378 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



IN Wales, according to Mr. "W. Leathart, a similar kind of song, 

 called " Pennillion," still affords a pleasant pastime. " They origi- 

 nated probably in the Bardism of the ancient Britons, and were 

 chanted to the harp from the earliest recorded period. This Pen- 

 nillion consists in singing stanzas, either attached or detached, of 

 various lengths and metre, to any time which the harper may play ; 

 for it is irregular, and in fact not allowable, for any particular one 

 to be chosen. Two, three, or four bars having been played, the 

 singer takes it up, and this is done according as the Pennil, or 

 stanza may suit ; he must end precisely with the strain, and he 

 therefore commences in any part he may please. To the stranger 

 it has the appearance of beginning in the middle of a line or verse, 

 but which is not the case. Different tunes require a different num- 

 ber of verses to complete it ; sometimes only one, sometimes four 

 or six, as will be perceived in the directions for singing. It is then 

 taken up by the next, and thus it proceeds through as many as 

 choose to join in the pastime, twice round, and ending with the 

 person that began." 



