322 CHKONICLES OF CORNISH SAINTS. I. — S. CTJBY. 



Llangybi* in Carnarvonshire, Llangybi in Monmouthshire, and 

 Caer Gybi at Holyhead ; and we may suppose that each of those 

 Churches was, in its origin, an Oratory of the saint, and a centre 

 of his ministerial labour. There is also extant in the Welsh 

 language a Poem which is said to have been written by Aneurin, 

 a bard who flourished in the early part of the 6th Century ; and 

 in which the saint is regarded as a great leader and teacher of his 

 brethren. It is entitled : " Ymddiddan y saint a Chjbi woth 

 fyned i ynys Enlli" — Cuby's discourse with the saints as they 

 were going to the island of Bardsey. The stanzas t which have 

 reference to him are as follow : — 



" When the saints of the synod of Brevi, 

 After the famous sermon of Dewi, 

 By the command of the prophets, 

 To the island of Bardsey were going, 

 They propounded this question to Cybi : 

 ' Is there food to be found in the Ocean ? ' 



' God will give succour,' he answered, 

 ' On land, and ocean, and desert ; 

 ' More easily far can He give 

 ' Than destitute mortal can ask.' 



•Yet the prophets assert,' they rejoined, 

 • That the wide sea is barren and briny.' 



' Pray we with fervoiu',' he answered, 

 ' Pray we, and shrink not from hardship ; 

 ' Indolence ever is bootless ; 

 ' Better is labour than ease.' " 



Another memento of the saint exists in ancient Welsh 

 literature. Amongst the "Sayings of the Wise" ("Chwedlau'r 

 Doethion") there is this stanza : — 



" Hast thou heard the saying of Cybi 

 Of Anglesey, to the son of Gwrgi ? 

 There is no misfortune like wickedness." 



lolo Morgamog's Welsh MSS., 662, 



* The Kev. G. A. Williams, vicar of this parish, informs me that within 

 a few yards of a mineral well called "Ffynon Gybi," for which, in days of 

 old, the parish was held in high renown, there is a rock which appears to 

 have been rudely cut into the form of an arm-chair, in which the saint is re- 

 puted to have sat, and that it is still known by the name of " Cadair Gybi." 



1 1 am much indebted to the kind assistance of W. Eees, Esq., of Llan- 

 doveiy, in translating these recondite lines into English. The original may 

 be found in Myvyrian Archaiology, vol. I, 181. 



