Part 6

The loss of their gallant leader was the loss of the battle. The fortune of the King prevailed; and although on that day no less than two thousand six hundred gentlemen, and six thousand common men were slain, this victory served to confirm Henry on his usurped throne, humbled the great Barons, and restored peace to England. Had Owen Glyndwr at this juncture pressed forward from Oswestry, where it has been before said he was lying with a fresh army, and as numerous as the English were before they had sustained so severe a loss, he might have changed the aspect of affairs; but at this distance of time a proper judgment cannot be formed. Some historians blame him for his precipitate retreat into Wales, whither he was followed by a part of the English army, under young Henry, who made himself master of the Castle of Aberystwith, which Owen afterwards recaptured.

After this time Owen’s fortunes appeared to decline, {165} and the fatal battle of Husk, fought on the 15th of March, in which Glyndwr’s son was taken, and more than fifteen hundred of his men slain, seems to have sealed his doom. But Glyndwr, although reduced, was not subdued, and he continued a predatory and harassing warfare, most annoying and destructive; sometimes making a sudden eruption into the marches, and sometimes into the heart of the country; for now, the Welch having submitted to the King, and being reconciled, Glyndwr considered his countrymen his enemies. His skill in devices, together with his local knowledge of the country, kept the Principality in a dreadful state of fear and fermentation; and although he eluded every effort made to entrap him, yet his turbulent spirit drew upon his country the vengeance of the King, in the most severe laws that were ever enacted against a civilised people. {166}

Owen Glyndwr, once Prince of Wales, was now reduced to hide himself in the caves and fastnesses of the country, to avoid the pursuit of his enemies. He was concealed and supported for some time by Ednyfed Ap Aron, in a cave near the sea-side, at Llangelynin, in Merionethshire, still called Ogof Owain. {167} The danger past, he again blazed forth in the destruction of a territory he had once aspired to govern; sometimes a fugitive, enduring hunger, thirst, and every privation; at others revelling as a conqueror, on the spoils of his countrymen and former friends. At last his depredations became so general and so indiscriminate that he feared every one, and became as “a wild man, and his hand was against every man, and every man’s hand was against him.” Being thus driven by his fears from society, he fled to the most solitary places, and at length died for lack of sustenance. {168}

Thus ignobly perished Owen Ap Gryffydd Fychan, commonly known by the name of Owen Glyndwr—a man who, from trifling causes, had conceived more determined hostility against the English, and had conducted that hostility with more consummate skill, than any other general the Welch had ever produced. In his early career he was uniformly victorious: he was proclaimed Prince of Wales with the sanction of the chief men of the country, made alliances with princes, and exercised his authority with becoming dignity; but now—

“Mighty victor, mighty Lord, Low on his funeral couch he lies: No pitying heart, no eye t’ afford A tear to grace his obsequies.”

Owen Glyndwr was one of those fiery meteors which Providence sometimes permits to visit the earth, for the instruction of mankind, and to show us the vanity of all sublunary things: astonishing the world with their splendour, they blaze for a short time; and as suddenly decline, and sink into obscurity. Such, in our own horizon, have been Glyndwr and Cromwell, and in later times Bonaparte. Their course was brilliant, but short; and as their greatness grew, so did their suspicions and their fears; until, at last, life itself became burdensome, and the end of their career was clouded by disappointment, misery, and despair.

But Owen Glyndwr had more legitimate reasons to plead than either of his compeers. Deprived of a part of his patrimony by power, and unable to obtain redress by law, he took the law into his own hands, and had recourse to force. Success produced ambition, which proved his overthrow.

Owen was bold, wary, and revengeful: he set no bounds to his resentment. He made a smoking ruin of the dwelling of his countryman, Sir David Gam, and thereby made him an implacable enemy. He was the cause of the loss of one hundred thousand lives, {171} and of the destruction of immense property. Many houses and other buildings were burnt and destroyed by him; among which I find enumerated the Castle of Ruthin, the Cathedral of St. Asaph, the Cathedral of Bangor, the Bishop’s Palace, &c. at Llandaff, the towns of Leominster and Old Radnor, besides the house of Sir David Gam, &c.

It will be right to notice that Mr. Pennant gives the following account of the death of Owen Glyndwr; but as he states there is nothing confirmatory of Owen’s interment at Monnington, I have thought it right to adhere to the older authorities:—“He matched his daughters,” says Mr. Pennant, “into considerable families: his eldest, Isabel, to Adam Ap Iorwerth Ddu; his second, Elizabeth, or as some say, Alicia, to Sir John Scudamore, of Ewyas, and Home Lacy, in Herefordshire; Jane he forced upon Lord Grey De Ruthin; and his youngest daughter, Margaret, to Roger Monnington, of Monnington, in Herefordshire, at whose house some accounts say he died, and was buried in the church-yard there.” {172}

The prison where Owen confined his captives, and of which some remains may still be seen, was near the church at Llansanfraid Glyndyfrdwy; and the place is still called Carchardy Owen Glyndwr. He is said to have died in the sixty-first year of his age.

I trust it will be deemed a pardonable digression, if I now give the sequel of the military career of that loyal and truly brave Welchman, Sir David Gam. I have before recounted that Glyndwr forced him to fly for protection to the court of England, where he continued in favour with King Henry IV. until the death of that monarch. I then find him accompanying his son, King Henry V. on his expedition into France, in the year of our Lord 1415, at the head and in the command of a numerous body of stout and valiant Welchmen, who on all occasions distinguished themselves by their courage and conduct. {174}

To Sir David Gam was assigned the important office of reconnoitring the French army, on the approach of the famous battle of Agincourt. Finding the French nearly ten times more numerous than the English army, he replied to the King’s question as to the enemy’s strength—“An’t please you, my Liege, they are enough to be killed, enough to run away, and enough to be taken prisoners.” The King was well pleased with such an answer from a man of Sir David’s valour.

In the battle which followed, and which was fought on the 25th of October, 1415, the King alighted from his horse to head his footmen, and to encourage them to resist the charge of the second line of the French army, then advancing; when eighteen French cavaliers, who had bound themselves by an oath to kill King Henry, or perish, rushed upon him in a body, and one of them with a blow of his battle-axe so stunned the King that he would have fallen an easy victim, had not Sir David Gam, with his son-in-law, Roger Vaughn, and his kinsman, Walter Llwyd, of Brecknock, seasonably sprung to his rescue. They slew fourteen of the assailants, and delivered the King, when they fell at his feet, covered with wounds. In the heat of the battle, Henry was separated from his brave defenders; but being soon afterwards informed that their wounds were mortal, he immediately repaired to the spot where Sir David and his faithful companions lay; and, as the only recompense in his power then to bestow, he knighted them all three upon the field, where they soon after died. {176}

Thus ended the life of Sir David Gam; but the remembrance of his loyalty, and the fame of his valour, will live, and perpetuate his memory.

“So sleep the brave, who sink to rest, By all their country’s wishes bless’d. When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, Returns to deck their hallow’d mould, She there shall dress a sweeter sod Than Fancy’s feet have ever trod. By fairy hands their knell is rung, By forms unseen their dirge is sung. There Honour comes, a pilgrim grey, To bless the turf that wraps their clay; And Freedom shall awhile repair, To dwell a weeping hermit there.”

It is conjectured that Shakspeare took Sir David as a specimen, when he wrote the character of Captain Fluellen, in Henry V.

Returning towards Llangollen from Glyndyfrdwy, along a beautiful level road, made at the expense of Government, with the Berwyn Mountains rising abruptly on the right hand, and the murmuring Dee pursuing its devious course on the left, I pass a small brook, which divides the counties of Merioneth and Denbigh. A pillar on the top of the mountain above is for the same purpose. The views over the Dee are incomparably charming.

LLANGOLLEN Church.

“Hail, ancient edifice; thine aisle along, In contemplation wrapt, now let me stray; And stealing from the idly busy throng, Devoutly meditate the moral lay.”

LLANGOLLEN Church, which stands in the middle of the town, is a low gothic structure; and the south side appears the most ancient part of the edifice. At the east end, on the outside wall, are two knees, which seem to have been intended as the spring of an arch, for an enlargement of the building. The roof is slated, and there is a tower steeple at the west end, containing four bells and a clock, with quarter chimes.

The Church is dedicated to Saint Collen Ap Gwynnawg, Ap Clydawg, Ap Cowdra, Ap Caradog Freichfras, Ap Lleyr Merim, Ap Einion Yrth, Ap Cunedda Wledig, by Ethni Wyddeles, daughter of Matholwch, Lord of Cwl, in the kingdom of Ireland; {179} which saint was buried here. In the Church was formerly a recumbent figure in alabaster, vulgarly called Saint Collen. The unshapely remains of this monument are still to be seen in the belfry, where it has been thrown.

The roof of the Church is supported with three massive stone octagon Doric pillars, of great antiquity, and two heavy abutments. The roof itself is very curiously enriched with carved compartments, in old oak, supported by figures of angels, in various attitudes, also of solid oak. These figures and the roof I suspect to be spoils of the Abbey Crucis, to which the Church of Llangollen was incumbent. The transom beams that support the roof are indented with tracery; and on the north side of the beam over the north aisle, is the following very curious inscription cut in old letter. It is so lofty that it can scarcely be made out distinctly, but I have taken some pains to give it correctly:—

“Y nav i ti mair vydd barod bob awr.”

Which may be thus translated:—

“Heaven for thee, Mary, will be open every hour.”

I have little doubt that this beam, as well as the other decorations of the roof of the Church, was brought from Llan Egwest, which it will be recollected was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

There is a beautiful half-length of our Saviour in the window over the altar, painted upon glass by Eginton, of Birmingham, with this inscription under it:—

“Nid fy Ewyllys i ond yr eiddo ti a wneler.”

S. Luc pen 22 ver 42.

“Not my will, but thine be done.”

I believe there are no other Welch inscriptions in the Church, among the many grave stones, tablets, &c. which abound; and yet service is performed in no other language, except on the second sabbath in every month, and on Good Friday. There are many English families now resident in Llangollen and its neighbourhood; and to those that are seriously disposed this is a great privation.

The Church is well served by the very worthy and pious Vicar, who resides at the Vicarage; yet, notwithstanding, there are four dissenting congregations in the town, viz. Wesleyan Methodists, Whitfield or Calvinistic Methodists, Independents, and Baptists.

In the church-yard is a school, under which is a vestry-room, bearing this inscription:—“This school-house was built at the expense of the parishioners, having obtained the ordinary license, with consent of the Rev. R. Price, vicar, 1773.”

The customs of the orthodox Welch Church are similar to those in England, except in the following, viz. that of bedecking the graves of the dead with shrubs and flowers; of singing before the corpse to the church; and the very annoying one of ringing a passing bell in the following manner:—On the day prior to the funeral the bells are tolled in a very quick succession of strokes; that is to say, twelve quick strokes on the first bell, and after a short pause, twelve on the second; and so on once round, the number of strokes on each bell, denoting the condition of the deceased. Thus, twelve strokes on each bell denote the death of a married master of a family; eleven strokes the mother or mistress of a family; ten strokes an unmarried or young man; nine a young woman unmarried; six a boy; and five a girl. Then begins an incessant monotonous toll of the great bell, in minute time, which generally continues all that day until eight o’clock at night: it commences again at eight o’clock on the following morning, and does not cease until eight o’clock at night, except during the time of interment. The usage at the burial is also novel to an English observer. When the service in the church is concluded, the officiating minister goes to the steps of the altar, whereon a sort of wooden plate is previously placed; and the attendants and friends of the deceased immediately proceed to deposit money thereon in his presence, which is instead of dues. When the corpse is consigned to the earth, the clerk receives the donations of the people that are around the grave, upon the spade with which he is throwing the earth upon the coffin; and this is his share of the fees.

There is also an old and curious custom observed at Christmas, called Plygan, or Pylgain, that is, “the time of night when the cock croweth; the morning twilight.”—On the morning of Christmas Day, the bells are rung as is usual to assemble to church, about four o’clock; and on their ringing about six o’clock, most of the parishioners assemble, some bringing candles, and the church is also lighted up. After the prayers (morning service for the day) are read, the congregation continue, and the minister also, hearing original carols in the Welch language, on our Saviour’s nativity. This time and custom were formerly much more seriously observed, when men believed

“That ever ’gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then they say no spirit walks abroad; The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike; No fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm; So hallowed and so gracious is the time.”

Except two or three marble monuments in the Church, there are no other remarkable objects; but in the church-yard are many very neat and handsome freestone tombs. Some of those recently erected are in the sarcophagus form, and are very nicely executed.

Nearly opposite the south door of the Church stands a triangular gothic column of freestone, surrounded by a light iron railing, erected over the grave of a highly respected domestic of the Right Hon. Lady E. Butler, and the Hon. Miss Ponsonby. The pillar is executed in good taste, and on one of the three facades are the following lines, doing much honour to the heart as well as to the head of the composer:—

In Memory of Mrs. Mary Carol, Deceased the 22d of November, 1809, This Monument is erected, By Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, Of Plas Newydd, in this Parish.

Released from earth, and all its transient woes, She whose remains beneath this stone repose, Steadfast in faith, resign’d her parting breath, Look’d up with Christian zeal, and smiled in death; Patient, industrious, faithful, gen’rous, kind, Her conduct left the proudest far behind; Her virtues dignified her humble birth, And raised her mind beyond this sordid earth. Attachment, sacred bond of grateful breasts, Extinguish’d but with life this tomb attests, Rear’d by two friends, who will her loss bemoan, Till with her ashes here shall rest their own.

The poor of Llangollen have much reason to pray that period may be far distant; for the benevolence of these retired ladies is extensive and discriminate; and it may justly be said there is not a poor deserving object in this little town, who does not participate in their bounty. I shall conclude with a brief notice of their residence.

Plas Newydd.

“’Tis pleasant through the loopholes of retreat To peep at the great world—to see the stir Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd.”

PLAS Newydd, situated at the east end of the town of Llangollen, has long been the residence of two eminently distinguished ladies, the Right Hon. Lady Eleanor Butler and the Hon. Miss Ponsonby, who came to Llangollen, and after a time purchased the domain, and planted and decorated the grounds. It has attained its present beauty under their own superintendance.

Many years have elapsed since these ladies withdrew from the world, to which, from their rank and accomplishments, they would have been distinguished ornaments, and secluded themselves in this beautiful retreat, where they have uniformly been the benefactresses of the poor, the encouragers of the industrious, and the friends of all in their neighbourhood. The peculiar taste and beauty with which these noble and highly distinguished ladies have decorated and adorned both the exterior and the interior of their far-famed retreat, excites universal admiration from the first characters and families, who are continually visiting them.

A palisade, ornamented with antique and grotesque figures, carved in oak, encloses the front, before which a profusion of the choicest flowers and shrubs is tastefully arranged. The entrance and the windows, which are formed after the manner of ancient religious houses, are decorated with carving in the same material. The entrance-door is unique, and a great curiosity, being beautifully ornamented with well polished carved figures; the whole of which are of black oak, and kept particularly bright, giving the retreat a very uncommon appearance. The entrance-hall, stairs, and passages, are chastely in character; and the windows are ornamented with painted glass in the most appropriate manner.

The gardens, in which nature and art are judiciously united, are extensive, and display much taste. The thick and umbrageous foliage of the lofty forest trees, that occupy a part of the lawn and gardens, is the safe asylum of numerous birds, which in this calm seclusion revel unmolested. A pair of beautiful wood-owls have found a safe and quiet shelter in the trunk of an old ivy-covered tree; and on a lawn a little further, is erected a pretty moss-covered alcove, furnished with a few well-selected books: it is nearly in the centre of the garden, and is open in front. The confidence of the birds is shown by some of them every year building their nests in this recess: indeed, these airy inhabitants appear to be quite tame and familiarized by the kindness of their amiable protectors. I believe the birds have much the larger portion of the produce of these beautiful gardens, as none of them are suffered to be molested.

Through the lower part of the shrubbery, a brook, called Cyflymen, i.e. Speedy, murmurs o’er its pebbly bed, and is crossed by a rustic bridge, which leads to a bank covered with lichens, and furnished with appropriate seats, near which rises a pure fountain, whose waters are as clear as the crystal glasses which ornament its margin: in short, the beauty of the scenery, aided by a little enthusiam, might inspire the idea that

“Here in cool grot and mossy cell, The rural fays and fairies dwell: Though rarely seen by mortal eye, When the pale moon, ascending high, Darts through yon limes her quiv’ring beams, They frisk it near these crystal streams.”

The carved stone brought from the Abbey Crucis, and mentioned as being dug up at the time the bodies were discovered, stands near the entrance.

CONCLUSION.

I have thus completed the circuit I proposed at the commencement of my labours. To hope the attainment of perfection in a work of this nature would with justice be deemed presumptuous; but I trust any inaccuracy will be treated with lenity, and that due allowance will be made for the disadvantage under which verbal information is at all times collected by a person who does not understand the native language. Thus far I can with truth say, that, from a desire to combine correctness with intelligence, I have in no case given that on hearsay, which might be readily ascertained by ocular demonstration.

With regard to the quotations which I have thought proper to introduce, I must here again draw upon the kind indulgence of my readers. Not having an extensive library at my command, I have sometimes been obliged to quote from memory. This will also, in some degree, account for omissions of which I may in places be deemed guilty.

I will now take leave of my friends, assuring them that, if I have not done all I might for their information and amusement, it must be attributed to any other cause rather than a want of desire and endeavour on my part. It would, indeed, be unpardonable in me to deserve such an imputation, after having received so many marks of attention from friends whom I have had occasion more than once to consult in the progress of my researches, and being furnished with information from quarters where I had not the least claim.

AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK.

_The Brut_, _or Chronicle of the Kings of Britain_, contained in _Collectanea Cambrica_, vol. 1, by the Rev. P. Roberts, A.M. This title was taken from the _Book of Basingwerke Abbey_; which work the learned author has translated and collated with _Brut Tyssillio_, the Welch copy of the Chronicle _Gruffudd ab Authur_; _Collations of the Brut_ in the Archialogy; Geoffrey of Monmouth’s _Translation of the Brut_; the _Wynnstay MS._ and the _M.S. Chronicle_ of Mr. Jones, of Gelly Lyfde. These books are supposed by Mr. Roberts to contain the genuine epistle of _Gildas_, published A.D. 560.

_Camden’s Britannia_, Philemon Holland’s translation, A.D. 1610.

_Caradoc of Lhancarvan’s History of Wales_, first published A.D. 1150, translated by Dr. Powel, and augmented and improved by the Rev. W. Wynne, A.M. from whose octavo edition, published A.D. 1697, the quotations are made.

_History of Wales_, by the Rev. William Warrington, quarto edition.

_Pennant’s Tour in Wales_, two vols. quarto, 1784.

_Report to the General Assembly of the Ellesmere Canal Proprietors_.

_The English Baronets_, three vols. A.D. 1727.

_Cambrian Itinerary_, _&c._

LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.

A.

AVONMORE, Lord Viscount, _four copies_

Adams, Mr. George, Ruthin

Allen, Joshua, Esq. Wenffrwd

Andrews, Mr. Wrexham

Androse, Miss

B.

BUTLER, the Right Hon. Lady Eleanor, and Miss Ponsonby, _twelve copies_

Besborough, the Earl of

Babbington, Miss, Oswestry, _two copies_

Babbington, Mr. Thomas, Oswestry

Bains, the Rev. E. A.M. Llanderfel

Barlow, Mr. Thomas, Oswestry

Bickerton, Mr. William, Oswestry

Bill, Mr. Richard, Oswestry

Bland, John T. Esq. Ireland, _two copies_

Bowen, Mr. John, Dinbryn

Boycot, Miss, London, _three copies_

Bradshaw, Miss

Bradshaw, Mr. George, jun. Oswestry

Brelisford, Mr. John, Llangollen

Bridgman, Captain, R.N. Knocking