Welsh Journals

THE CAMBRIAN QUARTERLY AND Otitic &epertorg. No. 1.—JANUARY 1, 1829.—Vol. I. INTRODUCTION. Amidst the general neglect of Welsh Literature, the apathy with which its low estate has been looked upon by the greater part of the inhabitants of the Principality, and the incurious carelessness of strangers respecting it, few can know, and still fewer can ap¬ preciate, the deep anxiety, the bitter regret, felt by some warm lovers of their country, and their land's language, for the unde¬ served disesteem which it has hitherto met with. Efforts have, from time to time, been made to preserve and bring into notice the valuable relics of Welsh genius, which, admired and prized as they are by the studious of our countrymen, are still, for the most part, as utterly unknown to English readers as if they had no existence; and, though these efforts have been at¬ tended with small success, as far as publicity is concerned, yet the zealous individuals, who, with little support from their own nation, and no encouragement from the literati of England, devoted their time and fortunes to the patriotic object, have at least been the means of preserving, for a more auspicious opportunity, treasures that must otherwise have been irretrievably lost. The principal cause to which we attribute the failure of all past attempts to render our native literature as popular as it deserves is, that the object of all such has hitherto been, for the most part, to interest the minds of Welshmen alone. National and local feeling has been too exclusively consulted: no disposition has been shewn to impart their stores. The Archaeology of Wales, for instance, a noble and patriotic work, due to the exertions of three individuals, is a book sealed to all but Cambrians, nay, even to no. i. b