Tegyngyl| of fairest aspect! Since I am a lovewight, one inured to wander, may God direct my fate! fair foam-crowned wave of impetuous course.

sung; but

« The three names of this Island; the first, before it was inhabited it was called the Water-guarded Green Spot; after it was inhabited it was called the HoneyIsland; and after its subjection to Prydain, the son of Aedd Mawr, he gave it the name of the Isle of Prydain.»-Cambrian Register.

This name was appropriately given to it, for Yais Prydain siguifies the Beautiful Isle.—Cambrian Biography, E. WILLIAMS.

Note 77, page 222, col. 1.

The contumacious Prince of Mathraval.

<< Oenum de Cevelioc, quia solus inter Walliæ principes Archipræsuli cum populo suo non occurrerat, excommunicavimus. Oenus iste præ aliis Cambria principibus, et linguæ dicacis extiterat, et in terræ suæ moderamine ingenii perspicacis.»-GIRALDUS CAM

BRENSIS.

Note 78, page 223, col. 1.

Even as Owen in his deeds
Disowned the Church when living, even so
The Church disowns him dead.

Owen Gwyneth was buried at Bangor. When Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, coming to preach the crusade against the Saracens, saw his tomb, he charged the Bishop to remove the body out of the Cathedral, when he could find a fit opportunity so to do; in regard that Archbishop Becket had excommunicated him heretofore, because he had married his first cousin, the

I will implore the Divine Supreme, the wonderful in subjugating to his will, as king, to create an excelling muse for a song of praise to the women, such as Mer-daughter of Grono ab Edwyn, and that notwithstanding zin sung, who have claimed my bardic lore so long, who he had continued to live with her till she died. The are so tardy in dispensing grace. The most eminent Bishop, in obedience to the charge, made a passage in all the west I name, from the gates of Chester to the from the vault through the south wall of the church, port of Ysgewin: The first is the nymph who will be under ground, and so secretly shoved the body into the the subject of universal praise, Gwenliant, whose com-churchyard.-Royal Tribes, from the HENGWRT MS. plexion is like the summer's day. The second is another of high state, far from my embrace, adorned with golden necklace, fair Gweirvyl, from whom nor token nor confidence have I obtained, nor has any of my race; though I might be slain by two-edged blades, she whose foster-brother was a king, should be my theme; and next for the handsome Gwladys, the young and modest

virgin, the idol of the multitude, I utter the secret sigh; I will worship her with the yellow blossoms of the furze. Soon may I see my vigour rouse to combat, and in my hand my blade, bright Leucu, my companion, laughing, and whose husband laughs not from anxiety. Great anxiety oppresses me, makes me sad; and longing, alas! is habitual for fair Nest, for her who is like the apple-tree blossom; and for Perwewr, the centre of my desire; for Generys the chaste, who grants not a smile for me may continence not overcome her! for Hunyz, whose fame will last till the day of doom; for Hawis, who claims my choicest eulogy. On a memorable day I had a nymph; I had a second, more be their praise; I had a third and a fourth with prosperity; I had a fifth of those with a skin white and delicate; I had a sixth bright and fair, avoiding not the temptation, above the white walls did she arrest me; I had a seventh, and this was satiety of love; I had eight in

Note 79, page 225, col. 1.

Winning slow famine to their aid.

<< I am much affected,» says old Fuller, « with the

ingenuity of an English nobleman, who, following the camp of King Henry III in these parts (Caernarvonshire), wrote home to his friends, about the end of Sep

tember 1243, the naked truth indeed as followeth : 'We lie in our tents, watching, fasting, praying, and freezing; we watch for fear of the Welchmen, who are wont to invade us in the night; we fast for want of meat, for the half-penny loaf is worth five-pence; we pray to God to send us home speedily; we freeze for want of winter garments, having nothing but thin linen betwixt us and the wind.'»

Note 80, page 225, col. 2.

Be not thou

As is the black and melancholy yew,
That strikes into the grave its baleful roots,
And prospers on the dead.

Borrowed from an old play by John Webster:
Like the black and melancholic yew-tree,
Dost think to root thyself in dead men's graves,
And yet to prosper ?

The White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona.

be with him for ever.

be a Powwow, or Divine; whereupon the Great Man told him, he should have what he desired, and that his Shadow should go along with him down to earth, and There was, he says, all this time no words spoken between them; the conference was not carried on by any human language, but they had a kind of mental intelligence of each other's thoughts, dispositions, and proposals. After this, he says, he saw the Great Man no more, but supposes he now came down to earth to be born; but the Shadow of the Great Man still attended him, and ever after continued to appear to him in dreams and other ways. This shadow used sometimes to direct him in dreams to go to such a place and hunt, assuring him he should there meet with success, which accordingly proved so; and when he had been there some time the Spirit would order him to another place, so that he had success in hunting, according to the Great Man's promise, made to him at the time of his chusing this employment.

<< There were some times when this Spirit came upon him in a special manner, and he was full of what he saw in the Great Man, and then, he says, he was all light, and not only light himself, but it was light all around him, so that he could see through men, and knew the thoughts of their hearts. These depths of Satan I leave to others to fathom or to dive into as they please, and do not pretend, for my own part, to know what ideas to affix to such terms, and cannot well guess what conceptions of things these creatures have at these times when they call themselves all light.» -DAVID BRAINERD'S Journal.

out upon the several parts of it; I went in, and found the ground beat almost as hard as a rock, with their frequent dancing in it. I discoursed with him about Christ ianity, and some of my discourse he seemed to like, but some of it he disliked entirely. He told me, that God had taught him his religion, and that he never would turn from it, but wanted to find some that would join heartily with him in it; for the ludians, he said, were grown very degenerate and corrupt. He had thought, he said, of leaving all his friends, and travelling abroad, in order to find some that would join with him; for he believed God had some good people somewhere that felt as he did. He had not always, he said, felt as he now did, but had formerly been like the rest of the Indians, until about four or five years before that time; then, he said, his heart was very much distressed, so that he could not live among the Indians, but got away into the woods, and lived alone for some mouths. At length, he said,

God comforted his heart, and showed him what he should do, and since that time he had known God, and tried to serve him; and loved all men, be they who they would, so as he never did before. He treated me with uncommon courtesy, and seemed to be hearty in it; and I was told by the Indians, that he opposed their drinking strong liquor with all his power; and if at any time he could not dissuade them from it by all he could say, he would leave them, and to crying into the woods. It was manifest he had a set of religious notions that he had looked into for himself, and not taken for granted upon bare tradition; and he relished or disrelished whatever was spoken of a reHad Brainerd been a Jesuit, his superiors would cer-ligious nature, according as it either agreed or disAnd while I was discourstainly have thought him a fit candidate for the crown of martyrdom, and very worthy to be made a Saint. ing he would sometimes say, 'Now that I like; so God has taught me;' and some of his sentiments seemed very just. Yet he utterly denied the being of a Devil, and declared there was no such creature known among the Indians of old times, whose religion, he supposes, He likewise told me that was attempting to revive. departed souls all went southward, and that the difference between the good and bad was this, that the former were admitted into a beautiful town with spiritual walls, or walls agreeable to the nature of souls; and that the latter would for ever hover round those walls, and in vain attempt to get in. He seemed to

agreed with his standard.

he

and according to his own religious notions, which was more than I ever saw in any other Pagan : and I perceived he was looked upon and derided by most of the Indians as a precise zealot, who made a needless noise about religious matters. But I must say, there was something in his temper and disposition, that looked more like true religion than any thing I ever observed amongst other Heathens.»-BRAINERD.

He found one of the Indian conjurers who seemed to have something like grace in him, only he would not believe in the Devil. Of all the sights,» says he, «I ever saw among them, or indeed any where else, none appeared so frightful, or so near a kin to what is usually imagined of infernal powers! none ever excited such images of terror in my mind as the appearance of one, who was a devout and zealous reformer, or rather restorer, of what he supposed was the ancient religion of the Indians. He made his appearance in his pontifical garb, which was a coat of bears' skins, dressed with the hair on, and hanging down to his toes, a pair of bear-be sincere, honest, and conscientious in his own way, skin stockings, and a great wooden face, painted the one half black, and the other tawny, about the colour of an Indian's skin, with an extravagant mouth, cut very much awry; the face fastened to a bear-skin cap, which was drawn over his head. He advanced toward me with the instrument in his hand that he used for music in his idolatrous worship, which was a dry Tortoise-shell, with some corn in it, and the neck of it drawn on to a piece of wood, which made a very convenient handle. As he came forward, he beat his tune with the rattle, and danced with all his might, but did not suffer any part of his body, not so much as his fingers, to be seen; and no man would have guessed by his appearance and actions that he could have been a human creature, if they had not had some intimation of it otherwise. When he came near me, I could not but shrink away from him, although it was then noon day, and I knew who it was, his appearance and gestures were so prodigiously frightful. He had a house consecrated to religious uses, with divers images cut

Note 6, page 231, col. 2.

Why should we forsake
The worship of our fathers?

Olearius mentions a very disinterested instance of that hatred of innovation which is to be found in all ignorant persons, and in some wise ones.

«An old country fellow in Livonia being condemned, for faults enormous enough, to lie along upon the ground to receive his punishment, and Madame de la Barre, pitying his almost decrepit age, having so far interceded for him, as that his corporal punishment

should be changed into a pecuniary mulet of about fifteen or sixteen pence; he thanked her for her kindness, and said, that, for his part, being an old man, be would not introduce any novelty, nor suffer the customs of the country to be altered, but was ready to receive the chastisement which his predecessors had not thought much to undergo; put off his clothes, laid himself upon the ground, and received the blows according to his condemnation.»-Ambassador's Travels.

Note 7, page 232, col. 1.

her flaxen hair,

Bright eyes of heavenly hue, and that clear skin.

A good description of Welsh beauty is given by Mr Yorke, from one of their original chronicles, in the account of Grufydd ab Cynan and his Queen.

"

pert at killing birds and smaller game with a sarbacan ̧ or hollow cane, through which they blow a small dart, whose weakness obliges them to shoot at the eye of the larger sort of prey, which they seldom miss.—TIMBER LAKE.

Note 12, page 234, col. 1.

Yon pendent string of shells.

«The doors of their houses and chambers were full of diverse kindes of shells, hanging loose by small cordes, that being shaken by the wind they make a certaine ratteling, and also a whisteling noise, by gathering their wind in their hollowe places; for herein they have great delight, and impute this for a goodly ornament.»-PIETRO MARTIRE.

Note 13, page 234, col. 1.

Still do your shadows roam dissatisfied,
And to the cries of wailing woe return
A voice of lamentation.

Grufydd in his person was of moderate stature, having yellow hair, a round face, and a fair and agreeable complexion; eyes rather large, light eye-brows, a comely beard, a round neck, white skin, strong limbs, «They firmly believe that the Spirits of those who long fingers, straight legs, and handsome feet. He was, are killed by the enemy, without equal revenge of moreover, skilful in divers languages, courteous and blood, find no rest, and at night haunt the houses of civil to his friends, fierce to his enemies, and resolute the tribe to which they belonged; but when that kinin battle; of a passionate temper, and fertile imagin-dred duty of retaliation is justly executed, they immeation. Angharad, his wife, was an accomplished diately get ease and power to fly away.»-ADAIR, person: her hair was long and of a flaxen colour; her «The answering voices heard from caves and hollow eyes large and rolling; and her features brilliant and holes, which the Latines call Echo, they suppose to be beautiful. She was tall and well-proportioned; her the Soules wandering through those places. »—PIETRO leg and foot handsome; her fingers long, and her nails MARTIRE. This superstition prevailed in Cumanathin and transparent. She was good-tempered, cheer- they believed the Echo to be the voice of the Soul, ful, discreet, witty, and gave good advice as well as thus answering when it was called.-HERRERA, 3, 4. 11. alms to her needy dependants, and never transgressed The word by which they express the funeral wailing in one of the Indian languages is the laws of duty.»> characteristic,-very Mauo; which bewailing, says Roger Williams, is very solemn amongst them morning and evening, and some times in the night, they bewail their lost husbands, wives, children, etc.; sometimes a quarter, half, yea a whole year and longer, if it be for a great Prince.

Note 8, page 234, col. 1.

Thus let their blood be shed.

This ceremony of declaring war with fire and water is presented by De Bry, in the eleventh print of the description of Florida, by Le Moyne de Morgues. Note 9, page 234, coi. 1.

«The town house, in which are transacted all public business and diversions, is raised with wood and covered over with earth, and has all the appearance of a small mountain at a little distance. It is built in the form of a sugar loaf, and large enough to contain 500 persons, but extremely dark, having (besides the door, which is so narrow that but one at a time can pass, and that after much winding and turning) but one small aperture to let the smoke out, which is so il contrived that most of it settles in the roof of the house. Within it has the appearance of an ancient amphitheatre, the seats being raised one above another, leaving an area in the middle, in the centre of which stands the fire: the seats of the head warriors are nearest it.»-Memoirs of Lieutenant HENRY TIMBERLAKE, who accompanied the Cherokee Indians to England in 1762.

Note 11, page 234, col. 1.

The Sarbacan.

Note 14, page 234, col. 2.

The skull of some old Seer.
On the coast of Paria oracles were thus delivered.-
TORQUEMADA, L. 6. c. 26.

Note 15, page 234, col. 2.

Their happy souls

Pursue, in fields of bliss, the shadowy deer. This opinion of the American Indians may be illustrated by a very beautiful story from Carver's Travels: « Whilst I remained among them, a couple, whose tent was adjacent to mine, lost a son of about four years of age. The parents were so much affected at ; the death of their favourite child, that they pursued the usual testimonies of grief with such uncommon rigour, as through the weight of sorrow and loss of blood to occasion the death of the father. The woman, who had hitherto been inconsolable, no sooner saw her husband expire, than she dried up her tears, and appeared cheerful and resigned. As I knew not how to account for so extraordinary a transition, I took an opportunity to ask her the reason of it; telling her at the same time, that I should have imagined the loss of her husband would rather have occasioned an increase of grief than such a sudden diminution of it.

<< She informed me, that as the child was so young

«The children at eight or ten years old are very ex- when it died, and unable to support itself in the country