PROPHECY {73a} OF TALIESIN.
From the Ancient British.
Within my mind
I hold books confin'd,
Of Europa's land all the mighty lore;
O God of heaven high!
With how many a bitter sigh,
I my prophecy upon Troy's line {73b} pour:
A serpent coiling,
And with fury boiling,
From Germany coming with arm'd wings spread,
Shall Britain fair subdue
From the Lochlin ocean blue,
To where Severn rolls in her spacious bed.
And British men
Shall be captives then
To strangers from Saxonia's strand;
From God they shall not swerve,
They their language shall preserve,
But except wild Wales, they shall lose their land.
THE HISTORY OF TALIESIN.
From the Ancient British.
Talieson was a foundling, discovered in his infancy lying in a coracle, on
a salmon-weir, in the domain of Elphin, a prince of North Wales, who
became his patron. During his life he arrogated to himself a supernatural
descent and understanding, and for at least a thousand years after his
death he was regarded by the descendants of the ancient Britons in the
character of a prophet or something more. The poems which he produced
procured for him the title of "Bardic King;" they display much that is
vigorous and original, but are disfigured by mysticism and extravagant
metaphor; one of the most spirited of them is the following, which the
Author calls his "Hanes" or history.
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