BRECKNOCKSHIRE 167 



ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from 

 everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God"). 



The Welsh clergy are usually good readers and energetic 

 preachers, and seem to enjoy doing full justice to their rich 

 and expressive language, and even without being able to 

 follow their meaning it is a pleasure to listen to them. 



Among the numerous Englishmen who visit Wales for busi- 

 ness or pleasure, few are aware to what an extent this ancient 

 British form of speech is still in use among the people, how 

 many are still unable to speak English, and what an amount 

 of poetry and legend their language contains. Some account 

 of this literature is to be found in that very interesting book, 

 George Borrow's " Wild Wales," and he claims for Dafydd 

 ap Gwilym, a contemporary of our Chaucer, the position of 

 " the greatest poetical genius that has appeared in Europe 

 since the revival of literature." At the present day there are 

 no less than twenty weekly newspapers and about the same 

 number of monthly magazines published in the Welsh lan- 

 guage, besides one quarterly and two bi-monthly reviews. 

 Abstracts of the principal Acts of Parliament and Parlia- 

 mentary papers are translated into Welsh, and one book- 

 seller, Messrs. Hughes and Son, of Wrexham, issue a list of 

 more than three hundred Welsh books mostly published by 

 themselves. Another indication of the wide use of the Welsh 

 language and of the general education of the people, is the 

 fact that the British and Foreign Bible Society now sell 

 annually about 18,000 Bibles, 22,000 Testaments, and 10,000 

 special portions (as the Psalms, the Gospels, etc.) ; while the 

 total sale of the Welsh Scriptures during the last century has 

 been 3^ millions. Considering that the total population of 

 Wales is only about \\ millions, that two counties, Pembroke- 

 shire and Radnorshire, do not speak Welsh, and that the 

 great seaports and the mining districts contain large numbers 

 of English and foreign workmen, we have ample proof that 

 the Welsh are still a distinct nation with a peculiar language, 

 literature, and history, and that the claim which they are 

 now making for home rule, along with the other great sub- 

 divisions of the British Islands, is thoroughly justified. 



