The present poem was written in reply to a second laudatory effusion addressed to Goronwy by Huw Huws, y Bardd Coch o Fon; and nowhere do we find the innate modesty of our bard more clearly revealed. The pseudo-critics have found fault with occasional expressions in his works, where he seems to vaunt himself on his powers as a poet. Goronwy, however, in every instance, but echoes the sentiments of the old Roman writers whom he regarded as his models. In Cywydd i'r Awen, for example, we have :

:

"Dedwydd o'th blegyd ydwyf, Godidog ac enwog wyf; Cair yn son am Oronwy, Llonfardd Mon, llawn fyrdd a mwy;

"Cerdd ddifai i rai a roes,

Ynnill tragywydd einioes." What is it but Horace's line?“Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori."

which Lord Lytton again renders:-
“ The Muse permits not
The mortal worthy of her praise
to die."
Goronwy, we acknowledge, esti-
mated highly, though never unduly,
the powers that had been given him.
Still, he never arrogates to himself
the credit. What language can be
more devoid of egotism than that
of the poem before us?—
"Odidog mi nid ydwyf,
Rhyw sal un rhy isel wyf."
and again :-

“O farddwaith od wyf urddawl,
Poed i wau emynau mawl-
Emynau 'n dâl am einioes
Ac Awen i'r Rhen a'u rhoes."
2 Huw ap Huw. A short notice

of y Bardd Coch will be found in page 80, note 2.

3 Awdl dra llawn serch. This poem is given in the Appendix.

4 For this line William Morris gives:Rhwyddaf fydd gŵr a'i haeddo. 5 Rhyw isel un rhy sal wyf. W. M. Fy nwy alwad, his two offices of priest and poet.

7 Poed i wau emynau mawl. The poet not only feels, but modestly expresses, his accountability for the gifts which had been conferred upon him. Had he obeyed the dictates to which he has here given utterance, especially in regard to the duties of the poetical office, and given a hymnal to the Church, what benefits, as we have already intimated, would he not have conferred on the community to which he belonged!

8 Rhen, one of the names of God, signifying 'the supreme Lord', 'the Eternal'.

9 After this line William Morris has:

Gwae rewydd segur Awen ! Na ddêl gwawd pechawd o'm pen! 1 Cail, a sheep cot, a fold; hence 'the flock'.

2

Bagad, a troop, a cluster.

The poet intimates that if the responsibilities of the office he has just spoken of-that of the poetbe great, the office of the Christian pastor is far more so. "If the honours", he says, "connected with the ministry be many and high, the cares are a cluster-a multitude;" and in the following lines he earnestly prays" that God would hear him and help him in his lofty yet dread office".

It is gratifying to find that whenever Goronwy mentions his sacred office and its duties, it is not only with becoming, but with the deepest reverence. Humorous and even sportive on other occasions, the moment he draws near the threshold

of holy things, his language is that of another bard :

"Er dim na thyred yma

Y dyn, ond ar feddwl da". 3 Parch. We have frequently made remarks on the difficulties that attend the transmission of ideas from one language into another. One of these arises from the fact that there are words in every language, the personification of thoughts, which have no corresponding signification in any other, however rich that other may be. Parch is translated by the lexicographers, 'honour', 'respect', ‘reverence'; and it partakes more or less of the different ideas enfolded in each of these words. Parch cannot, therefore, be rendered into English without the use of two or more terms to render its metamorphosis complete. We apply, for instance, the term 'honour' to God, to the sovereign, to a man of exalted virtues; but we could not apply it, as we apply parch, to an old garment. The term 'respect' may be applicable to the greatest of men,