his awen, probably, would have possessed the vigor and abandon of Dewi Wyn and Eben Vardd ; but being brought up in the quiet Vale of Clwyd, his muse was fashioned after the characteristics of that fertile valley. If he had not the romantic grandeur of the mountains of Eryri, he represented the green meadows of that unique Valley ; and his poetry was tiuted with the exquisite colors, and was fragrant with the sweetest perfumes of the various flowers that adorn the banks of the river Clwyd.
Risiart Ddu, as poet and man, had a well-balanced mind. In his make up were blended all the essentials of a successful bard. There are poets whose un- bridled imagination runs away with their judgment. But he was not superior in one trait, and hopelessly lacking in another. He was an all-round poet. He was a voracious reader, a very hard student, had a liberal education, excellent taste, a sound judgment. a love of the beautiful, a spiritual insight, and, above all, he was a young man of spotless character, and one that held communion with God. His strength was in the equipoise of his abilities. Risiart Ddu could compose with equal facility in both metres — the "Mesurau Gaethion" and "Mesurau Rhyddion." His Awdlau (odes), and Pryddestau (poems), prove this. He was a perfect master of the alliterative metrical system called Cynghaneddion, or Pedwar Mesur ar Hugain; and which are sometimes called Mesurau Dafydd ap Edmwnt. These metres are peculiar to Welsh poetry, and their musical cadence comes from a particular rhythmical sound of corres- ponding consonants. There are several kinds of these Cynghaneddion. This is not the place to explain them all, but we may give the reader an instance of
