| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
STORIES OF
This dates from 1468. Harlech Castle stands on a lofty rock on the sea-shore of Merioneth-shire. "The original tower," says Brinley Richards in his note to the song, called " Twr Bronwen," " is said to have been built in the sixth century; it afterwards received the name of Caer Colwyn, and eventually its more de-scriptive name Harlech, or above the boulders." From Dr. Nicholas's " Antiquities of Wales" I extract this: " By order of the King (Edward IV.) William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, led a powerful army to Harlech, and demanded the surrender of the place; but Sir Richard Herbert, the Earl's brother, received from the stout defender this answer, ' I held a tower in France till all the old women in Wales heard of it, and now all the old women in France shall hear how I defend this castle.' Famine, however, at length succeeded, and the intrepid Welshman, Dafydd ap Jevan, made an honourable capitula-tion."
In " Cambrian Minstrelsie" will be found full accounts of many exquisite songs, together with Welsh and English words, and the original music. Indeed, this is the best and most re-liable work on Welsh national melodies ever published. The curious story connected with " Those Evening Bells," which Thomas Moore
73 |
||