flat, and return to the same, that the whole may be completed under the sweetness of a pleasing sound.  They enter into a movement, and conclude it in so delicate a manner, and play the little notes so sportively under the blunter sounds of the base strings, enlivening with wanton levity, or communicating a deeper internal sensation of pleasure, so that the perfection of their art appears in the concealment of it:

“Si lateat, prosit;
— — ferat ars deprensa pudorem.”

“Art profits when concealed,
Disgraces when revealed.”

From this cause, those very strains which afford deep and unspeakable mental delight to those who have skilfully penetrated into the mysteries of the art, fatigue rather than gratify the ears of others, who seeing, do not perceive, and hearing, do not understand; and by whom the finest music is esteemed no better than a confused and disorderly noise, and will be heard with unwillingness and disgust.

They make use of three instruments, the harp, the pipe, and the crwth or crowd (chorus). [172]

They omit no part of natural rhetoric in the management of civil actions, in quickness of invention, disposition, refutation, and confirmation.  In their rhymed songs and set speeches they are so subtle and ingenious, that they produce, in their native tongue, ornaments of wonderful and exquisite invention both in the words and sentences.  Hence arise those poets whom they call Bards, of whom you will find many in this nation, endowed with the above faculty, according to the poet’s observation:

“Plurima concreti fuderunt carmina Bardi.”

But they make use of alliteration (anominatione) in preference to all other ornaments of rhetoric, and that particular kind which joins by consonancy the first letters or syllables of words.  So much do the English and Welsh nations employ this ornament of words in all exquisite composition, that no sentence is esteemed to be elegantly spoken, no oration to be otherwise than uncouth and unrefined, unless it be fully polished with the file of this figure.  Thus in the British tongue:

“Digawn Duw da i unic.”

“Wrth bob crybwyll rhaïd pwyll parawd.” [173]

And in English,

“God is together gammen and wisedom.”

The same ornament of speech is also frequent in the Latin language.  Virgil says,

“Tales casus Cassandra canebat.”

And again, in his address to Augustus,

“Dum dubitet natura marem, faceretve puellam,
Natus es, o pulcher, pene puella, puer.”

This ornament occurs not in any language we know so frequently as in the two first; it is, indeed, surprising that the French, in other respects so ornamented, should be entirely ignorant of this verbal elegance so much adopted in other languages.  Nor can I believe that the English and Welsh, so different and adverse to each other, could designedly have agreed in the usage of this figure; but I should rather suppose that it had grown habitual to both by long custom, as it pleases the ear by a transition from similar to similar sounds.  Cicero, in his book “On Elocution,” observes of such who know the practice, not the art, “Other persons when they read good orations or poems, approve of the orators or poets, not understanding the reason why, being affected, they approve; because they cannot know in what place, of what nature, nor how that effect is caused which so highly delights them.”

CHAPTER XIII
OF THEIR SYMPHONIES AND SONGS

In their musical concerts they do not sing in unison like the inhabitants of other countries, but in many different parts; so that in a company of singers, which one very frequently meets with in Wales, you will hear as many different parts and voices as there are performers, who all at length unite, with organic melody, in one consonance and the soft sweetness of B flat.  In the northern district of Britain, beyond the Humber, and on the borders of Yorkshire, the inhabitants make use of the same kind of symphonious harmony, but with less variety; singing only in two parts, one murmuring in the base, the other warbling in the acute or treble.  Neither of the two nations has acquired this peculiarity by art, but by long habit, which has rendered it natural and familiar; and the practice is now so firmly rooted in them, that it is unusual to hear a simple and single melody well sung; and, what is still more wonderful, the children, even from their infancy, sing in the same manner.  As the English in general do not adopt this mode of singing, but only those of the northern countries, I believe that it was from the Danes and Norwegians, by whom these parts of the island were more frequently invaded, and held longer under their dominion, that the natives contracted their mode of singing as well as speaking.

CHAPTER XIV
THEIR WIT AND PLEASANTRY

The heads of different families, in order to excite the laughter of their guests, and gain credit by their sayings, make use of great facetiousness in their conversation; at one time uttering their jokes in a light, easy manner, at another time, under the disguise of equivocation, passing the severest censures.  For the sake of explanation I shall here subjoin a few examples.  Tegeingl is the name of a province in North Wales, over which David, son of Owen, had dominion, and which had once been in the possession of his brother.  The same word also was the name of a certain woman with whom, it was said, each brother had an intrigue, from which circumstance arose this term of reproach, “To have Tegeingl, after Tegeingl had been in possession of his brother.”

At another time, when Rhys, son of Gruffydd, prince of South Wales, accompanied by a multitude of his people, devoutly entered the church of St. David’s, previous to an intended journey, the oblations having been made, and mass solemnised, a young man came to him in the church, and publicly declared himself to be his son, threw himself at his feet, and with tears humbly requested that the truth of this assertion might be ascertained by the trial of the burning iron.  Intelligence of this circumstance being conveyed to his family and his two sons, who had just gone out of the church, a youth who was present made this remark: “This is not wonderful; some have brought gold, and others silver, as offerings; but this man, who had neither, brought what he had, namely, iron;” thus taunting him with his poverty.  On mentioning a certain house that was strongly built and almost impregnable, one of the company said, “This house indeed is strong, for if it should contain food it could never be got at,” thus alluding both to the food and to the house.  In like manner, a person, wishing to hint at the avaricious disposition of the mistress of a house, said, “I only find fault with our hostess for putting too little butter to her salt,” whereas the accessory should be put to the principal; thus, by a subtle transposition of the words, converting