iv. Accursed be the white wood That drew out his eye from his head: V. Accursed be the green wood That drew out his eye in his youth: VI. AND VII. Bull of battle! active in the army; Leader of a host, his anger caused disquietude. Chief of the host of furious spears, There was stout protection for singers, whoever asked. VIII. For protection was given to me. How familiarly art thou greeted? Dawn of the host! who would stay, (at home) when thou camest forth? XXIV. I know the place where Gwallog was slain, This imputed intimacy between Gwallog and Gwyddno is also in favour of the location here assigned to the former. The original of the following poem is printed in the Myvyrian Archaiology, i. p. 58; but it is not there stated whence it was obtained, and I have been unable to trace it. However it is certainly old, and probably by the same author as the other, whom I have supposed to be Taliesin; but it is very much inferior to its companion, and very much inferior to the other poems of that bard; and we must either assume that he was really very much affected with grief, or that he had exhausted himself in the other poem. I am not without a doubt, however, that the critical judgment of the sixth century would have been less severe; for it contains several illustrations of the peculiar rythmical versification which was much admired at that time, and for many subsequent centuries. This was the practice of repeating the initial syllables of words, of which one instance is found in Merddin, one in Llywarch, several in the poems of Taliesin, and a very large number in the Gododin; but of the poems of Taliesin, this contains the largest proportion of such miscalled beauties; and as I have denoted them by italics, they will be easily discernible. This practise continued until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, (Literature of the Kymry, pp. 236, 504,) and was specially noted by Giraldus, who informs us that no composition was considered to be elegantly constructed which had not this ornament. This peculiarity could not well be embodied in the translation; I have, in a few instances, represented the form of the original by words of analogous structure; but in the majority of instances this was impracticable, as the flexibility of the Welsh is very much greater than that of the English language. I. WALLAWG. Yn enw Gweledig Nef Gorchorddion Gwrthodes gogyfres gwelyddon Lliaws Rhun, a nudd, a nwython. O edrych awdl trwm teyrnedd Nid y gwr dilaw ei ddaered Neud ym udd nac neud ych Darwerther Nis cynnydd namyn chwech (chweg?) Cledfa cledifa cledifarch nidd am tyrr The translation : TO GWALLAWG. In the name of the Ruler of the exalted retinues of Heaven, They excessively sing, they excessively bewail the Dragon (i. e. leader); He rejected (the aid of) uniform-ranked tribes, The hosts of Rhun, Nudd, and Nwython.* 4 The reader will find a translation of the first four lines in Pughe's Dictionary, sub voce Gogyfres; but if he refers to the individual words, he will find, what is commonly the case, that the lexicographer's translations are utterly inconsistent with each other. In these lines he substitutes Gwledig for Gweledig, as I have done; but he also translates gorchorddion as if it were gorchoddion, misprints i ddragon for y Dragon, and translates it so; and he renders gwrthodes, a verb, having the form of the past tense, and referring to the act of the dead Gwallawg, as if it were in the present tense. mention these things once for all, in order to account for the discrepancies which may be found between my versions and his Dictionary; I I will not adore, as the Bards of Britain do, Wonderful generosity, and the knowledge of the diviner; I will earnestly desire, I will greatly sing to a Ruler.5 I did not make, I will not make his lay: Reluctantly I was released, of feasts there was no scarcity; The expected ode to the weighty sovereign: In life, until he became the property of the grave, He was a host present before Britain; While there was anxiety the nimble one destroyed excessively, And there was great damaging, wiping of tears, and much judging. And all men adjudged the hero, tall, bold, And furious to be a judge, and to be serviceable. He was not a hero whose revenue was owing; An ardent youth, the valour of the skirting country, Gwallawg was like Eichiawg in government, And of a forbearing aspect was the countenance of Gwallawg. Thick mead at the close of summer. There will be no increase except of sweet mead, And sweeter will be its utterance on account of the sleeper. Talkative was the privileged (i. e. the Bard) of the strand, in the day Of the sovereign, under the vivacious influence of delicious mead. Like the sun the animator of summer he was most frequently described. his work is indispensable to the student of bardic poetry, but he is to be used with caution; and when my own judgment is unsatisfied, I place more implicit confidence on a less pretensious guide. 5 See also Pughe sub voce Ergrynig and Rhygethlydd. 6 The old bards attribute a very peculiar and warlike character to the judge or ygnad.-See Llywarch Hen, in reference to Caranmael ab Čynddylan; and Aneurin, verse 9. 7 This, and the two preceding lines are thus translated by Pughe, sub voce Chwedlawg: "Talkative is the privileged oratór Of kings, in the luxuriant circle of the good mead, Like the sun the warm animator of summer." He here interposes an o between traeth and dydd in the first line, I will sing a wise song, of those who were an harmonious host. From the corpses of men who died without disgrace. At the sword-place, in the swording, the sword of the hero was not broken; His army did not spread about to plunder in the country of the Caw (the Bard). They pierced the front of the shield, in front of his steeds; On horseback like the din of Morial was that of the foray-loving leader. Fiercely they took hostages of rich hays, From Caer Cluds to Caer Caradoc,9 And Gwallog is in the realm of the Sovereign of tranquillity (i. e. The persons named in this poem are all known to and thus puts into the mouth of Taliesin a word which did not exist for many centuries after, and of which he could not find an example to illustrate his Dictionary; this unauthorized word changes the whole meaning of the passage. He also has mwys in his extract, instead of nwys; and Pughe's extracts from the bardic poems are frequently most unfaithful. 8 Caer Clud, or Caer Aclud, Alcluyd, Arclwyd, or Alltclwyd, was the old name of Dunbarton, in Scotland, when that country was in the possession of the Britons of Strathclyde. The town was first built by Theodosius, and was thence called Theodosia; but it afterwards assumed, or resumed, the British name, and was the royal seat of Rhydderch Hael, king of Alclwyd at this time. 9 This is said to have been Salisbury (Richard's Dictionary, sub voce Caer); but that is improbable. A better authority places it "In finibus Salopiæ inter fluvios Themidem et Colanum,"-Monumenta Historica,) i. e. on the borders of Shropshire and Radnor; and those who wish to ascertain the exact position will find it in the preceding numbers of this Journal, in the various articles "On the Site of the Last Battle of Caractacus." It is also named in the Elegy on Cadwallon: "Yspyddawd Catwallaun Caer Caradoc vre Wrth y gyfwyre gynne Efrawc." Myv. Arch. i. p. 180. and Cadwallon is said to have protected "Caer Caradoc Hill" by the joint rising which fired York. This description leaves no doubt as to the proper site; and it thus appears that the name by which that hill is known is as old as the sixth century. |