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xxxiv had been, for nearly two centuries, under the sway of England; hence we are naturally led to expect a considerable similarity between the two countries in some respects—accompanied by a marked difference in others, arising from the preservation of those original customs of the Welsh people which had survived the conquest, and still continued to be observed, blended with several introductions of English refinement. Now this is precisely the idea of the principality that the writings of the bard are calculated to convey.

As the objects—whether of nature or of art—which then presented themselves to the attention, and the habits and opinions which then prevailed in Wales, may be regarded as the chief source of the imagery which occurs in his poems, a cursory view of this subject may, in some measure, enhance the interest of this volume.

Turning our attention first to those objects of attraction which were common to the recently united kingdoms, I may quote from Mr. Godwin’s Life of Chaucer an eloquent passage which is equally applicable to the Cambro-British bard and to his great contemporary, the father of English poetry.

“The adventures of romance and the tales of the minstrels were listened to by him with avidity. Tales of chivalry, of generous enterprise, and heroic adventure had a double interest with him, because he knew that when he went forth into the world, the men of whom he read, a race that is now extinct, would be the objects of his daily observation and intercourse. The whole world was then romantic,