"The authour of his life relates at large the envy and malice with which the Enemy of mankind impugned the devout and mortified life of this Holy man, seeking to interrupt it by severall and frequent illusions, and by suggesting scandalous lyes concerning him. But in conclusion, when he saw himself every way vanquished by the Holy man, and that neither by violent assaults nor malicious suggestions he could withdraw him from the service of God: he attempted other arts and guilefull machinations: For he infused the poyson of his malice into the hearts of three of the Holy mans servants: Insomuch as they having been reproved by him for their idlenes and mispending the time, they were inflamed with fury against him, insomuch as rushing upon him, they threw him to the ground, and most cruelly cutt off his head. But in the place where the sacred head fell to the ground, a fountain of pure water presently flowd, by drinking of which in following times many were miraculously restored to health. But miracles greater than these immediately succeeded his death. For the body of the Blessed Martyr presently rose, and taking the head between the two arms, went down to the sea shore, and walking thence on the sea, pass'd over to the port call'd by his name: and being arrived in the place where a Church is now built to his Memory, it fell down, and was there buried by Saint David with spirituall Hymns and Canticles."-Cressy next proceeds to explain that the island Lemeney—“ hath in English obtain❜d a new name being calld Ramsey ;" and that "It lyes opposite and in sight of Menevia the Episcopall seat of St. David." The church, mentioned in this most outrageous legend, is evidently the chapel of Stinan in the parish of St. David's, Pembrokeshire; as the church of Llanstinan, in the same county, is too far distant to answer the description.

Ffinian, an Irish saint, is said to have visited St. David at Menevia about A. D. 530, and to have remained in Britain thirty years, in which time he built three churches, but their names are unknown. There was another Irish saint, and con

temporary, called Ffinan, whose Welsh name, according to Usher, was Winnin. It is uncertain to which of them, Llanffinan, subject to Llanfihangel Ysgeifiog, Anglesey, is dedicated.

Senanus, an Irish saint and bishop, who was intimately acquainted with St. David, died A. D. 544. Llansannan, Denbighshire, and Bedwellty, Monmouthshire, are under his tutelage; and his festival is March 1.*

In ascertaining and verifying the commemorations or saints' days, great assistance may be derived from the list of fairs now held in the Principality; it being an opinion generally received among antiquaries that parochial wakes were the means of assembling people, who afterwards converted the occasion into an opportunity of buying and selling. Many of the village fairs in Wales are held on the saint's day Old Style, or rather eleven days later than the proper time according to the Gregorian Calendar; for the Welsh peasantry have seldom taken into account, that since the year 1800 the discrepancy between the Old and New Styles has increased to twelve days. Thus it may be learned from a list of saints printed in the Cambrian Register,† and also from the Alphabetical Calendar of Sir Harris Nicolas, that the festival of St. Gwenog should be held on the third of January; eleven days being added to that date will point out to Jan. 14, the day upon which, according to the Welsh almanacks, a fair is held at Llanwenog in the county of Cardigan. By inverting the computation, a satisfactory method is obtained of deciding between contradictory statements; for instance the list in the Cambrian Register states that the festival of St. Tyssul was kept on the third of February, while according to Sir H. Ni

* "Eodem tempore quo David Menevensis præsul, cui conjunctissimus vixit, lucis hanc usuram reddidisse traditur."-Usher, p. 874.

+ Vol. III. p. 219.

Inserted in his Chronology of History.

colas's authorities it was held Jan. 31. A fair, however, is held at Llandyssul, Cardiganshire, Feb. 11; and eleven days, reckoned backwards from that time, will bring the calculation to Jan. 31, proving the last of the two statements to be the correct one. Sir H. Nicolas assigns the festival of St. Caron to March the fourth or fifth, as if his authorities were doubtful as to the precise time; but eleven days, counted backwards from a fair at Tregaron on the sixteenth of March, will show that the commemoration of the saint ought to be kept March 5. The other day, March 4, was fixed apparently by some person, who followed the inverted mode of computation, but reckoned twelve days from the fair. In some villages it has been the custom to hold the fair on the vigil, or eve, before the festival; which is easily ascertained, as in that case the difference of reckoning is only ten days. The saints of Llangynidr, Brecknockshire, are Cynidr and St. Mary; one of its fairs is kept on the fourth of April, or ten days after the twenty fifth of March, the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. In like manner St. Mary is the patron saint of Nefyn, Carnarvonshire, and three of its fairs are held, according to Carlisle's Topographical Dictionary, on the fourth of April, the twenty fifth of August, and the eighteenth of September, being ten days respectively after the feasts of her Annunciation, Assumption, and Nativity.*

In the large families, included in the period of this generation, there must be great disparity of age, and the lives of many of the persons named may be found to extend through the period assigned for the next generation.

*The festivals in this Essay are given principally according to Sir H. Nicolas, but they have not been compared with the fairs in every instance.

SECTION XI.

The Welsh Saints from the Accession of Cystennyn Goronog A. D. 542 to the Death of Maelgwn Gwynedd A. D. 566.

THIS period includes the reigns of Cystennyn, Cynan Wledig, Gwrthefyr or Vortimer the Second, and Maelgwn; who are popularly styled kings of Britain, though it would appear from the writings ascribed to Gildas, that three, at least, of them were contemporary princes, reigning at the same time in separate provinces,* which is more consistent with the view of affairs presented by the bards and genealogists.

The second bishop of Llanbadarn was Cynog, who was raised, upon the death of St. David, to the archbishoprick of Menevia. He appears, however, to have presided but a short time at both places, as no particulars of his life have been recorded, and his parentage, churches, and festival, are alike unknown. The short duration of his presidency at Menevia is shown by the fact that he was in turn succeeded by Teilo, who had been the associate and fellow-student of his predecessor.

Teilo,† the second bishop of Llandaff, was the son of Enlleu ab Hydwn Dwn ab Ceredig ab Cunedda, by Tegfedd, daughter of Tegid Foel of Penllyn. His Latin name was Teliaus, and, by a sort of monkish trifling with the sound of

Namely; Constantinus, the tyrant, as he is called, of the Damnonii, or people of Devon and Cornwall; Vortiporius, the tyrant of the Dimetæ, or inhabitants of the western part of South Wales; and Maglocunus, the tyrant of North Wales.

"Nai, fab Cefnder i Ddewi."-Myv. Archaiology, Vol. II. p. 53.

He was

of the word, he was also called Hos and Eliud.* born at a place once called "Eccluis Gunnian," or Gunniau," in the neighbourhood of Tenby, Pembrokeshire. It is said. that he studied first under Dubricius, by whose assistance he attained to great proficiency in the knowledge of the Scriptures; his next instructor was Paulinus, under whom he pursued the same study, and in whose school he was the associate of St. David. Under the patronage of Dubricius, he opened a college at Llandaff, which was called Bangor Deilo; and his settlement at that place may serve to account for his appointment to fill the see of Llandaff upon the retirement of his patron to the Isle of Bardsey. The idea that he was made bishop of Llandaff at the time Dubricius was raised to the archbishoprick of Caerleon is irreconcilable with chronology; and the assertion that he succeeded Dubricius as archbishop, without the intervention of St. David,t is contrary to all received history, unless it be supposed that Llandaff was an archbishoprick independent of Caerleon, a position which is certainly untenable. The original diocese governed by Teilo, as ascertained by the absence of churches founded by St. David, was coextensive with the ancient Lordship of Glamorgan, containing the present rural deaneries of Groneath, Llandaff, and Newport. How long he continued to preside over this limited district is uncertain; but in the reign of Maelgwn Gwynedd, a plague, called " Flava pestis," and in Welsh "Y Fall felen," is recorded to have desolated the Principality.

"Post incrementum ætatis, virtutum et sapientiæ, congruo nomine Helios a sapientibus nuncupatus est. Elios autem Græcè Latinè Sol interpretatur. Fulget enim ut Sol ejus doctrina, fidelium illustrando corda. Sed illiteratis hominibus extremum vocabuli corruptè proferentibus, adolevit quod non Helios sed Heliud appellatus est."-Life by Galfridus."Non Elios sed Eliud."-John of Teignmouth.

The assertion was made in the Regestum Landavense, at a time when the clergy of Llandaff wished to show that their diocese had never been subordinate to the primacy of Menevia.