eldest understand a few words,’ said the woman, ’but my husband does not wish them to learn it; he says sometimes, jocularly, that though it pleased him to marry a Welsh wife, it does not please him to have Welsh children.  Who, I have heard him say, would be a Welshman, if he could be an Englishman?’ ‘I for one,’ said the preacher, somewhat hastily; ’not to be king of all England would I give up my birthright as a Welshman.  Your husband is an excellent person, Mary, but I am afraid he is somewhat prejudiced.’  ’You do him justice, Peter, in saying that he is an excellent person,’ sail the woman; ’as to being prejudiced, I scarcely know what to say, but he thinks that two languages in the same kingdom are almost as bad as two kings.’  ‘That’s no bad observation,’ said the preacher, ’and it is generally the case; yet, thank God, the Welsh and English go on very well, side by side, and I hope will do so till the Almighty calls all men to their long account.’  ’They jog on very well now,’ said the woman; ’but I have heard my husband say that it was not always so, and that the Welsh, in old times, were a violent and ferocious people, for that once they hanged the mayor of Chester.’  ‘Ha, ha!’ said the preacher, and his eyes flashed in the moonlight; ’he told you that, did he?’ ‘Yes,’ said Mary; ’once, when the mayor of Chester, with some of his people, was present at one of the fairs over the border, a quarrel arose between the Welsh and the English, and the Welsh beat the English, and hanged the mayor.’  ‘Your husband is a clever man,’ said Peter, ’and knows a great deal; did he tell you the name of the leader of the Welsh?  No! then I will:  the leader of the Welsh on that occasion was —–.  He was a powerful chieftain, and there was an old feud between him and the men of Chester.  Afterwards, when two hundred of the men of Chester invaded his country to take revenge for their mayor, he enticed them into a tower, set fire to it, and burnt them all.  That—­was a very fine, noble—­God forgive me, what was I about to say—­a very bad, violent man; but, Mary, this is very carnal and unprofitable conversation, and in holding it we set a very bad example to the young man here—­let us change the subject.’

They then began to talk on religious matters.  At length Mary departed to her abode, and the preacher and his wife retired to their tilted cart.

‘Poor fellow, he seems to be almost brutally ignorant,’ said Peter, addressing his wife in their native language, after they had bidden me farewell for the night.

‘I am afraid he is,’ said Winifred, ’yet my heart warms to the poor lad, he seems so forlorn.’

CHAPTER LXXIII

Morning hymn—­Much alone—­John Bunyan—­Beholden to nobody—­Sixty-five—­Sober greeting—­Early Sabbaths—­Finny brood—­The porch—­No fortune-telling—­The master’s niece—­Doing good—­Two or three things—­Groans and voices—­Pechod Ysprydd Glan.