my grey hairs!" O, thou hoary sinner, thou didst serve the King exactly as thou didst serve thy God, and on that accou thy King deserted thee, even as thy God did! Thy Ki loaded thee with every kindness, with every favour, ma thee a greater man than himself and endeavoured to ma thee Pope, that is God-idol on earth, and how didst the requite him? Didst thou not sell thy kind, confiding, genero master to the Pope, Ferdinand, the man-beast of Austr and the cold-hearted deceiver Charles, he who could lead th by the nose even as thou couldst lead thy master, and because if he had pleased he could have made thee Pope?.. Thy God put all the brains of thy native district into t head. How didst thou requite Him? By selling Him, betraying and disgracing Him, by polluting His temple wi thy breath, at the time when the disease of Spain was in t bones and thy marrow, in thy heart, in thy tongue, in t liver and thy lung. Truly, thou didst serve thy King ev as thou didst serve thy God. O, thou worse than Jud Judas! Judas betrayed his God. Thou didst betray ta God and thy King, nay more, thy friend. But enough thee, Henry's and England's evil genius.'

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Crow

It is Borrow's admiration for Henry VIII which lea him to criticise Henry VII. He is made responsible f the troubles of his son's reign by his insisting on th Bo marriage with Catherine of Aragon, in order that h dowry should not be lost. Borrow hates a mercena mind more than anything else, and emphasises th weakness of Henry VII. Did he not allow himself to bought off by the King of France, and, even on his deat th bed, did he not haggle with the monks over the price the masses to be said for his soul? Borrow's dislike Henry VII explains in its turn his sympathy for Richar III. He refuses to believe that the current conceptic based on Shakespeare's play, or on Colley Cibber's adala tation, is fair or accurate. Shakespeare's source wo biased, and Borrow, therefore, rejects as the inventio of a partisan the reports of Richard's diabolical countd nance and deformed body, and doubts if he was guilt the of half the crimes laid to his charge. On the othe hand, he admires his dauntless spirit and prowess i battle.

The ultimate explanation of Borrow's attitude toward all these monarchs and statesmen lies, as we have tried to show, in his anti-Catholic bias. In judging Owe

lendower, Griffith ap Nicholas, and Ryce ap Thomas, is not fettered in the same way. Consequently, the rtraits that he draws of them are among the most elike in his gallery of historical characters. One ature appears here and elsewhere, namely, Borrow's lief in the guidance of the Divine hand in history. e sympathises with Glendower rather than with Bolingoke; but is reconciled to the defeat of the former, cause it did not agree with God's designs 'to permit ales to become an independent kingdom, as in such event she must have existed in continual contention ith England, and have crippled the latter, whilst herlf bleeding from every pore.' Hence Bolingbroke, nough 'a very bad and unjust man, was permitted do what in the long run promoted the general good.' he overthrow of Richard III was also the will of God, or did it not mean the accession of the Tudors, one whom was to rescue England from Rome and say to he monks: Go forth, ye lazy crew! Either earn your read or starve!' This thought returns again and again, lways with a Cromwellian ring. George Borrow would ot be George Borrow if he were consistent, and so it an occasion no surprise when, in another connexion, Le doubts whether all is ordered for the best in this world. In the history of the English dynasties and in The Reformation, Borrow is willing to see the finger of od, but not in the unfortunate fate of Goronwy Owen. If Borrow has his weaknesses as a writer on history, e has also his merits. He has visualised each of his personages as a man of flesh and blood, has formed a lear opinion of his character, and pats him approvingly n the back or administers to him a sound cudgelling, if he were one of his own kith and kin. What a ontrast between Borrow's Griffith ap Nicholas or Ryce Thomas and the pale chieftains of the dry-as-dust hronicle in the Cambrian Register,' where Borrow ound them sleeping the sleep of many centuries! He nlivens his narrative by introducing imaginary conersations or correspondence. Griffith ap Nicholas writes o the great feudal lords, his neighbours, about the ickerings of their dependents with his own men. dward of York sends an appeal for help to Griffith and eceives a memorable reply. Ryce debates with his Vol. 242.-No. 480.

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advisers whether he shall join Henry of Richmond not-all this in the most vivid manner.

The use of the rhetorical question and his love of t dramatic are also marked features of Borrow's wor One sees here, too, that fondness of fighting whi Borrow, the son of a soldier, always displayed, wheth in his adventures in England and Spain or in his tra lations of Danish ballads. His pictures of the Battle the Spurs, of Bosworth Field, and of the struggle Mortimer's Cross are among the best things he written. The last of these may be taken as an examp

'The battle begins; first the shouting; flights of arro and bolts from long-bow and cross-bow; then hotter wo nearer play; clashing of faulchions, cleaving of shields helmets, blood flowing in torrents, a very deadly fight he to hand. An hour passes and the Yorkists begin to yith "En avant, mes filz!" says the great Earl Owen Tud shaking his gauntlet at the flinching foe, and Lewis G Cothi uses brave words. Yes, the Yorkists are beaten; tl run, they run, all but one band which presses forwa making seemingly (what madness!) towards the banner the great Earl. Now, red roses, if you can but make t band run, the day is your own. Aye, but it is no easy thi to make that band turn round, and see! the rest of Yorkists, who were running, are become ashamed and t reforming behind that band and about its flanks. Howev thank God, the leader of the band is struck down by an arrant Yes, their leader, that rather lusty old fellow with the gia hair and breastplate over a grey cloak, his fall will stop the Yes, they stop. But see! the old man sits up on the field a says something to that handsome young man and also to tl strong-looking fellow in buckram with a morion, who loc more like the thief than the honest man, but who de terrible blows.

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'There is a deadly shock, but the Lancastrians yield a the banner of the great Earl is taken and the first to hands on it is Philip ap Howel of Knokelas, who neverthel falls, cleft through morion and brain by the great Ea standard-bearer, whose arm is the next moment hewn off Thomas ap Griffith the younger, who seizes the standard a retains it "and at the head of his men pursues the Earl Pembroke even unto flight." Yes, the great Earl flies a Lewis Glyn Cothi, seeing his patron flying, does not ling behind but betakes himself to wild Wales, " sitting," to his wonderful expression, "between the ears of the sta

nd the Lancastrian host flies, leaving, however, thousands dead on the field and many prisoners, amongst whom is r Owen Tudor, the husband of Catherine of France, brother erine of Henry the Sixth, whose head is almost immediately ruck off by order of Edward beneath Mortimer's Cross, for ose were not the days of mock humanity, when commanders rried favour with their enemies, binding up their wounds, hilst leaving their own mangled followers to perish on the eld.'

Whatever the interest of 'Celtic Bards, Chiefs and ings' as a study of Welsh literature and as an example history brilliantly written from the angle of a partisan, greatest value is perhaps as a manifestation of orrow's personality. It is curious to see how here, as sewhere, particularly in 'Wild Wales,' Borrow could ever make up his mind whether to consider himself typical Englishman or a Celt. In the account of his avels through Wales he talks now in the accents of he, now in the accents of the other. He is consistent aly in his aggressively superior attitude. The reason or this alternation of two different points of view is to sought in the fact that Borrow, though born and bred Norfolk, was of Cornish descent. The latter comes to e fore more than once in Celtic Bards, Chiefs and ings. With pride he refers to the old mystery plays ritten in 'beautiful Cornish, the speech of the writer's wn forefathers,' and praises them as equal to the work Calderon. With equal pride he lingers over the ornish rebellion against the heavy taxation of Henry II. A poor but brave and spirited people, they fought in spite of their inferior numbers and scanty equipThe Cornish men never gave over to the last,' ys the old chronicler whom Borrow quotes. In this nnexion Borrow is torn between his allegiance to ornwall and his loyalty to Norfolk. 'The Cornish,' he ys, are a race partly Celtic, partly Saxon, but more eltic than Saxon. They are incomparably the strongest en in Britain, they make the best soldiers and perhaps ilors, though it must be admitted that the men of orfolk, who are of pure Scandinavian blood, all but val them in battling with the sea and storm.' It is is dual strain in Borrow which explains two of the eat enthusiasms which filled his life, his zeal for the

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literature of Scandinavia, especially that of Denmar and his pursuit of the Celtic tongues.

Even if we had not 'Wild Wales,' the work we a now discussing would remain as a monument to Borrow sympathy with Wales and her people. His literary a historical studies had brought the past of Wales befo his eyes, his wanderings had familiarised him with t present. He had an equipment of knowledge and ima nation such as few Englishmen have possessed, and he was sufficiently independent, sufficiently detached, see the shortcomings as well as the virtues. Borr pays tribute repeatedly to the courage and loyalty of t Welsh. He tells of the fierce battle of Stoke with t Irish on one side and the followers of Ryce ap Thom on the other; for when 'Celt meets Celt, then comes t tug of war.' He speaks of the Welsh commander, R Gwgan, under Edward III, of the Welsh exploits Crecy, and of their loyalty to all the English kings w treated them kindly. Of the modern Welsh peasant has also a good word to say, in particular for his love learning and literature. The father of Goronwy Ow poor and humble though he might be, understood t meaning of the word 'awen,' poetic inspiration, & Borrow wonders what English peasant would ha shown the same insight. For the Welsh language, ne less to say, Borrow had a singular affection. He lov it for its copiousness, its sonority, and its affinity Greek and Latin. He had only contempt for the fa gentility which discarded its rich tradition, and lament the lack of a university in Wales to cultivate and cheri it, a defect which has long since been remedied.

For the humble man in Wales and elsewhere Borr had a great liking. His experiences in tramping open road had taught him that originality is t monopoly of no class, and that even the most promising of companions if plied with questions by so eager in the pursuit of the curious as Borrow, m prove a gold-mine of strange information. In particul his heart warmed to the struggling poetic genius. followed with the keenest interest the careers of su men as Goronwy Owen and Twm o'r Nant; he parto of their cares and sufferings and raged at their oppresso Goronwy the poor curate, eking out his existence in