the European public are indebted.These documents throw light on that interval of Cimbric or Armorican inde. pendence, during which all that is most peculiar in the character of modern Europe seems to have been hatched, as in its nest. The observations of Gibbon (vol. iii. page 275) by no means exhaust the philosophy of a period, too little contemplated both by French and English antiquaries.

The author of the sketch before us has consecrated his talents and learning, which are considerable, to the illustration of this obscure but important corwer of the earth; and has endeavoured to separate, from the confused mass of Welsh traditions, a probable account of the filiation of British sovereigns, and of the migration of the early settlers. The first remarkable disquisition of the text respects the Gafis of Taliesin. We shall report Mr. Roberts's opinion:

"However idle the Trojan part of this history, (the history of Brutus and his colony) and however ill-connected with the rest of the very history in which it is found, its advocates were thus far justified, that it was to be found in the Welsh history, from whence Geoffrey of Monmouth composed his; and that such a Welsh history still subsists. As the error of the history appears to have originated partly in ignorance, and partly in a mistake, respecting the person called Brutus by the historian, we may safely set aside this part of the narrative, which has so long been an embarrassing difficulty to those who have endeavoured to investigate the real history of the Britons, and proceed to state their history, as deducible from the docu

ments before us.

According to these the colony of the Cymry, or Britons, which first took posses sion of this island, came originally from Asia. In a poem of Taliesin, which is called the appeasing of Lludd, the following very singular passage occurs:

Llwyth lliaws, anuais ei henwerys,
Dygorescynan Prydain, prif fan ynys,
Gwyr gwlad yr Asia, a gwlad Gafis;
Pobl pwyllad enwir, eu tir ni wys,
Famen gorwyreis herwydd Maris;
Amlaes ei peisiau, pwy ei hefelys?
A phwyllad dyfyner, øber efnis
Europa.

A numerous race, fierce they are said to have been,

Were thy original colonists, Britain, first of isles,

them?

Their skill is celebrated, they were the dread of Europe.

"In these few lines the poet has given the peculiarities of national character and dress, and the origin of the nation, as far as he was able to trace it. The character of the nation, as warliket adventurers on the sea, in the spirit of the times, however opinion as to the mode, may since have varied, every Briton will with pleasure find to have been considered by the poet as marking a naval superiority inherited by Britain; and it is that of the present times, that it never was more justly or more gloriously asserted.

"As to the particular part of Asia from which the first colony came to Britain, the poet candidly acknowledges that he is not able to point it out exactly; though he endeavours to do so in some degree by the name Gafis.

"A city, whose name nearly resembles this, was once the capital of a province in a part of the present Usbeck Tartary. Gabis the ca pital of Gabaza; but this is too far to the East of the route of the Cimmerians to admit of the supposition of its being the place intended by the poet, further than as intimat ing some place bordering on the Caspian Sea. Perhaps the name is to be found in Panticapes, the modern Kaffa; as this word, of Cimmerian origin, should be written Pant-yCapes, or the declivity or valley of the Kope This seems the more probable from the simi larity it has to the modern name, and will be more so, if it appear, that this was the coun try from which they came.

the following information: Concurring with Taliesin, the Triads give

The first of the three chieftains who es

tablished the colony of Britain, was Hu the mighty, who came with the original settlers. They came from the Summer Country, which is called Deffrobani, that is where Constinoblys (Constantinople) is at present. Triad 4.

They came in search of a settlement to be obtained not by war or contest, but justly and peaceably. Triad 5.

"There can be no doubt but that Asia is meant by the words Summer Country, and that Deffrobani was added to mark the parti cular district. The exposition of the name is less certain. As an exposition it must have been added to the original Triad, (when the first reference was in danger of being unintelligible,) according to the tradition of the

age of the writer which as an exposition is of use, as it gives a distinct circumstance in the history, and one that is of importance." Both in the middle and early ages, the Roman ideas probably prevailed at the extremities of their empire. The eastern and the western world, separated from each other by the Euphrates, or the coast of Syria, and distinguished by the names of Asia and Europe, constituted the prominent, popular subdivisions of the earth. Whatever was not Europe was Asia, in the notion of the vulgar geographer; hence Phænicians, with their long dresses, whether they came from Tyre, from Alexandria, from Carthage, or from Cadiz, would equally be described by a Welsh bard, as coming from Asia; that was the terra incognita, of which he had learnt the collective name. In the time of Taliesin, Tyre and Carthage were no more. Had the people he describes come from either of these cities, according to the records preserved, it is probable that he would substitute some extant, real and familiar name, to a name which he would suppose fictitious, because extinct; it would not shock him to place a sea-port in Bohemia, or Tyre in Tirol; but he would take the most analogous and resembling known name, instead of the obscure name of his older authority; in short, he would change Carthage into Cadiz, and place this Gafis in Asia. There are but two great cities, by the destruction of which the Phoenicians can have been driven to settle in Britain: Tyre and Carthage. It is more probable, that the latter should have given origin to the colony, of which so many consistent records conspire to prove the migration, than the former; both because the Tyrians are well known to have distributed themselves chiefly among the MediterraRean sea-ports, and because Britain was ill-known at the time of the prosperity of Tyre. But, before the destruction of Carthage, it was already frequented by ships from the Mediterranean; nor was the distance from Cornwall to the Straits, such as to alarm a colony of merchants. This is further corroborated by the geography of the Triads, where we are told that the original settlers came from a summer country, called Deffrobani, which is evidently a corruption of Africani, an assertion that they were Africans; Africans from the Mediterranean, where Constantinople is at present.

The following observations on the language of the Iceni do not appear to us convincing:

“Cunobeline, the next in succession, married Areddawg Foeddawg, daughter of the traitor Afarwy, the too well known Cartismandua of Tacitus. Attached to the Roman interests, he appears to have favoured their views, and to have imitated them. To this connection with the Romans he perhaps to him the only coin that has a name proowed his knowledge of coining money; and perly Welsh, owes its appellation; that is the Ceiniog or Denarius; which, there is no great risque in saying, was originally called Cunog, and softened afterwards into Ceiniog. It is at least the only probable etymology of the name I can find. The word Tascio, on the the dialect of the Logrians, and to signify the reverse of his coins, seems to be Gaelic, or Mint or Treasury, as in the Irish the word Taisgish signifies hoarding, and Taisgiodan a store house of arms, &c. Armarium. Lhuyd, As Cunobeline was king of the Iceni, the inference is certainly that their language was the Galic."

Why may it not be suspected, that the word Iceni is of the Gothic origin, signifying oak-men; either in the sense hearts of oak, or dwellers among oaks? The word Coning, or king, and the word Tascio, Purse or scrip, are as explicable in Gobelin unlike Kuhn-bald, soon bold. There thic as in Welsh; nor is the name Cunoare so few traces on the Saxon shore, or eastern coast of any British or Celtic population, that strong proofs must be exhave us believe that Welsh was ever acted from the antiquary, who would spoken there.

Paul's second Epistle to Timothy occurs: A very interesting illustration of St. it appears that the Claudia of scripture was a relation of Caractacus.

"When this hero went to battle, says the Triad, none would stay at home. They followed him freely, and maintained themselves at their own expence. Unsolicited and unsoliciting they crowded to his standthe character, on which adversity in the exard. Triad 79. Such was the admiration of treme could alone throw greater lustre.

"Disastrous as the fate of Caractacus was

to Britain at the time, HE whose providence brings good out of evil, made his family, even in their captivity, a blessing to their country. His family, captives in Rome, there learned the great truths newly revealed to mankind; after seven years captivity, as an hostage for and Bran his father returning to Britain, his son, first published them here, Triad 85. A convert to the gospel, he became a reformer of the manners of his countrymen; his name with the epithet blessed annexed, is

dame

Dispute her birth, and urge a jealous claim? Thus blest, ye Gods, still bless the happy pair,

And make their offspring your peculiar care; Her love his only, mutual be their will, And may her sons her latest wish fulfil.'

"That this Claudia was a christian is confirmed by St. Paul's second epistle to Timothy, chap. iv. ver. 21, in the salutation from Pudens, Linus, and Claudia; as Pudens was the husband of Claudia, and Linus most probably their son. The assertion that Bran was a christian is therefore countenanced, not only by this circumstance, but by the unceasing and lively exertions of the primitive christians in the relief, consolation, and instruction of all who were in affliction, as he must have been, where he was a captive and a stranger."

An attempt, but not a very successful one, is made to illustrate the history of Ambrosius, or Merlin. The reign of

Arthur is on every account highly and generally curious; but until the publication of all the romances concerning him shall be completed, (and there are no doubt several in Welsh) it will be impos sible to appreciate the antiquity, and consequently the probability of the different and often discordant traditions.

Some observations also occur on the nineteenth triad, in which it is said, that the three blessed guests of Britain (that means the missionaries who first converted the British) were Dewi, Padam, and Teilo. Here is obvious mention of David, the favourite saint of the Welsh, and of Patrick, the favourite saint of the Irish; but who is Teilo? Is this the St. Olave, of whose ancient popularity so many churches and streets bear witness? St. Tooley, as the English say.

Among the Cimbric antiquaries, a little national vanity gleams forth, which leads them into credulous and injudicious propositions; but with a few de. ductions for the diverting hallucinations of their provincial patriotism, they are pouring into the reservoirs of antiquarian science, new, important, and numerous discoveries. We rejoice at every accession to the number of labourers; but we wish that to translate exactly, and to publish with integrity, every remaining document, were considered as a business essentially prior to the discus sion of their historical contents.

But as parliament is become rather more an organ of public instruction, and rather less a seat of national volition than formerly, it ought in some degree to make room for the political controversies of the press, which now chiefly call forth what there is of independent opinion in the country. We could have wished, therefore, to see distinct chapters consecrated to the literature of the leading questions in discussion; and should recommend the annexation of regular notices of the principal topics of public attention, whether political or not. We value tranquillity the less, and those talents which it evolves; because historians neglect to record and appreciate their exertion. The art of amusing the peace of the civilised, is one of the arts of preserving it. From the insipid feasts of the Ethiopians, Jupiter returns

to meddle in the wars of men; but had he found there Juno girded with the ces tus, Greek and Trojan might longer have been at rest.

This volume comprizes a convenient epitome of the whole Pitt administration, which may be divided into two main segments: the portion conducted in opposition to Mr. Burke, which was characterised by a compromising, accommodating cast of politics, and was liked; and the portion conducted in unison with Mr. Burke, which was characterised by an intolerant, malignant cast of politics; and was odious. We shall bestow on it a sort of perpetual commentary.

The coalition with Lord North was probably recommended to Mr. Fox by Burke, in order to destroy a popularity he envied; aware that the more vehement partizans, who preferred Fox to him, would be precisely the repelled portion of their supporters. The popu. lar animosity felt against this coalition was a correct feeling; for it really tended to disband popular principle, to destroy personal confidence, and to render impossible to the people the attain ment of any one end by confederacies of their own. Yet the conduct of the coalesced parties was patriotic, and favourable to an increase of the power of the representatives of the people. Mr. Pitt was lifted by the ebb-water of that tide of popular favour which had billowed about Mr. Fox. His first conspicuous act was to disclaim (on the 12th January, 1784) all thoughts of resigning his post, in compliance with the declared wish of the majority of the house of commons. It is, no doubt, the traditional or constitutional prerogative of the crown, to name or elect the ministers of Great-Britain. But, as the patronage of government gives to such ministers a far-felt power over the house of commons, it is highly improbable that any set of placemen should be left in a minority, who are not either incapable or odious. Incapable ministers should be removed for the public safet; odious ministers should be removed, because civility is due to the people even when they err, and because a tacit complacency in the subject is essen tial to the efficacious execution of public measures. The house of commons have, therefore, usefully set up the doctrine, that a minister censured by them is

bound in honour to resign; and this doctrine it is expedient for the people to prop them in enforcing. If the right of expalsion vested in the house of commons, the expulsion of a refractory minister, when a commoner, would be a fit mode of enforcing this propriety in political behaviour; but the Rockingham administration, in every thing a suicidal party, had set aside this right to please the friends of Mr. Wilkes. The old remedy of withholding the supplies is clearly inapplicable to a country burdened with a considerable national debt, because it is a measure far less alarming to the crown than to the stockholders. Another remedy would be to refuse passing the mutiny-bill; but this is only applicable in a state of peace. So that the house of commons has still to devise some innocent mode of enforcing its highly desirable nega tive on the ministerial nominations of the crown. Perhaps the civil list could conveniently be separated into its na tional and personal grants, and the latter voted annually.

Mr. Pitt's second conspicuous meas sure was his India-bill. Mr. Fox had devised one which contemplated the dissolution of the company, at the expiry of the charter; and which propos ed to vest in commissioners, elected by the house of commons, the eventual patronage of India. The benefit which commercial men must have derived from the opening of the trade to India is incalculable. The possession of patronage, by the house of commons, no doubt tended to alter the leaning of the constitution, to counteract the influence of the crown, and to make parliament a seat of independent volition. Pitt's bill contemplated the prolongation of the company's monopoly ; and the addition, through the board of controul, of the patronage of India to the extant influence of the crown. But it tended to make rival powers of the company and of the governmental establishment, and thus to endanger the eventual dependence of India: whereas, under Mr. Fox's bill, an adhesion to the British house of commons, must have been very strong and very lasting. Distant patronage is of little consequence as an engine of favouritism, because it ba nishes the person it attaches; but it is of great consequence as a motive of allegiance, because it operates at the ex

tremities of empire: it is therefore, the sort of patronage which the prince may best resign to the state.

The commutation of the duty on tea for a duty on windows, conduced much to the suppression of smuggling, and to the increase of the revenue. It was the plan of Mr. Richardson, late accountant-general at the India-house; but it was brought forward without any mention of him. It seems expedient, however, and liberal, to name the projectors of considerable innovations at the onset, that a proper recompense may be conferred when they succeed. It is not the necessary province of a minister to project; but to select the sound and practicable projects of others.

In 1785, the commercial propositions for an unrestricted intercourse with Ireland, were brought before both parliaments. These propositions did honour to Mr Pitt: they seemed natural and obvious consequences of the maxims respecting trade, taught in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations; but after being accepted in the British parliament, they were withdrawn in the Irish parliament, apparently out of a weak deference for the clamor of a combination of English manufacturers. It is worthy of remembrance, that during the debate on this topic, Lord North expressed his wish for a complete incorporation of the two kingdoms, rather than a partial settle

ment.

In 1786, a commercial treaty with France was concluded; it resulted from the same liberal spirit of commercial polity as the Irish propositions. At first it was an equitable treaty; but it was rendered an unfair bargain for France, by the subsequent and somewhat perfifidious diminution of duty on the wines of Portugal, which cheated the French of their expected market for wines in Great-Britain. Unfair bargains between nations are seldom permanent: hostilities are often got up for the sake of breaking them. Unless reciprocal sales approach equality, the motive for confiscation in case of rupture is greater on the one side than on the other: and thus the party at first most benefited by the intercourse, is eventually the greatest sufferer by it on the termination. Let justice be done, and one may defy the gathering cloud.

About the same period, a highly meritorious provision was made for the pro

gressive extinction of the national debt: features of the plan had been devised by Dr. Price, but were adopted without acknowledgment. The useful coloniza tion of New South Wales was under. taken with insufficient preliminary sur vey. The Prussians were encouraged to invade Holland, for the purpose of propping the Stadtholder's tottering authority; but as no constitutional changes were enforced, he became, on the retirement of the Prussian troops, weaker than before;, and incurred the odium without the fruit of foreign in terposition. This interference was ap plauded in parliament, even by friends of liberty, although Great-Britain neither obtained the Cape nor any other recompense for her indemnity: but Mr. Pitt was now in the perihelion of his popularity; the mildest criticism of an adversary would have been mistaken for envy.

In 1787, Mr. Pitt declared against the repeal of the corporation and test acts. Brought up by an ecclesiastic, without the advantage of a travelled education, and very ignorant of continental literature, it was not surprizing that Mr. Pitt should betray in the face of Europe a narrow bigotry, and want the courage to dictate liberality to a bench of bi shops he had nominated. In a legisla tive point of view the innovation soli cited was inconsiderable. Granted with speedy decision, it would have produced little effect. Its importance resulted from the very large proportion of the people, especially of the middle classes who became partizans in the controver sy. There is scarcely a market town in the kingdom where the sectaries have not some hall of worship: in all such places an active circulation of pamphlets concerning toleration, was kept up by their ministers and congregations. All the solicitudes of petty promotion, which mightily interest the secondary classes, were aroused; the computation began to be made in every corporation, in every excise-office, how many persons the dissenters would be able to put in and thus an extravagant degree of zea was kindled, both for obtaining and withholding the repeal. As the secta ries do not exceed a tenth of the com munity, it is honourable to the state o national culture, that they so nearly di vided the general wish. In the educated classes their cause had a majority. Th