slain by Owen Cyfeilioc, his cousin-german; and while he was thus
venting his anger and revenge, and violently brandishing his lance,
it suddenly snapped asunder, and fell disjointed in several pieces
to the ground, the handle only remaining in his hand. Alarmed and
astonished at this omen, which he considered as a certain signal for
his taking the cross, he voluntarily offered his services.

In this third district of Wales, called Powys, there are most
excellent studs put apart for breeding, and deriving their origin
from some fine Spanish horses, which Robert de Belesme, {188} earl
of Shrewsbury, brought into this country: on which account the
horses sent from hence are remarkable for their majestic proportion
and astonishing fleetness.

Here king Henry II. entered Powys, in our days, upon an expensive,
though fruitless, expedition. {189} Having dismembered the hostages
whom he had previously received, he was compelled, by a sudden and
violent fall of rain, to retreat with his army. On the preceding
day, the chiefs of the English army had burned some of the Welsh
churches, with the villages and churchyards; upon which the sons of
Owen the Great, with their light-armed troops, stirred up the
resentment of their father and the other princes of the country,
declaring that they would never in future spare any churches of the
English. When nearly the whole army was on the point of assenting
to this determination, Owen, a man of distinguished wisdom and
moderation - the tumult being in some degree subsided - thus spake:
"My opinion, indeed, by no means agrees with yours, for we ought to
rejoice at this conduct of our adversary; for, unless supported by
divine assistance, we are far inferior to the English; and they, by
their behaviour, have made God their enemy, who is able most