Welsh Journals

CAMBMO-BIIITOW.- DECEMBER, 1820. NULLI QUIDEM MIHl SATIS ERUDITI VIDENTUR, QUIBUS NOSTRA IGNOTA SUNT. CiCERO de Legibus. THE TRIADS.—No. XIV. TRIADS OF THE ISLE OF BRITAIN*. lxi. The three Primary Inventors of the nation of the Cymry; Hu the Mighty, who first formed mote and retinue for the nation of the Cymry ; and Dyvnwal Moelmud, who first made a system of the laws, privileges, and customs of country and nation ; and Tydain Tad Awen, who first conferred order and system of memo¬ rial and record upon vocal song and its appurtenances, and from which system were framed the privileges and regulated customs of the bards and bardism of the Isle of Britain. [The original words for mote and retinue are clud and gosgordd, by which is to be understood the regulation of removal and guard, by which nomadic tribes were governed, as may be seen in the Triads -of Motes f. Tydain Tad Awen, Tydain the Father of the Muse, is a singular name; but the history of the person thus designated is so involved in mythology as not to be cleared. His name and attributes tend to identify him with Taat, or Hermes, .of Egypt,—or, it may be, with Titan, or Apollo, of the Orphic Hymns, celebrated as he was for his skill in music. Tydain is commemorated in two other Triads. Hu Gadarn and Dyvnwal Moelmud have already been noticed.] lxii. The three Primary Bards of the Isle of Britain : Plen- nydd, Alawn, and Gwron; that is, these were they who pro¬ jected the privileges and the customs, which appertain to bards and bardism, and are therefore called the three primary ones; nevertheless, there were bards and bardism before, though they were not under a licensed system, and they had neither privileges * Arch, of Wales, vol. ii, p. 67, 8. Tr. 57—60. t These are the Triodd y Cludqu of Dyvnwal Moelmud, inserted in the Arch, of Wales, vol. iii, p. 283. , . VOL. II. V .