Then Llew the Correct of Yntau Llew Llawgyfes eilHand the second time took possession of the country, and governed it prosperously. And, according to what the history says, he was sovereign afterwards over Gwynedd.

And thus concludes the Mabinogi of Math.

waith á oresgynwys y wlad, ac ei gwledychwys yn llwyddiannus. A herwydd y dyweda y cyvarwyddid, eve á vu arglwydd gwedi hyny àr Wynedd.

Ac evelly tervyna Mabinogi Math.

The stone here alluded to was standing within memory; but it does not remain there now. It had a hole through the middle nearly.

DEATH OF DUNWALLON.

WRITTEN BY THE LATE MR. GOODWIN.

It is decreed,

Dunwallon, thou must fall; for canst thou bear
To mark, wide floating on the unseen blast,
Rome's spreading banners? or canst thou unmov'd
Behold the falchions of the foe dyed red

With British blood? or hear the hostile shout,
Indignant bursting from the phalanx strong,
Ring through thy native vallies? No! thy old eyes
Would smart with weeping, and thy noble blood,
Arous'd by generous indignation, flush

Thy wrinkled cheek. Yes, yes! thy valiant soul
Would scorn to bend beneath the hostile yoke,
And live a slave; perish th' ignoble thought!
While free, 'tis better far to seek the grave,
Than live when liberty is gone.

Think well,

Dunwallon, of thy loss: a tender wife,

The only solace of declining age,

Torn from thy arms, perchance no longer breathes, Or, breathing, lives a slave. Distracting thought! She never more shall cull refreshing herbs

In the green forest, or thy milk prepare,

When sleeps the sun; nor on the mountain's side, With thick woods covered, tend the wandering herds, Singing sweet songs of love. Alas! those days

Of peace and happiness are fled away,

And nought but misery remains. No more
Along the forest shall I urge my steps,

When gleams the morn, to seek the prowling wolf,
Or, wearied, hie me to my distant hut,

When night approacheth, for nor hut have I,
Nor wife to cheer me with her smiles.

But see!

Thro' clouds dark rolling bursts the silver moon
With mild irradiance, and her lucent beams,
Cast o'er the gory faces of the slain,

Make my soul sad; for many a long-loved friend
Sleeps unavenged on the corpse-strewed field,

Where plundering Romans clasp, with bloody arms,
My countrymen. Ah, how reversed the scene!
Yon sleeping warriors beheld this morn

Breaking with beauty through the mountain mists, Thoughtless of death; and to the rising sun

Gave the broad surface of each ample shield,
Flashing irradiance; whilst harshly groaned
Their sithe-armed chariots o'er the grassy plains,
Commingling with their spear-bells; then, at once,
Rending the air with universal shouts,

They rush'd to battle. O, 'twas a noble fight!
For patriot ardor glow'd in every breast,
Fir'd the blood, and nerv'd each warrior arm
With double influence.

Beloved friends!

Noble compatriots! I lament your doom,

With heartfelt sorrow: sure the gods will hurl

Their death-wing'd lightnings 'gainst the plunderers vile,
Who leave their country, and, in foreign climes,
Pour fell destruction through the tranquil vales,
And cause red murder, with his gory hands,
To clasp the innocent!

But I must go;

For soon the sunbeams, o'er yon towering hills,
Will sparkle cheerily; the hunter then,
As o'er this plain he journeys to the chase,
Will sorrow at the sight, and mark, with tears,
Those warriors sleeping, who so lately hurl'd
Their javelins at the wolf.

Come, falchion, come!
Taste thy old master's blood; in many a side
Of chieftain hast thou plung'd, and now perform
Thy duty. Hark! the spirits of the slain,
Borne on the clouds æthereal, invoke
My lingering soul. Ye spirits of the blest!
Bear me to happiness: I come! I fly!

(Stabs himself.)

TOPOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

PARISH OF MEIVOD, MONTGOMERYSHIRE.

BY G. M.

[Continued from p. 331.]

Section 4. Geology, Soil, Mountains, Rocks, Mines, Minerals. Soil. Where valleys are of considerable length, and their western ends not far from uplands, from whence the subsiding diluvial currents flowed with considerable rapidity, the character of the soils at the extreme ends of such valleys will be different. The soils of

the western ends will be found to have greater portions of rounded pebbles, gravel, and sand in their composition; while, lower down, the waters would have only the finer particles of soil to deposit gradually, as they proceeded more slowly, and so a more cohesive and fertile matrix of vegetation would be formed. Such is the case in the valley of Meivod: the western end is chiefly composed of a free working soil, of various depths, on a substratum of gravel, fertile in grain, turnips, and sown grasses; lower in the valley, for the reasons above stated, the soil is more argillaceous, and agrees well with wheat, beans, oats, and tap-rooted vegetables, and the pastures abound more in grasses of a feeding quality.

The diluvial current, in all this tract of country, seems to have proceeded from the west, or west by north; for, at the eastern end of Gallt yr Ancr, near the village, is a vast deposition of minute gravel, in quadrangular grains, heaped up, many yards in depth, against a steep rock of gray indurated stone, by the eddy formed on the meeting of two currents, one on each side the rock. Hence it may be worthy of observation, whether larger beds of gravel, in this district of east and west mountains, may not be deposited at the eastern rather than at the western extremities of hills, especially if they end abruptly, with a valley, or glen, on each side.

Here are no organic remains found, excepting marks of cockleshells on broken fragments of gray mountain rock, slightly calcareous, on the surface of a rocky eminence, north of the village called Cevn Caregog.

Mountains. The Cymry (of course the aborigines) who first settled here, seem to have had a predilection for the term gallt, for a cliff, ascent, or a steep hill; as there are no less than eight such places within the parish, or on its margin, bearing this

name.

1. Galli Goch, the russet or brown ascent, on the north-west border, and adjoining the parish of Llan Vyllin.

2. Gallt y Gader, the fort-cliff, a towering eminence, with its escarpment to the east, overlooking the basin-like vale of Llanvechain; this is also on the border of the parish of Llan Vyllin, and a continuation, as well as the eastern termination, of No. 1.

3. Gallt Hen, or Hen Allt, the old fort, on the border of the parish of Llanvechain, with a British encampment, of several circumvallations, on its summit, and facing another British fort on the south of the Vyrnwy, in the township of Trev-nannau, called the Gaer. This last is near the fourth gallt, called Gallt y wrach, or the ascent which exercised the lungs of the hag.

5. Gallty Main, with its escarpment, facing the township of that name, and towering in proud eminence above all the rest, so as to be conspicuous from the Wrekin, and the plain of Salop. It

commands a view of a circular horizon many miles in diameter; to the north, the Berwyn range; to the east, the limestone rocks of Sychdin, Porth y waen, and Llan y myneich, with the bold serpentine Breddin proudly overlooking the Severn at its base, and crowned with a column, erected, by a Montgomeryshire subscription, to commemorate the victory of Admiral Rodney over the French Count de Grasse, in 1782; to the south, the even-ridged Cordilleras of Digoll Vynydd and Ceri; and, to the west, the outposts of the round shouldered Pumlumon. The body of this extensive hill, of Gallt y Main, consists of excellent building stones, of the gray mountain rock species, which were entirely overlooked by our predecessors, who employed only timber and brick in building.

6. Gallt yr Ancr, the Cliff of the Anchorite, so called from having, near its eastern extremity, the rocky bed of Gwyddvarch, the hermit, the patron saint of the oldest church erected at Meivod, which has been already noticed in the second section.

7. Gallt Vawr, the Great Cliff, steep on its west and south sides; but now entirely planted with larch, by the Right. Hon. Ch. W. W. Wynn, and by the late vicar, the Rev. W. Brown.

Gallt y

8. Gallt y Goethwch, separated only by a glen, and the bed of the meandering Brogan, from Gallt Goch, No. 1. Goethwch is supposed to be a mutation of Gallt y Goed-hwch, the Cliff of the Wild Sow. It overlooks the valley of Nant y Meichiaid, or the Glen of the Swineherds; and at the eastern extremity of the glen is Bwlch y Cibau, the Pass of the Husks, or Acornshells. These three names, all in a line, may afford matter of curious speculation for such antiquaries as may venture to unravel the mythological triad, which mentions Henwen, the sow of Dallwair Dalben, led by Coll ab Collvrewi, the magician, grappling her bristles, through earth and sea, from Cornwall to Gwent, from Gwent to Dyved, from Dyved to Arvon,* &c.

Of the Galliau, or Gelltydd, above described, Nos. 5 and 6 are the summits of a ridge extending from east to west along the middle of the parish, having the valley of the Vyrnwy on the south, and the valley of the Brogan on the north. These afford better materials for building and covering of roads than any parallel ridges on either side; those on the south of the Vyrnwy, especially, affording only perishable shale.

Minerals. In Gallt y Main, some levels have been driven by different adventurers, and a few strings of lead ore enticed them to expend considerable sums of money. They have, at length, paid their bills, and retired, not without hopes of finding the capricious goddess of hidden treasures more propitious elsewhere.

* Sce Cambro Briton, vol. ii. p. 433.