Non-Hellenic Portion of the Latin Language. 497 



on index-hunting alone, and consists in the juxta-position of words 

 similar in form, and casually, perhaps, in sense, is more likely to 

 lead to error than to the truth. What would be thought of a 

 person, who, without a knowledge of the grammar and construc- 

 tion of a Greek verb, should, from a Greek index, attempt to find 

 the various forms in which the word mm is found in Grecian li- 

 terature ? What guide could he have in placing nrapai as its per- 

 fect passive, or eruOqv as its historical tense, in the same voice ? 

 But it may be said that such knowledge as is required must be 

 beyond the reach of any individual, and can scarcely be attained 

 in the course of a long life. This is, I fear, too true, although it is 

 only of late that I have been compelled to adopt the conclusion. 

 The Greek and Latin language and literature, I must, from 

 my situation, be supposed to understand. The Cumrian 1 or 

 Welsh was known to me from my childhood, both colloquially 

 and as the language of popular poetry, and of the public service 

 of the Church. But there exists a long series of literary works, 

 extending from certainly the seventh to the fifteenth century, to 

 which an acquaintance with the colloquial popular and ecclesi- 

 astical dialects furnished no sufficient key. To master these the 

 study of more than one form of the language was necessary, and, 

 to a certain extent, the task was achieved. The prose style of our 

 most ancient chronicles, triads, and laws, is familiar to me, and I 

 can read with satisfaction most of the works of the bards, as far 

 back as the twelfth century. But there remains a body of poetry, 

 ascribed to Aneurin, Taliessin, and other well known names, 

 which, if Cumrian, is Cumrian in a very suspicious form. This 

 language I do not altogether understand, nor, according to my 

 belief, is it completely understood by any man living. The 



1 Much error, both in History and Geography, would have been avoided, had 

 the names by which nations denominated themselves been alone used to designate 

 them. Welsh was the general name by which the German tribes designated all the 

 Roman provincials whose territories they invaded, but especially the Italians. 



