other
primitive poems that we may ascribe to Taliesin are effects as
convincing and vivid.

But we must leave Taliesin and his difficulties, to sketch briefly the
course of poetry between his actual date in early time and his poetic
resurrection in the Middle Ages. Not so interesting poetically but
more important historically is the next of the Welsh bards, Aneurin,
who wrote the 'Gododin.' This curious and interesting war poem tells
of a foray made by the Ottadini, an early Kymric tribe, living in the
greater Wales of their time, on the Northumbrian coast. Mr. Stephens
imagines Cattraeth, which figures as a central scene of the action of
the poem, to be Catterick in Yorkshire; and this we may provisionally
accept.

"The Welshmen went to Cattraeth; and merry marched the host.
But thro' drinking the gray mead, the day--the day was lost."

The expedition was one of those which show the gradual cession of
greater Wales by the Welsh, and their retreat to the lesser Wales that
is still theirs.

We may pause here to remark that the bardic order was early
constituted among the Welsh, as among the Irish. In the Laws of Howel
Dda (Howel the Good), who flourished in the tenth century, we find
very explicit provision made for the bard:--

"In case of fighting, the Bard shall play the 'Monarchy of Britain'
before the battle!
"His land shall be free; he shall have a horse from the King!
"He shall have a harp from the King, and a gold ring from the Queen,
when he is appointed. The harp he shall never part with."

Unless, which is highly probable, we have lost some of the records of
the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, we have to conclude that Welsh
poetry made small headway. The remarkable laws of Howel Dda are the
monument of the tenth century. In the eleventh we come upon the first
signs of a revival in Meilir, who is historically interesting, and in
his last poems shows himself a true poet. In the twelfth we have to
mark a distinct further step in Gwalchmai, who is the first conscious
poet of nature, and who may thus claim to be the founder of one of the
finest traditions in all Welsh poetry. Following Gwalchmai comes the
princely poet Howel the Tall, son of Owain Gwynedd by an Irish lady,
and who himself wore the crown of Gwynedd for a brief two years. He
died in 1171 at twenty-seven, after a life of stormiest adventure; but
in the intervals of battle he found time to write some of the
lo