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......... WELSH NATIONAL PAGEANT…

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WELSH NATIONAL PAGEANT OPENS AT CARDIFF. MARCHIONESS OF BUTE'S TRIUMPH AS DAME WALES. SPLENDID RECEPTION FOR VISCOUNT TREDEGAR. A DAZZLING KALEIDOSCOPE AS THE GRAND FINALE. Bright sunlight, with the glitter of gold and silver and the flash of many colours on a cool, green lawn. Never has Pageant had so brilliant an opening as that of the National Pageant of Wales on Monday. The events were in keeping with the day. The shilling stands, curiously enough, were almost vacant, but the expensive seats wero thronged with fashionable spectators. whose dresses seemed a dim reflection of the gaudy pageantry of the arena. And the performance? Not a single mis- take, nor a second's delay. From the beginning to flu end the procession of history march< -ound in perfect order. The great arms ;f fifteen hundred years of life, crowds \\ith incidents, rich in leroiprn and romance and glorious in its petting, marched forward with resolution to the grand finale. For the clock of the Pageant, like the clock of the generations whose fleeting years it numbered, neither paused nor stopped. History has never had so magnificent a setting. Cardiff, or Wales, has never witnessed a sight so beautiful. it was 2.30, when the Pageant was timed to commence, that the Lord Mayor (Alderman Lewis Morgan), wearing his robes of bombazine and gold, and attended by the city council and the fire brigade, in helmets cf burnished brass, arrived in front cf the grand stand to perform the opening ceremony. The stand at the time was itself a pageantry of colour, the ladies' summer dresses adding distinction to the scene. One noticed many who, with kindly fore- thought for those who sat behind, came in mantillas, adopting the suggestion that Mrs. Henry Lewis, of Green meadow, put forward in the columns of the Western Mail." The delicate charm of the Southern head-dress added immensely to the picturesqueness of the scene, and now that the fashion has been set is it too much to hope that it will be adopted by all the ladies who attend the Pageant during the next week? The opening ceremony was commendably brief. While the Lord Mayor was speaking the distant background of trees was alive with flitting colours as the fairies came half- bidden to their entrances for the opening scene. The formal ceremonial over, there came the heralds, and after them the bards and the chorus, the latter emerg- ing from the castle scene in front, sink- ing Men of Harlech." Suddenly the field filled with colour as the fairies tripped their way in to a tuneful measure and ranged themselves in order. Through the field of colour came Dame Wales, Tesplendent in a shimmering robe of silk, "wiiJi a glittering crown of jewelled gold, and attended by the Thirteen Counties, each with a bannerette bearing the county arms. When it wsfe seen that the Marchioness of Bute was taking the part of Dame Wales the spectators cheered Vfith wild enthusiasm. Behind her iady- ship, bearing her full Court train, came Lady Margaret Stuart, while Lord Ninian Stuart and Captain M'Crae were! the Lords-in-Waiting, and Lady Noral Noel and Miss Alice Naish. all members i of the Castle house-party, were Ladies-in- Waiting. It was a.n imposing opening to what was destined to be a great per- formance, and Lady Bute played her part with a gentle grace and dignity which seemed to comprehend all that was heroic -and romantic in the episodes that were to follow. Graceful, too, were the ladies who played the Counties, to whom the Master of the Pageant had allotted a delicate suggestion of the inter-countv jealousies that from far off tribal days have made perfect unity in Wales impos- .Bible. The opening scene made way for the 'first episode, which gave U6 a picture as 'thrilling as any in the Pageant. It told >of Caradoe's appeal to Rhys, King of the ISilures, for help to throw back the tide of Roman invasion that was sweeping over Britain That was a thrilling! moment when, in response to the Trumpeter's blasts, the warriors and old ) men and women and children rushed from all parts of the field to join in the mighty shout, '• RhyvelJ (u War! ") which answered the historic question of the Archdruid unsheathing the sword, "A oes beddweh ? More thrilling still was the desperate rush of the exhausted messen- ger who brought tidings of the Roman advance. In a moment the Silurian warriors, their spears gleaming in the sun, swept into battle array, and, followed by tho women with knives unsheathed, and children glorying in the prospect of war, the host rushed off! while the strains. Let the hills resound with sons As we proudly march along. flooded the ai*. making every responsive lieart thrill with patriotic delight in the heroism of the ancient days. it is unnecessary to deal in detail with the scenes in the interlude that came after this brilliant episode. Readers of the Western Mail are already familiar with the story tney tell, and it must suffice to say here that the founding of Cardiff by the Romans, the prodama- lion of Maximus the Great, the coming Jf Vortigern and Cunedda and the first, jpave of Cvmry were depicted in sil- houettes of exquisite pageantry. YVej must pass to the time of Arthur, when Rome was the slowly fading mistress !>f the world." The old Welsh dirge, "Morva Rhuddlan," gave the tragic! undertone to the second episode. Far away, in the trees by the river baakj dimly suggestive of the sea whence the Arthur of romance came mysteriously to Merlin, could be seen the funeral proces- Bion of King Cynvor. The wailing of the women, who, clothed in white samite, Walked beside the bier, smote the ear with a note of plaintive sorrow that grew louder as the cortege advanced. We! were to imagine ourselves outside the High Hall of Camaloc, and imagination in such a pageant field, with the castle in the middle distance and trees circling the horizon beyond, was not a difficult feat. Here was enacted the crowning of Arthur by Merlin, accompanied by inci- dents that lent to the scene the fulness of tragedy and romance. Then came an interlude that told us of the coming of the second wave of Cymry, with the commencement of the Cymric Church, and the coming of the third wave with the" Alleluia!" Vic- tory, when the worshippers of the old fods of the Cymry were converted by *ewi Sant to the worship of the new. fhese ecclesiastical interludes were touched with the ritual of the ancient Church of Wales, contrasted immediately ifterwards by a scene that presented glimpse of a Roman Catholic processioi ai the eighth century. We were approaching now a time when the chaos of rival tribes was to give place to the law and order that Hywel Dda established with a code of laws that remained in force for seven hundred years. The change was strikingly told m the third episode. Here, indeed, was a picture of the past full of life and Illovcment and colour. We saw a taeadow in rural Wales where the girls flanced merrily to a harper and clerics Mid traders came and went their way in peace. Suddenly the rustic beauty of the scene was dissolved into terrified iiscrrder. The arena was filled with ruffians trying to seize the girls. Sal- rator Rosa has never peopled an immortal canvas with outlaws so convincing as that wild mob of which Captain Lionel Lind- I say, in the guise of chief ruffian, was the leader. The dramatic and the humorous i were skilfully blended with the pic- turesque, arid the flight of women and the wild rusb of horsemen save to taej scene a degree of very remarkable reaiism. Hvwel Dda, the King, came into tho midst of the hurly-burly. Save pL a cei'tain dignity of bearing, it was duheult to recognise in so clever a cos- jtunie as that worn by Hvwel Dda the Lord Mayor of Cardiff. "But when he spoke his identity was clear. He spoke with a voice ringing so firm and dear to at it could bs heard in most parts of the stand, and ho added to his bearing; with- out theatricality, the kingly gesture and conviction- that we instinctively associate w,: Ho\ye! the Good. The rounding up or tne ruffians by Hywel Dda's horsemen, [the joy of the people at the fate that attended their despoilers, the proclama- tion or the new code of laws that was to bring peace and contentment to wild VV ales were shown with the self-same realism that pervaded the whole episode, making it perhaps tne most comorehen- f, m 'iva-vs ths most effective episode m the Pageant. + J~terv-hat the interludes carried us into Norman times. Gruffydd ap LKwelvn, -Cidith of the Swan Neck, le*tyn ap Gwrgan and his dauzhter Nest and jlmion ap Cadivor passed "before us! J-specially charming was the incident of iestyn and his daughter returning from huntmg with a pack of hounds and hunts- man, when Pinion overtakes him and aemanas his daughter in marriage. It is a sh,rt. but hright and romantic, scene which Coionel and Mrs. Henrv Lewis and H. Lewis, of Greenmeadow, together with a large following of knights on horseback, enact with great effect. No loss effective m its simplicity and dignity was the scene where that other Nest, who causea endless trouble amongst her aumirers, stood outside the Castle attendee, oy the gorgeously-robed ladies ( her Court, and received suitors in turn. Gerald of Windsor, Owen ap Cauogan, Henry I., nay her court and pass on. It was to Stephen of Cardigan, a mail-clad knight, that she finally gave her hand. Mrs. Charles Forestier- VvaJker gave to the part the infinite charm and dignified bearing that helped ne Princess to occupy in the history of Wales a place akin to that which Helen occupied in the legend of Troy We saw also Robert Consul and Geoffrev of Monmouth, Walter Map and Giraldus ^ambrensis. men who have lent a lasting glamour to the literature of Wales- Gwenlhan, who passed bv with the warriors with whom sho defended Kid- welly Castle to the very end. At last we reached the Ivor Bach episode. Brilliant as were the scenes and episodes that had gone before, they did not lessen the eagerness with which the fourth episode was awaited. The story of Ivor Bach ma.es a stirring appeal to the popular imagination, and interest in the Pageant episode is increased by the ract that Mr. R. Lewis, who takes the part of Ivor, can claim descent from the hero, and that his famous men are amongst the leading footballers of Wales fleet-footed, therefore, to make the rush whicn carried the Castle of Cardiff by storm. The details in the carrying out of the episode surpassed anything that could have been imagined. Splendid as the renearsals of this episode were, they were nothing compared to the perfor- mance that was witnessed on Monday. Norman barons, mounted on spirited horses and wearing bright silver armour that flashes in the sun; stately ladies, attired in robes of the exquisite colours and designs of the period, re-endow with its mediaeval glories the Castle where the Prince of Glamorgan held Court and whence he ruled with tyrannous hand the surrounding clansmen. There was all the pomp and glory of baronial splendour about the surroundings; all the lofty Norman contempt for "a conquered race about the treatment of the clansmen. The thing had gone beyond elldurance. The clansmen were in revolt. Earl Wil- liam treated them with contumely. Ivor Bach, whose men could be seen con- cealed amongst the trees, rode out to proffer the clansmen aid. Meanwhile, th2 sentries kept guard above the draw- bridge, pacing along the Castle walls. As if by magic, the scene changed from its anxious calm into a rapid movement of wild exultation. Across the field, close on the heels of Ivor Bach's galloping steed, rushed his gallant men. making for the Castle. Their. clothes of white and purple fluttered gaily in the breeze. Pike and glaive flashed brightly as they sped Others brought up the scaling ladders and the paraphernalia of primitive siege. From the east and from the front armed men pressed on the Castle and scaled its walls. The Iv r:nan knights in armour tried in vain t ) .step tho rush. It was wild and irresistible. It was made with all the elan of real battle. It was followed by shouts of victory and the formal signing of the treaty which gave to the men of the Bro security against the impositions of Norman lords. The whole episode from beginning to end was of a most dramatic and thrilling kind, and it is one which no other Pageant is likelv to equal. The interludes that followed rose to the high water-mark of pageantry. Where, for instance, could be equalled fhe scene in which Llywelyn the Great. Prince of Wales, met the Lords-Marcher of Wales at Beaupre, a scene enacted by descen- dants of the men.who actually took part in the original episode ? Where, too, for fancy and poetry could be surpassed the introduction to the modern world of Davydd ap Gwilym. the fourteenth cen- tury bard, and the fair damsels he immortalised in odes that have placed him amongst the greatest bards of all time? If anything could surpass these scenes, it was the proclamation of Owen Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. Owen Glyndwr is one of the popular heroes of Welsh history. His representative at the Pageant is one of the most loved Welshmen of our day, a man who in cul- ture and courage comes close to the ideal conception of Glyndwr. When it was seen that Viscount Tredegar was acting the part of Glyndwr and Ladv ulan- gattock the part of his wife the demon- stration in the stand was, perhaps, as remarkable a tribute as has been paid to a popular nobleman. Tlie spectators rose to their feet enthusiastically cheering, cheering the personality no less than the singular beauty of the scene in which he was the central and commanding figure. It was a short, but a very thrilling, ,"ene, and the spectators cheered again and again when the Standard-bearer, at the bidding of Glyndwr, shook out the banner of tha Prince of Wales and then the old war flag of the Cymry. Not for long will one forget the gay cavalcade of colour, the mail-clad knights, and the beautiful robes of the ladies, and over ill the banners of Wales floating triumphantly in the breezes,, as Owen Glyndwr led the way to the exit. For the fifth episode a scene from Shakspeare's "Henry V. representing the field of Agincourt. where the Welsh bowmen played so decisive a part, ana Pistol is made to eat the leek. It is a familiar episode in literature, if not in history, and it was enacted at the Pageant on a scale of splendour that has probably never been surpassed on tne stage. The three scenes in the interlude that brought the Pageant to the finale maintained the same high standard of beauty—beauty of dressing and perfec- tion of acting. In the first, which represented Owen Tudor's winning of Queen Catherine, the costumes were especially beautiful, and the group dancing a pavane on the lawn in front of the Castle made a picture full of poetry and romance. There followed the crowning of Harry Tudor on the field or Bosworth and the new King's presenta-i tf.on of his sword to Richard ap fiowel of Mostyn, who was represented in the Pageant by his lineal descendant, Lord Mostyn. So, with the commencement of the Tudor dynasty, the Pageant passed into the times of peace and firm govern- ment, and the last historical incident depicted was the Act of Union between England and Wales, conferred by Henry VIII. amidst sounds of revelry and rejoicing. Gradually the Pageant had been worked up to a great denouement. His- tory had unfolded itself with increasing interest and pomp. ihe splendour multi- plied with the prosperity of each succeed- ing age. From the simple attire of Silurian warrior we had advanced through the armour of the Roman legionary to the mail-clad knights of Norman England and the pic- turesqueness of 'Jndor times. It wanted but one comprehensive sur- vey of them all to give complete- ness to the Pageant. And this was provided in the closing scene. All the characters who had taken part in the Pageant marched past the stand. There were five thousand or more, and they made a brave show, with their costumes, their flashing armour and jewels, and gaily fluttering banners. Here were the comings and the goings of the generations of Wales, peopling a canvas filled with a loftier romance and a fuller atmosphere than was ever painted even by a Turner. It was all "a hallow'd memory like the names of old," and about it floated eddies of melodious airs that carried us back to the Wales of the fighting men and the Wales of the mourners, and. anon, to the Wales of rural peace. The procession left on one's mind the impres- sion of a nation rich in colour and poetry, renowned in arms, famous in romance. When the procession was over and the performers ranged in front of the grand- stand, Damo Wales once more emerged from the Castle attended by the Counties. To each County flocked the fairiea, and the groups spun out in lines forming a map of Wales in many colours. Simul- taneously, the Pageant performers, who formed a brilliant background to the closing scene, sank on their knees, and .1 Hen W.lad fy Nhadau rose from the vast throng-- -a thrilling and a splendid ciose. Was there so much colour as all this in ancient and mediajval Wales? Or was it all the drab monotony of life that, for some reason or other, many people suppose it to have been? Yes: there was all this colour in ancient and mediaeval Wales. Our bards have left us word pictures of great country mansions where the gentry of Wales held magnifi- -le cent Court and dispensed splendid hospitality. They have t9ld of a Wales vigorous in movement, advanced in appreciation of the arts, and, above all, courageous in war- fare. It is such a Wales that the Pageant leaves impressed upon the memory. If iir be the duty of history to make the past present, then the Pageant is history of the richest and most perfect kind, since it peoples the land anew with its ancient heroes and re-animates the scenes in which they lived and won their fame.

OPENING CEREMONY.

MH. SEWARD'S HEAVY CLAIM

FLOWER-SELLER M UHDERED

KING'S BEST WISHES. +

GLAMORGAN ASSIZES.

TREASURES OF THE CITY-HALL.

A THAW LEU SUNK.

A LANGUAGE PROBLEM.

' PEOPLE WORRY TOO MUCH.'

HEALTH AND MORALS.