Mr. Leathart is the author of “_Welsh Pennillion_, with Translations
into English, adapted for _singing to the Harp_,” an eighteenpenny
pocket-book of words of ancient and modern melodies in Welsh and
English, with a spirited motto from Mr. Leigh Hunt.--“The Ancient
Britons had in them the seeds of a great nation even in our modern sense
of the word. They had courage, they had reflection, they had
imagination. Power at last made a vassal of their prince. There were
writers in those times, harpers, and bards, who made the instinct of
that brute faculty turn cruel out of fear. They bequeathed to their
countrymen the glory of their memories; they and time together have
consecrated their native hills, so as they never before were
consecrated.”
According to the prefatory dissertation of Mr. Leathart’s pleasant
little manual, “Pennillion singing” is the most social relic of ancient
minstrelsy in existence. It originated when bardism nourished in this
island; when the object of its members was to instil moral maxims
through the medium of poetry, and the harp was then, as it still is, the
instrument to which they chanted. There is evidence of this use of the
harp in Cæsar and other Latin writers. The bards were priest and poet;
the harp was their inseparable attribute, and skill in playing on it an
indispensable qualification. A knowledge of this instrument was
necessary, in order to establish a claim to the title of gentleman; it
occupied a place in every mansion; and every harper was entitled to
valuable privileges. A “Pencerdd,” or chief of song, and a “Bardd
Teulu,” or domestic bard, were among the necessary appendages to the
king’s court. The former held his lands free, was stationed by the side
of the “judge of the palace,” and lodged with the heir presumptive. He
was entitled to a fee on the tuition of all minstrels, and to a maiden
fee on the marriage of a minstrel’s daughter. The fine for insulting him
was six cows and eighty pence. The domestic bard also held his land
free; he had a harp from the king, which he was enjoined never to part
with; a gold ring from the queen, and a beast out of every spoil. In the
palace he sang immediately after the chief of song, and in fight at the
front of the battle. It is still customary for our kings to maintain a
Welsh minstrel.
One of the greatest encouragers of music was Gruffydd ap Cynan, a
sovereign of Wales, who, in the year 1100, summoned a grand congress to
revise the laws of minstrelsy, and remedy any abuse that might have
crept in. In order that it should be complete, the most celebrated
harpers in Ireland were invited to assist, and the result was the
establishing the twenty-four canons of music; the MS. of which is in the
library of the Welsh school, in Gray’s Inn-lane. It comprises several
tunes not now extant, or rather that cannot be properly deciphered, and
a few that are well known at the present day. A tune is likewise there
to be found, which a note informs us was usually played before king
Arthur, when the salt was laid upon the table; it is called “Gosteg yr
Halen,” or the _Prelude of the Salt_.
The regulations laid down in the above MS. are curious. A minstrel
having entered a place of festivity was not allowed to depart without
leave, or to rove about at any time, under the penalty of losing his
fees. If he became intoxicated and committed any mischievous trick, he
was fined, imprisoned, and divested of his fees for seven years. Only
one could attend a person worth ten pounds per annum, or two a person
worth twenty pounds per annum, and so forth. It likewise ordains the
quantum of musical knowledge necessary for the taking up of the
different degrees, for the obtaining of which three years seems to have
been allowed.
The Welsh harp, or “Telyn,” consists of three distinct rows of strings,
without pedals, and was, till the fifteenth century, strung with hair.
The modern Welsh harp has two rows of strings and pedals.
Giraldus Cambrensis, in his Itinerary, speaking of the musical
instruments of the Welsh, Irish, and Scotch, says, Wales uses the harp,
“crwth,” and bag-pipes; Scotland the harp, “crwth,” and drum; Ireland
the harp and drum only; and, of all, Wales only retains her own.
The “crwth” is upon the same principle as the violin; it has however six
strings, four of which are played upon with a bow, the two outer being
struck by the thumb as an accompaniment, or bass; its tone is a mellow
tenor, but it is now seldom heard, the last celebrated player having
died about forty years since, and with him, says the editor of the
Cambrian Register, “most probably the true knowledge of producing its
melodious powers.” From the player of this instrument is derived a name
now common, viz. “Crowther” and “Crowder” (Crwthyr); it may be
translated “fiddler,” and in this sense it is used by Butler in his
Hudibras.
Within the last few years, the harp has undergone a variety of
improvements, and it is now the most fashionable instrument; yet in
Wales it retains its ancient form and triple strings; “it has its
imperfections,” observes Mr. Parry, “yet it possesses one advantage, and
that is its unisons,” which of course are lost when reduced to a single
row.
There would be much persuasion necessary to induce “Cymru” to relinquish
her old fashioned “Telyn,” so reluctant are a national people to admit
of changes. When the violin superseded the “crwth,” they could not enjoy
the improvement.
Pennillion chanting consists in singing stanzas, either attached or
detached, of various lengths and metre, to any tune which the harper may
play; for it is irregular, and in fact not allowable, for any particular
one to be chosen. Two, three, or four bars having been played, the
singer takes it up, and this is done according as the Pennill, or
stanza, may suit; he must end precisely with the strain, he therefore
commences in any part he may please. To the stranger it has the
appearance of beginning in the middle of a line or verse, but this is
not the case. Different tunes require a different number of verses to
complete it; sometimes only one, sometimes four or six. It is then taken
up by the next, and thus it proceeds through as many as choose to join
in the pastime, twice round, and ending with the person that began.
These convivial harp meetings are generally conducted with great
regularity, and are really social; all sing if they please, or all are
silent. To some tunes there are a great number of singers, according to
the ingenuity required in adapting Pennillion. Yet even this custom is
on the decline.
In South Wales, the custom has been long lost; on its demise they
encouraged song writing and singing, and they are still accounted the
best (without the harp) in the principality. In North Wales song-singing
was hardly known before the time of Huw Morus, in the reign of Charles
I., nor is it now so prevalent as in the south.
In the year 1176, Rhys ap Gruffydd held a congress of bards and
minstrels at Aberteifi, in which the North Welsh bards came off as
victors in the poetical contest, and the South Welsh were adjudged to
excel in the powers of harmony.
For the encouragement of the harp and Pennillion chanting, a number of
institutions have lately been formed, and the liberal spirit with which
they are conducted will do much towards the object; among the principal
are the “Cymmrodorion,” or Cambrian Societies of Gwynedd, Powys, Dyfed,
Gwent, and London; the “Gwyneddigion,” and “Canorion,” also in London.
The former established so long since as 1771, and the “Undeb Cymry,” or
United Welshmen, established in 1823, for the same purpose. In all the
principal towns of Wales, societies having the same object in view have
been formed, among which the “Brecon Minstrelsy Society” is particularly
deserving of notice. The harp and Pennillion singing have at all times
come in for their share of encomium by the poets, and are still the
theme of many a sonnet in both languages.
From more than a hundred pieces in Mr. Leathart’s “Pennillion,”
translations of a few pennills, or stanzas, are taken at random, as
specimens of the prevailing sentiments.
The man who loves the sound of harp,
Of song, and ode, and all that’s dear,
Where angels hold their blest abode,
Will cherish all that’s cherish’d there.
But he who loves not tune nor strain,
Nature to him no love has given,
You’ll see him while his days remain,
Hateful both to earth and heaven.
* * * * *
Fair is yon harp, and sweet the song,
That strays its tuneful strings along,
And would not such a minstrel too,
This heart to sweetest music woo?
Sweet is the bird’s melodious lay
In summer morn upon the spray.
But from my Gweno sweeter far,
The notes of friendship after war.
* * * * *
Woe to him, whose every bliss
Centers in the burthen’d bowl;
Of all burthens none like this,
Sin’s sad burthen on the soul;
Tis of craft and lies the seeker,
Murder, theft, and wantonness,
Weakens strong men, makes weak weaker,
Shrewd men foolish, foolish--less.
* * * * *
Ah! what avails this golden coat,
Or all the warblings of my throat,
While I in durance pine?
Give me again what nature gave,
’Tis all I ask, ’tis all I crave,
Thee, Liberty divine!
* * * * *
To love his language in its pride,
To love his land--tho’ all deride,
Is a Welshman’s ev’ry care,
And love those customs, good and old,
Practised by our fathers bold.
* * * * *
We travel, and each town we pass
Gives manners new, which we admire,
We leave them, then o’er ocean toss’d
Thro’ rough or smooth, to pleasure nigher,
Still one thought remains behind,
’Tis home, sweet home, our hearts desire.
* * * * *
Wild in the woodlands, blithe and free,
Dear to the bird is liberty;
Dear to the babe to be caress’d,
And fondled on his nurse’s breast,
Oh! could I but explain to thee
How dear is Merion’s land to me.
* * * * *
Low, ye hills, in ocean lie.
That hide fair Merion from mine eye,
One distant view, oh! let me take,
Ere my longing heart shall break.
* * * * *
Another dress will nature wear
Before again I see my fair;
The smiling fields will flowers bring,
And on the trees the birds will sing;
But still one thing unchang’d shall be,
That is, dear love, my heart for thee.
The original Welsh of these and other translations, with several
interesting particulars, especially the places of weekly harp-meetings
and Pennillion-singing in London, may be found in Mr. Leathart’s
agreeable compendium.
* * * * *