Welsh Journals

and the attitude towards Locarno and the League, and the League's handling of the Balkan crisis. But the outstanding impression is the colossal pros- perity the country is enjoying. A Biography of the Rev. David James, 'Dewi o Ddyfed,' Rector of Panteg, by the Rev. Joseph Morgan, present Rector; 104 pp. with Foreword by the Rev. Dr. Herbert Armitage James, President of St. John's College, Oxford, and illustrations. Pontypool: Hughes and Son. 1925. 'Dewi o Ddyfed' was born at Manordeifi, Pembroke- shire, in 1803, and died at Panteg, Monmouthshire, in 1871. He was a prominent Eisteddfodwr, 'Bard,' 'Druid,' 'Archdruid of Gwynedd,' and the rest of it. "His services were in great demand as Presi- dent, Conductor, and as Adjudicator of poetry and also of literary and historical subjects." His son, Dr. James, of Oxford, tells us in a Foreword what is evident from the book itself, that Dewi o Ddyfed was no reader or writer. "He was an orator." The son of a Welsh farmer, David James was brought up in thoroughly Welsh surroundings at Manordeifi. At 14 he went to Cardigan Grammar School, which, though not Welsh, had Welsh on its curriculum. In 1821 we find him writing a prize essay in Welsh on "Patriotism," and again in 1822 he wrote another in Welsh on "The Cultivation of the Welsh Language." Mr. Morgan gives us speci- mens of his Welsh verse written at this period, being applications to the Headmaster for holidays, as "I Drefdraeth Fonheddig." In 1823 he went to the famous school at Ystrad Meurig, whence in 1826 he was ordained, becoming curate of Treopert and then Trewrdan in the heart of Welsh Pembrokeshire. Thus, for the first 26 years of his life, till 1829, his milieu was Welsh through and through. Far other- wise was the milieu of the then Bishops of Wales, Copleston, Dean of St. Paul's, being Bishop of Llan- daff; Jenkinson of St. David's'; the notorious Luxmoore of St. Asaph; and a certain Majendie of Bangor. To such depths of contempt had the Welsh Church sunk in English eyes, that it was being seriously proposed to suppress the See of St. Asaph in order to provide funds for a new diocese of Manchester! In 1829 David James was persuaded to leave his Welsh surroundings to become curate of Almondbury in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The Vicar, Lewis Jones, was a friend of his, who was gathering round him a number of Welsh curates. As early as 1821 there had existed an 'Association of Welsh Clergy in the West Riding of the County of York,' who met annually on St. David's Day. They were the first to petition against the proposed suppression of the See of St. Asaph. In 1835 they sent a petition, drafted by our David James, to Sir Robert Peel, that provision be made "to secure in future the appointment of pious and approved Welsh scholars to each of the Welsh bishoprics, as long as the Welsh tongue shall remain the vernacular language of that Country." This was ever the burden of their grievance. 0 Mr. Englishman, do please select for us Welsh-speaking Bishops. It does not seem to have struck them that they were not touching the root of the mischief, which was that the Englishman, and not the Welshman, was doing the selecting. And I can find nothing in this book to shew me that, had they got at the root, they would have grappled with it. In 1836, David James became incumbent of Kirkdale, Liverpool. His interest in Welsh affairs continued. Thus, in 1837 he got up a meeting in Manchester, where they resolved that the Welsh were as good intellectually as any of the Queen's subjects, and that, therefore, they ought to have equal "civil and ecclesiastical inducements of re- ward and honour"! He supports the Royal Society for the Publication of Ancient British Manuscripts. The motto of this Society was "Oes y byd i'r iaith Gymraeg," which sounds fine. In 1840 he writes to Thirlwall, bishop-elect of St. David's, pointing out "the absurdity of his accepting the Bishopric," and that the Welsh could only conclude that vul- gar love of gain was the reason why Englishmen, ignorant of Welsh, took Welsh bishoprics (as though Thirlwall didn't know it). In 1841 he is at another great meeting to protest against the suppression of St. Asaph. The same year he pre- sents a petition to Albert the Good, Queen Victoria's husband, asking for four things, (1) an Order of St. David, (2) Celtic professorships at Oxford and Cambridge, (3) one British name for the Royal baby, Arthur, Cadwaladr, or Llywelyn (he was Albert Edward, Prince of Wales), (4) the Royal arms of Wales in the vacant quarter of the Royal escutcheon. There's Welsh patriotism for you! On February 10th, 1853. David James was elected Warden of Llandovery. Now perhaps we shall find our David James doing something. The trust deed of the school stated "that prominence should be given to the study of the Welsh language, and that an hour should be devoted daily for that purpose." Moreover, the Warden was to be a "competent and efficient Welsh teacher," and in priest's orders. Here was our patriot's chance to create a centre of strength for the Welsh Church, the Welsh language, and the Welsh tradition in general. But alas, he found his vocation was not there. Easier and pleasanter to orate, to spend on patriotic gush. He gave up the job. and went back to Yorkshire. In 1854, Dewi o Ddyfed, 'Archdruid of Gwynedd,' became incumbent of Marsden in the West Riding. where he soon began his old activities (of which we are now getting heartily weary), criticizing Welsh ecclesiastical appointments, protesting against the medium of English in Welsh law courts, discussing a Welsh university (really an English University in Wales), petitioning the Archbishop of Canterbury, etc., but never getting near the root of the mischief. An amusing incident occurs in Marsden, when "Master Herbert Armitage James," age eleven, re- cites an address of his own composition, which had contained these lines (too strong for his father)- Hurl alien Bishops from their throne, Demanding Bishops of your own." In 1856, David James had another chance to prac- tice patriotism as well as to orate it. He was made Rector of Panteg. We would like to have been told something about the Welsh language in Panteg at that time, what stand did David James make on its behalf, how far did he shew the world that the Church in Panteg at least was a bulwark of the Welsh tradition. But not a word. He was fourteen years Rector, and even on his tombstone there is not a syllable of Welsh. Oes y byd i'r iaith Gymraeg! A. W. Wadb-Evans. Caneuon Ceiriog, Detholiad. The Gregynog Press, near Newtown, Mont. Bound in boards with linen back. One guinea. This is the most beautiful book that has hitherto come out of Wales, and it is an event in our artistic life. It is one of a group of three volumes that have recently been produced at the Greeynog Press-thQ "George Herbert" (1923), the "Henry Vaughan" (1924), and this "Oeiriog" volume [1925]­under the direction and mainly by the skilful craftsmanship of Mr. R. A. Maynard. Gregynog, a fine black and white timbered mansion, nestling amid the richly clad hills of Montgomeryshire, is, through the vision and inspiration of the Misses G. E. and M. S. Davies, Llandinam, rapidly be- coming a symbol of all that is lovely and of good report. Here they have founded a private press, which aims at setting before Wales an ideal of fine