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A BRIEF ANALYSIS
09 TEE
LANGUAGE AND KNOWLEDGE
ANCIENT CYMRY.
" Lux in tenebris,"
BY
JOHN WILLIAMS, A.M., Oxon,
AECHDEACON OP CAEDIGAN,
Author of "Homerus," "Claudia and Padens," "Primitive Tradition," etc.
LONDON :
HUGHES & BUTLER, 15, ST. MARTIN'S LE GRAND.
METCALFE, PEIKTEE,
GEOCEBS* HAXL C0T7ET, LONDON.
P3
n
CONTENTS.
PAGE
A Prefatory Letter addressed to his Countrymen by the
Author ......... V
Introduction 1
CHAPTER I.
Philosophy of the Mind, also called Metaphysics . . .19
CHAPTER II.
On the Philosophy of Perception ..... 24
CHAPTER III.
On the Limitation of Thought to the Conditional . . 35
Summary 44
CHAPTER IV.
On certain Prefixes of Compound Words in the Cymraeg or
Welsh Language . . . . . . .45
CHAPTER V.
Words connected with Existence, Intellect, and the Senses,
as respects their Roots, Compounds, and Derivatives . 78
IV
PAGE
CHAPTER VI.
Of "Gwedd" and its Derivatives 119
CHAPTER VII.
Time and Place . . 125
CHAPTER VIII.
Quotations in Illustration of the Subject of the Inquiry . 133
Conclusion ......... 146
APPENDIX.
A Letter from the Archdeacon of Cardigan respecting the
ancient connection between Hellas and Great Britain . 155
APPENDIX.— -No. 2.
Extracts from Archaeological Letters of the Archdeacon of
Cardigan -.190
APPENDIX.— No. 3.
Extracts from an unpublished Archaeological Paper , .198
A PREFATORY LETTER ADDRESSED TO HIS
COUNTRYMEN BY THE AUTHOR.
My dear Countrymen,
I WAS from early life impressed with a deep
conviction of the value of the Cymraeg as a key
to the etymology of the Western languages of
Europe both ancient and modern, and in a paper
published in the transactions of the Royal Society
of Edinburgh many years ago, had shown the close
connection between the Cymraeg and Latin lan-
guages.
During the continuance of my etymological re-
search, as I had to examine critically the languages,
not only of Greece and Rome, but also of the
Teutons and the Celts, and to investigate them
by the light of their philosophy, history, and
mythology, I had soon occasion to infer that a much
greater and more accurate know^ledge of things
in general must have been possessed by those whose
intellectual instruments they were, than modern
Hterature would ascribe to them.
My opinion on this subject was given in the
following terms, in a i)aper read before the same
h
VI
Royal Society, more for the purpose of registering
the time of its mature adoption, than of attaining
any other object.
" I might here close my paper, were I not con-
vinced that in some ancient languages we have an
instrument both logical and philological constructed
on the principles of an Eutopian terminology, and
which may be reduced to a few intelligible keys
or roots. We know from the Cratylus of Plato
that the Pythagorean school held a similar doctrine,
and taught that the word, as a general principle,
was a picture of the idea to be represented; and
even Aristotle himself, when taking advantage of
the fineness of the Greek language, as such an
instrument repeatedly hints, that he does not know
how to account for the scientific accuracy of a
common word, without supposing it to be an in-
heritance handed down through periods of darkness
and barbarism from an antecedent period when the
Arts and Sciences had been in a flourishing state.
His words (Metaphys., lib. xii., cap. 8,) are, ' It is
probable that, as every individual art and philo-
sophy have been as far as possible discovered, and
have again perished, these opinions have been pre-
served as remnants of such knowledge.'
"Thus also in his book, '-n-ept ovpavov,' he repeats
the same persuasion. ' Even the name appears to
have been handed down to the present age from
those of old, who held on the subject the same
opinion as I do, for not once or twice, but an infinite
Vll
number of times ought we to think that the same
knowledge has reached mankind.'
We need not accept Aristotle's theory of alter-
nate periods of high civihzation and barbarism, but
we must accept his testimony that the Greek vocables
literally interpreted, often indicated philosophic
truths which had become unknown to the people
who still continued to use them.
At the close of the paper I wrote thus : — " As I
feel it is presumptuous in me to say that I have
partially found these keys, that secrets, never sus-
pected by abler men and profounder scholars, have
been discovered by me alone, that the very assump-
tion of the possibility of such a discovery is offensive
to the limited and self-satisfied scholar, and an
object of suspicion to the most candid and judicious,
I can only allege in my defence, that I have neither
been rash nor hasty, and that nothing but the
knowledge that the path I am treading must even-
tually, although perhaps after many deviations, lead
to the demonstrable truth, could induce me to
submit to the toils and difficulties of such an inves-
tigation. I must, therefore, bespeak the good will
and forbearance of my readers, who will also be my
judges, for they 7nust approach the consideration
of such a subject with their judgment clouded by
prejudices, in its primary and not offensive meaning,
and almost blocked up by foregone conclusions."
In Aristotle's own words, previous to entering on
his metaphysical disquisitions —
b 2
Vlll
"Men listen to proofs according to previous
habits, for we wish to hear men speak in accordance
with our usual opinions, and anything contrary to
these does not appear consistent but from want of
habit on our part more strange and unknown." In
our own days, novelties are certainly more patiently
listened to than in the time of Aristotle, but prin-
cipally in connection with scientific discovery, and
the triumph of man over matter. The superior
skill and greater success of the travellers in these
widely extended fields in modern, compared with
more ancient times, have convinced a great multi-
tude that the ancients, in comparison with the
modern, were profoundly ignorant of scientific know-
ledge on general subjects ; while, on the contrary,
the remains of ancient art, and the resuscitation of
oriental learning in connection with Egypt, Assyria,
and India, compel many to confess that there must
have been from the earliest ages, written languages,
arts, and necessarily, sciences, in regions where
every vestige of them in the mind of the present
inhabitants, has utterly perished. Hence, it has
been logically inferred, that the same result might
have taken place in other countries under similar
circumstances, and that the position of the Greek of
history, or the Brahmin in certain localities, does
not prove that they were necessarily acquainted with
all the antecedents of their local predecessors. This
ari^ument is well put by, perhaps, the ablest critical
Philologist of the day. " We have been careful,"
IX
says he, " to write thus much at length, in order to
meet, on more than one ground, the objection of
many able and patient scholars to all the novelties
of the past which the present age is bringing to
hght ; men, too, who have laboriously investigated
one particular branch of study, cannot generally be
supposed to possess any inclination to undervalue
it, or turn to researches tending to this end. But
since all the learning that has been expended in
the research has failed to penetrate into the real
source of antiquity, may we not reasonably entertain
a doubt that the process hitherto employed has been
somewhere defective, that the authorities we have
taken for our guides, although often undoubtedly a
light in utter darkness, are also too often a pillar of
cloud when we are able to see a wider horizon. The
ancients may have told us all they knew, but were
the ancients acquainted with antiquity ? There is a
fallacy in the terms, but we often with justice
answer in the negative. If the Greek or Brahmin
drew existence from a stone, creation from a flower,
are we to contract our inquiries accordingly ? and
this, too, when their aboriginal nationality is more '
than questionable, and when the Hebrew Scriptures,
if no other authenticated record, supply evidence
of other races in other and more probable coun-
tries."
This argument may well be illustrated in the
following manner: — if the Anglo-Saxons had, as
they must have often anticipated, actually exter-
minated all the Bi'itons, and completely teutonized
the whole island, what would their descendants have
known, except from foreign sources, respecting the
predecessors of their ancestors, namely, the Roman
provincials, from whom, nevertheless, they must have
borrowed a comparative civihsation. If this were
the case respecting the Roman provincials, how
utter must not their ignorance have proved con-
cerning the aboriginal Britons themselves, and all
their arts and sciences !
But the Anglo-Saxons did not exterminate the
Britons, who, on the contrary, as I have shown in
the following introduction, christianised the whole of
Ireland and of Scotland before any Saxon commu-
nity was converted.
The Britons had their own civilisation, their own
philosophy. Their own forms of Christian faith and
practice were common to them with the Christian
churches in Ireland and Brittany, and which would
not hold communion with the missionaries under
Augustine, who were sent from Rome at the close of
the sixth century.
Above all, the Britons had a language and a litera-
ture of their own, in which were embodied a purer
and a simpler philosoi)hy than was taught by Greek
and Latin instructors, and with which the peculiar
doctrines of the Christian scheme of salvation were
harmoniously combined.
The Britons, moreover, have always preserved
certain traditions commemorating their origin and
XI
ancient history, which are singularly free from the
gross absurdities of the Greeks and other ancient
nations. I have inserted^, in an appendix, a body of
evidence from external sources, which satisfy me
that, long before the commencement of written
history, there flourished in this island a civilised
community, such as it is described by ancient
writers. Nor have I any hesitation in saying, that
the language of that community was the Cymraeg,
and that a great portion of the lands now held by
the Church were once the possessions of the priests
and philosophers of that community.
I need not tell )"ou, my dear countrymen, that
this view differs materially from the belief taken up
on trust by the great bulk of our English fellow-
subjects, who habitually regard our ancestors as
savages, and us, their descendants, as comparative
barbarians.
I feel that, in the present work, I am placing
weapons in your hand which will enable you to
defend yourselves and the memory of our ancestors
from such unjust accusations, and that I am also
presenting you with an efficient instrument for im-
proving your knowledge of mental, and partially of
natural philosophy.
Many of you will recognize, for the first time,
perhaps, the cause of the singular sympathy shown
by the Cymry when listening to the great truths
and duties of Christianity, when delivered in their
own graphic language, and their something more
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than comparative apathy when addressed on the
same subjects in another language.
In the field of investigation now opened to your
view, I feel that I am only a pioneer who has cleared
the way for succeeding operations. But still suffi-
cient has been done to show the great value of the
field, and the rich crops which may be secured by
its careful cultivation.
And may none of you, my dear countrymen,
hesitate to enter upon the work from a fear that the
purity and simplicity of the original doctrines of
our ancestors may seem to contradict the assertions
so frequently made by the early Christian writers
respecting the gross absurdities and abominations of
the heathen creeds and practices. These assertions
were true when directed against the Pagans of their
day, but it is in perfect harmony both with the
Scripture account and with the justice of God, that
the Patriarchs received from their common father,
Noah, " the just man and perfect," who was himself
" a preacher of righteousness," true doctrines re-
specting both faith and practice.
Thus, the doctrines and practice of Job, Mel-
chizedek, and Jethro, persons not embraced in the
covenant made with Abraham, prove that the know-
ledge of the one true God and of the relations
existing between him and his creation, were not
unknown at a period comparatively remote from the
flood. The probability is, therefore, that the oriental
patriarchs of our race, in their westward migration.
XUl
brought along with them the same doctrines and
knowledge, and transmitted them to their posterity.
I have, in another work, my " Houierus," so truly
described the usual process, by which the true doc-
trine inherited from God was as a general law, first
corrupted and finally suppressed, that I here intro-
duce it.
" Histor}^ teaches us that bodies of men originally
set apart for the instruction and guidance of the
community, in religious matters, have often abused
this sacred trust, and converted it into an engine for
enslaving the human mind, and subjecting it to the
yoke of superstition. The process by which this
system can best be carried into effect, is, in the first
place, to misrepresent the history of the past ; and,
in the second place, by claiming immediate inspira-
tion from the Dignity to demand unconditional sub-
mission to their own inventions, and thus prevent
their victims from appealing either to the experience
of ages or the deductions of reason against their
diabolical proceedings. When once the irrespon-
sible voice of the priest is received as the immediate
oracle of God, the community must submit to its
injunctions, not only in the performance of religious
duties, but of all functions, domestic, civil, and
military.
" Such was the system according to which the
Magi of Media, the Chaldeans of Assyria, the Brah-
mins of India, and the Druids of the Western world
XIV
swayed for ages the destinies of mighty nations, and
yet left no record of their real belief, no national
exposition of their laws, no authentic narrative of
their national transactions."
We have no reason to believe that the heathen
Druids of Gaul and Britain were, when historically
known, practically less corrupt than their brethren
in other nations.
They, however, when struck down and bitterly
persecuted by the Roman authorities, found a refuge
in Ireland and Scotland for their persons, practices,
and doctrines.
Hence, when the Britons, after the confusion
which immediately followed the overthrow of the
Roman power in the island, had gained the ascend-
ance, they resumed the laws, language, and traditions
of their ancestors, with the important exception,
that they combined with their inherited Christianity
the philosophic doctrines of the Druids, which, when
stripped of corruptions, represented the primitive
religion of the Oriental Patriarchs. The chief site
of the newly-established form seems to have been
Gwent and Morganwg, whence it spread with com-
parative rapidity over all the countries then held by
a Celtic population, and also over no small portion
of Continental Europe, as I have shown in my
" Claudia and Pudens."
The system here adopted must have originated in
a conviction entertained by the authors, that the
XV
native philosophy so often agreed in many important
points with the revealed Word, that portions might
harmoniously be held in combination with the pecu-
liar tenets of the Gospel.
This event is commemorated by the motto of the
Christian Bardic choir of Glamorgan, which is
" Da'r maen gyda'r Evengyl." — " Good is the stone
with the Gospel," and which is traditionally attri-
buted to Taliesin. The maen was evidently the
" Maen hir," or " Hirvaen," the chief symbol in
primitive worship, and called in an ancient Scottish
document the " Hirr/mane," on which witnesses are
said to have been sworn to testify the truth of a
statement.
The consecration to Christian purposes of nu-
merous stone erections in the British islands, is a
fact not to be contradicted. In Scotland, the High-
landers still call the church, "the stones," —
"clachan," and records remain to testify the uses
of the " maen " and the circle, both for civil and
ecclesiastical purposes, to a very late period.
For the present it will be sufficient to quote the
following paragraph from the " Pre-historic annals
of Scotland," page 113.
" In the Aberdeen chartulary, a notice occurs of
a Court held, apud stantes lapides de Rane, on the
second of May, a.d. 1349, when a person was sum-
moned to answer for his forcible retention of eccle-
siastical property. And again, in the chartulary of
XVI
Moray, the Bishop is summoned in the year 1380
to attend the Court, apud le standand stones de la
Rath. The Bishop is described as standing 'extra
circum.' "
In truth, more nonsense has been said and writ-
ten upon the megalithic question, and more ignor-
ance shown, than on any subject known to me.
The main object of this work is to call your
notice to the importance of the question brought
forward not only for the elucidation of the true
character of the Church of our ancestors, but also
as closely connected with the purity of our religion
and the best interests of mankind.
The Church of Rome, making use of the violence
of man as an instrument, succeeded for a time in
crushing our more intellectual and purer Church
in all the Celtic countries, so that even its doctrines
and practices became unknown for centuries, and
were replaced by the abominable system of mediaeval
popery, which true to its principles, enslaved the
European mind by effectually misrepresenting the
past, and proclaiming the priest to be a living oracle
on earth.
Her despotism received a check in this country
some three hundred years ago, but not effectually.
The contest is renewed both under the old and more
modern banners. The Church and authority are
extolled on one hand, and the bare Scriptures on
the other, with equal zeal and intolerance. The
XVll
result is by no means favourable to Christian charity
and edification.
I think it would be very conducive to the pro-
motion of truth and the diffusion of sound infor-
mation among the people in all lands, were a good
translation into English, with adequate commen-
taries, made of selected portions from the third
volume of the Myvyrian. The principles are excel-
lent and sound, but the work is not systematic, while
the belief required is closely connected with the
exercise of the intellect, and based upon a right in-
terpretation of the word. Human authority, inde-
pendent of Scripture is rejected, and the priest not
regarded as the depositary of the truth.
The same doctrine which is found in the " Doeth-
ineb y Cymry," appears to have been held by Colum-
banus and Johannes Scotus Erigena, who, proceeding
from the Irish schools in the eighth and ninth cen-
turies, astonished Europe by the purity of their
faith, and the profoundness of their philosophy.
Johannes, especially, seems to have been a won-
derful man, — the miracle of his age, the friend and
counsellor of Charles the Great of France, and of
Alfred of England.
This great Saxon king owed what fame he enjoys,
and what knowledge he procured, to Asser of Dyved.
and John the Scot, of Erin.
I strongly suspect that the Scot drew his know-
ledge from the same sources as Cadoc the Wise, and
XVIU
that in his works we still may study the wisdom
of the Cymry, conjoined with the Revelation in
Christ.
The next literary labour which I shall take in
hand will be the study of his works, which are still
in existence, though proscribed and perpetually con-
demned by the Papal power.
In the meantime, my dear Countrymen, receive
this, my work, with indulgence, and judge of those
parts of it which from want of habit you may not
perfectly understand, by those plainer portions which
will necessarily carry conviction to the heart of
every Cymro to whom his own language is known.
And if my statement respecting it be true, as I
know it to be, let the great privilege granted to
you in an instrument so admirably adapted to ex-
plain philosophical and theological truths, stimulate
you still more to study the great argument, and
make the dead w^ord a living truth, and when
thus understood " able to make you wise unto sal-
vation."
Tt is a great consolation that in this letter I can
address you all as my friends, without any allusion
to divisions, whether political or religious among
you, for the system explained considers men only
as Christians, not merely as creatures of time and
space, liable only to all the contingencies connected
with abode on earth, but as heirs of immortality, as
partakers of the spirit of God, and as bound by
XIX
love and duty to render themselves, while yet in
the flesh, meet inhabitants of those " glorious man-
sions which He has prepared for all those who
love Him, and keep His commandments."
Your loving Countryman,
John Williams,
Archdeacon of Cardia-an.
Brighton, \st January, 1854.
ERRATA.
Page XV., line 6 from top, for choir read chair
2, „ 12 from top, for westward read eastward
9, „ 2 from bottom, for are read is
12, „ 9 from top, for ^; si/dd read // syic^
„ „ 11 from top, for It/ read ///
13, „ 3 from bottom, for cwyhr read ewyhr
1-t, „ 4 from top, for Prydyddion read Brydyddioit
„ „ 15 from top, omit , after Hero
„ 5, 10 from bottom, for geidwadd read geidwad
49, „ 5 from bottom, for oXos read o\o9
50, „ 19, for an read a»rf
53, „ 17 from top, for lolldes read wildest
„ „ 18 from top, for hooks read brooks
57, ,, 8 from top, for undress, read undress,
59, „ 12 from bottom, for dethrol read dethol
70, „ 7 from top, for jwofZtZ read i/tocf
87, „ 10 from top, for . In read ; in
95, „ 13 from bottom, insert to befoi'e exist
96, „ 10 from bottom, for gryssyntg welt read gryssynt gn-ellt
195, „ 7 from top, for his subject read it
198, „ 6 from bottom, for dismantled read dismounted
INTRODUCTION.
Most singular and remarkable is the history of the
Britons of our Island, the Britanni and Britones of
the Latin and " Brettanoi " of the Greek authors.
They appeared on the page of written history, under
the auspices of hostile invaders, whose testimony
respecting their unwearied opponents has been
received with a credulity unworthy of truth-seeking
examiners of the past. For three centuries and a
half, the Romans remained as conquerors in Britain,
and then withdrew their legions into their eastern
homes. This took place in the year a.c. 410. At
later periods we hear from continental writers that a
Germanic race, cousins of the Goths, Francs, and
other kindred tribes, had conquered and taken pos-
session of Roman Britain. An Anglican monk
named Beda, whose acme may be placed about the
year 700, compiled from various sources, an ecclesi-
astical history, which required some preliminary
details respecting the arrival and settlement in Bri-
tain of the various German tribes, whose church
history he w^as preparing to write. His work clearly
proves that the Britons had not, like their conti-
B
nental co-provincialists, been either immediately
overwhelmed by the numbers or finally subjugated
by the valour of the invaders.
Beda died in the year a.d. 736, and not long be-
fore his death gave a sketch of the invaders and the
invaded, with their relative positions. Modern Scot-
land, north of the Forth, was occupied by Scots and
Picts. The Scots, a Celtic and cognate race, which
had passed over from Ireland and occupied the mo-
dern Argyleshire and adjacent islands. The Picts,
the descendants of the Britons of Caledonia, had
retained their ancient homes in the rich lands west-
ward of the Grampian range, and which were irri-
gated by the magnificent streams of the Forth, the
Tay, the Spey, and the Don. These were called
in that age the northern Picts. And as they had
never been Roman provincials, the probability is
that the similarity between them and the Scots, aliens
only in name, rendered an amalgamation with them
an easier process than it would have been with their
fellow Picts of the Roman province. Moreover, they
were Christians from the same school of missionaries,
the sacred island of lona.
To the south of the Forth, all the country to the
west of the great work called the cattrail, was at
least claimed, if not actually held, by the southern
Picts, the Piccardach, called also the Britons of
Strathclyde and Cambria, W'hose rock fortresses of
Dunedin and Alclwyd, named from them Dum-
breton, were still in their possession. Their chris-
3
tianity was immediately derived from the Britons of
the south, whose faith they held, and with whose
prejudices, unknow^n to the Christians from lona,
they sympathised when directed against their Ger-
man aggressors.
West of the Severn and the lower course of the
Dee, the whole region was held and ruled by British
princes who had inherited their sceptres and lands
from ancestors, with whose nominal submission the
Romans seem to have been content. The position
of the two stationary camps at the mouth of the
Dee and on the banks of the Usk, plainly show^ that
the Britons of the west needed as much military
restraint as their northern brethren. Beda speaks
with bitterness against their obstinate adherence to
certain forms and ceremonies in which they differed
from Papal Rome, but does not venture to impugn
either the soundness of their faith or the purity of
their morals. Some prejudices on his part were
naturally to be expected, as he in his youth might
have heard from eyewitnesses of that terrible incur-
sion into the Anglian realms, when the Briton
Cadwallon defeated and slew in battle the Nor-
thumbrian kings, ravaged the open country, and
among other exploits captured and sacked the city
of York.
Nothing is more common among historians than
to assign the freedom from conquest enjoyed by the
Britons of this region to their mountains and natural
fortresses, described as barren lands not worth the
B 2
conquest. The fact is quite the contrary, for Powys-
land and the whole of South Wales was singularly
rich in every produce of the British soil. Nor could
George the Fourth, when for the first time he tra-
versed the road from Milford Haven to Gloucester,
refrain, when contemplating the splendid scenery and
verdant groves and green vales through which flow
the rivers of Dyved and Gwent, from exclaiming
" By Jove ! this is a country worth fighting for." It
was the want of power, not of will, which had up to
that period prevented the Saxon from entering upon
an inheritance so rich and so beautiful.
More to the south, the native princes of Cornwall
still retained their language, lands, and religion ;
and if dependant, were only nominally so, upon the
kings of Wessex, whose subjects had mixed largely
their blood with their British neighbours.
Beyond the channel the Britons of Cornwall and
Devon recognised, among a kindred race, another
Cornwallia and Dammonia comprehended in another
Britannia. The Bretons in Gaul had kept up an
intimate communication with the insular Britons,
and especially the intercourse for religious purposes,
which took place between the saints of Cornwall,
Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Armorica, deserves
more attention than it hitherto has received.
In the year a.d. 736, all the inhabitants of Great
Britain and Ireland were, at least nominally, Chris-
tian. The Celtic inhabitants of both islands, Roman
provincials and non-provincials, professed a religion
which rejected all dependance on alien Pontiffs, whe-
ther occidental or oriental, and professed to believe,
as they had been taught by either the apostles them-
selves or teachers immediately commissioned by
them. The people of Germanic origin owed their
conversion in the south of England to a mission sent
from Rome by Pope Gregory the Seventh, who im-
posed the creed of Papal Rome as then held, upon
the first converts and their descendants.
Between the year 410, and the year 706, an inter-
val of 296 years occurs, which must have been
fraught with strange events and singular vicissitudes
of fortune. During the long-continued struggle
between, on the one hand, the successive invaders
of the Roman province, along its whole sea board,
from the Scottish sea, the Firth of Forth, to the
waters of the Isle of Wight and its adjacent shores,
and on the other hand, the pre-occupiers of the
land, not only the Picts and Scots of Caledonia,
warriors of more than common ferocity, but also
the various tribes of Ireland received not only the
faith of Christ, but also the seeds of intellectual
improvement which were destined to bring forth
good fruits at the appointed time.*
The Papal Church with its usual unscrupulous
policy would fain claim these conversions as her
own. But these converts knew not her peculiar
doctrines, nor acknowledged her assumed predo-
minance. Scotland and Ireland were converted by
* Note A.
missionaries of that Church which the invaded
Britons reconstructed while continuously resisting
the ever-encroaching aggressors.
It is only of late that this great truth has been
partially acknowledged, and every^day brings forward
evidence in confirmation. Archaeology itself, if
divested of theory, could easily prove that in the
character of the ecclesiastical remains, the pillars,
with or without inscriptions, the stone crosses with
sculptured imagery, the sepulchral monuments and
stones incised with various devices, whether occur-
ring in Wales, especially Glamorganshire, or in
every part of Ireland, or in lona and its dependent
churches, or in the district of the northern Picts,
which exhibit certain divergences, or among the
southern Picts, who recognised Kentigern, the first
Bishop of St. Asaph, as their patron saint, and held
him in equal honour with Ninian or Ringan, their
first Christian teacher, there is a similarity, if not
identity of effect, which proves them to have pro-
ceeded from one and the same school.
"Written documents purporting to have been com-
posed by compilers ignorant of the facts recorded,
have lost much of the value once ascribed to them,
and are esteemed only in proportion as they can
withstand the critical examination of the judicious
historian, while the discovery of a single inscribed
stone has served to overturn many an ingenious com-
mentary which had no facts for its basis.
Now, I think, it may be fairly assumed that the
Britons, — who during the protracted struggle between
them and their exterminating enemies, had suc-
ceeded, not only in retaining no insignificant portion
of their possessions in Great Britain, but in seizing
and occupying a whole province in the west of Gaul,
and in civilizing and humanizing the inhabitants of
Ireland, so that Beda pronounces those a people
peaceful and innocent, whom the Romans describe as
the fiercest of savages, — were no common race, and
present an appearance in direct contrast with that of
the other western provincials, who instantly suc-
cumbed, and became the serfs and villains of their
barbarian conquerors. And this assumption receives
strong confirmation from a fact unparalleled ia the
history of nations, that the renown of one of the
Christian warriors during the protracted struggle
respecting which we have no written documents
regarded as authentic, should have silently grown
and spread so widely, that not only his own race,
but every nation in Europe, celebrated the glorious
name of King Arthur as the model of a christian
warrior, an accomplished monarch, and the chival-
rous redresser of all wrongs ; that his court, con-
spicuous for the polished valour of his knights, and
the peerless beauties of his queen and her ladies,
enlightened by the wisdom of Merlin and the learn-
ing of Christian bishops, and enlivened by poets
and musicians of unrivalled genius and skill, was
long regarded as the pattern which historic kings
laboured to imitate. Are these facts reconcileable
8
with the theory that the Britons who wrought these
deeds and achieved this fame, w^re barbarians, with
whom the New Zealander or Sandwich Islander of
the present day are to be classed, that the Chris-
tianity and early civilization of Ireland and Scotland,
and the renown of King Arthur and his companions,
are mere myths, the creatures of Celtic vanity, and
of unreasoning imagination.
But it may be asked, how has it come to pass,
if great events marked the epoch between the
departure of the Romans and the death of Beda,
that the whole history is so obscure, and that no
literary documents remain to prove the wisdom of
the teachers, and the active docility of the people ?
The answer is very plain. Such documents do
exist ; they have been published for more than half
a century, but have hitherto wanted an adequate
interpreter.
In the Myvyrian archaeology we have ample proof
that during the Arthurian period, and probably long
before, certainly long after it, there flourished two
schools of literature, the one essentially heathenish
in creed, although often nominally christian, and
blending with druidical doctrines the worship of
many of the Pagan idols of Greece and Rome, and
of their own pecuhar mytholog)^ Specimens of this
school are to be found in the remains ascribed to
Taliesin, the Caledonian Merddin, and in certain
tales of the Mabinogion, as well as other anony-
mous works. Thus Hercules, under the name of
9
" Ercwlf," Italian " Ercolo," is celebrated as half a
christian after his supposed death. Myvyr, vol. I.,
p. 69.
" Ymcliweles Elvydd
Val nos yn dtlydd,
ddyvod clodrydd
Ercwlf, Pen Bedydd,
Ercwlf a ddywedai
Augau na's rhivai."
Translation : —
"Were changed the elements
Like night into day,
"WTien came the gloriously free
Ercwlf, chief of Baptism, a
Ercwlf said
That he counted not death."
And—
" Nid aeth nes i nev
Hyd ydd aeth ev
Ercwlf, Mur-fossawd."
Translation : —
" There went not nearer to Heaven
Until went he
Ercwlf, the wall-piercer."
We also find " Apis " under the suggestive form
of Ap-Is, the son of Isis ; and I may remark here
that the traditions of Egypt^ especially as connected
with the worship of the elements, are still traceable
among us.
In the following, passages from an unknown
author, the son of Isis and of Mair are singidarly
confounded with the material sun. Myv., vol. I.,
p. 5.
10
Cyvoethawg Duw dovydd
Ap-is Lleuver Llawenydd
Hael ("undeb") Haul undydd
Eil canwyll cristion
A lewych uch eigion
Lloer viloed vilenydd.
Translation : —
Powerful and civilising God
Ap-is the light of gladness
Liberal "unity" the one day sun
The second lamp of the Christian (is she)
The Moon, for thousands of years.
And lower down we have the following expres-
sion : —
Duw vab Mair, Ap-is nev ac elvydd.
God the son of Mary, Apis of heaven and the elements.
We have also in "Nyniaw" and "Peibiaw," writ-
ten also " Nynhav" and " Peibav," two myths exactly
corresponding with the Castor and Pollux of the
Romans, the " Dioskouroi " and the " Tundaridai " of
the Greeks, in their especial character of regula-
tors of the weather, in subordination to their mystic
Father, the God of the electric fluid. Hence we
read, Myv. vol. I. page 578, the following most
ancient triplets : —
Dinas Maon Duw dafar
Pendevig addwyn advar
A sych Havd a wlych y dar
Dinas Maon gwlad addav
Amddifyn Duw amdanav
A sych, Haul, a wlych Nynhav.
Translated : —
11
City of the people of the recompensing God
The Chief mild and repairing
What the sun will dry the " dar" will wet.
City of the people of the land of Adam
May God's protection be around me
What the sun will dry, " Nynhav" will wet."
Notices continually recur in the older Bards of a
mystic city, situated on and among the waters, to
which worshippers went in procession on great festi-
vals with sacred songs and hymns. In the Myvyr.,
vol. I. p. QfT ^ we have a long hymn, which was evi-
dently to be sung as a " Prosodos " on approaching
the holy spot in procession. The following are
the leading hues of the eight stanzas of which it
consists.
1.
Addvwyn Gaer sydd ar glawr Gweilgi
Bydd lawen ynghalan eirian ei Rhi
Amser pan wna mor maw wrhydri
Addvwyn Gaer y sydd ar lydan lyn
Dinas diachor mor ai cylchyn
Gogyvarch ty Prydain —
Addvwyn Gaer y sydd ar don nawved
Addvwyn ei gwerin yn ymwared
4.
AddvwjTi Gaer y sydd ai gwna cymman
Meddut a Molut ac adar Ban
12
Addvwyn Gaer y sydd yn yr Eglan
Addvwyn y rhoddir i bawb ei rhan
7.
Addvwyn Gaer y sydd yn ardwyrain
Gochawn y meddut a molut gyvrein
8.
Addvwyn Gaer p sydd ar Ian lliant
Addvwyn y rlioddir i bawb ei cbwant
Gogyvarcli ly
Translation : —
1.
Pleasant the city which is on the surface of the ocean
Her chief will be merry at her splendid calends
When the sea wiU work an expanding energy.
2.
Pleasant is the city which is on the broad lake
A fortress without bounds, the sea encircles it
The salutation house of Britain.
3.
Pleasant the city which is on the ninth wave
Pleasant its denizens in guarding each other.
4.
Pleasant the city, that which will render it complete
Is mead and lauds and birds of renown.
5.
Pleasant the city which is on the water bank
Pleasantly will be given to all their share.
7.
Pleasant the city which rises before us
May we participate in its mead and lauds.
13
Pleasant the city which is on the shores of ocean
Pleasantly will be distributed to all their desire
The salutation house.
As we know from other sources that the great
temple on Salisbury Plain was supposed to be sur-
rounded by a boundless sea, we may easily suppose
that this " Prosodos " might have been sung by
the Bards and Druids, when leading the band of
worshippers along the spacious avenues to Abury
and Stonehenge.
The same rites, ceremonies, distribution of mead,
and songs of praise, are described by Howel, the son
of Owen Gwynedd, in the middle of the twelfth cen-
tury, as being practised in his day on the shores of
the Menai, and still worse orgies are more than
hinted at in his poem, called " his boast," although
he ends his poem with the proverbial expression,
"Ys da daint rhag tavawd."
" Good are teeth in front of the tongue."
Still later, among the bards of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, unmistakeable proofs of the
existence of the same school are left on record.
Thus,' Dr. John Kent, a learned divine and poet,
wrote towards the end of the fourteenth century.
" Dwy ryw Awen, dioer, ewybr
Y sy'n y byd loewbryd ewybr
Awen gan Grist ddidrist ddadl
O iawn dro, awen drwyadl ;
14
Awen arall, nid call cant
A'r gelwydd, vudr argoeliant
Yr hon a gavas gwyr " Hu"
Camrwysg Prydyddion Cymru."
Translated : —
Truly, there are two kinds of ethereal inspiration
In the world, and evident is their path.
An inspiration from Christ, a cheerful study
Of the right turn, a thorough inspiration.
There is another inspiration (not wise they who celehrate it)
On falsehood a foul creed
This was obtained by the men of " Hu"
The rash mistaken bards of Cymru,"
This " Hu," commonly called " Hu Gadarn," was
the chief Hero, God of the Cymry, who, as they
believed, conducted them from Asia into Europe,
and settled them in Great Britain. Nor did all the
Christian bards regard him and his followers with
the feelings of Dr. John Kent. And even lolo Goch,
the chieftain and warrior bard of Owen Glendour,
did not hesitate to celebrate " Hu " in the following
terms : —
" Hu Gadarn por hoew geidwadd,
Brenin a roe'r gwin, a'r gwawd,
Emmerawdwr tir a moroedd,
A bywyd oil o'r byd oedd."
Translated : —
" Hu Gadarn, a sovereign, a willing guardian,
The king which distributes the wine and the praise,
Emperor of land and seas,
And the life of all the world."
Rhys Brydydd, a bard of the fifteenth century
15
makes " Hu " to be the Supreme God, Lord of all
things. These are his words —
" Bychanav o'r bychenid
Yw Hu Gaclarn vel barn byd,
Ai mwyav, a nav i ni ;
Da coeliwn, a'n Duw cell.
Ysgawn ei daith ac esgud,
Mymryn tes gloewyn ei glud
A mawr ar dir, a moroedd,
A mwyav a gav ar goedd,
Mwy no'r bydoedd."
Translated : —
" Smallest of the small
Is " Hu Gadarn " as judges the world.
And the greatest and a Lord to us ;
Let us well believe, and our mysterious God,
An atom of glowing heat is his car.
Light his course and active.
Great on land and on the seas.
The greatest that I manifestly can have.
Greater than the worlds."
The other school owed its establishment to the
exertions of those Christian teachers and ecclesias-
tical rulers who laid the foundations of a Christian
establishment, in all its fair proportions, in those
parts of Great Britain which the German im^aders
had not conquered. It would be hopeless, at pre-
sent, to assign their especial work, or even their
exact era to our Cymric saints, such as Padrig and
Dyvrig, Teilau, Dewi, Iltud, Cattwg or Cadoc, Cyn-
deyrn, Beuno, Deiniol, and others. Substantially
speaking, we know them only by their works, their
great renown, their churches, and other establish-
16
ments connected with religion and education. In
the third volume of the " Myvyrian Archaeology,"
we have a series of works, which embodies under
the name of '' Doethineb y Cymri " and " Doethineb
Beirdd Cymri," and other similar titles, the moral,
intellectual, and spiritual wisdom of that age and of
its teachers.
The system, when examined in all its details, com-
municated in the form of triads and rhythmical com-
positions of various lengths, contains a wonderful
combination of Christian truths with the primitive
and pure philosophy which they must have inherited
traditionally from their ancestors. And the proof
of this extraordinary fact is laid before the public in
the present work. The remains are singularly free
from any superstitious vanities, and are characterised
by everything that is sound in morality, philosophy,
and divinity.
The poetical portions have nothing in common
with the bardic metres, whether ancient, mediaeval,
or more modern. On the contrary, much of the
didactic poetry ascribed to Cattwg ddoeth, " Cadoc
the Wise," as its author, is constructed upon a plan
which unites quantity, number, and rhyme, of which
specimens will be given in the body of the work.
When the Romish Church obtained the ascend-
ancy in Wales, it proceeded with its usual policy to
accommodate the histories of the popular saints to
its own purposes. Hence we have lives of most of
the above-mentioned saints written as " legenda,"
17
containing the fewest possible facts, ascertained by-
reference to time and place, and the usual farrago of
perpetually repeated miracles. A handsome edition
of these Welsh saints has lately issued from the
Llandovery press ; with respect to their origin, the
respected editor thus writes : —
" The time when these lives were compiled is not
known, but it was probably about the twelfth cen-
tury when the descendants of the Norman invaders
were desirous to render more intimate the connec-
tion which existed between the British and Romish
churches, and to conciliate the Welsh by writing
favourable particulars of the national saints whom
they venerated."
Nothing can be more contemptible than these
miserable fictions when contrasted with the manly
and healthy tone of the " Doethineb y Cymri."
One of the longest lives is dedicated to Cattwg,
but little more can be extracted from it than that he
was a gi*eat saint, to whom numerous churches were
dedicated, and sanctuaries consecrated, and that he
was a successful teacher and missionary. Mr. Wake-
man, who is well versed in this branch of history, says,
that the legend of St. Cadoc, as now drawn up, con-
founds three saints at least of the same name, who
are severally described in an ancient Romish calen-
dar as a bishop, a priest, and an abbot, to be duly
commemorated on three separate days.
But this might be only an attempt to overcome
the difficulty connected with the longevity of the
Arthurian Cadoc. c
CHAPTER I.
PHILOSOPHY OF THE MIND, ALSO CALLED
METAPHYSICS.
St. Paul has left it on record that there is a false
philosophy, against the delusions of which all chris-
tians should guard themselves. But the very epithet
"false," implicitly suggests that there is a philosophy
which is true, and in complete unison with the doc-
trine of Christ. In vain, however, have men in past
ages attempted to discover this true system, and
duly ascertain the limits within which the intellect
of man can safely range, and beyond which it cannot,
owing to its own imbecihty, hope to penetrate.
The consequence has been an almost absolute
divorce between the speculations of the philosopher
and the investigations of the divine, and a tacit con-
clusion drawn that no perfect harmony can be esta-
blished between the revelation in works and the
revelation in words.
Many of those inquirers who are fully aware that
the closest investigation of the material work of crea-
tion can lead to no results contradictory to any fact
revealed respecting the creation of the world, whe-
c 2
20
ther animate or inanimate, will yet shrink from any
attempt to prove that the revelations of God the
Creator, in the intellect and conscience of man, are
in unison with the doctrines drawn from the revealed
word.
It may be justly said that the study of mental
philosophy, unfortunately denominated metaphysics,
has been regarded with a suspicious eye by the rulers
of our great universities. This has been the natural
result of the strange conclusions which metaphysical
philosophers have drawn from premises, supposed to
be true, while in fact based on assumptions unworthy
of rational acceptance. They erred because they
started from a false position, whence the right road
could never be reached, and whence every step appa-
rently in advance was taken in a wrong direction.
The true remedy arising from the evils thence result-
ing was not the rejection of metaphysical studies,
but a more careful examination of the first principles
on which alone they could be safely founded. The
neglect of the true can never confute nor extinguish
false doctrines, nor can a portion of the history of
man and his mind be left uncultivated and unim-
proved with impunity. For errors will spontaneously
spring up where the truth has not been duly planted.
Every man must be naturally a metaphysician as he
is a logician and a mathematician, but his powers in
every department of knowledge must be developed
gradually before they can be exercised successfully.
The extreme influence of metaphysical opinions over
21
human affairs has been well described by M. Cousin
in the following striking passage : —
"A problem, which might scarcely seem worthy
to be made the subject even of a philosophical re-
verie, gave birth to different metaphysical systems.
Those systems agitated the schools and the schools
only. Ere long, they passed from the province of
metaphysics into that of rehgion, and from religion
they advanced into the region of politics. Then
taking their place on the historical stage, they inter-
posed in the events of the world, agitated churches,
and afforded occupation to kings. WiUiam the Con-
queror is summoned to the field by the English
clergy against the nominalist Roscellin, and Louis
VII. becomes the President of the Synod, in
which Bernard, the hero of the age, denounces
the conceptionist Abelard, himself the teacher of
Arnauld of Brescia. All this, however, is but a
prelude. Time runs its course. Conceptionism,
which for nearly two centuries has cherished nomi-
naUsm in its bosom, at length set its charge at
Hberty. And then this consequence, or rather this
renewed consequence of the same principles, finding
the times more favourable, appears with a far differ-
ent lustre, and excites tempests never experienced
until then. Occam, by once more applying nomi-
nalism to theology, and so to pohtics, checks the power
of the Pope, engages a king and an emperor in his
quarrel, and sheltering himself against the lightning of
Rome, under the wings of the imperial eagle, is able to
22
say to the head of the empire with no unbecoming
pride, " tu me defende gladio, ego te defendam
calamo." Abandoned by the King of France, but aided
by the Emperor of Germany, the indomitable Fran-
sciscan, escaping from the dungeon of Roger Bacon,
dies in exile at Munich. * * * The University
of Paris embraces the proscribed doctrine. Nomi-
nalism triumphant diffuses the spirit of indepen-
dence, that new spirit gives birth to the councils
of Constance and Bale, where appear the great
nominalists Peter D'Ailly and John Gerson, those
fathers of the Gallican church. Those sage re-
formers, whose voices were raised in vain, and who
were ere long replaced by that other nominalist
called Luther. It were well not to be so facetious
on the subject of metaphysics, for metaphysics em-
brace at once the original principles, and the ulti-
mate principles of all things."
Since the Reformation, the partisans of the various
schools of metaphysics have rather displayed the
ingenuity than established the truth of their con-
tending leaders ; and the result was a weariness of
mind and an indifference to the subject on the part
of all honest men, who could not acquiesce in the
doubt and darkness of the sceptical school, nor yet
sacrifice their intellect with a suicidal devotion on
the altar of an unquestioning, unhesitating, and un-
doubting faith.
But a reaction at length took place. The coun-
trymen of Hume, who accepting the principles of
23
the Lockian school, proved that these when reso-
lutely worked out terminated in Pyrrhonism, were
induced to retrace their steps and to review the
principles themselves. This process was auspiciously
commenced, and, to a certain extent, successfully
executed by Dr. Thomas Reid ; but the truth,
although often stated obscurely indeed and ambigu-
ously, did not immediately obtain the wide accept-
ance which it deserved. Nor did Dugald Stewart,
with all his elegance and perspicuity, throw much
greater hght upon the system. It remained for Sir
William Hamilton, Bart., to finish what Dr. Reid
had so well begun, and to construct a scheme of
mental philosophy which must in due time be ac-
cepted by all honest inquirers as a clear refutation
of pre-existing errors, and the establishment of the
truth upon an imperishable base.
The object of the present publication is first to
give a brief and distinct view of the Hamiltonian
philosophy on some of the leading points of previous
errors, so as to render its doctrines as familiar as
possible to the attentive reader; and, secondly, to
illustrate these doctrines by an appeal to a language
still existing, but generally regarded as barbarous,
and to prove that the truths established by Sir Wil-
ham are not only entwined into the very structure
of that language, but also distinctly enounced in still
existing documents.
24
CHAPTER II.
ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF PERCEPTION.
The great source of error prevalent in the system
of all metaphysicians was a determination to with-
hold their assent to the truth of facts respecting
which no sane man has ever really and honestly
doubted. The evidence of consciousness respecting
the existence of something external to the perceiving
mind was rejected, and a proof required of the truth
of an intuition which was itself a higher truth than
any inference could prove. The rejection proceeded
from the alleged impossibility of reconcihng the tes-
timony respecting the existence of a fact, with the
confessed ignorance of the nature both of the some-
thing external and of the perceiving mind, and of
the mode in which something of an unknown nature
could operate on something equally unknown. They
thus objected on grounds imaginary and self-created
against the truth of the fact revealed by conscious-
ness, and thus neglecting the only real truths pre-
sented to them, took refuge in subtle doubts and
supposed illusions, which could have no other termi-
nation than boundless error.
25
It would have been equally rational had men
refused to give credence to the definitions of mathe-
maticians, because they announce propositions which
mock any attempt to realise them by the evidence
of the senses. The mathematical point is an abso-
lute nonentity — a " nihil cogitabile " — being in itself
a relative creation of the intellect. Its material or
physical representative, whether on the teacher's
board or on any other plain surface, belies the defi-
nition of its metaphysical type in every respect. It
has parts and magnitude. It has length, breadth,
and thickness, and thus must be classed with bodies
capable of extension, while its prototype, from its
very definition, must be classed with the unextended.
The doctrine respecting the mathematical line and
circle is liable to the same difficulties, and evades
sensuous conception, for the senses cannot enable us
to conceive how a straight line, which has no mate-
rial existence, can at any given point touch a circle
equally void of any materiality. We are told by
Aristotle, that an ancient sophist had stated this
insoluble difficulty, and had inferred from it that the
science of mathematics, having no intelligible basis,
did not admit of demonstration.
But the world did not allow the justice of his
conclusion, and the mathematics have been tradi-
tionally, although illegitimately, allowed to claim a
peculiar eminence and distinction for the truth of
their demonstrations.
But metaphysics were not so fortunate ; certain
26
theories were laid down respecting the primary
operations of the mind, whence originated nought
but doubts and confusion. Philosophers, instead of
accepting the revelations of consciousness as primary
truths, fixing irrevocably the separate existence of
the thinking mind, and the something else external
to it, amused themselves with vague speculations
respecting the nature of the mind, of which man
must remain totally ignorant, and of the other thing
(now called matter), and assuming recklessly that
" the one," the mind, could not be cognisant of " the
other " matter, except there was a sameness, or at
least a similarity between the two.
It may be truly said that no assumption was ever
so gratuitous as this supposed identity or similarity
between things essentially unknown, and known only
from their phenomena — an assumption which Sir
William Hamilton justly characterises as a crotchet
of philosophers, " which," as he proceeds to say,
'' though contrary to the evidence of consciousness,
and not only without but against all evidence, has
yet exerted a more powerful and extensive influence
than any in the whole history of philosophy. This
subject deserves a volume ; we can afford it only
a few sentences.
"Some philosophers, as Anaxagoras, Herachtus,
and Alcman, maintained that knowledge implied even
a contrariety of subject and object. But since the
time of Empedocles, no opinion has been more
universally admitted than that the relation of know-
27
ledge inferred the analogy of existence. The analogy
may be supposed in two potences, what knows or
what is known are either similar or the same ; and if
the general principle be true, the latter is the more
philosophical. This principle it was which deter-
mined immediately the whole doctrine of a repre-
sentative perception. Its lower potence is seen in
the intentional species of the schools, and in the
ideas of Malebranch and Berkeley ; its higher in the
gnostic reasons of the Platonists, in the pre-existing
species of Avicenna and the Arabians, in the ideas
of Descartes and Leibnitz, in the phenomena of
Kant, and in the external states of Dr. Brown. It
immediately determined the hierarchical gradations
of faculties or souls of the Aristotelians, the " vehi-
cular media" of the Platonists, the theories of a
common intellect of Alexander Themistius, Averroes
Caietanus, and Zabarella, the \dsion in the Deity
of Malebranch, and the Cartesian and Leibnitzian
doctrines of assistance and predetermined harmony.
To no other cause is to be ascribed the refusal of the
fact of consciousness in its primitive duality. The
Unitarian systems of identity, materialism, idealism,
is the result."
By these words, Sir William suggests that if the
sameness of mind and matter be once admitted, two
sects would be the natural result ; the first would
ignore the material world — make everything ideal —
the second would ignore the ideal, and recognise
only a material existence. Berkeley is the best
28
representative of the former, Condillac and his fol-
lowers of the latter heresy.
But Sir William goes on —
"The principle that the relation of knowledge
implies an analogy of existence, admitted without
examination in almost every school, is nothing more
than an irrational attempt to explain what is in itself
inexplicable. How the similar or the same is con-
scious of itself, is not a whit less inconceivable than
how one contrary is immediately percipient of an-
other. It at best only admits our admitted igno-
rance of a step back, and then in place of our
knowledge originating from the incomprehensible,
it ostentatiously sets out from the absurd."
It is a lesson of great humility that men should
draw from this almost universal error of those who
deemed themselves especially the wise men of the
world ; but they fatally stumbled at the very entrance
upon the path of their investigations, and carried
their primary error into all their more fully deve-
loped schemes. But what they deemed wisdom
was in reality folly. They would fain be esteemed
wiser than the great body of their fellow men, and
would, if it were possible, replace the primary con-
victions of man, by visionary representations of
their own doubts. To dissent, however, from the
generally accepted conclusions of philosophers seem-
ed a species of insanity, and it required no small
boldness in Dr. Reid to make, at the time he made
it, the following declaration. He is speaking of
29
man's perception of the external world : " We have
here a remarkable conflict between two contradic-
tory opinions ; on one side stand all the vulgar, who
are unpractised in philosophical researches, and
guided by the uncorrupted primary instincts of
nature ; on the other side stand all the philosophers
ancient and modern, every man, without exception,
who reflects. In this division, to my great humi-
liation, T find myself classed with the vulgar." The
declaration in favour of the vulgar faith boldly made
by Reid, has been by Sir William Hamilton clearly
proved to be true, by a line of arguments which
must carry conviction to every mind not blinded by
prejudice, but willing to see the truth as a living
reality. It is true, as before stated, that although
the nature both of mind and of matter be equally
unknown to us, we have an intuitive knowledge that
they both severally exist, from the phenomena of
both of which we are cognisant. In the words of
Sir William Hamilton, " that we cannot show forth
how the mind is capable of knowing something dif-
ferent from itself is no reason to doubt that it is
capable. Every "how" (Ston) rests ultimately on a
"that" (oTt). Every demonstration is deduced
from something indemonstrable. In consciousness
is the fountain of all comprehensibility and illustra-
tion, but as such cannot be itself illustrated or com-
prehended, to ask how any act of consciousness
itself is possible, is to ask how a being intelligent
like man is possible. Could v\e answer this, the
30
serpent would not have tempted Eve with an hyper-
bole, " we should be as gods." But as we did not
create ourselves, and are not even in the secret of
our creation, we must take our existence and our
knowledge upon trust, and that philosophy is the
only true one (because in it alone can truth be
reahsed,) which does not revolt against the authority
of our natural beliefs.
" The voice of nature is the voice of God."
To ask, therefore, a reason of our intuition of exter-
nal things, above the fact of its reaUty, betrays,
as Aristotle has truly said, an imbecility of the
reasoning principle.
" 'Appwcrrta rts tort Siavoi'as."
All attempts, therefore, to sacrifice the verdict of
the common sense of mankind to any philosophical
assumption, must prove vain and fruitless. The
argument from common sense in favour of the
original facts of consciousness, rests upon the pre-
sumption "that what is by nature necessarily be-
lieved to be, truly is." Aristotle, in whose philoso-
phy this presumption was held to be a principle,
thus enounces the argument : " What appears to all,
that we affirm to be, and he who rejects this belief
will assuredly advance nothing better worthy of
credit." If, therefore, our original beliefs are in
harmony with each other, and cannot be proved
to be self-contradictory, the argument from com-
31
mon sense is decisive against every deductive in-
ference not in unison with them. For, as every con-
clusion is involved in its premises, and as these
again must ultimately be resolved into some original
belief, the conclusion, if inconsistent with the pri-
mary phenomena of consciousness must, " ex hypo-
thesi," be inconsistent with its premises, i. e., be
logically false. On this ground, our first-hand con-
victions must overrule any deductions at second-
hand. " If we know and believe," says Aristotle,
" through certain original principles, we must know
and believe these with paramount certainty, for the
very reason that we know and believe all else
through them." And he elsewhere observes, " that
our approbation is often rather to be accorded to
what is revealed by nature as actual, than to what
can be demonstrated by philosophy as possible."
It would be useless on the present occasion to
follow Sir William into his elaborate and convincing
discussions, in which he not only establishes at every
point the truth of his philosophy, but detects all
the fallacies of the sophist, and overturns the very
foundation of Pyrrhonism. It will, therefore, be
sufficient to conclude this chapter with Sir William's
summary of the present state of the qaestion, and
the future prospects of a sounder philosophy.
" Although the past history of philosophy has in
great measure been only a history of variation and
error, (variasse erroris est), yet the cause of this
variation being known, we obtain a valid ground of
32
hope for the destiny of philosophy in future ; be-
cause, since philosophy has hitherto been incon-
sistent with itself only in being inconsistent with the
dictates of our natural beliefs,
" For truth is catholic, and Nature one,"
it follows that philosophy has simply to return to
natural consciousness to return to unity and truth.
In doing this we have only to attend to the three
following maxims or precautions.
1 . That we admit nothing, not either an original
datum of consciousness, or the legitimate conse-
quence of such a datum.
2. That we embrace all the original data of con-
sciousness, and all their legitimate consequences.
3. That we exhibit these, each in its individual
integrity, neither distorted nor mutilated, and in its
relative place, whether of pre-eminence or subordi-
nation.
Nor can it he contended that consciousness has
spoken in so feeble and ambiguous a voice, that
philosophers have mis-apprehended, or mis-under-
stood, her enouncements. On the contrary, they
have been usually agreed about the fact and purport
of the deliverance, differing only as to the mode
in which they might evade, or qualify its accept-
ance. This I shall illustrate by a memorable ex-
ample, by one in reference to the very cardinal
point of philosophy. In the act of sensible percep-
tion, I am conscious of two things, of myself as the
33
perceiving subject, and of an external reality in rela-
tion with my sense. Of the existence of both things
I am convinced, because I am conscious of knowing
each of them, not mediately in something else as
represented, but immediately in itself as existing.
Of their mutual independence I am no less con-
\^nced, because each is apprehended equally and at
once in the same indivisible energy, the one not
preceding or determining, the other not following
or determined, and because each is apprehended out
of and in direct contrast to the other. Such is the
fact of perception as given in consciousness, and as
it affords in general the conjunct assurance they
possess of their own existence and of the existence
of an external world. Nor are the contents of the
phenomenon denied by those who still hesitate to
admit the truth of its testimony.
As this point is one, however, of principal import-
ance, I shall not content myself with assuming the
preceding statement of the fact of perception as a
truth attested by the internal experience of all, but
in order to place it beyond the possibility of doubt,
quote in evidence more than a competent number
of authoritative, yet reluctant, testimonies."
Sir William, after quoting many authors, and re-
ferring to others, who while denying the truth of
the natural behef acknowledge the fact of its exist-
ence, asks the following question.
" The contents of the fact of perception as given in
consciousness being thus estabhshed, what are the
D
34
consequences to philosophy according as the truth
of its testimony is or is not admitted ? "
Which is thus answered.
" On the former alternative, the veracity of con-
sciousness in the fact of perception being uncon-
ditionally acknowledged, we have established at
once, without hypothesis or demonstration, the rea-
lity of mind, and the reality of matter, while no
concession is yielded to the sceptic, though he may
subvert philosophy in manifesting its self-contradic-
tion. The one legitimate doctrine thus possible,
may be called natural realism, or natural dualism."
The manner in which Sir William proceeds to
demolish all the false doctrines deducible from sup-
posing the truth of the second alternative, may be
consulted by any who may be unwilling to accept
the one legitimate in its pure simplicity.
35
CHAPTER III.
ON THE LIMITATION OF THOUGHT TO THE
CONDITIONAL.
Before entering upon the exposition of Sir Wil-
liam's views upon this important subject, it will be
necessary, in his own words, to " solicit indulgence,
not only for the unpopular nature of the discussion,
but for the employment of language which, from
the total neglect of those speculations in Britain,
will necessarily appear abstruse, not merely to the
general reader." Although more than twenty years
have elapsed since these words were first published,
and although the attention of the public has been
partially aroused, and metaphysical inquiries have
become more popular, yet the reader must be re-
quested to exercise his patience for a time, when
a clear view may be attained, after a full considera-
tion of the language employed, and the ideas which
it is intended to convey.
Sir William writes, "the unconditioned is incog-
nizable and inconceivable, its notion being only
negative of the conditioned, which can alone be
positively known or conceived.
D 2
36
" Thus the mind can conceive, and consequently
can know, only the limited and conditionally limited,
the unconditionally unlimited, the unconditionally
limited, or the absolute, cannot possibly be construed
to the mind ; they can be conceived only by think-
ing away from, or abstraction of, those very con-
ditions under which thought itself is realized, con-
sequently the notion of the unconditioned is only
negative, negative of the conceivable itself. For
example, on the one hand we can positively con-
ceive neither an absolute whole, that is a whole so
great that we cannot conceive it as a relative part
of a still greater whole ; nor an absolute part, that
is a part so small that we cannot conceive it as a
relative whole, divisible into smaller parts. On
the other hand, we cannot positively represent, or
realize, or construe to the mind an infinite whole,
for this could only be done by the infinite synthesis
in thought of finite wholes, which of itself requires
an infinite time for its accomplishment, and for
the same reason we cannot follow out in thought an
infinite divisibility of parts. * * The result is the
same, whether we apply the process to limitation in
space, in time, or in degree, the unconditional nega-
tion, and the unconditional affirmation of limitation ;
in other words, the infinite and the absolute (pro-
perly so called,) are thus equally inconceivable to
us.
" As the conditionally limited, which we may briefly
call the conditioned, is thus the only possible object
37
of knowledge and of positive thought ; thought
necessarily supposes conditions. To think is to con-
dition, and conditional limitation is the fundamental
law of the possibility of thought. For as the grey-
hound cannot outstrip his shadow, nor by a more
appropriate simile, the eagle out-soar the atmosphere
in which he floats, and by which alone he may be
supported, so the mind cannot transcend that sphere
of limitation, within and through which exclusively,
the possibility of thought is realized. Thought is
only of the conditioned, because, as we have said,
to think is simply to condition. The absolute is
conceived merely by a negation of conceivability,
and all that we know is only known as
* Won from the void and formless infinite.^
How, indeed, it could be ever doubted that thought
is only of the conditioned, may well be deemed a
matter of the profoundest admiration. Thought
cannot transcend consciousness ; consciousness is
only possible under the antithesis of a subject or
object of thought, known co-relation, and mutually
limiting each other. While independently of all
this, all that w^e know either of subject or of object,
either of mind or matter, is only a knowledge in each
of the particular, of the plural, of the different, of
the modified, of the phenomenal. We admit that
the consequence of this doctrine is that philosophy,
if viewed as more than a science of the conditioned,
is impossible. Setting out from the particular, we
38
admit that we can never in our highest generahza-
tions rise above the finite. That our knowledge,
whether of mind or matter, can be nothing more
than a knowledge of the relative manifestations of
an existence, which in itself it is our highest wisdom
to recognize as beyond the reach of philosophy. In
the language of St. Austin, ' Cognoscendo ignorari
et ignorando cognosci.'
" The conditioned is the mean between the two
extremes ; two inconditionates exclusive of each,
neither of which can be conceived as possible, but
of which, on the principle of contradiction and
excluded middle, one must be admitted as necessary.
On this opinion, reason is shown to be weak, but not
deceitful. The mind is not represented as conceiv-
ing two propositions subversive of each other, as
equally possible, but only as unable to understand as
possible either of two extremes, one of which, how-
ever, on the ground of their mutual repugnance, it
is compelled to recognize as true. We are thus
taught the salutary lesson that the capacity of
thought is not to be constituted into the measure
of existence, and are warned from recognizing the
domain of our knowledge as necessarily co-extensive
with the horizon of our faith, and by a wonderful
revelation we are thus in the very consciousness of
our inability to conceive aught above the relative
and finite, inspired with a belief in the existence of
something unconditioned beyond the sphere of all
comprehensible reality."
39
The two concomitants of thought which alone
are necessary for the present investigation, are time
and space. Sir William thus speaks of time :
" Time, protension, or protensible quantity, called
Ukewise, duration, is a necessary condition of thought.
It may be considered both in itself, and in the things
which it contains.
" Considered in itself, time is positively inconceiv-
able, if we attempt to construe it in thought, either
on the one hand as absolutely commencing, or abso-
lutely terminating, or on the other as infinite or
eternal, whether "abante" or "a post;" and it is
not less inconceivable if w^e attempt to fix an abso-
lute minimum, or to follow out an infinite division.
It is positively conceivable, if conceived as an indefi-
nite past, present, or future, and as an undetermined
mean, between the two unthinkable extremes of an
absolute least, and an infinite divisibihty. For thus it
is relative.
" In regard to time past and time future, there is
comparatively no difficulty, because these are posi-
tively thought as protensive quantities. Time pre-
sent, when w^e attempt to realize it, seems to escape
us altogether, to vanish into nonentity. The present
cannot be conceived as of any length, of any quan-
tity, of any pretension, in short, as anything positive.
It is only conceivable as a negation ; as the point or
line ; and these are only negations in which the past
ends and the future begins, in which they limit each
other.
40
'Le moment ou je parle est deja loin de moi.'
In fact, we are unable to conceive how we exist, and
speculatively we must admit in its most literal accep-
tation, " victuri semper, vivimus numquam." The
Eleatic Zeno's demonstration of the impossibility of
motion is not more insoluble, than could be framed
a proof, that the present has no reality. For, how-
ever certain we may be of both, we can positively
think neither ; so true is it, as said by St. Augustine,
' What is Time ? if not asked, I know, but attempt-
ing to explain, I know not.'
" Space, extension, or extensive quantity is, in like
manner, a necessary condition of thought, and may
also be considered both in itself, and in the things
which it contains. Considered in itself, space is
positively inconceivable as a whole, either as a whole
either infinitely unbounded, or absolutely bounded
as a part either infinitely divisible, or absolutely in-
divisible. Space is positively conceivable as a mean
between these extremes. In other words, we can
think it either as an indefinite whole, or as an in-
dejfinite part. For thus it is relative.
" The things contained in space may be considered
either in relation to this form, or in relation to each
other. In relation to space, the extension occu-
pied by a thing is called its place, and a thing
changing its place gives the relation of motion in
space. Space itself being always considered as im-
moveable :
' Stabilisque manens dat cuncta moveri.'
41
Considered in relation to each, things spacially are
either inclusive, thus originating the relation of con-
taining and contained, or co-exclusive, thus deter-
mining the relation of position or situation of here
and there.
" Space applies proximately to things considered as
substance, for the qualities of substances though
they are in, may not occupy space. In fact, it is by
a merely modern abuse of the term, that the affec-
tions of extension have been styled qualities. It is
extremely difficult for the human mind to admit the
possibility of unextended substance. * * *
The difficulty of thinking, or rather of admitting
as possible the immateriality of the soul, is shown
by the tardy and timorous manner in which the
inextension of the thinking subject was recog-
nised in the Christian Church. Some of the early
Councils and most of the Fathers maintained the
extended, while denying the corporeal nature of the
spiritual principle ; and though I cannot allow that
Descartes was the first by whom the immateriality
of mind was fully acknowledged, there can be no
doubt that an assertion of the inextension and illo-
cality of the soul was long and very generally
eschewed as tantamount to the assertion that it was
a mere nothing."
These are the chief doctrines of the Hamiltonian
Philosophy intended to be introduced to the notice
of the general reader previous to the subsequent
illustrations. The student of philosophy should not
42
remain content with a fragmentary knowledge, but
examine the whole system. That, however, at pre-
sent is hardly possible, owing to the very polemical
and controversial nature of the Essays in which
the whole system is embodied. Let us hope that
the great philosopher himself will undertake, while
he is still spared to us, to reduce his scattered
materials into a formal and harmonious whole. The
student, in the meantime, may be satisfactorily re-
ferred to the latter part of the Appendix of his last
work, entitled " Philosophical Discussion," first for
an admirable process of reason concerning the origin
of our judgment of cause and effect, a view of the
various theories proposed in explanation, and a clear
explanation of the phenomenon itself. The com-
mencement alone is here given. " The phenomenon
is this ; when aware of a new appearance, we are
unable to conceive that therein has originated any
new existence, and are therefore constrained to
think that what now appears to us in a new form,
had previously an existence under others. These
others are called its cause, and a cause, or more
properly causes, we cannot but suppose ; for a cause
is simply everything without which the effect would
not result, and all such concurring, the effect cannot
but result. We are utterly unable to construe it in
thought as possible that the complement of existence
has been either increased or diminished. We cannot
conceive either on the one hand, nothing becoming
something, or, on the other hand, something becom-
43
ing nothing. When God is said to create the universe
out of nothing, we think this by supposing that he
evolves the universe out of himself, and in like
manner we conceive annihilation only by conceiving
the Creator to withdraw his creation from actuality
into power.
• Nil posse creari
De nihilo neque quod genitum est ad nil revocari.'
'gigni
De nihilo niliil-in nihilum nil posse reverti.'
These lines of Lucretius and Persius enounce a philo-
sophical axiom of antiquity, which, when interpreted
by the doctrine of the conditioned is itself at once
recalled to harmony with revealed truth, and ex
pressing in its purest form the conditions of human
thought, expresses also implicitly the whole intellec-
tual phenomenon of causality."
The doctrine respecting substance and quality,
whether applicable to mind or matter, will be exa-
mined more particularly on a future occasion. Here
it will be sufficient to say that we cannot think a
quality existing absolutely in or of itself. We are
constrained to think it as inhering in some basis,
substratum, hypostasis or substance, but the sub-
stance cannot be conceived by us, except nega-
tively, that is, as the unapparent, the inconceivable
co-relative of certain appearing forms.
44
Summary.
That the facts of consciousness which testify the
existence both of the ego and the non-ego, that is, of
the perceiving mind, and the external object per-
ceived, are to be beheved intuitively, and are prior to
any possible demonstration. That man's power of
thinking is limited by great laws which compel it to
attach time and place to everything thinkable.
That the ideas which we can form respecting time
and place, clearly prove the imbecility of the human
mind, because it fails to realize the truth or false-
hood of two contradictory propositions.
With respect to time the mind is compelled to
acknowledge either that it had a commencement,
or that it had not. But it cannot conceive or realize
in thought, either the commencement or non-com-
mencement of an infinite lapse of ages.
With respect to space, the mind cannot conceive
it either as limited or unlimited, and granting that
the universe occupies space, it cannot conceive
either a limited or unlimited universe ; so that, if
with Aristotle we should conceive the visible crea-
tion to be a hollow sphere, of which the concave
side is studded with fixed stars, we should be still
compelled to think of its convex side, and believe it
to be embosomed in a wider space external to itself.
Hence the mind cannot conceive any magnitude
which may not be regarded as a portion of some-
thing still greater, nor conceive the smallest particle
as not divisible into still smaller atoms.
45
CHAPTER IV.
ON CERTAIN PREFIXES OF COMPOUND WORDS IN
THE CYMRAEG OR WELSH LANGUAGE.
Some six hundred years ago, Giraldus Cambrensis
wrote that the Welsh language was altogether Greek
and Latin. The assertion was too general, nor did
"Welsh scholars accept it as a fact. Those lexico-
graphers, who earlier in the field were not deficient
in classical learning, like Dr. Davies, attempted most
unfortunately to base the Cymraeg upon the Hebrew,
as it might be supposed a more honourable pedigree.
The writers, who at a later period re-examined the
question of the formation and character of the Cym-
raeg ; not being general scholars, foolishly imagined
that it was a language per se, without parentage and
cognation, and only to be explained on its own prin-
ciples, and to be illustrated from its own resources.
This system, supported by the great industry and ill-
guided ingenuity of Dr. Owen Pughe, has exerted a
most baneful effect upon the more modern race of
Welsh scholars, and postponed the truth of the ques-
tion from being established, for no short period.
I must crave the utmost indulgence of the general
reader, and call upon my fellow-countrymen to exer-
cise their utmost acumen, when I submit for their
judicial consideration certain partial observations
46
respecting the nature and peculiarities of the Welsh
tongue.
When these shall have been ascertained, it will
then be interesting to examine into its antiquity, its
probable origin, and the place which it holds in the
history of the civilisation of the human race.
After some doubts, I finally adopted the following
plan to carry my intention into effect. To place be-
fore the reader a list of words, compounded of roots,
and certain prefixes common to the Cymric, and the
Greek and Latin languages, but so compounded as
to prove that the combination proceeded from a
general principle, if not an original identity between
them, and to follow up this analysis with some special
characteristics of the Cymraeg. In writing the Welsh
words, the only deviation from the common ortho-
graphy of the Welsh translation of the Scriptures
will be to replace the double ff by a single f, and to
replace the single f with the v. The character " w "
must be used to represent the vocalic power of the
double " 00," as in " food," and its consonantal
power, as in " wood," " with," " wild," &c.
The first prefix is the prefix " an," or " a " in its
privative sense ; the same with the Greek forms
" av," or " a " corresponding with the Latin " in,"
and with the English " in," or ^* un."
Anair. — From "an " and "gair," a word or name, — infamia.
Anamlwg. — From " an" and " amlwg," made up of " am" round
and " Iwg," corresponding with the root of the
Latin verb " hicco," and the English "look," —
" anamlwg," not visible on all sides — not conspicuous.
47
Anaml. — From "an" and "ami," plentiful, of the same root as
tlie Latin " ampl-us," — rare, scarce.
Ancglur. — From "an" and "eglur," clear, corresponding with
the Latin " clarus," — obscure.
Anvab. — From "an " and " mab," a son, — corresponding with
the Greek " aTrats," childless.
Anvad. — From " an " and " mad," good^ — bad, useless.
Anveidrol. — From "an" and "meidrol," measurable, — the same
as the Greek " afx^Tpov," Latin, immensurabilis.
Anverth. — From " an " and " bert," pretty, — ugly, not "pnrfi/"
Anvodd. — From "an" and bodd," willingness, — corresponding
with the Latin "invito," "o i vodd," "secundum
ejus votum," according to his will.
Anvoes. — From "an" and "moes," plural "moesau," manners,
morals, — unmannered, " anvoesoldeb," immorality.
Anfawd. — From "an" and " fawd," fortune, the same as the
Latin " fatum," — a misfortune.
Angall. — From "an" and " call," wise, — non callidus, foohsh,
"sine caUiditate."
Anglod. — From "an" and "clod," praise, glory, — "sinelaude,"
" clodvawi'," of great praise, laud-atus.
Anghov. — From "an" and " cov," literally a hoUow, a cave,
metaphorically the memory, the room where aU
remembrances are stored up, — oblivion.
Anhap. — From "an" and "hap," chance. — Thus Merddin,
from his supposed birth, was called " anhap y
lleian," the Nun's Mishap.
Anhawdd. — From "an" and "hawdd," easy, — wieasy, difficult.
Anhun. — From " an " and " hun," sleep, — " a\nrvo% avcv vttt-ov,"
"Somnus is another form of "vttv-os," "in-
somnis."
Annhervynol. — From "an" and "tei-vyn," a boundary — inter-
minable, "sine termino."
48
Anniben. — From ".in" find "diben," more properly " dyben,"
from "dy" and "pen," the head, the end. — "An-
niben," signifies infinite, both in power and form, as
"finis" is only a Latin form of "pen." "Pen" and
" tir," land, are thus compounded — "kin," "kan,"
and "ken," are Gaelic forms of the Cymric " pen"
Cantire,
Kintire, '\
Terr-a-cin-a, / Land's end, headland,
Pentir, > Promontory.
Finisterre, \
And perhaps K-qv-aia j
Annysg. — From "an" and " dysg," " disciplina,"— untaught.
Anorphen — From "an" and "gorphen," — endless.
Auras. — From "an" and " gr^s," "gratia," — "sine gratia,"
graceless.
Anrhaith. — From "an" and "rhaith," legal rights and privi-
leges. — It means the violation of these, and hence
is used to describe plunder, pillage, and illegal acts
of aD kinds, Latin "ritus."
Anrlied. —From " an " and " rhed," a course from the verb
"rhedeg" to run. — It means a stoppage of some-
tliing that ought to be in motion ; from " rhed ' came
the Latin "word "rheda," a chariot, and the Welsh
"rhod," "rota," a wheel, on the same principle
that "currus" was formed from " curro," and the
Greek " Tpoxos" from " Tpexw."
Anwadal. — From " an " and " gwaddu," the sole of the foot, —
unstable, having no solid footing, no footing on the
" solum." Hence wavering, vacillating.
Anwar. — From "an" and " gwar," civilised, the contrary of
" gwyllt," wild — " gwyllt," and " gwar," the tame
and the savage.
Anweii. — From "an" and "gweli," to weave — to unweave;
"gweu " is a great root, of which " et/xa " " vestis"
web, woof, &c. are derivative forms. " Vieo, vievi,"
are old Latin forms.
49
Anyscog. >— From "an" aud "yscog," to shog or move — im-
movable, not to be shocked.
Examples might be multiplied " ad infinitum," but
the above will suffice to show the intimate connec-
tion of the general privative prefix, with the original
formation of the Cymraeg. Every form of its com-
bination with the root will be seen in the above list,
except when it takes the form of " av " before the
letters L and R.
The preposition "cyd," also "gyd" and "gyda,"
agrees in meaning with the Greek prepositions "Ew"
and " ot;^'," and the Latin " cum," as " aw aoi,"' or
"toi," "tecum," "gyda thi," with thee, or together
with thee. As a prefix in composition, it varies ac-
cording to the letter which immediately follows, and
is seen as " cy," " cyd," " cy v," " cyf," " cym,"
" cyn," " cys," and " cyt," and is as abundantly used
in the cymraeg as " aw " and " cum," with their
varying forms, are used in the Greek and Latin
languages.
Cyd-cerdd. — From "cyd" and "cerdd," a song, — in Latin
" con-cent-US," but as the Latin " canmen " became
for euphony " carmen," so " concentus " of the
Latins became the " concerto " of the Italian lan-
guage. The Cymraeg still retains the " can " as
well as the " cerdd," and " cyd-ganu,'' "concinere,"
to sing together, is in common use.
Cyd-ol. — From "cyd" and "oil," and "holl," the same word as
the "oXos"of the Greeks, the obsolete "soll-us"
of the Latins, and the "whole" of the English. — The
EngHsh "all-together," and the Greek " cruv-oAos,"
are the same in substance and in meaning with
" eydol."
E
50
Cyd-radd. — From " Cyd" and "gradd" grade, station, degree, —
of the same rank. " Gradd " is the same word as the
Latin "Gradus," and corresponding with the Latin
"Gressus," is the Cymric "grisiau," stairs, steps
upwards. Hence " di-raddu," to degrade, to make
one descend from a higher to a lower step.
Cyddrychiol and Cyndrychiol. — From "cyd" and " drychiol,"
visible from " drych," a sight, a look ; — it means in
mutual sight. Hence "pawb yn cyndrychiol," all
present ; " drych " has the same root as " SepKOfxai
e-SpaKov," I saw; " Spey-jxa" is the same word as
"drych."
Cyvar. — From "cyd" and "ar," ploughed land; — "aru," to
plough, Greek " apoetv," Latin " aro," old Eng-
Hsh to "ear," were aU handed down from primitive
times with singular purity. "Tir-ar," " Terra-arata."
Cyval. — From " cyd " and " mal," " like to," " such as," — appa-
rently the original form of the Latin " qualis,"
Greek " 6t-os," and " 770105," an " ottoiios." As
" taUs " was the undoubted archaic form of " rot-os,"
so it is almost certain that "quahs" represented
the three cognate forms of the Greek.
Cyvaredd. — From "cyd" and " aredd," the same word as
"arawd" and " araith," speech, utterance, eloquence;
Latin "orat-io." — Cyvaredd means a formula, espe-
cially magical charms and incantations, " words of
power."
Cyveb. — From "cyd" and " eb," a foal, — a mare in foal.
The Cymric " eb," longer form, "ebol," is the
same word as the Greek " t7r7r-os ;" the Latin
" Equ-us ;" the Gaelic " each," a horse. From
Epona, the patroness of stables, it may be inferred
that the Latins once wrote "equus" with a "P."
The Gallic word "Eporhedia" was connected with
the war-chariot of the Gauls. Hence " Epo-redo-
rix," a Gallic name, might fairly be translated
"king, or chief of the horse-cars or cliariots."
51
" The constabularius," the master of the horse,
the marischalk. " Rig," is a common word for a
king in the older language of the Britons.
Cyvedd. — From "cyd" and "medd," English "mead," answer-
ing to the Greek " fxeOv;" — fi'om "medd," comes
the verb "meddwi," the Greek " fxedv-eiv." Hence
" cyvedd," to drink mead together, " a-vfxfxeOv-etv,"
which often ended in excess, and "cyveddach," revelry.
Cyveisor. — From "cyd" and " eisor," an equal, the same as
the Homeric "«cros." — Hence "cyveisor," of the
same rank, " (ruv-etcros."
Cyveliu. — From " cyd" and "elin," the upper arm, the same as
the "coA.ev-0?," of the Greeks, the "ulna" of the
Latins ; " cyvelyn " is the distance between the
elbow (ellen-bogen) and the top of the middle finger.
The Cymric name for the elbow is "penelin," the
head of the " elin," or fore-arm. In the same man-
ner the knee is called "pen-glun" from "clun,"
the portion between the hip-joint and the knee.
Cyviawn. — From "cyd" and "iawn," even, straight, right, —
compounded with "un," one, it becomes "uniawn,"
perfectly straight, " Gwr cyviawn," the just man
who walks uprightly, " Cyviawnder," righteousness.
" lawn," the substantive means compensation, satis-
faction.
Cyviawn. — From "cyd" and "llawn," full, complete; "Uawn"
is the same word as the Latin "plen-us," Greek
" 7rA.T7p-os." — "Cy>4awnu," to fidfil, "cyviawnder,"
completion.
Cyvled.— From "cyd" and "lied," "latitudo,"— "aequelatus,"
of the same breadth. Hence "cyvledu," to make
broader, "dilatare"
Cyvnod. — From "cyd" and "nod," Latin "nota," a mark or
sign.-— Hence "cyvnod," a time marked out between
two or more, an assignation.
E 2
52
Cyvod. — We have this compound in the present form as well as
"cydvod " and " cymmod," being together.
Cyvor. — From "cyd" and "or," the edge or brim of anything. —
This " or " is the Greek " 6p-ow."
The Latin and the Cymraeg display a still greater
similarity in the several forms of the pluperfect sub-
jective. Thus : —
CjTuraeg. — " Pe buaswn," "pe buasit," " pe buasai."
"Pe buasem," "pe buasech," "pe buasent."
Latin. — " Si fuissem," "sifuisses," "sifuisset."
" Si fuissemus," " si fuissetis," " si fuissent."
The imperative mood is identical with the future.
" Bydd," be thou. " Byddwch," be ye.
"With this peculiarity that the third person of the
82
future does duty for the §econd person imperative.
So also in the regular verb,
" car," lie will love, indicative,
"car," love tliou, cerwch, love ye.
" Bod,'' the infinitive in a single form for all
tenses, is one of the most important words in the
language, and at once necessarily connects existence
with locality. It is generally translated as a verb,
" to be," " to exist," and as a substantive, " a being,"
or " existence," also " a dwelling," or " a place of
existence," also " a station in life." Thus " Bod
Edern," " Bod Eon," " Bod Organ." The mansions
or abodes of "Edern," "Eon," and "Organ."
" Havod," a summer residence, from "Hav"and
" bod." In " Havdre," " tre" replaces " Bod."
The conception of any "bod," without a relation
to place, is not to be realised by the human mind.
If it thinks anything existent, it must think of it as
existent in some place. Hence, in the Cymraeg,
the double meaning of " Bod," both existence and
place.
The Cymraeg has no simple participial form under
this verb. " He is existing," is expressed by the
form " Mae eve yn bod." " He is in existence,"
which is in truth a very expressive predicate.
Among the most striking characteristics of the
Cymraeg is the numerous class of verbs compounded
of " bod " and various prefixes, and strictly following
the forms of the simple substantive verb, of which
class these are leading examples.
83
Canvod
Hanvod .
Darvod
Gorvod
Cyvarvod
Dyvod
Nabod
Gwybod
And first of " canvod," immediate or intuitive
perception. Fortunately for the right view of things,
in the Cyraraeg the senses and the intellect have
their own separate terms, both general and particular.
From the root " syn," cognate with English " sense,"
Latin " sensus," spring —
Syniad ^
and /■ Sensation.
Syniant J
Syniedig — The sensible ; comprehended by the sense.
Syniawl — The sensible ; able to comprehend by the sense.
Synioldeb i
and r Sensibihty.
Syniolder ^
Cam-syniad — A wrong sensation.
Ym-syniad — Reflective action of the sensitive power.
Cyd-seiniad — Consent ; "consensus."
It cannot be denied that these words are often, in
common use, applied to the operations of the intel-
lect, but still they are valuable whenever precision
of speech is necessary respecting the classes of
thought represented by the Greek "aio-^T^ra" and
a "
vor]Ta.
" Syn " and " synu " have a peculiar meaning,
which expresses the stupefaction which ensues when
G 2
84
the sensation is overpowering — so strong as for the
moment to depose the reasoning power. In this
sense '^ synu " agrees in form with the Enghsh verb
" to stun," or " to be stunned," and the Latin " atto-
nitus," represents the same effect as the consequence
of the loud roar of thunder. " Syn " is compounded
with " gwyr," a very anomalous word, which signifies
" he knows." Hence " synwyr," plural " synwyrau,"
the favourite appellation for good or common sense,
in opposition to sensation or the mere affection of
the senses. Dr. Pughe translates " synwyr " rational
sense, and quotes a line from an ancient poem, which
says : —
" Nid o son y daw synwyr."
" Not from sound will tlie " synwyr " come."
The five senses have also their special terminology,
as " gwel," sight, sense of seeing, " visus," whence
spring —
Gweled — To see,
Gwelediad ^
and > A view or vision.
Gwelediant j
Gweledig — Visible, seen.
And "clyw," the sense of hearing, whence spring —
Clywedawg %
and V Audible, sonorous, heard.
Clywedig j
But it should be remarked, that " clywad " and
" clywed " have both a general and particular mean-
ing, and are applied to express the action of every
85
sense but sight. Hence " clywed bias," to taste ;
" clywed dolur," to feel a pain ; " clywed Uais/' to
hear a voice. On a similar principle, the Greek
words " atwv," " aicra," ' aiaOavofxai^^ and '^ atcr^iyo-is,"
seem to be derived from the Homeric '" aiw," I
hear ; and hence the Greek doctrine, that " vovi "
was more intimately connected with what was heard
than with what was seen.
" Chw^aeth," taste or savour, whence spring —
Chwaetliiad — A savour.
Chwaeth — Palatable .
Chwaethu — To taste.
Chwaetbedig — Sensible to the taste, tast-ed.
" Archwaeth " and " Bias " are used in a similar
manner, and it is remarkable that the Cymraeg has
no example of the abuse of language, such as is
seen in the Latin words " sapere " and " sapientia,"
and the English expression, " a man of taste."
And " arogyl," the sense of smell, a scent or
odour, whence come —
Arogli — To smeU, or to emit an odour.
Arogliad — Tbe sensation of smelling.
Arogledd — Odour, scent, or smell.
Arogledig — Capable of being smelt, endued with the
power of smelling, smelt.
The words for taste and smell, in the Cymraeg,
are sometimes confounded, both in an objective and
subjective sense, with each other. Thus " sawyr,"
or "sawr," identical with the Latin "sapor," English
" savour," is used indifferently, to express both taste
and odour, and the words themselves generally mean
86
that a steam or blast arising from some external
object, strikes the organ and causes sensation.
Hence '^gwynt," the wind, is a common word for
scent, or odour.
And, lastly, " Teimyl," the sense of feeling, whence
come —
Teimliad n
Teimledd f The sensation of feeling, or
and C touching.
Teimlad )
Teimladawl — Of a feeUng nature.
Teimladwy — Capable of being felt, and of feeling.
Teimledig — Being felt, being touched.
The numerous compounds are used to express not
only the sensations proper under this head, but what
are called in English the finer feelings, the internal
emotions ; hence " ymdeimlad," the feeling within
oneself; " cyd-deimlad," a fellow-feeling, sympathy.
There is also another word in the Cymraeg con-
nected with touch, which requires illustration. This
is found in four forms in our dictionaries, as —
Cyhwrdd,
Cyvwrdd.
Cyfwrdd.
Cwrdd,
It is compounded of " cyd " and " hwrdd," an
impulse or imi)act. It is apparently the root of the
English words " to hurt," and to hurtle ; " Ymhwrdd,"
to make a mutual assault, such as when two rams
meet Hence the common name of a ram in Cym-
raeg is " Hwrdd." " Cyhwrdd " and " cyvwrdd "
mean, therefore, first, collision between two bodies
87
and, secondly, that modification of touch, if a modi-
fication it can be called, rather than a separate sense,
by which the mind is made aware of an external
object which resists or comes in collision with its
bodily organs. Sir William Hamilton thus describes
the feeling and the process — " When I am conscious
of the exertion of an enorganic volition to move,
and aware that my muscles are obedient to my will,
but at the same time aware that my limb is arrested
in its motion by some external impediment. In
this case, I cannot be conscious of myself, as the
resisted relative, without at the same time being
conscious of being immediately percipient of a not-
self as the resisting correlative. In this cognition
there is no sensation. * =* I simply know myself as a
force in energy, the not-self as a counter-force in
energy."
" Cynt cyliwrdd dau ddyn na dau vynydd."
" Sooner will collide two men than two mountains."
In the corrupted form of " cwrdd," it retains two
cognate significations ; thus, " cwrdd a vi " may be
equally translated " touch me," or " meet me ;"
" T5^ cwrdd," a meethig-house."
The future indicative of all the verbs of sense are
formed by simply adding the verb of motion to the
root, as —
Syniar .... Syniant
Gwelav
. Gwelaut
Clywav
. Clywant
Teimlav .
. Teimlant
Chwaethav
. Chwaethant
Aroglav
. Aroglant
88
While " Canvod " and its cognates add both the verb
of existence and motion to make the same future, as —
" Canvyddav," " canvyddi," " cenvydd," "canvyddwn,"
" canvyddwch," " canvyddant."
And express their perfect tenses by the persons of
" Bum," as —
"Canvum," "canvuost," "cauvu," "canvuom," "canvuoch,"
" cauvuont."
The root of " canvod " must, therefore, be un-
doubtedly " can " or " cen," the same root as the
English " ken," signifying both knowledge and sight,
but sight only, in as far as it is a synonym for
knowledge. With a Scotsman, " I do not ken,''' is
always equivalent to I do not know, as the phrase
beyond mortal " ken " means " beyond the cogni-
sance of mortals." In the present tense indicative,
we have ''' canwyv," " I perceive," and " cenyw,"
" he will perceive ;" even " cen " itself is used for
" canvu," he perceived.
" Nid hawdd canvod a vydd."
" Not easy to perceive what will be."
i.e., the future, and —
" ganvod y gwybodau y tardd serch."
" From the perception of the sciences will spring 'serch.' "
Hence to discover, to perceive first, as
" A ganvu America."
•' Who discovered America ? "
These are derivatives : —
89
Cauvodiad .... perception
Canvodadwy .... perceptible
Canvodrwydd .... perceptibility
It would be easy to show that the roots of most
words signif}dng knowledge in the Greek, Latin, and
English languages are these, " can/' or " cen," which
in the Gwyddeleg and the Cymraeg, signify a head
or source. It takes a softer form, as in " yev,"
the root of " yv-wo-o/xat" and the Homeric " yv-ui"
" He knew," and is represented in Latin by the " n '*
alone in " nosco " and " novi," although we know
from their compounds that the " G " had only fallen
into disuse, as practically the " K " has done in the
English " know," pronounced "' no."" Probably " vovs"
has suffered a similar contraction, as may be inferred
from the still surviving " ayiota." It is also curious
that the Socratic theory, which made " yvwo-ts" only
a mode of "yev-eo-is," can be illustrated from the
close connection between the Latin words " nascor "
and " nosco," whence sprung " nati " and " noti," in
older form " gnati " and " gnoti," as may also be
seen in " cognati " and " cogniti." Two compounds
of " Canvod " are —
Arganvod . . a clear perception
Dirganvod . a true perception ; from "dir," true
These strictly retain the proper meaning of the
simple, and describe the operation by which the
" ego " becomes immediately sensible of the " non-
ego," as perception accompanies sensation, where
the object is material.
90
The second word, " Hanvod," presents great diffi-
culties, as the idea represented by it is not easily
ascertained. As a noun, it is translated by Pughe
" existence, being, essence." — The very words
which we find under the simple " Bod." — As a
verb, he translates it " to be, to exist, to become
existent, to proceed from, to descend." The root
" Han," which Dr. Davies had seen twice in its
uncompounded state, and which he regarded the
same in meaning as " Hanes," may be illustrated by
the latter word, which Richards thus explains,
" Hanes," " history, a narrative, an intelligence, also
the being or existence of a thing, also knowledge
and invention of a thing."
As a noun, it seems to me to intimate that
there was a state of existence, " whence flowed in
an unbroken series, the long procession of all."
" Quae sint, quae fuerint, quae mox ventura trahantur,"
and which it would need a Proteus to unravel.
" Mor athrist ydyw ein bod ni wedi bychanu a
dwyn mor isel ein eneidiau, y rhai a hanasant o'r
nev."
" How sad it is that we have degraded and
brought so low our souls, which originally proceeded
from heaven,"
We can say, in a particular sense, " O vrenhines
i'th ganwyd," from a queen you were born ; but
the phrase, "O vrenhinoedd i'th hanwyd" would
be " from kings you derive your origin."
The future is equally described by the word, for we
91
can properly say " hany}^ddav," " I will become,"
and " eve a hanvydd gwaeth," " he will become
worse." In this sense, it is rarely, if ever, used to
describe any material change, either for the better
or the worse. Its derivatives are very numerous
and more intelligible, as —
HaiiYodiad . . .a becoming existent
Although it is difficult to distinguish the peculiar
force of such a word when thus used. " Duw a voler
yn e'i briodolderau sev e'i hanvodiad er tragwyddoldeb
ac hyd yn eithav tragwyddoldeb." God is praised
in his properties, his " hanvodiad " since tragwyd-
doldeb to extreme, " tragwyddoldeb" (eternity). The
word seems to add to the idea of eternal existence,
which may be conceived as stationary, a certain
movement from an unlimited past to an unlimited
future. Pughe translates the theological expression
"yr undawd hanvodawl," the hypostatic union,
without any authority. As he also gives the word
" hypostasis " as the sole translation of " hanvo-
doldeb " and " hanvodoledd." There seems to be
no class of words in any western language which
will adequately express " hanvod " and its deriva-
tives, such as — — .
HanbwyU
Hanred
Gohanred, Src.
The idea of materiality is absolutely excluded
where " Hanvodoldeb " is predicted of the Godhead.
Darvod, an end, a cessation from existence.
92
" Mae e gwedi darvod," he is after existence, or
existing, i.e., " he is dead." The verb is translated
by Pughe " to cease to be, to conclude, to finish."
The meaning of the root " dar " in this compound is
uncertain. We have " dar," an oak, and " y dar,"
the thunder-bolt, and " dar," a prefix of ambiguous
power. In some respects, the simple and compound
may signify the same, as "bu iddo vyned" and
"darvu iddo vyned," it happened to him to go,
" darvu am dano," he is dead. " Troia a vu," " Troja
fuit."
*' Darvu megys ar dervyn
Y dydd, velly dervydd dyn."
" The day has ceased, as it were, at a terminus,
and so man will cease to be." See " diwedd."
Gorvod, the fourth word, is more inteUigible. Its
root '' gor " indicates superiority ; whence " gorau,"
the best, answering in meaning to the Latin " su-
premus." Thus " Gorvyddav," " superabo," I will
vanquish or subdue ; but the more common meaning
of the word is action under compulsion, whether
that be a necessity or moral and legal obligation, as
"gorvod ciliaw," compelled to give way, "gorvod
credu," bound to believe, "gorvod marw," sure to
die. It passed to express the compulsory obligations
of law, as " gorvod gweithred," to make satisfaction
for damage done, &c. Pughe translates " gorvod,"
" the state which impels obligation and submission,
necessity." " Bod " and " gorvod " are often con-
joined, and seem to indicate not only absolute exist-
93
ence, but the laws within which its action is limited.
From it we have a long family of derivatives, such
as —
Gorvodadwy
Gorvodedig
Gorvodiad .
Anonodadwy
Anorvodedig
Anorvodiad
superable
vanquished
compulsion
insuperable
not vanquished
an escape from compulsion
Cyvarvod, the fifth word, is compounded of the
three roots " cvy," " ar," and "bod." "Arvod"
literally means " on being," or " close to being," and
is translated by Pughe, " convenient time," oppor-
tunity, " occasion." " Rhaid arvaeth cael arvod," " a
purpose must have its 'Kaipos,' its nick of time."
" Arvod " has no corresponding verb from the same
root, except " cyvarvod."
" Cyvarvod," as a noun, means the point where two
or more converging lines meet ; as applicable to ma-
thematical diagrams as to physical concurrents. It is
equally applicable to a warlike encounter, and to a
peaceable convention. Hence " cyvarvod cedwyr,"
the warrior's shock of battle, and "Ty cyvarvod,"
the peaceful meeting-house. In the older writers, it
is used in the sense of the Latin impersonal verbs
" accidit " and " contigit," as " cyvarvu iddo ymweled
ai vam." " He happened to visit his mother." Its
derivatives are neither numerous nor important.
" Cyvarvodawl " is translated conventional.
" Dy vod is compounded of the prefix " dy " and
" bod." Pughe translates it " to be, to come to pass,
94
to become." It is very irregular, and partly borrows
its tenses from a root cognate with the thema of the
Greek " Sevre," " come ye on," of which the future
tense is in common use, as —
"Deuav," " deiii," "daw," " deuwn," " deuwch," "deuant."
But these forms never bear any other signification
than that of the Latin *^' venio." But the verb
" dyvod " borrows the terminations of the substan-
tive verb. Thus " dybum," " I have come, or have
been." " Dyvu," or " dybu," " he has been, or he
came." Thus '* dilyw a ddyvu dydd brawd a ddyvi,"
which might be adequately translated " the deluge
has been, the judgment day will be." The remark
may be repeated which has been made before ; that
the ancients used " bi " instead of " b^dd," as above,
where a " ddyvi " is used for a " ddyvydd," and
Taliesin writes " nid vu, nid vi ei cyveisor." " There
has not been, nor will there be his equal." The
same " dy," which is the prefix in " dyvod," is
also prefixed to " darvod," as " dyddarvod," with-
out adding to the power. Hence we have not
only " dervi " for " dervydd," " advi " for " advydd,"
" deuvi " for " deuvydd," but also " dyddervi " for
" dyddervydd."
Again, " Handdyvod," compounded from " Han "
and "dyvod," is used with the same power as
" Hanvod ; " as " Handyvyddi," thou wilt become,"
" Handyvydd," he will become.
Among other compounds of " bod," we have
95
the verb "cydvod/' to be together, and its nouns
"cydvod," "cymmod," and "cyvod" and "cysbod."
" Cysbod " has, however, a peculiar meaning, signi-
fying not only co-existence, but also suffering, with
derivatives,
Cysbodawl ..... endurance
Cysbodiad ..... suffering
all originally signifying a being together. " Cyvod "
is supposed to have acquired a secondary meaning,
equivalent to a rising, whence " cyvodi," to rise ; but
" adgyvodi," and " adgyvodiad," which are generally
translated " to rise again," and the " resurrection,"
may be more faithfully rendered " to be together
again," " the reunion of what was separated." We
have also "dadvod," as in the following maxim,
" nid bod ond yr hwn nis gellir dadvod arno."
" There is no real being except that which cannot
have a re-being, and that is God." And " advod,"
both as a noun and verb, as " advod," a second being
or existence, and " exist again," as " advyddav, Nav"
" I shall exist again. Lord."
" Clybod " may also be added to the compounds
of " bod," perhaps on the principle that the " clyw,"
the sense of hearing, had comprehended under it
all the senses but sight, and was, therefore, more
honourable. " Nabod," and its compound " ad-
nabod," are postponed for future examination.
Lastly, we have to examine " Gwybod," the most
interesting if not the most important word in the
list. With respect to its composition, I shall,
at the present point of the question, assume that
the prefix " Gwy " (pronounced gwee) is a merely
96
contracted form of " Gwydd " (pronounced Gweeth)
on the same principle that " Bydd " (pronounced
beeth) was contracted into "hi" (pronounced bee).
It will, therefore, be necessary to understand the
various meanings of this root. " Pwy a amgyvred
gwydd," " who can understand ' gwydd ?' " says Talie-
sin, and undoubtedly the question needs an inter-
preter ; nor among various meanings is it easy to
fix upon a primary. Here, however, follow the
three most important —
Gwydd . . trees, shrubs, wood, greenwood,
timber, weeds
Gwydd . . presence, sight, knowledge
Gwydd . . a wise man, a sage
And first of " Gwydd," trees, shrubs, as " gwyn-
wydd," " vineta," " Rhoswydd," " roseta." Hence
the adjective " gwydd," "woody," wild, silvan, savage,
as " tir gwydd," bush land, land untilled, " Gwydd-
vil," " a wild beast," hence " Gwyddaw," " to get over-
grown with wood." The older poets conjoin " Gwellt,"
grass, with " Gwydd." Thus, Taliesin, " Bum
ymghaer velenydd yt gryssyntg wellt a gwydd," " I
have been in Caervelenydd, there hastened " gwellt,"
and " gwj^dd," to form a convention of trees.
From " gwydd," wood, came " gwydd-arad," a
plough, a wooden plough ; " gwydd," a weaver's
loom, and " gw^^dd," a wooden tablet to write upon,
as —
" Llawer arver a oi-vydd
Llun ei gorf wrth ddarllain gwydd."
" Many a shape will assume
His bodily form while reading 'gwydd.* "
97
It has been disputed whether "gwydd," with this
meaning, was derived from " gwydd," trees, supposed
to have served as representatives of an alphabet, or
from wooden staves and tablets. It is curious that
" gwydd," in this sense, and the Latin " liber " and
" codex," and probably the Saxon " book " had all
their origin in trees and their materials.
" Gwydd " ... presence, sight
" Gwyddaw" . . to become perceptible, or visible
"Yngliwydd" . . in presence of
"O'm gwydd," . . from my sight
The two last vary in common pronunciation from
the preceding, but the ancient, and even modern
poets, prove the identity of the two thus : —
" Beirdd ai gwawd beraidd i w gwydd,
Berwllawn a bair llawenydd."
From " gwydd," presence, also present time, comes
" gwyddva," a place of presence, an eminence where
bardic meetings were held, an artificial mound or tu-
mulus, from which speeches were made, and instruc-
tion publicly given. Divine worship was as habitually
celebrated in Britain by all the Celtic races on the
mount and on high places, as under the oriental
skies. Hence " Ben-na-di," the hill of God (now
Benledi), and " Dun-ira," the mount of prayer and
praise in Scotland, and the highest point of the
" Eryri " range is still called " Yr wyddva." From
the secondary meaning came a third, by which a
burying-place, and a sepulchre, or tomb, obtained the
name of " gwyddva," probably because bodies were
98
interred in " bergs," " burrows," " tumuli." In
more ancient times the " carnau," or " carneddau,"
of chiefs were often erected on the highest and most
conspicuous heights in the vicinity. When the
Cymry became Christians, and field burials ceased,
the word still remained, and was transferred to the
churchyard cemetery. Thus a law of Hywell de-
cides a doubtful question, by saying, " Let her bring
her son to the church where his ' wyddva' may be."
" Gwyddvan," " gwyddle," and "gvvyddgrug" are
used equally with " gwyddva ;" and Mold, in Flint-
shire, called by the Normans " Mont-haut, " Mons
Altus," is to this day called by the Cymry "Y
wyddgrug," the conspicuous mount.
From " Gwydd," knowledge, come
Gwyddad. — An attainment of knowledge.
Gwyddain. — A source of knowledge.
Gwyddawl. — Full of knowledge, wise.
Gwyddawr. — A rudiment, plural " Gwyddorion " and " Egwyd-
dorion." The elements of knowledge, from the
elements of Euclid down to the hornbook, equally
called " Egwyddorion." Hence the verbs " Gwydd-
awr" and " Egwyddori," to give knowledge and
primary instruction.
Gwyddbwyll. — Compounded of "gwydd" and "pwyll," reason,
cautious calculation ; but should " gwydd " be
translated table, then "gwyddbwyU" should be
translated the chess-board, or table of cautious
calculation. But should "gwydd" be translated
"knowledge," or "science," then "gwyddbwyll"
should be translated " scientific knowledge," no
unlucky epithet for the game of chess, which even
Liebnitz wished to elevate into a science. And the
99
latter is the undoubted translation, as we have the
chess-board called "clawr y wyddbwyll," and the
chessmen " Gwerin y wyddbwyll," the warriors of
the same. It is worthy of note that the game now
called '• back-gammon " derived its name from the
Cymric " Bach-cammwn," " the small contest,"
probably in comparison with the nobler game of
chess.
Gwydd. — A sage, a wise man. We have, also, " gwyddon," and
" gwyddion " in the plural, " sages." " Bryn
gwyddon," " the mount of the wise men," " nant y
gwyddon," the brook of the "gwyddon," and
" craig y gwyddon," " their rock," all local appella-
tions in Wales.
There is also a mythical personage called
" Gwyddon ganhebon." This epithet is compounded
of "can," bright, and "hebon" words. In one
triad, he, together with " Hu Gadarn " and " Tydain,"
the father of song, is described as a regulator of the
song and memory of the race of the Cymry, and in
another triad, one of the chief works of the Island
of Britain, is called " the stones of Gwyddon Gan-
hebon," on which might be read all the arts and
sciences of the world.
Gwydd. — Must also have once existed in the Gymraeg as a third
person singular of a verb, for we still jRnd ii-regular
persons from this root, as " gwyddost " thou knowest,
"Gwyddon," we know, "gwyddoch," ye know,
" gwyddant," they know. But the first person in
use is " gwn," instead of "gwyddav " and "gwyr,"
instead of "gwydd."
And here it may be relevant to state certain facts
connected with comparative philology, which deserve
H 2
100
the attention of all lovers of that study in connection
with the history of mankind. The first is, that there
appears to be an identity between the Cymric word
"Gwydd," and the Greek "iSv?," the more ancient
word used to express the thing which was afterwards
named "vAr?," in Greek, and " sylva " in Latin. " 1S77,"
"vXr]," and "gwydd," originally signified "trees" or
" wood," and were secondarily used to denominate
what is now called " matter," a name borrowed from
the Greek "[MaTrjp," through the Latin " materia," of
which we know little but that it is a " To aXXo," differ-
ing from something in us which constitutes ourselves.
This terminology belongs to the Italian school of
Philosophers who held that the active and passive
principles in nature bore some analogy to a father
and mother. But the " magna mater " was especially
the Goddess '' AT^/xTjnyp," mother earth., " v '^rjrrjp iSaia,"
the Hellenic myth, which personified the secondary
meanings of " %," " ^At;," and "sylva." The Latin
myths "rhea," " sylvia," and "Ilia," represent the
same primary matter, the " fxrjTipa fxrjXwv," the " /xrjrepa
O-qpuiv," the "p-yf^pa Trjdvv," of Homcr.
We know from the testimony of Priscian, that
none of the Western languages, with the exception
of the Greek and Latin, had case-terminations. We
also know that if we can trust to the pronunciation
of the present Greeks, "IS" without its termination
would be pronounced "' eeth," and we also know that
in ancient times words with this root, once had a
" digamma," which, as a name, can be only applicable
101
to the Cymric " gw." Thus the Cymric word " gwin,"
pronounced " gween," Latin " vinum," retains that
" gamma " which the reformers of the Greek alphabet
rejected. Thus also the same digamma which appears
in its original form in " gwydd/' has no visible exis-
tence in modern Greek.
The " digamma " we know was once prefixed to
the cognate verb, as seen in the Greek " etS-w," Latin
" video," I see or know. Hence the ancient " rotSa/^ev,"
"ToiBaTe," ToL8avr-i," or " acn," liave their comparative
representatives in " gwyddom," " gwyddoch," "gwyd-
dant." English scholars should request a modern
Greek to enunciate the above words, before they ven-
ture to deny their identity with Cymric forms.
We have now to examine a list of words com-
pounded of " gwydd," with certain prefixes. These
are —
Arwydd.
Cyvarwydd.
Rhagarwydd.
Celwydd.
Dedwydd.
Derwydd.
Cywydd.
Tragywydd.
And first of " Arwydd," compounded of " ar " and
" gwydd." Of the meaning there is no doubt, it in-
dicates the same idea as the Greek words " ^rjfxeiov, Tcpas,"
and the Latin " signa, omina." Hence it is translated,
a sign, token, or proof, an ensign, banner, or colours.
But we cannot be sure of its specific meaning, as it
102
might designate something in immediate prospect,
indicated by something present. It might be some-
thing visible on the face of nature which could be in-
terpreted by the wise, (in both which cases, it would
coincide with the Latin " monstrum," '^ prodigium,"
" portentum," and " ostentum"), or be certain marks
on the " gwydd " rods, divining sprigs, or on the
" coelbren," the omen-stick or staff. Signs and
omens were anciently derived from all these sources,
and might be generally denominated " arwyddon."
From it are derived —
Cyvarwydd. — Compounded of " cyd " and " ai'wydd," a man well
skilled in the doctrines of signs and omens, who can
go along with them and duly explain them. He is
to be classed with the "//.avrts," of the Greeks and
the " augur " of the Latins. Nor should we wonder
if in later days, a "gwr cyvarwydd," should have
become a common term for a rustic " Tctpco-ias,"
the cunning man or conjuror. " Arwyddvardd " was
the officer who latterly performed the duty of
herald, and recorded arms and pedigrees.
Cyvarwyddaw. — The verb signifies to render skilful, to give expe-
rience, to direct or guide.
Cyvarwyddawr. — An instructor, a guider, a director in the sense
of a family confessor.
Rhagarwydd. — Compounded of " rhag," Latin "prae," and
"arwydd."
And secondly, of '*' celwydd," compounded of
" celu," to conceal, and " gwydd," knowledge. It is
impossible to examine the remains of our ancient
language without being reminded that it was con-
nected with a system of esoteric secrecy, which
103
shunned the light and grudged knowledge to t]ae
mass of the people, to whom the priest could well
address the Horatian phrase, —
" Odi profanum valgus et arceo,"
and excommunicate the man who might have pub-
lished the " arcanum," known only to the initiated.
" Celwydd " might therefore have once been a sacred
duty, especially as we have in the true reading of a
line ascribed to Llywarch Hen, the following defini-
tion, —
" Gwaith celwydd yw celu rhin."
"The work of " celwj'dd " is to conceal " rhin,"
Now *' rhin " was the especial word used to denomi-
nate the mysterious secrets which were to be with-
held from publication. As the doctrines of the Druids
were embodied in gnomic verses, we may be sure
that the " rhin " was also committed to verse, and
that power was supposed to accompany the know-
ledge of them. Hence " rhiniau," the plural, agreeing
to a certain extent with the Scandinavian " Runes,"
became chanr^s and incantations. At a later period
they became sorceries, and as such were condemned
by the Christian Church. " Celwydd " suffered a
like fate, and is an opprobrious term answering to
the English " lie," the Latin " mendacium." The
refusal to divulge what we know, is regarded by most
men as the most venial offence against truth, while
"celwydd" has lost its comparative veniality, and
now represents " the lie " in its most virulent form.
104
The history of the word conveys a moral lesson both
to individuals and communities,— vide " Rhinwedd."
" Dedwydd " is compounded of " gwydd " and
" ded " or " dad." This prefix has the same uses
and power as the simple " ad," and corresponds with
the English use of the prefixes " re " and " un."
The first meaning therefore is undoubtedly "a re-
intelligence, a recovery of knowledge." Its common
and present signification is happiness or a state of
bliss. In pursuing this investigation, I have been
most anxions to avoid any theories either of my own
or of others, and to confine myself to simple analysis.
But I here introduce an observation of Dr. Puglie un-
der this word, and leave it to the readers' judgment.
"This word originated in the Bardic philosophy,
which represents the human soul, as in progression
through all modes of existence, from a lapsed state
deprived of all knowledge to the summit of intelli-
gence, which is the perfection of happiness. "Md
dedwydd ni ddy vo pwyll," " that is not intelligence,
should it not be also reason," says an old adage, but
its primary meaning has now nearly passed away.
Still "dedwydd," happy, and "dedwyddyd" and
" dedwyddwch," happiness, are favorite terms, and
generally applied in a religious sense. A " dv n ded-
wydd " was supposed to possess that knowledge of
God of himself and of the visible creation, which
made him independent of external aid. " Tri pheth,"
(says an old Triad,) '• a gaif dyn dedwydd, cariad per-
faith, bywyd heddychlon a llawenydd nevol." " The
105
' dedwydd ' will acquire three things, — perfect love,
a peaceful life, and heavenly joy."
Opposed to the " dedwydd " are the " diriaid," the
" degeneres," from " di," privative, and " rhi," race,
the ignoble, the villains. A triad describes it as
a lovely sight to see a " diriad " become " dedwydd."
And the whole doctrine of "dedwyddwch" and
" dirieidi " is expressed in the following passage,
ascribed to a Bard of a very early period ; — " Ymogel
pan voch ddedwydd rhag syrthio yn nirieidi canys
gwrthwyneb yw gweled dedwydd yn myned yn
ddiriaid val y dyw^aid y ddiarheb, pa dyna y Uinyn
cyntav y tyr, a hof gweled diriaid yn myned yn
ddedwydd." " Beware when thou art ' dedwydd,'
not to fall into ' dirieidi,' because it is an adversity
to see a ' dedwydd ' become ' diriaid,' as the pro-
verb says, ' the tighter the string, the sooner it will
snap,' and pleasant it is to see the ' diriaid ' become
' dedwydd.' "
Derwydd, a druid, compounded of "gwydd," a
wise man, and " derw," the oak. " Der-lwyn " and
" Uwynderw," an oak grove, are among the com-
monest names of places in Wales. " Derw " is evi-
dently cognate with the Greek root " Bpv," as seen in
"8/Di;-os," an oak. Hence the Greek v^ord com-
pounded from "8pu" and "gwydd," took the form
of '' SpD-tS-7?s," in Latin, " Druida." It is needless here
to recapitulate all that has been said or written con-
cerning the Druids. A summary will be found in
the Appendix. I would, however, mention briefly
106
that the strict connexion in Hellenic and Roman
mythology between the oak and Father Jove as the
source of thunder and lightning, was drawn closer
among the more Western nations, as the Gallic Jove
was represented to the eye by an oaken stem and
two lateral branches in the shape of the Greek letter
"Tav," in its elementary form T. " Derw," an oak,
takes also the form of "dar," plural "deri," thus,
" dwyoes deubren derwen a dar," two ages of two
trees, the female and the male oak. But " y daran,"
a servile form of " taran," means a thunderbolt, and
" daron " and " daronwy " are synonymous with
"taranon" and "taranwr," the thunderer. "Dar"
must, therefore, have once signified equally an oak
and the thunder, and the prophetic oaks of " Do-
dona," remind us of a time when Jove delivered
his oracles from their branches, and that the "ful-
mina" and the ''fulgura," were the most trust-
worthy phsenomena whence a knowledge of the future
might be obtained. Thus also in the Cymraeg, the
word "dar-ogan," compounded of" dar" and " gogan,"
the same as the simple " can," " a song," or " vati-
cination," is, from the remotest times down to a
late period, connected with the prophetic functions
of the Druids. Thus Taliesin, in the " cad-goddeu,"
one of our most ancient fragments, wrote —
" Derwyddon doethur
Darogenwcli i Artliur,"
" Ye wise Dei-wyddon, sing of the future to Arthur."
And Meigant in the eleventh century.
107
"Cred i Dduw na dderwyddon ddarogant."
"Trust to God that Druids will not predict."
Whether this " dar " represents the electric fluid
or not, we have ample proofs that the tree was
mythically confounded with that of which it was
only a symbol. Thus Taliesin, in the same " Cad-
goddeu," describes the advance of the " Derw" to the
place of meeting.
" Derw buanawr
Rhagddaw crynueu nev a 11a wr."
" The swift moving ' derw,'
From his presence would shrink both heaven and earth.
Again, in his " Cerdd daronwy," the thunderer is
identified with the tree in the following passage :
" Pren a vo mwy
Nog ev daronwy
Ni wn am noddwy
Am gylch balch nevwy
Yssyd Rin, a sydd vwy."
" What tree can be greater
Than he ' Daronwy '
I know not, round my refuge
Around Heaven's ckcumference
That there is a mystery which is greater."
But I drop the subject, although it can be carried
to an extent which few persons can eron imagine.
I merely add that " Mael-derw " was a potent name
among the Cymry, that one of Taliesin's poems is
called "Gorchan mael-derw," "a superior song or
charm," capable of insuring the safety of him who
chanted it. "Mael-derw" became a myth under
108
the name of " Dervael," the patron, first of warriors,
then of robbers and bandits. Him the Church con-
verted into a saint, whose name is still retained at
" Llanddervel," near Bala, Merionethshire, although
his wooden image was, at the Reformation, carried
to London, and helped to consume in fire the unfor-
tunate Friar Forest.
Sywydd, compounded of " Gwydd," a wise man,
and " sy," supposed to mean a star. Sy-wedydd,
one who speaks of the stars, is undoubtedly an
astrologer, or astronomer. Taliesin writes, "A'm
swynwys sywydd sywyddion," — I was charmed by
the " sywydd, the star-knowledge of the Sywyddion,"
the astronomers.
But the more prevalent name for a star is
"seren," singular, — "ser," plural. Star is the root
form of the Greek " a-orcp-o?," and of the Latin
" a-str-um," better seen in the diminutive " Stella."
The Cymric tongue dropped the dental, as in many
other cases, thus " saiv," for " stabit," he will stand,
and became " ser," — from " ser," came '' seron," the
starry system, and "seronydd," an astronomer.
" Serovydd," from " ser " and ^' ovydd," the first
degree in the Druidical institution, means " an
observer of the stars." But the more honourable
name was " Seronydd," plural " Seronyddion,"
whence the Greeks seem to have formed their
" Saronidae," described by them as a species of
Druids deriving the name from "Sapwvts" an ancient
and gnarled oak. We read in a triad, redolent of
109
antiquity, "Tri gwyn Seroiiyddion ynys Brydain.
Idris Gawr * ='^ =^ a chan vaint ei gwybodau, am y
ser au hanianau au hanvodau y darogenynt a chwe-
nyched ei wybod." " The three happy ' saronidae '
of the Island Britain. Idris the mighty * * * and
so great was their knowledge concerning the stars,
their natures and their proceedings, they would fore-
tell, whatever men wished to know." It is worthy of
observation that the Arab in the East, as well as the
Cymro in the West, recognised a great astronomer
by the name " Idris," or " Edris," although the
Arab would have him to be the Patriarch Enoch,
the Cymro, a giant, whose observatory was the bold
mountain, still called Cader Idris, the chair of
Idris, and whose name was connected with a locality
in the Holy Island of Mona. The Homeric word
"iSpis" is applied to a skilful sailor, whose vocation
required a knowledge of the stars.
" Cywydd," made up of '' cyd " and " gwydd,"
knowledge. The common meaning of this word has
for centuries been a song, a poem, a species of poetic
metre, and before we can account for this secondary
meaning, we must refer to a time when all co-know-
ledge was confined to metrical numbers, and the
" aoiSos" and the " atcr-ti/xvT^-n??," were the teachers of the
people, and when long poems were to be committed
to memory, so that the pupil might stedfastly retain
both the verses and the knowledge embodied in them.
Of this nature, even in later times, was " Cywyd-
no
diolaeth," as interpreted by Edward Llwyd, "a
solemn form of praise or hymn."
But at a very early period, this secondary mean-
ing took another form, •' cowydd," which, with all
its derivatives, never bears any other signification,
and Dr. Pughe would make it a different word, as if
it were compounded of " caw," a " confining band,"
or " circular rim," and " gwydd," and translate it as
signifying " knowledge within bounds." The adjec-
tive " cowyddawl," is thus used by " Davydd ap
Gwilim," in an address to the lark.
" Cyveiria'r wybyr, cyvarwydd
Cowyddal dir, gwyndir gwydd."
" Do thou, familiar with the way, ascend to the firmament.
The poetical Land of the happy region of knowledge."
But " Cywydd " in its primary meaning, agrees
partly with the Latin words " cognitio " and " con-
scientia," and corresponds in form with the Greek
"cn/v-£t8->7(ns,'' syuouymous in classic Greek, with the
moral feeling or conscience. Dr. Pughe translates
" Cywydd " in this sense as conscience, reason, reve-
lation, knowledge, and quotes the following passage
from Taliesin, —
"A'r maint a gredwys ynghywydd,
A gredwys trwy ewyllys dovydd."
which should be thus translated, " and as many as
conscientiously believed, believed by the Will of God."
" Cywyddal, the adjective, is translated conscious.
Ill
rational, and " Cywyddiad," the agent noun, *' one
endowed with reason, or the impulse of conscience.
Cywyddiaeth, the substantive, is translated both
" consciousness " and '' conscience ;" and a law triad
is quoted where " pechu yn erbyn cywyddiaeth," is
reckoned a deadly sin, and must mean *' to sin against
conscience, or one's better knowledge." From
" Cywydd " came —
Tragywydd, compounded from " tra," beyond, and
" cywydd." Dr. Pughe translates it literally, " being
beyond cognition," "eternal," "everlasting," and
gives the following quotation, —
" Dyro ran
i'th, wledd, llyw Buchedd, lie bych, dragywydd,"
which should be translated "give admission to thy
banquet. Lord of life, where thou art beyond cogni-
tion."
Tragywyddawl, the adjective, is applied to every
state and being which transcends our present powers
of comprehension, such as " duw," " enaid," " bywyd,"
and ultimate matter. Pughe quotes the following pas-
sage from an ancient Welsh book on Divinity, " Nid
ynt tri tragywyddawl, namyn un tragywyddawl, sev
yw hynny, un diwahan yw tragywyddoliaeth y tri,"
which should be translated, " They are not three but
one incognizable, that is, one and inseparable is the
incognizability of the three."
Tragywyddoldeb and " Tragywyddolder," are also
in use as substantives, nor do they diifer in sense
from "Tragywyddoliaeth." Thus in a passage quoted
112
from " Elucidarius," we read " y dydd cyntav y
gwnaeth ev dydd tragywyddolder, sev yw hynny
lleuver ysprydawl," which should be translated,
" on the first day he made the day of incognizability,
that is of spiritual light."
"Tragwydd," a simpler form, compounded of " tra,"
beyond, and " gwydd," knowledge, is as com-
monly found as " Tragywydd," and with all the cor-
responding compounds and derivatives. In the
following quotation from a poem, of a date compa-
ratively modern, we find the derivative " tragwydd-
ogder," so used as to require another translation than
eternity, —
" Pa hyd Arglwydd
A drig dig tragwyddogder,"
" How long Lord will last thy incognizable wrath."
But to return to " Gwybod," a compound of
" gwydd," knowledge, with the substantive verb, and
peculiarly adapted to describe every kind of know-
ledge which was not beyond " cywydd " or " gwydd."
From the substantive and verb spring " gwybodaeth,"
knowledge, " gwybodau," sciences, " gwybodus," well-
informed. Could we trust a quotation in Pughe under
" gwybodaeth," it would cover all the knowledge at-
tainable by the human soul from its first conscious-
ness of existence to its final perfection. " Tri cadernid
gwybodaeth — darvod treiglaw pob cyvlwr bywyd —
coviaw treiglaw pob cyvlwr ai ddamwain — a gallu
treiglaw pob cyvlwr vel y myner er prawv a barn, a
hyn a geir ymghylch y gwynvyd," which should be
113
translated, " The three confirmations of knowledge, —
to liave traversed every condition of life, to remember
that condition with its accidents, and to be able to
traverse every condition as it may be desired, for the
sake of trial and judgment, and this will be obtained
in the cycle of the happy world."
From " gwybydd/' the future, " he will know," we
have the noun " gwybydd," that which is known or
recognized, and " gwybyddiad," one who knows from
the testimony of his senses. The Welsh Laws said
" Gwybyddiaid yw y rhai a welo yn ei ' gwydd ' yr
hyn a dystiant." " ' Gwybyddiaid ' are those who see
in their 'gwydd' what they testify." " Gwybyddi-
aeth," the cognitive faculty, as " Nid yw engyliawl
wybyddiaeth ac yn llai lawer synwyr Dyn-yn alluawg
i amgylchu y vath oruchel urddasrwydd." "The
Angelical ' gwybyddiaeth,' much less the ' synwyr ' of
man, cannot embrace such a lofty exaltation of
honour." Here " synwyr," plural " synwyrau," is used
with " gwybyddiaeth," to signify the cognitive
faculty. But the most important compound of
" gwybod," is " cydwybod," compounded of it and
" cyd," and which, should the substantive " bod " be
dropped, will exactly correspond, both in form and
meaning, with the Greek " crw-etS-r/o-i?," our religious
and moral conscience, — of this word hereafter.
One more verb. —
" Nabod " and " adnabod," compounded like " gwy-
bod " and " clybod," with the root " na " and the
substantive verb " bod," is not to be passed over in
I
114
silence. It is useless to conjecture respecting the
meaning of the root, as in its present form it signifies
only negation ; but " na " may, like other words,
have lost a " G." " Nabod " partly agrees in significa-
tion with "gwybod," and partly disagrees. The
first is generally applied to persons, the second to
things. Hence " adnabod " to know again, or re-
cognize, is in constant use with the regular deriva-
tives, while there is no such compound as " adwybod,'*
while " cydnabod," compared with " cydwybod," has
no connexion with conscience, in the remotest degree.
The adjective " cydwybodawl," means conscientious,
"cydnabyddol," that which is confessed or acknow-
ledged. So much for the present respecting the verb
" bod," and its compounds.
It is well known that among the Greeks the first
division of the "To ov," our "bod," that which exists,
was into the "Toiv," the one, and the ''ToaXAo," the
other, — that God and spirit was of the nature of
"To cV," and matter and body of the nature of "To aXAo."
Hence the division of the individual man into soul
and body, or according to the favorite terminology
of modern philosophers, into the "ego" and the
" non-ego."
The Cymraeg still retains vestiges which show that
the division known to the Greeks had been familiar
to our ancestors. The " aXXo," has still its counter-
part in the Cymric " arall," another, sometimes
written " yr all," apparent again in the words " y
naill ar Hall," the one and the other. And as the
"«/" and the "ego" were supposed to be identified
115
with the inner, so the "aWo" was assigned to the
outer and external world. Hence " allan," out, out-
side, and " allanawl," external, alien, foreigner, and
numerous compounds, such as —
Alleg,— Made up of "all" and "eg," speech, allegory.
AUvro. do. and " bro," a country, a foreign land.
Alltud. do. and " tud," the same.
Allwlad. do. and "gwlad," the same, &c.
But the "aWo," is also represented by the softened
form " ail " or " eil," with the first semivowel iota-
cised, as the second was in the Latin form *' ali-us."
"Ail" coincides in meaning with the Latin " alter," the
other and the second, and has a peculiar signification,
so that a son is called the " ail " of his father, — thus
standing for the " ap " of the Cymro, and the " mac"
of the Gael. Its use as a prefix in both forms of
" ail " and " eil," is great and expressive.
Thus " ailun " and " eilun," compounded of " ail "
and " Hun," form, means an image or an idol. Thus
" y mae delw ac eilun Duw mewn dyn," the image
and portrait of God is in man.
" Llun," form, and " llin," a line, pronounced alike,
were once probably the same word, as form must
have outlines if it be regarded as anything more
than colour. The Cymraeg has three words con-
nected with the root —
" Cynllun," the original form, the model coin-
ciding with the Platonic idea of all real things as
pre-existing in the Divine mind, —
" Llun," its material form, and —
I 2
116
"Ailun," or "eilun," the representatives of the
latter.
"CynUiw," from "lliw," colour, and " Eiliw," are
also in use.
" Eiliw " as well as " eilun," are often found where
they can be translated as merely simple forms,
figures, and shapes. As the " gwedd " was made up
of " llun " and " lliw," the two are often confounded,
although they are distinctly separated in the follow-
ing triad.
" Tri argyvred pob peth, lluu, lliw, a sylwedd."
The three concomitants of everything, form, hue,
and " Sylwedd." " Peth here answers to the " Tohl n "
of the Greeks, and in a similar triad is called " peth
corforol."
In the Cymraeg, the first numeral takes the form
of un identical with the Latin " unus," but the
"To ev," if not as a simple, is still found in compound
words. Under "cv," Dr. Pughe gives the following
translations. "The source of life, a living principle,
or what is immortal, a Being, a Deity, a soul, or
spirit, an essence or ' ens.' " It might have puzzled
the Doctor to give his authorities for these interpre-
tations, but nevertheless the most important of them
can be safely inferred from the words in which it
forms a part.
" Dien," compounded of " di" privative and " en,"
the life or soul, means death, extinction of life, as —
" Dien drwg vo ir dyu draw,"
" May an evil death happen to ^^onder man."
117
And Taliesin says —
"Nid wyr perchen cnawd, beth vydd ei ddien."
" The owner of the flesh knows not what his * dien ' (the separa-
tion of the soul and body) will be."
And in another place, speaking in the character
of our Saviour —
" Aethym ar Bren i gymryd vy nien."
" I went upon the tree to take upon me my • dien.' "
Pughe gives a second " dien " with an " i," which,
as in many other cases, is an evident corruption, and
the word should be written
" Dyen," compounded of the particle " dy" and " en."
It is an epithet of God, as " Duw dyen," " God
always the same," says Dr. Pughe, and "Synwyr
dyen," a spiritual sense, and lolo Goch says, " Luci-
darius a ddywed hyn yn ddyen." " Lucidarius says
this spiritually." " Dienydd," written also " di-
henydd," compounded of " di " and " enydd," or
" henydd," life, or the soul, is commonly found, and
" di-enyddwr," or " dihenyddwr," " an executioner,"
or " murderer." From " en " came " eni," to exert
the mind or soul, and " ynni," plural " ynniau," the
powers and faculties of the " enaid." Hence a triad
says, "Tri phriv-ynniau 'r enaid, serch, deall, a
myn." The three primary "ynniau" of the soul
are " serch," the intellect and the will. " Ener," also
a spiritual agent, and " enaid," the common appella-
tion for the soul and immaterial spirit, come from the
118
" To ev." The words " bywyd," life, and " enaid," are
often, and always have been, loosely and promiscuously
used ; yet " Bywyd " seems to have originally meant a
state of existence, a condition of life, like that of
the Homeric "dtwv," while the " enaid " was regarded
as a being separate and separable from the material
frame. Hence the law-phrase, " enaid-vaddeu," was
applied to a criminal condemned to death, whose
soul consequently was liable to be dismissed from
its earthly habitation, for " madden," originally
signified to let go, send forth, corresponding with
the Greek *>e^ievai/' and the Latin "mittere." The
noun " maddenant " is now used only to express
remission, as in the common phrase "maddeuant
pechodau," " remission of sins."
"Dienaid" and " dieneidiaw," are used in the
same sense as " Dien, dienydd, and dihenyddu,"
manifestly proving that the root was "en," or
" hen ;" and here, perhaps, it will not be improper
for me to express my firm conviction that, intimately
connected with " en," spiritual being is that word
which in the Cymraeg is " enw," connected with the
idea of which, whether represented by the Greek
•' ovo/jia," or the Latin " nomen," we have some of the
holiest and purest feelings, which magicians and
sorcerers in all ages, and in the western and eastern
world, have abused for the purpose of deceiving and
deluding mankind. To discover the " enw " of a
spiritual antagonist was to vanquish him and make
him subservient to him who could rightly use it.
119
CHAPTER VI.
OF "gwedd" and its derivatives.
"Gwedd." — The Greek philosophers of the his-
torical period adopted the term " aij/d/A€va " to express
the things apparent to the senses, in opposition to
the " oi/ra," which were not believed to be immediately
perceptible. The Homeric word "cTSos" indicated
the outward look or form, and its verb "etSerai"
coiTesponding in meaning with the philosophic
"^aiVerai" coincidcs both in form and meaning
with the Latin "videtur," which is so unsparingly
abused by the academic Cicero and his followers.
In the Cymraeg, the word "gwedd" holds the
same relation to the Greek " elS-os," as " gwydd " does
to "'18^," and it is impossible to conclude that such a
coincidence can be casual. One of the two nations
must have borrowed from the other, or have derived
the words from some older mother ton^ne.
Gwedd, primarily signifies the same as " eTSos," and
may be translated " outward look," " form," " shape,"
corresponding in meaning with the Latin " forma,"
and " species," and as " forma " gives " formosus,"
and " species," " speciosus," and "etSos," "cm^," so
120
" Gwedd " gives " Gweddus," well shaped, handsome,
seemly, and Gweddwar, compounded of "gwedd"
and " gwar," mild. " Gwyllt " and " gwar " are used
to distinguish the wild and the tame, the savage and
civihsed, " Gweddwar" is therefore, " mild in aspect."
Gwedd has other meanings, with which I shall
meddle at present no further than to state that they
seem to proceed from " gwedd " in the sense of what
is " seemly," or " orderly." Thus " Gwedd " is used
to indicate " a team of horses," or " a yoke of oxen."
Hence, also, the yoke itself, as " Gwedd crist," " the
yoke of Christ," and "the conjugal yoke," so that
" gweddu " signifies, " to marry, to assume the yoke,
to wed."
" Gweddi," translated prayer, seems originally to
have indicated the attitude best adapted for prayer.
Hence " Gweddiwn " implies a call upon the con-
gregation to assume the proper position.
" Sylwedd," compounded of "syl" and "gwedd."
" Syl," same word as " sail," means a foundation or
ground. The form " syl " is retained in the cognates
" sylva " and " sylvan" the place of foundation, and
in " sylvaen," from " syl " and " maen," a stone, the
foundation stone, as in " Crist sylvaen ein ffydd,"
" Christ, the foundation stone of our faith." The Cym-
ric word is still retained in the English phrase, " the
window-sill." " S3lwedd" is, therefore, that unknown
object in which the " Gwedd " was supposed to inhere,
and which is beyond cognition. The " Substantia,"
of the Latins, and the "understanding" of the
121
English, are formed upon the same principle. The
first originally referred to that which lies unrevealed
below the mythical veil of Isis, the second to the active
intellect which unseen, proves its existence by its
operations.
" Sylwedd," says an old Welsh writer, " yw pob
yspryd ac nid yw y byd a welir, ond cysgod or
Byd nis gwelir," that is, " Sylwedd is every spirit,
and the visible is only the shadow of the invisible
world."
"Anwedd," compounded of "an," privative, and
" gwedd," is a word used to indicate the disappear-
ance of the " Gwydd," when it is reduced to its
constituent atoms, and is rendered invisible. In
common language, it means that steam or vapour
which is emitted by heated bodies, and which of all
the senses, the olfactory nerves alone detect.
The Homeric w^ord "aftS^;?," attic, "dSr;?,'' was un-
doubtedly compounded of the same two roots, but
was raised by the Hellenic imagination to be the
mythic monarch of the invisible world, where the
spirits of the bodies consumed by fire were supposed
to dwell. Among the Cymry, it retains its primary
and very philosophical signification to this very day.
" Adwedd," compounded of " ad " and " gwedd,"
indicates a recovery of the " Gwedd." In the phi-
losophy pervading the Cymraeg, the indestructibiUty
of the " Gwydd " is a main doctrine ; consequently,
an " adwedd," or recovered form, was not only a
probability, but an article of belief.
122
" Adwedd " can be true only when predicated of
" Gwydd " and its manifestations. A word once
spoken could never be recalled, " Nid a gair i ad-
wedd," " a word will not go into ' adwedd.' " This
word cannot fail to suggest the doctrine of the
metamorphosis.
"Allwedd," compounded of "all," another, and
" gwedd." It is in common use at present to desig-
nate a material key, the instrument, by which a bar
is removed, and what was covered, is thrown open.
But "allwedd" had a metaphysical meaning con-
nected with the inmost mysteries of the sanctuary.
The profane saw only the outward forms, the mate-
rial symbols ; to the initiated alone was the key
presented which removed all obstruction, and en-
abled them to read the "alleg," to spiritualize the
sensuous symbol, and, in the language of an old
Triad, to recognise the truth (" dan bais y celwydd,")
under the garb of the " celwydd."
In Homer we have " allwedd " under the Hellenic
form of " dXXo-etS-179." Ulysses had returned to his
native Ithaca, but Athena threw a spell over him, so
that his vision was illuded, and all, that was once
familiar, seemed to him " dAAoetSe'a " to bear other forms
and appearances. Athena, in the Iliad, reverses the
process when she removed the mist from the eyes of
Diomedes, and enabled him to distinguish both the
apparent, and the real. The divines of all ages have
been great advocates of symbolic worship, and ancient
creeds, once patriarchal and pure, have sunk beneath
123
the weight of forms and symbols which no " allwedd "
could rectify. The winged lion of Nineveh is a
magnificent symbol ; but a few words of the Psalmist,
describing the might, majesty, wisdom, and duration
of God render all such symbols worse than useless.
"Rhinwedd," compounded of "rhin," a secret,
and " gwedd. In common use, " rhinwedd " cor-
responds with the English word " virtue," when
applied to a drug or a plant, but originally it must
have meant "certain occult qualities potential for
good, and only known to a few." It was applied in
an especial degree to the virtue of amulets, taUsmans,
prophylactic charms and spells, and we ought not to
wonder if, in mediaeval times, the seven Romish
Sacraments were called " Saith Rinwedd Eglwys,"
the Seven " Rhinwedd " of the Church. It is to be
remarked, as observed elsewhere, that although
" rhin " and most of its derivatives fell into dis-
repute, as indicating charms and sorceries, yet
" rhinwedd " continued a high and honourable name,
indicating the same as " virtue " in its loftiest
meaning. Thus —
" Os da gwaed mewn oes deg gwedd
Er hynny gwell yw rhinwedd."
" Although good is hlood in a Hfe of fair fcr»^.
Yet better is rhinwedd."
" Diwedd," from " di " privative, and " gwedd,"
means the disappearance of " gwydd," without sug-
gesting the mode in which that may be caused. Dr.
Pughe translates it " completion," " end," or " con-
124
elusion." But the passage he quotes needs a far
more literal translation —
" Rhyvedd, diwedd blodeuyn
A rhyvedd, diwedd dyn,
Dyn pob gronyn a grina,
Vel y dyn blodeuyn da,"
which may be thus translated, " Wondrous is the
disappearance of a flower, and wondrous the dis-
appearance of man. Man, ay, every atom of him,
will fade away ; and, like man, so will the fair
flower."
25
CHAPTER VII.
TIME AND PLACE.
The words in the Cymraeg, which express time
and space in their absoluteness, are " Tragywyd-
doldeb " and " Eangder." The first has already
been examined. " Eangder " is the noun of " eang,"
" ehang," or " ang," translated ample, free, broad,
capacious, and means 'Hhe capacity to contain."
Hence the verb " engi," " to hold," or " contain ;"
and the ancient word " anghad," " a hand," or
" holder," and in the Welsh laws is described a gold
cup, " a ango llawn ddiawd y Brenhin ynddi," " which
will contain the king's full allowance of drink."
Again, " nid eing mewn Hester, ond a vo ynddo."
" There will be contained in a vessel, but what will
be in it." " Ang " is the opposite of " ing," narrow,
strait, unable to hold. Hence —
"Nid ingacli nev er a el iddi o niver."
" Heaven will not be more ^ ing ' for the multitudes
that enter it," which enables us to understand the
proverb —
" Po ingav gan ddyn eangav vydd gan Dduw."
126
" Eangder " is, therefore, the great void within
which, should we think any body exists, we are com-
pelled to think it must exist. The spot on which
such a conceived body is supposed to be, is, in the
Cymraeg, called " man," " ma," or " men," and
" lie ;" and first of " man." " Man " is translated
" a space, a place, a state, a spot or mark, a where."
And as we are compelled to think the supposed
body to be contained in space, so we are equally
compelled to think that itself contains space. So
that, as we have from " ang " " angad," a hand
or holder, so we have from " man," a spot in the
" ehangder " another, " man," Latin " manus," also a
hand or holder. No root has a more fertile pro-
geny than this. The Greek "/Ac/eiv," and the Latin
" manere," with their numberless derivatives, spring
from it. " Ma," in its servile form " va," is very
generally used as an affix to nouns, as " Morva,"
sea-shore," " Rhedva," a race or course, " Gorph-
wysva," a resting-place, " tynva," an attraction, &c.
In the form " men,''' it seems to hold the same con-
nection with the Cymric " Menw," intellect and
mind, as with the Greek "/xcvos," and the Latin
" mens," as a certain degree of permanence, accom-
panies the idea of all such words. " Ma " seems
to give a similar signification to "maen," "the perma-
nent stone," and to " maon," " citizens, denizens."
" Cyva " and " cyvan " means that the thing which
is in a place, is there wholly or entirely. " Cyvan "
is also written " cymman," with the same significa-
127
tion. Hence " cvmmanva," " a place of general
assembly," or " the assembly itself. As long as any
conceived body is " commanent," "o^^/^cvov," and not
suffering demolition or a loss of " moles," or destruc-
tion or diminution of "strues," it is regarded as
"cymman," whole or entire. But, when the mind
conceives that the contained body ceases to exist
within its containing limits, it cannot think that its
absolute existence has ceased, but necessarily infers
that it merely has changed its place. " Cyvan "
gives the verb " cyvanu," to make whole, and
" cyvandir," a continent, " cyvanrhiv," " a complete,
or full number."
"Diva," "divan," and "divanu," compounded of
" di," privative, and " man " or " ma," place.
" Diva " the substantive is translated by Pughe,
" annihilation and destruction," so also " divaad,"
and the verb " diva," is translated " to consume, to
make an end of." But " divan " is only the opposite
of " cyvan," and signifies that the body has been
displaced, not annihilated, " y mae yn divanu," it is
losing its place, — it is vanishing, " perit."
Divan. — Compounded of " di," privative, and
" man," a spot or blemish, — means without spot or
blemish.
Lie. — In Cornish " le," in Breton " lech," in French
" lieu," in Latin " locus," bears one conventional
meaning fully indicated by the English word " place,"
but it does not follow " man " in the signification of
its compounds, hence —
128
Cyvle. — Compounded of " cyd " and " lie " means,
" a convenient spot where the ground favors the en-
terprise," whatever it may be ; and the adjective
" cyvleus," means " opportunity as far as place goes."
" Cyvlead " and " avlead," are also used to signify
severally a fit collocation or a misplacement.
But—
Dile. — Compounded of " di " and " lie," agrees
completely in meaning with " divan," and is properly
translated by Pughe, "without place," but "ex-
tinct " and " void " are not applicable to the idea.
Dileu, — is translated by Pughe, " to divest of place
or locality," also " to abrogate, to exterminate, to
abolish, and annul." If we compare the words " dis-
locate " and " displace," the same words in form with
" dileu " we must infer that the meanings of the
terms, indicate a very different philosophy in the
ages which imposed upon them their different
duties.
The ancients loved to contemplate the visible
creation as a mighty orb, within whose spacious hol-
low were contained the earth and the wandering
stars, while the whole was circumscribed by a con-
cave firmament studded with the fixed stars, and
revolving daily on its own axis. But the human
mind could not accept the limitation. To realize
the idea of a limited world was as impossible as to
comprehend an infinite universe. Man knows that
the world must be either limited or unlimited, but
his faculties will not enable him to conclude in fa_
129
vour of either alternative ; which to his imbeciKty
seems equally impossible. All languages have words
to express the uttermost parts, the "Ta eoxara," the
" extremes," both of the heavens and the earth, and
the Cymraeg has its word " eithav " and " eithavon,"
as " eithavon y byd," the most distant parts in every
direction from our own centre, but still the mind
will suggest that there must be something, even be-
yond the most distant which it can realize.
Yet the same mind, when it thinks of time, can-
not regard it as diverging either to the right or to
the left, either soaring upwards or sinking down-
wards. The mind supposes itself dealing with some-
thing like a point in a straight line, whence it can look
backwards and forwards, but whence, as far as the idea
of time is concerned, it cannot look in any other direc-
tion. The past and the future are the only forms in
which it really can contemplate time, and if the past
has no starting post whence to commence, nor the
future a goal, where it should arrive, time becomes
as infinite and indefinite, as absolute space. But to
return to facts.
The Cymraeg indicates the starting post whence
the past commenced, by the word " dechreu," and the
goal where the future ends, by " diwedd." Between
these two points, time is called " amser," beyond it,
" tragwyddoldeb," " dechreu " or " dechre," com-
pounded of " de " and " creu " to create, evidently
points to the time when creation took place, when
the accretion of atoms assumed form, when the
K
130
heavenly bodies were moving in their courses, and
"gwydd" became visible, being the starting post
whence "amser" commenced its course, as "diwedd"
(already explained), was applied to its termina-
tion. " Cread," translated creation, is evidently the
same word as " dechread," translated " beginning,"
" origination."
" Cre," the root, as explained by Pughe, is
compounded of " cyd " and " rhe," which, according
to analogy, would give " eyre " contracted " cre."
The root of the verb ^' rhedeg," to run, or flow, is
" rhe " corresponding with the Greek " pew." " Rhe "
occurs in old writers in its simple forms, as in
" dyre," or " dere," and ^' chware," and especially
in "ymre" and "ymread" already quoted under
" ymrwydd."
The " eyre " or " cre " would, therefore, describe
the confluence of bodies, such as would necessarily
precede the act of creation, and from which time
should be counted, corresponding with the beginning
described in the first words of Genesis, and with the
'' 'Apx''? KTto-cws " of St. Peter.
But although the mind is compelled to think of
time as a pro-tensive line, there has always been a
strong tendency to regard limited portions of it as
circles or cycles ; and this must have originated in
the knowledge of the revolutions, real or apparent,
performed by the heavenly bodies, the measures and
regulators of sublunary things. Hence in " se
volvitur annus," of Virgil, " the ring self-revolves,"
131
and the "mauros" of the Greeks. Hence, also,
" Xp6y-o<;," originally " /cpoV-os," identical with the
Cymric " cron," circular, round, having " coron,"
" coron-a," and " crown " for derivative substan-
tives.
" Chwyl," a circle, is thus used in the Cymraeg
to indicate the course of time. The English word
" wheel" retains its form and primary signification,
and " while " used for time still maintains the secon-
dary meaning.
" Cylch " is also used in a similar manner ;
" ymghylch y vlwyddyn " in the circle or cycle of
the year, and " Cylch yr Haul," the circuit of the
sun. But the favorite term is
" Amser," compounded of " am," round, and
" ser," the stars, the revolution of the stars, including
the sun, moon, and firmament, thus furnishing a
general term equally applicable to the duration and
several parts of time, and corresponding in meaning
with both the " xpo'^os " and the " Kaipos " of the
Greeks.
The word " pryd " is also used to indicate not
only time, but various other relations, "y pryd
hwn," this time, " pryd i weled," " Hme to see,"
" prydnawn," evening, " unpryd," one meal. Its
primary meaning seems to be " presence." Hence,
an aspect, form, beauty. In this sense it partly
agrees, and partly disagrees with gwedd, as " pryd-
vawr," of great presence, magnificent, " prydverth,"
of fair form ; and " prydiad," a representation, a
K 2
132
"iioiVa" and "prydydd," a maker, a "noiiyr^s,"
literally " a representer of something existing," not
a Creator ; " yr arglwydd a brydydd y Pader, " the
Lord formed the Pater."
Having thus concluded the analysis promised of
the terminology, I now proceed to confirm the in-
ferences deducible from them by a selection of pas-
sages from ancient documents published in the third
volume of the " Myvyrian Archaeology," in the year
1807. The documents of which I shall make prin-
cipal use are " Doethineb y Cymry," the wisdom of
the Cymry ascribed to Cadog, a learned ecclesiastic
of the sixth century, and " Trioedd doethineb Beirdd
ynys Prydain," the triads of the wisdom of the
Bards of the Island of Britain, printed from a manu-
script finished in the year 1680. I appeal to them
with unhesitating confidence (utterly regardless of
anything but the fact of their long existence), that
in them have been embodied doctrines, and tradi-
tions handed down, which you would in vain seek in
any other quarter known to me.
133
CHAPTER VIII.
QUOTATIONS IN ILLUSTRATION OF THE SUBJECT
OF THE INQUIRY.
Myvyrian Archaeology, vol. iii., page 222.
No. 21.
" Tri anveidrolion y sydd, ac nis gellir amgen no phob peth
bodiadawl ynddynt : ehangder, tragwyddoldeb, a Duw. Can nis
gellii' amgen no eu bod yn mliob man, ac yn mhob amser, ar
unwaith heb ymsymud."
No. 22.
" Tri pheth nis gellir o bwyll bod ar y tri anveidrolion : decbreu,
diwedd a chanol."
" 1 . There are three immeasurables, and it cannot be otherwise
than that everj'thing having a being, (or a body,) should be in
them, space, eternity, and God. For it cannot be otherwise but
that they are in every place, in every time, simultaneously, with-
out moving themselves.
"2. Three things cannot in reason be upon the three immea-
surables, a beginning, an end, and a middle."
The Cymro will instinctively feel the inadequacy
of the translation to represent the picture-words of
the original, which suggest such thoughts as require
no explanation, and both unveil truths and com-
municate doctrines. I would merely observe that
the expression " pob peth bodiadol," seems to refer
to beings having a "bodiad," an abode, a local
habitation, somewhere within the ilhmitable, them-
134
selves limited, having a "dechreu," a visible be-
ginning, and doomed to a "diwedd," a disappear-
ance. But the word "canol" requires explana-
tion. Every material body supposed to exist in
space, must be conceived with the ideas of length,
breadth, and thickness, inseparably attached to it.
The extent of these dimensions is fixed by the space
intervening between the several extremities of such
a body, and, however minute a material atom may
be supposed to be, yet, as long as its existence is
conceivable, it must be beheved to occupy space,
and have its necessary extremities, i. e., two points
with an intervening middle, limiting each dimen-
sion. But in dividing and subdividing the supposed
atom, the mind fails to realize either its annihilation,
or infinite divisibility, and is forced to confess its
imbecility. It is equally unable to realize in thought
a body of unlimited magnitude. The law of its
necessary dimensions confines it within limits which
cannot be overpassed. To the sense it may appear
boundless, but the reason draws its own true infe-
rences. When " canol," also " cenol," is predicated of
a circle, it means the same as the Greek "Kei/rpov," and
seems composed of "can," or "cen," a head, and
" oil," the whole, — in Latin " Capitolium,'' in Greek
" aKpoTToAts.
Again, page 226, — No. 79.
" Tri pheth tu hwnt i bob deall dyn . eithavodd maintioli, eitha-
vodd bychander, a dirgelion Duw."
" Three tilings are beyond every intellect of man, the extreme
limits of magnitude, the extreme limits of littleness, and the
hidden things of God."
135
Page 214, No. 145.
" Tri cliyntevigaeth hanvod, sev ydynt tri angeneddyl Duw, nid
amgen : nerth, gwybod, a chariad ; ac o gynghyd y tri bodoleb a
hanvodoldeb."
No. 146.
" Tri angeneddyl bodoldeb Duw : sylwedd, bywyd, ac ymmod ;
ac o'r rbai hyn pob sylwedd a bywyd, ac ymmod, yn dreigledig o
ban, sev o Dduw a'i ddevnyddion y mae pob peth."
"Tbe three pre-existents of 'Hanvod' are the three ungene-
rates of God, that is, might, knowledge, love, and, from the close
union of the three, 'Bodoldeb ac Hanvodoldeb.'"
"The three ungenerates of the existence of God, substance,
life, and self movement, and from these, every substance, life, and
motion are derived ' o ban,' that is, from God and his constituent
parts."
The doctrine embodied in these two triads is not
easily explained, but it may be inferred from the
words, that " Han " and " Hanvod " may be apph-
cable where " dechreu " could not be properly used.
But if single words fully capable of expressing such
words as " bod," " hanvod," and " han," can with
difficulty be found in any western language, it must
be confessed that a fourth word " dim," presents a
difficulty which long appeared to me insurmountable.
Richards, in his dictionary, gives the following inter-
pretations of " dim," — " nothing," " nought," " any-
thing," " something," to which Dr. Pughe adds " all,"
" everything." Now, the frequent recurrence of the
word " dim " in the " Wisdom of the Cymry," where
the context rendered it absurd to render it by the
Greek "ovSev," or the Latin "nihil," had long baffled
all my attempts to comprehend its exact power.
136
But the masterly analysis of negative thought by
Sir William Hamilton, which gives us two nothings
as its result, presented me with the necessary clue.
"The first * nothing' is the really impossible, the
'nihil purum' of the schools, the non-existent.
The second ' nothing ' is ' the impossible to thought,'
that is, what may exist, but the nature of whose
existence we cannot conceive. This impossible,"
adds Sir WiUiam Hamilton, " the schools have not
contemplated. We are therefore compelled, for the
sake of symmetry and precision, to give it a
scholastic name in the ' nihil cogitabile.' " Now it
must be confessed that it is a very singular fact that
ti distinction which was thus first drawn for the
purpose of mere symmetry, suddenly struck me as a
flash of light illuminating and dispelling the dark
and the obscure. And it was not immediately that I
saw that the original Latin word " res," from " reor,"
and " thing," from think, were facts leading to the
same conclusion. The "nulla res," and the no
thing, or properly " think," although primarily im-
plying the " nihil cogitabile," will equally compre-
hend under itself the " nihil purum," which is in-
conceivable, because it is absolutely devoid of exist-
ence. The " nihil cogitabile," as the contrary of
" nihil purum," suggests that many things not only
do, but must exist, which we are nevertheless un-
able absolutely to conceive, or comprehend in
thought, and these "non cogitabiha" are more
numerous than is generally supposed.
137
Such are " substance " and " quality," which can
only be thought of as mutual relatives. We cannot
conceive a quality existing absolutely in, or of itself.
We are constrained to think it as inhering in some
basis, substratum, hypostasis or substance, but this
substance cannot be conceived by us, except nega-
tively, as the unapparent, the inconceivable — the in-
conceivable co-relative of certain appearing qualities.
Absolute substance as absolute quality is therefore
both inconceivable as anything more than the nega-
tions of the conceivable.
" Dim " is positive in certain cases, as when God
is addressed as " Awdwr pob dim," " the author of
every ' dim,' " comprehending under its meaning,
not only the extended and the apparent, but also
unextended and unseen existents.
" Peth " is the proper Cymric word for the tangible
and measurable, and corresponds with the " T68e n "
of the Greeks. "Dim," when apphed to "Peth,"
becomes negative, as "dim peth" negatives the
existence of a "ToSen" in the particular case.
With this previous explanation, we may under-
stand the following quotation from St. Cadoc.
" Nid dirgel ond dim
Nid dim ond anveidrol
Nid anveidrol ond Duw
Nid Duw ond dim
Nid dim ond dirgel
Nid dirgel ond Duw."
Before translating the passage, it may be useful to
138
state that " dirgel," compounded of " dir," true, and
" eel," concealment, means that which is truly con-
cealed, and that " anveidrol," compounded of " an,"
negative, and " meidrol," measurable, corresponding
both in form and meaning with the Greek " afxeTfjov"
means " what cannot be measured." The quotation
may, therefore, be translated —
" There is nothing truly concealed but that which is not
conceivable.
" There is nothing not conceivable but that which is immea-
surable ; that is, which has no dimensions.
" There is nothing immeasurable but God.
" There is no God but that which is not conceivable.
" There is nothing not conceivable but that which is truly
concealed.
" There is nothing truly concealed but God."
Again, we have the following axioms applied to
God :—
" Nid diddarvod ond Duw
Nid tragywydd ond Duw
Nid anveidrawl ond Duw
Nid dim ond Duw."
Where the " dim " is classed with the illimitable,
incognizable, and immeasurable existence of God —
an existence, however, supreme and most real in its
nature — for the same authority tells us —
" Nid Bod, ond Duw."
" Heb Dduw heb ddim."
"A Duw a digon."
139
"There is no real existence but God."
"Without God, without a thing conceivable or inconceivable."
" Having God, having a fulness."
The inconceivable in thought are said to be " tu
hwnt i pob deall," beyond the " deall," the intellect,
the "vous" of the Greeks. "Deall," compounded
from " de," separation, and " all," another, signifies
discrimination. It immediately suggests the " To aXXo,"
which is discerned by the "To iv," thus —
" y mhob dyn, y mae enaid
y mhob enaid y mae deall."
" In every man there is an ' enaid,'
In every ' enaid ' there is a ' deall.' "
And the especial work assigned to it by Cadog
is described thus —
" ddeall, deall peth wyd."
" Of all understanding, understand what thou art."
And again —
" Deall a wybydd,"
And —
" Tri chyntevigaeth deall, serch, gwyddor a gwrthdrych,"
The three pre-existents of " deall," " serch," a
rudiment, and an object.
But the most important triads respecting the
" deall " are the following, page 267 : —
"Tri ardymmyr enaid dyn: serch, cov, a deall; ac o'r tri hyn
y tardd yr holl wybodau ar celvyddydau ; ac heb y lleill ni vydd y
naill ond difrwyth y llaill heb y naill."
" Tri amgyvred deaU ; amser, lie, a dichwain."
140
1 . The three " temperers " of the soul of man, " serch," memory,
and "deall ;" and from these three spring all the sciences and arts,
and without the other two, the third will be but fruitless, and
fruitless the one without the other.
2. The three " amgyrred deall," time, place, and contingency.
The " serch " of the triad, commonly translated
affection, fondness, &c. expresses that human love
for whatever is good, beautiful, and genial, without
which nothing great can be achieved.
The word " amgyvred " has been explained before.
Primarily it means physical, and secondarily, meta-
physical comprehension. The " deall," although
partially the source and regulator of all the sciences
and arts, is limited to regard them, as far as cog-
nizable by it, by the conditions of time, place, and
contingency, and few attain even to this proficiency ;
for, as another triad teaches, page 211 —
" Tri pheth nid hawdd ymddarbod ag hwynt ; banau celvyddyd
a gwj'bodaeth, treiglad awen ac athrylith, a thervynau doethineb ;
can nis gwelir ac nis gellir craf ar hyd, a lied, a dyvnder, ac
uwchder y pethau hyn."
" There are three things which are not easily attainable, the
heights of art and science, the region in which inspiration and
genius move, and the limits of wisdom. For the length and
breadth, the depth and height, of these, can neither be seen nor
apprehended."
The different functions of the senses and of the
soul are well expressed in the two following triads : —
1 . " Tri phriv dremynt corforawl dyn, gweled, clywed a theim-
law."
2. " Tri phriv dremynt enaid dyn ; cariad, cas a deall."
141
1 . " The three chief bodily ' tremynt ' of man, to hear, to see, to
feel."
2. " The three chief * tremynt ' of the ' enaid ' of man, are love,
hate, and " deall."
The three following triads although rather obscure,
deserve attention : —
1. "Tri amysgre (compounded of 'mysg' and *rhe') pob peth,
amser, Ue, a rhyw."
2. " Tri chynryw y sydd ar pob peth corforol, lliw, llun, a syl-
wedd."
3. " Tri ansawdd y sydd ar pob peth, amser. Us, a chynneiryd."
1. " The three pervasions of everything, time, place, and 'rhyw '
(race, kind ?)"
2. "The three chief 'rhyw,' that is upon every coi-poreal thing,
coloiir, form, and substance."
3. "Three conditions to which every 'peth' is subject, time,
place, and relativity."
In the "doethineb y Cymry," moral goodness
and a pure conscience are generally described either
as the fruits of wisdom or immediately proceeding
from God ; and, in the following passage, both sources
are combined : —
" Nid goleuni ond deaU
Nid deall ond cydwybod
Nid cydwybod ond llygad Dut
yn enaid Dyn."
"No hght is to be compared to the intellect.
No intellect to the conscience.
The conscience is nothing but the eye of God in the
soul of man."
Hence the " ynniau cydwybod," are in one triad
142
described as "exciters to wisdom," while in another,
" ymarver ac ynniau yr enaid," to exercise them is
called one of the three foundations of wisdom. In a
third " gwybodau doethineb," and " cydwybod Ian,"
are judged the greatest acquisitions in the world.
The " egwyddorion," from which all wisdom, know-
ledge, and mental and moral improvement are to be
obtained, are words and language, without which
there is no instruction either to be received or com-
municated.
The steps in succession are thus admirably con-
densed by "y Bardd glas o'r Gadair," page 1 12.
" Gair a bair iaitli
laith a bair ddangos
Dangos a bair ystyr,
Ystyr a bair addysg
Addysg a bair ymbwyll
Ymbwyll a bair ddeall
Deall a bair wybod."
" A word will produce language,
Language will produce an exhibition,
The exliibition wUl produce study,
Study will produce instruction,
Instruction will produce reflection.
Reflection will produce ' deall,'
' Deall' will produce ' Gwybod.' "
The whole system is based upon the word, and if
that be wrong, every deduction will be false. There
is in the Cymraeg a word of great importance which
must be here introduced and explained. This word
is " iawn," translated by Dr. Pughe, right, equity,
atonement, satisfaction," as an adjective " right.
143
equitable, meet." The substantive corresponds in
meaning with the Homeric "Aikt/," the idea of right-
ness or fitness to which all things should be con-
formed, and the compounded adjective " cyv-iawn,"
answers to the Latin "Justus," both in its primary
and secondary meaning. " lawn " compounded with
" un," one, means straitness, uprightness, in one
line as it were. With "cyd" it means the adjust-
ment of the reality to the prototype, whether that
prototype be real or only conventional. As, in lan-
guage, the idea is real, and the word only conven-
tional, there can be no justness or fitness, except the
real idea and the conventionally established word be
as firmly connected with each other as substance and
shadow. If the adjustment be not " cyvlawn a chy-
viawn," something must be wrong, and the whole
system disturbed or distorted. This evil and its con-
trary are thus described by the azure Bard.
" Cam " is the Welsh word for wrong, awry, or
what is crooked.
The Wrong.
" Gair ynngliam iaitli ynngLam
laitli ynugliam dangos ynngham
Dangos ynngliam ystyr ynngham
Ystyr ynngham acldysg ynngham
Addysg ynngham pwyll ynngham
Pwyll ynngham deall ynngham
Deall ynngham Gwybod ynngham."
The Right.
" Gair cyviawn, iaith gyviawn
laith gyviawn, dangos cyviawn
Dangos cyviawn, ystyr cyviawn
144
Ystyr cyviawn, addysg gyviawn
Addysg gyviawn, pwyll cyviawn
Pw'yll cyviawn, deall cyviawn
Deall cyviawn, gwybod cyviawn."
Hence as necessary consequences were deduced
the following maxims, —
"Gair cyviawn gwir,"
" Gair anghyviawn celwydd."
And the Bard went further still, and claimed a
more sacred sanction for the word which was to be
made the basis of instruction, than any conventional
compact, and declared that the whole system ought
to be based on the word of God, in these terms, —
" Nid gair ond gair Duw
Nid iaith ond gair Duw
Nid dangos ond gair Duw
Nid ystyr ond gair Duw
Nid dysg ond gair Duw
Nid pwyll ond gair Duw
Nid deall ond gair Duw
Nid Gwybod ond gair Duw."
"Nid gair Duw ond gwir,"
" The word of God is notliing but the ti-uth."
" Nid gwir ond cyviawn ar air ac iaith
Nid gair ond cyviawn o air
Nid gair ar bob gair ond gair Duw."
These quotations might be multiplied to a much
greater extent, and on several other more important
subjects of doctrine and practical truths. But suffi-
cient has been done, to prove to all men, that the
Cymry, so far from exaggerating the value and the
145
treasures of their language and literature, have far
under- rated them. But the purity, beauty, and
simplicity of the language have preserved the trea-
sures from corruption, although buried as it were for
ages in careless neglect and profound ignorance.
146
CONCLUSION.
It would be superfluous labour to call the atten-
tion of the careful reader to the identity of the doc-
trines embodied both in the language and the literary
remains of the Cymry, with the philosophy of the
conditioned, as hitherto developed by Sir William
Hamilton, respecting which, he says, "I am con-
fident it is founded on truth. To this confidence I
have come, not merely through the convictions of
my own consciousness, but by finding in this system
a centre and conciliation for the most opposite of
philosophical opinions. Above all, however, I am
confirmed in my belief by the harmony between the
doctrines of this philosophy and those of revealed
truth, * credo equidem nee vana fides.' The philo-
sophy of the conditioned is, indeed, pre-eminently
a discipline of humility, a learned ignorance directly
opposed to the false knowledge which puffeth up.
I may, indeed, say with St. Chrysostom, '^ the
foundation of our philosophy is humility.' For it is
professedly a scientific demonstration of the impos-
sibility of that wisdom in high matters, which the
apostle prohibits us even to attempt, and it proposes,
from the limitation of the human powers, from our
147
impotence to comprehend what, however, we must
admit to show articulately, why the ' secret things of
God ' cannot but be to man past finding out. This
scheme proves, moreover, that no difficulty emerges
in theology which had not previously emerged in
philosophy ; that, in fact, if the theologian do not
transcend what it has pleased the Deity to reveal,
and wilfully identify the doctrine of God's word with
some arrogant extreme of human speculation, philo-
sophy will be found the most useful auxiliary of
theology.*^ * * It is here shown to be as irrational
as irreligious, on the ground of human understand-
ing, to deny either on the one hand the predestina-
tion, fore-knowledge, and free grace of God, or, on
the other, the free will of man. That we should
believe both, and both in unison, though unable to
comprehend either when apart. This philosophy
proclaims with St. Augustine (and St. Augustine in
his maturest writings), 'If there be not free grace
in God, how can he save the world ; and if there be
not free will in man, how can the world, by God, be
judged ;' or, as the same doctrine is, perhaps, even
better expressed by St. Bernard, ' Abolish free will,
and there is nothing to be saved ; abolish free grace,
and there is nothing wherewithal to save.' St.
Austin repeatedly declares ' the conciliation of the
fore-knowledge and predestination of Goa with the
free will of man to be a most difficult question, intel-
ligible only to a few.' Had he denounced it as a
fruitless question, and (to understanding) soluble to
L 2
148
none, the world might have been spared a large
library of acrimonious and resultless disputations.
This conciliation is of the things to be believed, not
understood. The futile attempts to harmonize these
antilogies of human reason to human understanding,
have originated conflictive systems of theology,
divided the Church, and, as far as possible, dis-
honoured religion."
This doctrine of humility pervades the whole
system of the compilers of the " Doethineb y
Cymry," as in the following maxims, page 15.
"Nid call ond a welo ei liun yu fol."
" Nid adnabyddus ond a adnebydd ei him."
" Nid deallus ond a ddeall ei wall ei hunan."
" No man is wise but he who sees himself a fool."
" No man knows what other men are except he knows himself."
" No man is intelligent except he understands his own short-
comings, or imbecility."
Again, there is no attempt in Doethineb y Cymry
to reconcile to the understandins: this and other
antilogies. The sovereignty of the will of God is
as loudly proclaimed as the unshackled liberty of
man to choose the good and avoid the evil.
Thus we have —
" Nid nerth ond myn Duw
Nid galledig ond myn Duw
Nid gorvod ond myn Duw
Nid doethineb ond myn Duw
Nid hanvod ond myn Duw."
" There is no strength but God's will, no capability, no gorvod,
no wisdom, no hanvod but God's will."
149
Finally, " a vynuo Daw a vydd," " what God may will, that
wiU be."
The word necessity has three representatives in the
Cymraeg, " gorvod," " anghen," " rhaid," and a
fourth is formed by uniting the two latter into one
word " anghenrhaid." It would not be difficult to
assign their relative value to these expressions, but
it would require a longer dissertation than can be on
the present occasion introduced. Suffice it to say,
that "gorvod" is continually combined with "bod,"
as some great co-operating and beneficial law, while
" anghen " expresses that necessit)^ which results
from want of sufficient means and resources, and
" rhaid," that better necessity which combines it
with duty and obligation. '* Anghen," with " dewis,"
choice, and " dichwain," contingency, is represented
as a producing cause, although the effect produced
by it is not regarded as in unison with the great
laws of nature. Hence " anghenvil," compounded
of " anghen " and " mil," an animal, is the word
used to express a " monster," something not follow-
ing the great law of " rhyw— kind or race."
But this and similar disquisitions must be post-
poned to a future opportunity, when the knowledge
on every subject, treated of in these ancient docu-
ments shall receive an adequate and systematic
examination.
In the meantime let us remember, that since the
death of Beda, a.d. 7'^Q, more than eleven centuries
have rolled away ; that time has wrought great
150
changes in the various populations described by him
as existing in his day ; that the Saxons, Jutes, and
Angles then flourishing were doomed to successive
invasions from tribes of Scandinavian race, fierce in
their enmity against the whole body of Germanic
origin, an enmity which still continues to animate
their respective descendants ; that these invaders,
commonly Danes, ravaged with impartial violence the
Scots of Ireland, the Cymry of Wales, the Picts of
Scotland, and the Saxons of England, and barbarised
to a great extent the victims of their continuous
aggressions ; that the Saxon predominance, regained
from the Danes, was thoroughly overthrown by inva-
ders, who, under the name of Normans, introduced
into the country a host of all the bold adventurers
(whatever was their race), who were to be found in
western, eastern, and southern France ; that these
brought with them new principles of action, new
forms of ecclesiastical and military government — for
civil policy they had none — strange manners, and a
foreign language ; that they extended their domi-
nion partially over the whole of Great B)*itain, and
in an effectual manner over Ireland ; that the tenets
introduced into Great Britain by the Monk Augus-
tine, and remodelled and subtilized by the Italian
prelates, to whom the Normans entrusted the eccle-
siastical system of policy, were enforced and made
obligatory, as far as authority could make them,
upon all the population ; that when the great move-
ment against this enthralment, commonly called the
151
Reformation, took place, it found in Great Britain
more zealous admirers and active partizans among
the Celtic than the German races. The doctrines of
free grace and justification by faith, borrowed imme-
diately from St. Augustine, though welcomed at first
in England, were ecclesiastically checked, and be-
came dominant only among the Picts and Scots of
the North, and the Saxonized Picts of the South ;
the triumph of the national creed of Scotland was
mainly due to the inhabitants of the Diocese of St.
Kentigern, the wild Whigs of the West, and the wild
Scots of Galloway.
In Wales and in Cornwall the same doctrines pre-
vail generally, and alone are deemed worthy of popular
acceptation. I need not allude to the state of Ireland,
which exhibits a picture the very reverse, a people
with whom their governors have played a most ini-
quitous game. They first broke down their national
church, and subjected it to the tyranny of the papal
crozier and the Norman sword. They then called
upon them to reject what they themselves had forced
upon them, and to retrace the path which they had
been commanded to tread. This they were called
upon to do by mere authority, without presenting
them with the first elements necessary to a sincere
conversion from error, necessary to an intelligent
perception of the truth.
The fatal result is too well known to need any de-
monstration, and tardy efforts are now being made
152
to heal the wounds inflicted by the short-sighted
poHcy of former rulers.
Laborious researches are made, great expenses are
incurred, in exhuming and placing before the public
view, the material forms, sculptured monuments, and
mythic pictures which Assyria, Lycia, and Tuscany
loved to elaborate and honour. But surely more
worthy of the patronage of the good, and the labours
of the learned, are these fragments of our own lan-
guage and literature, whence may be deduced a truer
philosophy than was ever contemplated by either the
Greek or Roman of History — a Philosophy in admi-
rable harmony with the wisdom of God as manifested
in the works of His hand, and the words of His Spirit,
which alike attest that his creatures should be taught
to worship the Creator who created them both body
and soul, not with empty forms and idle ceremonies,
but with an intelligence enlightened by His truth,
and a trusting faith ennobled and animated by His
Spirit.
Should any one ask me the reason why a system
so manifest as, when properly explained, it must be
to every man of common sense (for he carries the
evidence of it in his own bosom), should so long
be unknown, I can only answer that as without
a teacher, master of his craft, a student cannot
see in mere words or their context, any greater
knowledge than he brings with him to the inves-
tigation, so also those who preceded me in the
153
study of the Cymraeg were neither adequately pre-
pared nor intellectually furnished for the work un-
dertaken and partially performed by me. And, after
all, the embers of the truth, faintly glowing within
me, had been almost smothered by doubts and diffi-
culties of a perplexing nature, until, owing to a lucky
coincidence, they burst into a vivid flame which dis-
pelled all doubts and removed all difficulties. And I
can safely promise the same result to every man who
will study the question by the light of his own con-
sciousness, in full confidence that his primary intui-
tions are true reahties, and that his Creator never
deluded his mind with unreal phantoms or vain ima-
ginations. The philosophy which led astray the
chief intellects of Europe, adopted a wTong prin-
ciple when, on this subject, it proclaimed, " doubt,
that you may understand ;" the maxim should have
been, " believe, that you may understand."
This is a truth, which Philosophy, as well as Chris-
tianity, exacts as a primary duty, which, if discharged,
will dehver man eventually from all spiritual and in-
tellectual errors, finally guiding to that truth which
will make him free, — free alike from slavish sui^ersti-
tion, and the bonds of the necessitarian Fatalist.
APPENDIX.
A Letter from the Archdeacon of Cardigan respect-
ing THE ANCIENT CONNECTION BETWEEN HeELAS AND
Great Britain.
The letter commences •with tlie reasons ■srhicli induced the
writer to enter upon what may be called the Hyperborean ques-
tion, and to maintain, in opposition to the arguments advanced
by the Honourable and Eeverend Algernon Herbert, in his work
called " Cyclops Christiantis," the conclusion of those antiquarians,
who affirmed that Stonehenge and its hierarchal estabhshnients were
far older than the Christian Era, and well known to the inhabitants
of that country which was afterwards called HeUas.
I am so certain that I hold the truth upon this question, that I
am quite ready to peril my reputation as a scholar and an archaeo-
logian upon the final result of this discussion, and deservedly to
merit those calumnies which Mr. Herbert so copiously heaps upon
our most respected Celtic scholars, and upon erery Saxon also who
has dared to think for himself upon this question. The gentleman
is so calumnious in his charges, so fuU of suggestions of fraud,
vileness, and forgery, on every author who advances any statement
adverse to his own theories, that I am absolutely compelled to quote
all my authorities at fuU length. The translations are my own, and
if I entertain any doubt i-especting any word or passage, I do not
attempt to render it into English, but pass it over, indicating, how-
ever, by asterisks, that there is a hiatus.
Now to the quesrion.
Early in the sixth century, before the Christian era, was bom
Hecataeus the ^Milesian, a man of great learning and the author of
many works, of which nothing but fragments has reached us.
He took an active part in the revolt of the loniaus from King
156
Darius, about a. c. 500, and was thoroughly cognizant of all the
proceedings connected with the commercial enterprise of the
lonians in the earlier part of the sixth century b. c.
The Phocseans, one of the Ionian states, had, in spite of the
jealousy of the Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians, forced their way in
war-gaUies to Tartessus and Southern Spain, and established a
commerce with the flourishing communities in that vicinity, which
had proved a great source of wealth to them, both generally and
individually. Arganthonius, a king of Southern Spain, was an
especial friend of the Phoceeans, and offered them, as a community,
an asylum in his dominions, when the Ionian states were becoming
alarmed by the increasing predominance of the Persians, a Scythian
race, under their great king, Cyrus.
The Phocseans refused the offer, but accepted gold, with which
they fortified in vain their continental city.
It is clear from this statement that, whatever Arganthonius, the
long-lived King of Tartessus knew, was also known to the Pho-
cseans, and a man of the inquisitive spirit of Hecatseus, who was a
great traveller, and visited, among other regions, Egypt, must have
known what the Phocsean merchants knew.
Here follows the famous quotation from one of his works, quoted
by Diodorus Siculus, who flourished a short time after our
Saviour's birth. It is in the second book of his mythological
work. " Now after describing the parts of Asia lying northward,
we think it not inappropriate to nari-ate the mythological stories
concerning the Hyperboreans. Now Ilecateus, and some other
authors of ancient mythology, say that in the regions over against
' Celtica,' there is in the ocean an island, not smaller than Sicily ;
that this island is situated below the constellation of the Bears,
and that it is inhabited by men called Hyperboreans, because
they are placed beyond the blast of Boreas. They add that,
the land, being fertile and producing everything necessary, and
enjoying a fine temperature, bears two crops in the year. Now
they mythologically state that Latona was born there, and that,
on that account, ApoUo is honoured by them above all other gods
■ — that among them there are some men priests as it were of
Apollo, and that, consequently, he is daily and continuously
hymned by them with lyric songs and exceedingly honoured — that
there is also in the island both a consecrated precinct of great
157
magnificence, and a temple of corresponding beauty, adorned with
numerous dedicated gifts, and in shape spherical — that there is
also a city sacred to the god, and that the majority of its
inhabitants are harpers, and that thef;e continuously harping in
the temple sing, IjTically, hymns to the God, and greatly magnify
his deeds. They also state that the Hyperboreans have a peculiar
dialect, and are very kindly disposed to the Hellenes, and espe-
cially to the Athenians and Delians, and that they have inherited
this friendly feeling from ancient times. They also say that some
of the Hellenes have passed over to the Hyperboreans, and have
left there precious dedicated gifts, bearing Hellenic inscriptions ;
that in the same manner Abaris, in a former age, had passed into
Hellas, and renewed with the Delians the bond of friendship and
consanguinity. They also say that the moon from this island
appears to be not far distant from the earth, and clearly shows
certain earthly eminences. It is also said that every nineteenth
year the god descends into this island. Now every nineteenth
year certain returns of the stars to fixed positions take place, and
on this account a period of nineteen years is called by the
Hellenes the great year ; that when the god makes his periodical
appearance, he both plays the harp and dances during the night,
from the vernal equinox to the rising of the Pleiades, taking great
delight in his own successful efforts."
" They also say that a family called Boreadse, descendants of
Boreas, are the kings of this city and superintendents of the
temple, and regularly succeed each other by birthi'ight."
Now, if Hecatseus derived his information on this important
subject from the Phocsean merchants, who frequented the coiu't of
Arganthonius, it is evident that these Hyperboreans were the
occupants of Great Britain, which is so accurately described in the
above passage, that even one of the earhest editors of Diodorus
could not refrain in his index from writing — " See whether this
cannot be appUed to Anglia." The south of Britain, when ^asited
by sailors, scorched by the summer heat of Southern Spain and
Western Lusitania, would certainly be a deligh*%l temperature,
and any person who has spent a vernal or autumnal season in
Kent, in the Isle of Wight, or in South Devonshire, cannot imagine
a more delightful climate ; and if we add that there is in Britain
what there is not in Southern Europe, two seasons of vegetation —
158
in fact, two springs in trees, shrubs, and grasses, we may acknow-
ledge the truth of the description without supposing that the
delighted sailors had recourse to Virgil's well-known exaggeration
respecting his beloved Italy : —
"Bis gravidse pecudes, bis pomis fertilis arbor."
As for the variety of its productions, we have Caesar's authority
that our island produced all that the continent did, with the
exception of wine and olive oil.
But we have other, and I must say more important, testimonies,
as tending to prove the universality, within certain limits, and at a
certain period, of the religion connected with megalithic struc-
tures, and of its prevalence in Eastern Asia, Western Europe, and
the intermediate regions.
Pindar, the great lyric and religious poet, who was born, accord-
ing to some, B. c. 560, according to others 540, writes thus, 01.
ode III., verse 12, respecting the Cotinus, Oleaster, or wild olive
tree, from the twigs of which the wreaths, worn by the victors in
the Olympic games, were woven. " (This olive), the son of
Amphictyon, transported from the shady fountains of the Ister,
that it might become an illustrious badge of the Olympic games,
after he had persuaded the community of the Hyperboreans, a
people who are ministers of Apollo." " His spirit led him to the
Istrian land." " In pursuit (of the golden-horned stag) he saw
that land at the back of the cold blast of Boreas."
Here is a clear proof that the Hyperborean land was not placed
where later authors wished to find it, somewhere beyond the
Rhipaean hills, and near the North Pole, but somewhere about the
sources of the Ister or Danube. Another passage from the Tenth
Pythian Ode, v. 49, is equally satisfactory respecting the non-
arctic position of these renowned Hyperboreans, " But to the
Hyperborean race you will not obtain a wonderful access either in
ships or on foot." Here Pindar seems to insinuate that he knew
that some Hyperboreans lived in an island which required both
travel by land, and a voyage by sea, before it could be reached
from Hellas. He then proceeds: — "Now among these formerly
feasted Perseus, leader of hosts. He, having entered their hall,
found them sacrificing renowned Hecatombs of Asses. Now, in
these sacrificial banquets and vocal songs of these people, Apollo
takes incessant and most intense delight, and laughs while he
159
views the petulance of the restive brutes. The Muse, moreover,
is not a stranger to their haunts, but everywhere tuneful choirs of
virgins, and the voice of harps, and the tones of pipes are set in
motion ; and the assembly, crowned with wreaths of the golden
laurel, banquet merrily. Nor do diseases nor decaying old age
affect the sacred race, and they live free from toils and wars. Never-
theless, Danae's son, animated by a bold spirit, once visited them ;
and Athena led him to this happy people, whence (setting out) he
slew the Gorgon."
Every scholar, who compares this poetic description of the
Theban swan with the prose myth of Hecatseus, cannot fail to see
that one must either have copied from the other, which, if we
remember that they were contemporaries, is not probable, or that
they drew their information from a common source, which is most
likely.
The close connection of the visit of Perseus to the Hyperboreans,
and his adventure with the Gorgon, seem to have puzzled an
ancient schohast on tliis passage in Pindar, whose later ideas
respecting the position of the Hyperboreans were shocked by this
juxta-position. He therefore observes : — " It is asked how Per-
seus went to the Hyperboreans for the purpose of cutting off the
Gorgon's head? For the Hyperboreans dwell near the North
Pole, but the Gorgons, according to some, in the Erythraean and
Ethiopic regions, which are to the East and South, but according
to others in the extremities of Libya, which are to the West. But
it is clear that the Gorgons are not near the North Pole, because
no author has placed them there."
Perhaps the question of the honest schohast may still receive a
satisfactoiy answer.
The next author of name and note who mentions the Hyper-
boreans, is the tragedian iEschylus, the son of Euphorion, who
was, perhaps, some thirty years younger than Pindar, who died
B. c. 480, the very year in which ^schylus fought so gallantly at
Salamis. In a chorus of his, " Choephorse," (and young scholars
should be reminded that in the earher stage r>f the Athenian
drama, nothing could be introduced into a chorus which was not
famiUar to the public mind,) the Coryphaeus thus speaks : —
" chUd, you speak of things more excellent and greater than
the gold and great prosperity of the Hyperboreans."
160
The -wealtli and supposed prosperity of the Hyperboreans must
have been proverbial topics, before this allusion could have been
made before the Athenian audience.
From a passage in Strabo, we know that Simonides had men-
tioned the Hyperboreans with an especial allusion to their long
life ; and Clemens Alexandrinus enables us to state that Hellanicus
had described them in not very favourable colours.
I venture to make one quotation more under this head, although
I have not been able to ascertain the age of the author, and
scarcely anything else about him, except from a passage in Athe-
nseus, who calls him " Pherenicus, a Heracleote by birth." Now, a
Heracleote might be either a citizen of Heraclea, on the southern
shores of the Euxine, or on the Tarentine Gulf. If he was an
inhabitant of the Italiot Heraclea, his testimony is doubly valuable.
The words are to be found in the old Scholiast — a highly valued
authority — upon the third Olympic Ode of Pindar, v. 28.
Pherenicus says the Hyperboreans were of the Titanic race. He
thus writes : —
" Around the Hyperboreans, who inhabit the extremities under
the protection of the Temple of ApoUo, where they are free from
war. Now, their priests sing that they have sprung from the
blood of the Titans, prior in time, and dweU under the sky-clear
house of Boreas."
This distinct allusion to the great temple is peculiarly valuable.
Hitherto my course has been rather easy, and the authorities
naturally lead us to look for the Hyperboreans in a country
abounding with ohves, laurels, and asses ; and for the island of
Hecatseus in the ocean off the coast of "Celtica." But after this
period a new element entered into the description, which has been
productive of sad confusion. The author of this confusion was
Herodotus, a man who deserves and justly has won the approba-
bation of every inquirer into the history of mankind, and the loss
of whose works would have been an " irreparabile damnum" to
the archaeological student."
But still Herodotus, with all his merits, was a victim to those
failings which are now called " crotchets." Among the most pro-
minent of those was a marked hatred of poetical mythology, a
great distrust of all writers who had preceded him either as poets
or prose writers, and a fu'm conviction that were he on any dis-
101
])nted fact to procure the testimony of one eye-witness, it was
sutficient to outweigh all that poets might imagine, or mythologists
enigmatically suggest. It is with these prejudices strongly in-
fluencing his mind, that he entered on the question of the locality
of the H\"perboreans, who never were supposed by preceding writers
to have been a separate nation hke the Thracians, Scythians, Celtse,
&c., but merely to have been so denominated from their position
in the hne of " chmates." I first quote the following passage
from the thirty-second chapter of his fourth book : —
"But some things have been said by Hesiod about the Hyper-
boreans, and something also by Homer in the ' Epigoni,' that is, if
Homer is truly the author of that poem."
The portion of Hesiod' s work, in which the Hyperboreans were
mentioned, and also the great epic of the "Epigoni" have perish-
ed ; but the very fact that the word was used by Hesiod and the
author of the " Epigoni," enables us to test its meaning by com-
paring it with similar compovind adjectives in the still surviving
Homeric writings ; and I can boldly appeal to evei-y Homeric
scholar, who may choose to examine this question by the light of
Seber's index, that almost without an exception the adjectives
compounded with the preposition " virep," gain nothing but
intensity by this prefix. But Herodotus chose to assign a new
value to the compound adjective, and to assume that "Hyper-
boreans" meant " People beyond the blasts of Boreas," and not
" a very northerly people." Reasoning on this new principle, he
directs his whole argument to prove that there were no such
things " in renon 7iatura," as the Hyperboreans described in the
Ai-imaspian Hexameters of one Aristeas, a Procounesian, who in
rather a fabulous style, had described his travels to the north of
the Euxine, where he had thus graduated the nations from the
south to the north, — first the Cimmerians on the Euxine, next the
Scythians, next the Issedones, and lastly the Hyperboreans. It is
against this theory of the Proconnesian, who, according to Hero-
dotus, must have been coeval with Hesiod, if not with Homer, that
the Father of History directs his wrath, and prove: satisfactorily
from his own inquiries, among both the Scythian occupants of the
noi-thern shores of the Euxine and the Mseotic Lake, and from the
numerous Greek colonists in the same regions, that there could
M
162
not be to the north of these well-informed people, any race of men
which could be possibly mistaken for the Hyperboreans of the
Arimaspian poet.
Having thus settled the question to his own satisfaction, he
utterly throws aside the evidence of men far higher than himself
in the scale of intellect and genius, and does not condescend to
allude even to the opinions of Pindar, iEschylus, and Simonides,
first-rate men, or even of Hellanicus and Hecatseus, his own imme-
diate predecessors in the path of histoi*y in prose.
Nay, it is worth observing, that this matter-of-fact man seems to
have looked down with utter disdain upon men like Simonides,
jEchylus, and Pindar. He mentions a two-hne epigram of the
first, blames the second for steahng an ^Egyptian myth, and quotes
with approbation a very doubtful moral maxim of the third ; and
that is all from him of these three great men.
This is a digression, but a very necessary one, for almost all the
confusion upon this question has arisen from the almost wilful
incredulity of Herodotus. Eratosthenes blamed him severely for
denying the existence of the Hyperboreans ; but as we have his
criticism only in a very obscure state, in the Second Book of
Strabo, cap. 3, who seems inclined to defend Herodotus, it is
difiicult to say anything positive on the question. Strabo, how-
ever, adds, " if it is right to blame Herodotus in any respect, it is
in this respect, because he supposed that those men were called
Hyperboreans, in whose country Boreas blows not. For even grant"
ing that the poets thus speak too mythically, their interpreters, at
least, say that the Hyperboreans are the most northerly."
If, however, we examine the account given by Herodotus him-
self, we may, perhaps, discover some other source of his error,
other than a mere etymological mistake. Lib. iv., cap. 32, he
thus writes : —
" But the Delians, forsooth, say much more about the Hyper-
boreans, as they say that sacred gifts, bound up in wheaten straw,
are regularly conveyed to the Scythians, and that the neighbours
of these, receiving them in succession, convey them to the Hadri-
atic, the furthest station from the West ; that thence, being con-
veyed Southward, they are escorted until the Dodonaeans, first of
Hellenes, receive them ; that from them they descend to the
163
Malsean Gulf, and cross over into Euboea ; and that then city sends
them to city until they reach Carystus. But the Carystians,
passing by Andros, convey them to Tenos, and the Tenians to
Delos, That in earlier times the Hyperboreans sent two virgins to
bear the sacred offerings. These the Delians name Hyperoche and
Laodice ; and that as an escort they sent with them five of their
citizens, whom they now call Perpherees, who have great honours
at Delos ; but that when the men thus sent forth never returned
back, the Hyperboreans, regarding it as a great evil that it should
always be their lot never to receive back the men deputed, con-
veyed on this account the sacred gifts, bound in wheaten straw, to
their next neighbours, with injunctions to escort them from their
onai to another nation, and they say that the offerings, thus
escorted, I'eached Delos."
Surely, if Herodotus had combined the statement of Pindar, that
there were a Hyperborean people at the sources of the Danube,
with the DeHan report, that the course of the sacred offerings had
been from the west to the Hadriatic, he might have come to a
sounder conclusion than he did, and needed not have regarded the
whole affair as a non-reality. His own inquiries among the
Scythian tribes to the north of the Euxine, and among the
numerous Greek colonies in that vicinity, satisfied him that there
were no such people in the Arctic portions either of Asia or
Europe. But it seems never to have occurred to him that his
inquiries were in the wrong quarter. He consequently states.
Lib. iv., cap. 32, "But respecting the Hyperborean people, neither
the Scythians say anything, nor any others of those who dwell
in their vicinity, except, forsooth, the Issedones [upon the report
of Aristeas] . But, according to my own opinion, even they say
nothing ; for otherwise the Scythians would have spoken of them,
as they do respecting the one-eyed men." He insinuates very
plainly that the reports concerning them were to be classed with
the myths of the Gorgons, the Dragons of the Hesperides, and
other such figments.
But his ignorance respecting the west of Europe was extreme,
an ignorance for which it is most difiicult to account, except upon
the principle that amidst the enormous false statements of the
mercantile community, and the mythological Fables of Priests and
Poets, he would not believe a single statement except it was
M 2
104
confirmed to him upon the testimony of some respectable eye
witness.
Listen to his own confession upon the subject. Lib. iii,, cap.
115, "Now, concerning the western extremities of Europe, I have
no accui'ate account to give ; for I neither admit that a river is
ealled by the Barbarians ' Eridanus,' and empties itself into the
sea that faces the north-wind, from which, report says, ' Electrum'
comes to us ; nor do I know that the islands Cassiterides exist,
from which Tin does come to us ; for, in the first place, the very
name Eridanus proves that it is a Hellenic and not a Barbarian
word, and that it was invented by some poet ; and, in the second
place, I cannot hear from any eye-witness, although I have anxi-
ously enquired, that the parts on that side of Europe are a sea.
It is, however, true that both ' Electrum ' and ' Cassiterum ' come
to us from that extremity of Europe."
I have merely to observe on this passage, that there was a great
river, probably the Vistula, falling into the North Sea, whence
Amber came ; and that there were islands oflF the coast of
Western Europe, whence Tin came ; and that their real existence
could not be ignored merely because their names were supposed by
Herodotus to have been purely Hellenic ; and because he could
not find any autoptic testimonies on this subject. But more
hereafter.
Again, it is very difficult to comprehend the Herodotean view of
the course of the river Ister. Here is one of his descriptions.
Lib. ii. cap. 53, "The river Ister, having commenced its course
from the Celtse and the city of Pyrene, divides Europe into two
equal parts. Now the Celtee dwell on the outside of the Heraclean
Pillars, and have common boundaries with the Cynesii, who dwell
furthest to the west, of those who live in Europe." He then pro-
ceeds to make a statement which, if explained litei-ally, would
naturally lead to the supposition that the Ister entered the Eiixine
at a meridian line, passing from south to north from the mouth of
the Nile through mountainous Cilicia to Sinope.
If such was his idea of the course of the Ister, his authority
upon the real geography of Western Europe must be utterly
disregarded.
Again, Lib. iv. cap. 49, he thus writes — "For the Ister flows
through the whole of Europe, having commenced from the Celtse
165
■who, furthest of those in Europe after the Cynetse, dwell to the
setting sun," — " and flowing through the whole of Europe, it
enters the flanks of Scythia."
We know that there was a sea to the West of Europe. He
knew that the Celtae were the westernmost inhabitants of Europe.
We hear from Hecatseus, that in that ocean sea, oiF the coast of
Celtica, beyond the Heraclean Pillars, in a northern direction, was
an island not less than the greatest in the Mediterranean Sea,
which cannot be predicated of any other island than Great Britain.
The later Greek authors of any note, with one exception, seem
to have all adopted either the theory of Herodotus, that there
really did not exist a nation of Hyperboreans, or that, if they did
exist, they were to be found under the north pole, with a six
months' summer of one day, and a six months' winter of one
night ; and this theory, as ^esner states, was with one mouth
adopted by the Latin writers, who assigned all the piety, happiness,
and prosperity of the Hyperboreans of history to an Utopia within
the arctic circle.
No less an authority than Sophocles seems to have taken the
lead in this direction, for in a fragment of his " Orithyia," he says
that the Attic maiden was carried by Boreas,
" Both over the whole sea to the earth's extremities,
Beyond the springs of night and the imfokhngs of heaven,
To the ancient garden of Apollo."
But even Herodotus himself was obhged to confess that the notice
of the Hyperboreans was immediately connected with the earliest
traditions of ancient mythologists respecting the establishment of
the Apollinarian worship in Greece. Here are his words. Lib. iv.,
cap. 35 —
" The Delians also say that both Arge and Opis, being virgins
from the Hyperboreans, * * * came to Delos long before Hyperoche
and Laodice ; that the latter came to bear to Hythyia the tribute
imposed for quick child-birth. But that Arge and Opis had come
with the deities themselves, and that other honours were paid to
them by the Delians ; that their matrons in assemblies invoked
their names in a hymn composed for them by Olen the Lycian ;
and that both the islanders and the lonians had learned from them
to invoke in their sacred assemblies the names of Arge and Opis.
166
This same Olen came from Lycia, and composed those other
ancient hymns, which are sung at Delos."
Now, the scholar will please to remember that this and other
similar records, for the traditionary hymn is a record and not a
myth, carry us back to the patriarchal age, long before the estab-
lishment of that which, for the want of a better name, has been
lately called " Hellenismus," as, according to a tradition preserved
by Pausanias, Lib. ix., cap. 27, "The Lycian Olen composed this
hymn long before Pamphus and Orpheus wrote,"
But the Hyperborean memorials, thus ancient, survived the
sceptical inferences of Herodotus, and nearly two centuries after
his pubUcation, we find Callimachus, that preserver of so many
ideas common to the heroic and mythic ages, thus singing in his
hymn to Delos, verse 279 —
" All states lead up yom* choric dances,
Those who in the east, west, and south
Have fixed their lots, and also those
Who dwell beyond the Boreal shore, a long-hved race.
These commencing send forth the sacred sheaves
Of wheat-stalks, and the Pelasgi of Dodona
First receiving tliem arriving from afar,
* * * Secondly they come to the sacred city and hills
Of the Malsean Land."
This is, pei'haps, the last vital notice by a man of genius, for
genius he had, though Ovid would only concede him consummate
skill. After this, we have only extravaganzas on this subject of
low Hellenic writers and of Latin authors, their servile copyists,
with the exception of Temple Traditions, such as Pausanias, and
schohasts, and lexicographers, have fragmentically preserved ;
nevertheless, those same fragments are redolent of the highest
antiquity, of something older than Linus, Pamphus, and Orpheus.
Now then, my young antiquarian friends, Ksten to a few of
these Temple Traditions. First, of the Priests of the Olympian
Jupiter, in EUs, Pausanias, Lib. v., cap. 7, — "These say that the
wild olive {cotinus) was transferred to the Hellenes from the Hyper-
borean Land by Heracles, and that these Hyperboreans were men
who dwell beyond the wind Boreas. Olen, the Lycian, first sung
in a hymn, which he composed in honour of Achsea, that she had
come to Delos from these Hyperboreans. At a later j^eriod
167
Melanopus, the Cyuisean, composed an ode in honour of Opis and
Hecaerge, stating that they also, even before, had come from the
Hyperboreans to Achsea, and also to Delos."
Again, Lib. ii., cap. 31, Pausanias thus writes of the same
priests — " They say that Heracles laid down his club close to this
altar, and that it (for it was a cotinus) in the first place (believe it
who can), sent roots downwards, and in the second place, sprouted
upwards, and that this wild olive stiU grows. They also say that
Heracles, having found it close to the Saronis, cut from it his
club."
Hear again a tradition of the Athenian priests on this subject,
Pausanias, Lib. i., cap. 18 —
" Near to it was built a temple of Hithyia, who, according to
the tradition of the Athenians, went from the Hyperboreans to
Delos, to aid Latona in child-birth. The Athenians also say that
everybody else borrowed this name from them. The Delians also
both sacrifice to Ihthyia, and sing a hymn composed by Olen in
honour of her."
Hear again a tradition of the priests of Delphi, pecuharly at a
later time, jealous of their Cretan origin, Pausanias, Lib. x.
cap. 5 —
"Boeo, a native Delphian woman, in a poem composed by her,
says that the oracle of Apollo and Delphi was established both by
others, who came from the Hyperboreans, and by Olen ; that Olen
gave the first oracular response, and that in Hexameter. These
are the verses of Boeo —
' Where tlie children of the Hyperborean Pegasus
Ajid the liigh born Agyeus estabhshed
A memorable oracle.' "
Then, after enumerating other Hyperboreans, she, at the end of
the hymn, thus named Olen —
" And Olen, the first Prophet of Phcebus,
"Who first composed a song in ancient Hexarr^ters."
I could easily mviltiply such notices, but these are quite suffi-
cient to prove how indelible were traditions connected with the
homogeneous character of the Hyperboreans, and the ancient reli-
gious creed of Greece, or rather of the far-famed Pelasgi. Accord-
168
ing to Herodotus, there had been a time when the Pelasgi had no
names for the numerous Hellenic gods. He had heard this from
Dodonsean Priests and Priestesses, who also were aware of the
time, when Dodona was the only oracle in the country afterwards
called Hellas. Here is his extraordinar-y testimony. " Now
whence sprung each of the gods, and whether all of them always
existed, and what were their figures, men knew not, to use the
expression, until yesterday and the day before ; for, as I think,
Hesiod and Homer were only four hundred years older than
myself. But these are the men who invented the Theogony of the
Hellenes, and who gave names to the gods, who assigned to them
several offices and arts, and who shaped forth their figures."
If such was the case, the connection established between the
Hyperboreans and the well-known Pelasgian Oracle of the Dodo-
nsean Zeus of the Oak-grove, at a period long anterior to Homer
and Hesiod, leads us naturally to infer that in the earlier ages the
Hyperboreans were as free as the Pelasgi from the pollution of
Polytheism.
But we have some precious fragments to pick ovit fi-om the
wreck of ancient literature, which require due consideration from
every scholar, who aspires at the character of an arcliKologist in
the dark period intervening between the Patriarchal and Poly-
theistic age.
First, under the word " Galeotse," you will find the following
fragmentary passage in Stephanus of Byzantium. " A nation in
Sicily or in Attica, from Galeus, the son of ApoUo, and "of The-
misto, the daughter of Thavius, king of the Hyperboreans, as will
be said in the article Telmissus."
" Some, however, say that the Galeotse are a species of Sicilian
prophets. Now they say that the first from the Hyperboreans was
Telmissus, * * (here a Hiatus) * * and to them the oracle in
Dodona announced that one of them should sail to the east, and
the other to the west, and that each should erect an altar, where an
eagle should carry ofi" the thighs of the sacrificed victims. Galeotas
arrived in Sicily, Telmissus, in Caria, where the Temple of the
Telmissian Apollo now exists."
Now Telmissus was famous not only for its Oracle and Temple
of Apollo, but to this day its megalithic structvires are the admira-
tion of intelligent travellers. Hear Dr. Clarke, vol. iii., cap. 8.
169
"Everything at Telmissus is cyclopean, a certain vastness of
proportion as iu tlie walls of Tirynthus, and Crotoua excites a
degree of admiration which is mingled with awe."
" The kings of Caria and of Lycia have left behind them monu-
ments defying the attacks of time and barbarians. Aruidst the
convulsions of nature and the earthquakes, which have desolated
the shores of the Carpathian sea, these buildings have remained
unshaken. Some of the stones used in the construction of the
theatre are nine feet long, three feet wide, and two feet thick,
three immense portals not unlike the ruins of Stonehenge, con-
ducted to the arena. The stones, which compose these gates, are
yet larger than those mentioned. The central gateway consists
only of five, and the two others of three, each placed in the most
simple style of architecture."
I cannot withhold a further testimony from Dr. Clarke, whose
close observation of similar works in all parts of Europe and Asia,
entitles him to be considered as an authority upon the subject.
Vol. ix.„ p. 59.
"After leaving Kiel we observed upon our left the first monu-
ment of Danish antiquity. It was a Cyclopean structure of the
kind which is called in Wales Cromlech : consisting of three
iipright stones, supporting horizontally an enormous slab of
granite. It stands ^in the middle of a level meadow, the ground
being somewhat elevated whereon it is placed. The highest point
of it is not now above seven feet from the soil ; but from the very
nature of such a work, and its great antiquity, it is evident that
the soil has greatly accumulated around it, since it was first con-
structed. It appears to rest upon the top of a tumulus, whereof
nothing but the summit is now visible. It would be easy to
enumerate many antiquities of the same form, which exist in our
own country. That which is more difiicult is, to ascertain for
what purpose, and by whom they were erected. * * * Respecting
the people who have left these monuments of their piety towards
the dead in all the maritime countries of Europe, and also in some
parts of Asia, there is very httle information that can be relied
upon. If they were Scythians, it will naturally be asked, why
such monuments are not found in any part of that country ; and
the time of their construction carries us back to a period far
beyond all that history has recorded of the original inhabitants of
170
Europe. It seems to be evident that they are the works of the
same people, who have left the other stupendous vestiges of Cyclo-
pean architecture, which are exhibited in England by the remains
at Stonehenge ; in Greece by the walls of Tiryns ; and in Italy by
the walls of Cortona. We may consider the structure which is
now described as one of the specimens which they have left, indi-
cating the march they took. Of their written characters we know
nothing : because it is the peculiar characteristic of their monu-
ments to be destitute of any inscription. There is, therefore,
nothing Gothic about them ; nothing denoting the Cimbri : or the
Franks; or the old Saxons; but rather the ancient Gaulish, the
ancient British, and the ancient Irish ; and if this be admitted,
they were Titan-Celts : the Giants of the sacred, and the Cyclops
of the heathen historians."
But the name Telmissus was generic, as there was a second
Telmissus, and also a Termissus — apparently the same, and, as I
think, we may recognise a fourth at least in the Telmissus of
Macrobius. He writes in his first book of his Saturnalia, that in
Thrace (the ancient Thracians were famous for their archaic
worship) there was a renowned temple, circular and hj^sethral,
situate on Mount Tilmissus, where a "native God" (undoubtedly
the sun, as his name begins with a " sab,") was worshipped with
magnificent religious rites ; nay, more, the Siceli, among whom
the other missionary settled, were connected with the Pelasgi, and
with a secondary style of megalithic structures. Hear the testi-
mony of Pausanias, Lib. i., cap. 23.
"With respect to the Acropolis of Athens, with the exception
of that portion of its wall, which was built by Cimon, son of
Miltiades, it is said that the Pelasgi built the rest of the enclosing
wall, when they dwelt under the Acropolis ; as they say, that the
leaders of these Pelasgi were Agrolas and Hyperbius. When I
inquired about them, as to who they were, I could learn nothing
more than that they, being by origin Sicelians, emigrated to
Acarnauia."
Perhaps this tradition may help- us to connect the Cyclops of
Homer and of Lycia with the Hyperborean and Pelasgian mega-
lithic builders. The Siceli are known to have moved eastward
from Spain through Italy into Sicily. The very name of their
masonic leaders are suggestive of mythic truth. "Agro-las"
1/1
means "stone-griper," the artist who gripped the gigantic stone
with a forceps, nipper, or shears, suspended by a chain from a
gigantic crane, and which required only to be -worked by the wheel
and pulley of his partner "Hyperbius," (that is a man of sur-
passing strength) to be raised from the ground, suspended in the
air, and deposited wherever the artist wished to deposit the huge
mass.
This necessary connection between the Siceli, the Pelasgi, and
the Hyperboreans, may also throw some hght upon the predilection
which the latter people felt for the Athenians, who, according to
good authority, were the last in discarding the ancient rites, reli-
gipn, and perhaps language of the older race, and in conforming
to " Helleuismus." This very pertinacity on their part might
have been one cause why they so suddenly, when released from
the Dorian chain, burst with such energy and vigour into poetic
life and intellectual development.
Here, again, I must make a digression, in order to connect the
sacred pathway of the Hyperborean virgins with megalithic struc-
tures. Of Dodona, the Pelasgic estabhshment, we cannot safely
predicate anything, except that its oaks were oracular, and that its
canldrons might have been something more than great metallic
bells. As I have before said, I am far more anxious to display the
materials within my reach, to younger archaeologiaus, than scien-
tifically to combine them into a compact essay, and especially to
reduce to silence those "faineants" who would fain persuade the
world that we have not ample means for thoroughly investigating
the whole question.
The author of the " Cyclops Christianus," page 29, says : —
" Sir John Chardin relates that nearly two days' journey from
Tauris, in Media, towards Sultania, he saw large circles of hewn
stones ; and the Persians affirmed that certain giants, called the
" Caous," waging war in Media, had held their council in that
place, each bringing with him a stone, to serve him for a chair.
They were so big that eight men could hardly move one, and it
was supposed they must have been brought from six miles ofi"."
Vol. viii., p. 3/1.
This account, according to ^Ir. Herbert, points to no age or
date — nothing definite, certainly ; but it assuredly implies that
the then existing generasion of Persians assigned, Hke all other
172
nations, ourselves excepted, ascribe such constructions to a race of
giants — "Caous," or "Cawr" — not of their blood."
But these circles of hewn stones, and used as council-halls, were
at least as old as the time of Homer, as partly shown before. But
hear what Homer says, Odyssey iii., verse 31 : —
" They came to the assembly and the ' Hedrse,' or seats of the
Pyhan warriors."
It was a solemn festival, and the whole community were gathered
together to sacrifice and feast. Of what materials the " Hedrse "
were, we learn fi'om the same book, v. 407 : — "Nestor came forth
and sat down upon hewn stones, which were before his lofty gate,
white, glittering with oil, on which Neleus used formerly to sit."
Evidently the seat of justice before the gate. Then came his sons
and " seated Telemaclms beside him."
The scholar may compare this seat with the " sedd," or
" gorsedd," whence Agamemnon, without rising from it, addressed
the assembly. Hiad xix., v. 7, 8.
Nay, in the descent from Dodona into the Malsean Gulf, the
Hyperborean maidens in older times, and the sacred gifts in later
times, visited the most sacred precincts of the older religion, the
very name of which is full of signification.
The land "MrjXia" or " MrjXis," derives its name from the
word "MrjXa," and is used to express a civiUzed region, in the
same manner as its root is applied as a general term both to the
fruits, which man has reclaimed from a wild state and improved
for his own use, and to those animals, especially sheeji, which we
now call the domesticated races. Hence the Latin " Mala," and
the Cymrian " Avalau," restricted to the mellow "fruits" alone.
The Celtic scholar will be reminded here of " Ynys Afallon."
CaUimachus calls its chief city " Sacred," as may be seen in the
preceding quotation. Within its bounds took place the fiery self-
immolation of Heracles and his supposed ascent to heaven. The
scene of this catastrophe, so magnificently described by Sophocles
in his Trachinise, was Mount (Eta, where it encroaches upon the
iEgsean Sea, and overlooks the narrow strip of land, known as the
Straits of ThermopylcC. Close to the hot springs and baths was
an altar of Heracles, and where the Asopus enters the sea there
was a wider space, in which was situated the ' Upov ' of the
Amphictyonic Demeter, and where still are the ' Hedree ' of the
1/3
Amphictyones and a 'lepov' of Amphictyon himself." Again, in
describing the path along which Ephialtes guided the Persians
over (Eta to the rear of Leonidas and his Spartans, my author thus
writes — " This path stretches along the ridge of the hill, and ends
over against the town Alpenus, the first of the Locrian settlements
from Mehas, and the stone called ' Melampugos,' and the ' Hedrse '
of the Cercopes." All these quotations are from Herodotus, Lib.
vii., cap. 176, 200, 199.
I feel as confident as man can be, that even if the "Hedrae"
both of the Amphictyonic Council and of the Cercopes have dis-
appeared, which, nevertheless, I strongly doubt, yet the stone
" Melampugos," one of the nicknames of Heracles, still remains
undisturbed, where Herodotus saw it. Equally certain am I
that megalithic structures will be found still existing at one
of the sources of the Spercheius, in the same vicinity where
Dr. Clarke saw in the plain what he says is called in Wales a
"Cromlech." It is also worth observing, that the Deputation
visited the little island of Tenos, famous for its megalithic Logan-
stone, mentioned by Apollonius Rhodius, and that the islanders
had the honour of escorting the sacred ojBFerings to Delos.
These regions have been for ages left alone in their glorv, and it
was in similar deserted spots that Pausanias found most of the
rude stone circles, desci'ibed by him. For example, Lib. ii., c. 54,
he thus writes — " Nearly half a mile from the then more modern
city of Hermione was the old site. Here are circles of great
" Logades " stones, and within them they perform the mysterious
rites of Demeter."
But we have positive testimonies respecting the western position
of the Hyperboreans. According to Poseidonius, who himself
travelled in Gaul (vide Scholiast on the Argonautes of Apollonius,
ver. 677, Lib. ii.) — " Hyperboreans dweU in the vicinity of the
Alps of Italy." Plutarch, in his life of Camillus, quotes Hera-
clides Ponticus, as recording " that the Gauls, who conquered the
Romans on the Allia, and captured the city, were Hyperboreans,"
— a statement which coincides with that of Poseiaonius. And a
certain Protarchus, quoted by the Byzantine Stephanus, writes
" that all who dweU below the Alps are named Hyperboreans."
Nay, more, we learn from a tradition, recorded by Dionysius,
of Hahcarnassus, that Latinus was the son of Heracles by a
1/4
Hyperborean maiden, whom he had received as a hostage from her
father, and was leading with him. " Heracles, in his return to
his native Greece and Argos, came with his Hyperborean maiden
into Italy, and gave her in marriage to Faunus." These quotations
are taken from Gesner's admirable paper upon the subject of the
Hyperboreans. See it at the end of Herman's edition of the
" Orphica."
Gesner alludes to the fable of the Scytliian or Hyperborean
Abaris, who "when he was returning from Hellas to his own
country, that he might convey the gold, he had collected for the
god, to the Temple of the Hj^Derboreans, went to Italy, where
he saw Pythagoras, and recognised him as his own Hyperborean
Apollo."
"Now," adds Gesner, "Is it to be supposed that the men, who
either invented or reported the travels of the sacred deputation to
the Delian Apollo and of Heracles and Abaris, were trifiers without
a grain of common sense, and not persons, who had sufficient
acquaintance with the topography to enable them to know, that
persons intending to Aisit Delos from the Pontus Euxinus, or from
Greece to the Scythians, could have nothing to do with Italy or the
Adriatic. What then? there were Hyperboreans, unless I am
deceived, even on the western shore of the external ocean. So
that even the Africans and Iberians, washed by the Western Ocean,
were included under the term."
From the various authorities recorded by me, I think it may
fairly be inferred that —
First, There were a people called not by a Gentile name hke
Thracians, Get^e, Scythse, but from their geographical position.
Hyperboreans, intimately connected with the earhest inhabitants
of what, at a later period, was called Hellas, and with its piimitive
religion.
Secondly, That they dwelt in a land where the ohve, the laurel,
and, among other animals, asses were to be found in a fertile soil
and favourable chmate.
Thirdly, That the western expeditions of the mythological
Heracles, in search of sacred plants, of milder fruits, and a finer
breed of animals, had been undertaken into the regions now called
the south-west of Spain and Gaul, west of the Alps ; and that the
inhabitants of these countries were called Hyperboreans.
175
Fourthly, That in the ocean, over against "Celtica," (say from
the Spanish Cape Finisterre to the mouth of the Elbe), there was
an island, not smaller than Sicily, situated under the Northern
Bear, inhabited by men called Hyperboreans .
Now, all this depends on geographical evidence of the positive
kind, and cannot be appUed to any other island than Great
Britain.
But in the Hecataean description, vre have other marks more
social and mythological respecting this insular Hyperborean com-
munity.
First, it is stated that Latona was born here. Ansicer. — Latona
was another name for night, from whom the sun and moon out-
sprung. But the western Celts, according to Caesar, sprung from
Dis, the male myth for night. Hence the preference among the
Celtic nations of giving precedence to night before day. So that
a week is "wyth-nos," a fortnight " pymtheg-nos."
Secondly, that the great God of the Hyperborean island was
Apollo. Answer. — Our "MeUn ap Cynfehn," the "Behnus" of
the Adriatic Yeneti of the classic age, the "Belinus" of the
Armorican Paterae of the Oceanitic Yeneti, and the " BeH" of our
more modem poets.
Thirdly, There was a sacred priesthood, a band of poets, of
harpers, of astronomers, and physiologists. For they knew the
Metonic cycle, by which the various revolutions of the moon and
planets are found to terminate and renew themselves at fixed
periods. The different ministers, connected with the worship of
the god, kept up a continuous service, and especially during a
vernal season, reciu'ring every nineteenth year, a great festival,
which lasted, according to the best calculations, some forty days.
And yet that, though they had a dialect of their own, they admitted
Greek inscriptions on gifts, offered by Greeks in their temple, and
were, from the earliest ages, well-affected to the Greeks or Hel-
lenes. Answer. — Now, where but in Hyperborean regions, as
geograpliicaUy defined by me, can either an ocean island, such as
described by Hecataeus, or a non-Hellenic people with their priests
and their hterary and philosophical pursuits, if you refuse to recog-
nise them in Western Gaul, and Southern Britain, be possibly
found ? I do not think that I shall lose anything in the judgment
176
of truth-seekers if, instead of dressing up my proofs and authori-
ties scientifically and rhetorically, I content myself with a literal
translation of what Cluverius, a diligent and accurate writer, com-
piled of our Druids about two hundred and fifty years ago. Lib.
i., p. 171, " Germania Antiqua."
In desciibing the wise men of the Celtse, he, quoting Csesar, says
— " They are present at public worship, superintend public and
private sacrifices. When religious scruples arise, they solve them.
To them, for the sake of instruction, resort a great concourse
of young men, and they are highly honoured by the community.
They decide almost all cases of a public and private nature ; or if a
crime has been committed, a man slain, or a dispute about inherit-
ances or boundaries arises, they are the judges ; and also assign
rewards and fix penalties." Cluverius then adds, that Caesar
regarded them all as combined into one system. From Strabo he
then proves that the body or corpoi'ation was divided into three
parts : Bards, Vates, and Druidse ; and from Diodorus and Marcel-
linus that the Druids were Theologians. Strabo moreover adds,
that they were the physiologists, moral philosophers, and the
skilful lawyers ; also "medical men" and "augurs;" also "astro-
logers." Csesar says that they discussed many questions concern-
ing the stars and their motions ; of the magnitude of the universe
and of the earth, and their figures ; and !Mela said — " They profess
to know the magnitude and figure of the earth, and of the universe ;
the motion of the firmament and fixed stars ; also that they have
their own school of eloquence, and professors of philosophy, 'as
well as,' accordmg to Diodorus, ' lyric poets and musical com-
posers.' " Cluverius adds from Csesar, " that the course of instruc-
tion originated in Britain," and was thence transferred into Gaul.
Also, according to Csesar, "the pupils were said to commit to
memory an immense number of verses, and so to continue in some
cases for twenty years under the course of instruction ; as they do
not think it consistent with their religion to commit the sacred
doctrines to written documents, although in recording almost every
other kind of business, both public aud private, they use the Greek
characters." Again — " All the Druids have a president, who
exercises supreme authority over them. When he dies, if one of
their body is of superior rank, he succeeds ; if more than one are
177
equal in cliguity, tlie chief is elected by the votes of the Druids.
Sometimes, although seldom, they contend for the primacy in
arms."
Here is collected, from a long and respectable list of western
writers, some two thousand years and more ago, a body of testi-
mony corroborative, in eveiy point, of Hecatseus and other Oriental
authors, which no "pooh poohing" can set aside, nor scepticism
deny. And when it is added, that in the same Britain there is to
be found to this day a great sphere-shaped temple, surrounded
with other megahthic structures and tumuli, which testify to
modern eyes that Salisbury Plain was the centre of a great hier-
archy, which must have lasted long, and flourished as the cradle
and kebla of a mighty nation, united in its worship, and anxious
to be buried within sight of its liohest sanctuary, it is difficult to
conceive that scholars should allow themselves to be so bhnded as
not to see that the sphere-shaped temple could not have been any-
thing else than our Stoneheuge.
Enghshmen of high name and character, distinguished for their
superior scholarship, could not but perceive the identity of the
Hecatsean Temple with the ruins of Stonehenge. The author of
the " Cyclops Christianus," page 3, when proceeding to destroy all
prececHng theories, thus writes — " There is some need to dwell on
the Hj^erborean theory. Stukely maintained it faintly. * * * It
fouud favour with Mr. Payne Knight, — was embraced by Mr. Maurice
in his Indian Antiquities, by Mr. E, Davies and others of that
school, and in the splendid volume of Sir Richard Colt Hoare."
In page 11, the final opinion of Maurice is thus given — "Such is
the account given nearly two thousand years ago of this circular
temple, for it could mean no other, by Diodorus the Sicilian, from
a writer still prior in time." Mr. Herbert then proceeds to the
work of demohtion, and begins with a quiet assumption, that
the Hecatseus of Diodorus was not the Milesian, but another, very
obscure Hecatseus of Abdera, said by Suidas to have flourished
under the successors of Alexander.
Now, it is out of the question that Diodorus in quoting a famous
name like that of Hecatseus the Milesian, should have misled his
readers, which he must necessarily have done, if under the bare
name of Hecatseus, he had meant a very obscure man. In the
very same work Diodorus quotes Hecatseus twice more, once when
N
178
he classes him with Cadmus and Hellanicus, and again where the
Milesian was undoubtedly the authority on the point respecting
the ^Egyptian Thebes. Again, Stephanus the Byzantine, in that
meagre fragment which has come down to us, concerning cities,
nations, and their names, quotes twice, Hecatseus the Abderite, in
these very terms ; but in quoting the Hecatseus, out of twenty
times to which the index refers me, he is called the Milesian once,
bare Hecatseus nineteen times ; and we know from the works
quoted, that it was the Milesian, who was thus left without an
epithet.
Again, Hecatseus the Abderite, lived about the end of the third
century before Christ, when the Hyperboreans had become a mere
paradise at the North pole, far removed from " rerum natura," and
known geography. It is well-known that the knowledge of the
geography of the north, retrograded from the days of Herodotus
to this man's "acme," as it was then taught that the Caspian was
a gulf of the Northern Ocean, and not an inland sea, as described
by Herodotus. But let us hear the precious testimonies of the
Abderite. Under " EHsscea," he writes, " An island of Hyper-
boreans, not less than Sicily, and at the north of the river
'Cerambuca.' The islanders Cerambucee as Hecatseus the Abde-
rite."
Again, under " Carambucse," a nation of Hyperboreans from
the river Carambuca.
This is all. The mere repetition of the two expressions bor-
rowed from the Milesian, by the Abderite Hecatseus, seems the only
groundwork for Herbert's perverse assertion. You will in vain look
for the river or people in any other author, although, perhaps, as
men cannot invent words, the northern promontory of Asia Minor,
called Carambis, suggested the name. We know that at a later
period the "Ram's Horn" was denominated the Hyperborean, and
Carambis itself the Hypernotian capes of the Central Euxine. So
little attention ought to be paid to ignoble writers.
But Mr. Herbert has another authority. Pliny, in his " Omnium
Gatherum" quotations, had copied more at large from the same
Abderite. Lib. vi., cap. 16.
" Beyond them and the commencement of Aquilo some few have
placed the Hyperboreans, said by most to have been in Europe.
Next is recognised a promontory of Celtica, Lytarmis. The river
179
Carambucis, where the ridges of the Rhipsean mountains fall along
with the force of the stars."
Here the Abderite removed the Celtic promontory from the
V/est of Europe into Asiatic Siberia, and invented a promontory
not to be found by me in any other ancient author.
Had Mr. Herbert consulted Pliny's own ideas respecting the
Arctic regions, he would have found them very rationally stated in
the beginning of his fourth book, where he agrees with Artemi-
dorus that all was unknown to the north of the Tanais and the
Palus Mseotis. But Mr. Herbert has another authority against the
theory advocated by me. Apollodorus the Mythologist, places the
Hyperboreans on the North Pole. But as he is supposed to have
transferred the gardens of the Hesperides, and the golden apples,
to the same regions, let them also be removed from Western
Libya to the North Pole, where I might safely allow that Apollo-
dorus meant to have placed them. For Apollodorus was at least a
century junior to Hecatseus the Abderite, and might have adopted
the prevalent opinion, that there was a Paradise under the Pole,
such as the Hyperboreans were supposed to have enjoyed ; conse-
quently, to make the Hesperides their immediate neighbours was
an easy step for the imagination to take, although it required the
removal even of the Mauritanian Atlas to the Arctic regions. But
after all, scholars know in what a sad plight the manuscripts of
Apollodorus have come down to us, and that the present work is
only a patch-work of different commentators ; nay, the very passage
on which Mr. Herbert rehes, is fuU of corruptions and interpola-
tions, as confessed by Heyne himself. The transfer of the Hes-
perides to the Caucasus is of itself a proof that if Apollodorus said
so, he must have borrowed it from some of the later Hyperborean
Romances — from the Abderite himself for aught I know.
Mr. Herbert has another argument. He says that Diodorus
meant to have placed the Hyperboreans of Hecatseus in the
northern parts of Asia. We may easUy grant it, without allow-
ing it in the slightest degree to affect the argument. It is not
likely that Diodorus beheved otherwise upon the subject than the
men of his own age. But he was only a compiler, and as such
not to be trusted, for he had no critical judgment ; but he is often
a transcriber, and when he professes to act as such, we may be
almost certain that we have the substance of his original author.
N 3
180
For he was honest, and cares not for the conflicting testimonies,
which he often works into a self-contradictory whole. Still, we
must allow that it is veiy extraordinaiy that when he came to
describe our own island, he should not have been reminded of the
description of Hecataeus, and others who had written accounts of
the ancient Mythologies.
Here are a few points in which the historian Diodorus agrees
with the ancient Mythologist. Book 5.
For over against the Paroceanic Galatia there are in the ocean
many islands, of which one, being also the greatest, is called
*' Brettanica."
Compare the island of Mythology, "an island off the coast
of Celtica in the ocean."
Again, " the island being triangular, something like Sicily, has
not its sides equally long."
Compare this with the expression, " not less than Sicily."
Again, the Hyperborean island was "under the Bears."
Compare Britannia's position, "as it is situated under the
Bear."
Again, the Hyperboreans, from the Homeric times downward,
were described as undisturbed by wars ; none of theii" neighbours
ever molested them with the sword.
Compare with this the following passage from the history, " The
island in ancient times was never troubled by a foreign military
power. For we have not heard that Dionysius nor Heracles, nor
any other hero or prince made war against it."
Again, the Hyperboreans are described as innocent, prosperous,
peaceful.
Compare this description with the following account of the
inhabitants of Brettanica: — "It is said that aboriginal races in-
habit Brettanica, who preserve in their habits the primitive mode
of life. For among other things they use chariots for their wars,
as it is handed down to us, the ancient heroes of the Hellenes did
in the Trojan war." " That in then* habits they are simple, and far
removed from the craftiness and wickedness of the present age. * *
That the island is very populous. * * That they have many kings
and princes, and that these for the most part are peacefully disposed
towards each other." " That those who inhabit the western pro-
montory of the island called Belerium, are hospitable even in an
181
exceeding degree, and, on account of their intercourse with foreign
merchants, completely dualized in their habits."
Any unpi'ejudiced person, who compares these two portraits,
must confess that to a certain extent, the historic is a rough copy
of the fancy painting, and while he may wish that Diodorus had
more completely filled up the blank spots in his canvass, yet he
should remember that the Sicehot stops short in his description,
and thus accounts for it. "But I will resume the description of
their legal institutions, and of their peculiarities in detail, when I
arrive at the invasion of Britannia by JuHus Caesar." Unfor-
tunately, however, that portion of his works has perished, and v.e
have only to appeal to those testimonies already collected by Clu-
verius, to show that eveiy part of the fancy picture of Hecatseus
and the older poets of Greece, was to be found realised among the
Druidical hierarchy, theu* system and followers ; and that these
justified Diodorus in saying that they were completely civilized.
Now, after demoHshing thus successfully, as he thinks, previous
theories, Mr. Herbert is obhged to confess that he does not know
where to place the Hyperboreans of history, whom he cannot
possibly ignore. He, however, confesses, p. 7, — " The site of their
temple cannot be ascertained, and some of the accounts of it are
hard to reconcile." His final conjecture is, that they were a
colony of Greeks to the north of the Tanais and Palus Mseotis, but
who could never be found by their inquiring friends, and were
finally swept off the face of the earth without leaving a trace of
their existence, something hke the case of the Welsh Indians.
Yet Mr. Herbert must know that Gesner, after noticing this
theory when propounded by Bayer to the Academy of St. Peters-
burgh, and approved of even by Wesseling, quietly set it aside in
the most gentlemanly manner, as being " irreconcileable with many
facts of the case, which he must regard as true."
Mr. Herbert has still another argument, a moral one. The
theory, as maintained by me, is against all history. The Britons
were unknown "savages" at the time, — "painted people." It ia
absurd to impute the structure of such a magnificent temple to
them. "No man ahve" can credit such an absurdity. But the
Britons after the departure of the Romans were scientific men —
theij built it — made it the temple of a renovated Christo-druidism,
182
and multiplied their megalithic temples, altars, chapels, &c,, over
the face of these islands !
Wliat then, some persons will say, causes you to blame Mr.
Herbert, since you perceive that he is wiUing to concede the struc-
ture of Stonehenge to the ancient Britons ? Nothing but the love
of truth, which once estabhshed, is always prohfic in its results,
and a certainty that Mr. Herbert, although right as to the authors
of the construction, is wrong about the age of the construction.
But though the question has not been put by others, I may be
allowed to start a supposed interrogatory, and ask an explanation
of the anomaly. Why Mr. Herbert should not only have regarded
this megalithic subject as important enoiigh to desei-ve for its in-
vestigation the publication of a book, but also have so fii-mly sup-
ported the affirmative that Stonehenge, with all cognate structures,
was the work of the British people, at the close of the fourth or
the commencement of the fifth century after Christ ?
In answer to the first part of the interrogatory, I hope I may be
allowed to suppose that Mr. Herbert agrees with me, that no decent
history of mankind can possibly be satisfactorily composed, while
the question of these megahthic structures is unsolved ; and that it
is absurd to pay such attention to the inorganic and fossil remains
of a ruined material creation, and yet superciUously to neglect a
science based on man's work and his lasting monuments, which
may safely guide us, not into some antediluvian epoch, but to the
very cradle of our post-diluvian ancestors, from whom we derive
not only our material bodies, and moral and intellectual powers,
but also healthy traditions, affecting every relation in life, and
M^hich never have been lost, except by those who have wandered
from the central light, cut themselves oflF from all such traditions,
and have, in the gloom of the forest, or in the solitude of islands,
degraded the spirit given by God.
The second part of the interrogatory, I believe, may be answered
more satisfactorily, Mr. Herbert is one of the best Celtic scholars
of the day, and has thoroughly studied our ancient Hterature so
far as it has hitherto been published, and in studying it, he could
not but find that the ancient Britons had a central temple, the
object of their enthusiastic and imperishable veneration ; a
sanctuary full of worship and life, as celebrated by their singers
183
and musicians, while they continued to hold it, as the city of Sion
is in the Psalms of David, and consecrated as deeply in their hearts
and memories after they had lost it, and had been driven from its
precincts, as the memory of Jerusalem is to this day cherished
among the outcasts, who formerly worshipped in the great Temple
of Jerusalem.
But here for the present I stop my hand : enough, I hope, has
been stated to show that a wide field is open, and that few work-
men are employed upon it.
Some additions to the preceding Letter, from other
Arch^ological Letters.
Men are not yet in general emancipated from the servile prin-
ciple that written documents are the only available proofs in ascer-
taining the past history of man. The other monuments which
have been aptly termed " Pre-liistorical Annals," were compara-
tively neglected, because they could not record the biography of
individuals, and the transactions of states — nor subserve the object
of the pragmatical historians, like Thucydides and Polybius. In
the new science of Ethnology they, however, furnish the most use-
ful materials, and give, when rightly interrogated, the most satis-
factory information.
It is weU-known that the bronze of the Egyptians, the Assyrians,
the Greeks, the Romans, the ancient Germans, and the Danes, was
an alloy of tin and copper, and specimens of this compounded
metal have been found of extreme antiquity.
Bronze weapons extracted from the tumuli on the shores of Troy,
and bronze nails found in the rubbish of the floor of the building
at Mycenae, called the " Treasury of Atreus," have, when analyzed,
given the same result, — the amalgamation of the same two metals.
Moses mentions tin itself as being found among the spoils of the
Midianites, and Ezekiel describes it as one of the metals of which
" Tarshish was the merchant of Tyre."
Whence then came the vast stores of tin which must have been
consumed in forming the countless instruments and weapon;^, of
which it was a constituent element ? Ezekiel expressly says that
it came from Tarshish or Tartessus.
184
Herodotus, who had been in Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria, and Assy-
ria, while betraying extreme ignorance with respect to their real
position, positively states that the " Kassiteron" came from the
Cassiterides in the same vicinity. And the mode in which he makes
his statement, seems to indicate that he did not know of any
other place whence tin came to the East.
"The Phoenicians" says a modern writer, " long concealed the
situation of the Cassiterides from all other nations. * * * * It
need not, therefoi'e, surprise us to learn so little respecting them
from ancient writers, even though we adopt the opinion that they
continued for many centuries to be the chief source of one of the
most useful metals. The only districts, according to Berzelius,
where it is obtained in Asia, are the island of Banca and the
Peninsula of Malacca. Cornwall still yields a larger quantity of
the ore than any other locality of the Old or New World, where it
has as yet been discovered, and many thousands of tons have been
exported by modern traders to India and China, and America."
I have often pressed this argument in conversation with men,
who, in other respects were fair reasoners, but with a rooted pre-
judice not to be eradicated. They will not look at the inferences
which must necessarily be drawn were the facts acknowledged to
be true. Such men will say. Sir Gardiner Wilkinson conceived it
possible that the Egyptians must have wrought tin in the mines of
Malacca, and that the Tyrians thence derived "the multitude of
their riches." But these are all mere conjectures, and there is no
evidence, not even the slightest, in support of them.
Whence also was obtained the tin which entered into the com-
position of the bronze metal so copiously used in Gaul, Germany,
and Denmark ? Worsse remarks, (I copy from Wilson's Pre-
historical Annals of Scotland, as accessible to the general reader,)
" there are geological reasons for beheving that the bronze period
must have prevailed in Denmark five or six hundred years before
the birth of Christ. It is highly probable that the ancient bronze,
formed of copper and tin, was difi'used from one spot over the
whole of Europe, which spot may be supposed to be England,
because, not to mention the quantity of copper which that country
produces, its rich tin mines have been known from the earliest
periods to the nations of the south ; while in the other parts of
185
Europe there occur only veiy few and doubtful remains of far
less important tin mines, which we are justified in believing to
have been worked at that time."
The necessary and inevitable conclusion seems to be, that from
the most ancient recorded times, long before Homer sung, or
Cadmus entered Europe, the western coast of Great Britain must
have been the resort of men deeply skilled in metallurgy, who con-
veyed the peculiar produce of its mines to all parts of the then
known world, and perhaps to more distant regions, for it is rather
too strong a demand upon our faith, to call upon us to believe that
should the bronze found in the mounds of the Mississippi be similar
to that of the ancient world, it could have a different origin. " It
is scarcely possible," adds Mr. Wilson, "to conceive of such an
intercourse, carried on for centuries, by nations far advanced in the
arts, and familiar with the civihzation and learning of the oldest
races of Asia and Africa, without the natives of the Cassiterides
acquiring from them some knowledge of the fruits of ancient
civilization. From this, indeed, it has been supposed that the
British miner first learned even to smelt the ore, although we
are almost forced to the conclusion that the workings of the mines
must have originated with natives or new cohnists familiarized in
some degree with the nature of the metals and ivith metalluryic
arts."
The latter is the stronger probability, and it is not at all impos-
sible that the first inhabitants of Great Britain were these Oriental
voyagers, who left no portion of the known world unvisited.
The island must at that early age have been in a very primitive
state, probably in most parts a mighty forest, diversified by lakes
and marshes.
What we know is, that people of that race which, according to its
own traditions, came from the East, and brought with them their
language, arts, and other valuable knowledge, retained possession
during the whole historical period, of the mining districts, gave
their own expressive names to mountains, rivers, woods, wells,
towns, farms, fortresses, &c., and without having sufi'ered from the
various invaders of the island, a violent conquest, or extermination,
united with the dominant race, without losing the character which
they had always borne of being a gallant, loyal, intelligent, and
religious community.
186
Their language, whicli gradually died away under the gentle
treatment and kind protection of the Royal Dukes of Cornwall,
was a dialect of the Cymraeg, and proves that the occupiers of the
mining districts of Cornwall and its islands were of the same race
and language as the other Cymiy of Great Britain. And the
stone monuments, popularly called Druidical, which abound in
Cornwall, and are similar in character to the same imperishable
records in other parts of Great Britain, in Ireland, and in more
distant lands, prove the supremacy exercised by one dominant
influence over obedient votaries.
The Stennis circle, being a monolithic temple in Pomona, one
of the Orcades, inferior in magnificence to Stonehenge alone, was
long gratuitously ascribed to the Scandinavians, by men who were
determined to see nothing in the Briton but a helpless savage, has
been restored to him by Professor Munch of Copenhagen, who has
proved that the great Scottish circle belonged to the population
previous to the Scandinavian settlement, "the stones of which,"
adds Mr. Wilson, " we may well believe, were grey with the moss
of centuries, ere the first Norwegian prow touched the shores of
Pomona."
I here repeat what I have before pubhshed. " The stone monu-
ments, commonly supposed to be connected with the Druids, and
hence called Druidical, were the works of a race of men who
occupied this island from north to south, from east to west, in
times far anterior to history, and who were not temporary
sojourners, but the possessors of, and dwellers in, the land, who
had brought with them fi'om the east whatever knowledge the
east had then to impart — "workers filled with wisdom and under-
standing, and cunning to work all works in brass," who for ages
supplied Europe, Asia, and Africa with the metals most in use,
whose language was the Cymraeg, of which they have left lasting
monuments, in the district of the mines. Such names as Bodman,
Bodern, Tremayn, Tremenhere, Carmin, Minheneth, Pendarves,
Pendennis, need no interpreter, but tell their own story.
But there are words in the Cymraeg connected with the metals
and localities which require explanation. In addition to "haiarn,"
English "iron," the Cymraeg has " dur," "mael," "alcan,"
"ystaen," "pres," and "evydd." Dur, pronounced like the
middle syllable in the Greek word criSr/pos, represents the Eng-
187
lish steel. "Mael" appears to be the oldest and most general
word for the produce of the iron stone, and to have been used as
the measure of value. Since it also signifies gain, and " Mael-
ierva" means a market, so do "maelawr" and "maelva." It
is difficult to ascertain what was the distinction between the two
metals, as in the following passage : —
" Dur a mael oedd drwy ymylan ei lavyn."
" Dftr and mael were in the edges of liis blade."
Mael, like Haiarn, is used in the names of men, as " Maelderw"
or " Dervael," " Maelgad " and "Cadvael," "Maelgwn" and
"Cynvael," "Trevaelwr" is a common name for a house in
Cornwall, and commemorates the time when the " maelwr " was
either a worker in iron or a merchant, and probably we have its
latin form in " Belerium," the ancient Cornish promontory.
Alcan, one of the Cymric words, is still to be seen on the
Cornish map in " Trevalcan," and was synonymous with Ys-taen,
Latin " stannum," English "tin." Although the word "tin"
has not appeared in our dictionaries, we see it in the word " Tin-
cerdd," a worker in tin — English "tinker." The Gaelic still
retains "ceard" and "caird," to represent the English "smith;"
Cymric " cerddwn," a craftsman.
" Pres," English, brass or copper, Latin " aes," needs no
further notice than that it apparently gave origin to the Latin
word "pretium," confirmed by the word " intei-pres," the broker,
who settled the price between the foreign merchant and his cus-
tomers. " Evydd," bronze, or tempered brass, is the name in
general use of all vessels in which copper forms only a part.
" Gwaew evydd " is used in times, comparatively modern, for a
bronze spear ; but while " pres " is in constant use to express
copper coins, " evydd " is never so apphed.
Of the antiquity of the British "e\'ydd," and of British metal-
lurgy, there can be no stronger proof than the following state-
ment : —
On the ridge of the promontory, called the Orme's Head, there
is to be seen a dismounted rocking stone, commonly called " Cryd
Tudno," the cradle of "Tudno," who gives his name to the
188
parisli. In the promontory, copper mines are still worked, and
the miners, in the year 1849, hroke into an ancient working of
great extent. In this were found a great number of hammers, or
mauls, of various sizes, weighing from two to forty pounds.
Besides them were a number of bones, and the portion of a bronze
tool. Thus were brought into close juxta-position the British
saint, the rocking stone, the copper mine, the stone hammer, and
the bronze instrument. The proof that the inhabitants of Great
Britain used, and even coined money from the earliest periods, is
now complete, owing to the labours of W. T. P. Short, Esq., of
Exeter, and of the Rev. Beale Post, to whose works I refer the
reader for further information. In my life of "Julius Caesar,"
which is now in the press, the whole subject is fully discussed,
and the erroi-s originating in his carelessness, or ignorance, ex-
plained. However, it is to Scaliger, and not to Csesar, that the
greatest blame is be ascribed, since the latter positively wrote that
the Britons used " aureis nummis," which the former changed into
the present text. It is not my intention, at present, to enter
into the discussion of the consanguinity of the Gael and the
Cymro, nor to the question as to the ethnology of the Gauls,
Belgians, etc.
I confine myself strictly to the question of those people who
spoke the Cymraeg, and who, I think, bore the name of Veneti,
Britones, Britanni, and Cymry. Nor wiU I enter into the question,
whether the men who spoke the Cymraeg were the first inhabitants
of this island. In all probability they found natives here, who,
perhaps the descendants of shipwrecked mariners, had become
savage wanderers in the forest. The fierce Gauls, who left their
native land in search of foreign settlements about five hundred
years before Christ, and who probably entered Britain as well as
other countries, seem to me to have been a ruder race than the
Veneti of Italy, of Gaul, and of Great Britain. Whatever their
origin was, they seem to have been less civilised than the maritime
Veneti, who were a commercial and naval people.
I remember the prediction of an American statesman, that the
day would come when the Anglo-Americans, who also went west-
ward into the bush, would become comparative barbarians, and be
certain to attack and plunder all the commercial communities on
189
the eastern land board of America. The discovery of the steam-
ship has prevented the realisation of the prediction with respect to
the Anglo-Americans. I was told by a gentleman who had lived
five years in the back settlements of Canada, that canoes, hollowed
by fire, were used by Englishmen, to whom ship-building was a
known art, and that instruments as rude as the stone hammer were
in constant use.
I have resolutely refrained, in the present work, from following
the Cymry into their eastern habitations, and from illustrating
their language and tenets by alluding to the Egyptian, Sanscrit,
and other oriental tongues, and to what may be briefly termed
Bryantology. I leave this field — and a wide field it is — to future
investigation.
190
APPENDIX.— No. 2.
Extracts from Archaeological Letters of the
Archdeacon of Cardigan.
Nevertheless, I not only hope, but firmly beheve, that these
letters will prepare the way for a more scientific and profound in-
vestigation of the origin and successive stages in the histoiy of
these man-raised monuments, and enable us to fix with something
like precision the several steps by which the pure rehgion of the
Noachidse was debased, among the most intellectual of their de-
scendants into, either the brutal materialism of the Epicurean
school, or the homicidal sacrifices of Tyi-e, Carthage, Gaul, and
Britain,
Nay, more, I am confident that these same letters, though pub-
lished in the columns of a provincial paper, have no ephemeral
character, but will be a lasting record, as long as the Cymrian
people, and the Cymrian language, continue to be Hving witnesses
of the great facts thus closely connected with the primaeval history
of the human race.
And I think it "foul scorn" that during the last hundred years
the leading scholars of the dominant race, while grudging no toil,
nor waste of time, nor even expense, in investigating the obscure
remains of the Pelasgians, Tuscans, and other still less known
races of the ancient world, should systematically, not only dis-
courage, but deride any similar attempts to throw light upon the
history and antiquities of the original inhabitants of our island
from the admixture of whose blood with that of the imported race,
the Briton of this day owes the high distinction that he is not a
Dutchman of Lower, nor a brutish Saxon of Upper, Germany.
Still more to be deplored is the fact, that no small portion, even
191
of our own aristocracy, desertina: their natural position as the
chiefs and leaders of their countrymen, should, if not actually
ashamed of the red blood which flows pure in their veins, with-
hold their countenance and patronage from every attempt to illus-
trate the ancient renown of their gallant forefathers. But, thank
God, better days are dawning, and we can gratefully acknowledge
the service done to the Cymrian Hterature by many distinguished
characters, not only in Wales, but also in every quarter of the
empire.
But I wish to remove the subject of discussion from every
locality where Greek, Roman, Saxon, Dane, could possibly have
had either the wiU or the power to erect these remarkable monu-
ments, still existing witnesses as it were of the past, and to call
your particular attention to the memorials of the ancient world
and its form of worship, yet to be seen in the parish of Ku-k
Michael, in Perthshire.
Now remember, and it is worth remembering, that the parts of
Perthshire in which Kirk Michael is situated, were never within
the historic era possessed by any other people than the ancient
Britons, caU them Picts, or Caledonians, or whatever name you may
choose to assign to them, and that yet in that sequestered portion
of the world are still to be seen most magnificent specimens of the
" Logan stone" in close connection with other monuments com-
monly called "Druidical." For example, in the 76th page of the
first volume of "The Caledonia," of the accurate and learned
George Chalmers, you will find the following classical passage.
"Among the vast variety of Druid monuments in North Britain,
one of the most interesting is the ' Rocking Stone,' which seems
to have existed in every period. That those singular stones are
Druid remains cannot easily be doubted, by the scepticism which
denies the evidence of Druidical remains in North Britain."
"In the parish of Kirk Michael, in Perthshire, there is an
immense rocking-stone, which stands on a flat topped eminence, in
the vicinity of a large body of Druid remains, that have been
already noticed. This stone is placed on the plain surface of
a rock, level with the ground. It is a very hard solid whinstone,
of a quadrangular shape, approaching to the figure of a rhombus,
of which the great diagonal is seven feet, and the less five feet ;
192
its mean thickness is about two and a half feet ; its weight
must be about three tons and half a hundred ; for a stone of the
same quality was found to weigh eight stone three pounds the
cubic foot. By pressing down either of the extreme corners, a
rocking motion is produced, which may be increased, so as to
make the distance between their lowest depression, and highest
elevation, a full foot. This stone makes twenty-six or more, vibra-
tions, from one side to the other, after the pressure is wholly with-
drawn." Stat. Acco., V. XV, p. 547.
" On the south descent of the hill, which is opposite to the Manse
of Droa, in Perthshire, there is a large rocking-stone ; it is a block
of whinstone, ten feet long, and seven feet broad : and it is placed
in a somewhat sloping position, and rests its central prominence
upon a great flat stone which is fixed in the earth : on gently
pressing the upper end, it begins a rocking motion, vibrating in an
arch from one to two inches ; and continues to vibrate, for some
time, after the pressure is withdrawn. — 16, v. ix, p. 483. In the
parish of Abernethy, in the same shire, upon Faog-water, near
Bal-vaird, the town of the bard, there is a rocking-stone, which
attracted the notice of Buchanan." — 16, p. 484,
Any man who knows the locahty of Strath Ardel and Glen
Shee, whose waters are tributaries of the magnificent Tay, and who
knows the history, broken as its hnks are, of the tribes who occu-
pied what I may call the innermost sanctuary of the strongholds of
the Grampians, must acknowledge that no foreigner within the
historic era ever forced their mountain barriers until the Scot,
Kennith Mac Alpine, in the ninth century of the Christian era,
annexed, we know not by what means, the whole of the Pictish
kingdom to his own Argathelian inheritance.
But what do we find in these innei-most recesses of the Gram-
pian ridge ? Listen again to George Chalmers, who in the 72nd
page of the first volume of his great work, " Caledonia," thus
writes.
" The number and variety of the Druid remains in North Britain
are almost endless. The principal seat of Druidism seems to have
been the recesses of Perthshire, near the Grampian range. Accu-
rate inquiry might perhaps discover that the circles and ovals of
erect stones, with stone pillars and small cams within them, are
193
the Oratories of ancient times : and that the circles of stones,
having an altar, or a cromlech within the area, or on the outside of
them, have been used for the diiFerent purposes of making sacri-
fices. Those inclosures are sometimes formed of a single circle,
and often of double, and treble concentric circles of upright
stones."
After this quotation, I hope and trust that every truth seeker
who, without prejudice, may examine these remains in the most
impregnable parts of the mid-northern Perthshire Highlands, and
shall compare them with the cognate structures in Cornwall, Somer-
setshire, Wiltshire, Yorkshii-e, Derbyshire, North and South Wales,
Cumberland, and other parts of Great Britain, must confess that
they were the works of a homogeneous people acting on the same
principle, and covering the whole extent of the then reclaimed parts
of the island with — for want of a better term — Cyclopean struc-
tures.
If doubts should stiU be entertained by any rational person, I
shall be happy to return to the subject, and leave any such objector
no sufficient ground for his scepticism.
The only objection to my theory must be grounded on the
supposition that the Caledonians of the earlier, and the Picts of the
later Roman writers, were not our feUow Britons, but members of
the great Gothic family of the Pinkertonian school.
However, in the words of George Chalmers, — "This absurd
hypothesis has not been proved either by the labours of learning,
or the diligence of research, either by the dexterity of sophistry, or
the perversity of design," and he concludes his sentence with the
following pithy remark — " And as our fellow Britons in Perthshire
were in possession from the remotest time," (and if you knew the
ground as well as I do, you would acknowledge that no external
force which a barbarous tribe covdd bring against them, could
extrude them from their mountain homes) " they cannot, accord-
ing to a maxim of common law, be dispossessed except the claimant
establishes a better right, not by presumptuous surmise, but by
satisfactory proof."
But before I enter further upon the question, let me again and
again remind you, that we are not arguing on trifling points, but
on grounds intimately connected with the history of the only rove-
194
lation in words which we have received from God, and which was
transmitted through Moses, the Patriarchs and Prophets of the
Old, and through the Apostles and Evangelists of the New Testa-
ment.
I cannot express my own feelings more truly upon the subject
of our own megalithic structures, than by quoting the following
passage from the preface of Dr. Stukeley's work upon Stonehenge :
— " My intent is," says the doctor, " to promote as much as I am
able, the knowledge and practice of ancient and true rehgion :
to revive in the minds of the learned, the spirit of Christianity,
nearly as old as the creation, which is now languishing among us ;
to restore the first and great idea of the Deity, who has carried on
the same regular and golden chain of Rehgion, which keeps the
medium between ignorant superstition and learned free-thinking —
between slovenly fanaticism and popish pageantry — between enthu-
siasm and the rational worship of God, which is no where upon
earth done, in my judgment, better than in the Church of
England. » * * * I shall show, hkewise, that our predecessors,
the Druids of Britain, though left in the extremest west to the
improvement of their own thoughts, yet advanced their enquiries,
under all disadvantages, to such heights, as shoidd make our
moderns ashamed to wink in the sunshine of learning and religion.
And we may with reason conclude there was somewhat very extra-
ordinary in those principles, which prompted them to such a noble
spirit as produced these works, still visible to us, which, for gran-
deur, simplicity, and antiquity, exceed any of the European
wonders.
" That the doctrines and works of the Druids have hitherto been
so little considered (since authors only transcribe from one to
another the few remaining scraps to be found in classic writers)
was an incentive to me Hkewise in the following attempt, and at
the same time it pleads for me, and bespeaks the reader's favour.
I want, likewise, the great advantages to be had from a knowledge
of the remaining Celtic languages, books, manuscripts, and histoiy,
— the Cornish, Welsh, Irish, Highland, &c. — the chief repository
now of their doctrines and customs : so that in my own opinion I
may very well say with the poet —
195
' Interea Dryadvim silvas et saxa sequamur
Intactaa, tua Mecsenas haud mollia jussa.' — ViBGli."
Deeply sympathising with the learned author's consciousness of
bis deficiencies in the necessary qualifications, in pursuing his
investigations on so sacred and impoi-taut a subject, I cannot, how-
ever, but admire the success with which he developed the truth of
some parts of his subject.
I have already referred more than once to the stone monuments
of a prior age stiU existing in the parish of Kirk Michael, in the
central recesses of the Grampians of Perthshire, and have stated that
according to my present views, they enable us to prove demonstra-
tively that as they are found in that remote district in every form
in which we see them in the more southern parts of Britain, they
must be the products of a people holding the same religious and
social faith, and animated by the same principles.
Those truth-searchers who may not have the opportunity of
visiting in person these imperishable monuments, are referred to
the 72nd, 73rd, and 74th pages of "Chalmers Caledonia," where
they will find ample proof that every specimen of what have been
commonly called "Druidical" constructions are still to be seen in
that narrow locahty.
I am not going to enter into all of the foUics and ignorance
connected with what has been commonly called "The Pictisb
Question," but have no hesitation in afiirming that the "Picts"
were our brothers in language, blood, and anterior to the Christian
faith, in religion also.
They in their last retreat from foreign aggression still retained
the faith which they had inherited from their fathers, and their
various " stone circles," their "upright stones," and what we are
now obliged to call " Cromlechau," prove that they were the same
people who erected similar buildings from north to south, from
east to west, through all the extent of Great Britain and the
adjacent islands.
But the particular object of these my letters, is to prove that
the ancient "Cromlech" was something more than a sepulchral
o 2
196
mouument, and that though it might have been used as such at a
later period, it is still to be found as a common adjunct, but not a
necessary one of " the circles " called " Druidical," and of other
stone constructions generally supposed to be intimately connected
with the religious worship of our ancestors.
To prove this common connection of the " stone circle " with
that construction which I must call a "Cromlech," I again refer
to the 74th page of " Chalmer's Caledonia," who thus enumerates
the many places in North Britain where the "Cromlech" and
<' stone circle " are found in juxta-position.
" Many Croxnlechs are connected with Druid circles ; and several appear
without circles. In the parish of Old Deer, in Aberdeenshire, there is a num-
ber of Druidical circles ; the most entire of these is on the lull of Park-house,
and has a large Cromlech, the top stone of which is fourteen feet long, con-
tains about two himdred and fifty solid feet, and rests upon other two large
stones, placed on their edges. In the enclosures of Kipp's-house, in Linlith-
gowshire, there is a Druidical circle, having one or two erect stones, in the
centre, and a large Cromlech near it. In the middle of one of the Druidical
circles, in the Isle of Arran, there is a Cromlech, consisting of a large broad
stone, wliich is supported by three lesser ones. In the parish of Castleton, in
Roxbui'ghshu'e, there is a Cromlech, at the south end of a large oblong cam,
near the north end of which there is a Druid circle, on a high ground ; near a
mile north from the Church of Baldernock, in Stirlingshire, there is a circular
plain, or area, of about a hundred paces in diameter, and surrounded by an
ascent of a few yards in height, in the form of an amphitheatre ; within this
area or enclosure, there is a remarkable Cromlech, which is called the ' Auld
Wives' Lift,' and this area appears from the remains to have been once
covered by a grove of oaks."
You may well imagine that it is not vanity or love of fame that
tempted me tb embody these deductions from a long series of
actual observation and a course of reading on the subject, never
surpassed by any man of my own age, in the ephemeral pages of a
newspaper ; but a conviction that in the present awakened state of
Cambrian Archseology, it is of the greatest importance that the
young and active minds among us, and who feel as we feel, should,
as far as it can be done by me, find the field of investigation open
and patent, and not be Hable to wander into labyrinthine mazes in
which they are most likely to be lost than bring back to us any
valuable information. If there be any truth embodied in my com-
munications to you under this head, it is this — that the stone
197
monuments commonly supposed to be connected with the
" Druids," and hence called "Druidical," were the works of a race
of men who occupied this island, from north to south, from east
to west, from times far anterior to history, and who were not tem-
porary sojourners but the possessors of, the dwellers in the land,
in short, that they were our own immediate ancestors, whether
called by the ancients " Cimbri," " Britones," " Veneti," or
" Albani," or by ourselves, " Cymry," " Lloegrwys," " Gwyr
Gwenedd or Gwent," or " Gwyr yr Alban."
I wish to rouse the younger members of our community to a
due sense of the glorious inheritance they have inherited from
their Titan ancestors, and to impress upon them this vital truth,
that the loss of national spirit necessarily induces a paralysis of
all the nobler feehngs, and that a man who is ashamed of an acci-
dent which he cannot help — of "his brethren according to the
flesh," necessarily induces every alien of generous feeling to look
upon him as a renegade, to whom he will give reluctantly the
wages of his treason and still despise the recipient.
In connection with the parish of " Kirk Michael," I have to
call your attention to the name of the Patron Saint, and to afiirm
that to my own knowledge many churches, whether denominated
" Kirk Michael," " Cilmichael," " Saint Michael," " Llanfihangel,"
&c., were built on localities which had been previously consecrated
to heathen worship, and that Saint Michael was there installed as
the Patron Saint to supplant and expel his old enemy and antago-
nist the Devil.
198
APPENDIX, No. 3.
Extract from an unpublished Arch^ological Paper.
Of these aucieut stones of testimony, wliether originating in a
wish to commemorate great events, to honour departed heroes, or
to celebrate pubHc worship in union -with a system of auguries,
and of reUgious sanctions for civil law and political inter-commu-
nion, I think we may safely enumerate certain classes.
First. — the Maenchwiv or Maensigl, the Rocking, or Logan
stones. Specimens of this class are mentioned by ancient writers
as objects of wonder in their age. Thus, in the third chapter of the
history of Ptolemy Hephsestio, we have this remark, " Concerning
the Gigonian rock on the shores of the ocean, and that it is moved
by a single stalk of the asphodel, although not to be removed by
any application of force." Pliny, lib. II., cap. 93, 'WTites : —
" Near Harpasa, a city of Asia, stands a rock ' horrenda,' move-
able with a single finger, but when pushed, resisting all the force
of man." And ApoUonius Rhodius, Argonautics, Book II.,
describes a stone in the island of Tenos, poised on the summit
of a tumulus, and moving in obedience to the impulse of the
wind. Examples of the same kind are to be found in aU parts of
Great Britain and Ireland, of which the construction must be
ascribed to the remotest ages. As in the Craven dialect such a
stone is called a " Roggan," I infer that " Logan " is a corruption
of it, and that the English expression "rocking a cradle" is
borrowed from one of these moveable rocks, just as the dismantled
" Maenchwiv " at St. Orme's Head was called the cradle of
Tudno. " Rhoc" is a pure Cymric word.
Some people beheve that all such stones are natural, not arti-
ficial, just as an antiquated school of natural philosophers ascribed
fossil shells to certain freaks of Nature.
199
Sir Robert Sibbald, the Scottish antiquary, had seen one of
them dissected, and describes the motion as depending on two
tenons within narrow cavities, with the lower end of the one
poised upon the upper end of the other.
Second. — The mcgalithic chamber of which the monument in
Kent, called " Kit's Coity House," is a complete specimen. It
answers almost exactly to the description of the " adytum " in the
temple at Delphi, as we find it in Pausanias. Of the same charac-
ter is a similar structure in Glamorgan, of which there is a model
in the British ^Museum. The district in which it and other monu-
ments are situated, is called " Dj^firyn Golych," the vale of
worship. The whole ground, originally a Druidical " T€/xcvos,"
seems to have been transferred to the See of Llandaif, of which it
was one of the Granges.
Third. — Huge stones, in general of a tabular form, resting on
uneven supporters, so short as to leave no sufficient room for a
chamber, and sometimes no space worth mentioning. The tabular
stone, varying in the dip of its inclination, has often a gibbous
form, and hence undoubtedly derived the name of "Cromlech,"
" the gibbous flat-stone," just as the round-shouldered smith of
Sir Walter Scott was called the " Gow Crom." A whole district
in Perthshire borrowed its corrupted form of CromUx from this
word.
This was, probably, the nucleus of the Druidical altar.
Fourth. — The " !Maen hir," or " Hirvaen," with its varieties
from the huge and formless masses, remarkable principally for
their magnitude and material, generally a grit stone, not always
found in their vicinity, to the less rude monohths, on which the
hand of man has evidently been employed.
The Hirvaen was, in general, an adjunct of the circle.
Fifth.' — The stone circle in all its varieties ; some are single
circles, others are several concentric circles. There are ovals,
ellipses, and semicircles. Mr. Daniel Wilson, page 112 Preh.
Annals, writes — "The varieties apparent in tneir grouping and
structure are such as may well justify the conclusion, that instead
of being the temples of a common Faith, they are more probably
the ruins of a variety of edifices designed for diverse purposes, and
it may be even for the rites of rival creeds. This, at least, is
certain, that the latest, if not the only unquestionable evidence of
200
their use which we possess, is not as religious temples, but as courts
of law and battle rings, wherein the duel or judicial combat M^as
fought, though this, doubtless, had its origin in the invariable
union of the priestly and judicial oflBces in a primitive state of
society."
The Latin word for a circle was "circus," the Cymric " Cylch,"
from which the name " Kirk " or church for an ecclesiastical
building was widely taken. In Minshew's dictionary, under the
word church, we have the following list : —
In Low Dutch .... Kirke
In Anglo-Saxon ... Circ
In the Helvetian and Swedish • Kilch
In High Dutch ... Eirch
Skinner, in his " Etymologicon," says, that "Kirk" was used
for "church by the northern Angles and Scots," who borrowed it
immediately from the circus of the Romans. The true Scot or
Gael called the same building a "clachan," or "stones." The
Cymric word " Llan " expresses the same meaning as the Gaelic
"clachan," for it means an open space, within a fence — as may be
seen in the compounds " Ydlan " — a corn-yard, or hay-yard ;
"Perllan" — an orchard; "Corphlan" — a cemetery, or church-
yard, &c. ; and to this day the word " Henllan " — old Llan, is
often used for places where we in vain look for a traditionary
church.
A great portion of Northern Europe having been Christianized
by Celtic missionaries, seems to have borrowed the Cymric
"Cylch" to indicate the church. Wachter, in his glossary, under
the word " Kilch," calls it a sacred edifice, and quotes a very
ancient translation of the Psalms, where the Holy Church is called
" uns heihch chilcha," and proves that the words " chrydir altan
kilchin" meant the creed of the old Church. Now "Kilchin" is
the Cymric "Cylchyn" — a circle. He also states that the Helve-
tians, tenacious of their ancient language, called even in his time
a church or temple "Kilch." I am, myself, convinced that the
modern form " Kil," in the names of churches in L'eland, Scot-
land, and Wales is mainly derived from this source.
The appropriation of the Druidical "Tcyu,ci/os" to the use of
the Christian Church may be proved from the stone memorials of
201
the olden worship, which are still to be seen on some of the oldest
church lands in these islands. The vicinity of St. David's
Cathedral is studded with such remains, and even lona was once
the island of the Druids, and within the historical period had its
Cromlech.
Sixth. — The "Cistvaen," or the stone coffin, however fashioned,
from its rudest form under the green mound or stone cairn to
those more elaborate sepulchres, many chambered and often buried
under huge tumuli, sometimes crowned by large stones, and en-
circled at the base by a stony ring. The latter have nothing to do
with our Cromlech. They belong to a diflFerent age and diiferent
rites.
I believe that all, or at least most of the five preceding classes,
were by the ancient Cymry embraced under the general name of
"Coelvein," or " Coelveini " and " Coelveiniau," which Pughe
translates " Stones of omen " — atones of testimony — good tidings
— the Gospel — honorary rewards."
Now "Coel" — translated "an omen, belief, trust," and
" Coeho," to beUeve, were the words which, in the transition from
Druidism to Christianity, seem to have been displaced by the
Latin "fides" and "credere," corrupted into the forms "fydd"
and "credu."
"Thus "Coelbren," made up of "Coel" and " pren "— a tree,
or wood, plural " Coelbrenau," now meaning simply a lot or
ballot, were the divining rods or tablets, or twigs by which the will
of the gods might be ascertained by man, whatever the inquiry
might be, and " Coelcerth," made up of " Coel " and " Certh,"
certain, was the religious fire, sacrificial and expiatory, in which
holocausts of victims, both animal and human, were offered up at
their great festivals, by our ancestors. It is curious that an obla-
tion, something similar to the Druidical "Coelcerth," the "certa
fides" of the heathen, should in modern days have been named
" an act of faith"—" an auto da fe."
There can be no doubt that the Church of Rome waged war
against the principle, "Da 'r maen gyda 'r Evengyl," and pro-
nounced an anathema against all persons who honoured with any
veneration those stone monuments which had not been converted
to Christian purposes. And as Rome was dominant for centuries,
the priesthood succeeded in inducing the population, to a great
P
202
extent, to regard them as abominations. Hence, the bad names
by which many of them, especially in remote places, are known to
this day. If such a monument was not appropriated to a saint, it
was handed over to the foul fiend. Hence, in Wales, such names
as " Llech yr Ast," " Llech y Dyra," — in England " Hellstone " and
" Devil's quoit," — in Brittany " Pouqualay," that is the " stone
Puck."
Hence, a friend of mine says, " we cannot derive any valuable
tradition on a point in which there is so complete a disruption
between the present and the past, especially in countries like
Brittany and Ireland, where every monument was converted to the
use of some saint or devil, to answer the purpose of superstition
under the garb of teligion."
In the language, literature, and monuments of the Cymry, we
have instruments by which we are enabled to traverse, not only
the mediaeval darkness of the corrupt Church, but also the
" Hellenismus " of the ancient world, which invented new gods,
and introduced a new religion — in singidar contradiction to the
religion of God delivered to the Noachidse.
FINIS.
MEICALFE, PRINTER, GEOCEHS' HALL COUEI, POULTRY.
HUGHES &, buti:.i:r,
WELSH BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS,
15, St. Martin's le Grand, opposite the General Post Office,
LONDON.
(ESTABLISHED THIRTY YEARS.)
Messrs. H. and B. invite the attention of their friends in
Wales to the large collection of Welsh Books, in every depart"
ment of Literature and Science, they have now on hand ; com-
prising
A large collection of English and Welsh, and Welsh and Enghsh
Dictionaries and Grammars ; and a very large numher of choice
and rare old Books on the Topography, History, and Literature of
Wales,
All the Modern Works in Welsh Literature and Science, added
to their stock, as they appear.
Messrs. H. and B. continue to supply the country Booksellers
on the most advantageous terms.
A
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