Having hitherto so partially and elaborately spoken in favour of
the English, and being equally connected by birth with each nation,
justice demands that we should argue on both sides; let us
therefore, at the close of our work, turn our attention towards the
Welsh, and briefly, but effectually, instruct them in the art of
resistance. If the Welsh were more commonly accustomed to the
Gallic mode of arming, and depended more on steady fighting than on
their agility; if their princes were unanimous and inseparable in
their defence; or rather, if they had only one prince, and that a
good one; this nation situated in so powerful, strong, and
inaccessible a country, could hardly ever be completely overcome.
If, therefore, they would be inseparable, they would become
insuperable, being assisted by these three circumstances; a country
well defended by nature, a people both contented and accustomed to
live upon little, a community whose nobles as well as privates are
instructed in the use of arms; and especially as the English fight
for power, the Welsh for liberty; the one to procure gain, the
other to avoid loss; the English hirelings for money, the Welsh
patriots for their country. The English, I say, fight in order to
expel the natural inhabitants from the island, and secure to
themselves the possession of the whole; but the Welsh maintain the
conflict, that they, who have so long enjoyed the sovereignty of
the whole kingdom, may at least find a hiding place in the worst
corner of it, amongst woods and marshes; and, banished, as it were,
for their offences, may there in a state of poverty, for a limited
time, perform penance for the excesses they committed in the days
of their prosperity.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 57 of 58
Words from 15676 to 15977
of 16178
