1 8 23 . J Tudor s Letters on Wales. 



j)rescnt time, llie Welsh writers, and 

 especiall}' the bards, abound in allu- 

 sions to the harp, which has, through- 

 out the period, maintained its ascen- 

 dancy as the favourite instrument of 

 tiie Cj'mry, to the almost total exclu- 

 sion of the crwth and bag-pipe, which 

 formerly partook of its popularity. 

 Giraldus Cambrcnsis, who wrote in 

 the twelfth century, informs us, that 

 travellers in Wales in that age were 

 entertained at the houses in whicii 

 they sojourned, from morning tonight, 

 "witli the conversation of young women 

 and the strains of the harp, and that 

 every family had for this purpose its 

 damsels and harps. Davydd ab Gwi- 

 lym, a celebrated poet of tbe four- 

 teenth century, has an effusion ad- 

 dressed to a " leathern harp," by 

 which he seems to have meant one 

 strung with gut, which about this pe- 

 riod was substituted for the hair pre- 

 viously used. 'J'he poem I speak of is a 

 remarkable instance of the bard's well- 

 known and happy talent for ridicule, 

 which he most unsparingly employs on 

 the recent innovation, comparing the 

 sounds of the gut with " the croaking 

 of a lame goose in the corn, the cries 

 of an Irish witch, the rumbling of a 

 crazy mill-stream," and other images 

 ecjually ludicrous. He concludes his 

 philippic against the new invention by 

 urging the introduction of the hair- 

 strung harp, which, however, does not 

 appear to have been afterwards gene- 

 rally adopted. It would occupy too 

 iiuich space to particularize all the 

 notices contained in the poets since 

 the time of Davydd ab Gwilyni ; but 

 one by lliciiard Cynwal, who flourish- 

 ed early in the seventeenth century, 

 deserves to be transcribed. It is an 

 allusion to a famous harp of Prince 

 Liywel)!), of which he speaks in tiic 

 following terms: — " The harp of Lly- 

 vvclyn, most honoured through ages, 

 was completely filled with hair-strings 

 curiously braided, to sing golden praises 

 to the Ijord." 



Uelure Wales fell under the domi- 

 nion of lingland, its minstrels were 

 l( gaily incorporated, and enjoyed 

 many valuable privileges. 'J'hey con- 

 seijucntly made considerable progress 

 in the science of music, and expeii- 

 enced general encouragement from 

 their countrymen. I liave already 

 siiown J on, ironi the laws of Hywel, 

 that the harpers formerly po.ssessc<l 

 tin; patronage of the Welsh prineeH; 

 and alter Ihc tonriucal licy arc to be 



413 

 found occasionally in request with the 

 English monarchs. The names of se- 

 veral who were favoured with this 

 distinction are preserved ; and there 

 is extant an order from James I. to the 

 Treasurer of his Chamber, directing 

 him to pay to " Lewis Williams, a 

 young youth, that played upon the 

 harp to his Majesty and the Prince, 

 the sum of 20/." on account of his ill- 

 health. 



But, whatever partial advantages 

 the Welsh minstrels may thus have 

 derived from the union with England, 

 it is probable enough that that event 

 was the main cause of the pensive and 

 even plaintive airs which have since 

 been associated with the Welsh harp. 

 Notes of despondency or of sorrow 

 have chiefly animated its strings since 

 the Cymry ceased to be an indepen- 

 dent nation ; and these melancholy 

 effusions are still cherished in prefer- 

 ence to the more enlivening airs occa- 

 sionally introduced from other coun- 

 tries. Davydd ab ]''.ciniwnd, a poet of 

 tliC fifteenth century, alludes to this 

 characteristic of our national instru- 

 ment in a couplet, whicli 1 w ill venture 

 to give, both in the original and in a 

 translation. 



Hid oes nag anc;el na dyn, 

 Nad wyl pan gauo dclyn. 

 So far the bard. 'J"he following is a 

 jjaraphrastical version : — 



Of men ou,earlli, or saints on high, 

 When Cymni's harp-notes stray, 



Who doth not feel the tearful eye 

 Yield to the melting lay? 



Such is an outline of the history of 

 the Welsh harj), which still continues 

 to delight the unsopliisticaled inhabi- 

 tants of the Cambrian hills, though it 

 has undoubtedly lost much of its pris- 

 tine celebrity, since princes and royal 

 dames listened to its ravisliing stiains. 

 With the principal Welsh airs you are 

 no doubt acquainted ; but perhaps it 

 has never fallen to your lot to hear 

 them played in all their native purity, 

 accompanied by those national stanzas 

 which the Welsh call Ptnuillion. 

 There are several persons in Wales 

 who, not unlike the liuprovisalori of 

 Italy, will accompany the harp for two 

 or three hours successively iir this man- 

 ner, through all the transitions and 

 varieties of its tones, and consequently 

 singing, during the period, a hundred 

 or two of these eliusions, which aic 

 sometimes extenijxjrary, but for the 

 most ]iarl traditional, and such as 

 liave been transmitted from genera- 

 tion 



