324 SKETCH OF Tin: HISTORY OF THiE 



tinning- for prefents by occafional poems. This cuf- 

 tom they carried to fuch lengths, and fuch refpecl 

 Was conftantly paid to their requcRs, that at the re- 

 modeling of their laws by prince Griffith ap Cynan, 

 it became neceflary to lay this privilege under fome 

 reftraint. From this period they coidd not afi: for 

 the prince's horfes, hawks, or greyhounds, nor any 

 other polTelTion beyond a certain value ; nor for any 

 diing that the owner particularly efleemed, or which 

 could not be replaced. 



Their revenues arofe from prefents that they 

 received at nuptial folemnities, and from the fees 

 that were paid to them during their circuits at 

 Ch'riftmas, Eafter, Whitfuntide, and in their trien- 

 nial cJcra, or grand circuit. On thefe occafions 

 they were received into the houfes of the great, 

 and remained there as long as any feafting lalled. 

 They were alfo allowed a certain fum out of every 

 plough-land within their diftriO:. Their payments 

 were proportioned to their degrees. 



Befides the regular, or graduated bards, there were 

 four cl^ifTes of inferior and wiUccnfcd bards. Thefe 

 were a meaner and more uufkllfid fort of muficians 

 and poets. They were pipers, players on the three- 

 ftringed crwth, taborers, and buffoons. They had 

 no connexion whatever with the eilleddfod ; and 

 their eftimation. and emoluments were equally in- 

 confiderable. 



The period that intervened betwixt the beginning 

 of the twelfth, and the end of the thirteenth cen- 

 turies. 



