68 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. V. 



the Romans found in Britain were able to hold their ground very tena- 

 ciously, and were not conii)elled to submit to absorption or to menial ser- 

 vitude, or to retire before their conquerors to the remotest portions of the 

 country. The words of a certain writer regarding the people of Britain 

 after the Romans had finally withdrawn from it are to this effect : — 

 " They were Britons, modified no doubt in every respect by their long 

 subjection to Rome, but still essentially a British, i.e., a Celtic people, 

 and it is further clear that they were a people who had been less modi- 

 fied by Roman influences than the inhabitants of the other provinces of 

 the empire." Carnhuanawc, though a Welshman of extensive scholar- 

 ship and excellent character, is perhaps employing extreme language 

 when he affirms that "the Welsh poems bear evidence of the existence 

 of a spirit of patriotism in a far greater degree than those of the Irish or 

 the Gaelic." As regards the quantity of matter before the public, both 

 in verse and prose, as well as the number of authors whose works are 

 extant, the Welsh language has vastly the advantage over the Irish and 

 Gaelic. In priority of date the advantage is also on the side of the 

 Welsh. In historical realm, the Welsh poetry greatly excels that of the 

 other two languages, inasmuch as it treats of actual occurrences, whereas 

 the other two deal more with fiction." It is to be feared that those strong 

 asseverations, coming though they do from so excellent an authority as 

 Carnhuanawc, are to be accepted with some degree of reservation ; for 

 they certainly exhibit the extraordinary patriotism which he cultivated 

 assiduously in his own case, and which he sought to impress very 

 strongly on all the natives of the Principality. 



The literature of Wales is, however, very extensive. There is extant 

 a large number of Welsh MSS. With the exception of MSS. that are 

 in the British Museum and in the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, 

 the Welsh MSS. that are extant are in private collections. To a very 

 important collection, the name Hengwrt collection has been given, con- 

 taining as it does MSS. which were collected by Jones of Gelly Lyndy 

 between 1590 and 1630, and by Robert Vaughan, of Hengwrt, who died 

 in 1666. There was an agreement between the two friends that on the 

 death of one of them, the survivor should become possessor of the whole 

 collection of MSS. As Mr. Vaughan survived his friend Jones, the 

 MSS. became his property, and thus obtained the name of the Hengwrt 

 collection. The collection, amounting to about four hundred volumes, 

 was subsequently given or bequeathed to Wynne of Penraith. 



The Myvyrian ArcJiceology of Wales : such is the name of a collection 

 extending over three volumes, which contain the text of a large number 

 of the poems and other compositions that are to be found in Welsh 



