scheme might be framed, taking in all the substantial requisites of the measure of commutation, now acknowledged to have become indispensable, and at the same time carrying that measure into effect by usual and familiar means, and with reasonable despatch. And here we cannot refrain from again urging our clerical friends to bestir themselves in employing all their energies, and all their influence, to establish, without loss of time, a comprehensive plan of complete commutation. No compromises, no compositions, no half measures, will now avail; there must be a thorough conversion of the church's property in tithe, otherwise the characteristic of property will soon cease to belong to it. As yet there is, we trust, an interval of calm and considerate discussion, prevailing in the minds of the influential majority, which, in separating abuses from an institution, would not suffer the integrity of the latter to be intrenched on, so long as it performed its appointed services. But we beg to suggest to the clergy, that the time may come when many men, who have never hesitated on the policy of abolishing tithes, but have not wished to diminish the endowments of the Church as a whole, may have further to make up their minds on the wisest mode of appropriating that fund of property from which tithes spring, after the latter shall have been removed; and whilst in this state of hesitation, brought about by the perplexed circumstances of the times, is it not to be apprehended that they may, in very many circumstances, suffer their calculations of temporal expediency to get the better of their zeal for the Establishment? There is another class, who, though not fraught with any vehement devotion to the Established Church, would yet unwillingly stand by and see the landlord pocket all the tithes in the country as a bonus, without returning any equivalent for them, and would, therefore, be ready to cooperate in any measure to convert the tithes into a different species of property. The effective aid and countenance of these, and doubtless of many other members of the community, will be unquestionably lost to the clergy by too long a protracted delay; and since it is impossible to calculate safely its limit, we trust we may not have again to reiterate our exhortations, or we may possibly be constrained to mingle with them our regrets that the irrevocable time for action has gone by.

And now a word to connect more closely the subject with our native Principality. The besetting abuse in our spiritual administration is that inveterate system which, originating in party tactics, and continued partly from the transmitted operation of precedent, and partly, we fear, from the influence of less excusable causes, has excluded Welshmen from all our bishoprics, and the choicest of our benefices. From this abuse has sprung, as a natural consequence, an ignorance, on

the part of the pastors, of the language, the temperament, and the habits of their flocks; indeed, in very many instances, an absence from them altogether; producing alienated feelings on the part of the parishioners, and desertions by wholesale to the more active and popular camps of sectarianism. Care must be taken, in transacting any commutation to be set on foot in Wales, that no support be afforded to the abuse we have alluded to, until, by the application of more direct and powerful means, it shall be, we trust, reformed altogether. In particular, a money commutation should be strenuously avoided, unless circumstances actually force it; for what chance of successful persuasion or remonstrance will the inhabitants of a remote valley in Wales possess for recalling to his duty an absentee clergyman, living, it may be, in the parish of Marylebone, and drawing his income from the three per cents.? And furthermore, if opportunities should chance to offer, of imposing wholesome conditions of residence, or acquisition of the language, or at least the appointment of an efficient curate, and (it may be, in some cases,) the securing a desired minister in reversion, we see not why such opportunities should not be laid hold of in the course of negociation, and improved to the utmost. But these considerations open a wide field, and the present hints may now suffice: at a future opportunity we may have more to say on the subject.

It will be seen that we have confined our remarks to ecclesiastical tithes lay, or impropriate tithes, being private property, require no aid of the legislature to effect their disposal, and we are not inclined to think that compulsory commutation with regard to them would be either just or expedient. The public discouragement of this property, which will be greatly increased by the removal of church tithes, will afford sufficient inducement to their extinction, especially when the law is altered concerning their form of title, which we decidedly think ought to be speedily done: but whether such alterations should be embodied in the Church Tithe Commutation Act, we must be allowed to doubt. A separate measure for the purpose appears to us preferable.

ON THE DEATH OF AN EPICURE.
"Ar length, my friends, the feast of life is o'er;
I've eat sufficient; I can drink no more;
My night is come: I've spent a jovial day;
'Tis time to part; but, oh! what is to pay?"

TRANSLATION.

O dalm vy nhras, ar ben y bywyd wledd,
Digonid vi a bwyd, a llyn, mewn hedd;
A daeth vy nos, aeth heibiaw lawen ddydd,
Mae'n bryd ymadu-Och! pa dal y sydd?

CAERVALLWCH.

LEGEND ON THE BRIDGE AT HOLT.

BY C. F. HENNINGSEN;

Author of "The Last of the Sophis."

FAR in a wild and rocky land,

Where freedom held so long her stand
'Gainst Saxon axe and Norman brand,
Where reason with her icy hand
Has not yet banished from her way
The wild and legendary lay
Of river sprite, or mountain fay;
And every castled rock or dell,
Hath some unearthly tale to tell,

On which the mind will lingering dwell,
Nor seek to burst the viewless spell;
There dwelt, 'tis said, in times of old,
A native chieftain, stern and bold,
Unconquered,-till an ill-starr'd hour
Beheld Keneidon's banner tower
Upon his corpse, and blackened lower;
And children in the Marcher's power,
Two infant daughters, of a race

The Normans chased from place to place;
The last on earth their bards could trace,
When high Keneidon's praises rung
In festal hall; or minstrels strung
Their harps, and deeds of battle sung,-
Or injuries, with embittered tongue.
Such orphan beauty might have been
Protection, had there dwelt within
One spark of mercy, but his sin
Was cruelty, and lust of gold:
For that earl Mortimer, 'tis told,
Beneath his mail, had heart as cold;
And Cambria paid with steel, of old,
Her children's ransom;-as it may,
Let that have been;-their ballads say
No more were heard of from this day,
The chieftain's daughters: those who spoke
A moody frown their purpose broke--
And many a sleeping beldame woke
By howling dog or raven's croak,

That night when, echoing o'er the wave,

Some shrieks were heard-but none to save,

For all was silent as the grave,

And all in darkest night arrayed,

As rushed the boor with ready aid;

Then shivering sought his couch, dismayed

At that wild prank by Elfins played.

And often down that silvery tide,
Two faery forms were seen to glide,
And linger by the arches wide;
And nightly there their walks resume,
No truants from the grave, the gloom,
The ghastly hue that haunts the tomb
In them was äeriness and bloom:
And there, 'tis said, they wander yet,
When, by the moon, the fishers set
The nightly snare and hidden net.
And to this day that arched wall
The "Sisters' bridge," the peasants call:
It stood there, and outlived the fall
Of Mortimer; for house and hall,
Of that proud earl have passed away;
In bloody graves his kinsmen lay;
And wildly shrieked, each sister fay,
When stretched on Flodden's dreary field,
The last of that dark race did yield
His breath, and left not one to wield
The wolf's device on battle shield.

SELECTION FROM TALIESIN.

Hir y bydd Brython fal Carcharorion,
Yy mraint Alltudion Tir Saxonia
Eu ner a folant Eu Hiaith a gadwant
Eu Tir a gollant ond Gwyllt Walia.

Translation by the late EDWARD WILLIAMS, of Glamorgan.

Long shall the Britons humbled low remain,
For ages drag the Saxon's galling chain;
But faithful still their ancient God adore;
Pure keep their language, as in days of yore;
Be robb'd of native lands, from all exil'd,
But Walia's rough uncultivated wild.

OLION.

University Professorships.

WE have been often and greatly surprised that the Universities have not been graced by a Welsh professorship. In order to shew that encouragement has been given to the acquirement and study of other languages, not more important than our own, we shall extract three notices of bequests made since 1811 to the University of Oxford, in the hope of attracting attention to so important and national an institution, as a Professorship of the language of Ancient Britain.

OXFORD. Sanscrit Professorship. Extract from Col. Boden's will, dated 15th August, 1811.

"I do hereby give and bequeath all and singular my said residuary estate and effects, with the accumulations thereof, if any; and the stocks, funds, and securities whereon the same shall have been laid out and invested, unto the University of Oxford, to be by that body appropriated in and towards the erection and endowment of a professorship in the Sanscrit language, at or in any or either of the colleges of the said University, being of opinion that a more general and critical knowledge of that language will be a means of enabling my countrymen to proceed in converting of the natives of India to the Christian religion, by disseminating a knowledge of the sacred scriptures among them more effectually than all other means whatsoever."

Hebrew Scholarship. Mrs. Kennicott, wife of the late Hebrew professor, Dr. Kennicott, has left, by will, two Hebrew scholarships. Notice of this was given by the Vice-chancellor, Nov. 14, 1831.

Another Hebrew Scholarship. Last year, the present Hebrew professor, Mr. Pusey, his brother, and the Rev. Dr. Ellerton, of Magdalen college, have established three Hebrew scholarships, by each of them subscribing one thousand pounds.

We are induced to give publicity to the above pleasing accounts, with the hope of being able to prevail on some of our wealthy and patriotic countrymen to take into their consideration the advantage that would arise from establishing a Welsh Professorship in one or both of our Universities. An active and, intelligent professor would have an opportunity of clearing up many points connected with the history of this country; and, by perseverance, might collect such materials from the works of the ancient bards and others, as would enable him to present to the world what has long been a desideratum,- -a History of Wales. In