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CHAPTER XIV.

Sir Rhys ap Thomas.

Plantag. Since you are tongue-tied, and so loth to speak,

In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts;

Let him that is a true-born gentleman,

And stands upon the honour of his birth,

If he suppose that I have pleaded truth,

From off this briar pluck a white rose with me.

Som.-Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer,

But dare maintain the party of the truth,

Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me.

War.-I love no colours, and, without all colour

Of base insinuating flattery,

I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet.

Suff.-I pluck this red rose with young Somerset,

And say, withal I think, he held the right.-SHAKSPEARE.

HENRY V. of England, or, as he was called in his youth, Harry of Monmouth, had finished a brilliant carcer of military achievements at the Castle of Vincennes, in France, and the sceptre of Britain passed from the hands of one of its bravest and most vigorous princes into those of his baby successor. The imbecility of the child was followed by the incapacity of the man; and the reign of Henry VI. gave rise to that ferocious civil contest, known best by the name of the War of the White and Red Roses. It was in

the wild mountai is of Wales that the White Rose, the emblem of the House of York, first budded, and afterwards became the signal of victory in the sanguinary and well-fought fields of St. Albans, Northampton, Mortimer's Cross, and on the plains of Towton.

At this time, Gruffydd ap Nicholas (whose descendants became at a subsequent period the lords of Abermarlais, in Carmarthenshire) exercised great power and influence in the southern division of the Principality. Ambitious, turbulent, and crafty, he was well fitted to play a conspicuous part in the stirring times in which he lived. Too choleric to be long at peace with his powerful neighbours, he was alternately engaged in deadly feuds with the leaders and adherents of both the contending parties that disturbed the empire. Consistent and unremitting only in his hatred to the English, he permitted his retainers to commit continual depredations upon the possessions of the Lords Marchers, and to pillage their lands. The injury thus inflicted upon the English borders was too great and frequent to pass unnoticed, and in one of those occasional pauses in this age of civil strife,-the quietness of exhaustion rather than the repose of peace, -Gruffydd was cited before the king's court, to answer for his violence and contumacy, and Lord Whitney and other commissioners were sent into Wales to investigate his conduct. Gruffydd, who had heard of the commission, but was not fully informed of its objects, laid his plans with the craftiness, and executed them with the boldness, peculiar to his character. He contrived to dissipate any fears which the commissioners might have entertained from his

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formidable power, by meeting them on their entry into Carmarthenshire, himself meanly dressed, and accompanied only by four or five attendants "raggedlie attired," and as miserably mounted. Right glad was Lord Whitney to find the truculent Welshman, as he thought, then in his power, and not a little astonished was he also to hear him, with apparent affability and confidence, offer his services to conduct the commissioners to Carmarthen, the place of their destination. The party moved forward in high glee, each speculating with secret satisfaction upon his success, and conversing with that ease and volubility which belongs naturally to persons so well content with themselves.

Their road followed the windings of the Bran as far as the little town of Llandovery, near which that river unites with the Gwydderig in its confluence with the Towey. On the western bank, situate on a rocky eminence, the castle looked over the whole extent of the romantic vale of the Bran. The united waters of these celebrated streams formed then, as now, that majestic river which is the glory of this part of the Principality. The English lord, and the commissioners in their official array, followed by the humble Welshman, with his tattered attendants, crossed the river by the fine stone bridge a little below the town, and pushed forward in a brisk trot towards the princely mansion of Abermarlais.

The thick woods that lined the shores of the Towey completely hid the towers of the castle from the view of the approaching party. A graceful curving of the road, however, brought them unexpectedly to the foot of the gentle eminence on which it stood. Gruffydd,

turning to the surprised commissioners, and pointing to the open postern, pressed them with a smile to enter and refresh themselves, and leading the way across the drawbridge, ushered the party into the spacious cou.tyard. The wily Welshman was received with demonstrations of the most profound respect by his son Thomas, at the head of a troop of a hundred horsemen, handsomely dressed and gallantly mounted, and the aston'shed commissioners looked upon an array that began to open their eyes to the power and consequence of their companion.

It was not Gruffydd's design that the commissioners should see too much at once, especially as he had observed that the English lord betrayed some degree of surprise and alarm at the number and excellent appointments of his son's armed retinue; and, therefore, after having well refreshed themselves, the whole party, including the horsemen, defiled from the castle at a round pace, in seeming confidence and cordiality.

"A goodly country this," said Lord Whitney to his companion, "and easily defended, with your mountain passes and these stout yeomen."

"My lord will at least perceive," said Gruffydd, "that I am willing to do him honour, whatever may be the object of his visit to these parts."

Gruffydd had placed a peculiar emphasis upon the word object, which at first startled the commissioner, and he remained thoughtful for a considerable time. As the party wound round a long and sinuous defile, which skirted the rocky ridge that in this place beetles above the very shores of the Towey, giving such a picturesque character to the scene, the ancient fortress

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of Dynevor, not far from the town of Llandilo Fawr, then the stronghold of one of the sons of Gruffydd, suddenly broke upon their view. It was at a considerable distance from the road where it was first discovered by the leading horsemen. The castle stood on the most bold and precipitous eminence of this ridge, overlooking the course of the river, and commanding a view of the open country, and of every approach towards its walls. The party emerged from the defile, and ascended the easy winding road that had been formed on the eastern side of the fortress. Two strong towers of different architecture flanked the spacious courtyard at the northern and southern angles; the latter, standing immediately over a tremendous precipice, was used as the castle donjon in these barbarous times, and gave a fearful presage of the secret doom of many a poor wretch who had been its inhabitant. The area was surrounded by high massy walls of great thickness, and was sufficiently ample for the martial exercises of the garrison. Owen, the son of Gruffydd, received the commissioners with great hospitality, at the head of a chosen body of two hundred horsemen under arms, and conducted them into the banqueting-hall of the castle. Owen played the part of the host with admirable skill, and by his address contrived to draw from his guests the secret of the commission, and to assure himself that to secure his father was the great object of their journey. Gruffydd and his sons concealed their discovery from the commissioners, and, to prevent all suspicion, treated them with renewed hospitality and attention.

The whole party now pursued their way, increased

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