1800.] | 
numents of the old Armorican and Britifh ; 
fo that from what is known of the Welth, 
one may reafon concerning the Armori- 
can. Now rime* is effentiai to Welth 
poetry. Their oldeft verfifiers,t Talief- 
fin, Aneurin, and Cian, employ this mea- 
fure. The heroic elegies of Llywarch are} 
compofed in rime. In§ each of the po- 
ems of Hywel the fon of Owain Gwynez 
the fame rime is repeated throtghout the 
whole’compofition. In all the Gothic di- 
aleéts rime-is a novations but in Welfh 
itis cowval with recorded poetry. It is 
the more probable, that out of this lan- 
guage rime pafled into all the other Ev- 
ropean tongues, as. the firit Latin rimes 
on record are thofe|| of St. Auguftia rela- 
tive to the Pelasian herefy, which origi- 
nated with Morgan, a monk of Bangor, 
and was rife both in Britain and Armo- 
zica. The peculiarity of the form of at- 
tack is a legitimate ground for inferring, 
that rime had been recurred to for its 
diffufion, and was confequently in popular 
ufe. St. Patrick, an Armorican,. intro- 
duced** rime into Ireland. 
V. Chivalry, though of obfcurer origin, 
is alfo probably Armorican. Its hiftory 
has been lefs evolved than its initutions 
by the labors of St. Palaye. It refembles, 
in the {pirit of its operation, aconfederacy 
of country-gentlemen to ward off from each 
other the dangers and evils of anarchy. 
A detenfive, not an offenfive, {pirit charac- 
terizes the obligations of a knight. To 
protect the church egainft heathens, la- 
dies againft ravifhers, orphans againit en- 

* 6¢ The firft kind o® ftanzas was the 
triplet; and the firft kind of rime was iden- 
sical rime.” Inftitutes of the bards, as quoted 
in the Life of Llywarch, p. xix. 
+ Evans de Bardis, p. 67. Pinkerton 
(Enquiry into the Hiftory of Scotland, Ii. 97) 
pleads rime as a proof that thefe poems are of 
the thirteenth century: in the lives of Saint 
Columban and Saint Faron, that is in the 
fixth century, Latin‘rimes occur. 
t Heroic Elegies of Liywarch, by W. 
Owen, 1792. 
§ Monthly Magazine, Ill. 95, 186, 2575 
3352419. 
{| Quisquis novit evangelium, recognofcat 
cum timore 5 
Videt reticulum ecclefiam, videt hoc facu- 
lum mare,, 
Genus autem mixtwm pifcis juftus eft cum 
peccatore 5 
Szculi finis eft littus, tune eft tempus fepa- 
rare. &¢. « 
$*% Uflerii Antiq. Ecclef.c. 17; p. 450. 
The E nguirer: 4 
; i 
croaching guardians, and the conquered 
equal againft infult, were the topics of /his 
oath. An order-{pirit, an exclufive care 
for the interefts of gentlemen, diftinguifhes 
the practice of the initiated.. The perfon- 
al rights cf women of the lower clafles 
were invaded without {cruple; while thofe 
of ladies were refpected with fuperftitious 
politenels. Such features feem rather the 
reliques-of a receding, than the tokens of 
a growing, civilization. The whole ritual 
of chivalry, the military exercifes, the 
tournaments, the fortified palaces, its very 
religiofity, imply an advancement in foci- 
ety, to which the Scandinavians could not 
have attained. The facred reverence fox 
ladies cannot have. proceeded from ‘ the 
Mahometan Moors. ~Armorica aloné wag 
adapted by its political circumftances, its 
Chriftianity, and its long participation of 
Roman culture, to become the nurfe of ' 
fuch peculiarities. Some ceremonies of 
knighthood bear a ftrong refemblance to 
thofe bardic inftitutions which were com- 
mon precifely to the Belzic provinces of 
Gaul and Britain; and which retain until 
now among the Welfh a great influence. 
The Ovyds,* like the knights, paffed 
through preliminary grades, were admitted 
by dubbing, were inftruéted in the ule of 
arms, affected a green livery, fwore obe- 
dience to the judge and prieft (to the 
Braint¢ and Druid), refpected the truce 
* See the Differtation on Bardifm, prefixed 
to the Elegies of Liywarch, p.:xxxvi. &c. 
+ The Braints anfwer to the Chewaliers de’ 
loi, and the Ovyds to the Chevaliers depee, of 
the ancient French jJurifprudence. Loife}, ig: 
his Dialogue des Avocats, remarks, p, 468 : 
‘¢ Pendant long temps une bonne partie des, 
gens lais du parlement étoient appellés chewaz- 
lers,” Boutillier, in his Somme Rurale, fays,. 
*°Or fachez que le fait d’avocacerie font les 
anciens faifeurs de loix, fi eft tenu et compté 
pour chevalerie 5 & pour ce’font ils appellez en 
droit efcrit Chevaliers de Loix et peuvent et 
doivent porter d’or comme font les chevaliers.”” 
. We. find the. Welfh nobles wearing a gold’ 
chain, and breaking off one or more rings to! 
reward their followers for prowe(s in battle, or 
their minftreis for excellence in fong: we 
alfo find the yaers, maers, or municipal ma 
giftrates, with a gold chain: poffibly it was a 
badge common to both orders of chivalry, the 
makers and the executors of the law. It igs 
highly defirable that thofe Welch antiqua- 
ries who are at prefent fo laudably employed’ 
in the tranflation and publication of their mae 
nufcript monyments, would beftow a prefer- 
ence of care on fuch as tend moft to evolve 
the early form of an inftitution fo influen+ 
of 
