hitherto reasonably have used and enjoyed. In witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent. Given at our manor of Kennyngton, the twenty-seventh day of February, in the second year of the reign of our most dread Lord and Father, the above-mentioned King. And we the letters patent of the said liberties, free customs and immunities not recalled, by the advice and assent of the Lords spiritual and temporal in our parliament at Westminster, in the first year of our reign held, do approve, ratify and confirm, as the letters aforesaid reasonably do testify, and as the same burgesses, the liberties, free customs and immunities, from the time of the making of the letters aforesaid, reasonably have been accustomed to use and enjoy. In witness whereof, witness the King at Westminster, the 16th day of November.-By writ of Privy Seal.

SOME years ago, two horns were exhibited at Llan Ddewi Brevi, in Cardiganshire, which were called "cyrn yr yxain Bannog,' i. e. the horns of the large or celebrated oxen. The legend respecting them was as follows: A lake in that part of the country was occupied by a large monster, by some called avanc, a beaver, by others y ddraig, the dragon, which infested the neighbourhood, and committed great depredations. At last, by the united efforts of the inhabitants, it was speared and wounded, and the yxain bannog were fastened to it, in order to draw it out, which eventually they succeeded in doing; but their exertions had been so great, that one of them died in consequence, and his partner lowed so mightily for the loss of his companion, that the mountain was rent in twain, and the place, from that circumstance was denominated Llan Ddewi Brevi, i. e. St. David's of the Lowing or Bellowing. The above traditional tale is supposed to be allegorical, and to allude to the confutation of Pelagianism at the synod of Brevi, about the year 522, by the two archbishops, St. Dubricius (Duvig) and St. David. According to this interpretation the two archbishops were the yxain Bannog, or celebrated Oxen, and Pelagius (Morgan) was the monster. The wonderful tale of the dividing of the mountain must be attributed to the same origin as that which reports that the ground on which St. David stood, in order to preach to the assembled multitude at the synod, upheaved, and most miraculously elevated itself to the size of a pretty high hill under the holy man's feet; namely, to the superstitious credulity of the age, which greedily swallowed all kinds of legendary tales and monkish fictions. PETER BAYLEY WILLIAMS.

Havod, Carnarvon; May 1, 1833.

SIRS,

As Dr. John David Rees's Latin-Welsh Grammar, printed in 1592, a most curious and elaborate work, is now become very scarce and difficult to be obtained; and, as the preface is in

XIX.

F F

Welsh, and contains many interesting particulars, a translation
of it would, no doubt, be acceptable to many of your readers.
Yours, &c.
PANT.

"To the noblemen, gentlemen, bards, lovers of the Welsh language, and others of my beloved countrymen of the nation of the Cymry (Cimbri), and to all others who may read the following work, greeting, and wishing them all health and prosperity.

"There is scarcely one language in all Europe and its islands, as far as I have been able to discover, which has not from time to time been cultivated and improved by the scholars and learned inhabitants of those countries, except the ancient Welsh, our own mother-tongue, which now of late has received some little cultivation and improvement from some few learned and good men of the present age, and that, principally, for the purpose of translating the Bible into our own language. For if we look about us, and examine what has been the conduct of other nations, such as the Greeks and the Romans, we shall find that there is scarcely any learning or knowledge, any art or science, which has been discovered by man, that has not appeared in their books, and been published to the world; so that all Europe is full of their learned works, and the authors thereof not only celebrated, but immortalized throughout all ages. And, next to these, if we survey the other nations of Europe in general, such as the Italians, the Spaniards, the French, the Germans, the English, the Scotch, and many others which might be mentioned, all of whom have paid particular attention to their native languages; and their learned men have so far cultivated and improved them, that there is scarcely one of them that does not contain all the learning, information, and knowledge, and all the arts and sciences, for which the two nations beforementioned are so celebrated. And the books published by these learned men, in their different languages, will not only continue to do them credit for their assiduity and various acquirements, but will also remain as everlasting monuments of the improved taste of those different nations, and their advanced state of civilization. But, as for us Welshmen, we may observe, that many of our countrymen are become so vain, so proud, so conceited and affected, and so negligent of every thing that is patriotic, and so ignorant of their own language, and so attached to every thing that is foreign and exotic, and consequently, so different from most other nations, that if they have been but for a short time out of their own country, they pretend to have nearly forgotten their own native language; and, if they condescend to make an attempt to speak it, they do in so conceited and affected a manner, that their former ac

• The first Welsh Testament was translated by William Salesbury and Dr. Richard Davies, bishop of St. David's, and was published in 1567; the whole Bible, by Bishop Morgan, appeared in 1588, folio; and another edition, by Bishop Parry, in 1620.

quaintance are astonished to hear them, and feel quite ashamed of them; and at the same time that they affect to despise their own native language, they take a pride in attempting to speak English, French, and Italian, or some other foreign tongue, when at the same time they are but very imperfectly acquainted with those foreign languages, and by no means capable of conversing in them either fluently, elegantly, or grammatically. But these vain shallow upstarts may be justly considered as a degenerate race and the scum of the nation, the very refuse and outcasts of society; and those persons who are desirous to abolish and utterly to extinguish the Welsh language, and to substitute the English in its place, are deserving of no better treatment, nor can they be considered as worthy of any regard, or be held in any higher estimation: for this, in truth, can never be accomplished without utterly destroying the Welsh nation, and establishing English colonies in all the Cambrian districts; and it is impossible to avoid comparing such a degenerate race to a number of cuckolds, who would knowingly and willingly quit their own dwellings, and the company of their lawful wives, and suffer some abandoned wretches to contaminate their beds. Persons of this description will be ready enough (no doubt) to find fault with my work, and blame me for undertaking what they will be inclined to consider an useless publication, notwithstanding, it is intended for the benefit of my countrymen, to do honour to Wales, and to improve and perpetuate the language; and no better method can be devised for preserving it, than that of composing and publishing a good, useful, and correct grammar, for thus the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin, the Arabic, Chaldee, &c. were preserved from being corrupted and utterly destroyed. And I may venture to assert, (not by way of boasting, but in selfdefence,) that none of those vain pretenders, who are ashamed of their country, and well may their country be ashamed of them, notwithstanding they may be very ready to find fault with this work, can neither correct the errors, rectify what is wrong, nor supply what may be deficient; neither can they compose or write anything themselves, were they put to the proof, equal to the most deficient or objectionable parts of this publication. And these would-be critics and pretended scholars, and the mere abortions of their native land, may be justly compared to a surly, ill-natured cur, who will neither gnaw the bone himself, nor suffer any other dog to have it. But I would advise these people, and others of a similar disposition, not to trouble their heads about this book, but, in God's name, let it alone, and take no more notice of it, and say no more about it, than if it had never been written, or the author of it had never been born; for this book was not written, nor the work undertaken, for the benefit of such captious individuals, but for the use of those good, and learned, and great men, who are well skilled in their

native language, and may be disposed from time to time to correct in a kind and friendly manner, those mistakes which they may be able to discover in it. And may they so polish and improve our old venerable language, that it may, by their patronage, exertions, and endeavours, be brought again to its pristine glory, celebrity, elegance, and expressiveness. This was my sole object and intention, my beloved countrymen, in undertaking this tedious and difficult work, and not from any pride or vanity, or any high opinion of my own abilities, nor with any view of profit, applause, or renown; and, be it known unto you, that I have been for many years patiently waiting and expecting to see whether some other person, better qualified and more capable than myself, would undertake such an useful and necessary work; and as I could not find that any one was about to commence such an undertaking, or to do such an act of kindness for his countrymen, and perceiving at the same time that our language, on that account, was likely to be neglected, or to perish, for want of proper cultivation and attention, and that its enemies, in all probability, would soon have an opportunity of triumphing and rejoicing at its fall, I was at last in a manner compelled to do what I could for my nation and country, in order to draw the attention of the learned to the many beauties of our old mothertongue; and the many curious remains still concealed in numerous Welsh Mss. now fast hastening to decay in the chests and libraries of those who do not seem dispos'd to publish, or to permit others to peruse and examine them. Such were my

views in performing what little I have done; and, as it is very difficult, and almost impossible, to bring a work of this kind to a state of perfection the first time it has been attempted, so I hope my countrymen will excuse the deficiencies and imperfections they may discover in it, and take the will for the deed; and I trust that, in time, some other person, better qualified, may finish what I have begun, and supply what may be found deficient, and correct and amend whatever may be found wrong in this publication for it is a well-known maxim, that no work, and no art or science, can be brought at once to a state of perfection; and, when it is considered what difficulties and disadvantages I had to contend with in composing one of the first Welsh grammars, the reader must not be surpris'd if he should discover many imperfections in it; and it is impossible not to remark that great blame is attached to the Welsh bards, and other persons well skilled in the Welsh language, for having so long neglected it, and suffered it to decay, and to fall into disuse, and thus almost to die a natural death; for these are the persons to whom we naturally look up for its cultivation and improvement and I cannot help observing, that many of these gentlemen, who had valuable books and мss. in their possession, were anxious, on every opportunity, of displaying their superior knowledge, and

took particular care to conceal the source from whence they derived their information; and thus, from a selfish disposition, and over-tenaciousness of these valuable treasures, many excellent books and Mss. were destroyed, having fallen, after the deaths of their possessors, into the hands of those who did not understand them, and, consequently, knew not the value of them. (To be continued.)

A VETERAN.-There is now living at Chester county, Pennsylvania, Andrew Wallace, a native of Inverness, who was born the 14th of March, 1730, and is, consequently, 103 years of age. He fought on the Stuart side at the battle of Culloden, and went to America in 1752, where he was appointed orderly sergeant, and was engaged in several of the battles of the Revolution. In 1814 he was discharged, at the age of eighty-four, as unfit for service; and has lately been in Washington, soliciting an augmentation of his pension of 26 cents per day, having a wife and two children to support, the youngest of whom is only 15 years of age!

SONG.

BY MR. DONALD MAC PHERSON,

A Native of the Parish of Laggan, in Badenuch, Inverness-shire.

Hail, hail, lovely Laggan, thou sole spot of earth
Whose mem'ry my bosom could never forego,

My own native valley where rapture and mirth

Were once mine; but, alas, 'twas twice ten years ago. Then hail thy rude, bold, and sublime tow'ring mountains, With bosoms of heath-bloom, and summits of snow, All hail thy pure streams, and thy clear bubbling fountains, As bright as I left them twice ten years ago.