was the son of Banhadlen, daughter of this old Irish Cynyr.

The story goes that when Non was in labour she laid hold of a stone post, and the mark of her fingers was left on it. The stone was afterwards laid under the altar of the chapel erected over her hut. What is meant by this

is, that there was an Ogam inscription on the stone which in later ages was not understood, and the strokes were conjectured to be her finger-marks.

A few years ago the chapel of S. Non was cleared out and the altar platform found, and from the midst of it something had been removed-probably this stone-but what has become of it none can say.

In the side of the chapel is a stone marked with an early Celtic cross.

David was educated at Ty Gwyn, and afterwards sent to S. Illtyd.

In his old age Cynyr turned serious, and made over his

land to his grandson for the good of his soul. Now it was the custom among the early Celtic monks to form a sanctuary, and all who took refuge from pursuit for crimes, or all strangers who belonged to no tribe, could fly to this sanctuary, and were then and there adopted into the ecclesiastical tribe.

The disciples of David dug a deep trench and threw up a mound across the promontory, and this remains, the Ffos y Mynach, or the Monks' Dyke, extending from near Solva to Penberry, and may be traced to this day, though much degraded. Every refugee who passed over this line of demarcation became a tribesman of David and enjoyed the privileges of sanctuary.

David had his first monastic settlement near the coast, but the place was exposed to storms and also was liable to be attacked by Irish pirates, so he moved to where is now the cathedral.

It so happened that an Irish freebooter, Boya by name, had a fortress on a prong of rock that starts out of the plain, now called Clegyr Voya. You can trace the defences now. The whole top is banked round, and was originally faced with slabs of rock, but of these only a few remain in situ.

One morning Boya mounted the rock above his habitation in the enclosure, and saw the smoke of David's fire rising from the lush meadows in the ravine. He wondered who had settled there, so went to see. David easily satisfied him, and Boya bade him remain where he was. But Boya's wife was a person of different temper, and she was furious at having monks hard by. She endeavoured to goad her husband into resentment, but failed.

Then an idea struck her. She was Boya's second wife, and he had a daughter by his first. The woman invited the girl to go with her into the hazel brake on the slope that descends into the glen of the Alun and let her comb her hair. Whilst the child had her head in the woman's

CLEGYR VOYA

213

lap, with her scissors Boya's wife cut her throat, and offered her to the gods, in the expectation that they would drive away the Christian monks, in return for this sacrifice.

This failed, and she sent her maids to bathe in the stream near where the monks were working.

Said Aidan to David: "Look at those naked girls bathing."

"Don't look at them," replied David.

This expedient also failed.

One night a pirate from Ireland entered the creek Porth Liski and attacked Clegyr Voya whilst all were asleep, took it, and burnt Boya and his wife in their beds.

Such is the tale. Now Clegyr Voya has been excavated, and it does not confirm the story of the burning of the place. But that it was stormed and perhaps taken is probable enough, for the area of the fortress was found rained over with sling-stones, many broken where they had struck the rocks. It was also evident that the fortress had been attacked from the side of Rhosson, for the hailstorm of sling-stones had fallen on the opposite side and had struck the rocks on that side.

Among the crags is a hollow that contains water, and is said to fill when the tide rises and to empty when it falls. But as far as I have been able to judge this is a fable.

Some years ago a farmer who lived below the fortress dreamed that a crock of gold was hidden in the camp. So he got together men and they dug. But a storm came on and they had to retreat. He dug on the following day, and again a cloud and a thunderstorm drove him back. On the third day he came on a crock, when such explosions of lightning and thunder and such a darkness came on that he and his men fled. Since then the crock has not been seen.

Probably on account of the Yellow Plague in 547 David and his mother retired to Brittany. We are not told so in

his Life, but then his biographer was possibly aware that running away looked like cowardice, so suppressed the incident. But that he did go there is certain. A church near Landerneau has the ceiling covered with paintings representing his life, and another, Dirinon contains the tomb of his mother, who must have died during the absence of S. David from Wales. She is not forgotten there. When I visited her sepulchre one day I found that a child had placed a wreath of buttercups and forget-menots about the head of her recumbent statue.

S. David lived to an advanced age, and died exclaiming, with uplifted hands and eyes, "Draw me after Thee!"

The earliest recorded instance of friendly intercommunion between the diocese of S. David's and the English Church occurs in the reign of King Alfred. One Asser, an ecclesiastic of Menevia, was noted for his learning.

The see of S. David's was plundered, and its clerics much harassed by a local chieftain named Hemeid, and Asser was sent to the court of Alfred to plead for protection at the same time that Asser had heard the appeal from the King's messengers for men of scholarship to visit him. Asser found Alfred at Dene in Sussex, and was received most warmly. The King urged him to relinquish the possessions he had on both sides of the Severn," and to take up his residence at the court. Asser replied that before doing this he must consult his friends, and expressed his reluctance to quit the place where he had been nursed and educated and where he had been ordained. Alfred suggested that he should spend six months of the year in Wales, and that the other six should be devoted to his services. But Asser refused to agree to this proposal also until he had consulted his friends, and Asser left the court on his way home. But at Winchester he was prostrated by a violent fever, under which he lay in a hopeless state for over a twelvemonth. Accepting this as a sign from Heaven that he was to return to