licentiousness, and plenty without luxury. Thus they experience a happiness unknown in better cultivated, and more refined countries, a happiness which opulence can never purchase."

But the Welsh have now attained a degree of innocent refinement, if such a term may be allowed, which renders them the happiest people, perhaps, in Great Britain. During the late unhappy and tumultuous times, (I speak more particularly of the natives of North Wales,) they swerved not from their duty towards their God, or their allegiance to their king. They took no part in the dark and iniquitous cabals which agitated the country; they forgot not their loyalty, nor departed from the revered religion of their fathers. They remembered that they had a God to worship, a king to honour and obey, and life and property to preserve. "The times," they knew, "were hard," but they were not more so with them than with others, and were they to be remedied by anarchy and uproar? They were well aware of the wretched reasons assigned by wicked and designing persons for the existence of the evil which pervaded the land. But they heeded not the crafty insinuations of their polluted tempters; they were attentive only to the admonitions of the wise and the virtuous; and they preserved inviolate their piety and patriotism. The miserable efforts of atheism they spurned from them with abhorrence; and, if the unblushing and daring blasphemer of all that is good and holy led any of his own deluded countrymen astray, his despicable tenets passed not the mountain-barrier of the Principality*.

*The tribute here paid, by Mr. Richards, to the loyal and religious principles of his countrymen, during a season of severe trial, is no more than they well merit. Their staunch fidelity to the throne and the altar, when the security of both was so seriously menaced, will ever remain a proud distinction in their national character. But it would, perhaps, have added to the interest of this able "Historical Essay," if it had coincided with the writer's plan, to make some inquiry into the Welsh character, in a less temporary point of view, as connected with those social habits of life, and those minute traits of individual manners and conduct, which, when taken in the aggregate, make up what may be not improperly styled the nationality of a country. And such an inquiry as this, with respect to the Welsh, becomes the more desirable, when we reflect on the misrepresentation in which English writers, from the illustrious Shakspeare, downwards, abound upon this subject. A coarse and repulsive vulgarity has been the general colouring, in which these writers have deigned to represent the prominent traits of Welsh manners. But, though the staid and demure deportment, and unsophisticated habits, of the natives of Wales may want that peculiar interest which throws a chivalrous splendour over the pages of romance, they are, at the same time, equally removed from that boorish ignorance, which has been generally assigned to them. And it is but fair, that the national character should be vindicated in a point in which it has been so much misunderstood.-ED. TR.

IN my first Letter on Welsh Music, which appeared in the CAMBRO-BRITON†, I pledged myself to steer as clear as I possibly could of musical and technical phrases: it is my full intention to adhere to the same principle on the present occasion.

It will naturally occur to every one, that I must draw largely on the stores of those who have written on this subject before me: my endeavour will be, as I rove along the paths of literature, to pick and cull the choicest flowers, then form them into a bouquet, which I hope will be acceptable to my readers.

Mr. Edward Jones, (Bardd y Brenin, or Bard to the King,) in his valuable publication, "The Relics of the Bards," has given a very copious and interesting dissertation on the musical instruments of the Welsh. Concluding that many of my readers are not in possession of that work, I will make such brief extracts as will answer the purpose of elucidating the subject and of establishing the antiquity of the Harp.

That the Harp is among the most ancient of musical instruments we learn from Sacred History. Jubal, the seventh from Adam, was styled the father of all those who handled the kinnor, or harp‡. David, the second king of Israel, was a great master of the Harp;

This Essay was addressed by Mr. Parry to the CYMMRODORION. ED. TR. Those who would become acquainted with the customs, manners, laws, and history of the ancient Britons should read the CAMBRO-BRITON, a monthly publication, price 1s. 6d. [Since this note was written by Mr. Parry the work in question has been discontinued as a periodical publication, and it is now published entire in three volumes.-ED. TR.]

According to our version it is" he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ."-Gen. ch.iv. v. 21. Father Calmet, in a "Commentary on the Psalms," published at Paris, in 1713, has a dissertation on the various musical instruments in

the instrument which he played upon before Saul was called by the Hebrews kinnor, or harp; it was also called the hazur, that is, the tenth, or ten-stringed instrument; it was made of the wood of the algum-tree, a species of fine cedar. The form of the kinnor was triangular, and the strings were stretched from the top to the bottom, from whence proceeded the sound.

Having shewn that the Harp was used by the Hebrews, let us trace its source and progress among the ancient Britons.

Cæsar says that Druidism is supposed to have originated in Britain*. This religious order was a branch of the Bardic system+. We are also told, by Ammianus Marcellinus, that "the bards sang of the exploits of valiant heroes in sweet tunes, adapted to the melting notes of the melodious harp‡;" therefore the Harp was a bardic instrument, and was played by them, from the earliest period, both at their sacred ceremonies and at their festivals.

Blegywryd ab Seisyllt, king of Britain, about one hundred and sixty years before Christ, is said to have been a celebrated musician, and a performer on the Harp, therefore he was called the God of Music. The ancient Welsh laws mention the Harp as one of the indispensable accomplishments of a gentleman; and they enumerate three distinct kinds, viz.

"The Harp of the king, the Harp of a master of music, and the Harp of a gentleman; the two first were valued at one hundred and twenty pence each, and the third at sixty pence§."

From what has been adduced, we may fairly conclude that the Britons had the Harp prior to any other nation, except the Hebrews. In former times, a professor of the Harp enjoyed many privileges; his lands were free, and his person sacred, by the law.

use amongst the ancient Jews. These he divides into three classes, viz. stringed instruments, wind instruments, and several sorts of drums. Of the first class he enumerates six sorts, viz. the nablum, or nebel, the kinnor, the hazur, (or ten-stringed instrument,) the symphonia, the sambuca, and the minim. The wind instruments he describes as seven in number, viz. the chazozeroth, the scophas, (or trumpet,) the keren, (or horn,) the hugab, (or organ,) the musrokitha and chalil, (or flute,) and the machalat (or bagpipe). In the last class he places the troph, (or kettle-drum,) the zalzelim, the sistrum, the schalischim, a triangular instrument with brass rings, and the mezilothaim, which may be rendered a little bell.-Ed. Tr.

*BELL. GALL. lib. vi. c. 13.-ED. TR.

If Bardism be taken as a generic term this is correct; otherwise, the Bards, in their more general acceptation in Wales, formed a remnant of the celebrated institution of Druidism, as anciently existing in this island. It may be proper here to notice that the terms Druid and Bard have been very injudiciously confounded by most authors that have written respecting them.-ED. TR.

See p. 57. antè in the notes.-ED. TR.

§ There is some difference between these prices and the charges made for modern harps, some of which are as high as one hundred and seventy guineas!

By Britons we mean the Welsh, Irish, and Caledonians, among whom there is, to this day, a difference of opinion as to which of the three tribes the honour of having first used the harp belongs; be that as it may, the Welsh have certainly cultivated it more than their neighbours. [Although the Welsh, as Mr. Parry properly observes, have been known to strangers under the general appellation of Britons, it is worthy of remark, that they never called themselves by that name, but always Cymry, or the aboriginal people.-ED. TR.]

It was the office of the ancient Bard to sing to his Harp, before and after battle, the old song of Unbenaeth Prydain, or the Monarchical Song of Britain, which contained the exploits of the most worthy and distinguished heroes, and to inspire others to imitate their example*.

I cannot deny myself the pleasure of presenting my readers with a song written on this subject for the first volume of " Welsh Melodies," by Mrs. Hemans, of Bronwylva, near St. Asaph.

Sons of the Fair Islet! forget not the time

Ere spoilers had breath'd the free winds of your clime;
All that its eagles beheld in their flight

Was yours, from the deep to each storm-mantled height!
Tho' from your race that proud birth-right be torn,
Unquench'd is the spirit for monarchy born.

Darkly tho' clouds may hang o'er us awhile,
The crown shall not pass from the Beautiful Isle !

Ages may roll ere your children regain
The land for which heroes have perish'd in vain!
Yet in the sound of your names shall be power,
Around her still gathering, till glory's full hour.
Strong in the fame of the mighty that sleep,
Your Britain shall sit on the throne of the deep!
Then shall their spirits rejoice in her smile,

Who died for the crown of the Beautiful Isle !

When Colgrin was besieged, in the city of York, by king Arthur, in the fifth century, his brother Badulf assumed the character of a harper, and by that stratagem he gained admission to consult with his relative. King Alfred also made use of the same disguise, and by that means he had an opportunity to reconnoitre the Danish camp, which was then in Somersetshire.

It appears that there were anciently two bards, or minstrels, attached to the court of the Welsh princes; the one entitled Chief of Song (Pencerdd), and the other Domestic Bard (Bardd Teulu). The duties and privileges of these two have, however, been often confounded. The Chief of Song was a bard who had passed the chair, and who, consequently, took the precedence, in all musical performances, of the Domestic Bard, by whom the entertainment was concluded, each of them singing three songs. The national air of Unbenaeth Prydain, above noticed by Mr. Parry, was sung by the Domestic Bard, and only before the king and his army on the day of battle. Among the privileges of the Domestic Bard, he was to have a harp from the king, and a gold ring from the queen, and with the first of these he was never to part.-ED. TR.

Ynys Prydain, the ancient name of Britain, signifies the Fair, or Beautiful, Island. [This etymology was first adopted by Mr. Edward Williams, in his "Lyric Poems," vol. ii. p. 42, and has since passed current amongst Welsh writers, though, it would appear, without a due examination. It is, no doubt, sufficiently plausible; but it must not be forgotten that it is directly at variance with the authority of the ancient Triad, which ascribes the origin of the name to Prydain, the son of Aedd Mawr. See ARCH. of WALES, vol. ii. p. 56, and CAMBRO-BRITON, vol.i. p. 8 ED. TR.]

N

Giraldus Cambrensis, who wrote a description of Cambria, about the year 1188, says that "travellers who come at early hours are entertained with the conversation of young women and with tunes on the Harp, all along to the evening; for here every family hath its damsels and Harps assigned for that purpose." He farther observes, Ireland makes use of only two instruments, namely, the Harp and the drum; Scotland has three, namely, the Harp, the drum, and the cruth; and Wales has the Harp, the pipes, and the crwth. The Irish make use of strings of brass oftener than those made of hide or gut.'

66

At page 102 of Jones's Relics of the Bards, vol. i. there is a very amusing philippic against the leathern Harp strung with gut or wire, by the bard Davydd ab Gwilym, which he compares to "the noise of a lame goose among the corn, a foolish Irish witch, the rumbling of a mill-stream of crazy leap, a shrieking wry-necked hare! Let every musical professor, from the English Marches as far as Mona's Isle, learn to play on a fair Harp, with strings of jetty hair."

Risiart Cynwal wrote a poem, about 1680, to solicit a Harp, wherein he observes, "The Harp of Llywelyn, the Prince, most honoured through ages, was completely filled with hair strings, curiously braided, to hymn golden praises to the Lord."

Galileo, in his Dialogue on Ancient and Modern Music, written in the year 1582, and published_at Florence, observes, -"The Harp was brought to us from Ireland, where they are well made, and in great number, and the inhabitants of the island have practised on it for many and many centuries. These Harps have a double row of stringst, in all fifty-eight strings, and the compass is from double in the bass to D in

alto."

The most ancient Irish Harp now remaining is that which is said to have belonged to Brian Boiromb, king of Ireland, who was slain in battle with the Danes, near Dublin, in 1014. His son Donaugh carried his father's crown, Harp, and other regalia, to Rome, and presented them to the Pope, in order to obtain absolution for having murdered his brother!

The Pope sent the Harp to Henry the Eighth, with the title of the "Defender of the Faith," but forgot to send the crown, which was of massive gold! Henry gave the Harp to the first Earl of Clanricard, in whose family it remained till the beginning of the last century. In 1782 it was presented to the Right Honourable William Conyngham, who deposited it in Trinity College Library, Dublin, where it still remains.

*The crwth is the second in rank of the Welsh musical instruments, and is very ancient. Its form is an oblong square, measuring about twenty inches in length, and about nine inches in breadth; it has six strings, and is played in the same position and manner as the violin, of which it was most probably the prototype.

+ At what period the second row of strings was added, I cannot ascertain, but probably about the eleventh or twelfth century.