Cylchgronau Cymru

FOURTH SERIES.—No. XL JULY, 1872. AN ESSAY ON THE BAEDIC ALPHABET CALLED « COELBREN Y BETBDD." The Chair of Glamorgan, meaning the traditions, specu¬ lations, and usages connected therewith, will form a very interesting chapter in the record of Cambrian bardism whenever the literature of Wales shall attain the dignity of having a historian ; but hitherto its real origin, true character, actual importance, and correct place in history, have been the subjects of much misap¬ prehension. Originating in the fourteenth century, it claims an antiquity coeval with the world itself; form¬ ing the laws of Hywel Dda into triads, it calls and has called them the laws of Dyvynwal Moelmud, who, liv¬ ing in the sixth century of our era, has been thrust back six centuries before Christ; pilfering Arthur from Cornwall, it places him at Caerlleon, and calls him king of Gwent and Morganwg; taking Bran ab Llyr Llediaith ab Brychivel Powys from the people of Meri¬ oneth, it places him at Dunraven; and antedating him at least six hundred and fifty years (Brochivael Eschit- rauc moritur a.d. 662, Annates Cambrice), it claims for Morganwg the first acquaintance with Christianity; and for its historical triads, many of them the fabulous and fictitious things of yesterday, bearing the unmistakable niarks of recentness in their ideas and phraseology, it claims authority to modify and supersede all authentic history. 4th ser., vol. hi. 13