ON THE USE OF THE HISTORICAL TRIADS. THE Greek and Roman historians owe their reputation as much to the beauties of their style, as to their accuracy. Their form is pleasing, and from being made the medium of education, they become our companions in the closet. But the discerning reader perceives that Herodotus abounds in fable, that Livy is frequently mistaken, and that such as cannot be charged with credulity, have an obvious bias in favour of their country. In other countries information is derived, not from chronicles, but from poetical and traditionary relicks. The Persians have their Shah Nameh, and the Hindoos their Mahabbarat; and the early events of our ancestors must be principally gleaned from the Historical Triads. Of these records the observations of Mr. Turner and the Editors of the Myvyrian Archaiology will supply the best account: "The Welch have a very singular collection of historical facts, which they call TRIADS. Three events which have an analogy in some point or other, are arranged together. It is certainly a very whimsical mode of commemorating events, but the actions of man are full of caprice. The fanciful rudeness of the plan may discredit the taste or judgment of its authors; but the veracity of the statement is not affected by the singularity of the form. If the Welsh have never had a Livy, or a Thucydides; if they have made Triads, instead of histories, we may blame the misdirection of their genius; but we cannot try the authenticity of a record by its taste and elegance, or what will become of our special pleading, our bills in equity, and our acts of parlia ment*! pe "The historical Triads have been obviously put together at very different riods. Some appear very ancient. Some allude to circumstances about the first population, and early history of the island, of which every other memorial has perished. The Triads were noticed by Camden with respect. Mr. Vaughan, the antiquary of *Vindication of the Ancient British Poems, p. 126. They may be considered (say the Editors) amongst the most valuable and curious productions preserved in the Welsh language; and they contain a great number of memorials of the remarkable events which took place among the ancient Britons. Unfortunately, however, they are deficient with respect to dates; and, considered singly, they are not well adapted to preserve the connection of history. Yet, a collection of Triads, continued together as these are, condense more information into a small by any other method; and consequently compass, than is to be accomplished perhaps such a mode of composition is superior to all others for the formation of a system of tradition." They were published, in 1801, by the munificence of Mr. Owen Jones, and have since been edited by Mr. Probert. Every elucidation which can now be obtained, will be found, with a chronological digest, in the Cambro-Briton, a respectable periodical, conducted by the late Mr. Parry. One disadvantage they certainly possess: to enumerate precisely THREE circumstances, such as "the three accursed deeds of the Isle of Britain," it may often have been necessary to exaggerate, and sometimes to omit; so that the Triads must be regarded as detached notices rather than a complete series of records. The Triads remount to the political circumstances of the Cymry before their supposed departure from Asia. Hu Gadaru, or The Mighty, whom some sanguine antiquaries have identified with Noah, is said to have formed them into social communities, to have instructed them in agriculture, and to have adapted poetry to the preservation of historical memorials. Under his auspices, they reached an island, previously denominated Clás Merddin, or The Sea-defended Green Spot, and by the colonists, Vel Inys, or The Honey Isle. A federal monarchy was subsequently established by Prydain (a name signifying beautiful), from whom the island is said to have derived its present (though altered) appellation of Britain. + P. 131. Poetry 1825.] On the use of the Historical Trials. Poetry was early reduced to a system by Tydain, surnamed Tad Awen, or The Father of the Muse. This personage has been supposed the same with the Celtic Thoth, or Theutat, and the Egyptian Hermes. The current regulations were first consolidated into a body of laws, by Dynval Moelmud, about four hundred years before the Christian æra. Subsequently, but at an uncertain period, the Jury, the Judicial office, and the Regal power, were declared the three pillars of the commonwealth. About the same time a spirit of emigration began to actuate the northern nations. The Belgæ, forsaking their native abodes on the Rhine, passed into Britain, and settled in the western and southern parts. A Scandinavian, called Urb Lluyddoe, came hither, and induced considerable numbers to accompany him to Greece, where he and his followers are held to have setdled: this event appears to relate to the great movement westward of the Gauls (whom many Britons might accompany), and their final establishment in Asia, under the name of Galatians. During the century before Christ, the Britons seem to have acquired whatever domestic civilization they possessed: the art of shipbuilding was invented or learned by Corvinor, a bard; wheat and barley were introduced by Coll; and building with stone by Mordhai. About the middle of that period, in the reign of Keraint, Siluria, or Southern Wales, was visited by a terrible famine. Caswallon, (the Cassivelannus of Cæsar) then reigned in Gwynnedd, or North Wales: having repelled a body of Irish, who had invaded his dominions, with considerable slaughter, the bodies of the slain remaining unburied, were the cause of a pestilence. He signalised himself against Cæsar in Gaul, whither he went to assist the natives, or, according to another Triad, to obtain the beautiful Flur, B. C. 55. Britain was in consequence invaded, Mr. E. Jones (Musical and Poetical Relics, P. 6), , supposes some lines in praise of Beli, to have been made on the father of Caswallon, and considers them as the earliest specimen extant. But the name of their author, Salhaiarn, limits them to the fifth or sixth century. The same may be said of the Ode to Gwalloc ap Lleenog, whom Mr. Jones and Baxter confounded with the Galgacus of Tacitus. 403 and the treachery of Avarwy (Mandubratius) contributed to his success. During this era, the Gwyddelians, or first Irish colonists, settled in Alban, or Scotland; and the people of Galedin (supposed to be Holland) in the Isle of Wight. Caradoc, the son of Bran, was elected sovereign, A. D. 43, and betrayed, nine years afterwards, to the Romans, by Aregwydd Voeddig (Cartismandua), daughter of Avarwy. Dr. Pughe considers the celebrated Boadicea to have some reference to this name. The alledged genealogy is a suspicious circumstance: indeed, we are inclined to think, that the Britons endeavoured to cast a greater odium on this princess, by representing her as the daughter of a traitor. Bran, the father of Caradoc, with his whole family, were detained as hostages for that warrior at Rome, where they remained for seven years: on their detention, Christianity is said to have been introduced into Britain, A. D. 59, who thence obtained the name of The Blessed. But this story has not obtained implicit credit even among the Welsh, although Dr. Southey prefers it to the other narratives. The account of Bran's death, in the second tale of the first series of the Mæbinogion (composed perhaps as early as the fifth century), among many fabulous incidents, virtually contradicts it. Matholloch, an Irish prince, married his daughter Bronwen, but in consequence of the ill treatment she received from him, he invaded Ireland. The Britons were victorious, but with the loss of their chief, who, before his death, directed his head to be buried under the Tower of London, as a preservative against invasions§. A grandson of Caradoc (Coel ap Cyllin) introduced mill-wheels into Britain, A. D. 100; and, A. D. 167, his son Lleurog is said to have founded the first see in Britain at Llandaff: this story has a partial aspect. A.D. 330 the Emperor Constantine is said to have founded that of York; and London received the same honour from the rebel Maximus, A. D. 380. To support his pretensions, a number of British troops accompanied Cynan Me According to Geoffry of Monmouth (Galfrai ap Arthur), Vortimer ordered his body to be buried on the sea-shore, with a similar view, A. D. 468. These stories, if false, prove the popularity of such a super stition. 404 Col. Macdonald on the North West Magnetic Pole. [Nov. riadog and his sister Ellen to Armorica, and settled there on his death, A. D. 390. His son by a British woman bears the name of Owen; A. D. 400 he was elected sovereign by general suffrage, and his first act was to abolish the tribute which, since the time of Cæsar, had been paid to the Romans. As ancient history closes about this period, and poets and chroniclers begin to appear in an unbroken succession, it is sufficient to observe, that the Triads reach to the disappearance of Madoc in 1172. This epitome may perhaps interest our readers, and enable such as are not familiar with Welsh evidence to compare these incidents with the representations of Roman and English writers. Mr. URBAN, Summerlands, Exeter, Ν Nov. 3. IN giving the site of the North West Magnetic Pole, by a process of approximation, in your number for last December, I remarked, that little more could be said on this interesting subject till Captain Parry's return. The approximation was made by means of the longitudes, latitudes, magnetic dips and variations furnished by Captains Parry and Franklin, enterprising and scientific characters, to whose valuable labours Navigation and Commerce must for ever stand signally indebted. To the second line of the second series of figures, giving the medium latitude of the pole, I prefixed by mistake the name of the latter, instead of the former able navigator; but this in no respect affects the result situating the pole at the intersection of 70 deg. North latitude, and 100 deg. West longitude, without, as usual, attending to fractions. It thus appears, that if Captain Parry had got through Prince Regent's Inlet, he would have passed over the very site of the pole, in running South-west to the mouth of Coppermine River; and would have solved the problem of the discovery of the precise position of the pole, by the obvious and simple procedure stated in various papers on this very important subject, inserted in your valuable Miscellany. Great credit is due to the Admiralty for persevering in these useful researches; while it is honourable to the British Nation, that the geography of these northern regions should be accurately laid down. It is hoped, that next year, Captain Parry will be sent out to complete his own brilliant discovery. Should Regent Channel be found impassable, the Polar Basin may be explored by means of wide channels leading to where there is now every reason to suppose that an open sea will be found. In the mean time, Captain Franklin will have settled the point whether there is a passage for ships, as well as for currents and whales through Behring's straits; a question involving more of curiosity than utility, as independent of the intense cold of these dreary regions, and of the constant danger that ships would be exposed to, there does not appear that there is any practicable passage for ships, from Lancaster's Sound [the original name] to these Straits. This reduces the question to what is of infinite use, being the inprovement of the Theory of the Magnetic Variation, arising from the discovery of the site of the Magnetic Pole, at present the primary object in view. In your number for March, last year, I made a few calculations from the best data that could be obtained, shewing the quantity of movement eastward, of the magnetic pole, in the course of five years. I stated, that the dip of the needle would be found to increase on the East, and to diminish on the West side of the supposed position of the pole. By parity of cause and reasoning, I concluded, that the West variation would be found to increase in situations on the East side, and to decrease in those on the West side of the pole. A young gentleman, on board of the Hecla, had this Magazine, in case it might meet the eye of that able and scientific character, Captain Parry. If the dip and variation were tried in the same situation_in which they were taken in Prince Regent's Inlet, in 1819, I expect that the West variation was found greater, and also, the dip of the magnetic needle. If this proved to be the case, it would decidedly indicate a certain degree of movement of the pole eastward. It is unnecessary, Sir, to repeat here, the arguments deduced from Scripture and Philosophy, tending to establish that the spheroid of the earth is not solid. One additional text is very striking in favour of the supposition on which the polar movement is founded, "The Earth was void." Sir Isaac Newton supposes the space including 1825.] Col. Macdonald on the North West Magnetic Pole. 405 In the year 2017 the variation will be nothing in London, when an East variation will go on during 160 years in like manner as the West increased during the same time. By observing, accurately, the time of no variation, and that of the extreme easting, those that live in the year 2177 may be enabled to calculate the fractional part of the orbit. Churchman laid it down, that the pole moved under a parallel of latitude. This cannot be fact, because the West variation, instead of being now diminishing, would increase till the pole in moving eastward arrived under a point on the supposed parallel, touched by a tangent line drawn from London. Again, the pole does not move under a straight line, or a curved line directly under the north pole of the earth, as there could be no variation under such line, or meridian; being a case that has not occurred. The pole cannot move under an East and West line, nor under the earth's North pole, because that on such line there would be always the same variation, excepting when the pole passed perpendicularly under the places situated on such line. This case also has not occurred. It remains then only to conclude, that the pole moves round the pole of the earth in some very eccentric curve beyond the reach of calculation, and to be ascertained only by finding on it several points where the needle will stand perpendicular. This may be done during seventy years to come, after which the pole will move under regions which cannot be reached. This is the only mode of finding a sufficient portion of the curve to indicate the whole of it. including the solar system, to be occupied by Ether. The earth floats in this, probably on the principle on which a balloon moves in the atmosphere in air of specific gravity, similar to that of the gas within it. The power of the DEITY gave the orbicular movement, and the diurnal or rotatory followed as a necessary consequence. This effect is observed in projecting bombs from mortars. The shell turns round its axis in the direction of its flight, till it arrives at the vertex of the irregular parabola described. Here gravity, acting powerfully in the more perpendicular descending curve, as the squares of the times, the accelerated velocity of descent destroys the rotatory motion. The rotatory motion of the shell arises from a vacuum created in the rear of its flight, into which the air rushes and turns the projectile in the direction of its course. The diurnal motion of the earth may be physically ascribed to a similar cause. Were the planets solid to their centre, the centripetal force retaining them in their orbits would be infinitely more than the ablest astronomers have ascribed to the attraction of the sun; while, at the same time, this solidity would be productive of no useful purpose that human reason can fathom. There can be little doubt that the oblate spheroid-form of the earth has arisen from the plastic nature of its shell having yielded into this form, by means of the constant rotatory motion round the axis. The North-west and South-east magnetic poles evidently possess contrary polarities, and consequently they attract each other, so far as to be retained in their orbits, and the intervening magnetic gas within Churchman placed the pole in 58 and without the globe, prevents the deg. North latitude, and 134 deg. West approach of the poles. This is hypo-longitude. Euler placed it in 76 deg. thetical; but manifestly these bodies move within the earth, and produce the variation on its surface. Churchman made the period of revolution of the North-west pole, 1096 years. This is erroneous; as from the time when the variation was nothing in London, in 1657, till it began to decrease in 1817, one hundred and sixty years elapsed, during which time the pole moved through an arc of eighty degrees. This will give 720 years as the time of a complete revolution. The calculation cannot go to fractions, as the exact time of the maximum and minimum remains unknown. North, and 96 deg. West from Teneriffe. Professor Krufft situated it in 70 deg. North, and 23 West longitude.' Doctor Halley supposed there were two northern magnetic poles. One of them he placed in Bathin's Bay, and the other, he situated in 76 deg. North, and 30 deg. East longitude. The pole discovered by Captain Parry proves all these to be gratuitous suppositions. It is still imagined that a magnetic pole exists in Siberia. Professor Hanstein is sent from Berlin, and Monsieur Coupter from Paris, according to the papers, to ascertain the site of this pole. No such will be found, but the North 406 Col. Macdonald on the North West Magnetic Pole. [Nov. North-east line of no variation will offer itself to their notice. This is, in point of fact, a continuation of the me. ridian passing over the North-west pole and through the North pole of the earth; and it were to be wished that under the meridian of 80 deg. East nearly, the meridian of this line of no variation would be accurately laid off, near Madras in India, in order to trace the annual increase of West variation commencing on such line. If a pole existed in Siberia, the needle in London would not point, as it does, fully to the North-west pole, but considerably to the East of it, on account of the attraction of the imagined pole in Siberia. As well may it be supposed, that the North pole of the earth attracts, which it does not, as in such case, the needle in London would not point to the North-west pole, but in some direction between both, as may readily be explained by an experiment with two magnets representing these objects. All this shews, that there is but one magnetic pole in the northern hemisphere; and it is earnestly trusted, that the requisite steps will be taken to discover its real site, before another year passes, as such discovery now rendered equally easy and safe, will lay a sure foundation for the formation of a true theory of the magnetic variation, so essential to the interests of Navigation and Commerce. Should Captain Parry not get through Regent's Channel in the summer of 1826, the exact position of the pole can be attained to from Coppermine River. The annual decrease and increase of the variation are somewhat unequal; and this is to be ascribed to the action of intervening magnetic strata occurring sometimes in the line of variation; such strata being frequently met with in many situations. . It thus appears, that this wonderful, but imperfect science, is rapidly advancing; and Foreign Nations are endeavouring by voyages of research, to participate in the honour of establishing it on the sure foundation of actual discoveries. It is on this account that we ought to persevere in accomplishing the discovery of the precise site of the magnetic pole in each hemisphere, as a national object of vast moment. In a former paper, I stated, from a close investigation of data deduced from the voyages of Captain Cook, and of others, that the South-east magnetic pole was situated in those times at the intersection of the parallel of 75 deg. South latitude, and the meridian of 144 deg. East longitude. If this be fact, the position assigned to it by Halley, Euler, Churchman, Krufft, and others, must be erroneous. This pole is certainly moving westward; and if the rate be similar to that of the North-west, it cannot, at present, be far from the meridian of 117 deg. East. When once the South-east line of no variation is ascertained, the period of its revolution can be nearly calculated. This pole, it would seem, is stronger in its action than the other. If its position were ascertained, this comparison could be made by trying the dip, and the oscillations of the magnetic needle, at exact equal distances from each pole, and on the relative line of no variation of each pole. Fortunately for science, Mr. Weddell of the navy has the merit of having lately sailed as far as 74 deg. 16 min. South latitude, where he found an open sea. He was when there, about three times the length of Great Britain from the South-east pole; and the variations he gives, excepting one, concentrate not far from the position assigned to it. Two attempts ought immediately to be made to lay down the site of this pole. One might be from where Mr. Weddell found an open sea; and the other, on the line of no variation, not far from 117 deg. East, probably on the South coast of New Holland. For the sake of safety, two ships should accompany each other, on each expedition. It is unnecessary to urge the vast benefit that would result to science and navigation. It has been recently a subject of discussion, what is, and what is not the Magnetic Equator? Many suppose, that each pole has its separate equator. This supposition is not consistent with the rationale of the case. There is a line round the earth on every point of which the magnetic needle will take a horizontal position. In this case, the extremity of the needle nearest to its relative magnetic pole, is attracted in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance; and if a curve could be drawn through such points all round the earth, it would constitute the magnetic equator common to both poles. This equator is constantly changing, because the North west |