to-Zffi 7//, 
 
 Book * A & H* _ 
 

 THE 
 
 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 OF 
 
 WALES. 
 
! 
 
WIRT SIKES, 
 
 UNITED STATES CONSUL ]| 
 
 CABDIEF. -WfttESv. 
 
 THE CAMBRIAN 
 
 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES; 
 
 AN ACCOUNT 
 
 OF SOME 
 
 TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, AND SUPERSTITIONS, 
 
 OF 
 
 WALES 
 
 WITH 
 
 OBSERVATIONS AS TO THEIR ORIGIN; 
 
 Sfc. $c 
 
 ■y 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPER-PLATES, 
 Coloured from Nature, 
 
 - 
 
 BY PETER ROBERTS, A. M. 
 
 RECTOR OF LLANARMON, VICAR OF MADELEY, AND AUTHOR OF 
 COLLECTANEA CAMBRICA, ETC. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR E. WILLIAMS, BOOKSELLER TO THE DUKE 
 AND DUCHESS OF YORK, No. n, STRAND, 
 
 1815. 
 
 % 
 

 ^ v 
 
 Printed by W.Clowes, 
 Northumberland-court, Strand. 
 
TO 
 
 THE REV. DAVID HUGHES, D. D, 
 
 PRINCIPAL OF JESUS COLLEGE* 
 
 OXFORD, 
 
 W&t$t I&ZVCIMW Of 
 
 CAMBRIAN ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 ARE INSCRIBED, 
 
 VERY RESPECTFULLY, 
 
 BY THE EDITOR, 
 
X/^ifcwfkh W. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION I 
 
 Translation of Higden's Description of Wales 5 
 
 OS Welsh Customs 7 
 
 Of the Wonders of Wales 10 
 
 Of Druidism 15 
 
 Of the great Druidical Temple in Britany 48 
 
 Of Druidic Circles 51 
 
 Of Stone Pillars 56 
 
 Of Merlin, the supposed Magician b7 
 
 Of King Arthur , 81 
 
 Festival of Shrove-tuesday 110 
 
 Lent 112 
 
 April-day 113 
 
 May-day 117 
 
 Easter 6 . . .„ 122 
 
 Whitsuntide , 125 
 
 Wakes 128 
 
 Hallow-eve , 12$ 
 
 Christmas , . .... 1 3 \ 
 
 Of Interludes.. ., .136 
 
 Of Welsh Music , \A 
 
 Marriage Ceremonies , 1 5| 
 
 Of the Corpse-candle « 169 
 
 Of Burials . ... t 17& 
 
 Nature, Manners, Dress, Boldness, Agility, and Cou- 
 rage, of the Welsh, from GiraMus .- 179 
 
 Superstitious of the Welsh from Ditto 180 
 
 Staff of St. Curig 1 89 
 
 Sacred Bell, called Bangu 190 
 
 Sacrilege punished , « I9I 
 
 Of Fairies 1 c£ 
 
 Observations on the preceding curious Account 195 
 
 The Fairy Song. 202^ 
 
 Superstitious Dance at St. Almedha's Church, near 
 
 Brecknock, from Giraldus 205! 
 
 Ditto continued #....,.,.,,,,.,,,,.,,, , , , ,207 
 
VI INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Divination of the Blade Bone from Giraldus 206 
 
 Llechlafar from ditto 207 
 
 Maen Morddwyd in Anglesea, from ditto 208 
 
 Eagle of Snowdon from ditto 209 
 
 S lowdon Mountains from ditto 209 
 
 Children fed with the Sword r 211 
 
 Ancient Customs, from Lewis Morris 211 
 
 Account of the City of Troy 212 
 
 Crug Mawr ; or, Pen-Tychryd Mawr, in Cardiganshire 214 
 Curious Grave near the Vale of Ayeron, in Cardigan- 
 shire, from Giraldus 214 
 
 Trial of Strength by Giants on Pen-Tychryd, from 
 
 Giraldus 214 
 
 Welsh Maen ; or Cock-lighting 216 
 
 Popular Traditions 218 
 
 Popular Tradition of Moll Walbee 218 
 
 Rolldritch 220 
 
 Cadair Idris , 221 
 
 Of wearing the Leek 225 
 
 Sortes Biblicse 228 
 
 Curious Numeration 231 
 
 Holy Wells 234 
 
 St. Dwynwen's Well . . . .249 
 
 St. Maddern's Well in Cornwall 250 
 
 St. Wenefrede's Well in Flintshire 256 
 
 Omens and Predictions 263 
 
 An Essay on Astrology .270 
 
 The Bow of War and Peace 301 
 
 Addenda 304 
 
 Tern pie at Carnac •• 304 
 
 Addition to the Account of St. Almedba 306 
 
 Method of Reaping 311 
 
 Addenda to the Essay on Astrology 313 
 
 Mary Thomas the Fasting Woman, near Dolgelley. . . .317 
 Game of Knappan • t 33 1 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following tract on Popular Customs and 
 Superstitions of Wales, was drawn up at the request 
 of Mr. Williams, the Bookseller, who has published 
 my former works relative to Wales, whose obliging 
 attentions had a claim on my endeavours to gratify 
 his wish. 
 
 In undertaking the work I soon perceived, that 
 after what Brand, and others, have published on the 
 Popular Antiquities of Britain, many of them were 
 common to Wales and England, and on these it did 
 not seem necessary to dwell. Many others which, a 
 century ago, were known, have now grown nearly 
 obsolete; and a neglect of them, now prevalent in 
 England, is no less so in Wales. As to such as I have 
 been able to collect, it has been my object to investi- 
 gate their origin; and, I hope, the observations on 
 them will not be found unsatisfactory, or destitute of 
 information. 
 
 I here beg leave to return my respectful thanks, for 
 the advantages I have had in the use of books from 
 the valuable library of Miss Ormsby, of Parkington. 
 I have the pleasure of gratefully acknowledging, that, 
 wherever I hare applied for information, what could 
 
■— 
 
 Vlll PREFACE, 
 
 be given, has been liberally granted. I have only to 
 add, that it is now my intention to proceed with the 
 Collectanea Cambrica, and to repeat my acknowledg- 
 ments for the favour with which what I have already 
 published has been received. 
 
 P. ROBERTS, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ** HEN, from political or other causes, the manners 
 and customs of a nation have, in general, undergone a 
 great change, an inquiry into what they have been in 
 former ages becomes interesting, not only as gratifying 
 curiosity, butfreqently as the means of dispelling doubts, 
 and confirming ingenious conjectures, or probable as* 
 sumptions of the regular historian. In that part of his- 
 tory more especially which regards the origin of nations, 
 the inquiry, when applied to popular customs and tra- 
 ditions, is perhaps of more importance than it seems to 
 have been esteemed ; for it is very observable that what- 
 ever be the variations of modes and customs in the higher 
 and middle orders of any nation which preserves a toler- 
 ably distinct existence as such, certain traditions, super- 
 stitions, amusements, and forms, will be maintained here- 
 ditarily, without even a knowledge of, or respect to, their 
 origin, but merely as customary by the lower order. For 
 such a pertinacious and general adherence to many of 
 these, it will not be easy to account on any other prin- 
 ciple than that they were first impressed on the minds 
 of such nations respectively, when they originally became 
 a regular society , icith an established form of religion 
 and government, Others must be referred to later cir- 
 
 B 
 
2 INTRODUCTION". 
 
 cumstances readily discerned ; but in those which are of 
 the greatest antiquity there is much, that, when developed? 
 may help to ascertain what were those principles of reli- 
 gion and policy which formed the character of the nation, 
 and what was the state of the nation itself at different 
 periods, though, at the first view, apparently trivial, and 
 as such passed over unnoticed, or only incidentally alluded 
 to, by the writer of history. Such are the ceremonies 
 of April and May Days, St. Johns and AUSaints y Eves, 
 the rude circles of large stones, the total absence of all 
 imagery, the vestiges of seats of justice, and places of 
 •worship on high places. These are circumstances, which, 
 being of the highest antiquity, may properly be referred 
 to that state of society in which it existed when the 
 Britons separated from the general mass of mankind, 
 and took a western route as a distinct colony, carrying 
 with it a certain, though not an accurate, tradition of 
 the deluge, a memorial of ceremonies indicative of the 
 chronological epochs of the most important primaeval 
 events, and a religion, which, though not purely Noachic, 
 was not yet contaminated by idolatry. The sanctity of 
 high places seems to have had its origin in the necessity 
 of choosing such for large assemblies when the low lands 
 were covered with wood, which, without the use of iron, 
 could not be cleared ; and consequently the antiquity of 
 the performance of religious rites in such places would, 
 in those of later times, when the assemblies could take 
 place in other situations, inspire that religious reverence 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 for them which could not with facility yield to new insti- 
 tutions. To a kind of necessity originally may also be 
 attributed the practice of putting captives to death ; and 
 I think more justly than to a ferocious principle, though 
 undoubtedly the practice became such. When, after a 
 victory, either the victors or the vanquished must have been 
 famished, the alternative of the destruction of the enemy 
 would no doubt be adopted by the people of a country, 
 which, producing a scanty supply, exposed them to it. Its 
 becoming a religious ceremony was the usual course of 
 ancient customs of a public nature, of which this is one 
 of the most horrid instances. 
 
 Of the perso?is, temper, dispositions, and manners of 
 the Welsh, the description given by Giraldus Cambrensis 
 is equally applicable at the present day. In their dress 
 there does not appear to have been any thing in his time 
 which particularly disti?iguished them from their English 
 neighbours in similar ranks of society. Their dress and 
 manners, when known to the Romans, have been so often 
 detailed as not to need any repetition of them in a work, 
 the object of which has been chiefly to notice and illustrate 
 particulars, which, though in some degree known as tra- 
 ditional, have not already been so treated of as not to 
 admit of farther explanation. 
 
 B2 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 OF WALES; 
 
 Translated, from the doggrel Latin Verse of RALPH HlGDEN, into 
 doggrel English, 
 
 OF THE NAME OF WALES. 
 
 THAT which now is Wales by name 
 
 Was erst called Cambria ; and Fame 
 
 Says 'twas from Camber, Brutus' son, 
 
 A king who reigned here long agone; 
 
 And Wales from Gwala, Ebroc's daughter, 
 
 Who, quitting York, a dowry sought here. 
 
 Though others state, as their opinion, 
 
 Since Gwala here once had dominion, 
 
 'Twas from his name. It matters little 
 
 Which, when neither name will fit ill. 
 
 Though less than England, 'tis as good 
 
 In flesh and fish, in soil and wood. 
 
 The beef is good, the mutton better ; 
 
 If England can produce such, let her. 
 
 The fertile valleys rich with corn 
 
 Woods defend, and flowers adorn, 
 
 And streams enrich, which, from their fountains, 
 
 Roll down between the lofty mountains : 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Beneath their covering of green, 
 
 Of coal, or ores, spreads wide the vein, 
 
 And lime, now used by artists well in 
 
 That precious article, a * dwelling. 
 
 At feasts they've honey, milk, and cheese, 
 
 Bread and stout ale, and more to these, 
 
 Which here abound, the land produces 
 
 All for life's pleasures, or its uses. 
 
 But, as so much exceeds my plan, 
 
 I'll say as little as I can. 
 
 This nook o* the world seems to my mind 
 
 As if by Providence design'd 
 
 To keep its last best stores in savour, 
 
 And be its wallet-end of favour. 
 
 Where Tivy flows its winding tides 
 
 North Wales from the South divides ; 
 
 Or, in the Latin tongue, so please ye, 
 
 Venedotia from Demetia. 
 
 South-Wallians glory in the bow, 
 
 Northerns with spear assail the foe. 
 
 Three courts had Wales (though 't not so now is) 
 
 Caermarthen, Anglesey, and Powis. 
 
 Its bishops too are now but four; 
 
 In better times it had three more, 
 
 And princes of its own could boast ; 
 
 But now the Saxons rule the roast. 
 
 * Literally in the joining of tiles for the roof. When the original was 
 written, such roofs were but lately come into use. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 OF WELSH CUSTOMS. 
 
 In dress, and other things beside, 
 The Welsh and English differ wide:— 
 A cloak and vest, and trowsers trim, 
 The Welshman deems enough for him. 
 Thus clad, he braves the wind and rain, 
 Thinks more superfluous and vain, 
 At home, abroad, for rest or labour, 
 And scorns the foppery of his neighbour. 
 His legs should wear no covering 
 Even in the presence of a king. 
 Whene'er the Welsh attack the foe, 
 Their weapons are the spear and bow ; 
 And better far they fight afoot 
 Than sallying forth as horsemen to't 
 Woods are their castles, bogs their walls ; 
 For whichsoever th' occasion calls, 
 To fight, or fly beyond a morass, 
 Each way alike the foe they harass. 
 A wight, who * bore the name of Gildas, 
 Says, " On their faith we cannot build ;'* as 
 Well it may be, we might have wondered, 
 When they've so oft been robbed and plundered, 
 Did they not every means essay 
 To drive th' invaders far away. 
 
 * This should be stole the name of Gildas ; for this was the fact. 
 The writer was not a Welshman.— See Collectanea Carnb. Vol. I. 
 
8 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 But now the woods are all cut down, 
 And forts at many a sea-coast town. 
 This nation, never left in quiet, 
 Could not be very nice in diet : 
 Round flat oat-cakes, or cakes of rye, 
 (Seldom of wheat,) their need supply ; 
 With milk and butter, and square cheese ; 
 Their vegetables beans and pease. 
 Their iriuk is mostly ale or mead : 
 Of wine they rather choose the red : 
 And oft is heard a merry tale 
 Inspired by mead, or wine, or ale. 
 Their meals the better to embellish, 
 Salt and a leek afford a relish : 
 ' And he, good man, the lord o' th 1 house, 
 Thinks it his pride to dole lobscouse 
 Till each one else forgets to fast, 
 Then kindly serves himself the last. 
 Their wicker dwellings stand full free, 
 Nor press their neighbour's liberty, 
 Like those in town, where every wall 
 Jostles its neighbour till its fall. 
 He, who has nought at home to eat, 
 At his next neighbour's finds a treat: 
 Then home returns, and, in requital, 
 Will, when he can, his friends invite all. 
 So wags their time, nor pines desire 
 For ease, or sleep, or cheerful fire. 
 When guests arrive, an offer meet 
 Is made of water for their feet ; 
 And, if they wash them, then they're right 
 Welcome within to pass the night. 
 So easy is it food to find, 
 The purse is mostly left behind : 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 9 
 
 ■ j i i ii ■ i i i i n i mm 
 
 Yet do they comb and money hurdle, 
 If they have money, in their girdle. 
 
 ****** **** 
 At feasts full merry is the throng, 
 With harp and pipe, and dance and song : 
 But at their funerals they sound 
 Goats' horns, to warn the country round. 
 Their origin from Trojan blood 
 They boast, and think none else so good. 
 Of pedigree so fond they've been, 
 A hundredth cousin's near of kin. 
 But, though their patriotic pride 
 Looks down on all the world beside, 
 Yet to the clergy of their nation 
 They pay respect and veneration ; 
 And such obedient reverence shew, 
 As they were angels here below. 
 By Merlin's prophecies misled, 
 To war alone they've long been bred ; 
 But, since the Saxon quarrels cease, 
 They learn the better arts of peace : 
 Their fields are ploughed, fair gardens made ; 
 They seek the towns, and gain by trade : 
 They ride in arms, or walk in shoes, 
 And polished arts and manners use. 
 So like the English are they grown, 
 Scarce is the difference to be known ; 
 And hence we learn the reason why 
 They've lived of late so quietly. 
 They are grown rich, and fear their toils 
 Would all be lost in warlike broils. 
 The poet of satiric Muse 
 Says, " He who nothing has to lose 
 May journey on with merrier mind 
 Than an armed knight with purse well lined/' 
 
10 POPULAR ANTIQUITfES 
 
 OF THE WONDERS OF WALES. 
 
 Near Brecknock is a noted lake 
 Where plenty of good fish they take. 
 At different times its colour varies; 
 And they who view the lake's vagaries 
 See in it now a garden green, 
 And now a town adorns the scene ; 
 But, when the frost has overcome it, 
 Strange sounds are heard to issue from it. 
 If the true Prince of Wales come there, 
 And bid the birds his right declare, 
 At his command they blithely sing, 
 But heed no other prince or king. 
 
 There is a hill near famed Carleon, 
 Which if the sun but dart a ray on, 
 It shines like gold : hence Goldcliffe hight : 
 But, if there's gold, 'tis not in sight. 
 
 Off Cardiff is an isle of yore, 
 Called Barri ; on its northern shore 
 A cleft, to which apply the ear, 
 And wondrous sounds you'll straightway hear ; 
 Now like the blasts of mighty bellows, 
 Now like the strokes of Vulcan's fellows ; 
 Now like his grindstone, now his furnace, 
 When making, for Achilles, harness: 
 Yet, after all, 'tis but sea- water, 
 Perhaps, that makes this hideous clatter. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 11 
 
 Much worse, alas! near Pembroke is it, 
 Where daemons pay them many a visit, 
 Hack and befoul their Sunday clothes, 
 And ail the secret ills expose. 
 Daemons no monk can exorcise, 
 Nor saint's great toe kick outwardise ; 
 When all the mischiefs they are brewing 
 Are presages of war and ruin. 
 
 On Craigmawr-hill there's a sepulchre, 
 And whosoever lays his hulk there 
 Finds it exactly fits his length, 
 And, if he's tired, recruits his strength. 
 But armour laid on't over night 
 Is found next morn in shattered plight. 
 In North Wales, and not far from Nevin, 
 Is Bardsey Isle, which monks do live in ; 
 And live and die with such decorum, 
 All see their elders go before 'em : 
 And here likewise, as 'tis averred 
 Was Caledonian Merlin buried ; ' 
 For 'tis believed that Merlins two 
 Have had with prophecy to do. 
 Th* one, imp-begotten, near Carmarthen, 
 Ambrosius called, like evil star, then 
 Foretold to Vortigern his fate, 
 His subjects' and his children's hate* 
 And his dire end : and, having so done, 
 Lived snug amidst the rocks of Snowdon, 
 Near Dinas Emrys, where the king 
 So anxious heard him say or sing. 
 The other Merlin Scotia claims, 
 Conspicuous in a brace of names, 
 Sylvestris called, or Caledonius, 
 The first, because like one felonious, 
 
12 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 He shunned mankind, and roved about 
 
 In woods and forests, wit-without. 
 
 For once in battle, as 'tis said, 
 
 An airy spectre turned his head, 
 
 And he grew wild ; yet his prediction 
 
 In Arthur's days, sans contradiction, 
 
 Is much more plain and much more clear 
 
 Than those of t'other Merlin are. 
 
 In Snowdon there are hills so high, 
 
 They seem like step-stones to the sky, 
 
 And, tho' you toil without much stop, 
 
 Scarce in a day you'll reach the top. 
 
 These are the pastures; here the fountains 
 
 Have formed two lakes between the mountains, 
 
 In one of which an island floats, 
 
 And bears about the sheep or goats, 
 
 Which, while it rested near the side, 
 
 Fearless the seeming main-land tried, 
 
 And, when the wind had proved it free, 
 
 Wondered to find themselves at sea. 
 
 The other lake yields many a dish, 
 
 Like * Mulwell Lake, of one-eyed fish. 
 
 Near Rhuddlan ebbs and flows a well 
 
 Twice every day. Why ? None can tell. 
 
 In Anglesey f a curious stone, 
 
 Like to the human thigh, is shown, 
 
 Which, though it carried be, by day, 
 
 From its own station far away, 
 
 Has of itself such skill and might, 
 
 It comes back safe again at night. 
 
 Hugh, Count of Salop, as I've read, 
 
 Once took it gravely in his head 
 
 * In Scotland. 
 
 t Maen Morddwyd, 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 13 
 
 {'Twas when first Henry sat on throne) 
 
 To try thp powers of this stone : 
 
 So with another like it matched, 
 
 And to it by strong chain attached, 
 
 Tho' both into the sea were thrown, 
 
 This the next night returned alone. 
 
 A clown, who had the wish to try it, 
 
 Thought proper to his leg to tie it : 
 
 Ere morn the stone had homeward hied 
 
 And the clown's leg was mortified. 
 
 There is in Wales a rock far famed ; 
 
 The Rock of Listeners 'tis named : 
 
 'Tis such, that if, upon one side, 
 
 The trumpet's loudest blast rings wide; 
 
 Yet on the other side, tho' near, 
 
 This sound will not affect the ear. 
 
 Not far from hence * an isle juts out 
 
 O' th' sea, where dwell men called devout ; 
 
 Hermits, who, though they should be brothers, 
 
 Can sometimes quarrel too, like others : 
 
 But, when they do, woe worth the while ! 
 
 The congregated mice o' th' isle 
 
 Rifle their hoards of beans and pease, 
 
 Make bandboxes of every chesse, 
 
 Forth through each hole their legions pour, 
 
 And every eatable devour ; 
 
 Till by incessant depredation 
 
 They conquer peace, or make starvation. 
 
 Here also, as on Irish ground, 
 
 The f gloomy wanderer is found ; 
 
 And th' holy men of either nation 
 
 Are vengeful when they're in a passion. 
 
 * Probably Priestholme. 
 
 f Such as the Brownie of Scotland, 
 
14 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 In Scotland, Ireland, and in Wales, 
 
 Rev'rence for bells and crooks prevails : 
 
 And the oath ta'en on bell or crook, 
 
 Is sure as that on holy book. 
 
 At Basingwerk there is a spring 
 
 Well known, whose stream astonishing, 
 
 Soon as it rises, rolls along 
 
 A river copious, clear, and strong ; 
 
 So large, if other water fails, 
 
 It may supply the whole of Wales. 
 
 Sick folk, who hither bring oblations, 
 
 Return with happy emendations. 
 
 Within the fount, stones spotted red } 
 
 Mark where her holy blood was shed, r 
 
 When Winifreda lost her head. ^ 
 
 He who cut off her head, however, 
 
 And dared it from her trunk to sever, 
 
 To yell like curs condemned his race, 
 
 Till they seek pardon at this place; 
 
 Or at the town of Shrewsbury, 
 
 Where now in peace her relics lie. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 15 
 
 OF DRUIDISM. 
 
 In a popular work of this nature it is 
 not to be expected that a subject so ex- 
 tensive should be treated of copiously, or 
 that difficulties respecting it should be dis- 
 cussed. The most simple, and perhaps, 
 after all, the most satisfactory niethod that 
 can be pursued here, will be to state con- 
 sisely what has been related of them by 
 ancient writers, and to add to this the 
 substance of such farther information as 
 may be derived from later researches, and 
 appear necessary to the present purpose. 
 
 The length of time that Julius Caesar 
 had been in Gaul enabled him to acquire 
 an extensive knowledge of the manners and 
 customs of that country. In his descrip- 
 tion of these * the following account of 
 the Druids is given : — 
 
 " They are the ministers and teachers 
 " of religion ; superintend public and pri- 
 
 * Commentaries, Book vi., of the War in Gaul. 
 
a 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 16 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 " vate sacrifices. To them the youth in 
 great numbers apply for instruction, 
 and shew them great respect ; for, in 
 general, they decide in all controver- 
 sies, public and private : if a crime be 
 committed, if a person be slain ; if suc- 
 cession to property or the boundaries of 
 " land be in question ; they determine the 
 " case, and adjudge the rewards and 
 " punishments. If any one, whether in a 
 " private or public station, refuses to abide 
 " by their award, they interdict him 
 " from the sacrifices, which is their greatest 
 " punishment; for the interdicted are 
 " looked upon as impious wretches, and 
 " avoided by all. No one will admit them 
 " into society, or speak to them, for fear 
 " of contamination, and are neither allowed 
 legal redress nor mark of respect. 
 
 (C 
 
 " One Druid, who has supreme authority, 
 
 " presides over all the rest; and on his 
 
 P death, if there be one of pre-eminent 
 
 " estimation, he succeeds. If several of 
 
 " equal pretensions, the successor is elected 
 
 " by the votes of the Druids, Sometimes 
 
 " this supreme dignity is contended for 
 
 " even by force. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 17 
 
 " At a certain season of the year they 
 
 " hold an assembly in a consecrated place, 
 
 " esteemed the central place of Gaul, and 
 
 " in the district of the Carnutes" (nearly 
 that of Orleans.) " Hither all who have 
 
 " any controversies repair from every 
 
 " other part, and submit to their judg- 
 
 " ments and decrees. The institution is 
 
 " thought to have originated in Britain, 
 
 " and to have been brought over into 
 
 " Gaul from thence, and, at this time, 
 
 " they who wish to perfect their knowledge 
 
 " of it, generally go to study it there. 
 
 " The Druids are not accustomed to 
 " engage in warfare, nor do they, together 
 " with others, pay tribute, but are ex- 
 " cused from military service, and, in 
 " every respect, are privileged. 
 
 " Such being their advantages, many 
 " become voluntarily attached to them, 
 " and are sent by their parents and rela- 
 " tions to them. The students there are 
 " said to commit to memory a great 
 " number of verses ; and some of them, 
 " therefore, continue their studies for 
 
 c 
 
wmmmzmm 
 
 18 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 " twenty years, for they do not think it 
 " allowable to commit their institutes to 
 " writing, though in all other affairs, whe- 
 " ther public or private, they make use of 
 Greek characters. This rule, I presume, 
 they have laid down for two reasons, 
 viz., because they wish to prevent a dis- 
 " closure of their instructions to the public, 
 " and because that they who learn, when 
 " they can have recourse to writings, neg- 
 " lect the exercise of the memory. 
 
 " Their leading principle is, that souls 
 
 " do not perish, but pass after death into 
 
 " other bodies : a principle which, in their 
 
 " opinion, is the greatest incentive to 
 
 " virtue, and contempt of death. They 
 
 69 also lecture on the stars, and their mo- 
 
 u tion ; the magnitude of the earth, and 
 
 " its divisions ; on natural history ; and on 
 
 " the power and government of the im- 
 
 " mortal gods : and instruct the youth in 
 
 a these subjects/' 
 
 " The whole nation of the Gauls is ex- 
 " tremely devoted to superstition, and 
 " hence they who labour under severe in- 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 19 
 
 a 
 
 firmities, or are engaged either in war, 
 " or other hazardous situations, offer * hu- 
 " man victims, or devote themselves to be 
 " sacrificed, and of these sacrifices the 
 " Druids are the officiating priests. They 
 " hold that the immortal gods are not to 
 " be appeased for the death of a man but 
 " by the death of another, and have re- 
 " gular public sacrifices of this sort. Some 
 " of them have immensely large images, 
 " the limbs of which are formed of osier- 
 " twigs. These they fill with men, and, 
 a setting them on fire, burn their victims 
 " to death. In these cases they consider 
 " criminals, &c, as the victims most pleas- 
 " ing to the gods, but if there be not a 
 
 * These sacrifices seem to have been so terrible to the 
 Romans, that one of the fi rst consequences of their victories, 
 was the endeavour to suppress the whole order of the 
 Druids, which, Pliny says, was effected throughout Gaul 
 by Tiberius. What makes this the more singular is, that 
 the Romans themselves did, at this very time, regularly 
 offer up human sacrifices to Jupiter Latiaris. Even Caesar 
 himself offered up such a sacrifice on the day of his 
 triumph. These horrid sacrifices were not, however, 
 wholly suppressed at that time, though mostly so, and in 
 later times, the absolute sacrifice being dispensed with, 
 the devoted, as victims, were brought to the altar, and a 
 small libation of their blood shed there. 
 
 c 2 
 
a 
 
 $0 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 <c sufficient number of them, they supply 
 * c it with innocent persons. 
 
 " Mercury * is the god whom they re- 
 spect the most, and of him they have 
 " many images. They esteem him to have 
 " been the inventor of all arts, the pro* 
 " tector of ways and roads, and most 
 " powerful to increase wealth and mer- 
 S{ chandise. The next in estimation are, 
 Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva; of 
 whom they have nearly the same ideas 
 
 a 
 
 * It is a most prejudicial and unpardonable affectation 
 or indolence in the Greek and Roman writers, that they 
 scarcely ever give the names of deities but in their own 
 language, and hence we know not* with any certainty, 
 what was the Gaelic, or the Welsh name, of any of these 
 gods, neither are we told what was the form of these 
 images* An old commentator on Persius says, that Mer» 
 cury was worshipped under the form of a cube, yet no such 
 stones* nor any other than unhewn stones, are found in 
 the remains of Druid temples. Much has been written 
 on the etymology of the Roman names of the deities, but 
 to very little purpose hitherto, since it requires something 
 more than a similarity of sound to establish the real deri- 
 vation of a word. Without entering, therefore, on so ab- 
 struse a subject, farther than to observe, that Beli, or Be- 
 liiiiis, is said, by Ausonius, to be the same as Apollo, it 
 shall suffice ta notice, that the respect paid to Mercury 
 intimates that the Gauls were a mercantile nation, careful 
 of their public ways, and skilled in various arts. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. gi 
 
 <—■——.— — — — ■ — — I I , I I I f 
 
 " that other nations have, viz., that Apollo 
 " averts diseases ; that Minerva first taught 
 " the working of wool and embroidery ; 
 * c that Jupiter rules supreme in heaven j 
 " and Mars protects in war. To Mars they, 
 " previous to battle, generally devote the 
 " spoils. The animals are sacrificed * the 
 " rest is brought together to one place, and 
 " many of such spoils may be seen, piled 
 " up in the consecrated places of many 
 " cities. It is very seldom that any part 
 u of the spoils are concealed, or taken 
 away from the place where they are de^ 
 posited, through inattention to their jre^ 
 ligion, and if it were, the heaviest pun.- 
 ishment and torture would be inflicted 
 on the perpetrator of the deed." 
 
 " All the Gauls say that they are de* 
 " scended from Dis &, and that this is the 
 M tradition of the Druids. For this reason 
 
 * Dis, or Pluto, is said to have reigned over the infernal 
 regions, which Homer places in the country of the ,Cim?° 
 merians. The meaning of the tradition then is, that the 
 Gauls, according to the Druidical tradition, came from 
 the country to the north of the Black sea, and were de«= 
 scendants of the ancient Cimmerians,. 
 
22 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 " they reckon time by * nights, and not 
 
 " by days, and observe the times of their 
 
 " birth, and the beginnings of years so, as 
 
 " that the day is reckoned from the eve/' -f- 
 
 " Their power was/' says t Dio Chry- 
 sostom, " superior to that of the kings, 
 " for the kings could not act without their 
 " advice and approbation/' But this is 
 no more than the power of the priests in 
 every other heathen state which looked to 
 omens or oracles for the signification of 
 the Divine will as to its undertakings, of 
 which signification the priests were the in- 
 terpreters. 
 
 To the account of the Druids given by 
 Caesar, the later Greek and Roman writers 
 have added little. Strabo and Amrnianus 
 Marcellinus observe, merelv, that there 
 
 * This is done both in Welsh and English at this day. 
 We, say Wythnos, Pythefnos, that is eight nights, and 
 fifteen nights in Welsh, and in English sevenight, fort- 
 night, and hence, probably, arose the custom of keeping 
 the eves of festivals. 
 
 f Caesar de Bello Gall., lib. 6. 
 
 % Orat. 49. . Quoted by Godwin, 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 23 
 
 were three orders of men in particularly 
 high estimation amongst all the Celtic 
 nations, vis., the Druids, of whom they 
 mention nothing that improves upon Cae- 
 sar's description ; the Bards, who were 
 poets, and composed and sang their devo- 
 tional poetry ; and the Vates, or Eubates, 
 in Welsh Ofyddion, who offered the sacri- 
 fices, and made natural history their study. 
 Lucan says, that the Druids resided in the 
 recesses of thick groves, and Pliny, that 
 the oak and missletoe were esteemed as 
 most sacred by them. 
 
 Scanty as these accounts are, it appears 
 from them, that the Druids constituted a 
 school of philosophy, and were the reli- 
 gious and moral instructors of the nation ; 
 that the Vates were the officiating priests, 
 to whom a knowledge of natural history 
 was so far requisite, as to be able to deter- 
 mine on the natural or unnatural appear- 
 ances of the viscera of the victims, and, 
 perhaps, other phenomena which came 
 under their observation. The Bards were 
 sufficiently distinguished by their peculiar 
 talents. 
 
'24 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Of the religious rites, none of these au- 
 thors have noticed any but two, as pecu- 
 liar to them. The one, that sacrificing a 
 man, they struck him on the back with a 
 sword, and drew their omen from the con- 
 vulsions of the victim : the other, that they 
 formed a large image of wicker, and, filling 
 it with human victims, burned them, which 
 is also noticed as above b} r Caesar, but, 
 with the limitation, that the forming of 
 such images was not a general custom, but 
 confined to some parts of Gaul, though 
 human sacrifices were general. 
 
 As Druidism was so soon repressed, 
 though not for some ages wholly extirpated, 
 in Gaul, and, no doubt, persecuted in like 
 manner, as far as the Roman power ex- 
 tended in Britain, the classic writers could 
 have little, if any thing more, to commu- 
 nicate. To their enemies, the Druids 
 would not, under such circumstances, be 
 forward to give information, and from 
 others it could not be obtained. Their 
 sacrifices were undoubtedly horrid in them- 
 selves, and to the Romans terrible, because 
 they were by fire. Otherwise the Romans 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 25 
 
 had little reason to reproach them ; for a 
 more savage and unprincipled nation than 
 that of the Romans, never polluted the 
 earth. What refinement or science they 
 had was borrowed from that truly refined 
 and civilized nation the Greeks, and they 
 used it, as savages almost always do, what 
 they learn of a civilized nation, as means 
 of gratifying vanity, and extending the mis- 
 chievous effects of artifice and circumven- 
 tion. The Druid sacrifice was, however, 
 common to many nations of antiquity, to 
 the Canaanites, Greeks, Scythians, &c. ; 
 and even at this day the burning of the 
 widow of a Brahmin, in the East-Indies, 
 is, in fact, a human sacrifice. 
 
 As the Druids of Gaul derived their in- 
 stitutes from Britain, that of sacrificing 
 their enemies appears, even from this cir- 
 cumstance, to have prevailed here, and is, I 
 think, alluded to in one of the songs of the 
 Gododin, as a custom of the Saxons, and 
 in another ancient Welsh poem, as that 
 of the Britons : — 
 
 Gwelais y ddull o bentir Adoen 
 
 Aberth am goelcerth y disgynnin. Gododin, p. 1% 
 
26 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 I beheld from the high land of the Done the spectacle 
 of the sacrifice to be consumed by fire. 
 
 Mab coelcerth fy ngwerth a wnaethant 
 O aur pur a dur ac ariant. Gorchan Cynfelin. 
 
 When I was devoted to the (sacrificial J fames, they 
 ransomed me with pure gold, silver, and steel. 
 
 The latter poem is attributed to Taliesin, 
 but is probably of a much greater anti- 
 quity, though he may have been the re- 
 corder of this, and several other poems, 
 certainly Druidical, which are attributed 
 to him. 
 
 As Druidism was the religion of this 
 island at so early a period, it might be 
 expected that, in such a situation, and 
 especially in the parts of the island most 
 remote from the continent, the religion 
 would be very nearly that of the first colo- 
 nies of the dispersion of mankind ; that 
 it would, in its forms and ceremonies of 
 worship, resemble those of the patriarchs, 
 as recorded in the Holy Scriptures, and 
 retain some tradition of the deluge ; and 
 such is the fact. The oak was their sacred 
 tree, and in the recesses of groves were 
 their schools and temples. Their temples 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 27 
 
 appear to have been spaces exposed to 
 the open air, marked out by unhewn stones 
 arranged in a circular form, and their mag- 
 nificence, designated by the size of the 
 rude masses which marked their extent, 
 and the space they limited, as at Stone- 
 henge, Abury, and Rollright or Rolldritch. 
 Near the middle of these temples a crom- 
 lech, or stone of immense size, is generally 
 found, which has been considered as the 
 altar, though its use is not ascertained. 
 It is also observable, that at Stonehenge, 
 the longest diameter of the temple lies 
 so correctly north and south, as to mani- 
 fest a very accurate degree of astronomical 
 observation in the laying of the plan. That 
 the cromlech had a reference to the Deity 
 is the more probable, as the sacred stone 
 in the temple of Mecca is, even in these 
 days, an object of reverential respect. 
 Apollonius Rhodius also says, " that * 
 
 legos, a 'Btots cracra? A/xa^ove? ev^stouvto 
 Martin, as quoted by Borlase, page 190, says, that the 
 inhabitants of Classernisse had a tradition, that the chief 
 Druid stood by the great stone in the temple there, to 
 harangue the people. This is most probably the truth, 
 
28 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 " there was a sacred black stone in a 
 " temple of Mars, to which all the Ama- 
 " zons, in times of old, had addressed 
 " their prayers/' This seems to have been 
 of the same kind. Even at present the 
 peasantry have an idea that the * rain- 
 water, which lodges in the cavities on the 
 surface of cromlechs, has a medicinal 
 virtue, particularly for the relief of sore 
 eyes, an idea which seems to be a vestige 
 of an ancient superstition. Had not the 
 persecution of Druidism by the Romans, 
 and the propagation of Christianity sub- 
 verted the Druidical power, possibly the 
 temples of the Druids might have emu- 
 lated those of Indostan in workmanship, 
 as they do in magnitude, since both seem 
 to have been structures intended for forms 
 of worship not very dissimilar in their 
 origin. 
 
 and, from this circumstance, the name of Llech-lafar, or 
 the speaking stone, at St. David's, most probably had its 
 name. 
 
 * In an old Welsh calendar it is said, that on the eve 
 of Trinity Sunday, it was the custom to wash or bathe to 
 prevent the tertian-ague. As Trinity Sunday falls near 
 the summer solstice, this may be looked upon as originally 
 a Druidic superstition of that season. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 29 
 
 The rites of the Druids appear, from 
 Mr. Davies's late publication on the sub- 
 ject, to have been founded on a corrupted, 
 or, more probably, an emblematical history 
 of the deluge, as the early superstitions of 
 most other nations were. As the original 
 colonies dispersed, they carried the tradi- 
 tion with them* and, until the art of 
 writing was known, probably recorded it 
 by means of emblematical designs, which 
 were to be interpreted by the learned. But 
 as, after the corifusion of languages, co- 
 lonies of different languages intermixed, 
 or the original interpretation was forgotten, 
 or new ideas were engrafted on it, the 
 history was supposed to be that of the then 
 settlement of a colony, and some of the 
 emblems were mistaken for representations 
 of good or evil powers, a regular mytho- 
 logy was substituted for the real history. In 
 this process, though the foundation was the 
 same, the superstructure would, in some 
 degree, necessarily be varied by local ideas, 
 acquired habits of thinking, and the cor- 
 rect or incorrect state of the oral tradition 
 as to various parts of it ; and hence it has 
 been, and may be, safely assumed, that 
 
30 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 the religious rites of Paganism are derived 
 from the same origin, and varied only by 
 circumstances of the various colonies. 
 Losing the knowledge of the true God, 
 the highest object worthy of adoration to 
 an ignorant mind would be the sun, con- 
 sidered either as the great origin of light, 
 or his representative ; with whom the moon 
 and stars would be thought to co-operate 
 in an inferior degree. Hence the chief 
 personage in Druidical mythology is dis- 
 tinguished by the name Hu, which is the 
 root of Huan, the name of the sun as dis- 
 penser of light, and, perhaps, may have 
 been so worshipped. But his general cha- 
 racter is more like that of the Hindu 
 Vishnu ; it is that of an incarnate deity. 
 After a deluge, from which two persons only 
 escaped, he, with his oxen, is said to have 
 drawn a monster out of the lake, which 
 burst and caused the deluge. Vishnou is 
 also said to havfc destroyed the monster 
 which troubled the ocean. Hu was the 
 instructor of mankind in various useful 
 arts: Vishnou also preserved the Vedas for 
 the instruction of mankind. Hu con- 
 ducted the Cymry to Britain from Thrace. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 31 
 
 To this Vishnou affords no parallel, for the 
 Hindus do not consider themselves as hav- 
 ing emigrated. Hu was the conqueror of 
 land and sea, and the life of all that are 
 in the world ; and these are likewise attri- 
 butes of Vishnou : and, finally, both are re- 
 presented as clothed with a human form, 
 and both of a beneficent disposition towards 
 man. The oxen of Hu were twins from a 
 sacred cow, and the history of this cow is 
 so far the same as that of the sacred cow 
 Caradoga of the Hindus, that she is said 
 to have supplied the vicinage at one time 
 with milk till all the vessels were filled. 
 The traditional Welsh legend calls her The 
 brindled Cow, and adds, that an old sor- 
 ceress coming for milk after the vicinage 
 had been supplied, could obtain none from 
 the cow, and in revenge set her mad ; in 
 consequence she ran wild over the moun- 
 tains, and became a calamity to the coun- 
 try, but at last was slain by Hu, or, as 
 the relater of this part of the story called 
 him, Guy, Earl of Warwick, near Hirae- 
 thog, in Denbighshire. The scene of the 
 transaction is laid in so many places in 
 Wales, that it should seem there was a 
 
■^H3 
 
 32 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES* 
 
 sacred cow wherever there was a Druidicat 
 temple ; and that the origin of the history 
 of the Dun Cow was from the same tra- 
 dition is evident. The epithet Dun, given 
 to this cow, seems more properly to be re- 
 ferred to the place than to her colour, and 
 to signify the same as it does in Dwwstable, 
 Dunchurch, &c, and that she was the Cow 
 of the Hill, and worshipped as symbolical 
 of the ark. In fact it appears from the 
 above-mentioned laborious work, that a 
 reference to the deluge was the principal 
 feature of the ceremonies of Druidism. 
 Hence in the poem of the Gododin, Noe 
 and Eseye, or, as it should be written, Noe 
 and Isha, that is Noah and * the woman. 
 
 * I must confess it appears very strange to me that so 
 very little, if any, notice, has been taken of the wife of 
 Noah, by the interpreters of ancient mythology, though 
 surely, as second mother of the whole human race, she 
 would not have been forgotten. Yet the opinion, that the 
 ark was personified as a female deity, has been so general, 
 that it may be thought presumptuous to differ from it. 
 The above introduction of the names prove, however, that 
 she was not neglected by the Welsh, and, I believe, that 
 she was the real Isis, (as the name itself, by its approxima- 
 tion to Isha, intim ttes,) and the Cybele of the Greeks, and 
 that, when the sun was made the representative of Noah, 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 33 
 
 viz., * his wife are noticed; and in another 
 poem entitled, The Praise of Lludd the 
 Great, the following lines are introduced 
 as the chaunt, probably, in a procession ; 
 which appear to be in the Hebrew lan- 
 guage :— 
 
 O Brithi Brith oi 
 Nu oes nu edi 
 Brithi brith anhai 
 Sych edi edi eu roi. 
 
 If these lines, with slight alterations, be 
 read as follow, they will give a sense 
 which, though not perhaps the correct 
 one, may lead to a more happy conjec- 
 ture: 
 
 Hoi Berithi Berith hai Tf fTD WHl *IPI 
 
 Nuach iesh Nuach edi ny TO t£P TO 
 
 Berithi Berith ein hai TT )y mi \TTnn 
 
 Such edi, edi ha roe. HiOn Hy Hy *]D 
 
 the moon was made so of his wife. This interpretation 
 is so simple and obvious as not, I hope, to require farther 
 apology. 
 
 * I beg leave here to observe that, in the mode adopted 
 of reading without points, the authors of all grammars, I 
 have seen, have fallen into a gross error in making vowels 
 of the n and jr, the former being a simple aspirate, and the 
 latter that known by the name of the Northumbrian burr, 
 as on a comparison with the Arabic alphabet will appear. 
 
34 Popular antiquities. 
 
 Ho ! my covenant is the covenant of life, 
 
 Noah, Noah is my witness, 
 
 My covenant is the covenant of the fountain 
 
 of life. 
 The shrine! is my witness; the prophet 
 
 (viz#, Noah) is my witness. 
 
 What is translated shrine properly signifies 
 a covered dwelling, and uxay have been 
 some kind of a representation of the ark 
 carried in the procession, and which is the 
 poem called Ked, i. c, the ark or chest. 
 
 As Hu resembled, in character, the 
 Vishnou, so did Ceridwen the Callee of 
 India* as the Goddess of Death, and, 
 upon the Druidical System of the Metemp- 
 sychosis, as the goddess of the renova- 
 tion of life. She was the goddess of the 
 sacred mysteries, and* in this respect, the 
 character attributed to her resembles that 
 of the goddess Ceres of the Greeks, The 
 caldron of Ceridwen is much celebrated 
 
 These errors are the more injurious, as they make all the 
 verbs, in which they occur, irregular with respect to them, 
 which, if they were used as aspirates, would be regular* 
 Thus if the verb *?03 be read pol, it will be irregular; if 
 pagnal, paghal, or pahal, it will be regular, and so of others. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 35 
 
 by the Welsh poets, as containing the 
 waters of science and inspiration. This 
 water the goddess and nine assistant 
 nymphs were supposed to have medi- 
 cated by an infusion of sacred herbs ; 
 a few drops of it were separated, which 
 conferred the benefit, and the remainder, 
 after the separation, became poisonous. 
 By the Christians, as the Druid rites 
 would be deemed impious, Ceridwen seems 
 to have been considered as a sorceress, 
 whose caldron was filled with all that 
 was loathsome, and teeming with spells of 
 the most noxious influence, and hence 
 the origin of the fabulous traditions of 
 witches and their caldron, which has 
 been so strongly impressed on the minds 
 of the public by the representations of 
 Middleton and Shakespeare. 
 
 These two, viz., Hu and Ceridwen, ap- 
 pear to have been the principal objects of 
 veneration, and, as to the rest, of whom 
 there were no small number, the reader is 
 referred to the work above mentioned. 
 
 The Druids are said to have made use 
 d 2 
 
36 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 of many herbs in their rites. Of these, the 
 chief were the missletoe, the samolus, 
 perhaps symye, or the cowslip, and ver- 
 vain. On the uses of these I beg leave to 
 offer some conjectures* which have not, 
 to my knowledge, been anticipated. As 
 the French, or rather Breton, name of the 
 missletoe is Gwi, it seems to have been 
 called Gwgdd, i. e., the Herb, by pre-emi- 
 nence, by the British Druids, though it 
 is now known in Wales by the name of 
 Uchel*wydd, (a compound of uchel, high, 
 and gwydd.) The species which grows on 
 the oak is much larger, and of a deeper 
 green* than the common missletoe, as 
 appears from a specimen in my posses- 
 sion : but, in general, the sprigs are so 
 well adapted to the formation of the Bardic 
 alphabet, first published by Mr. W. Owen, 
 that this may have been one cause of the 
 esteem in which it was held. There is, 
 however, another and more important. 
 The blossom falls off within a few days of 
 the summer solstice, and the berry within 
 a few days of the winter solstice, in the 
 common plant ; and, perhaps, those on 
 the oak missletoe may do so, more near to 
 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 37 
 
 those times. This, then, rather than any 
 medical virtues of the herb itself, which 
 are at least dubious, was, probably, the 
 true cause of its estimation. Rowland 
 says, " that the chief Druid, clad in white, 
 " ascended the oak, and, with a conse- 
 " crated knife, gathered the missletoe on 
 " the sixth of March/' more properly, it 
 was on the day of the vernal equinox ; 
 but whether at that time the missletoe 
 presents any distinctive appearance, I 
 know not ; perhaps it then shed the old 
 leaves, as evergreens generally do about 
 that time. 
 
 The other herbs seem to have been of 
 real medical use, in the gathering of which 
 certain rites were to be attended to, as the 
 precautions of our old herbalists and astro- 
 logical quacks were, in order to give im- 
 portance to their prescriptions. Of these, 
 the symyl, or cowslip, if, as from the si*- 
 milarity of names is probable, it be the sa^- 
 molus, is a gentle opiate, and might be 
 used as an anodyne. The vervain is a 
 much more powerful medicine. It is well 
 known, that worms produce sometimes 
 
38 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 the greater part of the symptoms, which 
 were formerly believed to be the effects 01 
 witchcraft, and vervain is a powerful ver- 
 mifuge. Parkinson gives two remarkable 
 cases, in which the tape-worm was expelled 
 by the use of it ; and, as the Druids, and 
 other pagan priests in general, were well 
 acquainted with medical botany, they 
 might be no way disinclined to represent 
 those herbs as sacred, which had powerful 
 effects in medicine, and more especially 
 one, which, by expelling worms, gave 
 them the credit of a dominion over evil 
 spirits* 
 
 The principal doctrines of the Druids, 
 and their mode of instruction, have already 
 been given from Caesar ; but, as he has not 
 recorded any thing of the peculiar forms 
 of the verses in which their doctrines were 
 taught, a few examples of them may be 
 acceptable. These verses were triplets in 
 rhime or prose. The most ancient of the 
 triplets in rhime, generally consist of three 
 distinct parts. The first words are merely 
 a kind of key to a certain number of trip- 
 lets, probably, a series committed to me~ 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 39 
 
 raory together, sometimes suggesting the 
 sequel, sometimes not. The second part 
 introduces some circumstance in natural 
 history, or in common life ; and the third 
 is a moral sentence in the proverbial style, 
 and deduced from the preceding circum- 
 stance. Thus natural history and mo- 
 rality were blended together, and the dis- 
 ciple taught to draw moral instruction 
 from a contemplation of ever-familiar ob- 
 jects. As for instance, 
 
 Eiry mynydd, gwancus iar 
 Gochwyban gwynt ar dalar 
 Yn yr ing gorau y w'r car. 
 
 Snow of the mountain. 
 The bird is ravenous for food. 
 The wind whistles on the headland,,, 
 In distress a relation (or friend is the j&ost 
 valuable,. 
 
 Calangauaf garw bin 
 
 Anbebig i gyntefin 
 
 Namyn Duw nid oes Dewin. 
 
 The first day of winter. — Severe is the wea- 
 ther (which may be expected,) 
 Unlike the first of summer, (but) 
 None but God can foresee what is to come. 
 
 « Thus," says Mr. Davies, # whatever 
 
40 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 
 page of nature was presented to their 
 view, their teachers (the Druids) had 
 " contrived to make it a page of wisdom/' 
 
 The same form of triple tin verse and in 
 prose was afterwards adopted by the Chris- 
 tians, and in moral precepts, and even in 
 decisions of the laws, and records of history, 
 the triplet is used to an extent that, to one 
 not conversant in them, would almost ex- 
 ceed belief. The moral triplets have fre- 
 quently an epigrammatic turn, which renders 
 them at once amusing and instructive, and 
 gives them a surer hold on the memory. 
 
 Of the three orders of Bardism, Druids, 
 Bards, and Ovates, the following is the ac- 
 count given in the Welsh Triads, taken 
 from Appendix 5, to the first volume of 
 Collectanea Cambrica. 
 
 " There are three branches of the pro- 
 " fession of Bardism. First, the chief 
 u Bard ; that is to say, a bard of full pri- 
 " vilege, who has acquired his degree, and 
 " privilege of a seat in the assembly of 
 " bards, by regular instruction under an 
 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 41 
 
 improved teacher. His office is to keep 
 up a memory of arts and sciences; this 
 being his duty as a bard regularly and 
 fully instituted ; and also to preserve 
 the memory of that which relates to the 
 country, family, marriages, pedigrees, 
 arms, districts, and rights, of the Welsh 
 territory or nation/' 
 
 From hence it appears, that the Bards 
 were not only poets, but historians, and 
 genealogists : that they not only celebrated 
 those who were distinguished by excellence 
 in any respect, but formed, in their official 
 station, a court of record, by which the 
 rights of territory and family were pre- 
 served, and as long as a family bard was, 
 by custom, attached to the suite of royalty 
 or nobility in Wales, he appears to have re- 
 tained the care of the family history. The 
 true nature of the Bardic system appears 
 hitherto, in one respect, to have been little 
 understood. As the term Bard, taken li- 
 terally, signifies POET, little more has been 
 attributed to the title than the character of 
 poet, and the title has been supposed to 
 imply, regularly, a genius for poetic com- 
 
42 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 position, by myself, no less than by others. 
 The supposition is, indeed, true in part, but 
 on a more particular consideration, I am 
 induced to believe, that its signification in 
 our old writers is more extensive. It is 
 well known that the instructions of the 
 Druids were given in verses, and, though 
 the composers of their instructions in verse 
 were properly Bards, or poets, it appears to 
 me, that the name of Bard was also given 
 to those who were able by means of such 
 verses to give instruction, and then to such 
 as were eminent for their learning, and 
 were the chief instructors of the ages 
 in which they Lived. Such I apprehend 
 was Taliesin, who, though eminent as a 
 poet, does not assume his dignity so much 
 as derivable from poetic talents, as from 
 scientific knowledge, and it was probably 
 to the latter he owed his pre-eminence. 
 The notices of the systems of the Bards 
 thus considered, at least, such as I have 
 met with, do not enable me to give an 
 accurate account of it; but they are such 
 as to make it probable that they had an 
 institution similar to our universities, and 
 that the Bards formed a collegiate body. 
 
u 
 
 ii 
 
 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 43 
 
 " Secondly, the Ofydd, whose degree 
 is acquired as the privilege of natural 
 poetic genius or praise-worthy know- 
 ledge, which he shall prove to be well 
 " founded, by being examined before a 
 " lawful session of Bards, which is judged 
 " expedient, lest the advantages arising 
 " from the powers of natural poetic ima- 
 " gination should be repressed/' 
 
 This description of the Ofydd contains 
 no intimation that the Ofydd was the offi- 
 ciating priest at sacrifices, and it should 
 therefore seem that the sacrifices of the 
 Druids were repressed, or at least not 
 thought proper to be mentioned when the 
 Triad was written. The two offices might 
 certainly have existed together, and the 
 support and instruction have been given 
 in consideration of the natural endowments 
 of the Ofydd. 
 
 " The third is the Druid-bard, who must 
 be a regularly instituted bard of session. 
 His duty is to give moral and religious 
 instruction in the session of bards, in 
 the palace, in the place of worship, and 
 
44 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 " in the family, in which he has full pri- 
 " vilege." 
 
 From hence it appears there was in ge- 
 neral a Druid attached to each family, a 
 circumstance so exactly conformable to 
 the system of the Brahmins of Hindostan, 
 as to mark still more clearly the similarity 
 between the religion of the Druids and 
 theirs, and perhaps the trial by ordeal may 
 afford another instance. 
 
 From the learned work already referred 
 to, it appears that the ceremonies of initia- 
 tion into the druidical mysteries, had a 
 great resemblance to those of the initiation 
 into the Eleusinian mysteries. The as- 
 pirant was to undergo a kind of imprison- 
 ment, and to pass through scenes con- 
 trived to impress terror and religious awe. 
 The intent of these trials was, I suppose, 
 to prove the fortitude of the man, and 
 therefore the safety of intrusting him with 
 their secret doctrines; or, if his courage 
 failed, to create a horror and a dread of 
 revealing more of what he had seen, than 
 they should think proper to suffer to be 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 45 
 
 known. "When he has passed these pro- 
 bationary trials successfully, the rites of 
 purification were performed, and he was 
 admitted to a participation of the mys- 
 teries. Mr. Davies thinks that the spaces 
 under some of the large cromlechs were 
 used as the places of imprisonment of the 
 aspirants, and this opinion seems to be 
 confirmed by the name of a cell near the 
 Ridgeway, and the White Horse, in Uffing- 
 ton parish. It is called Way land-smith, a 
 corruption, I presume, of a Welsh name 
 Gwely, or Wely-anesmwyth, that is, the 
 uneasy bed. I know of no more probable 
 origin of the name, and this explanation 
 bears with it a signification of no small 
 moment, as to the use to which it was 
 probably applied. In Cardiganshire there 
 is a kind of cist-vaen called Gwely Ta- 
 liesin, which no doubt was intended for a 
 similar purpose. 
 
 Among the remaining traces of the re- 
 ligious ceremonies of the Druids, one ap- 
 pears to exist in the dance which is so 
 well known, as stated in the Vicar of 
 Wakefield to be the limits of the accom- 
 
46 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 plisbments of the Misses Flamborough, 
 viz., the Roundabout, or more precisely the 
 Chesire-round. This is danced by two 
 only, one of each sex ; after leading off 
 into the middle of an imaginary circle, and 
 dancing a short time opposite to each 
 other, the one strives by celerity of steps 
 in the circumference of the circle to over- 
 take and chase the other round it; the 
 other in the mean time endeavouring to 
 maintain an opposite situation by equal 
 celerity in receding. This dance has so 
 strong a reference to the motions of the 
 sun and moon in their approaches and re- 
 cessions, in their apparent courses, as leave 
 no doubt on my mind that it was origi- 
 nally a sacred dance in honour of those 
 luminaries. Borlase says, " In Cornwall 
 " there is a great number of those (stone) 
 " circles, and the name they go by most 
 " commonly is that of Dawns-m6n, that 
 " is the stone-dance" (rather, I should 
 think, the dancing-stones, or stones where 
 the dance was held.) " Dawnse, in Cor- 
 " nish, signifies a dance, and, in the cir- 
 " cular figure, (of which we are now treat- 
 " ing,) there is a very ancient dauce, or 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 47 
 
 " play, still practised among the Cornish/ 
 In the note he adds, " Tis called Trema- 
 " theeves f but what this name signifies 
 he has not explained* From his account 
 of the dance it seems to be the same, or 
 nearly so, as the Cheshire-round, and, 
 perhaps, the lesser stone circles, were, in 
 general, intended merely to inclose, or 
 limit, the spaces for such dances, or other 
 amusements. 
 
48 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 OF THE GREAT DRUIDICAL TEMPLE 
 IN BRITANY. 
 
 There appeared a short account of this 
 temple some time ago in the Monthly 
 Magazine, which induced me to make 
 some inquiries relative to it ; and by Mon- 
 sieur de Cambon, a French gentleman, 
 whose residence was not far from it, I 
 have been favoured with the following 
 particulars. This immense work is situated 
 near * Carnac, and supposed by the inhabit- 
 ants of the neighbourhood, who have no 
 tradition, or idea of Druidism, to have 
 been a Roman work, originally intended 
 as a barrier against the influx of the sea. 
 But, though this may have been suggested 
 by a superficial notice of the most perfect 
 part as it now stands, it must appear from 
 the extensive remains, that this could 
 
 * Carnack is also the name of a village near the great 
 Egyptian Temple of Lahor, and both temples seemed to 
 have belonged to the same religious system. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 49 
 
 never have been the purpose for which it 
 was erected. The most perfect part con- 
 sists of pillars about fifteen feet high, set 
 in sixteen rows, so that the spaces between 
 the rows form alleys, of which that in the 
 middle is the broadest, being about forty 
 paces wide. These pillars are, in form, 
 somewhat like a ninepin, being larger in 
 the middle than at either end. These rows 
 of pillars appear tolerably perfect for nearly 
 a mile from Carnac, and at about this dis- 
 tance from Carnac there is a flat altar. 
 From the remains visible, the rows appear 
 to have extended from sea to sea, across 
 the tongue of land on which Quiberon 
 stands, about four miles to the north of 
 this town. Near the middle of this line 
 some pairs of stones are standing, so 
 placed as if intended to mark en- 
 trances or gateways ; and near the east 
 end of the line there is a large spheroid, 
 once about forty feet long, but now lying 
 in three pieces, and near it a flat stone, 
 about thirty feet long, twenty-four broad, 
 and two thick. I could not learn that 
 there were any traces of stones in a 
 circle. 
 
50 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 In digging near Carnac, there were 
 found twenty-four Celts, of highly polish- 
 ed jasper, arranged in a circle, in the 
 centre of which circle was another Celt, 
 of the same form and materials, but this 
 was larger than the rest, and was, more- 
 over, distinguished by being pierced 
 through the middle. The hole was in 
 diameter about half an inch. 
 
 Tumuli are frequent in Britany, and 
 near Carnac there is a mound wholly arti- 
 ficial, and so high, that it is made a station 
 to observe vessels at sea. 
 
 Whether the Celtic institution of France 
 has paid any attention to Britany or not, 
 I have not been able to discover ; but these 
 will suffice to shew, that it has a claim to 
 the researches of the antiquary. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 5l 
 
 OF DRUIDIC CIRCLES, 
 
 Though much has been written on this 
 subject, it can by no means be said to be 
 exhausted, as the uses for which they 
 were constructed, have rather been guess- 
 ed at than ascertained, though, as to some 
 of them, the general opinion is so far de- 
 termined, as that it is agreed, that these 
 structures were intended as temples- But, 
 if the usages of ancient nations be attend- 
 ed to, or even some of modern times, it 
 will not be thought extravagant to assume 
 that these circles were not merely temples, 
 or places dedicated solely to the purposes 
 of religious worship, as our churches are; 
 but also made use of for other purposes, 
 which, though not in themselves strictly 
 religious, were to be sanctioned by reli- 
 gious rites. 
 
 As religion is that which alone can se- 
 cure social compact and fidelity ; and as, 
 even in the forms of heathenism, it pre- 
 E 2 
 
52 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 sented to the eyes rites indicative of the 
 presence of a powerful, unseen being, wit- 
 nessing all attestations, and ready to re- 
 ward the observance, or punish any viola- 
 tion, of truth or justice ; in every regular 
 form of society, even the most simple 
 has, of necessity, connected religious cere- 
 monies with oolitical obligation. 
 
 As among other nations, so also amongst 
 the Britons, the great temples appear to 
 have been the appointed places for the 
 legislative assemblies ; and, accordingly, 
 one of the old Welsh poets, alluding to 
 Stonehenge, calls it Mawr cor Cyfoeth, or, 
 The great sanctuary of the Dominion, and 
 the very first view of the very ingenious 
 and elegant representation of Stonehenge, 
 by Sir R. C. Hoare, in his Antiquities of 
 Wiltshire, as he conjectures it originally 
 appeared, I could not but be forcibly 
 struck with the analogy which the disposi- 
 tion of the parts bears to that of the * sta- 
 
 * In Psalm Ixviii., ver. 28, there is in theword on»:n> rig- 
 mat ham, translated their counsel, a reference to the custom 
 of assembling a council (for so it should be translated) in 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 53 
 
 tions of the court of law in the time of 
 Howel Dda, as represented in his code; 
 and, from this analogy, I imagine that the 
 order in the great national council bore a 
 certain degree of resemblance to that of 
 the law-court. 
 
 When such assemblies were convened, 
 the first ceremony was that of sacrifice; 
 in which the animals were not usually slain 
 in the temple, but in the area before it ; a 
 portion of the blood was, in some cases, 
 carried in and offered to the Deity, and 
 
 a place marked, or laid out, with stones, as the word pro- 
 perly signifies a collection, or, heap of stones, and hence 
 the signification is transferred to those chiefs who assembled 
 at places so set apart for holding councils. This reference 
 is the more valuable, as it is, I believe, the earliest of the 
 kind. The next may be that of Homer. Iliad 18, ver. 504* 
 
 E»al' nri |ei7Tok7» 7u0o»? Ufa tn Kvxty 
 
 The old men were seated by the wrought stones in the sacred 
 circle. 
 
 In Stonehenge the place of dignity seems to have been 
 marked simply by the size of the pillar. In Homer's time 
 the pillar seems to have been wrought into somewhat of a 
 regular form. 
 
54 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 probably, poured out on or under the great 
 altar. Moreover the most delicate part of 
 the fat was also brought in and burnt as in- 
 cense on the altar, with no small propriety, 
 as in burning it seems to ascend towards 
 the seat of the Divinity. The rest of the 
 carcase was feasted upon by the sacrificers. 
 Such being the manner of sacrificing in 
 general, it is not extraordinary that no 
 traces of fire are found on any of the stones 
 at Stonehenge : the fat being, probably, 
 burned in some kind of censer. As the 
 custom of burying in sacred ground has no 
 foundation in Christianity, but rather the re- 
 verse, as our Saviour was buried in a garden, 
 this custom also must be referred to the 
 practice of antiquity in the times of hea- 
 thenism ; and though the tradition that 
 Stonehenge was raised to commemorate 
 the massacre of British chiefs is certainly 
 not true, yet that these chiefs were buried 
 either within or near the temple may be 
 so, as also, that barrows were raised over 
 their remains as monuments; and that have 
 been said, by an easy mistake, of the 
 stones of the temple, which was true only 
 of the barrows, or possibly of other stones 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 55 
 
 erected as memorials, but not now recog- 
 nised as such. Strahlenberg, in his ac- 
 count of Russia, mentions his having seen 
 circles of stones, which were said to mark 
 places of interment, and that the bodies 
 were buried under these stones, at a great 
 depth from the surface of the earth. I 
 think he says, from twelve to fourteen 
 feet, and it might be, therefore, still worth 
 while to examine whether any remains of 
 interment could be found similarly situated 
 at Stonehenge, though they could not be 
 those of the British chiefs, as the temple 
 is noticed by the Poet Aneurin, who es- 
 caped from the massacre. In some in- 
 stances, the circles may have been those 
 of burial only, and such, I suppose, the 
 curiously intersecting circles at Botallet in 
 St. Just's, Cornwall, and described by Bor- 
 lase, to have been. 
 
 Another use of circles of stones, where 
 they are small, was, probably, for the 
 celebration of festival games, such as dan- 
 cing, wrestling, &c, which were also, pro- 
 bably, festivals, religious ceremonies. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 OF STONE PILLARS, 
 
 Of these, the little I have to say is ra- 
 ther to guard against mistakes than to 
 give information. In many instances, they 
 are, doubtless, memorials of a rude age ; 
 and of acts no longer remembered. But, 
 as it is at this day a custom in the moun- 
 tainous parts of Wales, to set up a tall 
 stone on an eminence to direct the travel- 
 ler, where the country is wild, and the 
 road would otherwise in snowy weather 
 be difficult to find ; and as others of a. 
 lesser size, are sometimes set up for the 
 cattle to rub themselves, it may be a pru- 
 dent precaution to examine whether any 
 pillar-like stone may have been set up for 
 either of these purposes, before it be re- 
 ferred to any other. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 57 
 
 OF MERLIN, THE REPUTED 
 MAGICIAN 
 
 Two persons, of the name of Merlin, 
 have obtained conspicuous places in the 
 annals of the Welsh. The Caledonian 
 Merlin, the author of some Druidical 
 poems still in existence, and Merlin Ann- 
 brosius, the subject of the far-famed ma- 
 gician of romance, and, probably, the 
 author of some portion of those prophecies, 
 which stimulated the Welsh to a struggle 
 for their rights, until they were happily 
 amalgamated with those of England by 
 the union, The account of his birth, as 
 given by one of the writers of the history 
 published by Geoffrey of Monmouth, is, 
 probably, that of popular tradition, but 
 wrought up into a somewhat more impres- 
 sive form in the tales of the Troubadours. 
 To them it was a professional, or at least a 
 convenient idea, to attribute the birth of so 
 eminent a magician to a supernatural 
 
58 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 origin. It was justifying to the imagina- 
 tion of credulity every subsequent descrip- 
 tion of the wondrous efficacy of his art. 
 The progeny of a demon who had violated 
 the sanctuary of a religious order in the 
 person of a nun, the mother of Merlin, 
 must have been conceived, even as born of 
 such parents, to be the devoted instrument 
 of portentous effects, — for such was Merlin 
 said to be. The place of his birth is said, 
 in Welsh history, to have been Carmar- 
 then, so called from Caer and Myrdd, and 
 sygnifying, the city of ten thousand (sol- 
 diers), that is, of the legion. But^ Jiow- 
 ever just the derivation of the name of 
 Carmarthen seems to be, and, I thought 
 to be, when I published the translation of 
 the Brut; a circumstance, whielThad not 
 then occurred to my mind, induces me to 
 believe, that the name and its derivation, 
 have been substituted, by a mistake of 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth's Carleon. Nennius 
 says, that Merlin was born * " In campo 
 
 * Nennius, cap. 42. He says, it was " In regione quce 
 vocatur Glevising." It is in the hundred of Gwaunllwg, 
 of which Glevising is, perhaps, the error of the copyist. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES* 59 
 
 " Electi," that is, In the Jield of battle, or, 
 Camp of Electus. N ow the Welsh for campus 
 Electi, would be maes Elect ; and not far 
 from Carleon there is a village, called, in 
 Welsh* Maesaleg, and commonly, at pre- 
 sent, Bassaleg. On a comparison of these 
 names, the true reading of Nennius would 
 be, " In campo Alleeti," that is, In the 
 camp or field of battle of Allectus, the Ro- 
 man general ; and this being the birth- 
 place of Merlin, according to Nennius, 
 the city of the ten thousand must, neces- 
 sarily, have been Carleon, in this instance. 
 The mistake of Geoffrey may have been 
 caused by an explanation of the word 
 lleon, that is, legion, in his original. 
 It may now, on these circumstances, be 
 assumed, that the birth-place of this cele- 
 brated character was Bassaleg, in Mon- 
 mouthshire ; and not, as the general opi- 
 nion has prevailed, Carmarthen. 
 
 There is a kind of prejudice which 
 pleases itself with the idea, that the birth 
 and infancy of extraordinary characters 
 are distinguished by some unusual cir- 
 cumstances, indicative of their future no- 
 

 60 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 toriety : and the prejudice is not wholly 
 without foundation as to the latter, in 
 which the first developing of the character 
 often affords a clue to its subsequent pre- 
 eminence ; neither could the prejudice 
 have been so readily acquiesced in, had 
 not the fact sometimes seemed at least to 
 justify it sufficiently for the purposes of 
 the poet and the biographer. Hence the 
 biographers of Merlin, esteeming him to 
 be a magician, and, of course, potent in 
 diabolical arts, have, in general, recorded 
 him as the unhallowed issue of a demon 
 and a nun ; of an origin as monstrous, as 
 his power was conceived to be super- 
 natural and profane. This, however, ap- 
 pears to be the exaggeration of later writers 
 of the Romish church, in order to discredit 
 his prophecies ; for Nennius, who wrote in 
 the eighth century, says no more than that 
 " he * was an illegitimate child whose 
 " mother, fearing that, if she acknow- 
 " ledged an illicit connexion, the king 
 u would put her to death, made oath that 
 " he had no father/' He, prbbably, was 
 
 Chap. 42. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 6l 
 
 illegitimate, and the mother, so far the 
 more proper for the part she was called, 
 and no doubt well instructed, to perform. 
 
 The idle narrative hitherto given, of his 
 being brought into notice, has little that is 
 satisfactory in its usual form ; but the pro- 
 bable result of a consideration of all the 
 circumstances is as follows. 
 
 The situation of Vortigern's affairs was, 
 at this time, extremely, but deservedly, 
 disastrous. Duped by his Saxon allies, 
 and hated by the Britons for his attach- 
 ment to the Saxons, dreading the effects 
 which the just irritation of his own indig- 
 nant people, after the treacherous mas- 
 sacre of the British chiefs at Stonehenge, 
 might produce, he had fled to the recesses 
 of Snowdon for security ; and probably, 
 also, as neither the influence nor the credit 
 of the Druids was extinct, with a hope of 
 engaging them in his favour. There seems 
 also to have been another reason. Vorti- 
 gern cannot reasonably be accused of en- 
 tertaining any religious principle; and 
 they who have no religious principle are, 
 
62 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 when in difficulties, the most superstitious. 
 Endeavouring to console or encourage 
 themselves by a principle of fatalism, 
 their anxiety to know whether they have 
 any thing to hope, or to know the worst, 
 becomes a torment, and they apply with 
 eagerness to any one whose plausible con- 
 fidence and artifice has acquired an ima- 
 ginary credit for a power of exploring the 
 secrets of fate. With such an anxiety is 
 Vortigern said to have applied to the Bards 
 of Snowdon. But as the Bards were pro- 
 bably too wise to be gained over to his 
 cause, and no less his enemies, it required 
 no great artifice to render his design of 
 building a fort ineffectual in a district 
 where their influence was absolute, or to 
 play upon the agitated mind of the king ; 
 and if as it seems, they were apprised of, 
 and connected with, the intended landing 
 of Ambrosius and Uther, the sons of Con- 
 stantine, in order to dethrone Vortigern, 
 it was an object to detain him there, and, 
 at the same time, to prevent the building 
 of the fort. Their declaration that the fort* 
 
 * Dr. Jamieson, in his History of the Culdees, relates a 
 similar traditional anecdote ; from which it should seerri, 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 65 
 
 could not be built, unless the mortar 
 were cemented with the blood of a child 
 who had no father, seems to have been 
 given with this view, and I am inclined to 
 believe that the king perceived it, and, 
 knowing Merlin to be brought up at Car- 
 
 that the sacrifice of a human victim was thought by the 
 Druids a necessary propitiation, when the commencement 
 of an undertaking was not successful. The anecdote is 
 this :— " When Columba first attempted to build on Iona, 
 " the walls, as it is said, by the operation of some evil 
 " spirit, fell down as fast as they were erected, Columba 
 * c received supernatural intimation that they would never 
 «' stand unless a human victim was buried alive, Accord- 
 iS ing to one account, the lot fell on Oran, the com- 
 * e panion of the saint, as the victim that was demanded 
 * c for the success of the undertaking. Others pretend, 
 <c that Oran voluntarily devoted himself, and was interred 
 fi accordingly. At the end of three days, Columba had the 
 " curiosity to take a farewel look at his old friend, and 
 " caused the earth to be removed. Oran raised his swim- 
 '* ming eyes, and said, e There is no wonder in death, and 
 " f hell is not as it is reported.' The saint was so shocked 
 " at this impiety, that he instantly ordered the earth to be 
 <c flung in again, uttering the words of the proverb," viz., 
 " Earth, Earth, on the mouth of Oran, that he may blab 
 " no more." Page 20. 
 
 The traditions of Wales and Scotland, and particularly 
 those of the legendary kind, have, in many instances, so 
 near a connexion as to demonstrate the same origin, and to 
 throw light the one on the other. 
 
64 POPULAR ANTIQUITTES. 
 
 leon with care, though as the child of no 
 acknowledged father, and, suspecting him 
 to be the son of Ambrosius, whether legi- 
 timate or not ; sent for him thither in order 
 to be revenged on the Bards for the death 
 of the child, which the Bards, no doubt 
 discovering, prevented, by giving the child 
 instructions to perform his part, and, by 
 some ceremonial illusions, which enabled 
 them to secure the safety of the child, and 
 impress the mind of Vortigern with appre- 
 hensions for his own safety if he remained 
 there. To this purpose the giving to Merlin 
 the prophetic character which the Bards 
 themselves claimed was admirably adapted, 
 and when the immediate purpose had been 
 obtained ; it was a character which re- 
 mained with Merlin for the rest of his life. 
 The impressions which extraordinary cir- 
 cumstances make on a young mind are 
 durable, and something of the effect, com- 
 bined with sagacity and the learning of 
 the times, seems to have formed and 
 established his subsequent character, and 
 confirmed his reputation. This idea of his 
 being a son of Ambrosius is not merely 
 conjectural, though it was originally the 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 65 
 
 the result of the above consideration of 
 circumstances : it is in a great measure 
 confirmed by Nennius in chap. 44, who 
 says, that when Merlin had concluded his 
 explanation of the ominous representation, 
 Vortigern demanded his name, to which 
 Merlin replied, " My name is Ambrosius."* 
 Then said the king, " Of what family art 
 " thou ?" He replied, t " One of the Ro- 
 " man consuls is my father." 
 
 The detail given by the British chronicle 
 of Merlin's answers to Vortigern and the 
 Bards, is in some respects difficult to be 
 understood, as it relates to Druidic super- 
 stitions, of which no satisfactory account, 
 that I know of, has been transmitted. 
 The scene is laid at Dinas Em^s, where 
 
 * Nennius adds he>'e Embreis glentic (Emrys gwledig) 
 esse " videbatur." This may signify, He was thought to 
 be Ambrosius the Royal : or the name Ambrosius was 
 thought to signify Royal. The latter seems to be the 
 sense intended here. 
 
 f The Roman consuls here intended were not properly 
 such, but noblemen, or chieftains of Roman origin, viz., the 
 two brothers Ambrosius and Constautine, who claimed a 
 descent from Constantine the Great. 
 
66 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Vortigern intended to build his fort. 
 Dinas Emrys signifies the city of * Emrys, 
 and as Stonehenge is also called Gwaith 
 Emrys, that is, the work of emrys, or cor 
 emrys, that is, the circle, or, choir of emrys • 
 the intent of both were, probably, of the 
 same kind, that is, I believe, as places of 
 solemn assembly, convoked by the sove- 
 reign, whether of Bards or chieftains. 
 •j* Here Merlin is said to have upbraided 
 the Bards with their ignorance, and the 
 cruelty of their suggestions. As a proof 
 of the former, J " Tell me/' said he, (re- 
 ferring to the place where the fort was 
 constructed, and on which there were 
 
 > ■. . . ■ . I -I . ! ■ 
 
 * Or of Royalty.] See note * page 65. 
 
 f Collectanea Cambrica, Vol. I. p. 120. 
 
 $ Nennius gives the description of this exhibition with 
 some variations. He says the dragons, or, as he calls them, 
 worms, were found in a tent (probably a kind of shrine) 
 inclosed in two vessels. I suppose he means that one of 
 these vessels contained the other, and that the tent was in 
 the inner vessel. He also adds, that the red worm drove 
 the white out of the tent into the water, and that this tent 
 signified the kingdom of Vortigern, which at the time was 
 possessed both by Britons and Saxons, and " that the pond 
 denoted the world ; more probably the ocean." 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 6j 
 
 rushes) " what is below that heap of 
 " rushes?" When the Bards acknowledged 
 their ignorance, he desired that the rushes 
 might be cleared away, and there appear- 
 ed a large pool of water. " Now," said 
 the boy to them, " Tell me what is in that 
 " lake?" They answered, " We know 
 " not." " Then drain the lake," said he, 
 " and, at the bottom, you will find a stone 
 " chest, in which there are two sleeping 
 " dragons. These, whenever they awake, 
 " fight with each other, and it is their vio- 
 " lence that shakes the ground, and 
 " causes the work to fall." The Bards, 
 however, were unable to drain the lake, 
 and Merlin effected it, by letting it out in 
 five streams. Vortigern now commanded 
 the stone chest to be opened, and out of it 
 there came a white and a red dragon ; 
 which immediately began a fierce battle. 
 At first the white dragon drove the red one 
 to the middle of the pool, then the red one, 
 provoked to rage, drove the white one 
 thither in turn. Vortigern now asked what 
 this should signify, and Merlin exclaimed, 
 u Woe to the red dragon, for her calamity 
 " draws nigh, and the white dragon shall 
 
 p 2 
 
■I 
 
 68 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 " seize on her cells. By the white dragon 
 " the Saxons are signified, and the Britons 
 " by the red one, which the white shall 
 " shall overcome. Then shall the moun- 
 " tains be made plains, and the glens and 
 " rivers flow with blood. * The Saxons 
 " shall possess almost all the island from 
 " sea to sea, and afterwards our nation 
 " shall arise, and bravely drive the Saxons 
 beyond the sea/' 
 
 u 
 
 Such was the appearance exhibited, and 
 the prophetic exposition : which, though 
 naturally suggested by the hopes and fears 
 prevalent at the time, made a deep and 
 lasting impression on the minds of the na- 
 tion to whom it was addressed. 
 
 When the conference was over, Vorti- 
 gern, according to Nennius, made a grant 
 to Merlin of a fort, and the western pro- 
 vinces, which, probaby, means no more 
 than that he left the Bards in possession 
 of Carnarvonshire, as he himself hastily 
 withdrew to South Wales, where, in his 
 
 * Nennius, chap. 43. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 6Q 
 
 fort, which was in Monmouthshire, he was 
 burned to death, in the burning of the fort 
 by Ambrosius. 
 
 About this time, or at the conference, 
 Merlin is said to have delivered what bears 
 the name of his Great Prophecy, from its 
 reputed importance. That, however, which 
 has been published as such, is of no suffi- 
 cient authority. Some passages of it are 
 quoted by Giraldus Cambrensis, as tradi- 
 tional, others have, probably, been inter- 
 polated to make it conformable to real his- 
 tory. It is, however, so far useful as being, 
 in some degree, a confirmation of the his- 
 tory. 
 
 On the death of Vortigern, Merlin ap- 
 pears to have returned to the neighbour- 
 hood of his native place, and to have 
 chosen the delightful retirement of the vale 
 of Euas, at a later period, adorned by 
 Lanthoni Abbey, for his studies. From 
 hence he is said to have been sent for 
 by Ambrosius the Great, in order to give 
 the plan of a monument to be erected in 
 memory of the British chiefs massacred by 
 
70 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 the treachery of the Saxons on Salisbury 
 plain. Men of profound studies, and in- 
 genious powers and research, have, in all 
 dark ages, been thought to hold a com- 
 munication with beings of another world. 
 To an ignorant mind the most satisfactory, 
 as well as the readiest mode of accounting 
 to itself and others, for a seclusion for 
 which it is itself unfit; and for scientific 
 discoveries, of which it can neither trace nor 
 divine the origin, is to attribute them to the 
 converse and communication of some beings 
 of the invisible world ; and any exhibitions 
 of a surprising kind, though merely effects 
 of natural knowledge and ingenuity, would 
 be, of course, attributed to the power of 
 such beings, and, if exhibited at pleasure 
 by the artist, he would be conceived to 
 have a power over them, by the means of 
 either some superior being, or a compact 
 of a tremendous nature. The latter idea 
 is, perhaps, peculiar to the Christians, who 
 applied a metaphorical expression of Scrip- 
 ture literally. If Merlin, therefore, was, 
 as he appears to have been, a man of un- 
 common endowments, well versed in Bardic 
 science, and perhaps, attached to their 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 71 
 
 religion, the tale of tradition would have 
 sufficient grounds for attributing magical 
 powers to him : and, as Stonehenge was 
 originally constructed upon scientific prin- 
 ciples, and, no doubt, with awful cere- 
 monies, and was also distinguished by the 
 epithet of Emrys, it is not surprising that 
 the tradition should ascribe the construc- 
 tion to Merlin. Hence, in order to raise a 
 monument worthy of the occasion, Merlin 
 is said to have advised the king to send, not 
 as it has been usually been said, to Kil- 
 dare, but to Killara, which is in the county 
 of Meath, in Ireland, for a circle of stones, 
 and transport them to Salisbury Plain. 
 The tradition proceeds to state, that the 
 plan being, on its first proposal, ridiculed 
 by the king, Merlin persisted in his plan. 
 " Laugh not, sire," said he, " for my 
 " words are in seriousness and in truth. 
 " Those stones are of various efficacy and 
 " medicinal powers, and were brought 
 " thither formerly by the heroes from 
 " Spain, who placed them as they are at 
 " at present. Their motive for bringing 
 " them was this : — In cases of sickness they 
 medicated the stone, and poured water 
 
 a 
 
I 1 ': : 
 
 72 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 " on it, and this water cured any dis~ 
 " order/' The king, informed of the ef- 
 cacy of the stone, immediately determined 
 upon the expedition, and sent out Uther 
 Pendragon, accompanied by Merlin, and 
 at the head of fifteen thousand men, to 
 fetch them. After having gained a battle 
 over the Irish forces, Uther and his men 
 proceeded to Killara, and here the powers 
 of Merlin were signally displayed. The 
 army having in vain attempted to move 
 the stones, Merlin, by his art alone, drew 
 them freely and without labour to the 
 ships, and thus they were brought, says 
 the history, to ihubri, that is, Stone- 
 henge. 
 
 Here are almost to a certainty, two dis- 
 tinct traditions confounded together, and 
 an error as to the real object of the expe- 
 dition. That the raising some monument, 
 or perhaps the solemn interment of the 
 remains of the chiefs, was one motive for 
 the assemby on Salisbury Plain is pro- 
 bable, but, as I have already said in the 
 Collectanea Cambrica, I am persuaded the 
 principal motive was to settle the succession 
 
TOPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 73 
 
 to the sovereignty, and other public af- 
 fairs ; and the great object of the expedi- 
 tion seems to have been the fatal stone on 
 which the Irish kings were crowned : which 
 Merlin, wishing to restore the power of 
 Druidism, may have suggested ; and he, 
 therefore, would probably take a leading 
 part in ttie enterprise, and make the re- 
 moval to seem miraculously the effect of bis 
 art. As it was, I presume, brought to 
 Stonehenge, this was sufficient, when the 
 real fact was forgotten, to build the tradi- 
 tion of his having brought the immense 
 stones which form the temple there. 
 Though the history first mentions the circle 
 of stones, yet it is remarkable, that in 
 describing the medicinal virtues, these, in 
 the oldest copy, are attributed to a single 
 stone, which seems to confirm the con- 
 jecture. 
 
 The next occasion on which Merlin is 
 noticed, is upon the appearance of a 
 comet, about the time of the death of 
 Ambrosius, when he was required to ex- 
 plain the intent of what was in those ages, 
 supposed to be so portentous an event. 
 
■■I 
 
 74 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 This he did with equal policy and inge- 
 nuity, having had, as is most likely, pri- 
 vate notice of the death of Abrosius, so as 
 to ensure the succession to the sovereignty 
 to Uther. He burst out into an excla- 
 mation, that Ambrosius was dead, and, 
 having bewailed the loss that Britain must 
 sustain by his death, declared that the 
 comet was significant of the fate of Uther 
 and his son. The head of the comet, by 
 the imagination of the multitude, was con- 
 ceived to resemble a dragon, and this 
 work of fancy was profitably converted to 
 an important advantage. " Thou, Uther/' 
 said Merlin, " art signified by this star 
 " with the head of a dragon. By the 
 " beam pointing towards France is de- 
 " noted a son of thine, who shall be great 
 " in wealth, and extensive in sway, and 
 " by that directed towards Ireland a 
 " daughter, whose descendants shall sue- 
 " successively govern the whole/' The 
 result was, as might be expected, Uther 
 was elected sovereign, and is said, from 
 this circumstance, to have borne a dragon 
 as his standard, and to have had the surname 
 ofPendragon, that is, The Dragon's head. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 75 
 
 Another exploit attributed to Merlin is 
 far from doing honour to his memory, it 
 being the transformation of Uther and his 
 servant Ulphen, into the resemblances of 
 Gorlais, Earl of Cornwall, and his servant, 
 in order to enable Uther to deceive the 
 wife of the earl. This part of the story, 
 however, bears so strong a resemblance to 
 that of David and Uriah, and is so ap- 
 parently intended to stigmatize the birth 
 of Arthur, who was the son of Uther, that 
 it can be esteemed only the idle fiction of 
 a monk, or of a romance writer. 
 
 Whether Merlin survived Arthur or not 
 has not been recorded in history, but it is 
 most probable that he did, and through 
 some apprehension of the Saxons endea- 
 voured to escape them by sea. On this 
 occasion he is said to have sailed in a ship 
 of glass, and to have taken with him the 
 thirteen precious curiosities of Britain. Ac- 
 cording to the account of this voyage given 
 by Mr. Lewis Morris, he conveyed them 
 to Bardsey Island, and died and was bu- 
 ried there, which is very probable ; though 
 
76 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 one of the Triads says, that after he had 
 sailed he was never heard of more, M^hich, 
 if the writer of the Triad Jived in South 
 Wales, might well be true there, consider- 
 ing the remote and unfrequented situation 
 of Bardsey. The thirteen curiosities, with 
 the explanation of the names or properties 
 as given by Mr. Morris, are as follow. 
 
 1. Lien Arthur, (the veil of Arthur,) 
 which made the person who put it on in- 
 visible. 
 
 2. Dyrnwyn. 
 
 3. Corn Brangaled, (the horn of Bran- 
 galedj which furnished any liquor de- 
 sired. 
 
 4. Cadair, neu carr Morgan mwynfawr, 
 (the chair, or car of Morga?i mwynfawr,) 
 which would carry a person seated in it 
 wherever he wished to go. 
 
 5. Mwys Gwyddno, (the hamper of 
 Gwyddno,) meat for one being put into 
 it, would become meat for a hundred. 
 
 6. Hogalen Tudno, (the whetstone of 
 Tudno,) which would sharpen none but 
 the weapon of a brave man. 
 
 7. Pais Padarn, (the cloak of P adorn.) 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 77 
 
 8. Pair Dyrnog, (the caldron of Dyrnog,) 
 none but the meat of a brave man would 
 boil in it. 
 
 9. Dysgyl a gren Rhydderch, (the dish 
 and platter of Rhydderch,) any meat de- 
 sired would appear on it. 
 
 10. Tawlbwrdd, (a chess board, or, ra- 
 ther backgammon board,) the ground gold, 
 and the men silver, and the men would 
 play themselves. 
 
 11. Mantel], (a robe J 
 
 12. Madrwy Eluned, (the ring of 
 Eluned,) whoever put it on could make 
 himself invisible at pleasure. 
 
 13. Cyllel Llawfrodedd, (the knife or 
 dagger of Llawfrodedd.) 
 
 Of the second of these Mr. Morris, I 
 
 suppose, found no explanation, nor can 
 
 I offer any thing that is satisfactory, the 
 
 eleventh seems to have signified a magic 
 
 robe ; the last means, perhaps, the dagger 
 
 of Druidic vengeance, as llawfrodedd may 
 
 be interpreted, the hand of havoc. 
 
 The magical powers assigned to some 
 of these curiosities are so sin.ilar to what 
 is found in the Arabian tales, as to point 
 
7B POPULAR ANTTQUITIttS. 
 
 out a common origin of great antiquity. 
 The ship of glass is, by the author of the 
 mythology of the Druids, ingeniously ex- 
 plained as signifying a sacred vessel, em- 
 blematic of the ark and the name of 
 Bangor Wydrin, or Glass Bangor, an an- 
 cient name of Glastonbury, confirms the 
 idea of Wydr, literally glass, signifying 
 sacred. I believe gwydr, in these instances, 
 has no connexion with, or relation to, the 
 same sound when signifying glass, but 
 that its true signification is sacred, though 
 not now so used. . / 
 
 Here the tradition of Merlin ends. Of 
 his art some traditionary information seems 
 long to have remained, and the characters 
 of poet, prophet, and magician, have been 
 assigned to Robin Du of the 14th cen- 
 tury. The most noted was, however, the 
 celebrated Dr. John Dee, whose real cha- 
 racter has not, I think, been well under- 
 stood. His learning is acknowledged, and 
 a volume of his works published without 
 the least apprehension of what they most 
 probably contain : viz., the negotiations 
 of his time, in which he was employed in 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 79 
 
 «— — — M— MB— — — — — — ■ 
 
 foreign courts. TAe stone, or magic mirror, 
 seems in this book, though to the ignorant 
 he shewed a piece of cannal coal, or a 
 polished glass as such occasionally, really 
 meant the cypher, which he used ; the spirits, 
 the letters, or communications ; and the 
 fumigations, the offers of advantage. It is, 
 I think, most probable, that the utility of 
 such men under a fictitious character, so 
 well adapted to the gaining of intelligence 
 and conveying it safely, that astrologers 
 and dealers in the Black Art, as it was 
 called, found such protection : and it may 
 have been in revenge for the defeat of 
 some political project that Dee's library 
 was destroyed* Kelly seems to have be- 
 trayed him ; he at least deserted him. The 
 cyphers used by Dee are still, I believe, in 
 the British Museum. 
 
 But to return to Merlin. His fame has 
 pervaded the gloom of barbarous ages* 
 and his mighty magic adorned the tales of 
 romance, and given splendour to theatric 
 exhibitions, and when every abatement 
 is made for the extravagance of popular 
 
80 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 opinion, enough will remain to make it- 
 credible that one, whose name has been 
 so transmitted, must have been a man of 
 no common endowments. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 OF KING ARTHUR. 
 
 If history has been despoiled of the 
 greater portion of that applause which it 
 seems once to have consecrated to the 
 memory of this prince, tradition has been 
 fondly credulous in transmitting his name 
 to posterity adorned by every effort of 
 the imagination, as that of the first of 
 knights, the flower of courtesy, the mirror 
 of sovereigns, and the idol of his people. 
 And when every allowance is made for the 
 decoration of the tale by the minstrel, or 
 the exaggerations of popular narrative, still 
 he must have been a prince of no common 
 talent and attractions, whose fame has 
 been so cherished by the nation he govern- 
 ed. A French poet has described Henry 
 the Fourth of France but too generally, 
 except as to France, as being, " Seul roi 
 dont le peuple n'ai pas oublie le nom/ J 
 The only king whose name is not forgotten 
 by the populace. The same maybe said, 
 with nearly the same truth, as to the popu- 
 
 G 
 
82 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 larity of the name of Arthur amongst the 
 Welsh. It has in a great measure eclipsed 
 every other. Neither were the characters 
 of Arthur and Henry dissimilar. It was 
 not valour, or wisdom, or liberality, or 
 success, merely, that won the affections of 
 the people ; these may all unite in one 
 character, the advantages be felt and ac- 
 knowledged, and yet make no lasting im- 
 pression; it was that spontaneous grace 
 which a liveliness of wit and spirit, and 
 real benevolence, threw over every action, 
 which cheered in the midst of danger, and 
 enlivened in the hour of mirth ; could oc- 
 casionally condescend without losing its 
 dignity, and in its own happiness made 
 that of the people a primary ingredient. 
 Such was the Artus forth et faceJus, the 
 witty and spirited Arthur of tradition. 
 
 The notices, which are afforded by the 
 Welsh Chronicle, usually called the Brut, 
 are in some parts, obscured apparently by 
 the wish of the writer, or some of the tran- 
 scribers, to suppress all reference to 
 Druidism, and rendered less credible by 
 an addition, or interpolation of circum- 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 83 
 
 stances borrowed by a later writer, pro- 
 bably from the compositions of the min- 
 strels of the ninth or tenth century. Still, 
 however, comparing the written with the 
 oral traditions, a considerable portion of 
 the obscurity will be removed, and the 
 principal events of his life given, without 
 making any violent demand on the faith 
 of the reader, so as to be probably the 
 truth, or very nearly so. 
 
 At the time of the birth of Arthur the 
 state of Britain was, in several respects, a 
 very unhappy one. The power of the 
 Saxons continually increased from their 
 first arrival by the successive influx of new 
 hordes of adventurers into the realm, had 
 established itself strongly on the south- 
 eastern counties, and the progress of the 
 contest extended towards the Severn and 
 the Humber, near which last the most im- 
 portant battle of this period was fought. 
 But though the early historians seem to 
 have thought it due to their attachment to 
 Christianity to pass ovef any great conflict 
 between its professors and those who ad- 
 g 2 
 
84 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 hered to Druidism, yet it is certain such 
 did exist, and the dissensions of the Britons 
 as to religion must have greatly favoured 
 the enterprises of the Saxons, whose suc- 
 cess is not upon any other supposition 
 easily accounted for in its full extent. 
 From the preceding transactions at Stone- 
 henge, it should seem that Druidism had 
 gained some advantage there, and that 
 somewhat of a renewal of its rites had 
 taken place under the superintendence of 
 Merlin, who had, perhaps, brought back 
 with him from Ireland some of its exiled 
 priests, and with them the formularies of 
 their worship. If this was the case, it was 
 probably the last time of its celebration 
 when Ambrosius was made sovereign, as 
 there is no reference to any such in the 
 succeeding reign, though Merlin in the 
 beginning of it is said to have interpreted 
 the prognostication of the comet. It is 
 rather probable that Druidism was again 
 on the decline. Thus much it appeared 
 necessary to premise ; and we may now 
 enter on the history of our hero with a 
 clearer view of the subject. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES* 85 
 
 According to Nennius, this prince was 
 the son of Uther Pendragon, which this 
 historian states simply without any im- 
 putation of illegitimacy ; and though it 
 must be confessed, that what Nennius 
 wrote has been dreadfully curtailed and 
 corrupted, yet had he dropped a hint that 
 could have tended to the prejudice of Ar- 
 thur's fame, there can be little doubt but 
 that it would have been carefully preserved. 
 It is therefore the more probable, that 
 the anecdote of an adulterous intrigue of 
 Uther with the wife of Gorlais, Earl of 
 Cornwall, the consequence whereof was 
 the birth of Arthur, is the fabrication of a 
 later writer than the author of the history. 
 Even had it not been so, it was by 
 the Welsh laws in the power of the fa- 
 ther, by a public acknowledgment in pre- 
 sence of the heads of his family, to confer 
 legitimacy on an otherwise illegitimate 
 child. 
 
 According to the Morte Arthur, when 
 this prince w r as born, Merlin desired that 
 the child should be -delivered to him im- 
 baptixed, but that he had him baptized 
 
86 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 before he delivered him to Sir Hector for 
 his education. This intimates that he was 
 educated in the principles of Druidism, and 
 (perhaps on the death of Merlin) became 
 a Christian. The Sir Hector of the ro- 
 mance, or Sir Autour, as he is called in 
 the Life of Merlin, is, in the Welsh tale, 
 called Cynhyrgain the bearded, the foster- 
 father of Arthur, by whom he was instruct- 
 ed and brought forward to act upon the 
 great scene which was to prove so re- 
 nowned. 
 
 The death of Uther, when Arthur was 
 about fifteen, or as Higden more probably 
 states it, about eighteen years of age, em- 
 barrassed the British nobility much as to 
 their choice of a successor; because of the 
 youth of Arthur. In such cases it had 
 been usual to elect the next of kin able to 
 undertake the government ; but at this 
 time the promising hopes of the talents 
 and spirit of the young prince, and pos- 
 sibly the concurrence of different parties 
 as to one whose youth might open to each 
 a prospect of attaching him to itself, de- 
 cided in his favour. To give the decision 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 87 
 
 a supernatural sanction in the eyes of the 
 multitude. The artifice was simple, and 
 the result easily effected by predetermina- 
 tion or compact. At Wintchester, or more 
 probably Silchester, there was said to be a 
 stone, * in a cleft whereof was lodged a 
 sword ; and on the stone an inscription, 
 the purport of which was, that he who 
 could draw that sword out of the cleft was 
 the right heir to the sovereignty of Britain. 
 This, according to the tradition, none of the 
 chieftains who were assembled could effect. 
 At this time it chanced that the son of 
 Arthur's foster-father in a contest broke his 
 sword, and Arthur, recollecting the sword 
 in the stone, ran for it, and drew it out with 
 ease. The foster-brother knowing the im- 
 portance of the sword, preferred his own 
 claim upon the evidence of the sword, but, 
 it being judged proper that the sword 
 should be replaced in the cleft, and the 
 experiment repeated, it was found that 
 Arthur only could draw it out again, and 
 
 * In the myddes thereof was lyk an anvyld of steel a 
 ffote of hyght, and therein stake a fayre sword. Morte 
 Arthur, 
 
88 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 thus his title was established. That this 
 manoeuvre was Druidical the circum- 
 stances are sufficiently convincing, and 
 though London and Winchester are, by 
 different writers, mentioned as the scene 
 of the transaction, it is more probable that 
 it was either at Silchester or Stonehenge, 
 as the one was a station of the army, the 
 other of the national assembly, which is 
 most likely to have been the place for that 
 reason. The ceremony of the coronation 
 is said to have been performed by Dubri- 
 cius, archbishop of Carleon ; and it may 
 be inferred from its being so said, that the 
 religious differences were, for a time, com- 
 posed, in order to unite for the expulsion 
 of the common enemy. The effect of such 
 an union was soon felt by the Saxons ; 
 whom, according to Nennius, Arthur, at 
 the head of his countrymen, defeated in 
 twelve pitched battles, in each of which 
 he displayed a prowess and sagacity far 
 beyond his years. The last, and most cele- 
 brated, was the battle of Baddon-hill, near 
 Bath, in which he is said to have killed 
 upwards of six hundred with his own hand. 
 In this battle Arthur is said to have worn 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 89 
 
 a device called Prydwen, either on his 
 helm, or his shield, and the sword Caliburn, 
 which was made at Glastonbury. The de- 
 vice is said, in one copy of the Chronicle, 
 to have been a crom; in another and later 
 copy, an image of the Virgin. These are 
 the interpretations of the writers, but, I am 
 afraid, the name of the device proves that, 
 at this time, Arthur was attached to 
 Druidism, for it has, I think, been suf- 
 ficiently proved, that it signifies the 
 * sacred ship, or symbol of the ark of 
 Noah, exhibited in the Druidic cere- 
 monies : and William of Malmesbury has 
 very unconsciously proved, that there was 
 an establishment of a Druidical society at 
 Glastonbury in this very period, having 
 conceived it to be that of a Christian mo- 
 nastery. As the explanation is necessary to 
 the history of the far-famed Caliburn, it 
 may not be deemed superfluous to intro- 
 duce it here. According to this author -f*, 
 " twelve of the descendants of Cunedda, 
 " coming from the north, took possession 
 
 * Mythol. of the Druids. Page 517. 
 
 t De Ant. Glast. Apud Gale. Page 295, 
 
90 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 66 of Venedotia, Demetia, Buthir, (Guhir, 
 " or Gower,) and Kedweli, in right of 
 " their great grandfather/' (others say 
 their father,) " Cunedda. One of them 
 " was called Glasteing, and this/' says 
 Malmesbury, " was that Glasteing, who, 
 " pursuing his sow through the midland 
 " territory of the Angles by the town of 
 " Escebtiorne, (<^w. Shepton Mallet,) to 
 fi Wells, and from Wells, along a wet by- 
 '' road, which we call Sugewege, (Sow- 
 " way,) found her suckling her young 
 " under an apple-tree near the church we 
 " are speaking of : (viz., Glastonbury) and 
 " hence we even yet call the apples of that 
 " tree, old-church apples. The sow also 
 was called, the old-church sow, because, 
 though that other swine had but four 
 legs, she had eight. Here Glasteing 
 u finding the situation advantageous in 
 " many respects, fixed the habitation of 
 " himself and family, and here he died." 
 
 A story of the same kind is told in the 
 Welsh Triads, and Cambrian Biography of 
 Coll ap Coll Frewi, following the sow of 
 Dallwaran Dalben, from Gwent in South 
 
 (C 
 
 i« 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 91 
 
 Wales to Lleyn in Carnarvonshire. The 
 author of the Mythology of the Druids *, 
 considers the sow as symbolical of the ark, 
 and it is remarkable that Malmesbury cha- 
 racterizes the sow of Glasteing as having 
 had eight feet. As in the Welsh language 
 hwch signifies a sow, and cwch a boat, I 
 strongly suspect, that the former name was 
 adopted to disguise the mystery : as ap- 
 proximating sufficiently in sound to inti- 
 mate the sense to the initiated. The sow 
 then with eight feet represented the boat, 
 that is, the ark, with its eight supporters, 
 or eight priests, as representatives of the 
 eight persons saved in the ark ; and these 
 were what Glasteing found reposing under 
 the apple-tree, a representative also, I pre- 
 sume, of the tree of life. When the boat 
 was called a sow, for the same reason would 
 its priests be called its pigs, whether for 
 concealment by the friends, or in derision 
 by the enemies, of the superstition. 
 
 Hence then it appears, that in the fifth 
 or even sixth century (for Cunedda died 
 
 * Page 481. 
 
92 Popular antiquities, 
 
 at the close of the fourth) there was an 
 establishment of Druids at Glastonbury, 
 and, as the mighty sword Caliburn was 
 wrought there, the reason of its having 
 been so, was evidently to give it the credit 
 of magic power, which no enemy could 
 withstand, a credit which, in the hand of 
 an Arthur, it was likely to sustain; and 
 which the minstrel did not suffer to fall into 
 oblivion. 
 
 The victory at Baddon-hill was of great 
 importance to the British cause, and it is 
 not improbable that many of the fugitives 
 were pursued and driven to embark, having 
 lost their leaders, or it being rumoured 
 that they were slain, as the Welsh Chro- 
 nicle states. The expressions of this Chro- 
 nicle are too general to be taken strictly, 
 and the fact seems to be as Higden has 
 stated it : that a peace was concluded be- 
 tween Arthur and Cerdic, upon the con- 
 ditions that Arthur, ceding Wessex to 
 Cerdic, should retain the title and privi- 
 lege of sovereign paramount. 
 
 The interval between the conclusion of 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 93 
 
 this peace, and Arthur's war with the 
 Picts and Scots, as well as the motives to 
 this war, are omitted by the Chronicle. 
 Tradition has, however, preserved some 
 circumstances from which, though involved 
 in the fabulous guise of popular stories ; 
 some probable account may be elicited. 
 
 From what has been said it may be as- 
 sumed, that Arthur was hitherto a votary 
 of Druidism ; but Christianity was, at the 
 same time, making a rapid progress, and 
 Druidism seeking shelter in the mountains 
 of Snowdon, the recesses of Anglesey and 
 Somersetshire. Arthur, now at peace with 
 his neighbours, seems to have given him- 
 self up for some time to the idle and dan- 
 gerous pursuits of youthful pleasures, and 
 for those of the chace, to have made 
 choice of Caerwys and Nannerch, in Flint- 
 shire, in North Wales. An anecdote of 
 him whilst there may be seen in page 359 
 of the Collectanea Cambrica, Vol. I., which 
 will justify this opinion. In the mean time 
 his people became dissatisfied, and he is 
 said to have dreamed that his hair fell 
 from his head, his fingers from his hauds, 
 
94 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 and his toes from his feet, and having re- 
 quired an explanation of the dream was 
 told, that his dominion was falling from 
 him, and could be recovered only by 
 means of a lion in steel, the entreaty of a 
 blossom, and the advice of an old man. 
 The dream may have been an invention to 
 conceal secret intelligence, that his sub- 
 jects were, as is usual in such cases, fail- 
 ing in their attachment; and could only 
 be recovered when the lion should be clad 
 in steel ; when the monarch should arm, 
 and exert himself for their safety. The 
 two remaining particulars seem to present 
 a choice of the parties of Druids or Chris- 
 tians. This I conceive from the explan- 
 ation given of the second and third. Of 
 the second it is said, that being separated 
 from his train in the chace he lost his way, 
 and coming to the mouth of a cave en- 
 tered it, and found within three gigantic 
 beings, viz., an old woman, and her son 
 and daughter. The mother and son wish- 
 ing, lest their retreat should be discovered, 
 to put Arthur to death ; the daughter by 
 her entreaties prevailed so far, that the 
 mother agreed to spare his life, if next 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 93 
 
 morning he should be able to deliver a 
 triad of truths. The conditions being ac- 
 cepted Arthur was well entertained, the 
 son played also exquisitely on the harp to 
 amuse him. But when Arthur went to re- 
 pose, the son laid over him an ox-hide so 
 heavy that he could not move under it, but 
 was confined by it till the son came in the 
 morning to take it off. Arthur then deli- 
 vered his triad of truths. Addressing the 
 son, " You/' said he, " are the best harper 
 " I ever heard/' c True !' said the old 
 woman. " And you/' said he to her, " are 
 " the ugliest hag I ever saw/' ' True 
 5 again Y said she. " If I were once from 
 " hence I would never come hither again/' 
 said he. The truth of this was allowed, 
 and Arthur set free. 
 
 In this tale the description of the hag, 
 her son, and daughter, correspond with 
 that of the Druidic deities, — Ceridwen, the 
 prototype of witches, her son Avagddu, 
 and her beautiful daughter Flur, called in 
 romance Blanche Fleur ; as also Arthur's 
 imprisonment under the ox-hide, to that 
 of the aspirants previous to their initiation 
 
96 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 into the mysteries. The tale, therefore, in- 
 timates that Arthur was initiated, but con- 
 ceived a disgust and hatred for the Druidi- 
 cal superstition, and perhaps, in conse- 
 quence of some menacing apparitions ex- 
 hibited which his mind was too well in- 
 formed to regard, and too spirited to bear, 
 as he could not be wholly ignorant of Chris- 
 tianity. It is dangerous to trifle with a 
 sound understanding, and so the Druids 
 seem to have found it. The advice of the 
 old man is said to have been that of a 
 hermit, and the purport of it was to re- 
 build, or restore the churches which had 
 been destroyed by the Pagans ; under the 
 name Pagans, Druids, as well as Saxons, 
 may have been comprehended ; for as the 
 Christian churches were generally built on 
 the site of old Pagan temples, the Druids, 
 no doubt, had endeavoured, when able, to 
 destroy them. But their power w r as now 
 falling, never more to rise. The light of 
 Christianity was dispelling the mist and 
 darkness of ignorance which shrouded its 
 spells in horrors, and creating an abhor- 
 rence of the bloody sacrifices and super- 
 stitious delusions of Druidism. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 97 
 
 It has been ingeniously conjectured by 
 a learned Welsh antiquary from a com- 
 parison of circumstances, and names of 
 places given in the romance of the San- 
 greal, that the borders of the Menai were 
 the scenes of contest between Arthur and 
 the Druids. What the Sangreal was in it- 
 self has been much doubted. In the ro- 
 mance itself the Sangreal is evidently de- 
 scribed as a kind of cup, and * in the pas- 
 sage referred to above, I have given my 
 reasons for thinking it to have been, what 
 I believe it was, the celebrated Santo 
 Catino, now in Paris, a beautiful cup of 
 a composition (probably glass) resembling 
 an emerald. The word Graal is said, by 
 Mr. Lewis Morris, on the authority of the 
 Speculum Historicum of Vincentius, to 
 be derived from Gradale, an old French 
 word signifying a little dish ; and this seems 
 to be the true signification. Was it origin- 
 ally a divining cup of the Druids ? That di- 
 vining cups were of the remotest antiquity 
 we know from the history of Joseph, and 
 a vestige of that kind of divination is yet 
 
 * Collectanea Camb. Vol. I. P. 309. 
 U 
 
98 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 observable in the practice of divining by 
 the coffee or tea cup. If the Sangreal 
 were sucli a cup, it would have bern con- 
 sidered, when obtained by conquest, as 
 the noblest trophy of the victory of Chris- 
 tians over the Druids ; and, therefore, 
 might have been represented as the object 
 ef the war itself. Of course the vessel 
 would be deposited in the place of the 
 greatest security ; and whether this con- 
 jecture concerning its original history be, 
 or be not, well founded ; that the Santo 
 Catino was at St. David's, and stolen and 
 carried off from thence to Glastonbury, 
 with other valuables, cannot now, I think, 
 be doubted. I am not without some sus- 
 picion, that during the establishment of 
 the Druids at Glastonbury, the Catino, or 
 Sangreal, had been preserved there, and 
 that it was from the celebrity of this ves- 
 sel the place took the name of Ynys 
 Wydriisj, or the isle (or district) of the 
 Little Glass, and that Merlin, when he 
 went to Bardsey, sailed not indeed in it, but 
 with it, that is, carried it with him thither; 
 and that it was recovered by Arthur, and 
 ♦consecrated to the use of the church by 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 99 
 
 St. David. The supposition gives at least 
 something like a clue to the * romance of 
 the Sangreal ; but, if correct, it does not 
 admit of the idea, that it was the same as 
 the Altar of St. David, which that saint is 
 said to have brought from Jerusalem, un- 
 less it be thought, that this was the altar 
 of St. David's, and not a divining cup, 
 and had been carried off by the Druids 
 and recovered from them ; a supposition 
 which appears to me less probable than 
 the former. 
 
 The next transaction noticed by the 
 Chronicle, is an expedition conducted by 
 Arthur against the Picts, according to which 
 it appears that he was victorious in three 
 engagements. After the last battle, the 
 Picts are said to have retired to the isles 
 of Loch Lomond. Whilst the Picts were in 
 this situation, an army under an Irish or 
 Erse chieftain, came over to the assistance 
 
 * The name of Laancelot du Lac, the Knight of the 
 Sangreal, seems referable to that of Pedrogyl Paladrddelli, 
 or Pedrogyl of the shivered Launce, one of the knights of 
 Arthur mentioned in the Triads. 
 
 . H % 
 
100 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 of the Picts, and was routed and com- 
 pelled by Arthur to return to Ireland : and 
 Arthur, at the entreaty of his nobles and 
 clergy, received the submission of the 
 Picts to his government, and pnrdoued 
 their former opposition to him. In the 
 narrative of these events the historian has, 
 in rather a confused manner, introduced 
 a very short and fabulous account of Loch 
 Lomond, which Arthur went to view when 
 the peace was concluded. But as it is 
 evident this lake was the last retreat of 
 these Picts, as the historian terms them, 
 this is a strong argument, that they were 
 in reality the party of the Druids, and as 
 Arthur was able to explore the lake, that 
 their sacred places were entered and sub- 
 verted at this time, and that it was thought 
 prudent to substitue the name of Picts for 
 Druids, in the same manner as that of 
 Pelagians probably is in the legend of 
 Germanus. 
 
 This view of the subject is not only con- 
 sistent with the subsequent part of the 
 history, but is almost necessary to eluci- 
 date it, as Arthur, immediately after this 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 101 
 
 battle, is stated to have returned to York, 
 and to have re-established the Christian 
 churches which had been injured or 
 thrown down, and appointed an archbishop 
 of York. His victory seems also to have 
 tranquillized his dominions, as he now ap- 
 pointed also subordinate earls or princes 
 of Scotland. At this time the peace with 
 his Saxon neighbours continuing, he mar- 
 ried Gwenhwyfar, daughter of the Earl 
 of Cornwall, then esteemed the most beau- 
 tiful of the British ladies; and some time 
 after his marriage, whether from that spirit 
 of adventure common in his time, or to 
 employ his retainers, he built a fleet, sailed 
 to Ireland, and from thence towards some 
 isle, as it should seem, of the Hebrides. 
 In a second voyage he extended his course 
 northwards around Great Britain, and as 
 the northern isles were probably peopled 
 by Norwegians, or, perhaps, because it was 
 really the fact, he is said to have reached 
 Norway. As he is represented as vic- 
 torious through the whole course of this 
 voyage, it may have been successful, what- 
 ever was its real object ; whether retalia- 
 tion, investigation, or acquisiton, of what 
 
102 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 — «——»——■ ■■! ■ ■■— II ■ M II W ' ' 
 
 was then deemed the honourable advan- 
 tage of adventure. On his return he is 
 said to have overcome otie Frollo, or Rollo, 
 at Paris. But the Paris of the Chronicle 
 is Calais, or Witsan (the name being a 
 mistake of the translator), and that such 
 an encounter should have taken place 
 there, is no way improbable. Between 
 these two voyages an interval of twelve 
 years of peace is interposed by this writer, 
 during which the court of Arthur became 
 the resort of men of talents and celebrity ; 
 his fame increased to an eminent degree 
 of splendour ; and he was himself excited 
 to an ambition of universal conquest, by 
 the complimentary adulation paid to his 
 merits. This is too like the exaggeration 
 of a romancer to gain full credit ; but as 
 he was in peace with his Saxon neigh- 
 bours, he may have contemplated and 
 performed the circumnavigation of the 
 whole island, a labour of enterprise and 
 difficulty in his time, which alone might 
 justify, to a great degree, the exalted re- 
 putation his name has acquired. The se- 
 cond expedition is said to have taken up 
 nine years, including in this time a con- 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 103 
 
 siderable poition passed in Gaul. Accord- 
 ing to Johannes Ma^us, a Swedish his- 
 torian *, u Harold, k-ader of the Danes, 
 " being overthrown in battle by Tordo, 
 Ht king of Sweden, fted to Britain to king 
 " Arthur, to collect succours in defence 
 " of his nation, which were granted, and 
 " a large fleet was assembled from Britain, 
 " Gaul, and Holland, and sent to the 
 " rescue of the Danes." The historian, 
 however, adds, that M Arthur having at 
 " the head of the combined forces gained 
 " the victory, the Danes found a like op- 
 " pression, under which they were long re- 
 " tained, not only from the Angles and 
 " Scots, but also from the Norwegians, 
 " Arthur having made his relation Loth 
 " their chief, as the Scottish history testi- 
 " fies." 
 
 If this account be correct, the exploits 
 of Arthur will assume a higher character 
 than they have hitherto held in general 
 estimation, and considering the confused, 
 
 * Hole's Arthur. Kote to Book V. P. 162. Ed. Lond. 
 1789. 
 
104 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 and perhaps, deserted slate of the northern 
 countries at this time, when the great ir- 
 ruption of the Northern nations was bear- 
 ing down on the Roman empire, it is no 
 great concession to grant that much of 
 that might be true, as to Norway and 
 Denmark, which is well known to have 
 been true as to the more powerful and 
 populous country of Britain. Countries 
 drained of their warriors present an easy 
 conquest to their invaders. The expe- 
 dition may, however, have had an ul- 
 terior object, which seems to be intimated 
 by Arthur's landing in Gaul ; the more 
 probable object is the transportation of 
 troops from the north to reinforce the 
 armies engaged with the Romans, an ob- 
 ject which would require the junction and 
 united aid of such a fleet as Magnus de- 
 scribes ; and for which, as against a com- 
 mon foe, the northern nations had found 
 it as necessary as it was eventually profit- 
 able to unite. 
 
 When Arthur had returned from Gaul 
 he made Carleon the seat of his residence, 
 which clearly marks that the Saxons were 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 105 
 
 still in possession of the eastern districts. 
 Here he is said to have once more devoted 
 himself to the enjoyments of a more tran- 
 quil life. Whether his sovereignty had not 
 been till now acknowledged by the subor- 
 dinate kings, or whether his success, and 
 the admiration of his conduct, had made 
 it the more feasible to gratify his ambition 
 and his taste for magnificence, does not 
 appear ; but as it was of great importance, 
 and circumstances favourable, he now held 
 a great festival for the formal coronation 
 of himself and his queen Gwenhwyfar. 
 The description of the ceremonial, and of 
 the feast given in the Chronicle, is probably 
 taken from the songs of the minstrels, who 
 endeavoured to grace it with all their 
 powers of decoration. Still, however, tra- 
 dition gave the subject in such a favorable 
 form as to be held a sufficient authority. 
 The institution of the Round Table, to pre- 
 vent any dissatisfaction among the guests, 
 has been uniformly assigned to Arthur upon 
 this occasion ; and the novelty and adroit- 
 ness of the expedient, could not fail to 
 make a lasting impression on the minds of 
 the guests so relieved from the constraint 
 
106 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 of punctilio without any loss of dignity; 
 and prepared to enjoy the festivity with 
 that pleasantry, which the sagacious good 
 nature of their host, and the humorous 
 proposal, tended to promote. To furnish 
 the feast the writer has gone for guests, 
 probably, the whole extent of his geogra- 
 phical knowledge, which is not very accu- 
 rate. He may, however, have been less 
 extravagant than he appears to be. The 
 descendants of Roman legionaries may 
 have retained the names of their original 
 countries as family distinctions, and a 
 prince of Spain have been, in fact, a chief- 
 tain of a clan of such Spanish origin, then 
 resident in Britain. 
 
 Soon after this feast Arthur is said to have 
 received a summons from a Roman general 
 then in Gaul to pay a tribute as due to 
 the Roman state, which, if the Roman af- 
 fairs there wore any thing of a favourable 
 aspect at the time, would not be likely to 
 be omitted by a general of their's, who, it 
 should seem, was pressing Britany. But as 
 no time for such a message could be more 
 unseasonable, or a proposal more irritating 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 107 
 
 to a high-spirited king, he returned it by 
 a defiance and a menace ; which, as far as 
 joining in opposition to the Romans, he 
 appears to have put in execution : and, I 
 am inclined to believe, that he was the 
 person who is called Riothamar (probably 
 a Gaelic designation), and said, by the his- 
 torian, to have brought troops from Britain 
 to Gaul, to act against the Romans. In 
 this expedition he is said to have gone as 
 far as Langres, and there may be some 
 truth in it. But the history of what passed 
 in Gaul in this age is so obscure, that 
 there is little to be known, and that little 
 seldom satisfactory. Human life seldom 
 gives an advantage without a counterpoise. 
 Whatever may have been Arthur's suc- 
 cess abroad, the treachery of his wife, 
 and of his nephew Mordred, to whom he 
 had intrusted the care of his dominions, 
 was preparing to destroy him on his 
 return, which he hastened on receiving 
 the intelligence; and found that his ne- 
 phew joined with the Saxons were ad- 
 vancing to oppose re-entrance into his 
 kingdom. The battle of Camlan, in Corn- 
 wall, soon followed, in which he slew the 
 
108 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 traitor Mordred in single combat, hand to 
 hand : but died himself in a few days in 
 the abbey of Glastonbury of the wounds 
 he had received, and was buried there. 
 Thus fell this noble prince, betrayed by 
 those he trusted most; but lamented by 
 his country ; and leaving a record in the 
 hearts of his people, which time has not 
 been able to obliterate. Whether it was 
 that his interment was concealed for some 
 political purpose, and that there was a con- 
 siderable time during which it was hoped 
 he might recover, an idea of his resuscita- 
 tion to rescue the Welsh was spread abroad, 
 and the influence of such hope was great 
 even down to the time of Henry II. This 
 hope was founded on one of those prophe- 
 cies which were, no doubt, originally pub- 
 lished, like other false prophecies, for tem- 
 porary purposes ; and being once credited, 
 and its accomplishment desirable, was re- 
 tained in memory, and the hope flattered 
 and indulged from age to age. Yet I 
 imagine that the prediction may at first 
 have had a different reference. The name 
 of our hero was also the sacred name of a 
 mythological personage in the Druidical 
 
Popular antiquities. 109 
 
 mythology, and there is reason to believe, 
 that the British chiefs were accustomed to 
 assume such names either on their initia- 
 tion, or on the commencement of a great 
 undertaking : and somewhat of this is 
 usual with the Welsh poets still, who, on 
 their being acknowledged as such, though 
 without any formality, assume the names 
 of ancient poets as their own poetic names, 
 and prefix or subjoin them as such to their 
 works. Hence it appears probable to me, 
 that the prophecy of the reviviscence of 
 Arthur was originally intended of the revi- 
 viscence of Druidism, which its partisans 
 might have no small hopes of, during 
 the troubles which followed the death of 
 Arthur. To their friends the meaning 
 could be no secret, and to the public the 
 more obvious reference was an encourage- 
 ment to persist in the defence of their 
 country, which they did with an unabated 
 perseverance, till the happy union of 
 Wales with England. 
 
110 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 OF FESTIVALS. 
 
 SHROVE-TUESDAY, 
 
 As the interval from the winter solstice 
 to the vernal equinox was that which in 
 northern climites afforded the greatest 
 leisure to the hunter and the tiller of the 
 earth, it appears to have been the season 
 especially devoted to amusements, such as 
 would engage a neighbourhood, and when 
 towns arose to facilitate intercourse, to 
 have been transferred to them. Hence 
 may have been derived the mirth of the 
 Carnival, of which Shrove-Tuesday now 
 scarcely retains more than the name of 
 a festival. The Carnival itself is a well- 
 known festival of the Romish church, 
 which is a continued one from Twelfth-day 
 to the beginning of Lent. Going in mas- 
 querade through the streets and to public 
 places is the favourite amusement. Poly- 
 dore Virgil considers this festival as the 
 
POPUFAU ANTIQUITIES. HI 
 
 mill ■ II rw-nil ill «■■■■«. «y i-r I I n a— — 
 
 same with the Roman Bacchanalia; but 
 as the Lupercalia, Quinquatria, Saliorum 
 ludi, and Hilaria, were all celebrated 
 at this season of the year, it may more 
 probably be thought, that the season in 
 general was one of mirth, and the festival 
 of the Romish church a true portrait of 
 the pagan. The same author congratu- 
 lates England, that the masquerading 
 was never permitted in it, being, by the 
 English law, he says, made a capital 
 crime. He further thus very justly notices 
 the absurdity of the preceding of such a 
 time of licentious revelling to a fast *, " As 
 " at the cohclusion of the festival, the an- 
 " nual fast of forty days succeeds, there- 
 fore throughout our Christian land 
 great care is taken to feed luxuriously, 
 in some cases even to gluttony, to gra- 
 " tify, as it were, their subsequent hunger, 
 " though their future abstinence is certain 
 " not to be very temperate. For though 
 " they abstain from bread and flesh-meat, 
 " they will gorge themselves with sweet- 
 M meats and unleavened bread, (pan- 
 
 ,'" i ' ■ ■ ■ i " I N M l ■ 
 
 * De Rer. lnv. Lib. 5. Cap, 2* 
 
■ 
 
 112 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 a 
 
 cakes), and then boast of their fasting. 
 " Thus they load themselves with sins, lest 
 " at Easter they should have none to con- 
 " fess to the priests, who, on confession, 
 " are to absolve them/' It was from this 
 earnest preparation for the fast, that 
 Shrore Tuesday acquired the significant ap~ 
 pellation of Guttling, or Guttes-Tuesday, 
 which is not yet wholly obsolete ; and pan- 
 cakes are still* sent up on this day at 
 dinner with a persevering punctuality. 
 
 The horrid custom of throwing at cocks 
 is, I am happy to say, mostly, and, I be- 
 lieve, wholly, abolished in Wales. 
 
 LENT. 
 
 There was within my memory a custom 
 of wearing black clothes during this season, 
 observed by some old persons, but, I be- 
 lieve, it is now wholly laid aside. 
 
 At this season, the penances performed 
 in some popish countries, and particularly 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 113 
 
 Spain and Portugal, are in the full extrava- 
 gance of imagination, such as going about 
 the streets with chains, and barefooted, 
 scourging themselves in the churches, &c. 
 The following curious anecdote, relative to 
 such penances, is taken from the Welsh 
 Chronicle of the princes. 
 
 " When Ethelwolf (the father of Alfred 
 " the Great) arrived in Rome, having on 
 his journey seen persons of many na- 
 tions, some of whom were naked, and 
 others in chains, performing penance in 
 " the most populous cities, which had ex- 
 " cited his commiseration ; he prevailed 
 upon the pope to grant, that no one of 
 his kingdom should, in future, be en- 
 joined to perform penance naked, or in 
 " chains, either there, or when absent from 
 " his native country/' 
 
 a 
 
 « 
 
 u 
 
 a, 
 
 APRIL-DAY. 
 
 The custom of sending persons on in- 
 quiries or errands, which are to end in dis- 
 
 i 
 
114 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 appointment and ridicule, well known 
 under the terms of making April fools, 
 though it may be, as Polonius would say, 
 a foolish custom, is nevertheless interesting 
 as to its history. That it was a general 
 custom of the old Britons is evident, from 
 its being still a general custom in all parts 
 of Britain. It is, or has been so, likewise 
 in France and Germany, as it is called in 
 French, donner %im poisson d'Avril, that is, 
 to give one an April fish, and the Germans 
 call it, einen in den April schicken, that is, 
 to send one on an April errand. What is 
 still more singular is, that it is also the 
 custom in India, and has been so from 
 time immemorial. The following account 
 of this Indian custom, is given by Colonel 
 Pearce in the Asiatic Researches. Vol. II. 
 I Page 334. 
 
 " During the Huli, when mirth and 
 " festivity reign among Hindus of every 
 class, one subject of diversion is to send 
 people on errands and expeditions, that 
 are to end in disappointment, and raise 
 a laugh at the expense of the person 
 " sent. The Huli is always in March, 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 115 
 
 • " " 
 
 " and the last day is the general holyday. 
 " I have never yet heard any account of 
 " the origin of this English custom ; but it 
 " is unquestionably very ancient, and is 
 " still kept up even in great towns, 
 " though less in them than in the country: 
 " with us it is chiefly confined to the 
 " lower class of people, but in India high 
 
 * and low join in it, and the late Surajah 
 " Dowlah, I am told, was very fond of 
 " making Huli fools, though he was a 
 
 * Mussulman of the highest rank. They 
 " carry the joke here so far as to send let- 
 " ters, making appointments in the name 
 " of persons, who, it is known, must be ab- 
 " sent from their houses at the time fixed 
 " upon: and the laugh is always in pro- 
 " portion to the trouble given/' 
 
 A custom observed in the same manner, 
 and at the same time of the year, must 
 have been derived from a common origin, 
 and be of so great antiquity as to be ac- 
 counted for satisfactorily, only bv con- 
 sidering it as having begun previous Co the 
 dispersion of mankind over the earth. 
 
 i 2 
 
116 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Mr. Maurice * looks upon it as one of the 
 sports originally introduced to celebrate 
 the festival of the vernal equinox ; and as 
 astronomical epochs and periods have cer- 
 tainly been marked, in several instances, 
 by festivals, it is very probable this was 
 originally instituted for such a purpose. 
 But as it is also to be remembered that it 
 was on the first day of the first month, that 
 is, at the vernal equinox, that Noah, after 
 the flood, discovered the face of the earth 
 to be dry, it is equally probable, that this 
 circumstance may have given occasion, 
 and certainly a very natural one, to the 
 celebration of an annual festival at this 
 season. If so, the generality of such a 
 custom is accounted for without referring 
 to a scientific motive, and the fact of its 
 having been retained traditionally by na- 
 tions so widely distant, rather favours this 
 supposition, and if it be admitted as allu- 
 sions to the circumstances which gave rise 
 to the festival would consequently make 
 parts of the ceremony, that of sending out 
 
 • Indian Antiquities, Vol. VI. Page 71. Ed. 8vo. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 117 
 
 persons to seek what is not lo be found, 
 and return disappointed, seems to hare 
 been done originally in reference to the 
 raven which Noah sent out of the ark; 
 for it went to and fro, or more properly 
 going from, and returning to, the ark, 
 though not into it, but labouring in vain, 
 till the earth became dry ; whereas the 
 dove returned into it. Hence then the 
 raven exhibited foily, and the dove wisdom 
 and affection ; and, in a festival of mirth 
 and joy, it was easy, by such an illusion, 
 to sanction some ridicule on selfishness 
 or simplicity. This, indeed, is no more 
 than a conjecture as to the origin of the 
 custom, and it is therefore only offered 
 as the most probable that occured to the 
 writer. 
 
 MAY-DAY. 
 
 If it were allowed, that the preceding con- 
 jecture, as to the origin of the festivity of 
 April-day, is correct, it might be also pre- 
 sumed, that the festivity of this day was in- 
 
118 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 stituted in memory of the sacrifice of Noah, 
 on his coming out of the ark on the twenty- 
 seventh day following, and being restored 
 to the light of the sun. And, undoubtedly, 
 such must have been the lively and joyful 
 effect on his mind, and the minds of his 
 family, when, emerging from the ark, the 
 full splendour of the sun burst upon their 
 si^ht, as to have left an indelible impres- 
 sion of the ecstatic delight of that moment. 
 In the enjoyment of such a renovated ex- 
 istence, nature herself afforded them an 
 emblem in the issuing of the bird from the 
 egg to record their preceding and their 
 actual stare ; and hence, perhaps, the em- 
 blematic mundane egg, probably, the origin 
 of the Paschal egg, formerly presented mu- 
 tually by friends at Easter. Whosoever 
 considers what must have been their sen- 
 sations on once more seeing the sun, after 
 a deprivation of his light for twelve months, 
 will not think it extraordinary, that this 
 cause of happiness should hold an emi- 
 nent, if not the first, place in the narrative 
 of familiar tradition ; and that the solar 
 worship should soon have been a conse- 
 quence, even before the religious precepts 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 119 
 
 of Noah were so far obliterated amongst 
 the dispersed tribes, as that they should 
 have been reduced to seek, in their own 
 imaginations only, for an idea of the 
 Deity. 
 
 If the above conjecture be admitted as 
 to the ceremonies of May-day; those of 
 All-Saints, or All-Hallow Eve, may, in 
 like manner, be referred to the mid-time 
 of the flood ; when the patriarch and his 
 family might be considered as at the re- 
 motest distance from the light of day, and 
 as representatives of the state of the de- 
 parted. To this the customs of diving for 
 apples, and consulting spirits, the regular 
 ceremonials of the eve, seem to bear so 
 decided an allusion as to go far towards 
 confirming the hypothesis. Neither is this 
 inconsistent with the idea, that these fes- 
 tivals were intended to mark the equinoxes, 
 and were combined with the solar worship. 
 On the contrary, there are strong reasons 
 to induce a belief that this was the fact, 
 and that these seasons were distinguished 
 as epochs of traditional history. The de- 
 lineation of the celestial sphere is generally 
 
120 
 
 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 admitted to have been originally made, as 
 we have it, when the vernal colure passed 
 through a Arietis, that is, when the vernal 
 equinox was in that which was called the 
 first degree of the constellation Aries. This 
 was so in the year B. C. 1344. It is also 
 evident from the number of signs, that the 
 year was at that time, as indeed it was 
 long before, held to consist of twelve 
 months, and, as the precession of the 
 equinoxes is so nearly one minute of a de- 
 gree annually, or one degree in sixty years, 
 it may be presumed it was so estimated, 
 and this, probably, was the origin of the 
 
 cycle * of 60. On this principle, the pre- 
 
 " ' ■ 
 
 * Whether this cycle, which is certainly very ancient, 
 may have not been an antediluvian cycle, 1 will not venture 
 to pronounce, though I am inclined to think so. Moses, 
 however, seems to have calculated according to a cycle of 
 100 years in the institution of the Passover. For, accord- 
 ing to Dr. Hales' s Chronology, the exode, or departure of 
 the Israelites from Egypt, was in the year 1507, or fifteen 
 whole centuries after the deluge, correspondent to which 
 were, as I conceive, the fifteen days of the month Nisan, as 
 noting a precession of fifteen degrees in the vernal equinox 
 at the time of the institution. Some reason for preferring 
 the fifteenth day to the first for the festivals of both equi- 
 noxes, there must have been, and I know of none more 
 probable than this. It is remarkable, that Hipparchus esti- 
 mates the precession at one degree in a century. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 121 
 
 cession from the epoch of the time of the 
 deluge would have been about 15 degrees, 
 and from that of the creation about 45 
 from the first of Aries, and correspondent 
 to about so many days after the equinox 
 in the year B. C. 1344, and, consequently, 
 nearly to the first of April and May, the 
 times of these festivals. 
 
 Whether then the patriarchial religion 
 were corrupted or not, the patriarchial 
 traditions were probably retained, and 
 there is so evident a reference to it in 
 many of the figures of the constellations on 
 the sphere, * that it is hazarding little to 
 assert, that these traditions are hierogly- 
 phically represented by them, and that it 
 was the original intent so to represent 
 them. 
 
 Thus considered, these festivals were of 
 great importance to history, as they were 
 a memorial of those great events. It has, 
 in this attempt to illustrate their origin, 
 
 * This has been shewn as to several instances, in an 
 Essay on the Constellations, by the author hereof. 
 
122 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 been assumed, that the month called the 
 first in the Mosaic account of the deluge 
 was Nisan, or our March, and there are 
 different * opinions concerning it, whether 
 it was March or September, even amongst 
 the Jewish commentators. But as Moses 
 determines the first month by the Passover, 
 there does not appear any reason for ima- 
 gining he would have called any other the 
 first in his writings ; and as it would have 
 been inconsistent to do it without noting 
 the difference, it is to be presumed he al- 
 ways called it so in the same sense. 
 
 EASTER-HOLYDAYS. 
 
 Bourne, and after him Brand, have con- 
 sidered playing at hand-ball as an exer- 
 cise peculiar to this festival, but, I think, 
 on very slight, and even wrong, grounds. 
 It is an exercise which, at least in Wales, 
 is common to every festival, when the 
 
 * Rabhi Eliezer says it wasTizri, and Rabbi Joshua says 
 it was Nisan, JR. Solomon Jarchi, on Gen, VIIL Vet. 15. 
 

 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 125 
 
 ground is dry enough for the ball to re- 
 bound from it, if he means the game call- 
 ed in Wales Fives, in which the ball is 
 played against a wall. Another species of 
 this game, called stool-ball, resembling 
 cricket, except that no bats are used, and 
 that a stool is a substitute for the wicket, 
 was, in my memory, also a favourite game 
 on holydays, but is now, like many other 
 rural games, I believe, seldom, if ever, 
 played. These amusements generally be- 
 gan on Easter-eve, and were resumed after 
 Easter-day. 
 
 On Easter-day itself, sedulous care was 
 sometimes taken to induce young people 
 to be up early to see the sun dance, which, 
 according to the traditional knowledge of 
 antiquated dames, he always does at his 
 rising on that day, in honour of the re- 
 surrection of our Lord. The proof of this 
 phaenomenon would be worthy of that ve- 
 nerable female philosopher who once ex- 
 claimed : — 
 
 Nay, if he says, the world is round, 
 Your cousin's sure a clencher : 
 For you may see that all the ground 
 Is as flat as any trencher. 
 
124 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Should any urchin be hardy enough to 
 doubt the fact, a bason of water was 
 brought out, that (as it would hurt the 
 eyes to look directly at the sun) he might 
 view the reflection of it from the water > 
 where the evidence was seldom defi- 
 cient. 
 
 Easter-day itself is kept as the Sunday 
 is generally kept in Wales, that is, with 
 much and becoming respect to the sacred- 
 ness of the day. It is also marked by 
 somewhat of better cheer, as a festival, of 
 which lamb is considered as a proper, con- 
 stituent part. In some places, however, 
 after morning-prayer, vestiges of the Sun- 
 day sports and pastimes remain. 
 
 It is thought (or was thought so) neces- 
 cessary to put on some new portion of 
 dress at Easter, and unlucky to omit doing 
 so, were it but a new pair of gloves or a 
 ribband. This idea is evidently derived 
 from the custom of former times, of bap- 
 tizing at Easter, when the new dress was, 
 in some degree, symbolical of the new 
 character assumed by baptism. 
 
POPULAR A/STTIQCJITIES. 125 
 
 On Easter Monday and Tuesday a ce- 
 remony takes place among the lower 
 orders in North Wales which is scarcely 
 known, I believe, elsewhere. It is called 
 Lifting, as it consists in lifting a person in 
 a chair three times from the ground. On 
 Monday the men lift the women, and on 
 Tuesday the women lift the men. The ce- 
 remony ceases, however, at twelve o'clock 
 each day. The lifters, as they are called, 
 go in troops, and, with a permitted free- 
 dom, seize the person whom they intend 
 to lift ; and, having persuaded or obliged 
 him (or her) to sit on the chair, lift, who- 
 ever it is, three times with cheering, and 
 then require a small compliment. A little 
 resistance, real or affected, creates no 
 small merriment; much resistance would 
 excite contempt, and perhaps indignation. 
 That this custom owes its origin to the 
 season needs no illustration. 
 
 WHITSUNTIDE. 
 
 To this festival the only appropriated 
 amusement that I know of, is that of mor- 
 
126 POPULAR ANTiQUTTIFS. 
 
 rice-dancers. It is somewhat singular, 
 that an amusement mentioned by Shake- 
 speare should have not been noticed by 
 Bourne or Brand. According to Shake- 
 speare, it should seem, that the number 
 of persons who represented this dance 
 was nine ; and, as the tune to which they 
 dance is, as far as a recollection many 
 years back can trace it, Country Bump- 
 kin, which is danced also by nine, it may 
 be the correct number. The dancers are 
 all men ; their dress is ornamented with 
 ribbands, and small bells are attached to 
 the knees. The dance itself is somewhat 
 like that of Country Bumpkin; and, in the 
 course of it, some one of the more active 
 exhibits a kind of somerset, with the aid 
 of two others. They are attended by a 
 Jack and Gill, or, as they are called in 
 Wales, the Fool and Megen. The fool is 
 the same as the clown of the old comedy ; 
 the megen, a man dressed in women's 
 clothes, and with the face smutted to re- 
 present a hag. Both entertain the mob 
 by ridiculous tricks ; and the megen gene- 
 rally solicits contributions from the spec- 
 tators, and keeps off the crowd by the 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 127 
 
 dread of blows of her ladle. What is the 
 real origin of this kind of dance, it is very 
 difficult to say. Shakespeare calls the 
 dancing-ground the Morris. If I under- 
 stand him rightly. 
 
 The nine men's morris is filled up with mud. 
 
 Mids. Night's Dream. Act II. 
 
 In many parts of the country there were 
 formerly patches of ground levelled for 
 dancing, and one of these seems intended 
 here. Brand, p. 193. 
 
 In the admirable publication of Frag- 
 ments, by a young lady, the following cus- 
 tom is noticed. 
 
 " On Whit-Monday all the country 
 " people must be up at three or four 
 " o'clock in the morning to keep holyday, 
 " on pain of being pulled out of bed, and 
 " put in the stocks by their companions ;" 
 a custom which, I can only conjecture, 
 arose from the early matins formerly, 
 and which, perhaps, began on this day 
 more early than usual, in order that a 
 greater portion ol the day might be given 
 to the festivities which were to follow. 
 
128 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 WAKES. 
 
 These festivals, in commemoration of 
 the dedication of parish-churches, are so 
 fully treated of by Bourne and Brand, 
 that I have little to add to what they have 
 said. In Denbighshire they are generally 
 celebrated about the beginning of Septem- 
 ber, beginning on the Sunday after the 
 day of the patron-saint of the church of 
 the parish, and ending with the week, ac- 
 cording to the computation, though the 
 festivity of late years seldom exceeds the 
 third or fourth day, and is mostly confined 
 to the lower order. The Welsh name for 
 the wakes, viz., Gwylmabsant, that is, 
 the festival of the saint , indicates that this 
 was a Christian festival originally ; and that 
 the word wake, or wakes, signifies the vigil, 
 or watching, on the eve or night previous 
 to the festival. Of the same kind nearly, 
 is the festival of the Rush-bearing, that is, 
 the Sunday, on which fresh rushes were 
 formerly laid on the floors, and in the 
 pews of the churches. This was celebrated 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 129 
 
 on the Sunday only. But, since the 
 churches have been put in better order, it 
 is, I apprehend, dropped. 
 
 ALL-HALLOW EVE, 
 
 The usual entertainments on this eve 
 are so happily described by Burns in his 
 Hallow-Een, as to leave very little more 
 to be told. Few, if any, of those he has 
 noticed, were unknown in Wales. Their 
 general object, besides the promotion of 
 mirth, appears to have been to learn the 
 fate of individuals in the following year ; 
 and chiefly as to marriage, and life or 
 death, by the omens or apparitions of this 
 oracular night. A circumstance which 
 tends to prove, that the first of November 
 was once, as I have before suggested, 
 reckoned to . be the winter solstice, and 
 beginning of the new year. It may well 
 be imagined, that where the curiosity was 
 great, and the mind simple and super- 
 stitious, advantage would be taken to turn 
 
130 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 both into ridicule. The event of such at- 
 tempts sometimes has, however, been very 
 serious, from the effects of terror, as it will 
 be imagined, when the nature of some of 
 these modes of inquiring into the decrees of 
 fate is explained- One of these is to go and 
 sow hemp-seed in a churchyard. This is 
 begun a little before twelve at night. The 
 person who sows it goes around the church, 
 repeating these words ; " Hemp I sow, let 
 " him (or her) that comes after me mow." 
 As the church clock strikes the last stroke 
 of twelve the sower looks back, and, of 
 course, never fails to see either a coffin, 
 or the future partner in wedlock. This 
 appearance of the partner is said to be 
 frequently that of a person never seen be- 
 fore, but, when afterwards seen, immedi- 
 ately recognised, as in all other trials of 
 the kind. Dangerous hysterics, in conse- 
 quence of being terrified by the appear- 
 ances at so lonely an hour, and in a place 
 which may well create imaginary horrors, 
 have been said to have terminated fatally. 
 The same has also been said to have fol- 
 lowed the listening at the great door of the 
 church in order to hear the names of those 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 131 
 
 who were to die the following year, when 
 a person has heard his own name called 
 amongst the first of those mentioned. In 
 both cases the weak were played upon 
 by their neighbours, or by their own 
 imagination. But though they deserve to 
 be so for their folly, which is not very in- 
 nocent in its purpose, to explore what it 
 does not please the Most High to reveal ; 
 it is very unpardonable and wicked in 
 others to risk the fatal consequences of 
 terrifying them. Happily these practices 
 , are now almost, if not quite, given over in 
 Wales. 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 The substitution of a Christian motive 
 and name, instead of the heathen ones, 
 for festivals at the same time of the year 
 seems to have had but very little effect on 
 the nature of the festivities themselves on 
 those occasions ; the sports and customs 
 having continued much the same, though 
 with a different reference, where it could 
 
 k 2 
 
132 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 be introduced. The entertainment was 
 the real object ; and this being permitted, 
 the heathens were the more easily induced 
 to change their religion ; an indulgence 
 equally improvident and improper in the 
 manner it was granted. 
 
 The old customs of this season, amply 
 detailed in Brand's Popular Antiquities, 
 are, for the most part, 1 believe, common 
 to Wales. The following is undoubtedly of 
 British origin, and not noticed in that book. 
 This is, that on Christmas-eve, a bunch 
 of missletoe is suspended from the ceiling, 
 and that each man bringing a woman 
 under the missletoe, salutes her, and 
 wishes her a merry Christmas and happy 
 new year. " In * France also, the younger 
 " country fellows about new-year's-tide, in 
 " every village, give the wish of good for- 
 " tune at the inhabitants' doors, with this 
 " exclamation, Au gui Tan neuf; that is, 
 " To the missletoe the new year ;" meaning, 
 probably, Hail, or Come, to the missletoe ; 
 it is the new year; the beginning of which, 
 
 * Note to Polyolbion. Song 9th. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 135 
 
 as it has been observed, is very nearly 
 marked by the falling of the berries of that 
 plant. Both of these customs belong evi- 
 dently to the Druidical system. 
 
 Both Bourne and Brand have made 
 large excursions into etymology, in order 
 to discover the origin of the term jule, or 
 yule, in yule-block; and, not seeking it 
 where it was to be found, have had but 
 little success. The word yule, is originally 
 the Welsh word gwyl, that is, festival, the 
 initial g in gwyl, being changed into y, as 
 in yate, from gate. Hence the yule-block, 
 signifies the festival-block ; as Christmas is 
 in Welsh called gwylian, that is, the festi- 
 vals (by pre-eminence) ; so the block is 
 at present called bloccyn gwilian, or the 
 festival-block. It is thought essential, that 
 this block should be large enough (be- 
 ginning at one end) to burn during the 
 twelve days ; or at least so managed, by 
 suffering part only to burn every day, as 
 that it may last so long. 
 
 Another custom, which is now in many 
 places relinquished, was that of the Plygain, 
 
134 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 or service in the church, about three o'clock 
 in the morning on Chrismas-day ; when, 
 according to Mr. Pennant, * " most of the 
 " parishioners assembled in church, and 
 " after prayers and a sermon, continued 
 " there singing psalms and hymns with 
 " great devotion till broad day ; and if, 
 " through age or infirmity, any were dis^ 
 ff abled from attending, they never failed 
 " having prayers at home, and carols on 
 " our Saviour's nativity/' 
 
 The Christmas-carol is still considered 
 as essential to the duties of the day ; and 
 a new one is, for the most part, composed 
 every year, by some poet, or rhymer, of the 
 neighbourhood, which is sung in the church 
 after the morning or evening service : and 
 as the carol is looked upon as an effort of 
 genius, one which is approved of seldom 
 fails to raise the reputation of the poet. 
 The subject is of course taken from Scrip- 
 ture, and the carol properly a hymn ; and v 
 in some instances, exhibits much poetic 
 
 * Tour, Vol. III. P. 161. Ed. 8vo. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 135 
 
 genius; particularly in those of Hugh 
 Morris, who, with talents not inferior or 
 dissimilar to those of Bloomfield, had the 
 like merit of employing them to promote 
 religion and virtue. 
 
136 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 INTERLUDES, 
 
 Whether it be from the generality of 
 &, disposition to express the words or ac- 
 tions of others in the manner of the original 
 expression, when it has any thing peculiar, 
 that scenic exhibitions derive their origin ; 
 or from the particular conversion of a 
 dispositon to mimicry in any individual ; 
 they must be of great antiquity, since they 
 are usual in every quarter of the old 
 world ; and, if I recollect rightly, were so 
 in Mexico, when first known to the Span- 
 iards. When they were first introduced into 
 Britain, I have found no intimation that 
 could lead to determine; but they most pro- 
 bably were so by the Romans ; as the plays 
 represented still retain amongst the Welsh 
 the title of Interlude, and seem to have 
 been originally short plays introduced in 
 the intervals of games, or exhibitions of a 
 more splendid or attractive kind. Horace 
 complains of interruptions of the regular 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 137 
 
 dramatic performance occasionally for 
 hours, 
 
 Dum fugiunt equitum turmae peditumque catervae. 
 
 and it may well be conceived, that in re- 
 mote places, the taste for the drama was 
 less refined, and more gratified by show 
 and bustle, than by an entertainment which 
 was a tax on its understanding and atten- 
 tion ; though requiring such an amuse- 
 ment through an affectation common to 
 ignorance, of being able to relish what 
 those, who have cultivated minds, really 
 do enjoy. It would, however, be re- 
 quisite for such an audience, that the play 
 should be short and amusing, with some 
 mixture of farce. Of this kind were the 
 Atellanse, and, probably, those which were 
 the entertainment of the Roman soldiery 
 in Britain. If any inference in this re- 
 spect from Welsh history, and the popular 
 accounts of the courts of Uther and Ar- 
 thur be admissible; it will be, that the 
 Britons were greatly attached to the Ro- 
 man shows and entertainments. The story 
 of the transformation of Uther Pendragon 
 by Merlin, has so much of this theatric 
 

 138 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 cast, as to admit of the supposition, that 
 it was taken from some dramatic exhibi- 
 tion ; and from the later Welsh Chronicle 
 it appears, that in A, D, 1107, Cadwgan 
 ap Bleddyn, held a great Christmas festi- 
 val according to the ceremonial of Arthur, 
 where the bards and minstrels had new re- 
 gulations and privileges, and were hand- 
 somely recompensed for the exhibition of 
 their talents ; and in A. D. 1135, GrufFudd 
 ap Rhys held a feast at Ystrad Tywi, to 
 which, the annalist says*, " were invited 
 " all whom it should please to come peace- 
 " ably from Gwynedd Powys, Demetia, 
 " Glanmorgan, or Mercia. The feast was 
 " amply furnished with every delicacy, 
 " and adorned by discussions of the learn- 
 " ed, poetic recitation, music, vocal and 
 " instrumental, magical f plays, and all 
 " kinds of exhibitions and manly games/' 
 These magical plays seem to have been of 
 the same kind as our Harlequin panto- 
 mimes ; and though the name of Harle- 
 
 * Brut y saeson. 
 
 t See Collectanea Camb., Vol. I. Additional Notes, 
 Page 363. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 139 
 
 quin may be of Italian, or rather Spanish 
 origin, yet his being a magician is, I think, 
 of British origin ; at least, in the Theatre 
 Italien, harlequin is only, in general, an 
 artful servant, who plays witty or hu- 
 morous tricks subservient to the plot, and 
 Merlin is the magican. Indeed, as far 
 my recollection goes, this kind of theatric 
 exhibition is so particularly connected with 
 the British stage, as to induce me to be- 
 lieve it originated here, and with the 
 Druids, or Druidic minstrels. 
 
 With these the Interlude was probably 
 joined. Of this kind of composition, I 
 am sorry to say, I have not been able to 
 find, though I have heard of, a specimen 
 worthy of translation; as the writers of 
 those now in existence, composing for the 
 populace, and being men of little or no 
 education, have, consequently, been able 
 to do no more than imitate vilely the com- 
 mon traditional plan. The plan, however, 
 is such as may be considered ancient. It 
 consists regularly of a dialogue in dimiter 
 catalectic iambics, which is broken into 
 distinct parts by songs corresponding to 
 
140 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 the ancient chorus, and adapted to some 
 popular tune. The dialogue is always 
 spoken in a recitative, in which the voice 
 marks the measure, by expressing the long 
 syllables in one tone, and the short syl- 
 lable in a tone a fourth lower ; except the 
 last, which, when the line is catalectic, 
 falls an octave. As this mode seems tra- 
 ditional, it may, perhaps, have been that 
 of the Romans. Two of the characters of 
 these interludes, are constantly a miser 
 and a fool, or jester; the others are mostly 
 taken from some Scripture subject. Much 
 attention to the laws of the drama is not 
 to be expected, or found, in these compo- 
 sitions ; but the original cause of the three 
 unities subsist in full force, when they are 
 performed. Having no change of scenery, 
 the scene, for the most part, being a simple 
 curtain, there can be no change of place ; 
 and where the place appears the same, the 
 unities of time and place are necessary to 
 agree with the unity of the scene. Whether 
 the stage is indebted to England for the 
 improvement of the change of scene in the 
 same play, or not, I am not certain ; because 
 the pegmata seem to have been used for 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 141 
 
 some such use, but too unwieldy for a 
 ready change. It is, however, a very 
 great improvement; though, by subverting 
 the principle, it subverts the primary dra- 
 matic rule of the mighty Stagy rite. 
 
14& POPUlAH ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 
 OF WELSH MUSIC. 
 
 On this subject there has so much been 
 written, and the laborious researches of 
 Mr. Jones, the result of which has been 
 so fully and well given in his two volumes 
 of Welsh music, that it may seem super- 
 fluous to notice it here. But the field of 
 research is seldom so limited, as, even in 
 gleaning, not to afford something worthy 
 of attention. If, therefore, a few things 
 relative to that music, which have not, to 
 my knowledge, been observed by others, 
 be offered to the reader, they may be not 
 wholly unacceptable. 
 
 The character of national music has fre- 
 quently and property been referred to the 
 national character; and the peculiarities of 
 the music of different nations have been 
 very ably discriminated and explained by 
 Dr. Crotch. There is, however, another re- 
 lation of the peculiar character of music, 
 which deserves notice ; and this is, its rela- 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 143 
 
 tioit to the instruments to which, if any, 
 it is adapted. Instances of this occur con- 
 tinually in the treble part of Corelli's com- 
 positions, which I refer to as so generally 
 known. In these, the skips of the notes, 
 from a low one immediately to one above 
 an octave higher or lower, which are more 
 easily performed on the violin, than per- 
 haps on any other instrument, clearly shew, 
 that this was the one to which this part of 
 his music was adapted. In like manner 
 it is observable, that the Welsh music 
 was, in general, originally composed for 
 the harp. For, in tunes of common time 
 (and similarly in others), the bars, or half 
 bars, comprehend generally, and almost 
 universally, distinct sequences of notes, 
 each of which is within the compass of the 
 hand without moving it ; and when the pas- 
 sages of a bar consist of several sequences, 
 another sequence generally begins one note 
 higher, or one note lower, than the pre- 
 ceding. Thus the hand moved only at 
 the commencement of each new passage, 
 which gave a facility in the performance; 
 very desirable when the art of fingering 
 was in its infancy ; or, more properly 
 

 144 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 speaking, which naturally arose from the 
 incipient practice of the hand. This pecu- 
 liarity of Welsh tunes may be observed in 
 The March of the Men of Harlech, Pen 
 Rhaw, Ar hyd y Nos, The Rising of the 
 Lark, and others. These were, therefore, 
 composed for the harp ; and are, probably, 
 older than the time of Gruffydd ap Cynan. 
 For if the tune, which goes by the name 
 of his Delight, or Favourite, be of his 
 age, as the name imports it to be; the 
 greater freedom of composition, and some 
 novelty of expression, accord well with 
 the historic assertion, that the Welsh music 
 was improved in his time. Dr. Crotch has 
 observed, that the Welsh martial tunes 
 have great excellence ; and he considers 
 these as the peculiarly characteristic tunes 
 of the Ancient Britons. His knowledge 
 and judgment are so much known and 
 esteemed, that his decision will, I presume, 
 be readily admitted. It is hardly a compli- 
 ment to say, I fully agree with him. There 
 is also another characteristic of Welsh song 
 tunes which depends on the nature of the 
 Welsh language, and in a great measure 
 appropriates them. In this language the 
 
 ^k 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 145 
 
 accent, on words of more than one syl- 
 lable, is always on the penultima, and 
 the last syllable is, therefore, always short. 
 Hence the last bar of a tune generally has, 
 first a long note, then a short one, and 
 the remainder, or the complement of the 
 bar, is omitted ; as in the tune of, A noble 
 Race was Shenkin, &c. 
 
 It is somewhat singular that, though 
 there is a Welsh tune called the Pipes of 
 Morfydd, there is no one, in any collection 
 I have seen, which can decisively be re- 
 ferred to that instrument, as the one for 
 which it was originally composed ; though 
 most of the Scotch tunes may, I think, 
 be so, for this reason: — I suppose the 
 Scotch Pipe, like the Welsh Pibgorn, had 
 but six finger-holes ; and, that the interval 
 between the finger-holes were, as in the 
 fife, equal. Hence as song tunes and 
 others frequently begin a fourth below the 
 key note ; and, in singing, those who have 
 not been taught to sing, are apt to begin 
 so ; the lowest note being D, the key note 
 will be G, and its fourth above, natural ; 
 but, by the simple raising of all the fingers, 
 
 L 
 
146 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 the fourth above will be sharp; and it 
 must have required considerable time and 
 proficiency, to have found out the means 
 of sounding the natural fourth; and, until 
 this was done, it was necessary to omit it. 
 From * this circumstance, I imagine, the 
 oldest Scotch melodies, which omit the 
 fourth, were originally composed for a 
 
 * In a similar manner the reason why the grave or base 
 tones are said to have been those of. the chorda sum ma, 
 and the acute or treble those of the ima, is easily explained. 
 In playing on the mandoline, lute, or the modern lyre, 
 the instrument is so held, that the base string is the highest, 
 and the treble lowest ; whereas in playing the harp it is 
 otherwise. The mandoline is played with a quill (as the 
 lyre was with the pecten), and seems to have been the first 
 improvement of the lyre, of any consequence, by the addi- 
 tion of the frets. 
 
 The tibia dextrce et sinistrce of the Romans have not, 
 that I know of, been hitherto satisfactorily explained ; but, 
 as the bag-pipe was known to the Romans, and, in playing 
 this instrument, the chanter is held towards the right side, 
 and the drone thrown over the left shoulder, may not these 
 circumstances have given rise to the denominations ? If so, 
 dextrce and sinistrce, will signify treble and base, Varro 
 calk thedextra, incentiva; and the sinistra, succentiva ; by 
 which, I presume, means, that the right played the tune, 
 and the left pipe the burden, which agrees with nay con- 
 jecture. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 147 
 
 pipe of such construction ; and that the 
 style, being once adopted, has prevailed 
 in others ; though I do not pretend to offer 
 this explanation as more than conjec- 
 tural. 
 
 To return to the Welsh music. Of the 
 crwth, or crowd, I have not much to ob- 
 serve. It appears to have been an im- 
 provement on the rebec, or three-stringed 
 violin, by the addition of an octave to 
 each of the three strings ; so that each of 
 the three original strings, with its octave, 
 might be played together; and, for this 
 purpose, the strings are very ingeniously 
 arranged, it being in the power of the bow 
 to add, or omit, the octaves at pleasure ; 
 the octaves to the two first of the original 
 strings being interior, and the third, or 
 base string, with its octave sinking below 
 the finger, so as generally to escape the 
 bow ; these being struck with the thumb. 
 
 "With respect to the harp, Mr. Jones has 
 quoted a very curious passage from Gali- 
 leo; in which that author asserts, that the 
 harp was brought from Ireland to Italy. 
 
 l 2 
 
148 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 And from a comparison of the scale of 
 tuning the harp, as described by Galileo, 
 with the scales of tuning given in the MS. 
 of old Welsh music published in the Ar- 
 chaiology, both appear to be on a similar 
 system. In each the octave consisted of 
 a double row of strings; one row of which 
 was tuned regularly, according to the dia- 
 tonic scale ; and in the other the tones 
 necessary for accidental flats or sharps, or 
 regular ones where the key note was taken 
 higher or lower than that of the other row, 
 were substituted for the unison. Thus, in 
 Galileo's scale the co-efficient row, if I 
 may so call it, has five semitones corre- 
 spondent to those usually distinguishable 
 by the short keys on a harpsichord. Of 
 the scales given in the Welsh MS. I can- 
 not speak with any confidence of more 
 than two, viz., 
 
 The first of these making C the key note ; 
 but in order to play in G with the major 
 third, gives, in the co-efficient row, F sharp 
 only. The second scale, which is for G, 
 with the minor third, gives B and E flat. 
 According to Galileo, the diatonic and 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 149 
 
 co-efficient, or chromatic rows, alter- 
 nated sides in every octave ; and the row, 
 which was on the right in one octave, was 
 in the next on the left. In this, as it could 
 not possibly serve useful purpose, he seems 
 to have been mistaken. The probability 
 is, that the compass of the right hand 
 had the co-efficient row on the left, and 
 vice vers& ; and that the co-efficient row 
 was played occasionally, exactly as the 
 middle row of strings on the three-stringed 
 harp is at present. This similarity agrees 
 well with what is said by Galileo ; and his 
 statement as to the introduction of the 
 the harp into Italy derives great probability 
 from another circumstance. 
 
 Strange as it may appear, it is evident, 
 from the words of Giraldus Cambrensis 
 himself, that he knew little or nothing 
 of the music of the harp ; and seems never, 
 before he went to Ireland, to have heard 
 this, or any other, than the slow and simple 
 chant sung in unison, and without much 
 variety in the service of the church. How- 
 ever this happened, when he did hear the 
 harp, he was in raptures. In his description 
 
150 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 of this music he has laboured so much to 
 communicate his ideas of it, as to make 
 it somewhat difficult to follow it closely 
 in a translation ; but, as it is very curious 
 in itself, it is necessary for the present 
 purpose, to attempt such a translation 
 from the original passage in the Topo- 
 graphy of Ireland, Book iii. Chap. 11. The 
 instruments of music in use in Ireland were, 
 the harp, and one which Giraldus calls 
 tympanum, commonly understood to sig- 
 nify a arum ; but which I believe to have 
 been the common dulcimer, playeH on 
 with sticks, and admitting two notes to 
 be struck together as a chord ; and, there- 
 fore, it may be comprised properly, which 
 the drum could not, in the following de- 
 scription : — 
 
 " In musical performance this nation 
 " (the Irish) has a superiority over every 
 " other I have seen, beyond comparison. 
 " For the modulation is not slow and 
 " drawling, as in the British, to which I 
 " have been accustomed; but quick and 
 " hurried, and, nevertheless, sweet and 
 
 pleasing. It is astonishing, that with 
 
 <c 
 
u 
 
 fit 
 
 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 151 
 
 - 
 
 " so rapid a celerity of fingering, the time 
 " is kept correctly ; and that, without any 
 " failurein the performance, an harmonious 
 " consonance by thirds, or fifths, can be 
 produced and filled up; though the pas- 
 sages are twirling, and the instruments 
 of a very intricate construction ; with so 
 delightful a rapidity, so unequal an 
 equivalence, and so discordant a con- 
 " cordance. Yet they always begin B 
 " molle, and * return to it, that the whole 
 " may terminate with agreeable sounds. 
 " With such delicate skill do they begin 
 " and end the tunes, and so elegantly does 
 " the treble run in multiplied notes, whilst 
 " the notes of the base proceed in graver 
 " tones, as to increase the pleasure, and 
 " enliven the enjoyment, so that it seems 
 " to be a great part of the art to conceal 
 " the art. 
 
 " Hence it is, that accurate observers, 
 
 * I once thought, that a variation from the major to the 
 minor key, was intended here ; but I rather think it refers 
 to preluding, and to the cadenza still used in some Irish 
 tunes. 
 
152 
 
 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 6 who notice the secret principles of an 
 ; art minutely, derive an inexpressible de- 
 6 light from the very circumstances which 
 6 rather fatigue, than please, the ears of 
 4 those who do not attend to them ; and 
 6 may be said, to make no use of eyes or 
 c ears. To such inattentive hearers the 
 - music seems a confusion of disorderly 
 ' sounds, and they are soon weary of it." 
 
 Such is the description of the Welsh and 
 Irish music given by Giraldus, to which 
 he certainly was not inattentive; though 
 he insinuates, that his fellow-travellers 
 were, and it affords valuable information. 
 It appears, that his friends, who seem nei- 
 ther to have had much curiosity, nor taste, 
 for music, disliked that music, because of 
 the variety of sounds which were heard at 
 the same time, and because of the quick- 
 ness with which the one succeeded to the 
 other, though the melody and harmony 
 were good. But as they had known no 
 other than the olain chant sung in unison, 
 and in very slow time, they might well be 
 confused by the spirited and combined 
 sounds of the harp, on which the treble 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 153 
 
 and base appear to hare had nearly the 
 same relation to each other as they have at 
 present. Thus far is clear. It has been 
 supposed, that it was the Welsh music, 
 which Giraldus meant in his reference to 
 British instruments ; but it was so far the 
 reverse, that in his account of the Welsh 
 music he identifies this with the Irish 
 music, by repeating the very words of his 
 description of the Irish music, as equally 
 applicable to that of Wales. By the 
 British instruments he must, therefore, 
 have meant such British instruments as 
 were not used either in Wales, Scotland, 
 or Ireland. In the time of Giraldus the 
 Irish musicians seem to have taken the 
 lead, which might very well be, as Wales 
 had been long harassed by war, and Ire- 
 land tranquil. He also says, that the Welsh 
 now endeavoured to imitate the Irish by a 
 rival instiution, referring, as I should sup- 
 pose, to the revjval of the study of music 
 under new regulations by GrufFydd ap 
 Cynan, which seems to have been neglected 
 during the preceding troubles. It is said, 
 that in this revival some improvements of 
 the musical system were borrowed from 
 
154 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Ireland. What these improvements were 9 
 I cannot absolutely determine; but, if I 
 may be allowed to judge from the names 
 of some of the twenty -four variations of a 
 ground as given in the MS. belonging to the 
 Welsh School, they are so, because some of 
 these names are indubitably Irish, and two 
 of the scales of tuning the harp are deno- 
 minated Irish. I should think, as these 
 variations shew a knowledge of counter- 
 point, that the improvement was in this 
 respect ; and that, as the knowledge of the 
 harp in Italy was derived from Ireland, it 
 may not be going too far to imagine, that 
 a knowledge of counterpoint and singing 
 in harmonized parts, passed over with it. 
 It certainly is very remarkable, that this 
 part of musical science should have been, 
 in any degree, knowni to the Welsh, Irish, 
 and Scotch, at so early an age, when it was, 
 I believe, unknown to the rest of the in- 
 habitants of Europe ; yet the words of 
 Giraldus leave no doubt of the fact, in all 
 these respects. For, though he mentions 
 singing in harmony, only with respect to 
 the Welsh, the same, it may well be con- 
 cluded, was, in some degree, the practice 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 155 
 
 of the other two nations. He thus de- 
 scribes it : " Their mode of singing (in 
 " Wales) is not, as it is elsewhere, in 
 " unison, but in different parts of various 
 " modulation ; so that, where there is a 
 " number of singers together, which is cus- 
 " tomary in this nation, there will be 
 " heard as many tunes as there are per- 
 " sons ; which tunes, though differing in 
 " notes, form one delicious harmony in 
 " the key of B molle, and concur in form- 
 " ing an artificial melody. In the northern 
 " parts also of Britain, and in the vicinity 
 " of York, a similar kind of harmony is in 
 "use, but in two parts only; the base 
 " performing a burden, and the treble 
 " (or upper part) a lively and pleasing 
 " air. This practice is not merely the 
 " effect of scientific skill ; but has been 
 11 acquired by each of these nations as an 
 " ancient custom, so that its own has 
 " grown into a natural habit, so invete- 
 rate, that no simple air in unison, pleases 
 either the former, who sing in many 
 parts ; or the latter, who sing only in 
 M two. Even the children, when in in- 
 
 u 
 
 cc 
 
156 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 " fancy they begin to sing, attempt to do 
 " so in the same manner/' 
 
 This description is so clear and precise, 
 as to need no comment. The practice of 
 singing in parts is, in Wales, so far lost, 
 that scarcely a trace of it remains. I have 
 been informed, that some years ago, a 
 Welsh song, sung by four persons was 
 known; which, by what I could collect 
 from my informer, was a kind of glee ; but 
 not having heard it, I can say no more. 
 In singing to the harp, it is still usual for 
 the singer to prefer note's which are chords 
 to the leading notes of the tune to those 
 notes, but in a very inartificial, though not 
 irregular manner. 
 
 Nothing can be more social than the 
 Welsh mode, still in use, of singing to the 
 harp. The harper plays some well-known 
 tune, and each of the company, who is 
 able do so, sings a stanza in turn. Those 
 who are accustomed to this method, have 
 generally in memory a considerable num- 
 ber of these stanzas, on various subjects, 
 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 157 
 
 and for various tunes. For the most part 
 the sense is complete and distinct in each 
 stanza, and it should properly have an 
 epigrammatic turn. In Mr. Jones' col* 
 lection of Welsh music, many specimens 
 of them may be seen. Sometimes they are 
 made extemporaneously, and well made ; 
 and sometimes the verses of a song are 
 successively sung by the different persons, 
 instead of so many distinct stanzas in the 
 same manner as the Vaudeville, which 
 seems to have originated in a similar cus- 
 tom. The singing of English songs in the 
 same manner might, perhaps, be found as 
 pleasing, as it would be a novel enter- 
 tainment. 
 
 I have been informed, that Mr. Edward 
 Williams, of whose merits Mr. Malkin 
 has spoken largely and justly, has been 
 able to decypher the music of the Welsh 
 School MS. ; but, not having seen what he 
 has done, I cannot do more than men- 
 tion it ; with the wish that it were pub- 
 lished, as I have no doubt, but that the 
 music is ancient. The most ancient Welsh 
 
158 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 tunes, however, are, I believe, well known, 
 which are, Hob y deri and Nos Calan, 
 both Druidical ; and Reged, a tune, pro- 
 bably of Cnnibrian origin; as the name 
 is taken from Reged, a Cumbrian pro- 
 vince. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 159 
 
 MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 
 
 When a marriage was to be celebrated, 
 a bidder, that is, one whose charge was to 
 bid or invite the guests, was appointed; 
 a person of respectable character, and 
 as well gifted with eloquence and address 
 as could be procured, as on his success 
 the number of the guests chiefly depend- 
 ed. He was also to be sufficiently skilled 
 in pedigrees and anecdotes of families, to 
 be able to introduce compliments derived 
 from these sources occasionally. As ensigns 
 of his office, his bonnet and staff were adorn- 
 ed with wedding garlands ; and, thus ar- 
 rayed, he visited the halls, and other dwel- 
 lings of the vicinity. This character was 
 formerly undertaken by a chieftain, in fa- 
 vour of his vassal ; and his person was re- 
 spected by hostile clans, as that of an he- 
 rald. The purport of his bidding was, both 
 to request the attendance of the friends of 
 the young couple, and their benevolent 
 
160 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES* 
 
 presents, or contributions, in order to en- 
 able the new-married pair to begin their 
 new mode of life with comfort, and the 
 means of prosperity. These contributions 
 were, and yet are, in some article of fur- 
 niture, outstock, or money; and are re- 
 gularly repaid by contributions of a similar 
 kind, on like occasion ; and, by this most 
 excellent custom, worthy of general adop- 
 tion in every parish, a provision is made 
 without any great inconvenience to any 
 individual ; and yet such collectively sets 
 a deserving young couple at once in a 
 state of comparative wealth and independ- 
 ence. 
 
 The duty of the bidder, if well perform- 
 ed, reflected as much honour on himself, 
 as profit in his reward, when hired for the 
 purpose. On entering a hall, or dwelling, 
 which he took care to do when the family 
 was assembled, and guests, if any, with 
 them, and all in good humour; then striking 
 the floor with his staff to demand atten- 
 tion, he, with a graceful bow, began his 
 address. This was sometimes a prescribed 
 form, but more frequently otherwise, and 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. l6l 
 
 diversified according to the genius of the 
 speaker, and the character of his auditory, 
 so as to compliment, please, and induce 
 them to comply with his invitation. At 
 present, the invitation is sometimes by 
 hand-bills, of one of which the following is 
 a copy : — 
 
 " Carmarthen, March 20th 9 1802. 
 " As I intend to enter the matrimonial 
 state, on Easter-Monday, the 19th day of 
 April next, I am encouraged by my friends 
 to make a Bidding on the occasion the 
 same day, at my dwelling-house, known 
 by the sign of the Green-Dragon, in Lam- 
 mas-street ; where the favour of your good 
 company is humbly solicited ; and what- 
 ever donation you will be pleased to confer 
 on me then, will be gratefully received, and 
 cheerfully repaid, whenever demanded on 
 a similar occasion, by 
 
 " Your humble Servant, 
 " DAVID THOMAS. 
 
 " %$* The young man's mother, brother, and sister 
 f Hannah, Richard, and Phoebe Thomas J, de- 
 sire that all gifts of the above nature, due to 
 them, may be returned to the young man orj 
 the said day, and will be thankful for any ad- 
 ditional favours bestowed on him." 
 M 
 
162 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 The names of the visitors were registered 
 in a book, that the compliment might be 
 returned whenever it might be proper to 
 do so ; and the regular festival of national 
 games and pastimes on these occasions in- 
 creased the number of visitors. 
 
 On the day of the ceremony, the nup- 
 tial presents having previously been made, 
 and the marriage privately celebrated at 
 an early hour, the signal to the friends of 
 the bridegroom was given by the piper, who 
 was always present on these occasions, 
 and mounted on a horse trained for the 
 purpose ; and the cavalcade, being all 
 mounted, set off full speed, with the piper 
 playing in the midst of them, for the house 
 of the bride. The friends of the bride in 
 the mean time raised various obstructions, 
 to prevent their access to the house of the 
 bride, such as ropes of straw across the 
 road, blocking up the regular one, &c, 
 and the Gwyniyn, (literally the Vane J, 
 corrupted in English into Quintain, con- 
 sisting of an upright post, on the top of 
 which a spar turned freely. At one end 
 of this spar hung a sand-bag, the other 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. l63 
 
 presented a flat side. The rider in passing 
 struck the flat side, and if not dexterous 
 in passing was overtaken, and perhaps 
 dismounted by the sand-bag, and became 
 a fair object of laughter. The Gwyntyn 
 was also guarded by the champions of the 
 other party ; who, if it was passed success- 
 fully, challenged the adventurers to a trial 
 of skill at one of the twenty-four games ; 
 a challenge which could not be declined; 
 and hence to guard the Gwyntyn was a 
 service of high adventure. When these 
 difficulties were over, or the bridegroom's 
 friends had anticipated the arrangement, 
 they hasted to the bride's abode ; and if 
 the door was shut against them, assailed 
 it, and those within, with music and 
 poetry, particularly the latter, in strains 
 of raillery. If the latter could not be re- 
 torted from within, the door was opened ; 
 and, by a little management, the bride- 
 groom's friends contrived to draw the 
 bride out of the company, and bear her 
 off as in triumph. Her friends at a con- 
 venient time, discovered her flight and 
 pursued, and, if they overtook the other 
 party, a mock encounter took place ; in 
 
 m 2 
 

 164 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 which the pursuers acknowledged their 
 own inferiority, and the bride was brought 
 safely to the bridegroom's house, and the 
 whole party received with the greatest 
 kindness and welcome. The remainder of 
 the day was passed in festivity. Trials of 
 skill on the national games first took place ; 
 and, after these, singing to the harp and 
 dancing, prolonged the entertainment to a 
 late hour. 
 
 Such is the account of this ceremony, 
 which I have been permitted to extract 
 from a valuable manuscript of a gentle- 
 man well informed on the subject. 
 
 This curious ceremony is, I believe, as 
 the semblance of carrying off the bride 
 makes a part of it, confined to some dis- 
 tricts of South Wales; that of contributing 
 to the settlement of the newly-wedded 
 pair, by presents of furniture, &c, is also 
 usual in North Wales ; and hence it may 
 be inferred, that the custom, partially 
 known, is not of British origin ; and I 
 believe it was introduced into this country 
 by the Romans, who certainly had such a 
 

POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 163 
 
 custom established, as it is said, v by Ro- 
 mulus, in memory of the carrying off of 
 the Sabine virgins. Rosini, in his Roman 
 Antiquities, gives a description of the 
 custom on the authority of Apulfcius, 
 which exactly resembles the one in South 
 Wales, viz., that when the bride was 
 dressed, a multitude of armed men, flou- 
 rishing their swords as if raging for battle, 
 burst- into her chamber and carried her 
 off, without any resistance on the part 
 of her friends. The pipers were also the 
 musicians. As the Romans were so 
 long in Britain, and the families con- 
 nected with them, or such as could not 
 return when their legions were with- 
 drawn, may have settled in South Wales, 
 it is no great trespass on probability 
 to conclude, that such was the real origin 
 of this part of the ceremony. Whe- 
 ther the Gwyntyn, or Quintain, was in 
 use among the Romans, I am not certain, 
 though I rather think not. The name is, 
 I think, with the learned author of the 
 manuscript above mentioned, decisively of 
 Welbh origin ; and, in the custom of guard- 
 ing the Quintain, the origin of the stories 
 
166 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 in romance, in which a knight guards a 
 shield hung on a tree against all adven- 
 tures, is clearly perceived. 
 
 Another part of the custom, and per- 
 haps more ancient, is still more curious ; 
 viz., that when the dopr is shut against 
 those who come to take away the bride, 
 admission is to be obtained only by the 
 united powers of music and poetry, and 
 it is impossible not to recognise in it an 
 illustration of the well-known story of 
 Orpheus and Eurydice, as a simple fact, 
 no farther varied than, that Pluto is made 
 the representative of a Thracian chieftain, 
 who had carried off the wife of the Bard. 
 It may surprise, that such an illustration 
 can be found in a custom of this country, 
 not yet wholly, I believe, relinquished, 
 yet the comparison of the circumstances 
 leave no doubt that it is applicable, and 
 I have no doubt but, that many more of 
 the supposed fables of antiquity, would 
 admit of as simple an explanation as this 
 of Orpheus, by an attention to popular 
 customs and traditions. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 167 
 
 The fable of Apollo and Marsyas will 
 supply another instance. It was the cus- 
 tom of ev?ry British chieftain to have his 
 household Bard, and it was the chieftain's 
 ambition, and his honour, that his Bard 
 should be the most eminent of the profes- 
 sion in his power to obtain. But as Bards, 
 however harmonious their strains, might not 
 always live in harmony with their patrons, 
 or their Bardic brethren ; the Bard of the 
 household was sometimes obliged to seek 
 a new one, or a rising genius wish to ob- 
 tain patronage. Where this was the ob- 
 ject, the Bard of adventure appearing at 
 the door of the chieftain whose patronage 
 he sought, challenged the household Bard 
 in verse, either to resign a station of which 
 he was unworthy ; or, if he hoped to main- 
 tain it, to prove his superiority by a fair 
 trial of skill. If the Bard of adventure 
 was able to reduce the other to silence, or 
 an unequal reply ; the station was ad- 
 judged to him, and the other sent away ; 
 and, as the dress of the household Bard 
 was the gift of the chieftain, it was pro- 
 bably stripped off without much cere- 
 mony, and conferred on his successor. 
 
168 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 The contest between Apollo and Marsyas 
 is of the same kind ; and the poetical flay- 
 ing of the latter, will, in humble prose, be 
 severe enough still, if it signify no more 
 than the stripping him of the robes of his 
 office, and turning him adrift, like the un- 
 successful Bard of the Welsh chieftains. 
 It is still but just to add, that, though the 
 Bards were satirical to the utmost in their 
 verses on each other while living, if either 
 died, the other generally wrote a copy of 
 verses to acknowledge his merits, and re- 
 cord his fame. Of this there are a good 
 many instances; and some been reconciled 
 by a copy of such verses, written during 
 the credit of a report that the adversary 
 was dead. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. l69 
 
 CANWYLL Y CORPH; 
 
 OR. 
 
 CORPSE-CANDLE. 
 
 In many parts of Wales- it is frequently 
 asserted, that either previous to, or nearly 
 at, the time of the decease of some per- 
 sons, a light somewhat like that of a 
 candle, is seen in or near the house, and 
 that it sometimes is observed to go from 
 thence to the churchyard. As this appear- 
 ance is supposed to be supernatural ; it is 
 to some too much* an object of terror, and 
 to others too much that of ridicule, to 
 suffer them to pay any particular attention 
 to the cause; which, in all probability, 
 might, however, be discovered to be sim- 
 ple and natural, and of the same kind 
 with that of the Jack-a-lantern, or Will-o'- 
 the-wisp. The latter is known to arise 
 from a peculiar gas, or mixture ofgasses. 
 
" 
 
 170 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 which proceed from the earth, mostly 
 where coal abounds, and are phosphoretic, 
 and kindled by the atmospheric air or the 
 breath. In the latter case, the Will-o'-the- 
 wisp appears to go on before the person, 
 being sustained by the breath. The corpse- 
 candle appears to be precisely in the same 
 way kindled and directed in its course, and 
 probably arises from the effluvia of a body 
 already in an incipient state of putrescence. 
 It would, therefore, be worthy of philoso- 
 phic observation, whether it is not always, 
 when it does appear, to be traced to a body 
 in such a state. In cases of cancer, a halo 
 has, in more than one instance, been seen 
 around the head of the patient when at 
 the point of death, which is justly to be 
 attributed to such a cause ; and, in like 
 manner, other phenomena peculiar to such 
 a time, may be rationally accounted for ; 
 such as the birds of prey flapping their 
 wings against the windows, they being at- 
 tracted by the effluvia ; and the ringing 
 of bells in the house, probably occasioned 
 by the extrication of some electric prin- 
 ciple after death, when putrescence com* 
 mences. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 171 
 
 In South Wales another appearance is 
 generally affirmed to take place before the 
 death of some noted person, viz., a coffin 
 and burial train are seen to go from the 
 neighbourhood of the house, in the dead 
 of night, towards the churchyard. Some* 
 times a hearse and mourning-coaches form 
 the cavalcade, and move in gloomy si- 
 lence in such a direction ; not a footstep 
 is heard, as they proceed along the public 
 roads, and even through the towns, and 
 the terrors of the few who happen to see 
 them are spread over the whole neigh- 
 bourhood. Of these appearances, the 
 causes are, probably, artificial; and Lear's 
 idea, of shoeing a troop of horse with felt, 
 may be, in these instances, more than 
 imaginary. They seem to be a remainder 
 of those means by which the persecuted 
 Druids performed their rites, transacted 
 business, and eluded observation, under 
 covert of superstitious fears excited in all 
 around them. The investigation of the 
 causes do not, therefore, come within the 
 inquiries of the philosopher ; they may, 
 probably, with propriety, be referred to 
 

 172 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 1 ■ 
 
 those of the revenue officers, as best able 
 to give a satisfactory explanation and 
 dispel all the apprehensions concerning 
 them. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 175 
 
 BURIALS, 
 
 When human cares terminate, and 
 human attachments are rent asunder, by 
 the departure of the spirit from its man- 
 sion of clay, whatever may have been the 
 previous apprehensions of the event, the 
 affections of the survivors will not, on a 
 sudden, yield to the full conviction of the 
 loss sustained ; and the lifeless body re- 
 tains some share of that affectionate re- 
 gard which, when animated, it possessed. 
 But its stillness is awful, and whilst the 
 separated spirit may, even by suffering 
 imagination to prevail but feebly, be sup- 
 posed to hover over its newly-relinquished 
 habitation, a sacred respect to what re- 
 mains will be felt as a duty, and the so- 
 lemnity of the moment will be increased 
 by the image it presents, of that which 
 the beholder must at one time present to 
 others. 
 
174 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 On such an occasion the customs of dif- 
 ferent nations have varied much, accord- 
 ing to their religious ideas and local situa- 
 tions, but all agree in testifying respect 
 for the dead ; the grief of the surviving 
 friends, and sympathy, or a wish to con- 
 sole, on the part of the neighbourhood. 
 In uncultivated and rugged minds, grief 
 is a burden, which they struggle to throw 
 off in violent exclamations, and by frantic 
 gesture ; they look to others for assistance, 
 and, in the intermissions of exhausted ef- 
 forts find a relief in the attempts equally 
 rude of their friend to divert their atten- 
 tion. Not so the gentler feeling. There 
 grief sinks deep into the heart ; and brood- 
 ing every remembrance of the past, mul- 
 tiplies and cherishes its sorrows. With 
 the more common and the rougher na- 
 ture, the customary mode is to prevent 
 reflection, and divert the attention; and 
 hence it has been usual in some places, 
 for the friendly neighbours to assemble in 
 the house of mourning, and watch or stay 
 up all the night previous to the funeral 
 with the relations. The intent of this 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 175 
 
 watching has, however, been often abused ; 
 and instead of comforting the afflicted, 
 the company have been so desirous of 
 banishing all serious thoughts, as to turn 
 the occasion into one of drinking and 
 amusement ; and has, therefore, I pre- 
 sume, been so far dropped as it is in North 
 Wales, and very properly. 
 
 " Previous * to a funeral/' says Mr. 
 Pennant, " it was customary, when the 
 " corpse was brought out of the house and 
 " laid upon the bier, for the next of kin, 
 " be it widow, mother, sister, or daughter, 
 " (for it must be a female), to give, over 
 " the coffin, a quantity of white loaves, 
 " in a great dish, and sometimes a cheese, 
 " with a piece of money stuck in it, to 
 " certain poor persons. After that, they 
 " presented, in the same manner, a cup 
 " of drink, and required the person to 
 " drink a little of it immediately. When 
 " that was done, they kneeled down ; and 
 " the minister, if present, said the Lord's 
 " prayer; after which, they proceeded 
 
 * Vol. III. P. 160. Ed. 8vo. 
 
176 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 
 « 
 
 with the corpse, and, at every cross-way 
 " between the house and the church, they 
 " laid down the bier, knelt, and again re- 
 " peated the Lord's prayer ; and did the 
 " same when they first entered the church- 
 " yard. It is also customary, in many 
 " places, to sing psalms on the way ; by 
 " which the stillness of rural life is often 
 " broken into in a manner finely produc- 
 tive of religious reflections. To this 
 hour the bier is carried by the next of 
 kin, a custom considered as the highest 
 " respect that filial piety can pay to the 
 " deceased. Among the Welsh it was 
 " reckoned fortunate, if it should rain 
 " while they were carrying him to church, 
 " that his bier might be wet with the 
 " dew of heaven." 
 
 <c 
 
 it 
 
 After that the corpse has been brought 
 into the church, and the lesson has been 
 read, it is the custom, in some parts of 
 North Wales, that a psalm is sung, and 
 the clergyman being at the altar, while the 
 psalm is singing, those who attend the 
 funeral as friends of the deceased, ap- 
 proach the altar in succession, and lay 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 177 
 
 on a small bracket (which is provided for 
 the purpose) an offering of money, accord- 
 ing to the wealth of the offerer, and the 
 respect for the deceased. This offering 
 has been considered, as originally intended 
 to pay for masses for the soul of the de- 
 ceased ; but, I believe, it was originally 
 an offering for the support of the clergy- 
 man, as the custom is not, that I have 
 been able to learn, known in England ; 
 and the clergy of the ancient British church 
 were supported chiefly by voluntary offer- 
 ings on the public occasions. In other 
 respects, the funeral is conducted gene- 
 rally as in England ; but when the service 
 is over, the friends who have attended it 
 do, in many places, kneel down at the 
 grave, and say the Lord's prayer before 
 they depart from it, and for several suc- 
 ceeding Sundays they repair to the grave, 
 and do the same. In many parts, and 
 especially in South Wales, the friends of 
 the deceased take much and laudable 
 pains to deck the grave with flowers. A 
 bordering of slates or stones, is nicely 
 run around it, and the top bound in by 
 
178 popular AfrTiauitifeS, 
 
 atones, laid with taste, in a tesselated man- 
 ner 9 which has an ornamental effect, whilst 
 it feriiains a monument of a pious affec- 
 tion, gratified in paying its last tribute to 
 a beloved or revered object 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 179 
 
 CONCERNING THE 
 
 NATURE, MANNERS, AND DRESS; 
 
 THE 
 
 BOLDNESS, AGILITY, AND COURAGE, 
 OF THE WELSH. 
 
 From Sir Richard Hoare's Translation of Giraldus Cam- 
 
 BRENSIS. 
 
 This nation is light and active, rather 
 than hardy and strong, and generally bred 
 up to the use of arms. For not only the 
 nobles, but all the people, are trained to 
 war; and when the trumpet sounds the 
 alarm, the husbandman rushes as eagerly 
 from his plough as the courtier from his 
 court. For here it is not found that, as in 
 other places, the labour of the husband- 
 man returns through a regular, annual suc- 
 cession ; for, in the months ofJMarch and 
 April only, the soil is ploughed for oats ; 
 and twice in the summer, and once in the 
 winter, for wheat. Almost all the people 
 live upon the produce of their herds, with 
 
 N 2 
 
180 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 oats, milk, cheese, and butter; eating 
 flesh in a larger proportion than bread. 
 They pay no attention to commerce, ship- 
 ping, or manufactures ; and suffer no in- 
 terruptions but by martial exercises. They 
 anxiously study the defence of their coun- 
 try, and their liberty. For these they 
 fight; for these they undergo hardships ; 
 and for these they willingly sacrifice their 
 lives. The}' esteem it a disgrace to die 
 in bed ; an honour to die in the field 
 of battle. It is remarkable that this 
 people, though unarmed, dares attack an 
 armed foe. The infantry defy the ca- 
 valry; and, by their activity and courage, 
 generally prove victorious. They make 
 use of light arms, which do not impede 
 their agility ; small breast-plates ; bundles 
 of* arrows, and long lances ; helmets and 
 shields ; and, very rarely, greaves plated 
 with iron. The higher class go to battle 
 mounted on swift and generous steeds, 
 which their country produces; but the 
 
 * More probably short spears, viz., darts; as the bow 
 is not mentioned, and was little if at all used by the South- 
 Wales man, whom Giraldus more especially describes here. 
 Ed. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 181 
 
 greater part of the people fight on foot, 
 on account of the nature of the soil, * 
 which is marshy, and not level enough 
 for regular battle. The horsemen, as 
 their situation or occasion requires, act 
 readily as infantry, in attacking or retreat- 
 ing ; and they either walk barefooted, or 
 make use of high shoes, roughly construct- 
 ed with untanned leather. In time of 
 peace, the young men, by penetrating the 
 deep recesses of the woods, and climbing 
 the tops of the mountains, learn, by 
 nightly practice, to endure the fatigue by 
 day ; and, as they meditate on war during 
 peace, they acquire the art of fighting by 
 accustoming themselves to the use of the 
 lance, and by inuring themselves to hard 
 exercise. 
 
 Not addicted to gluttony or drunken- 
 ness, this people are wholly employed in 
 the care of their horses and furniture. Ac- 
 customed to fast from morning till even- 
 ing, and trusting to the care of Providence, 
 
 * The translation here, and in a few words more, differs 
 somewhat from that of Sir R. H. Ed. 
 
182 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 they dedicate the whole day to business, 
 and, in the evening, partake of a moderate 
 meal ; and even if they have none, or only 
 a very scanty one, they patiently wait till 
 the next evening ; and, neither deterred by 
 cold nor hunger, they employ the dark 
 and stormy nights, in watching the hostile 
 motions of their enemies. 
 
 No one of this nation ever begs : so 
 much does hospitality here rejoice in com- 
 munication, that it is neither offered to, 
 nor requested by, travellers, who, on enter- 
 ing any house, only deliver up their arms ; 
 when water is offered to them. If they 
 suffer their feet to be washed, they are 
 considered as guests for the night. But, 
 if they refuse it, they only wish for morn- 
 ing refreshment, and not lodging. Those 
 who arrive in the morning are entertained 
 till evening by the conversation of young 
 women, and the music of the harp ; for 
 each house has its young women, and 
 harps allotted to this purpose. In the 
 evening, when no more guests are ex- 
 pected, the meal is prepared according to 
 the number and dignity of the persons 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 183 
 
 present, and according to the wealth of the 
 family who entertains. The kitchen does 
 not furnish many dishes, nor high incite- 
 ments to eating ; for which reason they 
 place all the dishes together, * the guests 
 being arranged, not by twos, as in other 
 places, but by threes, on rushes and clean 
 hay. They also make use of a thin and 
 broad cake of bread, baked every day 5 
 which, in the -f Old Testament is called 
 Lagana, as a trencher for their meat. 
 Though the rest of the family take every 
 care of the guests, the host and hostess 
 continue standing, and paying unremitted 
 attention to every thing, and take no food 
 till all the company is satisfied, that in 
 case of any deficiency it may fall upon 
 themselves. A bed made of rushes, and 
 covered with a coarse kind of cloth, ma- 
 nufactured in. the country (called Bry- 
 chan), is then placed along the side of 
 
 * This curious circumstance, was probably a relic ,of the 
 like custom of the Romans. The passage in the original is 
 very obscure, but the above sense appears to be the one 
 intended. Ep, 
 
 t That is in the Vulgate translation. For supponunt, as 
 the original now has it, the context requires, superpomint 
 Ep. 
 
184 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 the room, and they all in the same man- 
 ner lie down to sleep. Nor is their 
 dress at night different from that by day ; 
 for at all seasons they defend themselves 
 from the cold only by a cloak and an 
 under garment. The men and women cut 
 their hair close round to the ears and e} r es. 
 The women, after the manner of the Par- 
 thians cover their heads with a large white 
 veil folded like a turban. 
 
 Both sexes exceed any other nation in 
 attention to their teeth, which they render 
 like ivory, by constantly rubbing them 
 with green hazle and a woollen cloth, and 
 for their better preservation, they absain 
 from hot meats. The men shave all the 
 beard except the whiskers. 
 
 They make use of three musical instru- 
 ments ; the harp, the pipe, and the crwth 
 or crowd. 
 
 In their musical concerts, they do not 
 sing in unison like the inhabitants of other 
 countries, but in many different parts ; so 
 that in a company of singers, which one 
 
 _ 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 185 
 
 very frequently meets with in Wales, you 
 will hear as many different parts and 
 voices as there are performers, who at 
 length all close the vocal in unison with 
 the instrumental note in the key of B 
 molle. 
 
 They who are the principal persons in a 
 public meeting, or a family, make use of 
 great facetiousness, in order both to en- 
 tertain their hearers and acquire credit 
 themselves ; sometimes by sallies of wit 
 and humour, and sometimes by the se- 
 verest irony. The people of this nation, 
 from the highest to the lowest, have been 
 endowed by nature with a boldness and 
 frank, open manner of addressing or an- 
 swering, even in the presence of prince or 
 chieftain, on every occasion ; such as we 
 see in the Romans (Italians) and Franks, 
 but not in the English, Saxons, or Ger- 
 mans. 
 
 There are certain persons in Wales 
 called * Awenyddion, or people inspired ; 
 
 * Though Giraldus treats this subject very seriously, 
 and with his usual propensity to wondering : and making 
 

 ! 
 
 186 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 when consulted upon any doubtful event, 
 they roar out violently, and become as if 
 possessed of an evil spirit. They deliver 
 the answer in sentences that are trifling, 
 and have little meaning, but elegantly 
 expressed. In the mean time, he who 
 watches what is said, unriddles the an^ 
 swer from some turn of a word. They are 
 then roused from their ecstacy as from a 
 deep sleep, and, by violent shaking, com- 
 pelled to return to their senses, when they 
 lose all recollection of the replies they have 
 given. 
 
 The Welsh esteem noble birth and ge» 
 nerous descent above all things ; and are, 
 therefore, more desirous of marrying into 
 good, than rich families. Even the com- 
 mon people * retain their genealogy, and 
 
 a real miracle out of every imposture, it is evident, that 
 this kind of pretence to inspiration, was a mere trick played 
 on ignorance and superstition. But it was, probably, one 
 derived from the Druids, like many more ; and, as it was 
 of the same kind, so it was just as worthy of credit as the 
 Oracle of Delphos. Ed. 
 
 * During the last century, this custom has been very un- 
 wisely and injuriously neglected, as property is often lost, 
 because of the inability to prove relationship, where it 
 otherwise would be indubitable. Ed. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 187 
 
 can not only readily recount the names 
 of their fathers and grandfathers, but even 
 refer back to the sixth or seventh genera- 
 tion beyond them. They neither inhabit 
 towns, villages, nor castles ; but lead, as 
 it were, a solitary life, in the woods, on the 
 borders of which their custom is to build 
 houses of wattle, which require no ex- 
 pense, and last sufficiently for a year. They 
 have neither orchards nor gardens, though 
 fond of the fruit of either when offered. 
 The greater part of their land is laid down 
 for pasture, little being cultivated ; a small 
 quantity is ornamented with flowers, and 
 less planted. They plough sometimes, 
 though but seldom, with two oxen ; in ge- 
 neral they do it with four ; and the driver 
 walking backward before them, is some* 
 times exposed to danger from refractory 
 oxen. Instead of using reaping hooks, 
 they do more work, and more expediti- 
 ously, by an * iron blade of a moderate 
 
 * See the Engraving, which was taken from the under 
 part of the seat in Malvern Church, and seems to represent 
 this instrument. Ed. 
 
 \ 
 
188 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 size, to either end of which a handle is 
 fixed by a link so as to play freely. 
 
 The boats which they employ in fishing, 
 or in crossing rivers, are made of basket- 
 work, not oblong or pointed, but almost 
 round ; or rather triangular, covered both 
 within and without with raw hides, which 
 the fishermen in going to or from the 
 rivers carry on their shoulders. 
 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 189 
 
 * SUPERSTITIONS OF THE WELSH. 
 
 Extracted from the Itinerary of Giraldus Cambrensis. 
 
 In the province of Gwarthrenion, and 
 in the church of St. Germanus, there is the 
 staff of St. Curig, covered all over with 
 
 * It is due to the memory of Giraldus to quote the 
 observation of Sir R. Hoare, ( That his own words prove 
 * Giraldus did not give implicit credit to all the miracles 
 ' which he inserted in his works ; for he says,' " I know, 
 ** and am well assured, that I have committed to writing 
 " some things which will appear ridiculous, and even im- 
 «* possible, to the reader ; nor do I wish, that hasty credit 
 " should be given to every thing I have asserted, for I do 
 " not believe them myself." Hence it is evident, that 
 Giraldus gave the accounts of miracles, and other strange 
 things, as he received them, without vouching for their 
 truth ; and so, without danger to the reader, in times so ad- 
 dicted to superstition, he gave all the information, pro- 
 bably, that he could collect. 
 
 The miracles, as they are called, were, in some cases, 
 performed, no doubt, by confederacy ; and, in others, by 
 artifices of no common ingenuity, or a superior skill in 
 medicine. The effect of St. Curig's staff, seems to have 
 been such as that of the tractors of later date, produced by 
 
190 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 gold and silver, and the head of which ex- 
 tends on either side like a cross. Its vir- 
 tues, though great in all cases, are espe- 
 cially so for the removal of glandular swell- 
 ings ; insomuch, that all persons afflicted 
 with these complaints, on a devout appli- 
 cation to the staff, with the oblation of 
 one penny, are restored to health. 
 
 At Elevein, in the church of Glascum, 
 is a portable bell, endowed with great vir- 
 tues, called Bangu, and said to have be- 
 longed to St. David. " This bell, the au- 
 
 drawing a metal frequently over the part affected ; and 
 though, in the latter case, the influence of imagination has 
 been proved to be strangely powerful in producing mus- 
 cular action, and one philosophical fact has been thus ascer- 
 tained; yet it may still be questioned whether, if the 
 proper means had been pursued, another might not have 
 been discovered ; viz., that there may be particular cases, 
 and particular habits, on which such an application may 
 have permanent eifects, by a medium, perhaps, a fluid yet 
 unknown ; and, possibly, that by which the sensation of 
 tickling is produced, and which can only be so on any one 
 by the touch of another* By the indiscriminate applica- 
 tion of new remedies, their proper use has frequently been 
 lost, or not discovered ; and it is a problem which yet re- 
 mains to be solved, — in what cases, and in what degree, 
 the imagination has effect on disease ? 
 
I'OfULAR ANTIQUITIES. 191 
 
 " thor of the life of St. Teilo says, was 
 " greater in fame than in size, and in 
 " value than in beauty. It convicts the 
 " perjured, and cures the infirm • and what 
 " seems still more wonderful is, that it did 
 " sound every hour without being touched, 
 " until it was prevented by the sin of men, 
 " who rashly handled it with polluted hands* 
 " and it ceased from so delightful an of- 
 " fice." Collectanea Cambrica, Vol. I. 
 p. 308. The bell at Bangu seems, then, 
 to have been the only remains of the clock 
 of St. David, in the time of Giraldus. 
 
 It happened, that the hand of a boy 
 who was endeavouring to take some young 
 pigeons from a nest in the church of 
 St. David's of Llanvaes, adhered to the 
 stone on which he leaned ; and, when the 
 boy, attended by his friends and parents, 
 had, for three successive days and nights, 
 offered up his prayers and supplications 
 before the holy altar of his church, his 
 hand was on the third day liberated. The 
 stone is preserved in the church to this 
 day among the relics, and the marks of 
 the five fingers appear impressed on the 
 
192 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 flint. A similar miracle happened at 
 St. Edmundsbury to a poor woman, who 
 often visited the shrine with the design of 
 taking some of the offerings away, which 
 she licked up by kissing. But, in one of 
 these attempts, her tongue and lips * ad- 
 hered to the altar. 
 
 OF FAIRIES. 
 
 A short time before our days, a circum- 
 stance worthy of note occurred in those 
 parts (near Neath), which Elidurus, a 
 priest, most strenuously affirmed had be- 
 fallen himself. When a youth of twelve 
 years, in order to avoid the severity of his 
 preceptor, he ran away, and concealed 
 himself under the hollow bank of a river ; 
 and, after fasting in that situation for two 
 days, two little men of pigmy stature ap- 
 
 * These miracles seem to have been performed by means 
 of a strong transparent gum, or cement, which the monks 
 could dissolve when they thought proper to release their 
 prisoner. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 193 
 
 peared to him and said, " If you will go 
 " with us, we will lead you into a country 
 " full of delights and sports." Assenting 
 and rising up, he followed his guides 
 through a path at first subterraneous and 
 dark, into a most beautiful country, but 
 obscure and not illuminated with the full 
 light of the sun, All the days were cloudy, 
 and the nights extremely dark. The boy 
 was brought before the king, and intro- 
 duced to him in the presence of his court, 
 when, having examined him for a long 
 time, he delivered him to his son, who was 
 then a boy. These men were of the 
 smallest stature, but very well propor- 
 tioned, fair complexioned, and wore long 
 hair. They had horses and greyhounds 
 adapted to their size. They neither ate 
 flesh nor fish, but lived on milk-diet, made 
 up into messes with saffron. As often as 
 they returned from our hemisphere, they 
 reprobated our ambition, infidelities, and 
 inconstancies ; and though they had no 
 form of public worship, were, it seems, 
 strict lovers and reverers of truth. 
 
 The boy frequently returned to our he- 
 
194 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 ■ ■ . ■ ' 
 
 misphere, sometimes by the way he had 
 gone, sometimes by others ; at n>st in 
 company, and afterwards alone ; and ma«de 
 himself known only to his mother, to whom? 
 he described what he had seen. Beii&g' 
 desired by her to bring her a present of 
 gold, with which that country abounded, 
 he stole, whilst at play with the king's son, 
 a golden ball, with which he used to divert 
 himself, and brought it in haste to his mo- 
 ther, but not unpursued ; for, as he en- 
 tered the house of his father, he stumbled 
 at the threshold, he let the ball fall, and; 
 two pigmies seizing it departed, shewing 
 the boy every mark of contempt and de- 
 rision. Notwithstanding every attempt 
 for the space of a year, he never again 
 could find the track to the subterraneous 
 passage. He had made himself acquaints 
 ed with their language, which was very 
 conformable to the Greek idiom. When 
 they asked for water, they said, Udor 
 udorum ; when they want salt, they say, 
 Halgein udorum. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 195 
 
 mm 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRECEDING 
 CURIOUS ACCOUNT. 
 
 Strange, or uncouth appearances, veiled 
 in mystery, are so generally resolved into 
 the effects of supernatural powers by the 
 ignorant, and into effects of weak or fan- 
 ciful imaginations by others, that the for- 
 mer fear, and the latter, will not, in ge- 
 neral, take any trouble to investigate the 
 real causes. There is scarcely any super- 
 stition more ancient, or which has been 
 more general, than that which respects 
 fairies, or any of which so little that is 
 satisfactory has been written ; and yet the 
 above account of them, which is perfectly 
 conformable to the general traditions, 
 leads to interesting historical information. 
 What led me to this idea of it originally, 
 was the specimen of the language of the 
 fairies, as given by Giraldus, which, if not 
 pure Irish, is at least a mixture of Irish 
 and Welsh. The letter C7, with which 
 each of the words begins, is, probably, 
 
 o 2 
 
196 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 no more than the representative of an in- 
 distinct sound like the e mute of the 
 French, and which those, whose language 
 and manners are vulgar, often prefix to 
 words indifferently. If, then, they be read 
 Dor dorum, and Halgein dorum; Dor 
 and Halgein are nearly Dwr, or, as it is 
 pronounced, Door and Halen, the Welsh 
 words for water and salt respectively. 
 Dorum, therefore, signifies the desire of 
 having either; that is, it is equivalent to 
 Give me, and the Irish expression for Give 
 me, is Thorum ; the Welsh, Dyro imi. 
 There can then be no doubt, but that, 
 as far as this specimen goes, the language 
 of these fairies was either Irish or Welsh. 
 The order of the words, however, is re- 
 versed. The order should be Thorum Dor, 
 and Thorum halen in Irish, and in Welsh 
 Dyro imi dwr, and Dyro imi halen, but was, 
 perhaps, reversed intentionally by the 
 narrator, to make his tale the more mar- 
 vellous. Hence it occurred, that, as the 
 Irish had frequently landed hostilely in 
 Wales, it was very possible, that some 
 small bodies of that nation left behind, or 
 ynable to return, and, fearing discovery, 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 197 
 
 had hid themselves in * caverns during 
 the day, and sent their children out at 
 night fantastically dressed, for food and 
 exercise, and thus secured themselves. 
 But, upon further consideration, the fairy 
 customs appeared evidently too systematic, 
 and too general, to be those of an acci- 
 dental party reduced to distress. They 
 are those of a consistent and regular po- 
 licy instituted to prevent discovery, and 
 to inspire fear of their power, and an 
 high opinion of their beneficence. Accord- 
 ingly tradition notes, that to attempt to 
 discover them, was to incur certain de- 
 struction. " They are fairies/' says Fal- 
 staff : " he that looks on them shall die." 
 They were not to be impeded in ingress or 
 egress ; a bowl of milk was to be left for 
 them at night on the hearth ; and, in return, 
 they left a small present in money when 
 they departed, if the house was kept 
 clean ; if not, they inflicted some punish- 
 ment on the negligent, which, as it was 
 death to look on them, they were obliged 
 
 * Certum est reperiri Pygmaeos in metallicis caver nis. 
 
 Caecilius apud Sheringham, p. 293. 
 
198 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 to suffer, and no doubt, but many un- 
 lucky tricks were played on such occasions. 
 Their general dress was green, that they 
 might be the better concealed ; and, as 
 their children might have betrayed their 
 haunts, they seem to have been suffered 
 to go out only in the night time, and to 
 have been entertained by dances on moon- 
 light nights. These dances, like those 
 round the maypole, have been said to be 
 performed round a tree ; and on an ele- 
 vated spot, mostly a tumulus, beneath 
 which was probably their habitation, or 
 its entrance. The older persons, pro- 
 bably, mixed as much as they dared with 
 the world ; and, if they happened to be at 
 any time recognised, the certainty of their 
 vengeance was their safety. If by any 
 chance their society was thinned, they ap- 
 pear to have stolen children, and changed 
 feeble for stronger infants. The stolen 
 children, if beyond infancy, being brought 
 into their subterraneous dwellings, seem 
 to have had a soporific given them, and 
 to have been carried to a distant part of 
 the country ; and, being there allowed to 
 go out merely by night, mistook the night 
 
POPU LAR ANTIQUITIES. 199 
 
 for the day, and probably were not un- 
 deceived until it could be done securely. 
 The regularity and generality of this system 
 shews, that there was a body of people 
 existing in the kingdom distinct from its 
 known inhabitants, and eitherconfederated, 
 or obliged to live or meet mysteriously ; 
 and their rites, particularly that of dan- 
 cing round a tree, probably an oak, as 
 Heme's, &c, as well as their character for 
 truth and probity, refer them to aDruidic 
 origin. If this was the case, it is easy to 
 conceive, as indeed history shews, that as 
 the Druids were persecuted by the Ro- 
 mans and Christians, they used these means 
 to preserve themselves and their families, 
 and whilst the country was thinly peopled, 
 and thickly wooded, did so successfully ; 
 and, perhaps, to a much later period than 
 is imagined : till the increase of popula- 
 tion made it impossible. As the Druidical 
 was one of the most ancient religions, So 
 it must have been one of the first perse- 
 cuted, and forced to form a regular plan 
 of security, which their dwelling in caves 
 may have suggested, and necessity im- 
 proved; and hence it may be, that similar 
 
200 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 traditions are found in Asia and in Europe, 
 and perhaps, it may not be going too far 
 to suppose, that Christians of the ancient 
 British church, when persecuted, followed 
 the example. To this class of benevolent 
 recluses, the Scotch Browny seems to be- 
 long, who was, probably, no more than a 
 solitary individual, and who might, like 
 the Caledonian Merlin, have been insane, 
 but incapable of injury. It is a very re- 
 markable fact, that the tradition of a fairy 
 putting out the eyes of a man who recog- 
 nised him, which is in a note to the Lady 
 of the Lake, told as a Scottish tradition, 
 is told in Wales with no other difference, 
 than that of the place. Forty years ago, 
 the writer of this was told the tale, and 
 that the scene of the transaction was Wrex- 
 ham. The probability is, that the tale 
 came into Wales with the Strathclwyd 
 Britons, and that the narrator, as Corporal 
 Trim took the year, took the place near- 
 est in his recollection. 
 
 The same idea of the fairies will also 
 explain the account given of * Melerius 
 
 * Chap. XII. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 201 
 
 by Giraldus ; the substance of which is, 
 that Melerius was conversant with demons, 
 and could foretel, with tolerable accuracy, 
 what would happen within the year. This, 
 by a connexion with a secret society, was 
 very possible, as he might so be acquainted 
 with the plan of their operations for the 
 year, and the semblance of insanity, which 
 he declared he had been subject to, pre- 
 cluded suspicion. What Giraldus also re- 
 lates of one * Simon, who pretended to be 
 of demoniac origin, is of the same kind, 
 and from Chap. XII. it appears, that 
 some of this character were ventriloquists, 
 and more than a match for the popish 
 exorcists. 
 
 * Chap. V. 
 
202 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 - ILL. II IIW— — II.MIT 
 
 CAN Y TYLWYTH TEG ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE FAIRY SONG. 
 
 Tune— Torriad y Dydd, or the Dawn. 
 
 WRITTEN BY RICHARD LLWYD OF BEAUMARES, 
 
 For the Collection of British Music lately published by Mr. THOMPSON, 
 with Symphonies, by the immortal Haydn. 
 
 I. 
 
 From grassy blades and ferny shades 
 
 My happy comrades hie, 
 Now day declines — bright Hesper shines, 
 
 And night invades the sky. 
 From noon- day pranks and thy my banks 
 
 To Dolydd's dome repair ; 
 For our's the joy that cannot cloy, 
 
 And mortals cannot share. 
 
 II. 
 
 The light-latched door, the well-swept floor, 
 
 The hearth * so trim and neat, 
 The blaze so clear, the water near 
 
 The pleasant circling seat. 
 
 * In Wales, as in other pastoral districts, the Fairy Tales 
 are not erased from the traditional tablet ; and age seldom 
 neglects to inform youth, that if, on retiring to rest, the 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 203 
 
 With proper care your reeds prepare, 
 
 Your tuneful labours bring, 
 And day shall haste to tinge the east 
 
 Ere we shall cease to sing. 
 
 III. 
 
 But first I'll creep where mortals sleep, 
 
 And from the blissful dream : 
 I'll hover near the maiden dear 
 
 That keeps this hearth so clean : 
 I'll shew her when that best of men, 
 
 So rich in manly charms, 
 Her Einion true, in vest of blue, 
 
 Shall bless her longing arms. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Your little sheaves on primrose leaves, 
 
 Your acorns, berries spread; 
 Let kernels sweet increase the treat, 
 
 And flow'rs their fragrance shed ; 
 And when 'tis o'er we'll crowd the floor, 
 
 In jocund pairs advance, 
 No voice be mute, and each shrill flute 
 
 Shall cheer the mazy dance. 
 
 hearth is made clean, the floor swept, and the pails left full 
 of water, the fairies will come at midnight, continue their 
 revels till daybreak, sing the well-known strain of Torriad 
 y Dydd, or the Dawn, leave a piece of money upon the 
 hob, and disappear ! The suggestions of intellect, and 
 the precautions of prudence, are easily discernible under 
 this fiction : a safety from fire, in the neatness of the hearth; 
 a provision for its extinction, in replenished pails, and a 
 motive to perseverance, in the promised boon. 
 
204 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 V. 
 
 When morning breaks, and man awakes 
 
 From sleep's restoring hours, 
 The flock, the field, his Home we yield 
 
 To his more active powers. 
 While clad in green, unheard, unseen, 
 
 On sunny banks we'll play, 
 And give to man his little span — 
 
 His empire of the day. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 205 
 
 SUPERSTITIOUS DANCE AT ST. ALMEDHA'S 
 CHURCH, NEAR BRECKNOCK. 
 
 From Gi a Aldus. 
 
 " A solemn festival is annually held 
 
 " here, in honour of this saint, in the be- 
 
 " ginning of August. At this festival, you 
 
 " may see men or girls now in the church- 
 
 " yard, now in the dance, which is led 
 
 " round the churchyard with a song, on a 
 
 " sudden falling to the ground as in a 
 
 ** trance, then jumping up as in a frenzy, 
 
 " and representing with their hands and 
 
 " feet, before the people, whatever work 
 
 " they have unlawfully done on feast 
 
 " days. You may see one man put 
 
 " his hands, as it were, to the plough ; 
 
 " and another goad the oxen, relieving 
 
 " their toil by a rude song : others, imi- 
 
 " tating the work of the shoemaker, or 
 
 " tanner; of spinning, or weaving; and, 
 
 " being brought into the church, and up 
 
 " to the altar, they all come to them- 
 
 " selves." 
 

 
 206 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 This description is evidently from re- 
 port. The custom seems to have been, in 
 reality, a festival of the different laborious 
 professions, which, according to the Brut, 
 must have been a Druidical custom, as 
 old as the time of King Lear. What is 
 said of the recovery at the altar, is pro- 
 bably a popish invention. 
 
 It appears from Chap. XL, that the 
 divination by the blade-bone of mutton, 
 was not a Welsh, but Flemish custom ori- 
 ginally, and that it w r as to be taken from 
 the right shoulder of a ram ; which was 
 boiled, and not roasted. * The Scythians 
 practised divination of a somewhat similar 
 kind. In their human sacrifices, the}^ cut 
 off the shoulder and arm of the victim, 
 which they tossed into the air, and drew 
 omens and presages from their manner of 
 falling on the pile. 
 
 * Gibbon, Vol. VI. p. 4. Ed. 8vo. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 207 
 
 Giraldus, Book II. Chap. I. 
 
 The river Alyn, bounding the church- 
 yard of St. David's, flows under a stone 
 called Llechlafar, which serves as a bridge 
 over the river. It is a beautiful piece of 
 marble, polished by the feet of passengers, 
 ten feet in length, six in breadth, and one 
 in thickness. Llechlafar, signifies, in the 
 British language, a talking stone. There 
 was an ancient tradition respecting this 
 stone, that at a time when a corpse was 
 carried over it for interment, it broke forth 
 into speech, and, by the effort, cracked in 
 the middle, which fissure is still visible ; 
 and, on account of this barbarous and an- 
 cient superstition, the corpses are no longer 
 brought over it. When Henry II. , on his 
 return from Ireland, landed in the port of 
 St. David's, and was going in procession 
 to the shrine of St. David's, a Welsh- 
 woman threw herself at his feet, and made 
 a complaint against the Bishop of St. Da- 
 vid's, and it not being attended to, she, 
 with violent gestulations, exclaimed re- 
 
208 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 mil mil a i i mth —■ — — ^ 
 
 peatedly, " Avenge us this day, Llech- 
 " lafar; avenge us and the nation in this 
 " man ;' alluding to an idle prophecy, 
 commonly attributed to Merlin, " That 
 " a king of England, and conqueror of 
 " Ireland, should be wounded by a man 
 " with a red hand, and die upon Llech- 
 " lafar, on his return through St. David's. 
 
 MAEN MORDDWYD, (THE THIGH-STONEJ, 
 AT LLANIDAN IN ANGLESEA. 
 
 Giraldus, Book II. Chap. VII. 
 
 " There is a stone here resembling a 
 " human thigh, which possesses this in- 
 " nate virtue, that to whatever distance it 
 " be carried, it returns of its own accord, 
 " the following night, as has often been 
 " experienced by the inhabitants/' 
 
 In a note from a MS. of Mr. Rowlands, 
 the author of Mona Antiqua, this stone is 
 said, having long lost its virtue, to have 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 209 
 
 been stolen within his memory. There was 
 once a tradition also concerningit, that when 
 a wish was made before it, if the wish was 
 to come to pass, the person who expressed 
 the wish could lift it up with ease ; but, 
 if not, then it became so heavy, that his 
 utmost strength could not raise it. In the 
 latter case, it required but little art to 
 produce the effect unknown to the simple 
 inquirer. 
 
 SNOWDON MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Giralpus, Chap. IX. 
 
 " According to vulgar tradition, these 
 " mountains are frequented by an eagle, 
 " who, perching on a fatal stone every 
 " Thursday, and hoping to satiate her 
 " hunger with the carcasses of the slain, is 
 11 said to expect war on that same day, 
 
 and to have almost perforated the stone, 
 " by cleaning and sharpening her beak/' 
 
 It should seem from this passage, that 
 p 
 
 a 
 
210 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Thursday was the sacred day of the Druids. 
 In the Gododin, the transactions of a fes- 
 tival week are given ; and of Thursday it 
 is only said, The due rites were performed. 
 In another poem, The Praise of Lludd the 
 Great, another account of them is given, 
 in which it is said, On Thursday they were 
 delivered from the detested usurpers : by 
 which, as the poem relates to the deluge, 
 I suppose, the waters are intended ; and 
 that, in consequence of their having some 
 tradition as to this day, it was held sa- 
 cred ; though I can only suppose it. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 211 
 
 CUSTOMS 
 MENTIONED BY MR. LEWIS MORRIS 
 
 It was the custom among all warlike 
 nations, to give names to their swords ; 
 but the ancient Britons took a particular 
 pride in adorning their swords, and making 
 them polished handles of the teeth of sea 
 animals, &c. ; and their warlike disposi- 
 tion, and love of the sword, was such, that 
 it was the custom for the mother of every 
 male child, to put the first victuals into 
 the child's mouth on the point of his fa- 
 ther's sword ; and, with the food, to give 
 her first blessing or wish to him, that he 
 might die no other death than that of the 
 sword. Nay, this nation, by long strug- 
 gling in defence of their country, had got 
 to such an enthusiastic pitch of warlike 
 madness, that 1 have read in an ancient 
 British MS. then at Hengwrt, that it was* 
 customary when a man grew very old and 
 infirm among them — to desire his chil- 
 dren, or next relatives, to pull him out of 
 
 p 2 
 
212 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 bed and kill him, lest the enemy might 
 have the pleasure of that office, or that he 
 should die cowardly and sordidly, and not 
 by the sword. 
 
 CITY OF TROY. 
 
 See the Drawing. 
 
 This is the name given to a delineation of 
 the plan of a labyrinth, which is sometimes 
 cut out in the turf by shepherd boys, whilst 
 they are tending their flocks on the moun- 
 tains of Walts ; and sometimes drawn, and 
 presented as a puzzle by school-boys, to 
 exercise the ingenuity of their school-fel- 
 lows, either in finding the way to the 
 citadel A, or in drawing the plan. The 
 tradition which accompanies the plan is, 
 that the city of Troy was defended by 
 seven walls represented by the seven ex- 
 terior lines, and the entrance from Bmade 
 so intricate for its greater security, as the 
 enemy is supposed to have been under the 
 necessity of going through all the winding 
 interval of the walls before he could arrive 
 
?! 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 213 
 
 at the citadel. In Welsh, the name given 
 to this plan is Caer Droea, or The City 
 of Troy; and the name is a sufficient evi- 
 dence, that a tradition respecting Troy 
 must have been very popular in Wales, 
 though I suspect, that Caer Drota is a 
 corruption of Caer Droeau, the city of 
 turnings, that is, of the Labyrinth; and 
 even so the evidence of the popular tra- 
 dition, as to Troy, is not lessened, but ra- 
 ther the reverse, because, that in the cor- 
 ruption of words, those which are most 
 familiar are always the substitutes of words 
 whose significations are less so. 
 
 In the plan itself, there is considerable 
 ingenuity. As usually drawn, the points 
 «, b, and e, /, are usually connected by a 
 line, as in the scheme. This line, how- 
 ever, should be omitted, and the lines c 
 and g, being extended to d and //, it would 
 be properly a labyrinth, which, at present, 
 it is not, as there are no means of losing the 
 way into the citadel ; the supposed way 
 continuing regulaily through ail its wind- 
 ings unbroken, which could scarcely have 
 been the design of the inventor. 
 
214 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 OF CRUG MAWR. 
 
 Crug Mawr 9 or Pen tychryd Mawr, is 
 a mountain, or lofty hill, in Cardigan- 
 shire, situated in the vale of Ayeron, 
 mentioned in Giraldus, where, he says, 
 " there is an open grave, which fits the 
 " length of any man lying in it, short 
 " or long." Hence arose the ancient tra- 
 dition, that a powerful caxvr, or giant, 
 kept his post on this hili, who was endowed 
 with the genius of the Ayeron vale. He 
 had a lofty palace erected on the hill, and 
 used occasionally to invite the neighbouring 
 giants to a trial of strength on the top of it; 
 at one of these meetings coits were proposed 
 and introduced, and, after great efforts, 
 the inhabitant of the spot won the day, 
 by throwing his coit clear into the Irish 
 shore, which ever after gave him the su- 
 periority over all other giants in Caredig 
 land. 
 
 What this tale calls the Irish shore, was 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 215 
 
 probably only the green sward at the base 
 of the rock, as the word Iwerddon signi- 
 fies a green place. The grave was, ] pre- 
 sume, a probationary or penitentiary cell 
 of the Druids, formed in the interior as a 
 square tube; at the upper end whereof 
 was a stone fitted to the dimensions of the 
 tube and movable in it by a concealed 
 simple machinery, so that when the aspi- 
 rant or penitent crept into the cell, its 
 depth was adjusted to his size, rather than 
 his size adjusted to it, by the inconvenient 
 method of Procrustes, though both me- 
 thods may have belonged to the same su- 
 perstition ; and, in flagrant cases, a re- 
 fusal of the tampion to act have been the 
 signal for the severer process ; such re- 
 fusal being considered as an intimation of 
 the divine displeasure. 
 
216 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 WELSH MAEN. 
 
 This custom in the barbarous sport of 
 cock-fighting has been fully described by 
 the author of Popular Antiquities, but not 
 traced to its origin ; though this is indi- 
 cated by the very name, which should be 
 written as above. Maen, and not Main, as 
 it is commonly written, signifies a large 
 stone, such as the cromlech ; and hence it 
 ma}' be inferred, that this singular kind of 
 battle was originally a Druidical ceremony 
 connected with the cromlech, or in imita- 
 tion of such a ceremony. But as the 
 Druids are known to have sacrificed cap- 
 tives taken in war, the most probable in- 
 ference is, that the captives were obliged 
 to fight in the same manner, that is, being 
 first divided into two bands of equal num- 
 bers, they were to fight till one half of 
 the whole number was killed ; the survi- 
 ving half then being formed into two 
 bands, were compelled to fight till one 
 half of this whole number survived, and so 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 217 
 
 on till one only remained, whose life per- 
 haps was spared. 
 
 This conjecture is founded not only on 
 the derivation of the name, but on the ge- 
 neral barbarous practice common to many 
 nations of destroying the prisoners taken 
 in war, and which, until they were able 
 to keep them safely, and provide for their 
 support, by employing them in agriculture 
 or other labour, necessity seems to have 
 introduced. In the Roman state it pre- 
 vailed as long as it was pagan, and to a 
 much greater degree than it is generally 
 supposed, and it is to Christianity that 
 the world owed the abolition of those Gla- 
 diatorial shows, the real political purpose 
 of which was to destroy captives taken in 
 war. 
 
 It may, however, have been the fact, 
 that the Welsh Maen was a sacred insti- 
 tution, and that the cock was a sacred 
 bird, as Caesar says this species of fowl 
 was not eaten by the Britons. 
 
218 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 i ■ 
 
 POPULAR TRADITIONS. 
 
 Not far from Dolgelleu upon the road 
 to Machynlleth are three large stones 
 called the three pebbles. The tradition 
 concerning these is, that the giant Idris, 
 whose residence was on Cad air Idris, 
 finding them troublesome in his shoe as 
 he was walking, threw them down there. 
 In Mr. Theophilus Jones's entertaining and 
 useful History of Brecknockshire, there 
 is this account of a similar circumstance, 
 " Under the corrupted name of Moll Wal- 
 " bee, we have her castles on every emi- 
 ** nence, and her feats are traditionally 
 " narrated in every parish. She built, 
 " (say the gossips) the castle of Hay in 
 " one night; the stones for which she car- 
 " ried in her apron. While she was thus 
 " employed, a small pebble, of about nine 
 " feet long, and one thick, dropped into 
 " her shoe : this she did not at first re- 
 gard ; but, in a short time, finding it 
 
 a 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 21{) 
 
 " troublesome, threw it over the Wye into 
 
 " Llowes churchyard, in Radnorshire 
 
 " (about three miles off), where it remains 
 
 " to this day, precisely in the position it 
 
 " fell ; a stubborn memorial of the histori- 
 
 " cal fact, to the utter confusion of all 
 
 " sceptics and unbelievers/' 
 
 This Moll Walbee is, by the gossips of 
 Brecknockshire, supposed to have been 
 the same as Maud of St. Waverley, or 
 Maud de Haia, who built Hay-castle, and, 
 as Maud was detested by the Welsh, they 
 may have given her the title of a fury ; but 
 the part of the tradition relative to the 
 pebble, and building castles, must be of 
 much higher antiquity, as in many places 
 of North Wales, where there are heaps of 
 rude stones, a witch is said to have carried 
 them thither in her apron ; and, as these 
 stones generally have formed parts of en- 
 closures, the original name was, perhaps, 
 Malaen y Walfa* or The Fury of the En- 
 closure, as the ignorant frequently attribute 
 structures, which have any thing formi- 
 dable and astonishing in their appearance, 
 to the work of evil spirits. 
 
220 POPULAR ANTIQUTIIES. 
 
 ROLLDRITCH. 
 
 The popular traditions as to monuments 
 of very remote antiquity, are frequently 
 amusing, and even the apparent absurdity 
 becomes occasionally a key to the truth. 
 As in the preceding instance, a fury, or 
 witch, had the credit of displaj'ing her 
 wonderful powers, so also, at Rolldritch, 
 upon inquiry, I found the popular tradi- 
 tion to be, that a witch, in revenge for 
 some offence, had turned the offenders 
 into the stones which form the circle there. 
 Rhwyldrech would signify, the Circle of 
 Superiority, or Victory, and hence, if cap- 
 tives were sacrificed to Malaen, when they 
 were brought into the circle, the stones 
 might be considered as forming the fatal 
 circle of her power ; and a.s they were the 
 monuments of destruction, the idea of the 
 transformation of the captives might arise 
 from some ambiguous expression. 
 
 Another tradition relative to the circle 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 221 
 
 at Rolldritch is, that the number of stones 
 in the circle cannot be reckoned truly, for 
 that in reckoning them a second time, the 
 number will be found different from that 
 of the first ; a tradition which intimates, 
 that the place was once used for rites of 
 an awful superstition which confounded 
 the senses. 
 
 CADAIR IDRIS. 
 
 Idris, or ]Edris, is recorded in the Triads, 
 as one of the three great astronomers of 
 antiquity, and, as of remote times, and 
 conspicuous celebrity, is dignified by the 
 name of Cawr, that is, the Hero, or, as 
 applied to him, more properly the Re- 
 twwned. Whether it were, that elevated 
 mountains, as affording an extensive ho- 
 rizon, and a station of apparent proximity 
 to the heavens, induced the multitude to 
 imagine they must be the best adapted 
 to astronomical pursuits to transfer the 
 names of celebrated astronomers to the 
 
222 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 mountains may be questionable. A more 
 probable reason is, that, as in order to dis- 
 cover the first appearance of the new moon, 
 which was a point of great importance to 
 the due celebration of festivals as well as 
 to the formation of a calendar, that ap- 
 pearance was looked for from the highest 
 elevations, such were on these occasions 
 ^resorted to by the astronomers. And, for 
 this purpose, Cadair Idris is most admi- 
 rably appropriate. The commanding view, 
 and magnificent extent of horizon, which 
 the summit, easily attainable, affords, 
 would be equally advantageous and inter- 
 esting. On this summit a roundish enclo- 
 sure of stone walling marks what is called, 
 the Cadair, or Chair, to which tradition 
 assigns a power of affecting the imagina- 
 tion at night, far beyond what all the ro- 
 mantic and sublime scenery which the day 
 illumines, can aspire to. He who sleeps 
 upon this summit for one night, will, it is 
 said, be endowed with a poetic genius ; 
 and the late Rev. Evan Evans, author of the 
 Dissertatio de Bardis, did, as I have been 
 assured by one who was well acquainted 
 with him, once try the experiment. But 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 223 
 
 poor Evans did not want genius. Could 
 he have been endowed with a more patient 
 sufferance and a calmer mind, the pit 
 would have been ablessing. The experiment 
 itself was one of those symptomatic whims, 
 which like the flickering of an expiring 
 flame, mark the morbid state, and some- 
 times presage the total loss of the powers 
 of the understanding. The latter he hap- 
 pily escaped, but to the former, I believe, 
 he was, in no small degree subject, for 
 many of the last years of his life. His ge- 
 nius soon gave him reputation, and, as it is 
 but too common, his hopes were at first 
 two much raised, and, not being aware, 
 perhaps, that estimation, and the encou- 
 ragement he looked to are seldom closely 
 allied, though the latter may follow in time; 
 his disappointment, which should have 
 urged him to prudent industry, preyed upon 
 his mind till lie fell into negligence of him- 
 self; though his favourite pursuits of poetry 
 and Welsh researches were continued till 
 he died with an ardour deserving of a 
 better fate. 
 
 "When the astronomer Idris was cele- 
 
224 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 brated as an ancient cawr, the term in its 
 popular signification being a giant, the 
 tales of the neighbourhood did not fail 
 to amplify his size to the proper imaginary 
 dimensions, or to give an idea of it, not, 
 indeed, as the Greeks, by an ex pede Her- 
 culem, but by the three pebbles, which, being 
 rather troublesome in his shoe as he was 
 walking, he threw out of it nearly to the 
 place where they now lie, on the road to 
 Machynlleth. Very troublesome they are 
 not to be supposed to have been to the 
 giant, as they would only weigh a few 
 tons. They are, however, large enough 
 for a nursery computation of the giant's 
 stature 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 225 
 
 OF WEARING THE LEEK. 
 
 Had the custom of wearing any thing 
 taken from the vegetable kingdom as a 
 mark of national distinction at a particular 
 season been of any great antiquity in Bri- 
 tain, it scarcely admits of a doubt, but that 
 the missletoe would have been chosen for 
 that purpose by the Britons, and that the 
 day of wearing it would have been one of 
 the Druid festivals, such as the first of 
 May. Yet though the wearing of the leek 
 is not to be referred to a Druidical origin, 
 it is derived from an origin more honour- 
 able than superstition could give it ; from 
 one of those victories which have so often 
 graced the arms of this country when at 
 war with France. The engagement was 
 one in which the Welsh bore a distin- 
 guished part; and as Shakespeare has put 
 the circumstances into the mouth of his 
 admirably-drawn character of Fluellin in 
 Henry V., they cannot be made more in- 
 
 Q 
 
226 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 te resting than they will be in the spirited, 
 and, at the same time, modest and divert- 
 ing statement he has given of them. 
 
 " Flu. Your grandfather of famous me- 
 " mory, an't please your majesty, and 
 " your great uncle, Edward the plack 
 " Prince of Wales, as I have read in the 
 " chronicles, fought a most prave pattle 
 " here in France. 
 
 " K. Henry. They did Fluellin. 
 
 " Flu. Your majesty says very true. If 
 " your majesty is remembered of it, the 
 " Welshmen did goot service in a garden 
 " where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in 
 " their Monmouth caps, which, your raa- 
 " jesty knows, to this hour is an honour- 
 " able padge of the service ; and, I do be- 
 " lieve, your majesty takes no scorn to 
 " wear the leek upon St. Tavy's day. 
 
 " K. Henry. I wear it for a memorable 
 " honour. 
 
 This must have been, I suppose, the 
 glorious battle of Poictiers. John of Gaunt 
 (then Earl of Richmond) was, at the time, 
 about 17 years old ; and, as this is the only 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 227 
 
 battle answering the- description at which 
 both could have been present, I conclude, 
 it is the one intended in the above quota- 
 tion. The Welsh archers had also signa- 
 lized themselves at the battle of Cressy, so 
 that the leek may be deemed a memorial, 
 and the only one still worn, of two of the 
 most glorious victories that ever graced the 
 British arms, as well as of the part which 
 the Welsh had the honour of bearing in the 
 success. 
 
 I have been informed, that some years 
 ago a song, commemorating the occasion 
 of wearing the leek, was known and sung 
 in South Wales. Of this song I was pro- 
 mised a copy if my informant could, as he 
 thought it was in his power, obtain it. 
 Having heard no more of it, I can only 
 add, that, according to his representation 
 of it, the substance of the song was the 
 same as that of the speech of Fluellin. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 SORTES BIBLIC^, 
 
 The mode of inquiring into futurity by 
 opening a book, and taking the first sen- 
 tence that meets the eye as the answer, 
 is so well known as to require no particular 
 explanation, and that the Bible should 
 especially have been used for this purpose, 
 was a ready consequence of prevailing 
 superstition, and an application to be ex- 
 pected from those who, not being able to 
 abolish a pagan practice entirely, by a 
 mistaken, though possibly well-meant, 
 change of the mode, endeavoured to con- 
 nect the practice with Christianity. 
 
 There is little doubt but that the Druids 
 madeuse of some kind of lots made of wood, 
 for such inquiries, and particularly, of the 
 branches of the missletoe, which, from 
 their form, may easily be made to represent 
 all the characters of the most ancient Welsh 
 alphabet ; and the very name of this alpha- 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 229 
 
 bet leads to this conclusion. It is called 
 Coelbren y Beirdd, that is, The Wood of 
 Credence of the Bards, and which, there- 
 fore, marks it as that by which they pre- 
 tended to give some information by di- 
 vining ; since the word which I have tran- 
 slated credence, properly signifies the kind 
 of credit given to divination, omens, &c. 
 The method in which the investigation was 
 made cannot, perhaps, now be accurately 
 determined, but if, as it seems probable, 
 a similar method was made use of by the 
 Christians in later times, the method seems 
 to have been to assign a particular mean- 
 ing to every letter, and having shaken all 
 the characters together, and desired the 
 inquirer to draw one as in a lottery, to 
 predict according to the meaning assigned 
 to the character drawn. Such nearly is 
 that described in the following mode of 
 Sortes Biblicae, which is taken from a Welsh 
 manuscript of the 15th century, and which 
 I have frequently referred to as the White 
 Book of Hergest, in the Wynnstay Collec- 
 tion. From the preparatory ceremonial it 
 will appear, that the practice belonged to 
 those who were of the church of Rome. 
 
230 POTULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 The purport of the passage referred to is 
 as follows: — 
 
 The inquirer shall say three Paters, three 
 Aves, the first Psalm, and Gloria Patri ; 
 then opening the Bible shall note the first 
 letter of the page opened, which is to be 
 interpreted by the following rule : — 
 
 A signifies a good and happy life ; 
 B, Peace of the nations ; C, Death of the 
 Querist ; D, Great joy ; E, Revenge, &c. 
 
 Thus much is sufficient to shew the me- 
 thod, which is 1 all that is necessary. To 
 give the whole might only serve to renew 
 the superstition. I will only add, that 
 dreams were interpreted by the same me- 
 thod. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 231 
 
 CURIOUS NUMERATION, 
 
 In the Book of Basingwerke, and at 
 the end of the British Chronicle, on a 
 spare part of the page, I found the follow- 
 ing curious system of Numeration. Of its 
 use I must confess I am ignorant, as I 
 have not met with any instance of its ap- 
 plication. The numbers do not form any 
 regular series, neither does the system seem 
 applicable to any purpose of calculation. 
 The only probable conjecture I can form 
 respecting it is, that it was a numerical 
 cipher used for secret writing. The book 
 from which it is taken, was written about 
 the middle of the loth century, when the 
 Arabic numerals were well known. To 
 the supposition that the use was for cipher, 
 the repetition of the same numbers may 
 be objected, particularly that of 500 for 
 A, D, and Q ; but as the true reference 
 was easily to be determined b} r a point 
 over either of the three characters, the ob- 
 
232 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 jection may not be material. The original 
 passage seems to be an extract, or a note 
 of the writers, and is the more remark- 
 able, as the dates and other numbers 
 given in the manuscript, are all given in 
 the common Roman numerals. In the 
 following arrangement, the first column 
 follows the manuscript ; the second I have 
 annexed to it, in order to shew what letters 
 correspond to the numerals, as these suc- 
 ceed each other in this strange kind of 
 numeration, which, however, may be more 
 explicable to others than it is to me. The 
 writer briefly says, " Now we will shew 
 " what is the numerical value of each 
 " letter/' and proceeds to state it thus : — 
 
 Viz. 
 
 A is 500 
 
 1 
 
 .... I 
 
 B .... 300 
 
 5 
 
 .... V 
 
 C ..., 100 
 
 9 
 
 .... s 
 
 D 500 
 
 10 
 
 . . . • A. 
 
 E .... 250 
 
 15 
 
 .... o 
 
 F .... 40 
 
 40 
 
 .... F 
 
 G .... 400 
 
 50 
 
 .... L 
 
 H .... 200 
 
 80 
 
 .... R 
 
 I .... 1 
 
 90 
 
 .... N 
 
 K .... 140 
 
 100 
 
 .... C 
 
 L .... 50 
 
 140 
 
 • • • • K. 
 
 M ....1000 
 
 150 
 
 .... Y 
 
 N .... 90 
 
 160 
 
 • • . • A 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUltflES. 233 
 
 O 15 
 
 200 .... H 
 
 P 300 
 
 250 .... E 
 
 Q .... 500 
 
 300 B, P 
 
 R 80 
 
 400 G 
 
 S 9 
 
 500 .... A, D, Q 
 
 T .... 160 
 
 1000 .... M 
 
 V .... 5 
 
 2000 .... Z 
 
 X .... io 
 
 
 Y .... 150 
 
 
 Z ....2000 
 
 
 It may be necessary to observe that there 
 is only one of these letters which is in Welsh 
 the initial of the number to which it is an- 
 nexed, that is the C, the initial of cant., or 
 one hundred. 
 
 It is also a curious peculiarity, that 
 though the Welsh reckon regularly as far 
 ten, they proceed by one and ten, two 
 and ten, &c, to fifteen, and then go on 
 by one and fifteen, two and fifteen, &c, 
 to twenty, and reckon thus by twenties, 
 and not by tens, till they come to a hun- 
 dred. This mode is not, I believe, used 
 by any other European nation, certainly 
 not by any whose numeration I have been 
 able to see, most of which I have ex- 
 amined. 
 
234 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 HOLY WELLS. 
 
 The superstitious ceremonies used at 
 such wells, and the respect with which 
 they are frequented, must be of very re- 
 mote antiquity, since as early as the time 
 of Joshua the name of En-shemesh, or the 
 Fountain of the Sun, was given to a well 
 which manifestly indicates that the well 
 was dedicated to the sun, and the name of 
 another En-rogel, or the Fountain of Se- 
 cret Inquiry, or of Calumniation, as it 
 may be translated, intimates, that it was 
 used for some purpose of divination. To 
 these may be added En-dor, or the Foun- 
 tain of Circular Revolution ; and in these 
 three names the three principal supersti- 
 tions are discernible, which are denoted 
 by practices not even at this time wholly 
 fallen into disuse. Some doubts may per- 
 haps be suggested as to the translation I 
 have given of En-rogel, because the Jewish 
 commentators have referred the word 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 235 
 
 Rogel to some action of the feet in fulling 
 of cloths, and supposed the well to have 
 been appropriated to that use. This ex- 
 position, however, is at best but conjec- 
 tural. The radical word signifies, afoot, 
 and hence the verb Ragal signifies to trace 
 the footstep, and particularly that of an 
 enemy, and, metaphorically, to mark the 
 conduct of another invidiously, and with 
 the intent of destroying him ; and hence 
 it appears to me, the interpretation I b#ve 
 given is justifiable, at least. But this well 
 was situated also in the same district as 
 En-shemesh, referred to before ; and as 
 Debir, or The Oracle, was in that district 
 (Joshua xv. ver. 7), and the stone of Zohe- 
 leth, or the Stone of Crawling, is said to 
 have been near En-rogel (1 Kings i. ver. 9)> 
 literally close by it, all these circumstances 
 shew, that the district w r as one of great 
 superstition, and I therefore conceive, 
 that the sense I have attributed to En- 
 rogel is the true one. The origin of these 
 superstitions must undoubtedly be looked 
 for in a hot climate, where a well of pure 
 water affords one of the greatest blessings 
 of life ; and thus the Hebrew word for a 
 
236 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 tank, which is of less value than a well, 
 with the slight variation of a vowel point, 
 signifies a blessing ; and when the sun be- 
 came an object of worship, the dedication 
 of a well to it, as of the earthly to the 
 heavenly source of comfort, was simple 
 and natural. From this reference a 
 higher estimation of a well opening and 
 flowing eastward may have arisen, and, as 
 I have heard, such wells were formerly 
 thought in Wales to afford the purest 
 water. The purifications necessary, first 
 for health, and secondly preparative to 
 religious ceremonies, were additional mo- 
 tives for a regard to wells ; but above all, 
 where the waters were found to possess 
 medical virtues, those virtues were readily 
 believed to be conferred by some benevo- 
 lent and superintendent divinity. What- 
 ever be the religious system, deprecation 
 of the wrath of the Deity must form one 
 part of it, and humiliation must precede 
 an act of supposed purification. It is the 
 course which nature and reason, even in 
 its most feeble efforts, would dictate. Ac- 
 cordingly it appears, that in Ireland the 
 votaries of some holy wells crawl around 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 237 
 
 them several times on their hands and 
 knees, and such, I presume, was the cus- 
 tom at En-dor in the time of Joshua. The 
 expression of gratitude for benefits received 
 was another natural sentiment of religion; 
 and hence, probably, arose the custom of 
 leaving some token of it, however small, 
 such as the dropping of a pin into the 
 well, or hanging up a rag on some bush 
 near it. Brand says, " I have frequently 
 " observed shreds, or bits of rags, upon 
 " the bushes that overhang a well in the 
 " road to Benton, a village in the neigh- 
 " bourhood of Newcastle. It is called, 
 " The Rag- well. The spring has been 
 " visited for some disorder or other, and 
 " these rag-offerings are relics of the then- 
 prevailing superstition. Thus, Mr. Pen- 
 nant tells us, they visit the well of Spey 
 in. Scotland, for many distempers, and 
 " the well of Drachaldy for as many more, 
 " offering small bits of money, and bits of 
 " rags/' 
 
 In the third of the excellent letters of 
 Columbanus, a very interesting account is 
 given of the well-worship as practised in 
 
£38 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Ireland, a worship justly censured by the 
 worthy author. In this account he says, 
 " When I pressed a very old man, Owen 
 " Hester, to state what possible advantage 
 " he expected to derive from the singular 
 custom of frequenting in particular such 
 wells as were contiguous to an old blasted 
 oak, or an upright unhewn stone ; and 
 what the meaning was of the yet more 
 " singular custom of sticking rags on the 
 " branches of such trees, and spitting on 
 " them, his answer, and the answer of the 
 " oldest men, was, that their ancestors al- 
 " ways did it; that it was a preservative 
 " against Geasa Draoidecht, i. e., the sor- 
 " ceriesof the Druids ; — and so thoroughly 
 " persuaded were they of the sanctity of 
 " these pagan practices, that they would 
 " travel bareheaded and barefooted from 10 
 " to 20 miles, for the purpose of crawling on 
 " their knees round these wells, and upright 
 " stones, and oak trees, westward, as the 
 " sun travels, some three times, some six, 
 " some nine, and so on — until their volun- 
 " tary penances were completely fulfilled. 
 " A passage from Hanway leads directly 
 " to the Oriental custom of these Druidical 
 
it 
 
 <£ 
 
 ii 
 
 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 239 
 
 1 -" "in i i i m i 
 
 superstitions. ' We arrived at a de- 
 ' solate caravanserai, where we found 
 
 * nothing but water. I observed a tree 
 6 with a number of rags to the branches. 
 
 * These were so many charms, which 
 6 passengers coming from Ghilaw, a 
 ' province remarkable for agues, had left 
 
 " * there, in a fond expectation of leaving 
 
 " ' their disease also in the same spot/ 
 
 " From Chaldea and Persia well-worship 
 
 " passed into Arabia, where the well of 
 
 " Zimzim at Mecca was celebrated from 
 
 " the remotest ages/' &c. 
 
 In these passages there is such a con- 
 formity with the stone of crawling, near 
 En-rogel, as leaves no doubt on my mind, 
 but that the superstitious practice in Ire- 
 land is derived from that of the Canaanites. 
 The name of Endor properly signifies, The 
 Well of Revolution, and points to some kind 
 of going round, as the ceremony used at 
 that place, but whether this was going 
 round the well, dancing in a circle, or turn- 
 ing round in the same manner as the Turkish 
 dervishes are still known to do as a reli- 
 gious ceremony, is a question on which so 
 
240 POPULAR, ANTIQUITIES* 
 
 much might be said, and so little deter- 
 mined, that it may be most prudent not to 
 enter upon it. That Endor was a place 
 devoted to a pagan superstition, seems to 
 have been the reason why the sorceress, or 
 witch, consulted by Saul, should have 
 made it that of her abode, and found her 
 safety in it, being, as it was, in the hilly 
 region of Mount Tabor. In such coun- 
 tries, when communication with others is 
 rare, and especially if it be by means of 
 another language than the common one 
 of the lower orders, a superstition which 
 has once established itself, can scarcely be 
 eradicated. Impressed on the minds of 
 the young as the wisdom, the piety, or the 
 apprehension of preceding generations, the 
 sentiment 
 
 " Grows with their growth and strengthens with their strength." 
 
 The practices annexed to it proceed as 
 of common observance amongst them- 
 selves, and little noticed by strangers ; 
 from whom they are generally concealed, 
 and to whose reproof or ridicule, when 
 they are not so, the answer, if any, might 
 be such, as an indiscreet attack upon pre* 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 241 
 
 judices generally receives, and perhaps 
 deservedly. The very ancient wells which 
 have been already mentioned, as denoted 
 by their names to have been frequented for 
 their supposed sanctity, mark, if not the 
 precise places where the superstition first 
 arose, places where it was adhered to, as 
 far back as the days of Joshua, and it 
 may be presumed, that in his time it was 
 common to Cbaldea and Syria, and that, 
 with the first colonies after the dispersion 
 from Babel it was carried westward ; 
 and though it is well known to have 
 once prevailed widely in the intervening 
 countries of Europe ; the only traces of 
 it, I believe, remain now in Wales, Ire- 
 land, and Scotland, the Western parts of 
 Europe ; and however their existence, as 
 inconsistent with pure religion, may be 
 lamented, as evidence of the truth of the 
 Mosaic history they are valuable, and not 
 less so as evidences of the traditional refer- 
 ence of these nations to their Oriental 
 origin. I have enlarged somewhat on this 
 subject, as no one else, that I know of, 
 has considered these wells of Canaan in 
 
 R 
 
242 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 the same light ; I now come to those of 
 Wales of the same kind. 
 
 There are in North Wales, several wells 
 which have been celebrated for the super- 
 stitious rites attached to them, and as af- 
 fording remarkable instances of the effects 
 of imagination on the physical state of the 
 human frame ; St. Thecla's at Llandegla, 
 St. iElian's at Llanelian, St. Dwynwen's in 
 Anglesey, and St.Wenefrede's at Holywell 
 in Flintshire. 
 
 The well of St. Thecla must have once 
 enjoyed a high degree of celebrity for cures 
 of epilepsy, as the disorder itself is known 
 still by the name of Clwyf Tegla, that is, 
 Thecla's, or Tegla's disorder, as supposed 
 to be cured by her influence. This well is 
 at Llandegla in Denbighshire ; nearly half 
 way between Wrexham and Ruthin. The 
 ceremony used there was as follows : — 
 
 Patients in epilepsy washed in the 
 well, and having made an offering of a 
 " few pence, walked thrice around the 
 
 16 
 
 it 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 243 
 
 W well ; and thrice repeated the Lord's 
 " prayer. The ceremony never began till 
 " after sunset. If the patient was a male, 
 " he offered also a cock ; if female, she 
 " offered a hen. This fowl was carried in 
 " a basket, first round the well, and then 
 " into the churchyard, where the ceremony 
 " was repeated" (probably of going around 
 it thrice, saying the Lord's prayer each 
 time). " The patient then entered into 
 " the church, and got under the commu- 
 " nion-table, where, putting a Bible under 
 " his head, and being covered with a car- 
 " pet or cloth, he rested till break of day ; 
 " and then, having made an offering of 
 " sixpence, and leaving the fowl in the 
 " church, he departed. If the fowl died, 
 " the disorder was supposed to be trans- 
 " ferred to it, and the cure to be effected/' 
 
 This account was given of the ceremony 
 about a hundred years ago; and is, as I 
 have lately been informed, not yet wholly- 
 abolished. That its origin is more ancient 
 than the commencement of Christianity, 
 the offering of a cock, or hen, strongly in- 
 dicated, as these birds were held sacred, 
 
 r 2 
 
a 
 
 a 
 
 244 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 and accordingly offered in sacrifice. In an 
 old Welsh account of saints'-days, I find 
 the following; notice annexed to the name 
 of Cynddilig, a Welsh saint. " This saint's 
 day is kept in the parish of Rhystud, 
 where, from mid-day to mid-night on the 
 eve of the winter kalends (first of No- 
 vember), the offering of a cock, as a pre- 
 servative against the hooping-cough is 
 " permitted/' This kind of offering seems 
 to have been made in various cases of 
 disease ; and some years ago in digging 
 up the under part of the floor of an old 
 church in the south of England, a con- 
 siderable quantity of the bones of fowls 
 Avere turned up. The advantages to be de- 
 rived from such a superstition were easily 
 perceived by the monks of the Romish 
 church ; and the use of the Bible, and 
 Lord's prayer, was exactly in their style 
 of appropriating heathen superstitions. 
 The name of St. Thecla is also, most pro- 
 bably, an adaptation of the same kind. 
 The origin of the name for the epilepsy, 
 Tegla, is properly, Teg-glwyf, or the happy 
 disorder, since it is even now sometimes 
 called Clefyd bendigaid, that is, the blessed 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 245 
 
 disorder, in the same manner as St. An- 
 thony's fire was called ignis sacer, &c. 
 The change of Teg-glzvyf into Tegla, is a 
 very simple one, and the name of Thecla, 
 was as commodious a succedaneum for 
 Tegla, as the warmest wishes of a legend 
 writer could possibly desire ; and the pro- 
 bability, that such was the real origin of 
 this name, will be increased by a similar 
 one in the two following instances : — 
 
 • 
 If the well of St. Thecla, as it is called, 
 has been noted for producing a salubrious 
 effect, by a superstitious influence on the 
 imagination, that of St. iElian, not far from 
 Bettws Abergeley in Denbighshire, is, or was 
 till very lately, perniciously resorted to, and 
 made use of, to produce an influence of an 
 opposite nature upon the imagination ; and 
 the consequences have frequently been 
 known to be the death of the credulous 
 victim. It is not merely an opinion, but 
 a firmly-rooted belief among the peasantry 
 of this and the neighbouring counties, that 
 if any one be, as the common phrase for 
 the ceremony is, put into this well, by which 
 
246 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 i, ■ 
 
 is to be understood, the being made sub- 
 ject to its influence, that person will pine 
 away till the cause is removed. Hence, 
 if one of the lower order of the peasantry 
 conceived a malignant resentment against 
 another, this became a mode not less cer- 
 tain, in many instances, than horrible, of 
 gratifying the desire of vengeance. Near 
 the well resided some worthless and in- 
 famous wretch, who officiated as priestess. 
 To her the person who wished to inflict the 
 curse resorted, and for a trifling sum, she 
 registered in a book, kept for the purpose, 
 the name of the person on whom it was wish- 
 ed it should fall. A pin was then dropped 
 into the well in the name of the victim, 
 and the report, that such a one had been 
 put into the well, soon reached the ears of 
 the object of revenge. If this object were a 
 person of a credulous disposition, the idea 
 soon preyed upon the spirits, and, at length, 
 terminated fatally ; unless a timely recon- 
 ciliation should take place between the 
 parties, in which case the priestess, for a 
 fee, erased the name from her book, and 
 took the poor wretch out of the well; that 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 247 
 
 is, retracted the curse. Where death has 
 been the consequence, and, that it has 
 been so in many instances, is asserted so 
 as to leave little or no doubt of the fact, is 
 it less murder in the priestess and the ap- 
 plicant, than if it were perpetrated by any 
 other means ? Most certainly not. I have 
 lately heard that the well has been filled 
 up. I hope it is so. For if they who can, 
 do not prevent such a practice, they would 
 do well to consider whether the omission of 
 doing so, does not involve them also in 
 some participation of the crime of mur- 
 der. 
 
 The ceremony of dropping pins into the 
 well is common to other * wells in the 
 country; but as to the others, whatever 
 idea may originally have been attached 
 to the ceremony, it seems to be wholly 
 forgotten ; but it appears to have been, at 
 first, a kind of offering to the genius of 
 the well of some part of the dress, and the 
 pin a substitute. 
 
 * It was a custom at Gresford, aud also at a well m 
 Barri Island. 
 
248 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 That a well should be dedicated even to 
 a popish saint, as a well of cursing, or as a 
 means of satiating a diabolical spirit of re- 
 venge ; even with every allowance for the 
 uncharitable spirit of popery, is not cre- 
 dible ; as it would be an encouragement 
 to a spirit of revenge amongst its own ad- 
 herents. The superstition must, therefore, 
 be considered as Druidical ; and, it is 
 most probable, that this well was origi- 
 nally dedicated to Malaen, the genius of 
 destruction, who is represented as a fury ; 
 that it was called at first, Ffynnon Malaen; 
 and that the monks, finding it difficult to 
 eradicate the custom, and wishing to sup- 
 press a Druidic appellation, substituted that 
 of jEhanfoY Malaen. Such a new dedication, 
 and building a church near the well, were 
 certainly the best modes of opposing the 
 error; and they did, perhaps, all in their 
 power to oppose it. Yet were not they, 
 nor has the resumption of rational and 
 pure Christianity as the ^religion of the 
 country, been able to suppress it entirely. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 249 
 
 m 
 
 The following is the account of the Well of 
 St> Dwynwen, as given by that able anti- 
 quarian Mr. Lewis Morris. 
 
 There was, in Dafydd ap Gwilim's 
 " time/' about the middle of the four- 
 teenth century, " a vast concourse from all 
 " parts of Wales to the monastery of St. 
 " Dwynwen in Anglesey, now called 
 " Llanddwyn, in ruins. Here were con- 
 " stant wax lights kept at the tomb of this 
 " virgin saint, where all persons in love 
 " applied for remedy, and which brought 
 " vast profit to the monks ; and Dwyn- 
 " wen was as famous among the Britons 
 " in affairs of love, as Venus ever was 
 " among the Greeks and Romans, But 
 " David ap Gwilim's ludicrous manner 
 " of applying to this saint for relief, 
 " and his publishing it in a poem (which 
 " is in every body's hands), shews how 
 " slightly the poet made of these religious 
 " cheats. Dear Dwynwen (says he), J, by 
 " your virginity, I beg of you, and by the 
 " soul of your great father Brychan, send 
 
 this girl to meet me in the grove. You 
 
 <c 
 
250 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 " are in heaven, God will not be angry 
 " with you, nor turn you out ; for he will 
 " not undo what he has done," &c. 
 
 As it will tend to elucidate the subject, I 
 subjoin an account of St, Madderns Well in 
 the parish of Penzance, Cornwall. From 
 Camden. Ed. Gibson, p. 21, 22. 
 
 " Bishop Hall tells us (Mystery of 
 " Godliness), that a cripple, who for 
 " sixteen years together was forced to 
 " walk upon his hands, by reason of the 
 " sinews of his legs being contracted, was 
 " induced, by a dream, to wash in this 
 " well; which had so good effect, that 
 " himself saw him both able to walk, and 
 " to get his own maintenance. Two per- 
 " sons that had found the prescriptions of 
 " physicians altogether unprofitable, went 
 " to this well (according to the ancient 
 " custom), on Corpus Christi eve, and lay- 
 " ing a small offering on the altar, drank 
 " of the water, autl lay upon the ground all 
 " night, in the morning took a good 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 251 
 
 it 
 
 draught more, and each of them carried 
 " away some of the water in a bottle. 
 " Within three weeks they found the ef- 
 " feet of it ; and (their strength increasing 
 " by degrees) were able to move them- 
 " selves upon crutches. Next year they 
 " took the same course, after which they 
 " were able to go up and down by 
 " the help of a staff. At length one of 
 " them, being a fisherman, was, and, if he 
 " be alive, is, still able to follow that 
 tc business. The other was a soldier under 
 " Sir William Godolphin, and died in the 
 " service of King Charles I. 
 
 " After this the well was superstitiously 
 " frequented, so that the rector of the 
 " neighbouring parish was forced to re- 
 " prove several of his parishioners for it. 
 c ' But accidentally meeting a woman 
 " coming from it with a bottle in her hand, 
 " and being troubled with cholical pains, 
 " desired to drink of it, and iound himself 
 " cured of that distemper. 
 
 " The instances are too near our own 
 " time, and too well attested, to fall under 
 
252 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 the suspicion of bare traditions, or le- 
 gendary fables : and, being so very re- 
 markable, may well claim a place here. 
 Only, 'tis worth our observation, that 
 the last of them destroys the miracle ; 
 for, if he was cured upon accidentally 
 tasting it, then the ceremonies of offer- 
 ing, lying on the ground, &c, contributed 
 nothing ; and so the virtue of the water 
 claims the whole remedy/' 
 
 a 
 
 I suspect, that the patients who are said 
 to have lain on the ground, did so under 
 the altar of the church ; as it was the cus- 
 tom in other cases of a similar kind. Borlase 
 says, the water is simply pure, without any 
 mineral impregnation, and rises through 
 a stratum of grey moor-stone gravel. He 
 adds, " Hither also, on much less justi- 
 " fiable errands (than to cure pains in the 
 " limbs), come the uneasy, impatient, and 
 " superstitious ; and, by dropping pins, or 
 " pebbles, into the water, and by shaking 
 " the ground round the spring, so as to 
 " raise bubbles from the bottom, at a cer- 
 " tain time of the year, moon, and day, 
 " endeavour to settle such doubts and in- 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 253 
 
 " quiries as will not let the idle and anxious 
 " rest/' At St. Euny's well, which is si- 
 milar in nature to that at St. Maddern's, 
 the days were the three first Wednesdays in 
 May. 
 
 From these accounts of holy w T ells, the 
 effects of superstitious hopes and fears will 
 be so manifest, that if some of them should 
 have been deemed miraculous by an ig- 
 norant peasantry, and their confidence in 
 the powers attributed to the wells strongly 
 rooted in their minds ; it will be recollect- 
 ed, that such prejudices are impressed on 
 their imaginations from their infancy, and 
 not easily overcome by a maturer un- 
 derstanding, unless assisted by information, 
 and an experience which they seldom 
 can attain. They are, therefore, more de- 
 serving of pity than of censure, and of 
 information than reproof. But as to cures 
 performed at Holywell in Flintshire, as 
 there has been published a Narrative by 
 Dr. Milner, the Romish Bishop of Casta- 
 bala, in which it is- asserted, that a late 
 cure is miraculous, and an argument de- 
 duced from it, in favour of the doctrines 
 
254 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 of the church of Rome ; I have thought it 
 necessary to make some observations on the 
 statement of the case, and the arguments 
 of Dr. Milner, and the more so, as, in an 
 advertisement prefixed to the edition of 
 the Narrative which I refer to (London, 
 1806), and dated May 1st, it is said, 
 " The author has the satisfaction of here 
 " declaring, that he has not met with, nor 
 " heard of, a reader of any description, 
 " who has controverted either the facts or 
 " the reasoning contained in it." To this, 
 I beg leave to answer, that silence is not 
 always an argument of acquiescence ; and 
 that, had it not been intimated to me, that 
 the silence respecting it, had been pre- 
 sumed upon in its favour, I should not 
 have thought it necessary to notice it. In 
 the same advertisement it is also said, that 
 the publication " has met with the appro- 
 " bation of his R. R. brethren ;" this ap- 
 probation has made it the more necessary 
 to examine how far the Narrative is enti- 
 tled to attention. This I have, therefore, 
 endeavoured to do in a Work I have 
 lately published, called, " Animadversions 
 on a Pamphlet, entitled, Authentic Do- 
 
 « 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 255 
 
 " cuments relative to the Miraculous Cure 
 " of Winifred White (of Wolverhampton) 9 
 " at St. Wenefrede's Well, alias Holywell, in 
 " Flintshire, on the 28th of June, 1805/' 
 London, 1814. 
 
mmm. 
 
 
 ftV* 
 
 256 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 ST. WENEFREDES WELL, 
 
 AT 
 
 HOLYWELL, FLINTSHIRE. 
 
 Whatever may in former times have 
 been the celebrity of the wells hitherto 
 mentioned, the casual attention of a 
 neighbouring peasant, and the traditional 
 votive offering from a motiveof superstitious 
 regard, rather for an ancient custom than 
 any respect for the wells, is in general the 
 utmost they receive, excepting the nefa- 
 rious practice at the well of Llanelian. They 
 are now, in consequence of the better state 
 knowledge, owing to the general perusal of 
 the Scriptures, almost wholly neglected, 
 and (their former supposed virtues and Sa- 
 cred character will probably in another 
 generation be forgotten!) But, notwith- 
 standing this extended prevalence of reason 
 and religion, Holywell still exhibits no small 
 share of the power of superstition over the 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 257 
 
 minds of the weak and the ignorant. Nor 
 is this much to be wondered at, since it 
 was here that the first efforts of the super- 
 stition of popery to fix itself in Wales were 
 made. Here it took root and drew nourish- 
 ment from those waters, of which it may- 
 be hard to determine, whether their virtues 
 have been more salutary to the body or 
 noxious to the soul. The earliest notice 
 of this well extant, is in a legend of St. We- 
 nefrede, by one Robert of Shrewsbu^^, who 
 is supposed to have been an abbot of that 
 town, from which it appears that the well 
 had been dedicated to a St. Wenefrede, some 
 time before he wrote, which was about the 
 year 1140, as the dedication of the legend 
 implies, if this could be depended upon ; 
 but it is most probably a fictitious re- 
 ference intended to conceal the real date. 
 What is known with any certainty, as to 
 the history of the place, is as follows. Not 
 long after that Hugh Lupus, earl of Ches- 
 ter, had seized on the maritime coast of 
 Flintshire, the monks of the abbey of 
 Chester, who, whatever were their errors, 
 had a zeal for the promotion of their reli- 
 gion, such as it was, worthy of imitation in 
 
258 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 a better cause, sent a few of their frater- 
 nity to perform the ecclesiastical duties of 
 their religion for their countrymen, and to 
 endeavour to convert the Welsh to it. For 
 the latter purpose, it was necessary that 
 they should fix themselves as nearly as 
 possible to the bordering limit between the 
 Welsh and English, and yet so as not to 
 preclude a retreat if circumstances should 
 compel them to it. With these views, no 
 place on the coast afforded them a more de- 
 sirable situation than Basingwerke, within 
 a mile of Holywell. Here a small but plea- 
 sant fertile valley, open and gently de- 
 scending on one side to an inlet of the sea 
 which receives the river Dee, and separates 
 the counties of Flint and Chester; on the 
 other sides it is sheltered by hills that rise 
 boldly and rapidly from the vale, and 
 which at that time probably were thickly 
 wooded to a great extent, as at present 
 they are sufficiently so to embellish the 
 scene. Through this valley the stream of 
 Holywell, which bursts from the hill above, 
 and is at its rise a river, flows by a short 
 course to the sea. Thus sheltered from 
 the colder winds, and delightfully secluded, 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 259 
 
 the spot possessed the advantages also of 
 being in the vicinity of the Welsh, and, by 
 the short distance from Cheshire, of an easy 
 quick passage up the river to Chester with 
 the tide. It has even been said that, about 
 the time when the monks settled at Basing- 
 werke, the river was very easily fordable 
 across at low water, though, by the greater 
 influx of the sea since, it is much less so, but 
 notimpossible; and I have seen a statement 
 from observation, that in the seventeenth 
 century the high-water mark was consi- 
 derably raised in this channel. The 
 monks, having made a prudential choice of 
 Basingwerke, erected there a small convent 
 at first, which had only a few small cells, 
 and as such it is described by Giraldus, 
 who, when Baldwin, archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, made a tour of Wales in order to 
 invade the rights of the Welsh churches, 
 and usurp a metropolitical power over 
 them, accompanied the archbishop, and 
 with him visited the place. Afterwards, 
 by the benefactions of the earls of Chester 
 and others, the convent was enlarged, and 
 the abbey, of which there yet remains some 
 part, was built, and stood till the reign of 
 
 s 2 
 
260 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Henry VIII., when it underwent the gene- 
 ral fate of similar structures. 
 
 It might be questioned whether the sa- 
 lutary effects of the Holywell waters had 
 been noticed previous to the settling of the 
 monks near it ; and I believe there is no 
 trace to be found of any such notice in 
 any authentic writings before that time. 
 Yet as the stream is so remarkable, and as 
 there are so many wells to which some 
 Druidical superstition has been attached, 
 it is not improbable that it was so here, if 
 in the time of the Druids the source was 
 inclosed and considered as a well. From 
 the present form of the well, however, I am 
 more inclined to believe that it was in- 
 closed to form a baptistery by the primi- 
 tive Welsh Christians, as this form cor- 
 responds with a baptistery still remaining 
 among the ruins of an ancient chapel near 
 St. Asaph. The ancient name seems to 
 have been Gwenffrwd, that is, the White 
 Stream, or Gwenffrewi, a name, I believe, 
 of similar import. It may be fairly consi- 
 dered as certain, that the medical virtues of 
 the water had not been attributed to any 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 26l 
 
 saintly influence in the time of Giraldus. 
 For no one could be more zealous than he 
 appears to have been in legendary research, 
 and a display of the information as to mi- 
 racles which his curiosity had obtained 
 during his peregrinations in Wales and Ire- 
 land ; and yet he does not afford the 
 slightest hint of the patronage of St, Wene- 
 frede, which since his time has obtained 
 such amazing celebrity. The legend 
 cannot, therefore, be reasonably thought 
 to have been known in his time; for had 
 it been so, the monks would hardly 
 have failed to have detailed to him the 
 history of their patroness, or he to have 
 divulged it ; and the more eagerly, as 
 legends were the favourite reading of 
 the age, and, the miracles asserted by 
 the Romish clergy to be wrought by 
 saints of their church, the proofs on 
 which they insisted particularly as evi- 
 dences of the truth of her doctrines ; evi- 
 dences, which, in an ignorant age, an age 
 incapable of making the just distinction 
 between miracles and imposture, were fre- 
 quently admitted with a credulity almost 
 as extraordinary as the absurdity of the 
 
262 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 legends themselves. When such was the 
 practice of the times ; the proximity of a 
 stream or well, whose waters were in many 
 complaints of great efficacy, affered means 
 of attraction too obvious to be overlooked. 
 A legend is not a work of that texture to 
 require a very scrupulous accuracy or de- 
 licate execution. To convert the name of 
 the stream into that of a saint, president 
 over it s and to invent a few extravagant 
 wonders to be attributed to her, was all 
 that was necessary. The sublime has been 
 defined as the summit between grandeur 
 and absurdity; and seldom has legend 
 approached nearer to the sublime in the 
 gradations on the less favourable side of 
 the elevation. To this, as in my animad- 
 versions on a pamphlet of Dr. Milner's, I 
 have already observed, the custom of ex- 
 hibiting the subject of a legend in a dra- 
 matic form must have greatly contributed; 
 and such, I have no doubt, was the casein 
 this instance. The legend appears to have 
 been written in Shrewsbury, and was pro- 
 bably there made the subject of a mystery, 
 or sacred drama. At that time, as the 
 clergy of the church of Rome were anxious 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 263 
 
 "^ BMMMMB WMMMMM 
 
 to draw the Welsh to join their commu- 
 nion, the same means were resorted to as 
 had long before been employed in Llan^ 
 daff. These were to endeavour to obtain 
 relics of some Welsh person who had, 
 when alive, been highly esteemed, as of 
 holy life and manners ; to enshrine these 
 relics and make the original proprietary 
 an object of devotion by canonization. In 
 the cases of St. Teilo and St. Dubricius 
 they had obtained them without difficulty 
 from Bardsey ; but in that of StWenefrede 
 so many visions, in order to direct the 
 search for her bones, are recounted that it 
 is more than suspicious that the monks 
 knew it was in vain to attempt more than 
 to procure bones from Wales and give 
 them a name. In fact no such name as 
 that of St. Wenefrede is any where to be 
 found in the Welsh writings extant, not 
 even in the Welsh calendars of saints, 
 though several of these are found in various 
 collections. The Welsh did not worship 
 saints, but had retained the doctrines of 
 the primitive church in great purity. The 
 Roman Catholic clergy probably were in 
 some degree ignorant of this, or at least 
 
264 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 they hoped to allure the Welsh by the 
 compliment; though the result of the ex- 
 periment was never in any degree success* 
 ful, I believe, beyond the range of the 
 immediate influence of English power. 
 
 The legend itself is briefly this, as given 
 in a paper distributed at the well. < 
 
 • ' That in the year 700 lived Wenefrede, 
 " a virgin of extraordinary sanctity, who 
 " made a vow of chastity during life, 
 " and dedicated herself to the service of 
 " God. 
 
 M A heathen prince, named Cradoc, 
 " having often attempted Wenefrede's chas-? 
 " tity in vain, met her some time after 
 " upon the top of the hill near Holywell 
 '? church, and struck off" her head, which, 
 rolling down the hill, was taken up by 
 f the priest of Holywell, who, being a fa- 
 vourite of the Almighty, did, by the di- 
 ? vine assistance, replace the head on We- 
 ?J nefrede's shoulders, who was thereupon 
 *f restored to life, and lived fifteen years 
 ti afterwards. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 265 
 
 " That at the very instant Wenefrede was 
 " restored to life, this spring arose in that 
 " very place, no doubt, in order to perpe- 
 " tuate the memory of so great an action, 
 " which caused the Christian religion toin- 
 " crease in a very extraordinary manner; 
 ** and Wenefrede being made a saint, the 
 * ; holy priest of Holywell named the spring 
 ff St. Wenefrede's well." 
 
 A more silly fabrication than this legend 
 never perhaps insulted common sense, or 
 made credulity ridiculous. It need not 
 be denied that the lady's head, by rolling 
 down so steep a hill, and such a length of 
 way, with an accelerated velocity, may have 
 acquired a force sufficient to displace a 
 stone or other obstacle to the issuing of a 
 spring, and the blow might have so stunned 
 the head as* to cause it to stop there ; that 
 is, supposing such a person ever did exist; 
 but that her head should have been set on 
 her shoulders again so exactly as it was 
 before, and she have lived fifteen years 
 afterwards, may perhaps be credited by 
 those who believe that the stone on which 
 she annually laid a cloak lor St, Beuno, 
 
266 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 swam away with it and carried it by sea 
 to Carnarvonshire, and then swam back to 
 Holywell (for this is a part of the story) ; 
 but it is a belief more likely to render the 
 sound mind of the believer doubtful. 
 
 That the waters are of great efficacy in 
 many cases, was well known soon after the 
 monks obtained a residence at Holywell, 
 for their virtues are recorded in the legend 
 as relieving all diseases arising from weak- 
 ness of any kind, and hence, its repute 
 being once raised by a legendary miracle, 
 it has been more frequented than any other 
 well in Wales. 
 
 The respect for wells in Scotland and 
 Ireland has also long been and still is pre- 
 valent It is a part of the same general 
 Pagan superstition. In both it is a custom 
 of the ignorant to visit them, and bits of 
 rags, which they hang on bushes near the 
 well, or small pieces of money*. In Ire- 
 land the wells near an old blasted oak, or 
 an upright hewn stone, are most respected, 
 
 ii ' . . i .I . ■. 1. 1 ii ■ i ■ . ■ ■ i I. w 
 
 * Columbanus's third letter, page 83, &c. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 267 
 
 and the visitants will crawl round these 
 from East to West on their knees, three, 
 six, or nine times, as a voluntary penance. 
 Some of these ceremonies were also per- 
 formed as the means of preserving cattle 
 from disorders ; of propitiating the fairies, 
 and the rags appear to have been left in 
 the hope of leaving with them any disorder 
 with which the person who left the rags 
 was affected, in the same manner as the 
 cause of warts is supposed to be transferred 
 to bits of stolen meat, or to grain, and 
 when the meat or grain perishes to perish 
 with them. In all these cases the origin 
 was the superstition of Paganism, and the 
 continuation of such practices, whether 
 from custom or superstition, is equally a 
 disgrace to a Christian country, and it is 
 to be hoped that it will not endure much 
 longer. 
 
268 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 OMENS AND PREDICTIONS, 
 
 In common with every other nation, a 
 regard for omens and predictions, has been 
 very prevalent amongst the Welsh ; but 
 that for omens is now almost forgotten, ex- 
 cept in a few retired situations ; and the 
 omens themselves, when attended to, dif- 
 fered little from those of their neighbours, 
 and, therefore, need no particular descrip- 
 tion. With respect to predictions, it is 
 far otherwise ; as it might be expected in 
 a nation which, for so many years, was en- 
 couraged to maintain the contest for its 
 rights, by the predictions handed down 
 from age to age, as those of infallible pro- 
 phets, some of whom, probably, were 
 Druids. After the happy termination of 
 that contest, the attention to the ancient 
 prophecies, no longer of importance than 
 as subjects of curiosity, has been suspend- 
 ed ; or rather diverted to other predictions 
 which have nothing but the confidence of 
 imposture to recommend them. A for* 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 269 
 
 tune-teller, or astrologer, is resorted to by 
 the ignorant; when anxiety as to the fu- 
 ture, is excited whether by hopes or fears, 
 to learn what may be gained, or to re- 
 cover what has been lost ; and the power 
 the impostors have over some minds, is 
 sometimes prodigious. It cannot, how- 
 ever, be thought very strange, that they 
 should find such credit in Wales, when, 
 even in the metropolis of the kingdom, 
 pretences of a similar kind, have not long 
 ago drawn crowds of visitors, solicitous as 
 to their destiny. Whatever may be the 
 degree of information attributed to the age, 
 this is no favourable symptom as to its 
 religious state, for a belief in fatalism is 
 too frequently the consequence of a dere- 
 liction of the hope and dependence which 
 religion inspires- If may, therefore, be of 
 some use to shew how unfounded and 
 imaginary the principles of this pretended 
 science are, and how vain the hope of 
 gaining real information from it as to the 
 future is ; and as it may also tend, in some 
 degree, to elucidate the history of astro- 
 nomy, an investigation of the first princi- 
 ples of astrology is subjoined. 
 
270 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 AN ESSAY ON ASTROLOGY. 
 
 An inquisitiveness as to future events is, 
 in some degree, a necessary consequence 
 of the importance we attach to them, and 
 where they depend on circumstances 
 which we cannot regulate, a power which 
 we cannot evade, and a will which we can 
 neither scrutinize nor control ; the anxiety 
 will increase according to the magnitude 
 of our hopes and fears. Hence, in all ages, 
 some means have been resorted to for the 
 discovery of that which was to come; 
 and, as with our limited knowledge and 
 observation, we are able, in some measure, 
 to foresee what will follow from particular 
 circumstances or modes of action, in which 
 persons of certain dispositions are engaged, 
 and also to determine the regular effects 
 of physical causes ; it is readily inferred 
 that beings of a higher order, and endowed 
 with a much more extensive intelligence 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 271. 
 
 ' i in ■» '■ ■ ■ ■ ■ . ii 
 
 may and must be able to discern much to 
 which our faculties cannot attain. From 
 the connexion of cause and effect, a most 
 dangerous supposition* that all things are 
 but so manj Jinks in an established, univer- 
 sal series of necessary consequences, has 
 been also inferred ; which, if the absurdity 
 of the conclusion be admitted to argue an 
 error in the premises, whether the error be 
 perceived or not, cannot be true ; and it 
 is absurd, that man should have the con- 
 sciousness of acting as a free agent, and 
 should conduct himself towards others as 
 such, on the principle, that they have a 
 similar consciousness, were it not so in 
 reality. It is also evidently a most dan- 
 gerous principle, as being destructive of all 
 merit or demerit ; and is contradicted by 
 every legal institution, whether divine or 
 human ; because a law presupposes free 
 agency. Nor is this incompatible with a 
 general plan of action, or a particular de- 
 termination of certain events ; but, on the 
 contrary, the great use of free agency is 
 the power it has of forming a plan of ac- 
 tion, and according to the wisdom and 
 power of the agent inducing events, which 
 
272 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 man, as a free agent, must, within certain 
 limits, be able to do. Beyond this limit y 
 his own knowledge cannot go, and hence 
 he has endeavoured to learn it by other 
 means. Calling imagination to his aid, 
 he soon forms an easy theory from any re- 
 petition of one pleasant or unpleasant cir- 
 cumstance having soon succeeded, to one 
 which was singular or uncommon. Did 
 a victory follow after that an eagle had 
 hovered over an army, or perched on its 
 standard ; the eagle became the omen of 
 conquest. Did a gloomy dream disturb 
 the rest of an anxious mind, and evil pre- 
 vious in the apprehension follow ; the 
 dream was predictive. Do the heavenly 
 bodies regulate the times of human ac- 
 tions, and measure their existence ; has 
 any one, whose birth was marked by the 
 rising sun, risen to pre-eminence, and ran 
 a course of glory ; the heavenly bodies in- 
 dicated the fate of mortal life, by their ap- 
 pearance at his birth. Such was, probably, 
 some event which gave the first idea of 
 astrological observation; but there must 
 have been something much more important 
 to have excited the attention to such a^ 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 273 
 
 degree, that astrology should have become 
 a scientific pursuit, and deemed worthy of 
 the study of the learned; some respect in 
 which a real knowledge of a connexion, 
 or at least a correspondence, generally cer- 
 tain between particular celestial pheno- 
 mena and events im portant to be made, had 
 encouraged the hope of discovering other 
 correspondencies, and given confidence 
 to other predictions, than those in which 
 they were justified by events. This justi- 
 fication I conceive it to have found ori- 
 ginally in medical observation, and parti- 
 cularly in cases of epilepsy and fever. 
 The fits of epilepsy or madness and the pa- 
 roxysms and crises of fevers, have too evi- 
 dent a dependence on, or relation to, the 
 age of the moon to have remained long 
 unobserved by physicians. The recurrence 
 of the fits at the full of the moon is so well 
 known, that the disorder, or the person 
 afflicted by it, is, in many languages, dis- 
 tinguished by a term denoting an effect of 
 the moon, as lunacy, moon-struck, &c, 
 even in common conversation, and the 
 correspondence observed to exist between 
 the paroxysms and crises of fever, and the 
 
 T 
 
2?4» POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 age of the moon, which have been often 
 noticed, but particularly by Dr. Barlow, 
 in his Letter on the Fever of India, ad- 
 dressed to the East-India Company, in so 
 very able and satisfactory a manner as to 
 leave no doubt of the fact. 
 
 A man who is actuated by a spirit of 
 research, is not likely to rest satisfied with 
 the gratification of the single discovery of 
 an interesting fact ; but, on the contrary, is 
 much more disposed to consider it as 
 opening the path to an extensive though 
 unknown region, which may well reward 
 the labour of research : whither it may lead 
 is at first but conjecture ; but the hope of 
 success ultimately, will excite the imagi- 
 nation to draw inferences from every cir- 
 cumstance, and to form some kind of hy- 
 pothesis, as the guide to further progress. 
 Whether any hypothesis be right or wrong, 
 true or false, must depend on experimental 
 or other rational proof; and had the 
 certainty of proof equalled the ingenuity 
 of the hypothesis, astrology might have 
 claimed a place in the first rank of science. 
 Still though it he, as it certainly is, desti- 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 275 
 
 lute of proof as to the fundamental prin- 
 ciples, yet the mode of reasoning adopted 
 in laying them down, as far as it can be 
 collected from the principles, is not with- 
 out sufficient plausibility to amuse and in- 
 terest. Some of its rules are such as to 
 throw light on the history of astronomy ; 
 and others might, perhaps, be attended to 
 by the physician and the naturalist with 
 advantage ; and these it will be my endea- 
 vour to point out. 
 
 When the influence of the moon on dis- 
 ease was found to be an established fact, 
 and more especially, that in cases of lu- 
 nacy, this influence affected the mind upon 
 which the government and regulation of 
 conduct, and so far the fortune of life, de- 
 pend ; it was no great extravagance of the 
 imagination to suppose, that its effects on 
 the mind and body of the infant at its 
 birth, when both might be presumed to 
 be in the weakest state, and most sus- 
 ceptible of impression, did determine the 
 degree of their strength or weakness through 
 life, and therefore, the fate of the infant as 
 it depended on these. In aid of this sup- 
 
 t 2 
 
276 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 position, the obvious comparison of the 
 changes of the moon to the mutability of 
 fortune, could not but appear as corrobo- 
 rating its probability. But, however great 
 the influence of the moon, its light was 
 borrowed, and its influence, probably, con- 
 troled by the sun ; apparently the lord of 
 the world, and source of life ; uniform in 
 his appearance, regular in his course, and 
 beneficent in his power, and unrivalled in 
 visible splendour. To his influence, there- 
 fore, correspondent benefits only could be 
 attributed. Another correspondence was 
 easily deducible from the resemblance of 
 the period of human life to the diurnal or 
 revolutional periods of the heavenly bo- 
 dies ; and hence the influence of each also 
 was supposed to be the most favourable 
 to man, when its apparent splendour is 
 greatest; that is, when on the meridian, 
 and their combined influence most power- 
 ful in conjunctions, and least in oppo- 
 sition, if of different kinds, it being esti- 
 mated in the first case as the sum, and in 
 the second, as the difference of their re- 
 spective powers, but in both cases preju- 
 dicial. In the intermediate positions, the 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 277 
 
 combined influence was consequently esti- 
 mated by the interval. That this was so, 
 is clearly perceived from the place to which 
 the fortune of life is referred in astrological 
 delineations of the places of the heavenly 
 bodies. For the sun being the promoter 
 of life, and the moon significant of its va- 
 riations as to good or ill, as nearer to, or 
 more remote from, the sun, or rather sig- 
 nificant of diminution of good (its known 
 influence in disease being of a prejudicial 
 kind) ; the place of fortune is estimated by 
 the distance of the moon from the sun, 
 and therefore, according to the supposed 
 effect of their combined influence on hu- 
 man life in general. 
 
 When conjecture had proceeded thus 
 far in forming a system, an application of 
 the same mode of reasoning to the stars 
 then known as planets, was too necessary 
 and too natural to be overlooked, or 
 omitted. It was too necessary, because 
 that variations of the places of two bodies 
 only, could not be accommodated to the 
 multiplicity of the variations in life ; and 
 it was too natural, because their revolu- 
 
$^8 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 tions seemed analogous to those of the 
 moon, though of different periods. If* 
 like her, they had proper motions, their 
 being so distinguished from other stars 
 seemed to intimate, that they had proper 
 influences also ; and if the distance of the 
 moon from the earth did not preclude her 
 influence, it did not appear why their 
 greater distance should hinder their in- 
 fluence, since it did not prevent their 
 light from pervading that space. Here a 
 new supposition as to the nature of the par-- 
 ticular influence of each was necessary to 
 the system, and as the nature of that of 
 the sun and moon had been inferred from 
 their phenomena, so was that of the planets. 
 Other means they could not have, except 
 by revelation, or by observations, which 
 would demand an attention, and discrimi- 
 nation, and mechanical aid, perhaps, be- 
 yond the human powers, and a length of 
 time beyond the acknowledged duration of 
 the world to complete them, if there were 
 such influence. But we have no reason 
 to imagine, that any revelation was ever 
 given on the subject ; and, from the in- 
 fluences attributed to the planets, it is 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 279 
 
 evident, that they were merely inferred 
 from their phenomena, upon the supposi- 
 tion, that the phenomena were intended to 
 indicate the influence of each respectively. 
 Thus from Mercury's celerity of motion and 
 proximity to the sun, this planet was made 
 the significator of genius, and the qualifi- 
 cations which attend it according to the 
 good or bad use made of it. In like man- 
 ner the brilliancy of Venus caused it to be 
 esteemed the significator of beauty, and 
 its consequences. Mars, in like manner, 
 of war, or warlike disposition, from his 
 ruddy colour. The steady and magnifi- 
 cent light of Jupiter could not fail to claim 
 for him the seat of supremacy, and, ac- 
 cordingly, he is made the significator of 
 power and dignity, calm, generous, and 
 firm; while, on the contrary, by the dusky 
 hue of Saturn, the sluggish motion, and 
 comparatively depressed station of his 
 greatest northern latitude, he acquired the 
 character of signifying gloom, misfortune, 
 calamity, and death. All these characters 
 are so simply and readily deducible in this 
 manner, as to leave no doubt but that they 
 were so deduced, and, in the application, 
 
280 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 modified as observation or fancy connected 
 particular features, or other peculiarities 
 of person, with those which were presumed 
 to be the predominant qualities of the 
 mind ; and such are those which are to be 
 found in treatises on astrology* 
 
 Such a system, whenever it had to any 
 degree taken hold of the mind, could not 
 be put to any practical use without the aid 
 of astronomy. For if the influences of the 
 heavenly bodies were greatest when they 
 were in the meridian, and diminished in 
 proportion to their distance from it; the 
 calculation of a nativity required the know- 
 ledge of their places at the time. 
 
 There are many books which treat of the 
 history of astronomy, and of these I have 
 met with none more entertaining, or more 
 full of information, than those of Mr. Cos- 
 tard and the Abbe Le Pluche, but none of. 
 them have, I believe, much, if at all, no- 
 ticed some curious intimations which may 
 be collected from its practical use in as- 
 trology. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 281 
 
 Of these, the first which presents itself to 
 consideration, is the astrological scheme of 
 the heavens. This figure represents the 
 heavens by the space included between a 
 greater square, and a lesser square within it, 
 the sides of which are parallel to those of 
 the greater. In this figure, then, the inte- 
 rior square originally represented the earth 
 as a square area, surrounded by the hea- 
 vens ; this is the representation given of it 
 in some of the Hindu delineations, and it 
 is probably the first mode in which it was 
 attempted to give one, and from which we 
 can understand, that the scriptural ex- 
 pression of The four corners of the earthy 
 was used in conformity to a received idea, 
 that the earth was square. Another idea 
 of the Hindus is, that in the middle of 
 this square earth the mountain Meru rises, 
 so large and to such a height, that its 
 shadow, as the sun revolves around it, 
 causes the night of those who are in the 
 shadow. 
 
 As the year consists of twelve lunar 
 months upon a rough computation, the 
 scheme of the heavens was divided into 
 
282 
 
 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 twelve compartments, which are called 
 
 houses, as in the an- 
 nexed figure; but 
 this kind of figure 
 received no further 
 improvement, and 
 being useless in a 
 more advanced state 
 
 of astronomical knowledge, it has been re- 
 tained only in astrology, and is now interest- 
 ing chiefly as affording a reference to the 
 original seat of astrological science, and a 
 specimen of the earliest conceptions and 
 attempts in the study of astronomy, cer- 
 tainly previous to the use of the circle, as 
 the square could never have superseded 
 the circle; whereas the reverse was what 
 might have been expected. In the figure 
 the numbers mark the twelve houses in the 
 same sense, and in the like manner, as 
 the Hindu astronomers use the word man- 
 sions when they speak of the mansions 
 of the moon, for so many portions of a re- 
 volution ; and the order of the houses is 
 according to the proper motion of the 
 planets in their orbits, viz., from west to 
 east. In this figure the dotted line E W 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 283 
 
 will represent the horizon ; the upper half 
 of the squares ESW, the illuminated half 
 of the earth and heavens at midday to 
 the observer, and the other half the ob- 
 scured ; that is, according to the idea of 
 the earth's being in this form. 
 
 But, though the order of the houses is 
 according to the proper motion of the 
 planets, the order of the progress of human 
 life, was from the obvious comparison of 
 it to the diurnal course of the sun, made 
 to agree with it. Hence the commence- 
 ment of life is referred to the east, its me- 
 ridian to the south, and its decline to the 
 west ; and, as it has already been observed, 
 the favourable places or circumstances in- 
 dicated the southern, and the unfavourable 
 to the northern half; as any treatise on the 
 subject will shew. 
 
 From this division of the figure no pre- 
 cision in astronomy was to be obtained \ 
 and even in astrology, when observation 
 had attained to a more correct notion of 
 the form of the earth, and applied the re- 
 sults of observation to its own use, the 
 
284 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 European astrologers, instead of substi- 
 tuting a more commodious figure, retained 
 this ; and contented themselves by noting 
 the place of a planet in any sign or house, 
 by writing the degrees and minutes de- 
 noting the place, and prefixing the cha- 
 racter of the planet. This pertinacious ad- 
 herence to so rude a figure can only be ac- 
 counted for by that prejudice in favour of 
 old-established rules ; and ^frequently a 
 salutary one, common to the majority of 
 mankind. It is, however, in this case, the 
 more remarkable, as it appears from Vol. II. 
 of the Asiatic Researches, that in a Hindu 
 Zodiac, the earth, though conceived to be 
 a plain, is bounded by a circle, and an 
 exterior concentric circle bounds the hea- 
 vens, the signs of the zodiac being marked 
 on this last. When the substitution of the 
 circle for the square had taken place, the 
 circle being divided into twelve equal por- 
 tions, answering to the twelve signs of the 
 zodiac, or the twelve months of the year, 
 it seems that the length of the lunar month 
 had not even been so nearly observed, as 
 to be estimated at thirty days. For Scaliger * 
 
 * Note on Manilius, pages 173, 9. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 285 
 
 has shewn, that the Egyptian astrologers 
 divided each sign, not into thirty degrees, 
 or equal portions, but into twelve, ad- 
 hering, it may be presumed, to the first 
 number which marked a division of the 
 circle, when it was to be subdivided. In 
 general the first idea is in such cases pur- 
 sued, unless some necessity interrupts it, 
 as in the subdivision by tens of decimals, 
 and by sixties of minutes. And thus the 
 subdivision by twelve, was applied to the 
 day and to the night, each being divided 
 into twelve hours, and * the hours also 
 were divided, in like manner, into twelfth 
 parts. 
 
 It may be urged, indeed, that the first 
 astronomical instruments did not admit of 
 a lesser subdivision ; but this affords no 
 reason why the subdivisions were carried 
 on by twelfths, rather than the simple ones 
 by bisection ; and the substitution of the 
 division into thirty degrees, therefore, must 
 have been a substitution, when the lunar 
 
 * Manilius, page 244. 
 
286 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 month was observed to be so nearly thirty 
 days, as to have been so reckoned. Ac- 
 cording to the account of the deluge, as 
 given by Moses, the year was of 360 
 days, and perhaps before that event, the 
 lunar month was of 30 ; and if so, the tra- 
 dition of the subdivision of the circle by 
 twelve, may have been an antediluvian 
 one. But this kind of conjecture is too 
 uncertain to be of any use, as it can only 
 be conjecture. It may, however, be some- 
 thing more than conjecture to observe, 
 that as the twelve degrees into which each 
 sign appears to have been originally di- 
 vided, were, for more accuracy, subdivided 
 into halves, so also the thirty degrees of 
 each sign appear to have been halved also; 
 and hence, there being 60 of these sub- 
 divisions in a sign, the custom of subdi- 
 viding degrees, &c, into sixtieths, seems to 
 have arisen. 
 
 A curious instance of this subdivision 
 appears in an old cabalistic disposition of 
 the letters of three verses in Exodus, each 
 of which contains seventy-two letters. The 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 287 
 
 letters are arranged in threes, viz., one 
 from each verse, as to form ten sets of words 
 (each word consisting of three letters), and 
 each set consisting of seventy-two words, in 
 all 720 words, and 2,160 letters, which let- 
 ters are numerical. The whole of these sets 
 are given by Galatinus, who, on the autho- 
 rity of the rabbins, says, they are many 
 names, or titles of the Deity, and, as such, 
 gives significations of them, many of which 
 are forced, and none of which could be of 
 any particular use. Their real use I there- 
 fore conclude to have been, for astrono- 
 mical calculation ; as, I believe, the greater 
 part of cabalistic words were originally ; 
 though the cabalists, to conceal their know- 
 ledge, made use of supposed names of the 
 Deity, and of other spirits, good or evil, 
 to record their astronomical system, their 
 methods of calculation, &c. The caba- 
 listic sets of words, or, as I presume, tables, 
 appear to be more ancient than the time 
 of Hillel, to whom Bishop Beveridge, in his 
 Chronology, assigns the known Jewish me- 
 thod of astronomical calculation ; for, in 
 this last, the hour is divided into 1080 he- 
 
288 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 lakim, or parts, which is equal to |~ or 
 720x3, and seems to have been preferred, 
 as a more convenient number for use than 
 720 or 2,160, which were, I presume, prior 
 subdivisions of degrees and hour, and re- 
 linquished in favour of one more useful. 
 The bishop says, that this number was 
 adopted, because it is divisible by every 
 number from one to ten, except seven, and 
 the subdivision by 60, because 60 is di- 
 visible by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6; which is a suf- 
 ficient reason in itself, though that which 
 has been already given, seems to have led 
 to it. 
 
 This subdivision was carried still further 
 by the Egyptians. Scaliger says, they di- 
 vided a degree of the ecliptic into 214,000 
 parts, and, consequently, the ecliptic into 
 7,704,000 parts; and, in estimating the de- 
 grees in the proportional parts of the 
 equator, or any parallel circles which were 
 above and below the horizon, they first 
 divided twelve into two numbers propor- 
 tional to these two parts, e. g. 9 12 into 
 7 and 5; and then calculated the de- 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 289 
 
 grees, by finding the proportion of 1080 
 (=12X90) to 7,704,000. In stating this, 
 Scaliger, who, though he corrects the num- 
 ber as given by Firmicus, by reading qua- 
 dringenta for quadraginta, considers the 
 notice taken of this mode of computation 
 by Manilius as superfluous, has treated it as 
 such; for a moment's reflection would have 
 sufficed to have shewn him not only that 
 1080 is no proportional part of 7,704,000, 
 but that the latter number is erroneous, 
 and certainly should be, I believe, 7,776,000, 
 =360X60X30X12, or 1080x2 X60X 
 60=2160X60X60, according to which 
 the degree will consist not of 21,400, but 
 of 21,600 parts, or of 1080X2 parts, and 
 the number 108.0 be an aliquot part of the 
 greater number. 
 
 The subsequent progress of astronomical 
 science, needs no detail here ; I therefore 
 proceed to the means of calculating the 
 influence of the heavenly bodies on man, 
 which were adopted by astrologers. 
 
 The suppositions made as to the real 
 
290 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 magnitudes and distances of the sun and 
 planets, When astronomy was in its infancy, 
 could be of little or no use in calculations 
 of their influences ; and in astrology, nei- 
 ther magnitudes nor distances were at- 
 tended to in calculation, nor does even a 
 conjecture respecting either seem to have 
 been made when the astrological method 
 of calculating the influences was fixed. 
 Yet it displays an ingenuity in the inventor 
 which, with a better knowledge, would 
 have been capable of making great im- 
 provements in science, and which none of 
 J»is successors, in the same study, was for- 
 tunate enough to possess ; and it also 
 shews, that in his time the circle was 
 brought into use. 
 
 "When it had been assumed, that the 
 combined influence of any two heavenly 
 bodies was equal to the sum of their single 
 influences when those bodies were in con- 
 junction, and to the difference when in op- 
 position, to find the combined influence 
 when in other situations they proceeded 
 
 _ 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 291 
 
 thus. Having described a circle to repre- 
 sent theecliptic, 
 they described 
 in it a triangle, 
 a square, and a 
 hexagon ; and 
 the bases of all 
 three being pa- 
 rallel to each 
 
 other, and a radius being drawn perpen- 
 dicular to these bases, the portions of the 
 radius extending from the centre to either 
 of these bases, was made to represent the 
 inverse ratio of the combined influence of 
 any two bodies so situated in the circle at 
 the interval denoted by such base. Thus, 
 in the annexed figure, if in the circle 
 KLMNj of which C is the centre, the 
 lines A B, D E, and F G, be respectively 
 the sides of the inscribed triangle, square, 
 and hexagon, it is evident that the side of 
 the triangle is nearer to the centre than 
 that of the square, and the side of the 
 square than that of the hexagon, their dis- 
 tances being as C O, C P, and C Q, or 
 nearly as 5, 7, 8, and the influence of the 
 
 u2 
 
292 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 nearest to the centre being considered the 
 greatest, that of two planets, one of which 
 was at A, and the other at B, was to be 
 considered as greater than if they were 
 at D and E, and greater at D and E than 
 at FandG, that is, greater in trine than 
 in quartile, and in quartile in the inverse 
 proportion of the distances. The trine 
 was also thought the most favourable, as 
 equally remote from the conjunction or 
 opposition. It was unnecessary to intro- 
 duce other figures, as the side of a hexagon 
 subtends two signs, that of the square three, 
 and that of the trigon four. 
 
 Hence in the astrological schemes of na- 
 tivities, the places of the heavenly bodies 
 being found by calculation, and so noted in 
 the scheme, their favourable aspects, or the 
 contrary, and their influences, or predictive 
 intimations, were estimated according to 
 their respective and relative places and in- 
 fluences. 
 
 Though in these progressive steps to- 
 wards scientific knowledge, it is interesting 
 to observe how fertile the human mind is 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 293 
 
 in conjecture and resources ; and how 
 strongly, and almost indelibly, original 
 prepossessions and ideas must have been 
 impressed upon it, and adhered to, since 
 they are still discernible ; yet that the prin- 
 ciples on which astrological predictions 
 were founded were entirely imaginary, ex- 
 cepting those which experience proved the 
 two great luminaries to have on diseases, 
 and that even the principles on which their 
 effect in these cases were calculated, were 
 erroneous, will be abundantly evident from 
 the origin to which they have in the fore* 
 going observations been traced. 
 
 To pursue the subject further, as to the 
 progress of astrology, would be idle and 
 useless ; it shall, therefore, suffice to notice 
 a few circumstances which may, perhaps, 
 be found not wholly unworthy of attention, 
 though connected with so fallacious and 
 absurd a study as astrology, 
 
 I. In the calculation of the places of 
 the planets it is remarkable, that a sis;n 
 was, in the most ancient method, said to 
 ascend above the horizon regularly every 
 
294 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 two hours. This, Manilius says, was the 
 common or vulgar opinion, which he justly 
 states to be erroneous ; but a common 
 opinion in such cases is generally a tradi- 
 tional one ; and this may be so esteemed. 
 But it could not be the traditional opinion 
 of Italy or Greece, where the inequalities 
 of the length of days recurred too fre- 
 quently for any such tradition ever to have 
 originated there. It could have originated 
 only where the disparity was so small, as 
 that the days and nights should, to the first 
 astrologers, have appeared constantly to be 
 so nearly equal, as without a gross error in 
 a rude calculation, might be so estimated. 
 This is also confirmed by the similar tradi- 
 tion of the divisions of the day and night 
 into twelve equal hours each, and by the 
 oriental figure of the scheme of the hea- 
 vens. . 
 
 Bishop Horsley, in his exquisite tract on 
 a passage in Virgil, has most ingeniously de- 
 duced from a tradition as to the appearance 
 of Procyon, that it must have originated 
 in the latitude of 13° north, and with this 
 
 the above-mentioned traditions, as those o£ 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 295 
 
 astronomy or astrology in the infancy of 
 science agree sufficiently, as in that latitude 
 the greatest difference of the length of the 
 longest and shortest day is l h 34 m ; and 
 consequently, the difference of the hour, 
 or twelfth part of the longest day, and 
 that of the shortest, does not exceed eight 
 minutes, which is so small a difference, 
 that, in the first age of the science, it pro- 
 bably was not well known, or if at all 
 known, was not taken into calculation. 
 
 If these traditions be admitted, as tra- 
 ditions of the fathers of astronomy, the 
 origin of the science must be referred either 
 to Africa, the most southern part of 
 Arabia, or Hindostan ; and as the Hindus 
 alone, as far as I know, have preserved 
 such a traditional idea of the form of the 
 earth, viz., a square plain, as agrees with 
 and explains, the astrological figure ; this 
 seems to have originated with them. 
 
 II. A second inference may be drawn 
 from the preceding observations, as to a 
 tradition of the Babylonians and the C^u- 
 pasian astronomers, mentioned by Cicerq 
 
296 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 ■ ' ' ■ ll " ' ".. ' ■■■ ' ■■ II 
 
 in his Tract on Divination, viz., that they 
 had memorials extending as far back as 
 470,000 years. The exaggeration in the 
 number of years is justly ridiculed by 
 Cicero, if his report was correct. But may 
 he not have misconceived the import of 
 the words ? May not the assertion of these 
 astronomers have been, that their record of 
 years went back as far as 470,000 of the 
 divisions, that is, of the least divisions of 
 the zodiac ? 
 
 If this number be divided by 21,600, 
 or 21,400, the number of these least divi- 
 sions in a degree, the quotient will be 
 21,76 or 21,96', degrees of the zodiac, or, 
 more properly, of the ecliptic, which, esti- 
 mating the precession of the equinoxes at 
 one degree in 72 years, the time of the 
 precession over 21,7 or 21,9 degrees, would 
 be 1,576 or 1,569 years. Hence, as Cicero 
 died B. C. 42, it will not be wholly incon- 
 sistent with probability to infer, that the Ba- 
 bylonians referred to an epoch from which 
 the vernal intersection of the equator and 
 ecliptic had passed over about 22 degrees, 
 the date of which epoch is about 1,600 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 297 
 
 years B. C. This explanation, if it does 
 no more, will reconcile the tradition with 
 other accounts of the early study of astro- 
 nomy by the Babylonians, so as to bring 
 the possibility of the truth of the tradition 
 within the limits of authentic history. 
 
 III. When astrology was applied to 
 medical uses, it appears, that the charac- 
 ters used to denote the several planets, 
 were also used to denote what were con- 
 ceived to be correspondent effects of herbs 
 in medicine. Thus, an herb said to be 
 under the dominion of the sun, signifies, 
 that it is corroborant, &c, and the cha- 
 racter , seems to have been used as the 
 secret note of the properties of such an 
 herb. These characters may, perhaps, 
 still be so far useful, as denoted the opinion 
 of a medical man of the virtues of a plant, 
 according to his experience, or received 
 tradition. 
 
 IV. As the medical astrologers seem to 
 have attended with great care to the in- 
 fluence of the moon on disorders, it may 
 perhaps be worth while to compare what 
 
298 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 they have said concerning this and other 
 subjects, mentioned by Mr. Barlow; as it 
 seems to be from such observations as to 
 the lunar month originally, that the lucky 
 and unlucky days of the month were noted, 
 and from the lunar month transferred to 
 the calendar month, and, consequently, 
 displaced. It is remarkable, that the 15th, 
 19th, 20th, and 21st, are noted as the 
 chief unlucky days ; and these are the days 
 of full moon, and the days preceding the 
 last quarter; and in fever, the 15th, 19th, 
 and 21st days, are critical ; and hence it 
 may, without much risk, be concluded, 
 that the unfavourable days of the moon's 
 age in disease, were supposed to be unfa- 
 vourable in other respects, and that, for a 
 like reason, Saturday, or the seventh day 
 of the moon was unpropitious, Perhaps 
 similar observations as to the weather 
 might be traced to somewhat like a regular 
 prognostication. Old St. Swithin's day 
 was the 15th after the summer solstice. 
 Did the tradition respecting it relate to 
 the fifteenth day, or the second change of 
 $he moon after this solstice ? 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 299 
 
 * 
 
 For the benefit of believers in astrological 
 predictions, I will offer the following nar- 
 rative, which is taken from Scaliger's pre- 
 face to Manilius. 
 
 Note what occurred in A. D. 1179> 
 when all the astrologers of the east, whe- 
 ther Christians, Jews, or Saracens, sent 
 out letters as if they had been royal de- 
 spatches, or proclamations, to every part 
 of the world, in which they predicted, that 
 the seventh year following, viz., A. D. 1186, 
 there would be such disastrous storms and 
 tempests, that the general apprehension 
 throughout these seven years imbittered 
 human life. For the astrologers announced 
 that there would be a great conjunction of 
 all the planets, superior and inferior, in the 
 month of September, which would be pre- 
 ceded by an eclipse of the sun, on the 19th 
 of April in that year. In short, such was 
 the terror raised by the prediction, that it 
 was believed by every one, that the end of 
 the world was undoubtedly at hand. But, 
 according to Rigordus, who published two 
 of their letters, and outlived the predicted; 
 time, by many years, tiie event completely 
 
300 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 exposed the vanity of astrologic science, 
 I will now conclude with observing, that 
 as Nostradamus lived in an age when as-* 
 trology was in high repute, it is most pro- 
 bable, that his prophecies are quatrains, 
 composed so as to express his judgments 
 of events founded on the appearances or 
 schemes of the heavens, successively cal- 
 culated and delineated according to the 
 astrological system of the times. It is 
 scarcely possible otherwise to account for 
 the amazing variety of his predictions. It 
 would have been very surprising if, out of 
 the nine hundred stanzas, each of which, 
 in general, contain several prophecies, some 
 resemblance to some events could not have 
 been made out, and yet very little has, 
 though he gave them every advantage, that 
 obscure expression could give to judgments 
 derived from the most fallible of all means 
 of acquiring information. 
 
ZHaveU sculp': 
 
 THE BO¥ OIF WAR U PEACE 
 
 JBubTished/jtfi \Jbugusb,3.824. ly JZWiniams, Jtra/ul. 
 
POPULAR AKTTQUTTIES. 301 
 
 THE BOW OF WAR AND PEACE, 
 
 It frequently happens that traces of an- 
 cient but obsolete customs, may be per- 
 ceived in proverbial expressions, which, 
 though used in a secondary sense, and 
 without any reference in the mind of the 
 speaker to the literal or original meaning, 
 do nevertheless suffer that original appli- 
 cation, or the cause of it, to appear. Of 
 this kind are the expressions which I am 
 now about to produce relative to the pro- 
 clamation of war and peace. By his- 
 torians we are informed, that at such and 
 such times either was proclaimed, but of 
 the manner in which it was so in Britain, 
 neither Caesar nor any later historian, that 
 I know of, has taken any notice; though it 
 is an obvious subject of inquiry, how, in 
 in those times, intelligence of so great im- 
 portance, could be conveyed with the ne- 
 cessary despatch, and in such a manner 
 a& to be sufficiently public and intelligible* 
 
302 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 -■■in — 
 
 This, in the time of Howel Dda, is said 
 to have been done by the sound of the 
 horn, as in later times by the sound of 
 the trumpet ; but there appears to have 
 been a more ancient mode, which was not 
 the less advantageous because more simple. 
 Lewis o'r Glynn, a Welsh poet, speaking 
 of a proclamation of war, says, 
 
 Bwa rhadded drwy holl Brydain. 
 A bow was sent throughout all Britain, 
 
 There is also a proverbial expression 
 still in use in directing a person to take 
 the straight road, viz., 
 
 Ewch o hyd y bwa hedd. 
 Go along the bow of peace. 
 
 From a comparison of these two expres-» 
 sions it is not a rash conclusion to infer, 
 that when war was to be proclaimed, cou-* 
 riers were sent in different directions, each 
 bearing and displaying a bent bow; and in 
 proclaiming peace, a bow unstrung, and 
 therefore straight, as intimated in the latter 
 expression. The bow was thus the era- 
 blem of either state, of war or peace, and, 
 when exhibited, was a sign which none 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 303 
 
 could fail to understand, and none which 
 the summoned would dare to disobey. To 
 hold it out to a multitude was sufficient to 
 declare its purpose, nor will there easily 
 be found, in any of the various methods 
 adopted by different nations, with the like 
 intent, one more simple, more elegant, or 
 more effectual. 
 
 Another Welsh proverbial expression 
 conveys the idea, that captives had once 
 been sometimes sacrificed. The expression 
 is, " Bwrw caeth i gythraul," that is, " to 
 " devote the captive to the evil spirit/' an 
 expression which, though in its present use 
 it signifies no more than " that the weak 
 " are treated contemptuously by the 
 " strong/' does, in its literal sense, indi- 
 cate but too clearly, that in Pagan times 
 captives had been sacrificed, and that this 
 sacrifice was offered to a spirit, supposed 
 to be of a malignant disposition. 
 
304 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 ADDENDA 
 
 DELINEATION OF THE CITY OF TROY. 
 
 The same figure is given as that of the 
 Cretan Labyrinth, on a Gem delineated 
 in the Museo Fiorentino, Vol. III. ; and in 
 Vol. II., p. 480, of the Asiatic Researches, 
 it is said to have been originally used in 
 the Hindu astrology, but how it was ap- 
 propriated is not mentioned. The fact, 
 however, is curious, as it shews the great 
 antiquity of this singular figure, which, as 
 the lines are eight, marking the boundaries 
 of seven walls, according to the tradition ; 
 seems to have been originally intended to 
 denote so many spheres of the heavens. 
 
 TEMPLE AT CARNAC. 
 
 At Carnac (in Egypt), which is a part 
 of the ancient Thebes, there are ruins of a 
 most magnificent temple. Pococke, Vol. I. 
 p. 91. From the extent of the ruins in 
 b©th places, and the temple at Carnac in 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 305 
 
 France's, bearing the same appellation as 
 the temple in Egypt, there can be no 
 doubt, but that the worship in both was of 
 the same kind. 
 
 ADDITION TO THE ESSAY ON FAIRIES. 
 
 That the manner in which the supposed 
 existence of fairies as supernatural beings 
 is accounted for here, is not destitute of 
 probability, the following note, taken from 
 Mr. Scott's Minstrelsy, Vol. II., p. 176, 
 will shew : — 
 
 " Perhaps in this (of Gyrfing), and si- 
 " milar tales, we may recognise something 
 " of real history. That the Fins, or an- 
 " cient nations of Scandinavia, were driven 
 " into the mountains by the invasion of 
 " Odin and his Asiatics, is extremely pro- 
 " bable. It is, therefore possible, that in 
 " process of time, the oppressed Fins may 
 " have been transformed into the super- 
 " natural Duergar (Elves). A similar 
 " transformation has taken place among 
 " the vulgar in Scotland, regarding the 
 " Picts, or Pecks, to whom they ascribe 
 " various supernatural attributes. 
 
 x 
 
306 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 ADDITION TO THE ACCOUNT 
 
 OF 
 
 ST. ALMEDHA. 
 
 In my translation of the British Chro* 
 nicle, (Col. Camb., page 52, Note 2), I 
 have observed, that from an expression in 
 the text respecting masons, it seemed pro- 
 bable to me, that the artificers of Britain 
 were formed into companies in the early 
 time ; and the processions of such com- 
 panies, though made religious processions 
 in the times of Christianity, are, it may be 
 presumed, of much more ancient date. 
 The latest that I have heard of in this 
 country, is that known by the name of the 
 Shrewsbury Show, of which the following 
 account is given in one of the best local 
 histories that has come to my knowledge, 
 though published in 1808, under the 
 modest title of, Some Account of the An- 
 cient and Present State of Shrewsbury. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 307 
 
 
 It was, from remote times, customary 
 for all the companies to unite in cele- 
 " bration of the day of Corpus-Christi, the 
 " feast of the holy sacrament of the body 
 " of our Lord," the next Thursday after 
 Trinity Sunday, " one of the most splen- 
 " did festivals of the Roman church, as 
 ** their grand anniversary. Preceded by 
 " their masters and wardens, and graced 
 " with colours and devices, the}' attended 
 " the bailiffs and members of the corpo- 
 " ration, who, with the canons of St. Chad 
 " and St. Mary, and the friars of the three 
 ** convents, and the parochial clergy j fol- 
 " lowed the holy sacrament, which was 
 " borne by priests, under a rich canopy of 
 u velvet or silk, to a stone cross without 
 " the town ; probably that called the 
 " Weeping Cross. Here all joined in be- 
 " wailing their sins, and in chanting forth 
 "petitions for a plentiful harvest; they 
 " then proceeded in the same order to the 
 " church of St. Chad, where each com- 
 " pany had a particular place in its choir, 
 " and a grand mass was celebrated. Se= 
 H vera! of the trades were obliged to pro 
 
 x % 
 
308 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 44 vide necessaries for this procession, par- 
 " ticularly wax-tapers, which were carried 
 " before the host, and afterwards placed 
 11 on the altar of St. Michael, in St. Chad's 
 44 church. The festival was followed by 
 " three days of disport and recreation, as 
 44 they were termed, either in the ensuing 
 44 week, or at an early time, agreed upon 
 " by the several wardens. These were held 
 " on the piece of ground called King's 
 " Land, where each company had its 
 44 arbour, and where all regaled the bailiffs 
 44 and corporation. 
 
 44 After the Reformation, the religious 
 44 ceremony was of course abolished; but 
 44 one day of entertainment is still observed, 
 44 under the denomination of the Show, 
 44 and is always on the second Monday 
 44 after Trinity Sunday. The companies 
 44 assemble about noon before the castle, 
 44 accompanied by their wardens, with 
 44 flags, devices, and music ; most of them 
 " having also a man on horseback, gaudily 
 44 dressed, called the king, intended origin- 
 44 ally, perhaps, for a representation of the 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 309 
 
 " monarchy who granted their charters. 
 " Thus the king of the clothworkers per- 
 " sonates Edward IV. ; the king of the 
 " masons, Henry VIII.; the barbers' march 
 " with a queen, perhaps, our celebrated 
 " Lady Elizabeth, The devices are era- 
 " blematical of the trades. The sadlers 
 " lead a caparisoned horse ; the smiths and 
 " armourers are preceded by a knight in 
 " complete harness ; the hatters and fur- 
 " riers by an American Indian ; the skin- 
 " ners by the figure of a stag as large as 
 " life, attended by huntsmen sounding 
 " bugle-horns. The procession moves 
 " over the Welsh bridge to Kingsland, 
 " where each company has its enclosed 
 " arbour or pavilion, adorned with the 
 ie arms of the company, in which a cold 
 " dinner is prepared. These are visited 
 " by the mayor and corporation, who 
 '* used formerly to wear their robes of 
 " office upon this occasion. They go on 
 " horseback, preceded by the beadles, 
 " crier,&c, bareheaded, and are hospitably 
 " entertained at the arbours of their re- 
 spective trades. The day is spent in 
 
 a 
 
310 
 
 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 u festivity, and, towards the close of the 
 " evening, the companies leave this de- 
 ' c Ughtful spot, returning to the town pvey 
 ? c the abbey-bridge/' Page 63. 
 
 a 
 

 
 1.1th veil scuJtp. 
 
 ANCIENT METHOD OF REAPING. 
 
 J^ubTzsJied 36 th Serfj.8i4- ~bv H IfflZuims , Strand . 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 511 
 
 METHOD OF REAPING. 
 
 Giraldus Cambrensis says, that the 
 Welsh, in his time, seldom reaped with 
 the sickle, being able to perform the work 
 more expeditiously by a blade of moderate 
 length, formed like a knife, and attached 
 by a chain at each end, to two handles or 
 staves, so as to play freely. Descrip. of 
 fVaks, Chap. 17. 
 
 This description is by no means suffi- 
 ciently accurate to give any clear idea, 
 either of the instrument or the manner in 
 which it was employed. But, from the 
 following figure, which was drawn from a 
 sculpture, on a seat in Malvern church, 
 both may be better understood. 
 
 In this sketch, a and b are the two 
 staves, c the knife or hook somewhat cir- 
 cular, and attached to the end of a, and 
 somewhat higher up to b. The stalk of 
 
312 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 the head of corn d, appears to be caught 
 between the knife and the lower end of 
 the staff 6, and that it was to be cut off by 
 drawing up the staff a, as, by that means, 
 the stalk would be caught between the 
 knife and staff. Still, though perhaps ca- 
 pable of improvement, it seems to have 
 been but an awkward instrument, and to 
 have required some dexterity in the use 
 of it. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 313 
 
 ADDENDA 
 TO THE ESSAY ON ASTROLOGY. 
 
 When the passage respecting Nostra- 
 damus was written, as I had it not then 
 in ray power to consult his prophecies, 
 the idea of their being founded on astro- 
 logical calculations was, to the best of my 
 recollection, merely conjectural ; I have 
 since found that this was the fact, as it is 
 acknowledged by him in dedication to his 
 prophecies, and that in this dedication he 
 gives us, from his own calculation, founded 
 partly on astrological principles, and 
 partly (though undoubtedly principally) 
 on the book of Revelations, the date of 
 the commencement of a great revolution 
 in the state of the world, which, consider- 
 ing that he wrote in the middle of the 
 sixteenth century, may justly be looked 
 upon as very remarkable. It will, how- 
 ever, be observable, that in the astrological 
 part, he has been as much mistaken as to 
 his deductions, as he has been near the 
 truth, where he has depended on revela- 
 
314 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 tion only. Having stated the positions of 
 the heavenly bodies, in a year to which he 
 gives no further designation than, that 
 there shall be no eclipse, he proceeds, as 
 to subsequent events, to give his opinion, 
 of part of which the following is a trans- 
 lation •-?** 
 
 " In the beginning of this year, a per- 
 " secution, more violent than that of 
 " Africa, shall afflict the Christian church, 
 " which shall continue until the year 1792, 
 ic which shall be noted as the renovation 
 M of the age the Romans shall begin to 
 <* regain power, to dispel some obscuri- 
 w ties, recovering somewhat of their an- 
 ? cient celebrity, though not without great 
 " dissensions and continual changes ; then 
 ? Venice, in great force and power, will 
 V soar far above ancient Rome. And 
 " at this time, and in these countries, 
 " the infernal powers shall excite the 
 *' power of its adversaries, which will be 
 * the second Antichrist, against the 
 « c church, and will persecute the church, 
 u and its trueVicar, by means of temporal 
 <* kings, who shall be led astray by their 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 315 
 
 ignorance, and by tongues that wound 
 " more deeply than the sword in the hand 
 u of the insane. At length the third nor- 
 thern king, hearing the complaint of the 
 people of his chief title, shall raise a 
 great army, and pass beyond the boun- 
 daries of his ancestors, and restore the 
 *' greater part (of the troubled world) to 
 " its proper state, and the Vicar of the 
 " cap (cappe) to his former state, but 
 ■ c desolate, and then abandoned of all, 
 " and the Sancta Sanctorum shall be 
 " destroyed by paganism, the Old and 
 ** New Testament shall be prohibited and 
 ** burned, after which the infernal prince 
 5J shall be antichrist, and once more, and 
 " for the last time, all the realms of 
 " Christianity and paganism shall tremble 
 ^ for the space of twenty-five years, and 
 " and there shall be the most dreadful 
 " wars and battles, towns, cities, and 
 " castles, burned, &c. And, after these 
 " evils shall have endured long, the age 
 *' of Saturn and golden age, as it were, 
 M shall be renewed/' 
 
 Propheties de Nostradamus, 
 Ed. l2mo. Paris, 1668, 
 
316 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 In the preceding extract it is evident, 
 that the prediction as to Venice was drawn 
 from his astrological figure, constructed 
 for the time, in which the fanciful refer- 
 ence of the signs, and planets in them, to 
 particular places, was his guide; and, as 
 might justly be expected, has proved a 
 very fallacious one. The rest seems to 
 have been principally derived from Scrip* 
 ture, and the close approximation in cal- 
 culating the 1 ,^60 years as ending in A. D., 
 1792, in which, I believe, he is very nearly 
 right, will appear the more extraordinary 
 when it is observed, that he dates the dedi* 
 cation in June, 1558, when the subject had 
 been so little canvassed. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 317 
 
 MARY THOMAS, 
 
 THE FASTING WOMAN, NEAR DOL- 
 GELLEY. 
 
 Of the various affections of the physical 
 system of the human body, there is, per- 
 haps, no one which excites more curiosity, 
 or more difficult to explain, than that by 
 which life is continued for many years, 
 without the degree of sustenance upon 
 which, except in a very few instances, the 
 continuation of life is known to depend. 
 That it should appear supernatural to the 
 ignorant is not surprising, when to the most 
 learned and ingenious it presents a pheno- 
 menon, the possibiliy of which has fre- 
 quently been doubted; and as to which, 
 so much investigation has been thought 
 necessary to ascertain the fact. In cases 
 of such rare occurrence, it is of importance 
 to the natural history of man, and may be 
 so to medical science, to collect as many 
 particulars as can be obtained ; and, there- 
 fore, though the present instance has been 
 
318 Popular antiquities. 
 
 noticed by Mr. Pennant long ago, it will 
 not be useless to describe the state of the 
 same person now after so long an in- 
 terval. — Mr. Pennant's is as follows : — 
 
 " In a former visit * to this place, my 
 curiosity was excited to examine into the 
 truth of a surprising relation of a woman 
 in the parish of Cylynin, who had fasted 
 a most supernatural length of time. I 
 took boat, had a most pleasant passage 
 up the harbour, charmed with the beauty 
 of the shores, intermixed with woods, ver- 
 dant pastures, and corn-fields. I landed* 
 and, after a short walk, found, in a farm 
 called Tyddyn Bach, the object of my ex- 
 cursion, Mary Thomas* who was boarded 
 here, and kept with great humanity and 
 neatness. She was of the age of forty-seven * 
 of a good countenance, very pale, thin, 
 but not so much emaciated as might have 
 been expected, from the strangeness of the 
 circumstances I am going to relate; her 
 eyes weak, her voice low ; she is deprived 
 of the use of her lower extremities, and 
 
 * July 18th, 1770, 
 
f POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 319 
 
 ri ■ ■ ■ 
 
 quite bed-ridden, her pulse rather strong, 
 her intellects clear and sensible. 
 
 " On examining her, she informed me, 
 that at the age of seven, she had some 
 eruptions like the measles, which grew 
 confluent and universal ; and she became 
 so sore, that she could not bear the least 
 touch : she received some ease by the ap- 
 plication of a sheep's skin, just taken from 
 the animal. After this she was seized, at 
 spring and fall, with swellings and inflam- 
 mations, during which time she was con- 
 fined to her bed ; but in the intervals could 
 walk about, and once went to Holywell, in 
 hopes of cure. 
 
 M When she was about twenty-seven 
 years of age, she was attacked with the 
 same complaint, but in a more violent 
 manner ; and, during two years and a half, 
 remained insensible, and took no manner 
 of nourishment, notwithstanding her friends 
 forced open her mouth with a spoon, to 
 get something down : but the moment the 
 spoon was taken away, her teeth met, and 
 closed with vast snapping and violence. 
 
320 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 During that time she flung up great quan- 
 tities of blood. 
 
 " She well remembers the return of her 
 senses, and her knowledge of every body 
 about her. She thought she had slept but 
 a night, and asked her mother whether 
 she had given her any thing the day be- 
 fore, for she found herself very hungry. 
 Meat was brought to her; but, so far 
 from being able to take any thing solid, 
 she could scarcely swallow a spoonful of 
 thin whey. From this time, she continued 
 seven years and a half without any food, 
 or liquid, excepting sufficient of the latter 
 to moisten her lips. At the end of this 
 period, she again fancied herself hungry, 
 and desired an egg, of which she got down 
 the quantity of a nut-kernel. About this 
 time, she requested to receive the sacra- 
 ment; which she did, by having a crumb 
 of bread steeped in the wine. She now 
 takes for her daily subsistence a bit of 
 bread, weighing about two pennyweights 
 seven grains, and drinks a wine-glass of 
 water ; sometimes a spoonful of wine : but 
 frequently abstains whole days from food 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 321 
 
 and liquids. She sleeps very indifferently ; 
 the ordinary functions of nature are very 
 small, and very seldom performed. Her 
 attendant told me, that her disposition of 
 mind was mild ; her temper even ; that 
 she was very religious, and very fervent 
 in prayer : the natural effect of the state 
 of her body, long unembarrassed with the 
 grossness of food, and a constant aliena- 
 tion of thought from all worldly affairs. 
 She, at this time (1786), continues in the 
 same situation, and observes the same 
 
 regimen/' * 
 
 Not having been able to see this wo- 
 man myself, I requested a friend who 
 had the opportunity of calling upon her 
 to do so, and transmit an account of her 
 to me. This he very obligingly has done 
 as follows : — 
 
 "Dear Sir, August 31, 1812. 
 
 " I had not much difficulty in finding 
 out the subject of your inquiry, as she is 
 
 * Mary Thomas is still (Dec. 1809) living: but, for some 
 time, has taken as much nourishment as could be expected 
 
 Y 
 
322 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 lodged in a cottage on the road between 
 Dolgelley and Ynysfaig. Her name is 
 Mary Thomas, and she is eighty-seven 
 years of age, since Epiphany last (in 
 Welsh Ystwyll), a favourite date of our 
 countrymen. Her first appearance was, to 
 me, frightful enough, as her features are 
 peculiarly large, and the skin of her face 
 is lank or leathery, and pallid. The ears, 
 eyebrows, and mouth, are all prominent ; 
 indeed, the head altogether seems larger 
 than that of any other I ever noticed, at 
 that time of life. Her mental powers are 
 tolerably good, and particularly so at her 
 age. She says, that she was born free from 
 any natural defect, and continued until 
 ten years old in good health, when she 
 had a very dangerous fever, which left her 
 afflicted in her limbs. About her twentieth 
 year she was taken by her parents to Holy- 
 well, for the recovery of her health; but 
 returned without any benefit. She was 
 
 at the advanced age of eighty-five years, sixty-five of which 
 she had been confined to her bed. Her intellects are 
 perfectly clear. In 1806 she remembered and spoke with 
 pleasure of Mr. Pennanfs visit to Cylynin* 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 323 
 
 about forty years of age, I believe, when 
 she commenced her fasting life, and for 
 ten years, she says, she took no nourish- 
 ment; but had her lips occasionally 
 wetted with sugar and water. This state 
 of her life was called by the country 
 people, Gweledigaeth, or * Trance ; but I 
 did not find that she remembered any thing 
 particular during its continuance. The 
 first solid morsel she ate upon her restora- 
 tion, she remembers receiving from the 
 hands of Mr. Lloyd, the clergyman of the 
 parish. Since her return from Holywell 
 she has ever been bed-ridden ; though fre- 
 quently removed from one house to an- 
 other. Her present sustenance is a shilling 
 loaf of the finest bread per week, taken in 
 ale, of which also she has a shilling's worth 
 weekly. She is nearly double in bed, and 
 her arms are nothing but skin and bone. 
 She has been for these many long years 
 
 * This expression evidently relates to the time when she 
 remained insensible, which, according to Mr. Pennant's 
 account, she did for two years and a half ; after which she 
 recovered the use of her senses, and the knowledge of every 
 body about her. See his Tour, Vol. II. p. 262. Ed. 8vo 4 
 London, 1810. 
 
 y 2 
 
HI 
 
 324 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 supported by the parish of Cylynin, at the 
 rate of two shillings per week. Besides 
 this, however, she has received a good 
 deal from her curious visitors, particularly 
 in the summer season. The family of Ar- 
 thog, which is close by, is also very chari- 
 table to her. I do not find that she be- 
 longs to any particular religious sect, but 
 many good neighbours often read religious 
 books to her, with which she is much 
 pleased. I must not omit a report of the 
 neighbours, that, during the early fever of 
 which I spoke above, she was, at one time, 
 supposed to be dead, at which time her 
 mother earnestly exclaimed, in a wish to 
 God, to have her any how restored to her, 
 and in this condition she has remained. I 
 remarked, that she has a strong desire to 
 represent herself as a wonder. The people 
 of the house know not when, or how much 
 at a time, she eats, as she helps herself at 
 pleasure from a box within her reach. 
 
 " I am, &c." 
 
 To this account I have only to add, that 
 this woman died last year, viz. 1813. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 325 
 
 During the year 1811, another case of 
 the same kind, has much attracted the 
 notice of the public, and the several ac- 
 counts published leave no doubt of the 
 fact. This is the case of Anne Moore, of 
 Tetbury, who, for several years, is known 
 to have existed, though not absolutely, 
 without food, as she pretended ; yet, even 
 during the examination which proved the 
 imposture, upon so small a quantity of 
 aliment, for so long a time, as still to ex- 
 hibit a surprising instance of abstinence, 
 and such as the human body, had there 
 been no disorder affecting it, seems to be 
 incapable of. I am, therefore, inclined to 
 assent to an opinion lately given by a 
 writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, that 
 an extraordinary abstinence, originally 
 caused by disease, was attempted to be 
 continued by imposture. The following 
 particulars are taken from the Monthly 
 Magazine for August, 1811, which are also 
 confirmed, by an account given in the Ma- 
 gazine for October of the same year, " She 
 " can sit up in her bed, read her Bible 
 " and her Prayer-book, with the assistance 
 " of glasses ; and work at intervals at her 
 
326 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 " needle. Her memory is strong. In re- 
 
 " spect to the use of her frame, all the 
 
 " lower parts, up to her body, are useless, 
 
 " and totally dead. Her legs are bent 
 
 " under her, and her sinews grown stiff; 
 
 u her voice is low and faint, but accu- 
 
 V rately distinct; she takes snuff, and now 
 
 •' is in her fiftieth year/' 
 
 Upon a comparison of these two cases 
 it appears, that the abstinence did not 
 impair the mental powers, the eye-sight, 
 or the hearing ; but that it did strongly 
 affect the lower parts of the body, so as 
 to contract the legs ; perhaps, in conse- 
 quence of their being deprived of nourish-^ 
 ment, the functions of the parts which 
 convey nourishment being weakened, and 
 perhaps gradually obstructed by callosities; 
 and the consequences in this respect ought 
 to be a serious warning of the danger of 
 such attempts to endure severe absti- 
 nence. 
 
 Even under all the circumstances of 
 the two cases, and, admitting that some 
 nourishment was taken in both, the 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 327 
 
 eagerness to prove the imposition in the 
 latter, and the abrupt dereliction of in- 
 quiry when the pretence of the woman 
 was found not to be true in its whole ex- 
 tent, can hardly be approved of as judi- 
 cious or philosophical. It need not lessen 
 the indignation justly excited by imposi- 
 tion, because the artifice by which the 
 imposture was carried on, is made a fur- 
 ther subject of inquiry ; the imposture, as 
 far as the conduct of the person deserved 
 the name, cannot be excused, and ought 
 not to be palliated ; but, if inquiry should 
 ascertain, that the human body may be so 
 affected by a peculiar disease, as to re- 
 quire a comparatively insignificant portion 
 of food for a great length of time, the fact 
 would be as interesting, as curious in it- 
 self; and might lead to important conse- 
 quences. In Mr. Pennant's account of 
 Mary Thomas, two other instances of long 
 abstinence are adduced, and he reasonably 
 supposes a peculiar disease to have oc- 
 curred in each of those cases ; and, though 
 the digestion of food is, in general, neces- 
 sary to the preservation of life, yet, if the 
 appetite cease, and the digestive and 
 
328 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 evacuant functions, especially insensible 
 perspiration, be repressed, it may still be a 
 question, whether the blood, remaining in 
 the same state nearly, may not sufficiently 
 perform its office for the mere support of 
 animal life for a great length of time, 
 though it may not supply sufficient nou- 
 rishment to the body. That the body was 
 without sufficient nourishment, was evident 
 in all these cases, from the contraction of 
 the limbs. Whether the supposition I 
 have made may afford any grounds for 
 the belief of the existence of such a pecu- 
 liar disease, it is not my office to deter- 
 mine. That there are artificial methods 
 of preventing hunger for some days is well 
 known. The Indians of America do it by' 
 pills, composed of tobacco and lime prin- 
 cipally ; and I have been told, that a coun- 
 tryman of mine, a man of real genius and 
 singular resolution, has walked upwards 
 of one hundred and fifty miles, without 
 any other sustenance than a few drops of 
 laudanum, when the sensation of hunger 
 came on. He was, however, much re- 
 duced in body by the journey. Certainly 
 a composition which, with the power of 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 329 
 
 suppressing appetite, should combine some 
 nutritious substance in a small compass, 
 might occasionally be of great use. Por- 
 phyry, in his life of Pythagoras, says, that 
 this philosopher made use of compositions 
 to prevent hunger and thirst. That to 
 prevent hunger was made thus : " He 
 took melon-seeds, sesamum, the coats of 
 squills, washed till perfectly cleansed from 
 their clammy juice, asphodel flowers, 
 leaves of mallow, and meal of wheat- 
 barley and vatches, of each an equal 
 weight, all of which being pounded toge- 
 ther, he made into a mass, by adding 
 honey of Hymettus. For preventing thirst, 
 he took the seed of cucumbers, pulp of 
 raisins freed from the stones, coriander- 
 flowers, seeds of mallows and purslain, 
 scraped cheese, meal of parched-barley, 
 and cream, and made them into a mass 
 with the honey of importation. 
 
 " These," he said, " were prescribed 
 by Ceres to Herculus, when he was sent 
 into the deserts of Lybia ; and by the use 
 of them he kept his body constant] y in the 
 same state." 
 
330 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 What, or whether any, attention may 
 be due to these prescriptions, I know 
 not; but, it may not be improper to ob- 
 serve, that the flowers of the coriander 
 are too strong an opiate to be trifled 
 with. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 331 
 
 GAME OF KNAPPAN. 
 
 An Account of an ancient Game, formerly 
 used in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, (and 
 not till of late years entirely disused in 
 some parts of it), from a Manuscript in 
 the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. By one of 
 that Country, who had himself been often 
 an Actor in it. 
 
 * Being drawne to speake of the exer- 
 cise of the bodie, I cannot overpasse a 
 game used in f one parte of Pembroke- 
 
 * To account for this abrupt beginning, it will be per- 
 haps necessary to observe, that the present paper is only 
 a part of a Tract, on the gymnastic exercises of the county 
 of Pembroke, at the time it was written, which, on a future 
 occasion, may be presented to the public. It is hoped no 
 apology will be required, for giving it in the ancient spelling 
 of the original. 
 
 -}- Particularly in the hundred of Kernes, where the 
 genuine British character and spirit, notwithstanding the 
 Norman and Flemish intrusion, maintained its ground to 
 the last, and is to this day discovered in greater purity, both 
 with respect to the language, and the manners of the in- 
 habitants, than in any other district of the county. 
 
332 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 shire, among the Welchmen, both rare to 
 heare, troublesome to describe, and pain- 
 full to practise; yet, for the raritie thereof, 
 I crave pardon to trouble you, and, though 
 somewhat long, yet as brieffe as I may. 
 This game is called Knappan, and not un- 
 fitly, as shall be shewed. The game is 
 thought to be of great antiquitie, and is 
 as followeth. 
 
 The ancient Britaines, being naturally 
 a warlike nation, did, noe doubt for 
 the exercise of their youth, in tyme of 
 peace, and to avoyd idlenes, devise games 
 of activitie, where ech man might shewe 
 his natural prowes and agility, as, some 
 for strength of the body, by wrastling, 
 lifting of heavie burdens ; others for the 
 arme, as in casting the barre, sledge-stone, 
 or hurling the bowle or ball ; others y 4 ex- 
 celled in swiftnes of foote, to wynne praise 
 therein by running, and surely for the 
 exercise of the partes aforesayd, this 
 Knappan was prudentlie invented, had 
 y e same continued without abuse thereof, 
 for in it beside the exercise of the bodily 
 strengthe, it is not without resemblans of 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 333 
 
 warlike providence, as shall be hereafter 
 declared ; and first, before I describe you 
 y e play, I will let you knowe that this 
 Knappan hapneth and falleth out to be 
 by two meanes, the one is a setled or 
 standing Knappan, the daie and place 
 being knowne, and yearly haunted, and 
 observed. Of these Knappan dayes in 
 Pembrokeshire, were wont to be five in 
 number, the first at the Burye sandes, be- 
 tween the parishes of Nevarne and New- 
 porte, upon Shroft-tuesday yearly ; the 
 second at Pont G} r non on Easter-monday, 
 between the parishes of Meliney and 
 Eglwyserrowe ; the third, on Low Easter- 
 day, at Pwll du in Penbedw, betweene the 
 parishes of Penrith and Penbedw ; the 4th 
 and 5th was wont to be at St. Meigan's 
 in Kemes, betweene Kemes men on the 
 one parte, and Emlyn men, and the men 
 of Cardiganshire with them, of the other 
 parte; the first upon Ascension day, the 
 other upon Corpus Xti day; and these two 
 last were the great and mayne playes, 
 farre exceeding any of the former in mul- 
 titude of people; for at these places there 
 hath often tvmes been esteemed two thou- 
 
334 
 
 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 sande foot, beside horsemen. And at these 
 dayes and places, were these games wont 
 yerely to be exercised without any match 
 making or appointment ; and therefore I 
 calle these standing Knappans ; other the 
 like plays would often times be, by makeing 
 of matche betweene two gentlemen, and 
 that at such holy-day or Sonday as pleased 
 them to appointe, the tyme and place, 
 which most commonly fell out to be the 
 greatest plaies ; for in these matches, the 
 gentlemen would divide the parishes, hun* 
 dreds, or shires, betweene them, and then 
 would eche laboure to bring the greatest 
 number, and would therein entreate all his 
 friendes and kinsmen in every parish to 
 com and brin his parish wholly with him, 
 by which meanes great numbers would 
 most usually meete, and therefore against 
 these matches there would alsoe resorte to 
 the place, divers victuallers, w th meate, 
 drinke, and wine of all sortes, alsoe mer- 
 chants, mercers, and pedlers, would pro- 
 vide stales and bothes to shewe and utter 
 theire wares ; and for these causes some 
 to play, some to eate and drinke, some to 
 buy, some to sell, others to see, and others 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 335 
 
 to be seen, (you knowe what kind I meane) 
 great multitudes of people would resorte 
 beside the players ; they contende not for 
 any wager or valuable thinge, but only for 
 glory and renown, first for the fame of 
 theire countrey in generall, next every 
 particular to wynn prayse for his activitie 
 and prowes, which two considerations 
 ardently enilarne the mindes of the youth- 
 ful people, to strive to the death for glory 
 and fame, which they esteeme dearer unto 
 them than worldlie wealthe. Their mat- 
 ches are commonly made without stint of 
 number, but as they happen to come, 
 wherein alsoe appeareth a policie, which 
 shall be shewed hereafter, for the weaker 
 number to save the glory of their countrey 
 againest the greater multitude. 
 
 The companiones being come together, 
 about one or two of the clock in the after- 
 noone, beginneth the play in this sorte : 
 After a crye made, both parties drawe to- 
 gether into some plaine, all first stripped 
 bare, saving a light paire of breeches, 
 bare headded, bare bodied, bare legges 
 and feete, their cloathes being layd toge- 
 
336 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES* 
 
 ther in greate heapes, under the charge of 
 certen keepers, appointed for the purpose, 
 for if he leave but his shirte on his backe, 
 in the furie of the game it is most com- 
 monly torne to peeces ; and I have alsoe 
 seene some long locked gallants trymly 
 trimmed at this game, not by powling, 
 but by pulling theire haire and beardes ; for 
 washing balles the barber useth but his 
 fistes, and insteede of warme water, taketh 
 luke-warme bludd out of the nose, mouth, 
 and face, of the younker. This kinde of 
 trymming they all doe gratis, without 
 asking any thing for their paynes. 
 
 The foote companyes thus meeting, 
 there is a round bowle prepared of a rea- 
 sonable quantitie, soe as a man may holde 
 it in his hand, and noe more ; this boule is 
 of some massiewood, asboxe, ewe, crabb, 
 or holy-tree, and should be boyled in tal- 
 lowe for to make it slippery, and hard to 
 be holden : this boule is called Knappan, 
 and is by one of the company hurled bolt 
 upright to the ayere, and at the falle, he 
 that catcheth it, hurleth it towardes, the 
 countrey he playeth for, (for gole or ap- 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 337 
 
 pointed place there is none, neither need- 
 eth anie), for the play is not given over 
 untill theKnappan be soe farre carried that 
 there is noe hope to returne it backe that 
 night ; for the carrying it a mile, or twoe 
 miles, from the first place, is not losing of 
 the honour, soe it be still followed by the 
 company, and the play still maintayned ; 
 it is oftentymes seene the chase to followe 
 two miles and more in heat of course, 
 both by the horse and foote. The Knap- 
 pan beinge once cast furth, you shall 
 see the same tossed backwarde and for- 
 warde, by hurling throwes in straunge 
 sorte; for in three or foure throwes, you 
 shall see the whole body of the game re- 
 moved half a myle and more, and in this 
 sorte it is a straunge sight to see a 1000 
 or 1500 naked men to come neere together 
 in a cluster in followinge the Knappan, as 
 the same is hurled backwarde and forwarde; 
 there are, beside the corps or mayne bodie 
 of the play, certaine scoutes or fore- 
 runners, whose charge is alwaies to keepe 
 before the Knappan which way so ever it 
 passes; these alwaies be of the adverse 
 
338 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 partie, between the other partie and home, 
 least by surreption the Knappan should be 
 snatched by a borderer of the game, and 
 soe carried away by foote or horse. To 
 those scouts you shall all day heere the 
 bodie of the mayne plaie crie, with loude 
 voyces, Cadw 61, that is, Look well to their 
 backs, as though theire cheefe care lay in 
 that pointe, as it doth in deede. If the 
 Knappan come into the hands of a lustie 
 hurler, he throweth the same in a wonderful 
 sorte towardes his countrey, further than 
 anie man would judge the strength of the 
 arme were able ; if it hapneth to the handes 
 of a goode footeman, he presently sengleth 
 himselfe and runneth, and breaketh out 
 of the bodie of the game into some plaine 
 grounde in the swiftest sorte he can, which 
 beeinge perceaved, all the companie fol- 
 loweth where the good footemanshipp of 
 all the companjr is plainlie descerned ; 
 being a comfortable sight to see 5 or 600 
 good footemen to follow in chase a myle 
 or two, as a greyhound after a hare, where 
 you shall see some gaine in running upon 
 his precedentes ; some forced to come be- 
 hinde those that were once foremost, which 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 339 
 
 greatly delighteth the beholders, and 
 forceth them to follow likewise, to see the 
 pleasure of the chase : and thus the one 
 seeketh to wynn honor by hys footeman- 
 ship untill he be overtaken by a better 
 runner, or encountered by one of the 
 scoutes, which will not faile to meete him ; 
 and when he seethhimselfe neere surprised, 
 or that his breathe or legges faile him, he 
 hurleth the boule forward towards his 
 countrey with a greate violence, and per- 
 chance it lighteth to some of his fellowes, 
 who caryeth the same as farre againe, 
 which notwithstanding is not given over as 
 long as the mayne bodie is any thing neere 
 at hand ; and when the boule hapneth to 
 one of the contrarie parte, it cometh back 
 againe as fast : and in this sorte you shall 
 in an open feeld see 2000 naked people 
 followe this boule backwarde and for- 
 warde, Est, West, South, and North ; soe 
 that a straunger that casuallie should see 
 such a multitude soe ranging naked, would 
 thinke them distracted. It is straunge to 
 behold with what egerness this play is 
 followed ; for, in the furie of the chase, 
 they respect neither hedge, ditch, pale, or 
 
 z 2 
 
340 
 
 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 walle, hille, dale, bushes, river, or rocke, 
 or any other passable impediment ; but all 
 seemeth plaine unto them, wherein alsoe 
 they shewe suche agillitie in running, such 
 activitie in leaping, such strength and skil- 
 full deliverance in hurling, such bouldness 
 in assaulting, such stoutness in resisting, 
 such polliciein inventing, such skill in pre- 
 venting, as taking them out of theire 
 game, they are not able to performe or in- 
 vent halfe the prowes or devises shewed in 
 the same; a thing much noted of men of 
 judgement. The horsmen have monstrous 
 cudgelles, of three foote and a halfe long, 
 as big as the party is well able to weld, and 
 he that thinketh himselfe well horsed, 
 maketh meanes to his friends of the foot- 
 men to have the Knappan delivered him, 
 which being gotten, he putteth spurres, 
 and away as fast as the legges will cary. 
 After him runneth the rest of the horsmen ; 
 and if they can overtake him, he sum- 
 moneth a delivery of the Knappan, which 
 should be thrise, by lawe of the game ; but 
 now they scarse give it over till he strike, 
 and if he held the Knappan, it is lawfull 
 for the assaliant to beat him with his cod- 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 341 
 
 gell till he deliver it ; the best of foote 
 troupes alsoe will followe the horse, who 
 are soe well enseyned by the often exercise 
 of this game, as that when the horsmen 
 misse to fetch up the Knappan, the foote 
 will often recover the same, and will in 
 heate of chase followe the Knappan two 
 or three myles, till the horse be spent, and 
 will bringe backe the Knappan when it is 
 out sigh and past hope. This exercise, 
 if due orders were observed, and the abuses 
 reformed, were a most warlike exercise, 
 both for horse and foote ; but the dis- 
 orders are soe increased, that the play is 
 banished and almost forsaken ; for, by the 
 anciente custome of the play, the footmen 
 were not to use any thinge but the bare 
 fiste, neither was it permitted to the hors- 
 men to come amonge the foote troupes ; 
 for that the footmen playing all bare 
 footed, may receve great annoyance by 
 the horse, and therefore it was permitted 
 for the foote to chase the horsmen from 
 among them by hurling stones at them ; 
 alsoe the horsmens cogell was to be assised 
 by drawing it throwe a ring, made for the 
 purpose, and the same to be of hasell, 
 
342 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 ■■ l —3———— I . 
 
 soe as the same might harme, but not 
 mightilie hurte any person ; alsoe it was 
 not lawfull to strike anie man having the 
 Knappan ; but after three summons or 
 demandes to hurle of the Knappan, which 
 if he did deliver from him, he was to rest 
 in peace, and free from the bastinado, 
 neither might anie horsman or foot be 
 assaulted that had not the Knappan, nor 
 longer to be cogelled then he held the 
 same. These and divers other good ordi- 
 nances, as the reporte goeth, hath been 
 belonging to this game in old tyme ; but 
 now at this playe privat grudges are re- 
 venged, soe that for every small occasion 
 they fall be the eares, which being but 
 once kindled betweene two, all persons of 
 both sides becom parties, soe that som- 
 tymes you shall see 5 or 600 naked men 
 beating in a cluster together as fast as the 
 fistes can goe, and theire parte must be 
 taken, every man with his company, soe 
 that you shall see two brothers, the one 
 beating the other, the man the master, and 
 friend against friend ; they nowe allsoe will 
 not sticke to take upp stones, and there 
 with in their fistes beat theire fellowes^ 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. o^o 
 
 the horsmen will intrude and ride into the 
 footmen's troopes, the horsman choseth 
 the greatest cudgell he can gett, and the 
 same of oak, ashe, blackethorne, or crab- 
 tree, and soe huge as it were able to strike 
 down an ox or horse ; he will alsoe assalt 
 any for privat grudge, that hath not the 
 Knappan, or cogell him after he hath 
 dealt the same from him ; and when one 
 blowe is given all faleth by the eares, each 
 assaulting other with these unreasonable 
 cogells, sparing neither head, face, nor 
 anie parte of the bodie ; the footmen fall 
 soe close to it, being once kindled, as 
 they wholly forgett the plaie, and fall to 
 beating till they be out of breath, and 
 then some number holde theire handes 
 upp over theire heads, and crye Heddwch, 
 Heddwch, that is, Peace, Peace ; and often 
 tymes this parteth them, and to theire 
 plaie they goe anewe ; neither may there 
 be anie looker on at this game, but all 
 must be actors; for soe is the custome 
 and curtesie of the plaie : for if one that 
 cometh with a purpose onely to see the. 
 game, be he foote or horsman, when the 
 multitude shall enclose him in, as ofteij 
 
344 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 tymes in following of the boule is scene 
 to happen, and then the looker on, being 
 in the middest of the troupe, is made a 
 player, by giving him a bastonado or two, 
 if he be on horse, and by lending him 
 halfe a dozen cuffes if he be on foote ; 
 this much may a straunger have of cur- 
 tesie, although he expect nothing at their 
 handes. 
 
 You shall see gamesters returne home 
 from this playe, with broaken heads, black 
 faces, brused bodies, and lame legges ; yett 
 laughing and merily jesting at theire 
 harmes, telling theire adversaries how he 
 brake his head, to another that he strocke 
 him on the face, and how he repayed the 
 same to him againe, and all this in good 
 myrth, without grudge or hatred ; and if 
 any be in arrereges to the other, they score 
 it up till the next playe, and in the meane 
 tyme, will continue loving friendes ; 
 whereas, if the least of these blowes be 
 offered out of this playe, it presentlie 
 breedeth unquencheable quarrells; by this 
 you see the horsman's game, is right horse 
 playe, and their lawe plain Stafford lawe, 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 345 
 
 If the one partie perceive itself to be 
 overmatched in number, which is knowne 
 by the over manie throwes on that side, 
 and so for feare to loase the honor of that 
 dayes worke, theire pollicie is to make as 
 manie thronges and stopps as they can, 
 which in Welsh they call *Cade, which is 
 to stoppe and hould the boule from plaie, 
 and is don in this sorte : one of the weaker 
 side, hapning on the Knappan, clappeth 
 the same ag* his belly, holding it fast with 
 both his handes, another of his company 
 claspeth him aboute the mydle, turning 
 face to face, soe then is the Knappan in 
 fastness betweene both theire bellies, and 
 then cometh more of the same syde, and 
 layeth gripes on, and round about them 
 both, soe that you shall see a 100 or 120 
 thus clustered together, as bees when a 
 swarme is knitt together, the boule being 
 in the middest of them, which the other 
 partie seeketh to open or undoe by haling 
 and pulling, but in vayne soe long, till the 
 first men be out of breath, and can endure 
 
 * I presume the Author means Cad, which is the impera- 
 tive of Cadw, to keep, or hold fast. 
 
346 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 this labour noe longer; thus you shall have 
 the boule stopped a quarter of an houre, 
 and then another company undertaketh 
 the like toyle, and thus by 8 or 9 throngs, 
 they will wsare out the daye, and give 
 over playe without disgrace to themselves 
 and theire countrey. 
 
 The throwes which are made in this 
 game, and which are straunge to beholde, 
 be called by the name of *Llyw or Llywo, 
 which is not to be applied to any kind of 
 throwing, but of the Knappan onely, which 
 Virgil, in describing this game, termeth 
 "Magno ingyro fy curvatis spaciisj" by 
 reason of the great compass which the 
 boule maketh in flieing. 
 
 This playe of Knappan seemeth to be 
 an ancient exercise, descended to us 
 Welshmen from our first progenitors the 
 Trojans; for the heroicall poet Virgil, in, 
 describing the rage of Queene Amata, wife 
 
 * I cannot discorer the affinity between Llyw and (as I 
 apprehend it should be written) Llywio, and throwing, unless 
 it signify, that the throws in this game govern it ; the whole 
 seeming to depend on them. 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 547 
 
 to King Latinus, being enraged by poyson 
 of Alecto for the intended marriage of her 
 Lavinia with our ancient progenitor jEneas, 
 could not better describe the same, then 
 by comparing her madd rage to the fury 
 of this game : 
 
 " Immensam fine more furit, lymphata per urbem 
 Ceu quondam forte volitans subverbere turbo 
 Quem pueri magno in gyro vacua atria circum 
 lntenti ludo exercent ille actus habena 
 Curvatis fertur spaciis, stupet inscia turba 
 Impubesque manus mirata volubile buxum. 
 Dant animos plagge, non cursu segnior illo 
 Per medias urbes agitur." 
 
 Virgil ^Eneid. 7th lin. 377. 
 
 Which, to interprets I will use the 
 wordes of oure countre} 7 man and worthie 
 scholar* Mr. Doctor Phaer, in his transla- 
 tion of that author, which are these : 
 
 * Doctor Phaer was a physician ; and I believe the first 
 of his family who resided in Pembrokeshire, being the son 
 of Thomas Phaer, of Norwich, Esq., by Clara, daughter of 
 Sir William Goodyear, knight, of London. He married 
 Anne, daughter of Thomas Walter, alderman, of Carmar- 
 then, by whom he left two daughters ; he translated Virgil 
 ! n his retirement on the banks of the Tivy, and was buried 
 at Kilgerran church. In an old manuscript by me, I find 
 this brief character of him : " Thomas Phaer, doctor of 
 
348 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 '* She rayling, rampes, and runnes, and throughethe towne 
 
 she troubleth all, 
 Much like as when by strength of sling, is cast a whirling 
 
 ball, 
 Whom boyes for their disport, in cloyster wide, or vacant 
 
 hall, 
 Intentive drive with noise, it throwen with force, before 
 
 them falles ; 
 The careless prease, pursues with wond'ring much, the 
 
 bowle of box, 
 From youth to youth that rolles, theire courage kindleth 
 
 more by knoxe, 
 None otherwise, and with no lesse concurres, she gads about, 
 Through cities, myds, and townes, and people thick, she 
 
 gathereth out." 
 
 And in the margent, Mr. Phaer, being 
 as well acquainted with this game, as 
 practised in the author, layeth this note 
 upon the place : " This playe is used in 
 Wales, and the ball is called Knappan," 
 whereby he seemeth to understand the 
 Knappan nowe used in this countrey, to be 
 
 Physick, a man honored for his learninge, commended for 
 his government, and beloved for his pleasante natural con- 
 ceiptes. He chose Pembrokeshire for his earthly place,where 
 he lived worshipfully, and ended his dayes to the greeffe of 
 all good men, at the forest of Kilgerran, being his chosen 
 seat* He translated the Eueydos of Virgil, a worke of none 
 worthilie commended, though commended of most, shewing 
 in the auctor his great skill, learninge, and aptnes of 
 nature." 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 349 
 
 the same plaie spoken of by Virgil, used 
 in ancient tyme among the people of 
 Eneas, and our ancient cozens the Cornish 
 men, have the selfe same exercise among 
 them yett observed, which they call 
 Hurling, whereby it seemeth this exercise 
 is more ancient than orderly observed. 
 
 Thus having tyred myselfe, in describing 
 this unruly playe, I will here ende with a 
 merie jeste or two, touching the same 
 sporte : On a tyme, a gentleman of good 
 note, being desirous to see the game, and 
 being well mounted on a fayer gelding, 
 made meanes that he had the Knappan 
 delivered him, and putt his horse to his 
 footmanship, who, farre exceeding any of 
 the company for stature and good keeping, 
 thought himselfe sure from overtaking; 
 but his gelding, falling once out of breath, 
 began to slack, and the gentleman was 
 overtaken by an old grey-headded countrej 
 swayne, hoarse in voyce, and rude in 
 maners, mounted upftn a little leane nagg, 
 furnished with a padd and coller, but 
 better breathed then the stall-fed gelding, 
 summoned the gentleman to dele the 
 
350 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Knappan,who, scorning the fellowe, spurred 
 on, and at the third summons, the old 
 rider shewed the gentleman the lawe of 
 game, and with his cogell, measured the 
 breadeth of his shoulders, and againe and 
 againe, then on the head, and on as 
 fast as he could untill the gentleman 
 cryed amayne, and looking aboute, saw 
 non but himselfe and this rude Knappaner 
 in place, desired him to hold his hande (if 
 he were a man) till he might draw the 
 Knappan out of his hose, and delivered 
 the Knappan to the old man, with Christ's 
 curse, and his with it, and soe did this 
 old man conjure the fiend out of his hose, 
 that soe tormented him, and the gentle- 
 man delyvered out of danger; and at his 
 coming that night *to his lodging, being a 
 brother's house of his, sware the playe was 
 aptly called Knappan, for, sayd he, I have 
 gotten by it stores of knappes on my head 
 and shoulders. — Another young man 
 havinge once a horsback, caried away the 
 Knappan, which he turned to his greate 
 prayse— -the next playe came ; well, to the 
 game, assuring himselfe to doe the like, rod 
 up and downe a greate parte of the day f 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 351 
 
 and missed to have in handling ; whereupon, 
 he devysed a waye to deceive the people, 
 by making them belevee he had the 
 Knappan, singled himselfe out of the 
 companie, and in a faire large plaine, put 
 his horse to runne away race, which being 
 descerned, all the horsmen followed, 
 thinking he had the Knappan. In the end 
 being overtaken, was summoned to cast 
 the Knappan, but he spurred on ; the 
 other, in the ende, layd one loade on his 
 head and shoulders, till he cried, Leave, I 
 have not the Knappan. The other would 
 not trust his word, still willed him with 
 stripes to lay down the Knappan : then he 
 sware by God, he had it not. The other 
 would not beleave his oathe without a 
 booke, which he had no leasure to hold 
 him, layd on soe fast, that he strake him 
 downe, and lighting, riffled and rent his 
 hose, and cloathes, and then perceived he 
 had not the Knappan, sayd he would 
 believe hys word Jthe next tyme ; but gave 
 him his blessing : that he cryed och I for 
 cosening him of a beating in that sorte ; 
 and soe he returned to his fellowes, where 
 he found the Knappan tossed between 
 
352 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 
 
 them, and made his cornplainte to them 
 how he had been deceived. — Another 
 pretie conceyte, worthe the remembring, 
 uttered by one in the yeare 1588, when 
 the Spaniards were with theire termed 
 (not truely) invincible navy on the coast, 
 seeing in the Knappan a multitude of 
 horse and footmen, all by the eares fight- 
 ing, to number of 6 or 700, whereof most 
 were hurt and bloody, asked how this 
 ^ would be pacified ? Well, said one, this is 
 ^11 in playe, and will be taken in good 
 parte. If this be but playe, quoth the 
 other man, I could wish the Spaniardes 
 were here to see our playes in England, 
 certes they would be in bodily feare of 
 our warre. 
 
 Another poore man, A. D. 1587? being 
 a yeare of great scarcitie of corne, and 
 having gone out of his countrey for w r ant 
 of bread, seeing a multitude of naked men 
 haling and pulling one at another up and 
 downe the fieldes, softer the Knappan, 
 never seene by him^'before, asked about 
 what they strived in that sorte, was 
 answered, they strived who should have 
 
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 353 
 
 the Knappan : what (quoth he) is that 
 Knappan? It is, sayd the other, a boule 
 of wood little bigger then my fist. O 
 fooles ! sayd the other, to keepe such a 
 sturre for a peece'of wood ; they would, I 
 warrant you, strive mightily, if there were 
 a peny loafe of bread cast in among them, 
 who should have it. 
 
 This which I have written of this 
 Knappan, I writt most as testis oculatus, 
 for that I have beene oftentymes an ugent 
 and patient at this unruly exercise, and 
 often have felt the smarte that I have 
 written (especially of the horse playe) ; and 
 therefore, as in deedes, I may here con- 
 clude with these wordes, " In cujus rei 
 testimonium sigilla sua opposuerunt :** which 
 signes and seales I carrye in my head, 
 jiandes, and other partes of my body. 
 
 Cambrian Register for 1795, page 168* 
 
 TIJE ENPo 
 
 A A 
 
DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fives-playing }> 123 
 
 c Easter-monday * 125 
 
 e The Bidder 1 59 
 
 ? The Quintain \6$ 
 
 Singing to the Harp and Dancing .164 
 
 The Funeral 175 
 
 The Fairies 203 
 
 >• City of Troy " 212 
 
 The Bow of War and Peace 301 
 
 Ancient Method of Reaping .#..» 311 
 
355 
 
 BOOKS PRINTED AND SOLD 
 
 BY 
 
 E. WILLIAMS, 
 
 BOOKSELLER TO THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF YORK, 
 No. 11, STRAND, NEAR CHARING- CROSS, LONDON. 
 
 THE CAMBRIAN REGISTER, 2 vols. 8vo. with 
 plates and maps, in boards, \l. Is. 
 
 HEROIC ELEGIES OF PRINCE LLYWARCH 
 HEN, bv William Owen, 8vo. boards, 10s. 6d. 
 
 ARCHIALOGY OF WALES, 3 vols, royal 8vo. in 
 boards, 4/. 14s. 6d. 
 
 OWENS WELSH AND ENGLISH DICTION- 
 ARY AND GRAMMAR, 2 vols. 4to. in boards, 5/. 15s. 6d. 
 
 Ditto Ditto, 2 vols, royal 8vo. in boards, 3/. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Ditto abridged, in l2mo. boards, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Ditto WELSH GRAMMAR, Svo. ditto, 7s. 6d. 
 
 OWEN'S CAMBRIAN BIOGRAPHY, 12mo> in 
 boards, 7s. 6d. 
 
 EVANS'S SPECIMENS OF THE POETRY OF 
 THE WELSH BARDS, 4to. in boards, 10s. 6d. 
 
 Ditto, neatly bound, 14s. 
 
 WARRINGTONS HISTORY OF WALES, 2 vols, 
 in boards, 12s. 
 
 Ditto, elegantly bound, 18s. 
 
 EVAN'S MAP OF NORTH WALES, 18s. 
 
 Ditto, on Canvass in a Case, 1/. Is. 
 
 FOLEY'S PRACTICE OF THE COURT OF 
 GREAT SESSIONS IN SOUTH WALES, Svo. 1». 6d. 
 in boards. 
 
 WOTTON'S LEGES WALLICjE ; or, the Laws of 
 Prince Howell Dda, large paper, folio, new, <2L 2s. 
 
 VINDICATION OF THE CELTS, Svo. 5s. in 
 boards. 
 
 BINGLEY'S TOUR THROUGH NORTH WALES 
 2 vols. Svo. in boards, 1/. Is. 
 
 WALTERS'S ENGLISH AND WELSH DIC- 
 TIONARY, 4to. scarce, unbound, 21. 5s. 
 
 Ditto Ditto, neatly bound, 2/. 15s. 
 
 %* Any Numbers of this Work may I* had to complete 
 Sets. 
 
 A A 2 
 
V 
 
 356 
 
 TURNER'S VINDICATION OF THE GENUINE- 
 NESS OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH POEMS, 8vo. 
 in boards, 6s. 
 
 BE AUM ARES BAY, aPoem, by Richard LI wyd, 3s. 6rf. 
 
 ROBERTS'S CHRONICLE OF THE KINGS OF 
 BRITAIN, 4to. in boards, 2/. 2s. 
 
 Ditto, large paper, in boards, 3/, 3s. 
 
 ROBERTS'S SKETCH OF THE EARLY HIS- 
 TORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, 5s. 
 
 ROBERTS'S REVIEW OF THE POLICY AND 
 PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF THE MODERN 
 CHURCH OF ROME, 8vo. boards, 6s. 
 
 THE POETICAL WORKS OF DAFYDf) AP 
 GW1LYM, in Welsh, with his Life in English, by Wil- 
 liam Owen, 8vo. in boards, 12s. 
 
 GORCHESTION BEIRDD CYMRU, being a Select 
 Collection of Welsh Poetry, in Welsh, 4to. sewed, 10s. 6d. 
 
 WILLIAMS'S (Edward, the Welsh Bard) POEMS, 
 Lyric and Pastoral, 2 vols. l2mo. in boards, 10s. 6d. 
 
 Ditto, elegantly bound, 2 vols. 18s. 
 
 WELSH ATLAS COMPLETE, being New and 
 Accurate Maps of all the Counties of North and South 
 Wales, beautifully coloured, and neatly half-bound, in 4to. 
 1/. is. 
 
 YORK'S ROYAL TRIBES OF WALES, with 12 
 beautiful Poitraits, in 4to. boards, \l. 7s. 
 
 THE MARRIAGE CEREMONIES OF ALL NA- 
 TIONS, scarce and curious book, 12s. 
 
 PENNANT'S TOURS IN WALES, with 44 beautiful 
 Plates, 3 vols, roval 8vo. in boards, 3/. 13s. 6d. 
 
 PENNANT S HISTORY OF THE PARISHES OF 
 WHITEFORD AND HOLYWELL, 4to. fine Plates, 
 elegantly bound, 1/. 7 s. 
 
 PENNANTS LITERARY LIFE, Plates, 4to. in 
 boards, scarce, 15s. 
 
 LLOYDS HISTORY OF CAMBRIA, now called 
 Wales, 4to. in boards, Plates, 21. 2s. 
 
 ROWLAND'S MONA; or, the . Antiquities of the 
 Island of Anglesey, 4to. very neat and scarce, 1/. 10s. 
 
 STRUTT'S CHRONICLE OF ENGLAND, 4to, 
 many Plates, neat and scarce, 11. 10s. 
 
 DR. JOHN DAVIES'S WELSH AND LATIN, 
 AND LATIN AND WELSH DICTIONARY, folio, 
 verv neat and fair Copy, very scarce, 3/. 3s. 1632. 
 
 JONES'S HISTORY OF BRECKNOCKSHIRE, 
 2 vols, royal 4to. many Plates, in boards, 61. 10s. 1805. 
 
 FENTON'S HISTORICAL TOUR THROUGH 
 PEMBROKESHIRE, many fine Plates, 4to. large paper, 
 in boards, bl. 15s. 6d. 1811. 
 
357 
 
 FENTON'S HISTORICAL TOUR THROUGH 
 PEMBROKESHIRE, small Paper, 4to. boards, 3/. 10*. 
 boards, 1811. 
 
 WYNDHAM'S TOUR THROUGH MONMOUTH- 
 SHIRE AND WALES, with many very fine Plates, royal 
 4to. very elegantly bound, and very scarce, 31. 13s. Gd. 
 1781. 
 
 JONES'S MUSICAL AND POETICAL RELICS 
 OF THE WELSH BARDS, folio, very scarce, and 
 neatly bound, 2/. 10*. 
 
 CANWYLL Y C YMRY ; or, the Welshman's Candle, 
 8vo. in boards, 5*. 
 
 Ditto, neatly bound, 8 *. 6d. 
 
 POWELL'S HISTORY OF WALES, 8vo. very 
 scarce, and elegantly bound in Russia, 21. 2s. 
 
 LLEWELYN'S HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF 
 THE WELSH VERSION OF THE BIBLE, sewed, 
 very scarce, 1 768. 
 
 THE POETICAL WORKS OF EDWARD RI- 
 CHARDS IN WELSH, and his Life in English, 8vo. 
 sewed, 3*. 6d. 
 
 DAVIESS WELSH BOTANOLOGY, in Latin, 
 English, and Welsh, 8vo. in boards, 12s. 
 
 THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR OF THE LET- 
 TERS OF JUNIUS, the Rev. Dr. James Wilmot, with 
 Portrait, fac-simiiies, &c. 8vo. in hoards, lf>s. 
 
 WILLIAMS'S HISTORY OF MONMOUTHSHIRE 
 with Map and many Plates, 4to. boards, 1/. 11*. 6d. 
 
 WILLIAMS'S OBSERVATIONS ON THE SNOW- 
 DON MOUNTAINS, scarce, 8vo. boards, 8*. 
 PR1TCHARDS DIVINE POEMS, 8vo. scarce, 10*. 6c/. 
 Ditto Ditto, in Welsh, 7 s. Gd. 
 
 THE LIFE OF MERLIN, SURNAMED AMBRO-- 
 SlUS, with his Prophecies and Predictions interpreted, 8vo. 
 neatly bound, 10*. 6d. 
 
 Ditto Ditto, in boards, 8*. 
 
 BINGLEY'S COLLECTION OF FAVOURITE 
 WELSH AIRS, folio, sewed, 10s. 6d. 
 
 A NEW MAP OF CARDIGANSHIRE, from actual 
 Survey, 4 large Sheets, coloured, and on Canvass and Rol- 
 lers 2/. 12*. iid. 
 
 GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS, translated by Sir Ri- 
 chard Hoare, Bart, with 60 beautiful Engravings, 2 vols, 
 royal 4to. in boards, J/, 17*. 6d. 
 
 LLWYD'S ARCH.EOLOGIA BRITANNICA, very 
 neat and scarce, 1/. 10*. 
 
 WELSH COMMON PRAYER, large letter, folio, 
 well bound in rough calf and lettered, 2L 10*. Oxford, 
 1801, 
 
358 
 
 WILLIAMS'S DISSERTATION ON THE PE- 
 LAGIAN HERESY, 8vo. in boards, scarce, 4s. 6d. 
 
 MANBY'S HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF 
 THE PARISH OF ST. DAVID'S, IN SOUTH 
 -WALES, many Plates, royal 8vo. in boards, 15*. 
 
 MRS. MORGAN'S TOUR TO MILFORD HAVEN 
 8vo. in boards, scarce, 10s. 6d. 
 
 WELSH BIBLE, large print, in 4to. unbound, 1/. 10s. 
 
 Ditto, neatly bound and lettered, 2l. 
 
 LIPSCOMB'S JOURNEY INTO SOUTH WALES, 
 8vo. 8*. 
 
 BARBER'S TOUR IN SOUTH WALES, 8vo. 7s.6d. 
 
 WARNER'S TOUR IN SOUTH WALES, 8vo. 15*. 
 
 VERTOT'S CRITICAL HISTORY OF THE 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BRETONS AMONG 
 THE GAULS, 2 vols. 8vo. very neat and scarce, lbs. 
 1722. 
 
 WELSH BIBLE, COMMON PRAYER, AND 
 SINGING PSALMS, bound up together, with Maps, fine 
 print, best edition, and elegantly bound, 21. 2s. Oxoru 
 1755. 
 
 WELSH COMMON PRAYER, large Print, with 51 
 fine Plates, elegantly bound, and very scarce, 2/. 2s. 1755. 
 
 Ditto, as good as new, in blue Turkey with all the Plates, 
 1/. 11*. 6d. 1755. 
 
 VAUGHAN'S BRITISH ANTIQUITIES RE- 
 VIVED, 4to. very scarce, 1/. lis. 6d. 1662. 
 
 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE GWEDYR 
 FAMILY IN CARNARVONSHIRE, by Sir John 
 Wynne, Bart, in MSS. very fairly written. 
 
 WELSH BIBLES AND COMMON PRAYERS, 
 of Various Sizes and Editions, may be had neatly bound. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE GWEDYR FAMILY, 
 by Sir John Wynne, neatly bound, and very scarce, 1/. 4*. 
 1770. 
 
 A DISSERTATION ON THE WELSH LAN- 
 GUAGE, by the late John Walters, neatly bound, very 
 rare, 10*. 6d. 1770. 
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE ANTIQUITY OF THE 
 IRISH LANGUAGE, being a Collation of the Irish with 
 the Punic Language, proving Ireland to be the Thule of 
 the Ancients, neatly bound, and very rare, 12*. 1772. 
 
359 
 
 This Day is published, 
 IN QUARTO, COMPLETE, 
 
 Price £2. 5s. unbound, 
 
 AN ENGLISH AND WELSH DICTIONARY, 
 
 wherein not only the Words, but also the Idioms and 
 Phraseology of the English Language, are carefully trans- 
 lated into Welsh, by proper and equivalent Words and 
 Phrases. By the Rev. John Walters, Rector of Landough, 
 in Glamorganshire. 
 
 A very few Copies only of this valuable Work remain 
 unsold. This is the Genuine Edition, corrected by the 
 Author's own hands ; which is greatly superior, in every 
 point of view, to a Pirated Edition now printiug in a re- 
 mote corner of the country. 
 
 In April, 1815, will be published, 
 IN ONE VOLUME, QUARTO, 
 
 CAMBRIA DEPICTA; 
 
 OR, 
 
 PICTURE OF NORTH WALES. 
 
 Comprehending a descriptive Survey of the pic- 
 turesque Beauties, and the most romantic Scenery, of that 
 Part of the British Empire; with historical Remarks on 
 peculiar Customs and Manners, Anecdotes of the Inha- 
 bitants, commercial Pursuits, Topography, Antiquities, 
 and local History, of that beautiful and elevated Country, 
 which has been for many Years the Attraction and Admira- 
 tion of all Travellers. 
 
 This Work** will be embellished with above Eighty 
 beautiful Views, drawn on the Spot by an eminent Artist, 
 and a Native of Denbighshire; and engraved in Aquatint, 
 in the very first Style of Elegance, and coloured from 
 Nature ;— and, to gratify the Curiosity of those Gentlemen 
 »ho maybe disposed to encourage this Work, a List of 
 ! l< Plates are here subjoined. 
 
 LIST 
 
S60 
 LIST OF PLATES 
 
 1.— Dolanog Bridge. 
 
 2. — Cader ldris. 
 
 3. — Scene near the Letterheads. 
 
 4. — Plimlimmon Mountain. 
 
 5 — Pont y Cammau. 
 
 6. — Llangollen. 
 
 7. — Rhyad y VVenol. 
 
 8 — Rocks near Holyhead. 
 
 9. — Vale of Festiniog. 
 10. — North-East View of Snowdon. 
 11. — View near Dyserth. 
 12. — The Great Peat Mountains. 
 13 — Moel ddu Fawr. 
 14 — Bredrfyn Mouutains. 
 15. — View on the Virnwy Dolanog. 
 16. — View on the Clwyd, near 
 
 Eyarth. 
 17. — Bishop's Throne, Anglesey. 
 18. — Nant y Bela. 
 19. — Cadnant. 
 
 20. — Paris Mines in the yearlsoo. 
 21.— Ditto ditto in 18C4. 
 
 22. — Hugh Llwyd's Pulpit. 
 23.~-The Severn, near Llanidloes. 
 24. — Caergwrle Castle. 
 25- — Tarran Rhos y Gareg. 
 26. — Eyarth Rocks. 
 27. — Estuaries of the Dee and 
 
 Mersey. 
 2S. — View on the Elwy. 
 29. — Moel y Fammau. 
 30. — Cavernous Rocks near Holy- 
 head. 
 31.— Nant-Ffridd Waterfall. 
 32— Cader ldris and Craig y 
 
 Derin. 
 33.— The Cnicht. 
 3*. — Nant Francon. 
 35. — The Skerries Light-House. 
 36.— Overshot Mill, near Caer 
 Rhun. 
 
 37.— View in Nant hwynen. 
 
 38. — Clwyddian Hills. 
 
 39. — Cwm Llyn Llydaw, &c. with 
 the High Peak of Snow- 
 don. 
 
 40— The Vale of Mold. 
 
 41.— Bethgelert Church. 
 
 42. — Glyndwr's Parliament-House 
 
 43.— Fall of Rocks. 
 
 44.— Kate of Cymmau's Cottage. 
 
 45. — The Source of the Severn. 
 
 46. — A Cromlech at Ystim Ce- 
 gid 
 
 47.— St. Winifred's Well. 
 
 48. — Pont Cysyllty Aqueduct. 
 
 49 — Leoliuus Magnus's Coffin. 
 
 oO. — Ogwen Bank. 
 
 51. — Perilous Situation of Robert 
 Roberts. 
 
 52— Shane Bwt. 
 
 53. — Mary Thomas the Fasting 
 Woman. 
 
 54. — Emma Dolben. 
 
 55. — The Infant Hercules. 
 
 56.— Bella, the Fortune-Teller. 
 
 57.— Carreg Diddos. 
 
 58. — Holyhead Wake. 
 
 59. — A Visit to Cader ldris. 
 
 60.— Bed of the Tudors. 
 
 61. — Monument of St. Melan- 
 ge". 
 
 62— -The Source of the Dee. 
 
 63. — Hallelujah Monument. 
 
 64. — Princess Joan's Coffin-Lid. 
 
 65. — Frontispiece — Cambria. 
 
 €6. — View of Mrs. Piozzi's House. 
 
 67. — The Gates of Leeswood. 
 
 68. — The Monument of Iowerth 
 Drwn Dwn. 
 
 69. — View near Dolgelley. 
 Ditto near Llangollen. 
 
 70.- 
 
 With other interesting Views and Vignettes. 
 (£j* Specimens of the Plates may be seen at No. 11, Strand. 
 * # * The Author of this valuable Work is no more. He died at 
 Ruthin, in June, 1813, and he was 10 Years in completing the 
 Drawings for this Work. 
 The Price of the small Paper and Plates, not coloured, will be £5. 5s, 
 The Price of the large Royal Paper and coloured Plates will be £10. 10*. 
 *** Subscriptions will be received by E. Williams, Bookseller 
 to the Duke and Duchess of York, No. II, Strand, London; and by all 
 the Booksellers of North Wales, as well as of the United Kingdom. 
 
 Printed by W. Clowes, Northumber- 
 land-court, Strand, London. 
 

 
 "v» 
 
 ^— 1n*_.ji ■ .11 
 
 
 
 2^ 
 
 ^U3 
 
 
 
 
 Y 
 

 2V//7 3 
 
 
 ^