Papurau Newydd Cymru
Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru
5 erthygl ar y dudalen hon
tlmnia ' '' .
tlmnia Tiix MYVYRIAN ARCHAIOLOGY OF WALES, &C. (Third Notice.) AT the same time with the English and Welsh Dictionary, 1) r. Pughe published an English Grammar of the Welsh lan- guage, containing a full and complete account of all the cha- racteristics of the ancient tongue, most properly illustrated from the works of bards and oldest British writers. The following from the preface may interest many of our readers, whilst it will give information to some people who always take for granted that the Welsh were always utterly ignorant of all true learning, until they, these same good folks themselves, appeared among us, blessing us in Wales, as well s the world at large, with the exercise of their transcendent abilities I have occasionally referred for authority (says Dr. Owen Pughe) to a curious manuscript treatise, because it may be considered to have been the ancient national grammar of the Welsh, as it was sanctioned by public authority. Its being so authorised in a formal manner is a proof of an attention given to literature by our ancestors, which the learned world may, probably, be surprised to find and as the form of that section is short, I have given the following verbal translation of it: — z; Be it known that this is the analysis, made by Edeyrn the Golden-to ngued (Aurenau), of the Welsh letters, parts of speech, and the metres of vocal song, to be as a record and a code. And this he performed at the injunction and desire of these three lords paramount, namely, Llewelyn, son of Gruff- yd 1, prince of Aber Ffraw, and king of all Wales Rhys, the Little, lord of Dinefwr and Ystradtywy; and Morgan the Little, son of the Lord Morgan, son of Caradawg, son of Jes- z, I tyn, son of Gwrgant, the lord of the territory between Neath, and Afon, and Kilvay, and lord paramount of Morganwg. "The aforesaid Edeyrn, from the cultivation of his own genius, profoundly wise in reflection, his various acquirements, his recollection and retention, and the authority of his own tongue, which would confer authority upon any tongue in- structed and endowed with the power of instruction, did form the analysis of the letter, and of the parts of speech, and of the metres of vocal song, and how to place them in their appro- priate collocations and to be a recorded criterion for them, through memorial and code, and the support of proper con- struction. For, as it is herein, does Ederyn set forth to the heart that exalts its affection, and to the mind that forms it into thought, and to the memory that retains it, and to the people maintaining it, so that of this matter, not any one in the world, possessed of a tongue, could be enabled to recite autho- ritatively and by instruction as he could; nor any other person have the power to remove any one point of the order of this system of his own memorial and code, nor of the code of any other parson whatever, even though he should be able to am- plify; but no one is able to do so as to his system, but from the code of a people, and which shallnot be of his own code. Be it known that Eleyrn extracted this analysis from the code formed by Einion, the clerk, upon which was obtained the judgment and authority of the sovereign court and jury of the country. And with respect to what Edeyrn added to that lie also in the same manner obtained the judgment of the courts of his sovereign and the jury of the country. And as it is set forth here did he put his code to be preserved, and as a preser- vative against the loss of the analysis of the letters, and the parts of 11 speech, and the metres of vocal song, and the science of bard and bardism, the wriijh was given by God, through the Holy Spirit, to the bards of the Isle of Britain, from age of ages." Of the Grammar itself little ileed be said, but it is to be regretted that so little use has been made of it, especially by those who have since compiled Welsh grammars. They have all been very poor things indeed-defective in almost every re- quisite quality in such works. There is a new grammar about coming out, or perhaps it has come out, at Carmar- then, which we have not yet examined, to which, therefore, we do not refer; but the rest from Robert Davies are not really worth the paper and the letter-press. What we have long wished to see in the Welsh language is, a fair condensation of Dr. Pughe's grammar, omitting the quota- tiOIlS from the bards but as far as a single extract may be necessary, to exemplify the rule, and that within the compass a book that might bs sold for a shilling. Such a book would be most useful to our young —A w,ulw rially. assist them to put into exercise that mo.it commaii- sense distich Let all the foreign tongues alone, Till you can read and spell your own." Nor must we pass by the circumstance that Dr. Owen Pughe himself published a Welsh grammar just for one shil- ling. If we rightly remember, that was the price; at all events, we have the book now before us, Cadwedigaeth yr laith Gjiii)-ae(I "-I"rhe Preservation of the Welsh lan- guage." It was published by Saunderson, of Bala, the 22nd of September, 1808. It fell dead, or nearly so, from the press. It is an excellent work for the scholar, but not to make a man a scholar. It is couched in the purest Welsh.. as though the author had just walked out of the Myvyrian Archaiology. The sententious brevity of its definitions, and the rigid exclusion of auxiliary verbs, so necessary in mo- darn times, together with the use of obsolete words-retider- ing necessary to the learner the use of the author's own dic- tionary, in order to understand the text of his grammar- make it entirely useless to the common people. We trow it will never be reprinted; so that this shilling grammar of ours is still a desideratum, and would that some competent person would set about it Dr. Oveti Pughe now comes before us as the translator of "Milton's Paradise Lost." He lost his wife in 1818; thus recorded in the preface- -Niy beloved partnar, SAraii Eliza- beth Harper, by her maiden name," and then follows in Greek characters, but in the Welsh language, her age, their m irriage, and dates of their children's births. Below is a woodcut of a Cromlech, and below that, Lon- don, about entering my sixtieth year, August the 7th, 1819. lie undertook this task to relieve himself from the oppres- sion of painful thoughts. He commenced it on Saturday, the thirtieth of May, and completed it on Tuesday evening, the 2211d of December, in the same year. Most happily did he translate the name, Paradise Lost," -Collgu.:ynfa. Never was a more exquisitely tasteful transfer of a phrase from one tongue to another. A truthful translation of Paradise Lost" Collgicynfa certainly is, and so is Cowper's Homer, but for every oae who reads Cowper, how many scores read Pope's Homer? Dr. Pughe translates into purest and choicest Welsh, whether it is for the most part the Welsh of Aneurin, Llywarch Hen, and Cynddalw. His motto is from the latter, and a very beautiful one it is :— Mab Duw. Llet-,venydcl Ilu'r ne ,Iliwenha f), mrj-d Y'th wynfyd, y'th wynfa." Son of God, Joy of heavenly hosts, rej oice my heart, (With) thy happiness, thy paradise." Nambeiliss beauties occur throughout the work, but to read it throughout requires the not infrequent use of the diction- ary, ruinous to the reading of a poem; and the extreme titeralness of the rendering makes it stiff, cumbrous, and heavy. Very few persons have probably ever fairly read it from beginning to end; but certain psrts of it the Welsh scholar is fond of reading over. He has got the aptitude or knack of discerning with little trouble the meaning of the Welsh roots or radixes constantly appearing, and thrown into all possible forms of contributions, in the composition of com- pound terms, substantives, and adjectives, without end. Milton had taxed the literature of the world for metaphors, allusions, phrases, turns of speech, covert references, &c., and Dr. Pughe has fairly translated the whole, even, for the most art,the proper names, into words and. expressions purely Welsh, from Welsh roots, well understood by all who well understand the language. A striking proof this of the sur- prising copiousness of our ancient tongue. Could a young man wish to master the language in its entireness, let him take Paradise Lost and Colly wynfa'' in his hand, with a pen in the other, carefully marking the formation of words used by Dr. Pughe, and writing down patiently and pains- takingly all seems to him as new and true. Let him do this all through the work, and let him do it as a man does things when he is in right earnest; then he will be able to read the more a .cient bards with little aid but from his own lie LJegau to reign in 1254, and was killed. in 1282.. mind and memory; and moreover, he will be a better Eng- lish scholar, as far as an intimate and thoroughgoing acquaint- ance with the language constitutes a man a scholar, than nineteen-twentieths of the leading scholars now living in this 0 kingdom. The very recollection of such labour will be to him "a thing of beauty and a joy for ever." With the fol- lowing opinions of the most competent as well as ardent critic, Mr. Humphreys Parry, we fully sympathizeThi3 is the great work Mr. Pughe has achieved. He has re-embodied the expressive dialects of our venerable tongue; he has dis- played it to our mind in all its pristine copiousness, and has united in his diction such various combinations of beauty and energy as no other Welsh production of modern times has exhibited. He has thus rescued our language from a re- proach, to which it had been too long exposed, by expunging those barbarisms which had been generated by an ignorant use or a corrupt taste. He has borrowed a ray from the genius of past times to dispel the gloom of the present. Wherever, therefore, he may appear to be antiquated, he is only the more classically and the more purely Welsh. Cambro-Briton, vol. i, p. 104. The Rev. Mr. Pughe, vicar of Nantglyn, near Denbigh, was Mr. Win. Owen's uncle; and he left him an estate in that parish. It was then called Tan-y-gyrt, but the Doctor changed it into Egryn. The farm which his parents held was somewhere in Dyffryn Ardudwy. "I believe, (says our in- formant, the learned Teg id, let us proudly and gratefully say) but I cannot be positive, the root of the word is egr, significative of the exposed situation of the house and farm so the Doctor told me." In consequence of this legacy our lexicographer assumed the name of Pughe, but without troubling himself for a royal license or going to a farthing's expense in the matter. All his children were born before this, and Mr. Aneurin Owen clings to his father's first and proper surname. The history of his doctorate is this our friend Tegid (for now Carnhuanaivc is gone, to whom can a Welshman in need go but to Tegid), in conjunction with the Rev. A. B. Clough, M.A., npw rector of Braimston, Northamptonshire, proposed to the Principal and Fellows of Jesus College, Ox- ford, the propriety of presenting the author of the Dictionary with the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law. To this ready consent was accorded, and on the 19th of June, 1822, at the commemoration it was publicly presented to him in the theatre of the University. Never was literary honour more derervedly bestowed. The Doctor retired to Egryn to end his days, and revise his Dictionary for the press of Mr. Gee, of Denbigh, who published a second edition of it in 1832. A public dinner was given to him at Denbigh, on the 4th of March, 1834, of which a full account appeared in the Carnar- von Herald, at the time. We understand that after his death, a copious autobiography was found, and is now in the hands of his son. Let us hope that it will some day see the light. Dr. Pughe died full of years and of honours, and left a name dear to every Welshman, while a Welshman is found under the sun. In our review of Iago Emlyn's poems, we are made to say at the foot of the first column, "We had then small respect for Tegid we wrote, or intended to write, we had then sincere respect for Tegid," &c.
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REMARKS ON EDUCATION, AS GROUNDED UPON INSTRUC- TION. Addressed to the Rev. Lewis Edwards, M.A., Bala. By H. GRIFFITHS, Brecon College. THIS pamphlet displays the thinkings-of a mind in earnest; the thinkings of a mind that has read and thought over a vast quantity of the essays, reports, and controversial pam- phlets, which have from time to time appeared on the sub- ject of education. The result is a painful sense of uncer- ainty thrown around the question in a variety of its aspects. It is clearly shown that the testimony of facts is conflicting, and the opinions of theorists contradictory on the questions, —Whether public or private education be preferable ? What are the proper agents to be employed in education ? Whe- ther the use of monitors is advantageous or not? Whether boys and girls ought to be brought up together or separately ? &c., &c. Having fully proved our ignorance on those ques- tions, he pleads for an extensive collection of statistics bear- ing on the subject, as the only method of arriving at the of statistics in relation to Sunday-schools and missions. We iully symjjauusts wun the following remarks, found in pages 9 and: 10. 0 Z) "My impression however is, that if ministers, parents, and teachers, would compare notes and publish the staple results, a system of ethology would present itself of immensely greater efficiency than any hitherto invented. We know the difficulty of convincing the unthinking of the value of statistical researches, and hence the numberless obstacles in the way of getting a valuable body of educa- tional and pastoral statistics. We believe the reading of this letter carefully cannot fail to convince the most indifferent of the great importance of ascertaining correctly as great a 9 Z3 number of facts as possible. So far, therefore, as the main purport of Mr. Griffiths' present letter goes, we are fully at one with him; but he gives us his own leanings on the different questions stated, and on some of those points we are so unfortunate as to differ from him most decidedly. Respecting the province of the schoolmaster in the work of education, we have the following remarks 0 The HEARTH and the ALTAR are too sacred for experiments. Their foundations are laid too deep in the heart to be removed with impunity. Neither parents nor pastors can discharge their obliga- tions by proxy. It is not as their rival or substitute, but as their compliment, that we acknowledge the schoolmaster. H'.s work is purely reversionary a simple matter of convention or economic conveniency. The instant he aspires to anything more he is out of his place, and guilty of positive wrong. Like everybody else, he ought to prosecute his labours in a devotional spirit, and with a view to the glory of Christ. But I protest against the assumption of his being an ecclesiastical officer, or a whit more so than the family surgeon or the monthly nurse.To educate fully is not his business. but rather, so to develop the faculties and feelings of his charge, as to secure the greatest possible amount of that which constitutes the common purpose of their existence. His mission is to promote the cultivation of oirtue—manhood in the largest sense—to the utmost of his power, without entrenching on the special relationships of individuals, or disturbing any prior organisations fitted to bear on the children Pages 10 and 11. We confess that the province of the schoolmaster is to us unintelligible, according to the above quotation. We be- lieve that parents are the educators of their children. Fa- milies were instituted by God, that he might seek a godly seed. Each hearth" had, or ought to have, its altar." Each parent should be the complete instructor of his chil- dren and it is not as rivals" that pastors, Sunday-school teachers, or schoolmasters, are called in, but as aids com- pliments" to carry on, as the parents' substitute, work for which they have no time or ability. Children require nourishment oftener than adults. They must be fed by little and little. The careful mother often gives a supply of suitable food to the physical man; and when she feels her responsibility for the training of the mental and moral man as well as the physical, she will not leave the minds of her sons and daughters for six or ten hours a day, in the period in which the man-tal and moral character is formed, without making the law of God the subject of instruction, and endea- vouring to impress a sense of responsibility on the con- sciences and hearts of her children. It follows that, when, as a matter of economic conveniency," parents educate their children by proxy, or, in other words, send them to the day-school, it is their imperative duty to see that the school shall be conducted by a religions man, in a devotional spirit, and, at least, that there should not be less religious instruc- tion given to the child than if he remained at home, listen- ing to the pious counsels of an affectionate mother. We would not make day-schools arenas for theological contro- versies, or denominational instruction, but we think the schoolmaster should so teach and so discipline the children as to lead them to think that they are responsible to God for their conduct, and, that the Holy Scriptures is the revealed will of Gad, by which human actions shall be judged. We cannot avoid" coming to the conclusion that, in order to de- velop the faculties and feelings of his charge, so as to se-| cure the greatest possible amount of that which constitutes the common purpose of their existence, the schoolmaster must have somewhat more to do with religion than the fa- mily surgeon. The remarks on the difficulties of teachers and the pre paratioa of class books, show that much remains to be leirn. on the subject. The influence of knowledge on religion is a matter of the first importance. Mr. G. treats it in relation to children as if it were best to check religious training in day-schools; but when he comes to consider the adaptation of the ministry to the infidel thinker of the age, we are happy to find him taking another and, we believe, a better ground. We congratulate the Welsh Independents on the fact of their having, at the head of their college at Brecon, a man who speaks of the ministry in the terms of the follow- ing passage :— Z3 It is perfectly possible that our existing preachers should in every respect be equal to their predecessors, and yet their labours be far less productive. The masses on whom they work may have advanced into a different position, so as to require a higher order of agency; while, perhaps, the very efforts of those who went before us, notwithstanding their general success, complicated the character of exceptional cases, and thereby greatly aggravated the difficulty of meeting them. Indeed, such I believe to be the fact. So long as the public were illiterate, the most common- place truths had all the attraction of novelty; and crowds hung with rapture on the lips of men, who made no pretensions to either learning or eloquence. Now, however, when authors are nearly as numerous as readers were then, the pulpit has quite another task to fulfil. It may be that some of its occupants are ill-prepared for the special demands of the age but I feel assured they will not long be found wanting.—Page 43. We think the same spirit should be shown in reference to Sunday-school teachers. We believe they also will become more useful; and, as the spread of intelligence in the masses demands a higher agency in the pulpit, so the stimulus given to the youthful heart and intellect in the day-school calls for a higher agency in the Sunday-school. We are far from believing that because scripture truths and moral pre- cepts are taught in the day-schools, the children become less attentive in the Sunday-school. We b2lieve that much of what is called religious instruction hath no tendency to awaken the conscience or melt the heart. On this subject, we quote the testimony of H. Dunn, Esq., secretary of the British and Foreign School Society By the elementary truths of revelation, I mean such as relate to the being and attributes of God, the immortality of the soul, and a state of future retribution; 'and I venture to say, without fear of contradiction, that it is not an uncommon thing to find chil- dren professedly acquainted with the facts and doctrines of the Bible long before they have any clear conceptions on these the first principles of the gospel of Christ.Dunn's Principles of Teaching, p. 156. Mr. G. takes a moderate view of the relation between ig- norance and crime, and shows that so long as civilisation is progressive, no formulae or canons of teaching can be consi- dered as final. We do not profess to have mentioned all the points of difference between us and Mr. Griffiths; but we have enjoyed the perusal of these remarks so much that we long for the appearance of another letter on the present truth for our own beloved Wales," although we fear it will be such as we shall be compelled to differ more widely from than the opinions we have combated in the present review. We are so much delighted with the concluding portion of the letter that we shall give it entire 0 With the desponding tone of some of our brethren I have no sympathy whatever. Wisdom need not die, simply because fashions Change. No wonder if a state of society,—so utterly unprecedented, should suggest new appliances, or new modes of action. Let U3 not be alarmed if, at first, they appear somewhat wild. Experience will very soon sober them, and determine their worth. Far from despising their fathers, whose praise is already in the churches, perhaps the students just leaving our colleges, imitate them too closely, so as sadly to cripple their own energies. To do good, men must be natural and nature, we know, abounds in variety. We should, therefore, learn to bear with each other's oddities, and, if possible, turn them to useful account. Providence delights, if I may so express myself, to take things as they are, and overrule them it its purposes, without destroying their dis- tinctive, peculiarities. Accordingly, with all its unity, there is little uniformity. Its most chosen servants have their unmis- takeable characteristics, and generally bear obvious traces of the discipline through which they have passed. John, gentle and affectionate by nature, was religiously brought up from childhood. He therefore delights in the abstract. The logos, truth, love, light, life, are his favourite terms. Peter, on the other hand, rough and earnest, but, perhaps, constitutionally incautious, deals in the specific. Stumble not, be vigilant, be not deceived, or again entangled, to turn from the holy commandments, to fail from fall. &c.. are the staple of his thoughts. Last of all, -as one born out of.due. time, came tue lurunau; peisecutor, Saul, who, being suddenly arrested by a miracle of mercy, from that day forth speaks of grace, grace! and the righteousness wnicn is of faith. To neither was the truth given in its absolute wholes ness but each had a mission, so exactly suited to himself, that its discharge looked like an unconscious or instinctive necessity of organisation. I Cliarteter,' says Novatis, < l" completed princi- ple experience ripened into fruit.' It is obvious, therefore, so long as civilisation is progressive, no formulae or canons of teaching can be stereotyped as final. Of this ecclesiastical history is but one continued illustration. Eighteen centuries ago the world knew nothing of a Saviour, Hence, that God had sent his Son to make atonement for sin, was 'the p¡:esenttrutf¿ .-the truth for the time. The apostles dwelt on it almost exclusively. Christ, the crucified, was the substance of every address, the groundwork of every appeal. Without its recognition, they could not advance a step; and as soon as they obtained it in one mind, they proceeded to implant it in another. Such was their onslaught upon idol .try, that Europe, Asia, and Africa, presented the thrilling spectacle of conversions by thou- sands. The most rampant superstition shrank and withered before the glory of that simple a.;noui ement, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.' By degrees the enemy succeeded in building on this precious foundation, a vast and complicated refuge of lies. For a thousand years ceremonies and mummeries were multiplied to an incredible extent. Piety was confounded with, asceticism, and confession substituted for repentance. Men were taught to ascribe a mystic omnipotence to priestly charms and incantations, and to believe that heaven was purchasable by money. Luther and his associates were now raised to preach the one great doctrine of 4 Justification by faith.' By this time, the fact of a Saviour was known, but not the way of salvation. No new revelation was required, but a new method of putting the old. In the first cae, they spoke only of Christ; in the latter, as nearly all their hearers professed his name, they spoke chiefly of the medium of access to him. The principles were exactly the same but the mode of acceptance, rather than the author of it, was now the truth for the time; and so great was the effect of its pro- mulgation, that in moral magnificence and splendour, next to the apostolic age, stands that of the Reformers. About the close of the Stuart dynasty in England, another striking alteration took place. By the accession of a number of learned but worldly men to our bench of bishops, religion became fashionable in name, but lost much of its influence in private. Admitting in words the doctrines of the reformation, their only fruit was a cold and dig- fied morality. Their creed, however, was defective, rather than positively erroneous. The body was tolerably perfect but It had no soul, and therefore no means cf checking corruption. Many were enamoured with the form of godliness, but few and scattered were the subjects of its power. Meanwhile, Watts, Doddridge, and others, men of undoubted genius and piety, in vain strove to effect a revival. Their theology was full of life and health but they mistook the governing demands of the case. They were preaching to all ages rather than their own—serving their species more than their generation. What was wanted was, a peremptory call to immediate and thorough consecration to God. Whitfield and Westley took up that idea by itself, and with minds and hearts burning with love, flung it on the masses with such concen- trated energy and perseverance, that the welkin often rang to the cry, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved?' In many points of belief they differed seriously, but in the truth for the times, they were perfectly agreed. One fashioned his weapon according to the Epistle to the Homans the other according to the Epistle of James. And thus, though each wielded but a singied- edged sword, as that edge was tempered to the work, it scattered dismay and confusion aming the foe. After this came a drowsy period of collapse. Liberty, civil and religious, began to be un- derstood, so that piety was no longer a banier to honour or wealth. On this, sprang up an extravagant love of eaie, of the world, ar.d of fashion. Chapels were endowed to be respectable, and cushioned with velvet to be comfortable. Fortunes were hoarded or enjoyed, with littie regard. to the Giver of all. War deluged Europe with blood slavery and the slave-trade were sanctioned by authority and our "colonies transmitted from one governor to an )ther as appropriate theatres for every kind of tyran.iy and extortion. And yet, no voicv was lifted up against these iniquities In spite of all preaching and printing, our churches were hastening .into absolute epicurism, pillowing their heads on reputed orthodoxy, and ,1 complacency charging 'Election,' with the ruin of ninety-nine hundredths of the hlitrian fatilily. Precisely at this c isis trans- pired the glorious inventions of Sunday-echo* >1r» bible, missionary, tract, and other kindred societies, a i living incarnations of the truth for the times. From every quirter of the globe were heard J "houtings of gratulation. From the islands ol the Southern Seas, from the coast of the Mediterranean, from India, Africa, A mt,, ica, Greenland, and Australasia, souls have been rushing to heaven ia unbroken succession, as practical demonstrations, that if the chL.r.h is faithful to God, God will be faithful to the church,, and bles-i her, and make her a blessing to the nations "What then is 'THE PRESENT TRUTH' for our own beloved WAT,F$ ? -An attempt to answer this at length would necessarily involve so much of controversy, that I mu t reserve itforanoth/r letter. In the meanwhile, I say the ti uth, my conscience also bearing me witness, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For my brethren, my kin;men according to the flesh, my heart's desire and prayer to God is, that they ra ty be sa, ed. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of Go 1, though not always according to knowledge.
THE REV. EDWARD DAVIES, VERSUS…
THE REV. EDWARD DAVIES, VERSUS THE REV. H. J. BUNN, AND ABERGAVENNY. TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRINCIP.VIJTV. SIR,-Having been a month from home, your paper of the loth instant was not seen by me until to-day, or I should have troubled you with a few lines much earlier. In your notice of the meeting held at Cardiff, on Tuesday, the 5th inst., on be- half of the Normal College for Wales, the Rev. Edward Davies, one of the deputation, in referring to Abergavenny, has indulged in calumnies and misrepresentations, which truth and justice require should not be passed over in silence. Any person reading Mr. Davies's statement would immediately conclude that I had offered to the deputation an individual, rude, facti- tious, and unchristian opposition but, Wlen the truth is known, a different impression, I feel assure 1 will be produce V The facts are these :—when informed that a deputation on b- half of the above institution was coming to Abergavenny, I immediately consulted with my neighbour the Rev. Micah Tho- mas, together with some of the leading friends of both our congregations, who, upon considering the matter, unitedly re- quested me write to the deputation, stating that, from the cir- cumstances of our two British schools pressing so heavily upon us, we were utterly incapable of rendering any assistance to the object of their mission. In this the gentleman who subsequently took the chair at the public meeting, who by the way is not a deacon, fully concurred. This decision I accordingly conveyed to the deputation and in my corre- spondence which consisted of two letters, I stated th :t it always gave me pleasure to fall in with the views of my bre- thren, regretting that in the present instance, for the above reasons, I was not able so to do. The deputation, however, came, and under the influence of what spell I know not, my friends who had requested me to write as stated, espoused their cause. The members of my own church, however, the chair- man of the public meeting excepted, stood by the previous decision. The whole of my offence is non-vacillation; truth and reason were not annihiliated by the appearance of Mr. D. and his companion in the town facts remained the same and the position which justice to our own institutions com- pelledme ta'e 'fidelity required me to keep. A sweeping collec tion through the town, I knew would be injurious to our own schools for it cannot be disguised that Dissent in Abergavenny is not equal to their sustentation. As a proof of this-, applica- tions, during every year of their existence, have been made t'b the town. To those appeals kind responses have always been made. If, however, kindred objects 50 miles distant ar, t) be urged, it will soon be found thtat money will not be found for both. And now, sir, passing off from myself, I cannot refrain from a word on the rudeness and bad taste of the advocate referred to, when alluding to a gentlemen who did not see fit to contri- bute to his object. He met with another very curious animal that would do well for the Zoological Gardens; we could do nothing with him." And has boasted voluntaryism come to this, that a man is to be abused and ridiculed at a public meeting and through the press, because he sees reasons to withhold his support for a particular instutition ? Whit consummate Popery under the guise of Dissent! There must be something strange in the temperament of our friend for, Jonah likes, trike him or stroke him, he always shows his teeth. One person gi, es him nothing,—he is immediately represented as "a curious animal," &e.; another gives him E5, and all the courtesy shown to him is to be stigmatized at a public meeting and by the press as An Old Miser." Is it true, sir, that the committee of the Normal College for Wales contemplate ap- propriating a part of the projected institution to the training of begging deputations, that in future they may not be suspected of deriving ti, ir manners from a mob -their facts from their imagination—their wit from their memory-and their elo- quence from the Weekly Dispatch Should such be the case, no doubt the professors will see the propriety of teaching such persons to guard against slander in comman'tJments^Wi t^&htjthe te» the ninth. But as such advantages are not likely to be enjoyed by the present race of deputations, I may, perhaps, be allowed to suggest a book be of use to Mr. D.,—Seed on Calumny. And as the numerous avocations of this gentleman may for- bid his sitting down at the present to its perusal, I will givr him one passage, the passage, the pondering of which may be signal service. Their talk is a constant satire on others, a!i*i their actions a living satire upon themselves. Let them s.iy what hard things they please, they can do much harder thiiign than they say, -their foul lar ge is nothing but the flrwing of a much fouler hear 7 Abergavenny, Dec. 26th, 1«48. BE. J. BUNN.
EMIGRATION.
EMIGRATION. TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRINCIPALITY. Sin,—What were the vast continents of America created for teeming with riches of every kind, and yet so few to take advantage of them, whilst here we observe ever comer inhabit gloomy houses, in dull and dreary streets, toiling hour after hour, day after day, for a mere meagre existence, blaming often the wise and bountiful Creator for our unhappiness, while bv a trifling exertion—a self-denial for a ahort time of useless -and expensive luxuries—every one willing and possessed of nerve, might, in a short time, sit down in his own vineyard in the midst of the most magnificent scenery in the world his hom-e filled with plenty, his wife and children happy and contented, and singing eongs of gratitude and love to the great Creator for his boundless mercy and providenee? Up and be doing, ye who roll in plenty, think of this great truth. It is only for* a season, a very short season that wealth will be of any use. The happiness to be secured in the endless ages of eternity, depend on our conduct to each other here. How can ye love God if ye love not his creation? Remember that every human beiny is a part of the Divinity, by whose will and at whose word everything springs into existence and that for his own wise ends and purposes, he punishes in his own good time those wi: » attempt to destroy his works. Man is the noblest of all the personifications of his God. If therefore your brother is in heed, give him a portion that he may not die. The wealth belongs to God alone, he alone created it; and it must not W in mouldy cellars, or in dusty heaps, merely to justify tl,.e- caprice, or the unhealthy desire of its possessor. At the last and final parting of soul and body, will not the poor man's sigh come with a mournful cadence on the ear of the miser, or the unfeeling? Who will cheer the guilty soul on its passag- ? To m m ever yet who has done wrong but he wii £ feel it, not unly uere but hereafter. The earth is the natural inheritance of man, and from it he must be fed. If, therefore, any man lacks food or help, give 1: to him. If this country is too limited, divide, and find food ;ii.. other lands, give me but one penny per week from every man ia employment in Wales, and I will socm relieve it of a great- burden, and create new fields of laboi r, enriching this count; Y, lowering your poor rates, empting your prisons. To the work- man I say, instead of filling the beershops stay at home brew your own beer, you will drink it at one half the cost, you Vhn spare the difference in purchasing books, papers, &c., to in- struct yourselves and families, and also be able to spare a penny or 2s. a week to assist others. TRAVELLER."
TO THE REV, J. lUlYS JONES.
TO THE REV, J. lUlYS JONES. DEAK Sut,—A detailed notice of your reply would involve- very serious sacrifices of courtesy and good breeding. I cannot bardy personalities with you, and as your letter is principally made up of such stuff, mine must necessarily be a short on", You really addressed the public, although you nominalh addressed certain el--isses. On this-ground I had a right to. iii-ike any remarks that occurred to me, especially when YN1 dictated as to the kind of education most suitable for Welsh teachers, thus virtually telling me what course I ought to' pursue. Besides, no one can- soberly main tain that all parties are for- bidden by the .-proprieties of good breeding to notice books f-r letters addressed to specific persons. Is the Rev. L. Edward the only one allo*»ved in courtesy to critisise the ijanmh let the llev. II. Griffiths? Your fifth paragraph (excepting tbe last sentencaX^QKgtot th:i very plan I pursue. f The last sentence insinuastes that students will aot jjplSL JC ,.41