Vixit hic Meredith circiter annum Domini
1477.
Madoc wyf, mwyedic wedd,
Iawn genau, Owen Gwynedd;
Ni fynnum dir, fy enaid oedd,
Na da mawr, ond y moroedd.
_The same in English._
Madoc I am the sonne of Owen Gwynedd
With stature large, and comely grace adorned;
No lands at home nor store of wealth me please,
My minde was whole to searche the ocean seas.
"These verses I received of my learned friend M. William
Camden." _Richard Hakluyt_, 1589.
[The eulogy of Meredydd ab Rhys is very indefinite, but deserves
notice on account of its early date. He "flourished," says W.
Owen, "between A.D. 1430 and 1460."]
"This land must needs be some part of that countrie of which the
Spaniardes affirme themselves to be the first finders sith
Hannos time; ... Whereupon it is manifest, that that countrie
was long before by Brytaines discouered, afore either Columbus
or Americus Vespatius lead anie Spaniardes thither. Of the viage
and returne of this Madoc there be _manie fables fained_, as the
common people doo use in distance of place {57} and length of
time rather to augment than to diminish: but sure it is, that
there he was."--HUMFREY LHOYD, _Additions to the Historie of
Cambria_, p. 228.
[Lhoyd, who translated the history of Caradoc, and made
considerable additions to it, died in 1568.
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