WELSH LANGUAGE AKD LITERATURE. 



WELSH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 



to the ' Tnu-thudyild ' in ' Talieain,' a quarterly magazine issued at 

 Rutfayn, which publishes the production*, both poetical and in proM, 

 which hare received the prime* at the Eisteddvodi, in addition tu 

 review, of new book* and miscellaneous article* The Welsh |* 

 riodioaU form altogether the mot striking and attractive feature in 

 their modern literature. Their number U astonishing, and they are 

 issued even in secluded towns and village*. In the catalogue of 

 the periodical publications in the Library of the British Museum, wo 



enumerated sixteen magazine* and six newspaper*. The leading news- 

 paper is the ' Amserau ' (the ' Times '), published at Liverpool, whose 

 circulation was computed in the ' Atlienicum,' but no doubt very erro- 

 neously, at 100,000. Penny newspapers are now numerous ami will 

 conducted. ' Yr Herald Cymraeg,' published at Caernarvon, ami Vr 

 Udgorn y Bob!' ('The People'* Trumpet'), published at Denbigh, 

 contain letters from correspondent* at London, Liverpool, Dublin, 

 Hirwaun, *c., *c., which though not remarkable for purity of language, 

 furnish much more amusing reading than was formerly within reach of 

 the Welsh reader. It was mentioned in the 'Athenaeum' that a 

 selection of extract* from the Welsh periodicals was issued at New 

 York, under the title of ' Y Detholydd,' or ' The Selector,' and that 

 there were alao original Welsh periodicals in America : ' Y Ceuhadwr ' 

 ( The Messenger '), Y Seren ' (' The Star '), ' Y Cyfaill o'r Heu Wlad ' 

 (' The Friend from the Old Country'), "and many others." Samuel 

 Jenkins, of Philadelphia, who contributes a letter on eminent \\,M, 

 men to a book by Alexander Jones on the Welsh in America, entitled 

 ' The Cymry of 7t>,' published at New York in 1855, mentions that of 

 four Welsh magazines then published in the United States, one was 

 issued in the city of New York, two in towns in Oneida county, and 

 the other in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. We have alao seen mentioned 

 a newspaper at New York, ' Y Cymro Americauaidd ' (' The American 

 Welshman '), which is said to have 5000 subscribers. In an enume- 

 ration of the newspapers published in America in 1861, it is stated 

 that there are fire in the Welsh language, and, we believe, exactly 

 four thousand in the English. 



One of the greatest enterprises of Welsh publishing is the \V. Mi 

 Encyclopaedia, commenced by Mr. Gee, of Denbigh, in the year 1856, 

 under the editorship of the Kev. John Parry, of Bah. Its title is 

 ' Encyclopedia Canibrensis-Y Owyddoniadur Cymreig.' It is divided, 

 on the plan of the ' English Cyclopaedia,' into several sections, of which 

 the first, which is now publishing, is that of Divinity, Philosophy, and 

 Antiquities. The first number of the fourth volume, just issued (in 

 August, 1861), carries it to the article Dyfntcal Muiliaml, in which, as 

 in the article on Bardd, which occupies 36 closely-printed pages, a full 

 and impartial account is given of the views of both of the parties in 

 Welsh antiquities, but in a manner which leaves no doubt that the 

 writer's judgment is advene to the supporters of Bardic tradition. 

 The Encyclopaedia is a work which in its literary character does honour 

 to Welsh literature, and in its typographical execution does honour to 

 the Welsh press. 



This is perhaps the most appropriate place to mention that gome 

 of the most valuable information in print with regard to the literature 

 if Wiles is comprised in five periodicals in the English language, 

 devoted exclusively to Welsh subjects. The earliest of these, ' The 

 Cambrian Register,' extends to three volumes, the first of which was 

 pu bushed in 1796, the second in 1799, and the third in 1818. It 

 would be difficult to name three volumes of a periodical publication 

 more rich in original information of interest. The letters of distin- 

 guished Welsh antiquaries, which form a portion of its contents, are 

 particularly entertaining ; and a history of Welsh poetry, which appears 

 in the first volume, contains more information on the subject of its 

 recent authors than will be found elsewhere. Dr. Owen Pughe was 

 one of its principal contributors, and is said to have been its editor. 

 'The Cambro- Briton and General Celtic Repository,' also in three 

 volumes, published in the years 1819 1822, is an excellent periodical, 

 replete with, information of every kind, and remarkably free from 

 frivolous or unimportant matter. Its editor was Mr. John Humffreys 

 Parry, secretary to the Cymmrodorion Society, author of the ' Cam- 

 brian Plutarch' and other works of reputation. The 'Cambrian 

 Quarterly Magazine,' in five volume*, published from 1829 to 1833, is 

 unfavourably distinguished from it* predecessors by the admission of 

 article* of mere light reading : but some of these are extremely well 

 written. The present successor to these works is the ' Cambrian Journal, 

 published under the auspice* of the Cambrian Institute,' and edited 

 by the Rev. John Williams ab Ithel. It was commenced in 1854, 

 and the four quarterly numbers form a volume each year. The 

 article* are of * very varied kind, and of extremely different degree* 

 of merit, and opinions of the most opposite character are freely and 

 strongly expressed. The ' Archteologia ( 'ambrcnsis,' or ' Journal of the 

 Cambrian Archaeological Association/ though of course less devoted 

 to literary subject* than the other periodicals, contains a good deal 

 that bears upon them. It ha* produced an annual volume of four 

 quarterly numbers, with occasional supplements, since its commence- 

 ment in 1846. The editor is the secretary of the society, the Rev. 

 Longueville Jones. The volumes of these jwriodicals. now about 

 thirty in number, should find a place in every public library in 



England, where the literature of ancient Britain and the \. 

 literature of a considerable portion of it, are not objects of i< 

 ence. They comprise almost all the information on the subject at 

 present accessible to the English reader defective in many respects, 

 it is true, and scattered over many volumes ; but we can scarcely com- 

 plain of the deficiency of a general and satisfactory survey of the 

 literature of Wales, while as yet we have nothing of a similar kiml f> i 

 our own. 



In speaking of the periodicals we have anticipated some of our infor- 

 mation with regard to societies. The literary associations of Wales, 

 though not very successful at first, have been in the long run most 

 effectual in reviving the taste for its literature. The earliest of them 

 seems to have been the Cymmrodorion (Associates) or Metropolitan Cam- 

 brian Institution, which was originally established in London in 1 751 . 1 1 - 

 immediate purpose was to cultivate the Language and literature of Wales, 

 and its members were also to " contribute their endeavours toward* tin- 

 instruction of the ignorant and the relief of the distressed part of their 

 countrymen." It collected some scarce books and manuscripts relating 

 to Wales, which were afterwards deposited in the library of the 

 Welsh school in Gray's Inn Lane, but did little else in a literary point 

 uf view, and after an existence of thirty yean appears to 

 gradually expired of inaction. Its place was more vigorously i 

 by the Gwyneddigion, or Society of the Men of Uwynedfl, or North 

 Wales, which was established in London in 1771, by that indefatigable 

 patriot Owen Jones of Myvyr. This association at different times 

 patronised various literary works connected with the principality, but 

 its chief aim was to keep alive the attachment to the national : 

 and poetry. With this view it revived the ancient congresses of tin' 

 bards, and distributed medals among the best performen on the 

 national instrument, the harp, and the writers of the best ' 

 poems on subjects selected annually for the occasion. In 1798 an 

 " Eisteddvod " was held under the auspices of Owen Jones, at Caerwys, 

 in Flintshire, which prepared the way for the " Eisteddvods " of more 

 recent times. The London Cymreigyddion Society, founded in 

 was intended to place the natives of Wales on something of an 

 equality with the natives of Great Britain, in respect of the oppor- 

 tunities of acquiring useful knowledge; and for this purpose its 

 meetings once a month were to be devoted to the delivery of lectures 

 in the Welsh language on scientific and useful subjects, many of which 

 were printed and published. This society now appears to be extinct, 

 and one of its last public acts was to reward in 1840, the Kev. .1. 

 Bray for his ' Essay -on the Means of Promoting the Literature of 

 Wales,' in which he recommended the systematic discouragement of 

 the Welsh language. The second "Cymmrodorion" .Society was 

 formed in 1820, at a meeting held at the Freemasons' Tavern, and 

 has similar objects with the first. It commenced the publication 

 of its 'Transactions' in 1822, and completed a second volume in 

 1843, after which it appears to have come to a stand-still. The 

 ty for the Publication of Ancient Welsh Manuscripts," was 

 founded at Abergavenny in 1837, and was announced in its prospectus 

 to be acting in conjunction with the " Cymuin < unded 



at London in 175", " by which the second Cymmrodorion Society was 

 probably meant, though the date given is anterior CM u to ti 

 mation of the first. The Manuscript Society after issuing the 

 Landavensis,' or the ' Ancient Register of the Cathedral Church of 

 I.l.imlall',' in Latin and Knglish, under the editorship of the Rev. W. 

 J. Rees, the ' Heraldic Visitation of Wales,' the ' Lives of the Welsh 

 Saints,' and other valuable publications, the lolo Manuscripts, and the 

 'Grammar of Edeym,' appears to have fallen into a state of languor. 

 It was recently announced, however, as already stated, that measures 

 are about to be taken for restoring its vigour. 



The Cambrian Institute, founded in 1 S.13, has held a few occasional 

 meetings in London, and has a number of sectional committees and 

 local secretaries, but its activity is chiefly displayed in the puK 

 of the ' Cambrian Journal,' which is circulated among its sub.-. 

 It is remarkable that one of its earliest patrons and its present presi- 

 dent is Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I., and 

 cousin of the present Emperor of the French, who has in many ways 

 distinguished himself as a cultivator and student of tin 1 Celtic lan- 

 guage* as well as of others of the less known tongues of I'.timpe. The 

 Prince was born in England, ami on the Welsh border, at the time 

 that his father, l.ucicii Bonaparte, was resident in this eonntry, during 

 the reign of the first Napoleon. Another di.-tinguished name in the 

 list of the Institute is that of the poet-laurenti , Aim ,1 T< nnyson a 

 peculiarly appropriate one, not only because Tennyson has giv. o 

 brilliancy in our time to the legend* of King Arthur, but because the 

 office he holds is one peculiarly in k pi .ini.m notions of 



privileged bards and poets named byauthority. The litstpoet !, 

 of the English court was ap|Hiintod in the reign of Kdward IV., who 

 is said in some Welsh Guide-Hooks to have been born in Wale*. 



While the Societies have, as a general rule, been noun v, 1, ,t inert, 

 a brilliant success has attended the revival of the Eisteddvudau 

 (literally 'sessions'), or meetings for poetry and music, such an were 

 first re-inaugurated in 1 !'.<* by ' 'wen Jones, who seem* to have had a 

 happy tact in discovering what was. likely to raooeed, though ! 

 himself in advance of his time. Their progress was obscure till IM:>, 

 when one was held at Caeim.irt.hcn. under the i ( l)r. 



Burgess, then bishop of St. David's, but in reality prompted and sup- 



