72 TRANSACTIONS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. V. 



therefore, both legitimate and irresistible, that the Romantic Arthur is a 

 creation of the Armorican Kymry." 



It is beside my purpose to enter into an examination of grammatical 

 peculiarities of the Welsh language. Suffice it to remark that when a com- 

 parison is made between the grammatical structure of Welsh and of Irish 

 and Scottish Gaelic, evidence sufficiently lucid and abundant is available 

 to show that Irish and Scottish Gaelic is much older than Welsh, and that 

 its grammatical forms lend strength to other reasons that indicate that 

 Welsh is a later language than either Irish or Scottish Gaelic, and, there- 

 fore, that those who speak and spoke Welsh — tJie Brittones — followed at a 

 long interval the Irish and Scottish Gaels in their immigration from the 

 continent of Europe into Great Britain and Ireland. 



As to the zeal with which Welsh scholars have always determined to- 

 develop the intrinsic strength of their own language, we have this 

 explicit commendation from Thomas Stephens: " The language of the 

 Kymry is rich in native roots, and several of the bards who lived during 

 the twelfth and succeeding centuries have done much to develop its 

 capabilities. They wisely determined to cultivate their own tongue rather 

 than borrow words from others, and as they had clear perceptions of the 

 philosophy of language, the services rendered to their parent speech by 

 the writers of these centuries will ever give them a strong claim upon the 

 respect and admiration of their countrymen. They formed their com- 

 pound words upon principles really philosophical, and when the number 

 of Kymric words was so great, it will scarcely create surprise that men 

 proud of their language and with intelligence enough to develop its 

 capacities should have produced lasting monuments of their own skill 

 and of the inherent wealth of the Cambrian language." 



As is the case with English, and German, and Gaelic, and Irish, the 

 translation of the Holy Scriptures has exerted a most beneficial effect on 

 the prose literature of Wales. Doubtltss there is to be found in that 

 translation, the purest and best Welsh that was obtainable or available 

 when it was made. To Bishop Morgan the honour belongs of completing 

 and publishing a translation into Welsh of the Scriptures of the Old and 

 of the New Testament William Morgan was a native of the County of 

 Carnarvon. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge. He 

 obtained a vicarage in Montgomeryshire in 1575. In 1578 he removed 

 to a living in Denbighshire, where he completed his translation of the 

 Bible into Welsh. His intention at first was to translate the books of 

 the Pentateuch merely. He was induced by Whitgift, the Archbishop of 

 Canterbury, to undertake the translation of the whole Bible. In 1588 

 the Welsh Bible was published, with a dedication to Queen Elizabeth. 



