time, and thus does he at last reward them.

In all these singular events it appears to me most wonderful that he
saw those spirits so plainly with his carnal eyes, because spirits
cannot be discerned by the eyes of mortals, unless they assume a
corporeal substance; but if in order to be seen they had assumed
such a substance, how could they remain unperceived by other persons
who were present? Perhaps they were seen by such a miraculous
vision as when king Balthazar saw the hand of one writing on the
wall, "Mane, Techel, Phares," that is, weighed, numbered, divided;
who in the same night lost both his kingdom and his life. But
Cambria well knows how in these districts, from a blind desire of
dominion, a total dissolution of the endearing ties of
consanguinity, and a bad and depraved example diffused throughout
the country, good faith has been so shamefully perverted and abused.



CHAPTER VI



Newport and Caerdyf


At Newport, where the river Usk, descending from its original source
in Cantref Bachan, falls into the sea, many persons were induced to
take the cross. Having passed the river Remni, we approached the
noble castle of Caerdyf, {77} situated on the banks of the river
Taf. In the neighbourhood of Newport, which is in the district of