innumerable failures, and after many a man who attempted it had lost his entire fortune. Others have schemed and laboured, and we are entered into their labours.

It will have been observed that all those who worked Bersham Furnace, before the time of the Wilkinsons, were either members of the Society of Friends, or in some way connected with that Society. I may add that the Mr. [Benjamin] Harvey mentioned on page 4, was also a "born Friend," being the son of Mr. Benjamin Harvey, the elder,' and related to the Darby family, and his mother, a daughter of Joshua Gee, of London, and afterwards of Tern, Shropshire, and of Frizzinton, Cumberland.2 He and his associates seem to have acquired the lease of Bersham Furnace from Mrs. Hawkins and her son. His uncle, Thomas Serjeant Harvey, was in 1726 working a colliery at Gardden, between Wrexham and Ruabon. This Benjamin Harvey, the younger, lived, not at Bersham, but in Wrexham Regis, and on July 10, 1753, being then 23 years of age, renounced Quakerism, and was baptized at Wrexham Church, where also his child, William (born Feb. 5th) was baptized, March 7, 1755. Under what circumstances the interests of the Harveys in Bersham Works ceased cannot now be traced.

I have hinted that the vast superstructure which John Wilkinson raised, rested more than was acknowledged on the foundations which others, his predecessors, laid. Mr. Norris says: "I do not suggest any disparagement of John Wilkinson, but I consider other persons, perhaps

1 Thomas Harvey married Hannah Serjeant (a sister of the wife of Abraham Darby) in 1699, was largely engaged in the iron-trade, and died in 1731 leaving two sons, Thomas Sergeant Harvey and Benjamin Harvey, the elder.

2 This Mr. Gee published in 1727 a book entitled The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain Considered. This also I learn from Mr. Norris.

64

JOHN WILKINSON AND THE OLD BERSHAM IRONWORKS.

less energetic, but equally capable, quietly opened the way which he and others were able to follow to their [own] great advantage."

And now I must conclude with the expression of my great indebtedness to Mr. Norris for the additional information I owe to him, and which I have presented in this Appendix.

WELSH FOLK-MUSIC.1

BY MISS MARY OWEN (MRS. ELLIS GRIFFITH).

I.

In a certain sense, music is a universal language that knows neither race nor clime. But though this may be true, music has many idioms. I invite you to a consideration and a hearing of some of the folk-music of Wales-that music which has neither author nor composer, but forms the anonymous inheritance of the people.

The origin of Welsh music is lost in the mists of mythology and the uncertainty of early days. The beginnings of music may be traced to the cradle of the human race; at the very dawn of civilisation the music of nature affected and influenced the minds of men. The voices of birds and insects, the fluttering leaves, the rushing rivers and the sad murmur of the sea, were the primitive lessons and examples of modulated tones. Gradually the skill and art of man imitated and reproduced the sounds of nature.

In pre-historic times music passed through three stages of development, and each stage was characterised by a special class of instrument. The elementary period of percussion represented by cymbals, drums and bells was

1 Read before the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, at 20, Hanover Square, on Thursday, 26th March, 1898. Chairman: The Hon. William N. Bruce.

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succeeded by the stage of wind instruments, which in turn were followed by stringed instruments. These three stages mark the progress from a period where the organ of time developed into the sense of Tune.

It would serve no useful purpose to discuss whether the Britons brought over their music with them on their original migration from the East, or whether they borrowed it from the Phoenicians with whom they came into commercial contact, or whether they learnt it from the Greeks. This, at least, is certain, that from the earliest times the Welsh showed a very marked gift for poetry and music.

Before the Welsh first woke to the sounds of Roman arms, they had made some progress in the art of music. Princes and Kings varied their prowess in the field with accomplishments in the domain of song. The Druids were, as Tacitus describes them, the Masters of Wisdom and monopolised the knowledge of Arts and Science. They were the divines, philosophers, physicians, legislators, prophets, historians, musicians, heralds and antiquaries of the Ancient Britons. Gradually music, instead of being the means of delivering words effectively, became an art of producing sounds harmoniously, and at this stage the musician parted company with the bard. The three perpetual choirs at Glastonbury, Salisbury, and Bangor-is-yCoed have left no traces: 2,400 voices at each place supplied a choir of 100 for each of the 24 hours, and chanted in rotation without intermission.

As the Druidic cult fell into decay, and the Druids were expelled, the history of Britain is lost in uncertain traditions. But the song of the soil survived the national disasters, and bard-musicians sang the records of their day and clung to their old privileges. It was regarded as unlawful to commit their verses to writing, and in this

way, the mystery of their learning, and the value of their services, were preserved. Thus, there was an oral succession of carefully-prepared verses. They embodied the varied information of the time, and were called Pen-illion, or Head-lines, because they were learnt by heart, or rather by head, and never desecrated or vulgarised by written publication. This was the origin of the triads which contained the chronicles and deductions of early times.

The first four centuries of the Christian era were dark ages spent in fighting against great odds, but in the commencement of the fifth century there was a revival of national and musical life. In the middle of the seventh century, King Cadwaladr presided at an Eisteddfod which gave new laws to music and poetry; and Friar John of St. David's is said to have been appointed the first Professor of Music at the University of Oxford. Morva Rhuddlan is supposed to have been written in 795 by Caradog's bard, immediately after the disastrous battle in Flintshire, when the king of North Wales was defeated and killed, and his army perished by the sword and the tide of the sea.

The Laws of Hywel Dda (942) prove that at that time the Bards were held in high esteem, and were entitled to various privileges, rewards, and fees. The Laureate Bard (Y Bardd Teulu) was the eighth officer of the King's household. The Chief Bard of the district (Y Pencerdd) was the tenth officer in rank.

For one hundred and fifty years Music and Poetry were united in the same person. They enjoyed the prerogative of petitioning for presents, which was carried to such excess that they were controlled by law in the time of Gryffydd ap Cynan. This Prince, in 1100, invited to Wales some of the best musicians in Ireland. He was displeased with the disorders and abuses of the Weish