第42章 BOOK II(11)

Many persons in the morning having been persuaded to dedicate themselves to the service of Christ,we proceeded from Ruthlan to the small cathedral church of Lanelwy;{178}from whence (the archbishop having celebrated mass)we continued our journey through a country rich in minerals of silver,where money is sought in the bowels of the earth,to the little cell of Basinwerk,{179}where we passed the night.The following day we traversed a long quicksand,and not without some degree of apprehension,leaving the woody district of Coleshulle,{180}or hill of coal,on our right hand,where Henry II.who in our time,actuated by youthful and indiscreet ardour,made a hostile irruption into Wales,and presuming to pass through that narrow and woody defile,experienced a signal defeat,and a very heavy loss of men.{181}The aforesaid king invaded Wales three times with an army;first,North Wales at the above-mentioned place;secondly,South Wales,by the sea-coast of Glamorgan and Goer,penetrating as far as Caermarddin and Pencadair,and returning by Ellennith and Melenith;and thirdly,the country of Powys,near Oswaldestree;but in all these expeditions the king was unsuccessful,because he placed no confidence in the prudent and well-informed chieftains of the country,but was principally advised by people remote from the marches,and ignorant of the manners and customs of the natives.In every expedition,as the artificer is to be trusted in his trade,so the advice of those people should be consulted,who,by a long residence in the country,are become conversant with the manners and customs of the natives;and to whom it is of high importance that the power of the hostile nation,with whom,by a long and continued warfare,they have contracted an implacable enmity and hatred,should be weakened or destroyed,as we have set forth in our Vaticinal History.

In this wood of Coleshulle,a young Welshman was killed while passing through the king's army;the greyhound who accompanied him did not desert his master's corpse for eight days,though without food;but faithfully defended it from the attacks of dogs,wolves,and birds of prey,with a wonderful attachment.What son to his father,what Nisus to Euryalus,what Polynices to Tydeus,what Orestes to Pylades,would have shewn such an affectionate regard?

As a mark of favour to the dog,who was almost starved to death,the English,although bitter enemies to the Welsh,ordered the body,now nearly putrid,to be deposited in the ground with the accustomed offices of humanity.

CHAPTER XI

Of the passage of the River Dee,and of Chester Having crossed the river Dee below Chester,(which the Welsh call Doverdwy),on the third day before Easter,or the day of absolution (holy Thursday),we reached Chester.As the river Wye towards the south separates Wales from England,so the Dee near Chester forms the northern boundary.The inhabitants of these parts assert,that the waters of this river change their fords every month,and,as it inclines more towards England or Wales,they can,with certainty,prognosticate which nation will be successful or unfortunate during the year.This river derives its origin from the lake Penmelesmere,{182}and,although it abounds with salmon,yet none are found in the lake.It is also remarkable,that this river is never swollen by rains,but often rises by the violence of the winds.

Chester boasts of being the burial-place of Henry,{183}a Roman emperor,who,after having imprisoned his carnal and spiritual father,pope Paschal,gave himself up to penitence;and,becoming a voluntary exile in this country,ended his days in solitary retirement.It is also asserted,that the remains of Harold are here deposited.He was the last of the Saxon kings in England,and as a punishment for his perjury,was defeated in the battle of Hastings,fought against the Normans.Having received many wounds,and lost his left eye by an arrow in that engagement,he is said to have escaped to these parts,where,in holy conversation,leading the life of an anchorite,and being a constant attendant at one of the churches of this city,he is believed to have terminated his days happily.{184}The truth of these two circumstances was declared (and not before known)by the dying confession of each party.We saw here,what appeared novel to us,cheese made of deer's milk;for the countess and her mother keeping tame deer,presented to the archbishop three small cheeses made from their milk.

In this same country was produced,in our time,a cow partaking of the nature of a stag,resembling its mother in the fore parts and the stag in its hips,legs,and feet,and having the skin and colour of the stag;but,partaking more of the nature of the domestic than of the wild animal,it remained with the herd of cattle.A bitch also was pregnant by a monkey,and produced a litter of whelps resembling a monkey before,and the dog behind;which the rustic keeper of the military hall seeing with astonishment and abhorrence,immediately killed with the stick he carried in his hand;thereby incurring the severe resentment and anger of his lord,when the latter became acquainted with the circumstance.

In our time,also,a woman was born in Chester without hands,to whom nature had supplied a remedy for that defect by the flexibility and delicacy of the joints of her feet,with which she could sew,or perform any work with thread or scissors,as well as other women.