"I, Aneurin, knew What is known to Taliesin, Mi a wn vi Aneurin Ys gwyr Taliesin, Oveg cyvrenhin. God. p. 7. In the same natural manner Taliesin notices Aneurin in his So Taliesin composed a dialogue between himself and Merdhin, and thus mentions both in it: "Since I, Merdhin, am after Taliesin, Canys mi Myrtin gwydi Taliesin Ymdidan, Arch. p. 48. 3. Another trait of genuineness is, that they speak of events which happened in the age in which they lived, as passing under their own eyesight. Thus Taliesin, on the battle of Gwenystrad, where Urein Reged commanded, who we know flourished in the sixth century, exclaims, "In the pass of the ford I saw the ghost-like men Yn nrws rhyd gwelais i wyr lledruddion "I saw Urien's brow covered with rage, When he attacked the enemy by the white stone of Calysten." VOL. II. Gweles i ran reodig gan Urien Pan amwyth ai alon yn llech wen Galysten. 48 Tal. Gwenyst, p. 52. Llywarch thus frequently shows a personal acquaintance with the events he describes. Thus on Geraint's battle: At Llongborth I saw the noisy tumult, And men red from the onsets of the foe. In Llongborth I saw the weapons 1 saw the edges striking together, Men in terror, and blood upon the brow, In Llongborth I saw tumultuous struggling I saw a confused running Of men together, and blood on the feet. "Ye that are the men of Geraint, make haste." There is certainly an air of reality in this description. It does not consist of general phrases which are the common appendages of poetical battle. The images selected seem taken from the tumultuous circumstances of a conflict, which the bard actually witnessed. The personages mentioned in this battle decide its chronology. The bard styles Geraint the son of Erbin, and he mentions Arthur as the commander of the Britons: At Llongborth were slain to Arthur He was the emperor and director of the toil. Yn Llongborth gwelais drydar Ac elorawr yn ngwyar A gwyr rhudd rhag rhuthr esgar. Yn Llongborth gwelais i arvau . . . . Gwelais gymminad Yn Llongborth gwelais drabludd Gwelais i breithred Gwyr ynghyd a gwaed ar draed Yn Llongborth llas i Arthur Arch. p. 101. Arch. P. 102. Thus the chief features of this elegy attests its genuineness. In his elegy on Urien Reged, we meet with the same personal assertions, which it is natural for genuine poems to contain: I bear a head at my side; the head of Urien; The mild leader of his army Upon his white bosom is the sable raven." In his elegy on Cynddylan we meet with an idea which it is unlikely that any but the real author of the poem should have conceived. Cynddylan had fallen against the victorious Saxons, and the first image which occurs to his friend and bard is, that his domains and palace are on fire. He sees the flames arisinghe anticipates the calamities which the victorious foe will pour upon the country-he calls upon the maidens of Wales to behold the ravage, and to recollect the misery which will attend the married state from the loss of husbands, children, and property: Stand out, ye virgins, and behold the territory of Cynddylan, Wo to the youthful who wish for social ties.< This is followed by another trait that seems to have been borrowed from real nature. It is that the bard recollects a treea favourite object-and expresses his hope that it will escape in the devastation: One tree, around which the twining woodbine clasps, But what God wills, be it done!! In the Gododin of Aneurin, there are also expressions which indicate that the events passed in his sight. There seems much of the particularity of genuineness in these lines: I beheld the scene from the highland of Odren: A sacrifice round the omen-fire which they brought down. I saw it as usual on the town of Fledegein, And the men of Nwython toiled to excess. I saw men in complete order, by the dawn, from Addoen, Taliesin also avows his personal acquaintance with the events he narrates: Conspicuously before the sons of Llyr at the outlets of Henvelen; Conspicuously before the Lord of Fame in the dales of the Severn, Ceint rac meibion Llyr yn ebyr Henfelen Arch. p. 66. Taliesin, p. 66. 4. Many passages may be noticed in these poems which seem to have been taken from objects and incidents then really existing, and which could hardly have occurred to the mind of a fraudulent impostor, especially in those rude ages, when the artful precautions of literary deceit were very little understood. Urien had a sister named Eurddyl. It was natural, that on Urien's assassination, Llywarch, his friend, should think of the grief which the catastrophe would occasion to his sister, and that the bard should mention the circumstance in his elegy on Urien; accordingly he twice alludes to her feelings: Eurddyl will be disconsolate to-night, In Aber Lleu Urien was slain." It seems to me to be likewise a genuine, but not an obvious circumstance, that in the night after the battle in which his patron Cynddylan fell, the bard should feel himself interrupted by the screams of the birds of prey over their dismal repast. Their cries recall to his recollection his friend, whose remains were at their mercy: Eagle of Eli, thou dost scream loudly to-night; Llywarch speaks of an event as having happened on the preceding night. This is a phrase which would hardly have been used in a surreptitious poem: A gwyr Nwythion rygodesyn Gweleis gwyr dullyawr gan aur addevyn a Handid Eurddyl avlawen henoeth, Yn aber Lleu lladd Urien. b Eryr Eli, gorelwi heno, Yn ngwaed gwyr gwynnovi; Aneurin, p. 18. Ll. Hen, Arch. 105. Ll. Hen, Arch. 109. Gwen, by the Llawen, watched As he was my son, he did not retreat.c Is not the following passage the description of a man who had beheld the object he mentions? When Pyll was slain, gashing was the wound, And the blood on the hair seemed horrible.d There is much natural representation in the passage of his elegy on Urien, of the confused state of his army after their leader's fall: On Friday I saw great anxiety Among the baptized embattled hosts, Like a swarm without a hive. The account of the pursuit made after Urien's murderer is also very natural: There is commotion in every region, In search of Llofan with the detested hand.f The real Llywarch, seated in the mansion of Urien, when he wrote his elegy, might allude to it as before him, in the manner he does in the following verses, but the images would hardly have occurred to an impostor: Many a hunting dog and towering hawk Have been trained on this floor, Before Erlleon became polluted. This hearth-ah! will it not be covered with nettles! It was accustomed to petitioners. This hearth, will it not be turned up by swine! It has been more accustomed to the clamour of men And the circling horns of the banquet. e Gwen wrth Lawen ydd wyliis Ll. Hen, 116. Tra vu vyw ei gwarcheidwad Yr aelwydd hon neus cladd hwch Ibid. 106. |