MODERN WELSH. Welsh literature since the sixteenth century has relatively less interest than in the earlier periods of its history. With the decline of the bardie institution, poetry ceased to be cultivated as of old, and the prose of the modern period has been too largely confined to theological subjects to be of much permanent interest. A few authors, however, deserve spe cial mention. Morns stands out among the poets in the seventeenth century and Goronwy Gwen in the eighteenth. The publication of Evans's Specimens of Welsh Poetry in 1764 was an event of importance in the early history of the romantic movement in England and one of the first signs among Welshmen of a revival of interest in their own national antiquities. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the eisteddfod, long since neglected, was resumed once more as an important national institution, and a new enthusiasm was stimulated among writers of both prose and verse. Specimens of the best work since the time of Thmw Morns have been collected Mr. W. Lewis Jones in his Caniadan Cymru (Bangor, 1898), a kind of 'Golden Treasury' of Welsh verse.
One of the first monuments of modern Welsh prose was William Morgan's complete translation of the Bible, published in 1588. This version, revised in 1620 by Bishop Parry, is still in use. In the seventeenth century the most important prose writers were Morgan Liwyd and Charles Edwards. At the beginning of the eighteenth
century stands Elis Wynn, whose (i/rcledigwthatt y Barth! Corse (Visions of the Sleeping Bard) is generally reeognized as the greatest masterpiece of Welsh prose since the Mobinoyion. A little later lived Theophilus Evans, whose Drych y Oesoedd still ranks as a favorite Welsh classic. In the nineteenth century the principal prose writers have been David owen ('Brutus'), Thomas Price (`Carnhuanawc')„ Gweirydd ap 111)3.s. Gwallter Mocha in, Lewis Edwards, and in quite recent years Daniel Owen, whose novels furnish the best pictures of Welsh life in the present day. Throughout the century a thriving periodical literature has been maintained, and in 1899 at least 29 newspapers and 39 magazines (secular and religious) were printed in the Welsh language. The Welsh. like all their Celtic neighbors. have been possessed of a rich and in teresting folk-lore, but their tales are not as well preserved as those of the Gaelic peoples. Active efforts have been made in recent years to put on record and save what is left of these popular traditions; and an extensive collection of material has been published by Rhys under the title Celtic Polk-Lore (Oxford. 1901).