36 



sword from out the scabbard, he sheathed it not again 

 while life remained. A fierce battle, on the banks of the 

 Evyrnwy, made Lord Grey his prisoner, and the pay- 

 ment of a thousand marks, with the marriage of his 

 daughter to that nobleman, alone obtained for him his 

 liberty. 



It was noted that disasters of various kinds attended 

 the expeditions of King Henry into Wales. The natives 

 of the country attributed them to the magic powers of 

 Owen Glendour, whom they believed able to control the 

 elements, and who, when his men grew faint and weary, 

 and he himself wished for a short respite from the toils of 

 war, could pour upon the bands of Henry the fury of the 

 northern storm. It was said that he could loose the 

 secret springs of the wild cataract, and cause it to send 

 forth such a flood of water, that the moors and valleys, 

 through which the invader had to pass, would seem like 

 an inland sea. Some believed that he could even summon 

 the loud thunders from their secret cell, and cause the 

 forked lightning to strike terror into the stoutest heart; 

 that in one moment he could not only bring to his 

 assistance a wild storm from off the hills, but that, when 

 the beautiful glens and woods appeared in all their loveli- 

 ness and repose, and every hill was lighted up with a 

 glorious sunbeam, he could suddenly obscure them with 

 the darkest shades of night. Thus men thought ; they 

 saw not, in the strange and terrible calamities which con- 

 tinually opposed the progress of King Henry, a continua- 



