Eu tir a gollant

Ond gwyllt Walia

Oni ddel rhyw fyd

Yn ol hir benyd

Pan vo gogyhyd

Y ddau draha.

Yno caiff Brython

Eu tir a'u coron

A'r bobl estronion

A ddivlana.

But the most remarkable poem of this kind is, the Arymes Prydain of Golyddan, which runs altogether in a strain of vaticination; and, what is singular, we have such expressions as these;

I

Mab Mair, mawr ei air! Prydna thardded
Rhag pennaeth Saeson, ac eu hofed !

Pell bwynt cychmyn i Wrtheyrn Gwynedd!
Ev gyrhaut Allmyn i alltudedd.

O son of Mary, whose praise is great! why were we not rous'd
To resist the dominion of the Saxons? But we cherished them!
Shame to the cowards of the Venedotian Vortigern

The Almans might have been driven away hence.

may

be excused for giving a few more extracts from this ancient poem, which is rather more intelligible than the Gododin of Aneurin, and perhaps not inferior to it in boldness of sentiment, and that copiousness, joined with abruptness of expression, so congenial with the manner of our ancient Bards.

When they (the Saxons) purchased Thanet by craft,
In which Horsa and Hengist chiefly excelled,
Their aggrandisement proved our disgrace:
After concerting the plot of death, the slaves return.

Reflect on the intoxication at the banquet of mead—
Reflect on the violent death of many guests!

Reflect on the incurable wounds-the tears of matrons,
When woeful mourning was roused by the cruel Pagan !
Reflect on the calamitous lot that will befall us,

When the lurkers of Thanet become our sovereigns.

The Bard bids the Britons commit their cause to God and to Dewi :- "Let our foes be discordant for want of a commander; but let the Cymry and the Saxons meet in the field, for the decision of the confused conflict, and the strife of valour. When the foe tries the fortune of the mighty leader; when the grove trembles with the warrior's shout; when the battle is joined for the Wye and the land of lakes; the standard shall advance, and the terrible assault; and the Saxons shall drop like the buds of the forest."

The name of a place called Aber Peryddon is recorde: a descent was made by eighteen thousand men, of whom four hundred only returned. "They told a tale of peace to their wives, who smelled their garments full of gore.'

The Bard then rouses his countrymen

Let the Cymry be collected regardless of life;

The men of the south will defend themselves from paying tribute:
Keen let the swords be ground; they will utterly destroy.

Let the Cymry exalt themselves

In putting an end to their vassalage they will mock at death;—
Never, no never, will they deliver a tribute.

The rage of warfare, with no tincture of humanity, runs through the whole; and the only trace of religion is an appeal to the Trinity, vowing thanks for their deliverance from their foes: and the Bard prays that their Saxon invaders may have multitudes of fatherless children. He predicts that, "through the prayers of Dewi

and the saints of Prydyn, they shall fly out of the land, as far as the stream of Argelo.

The Bard then, in a prophetic strain, proceeds:

“The day shall arrive, when men shall assemble unanimous in council, With one heart, one design; and Lloegyr shall be wasted with fire. The alien shall remove, the Pagan shall be put to flight;

And well I know success awaits us, whatever chance befalls.
Let the Cymry rush to the conflict, like a bear from the mountain,
To revenge the treacherous murder of their ancestors :

And in condensing the quick piercing spears,

Let not friends protect the bodies of each other.

Let them multiply the brainless sculls of the chiefs;

Let them multiply their widow'd matrons, and steeds without riders.

Let them increase the greedy ravens before the warriors;

And let there be many a maimed hand before our host separates.

The messengers of death shall meet the Saxon chief,

When the carcasses of his men are heaped about him :

We shall be revenged of the Pagan for his oppressive tribute,

His frequent messages, and his treacherous army.”

CHAPTER X.

4

State of the British Church from the era of the Saxon invasion to the commencement of the seventh century.

DURING that historical epoch which we have been surveying, we can distinguish few things favourable in the civil character of the Britons, when contrasted with their Pagan invaders. The ambition, the treachery, and the fierceness of the chiefs, and the indolence and apathy of the common people, afford us but very faint outlines of the Christian virtues. The animosity which subsisted between the different states, obstructed the union which was necessary to enable them to repulse their public enemy. It was seldom they could be induced, by a sense of the common danger, to unite their counsels for the general security. Had they been animated in due season with the spirit of genuine patriotism, and sought help from heaven, their enemies could never have prevailed over them; for the number of the Anglo-Saxon adventurers was at no time so formidable, but that, by means of a well-concerted coalition on the part of the Britons, their whole force might have been discomfited. Arthur, Ambrosius and Urien, Owen and Cunedda, Cynddylan, and the sons of Llowarch, excelled in military bravery; but their ferociousness was such, that we see little distinction between these Christian knights and their Pagan antagonists. In the poem of Golyddan we perceive raging thirst for blood, and delight in the trade of slaughter. In the great battle of

Cattraeth, the Bard laments, that the warriors went to battle in a state of intoxication; so that, however endued with native courage, their defeat can excite no astonishment in the reflecting mind.

The Saxons are represented as carrying fire and sword before them, and destruction attending all their steps. As heathens, they were doubtless implacable against the religion of Christ; and we may easily believe, that they destroyed the churches, and persecuted the clergy. Gildas gives us a dismal picture of the devastations of the Saxons, the effects of which were felt by his own family, who were obliged to retire into Wales for a refuge from the storm. But he regards the whole as the just visitation of heaven upon a stupid and profligate people, who neglected to make a proper use of the bounties of heaven; and upon a church that was become so corrupt as to abuse the light and privileges they had enjoyed.

Particular instances are given of the Saxon kings treating the Christians with the utmost barbarity. Hengist has been depicted as a monster of cruelty; and Kerdic, the king of the West Saxons, is represented as conducting himself towards the Christians in the most ferocious manner: but there were among the native Britons some who bore the Christian name, whose conquests were marked with great inhumanity. One instance is given in Ceadwalla: that prince, according to Bede's account of him, was in spirit and behaviour an utter barbarian, not sparing even the women and children in his ravages; consigning all his enemies to death without quarter or distinction, after inflicting upon them the most savage tortures. He carried desolation through every district exposed to his rage, being bent upon the utter extirpation of the Angles, who had seated themselves in the territories contiguous to him.