the King or by the Master of the Household, another by the Queen, and another by the Steward of the Household.

The Chief Huntsman shall have a tame sparrow hawk every Michaelmas from the Falconer.

He shall have an allowance in his lodging, that is to say, a dish, and a hornful of mead or other liquor.

To him belongs the third of the fine, and commutation, and heriot, and maiden fee of all the other huntsmen; and the two other shares go to the King.

The huntsmen shall be with the King from Christmas until they turn out the fallow deer in the Spring *.

From the time they begin to hunt in the first season until the ninth day of May they shall not answer any body, that may sue them, unless he should be an Officer of the Court.

He shall have his land freely.

He shall have a horse in attendance from the King, and shall have two rations of the provender.

He shall receive four pence in law from every one, that hunts with a greyhound, and eight pence in law from every one, that hunts with a great hound.

The Chief Huntsman is to blow his horn when there is a due to him in the day of spoil; and let him choose a beast out of the booty.

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He shall have a cow's hide in the Summer from the Steward of the Household.

Whoever shall sue the Chief Huntsman must endeavour to take him in his bed on the morning of May Day before he puts on his boots; for he is under no obligation to answer, unless he shall be found in that manner.

Steward of the Household to the Queen.

The Steward of the Household to the Queen shall have a horse from the Queen and eight pence out of the gift money. Two pence shall be his share; the rest he is to divide between the Officers of the Chamber.

He has possession of the meat and drink of the chamber. He is to approve of the liquors, and to point out to every one his place in the chamber.

2 *In the middle of February he shall take his dogs, horns, and leashes, and go to hunt fallow-deer until Midsummer. Immediately afterwards he is to go to hunt stags until the ninth of November. After that day he begins to hunt the wood swine (badgers).-W. S. M.

Queen's Chaplain

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He is entitled to his land freely; his horse and his linen from the Queen, and his woollen cloth from the King.

He is entitled to a third of the Queen's tithes and of what appertains to the chamber.

From every public seal, which shall be given to the Queen, he claims four pence.

He has a right to the offering of every one belonging to her... He claims the garment, in which the Queen shall do against Easter.

penance,

He ought to bless what victuals and drink come into the chamber.

He shall have a horse in attendance from the King.

His lodging is with the King's Chaplain in the Sexton's houset.

His place is opposite to the Queen.

The satisfaction for his insult shall be agreeable to the decree of the council.

His price is according to the privilege of his family; and so for every person of degree.

Domestic Bard.

The Domestic Bard shall receive a beast from the family out of every spoil, at which he shall be present, and one person's share like every domestic. Therefore, if there should be fighting, he shall sing the "Monarchy of Britain" at front of the battle. When the Bard shall ask a gift from a prince let him sing one

*The privileges and duties of the Queen's Chaplain, here stated, form a union of those comprised in the Cotton MS. and in that of the Welsh School. It is stated, moreover, in the former, that the "privileges of the Queen's Chaplain are like those of the King's Chaplain in all things;" but that does not appear from other authorities to be precisely correct. A full and judicious collation of the various MSS. might reconcile these and similar inconsistencies; but it would be a work of too much time and labour for the present purpose.-ED.

+On a former occasion the lodging of the King's Chaplain was stated to be in the "Chapter House." See No. 19. p. 297.-The present variance occurs in the W. S. M.-ED.

The "Monarchy of Britain," Unbenaeth Prydain in the original, was, most probably, a national song, popular at that time in Wales. In another part of these Laws it is stated, that, if the Queen required a song in her chamher, the Domestic Bard was to sing three verses concerning Camlan, which was the last battle fought by Arthur.-En.

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song; when he asks a baron, let him sing three songs; should he ask a vassal, let him sing until he falls asleep*.

His land shall be free, and he shall have a horse in attendance from the King.

The Domestic Bard shall sing the second piece in the common hallt.

He shall be next but one to the Master of the Household.

He shall have a harp from the King, and a gold ring from the Queen, when his office is secured to him. The harp he is never to part with.

Crier.

The Crier shall receive four pence out of every commutation, and out of every fine, which shall be paid by such as break silence in the Court; and he shall have a share of the gift-money and of the gains of the officers.

His land shall be free; and he shall receive a horse from the King.

On the removal of a land-steward the Crier shall take three score pence from his successor; for he is to act as steward until another is appointed in his stead.

Door-keeper of the Hall.

If the Door-keeper of the Hall goes beyond the length of his arm and his wand from the door after the King has entered the hall, and he is insulted, no satisfaction shall be made to him.

Should the Door-keeper or the Porter knowingly prevent one of the Officers from going and coming, let either pay to him three cows in commutation of wrong, and as much to the King, if he

• Interlineation,-neu oni vo blin, or, until he shall be tired.

When a song is called for the Bard President should begin; the first song addressed to God, the next to the King, to whom the Court belongs, or, if there is not one, to another king. After the Bard President the Domestic Bard is to sing three pieces on different subjects. If the Queen should desire a song, let the Domestic Bard go aside and recite without music, and softly, so as not to disturb the hall.—W.S. M. [The duties and privileges of the Chief of Song and Domestic Bard, Pencerdd and Bardd Teulu, are, as previously remarked, confounded in most of the copies of the Welsh Laws. It ap pears, however, that the Chief of Song, or Pencerdd, was a title borne generally by a musician, who had obtained the chair of presidency, and that he was not, like the Domestic Bard, one of the Officers of the Court. He was, as above stated, to commence the vocal entertainment, which was to be coneluded by the Domestic Bard.-ED.]

be a principal person. To every one of the other officers fourpence each shall be paid.

The Door-keeper shall have a vessel for receiving his liquor, into which the Steward of the Household and all the drawer shall bring their liquors, when the drink of the attendants is distributed.

The Door-keeper shall take charge of the hides of the cattle, that shall be slaughtered in the kitchen, and shall dry them, and shall receive a penny for each when divided.

He shall have his land freely and a horse from the King: and he shall receive a share of the visitor's gift-money*.

[To be continued.]

EXCERPTA.

ETYMOLOGY.

It is not very easy to discover from the language of the following letter, whether the writer designed it as a serious attempt to explain the derivation of the Greek word, to which he alludes, or merely as a sportive ridicule of those visionary hypotheses, in which etymologists too often indulge. The latter construction appears the most probable; and in that view the writer has certainly adduced a happy specimen of those fanciful theories, from which even our own countrymen have not been wholly exempt. The most gross blunders, however, that have been committed in this way, must be laid to the charge of some English and foreign writers, who, from a total ignorance of the primitive languages of Europe, have plunged at once, without helm or compass, into the shoreless sea of philological speculation. An early opportunity will be taken to lay before the reader some instances of their romantic conjectures.

To the EDITOR of the CAMBRO-BRITON.

SIR.-Should you deem the following curious letter, which is from the Gentleman's Magazine for September 1759, of sufficient interest to merit republication among the EXCERPTA, which oc

* Additions from the W. S. M.-He ought to clear the way for the King with his wand; and whoever he strikes with it at arm's length shall have no redress if he seeks it. He shall eat with the other officers. He is not to sit in the hall, but to execute his commissions to the King on his knees.

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casionally enrich the pages of the CAMBRO-BRITON, it is at your service.

London, Feb. 20th, 1821.

Your's &c.

GWILYM.

"To the Editor of the Gentleman's Magazine."

"September, 3d, 1759."

“MR. URBAN.—I have sent you an humble attempt to discocover the radicals of the word 'odím, dolor, grief. Perhaps it may seem a bold undertaking in a person of the present age to presume to meddle with the etymology of a language, which had its origin so many centuries ago; but it is not so difficult in reality, as it appears to one at first view, if, with some of the Eastern tongues, a person was acquainted with the Ancient British or present Welsh, a language which, though not one of the most useless in many respects, is yet the most neglected of all. Were I to desire one of our modern learned etymologists to find out the radices of the word 'Oduvn, he would presently carry us either to Greece, Palestine, or some other remote mysterious Eastern country, and grope among the sandy deserts for a thing, which is to be found in a certain little mountainous, western, despised principality, nearer home by much, called Wales. It is surprising, the Welsh language is not studied by some of the Literati, at least, when one considers the infinite advantage it would be not only to Lexicographers, &c., but to the republic of learning in general; for it is confidently asserted by many writers, that there are above 620 radical Greek words derived from the British, and a much greater number of the Latin.

"But, asking pardon for this digression, I will return to my subject.-Nothing is more usual among the Welsh, even to this day, when they are in any great trouble or misery, than to make this ejaculation, "O Duw Nef (i. e. O God of Heaven). Nor is this kind of exclamation peculiar to them only; but it is customary to most other people likewise, as daily experience evinces. Now, when we consider, that the Ancient Britons, i. e. Cymeroi, Cymbri, or Cymry, by which name we call ourselves even at this time, were not only nearly akin to the Grecians or Iones, but descended from an elder brother, and, consequently, could claim a kind of pre-eminence over them, came along with them from Babel, lived with them for many generations in Greece before they separated, and came to the more westernly part of the world:I say, when we consider all these circumstances, does it not seem