which Llywelyn fell was the inevitable result
of the growing power of England under Edward I; and, considering the vast
preponderance of weight against the Welsh Prince it could not have ended
but in the conquest of Wales. Yet its issue, as told here, was
determined as if by chance.

_Aberffraw_; in Anglesea: the residence of the royal line of Gywnedd from
the time of Rhodri Mawr onwards.

_Eryri_; the Eagle's rock is a name for Snowdon. The bird has been seen
in the neighbourhood within late years.

_Is it she_; Eleanor, daughter to Simon de Montfort. After some years of
betrothal and impediment arising from the jealousy of Edward I, she and
Llywelyn were married in 1278. But after only two years of happiness,
Eleanor died, leaving one child, Catharine or Gwenllian.

_Maesmynan_; by Caerwys in Flintshire; where Llywelyn lived retiredly in
youth.

_The thousand-years' kingdom_; The descent of the royal house of North
Wales is legendarily traced from Caradoc-Caractacus. But the accepted
genealogy of the Princes of Gwynedd begins with Cunedda Wledig
(Paramount) cir. 400: ending in 1282 with Llywelyn son of Gruffydd.

_The scorn-diadem'd head_; On finding whom he had slain, Frankton carried
Llywelyn's head to Edward at Rhuddlan, who, with a barbarity unworthy of
himself, set it over the Tower of London, wreathed in mockery of a
prediction (ascribed to Merlin) upon the coronation of a Welsh Prince in
London.

_Rhodri and Owain_; Rhodri Mawr, (843), who united under his supremacy
the other Welsh principalities, Powys and Dinefawr; Owain Gwynedd,
(1137),--are among the most conspicuous of Llywelyn's royal predecessors.

THE REJOICING OF THE LAND

1295

So the land had rest! and the cloud of that heart-sore struggle and pain
Rose from her ancient hills, and peace shone o'er her again,
Sunlike chasing the plagues wherewith the land was defiled;
And the leprosy fled, and her flesh came again, as the flesh of a child.
--They were stern and stark, the three children of Rolf, the first from
Anjou:
For their own sake loving the land, mayhap, but loving her true;
France the wife, and England the handmaid; yet over the realm
Their eyes were in every place, their hands gripp'd firm on the helm.
Villein and earl, the cowl and the plume, they were bridled alike;
One law for all, but arm'd law,--not swifter to aid than to strike.
Lo, in the twilight transept, the holy places of God,
Not with sunset the steps of t