466 coEisrisH dedications. 



sit down and be merry with us," said the happy father; but 

 the pious youth declined firmly to do so, and began to read the 

 worthy couple a lecture on excess at table and in worldly joy. 

 He further assured them that he could not think of sitting 

 down to table with those who were unbaptized. One of those 

 present made an insulting remark, and was miraculously 

 chastised. Brioc succeeded effectually in damping the happiness 

 of the convivial party and of his kindly old parents. But he 

 provided them with some amusement, by curing a lad who had 

 been bitten by a mad dog and who could hardly be restrained 

 in his convulsions, and had made his teeth meet through his 

 own tongue. 



Brioc set to work to convert his parents and the clansmen, 

 and met with such success that he was able to erect for them a 

 church called Llanmawr {Landa Magna).* Here, pupils flocked 

 to him and he became a great abbot. His mother, filled with 

 enthusiasm, desired to leave her husband and attach herself to 

 her son, and, by him be admitted to the religious life ; but this 

 produced such opposition from the family, that she was forced 

 to desist. 



Before proceeding, it will be advisable here to state the 

 reasons for identifying the home of Brioc with Cardiganshire, 

 or, to be more exact, with ancient Ceredigion which at one time 

 embraced a part of Pembrokeshire. We know that all this 

 portion of Wales was occcupied by the Irish Goidels. They 

 were driven out, about the middle of the 5th century ; and the letter 

 of S. Patrick to Coroticus or Ceredig was written about 450. 



The river Scene, in which Brioc arrived, is apparently Milf ord 

 Haven, Scene means a knife, and this harbour and estuary is 

 formed by the confluence of the two Cleddau (Swords), and Aber 

 Cyllell, the stream by Haverford West, would be the Irish river 

 Scene, both meaning the estuary of " the Knife." 



Moreover, in Cardigan, there is not only a Llanfriog dedi- 

 cated to S. Brioc, but also a Llanfawr which is the name of the 



* Llan is Welsh and not Irish. Lord Dunraven says, " Wherever Llan occurs 

 in composition in Ireland, it indicates some Welsh connection." Notes on Irish 

 Architecture, 1875, I. p. 64. One of the few exceptions I know is Lanelo, 

 founded by S. Colman Elo. 



