34 
ing model of a dedication, addreffed to an 
amiable ‘lirerary veteran, by the above- 
mentioned Jateft biographer of M. in 
which the affectionate and ambitious de- 
fire thatit might do honour to them both, 
is as completely obtained as it was inge- 
nuouily profeffed, we learn, that Johnfon 
would, in converfation, ‘‘ declaim againft 
the admiration excited by the poetry of . 
M. and affirm it to be nothing more than 
the cant (to ufe his own favourite phrafe) 
of affected fenfibility.” 
* “But though we muft grievéat the above 
non-reafoning in the non-apothefis of M. 
we may {mile at the following happy tran- 
flation, to be found in the {fame volume, 
and made by the fame author, in his 
happy days, when he was his own man, 
fii juris, of but an indifferent Italian 
couplet, when the comet appeared in 
1742, on the court of Modena’s running 
away from that wicked city, as it was 
called by the prophets of the day, who 
faid that the comet portended its being 
- {wailowed up by an earthquake; for fu- 
perftition and credulity, we know, will 
creep into places to which piety is denied 
accefs: 
Se al venir -veftro i principi fen vanno 
Dit, venga ogni di---durate un anno ! 
if, at your coming, princes difappear, 
‘Comets, come every day---and ftay a year ! 
: ; Sr sic OmMnra! 
“If any doubt of the genuinene({s of 
‘© the Apothefis of M. a Vifion”’ exift, it 
ean find no-harbour in any candid mind ; 
as. it would be injurious and affrontive to 
the fagacity, the fidelity, nay, and to the 
gratitude of the mgenious editor of the 
works of Dr. Johnfon, by whofe fagacity, 
integrity, and fortitude, upon a certain 
delicate occafion, he was bound in no vul- 
gar obligation. 
5 Ee 
To the Editor of the Mouthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HAT is here offered to your notice 
“* is, atranflation of the Poetical Legend 
of Taliefin; being a colleétion out of Aén- 
gevion, or Petty Traditions, as is exprefied 
in the title of it, and apparently made. by 
the writer.of a tranfeript of the works of 
that Welfh bard, in the beginning of the 
| Sicaneh century. eo 87 : 
“ Banes Lalisnf o> Bhagnevion.? 
ANVACCOUNT OF TALTESIN, OUT OF 
THE PETTY TR ADELIONS. iG 
_ A NOBLEMAN ‘liggdy formeriv ia Pens 
(yn, called ‘Tegid the Baty: avhoies- patrimony ¢ 
was im thé-amiddle ofthe jake “oh Geerd, and 
ANGERS Legend of Taliz ; he 
(Jan, 
his wife was named Cerideen 5 ‘of her was born 
a fon, called Morvran, and # daughter, called 
Creirvvyn, who was the faireft woman in the world. 
A brother of thefe two, Avegzu, was the uglieft 
- man-living, which caufed Ceridwen, his mother, 
to think that he was not likely to be received 
amongft the nobles, on account of his uglinefs, 
unlefs he was endowed with fome excellencies, 
or was verfed in fome honourable fciences, as 
this was at the commencement of the time of 
Arthur and the Round Table. 
‘¢ She therefore, agreeably to the myftery of 
books of chymiftry, ordered to be boiled a caul- 
_dron -of genius and fciences for her fon, fo that 
his reception fhould be more honourable, on 
account of his knowledge and {kill concerning 
future times. 
“ Then fhe began to boil the cauldron; 
which, after it once began, could not be fuffered 
to. ceafe boiling until the conclufion of a year 
and a day, fo that there fhould be obtained three 
bleffed drops of the gift of the fpirit. 
6 Little Gwion, the fon of a villain of Lan- 
wair Caereinion, in Powys, was appointed by her 
to watch the cauldron, and a blind man, named 
Morda, was to keep the fire burning under it, 
with an injunction not to fuffer “the boiling to 
break before the expiration of a year and a day. 
‘¢ In the mean while, fhe, with the aid of the 
books of aflronomers, and under the hours of the 
planets, was daily fimpling for herbs of every 
peculiar virtue. 
“¢ Upon a certain day, as Ceridwven was fimp- 
ling, and the year drawing near to an end, it 
happened that three drops of the precious water 
flew out of the cauldron, and fell upon the 
finger of Little Gau'er, which, on account of 
the heat, he put into his mouth. Ne fooner 
had he put thofe miraculous drops in his lips, 
but he knew all things which fhould come to 
_pafs in future; and he was perfeétly fenfible 
that his greateft danger was from the cunning 
of Certdwen, for many were herjacquirements 
in fcience; and through extreme fear he fled 
towards his own country. The cauldron broke 
in two; for the iteel and the whole contents, 
except the three effential drops, were poifonous, 
fo that the horfes of Gwyzne Long/hanks were 
poifoned by drinking the water of the river, 
into which the cauldron had been emptied ; and 
on that account the river became to called 
Gwenwyn Meirg Gwykne, or The Poifon of the 
Steeds of Gwyzno. 
‘¢ Thereupon, Céridwen coming home, and 
feeing her labour fora whele year loft, {natched 
up a club, and ftruck the blind AZcrda upon the 
head, fo that one of his eyes fell upon his 
cheek; on which he faid, § Thou “haft dif- 
figured me, and I innocent; thou haft fuf- 
fered a lofs on my account.—‘ Thou fayeft the . 
truth 3? (quoth Ceridwen) it was Little Gwion 
who rebbed me.* ‘The purfuit began, (the 
two running ;_ he difcovered her, and took the 
\ form of a hate; ahd yan; fhe immediately ap- 
peqred a greyhoutd bitch, turning and driving . 
him towayds a river :—-he transformed himfelf - 
to. a fith } ahd the to an otter bitch, and fought 
for him under water, fo thay he was oblig¢d to 
7” appear 
