J. O. C's letter has been received; but it arrived, unluckily, too late for the present number: it shall appear in our next. In the mean time we wish to observe, that the writer will find in this number a few remarks corresponding with some of his, but which were in print before the arrival of his communication. We had besides hinted at the fault, to which the remarks refer,on a former occasion. We feel gratified by the renewal of P. B. W's correspondence, and hope to make use of his obliging communication next month. With respect to the articles, of which he speaks in his postscript, we are much concerned to hear, they should have been, as he says, the cause of any offence; but we must say, that, upon recurring to them, we cannot discover how they could justly have been so. If the writer has erred at all in his personal allusions, it has been, we think, by an excess of praise, and, at all events, we have reason to know, that, if he has offended some, he has gratified many. Laudatur ab his, culpatur ab illis; and such is the fate of most writers. The "incidents recorded" by him may now and then, it is true, have the character P. B. W. ascribes to them; but they are not perhaps, on that account, less valuable as traits of national manners; and, were it otherwise, it must be our business to consult all tastes, and occasionally to pass

From grave to gay, from lively to severe.

We must mix, as well as we can, the utile dulci, and not forget the quot hominum, tot sententiarum, so necessary to be kept in mind in the management of a miscellany like this; and, if we might be allowed to complete our patch-work of quotations, we would take this opportunity of applying to our editorial capacity a parody of a well-known sentiment, and say---CAMBRO-BRITANNUS sum, nihil CAMBRO-BRITANNICUM à me alienum puto.

Our readers, especially the admirers of our national airs, will be glad to hear, that we are enabled to promise them an early continuation (perhaps next month) of Mr. PARRY's interesting LETTERS ON WELSH MUSIC.'

We have received from our kind correspondent S. R. JACKSON another Parnassian present, of which we shall make a partial use in our next.

In one of our last Notices' we were made to observe, that "Welsh communications would be always acceptable;" this was too unqualified,---it should have been "Welsh communications of interest." The latter words were accidentally omitted by the printer.

We take this opportunity of reminding our readers, that contributions of merit, connected with the national languages and literature of Ireland, Scotland, or Brittany, will always find a ready insertion in the CAMBRO-BRITON. We are particularly anxious to give full energy to this part of our plan; but, to do it effectually, we shall stand in need of a spirited and patriotic co-operation.

The second contributions of J. Ó. C. and P. B. W. are just come to hand, and shall be attended to next month, if possible. The writers have our best thanks.

ERRORS CORRECTED.

We regret, that, owing to a cause, which does not admit of a public explanation, the last Number should have been disfigured by the following typographical errors.-P. 9, 1. 3, "ARIANWAN" (ARIANWEN.) 1. 17, " Dingab" (Dingad). 1. 27. "Deyvndlug" (Deyrnllug). 1. 28. "Dinos", (Dinas). 1. 37, Aelgyvarç" (Aelgyvarch). p. 10, 1. 35, “Gwendydd" (Gwenddydd). p. 14, I. 3, of the notes "Hywd" (Hywel). p. 35, 1. 22, "clan" (clau). 1. 24, "tulyngach", (teilyngach). 1. 31, "hyglwyid". (hy, lywid). p. 46, 1. 22. "agwddwawr" (agwrddwawr). 1. 25,"rhuddwaedd (rhuddwaed). p. 47, 1. 33, "cochyion" (cochion). p. 50, Í. 1, "darbwilli (darbwylli). 1. 25. "addien" (ddien). The corrected words, it will be ols rved, are between parentheses.

THE

CAMBRO-BRITON.

DECEMBER, 1821.

NULLI QUIDEM MIHI SATIS ERUDITI VIDENTUR, QUIBUS NOSTRA CICERO de Legibus.

IGNOTA SUNT.

ANTIQUITY OF THE WELSH TONGUE*.

Ad linguam quod attinet præcipua honoris et dignitatis palma, de quâ inter se linguæ decertare solent, vetustas est. DR. DAVIES.

AMONG the many subjects, which fall naturally within the scope and purpose of this Institution, there is none, perhaps, which offers stronger claims on its attention, than the peculiar and remarkable characteristics of our native tongue. In all countries we have ever found a desire to prevail amongst the learned to investigate, with partial anxiety, the distinguishing properties of their respective languages: even with reference to such, as are comparatively of modern origin, and have no extraordinary merit to recommend them, we have seen this natural propensity to exist. Can it then be a matter of surprise, that the learned of our own country, who, during the last two hundred and fifty years, have combined their powerful aid to examine and to illustrate the particular excellencies of the Welsh tongue, should have dwelt with a fond enthusiasm on those peculiarities, by which it is signalized among the languages now spoken in Europe? From the time of the celebrated Dr. J. D. Rhys, down to the present, no author, that has treated, either expressly or incidentally, of the language of Wales, has failed to speak, with becoming praise, of some or other of its singular qualities: and we owe it to their elaborate and ingenious researches, that we are now able to discriminate, with an accurate eye, the simplicity of its basis, the beautiful uniformity of its superstructure, and, above all, those

*This Essay is extracted from the "Report" of the Cymmrodorion, or Metropolitan Cambrian Institution, and was originally intended to be read at the first Annual Festival of the Society, May 22, 1821.-ED.

venerable marks of antiquity, by which it avowedly stands unrivalled among the languages of this western world.

It is on this last-mentioned characteristic that I propose, on the present occasion, to offer some observations; not that I hope, within the necessary limits of this Essay, to exhaust a subject, abounding, as this does, with food for the most interesting speculation: all, that I aim at, is to take a summary view of the most remarkable proofs, by which the high antiquity of the Welsh tongue is established.

Before I enter, however, on this inquiry, I feel it necessary to promise a few remarks, which the nature of the subject appears particularly to demand, with reference to an hypothesis that has hitherto gained considerable currency, and seems to have tended, in no small degree, to encumber the researches of philologists, and consequently to have had an injurious influence on their inquiries into the particular characteristics of the Welsh tongue.

The hypothesis, to which I allude, is the notion that language was originally communicated in a full and perfect state by the Deity to man; an opinion which has been supported by so many learned and pious writers, and with so bold a confidence, that one is almost led to believe the assertion to be sanctioned by divine revelation. It happens, however, unfortunately for their position, that the sacred volume not only gives no countenance to it, but seems even to favour an opposite conclusion in the only passage which can reasonably be adapted to the occasion. This occurs at the 19th and 20th verses of the 2d chapter of Genesis, which are as follow:-" And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam, there was not found an help meet for him." This is the first occasion on which the sacred penman ascribes to the first man the use of his oral faculties; and, if we consider the words in their plain and obvious import, as in all such cases is, perhaps, the wisest and safest mode, there appear to be two circumstances particularly worthy of our attention.

66

The first of these is, that Adam was thus invited to give names to the creatures, that were brought to him, before the creation of Eve, and, consequently, before there could have been any intercourse of sentiment, any tacit connivance, as to the use of the organs of speech, in the adaptation of their sounds to surrounding objects. Man was alone in the world as far as concerned human society; and, therefore, whatever language he uttered must have been a language suggested by nature itself, without any adscititious influence from other causes: and a brief consideration of the next point that occurs will prove, I think, that this language was not the effect of an immediate revelation from heaven, but the result of a natural aptitude in the organs of speech to utter certain determinate articulations, according to the impulse of man's internal emotions. God," says the sacred text, brought these creatures to Adam, to see what he would call them." Now, if Adam had before been gifted with a systematic and accomplished language, as we may presume one of divine origin would have been, it is not probable that the sacred historian would have described the Deity as desirous of knowing what names Adam would bestow on the animals brought to him. On the contrary, the obvious sense of the passage seems to be, that God was anxious to know (to speak in human language), in what way the first man would employ his natural powers of articulation with respect to the objects assembled before him. "His Maker,” as the author of the Celtic Researches has justly observed on this very point, "had implanted certain principles in him, which the occasion called forth into action, as his own feelings prompted, or as his judgment prescribed"." And, from the experience of numerous travellers amongst newly-discovered nations, upon the first sight of any strange objects, we are justified in inferring, that the names, given by the first man on the occasion under consideration, must have corresponded with the feelings excited in him by the shape, voice, and other characteristic qualities of the respective animals submitted to his view, as the several passions of fear, love, or astonishment may have operated on his inexperienced mind.

From the foregoing brief examination of this Scriptural pas

*See CELT. RES. p. 375.-ED.