Welsh Journals

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most likely he refers to the legends of Arthur, acting on the impressionable mind of youth, inspire love of courtesy, endurance and gallant deeds. He loves Wales also for its own sake, for its solemn mountains, its rushing rivers and roaring waterfalls. One passage indeed almost seems to suggest that he had visited North Wales, though nothing is known of any such tour before the summer of 1794. Having spoken of the distant Welsh mountains as a rampart reared by Liberty about the realm of Gwyneth, he exclaims Hail, land of ancient heroes! oft I tread With reverential foot thy sacred haunts, The mountains hoar, thro' which the silver Dee Rolls o'er his stony bed with ceaseless roar, The pebbly mere of Bala, mantled round With the light drapery of verdant hills, And o'er the yawning chasm and loud wave thrown Pont Aberglaslyn, work of wizard hand; Thence further on, Festiniog's various view, Torrent, and cliff, and shade, and the blue vein Of water, that indents the pleasant vale, And Caernarvon's rocks and Menai's stream Hung with the shaggy boughs of Druid oak. In passing we have seen something of the personality of Cary, but other traits may also be divined from the poem. A reference to his dog illustrates that tenderness which we know to VERBUM DEI. Crown him with many crowns Faithful and true his name; On earth's idolatries he frowns With eyes of fiery flame. Crown him who is arrayed In vesture dipped in blood, Whom rulers slew and friends betrayed His name 'the Word of God.' Crown him, who now on high Commands the hosts of light, What thrives on earth upon a lie To sift and judge and smite. Crown him, the King of Kings, Whose rule is far and near; He bringeth down all monstrous things, And those who speak them fair. Crown him with many crowns His mouth contains a sword, Which strikes and levels all renowns Not buildèd on his word. Ye strong and mild and sane, Who bear for what ye are, Crown him who champions the humane, And on the rest makes war. have been so typical of him. In the midst of all his pleasure on this tour, Cary has one regret, the loss of the playfellow of his boyhood days, who had grown white in his service and whom he had hoped to care for in the weakness of age. The poem also shows us Cary as a young man of reflective temperament, serious, and not with- out a touch of melancholy. The sound of mirth suggests to him how quickly after bright sun- shine comes the storm, and the sight of the glory of Autumn Fixes th' unsteady thought to solemn themes Of highest import; of mortality, Hastily tending to its sick decay, And like autumnal leaf turning to sear, And thence of the dark tomb, and lands unknown, Beyond life's continent, from whence the mind Shudd'ring starts back, as from a hideous dream. Lastly we see in Cary a simple, unostentatious piety, as when in the concluding lines of his poem he calls upon Affliction to chastise and admonish him, if he should err in the execution of the task entrusted to him in this world. To those familiar with the sad story of Cary's life, with its record of illness and grief, culminating in the heartrending sonnet on the death of his daughter, these words must seem almost prophetic. A. W. Wade-Evans. APRIL IN WALES. I shall seek the woodlands when the swift returns again, And every green-decked hedge is chanting April's glad refrain, And violets peep out, shyly, in each primrose- scented lane. I shall seek the heather that adorns the heights of Wales, And hear the trilling music of the larks that skim her dales, And listen to her streamlets telling secrets to the vales. I shall breathe my longings to the dewdrops at my feet, And weave entrancing dreams of bliss in chains of daisies sweet, And I shall soar above Despair, on eagle wings and fleet. I shall flee the cities that have spelt my soul's unrest, Where every form of cursed vice in virtue's robe is dressed, And I shall lie, with shining eyes, content on Nature's breast. MARGARET PIERCE.