Machynlleth - Remarkable Events - Ode to Glendower - Dafydd Gam -Lawdden's Hatchet.
MACHYNLLETH, pronounced Machuncleth, is one of the principal towns of the district which the English call Montgomeryshire, and the Welsh Shire Trefaldwyn or the Shire of Baldwin's town, Trefaldwyn or the town of Baldwin being the Welsh name for the town which is generally termed Montgomery. It is situated in nearly the centre of the valley of the Dyfi, amidst pleasant green meadows, having to the north the river, from which, however, it is separated by a gentle hill. It possesses a stately church, parts of which are of considerable antiquity, and one or two good streets. It is a thoroughly Welsh town, and the inhabitants, who amount in number to about four thousand, speak the ancient British language with considerable purity.
Machynlleth has been the scene of remarkable events, and is connected with remarkable names, some of which have rung through the world. At Machynlleth, in 1402, Owen Glendower, after several brilliant victories over the English, held a parliament in a house which is yet to be seen in the Eastern Street, and was formally crowned King of Wales; in his retinue was the venerable bard Iolo Goch, who, imagining that he now saw the old prophecy fulfilled, namely, that a prince of the race of Cadwaladr should rule the Britons, after emancipating them from the Saxon yoke, greeted the chieftain with an ode, to the following effect:-"Here's the life I've sigh'd for long:
Abash'd is now the Saxon throng, And Britons have a British lord Whose emblem is the conquering sword;There's none I trow but knows him well, The hero of the watery dell, Owain of bloody spear in field, Owain his country's strongest shield;A sovereign bright in grandeur drest, Whose frown affrights the bravest breast.
Let from the world upsoar on high A voice of splendid prophecy!
All praise to him who forth doth stand To 'venge his injured native land!
Of him - of him a lay I'll frame Shall bear through countless years his name, In him are blended portents three, Their glories blended sung shall be:
There's Oswain, meteor of the glen, The head of princely generous men;Owain the lord of trenchant steel, Who makes the hostile squadrons reel;Owain, besides, of warlike look, A conqueror who no stay will brook;Hail to the lion leader gay!
Marshaller of Griffith's war array;
The scourger of the flattering race, For them a dagger has his face;Each traitor false he loves to smite, A lion is he for deeds of might;Soon may he tear, like lion grim, All the Lloegrians limb from limb!
May God and Rome's blest father high Deck him in surest panoply!
Hail to the valiant carnager, Worthy three diadems to bear!
Hail to the valley's belted king!
Hail to the widely conquering, The liberal, hospitable, kind, Trusty and keen as steel refined!
Vigorous of form he nations bows, Whilst from his breast-plate bounty flows.
Of Horsa's seed on hill and plain Four hundred thousand he has slain.
The copestone of our nation's he, In him our weal, our all we see;Though calm he looks his plans when breeding, Yet oaks he'd break his clans when leading.
Hail to this partisan of war, This bursting meteor flaming far!
Where'er he wends, Saint Peter guard him, And may the Lord five lives award him!"To Machynlleth on the occasion of the parliament came Dafydd Gam, so celebrated in after time; not, however, with the view of entering into the councils of Glendower, or of doing him homage, but of assassinating him. This man, whose surname Gam signifies crooked, was a petty chieftain of Breconshire. He was small of stature and deformed in person, though possessed of great strength.