If it be really decided that the language of "some hundreds of thousands" is to continue to be cultivated amidst its native mountains, aide by side with the Language of sixty millions, to which fresh millions are added every ymtr, care should be taken to avoid the disaIvantages that might arise from such a state of things. The preservation of the old language ought to be combined with the cultivation of that which has grown up beside it—of the great English language that has put a girdle round the earth, and is now spoken by mighty communities in each quarter of the world, and on the shores of every ocean. The " Cymro uniaith " "the Welshman of one language,"—a phrase in common use—is not necessarily more patriotic than the Welshman of two languages ; but he is, by a great deal, a member of society less capable of aiding others and of aiding himself. Were the English langnage introduced into every school, and were the youth of Wales induced to make themselves thoroughly familiar with it, much good would undoubtedly be the result. The acquisition of the general language of the empire, of the language of great cities and high civilisation, and ample stores of learning, would open a new field to the abilities of many a young Welshman, whose ignorance of any but his native language confines him to a small circle and a narrow career—rthe general diffusion of English would invite more frequent visitors from England to the lovely and romantic scenery of the principality, and a new era of more cheerful prosperity might dawn uporr Wales.
LITgli•TURE.—The quotation is peculiarly happy which was prefixed to a magazine entitled' The Cambro-Briton: devoted to the cultivation of Welsh literature : "Nulli quidera inihi satis eruditi videntur quibus nostra ignota mint' The history of the literature of Wales is as peculiar as that of its language. It commences with poems ascribed to the 6th century, a period of almost classical antiquity, to which uo living language of the Teutonic or Sclavouic families can be traced. It flourished undoubtedly in the 12th century, and its " golden age" is referred to a date at which no English literature could be in existence, because the English language was as yet unborn. For the last six or seven hundred years its course may be distinctly traced, almost the "solitary pride" of a nation, that, amidst all obstacles and struggles, has been remarkably constant in its attachment to letters. It is true that the value of this literature is not to be compared for an instant with the value of our own, but it is a literature eminently curious and eminently British ; and the apathy can hardly be explained with credit to English scholars that has allowed the subject to remain as it has, in almost total obscurity and neglect.
Perhaps the most valid excuse that can be pleaded is that obstacles to investigation were offered in the very quarter from which assistance might be looked for. A mass of unfounded and uncritical statement on the subject of Welsh antiquities is in existence and in print, which obstructs in the most annoying way the endeavour to arrive at a clear view of the subject. " A Scotsman," says Dr. Johnson, " must be a sturdy moralist indeed if he loves not Scotland better than truth." " Ilow justly," says Edward Williams, or Iolo Morganwg, the most eminent Welsh antiquary of the 19th century, "might he have said the same thing of every Welsh antiquary that has hitherto appeared in the world." (` Cambrian Journal,' for 1860, page 18.) " flow many truly learned and ingenious literary gentlemen," says the same writer in another place, " applied to Mr. Evans and his fib-monger, Lewis Morris, for information relating to Welsh literature and Welsh antiquities, and how many of the most glaring falsehoods have they had in return from these fellows," whose alleged ignorance and bad faith he proceeds to expose. But the very lob Morganwg whose
words wo have quoted, and who up to his death, in 1826, was and is even now regarded by many as the chief authority on Welsh litera ture, is pointed out by others as absolutely still less worthy of confidence than any Welsh antiquary who preceded him. Not only therefore is the entrance into the cavern of Welsh antiquities dark and difficult, but the guides are not to be trusted. The national practice has not been in accordance with the national motto of Wales, Gwir yn erbyn y 13yd," " Truth against the world." Another obstacle, though an inferior ono, has been the difficulty of arriving at the materials for forming a judgment. The Welsh, as has been said, claim to be in possession of a body of poetical compositions extending over a period of thirteen hundred years. Till the com mencement of the 19th century almost all the compositions for which this antiquity is claimed remained buried in the libraries of colleges and of private individuals, some so difficult of access, that Lhuyd, the author of the Archscologia Britannica; who spent his life in researches into Celtic literature, was never able to obtain a sight of some of the most interesting. This reproach was removed, after inef fectual appeals to the patriotism of the gentry of Wales, by the liberality of Owen Jones, a farrier in Thames Street, father of Owen Jones, the architect, so well-known by his publications on the 'Alhambra,' and his restoration of it at the Crystal Palace of Sydenham. At the expense of more than a thousand pounds Mr. Jones, the elder, collected and published, in 1801 and subsequent years, in three volumes, under the title of The M3rvyrian Archaiology of Wales,' the chief produc tions of Welsh literature for nearly nine hundred years, from about fin to 1400. In this task he was assisted by Edward Williams, better known by the name of Iolo Morganwg, or Edward of Glamorgan, already men-, turned, and by Dr. Owen, afterwards Dr, Owen Pughe. The enterprise was by no means undertaken too soon. "A number of manuscripts equal to what now remains," says Owen in the fourteenth volume of the Archmologia ' of the Antiquarian Society, "bath perished through neglect within the last two hundred years, that ie to say, since the higher ranks of Welshmen have withdrawn their patronage from the cultivation of the literature of their native country. We have still upwards of two thousand manuscript books of various ages, from the beginning of the 9th to the close of the 16th century," By the publication of the 31yryrian Archaiology' a vast mass of materials was placed out of danger, but it did not comprise the whole of what Jones intended to publishe—in the library of the British Museum, no less than eighty volume* of transcripts are new deposited which were intended for a continuation of the work. After the cessation of Jones's exertions, the old apathy returned, and more than thirty years elapsed before, iu 1837, an association was set ou foot on the model of the Camden and similar societies, and under the name of the Welsh Manuscript Society, for the purpose of publishing manuscripts, whether in Welsh or other languages, connected with Wales. The important provision was made in the rules, that the works in Welsh were to be accompanied with translations. The Society has not been so active as it promised. Since its foundation, it has scarcely issued live volumes, and seine of them are of a mere antiquarian and genealogical mat. The most important is that entitled ' The foie 'MSS.; a volume of selections from the materials collected by lolo Morganwg for the continuatIou of the' Myvyrian Archaiology.' At present (in 1861) it is said in the ' Cambrian Journal 'that measures have been taken for " re-invigorating" the society, and we heartily wish them success.