3^2 SKETCH OF THE iHSTORY OF THE 



principal bards would declare upon his confcience, 

 that the pcrfon was competent to be admitted. He 

 then became a pupil to fome one of the principal 

 bards, \vhom he annually attended in Lent, and 

 without whofe approbation he could make no com- 

 pofition public. During three years, till the next 

 t'iJleddfod, he remained an under-graduate, or 

 '' probationary ftudent of poetry *." — At this eif- 

 t^'ddfod he was examined for the degree of " ba- 

 chelor of the ai-t of pi^etry.'* — After another like 

 interval, he took the degree of " mafler of the art 

 of poetr}'.'* For the latter it was required that he 

 ihculd underftand the rules of grammar and rhe- 

 toric ; that he fhould analyfe and explain the alli- 

 terative concatenations of the language, and fmg 

 itielodioufly, in parts, twenty-one of the metres. — 

 To the pcncerdd, or " profeffor of poetry,'* who 

 attained his degree at the next enfuing eifteddfod, 

 belonged the whole myftery of the art. It was 

 necefl'ary that his qualifications fliould be much 

 fuperior to tliofe of all the perfons vvho were ad- 

 mitted to the other degrees; and it was declared 

 particularly requifite that he fhould have a facility in 

 compofmg, in praife of the great, what would be heard 

 with moft delight, and longeft retained in memory. 

 The degrees in mufic appear to have been very 

 fimilar in their nature to thofe in poetry. The 

 higheft wdiS pencerdd athrazu^ or " do£lor of mufic.*' 



* The Welfh appellation was d'lfgyhl yfpas cerdJ davod : for 

 the fir ft degree, or that of bachelor, it was digyll d'tjg ^ lla'idd \ 

 and for the next difgybl penceirddiaidd. 



The 



