as a piece of prose the passage is worth quoting. Surely those who pronounce a general condemnation of nineteenth century prose have listened too much to the blare of some of its more blatant practitioners; some of the best prose of the time lies forgotten in sermons and in letters such as this.

His correspondent, Mrs. Humphreys, found herself, at fifty, face to face with very grave ill-health. When she knew the worst she wrote home to her daughter, Mrs. Morgan

......

I hope, my dear Jennette, you will for all our sakes hold up I would not have told you could I have helped it. You have the whole truth, take my word. I do not deceive you. Remember this, as well as all other crosses, is ruled by the great Ruler, and I think it will be so for our ultimate good. I have had some consolation yesterday in thinking of y breichiau tragwyddol odditanaf. I cannot sink.

We may or may not share the faith of these people of eighty years ago; we may or may not desire to share it. But it would be comforting to be sure that we have some portion of their serenity and of their courage.

It is in another letter written by Mrs. Humphreys during those dark days that I came across a proof of courage quite as great although differently expressed. She is again writing to her daughter, and after trying to comfort her, finishes thus :

I do not remember I have anything to say to Sian. I suppose she does occasionally let the blinds down in the front rooms these hot days. I have bought a pretty black and white dress for you in Liverpool, also French cambric, fine linen, and two worked caps.

The next day she was to undergo the operation, the full meaning of which she realised, and which, in those days, was something very formidable indeed.

VI.

We come to the end. Already the sound of the battles of the new age is to be heard. In a letter dated February 1, 1870-the last year of his life-Edward Morgan gives his son an account of a stormy meeting to discuss the Education Bill, held at Aberystwyth.

At the evening meeting (he writes) a resolution was proposed that the schools were to be secular, Mr. Rowlands, Bangor, moved an amendment that the word should be left out, which implied that the Bible would be used, but this was lost. Some English minister from Newport moved the next resolution that no dogmas, catechisms &c were to be taught, and I was called to second it. I made a short speech and said that if this included throwing the Bible overboard I could not second it, and I sat down without doing so. I raised a storm which raged for nearly three hours....... However, it was put to the vote, and we beat Independia Fawr. The Bible is not thrown overboard. I glory in being the father of the storm.

Speaking of the opposing forces, he says: They were English ministers and one Scotchman. They were determined to have their own way. People who knew absolutely nothing of Wales having the audacity to come. there to dictate to us all. The Welsh dissenters almost to a man supported them, riding their old hobby horse about Church establishments. It mattered not what we said; reading the Bible was establishing religion, and Dr. Rees, Swansea, said that if it were read in the schools in ten years Wales would be full of Roman Catholics".

And now, perhaps, the right note to end upon is the sound of the younger generation knocking at the gate. It is to be found in a letter from R. H. Morgan when he was a student at Bala, in 1869. He retails the rumours that were afloat in the student world at the time-how it was said that Dr. Edwards meant to retire in favour of his son, Thomas Charles Edwards, how it was said that Thomas Charles was to go to Princes Road, and many

other things that are to-day of less than no importance. And the student discontent with the rumoured transference of authority is voiced in a sentence or two. "A man that has no notion of government other than gweinidogaeth y pastwn, a government by Apostolic blows and knocks' should by the same means be made acquainted that all are not of the same opinion. For I think if you will look that you will scarcely find one here that holds. the sacred doctrine of non-resistance".

Here is the new day with a vengeance. The knocking is insistent, and the younger generation is on the march. We have spent a long time voyaging through these equal waters of the dead". We sometimes to-day affect to despise the Wales of the nineteenth century. No doubt there was much in it that was crude and more that was narrow. But when I see what these people we have heard of were thinking of, what they were interested in, and what they were writing to each other about, I, at any rate, have little inclination to patronise them left.

DIOGELU ENWAU LLEOEDD CYMRU.1

GAN D. ARTHEN EVANS, BARRY

(Ysgrifennydd Undeb Cenedlaethol y Cymdeithasau Cymraeg).

GWELODD bywyd cenedlaethol Cymru o bryd i bryd lawer deffroad ac adfywiad. Arwyddair un o'r cyfnodau tanbaid yn ei hanes ydoedd "I godi'r hen wlad yn ei hol". Heddyw fel canlyniad cyfnod o adfywiad neu fel prif agwedd iddo, credwn ein bod ni yn byw mewn cyfnod a alwn, hyd oni chaffom enw gwell arno, yn "gyfnod diogelu"; ac fel arwyddair tarawiadol iddo yntau ac i Gymru, awgrymwn y geiriau cyfarwydd, "Dal yr hyn sydd gennyt, fel na ddygo neb dy goron di".

Nid ydyw'r amserau a'r prydiau heb ryw arwyddion sicr o berig ein gwlad o golli gafael ar lawer o'i threftadaeth werthfawr hi. Mawr yw mintai'r Cymdeithasau a'r Undebau a weithia'n ddyfal yng Nghymru y dyddiau hyn. Amrywiant lawer mewn cyfansoddiad a rheol, eto i gyd un ydyw eu nod fawr a'u hamcan pennaf, sef yw hynny diogelu rhag difancoll ryw arwedd ar fywyd ac arfer ein henwlad. Casglu a diogelu y maent drysorau Cymru Fu ar gyfer Cymru Fydd, canys ni adeiledir dyfodol cenedl yn iawn ond ar ei gorffennol hi.

Y mae Anrhydeddus Gymdeithas y Cymmrodorion wrthi ers 1751 yn noddi a diogelu 'n hanes a'n llên. Llafuria Cymdeithas Alawon Gwerin Cymru er cadw'n hen alawon melys rhag myned yn angof yng ngwlad y

1 Darllenwyd yng nghyfarfod Adran Gymmrodorol Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Abertawe, ddydd Mercher, Awst 4ydd, 1926. Cadeirydd, yr Athro Henry Lewis, M.A.

gân. Gofala'r Gymdeithas Lyfryddol am drysorau llên, a saif Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg ac Undeb Cenedlaethol y Cymdeithasau Cymraeg hwythau megis dau warchglawdd er rhwystro'r llifeiriant Seisnig i ysgubo ein heniaith, ein traddodiadau, a'n delfrydau i fôr angof dros byth.

Y mae dwy Ddirprwyaeth Frenhinol ar waith: y naill yn olrhain a chasglu hanes Cymru oddiwrth ei hynafiaethau hi ac yn ymdrechu diogelu ac amddiffyn llawer caer a chastell, tomen a chromlech, rhag y dinistr a gerdd yn aml liw dydd goleu; a'r llall sef y Pwyllgor Ymchwil i safle'r Gymraeg yng nghyfundrefn addysg Cymru, yn darpar cynllun er cadw'n ddiogel ein trysor pennaf i gyd, sef yr iaith Gymraeg.

Y mae mudiadau eraill, llai fe ddichon, ar droed hefyd. Bwriedir cadw hen gartref Islwyn yn Ynysddu yn eiddo cenedl; ac amcenir adfer a diogelu porth prydferth Castell Bewpyr neu Faes Essyllt ym Mro Morgannwg fel byddo'n destun llawenydd a rhyfeddod oesau lawer eto.

Diwyd hefyd ydyw'n cymdeithasau hynafiaethol yn agor y gaer hon a'r clawdd arall er mwyn diogelu i Gymru rai tudalennau o'i hanes.

Yr ydym ninnau yn yr olyniaeth canys wele ni wedi cyfarfod er ymdrin a'r priodoldeb o ddiogelu hen enwau lleoedd Cymru rhag y dinistr a'u bygwth hwythau. A'n bod ni yn llwyddo yn ein hamcan, dichon y cyfyd gwŷr o'n mysg a ddehong holl gyfrinach ac ystyr y trysorau gwerthfawr hyn hefyd, canys mawr yw disgwyl Cymru am oleuni arnynt.

Ni honnwn y perthyn unrhyw newydd-deb eithriadol i'r testun, ac yn sicr ni honnwn y dywedwn ddim byd newydd arno. Gwyddom am lawer gweithiwr dyfal ym maes enwau lleoedd Cymru, ac yn sicr clywsom y perthyni Urdd Graddedigion Prifysgol Cymru, adran arbennig ar gyfer