A'i weau yw ieuau iâ."
Seleucus.
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.
Cymro.
Marlbro.
I think the following englyn or epigram on a silkworm, which is composed entirely of vowels, will satisfy your correspondent. I have seen it in some book, the name of which I forget. It
must be borne in mind that w is a vowel in Welsh, and is sounded like oo in boot.
"O'i wiw ŵy i weu ê â a'i weau
O'i wyau e weua;