But the modern bard of Wales is the
counterpart of his Scottish brother, of whom Scott wrote:--
"The way was long, the wind was cold,
The minstrel was infirm and old;
His withered cheeks and tresses gray
Seemed to have known a better day;
The harp, his sole remaining joy,
Was carried by an orphan boy.
* * * * *
No more on prancing palfry borne,
He carolled light as lark at morn;
No longer courted and caress'd,
High placed in hall, a welcome guest,
He poured to lord and lady gay
The unpremeditated lay."
Nor will the modern visitor to the castles and halls of the Principality,
not to mention its principal hotels, often miss the dulcet strains of the
national lyre.
The song and minstrelsy of Wales have from the earliest period of its
history been nurtured by its eisteddfodau. It is ascertained that the
Prince Bleddyn ap Kynfyn held an eisteddfod in A.D. 1070, which was
attended by the bards and chief literati of the time. This eisteddfod
made rules for the better government of the bardic order. This annual
assemblage of princes, bards and literati has been regularly held through
the intervening centuries to the present time.
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