choir, the other succeeded them. Asaph was the person whom the saint most admired for his piety and modesty; and, therefore, preferred him to preside over the institution when he himself returned to the North. It was probably owing to the residence of Kentigern in the Vale of Clwyd, that so close an intimacy after that subsisted between the princes of both territories. While in Wales he is said to have travelled the country on foot, preaching to the rude inhabitants, and converting many to the Christian faith, the country being in a great degree relapsed into a barbarous and heathen state. He erected several churches, and is said to have possessed the gift of healing diseases.

DEWI, or St. David, was the son of Santicus, or Sandde, son of Kedig, and grandson to Keredig, who gave the name of Keredigion, or Ceredigion, to the territory of Cardigan. Ceredig was one of the sons of Cunetha, a potentate from the North, who, with his family, removed into Wales about the beginning of the fifth century; and is noted in the British accounts for expelling the Hibernian rovers, who had possessed themselves of large tracts of the country. The mother of David was Nona, the daughter of Gynyr, a lord of the country near the Pembrokeshire promontory, or Land's End. He was educated by Paulinus, at Whitland, or Ty gwyn, in Caermarthenshire; and with him he is said to have continued ten years. Teilo and Padarn were his intimate friends; and they, as well as himself, became renowned among the British Christians of that age. In company with these, his friends, he is said to have travelled to Jerusalem, like other devout men, to see the scene of the great work of human redemption. After his return he was made primate of the Cambrian churches; and is supposed to have resided for a while at Caerleon, the Silurian capital, where King Arthur, his uncle, kept

his court.

But the good man grew tired of so public a situation, and so near the borders of the Saxon territories. Removing to his own country, he had lands assigned him, and he founded a monastery which was afterwards held in high and superstitious veneration. But it does not appear that the saint absolutely confined himself to retirement and contemplation; for the Triads denominate him, in company with Teilo and Padarn, one of the three holy visitors, that went about preaching and teaching the inhabitants at large, without accepting of any remuneration; but, on the contrary, expending their own patrimony in administering to the necessities of the poor. The zeal and charity of these holy men of the church of Wales are deserving of the warmest admiration at this distant period; and the country where they lived, and where they preached, is at the present day honoured with a prelate who imitates the zeal and diligence of the primitive ages.

David was regarded as a person of considerable learning; and some works of his are spoken of as the writings of Davidus Menevensis; he being so named from the small territory of Menevia, called by the Welsh Mynyw. Great powers of elocution, as well as profound skill in theology, are attributed to him, of which we have a famous instance at the synod of Landewi Brevi, in Cardiganshire. He died at Menevia, since called St. David's, in the eighty-second year of his age. He sustained a high reputation for sanctity while he was alive; and has been greatly honoured in succeeding ages.*

Giraldus Cambrensis, in speaking of him, says, "That his holy life and bright example shined forth conspicuous

* The Welsh Bard, David ap Gwilym, of the 14th century, has an elegant poem addressed to a female pilgrim of distinction, on her perigrination from Holywell, to visit the shrine of St. David, in Pem

brokeshire.

to all. He instructed the people, both by his word and his example. His preaching was most powerful, but his actions far more so." He is styled by the same author, "The ornament of the religious; the life of the needy; the defence of the orphan; the supporter of widows; the father of his pupils; making himself all things to all men, that he might win them to Christ." Usher, p. 254.

It is related by the biographer of St. Kentigern, that, on the very day of St. David's departure, it was divinely intimated to his friend, that he had left the world, and was gone to his reward. Kentigern was, at the time of that event, abbot of his new monastery, in the vale of Clwyd : he communicated to his disciples what had been revealed to him; and at the same time breaking forth, as if moved by prophetic impulse, he exclaimed, "Be assured that Britain, deprived of the light of so great a luminary, will have cause to lament his loss. The Lord will surely give up Britain to foreign nations that know not the true God. The island shall be in the possession of the Heathen, who will cast out the native inhabitants. The Christian religion shall be dispersed until the arrival of a certain period, when, by the Divine compassion, it shall be restored to a far better than its ancient state."

As to the vaticination here ascribed to Kentigern, it may be objected to his biographer, that the prophecy was, at the time of its delivery, already accomplished, as to the first part; for the Saxons were in possession of the most important parts of South Britain: and as to the second part, the monkish biographer, no doubt, applied it to the success of Augustine and his associates, in the following age.

But whatever actions may have been ascribed by ancient legendary writers to such holy men as David,

Patrick, and Kentigern, we may separate the chaff from the corn, and receive the genuine narrative, while we renounce the marvellous and the fictitious. We do not indeed design to allege that no superstitious practices attached to the celebrated characters of the sixth century, among our ancestors. We may easily censure the austerities they practised, or find fault with their credulity; but we have no just right to do so, except while we are divested of their weaknesses, we excel them in sound doctrine, in scriptural zeal, laudable activity, and manly piety. Those who have leisure and opportunity to investigate the biographers of our ancient ecclesiastics, in the Cottonian library and other depositaries, might probably find some particulars that would throw light on the history of the British church, during the ages of which we are treating: but it requires some judgment to select what is of value, and to clear away the fictions invented by the monks.

But to resume the general subject, which now forms the theme of our investigation; the history of our churches during the fifth and sixth century. The labours of Germanus and Lupus were directed, as we have seen, not merely to the suppression of the Pelagian errors, but to restore Christianity where it was in a languishing state, to introduce wholesome regulations, establish the due order of Divine worship, and to provide a permanent supply of pastors and divines in the churches. We have already noticed the various religious institutions, or the early monasteries, of the fifth century. Some of these were under the direction of the Armorican Christians, brought over by Germanus; or chiefly consisted of persons from that country. The consequence was, a very intimate intercourse between Wales and Britany, which was facilitated by the near affinity of the language of the respective countries. We do

not mean to say that sacred services were always conducted in that age in the vulgar or vernacular tongue: and we have in another place given it as our opinion, that the Scriptures were mostly confined to a Latin version, which, in the Roman-British towns, might have been tolerably understood: but after the departure of the Romans, and especially in the territories of Cambria, the British must have been the ordinary colloquial dialect. This circumstance duly considered, as applicable to our own country, shews the great detriment that Christianity sustained for want of adapting religious services to the state of those called barbarous nations. Here we see the grand source of those errors and super. stitions, which, in connexion with the prevalence of the arms of the Pagan-Saxons, tended to overwhelm the old British churches, with clouds of gross darkness.

Although Germanus and Lupus are said to have been so successful in suppressing Pelagianism, and renovating the lapsed condition of the British Christians; yet, we are told, that by the beginning of the sixth century, confusion and error again sprung up; and false doctrine was making a rapid progress in the Cambro-British churches. In order to check the spreading evil a general synod was held in a place called Brevi, and afterwards Landewi Brevi. Dubric, or Dubricius, was primate of the Welsh church at that time, A.D. 519, a little before the famous battle of Badon Mount, fought Giraldus Cambrensis, in

between Arthur and Cerdic. his life of St. David, gives the following account of the synod of Brevi.

"The detestable heresy of the Pelagians, although formerly extinguished through the labours of Germanus of Auxerre, and Lupus of Troyes, when they came over to this island; this pestilence, although once put a stop to, sprung up anew, and gave occasion to the