f Of feemly raiment, and ten marks in coin, This mean and contemptible anecdote, told in metre not unworthy of it, is a marked difgrace to the poem. Mr. S., however, thinks differently on the fubject; he calls it "a very characteriftic ftory," and felicitates himfelf on the chance by which he difcovered it in "Mr. Yorke's curious work on the Royal Tribes of Wales," p. 497. He has taken no freedom, he affures us, "with the original, except adapting the orthography of Gwgan to an English eye, and altering five pounds to ten marks!" We wifh he had omitted it altogether for our parts, we fee not the wifdom of ranfacking old records for every foolish tale that marked the days of barbarous ignorance, to bombast and stuff out a story much too long in itfelf, with extraneous matter. Madoc will, ere long, perhaps fee a fecond edition, and we counsel Mr. S. in all the fincerity of regard, to fend this mumping Goagan of Powys-land back to Mr. Yorke. Section XIII. Madoc takes leaves of the hofpitable chief, and bends his steps to the Irb of Bardfey, the burial place of his ancestors: the day was fair when he landed, and the poet whom we have lately feen grovelling through the miferable hiftory of Goagan of Powys-land, bursts forth into these inimitable ftrains. "There was not, on that day, a fpeck to stain Careered, rejoicing in his fields of light. How beautiful, beneath the bright blue sky, A fummer feeling: even the infect swarms Really Mr, S., who can write thus, is inexcufable, when he is flat and low. The The monks had been warned of Madoc's coming, and they therefore receive him with a folemn service for the fouls of his progenitors. This is defcribed in the poet's best manner; and those who have witneffed a clauftral proceffion in Catholic countries, will be infinitely ftruck with the truth and beauty of the following lines. "But the place Was holy; the dead air, that underneath The regular foot-fall founded; fwelling now, Came on the heart." P. 132.. While Madoc is feafting with the abbot, (this is never forgotten) he is called out by his nephew Llewelyn, the rightful heir of the throne, who had croffed from the mainland to meet him. Madoc, who is every where beating up for volunteers, invites the prince to join him: this the high-fpirited youth declines, and we think him so much in the right, that we could almoft wifh Madoc had abandoned his own enterprise to further that of Llewelyn. In this part of the poem there is both pathos and dignity. Section XIV. The hero profecutes his journey to Aberfraw, but turns afide on the way to view the cottage in which he had been formerly received by Cynetha. Here, with his ufual good fortune, he finds the miftrefs and child of his brother Hoel, whom he perfuades to accompany him. We could be copious in the praife of this fection: the defcriptive part of it is furprifingly beautiful, and the narrative artlefs and affecting in the highest degree. We honour the tafte and feeling that could fo happily apply "the lay of love." Hoel is yet celebrated by his countrymen for his amatory Odes, of which feveral are extant. Madoc, who is not aware of the relationship in which his fair hoftefs ftands to him, but who fees her dejected and forlorn, catches up the harp to divert her forrows, and fings her one of his bro ther's fongs; one-of which, unknown to him, fhe herself was the fubje&t! "He "He took the harp That ftood befide, and, paffing o'er its chords, I have harneffed thee, my Steed of fhining grey, I love the glittering dwelling, where we hear That the should spurn a love fo true as mine." P. 144. We have, however, one objection to the narrative of Llaian, which does not fo much affect its beauty as its propriety. She tells her affecting flory with all the blushing fears of a lady of the prefent day we apprehend that a Welsh damfel of the 12th century would fcarcely have accounted it a violent difgrace to bear a child to a prince; and fure we are, that the fenfitive delicacy here difplayed accords but ill with the rude and barbarous manners difplayed in other parts of the poem. Section XV. Madoc, who, as the reader must have difcovered, travels by cafy ftages, fees in the neighbourhood of Bangor," a princely cavalcade." "What have we here Only before no good!How ffands the tide? P. 152. Euge, poeta! The The object of the prelate is to excommunicate Cyveilioc, for not joining the Crufaders, and Mr. S. who, we regret to fay," beflows fomewhat too much of his tediousness upon us" here, introduces a part of Ernulphus' curfe, which fhocks Madoc no less than it long afterwards did Trim and my Uncle Toby, and gives birth to a vehement dispute between him and the bifhop. In revenge, the latter determines that the bones of Madoc's father, who had died under an interdict, fhall not be fuffered to lie in the church. This is privately made known to the prince, and while Baldwin and his attendants are engaged at midnight in opening the vault, he fuddenly rufhes in, and interrupts the work. He is taken at firft for the ghoft of king Owen, who may naturally be fuppofed to feel fome intereft in what was going forward; but his voice betrays him, and the facrilegious crew are compelled by his threats to remove the corpfe from the ftone coffin, wrap it up in fine linen, and cominit it to the care of Madoc, by whom it is fafely conveyed to the fhips. All this, though probably meant for little more than to give the poet an opportunity of venting his fpleen on the church, might be endured, were it not that his happy induftry has dragged out from fome old chronicle, a refutation of his own ftory, and informed us, that the bones of the good old king are quietly repofing in the church-yard of Bangor ! Section XVI. On his return to Aberfraw, Madoc finds "fix gallant barks" nearly ready for fea, and adventurers in abundance. This fection is taken up with an un accessful attempt on the part of the prince, to induce David to liberate one brother, and be reconciled to another. On the score of poetry, we have not lately had much to admire. Section XVII. The time is now arrived for Madoc's departure. "That day a Boy, Weary and foot-fore, to Aberfraw came, Who to Goervyl's chamber made his way, And caught the hem of her garm nt, and exclaimed, This unpromifing commencement, is the introduction to a pleafing story, which relieves the dry narrative of the preceding fections. The boy is Senena, the faithful miftrefs of Caradoc, who is now on board, indignant at her supp›fed perfidy. It does not appear why the conceals herself from him, but Mr. S., by prematurely disclosing her fex, has weakened the effect of the epifode. Ee BRIT, CRIT, VOL. XXVIII, OCT, 1806. The The last day is paft in banqueting with the king, and the author, with fingular judgment, has given the bard a fong, which awakens all the heroic and all the tender feelings of the prince. We have fometimes thought, in the courfe of our examination of this poem, that a perfon like Madoc, uniformly defcribed as alive to all the glories of his ancestors, and warmly attached to the fpot which gave them birth, was not extremely likely to abandon his home in queft of he knew not what. We fhould rather expect fuch a one to join with Rodri, in fupport of the brave Llewelyn: but Madoc, all patriotic as he is, referves his courage for frange adventures, and overlooks the claims of his rightful fovereign and his country. This fection has many beautics, and is at once interefting and affecting. Section XVIII. While yet near the land, they are boarded by Llewelyn and Rodri, who had juft efcaped from prifon by the prince's afliflance. Rodri fcornfully rejects Madoc's invitation to fhare his enterprife, and Llewelyn replies to his unmanly exclamations in a fpeech which will make more impreflion on the reader than it seems to have done on the Lord of Ocean." "Fear not thou For Britain! quoth Llewelyn; for not yet We hear no more of Llewelyn; and it is for the author to confider whether he has done well in exciting an intereft for this gallant prince, which few will feel for the hero of the poem, and then difmiffing him for ever. We have dwelt fo long on the firft part of the poem, or "Madoc in Wales," that we have not room, even if we had inclination, to enter at any length into the fecond part, or Madoc in Aztlan :" but, indeed, there is no temptation to be prolix, for, in quitting Wales, we quit nearly all that is interefting in this voluminous production. We fhall, however, purfue the ftory at a future opportunity, and fubjoin our general remarks. (To be concluded in our next.) ART |