to put in force the lex talionis, where ever opportunity occurred, to its fullest and most rigorous extent.

In addition to these self-constituted measures, more than one statute was framed by the English Parliament, for the special purpose of curtailing the depredations of the Welshmen; and the preamble of the principal one affords a tolerable idea of the turbulent audacity of the mountaineers. "Whereas, divers Welsh rebels, sometimes by night, and sometimes by day, have come into the counties of Salop, Hereford, and Glo'ster, and the parts adjoining; and, hiding and lodging in the woods, have traitorously taken and carried off many of the King's liege subjects, and detained them, in divers parts of the mountains of Wales, for half a year, ascun foitz pluis, et ascun foitz meins,' until they were ransomed, to the great damage and mischief of the people of the said counties: the King has therefore enacted and ordained, that the Justices of the Peace of the English counties shall have power to inquire of, hear, and determine, all such sorts of treasons and felonies: and if the offenders will not appear, the Justices of the Peace shall cause them to be outlawed, and shall certify such, their outlawry, to the officers of the lordship to which such outlaws may have retreated, or where they may be sojourning or resident; and that, thereupon, the said officers do take their bodies, and do such execution upon them as by law required, without fine or redemption. 2 Hen. V. Stat. ii., cup. 5.

This offence was made High Treason by 20 Hen. VI.; but it does not appear that either of these Statutes had much effect, for, in 1534, (26 Hen. VIII.) an Act passed, forbidding the keepers of the ferries, on the borders of Wales, to take any passenger across the River Severn after sun-set, or before sun-rise, as "daily divers felonies, robberies, and murders, have been many times committed in the counties of Glo'ster and Somerset, near the Severn, and the felons make their escape over the said river into South Wales, or the Forest of Dean, by night; and when they are over the water, they are by divers privileges there kept." At this

time, indeed, these contests and robberies were in full vogue, and, in addition to these legislational proceedings, the Lieutenants of Oswestry and Powis Castles entered into a compact, to endeavour to restrain, with. in their own districts, these licentious and disgraceful practices. It was accordingly agreed, that if, after a certain day then specified, any person of either of these two lordships committed felony in another, he should be arrested, and sent to the lordship where the offence had been committed; and that, if any goods or cattle were stolen from either lordship, and conveyed into another, the tenants or inhabitants of that lordship should either pay for the same within fifteen days, or, otherwise, four of their principal men should remain in bail, or mainprize, till the property was paid for, or recovered. It does not appear, however, that the exertions of these officers effectually annihilated these "detestable malefacts," as they were called; for, amongst the Records of the Drapers' Company, at Shrewsbury, there is the following Minute: "25 Elizabeth, Anno 1583. Ordered, That no draper set out for Oswestry-Market, on Mondays, before six o'clocke in the morning, on forfeiture of 6s. 8d.; and that they weare their weapons all the waie, and goe in companie. Not to go over the Welsh Bridge before the bell toll six." It is further stated, that" William Jones, Esq., left to the said Companie £.1, 6s. 8d., to be paid annually to the Vicar of St. Alkmunds, for reading prayers on Monday mornings, before the drapers set out for Oswestry-Market.

While the Welsh Borderers were thus actively engaged in hostilities with their English neighbours, those in the interior of the country were occupied in contests with each other. Their irrascible and contentious disposition, spurning the more gentle pastimes of a pastoral life, became embroiled in constant quarrels among themselves, and the whole of North Wales, more especially the retired districts of Caernarvon and Merioneth, displayed a horrible scene of contention, of anarchy, and of bloodshed. The disgraceful turbulence which then existed was, no doubt, occasioned as much by the

contumacious disposition of the Welsh, as by the absence of all formal legislational interference; and well may we apply to these ferocious mountaineers, at this unhappy period, the forcible expression of the Roman Annalist, 66 atrox præliis, discors seditionibus, ipsa etiam pace sævum." The whole country, in fact, seemed in a state of ungovernable confusion, and every high and honourable feeling appeared to have been almost extinguished, by the headstrong fury of the people. "Soe bloody and irefull were quarrells in those dayes," says an old writer, who has bequeathed to us a terrible memorial of those tumultuous times, "and the revenge of the sword at such libertie, as almost nothing was punished, whatsoever happened *;" and these" irefull quarrells" were contested with such relentless perseverance, that death alone terminated the dispute; and even then, an hereditary enmity was entailed upon the descendants. These contentions were, unfortunately, carried on with the greatest acrimony, when the different members of the same family, or sept, became the object of each other's hatred and persecution. Two brothers-in-law, Iwan ab Robert, and Howel ab Vaughan, had quarrelled with each other upon some trifling occasion, and a feud was consequently engendered between the two families, which was fostered with all the animosity of revengeful malice. "The fashion was, in those dayes," says the amusing writer just quoted, "that the gentlemen and their retainers met commonly every day, to shoote matches and masteries: there was noe gentleman of worth in the country but had a wine cellar of his owne, which wine was sold to his profit; thither came his friends to meete him, and there spent the day in shooting, wrestling, throwing the sledge, and other actes of activitie, and drinkeing very moderately with all, not according to the healthing, and gluttonous manner of our dayes." Now, Howel Vaughan, hearing that his brother-in-law intended to shoot a match at one of these assemblies, determined to way-lay him, and dispatched a spy to watch the operations

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of his foe, and to ascertain the road by which he would proceed to the place of rendezvous. In addition to this, he hired an assassin to murder Iwan, giving him strict directions "not to undertake any of the companie untill he saw them in a medley, and every man fighting." Then was he to join the fray, and to go behind the tallest man in the company, (for Iwan was remarkable for the tallness of his stature,) and, if he could, knock him down, which, it appears, was no easy achievement; for, said Howell Vaughan, "There is a foster-brother of his, one Robin ab Inko, a little fallow, that useth to watch him behind: take heed of him; for be the encounter never soe hot, his eye is ever on his fosterbrother." With these precautions, Howell's party held themselves in readiness, and at the appointed time rode forth to meet their victim. the mean time, Iwan ab Robert set out with his friends sooner than he had originally intended; and “ you are to understand, that, in those dayes, and in that wild worlde, every man stood upon his guard, and went not abroad but in sort and soe armed, as if he went to the field to encountre with his enemies." Thus prepared for assault, but totally unconscious of the treacherous and cowardly design of his foeman, Iwan and his friends rode leisurely onwards, accompanied by Howel Vaughan's sister, who was Iwan's wife, and who had walked by the side of her husband's horse" a mile or thereabout, talking with him; and soe parted with him." In her way homeward, she encountered her brother and his party riding, as she rightly conjectured, furiously after her husband. But she was determined, if possible, to prevent them from executing their iniquitous designs, and," crying out upon her brother, desired him, for the love of God, not to harme her husband, that meant him noe harme; and withal steps to his horse, meaning to have caught him by the bridle, which he seeing, turned his horse about. She then caught the horse by the tail, hanging upon him soe long, and crying upon her brother, that, in the

end, he drew out his short sworde, and struck at her arme, which she perceiving, was faine to lett slippe her hold, and running before him to a narrow passage, whereby he must pass through a brooke, where there was a foot-bridge near the ford, she then steps to the foot-bridge, and takes away the canllaw, or hand-stay of the bridge, and, with the same, letts flie at her brother, and, if he had not avoyded the blow, she had struck him doune from his horse." Thus foiled in her affectionate and valiant purpose, this heroic woman returned home, leaving her headstrong brother to pursue his own course. Howel, therefore, rode on at the head of his well-armed and numerous band, and speedily overtook his enemy, who immediately turned head upon him, although greatly over-matched. In a moment, all was uproar and confusion; a sharp contest ensued, and many were knocked down on either side. In the midst of the bustle, the assassin, watching a fit opportunity, proceeded to execute his commission, and had already lifted up his hand against the defenceless head of his victim, when he himself was stretched lifeless on the ground by the unerring hand of Robin ab Inko, which Howel Vaughan perceiving, " cryed to his people,Let's away and begone; for I had given charege that Robin ab Inko should have been better looked into:" and soe that bickering brake, with the hurt of many, and the death of that one man "."

This, as may naturally be expected, merely added fresh fuel to the fire, and a very trifling cause only was necessary to produce another irruption. Now it happened, a short time after this affray, that the parson of Llanvrothen, in Merionethshire, took one of Iwan ab Robert's children to foster and to educate, which made Howel Vaughan's wife exceedingly wroth," her husband having then more land in that parish than Iwan ab Robert had." This terrible woman appears to have been imbued with a full proportion of the savage ferocity of the times, and she determined to be revenged

upon the poor inoffensive parson. She sent, therefore, a woman to solicit a night's lodging of the minister, "who used not to deny any," and, in the middle of the night, this welltutored accomplice began to cry aloud, and roar violently, as if somebody were assaulting her. The benevolent pastor, thinking that something had happened to her, hastened to her, when she immediately accused him of attempting to ravish her, and ran out of the house, threatening the deepest revenge. This woman was allied to the sept of the Howels, and had three brothers, "notable rogues, of a damned crew, fit for any mischief." To these miscreants she fled from Llanvrothen, and the next morning the unfortunate pastor was found murdered near his own cowhouse. No doubt was entertained as to the perpetrators of this foul deed, and Iwan ab Robert prepared to take signal vengeance upon the murderers of his clansman and friend. According to the abominable custom of those times, only the actual murderer, or he who had struck the blow, was amenable to the law, and he was consequently called a Uawrudd, or Red-hand: his accomplices and abettors were never noticed, except, indeed, by the friends of the murdered individual, who were, of course, exceedingly assiduous in seeking that retribution which the imperfect laws of their country denied them. But these ready assassins had their places of refuge to resort to, for they always sought and found protection from the friends and kindred of their employ

ers.

All the great families in Wales had their "alliances, partisans, and friends, in all the countreys round thereabouts, to whome, as the manner of the time was, they sent such of their followers as committed murther or manslaughter, which were safely kept as very precious jewells; and they received the like from their friends. These kind of people were stowed, in the day-time, in chambers in their houses, and in the night they went to the next wine-house that belonged to the gentleman, or to his tenant's houses not farre off, to make merrie and to wench." It was no

small difficulty, therefore, to capture these wretches by open force, as the whole clan, or sept, would immediately rise, like a nest of hornets, in their defence. Stratagem was consequently had recourse to, and proved successful or not, according to the ingenuity and means of the prosecutor. Iwan ab Robert, well aware of the inutility of attempting, publicly, to apprehend the murderers of his friend, repaired privately into Chirkeland, whither they had fled, accompanied only by six trusty friends. "Being come to Chirkeland, he abode there many dayes, in secret and unseene, sleeping in the day, and watching all the night. In the end, with the helpe of his friends, he caught the two murderers, whom he had no sooner in hand, but the crie did rise-The Trevors to their friends, and the Kyffins to their leaders! To the latter of these cries, Meredith ab Howel ab Moris (a friend of Iwan, by whom he had been materially assisted in the apprehension of the criminals) resorted, who told Iwan ab Robert that it was impossible for him to carry them out of the countrey, to any place, to have judicial proceedings against them, by reason that the factor of the Trevors would lay the way and the narrow passages of the country; and if they were brought to Chirke-castle gate, to receive the triall of the countrey lawes, it was lawfull for the offender's friends, whosoever they were, to bring £.5 for every man, for a fine to the lord, and to acquit them, soe it were not in cases of treason-a damnable custome used in those days in the lordships' marches, which was used also in Mowddwy, untill the new ordinance of Wales, made in the seven-and-twentieth yeare of Henry VIII. Hereupon Iwan ab Robert commanded one of his men to strike off their heads, which the fellow doeing faintely, the offender told him, that if he had his neck under his sworde, he would make his sworde take better edge than he did-soe resolute were they, in those dayes, in contempt of death! Where

upon Iwan ab Robert, in a rage, stepping to them, strucke off their heads."

Thus were two of these wretches disposed of; and, well satisfied with the result of his expedition, Iwan ab Robert prepared to return homeward. As he was waiting for the ebbing of the tide at Traesh Mawr, in Merionethshire, and talking carelessly with his friends, an arrow, shot from a wood on one side, suddenly glanced by them. Turning round, the seven shot towards the spot whence the weapon had issued, and, to their surprise, they found that they had shot "the third brother of the murtherers." So," God revenged that wicked murther by the death of every one of the three murtherers. Dayly bickerings," continues our entertaining annalist, "too long to be written, passed between so neare and hatefull neighbours. In the end, the plague, which commonly followeth warre and desolation, after the Earle of Pembroke's expedition, took away Iwan ab Robert, at his house in Keselgyfarch, in the flowere of his age, being thirty-one yeares old, whose death ended the strife of those houses, for his three eldest sonnes were sister's-sonnes to Howel ab Rys ab Howel Vaughant."

From the midst of all this barbarous turbulence, sparks of rude and savage heroism occasionally flashed forth, shining with redoubled lustre in the deep gloom from which they were emitted. In a feud between our old friend Howel Vaughan and Gruffydd ab John ab Gronw, the latter surrounded his foeman's mansion with a numerous tribe of kindred and friends, and, after consuming all the out-houses, commenced an assault upon the house itself, setting it on fire with bundles of ignited

straw.

The smoke of these combustible materials, with that of the burning out-houses, greatly annoyed the defendants, so that they crept under the tables and benches in the hall, nearly in a state of suffocation. During this scene of confusion and alarm, Howel Vaughan, then an old man, disdained to stoop his head, and stood valiantly in the middle of

the hall, with his sword in his hand, and urging his panic-stricken men to fight. He bade them "arise, like men! for shame! for he had known there as great a smoke in that hall upon a Christmas Even!" He was, however, overpowered by numbers, and compelled at last to capitulate. In the wars between the rival houses of York and Lancaster, when

"here a snow-white rose, And there a red, with fatal blossoming And deadly fragrance madden'd all the land,"

the castle of Harlech, in Merionethshire, was defended, on the part of the latter, by a most fearless chieftain, named Dafydd ab Evan ab Einion. After Edward the Fourth had taken possession of every stronghold in the kingdom, excepting this, and two or three others in Northumberland, he sent an officer to demand from Dafydd the unconditional surrender of Harlech Castle, probably anticipating the ready compliance of the Welshman;-but he was mis taken. Dafydd was too sturdy a soldier to yield so quietly, and he determined to hazard a siege, although his garrison was miserably defective, in point both of numbers and provision. The King, therefore, dispatched William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, with an army to subdue him. After many toils and difficulties, Pembroke succeeded in marching his troops into the heart of the Principality, and again the surrender of the castle was demanded, when the following bold and energetic answer was returned: "No! we will not give up this castle," said Dafydd; "and you may tell your leader, that, some years ago, I held out a castle in France so long that all the old women in Wales talked of it;-I will now keep this Welsh castle so long that all the old women of France shall talk of it.” And he did "keep" it, till all his provision was consumed, and famine was staring him and his heroic band in the face. He was then compelled to capitulate, but on honourable terms; and his life, together with that of his men, was preserved, after much entreaty with the King, who would fain have deprived the adverse party of so stout

VOL. XIV.

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and resolute a champion. Camden has preserved the names of this gallant band; and it appears that the garrison consisted of only fifteen men, including the commander, Dafydd; and this small company was opposed to an English army of probably three or four thousand men ! "He was a most goodly man of personage, says the Historian of Gwedir, speaking of Dafydd, "of greate stature, (as may appeare by the Welsh songes made unto him,) and most valliant withal. Besides the turmoiles abroad, he sustayned deadly feud (as the northerne man termeth it) at home at his doore, a warre more dangerous than the other."

In this barbarous and turbulent state did the Welsh continue till the middle of the sixteenth century, when the union of their country with England prepared the way for the abolition of those gloomy and disgraceful practices which had hitherto prevailed so destructively amongst them. This union was founded upon principles equally advantageous to both parties. It gave the utmost advancement (to use the words of Mr Justice Blackstone,) to the civil prosperity of the Welsh, by admitting them to a thorough communication of laws with the people of England; and the great circumspection which was used in the framing of the requisite ordinances, proved the real sincerity of the monarch's intentions. "The King's Highness," says the first statute (26 Henry viii.) enacted for this purpose, "of a singular zeal, love, and favour, that he bears towards the subjects of his dominion of Wales, ordains, that his said country and dominion of Wales shall be for ever, henceforth, incorporated, united, and annexed to and with this his realm of England; and that all persons born, and to be born, in the said Principality, country, and dominion of Wales, shall have, enjoy, and inherit, all and singular freedoms, liberties, rights, privileges, and laws, within this his realm, as other of the King's subjects naturally born within the same have, enjoy, and inherit." And, by a subsequent section of the same Act, two members were to be returned to Parliament for the county of Monmouth, and