and the Danes, induced them, by degrees, to adopt the Roman alphabet; but as this latter was totally incompetent to express the sounds of the bardic characters, various methods were invented by ingenious men, at different times, to supply the defect. By some writers the initial characters of words alone were expressed, leaving it to the skill of the reader to account for the mutations:-by others, vowels and consonants were interchanged :—whilst others ran one word into another, or separated those which should have been connected.* In consequence of these things, it requires a profound knowledge of the language to read the works of our oldest bards with ease and accuracy. IV. Though the late Iolo Morganwg (E. Williams) was not regularly educated yet he was a scholar, and one of no mean acquirements. His assertion, that the quotation from Taliesin was not Welsh, nor any thing like Welsh, would be deemed extraordinary, were we not acquainted with the exuberant fancies and singular excentricities of the man. As an illustration ; a few years ago he published a copious prospectus towards a History of Wales, in which he censured, in no measured terms, the very learned, laborious, and patriotic Editors of the Archaiology of Wales, though he himself was one of the honourable and illustrious trio who gave publicity to that most useful work! This is not mentioned with the slightest intention of disrespect to his memory, but as affording proof that the greatest men are liable to err, and when they do so, they generally err to absurdity. Having attentively examined the quotation in question, I am satisfied that it is like I Welsh-that it is genuine Welsh, though disguised by an orthography foreign to its genius. V. As the poem of Taliesin, headed Gwawd Lluz y Mawr, has been twice mentioned in the Repository, I send you the whole of it for insertion, in the orthography of Dr. Pughe's most luminous and herculean dictionary, accompanied with a literal translation, which you will please to print opposite the original, and on the same page. The language of the original, its abrupt transitions, and its predictive allusions, stamp it as the unquestionable production of Taliesin, though his name, as Mr. Dyer remarks, is not appended to it. Respecting this Lluz the Great I am ignorant, as I know of no other of that name in British history besides Lluz, the son of Beli, the eldest brother of Caswallawn, the Casivelaunus of the Romans. It is not improbable but that the title, though ancient, is spurious, something similar to several Hebrew titles in the book of Psalms. The poem itself is imperfect, as there are some words wanting, and in other places the rhyme is defective. It is far from being the best of Taliesin's productions, though it possesses some corruscations of true poetic genius; and, upon the whole, it may probably amuse some of your numerous and learned readers. Gwawd Lluz y Mawr. Cathyl gorau gogant, Ryodres ryçwant. Dyw iau esgorant Eu zioluz ançwant. Dyw gwener, dyz gormant, The Praise of Lluz the Great. The finest hymn of presage, eight hosts will distinguish. On Monday there will be a devastating, forward they will go. On Tuesday they will form divisions in wrath against the foe. On Wednesday they will possess the utmost bounds of pomp. On Thursday they will dismiss their opposition of inappetency. On Friday, a day of profusion, the heroes will approximate in blood. On Saturday Vide Dr. Owen Pughe's Grammar, pp. 6—8. Yn waed wyr gonesant. Pum llong a fum cant, Heb epa, On Sunday, assuredly on that day there will be five hundred and five ships, with the finest harmony until they sail. From the diversified spot which variegated, there is not, there has not gone such a spotted one scho has been variegated. With thirst ↑ he went forth; he shone resplendent with gold, and consumed a second wood. There will be a want of energy with every one who deserts him. He formed a tumulus upon the earth. There is a slight prophetic intimation of blood, long before its copious shedding. Long has been published the speech of Cadwaladyr and Cynan : Small will be the advantage to destroy the sun's heat. The prediction will be accomplished which will go forth in that day. Most small is the sign of equitable words, with the flow of music in the song. Gloomy is the second prospect, from the swellings of the mountains. When the country is full of confidence, with the Britons in council, to Britons there will be deliverance and honourable protection. After the shout of onset from the heroes adorned with gold, Moni and Lleini were made a desert, and the terror of war was there. Thus complete was the prediction of war in a desert. The Welsh in four languages made their orations. There I was superior, superior in eloquence, which produced a powerful sensation. Fine is the day when fortune smiles. Partly naked is the radiant spear, upon the land of the splendid spearman, which is calm in the devouring blaze. The dirge of woe is singing, round Britain's borders. They came according to counsel to oppose the raging surf of ocean. Let truth have free pre-eminence through the eternal world. The connected tedious vale winded round, being very narrow at the farthest verge. The full essentials of corn are a rising up of greeting in the ear. Without a monkey, without a milch cow-stall, the world will be a wilderness, a necessitous mass formed by destiny.§ There was sprightliness through smoothness in the breasts * A hero dressed in armour, bedecked with gold. With thirst, i, e. thirst of vengeance on the foe. A tumulus formed of the dead who fell beneath his sword. § These are ancient adages referring to an incipient state of society when the wandering tribes began to domiciliate or fix upon settled residences. Heb henronva, Byd a vyz zifaith, Dyraid cogau tyngedawr. Ni wan cyllellawr clezyvawr meiwyr : Cymmry, Eingyl, Gwyzyl, Prydyn, Dygedawr trydy' i gyçwyn branes o osgorz, Gwyrain meryz miled seithin, Pob arawd Pell amser cyn zyz brawd, A dwyrain darlleawd, I Brydain yna y daw dadwyrain Na çwyav yn goglud gwern, of little men partly concealed, and abounding with white bellies, with a noise of fame and loquaciousness about baptism, but their puny daggers will not pierce the swords of warriors; it was not proper that I should desire them. Ardent is the mutual grasp of the townsman, for he knows the excess of the fierce robber. There were Welsh, Angles, Irish, and North Britons, with the Welsh hastening together in the rising charge, when the white steeds (ships) were brought upon the lake. The north has been poisoned by a voluntary defiance, from the glare of the hateful form of the progeny of ancient Adam. A third was brought to excite a flock of crows from the army, with a rising of the sluggish brutes of disappointment upon a sea fit for anchorage, upon a hardened bottom. Over the sea and over the mountains, over the sea is a fertile desert, to which the woody field and the hill will allure. Every oration, without any one to listen to it, resembles a lofty-minded one in every ancient place. I have been variegated with the multitude in the mutual necessity which thou didst remember, in consequence of exhaustion, to revenge for blind credulity. He will obtain the purpose of the Creator, the puissant God of exalted state. Long before the judgment day, a day will come with the rising irradiation of instruction, ardent and genial upon the land of Ireland. To Britain then will come an exaltation of the Britons from the nobility of Rome. In that day the judge will be free from prejudice on both sides. There is a prediction of astronomers, in the regions of the lost ones: there is a prediction of the Druids, over the sea beyond Britain, that summer will not be continually serene with the frank barons. Will he come from the exposed thrust, from the excess of effusion, from the excess of treasure? There are a thousand of my brothers in Britain of exalted state, and of my progeny in the borders. I will not proceed in the confidence of the alder trees, with the multitude in the deeps of hell. I will dread the sulphureous covering, from the Sovereign of boundless space. GWILYM MAESYVED. REVIEW. ART. I.-Systematic Morality; or a Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Human Duty, on the Grounds of Natural Religion. By W. Jevons. Hunter. 1827. 2 Vols. 8vo. THE author of this very ingenious and valuable work has justly remarked in his preface, that notwithstanding the multitude of ethical treatises with which our language abounds, an important station still remains in a great degree unoccupied. The interesting and curious questions which occur in the theory of morals have been largely debated; on the proper definition and criterion of virtue, on the grounds of moral obligation, on the nature and origin of the moral sense, very different and apparently opposite opinions have been maintained by the most eminent philosophers. On the other hand, many writers have distinguished themselves in the more practical discussions of casuistry and natural law, but in a comparatively dry and uninteresting manner, without addressing themselves to the affections, or dwelling upon those motives which are peculiarly calculated to mend the heart and inspire the love of virtue. The persuasive part of moral science, if we may so denominate it, has been cultivated chiefly by the preacher and the essayist; and though much that is highly valuable may be derived from their productions, yet it is necessarily presented in a detached and desultory form. It is the object of the work before us to supply in some measure this deficiency in our systematic treatises, and in many respects it is well adapted to its purpose. Though, for many reasons, we cannot but deeply regret that the author has thought it necessary to confine his views to natural religion, yet the truly rational inquirer, who has been accustomed to look to Scripture both for his rule of life and for his most powerful motives to follow it, will not be displeased to find to what an extent the light of unassisted nature coincides with that of revealed truth. In some instances he may perhaps be induced to think that her pictures, when fairly examined, are defective not so much in distinctness as in brilliancy; nor will he value at a lower rate the discoveries of the gospel, when he perceives, that while they make little change in the outline, they clothe it with more glowing and attractive colours; that reason, as far as her powers can reach, presents to our view the same objects as her heaven-born sister, who has merely extended the design, and thrown over the whole a celestial radiance. The attentive reader, however, of "Systematic Morality," will immediately perceive that the author is greatly indebted, not only for the vividness, but the distinctness and accuracy of his delineations to the light of revelation. He will not fail to be forcibly struck with the difference between that exercise of reason which is employed in exploring our way through intricacies where we have no other clue to guide us, and that which merely satisfies us that what others have told us is true, that what has already been accomplished by other means has been done well. If we are desirous to ascertain the reliance to be placed on natural religion, we must examine what she has been able to effect when left entirely to her own resources, as they are exhibited in the writings of those who had no means of checking her decisions by an appeal to higher authority. After some very judicious introductory remarks on the importance and value of moral science, the author proceeds to distribute his subject under three principal divisions, in the first of which he proposes to treat of those more general questions relating to the origin of the moral sense,-the nature, definition and criterion of virtue, and the obligation to practise it, which constitute what may be called the theoretical department of ethics; in the second, under the title of Practical Morality, he gives a detailed view of particular duties; in the third, he treats of the means of cultivating and improving the moral principle. To this last he has given the title of Disciplinary Morality. Previous to the discussion of the first of the above questions, namely, that relating to the moral sense, Mr. Jevons enters much at large into an investigation of the nature of the affections in general; rightly conceiving that they are so analogous in their origin, and so intimately connected together, as to render it difficult to carry on the analysis of any one successfully, without a reference to the rest. A knowledge of the nature and laws of the affections is also necessary to the practical moralist, since otherwise it seems scarcely possible to lay down judicious rules for their government and direction. In pursuing this analysis, he proceeds in a great measure on the Hartleyan principle of association, though without adopting much of the peculiar phraseology by which that eminent philosopher is distinguished, and which has perhaps deterred from the study of his writings many of those in whose estimation elegance of expression is of more value than accuracy of thought. According to this view of the origin of mind and its affections, all our intellectual pleasures and pains are ultimately deducible from those of the body. The human infant, in the first instance, is a mere animated machine, a creature of matter and sense, alive to no feelings but those which result from present impressions. All his pleasures, and consequently, for a while, all his desires, have a reference solely to bodily gratifications, and terminate in self. It is not long, however, that he continues in this state of insulation. From the first moment of his existence, he is dependent on the unceasing care and attention of others; the pleasurable emotions, therefore, which are excited by the supply of his various wants, are associated with the idea of those about him, and thus are gradually unfolded the germs of the social and benevolent affections. By the operation of the same principle the intellectual faculties also are successively brought into being. Even the use of the senses themselves implies the exercise of the nascent powers of the understanding. "The process of learning to see is one which requires the constant exercise of memory and judgment; for the perceptions of distance, bulk, and tangible properties by the eye, are not, as is now universally acknowledged, the original perceptions of that sense, but the associated knowledge which it has acquired under the tuition of Touch. The new-born infant, though endowed with all the organs of sense, is incapable even of that simplest excitement which arises from the observation of external objects. We are apt to expect that the little stranger, surrounded as he is by so many novel objects, should feel immediate wonder and interest in all that he beholds. But we forget that his attention has not yet extended beyond his more acute and immediate feelings; that the sensations conveyed by his eye and ear are all as yet confused and indistinct; and that it is only by slow degrees that he even learns to recognise by means of those sensations the objects of his earliest and most pressing wants. The very power, therefore, of observing external objects, implies a certain developement of mind, and those pleasures of excitement which have been already mentioned, partake as much of the nature of mental as of sensible pleasures. Indeed, the mental faculties, in their first exercise, are nothing more than certain modes or necessary results of sensation; and even when they are em |