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TRIADS OF THE ISLE OF BRITAIN*.

LXI. THE three Primary Inventors of the nation of the Cymry: Hu the Mighty, who first formed mote and retinue for the nation of the Cymry; and Dyvnwal Moelmud, who first made a system of the laws, privileges, and customs of country and nation; and Tydain Tad Awen, who first conferred order and system of memorial and record upon vocal song and its appurtenances, and from which system were framed the privileges and regulated customs of the bards and bardism of the Isle of Britain.

[The original words for mote and retinue are clud and gosgordd, by which is to be understood the regulation of removal and guard, by which nomadic tribes were governed, as may be seen in the Triads of Motes †. Tydain Tad Awen, Tydain the Father of the Muse, is a singular name; but the history of the person thus designated is so involved in mythology as not to be cleared. His name and attributes tend to identify him with Taat, or Hermes, of Egypt,―or, it may be, with Titan, or Apollo, of the Orphic Hymns, celebrated as he was for his skill in music. Tydain is commemorated in two other Triads. Hu Gadarn and Dyvnwal Moelmud have already been noticed.]

LXII. The three Primary Bards of the Isle of Britain : Plennydd, Alawn, and Gwron; that is, these were they who projected the privileges and the customs, which appertain to bards and bardism, and are therefore called the three primary ones; nevertheless, there were bards and bardism before, though they were not under a licensed system, and they had neither privileges

Arch, of Wales, vol. ii, p. 67, 8. Tr. 57-60.

†These are the Triodd y Cludau of Dyvnwal Moelmud, inserted in the Arch. of Wales, vol. iii, p. 283.

VOL. II.

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nor customs, otherwise than what may have been obtained through civility and courtesy, under the protection of country and nation, before the time of these three. Some say, that they were in the time of Prydain, the son of Aedd Mawr; and others say, that they were in the time of Dyvnwal Moelmud, his son, in some of the old books called Dyvnvarth ab Prydain.

[There is scarcely any thing to be said towards illustrating the history of the three personages here recorded; they are sometimes named in the works of subsequent bards, and that is all. It may be presumed, however, that Alawn is the same with Olen, or Linus, the Hyperborean, mentioned by the oldest Greek poets: and Plennydd has been thought to be identified with Belenus, one of the names of Apollo or the Sun. Mr. Davies, in his Celtic Researches, p. 170, conceives Plennydd, Alawn, and Gwron to mean light, harmony, and virtue,-the latter name, he says, having "the same relation to gwr that virtus has to vir.”]

LXIII. The three Beneficent Sovereigns of the Isle of Britain: Prydain, the son of Aedd Mawr, who first formed a system of federalism of country and nation, and the regulation of country and border-country, in the Isle of Britain; and Dyvnwal Moelmud, who introduced an improvement and extension of the decrees and laws, and privileges, and customs of the nation of the Cymry, that right and justice might be obtained by every body in the Isle of Britain, under the protection of God and his peace, and under the protection of the country and nation; and Hywel the Good, the son of Cadell ab Rhodri Mawr, king of all Wales, who made an improvement in the Laws of the Isle of Britain, as the events and changes, that occurred to the nation of the Cymry, demanded, lest what might be good should pass into oblivion, and lest what might be good should not obtain its place, consideration, and effect in the system of the country and nation: and the best of all legislators were these three men.

[The feudal system had gained ground in this island, when Hywel Dda revised the laws of Wales; and, most probably, it was in consequence of its prevalence, that such a revision was deemed necessary. It would occupy too much space here, to enter into all the particulars relating to this important event in the Welsh history, which is rather circumstantially detailed by Caradog of Llancarvan. It may, however, be briefly noticed, that Hywel, who succeeded to the Principality of South Wales in 907, went to Rome in 926, with three Welsh bishops, for the purpose of consulting men of wisdom and learning on the im

provement of the laws of Wales. Upon his return he summoned a national council, both of the clergy and laity, at the White House on the Tav, now called Whitland Abbey, near Tenby. Here it was determined, that the ancient code of Dyvnwal Moelmud was superior to all others, that had been examined on the occasion; and it was accordingly adopted, after having undergone some improvement and amplification. In 930 Hywel went a second time to Rome, to submit his new laws to the approbation of the Pope; and he finally promulgated them as the laws of all Wales, upon his accession to the entire sovereignty of the country in 940. Hywel died in 948. Dr. Wotton, with the assistance of the Rev. Moses Williams, published, in 1730, an edition of these famous laws, with a Latin translation, accompanied with many illustrative remarks. There are two valuable MSS. of these laws, one amongst the Cotton Collection in the British Museum, and another in the Welsh School, neither of which had been consulted on the publication of Dr. Wotton's edition. There is likewise an imperfect copy much burnt, but apparently of considerable antiquity, amongst the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum; and there are four other copies, besides the one already mentioned, in the Cotton Collection.]

LXIV. The three Vigorous Ones of the Isle of Britain: Gwrnerth Ergydlym [Sharp-shot,] who killed the greatest bear, that was ever seen, with a straw arrow; and Gwgawn Lawgadarn [Mighty-hand,] who rolled the stone of Maenarch from the valley to the top of the mountain, and which no fewer than sixty oxen could have drawn ; and Eidiol Gadarn [the Mighty,] who, in the plot of Caer Sallawg, slew of the Saxons 660 men, with a billet of the service-tree, between sun-set and dark.

[This triad, so far as our information goes, is the only memorial of the first two personages mentioned in it. The stone of Maenarch may possibly be known to some reader of the CAMBRO-BRITON; and, should that be the case, some notice of it would be esteemed a favour. The plot of Caer Sallawg, or Old Sarum, is called by the Welsh Twyll y Cyllyll Hirion, or the Treachery of the Long Knives, and is commemorated still by bonfires on November eve, as explained in the former volume of this work, p. 172. As the winter solstice was one of the four great festivals of the Britons, it is likely enough, that Hengist and Vortigern would have fixed upon such a period for holding the meeting, of which the remembrance is thus preserved; and fires were from time immemorial kindled to celebrate the two solstices and

the two equinoxes. So the present inhabitants of Wales give only the plot of Hengist and Vortigern as a reason for bonfires on the eve of November, that being the only time, on which fires are kindled at present, the original festivals having sunk into oblivion.]

TRIADS OF WISDOM*.

CXI. Three things that will discover the disposition and natural qualities of a man: his eye, his speech, and his motions.

CXII. Three things that will cause a man to become wise: adversity, sickness, and enemies.

CXIII. With three things one ought to purpose every good action and knowledge: with all love, with all understanding, and with all ability.

CXIV. Three things that will show the bias of a man's mind: what he seeks to conceal, what he wishes openly to manifest, and what he greatly fears.

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cxv. By three things shall a true knowledge of every thing be obtained the sight, the hearing, and the feeling; and from these three comes the understanding; and without them there can be neither reason, nor understanding, nor knowledge as to any thing perfectly.

CXVI. There are three judgments as to all things, and without the three conjointly there can be no right judgment of any thing: the judgment of a friend, the judgment of an enemy, and the judgment of the conscience.

CXVII. Three unseemly and unjust opinions in any person whomsoever the thinking himself wise, the thinking that every one else is unwise, and the thinking that every thing he may like is becoming in him.

CXVIII. From three things shall credit be obtained for the truth from believing every thing, from disbelieving every thing, and from believing it of no consequence how it may be.

CXIX. Three things that, from their being rightly understood, will cause peace and tranquillity: the course of nature, the claim of justice, and the voice of truth.

cxx. Three things that will uphold learning: wit, exertion, and circumstance.

Arch. of Wales, vol. iii, p. 212.

TRIADS OF THE FOUR NATIONS:

By the LORD WILLIAM HERBERT, of RHAGLAN*.

1. Three notable things in a Welshman: genius, generosity, and mirth.

II. Three notable things in an Englishman: coolness, boldness, and industry.

III. Three notable things in a Frenchman: gallantry, courtesy, and inconstancy.

IV. Three notable things in an Irishman: flattery, cunning, and ostentation.

v. Three things that will make a person possessing them remarkable for wisdom: the genius of a Welshman, the courtesy of a Frenchman, and the industry of an Englishman.

VI. Three things that will make a good neighbour: the generosity of a Welshman, the coolness of an Englishman, and the courtesy of a Frenchman.

VII. Three things that will make a banquet companion equal to the best the mirth of a Welshman, the boldness of an Englishman, and the courtesy of a Frenchman.

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VIII. Three things that will make an accomplished libertine: the generosity of a Welshman, the gallantry of a Frenchman, and the flattery of an Irishman.

IX. Three things that will make a complete traitor: the coolness of an Englishman, the flattery of an Irishman, and the genius of a Welshman.

x. Three things that will make an excellent deceiver: the gallantry of a Frenchman, the cunning of an Irishman, and the industry of an Englishman.

XI. Three things that will make a foolish man: the mirth of a Welshman, the inconstancy of a Frenchman, and the ostentation of an Irishman.

XI. Three things that will make as perfect a devil as ever was reared in hell: the boldness of an Englishman, the cunning of an Irishman, and the genius of a Welshman.

* Arch. of Wales, vol. iii, p. 275. The four people, who form the subject of these (Triads, are, in the original, Cymro, (a Welshman,) Sais, (an Englishman, Franc, (a Frenchman,) and Gwyddel, (an Irishman.) The author appears to have been the celebrated William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, who was Chancellor of Oxford in 1626. He died in 1630, and left a small volume of English poems, which was published thirty years afterwards.

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