in many a noble line we seem to hear again the ravens
screaming shrilly over their sword-feasts, and the strong strokes of the
advancing warriors.

Merlin.

It was but natural that all the pseudo-prophetic poems, written of
course after the events which they foretold, should be attributed to the
chief among seers, Myrddin, or, as his name is written in English,
Merlin; so that all the poems accredited to him, with the exception
perhaps of the _Avallenau_, were not written before the 12th century.

In most of the poems attributed to Llywarch Hen and in some of the
Myrddin poems, the verses begin with the same line, which, though it has
no direct reference to the subject of the poem itself, is used as a
refrain or catch-word, exactly like the refrains employed by Mr
Swinburne and others in their ballads. These lines generally refer to
some natural object or objects, as, for instance, "the snow of the
mountain" or "bright are the tops of the broom."

The first period, then, of Welsh literature lies between 700 and 950. It
is in most respects the epic period, the period in which poets wrote of
great men and their deeds, the legendary and the historic heroes of the
Cymry, men like Urien Rheged, and heroes like Hyveidd Hir. Even in the
next period the epic note had not quite died out.

The Gododin series.

3. _The Prose Romances and the Poet Princes, 1100-1290._--It will be
seen that there is a considerable gap between the first and second
period of Welsh literature. It must not be supposed, however, that
nothing was composed or written during these years. Indeed, it may well
be that some of the poetry attributed to the minor bards of the last
period was composed between 900 and 1100, and that some other poetry too
was written and lost. But there are abundant reasons for believing that
Welsh poetry was at a very low ebb during those years. The progress of
Wales as a political unit had suffered a check after the battle of
Chester in 613. The effects of this defeat were not immediate, as the
Welsh had still enough of their characteristic hopefulness to expect
ultimate victory; we therefore have reasons for believing that the
Gododin series of poems were still used--or perhaps used then for the
first time--to spur on "the hawks of war" to greater efforts. Gradually,
however, the Angles, hemming them in on all sides from the Clyde to the
Severn, began to press nearer and nearer; the Welsh at last seem to have
lost