The following attempt at a versification of the commencement, though, very far inferior to the original, may, nevertheless, give the English reader some idea of the strength and spirit of the composition:
In yonder Tower my darling Owen groans,
Oppress’d with grief, I hear his piteous moans;
Ah wretched Prince! within those walls confin’d,
A Brother’s victim—thus to death consign’d;
What mournful sounds, were to my ears convey’d,
As late dejected, o’er these rocks I stray’d;
Brave Owen’s name shall dwell upon my tongue
His matchless deeds, shall by the muse be sung
From ancient Princes, we his Lineage trace,
And valiant Chiefs, adorn his noble race;
No more his gates receive the crouded throng,
His guests no longer hear the minstrel’s song:
In war distinguish’d by his broken shield,
Like valiant Rodri, [128a] he disdain’d to yield:
Shame that a Prince, should thus in bondage pine,
Whose acts, if free, would Rhun’s [128b] fam’d deeds outshine
These lands ne’er saw the Saxon’s fire and sword,
Till he knew durance vile from Snowdon’s Lord, &c.
The reader is referred for the remainder to the publication before mentioned.
Bishop Godfrey Goodman, purchased a Farm (Ty Du) in this Parish, where he resided during the greatest part of the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell. He was a native of Ruthin, and left that Farm and Coed Mawr, towards the maintenance of the poor of his native parish. He died Bishop of Gloucester, and made a most singular Will, printed in York’s five Royal Tribes. About 37 years ago, a remarkably strong man, (Foulk Jones) lived at Ty Du; many wonderful things are related of him, such as his carrying the largest end of a piece of timber, while it required three men to support the other;—his holding a bull, with one hand, by the horns;—carrying a yearling heifer, that was unwell, home from the field;—throwing a Denbighshire Champion, who had heard of his strength, and was come over, either to fight or wrestle with him, over a wall from a field into the road; and he is said to have lifted a strong man, who insulted him, at Carnarvon, over the battlements of the Bridge, and to have held him over the water, until he had submitted to make an apology, for having so attacked him without any provocation. Many persons now living recollect this man; he was a person of sober, peaceable habits, and much beloved and respected by all his neighbours.
The Rev. Evan Evans, alias Prydydd Hir, Author of Dissertatio de Bardis, Specimens of Ancient British or Welsh Poetry; The Love of our Country, 2 Vols. of Welsh Sermons, 8vo. &c. was Curate of Llanberis in the year 1771. He was then employed in collecting and transcribing Welsh MSS. and had access to the libraries of most of the gentlemen of North Wales, particularly to the valuable collections of Sir W. W. Wynne, Bart. (the present gentleman’s father, and from whom he received a Pension of £20. per Annum, which was afterwards withdrawn), those of Hengwrt, near Dolgelley, Gloddaith, near Conway, and Plas Gwynn, P. Panton’s, Esq. Anglesey. Mr. Evans born at Gynhawdref, near Aberystwith, in Cardiganshire, was educated at the Grammar School of Ystrad Meirig, in the same County, under the celebrated Mr. Richards, many years master of that School. He shewed an early attachment to the Welsh Muse, and was soon noticed by Mr. Lewis Morris, the famous Antiquary and Bard, who conceived a very favorable opinion of his abilities, from some of his juvenile compositions, in his native language.—Mr. Evans was of Merton College, Oxford; he is said to have died in great distress and poverty, at the place of his nativity, August, 1789, in the 58th year of his age. The inhabitants of Llanberis still shew a pool in the river where he used to bathe. The late Rev. B. Williams, of Vron, near Bala, Mr. Pennant’s companion in his Welsh Tour, composed the following lines to his memory, which may not be unacceptable to our readers, particularly at the present period, when the love of Welsh Literature seems to be reviving:
On Snowdon’s haughty brow I stood,
And view’d, afar, old Mona’s flood;—
Carnarvon Castle, Eagle-crown’d,
And all the glorious prospect round.
But soon each gay idea fled,
For Snowdon’s favorite Bard is dead;—
Poor Bard, accept a genuine tear,
And read thy true eulogium here;
Here, in my heart, that rues the day,
That stole Eryri’s pride away:
But lo! where seen, by fancy’s eye,
His visionary form glides by,
Pale, ghastly pale,—that hollow cheek,—
That frantic look does more than speak,
And tells a tale so full of woe,
My bosom swells, my eyes o’erflow:—
To want and to despair a prey,
He pin’d, and sigh’d his soul away!
Ungrateful countrymen, your pride,
Your glory, wanted bread and died!
Whilst Ignorance and Vice are fed,
Shall Wit and Genius droop their head?
Shall fawning Sycophants be paid
For flattering fools? while thou art laid
On thy sick bed, the mountain [131] heath,
Waiting the slow approach of Death,
Beneath inhospitable skies,
Without a friend to close thine eyes?
Thus, shall the chief of Bards expire?
The Master of the British Lyre!
And shall thy hapless reliques rot,
Unwept, unhallowed, and forgot?
No, while one grateful Muse remains,
And Pity dwells on Cambria’s plains,
Thy mournful story shall be told,
And wept till Time itself grows old.R. WILLIAMS, of Vron, near Bala.—1799.
About the year 1805, John Closs, son of Robert Closs, the Innkeeper at Llanberis, a little boy about seven years of age, was persuaded to go and reside with his grandmother, at Caeau gwynion, in Nant y Bettws, not far from Quellyn Pool, and his mother having come to see him, the love of home revived in his memory, and the thoughts of seeing his brothers and sisters became so powerful, that he resolved to follow his mother to Llanberis, unknown both to her and his grandmother; he therefore pursued her up the mountain at some distance: it was in the winter time, late in the evening, and it began to snow, he lost his way, and after wandering some time, he perished on the mountain. His mother, (though she once fancied she heard a child crying) thought he was at his grandmother’s, and the did woman concluded he was gone home with his mother, thus both being deceived, it was some time before it was known that he had followed his mother on that fatal evening; after two or three days painful search, (numbers of the neighbours having collected together) his body was found at the verge of a precipice, near the top of Moel Aelia. The following lines were composed on that melancholy occasion:
A luckless lad, one winter’s day,
Unknown to Granny, ran away,
Nor longer at her house would stay
Without his mother.Unknowing that her child pursu’d,
The gathering storm, unmov’d, she view’d,
The thoughts of home her strength renew’d;—
Alas poor mother!With feebler steps, and fainter cry,
Alarm’d, he sees the dark’ning sky,
Yet still he hop’d that she was nigh,
And sobb’d my mother.Dark was the night, the snow descends,
Near Aelia’s top his life he ends,
As home his weary way he beads,
Nor longer cries my mother!
Some of our readers may probably be pleased and amused with the following extracts from Leland, respecting Llanberis and its neighbourhood:
“Linne Dolbaterne, 2 miles in length, and a diminutive mile in breadth; Vallis Monachus, alias Nant Manach, or Peris, is the upper Valley, in which is Linne Peris, a mile in length, and a dim half in breadth.—Segent (Seiont) cometh first through Llynn Peris, and a bow shot off, runneth into Llyn Padarn; there is but a meadow and bridge between these two pools.—In these two pooles be redde belly fishes, called thorr gough (Tor goch) id est, thori aut pectoris rubri. There be also some of these in Linne Tarddynni, (Cawellyn) and in Linne Bala deulynn, (Llanllyfni Lakes); they be taken in these three pooles in order, and taken in one and not seen in the other; Linne Doythock nothing so big as Linne Peris: these three, Linne Peris, Linne Padarn, and Linne Doythock, are all in the Parish of Llanberis, and the lowest Lake is five miles E.S.E. from Carnarvon, and lie in vallies, W.N.W. from Llanberis. Bala Deulynn is in Hugh Gurvai (Uwch Gorfai) Hundred, and six miles (nine miles) beyond Carnarvon; the others, viz. Linne Peris, Linne Dolpaterne, Linne Doythock, and Linne Tarddynni, are in the Commot of Is Gorvai, (infra Gwyrvai) and all the great Withaw Hill [133] is wholly in this Commot; this hill is all in the Parish of Peris, and is a radicibus five miles to the top. Dolbaterne Castle, on a rock, betwixt two Linnes; there is yet a piece of a Tower, where Owen Gough (Goch) brother to Llywelyn, last Prince, was in prison; it is in Is Gwrfai Commot. Dolbadarn a five miles from Carnarvon, by E.S.E. hard by Linne Peris; Segent (Seiont) as I heard say riseth at Linne Dolbaterne. This Pool is three miles in length, and in some places a mile broad, and in diverse places less and less; it lieth by Withaw Hill, (Snowdon) and is distant 5 miles from Carnarvon, towards S.E.—The best Wood of Carnarvonshire is by Glynn Cledair, in the Parish of Dolwyddelen, and by Glynn Lligwy, and by Capel Curig, and at Llanperis,—all Creigiau’r Ryri is Forest. Metely good wood about Conway Abbey, and Penmachno, and about Coetmore, and Coet Park, by Bangor, and other places; in Lleyn and Eivionydd is little wood. Carnarvonshire, about the shore, hath reasonable good corn, about a mile upward from the shore unto Carnarvon,—then more upward be Eryri Hills, and in them is very little corn, except oats in some places, and a little barley, but scantly rye, if there were the Deer would destroy it; but in Lleyn and Eifionydd is good corn, both by shore, and almost through upland. Syr Gul. Griffith hath a fayr House at Penrynn, two miles on this side Bangor; William vab William, dwelleth at a place called Gochwillan, a mile on this side Penryn; William Coetmore, dwelleth at Coetmore, by Tal Lynn Ogwen; Pillsdon, in Caerarvon Town; John vab Madock vab Poel, dwelleth in Lleen, at Bodvel; John Wynne, vab Meredith, dwelleth at Gweder, a two bow shots above Llanrwst, on the Ripe (Bank) of the Conwy River; Elis vab Morris, at Clennenna, in Penmorva Parish, in Comot Hinioneth (Eifionydd).”