Welsh Journals

Trecastle. The legend of Madoc was, in part, Elizabethan England's answer to the Spanish claim for exclusive control over north America and her justification for promoting her interests there during the two centuries that followed. The belief that America 'was found out by a straying Prince of Monticolia' may have been, to some degree, responsible for the powerful attraction which north America exercised upon Welshmen during this period. Certainly there could be no gainsaying the Welsh character of William Vaughan's short lived Cambriol and Morgan John Rhys's Cambria. The eighteenth century idealization of the Noble Savage, coupled with the renewal of interest in things Welsh, inevitably gave new life to the legend and provided Iolo Morganwg with another field in which to exercise his talents. He, in turn, inspired the young John Evans of Waunfawr to undertake his search for Madoc's descendants. The magnitude of the undertaking is brought out by Professor Williams with force and clarity. The reader is made keenly aware of the vast tracts of hitherto unexplored territory, the extremes of heat and cold, the ever present threat of hostile Indians, the privations and recurring illnesses which the young explorer endured and overcame. In this book for schoolchildren, Professor Williams has hit upon exactly the right approach. On the one hand, the Madoc myth, with its later accretions, is discussed, and its development described, with insight and understanding-but it remains a myth. On the other, the courage, ability, and determination of the young man from Waunfawr, and the hazards which he overcame are highlighted with sympathy and a touch of the dramatic. His treatment of the legend will certainly interest, his account of the adventures cannot fail to fascinate, a generation so interested in those men who went west and for whom John Evans helped to blaze the trail. Nor is it simply a matter of the balance between legend and reality, for Professor Williams has succeeded, with skill and economy, in keeping the reader informed of the general situation in north America as a background to his story. The story is told in language which is pleasant to read and with a liveliness which cannot fail to keep the young reader interested- although the Welsh version does seem, at times, to suffer from being too obviously a translation. The illustrations are good while Dr. Margaret Davies's map is clear and helpful. It is natural that Welsh historians of the mid-twentieth century should turn their attention to the part played by Welshmen in the development of the U.S.A.; it is fitting that Welsh children should be allowed to share the results of their labours it is a pleasure that so distinguished a historian should make his contribution-and that it should be so good. Swansea Training College. J. D. H. THOMAS.