II.—WALES
[CXIX]
Published (with The Progress of Poetry) in 1757.
l. 5. hauberk. Coat of mail.
8. Cambria. Wales; a Latinised form of ‘Cymru.’
13–14. Gloster. Mortimer. English nobles and Lords of the Welsh Marches.
28. Hoel. King of Brittany and nephew of King Arthur.
Llewellyn. A famous Welsh prince of the eleventh century.
29. Cadwallo. King of North Wales in the seventh century.
31. Urien. A Welsh hero of the fifth century.
33. Mordred. Nephew of Arthur.
34. Plinlimmon. A mountain in Cardiganshire.
35. Arvon. ‘The shores of Carnarvonshire opposite the Isle of Anglesea.’—Gray.
56. Edward II. was murdered in Berkeley Castle (September 21, 1327).
57. Isabella, wife of Edward II.
67. Edward, the Black Prince.
71, &c. The reign of Richard II.
83–96. The Wars of the Roses.
87. The Tower of London was said to have been begun by Julius Cæsar.
89. Consort. Margaret of Anjou.
father. Henry V.
90. meek usurper. Henry VI.
93. The silver boar was the badge of Richard III.
115. Queen Elizabeth.
121. Taliessin. A Welsh bard of the sixth century.
126. Spenser’s Faerie Queene.
128. Shakespeare’s plays.
131. Milton.
133. ‘The succession of poets after Milton’s time.’—Gray.
[CXX]
Poetical Works (1832). Bodryddan is near Rhuddlan, in Flintshire.
[CXXI]–[CXXII]
Works, with a Memoir (Wm. Blackwood & Sons, 1839). As to the first,—
l. 2. Hirlas. From ‘hir,’ long, and ‘glas,’ blue or azure.
14. Eryri is the Welsh name for the Snowdon Mountains.
As to the second,—
Prince Madog, a natural son of Llywelyn, was the leader of the Welsh Rebellion (1294–1295), occasioned by the levying of taxes by Edward I. to pay for his projected expedition to Gascony.
[CXXIII]
Poems (Roberts, 1869). Translated from the Welsh.
l. 1. Glyndwr. Owain ap Gruffydd, commonly called Owen Glendower (1359?-1416?), joined the Percies and Mortimers in their rebellion against Henry IV.
[CXXIV]
From the Ode written at the request of the Llywelyn Memorial Committee (Bangor: Jarvis & Foster, 1895). By permission of the author. Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (died 1282) was the last champion of Welsh liberty.
l. 29. Lloegrian. Lloegria was one of the ancient names of Britain.
40. Cwmhir. Cwmhir Abbey in Radnorshire.
67. Iorwerth’s happier son. Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (died 1240), commonly called Llywelyn the Great.
[CXXV]
This translation of the famous Welsh poem, Morfa Rhuddlan (i.e., ‘Red Marsh’) is in the metre of the original. Published (September, 1894) in Wales, a monthly magazine. By permission of the editor of Wales and the author’s representatives. Three stanzas (2, 5, and 6) are omitted. Morfa Rhuddlan, on the banks of the Clwyd in Flintshire, was the scene of many battles between Britons and Saxons. In the battle described in the poem (A.D. 795), the Britons under Caradoc were defeated and their leader slain. Those who escaped the sword were driven into the river. The original poem is said to have been composed by Caradoc’s bard immediately after the battle.
[CXXVI]–[CXXVII]
Welsh Lyrics of the Nineteenth Century, First Series (Bangor: Jarvis & Foster, 1896). By permission of author and publishers.
As to the first,—Idris (=Cader Idris), Berwin, and Plynlimmon (l. 8, &c.) are mountains in Wales.
As to the second,—Cymru (l. 1)=Wales.