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^ndent fjistotg of j&lrafteslrat'g, 



By the Rev. J. J. Reynolds. 



HE town in which we are now assembled claims a very- 

 high antiquity, and at certain periods it has been the 

 scene of events of considerable interest. 



If we may believe Geoffrey 1 of Monmouth, it was built by 

 Hudibras, King of Britain 950 B.C. Hudibras was grandfather of 

 Lear the hero of one of Shakspeare's plays. Geoffrey tells us that 

 an eagle is said to have spoken while the wall of the town was 

 being built, " and indeed," he adds, " I should have transmitted 

 the speech to posterity had I thought it true, as the rest of the 

 history." Others, say Camden and Hutchins, state that instead 

 of an eagle it was a man named Aquila, who prophesied to the 

 effect that the sovereignty of Britain after passing to Roman, 

 Saxon, Dane, and Norman, should return to the ancient British 

 race. As the mingled blood of all these races is said to flow in the 

 veins of our present gracious Queen, we may consider the prophecy, 

 if ever uttered, to have had its fulfilment. Drayton would make the 

 prophet neither man nor eagle, but an angel. Other chronicles 

 repeat the statement of the early foundation of the town. Holinshed 

 ascribes it to Lud son of Liel, eighth king of the Britons from 

 Brute the Trojan. John of Brompton however refers it to the 

 brave Chief Cassibelan about 60 B.C. These statements perhaps 

 simply prove, that in the earliest historical times, it was believed 

 to have existed from a very remote period. Each of these Chiefs 

 or petty Kings may have been its patron, as were greater monarchs 

 after them, but its magnificent situation had probably led to its 

 permanent occupation, at a period far anterior to either of these 

 dates. Its ancient name "Caer Palladur," bespeaks a British origin, 

 " Caer" means a city or town ; " Palladur," the shaft of a spear, or 



1 Book ii., chap 9. 



