RISIART DDU. 13
any nation, quite a number of our poets fight against our "Mesurau Caethion." Many a battle on this subject was fought from time to time in the Committee of the National Eisteddfod, as well as in the papers. To win the "Chair" used to be the highest bardic honor the nation could bestow ; and the poetical composition for the "Chair" had to be in the Mesurau Caethion (Alliterative Metres). But the bards who disliked those metres wanted an equal honor to the Bryddest, composed in the Mesurau Rhyddion (Free Metres). Consequently, as a compromise, the "Chair" was offered a few times for the best composition in either metres—for an Awdl or a Pryddest. Hence the creation of a new order—the "Crown"—which is equal to the "Chair." And now, the "Chair" is for the Awdl and the "Crown" for the Pryddest.
While we bear this testimony to the peculiar euphony of the Cynghaneddion, we readily confess that it is easier, at least for most poets, to convey great and deep poetical thoughts in the Mesurau Rhyddion. Most of the poets of the last fifty years prefer the last mentioned metres. At the same time it is but fair to state that there is nothing in the poetry of the nations as perfect as the metrical system of the Welsh Cynghaneddion.
