RISIART DDU WYNEDD
CHAPTER I.
Welsh Poetry and Environment.
The impulsive Celt is naturally more poetical and musical than the phlegmatic Saxon. Though Celt and Saxon have been intermarrying for centuries, there is still more poetry and music where the Celtic element predominates. This is especially the case in Wales. In the last fifty years, little Wales, with its million and a half inhabitants, has produced more poets than England produced with its thirty millions. Many of the Welsh poets are men of true genius. Emerson's remark that the Celt is made of quicksilver, and the Saxon is made of clay, contains much truth. The Saxon is more persevering than the Celt; but his superiority is not along the line of poetry. Only a few poets of Saxon blood ever appeared. Shakespeare, it is claimed, was more than half Welsh, and Milton's mother was a native of the Principality.
The great Welsh literary and musical institution, called the National Eisteddfod, by annually offering prizes for the best essays, poetry, and music, has been the means of reviving the natural talents of the sons of Wales. Occasionally, for centuries, and every year for almost half a century, the National Eisteddfod, always lasting four days, has been held in the Principality; and many more minor Eistedd-
