Transcribed from the [1862] John Pryse, Llanidloes edition byDavid Price,
Translated into English,
WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES ON THEHISTORICAL PASSAGES, AND A SHORT ACCOUNT OF MEN AND PLACESMENTIONED BY THE BARDS.
BY THE
REV. EVAN EVANS, (IEUAN PRYDYDD HIR.)
“Vos quoque, qui fortes animas belloqueperemptas
Laudibus in longum, Vates, dimittitis ævum,
Plurima securi fudistis carmina Bardi.”Lucanus.
—“Si quid mea carmina possunt
Aonio statuam sublimes vertice Bardos,
Bardos Pieridum cultores atque canentis
Phœbi delicias, quibus est data cura perennis
Dicere nobilium clarissima facta virorum,
Aureaque excelsam famam super astra locare.”Lelandusin Assertione Arturii.
REPRINTED FROM DODSLEY’SEDITION OF 1764.
published byjohn pryse, llanidloes, montgomery;
and sold by all booksellers.
Representative of the County, Lord Lieutenant, and LieutenantColonel of the Militia of Flintshire.
Sir,
I hope you will pardon my presumption in prefixing your nameto the following small collection of British poems, to which youhave a just claim, as being lineally descended from those heroesthey celebrate, and retain in an eminent manner the worth andgenerous principles of your renowned ancestors. The BritishBards were received by the nobility and gentry with distinguishedmarks of esteem, in every part of Wales, and particularly atGloddaith and Mostyn, where their works are still preserved inyour curious libraries. I hope, therefore, an attempt togive the public a small specimen of their works will not fail ofyour approbation, which the editor flatters himself with, fromthe generous manner with which you treated him, particularly bylending him some of your valuable books and manuscripts.
That you may long continue to be an ornament to your country,and a pattern of virtuous actions, and a generous patron oflearning, is the sincere wish, of,
Sir,
Your obliged
Humble Servant,
EVAN EVANS.
As there is a natural curiosity in most people to be broughtacquainted with the works of men, whose names have been conveyeddown to us with applause from very early antiquity, I have beeninduced to think, that a translation of some of the Welsh Bardswould be no unacceptable present to the public. It is truethey lived in times when all Europe was enveloped with the darkcloud of bigotry and ignorance; yet, even under thesedisadvantageous circumstances, a late instance may convince us,that poetry shone forth with a light, that seems astonishing tomany readers. They who have perused the works of Ossian, astranslated by Mr. Macpherson, will, I believe, be of myopinion.
I mean not to set the following poems in competition withthose just mentioned; nor did the success which they have metwith from the world, put me upon this undertaking. It wasfirst thought of, and encouraged some years before the name ofOssian was known in England. I had long been convinced,that no nation in Europe possesses greater remains of ancient andgenuine p