refute the arguments and observations contained in a very able "Essay on the Causes which have produced Dissent in Wales from the Established Church;" we feel it incumbent on our candour, however much we may differ on some points with the essayist, to pay a tribute to the learning displayed, as well as to the style of language which he has used throughout the pages of the Essay: we are induced the more so, because on the publication of it we expressed an apprehension, during a period of considerable national excitement, to give unnecessary publicity to some of the arguments, honestly we affirm, but nevertheless as we conceived imprudently, broached; and as we possibly may again recur to the subject, we will reserve our further remarks to the opportunity it will afford us. The cause, the whole world must allow, has been a good one on the present occasion, supported as it has been by an anxiety to detect misrepresentation and to expose the infamy of literary piracy and unmerited vituperation. THE EVE OF A PARLIAMENTARY DISSOLUTION— It would hardly become us to detract from the merit of those who, during a session unusually protracted, have toiled unremittingly night after night in defence and support of certain questions of vital importance to the well-being of the constitution, but we cannot conceal the fact that the House of Commons has been and now is composed of some men who have regarded their occupation within its walls as the fashion of a day, more than as the earnest business of life: we trust, therefore, that they to whom the sacred trust has been extended, of providing suitable representatives to transact the business of the country, will regard this qualification as one not the least important; while at the same time we commend the necessity of keeping a strict regard to the principles of the men who are to carry the reform measure into steady operation. We conceive that a considerable portion of our agricultural and commercial distress has arisen solely from the speculative and unbusiness-like measures of" men in power;" and, therefore, without any reference to the party under whose banner they may hereafter be recruited, we strongly recommend on the electors generally, but particularly those in the Principality, to strive zealously on behalf of the candidates who present themselves with tried habits of application, in preference to theoretical and quibbling political adventurers. Reform in the representation was never more needed than under the present jobbing system of church and state patronage. The proper accomplishment of Reform will prudently but surely correct the public abuse of means and patronage in every branch of the administration; the system altogether needs a gentle purgative, but the dose must be administered by experienced, able, and, more than all, by honest, politicians. OLION. To the Editors. AN APPEAL RELATIVE TO THE LOW STATE OF SCIENCE IN WALES. GENTLEMEN, YOUR excellent miscellany being the only means of communication with your countrymen which we can command, and moreover the principal, perhaps the only proper vehicle for remarking upon Cambrian science, we hope that the following observations, though respecting a branch of science which we have never seen handled in the "Cambrian Quarterly," will not be excluded from its pages, nor entirely fail of producing a beneficial effect. All those whose information and opportunities enable them to form a tolerable estimate of the state of learning in the different countries of Europe, will, we presume, readily admit that, in the abstract sciences, especially the more intricate parts of physical knowledge, England has fallen far behind her continental neighbours; and in Wales the deficiency is still more deplorable. In England no excuse can be offered for this deficiency; but Wales has every excuse. But, whatever claims to pardon the almost total absence of mathematical and physical literature from the Principality may possess, we should ourselves be totally destitute of any claims to pardon, were we not to direct our endeavours to remedying the evil, and restoring Wales to her proper station in the scale of European literature. In England, we can say with pleasure that science is rapidly reviving: the dispulsion of that thick film of darkness which from the time of Bacon and Newton had overspread this country, was first commenced by Professors Ivory and Woodhouse, in the "Memoirs on the Attraction of Spheroids," by the former, and the Treatises on Astronomy, Trigonometry, and Isoperimetrical Problems, by the latter. Their patriotic endeavours have been ably seconded by Messrs. Airy, Herschel, Babbage, and Peacock. The labours of Professor Airy and Mr. Herschel are well known; and we owe to Professor Babbage, a "Treatise on Functional Equations," and a spirited appeal to his countrymen, entitled "Reflections on the Decline of Science in England," a work which we believe has greatly contributed towards rousing our geometers from the profound apathy into which they appeared to have fallen. But that, perhaps, which has most effectually operated towards the restoration of English science, is, the translation of Lacroix's "Traité Elémentaire de Calcul Differentiel et de Calcul Intégral," by Mr. Peacock; whose new "Treatise on Algebra," together with the "Mechanism of the Heavens," by Mrs. Somerville, almost suffices to replace England on a level with her rivals on the conti nent in short, a British school of geometry is established. All, however, who feel any interest in the progress of Welsh literature, must see with regret that no such advance has taken place there. In fact, since the publication of the "New Compendium of the whole Practical Art of Navigation," in 1702, and the "Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos," in 1706, both by Mr. William Jones, of Llanfihangel tre'r bardd, we know of no mathematical work which has emanated from a Welsh pen. It is our opinion, however, that a Welsh school of geometry might be formed, (for we are not to consider Cambria as totally destitute of mathematicians among her sons,) by the translation of the best modern works on the subject into the Welsh language, for the convenience of those who are not acquainted with the English, French, and German; an object which might with but little difficulty be effected by that society, whose patriotic exertions are now so usefully directed to preserving the remains of the literature of their country. But there is another much more powerful method, to which we beg leave to call your attention. An university may be considered as an institution devoted to the interest and promotion of every species of knowledge: no branch of science can justly be excluded, but each there claims its share of attention and study. To be brief, then, we strongly recommend the introduction of mathematics and natural philosophy into the regular course of reading at Lampeter College. A diligent professor, and regular courses of lectures on these subjects, would, we are persuaded, soon raise science in Wales to its proper pitch; and we, and all who like us are zealous for the interest of Cambria in the scientific world, should with unfeigned pleasure hail the appearance of a Welsh school of Geometry. We remain, sir, yours, Ꮎ. To the Editors. GENTLEMEN, HIGHLY pleased with your remarks on the propriety of establishing a Welsh professorship in one or both of our universities, I address you in the hope of drawing the attention of the Cymmrodonion Society in London, and other influential persons who are anxious to patronise our Eisteddfodau, and to promote their object in the encouragement and support of Welsh literature, to the propriety and necessity of making these meetings. more practically useful than they are, as conducted at present. Surely the four divisions of the Principality, Powys, Gwynedd, Gwent, and Dyfed, would be able to subscribe annually a sum sufficient to defray the expenses of one of their members, who might feel disposed to spend a few months every summer in travelling and exploring the antiquities of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, and in examining the MSS. in the different libraries, both public and private; and, when that gentleman (either a member of one of the committees of the Eisteddfodau, or the new professor of Welsh literature, when appointed,) had made a proper collection, be at the expense also of printing the fruits of his labours. It is greatly to be lamented, that the valuable collection made by the Rev. Edward Llwyd, of the Ashmolean Museum, (author of the Archæologia Britannica,) should have fallen into private hands; both the university (of Oxford) and Jesus College having declined, it seems, to purchase his мss. when offered for sale after his decease, as stated in the second volume of the Cambro Briton, page 201: Sir Thomas Seabright became afterward, as it appears, the purchaser of some of these valuable remains; and, in the course of several years, they became the property of Mr. Johnes, of Hafod, in Cardiganshire, where they were unfortunately destroyed in the conflagration which consumed his elegant mansion, about the year 1808. A similar fate attended another portion of these Mss. which fell to the lot of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, bart., at the house of a person in London, to whom they had been sent for the purpose of being bound. I have mentioned this circumstance in order to arouse the attention of our countrymen to the necessity of retrieving (if possible), in some measure, this unfortunate loss; for no doubt can be reasonably entertained but a person well skilled in the Welsh, Irish, and Erse languages, as the above Mr. Edward Llwyd was, and employed in the manner proposed, would be able, not only to rescue from oblivion many valuable Mss. and other monuments of antiquity now fast going into decay, but also to throw great light on local and statistical researches, and the history of the United Kingdom in general. By such a person also the works of the bards, which have been already printed in the Myfyrian Archaiology of Wales, and so very scarce, might be republished with notes and translations; and others, still unpublished, committed to the press. Those valuable collections in the libraries of Hengwst in Merionethshire, and Plas Gwynn in Anglesey, and at Wynnstay and Bodysgallen, &c., may, in the course of a few years, by some untoward event, be lost to the public. In reading your Olion, in the number for April, the writer was forcibly reminded of a speech made at the Eisteddfod at Wrexham, by the late excellent and learned Bishop Heber, wherein he strongly recommended the establishment of a Welsh professorship at Oxford; and it is to be hoped that no long period will be suffered to elapse before this desirable object is accomplished.* PERIS. We fully coincide in the views of our Correspondents & and PERIS; but so long as the Eisteddvods, as at present conducted, spend large sums in paying musical performers from England, it will continue impossible to retain men of science and learning for the purposes they recommend; and which have been recommended before them, by Edward Lihuyd, Evan Evans, and William Owen Pughe.--EDITORS. GENTLEMEN, To the Editors. SEVERAL Roman coins having been discovered in this part of the Principality within the last thirty years, I thought that a short account of a few of them might not prove unacceptable to some of your numerous readers. It may perhaps be proper, however, to inform you, that I have seen all those here specified, and that some of them are still in my possession. In the year 1808, John Gibson, gardener, of Carnarvon, discovered a silver Roman coin, of the size of a sixpenny piece, with the following inscription-ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PPTRF, with the emperor's head crowned with laurel on the reverse, a female figure leading a small animal with her right hand, and holding a spear in her left, with the following legendSALVTI AVG COS IIII. The above coin was found in a garden, near a place called Hen Waliau, (the old walls,) where there are considerable remains of a Roman fort: and not far distant from the same spot, at a place called Ffynon Helen, (i. e.) St. Helen's well, a young woman going to draw water, July 1821, discovered in cleaning about the spring, a gold coin, considerably larger than a guinea, with the emperor's head, and the following impressionIMP CAESAR VESPASIAN AVG COS IIII: on the reverse, a small altar blazing, and a figure standing by it, and in the act of placing something upon it with his right hand, and holding a furcula or some such instrument in his left, and the words PAX AVG, and near the altar the letter S. And in the 1810, several small Roman coins of copper or some mixed metal were discovered near Holyhead: one of GALIENVS: reverse, a female standing and holding, probably, some sacrificial instrument in her right, and the following lettersLIBIANLIERSAVCC; and another with the head of the emperor, and this legend-IVLIANVS CAES AVG: reverse, a female figure sitting with a wand or staff, and ODG. Another with the following impression-CONSTANTINVS IVNNOB: reverse, GLORIA EXERCITVS, and two soldiers facing each other with standards furled in one hand, and a spear in the otherRBS. Another with CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG: reverse, GLORIA Exercitvs. Another with a head, and VRBS ROMA: reverse, a wolf, and the twins Romulus and Remus. A great number of coins of a similar description were discovered in the parish of Llanddeiniolen, in the year 1830. Several small coins of the same kind were also found near Traeth Bach, in the parish of Llanfrothen, Merionethshire, in the month of February, 1824: many had a wolf, and Romulus and Remus, and one or two with the following legend-LIVICONSTAN. In the month of March, 1822, a large gold coin of Edward I, was discovered by one Edward Williams, on the farm of Llwyn |