Welsh Journals

imaginations, and breathed into their nostrils a breath of life. Anyone who cares to compare the original of Y Tymhorau," where Sir Marchant Williams canters through the seasons until he drops dead (upon the reader), a frozen bird in his hand, with the translation given of it in this book, will perceive how great a service an able translator of cultivated poetic taste can render a versifier who has very uncertain taste and who does not seem to know the difference between pathos and bathos. And it is the same throughout the whole volume. Without exception the translations are better poetry than the originals of the weaker poems. He has given them a glow and a glamour which they hardly possessed in the original The best translations are the trans- lations of the weakest songs, and the least successful are those in which Sir Francis has essayed the task of translating Eifion Wyn and Ceiriog's best lyrics. He has failed, however, where no one is ever to succeed. Chaste as is his style, and felicitous as are some of his lines, we feel that something-and that the most valuable thing-has been lost. We miss in such translations as those of "Men", "Gwylan" and Alun Mabon the incommun zable charm of the originals-a glamour which is inseparable from the ipsissima verba of the originals. The translator may be congratulated on having failed nobly, and it is reasonable to suppose that, where a translator who is himself a poet of no mean order has failed, no other translator will ever be likely to succeed. There is much to admire and much to commend in the volume. The poems of R. Bryan, William Evans, Mynyddog and Elfed sing as sweetly in their new dress as in the native homespun, and as an example of the felicity of some of Sir Francis's translations the following translation of R. Bryan's Can Medi will serve. Lo, a yellow sea ahead Cov'ring wave on wave the mead Let us forth to reap the corn Calls the world the harvest horn Hi a ho He a ho Harvest horn in the vale doth blow. Team and wain do hither wend Reaping, reaping, soon will end; Let the sheaves be gathered home Soon the winter winds will come Hi a ho He a ho Winter winds in the vale will blow." Ll. W. The Bible its Origin, its Significance, and its Abiding Worth." By A. S. Peake. MA.. D.D.. Rylands Professor of Biblical Exegesis in the University of Manchester. (Hodder & Stoughton.) 6/ This admirable volume brings within the reach of the ordinary reader the main results of Biblical criticism. It will be heartily welcomed by an increasing number of people, who can no longer cling to the traditional interpretation of the origin and structure of the Bible. The day is dawning, and in its light sincere in- quiries must be candidly dealt with. The conservative section of the church may try to muzzle the heralds of the fuller light but they cannot stop the dawn by wringing the necks of crowing cocks." The Higher Critics are no longer called heretics. except by the few who prefer sentiment to reason, and we venture to think that this book will be of incalculable value to all who seek fuller light on the Bible and its significance. We have in this work a combination of the rare Biblical scholarship with reverence and sincerity, which characterise the author. The case for the critical school is presented in a fluent and interesting style, and the book is free from the technicalities which sometimes baffle the average reader. Prof. Peake clearly appreciates the spirit and standpoint of the Traditionalists, and he seems to have these in his mind throughout the discussion. The book covers a wide field of study, and shows wonderful homeliness and experience in treatment. Criticism is its own defence in every detail, and we are continually reminded that in God's sight the spirit of the inquiry matters more than the conclusions reached. The story of the rise of criticism is related fully. and the author's defence of the school he represents is conducted without harshness towards those who lack no uncharitablcness in their attacks upon the so-called Higher Critics." Revelation and inspiration are the two great themes which underlie everything else in the volume. The reader will find the chapter on History as the channel of Revelation particularly helpful. In order to appreciate the author's point of view the old narrow conceptions of revelation and inspiration must be laid aside. The author applies the same principles in his treatment of the Old and New Testament. For a fuller discussion of New Testament Criticism the reader cannot do better than study Prof. Peake A critical introduction to the New Testament." Prehistoric Britain." R. Munro. Home University Library. 1914. 1/ In another series, called The Library of Useful Knowledge," Dr. Munro gave such a racy account of the British people and their prehistoric forebears, that the present book aroused expecta- tions of a bold attempt to sketch the story of the days when Britain was still Celtic or even pre-Celtic in speech and custom. Dr. Munro has seen fit, however, to take another line, and to collate the multifarious facts concerning early Britain, without seeking to thread them very closely, or to deal with their influence on modern life. It is an inevitable result of current discussions that palaeolithic man should loom very large, but the first chapter seems to occupy precious space without sufficient justification. The accounts of early skulls are interestingly done and the illus- trations will be appreciated. Dr. Munro throws the weight of his great authority into the scale for the view that life and culture has been practically continuous in Britain from the earliest times, and there can be little doubt that that scale-pan is getting steadily heavier. This doctrine of continuity is the main thesis of the book. and such a thesis is probably as much as could safely be worked out in a work of this size, but Dr. Munro '• present opinions on several other matters would have been a valuable help to ether workers in the prehistoric field.