Felicia Hemans

“ Ages may roll ere your children regain
The land for which heroes have perish'd in vain;
Yet, in the sound of your names shall be power,
Around her still gathering in glory's full hour.
Strong in the fame of the mighty that sleep,
Your Britain shall sit on the throne of the deep. ”

“ Lies far o'er the measureless worlds of the deep!
Fall, shadows of twilight! and veil the green shore,
That the heart of the mighty may waver no more!
Why rise on my thoughts, ye free songs of the land
Where the harp's lofty soul on each wild wind is borne? ”

“ With song, and the hills are all mantled with bloom;
But fairer than aught which the summer is bringing,
The beauty and youth gone to people the tomb!
Oh! why should I live to hear music resounding,
Which cannot awake ye, my lovely, my brave? ”

“ What spirit, the things which are hidden disclosing,
Shall point the bright way to their dwellings of rest?
Oh! lovely they rose on the dreams of past ages,
The mighty have sought them, undaunted in faith ”

“ Fill high the blue hirlas! O cup-bearer, fill
For the lords of the field in their festival's hour,
And let the mead foam, like the stream of the hill
That bursts o'er the rock in the pride of its power:
Praise, praise to the mighty, fill high the smooth horn
Of honour and mirth,5 [3] for the conflict is o'er ”

“ And hang up the chief's ruddy spear on the wall!
There is peace in the land we have battled to save:
Then spread ye the feast, bid the wine-cup foam high,1 [1]
That those may rejoice who have fear'd not to die! ”

“ The Bard of the Palace, under the ancient Welsh princes, always accompanied the army when it marched into an enemy's country; and, while it was preparing for battle or dividing the spoils, he performed an ancient song, called Unbennaeth Prydain, the Monarchy of Britain. ”

“ Llywarch Hen, or Llywarch the Aged, a celebrated bard and chief of the times of Arthur, was prince of Argoed, supposed to be a part of the present Cumberland. Having sustained the loss of his patrimony, and witnessed the fall of most of his sons, in the unequal contest maintained by the North Britons against the growing power of the Saxons, Llywarch was compelled to fly from his country, and seek refuge in Wales. He there found an asylum for some time in the residence of Cynddylan, Prince of Powys, whose fall he pathetically laments in one of his poems. ”

“ Round the glad blaze,
Now the festive circle gathers
With harps and lays;
Now the rush-strewn halls are ringing,
Steps are bounding, bards are singing,
—Ay! the hour to all is bringing
Peace, joy, or praise. ”

“ When winds amidst the palms are sighing,
And fragrance breathes from every pine:4 [1]
When stars through cypress-boughs are gleaming,
And fire-flies wander bright and free,
Still of thy harps, thy mountains dreaming,
My thoughts, wild Cambria! dwell with thee! ”

“ We leave it with our fame to dwell
Upon our children's breath;
Our voice in theirs through time shall swell—
The bard hath gifts of prophecy from death.
He dies; but yet the mountains stand,
Yet sweeps the torrent's tide;
And this is yet Aneurin's2 [2] land—
Winds! bear the spoiler one more tone of pride!
↑ 1 At the time of the supposed massacre of the Welsh bards by Edward the First. ↑ 2 Aneurin , one of the noblest of the Welsh bards. ”

“ By the dread and viewless powers
Whom the storms and seas obey,
From the Dark Isle’s3 [1] mystic bowers,
Romans! o'er the deep away!
Think ye, 'tis but nature's gloom
O'er our shadowy coast which broods? ”

“ Oh! better by the sun to die,
Than live in rayless night!
↑ 1 "I have rode hard, mounted on a fine high-bred steed, upon thy account, O thou with the countenance of cherry-flower bloom. The speed was with eagerness, and the strong long-hamm'd steed of Alban reached the summit of the high land of Bran." ↑ 2 "My loving heart sinks with grief without thy support, O thou that hast the whiteness of the curling waves! ”

“ The practice is, however, of older date, and had reference originally to the Alban Elved, or new-year."—Cambro-Briton.
When these fires are kindled on the mountains, and seen through the darkness of a stormy night, casting a red and fitful glare over heath and rock, their effect is strikingly picturesque. ”

“ Those, who escaped, retired to Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. But about the year 286 Cratylinth, a King of Scotland, expelled them from that country, and from the Isle of Man, which was the Presidency of the Order.— Vide Warrington's History of Wales. ”

“ The eagle is a very favourite image with the ancient Welsh poets. ↑ 4Gwynedd, (pronounced Gwyneth,) North Wales. ↑ 5Merlin, or Merddin Emrys, is said to have composed his prophecies on the future lot of the Britons, amongst the mountains of Snowdon. ”

“ Caswallon (or Cassivelaunus) was elected to the supreme command of the Britons, (as recorded in the Triads,) for the purpose of opposing Cæsar, under the title of Elected Chief of Battle. Whatever impression the disciplined legions of Rome might have made on the Britons in the first instance, the subsequent departure of Cæsar they considered as a cause of triumph ”

“ It is said, that if two persons were to sleep a night on this stone, in the morning one would find himself endowed with the gift of poetry, and the other would become insane.—Williams's Observations on the Snowdon Mountains. ↑ ⁠ 3It is believed amongst the inhabitants of these mountains, that eagles have heretofore bred in the lofty clefts of their rocks. Some wandering ones are still seen at times, though very rarely, amongst the precipices.—Williams’s Observations on the Snowdon Mountains. ”

“ And tells me that for ever shall live the lofty tongue
To which the harp of Mona's woods by freedom's hand was strung.
"Green island of the mighty!5 [1] I see thine ancient race
Driven from their fathers' realm to make the rocks their dwelling-place! ”