A WANDER TO OWAIN GLENDWR'S CAVE. THE treason of Glendwr, if it was treason, is in some degree palliated by the tyranny exercised in oppressing a brave, ardent, and sensitive mind. No man evinced a more unchangeable attachment for his unhappy master Richard II., and no man wreaked his vengeance, for unmerited insult, with more terrible retribution, than did Glendwr upon his designing enemy Grey de Ruthin. These two traits of his character, perhaps, explain the composition of his mind more perfectly than volumes written for its illustration. But it is not my intention, in presenting the Cambrian Quarterly with a mere wander to his cave, to enter upon a history of the hero. An inspection of the Welsh character will disclose a striking national peculiarity. I know not how to describe it, but the lives of Glendwr, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, or Margaret verch Evan, and I select them from the mass in consequence of their having lived at times remote from each other, will abundantly illustrate the wild enthusiasm, and pertinacious obstinacy, which appear to me to form the chief features of Cambro-British portraiture. Impressed with a strong interest for everything connected with the immortal Glendwr, I proposed last spring, during my stay in Merioneddshire, to accompany a friend, for variety of scene, and bracing exercise, to "pedestrianize" our way to Ogov Owain, or Glendwr's cave. I do not recollect having seen a description of it in any author: Pennant barely alludes to it, as also does Humphreys Parry, in the Cambrian Plutarch; but no one can form an idea, from what they have written, of the form or nature of the retreat. Ogov Owain is apparently a natural fissure in a rock, about a mile north of the estuary of the river Dysynny, in the parish of Celynyn, in Merioneddshire. Tradition says, that Ednyved ap Aron, a gentleman of consideration, concealed Owain in it, after his military reverses. The form of the cave is similar to the subjoined outline. Cave. Rock. Cave about 27 feet long. Rock. Sea-shore. a A large mass of stone concealing the entrance to the narrow cave. Here, having lit our Promethean lights, doubtless the first that ever illumined Owain's cave, and, fronting the sea, we seated ourselves on some great stones, and proceeded to knock off the neck of a bottle of sherry, and then to drink the health of our noble king, which being done, old Ocean, as if in compliment to his monarch, roared back a gruff approval of the toast: in solemn silence we then filled our horns to the " undying memory of Prince Owain Glendwr," and, as I repeated Shakspeare's well-known lines,* "Where is he living, clipp'd in with the sea, * That chides the banks of England, Scotland, Wales, I can call spirits from the vasty deep" my subdued voice echoed through the black cave, and it wanted but the licence of poetic imagination to conceive the shades of the warrior and the poet in sanctified communion with us their earthly guests. There is another place of concealment in the rocks of Carnarvonshire, called Ogov Owain, and the persecuted chieftain is known to have secreted himself at Moel Hebog, near Beddgelert, in the same county. Protracted residence * Which by the bye was but a poor excuse for his own countrymen calling Glendwr a romancer, because he and his little band performed what were then supposed to be super-human efforts in war, and for awhile discomfiting the English soldiery, notwithstanding their numbers and discipline. at any place would have been unwise; and the truth of tradition is well exemplified in the names of caves and passes connected with this extraordinary man: doubtless they were given by his faithful but conquered followers, and they are a more imperishable monument of him and his exploits, than pillars of marble or granite. Not far from the Merioneddshire cave, there are exceedingly high cliffs, especially to the north of the little village of Llwyn Gwril, and I shall perhaps be allowed to attach to my paper a short story connected with its vicinity. this romantic country every hill and plain has some tradition, some story of real life, or superstition. I select that of In HUGO GORONWY. A century, or rather more than a century, has effected a marked change in many of the habits and customs of the Welsh. Though they continue to be a distinct people, yet some of their most striking peculiarities no longer exist; among the rest, the lasso, which once was universally resorted to, in Wales, for catching the Merlyn, or mountainpony, is unknown. This instrument has been repeatedly described by various authors. It is used in Spain, for subduing the fury of the savage bull; in the deserts of Africa the hunter avails himself of the lasso in capturing the great ostrich; and in Canada also the wild bull is tamed with the lasso. Its simplicity of construction, as well as the unerring certainty with which it enables the hunter to overcome the most dangerous and powerful animals, are admirable. It consists of a coiled rope, or in some countries strips of leather, of sufficient length, at the one end of which is a running noose of the required size, well greased, in order to prevent the effects of friction, caused by the struggles of the entrapped animal. Hugo Goronwy, a farmer, lived in the neighbourhood of Llwyn Gwril, two or three generations ago; the chief part of his wealth he derived from the open uncultivated mountains, the products of enclosed lands were of secondary consideration. It will, no doubt, surprise many persons, when they are told that a century ago not a grain of wheat was grown in Merioneddshire, with the exception, perhaps, * Perhaps some of your Celtic friends, or rather those learned in Celtic inatters, will give the Welsh name for the lasso. I have searched for it in vain. XVIII. ૨ of the fertile vale of Edeirnion; turnips and clover were then quite unknown; barley very scarce; of rye and black oats a tolerable quantity were harvested; and potatoes were also grown in the more friable parts of the soil; a great many conveniences were obtained by import, but the wants of the peasantry were supplied at home. A cursory examination of their condition, as they then existed, might induce an observer to pity their lot; they might appear to him to be suffering under formidable privation, but a nearer view will disclose a different state of things. The Welsh mountaineer had and has an immense superiority over the artisan population of more thickly peopled districts. The former, it is true, labours hard, early and late, exposed to all weathers and seasons; but what is greatly in his favor, is that his food is wholesome. It is true he does not go to the baker's for adulteration and filth; he has his home-made loaf, dark and heavy in its texture; but it is, every particle, genuine corn bread, and as to its want of lightness it cannot greatly signify, for the eater's stomach does not grumble at trifles; nor have these moral people the gin-shop to corrupt them; but they have cow's milk, and bacon, and butter, and cheese, diversified with the piquant flummery, and nutritive browas; and as for luxuries, sometimes partaken of, they have honey and wild fruits from the heather, trout from the lake, and mutton and pork, all excellent of their kind; above all, the Welsh peasant has health and contentment to cheer him on through his humble calling; many hardships he endures, but infinite are the blessings he enjoys; these collectively instil a sound morality into his nature. Such a man was Hugo Goronwy, possessed of a temper enterprising, vehement, and open-hearted; his pursuits depicted the bias of his mind, though he held the small tilt plough, and handled the other farming tools in their due season, yet the catching of the merlyn, the fox, or even the hare, were more congenial pursuits; and the tumbles and thumps he received, which were accidental to the pony hunter, served but to attach him to the sport; but it is not to be supposed, in so rugged a country as the Merioneddshire coast and its environs, abounding with precipices and morasses, that such were the only casualties. Far Flummery, a decoction of oatmeal, soured by exposure to the sun, and eaten with milk. + A thick kind of porridge. worse did it fare with Goronwy. Goronwy had proceeded to the hills, accompanied by two hardy fellows and their greyhounds; these animals are much more muscular and thickset than the lowland dog of that name; they are clothed with rough wiry yellow hair, and eyes so piercing, that I do not know whether all that writers have said of the brilliant vision of the Houri, the antelope, or fiery glare of the basilisk, approaches my idea of the inconceivably bright eye of these dogs. Goronwy mounted upon the swiftest little horse in the county, with the lasso coiled upon his right arm, and his legs armed with hay bands, for protection in close quarters, proceeded to the hills. On the arrival of the party at the mountain's brow, the distant herd of ponies took alarm; sometimes galloping onwards, then suddenly halting, and wheeling round, snuffing up the wind as if in distrust of the intruders, or tearing up the earth with a wild extravagance of action; but the experienced hunters managed, with the assistance of the greyhounds, to cope the wild ponies in a corner of the hills, where perpendicular rocks, rising like walls, prevented their escape. Goronwy had already captured three of the most beautiful little fellows in the world; these he expected to sell for four or five pounds each at the next Bala fair, to him an important sum, and amounting to one fourth of the annual rent he paid for a considerable tract of sheepwalk; but there yet remained another most untameable little creature, whose highly crested mane and tail, and wild eye, and distended nostril, plainly shewed that he was a very Bucephalus of the hills, and determined to preserve his liberty; nor indeed was it safe to attack him in the ordinary way. Many of the three year olds, have been known to break the limbs of their pursuers, and I have heard of a shepherd having been killed by a pony striking him to the ground, and kicking or trampling him to death. Goronwy was therefore determined to give the little hero a chace over the flats of the hills, and so overcome him by fatigue before the lasso was flung; the dogs were unslipped, and off they went swift as the wind, followed by Hugo; the two footmen posted on an eminence; the course was unusually long, but the iron frame of the little Merlyn appeared superior to fatigue. Hugo Goronwy, naturally impatient, became heated in the pursuit, and neglecting to keep the arrangement of the coiled rope clear, he rashly flung the lasso over the head of the wild horse; but at the same moment the other extremity of the cord twisted itself round his body, |
