[32] Urien was chief of the Cymri, and led them in the great conflict of the sixth century against the Angles.--ED. [33] Such as Aneurin, Taliesin, Llywarch Hen, and Merlin.--ED. XI SAXON CONQUEST Nor wants the cause the panic-striking aid Of hallelujahs[34] tost from hill to hill-- For instant victory. But Heaven's high will Permits a second and a darker shade Of Pagan night. Afflicted and dismayed, 5 The Relics of the sword flee to the mountains: O wretched Land! whose tears have flowed like fountains; Whose arts and honours in the dust are laid By men yet scarcely conscious of a care For other monuments than those of Earth;[35] 10 Who, as the fields[36] and woods have given them birth, Will[37] build their savage fortunes only there; Content, if foss, and barrow, and the girth Of long-drawn rampart, witness what they were.[38] FOOTNOTES: [34] Alluding to the victory gained under Germanus. See Bede.--W. W. 1822. The Saxons and Picts threatening the Britons, the latter asked the assistance of Germanus. The following is Bede's account:--"Germanus bearing in his hands the standard, instructed his men all in a loud voice to repeat his words, and the enemy advancing securely, as thinking to take them by surprise, the priests three times cried Hallelujah. A universal shout of the same word followed, and the hills resounding the echo on all sides, the enemy was struck with dread.... They fled in disorder, casting away their arms." (Bede, _Ecclesiastica Historia gentis Anglorum_, book i. chap. xx.)--ED. [35] The last six lines of this Sonnet are chiefly from the prose of Daniel; and here I will state (though to the Readers whom this Poem will chiefly interest it is unnecessary) that my obligations to other prose writers are frequent,--obligations which, even if I had not a pleasure in courting, it would have been presumptuous to shun, in treating an historical subject. I must, however, particularise Fuller, to whom I am indebted in the Sonnet upon Wicliffe and in other instances. And upon the acquittal of the Seven Bishops I have done little more than versify a lively description of that event in the MS. Memoirs of the first Lord Lonsdale.--W. W. 1822. [36] 1827. Intent, as fields ... 1822. [37] 1827. To ... 1822. [38] 1827. Witness the foss, the barrow, and the girth Of many a long-drawn rampart, green and bare! 1822. XII MONASTERY OF OLD BANGOR[39]