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    constancy of its roots . And this may be admitted . But the original , primaeval character of even the Hebrew is probably lost . The Samaritan is prior to the present square character , which was not introduced till the time of Ezra , after the Babylonish Captivity ; and though the Jews may say , that all the Synagogue copies of the Old Testament are uniformly the same , yet certain parts of . it are Chaldee ; not to mention the Masorelic iuveutions and

    the Rabbinical Hebrew . And all this supposes some variety or change . As to the Welsh , besides that , as our honest Welsh bard admits , it was corrupted by the Irish , it might have received into it something also from its other cognate dialects , and probably had its provincialisms , ( for the British had been the language of the whole island , ) as also from commerce or other

    accidental interventions . Now such circumstances would imply some local varieties , some occasional introductions , without , however , supposing any essential radical change in the language , such as would affect the simplicity of its

    syntax , the purity of its idioms , its claims to antiquity , and many of its roots or its general resemblance in phraseology and forms to the Hebrew tongue ; for all which the Welsh , with so much zeal , and probably with so much reason , contend .

    Of the Britons themselves we know little , that is certain , till the time of Julius Caesar . Mr . Williams says somewhere , that he has seen Welsh manuscripts of the eighth , nineth , and tenth centuries ; and there are in its cognate dialect , the Irish , and in our Anglosaxon , writings two or three centuries older , in our public libraries , at least . But Taliesin lived at the end of the

    fourth and beginning of the fifth century , and might have had the writings of Druid bards , ( for , as we learn from Caesar , they haa writing among them , ) or some traditionary poems and songs of their roving minstrels , which ran back through very remote periods . Such writings too , and such traditionary poems , might have been affected by

    different provincialisms , ( for at the time here supposed , as observed before , the British language was spoken jthrough all England , ] or by the mistakes of copyists , or some peculiarities in the pronunciation of the reciters ; all these things might have happened when stops were not made use of m writings , when words ran on in continuation without regular division : or « W > me con-

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    fusion might have arisen in the sounds of vowels and a frequent similarity of letters : of all which sources of mistakes , in old writings , endless examples might easily be produced , if necessary . Now , Sir , as observed before , it appears that the lines referred to in my first letter are not Sanscrit , and contain in them , probably , something of Welsh . I submit to those who are curious in

    these matters , whether the hints thus cursorily dropped in this and the preceding letter tend any way to solve the difficulty which seems to have perplexed our honest and ingenious Welsh bard , Edward Williams . In conclusion , your readers will please to notice , that I say nothing of the place and character of the said passage in the

    poems ; for whether it is introduced as a quotation , or whether it is part of a poem in continuation , I must be underderstood to know nothing , and to hare made no inquiry . I beg leave further to add , that though Mr . Williams speaks of it as a passage among Taliesin ' s Poems , and I have therefore spoken of it as his ,

    I see nothing whence I should conclude that it was really written by him . All that appears from the Welsh Archaeologia is , that it occurs in a poem placed chronologically among Taliesin ' s poems , though without his name . But this , with other matters , I leave to the consideration of such as are better

    acquainted with the subject , and who may think it deserving their more critical examination . GEORGE DYER *

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    On the Mode of Choosing Dissenting Pastors . To the Editor . " At the same time ( 1733 ) they appear to have laid down for themselves a rule of conduct which , if it were universally adopted , would save much

    unchristian feeling , and many a division in Dissenting churches ; viz . never to have more than one candidate at a time , and , after a competent period allowed for hearing and inquiry , to come to a decisive vote ; if unfavourable , by previous agreement to be final . "—Pp . 10 , 11 .

    Sir , Though I felt much interest in the judicious and able review , in your De-* [ It is proper to state that this letter reached us before the appearance of the translation of Taliesin ' s Poem , Vol . I . p . 885 . Edit . ]

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    132 Occasional Correspondence .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1828, page 132, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2557/page/60/