_ fin—the Poems on Elphin—and his His- 
torical Elegies. 
«In selecting the above, I do not mean 
to insinuate that some others, which are 
ascribed to these authors, may net be genu- 
ine likewise. Iam satisfied that some are 
not genuine, and that some have been inter- 
e There are several others, however, 
re lly of Taliesin, which may be ge- 
puine. But I conceive that the question 
which presses is, not whether this or that 
em is to be accredited, because a simpler 
igation ‘of its evidences might deter- 
that, if a given number had been al- 
admitted, but whether there are any 
ich ought to be placed in an age so early. 
fhe prevailing scepticism denies that there 
any genuine poems of the sixth century 
int. It asserts, that every Welch poem, 
2 tred by Welchmen to this ancient period, 
$2 factitious composition of the twelfth or 
aeceeding century. My duty, therefore, if 
tempt to impugn this scepticism, is to 
w that there are genuine works of the 
sixth century now in existence. I adduce 
| the poems above selected as such. If my 
fguments are successful as to these poems, 
n any others may be added to the accre- 
dited number, which judicious and learned 
cr icism shall allow to be genuine, after due 
ce nsideration. 
_ . * Now of the Godolin, I have mentioned, 
until very lately, a ALS. of it was_in 
er hbrary, which seemed to be of 
shand-writing of the twelfth century. “I 
informed that it was in hand-writing 
nd appearance very similar to the book of 
iesin, which is yet in the library, and 
y be seen by any one. A complete trans- 
mpt of the Godolin was made by Mr. 
“Vaughan, in the time of Charles the first, 
and many copies of it, of various dates, exist 
Weich collections. 
_ “The poems of Llywarch-Hén, above 
_ mer ioned, are in the black book of Caer- 
_tarthen, and in the red book of Hergest. 
_ They are a part of Mr. Vaughan’s transcript, 
- and of others. : 
_ “The Avallenau of Merdhin is in the 
black book of Caermarthen, with others that 
_ Mte ascribed to him. It isin sir Hugh Pen- 
maa t's transcript, made in the time of Henry 
the eighth, in the Kutta Kyvaruydh, and in 
“Other transcripts. ~ 
__ “Of Taliesin, the dialogue with Merdhin, 
he graves of the warriors, and a few others, 
rein the black book of Caermarthen. Most 
these, which I have mentioned to be his, 
with others in the MS. called the book 
Taliesin, in the Hengurt library, which 
1s placed in the twelfih century, or nearly 
Some are in the red book .of Hergest, 
and all are in Mr. Vaughan’s transcript, and 
= _ y Kutta Kyvaruydk. F 
_ «What other ancient /SS. of any of the 
Works of these bards, are in the Maccles- 
field, or other collections, I cannot state, 
am not informed. But I conceive, 
_ Ann. Rev. Vor. Il. 
TURNER’S VINDICATION OF ANCIENT BRITISH POEMSe 
Bale 
“é 
*; : 
a 
Pcau 
“4 
leaders of the Jutes. 
513 
that from the above statement, I am autho- 
rized to affirm, that there are MSS. of poems 
of these four bards now extant, which were 
written in or before the twelfth century. I 
will confirm this assertion by shewing, 2ndly, 
That these poems, or some of them, and 
their authors, have been mentioned or al- 
luded to by a series of bards, whose works 
still exist undisputed, from before the twelfth 
century to a recent period.” 
Mr. Turner proceeds through his de- 
fence in great detail, and with great 
success. Of those proofs deducible from 
the language of the poems, we cannot 
judge ; the persons mentioned, and the 
ideas brought forward, may well have 
been familiar at the time in question; 
the talent necessary to forge poems so 
probable, would have secured poems 
superior; the inexplicability of many 
allusions, especially in Taliesin, throw 
back the compositions to a period which 
it must be highly interesting to illustrate 
and to decypher. Let us suppose that 
to Llywarch are ascribed poems, too re- 
mote in their chronology to have been 
written by one man, unless a patriarchal 
longevity be attributed to him; this 
would only render the existence of two 
or three Llywarchs probable. The pro- 
fession of bard, in the case of Taliesin, 
was also hereditary. The ode to the 
cuckoo has a something not antique 
about it: so has the ode to the rose in 
Anacreon. Yet who disputes the ge- 
nuineness of the earlier simpler songs, 
because a polished, finished, elaborate; 
exquisite one happens to be attached. 
It has been objected that these Welsh 
bards callthe English, both Ziag/, that 
is Angles, Sacson, that is Saxons, and 
4llmyn, that is Alemanni, at a time 
when the Anglo-Saxons were so newly 
imported, that they could not yet have 
imposed their name on the nations at 
‘war with the Welch, and when the 
Alemanni were restricted to the neigh< 
_bourheod of Switzerland. It is, how- 
ever, by nq means clear that these de- 
nominations were fitst introduced with 
Hengist and Horsa, who indeed were 
There must have 
been an extensive gothic population in 
the gountry, long before this pretended 
importation of the gothic race; and it 
is not unlikely that Angles and Saxons . 
were resorted to as defenders against the 
Picts, because Angles and Saxons were 
the tribes to be defended. Nor is it un- 
likely that any and every army, indiscri- 
nately recruited among the gothic na- 
1 
