fragment therefore is curious, as it gives an idea of the manner in which the Britons commemorated events: the chief object obferved in its conftruction, is the arrangement of three fimilar incidents, characters, or fubjects in each Triad: only thofe feem to be felected that were deemed the moft important of different claffes; and are happily contrived to affift the memory. Try Eurgryd Ynys Prydain. Cafwallon mab Beli, pan aeth i geifio Flúr hyd yn Rhufain. Manawydan mab Llŷr, pan fu byd ar Ddyfed. A Llew Llawgyffes, pan fu ef a Gwdion Tri Marchog Aurdafodiog yn Llys Arthur. Gwalchmai mab Gwyar. Ac Eliwlod mab Madog ab Utbr. Gwyr doethion oeddynt, ac mor deg a llaryaidd, ac mor hyawdl a hynaws yn ei hymadroddion, ac y byddau anbawdd i neb ballu iddynt o'r negefau ageifynt. Tri phif Fardd Ynys Brydain. Merddyn Emrys. A Thaliefin pen Beirdd. Tri Gwaywrudd Beirdd Ynys Prydain. Ac Afan Ferddig, Bard Cadwallon ab Cadfan. Tri Ofer-feirdd Ynys Prydain. Brenhin Arthur. A Rhybawd ail Morgant Tair Anfad Fwyellawd Ynys Prydain. Ar Fwyellawd Llawgad trwm bargawd Eiddyn ym mhen Afaon mab Taliefin. A'r Fwyellawd ym mhen Golyddan Fardd. The Three golden-robed Heralds of the Ifland of Britain. Caswallon fon of Beli*, when he went as far as Rome for Flûr, (his Queen.) Manawydan fon of Llŷr, when he went to Pem brokeshire. And Llew Llawgy ffes, when he went with Gwdion, to folicit a Name and Arms, of Rhiarot y Vram: (a celebrated King at Arms.) * Cafwallon reigned about 55 years before Chrift. The Three golden-tongued Knights, of the Court of King Arthur. Gwalchmai, fon of Gwyar. Drydwas fon of Tryphin. And Eliwlod fon of Madog ab Uthr. These three heroes were fo candid, gentle, and eloquent, having fuch foftnefs in their language, that it feemed impoffible for any one to deny their requests. Gwalchmai was nephew to Arthur, and Lord of Pembrokeshire. The Three principal Bards of the Ifland of Britain. Merlin Ambrofius. Merlin fon of Morvryn. And Taliefin, the Chief of the Bards. He acquired this title, from having fung The Silence of the The Three Bloody-spear'd Bards of the Isle of Britain. And Avan Verdhig, King Cadwallon's Bard. The Three unqualified Bards of the Ifle of Britain; (that is, who were Poets, but not brought up regularly in the order of Bards;) or, the Three Trifling Poets. King Arthur. King Cadwallon, fon of Cadvan. And Rhyhawd fon of Morgant. There ftill remain fome verfes compofed by Arthur, and his nephew Eliwlod. Tri Tharw unben Ynys Prydain. Elmur mab Cadair : (Cadegyr.) Cynhafal mab Argad. Afaon mab Taliefin. Tri meib Beirdd oeddynt. Tri anwyl llys Arthur, a thri câd-farchawg ny fynnafant benteulu arnynt erioed; ac y cant Arthur Englyn iddynt nyd amgen. Sef, yw fy nhri chatfarchawe, Mael, a Lludd llyrygawe, A cholofn Cymru, Cradawc. Tri dyfal gyfangan ynys Prydein 3 Un oedd yn ynys Afallach; I'mbob un or tri lle bynny, i'r oedd 2400 o wyr crefyddol, ac o'r rhai hynny ico cyfnewidiol bob awr o'r 24 yn y dydd a'r nos, yn parhau mewn gweddiau a gwafanaeth i Dduw yn ddidranc ddiorphwys byth. Tri unben Deifr, a Brynaich. Tri Beirdd, a meib Bard oeddynt, Tri thrwyddedawg Llys Arthur. A Heledd Gyndrwyn. 5 Gildas reports, that Jofeph of Arimathea was fent by Philip the Apostle to this ifland in the days of Gweirydd, or Arviragus King of Britain, A. D. 60. He inftructed the Britons in the Chriftian faith, in the ifle of Avalonia, or Glaftonbury; where he built a church, which was afterwards converted into an abbey. The name is derived from avallon, or apple-trees. Giraldus fays, it abounded formerly with apples and orchards, and was furrounded with water. Salisbury, or the old Sarbiodunum, was a city of great antiquity in the time of the Britons. But it being the feat of war, rendered it unfit for study and contemplation. The prefent city of Salisbury, called New Sarum, was raised out of the ruins of the old, which food upon a hill, and had an epifcopal fee and cathedral. Moft historians derive Sarum from Sarron, the fon of Magus, who reigned over the Celtes about the year of the world 2040; and, to reftrain the fiercenefs of his people, he inftituted public fchools. Perionius Caius, in-his Antiquities of Cambridge, fays, that Sarron, the third king of the Britons and Celtes loved learning, and was the first who founded public ftudies, or feminaries of learning, among the Britons or Celtes; whence priests and philofophers were called Sarronida, which were the fame with the Druids. Salisbury was afterwards called Caer-Caradoc, from King The Three irrefiftible Chiefs of the Ifland of Britain. Elmur, fon of Cadair. Cynhaval, fon of Argad. And Avaon, fon of Taliefin. They were Bards, and fons of Bards. The Three undaunted Chiefs of King Arthur's Court, and the three knights of battle that never owned a comptroller over them; to whom Arthur fung the following stanza. These are my three knights of battle, The three perpetual choirs of the Ifland of Britain. One was in the ifle of Avalonias, in Somerfetfhire: the fecond at Salisbury, in Wiltshire: and the third at Bangor-is-coed, in Flintshire. In each of these three abbeys there were two thoufand four hundred religious perfons; one hundred being appointed to attend the choir for each hour; fo that they chanted in rotation without intermiffion; and, in the courfe of the day and night, the whole performed their duty, that the fervice of God might be without ceafing. The Three Sovereigns of Deira, and Bernicia. Gall, the fon of Dyfgyvedhog. Dyvedel, the fon of Dyfgyvedhog. And Ysgwnell, the fon of Dyfgyvedhog. Who were Bards, and fons of a Bard, and flourifhed about A. D. 550. The Three Free guefts of King Arthur's Court. Llumhunig ab Maon. (Were Bards.) Caractacus, who made himfelf famous about A. D. 50. The town and monaftery of Ambrefbury, near Salisbury, were founded by Aurelius Ambrofius, about A. D. 480; who, in the declenfion of the Roman Empire, aflumed the government of Britain, and with the affiftance of the valiant Arthur repelled all foreign invaders. 7 Lucius, fon of Coel, called by the Britons, Lles a'r lleuver mawr (Lucius with the great fplendor of light), who was the first Chriftian King of Britain, and reigned about A. D. 180. This Lucius, for the increafe of learning and prefervation of the Chriftian faith in his realm, founded the feminary of Bangor-iscoed, near Wrexham, North Wales; which contained a valuable library, and continued 350 years. Having brought up many learned men; at laft, Cynwyl, or Congelus, converted it from an university into an abbey, and was himfelf the first abbot thereof, about A. D. 530. It is recorded, that this celebrated monaftery, from Perth Cleis to Porth Wgon (names of two gates), extended a mile from each other. The river Dee now runs between where the two gates flood. Likewife, Cynedda is faid to have built a temple at this Bangor, about 800 years before Chrift. Tyfilio's Brit. Hift. Lewis's Hift. Brit, and Bede. Tri Aerfeddawg Ynys Prydain. Selyf mab Cynan Garwyn. Afaon mab Taliefin. A Gwallawg mab Llëenawg. Sef achaws y gelwid bwynt yn Aerfeddogion, wrth ddial eu cam oc eu Bedd. Tri Gogyfurdd Llys Arthur. Rhyhawd ail Morgant. Tri Chynghoriad Farchog Lis Arthur. A Llywarch Hên, mab Elidyr Lydanwyn. Tri Serchog Ynys Prydain. Cafwallawn mab Beli am Fflur, ferch Fugnach Gòr. Tryfan mab Tallwch am Effyllt, ferch March ab Meirchiawn, ei Ewythr. A Chynon mab Clydno Eiddyn am Forfudd, ferch Urien. Geraint, neu'r Bardd Glâs o'r Gadair, a aeth yn Fardd Telyn i Aelfryd Brenhin Llundain. Tair Unbenn Gerdd. Yw Prydu. Canu Telyn. The Three War-tombed Heroes of the Ifle of Britain. And Gwallog, (Galgacus,) the fon of Lleenog. The reafon they were called War-ton.bed Heroes, was because the wrongs done them, were avenged on their graves. Galgacus Rex flourished 50 years before Christ. The Three Com peers of King Arthur's Court. Rhyhawd, the fon of Morgan. Dalldav, the fon of Cynon. And Tryftan the fon of Tallwch. This Try ftan was an eminent Bard as well as a Warrior. It appears, by an ancient dialogue poem, which I have in my poffeffion, that he had abfented himself from Arthur's Court three years, on account of fome umbrage which he had conceived. Arthur difpatched twenty eight of his knights at different times to fetch him; but none could prevail by fair means, nor by force; 'till Gwalchmai, the Golden-tongued Bardic Hero, perfuaded him to return. The Three Knight-counsellors of Arthur's Court. And Llywarch Hên, the son of Elidyr Lydanwyn. Prince Llywarch Hên, like Cæfar, wrote the Hiftory of his Wars: fo did Prince Howel ab Owain Gwynedd defcribe his own battles, in a very poetic and elegant, though in a modest manner and alfo Owain Cyfeiliog, Prince of Powys. : The Three amorous Princes of the Ifle of Britain. Caswallon son of Beli, in love with Flur, daughter of Mugnach Gor. Trystan fon of Tallwch, in love with Effyllt, daughter of March ab Meirchion, his Uncle. And Cynon, fon of Clydno Eiddyn, (or Clyno of Edinburgh,) in love with Morvudd, daughter of Urien. Geraint, or the Blue-robed Bard of the Chair, was fent for by King Alfred; who made him his Chief Harper : Probably, this Glâs y Gadair is the fame perfon that is celebrated by Chaucer, under the name of Glâs-cirion. Taliefin, in a Poem called his Wanderings, fays: "I am Elphin's chief Bard." "I have been at Gwynvryn, the Palace of Cynvelyn." "I have been chief Bard of the Harp, to Leon King of Norway." "I had a vein of poetry from Gridwen the aged." "I know the Learning and Poetry of all the world.” The Three Principles of Song, Is to compofe Poetry; To play the harp; And Erudition. At At the commencement of the fixth century, we find the Bards refumed the Harp with unusual boldness, to animate their country's laft fuccessful struggle with the Saxons; for, judging from the remains preferved, their poetical effufions spread very general about that period. But from the ninth to the eleventh century, their Awen, or Mufe, feems to have received a check, if we judge from the fcarcity of pieces in that p riod; though to decide from fuch a circumftance may be delufory, when it is confidered what devaftation, perfecutions, and wars, brought over their country; involving in the confequence a great destruction of manufcripts. Such a lofs feems very evident; for in the enlightened, and in fome degree the tranquil reign of Howel Dda, poetry must have been highly cherished; yet not a fingle piece is preserved, to a certainty, the production of that reign. The hiatus continues till the time of Prince Gruffudd ab Cynan, when we are charmed with the nervous Mufe of Meilir, who was the father of a noble fucceffion of Bards, that brought the Poetry and Language of Wales to the highest perfection; but that Golden Age of Welsh Poetry attains to an awful clofe in the thirteenth century, on the death of Llewelyn, the laft Prince of Wales. The Names of fome of the most Ancient and Eminent Bards, and Hiftorians, and the Time wherein they flourished. These were famed for their virtues; Plenydd, and Oron *; Bards who flourished before | With Madog, and Cadog; celebrated names? Chrift. (Recorded by Bale: and in Lewis's Ancient Hiftory of Britain, p. 9.) Thefe Bards, and fix others of the earlieft, are mentioned by Edmund Prys, Archdeacon of Meirionydd, (who wrote about the year 1580;) in the 26th of the contending Poems between him and William Cynwal, a cotemporary Bard; in the following interrogating lines. "Mae Plenydd, mab by lawnwaith? "Mae Oron, wr mawr Ion Iaith? "Mae un Rhuvin, mîn rhyvedd? * Plenydd, ag Orion plannant O'u play ddyfgeidiaeth i'w plant. Syr W. Glyn. St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, is faid to be the fon of Calphurnius, and Concha; who was born in the Vale of Rhôs, in Pembrokeshire, about the year 373. But according to his pedigree, which I have got in an old manufcript; and another I have feen in the British Mufeum, which runs thus: 66 Patrig St. ab Alvryd, ab Gronwy, Wareddawg yn Arvon;" that is, St. Patrick, fon of Alvryd, fon of Gronwy, of Wareddawg, in Carnarvonshire. Another thing corroborates with this genealogy: there is a place by the fea-fide in Meirionyddfhire, called Sarn Badrig, or Patrick's Causeway: alfo, he built a Church in Anglefey, called Llanbadrig; and there are meadows called Rhos Badrig. His original Welfh name was Maenwyn, and his ecclefiaftical name of Patricius was given him by Pope Celeftine, when he confecrated him a Bishop, and fent him mifhoner into All skilled in the fcience of polished verse. A. D.' Gildas Cambrius, a Bard and Historiographer, flourished in the reign of Arviragus, about A. D. 60. He tranflated the ancient Laws of Dyvnwal Moelmud, from the Welsh into Latin; which Code was afterwards tranflated into Saxon, in the reign of Alfred. Gwdion ab Dôn, Lord of Arvon; an eminent Philofopher and Aftronomer, about the year "Gwdion mab Don, ar Gonwy, "Hud!ath ni bu o'i fath fwy." D. Gwilym. Caer-gwdion, (the milky-way in the Heavens,) is fo called from him. 450 Bacharius, a learned Briton, and difciple to St. Patric; (called by Bale, Meigen Vates.) He studied at the Univerfity of Caerlleon, and was a Poet, Mathematician, and Historian, about, - 440 Meugant, Ireland, to convert the Irish, in the year 433. When Patrick landed near Wicklow, the inhabitants were ready to ftone him, for attempting an innovation in the religion of their ancestors. He requested to be heard; and explained unto them, that God is an omnipotent, facred Spirit, who created Heaven, and Earth; and that the Trinity is contained in the Unity; but they were reluctant to give credit to his words. St. Patrick therefore plucked a Trefoil from the ground, and expoftulated with the Hibernians: Is it not as feafible for the Father, Son, and HolyGhoft, as for these three leaves, thus to grow upon a fingle fialk. Then the Irish were immediately convinced of their error, and were folemnly baptized by St. Patrick. This British Saint built feveral Churches and feminaries in Ireland; that of Saball-Padhrig, or Patrick's Grange; Domnach-mor Patrick, or Patrick's great Church; and the Monastery of Armagh, owed its foundation to him, and was the principal fchool of Ireland: E Niniaw, or Nennius, Abbot of Bangor, îs y Coed, in Flintshire; and a difciple of Elvod. He wrote the History and Antiquities of Britain in Latin, Twrog, the writer of Tiboeth, a monaftic record belonging to St. Beuno, which was formerly at Clynog Church, in Caernarvonfhire. Alfo, Twrog is faid to have written a British Chronicle 3, Elvod, who wrote a Latin History of the Britons, and was a Bishop of North Wales in the reign of Cadvan, Llywarch Hir, Bard to Broch wel Ysgithrog, Prince of Powis, Tyffilio, a Bifhop, and Author of Brut y Brenhinoedd, or The Hiftory of the British Kings, 608 610 610 617 510 Gwalchmai mab Gwyar, named the golden tongued warrior, a Bard 517 Eliwlod, ab Madog, ab Uthur; a Bard, and Knight to King Arthur, 519 Tryftan mab Tallwch, a difciple of Merddin, and one of the chief warriors of King Arthur's Court, 620 520 Gwron ab Cynvarch, a Bard, 530 Dewi Sant, a Bard. Giraldus wrote his life, Llywarch Hên, a Cumbrian Prince, and Bard, 530 Talhaiarn Tâd Awen, or Talhaiarn, Father of the Mufe, Taliefin Pen Beirdd, Bard to Prince Elphin, to King Maelgwyn, and to Prince Urien Reged, 540 Cian o Vaen Gwyngwn, a Bard, 520 540 Meigant, Bard to King Cadwallon ab Cad van, about the year 640 660 Llevoed Wynebglawr, a Bard, 540 660 670 Y Bardd Llwyd, Bard to Urien Reged, Triftvardd, Bard to Urien Reged, Ugnach ab Mydno, a Bard, Gildas ab Caw, or Gildas Badonius, a Bard, and Author of the Epifile, (a Hiftory of Britain,) 550 Ireland: in fhort, he inftructed the Irish letters. Nennius's Hiflery fays: "Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish, wrote 365 books of A, B, and C's; founded 365 Churches; confecrated 365 Bifhops; ordained 3000 Prefbyters; converted and baptized 12,000 men, in the region of Connaught; and baptized feven Kings, the fons of Amolgith. He fafted 40 days on the top of Mount Eli, and obtained three petitions from Heaven for the believing Irish." (One of thofe petitions were, that no venomous creatures fhould ever infeft Ireland: another probably was, that they, who believed in his doctrine, should be faved from purgatory: for the third, I must leave to the Irish to find out.) St. Patrick is faid to have lived to the His life was written by Trychanus. Evin. And Ninian. of 120: age Bonedd Seint, or the Noble Descent of British Saints, the Founders of Churches and Religious Houfes, would be an inestimable work, if they were tranflated and published; as they would throw much light on ancient history, as well as on British writers. 420. A. D. 2 Faftidius Prifcus, Bishop of London, and a learned Historian, Jianus, and Atroclius, (as Vicentius fays) were British writers and abbots, about the time of Arthur, A. D. 480. feveral works, and flourished about 530. Congellus, Abbot of Bangor Ifycoed (as Bale fays), wrote Machutus, or Maelgonius, Samfon, Echbinus, and Vignalocus (as Antonius fays), were British writers, about A. D. 560. 3 Keating's Hiftory of Ireland mentions Leabh Drum Sneachda, The Book of Snowdon; faid to have been written before the time of St. Patrick. Affer |