91 



tempt the deflruftlon of the order ; yet the tyrant failed, their mufic, 

 like that of Orpheus, proving too powerful for Pluto. For, fo low 

 down as the year 1593, we have a commiffioa iffued by Elizabeth, to 

 the magiftrates of North Wales, diredling them to regulate certain abufes 

 that had crept into the profeffion ; a proof that the minftrel order exifted 

 in Wales, to the latter end of the fixteenth century. If I do not miftake, 

 we have a ftatute, in the time of Charles the Firft, that controuls the 

 itinerant minftrels of Ireland, whofe profefEon, as an order, could not, 

 for the fame reafon, have been extinft at that time. Of Thalieffin, however, 

 there does not, I believe, exift any fragment, except fuch as Gildas, who may 

 be filled his cotemporary, might have fnatched from the grave : and 

 •we are indebted to the indefatigable Ufher, who has brought to light 

 out of this author, five original lines of our poet, in the old Britifli 

 gharafter. 



•• Gwae yntwy yr ynvidion, pan vy walth Baddon 



" Arthur been hae)io(i y lafneu by gochion 



*' Gwneeth ar y alon givaith gwyr gafynion ~ 



" Gonynion gwaedd daredd mach deyrn ygrgledd 



«' Heb drais het droffedd." 



" Quae," (fays UJher, Britann. Ecclef. Antiq. c. 5.) " in Latinum i^v^ 

 " monem tradufta ita exhibuit D. Johannes Prifseus." 



" O miferos illos »im!um fub monte Badone 

 " Quum cruor Arthur!, magnatum principis, enfem 

 " Inficeret; fufique foret jam fanguinis ultor 

 '' Heroum, quorum auxilio borealia jufte 

 •' Regna ftetere diu ." 



Gildas, fays XJflaer, explains 7nonte Badone, " qui propc Sabrinuiu 

 " olliuni habetur." But the lines of our bard are valuable for fome!- 

 thing more than the rhime which adorns them. They prove, that what- 

 ever may be the doubts of fome learned men, refpefting the exillencc 

 of Arthur, Thalieffin, in the very moment he is deploring the cala- 

 mi 2 mitie? 



