304 
Welsh bards have ever been consulted 
as the favourite chroniclers of their 
age; whilst, by a singular contrast, the 
oldest prose compositions in the lan- 
guage are for the most part the mere 
vehicles of romance and of fiction. 
This inversion of the general order of 
writing, you will.agree with me, is' 
perhaps peculiar to Wales. 
It is now time, you will think, my 
dear fellow, that I should bring this 
dissertion on our mountain minstrelsy 
toaclose. Yet, believe me, I have 
much more to say before I can hope 
to make you as well acquainted as I 
wish to do even with its general cha- 
racter. However, this may be more 
advantageously reserved for another 
opportunity. At present I shall de- 
tain you no longer than to request 
your attention to a few of the Poetical 
Triads, which form part of a larger 
number, that are supposed to have had 
some influence formerly on the effusi- 
ons of the bards, This mode of writing 
in triads, of which I shall have much 
to say hereafter, was peculiar to the 
Welsh, at least to any great extent; 
and I think you will so far surrender 
your prejudices as to admit, that the 
following specimen of the practice 
embraces much originality of thought 
with a proportionate share of sound 
sense and judicious instruction. At 
any event, I challenge you to pro- 
duce, from the whole circle of ancient 
or modern literature, a happier defini- 
tion of poetical genius than what is 
comprised in the first of the triads, 
which I shall now transcribe. 
Poetical Triads. 
The three primary requisites of poetical 
genius: an eye that can see nature, a heart 
that can feel nature, and aresolution that 
dares follow nature. 
The three properties of a just imagina- 
tion : what may be, what ought to be, and 
what is seemily to be. 
The three indispensabilities of poetical 
language: purity, copiousness, and ease. 
Three things that poetry should tho- 
roughly be: thoroughly learned, thorough- 
ly animated, and thoroughly natural. 
Three things that ought to be well un- 
derstood in poetry: the great, the little, 
and their correspondencies. 
Three things to be avoided in poetry: 
the mean, the obscure, and the extra- 
vagant, 
Three things to be chiefly considered in 
poetical illustration: what is obviously 
seen, what may be instantly admired, and 
what is eminently characteristic, 
Remarks on Come’s Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole. 
[Nov. 1, 
The three dignities of poetry: the trne 
and wonderful united, the union of the 
beautiful and the wise, and the union of 
art and nature, r 
The three purities of poetry ; pure truth, 
pure language, and pure conception. 
The three advantages of poetry: the 
praise of goodness, the record of what is 
remarkable, and the imvigoration of the 
affections. | 
The three final intentions of poetry : in- 
crease of goodness, increase of understand- 
ing, and increase of delight. 
Leaving you to digest at your lei- 
sure this ancient relic of bardic wis- 
dom, I again bid you farewell, hoping 
to have your candid sentiments on the 
purport of this epistle, as soon as you 
have an hour to bestow on so humble 
atheme. WhatI shall make the sub- 
ject of my next lucubration I am 
hardly prepared to say, even if I wish- 
ed to let you into the secret; but you 
know, my dear Wilmot, the condition 
of this correspondence, that the ar- 
rangement is to be wholly at my dis- 
posal. 1 will only once for all tell 
you, that variety is my motto. So, in 
the words of the poet, 
To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures 
new. 
Your ever faithful 
GrirritH Tupor. 
Festiniog ; July 5, 1822. 
—<= 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
REMARKS on @ PASSAGE tn COXE’S ME- 
MOIRS of SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, 
HERE is no writer of the present 
day to whom history is more in- 
debted than to the Rev. Archdeacon 
Coxe, and he is particularly to be 
applauded for the fairness with. which 
he has published the original papers 
entrusted to his selection, and which 
throw so great a light upon the times 
of which they treat. But the conclu- 
sions adduced from the materials thus 
liberally supplied may frequently ad- 
mit of question. In his ‘‘ Memoirs of 
Sir Robert Walpole, vol. iv. p. 113, 
occurs the following passage:—‘‘ On 
reviewing the conduct of England, 
from the renewal of the disputes con- 
cerning the Spanish depredations in 
1737 to the declaration of war, we 
shall not hesitate to confess, that. it 
was inconsistent, unjust, haughty, and 
violent. The British nation listened 
only to one side of the question, gave 
implicit credit to the exaggerated ac- 
counts of the cruelties committed by 
the Spaniards without due evidence ; 
an 
