Welsh Journals

J?evieCoS. An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire. L-County of Montgomery. II. — County of Flint. III. — County of Radnor. IV.-County of Denbigh. The fruits, up to date, of the work of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions in Wales and Monmouthshire lie before us in the shape of four folio volumes of 758 pages in all. To attempt to review these completely or even to give an adequate idea of the wealth of material contained in them would be a formidable task a glance through the volumes is sufficient to show how rich Wales is in Antiquarian interest, and at the same time to convince us that the work of the Commission was not undertaken a day too soon. All lovers of Wales and of the material records of its wonderful past owe an eternal debt of gratitude to the Commissioners who have gone over the ground with such evident thoroughness, and most especially to Mr. Llewellyn Williams, m.p., to whose keen interest and perseverance the appoint- ment of the Commission was in no small measure due. As we tested these imposing volumes, by referring to those items of which we had any special knowledge or in which we were particularly interested, we must candidly acknowledge that a feeling of disappoint- ment began to oppress us. We felt irritation at the occasionally slipshod and careless language employed. On p. xviii. No. IV. we read Of the font it is impossible to pronounce," and again on p. xxi. No. II, Churches of this pattern, though not altogether confined to the districts influenced by the Architectural forms predominant in the Vale of Clwyd, is to be found in the Vale Still, of course, in so many closely packed pages it is no matter for wonder that some grammatical errors should creep in. There is much less excuse for the confused description which mars too many entries, especially those dealing with ancient churches, and from which even an elementary knowledge of technical terms used in architecture would have saved those who have drawn up the reports. This fault is most noticeable in the descriptions of that curious class of churches in N. Wales which are built on the double-nave plan, and for which the Commissioners have adopted the unfortunate term "double-aisled" churches. This term "double-aisled" has its own proper meaning, viz. :-a church with double aisles, i.e., having a nave and four aisles, two on either side, as at Manchester Cathedral, and it