evidently a remnant of the Roman Catholic faith, and nothing more than the mass money which formerly was bestowed in large proportions for the same purpose. On these occasions the oblations are oftentimes very considerable; and we are informed by a clergyman in Anglesey, that he had more than once received ten pounds in that way. From this custom, and certain other perquisites, the curacies of North-Wales afford very comfortable incomes; the character of poverty, therefore, which attaches to the subaltern clergy of South-Wales, does not extend to those of the northern part of the principality. The stipends, it is true, are in both cases very trifling; but the arian-rhew, or offering at the graves just mentioned, (so called from the money being cast into the spade) and some other sources of profit, make the amount of many of the North-Wales curacies above one hundred pounds a year. The process of courtship is to the full as extraordinary, as that observed at funerals. In America the inhabitants call it bundling, a practice which is supposed to have contributed greatly to the rapid increase in population made by the United States in the course of a few years. The same consequence, it should seem, ought to arise from the Welsh method of making love, few marriages being celebrated amongst the ancient British peasantry, which are not rendered absolutely necessary by the previous situation of the female parties. Much has been said of the beauty of Welsh music, and without doubt, the melodies of the country are ravishingly sweet, soft, and pathetic. But it is not amongst the common people that we are to look for them. The tunes, if such they may be called, which the mountaineers chaunt, have nothing to do with harmony; they are in general dull and monotonous. It is in these, however, that they recite their Pennylls, or stanzas of old historical ballads and traditional songs, consisting of many verses. This they do in parties, singing alternately; another taking up the song and giving the following stanza, when his neighbour has concluded the preceding one. The delicious airs, known by the name of Welsh airs, and to which Mr. Edward Jones* has given permanence and stability, by collecting and publishing them, were floating in a tra * "Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards." ditional form amongst the harpers of Wales, seldom committed to notation, and liable consequently to be vitiated and forgotten. Most of these are of great antiquity, and they all possess that feeling and pathos, which evince they were composed by men skilled in the science of music, and on occasions that warmed the imagination and interested the heart. Your's, &c. R. W. X |