The Cambrian Sketch-Book: Tales, Scenes, and Legends of Wild Wales

This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler
TALES , SCENES , AND LEGENDS OF WILD WALES .
BY R. RICE DAVIES.
Author of “ The Handy Book on Tax Laws ,” “ Havelock ,” “ Essay on Recreation Grounds for Swansea ,” etc.
London: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO.
Swansea: THE CAMBRIAN WELSH AND ENGLISH BOOK PUBLISHING COMPANY
Madam,
Among the illustrious men and women of Cambria it would be difficult to select one to whom this book could be so appropriately inscribed as your ladyship. You are, and ever have been, the warm and sincere friend of my country; you are profoundly versed in her historic, poetic, literary, and legendary annals; you are a liberal and munificent contributor to almost every great movement designed to promote the social and intellectual, the moral and religious, welfare of the people of our ancient Principality; and you have attained a high and imperishable fame as a graceful and eloquent writer. In these pages your ladyship will find depicted scenes connected with the past history of the land; tales of years that are gone, which roll before us with their dark or splendid deeds, and specimens of the wild but graceful legends which have shed a poetic charm upon almost every nook and corner of Wales. I cherish the hope that their perusal will afford your ladyship delight and pleasure, while their contents, possibly, may help to increase your ladyship’s interest in and attachment to the land you so much love.
I am, Madam, Very respectfully, Your ladyship’s obedient Servant, R. RICE DAVIES.
The history of the Cambrian race is interesting not only to the antiquarian, but also to all real lovers of traditional and legendary lore. It is a race which had its origin in the mythical age, in the far back and remote past, in that period of the world’s history when intellectual and moral darkness covered the earth, and when gross darkness, like a black pall, enveloped the minds of the people. The country which this race originally occupied is simply a matter of conjecture—an unascertained fact; while the period when the Cambrian people first left their own native soil, the land of their love and their fondest affection, and wandered over hill and plain, over mountain and dismal swamp, through woods and primeval forests, wading through mighty fordable rivers, and crossing stormy seas, until they reached the pebbled strand of this our sea-girt isle, is still a matter of uncertainty—one of the mysteries of this mysterious world. That they occupied this island, and were in undisturbed possession of it many hundred years before the appearance in our world of Him who is the true Light of humanity, there exists abundance of evidence; and it is not unlikely, but on the contrary highly probable, that sections of this ancient people were then engaged, as now , in developing the mineral wealth of the country.