that early period, who were believed to have written poems. That the poems which now bear their name do not show the verbal forms, and orthography of that age, and that the form of the language of these poems✔ has not the aspect which the language of the sixth century ought to exhibit, is equally certain. But this implies no more than that we do not possess transcripts of these poems made at that period. With the exception of two fragments, the oldest transcript we now possess is that in the Black Book of Caermarthen, a MS. of the twelfth century, and the orthography and verbal forms are those of that period, but this is not conclusive. All transcripts show the orthography and forms of their period. There may have been earlier transcripts, and if these had been preserved they would have shown earlier forms.

Before proceeding further, then, with this view of the subject, we may inquire whether these poems exhibit other marks of a later date, independently of the orthography and form of the language, so clear and decisive, as to lead us at once to the conviction that they could not belong to an earlier period than the date of the MS. in which we find the oldest text. If this question is answered in the negative, we may then inquire how far they show us clear and decisive marks of having been the work of an earlier age; and having determined their date, the literary question will become easily disposed of. If, on a fair and candid examination of these poems, it must be answered in the affirmative, cadit quæstio.

These poems have recently been arraigned at the bar of criticism by Mr. Stephens and Mr. Nash; and though they differ somewhat in the extent to which they answer this question in the affirmative, yet on the whole their verdict is against the antiquity of the poems, and the grounds upon which they arrive at this conclusion partake to a great extent of one common character. It will, therefore, be convenient to deal with these works together as really forming one body of criticism, and to examine first the case for the prosecution, as it were, and the real bearing of that criticism upon the question.

Both of these writers group the poems into two classes, which they call Mythological and Historical, and the objections which they urge against them may be comprised under the three following propositions:

I. The so-called mythological poems do not contain, as is supposed, a system of mystical and semipagan philosophy, handed down from the Druids, and preserved in these poems by their successors, the Bards of the sixth century, as an esoteric creed; but they are the work of a later age, and are nothing but the wild and extravagant emanations of the fancy of bards of the twelfth and subsequent centuries, and contain such allusions to the prose tales and romances of the middle ages as to show that they must have been written after these tales were composed.

II. The so-called historical poems not only contain direct allusions to later evidents, but it can be shown

that other allusions, which have been supposed to apply to events of the sixth century, were really intended to refer to later events.

III. The orthography and poetic structure of these poems show that they could not have been written earlier than the date of the MSS. in which they first appear.

Mr. Stephens embraces in his criticism the whole of these poems; Mr. Nash deals with those of Taliessin alone; and it may be as well to consider the bearing of this criticism on the poems attributed to Taliessin first.

Mr. Stephens, in his work on the Literature of the Kymry, does not go minutely into them, but deals with a few specimens only, and states the result of his examination of seventy-seven poems, attributed to Taliessin, in the following classification :-

HISTORICAL, AND AS OLD AS THE SIXTH CENTURY.

Gwaith Gwenystrad.
Gwaith Argoed Llwyfain.
Gwaith Dyffryn Gwarant.

I Urien.

I Urien.

Canu i Urien.
Yspail Taliessin.

Canu i Urien Rheged.
Dadolwch Urien Rheged.
I Wallawg.

Dadolwch i Urien.

Marwnad Owain ap Urien.

The Battle of Gwenystrad.

The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain.
The Battle of Dyffryn Gwarant.
To Urien.

To Urien.

A Song to Urien.

The Sports of Taliessin.
A Song to Urien Rheged.
Reconciliation to Urien.

To Gwallawg (the Galgacus of
Tacitus).

Reconciliation to Urien.

The Elegy of Owain ap Urien.

Cerdd i Wallawg ap Lleenawg. A Song to Gwallawg ap Lleenawg.

THESE SEEM TO FORM PORTIONS OF THE MABINOGI OF TALIE SIN, WHICH WAS COMPOSED BY THOMAS AB EINION OFFEIRIAD. The Chair of Keridwen.

NOTE-The poems printed in italics are not in the Book of Taliessin.