liest race of the Postdiluvians,-that he was pre-eminently the benefactor of his people, and that he received from them, as a recompense, agreeably with the dark superstition of those times, the posthumous honours of a divinity. ANTIQUITIES. TOMB OF BRONWEN. To the EDITOR of the CAMBRO-Briton. SIR,-As I naturally conclude, that every article, relating to the history and antiquity of Cambria, especially those which record facts of an early date, will add an interest to your work, I beg leave to send you a paper, which my worthy friend, Richard Fenton, Esq. of Fishguard, communicated to me, soon after we had endeavoured to investigate some of the rudest monuments of British antiquity in Anglesea. During the long and minute examination of our numerous barrows in Wiltshire, and especially in the neighbourhood of Stonehenge, I had often reason to lament, that, by their contents, we could form no conjecture, either at what period, or to what personage the sepulchral tumulus was raised. But from the following record, this mysterious deposit seems to have been ascertained; and, from the rarity of such a disclosure, I make no doubt, it will prove acceptable to many of your readers. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, R. C. HOARE. Stourhead. An Account of the Discovery, in 1813, of an Urn, in which, there is every reason to suppose, the ashes of Bronwen (White Bosom), the daughter of Llyr, and aunt to the great Caractacus, were deposited. A farmer, living on the banks of the Alaw, a river in the Isle of Anglesea, having occasion for stones, to make some addition to his farm-buildings, and having observed a stone or two peeping through the turf of a circular elevation on a flat not far from the river, was induced to examine it, where, after paring off the turf, he came to a considerable heap of stones, or carnedd, covered with earth, which he removed with some degree of caution, and got to a cist formed of coarse flags canted and covered over. On removing the lid, he found it contained an urn placed with its mouth downwards, full of ashes and half-calcined fragments of bone. The report of this discovery soon went abroad, and came to the ears of the parson of the parish, and another neighbouring clergyman, both fond of, and conversant in, Welsh antiquities, who were immediately reminded of a passage in one of the early Welsh romances, called the Mabinogion (or juvenile tales), the same that is quoted in Dr. Davies's Latin and Welsh Dictionary, as well as in Richards's, under the word Petrual (square), "Bedd petrual a wnaed i Fronwen ferch Lyr ar lan Alaw, ac yno y claddwyd hi,"-A square grave was made for Bronwen, the daughter of Llyr, on the banks of the Alaw, and there she was buried. Happening to be in Anglesea soon after this discovery, I could not resist the temptation of paying a visit to so memorable a spot, though separated from it by a distance of eighteen miles. I found it, in all local respects, exactly as described to me by the clergyman above mentioned, and as characterised by the cited passage from the romance. The tumulus, raised over the venerable deposit, was of considerable circuit, elegantly rounded, but low, about a dozen paces from the river Alaw*. The Urn was preserved entire, with an exception of a small bit out of its lip, was ill-baked, very rude and simple, having no other ornament than little pricked dots, in height from about a foot to fourteen inches, and nearly of the following shapet: *This spot is still called Ynys Bronwen, or the Islet of Bronwen, which is a remarkable confirmation of the genuineness of this discovery.-ED. The Editor feels it a duty to mention, that he is indebted for the drawing, from which the following wood-cut is taken, to Mr. John Fenton, who has delineated it from his father's sketch, and from having seen some scores of the same urns, which are uniform in their proportions or shapes, whether found in Wales, Wiltshire, or elsewhere. The border round the top is also similar in all, and appears to have been printed by a tool, such as is used in When I saw the urn, the ashes and half-calcined bones were in it. The lady, to whom the ancient tale ascribes them, was Bronwen, daughter of Llyr Llediaith (of foreign speech), and sister to Brân (the Blessed, as he is styled in the Triads), the father of Caractacus *. By the romance her adventures are connected with Ireland, where she was ill-treated by Matholwch, the then king of that country, in consequence of which she left it, and, landing in Wales, the romance tells us, she looked back upon Ireland, which, freshening the memory of the indignity she had met with there, broke her heart. To confirm the fact of the affront given her, one of the Triads, (that very ancient and singular Welsh chronicle by Threes), records it as one of the “three mischievous blows" (with the palm of the hand) of Britain, viz. the blow of Matholwch the Irishman, given to Bronwen, the daughter of Llyrt.-Never was there a more interesting discovery, as it serves to give great authenticity to our ancient British documents, even though they be introduced to minister to romance, as in the present instance, and fixes the probable date of the interment in question within a few years,-a desideratum we despaired of being ever gratified with,—a circumstance beautifully. alluded to in the close of Mr. Bowles's Barrow Poem. MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. ST. JOHN'S CHURCH-YARD, SWANSEA, GLAMORGAN SHIRE. Ir is greatly to be regretted, that such an elegant Englyn, as the following, should be left falling to decay, as it now is, being on a broken stone, where the inscription is hardly legible: 1. On the tomb of MARY WILLIAMS, wife of John Williams, Baptist minister, who died Feb. 10, 1804. Trallodau beiau'm bywyd-ni welais, Na wylwch o'm plegyd; Iach wyf o bob afiechyd, Ag yn fy medd gwyn fy myd. making pastry. The difference in the clays, of which they are composed, warrants a supposition, that the urns were made where they have been found; and probably they underwent no baking, farther than the effect of fire wherein the bodies were consumed, as they are all but imperfectly baked. * Or Caradawg. ED. † See CAMBRO-BRITON, No. 13. p. 10. for the translation of this Triad.ED. VOL, II. L 2. On the grave of WM. MEREDITH, Barmouth, who died 29th Nov. 1809. Gwel ei fedd ai orweddfa-gu Gwilym Mewn gwaeledd sydd yma; Llong-lywydd, môr-deithydd da, Uchenaid sydd a chwynion-a hiraeth O'i herwydd wr tirion, Briw oer sydd a braw yw'r sôn, O'i farw, yn swydd Feirion. Wr enwog; ei fawr rinwedd yn gyfan A gofir yn Gwynedd, 'Nol morio a chael mawredd, Llech heb boen yn llwch y bedd. 3. On the tomb of JOHN DAVIS, who died 3d June, 1815,verbatim et literatim. Angau a alwodd rhyw dywarnod, Heb ofyn imi own y yn barod, Fod y gobm gwedi ei dynu. 4. On ANN ADLAM, wife of John Adlam, coachman, who died 19th Decr. 1797. Farewell, dear husband, mistress, and master too, I have obey'd to death, as all must do; 5. On a small stone in the wall, in front of the Church, is the .following inscription:- 1630. Lo! a far born body, In its cold bed, Waits for the quick'ning 6. On WM. JENKINS, mariner, who died 28th July, 1804. Have toss'd me to and fro', Hoping thro' grace again to rise, To meet my Saviour in the skies. 7. On the tomb of MARY, daughter of WM. GROVE, who died 22d July, 1814, aged 27 years. Beloved Mary, farewell, for a short time! How inferior is all converse with the world to the remembrance of thee. IOAN DDU O LAN TAWE. ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS. As it must very materially conduce to the promotion of Welsh Literature, to ascertain the extent and value of the ancient MSS. now in existence, the foregoing head has been adopted for the purpose of condensing under it such information, as may be proeured on this subject. The following account of the Contents of the "Llyfyr Côch o Hergest," or Red Book of Hergest, in Jesus College, Oxford, cannot fail to be regarded as an acceptable commencement of this plan, and, especially, as it does not appear, that these Contents have ever before been in print, or at least in the present connected order. The Editor is indebted for the account to J. J. a gentleman, who, he believes, is a member of Jesus College. THE CONTENTS OF " LLYFYR COCH O HERGEST": I. YSTORIA DARED. The History of the Trojan War, written by Dares Phrygius, from the Latin translation, vulgarly ascribed to Cornelius Nepost. P. 1. * Written, says Mr. E. Llwyd, about the end of the fourteenth century. + This Translation has been ascribed to various writers. Mr. Edward Llwyd, in his Archæologia Britannica, p. 265, mentions it as the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth. It has also been appropriated to Owain Glyndwr, to his Bard Iolo Gôch, and to Sir Hywel y Pedolau, who lived at the close of the thirteenth century, and was knighted by Edward II, to whom he was foster-brother.-ED. |