Daned the son of Ath, and Goreu Custennin, and Mabon the son of Modron, and Peredur Paladyr Hir, and Hyveidd Unllenn, and Twrch the son of Perif, and Nerth the son of Kadarn, and Gobrwy the son of Echel Vorddwyttwll, Gwair the son of Gwestyl, and Gadwy the son of Geraint, Trystan the son of Tallwch, Moryen Manawc, Granwen the son of Llyr, and Llacheu the son of Arthur, and Llawvrodedd Varvawc, and Kadwr Earl of Cornwall, Morvran the son of Tegid, and Rhyawd the son of Morgant, and Dyvyr the son of Alun Dyved, Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd, Adaon the son of Taliesin, Llary the son of Kasnar Wledig, and Fflewddur Fflam, and Greidawl Galldovydd, Gilbert the son of Kadgyffro, Menw the son of Teirgwaedd, Gwrthmwl Wledig, Cawrdav the son of Caradawc Vreichvras, Gildas the son of Kaw, Kadyriaith the son of Saidi, and many of the men of Norway, and Denmark, and many of the men of Greece, and a crowd of the men of the host came to that counsel.

"Iddawc," said Rhonabwy, "who was the auburn haired man to whom they came just now?" Rhun the son of Maelgwn Gwynedd, a man whose prerogative it is, that he may join in counsel with all." "And wherefore did they admit into counsel with men of such dignity as are yonder a

counsel with men of such dignity as are yonder a stripling so young as Kadyriaith the son of Saidi?" "Because there is not throughout Britain a man better skilled in counsel than he."

Thereupon, behold, bards came and recited verses before Arthur, and no man understood those verses, but Kadyriaith only, save that they were in Arthur's praise.

And, lo, there came four and twenty asses with their burdens of gold and of silver, and a tired wayworn man with each of them, bringing tribute to Arthur from the Islands of Greece. Then Kadyriaith the son of Saidi besought that a truce might be granted to Osla Gyllellvawr for the space of a fortnight and a month, and that the asses and the burdens they carried might be given to the bards, to be to them as the reward for their stay and that their verse might be recompensed, during the time of the truce. And thus it was settled.

"Rhonabwy," said Iddawc, "would it not be wrong to forbid a youth who can give counsel so liberal as this from coming to the councils of his Lord?"

Then Kai arose, and he said, "Whosoever will follow Arthur, let him be with him to-night in Cornwall, and whosoever will not, let him be

opposed to Arthur even during the truce." And through the greatness of the tumult that ensued, Rhonabwy awoke. And when he awoke, he was upon the yellow calf skin, having slept three nights and three days.

And this tale is called the Dream of Rhonabwy. And this is the reason that no one knows the dream without a book, neither bard nor gifted seer; because of the various colours that were upon the horses, and the many wondrous colours of the arms and of the panoply, and of the precious scarfs, and of the virtue-bearing stones.

NOTES TO THE DREAM OF RHONABWY.

MADAWC THE SON OF MAREDUDD.-PAGE 393.

MAREDUDD ap Bleddyn, the father of Madawc, after much contest acquired possession of the sovereignty of the whole principality of Powys. He married Hunydd the daughter of Eunydd, chief of one of the fifteen tribes of North Wales, and Lord of Dyffryn Clwyd and Allington, and died in 1129; his son Madawc succeeded him in one half of his possessions, which thence acquired the name of Powys Fadawc. Maredudd had been one of the most strenuous and successful opponents of the Normans celebrated by the national records. It was he who checked the progress of Henry I. who, in one of his invasions of Wales, narrowly escaped being slain by a body of archers, that Maredudd had dispatched to meet him; an arrow shot by one of their number actually glanced upon the breastplate of the royal invader. But the son of Maredudd was not distinguished for equal ardour in his country's cause; on the contrary, Madawc combined with Henry II. in the attacks he made upon Wales in 1158, and during that monarch's first and unsuccessful campaign, took the command of the English ships, and ravaged the shores of Anglesey. In this expedition, however, Madawe was defeated with much loss. Powell says of him, that he was "euer the king of Englands freend, and was one that feared God, and releeued the poore.'

He was a prince of more than common talent, and was highly extolled by contemporary bards and historians. Amongst others, Gwalchmai composed several poems in his praise.†

Madawc's wonted prudence appears to have forsaken him in the decline of life. There is an anecdote relating to him which, as it exists only in MS. is probably not generally known.* It is to the effect that in his later years, he took for his second wife an English lady, Matilda Verdun by name, upon whom, and upon any children he might have by her, he settled the Lordship of Oswestry. This lady inveigled the prince to Winchester, where her party was powerful. There upon some excuse he was put in durance, and while in that state was prevailed upon to execute another deed, whereby he settled the said Lordship of Oswestry upon Matilda, and any children she might have after his decease. The prince died soon after the execution of this deed, and his body was conveyed from Winchester to Meivod, in Montgomeryshire, the burying place of his family, where it was deposited in the church of St. Mary's, which he himself had built some years before. His widow, Matilda, scarce took time to dry her tears before she married John Fitzalan, who thereby became Lord of "Oswaldstree."+

By his first wife, Susanna, daughter of Gruffydd ab Conan, Prince of North Wales, he left several children.

Madawc built the castle of Oswestry, and a castle at Caer Einion, near Welshpool. Several places in their neighbourhood, and in that of Meivod, still bear his name.

POWYS WITHIN its boundaries, &c.—Page 393.

THAT part of the ancient principality of Powys, which belonged to Madawc ab Maredudd, extended from the vicinity of Chester to the uplands of Arwystli, now known as the Plinlimmon range of mountains. This is expressly stated by Gwalchmai, in his Elegy

For this anecdote, as well as for much of the topographical information contained in the notes to the Tale of Rhonabwy, I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Walter Davies, (Gwallter Mechain.)

↑ John's grandson, Richard Fitzalan, was the first Earl of Arundel of that name. In the time of Edward III. another Richard Fitzalan, fourth in descent from the above mentioned Matilda Verdun, was at the same time Earl of Arundel, and in right of his mother, Earl Warren and Surrey. He was also Lord of Clun and Oswaldstree, in Shropshire, and Lord of Bromfield, Yale, Chirkland, and Dinas Brân, in North Wales.