Welsh Journals

Query. 33. — Several small books of verses on English and Welsh Legends have been published by Edward Johns. One of them, published in London in 1903, is entitled: Legends of England and Wales. Mr. Johns may be the author of the book referred to by C. H. P. REVIEWS. A WElsH GRAMMAR, HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE. By J. Morris Jones, M.A. Phonology and Accidence. Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1913. 13s 6d. net. xxviii + 478 pp. Professor Morris Jones gives in his introduction the history of the growth of this book from an article contributed by him in the early nineties to Y Gwyddoniadur, until after repeated recensions it reached its present form. The book is so technical that nobody but a trained philologist could do justice to its contents or presume to review its theories. There are, however, two observations which will strike the casual reader. The first is that the book represents an immense amount of industry and thought; it is a genuinely original work compiled by a man who has honestly set himself to solve the difficult problems with which he was faced. His solutions and explanations may be inaccurate, or they may differ very materially from those hitherto received, but they have always been coined in his own mint, and he has placed his stamp upon them. By saying this, one does not mean to suggest that he has not availed himself of the labours of his predecessors in the same field, for he has acknowledged his in- debtness by everywhere citing his authorities. Indeed, no gram- marian can be original in this sense, but he may so present his arguments and marshall his proofs as to throw a new and brighter light upon accepted theories. This we believe Professor Morris Jones has succeeded in doing. He has evolved a system out of the chaos, and he has laid a foundation upon which future grammar- ians of the Welsh Language must build. The second observation which we are struck with is the evident pleasure which the author has had in writing the work. The study of the language and its dialects is to him a labour of pure joy; he has revelled in the difficulties, and we occasionally suspect him of raising bogies in order that he may have the pleasure of laying them. It is not enough for him to state the rule and explain the origin of it, he must also fish up the feeble efforts of past gram- marians and prove in a slashing phrase or two the utter futility of their theories. Here we think the teacher peeps out, the man who has continually to keep guard over the fount of pure and undefiled learning. But even in these instances we think the Professor has sometimes held his hand. William Salesbury and Owen Pughe are often let off when they might have expected a castigation, and when perhaps they deserved it. The book is one which will not at first appeal to the ordinary Welshman who is anxious to speak and write his language correctly, but if he uses it as a dictionary, making use of the excellent index at the end, and working his way back to the text, he will find it easy to obtain a great amount of interesting knowledge, though he may not be able to assimilate the theories and rules which the author expounds in such detail.