220 MY LIFE 



have obtained his knowledge by supernatural means. They accord- 

 ingly spread his name abroad as a wonderful man, who knew a great 

 deal more than other people. The name of his house, " Cwrt y cadno," 

 is very appropriate, as it means in English " The Fox's Court." 



Besides these and numberless other instances of almost universal 

 belief in supernatural agency, their superstition as well as their ignor- 

 ance is further shown by their ascribing to our most harmless reptiles 

 powers of inflicting deadly injury. The toad, newt, lizard, and snake 

 are, they imagine, virulently poisonous, and they look on with horror, 

 and will hardly trust their eyes, should they see them handled with 

 impunity. The barking of dogs at night, hooting of owls, or any un- 

 usual noise, dreams, etc., etc., are here, as in many parts of England, 

 regarded as dark omens of our future destiny, mysterious warnings sent 

 to draw aside the veil of futurity and reveal to us, though obscurely, 

 impending danger, disease or death. 



Reckoned by the usual standards on these subjects, the religion of 

 the lower orders of Welshmen may be said to be high in the scale, while 

 their morality is decidedly low. This may appear as a contradiction to 

 some persons, but those who are at all acquainted with mankind well 

 know that, however luxuriantly religion in its outward forms and influ- 

 ence on the tongue may flourish in an uncultivated soil, it is by no 

 means necessarily accompanied by an equal growth of morality. The 

 former, like the flower of the field, springs spontaneously, or with but 

 little care; the latter, like the useful grain, only by laborious cultivation 

 and the careful eradication of useless or noxious weeds. 



If the number of chapels and prayer-meetings, the constant attend- 

 ance on them, and the fervour of the congregation can be accounted as 

 signs of religion, it is here. Besides the regular services on the Sab- 

 bath and on other days, prayer-meetings are held early in the morning 

 and late at night in different cottages by turns, where the uneducated 

 agriculturist or collier breathes forth an extemporary prayer. The 

 Established Church is very rarely well attended. There is not enough 

 of an exciting character or of originality in the service to allure them, 

 and the preacher is too frequently an Englishman who speaks the native 

 tongue, but as a foreigner. 



Their preachers, while they should teach their congregation moral 

 duties, boldly decry their vices, and inculcate the commandments and 

 the duty of doing to others as we would they should do unto us, here, 

 as is too frequently the case throughout the kingdom, dwell almost 

 entirely on the mystical doctrine of the atonement — a doctrine certainly 

 not intelligible to persons in a state of complete ignorance, and which, 

 by teaching them that they are not to rely on their own good deeds, has 

 the effect of entirely breaking away the connection between their religion 

 and the duties of their everyday life, and of causing them to imagine 



