494 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



[As/ittad. 



war-class as well as clerks; earls and trades- 

 men; wise minority as well as foolish 

 majority; abysmal temperament, hiding wells 

 of wrath, and glooms on which no sunshine 

 settles; alternated with a common sense 

 and humanity which hold them fast to every 

 piece of cheerful duty; making this tem- 

 perament a sea to which all storms are 

 superficial; a race to which their fortunes 

 flow, as if they alone had the elastic organi- 

 sation at once fine and robust enough for 

 dominion; as if the burly, inexpressive, now 

 mute and contumacious, now fierce and sharp- 

 tongued dragon, which once made the island 

 light with his fiery breath, had bequeathed 

 his ferocity to his conqueror." Even in the 

 national failing of "insularity" Ernerson sees 

 a blessing in disguise. "But nature makes 

 nothing in vain, and the little superfluity 

 of self-regard in. the English brain is one 

 of the secrets of their power and history. 

 For it sets every man on being and doing 

 what he really is and can. It takes away 

 a dodging, skulking, secondary air, and 

 encourages a frank and manly bearing, so 

 that each man makes the most of himself, 

 and loses no opportunity for want of pushing. 

 A man's personal defects will commonly have with the rest of the world precisely that impor- 

 tance which they have to himself. If he makes light of them, so will other men." 



WALES. 



The inhabitants of Wales belong almost wholly to the Cymric branch of the Celtic race. The 

 Welsh is a distinct nationality, with a language and literature of its own and a population 

 of 1,519,163. When the Saxon invaders of England drove the Celts inland from the eastern 

 coasts, the latter entrenched themselves in the wilds of Cornwall and the mountain-fastnesses 

 of Wales. The Norman conquest of England by no means involved that of Wales, which, 

 from its natural formation, presented a series of impregnable fortresses to the primitive 

 weapons of that time. William the Conqueror had to leave the task of its subjugation 

 uncompleted to his successors. Henry II. and John met with very doubtful success in their 

 repeated efforts to subdue the troublesome province. It was not till the reign of Edward I. 

 that its independence was finally crushed by the defeat of its Prince, Llewellyn, in 1283, when 

 the English monarch was aided by the internal dissensions into which the country was thrown. 

 Edward created his son, who had been born at Carnarvon, Prince of Whiles, and that title has 

 ever since been borne by the eldest son of our sovereigns. 



Physically the Welsh are, on the average, of shorter stature than the other peoples of 

 the United Kingdom. Dark hair is almost universal with them. These two attributes go far 

 to prove the assertion that the Cymric Celt intermingled freely with the original Neolithic in- 

 habitants of these islands. 



In their mental characteristics they possess all the liveliness, romance, and eloquence of 

 the Celtic temperament. The strong sense of nationality by which they have always been 

 possessed has been kept alive and fostered by their separate language and literature. Prizes 

 are given at their annual meetings the Eisteddfods for original poems and compositions 



Pholo by Payne Jennings] 



AN ENGLISH GIRL. 



