PRINTED FOR W. SIMPKIN AND R. MARSHALL, Stationer's Hall Court, Ludgate Street. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA то WILLIAM OWEN PUGHE, ESQ. F. A. S. MY DEAR SIR,- In thus availing myself, without your knowlege, of the sanction of your name to the second Volume of the CAMBRO-BRITON, I shall have occasion for all your indulgence, since I cannot but feel, that my humble work can confer nothing on you in return for the honour it thus derives. However, your long and unequalled services in the field of Welsh literature have so rendered your name a kind of public property, as, in some degree, I hope, to excuse the freedom I am now using. And, even if I were without this apology, the friendly assistance, which you have afforded me through the whole of my enterprise, has, in a manner, imposed upon me the duty of thus publicly expressing my gratitude. My only regret is, that my limits will not allow me here to particularise the many instances, in which I have experienced the advantage of your valuable co-operation. Having thus, my dear Sir, however imperfectly, discharged a duty, which your important aid of the CAMBRO-BRITON so obviously required, I profit by the opportunity to offer also my acknowlegement, in common with the rest of your countrymen, of the more general, and still more important, services, your various productions have rendered to Welsh literature, and which, while that literature has any charms for the world, must rank your name , among those of its most eminent benefactors. And let me add to this the expression of a wish, that cannot but be ardently felt by all your admirers, that the monument, you have so happily reared to your fame, may soon experience an additional lustre in the completion of the national design, you are known to have contemplated. By a translation of the MABINOGION, avowedly among the most curious of our ancient remains, you will not only impose on your country a lasting obligation, but you will enrich, in an essential degree, the literary treasures of Europe. There may be other departments of learning more useful, but there is none more generally attractive, than that, in which the Genius of Romance has painted the fantastic splendours of her visionary reign. And among the numerous ancient productions of this nature there are few, if any, that excel in interest the Juvenile Romances of Wales. I will only, in conclusion, observe, that, whatever disappointment may hitherto have attended me in my career, the reflection, that I have been so ably supported in it by your friendship, cannot fail to be at all times consolatory. And I shall feel too, on this account,—what a confinement to my own resources might never have taught me,—that, according to the well known line of an English writer, it may be possible to deserve success when we cannot command it. I am, and shall ever remain, MY DEAR SIR, THE EDITOR. |