HISTORICAL POEMS. CYWYDD MOLIANT SYR ROSIER MORTIMER,1 IARLL Y MARS. SYR Rosier, asur aesawr, 1 SYR ROGER MORTIMER was the fourth Earl of March, and twelfth Lord of Wigmore, being the eldest son of Edmund, the third Earl and eleventh Lord, who died at Cork in 1381. Richard II made him Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and in virtue of his descent from the Duke of Clarence (see page 49, line 2) he was declared heir to the throne. His military service was confined entirely to Ireland, where he was slain, He was succeeded by his son Edmund, who died in 1425, aged 24 years. With him ended the male line of the Mortimers of Wigmore. It will be well to note that Roger Mortimer, the eighth Lord of Wigmore, was created Earl of March in 1328. 2 Asur aesawr, the bearer of an azure shield'. 6 He was the s Fab Rosier. grandson of Rosier, or Roger, Mortimer. Mab here, therefore, must signify grandson', or 'descendant'. The names of Roger and Edmund occur alternately for some generations in the pedigree of the Mortimers of Wigmore. Planc, a young steed'. The epithet is here used to denote the youthful ardour and powers of the poet's hero. 5 Plymlwyd, for plymnwyd, say the lexicographers, means conflict'. It is congenital with, if not derived from, the Greek polemos and the Latin bellum. Syr Raff, or Ralph Mortimer, flourished about the middle of the Ros arglwydd, Rosier eurglaer, A'i phen, cynheiliad, a'i phont; Eryr trin oreuraid traed; • Edling-walch for edlin-walch, in reference, probably, to Roger Mortimer being heir-apparent to the English throne. 6 Oreuraud traed. Many of the allusions in this poem are to the armorial bearings of the Mortimers. The golden-legged eagle may have been the crest on his banner. Wyr burffrwyth, 'the lawful grandson'. It must, however, be noted that the term wyr is constantly used in the Mabinogion and the Seint Greal, as well as in later centuries, to signify descendant'. Burffrwyth, it is probable, stands here in opposition to bastardd. 3 Obry, beneath'; here, perhaps, Aberffraw'. 'secret' or 'underlying'. Buga. It is impossible now to make out whom the poet meant by Buga. It could scarcely have been Boadicea', as Mortimerhis very name implies it—seems to have been of Norman extraction. Ior Aberffraw, the lord of Inasmuch as this town was in ancient times the residence of the Princes of Wales and had its royal palace, we must give the designation of our hero here used a wider scope than simply lord of that place'. It seems to convey the idea of the lord of the territory of Aberffraw`. Ydd wyf madws" yt ddyfod, O arfau prydferth nerth Ner. A'u cynnydd fal corn hydd hir;" • Madws, high time'. We apprehend, however, that the word bears another meaning here, 'pleased', 'gratified'. Deriving it from mad, we may venture to give it this signification. 1 Rhyglyddy for rhyglyddi, ‘to Wales thou wilt bring renown'. 2 Daethost i dir. It is difficult to arrive at the poet's true meaning. The phrase may be a poetical mode of saying, 'Thou hast arrived at maturity'; or, perhaps, it is a simple statement of his having landed in Ireland. Balc, 'balk'; hence, 'promi- We can hardly suppose that the nency' or ' eminency'. vis poetica was so strong in the bard as to predict the steam engine. Ymwan" ag icirl diammhwynt, A'th helm lwys a thalm o lu A cherdd o'th flaen, o raen rwyf,1 6 Iyrl o Wlster, ior lwys-drud. Ymwan, to combat'. 7 Yswain, armour-bearer'. 8 Hengsmen, henchmen', 'pages', 'attendants'. Theulu, retinue' here; although the word generally signifies family' or tribe'. 6 6 Ryf, commander', 'ruler'. 2 Chrydr, ' armour'; arfau am ur, says Richards. 3 Palwyf, for palalwyf, 'the blood shedding; it has furnished linden tree'. an expressive term for murderllawruddiaeth, red-handedness'. Iarll Llwdlo. This was Roger the tenth Lord of Wigmore-the grandfather of the subject of the present poem. He served Edward III in France; recovered much of the Welsh property, and added to it Ludlow, another estate, which 6 Tarll Caerlleon. From the time of Henry III, when the series of earls descended from Hugh Lupus terminated, the earldom of Chester has been vested in the Crown, or in the hands of members of the |