Herbert Millingchamp Vaughan and John Morris-Jones

“ Nor are the Welsh landowners and gentry devoid of this new spirit of nationalism, and although some generations ago they ceased as a body to speak the native tongue, they have shown a strong disposition to study once more the ancient language and literature of their country. It is true that a Young Wales party has arisen, which seeks to narrow this movement to the exclusion of English ideas and influences; and it is also true that there is a party which is abnormally suspicious of and hostile to this Welsh Renaissance ”

“ In the 9th century, however, the Welsh, attacked by land and sea, by Saxons and by Danes, at length obtained a prince capable of bringing the turbulent chieftains of his country into obedience, and of opposing the two sets of invaders of his realm. This was Rhodri Mawr, or Roderick the Great, a name always cherished in Cymric annals. Like Alfred of Wessex, Rhodri also built a fleet in order to protect Anglesea, “the mother of Wales,” so called on account of its extensive cornfields which supplied barren Gwynedd with provisions. ”

“ Having suppressed the independence of Wales, Edward now took steps to keep Gwynedd itself in permanent subjection by building the castles of Conway, Carnarvon, Criccieth and Harlech within the ancient patrimony of the princes of North Wales, whose legitimate race was now extinct save for Llewelyn's daughter Gwenllian, who had entered the convent of Sempringham. ”

“ But for this sudden revival of Cymric literature under the patronage of Elizabeth (for the obtaining of which Wales must ever owe a deep debt of gratitude to Bishop Richard Davies, “her second St David”) , there is every reason to believe that the ancient language of the Principality must either have drifted into a number of corrupt dialects, as it then showed symptoms of doing, or else have tended to ultimate extinction, much as the Cornish tongue perished in the 17th century. ”

“ During the earlier half of the 17th century the number of Welsh Bibles distributed throughout the Principality could hardly have exceeded 8000 in all, and except the Bible there was scarcely any Welsh work of importance in circulation. The system of the Welsh circulating charity schools, set up by Griffith Jones, rector of Llanddowror, in the 18th century, undoubtedly gave an immense impetus to the spread of popular education in Wales, for it has been stated on good authority that about one-third of the total population was taught to read and write Welsh by means of this system. ”

“ By far the larger portion of Wales is purely agricultural in character, and much of the valley land is particularly fertile, notably the Vale of Glamorgan, the Vale of Clwyd and the valleys of the Towy, the Teifi, the Usk and the Wye, which have long been celebrated for their rich pastures. ”

“ The holdings throughout Wales are for the most part smaller in extent than the average farms of England. Stock-raising is generally preferred to the growing of cereals, and in western Wales the oat crops exceed in size those of wheat and barley. The extensive tracts of unenclosed and often improvable land, which still cover a large area in the Principality, especially in the five counties of Cardigan, Radnor, Brecon, Montgomery and Merioneth, support numerous flocks of the small mountain sheep, the flesh of which supplies the highly prized Welsh mutton. ”

“ But although English and foreign place-names are fairly numerous throughout Wales, yet the vast majority remain Celtic either in a pure or in a corrupted form, so that some knowledge of the Celtic language is essential to interpret their meaning. ”

“ For Owen's brilliant but brief career and ruthless treatment of English settlers and Anglophil Welshmen, his countrymen had not unnaturally to pay a heavy penalty in the severe statutes which the affrighted parliaments of Henry IV. framed for the protection of the English dwellers in Wales and the border counties, and which were not repealed until the days of the Tudors. Of the part played by the Cymry during the wars of the Roses it is needless to speak, since the period forms a part of English rather than of Welsh history. ”

“ The upland tracts also afford good pasturage for a number of cobs and ponies, which obtain high prices at the local fairs, and Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire have long been famous for their breed of horses and ponies. The cattle of Wales present all varieties of race, the Hereford breed prevailing in the eastern counties, and Shorthorns and the black Castlemartins in the south-western parts. The great herds of goats, which in medieval times subsisted on the Welsh hills, have entirely disappeared since the general adoption of the sheep-farming industry. ”

“ But with the systematic development of the vast mineral resources of the South Wales coalfield, the population of Glamorganshire has increased at a more rapid rate than that of any other county of the United Kingdom, so that at present this county contains about half the population of all Wales. ”

“ The confused reign of Stephen was naturally favourable to the development of Cymric liberty, and with such strong princes as Owen, son of Griffith ap Cynan, heir to the throne of Gwynedd, and with Griffith ap Rhys ruling at Dynevor, the prospects of the Cymry grew brighter. In 1136 the army of Griffith ap Rhys met with a large English force near Cardigan, composed of the denizens of the South Wales castles and of the hated Flemish colonists, who had been lately planted by Henry I. in Dyfed. ”

“ The enthusiastic course of the Methodist movement under Howell Harris, Daniel Rowland and William Williams; the establishment of Welsh Sunday Schools; the founding of the Bible Society under Thomas Charles of Bala; and the revival early in the 19th century of the Eisteddfodau (the ancient bardic contests of music, poetry and learning) , have all contributed to extend the use of the Welsh language and to strengthen its hold as a popular medium of education throughout the Principality. ”

“ Municipal charters and market privileges were now granted to such towns as Cardiff, Carmarthen, Builth, Cardigan, Montgomery, Aberystwith, Newborough, &c., and this wise policy was continued under Edward II. and Edward III. Many of the turbulent Welsh warriors having now become mercenaries on the continent or else enlisted under the English king, and the whole of the land west of Severn at last enjoying internal peace, the commercial resources of Wales were developed in a manner that had hitherto not been possible. ”

“ With the accession of Elizabeth a novel and vigorous ecclesiastical policy on truly national lines was now inaugurated in Wales itself, chiefly through the instrumentality of Richard Davies, nominated bishop of St Asaph in 1559 and translated thence to St Davids in 1561, who was mainly responsible for the act of parliament of 1563, commanding the bishops of St Davids, Llandaff, Bangor, St Asaph and Hereford to prepare with all speed for public use Welsh translations of the Scriptures and the Book of Common Prayer. ”

“ The lines of the Cambrian railway serve North and Mid-Wales, and branches of the London & North-Western and the Midland penetrate into South Wales as far as Swansea. A network of lines connects the great industrial districts of Glamorganshire with the main line of the Great Western railway. There are steamship services between Holyhead and Dublin in connexion with the trains of the London & North-Western railway, and an important traffic for dairy produce, live-stock and passengers between Fishguard and Rosslare on the Irish coast was opened in 1906 in connexion with the Great Western railway. ”

“ Thus Anglesea, Carnarvon, Merioneth and Flint were erected in North Wales; whilst out of the districts of Ystrad Tywi and Ceredigion in South Wales, the old dominions of the house of Dynevor, the counties of Carmarthen and Cardigan were formed. The old Welsh land tenure by gavelkind was, however, still permitted to remain in force amongst the natives of all Wales, whilst it was henceforth arranged to administer justice in the eight counties by special royal judges, and in the Marches by the officers appointed by the various lords-marchers according to the terms of their tenure. ”

“ In North Wales, Wrexham, Ruabon and Chirk are centres of coal-mining industry. There are valuable copper mines in Anglesea, and lead mines in Flint and in north Cardiganshire, which also yield a certain deposit of silver ore. Gold has been discovered and worked, though only to a small extent, in Merionethshire and Carmarthenshire. Slate quarries are very numerous throughout the Principality, the finest quality of slate being obtained in the neighbourhood of Bangor and Carnarvon, where the Penrhyn and Bethesda quarries give employment to many thousands of workmen. ”

“ The growth of Puritanism in Wales was neither strong nor speedy, although the year 1588, which witnessed the appearance of Bishop Morgan's Bible, also gave birth to two fierce appeals to the parliament, urging a drastic Puritanical policy in Wales, from the pen of the celebrated John Penry, a native of Brecknockshire (1559–1593) . Far more influential than Penry amongst the Welsh were Rhys Prichard (? 1579–1644) , the famous vicar of Llandovery, [1] Carmarthenshire, and William Wroth (d. 1642) , rector of Llanfaches, Monmouthshire. ”

“ Nor is the question of the vernacular itself of necessity bound up with this new movement, for Wales is essentially a bi-lingual country, wherein every educated Cymro speaks and writes English with ease, and where also large towns and whole districts—such as Cardiff, south Monmouth, the Vale of Glamorgan, Gower, south Glamorgan, south Pembroke, east Flint, Radnorshire and Breconshire—remain practically monoglot English-speaking. ”

“ The University College of Wales was founded at Aberystwyth in 1872; that of South Wales at Cardiff in 1883; and of North Wales at Bangor in 1884. In 1889 the system of intermediate schools, arranged to form an educational link between the primary schools and the colleges, was inaugurated. In November 1893 the University of Wales was incorporated by royal charter, with Lord Aberdare (d. 1895) as its first chancellor. All the religious bodies, including the Church, have been extremely active in educational and pastoral work ”

“ The supply of limestone and ironstone in Glamorganshire is said to be practically unlimited. About 400,000 tons of pig iron are produced yearly, and some of the largest iron-works in the world are situated at Merthyr Tydfil and Dowlais. Copper, tin and lead works are everywhere numerous in the busy valleys of north Glamorgan and in the neighbourhoods of Swansea, Neath, Cardiff and Llanelly. ”

“ The cathedral church of St Davids is situated near the remote headland of St Davids in Pembrokeshire, but the episcopal residence has been fixed ever since the Reformation at Abergwili near Carmarthen, the most central spot in this vast diocese. The see of Llandaff comprises Monmouthshire, all Glamorganshire as far west as the Tawe, and some parishes in Brecon and Hereford. The diocese of Bangor consists of the counties of Anglesea, Carnarvon and large portions of Merioneth and Montgomery. ”

“ From this religious guidance of the people by the well-organized forces of dissent, it was but a step to political ascendancy, and as the various constitutional changes from the Reform Bill onward began to lower the elective franchise, and thus to throw more and more power into the hands of the working classes, that spirit of radicalism, which is peculiarly associated with political dissent, began to assert itself powerfully throughout the country. ”

“ Cardigan, in Welsh Aberteifi, from its situation near the mouth of the Teifi, and Brecon, in Welsh Abcrhonddu, from its site near the confluence of the Usk and Honddu, are examples of corrupted Welsh names in common use—Ceredigion, Brychan—which possess in addition pure Celtic forms. In the third division, English place-names are tolerably frequent everywhere and predominate in the Marches and on the South Wales coast. Even in so thoroughly Welsh a county as Cardiganshire, English place-names are often to be encountered, e.g. ”

“ With the advent of the Normans, William the Conqueror, with the object of placing a firm feudal barrier between Wales and the earldom of Mercia, erected three palatine counties along the Cymric frontier. Thus Hugh the Wolf was placed in Chester (Caer) , Roger de Montgomery at Shrewsbury and William Fitz-Osbern at Hereford. In 1081 William himself visited the Principality, and even penetrated as far west as St Davids. ”

“ Verbal noun, caru, “to love.” Verbal adjectives, caredig, “loved,” caradwy, “lovable.”
As in other languages the verb “to be” and its compounds are irregular; the number of other irregular verbs is comparatively small.
Prepositions also are “conjugated” in Welsh, their objects, if pronominal, being expressed by endings. Thus ar, “on,” arnaf, “on me,” arnat, “on thee,” arno, “on him,” arni, “on her,” arnom, “on us,” arnoch, “on you,” arnynt, “on them.” The second conjugation has for endings -of, -ot, -ddo, -ddi ”

“ Thus the second element of a compound word, even though written and accented as a separate word, has a soft initial, because in Brythonic the first element of a compound generally ended in a vowel, as in the name Maglo-cunos. The more important rules for initial mutation are the following: the soft mutation occurs in a feminine singular noun after the article, thus y fam, “the mother” (radical mam) ; in an adjective following a feminine singular noun, as in mam dda, “a good mother” (da, “good”) ”

“ The gentry and landowners are all, broadly speaking, members of the established Church, but it is impossible to name any other class of society as belonging definitely either to “Church” or “Chapel.” According to the above Report, the three most powerful dissenting bodies in Wales are the Congregationalists or Independents, whose members number 175,147 throughout Wales and Monmouthshire ”