ve account to give an idea of the wonderful
tenacity of this aged student, who counts his slates into the ships by
day, and devotes his evenings to the perfecting of his astronomical
instruments. But not only is he an astronomer and a philologist; he is
also a bard, and his poetry is much admired in the district. He writes
in Welsh, not in English, and signs himself "Ioan, of Bryngwyn Bach,"
the place where he was born. Indeed, he is still at a loss for words
when he speaks in English. He usually interlards his conversation with
passages in Welsh, which is his mother-tongue. A friend has, however,
done me the favour to translate two of John Jones's poems into English.
The first is 'The Telescope':--

"To Heaven it points, where rules the Sun
In golden gall'ries bright;
And the pale Moon in silver rays
Makes dalliance in the night.

"It sweeps with eagle glances
The sky, its myriad throng,
That myriad throng to marshal
And bring to us their song.

"Orb upon orb it follows
As oft they intertwine,
And worlds in vast processions
As if in battle line.

"It loves all things created,
To follow and to trace;
And never fears to penetrate
The dark abyss of space."

The next is to 'The Comet':--

"A maiden fair, with light of stars bedecked,
Starts out of space at Jove's command;
With visage wild, and long dishevelled hair,
Speeds she along her starry course;
The hosts of heaven regards she not,--
Fain would she scorn them all except her father Sol,
Whose mighty influence her headlong course doth all control."

The following translation may also be given: it shows that the bard is
not without a spice of wit. A fellow-workman teased him to write some
lines; when John Jones, in a seemingly innocent manner, put some
questions, and ascertained that he had once been a tailor. Accordingly
this epigram was written, and appeared in the local paper the week
after: "To a quondam Tailor, now a Slate-teller":--

"To thread and needle now good-bye,
With slates I aim at riches;
The scissors will I ne'er more ply,
Nor make, but order, breeches."[12]

The bi-lingual speech is the great educational difficulty of Wales. To
get an entrance into literature and science requires a knowledge of
English; or, if not of English, then of French or German. But the
Welsh language stands in the way. Few literary or scientific works are
translated into Welsh. Hence the gr