BOOK term which implies the devastations that accomIII. panied his progress. As the elegy of Llywarch 547. Hen, on Urien, expresses that he conquered in the land of Bryneich, or Bernicia13; we must infer, that he was frequently successful against Ida; and two of his most fortunate battles appear to be those which Taliesin has selected for his praise.

Battle of Argoed Llyvain.

THE bard states, that on a Saturday, the invaders, under "the destroyer," hastened with four divisions, to surround Goddeu and Reged, the seat of Urien's government. They spread from Argoed to Arfynnydd, and demanded submission and hostages.

OWEN, the son of Urien, and his friend Cenau, indignantly rejected the proposal. Urien then indulged their ardour. He exclaimed,

Being assembled for our country,

Let us elevate our banners above the mountains ;
And push forward our forces over the borders;
And lift our spears above the warriors' heads;
And rush upon the Destroyer in his army;
And slay both him and his followers!

IMPRESSED with his patron's valour, Taliesin declares, that when he was declining with age, he

British women who were notorious for unchastity. Trioedd, p. 56. It would seem from this tradition that he had married a British lady.

13 Llywarch Hen, Welsh Arch. p. 104. Mr. Owen, now Dr. Owen Pughe published a translation of this ancient bard, which, though wanting some revisal, intitles him to the thanks of all the friends of British literature

should be unable to meet death with smiles, unless CHAP. he was praising Urien. 14

ANOTHER Conflict with Ida, was at the mound

IV.

547.

Gweny

of Gwenystrad, literally, "the pleasant valley." Battle of The Britons of Cattraeth assembled round Urien, strad. "the king of victorious battle." Taliesin, who was present in the struggle, thus describes it:

-

Neither the fields, nor the woods, gave safety to the foe,
When the shout of the Britons came
Like a wave raging against the shore
I saw the brave warriors in array;
And after the morning, how mangled!
I saw the tumult of the perishing hosts;

The blood springing forward and moistening the ground.
Gwenystrad was defended by a rampart :

Wearied, on the earth, no longer verdant,

I saw, at the pass of the ford,

The blood-stained men dropping their arms;
Pale with terror!

I admired the brave chief of Reged;

I saw his reddened brow,

When he rushed on his enemies at Llec gwen Calystan :
Like the bird of rage was his sword on their bucklers:
It was wielded with deadly fate.

TALIESIN renews his wish not to die pleasantly, unless he was praising Urien. 15

BESIDES the patriotic valour of Urien, which he lavishly praises with all the artifice, and sometimes with the exaggerations of poetry 16; Taliesin extols

BOOK highly his liberality. This is the theme of several

III.

547.

Urien killed.

URIEN was also commemorated by his bardic friend, Llywarch Hen, who has left an elegy upon him. After bravely resisting the Saxons, it was the misfortune of Urien to be involved in one of those civil contests which were at this period the disgrace and ruin of the Britons. As he was besieging one of the descendants and successors of Ida, in Holy Island, he was slain by Llovan Lawdeffro, or Llovan with the detested hand, emissary of Morgant, one of the chiefs of the Northern Britons. 18 Llywarch's elegy celebrates the British king with much earnest sympathy, but in rude and warlike strains. 19

If there be a sigh on the mountains;

Is it not Urien who conquers?

If there be a sigh on the slope of the hills;

Is it not Urien who wounds?

If there be a sigh of dismay;

Is it not from the assault of Urien?

There is no refuge from him;

Nor will there be from famine,

To those who seek plunder near him!

His wrath is death!

Can. Urien, p. 56.

17 See the Dadolwch Urien, which is translated in the Vindication of the ancient British Poems, now annexed to this work. See also the Songs to Urien in 1 Welsh Arch. p. 55.

18 Nenn. Gen. p. 117. Trioedd. 38. p. 9.

19 Marwnad Lly. Hen. W. A. p. 103-107. As Llywarch Hen is one of the British bards of the sixth century, the genuineness of whose poems is strongly marked, I will translate some extracts from his Elegy on Urien of Reged. He begins with an abrupt address to his

spear.

IV.

OWEN, one of the sons of Urien, was also dis- CHAP. tinguished for his brave resistance to the Angles

547. His son Owen.

Let me rush forward, thou ashen piercer!
Fierce thine aspect in the conflict!

'Tis better to kill than to parley.

Let me rush forward, thou ashen piercer!
Bitter and sullen as the laugh of the sea
Was the bursting tumult of the battle,

Of Urien of Reged the vehement and stubborn.

An eagle to his foe in his thrust, brave as generous.

In the angry warfare, certain of victory

Was Urien, ardent in his grasp.

BOOK under Ida. Taliesin praises his liberality and valour; and says he chased his enemy, as a herd

III.

547.

This hearth! no shout of heroes now adheres to it:

More usual on its floor

Was the mead; and the inebriated warriors.

This hearth! will not nettles now cover it?

While its defender lived,

More frequent was the tread of the petitioner.

The
green sod will cover it now;
But when Owen and Elphin lived
Its cauldron seethed the prey.