Godfrey Charles Morgan

“ We are—I propose using a silly phrase to express our relations at Tredegar House—a brotherhood of men. We are here as a brotherhood of men, and a sisterhood of women, and I should like you to look upon me as one of yourselves. ”

“ I have no doubt there are several in the hall who, like myself, are not total abstainers, but we are all one in our endeavour to promote temperance generally. To those who cannot be temperate, we advise total abstinence. There is nothing, I am sure, so fruitful of good as the advocacy of temperance amongst children. When children are taught to advocate a particular cause they do it more effectively than older people. But we are sometimes apt to become too much imbued with one particular idea, and it is never well to be too much of a bore to those around us. ”

“ We find him raising the Tredegar Show to its present pre-eminence in the world of agriculture. It is a noble record of honesty of purpose. And agriculture, as well we know in Wales and Monmouthshire, is but one of Lord Tredegar's many interests. He has spoken wise words on education; he has urged the claims of charity. He has led the way in historical research, and inspired among many whose interest might not otherwise have been aroused a love of our ancient castles and our dear old parish churches. He has spoken eloquently of our Welsh heroes and bards. ”

“ I, personally, consider the Eisteddfod a great institution.
One of the reasons why many of our English friends do not support Eisteddfodau, and are inclined to speak slightingly of them, is because of the religious side which commences with the Gorsedd; but I think if our friends paid a little more attention to it, and attended oftener, they would not be inclined to ridicule the institution.
An Eisteddfod, anywhere, is a very interesting event, but one at Pontypridd seems to be of all others the most interesting. Pontypridd itself is full of reminiscences of old and modern Wales. ”

“ I am now like the old man of the sea—someone you ought to get rid of. I am a great land tyrant. If you want a bit of land you can't get it. If you want a piece for a recreation ground you can't get it. If you want a piece for a Church you can't get it. If you want a piece for a school you can't get it. If you want a place for any other amusement or for athletic grounds you can't get it. Why? Because it belongs to Lord Tredegar. So if you treat me like Jonah, and throw me overboard, perhaps it would be much better for you.
Conservative Association Meeting, Newport. ”

“ England is like old Tredegar House, and you will find that the customs now prevailing have been in vogue for over 500 years. You will probably be told that the best way to make people happy is to make the poor rich and the rich poor; but, in truth, the richer people are, the better able they are to help the poor. ”

“ I have the greatest possible admiration for faith of any sort. Early in my life I had occasion to look with admiration upon the faith even of a Mohammedan. I have listened to the minister of the mosque calling the faithful to prayers two, three or more times a day, and I have seen the Mohammedans in the street go down on their knees and say their prayers in front of everybody. I have seen a regiment of Mohammedans on the march, and at the hour of sunset every man in the regiment would kneel on his carpet and say his prayers. ”

“ No one could walk the streets of Cardiff without being impressed with the number of Welsh people one met and heard talking in their own language. Probably a great number of those simply came into the town for the day, but a considerable number must be residents of the town.
I see a great many ladies present, and I would urge them to do what they can, for, in the words of a Church magnate, who was, if not an archbishop or a bishop, certainly an archdeacon—"mendicity is good, but women-dicity is better." ”

“ Conservative Meeting, Newport,
February 2nd, 1894.
WHAT IS A PHILANTHROPIST?
"A philanthropist is an old gentleman,
probably with a bald head."
There are moments in a man's life when there is a contest between the lip and the eye, whether we should smile or cry. I am sure you would not like to see me cry just now, but there is a certain amount of sentiment in an affair of this sort. For a person in my position it is rather trying. I feel very much like the little boy you all knew in your nursery stories. ”

“ I have always had a great fancy for history, and anyone who studies the archæology of Monmouthshire must be well grounded in the history of England. The county has held a prominent place in history from the earliest period down to the present day, commencing with the Silures, and passing on to the Romans, Saxons, and Normans. Some locality or other in the county was connected with each of those periods.
One little failing about archæology which has always been a sore point with me is that it is apt to destroy some of those little illusions which we like to keep up. ”

“ They went to redeem again the honour of England, which at one moment looked as if it were rather smirched. They must have seen suffering by disease and bullet wounds, and in other ways, and must have been brought face to face with all kinds of distress, and witnessed the agony of death from disease and bullets. All that tends to make a man more sympathetic to those whom at other times he might be inclined to blame. ”

“ A hospital is a high school of medicine for young doctors, who not only mix with scientific people at the institution, but gain a high moral feeling, so that there is no room for small petty jealousies amongst the medical practitioners. ”

“ We are met to endeavour to raise sufficient money to erect a hospital or infirmary worthy of the town of Newport. There are two statements nobody can dispute: Newport is a large and yearly increasing seaport, and a town of this magnitude ought not to be without a large and splendid hospital. I am afraid that with many people the idea of a hospital or infirmary does not go further than a small subscription and a few admission tickets to give away. ”

“ I have arrived at the time of life when I can not expect an eye to look brighter when I come, but many eyes are brighter when they fall on these volunteers who left their homes, not when they thought the war was over, but in the time of England's darkest hour. ”

“ We seldom hear of an Eisteddfod taking place on the other side of the dyke. It is true there are the great Choral Festivals, but those are festivals held in the grand Cathedrals, at which very grand company assemble, and where some of the most celebrated singers sing; they are not competitive in any sense. Here we have competitions, not so much for the prizes as for the honour of the thing, for the honour of the Welsh nation, and for the advancement of music and art in Wales. ”

“ Life is said to be a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel, and as we all feel and think we must meet with a good deal of comedy and a good deal of tragedy. I hope you all have more comedy than tragedy. ”

“ It is the nature of boys to be tyrannical to the other sex, but they will lose nothing by being as kind and gentle as they can be.
Boys' Brigade Inspection, Newport,
April 19th, 1894.
"It is the nature of boys to be tyrannical to the other sex."
It has been well said that good manners are something to everybody, and everything to somebody. Some people will not take anyone into employment unless they have good manners. As an old soldier, I know the value of esprit de corps. A hundred soldiers with the spirit of their corps are worth two hundred who do not care a straw about the regiment. ”

“ The Boy Scout movement instructs the boy just at the time when he is between school and a trade, when it would perhaps be better if he stayed a bit longer at school, for the time hangs heavy on his hands; and that is the time when you catch hold of these boys and give them an interest in their country, and an interest in the necessity of having somebody to protect the country. ”

“ Many people imagine that to be a Master of Foxhounds you have only to get a horse—but besides the matter of pounds, shillings and pence, you have to create an interest amongst the farmers over whose land you hunt, and whose sheep, pigs and lambs you frighten. ”

“ When I talk of temperance I mean temperance not only in drink, but in all things. There is temperance in eating, and temperance in life. In the present case there are three sections—the temperance people, the Sunday closing people, and the total abstinence people. I cannot see how the question of religion can enter into party politics. I have known many61 Tories who were habitual drunkards, and there are many Radicals who take a great deal more than they can carry. There is always a difficulty in drawing the line between the enthusiast and the fanatic. ”

“ But the advance of education is tending to interfere a good deal with our old ideas and places, and it is now almost necessary that every Church, or every parish, should have a clubroom—a room where all classes can mix together and improve the knowledge they have gained at the various county schools—intermediate or otherwise. We want the Parish Room to be open to everyone. The ploughman returning from his weary work may just scrape his boots outside, and he will be perfectly welcome any time he likes to come in. ”

“ We in Monmouthshire are in a sort of hybrid county. A great many people think we are in Wales and a great many people think we are not. Cardiff is very jealous of us—jealous because we can get drunk on Sundays and they can't. I hope we shall continue to be a county of ourselves, and when this great Home Rule question, which is so much talked about, is settled we shall, no doubt, have a Parliament at Newport-on-Usk, or else at Monmouth-upon-Wye. ”

“ I look upon the Eisteddfod as encouraging literature and music and art, as one of the great institutions for the encouragement of refinement in general life. We may become very well educated and very scientific, but unless there is refinement among us in general life, we will naturally tend towards roughness of manners. ”

“ Perhaps I shall put it more plainly if I say we do not possess the wisdom of Shakespeare, the dignity of Wordsworth, or the wit of Byron. But there is quite likely to be as much good sense in a humble gathering of an evening46 here as amongst those superior people who always try to teach us by telling us what we ought to do, what to think about, and what we ought to remember. Those are the people who advertise the simple life. I fancy most of you are living fairly simple lives, whilst those gentlemen who advocate it so much do not know what the simple life means. ”

“ The charm of these art schools for me lies in the fact that we are always expecting something great, just as a fisherman at a little brook, where he has never caught anything much larger than his little finger, is always expecting to hook some big monster. ”

“ Though I have no great love of politics, I think this is a time, if ever, a member of Parliament should feel inclined to speak. There is one subject which must be in everybody's mind, and for the consideration of which everyone must brace himself in the next session—that is "tenant's right." That is87 a question in which every agriculturist must take a deep interest; and for myself I think meetings of this sort much more likely to promote a goodly feeling between landlord and tenant than the provisions of any Act of Parliament. ”

“ There cannot possibly be an object in the wide world more worthy of sympathy than a girl without a friend. All over the world this Society has its habitations, and it has already befriended 4,000 girls. It renders assistance when they are penniless, provides friends when they are friendless, and religious consolation when they require it.
Girls' Friendly Society Bazaar, Newport,
April 24th, 1895. ”

“ I do not think that those who own land are as a class opposed to high intellectual attainment. The County Councils to some extent are representative of territorial aristocracy, and 41 of the 49 County Councils of England and Wales have agreed to spend the whole of the Government grant in education. That is a sign that the territorial aristocracy are not averse to intellectual attainment. ”

“ Not many days ago, I was reminded of an incident in which a lady asked a friend whether he was fond of music, and he replied "Yes, if it is not too good." Unfortunately, that is the opinion of about one-half of the civilized world.
The aim of the Eisteddfod is to patronise good music which, combined with high art, has a tendency, as the Latin poet puts it, to soften manners and assuage the natural ruggedness of human nature.
Eisteddfod, Pontypridd,
July 31st, 1893. ”

“ Presentation to Lord Tredegar of Miners' Lamp
and Silver Medal at Risca Eisteddfod,
October 5th, 1896.
Considerable difficulties attach to the position of a man who happens to own land round a large and increasing town. So many demands are placed before him. There are demands for building sites and for open spaces and public parks. It is difficult, when the land is limited in area, to satisfy all requirements. I hope, in a short time, however, to be enabled to make95 a present to the town of Newport of a public park, one which will not cost much in laying out for use. ”

“ It is not my intention to make great changes. There is no way of showing disrespect more than in making great changes, turning everything topsy-turvey, as if we knew everything better than those who went before us. ”

“ In these art schools I am always expecting some great artist or sculptor turned out—somebody from Newport Schools—not only a credit to himself but to any town, somebody who will become a second Millais or a great sculptor.
Newport has improved a good deal of late years, and I am sure the study of painting and architecture has had much to do with it. In looking over some old111 papers in the Tredegar archives the other day, I came across a description by two people who passed from Cardiff through Newport about 100 years ago. ”