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«In the language thus cherished and kept, John Jones has 
shown his political ideas. Next to preaching, poetry and music 
are his chief delight. Few nations, and none so small, have had 
so many poets. From Taliesin to the last chaired bard he has 
had a succession of poets of whom he is justly proud.” 
The Lecturer then proceeded to discuss the peculiarities of the 
Welsh language, and dwelt on the relative use of consonants and 
vowels in English and Welsh, pointing out the difficulty often 
experienced. in translating the masterpieces of Welsh poets into 
the English tongue, at the same time retaining the original 
metre and style of composition. Welsh poetry, however, is not 
all written in special or peculiar metre ; much of it is in what is 
styled ‘‘free metre,” and the same difficulty does not arise in 
translating such into English verse. 
« Recently the Rev. Edmund 0. Jones, Vicar of Llanidloes, 
himself a poet of no mean order, had done a great service to 
English readers by publishing two volumes of translations, under 
the title of ‘ Welsh Lyrics of the Nineteenth Century.’”’ 
Mr. Davies then read several extracts from this volume, giving 
in each case, a short account of the writers. The examples read 
being from the writings of John Blackwell, of Mold; Evan Evans, 
of Trefriw: Robert Williams, of Llanrwst (a poet of no mean 
order) ; Evan Jones, of Brithdir ; John Ceiriog Hughes, station- 
master, of Llanidloes, Towyn and Carsws, and William Thomas, 
of Flint. The selections gave an idea of the kind of poetry pre- 
valent in Wales, both in past times and also at the present day. 
«¢ We have a very old literature, as the mere mention of the 
‘Triads of the Bards of Britain’ and the ‘Mabinogion’ alone will 
show. How old the triads are no one can tell. Some of them 
are, probably, comparatively modern, not more than five, six or 
seven hundred years old; but others date before the Christian 
27 
era. 
‘Tn the best collections there are hundreds and even thousands 
of Apothegms, or proverbs, as the name suggests. They are not, 
of course, of equal merit, but let me give you two or three from 
the ‘ Triads of Song.’”’ 
1. ‘The three chief essentials of the Muse: An eye to see nature; a 
heart to feel nature; and daring to follow nature.’’ 
2. ‘The three purposes of poetry : The increase of good ; the increase 
of understanding ; and the increase of happiness.”’ 
3. ‘The three purities of song: Pure truth; pure language; and 
pure form.” 
4, ‘The three joys of the Bards of Britain: The increase of knowledge ; 
ee improvement of morality ; and victorious peace in place of plunder and 
pillage.” 
