Of Him It Was Said, And With
Truth, That He Could Build A Ship And Sail It, Frame A Harp And
Make It Speak, Write An Ode And Set It To Music.
Yet that saying,
eulogistic as it is, is far from expressing all the vast powers and
acquirements of Lewis Morris.
Though self-taught, he was
confessedly the best Welsh scholar of his age, and was well-versed
in those cognate dialects of the Welsh - the Cornish, Armoric,
Highland Gaelic and Irish. He was likewise well acquainted with
Hebrew, Greek and Latin, had studied Anglo-Saxon with some success,
and was a writer of bold and vigorous English. He was besides a
good general antiquary, and for knowledge of ancient Welsh customs,
traditions, and superstitions, had no equal. Yet all has not been
said which can be uttered in his praise; he had qualities of mind
which entitled him to higher esteem than any accomplishment
connected with intellect or skill. Amongst these were his noble
generosity and sacrifice of self for the benefit of others. Weeks
and months he was in the habit of devoting to the superintendence
of the affairs of the widow and fatherless: one of his principal
delights was to assist merit, to bring it before the world and to
procure for it its proper estimation: it was he who first
discovered the tuneful genius of blind Parry; it was he who first
put the harp into his hand; it was he who first gave him scientific
instruction; it was he who cheered him with encouragement and
assisted him with gold. It was he who instructed the celebrated
Evan Evans in the ancient language of Wales, enabling that talented
but eccentric individual to read the pages of the Red Book of
Hergest as easily as those of the Welsh Bible; it was he who
corrected his verses with matchless skill, refining and polishing
them till they became well worthy of being read by posterity; it
was he who gave him advice, which, had it been followed, would have
made the Prydydd Hir, as he called himself, one of the most
illustrious Welshmen of the last century; and it was he who first
told his countrymen that there was a youth of Anglesey whose
genius, if properly encouraged, promised fair to rival that of
Milton: one of the most eloquent letters ever written is one by
him, in which he descants upon the beauties of certain poems of
Gronwy Owen, the latent genius of whose early boyhood he had
observed, whom he had clothed, educated and assisted up to the
period when he was ordained a minister of the Church, and whom he
finally rescued from a state bordering on starvation in London,
procuring for him an honourable appointment in the New World.
Immortality to Lewis Morris! But immortality he has won, even as
his illustrious pupil has said, who in his elegy upon his
benefactor, written in America, in the four-and-twenty measures, at
a time when Gronwy had not heard the Welsh language spoken for more
than twenty years, has words to the following effect:-
"As long as Bardic lore shall last, science and learning be
cherished, the language and blood of the Britons undefiled, song be
heard on Parnassus, heaven and earth be in existence, foam be on
the surge, and water in the river, the name of Lewis of Mon shall
be held in grateful remembrance."
CHAPTER XLI
The Pier - Irish Reapers - Wild Irish Face - Father Toban - The
Herd of Swine - Latin Blessing.
THE day was as hot as the preceding one. I walked slowly towards
the west, and presently found myself upon a pier, or breakwater, at
the mouth of the harbour. A large steamer lay at a little distance
within the pier. There were fishing-boats on both sides, the
greater number on the outer side, which lies towards the hill of
Holy Head. On the shady side of the breakwater under the wall were
two or three dozen of Irish reapers; some were lying asleep, others
in parties of two or three were seated with their backs against the
wall, and were talking Irish; these last all appeared to be well-
made middle-sized young fellows, with rather a ruffianly look; they
stared at me as I passed. The whole party had shillealahs either
in their hands or by their sides. I went to the extremity of the
pier, where was a little lighthouse, and then turned back. As I
again drew near the Irish, I heard a hubbub and observed a great
commotion amongst them. All, whether those whom I had seen
sitting, or those whom I had seen reclining, had got, or were
getting on their legs. As I passed them they were all standing up,
and their eyes were fixed upon me with a strange kind of
expression, partly of wonder, methought, partly of respect. "Yes,
'tis he, sure enough," I heard one whisper. On I went, and at
about thirty yards from the last I stopped, turned round and leaned
against the wall. All the Irish were looking at me - presently
they formed into knots and began to discourse very eagerly in
Irish, though in an undertone. At length I observed a fellow going
from one knot to the other, exchanging a few words with each.
After he had held communication with all he nodded his head, and
came towards me with a quick step; the rest stood silent and
motionless with their eyes turned in the direction in which I was,
and in which he was advancing. He stopped within a yard of me and
took off his hat. He was an athletic fellow of about twenty-eight,
dressed in brown frieze. His features were swarthy, and his eyes
black; in every lineament of his countenance was a jumble of
savagery and roguishness. I never saw a more genuine wild Irish
face - there he stood looking at me full in the face, his hat in
one hand and his shillealah in the other.
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