| Preface |
| BOOK THE FIRST |
| BOOK THE SECOND |
| BOOK THE THIRD |
| BOOK THE FOURTH |
| BOOK THE FIFTH |
| BOOK THE SIXTH |
[By WILLIAM GODWIN]
The following performance, as the title imports, was originally composed in theWelch language. Its style is elegant and pure. And if the translator has not,as many of his brethren have done, suffered the spirit of the original totallyto evaporate, he apprehends it will be found to contain much novelty ofconception, much classical taste, and great spirit and beauty in the execution.It appears under the name of Cadwallo, an ancient bard, who probably lived atleast one hundred years before the commencement of our common era. The mannersof the primitive times seem to be perfectly understood by the author, and aredescribed with the air of a man who was in the utmost degree familiar withthem. It is impossible to discover in any part of it the slightest trace ofChristianity. And we believe it will not be disputed, that in a country sopious as that of Wales, it would have been next to impossible for the poet,though ever so much upon his guard, to avoid all allusion to the system ofrevelation. On the contrary, every thing is Pagan, and in perfect conformitywith the theology we are taught to believe prevailed at that time.
These reasons had induced us to admit, for a long time, that it was perfectlygenuine, and justly ascribed to the amiable Druid. With respect to thedifficulty in regard to the preservation of so long a work for many centuriesby the mere force of memory, the translator, together with the rest of theworld, had already got over that objection in the case of the celebrated Poemsof Ossian. And if he be not blinded by that partiality, which the midwife isapt to conceive for the productions, that she is the instrument of bringinginto the world, the Pastoral Romance contains as much originality, as muchpoetical beauty, and is as happily calculated to make a deep impression uponthe memory, as either Fingal, or Temora.
The first thing that led us to doubt its authenticity, was the strikingresemblance that appears between the plan of the work, and Milton’scelebrated Masque at Ludlow Castle. We do not mean however to hold forth thiscircumstance as decisive in its condemnation. The pretensions of Cadwallo, orwhoever was the author of the performance, are very high to originality. If thedate of the Romance be previous to that of Comus, it may be truly said of theauthor, that he soared above all imitation, and derived his merits from theinexhaustible source of his own invention. But Milton, it is well known,proposed some classical model to himself in all his productions. The ParadiseLost is almost in every page an imitation of Virgil, or Homer. The Lycidastreads closely in the steps of the Daphnis and Gallus of Virgil. The SampsonAgonistes is formed upon the model of Sophocles. Even the little pieces,L’Allegro and Il Penseroso have their source in a song of Fletcher, andtwo beautiful little ballads that are ascribed to Shakespeare. But theclassical model upon which Comus was formed has not yet been discovered. It isinfinitely unlike the Pastoral Come