8S6 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



*' line, which I fought obsti- 

 *! nately." 



" I was not recovered of the 

 *' wound of my right arm that I 

 *' got at Rowton-heath, and was 

 *' forced to manage my horse with 

 *' my teeth, whilst I fought with 

 *•' my left, wlien I was wounded and 

 *' taken prisoner." 



" I suflered many long and chargc- 

 *' able imprisonments during liis Ma- 

 *'jesty's exilement, and had been sent 

 *' a slave to Jamaica, if God had not 



a 



prevented it by Oliver's death." 



Esays on the Origin and Character of 

 the Welsh Language.^ Fi'om a 

 Tour in North l Vales. 



The Welsh is a rich and copious 

 language, which (however harsh and 

 unpleasant it may sound to foreign 

 ears) has numerous elegancies, and 

 many beautiful forms of expression. 

 Its copiousness is without rival, prin- 

 cipally arising from the various com- 

 binations of its verbs. Each of 

 these has about twenty modifications, 

 by means of qualifying prefixes ; 

 and in every form they can each be 

 conjugated, either by inflexions, like 

 the Latin, or by auxiliaries, as in 

 the English language. TJie author 

 of " Letters from Snowdon," has 

 justly remarked, that the Welsh 

 language, at the same time that it 



boasts " the softness and harmony 

 " of the Italian, has all the majesty 

 " and expression of the Greek." 

 Of this I shall transcribe two singu^ 

 lar instances ; the one in an (engl yn) 

 or kind of epigram, on tlic silk- 

 vi'orni, conrposed ewtinly of vowels ; 

 and the other in a distich on thun- 

 der, the grandeur of which is scarce- 

 ly surpassed in any language. 



O'i wiw wy i weu e, a a'i wcuait 

 0"i wyau y weua 

 K' weua ci we aia', 

 A'i, weuau y.v ieuau ia. 



I perish by my art, 



Dig my own grave : 

 I spin my thread of life ; 



My death I weave. 



Tin a dwr yn ymwriaw, 

 Yw'r taranau dreigiau draw. 



The roaring thunder, dreadful in iti 



ire. 

 Its water warring with aerial firc.+ 



The metre of the poetry is very 

 artificial and ailiffrative. The Ian. 

 gnage abounds with consonants and 

 monosyllables, which, as they are 

 incompatible with quantity, the 

 birds wore not able to reduce into 

 concord by any otlier means than by 

 placing its harsher consonants at 

 such intervals, so intermixing tlicm 

 with the vowels, and so adapting, 



repeating 



* For the principal part of this essay, (which is intended only for the instruction 

 of the English traveller,) I am indebted to the following works: Commentarioli 

 Biittanniaj drscriptionis tVagmentnm, auctore Huinfiedo LhwyH ; — Powel's History 

 of Wales; — Edward Lhwyd's Xotes in Gibson's Camden ; — Rowland's Mona An- 

 tlqua restaurata; — Owen's Translation of the Elegies of Llywarch Hen; — Owen's 

 Welsh Dictionary; — .Jones's Relics of the Welsh Bards; — the Monthly Magazine ; 

 and the Cambrian Register, vols. 1 and 2. I have also to acknowledge, in addition 

 to the above authorities, the correspondence and corrections of my valuable friend., 

 the reverend Peter Williams of Llanrug. in Caernarvonshire, 

 t Jones's Welsh Bar^s. 



il 



