The Future of the National Eisteddfod.

To T. MARCHANT WILLIAMS, Esq., B.A., Hon. Secretary of the National Eisteddfod Association.

Dear Mr. WILLIAMS,

It is a misfortune that the Annual Meeting of the National Eisteddfod Association should have been held at a time when only a few of the members could attend. There are matters of importance-vital to the character and success of the Association-which ought to be discussed. It is now three years since the Association was founded--under the auspices of the late Sir Hugh Owen-and the only work it has done has been the reading, during the days of the Eisteddfod, of a number of papers.

The Association numbers among its members the leading bards and the literary and musical men of the Principality, in whom the country have entire confidence. It was prudent at first, perhaps, not to assume the aggressive, but the time has now arrived for action. It was expected that an effort would be made this year to place the National Eisteddfod on a new and firm basis, and that its future conduct would be undertaken by the Council of the AssociaI fear that unless something is done, and done promptly, the Association will share the fate which befel its predecessor twenty years ago.

It cannot fail to have escaped the notice of the most casual observer that the Eisteddfod has undergone a great change during the last ten years. The meetings in former times were devoted almost exclusively to literature. They are now being taken up, to a large extent, with music in its various forms. Objection is taken to the length of the speeches of the Presidents, however eminent those presidents may happen to be, and it is suggested that they should be limited to a quarter of an hour, or twenty minutes; and that the adjudicators should merely announce the result of their deliberations. The grounds of these suggestions is the physical impossibility of the vast numbers of people who attend the meetings to hear what is said and read.

Ever since the musical element has entered so largely into the proceedings of the Eisteddfod the meetings have increased year by year in numbers, until they have become unwieldy and unmanageable. Nothing will do but big hands, big choirs, and big organs-for these only can be heard by everybody. I appreciate music, and recognize the progress that our people have made in it through the agency of the Eisteddfod, but it is possible to have too much of it, and that the venerable institution may become a Musical Festival. This was the great difficulty at Cardiff, and there is a probability that the musical element will cause anxiety and trouble at Liverpool next year. I see, by the Liverpool papers, that a prize of two hundred guineas is offered for the chief choral contest, and £179 more for other choral competitions, and £150 for brass bands. Such prizes will attract immense numbers

of people from all parts of the kingdom, and the inconvenience complained of at Cardiff will be increased. The Eisteddfod is essentially a bardic and literary institution. Instead, therefore, of curtailing its literary character, let the old regime be restored with such an admixture of new elements as modern circumstances require. Let the musical performances, except such as are purely educational, be relegated to the evening meetings.

It is the duty of the National Eisteddfod Association to assume the future management of the Eisteddfod, and place it on a sound basis for permanency and usefulness. It was my intention to offer certain suggestions at the Annual Meeting, but my duties as Secretary of the Eistedfodd prevented my attending. I take this method, therefore, of making my views known, and to elicit a discussion of them. The Cardiff Committee acted in unison with the principle and purport of the National Eisteddfod Association, and expected that the future control of the Eisteddfod would be assumed by the Council of that body. They spared no labour or expense in making the Cardiff Meetings a success. The Presidents were distinguished men, apart from their territorial and ecclesiastical positions, and their speeches will remain monuments of ability, learning, and practical utility. The list of prizes was larger, more varied and useful than any ever offered before. The Adjudicators were gentlemen of the highest standing in their several professions, whose awards no one dared to question. And for the first time in the history of the Eisteddfod there was shewn a collection of Art works, by Welsh artists, which pleased and astonished everybody who saw it. And there was also an enthusiasm created among Welshmen, wherever located, that was not experienced before. All these things combined gave the National Eisteddfod Association an opportunity of taking the helm of the good old ship and guiding it through the shoals and rocks that threaten its safety. A united and determined effort should now be made to realise the grand ideal shadowed forth in the following extract from Dr. Vaughan's eloquent address :—

"It is one of the high aims and purposes of that most characteristic institution of Wales which is holding its festival in this great and growing city to-day to do for the Welsh tongue that two-fold work which I have suggested-the perfecting of its language and the enlarging of its literature. Never, if I rightly view the signs of our time, was the work of the Eisteddfod more definite or more important. In proportion as its competitions are made more severe and more arduous-in proportion as the tone of mutual flattery, always in the end enervating and degrading, is exchanged for that of truthful, which is also encouraging and inspiriting, criticism-in the same degree will it fix the attention and win the sympathy of onlooking nationalities-in the same degree will it honour the land of its birth and of its affection, and consolidate her place in the mighty sisterhood of the world. Very remarkable is the institution of which I am thus presuming to take the measure. If this great town of Cardiff should become, as we are sanguine enough to hope, not only (which it is already) a mighty centre of industry and enterprise, but also of enlightenment and civilising influence to a vast population drawn together not more by greed of wealth than by thirst of culture-if the day should ever arrive, as some of us dare to dream, when Cardiff shall begin to dispute with an illustrious Northern capital the title of the Modern Athensthen it will be remembered that this Principality had always, from a date far beyond historic memory, one institution in common with the far-famed Republics of ancient Greece -its annual gatherings, its Olympia and its Dionysia for the cultivation of art and science, of poetry and music-rude once, perhaps, and ill-regulated in form and in execution, yet bearing faithful testimony always to the honest ambitions and laudable aspirations of its people."

The scheme which I intended to propose, and hoped to have had discussed at the Annual Meeting of the Association, is to the following effect :—

1. That the future Meetings of the Eisteddfod be conducted on the principle of the British Association, and that a President be appointed for each year, who would deliver an inaugural address on the first day, on some subject relating to Wales and bearing upon the welfare of the Welsh people.

2. That the business of the Eisteddfod be carried on in sections-each with its Chairman, who would commence their sittings in separate rooms immediately after the delivery of the presidential address.

3. That the choral and band competitions take place in the evenings only. 4. That the distribution of prizes and conferring of honours and certificates take place on the last day of the Eisteddfod, in the presence of the President and the members and friends of the Association.

5. That there shall be a local habitation of the Association in the Principality, with a resident Secretary, and a Library, to which should be gathered all the available books and manuscripts relating to Wales. There should also be a monthly magazine published, in which members might exchange ideas, and questions of interest discussed, and through which information relating to the National Eisteddfod Association might be disseminated.

Such a plan as I propose would not attract the large crowds which now attend the Eisteddfod, but its usefulness would be greatly increased. The Eisteddfod would then be confined to the student, the artist, and the patriotmore like what it was in the fifteenth century-and would be essentially an examining and educational institution. I would not propose such a sweeping change were the National Eisteddfod the only meeting of the kind held during the year. It must be remembered that "Eisteddfod" meetings are held all over the Principality, from January to December, at which the natural enthusiasm of the masses finds free expression, and where the burlesque and buffoonery which have too often disgraced the platform of the National Eisteddfod may have full play. So numerous and popular are these local meetings that there were no less than twenty-six of them held last Christmas in the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth alone, some of them designated "Grand," and some "Cadaeriog." The National Eisteddfod, conducted as I suggest, would re-act upon the local meetings, and a spirit of emulation would be created throughout the country, and a desire fostered to obtain its honours and rewards. The standard of the National Eisteddfod should be not only higher, but acknowledged to be higher, than that of the local and provincial meetings. The necessity for this is felt by many of our best men, as may be seen in their refusal at the recent Eisteddfod to award prizes where the competitions were unworthy. The musical is in advance of the literary department in this respect. There has been a marked progress in musical study and practice during the last few years, and the young aspirants to honour and fame recognise the necessity of constant and diligent practice. It is not so with literature. We have not, in the present day, the classic style of Gomer and his compatriots. There is a well grounded fear that matters will become worse, unless steps are taken not only to arrest the downward progress of literary merit in our midst, but to show to the young a better and a nobler way. Men and women now compete at the National Eisteddfod who have not acquired a knowledge of the grammar of the language, and who are utter strangers to the art of composition. This was very perceptible at the Cardiff Eisteddfod. Not only were several important prizes withheld, but many of those for which prizes were awarded were not considered of sufficient merit to justify their publication. Nearly every adjudicator referred to the subject. Clwydfardd, in his adjudication on "Emynau at Wasanaeth yr Ysgol Sul," says:-" Y mae pedwar o'r cyfansoddiadau yn wyth penill, ac nid wyth emyn." Dyfed, in his adjudication on "Gosteg i'r Glo," says:-"Daeth i law ddeuddeg o gyfansoddiau, ond saith gosteg cywir sydd yn eu plith." Elis Wyn o Wyrfai, writing of the Welsh serial stories, says: "Drwg genym na bu ond odid haner yr ymgeiswyr dalu

sylw dyledus i'r hysbysiad sydd yn dangos natur y testyn a rheolau y gystadleuaeth." And Mr. Ceiriog Hughes closed his criticism on the song "Y Weddw" thus:-Wrth derfynu, teimlwn bod llawer iawn o le i wella ar y pedwar cyfansoddiad hyn. Nid oes gymmaint ag un yn sôn am alarwisg y weddw, am laes odrau'r hwyr-dydd, nac am fonet y nos. Nac oes, nac un awgrymiad at fam wladol pob un o honom, ein hanwyl Frenhines, gweddw ein gorsedd, pen a choron weddw yr ymherodraeth hon, a mam teyrnasoedd y byd, y mil blynyddau nesaf.”

Ceiriog also makes the following sensible observations, bearing directly on the object of this letter:

"Dylai Eisteddfodau blynyddol, fel sydd genym yn Nghymru, a beirniadaethau mor fynych ag a draddodir, brysuro rheol a threfn wrth ba rai y bydd yr holl ymgeiswyr yn gallu gweled eu hunain yn sefyll neu yn syrthio. Trwy hyny hefyd galluogid y truan beirniad yma ac acw i roddi rhyw reswm tros ei ddyfarniadau, a byddai gan y wlad rhyw siawns i feirniadu y gwyr a feirniadent. Oferedd yw dyweyd "dylai" a dylasai" am faterion eisteddfodol ; ac er bod genym yr anrhydedd o ddal aelodaeth gyda Chymmrodorion, a Chymdeithas yr Eisteddfod, Bord Gron, Gwyneddigion ac Ivoriaid, yn mhellach, bellach, o fod yn llenyddol a barddol y mae'r hen sefydliad yn myned. Er's blynyddau, nid oes neb yn meddwl am ddarllen beirniadaeth ar farddoniaeth. Ó! na: corawl yw pobpeth. Ac erbyn heddyw, 'does dim amser gan y programme, nac amynedd gan y torfeydd i wrandaw ar feirniadaeth, os na chyfyngir hi i bum munyd! Y mae'n hen bryd diwygio, ac i'r Gymdeithas a ffurfiwyd i ddiwygio, gael rhyw gymdeithas arall i ddiwygio Cymdeithas yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, a digon tebyg y daw rhyw Gymmrodorion i ddiwygio hono trachefn, nes y bydd llenyddiaeth Gymreig wedi ei diwygio oddi ar wyneb y ddaear.'

The Eisteddfod should aim at securing what Lord Bute said in his admirable and suggestive address:-"I would urge you to cling to the language of your fathers, and to seek through it the development of literary power. But let me urge you to seek it in culture. Now, for a man to speak Welsh, and willingly not to be able to read and write it, is to confess himself a boor. Try to understand the language grammatically, and to speak with the light of reason. I urge upon those who are connected with newspapers to use their position to encourage purity and correctness."

"This year of grace, 1883," should not be allowed to pass without the Council of the National Eisteddfod Association making the Eisteddfod an auxiliary in the great work of education now going on in the Principality. The Eisteddfod can do much in this direction. It is non-political-nontheological.. You have the Tory and the Radical, the Anglican Ecclesiastic and the Nonconformist Minister, uniting-as we observed on the platform at Cardiff to promote the common good of the common fatherland, and without the slightest tincture of jealousy; and we may yet see the day, referred to by the Dean of Llandaff, "when the education of the scholar will be confessedly incomplete without a knowledge of the language of the Cymry."

or

I have written at greater length than I at first intended, but I feel warmly the importance of taking immediate action. Permit me to suggest that a meeting should be held in October, in some central town---Brecon Llanidloes-to consider the question. The invitation should be general, not only to the members of the Association, but to every one willing to lend a hand in the good work; and arrangements should be made for the payment of the expenses of the bards and literary men whose circumstances require it. I remain,

Dear Mr. WILLIAMS,

Faithfully yours,

DAVID TUDOR EVANS.

Cardiff, Sept., 1883.