The _Bardd Cwsc_ was first published in London in 1703, a small 24mo.
volume of some 150 pages, with the following title-page
“GWELEDIGAETHEU Y BARDD CWSC. Y Rhann Gyntaf. Argraphwyd yn
Llundain gan E. Powell i’r Awdwr, 1703.” {0f}
A second edition was not called for until about 1742, when it was issued
at Shrewsbury; but in the thirty years following, as many as five
editions were published, and in the present century, at least twelve
editions (including two or three by the Rev. Canon Silvan Evans) have
appeared. The text followed in this volume is that of Mr. Isaac Foulkes’
edition, but recourse has also been had to the original edition for the
purpose of comparison. The only translation into English hitherto has
been that of George Borrow, published in London in 1860, and written in
that charming and racy style which characterises his other and better
known works. He has, however, fallen into many errors, which were only
natural, seeing that the Visions abound in colloquial words and phrases,
and in idiomatic forms of expression which it would be most difficult for
one foreign to our tongue to render correctly.
The author’s name is not given in the original nor in any subsequent
edition previous to the one published at Merthyr Tydfil in 1806, where
the _Gweledigaetheu_ are said to be by “Ellis Wynne.” But it was well
known, even before his death, that he was the author; the fact being
probably deduced from the similarity in style between the Visions and an
acknowledged work, namely, his translation of the _Holy Living_. The
most likely reason for his preferring anonymity is not far to seek; his
scathing denunciation of the sins of certain classes and, possibly, even
of certain individuals, would be almost sure to draw upon the author
their most bitter attacks. Many of the characters he depicts would be
identified, rightly or wrongly, with certain of his contemporaries, and
many more, whom he never had in his mind at all, would imagine themselves
the objects of his satire; he had nothing to gain by imperilling himself
at the hands of such persons, or by coming into open conflict with them;
he had his message to deliver to his fellow-countrymen, his Visions a
purpose to fulfil, the successful issue of which could not but be
frustrated by the introduction of personal hatred and ill-will. Ellis
Wynne was only too ready to forego the honor of being the acknowledged
author of the Visions if thereby he could the better serve his country.
* * * * *
The _Bardd Cwsc_ is not only the most popular of Welsh prose works, but
it has also retained its place among the best of our classics. No better
model exists of the pure idiomatic Welsh of the last century, before
writers became influenced by English style and method. Vigorous, fluent,
crisp, and clear, it shows how well our language is adapted to
description and narration. It is written for the people, and in the
picturesque and poetic strain which is always certain to fascinate the
Celtic mind. The introduction to each Vision is evidently written with
elaborate care, and exquisitely polished—“_ne quid possit per leve
morari_,” and scene follows scene, painted in words which present them
most vividly before one’s eyes, whilst the force and liveliness of his
diction sustain unflagging interest throughout. The reader is carried
onward as much by the rhythmic flow of language and the perfect balance
of sentences, as by the vivacity of the narrative and by the reality with
which Ellis Wynne invests his adventures and the characters he depicts.
The terrible situations in which we find the Bard, as the drama unfolds,
betoken not only a powerful imagination, but also an intensity of feeling
which enabled him to realise the conceptions of such imagination. We
follow the Bard and his heavenly guide through all their perils with
breathless attention; the demons and the damned he so clothes with flesh
and blood that our hatred or our sympathy is instantly stirred; his World
is palpitating with life, his Hell, with its gloom and glare, is an
awful, haunting dream. But besides being the possessor of a vivid
imagination, Ellis Wynne was endowed with a capacity for transmitting his
own experience in a picturesque and life-like manner. The various
descriptions of scenes, such as Shrewsbury fair, the parson’s revelry and
the deserted mansions; of natural scenery, as in the beginning of the
first and last Visions; of personages, such as the portly alderman, and
the young lord and his retinue, all are evidently drawn from the Author’s
own experience. He was also gifted with a lively sense of humor, which
here and there relieves the pervading gloom so naturally associated with
the subject of his Visions. The humorous and the severe, the grotesque
and the sublime, the tender and the terrible, are alike portrayed by a
master hand.
The leading feature of the Visions, namely the personal element which the
Author infuses into the recital of his distant travels, brings the reader
into a closer contact with the tale and gives continuity to the whole
work, some parts of which would otherwise appear disconnected. This
telling of the tale _in propria persona_ with a guide of shadowy or
celestial nature who points out what the Bard is to see, and explains to
him the mystery of the things around him, is a method frequently adopted
by poets of all times. Dante is the best known instance, perhaps; but we
find the method employed in Welsh, as in “The Dream of Paul, the
Apostle,” where Paul is led by Michael to view the punishments of Hell
_(vide_ Iolo MSS.). Ellis Wynne was probably acquainted with Vergil and
Dante, and adopted the idea of supernatural guidance from them; in fact,
apart from this, we meet with several passages which are eminently
reminiscent of both these great poets.
But now, casting aside mere speculation, we come face to face with the
indisputable fact that Ellis Wynne is to a considerable degree indebted
to the _Dreams_ of Gomez de Quevedo y Villegas, a voluminous Spanish
author who flourished in the early part of the 17th century. In 1668,
Sir Roger L’Estrange published his translation into English of the
_Dreams_, which immediately became very popular. Quevedo has his Visions
of the World, of Death and her (_sic_) Empire, and of Hell; the same
characters are delineated in both, the same classes satirized, the same
punishments meted out. We read in both works of the catchpoles and
wranglers, the pompous knights and lying knaves—in fine, we cannot
possibly come to any other conclusion than that Ellis Wynne has “read,
marked and inwardly digested” L’Estrange’s translation of Quevedo’s
_Dreams_. But admitting so much, the _Bardd Cwsc_ still remains a purely
Welsh classic; whatever in name and incident Ellis Wynne has borrowed
from the Spaniard he has dressed up in Welsh home-spun, leaving little or
nothing indicative of foreign influence. The sins he preached against,
the sinners he condemned, were, he knew too well, indigenous to Welsh and
Spanish soil. George Borrow sums up his comments upon the two authors in
the following words: “Upon the whole, the Cymric work is superior to the
Spanish; there is more unity of purpose in it, and it is far less
encumbered with useless matter.”
The implication contained in the foregoing remarks of Borrow—that the
_Bardd Cwsc_ is encumbered to a certain degree with useless matter, is no
doubt well founded. There is a tendency to dwell inordinately upon the
horrible, more particularly in the Vision of Hell; a tiring sameness in
the descriptive passages, an occasional lapse from the tragic to the
ludicrous, and an intrusion of the common-place in the midst of a speech
or a scene, marring the dignity of the one and the beauty of the other.
The most patent blemish, however, is the unwarranted coarseness of
expression to which the Author sometimes stoops. It is true that he must
be judged according to the times he lived in; his chief object was to
reach the ignorant masses of his countrymen, and to attain this object it
was necessary for him to adopt their blunt and unveneered speech. For
all that, one cannot help feeling that he has, in several instances,
descended to a lower level than was demanded of him, with the inevitable
result that both the literary merit and the good influence of his work in
some measure suffer. Many passages which might be considered coarse and
indecorous according to modern canons of taste, have been omitted from
this translation.
From the literary point of view THE VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD has from
the first been regarded as a masterpiece, but from the religious, two
very different opinions have been held concerning it. One, probably the
earlier, was, that it was a book with a good purpose, and fit to stand
side by side with Vicar Pritchard’s _Canwyll y Cymry_ and _Llyfr yr
Homiliau_; the other, that it was a pernicious book, “_llyfr codi
cythreuliaid_”—a devil-raising book. A work which in any shape or form
bore even a distant relationship to fiction, instantly fell under the ban
of the Puritanism of former days. To-day neither opinion is held, the
_Bardd Cwsc_ is simply a classic and nothing more.
The Visions derive considerable value from the light they throw upon the
moral and social condition of our country two centuries ago. Wales, at
the time Ellis Wynne wrote was in a state of transition: its old-world
romance was passing away, and ceasing to be the potent influence which,
in times gone by, had aroused our nation to chivalrous enthusiasm, and
led it to ennobling aspirations. Its place and power, it is true, were
shortly to be taken by religion, simple, puritanic, and intensely
spiritual; but so far, the country was in a condition of utter disorder,
morally and socially. Its national life was at its lowest ebb, its
religious life was as yet undeveloped and gave little promise of the
great things to come. The nation as a whole—people, patrician, and
priest—had sunk to depths of moral degradation; the people, through
ignorance and superstition; the patrician, through contact with the
corruptions of the England of the Restoration; while the priesthood were
“Blind mouths, that scarce themselves knew how to hold
A sheep-hook, or had learnt aught else the least
That to the faithful herdman’s art belongs.”
All the sterner and darker aspects of the period are chronicled with a
grim fidelity in the Visions, the wrongs and vices of the age are exposed
with scathing earnestness. Ellis Wynne set himself the task of
endeavouring to arouse his fellow-countrymen and bring them to realize
the sad condition into which the nation had fallen. He entered upon the
work endowed with keen powers of perception, a wide knowledge of life,
and a strong sense of justice. He was no respecter of person; all orders
of society, types of every rank and class, in turn, came under
castigation; no sin, whether in high places or among those of low degree,
escaped the lash of his biting satire. On the other hand, it must be
said that he lacked sympathy with erring nature, and failed to recognize
in his administration of justice that “to err is human, to forgive,
divine.” His denunciation of wrong and wrong-doer is equally stern and
pitiless; mercy and love are rarely, if ever, brought on the stage. In
this mood, as in the gloomy pessimism which pervades the whole work, he
reflects the religious doctrines and beliefs of his times. In fine, when
all has been said, favourably and adversely, the Visions, it will readily
be admitted, present a very faithful picture of Welsh life, manners, and
ways of thought, in the 17th century, and are, in every sense, a true
product of the country and the age in which they were written.