verses, in which he declared that the blood of his enemies was the most pleasant beverage, and that his cups were formed of their sculls. On this subject we have the fol lowing "puff direct." "A literary gentleman, connected with the Eclectic Review*, exclaimed, on reading these verses Bravo! Lion of God, true son of Apollyon! Tisiphone herself cannot match this saying. The man whose ruthless soul was capable of framing it, bids fair to be devil when Satan dies!?" On this we shall only observe, that the man who "was capable" of inserting such silly nonsense in a scientific work, will never deserve any higher honour than that of scavenger to philosophers. Against these insidious “arts of puffing," which a man of honour would not, and a man of genius could not, submit to, we shall ever enter our protest, and hold them up to the contempt and scorn of the more worthy part of mankind. We shall now state our opinion candidly of the commercial value of the first two parts of this work. Each number is embellished with four elegantly coloured plates of subjects in natural history, which might be sold for four shillings. In addition to these, there are four neatly engraven plates of works connected with the arts or manufactures. Thus every number is illustrated by four coloured and four plain engravings, which are very nearly worth the whole price of the part. The coloured plates are executed by Mr. S. Edwards, and are highly honourable to his talents. It is proper that we should here state a fact, which proves his skill in colouring: the numbers before us have lain loose above six months in an apartment where oxymuriatic acid and other gases were frequently disengaged, yet the colours are very little if any thing injured. Those who are acquainted with coloured plates of natural history, will know that this is no common recommendation. The talents of the editors, as far as we may judge from their previously published works, are by no means ill adapted to their undertaking. Mr. Gregory is very advantageously known to * This statement unfolds a mystery: it is now evident how a most extraordinary and fulsome puff (to use the language of the day) appeared in the Eclectic Review of a certain oration. The exclamation here quoted is no doubt from the same source; and although it might be tolerated in a certain society where brutally obscene songs were applauded, it will not be very acceptable to the public.-Rev. the public as the author of some of our most useful works in natural philosophy; and Mr. M. Good is a man of indefati gable industry, somewhat omnivolent, but sufficiently sup plied with that general knowledge, which qualifies nim for editing a universal dictionary. In a word, we know of ne work, which has hitherto appeared, so useful as the Pantologia, to those who wish for a slight knowledge of all the arts, sciences, and general literature. Jones's History of the County of Brecknock. [Continued from P. 248 of this Volume.] IN the preface to his second volume, Mr. Jones makes some remarks on the few critics who had noticed his first volume with any attention; and in doing this he fully exposes the incapacity and carelessness of the "Annual Reviewers," against whose "animadversions" he scruples not to throw down the gauntlet in bold defiance, though with all the respectful courtesy due to a champion of " Dr. Aikin's" prowess. Our author, however, proceeds on a false ground, when he refers the historical misrepresentations he complains of to the renowned doctor, for it is not him, but his son, "Arthur Aikin," who is the avowed editor of the Annual Review. In the latter part of his preface, Mr. Jones refutes some erroneous opinions that are prevalent respecting the extent of Clanodd Offa, or Offa's Dyke, and describes its entire course as far as it can now be traced. This volume is much less interesting to general readers than the former one, yet it will doubtless attract its full share of local inquirers. We learn from it that Brecknockshire contains sixty-seven parishes, the history and account of each of which form a distinct section. Into descriptions so very miscellaneous as those of parishes, we cannot be expected to enter at length, and shall therefore content. ourselves, for the present, with selecting a few of the more important passages, reserving our opinion of the whole work, as well as our observations on some particular parts, for our next number. In the account of Garthbrengy, or Galltbrengy, we find the following particulars of the Gam family, whose principal residence was at Peytyn Gwin, in the above parish, and of whom the famous David Gam gave the celebrated answer, "Enough to be killed, enough to be taken, and enough to run away," to Henry the Fifth, when questioned by that monarch as to the amount of the French army previous to the battle of Agincourt. Hence, then, it appears, that one of the Peytyns at least was in the possession of this family long prior to the birth of Llewelyn, who therefore must either have purchased the Peytyns from one of his own relations, or else, if any one of the descendants of Sir Richard Peyton sold them, he must have taken a Welsh name and had long lost his Norman appellation; be this as it may, David ap Llewelyn, though the third son of the purchaser, certainly resided during the early part of his life at Peytyn Gwin: the precise year of his birth cannot be ascertained. Pennant says, his competitor Glyndur was born in 1350: Sir David was probably some years his junior, or he would have been of too advanced a period in life to have appeared as a warrior at Agincourt in 1415, when personal strength was of essential consequence in battle. At the same time it must be observed, that it is probable he could not have been under fifty or sixty years of age at this memorable victory; for he had several children and even grand children, at the time he embarked in the expedition to France: be was athletic in person, his hair red, and he squinted; from whence he was called Dafydd Gam: Grm generally means crooked*, but from long habit and a perversion of the language, when applied to the person, it implies any defect in the limbs or features. Powel, in his history of Wales, has taken care not only to record this deformity, but he wishes his readers to believe that nature has perpetuated it, and that all his family continue to squint to this day!! It is unnecessary to deny so absurd an assertion; from portraits of some of the family still remaining, it appears, that so far from being distinguished by this unfortunate obliquity of vision, many of them were remarkably handsome and their features perfectly regular: it is however not a little extraordinary that the Welsh should, in this instance, as they have in many others, seize upon this peculiarity, and preserve it as a memento in the family, of the imperfection of the person of their ancestor; yet thus it is perpetually, and while the common names of Morgan, Thomas, Gwilym, &c., are ringing the changes and shifting places continually, the names of Gwyn, Llwyd, Coch, Cam, fair, grey headed, squinting, &c. &c. remain steadily in the respective families to which they have been applied, as long as they remain; nay, we have an instance where even a filthy disease has conferred a surname which the descendants of the person afflicted seem to feel no anxiety or wish to conceal t... "From hence (as I conceive) the vulgar English phrase of game leg, meaning a crooked or bandy leg. "Thus Llewelyn,, the son of William, the son of Howel, surnamed the Scabby, subscribes himself Llewelyn ap Gwilym ap Hywel y grach, and Sir David Gam's wife is always called, in the pedigrees, Gwenllian the daughter of Hywel y grach, by which no mark of disrespect.is intended to the memory of her father. "Mr. Carte correctly observes, that Sir David Gam held his estate of the honor of Hereford, that he had long been in the service of Bolingbroke, and was firmly attached to his interest. When it is recollected that Henry the Fourth was Earl of Hereford and Lord of Brecon, in the time of Sir David Gam, we shall not be at a loss to discover the motives which governed his political conduct, but the first public act of his life consigns to his memory a load of infamy, which his death will barely remove: instead of attacking the enraged lion of Gynedd in the field, instead of hurling defiance against his adversary, in audible language and in open day, he came like a midnight assassin to the court of Glyndwr, and sought to serve his employer by removing a troublesome insurgent at the expence of his own character and future happiness. "This iniquitous attempt was made in 1402, when Owen was holding his parliament at Machynlleth in Montgomeryshire. At this meeting,' says Mr. Pennant, he narrowly escaped assassination. Among the chieftains who came to support his title, was ⚫ a gentleman called David Gam, or the One Eyed; notwithstanding • he had married a sister of Glyndwr, yet such a furious hatred had he conceived to his cause, that he appeared at the assembly 'with the secret and treacherous resolution of murdering his prince and brother-in-law. Carte says he was instigated to it by Henry, but gives no authority; party zeal, or hopes of reward, probably ⚫ determined him to so nefarious a deed; he was a fit instrument for the purpose, a man of unshaken courage, which was afterwards put to to the proof, in the following reign, at the battle of Agincourt.' "In this account there is too much truth, and the tale, unfortunately for the fame of Sir David Gam, is too well attested by Powel and other authors to be denied; but Pennant is incorrect, when he says he had but one eye; and as we should give even the devil his due, he is equally mistaken, when he tells us that Glyndwr was his prince or his brother-in-law; he owed him no allegiance, nor was he in anywise of affinity or connected with him; his journey to Machynlleth, therefore, must have been to offer assistance, and not to do homage. Sir David Gam married a daughter of a gentleman of considerable landed property, resident in Elvel, on the banks of the Wye, in Radnorshire; Glyndwr's wife was a daughter of Sir David Hanmer, whose only sister, Morfydd, married David ap Ednyfed Gam, a North Wales nobleman, descended from Tudor Trevor. The courage of Sir David Gam is unquestionable, yet my countryman, Mr. Pennant, was wrong when for that reason he supposed him a fit instrument for the purposes of assassination; and though Sir David was prevailed upon to debase himself by this dark design, in general a brave man, who trembles only at the thoughts of a cowardly act, is very ill calculated to assist in the perpetration of a midnight murder. "That this foul plot was discovered no one will lament; David was seized, imprisoned, and would have met with the fate he deserved, if he had not been saved by the intercession of some of Owen's best friends: he continued in confinement until 1412; No. 130. Vol. 32. April 1809. 2 C upon the 14th of June, in which year, a commission issued from the crown, directed to the king's well-beloved esquire, Llewelyn ap Howel, father of his majesty's well-beloved esquire, David Gamme,' holding of the crown in the lordship of Brech; John Tiploft, then seneschal of Brech; and William Botiller, receiver, reciting his having been taken prisoner by Owen de Glandourdy, rebel and traitor, empowering them or either of them to treat for his ransom, and to exchange for him any Welshmen, adherents, favourers, succourers, or assistants, of the said Owen *. The commis sioners, it appears, succeeded in releasing the king's well-beloved esquire, David Gamme, upon his engaging (as it is said) not to bear arms or oppose the measures of Owen: for this favour he showed the same sense of gratitude as criminals frequently entertain for those, who have saved their lives; attacking the partisans of that chieftain wherever he met them, and betraying his designs to the English monarch whenever he could discover them. This conduct drew down upon him the vengeance of his insulted and abused adversary, who, entering Breckonshire with a body of his troops, would probably have prevented David Gam from molesting him in future if he had met him: fortunately for the lord of Peytyn gwin he was not at home when the enemy arrived. As a punishment for repeated injuries received from him, Owen burnt his house to the ground. After which, meeting with one of David's tenants on the road in his return, he tauntingly told him, O' weli di wr coch-cam, If a squinting red-hair'd knave Meet thee, and perchance should crave Say that the cinder-mark will tell. "David Gam had no sooner procured his liberty, and been released from one prison, than he seems anxious to deserve commitment to another; for shortly after he was liberated by Owen, Hugh Thomas tells us, though he places this event at too early a period, he slew his kinsman Richard Fawr, lord of Slwch, in an unhappy quarrel in the high street of Brecon, for which he was obliged to leave his country "From this time forward we hear nothing further of the lord of "Rymer. Foed. tome viii. fo. 753. + Gyrnigwen, literally the white-horned: it is generally given as the description of a sheep; here, perhaps, it alluded to the external appearance of the house, the roof of which, like that of Newton, formed a kind of cone, with a stack of white chimneys at the apex, which may be supposed to have some resemblance to an exalted horn. Manuscript Essay towards the History of Breconshire. Bodl. Lib. Oxon. |