Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/110

lxxxiv 1205. He is said to have erected a tomb over his faithful dog, still known in Carnarvonshire by the name of Celhart's Grave. This tradition is the subject of an elegant ballad by the honourable Mr. Spencer, privately printed, in a single sheet, under the title of Beth Gêlert, or the Grave of the Greyhound. At Abergavenny Priory Church there is said to be the figure of an armed knight with a dog at his feet; and with this person, whoever he was, the story of Gelhart has also been connected. But the dog, as well as other animals, is frequently found at the feet of figures on old monuments. On the whole, the subject appears not undeserving of the consideration of Welsh Antiquaries. It would be proper however, on any such occasion, to bear in mind the numerous applications of circumstances altogether fabulous to real persons; one example of which has occurred in the story from the Gesta that immediately precedes the present.

It may be thought worth adding, that Virgil's original Gnat resembled in its outline, as given by Donatus, the story in the Gesta. A shepherd there falls asleep in a marshy spot of ground; a serpent