Chapter 2 - Page 2

the quantity of their food, and, eating rather
delicately than largely, ridiculed the coarser taste of the
Britons, although the last were in their banquets much more
moderate than were the Saxons; nor would the oceans of _Crw_
and hydromel, which overwhelmed the guests like a deluge, have
made up, in their opinion, for the absence of the more elegant and
costly beverage which they had learnt to love in the south of
Europe. Milk, prepared in various ways, was another material of
the British entertainment, which would not have received their
approbation, although a nutriment which, on ordinary occasions,
often supplied the Avant of all others among the ancient
inhabitants, whose country was rich in flocks and herds, but poor
in agricultural produce.

The banquet was spread in a long low hall, built of rough wood
lined with shingles, having a fire at each end, the smoke of
which, unable to find its way through the imperfect chimneys in
the roof, rolled in cloudy billows above the heads of the
revellers, who sat on low seats, purposely to avoid its stifling
fumes. [Footnote: The Welsh houses, like those of the cognate
tribes in Ireland and in the Highlands of Scotland, were very
imperfectly supplied with chimneys. Hence, in the History of the
Gwydir Family, the striking expression of a Welsh chieftain who,
the house being assaulted and set on fire by his enemies, exhorted
his friends to stand to their defence, saying he had seen as much
smoke in the hall upon a Christmas even.] The mien and appearance
of the company assembled was wild, and, even in their social
hours, almost terrific. Their prince himself had the gigantic port
and fiery eye fitted to sway an unruly people, whose delight was
in the field of battle; and the long mustaches which he and most
of his champions wore, added to the formidable dignity of his
presence. Like most of those present, Gwenwyn was clad in a simple
tunic of white linen cloth, a remnant of the dress which the
Romans had introduced into provincial Britain; and he was
distinguished by the Eudorchawg, or chain of twisted gold links,
with which the Celtic tribes always decorated their chiefs. The
collar, indeed, representing in form the species of links made by
children out of rushes, was common to chieftains of inferior rank,
many of whom bore it in virtue of their birth, or had won it by
military exploits; but a ring of gold, bent around the head,
intermingled with Gwenwyn's hair--for he claimed the rank of one
of three diademed princes of Wales, and his armlets and anklets,
of the same metal, were peculiar to the Prince of Powys, as an
independent sovereign. Two squires of his body, who dedicated
their whole attention to his service, stood at the Prince's back;