In reply to J. M. I beg to ask who ever before heard that consonants
"cracked and cracked, and ground and exploded?" and how could the writer in
Chambers's _Repository_ possibly know that the drunken Welshman cursed and
swore in _consonants_? There is scarcely a more harshly-sounding word in
the Welsh language--admitted by a clever and satirical author to have "the
softness and harmony of the Italian, with the majesty and expression of the
Greek"--than the term _crack_, adopted from the Dutch. There is no Welsh
monosyllable that contains, like the Saxon _strength_, seven consonants
with only one vowel. There is no Welsh proper name, like Rentzsch, the
watchmaker of Regent Street, that contains six consonants in succession in
one syllable; and yet the Welsh have never accused their _younger_ sister
with the use of consonants which "cracked and cracked, and ground and
exploded." But if the Welsh language, with "its variety, copiousness, and
even harmony, to be equalled by few, perhaps excelled by none," has no
instance of six consonants in succession, it has one of six vowels in
succession, _Gwaewawr_, every one of which requires, according to the
peculiarity of its pronunciation, a separate inflection of the voice.
J. M. may be assured that the remark of the writer in question is only one
of those pitiful "cracks" which flippant authors utter in plain ignorance
of Cymru, Cymraeg, and Cymry.