Pont y Rhyd Fendigaid—Strata Florida—The Yew-Tree—Idolatry—The Teivi—The
Llostlydan.
And now for the resting-place of Dafydd Ab Gwilym! After wandering for
some miles towards the south over a bleak moory country I came to a place
called Fair Rhos, a miserable village, consisting of a few half-ruined
cottages, situated on the top of a hill. From the hill I looked down on
a wide valley of a russet colour, along which a river ran towards the
south. The whole scene was cheerless. Sullen hills were all around.
Descending the hill I entered a large village divided into two by the
river, which here runs from east to west, but presently makes a turn.
There was much mire in the street; immense swine lay in the mire, who
turned up their snouts at me as I passed. Women in Welsh hats stood in
the mire, along with men without any hats at all, but with short pipes in
their mouths; they were talking together; as I passed, however, they held
their tongues, the women leering contemptuously at me, the men glaring
sullenly at me, and causing tobacco smoke to curl in my face; on my
taking off my hat, however, and enquiring the way to the Monachlog,
everybody was civil enough, and twenty voices told me the way to the
Monastery. I asked the name of the river.
“The Teivi, sir; the Teivi.”
“The name of the bridge?”
“Pont y Rhyd Fendigaid—the Bridge of the Blessed Ford, sir.”
I crossed the Bridge of the Blessed Ford, and presently leaving the main
road I turned to the east by a dung-hill, up a narrow lane parallel with
the river. After proceeding a mile up the lane, amidst trees and copses,
and crossing a little brook, which runs into the Teivi, out of which I
drank, I saw before me in the midst of a field, in which were tombstones
and broken ruins, a rustic-looking church; a farm-house stood near it, in
the garden of which stood the framework of a large gateway. I crossed
over into the churchyard, ascended a green mound, and looked about me. I
was now in the very midst of the Monachlog Ystrad Flur, the celebrated
monastery of Strata Florida, to which in old times Popish pilgrims from
all parts of the world repaired. The scene was solemn and impressive: on
the north side of the river a large bulky hill looked down upon the ruins
and the church, and on the south side, some way behind the farm-house,
was another which did the same. Rugged mountains formed the background
of the valley to the east, down from which came murmuring the fleet but
shallow Teivi. Such is the scenery which surrounds what remains of
Strata Florida: those scanty broken ruins compose all which remains of
that celebrated monastery, in which kings, saints and mitred abbots were
buried, and in which, or in whose precincts, was buried Dafydd Ab Gwilym,
the greatest genius of the Cimbric race and one of the first poets of the
world.
After standing for some time on the mound I descended, and went up to the
church. I found the door fastened, but obtained through the window a
tolerable view of the interior, which presented an appearance of the
greatest simplicity. I then strolled about the churchyard looking at the
tomb-stones, which were humble enough and for the most part modern. I
would give something, said I, to know whereabouts in this neighbourhood
Ab Gwilym lies. That, however, is a secret that no one can reveal to me.
At length I came to a yew-tree which stood just by the northern wall
which is at a slight distance from the Teivi. It was one of two trees,
both of the same species, which stood in the churchyard, and appeared to
be the oldest of the two. Who knows, said I, but this is the tree that
was planted over Ab Gwilym’s grave, and to which Gruffyd Gryg wrote an
ode? I looked at it attentively, and thought that there was just a
possibility of its being the identical tree. If it was, however, the
benison of Gruffyd Gryg had not had exactly the effect which he intended,
for either lightning or the force of wind had splitten off a considerable
part of the head and trunk, so that though one part of it looked strong
and blooming, the other was white and spectral. Nevertheless, relying on
the possibility of its being the sacred tree, I behaved just as I should
have done had I been quite certain of the fact: Taking off my hat I knelt
down and kissed its root, repeating lines from Gruffydd Gryg, with which
I blended some of my own in order to accommodate what I said to
circumstances:
“O tree of yew, which here I spy,
By Ystrad Flur’s blest monast’ry,
Beneath thee lies, by cold Death bound,
The tongue for sweetness once renown’d.
Better for thee thy boughs to wave,
Though scath’d, above Ab Gwilym’s grave,
Than stand in pristine glory drest
Where some ignobler bard doth rest;
I’d rather hear a taunting rhyme
From one who’ll live through endless time,
Than hear my praises chanted loud
By poets of the vulgar crowd.”
I had left the churchyard, and was standing near a kind of garden, at
some little distance from the farmhouse, gazing about me and meditating,
when a man came up attended by a large dog. He had rather a youthful
look, was of the middle size and dark complexioned. He was respectably
drest, except that upon his head he wore a common hairy cap.
“Good evening,” said I to him in Welsh.
“Good evening, gentleman,” said he in the same language.
“Have you much English?” said I.
“Very little; I can only speak a few words.”
“Are you the farmer?”
“Yes! I farm the greater part of the Strath.”
“I suppose the land is very good here?”
“Why do you suppose so?”
“Because the monks built their house here in the old time, and the monks
never built their houses except on good land.”
“Well, I must say the land is good; indeed I do not think there is any so
good in Shire Aberteifi.”
“I suppose you are surprised to see me here; I came to see the old
Monachlog.”
“Yes, gentleman! I saw you looking about it.”
“Am I welcome to see it?”
“Croesaw! gwr boneddig, croesaw! many, many welcomes to you, gentleman!”
“Do many people come to see the monastery?”
_Farmer_.—Yes! many gentlefolk come to see it in the summer time.
_Myself_.—It is a poor place now.
_Farmer_.—Very poor, I wonder any gentlefolks come to look at it.
_Myself_.—It was a wonderful place once; you merely see the ruins of it
now. It was pulled down at the Reformation.
_Farmer_.—Why was it pulled down then?
_Myself_.—Because it was a house of idolatry to which people used to
resort by hundreds to worship images. Had you lived at that time you
would have seen people down on their knees before stocks and stones,
worshipping them, kissing them and repeating pennillion to them.
_Farmer_.—What fools! How thankful I am that I live in wiser days. If
such things were going on in the old Monachlog it was high time to pull
it down.
_Myself_.—What kind of a rent do you pay for your land?
_Farmer_.—O, rather a stiffish one.
_Myself_.—Two pound an acre?
_Farmer_.—Two pound an acre! I wish I paid no more.
_Myself_.—Well! I think that would be quite enough. In the time of the
old monastery you might have had the land at two shillings an acre.
_Farmer_.—Might I? Then those couldn’t have been such bad times, after
all.
_Myself_.—I beg your pardon! They were horrible times—times in which
there were monks and friars and graven images, which people kissed and
worshipped and sang pennillion to. Better pay three pounds an acre and
live on crusts and water in the present enlightened days than pay two
shillings an acre and sit down to beef and ale three times a day in the
old superstitious times.
_Farmer_.—Well, I scarcely know what to say to that.
_Myself_.—What do you call that high hill on the other side of the river?
_Farmer_.—I call that hill Bunk Pen Bannedd.
_Myself_.—Is the source of the Teivi far from here?
_Farmer_.—The head of the Teivi is about two miles from here high up in
the hills.
_Myself_.—What kind of place is the head of the Teivi?
_Farmer_.—The head of the Teivi is a small lake about fifty yards long
and twenty across.
_Myself_.—Where does the Teivi run to?
_Farmer_.—The Teivi runs to the sea, which it enters at a place which the
Cumry call Aber Teivi and the Saxons Cardigan.
_Myself_.—Don’t you call Cardiganshire Shire Aber Teivi?
_Farmer_.—We do.
_Myself_.—Are there many gleisiaid in the Teivi?
_Farmer_.—Plenty, and salmons too—that is, farther down. The best place
for salmon and gleisiaid is a place, a great way down the stream, called
Dinas Emlyn.
_Myself_.—Do you know an animal called Llostlydan?
_Farmer_.—No, I do not know that beast.
_Myself_.—There used to be many in the Teivi.
_Farmer_.—What kind of beast is the Llostlydan?
_Myself_.—A beast with a broad tail, on which account the old Cumry did
call him Llostlydan. Clever beast he was; made himself house of wood in
middle of the river, with two doors, so that when hunter came upon him he
might have good chance of escape. Hunter often after him, because he had
skin good to make hat.
_Farmer_.—Ha, I wish I could catch that beast now in Teivi.
_Myself_.—Why so?
_Farmer_.—Because I want hat. Would make myself hat of his skin.
_Myself_.—O, you could not make yourself a hat even if you had the skin.
_Farmer_.—Why not? Shot coney in Bunk Pen Blanedd; made myself cap of
his skin. So, why not make hat of skin of broadtail, should I catch him
in Teivi?
_Myself_.—How far is it to Tregaron?
_Farmer_.—’Tis ten miles from here, and eight from the Rhyd Fendigaid.
_Myself_.—Must I go back to Rhyd Fendigaid to get to Tregaron?
_Farmer_.—You must.
_Myself_.—Then I must be going, for the night is coming down. Farewell!
_Farmer_.—Farvel, Saxon gentleman!