1800.] 
derftanding. In a perfon who has re- 
covered from infanity, there is not any 
thing I can conceive, which would be 
more likely to induce a relapfe into his 
former fituation, than the agonizing re- 
membrance of having been once, and the 
fearful poffibility of being again enclofed 
within the eloomy walls, and fubjected to 
the brutal difcipline, of one of thofe aedz- 
cal bafiiles. 
(To be concluded in our next.) 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE inquiries made by Sinboron laft 
Te month, refpecting guttural founds, 
might be anfwered in a manner highly 
fatisfa€tory from the Welfh, if there were 
appropriate types for laying’ the ancient 
alphabet of that tongue before him; but 
that not being the cafe, I will endeavour 
to fupply the defect briefly as to a few 
points. The original alphabet of the 
- bards, whencefoever they had it, ought to 
be confidered the mof perfe&t of any that 
has been invented, both in the principle 
of its form and arrangement *. | Therein 
all the poflible radical founds are fixed to 
be fixteen in number, each reprefented by 
a fimple fign, anfwering to the following 
order and letters—a, e€, 1, 0; b, m, p, 
feve, Ss fsiG. M515 65s. Krom thele 
all other founds are derived, both in power 
and form; and which are denominated 
mutations or modifications +. There are, 
in addition to the radicals, twenty-four of 
fuch modified characters in the Welfh;: 
and of thefe it is now neceffary only to 
fhew uch as are derived from the c or/k. 
The c has three modifications in the 
Welfh; one confilis of its being foftened 
or lowered to a g3 the next: is its fimple 
guttural ¢, the ch of the German, or the gh 
of Sinboron; and the third is peculiar, I be- 
lieve, to the Welfh; unlefs the now doubt- 
ful Y of the Hebrew reprefented the fame 
power. ‘This laf, found may be termed 
an afpirated guttural, or zg with + pre- 
fixed ; and, indeed, for want of a character 
in the roman letters, it is fo reprefented 
in the printed books of the Welfh:. For. 
example—caru, to love; mi gari moni, 
thou wilt not love her ; er tt wy ugharus 

* There is a copy of it in the Pantographia 
of Edmund Fry. pS SG 
+ The principle of fuch mutation, with 
yefpect to the power and the form, is very 
‘well illuftrated by the c turned into ¢, 
MONTHLY MAG. NO; 58. 
Welly Gutturals. 
345 
though thou haft loved me: the found of 
vy ugharu, may be caught by a ftrange 
ear better by writing it wyyg-hbaree. Ac- 
cording to the conception of thofe who are 
familiarized to the above founds, they are 
confidered as {moother and fofter than the 
kior c, from their being femi-vowels; 
and it is upon the principle of foftening 
the pronunciation of their bafis, or the 
c, that they are introduced. , 
It appears to me that a purely Gothic 
pronunciation is hoftile to thefe guttural 
founds or modifications of the c: the pre- 
vailing languages of Europe are com- 
pounded of Cymbric (Celtic, improperly 
called) and Gothic: in feveral of them 
the Gothic hath fo far prevailed, as to 
annihilate thefe founds. . 
The Englifh, according to the pronun- 
ciation at the univerfity of Oxford, founded 
the guttural gb, as late as the time of 
Henry VII. as may be proved from an 
ode in their language, in Welth metre, 
then compofed by a fludent at that place, 
and written according to the Welth orthe- 
graphy. 
Many hundred words in the French 
prove this guttural] to be transformed into 
the modern c and ¢ of that tongue: for 
example—in the ez, the imperative ter- 
mination of verbs of the fecond perfon 
fingular, we recognize the Welt we | 
which properly is a plural; but ufed for 
the fingular, out of refpect, like you i 
the Englifh. Further examples :— 
French. Weld. Familiate. 
Prenez vous, Prynwg¢ cwi, | Pryna di 
Cherchez vous, Cyrgwe swi, Cyrea di 
Quandallez voys, Pan elwe ¢wi, Pan eli di 
Pouflezlabale, Pwyfwgy bel, Pwyfay bél. 
I believe this fame guttural found is 
hardly, ufed in the Danifh, Swedifh, nor 
Norwegian dialects of the Gothic; though 
very much fo in the German, which has 
more of a Cymbric character in its for- 
mation. ; 
T remain, Sir, your’s, &c. 
MEIRION, 
N.B. Eight or nine of the phrafes adduced 
by Dr. Dickfon, as Scotticifms, in the Maga- 
zine for lait month, are common in the Englith 
counties bordering on Wales. 
I beg leave to mention, that the Welth ufe 
a great many negatives 3 two, three, or four, 
frequently occurring in the fame phrafe ; 
fimilar to what your correfpondent Mr. 
Robinfon hes fhewn to have been the prac~ 
tice of the Grecians, in your publication of 
daft March, 
Y y For 
