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GRUFYDD'S FEAST.

["Grafydd ab Rhys ab Tewdwr, having resisted the English successfully in the time of Stephen, and at last obtained from them an honourable peace, made a great feast at his palace in Ystrad Tywi to celebrate this event. To this feast, which was continued for forty days, he invited all who would come in peace from Gwynedd, Powys, the Deheubarth, Glamorgan, and the marches. Against the appointed time he prepared all kinds of delicious viands and liquors; with every entertainment of vocal and instrumental song; thus patronising the poets and musicians. He encouraged, too, all sorts of representations and manly games, and afterwards sent away all those who had excelled in them with honourable gifts."-Cambrian Biography.]

LET the yellow mead shine for the sons of the brave,
By the bright festal torches around us that wave!
Set open the gates of the prince's wide hall,
And hang up the chief's ruddy spear on the wall!

There is peace in the land we have battled to save: Then spread ye the feast, bid the wine-cup foam high,1

That those may rejoice who have fear'd not to die!

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When winds amidst the palms are sighing,

And fragrance breathes from every pine:4 When stars through cypress-boughs are gleaming, And fire-flies wander bright and free, Still of thy harps, thy mountains dreaming,

My thoughts, wild Cambria! dwell with thee!

Alone o'er green savannas roving,

Where some broad stream in silence flows,
Or through th' eternal forests moving,
One only home my spirit knows!

Sweet land, whence memory ne'er hath parted!
To thee on sleep's light wing I fly;

But happier could the weary-hearted
Look on his own blue hills and die!

TALIESIN'S PROPHECY.

[A prophecy of Taliesin relating to the ancient Britons is still extant, and has been strikingly verified. It is to the following effect :

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Driven from their fathers' realm to make the rocks their dwelling-place!

I see from Uthyr's kingdom the sceptre pass away, And many a line of bards and chiefs and princely men decay.

But long as Arvon's mountains shall lift their sovereign forms,

And wear the crown to which is given dominion o'er the storms,

4 The aromatic odour of the pine has frequently been mentioned by travellers.

5 Ynys y Cedeirn, or Isle of the Mighty-an ancient name given to Britain.

6 Uthyr Pendragon, king of Britain, supposed to have beer the father of Arthur.

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1 The year 1402 was ushered in with a comet or blazing star, which the bards interpreted as an omen favourable to the cause of Glendwr. It served to infuse spirit into the minds of a superstitious people, the first success of their chieftain confirmed this belief, and gave new vigour to their actions. PENNANT.

2 Owen Glendwr styled himself the Dragon; a name he assumed in imitation of Uthyr, whose victories over the Saxons were foretold by the appearances of a star with a dragon beneath, which Uthyr used as his badge; and on that account it became a favourite one with the Welsh.-PENNANT.

3"Bring the horn to Tudwrou, the Eagle of Battles."See the Hirlas Horn of OWAIN CYFEILIOG. The eagle is a very favourite image with the ancient Welsh poets.

4 Gwynedd, (pronounced Gwyneth,) North Wales.

5 Merlin, or Merddin Emrys, is said to have composed his prophecies on the future lot of the Britons, amongst the mountains of Snowdon. Many of these, and other ancient prophecies, were applied by Glyndwr to his own cause, and assisted him greatly in animating the spirit of his followers.

My course to the winds, to the stars, I resign; But my soul's quenchless fire, O my country! is thine.

CASWALLON'S TRIUMPH.

[Caswallon (or Cassivelaunus) was elected to the supreme command of the Britons, (as recorded in the Triads,) for the purpose of opposing Cæsar, under the title of Elected Chief of Battle. Whatever impression the disciplined legions of Rome might have made on the Britons in the first instance, the subsequent departure of Cæsar they considered as a cause of triumph; and it is stated that Caswallon proclaimed an assembly of the various states of the island, for the purpose of celebrating that event by feasting and public rejoicing.— Cambrian Biography.]

FROM the glowing southern regions,

Where the sun-god makes his dwelling, Came the Roman's crested legions

O'er the deep, round Britain swelling. The wave grew dazzling as he pass'd, With light from spear and helmet cast; And sounds in every rushing blast

Of a conqueror's march were telling.

But his eagle's royal pinion,

Bowing earth beneath its glory, Could not shadow with dominion

Our wild seas and mountains hoary! Back from their cloudy realm it flies, To float in light through softer skies; Oh! chainless winds of heaven arise ! Bear a vanquish'd world the story!

Lords of earth! to Rome returning,
Tell how Britain combat wages,
How Caswallon's soul is burning

When the storm of battle rages!
And ye that shrine high deeds in song,
O holy and immortal throng!
The brightness of his name prolong,

As a torch to stream through ages!

1 "I have rode hard, mounted on a fine high-bred steed, upon thy account, O thou with the countenance of cherryflower bloom. The speed was with eagerness, and the strong long-hamm'd steed of Alban reached the summit of the high land of Brân."

"My loving heart sinks with grief without thy sup port, O thou that hast the whiteness of the curling waves! I know that this pain will avail me nothing towards obtaining thy love, O thou whose countenance is bright as the flowers of the hawthorn!"-HOWEL's Ode to Myfanwcy.

HOWEL'S SONG.

[HOWEL ab Einion Llygliw was a distinguished bard of the fourteenth century. A beautiful poem, addressed by him to Myfanwy Vychan, a celebrated beauty of those times, is still preserved amongst the remains of the Welsh bards. The ruins of Myfanwy's residence, Castle Dinas Brân, may yet be traced on a high hill near Llangollen.]

PRESS on, my steed! I hear the swell1
Of Valle Crucis' vesper-bell,
Sweet floating from the holy dell

O'er woods and waters round. Perchance the maid I love, e'en now, From Dinas Brân's majestic brow, Looks o'er the fairy world below, And listens to the sound!

I feel her presence on the scene!
The summer air is more serene,
The deep woods wave in richer green,

The wave more gently flows!

O fair as ocean's curling foam ! 2
Lo! with the balmy hour I come-
The hour that brings the wanderer home,
The weary to repose!

Haste! on each mountain's darkening crest
The glow hath died, the shadows rest,
The twilight star on Deva's breast

Gleams tremulously bright;
Speed for Myfanwy's bower on high!
Though scorn may wound me from her eye,
Oh! better by the sun to die,

Than live in rayless night!

THE MOUNTAIN FIRES.

["The custom retained in Wales of lighting fires (Coclcerthi) on November eve, is said to be a traditional memorial of the massacre of the British chiefs by Hengist, on Salisbury plain. The practice is, however, of older date, and had reference originally to the Alban Elved, or new-year."Cambro-Briton.

When these fires are kindled on the mountains, and seen through the darkness of a stormy night, casting a red and fitful glare over heath and rock, their effect is strikingly picturesque.]

LIGHT the hills! till heaven is glowing

As with some red meteor's rays! Winds of night, though rudely blowing, Shall but fan the beacon-blaze.

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1 Yr Wyddfa, the Welsh name of Snowdon, said to mean the conspicuous place, or object.

2 Dinas Emrys, (the fortress of Ambrose,) a celebrated rock amongst the mountains of Snowdon, is said to be so called from having been the residence of Merddin Emrys, called by the Latins Merlinus Ambrosius, the celebrated prophet and magician: and there, tradition says, he wrote his prophecies concerning the future state of the Britons.

There is another curious tradition respecting a large stone, on the ascent of Snowdon, called Maen du yr Arddu, the black stone of Arddu. It is said, that if two persons were to sleep a night on this stone, in the morning one would find

CHANT OF THE BARDS BEFORE THEIR
MASSACRE BY EDWARD I.4

RAISE ye the sword! let the death-stroke be given;
Oh! swift may it fall as the lightning of heaven!
So shall our spirits be free as our strains—
The children of song may not languish in chains!

Have ye not trampled our country's bright crest?
Are heroes reposing in death on her breast?
Red with their blood do her mountain-streams flow,
And think ye that still we would linger below?

Rest, ye brave dead! midst the hills of your sires, Oh! who would not slumber when freedom expires? Lonely and voiceless your halls must remainThe children of song may not breathe in the chain!

himself endowed with the gift of poetry, and the other would become insane.-WILLIAMS's Observations on the Snowdon Mountains.

3 It is believed amongst the inhabitants of these mountains, that eagles have heretofore bred in the lofty clefts of their rocks. Some wandering ones are still seen at times, though very rarely, amongst the precipices.-WILLIAMS'S Observations on the Snowdon Mountains.

4 This sanguinary deed is not attested by any historian of credit. And it deserves to be also noticed, that none of the bardic productions since the time of Edward make any allu sion to such an event.-Cambro-Briton, vol. i., p. 195.

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THE FAIR ISLE.

FOR THE MELODY CALLED THE " Welsh ground."

[The Bard of the Palace, under the ancient Welsh princes, always accompanied the army when it marched into an enemy's country; and, while it was preparing for battle or dividing the spoils, he performed an ancient song, called Unbennaeth Prydain, the Monarchy of Britain. It has been conjectured that this poem referred to the tradition of the Welsh, that the whole island had once been possessed by their ancestors, who were driven into a corner of it by their Saxon invaders. When the prince had received his share of the spoils, the bard, for the performance of this song, was rewarded with the most valuable beast that remained.-JONES's Historical Account of the Welsh Bards.]

I.

SONS of the Fair Isle ! forget not the time
Ere spoilers had breathed the free air of your clime;
All that its eagles behold in their flight [height.
Was yours, from the deep to each storm-mantled
Though from your race that proud birthright be
torn,

Unquench'd is the spirit for monarchy born.

CHORUS.

Darkly though clouds may hang o'er us awhile, The crown shall not pass from the Beautiful Isle.

II.

Ages may roll ere your children regain
The land for which heroes have perish'd in vain;
Yet, in the sound of your names shall be power,
Around her still gathering in glory's full hour.
Strong in the fame of the mighty that sleep,
Your Britain shall sit on the throne of the deep.

CHORUS.

Then shall their spirits rejoice in her smile, Who died for the crown of the Beautiful Isle.

THE ROCK OF CADER IDRIS.

[It is an old tradition of the Welsh bards, that on the summit of the mountain Cader Idris, is an excavation resembling a couch; and that whoever should pass a night in that hollow, would be found in the morning either dead, in a a frenzy, or endowed with the highest poetical inspiration.]

I LAY on that rock where the storms have their dwelling, cloud;

The birthplace of phantoms, the home of the

3 Ynys Prydain was the ancient Welsh name of Britain, and signifies fair or beautiful isle.

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