THE LEGEND OF BALA LAKE.

LAKE of Meirionydd! thou beautiful, thou incorruptible sepulchre of the palaces of iniquity! The king of the morning looks as joyously down upon the gambols of thy tiny billows as upon the proud ocean itself, or his heavenward mirrors on Arvon's precipices. Many a time, when the clear harvest moon is shining, has the old boatman seen towers and parapets far beneath thy waters, not in a rippling outline like the reflections of the mountains in thy margin, but sternly fixed and unwavering like the mountains themselves; and often, in the furious and harrowing blasts of December, he still perceives the spot where the highest pinnacle rises by a turbulent column of foam jutting upwards; and oft, in the intervals of the storm, you may, it is said, sometimes hear a still small voice wailing out, "Edivar! Edivar!" (repentance! repentance !)

In the far-gone ages, when the Cymry were yet lords of the Beautiful Isle, there lived in the valley where the lake now stands a prince, the richest and the proudest in all the land of Gwynedd. But it was known that his treasures, and his palaces, and his hunting-grounds, were all the wages of sin; and, as he first entered his palace-door, a voice was heard from the distant mountains, crying out, "Edivar a ddaw! Edivar a ddaw !" (repentance will come! repentance will come!) "When will repentance come?" asked the prince?" "At the third generation!" replied the voice; and a deep thunderclap broke forth from the distant mountains, that seemed to join all their echoes in one terrific acclamation of

assent.

The wilful prince laughed at the voice he had heard, and still went on in his crimes,-careless of God and man,-plundering and murdering the poor peasants around him; and many a time he has been heard to burst into proud and frantic laughter, as the hymn from the distant church rose faintly upon his ear

An old harper, from the neighbouring mountains, was one night summoned to the palace. He heard, on his way, that they were rejoicing at the birth of the first child born to the prince's eldest son. When the harper arrived in the hall, there was such feasting, and such a number of lords and ladies, he had never seen any thing like it before. And, when he began to strike up with his harp, it was a beautiful sight to see the dance of those proud-eyed gentlemen, and those damsels with necks as white as a morning cloud, that rises blanched from the ocean. And so it went on; and the old harper was not a whit less delighted to play to them, than they to dance to his music.

It was now just midnight; there was a pause in the dance, and the old harper was left in his nook quite alone, when suddenly he

heard a little voice half whispering, half singing, in his ear, "Edivar! Edivar!" He turned round, and saw a small bird, hovering in the air, beckoning him to follow. He followed as fast as an infirm old man could. He did not at all know the meaning of this; but still he thought he must follow. At last they had got fairly out of the different windings of the palace-porticoes into the clear cold moonshine, when the old man began to hesitate; but he saw the little bird, between him and the moon's disk, beckoning him on so sorrowfully, and heard her call out again, "Edivar! Edivar!" so awfully, and yet so mournfully, that it might have been a Christian's voice; and he was afraid not to follow. So they went on, over bogs, and through woods and thickets; the little bird still floating before him like a cloud, always guiding him along the safest and smoothest paths; but, if ever he paused for a single minute, she again wailed out, (in a tone that reminded him of his own little Gwenhwyvar's dying shriek, when she fell into Glaslyn, and no one could save her,)" Edivar! Edivar!"

They had now got to the top of a mountain, some distance from the palace, and the harper was faint and weary; and, once more, he ventured to pause, but he no longer heard that little warning voice hurrying him down the other side of the mountain. He listened, but he could hear nothing but the rustling of a little torrent at his feet, or the occasional tinkle of the distant sheep-bell. He began now to think what a madcap he must have been to allow his old weak brain to lead him away from the castle; and he turned back, in hopes that he might again be there in time for the next dance. But what was his amazement when, on turning round, of the castle he could see nothing; all he could see beneath him was a wide calm expanse of lake, and his harp floating on the face of the waters.

Note on the foregoing Legend.

Mr. Davies, author of the Celtic Researches, conceives this story to be a localisation of the history of the Deluge. It certainly embraces the most striking incidents of that catastrophe: the iniquity of the people, and the destruction by an overwhelming flood, and even the prominent part the bird plays. It seems, in fact, nothing more than those events adapted to the sacred associations that the Cambrians in all ages attached to the character of the bard or harper. Its universal prevalence is also remarkable. It is told of Llyn Syvaddan, in Brecknockshire; and of the Pool of Llyngelys (the Engulphed Court,) near Oswestry, in Shropshire in short, of almost every large piece of water within the influence of Cambrian superstition. We may refer the reader to the Cambro-Briton for an account of the old bardic traditions, the bursting of the lake of floods, and the preservation of two human beings.

BEUNO.

The Blue Lake.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE

MEDALLIC

HISTORY OF MARCUS

AURELIUS VALERIUS CARAUSIUS, EMPEROR OF BRITAIN, BORN AT ST. DAVID'S.

To the Proprietors of "The Cambrian Quarterly.”
GENTLEMEN,

Cambridge; Nov. 17, 1828.

I HAVE read your proposals for publishing, and send you a paper extracted from the book written by Dr. Stukeley; however, I must add, that an article in the "Annual Register" of 1758 has mate. rially assisted me. Hoping this trifle may be of some use, and wishing your spirited undertaking every possible success,

I remain,

Your very obedient servant,

A SILURIAN.*

THE Medallic History of Marcus Aurelius Valerius Carausius, Roman emperor in Britain, written by Dr. Stukeley, has often been the subject of interesting discussions. Dr. Stukeley proposed the work as a general system for knowing the dates of Roman coins by the figures on the reverse. He remarked, that the legends Abundatia, Aug. Adjutrix, Appolloni, Conf. Comes, Concordia, Felicitas, Fides, Fortuna, Hilaritas, Spes, and many others, were common to the coins of all the emperors; which he imputed, not to a poverty of invention, but to their being struck on the celebration of festivals, in the order of the Roman Calendar; which, by this clue, might be traced with much more exactness than had hitherto been done. According to Dr. Stukeley's elaborate researches, the Bigates and Quadrigates denote the shows or races which were celebrated on those festivals.

The coins with S. C. obcives servatos, in a civic crown, were generally struck on the 1st of January, and presented to the emperor as a New Year's offering. Coins with the triumphant car allude to the solemn cavalcade of the consuls to the Capitol, on particular festivals; and the days of the Calendar are known by the type of the divinity. Thus the 13th of January is Jovi Statori; the 1st of February, Natalis Hercules; the 17th of February, Quirinalia, to Romulus; and the 23d, to Terminus. In this manner the doctor proceeds through all the months; and has proved his hypothesis by examples taken from the coins of three emperors,

We feel particularly obliged to " A Silurian;" for we cannot conceal the fact of our not having received from his division of the Principality the abundant store of information which our North Wales friends have furnished. We trust, however, the present article will prove an incentive to the future exertions of our southern literati.-EDITORS.

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Galba, Otho, and Quintillius, which he selected as being most concise, their reigns being very short.

In the course of this inquiry, it appears that some festivals lasted seven days, and others fourteen; which the doctor supposes to be the remains of the Jewish Sabattic cycle.

The history of Carausius, of whom scarce any thing is recorded in the Roman history, can be obtained only from his coins; and some of the particulars which Dr. Stukeley has related of him, drawn from that source, are as follows:

He was born at St. David's, in Wales, then called Menassia, in the latter part of the third century. He served in Gaul under Caius: under Maximian he had the command of an army against the Bagandes; and was afterwards made admiral of a Roman fleet appointed to protect the Germanic, Gallic, and British coasts, from pirates. Having afterwards raised the jealousy of Maximian, he ordered the celebrated Theban legion to march against him, but they refused, out of respect to Serena, a Christian, the wife of Dioclesian, by whom Carausius was patronised. This legion was afterwards cut to pieces, on the 10th of October, at Collen and Bonn, by Maximian's order.

On the 7th of September, 288, Carausius was proclaimed emperor by some legions, and the whole Roman fleet; and was received in Britain with great acclamations on the 15th of October following. In September 289, he defeated Maximian's fleet in a great seafight, and obtained peace, with the title and prerogative of a Roman emperor, the tribunitial power, and the adoptive names of Aurelius from Maximian, and Valerius from Dioclesian, with whom he was copartner in the empire, as appears by a threeheaded coin inscribed Carausius et fratres sui, on which is Dioclesian in the middle, Carausius on his right, and Maximian in the uppermost field.

Dr. Stukeley asserts, that all the coins of Carausius that have a young radiated head, conjugate with his own, represent his son, named Sylvius; and that the medal of Carausius, formerly in the cabinet of Dr. Mead, with the legend Oriuna Aug. was struck in memory of Oriuna, the wife of Carausius.

Carausius brought the Scots and Picts to reason, and placed a garrison between them: to maintain this garrison it was necessary that he should repair an artificial cut for an inland navigation from Peterborough to York, called the Cars dyke, for the conveyance of corn: he likewise continued this dyke from Peterborough to this university (Cambridge), and built a city there called Granta. About the same time he also built a temple, of a round form, called Arthur's Oon, in which the treaty with the Scots and Picts was ratified, and he made a road from Cambridge to Bath, called the Akeman Way. In 292, Carausius was opposed to the inha

bitants of that part of the island now called North Wales: these sons of freedom opposed him with a desperate courage, in spite of every disadvantage; but how can barbarism compete with civilization? Ultimately the discipline and superiority of Carausius's army compelled the mountaineers to retreat to their rocks and fastnesses.

In the year 294 he is said to have brought a lion from Africa, which appears on the reverse of a medal struck on the great festival called Palilia; and it appears from a coin inscribed Sæculares Aug. struck on the 21st of April, 295, that he celebrated the Roman secular games in Britain, and in the May following he was killed.

The single letters or notations on the areas and exergues of the coins of Carausius, as they are explained by Dr. Stukeley, are substituted for the following words, those in the area being always supposed to regard the persons who struck them.

Flaminis questor.

Subalterns to the flamen.

On the exergues, betokening the cities of the mint.

CXXI. Cataractonii collegium undeviginti; Cateric, Yorkshire. C. L. A. Clausentum, Southampton.

I. M. Isurii Monetarium; Alborough, Yorkshire.

M. C. Menapiæ cusa; St. David's, South Wales.

MXXI. Monetarium, Londinense collegii undeviginti.

M.S. R. Manapiæ signator rogarum. The officer of the emperor's donatives at St. David's.

Q. Quæstorium Londini. The Exchequer.

R. S. R. Rutupii signator rogarum; Richborough.

S. P. C. Sorbioduni pecunia cusa; Sarum.

The Palilia, or birthday of Rome, was a jubilee day, anticipated, in this instance, five years. It was never celebrated by the emperors on the Continent, and Carausius was the last who celebrated it at all; and the birthday in question was held with great splendor at York. It was begun by the shepherds in honour of Pales, the Magna Pales of Virgil, who is the same, according to Dr. Stukeley, with Jubal, the antediluvian, the god of the shepherds, who were founders of Rome : it was celebrated on the 21st of April, which was the summer solstice in the Etruscan Calendar, which was the most ancient. Jabel and Jubal, says the doctor, were, in the earliest times, the lares or guardians of a house; they are pictured in the celestial constellation of Jemini, where Procyon is the shepherd's dog, and hence dogs were consecrated to the lares: the little fictile images taken out of the breasts of Egyptian mummies are, in the original idea, the guardian lares.

NO. I.

I