GENERAL NOTES TO ELEANOR DE MONTFORD.

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of willow was placed on the gate of the tower of London, but Eleanor wore the willow in her heart." If so, it must have been literally planted on her grave, as her death occurred at the time and in the manner before stated.

The tendency of the next passage is very invidious and offensive to the nationality of our countrymen. It aims to prove that the final conquest of Wales was delayed-not by the valour of its patriotic and intrepid defenders-but from the forbearance of the Norinan barons, who for selfish ends wished to keep it as a place of refuge when in rebellion against their own sovereigns.

"There are some excellent remarks, by the late George Ellis, respecting the independence of Wales, and the means by which it was preserved for so long. Pointing out, as he does, the comparative ease with which Edward the I. reduced it, while it had proved a continual rock of stumbling to his otherwise equally great predecessors, he accounts for it in this way: that the Norman barons had many of them an interest in preserving its freedom, and were not disposed to facilitate its submission. He hints that they made Wales a sort of sanctuary to which they fled when their liberty was in danger. Moreover, they obtained thence, if they pleased, volunteer armies to aid them in their projects. And we can so far verify his observations, that we have seen the earl of Gloucester and others thus making use of their British connections; and we may further add, the obscurity he complains of, as enveloping the history of Wales from the conquest, is illustrated best through the medium of Bristol. Bristol in fact, like Chester in the north, was the channel by which the races communicated,"

In reference to one of the passages which runs, "pointing out as he does the comparative ease with which Edward the I. reduced it, while it proved a continual block of stumbling to his otherwise equally great predecessors;"—we may boldly demand who were they-the equally great predecessors of Edward ?-- certainly not the Conqueror William, who troubled himself but little about Welsh affairs -nor his barbarous son William Rufus-nor even Henry I., excepting Edward himself, the greatest and most dangerous of all the royal foes of Wales. Henry Beauclerc, utterly failing to subdue the Welsh by force of arms, had recourse to the most unkingly mode of employing assassins to destroy the chiefs of the nation, and used the base chicanery of fomenting intestine broils among the people, to the end that they should butcher each other. In the reign of Stephen the terrible reaction which took place in Welsh military affairs enabled the natives of the principality utterly to destroy the power of the Norman barons in Wales, who were fairly beaten in battle, and ultimately the survivors of these sanguinary feuds were driven from all their castles beyond the Welsh boundaries. Henry II. certainly proved a very formidable foe to the Welsh. Richard Coeur de Lion kept aloof from them; John, ever restless in attempting conquests in in Wales, met his match in the hard-fighting Llewelyn ab Iorworth, while Henry III. gained no laurels in his Welsh campaigns. Having now named all the English sovereigns from William the Conqueror to Edward the I. we are at a loss to discover the equally great predecessors of the latter prince in their battles with the mountaineers of Wales. Effectually to controvert the above assumptions of George Ellis, we have merely to direct our readers to the pages of Warrington which treat of the hostile occurrences during the periods in question. Be it remembered also, that the said historian of Wales always quotes his authorities, on all material statements-that he was an Englishman by birth and prejudices, and by no means an enthusiast in favour of Cambrian prowess, or Cambrian pretensions of any description.

ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST,

DAUGHTER OF EUDAV OR OCTAVIUS, LORD OF EWIAS, COUSIN OF CONAN MERIADOC, AND WIFE OF MAXIMUS THE ROMAN IMPERIAL USURPER.

"Ellen th' armipotent shines in our sphere."

Ellen the armipotent, otherwise distinguished in our Welsh records, the Triads, as Ellen of the mighty host, was a celebrated woman of the fourth century, of the line of the Cornish Britons. In Roman and English annals she is called Helen, and Helena; but in Welsh always written Elen, and pronounced Ellen. She is often confounded with Helena, the daughter of Coel Godebog, and mother of Constantine the Great. After our memoir of the latter lady, this heroine forms the succeeding link in the genealogical chain of the Roman-British government of our island.

Ellen was the daughter of a British chieftain named Eudav, but by the Roman writers designated Octavius, a man who played a very conspicuous part in the annals of his time. He was lord of a state called Ewias, and appears, to have been a very energetic and capable person, but very ambitious, intriguing, and unscrupulous as to the means by which he attained his desired ends. Previous to the departure from this island of Constantine and his mother, the personage whom he appointed to fill the high office of Roman governor of Britain was a British prince named Trahaiarn. But as the young emperor found it necessary to avail himself of the counsel and talents of this discreet Briton, he decided on taking him to the continent in his retinue, and to appoint Octavius to act as his deputy until Trahaiarn's return

But it soon appeared that the father of the lady of this memoir was no less remarkable for great abilities than for the most grasping and insatiable ambition. While fulfilling

his deputed functions as imperial lieutenant, he soon usurped a supreme royal authority in this country, which, however, he ruled with wisdom and moderation. When the tidings of these occurrences reached Constantine, although deeply engaged in enforcing his claim to the imperial diadem, he despatched Trahaiarn with three Roman legions to subdue the usurper, and resume his original office. Octavius gave him battle soon after he landed, the result of which was the signal defeat of his opponent, at a place called Maes Urien, near Winchester. Finding he had to deal with a leader of far superior abilities to what he probably anticipated, Trahaiarn did not venture on a second battle with him till he was fully prepared by re-inforcements, and all necessary warlike appointments, to insure his triumph. By such wise precautions, in the next engagement, Trahaiarn not only became the victor, but compelled his defeated enemy to fly the island. Octavius, however, was as persevering and resolute in his efforts to regain his lost authority as, unfortunately for his fame, he proved unscrupulous in the means of its attainment. He stands charged in history with having caused the assassination of Trahaiarn-when he once more seized the reigns of empire in the double capacity of Roman govenor and supreme king of Britain.

Octavius shrewdly foresaw that by his hostile bearing towards Constantine, and the destruction of his officer, he could not fail to ingratiate himself with the ruling powers at Rome, to whom the son of the late emperor Constantius Chlorus appeared in the light of an enemy of the empire, which he aimed to seize by force of arms-notwithstanding the solemnity with which his dying father had invested him with the purple, and the unanimity with which the soldiery had hailed "imperator." He not only succeeded in obtaining a confirmation of his rank as the lieutenant of the empire in Britain, but by the intrigues, carried on by his emissaries in the imperial city, he obtained the appointment for a military man then at Rome to take office under him as commander of the Roman legions in this island. This person was Maximus, a daring adventurer, whose career soon became a matter of history-and whose marriage, in

after time, with Ellen the daughter of Octavius, the lady of this memoir, became the source of many political troubles connected with the destinies of this island.

As the epoch of which we are treating became pregnant with national evils that affected the welfare of this country to very remote aftertimes, to enable the reader to see his way clearly through the intricacy of conflicting incidents, we shall here briefly present a view of Roman-British affairs previous to the appearance of Maximus on the stage of history.

In the year 364, south Britain was exposed to a furious incursion from the marauders of the north, under the names of the Picts and the Scots, with other barbarous auxiliaries While Britain was thus overrun, and subjected to the depredations of the rude tribes of Caledonians, joined by the wild Hibernian rovers, the Franks and Saxons also came and pillaged the coasts, so that the whole island was in a flame. It required therefore a powerful force, led by some great commander, to repress the depredators and to rescue the province from its calamitous situation. It is difficult for us to conceive how so large a territory should so easily be laid waste and overrun without the supposition that the great body of the inhabitants were not well affected to the Roman government—and if they were become a dispirited people, and felt they had no country of their own to defend, we can easily account for their pusillanimity. In order to rescue the province, the emperor Valentinian sent over the celebrated Theodosius, father to the great emperor of that name. The general took with him several bands of Roman veterans, and lost no time after his landing to meet the enemy. In his march, from Sandwich to London, he defeated several parties of the barbarians, released a multitude of captives, and, after distributing to his soldiers a small portion of the spoil, he restored the remainder to the rightful proprietors. The citizens of London received the hero with exulting joy as a deliverer; and, by his consummate skill and bravery, he soon routed the invaders, and drove them home. By pursuing his conquests Theodosius restored the country between the two walls to the Roman empire, and gave it,

in honour of the emperor, the name of Valentia.* He diligently restored the ruined cities, and made the fortifications secure, after rescuing every part of the province from the hands of a cruel and rapacious enemy.

The valour and prudence of this able and political general raised him to high estimation in Britain, which he left in such a state of defence as to provide for its tranquility for many years. The first interruption of this happy state of things was occasioned by the adherence of the Britons to the usurpation of Octavius, and the assumption of the imperial purple by "the tyrant" Maximus.

Maximus was the son of a Spaniard who appears to have attached himself to Roman interests-having left his own country and entered Britain among the followers of Constantius Chlorus. He married a British lady related to the empress Helena, who became the mother of this Maximus; thus it was that the intimacy originated between the family and the latter. Maximus had occupied, it would appear, a subordinate rank in the Roman army, which, agreeably to the restlessness of his character, he quitted, and went to Rome with a view either of intriguing for promotion or some other personal end. It was during this absence of Maximus that the aspiring Octavius, as before related, raised himself to sovereignty; and apparently knowing his man well for congeniality of sentiments, employed him to forward his views with the reigning powers at Rome, and rewarded his services by getting him appointed commander of the Roman legions which then garrisoned Britain. Maximus in return seems to have entered fully into all the interests of Octavius. He led the imperial forces against the Picts and Scots, who were perpetually infesting the southern parts of the island, and succeeding in destroying immense numbers of these barbarians, and driving the rest homeward, discomfited, their bands broken and dispersed. These gallant actions, together with his half British origin, gained him great popularity both among the Roman troops and the natives of

* See Gibbon, vol. iii., c. 25.

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