Nor can fire burn or ftrata- I'th ddydd, nithwydd blanwydd blu. On a day certain; Oh thou Ni'th wyl drem i'th wâl dra-mawr. E'th glyw mil, nîth y glaw mawr Neitiwr wybr; natur ebrwydd that fanneft the leaves on the tops of the trees. The eye cannot follow thee -to thy diftant couch. And yet a thousand hear thee; neft of the mighty rain ! * Thou who vaulteft along the firmament of nature im petuous; Neitiwr gwiw, dros naw tir gwydd; Who lightly fpringeft over the forefts: Hines there is fomething of the anticlimax: the bard here wantoneth with the wind, and the greatest poets when in love, must be allowed defipere in loco;' Anglice, to be fometimes very infipid. I omit the two next lines, as they feem to be totally unconnected, and to be thrust in, head and shoulders. In the two, beginning with Noethyd dwyn, the poet is himself again." 66 # Nith y glaw mawr. This epithet, uncouth as it may appear in the English language, is peculiarly happy in the Welfh. No Briton can hear it without rapture." Rhâd Rhâd Duw wyd ar hyd daear: Rhuad blîn doriad blaen dår; Sereniog wybr fiwrnai gobraft Drythyll fab ar draethell fôr. Awdwr blinderoedd ydwyd, Heu-wr dylydwr dail wyd. Thou art the gift of God upon the face of the earth: With roaring force thou breakett the tops of the oak; Deficcating is thy quality, thou active created one Of the ftarry sky; in thy wide excurfions Thou often does blast the hopes of the rifing dawn. With the loud voice thou fcattereft the heaps of huiks: Thou art the fabricator of the tempeft on the fhores of the ocean, And fporteft as a wanton o'er the beach. Thou art the author of great forrows, Thou fower and purfuer of the leaves. Hoywddwr breiniwr hyrddiwr bryn. Ruler of the troubled wa Hwyl bronwyllt heli bronwyn. Hydoedd y byd a' hedy. Hîn y fron, bydd heno fri.' ters, affailant of the moun tain, How refiftlefs thy force, travelling o'er the white bofom'd deep. Thy flight expands over the the whole face of the earth. Gale of the mountain, Oh this night be fleet! The author then becomes love-fick again, confequently stupid, and sometimes ludicrous for the remainder of the po m; but I regret exceedingly that the idiom of the two languages is fo different, that in many places the author fuffers much by tranf lation; it is hardly pollible frequently to convey his meaning without much circumlocution, and the harmony of his metre, which is often inimitable, is entirely loft." P. 54. Vol. I. This early history is progreffively and circumftantially detailed to the prefent period, and many curious, and to us original, circumftances of a local nature are communicated; demonftrating great acuteness and tafte, and very extensive reading. Many paffages alfo from our more ancient authors, and from Shakipeare in particular, will be found to have received fome happy illuftrations. At page 199, vol. i. begins the account of religion; the various changes and revolutions of which are carried from B 4 the the times of the Druids to the introduction of Christianity; thence to the Reformation and the prefent period. At page 231, we have a detailed account of the local laws from Dyfnwal Moel-mûd, and from this part of the work we give the following: "The ftatute of Rhuddlan (12th Ed. 1.) recites that women were not then dowable, by the laws of Wales; but though they were not entitled to dower of the lands of the husband, they poffeffed a proportion of his effects, and that not only upon his death, but immediately upon the marriage, and they had a feparate controul, and the fole difpofal of their property, even during the life of the husband, nay, fo fully was this rite established, that the Welsh married ladies could not be prevailed upon to part with it for near two centuries after the English laws were introduced, as feveral of the wills of teftators in Breconshire from 1500 to 1700 recapitulate and acknowledge debts due from, and to married women, and in others the hufband admits that a fum or fums is due to his wife, by mortgage, bond, note, &c. ; yet still the British wives were in many cafes in antient times very hardly ufed, and their countrywomen of this day, though they may fmile, and perhaps fome of them tacitly approve of the causes for which it was lawful to feparate from a husband *, will all of them exclaim against the inequality of the crimes for which they might be chaftifed by him. Much pains were taken in thefe laws to defcribe what articles of household furniture and other effects fhall go to the hufband and what with the wife in cafe of feparation, and a laborious and impracticable attempt is made to fix a specific value upon every fpecies of property, in cafe it fhould be loft, ftolen, or injured: for inftance, the king's blanket, (the effe. minate luxury of fheets was then unknown) was worth one hun dred and twenty pence, the queen's flesh-fork twenty-four pence, the king's chefs-board one hundred and twenty pence, a bucket one penny, a pail to wash the feet in one penny; a houfe-dog, even though he was the king's, only four-pence; while a fhepherd's dog was equal in value to an ox, if it could be proved by his owner and neighbours upon oath, that he was accustomed to precede the cattle to the field in the morning, and bring them home at night: the purloining, deftroying, or injuring any of thefe effects or animals was punished in general by mulct, in the fame manner, though in a lighter degree, with the death of the king; the legiflators have proceeded to recapitulate with a tedious mi * "Foul breath was one of the causes for which a woman might feparate from her husband, at the fame time he might lawfully chaftife her either for reflecting upon his beard, endeavouring to procure his death, or committing adultery," nuteness, nutenefs, and apparently with a peculiar whimficality, the remedies in case some of these animals did any mischief to the property of those to whom they did not belong; and it should fometime feem as if they meant to punish the fowl or beaft him. feff, and endeavoured to make him fenfible of his crime; as when they enacted, that if geefe were found trefpaffing in corn, it was lawful to kill them with a ftick as long as from the elbow to the tip of the little finger; if in a barn or rick-yard, to fqueeze them to death with a forked stick placed on their necks; if a cock trefpaffed, one of his fpurs might be cut off; if a calf, in corn, he might be kept a whole day from fucking, and then liberated; and if a hen was caught filching, the might be detained till the laid an egg. In all these remedies, as well as the recital of the damages to be paid when a cat is found moufing in a flax-plat, there is fomething extremely ludicrous and unac countable at this distance of time; yet in one inftance their law was fuperior to that of England at this moment; according to the latter, if beafts are impounded, which have been taken da mage feafant, (anglice, trefpaffing; and why these French words fhould be introduced by the law authors cannot be accounted for) they can only be liberated, if a furly neighbour refuses to accept of amends, by what is termed a replevin, a fpecies of action in which the owner of the cattle is obliged to complain of an injury done to him by their feizure and detention, though the law authorizes it, and in which he must proceed, though he is certain of having a verdict against him, fubjecting him to the payment of cofts on both fides, as well as the damages, to his adverfary; and though he were always ready and willing, and may have offered a compensation for the injury fuftained, both before and after the commencement of the fuit; fuch is the law of our courts in the nineteenth century; by Hywell's code it was provided, that if a man impounded a beaft, and amends were tendered and refused, and the beaft died, the taker of it was obliged to pay the value of it to the owner, and (which was still more reafon able, though it differs in fome refpects from the law at present) if an animal was impounded, and he was permitted to graze by the perfon who impounded him, the taker did not (fays one of thefe ordinances) lofe his right to receive fatisfaction, becaufe he had behaved kinder than the law required." P. 234. Vol. I. The laws and ordinances relating to Wales will be found particularly detailed, p. 249, et feq. Chap. X. p. 270, commences with a defcription of the language, manners, popular opinions, prejudices, customs, This punishment of the animal was probably taken from the code of Dyfnal moel-mûd, when the druidical doctrine of the tranfmigration of fouls was the faith of Britain." &c. &c. &c. &c. will be found remarkably entertaining. The following is among the more fingular of thefe local cuftoms. "Thefe weddings were formerly attended with fome very extraordinary customs, all of which are now difused in the towns and their vicinities, but in the hills fome few remain, parti cularly what is called the bidding, and we ftill occafionally fee the herald of this event announcing it to the friends, relations, and acquaintance of the bride and bridegroom. He bears in his hand a long hunting pole or staff, to the top of which is nailed or tied a bunch of ribbons of various colours; after greeting the family as he approaches the house, leaning upon his fupport like the datceiniad pen paftwn of old, he with great gravity and folemnity, addreffes them nearly in the words mentioned in the Gentleman's Magazine, of December 1791, page 1103, with this difference, that in Breconshire, fish is not enumerated among the dainties of which the guests are invited to partake: the form of this invitation I have endeavoured in vain to obtain, though it is ftill occafionally heard in the highlands, but the fubftance is a promife of cakes and ale, pipes and tobacco, chairs to fit down, &c. and an undertaking on behalf of the intended bride and bridegroom, that they will return the favour to fuch of their vi fitors as may thereafter claim it. "On the evening preceding the marriage, the bride's female friends bring her feveral articles of household furniture; this is called ftafell *. On the morning of the ceremony, the lady af. fects coynefs and fometimes conceals herself, but is fortunately always difcovered and rescued from the party who are refolved to carry her off. Upon approaching the church, another scene of confufion and bustle enfues; it fhould feem now, that fome of the company are determined to prevent the celebration of the mar riage; one of her male friends, behind whom he is mounted on horfeback, though generally without a pillion, makes many at tempts to escape and run away with her, but the companions of her future husband fucceed in dragging her (nothing loath') to the altar. Upon this occafion, the racings and gallopings on both fides are really alarming to by-ftanders unaccustomed to these exhibitions; and it is aftonishing that more accidents have not happened in thefe fham fights and purfuits. Previously to the young couple's fetting out for church, as well as at the public houfe in the village, where they generally retire for a fhort time after the ceremony is over, the friends of both parties fubfcribe, according to their abilities, each a few fhillings, and the fum is particularly noticed by one of the company; as it is expected to be returned to every person then prefent who may thereafter be entitled to it on a fimilar occafion; for this contribution has been long fettled to "Literally the chamber, but it means here the furnishing or furniture for the chamber.". be |