will protect me, and see me through all my troubles."

"You will never return to your husband, my lady, that I know," replied Sir Richard, glancing at the countenance of the Queen to see how she would receive the intelligence of what he had secretly resolved.

"Man may project schemes of ambition, but God overturns all his fee ble designs. As well might you seek to retard the swelling tide of yonder Severn as seek to frustrate the intentions of the Almighty," said the Queen meekly, and pointing to the distant river which divides England from Wales.

Sir Richard, who had never thought much of religion except in that intermittent way in which men in tribulation think of it, and who accepted the Roman Catholic religion because it was the religion of the country, hardly knew how to reply. He stroked his beard for a moment, as if to gather his crude thoughts, and then tried to divert the conversation into another channel.

"You will acknowledge," said he, "that the Cymry have treated your Majesty well, at any rate, if ever it should chance that fortune should restore you to your husband's arms."

"So well," replied the Queen, "that I should be glad to flee from them anywhere."

"Anywhere!" exclaimed Sir Richara, a sudden impulse of ambition and wickedness having taken possession of him; "anywhere! will you fly with me?"

"Yes," said the Queen, "and God will protect me."

"Then let us fall behind, and at a given signal, when I utter the word Now!' put spurs to your horse, and in two or three days you shall be in the camp of Henry IV."

"You are a brave knight," said the Queen, "and although a rebel, you are

a soldier and a man of good birth. At any rate, I will place my fate in your hands."

"Let not another word be spoken about the matter," replied the knight, "as already some of our men have observed us in close conversation, and the Welsh are a suspicious race."

"The Queen and Sir Richard Margam then slackened rein, and gradually fell to the rear. After riding about five miles, they came in sight of a dense wood, and Sir Richard uttering the word, the Queen and knight were soon lost to the view of the Welsh forces; but the thick undergrowth prevented their progress at a very rapid pace, and the Queen, who was prostrated in mind and body, had to dismount in order to obtain rest. Sir Richard fastened their horses to a tree, and threw himself down by the side of the Queen, who was resting on the gnarled trunk of an ancient oak.

"You are now in my power," said he, "and my castle is not many miles from here. You must go there and rest for a few days."

The Queen, who seemed utterly prostrate, aroused herself at the words of Margam, and said with energy, "Sir Richard, I rely upon your promise to take me to my husband. I cannot go to your castle at Margam. If you are a man, act as such!"

"You are my little kingdom!" replied Sir Richard, placing his arm on the Queen and smiling, "and already you are in rebellion. I am the husband to whom I have promised to deliver you."

"Fiend!" exclaimed the Queen, rising, and throwing the arm of Sir Richard from her, "restore me to my lawful husband, or God in his wrath will strike you dead."

"If subjects will not obey, they must be made," replied Sir Richard, seizing the Queen, and attempting to place her on her horse. The Queen

struggled with Sir Richard, and his foot coming in contact with the stump of a tree, they both fell, but the Queen quickly disengaged herself, snatched a poniard from her side, and brandished it over the prostrate form of Sir Richard Margam.

"By heaven!" exclaimed he, "you are a Boadicea! Let me rise."

"Not until you promise to restore me to my husband!" exclaimed the Queen, putting her foot on his body, and threatening to plunge the poniard in his bosom.

At this moment a noise was heard in the woods, and a body of horsemen appeared, at the head of whom might be recognized the familiar forms of Lord de Ruthyn and Arthur Bohun. They spurred their horses, and were by the side of the Queen and Sir Richard in a moment.

"Wretch !" exclaimed Arthur, "what abominable deed hast thou attempted? Let him rise and explain."

The Queen withdrew her foot and fell fainting into the arms of Arthur. Sir Richard Margam rose, drew his sword, and attacked Lord de Ruthyn, but Griffith Gam was behind him in a moment, the sword was knocked out of his hand, and he was a prisoner. He was then led back through the wood in the direction where Owen Glendower's forces were encamped, in order to be delivered up to that chieftain for disposal.

WELSH HISTORY IN THE LIGHT OF WELSH LAW.

BY JUDGE BRYNMOR JONES.

The inaugural meeting of the Lecture Session of the Honorable Society of Cymmrodorion for the year 188889, was held on the 19th of December in the Society's Library, Chancery lane, under the presidency of Mr. Lewis Morris, the well-known poet. The inaugural address on Welsh His

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tory in the light of Welsh Law was delivered by Judge Brynmor Jones, a son of the late Rev. Thomas Jones, of Swansea, and a brother of the Principal of the Cardiff University College. Mr. Brynmor Jones, referring to the invitation given to him to deliver the inaugural address, observed that whilst he assented to the request with much diffidence, because the matters connected with Wales, on which he felt qualified to speak, were of such a technical character as to unfit them for being made the subjects of an introductory lecture, yet it occurred to him that some slight service might be rendered to the cause which the Cymmrodorion Society had at heart, if he took the opportunity afforded to him of calling attention to the great importance of the Welsh customary laws as materials for the correct explanation of the history of the Kymric people. Some years ago it was observed that "no one has yet written a fair and reasonable history of Wales. We have had summaries of pre-historic traditions and national legends, which few in these days can with gravity pretend to believe. The facts of our real history as a people have not been collected." This remark was still true. Such historical works as we have, e. g., Burton's, Warrington's and Woodward's, are marked by the uncritical method, and a limited view of the scope of history. The writers were hampered by the literal acceptance of the Biblical account of the origin and dispersion of mankind, imbued with classical traditions that have been dispelled by the light of later scholarship, and unacquainted with the true principles of philological research. They were besides more or less under the influence of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and impressed with the belief that by judicious use of his socalled history they could form a connected account of the past of the

Welsh people. Since most of these works were written history has ceased to be a mere department of the belles lettres, and has become a science. It now endeavors to give a rational interpretation of the growth of a national organism. To perform this great function it has developed the use of the comparative method. For the treatment in this manner of Welsh History we have fortunately material of considerable extent and great value in the "Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales." It is to these laws the historian must resort to ob tain a firm footing for dealing with the difficuities of Kymric History. Notwithstanding the publication of Professor Rhys' "Celtic Britain," a work displaying the true scientific spirit, wide reading, and ample scholarship, and the excellent work that has recently been done by Mr. Lawes and Mr. A. N. Palmer, and by members of the Cymmrodorion Society, in reference to some aspects of our national history, the lesson of comparative research still needs to be enforced in regard to Welsh History. We hear much less than we did about Druidism and the departed glories of the Kymry, but the illusions of national vanity die hard, and there are many Welshmen who still believe that the past of the Kymry was unique and glorious, and who will not face the fact that the Welsh-speaking people of Wales are simply the descendants of an Indo-European race who had institutions not fundamentally different from the Teuton and the Roman, who started with the same stock of ideas, religious, legal and moral, and who have progressed from barbarism to such civilization as exists. "The Anaient Laws and Institutes of Wales" is a work edited by Mr. Aneurin Owen and published by the Record Commissioners. By far the most valuable portions of its contents are the three

recensions of the Venedotian, Dimetian and Gwentian Codes ascribed to Howel Dda, written in what Professor Rhys describes as medieval Welsh. The original book of the laws which came to be called "the old book of the White House," is not in existence. What we have are the 12th, 13th and 14th century versions. There are in them references and alterations made by Princes who ruled after the time of Howel, with phrases which appear to have been added by the persons to whom the MS. belonged as glosses in the text. The compilations may be fairly summed up as a mixture of laws, usages and doctrine, which were called the laws of Howel Dda, and which undoubtedly were based on legislation of the 10th century. From a comparison of the codes, and from what we know of the history of Gwynedd, there is little doubt that it is the North Wales recension that best preserves the original usages or customs of the Kymry, and it has the additional merit of being fuller and more complete than the others. After quoting Sir Henry Maine's opinion in favor of the authenticity of these collections, Judge Brynmor Jones proceeded to meet the charge that the compilations show marked traces of English and feudal influence. This opinion, he observed, is no doubt founded on the points of similarity between the institutions disclosed by these laws and those of Saxon England. The similarity exists, but the inference as usually put is erroneous. It is based on an incorrect idea of the nature of early legislation, and an ignoring of the fact that there are just as many points of similarity between the leading principles of the Kymric and Brehon or Irish laws. That some terms and phrases may have been borrowed from Teutonic sources is clear. but the principal institutions and regulations disclosed are too fundament

al to have been borrowed from any other. The idea that Howel could borrow wholesale the laws and institutions of England is untenable even if the relations between the Kymric tribes and the Saxon States were such as to make it likely. That would have involved a break with the past quite unlikely at so early a time. As Dr. Stubbs has well pointed out, all great changes in the history of institutions are gradual in character, and can be realized only by the comparison of sufficiently distant epochs. In the slow change from the tribal to a political organization a time seems to come to every race when it becomes conscious that for its governance mere rules and maxims handed down by the members of a privileged or sacerdotal class no longer suffice, and when those rules and maxims are set down in the writing that remaineth. Just as in primitive times each clan, almost each family, had its own dialects, so each clan had its own customs; and just as the writing of the first epic in a language common to all the clans is epoch-making, so also is the setting down of traditional custom for an aggregate of tribes a notable step in the national progress. The publication of a portion of the text of the Brehon laws has, however, placed the whole question in a new light and given us a vast amount of information as to the early condition of Celtic tribes. These show that the very same principles and institutions which form the basis of the Kymric system were those of the Gaelic tribes, and no one can suppose that the Brehon lawyers are in any way indebted to the Anglo-Saxon. Indeed these publications show that the kinship of Welsh custom and Irish custom is closer than that between Welsh and Teutonic law. In those portions of the laws of Wales which seem to have been the result of con

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scious imitation, it is to the laws of the Frankish monarchs of the continent that Howel seems to have been indebted.

(To be continued.)

THE GIFT OF SEEING. Thrice blest is he whom God endows With truest gifts of seeing, Who feels each beauty day by day Throughout his inmost being; Who reads the language of the breeze, The brooklet's rippling laughter, Who hears the whispers in the trees And bird-songs coming after; Who notes each blossom on the ground, Each grass-plume graceful bending, Each happy floweret all around

Its incense upward sending. The myriad voices of the night, The insects' drowsy humming, The wind announcing through the leaves The tempest-chariot's coming; The gentle music of the waves,

The ocean's varied voices

The zephyr which o'er toilers' graves
For peace and rest rejoices:

Who sees the sunbeam through the cloud,
The hope through gloom or sadness,
The deep soul-murmurs low or loud
Of Nature in her gladness,
Who knows each beauty have revealed
In every dell and dingle,
And every vision half concealed

Where night and morning mingle;
Knows well each grace and marvel caught
By moonbeams softly shining,
And loves the pictures deftly wrought
By shadows intertwining.
A proud and happy man is he,

All Nature's secrets knowing, Who reads God's truths on land and sea

And reaps contentment's sowing; Who knows the Lord inflicts no dearth Without a blessing to it,

And that enjoy ment of the earth

Depends on how you view it; That Nature's hieroglyphics traced

On heaven, and earth, and ocean, Are object-lessons teaching truth

Interpreted in motion;

That all of these harmonious blend
With no truth disagreeing,
And each its methods yields to those
Who have the gift of seeing.
So every true and perfect thing

Yields to his soui its sweetness;
A monarch he, and more than king,
Who knows its grand completeness.
Muskegon, Mich. -I. Edgar Jones.