第34章 BOOK II(3)

David,habited like a pilgrim,and leaning on a staff,he met at the white gate a procession of the canons of the church coming forth to receive him with due honour and reverence.As the procession solemnly moved along,a Welsh woman threw herself at the king's feet,and made a complaint against the bishop of the place,which was explained to the king by an interpreter.The woman,immediate attention not being paid to her petition,with violent gesticulation,and a loud and impertinent voice,exclaimed repeatedly,"Revenge us this day,Lechlavar!revenge us and the nation in this man!"On being chidden and driven away by those who understood the British language,she more vehemently and forcibly vociferated in the like manner,alluding to the vulgar fiction and proverb of Merlin,"That a king of England,and conqueror of Ireland,should be wounded in that country by a man with a red hand,and die upon Lechlavar,on his return through Menevia."This was the name of that stone which serves as a bridge over the river Alun,which divides the cemetery from the northern side of the church.It was a beautiful piece of marble,polished by the feet of passengers,ten feet in length,six in breadth,and one in thickness.Lechlavar signifies in the British language a talking stone.{126}There was an ancient tradition respecting this stone,that at a time when a corpse was carried over it for interment,it broke forth into speech,and by the effort cracked in the middle,which fissure is still visible;and on account of this barbarous and ancient superstition,the corpses are no longer brought over it.The king,who had heard the prophecy,approaching the stone,stopped for a short time at the foot of it,and,looking earnestly at it,boldly passed over;then,turning round,and looking towards the stone,thus indignantly inveighed against the prophet:"Who will hereafter give credit to the lying Merlin?"A person standing by,and observing what had passed,in order to vindicate the injury done to the prophet,replied,with a loud voice,"Thou art not that king by whom Ireland is to be conquered,or of whom Merlin prophesied!"The king then entering the church founded in honour of St.Andrew and St.David,devoutly offered up his prayers,and heard mass performed by a chaplain,whom alone,out of so large a body of priests,Providence seems to have kept fasting till that hour,for this very purpose.Having supped at St.David's,the king departed for the castle of Haverford,distant about twelve miles.It appears very remarkable to me,that in our days,when David II.presided over the see,the river should have flowed with wine,and that the spring,called Pistyll Dewi,or the PIPE of David,from its flowing through a pipe into the eastern side of the churchyard,should have run with milk.The birds also of that place,called jackdaws,from being so long unmolested by the clergy of the church,were grown so tame and domesticated,as not to be afraid of persons dressed in black.In clear weather the mountains of Ireland are visible from hence,and the passage over the Irish sea may be performed in one short day;on which account William,the son of William the Bastard,and the second of the Norman kings in England,who was called Rufus,and who had penetrated far into Wales,on seeing Ireland from these rocks,is reported to have said,"I will summon hither all the ships of my realm,and with them make a bridge to attack that country."Which speech being related to Murchard,prince of Leinster,he paused awhile,and answered,"Did the king add to this mighty threat,If God please?"and being informed that he had made no mention of God in his speech,rejoicing in such a prognostic,he replied,"Since that man trusts in human,not divine power,I fear not his coming."

CHAPTER II

Of the journey by Cemmeis -the monastery of St.Dogmael The archbishop having celebrated mass early in the morning before the high altar of the church of St.David,and enjoined to the archdeacon (Giraldus)the office of preaching to the people,hastened through Cemmeis {127}to meet prince Rhys at Aberteive.

{128}Two circumstances occurred in the province of Cemmeis,the one in our own time,the other a little before,which I think right not to pass over in silence.In our time,a young man,native of this country,during a severe illness,suffered as violent a persecution from toads,{129}as if the reptiles of the whole province had come to him by agreement;and though destroyed by his nurses and friends,they increased again on all sides in infinite numbers,like hydras'heads.His attendants,both friends and strangers,being wearied out,he was drawn up in a kind of bag,into a high tree,stripped of its leaves,and shred;nor was he there secure from his venomous enemies,for they crept up the tree in great numbers,and consumed him even to the very bones.The young man's name was Sisillus Esceir-hir,that is,Sisillus Long Leg.It is also recorded that by the hidden but never unjust will of God,another man suffered a similar persecution from rats.In the same province,during the reign of king Henry I.a rich man,who had a residence on the northern side of the Preseleu mountains,{130}was warned for three successive nights,by dreams,that if he put his hand under a stone which hung over the spring of a neighbouring well,called the fountain of St.Bernacus,{131}he would find there a golden torques.Obeying the admonition on the third day,he received,from a viper,a deadly wound in his finger;but as it appears that many treasures have been discovered through dreams,it seems to me probable that,with respect to rumours,in the same manner as to dreams,some ought,and some ought not,to be believed.

I shall not pass over in silence the circumstance which occurred in the principal castle of Cemmeis at Lanhever,{132}in our days.