guest, that the balance of the Welsh National Presentation to their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York be handed over to the fund for publishing Welsh Records. I leave that fact to speak for itself (loud cheers). Among other spheres of the activity of the Cymmrodorion is to be reckoned from the first that of Education, and one of the men engaged in its reestablishment in 1873 was Hugh Owen, who stands par excellence as our Welsh educationalist. He had long laboured in the cause of elementary schools, when he directed his attention to higher education, and began to make use of the machinery of the Eisteddfod for his excellent purposes (hear, hear). I may remark that no country ever produced a more sincere and devoted patriot than Hugh Owen, and that from the day when her Majesty the Queen invested the victorious bard at the Beaumaris Eisteddfod down to her recent sojourn in the pretty part of the Principality "where Deva spreads her wizard stream," she never gave more universal satisfaction to the Welsh people than when she made known her recognition of the lifelong services of our unobtrusive Hugh Owen (cheers). He, and other leading Welshmen who acted with him, succeeded in establishing as a part of the National Eisteddfod, a Cymmrodorion Section to promote the consideration of educational, literary, and social questions affecting the Principality, and out of that Section have more or less directly sprung various other useful organisations, and notably the National Eisteddfod Association. I have reason to remember the first meeting of that body being held at Shrewsbury in 1880. Somebody thought we had appointed a president who could not speak Welsh. I do not like to talk about myself, but I ventured to help to remove any discontent that might arise from that source by proposing to appoint two vice-presidents who could not speak English. An Association with such resources has never experienced any difficulty from that day to this, as you might expect, and, thanks to the ability of Sir Lewis Morris and the tact of Mr. Marchant Williams, the Cymmrodorion are enabled, by means of that Association, to play a considerable part in guiding the Eisteddfod in the way it should go. As I cherish the hope that His Royal Highness will some day attend the National Eisteddfod, I may, perhaps, be allowed to characterise that institution in a sentence or two. It is "one the origin of which is lost in the obscurity of the past." I will not spoil that statement by trying to fix the century. Every true Welshman is born with a decided predisposition to attend the Eisteddfod and to fight immediately afterwards. The Eisteddfod is in some respects so utterly unregenerate that it ought to appear a thing of beauty to all those who adore the incorrigible. On the other hand, it has

such vitality and such possibilities that the astutest tactician could not leave it out of his reckoning. Lastly, it is, like this Society of Cymmrodorion, determined to ignore all distinctions of politics and religion. Under the auspices of the Cymmrodorion and of the Eisteddfod, the most timid Tory need not fear any attack on the most untenable of his opinions, and the most aggressive of Radicals knows that we doom him here, qua Radical, to a golden silence. We do our utmost, in fact, to prevent the lion from treating the lamb with extreme voracity, and in the last resort prevent the lamb from disagreeing with the lion. Which is the lion and which is the lamb I need not say; where everybody is certain information is useless. Our platform is that of loyalty and love of our country. The latter is proved by all the doings of the Society, and the former received such an illustration as I had never witnessed before on the occasion of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales appearing with Lord Penrhyn on the platform of the Carnarvon Eisteddfod. For the spirit of our Society pervades the Eisteddfod, as does also our Secretary; but, indefatigable man as he is, I cannot compare him to our excellent Secretary of years ago, who was conspicuous at every Eisteddfod by his magnificent carriage and fine beard. The wags were heard to say that he was not only Secretary, but was meant also as a sample of the Society, and one of them is said to have addressed him in the words of Toinette: "Tenez, Monsieur, quand il n'y aurait que votre barbe, c'est deja beaucoup et la barbe fait plus de la moitie d'un " Cymmrodor. But those were the days of advertisement and of the beginning of undertakings which the present day finds approaching their completion. Take, for example, the educational structure to the building of which the Cymmrodorion Society and the Eisteddfod, under its guidance, have, in their respective spheres, contributed. We are about to see that

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structure receive its coping-stone in the installation of the Prince of Wales as Chancellor of the Welsh University. His reception will, I doubt not, be of the same cordial and loyal nature as that with which he met the other day under the shadow of the lordliest of Edward's castles in North Wales. feel confident that I am correctly representing the feelings of this Society when I say that we all rejoice in "Eich Dyn", and treat it from our point of view as meaning "Our Man (loud cheers).

The Bishop of Bangor proposed "Gwlad ein Tadau." He referred to the Renaissance in Wales, and put in a plea for unity among Welshmen in the Principality and outside of it.

Mr. W. Abraham ("Mabon"), M.P., responded to the toast in a perfervid Welsh speech.

The pitch of national enthusiasm was kept up by the spirited rendering of the "Men of Harlech " in Welsh by the Rhondda Glee Society.

Lord Kenyon afterwards gave "The health of the Chairman, Lord Tredegar"-a true Welshman, who bore a Welsh name and had a Welsh ancestry. The words of his Lordship were enthusiastically received. Mention of the Chairman's service at Balaclava brought down the house, whilst heartily received were Lord Kenyon's references to the educational benefits Lord Tredegar had conferred upon the country. Lord Kenyon concluded a well-conceived speech by trusting that the Welsh University would heal all the petty differences which existed between North and South Wales, and that the country would be, as it ought to be, united on every subject.

Lord Tredegar's response was most felicitous. He said that over and over again weak men had come up to him and said, "What the d are the Cymmrodorion ?" (laughter). He only trusted that the recording angel would look mildly down upon the many replies he had given them (renewed laughter). His lordship concluded by thanking the Rhondda Glee Society for the beautiful singing that evening, and Mr. Ll. Williams for having brought them up at his own expense.

The proceedings, after the singing of " Hen Wlad fy Nhadau ", came to a close.

From the "Western Mail".

I MUST begin by discounting the praises that your Chairman has just expressed of my work, but I should not like to discount the kindliness with which those praises were spoken.

I am sorry to say that I have not written a paper to read to-night; I have been prevented by the pressure of other engagements and the difficulty that I had in knowing exactly what kind of an audience I should have to address. And therefore I must ask you to pardon me if I am not quite so clear in what I say, and direct in the manner of saying it, as I should have been if I had committed it to writing.

I think it is pretty well known, though the reason why is perhaps not always understood, that whilst political economy has been thrown a little into the background and even by some banished to one of the planets, greater

*Delivered before the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, on Wednesday, the 13th of November 1895, at 20, Hanover Square; Chairman, Sir John Williams, Bart.

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