Welsh Journals

Wales. The second school, and one of the most in- teresting as its story is told in this book, was the Friars School, at Bangor. The statutes of this school were drawn up in 1568 by Alexander Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's. In 1570 these statutes were copied by Sir Nicholas Bacon for the foundation of the school at St. Albans, and in 1590 by John Lyon for Harrow. It is regrettable that the author's researches have brought to .light so little information of the schools of South Wales; he has nothing new to tell us of Llantwit, Cowbridge, Margam, Caerleon, Trellech, or Cardiff. Indeed, the evidence relating to Caerleon is not sufficient to prove that the school was a Grammar School. Contemporary records speak of it merely .as "the Free School." An important omission is that of the authority ior the statement that Leonard Coxe was schoolmaster at Caerleon in 1550. One wonders also why Mr. Knight is so diffi- dent of naming Elizabeth Morgan, of Pentrebach, as the founder. In her will she charged her son and his heirs "upon my blessing that they contineue the Free Schoole of Carlyone with the yearely allowaunce of twenty pounds to the Schoole master and tenne pounds to the ussher for ever." Such an instruction proves that the school was not endowed, and be- tokens a more than passing interest in its welfare. There is, therefore, every justification for believing that she founded the school. It is disappointing that the existence of a school at Trellech has to rest upon such unsatisfactory proof as Anthony a Wood's casual statement that he Correspondence. WALES AND THE LEAGUE. To the Editor of 'The Welsh Outlook.' Sir,-It may not be very safe to take Mussolini out of his true setting, but if, as you say in October's "Notes," authority and dictatorship have already come to stay, and democracy is everywhere being put upon the scrap heap, then clearly your concep- tion of the League of Nations is that of an inter- national Mussolini. Now such a League might do some surprising and unaccountable things. For instance it might realise that big nations have a way of obscuring vision and perpetuating false values, and the Mussolini element might then order, not the small, but the big nations to stand aside. That of course would be "magnificent but not war." It would, however, bring about a startling change in the outlook. The League would find out why it had been so long too small to include Wales. And Wales, poor drowning Wales, would be dragged into the lifeboat and become enthusiastic. Now, a. lifejboat, on shore, may be to some people the finest and biggest thing in the world; but the moment it goes out into the storm, with a Mussolini in command, it becomes a thing of secondary impor- tance, risking its very existence for tha- sake of something far greater than itself. No nation is in greater peril, in greater danger of extinction, than Wales is to-day. That is why, to the Welsh Nationalist, Wales is of greater value, of greater importance than anything else in the world, greater even than the League of Nations.-Yours. etc., Oct., 1926. H. F. WILLIAMS. THE SCOUT MOVEMENT IN WALES. Sir.-rScouts of all ranks in Wales will thank you for your timely defence of our movement against attacks from certain Welsh papers. It appeals to our sense of humour (a Scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties) to read about our anti-Welsh tendencies, within twelve months of our establishment— or should we say disestablish. was told that John Owen "taught school at Trylegh, near Monmouth." There is a doubt in the mind of the reviewer whether Mr. Knight was quite the man to write this ihistory — or rather, whether such a history, demand- ing as it does, impartiality of treatment, was quite the book he wa.s qualified to write. An attack upon Tudor policy, written as a personal point of view, would have given much greater scope to the keen qualities of debate and argument which he displays. But in this book he does less than justice to the work achieved by the schools. For instance, the author's bitter complaint that the pupils at. Grammar Schools were forced to speak Latin is rather defeated by his own admission that a knowledge of Latin as a living language was absolutely necessary to all who desired to enter the learned professions. Schools, then as now, made an .attempt to fit the pupils for their future careers. The voice of the over-ardent patriot is heard in such a sentence as "Lewis Glyn Cothi and Tudur Aled, bards of the earlier Tudor period, were verbal artists incomparably superior to any in England at the time." The Welsh admirers of John Skelton will know that this cannot be taken as authoritative. Despite these defects the book will be found to be of great value by reason of its admirable appendices. The documents here reprinted are of importance to all students of Welsh history and education, and they will have reason to thank Mr. Knight for pre- senting them in a compact and useful form. I.W.K.F. ment­as a Welsh autonomous organisation. We have our own Chief Scout, our own Chief Com- missioner, our own Welsh Council, and our own Constitution. We, like yourself, sir, "orefer the welfare of the British Empire to that of Wales, and the welfare of the world to that of the Briish Empire," but we love Wales with a passionate devotion for the contri- bution she has made and can yet make towards the uplift of humanity; and we are determined as far as it lieth in us to serve our God and our country with that end in view. Be it remembered that there are patriotic Welsh- men outside the ranks of the Welsh Nationalist Party. It is also interesting to note that the charge of militarism is brought against us by persons who apparently advocate "summer camps with drilling, etc." The Welsh Scouts have just recently held their .summer camp, but without the "drilling, etc. and those of our critics who had been personally in- vited by Lord Glanusk to inspect the camp, denied themselves the opportunity. "Eyes have they and see not; ears have they and hear not The following is an extract from a message sent by the Secretary General of the League of Nations to the Copenhagen conference of Boy Scouts in 1924: "The Boy Scouts are a brotherhood of Peace Scouts and not War Scouts; but all the Scouts of all the world have one great battle to wage, a battle that will never end, a war in defence of their Scout Law "The Scout Law lays down that all Scouts must be brothers, forgetting their differences in working for the common good of humanity,-and that is also the Law of the League of Nations." The future peace and happiness of the world lies with the youth of to-day, and we of the movement claim to have solved the thorny problem of inter- national good-will. Thirty countries were represented at Kandersteg, united in prayer and play-there was no scramble for permanent seats, there was no secession of dis- contented countries.