One of the greatest enterprises of Welsh publishing is the Welsh Encycloedia, commenced by Mr. Gee, of Denbigh, in the year 1S56, under editorship of the Rev. John Parry, of Bala. Its title is Encyclopedia Cambrensis-Y Gwyddoniadur Cyurreig.' It is divided, on the plan of the' English Cyclopedia,' into several sections, of which the first, which is now publishing, is that of Divinity, Philosophy, and Antiquities. The first number of the fourth volume, just issued (in August, 1861), carries it to the article Dilnwal IllocImud, in which, as in the article on Rya, which occupies 36 closely-printed pages, a full and impartial account is given of the views of both of the parties in Welsh antiquities, but in a manner which leaves no doubt that the writer's judgment is adverse to the supporters of Bardic traslition. The Encyclopedia is a work which in its literary character does honour to Welsh literature, and in its typographical execution does honour to the Welsh press.
This is perhaps the most appropriate place to mention that some of the most valuable information in print with regard to the literature of Wales is comprised in five periodicals in the English language, devoted exclusively to Welsh subjects. The earliest of these, ' The Cambrian Register,' extends to three volumes, the first of which was published in 1796, the second in 1799, and the third in ISIS. It would be difficult to name three volumes of a periodical publication more rich in original information of interest. The letters of distill guishal Welsh antiquaries, which forts' a portion of its contents, are particularly entertaining; and a history of Welsh poetry, which appears in the first volume, contains more information on the subject of its recent authors than will be found elsewhere. Dr. Owen Pughe was one of its principal contributors, and is said to have been its editor. ' The Cambro-Briton and General Celtic Repository,' also in three volumes, published in the years 1819-1822, is an excellent periodical, replete with information of every kind, and remarkably free from frivolous or unimportant matter. Its editor was Mr. John liumffreys
Parry, secretary to the Cymmrodorion Society, author of the Cain brian Plutarch' and other works of reputation. The Cambrian Quarterly Magazine,' in five volumes, published from 1829 to 1833, is unfavourably distinguished from its predecessors by the admission of articles of mere light reading: but some of these are extremely well written. The present successor to these works is the' Cambrian Journal, published under the auspices of the Cambrian Institute,' and edited by the Rev. John Williams ab Ithel. It was commenced in 1854, and the four quarterly numbers form a volume each year. The articles are of a very varied kind, and of extremely different degrees of merit, and opinions of the most opposite character are freely and strongly expressed. The 'Archrcologia Cambrensis,' or 'Journal of the Cambrian Archeological Association,' though of course less devoted to literary subjects than the other periodicals, contains, a good deal that bears upon them. It has produced an annual volume of four quarterly numbers, with occasional eupplernents, eine° its commence ment in 1846. The editor is the secretary of the society, the Itev. Longueville Jones. The volumes of these periodicals, now about thirty In number, should find a place in every public library in El;laud, where the literature of ancient Britain and the modern literature of a considerable portion of it, are not objects of indiffer once. They comprise almost all the information on the subject at present accessible to the English reader—defective in many respects, it is true, and scattered over many volumes; but wo can scarcely com plain of the deficiency of a general and satisfactory survey of the literature of Wales, while as yet we have nothing of a similar kind for