Here was it, Stranger, that the <g>Patron Saint</g>
Of Cambria passed his age of penitence,
A solitary man; and here he made
His <g>Hermitage</g>; the roots his food, his drink
Of Honddy’s mountain stream.
Perchance thy youth
Has read with eager wonder, how the <g>Knight</g>
Of Wales, in Ormandine’s enchanted bower,
Slept the long sleep; and if that in thy veins
Flows the pure blood of Britain, sure that blood
Has flowed with quicker impulse at the tale
Of <g>Dafydd’s</g> deeds, when through the press of war
His gallant comrades followed his green crest
To conquests!
Stranger! Hatterill’s mountain heights,
And this fair vale of <g>Ewias</g>, and the stream
Of Honddy, to thine after-thoughts will rise
More grateful--thus associate with the name
Of <g>Dafydd</g>, and the deeds of other days.
AUTHORITIES quoted or referred to in the preceding article on
Llanthony Abbey:--Dugdale’s Monasticon and Baronage, and their
Commentaries--Tanner’s Notitia Monastica--Spelman’s Glossar.
Archæologicum--Hist. of the Reformation--Histories of Monmouth, by
Hoare, Coxe, and others--Giraldus Cambrensis--Howel’s
Hystorie--Hallam’s Middle Ages--Camden’s
Britannia--Speed--Hollinshed--Robert of Glo’ster--Roberts’ History
of Llanthony Abbey--Thomas’ History of Owen
Glendower--Collins--Notes by Correspondents, etc.
[Illustration: _Usk Castle & Town._]