Welsh Journals

The last part of the introduction deals with Brittany and is accompanied by two useful maps, both very acceptable, especially the first. Canon Taylor makes what to me is an astounding statement. He says that Brittany was colonized from the Devonian peninsula, as we all believe, and 'by Cornovii from the country which lies between the mouth of the Severn and the Dee.' Surely, there is no need to go beyond Cornwall for the origin of Cornouailles as Devon of Domnonee. Besides, the Cornovii did not dwell between the mouth of the Severn and the Dee, but in the district around Wroxeter, which was their capital, to wit, Viroconium Cornoviorum. "Wroxeter of the Cornovians. I regret to see a patch of Celtomania of page ix., by which I mean the product of that curious state of mind wherein a writer on British and Irish subjects suddenly starts off, "The disposition of the Celt being so and so," etc. What would Canon Taylor think, I wonder, if he read after this fashion in books dealing with the English, "The Teuton being notoriously a sentimental creature, there need be no surprise at the popularity of the works of Miss Ethel M. Dell among our Anglo- Saxons"; or "There being a streak of clarity in the basic cloudiness of the Teuton mentality, the English always manage to muddle through as in Ireland"; or "The Teuton having been for ages a hunted fugitive habiting German swamps, the English ever seek rulers of other and superior stocks to look after them, now French (the Conqueror) and now Welsh (the Tudors), at other times Scots (the Stuarts) and occasionally Jews (Beaconsfield?") I suppose there are people who would read without a start that "The Celt being a wilful creature, the Anglican Church has never been a huge success in the Diocese of Truro," but would be mightily offended to read that "the Teuton being essentially a barbarian, boorishness in some degree pertains to every grade of English Society as is universally recognised in Western Europe." Yet the logic is the same, and the nonsense. I have tested Canon Taylor's translation at certain points, and find that it has been done with the greatest care. For this one cannot be too grateful, remembering how often in the past one has been misled by loose, inac- curate renderings of Latin and Welsh originals (such as Hoare's "Gerald" and Guest's "Mabinogion"). Canon Taylor may not always be correct as for example when he translates vicinis as "tribesmen," (page 50) which, I think. gives an impression that savours more of modern studies than of the intention of the author, but it is never through indifference to accuracy The main defect of this book (most thankful as we I had lost my way in wand'ring So far from the haunts of youth; I had lost my faith whilst fighting The false which enshrouds the truth. For light on man's fate I vainly Cried from the depths of despair, And that was my answer only- The echo of my own prayer. THE WANDERER. (Prize Translation from the Welsh of Proff. T. Gwynn Jones). And then a new dawn did open On early truths undefiled:- If mute are all worlds and heaven, God speaks in each little child. are for it) is the paucity and poverty of annotations, which students are entitled to expect in the case of literature so difficult and unusual. Even on so well- studied a subject as St. Patrick. Dr. Newport White in this same series provides over twenty-five pages of notes in small print, but Canon Taylor provides not one on so much less known a hero as St. Samson, only a few foot-notes, some of which such as the reference to Newman on page vii. we could afford to forego in re- turn for information on some of the many proper names occurring in the Text. However, it were a good thing to have only a bare translation of this valuable docu- ment, and here we have much more. A. W. Wade-Evans. Rugail Geifr Lorraine. Gan Emile Souvestre. Troswyd i Gymraeg gan R. Silyn Roberts. Wrecsam Hughes a'i Fab, Cyhoeddwyr. 2/6. The author of the work here translated was a Breton who died young about the middle of the last century. The tale has as its setting the stormy times of early fifteenth century France-the period of Jean D'arc who apears in the story. The author has been successful in making that period vivid; his local colour is in the right proportion; and we realise the poverty and the insecurity of the provinces devastated again and again by petty wars. Nothing of this has been lost in the translation; it is carefully done; unfamiliar phrases and words are judiciously used; and a helpful preface and notes remove every difficulty. To the pleasure of following the story is added the pleasure of following the translator's successful efforts to cope with his difficulties. The publishers have done their part of the work with credit. Rhamant Y Cog Lwydlas. Gan Richard Morgan, M.A. Wrecsam: Hughes a'i Fab, Argraffwyr 1/. This little book contains nine short chapters on the cuckoo and is altogether a delightful work. It treats of the cuckoo's song, its courtship, its migration, its appearance in legend, and those more sinister episodes of the cuckoo's egg-laying and the young cuckoo's struggle for existence. The author, as Welshmen know by this time, can handle the language with ease and grace; and he is particularly happy in this book. It contains within the space of about fifty pages detailed accounts of first hand observations served up with quotations, folk-lore, and pleasing idioms. In addition there are pleasing illustrations. We hope that this hook will meet with the success and the publicity it deserves. T.H.J. That life was not worth living I peevishly did deem; Mere chance was every being And God to man but a dream. Lest I should weep, with laughter I cursed this treach'rous land: A small voice called, My Father," And I felt a fondling hand. Abon.