They had been
devout Christians, after their manner, in the earliest centuries;
as the prefix Llan, or Saint, everywhere testifies, the country
abounded in saints, whose sons inherited their saintship; and at
the Reformation they became Calvinists as unqualifiedly as their
kindred, the Bretons, remained Catholics. They have characterized
the English and Americans with their strong traits in a measure
which can be dimly traced in the spread of their ten or twenty
national names, and they have kept even with the most modern
ideals quite to the verge of co-education in their colleges. It
is a fact which no Welshman will deny that Cromwell was of Welsh
blood. Shakespeare was unquestionably of Welsh origin. Henry VII.
was that Welsh Twdwr (or Tudor, as the Saeseneg misspell it), who
set aside the Plantagenet succession, and was the grandsire of
"the great Elizabeth," not to boast of Bloody Mary or Henry VIII.
But if these are not enough, there is the present Chancellor of
the Exchequer, Mr. Lloyd-George, who is now the chief figure of
the English cabinet.
Pages:
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165