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ONASTERY OF OLD BANGOR[39] _The oppression of the tumult--wrath and scorn--__The tribulation--and the gleaming blades_--Such is the impetuous spirit that pervadesThe song of Taliesin;[40]--Ours shall mournThe _unarmed_ Host who by their prayers would turn 5The sword from Bangor's walls, and guard the storeOf Aboriginal and Roman lore,And Christian monuments, that now must burnTo senseless ashes. Mark! how all things swerveFrom their known course, or vanish like a dream;[41] 10Another language spreads from coast to coast;Only perchance some melancholy Stream[42]And some indignant Hills old names preserve,[43]When laws, and creeds, and people all are lost! FOOTNOTES: [39] "Ethelforth reached the convent of Bangor, he perceived the Monks,twelve hundred in number, offering prayers for the success of theircountrymen: 'If they are praying against us,' he exclaimed, 'theyare fighting against us'; and he ordered them to be first attacked:they were destroyed; and, appalled by their fate, the courage ofBrocmail wavered, and he fled from the field in dismay. Thus abandonedby their leader, his army soon gave way, and Ethelforth obtained adecisive conquest. Ancient Bangor itself soon fell into his hands, andwas demolished; the noble monastery was levelled to the ground; itslibrary, which is mentioned as a large one, the collection of ages, therepository of the most precious monuments of the ancient Britons, wasconsumed; half ruined walls, gates, and rubbish were all that remainedof the magnificent edifice." (See Turner's valuable history of theAnglo-Saxons.) The account Bede gives of this remarkable event, suggests a moststriking warning against National and Religious prejudices.--W. W.1822. Appendix note. [40] Taliesin was present at the battle which preceded thisdesolation.--W. W. 1822. Taliesin was chief bard and retainer in the Hall of Urien, the greatNorth England Cymric chief. He sang of Urien's and his son Owain'svictories, in the middle of the sixth century. See Pitseus, _RelationesHistoricae de rebus Anglicis_, 1619, vol. i. p. 95, _De Thelesino_.See also Sharon Turner's _History of the Anglo-Saxons_ (vol. i. bookiii. chap, iv.).--ED. [41] 1827. ... or pass away like steam; 1822. [42] _e.g._ in the Lake District, the Greta, Derwent, etc.--ED. [43] _e.g._ in the Lake District, Stone Arthur, Blencathara, andCatbells.--ED.
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