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tions of being surmounted by crests like the first of these, on which you may perceive the remains of the cross fleury that ornamented the ocularium or sight. Whether any of these crests represented an eagle, which was one of Edward the First's crests, a near inspection can alone determine; but what is shewn, by the ciceroni, as an eagle of ancient Roman sculpture, is a shapeless mass of stone that would do as well for any thing else. The second head seems to show the hood of mail, with the ornamental circle upon it; and the third, the cylindrical helmet worn in the time of Henry the Third, but occasionally used in that of Edward the First. I will take this opportunity of observing that the statue of the English monarch, which surmounts the entrance gateway, is by no means in the threatening attitude so hastily asserted by Pennant.

Hoping these remarks may lead those who are on the spot, and have the time and convenience for so doing, to survey these curious relics more accurately,

GOODRICH COURT;

I remain,
Respectfully yours,

SAMUEL R. MEYRICK.

November 3, 1832.

The only other instances I know of military stone figures on the battlements of castles, are at Chepstow, and in the vile imitation at Alnwick.

To the Editors of the Cambrian Quarterly.
GENTLEMEN,

As

ALL who wish to uphold the Bardic doctrine of Y gwir en erbyn y byd, must feel obliged to your anonymous correspondent for telling the truth about the inscription on the cromlêch in Kilkenny; and I only regret that he did not stamp his communication with the mark of authenticity, by signing to it his name. to myself, I never was in Ireland, but felt bound to take for granted what had been sanctioned by the Irish antiquaries, in such publications as the Collectanea de Reb. Hibern. and the Archæologia; though I must say, at first sight of the representation, I was a good deal staggered. I have, not very long ago, learnt from my friend, Mr. Crofton Croker, that most of the Ogham inscriptions given by General Vallancey were the fabrications of a schoolmaster; and, it was evident to me, that he had mistaken a common Chinese counter for a Cufic coin. These facts showed him so credulous, that I should have hesitated to rely on his engravings had not a similar communication

from another quarter been made to the Society of Antiquaries of England, and published, as I have said above, in their transactions. But, I must say, these tricks, to impose on such persons as are willing to illustrate the antiquities of their country, are far from being creditable to the Irish. I presume that Conid must have got on the top of the cromlêch, and leant over to cut the inscription, for, according to the engravings, it appears from below in the way it has been deciphered. I am sorry to add, that, relying on the presumed accuracy of the representations, it has been copied into the title-page of "The Costume of the original Inhabitants of the Britannic Isles."

I have to regret, likewise, a disposition in some of your Welsh correspondents to derive every English word from the language of the Cymry, as if the Anglo-Saxons were unable to hold any conversation with each other until their collision with the ancient Britons. I will not point out instances, which indeed are too numerous, but observe that this absurd propensity is abundantly the case in the last number of your review.

I think it would be of far more advantage to vindicate their countrymen from the charge of using the word "her," when All classes of modern speaking English, as a nominative case. Welshmen talk English grammatically, because they acquire it at school; but a foreign writer is wrong in supposing it a CamThe truth is, brian idiom to prefix the accusative case to verbs. that the natives of Wales, who, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, flocked to the English capital in consequence of the elevation of the Tudor family to the throne, picked up the language from the borderers; and, at this day, the peasantry of the western parts of Shropshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire, all begin their sentences with her or ur; and in Herefordshire, say him for he. It is probable, too, that the alleged pronunciation of C for G, P for B, T for D, &c. may be derived from the same source, no living Cambrian talking, thus, though I have not had an opportunity of ascertaining the

fact.

I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,

Yours respectfully,

SAML. R. MEYRICK.

GOODRICH COURT;

Oct. 26, 1832.

To the Editors of the Cambrian Quarterly.
GENTLEMEN,

THE following description of the manuscript, containing the Gododin of Aneurin, which has been so long missing from the library at Hêngwrt, is to be found in Carte's Mss., in the Bodleian Library, vol. LLLL. p. 30, under the head of Bibliotheca Vachaniana, which is a written catalogue of all the manuscripts belonging to the Hengwrt Library: Membr. 14. Caniad y Gododyn o waith Aneurin Wawdrydd; It. 2. Caniad a elwir Gwarchan Adebon: Gwarchan Cynfelyn a Gwarchan Maelderw: Hen law hen. Gwedi ei gaeadu yn Llundain, Gan Robert Vaughan, Esq. In 8vo. un fod. o dew.

Should the мs. be still existing, the above account, which is so accurate, cannot fail in assisting to identify it. And, as your highly valuable and deservedly popular magazine is so extensively circulated, perhaps some of your readers will be able to give to the public the desired information; and, also, if the мs. is to be found, whether it would not be advisable to have it printed; or rather to have a fac simile taken of it and published? I would, for one, do all in my power in assisting the present possessor, if it turns out, and which I ardently hope is the case, that the manuscript is still to be had, to present to the world so valuable a document.

Your obedient servant,

PENLLYN.

Oxford; Dec. 1832.

[Having forwarded the above inquiries to the Rev. Thomas Price, of Crickhowell, (who possesses a very fine copy of the Gododin,) before this number went to press, we are enabled to communicate the following reply.-EDS.]

GENTLEMEN,

ON comparing the Ms. of the Gododin in my possession with the description forwarded by you, as given by Carte, I cannot discover a correspondence sufficiently close to establish its identity with that lost from Hengwrt; nor indeed any particular resemblance, except that they are both on vellum. Instead of being in 8vo., this is what is called the little old quarto; and so far from being an inch thick, it is, when closed by the hand, scarcely more than half an inch; nor does the number, with which it is marked, correspond with that in your description, i.e. 14. And, in addition to the Gododin and three Gwarchans, this contains another of those poems, i. e. Gwarchan Tutvwlch. As to the time when it was bound, I can form no conjecture,

except from the watermark on the paper fly-leaf, which is very old. It is covered with calf, and sewed upon leathern thongs. The names of Gwilym Tew and David Nanmor, bards of the fifteenth century, are written in the margin, evidently their respective autographs, with notices that the book was in their possession, and as the former of these bards presided at the Gorsedd of Glamorgan, in the year 1460. And as the earliest account I have of the book is, that it was brought from Glamorganshire, there is some presumption that it never was out of South Wales.

*

It may be remarked, that Lhuyd also gives a description of a somewhat similar мs. at Hèngwrt, but which differs from this in my possession, both in the table of contents and in the authography of the title-page.

Although I am unwilling to admit that this Ms. ever belonged to the Hêngwrt library, unless some more satisfactory evidence should be produced than any I have hitherto seen, yet I shall be most ready to attend to the other suggestion of your correspondent, and shall feel much pleasure in seeing the Ms. in print, provided it be done with fac simile specimens, and in a style worthy of the original.

I remain, Gentlemen,

Yours, &c.

T. PRICE.

* Guilim teu bieu y llpur hunn yma Amenn Nannmor biau hwnn yma.

Also several other remarks in the same hand.

REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.

Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia, No. 36.

Lives of eminent British Military Commanders: Robert Lord Clive. Longman and Co., London.

WITHIN our present limits we do not purpose to furnish our readers with an extended article on the merits or otherwise of the East India question. It will be deemed sufficient, we presume, if, in connexion with a short review of the above memoir, we give a few of our ideas upon the present situation and future prospect of the Indian empire. We derive none of our information from the superannuated ideas of the wealthy nabob, become grey in prejudice, nor from the theoretic systems of the ambitious free traders, who, unfortunately for our country, are gasping under the deathstruggle of a once lucrative, but now ruinous, commerce. We hardly need corroborate this assertion, by referring the public to a list of the decayed agency houses, or to a perusal of the company's shipping list, nor to the almost extinct state of many large trades whose business has gradually declined with the failing fortunes of their connexions in the service. All these circumstances will at once convince the unprejudiced mind, that there is some radical existing evil to which the attention of the English government should be directed with the least possible delay. That immense territory, which was formerly the source of affluence to our leading mercantile houses, has of late produced to our English traders misfortune and ruin. The spell hath lost its charm; and why? The answer must be given in the result of the inquiry respecting the renewal of the company's charter. There exists a wide difference of opinion upon this subject among commercial classes, not from a want of experience, but from individual judgment differing upon a complicated question; and, therefore, we say we look to the British legislature for a clear and satisfactory reply. The country is desirous of having this inquiry conducted in the most impartial manner, and the attention of the commercial classes are anxiously depending upon its having some important beneficial effect upon our intercourse with India. We reserve, however, our further remarks upon this subject, and proceed with its connexion in the subject of

our review.

"Robert Clive was born at Styche, in the parish of Moreton Say, in Shropshire, on the 29th of September, 1725. He derived his

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