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ferred to the ti iennial fupvcme convention for ultimate con» 

 fideration. At this iiational meeting, all th^t had been con- 

 firmed at the provincial aficn-.blics were alio recited ; and the 

 tlifciples, who there attended from every province, were en- 

 joined to Icani their., in order that tlity might become as 

 widely difFufed as poffible. What was thv,3 foleiuniy lanitioncd 

 was to be rccitcrd for ever afterwards, annually at lead, in ad- 

 dition to the former bardic traditions, in the Iccondary meet- 

 ings o( ddlrids, and aifo at one or other of the four grand 

 meetings. Such being the bardic ellabliihmont, by which 

 tradition became formed into a well-combined feience, we 

 may rely on its triads for the b:il; illuilration of its prin- 

 ciples. 



Tne three cultfvators of fong and imagination among the 

 nation of the Cyuiry were G'wyzon Ganbehon, who was the firll 

 in tlie world that compofed poetry ; Hu the rfiighty, who 

 firll applied poetry to preferve memorials and compofition ; 

 and Tydain Tad Aiuen, or Tydu'in father of the mufe, who 

 firll reduced poetry to an art, and cllabli!hed rules for com- 

 pofition. And from what thofe three perfons executed, 

 originated bards and bardifm, as conilituted with privilege 

 and cullom by the three inftitutional bards, namely /"/W/zys, 

 Alon, and G-vjron. Tliey eflablifhed the privileges and 

 cufloms which appertain to bards and bardifm, and there- 

 fore they are called the three inllitutors. Nevcrthelefs there 

 were bards and bardifm before their time ; but they were not 

 under the regulation of inviolable tranlit ; and they had nei- 

 ther privileges nor cuftoms, except what were obtained 

 through civility and courtefy, under the proteftion of the 

 country and nation, before the time of thefe three. Some 

 fay that they were contemporary with Prydain, fon of Aez 

 the Great ; but according to others, they lived in the time 

 of Dyun<wal Moel Mud, his fon, who in fome of the old 

 books is called Dyvnvarth, fon of Prydahi. For a further 

 account of thefe inllitutional bards, and of the triads that 

 exhibit their charatler, office, and privileges, and that iiluf- 

 trate their theology, we mull refer the curious who wilh 

 for furtiier information on this fubjedl, to Williams's Poems, 

 lyric and paftoral, in 2 vols. 8vo. I/Ondon, 1794; and to 

 Owen's Heroic Elegies of Llywarch-tten, in I vol. Svo. 

 London, 1792. According tq the latter of thefe writers, 

 the bards were divided into Bards Braint, who were the 

 civil magiftrates or judges ; and Bards Druid, who were 

 the prielts of the community. 



From the triads above referred to the reader may deduce 

 a corredl outhne of bardifm ; and as to the detail of its va- 

 rious parts, he may be furprized to be told that they are 

 Hill preferved in various memorials of the ancient Britons, 

 and in the memory of its initiated ; though it is generally 

 fuppofed that this extraordinary fyftem, known to the world 

 under the name of Druidifm, lias perifhed above fifteen hun- 

 dred years pall, except the few hints given of it by Greek 

 and Roman writers. Loft it certainly would have been but 

 for its extraordinary means and precaution for felf-preferva- 

 tion ; efpecially in the middle ages, when it had to with- 

 ftand the perfecutions of the popilh church in the fulnefs of' 

 its power. Here it may be worthy to remark that bardifm 

 contains a great many things to induce a conviction of its 

 being the parent of free-mafonry ; and fome of the princi- 

 ples taught in both are the lame in expreffion ; and 

 indeed it is very remarkable, that artifan, or mafon, is ex- 

 aftly the meaning of o-vy%, or ovate, the name of the third 

 clafs of bards ; and in this charailer only could the bards 

 nieet under cover. Free-mafons do fo now ; but they pre- 

 ferve a traditionary memorial of their meeting anciently on 

 the tops of their highell hills, and in the bottoms of the 

 lowell vales, and when the fun was in its due meridian. 

 Thus bardifm, whofe principles were to be difFufed in the 



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face of the fun and in the eye of the light, for the fake of 

 truth and fel.'"-prcfervn.tion, had the means of becoming even 

 more fccret than mafo;iry veiled in the darknefs of night. 



Therewcre three different claffesof this order in Wales: the 

 firll was called " Beirdhs," and they were the compofers of 

 verfcs and odes in various meafures ; they were likcwifc the 

 recorders of the arms of the Welch chieftains, and the repo- 

 fitories aifo of the genealogies of families. This clafs was 

 accounted the moll honourable, and was h'gh in the public 

 cftimation. The fecond clafs, called " Mii.llrcls," were per- 

 formers upon indruments, chiefly the harp and the crwth. 

 The third were thofe who fung to mufical inftrumcr.ts in 

 general, and were called " Datgtiniaid." 



The talents of the Wellh bards were not folcly employed 

 in preferving the defcents of families, in the praife of heroes, 

 or in recording their illuilrious adlions ; they fometimes in 

 plaintive numbers mourned over the tomb of the fallen 

 warrior. 



When tyranny erefled her banner in Wales, by the cruel 

 policy of Edward in the malfacre of the bards, that ancient 

 feat of mufic and poetry was deferted by the muf.-s, and confe- 

 quently was deprived of thofe fafcinating arts which foftened, 

 at the fame time that they invigorated, tlie genius of the peo- 

 ple. During the fpirited, and for a while the profpcrous 

 infurreftion of Owen Glendwrdwy, the n-.ufcs revifited their 

 native feats, encouraged by the munificence of that leader, 

 and animated by the tranfitoi-y ray which had dawned upon 

 freedom. When the W^clfh had made the fall effort for 

 their expiring freedom, tliey funk into a flate of flavery the 

 moll deep and fevere. The bards were prohibited by law 

 from making their annual progrefs, and from holding pub- 

 lic affemblies ; which privileges were called by the natives 

 " clera" and " cymhortha." During this period, and the 

 contell between the honfe of York and Lancaller, the ge- 

 nius of poetry was nearly extinguifhed, or was only cm- 

 ployed in foothing the mifcry of the times, by obfcure predic- 

 tions of more profpcrous days. A brighter profpeft opening 

 on this nation in tlie reign of Henry VH. a fcries of bards 

 arofe from that time ; and thefe bards, being fupported.in 

 the families of the WeKh chieftains, afcertained and preferved 

 their genealogies ; and as ths caufes of reciting warlike ex- 

 ploits had cealcd, they celebrated the civil virtues of their 

 patrons, their magnanimity, their hofpitable fpirit, their ta- 

 lents, and the graces of their ptrfons. They likewife, 

 amidft other duties, had the mournful office of compofing 

 an elegy on the death of the chieftain in whofe family they 

 refidtd, which was fung to the furviving relations in honour 

 of the dead, reciting the noble families from which the de- 

 ceafed had fprung, and the great atlions performed by hira- 

 fclf or his anceftors. 



Since the reign of queen Elizabeth, there has not been 

 any regular afftmbly of the bards. The motives to emula- 

 tion having ceafed, and the fpirit of ancient freedom being 

 extinguiflied, the poetic fire, for which the Wellfi nation 

 had been fo renowned, gradually declined. But a fpark of 

 that ancient fire flill remains in the genius of the Welfli, 

 which, in the feafons of their feilivity, breaks out into a fin- 

 gular kind of poetry, called " pennyl/.^' Even at this day 

 fome vein of the ancient minftrelly furvives among the 

 Wellli mountains. Numbers of perfons affemble, and fit 

 round the harp, finging alternately "pennlllion," or (lanzas 

 of ancient or modern compofitions. Often, like the mo- 

 dern improvifatorc of Italy, they fing extempore verfcs ; 

 and a pcrfon converfant in this art readily produces a " pen- 

 nyll" appofite to the fall that was fang. Many have their 

 memories llored with feveral hundreds, perhaps thoufandi of 

 •' pennillion," fome of which they have always ready for 

 anfwers to every fubjeft that can be propofcd, or if their 



recoU 



