PRINTED BY DAVIDSON, OLD BOSWELL COURT, CAREY STREET, FOR THE EDITOR, AND PUBLISHED BY J. LIMBIRD, 355, STRAND. 1821. ΤΟ WILLIAM OWEN PUGHE, ESQ. F. A. S. MY DEAR SIR,-In thus availing myself, without your knowlege, of the sanction of your name to the second Volume of the CAMBRO-BRITON, I shall have occasion for all your indulgence, since I cannot but feel, that my humble work can confer nothing on you in return for the honour it thus de ́rives. However, your long and unequalled services in the field of Welsh literature have so rendered your name a kind of public property, as, in some degree, I hope, to excuse the freedom I am now using. And, even if I were without this apology, the friendly assistance, which you have afforded me through the whole of my enterprise, has, in a manner, imposed upon me the duty of thus publicly expressing my gratitude. My only regret is, that my limits will not allow me here to particularise the many instances, in which I have experienced the advantage of your valuable co-operation. Having thus, my dear Sir, however imperfectly, discharged a duty, which your important aid of the CAMBRO-BRITON so obviously required, I profit by the opportunity to offer also my acknowlegement, in common with the rest of your countrymen, of the more general, and still more important, services, your various productions have rendered to Welsh literature, and which, while that literature your name And has any charms for the world, must rank among those of its most eminent benefactors. let me add to this the expression of a wish, that cannot but be ardently felt by all your admirers, that the monument, you have so happily reared to your fame, may soon experience an additional lustre in the completion of the national design, you are known to have contemplated. By a translation of the MABINOGION, avowedly among the most curious of our ancient remains, you will not only impose on your country a lasting obligation, but you will enrich, in an essential degree, the literary treasures of Europe. There may be other departments of learning more useful, but there is none more generally attractive, than that, in which the Genius of Romance has painted the fantastic splendours of her visionary reign. And among the numerous ancient productions of this nature there are few, if any, that excel in interest the Juvenile Romances of Wales. I will only, in conclusion, observe, that, whatever disappointment may hitherto have attended me in my career, the reflection, that I have been so ably supported in it by your friendship, cannot fail to be at all times consolatory. And I shall feel too, on this account,-what a confinement to my own resources might never have taught me, that, according to the well known line of an English writer, it may be possible to deserve success when we cannot command it. I am, and shall ever remain, MY DEAR SIR, With great sincerity, Your truly obliged, LONDON, May 25, 1821. THE CAMBRO-BRITON. SEPTEMBER, 1820. NULLI QUIDEM MIHI SATIS ERUDITI VIDENTUR, quibus NOSTRA IGNOTA SUNT. WELSH LANGUAGE. ITS ORNAMENTAL PROPERTIES. AMONG the singular attributes of the Welsh tongue its extraordinary, and almost illimitable, faculty of giving new beauty and variety to its expression, by the aid of prefixes and other adjuncts, is, perhaps, the most worthy of investigation. This power springs, undeniably, from that elementary character of the language, which has already been the subject of some inquiry in this work *, and which, as being obviously founded in the most natural principles, serves essentially to prove the purity and antiquity of the Welsh tongue. If, indeed, we were not to come to this conclusion, we should be at a loss to account for these ornamental properties, as belonging to the language of a people, who have never been distinguished by history for their proficiency in arts and sciences, and to whom, consequently, an artificial embellishment of their native speech to any great extent could not reasonably be ascribed. The bards, it is true, may have made some progress in this way; but even the bards, with all their poetical predilections, and with all their traditional lore, could never have raised such an edifice, if Nature herself had not laid the foundationt. These properties, therefore, must not only be considered as See VOL. I. pp. 81 and 161. ↑ It has been somewhere intimated, in the former part of this work, that the Welsh tongue owed much of its beauty and energy to the cultivation, which it received under the Bardic Institution: and, in a qualified sense, this is certainly correct. The language was, no doubt, essentially improved by the bards and the early poets; but, on the other side, it must always be remembered, that they only wrought on materials, which they found ready to their VOL. II. B |