ever, we must fuppofe to have been more impartial and compe tent judges than himself. In a MS. of the laws of Howel Dha, he finds fome lines cited and afcribed to Taliefin; and these he brings forward in evidence, without ftating on what grounds he confiders this MS. as more correct and genuine than the others; and not in the leaft ftartled at meeting with a quotation from a poet in a book of laws,-and that quotation fo little to the purpofe, and fo awkwardly introduced, that it bears every mark of an interpolation.

We imagine that the credibility of that notorious fabulift, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and the genuineness of the Welsh triads, ought to be established, before they can with any propriety be introduced as unexceptionable and fatisfactory evidence. (119135.)

We fhall now turn back to the first divifion of the external evidence that there are old MSS. exifting of thefe poems, (21.); which merely amounts to this, that there are two, if not three, ancient MSS. extant, which have no appearance of having been written later than the twelfth century,' (24.) And this very guarded and very vague pofition does not reft on the authority of Mr Turner. He does not appear to have examined these MSS. himself;-he does not even mention the qualifications or names of thofe to whofe examination he has trufted; nor state the evidence which is fuppofed to prove their antiquity: He merely fays, he understands (27.), he is informed (28.), he is affured (29.) that they are ancient. It is unneceffary to expofe the weakness of this evidence. In pages 37-87, he endeavours to prove, that Aneurin, Taliefin, &c. and their works, have been mentioned or alluded to by a feries of bards, whofe works ftill exift, undifputed, from before the twelfth century to a recent period. The difbelievers in the genuineness of the poems attributed to the bards of the fixth century, maintain, that they were forged in the twelfth century. They ground their opinion on two undisputed facts,-that the Welsh do not pretend to poffefs the works of any bards between the fixth and the eleventh or twelfth centuries, and that all the Welsh MSS. appear to have been written in the twelfth century. Mr Turner, imagining that the Welsh had unguardedly granted too much, contends (269), that there are fmall poems till extant, which were written in the feventh, eighth, and tenth centuries; but as he has offered no arguments in fupport of their genuinenefs, we must beg leave not only to object to them as authorities on the prefent fubject, but alfo to fufpe&t their antiquity. There are, however, fix notices, taken from poems which, according to the confent of the best Welth critics, were written before the twelfth century.'

(37-39.) Thefe notices prove, merely, that the names of Taliefin, Merdhin, Llywarch, Avaon, and Kennyd, and fhort proverbial fentences attributed to them, floated on the breath of tradition; but by no means that their poems were then written, or even in exiftence. On the contrary, the very expreflion, Haft thou not heard what Llywarch fang-Greet kindly, though there be no acquaintance,' fufficiently points out what parts of the poems of this bard were preferved, and how they were preferved. The other notices are exactly of the fame kind, and expreffed in the fame manner.

It is now neceffary to turn from the 39th to the 112th page, where, in perfect confiftency with the total want of arrangement of the work, the remaining part of this divifion of the external evidence is confidered. Giraldus Cambrenfis is cited; and his evidence is faid to be complete and decifive. In one paffage, he exprefsly fays, that, in the twelfth century, the Cambrian bards, and fingers or reciters, have the genealogy of their princes written in their ancient and authentic books in Welsh. The poems of the bards are not mentioned; yet Mr Turner affirms that he speaks of the genealogies but as a part of the contents of these ancient and authentic books.' In the other paffage, the words of Giraldus are, Rex Angliæ Henricus Se cundus, ficut ab hiftorico cantore Britone audiverat antiquo. 'Mr Turner hence infers, that the ancient British had historical fingers, that is, ancient bards who had left historical poems, which, in the days of Henry the Second, were deemed ancient, and referred to; and which, therefore, must have been fome centuries old in that age.' (144.) Cannot Mr Turner perceive that the words exprefsly declare, that King Henry had heard (concerning Arthur) from an ancient British bard?

After thefe fpecimens of Mr Turner's commentary and arguments, which are not felected, and are even surpassed in almost every page, it surely is not neceffary to examine, or even state any other paffages, which he has adduced in fupport of this part of the external evidence. We may, however, remark, that the entire filence of Giraldus Cambrenfis, a writer who is fo very full and particular in every thing relative to Wales, and seems to have poffeffed confiderable knowledge as well as zeal, renders it extremely probable, that in his time (about 1200) there were no poems of an ancient date, either traditional or written. In one paffage, indeed, he refers to the prophecies of Merdhin, and declares that he had tranflated them into Latin. But Mr Turner confiders the prophetic works afcribed to Merdhin, which have come down to us, as unquestionably either interpolated or furreptitious, (149.) How then can this paflage of Giraldus prove

the

and our review of the volumes now before us, will furnish at once a proof of our eagerness to find out fomething worthy of notice in this favourite line of exertion, and a new inftance of moft unmingled difappointment. Thus much it was neceflary to premife, as an apology for making fuch a work the subject of

an article.

The letters of Mr William Hunter to his fifter Eliza, exceed, in a confiderable degree, the average dulnefs of this popular fpecies of compofition, even if we include in our eftimate the manufcript fpecimens which it has been our lot to perufe. The two or three first epiftles are quite fufficient to correct any hopes of amufement which the reader of the title-page may unwarily have formed. He foon finks into a kind of unvaried reverie, like that produced by the conftant and uniform repetition of any heavy found;-in this he is not even disturbed by any very striking dif cord;-he continues turning over page after page, to the number of near a thousand, without finding a fingle interruption of his repofe. The author is a safe and smooth goer; he avoids giving the smallest variety either of pleasure or pain; he maintains this happy medium with inimitable dexterity; and, after the lapfe of a certain time, the reader finds himself happily arrived at the end of his journey, without the recollection even of a jolt, which might remind him of the talk he has performed. Such, at least, was the unruffled ftate of mind in which we first paffed over this work; all our efforts of critical vigilance could only ward off total fleep. In spite of our utmost attention, we could not avoid that minor fort of trance into which Mr Hunter has the fecret of plunging his victims; and we gave way, after fome ineffectual struggles, to the uncommon powers of this moft skilful magnetiser. Our curiofity was, however, not unnaturally excited to discover the myfterious charm which he fo evidently was in poffeffion of. We therefore fubmitted once more to his operations; and are now fo far acquainted with the fecret of his art, that we can venture to difclofe it with fome confidence, both for the benefit of future authors and for the warning of our readers.

And, first of all, the practitioner of this new art finds it proper to obtain a due portion of cuftomers. For this end, it is fitting that he fhould entice the paffenger by his fign-poft; and as it is of the very nature of figns to have no fort of refemblance to the thing fignified, fo he depicts, on the outfet, not the fare which the paffenger fhall find within, but that which may tempt him molt readily to enter. Thus, as the head of the Grand Turk, and, ftill more, the words neat wines,' are in nowife defcriptive of the liquors which fuch devices are meant to reprefent, fo is the name of Mr Hunter's article very far diftant from convey

ing any foretafte of its true nature or object. The unwary paffenger fees written, in great characters, Travels in France during the heat of the Revolution,' &c. with a head of the Grand Seignior; he buys; and ftraightway begins to turn over a few leaves. Left, however, the deception fhould too fuddenly be perceived, and the drug not taken in a fufficient dofe, it is covered over with fuch devices as the following-which excite a little attention by the obfcurity of their meaning, or at least tend to keep up the appearance.

I do not propose to bind myself down by any fixed rules. My digreffions will probably be numerous; and, as my inclination prompts me, I may yield to the dictates of reafon, or indulge in the fpeculations of conjecture, or be feduced by the allurements of imagination. If this plan be defultory, I have only sketched it out, because I conceive that it will afford you more entertainment than any other; for there is an irrefiftible charm in variety, which carries the feelings lightly along '— and fo forth. I. 3.

By fuch means the reader is enticed, and submits himself to the farther operations of the spell, which very speedily begin to be

felt.

The great fecret of Mr Hunter's art confifts in avoiding every thing which may in the smalleft degree disturb the repose of his reader by exciting emotions of any fort; and this he chiefly accomplishes, by curiously felecting all thofe incidents which are of the most ordinary recurrence, mixing them up with fuch remarks as are equally plain, and interfperfing them with long difcuffions, to prove what is either intuitively true, or intuitively falfe; thus, in both cafes, contriving to render any exertion of intellect as unneceffary in us, as it would be impoffible in him. For thefe ends, he justly confiders that the most familiar actions of a man's life are eating and fleeping at the stated times; and that when a perfon travels, the moft ordinary occupation is that of moving from one place to another; fetting off at a cer tain hour of the morning, and arriving at a particular hour in the evening; and, it may be, paying the expence incurred. Extending fomewhat further his views of human affairs, he finds that provifions are either good, or bad, or indifferent; that the fame general obfervation applies alfo to beds; and that all these objects may likewife be diftinguifhed by another principle of claffification derived from attending to their prices. From this view of the fobject, the transition is eafy to roads and ferries, including tolls and bridges, with the acceffory matter of horfes and carriages. The fame love of generalizing, leads him to a contemplation of the works of nature; and he furveys, with an accurate and difcriminating eye, the whole ftate of the wea

VOL. IV. NO. 7.

ther,

the existence of the genuine poems of Merdhin in the twelfth century; or apply, with any propriety or force, to the only poem of this bard, at prefent allowed to be genuine, the Avallenau, which the hiftorian never mentions?

In p. 197, Mr Turner maintains that the obfcure and unintelligible paffages, which abound in the poems of Taliefin, &c. are a ftrong prefumptive evidence that they are genuine. If Mr Turner will turn back to page 164, he will there find, that he leaves to its fate' the mystical, unintelligible poetry of Taliefin, and confiders as genuine only his hiftorical elegies, and his poems on Urien and Elphin: In other words, he gives up the defence of thofe, which bear the most unequivocal marks of antiquity, and felects, as genuine, only those which, according to his own criterion, are destitute of them.

In page 136, he affirms that the Britons had the ufe of letters in the fixth century. It is evident that, unless by this he meant that the Welth was a written language at that period, he will have gained nothing by proving his point. But, fo far from having been able to fubftantiate what he must have meant, he has not adduced even the fhadow of an argument in fupport of what he has actually faid. Several Latin inferiptions (of which, however, he notices only tv o, both the work of one man) have been found in Wales, of the date of the fixth century. How totally deftitute of judgment muit that man be, who can from this circumftance infer, that the Britons had the use of letters at that æra, or that, because a Welsh ecclefiaftic could then write Latin, therefore the Welfh was a written language!-It may be obferved, that, according to the very nature of the bardic system, it would neither be neceffary nor defirable, that their poems fhould be committed to writing; and, in all probability, they were not, till the profeffion became lefs numerous, when it would be neceffary to preferve in writing, what recitation or tradition could no longer fufficiently fpread or fecure from oblivion *. On the contrary, the laws of a country would prefent the ftrongeft claim to be first committed to written language; and accordingly, the oldeft indifputably genuine work in Welsh, is Howel Dha's Laws, of the tenth century.

We fhall now proceed to confider fome parts of the internal evidence produced by Mr Turner: and here, the fame confufion and imbecility of understanding are difcovered. The mind of the reader is never exercifed, even in detecting sophistry; but

is

Mr Turner himself informs us (Hiftory of the Anglo-Saxons, I. 196.) that the bardic doctrines were orally communicated from bard to bard.'