«««<«•««• • via ^xx\s * \ ^''H'VLL H^'=' BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE •SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OP m^env^ W. Sage 1S91 :A:Rl,JSA lAjjlh^. Cornell University Library PB 2115.S72 Wales and her language considered from a 3 1924 026 863 286 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924026863286 IH percr„t or the aduh pcpuiantT, Af^„ra-,„.,u cur-s, .fOrra, rf- Watts Dy^es y'.;,l .l(),V-;7'"-'iV'I 'Truuvr'ynydU/ -9^ %, ■2^ War /wHT- 'GarthlioitMLU mf"T» A.-../ /j-i*' ^'-■^"- ''v'i^" -^■'iHCllyrilll'lll .l.latlhryKnutir ^^ Sfep'it^nt TrtS?M)f^ \ ■<«PGn IhMnfihanatl iOf/rh JAiintitlliB .r.!.,<.,vti....i »nJ>i ecUf-t^chatl .MerdLyr- Tydfil V»«>W \ •'^""'^•^'■' , | ^.,?«,,;, ''"^"^ .^» ^ ., \v xy,- Tydfil 'Bh^\ '^"^'^'1 /j¥*tlafirh^stifd- \. Q^ ^ Jhnl JUii/dJnuii^/,,/ ^• iBluLutdr Gwy .> .Strata ffh^if ■^^ THJCGAROK 3hiryif£t \ , __ . - ' •XuinnmdcA '.Uangadoelc >i/ \Zlafif»,^ J. rad te-Zfa? pet) /.Umtahe _ ^talyfm^ n^nOx ecUI-t^ffiOfi FresKwat Bay ^A\k -jggj; •^'^**'^^^;^ . dtju Seath *RrWaji9i r ■„ , ^ v' .W/.-.K.i- ^,,,,„,, V^„^,-.;^w»^■».«--.e3SS.n^'^.-v--. \ 3fcrdivr Tvdfil 'fihu^X "r"""^'^ ^ ).a ^Vrttllagatr \ ■ V: 4''"--oH 9»8Sij/ •^>'n^»A>i \ rSK ,^^JJ„„,;t,„tigrl tu-ittd f^*^ iix^,iM mu . /"*£ ( /^ %'• ^trvi nsH" Bay Wormt Hek r >eP,.ntyortad •T-i*yn aqrln'nt B R I S T O • Bridgciui •Llanltarry Hnfbonrtr Ogwy CtieilrfrnrW SfiUUru, Scale of Miles. 5 -J / o t3B Ajrbnd^e oultui vr //^'^ Brid^o water DrviWn Kijiff.ssh' f'r'r "H^^/^s rmd Be/' Lan^ur/^^ V Pn/itkf/ hy J.I: SnUJutU . Xcy^yjc?'/ , /&jfZ WALES HER LANGUAGE CONSIDEBBD FllOM A HISTOKICAL, KDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL STANDPOINT WITH BBMABKS ON MODBUN WELSH LITERATURE AND A LINGUISTIC MAP OF THE COUNTRY. JOHN E. SOUTHALL. \ NEWPORT, MoN. J. E. SouTHALL, 149 Dock Stiiebt LONDON : E. Hicks Jun., '1 AiiEN Cobkku. PAiJiiiNOSTiiB. How. (P PREFACE. A PREFACE is the place for apologies and explanations plus anything else, that may set off the Author's work, or give wings to his vanity. I shall not apologize to the Welsh nation, because I feel rather indignant that none of them lias attempted a similar work, and I shall not apologize to the English public, as this was not primarily intended to meet their eye, if they read it, it must be at their own risk, whether they find it dull or un- intelligible, especially as I have in certain instances given quota- tions without translations, though it might be affectation to deny that a circulation in England would be gratifying. It is a nauseous practice which some writers in Wales fall into, of giving translations without the original, sometimes for the benefit of a minority only of their readers. It is easy to say, why cannot Welsh be served up in a translated form ? Personally, I do not believe that one language can be trans- lated into another, to say so is almost a contradiction in terms, and if Welsh prose is partially untranslatable, Welsh poetry is much more so. If English people want to become acquainted with the Celtic genius as manifested in Welsh literature, they must learn the language, not merely the scholastic dry bones of it, but they must in some way acquire the accent from living lips who know its power. It will then be demonstrated that Welsh is not a succession of uncouth sounds, but can produce rare com- binations of forcible and melodious utterances. It was, as I have said, not principally for the English that this book was written, but to rouse the Welsh nation and prevent the premature and artificial extinction of their language. IV. PREFACE. by a system which is condemned by a preponderating weight of evidence on almost all hands, as will be seen by the follow- ing pages, and to point out that quite independently of the question of the desirability of preserving the language or not, by properly applying the means within their reach, the managers of elementary schools can secure the basis of a much more efficient literary education, than is yet the case in Wales, if they cause their instructions to be bilingual in every stage. Talk as we may about technical and scientific education, important as they are, a sound basis of literary education, should after all, be one of the chief aims of elementary schools, and in many cases they will have time for little else. The Welsh language then should be looked upon as a means to extend this basis, i.e. a means by which at a minimum of mental labour to himself and the teacher, and of material expense to the community, the scholar has the opportunity of rising into a higher sphere of knowledge, through the training direct and indirect, thereby afforded. When I say a minimum of mental labour this presupposes a Welsh Code which enlight- ened educationalists, ought to strive for, as well as previous training on the part of the teacher, the deficiency of which is at present a hindrance to education. If Welsh dies, should the reformation here proposed become general, well and good, let it die : but it is a fact to-day, therefore treat it as a fact affecting not merely a few districts, but the greater part of a whole nation. It would have been a comparatively easy task to have pre- sented to my readers a hodge-podge of miscellaneous facts anid fancies about "Wales and Her Language," pitched-forked together in an undigested mass, without much regard to rhyme or reason, but this was not aimed at, and how far I have steered clear of such a course, the reader must decide. Literary faults, there are, of which some are felt by the PREFACE. V. author himself, but when it is considered that indifferent health occasioned frequent delays in the prosecution of the work, and that he has seldom felt physically able to attend to it for more than short periods of time at once, the severity of criticism may be mitigated. The principal scope of the book can be compressed under three heads — I. A demonstration of the defects of the present educa- tional system, in its relation to the language. II. A historical record of the position of the Welsh language, in 1892. III. A commendation of the language to the attention of English people, especially those resident in Wales. I have to add that " Wales " in these pages refers to the thirteen counties. I do not believe that Henry VIII., when he dixided the country into assize circuits, and tacked Mon- mouthshire on to an English one, had any idea of defining the limits of Wales, but that it happened to suit his convenience to make this arrangement. If this is so, until the limits are fixed by law, " Welsh " is simply a conventional term of the same character as the " Midland Counties," or the " East of England," which has rather by force of custom, than law, become limited to twelve counties. Welsh people do not all admit the custom as a respectable one to follow. My thanks are due to Principal M. D. Jones, of Bala, who has kindly read through most of theproofs, although so much new matter has frequently been added before going to press, that he cannot be considered responsible for any errors that may occur ; also to Col. J. A. Bradney, of Tal-y-coed Court, who has given me valuable information on the geographical limits of Welsh, to Dr. Burlingham, of Hawarden, and Henry Tobit Evans, J.P., of Neuadd Llanarth, as well as other friends for the service they have rendered, and to my subscribers VI. PRKPACE. for supporting a man (unknown to most of tliem) in a com- paratively untrodden track. It may be observed that in the case of certain names, the Author has either dropped the usual prefix of St., or put it in quotation marks. Some of the persons to whom this prefix' is applied were beyond question Saints, i.e. they lived in a heavenly atmosphere above the general spirit of the world. There are however, some serious objections to the use of the term as a formal distinctive — one is, that thereby the men who put such epithets into circulation as current coin are in effect telling the world, " these men and women were holy Saints, they lived in quite an unreachable plane, or one to which a very few need aspire, therefore you may be satisfied to remain as you are — unholy sinners." Another objection is that the authority, which guarantees the fact of so-and-so being a Saint, is the excathedr^ voice of the man who, on a given occasion, professed to hold the power of the Keys. What guarantee have we that these men have at any period lived so near the infallible Spirit as to be able to inwardly discern beneath the surface (without any promptings from Cardinals, Jesuits and the like), who deserved the epithet of Saint, and who not. Take Patrick, of Ireland, for instance — an honest, simple-minded, earnest. God-fearing man ; but has one Irishman been inclined to a saintly life through putting him outside the level of every-day life, and calling him Saint Patrick ? It will also be noticed, that I have abstained from calling any places built of stone and mortar Churches. I believe that a religion which attaches any sanctity to places, is nearly nineteen hundred years out of date, at least, when an oppor- tunity is afforded to know better. JOHN E. SOUTHALL. 6 mo., 1892. CONTENTS. PbEFACE ... ... ... ... ... .. jjj CHAPTER 1. PHILOLOaiCAL SCEAP8. British Languages in the 18th Century— Changes iu Wales— Interest of some English names to a Celtic Student— Bilingualism among the Saxons— Foreign names of Celtic origin— Influence of Welsh on the English Language ... ... ... ... ... j CHAPTER II. HISTORICAl.. Offa's Dyke— Northmen's influence — Leominster and its Welsh name- King Harold in Monmouthshire — The Flemings — Welsh Family names— English despised and ignored iu England itself— Baronial Families Welsh speaking — Owain Glyndwr — The Act of Union — Sub- sequent decay of Welsh Culture and Reasons therefor. ... 16 CHAPTER III. EDUCATION FIFTY YEARS AGO. Government Commission of 1846— Bishop Thirlwall — "Sunday" Schools and Statistics of Language taught — Condition of Day Schools in Eng- lish and in Welsh-Wales — Inefficiency of Teachers — Welsh Language generally excluded— Parents — Trustees and Managers — Monmouth- shire — Delinquency of Employers of Labour — Lewis Edwards, of Bala — leuan Gwynedd — Sir T. Phillips — Defective Morals. ... ... 48 CHAPTEK IV. THE BILINGUAL MOVEMENT. Intermediate Education — Llandovery Grammar School and the Provisions of its founder for teaching Welsh — The Intermediate Education Com- mission of 1880 — Establishment of University Colleges — The London Cymmrodorion and their ii.v^-tematic Knquiry from Welsh Elementary Teachers — Replies pro and core — The Aberdare Eisteddfod of 1885, and the formation of a Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language in Education — Opposition to the Proposal — D. Isaac Davies, his letters to the" Western Mail" a,u.d."Baner ac Am8erau Cf^mru." ... 106 CHAPTEK V. THE BILINGUAL MOVEMENT (CONTINUED). Discussion in " Western Mail" ^-George Borrow — Eoyal Education Com- mission, 1887, and Notes on the Evidence of Welsh Witnesses — Death of D. I. Davies— Cymmrodorion Meeting in London, and the Paper of Inspector Edwards — Beport of Commissioners and Concessions to Wales — Address of Principal Edwards— Practical Experience in Teach- ing Welsh ... ... ... ••• ■■■ ... 161 VIII. CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. SOCIAI INFLUENCES. Henry Richards' Letters on Wales — Power of Tradition — Influence of Gentry, why Declining — Congress at Swansea, 1879 — Lack of a Bourgeoisie in the Past — Necessity to Know the Language to Know Wales — Culture of the Poorer Classes — ^Monmouthshire Shoemaker — Possible Deterioration under Dominance of English Language — " More Welsh Head than Ever" — Remarks on the Present Educational Standard — French and German — The James Shaw Controversy — Welsh University Colleges and their Scholarships ... ... ... 203 CHAPTER VII. STUDY Oi' THE LANGUAGE AND LITEBATUBE. English Interest in German, and Reasons therefor- -Desire to Learn Welsh Common — Advice to Beginners— Native Grammars — Personal Exper- ience — Educational Value of Welsh, some of its Peculiarities — Welsh and English Languages Contrasted — Modern Welsh Literature — The Twenty-four Metres — Islwyn, Ossian Gwent, Dafydd lonawr, and others — Welsh Prose— Periodicals and Newspapers— Fugitive Litera- ture —Welsh Publishers — The Future. ... ... ... 245 CHAPTER VIII. WELSH NATIONALITY. Nationality a Term not Easily Defined— Welsh National Consciousness- Instances of Divergence of Character and Language in England — Cardiff Anomalous in Character — Irish Nationality not Ethnological — The Flemings — The Welsh and French Approximate each other — Welsh deficient in Mechanical Talent— Oratory— Delusions about " Sacred '' Music — Celtic influence in English Writers — Cardiff Dailies and Nationality— Scotland ... ... ... ... ... 313 CHAPTER IX. GEOGBAPHICAL LIMITS. The Extreme Boundaries of Welsh Described, with Personal Experiences and Selections from Communications of Correspondents — The Map The 60 per cent. Boundary and the Census— Offa's Dyke— Patagonia- Classification of Population ... ... ... ... 336 CHAPTER X. COBNISH AND IBISH. Cornish— Its Rapid Decline— Reason therefor— Relation of a Language to the minds of the Speakers— Irish— Its Difficulties to Learners— Irish Language Society— Scotch Gaelic ... ... ... ... 365 CHAPTER XI. THE PAST AND THE FUTURE. Summary of some Preceding Matter — Possible Future — Compulsory Welsh Teaching Advocated— Welsh Education Board— Illiteracy in Welsh and the OflSce of J.P.— Conclusion. .. 37fi -Conclusion. ... ... ... 376 385 SUBSCBIBEBS' NAMES ... ... ... ... ggg Appendix ... ... ... ... 3g5 CHAPTEE T. British Languages in the 18th Century— Changes in Wales- Interest OF SOME English names to a Celtic student— BiLINGUALISM AMONG THE SAXONS— FOREIGN NAMES OP CELTIC ORIGIN — Influence of Welsh on the English language. npHERE are probably not many persons cognizant of the fact -^ that at the commencement of last century there were no less than eight native languages spoken in the British Isles, viz : — English G-aelic in the Highlands "Welsh in Wales, and paets Bese in Iebland OF Sheopshirb and Noese in the Orkneys Heebfoedshiee Feench in the Channel Cornish in Cornwall Islands Mans in thb Isle of Man In the following pages it is my intention to take notice of historical or present day facts in connection with the use of some or all of these languages, but the one which pre-eminently will claim our attention is the Welsh. The author cannot lay pretensions to being a Welshman, having been born some eighteen miles east of Clawdd OflFa, but within sight of the Welsh hills on the other side, in Radnor and Brecon. It is perhaps some advantage that an Englishman should discuss the history and topography of the Welsh language and its claims on Welshmen, provided it is not to him a wholly foreign tongue. If we hold a book too close to our eyes the letters become blurred and indistinct; if too far off they again lose their characteristics : so with the Welsh language, it lies too near WALES AND [CHAP. I. Welshmen for them, and their relation to it has been such of a character that they are in many cases scarcely able to form an unbiassed opinion of its educational value ; to some it seems the badge of nationality, which must be maintained at all costs ; to others a millstone round their necks which must be got rid of. Similarly the language lies too far off Englishmen who are ignorant of it and perhaps occasionally nettled by reason of their ignorance in dealing with servants and work- men, or who lack a mind to appreciate its beauties. I do not write for such if they have no ears to hear, but principally for the more intelligent portion of the English speaking inhabitants of Wales, and those who have more or less influence in its educational arrangements, to call their attention to the fact that they have in their midst a gem, which is capable of being used, not simply as a curiosity or an ornament, but for cutting fair and harmonious characters on the mental mirrors of Welsh children, if it is properly handled and in a way that has hitherto been scarcely attempted. Starting from the axiom that education in Wales is far from being in a satisfactory state, I endeavour to shew that in one direction at least a considerable and solid improvement may be made, and fortify myself by adding to what might be considered individual fancies, the opinions of practical teachers and others. Whatever the future of Wales may be, she is now in a transition state — socially, religiously and linguistically. Socially in so far as a more educated and wealthy middle class is arising. Religiously in so far as the simplicity and zeal of sixty years ago appears to be disappearing, before the influence of custom and fashion. Linguistically in so far as the monoglot Welsh- Welshman is much more rarely to be found, and in some districts his duoglot successors are being replaced by monoglot English-Welshmen, reared under the CHAP. I.J HER LANGUAGE. influence of the nineteenth century, and an English Government, backed by the educational traditions of generations ; although the transition lies in the fact that a knowledge of English is more and more spreading, while it is at the same time possible, that during the last ten years the aggregate of the Welsh speaking population has increased. Much that is said here, has been said before in one shape or another during the last five or six years. Some things will perhaps be new to most, if not all of my readers, and at any rate what has before been mostly in a fragmentary state, not easy of reference, is here brought together in a collected form ; while the map and various statistics will, it is hoped, serve the purpose of present information and interest, and as an historical monument of the year 1891. The late Dan Isaac Davies' dream of "Tair miliwn o Gymry dwy-ieithawg yn 1985 " (three miUions of Duoglot Welsh in 1985) may or may not be realized, yet a future generation can hardly fail to reap some instruction as to the laws which govern the use or disuse of language, by reference to the facts that may be gleaned from a linguistic map printed in this last decade of our eventful century. One thing remarkable however at the present day, is the considerable amount of ignorance which prevails even among those who are well-informed — some of them Welsh speaking people — about the linguistic condition of the country. If what I have written tends to cause the question of language in Wales to be regarded more intelligently, both in its social and educational aspects, and tends to the better development of the life of the nation, I shall feel that this book and its appendage have not been written nor drawn up in vain. This is not, however, intended principally for English eyes, but, as I intimated above, rather for those whose lot lies west WALES AND [CHAP. I, of the Severn and who by birth, association, or intercourse are intimately connected with Wales, or interested in its welfare, inviting them to use the past as a key to the present, and as a possible index to the future. English people are usually taught to look upon themselves as Anglo Saxons, and are unaware how much they owe to other races or nations, either in the way of blood or ideas, nor what lessons may not be learnt by even humble and prosaic facts presented in the history of the tongues of such other people. To begin with we will now briefly consider the influence of Welsh on the nomenclature of the speech of England, not in an exhaustive or very scholarly fashion, but within a short compass, which will, nevertheless, point to a new field of thought and observation. A slight knowledge of Welsh is not, it is true, sufiicient to give a new meaning to every place named on the map of England which cannot be explained by reference to Saxon roots, but it is historically instructive and fruitful in awakening the intelligence. The following names of English Counties all contain roots of Celtic* origin which are indicated by capitals — North-UMBEE-land WOE-cester DUR-ham CAM-bridge] YORK DOEr-set OUMBER-land DEVON LAN-cashire COEN-wall LIN-coln KENT DEE-by LEI-cester WAE-wick BEEK-s * I use the -word Celtic here iu a general, not in a strictly scientific sense; possibly some of these names have really come down from pre-Celtic times.! [chap. I. HER LANGUAGE. Of the thirteen Welsh Counties we include all except Montgomery (which is only indirectly Celtic), Radnor and Anglesea. The two latter have, however, Celtic names of their own. Many of these Celtic roots of County names arise from the names of rivers or from towns named from rivers, which indicate that the river was named before any town was built, or from physical characters of the country, e.g., — Northumberland — The country north of the Yorkshire Humber. Durham — Tlie old Anglian Kingdom of Deira ; the country between the dyfroedd of the Tees and Tyne. Kent — A singular confirmation of reputed history here presents itself. According to popular account the first settle- ment of the Saxons in Kent was a peaceful one, their leaders Hengist and Horsa being invited by Vortigem, the British King to assist him in military operations. However this may be, there is corroborative evidence that a large British population remained on the soil and perpetuated traces of their language in some of the place names with the name of the County as well as to the custom of inheritance of land known now as gavel (gaffael) kind. (See ajapendix A.) Vortigem comes to us as a proper name, but in reality he was simply the Gwr Tigern* (c./, modern Welsh Teyrnaswr) = the man or Ruler of the Kingdom ; just as Brennus, who, long centuries before at the head of his victorious hosts of Cymry and Teutones entered the seven-hilled city, was simply the Brenhin or King of the Cymry. f * Tige (modern Welsh, Ty) as the house and the name applied to the patriarch of the house appears to have gradually become applicable to the head of a confederation; c.f. Irish Tighearna = a, lord. t It seems probable that the word Cymry itself simply ~means the federated hosts. WALES AND [CHAP. I. Dover is pronounced by our French neighbours almost exactly as their Gaulish forefathers pronounced it, some two thousand years ago, when it was as now, the main point of reaching the dwfr (or water) which separates England from France ; the Saxon settlers were sufficiently in touch with their neighbours to call the place (for probably no town existed there) by the same name, but unwitting that it simply signified water, hence to the present day when speaking of going from Dover to Calais we are really saying from Water to Calais, a proof of the extinction of the Welsh language in the district, but evidence also, if I am not mistaken, that it was gradual and not attended with the bloody slaughter which— must have taken place in the Eastern Counties, and would have caused the Celtic name to become obsolete. The Wak in Warwick and the Wok in Worcester are undoubtedly the same word, and the root survives in Wyre Forest near Bewdley, and in Caer Wrangon the Welsh name for Worcester, probably also in the Roman City of Uriconium, and in Erging the foundation name of the ArcAewfield district near Ross, Herefordshire. CuMBER-land reminds us of the once extensive Cymric Kingdom of Strath Clyde (Ystrad Clwyd) which embraced the tract from the Clyde to the Mersey, bounded probably on the east by a line running through the West Riding Dales. The Celtic names in South West Scotland are however more Gaelic than Cymric ; e.g. Sanquahar = Hen Gaer. The " Lan " of Lancaster, doubtless, comes from the Celtic root of the river Lune, but the Welsh name Caer Mr fryn, reminds us at once of the long ridge, the Mr fryn or elevated country, forming the backbone of the county about which the cotton mills are congregated. In Devon we find testimony to the deep brooks of the old red sandstone, the dyfneint {dwfn deep, nentydd brooks). CHAP. I.] HER LANGUAGE, Cornwall was originally Kernyw. Kernyw Wealas, were Welshmen — foreigners who dwelt in Kernyw. The term Wealas whence Wales we find illustrated again in the name of the modern European State Belgium. The Belgians, a people older than Caesar, were formerly foreigners to some Teutonic neighbours, just as the Germans were at the same time Ellmynwyr = All-man wyr, i.e. men from another place — to the Gauls and are still so called by the Welsh, while the French call them AUemands ; so indestructible amid the rise and fall of Empires have been personal names once conveying simple ideas when fixed on a nation on or before the times of early history. Of those Counties not in the above list two at least deserve notice. GLOU-cester may be wholly Roman, and if so was originally Claudii Castra, which was Cymricized as Caergloyw — its name to the present day. It is difiicult to understand the usual Roman name Glevum arising fi-om anything we should find reproduced as Gloyw. Glevum was certainly the Latinized form of an old Celtic place name. Somerset is a remarkable and historically instructive name: at first appearance it is wholly and solely Saxon and to mean the settlement of the Somers folk. Without a knowledge of Welsh, however, we have no real clue to the name, and at fixst sight, the Welsh name for the district, viz : Gwlad yr Haf, used even in the nineteenth century, does not suggest what appears to be the true derivation. I venture the following conjecture of its origin : when the Saxons had penetrated as far in the country as Somersetshire, they were not mere hostile and alien invaders, but had become used to the country with its residual British population and were to some extent bilingual. They asked the natives what they called the district and were told it was Gwlad yr Haf. 8 WALES AND [OHAP. I, These Saxons possessed Welsh enough to know that Haf meant summer, but were ignorant that the Severn was Yr Hafren, hence they jumped to the conclusion that they were in the summer country and called themselves Somersetas. In a neighbouring county the new comers were also called settlers — Dorsetas, from the old Roman tovni of Dorchester (W., Caer dor.) Another curious case of the mistranslation of a Celtic name occurred in the fifth century. All readers of Church History are acquainted with the name of Pelagius, a Briton whose doctrine was firmly opposed by the noted Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. His original name was Morgan, and some of the learned of that time wishing to translate it into a classic form took for granted that the MOR meant sea, and that Morgan meant, " born by the sea." They accordingly dubbed him Pelagius from the Greek word pelagos, the sea. The real meaning of the name I take to have been Great Head ; cean being the GaeHc form of Welsh pen — the head. Possibly he was a Monmouthshire man, as Gaelic was spoken here, according to Professor Rhys, as late as the fifth century ; in any case he was one of the numerous clan of " Morganiaid," who have given their name to the Owlad Morgan, knovm by the Saxon as Glamorganshire. Malcolm Ceanmore, King of Scotland, bore the same surname, but the adjective more [great] followed the noun. That there may have been a certain amount of bilingualism among early English in the south of England — perhaps Somersetshire — ^is borne evidence to by a poem of the 13th century, given in Prof. Henry Morley's History of English Literature, the refrain of each stanza in which is " Quoth Hendyng." In reference to the latter the Professor says, — " As for the name Hendyng, I beUeve that it suggests only CHAP. I,J HER LANGUAGE. tjie wisdom of age and experience and is one of the vernacular words drawn from the Celtic part of the population for Henddyn, means in Welsh an aged person." The following stanza is from the original, the second is the same translated into modern English. Yef thou havest bred ant ale, Ne put thou nout al in thy male, Thou dele it sum aboute. Be thou fre of all thy meeles, Where so me any mete deles ; Gest thou not withoute, Better is appel y-geve than y-ete, Quoth Hendyng. Hast thou of bread and ale, no lack. Put not all in thine own sack, But scatter some about. Art thou free with thine own meals Where another his meat deals ; Goest thou not without, Better apple given nor eaten, Quoth Hendyng. Names of important hill ranges, rivers and mountains in England are nearly all Celtic or pre-Celtic : — The Mendips, Quantocks, Chilterns, the Tors, Cheviots, Cotswolds, Malvern, Bredon Hill, Helvellyn, Pendle Hill, Sometimes however a Celtic name is lost, as y Van near Abergavenny, now called the Sugar Loaf, and while its companion the Skirrid is still Celtic : unimportant hills are generally English, even in Herefordshire as Brierley Hill, Foxley, Lady Lift, &c. Abergavenny (w., y Fenni) was Gobannium in Roman times — Go being an intensitive prefixed to ban, a high mountain. 10 WALES AND [chap. Among the names of English towns, not being County names as well, we find the following which bear evidence of the presence of the Celt — Maldon Kbitbdon^ Ceomee Abtjndbl Lynn EOMNBY London, including LXTDGATE AND BiLlIN&SGATB Lebk Manchester Leeds Liteepool EiPON Chiohestee WiNCHESTEE CaELISLB " St." Albans "Wigan OoTENTEY Ludlow Bath Colohbstee Pbneith Salisbuey Cieenobstee These, however, are merely samples, the number of place names with Celtic roots must amount to several hundreds. Ludgate and Billingsgate : — Each of these names that romancing historian Geoffrey of Monmouth, who lived as far back as the 12th century connected with the history of mythical kings, viz., Lud and Beli respectively, so with Leicester (Caerleirion) which name he originated from " King Lear." Somewhat singularly there is a place in Leicestershire still called Leir ; just as there is a place near Gloucester called Cleeve which appears to correspond with the old term Glevum. Most probably, such a man as " King Lud " never existed, but Ludgtate contains a very ancient name ; undoubtedly the same one occurs in the present day Welsh poetic name for London — Caerludd. Billingsgate has all the appearance of being derived from a Saxon patronymic Billing, but it is scarcely credible that the Saxons should have transmitted a name to that ancient structure, ancient even in the days of the Conqueror which the Welsh would have recognized in their Forth Beli ; so that I take Billingsgate to have a simulated Saxon derivation, but, and in reality, a Celtic one. CHAP. I.J HER LANGUAGE. 11 Oxford seems again thoroughly Saxon, — in reaUty it was the ford of the [Tafjwysc, thence Wysc or Uskford and Oxford. Later on, the Welsh, obHvious of the old derivation, translated Oxford by Bhydychain = Oxenford. Lichfield is a striking instance of a Celtic name, being translated by a Teutonic speaking people, who found it called Maes y Cyrph — "the field of corpses" from the bloody slaughter of Christians there in the days of Diocletian. George Fox when he passed through the streets of Lichfield beheld them with his spiritual vision, streaming with blood, while he believed himself inspired to cry aloud, "Woe, woe to the bloody city of Lichfield,"* and little knew that the very name of the town bore evidence of the fact which he saw by revelation, before he was acquainted with the historical narrative of what had taken place there some 1300 years before. As we approach the West, Celtic names become more frequent, till in Cornwall we get a preponderating majority of them. In Lancashire we should find a good crop, but for the fact that until moderu times Lancashire was one of the poorest portions of the kingdom, almost the poorest County, and many now important towns could have had no existence when the Cumbrian language was still spoken there, possibly down till the thirteenth century, but Manchester {Manceinion), and Liverpool {Llynlleifiad) still bear evidence of Celtic influence.f The nomenclature of the Continent of Europe, piesents many interesting facts to the Celtic student. Here he sees in the Crimea a name that must have belonged to that Peninsula for three thousand years at least, and a *Leiche-a. dead body, hence the "Xic/i-gate " before burial grounds. + The English reader may Ise surprised to learn that the Welsh names in italics are still used in current literature to signify those great towns. 12 WALES AND [CHAP. I. primeval home of the Cymry. The word Appennine at once becomes eloquent to him as pemiau wynion; the white historic peaks of the backbone of Italy. The PyRENNBES become the Bar wynion, — the white ridge, keeping the Celtic name in spite of the Basque population still adjacent. He comes across the Aab in Switzerland and finds it represented on the borders of Wales by a river bearing the apparently English name of the Arrow (near Leominster), but which was undoubtedly the Aarwy {Araf, slow, wy, river,) while he is not slow to recognize that the Douro in Portugal was simply the water to a primitive people. Near the Arrow he finds the Lugg (Uugvvy) and sees in the busy town of Lyons (Lugdunum) evidence that the same people have wandered in uncultivated simplicity by the banks of the Lug and of the fast flowing Rhone, while they have transmitted identical relics of their speech in the distant cities, of VEN-ice and WiN-chester. Near the Anglicized Town of Newport he finds the Cefn:; as well as elsewhere in Wales; and in the South of France the Cevennes : the radical idea of a ridge or back being. the same in each case. In the historical city of MAG-deburg he sees the identical root which has been preserved in Blagor, a Monmouthshire village and in many places in Ireland.— (c./., Manx, Magher a field). Turning now from English and Continental place-names t« the English language itself, an observer, familiar with both languages, finds that a larger share has to be assigned to the Celtic than is generally supposed. The Authors of students' handbooks and examiners in Enghsh at Universities are generally all but ignorant of a Celtic vocabulary and more so of Celtic grammar ; consequently they are incompetent to deal with an analysis of the Celtic elements in the English language. CHAP. I.] HER LANGUAGE. 13 Into anything like an exhaustive or thorough treatment of the subject I am not qualified to enter, nor has it ever been seriously attempted, to my knowledge ; what is here said is not put forward authoritatively, but rather to indicate that just as in the case of place-names, a knowledge of Welsh throws light on the history and condition of England in past times, so the English language itself is not untinctured by expressions which betray Welsh influence. A careful examination of English idioms alone would probably confirm this, and apart from phrases, if we only consider verbal constructions, there are instances which arrest our attention — e.g., the peculiar use of do as an auxiliary verb. " I do not see him." " Does he walk quickly " ? Where do we find similar constructions in any Teutonic tongue; and yet, in Welsh, as an afiirmation, we hear gwnaf, " I will do so," in answer to a command such as " Lock the door " ; and in Breton it is even more prominent, as moiid a rann — " I am coming," literally " Come, I do." I am writing, with, but a simple present signification is or might be expressed by a somewhat similar compound in Welsh, yr wyf yn "ysgrifemi ; buL not usually in German or Danish. No one has ever, s.o far as I am aware, made out a complete? list of Celtic words incorporated in the English language. The total it is true, is not comparatively large, but it is larger than such authorities as I have hinted at give, and I suspect too, that technical terms would yield a good harvest in this direction. When the farmer's wife, picks out her addled eggs, and scatters harley for her new brood of chickens, then, after she has chopped her suet in the kitchen, she sits down with a clean apron and makes gussets, and liems her flannels, or sews on buttons, while, the goodman is preparing his bait for vermin. He goes out of the gabled house and looks at his 14 WALES AND [OHAP. I. hogs and rams and walks a brisk pace on the road to the common, where he finds an adder which he hurts with his pitch-ioxk {pig a beak) ; and passes his hi/red labourers tedding hay and some of which is destined to go into a rick and some into a loft with laths under the tile roof, while his fields are manured by aid of carts, drawn by horses fed on hran mash, from the lime kiln and worked up into ridges with mattocks ; and his hedges are trimmed with hills (bwyell). He eats his morning meal that has been prepared on the griddle, looks at his infant in the cradle while he is coaxed by his elder children to have a romp with them, and all the while if he is an EngKshman, is quite unaware that many of the words I have italicized were borrowed by his ancestors from their British neighbours ; others of them are very similar in Welsh but cannot safely be included, though it is possible that a certain number of such words entered the Anglo-Saxon or Icelandic languages through contact with Celtic speaking people long ages ago. The engineer talks of Mocks, bosses, butts, chisels, cranes, funnels, cams, plugs, spigots, scuttles, cogs, gimlets, tow, and probably many more things which from their technical character escape the cursory notice of Philologists, but which bear similar relations to the corresponding Welsh words. As intimated above, the number of Welsh words permanently incorporated in English is small, but it would have probably been very much increased had it not happened that modern English is most nearly derived from a dialect similar to that spoken in Northamptonshire, where Celtic influence must have been very much smaller than in many other parts of the kingdom. Had the dialect of West Mercia, or Wiltshire, or even Derbyshire, ruled the formation of English, many Celtic-EngUsh words, now only confined to local patois or else obsolete altogether would have become part and parcel of the " Queen's EngKsh." CHAP. I.] HER LANGUAGE. 15 The mere resemblance of an English word to a Welsh one is not in itself sufficient evidence of the former being derived from the latter as such words admit of being divided into three classes, viz. : — I. Words which are alike by reason of Enghsh and Welsh, being both branches of a common Indo-European stock, from which they divided long before the Christian Era. 11. Words which the English has borrowed directly or indirectly from the Welsh, and which may amount to two hundred or more. III. Words which the Welsh has borrowed from the English. Considering the relations of the two countries during the last six hundred years, the number of the latter is surprisingly small. I believe very few EngUsh scholars have ever given due weight to this fact, or perhaps been acquainted with it. That a language which has been exiled from secular schools and colleges, with small exceptions for centuries, should be written ^to-day, with such an unmixed vocabulary as it is, can only be adduced as a proof of its wonderful vitaUty. English emerged from the ordeal of the supremacy of Norman French saturated with foreign expressions, in fact she may be said to have lost half her old face, and to have reappeared half Latin and half Saxon. Breton has somewhat similarly been drenched with French words, so was the later Cornish with English, so now is the colloquial Welsh of Gwent and Morganwg, but when we come to read Y Geniiien and Y Traethodydd, although they perhaps scarcely lay claim to be models of style, we find, notwithstanding all defects, that the proportion of English words is very much less (especially in the poetical portions), than a stranger would have expected. CHAPTER II. Opfa's Dyke — Nobthmen's influence — Leominstbb, and its Welsh NAME— King Harold in Monmouthshibe — The Flemings — Welsh family names — English despised and ignoebd in England itself— Bakonial families Welsh speaking— Owain Glyndwk— The Act op Union— Subsequent decay of Welsh cultube and reasons thbbefob. rFHE history of Wales proper from the point of view we are now considering it, might be said to begin with the formation of OfFa's Dyke, in that is to say, whereas previously we could scarcely give any limits to the extent of the language, we can now afford pretty much to confine our attention to the limits of this Dyke, although I have no doubt that communities of Welsh speaking people were to be found in England, outside Devon and Cornwall for centuries afterwards. I incline to think that beyond perhaps a few years, the effects of the Dyke in restraining attacks of Welshmen was comparatively small and that the penalty attached to a Welshman being found on the other side could not be strictly enforced, otherwise how is it we find native Welsh spoken East of the Dyke to the present day in Shropshire and also that this was the case some sixty years ago in Herefordshii-e. ? How is it too, that only a century after OflFa's time a learned Welshman, Asser, was attendant at King Alfred's court for six months in the year, though his property lay in West Wales? OfFa's Dyke was completed about the year 780 and the Welsh language was spoken right up to the edge of it, from Chepstow to Chester with little or no absolute break for no less than 900 years, except that the contemporaneous use of English was current along the greater distance of it during the CHAP. II.] WALES AND HER LANGUAGE. 17 latter portion of that period ; but throughout the middle ages, the area of spoken Welsh in Wales and the Borders must have been remarkably constant. Circumstances, however, were imminent which affected Wales, and ultimately modified her future history, as they did that of her Saxon neighbours. The Northmen who ravaged the East of England, carrying terror and desolation along with them, did not spare the West coast, and left permanent relics of their presence in various names on or near it, as the Nash (waes = nose of land) in Monmouthshire, and also in Glamorgan ; the Holms islands, Lundy, the Skerries, and the important port of Swansea — the ea representing the Norse ei for island, while further up we get VoY^dinorwic, near the Bangor slate quarries (the Norwegians' port); the Orme's Head, and Bardset/ Island, also Caldy Island in Pembroke- shire. Swansea is still called by the Welsh Abertawy, in preference to the appellation given it by foreigners. Compare also Anglesea — W., Ynys Mon. A more remarkable instance of the persistence of Welsh names occurs in Herefordshire where a monastery was founded in 660 by Merewald, King of Mercia, a Saxon — Ealfrid being the first Abbot. In the 10th century, however, the monks were supplanted by nuns, but about the time of William the Conqueror, the nunnery ceased and the monastery was restored; though the name Leofrici Monasterium evidently connects with the days when Leofric, a Saxon general under King Canute, repaired the building, with a great " bravery of gold and silver." This monastery was a cell of the Abbot of Reading, and for many centuries, English influences must have been prevalent in the district, as the names of the surroimding villages are mostly Saxon, and were so, even at the advent of the Conqueror. 18 WALES AND [OHAP. II. Notwithstanding these cogent facts, the Welsh name Lkmllieni (Uieni = nuns), referring to the nunnery, still survives. The writer has heard an old Radnorshire woman, hailing from Abbey Cwmhir, near Rhayader, repeat the doggerel which she had heard many years before : — " How many miles, how many Is it from Leominster to Llanllieni ? " and he is assured that Leominster is stiU known by some Welsh people as Llanllieni. Those were days in which a well-to-do woman who could have afforded to have ridden, walked, 40 miles from near Llanidloes into Leominster butter fair, and sold her butter the same day ; " and now," said my old friend almost indignantly, "you take a train to go to Hereford," — thirteen miles. Why the Welsh refused to recognize the 11th century monastery, and only spoke of the nunnery when they referred to the town is not clear, unless it is, that by the time the monastery was well established they entered the town as strangers, speaking a foreign language, and did not wish to trouble themselves about any new-fangled name coined by the Saxons. After the Northmen had come and gone, or else settled down and had become incorporated with the people, a great Englishman— no less a man than Kmg Harold— pitched his tent, in the shape of a hunting lodge, in a corner of Wales, at Portskewett (Forth Ysgetvin), near the "Moors" (the Morfa) of Monmouthshire, which Roman skill had in time past reclaimed by a sea wall, remains of which exist to the present day, more or less entire. Traces of his settlement of the low land, may not, improbably, be found in the Saxon names of Whitson, Redwick, GoldcUff, and Itton. King Harold's day was short; and with his fall came the subjugation of the Saxons; for 300 years it was the CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 19 Frainc or Norddmein* rather than the Saeson, whom the Cymry feared : then was ushered in the era of huge castles, with gloomy vaults, where the ray of hope scarcely entered, while the common people toiled on in unrequited serfdom. Wales was, at this period, in far too weak and divided a state to offer much permanent resistance to these Norman spoilers, who erected stronghold after stronghold all along the eastern borders and the southern coast of Wales. Directly, however, the Norman rule did not much affect the language of the people, but it was the means of extirpating the Welsh language from two districts, viz.. South Pembrokeshire, and Gower near Swansea, by the introduction of Flemish Colonies. Whether or no the populations there had been very much reduced through the Norse invasions, I am not able to decide. How far the Welsh flannel trade is originally due to Flemish industry I will not attempt to decide ; but in the case of family names ending in kin the Flemings have left lasting traces, as the frequently recurring Watkins, Jenkins, Hopkins, will testify. Not that the holders of these names necessarily have a drop of Flemish blood in their veins, but such became current in Wales, people adopted them for their children, and then, in the third generation, a Robert ap Siencyn ap Einion Ddu would, if he lived in the time when patronymics were becoming fixed, be simply known as Robert Jenkins. Ivor James, the Registrar of the South Wales University *Llywarch Brj'dydd y moch, writing on Llewelyn ap lorwerth, says, — " Ai gwell Franc na ffrawdus Gymro." (Is a Norman better than a conquering Cymro.) Einion Gwgan, about 1244 : — " Golud mawr ystrud ysgryd Norddmein.'' (Great was our happiness to put the Normans to lear and consternation.) Quoted in " Specimens of Ancient Welsh Poetry," by leuan P. Hir, Pryse's Edition. 20 WALES AND [CHAP. II. College at Cardiff, contests the fact that these districts were mainly settled by Flemings : the evidence adduced by him in support of his view is partly based on the absence of Flemish family names there. He has overlooked the force of the above mentioned fact, and even if not, the objection should not carry great weight as many family names are of comparatively recent origin, even in England ; and in Welsh Wales very few of the family names can be older than the 16th century, when the first name of a father came to be borne by his son as a surname, and then by his descendants in perpetuity ; and when it also happened that custom ran in the direction of such first names being from a few of English, Norman or Hebrew, rather than of national origin, the choice accordingly admitted of but little variation, hence great confusion has resulted to the present day. Thus, we may suppose, that a Griffith ap Conan had a son in the 16th century whom he named — in deference to prevailing ideas— John ; this John ap Griffith's son was named Risiart ; this Risiart ap John would be called Richard Jones; and thus, Jones be established as a family name; so with the Bdwardses, the Davies, the Robertses, the Jameses ; ap Harry and ap Huw becoming Parry and Pugh. Sometimes, however, family names were adopted which entirely broke the ancestral connection, for instance. Dean Gabriel Goodman, of Westminster, was a Welshman, who, if I am not mistaken, assumed the name Goodman. An ancestor of the Mostyn family assumed that name at the suggestion of Roland Lee, Bishop of Lichfield, of whom we shall hear later on. Some names of Welsh origin but scarcely to be met with in Wales, are found in England, e.g., WaJmyn, in Ross, Herefordshire, Oough, CraMock, Camm, Says, &c. The ancestors of these people must have hved away from Wales when this casting-olf of vernacular names went on. CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 21 Whether Wales will be satisfied as population increases, to allow such a poverty of family names to continue, I do not know : one well-known Welshman — living at Manchester — R. J. Derfel has made a move against it by adopting the name Derfel for his family instead of Jones. Though no movement of any magnitude in this direction has set in, a somewhat curious custom prevails of individuals bearing three names, the second a distinctively Welsh one, and being generally known by the second and third name, sometimes the initial only of the first name being mentioned. Thus we have Cynddylan, Einion, Ossian, lUtyd, Tudor, Ceiriog, Gwynfe, Teganwy, prefixed to more or less common surnames. For instance, John Ceiriog Hughes — always known in bardic circles as Ceiriog — would, if he had been a lawyer, or doctor, and not an author, have probably signed himself J. Ceiriog Hughes. Among writers the difficulty is almost entirely removed by the adoption of noms de plume (enwau harddonol). In England, it is the exception rather than the rule to speak of a standard author by an assumed name, or for the latter to exist ; in Wales, authors are frequently better known in the latter way, even when there is no attempt to hide the personality. Few people in Wales talk of William Rees, or William Tliomas, but many of " Gwilym Hiraethog " and " Islwyn" : there are, however, exceptions-^Goronwy Owain's name is sufficiently poetic and distinctive by itself, and was the name given him at birth. In early times there was a considerable variety of personal names in Wales ; in the appendix I give a list of some which have been preserved to us in the names of places ; many of their possessors were Christians of the fifth or sixth centuries ; had I also included personal names, handed down in historical documents, the number might have been indefinitely enlarged. One difficulty which Welsh parents would doubtless find in 22 WALES AND [CHAP. II, re-iutroduciiig them is, that their English neighbours would be likely to mangle the sounds of the double letters ; and ignore the u sound of the y. There are, however, some in the list which might, with advantage, be used, even though the sounds be not English. Several of the old Saxon names of men and women are now extinct, as Ethelwolf, Athelstan, Edwy, Kenelm, Leofwin, Ella, Edgiva ; a larger proportion, however, than in the case of Welsh ones have survived, such as Alfred, Edward, Egbert, Harold, Margaret, Winifred ; besides this there appears to be a tendency to revive some previously extinct ; why should not the Cymry do the same ? I have mentioned above that the Norman Conquest did not greatly affect the language of the people in Wales. It was, however, the means of introducing into it many warhke terms and words used in legal administration. As regards English itself, or to speak more correctly a late form of Saxon, and its social and literary status, the effect was much more marked, for we must recollect that during most of the time under review, it was a despised, down-trodden language. Eight hundred years ago it had ceased to be the Court language or the language of legal affairs, and probably many of the nobles were unable to hold a conversation in it. We know that Henry II. could not, nor possibly Edward II. Two hundred years later when the old enmity between English and Normans had pretty much passed, the chance for English to become the permanent tongue of the land appeared even smaller ; Norman French was considered the language of education and culture and not simply a badge of political superiority. In the schools English was ignored much as the education department affected until recently to ignore the existence of Welsh : children had to construe in French, CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 23 and perhaps less than ever was the English language written. In the reign of Edward I. Acts of Parliament and public letters were written in French, it was not till 1385 that children at school began to construe in English, and not before the reign of Henry VI. or nearly four hundred years after the Conquest, was French disused for legal proceedings. Students of law books may still find in the Norman French terms used there, relics of the degradation of English. There are still parts of the British Isles where a stranger finds that English is no longer the Imperial language ; where the supremacy of the same language which the haughty Normans spoke is maintained. Why is French allowed to be legal language of the Channel Islands while Welsh is still out of court in Wales ? Is it because Englishmen now have any more love to French than to Welsh ? No. The reason is that, when utility demanded the abolition of French in England, the French speaking population of those islands were allowed to retain their native French in legal proceedings, because they had precedent and the lingering respect for Norman customs in their favour : but in the case of Wales, whatever precedent, there may have been in Plantagenet times, under semi-independent governors, it was evidently feared later on, that there would be an element introduced antagonistic to the stability of the government by permitting its use in the law courts. Robert of Gloucester (strangely anticipating John Edwards of 1651) says about this period: "There is no nation thatholdeth not to its kindly* speech save England only." It is thought probable that the French wars of Richard III. turned the * Kindly here means native. 24 WALES AND [OHAP. II. scale and encouraged the use of English, which to this day contains an almost unparalleled proportion of words of extraneous origin, and as the historian Freeman remarks, has lost the power [which Welsh still possesses] of forming new compound words from the original stock, which power he regards as the " test of a really living language." This shews us that the linguistic condition of Wales has been to some extent anticipated in the past history of England and the fact that Welsh is scarcely allowed to enter a course of secular education, further than it can be used as an instrument to learn English, is no argument against its inherent worth or that it should not receive a larger meed of recognition. At the close of the fifteenth century, I take the boundary of spoken Welsh to have embraced the whole country west of Offa's Dyke, with the exception of South Pembroke and Gower, and perhaps a district near Chepstow, and to have included the whole, or nearly all Herefordshire South of the Wye, some portions of the Forest of Dean, Clun Forest in Shropshire and the country west of Shrewsbury. We may have to except some small portion of North Herefordshire, west of the Dyke. The great baronial families had to some extent become absorbed in the Welsh speaking populations; and the Scudamores of South Herefordshire were pretty certainly Welsh speaking; so were the Herberts of Raglan, who amassed a large Welsh library ; probably also the Turbervilles of Glamorganshire, the Aubres of Breconshire and possibly the Pulestons of North Wales ; other leading families were themselves of directly Welsh descent, such as the Morgans of Tredegar, and the Wynns of Gvi^dir. It was a fi-equent occurrence for the sons of Norman barons to marry into Welsh families, even the Mortimers did this, CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 25 hence it would easily happen that these descendants would be Welsh speaking. For instance* — Nest, daughter of Trahaern ap Caradog, married Bernard de Newmarch ; Nest, daughter of lestyn ap Gwrgant, married Robert Fitz Hamon. Margaret, daughter of Llewelyn ap lorwerth, married John de Breos. On the other side, Dafydd ap Owain Gwynedd married a daughter of Henry II. Llewelyn ap lorwerth — Joan, a sister of King John ; and Llewelyn ap Grufiydd — EHnor de Montfort, while Rhys Gryg married the daughter of Earl Clare. Later on, than the preceding. Sir W. Scudamore married a daughter of Owain Glyndwr. It was at Kent- church ill Herefordshire, the seat of the Scudamores, that Sion Kent, the Monk bard of the 15th century, found protection in those troublous times ; he was a learned man, and, even up to this nineteenth century, a marvellous, traditional character has been given him among the peasantry of Gwent. Two other reasons might be adduced for this Cymricizing tendency — One was the state of semi-independence in which some of the leading men liked to remain, hence their attachment was naturally lessened to the Court language, which was, as we have seen French for some centuries. Another, was the influence of the Arthurian romances and the story of the Trojans being the ancestors of the British, which latter, though without a shadow of a foundation, was sufficiently generally believed, to be adduced as evidence of the high birth of Henry VII. and it is not surprising to find L. Glyn Cothi writing of him : Bvo yw'r atteg hir o Vrutus Er wedi Selyf o waed Silius O ddynion Troia Iwyddianes vonedd Ac ais G-wynedd ar ysganus.t ' See " Hanes Lknyddiaeth Gymreig," page 279. t See translation next page. 26 WALES AND [CHAP. II. This process of absorption into Welsh nationality was undoubtedly somewhat similar to that which took place in Ireland during the same period, and it proceeded there to such an extent, that the English Government was aroused to the danger of the Anglo Norman families becoming more Irish than the Irish themselves; so by the statutes of Kilkenny (Edward III. circ 1362), marriage with an Irish woman was declared high treason. Linguistically, this fact is worth some consideration : Celtic languages have shewn in the past a much greater power of vitality than Scandinavian ones. Within a few generations after the settlement of the Northmen in Normandy, their language was unknown there and they had become French speaking ; perhaps the same thing could be said of Sicily. In the Isle of Man where Norse or Scandinavian existed side by side with the Manx, it became extinct centuries ago ; in the Orkneys it also died out, long before the age of steam had time to interfere. After the final conquest of Wales in 1283, there was no effort made to destroy the distinctive nationality of the people ; in fact, various different laws and customs were retained and nothing like the statutes of Kilkenny was put in force ; but the provision for even-handed justice must have been weak. The oppression of one of the border lords at Ruthin— probably one who had not been " Cymricized," drew forth reprisals from Owain Glyndwr, which eventually, involved nearly the whole of the marches from the Dee to the Wye ; and [translation]. t He is the great (long, literally) support descended from Brutus, Though after Selyf from the blood of Silius, From the men of Troy of successful origin, And from the ribs of Gwynedd on his wanderings. CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 27 the House of Commons in 1431, when requesting that the forfeiture of his lands might be enforced, declared that had he been successful, the English tongue would have wholly and for evermore perished. In consequence of this outbreak, and as early in its course as 1401, Parliament passed ordinances, calculated to promote in an eminent degree the evil they were directed against, or, at least, to inspire hatred of England, and discord among neighbours. Among these provisions, after allowing an Englishman sued by a Welshman to be sued only in England, it disenfranchised all Englishmen married to Welsh women ; no victuals or ammunition might be imported into Wales except by permission of the King and his Council ; the Welsh were forbidden to keep their children at learning, or apprentice them to any occupation in any town or borough in the realm. How far these merciless ordinances were actually carried out, I have been unable to ascertain, and as Wales was lost to English law for some years subsequently, they cannot have had much immediate effect beyond that of calling the Welsh from the English Universities or towns, whither they had gone for study or for purposes of trade, to enlist in the cause of Glyndwr, who is reputed to have died at Monnington, Herefordshire, shortly before the battle of Agincourt. Among the Welshmen engaged there under Henry V., was Owen Tudor, son of Meredith ap Tudor, and a descendant of Prince Llewelyn, who was subsequently attached to the English Court, Here he gained the affections of Catherine de Valois, Henry Vs. widow shortly after death of the latter, and in 1428 was married to her, thus becoming the son-in-law of Charles VI. of France, Owain Glyndwr's former ally. We can scarcely imagine an EngHsh ,Queen-dowager 28 WALES AND [CHAP. II. marrying a representative of the Welsh royal line, and a scion of the Welsh nobihty, which had been a few years before bitterly opposed to the Enghsh crown and almost everything English. Nor was it so, a peaceful domestic union of a Welshman with a Frenchwoman did more to bring jibout the final reception of Wales on equal terms into the councils of England, and to remove the sores of centuries, than the ebullitions of national hatred and the devastations of fire and sword had done in generations past. Two sons were bom of the marriage, Edward who was made Earl of Richmond, and Jasper who played an important part in the Wars of the Roses. Edward married Margaret Beaufort, heiress of the Lancastrian line of Plantagenets and died about 1456, leaving one son Henry, Earl of Eichmond, who after the battle of Mortimer's Cross in 1461, and the subsequent execution of his grandfather Owen Tudor by the Yorkists, was imprisoned by order of Edward IV. On the accession of Henry VI. to temporary power in 1470 he was released and escaped to France, after recei\ang we may reasonably beheve, a Cymric education at his place of confinement with the Herberts of Raglan, or at Usk, where, also, Edward IV. and Richard III. passed part of their time. For fourteen yeara, Henry, with his uncle Jasper, appears to have found it necessary to be absent fi"om England, till seizing his opportunity in the summer of 1485, during the unpopular reign of Richard III., and with the assistance of Rhys ap Thomas, Governor of South Wales, Evan Morgan, ancestor of the present Tredegar family and other Cambrian leaders, they effected a landing at Milford Haven, vsdth some three thousand French or Breton troops. After strengthening various positions on the border, and receiving reinforcements from Wales and a few Shropshire men, Henry marched to Bosworth field in Leicestershire, with CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 29 the result known to all readers of history. Richard III., it is said, perished by the hand of Rhys ap Thomas, an ancestor of the present Lord Dynevor, and Henry was crowned on the battle field by Lord Stanley, who, with his "Welsh followers from Chirk, Yale and Bromfield had seceded to his cause, " pitying " (so says the historian Powell) " the miseries of the Welsh." With the accession to the throne of Henry Tudor as Henry Vn. a new era begins for Wales, old things were passing away and a new order, of which we see the effects to-day, was beginning to appear. The ceaseless tumults, pillagings, forrays, heart burnings and wanton disregard of life and property which had prevented both high and low from receiving the benefits of civilization and honest employment, and also had stood in the way of Christian principles spreading among the people, though not perhaps wholly terminated, became more and more things of the past, and the husbandman felt he could at last, till his ground without fear of his crops being burnt or trampled on. Whatever were the bad quahties of the Seventh Henry, Welshmen cannot say that he was ungrateful. Not long after his accession he repealed the odious ordinances of Henry IV. and actually granted the Abbot of Neath a charter for a University of Wales. How the project fell through, is not known, but if we had had another Cymric speaking, Welsh- bred King, it is probable that four hundred years would not have passed and the want stiU be unsupplied. (I have no positive evidence as to this qualification of the Bang, but consider it most likely, as he passed part of his youth in Wales). Lewys Morganwg in 1490 thus vn-ites — "A University at Neath ! A subject of celebration ! " During the early years of Henry's reign, he was a frequent visitor at the border town of Ludlow, where Arthur, the young 30 WALES AND [CHAP, II. Prince of Wales, was being brought up under the care of Sir Rhys ap Thomas, and we can hardly doubt but that Cymric influences largely directed the actions of the vice-regal Court of the Marches. Providence saw meet to cut short the career of this promising youth in 1502, and the government of Wales was then conducted by a council under a chief officer, styled the Lord President of the Marches, the first of whom, strange to say, was the English Bishop of Lincoln. The semi-independent rule of the Lords Marchers does not, however, appear to have entirely ceased with these events, and the common people were deprived in greater or less degree of the ordinary protection granted to English subjects. One historian, Woodward, says — " Writs issued in the King's name were of no authority in the Marcher Lordships, but only such as bore the signature and seal of the Baron of the district." Even in Edward Ill's, time they were reminded " not to yield obedience to any one who might chance to be OAvner of Wales." The Statutes of Rhuddlan given forth when Wales lay prostrate at the feet of Edward L, although destroying what remained at the pohtical entity of the Welsh nation, scarcely took the Welsh language into consideration at all, it placed Wales in the hands of officers of the crown, and without any regular representation in the government. As may be gathered from what precedes the various offices were filled to some extent, perhaps nearly entirely, by persons of Welsh speech and sympathies. We get some trace in this in L. G. Cothi's poems, Dosparth L, 24, where he eulogizes Rhys ap Sion* of Glyn Neath, who would neither appoint an Enghshman to fill any pubhc office under government, nor even allow them to be empannelled in a jury (circ 1470.) *Senedd vawr Ujs Nedd yw vo " Lutenanl " a'r wlad tano.i CHAP. II.J HER LANGUAGE. 31 Na welir Sais diddirwy Na Saeson mewn Sessiwn mwy Na dyn o Sais yn dwyn swydd Na deu-Sais na bon' diswydd. * * * Ni ad Ehys ail entrio Sais.^ At this time, so far as the pendejigion (nobles) were concerned, there was in fact no great inducement for them to become Anglicized; the English tongue was only lately recognized as a medium for publication of the laws, and it had as yet, but a comparatively scanty literature; they had no call to the English ParHament, and on the whole they could do without English in "Wales and attain as much culture as their neighbours the EngKsh landowners of Worcester and Gloucester. A great change, however, was near at hand, which shortly profoundly affected the relative position of the two languages. This change was brought about by the following principal causes — I. The provisions of the Act incorporating Wales with England. II. The increasing importance of English in England itself, as the official and literary language of the Country, after its long abasement. III. The introduction of Printing into England — a mechanical [translation]. ^ He is a lieutenant of the great Council of the Court of Neath, And the country subject to him. ^Let not an unflned Englishman be seen, Nor Englishmen in the assizes any more, Nor an Englishman in ofiSce ; Nor two Englishmen, nor gentry, without office. » * » Ehys will not suffer an Englishman to be twice entered [on the jury list.] 32 WALES AND [CHAP. II. art which could only be practised under great difficulties in a sparsely populated country like Wales. IV. The Reformation which tended to popularize literature and freedom, and which made itself, at first, the most felt in England, and in those parts of England which lay nearest the continent, so that it came to Wales and Cornwall as an English movement. V. All the above facts tended to make an English education a thing more to be desiderated ; and they came to the view of Wales, without meeting there any national organization, which could produce social, and educational results of an independent character. The Reformation ami the Discovery of Printing, two great boons to the human race, happened near each other in point of time, and powerfully contributed to the breakdown of the Feudal system, and to render the whole country amenable to one central, civil authority. The spirit of enquiry and of progress were abroad, and now that the old enmity was in good measure subdued, a general desire seems to have been spread abroad, among the more intelligent classes to learn Enghsh, which was fostered by the ruling powers, while any systematic instruction in the native language was ignored to the great loss of the nation. The country had evidently suffered severely from this want of a centralized power and was too much in the condition of a conglomeration of semi-independent baronies and lordships, under which it was impossible to obtain due redress for grievances, nor could it make the progi-ess it would have done under a responsible and impartial Government. This state of things was somewhat in accord with the traditions of the middle ages, both in Great Britain and on the Continent, a^, well as Ireland ; but as further light and CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 33 education spread among the people, law and order followed in their train. To illustrate farther what I mean, — the principles of the Reformation, and the invention of printing, came to the English from the Dutch and Germans ; while the Revival of learning, which diverted men's minds from the narrow sphere, of the schoolmen's speculations, was partly of Latin (i.e., Romance) growth. All these mighty levers, which transformed the character of the age, were appropriated in England, as part of the national life, and naturally made their power felt through the medium of the English Tongue, which, at the same time, received considerable additions from Latin sources ; although it was still the few, and not the many who had the privilege of being able to read: but they were not appropriated in Wales, in so far as it was a part of England, and under the influence of English Universities and English laws ; and because, in Wales, there was no Welsh University providing for an educated class of men capable of writing Welsh, and no Welsh laws involving its being spoken. Just so, we may suppose, that if these events had happened three centuries before, when Norman-French was uppermost, they would have given a great impetus to the use and study of French, perhaps estabUshing it as a permanent tongue ; but there would have been stiU this great difference — that, however much French might have been taught in the schools, and exclu- sively adopted in the courts, it was nowhere the language of the mass of the people; hence the comparison is not a perfect one between the relation of English to Welsh now, and the relation between English and French in the thirteenth century ; neither does it follow, that, because the EngUsh people failed to be permanently bilingual, as remarked by Professor Jones in 1887, before the Royal Education Commission in London — 34 WALES AND [OHAP. II. that Wales may not be so, under the different circumstances in which she is now, or may be placed. The "Welsh people, or a few of them, and from what part of the country I know not, addressed a memorial to the King in which they expressed a desire for Union with England and the introduction of its laws, and in which they promised to study English, were it but to learn how they might " better serve and obey his highness." This was an appeal to a sovereign, who like his father, had felt obligations to Wales, and partly, if not wholly as a result of it, was enacted the statute of 1535 by which Wales was finally united to and incorporated with England ; if we except the measure passed in 1689, whereby the remaining shadow of the Court of the Marches was abolished. The text of the commencement runs thus — Albeit the dominion, principality and country of Wales justly and righteously is, and ever hath been incorporated, annexed, united and subject to and under the imperial crown of this realm, as a very member and joint of the same, whereof the Ejng's most royal Majesty of mere droite and very right, is very head, King, lord and Euler, yet notwithstanding, by cause that in the same country, principality and dominion, diverse rights, usages, laws and customs be far discrepant from the laws and customs of this realm; and also because that the people of the same dominion have, and do daily use a speech nothing like ne consonant to the natural mother tongue used within this realm, some rude and ignorant people have made distinction and diversity between the .King's subjects of this realm, and his subjects of the said dominion and principality of Wales, whereby great discord, variance, debate, division, murmur and sedition have'grown between his said subjects. His highness, therefore, of a singular zeal love and favour that he beareth toward his subjects of his said dominion of Wales, minding and intending to reduce them to the perfect order, notice and knowledge of the laws of this his realm CHAP. n.J HER LANGUAGE. 35 and utterly to extirpe all and singular the sinister usages and customs differing from the same and to bring about an amicable concord and amity between English and Welsh, declares Wales incorporated with England, with like liberties to subjects born there as in England ; and the extension of the laws of inheritance and other English laws to Wales. The statute annexes Lord MarchersMps to coimties already established, creates the fresh Counties of Monmouth, Brecknock, Radnor, Montgomery and Denbigh. Divides Wales into the north and south Wales assize circuits and gives Monmouthshire to the Oxford circuit. Provides for Parliamentary representation. Appoints the sole use of the English language- in all courts. Interdicts the enjoyment of any kind of office throughout the King's dominions to persons USING THE Welsh tongue on pain or forfeiture, unless they adopted the English speech. It is evident, from the above, that the Act was conceived in a kindly spirit toward the Welsh, and in part that it represented their own aspirations. The last two provisions were, however, eminently un- satisfactory. I cannot regard them as expressing the will of the people ; it is almost incredible to believe, that they could be immediately carried out. Who was responsible for them ? Was it the king himself, or was it Roland Lee, who undertook the office of Lord President of the Marches in 1535, and was remarkably active in his post? Whoever it was, the author must have been an Englishman. Referring to the said Roland, the antiquarian, Thomas Wright, ia his history of Ludlow Castle, calls his a " mission of reforming and civilizing," but I suspect he started in it, devoid of one important qualification, viz. : A literary and colloquial knowledge of the Welsh language ; which would have given him a proper understanding of the peculiar 36 WALES AND [OHAP. H. condition of the people, whose good he should have sei-ved. For all we know, this active Lord President of the " reforming and civilizing " turn of mind was an official of the class represented by the school inspectors (or masters) more frequent in former days than now, whom a Glamorganshire teacher speaks of as "rank Englishmen whose hobby is to stamp out the Welsh language altogether." {See Teachers' replies Cfmp. IV.) If it had been enacted that all judges to try cases in Wales, should have a competent knowledge of both languages, and that other government officials should be subject to the same rule, the material power of Wales in succeeding generations might have been substantially increased, and its educational status have been on a much more satisfactory basis than it is at present. As it was, these provisions contributed to give rise to a state of things, wherein, almost all the educational advantages which follow in the train of an advanced civilization, were made to flow through a foreign medium, and as an even more serious disadvantage, those whom the people naturally looked up to as leaders, became gradually so thoroughly Anglicized, that they partially lost that position, wherein mutual benefit would have accrued to both rich and poor, from hearty sympathy and mutual understandmg vidth what was good and worthy to be admired on either side. On the other hand, however, we may remark that NationaUty, in those days, was dangerous stuff, although language does not always affect it in the way sometimes imagined; the son of the king, under whom Poyning's Act was passed to Anglicize the Celto-Normans of Ireland, and discourage the use of the Irish language, was probably not sorry of an opportunity to consolidate his own kingdom by having, even in its most remote districts, officials attached to CHAP. II. J HER LANGUAGE. 37 one language, and that the language of London — the central seat of power — and we must acknowledge Wales has, in many other respects, enjoyed untold advantages from the Act of Union. Poyning's Act, by the way, was of a similar character to the Statutes of Kilkenny. Edward I., in 1284, had promulgated the Statutes of Rhuddlan, by which he intended Wales in future to be governed, and for this purpose the laws of Howel Dda were read before him and his counsellors ; some of them he retained, in particular the provision for the division of land among all the sons of a deceased man, except that illegitimate sons were excluded. In 1542, however, the English Parliament passed another measure sweeping away the remainder of Howel Dda's laws, which had been retained for so long a period, and introducing primogeniture according to the English custom, though as will be seen in the appendix, under head of Gavel kind, certain parts of the country were allowed to retain the old custom. I have hinted at a gradual extension of Welsh influence among the ruling class up to the fifteenth century ; but after the Act of Union, increased facilities for an education which was much moulded by English ideas, and the conditions in which they were placed, gradually tended to create an artificial separation in aims and feelings between them and the mass of the people which is painfully to be felt at the present day; to this state of things the practice of intermarriage with the English nobility has powerfully contributed. We have already seen that in pre-Tudor times the descendants of such marriages, if brought up in Wales, frequently became Cymry; but after the Act of Union it was hardly to be expected. Henry VH., for instance, found a wife for his cousin, Charles Beaufort, in the person of the heiress of Raglan, and grand-daughter of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. 38 WALES AND [CHAP. II. For some years, however, such as Lord Herbert of Chirbury (author of the "Trioedd Arglwydd Herbert"), Sir E. Stradling of Glamorganshire, patron of John David Rhys, the Mostyns, and the Pulesdons vrere more or less Welsh in speech and feeling. Henry VH. was probably a Welsh-speaking sovereign; Henry VHI. not; and had the former undertaken this business, we cannot believe that he would have initiated such a one-sided policy. About 1542, Henry VHL, in the presidentship of the same Roland Lee, gave license, to transfer the canons of Abergwili College, which had been founded by Bishop Beck in 1323, to Brecon, and founded there what is known as Christ College, on the site of the Friars Priory, which had lately been suppressed. One of the objects in establishing this college, evidently, was to spread the knowledge of the English language. The charter says, — - And, whereas, also our subjects dwelling in the southern parts of Wales being oppressed with great poverty are not able to educate their sons in good letters, nor have they any grammar school; whereby both clergy and laity of every age and condition are rendered rude and ignorant, as well in their offices towards Grod as in their due obedience towards us ; but they are so little skilled in the vulgar-tongue of England, that they are not able to observe our statutes in such cases enacted, and that, which they ought, and are bound to perform, they are unable to understand on account of ignorance of the English language. In the days of manuscripts, Welsh literary undertakings had flourished in proportion to the population in a greater degree than in England ; now it was a recognized fact that to be abreast of the age a man must learn English ; and that through the English press, he must mainly look for literary enlightenment and instruction, besides which, there was the CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 39 difficulty of finding a sufficiently numerous clientele of readers to make Welsh printing remunerative in those early times, as well as that, of not having such a central point for publication, as London presented for English works; so that, for 150 or 200 years there was remarkably little printed in Welsh except a few religious treatises and books, some of which weie designed indu-ectly or directly to spread the knowledge of English ; even the Bibles of 1588 and 1620 were chained with the English Bible, that the people might learn English. W. Salesbury, in the introduction of his English and Welsh Dictionary, thus writes to Henry VIII : — Your excellent wisdom has caused it to be established, that there shall be no difference in laws and language, considering how much hatred and strife arises from difference in language, and community of language is a bond of love and friendship ; and it is also, in the judgment of all wise men, particularly suitable and convenient, that those who are under the government of one head, and a most generous King, should use one language. He goes on to say, that as many in Wales could read Welsh perfectly; by means of his dictionary they might teach themselves and others also [to read English], so that, in the quickest way, the knowledge of the Enghsh language might spread through the whole country. The result of these views was, that, except in the case of a select few, Welsh, as a medium for intellectual education, or for acquiring general knowledge, was almost wholly neglected, of which neglect Bishop Davles complains in 1567, and Morris Kiffiin in 1595. John Edwa/rds, translator of the "Marrow of Modern Divinity in 1651," says, "no nation cultivates such enmity to their language as the Welsh !" While Vicar Prichard leaves his testi- mony in 1630, that not one per cent, of the people could read Welsh ; although, eighty-seven years before, W. Salesbury says. 40 WALES AND [CHAP. II. that many could. Possibly these readers had come from schools taught by the monks ; and a future historian may be able to tell us how such as Salesbury himself, learned to read Welsh. Just 100 years after the John Edwards above-quoted, Thos. Richards wrote in the preface to his dictionary :— " I know too well there are some who have such an aversion to their mother tongue that they profess a hearty desire of seeing it entirely aboUshed, that no remains of it may be left in this Island. So great an eyesore is the language of their fore- fathers become unto them * * * their prejudice and ignorance render them altogether unfit 'to pass a right judgment upon it " [The Dictionary]. And again s— " Fe edrych pob iaith yn chwith ac yn anhyfryd i'r neb ni fo yn ei gwybod. Ac onid yw yn gywilydd-gwarthus iddynt hwy fed mor wybodus oddigartref , ac mor hyfedr a chyfarwydd mewn ieithoedd ereill, fod, ar yr un pryd yn anwybodus gartref, heb fedru siarad yn iawn, chwaethach darUen a 'sgrifenu Iaith eu Mamau." In addition to these testimonies there is that of John Penry (quoted by Ivor James), when petitioning the Queen and ParMament in 1587, he says, there is no market-town in Wales, where English is not as common as Welsh. From Chepstow to Chester, all round the country, and the sea-shore, they all understood English. These facts — with those I shall advance further on — indicate that up to the time of the publication of the Welsh Bible, and for years after, Wales was not far from nmning neck and neck with Cornwall in the process of Anghcization ; there were, however, forces at work which limited its extent, and which up to the present day have tended to build up a nationality that may yet have a further development in the next century. On the one hand we see a process of disintegration, and what the writer of " Siluriana " has called " denationalization and CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 41 deodorization," and on the other we shall see that there has been a contrary tendency expressive of individuality and national feeling clothed in that language which can most adequately express it, and coincident with a knowledge of the cosmopolitan English. If it was a Tudor who gave the language a deadly thrust, it was a Tudor, on the other hand, who assisted in its preservation ; for a principal mainstay against this tendency, which had lately been initiated, was an order for the publication of the Welsh Bible by Queen Elizabeth and her Parliament in 1568, and which was carried into effect in 1588 ; although there were then persons not unrepresented in the present day, who feared that such a measure would revivify the language. Dr. Morgan, Vicar of Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant, to whose labours the Welsh are indebted for the translation they now are privileged with, in his Latin dedication of the Bible to the Queen,* says that the Act sets forth, at the same time, "our idleness and slothfulness, because we could neither be moved by so grave a necessity, nor be constrained by so favourable a law, but that such work (than which there could not be any- thing of greater importance) was allowed to remain almost untouched." CIoss in his history of the Church of England in Wales, says, that there was a desire on the part of the bishops to suppress the Welsh language, and they thought that if they refused to translate the Bible they would thus compel the Welsh to learn English. It is some consolation to look back to that period and feel that twenty long years of waiting preceded an event fraught with so much importance to the future of Wales, and which is still bearing daily fruit, also to feel that apathy. * A revised translation got out by Bishop Parry, which is now the standard version, was published in 1620. 42 WALES AND [chap. II. indifference, and delay in the nineteenth century do not necessarily impose impassable barriers on the attainment of such a desirable object, as the general recognition of the language of the people in educational and legal matters. Had the Welsh Bible never existed, how different would the future of Wales and her language have been? We may look to Ireland, what would not she have gained had a similar measure been secured for her? It was true that there was a spirit of greater opposition there to the English Government than in Wales, but perhaps not an invincible one. In a future chapter remarks will be made on the educational position of the Irish language, which differs from the Welsh in having no background of modem literature. It should be remarked that while the Government allowed their order for a translation, reviewed by the five bishops (Hereford included), to "be printed and used in churches by the first of March, 1566," to become a dead letter, the object was in fact attained mainly by a country priest, one of the very few in the diocese at that time who actually preached at all. Here, then, is encouragement again to private in- dividuals to wrest the palm from supine officialism. A learned book called Institutiones Linguce Britannicee, by Dr. John David Rhys, appeared about the same time as Dr. Morgan's Bible. It was framed, some have thought, with the idea of giving Welsh parsons a scientific knowledge of the tongue that they might read and understand the Bible better : the former was presented to Queen EHzabeth* by the wife of John Scudamore, of Holme Lacy (an M.P. for Herefordshire in successive sessions), a favorite at court, and member of the family, who had kept Sion Kent, at Kentchurch, and had taken up arms for Owain Glyndwr. *See Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry, p., 66. CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 43 Queen Elizabeth was mindful of her Tudor descent, and one of her maids of honour was Blanche Parry, of the Golden Vale, Herefordshire, which was then a Welsh speaking district. The poet Spenser introduces a Scudamore, prominently, in the "Faerie Queene," Book iv. Whether in Herefordshire, or elsewhere, Spenser seems to have picked up some Welsh : — " How oft that day did sad Brunchildis see The green shield died in dolorous vermeU [vermilion] ? That not scuith guridh* it mote seeme to bee, But rather y scuith gogh signe of sad Crueltie. [Book ii.] Again : And Twede the limit betwixt Logrisj land and Albany. [Book iv., Canto xi. 36.] What English poet these days would think of alluding to England, as Logris land ? In Elizabeth's reign it is probable that most of the County landowners were famiUar with Welsh, perhaps more so than with English, in spite of her father's enactment that offices must not be filled by any person using the Welsh tongue. What was the practical interpretation of that claim ? I am unable to say; it may have simply prohibited Welsh as an official language; but the tendency, doubtless, was to foster the growth of a class of people in Wales whose national place would have been as leaders, but who are separated from their neighbours by a chasm, artificially caused by their exclusive use of a foreign idiom; which tendency, has of course, been much developed and strengthened by the banishment of Welsh from the higher schools and colleges. The seventeenth century was a comparatively uneventful one for the Welsh language ; but during that period perhaps even * These stand for ysgzoydd loerdd (a green shield), and ysgwydd coch (a red shield.) fZoffi-is land, of courses the Welsh Lloegr. 44 WALES AND [CHAP. II. more than now, was English well established as the ofl&cial language ; aTid during the Civil Wars, as remarked by Ivor James, * the appeals to the country on either side were almost exclusively issued in English. After the accession of Charles II., however, it was ordered that the book of Common Prayer should be provided for Welsh speaking districts in the Welsh Dioceses, and in that of Hereford. The total number of Welsh Bibles printed from 1600 to l700, averaged only some 3,200, every decenniad, being very much below the wants of the population. One of the bene- factors of the country towards the end of that period was T. Gouge, who instituted schools to teach the poorest children to learn English. Rees, the author of " Protestant Noncon- formity in Wales," while highly admiring his piety and philanthropy, says this was a " great mistake," and rendered them comparatively useless to the children of the poor. It is somewhat singular to find in a report of the work carried on by T. Gouge, and his friends in 1674, it is mentioned, that 32 Welsh Bibles had been distributed, which were " all that could be had in Wales or London." The opposition to Welsh similar to that of the sixteenth century, cropping up again in the seventeenth, as is thus referred to by Rees : — The promoters of Welsh literature at that time were greatly discouraged, and even opposed by many persons of influence and authority, who thought that no books should have been printed in the Welsh language, in order to induce the people to learn the English. That opinion has operated most disastrously against the intellectual and spiritual advancement of the Welsh nation, ever since the Eeformation. (2nd Ed., p. 195.) Towards the beginning of the eighteenth century political reasons again were influential in discouraging Welsh nationality *S^e Y TraetJiodydd—188Q. CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 45 when the attachment of the people to the house of Hanover was by no means strong. Another change, however, was at hand, which has profoundly affected the History of Wales, we may almost call it a second great tidal wave of the Reformation, rolling in two centuries after the event. The first tidal wave had, as we have seen in conjunction with other causes, rather depreciated the status of Welsh, as a medium to reach the inteUigence, and improve the culture of the people ; the second, which the last decades of the eighteenth century, saw rapidly rising to its height, has been largely the means of creating a modern national literature, in which every cottage, and every hamlet, in extensive districts of the country has, more or less, a direct interest ; so that Welsh literary culture no longer was confined to the John David Rhyses, the Dr. Davieses, the Edward Llwyds, and a few clerigwyr, and representatives of the old well-known families, but was participated in, though in a necessarily imperfect fashion by the fanners, small tradesmen, noncon- formist preachers, and even working men who took the places of the gentlemen bards of the fifteenth century. ReHgion, undoubtedly, lay at the root of the dispositions which principally facihtated this change, and, as it should be regarded principally fi-om this standpoint, it will be out of place for me here to criticize its history, but this much is said, lest any should think that undue prominence is given to the indirect, secular effects which followed in the wake of the movement. Of course I am alluding to the great Methodist arising, which, apart from any religious teaching it afforded, was the me^ns of acquainting the great mass of the Welsh people with the power and disciphne of organization, and of giving them the opportunity of learning to read their own language ; at first the Bible ; next, a denominational vernacular Uterature ; 46 WALES AND [CHAP. II, which speedily sprang up, not only among the Methodists but among the other leading dissenting bodies ; which, while giving the facility to read indirectly, paved the way for writing Welsh to become a common self-taught art (though, as will be seen later on, by no means so universal as it might be), and thereby furnished a stepping-stone for the dissemination of a secular and vernacular literature, which in the branches of poetry is by no means inconsiderable. This work had partially been anticipated early in the century by Griffith Jones, of Llanddowror, who, seeing the inefficiency of schools conducted in English, established circulating schools for a few months at a time, at a place. By means of his effi)rt, a large number of persons, including adults, were taught to read, and thus the way was gradually made for the later Methodist and other dissenters, under whose auspices it became a rare thing to find any adult brought up with them, unable to read his or her language. All the while we must recollect, or at least since 1790, Welsh was practically excluded from the day schools, ; it was the establishment of schools on the first day of the week, which this revival made possible, that so vastly increased the number of readers in the vernacular ; and it is probable the increase has gone on from that day to this. Such an impetus was strengthened early in the nineteenth century by the establish- ment of the Bible Society and the issue of cheap Welsh Bibles, so that in Welsh- Wales instead of there being only one per cent, who could read Welsh, as in Prichard's time, there was certainly a very much larger proportion in 1820, about the time when the Eisteddfodau began to be a factor in the national life. It is a suggestive fact that Methodism broke out first, and most extensively in those districts, where the poems of Rees Prichard and the schools of Griffith Jones had exerted the CHAP. II.] HER LANGUAGE. 47 most powerful influence. Some of my readers not familiar with the history of Wales, may need to be told, that Rees Prichard was a Vicar of Llandovery, who died about 1644, and whose religious and didactic poems, entitled "Canwyll y Cymry," so commended for their colloquial style by the Rector of Merthyr in 1887, to the Royal Commission on Education, became almost a household book in Wales, and have been again and again reprinted, the last edition being quite a recent one by Wm. Jones, Printer, Newport, Mon. Had it not been for this change, there is, humanly speaking so, some ground to believe that the Bishop of David's would have been correct when he said, not long ago, that Wales was " only a geographical expression." Perhaps, how- ever, in his case, the wish was father to the thought. The author of the Prize Essay on the "Character of the Welsh as a Nation," pubhshed in 1841, undoubtedly takes cognizance of the indirect efliect of this multiplication of readers on Welsh literature; he says — During the last twenty five or thirty years, a great revival has taken place in Welsh literature ; but it is remarkable that the interest felt in its cultivation, has by no means impeded but rather assisted the difEusion of the English language, (p. 23.) The consideration of the educational and hnguistic state of Wales during the great industrial era which embraces the last fifty years, I propose to consider in the next chapter. CHAPTER III. GOVBBNMENT COMMISSION OP 1846— BiSHOP THIELWALL—" SUNDAY " Schools, and Statistics op Language taught— Condition of Day Schools in English and in Wblsh-Walks— Ineppiciency op Teachbbs— Welsh Language generally excluded— Pabents— Trustees and Managers- Monmouthshibb—Oblinquency op Employebs of Labour — Lewis Edwards, of Bala — Ibuan Gwynbdd — Sib T. Phillips— Defective Morals. In 1846 the Government undertook to direct an enquiry into the state of Education in the Piincipality of Wales, especially into the means afforded to the labouring classes of an acquiring a knowledge of the English language. The terms of the enquiry called forth the following able criticism from the acute and learned Bishop Thirlwall of David's, well known in English literary circles as the author of one of the Standard Histories of Greece. He acquired sufficient knowledge of the Welsh language to be able to preach in it, and was the only Bishop who had the courage to vote for the Disestablishment of the Irish Church. He says in 1848 : — " I think it is to be regretted that, according to the terms in which the object of the enquiry was originally described, it was directed to be made, not simply into ' the state of education in the principality of Wales,' but ' especially into the means afforded to the labouring classes of acquiring the knowledge of the EngUsh language.' I think this addition was unnecessary, because the investigation of this point must have formed a main part of a full enquiry into the state of education in Wales; while the putting it thus prominently forward was attended with two unhappy effects : one is, that it lent a handle to those who wish to represent the Commission as an engine framed for the purpose, among others equally injurious, of depriving the people of Wales of their ancient language. The other is, that it tended to suggest [chap. III. WALES AND HER LANGUAGE. 49 or confirm an exaggerated conception of the eificacy of schools, in producing a change in the language of the country. This I regard as one of the most pernicious errors that beset the subject ; and I am afraid that it prevails very extensively among persons who have great influence over the management of schools. It might have been thought, that a very little observation and reflection must be sufficient to convince every one that a school, however well conducted, must, of itself, be almost utterly powerless for such an object, where a language taught in it for a few hours in the day is one which the children never think in nor use at any other time. It ought, I think, to be evident, that a general change in the colloquial language of the country is only to be expected from the operation of very different causes ; though the school learning may, in conjunction with them, contribute to promote it. But the persuasion of its adequacy for the purpose is not simply a theoretical error, but one which, so far as it prevails, tends most seriously to obstruct the progress of good education. For, under this impression, the managers of schools prohibit, not only the learning of the Welsh letters, and the reading of Welsh books, but all use of the language in school hours." Now I wish my readers, though I fear some of those I desire to reach will fight shy of this volume, from the very beginning, would just give due weight to these words, — "one of the most pernicious errors;" "tends most seriously to obstruct the progress of good education." Are they the words of an hot-headed Eis- teddfodwr, or of a man of one sided culture, on whose opinions the successors of the broken down schoolmasters of 1846, look down with indifference from their superior vantage ground of 1891. No, they came from the "Esgob call Tyddewi," who has left his mark in English literature, not a Welshman, but an Englishman, who deserved to be listened to because he knew what he was talking about, which could not be averred in the case of nine out of ten utterances on the subject by representa- tive persons. Gr 50 WALES AND [chap. III. The names of the Commissioners were R. R. W. Lingen, M.A., Jelinger C. Symons, and Henry Vaughan Johnson, each of whom furnished the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education with a report on the district,* undertaken by them individually. These reports contain valuable information, and will doubtless, be again and again referred to by future historians of Wales, We must, however, bear in mind, that they were drawn up by men to whom Wales was a foreign country, and who were obliged to accept much evidence at second-hand without using such discrimination as would have laid in their power, had the sphere of their labours been in London ; we must also bear in mind that their reports shew very little evidence, that they were, in the first place, any way adequately acquainted with the social, moral, and intellectual state of the labouring class in England. * If they had been, I think, they would have received the facts presented to them in Wales, with a judgment tempered by a wider range of experience. It is true they were not called upon to give a judgment, so much as to collect and classify evidence, which they did in a laborious and, in some respects, admirable manner ; never- theless, the inferences drawn from the facts were not, on the whole, adequately representative of the reality. The reports evoked forth quite a storm in Wales ; the whole incident was called "Bred y Llyfrau Gkision."f Sir Thomas Phillips, a Welsh speaking Welshman — the Mayor of Newport who withstood the Chartists in 1839, appeared in the lists as the Champion of Wales, and shewed clearly that on the score of morality, instead of Wales being, as might have * E. W. Lingen took Carmarthen, Pembroke and Glamorgan. J. C. Symons —Cardigan, Brecknock, Radnor, and part of Monmouth. H. V. Johnson- North Wales. + "The Treason of the Blue Books." CHAP. III. J HER LANGUAGE. 51 been gathered from the Commissioners' report, utterly in the shade, side by side with England— though they did not say so in so many words — so far as statistics of illegitimacy are indications, six out of nine Enghsh districts, including Yorkshire and the Northern Counties, were worse than Wales ; and, moreover, that the worst county in Wales in this respect Radnorshire is almost entirely AngUcized in speech; Montgomeryshire and Pembrokeshire being the next, neither of which are thoroughly Welsh counties. Many of the Commissioners' remarks on the extremely inefficient and defective means of intellectual and moral training would, doubtless, have applied to some parts of England as well as to Wales. Even Wm. Howitt, the son of a man of property, "went to a dame school, and then to one kept by a merry little man, the baker of the village. This schoolmaster was wont to come whistling out of his hot bake- house to hear his pupils read, and to set them their copies in the intervals of setting his bread."* Events move rapidly in our days : the railway and the telegraph, and almost an universal system of schools under efficient, trained teachers and inspectors, are now taken as matters of course, and we almost forget how near we are still living to the time when the machinery of education was on an altogether different basis, when these and other developments of civilization were still in their infancy. Since the publication of this Report, in 1848, a new genera- tion has had some time to grow up, and now mainly occupies the scene of action. To many of them it will appear almost incredible, that Wales was what it was at that time ; they will, however, bear in mind that the description of the country, given by the Commissioners, does not illustrate an all-round * See Records of a Quaker Family. London: Harris & Co., 1889, p. 181. 52 WALES AND [CHAP. III. view, but rather some aspects of it, as presented to the minds of persons who had apparently the disadvantage of no previous common bond of sympathy or association with the people they went to visit. J. C. Simons and R. W. Lingen, in particular, naturally looked to the Established Church, and its dignitaries, to per- form the office of Virgil, when he conducted Dante into purgatory, and the last mentioned Commissioner was provided with powder and shot in the shape of introductions to the Lords Lieutenant and the Bishops of his district. The former (J. C. S.) had letters of introduction from the Bishop of Hereford, and a circular letter from Connop ThirlwaU, Bishop of "St." David's. Although, as will be seen, education has put on a new face since the time of the Commissioners, I propose to take up some pages of this book, with extracts from the reports, which will, I believe, not be altogether unwelcome to many who may not readily be able to refer to the originals, and which are necessary to my purpose of endeavouring to present materials for an historical manual of Welsh Education in its relation to the language. The pages refer to the 8vo. edition. In the Government instructions issued to the Commissioners, they were reminded of the fact that "numerous Sunday schools have been established in Wales, and their character and tendencies should not be overlooked in an attempt to estimate the provision for the instruction of the poor." The Reports, accordingly, contain a mass of statistics of these schools, which would be out of place for me to attempt to reproduce here. I will however, include some of them bearing on the question of language, besides various remarks made by the Commissioners, or other persons which appear worthy of attention. For convenience sake the extracts will be grouped together CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 53 under separate headings, one of which will refer to those called Sunday schools, and others to day schools in English speaking parts of Wales, others to the Teachers, the condition of the school houses, School Patrons and Managers, character of the teaching, Welsh language and literature, and General Remarks. FIRST DAY (SUNDAY) SCHOOL. A prominent feature in the Report was a full amount of detail of the schools on the first day of the week, known as Sunday Schools. Here, the Welsh language, excluded from the day schools, found, and does still find, a place — and an important place ; but the real fact remains, that in con- sequence, much secular instruction was given in the way of teaching reading in that language: and this did not escape the notice of Commissioner Symons, who uttered a protest which has been repeated by some of the friends of Wales of late years. I cannot close these remarks on Sunday-schools without venturing to express my disapproval of the practice, common alike to Church and Dissenting schools, of allowing young children to learn and read in them. This is surely a perversion of the object and spirit of the institution. I have frequently seen persons occupied in teaching little children to speU and pronounce small words, not only engrossing their time with the drudgery of elementary instruction, but disturbing the rest of the scholars. Schools thus conducted cease to be seminaries of relio-ious knowledge and sink into week-day schools of the lowest class. It is a fallacy to say that no secular instruction is given in Welsh Sunday-schools : this is secular instruction, and of the most profitless and least spiritual kind. (Symons, p. 285.) The Commissioner objects to the burden of teaching reading, in these schools, which afforded the only opportunities for the mass of the population to learn to read their mother 54 WALES AND [CHAP. III. tongue, and yet he objects to the more preferable way of teaching it in the day schools. If reading had not been taught there, what could have been taught except viva voce ? He embodies in his report, without comment, the testimony of John Saunders (Independent preacher), that these schools supplied much of the deficiency of the day schools. This was an evil then, and it is an evil now : the proper place for secular instruction is the day school — not a gathering professedly for religious purposes. Is it not surprising that the leaders of the people have not long ago given due weight to the considerations which occasioned the above quoted remarks ? What is the remedy ? Plainly, nothing else than to teach Welsh children at the day schools to read Welsh in all districts where there is a considerable proportion of them attending Welsh classes and Welsh preaching on the first day of the week. Henry V. Johnson, the North Wales Commissioner, gives some very apposite remarks on the educational effect of these schools ; and although it would not be true to say that the resources of the language in every other branch, except theology, are meagre, the character of the demand for current Welsh literature is very considerably modified by the fact that the terms used in many books of a secular character are too unfamihar to make them popular. He says — The language cultivated in the Sunday schools is Welsh ; the subjects of instruction are exclusively religious: consequently the religious vocabulary of the Welsh language has been enlarged, strengthened, and rendered capable o£ expressing every shade of idea, and the great mass of the poorer classes have been trained from their childhood to its use. * * They have enriched the theological vocabulary, and made the peasantry expert in handling that branch of the Welsh language, but its resources in every CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 55 other branch remain obsolete and meagre, and eyen of these the people are left in ignorance, (p. 519.) What wonder that its resources in other branches remained obsolete, when no further means of cultivating it were afforded. The following two paragraphs illustrate Lingen's attitude to these schools: — They gratify that gregarious sociability which animates the Welsh towards each other. * * The Welsh working-man rouses himself for them. Sunday is to him more than a day of bodily rest and devotion. It is his best chance, all the week through, of showing himself in his own character He marks his sense of it by a suit of clothes regarded with a feeling hardly less sabbatical than the day itself. I do not remember to have seen an adult in rags in a single Sunday school throughout the poorest districts. They always seemed to me better dressed on Sundays than the same class in England. (Lingen, pp. 5 and 6.) Most singular is the character which has been developed by this theological bent of minds isolated from nearly all sources, direct or indirect, of secular information. Poetic and enthusiastic warmth of rehgious feeling, careful attendance upon religious services, zealous interest in religious knowledge, the comparative absence of crime, are found side by side with the most unreasoning prejudices or impulses, an utter want of method in thinking and acting, and (what is far worse) with a wide-spread disregard of temperance whenever there are the means of excess, of chastity, of veracity, and of fair deaUng. (do., p. 9.) If this isolation from secular information is so prejudicial, why be so jubilant (as will be seen further on) that there should be no secular institution for a distinctively Welsh education, which might pave the way for a wider scope of mental ideas. A 1st day (Sunday) school teacher in the Welsh part of Caio hundred, Carmarthenshire, sent the learned Commissioner 56 WALES AND CHAP. III.] a letter, from which the following, verbatim et literatim, is extracted : — I am very please to take little trouble to answer your letter about the Sunday Schools, in hope that your Searching about the Daily and Sunday Schools, will come to good consequence to the Welsh Nation. Our Creator make many of them a People of Strong Abilities, and a possessors of various talents, but because their ignorance Spend their time in poverty to get their living in Slavery as a pig and his snout in the ground they got no advantage to make use of their abiUties in defect of learning and knowledge. But Some of the young people are under good education, the Children of the Noblemen and Gentlemen farmers but the greater part of them in Towns: and in the countrys one here and one there. The major part of the welchmen, not knoweth in what quarter of the world they live ? this thing I think is very true. In the time ago riseth up some Excellent people in Philosophy and Theology among the welch Nation as one of the *welch Poet say's about one of them, called The Eeverend Mr. Rowlands Llangaetho, Talentau ddeg f e roddwyd iddo Pe'i marchnattodd hwy yn iawn Ae* o'r deg fe'i gwnaeth hwy'n gannoedd Cyn maihludo 'i haul brydnhawn. I hope that you'll not be angry with me, because I have on my mind to desire on you, Sir, to give me a httle presant, that is, the Map of the land of Canaan, (do., pp. 185 and 186.) At Llanelly, in connection with the Capel Als School (In- dependent), some of the parents objected to their children "being taught Welsh on Sundays." This objection would now be scarcely so likely to occur. * William Williams, Pantycelyn. The stanza is given as printed, but I am inclined to think that the errors in the Welsh spelling were due to the compositor or the transcriber. [chap. III. HER LANGUAGE. 57 The following observation is undoubtedly just : — [Grilead School, wholly Welsh]. Eeadiness and propriety of expres- sion, to an extent more than merely colloquial, is certainly a feature in the intellectual character of the Welsh. (Lingen, p. 136.) J. C. Symons says of the Dissenting schools, that the routine is admirable, and of the "Church Sunday Schools," they want life. The whole system is spiritless and monotonous and repul- sive instead of attractive to children ;" and in the way of general remarks — I have heard very curious and recondite inquiries directed to solve even pre-Adamite mysteries in these schools. The Welsh are very prone to mystical and pseudo-metaphysical discussion, especially in Cardiganshire. The great doctrines and moral precepts of the Grospel are, I think, too little taught in Sunday Schools. They are more prone to dive into abstract and fruitless questions upon minute incidents, as well as debatable doctrines, — as for example, who the angel was that appeared to Balaam, than to illustrate and enforce moral duties or explain the parables. (Symons, p. 285.) Somewhat contrasting with the remarks of Lingen on such schools are those of the third Commissioner, H. V. Johnson, he says : — As the influence of the Welsh Sunday school decreases, the moral degradation of the inhabitants is more apparent. This is observable on approaching the English border. * «> * The humble position and attainments of the individuals engaged in the establishment and support of Welsh Sunday schools en- hances the value of this spontaneous effort for education ; and however imperfect the results, it is impossible not to admire the vast number of schools which they have estabhshed, the fre- quency of the attendance, the number, energy, and devotion of the teachers, the regularity and decorum of the proceedings, and the striking and permanent effects which they have produced upon society, (p. 519.) H 58 WALES AND [OHAP. HI. It may interest some of my Welsh readers to consult the following tables, which may be taken as fairly correct for 1846. I have only inserted the statistics of some counties for fear of swelling the list to an immoderate size. Statistics oe "SriTDA'r" Schools BULOifGiNG to the peincipal DBjrOMIITATIONS IN VAEIOITS CoTOfTIBS, SHEWING PEE CBNTAGB AS TO Language in which insteuotion is giten. English and rotal number Welsh only English only Welah CAEMARTHEKSHIRE. of .schools. per cent. per cent. per cent Episcopalian 48 18-8 22-9 58-3 Calvinistic Methodists 78 68-0 1-3 30-7 Independents no 46-4 •9 52-7 Baptists 55 45-5 — 54-5 glamoeganshire. Episcopalian 92 4-3 79-4 16-3 CaMnistic Methodists 90 72-2 4-5 23.3 Independents 99 52-6 5-0 42-4 PBMBEOKESHIEB. Episcopalian Schools 52 9-6 82-7 7'7 Calrinistic Methodists 44 50-0 25-0 25-0 Independents 57 38-6 31-6 29-8 BRECKNOCKSHIRE. Episcopalian 40 10-0 77-5 12-5 Calvinistic Methodists 45 80-0 4-4 15-6 Independents 51 43-1 2-0 54-9 monmouthshiee. Episcopalian 30 3-3 80-0 16-7 Independents 34 11-7 20-6 667 Baptists 40 5-6 22-5 72-5 CARNARVONSHIRE. Episcopalian Schools 16 18-7 25-0 56-3 Baptists 16 80-0 20-0 Calvinistic Methodists 137 99-2 •8 Independents 49 93.7 2-1 4-2 DENBIGHSHIRE, Episcopalian 32 6-3 28-1 65-6 Calvinistic Methodists 104 83-7 7-7 8-6 Independents 40 72-5 7-5 20-0 CHAP. HI.] HER LAlifGUAGE. 59 Eadnoeshibe — 6 out of 53 schools were conducted in English and Welsh. What difference in these proportions is observable in 45 years I am. unable to say. The figures do not afford a trustworthy index of the proportion of the population speaking Welsh, because they give per centages of schools and not of scholars; and as R. W. Lingen remarks of those in both languages in his district, the English class is generally very small; he says, in reference to indirect means for spreading English — The Sunday schools in nowise conduce to such an end. Thirty- eight per cent, of them are conducted in Welsh only, and 36"4 per cent, in hoth languages. In the latter, however (excepting the Church schools), the BngUsh class is generally very small, being composed either of those children who are going to a day school, and whose parents object their being taught Welsh on Sundays, or else of those adults who are not of the labouring class. (p. 51.) We find, however, that the Episcopalian body are foremost [then under English bishops] in carrying forward what Lingen and Symons regarded as the important work of superseding the Welsh language. In Glamorganshire, 79'4 per cent, of their schools were conducted in English only; but 72 "2 per cent, of the Calvinistic Methodist schools, in Welsh only. The following table of Pembrokeshire statistics shew that these schools were attended by a larger proportion of the population in the Welsh speaking district, than in the English. COIINTT OF PEMBROKE. Total per cent, of population attending 1st day (Sunday) school. Per cent, of Scholars attending Episcopalian. Castlemartin Hundred lOj 82-0 (English speakmg District) Dewisland (Welsh speaking Dis- trict) 25 7-0 60 WALES AND [OHAP. III. That is to say in Castlemartin of the small proportion of the population, viz., 10| per ceat., who went to the "Sunday" school, four-fifths attended those managed by the Episcopalians, whereas in "Dewisland" 93 per cent, were attenders in Non- conformist schools. DAY SCHOOLS IN ENGLISH-SPEAKING PARTS OF WALES. R. W. Lingen remarks on the greater number of resident gentry and proprietors in the part of Pembrokeshire called "Little England beyond Wales," and connects this fact with a superior class of day schools, which he says " compensates for the absence of Sunday schools." {Report, p. 174, Castlemartin hundred and Borough of Pembroke.) It will be seen, how- ever, by the folio wiag extracts, that very much had to be said on the other side. — Davies, Independent minister of Grolden, near Pembroke, considered that in and about Pembroke there was a general care- lessness on the subject of education, and that, as regards religious knowledge, the people were inferior to those in the "Welsh districts. The Sunday schools are fewer, and worse attended. The master of the Apprentices' school [at Pater] said — It was difficult to realize, except by experience, the bai'-kward- ness or rather utter absence of secular education in Wales. * * The style of the Scriptures, their only reading-book, did not enable them to read with intelligence the most ordinary work upon subjects of common information. Such was the experience of a man who was coming into daily contact with what are rather the ilite of the Welsh labouring classes in an English-speaking part of the country, (p. 175.) The reader will here note — inability to "read with intelli- gence the most ordinary work," in a place which has been English speaking for centuries. It is not uncommon to hear the Welsh advised to learn CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 61 English for the sake of its literature, but I venture to say now, and shall have reason to repeat myself, that the mass of the English people have not yet learned English in the sense of the authors of those platitudes. Barbarian manners and inability in the Welsh to master literary Enghsh are largely ascribed to the influence of their language. Why not ascribe all the torpidity of good, honest Hodge to the influence of his language. On the whole it is very much to be doubted whether the limited range of ideas which Lingen notices was greatest in the Welsh or the English speaking districts, and if so, what ground has he to say of the Welsh workman that his " language keeps him under the hatches." If it was true of poor Tafly going from his mountain hut to the ironworks, why not of the above-mentioned Hodge. Probably the latter had fewer difficulties in some directions to contend against in working his way to be overman, and then to be manager, but the former had a skill in dialectics which the other did not possess, and which was not so easily marketable in £ s. d., as mechanical ability. The statement above referred to was a slipshod one, which though made 44 years ago, I have seen quoted in 1890. There was no evidence to warrant R.W.L. m saying this ; he had ample evidence for saying that ignorance of English kept Welsh workmen under the hatches; but knowledge of Enghsh, as the passport to advancement in the material world, does not necessarily imply ignorance of Welsh. He would with much more justice have said that a faulty system of education had that depressing eSect. What of the late David Davies, chairman of the Barry Dock and Railway Company; what of Edward Williams, son of Taliesin ap lolo, late manager of Bolckow, Vaughan and Company, Middlesbro' ? The writer happens to be acquainted with the shipping agent for a large and well known firm of 62 WALES AND CHAP. III.] colliery proprietors, who remarked not long ago, " While I am speaking to you I am translating from Welsh (mentally) into English ;" at any rate that fact did not disqualify him for a responsible position. Pursuing the point further — "The non-comprehension of what they read is by no means confined to the children who speak "Welsh, and read EngUsh ; it prevails also amongiSt those of whom English is the mother tongue. The reason is that the Enghsh they read is not the English they talk. * * * I found children who read fluently, constantly ignorant o£ such words, as ' obssrre,' ' conclude,' ' reflect,' ' psrceive,' ' refresh,' &c." (Symons, p., 255, 256.) He rightly observes that one reason of this is that English children are Anglo-Saxon born, while the books use words of Norman-French or Latin derivation. It does not seem to have occurred to him that Welsh children receiving information on an abstract subject through the medium of Welsh would have, in this respect, an advantage over English ones of the working class, in that little or no time need be wasted in drilling the meaning of the words into them. A schoolmaster's wife in the Eaglish part of Radnorshire informs him — The parents do not wish it [questioning on mental teaching] : they do not send their children to day-schools to get rehgious, or, in fact, "'any mental education; they send them purely from a money motive, that they may advance themselves more easily in life ; and to this end, reading English, writing, and ciphering, are esteemed certain and sufficient means. {Symons, p. 242.) At Presteign, Radnorshire, endowed school : — " The children evinced no symptoms of mental culture of any kind." At Buttington, Montgomery (H. W. Johnson's report) : — AU were ignorant of Scripture; and a scholar in the first class believed that St. Matthew wrote the History of England. CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 63 At Bersha/m, in the county of Denbigh, scholars were questioned on outlines of Scripture History : — " They were ignorant of everything." Ignorance of English was not confined to teachers who were natives of Wales : the master at Holt, Denbighshire, " speaks English with a broad Cheshire dialect, and very un- grammatically." At Northop, Flintshire : — English is spoken in this part of the parish of Northop ; but notwithstanding this, the children recently admitted could not tell me which was their right hand and which their left. (p. 499.) SCHOOL-HOUSES AND SUBEOUNDINGS. Very little comment is needed from me under this or the succeeding head, the paragraphs given, will, it is hoped, elucidate the History of Wales in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The school was held in a room, part of a dwelling-house ; the room was so small that a great many of the scholars were obliged to go into the room above, which they reached by means of a ladder, through a hole in the loft ; the room was lighted by one small glazed window, half of which was patched up with boards ; it was a wretched place ; the furniture consisted of one table, in a miserable condition, and a few broken benches; the floor was in a very bad state, there being several large holes in it, some of them nearly half a foot deep; the room was so dark that the few children whom I heard read were obliged to go to the door, and open it, to have sufficient light. (Lingen, p. 21.) This school is held in the mistress's house. I never shall forget the hot, sickening smell, which struck me on opening the door of that low dark room, in which 30 girls and 20 boys were huddled together. It more nearly resembled the smell of the engine on board a steamer, such as it is felt by a sea-sick voyager on passing near the funnel, ('do., p. 25.) 64 WALES AND [CHAP, III. This school is held in a ruinous hovel of the most squalid and miserable character ; the floor is of bare earth, full of deep holes ; the windows are all broken ; a tattered partition of lath and plaster divides it into two unequal portions ; in the larger were a few wretched benches, and a small desk for the master in one corner; in the lesser was an old door, with the hasp stiU upon it, laid crossways upon two benches, about half a yard high, to serve for a writing-desk ! Such of the scholars as write retire in pairs to this part of the room, and kneel on the ground while they_write. On the floor was a heap of loose coal, and a litter of straw, paper, and all kinds of rubbish. The Vicar's son informed me that he had seen 80 children in this hut. In summer the heat of it is said to be suffocating; and no wonder, (do., p. 25, 26.) This school is held in the church. I found the master and four little children ensconced in the chancel, amidst a lumber of old tables, benches, and desks, round a three-legged grate full of burning sticks, with no sort of funnel or chimney for the smoke to escape. It made my eyes smart till I was nearly blinded, and kept covering with ashes the paper on which I was writing. How the master and children bore it with so little apparent incon- venience I cannot tell, (do., p. 26.) The schoolroom was originally a cow-shed, converted into a schoolroom without any attempt even to mend the paving of the floor, which was weU worn and so uneven that the rough benches in it were propped up by large stones; the walls were of mud, the roof of decayed thatch, without any attempt at a ceiling; and there were only two small windows at each end, affording little light in the middle of the place. Each child had a book, and nearly all were reading aloud, each by himself. The master, a poor half-starved looking man, came out rod in hand to met us. Our visit, he said, was not unexpected, as he heard we were going about. (Symons, pp. 274, 275.) Until the winter was far advanced, although the weather was [chap. III. HER LANGUAGE. 65 most severely cold and damp, fires were rarely found in these desolate places in Cardiganshire, p. 239. I found the schoolroom used as a receptacle for churning materials, gardening-tools, and sacks of flour. * * Of these [49] only 14 knew the alphabet. At Mydrolin, the room in which the school is held is a low, dark, damp building, erected partly of stone and partly of mud, and thatched with straw, altogether unfit for a place to conduct a school in. The floor of it, on the day I visited it, was completely covered with mud and water, worse than some places on a country road on a wet day. (Symons, p. 277.) A Radnorshire school — The door guarded by a pig ! Having been assured it was at the church, I tried in vain to gain access to the building itself; and as I was turning away in despair, I heard the hum of a school in a wooden hut, in the last state of decay, with extensive plains of mud in front, and a pig asleep at the door. The thatch was mouldering away, and there was scarcely a whole board in the entire building. Having passed through a sepulchral sort of kitchen, I obtained access through it to the school-room — an inner room, or rather a slip of one, in which it was not easy to steer one's way safely through the beams and rafters by the dim light of two minute windows, one at either end. A handful of children were ranged on rude seats along the walls. [Nantmel, English speaking district.] (Symons, p. 272.) THE HEADMASTERS DESCRIBED. The present average age of teachers is upwards of 40 ye3,rs ; that at which they commenced their vocation upwards of 30 ; the number trained is 12-5 per cent, of the whole ascertained number; the average period of training is 7-30 months ; the average income is £22 10s. 9d. per annum ; besides which, 16-1 per cent, have a house rent-free. {Lingen, p. 53.) Of course, these figures apply to his district — Carmarthen, Glamorgan and Pembroke. Imagine the schools of Wales, in WALES AND [OHAP. III. 1891, being staffed with teachers that is, head masters and mistresses (for in those days paid assistants were so few as to be unlikely apparently to affect the return), whose average income was only £22 10s. 2d. per year, and that only 16"1 per cent, lived rent free. In North Wales the gross average income from all sources, so far as returns were given, was £26 19s. 2d. The list of previous occupations of these so called teachers presents a miscellaneous medley, affording room for reflection e.g., it includes clerks, carpenters, cooks, drapers, milliners, farmers and farm servants, labourers, mariners, and married women, whereas only one in eight had served any apprentice- ship to it. Think, moreover, of a private school, " somewhat superior," when, after attempts to fix a charge of 10s. a quarter, it was found necessary to make a separate bargain for each child, according to the means and willingness of the parents. J. C. Symons remarks that "the established belief for cen- turies has been that it requires no training at all" to be a schoolmaster; but even in those early days there was a certain amount of negative uniformity among the masters, as indicated by the following, in which it transpires that they were usually found doing anything but teaching, while in this instance "blindman's buff" supplied the place of a fire. It is singular that in three or four instances only have I found a schoolmaster occupied in teaching on suddenly entering a school of the common class. I have far oftener found them reading an old newspaper, writing a letter or a bill, probably for some other person, reading a "Welsh magazine, or doing nothing of any sort. At one school, near Aberystwyth, I was attracted, while passing along the road, by the boisterous noise in school, and on entering it found the whole of the scholars playing at blindman's-buff, or some similar game, though the dust and confusion prevented me CHAP. Ill,] HER LANGUAGE. 67 from ascertaining what it was. I found that the master was absent, and had gone to warm himself at a neighbouring cottage; and on arriving he said that he told them "to have a bit of play, just to warm them." The following paragraph refers to the usual equipraent of schools: — A Welsh schoolmaster of the ordinary description thinks himself well supplied if he is provided with two long tables and one short table, two or three forms for the children, a chair for himself, a score of Bibles, slates, and Vyse's spelling books, a few copy books, plenty of primers, two or three Walkinghame's Tutor's Assistant ; an old newspaper, a rod, and if it be winter, a heap of peat in the corner, complete the sum of his wants, and of the recognized requirements of the scholars. The area of the room is often ludicrously insufficient, and at other times uncomfortably large. (Symons, p. 240.) H. Vaughan Johnson, after referring to mere youths being put in charge of wholly undisciplined and ignorant scholars, says, still worse results are occasioned by employing aged persons and cripples, e.g. the master at Kilkin, Flintshire, was a miner, disabled by ill health. I will however summarize some of the notable features of the schoolmasters in his district in short sentences following the name of the place they belonged to. Penbleddtn — Income, £19. Apparently induced to accept these terms by the loss of one eye. Pbntrecaehelyg (Vale of Clwyd) — A quarryman fractured his leg. Determined to commence teaching, but studied Latin and Greek! for nine months instead of undergoing any training. Llanbrynmair, Mont. — A village shopkeeper — children laughed at everything that was said to them. Penygroes, Mont. — Untrained, made innumerable errors in catechizing the scholars, pronounced wild weeld, region, ragion. 68 WALES AND , [OBU.P. III. Holt, Denbigh. — Englishman, spoke very ungrammatically, when he thought a blunder was committed, corrected it by committing another. Halkin, Flint. — Englishman, says whoole for whole, han for an. Aberfpraw Free School. — Master assured H. V. Johnson that the children understood nothing of what they read in English, but he attempts no kind of explanation. "Church" School, Ruthin.— An Englishman, with no system of interpretation. Scholars all Welsh. His questions few, slowly conceived, and commonplace. DoLwrDDELEN, Carn. — Master 54. Previously cattle dealer and drover. Scholars positively laughed at his attempting to control them. Overton (Enghsh Flintsh.) Free School. — ^Only 2 out of 6 who profess to know arithmetic, could work a plain sum in addition. Epailrhqd, Denbigh. — Formerly a farm servant. His method of teaching grammar is unusual. He reads the book and the children repeat after him, as if making responses at church. "Church" School, Llandysilio. — A mere boy (19), un- trained, knew but little Welsh, while only one scholar knew English. "Church School," Llanynys, Denbigh.— Pupils stated that Pharaoh was king of Israel, and the master commended them, saying, "very good." Called British, Brutish, and the like. Grespord (English part of Denbigh). — Master in a public- house at 10 a.m. ; boys playing with all their might. After- noon, master again absent, boys playing at horses. Llanpynydd, Flint. — Master did not attempt to suppress the tumult, uproar and disorder prevailing during the visit. Commissioner feared lest a general fight should ensue before examination was finished. CHAP. Ill,] HER LANGUAGE. 69 "St." David's "Church" School, Festiniog. — Continual uproar. Girls sweeping the school floor unbidden, and struck the heads of the boys with a broom while the exa- mination was going on. Rhyl. — Had taught for four months only. Was extremely deaf. Cannot detect mistakes nor ascertain when scholai-s are making a disturbance. Llandyrnog "Church" School — Aged and infirm. Appears to have had no education. Rhiwlas, Llansilin. — Formerly a blacksmith, for father he smAfayther and gounzillor for counsellor. "Church" School, Ruthin. — Master trained for eight months at Westminster. The folio w^ing extract is really of too outre a character to be condensed : — Neither master nor scholar appeared to have any idea of manners or disciphne. While I examined the school, all remained sitting, including the master; I could not do the same, as there was no seat left. The boys sat lolling luxuriously with their hands in their pockets, and answered or not, just as they felt inclined. In the mean time all business was abandoned by the rest, who collected themselres in groups, looking on and talking. One or two monitors amused themselves by wandering about, striking the younger boys, but indiscrimin- ately, and with no useful object in view. I could with difSculty walk across the room without catching the saUva which the boys were spitting in all directions — not through disrespect, but from habit. Please note — The Commissioner standing, boys lolling luxuriously, amusements of the monitors, the "difficulty" of walking across the room, &c. British and Foreign School. Ruthin. — One of the best in North Wales. Master inspired the pupils with a desire for knowledge, but neglected discipline. The Commissioner 70 WALES AND CHAP. III.] regrets that scholars so intelligent, and making such progress in all subjects, should not be taught manners. Few schools in North Wales were found destitute of a cane or birch rod. PATRONS AND MANAGERS. A large class of the promoters of schools were unqualified to "select masters or superintend institutions." For instance, the promoters of a British school of great reputation, repre- sented in high terms the extent of instruction and attainments of the pupils, but when examined, in grammar, it was found that the pupils had never heard of the singular or plural number. H. V. J. next describes how the children are specially coached up to answer questions gone through beforehand, so that when "the gentry visit them" * * "they gain great approbation and obtain the credit of being excellent institu- tions." Speaking of schools richly supported by the "clergy and wealthy classes," H. V. Johnson says — The visitors and promoters of such schools appear to have over- looked the defect which lies at the root of all other deficiencies — the want of books expressly adapted, and of teachers properly qualified, to teach English to Welsh children. The majority appear conscious (sic) that English may remain an unknown language to those who can read and recite it fluently; others have frequently assured me that Welsh parents would not endure any encroach- ment upon their language — an argument which would seem to imply great ignorance of the poor among their countrymen, who, as I have already stated, insist on having English only taught in the day-schools, and consider all time as wasted which is spent in learning Welsh, (pp. 477, 478.) The complaints have been generally made by persons among the higher classes, who, through neglect, have aUowed their schools to become extinct, or, through misapprehension of the character CHAP. III.] HER LANGtTAGE. 71 and temper of the inhabitants, have failed to adapt the style and subjects of instruction to the requirements of those whom they professed to teach, (p. 486.) A fatal delusion has misled the promoters of schools in North Wales. They have supposed that, if children make use of the Bible as a handbook to learn reading from the alphabet upwards, and if catechisms be carefully committed to memory, the narra- tives and doctrines therein contained must be impressed on their understandings and affections, (p. 500.) Bear in mind, good reader, that we are now adverting to persons who were the victims of a "fatal delusion," and per- mitted in the schools under their care a defect which lay at the "root of all other deficiencies." Did they belong to the lower stratum of society? No; we may reasonably suppose that some of them had received an English University educa- tion, and yet in the year 1891 there is evidence that exactly the same defects would be found in the schools under the care of their successors, had not they in some respects reaped the benefit of other men's labours; and in one important matter — the want of books expressly adapted for teaching English to Welsh children, the "clergy and wealthy classes" are content, and many of them very well content, with the system which the Commissioner of 1846 condemned, which degrades Welsh without properly elevating English; while they appear to receive with stolid indifference any outcry for a more reasonable and more natural method. In the discharge of his duty the North Wales Commissioner collected some valuable evidence about endowments and school fiinds which it would be out of place to reproduce, at any great length, in this book. In North Wales the endowments ex- ceeded £4,000, excluding a large amount under litigation. Of this a considerable proportion was misapplied. At Bryneglwys, Denbigh, for instance, there was an endow- 72 WALES AND [CHAP. III. ment, but the school was closed. The clergyman appointed himself master, i.e., pocketed the stipend of one. Llanerftl, Mont. — A valuable endowment. One of the trustees farms the charity estate without accounting for rents, in return for which he professed to act as schoolmaster. Had eight scholars, and was frequently absent. Outbuildings out of repair and occupied by geese, hatching. RuABON Grammar School. — Valuable endowment of £100 per year. I found the school-room, which would accommodate 81 scholars, partly filled with coals, and the remainder used as a lumber-room, being covered with broken chairs and furniture. The glass of the windows was broken, and the room neglected and filthy in the extreme. The lumber and dirt appeared to hare been accumu- lating for several months, and, except some tattered books, without covers, in the window-seats, there was no^vestige of the school vi'hich is said to have been held there. Deythur, Montgomery — Endowment reduced by Law Suits; £88 paid to the nominal master, a clergyman; school conducted by an usher, previously an agricultural labourer, and was inferior to the average of the lowest schools in North Wales. Pupils understood more EngUsh than Welsh. Here is plain speaking about supporters of National Schools, giving a notable illustration of pleidgarwch or sect- yddiaeth in the Establishment. In addition to the above-mentioned abuses, it is important to state that it is a practice in North "Wales for the trustees of endowed schools which are not absolutely connected with the Established Church, to allow waste and dilapidation, and to neglect to visit and examine the scholars, with the professed object of inducing their parishioners to consent to have the schools united with the National Society. I allege this upon the authority of their own statements, in which the practice and the motives of it were avowed. [chap. III. HER LANGUAGE. 73 We can imagine such pious trustees holding up their hands in holy horror at the wrangling in the denominational litera- ture of the benighted Dissenters ; for this, it is evident they had but two remedies; one was to extinguish the Welsh language, the other to drive the wanderers back to the bosom of their Mother Church. H. V. Johnson finds that out of the funds of 517 schools the rich subscribe £5,675, and the amount raised by the poor is £7,000, adding— It is important to observe the misdirection of these branches of school income, and the fatal consequences which ensue. The wealthy classes who contribute towards education belong to the Established Church; the poor who are to be educated are Dissenters. The former will not aid in supporting neutral schools; the latter withhold their children from such as require conformity to the Established Church. The effects are seen in the co-existence of two classes of schools, both of which are ren- dered futile— the Church schools supported by the rich, which are thinly attended, and that by the extreme poor; and private- adventure schools, supported by the mass of the poorer classes at an exorbitant expense, and so utterly useless that nothing can account for their existence except the unhealthy division of society, which prevents the rich and poor from co-operating, (p. 511.) The report further speaks of parents purchasing exemptions from the rules requiring conformity in religion by payment of a small gratuity, to increase the "slender pittance" of the master — of expulsion where poor parents held out — of a compromise in other cases, the children being cautioned by the parents not to believe the Catechism, and to return to the "paternal chapels" as soon as they have finished schooling— of the "inexpedience" of such a system being not yet apparent, except to a few; and moreover when speaking of private adventure, and dame schools of an utterly worthless character, 74 WALES AND [OHAP. Ill, "tliat nothing can account for their existence except the deter- mination on the part of Welsh parents to have their children instructed without interference in matters of conscience," while such schools exhaust the greater part of the £7,000 contri- buted by the poor towards education. The intellectual results produced by the present class of Church schoolmasters, reduced as they are to such extremities, has been already seen in the ignorance of scholars, not only respecting the distinctive doctrines of the Church, but of the first element of Christianity, (p. 512.) H. V. J. complains respecting indiiference as to educa- tion on the part both of parents and children. After alluding to the fact that many scholars walked eight miles a day, he very justly remarks, considering the value of the instruction, they cannot be expected to " expend more time in an occupation so unprofitable." WELSH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. In dealing with the Welsh language and literature, as might be expected, the three Commissioners were very largely dependent for information upon other persons. Lingen and Symons pass by the phenomena of existing Welsh literature with very scant notice indeed. Johnson, on the other hand, makes what appears to be an honest attempt to analyze its character, though he was far from doing it justice. Lingen and Symons adopted a directly antagonistic position to the existence of the language. Johnson stood more on neutral ground: the two former, however, obtained the ear of the Government, and not long after the publication of the report Lingen was given the important post of Secretary to the Committee of Council on Education, and it may well be beheved that his subsequent attitude towards Welsh education was very much influenced by the judgment he had CHAP. III.] HER LAJi^GUAGE. 75 previously formed on imperfect data, and more or less in con- junction with preconceived opinions. He comes across a characteristic of Wales, though a by no means universal one, parents wishing to exclude Welsh from the secular education of their children (this is much more the case in thoroughly Welsh districts, than partially Anglicized ones), coincident with their choice of Welsh as the "natural exponent" of nearly every social relation and all religious exercises. Tet, if interest pleads for English, afEection leans to Welsh. The one is regarded as a new friend, to be acquired for profit's sake; the other as an old one, to be cherished for himself, and especially not be deserted in his decline. Probably you could not find in the most purely Welsh parts a single parent, in whatever class, who would not have his child taught English in school; yet every characteristic development of the social life into which that same child is born — preaching — prayer-meetings — Sunday schools — clubs — biddings — funerals — the denominational magazine (his only press), all these exhibit themselves to him in Welsh as their natural exponent, partly, it may be, from necessity, but, in some degree also, from choice. * * He [the Welshman] possesses a mastery over his own language far beyond that which the English- man of the same degree possesses over his. (p. 10.) Couple this statement with the confession of Symons, that children at Presteign, where Welsh has been extinct for generations, evinced "no symptoms of mental culture of any kind," and vidth the evidence of Rees, the publisher of Yr Haul :— The Welsh peasantry are better able to read and write in their own language than the same classes in England. Among them are many contributors to Welsh periodicals. (Lingen, p. 10.) The process of instruction being conducted entirely with English books led, however, to the following remark : — It would be impossible to exaggerate the difficulties which 76 WALES AND [OHAP. III. this diversity between the language in which the school-books are written and the mother-tongue of the children presents. In pro- portion as the teacher adheres to English, he does not get beyond the child's ears ; in proportion as he employs Welsh, he appears to be superseding the most important part of the child's instruction. How and where to draw the line — how to convey the principles of knowledge through the only medium in which the child can apprehend them, yet to leave them impressed upon its mind in other terms, and under other forms — how to employ the old tongue as a scaffolding, yet to leave no trace of it in the finished buUding, but to have it, if not lost, at least stowed away — all this presupposes a teacher so thoroughly master of the subjects which he is going to teach, and also of two languages most dissimilar in genius and idiom, that he can indifferently represent his matter with equal clearness in one as in the other. (Lingen, p. 52). Why should he be so anxious to leave "no trace" of the old tongue, to which he is a stranger, in the " finished building" of the completed education of the youth in Wales. A person entrusted with such a responsible post should have seen at once that English per se is not "the most important part of the child's instruction." Many thousands of English agiicultural labourers have learned English from their early childhood, but they are still "under the hatches," and their intelligence remains comparatively undeveloped. In 1847, as now, the parents of Welsh children were eager to have them taught English almost without exception, and being themselves ignorant, were quite content with the mentally wasteful way which is continued do^Ti to the present day of having all school-books solely in English. We see in the above extract how the Commissioner appears nearly to come to the conclusion of the Welsh Utilization Society, that it would be best to employ bilingual books, but he shrinks from expressing it, evidently from the fear that CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. T] while the children are learning English they will also learn the language he wishes to see extirpated from the country. Although he acknowledges that the language cannot be "taught down" in schools, yet, the idea of an advanced bilingual education scarcely seems to have entered his head, as he speaks of schools not being called upon, — To impart in a foreign, or engraft upon the ancient, tongue a factitious education conceived under another set of circumstances (in either of which cases the task would be as hopeless as the end unprofitable), but to convey, in a language which is already in process of becoming the mother-tongue of the country, such instruction as may put the people on a level with that position which is offered to them by the course of events. Now, what the meaning of this mass of verbiage was, it is not easy to discover, but it is squarely evident that in substance it amounted to a repudiation of Welsh as a subject of instruc- tion, and yet he acknowledges that the best mode of teaching English was found at the Venalt Works School, where the class was taught to translate, clause by clause, into Welsh ; a system which he compares to the Hamiltonian tiva voc^. How is it possible to carry this excellent method into practice without interfering with the idea of employing the "old tongue as a scaffolding," and leaving "no trace of it in the finished building ?" I venture to assert it is an impracticability, and is repugnant to the laws of the human mind. How was it again, that when R. W. Lingen's name figured as Secretary to the Education Department, and he doubtless had the power of initiating many reforms, that this "best mode of teaching" English was not recommended to all schools receiving the Government grant in Welsh schools? Amid the gross inefficiency of the schools in his district J. C. Simons sees one gleam of light, but we fear it was a short- sighted vision ; he says : — " There is one most striking and important peculiarity in 78 WALES AND CHAP. Ill,] them, which will be a subject of the utmost satisfaction to evei7 friend to Wales : it is the fact that there is but one day school out of the entire number— the three counties of Brecknock, Cardigan, and Radnor — where the Welsh language is taught. It seems scarcely to have occurred to him that it is impossible to teach an English boy the French grammar without, to some extent, teaching him English ; likewise, that a Welsh boy taught English thoroughly and in the most expeditious way, would have to be taught his mother tongue as well." It is this fear of children learning Welsh, and which exists at the present time, that has been and continues to be one of the drawbacks of the intellectual progress of Wales, and has degraded Welsh schools from being the arenas of rational intellectual exercises of a higher stamp than those met with in English school Ufe; into scenes of mechanical, irrational drudgery. Notwithstanding the fact which Symons says, was "a subject of the utmost satisfaction to every friend to Wales," he has to admit that teaching English by the methods then in vogue were a failure. Any inference, therefore, that the children were extensiyely learning BngUsh, drawn from the facts that the schools everywhere try to teach it, would be utterly fallacious. It is strange that with the many improvements of modern education there are still schoolmasters, and possibly inspectors too, who cling to the old injurious system of excluding Welsh entirely from the day schools except for the purpose of simple explanation, so as to admit no books whatever printed in that language. For otherwise well educated people in responsible positions to ignore Welsh as a medium of direct mental culture, and to regard it as an inconvenient obstacle to progress, appears rather CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 79 a sheepish following of custom and tradition under the influence of the Government regulations in force until recently, than the result of a well matured and honest endeavour to fit the minds with which they are brought in contact for the circumstances. I say that schoolmasters cling to the old method, not simply because they have been obliged to — although there is no obligation to read the English Bible at the commencement of schools — but because they, or at least their managers, have generally evinced so little disposition, to change a system con- demned by such varied and respectable authorities, as are adduced in the course of this work, for one which would develop a better standard of intelligence in English, although involving a better mastery of Welsh. J. C. Symons says the "Welsh language is a vast drawback to Wales, and that it is not easy to over-estimate its evil effects," and that there is no Welsh literature worthy of the name, although he had never read a page of what there was, while in a note he utters a half sneer at the Cymreigyddion y Fenni then in existence, and at their making English speeches once a year in defence of Welsh literature, saying, " Its pro- ceedings are perfectly innocuous. If what he and his modern representatives say is true, how is it that in Radnorshire and east Breconshire, where Welsh is extinct, we do not find the people intellectually far in advance of Carnarvonshire ? Let them give a proper answer to that question before being so persistently dogmatic on an unstable foundation. Of course, my readers will bear in mind that some of the evidence must be looked on with suspicion; we find for instance the magistrates' clerk at Lampeter says, " the Welsh monthly magazines do more harm than good," and he believes there is not a single Welsh weekly newspaper in existence. 80 WALES AND [OHAP. III. The following is from the pen of E. C. Hall, a barrister at Newcastle Emlyn : — The two languages are a great facility to perjury. The want of accuracy in the knowledge of the language seems to remoye the feeling of degradation * * The Welsh language is peculiarly evasive which originates from its having been the language of slavery ! ! (p. 34-5.) Did it never occur to this man that if barristers, such as he, and the Judges of Assizes, and Chairmen of Quarter Sessions, were not allowed to perform their duties without a knowledge of Welsh, it should put a stop to some of the perjury he speaks of ; and if he is so shocked at perjury, why does he bring in a shameful mis-statement about the Welsh language. Would he have called leuan Gwynedd's language, which I shall refer to presently, evasive had he been able to read it ? Colonel Powell, Lord-lieutenant for Cardiganshire, complains of people being disposed to shew less respect to the old families of the county than they used to be, and that the Welsh language is a great obstruction to the improvement of the people. A land agent at Aberystwyth who held courts leet for the Lord-Lieutenant, echoes his master's words, and says that the language is an impediment to the improvement of the people ; but he adds that the people are very much attached to it, although a preacher in the same county says they would not value a school teaching Welsh. Now, while Commissioner Symons dismissed the subject of Welsh literature as scarcely worth discussion, and Lingen scarcely alludes to it all, Vaughan Johnson took the trouble to prepare an abstract of Welsh literature, or rather, I suppose, employed some one to do it for him, in which it appeared that at that time there were current 405 works (Welsh) printed and read in North Wales, of which 64 were books of poetry. [chap. III. HER LANGUAGE. 81 46, prose works on miscellaneous subjects. Although he ven- tured to remark about the latter, that most of them, besides books on domestic medicine, and diseases of cattle, were of a "frivolous character," he is candid enough to say that he was unable to obtain an impartial statement of the character of the periodicals, and accordingly printed in his appendix a transla- tion and brief abstracts of their contents. A "communication" is given on the "Exclusive character of Welsh literature," from which I extract the following:— The poverty and indifference of the Welsh people, and the difficulty of withdrawing any of their attention from questions of theology and polemical religion, forbid all hope of extending Welsh literature, without the hearty and continued co-operation of the wealthier classes. No person would venture to set up a periodical of a merely literary or scientific character, unless he had the support of some religious party ; and such a support cannot be obtained to any extent, (p. 251). How can the wealthier classes co-operate, if they too are shut out from a knowledge of the medium whereby they might share their superior advantages with their poorer neighbours. Take away every field of activity but one, from a Welshman as such, and why blame him or his language because he appears to be exclusive. Religion was undoubtedly intended to leaven the whole life and not to be the foundation for the battering rams of party animosities, or a vain love of disputa- tion, which perhaps after aU has been a form of intellectual restlessness finding vent in an unusual way, but going un- happily under the name of religion, while the paths of general knowledge are made unnecessary hard and rugged. The Commissioner alludes to numerous periodicals pubUshed in Welsh by means of which "all that goes on in England is known in Wales, being read by the quarrymen and tradesmen, but not by the farmers, they read nothing. * * It matters 82 WALES AND [CHAP. III. not how plain and colloquial the style of a book, the farmers complain that they cannot understand it." A sixpenny or at most a shilling book of a relig^ious character is the only safe publishing speculation in the Welsh language, and even this would be a loss, if it were not "pushed" in religious circles. It is by no means an uncommon thing for books to be advertised from the pulpit, in dissenting places of worship, (p. 522.) To some extent, though not nearly so much as formerly, this remark holds good to day. There are populous sections of the country where Welsh theological works occasionally sell well, considering the class of buyers. Yet if a person were to write a general treatise in Welsh on a scientific subject, say agriculture, the same readers would find a difficulty in under- standing him, and the sale would be small. This is explained, not by lack of interest in those subjects, but because the opportunities of the people have been too limited to acquire a sufficiently extensive Welsh vocabulary (other than in the domain of Theology) to read general literature with interest. I was not long ago at Mountain Ash, among a mining population, where a bookseller, with a Scotch name, assured me that he had sold one hundred copies of the 2/6 edition of Principal Edwards' Eshoniad ar yr Hebreaid (Commentary on the Hebrews). This is the more remarkable, as English is the usual language of the children; but the probability is that some of those very children will be added to the circle of Welsh readers, at least to that of Theological ones. In this instance, the large sale is accounted for by the Hebrews being at the time, a subject of examination among the Oalvlnistic Methodists. The same bookseller also told me that he had sold several copies of another religious work at 5/-. NoWg so long as the language is scouted, frowned at, and thwarted in its growth in the day school, and the people are CHAP, III.] HEK LANGUAGE. 83 denied secular instruction in it, would it be a matter of wonder that " its resources in the other branches remain obsolete and meagre"? Would it be a matter of wonder that books on general subjects do not find a ready sale ? It is however not correct to affirm that the resources of the language are meagre, and the wonder is that they have been developed so much as is the case. Symons and Lingen, both of them comment on the extraordinarily unintelligent way in which Education was carried on, yet neither of them suggest such an improvement as bilingual books ; although David Charles, Principal of Trevecca College, very sensibly said in a communication to J. C. S. — " I would also recommend that the Welsh receive their knowledge of the English language through the medium of their own, at first by means of Welsh books. The want of this mode of instruction has been a great drawback which I have often desired to get removed." Not merely did David Charles make this objection, but another leading dissenter, Lewis Edwards, of Bala, held the same view, as shewn in the following translated extract from the Traethodydd of 1850. (See Traethodau Llenyddol, p. 120):— Prom the bottom of our hearts we give our consent to every word that is said by Sir Thomas Phillips about the necessity of teaching Welsh children in the Welsh language. * * The truth is, that the easiest way for them to learn English is to give them a taste /or and knowledge in the Welsh language. The North Wales Commissioner displayed more practical ability than his colleagues, in severely commenting on the exclusive use of English books, and the English language, and says that the promoters of schools appear unconscious of the difficulty (as some are to-day), and the teachers of the possibUity of its removal. 84 WALES AND [CHAP. III. After saying that he had found no class of schools in which an attempt had been made to remove the children's difl&culties of first learning English, he makes the following general remarks : — Every book in the school is written in English; every word he speaka is to be spoken in English; every subject of instruction- must be studied in English; and every addition to his stock of knowledge in grammar, geography, history, or arithmetic, must be communicated in English words; yet he is furnished with no single help for acquiring a knowledge of English. As yet no class of schools has been provided with dictionaries or grammars in Welsh and English. The promoters of schools appear unconscious of the difficulty, and the teachers of the possibiUty of its removal. Speaking of the Grammar School at "St." Asaph, Those who learn Latin are provided with grammars, dictionaries, and vocabularies; but here as elsewhere no hand-books have been provided for learning EngUsh, although English is to many of the pupils as unintelligible as any dead language. Nearly fifty years have passed away, Welsh education has been, very much in the hands of the English Government, clerical officials, and other persons, who have sought a share in its management, and yet this monstrous anomaly so disgrace- ful to the civilization of the nineteenth century remains, and it is even defended by a certain class of teachers bred under the influence of long standing customs and EngUsh laws. H. V, J. introduced into his report a mention of the "Welsh note," a stigma of disgrace transferred to the last boy heard speaking Welsh. Among other injurious effects this custom has been found to lead children to visit stealthily the houses of their schoolfellows, for the purpose of detecting thbse who speak Welsh to their parents, and transferring to them the punishment due to themselves." CHAP. III.] HER LAIWJUAGE. 85 The same Commissioner speaks of the impediment to efficient teaching oflfered by the prejudices of Welsh parents against the employment of their own language, even as a medium of explanation : " In the day schools we want our children to be taught English only ; what good can be gained by teaching us Welsh? We know Welsh already." There are too many School Boards in 1891, where this kind of ignorance appears to prevail — concomitant recollect, with a genuine attachment to Wales." The following table may be of some interest :-^ CLASSIFICATION OT DAT SCHOOLS ACOOEDING TO LANGUAGE IN 1846-7. Language of Instruction. Welsh only English only Welsh & English books English books only* ] but Welsh spoken I 118 63 48 25 8 -- 7 in explanation J Grammar of English.. 74 127 67 57 35 12 37 „ of Welsh . . — _ _ _ — — _ of both . . 2 2 1 ^ — — — It should be borne in mind that Welsh spoken in "explana- tion" may simply mean that an ignorant schoolmaster used that language as the ordinary medium of converse with his scholars. It does not appear that there was any systematic bilingual instruction except in a few schools, and those where the habit prevailed to get the children to commit to memory the English of certain Welsh words. He says (though incorrectly) "of this amount one-half have always spoken English '; thinks that English has not dis- * For Pembroke, Cardignn and Radnor, information simply states " instruc- tion given in Welsh and English." North Wales — Particulars not given. Carmar- then. Gla- morgan. Pem- broke. Car- digan. 1 Breeli;- nocls. Ead- Mon- nor. moiithi. (Part of.) 52 258 155 75 88 43 120 9 1 — — — — — 86 WALES AND CHAP. IIL] placed one-tenth part of Welsh; and looks to good schools to expedite its progress. Symons estimates the amount of population in his district, of whom English is the fireside language: — In Brecknockshire, 23,500 out of 55,603 speak English. In Cardiganshire 3,000 „ 68,766 In Eadnorshire 23,000 „ 25,356 50,000 „ 149,725 A Brecon Curate, named Jas. Denning, writes to J. C. S. : — I cannot too strongly express my opinion about the necessity of getting rid of the Welsh language. * * The bigotry of the preachers would be driven away. (p. 359.) Lingen gives no estimate of this kind, but alludes to the district within which the English language may be considered as the mother-tongue of the people, as lying south of the London mail road — roughly speaking, we should say the Great Western trunk-line — from Cardiff to the coast of the Irish sea, except between Swansea and "St." Clears, which may be considered to have been Welsh. Is it not a striking fact, that more than 40 years have passed since these enquiries were made, and since it was found that Welsh books were wholly excluded from the day schools with very trifling exceptions, and yet, that the Welsh speaking population has increased probably 20 per cent. : and there is more Welsh literature now than ever. GENERAL REMARKS. Symons alludes to the small proportion of the whole number of children in day schools who ever learn to write, but speaks highly of their proficiency in arithmetic, saying he had never witnessed more, after so small an amount of instruction, in any school either in England or on the Continent. "Wherever CHAP, m.] HBK LANGUAGE. 87 the children remain long enough in school their proficiency in figures is wonderful." " Though they are ignorant, no people more richly deserve to be educated. In the first place, they desire it to the full extent of their power to appreciate it ; in the next, their natural capacity is of a high order, especially in the Welsh districts. They learn when they are even badly taught with surprising facility." The perpetual Curate of Builth (R. H. Harrison) writes : — " The "Welsh people are much quicker than the EngUsh. I have been much concerned in schools in England, and have succeeded well with them; but the "Welsh have much better and readier powers of perception ; their reasoning powers are much less developed. There are, however, beautiful faculties lost here for want of proper cultivation. They would learn quickly and profit greatly by good schools." (p. 341.) This was in an English speaking district — nearly entirely so. I have, however, heard a Welsh schoolmaster say that the reasoning faculties of bilingual boys were better developed than when they know one language only. The following, from the pen of a witness, then President of the Independent College, Brecon, only recently deceased, who was, I believe, intimately acquainted with the language and habits of the people: — Taken as a whole, 1 believe the "Welsh peasantry are decidedly superior to the EngUsh. Having spent twelve years as a minister in England, and in daily communication with the poor, I may perhaps be allowed to speak with some confidence. But all the other classes among us are immeasurably inferior, in point of information, to the corresponding classes in England. Nothing can be more worthless than the schoohng ordinarily given to the children of our small farmers and shopkeepers. This is especially the case with respect to girls all through Wales. Let me add, the 88 WALES AND [CHAP. HL whole community suffers from the absence of that teaching, which would tend to fit boys to excel as mechanics or artizans. (p. 361.) There haye been ministers among us, men of great mental and moral power and prodigious influence, men whom we need not blush to class with England's best, and whose memoirs will be instructiye to the end of time, but who nevertheless knew nothing of English, and never were able to write their names ! In hundreds of our cottages, at this day, you may find men of most elevated habits of thought and feeling who never read a page in their lives but the Bible, (p. 362.) Johnson speaks of the true method of teaching geography being inverted — that of home being neglected, children per- fected in definition, can point out islands, straits, &c., yet suppose that such phenomena have no existence in North Wales. Grammar— not taught a science, but as a matter of memory, a fault to which doubtless the Inspectors of 1891 could also attest. The definitions and explanations in these works [Murray's Grammar, &c.J, which would be difficult to an English scholar, are incomprehensible to Welsh children, and the teacher, even if competent to interpret, neglects to do so. No part of the subject is illustrated by familiar examples suited to the capacity of children; and in the conversation of the teacher, the rules of syntax and grammar are far more frequently broken than observed. MONMOUTHSHIRE. As J, C. Symons subsequently devotes a special Report to ■ the eighteen westerly parishes of Monmouthshire, with a population at that date of about 100,000, and as I am writing in that county, my readers will, I hope, deal leniently with the desire to notice it a little more prominently than its relative importance warrants. It is impossible not to admire the ability and integrity dis- [chap. III. HER LANGUAGE. 89 played in this production. It is evident that the previous few months' experience had fortified him for the undertaking. The electors of the Monmouth Boroughs, we fear, did not allow themselves to be much benefitted by it, as they shortly after- wards sent to Parliament, Crawshay Bailey, one of the iron- masters of the district, whom it may be lawful to make an exception to the rule, de mortiiis nil nisi bonum. At the period of which I am writing the population of the county had increased at a faster rate than that of any other in the kingdom, being 36'9 per cent, between 1831 and 1841, when the Glamorganshire rate was only 3 6 '2. The population, it must be recollected, was by no means exclusively a Welsh one, there having been then, as is the case now, a considerable immigration from England and Ireland, which, combined witli the exclusion of Welsh from the day schools, has undoubtedly done much towards diminishing its use as a, family language, though there are at least 130 Monmouthshire congregations in 1891 to whom Welsh is preached weekly.* Possibly this immigration and other facts which the report brings to fight, had something to do with the low standard of attainment in Government examinations, which was shewn by the county not many years ago, and for long after a much more perfect system had been established. In this county there was an improvement in the school- teachers, but a custom was frequent in the large works for the masters to make a deduction from the workmen's wages for the support of the school, and in some cases the Commissioner had to state that there was ground to believe that the masters made a profit on it, and the workmen did not "derive an equivalent from the fund usually raised from the wages, and to which they are compelled to pay." * In the Appendix I hope to give exaet statistics of each denomination. M 90 WALES AND [chap. III. As regards training or mind teaching "it exists only in one or two schools, and there too owing to the shortness of the stay of the children among the older classes alone." The understanding of ninety per cent, of the children who pass through these schools is just as Uttle improTed or informed as when they entered it. There is the same book-labour and rote- labour as in "Wales, with the same utter inactivity of mind. There is the same absence of thought and of desire to be taught to think. Schooling is desired simply because it is deemed a stepping-stone to gain, and a means to adyancement in Ufe. On that account is it alone sought for. The Bible is universally read in the day-schools, both great and small. Little children are found stammering through the Pentateuch or the Eevelations, who may be reading the Koran with equal profit, (p. 379.) I am writing in a time when much attention is being devoted to Welsh Intermediate and BQgher Education, and with the consciousness that Welsh- Wales has produced, and has now within her borders many self-taught men, who are able to make mental comparisons, suggested by times and conditions, other than those by which they are immediately surrounded, and of whom it would not be just to say the discipline (schooling if we like to term it) to which they have subjected themselves, has been "desired simply because it is deemed a stepping-stone to gain;" but while this much is said, it applies to those who have a higher ideal of education than the average school manager in Wales. There is too much of the spirit of 1847 left behind, too much of the idea of turning Board schools and intermediate schools into money-making machines. Quite true it is that there is a need for an education that shall better a child for after life, and so far as a more practicable scheme than the current one can be introduced, let it be so. The discrepancy really lies in the interpretation of the term "after life." Members of School Boards are too apt to confine CHAP, ni.] HER LANGUAGE. 91 it to the technical work of the office, the shop, or the work- shop. Perfectly necessary in their way, as these are, a real educationalist applies it to the tout-ensemble of the future man, so far as any mechanical or material course of training can aflfect it. He of course sees the intimate connection between language and the use of ideas, hence he cannot afford to allow a vocabulary acquired in infancy to be dormant while he is endeavouring to develop the power of using and developing ideas and knowledge, entirely through a medium to become familiar with which involves a long period of mechanical drudgery. It is his clear duty (in Wales at least) to induce familiarity with this foreign medium, but to do it at the expense of sacrificing all culture in that which nature has provided ready to hand, as is done in the majority of schools in Wales, means a needless delay of the child's development. At Tredegar Town Schools, under a wealthy Company, in which Samuel Homfray had a leading position, and for which he had selected an able master, the funds appear to have entirely come from the stoppages in workmen's wages. Much dissatisfaction was expressed at the children being com- pelled to attend the Church Sunday School though many of the parents are Dissenters. Some of the men are therefore compelled to pay for schooUng which they cannot conscientiously avail themselves of for their children, (p. 387.) SiRHOWY Day School — Belonging to the Company. To persecute one [scholar] said meant to preach, and none could set him right * * Two thought the people in Scotland black. Speaking of schools held on First day (" Sunday") he says — The Dissenting schools are superior to the Church schools in every respect as means of reUgious instruction ; the far larger 92 WALES AND [CHAP. III. attendance of teachers, sittings each'witt their own classes, I'eading With and questioning' them, would alone give this superiority. I should fail in my duty, were I not to give a prominent place to this source of the slight moral right which prevails among this population ; but one-sixth" part of whom it thus appears are sub- jected to this discipline, and their attendance is irregular, (p. 291). Somewhat mourufully J. 0. S. adds — The clergy are scattered and few in numberj and can make little way with the people against the combined jtiumbers and activity of the Dissenting bodies, who are inspiried no less by emulation among each other than by zeal for the sake of truth. Speaking of the population generally — Whatever is unsettled or lawless, or roving or characterless among working-men, as long as bodily strength subsists, has felt an attraction to this district, and a surety of ready acceptance and good wages which very few other districts have afEorded in so great a degree. The whole district and population partake of the iron chara,cter of its produce; physical strength is the object of esteem, and gain their chief god. (p. 394.) In fact, it seems to have been the policy of some ironmasters or colliery proprietors of that day, to collect together a band of ruffians, if they could get no others, settle them down to spread corruption among a population less deeply steeped in vice, and then keep them under their thumb by means of the truck system, or otherwise favour their being penniless. For instance "one or two benevolent ladies tries to get up a Provident Society," to encourage the men to lay something by, and applied to a large mine proprietor for his contribution and patronage. " Indeed," he said, " I cannot give you either, for if I did, I would be arming the men against myself, and enabling them to strike for wages. I want them to spend their earnings and not CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 93- hoard them." This waS an unusual case of candoiir, but hy no" means unusual policy. I taentibned it to a neighbouring magis- trate, who told me he firmly believed it ; and I heard from others, in whom I can place confidence, that the desire to deprive the men of the means of striking for wages, and to subjugate them to their employers, is said to animate their conduct, and it appears to be even more at the root of the truck-system than the im- mediate gain which springs from it. (p. 398.) What a trust in Belial! It reminds one of that concern existing at the present day called the Rhymney Iron Company, Limited, whose sphere of operations is in or near Rhymney, Monmouthshire; they own a good part of the tow% conse- quently can manipulate houses and tenancies at will, they are reputed, moreover, to carry on an underhanded species of compulsion to induce workmen to deal at a large shop close to^ their works, and have on two occasions had to pay legal punish- ment through carrying out a miserable system of putting on the screw which led to positive contraventions of the Truck Act. They also own a large brewery close at hand, which, I am informed by a local tradesman, is worth about half-a-million. Providence has so far prospered the endeavours of this beery- irony-grocery Company, as to enable them recently to declare a dividend of £0 Os. Od. percent. If the property is shortly in the market, it is to be hoped that it will fall into the hands of persons who will confine their attention to coal and iron. Having a number of Irish workmen, the Company is obliging enough to their priest to make stoppages from the men's wages (by their consent) towards his salary. la return for this service, it is scarcely beside the mark to suppose that they (the Company) expect a quid pro quo in the shape of influence on his flock in their favour. We must however go back to Monmouthshire in 1846. . Even the physical condition of the people seems almost-as if 94 WALES AND CHAP. III.] contrived for the double purpose of their degradation and the employers' profit. Some of the works are surrounded by houses built by the Companies without the slightest attention to comfort, health, or decency, or any other consideration than that of realizing the largest amount of rent from the smallest amount of outlay. * * An immense rent, in comparison to the accom- modation, is paid to the Company or master for these miserable places, (p. 397.) The CommissioQer regarded the degraded condition of the people as " entirely the fault of their employers," and found the "grossest ignorance prevailing;" but on religious subjects they were generally better informed, when they knew anything, than any other subject. He issued a circular letter to various persons in the county, containing 11 questions, mostly referring to education and morals, one of which was — Is the Enghsh language gaining ground ; and is it desirable that it should be better taught, and if so, for what reason ? I make bold to give my reader extracts from the replies which reflect in some degree the state of mind of influential persons in Monmouthshire at that time, but apparently they mostly belonged to the Episcopalians, so that we are some- what at a loss to know in what light the mass of the population were regarded by educated persons of other per- suasions. E. H. Phillips, M.D., of Pontypool, says- It is impossible to think of the social and pohtical conduct of the people without alarm. Their dissolute habits, their recklessness of living, their contempt for authority, their "speaking evil of dignities," must, if unchecked, bring on a state of things in this country which it is frightful to contemplate. I would not need- lessly make invidious remarks, but I cannot help observing that much of that turbulent insubordination, and that haughty inde- pendence which spurns control, manifested by the people, may be CHAP, ni.] HER LANGUAGE. 95 attributed to the violent and inflammatory harangues which they often hear from platforms and pulpits of dissenters, (do., p. 400.) One of the reasons Dr. P. alleges why English should prevail more than than at present is that — It would extend the influence and power of the Established Church, because it would remove the cause of complaint on the part of many "Welsh persons that they cannot get Welsh exclu- sively in the Establishment, which they forsake for Dissent, where this exclusiveness is generally found; and consequent upon this would be the general improvement of the people in due deference to their superiors and respect for the law of the land, (do., p. 401.) This is followed by a short laudation of the "more peace- fiil and submissive character of the lower orders," who are members of the Church of England, over those of other sects. The author of this book never had any personal acquaintance with Dr. PhiUips. At the time in which he wrote, English was the prevailing language at Pontypool, as is proved by the fact that within a few years afterwards, say 1860, Welsh was abandoned in the dissenting pulpits of the town, and its use has only quite recently been resumed. It is however doubtful whether the mother-church has correspondingly extended her "power and influence." Of course the reader will recollect that the terms "turbulentinsubordination," "haughtyindependence," "inflammatory harangues from the pulpits of dissenters," were written before there was a local Daily Press to pass its com- ments. Whatever the character of the Daily Press is, and I will not venture to stand as its apologist, it certainly would not be behindhand in giving Dr. Phillips an amply sufficient audience, even if one not much inclined to enter into the state of "alarm" in which he foimd himself. Owen PhiUips, Pontnewydd, speaks of great ignorance among the poor, chiefly those from Gloucester and Somerset, 96 WALES AND [CHAP. III. and of the natives of the Principality, being for the most part tolerably well informed, especially in religious subjects. Jas. Hughes, Rector of Llanhilleth, writes from the point of view of the semi-educated Welsh Episcopalian with whom his own language is a "nuisance." The English language is gaining ground but very imperceptibly. As the Welsh language has no valuable writings, either in prose or poetry, and as the Welsh people have not one single interest unconnected with the English, I consider the language to be a nuisance and an obstacle, both to the administration of the law, and to the cause of religion, imposing on pastors a double degree of work (or duty), by their having the Welsh and the English por-tion of the community to attend to. He hoAvever speaks very plainly on the extremely harmful custom of agents of works keeping pubKc houses, where the men are expected to spend their earnings. Again — I have met with Welsh cottagers capable of arguing on the most abstruse theological points, and taking them as a whole, they are very well acquainted with the Bible; but the Welsh have abso- lutely a distaste for any other kind of reading. Seldom will you see a Welshman reading a newspaper, but he reads with unusual fondness such publications as extol his rehgious party or expose theiaihngs of those sects to which he does not belong. This fondness for divinity subjects, to the exclusion of all secular knowledge, I ascribe in a great measure to the absence of day- schools, which were nowhere to be seen in Wales until of late years.. I>id it never occur to Jas. Hughes, and to others who have made similar remarks that if some secular instruction were imparted in Welsh it would naturally open the way for the acq uirement of secular knowledge ? He may have been a, well- meaning tna,n^ though it seepis he was in the habit of .putting on green spectacles when he looked at his countrymen, i [chap. III. HER LANGUAGE. 97 Let not my English readers go away with the idea that Welshmen do not read newspapers ; they do, probably much more in proportion than Englishmen out of large towns. I speak of vernacular papers, though there is now a considerable coexistent circulation of English papers including much trash, especially in South Wales. As to the language having no "valuable writings," and being a "nuisance," it is scarcely necessary to say that such statements, and from such a quarter, should be met by a sufficiently prominent warning, — "Beware of the dog." The Incumbent of Trevethin writes, — One need only read the Welsh publications to be convinced of the non-utility of the language for any practical purpose whatever, religious, or commercial, and the sooner it becomes dead the better for the people. How could it be of religious use when the country was swarming with Dissenters, who disseminated their schismatic principles by means of it, when, for some unexplained reason, the people took more kindly to them than to the holder of the Episcopal crook? How could it be of poHtical use when it had not long before been proved that it was a stepping stone for "noisy demagogues" to get the ear of the people? As for commerce, Welsh was not much used therein, and therefore one did not need to read the periodicals to be satisfied of the fact. Augustus Morgan, Rector of Machen, considered it very desirable that EngUsh should supersede Welsh for three reasons. 1. So that judge, counsel, and jury, in law courts may not be dependent on an interpreter. 2. To insure a more regular attendance of the rising generation in "parish churches." 3. Because revolutionary meetings had been held in Welsh, so that their proceedings might not be discovered. 98 WALES AND [OHAP. ILL In the winding-up of this Report, the following outspoken paragraph occurs, indicating the judgment of the Com- missioner, that this tax on wages as the only method of providing educational funds was an unhealthy one: — The fierce struggle of interests (belieyed to be adverse) is ever present, fomenting envy, bitterness, malice, and all the inhumanities of hatred. It ' pervades the entire conception of the relation between labour and capital. There is, therefore, no confidence in the class through whose medium the remedy should be adminis- tered; nor are they inclined to administer it by other means than a tax on wages, which renders it repulsive to the recipients, whose sympathy and appreciation it is so essential to secure. No effective, voluntary efforts on the part of the people to obtain sound educa- tion can be expected whilst they are too ignorant to value it; nor will any voluntary exertion be made by those who can so well afford it, whilst that feeling prevails among the majority of the employers of labour which it has been my painful duty to develop and attest. So much for the work of the three Commissioners and their reports, which displayed undoubted ability, and on the whole a desire to conscientiously fulfil their duties. As far as the writer is aware, those portions of the reports which dealt mainly with education, did not call forth any great degree of comment in Wales. The Welsh people were generally aware of their deficiencies, and glad to have them rectified, but were unable, from various reasons, to oppose intelligent criticism to such of their conclusions as appear to have been other that the fruit of a well balanced, well informed judgment, though it will be seen that these weak points were not wholly unnoticed. What was however keenly resented, was the very strong language used in each report on the moral character of the people. As to whether or not this judgment was formed on evidence arriving from prejudiced sources I wiU not take upon GHAP. m.] HER LANGUAGE. 99 me to decide. It is however quite clear that in some parts of the country customs prevailed which had an exceedingly deleterious effect on the people. In the Traeihodydd for 1850 Lewis Edwards, of Bala (father of the present Principal T. C. Edwards), dealt with the subject calmly and clearly. He said, "We cannot do less than express our conviction that the reports of the visitors should get a greater hearing than they have done. It was natural and proper to turn from the misleading descriptions they gave, but in the zeal to dis- prove untruth, the truth that they contained has been too much overlooked." Quite of another spirit was the stinging lampoon of leuan Gwynedd, which appeared in the Almanac y Cymry, 1849, published by John Cassell. He there describes the commotion caused by the books of the "Three Spies." Mae'r wlad jn llawn o ddwndwr. A chodwyd fi drwy cynwr'; Ac achwyniadau sydd heb ri' Ar lyfrau tri Tsbi'wyr. He then alludes to the clerical informants of the "Spies," "who (Balaam like) taught them — the Commissioners — to run us down'' (diraddio). T gwjr mewn dillad duon, A elwir offeiriadon, A'u dysgent i'n diraddio am (Pel Balaam) Iwgr wobrwyon. How thoroughly Welsh it is to drag in a Scripture simile when possible. The ParUamept he gives credit for picking out "sharp lawyers" for the work. Anfonodd dri Tsbiwr, Fob un yn llwm gyf reithiwr ; A'r tri yn Saeson uchel ben, I Grymru wen mewn fEwndwr. 100 WALES AND [OHAP. III. Y tri w^r awdurdodol A aent mewn brys rhyf eddol, I gasglu pob budreddi cas Tn llyfrau glas anferthol. * * * * Ar ol eu cael yn gryno, Hwy aethent oil i lunio Ehyw dri o lyfrau gleision hyll, "Wnant yn mhob dull ein beio. The four bishops are touched oflF in a verse each. Here is the long-headed Connop Thirlwall {call is scarcely translatable by any one word in English) advising a Government grant from Sioni (Lord John Russell), which leuan fears will be for the purpose of "buying" over the children. Mae Esgob call Tyddewi Yn dweyd mai callach tewi, Ac ail ymdrechu prynu'r plant Drwy geisio grant gan Sioni. leuan treats with biting sarcasm the charge brought by the Commissioners against the morals of the people, but the im- partial reader will find that the evidence was of far too decided a character in each of the three reports to leave room to doubt that in some country districts, away from the polluting influence of large industrial centres, with their unsettled populations, the standard of popular feeling with regard to chastity was a low one, though at the same time the Methodists, and other religious bodies, had endeavoured to purify the atmosphere, evidently with some success. It is certain, as shewn before, that statistics failed to substantiate the imputation that Welsh-Wales was worse than England, and we cannot but feel that R. W. Lingen, in particular, made one or two unjustifiable remarks when dealing with the matter. In Volume II. of Yr Adolygydd, a quarterly periodical for CHAP. III.] HER LANGUAGE. 101 "November," 1851, appeared an excellent article on "Anmweir- deb" (unchastity), dealing in very plain, and yet not too plain. terms with the subject. Probably the Commissioners' report had called the writer's attention to the subject. He ends with this beautiful and metaphorical language, after calling on his countrymen to sound the trumpet of war against the evU* — Os rhaid arloesi anialwch, codi pantiau, palu mynyddoedd, sychu corsydd, a holiti creigiau, na ddigalonwch, mae Duw o'ch plaid. Os parhewch i fed yn fEyddlon, cewch. weled eich gwlad wedi ei gwaredu, eich cenedl wedi ei phuro, a'ch mabonau yn rhodio yn rhydd. Pan waredir Cymru oddiwrth y gelyn mawr hwn, dawnsia ei mynyddoedd gan lawenydd, llama ei bryniau gan orfoledd, a chura ei choedwigoedd eu dwylaw gan falchder. Pryd hyn bydd gorfoledd ar y ddaear, a Uawenydd yn y nef . We must not dismiss without further notice the hostile criticism oflFered to the Reports by Sir Thos. Phillips, then a barrister in London, who published in 1849 a volume entitled "Wales: the language, social condition, moral character, and religious opinions of the people, considered in their relation to Education." He writes from the Episcopalian standpoint, mildly chiding some of the shortcomings of that church in Wales, and apologising, as it were, for the existence of Dissent, with which he was not wanting in sympathy. He desires teachers for his own denomination, who will "train up the young of her flock in accordance with the solemn vow, promise, and profession made for each of them when they were grafted into the body of Christ's Church," (he evidently thinks the "graftmg" took place when a little water * If you have to clear the wilderness ground, raise the valleys, lay low the mountains, dry up the bogs, rend the rocks, be not discouraged, God is on your side. IE you continue to be faithful, you will see your country delivered, your nation purified, and your sons walking free. When Wales is delivered from this great enemy, her mountains will dance for joy, her hills will leap vnth rejoicing, and her forests will clap their hands for gladness. Then there will be praise on earth and joy in heaven. 102 WALES AND CHAP. III.] was sprinkled on the child's face), and quotes Archdeacon Williams: — The parish schoolroom is now the battle-field of the Church; and within, its walls must he decided the share of influence which she is to exercise over the hearts and affections of the next generation. Her influence, her very existence as an estahUshment, are at stake : they must be won or lost upon this cast. I refrain from quoting more, but the assumption of the Archdeacon in the next sentence, that the spread of true religion is at stake in this matter, is astounding. Sir Thos. Phillips did not unite with the attitude of the Report towards the Welsh language. He says in his Preface — The opinions expressed by the Commissioners on the language of the country, to which they attribute injurious influences on the character and condition of the people, have provoked much con- troversy, and are opposed to the views of competent judges. And he thus alludes to the statement as to moral character — Such imputations, instead of being cast at random in public Reports, whjch, from their character, give force and poignancy to the charge, should be conveyed in language carefuUy \\'eighed, and strictly hmited by the extent and character of the evil. When indiscriminately scattered abroad, they excite a strong sense of injustice. It is the admission of men, who have traveUed far and seen much, that in no country have they found women of greater gentleness and interest than the peasant girls of Wales. Owing in good degree to the efifoi'ts of Su- T. P., the Com- mittee of Council on Education, made an important concession to Wales in 1849, by allowing a good and systematic knowledge of Welsh to be accepted in pupil teachers' examinations in lieu of two subjects, and a less perfect knowledge in lieu of one subject oiily. CHAP, III. J HER LANGUAGE. 103 Shortly after, however, R. W. Lingen, was appointed Secre- tary to the Committee, and whether from this cause or from the lack of facilities, whereby pupil teachers were able to attain this "good and systematic knowledge," or from any other reason it was not much acted on, and many years ago the privilege was abolished, which were it revived now, could much more easily be made available on account of the great increase of Welsh educational books. There is additional evidence that elementary education was in a most neglected state, not merely in Wales but also in England, if not contemporaneously with the visit of the Commissioners, only some seven years before. The following paragraph from the introduction of Gibbs and Edwards' "Code of 1876," summarizes the state of things in England and Wales prior to 1839: — Good schools were few and far between, the school houses were often squalid, with miserable furniture, few books, and scarcely any other school appliances. The attendance of the children was irregular, their attainments were wretched. The teachers were often ignorant adventurers, who had adopted the profession when they had proved their utter incompetency for any other calling, while those who possessed any knowledge were ignorant of good methods of imparting it. Eiot and disorder were kept under only by the most savage discipline." In 1839, Government grants were first made to assist in the erection of schools. In 1843 they were extended towards the purchase of apparatus and the erection of training schools for teachers. In 1846, the year of the appointment of the Welsh Commissioners, in order to assist in keeping up a body of efficient teachers, provision was made for the augmentation by Government of the salary paid by managers to teachers who had obtained by examination a certificate of merit, and whose schools were well reported annually by Inspectors, and where satisfaction was also given to the managers themselves. 104 WALES AND [CHAP. III. In 1853 and 1856, Capitation Grants were made, by which from six shillings to four shillings were paid per head for each child under certain conditions. The result of these successive educational advances was such a change over the face of the country that when W. E. Forster's Act of 1870 was passed with Compulsory Education in its train, there was no short and sharp transition between such destitution as had existed only 30 years before that, and the completed system we see in form to day. I say complete with regard to its exterior mechanism, as to the completeness of the results, I will here abstain from expressing an opinion. As regards Wales, in particular, there are not many facts to add, but having noticed an article in Yr Adolygydd, for 1851, which appeared to indicate that the period of inefficient teachers had then passed away, I wrote to Wm. Williams, M.A., Chief Inspector for Wales, who has kindly sent a com- munication, from which I extract the following: — I have a slight recoUection of the article to which you refer in Yr Adolygydd on " Yr Ysgol/eistr fel y mae," and I may say con- fidently that it could refer to only a comparatively small number of teachers, i.e., to the few teachers who had been trained between 1846 and 1851, at the British and Foreign Training College, Borough Eoad; the National Society's Training College, at Battersea; the Normal College started at Brecon, about the beginning of 1846, removed to Swansea in 1848, and conducted by the late Dr. Evan Davies, who was the author of the articles in Adolygydd, and possibly a few trained in Scotland. The number of Church and National Schools in Wales increased, comparatively rapidly, from 1846 or '47, and this was due to several causes. The grants towards the erection of schools were from about this time increased and were very Uberal, amounting, I believe, to about 40 per cent., and as the value of school sites, which were often given, and the cost of haulage often done without [OHAP. III. HER LANGUAGE. 105 pay, could also be counted in the expenses, the grant in many cases amounted to probably 50 per cent of the actual money spent. During this time Dr. Davies, of the Normal College, Swansea, and some of the leading Nonconformists in South Wales (like the late David Rees, of Llanelly), were opposed in toto to receiving grants towards the erection or maintenance of schools, and this greatly retarded for a time the spread of British and undenomina- tional schools, and allowed the ground to be covered by Church schools. The Nonconformists of South Wales subsequently decided to accept grants, and British Schools spread comparatively fast from about 1855 to 1870, whilst a considerable number of the Church Schools fell into a state of inefficiency, or were closed. By 1870 accommodation had been provided in Wales for probably from one-third to one-half of the population, but this was very unevenly distributed, and there were large tracts of country with no efficient school in them. By what precedes it will be seen that the advancement of Welsh and English education was nearly collateral, and to ascribe the backward state of the former to the deleterious effects of the Welsh language, in spite of the strange adventures of the tri wyr awdurdodol, is an unfair inference. For another generation, however, the people of Wales ignored secular education in Welsh, hoping that they might thereby learn English better, notwithstanding the more enlightened views of some of their leading men; and the Government ignored it both with that mistaken notion, and with the additional hope, there is ground to believe, of shortly effecting a linguistic bouleversement in the country. Just as Llewelyn ap Gruflfydd's head was welcomed outside the Tower of London with savage delight, so there have not been wanting men of position who would hail with satisfaction a bulletin conveying intelligence of the last expiring groans of the language spoken by that ancestor of our present Sovereign. CHAPTER IV. Intebmbdiate Education — Llandoveby Gbammab School and the Feotisions of its foundee fob teaching Welsh — The Inteb- mbdiate Education Commission of 1880— Establishment of Univebsity Colleges — The London Cymmeodoeion and their Systematic Enquiey fbom Welsh Elementaey Tbachbes— Replies peo and con. — The Abbedabe Eisteddfod of 1885, and the fobmation op a Society fob Utilizing thk Welsh Language IN Education — Opposition to the Peoposal — D. Isaac Davibs, his lettees to the "Westben Mail" and "Banbe ac Amsbeau Cymeu." rpHE preceding Chapters having been principally devoted to -^ an elucidation of the state of Elementary Education in Wales from forty to fifty years ago, it will be necessary in the present one, to revert to the same period, briefly noticing some facts affecting intermediate and higher education, before follow- ing out at length the controversy started a few years ago by a Welsh Society in London, and afterwards more or less in the cou]itry at large, as to the desirability of a radical alteration in the existing methods of dealing with Welsh schools principally with regard to elementary ones, but also to some extent, including the whole educational system. In Wales the ingenious educationalists of two or three generations past, contrived a remarkable expedient for the employment, if not amusement of the boys in middle class schools, which consisted in hounding their language down by means of the Welsh note, which was a stick of wood passed on from one boy to the next, who was heard speaking Welsh. At the end of a certain period, the last possessor of the "note" or "stick" was punished. CHAP. IV.] WALES AND HER LAJNGUAGE. 107 The custom was not confined to middle class schools, as appears by the following in H. V. Johnson's report of Llan- dymog, Denbighshire: — My attention was attracted to a piece o£ wood, suspended by a string round a boy's neck, and on the stick were the words, "Welsh stick." This, I was told, was a stigma for speaking Welsh. But, in fact, his only alternatiye was to speak Welsh or to say nothing. He did not understand English, and there is no systematic exercise in interpretation, (p. 452.) We ask what kind of metal were the masters of those times made of, when we learn that "among other injurious effects, this custom has been found to lead children to visit stealthily the houses of their schoolfellows for the purpose of detecting those who speak Welsh to their parents, and transferring to them the punishment due to themselves? See also Appendix D. I have had occasion to allude to the attitude, and think I am justified in calling it the prevailing attitude at that time, of representatives of the Established Church towards the Welsh language. I shall not, however, be understood to imply that this was universal. The year 1847, saw the foundation of a scheme which, though under the care of the Established Church had for one of its express purposes the colloquial and literary cultivation of the Welsh language, and is at the present day (apart from questions of religion) one of the best, if not the best higher class school in Wales. The following extract from a summary of the provisions of the Deed of the founder, viz., Thos. Phillips, a London Welshman, who bestowed nearly £5,000 for the purpose, gives some idea of his views : — The scholars wUl be instructed in Welsh reading, grammar, and composition; in English, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, arithmetic, 108 WALES AND [CHAP. IV. _^ «a algebra, and mathematics; in sacred, English and general history, and geography; and in such other branches of education as the trustees, with the sanction of the visitor, shall appoint. The Welsh language shall be taught exclusively during one hour every school day, and be then the sole medium of communication in the school; and shall be used at all other convenient periods as the language of the school, so as to familiarize the scholars with its use as a colloquial language. The master shall give lectures in that language upon subjects of a philological, scientific, and general character, so as to supply the scholars with examples of its use as a literary language, and the medium of instruction on grave and important subjects. The primary intent and object of the founder (which is instruction and education in the Welsh language) shaU be faithfully observed. So far we say so good, but the crucial test of a middle class school in England or Wales now^-a-days, is generally looked for in its ability to prepare for the preliminary examinations of English Universities, few schools, if any, unless carried on under exceptional circumstances, think they can afford to work to entirely independent standards of their own. This has directly or indirectly affected the course of instruction at Llandovery, so that the intentions of the founder have not probably been carried out to the fullest extent, although they have been so far as to materially increase the usefulness of the institution. I have mentioned that Llandovery school was (and is still) under the care of the Established Church, so is that called " Christ's College," Brecon, with a good organization and an annual endowment of £1,200; other Welsh endowments were mostly either denominational or inadequate, and for a number of years it was felt that the needs of the country demanded considerable improvement in the facilities for Litermediate Education, especially in such as Nonconformists would be likely to freely avail themselves of. In 1880, in compliance with representations made to it, the CHAP. IV.J HER LANGUAGE. 109 Government appointed a Committee, to enquire into the con- dition of Intermediate and Higher Education in Wales, consisting of the following persons, — Lord Aberdare Viscount Emltn H. G. Robinson (Prebendary of the Established Church). Henry Richard, M.P. Professor Rhys Lewis Morris. The main scope of the enquiry of this representative Committee was confined to the question of the utilization of endowments for middle class schools in Wales, and the best method of supporting such in the future. As might be expected from its constitution, the Welsh Language received considerably more respect from the Commission than from that of 1847. Its power and vitality were acknowledged, but the Repprt offered no suggestions as to any improved method of coping with the difficulties, created by the existence of a household language, side by side with a system of education which ignored its existence. The immediate result of their labours was the establishment of University Colleges for North and South Wales, and the giving of an annual subsidy to the one at Aberystwyth, which, after considerable demur, the Government wisely consented to retain. A very important recommendation was made by them, viz. : — the creation of what amounted to a Welsh University, with the representatives of the leading colleges on its Governing Board, which was not, however, carried into effect ; but, perhaps we may, in some measure, trace the passing of the Intermediate Educational Act for Wajes, with the powers it conferred on County Coimcils for the establishment of middle class schools, to the labours of this Committee. Nor 110 WALES AND CIIAP. IV. J was the work of the Commission iu any way directly related to that movement, the rise, and progress of which I am about to trace; but inasmuch as the establishment of these University Colleges has given some educated Welshmen a vantage ground to co-operate vdth it, and as no single part of Welsh educa- tion can be looked at without reference to the whole, it may not have been out of place to give a few brief hints at its work. At present this movement is confined within comparatively small limits, and although it has gained some victories, there is still a possibility of its retiring from the field without per- manently occupying the ground gained. It has, however, within itself the germ of an educational revolution for Wales, which may yet wonderfully modify the future history of that country. Be that as it may, there has been so much of interest bearing on the relation of the language to the social and intellectual life of the people, evolved by enquiries and dis- cussions set up in connection with its operations, that a wise historian cannot refuse to notice them, and in a work of this kind, it is deemed necessary to give details somewhat more at length than may perhaps please some persons to whom the power exercised by the language in the past and in the present, is an unsolved and unsolvable enigma. In 1884 the Cymmrodorion Society, having its head quarters in London, appointed a committee to enquire into certain points relating to Elementary Education in Wales, which were in brief the alleged defects of teaching English, and the proposal that it should be taught through the medium of Welsh. Questions bearing on these points were sent round to about thirty leading educationalists in Wales, including Wm. Williams (the senior Inspector of Elementary Schools). It was found on receipt of replies that only one correspondent positively expressed depreciation of Welsh as a subject of CHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. Ill education, while the Principal of the Normal College, Bangor, was one who strongly advocated its introduction. The next step of the Committee was to address an enquiry to the head-masters and mistresses of primary schools in Wales, as follows : — Do you consider that advantage would result from the intro- duction of the Welsh language as a specific subject into the course of Elementary Education in Wales? In the Spring of 1885, 628 answers were received, of which 339 were affirmative, 257 negative, 32 neutrals. For a tabu- lated statement of these replies, arranged according to counties. See Appendix E. By this it will be seen that Flint and Pembroke were the only counties that shewed negative majorities. Somewhat singularly, the county of Monmouth, where Welsh is not much spoken as a family language, shewed a majority in the affirmative, while the busy, industrial county of Glamorgan, shewed no less than a majority of 57 per cent, of affirmative over negative replies. The replies of these teachers form in the mind of the writer, one of the most interesting contributions to the literature of Wales, that have appeared during the present century. To reproduce the whole would take up too much space, I therefore propose to give selected extracts from them, or summaries ranged under their respective Coimties. The original printed report of the Cymmrodorion and the appendix, giving the replies in full, are perhaps not easily accessible to most of my readers, and as the negatives touch on nearly everything that can be said now against any similar proposal, it is well they should be heard, although for the most part their arguments were decidedly the weakest, except where any of them felt that Welsh as a class-subject would meet the case better than as a specific. It must be borne in mind that these replies were written 112 WALES AND [CHAP. IV. before the subject had been canvassed by public discussion, and that early prejudices doubtless biased some of the writers, from whose school and collegiate courses Welsh had been excluded. They are however valuable as the independent witness of a number of intelligent men with trained minds in different parts of the country, and surrounded by very different conditions, I have not quoted the reference numbers given in the original, except occasionally for the sake of clearness, but the reader will bear in mind that each separate paragraph is written by a different teacher, and that it does not in every case comprise the whole of the answer, ANGLESEY. Negative. — I don't think that Welsh parents would welcome the introduction of "Welsh" as a subject into our schools. They want us to prepare their children to fight the "battle of life." But I am of opinion that the G-overnment ought to raake some allowance for the difficulties we hare to encounter in teaching English to our pupils. The greatest opposition would be offered in this district to Welsh being introduced, as all parents with whom I am acquainted are most anxious that it should be altogether excluded from school work. My opinion is that "well" is best let alone. So my answer is "No." No. For: (1) Parents would not stand it. (2) Welsh is amply cared for by our Sunday schools and literary meetings. (3) I can- not see the utihty of the proposal. (4) Our schools are Welshy enough as it is. (5) After eight years' experience I find the best plan is to use the Welsh language as sparingly as possible. Of course we all love the old tongue, but school life is not a matter of sentiment, but a serious preparation for the battle of life. (6) I am certain if you succeed few teachers would care to teach it, as it would seriously interfere with other more important work. [OHAP. IV. HER LANGUAGE. 113 No. Reasons: (1) Sufficient latitude is already given by the Educational Code for the employment of Welsh as a medium of teaching English. (2) Teachers having no knowledge of Welsh, and those who entirely discard it in teaching Welsh pupils, are highly successful as such in Wales. (3) If Welsh were included as a specific subject in the Educational Code, I, in anticipation, assert that no more than one out of ten teachers would adopt it. (4) My knowledge of people of both mining and agricultural districts enables me to say positively that the teaching of Welsh in our schools would be much objected to. (5) The introduction of Welsh into the curriculum of the schools would greatly hinder the teacher in endeavouring to encourage English conversation among his scholars. Afeiematite — ^The introduction of Welsh as a "specific subject" wUl be of great benefit to schools where the children are entirely Welsh. Many children now leave school when they can neither write English or Welsh correctly. Most of the young men, after passing the fourth standard in a day school, as well as attending Sunday schools, are unable to com- pose either Welsh or English. Whereas if they were all grounded in their "mothers' tongue" in elementary schools it would be an inducement for them to compete at Uterary meetings, Eistedd- fodau, &c., and at the same time it would assist them to understand the English language. (1) It would afford a highly interesting (because thoroughly understood) mental training, and English would be more efficiently taught than at present, on the natural principle of proceeding from the known to the unknown. (2) A child would comprehend the grammatical structure of his native tongue, and compose in it with ease; thereby acquiring a power and model to deal with English and other languages. The majority of children leave school with very imperfect notions of English composition, and none of Welsh, as far as school teaching helps them ; and parents justly complain that their children cannot write correctly " either an English or a Welsh letter." (4) Such being the universal complaint, it follows 114 WALES AND [OHAP, IV, that the present mode of teaching English has lamentably failed (except to a few talented youths in each school), and some course akin to the suggested syllabus must be adopted before any better results can be obtained from the great majority. It would be a great boon to the children in order to aid them to understand the English language. It would create in their minds when leaving school a thorough love for higher education in science aftd literature. The study of such a beautiful, poeticai,, and bxpebssite LANGUAGE as the Welsh would carry its own intrinsic value in the possession of the full command of such a language to. clothe his thoughts. Though an Enghshman, I have been very much struck with the slight knowledge of "Welsh grammar as evinced by the working class with whom I have been brought in contact. By placing the Welsh language among the specific subjects, I do not think that any English teacher would find that he was handi- capped in the matter. I thoroughly endorse the opinion of Mr. Edward Eoberts, B.A., H. M.'s Inspector of Schools. OAENAEVONSHIEE. Negative — No; because (a) Welsh children's knowledge of Welsh being for the most part only of colloquial Welsh, they would have to unlearn a great deal before any progress could be made, (b) The parents of English children in Welsh schools would very probably object to their children learning Welsh. Our literary associations and Sunday schools are ample means of supplying the required knowledge of the Welsh language. No, a thousand times no. A discreet use of Welsh in the lower standards is commendable, and may be for some time yet indis- pensable. * * Every Welsh teacher I have yet spoken with emphatically condemns the idea. Indeed, most of us have not even acquired a knowledge of the rudiments of Welsh grammar, so utterly purposeless is its acquisition to successful teaching. No. Perhaps it would be an advantage to teach it to the pupil- teachers, as this would in time largely increase the number of Welsh CHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 115 writers. The Go7ernment might be asked to set papers in the "Welsh language at the scholarship and certificate examinations. I think I am not wrong in stating that at present there are but very few of the Welsh teachers who can write Welsh. Afeiematite — Yes, provided it should be taught as a class subject, and not as a specific subject. Welsh-English translation being under existing conditions copiously practised, I do not see that any material extra labour would result from the adoption of Welsh as a " specific," nor that it would necessitate the dropping of the ordinary class subjects. Though there is a cry for English, yet parents are quite as anxious for their children to be able to write respectable Welsh letters. I say yes, on financial and educational grounds. I maintain that nothing but a parrot-Hke knowledge of English can possibly be imparted to scholars in Welsh-spoken districts, as far as Standard III. inclusive, without freely using the Welsh language. This being done in the majority of elementary schools in Wales, the teaching of Welsh as a specific subject would require so Utile extra wjrk that there would be no need to drop any of the ordinary, in order to introduce it. Having been engaged in schools in Welsh-spoken district over fourteen years, I hope you will excuse me for giving expression to the above statements. It would be a good foundation for the learning of English. I have been repeatedly asked by parents to teach Welsh composition (letter-writing) to their children; of course, without neglecting English in any way. Tes, I believe that the introduction of the Welsh language into the curriculum of elementary syhools, wiU greatly facilitate the teaching of English in purely Welsh schools. I do really consider that the introduction of the Welsh language as a "specific subject" would enhance even the speedy acquisition of English, and a better grounding of the Welsh language than we have hitherto possessed, providing that a Welsh grammatical primer suitable to the capacity of the children would be supplied, con- taining sentences that would render a mutual aid to acquire a 116 WALES AND [OHAP. IV. sound elementary knowledge of both languages. Whatever is said of Sunday school teaching, my experience assures me that many a Sunday school scholar does not know the difference between i'w and yw, and mae and mai, and in this respect it is a complete failure, and the only remedy would be acquired by the introduction of Welsh as a specific subject. Being a most ancient and original langu9,ge, its knowledge could not fail to be an inteoduotion to a classical education. In Welsh-speaking districts I consider the vernacular the best medium of teaching EngUsh and of improving the general intelligence. Yes. It would be far more serviceable than Euclid, &c., to the lads of the Welsh-speaking districts of Carnarvonshire, &c. Few English families reside here, but I find that the English children in a very short time are able to talk Welsh, and will insist upon speaking it every chance they obtain. Yes. It is an act of justice to an ancient people and their language. It will give the rising generation an inteUiggnt and grammatical, as well as a practical knowledge of their native tongue, and enable them to correspond with facility in Welsh, whereas at present many Welsh people correspond with each other in English. Before the schools of Wales will be on an equal footing with those of England, your plan should be adopted. Netjteal — It would be of great advantage to these, if they were able to write and compose in their native language. But they have had no practice and no opportunities to learn these useful acquire- ments. DENBI&HSHIRE. Negative — No, I do not. I confess that EngHsh could be better and more thoroughly taught through that medium, but it would very much retard the progress of the scholar. The greatest objection I see to it, is the fact that few schoolmasters, although Welsh, can write or understand Welsh correctly. Also, it would take as much trouble to get the children to understand the proper Welsh language as it would to do the EngUsh. I say proper. CHAP. IV.] HER LAITGUAGE. 117 because children do not speak it properly — and differently in different districts. Decidedly no. Because there is too much division in the British empire now, and the giving legal sanction to another language will only increase the division. Because there are too many subjects taught already. No. But I think it would be good to give a small piece in English language as home lesson, to be translated into "Welsh, such as a letter from a friend. I have been doing so, and found it to do good. I would most decidedly say "Yes" if it was introduced as a class subject. Afeiematite — ^Tes. I believe the knowledge of even two languages (Welsh and English) to be stimulative to the mind, by exciting comparison and enquiry. Welsh, being a root language, gives a good insight into the construction of languages. In my humble opinion, which is based upon a residence of more than twenty-five years in North Wales, all tJie schools would do well to teach the Welsh language as a " specific subject," as I fully beheve that quite four-fifths of the children understand and speak the native tongue. I would except the eastern portion of Mont- gomeryshire, and perhaps two or three schools at Ehyl and Llan- dudno. A boy who is conversant with both languages has, in more than one way, an advantage over a boy who simply knows English. * * * I deem it a great advantage to know a bbatttiful, PHONETIC, HXPEBSSiTE language, such as the Welsh is. FLINT8HIEE. Nhgatitb — Eather than introduce the Welsh language as a specific subject, it would be more fair to the teachers in the Principality for the Committee of Council on Education to acknow- ledge the disadvantage under which they work, especially in rural districts, and draw up a simpler and special Code for the Welsh Schools, in order to put them on a more common-sense level with the EngUsh schools, where the children know nothing but their 118 WALES ANJi CHAP. IV.] mother tongue, English, from their birth. What would the English teachers do if they had to teach every subject in the French language to children who had been taught English from their birth, and who heard nothing but EngHsh at their homes and while at play; and those children again to be examined in the same subjects as French children of the same age? The use of both languages must be made by the Welsh teachers before English can be taught in the schools of the Principality. No. At least nine out of every ten of the teachers would require special training. Affikmativb — I do. I have had an opportunity of (more than once) lecturing on Welsh grammar before " Young Men's Literary Associations," and in each case a decided craving for such a move as you recommend was manifested. As an old pupil of the Eev. Jenkin Davies, Eector of Bottwnog, Caernarvonshire, I consider his method of teaching English one of the best for beginners in a Welsh country school — e.g.: The Verb "to be" Indic.'Pres. Singular. — I am=yr wyf fi; Thou art— yr wyt ti; He is=T mae ef. Plural. — We are — yr ydym ni; Tou are=yr ydych chwi; They are=y maent hwy. The introduction of the Welsh language as a specific subject into the course of elementary education in Wales would, I firmly believe, be of great advantage to both teacher and scholar. The most successful teachers use it freely. MEEIONETHSHIRE. Negative — And what a disadvantage a Welsh teacher and the children under his charge would be labouring under in comparison with an English-speaking teacher, even in Wales, and much more so in comparison with an English-speaking teacher in a district exclusively English, who one and all are expected to produce the same or similar results, independent of circumstances over which they often have no control, or be involved helplessly in professional ruin. See reply to No. 7 B., the said H. M. Senior Inspector. "Edrych yn y drych hwn dro, gyr galon graig i wylo." No. The introduction of any Welsh into this school would be CHAP, rv.] HER LANQTJAGB. 119 very unfayourably met by the parents; even now they will blame the teacher for explaining difficult passages in English by means of the "Welsh language. Reducing the number of readers in Welsh schools, so as to give teachers more time to cultivate intelligence by means of translation, as prescribed by the Code, would secure the same result. Affirmatite — I consider that great advantage would accrue. I may state that the Welsh is now universally made use of in the lowest standards; and ideas, when expounded in Welsh, seem to adhere longer to pupils' minds, especially in purely Welsh speaking schools. By the adoption of the proposed scheme, both the Welsh and English languages would be more thoroughly known in the Principality. There is no doubt but that a very great advantage would result from it, because the Welsh language is not properly taught at our Sunday schools, &c., as asserted by some; but really it puzzles me to know how it can be introduced into the course of elementary education in Wales with the present requirements of the Code. The best teachers already groan under the drudgery. Although my Welsh is very imperfect, I vote strongly for its introduction into Welsh schools, not as a medium for teaching English, but as a sbpabatb subject paid for by the Education Department as a class subject in the same ratio as our other class subjects; and I would furthermore suggest that in Welsh schools all teachers may have the option of teaching grammar (English) and Welsh, instead of grammar and geography. Wbttteal — After advocating beginning Welsh in the early Standards, " There wUl, I know, be too much timidity to ask for such a radical change in the Code, until Welshmen who would be listened to by the Department discover the dreariness and the unnaturahiess of the present methods of teaching in our infants' and junior classes. The handful of Gaelic-speaking population in Scotland seem to have more official cognisance in this respect than our Welsh-speaking population of one million, with a living literature to boot." 120 WALES AND [OHAP, IV. M0NTG0MEET8HIEB. Negative — [Answers 11, 12 and 13 allude to the preyalence of English in their districts.] I think no advantage would result from its introduction as a "specific subject." (1) It would tend to isolate Wales from becoming assimilated with England in every sense of the word. (2) No adequate return would be obtained in after-life. (3) It would unnecessarily burden the already hard-pressed teacher in rural districts. (4) It would tend to exclude English teachers from taking charge of schools in Wales. Affiemativb — Tes, especially where the Welsh language is likely to be forgotten. I have only been a master in Wales for a few weeks * * as far as I can teU I think it would be greatly advisable. As long as the object of the Education Act is to teach English, the least of Welsh used in schools the better, untU the children have learnt to thinh in English. When that point is reached, as in upper standards (sometimes), Welsh may then be taken without being a hindrance to their learning English — the original object. I do: (1) The study of the Welsh language is as much a means of MENTAL DISCIPLINE and development as the study of the Latin, the French, or any other subject at present mentioned in Schedule IV. of the new Code. (2) If a child speaks the Welsh language, and is likely to use it during its lifetime, a grammatical and systematic knowledge of it would render it of much greater value to him or her than would be the mere power to speak it. As a teacher of public elementary schools for upwards of thirty- four years, I would most strongly advocate that teaching Welsh should be made compulsory in all schools located in Welsh-speaking districts. There is not a better mental culture, or one so well calculated to enliven and bring out the mental energies of Welsh children, than to combine the vernacular with English. CAEDIGAN. Negative— [Along with other references to parents' objections.] The chief request of all the parents that call upon me is to chap; IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 121 make their children learn plenty of English. * * I have had experience in two schools in different parts of Cardiganshire, and the chief and great desire of the people is for the spread of English in those parts. The introduction of Welsh in any form would seriously retard progress in EngUsh. Apmbmatite — ^Yes. Beason: In so much as I love Wales, and in particular the Welsh language, I have always felt grateful towards St. David's College, Lampeter, where the Welsh language is studied, and am glad of this present opportunity of voting for the future existence of my mother's tongue. Yes, as a "specific subject" if examined by Welsh inspectors. This would bring Welsh children to have some regard and admira- tion for their own language. Yes, for it seems ridiculous that the present generation of children should be able to express themselves better, on paper, in the English than in their mother tongue. Welsh, as a 'written language, is falling fast into disuse in Wales. I am at a loss to see any objection, on the part of teachers, to its being introduced as such. The correct rendering of Welsh in viriting is most imperfectly known in these parts. The Sunday schools do nothing more than teach the mechanical part of reading Welsh, leaving grammar, &c., entirely out of the question. Yes. (1) I think the children would learn Enghsh better by such means than by the present slipshod way of teaching, or rather not teaching it. (2) It would be an invaluable exercise for the mind — i.e., the comparing the two languages would be. (3) It would tend to keep alive the Welsh national spirit, and although an Englishman myself 1 think this an hoxoubable and good motive. (4) I think there is no doubt that Welsh literature would gain immensely by such an introduction. I do not hesitate for a moment to say "yes." But I am afraid that the want of a proper staff in the majority of Welsh schools to conduct the teaching of it as a specific subject will be a severe check to the advantages thus to be derived. I should be incHned Q 122 WALES AND [CHAP. IV. to place it among the class subjects, or at least to include it in the present class subject English. EADNOE. Negatitb — [Eeason assigned by two writers — Welsh unne- cessary.] AnrFiEMATiTE — "Welsh parents hare been, and still are, more or less anxious that their children should learn the English language, but the feeling in my opinion is not so strong now as it appeared to have been ten years ago, when the almost convincing and loud cry was raised that their old and dear language would in a couple of years die out never to revive again. The inhabitants of the PrincipaUty at the present time, however, and after ten or fifteen years' experience of such hue and cry, are not the least terrified about the extinction of their language; in fact, the Welsh as a nation begin to feel jealous of their language; they think it worthy of attention, and indeed heed is paid to it now more than ever, and in a much higher sphere than hitherto. * * To learn, even a little, of the Welsh grammar, and to write Welsh correctly, would be of advantage to Welsh boys and girls in after years. I was asked last Christmas twelve-month to adjudicate some poetry at a competitive meeting written in English and Welsh. The Welsh idea was superior to the English, but the spelling was wretched. BEECKNOCZ. Afeiemativh — I believe the more intelligent farmers here would like very much that their children should be taught to write Welsh correctly, in addition to being able to read it, which they are now taught to do in our Sunday schools. PEMBEOKE. Nesative — [No Welsh spoken — Parents' objections — Majority of teachers English.] Again, the parents of children would soon repudiate such a step; the unanimous feeling is to see their children progress in Enghsh, for "they can get as much Welsh as they want at home," and any shortcomings of the same would soon be noised abroad. CHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 123 AiTiEJSiATiTB — ^Virtually I should say there would be an advantage to the children themselves, but many "Welsh localities would discountenance such teaching, owing to the notion that sufficient knowledge of Welsh is being got at home, and that the school course should consist in the teaching of the language of practical business, &c. I am of opinion that children would be greatly deUghted and interested in learning a subject so familiar to them, and it would be a great step towards bringing out their intelligence. I feel compelled to answer " Decidedly yes," as I am unable to teach my Standard II. children nouns and verbs in the English language, and am obliged to resort to corresponding "Welsh nouns and verbs. This is more difficult as I am English. CAEMAETHENSHIEE. Negative — Parents are very anxious that their children should learn English well, and those who have learned English gram- matically have Uttle difficulty in writing a letter in "Welsh fairly. They learn to read in the Sunday schools in "Welsh, and nearly every family takes a weekly "Welsh paper in this locaUty. "Welsh is spoken by 99 per cent. Children and teachers overpressed. ''' * The popitlab DELirsioN [that of parents thinking the Sabbath school (so called) sufficient for picking up Welsh] must first be removed before any general teaching of Welsh be obtained. Children, however, on leaving school take up Welsh or English papers, no matter which. But although the rising generation is well able to speak English in their business affairs (which I cannot say their parents can do), the language at home is essentially as "Welsh" as ever. This district is entirely Welsh, but, strange to say, no one writes or carries on correspondence in Welsh ; all is done in English. No. I speak from an experience of eighteen years as a master of schools in strictly Welsh-speaking districts. The teaching of Welsh as a specific subject will not be advantageous because it 124 WALES Al^D . [chap. IV. will iacrease and not lighten the existing pressure. * * As a practical teacher, and as a warm advocate of the retention of the Welsh language, I should suggest as practicable and advan- tageous the substitution of Welsh translations for the present burdensome and often useless learning by a rote of a number of lines of poetry with meanings and allusions. Apeiemativb — Tes; but I believe that parents would be very much opposed to it. In my opinion considerable advantage would result, but the parents would object. It might prove advantageous, especially when such encourage- mant as that offered by Dr. .Tohn Williams, of 11, Queen Anne Street, London, is given in the form of an Exhibition of the annual value of £27, tenable for four years, at The College, Llandovery, or Christ College, Brecon, to lads under fourteen years of age from elementary schools in five surrounding parishes, one of the subjects for examination being: " Welsh — Beading and translation from Welsh to English," It would also be the mjans o£ cultivating the intelligence of the pupils. It is a great pity, if not shame, that we (Welshmen) do not study our language properly, so as to be able to enjoy the writings o£ our excellent authors, in poetry and prose. [Particularly thoughtful answer]. In my opinion it would be a decided advantage, particularly so in country districts, where few attractions are found for young people to employ their leisure time. It would be the means of fostering a love of study, inasmuch as children leave school before their thinking powers are greatly developed, and they require some subject as a connecting link between the subjects adapted to the capibilities of boys and men ; and I believe that starting with a fair knowledge of Welsh would open the field for more extensive reading. Tes; for I believe it would improve the Welsh children in English and in Welsh. Yes. After reading the "Elementary Eeport" you sent me carefully and studiously, I was surprised to find these gentlemen CHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 125 differ so much upon a subject which ought to receive more atten- tion from every true Welshman. I sometimes, and now often, write on the board colloquial Welsh expressions for translation, and I iind the children soon pick up the idiom in English. But there is no time for a teacher to take this method too freely, as his labour is not acknowledged; for a Welsh teacher would not willingly pass over false orthography in Welsh. But apart from benefiting the children in Welsh, I am of opinion I could teach them English more thoroughly by such a method. Would bs welcomed by many teachers as a boon, both to them- selves and the scholars, as the teaching of Welsh would be less laborious in Welsh schools than other subjects now taught ; and it would thus, to a certain extent, relieve the over-pressure which now exists in Welsh district. By taking Welsh as a "specific subject," the time (and labour) spent in conveying English instruction through the medium of the vernacular tongue (as is the case in the great majority of Welsh country schools) might be turned into direct pecuniary advantage. The mental training it would produce would be of considerable '^educational" advantage. It would be a moral advantage. By the omission of the teaching of it in school some children are led to regard their mother-tongue as being something to be ashamed of, and (Dic-Shon-Dafydd-hke) to be forgotten and cast aside as soon as possible. 1 beg to state that I heartily approve of some such scheme as your "Honourable Society " has suggested, provided it undergoes some modifications. Text-books should be provided for all the standards — conversational dictionaries, somewhat like the book of the Rev. Kilsby Jones, Llanwrtyd, with enough of work for one year. Unless you limit (a work for each standard, to form a foun- dation to the next standard), the superstructure will collapse, and Her Majesty's Inspectors will annihilate the "plan" and the teachers. I have adopted that method of teaching EngUsh through the medium of the Welsh for about fifteen years. If I had text- 126 WALES AND CHAP. IV.] books we could succeed better. We simply use the black-board for half an hour daily. We take special care with the irregular verbs, pronouns, moods, and tenses. We make lists also of idiomatic phrases; those stumbling-blocks are unsurmountable to the Welsh children but for the above method of elucidating them. I do not approve of preparing a "specific subject" to be examined in Welsh; I think there is ample work to learn English in general by some such means as above. But some method should be adopted too to measure our extra labour, and to pay for it according to the results. I do not know in what standard in the "Elementary School" you intend your Schedule IV., Welsh, to be applied. Erom my experience of the labour required, yours is too hard after considering the time we have at our disposal. There is a vast difference between translating Welsh to English and English to Welsh. Brilliant children wiU not do the former, while they can do the latter with ease. So I would confine the latter to the 3rd Stage; but with better advantages, such as home-lesson books, and the subject becoming honourable, perhaps indeed yours could be adopted. * * The Education Department cannot form an idea of the WBAB.Y WOBK of teaching the children to comprehend the most commonplace words in a consecutive order. Should this scheme ever come into a practical form, I would be glad to see in each series Bnghsh diphthongs grouped together, according to their sounds in Welsh. I teach the infants to read English in that way, using the phonetic system through the medium of Welsh. I need not explain, you understand the system better than I. I beg to thank your Honourable Society for labouring on behalf of us teachers and our beloved language. " Oes y byd i'r iaiih Gymraeg."'* It would be becoming, and also polite [to the Welsh] to allow them the use of their much-loved language, and make it a " specific subject" for schools. I am afraid that but few men clearly perceive what immense advantage would accrue from the introduction of the Welsh * This long answer is inserted nearly entire through an error of the compositor. Having heen set up in type I leave it stand. CHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 127 language into the Code as the thin end of the wedge. The subject should have been well discussed in the Welsh newspapers and periodicals before soliciting an expression of "opinion" from all teachers, &c., indiscriminately. The introduction of the Welsh language, in Welsh-speaking districts, as a special school subject, woiild greatly sharpen the intellects of the children for the reception of moral impressions when in attendance at religious services (inasmuch as the colloquial Welsh in all districts is very imperfect), making them virtuous in hf e ; and certainly accelerate the acquisition of English. GLAMORGAN. Negative — [Eight replies from districts, considered unsuitable for the experiment.] No. Generally speaking the answers to this question wUl, to a very great extent, reflect the ability of the teacher to teach the Welsh language. No. Neither H.M. Inspector nor parents would approve of it, and it would be of no benefit to the children as a class. The Welsh children of my district (Waunarlwydd, near Swansea) understand Shakespeare better than they understand Islwyn. The teaching of Welsh, therefore, would require much time. Because the knowledge of Welsh possessed by some children is far more extensive than that possessed by others. Because Welsh people in fairly good circumstances ignore the Welsh language and discourage it in their children; such is the fact. Children in the Ehondda speak Bnghsh habitually in the play- ground; this results from the immigration of EngUsh people. Summary of Objections — (1) Many refining influential English teachers incapable of taking up the subject. (2) Many Welsh- speaking teachers quite unable to teach Welsh. (3) Districts like the Ehondda too mixed; English increasing. (4) To teach it as a "specific" would only add another burden to the already over-taxed powers of the children. (5) Welsh too elaborately inflectional. Suggestions— {1) That it be taken up in night schools. (2) That a suitable set of Welsh readers for Welsh Sunday schools, with 128 WALES AND CHAP. IV.] illustrations, be compiled to make the Welsh reading therein in- teresting and attractive, thus utilizing Welsh teaching already in existence with great effect. No. Because the Inspectors do not allow children the privilege of answering a question in "Welsh at present, although the Code stipulates that such a liberty should be allowed. The great majority of Inspectors are bank Englishmen, whose hobby is to stamp out the Welsh language altogether. There would be great difficulty in concUiating the parents to such a course. In this district (the Tstradyfodwg) we have scarcely any mis- tresses able to teach Welsh; the masters, as a whole, would be able to do so. * * Bnghshmen, as a rule, do not possess "very strong love" towards anything Welsh, and rather than assist it would prefer crushing it under foot. As a thorough warm-hearted Celt, I would gladly hail this new attempt at perpetuating the old language, but cannot see any hope. Afeibmativb — Tes; and not only at elementary schools, but I think that at higher schools and universities it should have a place amongst the other languages taken, and candidates for degrees, &c., should be allowed to take it as an alternative language, just as they now can take French or Latin, G-reek, &c. Tes, to Welsh country schools. (1) Country teachers have often told me that they have recourse to the Welsh language to make the lessons intelligible; therefore, by its introduction into the Code, they would get some credit and pecuniary benefit for labour which is now often unrecognised and unpaid for. (2) It would materially aid towards securing Welsh Inspectors for Wales, who can pro- perly sympathise with Welsh-speaking children, and understand the difficulties they have to contend with in grasping the subjects. Tes. The children attending my school are not conversant with the language, although their parents are as a rule Welsh. This seems a pity. If Welsh were taught as a specific, it would, in my opinion, be an inducement to Welsh parents to bring up their children in the mother-tongue. Again, it would be the means of aiding those who are already Welsh-spoken to obtain an accurate [OHAP. IV. HER LANGUAGE. 129 knowledge of their language. It is to be regretted that but few in comparison can speak and write Welsh properly. Having been the head master of, probably, the largest schools in the Principality for a period of over forty-one years, and having observed the comparatively little change in the use of the Welsh language among the resident population of this district during that time, I venture to express my decided opinion that " advantage would result" from the introduction of Welsh as an optional "specific subject.'' Yes. I beUeve it could be taught with great advantage. I find it easier to teach French to a chUd who knows Welsh. The mean- ings and allusions in the reading lessons are better understood in many cases where the explanation is given in Welsh. Enghsh boys and girls strive to learn it if they hear the teacher explain the reading matter thus, and the petty jealousy between the races diminishes. Yes. Welsh children naturally speak Enghsh veiled in Welsh idioms. This is a great obstacle in the way of teaching English effectually. The introduction of the study of the Welsh language into our elementary schools would give teachers an opportunity to teach children how to translate properly. As a consequence the children would learn to express themselves in purer English. I feel certain that much advantage in every way would result therefrom; chiefly, the intelligence of the children would be greatly improved thereby, and school would be more of a pleasure to them. I know that these things would follow from their having done so in my school by my taking my upper standards through a Welsh grammar side by side with an English one, and I have no doubt but that it would be the case to a much greater extent were Welsh taught as thoroughly as it would be, were it a paid subject. Yes. The knowledge, intelUgence, and the thinking powers oi the children would be increased immensely; instead of their being as they are at present, learning everything by rote. I am not a Welshman, but I sincerely appreciate your intention. I have always felt a desire to introduce Welsh as a "specific B 130 WALES AND [CHAP. IV. subject" into my school. My experience as a teacher enables me to confirm Professor Powell's remark, "that the "Welsh language is a powerful agent of education." * * It is a mistake to think that our boys and girls will become better Englishmen and English- women by ignoring what one recently called " our beautiful "Welsh." Although I do not understand "Welsh, I am of opinion that a grammatical knowledge of their own language would be a much greater advantage to the Welsh working classes than most of the ordinary specific subjects. I find it easier to teach French to a child who knows "Welsh. Our pupils s^ieak fairly good English but very bad Welsh. (My experience extends as far as "West and North Pembrokeshire and the Glamorgan "Valleys.) (1) It would be a good mental discipline. (2) It would tend to accuracy in expressing ideas. (3) It would enlarge both vocabularies (English and "Welsh). (4) It would give an excellent opportunity for learning the idioms of th English language. Welsh teachers have quite enough to do in preparing for the G-overnment examination, and as Welsh counts for nothing at the certificate examination, it is of course neglected. To remedy this some good Welshmen should establish classes in connection with the Welsh colleges, and the Welsh professors should hold periodical examinations and grant diplomas to those who have attained a certain standard of excellence. As Welsh is learnt noiv it is simply a hindrance to progress in English, and consequently in aU other subjects of a common school education. Schedule I"V. More stress should be put on a thorough knowledge of the accidence and syntax, and also on the idioms in translation. Advantages: (1) The usual mefital discipline in the systematic learning of any language. (2) The language would in the future be spoken in a much purer and more correct form than at present. (3) It would stimulate patriotism, so necessary to the well-being of the community. (4) The realisation of the "prophetic dreams" of our old bards. (5) Being placed amongst the specifics there is no possibility of its interference in the acquisition of English, which is of such vital importance. CHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 131 Much is said about " cultivating a taste for reading." I cannot conceive of a better aid. Children in this district read Enghsh in the Sunday schools untU they are about thirteen or fourteen years of age, then they prefer the "Welsh classes. Objections : Masters are not capable of teaching the subject. The Code demands too much already. Many inspectors I am afraid would be unfavourable to it, hence disheartening those who would take it up. There are diilerent opinions with regard to the merit of our literature, but I iind that those who read "Welsh as well as Enghsh (although they are lovers of Milton, Shakespeare, "Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Morris) feel they cannot aiiord to neglect Hiraethog and Islwyn. Netiteal — The English language ought to be taught in "Welsh districts (such as Anglesey) the same as any foreign tongue would be taught — viz., by means of the vernacular. I beheve that if the children were systematically taught the English language instead of picking up what little they do by accident, that in twenty or thirty years a revolution would have taken place in the mental condition of the people. Eor this purpose we would have to go in for a Welsh Code (optional, as some schools in Anglesey, and most in other parts, such as Grlamorganshire, would prefer working under the Enghsh Code). * * As a "Welshman, I am afraid that such a course would accelerate the death of our dear "Welsh language, and gwell fuasai genyf hyny na gwrthod allwedd fawr pob gwybodaeth i blant ein gwlad. MONMOUTHSHIRE. Nhgatitb — No. I consider that its introduction would result in greater "over-pressure" in schools in "Wales. Managers would insist upon its being taken up in all schools to increase the Govern- ment grant. Ai'MEMATiTB — Yes, as it would be a great assistance in teaching Enghsh to the "Welsh children. From my twelve years' experience as teacher in "Welsh districts, I have found it necessary to impart my instruction by means of the "Welsh language, and I know that the knowledge of the Enghsh language, which is gained by the 132 WALES AND [CHAP. IV. Welsh as a channel is far more sound and perfect than that which is acquired by leaving the Welsh entirely out of the course of instruction. In spite of the prejudice which some of H. M. Inspectors hare against Welsh, I have never failed to give the children as much instruction as time would allow me in their mother's language. Most decidedly. It ought to be an extra subject in every school. My children, although they were instructed first in English, but now being able to converse in Welsh, would be benefitted by a further knowledge of the Welsh language, and to the Welsh it would be a greater advantage. The educational advantages would be very great, and surely the adoption of such teaching would add a delightful work to many a Welsh teacher and scholar and help to keep "yr hen iaith" alive. To the scholars themselves it would give a sense of reaUty to grammar which the subject does not now possess. And by its giving a power of comparison it would greatly facilitate the teaching of historical English. The great drawback is the ignorance of Welshmen of the grammar of their own language. I may state that the vUlage in which I Uve has four EngUsh places of worship and six Welsh ditto, the size of the latter being to the former as two is to one. Tes. Those of my scholars who read with true expression have a knowledge of the Welsh langnage. They are certainly ahead of those possessing no such knowledge. It is the case in this school, which numbers over 200 children, all Welsh except eight. I frequently use Welsh to explain difilcult terms, and the last school report contains this remark: "The very intelligent work of the three highest standards is deserving of special mention. * * Many look at it now with contempt and as a thing to be forgotten; if introduced into school it would be looked at in quite a different Ught. It does seem very unscientific to attempt (more correctly to continue) to make Welsh children learn English by UteraUy gulling them with it. We hear much of "bi-lingual difficulty." CHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 133 This I don't admit; the "difficulty'' is altogether in the means used to teach EngUsh. I heard the advocates of an alteration in the present system of Welsh education spoken of lately by a person who had been a Carmarthenshire teacher, as a "few agitators." The answers that are given above will sufficiently disprove such a crude assertion, at least for the recent date of 1885. Persons who make similar statements, and adopt a hostile attitude, are frequently either Welshmen who have, through an imperfect education, had to suffer disappointment in some way or other, and blame their language instead of the system, or else persons who are really in good degree, ignorant of the language, at least from a literary point of view. Bearing in mind that we are not deaUng with the views of impractical enthusiasts, but with the opinions of practical men, although in fact they had no experience of systematic teaching of the language, except in a few isolated cases, also bearing in mind the magnitude of the changes which might be expected to take place in the event of the bilingual system being universally adopted, I subjoin further summaries of leading points in the answers, which may enable the reader to obtain a still clearer view of the arguments for and against, than would be obtained by a cursory perusal of the foregoing pages. EEASON POE. BBASONS AGAINST. WouIdassistinacquiringEnglish. Would hinder EngUsh conversa- tion. In Welsh-speaking districts in- Children would have to unlearn telligent farmers wish their colloquial Welsh. children to write Welsh letters. Parents' desire for children to Parents would object. write Welsh letters. English hoys try to learn it when Would isolate Wales from com- teachers explain in Welsh, plete assimilation with England. and race jealousy diminishes. 134 WALES XSB. CHAP. IV.] BBASON EOE. "Would be a pecuniary, an educa- tional, and a moral advan- tage. Young people noiv unable to compose Welsh letters. (Successful teachers use Welsh freely. Would aid in securing inspectors who could properly understand the difficulties of Welsh children. Children could then be taught to translate properly. Stimulative to the mind. English children insist on speak- ing Welsh every chance they get. Means of mental disciphne — sys- tematic knowledge of great value. Should be compuisoby on all SCHOOLS. English taught more thoroughly thus. Would require little extra work. Children would be greatly de- lighted. Would foster a love of study. Open the field for more exten- sive reading. Would induce parents to bring up their children in their mother-tongue. Easier to teach French when Welsh is learnt. Would enlarge both vocabularies. Especially [wanted] where Welsh is likely to be forgotten. EBASON AGAINST. Want of utility. "Sunday" schools and literary meetings provide for it. Some successful teachers do not understand it. Inspectors rank Englishmen.* Present Code gives sufficient latitude. Language too inflectional. English predominant in certain district. Most teachers ignorant of Welsh, and would require special train- ing. Because a special Code for Wales is wanted worst. * It would not be fair to speak of the Inspectors of 1891 as rank English- men. There are now notable exceptions to the old rule, but the Depart- ment is not yet sufficiently alive to the advantage of having Welsh-speak- ing Inspectors and assistants, even in bilingual districts. OHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 135 PEEDICTED EESTTLTS OF PROPOSED SYSTEM. Would create a thorough love for higher education and science. The study of it would giye full command of a beautiful and expressive language. Would be an introduction to a classical education. Would keep alive the Welsh national spirit. Welsh literature would gain im- mensely. Would relieve over pressure. Would sharpen the intellects of the children for the reception of moral impressions during preaching. [Under a Welsh Code] in twenty or thirty years a revolution would have taken place in the mental condition of the people. It will be admitted that if we except, on the negative side, the parents' objections, induced by what Carmarthen (61) styles "a popular delusion," and the much more reasonable fear of overpressure, or inability to keep pace with the then require- ments of the Code in other respects, that the affirmatives had an immensely preponderating weight of evidence on their side, tending to strengthen the opinion that there were solid grounds for introducing Welsh, experimentally at least, as a specific subject, and in some places as a class subject. It is to be feared that the Education Department, with their inspectors, have done but little to remove the popular delusion referred to. Yet, one of the primary objects of education is to improve the judgment, weaken superstition, and healthily expand the * This was written under the old Code, but doubtless is still true to a large extent in Wales. EESTJLT OP PEBSENT SYSTEM. Present mode has lamentably failed except to a few. Parrot-hke knowledge of English in most elementary schools. Many "Sunday" school scholars does not distinguish between i'w and yw. Best teachers groan under drudgery of the Code.* Present methods dreary and un- natural. Welsh as a written language going into disuse. "Present slipshod way of teach- ing, or rather not teaching English. Children ashamed of their mother-tongue. Weary work. 136 WALES AND [CHAP. IV. mental- powers, in attaining which latter object competent judges allege, as will be seen in this chapter, that the present system of ignoring Welsh is sadly defective. As a matter of fact, School Boards, composed in many cases of persons of narrow or inferior education, continue, apparently, satisfied with results which, although fairly good in contrast with the rest of the country, are by no means the best attainable under a more intelligent system. Considerable excuse however, must be made for many of these, because it is not long since, as we have seen, the "Welsh note," was in use in certain schools, so that the meaning of the term education in the minds of many teachers, as well as parents, who observe how necessary a knowledge of EngHsh is for purposes of material advance- ment, rather excludes the idea that Welsh may at the same time, if properly handled, be made a powerful instrument of education in the correct sense of the term, conducive to habits of correct speaking and thinking, and supplying, in conjunction with English, a means of mental disciphne even to boys in elementary schools, far superior to that evinced by the present "sUpshod," hap-hazard, rule of thumb- way, in which there is ground for believing many Welsh children think and speak. Even in semi-Anghcized districts where the mother-tongue of most of the boys is English, but they are more or less familiar with Welsh, either by hearing it spoken, or by connec- tion with the religious denomination their parents belong to, a course of Welsh can be introduced in the higher standards, without much, if any strain on the teacher, as has been practically proved where the experiment has been tried. Any other bilinguistic training involves far too large an expendi- ture of time and talent to be at all practicable in elementary schools. The attempt would, intellectually speaking, be [chap. IV. HER LANGUAGE. 137 expensive. It is held that a bilingual method as advocated here would, in the same sense, be remarkably cheap. It should be borne in mind, too, that the objectors were speaking for the most part of what they had not tested by actual experience, and veiy few of them have done so, even up to the present time. This is true of the affirmative, but the onus of proof, to shew that such a proposition should not be tentatively adopted, lay with the negatives, which proof they failed, on the whole, to establish. Although I am somewhat anticipating my subject, I may mention the singular fact that while theoretically the most thoroughly Welsh schools in Wales would seem the most to need instruction in the language, in the practical working out of the idea, it is in bilingual districts where English prevails more or less largely, that the teachers or school Boards have shewn most willingness to make the necessary changes, for instance, Ruabon in North Wales; Merthyr, Gelligaer, Mynydd- islwyn, in South Wales; while the teachers in the country around Merthyr, which is more Welsh than the town, have opposed the scheme. There are, however, one or two excep- tions such as Llanarth, in Cardiganshire, but this was previously an exceptionally well taught school, and though in a thoroughly Welsh district, is ahead of most in Wales or England. Probably this peculiarity is due to the fact that hitherto we are only dealing with Welsh as a specific language taught to the higher standards only, and it corresponds to the idea of one teacher— "especially where Welsh is likely to be forgotten." To resume now the thread of our history, very soon after the Cymmrodorion Society had drawn up their reply, giving teachers' replies in extenso, the National Eisteddfod in Aberdare, of 1885, was held, and presided over by Dr. Isambard Owen: it was decided to form a Society for promoting the utilization 138 WALES AND [CHAP. IV. of the Welsh language in education, and agreed to leave the organization to Dan Isaac Davies. D. I. Davies, B.Sc, was a Sub-Inspector of Elementary Schools, who had served the Education Department some years in England, and then returned to Wales under the impression, as he expressed it, in 1887, that he should find the Welsh language fast receding, almost disappearing, but "at every step since my return on the 1st October, 1882, rather more than four years ago, I have found the Welsh language has turned the corner, and it has passed out of the time of, we may say an English teaching reaction, I am glad to say not into a time of Welsh teaching reaction, but into a time of bilingual teaching reaction." In his earlier life it appears that D. I. Davies was inclined to depreciate Welsh. He called himself an "Anglophile," but now at once threw himself heartily into this movement so con- trary to what had been for years, the general current of education feeling in Wales, and so contrary to the traditional policy of the Department in London. As an illustration of the character of the opposition that was evoked, I vdll quote the Western Mail, 8mo " Aug." 28th, 1885, which, in the course of a long leader, remarking on the increased facility which it was said systematic instruction in Welsh in day schools would give to the children in understanding sermons etc., said — "We were rather surprised to find in a report drawn up in the interest of a people so determinedly opposed as the Welsh hare been represented to be, to all religious instruction in their day schools the statement that, "by accustoming the children to correct Welsh, it would greatly improve their understanding of the religious instruction given in that language." This, if it mean anything, means that an adoption of the Committee's recommendation, that Welsh be taken as a specific subject in the CHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 139 day schools, must eventuate in a tremendous accession of strength to the Sunday schools. Tlunk of that, you Nonconformists. Here is a champion of the Established Chm-ch fearing that if systematic instruc- tion is given in your language, a "tremendous accession of strength" will accrue to your schools. At the meeting in Aberdare above mentioned, a somewhat singular scene took place; D. 1. Davies said that Tudor Evans (a CardiflF architect) — Had impugned the action of the Committee of the Cymmrodorion Society in appealing for information to the teachers of Wales, and had said that other persons ought to have their say. There was a strong feeling that he, as one of those other persons, should come forward, and have his say now. Mr. Evans, who occupied a front seat in the body of the hall, and who resolutely declined to comply with repeated appeals made that he should ascend the platform, said he was not prepared that morning to be immolated on the altar of bigotry (Cries of "Shame") ! D. I. Davies did not remain satisfied with the initial steps to organize this Society, he wrote a series of six letters to the Western Mail on the "Utilization of the home language in Wales," in the last of which he said — "We owe an apology and an explanation to our readers. We have seldom written to the Press, and lay no claim to literary ability and yet we have ventured to take up their time. Our life has been devoted to the spread of Enghsh in Wales, and yet we have felt compelled to say a word for Welsh in the interests of our people. Our University degree proves that our own tastes flow in the direction of exact mathematics and science and not towards litera- ture and languages, and yet conviction urges us to plead, however imperfectly, for a side of education which better qualified men should have placed in its true light. We are personally disposed to 140 WALES AND [CHAP. IV, think that Welsh should be used as a frequent means of illustration in teaching the infant classes and lower standards, and taught as a specific subject in the upper standards, the secondary schools, the Colleges, and the University, and not as a means of teaching English, and yet see that we ought to give a patient hearing to those teachers who claim that English can only be taught efEectively in "Welsh-Wales through the medium of Welsh. We feel that we must rest our case on purely practical educational arguments, and fear not the result of any fair experimental trial of the plan we recommend, yet our Cymric heart cannot help glowing at the thought that the fair trial asked for will show that the practical utility of to-day and the ancient glory of our race or nation (whichever "Gwyliedydd" may prefer) will be found to be inseparably bound up together. Some of our poetical countrymen are fond of making touching references to the death of the Welsh language. * * * Infinitely to be preferred to the senti- mental, cruel tenderness of those who love to contemplate the agonies of what they think to be an expiring language is the healthy, inspiriting advice of Dean Vaughan, which we take from the valuable volume referred to in Letter III. : — ' I take things as I find them, and I presume to say that the one hope for Wales of to-day, her one hope of learning, or of influence, or of usefulness, is that at least she be bilingual. No nation ought to part willingly with her distinctive speech. She ought to cUng to it with all fondness. The only limit to this tenacity should be that which common sense and self-interest conspire to impose upon it. If the language isolates her from all nations, if it risks her cosmopolitan character, as the disciple of the wise and the instruc- tress of the ignorant, then, and then only, should she accept the omen, and make the very best of the inevitable. But what then? Is she to fling away the speech which was her differentia among the nations? Only treachery and cowardice would counsel it. She has a patriotic and a religious duty stiU towards the tongue in which she was born. She has, first, to see that it be articulately and grammatically formed and shaped in all its particulars, so that CHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 141 it shall be no patois of chance and trick, but a language worthy of the respect of other languages, worthy to become the study of the learned and the training speech of the young. Next, that it shall have a literature all its own, a literature without a knowledge of which the education of a scholar shall be confessedly incomplete — a literature unapproachable sare through its language, and, there- fore, securing to that language the undying interest and unstinting eSort of all who would think or know.' Bear in mind, readers, that a literature is "unapproachable save through its language." You ask for translations of Welsh literary eflfbrts. Learn the language and translate them your- selves — that is in effect, the advice of a leading representative of the Established Church, not a representative of what has been tiU lately its leading policy, but a representative of the views of a minority represented, we may suppose, by such names as Gwallter Mechain and Silvan Evans. D. I. D., himself formerly a teacher, makes an eloquent appeal to those with that calling and responsibilities — Day school teachers of Wales ! Tour opportunity has arrived. Tou complain from time to time that you work hard for the nation, where no one sees your self-denying exertions which, it seems to you, are in danger of being too little appreciated. How has the Cymmrodorion Society treated you during the last year? Has it not supplied you all vidth a report of its preliminary inquiry? Has it not asked you, one by one, what you thought of their suggestions? Has it not printed a thousand copies of your replies and placed them in the hands of every Cymmrodor? Does it not suggest the formation of a society, with headquarters in the Principality, of which every one of you may become a member, and the action of which you will be able to guide and largely control by your superior knowledge of the practical bearings of the question it is to deal with? Will you hesitate to join in a national move- ment which, whatever may be its ultimate outcome, must elevate the position of the educators of Wales? Will you allow others to 142 WALES AND CHAP. IV.] take the place marked out for you? "Will you follow when you might lead; and blindly obey when you might help to frame the word of command? I believe better things of you. Tou wiU prove you are the hope of Young Wales, that longs to elevate Welshmen by means of a thoroughly effective, because truly national, system of education, and will not flinch from patriotic work because it is going to give you some trouble at first. A nation that now possesses for the first time the political power to obtain an alternative Code for Welsh districts will not forget you, nor fail to lessen your burden, if you will only with patient clearness show it, why some of the present educational arrangements are too hard to be borne. We appeal with equal confidence to non- Welsh- speaking teachers as we do to the Welsh-speaking teachers. They know well the aspiration of Young Wales is not for "Wales for the Welsh." The policy of the rising Welsh party is not to ask candidates for any ofilce — Parliamentary or local — " Do you speak Welsh?" but, "will you support a school system that will give your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren oppor- tunities for learning Welsh !" We do ^jot wish to exclude English- men, Scotchmen, and Irishmen from Wales, but, when they are settled in our midst, to include them and their good qualities in our own national life. How many teachers of Wales have read and considered these words, "Will you follow when you might lead, and blindly obey when you might help to form the word of com- mand.'' Did not this man know what he was writing about? Was he not perfectly well aware of much that constitutes the life and work of a teacher in Wales? A large number of you have confessed the need of an alteration, but how much have you done "towards obtaining a thoroughly effective, because truly national, system of Education f Make that your watch- word at all your district Association meetings for the next five years. Don't quietly say, "Yes, very good, very good," fold your hands complacently, and then discuss superannuation questions. CHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 143 or anything but "patriotic work, because it is going to give you some trouble first." If there are a few renegades or Saxons in your midst, who either will not or cannot understand that sense and reason demand a new and "thoroughly effective" system which gives proper consideration both to the existence of Welsh and to its educational value in elementary education, be satisfied that the time will come, if you persevere, when you will be able to demonstrate to them that their mountains are molehills, and that an enlightened public opinion supports you, and that practical results have amply justified your pains. In addition to this series of letters there appeared another (consisting of eight in all) in the " Barter ac Amserau Cymru," by the same author, which was reprinted in pamphlet form, under the title of " Tair Miliwn o Gymry Dwyieithog yn 1985." These letters have never appeared before the public in an English dress, and some of my readers may be interested with a summary of the leading points in each of them. In Letter I., he apologizes for appearing before the Welsh public inasmuch as he could not recollect ever having written a Welsh article before, except one which he had just written for " Y Geninen," and he had written but Uttle for the English Press, his bent of mind having been principally towards mathematics and science. The reader wUl, I hope, excuse me in endeavouring to offer translation of D.LD.'s own words. To some, this and much that follows in the chapter may be uninteresting, I scarcely think, however, that it will be so to many who are engaged in Welsh Education and understand the important bearing of the subject. He says — It is not a bard or a litSrateur or an eisteddfodwr of the old school who addresses thee, but one who is quite content (wrth fodd ei galon,) when seeking to impress on the minds of Welsh 144 WALES AND [CHAP. IV. children and the friends of education in our country the need of teaching ' English, science and art. My life has been devoted to the spread of these indispensable acquirements. This year I have turned out of my usual path on account of a strong conviction of the importance of this period, in our history as a nation, to speak a word as an educationalist, because no one who has enjoyed the same opportunities (of observation) is ready to address the Welsh on the subject which incites me to this employment, viz. : Would not the knowledge of two languages — English and Welsh — be very advantageous to the Welshman. I had better confess the following facts before going a step further : — I. Though I have not been in any sense one of the family of ^^Dic Sion Z)a/!/dd" I formerly shared for a long time the feeling which is to be found commonly diffused that the extinction of the Welsh language would be, on the whole an advantage to the Welshman. II. I do not believe very strongly in " Oes y hyd i'r iaith Gym- raeg," because as I shall try to shew further on, the attitude of many Welsh people to it, shews that they are entirely indifferent, if not antagonistic to its preservation. III. Notwithstanding, 1 have not entirely lost hope, since Welsh appears to be increasing in strength and influence in these days, in spite of the neglect and opposition of those who ought to defend and uphold it. There is a need to spread information about the blessings which have come to us as a people through the old language, and about the possibility of receiving many other good things through its medium in the future. He next notices the action of the Cymmrodorion Society, and gives an extract from the Gaelic Journal, published in Dublin, which says in reference to the almost national system of teaching children to read Welsh in those called Sunday schools. Had the system of teaching Welsh children through the medium of English been persevered in during the last 150 years, as in the [chap. IV. HER LANGUAGE. 14,5 100 years preceding the time of Griffith Jones of Llanddowror, the people of the Principality would now have been as low at least in respect of education as the people of Donegal and Connemara." Letter II. refers at large to the testimony of the eminent Charles o'r Bala, written perhaps about 1811, and from which I extract the following: — More than 150 years ago, in "Wales, the whole country was in a most deplorable state with regard to the acquisition of religious knowledge. For a long time previous, fashionable people had been trying to stamp out the language of the country, and to have the children taught altogether in English. Against these people, and against this state of universal ignorance, the Eev. Griffith Jones, of Llanddowror, was raised up. He asked: — "Should all our Welsh books, and our excellent version of the Bible, our "Welsh preaching, and the stated worship of God in our language, be taken away, to bring us to a disuse of our tongue ?" So they are in a manner in some places — the more our misery; and yet the people are not better scholars, any more than they are better Christians for it. Welsh is stiU the vulgar tongue — and not English. * * Sure I am, the Welsh charity schools do no way hinder to learn English, but do very much contribute towards it J and perhaps you will allow. Sir, that learning our language first is the most expeditious way to come to the knowledge of another ; else why are not your youths in England, designed for scholars, set to Latin and Greek before they are taught English? .... Experience now proves beyond dispute, that if it ever be attempted to bring all the Welsh people to understand English, we cannot better pave the way for it than by teaching them to read their own language first. This method will conduce, more than any other I can think of, to assist whatever attempts may be made to spread the general knowledge of the English tongue in this country. This is a contribution so the history of the status of Welsh in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which brings us 146 WALES AND [CHAP. IV. face to face with an attempt to "stamp out the language," that is stUl bearing fruit to-day. In the early days of the Society of Friends in Wales many of them were Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire people, who emigrated to America from 1680 to 1700, and who have left various letters and records behind them which are mostly in English, even when written before their departure, though in their new home the ministry at public worship was for some time generally Welsh. I have by me some early minute books ot Monmouthshire Friends beginning 1703, which are wholly English, except a kind of introduction or compendium of rules placed at the beginning in Welsh; but Thomas Story, when he visited Ponty- pool Friends, about 1717, mentions hearing ministry in Welsh from a friend of that town. What I have seen of Merioneth and Montgomery minute books circ. 1730 is of a similar character. I think that we must place these cases parallel with that of a Carnarvonshire or Cardiganshire youth, who writes home to his parents in English, because the famiHarity he has acquired at school in writing that language seems to make it the easiest thing to do, but thinks and speaks almost entirely in Welsh. The conclusion then we arrive at is, that as early as the seventeenth century English was the dominant language of written communications even in Merionethshire, perhaps more so than now, though far less universally understood. The following appears to be an extract from an Irish writer: — The parents in Wales were as much opposed to the teaching of the "Welsh language as the Irish parents haye been to the teaching of Irish; but they gave up the conceit at the persuasion of the Eer. Thomas Charles, as he himself teUs us in continuation : — At first the strong prejudice, which universally prevailed against teaching them to read Welsh first, and the idea assumed that they could not learn English so well if previously instructed in the CHAP, IV.] HER LA^TGUAGE. 147 language, proved a great stumbling-block in the way of parents to send their children to the "Welsh schools; together with another conceit they had, that, if they could read English, they would soon learn of themselves to read Welsh. But now, these idle and groundless conceits are universally scouted. This change has been produced, not so much by disputing, as by the evident salutary effects of the schools, the great delight with which children attend them, and the great progress they make in acquisition of know- ledge. I take the liberty to republish these extracts, because it is rather comforting to a Welsh education reformer, to find that Thomas Charles had exactly the same diflBculty to contend with in his day, as we have in our days, from the prejudices of ignorant parents, though the system he espoused was one which contributed greatly to the material advancement of Wales, and has lived through all opposition to become as before hinted to a large extent a national one. And though we still have the aforesaid prejudice to contend with, both from parents and from some who ought to know better, it is believed the time is at hand to extend and perfect such a national, we might almost say utilitarian system, and relieve schools that are professedly devoted to religious purposes from the work that ought more properly to be performed in elementary day schools, viz., teaching boys and girls to read their mother- tongue, as well as write it, and that in a more thorough and efficient way than can be attained by comparatively untrained, amateur teachers. Letter III. alludes to a recent speech of A. J. Mundella's, at Sheffield, in which he said, after alluding to a conversation he (A. J.D.) had in Switzerland with a young shop-woman who spoke idiomatic English — The story I was going to teU you was this : — I was in Switzerland, in the Engadine. At the door of the hotel was a shop, where all 148 WALES AMD [CHAP. IV. kinds of souvenirs, for people to carry away with them, were sold — whether they were Swiss carving, or some French, German, or EngHsh articles. There was a bright clever young woman selling all kinds of souvenirs for people to carry away with them when they went home. A gentleman, very well known to English people, was staying at the same hotel with me, and he said: — "That's a very bright girl that keeps that shop. I recommend you to go and buy something." So I made a pretext to buy some trifle, and she addressed me in perfect idiomatic English. I asked her where she learned Eaghsh; and she replied, "At Lucerne." "You speak excellently," I said, "and of course you speak French and German, for they are your native languages ?" " Of course I do," she answered. "Anything else?" I asked. "Oh, yes: Italian and Dutch:'' and she afterwards confessed she also knew a little Spanish, and was studying it. I found, on making further enquiry, that the girl was taught at Lucerne, and that it cost a franc a year — that is, only tenpence — which was spent on paper and pencUs. . . . . The Director of Schools in that canton told me — "All our schools are free — all our children attend school — every child, however poor, masters two languages, French and German; and those who go to the Secondary School must learn at least one other.' I said, "Who pays for these things?" "The commune city." "But don't they grumble?" "No: they know it is the safety of the rich, and the best inheritance of the poor." Ah! say some of my readers, there is more sense and reason in teaching children for a second language — one spoken by some great nation, such as the French or the German, which may some day come in useful in the counting house, rather than Welsh, which is nowhere so far as business is concerned. In reply to such an objection, which is not unfrequently heard, I would say that the possibility of effectively teaching such a foreign language in elementary schools, either in Wales or England, is a mere figment of the imagination which has been "weighed in the balance and found wanting," with very OHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 149 slight exceptions. I speak of the nineteenth century: what may be possible in the latter half of the twentieth, I do not venture to assert. The advantages of some education in a second language, where it can be arranged, are frequently considerable. In England there is however no opportunity for introducing one. In the largest portion of Wales there is such an opening, even in districts partly Anglicized, where the children speak Enghsh among themselves, because they are so frequently brought in contact with this second language in one shape or another, that it is not a wholly foreign one to them, and the results of experiments appear to shew that it can be efFectivply and profitably introduced. In the beginning of Lettek IV., D. I. D. remarked that when the history of Wales should be written with the necessary exactitude, he beheved it would be shewn that English had sometimes lost ground after gaining it, and that Welsh had gained ground after losing it; instancing the testimony of WiUiam Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog), that Welsh had recovered part of Flint; he refers to his article ("Cymru Ddivyieithog" ) in the Geninen, saying, that it would there appear that the English, Irish, and Scotch were learning Welsh by thousands. The article itself is of an interesting character, and I will endeavour to summarize some of the facts it contains. As an Inspector of Schools, he says, he was daily surprised to find Welsh [speaking] children bearing English or Scotch names. He gives a list of lOO such names, as Grant, Whittaker, MacDonald, Puleston, Hamer, Frazer, Donovan, Randell, Frost, Dyke, etc. D. Roberts, of Wrexham, tells him that Scotchmen in that Anglicized town are to be heard teaching the children of Welsh parents on the first day ("Sunday") to pronounce the old language properly. "The superficial spread of Enghsh gives an English face to the 150 WALES AND CHAP. IV.] country to the face of an Englishman, and the travellers who quickly travel through it. But the centre and heart of the land is Welsh." The followiag statistics are worthy of being preserved for their historical import, even if they are con- sidered of no immediate interest. Statistics of coal mine in Cwmsaerbren Parm, Treherbert, Grlamor- ganshire : — Number in the Pit . . 500 Welsh WorJimen 353 Of other nations ..... 147 Of the 147 able to speak Welsh well . . 80 Do. moderately well ..... 40 Able to understand it when spoken by others . . . . 20 Unable to understand or speak Welsh . . . . 7 In Abermorlais School, Merthyr Tydfil, out of 510 children in the Second Standard and above, the statistics were as under :^ Of the 510 able to speak Welsh 215 Understanding it but not speaking it . . . . 96 Unable to understand or speak, although of Welsh parents . . . . . , . . . . 100 EngUsh Children 99 I might extract more, but the following must suffice: — If my words could reach the ears of the indifferent Welsh people of Grlamorganshire towns, I would say to them— one thing is clear, the children of the West and North, the sons of Cardigan and Merioneth are going to take appointments in your county from your children on account of your neglecting Welsh. Since those words were penned Merthyr has taken some steps in the direction of reversing the old barbaric policy, and as time goes on will be called on to take further ones. To return to Letter IV., — he expressed his great surprise at finding the daughter of a country squire near Cheltenham able to speak Welsh, learning which had been a self-imposed CHAP. IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 151 task, he adds — "Is there not here an example worthy to be followed by the great men of Wales. Why is their influence so small in comparison with what it might be?" One reason of that is their neglect to the language of the people. As an illustration of the class of men alluded to by D. I. Davies, we will take the Lord Penrhyn, who died a few years ago, and who regretted on his death bed he had not been master of the language, so as to communicate more fuUy with those around him. But what has his successor in the title profited by such an experience ? Not one whit, so far as can be seen. He is now just as far from knowing Welsh, or intending to know it, defended and backed up in his cogitations and purposes by an immense pile of £ s. d., drawn from the bowels of the earth by the labours of Welsh quarrymen, than whom he would not easily find in England, a more intelligent or intellectual body of men in a similar condition in Ufe. D. I. D. goes on to say — No system of education for Wales will be complete, if it does not give opportunities to learn it, to the children of those who have neglected Welsh. In this way again it is possible to reunite our upper classes (jpenaethiaid) to the people of the country, and prevent the middle classes of the population from losing their influence on the mass which is one of the great dangers of democratic days. Bear this in mind, you members of School Boards, teachers, sub-inspectors; these are the words of a practical Governnient Educationalist, they are the words, moreover, of a man about whom, after his lamented death, the Chief Inspector of Schools in Wales remarked in his 1889 report to the Imperial Govern- ment: — I think it only right to say that by the death of Mr. Davies the Department has lost an able, a zealous, and a valuable officer, and his 152 WALES AND [CHAP. IV. native country an enlightened educationalist, who strongly felt the loss arising from not utilising, to a far greater extent than has been done, the home language of "Welsh-speaking children in cultivating their intelligence and in teaching them English in the elementary schools. Note. He did not merely recommend utilizing the home language of Welsh-speaking children, but also the actual teccching of it afresh to those whose parents had neglected it, or neglected them. In the same letter he proposes the insertion of six questions relative to language in the Census of 1891. Judging by the way in which an actual attempt to take an account of language was carried out in that census by the officials, it is perhaps best that D. I. D.'s more minute pro- posals were let alone. Letter V. gives an anecdote told the author by Andrew Doyle, who for many years was an Inspector of Workhouses, and had in North Wales became acquainted with a German, a tutor in a private family. One day he started on a journey into a mountain parish, accompanied by his German friend, but found to his dismay that no one in the room where he conducted his business understood English, hence he was fain to send for an interpreter, when the young German offered himself for that office, and fulfilled its duties satisfactorily. Coming in the course of a journey to Builth, a town almost, if not entirely Anglicised, D. I. D. quotes the almost astounding testimony of the manager of the National Provincial Bank there, viz., that there were 1,500 customers of the Bank who had rather do their business in Welsh than EngUsh. In Letter VI. we again find incidents of his journeyings, and consequent reflections. Carmarthenshire is now his central point, and he instances the testimony of Shadrach Pryce, M.A., [chap. IV. HER LANGUAGE. 153 Inspector of Schools,* that the knowledge of Welsh is not decreasing in that county — travels with the wife of a Welsh coal trimmer, who has learnt French, and relates the vicissitudes of the language in semi- Anglicised districts as follows: — Ask the children of Gwent and Morganwgt in Standard V., what language they can speak best — "Welsh or English. The answer you may expect is — English. They have been so accustomed to it in the day schools for years, that both children and teachers think Welsh is dead; but let two years go by, you meet with those boys again when they are fifteen. Ask them " what language do you like the best now?" "Welsh" is the answer. When they are eighteen other reasons may incline them to English; but when they are thirty, and settled in the world, they are members of Welsh causes, etc. Sometimes their inclination is Welsh sometimes EngUsh ! In the long run the man will generally to 'be Welsh. How is it often now in Wales? Here are 300 people together, and none except 10, 20, or 50 of them, according to the nature of the meeting or the linguistic condition of the neighbourhood are ignorant of the Welsh: — The 290 must give way to the ten, and the business go forward in English. "Should not the ten learn Welsh for shame?" Tou say, is it not a serious consideration to think how many persons fall down on a footstool to the small minority? It is very serious, if you choose to look at it from that comic standpoint. But the seriousness changes into disgust when we consider how much weakness to the nation is in this cringing spirit that rejoices in educational arrangements which do not give fair opportunities to the ten, and their children, to learn Welsh, so that there may be a way open to make use of one of the two languages, according to the taste of the teacher, without there being any cause to fear that any would misunderstand the addresses. * The usual alsbreviatibii H.M.I, is not used in this book, as it involves acquiescenee in the term Sis or Her Majesty, applied to a frail, mortal creature. t Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire— this paragraph would not be applicable to a large extent to Monmouthshire, ir 154 WALES AND [CHAP. IV. * * but let a position be given to the old language in the day and evening schools, there it will be out of the quarrels of political or religious parties. If it (the language) sets its feet down there, it wiU remain in the Sabbath schools, as well as increase in influence, there vidll be fewer English classes to be seen in "Welsh schools, and more "Welsh classes in English schools. In a bilingual country that is how things ought to be. Once more the lesson he would teach is, let English-speaking children in Wales have opportunities to learn Welsh — such a course is more than is generally supposed, possible, practi- cable, profitable. Letter VII. alludes to the fact that some Welsh people speak at times as though giving up Welsh would be equivalent to giving up poverty, and as though adopting Enghsh in its place would be the same thing as entering into the possession of fullness and plenty. * * "Thousands are to be found in Wales in these days who have gained nothing in either sense, either temporally, morally, or spiritually, by changing Welsh for English." Turning to the East End of London, he mentions the Jews' Free Schools, for over 3,200 children, in Spitalfields, where the working hours are those of the School Board, except that they work from nine to one, instead of nine to twelve, in order to find time for an additional subject, namely — Hebrew. Ninety percent, of the children are foreigners, but the 7th Standard children are exactly thirteen times more numerous in proportion, than those of the general schools in the country. This appears to be an exception to the rule that it is visionary to attempt generally to teach a second language in English schools; I account for this in two ways — First, by heredity. CHAP. IV.] HEK LANGUAGE. 155 Secondly, by constant contact with the second language in the synagogue and at school. In semi- Anglicized Wales, both the principles of heredity and " constant contact" come into play, but cannot of course be applied generally to the study of French and German in England. The following incident is worthy of note: — I have heard of an Englishman, an extensive landowner, going to a Welshman, who is known to his nation in every corner of the world, and who stands high in the estimation of every patriotic Welshman, and addressing him in the following manner, only the conversation was in English [D. I. D.'s version is, of course, in Welsh]: — "I should be very glad to be able to speakWelsh as well as you can : if you will give me instruction in your language I will pay you five hundred pounds when I can speak Welsh as well as you." "I cannot,'' was the reply, "other engagements ( goruchwyl- ion) take up all my time, and they would take up more if I were master of it." "I am very sorry for that," said the other, "my parents (he spoke with a regretful feeling) made a great mistake in my early education. They paid hundreds, if not thousands of pounds to finish me in the Greek and Latin languages, which I have never had occasion to use, but they entirely neglected the language of the people, among whom they knew I should have to spend my lifetime." '■' * The Welshman who refused the £500 is my authority for this anecdote. I am glad to be able to add that his friend, who is of English lineage, but with Welsh sympathies, can speak our old language fairly well to-day notwithstanding the mistake made by his parents in his early education. In reading the foregoing narrative, we cannot help remember- ing the father, not of an Englishman, but of a Welshman, men- tioned elsewhere in this book, who so neglected his education that his son, it is believed, even at the present day is unable to read the Welsh books or manuscripts which pass through his 156 WALES AND [OHAP. IV. hands ia the transactions of a well known publishing business, with an extensive sphere of operations in Wales, although it is probable that it was thought he received an "advanced education" before entering the family concern.* D. I. D., after alluding to the desire to learn Welsh, which is common among English people in Wales, queries whether the present parents of Wales will learn a lesson from their mistakes? He quotes A. J. Mundella, M.P., as to the im- portance of learning languages, and the dislike of English boys and girls to speak a different one, alluding to Glamorgan as a favourable field for bringing up children as bilinguists. Letter VIII. alludes to the fact little recognized by the public, that everything taught in Elementary Schools is at the choice of the local managers, and is not compulsory, except reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, and sewing. From this he draws the lesson, on the one hand, that it is not possible to introduce Welsh into a district against its will, and on the other hand, that though Erse and Gaelic are paid for in Ireland and Scotland, not a brass penny is paid for Welsh in Wales. This was in 1885. He asks why Welsh papers should not be set at pupil teachers' examinations for Queen's scholarships? — Should there not soon be a change in that direction? — It would be easier to some Welsh youths and girls, who gain certificates after successful service as assistants to obtain an eflicient education in Welsh than in Latin, French, or German. "Do you want to teach Welsh in the English parts of Wales," says one of the doubting brethren? Since you pointed at our English Wales, we wiU try to show that a certain amount of Welsh could easily be taught there to the advan- tage of every one without distinction. * "The ignorance of the is a source of loss to themselves, and the nation." Extract from a letter from a well-known Welshman to the author received since the paragraph was written. CHAP, IV.] HER LANGUAGE. 157 Queries why the Board Schools should read the English Bible instead of the Welsh. There is no (legal) necessity for this. He says it is the choice of the Board School itself to give an ineffectual education in English to the children, instead of giving an effectual religious education in Welsh. Alludes to the desirability of Welsh Kailway Companies having bilingual officials, etc. Letter IX. "If the proposed scheme is accepted at Aber- dare, it will take years in point of time, and a multitude of opportunities to study the details of the changes which we wish to see. The judgment of one man is not important in a matter of this kind, but we must arrange to have what the doctors of our country call a Collective Investigation Com- mittee. The first place in the investigation belongs to Welsh schoolmasters of every description, if they are patriotic enough to take the trouble to explain the matter to the nation. We firmly believe that they are lovers of their country and their language, and that they will not allow others to stir themselves in this matter without their cordial co-operation." "On the other hand, since the reins (awenau) of authority in country governing bodies have fallen at last into the hands of Welshmen themselves, in the greater part of the thirteen counties, which make up the Welsh [educational] division, we believe they will not allow the school teachers of Wales to suffer much longer from the heavy disadvantages of the Educational Code, prepared by Englishmen for England, and which is not on that account suitable in every respect for the Welsh of Wales." * * "The first hint of the importance of forming a National Society to carry forward the movement, came from one of the Cardigan J.P.'s, Mr. Henry T. Evans, of Neuadd Llanarth, who wrote at once aftet the appearance of the abstract of my paper in the South Wales Daily News, to thank me for what I 158 WALES AND CHAP. IV.] had done, and to say that the time for making a movement of the kind was at hand." The above three paragraphs are translations or condensations of the original. Note the farsightedness of the man — years required to study details of changes — the necessity for the expression of judgment by a great many persons. It is hoped that the present volume wiU in some degree supply the deficiency of the " Collective Investigation Com- mittee," by presenting, after the lapse of a few years, evidence from various sources that has accumulated in the meantime. D. I. D. also thanks his fellow workers under the Education Department, viz., W. Edwards, M.A., John Rees, and Corner Jones, B.A., for the assistance they had rendered him. He quotes the words of the Marquis of Bute, "For a man to speak Welsh and willingly not to be able to read and write it is to confess himself a boor;" and goes on to say that on reading the above apothegm he felt as if a fire had fallen on his skin, and that he was aware that hundreds of thousands were speaking Welsh without ever trying to write it. On thinking of the matter, he says, he clearly saw that the fault lay with our system of education, and not with individuals in many instances, mentioning one of the most enterprising and successful Welsh- men in the South Wales coal field, with whom he had recently conversed, who, with his wife and some of his children could speak Welsh, but never trusted "himself to write it for fear of making mistakes, but how easy it would be to remove this difficulty out of the w^ay." Very shortly after Letter IX., which was the last of the series, had been written, a paragraph appeared in the Globe, of 8th mo., 1883, commenting on a speech made by the Lord Aberdare, in which he said that he felt sure that although undoubtedly EngUsh wasmaking progress, Welsh was advancing, [chap. IV. HER LANGUAGE. 159 and that there were more people speaking Welsh than at any previous period. Lord Aberdare, who ought to know, believes that there are now more Welsh-speaking people in Wales than there have ever been before. If he is right, as in all probability he is, it is mere affecta- tion on the part of the Saxon to turn the Welshman's attachment to his ancient language into ridicule. It is far easier to inake fun of Taffy's love for what ignorant people imagine to be consonants, than it is to seriously find fault with any man's preference for the tongue to which he has been born and nurtured. Of course, the practical importance of the matter lies in its connection with education; and Lord Aberdare struck an exceedingly suggestive point in pronouncing that a thorough and grammatical instruction in Welsh is better than the loose education that most of us have received in English. English has this fatal defect, from an educa- tional point of view — that it is a congeries of vague idioms and superfine distinctions, while a Celtic language can be learned with almost as good a mental result as Greek or Latin. Moreover, a bUingual person, as a genuine Welshman is bound to be, has a distinct intellectual advantage at starting, over one who is nursed into the belief that there is only one language in the world, and that all other modes of speech are foreign jargons. Then, to the advantage of Welsh over Erse or Gaehc, it has a real and living literature — and a Uterary language is hard to kiU. We consider that it is not a mere matter of sentiment that Welshmen should be ambitious of learning English without prejudice to Welsh — indeed, to be disloyal to one's mother tongue is well-nigh equivalent to be false to one's father-land. The narrower the spirit, the more intense; and we cannot afford in these days to lose much more of that local enthusiasm in which vapid cosmopohtanism find its best and most natural corrective." How extremely hard it is to dislodge from the minds of English- men (this writer in the Olobe was an exception), and I am sure it is from the minds of a large number of influential persons in 160 wat.es and her language. [chap. IV. Wales, the idea that the bilingual education movement is a sentimental one. They see Welsh sentiment on the right hand and on the left in Eisteddfod speeches, and the like, and they imagine that bilingualism is propped up, or intended to be, on the same foundation. It would be quite idle to deny that sentiment affects the matter, but if we eliminate its influence entirely, and decide on what course to pursue from a solid, cold matter of fact basis, I am justified in saying that right thinking people will severely criticize and repudiate traditions of three centuries of Welsh education, that they will not in a milk and water way simply confine themselves to utilizing Welsh in learning English, but that they will not be ashamed to make provision for positively teaching it within safe limits, which may be later indicated, to future artizans, labourers, domestic servants, and tradespeople. Va;pid Cosmopolitanism expresses a state of mind to be met with at Cardiff, Swansea, and elsewhere. Cosmopolitanism is essential to a man with an enlarged mental horizon and a liberal mind, but the true sort goes hand-in-hand with the development of those natural qualities and gifts with which each nation, race, and individual is endowed, and it ultimately tends to the well-being of the whole. CHAPTER V. Discussion in "Western Mail" — Gbobge Bobeow — Eoyal Education Commission, 1887, and Notes on the Kvidbncb op Welsh Witnesses —Death of D. I. Davibs — Cymmbodomon Meeting in London, and the pajpbb of Inspector Edwabds — Eepobt of Commissioners and Concessions to Wales — Address op Pbincipal Edavabds — Pbactical Experience in Teaching Welsh. TN the previous Chapter I omitted to state that the publication -^ of the foregoing letters, in the Baner ac Amserau Cymru, preceded in point of time the formation of the Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language in education, of which the first general meeting was held at Cardiff in the autumn of 1885. For a summary of its avowed objects and principles, see Appendix G. It almost immediately received a very encouraging measure of support fi-om Welshmen, in almost all parts of Welsh- Wales, and aroused a spirit of discussion in part ven- tilated in the columns of the Western Mail, which, as we have already seen, opposed its aims. The Vicar of Ruabon, in a communication to the same paper, ably replied to a correspondent who had urged the superior claims of French and German on Welsh children. He says — The proposal, as I understood it, was to introduce Welsh, not as a substitute for English, but as an optional specific subject, and to say that a smattering of Preneb or Grerman that could be acquired at an Elementary School would be preferable for Welsb-speaking children to an accurate grammatical knowledge of their own language would seem too absurd. It would probably be generally admitted that accuracy and observation are the two most important things to be aimed at in all mental training. And, regarded simply X 162 wat.es ajs'd [chap. y. as an educational instrument, what could there be for Welsh children that would be more likely to conduce to the formation and strengthening of these habits than their proper and systematic training in the grammatical laws and construction of the grand old language in which they think and speak? There can be no doubt a knowledge of the two languages adds very much to the intelligence of the Welsh children. But this knowledge taught grammatically, and, as your correspondent says, philologically, as far as such teaching could be made suitable for children, would make the advantage they already possess far greater. Tour correspondent was wrong in saying that "every English or foreign scholar who has mastered the language says that the literature it contains, does not justify the time and labour of acquiring it." Mr. George Borrow, quoted in your article of the 18th inst., thought differently. The last time I met him, on a pilgrimage to the grave of Dr. Owain Pugh, at Xantglyn, some 25 years ago, I well remember his saying that he considered that even the writings of Hugh Morris and G-oronwy Owain alone were quite sufficient to repay anyone for the study of the Welsh language. This, however, is quite another question to giving Welsh children the power of reading and writing their own language with accuracy and intelligence. Perhaps my readers will pardon my making a short digres- sion, to give some account of Geo. Borrow, although his book on WiM Wales is doubtless familiar to some of them. His father had a miUtary appointment in Ireland, where the son learnt some Irish, and afterwards as a lawyer's clerk in one of the Eastern Counties of England, he took up the study of Welsh, being assisted by a Welsh groom, whose acquaintance he had formed. As he was of Cornish descent on one side, he possessed a certain ingenium which I have no doubt much facilitated the acquisition of Celtic languages. However that may be, he was not content with a mere smattering of Welsh, but acquired a sufficiently extensive knowledge ofit, to read almost anything [chap. v. her language. 1G3 in the bards. How did he attam what mauy Welshmen them- selves fall short of? By readmg Dr. W. 0. Pughe's "Coll Crwynfa" ("Paradise Lost") twice side-by-side with the original. Many years after he travelled in Spain and Portugal, and gave to the world the records of his journeys in "The Bible in Spain," but he never forgot his early love of Welsh; and in 1854 went a walking expedition through the country. His work is marred by the introduction of a good deal of pubUc-house chat, but it betrays an acquaintance with Welsh literature far more extensive than is to be found in the works of half-informed English tourists of an earlier date, whose works are looked up to as standards, and in vain we search Pennant and Nicholson, or such County Histories as Fenton's and Coxe's for the kind of information we get here. George Borrow did not go to gaze on half effaced effigies in parish meeting houses, to describe the gables of manor houses, or even so much the beautiful scenery of the country, as he went to see the people, knowing not merely their language but the character of their literature; not merely so, but he was able to quote their poets from the stores of his power- ful memory, e.g., on the top of Snowdon, he repeats — Oer yw'r elra ar Eryri, — o ryw Ar awyr i rewi; Oer yw'r ia ar riw 'r ri, A'r Eira oer y w 'Eyri. O Ri y 'Eyri yw'r oera, — o'r ar Ar oror wir arwa; O'r awyr a yr Eira, O'i ryw i roi rew a'r ia. and then l^relates how three or four English stood nigh with " grinning scorn," and how he apostrophized a Welshman who came forward and shook his hand. "I am not a Llydawan 1G4 WALES AND [chap. V. [a Breton]. I wish I was, or anything but what I am, one of a nation amongst whom any knowledge save what relates to money-making and over-reaching is looked upon as a disgrace. I am ashamed to say that I am an Englishman. Despite its blemishes Sorrow's Wild Wales still remains the only book in the whole circle of English literature which illus- trates fairly-well the literary side of the Welsh character, though he almost entirely omits mention of nineteenth century writers, nor can an introduction to this period suitable for English students be found anywhere at present. Matthew Arnold a few years later called the attention of the English public to Welsh literature, but as he was un- acquainted with the language he was naturally unable to take a comprehensive view of it. I will now select another letter from a well known Welsh- man, which is valuable, because it is an unvarnished testimony to the result of these parents' prejudices, which, unhappily, appear to be given way to, if not fostered by some elementary teachers, if not school managers. Newspaper correspondence, as a rule, is not worth reproducing, but I cannot debar myself from using it on the present occasion, because it illustrates (1) the intellectual and social history of Wales, in a certain part of the nineteenth century, (2) the action of general principles, and is of assistance in forming conclusions, which the mere ipse dixit of the author would not warrant. E. Roberts, of Pontypridd, wrote as follows: — My good father, holding then the mistaken notion held by some still, that a knowledge of Welsh would retard my pro- gress in learning English, forbade me to have anything to do with the "Welsh language, and even went the length of for- bidding me to attend a Welsh Sunday School. Submitting to the parental authority, I did not attend a Sunday School or attempt to learn Welsh until I was about sixteen years of age, althou"-h [OHAP. V. HBK LANGUAGE. 165 I was practically a monoglot "Welsh lad. My education up to that period, I can assure you, was anything but a pleasure, for the little I learnt was learnt mechanically; the intellect had nothing to do with it. "When I thought of entering college I thought it high time that I should know something of what grammar really was. I therefore procured Mr. E.. Davies's "Welsh Grrammar, and committed a great part of it to memory; but, this grammar being so erroneous in many parts, I had but an indistinct idea of what grammar really was, until T began to translate from Latin into English. Then my eyes were opened on the subject, and all that I had stored in my memory first became of any use to me. But what a drudgery I had passed through previous to this ! And that simply because the familiar Welsh was not used as a medium for explaining matters to me. I have thus given my experiences at some length, because my own case is an illustration of the difficulty which a "Welsh boy meets with in trying to learn EngUsh without the aid of his native tongue. It is my firm belief that if what this Society aims at doing had been done in my youthful days, I would have made a great deal more progress intellectually and educationally, in English and in "Welsh, than I did. The sad experience of my youthful days makes me yearn for some method of teaching "Welsh boys similarly circumstanced in a more intelligent and pleasurable way. As a set off against this may be mentioned the opposing attitude to the movement, which was taken by Professor Vance Smith of Carmarthen Presbyterian College, although only a recent settler in the country, and ignorant of the language. He met an able antagonist in Beriah G. Evans, the master of the Llangadock "Spillage School, but since attached to the staff of the South Wales Daily News. It is really surprising that a person who must have possessed some educational acquirements of an advanced character should have allowed his mind to be blinded by prejudice, as to oppose the removal of an antiquated and eifete system of education 166 WALES AND CHAP. V.] replete with both social and intellectual disadvantages, but which still more or less leavens nearly all the educational institutions of Wales. "The artificial propping up of the Welsh language" was a phrase used by Vance Smith, which a real thinker sliould have scrupled to use. What is artificial, is to purposely neglect the ordinary medium of thought, for the expression of ideas until a sufficiently secure foundation for their reception has been obtained through the use of another medium. I quote the following from B. Gr. Evans's reply : — You will, I am sure, readily concede that, being yourself only a recent coiner to Wales, you cannot be expected to understand Welsh, questions so thoroughly as those who have spent their lifetime among the people do. More than this, not being yourself possessed of the key of the Welsh language, wherewith you might be enabled to open for your students the door to further knowledge, you are placed under a serious disadvantage for estimating its practical value as an educational medium. Were the objects of the Society is to cultivate Welsh at the expense of English, then there would be force in your reasoning. '■' * I would appeal to you, sir, to throw the great, influence your position as principal of so important a training institution in Wales gives you to promote and not to obstruct a movement calculated to remove such disabilities, and which has already secured the adhesion of leading educationahsts who have enjoyed a hfe-long practical acquaintance with the people, their language, and their needs. In 1886, a Royal Commission was appointed to enquire into the working of the Education Acts, of which the late Henry Richard was a member. The subject of bilingualism would probably, as usual, have been ignored had not that veteran champion of Wales secured its insertion in the syllabus of the points of enquiry. As a consqeuence, various Welshmen in- terested in the subject, were asked to give evidence.* In the course of their examination it was clearly indicated that room CHAP. V.J HER LANGUAGE. 16/ was open for the Government to make very considerable modi- fication of these regulations as applied to Welsh schools. In fact, scarcely anything but a Code devised specially for Wales would have sufficed to remove all the legitimate objections raised of the present course of Welsh Education. The names of the witnesses who gave evidence on the bilingual question were Ebenezer Morris, of Menai Bridge, Beriah G. Evans, Dan Isaac Davies, B.Sc, Dr. Isambard Owen, M.A., D. Lewis (Rector of Merthyr), Archdeacon Griffiths, T. Marchant Williams, Prof. H. Jones, of Bangor, and W. Williams, M.A. (Chief Welsh Inspector of Schools). The evidence of these witnesses contains opinions or facts nearly identical with some which are noticed elsewhere in this book; but at the risk of being thought guilty of repeating myself, I venture to give a digest of some of its more salient features, which I believe will not be uninteresting to future students of Welsh history, whether they be so now or not. Among the disadvantages arising from the present-f system of ignoring Welsh, it was stated that— It makes a child nervous and afraid to give expression to his thoughts. Either he hates the language of his home or hates the foreign language. Evans. Injury done is permanent. Majority leave school without literary knowledge of either language. Do. Contributions to the Welsh press of a low order, through inefficient instruction, tend to debase the native purity of the language. Do. If a teacher followed a well-defined system he would have no credit given him in the report. Do. * The evidence has been re-published from the Blue Book in a collected form, under the title of Bilingual Teaching in Welsh Elementary Schools. Price Is. J. E Southall, Newport, Mon. + I say at present, because nearly all these difficulties remain, while only a few schools teach Welsh. 168 WALES AND CHAP. V.J Does not give the language the status of honour and respect it should occupy in the child's mind. Evans.. "The Welsh Sunday School is over- weighted, and has not only to teach religion" but also reading. D. I. Davies. Parents in ignorance. Fancy a man cannot have two mother-tongues. Contradicts this from experience of his own family. Do. Reason why, "gentry of Wales " do not command the in- fluence they ordinarily might, is that they give up the language before the people. Do. Omission of Welsh from pupil teachers' examinations a serious practical grievance. English girl from Cardiff to Bristol with a smattering of French gets marks for it. A Welsh girl who knows her own language far more thoroughly, gets no marks, and is shut out of her own college. Do. Had it not been for the Welsh "Sunday'' school, very little real work would have been solidly done by our English schools. Griffiths. Experience as Inspector of Schools in London, and as a teacher is, that neither German or French can be taught satis- factorily in a public elementary school under existing circum- stances for many years. 31. Williams. Children often puzzled by anomalies in English Grammar, it would be a great advantage if Welsh grammar were taught. Do. If it were taught it would remove the shyness of Welshmen, and improve them intellectually. j)o. Many teachers think teaching Welsh would involve a great deal of additional labour * I say, however, the teaching of Welsh systematically would be helpful to them in every sense. Do. Good of Wales dependent to a considerable extent on meeting the difficulty — no community ever improved except CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. 169 by developing the forces, intellectual and otherwise, that it possesses, and Wales will never be made richer by neglecting its language; nor do I think the English will be known better. For on the border counties where they do leave their Welsh, or have done so, and become English, there is a degradation of intelligence, because they do not really become English. Prof. H. Jones. Speaking of parents — the majority, especially the more intelligent, would see the importance of teaching Welsh. Do. {re Candidates for Training College]. The Welsh are very much handicapped by having to be examined in a language which is not their vernacular. Chief Inspector Williams. Believes English might be more thoroughly acquired by the use of Welsh. Do. Teaching Welsh as a special and class subject may prove a great blessing to the children. Has not quite made up his mind on the subject. Would like those who believe in it have a chance to try. E. Morris. "They only learn to read like parrots." Do. Thinks poetry should not be included in English. [Why could he not say, he would substitute Welsh poetry?] Do. Take number of chapels of four leading denominations, as 3511; of these 2853 are entirely Welsh, 898 English. Evans. English chapels as a rule small, and ill-attended. Welsh services often crowded. Do. "Sunday" school the great educating medium for the Welsh-speaking population here, they have obtained the only instruction in their own language they have ever had. Do Welsh literature made accessible to them by "Sunday" teachers. Do 17() wat.es and [chap. v. Wide-spread taste among working classes for Welsh litera- ture and composition; but absence of educational facilities to attain a grammatical knowledge of language. Do. Better enunciation in reading found in Welsh schools than in Gloucestershire. Davies. Took a bilingual parish in Brecknockshire; found people could not read Welsh, but anxious to have sermons it it. They have a fondness for the language — it is the language of their inner soul, so to speak. Leivis. Neath very much Anglicized, people do their shopping in English, but the people will go perhaps in scores to an English chapel, but by hundreds to a Welsh one. No predecessor of his [at Neath] could preach in Welsh with anything like fluency for 50 years. Griffiths. Englishmen as colliers — "before they have been underground six months they come out as Welshmen." Do. National ^'irtues found to a greater extent in Llanelly than in more Anglicized Swansea. Do. Circulation of 100,000 (Welsh) newspapers every week: 60 years ago not one. Do. The additional time and labour involved in carrying out our suggestions would be trifling indeed. Williams. Modern Welsh poets frequently have more power than they are able to manifest. Jones. Welsh treatise on the philosophy of Hegel, another text book on Logic commended. Conducted lectures in Welsh on Greek philosophy and on modern ethics at Bangor; and "more admirable classes," chiefly of working men, he never had. Did not know "any cultivated Welsh person" who did not prefer to attend worship in the Welsh rather than in the English language. 2)o_ Archdeacon Griffiths introduced into his evidence the utterances of an eminent Welsh scholar, Robert Williams, CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. l7l a Vice-President of Lampeter, and of Bp. Thirlwall, which I have reserved till last, so as not to break the continuity of the summary. These authorities are quoted in the evidence (abridged) as under: — "I have often known people whose reading language was Euglish, but whose speaking language was almost exclusively Welsh. What a confused medley of words and things must thus be produced in their minds. How the eye of the intellect must be dimmed, and its edge blunted, by the half caught gleams of ideas and tangled mass of doubts thus presented, which it can neither see distinctly nor decide with certainty. Can this be called education? or is it giving the mind of our peasantry fair play?" Then another short passage that 1 will read is this: "But what if, by our neglect of Welsh, we are throwing away a great gift of Providence? Is there any reason why a people should not learn and thoroughly under- stand a neighbouring language, without immediately smothering their own?'' Bishop Thirlwall held similar views and contended that no Welsh child ought to be thrown entirely upon the contin- gency that he may by the force of other circumstances than those of school life acquire sufficient EngUsh to cultivate his mind by the means which that language supplies, and that he ought not to be debarred in the meantime [by want of elementary education] from the benefits that may be derived from books in Welsh. He goes on to say. * * " I amfuUyconvinced that no maxims opposed to these will bear the test of experience; and I rejoice to find that they begin to be more generally appreciated, and seem likely to exercise a greater influence on the system of popular education, than they have hitherto done.'' Six or seven weeks after this evidence was given, the earthly hopes of a chief leader of the movement were shattered, a severe cold contracted in London never left him, and Dan Isaac Davies expired 5 mo. (May) 28, 1887. Very seldom indeed in the history of Wales has any in dividual risen so quickly from comparative obscurity to a 172 WALES AND [CHAP. V. position of such prominent note, and seldom has there been seen a funeral which manifested so much wide-spread feeling, as well as sympathy with the national aspirations which he represented. To an outsider, Cardiff may appear to differ but little from Hull and Sunderland ; to such an one the loss of an educationalist, however great he may be in his own peculiar sphere, would scarcely be regarded as anything like a public event. On this occasion between two and three thousand people were gathered from Swansea, Merthyr, the Rhondda Valley and other places, forming a procession a mile in length. I will not here introduce any reports of the speeches delivered on the occasion by various well-known Welshmen, some in Welsh and some in English. But enough has been said to shew that there was an indication of a remarkable amount of national feeling which would scarcely have been expected, and I think it convincingly shewed that the principles he represented were not simply the property of a few agitators or enthusiasts, but very largely echoed by all classes in Wales — South Wales at least. I venture, however, to give a short extract from "Morien" on the event, which, although Morienic in its style, comes from the pen of a ready writer — In the scholastic circles of the Principality he had been long known and admired; but at the time of his death, his name was rapidly becoming a household one in the homes of his fellow- countrymen generally. His mind was not too much imbued with "awen" to forget the practical in the imaginative. WhUe others simply cried, " Oes y hyd i'r iaiih Gymrafg." Mr. Dan Isaac Davies worked in the path of progress, and he fell, to rise no more, whilst engaged in re-opening the national avenues of the native language of the Welsh people. We had hoped that Wales had, at last, found in him one sufficiently able and earnest to restore the Cymric tongue to its ancient dignity as one of the learned languages of Europe, by making it the channel by which the youth of Wales [chap. v. her LANGtTAGE. 173 might reach quickly the vast treasures of knowledge contained to- day in the English tongue. It is perfectly true that Mr. Davies had two objects in view by his propaganda, namely, making use of the native language of the Welsh in the work of education, and thereby facilitating the progress of Welsh children in the paths of education, and also restoring its lost dignity among scholars, of the great language of the Cambro-British people. * * Poor Dan Isaac Davies! "With tears we lament thy death; thy work is done, for, doubtless, thou wert, in the mysterious ways of Providence, only to inaugurate a movement which will be long associated with thy name. Thou wert only to utter the old cry, " I'r Ian d'r gain faner goch!" Thy early death seems to sanctify the movement! " Gorphwys, frawd, inewn tangnefedd." Ill 1887, Welsh education came very prominently before the Eisteddfod meeting of the Cymmrodorion, held in London, and in the course of one of the meetings a paper was read by W. Edwards, M.A., Government Inspector of Schools, Merthyr Tydfil district, which I venture to insert here nearly entire. As a whole, it is far too good a production to be consigned to .the oblivion of fugitive Uterature, such as is the fate of the large majority of papers read at congresses and meetings of various kinds, except those perhaps of a purely learned character, which mark stepping stones in the progress of any particular art or branch of science. Perhaps I shall be found fault with for taking up so much space with matter which is not original. If so, I would say that one of the objects of this book is not to present any one man's opinions or views on subjects which so closely concern the educational future of Wales, but to collate expressions from witnesses of very different antecedents) education, and circumstances, so that from the whole a better judgment may be formed of the facts of the past, and of the requirements of the future. Indeed there is a need for it. Much has been said 174 WALES AND CHAP. V.] and written, and yet the subject is so far from being thrashed out that, it is still one on which a definite verdict is yet to come. From the point of view of a Government Inspector we scarcely expect enthusiasm, but we have here something more necessary, viz., impartiality and penetration. In reading it, one can only feel regret that at present the enlightened standpoint of the author is far in advance of that of many managers of schools, and of many Welsh teachers. He says — As one of the Inspectors charged with the administration of the Education Act, I beg to state that I regard the question of the utiUzation of Welsh purely as an educational one. It has no necessary relation to party or to sect. Nor do I appear here to join in any appeal for alteration in the present Code, which is probably elastic enough to admit of any change of practice that may be desired by the Society. What is really required now is a discussion on the principle, and in a matter of so much importance no one should stand aloof who can help the public to understand the principle and the reason why it is advocated. It is with many an incontrovertible axiom that the Welsh language is the bane of Wales, and that every friend should aim at its extinction. Others admit that a language spoken by only a thirtieth part of the population of these islands must essentially be a disadvantage, through the limitations of intercourse which it imposes, even although it were the most ancient and perfect language known to history. Let it be conceded, not absolutely, but for the sake of argument, that it would be beneficial for Wales if the native language were totally supplanted by English, the question remains as to the best means of arriving at this consummation. Now, there can be no doubt that the exclusion of Welsh from all the elementary schools, from all the grammar schools, and from all the colleges, is damaging to the vitahty of the language. It operates in two ways: (1) directly by subtracting so many hours every day from the time that would otherwise have been spent in the practice of the native tongue; (2) by giving the Welsh a low-caste character. CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. 175 Welsh suffers in prestige from being totally ignored, when other subjects are honoured, and a tendency will be formed in the case, at any rate, of some children to speak bad English in preference to good Welsh. I cannot, therefore, deny that the cumulative effects of what I may call the repressive system, acting through many ages, will eventually destroy the Welsh language, especially in combination with many other outside influences; such are set up by the social and commercial intercourse with England, and the immensely preponderating quantity of English literature. But when this is agreed, how much time must be allowed for the completion of the process"? It is dangerous to prophesy, but I do not fear to affirm that more than a hundred, perhaps two hundred, perhaps 500 years will be required to achieve the death of Welsh. Eor it must be remembered that a repressive policy, in order to gain its end with any degree of rapidity, must also be complete. It is not enough to exclude Welsh from the schools and colleges. Tou must also make it penal to speak Welsh at fairs and markets, to print Welsh newspapers and books, to preach Welsh sermons. If you cannot or dare not do this, the language will resist for centuries the effect of its banishment from education. It is a plausible assertion that children who hear and speak and read only English at school, wiU become really familiar with that language, and discard the vernacular for the rest of their lives. But no account is here taken of the Welsh environment. Even while the child is attending school the outside intercourse counter- balances to a considerable extent the effect of school atmostphere. Nay at the school itself, during the time of recreation Welsh is the language of play, as T have had many opportunities of observing in my own district, which is far from the centre of Wales. It may be doubted whether the child is subjected to English influence for more than five hours in the day. He is probably more than double this time under the influence of purely Welsh surroundings. When his school career ends, at the early age of twelve or thirteen, the environment is wholly Welsh, and it is not merely antecedently probable, but a matter of experience that in parts of Cardiganshire, 176 WALES AND CHAP. V.] Merionethshire, and even of Glamorganshire, away from the towns, the child frequently in a few months loses almost all his hold of English. Although therefore it may be admitted that the day schools do exercise a decidedly inimical effect upon the life of the Welsh language, it should at the same time be remembered that their influence operates only during the third part of the child's working day, and ceases altogether at a rery early age. If the schools were all boarding schools, so that the children might be withdrawn from all contact with the Welsh stock from which they sprang, the effect might conceivably be more measurable, hut even on this hypothesis the Anglicizing influence would be incomplete, unless the children were confined to separate cells when not under instruction. The people who are sanguine of the speedy success of the present system do not reaUze the difBculty of killing a language, which at the present moment is very far from mori- bund, and may live as long as Dutch or Danish. The total neglect of Welsh will surely help to sap the vigour of the language, but what happens during the long era which must elapse before the end comes? A policy which gags the mouth of a child, stupidly ignores the habits and associations of home, and crushes every native sensibility, can only result in immense waste of energy, in the lowering of the tone of the nation, and in a paralysis of the intelligence of many generations of Welshmen. Is it fair that even a barbarous dialect should be so ignored in education as Welsh is at present? There is an outcry of sympathy if the children of Lapps and Poles are treated in this way, but nearer home there is a case of outrage upon nature and reason which is worthy of equal condemnation. The blame rests upon the Welsh themselves for the continuance of this state of things, for the Department has not yet refused to grant any concession which has been asked for by the Society. * * Words may be read to almost an unhmited extent without the assimilation by the mind of the ideas to which they correspond. By the bilingual method the link between the English word and CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. 177 the idea is- established. In the study of any other foreign language this is the method that would universally be adopted. It has been urged that the best way to teach a child Prench is to send him to school in Prance, where he would hear no English. But the cases are not parallel. In one case the whole environment would be French, and the child must learn French, as a child is sometimes taught to swim, by being thrown into deep sea. Tou have not the struggle between the environment and the school, which creates the chief obstacle in Wales. The advocates of bilingual teaching recommend that in districts where Welsh retains its hold as the common medium of inter- course, Welsh and English should be taught in connection. Welsh as well as English reading books should be used, the one set being idiomatic translations of the other. These books are not merely an instrument of interpretation, but also subject matter for a comparison of the grammar and idioms of the two languages. In some districts Welsh is weak, or divides the field equally with English. There, Welsh would be more advantageously taught as a specific subject to the highest standards for its purely educational value, while in the lower standards Welsh might occasionally be employed for purposes of illustration. In every town or village where any Welsh is spoken an opportunity should be afforded of learning to read and write Welsh correctly at some period of the school course. It is not proposed by the Society to agitate for the compulsory reading of Welsh, as it is feared by some. They wish to make the teaching simply permissive. There are many prejudices to be overcome on the part of school managers and teachers and parents before the movement in favour of bilingual teaching becomes general. There are some persons, be it observed, who make it a reproach that Welsh is so seldom spoken correctly by the masses. Should it not rather be a matter of wonder* that the idiom is so purely maintained when the only instruction in Welsh is given in Sunday schools"? But the same individuals inconsistently oppose the only * How true this is, those who know Wales can voueh. z 178 WALES AND [CHAP. V means by which the defects in the common speech can be cured. As a matter of fact, the language of a Welsh peasant is far more correct than that of his compeers in England. The Marquis of Bute said at the Cardiff Eisteddfod, "For a man to speak Welsh, and willingly not to be able to read or write it, is to confess himself a boor." This is a noble sentiment; and it should put to shame those others who wish to keep down the Welsh as a nation of boors, rather than grant the instruction which would save them from the reproach. The bilingual idea is to be applied to schools of all grades. Eor there should be no division of classes. What has done so much mischief in Wales in times past and present is the chasm existing between the English-speaking land- owner and gentry and the Welsh-speaking community. What separation of interests, material and spiritual, has resulted from this cause! Let the opportunity, at all events, be given to the children of all classes to learn the rudiments of the language of the people. To a very numerous class, viz., to those who are to become the ministers, the lawyers, the doctors, and the teachers of Wales, instruction in Welsh will clearly be a professional advantage. One strongly felt objection to the proposed Welsh-English instruction is that although the object primarily is merely to utilize Welsh to learn Enghsh better than to improve the general intelU- gence thereby, yet Welsh itself will at the same time be improved. This is to some people a great rock of offence. They are afraid that the longevity of Welsh will be favourably affected when it is systematically taught, even in a parallel line with Enghsh. Even if their fears are well founded, the objection cannot be listened to, if it is true that only by biUngual instruction can a Welsh child have an intelligent grasp of English. But I feel certain that the life of Welsh will not be appreciably prolonged by its recognition in schools. The status of the language will be raised, a more correct way of speaking will be in vogue, but it is the very essence of biUngual teaching that it makes the scholar facile in two CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. l79 languages. If Welsh will be strengthened, English will receive an accession of vigour. Tou may have a bilingual nation for any length of time, if by bihngual nation is meant a nation, two sections of which speak different languages, but there is no instance on record of a nation of bilinguals. Switzerland is no example, for the bihngualism of Switzerland is only the overlapping of the French and G-erman, and such a bilingualism is obUgatory along every border. But when every Welshman knows English as well as he knows Welsh, and there is no nucleus of monoglots to act as a preservative, the weaker language vdU then rapidly die. But it will die a honourable death, instead of being strangled in disgrace. Welsh will have done its work. The continuity of the nation will have been preserved. The parents and the children will not have been made strangers by the premature forcing of an alien language. The children of the EngUsh resident will be brought into kindlier intimacy with the children of the Cymry. Finally, time will have been given for the transference of whatever is worthy in Welsh literature to the kindly keeping of that universal inheritor, the language of England, in which the genius of the Welsh will find a larger and more durable home. What do you say, my readers, to having these lines written in gold on the portals of every school and every college in Wales. Zbe bilingual idea is to be applied to scbools ot all grades, What say you to ousting, as ignorant or incapable, every school manager, be he a high and mighty cleric or a village grocer, vrho will not subscribe to this advice of the Inspector — " In every town or village where any Welsh is spoken an opportunity should be oifered of learning to read and write Welsh correctly at some period of the school course." "Every town or village," recollect, includes those partially populated by Somerset and Gloucester workmen, the presence 180 WALES AND [CHAP. V. of whose children is supposed by some teachers to place an obstacle in the development of the bilingual idea. Why should the children of the soil for the supposed interests of these strangers be deprived of such opportunities of reading and writing their mother-tongue as systematic instruction in it can afford them. What are you going to do to help fill up this social "chasm" that the Inspector speaks of (the very expression which was running in the writer's mind many months ago), caused by a portion of the people by habit, association, and preference, speaking a language and reading a literature of which the wealthy and influential are almost entirely ignorant? What are you going to do to remove those prejudices of school managers, teachers, and parents, which the same experienced authority tells us must be overcome before the movement becomes general? One of the objects of the volume is to call the attention of the Welsh people to these inconsistencies, and blots upon their character as a practical people, to the errors made venerable by the incrustations of centuries, to the need of greater educational enlightenment, and to the desirability (I would here even go further than Inspector Edwards), of not leaving the decision of these matters, mainly in the hands of either managers, teachers, or parents, who are frequently either from inexperience or ignorance, not the fittest authorities to decide upon them. Bear in mind, too, that the foregoing paper is not the product of the brain of an impractical enthusiast, a mere theorist, as some of the opposers of bilingualism in Wales are apt to class its advocates; it is the expression of man who is pre- eminently entitled to a hearing though we may differ from him on minor points. For instance, he appears to the writer to much under-rate the influence of bilingual instruction in pro- longing the life of the language, but on the central point viz., CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. 181 the desirability of bilingualism, or teaching Welsh, not simply allowing its use in explanatory processes becoming universal where the language is spoken, and that it should be applied to schools of all classes, we agree. If this had been done ten or fifteen years ago, we probably should not have had the pitiable spectacle, alluded to elsewhere, of a well-to-do Welsh publisher in Wales unable to read the books issuing from his own press, and having to depend on the judgment of others as to their character, if he form one. In some other points also I am incUned to differ from the author, as for mstance where he advocates Welsh and English reading books being the idiomatic translation of each other. To give an effective bilingual education, this should only be partially the case; some pieces, particularly poetry, should be inserted in each language and untranslated. Second only in importance to the Inspector's paper was a short speech by the then Warden of Llandovery College, in which he said that education in Wales should be of a distinct, and national, and Welsh character: education was not merely putting a number of facts and figures into the pupil's head, but consisted also in the development of the mind: it was not creating, but fashioning and forming raw material; it was impossible to educate a Welsh-speaking Welshman unless a knowledge of the Welsh language were taken into account : although fi'om one point of view it might be a mistake to devote two hours a week to teaching a boy Welsh, yet it would be found as a fact that he learnt Latin and French all the quicker for having that knowledge. Observe that the warden used these adjectives in charac- terizing what education in Wales should be. Distinct. National. Welsh. Distinct means that there should be a clear essential 182 WALES AND [OHAP. V. distinction between education in Wales and that over the border, which there is not at present. National means that it should be general throughout the country. Welsh means that instruction in the Welsh language should form an integral part of such distinct and national education. These two advocates of biKngualism may be regarded as representative men, both filling important educational posi- tions, both having a claim on the confidence of their country- men. Take another practical witness — Owen Owen, head master of Oswestry High School in the Welsh portion of Shropshire. He was strongly in favour of leaving education in Wales entirely to Welsh men and Welsh women. They should aim at a "complete and thorough national system," leading step by step from the village school to the University. I suppose that he also would be considered both successful and practical in his profession. In 1888 the Report of the Education Commissioners was issued, which shewed that although it was composed entirely of Englishmen, with the single exception of Henry Richard, they had been so thoroughly convinced of the reasonableness of the demands of the Utilization Society, that almost every point asked for was conceded to. They recommended — That schools in Welsh districts should be allowed to teach reading and writing of Welsh concurrently with English. Permission to use bilingual reading-books. Liberty to teach Welsh as a specific subject. To adopt an optional scheme for English as a class subject, founded on the principle of a graduated system of trans- lation from Welsh into Enghsh for the present acquire- ment of English grammar. CHAP, v.] HER LA^STGUAGE. 183 To teach Welsh with English as a class subject. To include Welsh among the languages in which Queen's scholarships and certificates of merit may be annexed. The next step to which the friends of the movement turned their attention was to secure the adhesion of the Government to these recommendations, so that it might be possible to give them practical effect. In this work Sir John Puleston, M.P., himself of a North Wales family noted in these pages, took an active share, and repeatedly interviewed Sir W. Hart Dyke, the President of the Committee of Council on Education. The result, as is well known, was regarded as a complete success for the principles of the Society; every recommenda- tion of the Royal Commission being adopted by the Government, with the exception of the inclusion of Welsh in Queen's scholarship subjects for pupil teachers. This was a great omission, but it is hoped that it may be remedied before long. As one of the South Wales papers pointed out, these con- cessions in effect, open the door for a thorough change in the whole system of Welsh elementary education, although little prominence indeed is actually given them in the Code; but besides embracing the afore-mentioned recommendations, in practice they give advantages not quite apparent to one not familiar with elementary school working, which are indicated by the following summary. I. A grant of 4s. to be paid per head for each child passing in Welsh Grammar, as a specific in Standards V., VI. and VII. II. A grant of 2s. per child in the average of the whole school for successful results in teaching English as a class subject by means of translation from Welsh to English. III. In all standards, and in all subjects, bilingual reading- books may be used, and bilingual copybooks may be used in teaching writing. 184 WALES AND [CHAP. V. IV. The geography of Wales may be taught up to Standard III., and the history of Wales may be taught throughout the whole school, by means of books partly Welsh and partly English, and a grant of 2s. per head on the average of the whole school may be earned for each of these subjects if the results of the examination are satisfactory. V. Schools taking up the new method of teaching English as a class subject may also claim the right to substitute translation from Welsh to English for English composition in the elementary subjects, and thus reap a double benefit. VI. Finally, the small village and country schools, so numerous in the Principality, may, for the purpose of class teaching re-arrange the standards into three groups, e.g., Group 1, Standards I., II.; Group 2, Standards III., IV.; Group 3, Standards V., VI., VIII. This will be a material relief to under-staffed schools. In the Spring of 1889, after these concessions had been made known, a meeting of the Utilization Society was held at Aber- ystwith, the Earl of Lisburn taking the chair at the public meeting. At the previous members' meeting Principal Edwards in the course of an admirable speech remarked — It appears to me a real danger to the intellectual and moral life of the Welsh people, this transition from "Welsh to English. Whatever may be said about Welsh, it is a simple fact that Welsh is a literary language. It has been found amply sufficient to express the most abstract truths of ethics and religion. It is at once the symbol and the instrument of a civilization. To regard such a language as an encumbrance, and not a most potent ally, in the education of the people who think and worship in it, whose intellectual and moral life is fashioned by the ideas it has conveyed to their minds, is fatuous and guilty conduct. (Cheers.) To permit the people of Wales to lose their knowledge of literary Welsh, the language of the Welsh Bible, so that they will under- CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. 185 stand no other Welsh than the laongrel patois of the streets, is to abandon deliberately the creative influences of the past, to break for ever with the enobling examples of our great men, to throw away the heritage of many centuries, in order to start afresh forsooth from the low intellectual and moral condition of savage tribes. Let English come into Wales and take possession, if it can. But let the intellectual and moral life of the future be the natural development of the past. This it cannot be if we foolishly and criminally neglect to teach literary Welsh until we have accom- plished the task of teaching literary English. Hitherto, this most important work has been done in Wales by Sunday schools. Putting aside for the moment the spiritual interests of Wales, and regarding the question only in its intellectual aspects, I do not hesitate to avow my strong conviction that all sects and parties alike ought to acknowledge their indebtedness to our Welsh Sunday schools and to their peculiar characteristics, and to make a great effort to maintain their efficiency. But they cannot adequately meet the demands of the age. The people must be taught, not only to read the Welsh of Bishop Morgan, but also the Welsh of Goronwy Owain, and to feel in the very depth of their being the creative influence of the past that should always be present, and of the dead that never die. What do you say, you lethargic officials and managers steeped in the traditions of Whitehall? What do you say to these words of a man whom Wales delights to honour ? The people must (it is in your hands very largely to make it a practical MUST) be taught not only to read the Welsh of Bishop Morgan, but also the Welsh of Goronwy, or if Goronwy is too difficult, that of Islwyn and Hiraethog. Time has amply justified the following: — Having obtained all it asked from Government, the Society must take into account the sluggishness of a considerable number of school managers, in whom as in most officials, the vis inertiae is strong. Not indeed that the country at large can be justly charged 186 WALES AND [CHAP. V. with apathy. An intelligent observer made the remark that whereas the study of Irish is but the hobby of a few antiquaries in Dublin, the entire people of "Wales love their language and wish it to live. At the same time, the Society will not find that all School Boards have enough foresight to see the necessity for the immediate and full adoption of the concessions made in the New Code. Public opinion must be continually formed and maintained on the question, until the use of "Welsh in teaching English and the teaching of "Welsh as a literary language become universal in "Welsh speaking districts. But this will never be brought about unless suitable text-books are provided. * * A strong and successful Society is an instrument for good which ought not to be thrust aside too soon, and this Society will not perish, so long as it adapts itself to the special wants of the time, and performs its work with the same energy in the future as it has shown in the past. Here again we have a man well known outside Wales, whom some of his friends perchance, think too much of an Anglicizer, often occupying English pulpits, yet not satisfied with the bare " utilization of Welsh to learn English," but positively enforcing it as an educational maxim, that the teaching of Welsh as a literary language should become universal in jWelsh-speaking districts, and foreseeing that only by continued exertions can the deleterious whims or caprices of local managers, and the vis inertias of schoolmasters be overcome. At the same meeting at Aberystwyth, Morgan Owen, Inspector of Board Schools, said that he was pleased to see the interest many parents took in the subject. In South Wales in many cases, though parents objected to see their children doing home lessons in English subjects, they were very glad to find a Welsh book brought home in their hands. This apparently conflicts with other testimony as to parents' views. I conclude that the true solution of the difficulty is, that in districts where the parents fear that their children will grow up OHAP. v.] HER LAJNGUAGB. 187 monoglot Welsh, they are often opposed to any secular educa- tion in Welsh, but where there is a danger of the children growing up monoglot English they are glad of opportunities given at school to return to the old language. Professor Roberts of Cardiff said — The great and rapid success of the agitation indicated that the Welsh language was destined to render another signal service to the nation, in addition to its services in the past. During the past fifty years, in spite of the fact that much of the cultured opinion of the country was for relegating the language into neglect and decay, the body of the people and their trusted leaders adopted another course. They in fact " utiUzed" the language — not as a barrier to keep the people in darkness — but as the sole available means of educating and informing the nation by speech and in writing. By a flood of lectures and periodicals and other literature, the people had been so educated that in no part of the kingdom could the masses be said to be more inteUigent and better informed on all general questions than in Wales. But while the people thus utiUzed their language to their great and permanent benefit — it was wholly neglected and ignored in the official system of education. Yes, so wholly neglected and ignored that the " flood of [vernacular] lectures and periodicals" have, in certain districts, become almost things of the past, though the want of familiarity with the language in the rising generation, which would have been induced by a Kttle education in it at school. T. E. WilUams, Abeiystwith, comparing Radnor with Cardigan, said — Eadnor had lost its Welsh. By this time it had become EngUsh not only as far as language was concerned, but the EngHsh spoken in the county was about the poorest English they could get any- where, and, educationally, it was one of the lowest counties, if not the lowest in Wales. On the other hand, let them take the county 188 WALES AND [CHAP. V. of Cardigan. There they had Welsh spoken, and, educationally, Cardigan was one of the highest counties in Wales. Not merely so, he might have added, but Radnor and Car- digan resemble each other ethnologically, perhaps, as much as any two counties in Wales, if so, the inferiority of Radnor is not accounted for by difference of race. Speaking at the public meeting. Professor Lloyd beheved that the study of Welsh grammar afforded a better mental training than the study of French or German. They also wanted to utihze Welsh literature. English literature was no Uterature to Welshmen who had grown up to mature years without a knowledge of the English language. He did not understand the associations — the subtle associations of the words ; and he thought that was well illustrated by the fact that the one English poet whom Welshmen knew something of and appreciated was Milton, and the reason was that they understood the back- ground of Milton. This may be true, but in fact English literature is "no litera- ture" to Englishmen who have gi-own up to mature years, without some previous literary training in the very language they are supposed to speak. To enjoy Milton, it is not simply necessary to be born in an Enghsh home, and to have learnt to read and write. The literature of the newspaper is accessible, but scarcely that represented by more modern names, such as C'owper and Tennyson. Welshmen are often recommended to learn English, or to value it for the sake of the literature ; but in point of fact the best English classics are not much read except by the pro- fessional or leisured classes, and even at this fag-end of the nineteenth century, perhaps less than ever, if we except co- temporary writers, whereas a Welshman has less mental labour to go through to appreciate writers of the same class and degree in his own language, than the Englishman has in CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. 189 his; not that I am placing actual Welsh literature on a level with English, but shewing its possibilities with regard to the mass of the people. In the meetings of the Society for the Utilization of the Welsh Language there has been generally a studious avoidance of praise of the language, doubtless lest its claim on the public should be prejudiced by the introduction of sentiment, but on this occasion it was reserved to a foreigner to Wales, a Roman Catholic Priest (Hayde), of Cardiff, to fill up the meed of admiration for the intrinsic beauties of the Welsh language. — Respecting the Welsh language, he might say that he had never studied a language in which he had felt more interest, more pleasure and more mental training. The idioms and the structure of the language were so different from those of other languages that by comparing them the student acquired strength of mind, and that was the great end of education. ■■' * Welsh was not only a most beautiful language, but would compare favourably with Itahan, Spanish, Portuguese, German and others with which he was acquainted; and he said further that if Welsh had been developed as German had been developed during the past one hundred years by some of the greatest men who had ever lived, and as EngUsh had been developed by the writings of Shakespeare and others. Welsh to-day would have been looked upon as one of the most perfect languages on the face of the earth. He ended with a short address in Welsh, quoting — Tra'r mor yn fur i'r bur hoff bau, O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau. So much for the utterances of public men and officials. They are neither few in number nor deficient in sense and quality. Supposing these expressions of opinion, these marks of sympathy with a proposed public object, had been made with a corresponding intensity in England, can we suppose for 190 WALES AND [OHAP. V, a moment that the English character would have allowed the whole thing to sink into partial oblivion ? Certainly not. There would either have been dissentient voices, strongly biasing public opinion in the other direction, or else those who had put their hands to the plough would not be satisfied, until with the sweat of their brow, success had crowned their patient and constant endeavours. Welsh people are not always made of that sort of mettle. They are not very fond of facing wind and weather, and of actions as good and as sound as words. I have spoken of public opinion; although a solution of this question will affect every family in Welsh Wales, and a great many in English Wales, it is not to be supposed that it is exactly one in which the mass of the population have a mature judgment, but it certainly deserves to be met with a distinctly active attitude, either of opposition or of positive coun- tenance and co-operation by intelligent persons interested in the conduct of Welsh education. So far as opposition goes, few movements spread over a large area have encountered less of an open and public kind. What then are the tangible results before us in Wales ? After the great exertions made by some friends of the new Society; after the lapse of six years in the work of practically reforming the system of elementary education, directly they amount to little more than the following, viz. : — 1. The publication of two small text books"' for teaching Welsh as a specific subject, while the third advertised some years ago as " in preparation," is still, so far as the author's information goes, lying in the limbo of the future. 2. The introduction of Welsh as a specific subject into a few schools, mostly in serai- Anglicized districts. * Welsh Stage I., 1887. Welsh Stage II., 1889. Simkin Marshall and Co., London ; 6d. each. CHAP. V,] HER LANGUAGE. 191 It will thus be seen that at the end of six years the great majority of the rising generation is untouched, and unaflPected by this incipient reformation. This is at first sight discouraging. In reality, however, it is not quite so much so as may appear, although direct results are extremely meagre. Indirectly, there is reason to believe that the educational status of Welsh has been somewhat raised, and a further place assigned to it in developing the intelligence of children than previously. This cannot be however, thoroughly and efBciently done without the use of Text Books, partly printed in Welsh, in the actual course of instruction in elementary subjects. The Bilingual Books which, in 1889, the Council of the Welsh Utilization Society was to issue " without delay," are still not forthcoming, and it is to be feared, notwithstanding the warm and zealous recognition of the Society's claims on Wales, there will be a danger unless more energetic and thoroughly systematic action is taken, of relapsing into a quiet and slavish acquiescence in the status quo. Thus far, some sort of a soporific has prevented the elementary schoolmasters uniting, as they should do, and knocking at the door of the Society's Council Chamber demanding the speedy issue of these Bilingual Books, and it is to be feared that the apathy of the Department is partly responsible for this. After receiving the report of the Royal Commissioners, which most clearly shewed that various injuries were being inflicted on Wales, and a certain amount of educational power allowed to run waste through the present method being pursued ; after the generous concessions made by the Government to the claims of Wales, how is English-Welsh, as a class subject, treated in the Code ? Simply allowed a most insignificant place, just barely mentioned in a sort of note. How is it treated in the Departmental instructions to Inspectors for 1890 ? Surely 192 WALES AND [CHAP. V. with all this weight of evidence, the permanent oiBcials at Whitehall would tell the Inspectors that it was their duty to assist in inaugurating a radical reform in the education of Wales, not in an authoritative way, but by suggestions to school managers and teachers, and by recommendations that they should endeavour, as soon as may be, to equip themselves for a better system which promises to improve the knowledge of English as well as of Welsh. Did they thus call atten- tion to the first steps necessary to break up the fallow ground? No. Not by a single word. It was as if the said permanent officials, or whosoever drafts out those instructions to the Inspectors, was desirous of hushing the whole thing up, and in all probability the chiefs — "My Lords," had too much to think of, to notice such an apparently trifling omission. It would, however, be injustice to Lord Cranbrook and Sir W. Hart Dyke, to question the sincerity of the interest they have taken in the matter, but we must come to the con- clusion that if all the heads of the Department had recipro- cated these sentiments, it would have been easy to have given such additional force to the movement that every schoolmaster and every manager in Welsh Wales would have felt a certain amount of moral suasion to change tactics. Beyond vice voce explanations &c., the work done has been entirely confined to dealing with Welsh as a specific subject, i.e., teaching it as a foreign language in the three higher Standards only. The uninformed reader may need to be told that specifics are extra subjects, such as algebra, agriculture, French, physiology and domestic economy, which are to a con- siderable extent at the option of the School Board or managers. Success in these is paid for by a grant per head from the Government. It is practically found that specifics can only be attempted in few schools, and many children leave school before entering CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. 193 Standard V. The Utilization Society was quite aware that much more would be needed than the introduction of the specific, as they said in their memorial to the Royal Commission in 1886 : "We should however deeply deplore the restriction of concession to Welsh needs to the introduction of the specific subject only, as from the nature of the majority of the schools in Wales, such concession would benefit but comparativelyfew." To Gelligaer School Board, bordering on Monmouthshire, belongs the honour of first introducing Welsh, viz., in 1885, before the issue of either of the Text Books. Some gleanings of the experience gained there and elsewhere will doubtless be interesting to the reader. A Welsh schoolmaster thus commented upon the results of the first examination in the Gelligaer schools: — Here we have one School Board alone, without adequate text books, and with a large admixture of English-speaking children among its pupils, passing over 82 per cent, in the first examination in Welsh as a specific subject, and adding thereby a sum of twenty- one pounds to the school fund in additional grants. In one instance 62 per cent, of the children examined spoke English habitually at home, and yet 92 per cent of these English-speaking children passed successfully in their first examination in Welsh ! One purely English child — a girl — was reported as having attained the third highest place in percentage of marks for Welsh exercises. One of the head masters under the Board evidently regarded the matter something as a fad, and simply allowed two pupils to stand, but later on came to see that it might be more useful and profitable than he had anticipated, and successfully passed a considerable number. In the report to the Education Department (Blue Book of 1888), Inspector Edwards, of Merthyr, appears to be quoted as speaking favourably of the text books of the Society; and 194 WALES AND [OHAP. V. Inspector Bancroft remarked on the fact that children in the English speaking parts of Pembrokeshire are often remarkably slow in answering one question in arithmetic. The Chief Inspector in issuing the report, refers to the great slowness with which the teaching of Welsh was spreading, and alludes to parents and managers' objections, comprising the "popular delusion" spoken of in Chap. iv. He adds very much to the purpose. "Surely a movement which aims at im- proving what cannot now be considered satisfactory ought to have a fair trial, and to be pushed forward by enlightened educationalists, without waiting for a demand from the parents, most of whom naturally believe that the present system must be the best that can be devised." Of course it ought. I am very glad such a man is in such a position, and has the good sense and boldness to make the remark. Ask the parents their opinion about the land laws and the Established Church, or the labour movement, and they have a right to be listened to, but it is a doctrine that should be most strongly protested against, that they should dictate a system of education to persons whose opportunities for forming a broad and liberal judgment are far more exten- sive than theirs. Parents in general have but a limited idea of what educa- tion, even such an education as is possible and suitable for their circumstances in life, means : they need strong minds to direct : so do many school managers, and this narrowness of culture is one of the difficulties the Welsh has to contend against. Inspector Pryce, of Carmarthenshire, in the same report, appears to depreciate teaching Welsh, which was entirely excluded as a specific from his district, but gives no reason except the unpopularity with parents, — not of the language, but of its introduction into secular education. CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. 195 In the Welsh Division Report for 1890, pubhshed in 1891, the Chief Inspector aUudes to the fact that "specific subjects are almost confined to higher-grade Elementary Schools," such as those established in large towns Hke Cardiff, where we should naturally expect to find not much Welsh attempted, and that ordinary schools find sufficientto do without, while teaching httle more than "elementary, and two class sub- jects," an observation which accentuates the remark following, that the " full value of the movement will not be attained till bilingual reading books be used in the lower standards" ; he even goes further than this, and says that his experience has strengthened his conviction that advantage would accrue from using "the child's knowledge of his own language in teaching not only English but other languages as well." Although specifics are thus handicapped, after listening to the Chief Inspector, we will give some consideration to the reports of Inspectors. Tlie Carmarthen district Inspector says: "Welsh has not yet been chosen as a specific subject in any school in my district. This is, no doubt, partly owing to the children in the larger schools possessing a fair knowledge in English, especially in the higher standards.". Now, in fact, if these children are bilingual, the reason assigned is a poor one. He admits to passing 408 in specific subjects ; the boys in Algebra and animal physiology, and the girls in domestic economy. Algebra, it is true, would teach them to think, but so would Welsh, besides enlarging their powers of expression. The Denbigh District Inspector says : " Welsh seems to be the popular specific subject in my district * * * jn one school, strange to say, an English girl beat her Welsh fellows in this subject." This is simply the Gelligaer experience repeated. If popular in the Denbighshire district, which includes semi- Anglicized Ruabon, why not in Carmarthenshire, 196 WALES AND [CHAP. V. where a convenient knowledge of both languages co-exists to a large extent ? If the reason assigned is that the children in the latter know Welsh already, why not, on the same ground, say that they know English already in Llanelly and Carmar- then, and refuse to teach them English composition. The Pembroke District Inspector remarks on most of his schools, being unable to go in for specific subjects, that Welsh would " probably be more popular as a class subject, as there are but few scholars above the 5th Standard." The Merthyr District Inspector (W. Edwards) says : That as things are at present, Welsh is begun to be taught too late in a child's course, and that a boy cannot take kindly to the conjugation of Welsh verbs, and the declension of nouns, when he has not previously read a Welsh book, and become familiar with the written form of the language, which he only knows colloquially. What is said from the Carnarvon district, the "very head- quarters of modern Welsh literatnre, and Welsh writers the classic ground of llenorion a beirdd now, and perhaps for a long period, in the future ? Absolutely nothing. The Inspector has an English name, and though he may possess a small knowledge of the language, it is believed that he rarely exercises it. In bilingual districts the subject is more likely to be popular with parents, but the ogre of the English manager or member of a School Board, who thinks he knows what the children want, but wishes to checkmate Welsh, is still more likely to present itself. Perhaps he is a colliery or tin-plate manager, or even a tradesman from across the border, and it is not impossible that he will approach the subject with that dogmatic assurance of a " little knowledge" which is sufficient to be a "dangerous thing." CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. 1-97 Mynyddislwyn School Board, for instance, took Welsh not long since. In the only school under^^that Board, with which I am acquainted, it was a success, the children were getting on well; but at the end of some five months, without assigning a reason they stopped it, under an Englishman as chairman, and one or more English members. It is true that one of the head-masters is also an Englishman, and I heard he makes fun of their language to his Welsh scholars. Perhaps the influence of the two combined, i.e., of two or three ignorant persons who happened to be in positions of authority, was allowed to turn the judgment of the Board back from the course on which it had entered. I made it my business, shortly before hearing this, to call at another Monmouthshire school where a different Board, though by no means warmly attached to the Welsh idea gave the master liberty to teach Welsh as a specific. The sum of his testimony of the results of its introduction was : 1. That the children have a higher opinion of their language. 2. It is a success. 3. The children take an interest in it. 4. Their English is improved. Now, if it is so in this school, why should it not be so in 1100 out of 1425 schools in Wales? Can anyone give a clear answer in the negative ? I have read carefully, a good deal bearing on the subject during the last six years, and however much, invectives may be hurled, or contempt cast on those who work in the direction of bringing this about, nothing has yet been written or said which shews that the balance of evidence lies against the conclusion that this is about the proportion of schools in which Welsh can be used, either as a specific subject, or as a class subject side by side with EngHsh, or in the process of teaching elementary subjects, i.e. reading, writing and arithmetic. 198 WALES AND [CHAP. V. Into the 323 remainiag schools, perhaps it would be unwise to attempt to introduce anything of the sort at present, though with even where a minority of the population speak Welsh the Government concessions, still make it possible to teach it. A boy, John Smith, for instance, can read a page of a bilingual book in BngUsh, if he knows nothing of Welsh. The next boy, David Hughes, half a page in English and half in Welsh ; perhaps with general benefit to the class. The following table shews the progress of Welsh as a "specific" during four years : — 1887 1888 1889 1890 No. of scholars 1 examined in I 192 369 403 450 Welsh J Passed 140 253 285 271 We must not look on Welsh as a specific, simply as an arrangement for the benefit of Welsh children. English children learn the language readily in Welsh districts. Near the very Monmouthshire school above mentioned, I was told that English children learnt Welsh with their fellows, and preferred talking it. Children like those don't know much about nationality and sentiment — the real pleasure, doubtless, arises from the second language awaking a hidden spring of mental power, which they are able to enjoy without much effort. Putting specifics now for the moment aside, how does the current Report deal with other possible forms of teaching the language. Any thorough and widely extended system is, perhaps, not possible until the publication of the Text books, but in the meantime a little is possible in teaching English composition, in lieu of which translation from English into CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. 199 Welsh is allowed. AH teachers, and managers ought to know that this is now permissible, and does not neces- sarily require the use of specially prepared school books to carry it out. What does the Chief Inspector say ? Why, that he is " surprised B,nd disappointed" to find so few teachers availing themselves of it, while he is fully persuaded that the results would be more valuable than an attempt at Composition. The Cardigan Inspector, weary of the insipid monotony of some portions of his work, says, after speaking of certain teachers being not quite up to the mark in English grammar, that in some cases of the sort " Welsh might very well be attempted, for there are many teachers in the Welsh part of my district who could make the subject interesting and beneficial to their scholars. I should be glad if some tried it, only /or the sake of a little variety." [i.e. tried Welsh as a class subject]. Lastly, I Avill note the recommendation of the Merthyr Inspector, which, if carried into effect, would introduce Welsh into all standards and all schools, because that language would be incidental to the compulsory subject, reading. " It is, in my opinion, highly desirable that in all Welsh schools one of the reading books should be wholly or partly in the ver- nacular." He goes on to make the very sensible remark that parents are not capable judges of the merits of the change — is convinced that a Welsh child will not lose in a material sense, and will gain a great deal intellectually, — the bulk of teachers in his district could with very slight preparation qualify themselves for giving the bilingual instructions sanc- tioned by the Code of 1890. Now, what meaning can we attach to this backwardness, when no less than 339 of them gave affirmative answers as to the desirability of the introduction of Welsh as a specific in 200 WALES AND [CHAP. V. 1885 ? In part we must put it down to the fact that some of them may be waiting the appearing of Text Books, and only a few are in a position to introduce a specific to their schools. To be honest, however, this leaves a large part of the problem unexplained. 1 would venture on one hypothesis — they share that common inheritance of weak humanity, a reluctance to launch out into the unknown when the known presents a plausible amount of satisfaction and ease. ''' Illi robur et aes triplex Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci Commisit pelage ratem Primus * * '•'' I would figure them like those children whose first introduc- tion to the sea is at one of those Welsh watering-places where fond mothers have succeeded in steeling their own hearts to commit them to the care of some weather-beaten mistress of a bathing-machine, to give the young hopefuls willhe, nillhe, a good sousing into the briny deep. Now some teachers are just in the position to profit by such a good sousing metaphorically, but who will be able to play the part of Gwragedd glan y mor ? Of course, in view of the appearance of the long-looked for bilingual reading books, and the consequent introduction of Welsh into all the standards, much that I have vmtten here may read like ancient history, before the present school genera- tion has entirely left the benches. I must, nevertheless, treat the question as it is, and not as it may be in a short time ; only thus can its bearings be grasped intellectually. One cannot help strongly contrasting the extraordinary and popular demonstration at the death of the late D. I. Davies, * Horace, Carm. Lib. I. iii. — Around his heart were fixed stout oak and threefold brass, who first to the wild ocean entrusted his frail skiff. CHAP, v.] HER LANGUAGE. 201 his being treated almost like a national hero, the long procession and the imposing array of influential names who either honoured his memory by their presence at the grave, or by written communications, with the small amount of actual pains which have been taken by such to spread the views which he so energetically and ably set forth, and to educate the country up to the necessary degree of discrimination in a matter — appar- ently a detail of education, but in reality one of great and unforeseen importance. One cannot help, on the other hand, reflecting on the lethargy, shall I say boorishness, displayed by a large majority of school managers in the face of such clear representations as have been made in public, though they may not have troubled to direct their reading to the quarters where non-official statements would be likely to be found, or to the official repre- sentations made by persons such as D. I. Davies, Chief Inspector Williams, and W. Edwards, appointed by Govern- ment to superintend schools, and advise on any point which the powers of the Code allow. It is not the duty of the Inspectors (officially) to go and argue with these managers, but has there not been a Society established for the express object, amongst others, of educating public opinion ? If it has failed in taking proper steps to do that, and remained quiescent, whose fault is it? Have the admirers of D. I. Davies's educational principles nothing to say or do, and is the presence of an influential Englishman, or Anglicized Welshman on a School Board, to quash all enquiry and linguistic enterprise in a district? Wait a bit, and when the bilingual reading books are issued we shall again have an opportunity of seeing what mettle Welsh education- alists are made of. To ponder, in an unreasoning way, over parents' objections is childish. There are, however, some difficulties, one of the CO 202 WALES AND HEK LANGUAGE. [CHAP. V. principal ones of which is the want of previous training en the part of many teachers. But most or all of them will gradually vanish in a few years, or be greatly minimized under the influence of a special Code for Wales, and special regulations for would-be teachers. As the Chief Inspector has remarked, the movement has done good in inducing some Inspectors to pay more attention to the scholars understanding what they read in schools. This is good so far, but Wales needs more than this. The scholars should not only understand that which it is attempted to teach them in school, but also should have the advantage of systematic training in the language which is taught them at home, and which for many, will form their principal medium of communication for the remainder of their life. In short, the efforts of school authorities should be directed not merely to enable the scholars to understand English, but they should also not be afraid to T-E-A-C-H W-E-L-S-H. I will close the chapter by an extract* from a paper by one of the few schoolmasters who has had this practical experience — For the sake of our children, our chief care, who have so far been suffering wrong at our hands, inasmuch as an ignorant zeal has hindered their true progress, and we have taken from them the only means which they possessed of becoming intelligently instructed, to wit, their language — the only proper key to open the door of their minds — have slighted every thing that was dear and sacred in their eyes ; have robbed them of the self-confidence which was necessary in order for them to grow up as men, and be men everywhere. Our cry for them is, make their path straight by giving their language the position it is worthy of in our educational system, that there may be more sympathy between the hearth and the day school, because the latter will be a " home from home" to the children, which it has not been in the past. * Translated from " Cymraeg yn yr Ysgolion Dyddiol," gan T. Clement Thomas, in Y Traethodydd Gor. 1890. CHAPTER VI. Hbnby Kiohaeds' Lbttebs on Wales — Powbe op Tbadition — iNPLUBJsrcB OP Gentry, why Dbclining — Congubss at Swansea, 1879 — Lack op a Boubgeoisie in the Past — Necessity to Know THE Language to Know Wales — Cultubb op the Poobbb Classes — MONMOUTHSHIBB SHOEMAKER — POSSIBLE DbTBBIOEATION UNDBE BOMINANCB OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE — " MOEM WELSH EbAD THAN Ever " — Remarks on the Pbbsbnt Educational Standard — French and German — The James Shaw Controversy — Welsh University Colleges and their Scholarships. TN the three preceding Chapters, we have dealt with Welsh -^ principally as affected by school regulations. We will now endeavour to obtain a more general view of its present status and future prospects. In spite of the outcry in Wales, occasioned by the reports of the three Commissioners in 1847, English opinion, to a large extent, took its cue from them for several years. It was not, in fact, till eighteen years afterwards that any important portraiture of Wales calculated to reach English readers appeared. In 1866, a series of fourteen letters was published in the Morning and Evening Star, written by a comparatively un- known London Welshman, who held the office of Secretary to the Peace Society, and whose father had been a somewhat eminent Congregational preacher in Cardiganshire. Mainly in consequence of these letters, Henry Richard became a household name in Wales, mentioned with respect and affection; a seat in Parliament was open to iiim till the day of his death, and his work distinctly modified English opinion on the character of the Welsh people. In his opening letter he alludes to the three young barristers, who, went "groping about in the dark for some means of 204 WALES AND [CHAP. VI. acquiring the information they were in search of, fell into the hands of one class, who hoodwinked and misguided them in every possible way." Of course, the "one class " was that of the "gwfr mewn dillad duon." I quote his words, but perhaps they were a little one-sided. A considerable portion of the letters was taken up with matter bearing on the religious, moral and political character of the people, the dereliction and apathy of the Established Church in the past, the rise and popularity of Nonconformity, the unwillingness of the early Nonconformists to engage actively in politics, anomalies in political representations, evic- tions for voting against the landlord's views, and a refutation of the Commissioners' reports as regards the morality of the country. In reference to the latter he said — "I believe I can shew that though falling lamentably below the standard of the Divine law, it [Wales] has the right to claim credit for superior purity as compared with most of the other parts of the kingdom." The two letters which principally require comment here are those on the intellectual condition of the country, and the political influence of the gentry. In the former he expressed the belief that at no period had "the people of Wales sunk into that utter mental torpidity which marks" some portions of the English peasantry. He speaks of national traditions being cherished with great tenacity, and mentions that of Brdd y Cyllyll Hirion being still current in his boyhood. This is somewhat remarkable, the event happened somewhat near the Sixth century, and though it is perhaps impossible to prove that the tradition existed, not by means of concurrent manuscript testimony, but purely by the force of oral relation right down to the Nineteenth century, I am personally inclined to believe that this may be the CHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 205 case, and that the story would have been preserved much as we have it, independently of any literary evidences. People living in towns, which principally owe their existence to the industrial developments of modern civilization, and which attract to themselves varied and mixed populations from different districts and with different antecedents, have, I believe, generally little idea of the force of tradition in some Welsh country districts. I do not speak of legend (and perhaps Brdd y Cylhjll Hirion is of that class), but of what rests on reUable and historical foundations. We need not, how- ever, confine reliable and ancient traditions to Wales. Careful observers doubtless come across it repeatedly, in England. For instance, a descendant of a certain family named Prichard, which resided for some time close to Offa's Dyke, in Herefordshire, related, not many years ago, the family tradition that the Prichards had entertained the Black Prince. Now, Hallam's Constitutional History records the fact that a certain Picard did entertain that prince in London. Other evidence exists that the family residing on this spot right through the Norman and Plantagenet period was that of the Pritchards, Picards, or Pytchards, and that one or more of their number represented the county in Parliament. Hence, prima facie it appears clearly to point to the identity of the family tradition with the historical fact, and the former must have been continued in complete ignorance of the existence of the latter. I have also heard that the motto of this family was " Heb Dduw heb ddim, a Duw a digon," rendering it pro- bable that though of Norman origin they became Welsh- speaking. Adverting to the current literature of the country, the existence is noted of five quarterlies, twenty-five monthlies, and eight weeklies, circulated among an estimated Welsh reading and speaking population of 850,000. Concurrently with this. 206 WALES AND [OHAP. VI. there was a large circulation of English literature, which is still more the case to-day, even in districts where little but Welsh is heard at home. After saying that only for some twenty years had the Welsh begun to have anything like a political literature, he records the early struggle of the Amseran, in the hands of Owilym Hiraethog, who used to print it at Douglas, Isle of Man, to escape newspaper- duty, but on the gentry and clergy of North Wales, calling the attention of the Government to the fact, it had to be removed thence. Contrary to the wish of its opponents it survived and lives to-day, incorporated with the Baner in the well-known Baner ac Amserau Cymru. It is not surprising to find that Henry Richard devoted a letter to the political influence of the gentry. Although there are points of similarity, there are certain points of difference between the landed classes in Wales and England, which no Englishman, who lives in the country, and becomes one with the people, can fail to be struck with. Few nations are more disposed to attach themselves to families than the Welsh. Witness their almost servile follow- ing of the Tudors, their loyalty to the unworthy Stuarts, and the prestige which several old houses in Wales still enjoy, not on account of what their members are in themselves, but from the consciousness that they have descended from ancient lords of the land. Wales differs considerably from Ireland in this respect. There are very few estates, if any, which have the tradition of being property confiscated from native hands, and given into the hands of foreigners. Even the families with Norman names generally have some claim to represent an old Welsh stock, through intermarriage, and so far, there is a predisposition not to be over-critical, of the disposition and acts of the large landlords towards tenants. CHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 207 Over-riding all this, however, there are opposing forces which iu effect, place a considerable distance between the two classes, and which prevent their assimilation into an homo- geneous whole, viz. — , I. The deprivation which members of most of the county families have suffered through their early education, being wholly English, which prevents them from being fully qualified to be leaders of the people. About this defect, Henry Richard wrote as follows : — Many of the former are ignorant of the language of the country, and are rather proud of their ignorance, while others, who have acquired a little smattering of colloquial "Welsh, make no attempt to acquaint themselves with the current periodical literature, through which, in Wales as everywhere else, the national mind and heart and will, find expression. This is not a sentimental, but a very real and serious grievance ; for the people among whom they dwell remain unknown to the upper classes, or rather, what is far worse, they are misknown, the impressions of them which they receive being conveyed through a false medium — the medium of minds coloured and distorted by interest or prejudice. II. The difference of religion between the landed class and the mass of the people. If the landowners are really conscientiously convinced that it is their duty to be Conformist to the ritual of the State Church, and so long as they believe that a Spiritual omni- present Being requires such conformity, no one would deny their liberty to carry out their belief. It would, however, be doing them no injustice to say that a great many of their number could not strictly confess as much. It seems moreover passing strange, that intelligent men, not only in Wales, but England, should so implicitly pin their faith to the doctrine and ecclesiastical arrangements made in the middle of the sixteenth century by a few men who had 208 WALES AND [CHAP. VI. been mostly educated as Papists. Is it possible that they have never read the lesson of histoiy, that the progress of error from the first century downwards, was continual and slow; until, if it had not been ohecked by the civil power, it would have culminated in the freehold of the country being handed over to ecclesiastics by the dying possessors of uneasy con- sciences and until the freeborn Briton himself would have had nothing left he cotfld call his own ? If the progress of error has been slow, why should not the return from error be slow too, and why stick fast by the framers of the Book of Common Prayer, in the middle of the sixteenth century, and not entertain the idea that possibly some who dissented from the use of that book, had juster and clearer views of the relation of man to the Supreme Being than its authors? All this is a propos, because there are a large number of the privileged class who are not merely content with their own belief, but are very diligent by means of their Primrose League meetings, National Schools, favours to eglwysioyr, and slights to Nonconformists in endeavouring to prop up the now tottering establishment, which retains more of the rags of Rome than any denomination in the country. The time is coming, though not in the lifetime of the generation now on the scene of action, when not only the present supremacy of the reigning Sovereign {i.e. the Government), over a professedly religious body will be abolished, but in which there will be such a wide spread and conscientious acceptance of doctrines much more consistent with spiritual religion, that the present will be looked back to as a time of ignorance and darkness. A third cause why the "gentry" command less influence than they might otherwise do, is the fact that in a number of instances they marry English women. This, combined with the sort of religious and secular education they receive, gives CHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 209 them somewhat the character of aliens, separated from the mass of the people by a great gulf. Witness the present P of R , although descended from one of the fifteen Royal tribes, and his family has for hundreds of years lived in one of the most Welshy parts of Wales, he cannot speak " a word" of the language, whicli is not so nuich to be wondered at, as he comes from a stock that has now and again frowned fiercely upon dissent from the time of Richard Davies,* 1675, to the election of 1859. The representative of the family having gone to England for a wife, she has had the good sense to learn the language, and is credited with having moderated her husband's homage to the doctrine of the Divine right of kings and landlords to reign. Yet, the heir of the estate is monoglot English, notwithstanding, or rather is ignorant of Welsh, whatever he may know of foreign tongues. It is, perhaps, justice to the class spoken of to say that to some extent the Welsh revival has afi"ected them, and it is likely to affect them still more, if a Welsh University is estab- lished on a really National basis. To decide as to whether there is less intolerance now than a quarter of a century ago, I will leave to others. Certainly there is more civil liberty, and apparently a tendency to cultivate the Welsh language among some of the old families which did not exist then. If this is properly fostered, it ought to end in Welsh- speaking nurses being engaged for their children, a policy which it is to be hoped many more middle-class families in Glamorganshire will carry out, than has been the case. Some years ago, a colliery proprietor at Brymbo, near Wrexham, attempted this, but the maid engaged for his family was so * Richard Davies says that Colonel P. was not in the main a persecutor, but was put on by some " peevish clergymen, so called." — Philadelphia Ed., p 125. DD 210 WALES AND [CHAP. VI. anxious to learn English that she neglected teaching her charge Welsh. This was, I suppose, about 1860 ; and though such cases would be less likely to occur now, it would be safer to engage a duoglot person. To endeavour to present an accurate and faithful portraiture of the social, moral and mental forces which affect the use of the language in Wales, would necessitate the writing of some 200,000 family monographs, and the weaving of them into a complete whole. Perhaps a German specialist will in the dim future direct his mental camera in this direction, and present to the astonished world a complete delineation of the various shades of subjective and objective phenomena which the co-existence of the Welsh and English languages gives rise to. My work in this direction can hardly be otherwise than patchy, but if patchy, and unworthy the name of a monograph, it occupies ground to a large extent untraversed by Enghsh pens. We will now examine another witness ; this time it is neither a popular favourite — an ex-Dissenting preacher, nor an obscure Newport tradesman — it is an Offeiriad of the very mother Church that you of the wide-spreading acres and the rent rolls delight to honour. D. Williams, in the 1 879 Episcopalian Congress, at Swansea, read a paper on the Welsh Church press, in the course of which he said — Bishops and barons leading the ran, with a motley crew of country squires and clerical expectants officiating in the rear, have expelled the "Welsh language from their drawing-rooms ; and she, with the true instinct of womanly reyenge, has shut the heart of the nation against them, that they shaU no longer be rulers of her people. There are very few parishes in Wales without a resident landlord, to whom the people look up with more or less expecta- tion. These natural leaders of the people, because uneducated, and perversely ignorant of the language, have abdicated their proud CHAP. VI,] HER LANGUAGE, 211 position, and allowed the people to be led by those who had no business to be leaders of the people at all.* This, my readers, is one side of the question given by the eloquent pen of a writer to whom, notwithstanding his facility in it, English was a foreign language; after describing how the nation is not led, he describes how it is led: — It is the Welsh-speaking portion of the community, under the speU of their weekly and monthly periodicals, who wield the political power in the Principality ; and it is impossible to gain their confidence by ignoring their language. There is one tenant- farmer in Welsh Wales, whom I know well, who wields a mightier political influence than the four Bishops, four Deans, and ten Archdeacons of Wales put together. The united forces of the hierarchy cannot sway the will of the nation with the magic that this one Welsh tenant-farmer can. In inserting the following paragraph I am reminded of the rema»k made to me by a young Lampeter man. "Welsh does not pay. The best livings are given to English preachers," D. Williams, after alluding to the Welsh EncycIop£edia,-f- which, he says, in point of fulness, research and learning, need not shrink from comparison with similar works in England, says — Our literature — our modern literature — is to a great extent peasant literature ; contributed and read by them ; and that almost every clergyman who was found guilty of any literary ability had to incur episcopal displeasure with its demoralising results ; I ask, is it a matter of wonder that the Church suffers from a decadence of literary ability, and that the people have become in the main a nation of Dissenters ? The reading monoglot is a Dissenter. There are clergy living amongst us at the. present moment, of European fame as philologists, and of unimpeachable character, and most efficient as parish priests, coldly left in poor and obscure country * Extract from report in South Wales Daily News, 10 mo., Uth, 1879. t Y Gwyddoniadw Gymraeg, published by Gee Denbigh. 212 WALES AND tCHAP. Vl. parishes, who, if they had produced in the English language the learned works they hare in Welsh, would long ago haye found a becoming recognition at the hands of the rulers of the Church. Justice demands that the same consideration should be shown to authors in the "Welsh language. Another who took part in the Congress spoke in high con- tempt of the idea that because English is generally understood, not much attention need be paid to the vernacular ; he calls this a terrible argument when applied to the "Welsh Church," i.e. the Episcopalian body. This is the policy which has thrust on us men, clever enough indeed to learn our tongue, but never to feel it, or for the people who speak it. Our tongue cannot be learned by a stranger, its fire burns only in the native breast.* This is why the "Welsh, though a duoglot people, linger delightedly on the accents of a speaker, however halting, who addresses them in their own language, while the sublimest thoughts otherwise expressed fail to reach more than the ear, and leave the audience unimpressed. The above extracts will be of some assistance in elucidating the position of what are called the upper classes towards the Welsh language. So far from being themselves, as in former ages, the literateurs of the country, and leaders in thought as well as in action, they are obliged, to a considerable extent, to take a secondary position, which is in part the result of demo- cratic influences common to England and Wales, and, in part, the outcome of the legislation of Henry VIII. We should do well, moreover, to bear in mind that up to within recent years Wales can scarcely be said to have had a middle class. The backbone of a nation in such times as ours is the existence of an intelligent and conscientious bourgeoisie. It was the bourgeoisie which enabled England to shake off the * But then the " native breast " is sometimes found the other side Offa's Dyke. CSAP, VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 213 yoke of the Stuarts, and it was just the absence of that class which placed Wales in an antagonistic position to the Parlia- mentary powers in 1645. Even at the present day we cannot go into some English towns without being reminded that their burghers three or four centuries ago were capable of great things, and that in point of material accommodations and social intelligence, they must have been considerably in advance of the working country population. The middle class in Wales, such as it is, has largely been created by the industrial developments of the Nineteenth cen- tury. The fathers and grandfathers of most of the well-to-do tradesmen, merchants, and professional men, at least in South Wales, were to be found in very different spheres of life. I believe that this is one of the factors, which accounts for the undefinable social differences met with by a person who has lived in Bristol, Gloucester, or Hereford, when he comes to make his home in Wales. The absence of a middle class has operated in this way: socially and intellectually, the people have been left very much to carve out their own path. This has resulted in the establishment of a certain standard of native culture, par- ticularly in North Wales, but it has also had the effect of throwing a very much larger proportion of influence into the hands of the preachers of the various nonconforming denomi- nations than they would otherwise have possessed owing to the fact of their being almost the only educated persons repre- senting popular aspirations. I am speaking, of course, of a state of things which is passing away, but one which for many years to come, will leave its stamp on the character of Wales. In South Wales, notwithstanding the spread of English, there is still far too much isolation of the mining population from outside influences which certainly would not be the case had these populations grown up for one or two generations 214 WALES AND [OHAP, VI. surrounded by such a middle class as they would naturally look up to with confidence. The new middle class in Wales represents two distinct lines of influence, the one distinctly Welsh, the other Anglicized or entirely English ; I shall, however, illustrate my meaning better by saying that in Wales there are in reality two social and intellectual worlds ; the one is practically unapproachable from the outside, except through a familiarity with the Welsh language, either in its colloquial or literary forms, or both ; the other is simply a provincialized aspect of English life and thought. The first class of persons move in both those spheres, the second move in the latter only. There are Englishmen who have been living in Wales for years, entering into the relations of every-day hfe with its people, following the course of events as recorded in Enghsh papers published in Wales, who, not- withstanding they may be on terms of familiarity with their neighbours, are still foreigners. They may think they know Wales, but they do not, and cannot in the same sense, as those who understand the national literature, or the Dual character of a Duoglot people. No doubt there are, notwithstanding what has been said, many Englishmen, as well as many Welshmen, who feel that this is not satisfactory. The best practical remedy, it appears to me, is not to attempt to hasten the decay and death of Welsh, but to introduce it into the curriculum of middle class schools. Until, however, a Welsh University is founded this will be exceedingly difficult to any great extent, because middle class schools aim at adapting their course to English University examinations, where Welsh is not taken into account at all, and because the conventional ideas attached to the word "education," in Wales, create a barrier in the way. The University of London has had, I believe, at least two appeals to make room for Welsh as an optional subject at their OHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 215 matriculation, but hitherto without effect. I was indeed told, some years ago, by no less an authority than the late D. I. Davies, that the Senate feared a desire for Home Rule for Wales lay behind one of these appeals, but found out their mistake when too late to alter their decision. Meanwhile time goes on, and an increasing number of the well-to-do middle classes enter on the battle of life unequipped by such a desir- able addition to their acquirements, as a moderate literary knowledge of the language, if not an efficient colloquial one, would give them, and this remark need not be withdrawn, even in some cases where English is the prevailing language. There is no doubt that one important factor in lessening the influence of the Welsh language on the middle classes is just that which has hastened the decay of Manx,* viz., not only English in the concerns of every-day life, and the flood of English literature, which necessarily biasses the mental action, but also what we call "respectability," and perhaps I might say a false standard of it. This is what a vernacular paper (F Goleuad) says on the subject — There is not a word in the Welsh language corresponding with the English word " respectability," — Neither does Wales require it whilst it retains its native characteristics. It is a foreign term, representing foreign habits ; but the misfortune is that there are many among us who try to imitate the foreigner. There is no class of persons whom we despise and hate more than the " respectables." There is too much of it in religious circles. Persons are appointed deacons because they are respectable, and others are turned aside because of their poverty. Nonconformity stands in serious danger on account of the spread of respectability. * I once asked Professor Ehys if he could account for this decay of Manx ■ like nearly every one who is asked a similar question about Wales in districts where English gains ground, he was somewhat at a loss to reply, but narrated how, when a friend of his, who is a competent Manx scholar, was about preaching in that tongue on a certain occasion, one of the better-to-do of the congregation got up and walked out, 216 WALES AND [CHAP. VI, Be careful about "despising and hating," otherwise we will say — Da iawn, Goleuad goleuedig ! The middle class, however, is every day growing larger and more wealthy in Wales, in fact the very Methodism of the 18th Century has tended to create a middle class, though very much handicapped till recently, through the scarcity of any means of obtaining more than a very elementary education. As to the Third class, constituting the mass of the popula- tion, and who make up Wales in a more complete sense than the corresponding class make up England : I would include in it for the present purpose, all persons whose secular education has been principally or wholly derived from the Elementary Schools. The word education must of course be understood in a popular, rather than in a precise sense. In Welsh Wales few things strike a stranger more than the literary activity manifested by those who would be called " uneducated people " in England, and not merely that, but we find also originality of mind, though taking a different turn from that we generally meet with in the poor. Take for instance Die Aberdaron, in station little better than a labourer, but the compiler of a Welsh-Greek-Hebrew Dic- tionary, whose character was, however, more eccentric than useful. Then again, lolo Morganwg, the son of a stone-cutter, in Glamorganshire, one of the men who assisted in bringing to light portions of Welsh literature of the middle ages, till then lying in manuscript, and which publication gave an impetus to the study of Welsh literature, that has never quite spent its force. lolo was a man of ideas, and a man of principles, too ; he refused a " windfall " several years before his death because it had been acquired by means of slavery. An English memoir of him by Elijah Waring is long since OHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 217 out of print. In the appendix is given a strikingly fine elegy on the occasion of his death, by Gwallter Mechain, beginning — O Gweddw ddawn, ei ddawn a ddwg, Mawr gwynion bro Morganwg. I know personally a (Monmouthshire) Welshman, of quite humble birth, who was brought up in a village where the language was nearly extinct, but was taught Welsh by his mother, and has since acquired a literary knowledge of nearly every important European tongue, including modern Greek and Russian, besides the classical and one or two Semitic ones, while he is reported to speak Italian " like a native." All this is without ever going to any school beyond the village one, without any apparent aim or ambition to "rise in Ufe," and with scarcely travelling outside the limits of his native county. Anglo Saxon he leaves out of his list, telling me he cannot bring his mind to tackle it — the language of Hengist, and of the holders of the Cyllyll hirion. Such persons have frequently a strong sense of racial affinity. "I have," said he "visited Bristol, Exeter, and Oxford, but I could not live at either place. I have only to cross the Bristol Channel and I am among foreigners." Last summer he visited County Down, in the North of Ireland, there, said he, " I feel at home at once. I could live there, if necessary, the population is mixed, but much like that we have at home, and what we see come into Newport from the Western Valleys." His remark probably implied that he found himself in the presence of a Celtic, mixed with a partly Celticized Teutonic population. From Anglicized- Wales we will go to Welsh- Wales, to another acquaintance of the author's, in quite unpretentious cir- cumstances in the world, living in a village where little English is spoken, and where I presume he received his education. His EB 218 WALES AND [CHAP. VI. English is good, and not satisfied with that, he is also a French reader, and possesses a number of books, including several volumes of La R4vue Gdtiqm, and one or two philosophical works, besides beiiig a contributor to the Welsh Press. If he had been an Oxfordshire villager in similar circumstances, what would his library have contained ? Perhaps a Veterinary Handbook, an English Dictionary, and a few Dissenting or Episcopalian publications, as the case may be. Let Englishmen who sigh for the day when the echoes of the last word of native Welsh will expire amid the craggy heights of Snowdon, and let half ignorant Welshmen, who profess to believe that Welsh culture is an incubus, listen to the testimony of Anna Thomas, an Englishwoman, living at Bethesda vicarage, near Bangor — There is no English in church or chapel for miles round. We are, however, in full communication by rail with the outer world, and our people are in no way behind in civilisation, being excep- tionally refined and intelligent. More English there certainly is within my knowledge of the district during fourteen years, much more English, but not one whit less Welsh. Both English and Welsh newspapers are largely bought, and EngUsh literature is studied to an extent that would put to shame many an educated Englishman. The two languages flourish side by side, doing each other no wrong, but much good to their duoglott possessors. We have a large class for the study of English literature, and the masterly way in which English is there turned into Welsh and vice versa would convince the greatest enemy of Welsh that the two languages are better than one, if only for the intellectual training in exactness of expression and grasp of idea.* Once again — this time it is George Borrow making com- parison between "a Welshman and an Englishman of the lower class." He had been talking to a country miller's man, * WesternlMail, 1885. CHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 219 who understood and translated verses from Taliesin, repeated by G. B., and informed him of the whereabouts of the place (Pont y meibion) where Huw Morris had lived. This called forth the remark : " What would a Suffolk miller's swain have said, if I had repeated to him verses out of Beowulf or even Chaucer, and had asked him about the residence of Skelton?"'* I have on two or three occasions heard working men or small tradesmen lament the fact that they were ignorant of Welsh. During a journey, in the course of which some of the information given in this book was collected, I called at Knighton (Tref y Clawdd), situate on OfFa's Dyke, and where for perhaps one hundred years, no indigenous Welsh has been spoken. At the Railway Station, on leaving, I entered into conversation with an intelligent man (keeper of a coffee-house in the town) who came from the central part of Radnorshire (at or near Llanbadarn Fynydd). He lamented being cut off from a knowledge of Welsh, and spoke of it, while praising the language, as a "great intellectual loss." I have also an acquaintance, a shoemaker, in a small town in the Eastern Valleys of Monmouthshire, whose circle of reading includes Charles Lamb and Coleridge. The latter he expressed great admiration for, and gave me a commission to procure him, second hand, George Fox's Journal, for which he was prepared to go to double the sum I first suggested. How had he come to hear of George Fox ? He had read about him, and was there not a description of a Quaker's meeting in Charles Lamb's writings^-I- a volume of which was produced. Canst thou speak Welsh ? 1 said. No, I vdsh I could. * John Skelton, a Fifteenth century English poet, t See "Essays of Elia." 220 WALES AND [CHAP. VL How is that; wast thou not taught it when thou wast young ? No, I was brought up an Episcopalian, and my father was quite under the parson, who brought pressure to bear, and told him that he should not teach his children to learn Welsh, and now I am the sufferer. I would give fifty pounds to know it. My mother is a Welsh woman, and can speak it well. I remarked that such writers as Coleridge had culture of thought, but they had not such a complete power of expres- sion as the Welsh language affords. To this he agreed, adding, "sometimes a word in Welsh has an indescribable meaning, and it makes me elated — the very thought of it." I am strongly inclined to suspect that the parson above alluded to was one of the heroes of 1847, and belonged to that class of Episcopalians who appear to have regarded the extirpation of the Welsh language as one of thteir peculiar missions, and who are even now represented in the.,fiountry. In the district where my friend the shoemaker lives, success has nearly crowned their efforts or their wishes, or both. Not long ago I was travelling near Ebbw Vale in a compart- ment with some working men, on the day of the flower-show. One of them, a strong powerfully built man, of middle age, was talking with equal facility in Welsh and English, and spoke the latter, if I recollect right, much more free from the local accent than is usual. On enquiry I found he was of English parentage, one parent being from Wiltshire and one from Bristol. English was his mother tongue. He preferred Welsh to English, but his physique was English, not Welsh. Now under the present so-called enlightened system of education in Monmouthshire, an English child, such as this man was some thirty years ago, would not have the chance of OHAP. VI.] HEK LANGUAGE. 221 becoming bilingual, that is, the Welsh element in the district of Aberbeeg is not now sufficiently strong to spread in English families which it might do to some extent, were Welsh intro- duced into all standards by means of Bilingual reading books. This would give many such children indirectly a wider range of ideas, and a greater comn^and even over their own language without much extra labour on the part of the teachers, especially if the character of the text books obviated the necessity of trying to get a dull English boy to read Welsh, This man is, I believe, only a sample of many more either in this county or Glamorgan, where a large amount of English blood exists in persons speaking the Welsh language, from parents who have come to Wales in the last 60 or 70 years. I was struck with this lately at Mountain Ash, on one of the colliers' idle days, when little but Welsh was heard in their conversation, but the signs of English descent, if I mistake not, were numerous. It is important for the welfare of Wales that the children of the foreign settlers who have arrived more recently, should be engrafted into the national life, for which purpose the day schools must be brought into requisition, and now there are so many facilities for travelling and cheap reading, bilingualism should not be left to the chances of learning by the ear only. The English immigration between 1830 and 1850 has probably Anglicized the country far less than that between 1870 and 1890, for the following reasons: In 1830 — 1850, the new comers were absorbed with greater readiness into the Welsh speaking population, because the influence of daily contact with the latter was not so much neutralized by a one-sided system of education which was at that period extremely loose and ineffective, and sufficient time had not elapsed to build many English meeting houses ; consequently in many cases the children of English people attended Welsh Bible classes ; they 222 WALES AND [OHAP. VI. learned there to read the language, and to some extent this process is going on to-day. Lastly, the English Press had not learned to cater for the masses, and pour forth such a flood of penny weeklies, good, bad, and indifferent, as now seek admittance in the homes of working people, as well as others. I hope to show before this work is finished, that all that does not necessarily imply the extinction of Welsh, or of its cultiva- tion as a literary language, if only school facilities for bilin- gualism are created, but I think we have evidence that where such facilities are denied in districts such as I have described, not only does the power to read and write Welsh cease, but the English reading of the population is of a lower tone, and denotes lower culture than it otherwise might, and that it becomes more difiicult for them to rise in the social scale. A short time since I called on the publisher of the leading Welsh paper in the colliery districts of East Glamorgan, and asked him what was his experience as to its circulation. " To give you my humble opinion," said he, "the old generation who have learnt Welsh in the Sunday school is dying out, and their places are not being filled up." It may not be fair to bring this -forward as a test case : if the aforesaid paper was in the hands of a man of literary ability, who not merely knew Wales, but had known how to make use of the literary power to be found in his district, and printed his paper well, I believe the circulation would soon rise, and permeate a higher stratum than before, with a correspondingly increased value in the advertisements, and that, in spite of its socialistic and democratic tendencies. If his observation implied that there were fewer Welsh readers in the district than twenty years ago, I think he was wrong, as in the Rhondda Valleys the Welsh Independents alone, in 1890, numbered eleven more edifices than in 1877, the numbers being sixteen for 1877, and twenty-seven for 1890, OHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 223 while the edifices of the English section increased by six ; the amounts collected from Welsh congregations amounted for the total period to £84,470, from the English to £12,720. From the above it appears that, taking the Independents' statistics as samples of others, that there has been a very considerable increase in the number of persons commg under Welsh influences, accompanied with indications that a con- siderable proportion of the younger part of such population is not sufficiently familiar with the language to read its secular literature freely, although members of Welsh Bible classes, which would in part account for the falhng off the publisher of the complained of. From North Wales, however, we learn a different tale. In 1890 I conversed with one of the leading Welsh pub- lishers, who assured me " we sell more Welsh books now than ever we did," and in 1876 with another well known publisher, who made a similar remark. Similar evidence as regards his own paper was collected from the mouth of a leading North Welsh newspaper proprietor in 1890. The rationale of this undoubtedly appears to be, that, though Welsh is spoken over a slightly decreasing area, and, notwithstanding the partial disuse of the literary language in some industrial districts of South Wales, the actual amount of current Welsh literature has rather increased within the last twenty years. This last phenomenon is partly accounted for by the more general spread of education, but I think there can be no doubt that in South Wales the presence of a large foreign element in the population, whose children are denied the opportunity in the day sfchools of becoming Welshmen, exercises a paralyzing influence on the development of Welsh literature. This will come under notice later on. The most formidable resistance ofliered to the culture and 224 WALES AND [OHAP. VI. use of the Welsh springs from the widely current idea, not confined to the ex-Lampeter cleric, that "Welsh does not pay." How far this is so, in regard to persons of his class,* others are more competent to judge than myself, but I would say, (1) that this difficulty is much exaggerated in the minds of many people ; (2) the residuum of truth there is in the saying is accounted for partly by arbitrary and artificial causes, which are removable, and partly by natural causes (if we may call them so), which are unremovable, except by a very unlikely sequence of events. That is to say, that if Welsh does not pay, to a certain extent this is accounted for by social and educational influences which are within the power of the people to alter or modify, so as to make it "pay," while there will be continually, on the other hand, a counter influ- ence arising from the power of association and close intimacy with England, commercially if in no other direction, tending to the use of English ; yet to regard this exclusively would be folly. Not merely are the linguistic and mental problems which the existence of two languages in Wales presents somewhat intricate, but when intelligently considered they yield no little interest — to myself both interest and astonishment. The ordinary Welshman takes the existing state of things to which his father and his grandfather has been more or less used all their lives, as a matter of course, and sees little peculiar about the circumstances and vitality, either of the colloquial or literary language. The ordinary Englishman in Wales also sees nothing peculiar about the present use of the language, which he complacently believes to be quietly dying out, and which in the interim must be patiently suffered, as a temporary anomaly. * How sordid and repugnant to Christianity is the idea of studying to preach with a view of its "paying." CHAP. VI.J HER LANGUAGE. 225 I cannot, however, help believing that an intelligent stranger, were it possible for him to enter the scene free from previous associations or knowledge of Wales from any source, would find much here to call forth his wonder. In the first place he could not fail to be struck by the con- tradictions inherent in the Celtic nature, and he would have to face apparent contradictions at almost every turn of the road, whether he looks back to the Fifteenth century and recalls the bitter hatred of England then existing, and the uprising which, had it been successful, would have ended (so contemporaries thought) in the extinction of the English language, and then remembers the tendency in the Sixteenth, to forget everything distinctly Welsh, or whether, on the other hand, he regards the zealous resentment with which every apparent slight rendered their language is visited by the natives, who then turn round, and give the slight themselves, or neglect to provide for its preservation ; he will recollect, too, the vast amount of pabulum for national pride, supplied by the Eisteddfod, the loud pretensions of its supporters as to its encouraging the literature of the country, and yet with scarce a murmuring voice the same persons will allow their birth- right to be steadily, stealthily and surely stolen from their children without any approach to a practical protest ; he will see bardic daggers drawn about trivialities, and then when Time has ended all, for one of the combatants there will be the glowing Cwynau coll Enwogion (Elegies for the illustrious dead). All this is a matter of course to — I was going to say, the naturalized Welshmen. It is in itself a strange thing to see one of the nations making up the British nation, speaking a language what has ceased to be the officially recognized for three centuries and a half; while not merely has such recognition been wanting in matters of civil 226 WALES AND [CHAP, VI. administration which may be said to concern every householder if not every individual, but the education of rich and poor, with unimportant exceptions, has been conducted on a basis which simply treats the Welsh language as non-existing, although, as we have seen, its use as a medium of verbal con- versation between teacher and scholar is occasionally absolutely necessary. Again, leaving out of sight students at theological colleges, it would not be far from the mark to draw the corollary from the above, and say that every scrap of literary knowledge of Welsh possessed for centuries by high and low, as well as the ability to communicate their ideas through its medium in writing has been obtained, quite outside what school* or College training they may have had. It has indeed, I believe, not unfrequently been the case that ambitious parents, wishing a professional career for their children, have studiously barred their way from becoming proficient in Welsh, so that they might the more readily satisfy a board of examiners, or obtain appointments ; or, perhaps, if a youth is intended to appear as an Episcopalian preacher, he comes forth as a half-fledged Welshman, with just sufficient of Rowland's grammar in his brain to take a "cure" and disarm opposition, but with nothing like a colloquial or literary mastery of the language. So long as the syllabus of subjects in public examinations excludes Welsh, this state of things must continuej for Welsh- men come out apparently inferior to others, whom they might otherwise excel (if judged by some mental-strength testing- machine), because they have had to learn in the course of their lives one more language than their competitors, which the arbitrary standard of the examiner does not give them credit for. * The term school is used in reference to recognized secular education. CHAP. VI.] HER LANGTTAGE. 227 Long custom has so thoroughly ingrained into the minds of the people the idea that education implies casting Welsh to the winds, and to rise in life they must not only learn English, but English must also be, if possible, the sole medium of instruction, as well as of legal administration, that the net result has undoubtedly been a dwarfing of their ability as accurate thinkers and speakers. Such an education bears resemblance to the antiquated and monkish education of the middle ages, when, as we have seen, EngUsh boys were taught to construe into French — the language of the barons, of Parliament and the law courts, i.e., they were not simply taught French, but were taught it in a way involving a great waste of mental labour, English being apparently excluded from the schoolroom. In a similar way Latin was taught later on — Latin, the lingua franca oi the learned of Europe, and the base of a large portion of our language, taught if I mistake not, by means of books which excluded the home language from the view of the scholar. Perhaps circumstances rendered it defensible then, but who would dream of teaching it thus now. It is somewhat striking that Forster's Education Act, passed under the rigid scrutiny of Parliament, in 1870, and framed, no doubt, under the cognizance of men specially conversant with Elementary Education in the British Isles, should have entirely ignored the existence of the Welsh language. This seems to indicate a hope at headquarters that the teaching of English to every Welsh child, and fostering the old mediaeval idea of excluding the mother tongue, either as a subject of instruction, or as a written medium of iustrnction, would soon be the means of sounding its death-knell. Now the real aim of a National Education Department should be primarily neither to compass the extension of a 228 WALES AND [OHAP. VI. language nor to introduce another as a medium of social Intercourse. It should be rather to educate — draw out — expand the mental powers of the children under its care, and to store their memories with useful facts, by the simplest, most economical and effective means within their reach, partly with reference to the exterior conditions of life in which the children are placed, and in which the large majority are likely to pass their hves, and partly without such a reference, to strengthen their command of thought and language, their faculties of observation and reasoning, ever consistently with the exercise of the moral sense and judgment. There is a great want of appreciation of what education really is among some teachers, who, like the parents, think of it too much as a mechanical implement for earning so much hard cash ; in the first place, as it affects their own pockets ; in the next, as it affects their scholars in after life. I am satisfied that too narrow and contracted a view on their part prevails in Wales. Much is said about the advantages of technical education, and rightly so ; but if the public imagine that it is the duty or in the power of day schools to teach boys and girls handicrafts whereby they may earn their living in after life, they are much mistaken. Even in this technical educa- tion cry, there is too little of the educational and too much of the hai'd cash idea. What is wanted, and what will shortly be accomplished, is greater attention to the simultaneous* training of the eye and hand with the intellect. It is doubtful if any system of Government grants and trained teachers will do much towards teaching a competent practice of any particular handicraft or * Simultaneous refers to such training being combined in making up part of the school course ; not necessarily to the combination taking place at a given moment of instruction. CHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 229 profession. What they can do is to prepare the minds of pupils the more readily, thoroughly, and quickly to master their work when it comes on them in the future, by the intel- ligent application of general principles. In some branches, however, of technical or semi-techinical work, day schools, apart from evening classes, may be of con- siderable service to the nation, for instance, by teaching chemistry and botany, as applied to the theory of agriculture; or by teaching the use of carpenter's tools, on such a system as the Swedish sloyd, which means, doubtless, work spread over EXTRA HOURS, if efficiency in other respects is maintained. But extra houi's will well pay for themselves, without much danger of overstrain, in so far as they are spent over manual rather than brain work. Much is said also about the great desirability of learning French and German to prepare for commercial life, and to compete with foreign clerks. What I am about to say has reference rather to intermediate than elementary education, though French is pressed into service now in "technical" even- ing classes. The outcry about French and German brings us in contact with the hard cash idea. As a matter of fact German is not of much use to Englishmen as a commercial language; an employer could probably procure a German clerk by adver- tising in the Daily Telegraph cheaper than an English, one, and even if he prefers the latter there are very few openings in South Wales for the commercial use of German. If an importer, for instance, wishes to write to a German firm, probably they would be glad to write back in English. Then, as to French, there are a few vacancies in South Wales now and then for French correspondents, but very few in com- parison with the number of middle-class youths every year let loose from the trammels of school. The language which is com- mercially used in South Wales next frequently to French, 230 WALES AND [CHAP. VI. and which affords far more prospect than German of possible use in the future, either at home or abroad, as a commercial language, is Spanish, and yet this is generally acquired by self study, or aided by tuition to only a small extent. Do I advocate dropping French and German out of the middle-class curriculums ? No, because the effort to acquire them is itself educative ; because it broadens the sympathies and widens the mental horizon ; and because their literature in any one branch of Science is a mine of wealth. It is a favourite idea with some schoolmasters that French and German are to be studied on account of the remains of their classical writers. Practically that comes to little, beyond, I fear, a perusal of writers who had better be left unread. With reference, however, to French as a subject of " tech- nical" instruction, we may believe that if the young men who wish to learn it, had first a year's drilling in Welsh grammar and composition (where Welsh is spoken) before tackling French at all, that they would ultimately make better progress : consequently such a course would pay better than the present, notwithstanding the contemptuous cry of " waste of time " which would probably be raised. In the town in which I write, a Young Men's Friendly Society has been formed, with evening classes. I was informed by the teacher connected with it, that when it was left to the option of the youths offering themselves, which language they would be taught, each of them with a Welsh patronymic, without exception, chose Welsh. None of them, so far as is known, could speak it. So far as I have been able to read Welsh life, those who really stand the best chance of taking a lead in Wales, are the sons of small farmers or shopkeepers in the thoroughly Welsh parts of Wales, where little else is heard round the fireside, and who think during their early years entirely in Welsh, CHAP. VI.] HER LAJSGUAGE. 231 although later on they may have to think in English, and undergo some humiliations in surmounting the difficulties of acquiring it. Not unfrequently the doctor or the lawyer are Welsh in sympathy, but unused to Welsh as a literary weapon, while the class above alluded to, produce some of the writers whose names are known up and down the country to a larger extent than is the case with their compeers in England, than whom not only are they of more literary habits, but often able to command a greater range of ideas, in spite of all that is said about the narrowness of a Welshman's vision. The real truth is that in attempting to analyze the phenomena of Welsh life we are continually confronted with paradoxes, and with con- tradictory assertions, both of which have some element of truth in them, whether we make enquiries either into the national character, the use of the language colloquially, the extent of the literature, or even the attitude of the people towards such an institution as the Established Church. The following will serve as a partial illustration of my meaning, and in any case it may be taken as a fairly typical illustration of the conflicting linguistic and social elements in Wales at the present day, although it is now twelve years since the incident happened. In the autumn of 1879, a person named James Shaw, whether English or Scotch is not quite clear, wrote to the Times newspapers, from Taibach, near Swansea, bitterly complaining of what he called the bilingual misfortune of Wales, and giving that as a reason why " Welsh industry is scarcely keeping abreast of the day, and culture and learning seem to have no home here." Oh what a hornet's nest that letter stirred up ; what cor- respondence in the Western Mail and South Wales Daily News extending over some eight weeks. I query much 232 WALES AND [CHAP. VI. whether anything of the sort has created an equal sensation in South Wales since the days of the famous " Brad y Ihjfrau gleision," of 1847, affecting, as it did, the moral character of the people. I will give some extracts from writers who took part in this controversy : the first is from the letter of James ShaAv him- self, to the London Times : — In this valley from which I write there are about 7,000 people. Let me at once say that we have no bards, no curious antiquarian lovers of Welsh traditions, no learned enthusiasts seeking to pre- serve the continuity of Welsh legends or Cymric philology ; and I have never heard of or seen these worthies except at Eisteddfods, where they generally managed to be conspicuous by their eccentri- city. Our people here have to earn their daily bread, and in this matter of language are the mere creatures of a custom which they are not encouraged to throw off, but which they feel to be a constant disadvantage. The whole population of this valley speaks Welsh; but the curious thing is that, although we have 1,600 children at school, not a word of Welsh is taught there. The children speak Welsh at home, the little which they do read is in Welsh, and they attend Welsh services on Sunday, They are doing only what their fathers and grandfathers before them have done in this valley. Not one of them can speak Welsh grammatic- ally, because they have never been taught it. Tou may imagine the difficulties under which such children labour in acquiring the English education which we give them ; in nine cases out of ten it ends in complete failure. Our children leave the schools at 13 or 14 years of age with the elementary smattering of English which they have with difficulty been taught, they go into the collieries or the ironworks, and in four or five years you would never believe that one of them had ever entered an English school. A few who are made pupil teachers or clerks in the offices are the only exceptions. Welshmen are deploring the low state of intermediate and higher education in Wales ; but there can be no CHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 233 love of education in a people placed^ so disadvantageously. A people educated in this way are neither able to enjoy the language they speak nor the language they acquire ; and until Wales has made its choice it will remain, what I believe it now is, the worst educated nation in Europe. The great mass of the people are at present losing the advantage which a good and sound knowledge of even one language would give them. The result is that they read no literature and devote themselves to music, which is universal, and in which they excel. Now Shaw overlooked two questions which materially affect a practical judgment on the linguistic state of Wales : — First — Is the genius of the Welsh people, independently of language, likely to present to the world the Faradays, the Watts, and the Arkwrights, whose absence he called upon them, in his reply to his critics, to mourn ? If not, he was making a bugbear that would not stand the strain of careful examination. Second — Supposing the Welsh are badly educated, what- ever proof is there that their language is the cause ? I am, however, inclined to think that if the managers of Elementary Schools and their teachers were really well educated (where no Party or Ecclesiastical prejudice came in the way), they would frequently see the importance of introducing Welsh into their classes, and try to do away with at least some part of the reproach thrown out by Jas. Shaw, " A people educated in this way are neither able to enjoy the language they speak nor the language they acquire." There is really far more truth in this statement as applied to many districts in South Wales than has been generally supposed, and so far, we must credit him with good sound sense. He speaks of it being a " curious thing " that there were 1,600 children at school, but not one word of Welsh was taught there, yet appeared scarcely willing to directly admit that this was an irrational and harmful thing. 234 WALES AND [CHAP. VI. Of course several of the correspondents who replied to his communication recognised the fact that he did not really know Wales, after only two years residence, though it seems very difficult to convince intelligent hard-headed Englishmen, who have only seen one side of the medal, that they haven't seen the obverse. No doubt J. S., after such a short time, had not had time or opportunity to become acquainted with the literaiy history of Wales and its self-taught men, or to form a fair estimate of the amount of general intelligence and literary ability displayed even in remote parts of the country. Let the reader note the remark about the mass of the people " losing the advantage which a good and sound know- ledge of even one language would give them :" we find this illustrated in South Wales, where a good and sound know- ledge of Welsh is more lacking than in North Wales, and where, at the same time, there is a deficiency in attaining a good and sound knowledge of English, which, as mentioned else- where, is difficult even to an English working man. If Jas. Shaw really believed what he said, why did he not advocate teaching Welsh ? There is, also, some residuum of truth in the accusation that they read no literature, and devote themselves to music, because if elementary education were conducted on more rational principles, instructive English literature would be better appreciated, as well as Welsh, and less time would be wasted on music. How far the remark that they " read no literature" can be accepted as applying generally to Wales, the reader will be able to judge, after reading the subsequent chapter on the Welsh language and literature. Extracts from the correspondence which ensued, follow here : — " Gwyliedydd " says — It is a recognized fact that no person can carry on business in OHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 235 Wales with any success unless he can speak, read, and write English. All the business men in Wales are keen enough to see that, and all those self-made men that are to be seen in every locality are doing their utmost to give English education to their children. But who can convince them that the old language is not worth maintaining, and that it is losing ground ? Nobody ; there- fore it would be wise on our part to wait patiently until time wiU proclaim the fate of the beautiful old language that has lived over two thousand years. In connection with Mr. Shaw's remarks about the children, the truth is that there are few workmen working under Mr. Shaw that are not able to read, write, and speak the English language quite as well as many clerks or the officials, and who were kept in school only until they reached twelve or thirteen years old. As to the statement " That they read no literature," the English and Welsh publishers will vouch to the contrary. Mr Shaw doesn't know that there is an encyclo- paedia published in Welsh, worth £5 to ^6, and that the Welsh people have a " Gazetteer of the World," another of Wales, that the " Travels of Dr. Livingstone" has been published in Welsh in two editions (one a pocket edition and the other a large one), with thousands of volumes, and no trash scarcely. "Abergwilian," in the service of the G.W.R. Co., says he hardly understood one word of English when he went to the day school, challenges James Shaw to read a few verses in the Greek Testament with him, and adds : — I cannot conceive why Englishmen should persist in weighing a Welshman's general knowledge by the amount of English he may understand, more than a Welshman, Frenchman, or German should test his by their languages. Is it not a fact that a Frenchman can be as efficient in general knowledge as the Englishman that can only speak one language ? Then, if so, neither the English nor any other one language is a test. "Bilinguist" says — Out with such notions as to expect a whole nation to speak 236 WALES AND [OHAP. Vl. grammatically. It is sheer nonsense to think of it, at the present time whatever. Greater nonsense still to think one of a nation whom Mr. Dickens says are so very guilty of " exasperating their h's and murdering their g's " should take the liberty of teaching another nation their duties, when most likely he has not taken the trouble of learning the "Welsh alphabet yet. D. E. Lewis says — That a knowledge of the Welsh language is not only unattended with any embarrassment in the training of the intellect, but that it forms a substantial aid — though it be an adventitious one — to its highest development. » * * * ^ language is mightier • far than any number of books which may have been written in it ;* for such productions, great though they be, at best embody what was in the hearts and minds of individual men ; but language, on the other hand, is the impress and life of a nation. " The Iliad is great, yet not so great in strength, or power, or bsauty as the Greek language.'' Beriah G. Evans says — Mr Shaw is evidently either totally ignorant of, or wilfully ignores, the fact that there are abundant materials for a work on ■' Self-made "Welshmen," materials for a work which, in the hands of a skilful artist, could rival in interest with, and illustrate as wonderful turns in fortune's wheel, as Smiles's " Self Help." Herefordiensis [the author of this] — I will not now enter into details, but express the opinion that an unprejudiced observer will see that the phenomena presented in connection with the use of the "Welsh language and its deep hold on the people are not to be explained by reference to love of the past, however much of that there may be co-existing. The reason * This is a remark worth remembering, the power of the English language is not measured by the genius of Milton, but by its adaptability to express the thoughts and feelings of the people who use it ; so with Welsh. In fact such a sentiment is the key note of much that the author of this book has written about the latter. CHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 237 for these facts lies far deeper, and it will not be elucidated by men who do not take the trouble to assure themselves of the truth of their statements, or to view the question beyond the region of their own limited horizon. It is singular that none of these answers discussed the education question, but they did show that there was a much larger amount of intellectual culture, and more instances of men who had risen among tlie Welsh-speaking people than James Shaw knew of, though they did not admit what I have called the residuum of truth in some of the facts which he erroneously supposed to be caused by the language rather than by a defective system of education, which ignored it. There is no hint at any remedy to increase the ability of the people to "enjoy," as well as write the language they acquire. Again it may be said, that if this bilingualisni was really a drawback, we should not find Welshmen who have become proficient in reading or writing their language after they have settled in England, and so often ready to keep it up. For in- stance, some years ago I knew a Monmouthshire Welshman who told me that there was more Welsh spoken at Witton Park, near Stockton-on-Tees, than at Tredegar, and his brother's family, though born in England, were yet brought up to speak Welsh. Another Monmouthshire Welshman, who cannot speak Welsh well, has been some years in London, but when I saw him last he habitually attended Welsh preaching in that city. So that speaking Welsh, Or listening to Welsh, is sometimes a matter of choice, in the face of difficulties, and not, as frequently implied, necessitated by circumstances. In a long letter, replying to his critics, published in the Western Mail, 11th mo. (Nov.) 11, 1879, Jas. Shaw gave back a little of his ground, and said, " It is the deficiency of a higher intellectual standard above and beyond this [the 238 WALES AND [CHAP. VI. culture of the working classes], without disparaging the intelligence of the Welsh masses, which I, in common with others, deplore." Now here he much more nearly hit the nail on the head, but, as elsewhere stated, Wales is only just begining to have an important " middle-class," and consequently any consider- able call for "higher education;" yet even now, when the future professional men of the principality are brought up in middle-class schools, in ignorance of the grammatical structure or power of the language, which many of them are familiar with colloquially, is it to be wondered at that a large propor- tion of them should either grow up wanting in habits of precision and exact thought, or else separated by an impass- able chasm of language from freely participating in the intellectual life of the nation. The main point lies not in the existence of the language, but in an educational system conducted generation after genera- tion after English models, to satisfy an artificial standard not really adapted to national requirements. So long as Wales is without a national University this is likely more or less to continue, and so long as it does, Education, in the mind of an average Welshman, will too much mean, not simply mental cultivation abreast of the civili- zation of the Nineteenth century, but ability to compete with Englishmen on the ground chosen by English judges, to wit, directly or indirectly the governing bodies of English or Scotch Universities. For instance, if thirteen Englishmen compete with thirteen Welshmen for prizes or scholarships at Aberystwith College, and each of the former is ahead of each of the latter (i.e. Welsh-speaking youths) it does not necessarily follow that either of the English are better educated, or possess more ability than any one of the Welshmen, though there is a cer- CHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 239 tain amount of presumption, even considering the present state of intermediate education, that it would be so. But if there were thrown into the scales a paper testing ability in Welsh composition, or translation from English into Welsh, and the Englishmen still excelled, there would be little room to doubt that they were both more highly educated and were mentally more capable than their competitors. No one really desirous of the welfare of Wales will cry "Wales for the Welsh," but it is quite another thing to materially modify the curriculum of Colleges, so as to make room for what would be found a good mental exercise, though it might be of no more direct benefit than the making of "hexers " and "pens," so much in vogue not many years ago, and doubtless still practised in various classical schools or colleges. Few persons will be found who would wish generally to exclude those of English birth from the benefit of the scholar- ships offered at Welsh University Colleges, but let the test of merit for the possession of the scholarship stand on a broader and more liberal basis, and provide in a much larger number of such examinations than is the case at present for the exercise of ability, both in translating from Welsh into good, pure and idiomatic English, and from English into good, pure idiomatic Welsh. Let us see for a moment, from their Syllabus for Scholar- ships, what Welsh Colleges are doing with the funds at their disposal. Abekystwith, in Sessions 1891-92, offers ten Open and five Closed Scholarships or Exhibitions to new comers. In competing for these a candidate must choose three elementary subjects (out of fourteen), and two advanced subjects — one of the latter may be Welsh. The Cynddelw Scholarship is not included in the above list, 240 WALES AND [CHAP. VI. and will be competed for in the Autumn of 1 892 : it necessitates, among other things, the production of a Welsh Essay, a knowledge of systematic Welsh Grammar, and of the History of Welsh literature. This is a scholarship provided for by the Cynddelw Memorial Fund. Bangor offers nine General Scholarships and Exhibitions, besides special ones for Technical and Agricultural candidates, Teachers, and girls. For all the Entrance Scholarship exami- nations candidates may chose Welsh as one out of a maximum of five subjects. Cardiff offers twenty-three Entrance Scholarships and Exhibitions, besides five Exhibitions for intending Teachers. In these Welsh is an optioned subject in the more elementary part of the examinations, but an English Essay paper is necessary. The D. I. Davies Scholarship for proficiency in Welsh is in reality a prize of £12 offered annually on the results of the Sessional Examination. Now a little reflection will show that these scholarships and examinations may be tests ofthe preparedness of the candidates to enter on the prescribed courses of study for the dififerent examinations preparatory to London degrees, but they are not tests either of education in the abstract or of comparative ability, i.e., they are not tests of units of intellectual development or of intellectual strength. It is impossible, in fact, they should be absolutely so, but if a knowledge of both Welsh and EngHsh were presupposed in all candidates as the basis of examination, they would be efficient in that direction to a larger extent than at present. The optional use of Welsh probably counts for little in the case of Welsh-speaking candidates, because the course of their previous education at school has left them unacquainted with its use in those phrases and turns of expression which help to make up a successful examination, and their memory on the CHAP. VI.] HEK LANGUAGE. 241 subjects chosen has been chiefly exercised in English, while in addition to this they have had to spend a certain number of hours of their short life in acquiring the English which they thus practically need as a medium of communication in the course of the examination, as well as in that very important subject — "English" itself, which is provided for in most preparatory courses. Now it may be unpracticable to put the English and Welsh candidates for exhibitions at these Welsh Colleges on equal terms ; there must be a slight advantage given to the foreigner, or the monoglot Anglo-Welshman, but it can be minimized by requiring from aU candidates a knowledge both of English grammar and composition, also of Welsh grammar and compo- sition. At present both subjects are nominally optional, and in reality English grammar and composition are needed, as I have just remarked, for the execution of an answer ; but Welsh grammar and composition are not needed, and probably only a few even of the very Welshy candidates come prepared to face an examination in the latter. What is required is not to make them both wanted equally, but to make Welsh wanted a LITTLE BY ALL, and much by some if they choose. Were this system carried out, there should be no grumbling if all the scholarships fell to Englishmen ; no cry of Wales for the Welsh ; no " exclusive patriotism,"* rather let the strangers take away all our scholarships if they can, but in the act of allowing this, let us by an act of "inclusive patriotism" brand them as, in some small degree at least, naturalized, and able to play their part as men of Wales, understanding the country, and forming a part of the Welsh unity. It is very easy to say, "require from aU candidates for * The Western Mail recently said of the South Wales Star that it was more in touch with the exclusiTe patriotism of the Welsh people than the ordinary English papers. 242 WALES AND [OHAP. VI. exhibitions at Welsh Colleges a knowledge of &c., &c.," but every one who knows the A B C of these things is quite well aware such an independent course would be in a high degree both impractical and impossible for either of these Colleges now to adopt. But the future, what of that ? It largely depends upon the constitution of the new Welsh University, which will probably be shortly an accomplished fact, and upon the temper of its governing body. If that governing body were to say : We think it expedient that a slight knowledge of the grammatical structure of the Welsh language, its idioms and its vocabulary should be the common property of all persons receiving an advanced national education, irrespective both of sect or party, and with that view we require all candidates at our matriculation examina- tions to be prepared with an elementary knowledge of Welsh — even if nothing further was said on the subject in the legal, medical, or science courses, such a resolution would go further to revolutionize education in Wales from tip to toe as regards its attitude to the language than years of agitation or yards of speeches could do in the ordinary way. What would be the effect of such an apparently trifling measure ? In the first place, probably, a good deal of grumbling, snorting, and growling in the newspapers and other mediums of publicity; in the second place, middle-class schools and County Council Intermediate schools (if in existence) would turn right-about-face, call for Welsh grammars and reading books, and coach up their pupils to sufficient proficiency in Welsh to meet the standard ; besides which Normal Colleges would find it suit their purpose to introduce Welsh in the education of would-be teachers preparing for University exami- nations. What would be the ultimate results ? Simply this, that no CHAP. VI.] HER LANGUAGE. 243 professional man with a Welsh University degree would be quite ignorant of the language, and inferentially such would in general be more in sympathy with the people that speak it ; many more elementary teachers would have had systematic training in it, and be consequently prepared to frame the education of their more advanced pupils for the intermediate schools. There would be these results and many more besides. The whole nation would then be unified as never before in the last three hundred years. Be it observed that I do not advocate any very large expenditure of time to be spent by youths of average intelli- gence in attaining the Welsh standard for their entrance examination, tests of superior efficiency might be made optional further on, but I am sure that many in after life, even if they went no further in the study, would be glad they had an initia- tion in it. Another point of supposed advantage which has been insisted on by a late writer to the Baner, is that Welsh would specialize the University training, and thus indirectly give a greater value to a degree. The following is a specimen of the kind of opposition called forth by this movement for a Welsh University. It is a " Welsh Rector" pouring his grief into the ear of the Editor of the Western Mail, who had enough worldly wisdom to drop no comments : — Dissenting youths of the lower and lower-middle classes would be attracted thitherwards, as is the case at present with Aberystwith and Cardiff, while the upper middle and more cultured would seek their degrees elsewhere, from centres free from the taint of vulgarity and political sectarianism. Call it what you like, it wiU soon drift into the most sectarian Dissenting seminary. As he is entrusted with the "cure" of souls, or rather beheves he is, we could advise him, and such as he, if at any 244 WALES AND HER LANGUAGE. [CHAP. VI. time they feel disposed to sniffle about the precincts of the Colleges in search of the "taint of vulgarity/' to fortify them- selves with the quintessence of Eau de Cologne, or Eau de Lam- peter, lest they should unconsciously carry any infection home to the flock. Having thus disposed of the subject of Welsh in relation to the social and educational life of the country, we will now enter on some consideration of the study of the language itself, and the character of its literature. CHAPTER VII. English Intbbbst in Gbbman, and Reasons Thbbefob, — Dbsibb to Lbabn Welsh Common — Advice to Bbginnbbs — JSTative Gbammabs — Pehsonal Expbbibncb— Educational Yaltjb op Welsh, and Some of its Pbcoliabitibs — Welsh and English Languages contbastbd — modbbn welsh litbeatube — the tventy-boub MBTBES — ISLWTN, OSSIAN GWBNT, DABYDD IONAWE, AND OlHEES — Welsh Peose— Pebiodicals and Newspapbes — Fugitive Litbea- TtJBB— Welsh Publishbes — The Eutuee. TT is not an uncommon thing for English boys and girls -*- entering, for the first time, upon the study of German to find that it has a strange fascination for them. There is something in German which seems to call forth a deeper response from the inner nature than French, and the young student traces with delight the words conveying homely ideas, which are nearly alike in both languages, and feels as he pro- gresses, as if there was an element cramped in his mother tongue, which he unexpectedly finds has shot up into a luxuriant and vigorous growth in German, so that on the whole it com- mands more enthusiasm both in school and college, than does any classical or modern language commonly studied there. So much for the language of the great Empire of Central Europe, but what if I affirm about Welsh that it too has the power of awakening the sympathies and the enthusiasm of a large number of English students in an equal and, perhaps, in a much greater degree than German ? True, it does not open out so much pleasure as does the latter in the exhibition of such close relations between many familiar household words, but then there is the response from the inner nature which is called forth by the sound of the words themselves, the con- 246 WALES AND [OHAP. VII. stmction of the sentences, and the general rhythm of the language. Are Englishmen susceptible to the impressions from these sources, which so mightily stir the minds of many Welsh- men ? I believe a large number, especially of those living in the western half of England are, and that on the other hand there are a number more, especially those living in the eastern half, who would regard them with indifference, even if they would not positively nauseate under them ; and I further believe that were the practical test of ability in learn- ing Welsh applied under equal conditions to a representative collection of youths from the western half, and to another from the eastern half, that the palm for facility in acquiring it would have to be given undoubtedly to the western-half youths. That is to say, youths from Cumberland would beat those from Lincoln, and youths from Devonshire those from Sussex. Whether or not this theory is perfectly worthless, remains for my readers who are competent to do so, to judge. It is, however, given here under the belief that there is a foundation for it in the facts. Another deduction therefrom is quite clear, viz., that if Welsh were taught to the English-speaking youth of Wales, it would in general be much more readily acquired than in many parts of England. In any case, it is a fact that there is a considerable inclina- tion on the part of many of the better-educated English- speaking inhabitants of Wales to learn Welsh, which is partly evidenced by the readiness with which a little book of phrases, &c., with the misleading title,* " How to learn Welsh," has sold, if I may judge from the information given from W. H. * I say misleading, because the contents consist of little else than phrases and the meanings of words. OHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 247 Smith's bookstall at Newport, and by other symptoms of interest. There are four reasons for this inclination : — I. The wish to mix on equal terms with those who know both languages, sometimes for business reasons, sometimes for curiosity or social reasons, and to understand better the phenomena of their daily life. II. The inner penchant alluded to. III. For the sake of philological and archaeological investi- gations. IV. For the sake of reading the literature. However, whatever inducements it may offer, the study of Welsh can naturally be considered from two chief stand- points : — First — That of the philologist, the archaeologist, and the pure litterateur, the bookworm or the university man. Secondly — As a living language spoken in the Nineteenth century, and as part of the social and intellectual life of the 900,000 or 1,000,000 who habitually use it, or listen to it from the lips of preachers. In this chapter I purpose to consider the language and its literature chiefly from the latter standpoint, viz., that of every- day life, or rather as it concerns the many and not the few. This study has not yet found its level at Oxford and Cam- bridge, nor in the examinations of London University. The time, however, is coming when it will do so, and this is a fact perhaps generally recognized. Its future as a scientific study may safely be left in the hands of Professor Rhys, and others who shall follow him. What is not so generally recognized, is that it may still find a level in Wales itself, side by side with English in almost every department of national life, and it is with a view to facilitate such a result, or rather to arouse Welshmen to 248 WALES AND [CHAP. VII, consider what is involved in it, that the writer has chiefly been inclined to enter on this work. N'ow, as this book will probably fall into the hands of some who are only English-speaking, they may wish to be told the best method of procedure in learning Welsh. Bearing in mind the very different degrees of previous culture, age and stamp of mind which form factors in the case, it is impossible to give any general rule which will best apply to all would-be, self-taught students. The first step in almost any case, is to get the key to the pronunciation and accent ; though anything like perfection in these respects would require years of practice, to a person reared in the heart of England, at the same time I do not know that the difiBculties are in themselves any greater than in French pronunciation. For a foreigner (a Londoner, for instance) a passable facility is not nearly so difficult to attain as is generally imagined ; if, for instance, the student reads the directions in his grammar, and then gets some acquaintance to read a few verses in the Testament, or some stanzas of poetry ; if he really has an ear for the language, two or three hours divided into small periods for every occasion will set him on his legs, and he will have a better foundation to go forward on, than the German I heard of at Aberystwith some years ago, who attempted to speak to the people there the Welsh he had learnt in Germany, but was a " barbarian" unto them. The next step, if he has had previous experience in learning languages, would be to go roughly and quickly through a grammar, say Spurrell's, published at Carmarthen, learning off most of the prepositions and other particles by heart, but not attempting to burden his memory with much besides, and then thoroughly to go through the grammar a second time care- fully noting the inflections and verbal constructions, while at the same time using daily, say for fifteen minutes only, a CHAP, VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 249 bilingual book, or the English and Welsh Testaments used together, which will increase his vocabulary without wasting his time searching a dictionary, and he will find that in such a course many difficulties gradually vanish, and a familiarity with the language is induced. I would also recommend him to supplement this by committing to memory some stanzas of poetry, even if he is not able entirely to translate them ; such a simple piece for instance as Mynyddog's " Gwelais Johnny bach yn myn'd i'r ysgoL" This will tend to initiate him into the genius of the language perhaps as much as any means at his disposal. To still further increase his vocabulary he must resort to considerable dictionary work in translating, say from periodi- cals such as Y Traethodydd, or Y Geninen, or Cymru. A further advance still will be made when the student is able to read the Cywyddau and Englynion of modern poets, to say nothing of ancient ones, which many Welshmen themselves find beyond them. I mention these two metres, because in them, as well as in others governed by the laws of Cynghanedd,* he will find a larger proportion of uncommon words than in works in the free metres. To attain a more thorough grammatical knowledge, especially of Welsh syntax, there is not a better work to be had than Rowlands' Welsh Grammar, supplemented by a volume of Exercises by the same author, which will assist in speaking and writing the language, though not abrogate the necessity of practice in order to a colloquial use of it. To quite a young person, and one who is unacquainted with a foreign tongue, I would recommend "Welsh as a specific subject," Stages I. and II.f Stage III. is not published, but may be, soon after this book is in my readers' hands. * Cynghanedd generally involves alliteration. It is a term not easily Englished. t Simpkin, Marshall and Co., London, 6d. each. n 250 WALES AND [CHAP. VII. The initial mutations, or changes of some of the initial consonants, under certain conditions, doubtless have frightened some people who have commenced the study of the language ; in reality, however, this is a far less obstacle when properly encountered than may be supposed, so far as reading the language is concerned, though it is a more difficult matter to obtain absolute correctness in writing and speaking it. Before quite leaving the question of grammars, our ideal student will, after learning to read the language, find it worth while to look at one of the various grammars written in Welsh, such as "Oramadeg Huw Tegai;"* or "Oramadeg Caledfryn;" not that there is much philological science to be gleaned from them, but they sometimes touch on various matters such as the rules of poetry and prose, not strictly belonging to an English- Welsh grammar, and therefore may not improbably be intended for the use of country people and others who wish to compete in literary meetings with comp<^sitions of their own. The number of native Welsh Grammars is a singular feature in the modern literature of Wales. A vernacular writer in Yr Adolygyddf has commented on it, and I take the liberty of freely translating an extract from his article. "We should recollect that we cannot on every occasion draw comparisons between the Welsh and the English. We have no Eoyal, princely, nor aristocratic families among us to influence our customs. The few rich ones who live in the country are strangers to the people as regards language, and foreigners in respect of religion. We do not possess such an extensive and wealthy middle-class as exists in England, but v e are, as a nation, composed of farmers, small shopkeepers, and working men. Tinder these circumstances it is clear that the influences which govern the mass must arise from themselves. This truth appears more clear, when we recollect that the preachers of Wales spring from * Published by Humphreys, Carnarvon. t Cyf, ii. 176. CHAP. VII. J HER LANGUAGE. 251 the ranks, and that the priests who belong to the moneyed class have but little influence on their fellow countrymen. Perhaps the history of the world does not present a parallel case. "When the nation saw that the boneddigion:^ were forgetting and despising their language, they devoted themselves to its culture. When they saw that their shepherds only cared for the flock on shearing day they chose for themselves teachers. When they understood that there was no longer any vision in the old mass houses (cyssegroedd) they stirred themselves to build new worship houses, and they can hsten complacently to the Bishop of Llandafft recounting their success. "The priest of G-lyn Tafi: took me," said he, " to a place at the side of his. house where eleven chapels could be seen, and only one church." Many another priest, besides an old renegade from the Nonconformists, could have done the same thing with the Bishop. The Welsh were obliged to do this, or sink into barbarism. After all care about them, either from the Grovernment or the higher classes had ceased, they were obliged to care for themselves, or to die of neglect. The Irishman resolved to die. [? linguistically], the Welshman resolved to live, and the different effects of the two conclusions are easUy to be seen in the present condition of the two nations. The Welshman threw himself on Grod and himself, and the consequence is that the nation, as a nation, is moral, intelligent, and religious. A proof of the truth of what we have been saying is the great number of Grammars that are continually being published, and a remarkable fact is, that some of them are composed by persons who only enjoyed but few literary advan- tages. Having studied their language themselves, they present the. fruit of their labours to the care and notice of their fellow countrymen, and although some of the teachers of the people frown on things hke this, yet we gather from them an unshaken assurance that the Welsh wUl not allow themselves to be uneducated. Perhaps it will not be out of place for the writer to give ', ^...* Geptlemen. t (?) Bishop Olipliant, 252 WALES XSV [OHAP. VII. some outlines of Ms personal experience with regard to learning Welsh. I was, perhaps, nine years of age when a warm attachment sprang up in my mind towards Wales, kindled by what cause I scarcely know, unless by some small portion of Gray's fine poem, " The Bard," given in " Little Arthur's History of England." Some of my readers may be familiar with the opening stanza, addressed by the bard to Edward L— Euiu seize thee, ruthless King, Confusion on thy banners wait, Though fanned by conquest's crimson wing, They mock the air in idle state ; Helm nor Hauberk's twisted mail, Nor e'en thy virtues, tyrant, shall avail To save thy soul from mighty fears, Prom Cambria's curse, from Cambria's tears. It was not, however, till years after that I read the whole poem, one of the finest lyrics in the English language, and had the allusions explained. This attachment was perhaps the more singular as one of my early governesses, although belonging to an old North Welsh family, and a descendant of Owain Glyndwr, was English by education, an Episcopalian by religion, and antago- nistic or indififerent to anything distinctively Welsh, nor was there anything in family connections or bias that appeared likely to incline any member of it to "eat the leek." I had, however, heard my father mention in company that he should like to know Welsh, mainly, I suppose, for conversational purposes. When about twelve years of age I had the enjoyment of visiting Welsh- Wales, and carried home a trophy in the shape of a copy of " Yr Herald Cymraeg," without, of course, being able to read it, and recollect, moreover, how astonished I felt, OHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 253 being told at one of the Cambrian Railway Company's stations, that the Welsh still called themselves Cymry. These then, I thought to myself, are the identical people that allied them- selves to the Teutons, and sacked Rome under Brennus, 490 B.O., an event which had been well impressed on my mind by means of a " Child's History of Rome," and how extraordinary that nearly the same name should have been preserved ! Two or three more years passed, and I accompanied my father to a Friends' Quarterly Meeting, at Neath. One of the notabilia of the visit was seeing a Welsh notice in some neighbouring grounds headed Bhyhudd ; on returning to school, at York, I took the liberty to write Bhyhudd on a notice pasted upon one of the school doors, an act which, as might be expected, met with scorn. However, on returning from Neath, by the Neath and Brecon line, and hearing Welsh spoken in the carriage, I secretly made up my mind to learn it, being of a contrary mind to a certain English tradesman of my acquaintance, who almost felt himself insulted by some people speaking Welsh at Gloucester Station. Think what a "positive nuisance" it is to an Englishman to be in the company of persons whose speech he doesn't understand ! The course of education I was then pursuing did not leave me leisure to commence Welsh, but during the next vacation I bought dictionaries, and in the course of the subsequent half-year vn*ote to the Professor of Welsh, at Lampeter, to ask his advice as to books for reading. I think he recom- mended a bilingual booklet, published by the "S.P.C.K.," also F Cyfaill Eghoysig, and as an advanced book, " Drych y Prif oesoedd," and he added that he shonld be glad to hear from me again. It came to the knowledge of the headmaster that I 264 WALES AND [OHAP. VII. had been so impertinent as to venture to trouble such a person to spend his time writing to a boy like myself, and consequently I had to stand a reproof, though I suspect he somewhat chuckled at the idea, but I have no doubt that the Professor was really pleased to be called on to give the infor- mation, and that he would not have taken it amiss had I reported myself to him after he became Bishop of "St." Asaph. After leaving school came a time of leisure, in which Spurrell's grammar and the Welsh-English Testament were my frequent companions, supplemented at first by the S.P.C.K. book alluded to, and, I think, a simple biography of Dafydd Lloyd, a cottager, in Welsh and English, with a number of the Cyfaill Eghvysig, followed by Caneuon Mynyddog. For pronunciation I had about ten days in Wales, in the month called "August," followed by a similar period in " October," during which I found myself for once at least a member of a Welsh " Sunday School" class, and got the old Town Crier of Aberystwith to read Glan Geirionydd's " Morfa Rhuddlan," which convinced me that there were certain poetic possibilities in the language which are beyond the reach of Enghsh. It was not long before I committed the whole of that remarkable piece to memory, and although it is too much at variance with Quaker peace principles to afford the same pleasure as formerly, some further notice is given of the poem a few pages further on. During the winter succeeding, and for some years after, the requirements of business and other considerations, rendered it advisable to pretty much shelve this attractive study, in which, to the present day, I am far from attaining any high degree of proficiency. To intending students I would, how- ever, say that two things will very much conduce to attaining a mastery of the language when its colloquial use is not easy : first, the committal of short pieces of poetry to memory, which CHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 255 familiarize the mind with the genius and rhythm of the language ; second, the practice of turning English into Welsh meiitally, by means say of first rendering a verse in the Testament into any sort of Welsh that comes to the mind, and then referring to the correct version. There is one very striking line of difference between English and Welsh, and one which is very inadequately noticed either by Welshmen or Englishmen. For several centuries English has lost (or nearly lost) the power of forming new words from roots contained in the original Anglo-Saxon stock, and has been obliged to borrow a very large proportion of words expressing abstract ideas, as well as nearly all scientific terms, directly or indirectly, from Greek or Latin sources. In considering this we must bear in mind that up to within a comparatively late period of the middle ages English was the language of serfs, and not that of culture, although it must have been all along the vernacular of a great majority of the nation. Now the result of all this appears to have been a sort of unconscious mental compromise — when French could no longer be sustained, the writers of the transition period gradually learned to take English as their base language, and to modify, as well as amplify it, first by the introduction of many Norman- French words, and afterwards by words direct from the Latin. I am aware that the latter movement had effect chiefly in Henry VIIL's time, and subsequently, but believe it to be explained by the Norman-French influence having so efiectually nipped the growth of " English undefiled," that it came most natural to subsequent writers to recur to draw their materials for the expression of new ideas from classical ground. Perhaps the most popular book of the day, in the latter end of the Fourteenth century, and during the first half of the Fifteenth, was Sir John Mandeville's Travels, written by a Hertfordshire man. He did not, however, choose English for 2S6 WALES AST) [CHAr. VII. his first medium of publicity, the book was written in French (about 1370), and afterwards translated into English, just as Stanley's Travels might be first published in English to secure the larger and more influential circle of readers, afterwards in Welsh to make the information it contained more completely general. Now, if English had been the sole language of the nation for two hundred years, I don't think the writers of the Sixteenth century would have dared to introduce so many words of foreign origin, any more than Luther and his coadjutors did in Germany during the same period. As the matter stands, it would be a simple piece of afiectation now for any English writer to attempt to substitute for them those expressions, which we are well warranted in supposing the genius of the Anglo-Saxon language would have developed, if left to itself. It is rather the fashion to extol the purity of a writer or speaker's diction, while ascribing his influence to the use of Saxon terms, but such statements, when examined, have but little worth, except as comparisons between one writer or speaker and another. It is a simple fact that a man cannot express himself now in English concisely, or in an effective style, he can neither generalize nor specialize, with- out freely drawing into use words originating from extraneous sources. The day for an Anglo-Saxon development has in reality long ago passed, but at the same time a heavy, artificial, Johnsonian style is as repugnant to an ordinary Englishman as one from which classical words were excluded, would be either pointless or obscure. Now, in Wales the case stands differently ; Norman-French influence made itself strongly felt there, and tinctured the vocabulary of the time, especially with military terms, but it is doubtful if it ever was so much the language of the ruling classes as in England, and consequently its traces on the CHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 257 Welsh of to-da)^ are much fainter than correspondingly in English. When we come to words, the occasion for the use of which has arisen in modern times, the difference is still more striking ; instead of the continual influx of foreign synonyms, there is a continued tendency in Welsh to draw upon its own stores. I call it a tendency because it has only partially had eflect, on account of the oft-mentioned condition of secular education. Of course English words have become incor- porated in Welsh, some of them during the period under notice, say 1500, to the present time, most of them previously, but considering the peculiar circumstances in which Welsh has been placed, they are far fewer than might have been expected. In addition to these there are a large number of foreign words knocking at the door for permanent incorpora- tion in the language — ^words frequently used in conversation, and by writers, who do not profess an elevated style or pure diction, and which so far have knocked in vain, because they have rivals bred and born on the soil used by the most gifted pens of the nation, and which refuse to die. If only the literary cultivation of the language, nay, if only reading aloud in Welsh, and Welsh grammar are introduced into schools, these rivals will not merely live, but they will flourish, and lift their heads above the foreigners, who may not die, it is true, but have a more circumscribed existence. It is this fact of a vocabulary adapted to the civilization of the Nineteenth century being to a large extent self-contained in his language which helps a Welshman the more easily to attain a certain standard of literary culture than an English- man ceteris paribus, (which they are not), and this, be it remembered, constitutes in itself a powerful argument for introducing the language into a system of Welsh national education. 258 WALES AND [CHAP. VII. What idea does the word Electricity convey to an English child ? Absolutely nothing until, perhaps, he is a grown lad, when he learns that it has something to do with the telegraph wires, even then he may not be quite sure whether or no a lost umbrella can be sent by telegraph. He knows nothing of amber, and still less that elektron was a Greek word referring to the properties of amber. Now, Trydaniaeth, to the Welsh child is not an empirical collection of sounds, like electricity is to the English one ; true it does not convey in itself a knowledge of the nature of electricity (and who knows that ?), but it puts him in the track at once, and in grasping the idea of electricity, so far as communicable, he has a less distg,nce to go than his English brother. Look then at astronomy, here is another empirical word, expressive enough when it is understood, but quite foreign in its radical components, to English home life ; the Welsh have a ready key to it in seryddiaeth ; so with DAEARYDDiAETH for geography. Take science again, how many vague phases of meaning are attached to that word in the mind of an English middle-class boy before he arrives at the general and popular acceptation of the term. The Welsh boy may have some difficulty, but far less of its kind when he hears of gwyddok. Now, how does a Welsh schoolmaster deal with words like this. He is supposed to e-duc-ate, lead out the mind in the shortest possible time and most efficient manner, with refer- ence to the requirements of after life ; yet he does one of two things, either he absolutely ignores the Welsh terms, and confines himself to the empirical, hardly understood English ones if he has occasion to use any, or else he limits the use of Welsh ones entirely to word of mouth explanations, in the same way as if Welsh were a sacred language, as in the days of the Druids, to be spoken but not written, and not to CHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 259 be brought before their pupils by the evidence of the eye as well as the ear. The Department would doubtless have altered this long ago but for two things, viz., ignorance, and a fear that if such a course were pursued the children would be learning Welsh. This feature of the adaptability of the language to education is remarkably little noticed by native writers, and many intel- ligent Welshmen of the present day seem scarcely alive to its existence, but the author of " Echoes from the Welsh Hills " has a few liaes to the point. An extract from that work is given in the appendix. Much is said in Wales about the importance of teaching English, but I suspect that, while there is no controversy about the great importance of it, many who enunciate those platitudes are unaware how imperfectly the working and lower middle-classes in England are acquainted with their own language, far more imperfectly probably than the corresponding classes in Germany, where the difference between the literary and spoken language is less than in England. Of course English must be taught, but the generality of such advisers do not realize on the one liand, how difficult it is to teach English thoroughly, even where Welsh has long been extinct, nor how powerful an adjunct to education Welsh may be made. One of the excellencies of Welsh consists in the number and force of the plural terminations which are in some degree classified according to the nature of idea expressed in the words. For instance, the plural of names of animals and birds generally ends in od, those of abstract nouns in au, trees and some natural objects in i, plurals and objects conveying an idea of immensity or vastness or power most frequently end in oedd, which is in itself a more powerful plural termination 260 WALES AND [CHAP. VII. than any found in English ; there are other terminations, such as ion and ydd, besides the modification of the vowel, which sometimes takes place. It is a popular delusion to suppose that Welsh is a language abounding in consonantal sOuhds. In fact, it is said to be less so than English, but its peculiar strength and expressive- ness is in part the result of its possessing three sounds not found in English, viz., those represented by the signs ch, II, rh, to which might perhaps be added ng, which is slightly more nasal than in English, and in part owing to the long vowel sounds being longer than with us — prominent among these is the a sound in vast. There are, it is true, some features in the syntax which detract from conciseness, such as the construction of dependent verbal clauses, and the reduplication of personal and possessive pronouns, but on the other hand the language gains in its appositional power. The question is sometimes asked, " What is the use of learning Welsh ? It has no literature, and everyone can speak English." I will not now attempt to discuss the practical utility of the subject, but shall endeavour within a short com- pass to give a general view of the extent of Welsh poetical literature in the past, followed by notices of some of the chief bards of the Nineteenth century, after which will come some reference first to Welsh prose and the literature of Wales not strictly Welsh, secondly, to periodical and fugitive literature. This is necessarily a partial method of treatment, when the matter might well be expanded into a good sized book ; under the circumstances, however, I do not know of a better. There is one thing, that a study of the Welsh language and its current literature does for a stranger, it opens his eyes to the existence of a little world which he has previously known only by report. I have already alluded to this, and to the fact that a mere residence in the country is not sufficient OHAP. VII.] HER LANaUAGE. 261 to understand it ; this will hold good so long as the Welsh language forms an integral part of the social life, and is the " natural exponent " of the religious convictions of any considerable proportion of its population, or even so long as its literature becomes an influential factor in their life, although in many other respects such individuals may appear to be Anglicized. I think this explains the anxiety of many servants of what is usually called " the Church " to substitute an EngHsh monolingual for a bilingual condition of the country, on account of the fact that their chief support arises from a monolingual minority, backed up by prestige, who pull one way, while the gwerin (the commonalty) pulls the other. There are others of them who much doubt if this is the correct course to pursue. Certainly the English Government has proved that it does so, by its recent Episcopal appoint- ments. Whether, however, that policy will be allowed so far to prevail as to permit the National Schools to become centres for the spread of the bilingual idea, or whether any disposition to yield in this direction is simply a sop for Cerberus, which will be snatched away as soon as he shews a disposition not to bark, remains to be seen by the generation that is just coming on the scene of action. Of course my remark about Anglicized persons, not really knowing the country, applies all round, without distinction of rank or party, and is true both with respect to the industrial districts of Glamorganshii-e as well as the retired valleys of North ; of any John Smith, of Tre'r Estron, as well as of the inheritor of the estate and twentieth descendant in the direct line of some Hywel ap Gwyddno ap Elidr fras, who cannot con- verse in the home language of his tenants, much less read the odes in praise of his ancestors. Another thing which strikes a stranger is the amount of 262 WALES AND [chap. VII. contradictory testimony offered by Welshmen themselves as to the extent and calibre of the native literature. Compare the following : — "Welshmen's Testimony. One need only read the Welsh publications to be con- convinced of the non-utUity of the language for any practical purpose whatever. — Incumbent of Trevethin, p. 97. The Welsh language has no valuable vpritings, either in prose or poetry. — Hector of Llanhil- leth, p. 96. Englishmen's Testimony. I come to the conclusion that the BngUsh language cannot answer the same purpose as the national language, and that the preservation of Welsh is the only hope for the Welsh nation to develop itself on its own lines.* — T. Darlington, M.A., laith a ChenedlaetJioldeb. He [G-eo. Borrow] considered that even the writings of Huw Morris and Goronwy Owain alone were quite sufficient to repay anyone for the study of the Welsh language. — Verbal expression of G. B. ; quoted by the Vicar of Ruabon, in 1885. The testimonies of the two Welshmen are samples of what may be met with in our midst, though fear operates to keep such uninformed views from finding much public vent, while on the other hand we may add those of two more, and " poh un yn llym gyfreithiwr." He read more Welsh now than he had ever done before in the whole course of his life. He supposed he might consider himself as having arrived at years of discretion — at all events, he had reached that time of life when people were able to judge some- what of the literary character of an essay or the beauty of a poem, and all he could say was that when he turned back, not only to * T. Darlington has learnt Welsh, and I translate from an address of his in that language. CHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 263 the old Welsh poems, but to some of the later ones, he found them the most beautiful things he had eyer read in any language in his life. There were "Welsh poets now who wrote most lovely things, and if they could only get them published, they would hare the effect of eleyating men's minds. — Report of Speech hy Judge Owilym Williams, 9th mo., 1891. The surpassing loreliness of the Celtic language, and the inesti- mable value of the literature of the Oymry, were revealing them- selves to the very people who not long since treated the one with supercilious irreverence, and the other with unmeasured contempt. if * * * 2ie contended that their poetry generally contained a subtle refinement of expression wedded to beautiful thought. — T. Marchant Williams, in 1888. I will assume that the depredators of Welsh literature are qualified to speak ; that being the case, and they are not few in number, it is evident that doctors disagree, and the student must decide for himself as to the value of their allegations. At the outset, I would advise him to broadly distinguish between language and literature. Quite true, the difierence is self-evident, but let it be also known that the value of a language does not necessarily depend upon the literature preserved in that language either as respects quantity or quality. It is possible that a language may be wanting in precision and powers of expression, that is to say, of course, that it possesses radical deficiencies as an instrument for the commu- nication of ideas and mental impressions, but at the same time it may possess a valuable literature. Another language may have a most meagre literature, and yet be one of the most perfect exponents in existence of the language of the human mind in a state of civilization. It is a mistake to assume that for any but colloquial purposes a language should be studied mainly on account of its literature. In some cases this is true, 264 WALES AND [CHAP. VII. in others, and Welsh is notably an exception to such a rule, however extensive the literature may be, the povi^er possessed by the language per se, is in itself a means of mental develop- ment, vrhich might in the abstract justify the study of it. Dismissing for a time this matter of language j??er se, we will suppose the idea student to have climbed to the top of the hill of difficulty in the way of acquiring a passable facility in reading modern Welsh, what is the nature of the prospect before him ? The remains of the oldest poets, whose works are extant, are supposed to date back to not long after the time when the Roman forces were withdrawn from our island, but it is not till the Eleventh century that we have any indication of a considerable body of native literature existing. From that time down to the accession of Henry VII., the names of a large number of writers are handed down, some of their works have been printed, but many more are lying in manuscript, either at the British Museum or in private libraries. The works of very few poets up to the Seventeenth century have been printed in a separate form. One exception is in the case of Lewis Glyn Cothi, a writer during the wars of the Roses : a considerable body of mediseval poetry exists in the Myfyrian Archmology, published by T. Gee, Denbigh, and in Gorchestion y Beirdd, by Humphreys, Carnarvon. The chief interest of by far the larger portion of these is antiquarian, from their throwing light on the character of the times in which they lived, incidentally rather than otherwise, as much of the matter is taken up with the praise of the princes or chiefs who patronized them, or with the recital of of deeds of arms. One of them, Dafydd ap Gwilym, stands out pre-eminently as an amatory poet, as well as in descriptions of nature, and is still considered to hold the chief rank in that and succeed- CHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 265 ing ages. He was one of the earliest writers who conformed to the laws of cynghanedd. Few people have any idea of the immense amount of manuscript literature which must be existing in Wales, the production of which is largely fostered by the Eisteddfod system. A few of the poems and essays are published, and a large number are consigned to oblivion, not always because they have no merit, but because the writers have not the means, or the desire to risk loss by publication. Poems written in the twenty-four measures, such as the Odlam, for which chair prizes are awarded, are more difficult for the general public to read without a certain amount of training and a facility in the literary language which many Welshmen, especially in South Wales, are deficient in. I believe this to be one reason why so many compositions are allowed by their authors to lie dormant. In the poetic department of literature it is surprising at a first glance, out of such a large number of volumes and booklets published during the present century, how small a proportion is now accessible to the public. This is mainly due to reasons which I will refer to further on. Notwithstanding these deductions the body of printed poetry which remains is quite considerable for the size of the country. "Wrtydyn" is publishing, mYGeninen, a complete list, so far as known, of all Welsh poetical publications printed since the commencement of the century to the present time; it is unfinished,* but I gather that the total number of works is likely to prove not less than 1,000. Some few of these are reprints, but the great majority are original publications. Much that has been published is of a character so difierent, both in manner and in form, to what we find in English, that * The editor seems to set slight store by this valuable list, as the publication of it has only gone on at intervals for nearly five years. 266 WALES AND [OHAP. VII. it amply repays examination ; though my own acquaintance with this great mass of Welsh poetry is slight enough, it is perhaps sufficiently general to be utilized in remarks that may interest my readers, though not satisfy them. At the outset we do well to bear in mind that there appears to be strong reason to believe that rhyme was first cradled among the Celts,* and from them it crept into the Romance languages, then into the Teutonic and Scandinavian ones. We have no classical Latin rhymes, no Anglo-Saxon rhymes, but we find rhymes existing among the gogynfeirdd (the most ancient Welsh poets), Taliesin and Aneurin. Such a circum- stance might prepare us to expect special developments of the poetic art among the descendants of the Britons. So far as the Welsh are concerned we are not disappointed, and even in this Nineteenth century, with its superabundance of material energy, their language exists as one of the most harmonious of modern Europe, with a poetical literature which is absolutely inapproachable, so far as the relation of sound to ideas is concerned, by any Continental tongue. I am not saying that Welsh has produced greater poets than any other nation, but I say this, that there will be more poetry in the works of a Welshman, bracketed equal in ability with a foreigner, than in the works of the latter, simply by dint of the Welshman having superior material to hand. German is effective, but heavy ; Italian, emasculated, lacking in force ; Spanish, grand, but wanting in flexibility ; French, in range of sound and emphasis, is deficient; while English is more unemotional, and does not readily lend itself to rhyme, as compared with the Cymric tongue, which again is superior to its sisters, the Cornish and Breton. Probably among other reasons why, when Welshmen wish to * The subject has been discussed by Schultz, in a Prize Essay some years since. CHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 267 write poetry, it is almost invariably performed in Welsh, is the one that even presupposing an equal familiarity with both lan- guages, they feel they could not do themselves justice in English ; but if they want to write prose it is more likely to become a simple question as to whether what they wrote would find a market if in Welsh, and whether they could sufficiently reach the classes intended, by confining themselves to the latter ; so that frequently considerations of name, money, and some- times of greater usefulness, incline them to English, as a vehicle for prose compositions, but seldom for poetical ones. However, that may be, it is a fact that a cultivated style of Welsh prose has received but scant attention. No one can point to a master of Welsh prose in the same sense that we can point to Froude or Ruskin, as masters of EngUsh. When we deal with poetry the case is diff'erent. If it be true that the powers of the language are as yet comparatively undeveloped in prose, it is far otherwise in poetry. For hundreds of years past there has been such attention paid to this department of literature, and such intricate rules have been formed for the guidance of candidates, into what are considered its classic paths, that the effect has been extraordinary in preserving in use a large vocabulary, although, at the same time, gratifying a taste for sound at the expense of original thought. What I term its classic paths, are guarded by the Llyffetheir- iau (the shackles) of cynghanedd. In the early poetry of Wales this appears to have not existed at all, or only to a limited extent, but, as a writer has observed, after the independence of the country was gone, it was no longer the clash of arms, but the jingle of consonants — resonance, if we use a more respectful term, which attracted the bards' atten- tion. Certain new bardic rules sprang up, but in the confusion 268 WALES ANU [OHAP. VII. incident to the outbreak of Owen Glyndwr, and the bitter hostility of the English Government to the bards, these rules appear to have got into an unsettled state ; in part to remedy this an Eisteddfod was called at Carmarthen, in 1451, under the presidency of Gruffydd ap Nicholas (ancestor of Lord Dynevor), when a bard of the north, Dafydd ap Edmwnt, a landowner of some position, won the chief prize by composi- tions in the twenty-four measures, which bear his name — constituting what is called the Dosparth Gwynedd. The bards of Gwent and Morganwg were not willing to concede superiority to these measures, and continued a system of their own, differing but slightly from the other, and which is known as Dosbarth Morganwg. All these metres contain cynghanedd, i.e., a regular sequence of consonants, and no Chair prize at any modern National Eisteddfod is awarded to a composition in free metres, but in their published works nearly all the bards now use both the free metres, in which we find a considerable variety as well as beauty, and also the mesurau caethion (the restricted metres). Of the latter, one of the most striking to an Englishman is the englyn, of which there are three kinds, the commonest being the Englyn Unodl Union. There have been repeated attempts to exemplify this in English. It is, however, quite unsuited to our language, and generally falls flat on the ear. By means of the englyn a great deal can be said in a short space. Hence it is peculiarly suited for epigrams or for short descriptions of men or things. The englyn must contain the above-mentioned alliteration in each line. The syllables runs 10-6-7-7. One last word of the third or fourth lines must be of one syllable ; each of the three last lines must rhyme with the word preceding the dash in the first line ; the word or words succeeding the dash in the first line must alliterate with the second line. OHAP. VII.] HER tiANCJUAUii;. 26 J) The following is an example of an English englyn, followed by one of Ceiriog's, taken from his poem, " YDaran" (Thunder) " Wake sweet Harp ! Why warp in woe — why linger, In languishing sorrow ? Let no rough and bluff wind blow Thy waitings on the willow." Yn J ddu enyd, nsiwdd i anian — nid oed Ond Daw noddwr pobman ; A Hwww ddaeth ei Mman I'n hjd du mewn enhjd dan. The latter exhibits an example of gynghanedd groes (cross consonancy) ; the former of cynghanedd sain, or consonancy of sound, which involves either a sequence of final consonants, or finals combined with one or more in the first syllable of the succeeding word. The letters printed in itahcs indicate the cynghanedd in the Welsh stanza. Note that nd D in the second line correspond with nd d after the dash in the first line, and that the syllable an rhymes in all four lines. That this style of composition is by no means extinct may be inferred by the fact that no less than 110 englynion by as many competitors, were sent to the adjudicators at the Swansea Eisteddfodd, 1891, for the £l prize ofiered there. Another pretty metre is the hypynt hir, consisting of two triplets, each with syllables 4-4-8 ; the last syllable of the fourth and sixth lines rhyming, also their fourth syllables rhyming with each of the other lines, e.g. — Tsgrifenydd Myg areithydd Deg areilydd — digwerylon Hynafiaethydd A chyfleithydd lawn gy weirydd — Enwog wron. 270 WALES A2fD [chap. VII. To discuss Welsh prosody at length, is both beyond my scope and abilities, while asking my readers to accept cum grano salis, the declamations by a certain class about the poverty of the literature until they feel able to form a judgment of their own. If there is one thing more ^than another, noticeable about Welsh poetry from a general point of view, that is, its realistic power. Under its influences the sky lowers more darkly, the lightning flashes more vividly, the thunder rolls more heavily, the tempest tossed ocean dashes itself against the rugged rocks more awfully and more grandly, the brook murmurs more sweetly, the lark ''pours forth a clearer note, and springs up to the heavens more lightly, the peaceful and the calm of nature, the light and the shade, the stupendous and the vast, as well as the minute and the insig- nificant seem to be brought out in bolder relief, and in language that is at once more expressive and harmonious than we are accustomed to in English. Whether the bard describes the lily or the rose, a drop of dew, or a dashing waterfall, spring-time or winter, the efl'ect of the wild wind of the mountains, or the soft breezes of sunmier, and whether he is talented or not, a very genius, or common place, his language almost invariably lends an intangible charm to his subject. When he deals with humanity, when he goes to the house of mourning, or calls for the exercise of other emotions in which the human breast is participant, the heart beats quicker, and the sympathies are more readily enlisted, so far as it is in the power of language to afiect them. Read "Elen Wynn," by Mynyddog ; or " Bedd y dyn Tylawd," and ask thyself reader, whether Wordsworth, a Pen-fardd Lloegr, has written anything to match either of them. But what about the weaknesses of Welsh poetry ? One of them is certainly the excessive amount of personal praise lavished by the bards upon their friends, either living or dead. CHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 271 One would think to read the effusions poured forth in various newspapers or periodicals, that Wales was simply a land of prodigies, faultless characters, extraordinary geniuses ; in fact, that the common-place was rather the exception than the rule. It is highly probable that the rules of Cynghanedd have fostered a disposition to write couleiir de rose descriptions of men and things by the introduction of words implying more than the reality, but which came in convenient for poetic require- ments, until the habit has become firmly engrained. I say this, making all due allowance for a poet's license, to convey his thoughts in metaphorical or even hyperbolical language, and with regard to these personal poems, we must make further allowance for a people whose affections are warm, and whose habits are strongly sociable ; notwithstanding a real evil exists in this direction, which urgently calls for reformation. These habits are by no means of recent growth, part of the profession of the ancient bards being the compositions of Cywyddau Moliant (odes of praise) to their patrons or friends, as well as elegies on their departure. Call to mind the well-known incident of Grufiydd Gryg and Dafydd ap Gwilym, fourteenth century bards. In the midst of a poetic quarrel several retaliatory poems passed between them, and Gruffydd plumed himself that he was made of different metal to Rhys Meigen, who has fallen dead on the spot, stung by D. ap Gwilym's biting retorts. In order to alter this disgraceful state of things, the monks of Woollos Priory (?), on the site of the Austin Friars' Timber Yard, Newport, resorted to a " pious" fraud.* They spread in North Walps a report of the death of Dafydd ap Gwilym, and in South Wales a report of the death of Gruffydd Gryg. This resulted in each expressing their grief in such mournful * See Wilkins's History of Wales, p. 48, and Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, p. 148. 272 WALES AND [CHAP. VIT. and affectionate elegies, that when the ruse was discovered a warm friendship was begun that lasted to the end. Personally, I consider another weakness of Welsh poetry, is the prize system, which causes many poems to be written under artificial promptings. Of course it does not follow that all prize poems are necessarily much damaged by continually looking to the opinions of a committee of judges, and by being on fixed subjects, and there is no doubt that the volume of literature is vastly increased by this system, but it must detract from originality of treatment. My preceding remarks must not be understood as altogether condemning or depreciating cynghanedd; it is simply a further extension and elaboration of one of the main principles of rhyme. If it has shackles on the one hand, it has power in the other, when used by a master ; nor do I not think it will disappear even with the Twentieth century, the strife of tongues, the din of mental or physical battle. The awdl may remain, plain rhyme may remain, but the poetry of abstract thought will more than hitherto be expressed in blank verse. Without attempting to criticise or even offer a fair resum^ of the scope and character of modern Welsh poetry, the following pages will give the general reader, especially the English reader, some further ideas in the subject than he can glean elsewhere, while not feeling myself precluded from giving short extracts from the originals, which cannot in justice be served up in translations. The following are notices of the works of bards which are chiefly still in print. Modern Welsh poetry, so far as it is published, may be almost said to begin with Huw Morris, of Pontymeibion, the " Eos Ceiriog," whose works were re-printed at Wrexham, in 1823. He lived from 1622 to 1709, and his language is nearly as intelligible as the Welsh of the present day. Just as in English, we find a great gap^between the language of the CHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 273 Fifteenth century and that of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth, so we do in Welsh. Lewis Glyn Cothi, who died about 1490, is difficult, few WelshmeiJ could read him at first sight with pleasure. Huw Morris is as intelligible as Bunyan, and is considered one of the best writers of his time. The latter, as regards melody of verse, may be called the Spenser of Wales, however much he was unlike him in other respects. Spenser made extensive use of the Alexandrine stanza of Tasso, one which is seldom or never used now, though graceful and effective. Huw Morris wrote a good deal in a metre which is perhaps peculiar to Wales, and more striking to the ear than Spenser's ; very few have handled it since, the most notable being Edward Richard, of Ystrad Meurig. Its peculiarity lies principally in the last line, which to be effective must be read with two pauses, the pre- vious three with one only, in the centre. The following is an example : — Dyn anghall dan wingo, ni fyn mo'r gorphwyso, Lie gaUai £o wreiddio, a Uwyddo ar wellhad ; Bhoi serch ar gymdeithion, ae ofer chwareuon, Tw perion arferion ei fwriad.* GoRONWY OwAiN, born 1722, is one of the most remark- able poets Wales has produced. The son of very poor parents, means were procured through the generosity of a friend to send him to Oxford, and hence his introduction into the Established Church. It is reported as a proof of his readiness in acquiring knowledge that he was only three months learning Arabic, and that Greek, Latin, and Hebrew were at his fingers' ends. His cywydd on the "Last Judgment" is esteemed a masterpiece, but not easy for a beginner. It is included in his works sold by I. Ffoulkes, and the notes in that edition are by his friend Lewis Morris {Llewellyn Ddu). * Carol Cyngor in Cyf. ii. 123. Wrexham Ed. MM 274 WALES AND [CHAP. VII. Goronwy Owain has dazzled men by his genius, and the lofty flights of his imagination. Contemporary with him was another writer, who shortly before had been, like himself, a curate in the Established Church ; the one wrote for the few in the language of the learned, and the other met rich and poor on a common platform, and influenced men's hearts as very few writers have done before or since ; hence it is that William Williams, of Pantycelyn, is still read, and his name still honoured wherever the Welsh language is spoken. Almost as a matter of course he is called the per-ganiedydd, the sweet singer, and, in fact, the extraordinary facility, though hot always the polish of his pen, both in Welsh and English verse, warrants, the term. The last edition of his works (nearly complete) is quite recent. Vol. I. is published by Evans, Holywell ; Vol. II. by W. Jones, Newport, Mon., 1891. In his " Theomemphus," and other writings, we are brought in contact with an allegorical Eighteenth century style of treat- ment, npt altogether in accordance with present-day taste, e.g., in " Theomemphus," a poem of some 1,500 stanzas, no less than thirty-eight personages, such as Philocritus, Orthoceph- alus, Seducus, and Boanerges, mostly with Latinized names, are introduced, but the author, in his preface, says that it cannot be called an allegory, as the persons are real men, sins, graces, temptations, and other inward and outward enemies. It is principally by his hymns that Williams, Pantycelyn, will be remembered; some of them are superficial, but with regard to others, few Welsh hymn writers have surpassed him in depth of feeling. I have mentioned Goronwy Owain, because he seemed to follow nearer to Huw Morris in the point of time, but pre- suming that- 1 am now writing principally for readers who wish Welsh literature introduced to their notice, rather in the CHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 275 order in which it is easiest followed and understood, and as there is not any set scheme of treating the subject historically, the name next to be introduced is one of our own day. IsLWYN (1832-1877?) lived within a few miles of Newport, near Ynysddu Station ; he wrote both descriptive and reflec- tive pieces. There is a slightly Germanic vein in his writings. Common consent gives him one of the iirst places among the bards of the latter half of this century, but only a small portion of his works are published, others of them still lie in MSS. under the care of a relative at Ynysddu. The following is from his description of Bala Lake, in "Cader Idris" : — Ardderchog Lyn y Bala, A Hen o arian rydd Amryvyiaeth hoff i'r oror Lie 'r egyr dor j dydd. Ac f el angylaidd ddringfa I fynu 'r wybren fry Mynyddau 'r Aran welir, Pob gris yn fynydd sy' A chadwen faith y Ferwyn Sydd yn canllawio Uwybr I yspryd yr ystorom 1 rodio tros yr wybr. Morgilfach Aberteifi, Pel gwerddlas fytbol waen, Tn mhell i'r gorllewinbwnc, Tmegyr oil o'n blaen : OssiAN GwENT. — Close on 100 short poems of this writer are published by Hughes, of Wrexham. They contain some exquisite touches of external nature — the lark, the nightingale, the swallow, the wren, the redbreast, the lake, the moon, the sea, frost and snow, the winter's wind, the lily and the primrose, all form subjects of separate treatment. A good many are well within the grasp of children. One 276 WALES AND [OHAP. VII. short poem of this class, full of pathos, begins thus : — Fe syrth y ddeilen olaf The last leaf will wither Cyn bo hir, Before long, Mae'r oeraidd drwst y gauaf - The cold blast of winter Tn y tir. Now has come. How is it that children in elementary schools are compelled to continue grinding away to commit to memory such poems as " Casablanca," while others much more suited to develop their powers of expression are close at hand, in the works of writers of their own country. Such a one in particular is that fine lyric of Islwyn's " Gyrwch Wyntoedd," which in form somewhat recalls Schiller's " Lied der Glocke." It begins, — Gyrwch wyntoedd, Eush wild winds on Ar eich hyntoedd, Tour wanderings, Dros y Uyn, O'er the lake, Bros y glyn, O'er the vale, Dros|y^bryn, O'er the hill, A thros lawer Alpfor gwyn. O'er mountain seas of white snow. Ossian is still living at Rhymney, in Monmouthshire. Ieuan G. Geiriontdd. — I have already alluded to his " Morfa KHuddlan," which furnishes a style of poetry equally with the peculiarly melodious metre used by Huw Morris, scarcely to be found in England. The poet is standing near the Marsh of Rhuddlan ; as he looks to the west the sun is slowly sinking down behind the majestic mountains of Carnarvonshire, the shades of night gradually creep over the landscape, while the subdued roar of the distant waves meet his ear, and his heart beats fast while he thinks of how the blood of Wales was spilt at the very spot he stands on. He seems in the twilight, to see the indistinct glimmer of the shields, and hears the clatter of warlike missiles projected against it, the hissing of the arrows, and feels the very trembling of the earth, while above all. OHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 277 Caradawg's voice is heard sharp and loud. He goes on describing the conflict, and the anxiety felt in all Wales as to the issue. All of a sudden a bitter shaft of sorrow strikes him, while he hears the harsh rejoicing cry of the enemy. The original is deeply realistic — Troswyf daeth, fel rhyw saeth, alaeth, a dychryn, Och ! rhag best, bloeddiau, tost ymffrost y gelyn. Then in consternation and confusion those who were awaiting the issue at their doors, flee to the hills, while the rocks, the vales, and the hiUs participate in their mournful cries, which reach even to Eryri (Snowdon). Bryn a phant, cwm a nant, llanwant a'u hoergri Traidd y floedd draw, i g'oedd, gymoedd Eryri. The effectiveness of this piece is due to no small extent to the wonderful adaptation of the metre to the subject : in each couplet, there are no less than eight rhyming words, and yet the matter flows so naturally, that a reader is all but uncon- scious of the fact. I believe that those of my readers who are able to judge, will agree with me that from the study of this single poem alone, we may conclude that a field of poetry is open before us, into which the English language cannot enter as a competitor. Were the whole body of Welsh literature struck out of existence but this one piece, it would of itself give a stamp to the character of the language which would warrant such a conclu- sion, as to its almost unequalled power. While we search English literature in vain for a poem wherewith to make a comparison with "Cyflafan Morfa Rhuddlan;" in point of metrical structure, we shall not be altogether at a loss to find one in Monkish Latin; to wit, the source of some devotional pieces familiar to English ears, 278 WALES AND [CHAP. VII. such as "Brief life is here our portion," and "Jerusalem the Golden." The original, some of my readers may recollect, commences, Hora novissima, tempera pessima sunt vigilemus, Bcce minaciter, imminet arbiter ille supremus. Only a portion of the poem, "De contemptu mundi," from which it is taken is, so far as I know, published in England; in each couplet there are six rhyming words, and the author, Bernard de Morlaix, judging from his name, appears to have been a Breton — if so a Celtic language was probably his mother tongue. The "Awdl an Orlifiad Cantre'r Owaelod" (ode on the inundation of the Lowland Hundred), and " Ymdrech Serch a Bheswm" (the contest between affection and reason), illus- trate further Glan Geirionydd's extraordinary powers. Watcyn Wyn, headmaster of a private school at Amman- ford, Carmarthenshire, is a living bard; one of his prize poems on "Bywyd" (Life), was published at Merthyr, 1882. It is a campuswaith easy to read, and although composed in a free metre, with eleven or twelve syllable couplets, it is distinctly Welsh in its character. Like hundreds of other Welsh publications, it is probably very little known. Ossian Gwent wrote a beautiful poem on " Solitude " (Unigedd); Watcyn Wyn follows him with one on "Silence" {Dystwwrwydd) ; though not written in such a sweet metre as Ossian's, it is full of matter, and great thoughts not fully developed. The following is an extract :— t)j ddwfn dawelwch, O ! mor ddwfn fyfyriol, Terfynau dy fwynhad mor annherfynol ; Tr enaid yn ymgoUi 'n dy gyfeillach, I'th fynwes fawr yn gwasgu, dynach, dynach. CHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 279 O anherfynol fawredd diddechreuad, Ehyw annibynol ddim o ran dy haniad ; Dy lanw dystaw ar ei donau llyfnion, A nofla'r enaid i for mawr dy swynion. Towards the end of the poem a few stanzas are introduced in a different measure. One of the writers holding a chief place, both in poetry and prose, is the late Gwiltm Htrabthog, of Liverpool, where his works are still to be obtained. Hiraethog is not merely known in Wales, but in Germany, as may be seen by the following extract from the letter of a Welsh Elementary school- master, who had studied abroad, to the late D. I. Davies : — "When I was settled down comfortably in my lodgings at Leipzig Dr. Loth, Dr. Tegner, Dr. Erdmann, and Dr. Logler called on me wishing me to read Welsh with them. I need not tell you that I was very glad to comply with their request, and we commenced our work in earnest. 1 showed them my little library of Welsh books, and gave the loan of them to them until they procured their own. The plan they adopted was the following : — They read carefuUy through SpurreU's Grrammar, and commenced with a very easy prose writer ; they then mastered Eowland's Grammar and commenced " Emmanuel." I ought to mention that Dr. Tegner was very well versed in the comparative philology of the Semitic languages, and Dr. Erdmann in the comparative philology of the Aryan languages. In reading Welsh they traced every Welsh word to a similar word either in the Semitic or Aryan group of languages. By doing so they were able to remember the meaning of the word when it occurred again in their reading. In about six weeks they were able to read the " Emmanuel " of Hieabthog with ease and account for all the idioms. When I returned to Cambridge, I received a letter from Dr. Erdmann, written in a very good Welsh style, which is a proof that the Welsh language can be mastered in a very short time by anyone who is well versed in the comparative philology of the Aryan languages. 280 WALES AND [OHAP. VII. Some fifty years ago it was the opinion of persons competent to judge, that Dafydd Ionawk (died 1827), the author of " Cywydd y Drindod," was one of the greatest poets of his time. This poem is composed in the Mesur caeth, called Cywydd deuair hirion, and consists of 11,005 lines, being nearly 500 lines longer than " Paradise Lost," and is said in the plan of its arrangement to resemble Pollok's " Course of Time." The cywydd is, I am sure, too monoto- nous a measure to make a long poem popular, though it may be used with good effect on pieces of a moderate length. It is made up of heptasyllablic couplets, the final word of one line must be a monosyllable, the final word in the* other line constituting the couplet must consist of two or more syllables, consequently the accent falls alternately on the last, and on the last syllable but one in each line, which gives a pleasing effect. Daniel Ddu o Geredigion spoke thus highly of Cywydd y Drindod as "a masterly performance, of equal merit with Paradise Lost, The spirit which it breathes is truly religious, and the poetry of it is beautiful beyond comparison. I have perused it, I think, fifty times, and the more frequently I do so, the more am I pleased and gratified."* Dafydd lonawr was a scholar of Ystrad Meurig Grammar School, under Edward Richards, one of the chief bards of that day, and there, in order to test the power of his awen, before commencing his great poem, " Cywydd y Drindod," he com- posed a cywydd on "The Thunder." One of his Welsh reviewers, leuan Gwynydd, alludes to this in language which I am disposed to give a translation or paraphrase of here, as the style is eminently rhetorical and Welsh, though it neces- sarily somewhat loses its force in a translation. " Look at his mental efforts (ddirdyniadau),f as he was * " Character of the Welsh as a nation," p. 88. t Writhings. OHAP. VII.] HER LANGUAGE. 281 trying to find a subject to measure his strength with (ymaflyd codwm ag ef)* He thought of the pleasant dales, but that would not do. He heard the birds singing, but that would not do. He looked on the bright flowing waters of the Dysyni, but the awe^i did not flow in accord with them. The evening breeze gently sighed, but it did not move the strings of his harp. The flocks of sheep pastured on the hills, but their bleatings did not raise the sympathy of the great genius which was about to manifest itself. The wind whistled wildly, there was a little movement ; the ocean roared, and the breast of the bard heaved back responsive {rhuai yr eigion, ac adruai mynwes y hardd) ; the cloud grew dark, and the tumultuous torrent of his heart was pent up ; the thunder burst, and the flood-gate of the genius which was to deluge the literature of his country with glory, was removed. The thunder touched the spring of his soul. He had within a divine consciousness of very great strength." More than that, leuan might have added that he looked upon the writing of Cywydd y Drindod as a kind of fulfilment of a Divine mission, to which his heart had been turned from boyhood. Dafydd lonawr occupied various situations as under master or usher, and after a love disappointment he made up his mind never to fall in love again. His poem on "Y Drindod" being finished, he asked his father for assist- ance to publish it, but was indignantly refused. Means were, however, obtained from a Thomas Jones, of Ynysfaig, on condition of his sacrificing his patrimony, but of being kept during his life by the said Thomas Jones : with him he lived, except seven years passed as teacher in Dolgelly, till his death, in 1827. During his residence at Dolgelly, he is described as running about, leaping, clapping his hands, and * Wrestle with. 282 WALES AND [CHAP. VII. throwing his hat into the air with the greatest delight. If the Education Commissioner of 1847 had been able to predate his visit to the time when Dafydd lonawr taught the free school there, what kind of a report would he have given ? especially if he had heard that the clapping of hands and laughing some- times continued through the night. We need not be sur- prised to learn that not everyone at Dolgelly was convinced of his being in a state of sanity. So it is, great genius often borders on the debatable limits between the sane and wnsane. Jones, author of " Character of the Welsh as a Nation," says that D. I. was "one of the greatest contributors that Wales has ever produced to the poetical department of its literature ;" whether he will ever be brought prominently again under public notice, time will show, but in these days the eccentric, though gifted and religious author of " Cywydd y Drindod" is but little known. The following is from Cywydd y Daran, and will give the reader, who has some initiation into the language, an idea of the style of a cywydd generally : — T daran o'i du oror Mai berwawg derfysgawg for. Wybrendwrf , braw drwy 'r bryndir, A dychryn drwy 'r dyffryn dir. The following is from C. y Drindod, where Eve is relating to Adam a frightful dream or vision she had had, presaging the fall :— PoenTsv/rth, mewn cwsg^aw «yr