Page:The Mabinogion.djvu/78

Rh —Page 6.

word in the original Welsh is gorffoys, which is evidently the same as orfrays, or aurifrigia. This was a kind of fretwork, or embroideiy of gold, and is mentioned thus in the playful description of the allegorical figure of Idlenesse, which occurs in the Bomaunt of the Rose: And of fine orfais had she eke

A chapelet, so semely on,

Ne wered never maide upon;

And faire above that chapelet

A rose garlonde had she set."—562–6.

—Page 6.

of this material are frequently mentioned by the Bards, and appear to have been made use of by the Welsh in all their banquets. There is still extant in the Welsh language, a spirited poem by Owain Kyveiliog, Prince of Powis, called the Hirlas, a name by which his drinking-horn was known, and which he describes as

"The highly honoured bufifalo-hom Hirlas, enriched with ancient silver.""

In the course of this poem, one passage occurs of a highly dramatic character. The Prince having sent round the horn to several chieftains, at length orders it to be filled with the choicest beverage, and borue to Tudur and Moreiddig, at the same time expatiating with gratitude and admiration upon their valour, and the eminent services they had rendered him in the arduous conflicts in which he had been engaged. Turning round in the fulnera of his heart to address them personally, he perceives their places vacant; and suddenly recollecting that they had both fallen in one of the late encounters, he bursts out in a pathetic strain of lamentation, "The wail of death has been heard, they both have departed!—O, lost Moreiddig, how greatly shall I miss thee!"

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This description answers to that of the Fountain of Barenton, in the forest of Breceliande, to which locality it is referred in the