[ 3*5 ] 



V 



" Long did our friend [or kinfman] Gryfudd ap Conan, with 

 " his bloody fpear, fiery lance, fhield, and flaming fword, lye 

 " dormant like a greyheaded lion, whilft his country was all in a 

 " blaze by the hands of the enemy, who heaped together dry 

 " wood to kindle [welcome] the fire. Tremble not at the re- 

 " lation, he did not tremble. From him there grows a beautiful 

 " branch eminent in battle and matter of the Britifh Games. 

 " If my dij "ordered head 5 is aiked the Chriftian name of him who 

 '* is called a defcendant of the great family on the throne of the 

 '* province, it is Alexander, the beloved chief of the multitude 

 *' with the golden crown of Tryjian the Wife*. I prophecy, he 

 " will deferve the high title of a wife baron, and withftand an 

 " army between the famous water of the Severn and the clear 



* This is a common expreffion in the Welfh language : when any 

 thing dangerous was fpoken, they feigned madnefs. — This explanatory 

 note was added by the learned gentleman who made the verlion of this 

 poem. 



1 Tryftan was the fon of a King of Cornwall, who was educated under 

 Merlin, and became a moft famous Knight errant of Arthur's Round 

 Table K 



From his having been inftrucled under fuch a tutor, and many of his 

 atchievements having been performed in Cornwall, Wales, and Ireland, 

 it is not extraordinary that he fhould be celebrated by the Welfh Bards. 

 As for the epithet of wife, he merited this title probably from the in- 

 Uructions of Merlin, and the ancient Knight Errant was iuppofed com- 

 monly to have every other virtue, as well as that of valour. Hence 

 les neuf Preux molt properly fignifies the nine Worthies, though they 

 are at the fame time Champions. Thus a MS. in the French King's library 

 is entitled, " Les nobles fails du tres preux & bon Chevalier MemreTrif- 

 "tan." See the Biblictheque des Romans, p. 252. 



Dean Percy hath a very fair MS. in old French, of the adventures of 

 the fame Knight amongft his curious and valuable collection : it is fup« 

 pofed to be of the 13th or 14th century, and is thus entitled, ii La 

 *< Grande Iftoire de Monfeigneur Triftan." 



Vidi Paris, Trijiano & piu di mille 



Ombre Moftrommi, & nominoll' a dito 



Ch'amor di noftra vite dipartille. Dante, Inferno, c, 5. 



* See the Adventures of this Knighr, printed at Venice, 1552, 2 vol. 4to„ 



D d d « fh-etm. 



