Twelve spotless virgins, and of angels four, did Eleison send To Eve's abode. To show aid should come to them by strife. Extreme were the cares which affected men, before they had signs that mercies came. Lest dire ills came on, Salmon did obtain, of Asia land. So did I obtain, in Europe known. Oh! what misery, through extreme of woe, prophecy will show on Troia's race! Their course, their bearing, their permitted way, and their fate I know, unto the end. A coiling serpent, proud and merciless, on her golden wings, from Germany. she will overrun England and Scotland, from the Llyçlyn shore to the Severn. Deuddeg gweryddon, pedwar engylion, Er dangaws cannerth rhag pob rhyw draferth, pan oedd anghyvnerth er pugnata. Dirvawr ovalon a oedd ar ddynion, cyn cael arwyddion misericordia. E gavas Moesen, rhag dirvawr angen nerth y tair gwialen enwedica'. E gavas Salmon, yn nhwr Babilon, holl gelvyddydon gwlad yr Asia. Neur gevais innau, yn vy mardd lyvrau, Holl gelvyddydau gwlad Europa. Oço! mòr druan, trwy ddirvawr gwynvan, daw y darogan i lin Troia! Gwn vi eu cerdded, Sarfes gadwynawg, Hòno goresgyn Then will the Brython' Their Lord they will praise, their speech they will keep, their land they will lose, but wild Walia. Till some change shall come, the two crimes come. Britons then shall have their land and their crown, and the stranger swarm shall disappear. All the angel's words, as to peace and war, will be fulfilled to Troia's race. Taliesin afterwards recited various predictions, in verse, to the king, as to the future events in the world, which are given in the collection entitled the Primitive Bards. Out of the book of Iolo Morganwg, being the collection of Hopkin T. Phylip of Glamorgan; made about A. D. 1370. Yna ant Brython, Eu Ner á volant, Ond gwyllt Walia. i lin Troia. Ar ol hyny y datganai Taliesin amryveilion ddaroganau idd y brenin, o vyd à ddelai àr ol, màl y canlynant yn y casgliad à elwir y Cynveirdd." "Olyvr Iolo Morganwg, sev casgliad Hopcin Thomas Phylipo Vorganwg; o gylç, A. D. 1370." As the "various predictions" alluded to above contain no particulars of the history of Taliesin himself, his MABINOGI may properly terminate here. It may be an useful illustration to point out where the principal scenes of this Mabinogi were acted; and this we are enabled to do from their names being still preserved by tradition, in the localities where they occurred. There is a lake called Llyn Pair, or pool of the cauldron, about three miles from Towyn, on the old Macynllaith road through the mountains; the outlet of this lake is among large In a general sense, the people of the east of Scotland, Brittany, and England, to as far as Mercia, and a line thence to the eastern coasts, and all originally a second shoal of adventurers from about the Elbe and contiguous parts of Germany, where remains of them still exist, under the name of Wendi, and from Denmark, the Cimbric peninsula. rocks, and the stream falls into a black pool below, and thence runs into the sea by Bottalog; and where it runs through the low ground, it abounds with the water hemlock. In the Mabinogi the name of the river is Gwenwyn meirç Gwyddno, the poison of Gwyddno's horses, though its present name is Avon Llyn y Pair. About a mile from this lake there is a farm retaining the name of Gwydd Gwion, or Gwion wood, from a personage so called in the tale. Three or four miles in the sea, between the outlets of the rivers Ystwyth and Teivi, are the remains of the fort of Gwyddno, the father of Elphin, and is well known to the people on the neighbouring coast. In the summer of 1770, I sailed over the ruins, in a very calm day, and thus for about three minutes, I had a clear view of them, appearing about twelve feet below the surface of the water; and many of the stones seemed to be large slabs, and lying in confusion on the heap. June 1, 1833. IDRISON. YMSON AR VYW A MARW. I vod, neu ddivod, dyna yw y ddadl :- O iasau gnaws a etivedda cnawd, - Sydd wyndawd tra dymunawl. Marw;-cysgu :- A bera ini bwyllaw: dyna yr Ystyriaeth a wna ing o oes mor hir; Na rhuthraw at ddyeithrion rai! mal hyn CAERVALLWCH. SOLILOQUY ON LIFE AND DEATH. To be, or not to be, that is the question : For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; SHAKSPEARE'S Hamlet. THE BROTHERS OF BALTOMAN. THE following narrative is not a mere fabrication. The chief incidents actually occurred some time ago, and the precarious and disreputable profession which two moral and well-educated young men were induced to adopt, was unfortunately that which many were tempted to engage in, when the Highland farmer, who had no market to which he could convey his grain, was prevented from legally converting it into spirits. The evil is fortunately now in a great measure removed. Two brothers, Duncan and Allan Grant, were sons of a respectable duine-uasal, or gentleman farmer, in Strathspey, the proper country of their ancient clan. In this beautiful district they continued to reside with their father and an only sister, happy, contented with the competence which they possessed, and much respected in that part of the country, until Duncan, the elder, had reached the age of thirty, when the scene of happiness at Baltoman* was destined soon to close. Disappointment in some droving speculations produced an alteration of circumstances, and the new mode of civilizing the Highlanders, and ameliorating their condition, by introducing lowland farmers and sheep stock exclusively, and dispossessing the ancient occupiers of land, brought final ruin on this worthy family. The goodman of Baltoman's punctuality in business transactions had been exemplary. He had lived threescore and ten years on the lands which his ancestors had for ages enjoyed as a sort of "kindly tenants," at a trifling rent; but, unable to keep pace with the improvements which were introduced, and averse from changes to which he could ill accommodate himself, and which brought a heavy and immediate increase of rent, his difficulties accumulated, until at last, obliged to give up, or rather ejected from his farm, and reduced to poverty, old Duncan of Baltoman soon left a world, to him changed and cheerless. The daughter, Shela, a highland beauty, with her long flowing ringlets of yellow, who was the admiration of the young men of the strath, and had been looked on as the intended of a neighbouring laird, was now compelled to offer her service to the more fortunate, but not more de * The town, i. e. house with attendant cottages, on the hillock. |