OWEN’S CAMBRIAN BIOGRAPHY—PuBLIC CHARACTERS, &c. 495 
_ the titles of Caradog and Caswallen. to prove th~ the florid” paraphrase 
Ls In many instances this caution is still was untaithful? And if he disapproved 
more necessary. What Englishman, of that paraphrase, why did he trans« 
Bi 
W for instance, would look for Geoffrey late it into Welsh, and thus contribute 
~ of Monmouth under the very unusual to give it more extended currency ? 
appellation of Guffydd ab Arthur? The following article will perhaps be 
2d, It were much to be wished that thought to stand no less in need of 
Mr. Owen would always quote his au- vouchers. 
_ thorities, particularly in dubious cases. 
‘For instance; the following is his ac- reduced bardism into a regular institution, 
ount of the famous Walter de Mapes, enjoying rights and privileges,, under the 
facetious memory. sanction of the uation. ‘This was an event 
ae ; .,_ that took place far beyond the cone of all 
© Walter de Mapes, an eminent writer jyistorical records, except the triadic tradi- 
who flourished in the middle of the twelfth tions, which used to be repeated in all so- 
_ century, and who was chaplain to Henry I. Jemn meetings of the bards, druids, and 
_ He was the son of Blondel de Mapes, who oyates; it happened probably above a thou- 
_ ¢ame with Robert Fitzhamon to Glamorgan, sand years betore the Christian era.” 
and obtained the lands of Gweirydd ab Sei- 
a Lord of Llancarvan; but he had the The probability of this date is cer- 
«© Plennydd, one of the three who first 
merosity to marry Flur, the only child of tainly not obvious; and those who 
irydd, that was living; and by whom doubt, without ridiculing its correct- 
e had two sons, Hubert and Walter. ness, deserve to have their doubts re- 
Hubert dying without heirs, Walter inhe- ; 
fae to] . . - 
' fited, after his brother, and built the village moved either by arguments or by an 
cient authorities, 
of Trevwalter, with a mansion for himself. ‘ 
He restored most of the lands which he be- | We do not mean, by selecting these, 
_ ame possessed of to the original proprietors; which we consider as among the most 
and he built the church of Llancarvan, as it exceptionable articles, to depreciate the 
dh ae P. : P 
_ How stands. He translated the British Chro- general merit of this small but valuable 
| nicle into Latin ; and he made a W oan ver- work, or to retract the favcurable opi- 
sion of Geoffrey's florid aca hie ee nion of it which we have already ex- 
“az < > o f = 
eee, OD. Apricuitore m1 WN cish, pressed. We recommend it as con- 
which is extant in several inanuscripts. . 3 
ah és ‘ taining a clear, correct, and, in general, 
Now Geoffrey himself professes to a temperate account of the most strik- 
oe ty y DA nek Mae : : 
ea: translated into Latin the British ing events in Welsh history, and as con- 
ironicle from the. original (whether tributing many curious particulars re- 
elsh or Armorican) which was put specting the mythology and traditions 
© his hands by Walter, archdeacon of a nation which is interesting in many 
f Oxford: if so, why should Walter points of view, and whose opinions had 
; ’ y P 2 P 
de Mapes, who became archdeacon perhaps an influence on the manners of 
about half a century later, attempt to the middle ages, which has been too 
supplant, by a new translation, the po- much overlooked by common historians. 
Art. VI. Public Characters of 1803-1804. 8vo. pp. 567. 
“QUALIS ab incepto! Englishmen fulsomeness. The fragrant censer is ap- 
‘seem to have lost that healthy appetite plied to the nose of every individual bio- 
for which their forefathers were famed; graphized in this work. What we said 
hey must now have something stimulant in our notice of the former volume we 
im order to make it palatable: for plain repeat here‘ *The book is compiled to 
diet they have norelish, Itis very well satisfy vulgar curiosity, and the execu- 
known in the trade that a book sells best tion is in general as creditable as the de- 
when it satirizes with unusual severity, sign.’ 
or when it flatters with extraordinary 
Agr. VIL. 4 Defence of the Character and Conduct of the late Mary Wollstonecraft Gods 
win, founded on Principles of Nature and Reason, as applied to the peculiar Circumstances 
Vof her Case 3 in a Series of Letterstoa Lady. 12mo. pp. 160. th 
{ . . . . 3 P 7 f ap 
forming a just estimate of so singu- stonecraft Godwin, it will be requisite 
‘character as that of Mary Woll- to recur to something more, says the au- 
'& A 
; > 
at 
