guage--admitted by a clever and satirical author to have "the
softness and harmony of the Italian, with the majesty and expression of the
Greek"--than the term _crack_, adopted from the Dutch. There is no Welsh
monosyllable that contains, like the Saxon _strength_, seven consonants
with only one vowel. There is no Welsh proper name, like Rentzsch, the
watchmaker of Regent Street, that contains six consonants in succession in
one syllable; and yet the Welsh have never accused their _younger_ sister
with the use of consonants which "cracked and cracked, and ground and
exploded." But if the Welsh language, with "its variety, copiousness, and
even harmony, to be equalled by few, perhaps excelled by none," has no
instance of six consonants in succession, it has one of six vowels in
succession, _Gwaewawr_, every one of which requires, according to the
peculiarity of its pronunciation, a separate inflection of the voice.

J. M. may be assured that the remark of the writer in question is only one
of those pitiful "cracks" which flippant authors utter in plain ignorance
of Cymru, Cymraeg, and Cymry.

CYMRO.

Marlbro.

I think the following _englyn_ or epigram on a silkworm, which is composed
entirely of vowels, will satisfy your correspondent. I have seen it in some
book, the name of which I forget. It {473} must be borne in mind that _w_
is a vowel in Welsh, and is sounded like _oo_ in _boot_.

"O'i wiw [^w]y i weu e a a'i weau
O'i wyau e weua;
E' weua ei [^w]e aia'.
A'i weau yw ieuau ia."

"I perish by my art; dig my own grave;
I spin my thread of life; my death I weave."

THOMAS O'COFFEY.

[Footnote 3: The _Dou_ to be pronounced as in _Douglass_.]

* * * * *

SONGS of DEGREES (ASCENTS).

(Vol. ix., pp. 121. 376.)

The analysis of the word [Hebrew: HAMA`ALWOT] (_the steps_), confining
ourselves to sensible objects, shows, first, the preposition [Hebrew: `AL],
_over_ (=_up_ + _on_); and, secondly, [Hebrew: MA`ALAH], the
_chamber-over_. (Neh. ix. 4., xii. 37.; Jos. x. 10.; 1 Sam. ix. 11.; Am.
ix. 6.; Ps. civ. 13.) The translators of the authorised version, in using
the word "degrees," intended probably to convey the notion of _rank_; but
the modern mixed-mathematical ideas lead us of this day rather to think of
geographical, barometrical, &c. degrees. That _steps_ is the word most
accordant with the ancient notions is evident from the concurrence of the
Greek, Latin, Syri