Part 5

Sir William Preece has said that there were five new elements discovered within the last century. There were others undiscovered, and it only remained for some student to discover one of them to make himself famous, and, like Xenophon, return to find his name writ large on the walls of his native town. A celebrated poet once declared--

"You can live without stars; You can live without books, But civilized man Cannot live without cooks."

Some people may be able to live without books and only with cooks. But without science and books we should not have had our Empire. Books and science help us to keep up the Empire. It is for these reasons that I do what I can to encourage technical and scientific education.

_School of Science and Art Prize Distribution, December 4th, 1901._

You can be quite certain that no hooligan ever attended an art school. The intelligence and refinement of manners brought about by the study of sculpture, painting, and architecture have more to do with the stopping of drunkenness than any other teaching you could think of.... The charm of these art schools for me lies in the fact that we are always expecting something great, just as a fisherman at a little brook, where he has never caught anything much larger than his little finger, is always expecting to hook some big monster. In these art schools I am always expecting some great artist or sculptor turned out--somebody from Newport Schools--not only a credit to himself but to any town, somebody who will become a second Millais or a great sculptor.

Newport has improved a good deal of late years, and I am sure the study of painting and architecture has had much to do with it. In looking over some old papers in the Tredegar archives the other day, I came across a description by two people who passed from Cardiff through Newport about 100 years ago. They said: "We went over a nasty, muddy river, on an old rotten wooden bridge, shocking to look at and dangerous to pass over. On the whole this is a nasty old town."

_School of Science and Art Prize Distribution, December 5th, 1900._

Sir John Gorst has made reference to the indisposition of the territorial aristocracy to encourage high intellectual attainment. I think "territorial aristocracy" is rather an undefinable term, and perhaps school children will be asked what it is. I do not think that those who own land are as a class opposed to high intellectual attainment. The County Councils to some extent are representative of territorial aristocracy, and 41 of the 49 County Councils of England and Wales have agreed to spend the whole of the Government grant in education. That is a sign that the territorial aristocracy are not averse to intellectual attainment.

Perhaps Colonel Wallis will ask some of the children in the school what the meaning of "territorial aristocracy" is. I read that when a child was asked what the meaning of the word Yankee was, the reply was that it was an animal bred in Yorkshire.

_Opening of the School Board Offices, Newport, March 11th, 1898._

Victor Hugo once said that the opening of a school means the closing of a prison. That is very true, regarded as an aphorism, and I wish it were true in reality, because there would not be any prisons left in England.

_Opening of Intermediate Schools, October 29th, 1896._

I am pleased that technical schools are taking such a firm hold in the town. I feel more and more that the teaching of art is doing a great deal of good. There is a great improvement in the tastes of the people, shown by the architectural beauty of their residences and in decorations generally.

I was very much surprised a short time ago at reading a strong article by "Ouida"--whose novels I have read with a great deal of interest--on the ugliness of our modern life. She certainly took a very pessimistic view of the matter and seemed to look only at the workaday part of the world--at the making of railways, the knocking down of old houses, and the riding of bicycles. I do not see that those things come under the title of art. One of the objects of instruction at the art schools is to induce students to create ideas of their own. At the same time I do not think you could do much better than study the old masters, than whose works I do not see anything better amongst modern productions. The great silver racing cups given away now, worth from £300 to £500, do not compare with the handiwork of Italian and Venetian silver workers. I have some pieces of plate in the great cellar under Tredegar House which I do not think it possible to improve upon.

_School of Science and Art Prize Distribution, Newport, January 24th, 1896._

One or two little incidents in my own experience lately shew the value of studying some particular trade or science or some form of art. Only the other day I met a young lady at a country house. Before I had seen her a few minutes she remarked: "I suppose you don't remember me, Lord Tredegar?" If I had been young and gallant, it would have been natural for me to have replied: "Such a face as yours I am not in the least likely to forget." But I thought I was too old for that, and merely said that I did not remember at the moment having met her previously. The young lady then informed me that she had received a prize at my hands at a great school, and that in handing her the prize I had remarked, "You have well earned the prize, and it is a branch of art that, if continued, will prove very useful in after life." That branch of art had enabled her to take the position she then occupied.

The other incident was that of a young man who had been left by his parents very poor. He had the greatest difficulty in getting anything at all to do, because he had never made himself proficient in any particular trade or science. I agree with the man who said one should know something about everything and everything about something.

_School of Science and Art Prize Distribution, Newport, December 17th, 1894._

It has been well said, I forget by whom, but I think it was Dr. Johnson, that you can do anything with a Scotsman, if you catch him young. I think you can say just the same of the Welshman or the Monmouthshire man.

_Newport Intermediate Boys' School, November 4th, 1910._

One day I accompanied a young lady to her carriage on leaving a public function at which I had officiated. The band struck up a martial air, and I stepped actively to the time of the music. Remarking to the young lady that the martial air appealed to an old soldier, she said, "Why, Lord Tredegar, were you ever in the Army?" That is the reason why I think we should have memorials and why I shall be very glad to have this picture in my house.

_On the occasion of the presentation of a Portrait of his Lordship's Statue in Cathays Park, Cardiff, September 19th, 1909._

The commander of the French Army said of the Balaclava Charge that it was magnificent, but that it was not war. I do not know what the French general called war, but my recollection of the charge is that it was something very nearly like it. I have to thank the Power above for being here now, fifty-five years after the charge took place. Whether this statue will commemorate me for a long time or not is of little moment, but I know it will commemorate for ever the sculptor, Mr. Goscombe John.

_Unveiling of equestrian statue of Viscount Tredegar in Cathays Park, Cardiff, on 55th Anniversary of the Balaclava Charge, October 25th, 1909_

THE ARCHÆOLOGY OF MONMOUTHSHIRE.

Anyone who lives in Monmouthshire, a county rich in its old castles, churches, camps, and cromlechs, cannot fail to be some sort of an archæologist, and it is this mild type I represent. I have always had a great fancy for history, and anyone who studies the archæology of Monmouthshire must be well grounded in the history of England. The county has held a prominent place in history from the earliest period down to the present day, commencing with the Silures, and passing on to the Romans, Saxons, and Normans. Some locality or other in the county was connected with each of those periods.

One little failing about archæology which has always been a sore point with me is that it is apt to destroy some of those little illusions which we like to keep up. I hope when we go to Caerwent, during the next day or two, my illusion concerning King Arthur will not be dispelled, for I love to think of King Arthur and his Round Table having been at that place. Alexander wept because there were no new worlds to conquer, but I hope archæologists will not weep because there are no new ruins to be discovered. An old stone has been picked up on the moors at Caldicot, and scientific men know that the stone proves the Marches to have been reclaimed from the sea by the Romans. The question of the origin of Roman encampments is one about which there is a great deal of doubt, and I hope to hear some new story when we inspect the ancient part in Tredegar Park.

_Fourth Annual Meeting, Cambrian Archæological Association, August 24th, 1885._

MONMOUTHSHIRE STILL WELSH.

In the reign of Henry VIII, Monmouthshire was annexed to England, and therefore we are not now exactly in Wales. But 300 years have not eradicated the Welsh language and the Welsh traditions.

_Farmers' Association Dinner, Bassaleg, October 23rd, 1877._

FREEDOM OF MORGAN BROTHERHOOD.

I take my opinion of freedom from Dr. Samuel Johnson, and that is good enough for me. Dr. Johnson said that freedom was "to go to bed when you wish, to get up when you like, to eat and drink whatever you choose, to say whatever occurs to you at the moment, and to earn your living as best you may."

The Lord Mayor has hoped that he will prove to be a member of the Tredegar family. The name of Morgan is a splendid name. You can, with that name, get your pedigree from wherever you like. Whenever I talk of bishops, I remember to speak of Bishop Morgan. If I speak to a football player, I talk of Buccaneer Morgan, and so it goes on in any subject you wish. I do not care--even if there is a great murder--a Morgan is sure to be in it! I do not wish to detract from the Lord Mayor's desire to be in the pedigree, but, at all events, we can all belong to a Morgan Brotherhood.

_Reply to toast of "Our Guest," at City Hall, Cardiff, October 25th, 1909._

When the agitation for the new Technical Institute was going on, I daresay most of you heard all sorts of objections to it on the ground of expense and of there being no necessity for an institute of this description. Some of the agitators went back to Solomon. They said, "Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, and he has told us that 'He who increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.' So why," said they, "do you want to have more knowledge?" Another objector said, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," and then somebody else said, "Of the making of books there is no end," and "Much study is a weariness of the flesh."

All those old sayings were trotted out, but there was the other side to bring before you. There was the dear old lady who was so proud of her son--he was a kind of artist--that she thought he would become a second Gainsborough. He got on very well, as she thought, and one day, meeting his professor, she said, "Oh, Professor, do you think my son will ever learn to draw?" and he replied, "Yes, madam, if you harness him to a wagon." Happily, Newport went the right way, and built what I fancy is quite one of the most up-to-date technical institutions in the country.

_Technical Institute Prize Distribution, Newport, December 21st, 1910._

It is very difficult to address a mixed school of boys and girls. You require totally different things for boys and girls. A learned gentleman was once asked his ideal of a girl, and he replied, "Most like a boy." Asked his ideal of a boy, he replied, "Only a human boy who dislikes learning anything." I was a human boy myself once, about 70 years ago, and I hated learning anything except running about and making myself disagreeable to everyone. My experience of girls is that girls want to learn when a boy doesn't. A girl is nearly always anxious to learn, whilst a boy only wants to amuse himself.

A great M.P. gave an address about education a week or so ago, and said our system was all wrong, that facts were no use, and that thinking was what they wanted. I totally disagree with him. Facts are wanted, for it is from facts you get on to thinking. One examiner was much amused by the notion of a boy who said that what struck him most was the toughness of wood, the wetness of water, and the magnificent soapiness of soap. That boy was going to get on; he was thinking more about facts than anything else.

Another great school question is with regard to punishment, whether it is good to order a boy or girl to write out a certain number of lines or learn so many lines of poetry. A well known gentleman of the world, politically and otherwise, when at school was what they called "a devil of a chap to jaw." That was the expression of a fellow pupil. He was constantly in the playground jawing, and they sentenced him to run around the ground five times when he spoke for more than three minutes. That was supposed to cure him, but it did not. He speaks now more than anyone in the House of Commons.

_Pontywaun School Prize Distribution, March 17th, 1911._

A HYBRID COUNTY.

We in Monmouthshire are in a sort of hybrid county. A great many people think we are in Wales and a great many people think we are not. Cardiff is very jealous of us--jealous because we can get drunk on Sundays and they can't. I hope we shall continue to be a county of ourselves, and when this great Home Rule question, which is so much talked about, is settled we shall, no doubt, have a Parliament at Newport-on-Usk, or else at Monmouth-upon-Wye.

_Newport Athletic Club Dinner, April 27th, 1891._

INTEREST IN EXPLORATION.

I wish to renew interest among the people of the neighbourhood in the exploration work at Caerwent. The reason, perhaps, why some of the interest has fallen off, is the illness and death of the late Vicar of Caerwent, who always took the greatest possible delight in explaining to visitors the history of the ancient city and the nature of the work of excavation.

There is a great deal of fresh ground to be explored. I am glad to find that there is an increasing interest in Great Britain in this kind of work, and I hope it will continue to increase. If we expect to find any interest at all in matters of this kind, it would be in Rome, and yet we find that in that city it has been decided recently to pull down some of the most valuable remains in the city, the great Roman wall, which for so long a period kept out the Goths and the Vandals who besieged the city. If that is possible in Rome, any indifference to this kind of work in Great Britain is not surprising. There is a fascination about the work of exploring, as we are always expecting to find something which has not been found before, and which may be very useful for historical purposes.

All this part of the world is very interesting, not only Caerwent, but Llanvaches, where we find early Christian evidences, and Newport, where we have a castle of the Middle Ages. I cannot help thinking, when I look at the collection of Roman coins in the Caerwent Museum, that it is not absolutely impossible that one of them may be the very coin which Our Saviour took and asked whose image it bore. For all we know, that very coin may have been in the possession of a Roman soldier stationed in Jerusalem at the time of the Crucifixion, and brought by him to Caerwent.

_Newport Town Hall, on the occasion of a Lecture on "The Excavations at Caerwent," March 24th, 1908._

OLIVER CROMWELL AND NEWPORT.

There are few Newportonians in this hall who do not remember perfectly well the curious little house, with a low 16th century portico, situated at the bottom of Stow Hill. It was regarded with great veneration by antiquarians, but was no doubt looked upon as a great nuisance by the great body of the people. However, that old portico is now treasured at Tredegar House. The house was called "Oliver Cromwell's House."

I think you will agree with me when I say that few people slept in so many bedrooms as King Charles I. or Oliver Cromwell is said to have done. There is a room at Tredegar House called King Charles the First's room, but it was not built until ten years after that Monarch was beheaded.

With regard to the little house called Oliver Cromwell's House, there is some reason to believe that Oliver Cromwell might have occupied it. It was, sometime, occupied by the Parliamentary troops, because I have at this moment an old fire back, which was found in the cellar with the Royal Arms of England and the Crown dated 16-- something knocked off. No doubt this was found in the house by Parliamentarians, who immediately proceeded to knock off the crown. We know that Oliver Cromwell passed that way, because he went to the siege of Pembroke and found great difficulty in taking that town.

I have a copy of a letter Cromwell wrote to Colonel Saunders, one of his leaders, in which, after congratulating him upon his zeal and close attention, he referred to "the malignants--Trevor Williams of Llangibby Castle, and one Sir William Morgan, of Tredegar," and directed him to seize them at once. That shows that Oliver Cromwell knew all about Caerleon, Newport and Tredegar.

_Opening of Tredegar Hall, Newport, March 14th, 1895._

WELSH PEOPLE EVEN IN CARDIFF.

I am glad to find that the Welsh Church movement has been such a success. I was asked on one occasion if there were many Welsh people in Cardiff, and I confessed there were. When further asked if there was a Welsh Church there I had to admit with shame that there was not. From that moment I resolved to back up as much as I could the movement for providing a Church for the Welsh-speaking inhabitants of Cardiff. No one could walk the streets of Cardiff without being impressed with the number of Welsh people one met and heard talking in their own language. Probably a great number of those simply came into the town for the day, but a considerable number must be residents of the town.

I see a great many ladies present, and I would urge them to do what they can, for, in the words of a Church magnate, who was, if not an archbishop or a bishop, certainly an archdeacon--"mendicity is good, but women-dicity is better."

_Laying of the Foundation Stone of a Welsh Church at Cardiff, July 2nd, 1890._

THE SIEGE OF CAERPHILLY CASTLE.

I am impressed by the energy displayed by the agriculturists of the district in sending such satisfactory exhibits. At the same time, you must not fancy yourselves quite too grand at the present day, because, if you read history you will find that during the siege of Caerphilly Castle, some 400 or 500 years ago--when the castle was taken--there were 2,000 oxen, 12,000 cows, 20,000 sheep, 600 horses, 2,000 pigs and 200 tuns of wine inside the Castle walls. Two hundred tuns of wine! That is better than a Temperance Hotel.... If you walk round this show you will not see one single sign of depression. It grows larger every year. Cattle grow better, the horses better, the women grow prettier, and the men grow fatter.

_East Glamorgan Agricultural Show, Caerphilly, September 7th, 1899._

GWERN-Y-CLEPPA.

The foundations of Gwern-y-Cleppa, the palace of Ivor Hael, have been traced around a tree in Cleppa Park. Although it has been termed a palace, I think it more likely to have been something of a manor house, for Ivor was the younger son of a younger son, and therefore not likely to have had very large possessions. Ivor's generous nature has been well depicted by his celebrated bard, Dafydd ap Gwilym.

I have read in a book an account of an incident which tradition alleges took place near the spot on which we are standing. This was a contest between Dafydd and his rival bard, Rhys Meigan. Dafydd's shafts of satire overwhelmed his opponent, who fell dead--the victim of ridicule.

_Cardiff Naturalists' Visit to Gwern-y-Cleppa, May 10th, 1893._

IN PRAISE OF EISTEDDFODAU.

As long ago as the 15th century an ancestor whom I have been reading about lately--Ivor Hael--appears to have been celebrated particularly for his support of the Eisteddfodau of that period and of music in general. Later on, my grandfather and father always did their best to promote the idea of the Eisteddfod, and on several occasions presided at those gatherings. I, personally, consider the Eisteddfod a great institution.

One of the reasons why many of our English friends do not support Eisteddfodau, and are inclined to speak slightingly of them, is because of the religious side which commences with the Gorsedd; but I think if our friends paid a little more attention to it, and attended oftener, they would not be inclined to ridicule the institution.

An Eisteddfod, anywhere, is a very interesting event, but one at Pontypridd seems to be of all others the most interesting. Pontypridd itself is full of reminiscences of old and modern Wales. On that very stone--the Rocking Stone--on the hill where some of us have been to-day, some very earnest bards, no doubt, at different times had their seats, and it does not require a very vivid imagination to picture on that stone one of those unfortunate bards that were left after the Massacre of the Bards of Edward.

Then we have not far away the remains of the old monastery of Pen Rhys, where tradition says rested Ap Tudor, or at all events to whom the monastery was erected. At that very place, that great terror of England and of the Normans--Owen Glendower--who was at that time residing at Llantrisant, was stated to have presided at an Eisteddfod soon after his incursion into Wales. Great bardic addresses were delivered there, and one, written to Sir John Morgan of Tredegar, is now in the archives of Tredegar.

Coming to later times, we have Cadwgan of the Battleaxe, who was supposed to have been sharpening his battleaxe at the time he was going down the Rhondda, so that it must have been pretty sharp by the time he arrived at his destination.

There is at the present moment a wave of music-hall melodies passing over the country, and I think it is one of the duties of the Eisteddfodau to try to counteract the music-hall fancy, now so prevalent. Not many days ago, I was reminded of an incident in which a lady asked a friend whether he was fond of music, and he replied "Yes, if it is not too good." Unfortunately, that is the opinion of about one-half of the civilized world.

The aim of the Eisteddfod is to patronise good music which, combined with high art, has a tendency, as the Latin poet puts it, to soften manners and assuage the natural ruggedness of human nature.

_Eisteddfod, Pontypridd, July 31st, 1893._

Miniature Eisteddfodau, one of which we are celebrating, are most interesting, as being a sort of prelude to the great National Eisteddfod which takes place annually. There is something peculiarly interesting in these essentially Welsh gatherings, because however much we who live on this side of the Rumney may, from legislative causes, be considered English, we never hear of an Eisteddfod taking place on the other side of Offa's Dyke, which in my opinion is the boundary of Wales.