Nothing in regard to Aylwin has given me so much pleasure as the way
in which it has been received both by my Welsh friends and my Romany
friends. I little thought, when I wrote it, that within three years
of its publication the gypsy pictures in it would be discoursed upon
to audiences of 4000 people by a man so well equipped to express an
opinion on such a subject as the eloquent and famous 'Gypsy Smith,'
and described by him as 'the most trustworthy picture of Romany life
in the English language, containing in Sinfi Lovell the truest
representative of the Gypsy girl.'
And as regards my Welsh readers, they have done me the honour of
suggesting that an illustrated edition of the work would be prized by
all lovers of 'Beautiful Wales.'
Although such an edition is, I am told, an expensive undertaking, my
friend and publisher, Mr. Blackett, sees his way, he tells me, to
bringing it out.
Since the first appearance of the book there have been many
interesting discussions by Welsh readers, in various periodicals,
upon the path taken by Sinfi Lovell and Aylwin in their ascent of
Snowdon.
A very picturesque letter appeared in _Notes and Queries_ on May
3rd, 1902, signed _C. C. B._ in answer to a query by E. W.,
which I will give myself the pleasure of quoting because it describes
the writer's ascent of Snowdon (accompanied by a son of my old friend
Harry Owen, late of Pen-y-Gwryd) along a path which was almost the
same as that taken by Aylwin and Sinfi Lovell, when he saw the same
magnificent spectacle that was seen by them:--
The mist was then clearing (it was in July) and in a few moments
was entirely gone. So marvellous a transformation scene, and so
immense a prospect, I have never beheld since. For the first and
only time in my life I saw from one spot almost the whole of North
and Mid-Wales, a good part of Western England, and a glimpse of
Scotland and Ireland. The vision faded all too quickly, but it was
worth walking thirty-three or thirty-four miles, as I did that day,
for even a briefer view than that.