have generally been Goths, and it was therefore only to be expected that they should treat them as barbarians. A persecuted people in Ireland, and a small and in many respects an oppressed minority in Great Britain, they may have fewer distinguished names to boast of than their more numerous and better-conditioned neighbours. They may have less of that plodding temper which is so necessary for money-making, and of that restless activity which is so suited to an age that goes so fast a-head. But though inferior in these respects, and in some others where it is more desirable that they should not be so, they may at the same time possess qualities which more than atone for their defects. Men are oftentimes more civilized who have less wealth, and better educated who have less instruction. The Athenian cobbler who could applaud Pericles, and who was a fit judge of the works of Eschylus, is certainly as little a barbarian as the cleverest member of any Mechanics' Institute; nor does there appear to be any greater reason why the Welsh peasant, with his turn for poetry and music, should be thought less humanized than the English artizan, who has gained a smattering of Phrenology or is able to construct a steam-engine. And if courtesy and ease of manner, if elegance of taste and refinement of feeling, are principal signs of civilization, the Celtic races may assuredly be recognized as equals by Saxon, Dane, or Norman. In the "Decay of Old Things," there is a fine lament for the state of the Welsh language, and a burst of indignant feeling against those who would fain extinguish it. Such appeals may have little weight with the advocates of abolishment, but unless extremely bigoted they can scarcely refuse to listen to the arguments that are ably brought forward in the Appendix. The question is a very hackneyed one, and Goronva will in all probability be unable to convince many of his opponents, as they have usually made up their minds, and are not to be reasoned into any change of them. But, whatever may be their hatred for the language, and however strongly they may wish for its suppression, they would do well to consider the difficulty of changing a medium of communication which is the habitual one of so many thousands. The schoolmaster is the grand panacca. He is to Anglicize the Welsh children, that the next generation may be weaned from the embraces of Dissent. But will the lessons of the schoolroom be more lasting than the impressions which are made elsewhere, or will the hardly learnt and imperfectly understood book-language be as readily attended to as the tongue which was lisped in the earliest infancy and alone intelligible at home? The great prevalence of Dissent which is often attributed to the existence of two languages may with much greater truth be accounted for by the neglect of one. The higher Clergy have seldom been natives of the Principality, and there are few instances of a Bishop understanding Welsh. Much of the evil is owing to lax discipline in past years; much to the poverty of the Church in many districts; and but little to the popular tongue, which constitutes indeed a gulf of separation, but one that must be crossed over by natural methods, and that will long defy all improper attempts to overcome it. Goronva enters warmly into the question now pending of the union of the North Wales Dioceses. Some however of his expressions are too strong upon this subject. It is not, for instance, exactly graceful to speak of "Plebeian Peel too cold to feel," and it requires more poetical licence than we would allow, to compare the fortunes of the two Bangors. There are none indeed more strongly opposed to the threatened measure than ourselves, but we would rest our opposition as Churchmen, rather on the dangerous tendency of the principle than on the evil of the union itself. We would combat the idea that no more Bishoprics may be founded, or that no more Bishops may be admitted to the House of Lords; and we are therefore hostile to any measure which is a virtual recognition of the necessity of such a view. The venerable antiquity of the Sees is a most weighty reason for maintaining them; but it is exceeding the limits of discretion to talk about "unhallowed deeds," and threaten the English Church with the curse of Meroz, or even to "fain seize one's father's sword, and haste and die." Several of the shorter Poems have evidently been occasioned by the personal circumstances of the author, and derive considerable interest from this subjective character. Like all poets, Goronva writes feelingly when he has himself felt, and it is not difficult to distinguish where this has been the case. The following verses are very natural, and will possess a melancholy charm for many who can recall something similar in their own experience. "TO A. B. S. "Of all who in the race had started, "One far away in wild lands fighting, "But thou, who on thy presence borest O! best beloved! O! wept for sorest! Thou too art bound. We dreamed-vain dreams!—of some great glorie, Hopes, which like the storm-swept flowers, "Thine was the dread and slow decaying, "O, LORD, our LORD! Our Helper onlie, All else Thou takest-leave us onlie Quenched not for ever."- (pp. 85, 86.) The admirers of "Undine" will be surprised to learn that that most beautiful legend is to be found among the Carnarvon mountains. It is prettily told by Goronva, who styles the ill-used water nymph, "Dourania," a name of sufficiently obvious signification to all who have the least smattering of the language of the Cymry. He himself truly remarks : 'How many an echo of romance, What strains from harp inspired of old, "The strong hills hold the treasure ever, The deep-traced spell of hallowed lore."-(p. 138.) One of the sonnets is addressed to Lady Charlotte Guest: to whom the book is dedicated in words of graceful and well-deserved compliment. We give it entire as a specimen of the rest : "Oh, if my power might equal my desire, Should all enshrine; and I would woo great Fame Than fair Hypatia, who with mingled fire The Orient's saint and sage could melt and tame, For thee of English birth, but British heart, It is to be hoped that in another edition a different mode of spelling will be adopted from the one followed in the present, which is only sufficiently singular to be disagreeable, and cannot, we conceive, be justified upon any principle. Use is the regulator of spelling, as well as of language, and modern forms are apparently the most suitable for a writer of the nineteenth century. But, if ancient ones are to be introduced, it is fair to expect that they should be employed consistently; nor is it captious to quarrel with a motley style, where old terminations are arbitrarily introduced in some cases, and as arbitrarily left out in others. Goronva would do wisely to conform to the common usage, and he need not fear that his rhymes will suffer from the change. Some of the pieces may at the same time be advantageously omitted, and the marks of haste in others judiciously removed, and our author will have then no reason to be ashamed of his offering to the Muses. Their favour however is not to be obtained easily. They require zeal and diligence, and, above all, faith, before they will be won over. Nor do they inspire any who are themselves not conscious of their inspiration. And therefore if he continues himself faint-hearted, we fear that we must despair of his success. But even though he should be considered to have missed the bay-leaves, he will be still entitled to the nobler honours of the oak. For the defender of his nation may be ranked with him who has saved a citizen from death, and not undeservedly be celebrated by poets though he has failed to emulate their strains. And such a fate should not be thought unfortunate, for Goronva himself has proposed an exalted standard, which he denies that the Poet Laureate has attained; and he cannot consequently complain if he should not be reckoned among those few and highly gifted who have ever reached it: "Pauci quos æquus amavit Jupiter atque ardens evexit ad æthera virtus.", THE CHURCHMANSHIP OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. The Churchmanship of the New Testament; an Inquiry, Historical and Theological, into the origin and progress of certain opinions which now agitate the Church of CHRIST. In Three Parts. By J. B. MARSDEN, M.A., Vicar of Great Missenden, Bucks.London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co.; and J. Hatchard and Son. 1846. The UNDER this not very intelligible title Mr. Marsden presents us with an attempt to trace the origin of what he calls "Tractarian opinions," in the love of the Jewish ceremonial law, arising from "a defective acquaintance with the Gospel as a system, and an entire misapprehension of the true character of the Church of CHRIST." sincerity of the Tractarian leaders is by no means unsuspicious," he tells us, and "their aim is to set up another Gospel which is not another"; to establish a spiritual usurpation, and to overthrow the supremacy of CHRIST." Apropos, we suppose, of these reflections the preface concludes with remarks on the excellence of "our" exhibition of "mutual charity which may sometimes be more edifying to the world than that of our perfect uniformity." Soothed again to a certain degree by this amiable thought, the charitable writer sets himself to his task. He states in his first section, that the question agitated is whether the ceremonial law is yet in any degree binding; the old question decided by S. Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians. In the second, he decides that the moral law is binding on the Church of CHRIST. The Sabbath presents, as he thinks, a difficulty, prima facie, viz., as to the minutia of its observance contained in the Levitical law. Here he rejects the interference of private judgment.-" Conscience, in this case perhaps another name for inclination, would sit in judgment upon Scripture, select what it approves, and repudiate whatever it may happen to dislike." "Or," he continues, "shall the Church decide?" To this he answers, "it must do so in a certain sense, and its decision will be final." This "sense" is, that the Church is not to give "oracular judgments without assigning, or permitting us to review" its reason; that is, that instead of "selecting or rejecting" what we like in the Bible we are to do so in the Bible and the Church too. Mr. Marsden's opinion or judgment on the judgment of the Church with regard to such parts of the moral law as are not contained in the Decalogue, but are yet considered obligatory on the Church Catholic, is that they are logical developments of such and such laws of the Decalogue-such are the laws of consanguinity, &c. Mr. Marsden does not tell us how they are guaranteed, but if he is consistent it must be by the final decision of himself on the judgment of the Church. |