SCHOOL AND COLLEGE. PIECES FOR TRANSLATION,— 1. THE INVITATION TO HOBAB. From Mrs. Alexander's "Old Testament Poems." "Come, go with us, the desert path Has many a lone and lovely spot, Sleep in their silver grot. "And those wild eyes shall pierce for us The unbroken blue that rings us round, Come with us! For thou knowest well,- "Come with us, we will do thee good, When skies with morning roses blush; Out of the rock shall rush. Where golden corn, and purple vine So sang they to the Arab chief Along the dewless desert lea. O Christian youth, that waverest still, 2.-MOLAWD EIFION. O'r Mel Awen, gan Pedr Fardd. PIECES FOR TRANSLATION,-Continued,— 3.-RHYFEL OWEN GLYN DWR. O Hanes y Ffydd, Charles Edwards. Ond gwnaeth y gwrthryfel hwnnw niwed mawr iddynt. O herwydd wedi eu gorchfygu, aeth y brenin Harri y Pedwerydd yn orddig wrthynt, ac yn orthrymwr creulon arnynt; efe a wnaeth eu Ilyffetheiriau yn drymach, a'u rhwymau yn dynnach; ac ordeiniodd bethau anrhesymol yn eu herbyn hwy; gan osod cyfreithiau ydoedd yn gwarafun i un Cymro brynnu tir, na bod yn fwrdes o un dref farchnad, na swyddog, na gwisgo arfau, na chael cyfraith ar Sais ond drwy ustusiaid a chwest o Saeson; na chadw ei blant at ddysgeidiaeth, na'u rhoddi yn brentisiaid i grefft yn y byd mewn un dref yn y deyrnas. Gosodwyd deddfau hefyd na chai'r Cymry mo'r ymgyfarfod ynghyd i ymgynghori ond yngwydd y swyddogion Seisnig, ac na chaent gadw neb rhyw gastell, nac amddiffynfa. Ac os Sais a briodai Gymraes, gorfyddai iddo golli ei fwrdeisiaeth a'i swydd. Nid oedd llafasus chwaith ddwyn dim lluniaeth i Gymru heb gennad yspysol y brenin neu'r cyngor. Y gyfraith yw goleuni gwladwriaeth, am hynny os ydoedd hi yn dywyllwch, pa faint oedd y tywyllwch hwnnw? Os rheol llywodraeth oedd anghyfiawn, mawr oedd yr anghyfiawnder hwnnw! Pan drowd barn yn wermod, aeth trais yn fustl. Tost oedd y gyfraith, ond tostach oedd anghyfraith y swyddogion milain. QUERIES. QUERIES AND REPLIES. XXV. THE OLD WELSH TRACT CHURCH, 1746.In an old number of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, I observe the following paragraph: "There is an old Welsh Tract Church, so called from a tract of land purchased by the Welsh, near the present town of Newark, in Newcastle County. In the month of June, 1701, sixteen persons sailed from Milford Haven, in Wales, in the ship James and Mary. They first settled in Pennsylvania, but subsequently removed to Delaware, then called the Lower Counties on the Delaware, where they purchased a tract of land and erected a church. "The original church was built of logs. The one that now stands is a more modern structure, bearing the date 1746. Cadwaladr, Brutus, and Noah. This is a portion proof of this genealogy,-not to mention the of the long pedigree,— Gruffydd ab Cynan Cadwaladr Rhys Adelicia Ithel Fychan. Angharad Tudur ab Grono, descended from Iestyn ab Gwrgan of Glamorgan and from Rhys ab Tewdwr of Deheubarth. Goronwy Gwerfyl, from royal family of Powys. Tudur Meredydd Owen Tudur Edmund Mortimer HENRY VII. It would be difficult enough to find historical elongation of it through Celtic deities and Old Testament patriarchs. UP VERBUM P to the present, historically at least, Oxford has been the Welsh University; to Jesus College, to Pembroke, and to other colleges in less degree Welsh students have come. Oxford still hopes to draw students from Wales, just as she does from Scotland, though Scotland has long possessed old, famous, and efficient universities of her own. As an Oxford Welshman, one may be permitted to say a few words upon what many of us Oxford Welshmen hope this new Welsh University will do. We hope first that it will rather take the Scottish than the London model, that the evil tradition that has confused the very idea of an university with that of a great examining board will be repudiated once and for all. Secondly, as the distinguishing note of a Welsh University, we hope to see the Welsh literature, the Welsh language, and the history of Wales properly provided for and acknowledged as the efficient instruments of culture they are in the hands of capable teachers. It has a little shocked some of us to find that, in the senate scheme of matriculation, English literature has a place and Welsh literature has not; and it is something more than enigmatic to find the Welsh language so treated that it can only be taken as an SAP. alternative to Greek or Hebrew or French or German, thus practically excluding it from the student's matriculation list. Why have a Welsh University at all, if Welsh and Welsh history and Welsh literature are to be thrust into a corner as unimportant subjects? One might as well have gone on with London University, which at least did not pretend to be Welsh. The very essence of the claim for a Welsh University was nationality, and the essence of nationality is the Welsh tongue and the Welsh literature. Surely one is not claiming too much in claiming that Welsh literature shall be treated as an alternative to English literature in the matriculation syllabus of a Welsh University. "Where is Welsh history to be worked out if not in Wales?" The woeful neglect of the Celtic history and Celtic literature of these islands, which has left to Germans and Frenchmen the elucidation of the most venerable literary monuments that time has spared us, is not a a light thing. It has evil consequences. I think Irish culture has lost disastrously by the silly contempt for native Irish literature. Wales has been wiser in her days of poverty. Now, with the possibility of an organized training in Welsh literature and in the Welsh language in a great Welsh University, it would be pure folly to neglect to seize the opportunity. If the University passes over and despises the vernicular in its curriculum, it will be openly and avowedly striking the deadliest blow it can to Welsh nationality and all that it implies. In the wise cultivation of local advantages, of local tradition, of local patriotism, the greatest successes may may be reaped. We are all the richer by the diversity of race, of tongue, of faith, of culture, in these islands. Anything that displaces a local usage or phrase with good in it, is, so far, doing bad work. Our hope is that the senate, whatever its policy may be, may never lose sight of the immense advantage it may draw from such grand instruments of culture and education in the truest sense as Welsh literature and Welsh history. We do not want a Welsh University to be a mere copy of London University. We do not want a Welsh University to be anti-Welsh, as Trinity College used in College used in times now past to be anti-Irish. We want a Welsh University to be frankly Welsh ; to take full advantage of the fact that it is a University for Wales. It is not my wish to discourage the careful study of English. It is not with the intention of hampering the senate in the difficult task of drawing up a scheme for the studies of its junior members that I have ventured to pen these lines. It is with the hope that those who care for the national language, literature, and history, may be led to strengthen the hands of the senate. As a student of history and literature, I have welcomed the creation of a Welsh University in the hope that the long continued reproach of the neglect of Celtic studies in these islands might be at last wiped away as far as concerns Wales. The dread that a noble opportunity may be missed has led me to break silence. There are many who could have spoken better and with more authority than I possess, and I hope they will add their testimony to mine. The matter seems to me so urgent that I have not dared to keep silence. F. YORK POWELL. Oriel College, Oxford, Jan. 9th, 1895. A STORY ILLUSTRATIVE OF WELSH THOUGHT FIFTY YEARS AGO. BY THE REV. E. CYNFFIG DAVIES, M.A., MENAI BRIDGE. CHAPTER VII. WISE SOCIALISM. TEN years have passed since the events of the preceding chapter-years of sunshine, happiness and blessing, as was anticipated, for May, Gabriel, and their friends. Their comfortable home is in many respects an exact reproduction of the life May had seen at the Manse, in its piety and keen sympathy with all that is noble and good. Abundant proofs are in evidence around their hearth of substantial unpretentions prosperity. Under their roof there is another Gabriel John, christened Gabriel John Yoreth, of nine summers, and another May of seven, and a James Riley Yoreth the youngest, whose voices are sweeter than any music ever heard by their parents Gabriel and May. Several inducements had been brought to bear upon them in the first two years of their married life to leave Bailey-hill for a wider sphere; but the influence of Gabriel in the town and district was such as he could not easily and soon acquire elsewhere, and he knew this. The kind consideration with which he treated his workmen and clerks had secured for his employ the best class of labour in the Colony. They looked upon him, not as a taskmaster, but rather as a friend, who sympathised with them in their sorrow and trials, aspirations and joys. His head clerk, Mr. G. Warren, gently remonstrated with him now and then, for his leniency towards his workmen; and the following conversation may serve as a type of others of similar significance, which occurred when Gabriel was dictating a notice to be set up near the shaft of his gold mine. "Do you not think, sir," asked Warren, "that there is danger sometimes of yielding too much to the whims and wishes of dissatisfied workmen ?" "You frequently refer to this topic, Warren, and I have no hesitation in thinking you do so with the best intention. Yet, after all, it is only just to try and look at things not only from our own point of view, but also from the stand-point of the working man. No class of men have more need than masters to possess the gift which Burns desires to be conferred when he says, 'Wad some power the giftie gie us, To see ourselves as others see us.' "Is it really necessary in giving orders to your servants and workmen to assign also the reason for the request?" asked Warren. "Sometimes it is impossible to give a complete elucidation of a certain plan I wish to carry out, but whenever it is feasible to let the workmen into my confidence, it is certainly preferable, for by doing so I seem to treat them as trustworthy and responsible persons, and not as mere machines. I know of no better way of developing trustworthiness in the character of my men than by letting them perceive that I place confidence in their manhood and integrity." "You will pardon my telling you, sir, either you take too much trouble for the social and moral welfare of those in your employ, or other masters take by far too little care for theirs." "Whatever may be the opinion of others, I am certain of one thing, that I do not pay too much attention to the comfort of those who are so largely dependent upon me; and it strikes me that some masters would be only too pleased with their lot, if they had fallen into the groove of a similar line of action to mine, years ago, when they commenced to engage labour. One species of reply may suffice for the present to the objection your words imply,-my method produces the best results. What employer is there within a radius of fifty miles who is able to command the services of such exceptionally good craftsmen and labourers as mine? And where can you find any more loyal to their employer?" He hardly thought it worth while to enter into a formal and close argument with his clerk, nevertheless it afforded him pleasure to make a kindly statement of his sentiments and views. In a few days afterwards he met a friend, Mr. Jackson, a pretty large employer of labour like himself, and the same theme presented itself for discussion. Their friendship did not prevent their difference of opinion on many essential points in political economy, a subject which was then being generally discussed in several of its aspects. "I heard just now that you have issued a kind of a manifesto, Mr. John, to your underground workmen. I am really surprised that a gentleman of your mercantile experience and masterfulness over men should condescend to explain the why and the wherefore to those whose first business it is to obey; it is to obey;" broke in Mr. Jackson. "It is hardly fair, my friend, to designate the notice I have set up near the mine a manifesto, seeing it simply states that certain changes are pending in some sections of the underground workings. We have nothing to fear from imparting all possible information to our men on all matters touching their occupations and social welfare, to say nothing of their mental and moral interests; but great dangers must accrue to capital when labour becomes characterised by ignorance, prejudice, superstition, and defective morality. Even an animal, such as a sheep-dog or a huntsman's horse, performs its work more eagerly and intelligently when able to take in, to some degree, the purpose of its master; and it would be discreditable in the extreme to treat man with scantier consideration than a dog. Our workmen have many and clear claims upon us, beyond and above, fair wages and freedom from needless exposure to physical injuries." "Though I admire your enthusiasm in the connection which we now discuss, as in many others, yet I cannot persuade myself |