the name in its more confined import, as applying only to the Aborigines of Britain, we have the authority of Cæsar for stating, that their descent was even in his time unknown; and we find from Tacitus, that the intercourse of the Romans with Britain for more than a century afterwards, had not rendered their information on this point at all more decisive: for the historian tells us, that it was not discovered who the first inhabitants were, or whether they were indigenous, or had emigrated from some other country. Before I quit this point I cannot refrain from observing, that the class of languages, to which the Welsh belongs, and of which it may safely be styled the chief, seems to have been erroneously called CELTIC by most authors that have written upon it. This observation applies particularly to the French authors, who seem to have been, for the most part, ignorant that such a people as the Cimbri ever existed. Some too of our own writers have fallen into the same error, unless they are to find their excuse in the popular misconception upon the subject. The name of CIMBRI, it has been already suggested, had reference to a primitive or parent nation, while the term CELTIC was applied only to particular tribes of it, which, from local circumstances, acquired that appellation.

A third proof, that may be derived from exterior circumstances in favour of the antiquity of our native language, is the pure and unaltered state in which it has descended to us through so many ages. We have the most satisfactory testimony, as far as human testimony can be satisfactory, that the language, now spoken in Wales, is in no essential respect different from that in which Taliesin and Aneurin, and their cotemporary bards, wrote in the sixth century, the highest period to which we can with any certainty go. Whatever change has taken place has been the effect rather of the arbitrary disguises of orthography than of any other cause: the language has been one, the same, and immutable. Now it is hardly necessary to observe, that of no other living European tongue can the same thing be said with any degree of justice. The English and French writers, even of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, have long become obsolete, excepting to those who make antiquated works their particular study; and even the English poet Spenser, who wrote little more than two centuries ago, is already unintelligible to the general reader. But who will assert, that the works of our earliest bards are not at this day perfectly understood by every one who understands the Welsh tongue in its genuine purity? The fact is indisputable; and this advantage must be chiefly ascribed to the influence of the Bardic Institution, which, according to the records we have of it, made the preservation of the language in its ancient purity one of its indispensable objects. The conclusion, then, that I would draw from all this is, that, if our language has continued uncorrupted and unchanged through more than twelve centuries; if, too, during that long period, it has triumphed over not only the destructive accidents and fluctuations of time, but also all the hostility and intercourse of the Saxons and of the English; if, I say, it has not been affected for so many**

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centuries by any of these any of these powerful causes, we are fully justified in presuming, that it must, before that time, have resisted alleague saults on its primitive character, notwithstanding that it had to contend for four hundred years with the arms and civilization of Rome. ne. How justly then may we apply to our venerable tongue » the words of the poet, and say,

vique d Nec poterit ferrum nec edax abolere vetustas..

The last circumstance I shall notice under this head is the remarkable fact, that the Welsh language, or one nearly allied to it, is spoken in other countries, with which Wales has no geographical connexion. The first people that present themselves in this point of view are the Bretons of France. The latest period at which any intercourse between the two countries took place was in the fourth century, when Cynan Meiriadog, Prince of North Wales," is recorded in the Triads to have emigrated to Brittany with a considerable number of followers. The language, however, must have been spoken by the Bretons long before that time; and it was, no doubt, their identity in this particular with the Welsh that induced Cynan to settle amongst them. We may, therefore, infer that the Bretons and Welsh are remnants of the same original stock, though the precise period of their separation is so remote as to be involved in complete obscurity. The similarity of the Irish language e is also worthy of observation, as tending to strengthen this argument in favour of the antiquity of the Welsh. But the most singular cir cumstance of all, connected with this part of my inquiry, is the affinity with Welsh of a Language spoken in Lusatia by a people called Wendi, presumed to be the remains of the ancient Veneti. The fact of the resemblance of the two languages has been satis factorily ascertained, and justifies the conclusion, that the Wendi are descendants of that primitive nation, the Cimbri, by whom Europe was first peopled, and of whom the Cymry are the more immediate representatives*.

By the summary, but I fear inadequate, view, which I have thus taken of the antiquity of the Welsh tongue, I have endeavoured to show, that it is to be vindicated, in the first place, by those inherent qualities of the language-its elementary character, its system of literal mutations, and its correspondence in so many respects, both general and particular, with the Hebrew; and, secondly, by that external testimony, which we derive from the obscurity of its origin, the very name of the language, its existence uncorrupted and unchanged through a period of twelve centuries pregnant with dangers, which nothing but its own innate energies could have surmounted, and by the language, or one nearly similar, being spoken by various nations in every other respect totally distinct from the Welsh.

The cultivation of this pure and venerable tongue, and of the

* Some interesting notices of the Wendi may be seen in the third volume of the CAMBRO-BRITON, pp. 433 and 477.

various productions to which it has given birth, especially those of ancient times, necessarily forms the principal aim of this laudable Institution; and if, in the least degree, these humble remarks may incite a desire to promote this end, my purpose will be sufficiently answered. And, with reference to the national objects to which I have alluded, whether we are to arrive at them by the immediate agency of the Institution itself, or by its encouragement of any exertions elsewhere, I would beg, in conclusion, to apply to the occasion the eloquent words of the Roman orator in his defence of the poet Archias, and say, "Hæc studia adolescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solatium præbent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur. Quod, si ipsi hæc neque attingere, neque sensu nostro gustare possemus, tamen ea mirari deberemus etiam cum in aliis videremus.”

J. H. PARRY.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE.

SINCE the appearance of this Essay in the former "REPORT" of the Society, an objection has been publicly made to the position with which it sets out, respecting the origin of language; the objector contending, in opposition to what I have assumed, that man was, at his creation, endued by the Deity with " a perfect speech." I hope, therefore, I may be excused if I here briefly advert to the arguments used by my opponent, not so much, indeed, for the purpose of refuting them, as of shewing that the difference between us is more in appearance than in reality. The objector, then, contends, that language was at first communicated to man in the same manner, that "the substance of his food and the materials of his raiment were provided for him," and that, whatever variety of forms it may since have undergone, "its elements must have proceeded from him who is the Creator of all things." And he again argues, that man, having thus received the " materials " of language, "as many as were at first necessary, was capable afterwards of increasing these materials by different modifications." Such is the main ground, upon which the writer defends his hypothesis, that " a perfect speech" was, at first, the gift of the Creator; though it must be obvious, from the arguments he employs, that he meant no more than the "elements or "materials" of speech, which reduces his position to the precise import of that which is laid down in the Essay. For I have distinctly stated it as my opinion, that " language was, in its infancy, composed of the most simple elements, which, although in themselves incapable of expressing the various ideas that subsequently thronged into the human mind, formed the simple, yet solid, basis upon which the grand superstructure of human speech, in all its splendid and

* See CAMBRO-BRITON, vol. iii. p. 175.

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majestic varieties, was progressively reared." Hence I have assumed, and I still think correctly, that the original 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." Yet this, the writer of the objections seems to insinuate, is "to divest the Deity of his prerogatives, and to appropriate them to man," as though I had assumed that man was himself the inventor of those elements of speech which are to be found in the natural articulations of the human voice. These, I admit with the objector, as being implanted in the nature of man, were, undoubtedly, the boon of his Creator; nor can it be deemed a less wonderful act of divine power, that man should have been enabled to form a language out of materials so simple, than if he had, at once, been gifted by the Almighty with one of the most complete and accomplished character. In fine, the discrepancy of opinion between the writer alluded to and myself is, as above intimated, one more about words than ideas; for, when he speaks of man having been originally "capable of increasing the primary elements of speech by different modifications," he does but express, in other words, the very principle upon which my position, with respect to the origin of language, has its foundation. The following, then, in a few words, is the summary of my opinion on this point, and of its application to the foregoing argument in favour of the antiquity of the Welsh tongue :-" Language, in its origin, must have been composed merely of certain determinate natural sounds, capable of being multiplied upon a regular and immutable principle, and likewise susceptible of numerous simple combinations, concurring with the progress of society, and the consequent alla tion of human ideas and exigencies. These primitive elements, upon the miraculous confusion at Babel, to whatever perfection they had then advanced, were necessarily dispersed and frittered, as it were, among the various dialects, to which that event gave birth, and have since formed the basis of all other tongues. Consequently, there exists no language in which a certain number, however few, of these elementary sounds may not be discovered; and those languages, which have retained the greatest proportion of them, must necessarily be allowed the highest claim both to purity and antiquity."

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PREFACE.

1. old

THE following POEM is divided into three parts, not so much non account of its length as that it appeared to be the natural arrangement of the subject. The pauses may also have the effect of counteracting, in some measure, that satiety, which the frequent recurrence of a like ending, in so confined a metre, has a tendency to produce. The prefixed ARGUMENT is intended only for such "persons, as can neither read nor understand the Welsh, should any such be desirous of knowing what the Poem contains. As to the few marginal notes, they are of no importance, unless the reader, when referred to them, thinks the passage requires an explanation. To the judgement of the intelligent Welsh critic the Poem, in itself, is submitted, without regard to any of its adjuncts.

Bodvary, June 18, 1822.

"HU GADARN; or a Poem, in three parts, on the subject proposed by the CYMMRODORION, by the Rev. EDWARD HUGHES, A.M." This Poem gained the prize at the last Anniversary of the Society, May 22, 1822.-Ed. Tr.