such a company, or that this could be the theatre of ceremonies such as are solemnized with us under the awful roof of Westminster. The situation of this abbey, in the darkest recess of a mountainous semicircle, amidst numerous coppices of wood, with the land cultivated up the steep acclivities, well illustrates the proverbial good taste of the monks, who generally prevailed with their founder to place them in the pleasantest and most fertile land of a district, under the protection of mountains not far distant, and, above all things, on the banks of a fresh and rapid stream, abounding in fast-day delicacies. The present church, a small neat building, erected out of the ruins of its grand predecessor, stands in a burying-ground which is still spacious, though occupying but a small portion of the original cemetery. In Leland's time it was shaded by thirty-nine venerable yews; but the dying remains of only a few of these patriarch-trees add a melancholy beauty to the scene. Under one of them, tradition says that Davydd ap Gwilim lies interred. When the Druidical or Bardic hierarchy began to decline in Britain, it was succeeded by the Hermitical and Monastical institutions, which also became the nurseries of learning, and the grand repositories of music, poetry, British bards, and records, until the reign of Henry VIII., who abolished the monasteries. All the abbeys appear to have retained bards and minstrels of their own; Davydd ap Gwilim is said to have been the bard of Ystrad Fflur, and Guttyn Owen the historian and herald-bard to that abbey. Sooth to say, Davydd seems, by the style and character of his numerous poems, to have been a most STRATA FLORIDA ABBEY. 33 unfit person to hold office in any holy establishment, unless the monks somewhat resembled in moral discipline the jolly "Friar of orders Gray" of the old song; for the greater part of his effusions are celebrations of his mistress's beauty, the fair Morvudd, who being wedded against her will to a humpbacked old churl, Davydd found means to carry her off twice from her husband, and thereby incurred much disgrace. He also, in a witty dialogue poem, supposed to be spoken by himself and a friar, severely ridicules much that appertained to the sacred calling; which offences, added to the levity, if not licentiousness, of his life, make the circumstance of his being an abbey-bard paradoxical, if not doubtful.* The poetry of Davydd * This poem, I fear, illustrates too truly the bard's creaturely propensities. It begins with a confession, as was meet, to the holy man, though it ends with some irreverent and bitter repartees. "Dread sir, to idle rhyme And amorous sighs I give my time; In a dark brow and beauteous face Davydd was in high estimation amongst his countrymen, and, in 1360, he was elected to the bardic chair of Glamorgan. The style and subjects of his writings obtained for him the name of the Welsh Ovid. Like the Roman bard, he was not a little careful of the adornments of his person; for he was deemed, as the chroniclers say, "the man of fashion of the times," though of his piebald wardrobe no particulars have been preserved. Davydd's fine person made him a great favourite with the fair sex, and he had many love affairs on his hands at the same time. In one of his wayward humours he made an appointment with each of his mistresses to meet him, at the same hour, under the well-known trysting-tree, where he had often vowed eternal fidelity to them all separately. In order to enjoy the result of this whimsical congress, he hid himself amongst the branches, where he could hear and see everything. The love-sick damsels came one by D ap Gwilim is considered the purest standard of the Welsh language; and from his poems the modern literary dialect has been chiefly formed. Returning to Pont Rhyvendigaid, I halted at the small hostelry, where a rampant red lion swings and crecks its invitation to man and beast. Ushered into the inn's "best parlour," I amused myself by observing the multifarious decorations of this state apartment. Around the walls hung various Scripture subjects, most woefully caricatured by the artist. The mantelpiece was decorated with wax and crockery-ware effigies of the same class, and the grate's costume was truly original. Carefully pinned to a curtain hung a very knowing lace cap, with borders of that extraordinary width and abundance seen only among the Welsh belles, and most beautifully "got up," as the ladies say. On a corner table, too, lay a hat, which, by its gloss, newness, and clever shape, evidently intended to invite the cap to church the following Sunday; and the entrance of a tight, blooming, dark-eyed, and sprightlylooking Welsh girl with my intended repast, soon enabled my calculating curiosity to supply a face worthy of the becoming national costume. I like the dress of the bonny Welsh lassies, and trust they will one, and great was the amazement at their meeting, when each looked upon the other as an intruder upon her privacy. At length the trick was discovered, and an ebullition of rage followed, in which they all agreed upon the death of their faithless lover on the first opportunity. The bard, who was witness to the whole, contrived, by some extemporaneous verses, which he pronounced from his hiding place, to raise a spirit of jealousy amongst his fair admirers; their rage was now turned upon each other, and, in the confusion that followed, he contrived to make a safe retreat. be long in yielding to the insipid innovations of modern millinery. They would resign their piquant black hats with no little reluctance, did they know how flat and unbecoming the flippant silk bonnets, displayed by some of them, look in comparison. The hat is not worn by the peasantry alone, for I have seen not a few spruce beavers accompanied by rich silk dresses, fashionable kerchiefs, and silk stockings. While sojourning at Aberystwith, I greatly enjoyed sceing the farmers' comely wives and pretty daughters riding to market with their sacks of corn over the saddle, for here the women sell small quantities of grain at market, and with the produce purchase the various articles required for domestic use, which are stowed in the corn-sack on their return; and often have my eyes detected the form of a new teapot, or the circumference of a frying-pan, in these bags-of-all-work. In returning from Pont Rhyvendigaid, I repassed the village of Ystrad Meirig, celebrated for its excellent grammar-school, which attained to such celebrity as to be called the Welsh College. The founder of this establishment was Edward Richards, a native of this parish. His father was a tailor, and kept the village public house. In his youth he was indolent and wayward, till the sudden death of his brother, from a fall over a precipice in Maen Arthur Woods, roused his mind to serious reflection, and determined him upon that severe course of study which raised his fame to the highest point of scholarship. He continued the school which had been commenced by his predecessor, and which was carried on in the church, as may be frequently observed in the Principality; and having brought it into great eminence, he confirmed its existence after his deccase by the endowment of his property. Mr. Richards was a poet of the first order, and his pastorals, written after the models of Theocritus and Virgil, are said to be "the most polished compositions in the Welsh tongue." Many most eminent men, both of past and present times, have received the greater portion of their education at this school; amongst whom was that great scholar and bard, Evan Evans, although, from its appearance now, I fear its fame is on the decline. The situation of Ystrad Meirig, though not possessed of that pre-eminent grandeur and beauty which distinguish so many spots in Cardiganshire, is one of much interest, and the immediate neighbourhood is partially wooded, and abounds with fine craggy mountains and romantic cwms. The castle of Ystrad Meirig was formerly an important out-post to Aberystwith, built, like that larger fortress, by the Norman adventurer Gilbert de Strongbow, and afforded timely succour to the usurping party, in the day of danger, when Prince Gruffydd ap Rhys was on the point of retrieving the rights of the natives. Florence of Worcester mentions Gruffydd ap Rhys to have died by the deceitful practice of his wife. In 1137, on the accession of Owain Gwyneth to the supremacy of Wales, his first exploit was to overthrow the enemy's stronghold at Ystrad Meirig. In 1150, the sons of Gruffydd ap Rhys, having lost many of their brave men at the successful siege of Llanrhysted, marched to this place, where they re-fortified and manned the castle. It was of considerable importance in all the subsequent wars, till in the year 1208 |