says is a plural aggregate form derived from cy-ller, gives as its meaning,-"The teachers or learned men of the Druidic order, who, under the primitive Bardic system, were by privilege employed in going periodical circuits to instruct the people, answering the purpose of a priesthood; but in later times, the term implied a society of wanderers; or those bards and musicians who lawfully strolled about, like the English minstrels. These wandering classes of men originated when the priesthood was made a distinct branch of the Bardic system; for the latter then ceased to have sufficient power to support its members; and as a compensation, a law was made, that such as were of this description should have regulated periodical circuits, and receive certain fees according to their degrees, and the quality of those they visited. This ended at the last in mere mendicancy." This statement is mere imagination, entirely unfounded. The word cler in Welsh, as cliar in Irish, means a minstrel, poet, or singer. The apparent connection between the word and the Latin clerus is probably merely accidental. The Irish clarsair and clairseoir, a harper, from clar a board, the performer on a board, and clairseach a harp, the seven boards, or board with seven strings, appear to offer the derivation of the word. The estimation in which they came to be held, is evident, among other things, in the secondary meaning of the word cler, "gadflies." A very cursory examination of the remains of Welsh poetry contained in the first part of the Myryrian Archæology, that is, the poems of the Cynveirdd, suffices to assure us, that the pieces therein contained were written down from the mouths of the wandering minstrels, and that these were, as might well be expected, an exceedingly illiterate class of persons. It is this circumstance alone which explains the fact, that the poems ascribed to Taliesin in particular, are for the most part made up of allusions to local, sometimes historical events, references to the Mabinogion, or fairy and romance tales of the Welsh, scraps of geography and philosophy, phrases of monkish Latin, moral and religious sentiments, proverbs and adages, mixed together in wonderful confusion, sometimes all in the compass of one short ballad. They demonstrate most clearly, that, however ancient some of the fragments mixed up with them may be, these ballads were not reduced into writing until long after they had been handed down, by oral transmission, through the recitals of these itinerant minstrels. They furnish the best commentary on the monstrous imposture of Edward Williams and his son Taliesin Williams, and the reveries of Davies and Dr. Owen, on the subject of the Coelbren y Beirdd,1 or Bardic letters employed in Britain from the most remote antiquity. 1 The subject of the Coelbren y Beirdd will be further discussed in treating of the Historical Triads and other sources of the ancient history of Britain, in the second part of this essay. CHAPTER II. PERSONAL HISTORY OF TALIESIN--OF URIEN RHEGED. BEFORE proceeding to an examination of the various compositions attributed to the celebrated Chief of Bards, Taliesin, we may offer a few observations on his history and the legends connected with his name. If Taliesin really flourished in the sixth century, his genuine poems may be expected to contain references to historical events and personages, which will readily identify the age and locality of their author. It may also reasonably be anticipated, that, even should they fail to supply important authentic materials of history, they will at least, as Mr. Rees has observed, be interesting as records of a valiant and high-spirited people, nobly struggling against overwhelming odds, to preserve their liberties and the independence of their country. We have before observed, that although it is now admitted by the better-informed Welsh Scholars, that the poems which constitute the "Hanes Taliesin," or romantic history of the Bard, as well as the majority of the other poems attributed to him, were composed in their present form as late as the thirteenth century, it is nevertheless contended that the ideas and traditions embodied in the romance composed by Thomas ap Einion Offeiriad, had previously existed in the form of tales and poems which had already acquired an extensive popularity and circulation, and that from these earlier fragments, the Druidism, philosophy, and superstition, of the Bards of the sixth century, are still capable of being eliminated. Before entering upon that investigation of the poems which is necessary for deciding on the truth or falsehood of this opinion, we may endeavour to ascertain something of the personal history of Taliesin, from other sources than the romance with which he is connected. The generally received statement on this point is, that Taliesin lived in the sixth century, and that his principal patron was Urien Rheged, a British chieftain to whose history we shall presently advert. The poems of Taliesin in honour of, or addressed to, this prince and his family, have generally been received as genuine historical documents, contemporary monuments of an age which abounded in bards and heroes of the ancient British race. Yet, upon a review of the historical poems of Taliesin, we are at a loss to discover the grounds of the great reputation which has attached to his name, as Chief Bard of the West, and the most celebrated among the poets of Wales, a reputation which had reached its height in popular estimation as early, certainly, as the middle of the twelfth century. Taliesin is mentioned in terms of respect, and as an example of Bardic excellence by the poets of that epoch, by Cynddelw, Llywarch ab Llywelyn and Elidir Sais, and in the following century by Philip Brydydd, Davyd Benvras, and Gwilym Ddu. A fragment of a poem attributed to Taliesin, employed as evidence in support of the privileges claimed by the men of Arvon, is found in a MS. copy of the laws of Howel Dda, in a hand-writing, -it is said, of the twelfth century. The contents of the historical poems of Taliesin, do not however disclose the reason for the great estimation in which this bard has been held by his countrymen. Supposing him to have flourished in the sixth century, we must adjudge him, as a poet, inferior to his contemporaries, Llywarch Hen and Aneurin, and to the Caledonian Merlin, if the compositions of this latter are also regarded as of the same epoch. The subjects of these poems, admitting them to be genuine, and written at the date of the events to which they allude, are limited in their scope, confined to the description of combats comparatively unimportant, (altogether so, in a national view) and record the deeds of only one family of British chieftains, leaving unsung, events and personages of far greater importance and more widely spread reputation. It is impossible that the great celebrity of Taliesin in the twelfth century, can have been founded solely on the historical poems which have been preserved, and it would seem therefore that Taliesin must have been the author of poetical works which have not come down to our time, but which were known to, and highly appreciated by, the Bards of the twelfth century, or that his reputation rests less upon his own compositions, than on the fame which attached to his name as a character of romance, a prophet, and magician. To the first of these suppositions it must be objected, that had other historical poems of Taliesin been in existence in the twelfth century, had his name been employed in rendering famous the names of other chieftains than Urien and his son Owain, some notice of such compositions could not fail to have been preserved. To the latter view two circumstances appear to give great probability. The name Tal-iesin," shining forehead" is connected with the romance history of the Bard, and was given to him on his miraculous appearance at the fishing weir of Gwyddno Garanhir. It is more probable that this significant name was invented by the writer of the romance, than that the adventure was composed to account for the origin of the name. Llywarch ab Llewelyn in the twelfth century, mentions Taliesin in connection with the romance history of the liberation of Elphin :1 Cyvarchaf ym ren cyvarchuawr awen Cyvreu kyrridwen rwyf bartoni 1 Myv. Arch. vol. i. p. 303. |