ANTIQUITIES. 



8S7 



repeating and dividing the several 

 sounds, as to produce an agreeable 

 effect from their structure. To the 

 cars of the natives, the Welsli metre 

 is extremely pleasing ; and it does 

 not subject the bard to more re- 

 straint, than the different sorts of 

 feet occasioned to the Greek and 

 Roman poets. The laws of allitera- 

 tion were prescribed arid observed 

 with such scrupulous exactness, that 

 for many centuries, a line, not per- 

 fectly alliteratiTO, was condemned 

 as much by the '>'/elsh grammarians, 

 as a false quantity was by the Greeks 

 or Romans. 



The Welsh, the Cornish, and the 

 Armoric* languages, agree in their 

 grammar, structure, a\id nomencla- 

 ture; and the Irish, and Erse or 

 Gaelic, are fundamentally the same 

 with the Welsh, though they dilFcr 

 much, in consequence of the long 

 separation of the inhabitants, in di- 

 alect and pronunciation. They all 

 proceed from one common source, 

 the ancient Celtic, or British tongue. 



There is also a \eiy striking ana- 

 logy betwixt the Hebrew and the 

 Welsh languages. The primitive 

 and derivative words have, in many 

 instances (allowing for the different 

 modes of pronunciation) so exact a 

 resemblance, that it is evident seve- 

 ral of the Welsh words must have 

 had their origin in this, the most an- 

 cient language of mankind. Even 

 the Welsh now spoken, has more 

 sounds agreeing willtthe Hebrew, 

 than with all the other languages 

 together. The following are in- 

 stances of tlieir agreement in single 

 words : 



Bnt it is not in single words mere- 

 ly, that the Welsh and Hebrew Ian* 

 guages agree: they are likewise so 

 nearly allied in their grammatical 

 forms, that it would be difficult to 

 adduce even a single article from the 

 II threw, which is not also to be 

 found in the Welsh grammar : and 

 there are many whole sentences to 

 be found in both languages, which 

 in the words are exactly alike : 



llebrc-u:. Byllang adonai-eth cal 



neoth Jangeob. 



3 L 4 Welsh. 



* Amorica, or Brctaene, in France, was colonized by the Britons about the year 



V.'M. Its name iii properly Ar j-mor-ucha, " On the upper sea." The natives of 



(.'ornwall bcjian to lose their ancient language in the reign of queen Elizabeth. I 



believe the latter is now extinct. 



t The word (kist) for chest, used in many parts of Yorkshire, may liavc had its 

 origin in this British word. 

 I lIcBce the peculiar tenure called GavclkiaJ. 



