fodau have been held all over Wales. The Welsh Eisteddfod is one of the oldest literary institutions in the world.
It is a well known fact that environment is an important factor in the development of human beings. This is true physically, mentally, and morally. Children who are brought up in crowded tenement houses, with no pure air and no play- grounds, will seldom grow up to be strong and healthy men and women. It is also true that environment affects the intellect. The youthful mind in its receptive condition is deeply impressed by surrounding sceneries. Poets, especially, are very susceptible to the influence of surroundings. Whether a poet is reared in a mountainous, romantic country, or in a beautiful valley; the environments will influence his genius and color his poetry. Risiart Ddu himself, in his essay on Eben Vardd, mentions this fact in speaking of the contrast between Dewi Wyn and Alun. Dewi was born and bred in sight of the romantic Mynyddoedd Eryri, and his poetry is wild, strong, full, and sublime, like his native scen- eries; while Alun was reared in the beautiful and fertile valley of Maelor, and his smooth, even poetry bears the impress of that country. That surroundings have their moral influence is so generally admitted that it needs no explanation.
The Vale of Clwyd and vicinity gave Wales some of its greatest poets, such as Twm o'r Nant, Bardd Nantglyn, Caledfryn, Hiraethog, Iorwerth Glan Aled, and others. Risiart Ddu o Wynedd also was a son of the Vale of Clwyd, and the lovely sceneries of that beautiful valley moulded his young mind. Had he been raised among the rugged mountains of Carnarvon,
