considered by the English, that the King thought it necessary to march against Owen in person; but, after endeavouring to dislodge him from his fastnesses among the mountains, and losing the flower of his army in the attempt, he returned to London in chagrin and disgrace. Taking advantage of this interval, Owen over-ran South-Wales; taking many of the castles, garrisoning some, setting fire to others, and destroying by fire and sword every thing that opposed the execution of his designs.

The King, having recruited his army, and filled his treasury by contributions, again took the field against this arch-rebel; but with no better success. Want of victory was, in this case, defeat; for every day Owen acquired new friends and additional strength. The year 1402 was the meridian of his glory. He completely subdued his great enemy Grey, who had again appeared in arms, and forced him into a matrimonial alliance with one of his daughters. Having thus secured him, he proceeded to an act, which, however politic it might be considered from the urgency of the times, yet cannot its atrocity ever be wiped from the escutcheon of Glyndwr. Under pretence that many of the clergy had favoured the cause of Henry, unheard, and with a total disregard to innocence or guilt, he adjudged them to the sword, and sacrilegiously sacked and destroyed the cathedrals of St. Asaph and Bangor. Owen was now become the hope of his friends and the terror of his enemies. The repeated trump of victory had

roused the dormant spirit of the most indifferent parts of the country. And by his past experience, and the influx of additional troops, he became still more formidable from an invasion of the North, by the Scotch, which created a powerful diversion in his favour. He was not only able to over-run great part of the principality, but to make predatory excursions, and levy contributions to the banks of the Severn. Victory trod close upon the heels of victory; and the English, beaten and discomforted in every quarter, to cover the disgrace of total defeat, attri buted the causes to the incantations of witches and wicked sprites, enlisted under the banners of the British Chieftain. Owen judiciously encouraged an idea so calculated to inspire his own army with courage, and throw dismay and terror among the troops of his enemy. The Prince of English Bards, while he pourtrays the vanity of Owen, makes him vauntingly boast of his connection with the spiritual world:

"Where is he living, clipt in with the sea

That chides the banks of England, Wales, or Scotland,
Who calls me pupil? or has read to me?

And bring him out, that is but woman's son,

Can trace me in the tedious ways of art;
Or hold me pace in deep experiments?
I can call spirits from the vasty deep.

Owen's affairs began to wear so prosperous an aspect, that he assembled a Parliament of the principal gentlemen who espoused his cause at Mach

ynlleth.* His title to the principality was here formally acknowledged, and the crown placed upon his head. He entered into an alliance with the Percies of Northumberland, and with Mortimer, in the name of his brother the Earl of March; and this triumvirate, like the old one of Rome, placing their geographical instruments before them, divided the empire amongst them. The effects of this coalition, however, was not friendly to the cause of Glyndwr. Two armies arrived under the command of Mortimer; and a third, under. Percy, tried to form a junction with Glyndwr, and encamped in the vicinity of Oswestry. Henry, with true military skill, sensible, how important it was to his cause to prevent, if possible, this junction, hastened by forced marches to engage Percy, at the risque of being surrounded by a detachment from the allies, whom he overtook and defeated near Shrewsbury. This cast a gloom upon Owen's atmosphere for some time; but spurning fear and trampling on difficulty, he entered into an alliance with Charles, King of France; by whose assistance, with troops and money, he renewed the war with redoubled vigour; and was

*Here he narrowly escaped assassination, from a snare laid for him by his brother-in-law, David Gam, a professed friend, in the pay of Henry. But the plot being opportunely discovered, Glyndwr escaped. He spared his life from affection for his wife, but kept him in close confinement for ten years.

Powel says (p. 316,) that he was released upon his solemnly promising to be true and loyal to Glyndwr in future; that David basely fled from his engagements, and Owen retaliated by burning his mansion, but Gam escaped.

so successful this campaign (1404), that the English; were driven from every post; the Principality was alienated from the Crown of England, and Welsh independence appeared firmly re-established. The next year the atmosphere was again darkened with clouds, and Heaven seemed to frown upon his affairs. The English troops, led by the wise and. intrepid Henry, Prince of Wales, proved invincible;› and the Welsh, as though suddenly bereft of their usual spirit, yielded in several pitched battles to superior discipline, and became an easy conquest to the enemy. The spirit of Owen himself, who had hitherto borne up against adversity, and shaken off difficulties like dew-drops from a lion's mane, seemed. broken; his principal friends dispersed; and he was obliged to wander from place to place, accompanied by a few trusty partizans, amidst the retired and secure parts of the woods and mountains. Shortly after this, Owen's fortune again revived. He received fresh succours from France; and we find him at the end of the year 1405, at the head of a powerful and well-appointed army, encamped on Wobury Hill, in the parish of Witley, near Worcester, the suburbs of which he burnt. The King was constrained to go a fourth time, in person, against this formidable enemy. Here the French, unequal in valour to the English, shamefully gave way at the beginning of the day; and the allied army experienced a most terrible defeat. Owen, with the remnant of the Welsh, made good his retreat to

the mountains of Wales; and feeling the indignation which the brave always experience at the sight of cowardice, sent the French troops home, and begun to turn his attention to internal defence. From this period his affairs began rapidly to decline ; his forces were not only weakened by the late disasters, but also by the defection of the whole district. of Ystradt Tywy. Though possessed of sufficient strength to retain his fortified positions, he was too weak to meditate any thing beyond defensive measures. Though his career was stopped, and his army almost dwindled to nothing, yet the spirit of Owen was not utterly depressed; for in opposition to a grant of lands made by Henry, consisting of estates belonging to the adherents of Owen, he was not behind the King in an ostentatious display of regal power. He granted a pardon to one John ap Howel ap Jevan Goch, " Anno principatus nostri VI, datum apud Kevn Llanvair X° die Jan. per ipsum principem," On the seal was the portrait of Owen, seated in a chair of state, bearing a sceptre in his right hand and a globe in his left. Having lost his principal fortresses, Owen, though he had acquired some additional followers, was unable to do little more than make prædatory inroads upon the Welsh Marches, Numbers of his friends, wearied with the length of the war and the hopeless prospect of final success, at length deserted his standard; and he was constrained to confine himself to the most dif ficult passes and defensible positions amidst the moun