HOWELL AB OWAIN.

(Circa 1140.)

Howell was the son of Owain Gwynedd, by a lady named Pyvog, daughter of an Irish warrior. He seems to have been brought up from his earliest youth in the profession of arms. In 1144 he went

into North Wales with his brother; and, after defeating the Flemings, laid siege to Carmarthen Castle, which they took from the Normans. Howell seems to have been often called upon to assist his neighbours, who had great faith in his military talents. About this time occurred the battle of Tal y Moelire, at which he was probably present, as there is an ode of his on the battle, which he could scarcely have written without having been an eye-witness. Howell's father died in 1169, after a reign of fifty-two years; and Howell being the eldest son, though he was illegitimate, seized the reins of government. Going to Ireland, however, his brother David, during his absence from his dominions, aspired to deprive Howell of the sovereign power. Howell hearing of this, returned in all haste; but in the battle which ensued he was defeated and mortally wounded.

Of his poems, in which there is a great deal of feeling and taste, the principal is Gutadgarwch Hywell, or "Howell's Patriotism," in praise of the good things to be found in Wales.

GWALCHMAI.
(Circa 1150.)

By Gwalchmai, the son of Meilyr, we have fourteen pieces, of which the best is the Goiwffedd, which has passages that remind one of the Allegro of Milton, and of some of the smaller poems of Wordsworth. He is, however, better known by his ode on the battle of Tal y Moelire, the defeat of the fleet sent by Henry II. under the orders of Madoc ap Meredydd, in 1157, and which tried to effect its landing at Abermenai. This poem is not only full of poetical beauty, but is true to nature; it is a reflection of the time, place, and circumstance. Gray's Triumphs of Owen is a translation of this poem.

LAURENCE OF DURHAM.

(Died 1154.)

Laurence, a monk and precentor of Durham, who afterwards enjoyed the favour of King Stephen, in the capacity of his chaplain, and was made by him, in 1149, prior of Durham, is the author of a Scriptural History in nine books, written in Latin elegiacs, under the title of Hypognosticon; of a Latin Rhyme on Christ and his Disciples; and of a poem, also in Latin, On the City and Bishopric of Dur

ham, by way of dialogue between Laurence and Peter. The versification, more especially of the Hypognosticon, is characterised by considerable elegance and facility. Laurence-who is described by an old historian of Durham, quoted by Mr. Wright, as "a man of great discretion and honest conversation, skilled in the law, endowed with eloquence, well grounded in the divine institutes, and not needing to beg counsel of others in adversity,"-wrote in mixed prose and

verse, an imitation of the De Consolatione of Boethius, under the title of Consolatio pro Morte Amici; a life, in prose, of St. Bridget; and various other works of the same character.

Though Henry I. obtained the fair appellation of Beauclerc, or the learned, no author has ascribed any composition to him; so that we must, not without surprise, attribute the earliest place in the catalogue of the royal poets of England to his fierce grandson, Coeur de Lion, who, towards the end of his father's reign, lived much in the court of the princes of Provence, learned their language, and practised their poetry, then called the gaye science, and the standard of politeness of that age. The English, who had a turn for numbers, are particularly said to have cultivated that dialect, finding their own tongue too stubborn and inflexible. Crescimbini, in his Commentary on the Lives of the Provençal Poets, says, that Richard, being struck with the sweetness of that tongue, set

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himself to compose a sonnet therein, which he sent to the Princess Stephanetta, wife of Hugh de Baux, and daughter of Gisbert, Count of Provence; that afterwards residing at the court of Provence, he employed himself in rhyming in that language; and that when he was a prisoner, he composed some sonnets in Provençal, which he sent to Beatrice, Countess of Provence, and in which he complains of his men and barons of England, Normandy, Poictiers, and Gascony, allowing him to remain so long in captivity. Guilhem Breton, the troubadour, records of Coeur de Lion that he "could skilfully make stanzas on the eyes of fair ladies;" and there is a story, so interesting that we would fain believe it true, which affords another illustration of Richard's talent in the minstrel art. The king on his return from the Crusades, about the year 1193, was taken prisoner by the Duke of Austria. The remainder of the story, as related in the translation of M. Favine's Theatre of Honour and Knighthood, runs thus:

"The Englishmen were more than a whole yeare without hearing any tydings of their king, or in what place he was kept prisoner. He had trained up in his court a rimer or minstrill, called Blondell de Nesle, who (so saith the manuscript of old poesies, and an auncient manuscript French chronicle,) being so long without the sight of his

lord, his life seemed wearisome to him, and he became confounded with melancholly. Knowne it was that he came backe from the Holy Land; but none could tell in what countrey he arrived. Whereupon

this Blondel, resolving to make search for him in
many countries, but he would heare some newes
of him, after expence of divers dayes in travaile,
he came to a towne (by good hap) neere to the
castell where his maister King Richard was kept.
Of his host he demanded to whom the castell ap-
pertained, and the host told him that it belonged
to the Duke of Austria. Then he inquired whe-
ther there were any prisoners therein detained or
no; for alwayes he made such secret questionings
wheresoever he came. And the hoste gave answer
there was one onely prisoner, but he knew not
what he was, and yet he had bin detained there
more then the space of a yeare. When Blondel
heard this, he wrought such meanes, that he be-
came acquainted with them of the castell, as min-
strels doe easily win acquaintance any where; but
see the king he could not, neither understand that
it was he. One day he sat directly before a window
of the castell where King Richard was kept pri-
soner, and began to sing a song in French, which
King Richard and Blondel had some time com-
posed together. When King Richard heard the
song, he knew it was Blondel that sung it; and
when Blondel paused at halfe
of the song, the king began
the other half and completed
it. Thus Blondel won know-
ledge of the king his maister,
and returning home into Eng-
land, made the barons of the
countrie acquainted where
the king was."

Various sirventes, satirical and declamatory personal attacks in verse, attributed to Richard Coeur de Lion, have been printed by Le Roux de Lincy, in his Chants Historiques; by M. Raynouard, in his Choix des Poésies des Troubadours; and in the Annuaire Historique for 1837.

SEAL OF RICHARD I.

EFFIGY OF
RICHARD I.