370 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 155. 



SALMON FISHERIES. 



(Vol. v., p. 343.) 



I do not know whether H. T. H. may regard 

 the followinjr short Note as either "information or 

 curious details on the subject" of his Query ; but 

 perhaps he may remember that Taliesin, the most 

 celebrated of the Welsh bards, and who flourished 

 in the middle of the sixth century, was found by 

 Elphin, the son of Gwyddno Garanhir, in his 

 salmon weir, where the young chief expected to 

 find fish to feed his family, and not an additional 

 mouth to eat his fish ; for, in consequence of an 

 inundation of the sea, the fishery was his only in- 

 heritance, all his other estates, constituting the 

 Cantref Gwaelod, being usurped by that portion 

 of Cardigan Bay which was afterwards known by 

 the same designation. Whatever the first resolve 

 of the poor Elphin may have been, the generosity 

 of his princely heart quickly induced him to take 

 charge of the foundling, whom at a proper age he 

 sent to Llancarvan, to receive the instructions of 

 the Abbot Cattwg the Wise, under whose charge 

 at the same time was another " prince of song," 

 Aheurin, the brother of the historian Gildas. His 

 education finished, Elphin obtained for his protege 

 the notice of the Urien Rheged, then settled in 

 Wales, whom by the power of his muse he on one 

 occasion redeemed from captivity, at the same 

 time securing the patronage of Maelgwn Gwynedd, 

 who for fifty years reigned over North Wales, and 

 at the end of that long period was (in a.d. 560) 

 chosen King of Britain. In one of his poems 

 Taliesin, who elsewhere styles himself "primary 

 chief bard to Elphin," refers to the incident of his 

 discovery in the salmon weir. The following lines 

 occur in the translation of the poem in question in 

 Stephens's Lite?'ature of the Cymry : 



" In Gwyddno's weir was never seen 

 As good as there to-night hath been. 

 Fair Elphin, dry thy tearful face, 

 No evil hence can sorrow chase : 

 Though deeming thou hast had no gain, 

 Griefs cannot ease the bosom's pain. 

 Doubt not the great Jehovah's power, 

 Though frail, I own a gifted dower ; 

 From rivers, seas, and mountains high, 

 Good to the good will God supply. 



** Though weak and fragile, now I'm found 

 With foaming ocean's waves around, 

 In retribution's hour I'll be 

 Three hundred salmons' worth to thee. 

 O Elphin I prince of talents rare, 

 My capture without anger bear : 

 Though low within my net I rest. 

 My tongue with gifted power is blest," &c. 



Fair Elphin's inheritance was not, perhaps, so 

 insignificant as we should now consider it, if we 

 take into account the ancient abundance of fish 



compared with these degenerate modern days of 

 night-lines and poachers; and it is probable this 

 Welsh "kinge of fishe" made his siilmon useful 

 for the support of his followers in those days of 

 bloodshed, when every chieftain had to provision 

 his own standing army. I. J. H. H. 



St. Asaph. 



"SAW TOU MY FATHEB. 



(Vol. vi., p. 227.) 



The following is a copy of the old song about 

 which C. inquires. It is taken from a MS. copy, 

 with the music, in my possession, and is entitled 

 " An Old Song harmonized. — M. Cooke " : 



1. 

 " Saw you my father, 



Saw you my mother. 

 Saw you my true love John ? 



He told his only dear 



That he soon would be here ; 

 But he to another is gone. 



2. 

 " I saw not your father, 



I saw not your mother, 

 But I saw your true love John: 

 He has met with some drlay. 

 Which has caused him to stay; 

 But he will be here anon. 



3. 

 " Then John he up rose. 



And to the door he goes. 

 And he twirled at the pin ; 



The lass she took the hint, 



And to th3 door she went, 

 And she let her true love in. 



■" Fly up, fly up. 



My bonny grey cock, 

 And crow when it is day ; 



Your breast shall be 



Of the flaming gold. 

 And your wings of silver grey. 



5. 

 *' The cock he proved false ; 



And untrue he was. 

 For he crow'd an hour too soon : 



The lass she thought it day. 



And sent her love away ; 

 But it proved but the blink of the moon." 



In The Song of Solomon v. 4. 5, 6. an almost 

 similar transaction is related, which in Knight's 

 Pictorial Bible is explained in a note to verse 4. 

 It is probable that C.'s version, " bonny, bonny 

 cock," is the right reading, rather than " grey ; " 

 because the cock is afterwards promised that he 

 shall have " wings of silver grey :" but I cannot 

 see, as C. does, any allusion here to the dove in 

 Ps. Ixviii. 13. 



