Page:The Mabinogion.djvu/218

Rh it It is said that the peculiar and extensive mining privileges of its inhabitants were confirmed to them by the grant of one of our sovereigns, in acknowledgment for the good service done him by its archers against the Scots; for, like most foresters, they were skilful bowmen. The yew-tree, sacred to archers, which is still seen to mark the site of almost every ancient mine in the forest, might seem to have a fanciful allusion to the nature of the grant, and a lingering desire to perpetuate the recollection of its origin.

—Page 142.

the Laws of Howel Dda, this important personage ranks as the tenth officer of the Court, and his duties and immunities are very clearly defined. From Christmas to February he was to be with the king when required, and took the seat appointed for him in the palace, which was "about the recess with the domestic chaplain."

After the 8th of February he was to go with his dogs, his horns, and his greyhounds to hunt the young stags until the feast of St. John, which is in the middle of summer; and during that time he was not bound to make compensation (that is, in a Court of Law) to any one who had a claim upon him, except it were one of his fellow-officer& He was to hunt deer from the feast of St. John till the ninth day of winter; and unless he could be taken before he had risen from bin bed, and put on his boots, he was not obliged to render compensation to any who had a claim upon him during all that period. From the ninth day of winter to the 1st of December he went to hunt badgers, and was not accountable for his conduct to any except his fellow-officers; and after that he was employed in sharing the skins of the beasts that had been slain, to a portion of which he had himself a right. His lodging was in the kilnhouse, and his allowance was three homfuls of liquor and a dish of meat The value of his horn was one pound, and it was to be of buffalo-horn (buelin).

—Page 142.

Chief Page, or Penn Mackwy, appears to have been the officer designated in the Welsh Laws as the Gwas Ystavell, and, as that name implies, he was required to attend to the arrangements of the king's chamber. It was his business to seek the burden of straw for the king to lie on, to make his lied, and to spread the clothes upon it; and in his keeping were the king's treasures, "his cup, his