Transcribed from the 1900[?] W. Nicholson and Sons edition byDavid Price,
“In Ystrad Feen a mirthful sound
Pervades the hollow hills around;
The very stones with laughter bound,
At Twm Shon Catty’s jovial round.”
In presenting to the public the following Enlarged andCorrected Edition of “Twm Shon Catty,” the authorcannot forget that on its first appearance in 1836, with“all its imperfections on its head,” it was receivedwith a welcome quite unlooked for on the part of the writer, andhe now presents this edition to the world, with several additionsand alterations.
On examining the cause of such unlooked-for approbation, hefound it, not in any merit of his own, but in the nationality ofhis subject, and the humiliating suggestion that, slight as itwas, it was the first attempted thing that could bear the titleof a Welsh Novel.
It is true others have made Wales the scene of action for theheroes of their Tales; but however talented such writers mightbe, to the Welshman’s feelings they lacked nationality, andbetrayed the hand of the foreigner in the working of the web; itstexture perchance, filled up with yams of finer fleeces, butstrange and loveless to their unaccustomed eyes.
Were a native of one of the South Sea Islands to publish thelife and adventures of one of their legendary heroes, it isprobable that such a production would excite more attention, as atrue transcript of mind and manners of the people he essayed todescribe, than the more polished pages of the courtly English andFrench novelist, who undertook to write on the samesubject. On the same principle, the author of thisunpretending little provincial production accounts for the sunnygleams of favour that have flashed on the new tract which he hasendeavoured to tread down, among briers and brambles of anunexplored way, while the smoother path of the practisedtraveller has been shrouded in gloom.
p. 6Theexpression of the Author’s gratitude is here presented tothe Rev. W. J. Rees, Rector of Cascob, for numerous favours; andespecially for the historic and traditional matter that hisresearches furnished. To the Critics of the CambrianQuarterly for their favourable notice of the “SmallBook,” a skeleton as it then was, compared to the presentEdition, imperfect as it still remains. And lastly to therevered memory of the late Archdeacon Benyon of Llandilo. That lamented friend of Wales and Welshmen, (whose aims were everdirected to the enlargement of the narrow boundary within whichprejudice and custom had encircled and enchained Welshliterature,) in the town-hall of Carmarthen, before his highlyrespectable Auditors, honoured this production with a favourablenotice. He warmly eulogised the Author’s attempt atthe production of the first Welsh Novel; and concluded by anoffer of a pecuniary reward to the person who could give the besttranslation of it in the best Welsh language.
The name of TwmShon Catty, popular throughout Wales. “TheInn-Keeper’s Album,” and the drama foundedthereon. Twm Shon Catty apparently born in differenttowns. A correct account of his birth and parentage.
It is often the custom, however foolish it may be, to frightenthe occupants of an English nursery into submission by saying,“The bogie is coming,” and though the exact form orattribu