of the Music of Birds, when any Success, or flow of Spirits happened, invented Singing. In process of time, Music and Poetry were taken into the Service of Religion; and, among the ancient Britons, (a main branch of the Celta) the Bards managed a considerable Part of the Druidical Religion, who sang their Verses to the Harp. And you know that, in Homer's time, singing with the Harp was common among the Greeks, as it is now in Wales; though at this Day peculiar, perhaps, to our own people. "These are undoubted Marks of Antiquity, retained still in that Corner of Britain, Cambria; and which the Virtuosi should cultivate, and encourage the Duration of. To explain, in some part, to Strangers, the Nature of this kind of singing, it is proper to let them know, that when a Company meet over their cups, in those which I call the singing Countries, more particularly Caernarvonshire and Meirionethshire; the Harper, who commonly attends those Meetings, plays them some of their old Tunes, and they all sing in their turns, each of them the whole length of the Tune. "The Words they sing with the Harp, are not continued Songs, but Stanza's of four Lines generally, six, or eight, or more ; of which Stanza's, every one sings, according to the length of the Tune, observing Symphonies, &c. according to the Nature of the Music. These Verses are on various Subjects of Love, War, &c., and some of them are supposed to be as old as the Druidical times; for the same Verses are remembered in every County in Wales, and are common in the Mouths of the Populace, and scarce ever committed to Writing; but retained by Tradition from Father to Son, and sung without any connection or likeness of a Song, being entire Sentences, in the nature of Epigrams. "One kind of these Verses (called, in an old MS. Grammar, Owdl-gywydd o'r hen Ganiad) much resembles the Version of the Psalms in English, by Sternhold and Hopkins; but that the second and fourth Lines end with a polysyllable instead of a monosyllable; and that the end of the first Line rhimes with the resting Place in the second. Thus, F' Arglwydd Dduw Pa beth yw hyn? Ni fedra ond syn feddylio! Lle bo Mab yn fwya 'i serch, Ni fyn un Ferch mo hono. Which should be wrote thus, F' Arglwydd Dduw, Pa beth yw hyn? Ni fedra 'nd syn Feddylio! Lle bo Mab yn fwya 'i serch, Ni fyn un Ferch Mo hono. "Another kind is two Couplets of eight syllables each; this, and the former, are the kinds most common of all Verses sung to the Harp; and this may be applied to any Tune, either in triple or common time: Blodeu 'r Flwyddyn yw f' Anwylyd; Llewyrch Haul yn t'wynnu ar Gysgod, "Thus Englished and versified by a young Lady of Anglesey : My Love's the Blossom of the Year, The Shade enlightens as she passes, She is the Gem of charming Lasses. "But this English translation comes far short of the Original; for the Words Summer Months, instead of enumerating April, May, and June, do not express the Youth and Maturity of his Beloved; nor doth the Epithet, Gem, carry the Idea of Gwenithen [a grain of wheat] in the Original, as it exceeds all other Grain, which Expression cannot be translated. "There is also another kind of Stanza, which is composed of two Couplets of eleven Syllables each, common enough in this way of singing; ending with monosyllables, thus: Yn hen ac yn ieuangc, yn gall ac yn ffol, "Triban, or Penill Triban, [i. e. a Triplet] seems to be the most ancient of any of these singing Verses; as our Englyn Milwr, a Triplet, is the first in the Heroic way. The Triban consists of a Couplet in Rime of seven Syllables each, and a third line of fourteen syllables, rhiming with the same; but the eleventh syllable (of these fourteen) riming also with the resting place in the seventh. Thus, Tebyg wy' i'r Aderyn, Ni hau, ni fed, un gronyn ; Ni wna dd'ioni yn y byd, ond Canu hyd y flwyddyn. "It is urged, in favour of Blank verse, and of the Greek and Latin Poetry, that Rime is a late Invention of the Poets, even so late as the Institution of Monks, and is only used among barbarous Nations. It may be so in Heroic poetry, which was not sung with Music; but by no means in Songs sung with Instruments: For Poetry, in that case, would, to a vulgar Ear, have no mark to distinguish it from Prose. "This was certainly the Origin of Poetry among the Celta ; but, in process of time, after the Roman Conquest, we, in some measure, imitated those great People in our Poetry, and bound our selves with Grammatical Rules: The most ancient of which Verses, they called Englyn Milwr, i. e. the Warriors Verse; a Triplet Stanza. 66 Quære, Whether the War-song of the North-Americans be of this stamp? And also, Whether some, if not several, of the Songs of Solomon were not in Triplets? Particularly, the Book of Job, if it was (as some learned Men think) one of them. Curiosity, and a Pride of excelling the Vulgar, brought our Grammarians and Poets to invent Rules and Fetters, which a Man of ordinary natural parts could not possibly investigate; and a Poet, strictly adhering to those Rules, is so curbed, that he looks like a Hog in Armour; and though, in the Preservation of the Language, those Fetters have their great Use; yet it is plain, they have very much cramped and lamed our Geniuses; for a Writer, that follows them, must have parts above the common course of Nature, to shine at all as a Poet. "But let it be observed, that these cruel Chains were not made use of by our Poets till after the Norman Conquest; and let the Reader take notice, that, what I mark out above, as the first traces in Poetry among the Celta, is but like the first attempt of the flying of young Birds in the Nest; and will hardly bear any comparison with those curious Works which we possess of the ancient Poets; commencing soon after the Romans left us, in the beginning of the Fifth Century; which are now and have been always held in the highest Veneration throughout Wales; and which the learned Bishop Nicholson, in his English Historical Library, calls Venerable Remains of Antiquity.' This kind of Heroic Poetry hath continued, in tolerable Purity, down to the Time of Queen Elizabeth, when it took a Nap; and now, after Two hundred Years, begins to awake; as will appear by this Collection. "The chief of the ancient British Poets, whose Works have been partly preserved to this Day, in Manuscripts, in the Libraries of the Curious, are: Aneurin Wawdrydd, Taliesin, Llywarch hen, Myrddin wyllt, Meilir Brydydd, Gwalchmai ap Meilir, Howel ap Owein Gwynedd, Cynddelw Brydydd mawr, Owein Cyfeiliog, Prince of Powys; David ap Guilym, Iolo goch, &c., &c. Song-writing, on account of the Variety of the Music to which it was set, was of a far more fluctuating Nature, than those artificial Pieces; and as the Subject in Songs and Ballads, was generally more trivial and light, than regular Poems; it is no wonder we have so few things retained, and remaining in Wales in that kind of loose writing, till the last Age produced one Hugh Morris, of Llansilin in Denbighshire, as a surprising Comet that appear'd, after a Revolution of three hundred years. David ap Gwilym, about the Year 1400, was, in Heroics, such another as Hugh Morris, in 1700, was in Song-writing; both abounding with pure Nature, and seemingly not under any Obligation to Art; but their great Art was concealing of Art. "After all that is said here, I cannot help thinking of an illnatured Expression of a surly old Acquaintance of mine, who hath no Taste to this kind of Entertainment; That a Poet and a Dancingmaster, much resemble one another; One makes Words dance to Music, to please the Ear; and the other teaches the human Species to trot about, to please the Eye. But the Wise Man says, there is a time for all these things; and happy is the Man who can apply it with Discretion. "I am Yours," &c. Page 39. Copy of A Letter from Mr. LEWIS MORRIS to WILLIAM VAUGHAN, Esq., of Nannau. "Bishop's Castle, October 7th, 1752. "WORTHY SIR,-After a perambulation of several counties, and observation of a variety of objects, a great number of strange sort of people, abundance of gimcracks, mountains, rivers, dales, and towns, I am arrived at this place upon business. Having a leisure evening, which I seldom or never have at home, where I am in the center of my business, who should come into my head but you! I began to remember how I had been told that you were come home from your voyage, and all safe and sound, but did not know how to believe it (nor shall I believe it), till I have it under your hand. "I wrote you a good while ago in behalf of poor Gronow Owen, the greatest genius, either of this age, or that ever appeared in our country; and perhaps few other countries can shew the like of him for universal knowledge. I shewed you Cywydd y Farn, and some other pieces of his, when I was last at Nannau; and I have three or four pieces of his since, that are the best that ever were wrote in our language, and will endure while there is good sense, good nature, and good learning in the world. It is a pity, and the greatest of pities, that such a man as this, who is not only the greatest of poets, but a great master of languages, should labour under the hardship of keeping a school, and serving a curacy in the middle of carn saeson, and all for the poor income of 267. a year, when at the same time many a fat parson (who, their neighbours say, have hardly common understanding) makes the earth groan under him when he treads it, because he hath some hundreds a year, for not keeping a school, or serving his church! But, however, let them contrive it as they will, all that I want is, that our countryman Gronow Owen should have meat to his mouth, and to his wife and two children. "But I would chuse of all things to have him in Merionethshire, |