Need I name the nobleman who, with his lady, are considered the Guardian Angels of North Wales; the parents of the fatherless and destitute; foremost in every proposal for improvement, mental as well as physical, and doing all the good they can in the most simple and touching manner.

I have witnessed many demonstrations of public favour, but none to compare with that which awaited Sir Watkin and Lady Wynn on their arrival at the outskirts of Wrexham on Thursday last, and on their subsequent appearance before the largest gathering of the week; the whole assembly rising and greeting the favourites of the people.

This old patriarchal feeling of kinship and custom of mixing and associating with the middle and working classes is carried to its fullest extent in Wales, and applies to the members of Parliament, for the town, the borough, and the county, as well as to the Mayor and residents and all concerned in the Eisteddfod.

To revert once more to the performance, there was no repression of justly-earned applause; and, though the scenic effects and the most elaborate theatrical combinations, such as we witnessed at Bayreuth, shone by their absence, I confess that the execution of "The SnowCapped Towers"; the Chorus, "Ye Nations," from "Elijah"; the Hallelujah Chorus, from Beethoven's "Mount of Olives"; the final Chorus, from Haydn's "Creation"; Gounod's "Ave Verum"; and some complicated madrigals of English authors, gave me and my colleagues the most favourable and gratifying impressions; for the choruses were executed with an amount of strength, decision, and delicacy, which left very little to be desired by the most exacting critic.

Add to this that hundreds, nay, thousands, came from the most remote parts of South Wales, Cumberland, and more distant counties to contend for the honour, and that though, of course, many were disappointed in not obtaining prizes, there was no demonstration of antagonism exhibited between the seven hundred competitors; and, speaking from a musical point of view, I believe that, after the highly satisfactory result of this week's doings, the future success of the Eisteddfod is secured for many years to come.

The only suggestions I have to make are, that less should be undertaken in one day, so that the most important objects of the meeting may not suffer. The hours should, I think, be limited to from ten to one in the day, and from six to nine in the evening, and thereby secure the comfort of both the audience and the performers. It seems desirable also, that when once the adjudicators have been chosen, the conductors should advise with them as to the selection of the pieces to be performed.

May I request you to be the interpreter of my feelings of gratitude

for the kind reception accorded to me on all occasions, by the performers and by the public at large.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

2, Manchester Square, 28th August, 1876.

JULIUS BENEDICT.

THE prize offered at Wrexham for the best Englyn on "Y Wenol" (The Swallow), was carried away from a host of competitors by Cymro Coch. The last two lines of his effusion are very beautiful :—

Y lwysgain Wenol wisgi-edy 'n gwlad

Yn glir o flaen oerni;
Ond daw 'n ol i'n sirioli,

A daw a haf gyda hi.

THE best "Complimentary Epigram on a Welsh Woman's Hat", at the same Eisteddfod, was that of Mrs. J. R. Hughes, of Denbigh. It will be admired for its neatness. It is its last epithet that gives it its 'crowning' excellence :

Let other maids their heads enfold

In tresses dark or coils of gold;

Fair Cambrian maids, believe me that
Your crowning beauty is your hat.

THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF WALES.

WITH the insertion of the following article, the Council of the Cymmrodorion desire it to be clearly understood that Y Cymmrodor will not become the advocate of any institution, or the organ of any tenets, whether religious or political, which shall savour of party. Their motto, in the conduct of their "Transactions", will be " Cymru, Cymro, a Chymraeg". The different institutions, whether collegiate or otherwise, are therefore invited to report their transactions to the Editor, who is to see that they are chronicled according to their usefulness and importance.

One of the noblest achievements of modern times in connection with the Principality has been the University College of Wales. Its dawnings may be traced to a pamphlet, written some twenty years ago, by Mr. B. T. Williams, Q.C. Very soon afterwards, others took up the question; and now that the institution has made important advancements towards success, many are vieing for the honour of being its promoters. When the Homeric poems had become famous, many a city of Greece contended for the distinction of having given birth to the poet; and now that the University College of Wales has been furnished with a staff of learned and active professors superintending a body of about a hundred young men, in a palatial residence-every penny for which has been paid-claims to the honour of having been its founder are started up on every side. But, as in the old fable of "The Cat and the Bell", the question is not who devised or planned the movement-that required no acumen; the wants of the

Principality were patent-but how and by whom has the work been brought to a successful issue.

The first impulse given to the work was a sum of £1,000 bequeathed to it by the late William Williams, M.P. With that noble gift for a basis of operations, the task was undertaken by Dr. Thomas Nicholas, and carried on by him for some years with a fair amount of success. He collected money and obtained promises amounting to several thousand pounds. But when, at length, no approach was made towards the accomplishment of the undertaking, the people of Wales became weary, the money flowed in .but slowly and scantily, and the Committee felt they were in a dilemma. At this juncture, Dr. Thomas Nicholas retired, and his place was filled by the Rev. David Charles of Abercarn. He, too, laboured assiduously, but with little effect. The soil which Dr. Nicholas had ploughed seemed to have become effete. It scarcely furnished more money than was needed to pay the expenses of collection. After about four years' service, he also retired.

Disheartened by years of failure, some of the Committee began to doubt the possibility of carrying out the project. One or two even desired, on account of what they termed the pressure of private business, to have their names expunged from its directory. The prophets of non-success grew vaunting, and the opponents of the movement were beginning to exult in what they deemed a triumph, when one came forth to the rescue who, say other claimants what they will, was the pilot that steered the vessel through storm and breaker, shoal and rock, safe into harbour.

Mr. Hugh Owen had retired from his important post in the Local Government Office. Active as ever in mind and spirit, and anxious that the project for which he had already wrought so much should not end in failure, he undertook the gigantic task of completing what had been auspiciously

begun, but which had halted by the way and come to a dead lock. He travelled from place to place, induced local bodies to take up the question, organised committees, spoke at public meetings, made collections, and engaged in a correspondence that was interminable. All this was done without cost to the rising institution. And when, in October last, a general collection was made throughout the different places of worship, and a sum of near £3,300 flowed into the exchequer, it was without the mulct of any expenses. The institution, the body that was defunct or nearly so, was re-organised, clothed with thew and sinew, impregnated with life—not galvanised into the appearance of it-and endued with vigour and strength. It would be worse than affectation—it would be sheer ingratitude-were the success and completion of the work not ascribed to Mr. Hugh Owen. But it would be ungrateful also to forget the noble aid he received from such liberal donors to the College as Mr. Davies of Llandinam, the Messrs. Davies of Cardiff and Aberdare, Messrs. Parnall, who brought their thousands of pounds to bear on the undertaking. Several donors of five hundred pounds also came forward. Nor should we forget how nobly Manchester came to the rescue. It was this town that first resuscitated the hopes of the Committee, and even yet lends a most material aid.

Mr. Hugh Owen has been strenuously supported in his efforts by a hard-working and efficient Council. The constant attendance of such men as Mr. Stephen Evans of London, Canon Griffith of Neath, Professor McKenny Hughes of Cambridge, Mr. Humphreys of Garthmil, Mr. J. F. Roberts of Manchester, Captain Verney of Khianfa, and others, has had its due weight in the establishment of the institution.

The edifice, to which we have alluded a page or two back, is of a highly collegiate character. Had it been built for the purpose, it could scarcely have been more fitted for the uses to which it is devoted. Upwards of £80,000, it is said, were ex