Note 38b — SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT WELSH POETRY.

It was the policy of the British princes to make the Bards foretell their success in war, in order to spirit up their people to brave actions. Upon which account the vulgar supposed them to be real prophets. Hence the great veneration they had for the prophetical Bards, Myrddin Emrys, Taliesin, and Myrddin Wyllt. This accounts for what the English writers say of the Welsh relying so much upon the prophecies of Myrddin. There are many of these pretended prophecies still extant. The custom of prophecying did not cease till Henry the Seventh’s time, and the reason is obvious.