Welsh Journals

July 3, 1889. BYE-GONES. 161 are they unrepresented, for they have David Richards, the sculptor, whose work is world known. Until recently no attempt had ever been made to compile a Welsh bibliography, rich though the sub¬ ject would prove, but there has lately stepped forward a gentleman who intends to supply this de¬ ficiency. During the past ten years Mr Henry Blackwell, of Woodside, Long Island, has laboured at the task of collecting information on the subject, and though his work is not more than half-completed, it promises to be when finished a monument to Cam¬ brian literature. Another much-needed work has been a dictionary of the Welsh language, but this promises also soon to be supplied by a clergyman. The Rev D. Silvan Evans, B.D., rector of Llanwrin, Machynlleth, North Wales, after 40 years of study and philologi¬ cal research, has within the past twenty months issued the first two parts of a national lexicon. A glance at these gives a faint impression of the magni¬ tude of the whole work. The letters A and B each require 120 pages. It is the compiler's intention to make it as complete as the German dictionary of Grimm and the French of Littell. No Goold Brown, however, has yet appeared to the Welsh people to fix for them a standard of grammatical construction, and the consequence is that though there exist many scholarly works upon the subject no two authorities agree. Of those who, by their services to the American Union, have won the lasting gratitude of the nation, the Welsh race has always been well repre¬ sented. Thomas Jefferson was of Welsh origin, Francis LeAvis and Richard Floyd, signers of the Declaration of Independence, were natives of Wales, and the Welsh aided nobly in fighting against England in the Revolution. Gen. Thomas, the Rock of Chickamauga, was of Welsh descent. Prominent among living Welshmen in this city is ex-Judge Noah Davis, who has just been honoured with the Presidency of the St. David's Society. The Rev. D. Parker Morgan of the Church of the Heavenly Rest, who cherishes the hope of soon preaching in an Episcopal church of St. David, where the society will be comfortably housed and its spiritual wants supplied, is a native of Brecon, South Wales, and ex-Postmaster-General Thomas L. James is a Welshman by descent. To appreciate the importance of the race, as a whole, in American industries,it is only necessary to remember that they control the mining of iron, coal, andslate in the United States, and all the managers ?1t , lron works of Pennsylvania and Alabama are Welshmen. +v, T*rry race kas *ts peculiarities of character, and the Welsh have theirs. They are hot-tempered and easily provoked, and they dislike very much to be interfered with. They are patient enough under ordinary conditions, but they rebel against coercion, ot whatever kind. They are peculiarly a working PevE.i ' and though the population of Wales is only «fJSen?S,onJ ,than 1.250,000, they supply England's «5,UAUXX) with more than one-third of the coal they use. For this inestimable benefit they receive no return but taxation. The public education that a n£ +u a^°rds her own sons is denied to theirs, ana they are forced to acquire learning as best they V anx lfc *s an eloquent commentary on their VOL. I. , intelligence that in spite of such discouragements the Welsh have conquered every difficulty and are competent to lead the world in science, art, and literature. JULY 3, 1889, NOTES. THE GREAT SIR WATKIN. I have come across a pamphlet in Trinity College Library containing the following poem on the third baronet of the line, the first, or, as he was called by his contemporaries, " The Great Sir Watkin," who was killed by a fall from his horse while hunting in 1749. N.W.T. Cambridge. A POEM, SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE SIR WATKIN WILLIAMS WYNNE, Bart. By Richard Rolt, Author of Cambria. Justitiae cultor, rigid i servator honesti, In commune bonus-nullosque catonis in actus Subrepsit, partemque tulit sibi nata voluntas. Lucan : Lib : II. In freta dum fluvii current dum montibus umbrae Lustrabunt convexa, polus dum sidera pascet: Temper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt. vii'g. Aen. I. LONDON :— Printed for W. Owen, publisher, at Homer's Head, near Temple Bar. MDCCXLIX. [Price One Shilling.] To the honourable Lady Wynne this poem is most respectfully inscribed by her ladyship's mostobedient humble servant, R. Rolt. ^ A Poem sacred to the memory of the late Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, Bart. -------- When the bright flame that fires the patriot heart Expir'd in Campbell, Caledonia mourn'd Her noblest, bravest, wisest son ; the soul Of honour, virtue, liberty, and truth. Nor hers the loss alone, all Britain shard The solemn grief, and nations felt the blow. Thou, Cambria ! drooping in the wane of time, But seldom hast produc'd a noble mind, Inspir'd with all the graceful worth, elate With all the glories of the British race. A race that check'd victorious Caesar, aw'd Imperial Rome, and fore'd mankind to own Superior virtues Britons only knew, Or only practis'd ; for they nobly dar'd To face oppression; and when freedom finds Her aid invok'd, there will the goddess fly. Britannia, say, amid the god-like line Of all thy sons, whose lives illustrious spread Thy glory, like a constellation, round The nations, say, through all the depth of time Did e'er perfection seal the stamp of man With greater lustre, than what nature gave To honour'd, lov'd, rever'd, lamented Wynne ! No, not the venerable names of Greece Or Rome transmits us more deserv'd applause. 21