18 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE BARD, TALIESIN. Taliesin, who in one of his poems gives an honourable teftimony to the fame of Ancurin, was like him called Penbeirdd, Chief, or King of Bards. He lived in the reign and enjoyed the favour of Maelgwn Gwynedd, Sovereign of all Wales. He was found, when an infant, exposed in a wear, which Gwyddno Gorynhir, the King of Cantre'r Gwaelod, had granted as a maintenance to Prince Elphin his fon. Elphin, with many amiable qualities, was extravagant; and, having little fuccefs at the wear, grew discontented and melancholy. At this juncture Taliefin was found by the fishermen of the prince, by whofe command he was carefully fostered, and liberally educated. At a proper age the accomplished Bard was introduced by his princely patron at the court of his father Gwyddno, to whom he prefented, on that occafion, a poem called Hanes Taliefin, or Taliefin's Hiftory; and at the fame time another to the prince, called Dybuddiant Elphin3, the confolation of Elphin, which the Bard addreffes to him in the perfon and character of an expofed infant. Taliefin lived to recompenfe the kindness of his benefactor: by the magic of his Song, he redeemed him from the castle of Teganwy, (where he was for fome misunderstanding confined by his uncle Maelgwn,) and afterwards conferred upon him an illuftrious immortality. Taliefin was the master, or poetical preceptor of Myrddin ap Morvryn: he enriched the British Profody with five new metres: and has tranfmitted in his poems fuch veftiges as throw new light on the hiftory, knowledge, and manners of the ancient Britons, and their Druids, much of whofe myftical learning he imbibed. The first poem which I have chofen for a specimen of Taliefin's manner, is his defcription of the battle of Argoed Llwyvain, in Cumberland, fought about the year 548, by Goddeu, a King of North Britain, and Urien Reged, King of Cumbria, againft Fflamddwyn, a Saxon general, fuppofed to be Ida, the first King of Northumberland. I am indebted to the late Mr. Whitehead, Poet Laureat, for the following faithful and animated verfification of this valuable antique Gwaith Argoed Llwyfain. CANU URIEN. Ybore ddyw fadwrn, câd fawr a fu, Dygryfws Fflamddwyn yn bedwarllu. Atorelwis Filamddwyn, fawr drybeftawd, A Chenau, mab Coel, byddai gymwyawg lew, 2 Taliefin, in his poem called Anrheg Urien, has the two fol- I know the fame of the infpired genius, Aneurin Gwawdrydd, Flufh'd with conqueft, Fflamddwyn said, 4 This is one of the 12 great battles of Urien Reged, cele brated by Taliefin, in poems now extant. See Carte's Hiftory of England, p. 211, and 213. where there is much valuable information relating to the ancient Britons. A diftrict of Cumberland, the country of Prince Llywarch Hên, from whence he was driven by the Saxons. "Some place on the borders of Northumberland. Owen ap Urien acted as his father's general; and is called in the British Triads, "one of the three Cavaliers of Battle." 'Cenau, Cenau, Coel's blooming heir Caught the flame, and grafp'd the fpear. Day advanc'd and ere the fun Havoc, havoc, rag'd around, Eager, hurrying, breathless, pale, Child of forrow, child of pain, Never may I smile again, If, 'till all-fubduing death Close these eyes, and ftop this breath, Ever I forget to raise My grateful fongs to Urien's praise ! About the beginning of the fixth century, Urien, fon of Cynvarch ab Meirchion, King of Reged, (a territory in Caledonia, bordering on the tradclwyd Britons, to the fouth,) was bred in King Arthur's Court, and was one of his knights; he had great experience in war, and great power in the country by the largeness of his dominion, and the number of his vaffals; he was still greater by his reputation and wisdom; and by his valour in defending his country against the encroaching Saxons. After feveral engagements, with various fuccefs, he at last prevailed fo far against Theodoric, fon of Ida, as to force him to fly into the Holy Island for fafety. Urien, the glory of his country, who had braved death so often in the field, and fought it in vain among the thickest of his enemies, fell at laft in the midst of his own men, in the year 560, by the treachery of Morgant, brother to Rhydderch, from mere envy, on Cenau led to the affiftance of Urien Reged, the forces of his Lewis's Hiftory of Britain, p. 201. and Carte's Hiftory of England. father Coel Godhebog, king of a northern tract, called Goddeu, The Strath-clwyd Britons inhabited the weft part of Scotprobably inhabited by the Godini of Ptolemy. Owen ap Urien land: and the Cumbrians dwelt from the wall fouthward as far and Cenau ap Coel were in the number of Arthur'sKnights. See as the Ribble, in Lancashire. 9 account 20 THE BATTLE OF GWENYSTRAD, BY TALIESIN. account of his fuperior merit. The names of the two affaffins, fuborned to commit this execrable deed, were Dyvnwal, fon of Mynyddawg, and Llovan llawdino, of Edinburg, who were both Britons that served in his troops, and are recorded in the Triads, where this is reckoned to be one of the three villainous murders committed in Britain, and which contributed moft to its ruin. Urien is also celebrated, in the Triads, as one of the three Bulls of War. Taliefia dedicated to him upwards of twelve poems, in which he describes moft of his battles; and he likewife wrote an Elegy on his Death. Alfo, Prince Llewarch Hên composed a Lamentation, on the loss of this distinguished Hero. The Battle of Gwenystrad. Extol the warriors, who on Cattraeth's lawn, Went forth to battle with the rifing dawn.Victorious Urien's praise, the Bard next fings: The first of heroes! and the fhield of Kings! The British host, impatient for the fray, But near the Fort the conflict fiercer raged, See Reged's dauntless Christian Chief appear! His fword with flaughter'd foes o'erfpread the field; May Peace to me, her balmy sweets ne'er bring, Though they were fuccessful, it may be faid in the words of Shakespeare, to have been among those victories, CANU Y MEDD. THE MEAD SONG, by Taliefin. It appears, that Prince Elphin had been invited by his uncle, King Maelgwyn, to keep his Christmas at his Court, at the Caftle of Digar wy, in Caernarvonshire: where fome difpute arifing between them about Religion, or Politics, (probably when heated with Mead,) Elphin was thrown into prison, and remained confined, until his Bard Taliefin obtained his release, by the following celebrated Song, addreffed to Maelgwyn; to which I have fubjoined an English verfion. Golychaf wledig pendefig pób fa, Midd bidlaid, molaid, molud i bob tra, A wnaeth Duw i ddŷn er ei a'i ddonhu̸, Yn fwyd, yn ddiawd, hyd frawd yd barha. Golychaf i wledig pendefig gwlad hedd, Y gŵr am rhoddes y gwin, a'r cwrwf, ar medd, A'm rhothwy etwa mal diwedd, Trwy fodd Duw y rhydd trwy enrhydedd TALIESIN. To him that rules fupreme;-our Sovereign Lord, Oh, Power Supreme! Prince of the Realm of Peace; Llywarch Hên, or Llywarch the aged, a Cumbrian prince, is the third noted Bard of the British annals. He paffed his younger days at the Court of King Arthur, with the honourable distinction of a free guest. When the British power was weakened by the death of Arthur, Llywarch was called to the aid of his Kinsman Urien Reged, King of Cumbria, and the defence of his own principality, against the irruptions of the Saxons. This princely Bard had four and twenty fons, all invested with the golden torques, which appears to have been the ancient badge of British nobility'. Many of them were flain in the Cumbrian wars, and the Saxons at length prevailed. The unfortunate Llywarch, with his few furviving fons, fled into Powys, there to revive the unequal and unsuccessful conteft, under the aufpices of the Prince of Powys, Cynddylan. Having loft, in the iffue of these wars, all his fons, and friends, he retired to a hut at Aber Ciog, in North Wales, to footh with his harp the remembrance of misfortune, and vent with elegiac numbers the forrows of old age in diftrefs. His poems are in fome places rather unintelligible: not because they want fimplicity, which South Wales is Ofai, for any kind of liquor that is made of the juice of fruit, fuch as Cyder, Perry, Rafberry-wine, Currantwine, Goofeberry-wine, Cowflip-wine, Elder-wine, Service wine, Birch-wine, Mulberry-wine, Clary wine; and Ebulonn, which is made of old Ale, and Elder-wine. • Hybarch yw mâb y marchog, (In aur) yn arian, galérug, Dorchog. We find alfo, in the Book of Numbers, Chap, xxxi. ver. 50. that chief commanders wore chains of gold. Now, Dôl Giog, near Machynllaith, in Montgomeryshire. There Llywarch died, near the age of 150, about the year 634; and probably was buried at Llanvawr, near Bala in Merionechfhire, where in the weit window of the church, is a tone with an infcription, but not now legible. Llywarch Hên, was the fon of Elidyr Llydanwyn, of Trad Clwyd, in the North. 22 OF PRINCE LLYWARCH, THE AGED BARD. is their characteristic beauty, but from the antiquity of the language, which is partly the Venedotian, and partly the Cumbrian dialect, and from scantinefs of information concerning the facts. The compofitions of Llywarch are pure nature, unmixed with that learning and contrivance which appears in the writings of aliefen he did not, like that great Bard, extend the bounds of British poetry, but followed implicitly the works of the Druids, clofing many of his ftanzas with their venerable maxims. He wrote in fuch a fimple, undisguised, pathetic manner, that it is impoffible to fufpect him of mifreprefentation; he has no fictions, no embellishments, no display of art; but gives an affecting narrative of events, and circumstances. Since I published the first Edition of this Book, Mr. Francis Percival Eliot, of Shenftone Mofs near Litchfield, has favoured me with the following verfion of feveral ftanzas in the firft, and fecond of the poems, of Llywarch Hên; which I with pleasure prefent my readers, (inftead of the former profe tranflation,) as an elegant, and animated fpecimen of the poetry of that princely Bard 3. The Lamentations of Prince Llywarch Hên. Hark! the cuckow's plaintive note, And there with mournful founds and low, Returning fpring, like opening day To roufe the brethren of the war; Rufhing down the rocky steep, Like meteors on the boundless deep. Monarch of an hundred ifles. And Snowdon from his awful height, } His hoar head waves propitious to the fight. But I-no more in youthful pride, Hark! how the fongfters of the vale, Yet once again, ye tuneful choir And hear'st thou not yon wild wave's roar, In the adamantine chain Of Terror?-Hark! it howls again. And lo! what fcenes invade my fight, • Those who may be incited to a further acquaintance with the beauties of Prince Llywarch Hên, may now have accefs to them in an octavo edition of all his works extant, with a profe tranflation, and notes; publifhed by Mr, William Owen. } Four |