1 66 MY LIFE 



One Sunday afternoon I walked up the valley and over 

 a mountain-ridge to the head waters of the Llia river, one of 

 the tributaries of the river Neath, to see an ancient stone, 

 named Maen Llia on the ordnance map. I was much pleased 

 to find a huge erect slab of old red sandstone nearly twelve 

 feet high, a photograph of which I am able to give through 

 the kindness of Miss Florence Neale of Penarth. These 

 strange relics of antiquity have always greatly interested me, 

 and this being the first I had ever seen, produced an impres- 

 sion which is still clear and vivid. 



The people here were all thoroughly Welsh, but the land- 

 lord of the inn, and a young man who lived with him, spoke 

 English fairly well. Like most of the Welsh the landlord 

 was very musical, and in the evenings he used to teach his 

 little girl, about five years old, to sing, first exercising her in 

 the notes, and then singing a Welsh hymn, which she followed 

 with a tremendously powerful voice for so small a child. 

 Her father was very proud of her, and said she would make 

 a fine singer when she grew up. 



While here, and also at Trallong, I went sometimes to 

 church or chapel in order to hear the Welsh sermons, and 

 also the Welsh Bible well read, and I was greatly struck 

 with the grand sound of the language and the eloquence and 

 earnestness of the preachers. The characteristic letters of 

 the language are the guttural ch, the dd pronounced soft 

 as " udh," the // pronounced " 11th." If the reader will 

 endeavour to sound these letters he will have some idea of 

 the effect of such passages as the following, when clearly 

 and emphatically pronounced-. " Brenhin Brenhinoedd, ac 

 Arglwydd Arglwyddi " (" King of Kings and Lord of 

 Lords "). Again, " Ac a ymddiddanodd a mi, gan ddywedyd, 

 Tyred, mi a ddangosaf i ti briodasferch " ('And talked with 

 me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride"). 

 These are passages from Revelation, but the following verse 

 from the Psalms is still grander and more impressive: — 



" Cyn gwneuthur y mynyddoedd, a llunio o honot y ddaear 

 a'r byd; ti hefyd wyt Dduw, o dragywyddoldeb hyd dragy- 

 wyddoldeb " (" Before the mountains were brought forth, or 



