J 82 J. J 



New Mfthod of fitting up a Book-Case. 



and wideuing, till the valloy ]>et\vpen 

 (tlirot!t!;h file centre of ^vhi(•h t!ie road 

 is carried) presented an extensive and 

 well-cultivated plain, adorned with 

 cottages, and intersected by one or 

 in<»re inoiiutaln rivulets, Nothing par- 

 ticularly attracted our attention, suve 

 the beauty and chariuing variety ot the 

 sccuerj', till we arrived at ^Velshpool, 

 the first market town on the road wa 

 traversed, beyond S!ir;'\v.sbiiry, and 

 distant from thence about eii.diteen 

 miles. Here from the continual inter- 

 course with their neighbours, fii(r in- 

 habitants are con'.pletely English, and 

 the Welsh language i:5 scarcely spoken 

 by any but the lower orders, and this 

 we understand, with considerable adtil- 

 teratiou." After an early and very 

 good dinner at the Bear, we strolled 

 through the town, which appears popu- 

 lous, and has an air of great neatness, 

 aud some little opulence. We were 

 particularly stiuclc v/itii the situation 

 of the church, which is built at the 

 l)Ase of a small s;<;ep liill, whose sum- 

 mit is nearly on a level with its roof, 

 and serves for f lu": burying-jdace. Tiie 

 numerous tomb-.'^toues scattered along 

 this green hill, had a singular and not 



• Tlie Hdiiltsr^ttiou of tiic WelsLi lnuguage 

 is an evil of iougst-.rnling;. We Lave a liiiie 

 work now before us, a Welsb Dictiouiir3', 

 " at fir.?! cnmpiled bytij'J gieat pains and iij- 

 diiStrj' of Thomas Jones, and now finished 

 by Rich;i.(l Morris, uf Temple St. Mihanjel 

 Town, in (ha county of Aiis;lesey," in the 

 'preface to which, the said Richard Morris 

 most pitfously liewails the sophistication of 

 liis native tongue. " The Biitains,'' he says, 

 " had no nioie need to bon-ow words of the 

 I'^ngiish, than the English had to ijecome the 

 FreucliJiien's apes ; as the Eiiglishnian is 

 enamoured v.-ith the tricks and quillets of 

 the Frenchman's garments, so are the Brit- 

 taias enchanted with the Englishmen's dia- 

 lect, iusomuc!! tiiat the Britains' own l;in- 

 guage is now become (alas ! that we should 

 say to !) as barbarous as their neighbours' !" 

 It is some consolaliou, however, to our 

 : lexicographer to know, that" to languages 

 as well ns dominions (with all other things 

 under the sun) there is an appointed time;" 

 and notwitliifaiuiing he is willing to admit 

 that this " appointed time" has arrived for 

 the dissolution of the Wekh language ; he is 

 anxious to do what he can by compiling a 

 dictionar}-, to preserve it from absolute an- 

 nibiiation, imagining, with much simplicity, 

 ihot " the making of a Welsh and English 

 Dictionary would be tiie best piece of ser- 

 vice tnoi ever could be done for the re-esta- 

 blishing of the Welsh tongue." The Dic- 



. tioBuiy, however, is very inperfect, and 



I beursdafe, IT60. 



l' Monthly Mao. No. 3o0. 



33 



an unjileasant ai)pearance. Thecliurch 

 is an ohl and picturesque gothic struc- 

 ture, aud seems capable of containing 

 a numerous congregation. Having been 

 informed that we might jn'ocurea toler- 

 ably comfortable lodging for the nlglit 

 at any of the mountain \illages in our 

 route, we left AVeIsh])ool about three 

 o'clock, purposing to travel as far as 

 we could before nightfall, and v.'ith :i 

 map in our pocket, Me cojtfiiiued our 

 journey towards Merionethshire, wiiose 

 deep blue mountains we could just de- 

 scry, stretching like a dusky line along 

 the far distant horizon. 



To the Editor of the Monfkli) Magazine. 



SIR, 



IF any of your friends are fitting up 

 a library, tiie following account of 

 mine may be worth theirnotice. 



It often becomes a tiuesiiou whether 

 to have glass doors to a library, or i;rass 

 netting, or no cover whatsoever to the 

 books ; glass doors secure the beo:;s 

 from dust and depredations ofservant'-, 

 in the absence of the ir.aster; but such 

 a covering is extremely duli, the doors 

 are constantly in the v.ay of the fnrui- 

 ture in the room, and the trouble to get 

 at books makes one often renojince a 

 search over several divisions of the li- 

 brftry. With brass netting there is less 

 gloom in the room, but the doors are 

 as troublesome as glass doors, aud the 

 books are exposed to dust. Wifhout 

 any covering the books get dust, and 

 the library suffers by servants exti-act- 

 ing books and forgetting to i-eplaee 

 them ; but the display of the books? 

 without a covering of -wire or glass, is 

 certainly a gay cheerful appearance, 

 and variety in bin.iing gives a kind of 

 flower-garden effect. 



Now iu throw out the inconveniences 

 and combine the conveniences and ap- 

 j)earances of the foregoing plans, the 

 following was adopted. The library 

 was divided into ordinary sized divi- 

 sions, the height of the b.iok-cases was 

 9J feet ; under the architrave of each 

 division was placed a Avooden roller of 

 three inches diameter, aud another 

 close to the back lining of the book- 

 cases. Between the book-case back 

 lining and the plastered wall of the 

 rooiu, was left a space of 2.} inches. 

 A piece of strong coarse linen was wo- 

 ven on purpose, equal to the breadth 

 of each division of the library book- 

 case, and cut into lengths equal to the 

 heiglit of the book-case, and the dis- 

 tance betv.een the two parallel rollers 



