ART. VIII. The History and Antiquities of the Parish of St. David, South Wales; the most ancient Documents collected from the Bodleian Library. To which is annexed, a Correct List of the Archbishops, Bishops, &c. who have filled that See. Embellished with Plates in Aquatinta, from Drawings made on the Spot, by the Author, George W. Manby, Esq. 8vo. pp. 206. 10s. 6d. Boards. Harding. 1801. THIS handsome work claims the attention of the inhabitants of the principality, and of those who have visited this famed spot in particular, or who contemplate such an excursion; and none should make the tour of South Wales without undergoing this pilgrimage, in spite of the obstructions with which they will meet, from bad roads and homely accommodations. The author's descriptions are correct, and the book" forms an useful manual for the curious traveller. We must ask, however, why certain miserable verses, evidently modern, are mentioned in the title-page as antient documents; and why that title is so ostentatious? It leads us to seek for traces of research, which the subsequent pages do not exhibit. The accounts of the Prelates and Dignitaries of this Cathedral will be interesting, to those who have not access to the learned works whence they have been extracted: but why are not these accounts carried down to the present time? We were surprized to find so little said of Rhees Prichard, author of the work called Cunwyll y Cymru, the Lamp of the Welsh; a composition in the true spirit of Welsh poetry, consisting of short poems which touch on all the great heads of moral and religious duty; which was formerly seen lying by the side of the Bible and the Prayer-book in every family in South Wales; and a great portion of which, almost every person could repeat from memory. It abounds with aphorisms, admirably adapted for the conduct of life; and there is great reason for believing that it had contributed considerably towards the civilization of that part of the island. Laud, when bishop of St. David's, made Prichard chancellor of the diocese. We lament to add that this work, which breathes piety without fanaticism, and which instils the purest morality, is now in no request among the common people; having raade way for methodistical hymns which abound in mystic unintelligible jargon. Respect for the present Bishop of St. David's, to whom the volume is dedicated, ought to have inspired the author with a little more caution than he sometimes manifests. The learned Prelate will hear with some surprize that the dignity and power of the druidical tribunals were not in the least abridged until a regular code of laws was formed by Howel Dha.' We, apprehend apprehend that these tribunals were going out of date as early as the time when Papinian read lectures at York, and when the British youth became captivated with the Roman eloquence. We also suspect that the Bishop will feel slow of belief, when told that Dyvett preserved itself as a kingdom till it was wrested from the regal possessors by Earl Strongbow, who subdued that country: for, until the arrival of Strongbow, the county of Dyvett never yielded to the arms of Romans, Saxons, Danes, or Normans; nor were the antient inhabitants disturbed in any of their possessions, although interrupted by skirmishes on land, or by spoilers from the sea.' We suppose that this account is meant to be complimentary: but would it not have been as honorable to have been conquered by the Romans as by Strongbow? Mr. Manby is completely in an error respecting the orthography of the Welsh word which signifies woman; Menyw is the original term; and Fenyw is the word in construction; which is nearly the reverse of what he has laid down. Every man of taste laments the ravages committed by the fanatics in the age of the reformation, and by those in the civil wars. The present author, alluding to scenes of this sort, in which the rebels under Cromwell were concerned at St. David's, observes that a remarkable story concerning them is told, and fully authenticated: when the rebels mutilated this tomb, and beat off the heads of these images, they impiously carried one of them to the font, near the west door, attempting there to baptize it, according to the form prescribed in our Liturgy but, whilst they stood at the font, the head fell upon the toe of him who personated the priest: he complained instantly of the bruise, which gangrened; and, though they took what care of him they could, he died in a day or two after.' We extract a specimen of Mr. Manby's descriptive talents: St. David's has a small quay for shipping, about a mile from the town, called Port Clais, where a small vessel may lie in great safety: from this little harbour you may go to Ramsey island, by crossing its sound running between it and the main land; it is about a mile over, though it was formerly only a small fretum: it requires moderate weather, there being many rocks, and, from the tides, it is both difficult and dangerous to strangers. Not far from the south end of the Sound, runs a reef of rocks nearly half way over, called the Bitches: towards the middle is that rock so much dreaded, and on which innumerable vessels have been wrecked, called the Horse; at high water it cannot be seen, and the tide setting directly on it, makes it very dangerous, particularly in a calm: the rapidity of the current through the Sound is said to be, on a spring tide, seven or eight knots an hour; the velocity of discharging charging itself, particularly if opposed by wind, causes a shot of most tremendous appearance; there are six different eddy tides, and it flows considerably longer than it does at the back of the island. : This island is now in the form of a triangle, about two miles long, and one in its extreme breadth in the centre: there formerly was a wall run across it; but its traces, and for what purpose, are not known antiently it was called Ptolemeus Lymen; and on it were two chapels, but now no vestige of them is to be seen: one was dedicated to Saint David; and the other, named Ynis Devanog, dedicated to a saint of that name, who, with Faganus, was sent by Bishop Elutherius to preach the word of life to the Britons, in the year 186 after the ascension of our Saviour Jesus Christ. The lastmentioned chapel, with great part of the island, has been swallowed up by the sea, as far as the rocky excrescences to the westward of it. The island, it is said, was formerly inhabited by saints; and that no less than 20,000 have been buried there: it keeps many cattle, sheep, and rabbits; but the latter are nearly extirpated by the rats, that periodically swim across the Sound during the summer. Great part of the soil is fertile, and yields good grain: but this host of vermin convert it to their own use, denying the benefit of the cultivation to its occupiers. To this island, and the rocks adjoining, yearly resort such an immense number of migrating sea birds, of several sorts, as none but those who have been eye-witnesses thereof can be prevailed upon to believe, the cliffs being nearly covered by them: they chiefly consist of the Elyug, the Razor-bill, which is the Merc of Cornwall; the Puffin, which is the arctic duck of Clusius, and a variety of gulls. Here they all come to deposit their eggs, and rear their young; in places so high and rugged, as to make it almost inaccessible to the foot of plunder or hand of violence: their visits and returns are very precipitate; for, after the breeding season, they depart in the night: in the previous evening the rocks are covered, and the next morning not a bird is to be seen: in like manner, on their return in the evening, not a bird will be seen, and the next morning the rocks will be full of them. They also visit commonly for a week about Christmas, and then finally take their departure until the following breeding The Eligug and Razor-bill lay but one egg each, on the bare rock; never leaving it until it is hatched, and their offspring able to follow them; either from instinctive fondness, or for fear of the gulls, their greatest enemies. The Puffin much resembles the Parrot, with an arched red beak: they breed in holes vacated by the rabbits. The vast number of eggs laid on these rocks are, when in season, the principal subsistence of the poorer sort of inhabitants about Saint David's: the eggs are about the size of a duck's, beauti fully spotted and variegated with many colours; all vary much, and they say there are not two alike. season. From this island, it is said, was formerly the direct place of embarkation to Ireland; but those who are conversant with the tides do not give the tradition that evidence which it merits: the high rocks upon it were famed for breeding the most celebrated falcons for bawking, but there has not been any seen for some centuries past. These These falcons were preferred to all others by King Henry the Second, and are of that sort which were called by sporstmen Peregrines, and which Augustus Thuanus, of Esmer, in his excellent piece on Falconry, termed Hieracosophion. Depressus capitis vertex, oblongaque toto Of plumage grace, pale colour'd legs, whose toes North-west of this island are six rocks, supposed to have been formerly part of the same; they are called the Bishop and Clerks, well known and dreaded by all seamen who pass St. George's Channel: they are thus spoken of by an author, about the time of the Spanish invasion in 1588:-" They are stout sturdy fellows, and will not budge a foot; are able to resist the King of Spain's great navy, and put her Majesty to no charge at all." One of them, most to the southward, is called Carreg Escob, or the Bishop's Rock; the se cond, Carreg-yr-Rossan; the third, Gwen Carreg, or White Rock; the fourth, Deveck; the fifth, Carreg Hawloe; the sixth, Emscar. These rocks are watchfully looked after by all passing this sea, as this bishop and his clerks preach such deadly doctrine to their winter audience. Saint David's Head is a rock, visible a great distance at sea, and has a very bluff shore of an immense depth. Tradition reports, that one Adam Samson, a notorious pirate in King Henry the Seventh's time, was taken in Saint George's Channel, after having done much mischief; the ship, which had him on board, was driven this way, when Samson took the opportunity of persuading the master to keep close to the rock to avoid shoals, when he leaped upon it and made his escape. On the top of the rock, above the Head, are the remains of an old Roman fortification, formed by a barrier of piled stones running across the peninsula of the Head, celebrated for the sequestered and venerable situation of the Druids. At the foot of this rampart is the foundation of a square building of considerable size, not improbable to have been the residence of that fraternity, who lived a collegiate or monastic life; it requiring many of them to per form the sacred rites of their religion, as well as other duties: near it are the remains of seven monuments of antiquity, said to be Druidical temples; five of them are circular, about six yards diameter; another of the same form, though much smaller; and one elliptical, ten yards by six. • Various have been the opinions of their intention; some say they are temples erected for the exercise of their religious functions: they are formed by stones set perpendicularly; as it appears by an article in their religious creed, that it was unlawful to worship under roofs.Others have supposed them Orsedde or Orsedde-fianira, Druidical judgment seats; where they heard causes, and pronounced judg ment. Their courts of justice were in the open air, seated on a con spicuous spicuous eminence, in an unfrequented and retired situation: the sanctity and austerity of their manners induced veneration for, and acquiescence in, their decrees. Nor was their dignity or power in the least abridged, until a regular code of laws was formed by Howel Dha, or the Good: till then their laws consisted of a few oral, traditional precepts, not reduced to writing, but committed to memory. Thus the breast of the Druid was the repository of the laws. Others have imagined they were for astronomical studies; the situa tion answering every purpose of a fine observatory: and as they were chiefly devoted to that science, all affairs of the greatest importance were influenced by the revolutions of the great fountains of light; but scrupulously avoided while the moon was in the wane. Others say they were erected to the honour of the Deity, or for receptacles of the dead. A little lower than where these are seen, is a deep recess in the rock, called the Goat's Cave; it seems as if formed by art, about twenty yards by six in width: it now is very low, owing to a vast quantity of soil being left by the sheep, sheltering from the fury of the elements. The Druids always had, near their venerable residences, a spot in a most secret situation; where they performed such incantations as related to their secret doctrines, concealing them from all the world but their own society: they usually chose a cave for that purpose, as they observed the most impenetrable secrecy in delivering their opinions, and the greatest caution that they might not be known to others: they made an inviolable rule never to communicate any of their secrets to a woman. About the Head are found the Saint David's diamonds, or pellucid crystals; some are procured from the interstices of the rock, while others are found encompassed with a dark carth, their points appearing upward: they have a beautiful effect when well set; are very hard, and, when first found, resemble the amethyst.' The plates add greatly to the interest of this volume. ART. IX. Illustrations of the Truth of the Christian Religion. By Edward Maltby, B. D. Domestic Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Lincoln. 8vo. pp. 448. 5s. 6d. Boards. Rivingtons, &c. 1802. T HE title of this volume must not induce the reader to expect an ample statement of the chief evidences of the truth of Revealed Religion, but an examination of what may be called. its collateral and auxiliary testimonies. Of these ais, the Christian champion has a full right to avail himself; for, since revelation is addressed to us through the medium of human testimony, its origin must, in course, be continually receding from us; and from this very circumstance, its history and antiquities, if not repeatedly illustrated, will become a source of perplexity and misapprehension. Hence, then, will result 10 the |