An angelic hand
From the high Father,
Brought seed for growing
That Eve might sow;

But she then did hide
Of the gift a tenth,
And all did not sow
Of what was dug.

Black rye then was found,
And not pure wheat grain,
To show the mischief
Thus of thieving.

For this thievish act,

It is requisite,

That all men should pay

Tithe unto God.

Of the ruddy wine, Planted on sunny days, And on new-moon nights; And the white wine.

The wheat rich in grain
And red flowing wine
Christ's pure body make,
Son of Alpha.

The wafer is flesh,

The wine is spilt blood,

The Trinity's words

Sanctify them.

The concealed books

From Emmanuel's hand

Were brought by Raphael

As Adam's gift,

When in his old age,

To his chin immersed
In Jordan's water,
Keeping a fast,

Moses did obtain,
In Jordan's water,
The aid of the three

Most special rods.

TALIESIN.

Solomon did obtain
In Babel's tower,
All the sciences

In Asia land.

So did I obtain,

In my bardic books,

All the sciences

Of Europe and Africa.

Their course, their bearing,

Their permitted way,

And their fate I know,

Unto the end.

Oh! what misery,
Through extreme of woe,

Prophecy will show

On Troia's race!

A coiling serpent
Proud and merciless,
On her golden wings,
From Germany.

She will overrun

England and Scotland,

From Lychlyn sea-shore
To the Severn.

Then will the Brython
Be as prisoners,

By strangers swayed,

From Saxony.

Their Lord they will praise,
Their speech they will keep,
Their land they will lose,
Except wild Walia.

Till some change shall come,

After long penance,

When equally rife

The two crimes come.

Britons then shall have

Their land and their crown,

And the stranger swarm

Shall disappear.

All the angel's words,
As to peace and war,
Will be fulfilled

To Britain's race."

He further told the king various prophecies of things that should be in the world, in songs, as follows.

TALIESIN, literally, the "Radiant Brow," was a Welsh Bard of the sixth century. His name, regarded by his countrymen with the reverence due to the "Prince of Song," is known to the Saxon chiefly through the brief but spirited invocation of Gray.

The text records the fiction of which Taliesin is the hero. Of his real history little is known, excepting what may be gleaned from his works, and from the following notices given in the volume of Iolo MSS. recently published by the Welsh MSS. Society. The first of these latter is taken from Anthony Powel of Llwydarth's MS.

"Taliesin, Chief of the Bards, the son of Saint Henwg of Caerlleon upon Usk, was invited to the court of Urien Rheged, at Aberllychwr. He, with Elffin, the son of Urien, being once fishing at sea in a skin coracle, an Irish pirate ship seized him and his coracle, and bore him away towards Ireland; but while the pirates were at the height of

their drunken mirth, Taliesin pushed his coracle to the sea, and got into it himself, with a shield in his hand which he found in the ship, and with which he rowed the coracle until it verged the land; but, the waves breaking then in wild foam, he lost his hold on the shield, so that he had no alternative but to be driven at the mercy of the sea, in which state he continued for a short time, when the coracle stuck to the point of a pole in the weir of Gwyddno, Lord of Ceredigion, in Aberdyvi; and in that position he was found, at the ebb, by Gwyddno's fishermen, by whom he was interrogated; and when it was ascertained that he was a bard, and the tutor of Elffin, the son of Urien Rheged, the son of Cynvarch :-'I, too, have a son named Elffin,' said Gwyddno, 'be thou a bard and teacher to him, also, and I will give thee lands in free tenure.' The terms were accepted, and for several successive years he spent his time between the courts of Urien Rheged and Gwyddno, called Gwyddno Garanhir, Lord of the Lowland Cantred; but after the territory of Gwyddno had become overwhelmed by the sea, Taliesin was invited by the Emperor Arthur to his court at Caerlleon upon Usk, where he became highly celebrated for poetic genius and useful, meritorious sciences. After Arthur's death he retired to the estate given to him by Gwyddno, taking Elffin, the son of that prince, under his protection. It was from this account that Thomas, the son of Einion Offeiriad, descended from Gruffydd Gwyr, formed his romance of Taliesin, the son of Cariad wen-Elffin, the son of Goddnou-Rhun, the son of Maelgwn Gwynedd, and the operations of the Cauldron of Ceridwen."

Next follows the Pedigree of Taliesin, Chief of the Bards, from Thomas Hopkin of Coychurch's MS. :

"Taliesin, Chief of the Bards of the West, the son of Saint Henwg, of Caerlleon upon Usk, the son of Fflwch, the son of Cynin, the son of Cynvarch, the son of Saint Clydawc, of Ewyas, the son of Gwynnar, the son of Caid, the son of Cadren, the son of Cynan, the son of Cyllin, the son of Caradog, the son of Bran, the son of Llyr Llediaith, King Paramount of all the Kings of Britain, and King, in lineal descent, of the country between the rivers Wye and Towy. Taliesin became Chief Bard of the West, from having been appointed to preside over the chair of the Round Table, at Caerlleon upon Usk."

A manuscript once in the Havod Uchtryd collection gives the following particulars :

"Taliesin, Chief of the Bards of the West, the son of Henwg the Bard, of the College of Saint Cadocus, the son of Fflwch Lawdrwm,