"Who Amongst You, In This Company, Can Now Delight Our
Wearied Ears By Whistling?" Which Is Not Easily Done By People Out
Of Breath.
He affirming that he could, if he thought fit, the sweet
notes are heard, in an adjoining wood, of a bird, which some said
was a woodpecker, and others, more correctly, an aureolus.
The
woodpecker is called in French, spec, and with its strong bill,
perforates oak trees; the other bird in called aureolus, from the
golden tints of its feathers, and at certain seasons utters a sweet
whistling note instead of a song. Some persons having remarked,
that the nightingale was never heard in this country, the
archbishop, with a significant smile, replied, "The nightingale
followed wise counsel, and never came into Wales; but we, unwise
counsel, who have penetrated and gone through it." We remained that
night at Banchor, {159} the metropolitan see of North Wales, and
were well entertained by the bishop of the diocese. {160} On the
next day, mass being celebrated by the archbishop before the high
altar, the bishop of that see, at the instance of the archbishop and
other persons, more importunate than persuasive, was compelled to
take the cross, to the general concern of all his people of both
sexes, who expressed their grief on this occasion by loud and
lamentable vociferations.
CHAPTER VII
The island of Mona
From hence, we crossed over a small arm of the sea to the island of
Mona, {161} distant from thence about two miles, where Roderic, the
younger son of Owen, attended by nearly all the inhabitants of the
island, and many others from the adjacent countries, came in a
devout manner to meet us. Confession having been made in a place
near the shore, where the surrounding rocks seemed to form a natural
theatre, {162} many persons were induced to take the cross, by the
persuasive discourses of the archbishop, and Alexander, our
interpreter, archdeacon of that place, and of Sisillus, abbot of
Stratflur. Many chosen youths of the family of Roderic were seated
on an opposite rock, and not one of them could be prevailed upon to
take the cross, although the archbishop and others most earnestly
exhorted them, but in vain, by an address particularly directed to
them. It came to pass within three days, as if by divine vengeance,
that these young men, with many others, pursued some robbers of that
country. Being discomfited and put to flight, some were slain,
others mortally wounded, and the survivors voluntarily assumed that
cross they had before despised. Roderic, also, who a short time
before had incestuously married the daughter of Rhys, related to him
by blood in the third degree, in order, by the assistance of that
prince, to be better able to defend himself against the sons of his
brothers, whom he had disinherited, not paying attention to the
wholesome admonitions of the archbishop on this subject, was a
little while afterwards dispossessed of all his lands by their
means; thus deservedly meeting with disappointment from the very
source from which he expected support.
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