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 156 THE DECLINE AND FALL poverty, almost exliausted by the clergy, was oppressed by the importunate demands of the bards. Their rank and merit were ascertained by solemn trials, and the strong belief of supernatural inspiration exalted the fancy of the poet and of his audience.^''* The last retreats of Celtic freedom, the extreme territories of Gaul and Britain, were less adapted to agriculture than to pas- turage ; the wealth of the Britons consisted in their flocks and herds ; milk and flesh were their ordinary food ; and bread was sometimes esteemed, or rejected, as a foreign luxury. Liberty had peopled the mountains of Wales and the morasses of Ar- morica ; but their populousness has been maliciously ascribed to the loose practice of polygamy ; and the houses of these licentious barbarians have been supposed to contain ten wives and perhaps fifty children, i'^'' Their disposition was rash and choleric ; they were bold in action and in speech ; i^*' and, as they were ignorant of the arts of peace, they alternately in- dulged their passions in foreign and domestic war. The cavalry of Armorica, the spearmen of Gwent, and the archers of Merioneth were equally formidable ; but their poverty could seldom procure either shields or helmets ; and the inconvenient weight would have retarded the speed and agility of their desultory operations. One of the greatest of the English monarchs was requested to satisfy the curiosity of a Greek emperor concerning the state of Britain; and Henry II. could assert, from his personal experi- ence, that Wales was inhabited by a race of naked warriors, who encountered, without fear, the defensive armour of their of Britain of empire, were contracted. The dark cloud, which had been i**^ Mr. Pennant's Tour in Wales (p. 426-449) has furnished me with a curious and interesting account of the Welsh bards. In the year 1568, a session was held at Caerwys by the special command of Queen Elizabeth, and regular degrees in vocal and instrumental music were conferred on fifty-five minstrels. The prize (a silver harp) was adjudged by the Mostyn family. itis Regio longe lateque diffusa, milite, magis quam credibile sit, referta. Par- tibus equidem in illis miles unus quinquaginta general, sortitus more barbaro denas aut amplius uxores. This reproach of William of Poitiers (in the Historians of France, torn. xi. p. 88) is disclaimed by the Benedictine editors. iss Giraldus Cambrensis confines this gift of bold and ready eloquence to the Romans, the French, and the Britons. The malicious Welshman insinuates that the English taciturnity might possibly be the effect of their servitude under the Normans. It*' The picture of Welsh and Armorican manners is drawn from Giraldus (De- script. Cambrice, c. 6-15, inter Script. Camden, p. 886-891) and the authors quoted by the Abb6 de Vertot (Hist. Criticjue, torn, ii^ p. 259-266).