"Gently! gently! good Sir! a little scepticism is allowable upon this occasion. The Roman dress has certainly made a wonderful alteration in the appearance of our Welsh ladies; and it must be admitted, that those who have introduced them to us, have made them dance the hay in a very ridiculous manner: those however who have been brought up in the same school from infancy, may possibly be able to identify them even under their disguises, and may succeed, though with difficulty, in restoring them to their proper places." P. 28.

Now, besides the confusion of the metaphors in this paragraph, and the affected smartness of the phraseology, we must observe that to contrast a Welsh female dancing the hay in a Roman vest, with the attempt to trace the etymology and fix the site of a Roman station, can never be allowable in any other latitude of comparison than Hudibras arrived at, when,

"Like a lobster boil'd, the morn

From black to red began to turn.

In a similar strain of false taste, our author, in detailing the subjugation of the Silures, thus writes:

"These barbarians, we are told, had a remarkable turn of thinking: the Emperor Claudius had threatened them, that like the Sugambri or Sicambri (who were almost exterminated, and the remainder of them carried into Gaul) the name and memory of the Silures should not remain upon the earth. He had called to them (no doubt) by the mouth of his governors, proprætors, and prætors, and had commanded them to come peaceably to Rome to be killed: proclamation after proclamation, most likely, followed to the same effect; but such was their peculiar obstinacy, says Tacitus,præipui Silurum pervicacia,' that they would not submit to have their throats cut quietly. This tenaciousness of life, which is observable in eels, and some few animals not endowed with the faculty of reasoning, may be excused in the uncivilised natives of South Wales. There are those (I am satisfied), who will not be surprised at their stubbornness on this occasion, or think them to blame in their determination, and their descendents may even be permitted to applaud their spirit, &c." P. 31.

There is too much trifling in all this; for although a certain liveliness of style may be very necessary to embellish a dry subject, yet it should never be permitted to fall into mere verbiage.

For the historical notices of this part of Wales during the four first centuries of the Christian era, Mr. Jones acknowledges himself indebted to the Roman historians; for the next series of ages, down indeed almost to the Norman conquest, his chief authorities are the manuscripts

of the Arwydd-feirdd, or Welsh heralds, who have long been famous for the extent of their genealogies, and whose documents, however incorrect, or fabulous, are the only ones" to be found that treat of that part of the principality now called Brecknockshire." Though our author by no. means places implicit confidence in these manuscripts, which abound in anachronisms, and frequently contradict each other, yet he certainly pays to them more deference than they deserve; and in several instances seems to dwell upon them with that sort of provincial fondness which to 'the mere English reader would indicate a weakness of judgment.

The third chapter pursues the history of Breconshire, from the reign of Brychan Brecheiniog to that of Cradoc Fraich-fras, or Cradoc of the Mighty Arm. In this chapter, there is a great deal too much irrelevant matter. The actions of Brychan, as prince of the country, were perhaps necessary to be detailed; yet these, with the exception of his having from thirty-four to fifty children (for the accounts differ) by three wives, are passed over in a few words; whilst those of his offspring, the "saints and saintesses of the family," are dwelt upon with more complacency than their legends warrant, or that their slight connexion with the proper subject of this work required. The ninth daughter, called Gwawr, signifying Aurora, or the dawn, was wife to Elydr Llydanwyn, and mother to Llywarch Hên, or Llywarch the Old, the celebrated poet. Cradoc Fraich-fras, a grandson of Brychan, was one of the knights of King Arther's Round Table, and lord - keeper of "y Castell Dolorus." His wife, Tegau Eurfron, or, as our author conceives it should be written, Teg ei Fron-that is, Fair-bosom-possessed three valuable ornaments, of which she alone was reputed worthy;-her knife, her golden goblet, and her mantle; the last of which was considered "one of the thirteen curiosities of Britain," as it "would not fit, nor could it be worn by, any but a chaste woman.” In Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry, is a ballad on this subject.

In the fourth chapter, the history is continued till the conquest of Breconshire about 1092, by Bernard Newmarch, a Norman soldier, said in several Welsh pedigrees to have been uterine brother to William the Conqueror, but very erroneously. Here we have some account of the wars between the Britons and the Saxon King Offa, who, as a boundary of the two countries, formed the well-known

dyke which bears his name, and which till the period of the Norman invasion was regarded as such a complete line of demarcation, that Earl Harold ordained that every Welshman found on the English side of it without license, should have his right hand cut off by the king's officer. Offa, who gave a final defeat to the confederated Welsh at Morfa Rhuddlan, or Rhuddlan Marsh in the Vale of Clwyd, in Flintshire, marked his victory with almost indiscriminating slaughter; and even carried his vengeance so far, as to massacre his prisoners in cold blood. The memory of this tragic event has been peculiarly transmitted to our age, by the ancient Welsh tune called Morfa Rhuddlan, the music of which, as set in a natural key by "the late celebrated blind Parry," is given by Mr. Jones; who, in proof of its impressive and affecting melody, acquaints us that, when it was first played upon the harp to the late Colonel Chabbert, "it brought tears into his eyes, while he observed, that he was sure it commemorated the defeat of a great army."

In the fifth chapter, we learn that Bernard Newmarch, the better to secure the stability of his new possessions, married Nest, grand-daughter of Griffith ap Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, a lady of meretricious character, and who, before her marriage, had by Fleance, son of Banquo King of Scotland (who fled to Wales, to avoid punishment for a murder), a son, afterwards called Walter Stuart, or the Steward, ancestor to the royal house of Stuart. After Bernard's decease, she became the means of depriving her eldest son, Mahel, of his inheritance, by swearing before Henry the First, of England, that he was not the child of her late husband. This she did in revenge for the disclosure of an intrigue which Mahel had discovered that she carried on with a certain knight whose name has not descended to us. In consequence of this, the lordship of Brecknock, as it had now revolved into from a petty kingdom, became the possession of Milo Fitzwater, Earl of Gloucester, jure uxoris; he having been married to Sybil, daughter of Bernard Newmarch. This was the nobleman who, in reward for the eminent services which he rendered to the Empress Maud, during her contention for sovereignty with the usurper Stephen, was created by her Earl of Hereford by patent; and this is the first creation of the kind that occurs in English history. By the instrument, as given in Rymer's Foedera, tome i. p. 8, it appears also, that together with the "moat and castle of Hereford, with

the third pennies of the rent of the borough and of the pleas of the whole county," the Empress gave to him real fiefs, in the personal services of Robert de Chandos, Hugh Fitzwilliam, and Robert de Cormeill. This nobleman was accidentally slain by an arrow, discharged by one of his own knights at a stag that was passing between them, on Christmas Eve, 1143 or 1144. Lord Lyttelton, in his Life of Henry the Second, states, that even the "household and table of the Empress Maud were for a time kept at Milo's expence in the castle of Gloucester;" and we are told, by our author, that the benevolence * of the Welshmen of Breconshire "frequently furnished a part of the repast of her imperial majesty."

On the extinction of the male line of Earl Milo, his great possessions were divided among his daughters and coheiresses; and Brecknock, &c. became the property of Philip de Breos, Lord of Builth, in right of his wife Bertha, the earl's second daughter. His son, William de Breos, married Maud, daughter of Reginald de St. Waleri, who is styled by our author "the Semiramis of Brecknockshire," and who appears so often to have dared the vengeance of King John, that he was at last provoked beyond all forgiveness, and caused her to be immured within the walls of a castle, with one of her sons, and there suffered them to perish for want of food.

"Under the corrupted name of Moll Walbee" (says Mr. Jones), we have her castles on every eminence, and her feats are traditionally narrated in every parish. She built, say the gossips, the castle of Hay in one night; the stones for which she carried in her apron. While she was thus employed, a small pebble, of about nine feet long and one foot thick, dropped into her shoe. This she did not at first regard; but in a short time finding it troublesome, she indignantly threw it over the river Wye, into Llowes churchyard in Radnorshire, about three miles off, where it remains to this day, precisely in the position it fell, a stubborn memorial of the historical fact, to the utter confusion of all sceptics and unbelievers. It is

* Upon the conquest of Breconshire by Bernard Newmarchı, and upon erecting castles in the county by the Normans, they compelled the tenantry to provide a certain number of cattle for the lord's larder, yearly, in proportion to the quantity of lands they held. This exaction, in an exulting and sarcastic phraseology, they called the benevolence of the Welshmen.' The vuwch larder, a memento of this custom or subjection, is known and recollected at this day; and the figure of a cow, rudely carved in wood, was, until very lately, seen over a window in the present manor-house, within the castle of Brecknock." P. 104.

very extraordinary what could have procured to Maud this more than mortal celebrity: she was no doubt a woman of strong masculine understanding and spirit, yet her exploits in Breconshire, where she is so famous, are not detailed either by history or tradition, except in the absurd tale just related. King John, in his declaration against De Breos, seems to hint pretty clearly that the grey mare was the better horse; and it is evident, whatever her merit was, that she had considerable influence and interest in this country, as her name, though corrupted, is familiar to every peasant, while her husband's is unknown, or known only to be detested." P. 113.

De Breos, after a life of bloodshed, oppression, and treachery, became at last a miserable exile; and being obliged to seek refuge in France, lived for some time under the humiliating disguise of a beggar; till, wearied out by the pangs of a wounded conscience, and the miseries of poverty, his spirit sank to rest in the year 1212, or 1213. His eldest surviving son, Engidius, Bishop of Hereford, taking advantage of the troubles in which King John was involved, soon afterwards obtained possession of his father's inheritance, in which he was succeeded, anno 1215, by his younger brother Reginald, whose eldest son, named William, by his first wife Grisseld, daughter of William Bruere, Lord of Bridgewater, became his successor; his second wife was Gwladis, daughter of Llewelyn ap Jorwerth, Prince of North Wales.

William de Breos, whom the Welsh called Black William, assisted Henry the Third in his wars against Llewelyn; but being made prisoner by that prince, was confined by him in one of his castles, and for some time treated with great hospitality. During his imprisonment, he is said to have carried on an adulterous intercourse with Joan, Llewelyn's wife, who was a natural daughter to King John by Agatha, daughter to Robert Earl Ferrers, fourth Earl of Derby. This intrigue is stated to have remained undiscovered till after his liberation from confinement on payment of a large sum of money, and the surrender of his castle of Builth; but it being then made known to Llewelyn, the latter invited the unsuspecting De Breos to a feast at his court, and having by this means again got him into his power, he first "reproached the profligate with his crime, and then commanded him to be ignominiously dragged out of his presence, and hanged without further trial or ceremony upon a tree growing on a neighbouring hill." Pennant states, that the castle where the intrigue is said to have been detected, stood upon a very large artificial mount,