Do-yno hevyd adwaenais-Gymdeithas Ac o'u llwch, mewn tegwch tardd, Llyna y maent oll, yn ein mysg-bythawl, Hen Gymru !-dy garu gwel Divai tymp!-advywiaw Tant, Hoew erddigan, hardd ogwydd,—a llòn wen, Ein telyn, hònaid hylwydd,- Gwawl-des eglurawl-gloew y disgleiria, Hyddysg gu addysg, addas, gwiwdda, A maeth wybodaeth, bwyda-ei phlant, Frwyth caniad, a fraeth accenau-rhywiawg, Uned y Cymry anwyl, Yn giwdawd gain, i gadw Gwyl, Cofâad Adsevydliad yw, sy vodlon Da eiriau addysg y Derwyddon: Y mae à bri enwawg, mwya' breiniawl, Od doethaidd ydyw teithi Clyw o dy vedd-clau dy vin, O'i llwch dwvn å llewych da: A vu 'rioed yn hyvrydu, Yn y man-goed, hen, mwyngu,-oesoedd maith, Brythoneg-ber Iaith henaidd- Ynghyd a'u certh nerth, pan oedd-galon Eu haeddawl vri cyhoeddant. "Hear from thy grave-great Taliesin hear !"-GRAY'S BARD. Mai 1av, 1821. Deuwch! arlwywch y Wledd Dydd hyglod, hynod yw hwn- Etivedd blwydd, gwiwlwydd gwych-heddyw sydd Ni phall naill a'r llall wellâu-mewn hedd Swn y Gerdd, a'i seiniau gwir, Drwy wagle, draw i Ogledd, Dyved a Gwent, yn vad eu gwedd,-llawn nwyviant, Gloew drylen, o'i Gwlad der olau,-á ddaeth, Yn Er yn ddieithr i'n creigiau, n awr, màl huan orau, A'i lliw'n wych i'n llawenâu. Heini bu, yn hen Bowys, Ini, y llynedd, Wledd lwys: Bonedd ein Gwlad, mad eu mawl, A gaid yno'n gydunawl: Yma, yr unrhyw ammod O undeb, trwy burdeb, sy'n bod. Llais cerdd, ac ewyllys cu, A genau gwiw i ganu, Clod á gewch, clau-deg wyr,-hyd perâad Hoew leuad a haul awyr ! Parawd, y tavawd a'r tant, Gwawd lesawl, á gydleisiant, Er cofâu doniau dynion,-hil diveilch, * Sir WATKIN WILLIAMS WYNN, Bart. the President of the Cymmrodorion. + Meddyliodd yr Awdwr nad allai ddybènu y gwaith yn well, nog à llinello Awdl Goronwy Owain i'r hen Gymmrodorion. ESSAY ON THE T ANTIQUITY OF THE WELSH TONGUE*. Ad linguam quod attinet præcipua honoris et dignitatis palma, de quâ inter se linguæ decertare solent, vetustas est.-DR. DAVIES. AMONG the many subjects which fall naturally within the scope and purpose of this Institution, there is none, perhaps, which offers stronger claims on its attention than the peculiar and remarkable characteristics of our native tongue. In all countries we have ever found a desire to prevail amongst the learned to investigate, with partial anxiety, the distinguishing properties of their respective languages: even with reference to such as are, comparatively, of modern origin, and have no extraordinary merit to recommend them, we have seen this natural propensity to exist. Can it then be a matter of surprise, that the learned of our own country, who, during the last two hundred and fifty years, have combined their powerful aid to examine and to illustrate the particular excellencies of the Welsh tongue, should have dwelt, with a fond enthusiasm, on those peculiarities by which it is signalized among the languages now spoken in Europe? From the time of the celebrated Dr. J. D. Rhys, down to the present, no author that has treated, either expressly or incidentally, of the Language of Wales, has failed to speak, with becoming praise, of some or other of its singular qualities. And we owe it to their elaborate and ingenious researches, that we are now able to discriminate, with an accurate eye, the simplicity of its basis, the beautiful uniformity of its superstructure, and, above all, those venerable marks of antiquity, by which it avowedly stands unrivalled among the languages of this western world. It is on this last-mentioned characteristic that I propose, on the *This ESSAY is here reprinted from the "REPORT of the CYMMRODORION, already alluded to, and was written for the purpose of being read at the First Anniversary of the Society, May 22, 1821.-ED. TR. present occasion, to offer some observations; not that I hope, within the necessary limits of this Essay, to exhaust a subject, abounding, as this does, with food for the most interesting speculation: all that I aim at is, to take a summary view of the most remarkable proofs, by which the high antiquity of the Welsh tongue is established. Before I enter, however, on this inquiry, I feel it necessary to premise a few remarks, which the nature of the subject appears particularly to demand, with reference to an hypothesis that has hitherto gained considerable currency, and seems to have tended, in no small degree, to encumber the researches of philologists, and, consequently, to have had an injurious influence on their inquiries into the particular characteristics of the Welsh tongue. The hypothesis, to which I allude, is the notion that language was originally communicated, in a full and perfect state, by the Deity to man; an opinion which has been supported by so many learned and pious writers, and with so bold a confidence, that one is almost led to believe the assertion to be sanctioned by divine revelation. It happens, however, unfortunately for their position, that the sacred volume not only gives no countenance to it, but seems even to favour an opposite conclusion in the only passage which can reasonably be adapted to the occasion. This occurs at the 19th and 20th Verses of the 2d Chapter of Genesis, which are as follow: "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." This is the first occasion on which the sacred penman ascribes to the first man the use of his oral faculties; and, if we consider the words in their plain and obvious import, as in all such cases is, perhaps, the wisest and safest mode, there appear to be two circumstances particularly worthy of our attention. The first of these is, that Adam was thus invited to give names to the creatures that were brought to him before the creation of Eve, and, consequently, before there could have been any intercourse of sentiment, any tacit connivance, as to the use of the organs of speech, in the adaptation of their sounds to surrounding objects. Man was alone in the world as far as concerned human society; and, therefore, whatever language he uttered must have been a language suggested by nature itself, without any adscititious influence from other causes. And a brief consideration of the next point that occurs will prove, I think, that this language was not the effect of an immediate revelation from heaven, but the result of a natural aptitude in the organs of speech to utter certain determinate articulations, according to the impulse of man's internal emotions. God," says the sacred text, " brought these creatures to Adam, to see what he would call them." Now, if |