DAVID MORGAN

127

Friday." The King, it is said, ordered all his valuables to be placed in his yacht, and made every preparation to return to his beloved Hanover. But next day news arrived that Charles Edward and his Highlanders, instead of advancing on London, were in retreat, and the sense that this fatal decision had ruined his chance of winning the crown lay heavy on the Prince's heart. Hitherto he had generally walked at the head of his men, now mounted on horseback, "for his spirit was heavy; he could not walk, and hardly stand, as was always the case with him when he was cruelly used."

Eventually David Morgan and sixteen other leaders were taken and brought to trial, and on July 15th were placed at the bar, on the 18th tried and condemned, and on July 22nd hanged, drawn, and quartered. David's wife is said to have travelled to London to cast herself at the feet of the King, with a view to obtain a pardon. There was one daughter born to Morgan, Mary, who died unmarried.

CHAPTER VII

GOWER

Early population of Gower-The Romans-Possessions of Llandaff in Gower -S. Kenneth-His son Ufelwy - Conference with Augustine — The Flemings-Limestone caves-Smugglers' caves-Spritsil Cave-Loss of a Spanish galleon-Doubloons-The Bulwarks- Battle-A man in a chimney - Wrecks-A ghost story — Worm's Head — Arthur's Stone Burials in dolmens-Incineration-Castles and churches-The story of Elidor-The underground world-The formation of sand-dunes.

WH

HATEVER may have been the early population of Gower, it must have been considerably influenced by the Romans, who had their stations at Nidum and Leucarum and their lead mines at Caswell and Oystermouth, and as the Roman tenure of Britain lasted nearly three hundred years, they must have to some degree stamped on the people their culture, and left in their veins some of their blood. But Gower, situated as it is, surrounded by water on all sides but one, offered too tempting a place for landing, ravaging, or occupying to be left to a peaceable development of the seeds of civilisation left in it by the Romans. The boats of Saxons, Danes, and Irish descended on Gower, and if these people did not settle in it they swept it with fire and sword.

With the Norman Conquest came the greatest change that ever happened to the population of Gower. Harry de Beaumont" established himself there, and brought there Saxons from Somersetshire, where they obtained lands, and the greatest usurpation of all Frenchmen was his in

S. CENNYDD

129

Gower," so says the Brut Tywysogion. And since then Gower has been English in population.

Before that, S. David and S. Teilo had churches in Gower; indeed the church of Llandaff had considerable possessions there, but the very names of those they had as given in the Book of Llandav have vanished from the maps, and we can but conjecture where they were situated. The great saint of Gower, however, was not David or Teilo, but Cennydd or Kenneth. He was a son of Gildas the historian, and if the story in his legend be true, his birth was a very scandalous affair indeed. About 1315 John of Tynemouth got hold of a MS. life of this Kenneth, but it was so old and corroded that only the early portion was legible; this he copied, and this is printed in Capgrave's Nova Legenda Anglia. It is unfortunate. that the MS. was in this condition, as all the early portion of Kenneth's life was enveloped in fable, and precisely where the historical portion began, there the MS. failed.

S. CENNYDD

Morbihan

According to the legend, his birth having been disreputable, he was cast into the river Llwchwr by his mother in a basket, and was washed up on the coast of Gower, where seagulls nursed him and provided Statue at Plumellin, him with a bell; into this receptacle a hind shed her milk, which he sucked from it. He grew up a cripple, with one leg twisted up and attached to his thigh. He lived an eremitical life; nevertheless he married and had a family. In after years he seems to have migrated to Brittany, where his father Gildas was in great repute as Abbot of Ruys, and there he founded a religious establishment called Languidic. He

K

is represented in statuary in Brittany, but without the crippled leg. He was the father of Ufelwy, who became Bishop of Llandaff, and according to Welsh tradition was one of those who met S. Augustine and rejected his overtures.

"Augustine began by brotherly admonition to urge the Britons to make Catholic peace with him. Ecclesiastical and formal unity having been secured by whatever action might be necessary, they were to take a joint interest in spreading the gospel among the heathen people. And here Bede interposes an explanation of the need for some action to secure Catholic peace. The Britons, he says, did not keep the Lord's Day of the Passover at the proper time, but from the fourteenth to the twentieth of the Moon, and very many other things they did contrary to ecclesiastical unity. The Britons held their own firmly. The disputation lasted long. The British firmness produced its natural effect upon men like Augustine. They began by praying the Britons to take their view; they went on to exhorting them; they ended by scolding them. And not to any of these methods and tempers did the British give any heed. To the last they preferred their own traditions to all that they were told of the agreement of all the Churches in the world. This brings us to the last weapon in Augustine's armoury, scolding having been the last but one. I accept the story as given by Bede, but withhold an expression of opinion as to Augustine's part in it. Augustine proposed that some afflicted person should be brought before them, and each party should try to heal him by the efficacy of their prayers.

"The Britons consented, but unwillingly, and a blind man was brought. The British priests did what they could, but they could do nothing. Then Augustine knelt down and prayed, and immediately the man received his sight. Thereupon the Britons confessed that Augustine's was the true way of righteousness. But, they said, they could not commit themselves to a change from their ancient customs without the consent and permission of those whom they represented. They asked that a second conference should be held, when more of them would come."1 Here we have given by Bede a partisan version of the story. It is amusing to compare with this the account 1 Brown, Augustine and his Companions.