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Facsimile & Text of the Book of Taliesin

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Facsimile & Text of the Book of Taliesin •J--. msm^mmM u THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD FOR THE ENGLISH READING ROOM (5\0JLJi oiiL..<3L- I(j)bj)r Caltessin. Polumc \x. of tt)e : Eight hundred Copies of this IVorh were printed at the Pri-jate Press of the Editor in igoo-04; Nos. I—125 on Japanese Vellum paper; 126—^75 on toned linen-made paper; 2j6—4^0 on deckled-edgepaper 4SI—800 have Text only. mj^ii jTacsimile t Ce^t of tf)t i^oofe of Caliesm KcproDuceD $ oBDitcD l|?on. i«.a.. t t?on. D. Litt. (a^xon.) l^on, 3D, titt. (MaaUfl). Keis a vedrich, ac a eliteh guna. tlanficDtog, J^. CQales : JooucO to stubjjcribrrjj onlj». i-ft.D^cac.x. Withdrawn <:li'hi is deserted, & taliesin is jettisoned. There is no oracle left to Pre- consult, and no lecture-room open that face names the name of Taliesin. The learned who write in Encyclopedias are like the bards at the Court of Deganwy — in the presence of Taliesin they become mute mutterers of Blerwm, hlerwm.^ This is very remarkable when we recall the fact that our earlier and better poets esteemed Taliesin as their ' chief,' and most assuredly they were right. What then is the explanation of the neglect, not to say bo)xot, of our time? The mtinuscript*' which contains his poetical works is beautifully' written, and 2} one of the easiest to read. Alas, it is also one of the most difificult to understand, because it is among the least faithful of transcripts. The manifest corruptions of the text provide a luxurious excuse for doing nothing to such as take their ease in the Halls of learning. But is there no way of removing the lion from the path? I believe so; and I venture to hope that something has been done in that direction by the provision of a text which reproduces all the features of the original, both in collotj'pc Facsimile and in typography. Every worker can thus examine the materials in their earliest known form, and in his own workshop. lie who has eyes to see will learn much from the Facsimile as to the ways a .See I Lines T.iliesin in L<idy Guest's M.ibinogion, Vol. iii. p. 337. b Pcni.irth M.S. 2, now in the National Library of Wales. The Facsimile Ix'tlurs any description of it. See Introduction, p. .\Iiii., f.n.76; and Text p. 81. B.T. 1. n*2 J?!M> and idiosyncracics of the scribe ; he will see how various errors must have arisen, and make discoveries Pre which otherwise had been impossible for him. He is in no sense de[>endent on the personal equation of the pre- sent editor, for he can test the printed page against the Facsimile. The foundation being thus well and truly laid, the stability of any superstructure attempted will depend on the skill and efficiency of the architect and workman engaged. And if a word of warning may be ' offered, it is this : Let no one take the labels ' on trust, but make sure that they have the signification he attaches to them. In the Introduction an attempt has been made to focus attention on the necessity and value of this preliminary inquiry. There is no source more fruitful of error than to read modern ideas into old geographical names, which are ever changing their con- notation, as human struggles shift the boundaries. For e.xample Pr>'dein and Germania,<^ in the twelfth century, meant very different areas from what they do to-day, or may have on the morrow. Without a specialized study of Historical Geography, no lasting progress is possible in the knowledge and understanding of a text like that of Taliesin. Words, too, have to be examined, and understood in the sense in which the author used them — not in the sense they may have in our day. We trip most grievously over words the most familiar, because it does not occur to us to examine their mean- ing historically. It is not enough to verify our refer- ences ; we must verify everything. We must also catechise the author at every opportunity. His allu- sions to historical persons and events enable us to fix c Gerniaiiia in llie 12th century comprehended Denmark, Norw.ay, Sweden. >'. B.T. dates, before which he had not written, for compositions Tal- do not ante-date their subject, be it of battle or person, ies- a paean or elegy. If the internal evidence, supported in's considerations, by linguistic and grammatical proves age that our text was written in the twelfth century and after, it is sheer lunacy to claim for any part of it a sixth century origin. That Taliesin flourished in the middle of the twelfth century there can be no manner of doubt ; and he was held in such high esteem that his manner, his style was imitated.'^ ' But,' it has been ob- jected, 'there might have been another Taliesin who lived in the si.xth century.' Where is the evidence for this ghost, this birth of fraud, this tattle of public platforms ? Might-have-been is not evidence, but the offspring of indolent belief, which shirks the effort to think. To say this is to fly in the face of that Providence which pro- vides for the sim[)le, but the man who has seen a truth cannot be as if he had not seen it. Sooner or later truth will out, and will be proclaimed on the housetops. Bann gwir ban Siscleir — bannach ban leveir, 353=11.59. A variety of evidence has been examined in the Introduction, and need not be recapitulated here.'^ One subject, however, remains. The transformation passages, which are a feature of Taliesin, have not been discussed.^ They occur in several places ;S seem- ingly they bear no very definite relation to their setting. It is doubtful if the doctrine of transmigration was ever in the poet's mind, for some of the '/ have bcens' are his- d See Red Book Poetry iC6'38 ; M. 2143 ; cp. M. i69"28. e The Introduction to the Book of .Aneirin contains important additional matter, wliich develops and confirms the Historical argument. f See Mr. S. Hartland's Perseus, vol. ii., p. 56. g Sce2a'i9-24, 239-17, 26'20-22, 4819-23, 71 '8-18. B.T. Hi. torict"il.'> Mad Talicsiii been a Greek scliolar he might have been inspired by tiie lines of Empedocies who sang: rans Whenever one of ihe il;ienions, whose portion is length of days, pollutes his hands with blood he must wander thrice ten thou- '"^ sand seasons from the abode of the blessed, being born through- lions m|( j|,g lime jn all manner of mortal forms, changing one toilsome path of life for another. ... J have been a youth, & a maiden, & a bush, & a bird & a gleaming fish in the sea.' We also meet with the following transformation passage in Amergin's verse, reputed to be the oldest in Irish : I am the wind which breathes upon the sea, I am the wave of the ocean, 1 am the murmur of the billows, I am the o\ in the seven combats, i am the vulture upon the rock, I am a beam of the sun, I am the fairest of plants, 1 am a wild boar in valour, 1 am a salmon in the water, I am a lake in the jilain, I am a word of science, I am the point of the lance, I am the vital spark of thought. Who throws light into the meeting on the mountain ? Who knows the couch whereon the sun rests P'' At Hasingwerk Abbey, or at the Court of Owein Gwyn- eS in Tegeingl, Taliesin might very well have met an Irishman, or Irish scholar who repeated these lines of Amergin in his hearing. Their novelty and freshness are striking — are such as were likely to haunt a poet of the temperament of Taliesin, and to bear fruit during \ his rambles over the wastes of ILwy venyS, where the vervain beset his path and enchanted his imagination. I was in many a guise . I was an eagle . 1 was for a time in the sky observing the stars . I was a drop in the shower . 1 was a great current on the slopes . I was a wave in the plains . I was a young sahiion . I was a King-fisher . I was a speckled snake on the hill . I was a dragon in the lake . I was a string in the harp of enchantment . I am a bard and harpist . I am the lyrist of eulogy . Whence the brightness on the height ?« h See 817, 241, 33'23. 48 22, 71 19-22. i See Early Greek Philosophy by Prof. John Burnet; .-iiid .\ncient Greek Liler.ilurc by Prof. Gilljert Murr.iy. iv. B.T. It is fatuous folly to imagine that early Welsh literature is a thing apart. This creative parallelism between Taliesin and Amergin is too close to be mere coin- . cidence, especially when we remember that GrififyS ap ^^^^ Kynan, born of an Irish mother, could not grow up amid the culture and traditions of an Irish court without ac(]uiring and spreading them. The fact that we have a life of GriffyS' suggests that he brought in his train a man versed in letters, for there is no biograph)^ of any other Kymric prince. Foreign ecclesiastics had also followed the Norman conqueror — scholarly men whose knowledge of the classics was superior to the clergy of this country.'" We see, in the many His- tories that were written in the course of the twelfth century that a more bracing intellectual atmosphere had entered the island with the advent of the Normans, whose cosmopolitan character yielded fresh impulses in literature as in all other things.
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