The Poems contained in the Four Ancient Books of Wales...I CHAPTER IL The literatare of Wales subsequent to the Twelfth Century..19 CHAPTER IIL Sources of the Early History of Wales. •.33 CHAPTER IV.
State of the Country in the Sixth Century^ and its History prior to A.D. 660.43 CHAPTER V.
State of Britain in AJ). 560 when Oildas wrote, and Kings of the line of DriY..61 CHAPTER VL Manau GoDODiN and the Picts • 77 1 Tl OOMTENTS.
CHAPTER VII Paob Tbe RaoM of Britab, and the Place of the Picts among CHAPTER VIII.
The Celtic DialecU and the Probable Character of the Pietiah Language...120 CHAPTER IX.
The Celtic Topography of Scotland, and the Dialectic Differences indicated by it...141 CHAPTER X. CUMBRU and the Men of the North.165 CHAPTER XI. Recent Criticism of the Mythological Poems examined. 184 CHAPTER XIL Beeent Criticism of the Historical Poems examined 208 CHAPTER XIII. True Place of the Poems in Welsh Literature.225 CHAPTER XIV.
Besult of the Examination of the Poems, and their Classification.242 / TO TRANSLATION OF THE POEMS.
msrroRiCAL poems comtadong alldbioks TO EVENTS PRIOR TO AJk 660.
fOEMS EBFBERIKO TO EAMLT TtLADITIONS. j L Book of Taliesnn uv. Tho BcfwiKiliatfwi of j Uadd the LesB...S63 II. Book of Taliessin XLIL DwOh-MOg of Cotvoi, son of Dajiy...i54 UL Book of Taliessin xu Dealli-Miig of Erof Kfi I V. Book of Tatieesin XLL.. S66 V. Book of Taliessin XLYL...S67 B. POEMS REFEERINO TO ARTHUR THE OVLEDW.
VL Book of Taliessin XV. The Chair of Um Soreraigii 359 Vn. Black Book of Gaennaithen XXXL 361 Vm. Book of Talieesin XXX...364 Black Book of Caermarthen xxu. Genin^ aon ) of Erbin > 366 Red Book of Hergeet xiv.. ] O. F0EM8 REFERRIHO TO QHTYDYOK AP DON AND HIE OWYDDYL AND THE ERTtHWTR, X. Book of Taliewin x. Daronwy. 369 XI. Book of Taliewin UL The Praiae of Lhidd the ' Great.371 VIU C0MTEMT8.
Page XII. Book of Taliessin XIV..274 XIIL Book of Taliesdn vnL The Battle of Oodeu. 276 ^^(BookofTaliessinL ).. 284 ( Red Book of Hergest xxin. ) XV. Book of Taliessin XUIL Death-song of Dylan son of the Wave.. 288 XVI. Black Book of Caermarthen xxxv...288 XVU. Bed Book of Hei^est xxu...290 ». POEM RBFERRIKG TO QWYDDNO AND GWYNN AP NUDD, XVIII Black Book of Caermarthen xxxuL..293 & P0EU8 REFERRING TO EARLY TRADITIONS WHICH BELONG TO A LATER SCHOOL.
XUL Book of Taliessin XVL The Chair of Ceridwen 296 XX. Book of Taliessin xlviil Death-song of Uthyr Pendragon.297 XXL Book of Taliessin XLV. 299 XXIL Book of Taliessin xil The Praise of Taliessin 300 XXlil. Black Book of Caermarthen xxxvm. 302 F. POEMS RELATING TO CITIES OF THE CYMRY AND THEIR LEGENDARY HEROES, XXrV. Black Book of Caermarthen XV. 303 J Book of Taliessin xxL ) ' ( Black Book of Caermarthen xiv. ) XXVL Black Book of Caermarthen vni. 306 XXVIIL Book of Taliessin xxv.. ^.307 XXIX Bkck Book of Caermarthen xix. The Verses of the Graves...309 1 I I \ I.
I I J i }■ COKTKNTS. IX IL fflSTORICAL POEMS CONTAINING ALLUSIONS TO EVENTS SUBSEQUENT TO aj). 560.
O. PO£AfS REFERRINO TO WAR BET WEEK SONS OF LLYWARCH HEN AND UWQ UAWR DREFYDD.
Pam XXX. Black Book of Caermarthen XXXIX. Niinet of the Sons of Uywarch Hen • 319 XXXI. Black Book of Caermarthen xxx..331 XXXIL Black Book of Caermarthen XXZIV.. 3S5 \ XXXIII. Red Book of Hergest XL., 386 H. POEMS RELATING TO O WALLA WO AP LLEENAWO, XXXIV. Black Book of Caermarthen xxzn. 336 XXXV. Book of Taliessin XL.. 337 XXXVI. Book of Taliessin xxxviiL..338 X. POEMS RE LA TING TO URIEN REGED.
XXXVII. Red Book of Hergest xvn. 341 XXXVIII. Book of Taliessin XXXL.343 XXXIX. Book of Taliessin xxxil.344 XL Book of Taliessin xxxin...346 XLL Book of Taliessin xxxiv...348 XLII. Book of Taliessin xxxvi...' 360 XLIU. Book of Taliessin xxxix. The Satisfaction ofUrien...358 XLIV. Book of Taliessin xxxviL The Spoils of Taliessin, a Song to Urien 353 XLV. Red Book of Hergest XIL...355 J. POEMS RELATING TO URIEN AND SIS SON OWEN.
XLVI. Book of Taliessin xviiL •.363 C0NTKMT8.
Paoi XLVIL Book of Taliessin xxxv. The Affair of Argoed Uwyfain...365 XLVIIL Book of Taliensin xuv. Death-song of Owain 366 X. POEMS RELATING TO THE BATTLE OF AEDDERTD.
XUX. Black Book of Caermarthen i. 368 L. Black Book of Caermarthen xviL 370 "U THE aODODIN POEMS.
LL Book of Aneurin L The Gododin 374 LU. Book of Anoarin IL The Gorchan of Tudvwlch 410 LIIL Book of Aneurin IV. The Gorchan of Gynvelyn 412 LIY. Book of Aneurin V. The Gwarchan of Maelderw 414 LV. Book of Taliessin XX. Song to Ale. 427 X. POEMS RELATING TO CADWALLAWN, LVL Book of Taliessin xux. 431 LVIL Book of Taliessin L...432 LYIIL Bed Book of Hergest xv.. 433 V. PREDICTIVE POEMS RELATING TO CADWALADYR, LIX. Book of Taliessin VL The Omen of Prydein the Great.436 LX. Book of Taliessin XLVIL 443 LXL Book of Taliessin uu..444 <X POEMS CONNECTED WITH POWYS.
LXIL Book of Taliessin xxiiL Satire of Cjman Garwyn son of Brochwael 447 LXIIL Red Book of Hergest xvi.. 448 I C0NTSNT8.
Zl • k f 1 P. POEMS WmCH MENTION HENRY, OR THE SON OW HMFBY. LXIV. Red Book of Hergest i. A Dialogae between ' Mjrrdin and his sister Owendydd. LXV. Red Book of Heigest IL A Fagitire Poem of Mjrrdin in his Grave LXVI. Black Book of Caermarthen XVL LXVIL Black Book of Caermarthen xvm. LXYIIL Red Book of Hergest xx.. LXIX. Red Book of Hergest xix.. LXX. Red Book of Hergest xxi..
III.
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS FROM THE BLACK BOOK OF CAERMARTHEN.
Q. POEMS ATTRIBUTED TO OTHER EARLY BARDS, LXXL Black Book of Caermarthen n. Meigant. 497 LXXIL Black Book of Caermarthen m. Cnhelyn. 498 LXXIIL Black Book of Caermarthen iv.. 500 LXXIV. Black Book of Caermarthen xx. The Qjrnghogion of Elaeth.501 LXXV. Black Book of Caermarthen xxL 502 B. ANONYMOUS POEMS ON RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS.
' LXXVL LXXVIL LXXVHL LXXIX.
LXXX.
LXXXI.
LXXXIL Black Book Black Book Black Book Black Book Black Book Black Book Black Book of Caermarthen v. of Caermarthen vi. of Caermarthen VIL of Caermarthen ix. of Caermarthen x. of Caermarthen XL of Caermarthen xn.
V XU CONTENT& I'AUB LXXXIIL Black Book of Caermarthen xiil 513 LXXXIV. Black Book of Caermarthen xxv. 515 LXXXY. Black Book of Caermarthen xxix. 516 a P0BM8 RELATING TO YSCOLAN, LXXXVL Black Book of Caermarthen XXVL 518 LXXXYIL Black Book of Caermarthen XXYii. 519 IV.
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS FROM THE BOOK OF ANEURIN.
T. POEM CONTAININQ ANCIENT PROVERBS, LXXXYIII Book of Anearin hl The Gwarchan of Adebon...522 V.
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS FROM THE BOOK OF TALIESSIN.
V. P0SU8 RELATING TO THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TALIESSIN, LXXXIX. Book of Taliessin m. The Fold of the XC. BookofTaliessin VIL Hostile Confederacy 525 XCL Book of Taliessin xin. The Chair of Taliessin...533 XCIL Book of Taliesdn xvn. Song to the Wind 535 XCUL Book of Taliessin xix. Song to Mead. 538 XCIV. Book of Taliessin LV. Song to the Great World.539 I C0MTKNT8. XUt I i Faos I XCV. Book of Taliessin lvl Song to the Little j World.541 XCVL Book of Taliessin ix. Juvenile Ornaments of Taliessin...543 XOVII. Book of Taliessin IL The Elegjr of the Thousand Sons...545 XCYIII. Book of Taliessin iv. The Pleasant Things of Taliessin...550 XCIX. Book of Taliessin v...5^% G. Book of Taliessin xxviL 557 V. FOEMS RELATING TO JEWISH HISTORY.
CI. Book of Taliessin xxiL The Plagaes of Elgypt 559 CII. Book of Taliessin xxiv. The Rod of Moses. 561 cm. Book of Taliessin xxix. 563 CIV. Book of Taliessin u..564 W. POEMS RELATING TO LEGENDS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
GV. Book of Taliessin xxvi. The Contrived World 566 CV L Book of Taliessin xxvin.567 VI.
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS FROM THE RED BOOK OF HEROEST.
X. POEMS ATTRIBUTED TO LLYWAROH HEN, CVII. Red Book of Hergest v...569 CVIIL Red Book of Hergest VL..571 CIX. Red Book of Hergest vn...573 V- Xiv C0NTENT8.
Paok ex. Red Book of Heigest vm.. 574 CXI. Bed Book of Heigest ix...576 CXIL Red Book of Heigest X...580 GXIIL Red Book of Heigest XHL..584 X. POEMS BBOINNINO *' SIRY MYNrD."* CXIY. Red Book of Heigest iv.. 586 CXV. Red Book of Heigest m. 590 S. FORMS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, CXYL Red Book of Heigest xvm...595 OXVIL Bad Book of Heigest XXIV. The V iaticiim of Ueroed WynebgUwr 596 i f i i ILLUSTBATIONS.
I Facsimile of Page of the Black Book of OMrmArthen, ' Folio 25...T0fa€$ TUhp of i.
Map of Plydjn or Y Qogled. T0famftif$ 1 CHAPTER L TH£ POEMS CONTAINED IN THE FOUB ANCHEMT BOOKS OF WALES.
The dissolution of the religious houses in Wales in the reign of Henry the Eighth, and the dispersion of their libraries, led to many Welsh MSS., which had been preserved in them, passing into tiie hands of private individuals; and collections of Welsh MSS. soon began to be formed by persons who took an interest in the history and literature of their country.
The principal collectors in North Wales were Mr. Jones of Gelly Lyvdy, whose collection was formed between the years 1590 and 1630, and Mr. Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt, author of a work termed Britisli Antiquities Revived, published in 1662, who died at Hengwrt four years after, in 1666; and in South Wales, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, who formed a collection at Raglan Castie in 1590; and Sir Edward Mansel, whose father had received a gift of the priory of Margam in Glamorgan, in 1591.
The collections of Mr. Jones and Mr. Vaughan * became united at Hengwrt^ an arrangement having been made between them that the MSS. collected by each should become the property of the survivor. Mr. Jones having predeceased Mr. Vaughan, the united collection, consisting of upwards of 400 MSS., remained VOL. I. B 2 THE POEMS CONTAINED IN THE FOUR BOORS.
at Hengwrt till within the last few years, when it was bequeathed by Sir Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt to W. W. K Wynne, Esq. of Peniarth, in whose possession it now is.
In the following century various collections were made, and among others some valuable MSS. became the property of Jesus College, Oxford. The collection of the Earl of Pembroke at Baglan Castle was destroyed by fire in the time of Oliver Cromwell; and a similar fate overtook two of these later collections, which had become the property of Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, and were preserved.at Wynnstay, but which were like- wise destroyed by fire. Other collections passed into the British Museum, and the principal collections of Welsh MSS. are now the Hengwrt collection at Peniarth, those in the British Museum, the MSS. at Jesus College, and those belonging to Lord Mostyn, Mr. Panton of Plas Gwyn, and others.
In the Hengwrt collection were preserved three ancient MSS., termed the Black Book of Caermarthen, the Book of Aneurin, and the Book of Taliessin, con- taining a considerable collection of Welsh poetry bear- ing marks of antiquity; and in the library of Jesus College is a MS. which contains similar poems, termed the Red Book of Hergest. These poems are some of a historic character, and others not so, and are attributed, either by their rubric, by the title of the MS., or by tradition, to four bards termed Myrddin, Aneurin, Taliessin, and Llywarch Hen, who are supposed to have lived in the sixth century.
4 THE POEliS CX)NTAINED IN THE FOUB BOOKS. 3 Two of these MSS. are still in the Hengwrt collection, and of one of them we know the history: the Black Book of Caermarthen belonged to the Priorj of Black Canons at Caermarthen, and was given by the Treasurer of the Church of St. Davids to Sir John Price, a native of Breconshire, who was one of the commissioners appointed by King Henry the Eighth; the other is the Book of Taliessin, and it is not known how it was acquired.
The Book of Aneurin is now the property of Sir Thomas Phillipps of MiddlehilL The Red Book of Hergest is said to have been so termed from its having been compiled for the Yaughans of Hergest Court, Herefordshire, and seems to have come to Oxford from the Margam Collection in South Wales.
It is these four MSS. — ^the Black Book of Caermar- then, written in the reign of Henry the Second (1154- 1189); the Book of Aneurin, a MS. of the latter part of the thirteenth century; the Book of Taliessin, a MS. of the beginning of the fourteenth century; and the Bed Book of Hergest, a MS. compiled at different times in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries — that are here termed The Four Ancient Booxjs of Wales, and it is with the ancient poems contained in these four MSS. that we have now to do.
Numerous transcripts of these poems are to be found in other Welsh MSS., but undoubtedly it is in these four MSS. that the most ancient texts of the poems are to be found; and, in most cases, those in the other 4 THE POEMS OONTAINfiD IN THE FOUR BOOKS.
MSS. are not independent texts, but have obviously, with more or less variation, been transcribed from these. The contents of these MSS. remained little known till the publication of the Archceologia Britannica in 1707, by Edward Lhuyd, who had examined all the collections which were accessible, and the account which he included in his work of the Welsh MSS. attracted some attention towards them, but none of the poems were printed till the middle of the century, when the publication of the poems of Ossian by James Macpherson, and the sudden popularity they acquired, gave a temporary value to Celtic poetry, and led to a desire on the part of the Welsh to show that they were likewise in possession of a body of native poems not less interesting than the Highland, and with better claims to authenticity. In 1764, the Rev. Evan Evans published his Specimens of tlie Poetry of the Ancient Wdsk Bards; and though they mainly em- braced poems written in the twelfth and subsequent centuries, translated in the style of Macpherson's Ossian, he annexed a Latin dissertation, De Bardis, in which he printed ten of the stanzas of the great poem of the Gododin, and a stanza from the Avallcnau, as specimens of the older poems, with Latin translations. He was followed by Edward Jones, who, in his Musical aiid Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards^ published in 1784, printed a part of the Gododin, three of the poems of Taliessin — ^viz. the Battle of Argoed Llwyfain, the Battle of Gwenystrad, and the Mead song, one of the poems of Llywarch Hen, with metrical transla- THB POEMS CONTAINED IN THE FOUR BOOKS. 5 tions, and part of the Avallenau, with a more literal j prose translation by Mr. Edward Williams. He was likewise assisted in his work by Dr. W. Owen, afterwaids Dr. Owen Pughe, who, a few years afterwards, pub- lished five of the poems of Taliessin in the Oentleman's Magazine for the years 1789 and 1790, b^ng the Ode to Gwallawg, the Death-Song of Owen, the Battle of Dyfiryn Garant^ the Battle of Owenystrad, and the Gorchan Cynveljm, with English translations. 'These translations, however, were too diffuse and too much tainted by a desire to give the passages a mystic meaning, to convey a fair idea of the real nature of the poems.
In 1 792, Dr. Owen Pughe published The fferoio Elegies, and other pieces of Llywarch Hen^ with a much more literal English version. The work contains a pretty complete collection of the poems attributed to Llywarch Hen, but it is not said from what MS. the text was printed, while the notes contain collations with the Black Book of Caermartiien and the Bed Book of Hergest* At length, in the year 1801, the text of the whole of these poems was given to the world, through the mimificence of Owen Jones, a furrier in Thames Street, * It is renuurlukble that there is no xeferenoe to reading* in tbe IA,t/fr du in the poemi which are actnallj to be found there, while ia six poems which are not in the Black Booif the foot of the page is full of references to the Llj(/r du for Tarions readings. These Taziona resdingSy so far as I hare been able to judge, correspond with the Red Book of Hergest, while those attributed to the Llgfr «nA an not to b« found there.
6 THE FOEMS CONTAINED IN THE FOUR BOOKA.
London, who, in that and subsequent years^ published the Myvyrian ArchcBology of Wales, containing the chief productions of Welsh literature. He was assisted by Mr. Edward Williams of Glamorgan and Dr. Owen Pughe; but though the text of almost all of these poems is given, it is not said from what particular AISS. they were printed, and no materials are afforded for discriminating between what are probably old and what are spurious. The text is unaccompanied by teanslations.
If the publication of the poems of Ossian thus drew attention to these ancient Welsh poems, the contro- versy which followed on the poems drew forth an able vindication of the genuine character of the latter. Sharon Turner, in his History of the Anglo-Saxons, the first edition of which appeared in 1799, founded upon some of these poems as historical documents. He quoted the Death-Song of Geraint as containing the account of a real battle at Longporth, or Ports- mouth, between Cerdic, the founder of the kingdom of yC/ Wessqf, and the Britons. He referred to the poems of Taliessin on the battles of Argoed Lli^ain and Gwenystrad as real history, and he considered the great poem of the Gododin by Aneurin as de- scribing a real war between the Britons and the Angles of Ida's kingdom. This drew upon him the criticism of the two chief opponents of the claims of Ossian — ^viz. John Pinkerton and Malcolm Laing — ^who declared that these Welsh poems were equally un- worthy of credit In consequence of this attack, THE POEMS CONTAINED IN THE FOUB BOOKS. 7 Turner published, in 1803, his VindtccUian of the genuineness of the ancient British po^ms of Aneurin, TaXiessin^ Llywarch Hen, and Myrddin. In this da- borate essay he endeavoured to demonstrate two pro- positions:-- First, That these four bards were real* men, and actually lived in the sixth century; and, secondly, that^ with some exceptions, the poems attri- buted to them are their genuine works. He dealt^ however, with the historical poems alone as sufficient for his purpose, and did not enter into any critical analjTsis of the poems as a whole. This vindication was, in the main, considered to be conclusive as to the poems being the genuine works of the bards whose name they bore; and it appeared to be now generally ac- cepted as a fact^ that a body of genuine poetry, of the sixth century, existed in the Welsh language, which threw light upon the history of that century.
A new view was, however, soon taken of their real meaning; and some years after, the Rev. Edward Davies brought out, in his work called the Mythology ^ of the British Druids, published in 1809, his theory that there was handed down in these poems a system of mjrthology which had been the religion of the Druids in the pagan period, and was still professed in secret by the bards, their genuine successors. The Gododin, he endeavoured to show by an elaborate translation, related to the traditionary history of the massacre of the Britons by the Saxons at Stonehenge, called the Plot of the Long Knives; and he appended to his work a nimiber of the poems of Taliessin, with 8 THE PO£MS CONTAINED IN THE FOUR BOOKS.
translations to show the mystic meaning which per- vaded theuL This theory was still further elaborated by the Honourable Algernon Herbert, in two works published anonymously: Britannia after the Romans, in 1836; and The Neo-Druidic Heresy, in 1838. He took the same view with re£:ard to the meaning of the G«d<^, «.d he c^nbined^l much mgeniou. and wild speculation regarding the post-Koman history of Britain, the theory that a lurking adherence to the old paganism of the Druids had caused a schism in the British church, and that the bards, under the name of Christians and the guise of Christian nom^clature, pro- fessed in secret a paganism as an esoteric cult, which he denominated the Neo-Druidic heresy, and which he maintained was obscurely hinted at in the poems of Taliessin. It would probably be difficult to find a stranger specimen of perverted ingenuity and misplaced learning than is contained in the works of Davies and Herbert; but the urgency with which they maintained their views, and the disguise under which the poems appeared in their so-called translations, certainly pro- duced an impression that the poems of Taliessin did contain a mystic philosophy, while, at the same time, the Grododin of Aneurin and the poems of Llywarch Hen were generally recognised as genuine historical documeitts commemorating real historical events.
The Rev. John Williams, afterwards Archdeacon of Cardigan, an eminent Welsh scholar, and a man of much talent, announced, in 1841, a translation of the poems of Aneurin, Taliessin, and other primitive bards.
THE POEMS CONTAINED IN THE FOUB BOOKS. 9 with a critical revision and re-establishment of the text; but, although these poems had occupied a large share of his attention, I believe he never seriously prepared the materials for his edition, and he died in 1858, without having done anything towards carrying it out I have frequently heard him give as a reason the great difficulty involved, and time and labour required, " in restoring the genuine text'' What he meant by this we can see in the last work he published, termed Gamer, where (part ii. p. 33 et seq.), we have several specimens of how he meant to deal with the text His plan obviously was to restore the orthography of the words from the existing text in the Myvyrian Archaeology to what he conceived must have bee^ their form when the respective poems were composed^ His mind, too, appears to have been influenced in no slight degree by the school of Davies, and he was too ready to attach a mystic meaning to the text^ In 1850, some time before the Archdeacon's death, a learned Breton, the Vicomte de la Villemarqu^, published his Poemes des Bardes Bretons du VI\ Steele, traduitspaur la pre- miire fois, avec le texte en regard revu sur les plus anciens manuscrits; and he, too, proceeded upon the same idea of restoring the original text. In his preface, after noticing the oldest copies of the poems, which he says formed the basis of his edition, he adds, '* Apres le travail de collation, il restait a reproduire I les textes avec Torthographe convenable, mais la ( quelle suivre { " and he fixes upon the Breton ortho- • graphy as the most ancient, and in this^ which he 1 / ^ 10 THE POEMS CONTAINED IN THE FOUR BOOKS.
terms *' Torthographe historique," presents us with the text of the poems which he translates. These poems are mainly the historical pieces, and he considers with Turner that they contain fragments of real history.
A more unfortunate idea than that of thus arbi- trarily restoring the text never formed the basis of an important work; and while it has destroyed the value of yillemarqu6*s edition, it lessens the regret we should otherwise feel that the Archdeacon never carried his announced intention into effect. To present the poems in a different shape from what they appear in the oldest transcripts, and to clothe them with a supposed older orthography, is to confound entirely the province of the editor with that of the historic critic, and to exercise, in the character of the former, functions which properly belong to the latter, while it deprives him of the proper materials on which to exercise his critical judgment Such restoration necessarily proceeds on the assumption by the editor that the poems are the genuine works of those to whom they are attributed, and existed in the same form and substance at the era at which their reputed authors lived; while the application of historical criticism to the poems as they now exist may lead to very different conclusions. It supersedes entirely the important work of the critic, by assuming the very questions which he has to solve. The true function of the editor is to select the oldest and best MSS., and to produce the text of the poems in the precise shape and orthography in which he there finds them: neither to tamper with, nor to restore 1 THE POEMS OOKTAINED IK THE FOUR BOOKS. 11 them, but to ftimish the critic with the materials on which he con exercise his skill in determining their true age and value.^ These remarks have likewise some bearing upon two very remarkable works which have inaugurated a new school of criticism of these poems^ and subjected their claims to tests which they had not hitherto undergone. These two works Bxe-^rst, Hie Literature of the Kymry, by Thomas Stephens, published in 1849; and, secondly ^ Taliessin, or the Bards and Druids of Britain, by D. W. Nash, published in 1858, The main object of Mr. Stephens' work is to treat of the language and literature of the twelflih and two succeeding centuries; but it embraces likewise the poems attributed to the bards of the sixth century, in so far as he maintains that they are falsely so attri- buted, and are really the works of later bards. Mr. Stephens' work is written with much ability, and is, in fact, the first real attempt to subject these poems to anything like a critical analysis. He opens one of his chapters, to which he has put the title, ''Poems, fic- titiously attributed to Myrddin, Taliessin, Aneurin, Ll}rwarch, Meugant^ and Golyddan,'' with the following sentence: — *' Reader I be attentive to what I am about to write, and keep a watchful eye upon the sentences as they rise before you, for the daring spirit of modem * In 1862, an edition of the Gododin wm pnbliihed, with a tnwiUtJoo, bj J. WillieniB, at ItheL He adopts the historical Tiew of this poam, and hit given the text» such as he had it» with much fidelity; whlla the twnslattoiv thoQ^ somewhat too fi^e^ is the first to giya anything like a fiiir idm of fkt original V 12 THE PO£MS OONTAINKD IN THE FOUR BOOKS.
criticism is about to lay violent hands upon the old household furniture of venerable tradition/' and he certainly fulfils this promise, for he maintains that, with some exceptions, these poems contain allusions, and breathe forth a spirit and sentiment, which demon- strate that they were composed subsequent to the twelfth century; and he endeavours to indicate their real authors. Of the poems attributed to Aneurin he appears to admit the Gododin to be genuine. He considers the whole of the poems attributed to Myrddin, including even the AvaUenau— which Turner main- tained to be genuine— to be spurious, and the work of later bards, and endeavours to point out their real authors^ hesitatingly in the text, but more decidedly in the title to one of his chapters, where he has — " The AvaUenau and Hoianau, composed by Prydydd y Moch. The Gorddodau, composed by Grufl^dd ab Yr Tnad Coch;" and of seventy-seven poems attributed to Taliessin, he admits only twelve to be '' historical and as old as the sixth century."
His admission that some of these poems are as old as the sixth century of course neutralises any argu- ment drawn from their orthography and grammatical or poetical structure, imless he can show that the poems he maintains to be spurious differ materially in that respect from those he admits to be genuine; and his attempt to indicate their real authors breaks down in so far as the AvaUenau and Hoianau, and other poems contained in the Black Book of Caermarthen, are concerned; for the poems in that MS. must have I I i 1 1 THE POEMS CONTAINED IN THE FOUR BOOKS. 13 been already tranBcribed in the twelfth century, and Piydydd y Moch belongs to the succeeding century. So far as he shows that several of these poems contain direct allusions to events which occurred affcer the period when they are said to be composed, his criticism is successful, and may be received as well founded; but in his attempt to show that allusions, hitherto sup- posed to apply to events contemporaneous with the alleged date of the poem, were really intended to de« scribe later events — ^which is, in fact, the main feature of his criticism — ^he is not equally successful His reason- ing appears to me to be quite inconclusive, the resemblances faint and uncertain, and the argument carries no conviction to the mind. For instance, in the poem attributed to Taliessin, termed Kerdd j Veib Llyr, where the lines occur — " A battle against the lord of fame in the dales of Hafiwn, Against Brochwel Powys; he loved my §ong^ — it is a fair and legitimate inference that it could not have been composed prior to the time of Brochmail, I who is mentioned by Bede as having been at the battle of Caerlegion, the true date of which is 613; but when the following lines occur in a subsequent part of the same poem — ^ Three races, wrathful, of right qualities, Gwyddyl, and Biython, and Somani, Create war and tamult,** ; it is not satisfactory to be told that '' they refer to the ecclesiastic dispute between Giraldus and King John respecting the see of St David's.'^ It is therefore not J 14 THE POEMS CONTAINED IN THE FOUR BOOKS.
without reason that the reader is exhorted to keep a watchful eye upon the sentences condemning the poems upon such grounds.
Mr. Nash, in his work, deals with the poems attri- buted to Taliessin only, and in the main he follows up the criticisms of Stephens. He goes, however, a step beyond him, as, without Erectly asserting it, he implies that none of the poems are older than the twelfth century, if he docs not really assert that no earlier date can be assigned to them than the date of the oldest MS. in which they are found. Of the historical poems he sums up his criticism tiius: — "Without, therefore, venturing to decide that these * Songs to Urien' were not re-written in the twelfth century, from materiaU originaUy of the dat« of the sixth, and that there are no poetical remains in the Welsh language older than the twelfth century, we may nevertheless assert that tiie common assumption of such remains of the date of the sixth century has been made upon very unsatisfactory grounds, and without a sufficiently careful examination of the evidence on which such assumption should be founded. Writers who claim for productions actually existing only in MSS. of the twelfth an origin in the sixth century, are called upon to demonstrate the links of evidence, either internal or external, which bridge over this great intervening period of at least five hundred years. This external evidence is altogether wanting, and the internal evidence, even of the so- called ' Historical Poems * themselves, is, in some THE POEMS CONTAINED IN THE FOUR BOOKS. 15 instances at least, opposed to their claims to an origin in the sixth centiuy." What he calls the mytholo- gical poems he entirely rejects^ and appears to place them even in a much later age than Stephens has done.
While Mr. Nash's work must be admitted to be written with much ability, certainly the merit of candour cannot equally be attributed to it It is less an attempt to subject the poems to a fair and just criticism than simply a very clever piece of special pleading, in which, like all special pleading, he proceeds to demonstrate a foregone conclusion by the usual partial and onensided view of the facts — niwiiTniTig whatever appears to make for his argument, and ignoring what seems to oppose it; while he makes conjectural alterations of the text when it suits his purpose, and the real sense of the poems which form the subject of his criticism is disguised under a ver- sion which he terms a translation, but which affords anjrthing but a faithful or candid representation of their contents.
I consider that the true value of these poems is a problem which has still to be solved. Are we to attach any real historical value to them, or are we to set them aside at once as worthless for all historical purposes, and as merely curious specimens of the nonsensical rhapsodies and perverted taste of a later age?
Whether these poems are the genuine works of the bards whose names they bear, or whether they are the