first three words, there comes a difference. In the Aber rendering we have the question, "Wyt ti 'n huno?" "Art thou asleep?" and in the Flintshire version it is, "Wyt ti 'n ddeffro?" "Art thou awake?" There are not two lines alike throughout the whole, and yet they resemble each other strongly. They are the same, changed by being carried along and learnt by heart, it is true; but, nevertheless, they are one hymn. Few, in days gone by, could read, and what was committed to memory would be varied by each one who learnt it; and hence the difference of these two pieces. Upon comparing the language of these readings, we see that in the Flintshire one, the word trublo (trouble) comes in, intimating that there English words were creeping in amongst the Welsh words, and ousting the equivalent Welsh word. As a comparison of language, the differences in these renderings are very interesting; but it was not for this purpose that they were penned, and so I go on. The following version of "Mary's Dream" was taken down from the lips of an aged man who lived on the hill above Penmaenmawr, near Llangelynin old church, by Mr. Richard Wynne Parry. The person who repeated it was ill at the time, and died shortly after Mr. Parry saw him. that everybody used it when he was a child. lows: Mam wen Fair, a wyt ti 'n huno? Nac wyf, fy anwyl Fab, yr wyf yn breuddwydio. Beth a welaist ti yn dy freuddwyd? Gweled dy hel, a dy ddal, a dy ddilyn, Dy roddi ar y groes a'th groeshoelio; Yr Iuddew du dall oedd y fall a dy dwyllodd. Gwin i borthi, dwfr i 'molchi. He stated It is as fol Sawl a ddywedo hon bob nos dair gwaith cyn huno, This, the Llangelynin version, is more imperfect than the other two; but it contains one line of which they are deficient, Gwin i borthi, dwfr i 'molchi. Wine to feed, water to cleanse. Alluding probably to the Sacraments. There is also one pretty line in the Aber version which is not in the rest, viz. : Gwir yw 'r breuddwyd mam wen Fair. True is the dream, Mary, mother pure. In the Flintshire version, also, there is one thing not to be found in the other two, viz.:— Dwy waith cyn y i cotto. Twice before he rises, And this line shows that, as the day ended, so it was to begin with the repetition of the hymn-with this difference, however: that it was said there three times before going to bed, and twice in the morning when lying on the bed. All these differences show that the copies are all incomplete; but if a number large enough could be picked up, it would appear that one would help the other, and by-and-by a perfect copy might be procured. With one other version, I will bring Breuddwyd Mair to a close. The Venerable Archdeacon Evans wrote the following out from memory; and, as far as it goes, it is very perfect, but it is only a part of the whole : Breuddwyd Mair. Mam, wen Fair, pam rwyt ti 'n wylo? A dyn y fall, wedi dallu a'i dwyllo, Yn rhoi pig ei ffon dan dy fron, Nes oedd dy waed sanctaidd yn llifo. The number of renderings of this hymn shows how univer sally it was used; but it is not found in Montgomeryshire, and possibly it had its home among the hills. The Rev. Canon Williams, of Llanfyllin, remembered another rhythmical prayer, that I have never met with. The reverend gentleman writes:-"When I was a small boy, parish apprentices were the rule; and I remember that a little fellow used to come to the parlour door at Nant Meliden, and kneel down, on his way to bed, and repeat the following, ending with Y Pader :— Yn enw Duw i'm gwely yr af; 'Pan ddelo dydd y foru Gael arnaf ail i bechn.' There seems something defective, but this is what I recollect." The child's hymn is as follows: In God's name to my bed I go; God keep the hale and those in woe; I'll lay my body down to sleep, And in the name of God I'll sleep. The second verse is incomplete; it contains a wish to be kept from sin on the following day. I now know a farmer's wife who is in the habit of rehearsing the Creed in her private nightly devotions; and, a few years ago, an old woman, who had seen upwards of eighty years, told me that she had daily said her Pader and Credo1 The use of the Pader and Credo is confirmed by the following anecdote: : "An old woman of Aberdovey, while crossing the part of Cardigan Bay that lies between Aberystwith and Aberdovey, in an open boat, from infancy, and that, as long as she lived, she intended doing so that she could not abide the new-fangled ideas of the present days. The old lady has gone to her long restingplace, and with her has died the old habit of repeating the Creed of an evening after the Lord's Prayer. I do not for a moment suppose that these peculiar forms of devotion belong exclusively to Wales. They are in use in the present day in Catholic France, with a slight difference. Instead of the Saviour, the angel Gabriel is made to question the Virgin. The same answers, however, are returned in the French as in our Welsh versions. In certain parts of England, too, some of these devotional rhymes are used with but little variation. The following is in common use in many parts, and answers to the boy's prayer in page 30: If no other lesson is taught us by these "Devotions", they prove how truly the sayings and doings of ages long gone by are borne downwards on the stream of tradition. Remains, as they are, of Roman Catholic times, they are deserving of record, not only, as I have stated, for their curious character, but for the lesson they teach us with regard to tradition. They prove how accurately it hands down to our day the transactions and even the sayings of long centuries ago. Wales has renounced the faith of Rome for upwards of three hundred years; and yet these echoes of her former creed are found the passage so stormy, as to cause her to resort to earnest prayer for deliverance. When she landed at the latter place, she exclaimed with great delight :- Moliant i Dduw am y ddaear las unwaith etto; nid oes achos am na phader no chredo ar hon.' 'God be praised for the green earth once more. There is no need of either pater or credo on this.' still heard in her mountains and valleys. We are invited, consequently, to give tradition the importance it claims at our hands, nor deny it the authority which narratives like these so strongly uphold. EPIGRAMS FROM THE OLD POETS. No. 2. Y BRAD WR. O gwelwch ddyn a golwg |