Welsh Journals

Carnhuanawc-II. By Professor T. Gwynn Jones, M.A. BUT this great passion of Carnhuanawc is something more than what some people would call local patriotism-it is the resur- gence of a profound racial instinct. I have been unable to trace to any particular incident or occasion the beginning of his deep and abiding interest in Brittany. He was acquainted with M. Rieu, a Breton who came to Wales to study the language, and who married a Welsh lady. Of this gentleman, Carnhuanawc once said "Ah, Rieu! what an extraordinary genius that man was Taking a pen he drew on paper a zigzag stroke, and said "That is Rieu-he was a com- plete flash of lightning Whether acquaintance with this gentleman had something to do with kindling his interest in Brittany, I am unable to say. The earliest mention of this interest I have been able to trace in the REMAINS is dated 1819. Having read in Hughes' "Horae Britan- nicae" that the Bretons had no translation of the Bible, he wrote to the British and Foreign Bible Society, suggesting that a Welshman might qualify himself for the work of translation, and offering his own services. As early as 1824, he was interesting the Cambrian Societies all over the country in the matter, and obtaining financial support. Ultimately the Bible Society was in- duced to take action. The services of Le Gonidec as translator were secured. From 1824 to 1835, there was a regular correspondence between Carnhuanawc and Le Gonidec, who handsomely acknowledges the assistance of his friend and the value of the critical remarks which he sent him. The New Testament was printed in 1828, and sent to the Parisian dep6t of the Societv. On account of the lack of success in circulating this edition, the printing of the Old Testament was not pro- ceeded with, and poor Le Gonidec, shamefully treated by the French Government, died in poverty in 1838, without having been able to find a pub- lisher for his version of the Old Testament. Even his version of the New Testament, although very highly praised by modern Breton scholars, does not seem to have been successfully circulated. Some Welsh Protestant missionaries who were sent to Brittany about 1846, charged the Catholic priests with having obstructed its circulation, on what evidence, I do not know. Attempts are said to have been made then to diffuse the edition, but it was found, we are told, "that the refinement of the diction and the correctness of the ortho- graphy made it unintelligible to the people." The British Bible Society then undertook the publica- tion of a revised edition. It is probable that Carnhuanawc's visit to Brit- tany, during the summer of 1829, was partly in connection with this matter. It seems that Le Gonidec was reported to be unable to proceed with the translation of the Old Testament because he had no copy of Dr. Davies' Dictionary. Carnhuanawc took with him a copy of the Dictionary for his friend. An interesting account of the tour was afterwards published in the "Cam- brian Quarterly." The author's defence of the Bretons against French slander is based upon his own careful observations, and is certainly most valuable evidence. This document, I think, throws light upon what I have called the great passion of Carnhuanawc. Met everywhere at home by depressing evidence of the enslavement and contemptuous treatment of his own people, he went to Brittany hoping to find remains of the former glory and greatness of his race. This dream of a past glory, dreamt before comparative studies had begun to give men something like a reasonable idea of the history of human development, is reflected in the poems of Villemarqué and Lamartine, read at one of the Abergavenny Eisteddfodau, and even in the views of foreign scholars like Schulz, Bopp, and others. Carnhuanawc knew that the Arthurian tales, which he believed to have civilised Europe after the fall of Rome, and led to the development of modern literature, had come from Wales and Brittany, and he was one of the first to claim for Wales her part in the history of Romance. He admits having sought, in vain, for manuscripts containing early Breton lays. This kind of spiritual escape from the sordid conditions brought about by repression was not confined to him. It had also been a characteristic of the latter half of the 18th. century. It had already produced Macpherson in Scotland and Iolo Morganwg in Wales. It also produced Villemarque in Brittany. The history of these three,-men of undoubted genius, singularly free, in any case, from the desire of personal fame, constitutes a most interesting psychological problem. The mere charge of "Forgery," which has been brought against each of them, will not settle the matter. They were the product of the same period and of very similar circumstances, the expression of an intense revolt against repres- sion and contempt. The difference between them and men like Carnhuanawc was only tempera- mental. They were of the old raconteur type with the gift for remaniement, so prevalent in former ages; Carnhuanawc was critical and phil- osophical. Yet, both types were swayed by the same passion. Writing to Carnhuanawc, at a later period, Villemarque says "Ce sera un bien beau jour pour moi, monsieur, que celui ou je pourrai vous voir, dans cette terre de la Cambrie Oh, j'y ai reve bien sou vent, je me figure y trouver les memes coutumes et les memes traditions que dans notre chere Bretagne. L'invasion anglaise, se fait-elle sentir? Avez- vous, comme nous, conserve vos longs cheveux, et les Magou (bragou?) des vieux Kymru ? Etes- vous bien toujours les descendants de Hu Gadam?" It is quite certain that Carnhuanawc went to Brittany with somewhat similar feelings, and, as he admits himself, not much better informed.