Welsh Journals

etc. Cybi has classified his list thus i. Beirdd Gwerin; ii. Beirdd yr Encil; iii. Beirdd Eraill iv. Beirdd Heddyw; v. Y Beirdd Cenedlaethol. We think he would have served the purpose of the volume better if he had resisted the temptation to include iv. and v., though this might possibly affect the sale of the book Moreover, J. Clough Williams- Ellis, M.A. (Shon Bentyrch), 3td wrangler in 1856, the fruits of whose muse are all in another tongue, can hardly be regarded as a folk poet of Eifion. Cybi's Welsh is not faultless. His lapses are not due to ignorance; they are rather the errors of a writer in quest of a distinctive style. His occasional extravagances of diction may be due to his activities in verse. Nevertheless, we meet not infrequently passages of much clearness and force. We can heartily recommend the volume to those who, satiated with the colour and perfume of the parterres of literature, long for something less perfect and more strange. Cwrr y Lien." Ysgrifau Syml ar Faterion Gwyddonol. Gan Gwilym Owen, M.A., D.Sc., Athro mewn Athroniaeth Naturiol yng Ngholeg y Brifysgol, Auckland, N.Z. Liverpool: Hugh Evans & Sons, Brython Office. Pp. 142. The perusal of this welcome volume illustrates once again the very deplorable deficiency of Welsh in scientific terminology. This is assuredly a standing reproach to Welsh scholarship. Inestim- able as is the value of recent researches by students of the Welsh language, it is a fact that there is a most pressing need of what no one seems anxious to undertake, viz., the compilation of a comprehensive dictionary of literary, scientific, and technical terms. The matter invites the serious attention of the University, and the National Eisteddfod might do worse than offer substantial prizes each year for the longest and best lists of such terms, even at the expense of withdrawing a few time-honoured literary competitions. The author of this book has not had, to our knowledge, a course of lectures in Welsh. It is, therefore, absurd to expect him to do in the way of new coinages, at least with any measure of success, what has been left undone by more competent hands. In view of this real handicap we have a hearty admiration for the fine spirit which induced Dr. Owen to venture upon a work so difficult. Though composed of reprints of his contributions to such quarterlies as the Geninen and Traethodydd, thereby involving occasional repetitions, the work is a marvel of lucidity and discretion. It is written for the quarryman, collier, or farmer who has little or no previous knowledge of the subject, accordingly the language is easy, and the subject-matter inter- esting. Even in the more difficult chapters the cheerful intimacy of Dr. Owen's style makes readable what would otherwise be dull and perplexing. Let us hope that this first volume of the author's to his countrymen will not be his last. There is ample scope for a pioneer in this work of popularizing the Natural Sciences amongst the present generation of Welshmen, who have not inherited their elders taste for Theology. Owen Glyndwr." Darlith gan L. J. Roberts, MA., Gwrecsam Hughes a Fab. 56 tud. 9c. Some dozen years ago Mr. L. J. Roberts delivered a lecture on Owen Glendwr which Messrs. Hughes published as an illustrated booklet in 1904. A second edition followed in 1906. We are glad to learn that in view of the quincentenary of Glen- dower's death a new and improved edition is about to be published. CORRESPONDENCE To the Editor of The Welsh Outlook- Sir, g The plea of your contributoriMr. Stanley H. Watkins for research in education carries conviction in more ways than one. His skilled investigators would certainly begin by dispelling certain elementary illusions of educational theorists. They would for instance tell him-what, it is true, may be learnt from a little observation of the actual work of schools- that the backward child is not usually a good manual worker; if it were so, the problem would be a simple one. Unfortunately, while one meets instances of children quite weak in ordinary subjects who are really good at school handwork, they are distinctly the exception broadly, ability in the two branches runs parallel. The investigator again would doubtless find many faults in the Welsh Intermediate Schools but among them would not be an excess of English Public School spirit and methods Here, too, there may be exceptions; but mainly, one imagines, where an attempt is made to preserve a school tradition older than the Welsh Intermediate system. Whatever the shortcomings of that system it certainly created a new type of school, which England is only lately trying to imitate. And it would need, surely, a very skilled investi- gator indeed to discover anything anti-democratic in the teaching of the Classics. I am, Sir, Yours. etc- Liverpool. E. E. Dodd.