"Fear
Not," Says He, "Howel, The Wrath Of The King, Since He Must Go Into
Other Parts.
An important city which he possesses beyond sea is now
besieged by the king of France, on which account
He will postpone
every other business, and hasten thither with all possible
expedition." Three days afterwards, Howel received advice that this
event had really come to pass, owing to the siege of the city of
Rouen. He forewarned also Howel of the betraying of his castle at
Usk, a long time before it happened, and informed him that he should
be wounded, but not mortally; and that he should escape alive from
the town. In this alone he was deceived, for he soon after died of
the same wound. Thus does that archenemy favour his friends for a
time, and thus does he at last reward them.
In all these singular events it appears to me most wonderful that he
saw those spirits so plainly with his carnal eyes, because spirits
cannot be discerned by the eyes of mortals, unless they assume a
corporeal substance; but if in order to be seen they had assumed
such a substance, how could they remain unperceived by other persons
who were present? Perhaps they were seen by such a miraculous
vision as when king Balthazar saw the hand of one writing on the
wall, "Mane, Techel, Phares," that is, weighed, numbered, divided;
who in the same night lost both his kingdom and his life. But
Cambria well knows how in these districts, from a blind desire of
dominion, a total dissolution of the endearing ties of
consanguinity, and a bad and depraved example diffused throughout
the country, good faith has been so shamefully perverted and abused.
CHAPTER VI
Newport and Caerdyf
At Newport, where the river Usk, descending from its original source
in Cantref Bachan, falls into the sea, many persons were induced to
take the cross. Having passed the river Remni, we approached the
noble castle of Caerdyf, {77} situated on the banks of the river
Taf. In the neighbourhood of Newport, which is in the district of
Gwentluc, {78} there is a small stream called Nant Pencarn, {79}
passable only at certain fords, not so much owing to the depth of
its waters, as from the hollowness of its channel and muddy bottom.
The public road led formerly to a ford, called Ryd Pencarn, that is,
the ford under the head of a rock, from Rhyd, which in the British
language signifies a ford, Pen, the head, and Cam, a rock; of which
place Merlin Sylvester had thus prophesied: "Whenever you shall see
a mighty prince with a freckled face make an hostile irruption into
the southern part of Britain, should he cross the ford of Pencarn,
then know ye, that the force of Cambria shall be brought low." Now
it came to pass in our times, that king Henry II. took up arms
against Rhys, the son of Gruffydd, and directed his march through
the southern part of Wales towards Caermardyn.
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