Revenge Us And The
Nation In This Man!" On Being Chidden And Driven Away By Those Who
Understood The British
Language, she more vehemently and forcibly
vociferated in the like manner, alluding to the vulgar fiction and
proverb of Merlin,
"That a king of England, and conqueror of
Ireland, should be wounded in that country by a man with a red hand,
and die upon Lechlavar, on his return through Menevia." This was
the name of that stone which serves as a bridge over the river Alun,
which divides the cemetery from the northern side of the church. It
was a beautiful piece of marble, polished by the feet of passengers,
ten feet in length, six in breadth, and one in thickness. Lechlavar
signifies in the British language a talking stone. {126} There was
an ancient tradition respecting this stone, that at a time when a
corpse was carried over it for interment, it broke forth into
speech, and by the effort cracked in the middle, which fissure is
still visible; and on account of this barbarous and ancient
superstition, the corpses are no longer brought over it. The king,
who had heard the prophecy, approaching the stone, stopped for a
short time at the foot of it, and, looking earnestly at it, boldly
passed over; then, turning round, and looking towards the stone,
thus indignantly inveighed against the prophet: "Who will hereafter
give credit to the lying Merlin?" A person standing by, and
observing what had passed, in order to vindicate the injury done to
the prophet, replied, with a loud voice, "Thou art not that king by
whom Ireland is to be conquered, or of whom Merlin prophesied!" The
king then entering the church founded in honour of St. Andrew and
St. David, devoutly offered up his prayers, and heard mass performed
by a chaplain, whom alone, out of so large a body of priests,
Providence seems to have kept fasting till that hour, for this very
purpose. Having supped at St. David's, the king departed for the
castle of Haverford, distant about twelve miles. It appears very
remarkable to me, that in our days, when David II. presided over the
see, the river should have flowed with wine, and that the spring,
called Pistyll Dewi, or the PIPE of David, from its flowing through
a pipe into the eastern side of the churchyard, should have run with
milk. The birds also of that place, called jackdaws, from being so
long unmolested by the clergy of the church, were grown so tame and
domesticated, as not to be afraid of persons dressed in black. In
clear weather the mountains of Ireland are visible from hence, and
the passage over the Irish sea may be performed in one short day; on
which account William, the son of William the Bastard, and the
second of the Norman kings in England, who was called Rufus, and who
had penetrated far into Wales, on seeing Ireland from these rocks,
is reported to have said, "I will summon hither all the ships of my
realm, and with them make a bridge to attack that country." Which
speech being related to Murchard, prince of Leinster, he paused
awhile, and answered, "Did the king add to this mighty threat, If
God please?" and being informed that he had made no mention of God
in his speech, rejoicing in such a prognostic, he replied, "Since
that man trusts in human, not divine power, I fear not his coming."
CHAPTER II
Of the journey by Cemmeis - the monastery of St. Dogmael
The archbishop having celebrated mass early in the morning before
the high altar of the church of St. David, and enjoined to the
archdeacon (Giraldus) the office of preaching to the people,
hastened through Cemmeis {127} to meet prince Rhys at Aberteive.
{128} Two circumstances occurred in the province of Cemmeis, the
one in our own time, the other a little before, which I think right
not to pass over in silence. In our time, a young man, native of
this country, during a severe illness, suffered as violent a
persecution from toads, {129} as if the reptiles of the whole
province had come to him by agreement; and though destroyed by his
nurses and friends, they increased again on all sides in infinite
numbers, like hydras' heads. His attendants, both friends and
strangers, being wearied out, he was drawn up in a kind of bag, into
a high tree, stripped of its leaves, and shred; nor was he there
secure from his venomous enemies, for they crept up the tree in
great numbers, and consumed him even to the very bones. The young
man's name was Sisillus Esceir-hir, that is, Sisillus Long Leg. It
is also recorded that by the hidden but never unjust will of God,
another man suffered a similar persecution from rats. In the same
province, during the reign of king Henry I., a rich man, who had a
residence on the northern side of the Preseleu mountains, {130} was
warned for three successive nights, by dreams, that if he put his
hand under a stone which hung over the spring of a neighbouring
well, called the fountain of St. Bernacus, {131} he would find there
a golden torques. Obeying the admonition on the third day, he
received, from a viper, a deadly wound in his finger; but as it
appears that many treasures have been discovered through dreams, it
seems to me probable that, with respect to rumours, in the same
manner as to dreams, some ought, and some ought not, to be believed.
I shall not pass over in silence the circumstance which occurred in
the principal castle of Cemmeis at Lanhever, {132} in our days.
Rhys, son of Gruffydd, by the instigation of his son Gruffydd, a
cunning and artful man, took away by force, from William, son of
Martin (de Tours), his son-in-law, the castle of Lanhever,
notwithstanding he had solemnly sworn, by the most precious relics,
that his indemnity and security should be faithfully maintained,
and, contrary to his word and oath, gave it to his son Gruffydd; but
since "A sordid prey has not a good ending," the Lord, who by the
mouth of his prophet, exclaims "Vengeance is mine, and I will
repay!" ordained that the castle should be taken away from the
contriver of this wicked plot, Gruffydd, and bestowed upon the man
in the world he most hated, his brother Malgon.
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