of the town of Brecknock itself, the ceive the enemy, as there was then snow upon the ground, he is said to have caused his horse's shoes to be reversed; but even this stratagem was discovered to them by a smith at Aberedwy, whose name, as tradition says, was Madoc goch min mawr, or red haired wide mouthed He arrived at the bridge Madoc. over the Wye, time enough to pass and break it down, before his pursuers could come up with him; here, therefore, they were completely thrown out, as there was no other bridge over the Wye at that time, nearer than Bredwardine, thirty · miles below. Thus foiled and disappointed of their prize for the present, the English immediately returned downwards some of the to a ford known by party, about eight miles below, near a ferry called Caban Twm Bach, or little Tom's ferry boat; in the interim, it should seem Llewelyn must have gained sufficient time to have distanced his followers, if he had made the best use of it; but he had not yet abandoned the expectation of meeting with assistance, and some hours may have been employed with the garrison of the castle of Builth, who, awed by the approach of Mortimer, refused to treat with or sup« he was port him. Stowe says, taken at Builth castle, where using reproachful words against the Englishmen, sir Roger le Strange ran upon him and cut off his head, leaving his dead body on the ground." It is by no means improbable that he should have accused the garrison of Builth and the inhabitants of that country with perfidy, and (as Stowe says) used reproachfol words towards the English. He may also have bestowed upon the men of Aberedwy, as well as of 3G 4 Builth, Builth, that epithet which has stuck by them ever since*; but he certainly was not slain at Builth castle, or by sir Roger le Strange; for being here repulsed by those from whom he expected support, and baffled in his attempts to reduce them to obedience, he proceeded westward up the vale of Irvon on the southern side, for about three miles, where he crossed the river a little above Llanynis church over a bridge called Pont y coed, or the bridge of the wood, either with an intention of returning into North Wales through Llanganten, Llanavan fawr, Llanwrthwl, and from thence into Montgomeryshire, or perhaps of joining his friends in Caermarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire, to oppose whom, Oliver de Dyneham had been sent by the directions of the king of England, as appears by his letter from Rhuddlan. This passage once secured, he stationed the few troops who accompanied him on the northern side of the river, where, from the ground being more precipitous and much higher than the opposite bank, and at the same time covered with wood, a handful of men were able to defend the bridge against a more numerous enemy. In this situation he preserved a communication with the whole of Brecknockshire, and as he supposed the river was at this season of the year impassable, he waited with confidence and security, while he commanded the pass, in hopes to hear further from his correspondence, or in expectation of being reinforced from the westward; by this means the English forces gained sufficient time to come up with him, and appearing on the southern side of the Irvon, made a fruitless attempt to gain the Bredwyr Aberedwy, Bradwyr Buallt. bridge: here they probably would have been compelled to have abandoned the pursuit, or at least Llewelyn might have escaped in safety to the mountains of Snowdon, if a knight of the name of sir Elias Walwyn (a descendant of sir Philip Walwyn of Hay) had not discovered a ford at some little distance, where a detachment of the English crossed the river, and coming unexpectedly upon the backs of the Welsh at the bridge, they were immediately routed, and either in the pursuit, or while he was watching the motions of the main body of the enemy, who were still on the other side of the river, he was attacked in a small dell about two hundred yards below the scene of action, from him, called Cwm Llewelyn, or Llewelyn's dingle, and slain unarmed (as some say) by one Adam de Francton, who plunged a spear into his body, and immediately joined his countrymen in pursuit of the flying enemy. When Francton returned after the engagement, in hopes of plunder, he perceived that the person whom he had wounded (for he was still alive) was the prince of Wales, and on stripping him, a letter in cypher and his privy seal were found concealed about him: the Englishman, delighted with the discovery, inmediately cut off his head, and sent it (as the most acceptable present that could be conveyed) to the king of England: the body of the unfortu nate prince was dragged by the soldiers to a little distance where the two roads from Builth now divide, one leading to Llanafan and the other to Llangammarch; here they buried him, and this spot has been ever since known by the name of Cefn y bedd or Cefn bedd Llewelyn, the Traitors of Aberedwy, traitors of Builth the ridge of Llewelyn's grave; a family connection of his wife's, le copy of the letter found upou him, was compelled by his allegiance to was soon afterwards sent by Ed- his sovereign to become one of the mund Mortimer to the archbishop leaders of the English troops by of Canterbury, who was then at whom Llewelyn was defeated and Pembridge in Herefordshire, to be slain. forwarded to the king : the primate No attention was paid to the rein the course of conveying this tran- quest of Maud or the recommendascript to his majesty, adds such fur- tion of Mortimer, and the remains ther intelligence as had reached him, of Llewelyn, instead of being bones from which it appears that date of contention among the loyal inhaMatilda Longspee, bad interfered, bitants of York and Winchester (as upon hearing of Llewelyn's death, his brother David's afterwards beintreating he might be absolved from came) were permitted to rot at Cefn the sentence of excommunication, y bedd, in uphallowed ground. and his body buried in a consecrated Those who have attentively read place; this request Mortinier, with the history of Llewelyn (of whatever the gallantry of a soldier and the country they may be) will, I trust, affection of a relation (though that lament the fate, and sigh while they kinsman was an enemy), warmly se- contemplate the fall of the last and conded, by stating an assurance he greatest of the Welsh princes : his received froin those who were pre- grandfather, Llewelyn ap Jorwerth, sent when Llewelyn expired, that had courage and considerable tabefore his death he called for a lents, but he was savage in manpriest, and that a white monk, who ners, variable in politics, fickle in happened to be near, chaunted mass his altachments, and brutal in his to bim previous to his dissolution. revenge: during the greatest part of Maud or Matilda Loogspee, coun- his life he had a mere driveller to tess of Salisbury, who thus kindly oppose, but tlre last Llewelyo had endeavoured to procure for the to contend with an Alexander, supcorpse of Llewelyn the rights of se- ported by superior numbers and repulture, and who inarried for her venues; in short, he had all the first husband, William Longspee, the virtues of his ancestor, with scarcely second earl of that name, was the any of his vices; he had infinitely only daughter and heiress of Walter more difficulties to encounter, and de Clifford, governor of the castles when he was roured with the of Caermarthen and Cardigan, by smiles of fortune, he owed them his second wife, Margaret, daughter entirely to his own merit and exerof Llewelyn ap Jorwerth, aunt to tions. the deceased prince. Maud lived sometimes at Clifford castle in Herefordshire, and at other times at Memoirs of the late Cardinal York, Bronllys in Brecknockshire; she the last, in a direct line, of the married, secondly, sir John Giffard, Royal House of Stuart. of Brimsfield in Gloucestershire, who in ber right became seised of The following account of a characthese possessions, and who was so ter whose family once made a coilsituated, that notwithstanding this spicuous figure in this country, may be be considered interesting: Henry Benedict Maria Clemens, second son of James Stuart, known by the name of "The Pretender," and of Maria Clementina Sobieski, was born at Rome, the 26th of March, 1725, where he almost constantly resided. As a Pretender to the throne of Britain, he was never very forward in urging the pretension; and his general character was that of an inoffensive and respectable individual. The regent duke of Orleans bad (by a threat to withdraw the pension paid by France), to please the cabinet of St. James's, obliged the cardinal's father to reside in that city. Toward the close of the year 1745, he went to France, to put bimself at the head of 15,000 men, assembled in and about Dunkirk, under the command of the duke of Riche lieu, by order of Louis XV. With this army Henry was to have landed in England, i support of his brother Charles but though preparations, were made for embarking these troops, though one part did actually embark, not a single transport left Dunkirk road; and Henry, receiving intelligence of the issue of the battle of Culloden, returned to Rome, where, much to the displeasure of his brother and the friends of his family, he took orders; and in 1747 was made cardinal by Pope Benedict XIV. and afterwards bishop of Frascati, and chancellor of the church of St. Peter. From that time the cardinal of York, the name he assumed on his promotion, devoted himself to the functions of his ministry, and seemed to have laid aside all worldly views, till his father's death in 1788; when he had medals struck, bearing on their face his head, with "HENRICUS, NONUS ANGLIE REX;" on the reverse, a city, with "GRATIA DEI, SED NON VOLUNTATE HOMI NUM." If we are not misinformed, our sovereign has one of these medals. The cardinal had two rich livings in France, the abbeys of Anchin and St. Amand, and a considerable pension from the court of Spain, all of which he lost by the revolution. In order to assist Pope Pius VI. in making up the sum required by Buonaparte in 1796, the cardinal disposed of all the family jewels; and, among others, of a ruby, the largest and most perfect known, valued at 50,000l. He thus deprived himself of the last means of an independent subsistence, and was reduced to great distress on the expulsion of Pius VI. and his court from Rome. After having passed his days in quiet and dignified retirement at his villa near Rome till 1798, a French revolutionary banditti forced him to renounce his comforts and property, if he would save his life. He arrived at Venice in the winter of 1798, infirm as well as destitiile. Cardinal Borgia, who had been acquainted with sir John Hippesley Coxe in Italy,represented to him, by letter, the cardinal's case. Sir John conveyed this letter to a Mr. Stuart, who drew up a memorial, which Mr. Dundas (now Lord Melville) presented to his majesty; and no sooner was our beloved monarch informed of his distressful situation, than his majesty condescended to order his minister to the republic to offer the cardinal, with all possible delicacy, a pension of 40007, for his life. This amiable trait in the character of George III. does equal honour to the king and to the man. The cardinal of York had some claim on the generosity, perhaps on the justice, of this country. An act of parliament, still unrepealed, had settled on James the second's queen, Mary of Este, the cardinal's grandmother, a jointure of 50,000l. While the treaty of Ryswick was de pending, it was strongly contended, on the part of the French negociators, in the name of that princess, that her husband having been deprived, by an act of the British legislature, of all his right as king, and being consequently, as king, dead in law, she was as much entitled to her dowry, from the day that event took place, as if her husband had been naturally dead. The English negociators considered the point as too delicate for their interference, and desired it might be referred to king William personally. The proposal was assented to; and marshal Boufflers had an interview with William on the subject. William did not deny the justice of the claim; and on Boufflers express ing a wish that the concession of the jointure might be confirmed by at least a secret article of the treaty, William said, "What! marshal, will not my word satisfy you?" Bouttlers bowed, and parted, in the full persuasion that he had obtained suthicient security. But, on the first demand of payment, William insisted that the concession had been made upon a condition which had not been performed; while Boufflers maintain ed the concession to have been unconditional. James II. died in 1701; his widow in 1718. No attempt was made by her heirs at law to recover the arrears of her jointure till 1786; when Charles, the eldest of her grandsons, though he would not act himself, empowered his natural daughter, by Miss Walkinshaw, to act in his name for that purpose. A case was made out, stating the nature and grounds of the claim. Louis XVI. by a petition, which Vergennes presented, was intreated to recommend it, through his ambassador at London, to the attention of the king of Great Britain. Louis answered, "C'est une famille malheureuse; dont je ne veux plus entendre parler." Little thought the king how soon he, and almost every branch of the Bourbon family, were to be in a situation no less unfortunate. On the failure of this attempt, another was made, in a different way, to bring the claim before the king. The late earl of Pembroke, while at Florence, where Charles and his daughter resided for some time, was in the habit of visiting them, and sometimes dined with them. The daughter, on the Earl's leaving Florence, begged he would use what interest he might have with Mr. Pitt, in behalf of her father's claim. The Earl politely offered to do all in his power. As for interest with Mr. Pitt, he said, he had none, nor a claim to any; but he would try what could be done by some of his acquaintance who might have interest with him. Accordingly, on his arrival in Paris, he applied to the late Duke of Dorset, then our ambassador at the court of Versailles, who gave the lady's agent a letter of introduction to Mr. Pitt. He promised, at the same time, to take the first opportunity of recommending the claim to that minister's favour and protection; and he fulfilled his promise. Carryll, the lady's agent, on his arrival in London, with Mr. Pitt's permission, waited on him. But scarcely had he opened the subject, by saying that whatever right there might be, and however well-founded, to the whole arrears, a very moderate part would be gratefully accepted; when Mr. Pitt cut him short, declaring it was a thing not to be mentioned to the king. Carryll then communicated the nature and grounds of the claim to learned counsel, who advised him to bring the matter before the King's Bench, of fering, |