The Description of Wales | Page 5

authors, both poets and historians, has long since ceased;
that the respect paid to literature vanished with literary princes; and that
in these degenerate days very different paths lead to honours and
opulence. I allow all this, I readily allow it, and acquiesce in the truth.
For the unprincipled and covetous attach themselves to the court, the
churchmen to their books, and the ambitious to the public offices, but
as every man is under the influence of some darling passion, so the love
of letters and the study of eloquence have from my infancy had for me
peculiar charms of attraction. Impelled by this thirst for knowledge, I
have carried my researches into the mysterious works of nature farther
than the generality of my contemporaries, and for the benefit of
posterity have rescued from oblivion the remarkable events of my own
times. But this object was not to be secured without an indefatigable,
though at the same time an agreeable, exertion; for an accurate
investigation of every particular is attended with much difficulty. It is
difficult to produce an orderly account of the investigation and
discovery of truth; it is difficult to preserve from the beginning to the
end a connected relation unbroken by irrelevant matter; and it is
difficult to render the narration no less elegant in the diction, than
instructive in its matter, for in prosecuting the series of events, the
choice of happy expressions is equally perplexing, as the search after
them painful. Whatever is written requires the most intense thought,
and every expression should be carefully polished before it be
submitted to the public eye; for, by exposing itself to the examination
of the present and of future ages, it must necessarily undergo the
criticism not only of the acute, but also of the dissatisfied, reader.
Words merely uttered are soon forgotten, and the admiration or disgust
which they occasioned is no more; but writings once published are
never lost, and remain as lasting memorials either of the glory or of the

disgrace of the author. Hence the observation of Seneca, that the
malicious attention of the envious reader dwells with no less
satisfaction on a faulty than on an elegant expression, and is as anxious
to discover what it may ridicule, as what it may commend; as the poet
also observes:
"Discit enim citius meminitque libentius illud Quod quis deridet, quam
quod probat et veneratur."
Among the pursuits, therefore, most worthy of commendation, this
holds by no means the lowest rank; for history, as the moral
philosopher declares, "is the record of antiquity, the testimony of ages,
the light of truth, the soul of memory, the mistress of conduct, and the
herald of ancient times."
This study is the more delightful, as it is more honourable to produce
works worthy of being quoted than to quote the works of others; as it is
more desirable to be the author of compositions which deserve to be
admired than to be esteemed a good judge of the writings of other men;
as it is more meritorious to be the just object of other men's
commendations than to be considered an adept in pointing out the
merits of others. On these pleasing reflections I feed and regale myself;
for I would rather resemble Jerome than Croesus, and I prefer to riches
themselves the man who is capable of despising them. With these
gratifying ideas I rest contented and delighted, valuing moderation
more than intemperance, and an honourable sufficiency more than
superfluity; for intemperance and superfluity produce their own
destruction, but their opposite virtues never perish; the former vanish,
but the latter, like eternity, remain for ever; in short, I prefer praise to
lucre, and reputation to riches.

BOOK I

CHAPTER I

Of the length and breadth of Wales, the nature of its soil, and the three
remaining tribes of Britons
Cambria, which, by a corrupt and common term, though less proper, is

in modern times called Wales, is about two hundred miles long and one
hundred broad. The length from Port Gordber (1) in Anglesey to Port
Eskewin (2) in Monmouthshire is eight days' journey in extent; the
breadth from Porth Mawr, (3) or the great Port of St. David's, to
Ryd-helic, (4) which in Latin means VADUM SALICIS, or the Ford of
the Willow, and in English is called Willow-forde, is four days' journey.
It is a country very strongly defended by high mountains, deep valleys,
extensive woods, rivers, and marshes; insomuch that from the time the
Saxons took possession of the island the remnants of the Britons,
retiring into these regions, could never be entirely subdued either by the
English or by the Normans. Those who inhabited the southern angle of
the island, which took its name from the chieftain Corinaeus, (5) made
less resistance,