1798. 
appear a bird inthe air; and the becamea hawk 
to purfue him, giving him no. refpite on the 
wing; and when fhe was_juft laying hold of 
him, and he dreading death, he dilcovered a 
heap of winnowed wheat on the floor of a barn; 
he defecnded into the wheat, and appeared as 
one of the grains; and thereupon fhe appeared a 
black crefted hen: and to the wheat fhe went, 
and’with her fect fcraping it, fhe recognized and 
{wallowed him; and, as the ftory fays, the was 
iiine months pregnant with him; and when 
fhe was delivered, fhe could not in her heart kill 
him, as he was fo beautiful, .but drefled him 
up in a leather bafket, aad caft him to the will 
of Providence inty the fea, on the 29th of 
April 
‘« At that time the weir of Gzvyzno was upon 
the fand, between Dyvi and Aberyffwwyth, near 
his own cattle. In that weir was taken to the 
value of one hundred pounds every May eve. 
And at that time Gwyz7o had one fon, called 
Elphin, one of the moft milchieyous of youths, 
and driven to the grea’eft want ; on which ac- 
count his father was forely aifli¢ted, thinking 
him born in an evil hour. ‘Through the ex- 
hortation of his counfellors, his tather gave 
him the draught of the weir tor that year, 
to fee if ever any good would happen him, and 
to enable him to commence an occupation. 
« On the morning following, E/phin faw that 
there was nothing in the weir; but, on going 
away, he difcovered the leather batket on one 
of its poles. ‘Then exclaimed one of the weir~ 
men to £ phin, § Thouhaft never been unlucky 
unfil this night; for thou haft deftroyed the 
préperties of the weir, in which it was ufual to 
©) tain the value of one hundred pounds on every 
May eve.—« What now!’ faid E/phiny “ pof- 
fibly we have a good equivalent there for 
the one hundred pounds. The fkin was 
opened ; and the opener beheld the forehead of 
a child; and he exclaimed to Elphin, ‘ Lyma 
Daligin !? (Behold a fair front!)—* Taliefin 
bid, —— Fair Front \et him be called,’ cried 
Flphin, railing the child in his arms, and com- 
miferating his misfortune; and he penfively 
took him up behind him.. The horfe that was 
wont to trei, he caufed now to amble, thus 
carrying the child as eafy as if he were fitting 
in the moft eafy arms-chair. 
‘¢ Soon afier the child fung the fong, called 
* The Comfort’ to E/phin, and foretold him 
honour. The Comfort begins, ‘Elfin dég taw 
ath wylo,'— Fair Elphin ceafe thy weeping ;* 
and is the firft fong of Taliefing made to cheer 
Elphin, on lofing the draught of the weir, as 
nothing grieved him fo much as being the caufe 
of the misfortune, 
“Then Elphin brought Taliefin to the houfe 
of Gwyzno his father ; and Gwyzne afked if he 
had a good draught in the weir? to which he 
replied, that he had found what was better than 
all the fifh. ‘ What was it?’ faid Gwyzze. 
* A bard,” faid Eiphin. ‘Ah, poor thing 1’ 
exclaimed Gwyan0, ‘ What good will thatdo 
‘thee ?* Then Taliefin himfelf anfwered and 
faid, * This will be of more value to Bim than 
Mr. Houfeman’s Tour continued, 
35 
ever the weir was to thee.” Ther CGxyzna 
cried, * What! canft thou fpeak, and yet fo 
little ?’=—¢ I can {peak of more than thou art 
able to afk.’—=* Let me hear what thou canit 
fay,’ replied Gwyano. Thereupon: Taliefin 
fung — 
‘ Ar y dwr mae cyvlwr cant bendigav,? &c,. ; 
© On the water is the ftate of a hundred of the 
moft bleffed,’ &c, 
*€ Then Gzwyzno demanded if he was a man 
or a {pirit ? whereupon he fang his hiftory, fay- 
ing, oi 
‘Priv varz eyfredin 
Wyv vii Zifin” &e. : 
‘ A primary and univerfal bard am I to El 
phin,’ 8.2” inte 
The probable part of the above tale is 
true ; for Talefin was an orphan, brought 
up by E/pbin, and afterwards patronized 
by different princes,. particularly Uriex 
Reged, as it appears from pieces extant, 
addreffed to that hero. .What is’ fiction 
is founded upon the bardic fyftem of 
tranfmigration ; of which fyftem Taliefe 
makes more ufe than any ancient bard, of 
whofe works we have any remains. 
I remain, Sir, yours, &c. 
Nov. 6th. MEIRIONs 
= 
TOUR OF ENGLAND, 
(CONTINUED). 
Journal of a Tour through almoft every county 
in England, and part of Wales, by Mr. Joun 
Houseman, of Corby, near Carlifles who 
was engaged to make the Tour by a gentle- 
man of diftinétion, for the purpafe of col- 
leéting authentic information relative to 
the ftate of the poor, This Journal com- 
prifes an account of the general appearance 
ef the country, of the foil, furface, builde 
ings, &c. with obfervations agricultural, 
commercial, &c. - 
ULY 21, WaLTon to READING; in 
J} Berkthire, 28 miles. I left Windfor 
about four or five miles on my right, 
paffed through part of Windfor park, 
and croffed the foreft. The 5 as 
well as the foreft, is very extenfive 3a 
great deal of fine timber in the former, 
but his majefty is clearing and cultivating 
feveral large traéts of it: the latter is 
a mere barren heath, which, as well as 
the park, hath feveral-pretty high pro- 
tuberances. On this foreft his majefty 
vfually hunts the ftag ; to which diver- 
fion it is, indeed, remarkably adapted, 
being quite open and {pacious. The foil 
is a fore of fandy, or rufty grav@l, and 
generally dry. “Bhe king has rides cut 
in all direftions, which run in direét lines 
for feveral miles, ang are as wide ascom- 
mon high-roadsg they are foft and eafy 
to travel Fy and{ueh agreat number 
a. PB ps oS 
a : 
"4 
