National Character Preserved. 21 



visibly as the features of the countenance do 

 the individuals. Should their growth be calcu- 

 lated by their decay, the result would refer us 

 to very remote periods. More than a century 

 has passed since the union of the two countries, 

 governed by nearly the same laws speaking 

 dialects of the same language the religious 

 institutions and persuasions not materially dif- 

 ferent separated by a stream only, which is no 

 bar to intercourse intermarrying also with 

 each other ; and yet are the manners and ap- 

 pearance as completely different, as if the 

 people of the two countries had never visited, 

 or had knowledge of each other. This pecu- 

 liarity is even more striking in the principality 

 of Wales, than in Scotland. In the highly cul- 

 tivated and populous county of Glamorgan, in 

 Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, &c. there are 

 at this day distinct colonies of people inhabiting 

 each side of a river ; nay, even a small rivulet 

 will sometimes keep them apart. Among these, 

 on the one side, the English language is not 

 understood; on the other, the Welsh is not 

 spoken. Though the common occurrences of 

 life in the way of traffic meet no impediments, 

 by the adoption of the Welsh language in the 

 English establishments though feuds or animo- 

 sities were never known to exist ; yet time 

 immemorial no intermarriage has taken place : 



