The Description of Wales | Page 3

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This etext was prepared by David Price from the 1912 J. M. Dent
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The Description of Wales

FIRST PREFACE to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury

I, who, at the expense of three years' labour, arranged, a short time ago,
in three parts, the Topography of Ireland, with a description of its
natural curiosities, and who afterwards, by two years' study, completed
in two parts the Vaticinal History of its Conquest; and who, by
publishing the Itinerary of the Holy Man (Baldwin) through Cambria,
prevented his laborious mission from perishing in obscurity, do now
propose, in the present little work, to give some account of this my

native country, and to describe the genius of its inhabitants, so entirely
distinct from that of other nations. And this production of my industry I
have determined to dedicate to you, illustrious Stephen, archbishop of
Canterbury, as I before ascribed to you my Itinerary; considering you
as a man no less distinguished by your piety, than conspicuous for your
learning; though so humble an offering may possibly be unworthy the
acceptance of a personage who, from his eminence, deserves to be
presented with works of the greatest merit.
Some, indeed, object to this my undertaking, and, apparently from
motives of affection, compare me to a painter, who, rich in colours, and
like another Zeuxis, eminent in his art, is endeavouring with all his skill
and industry to give celebrity to a cottage, or to some other
contemptible object, whilst the world is anxiously expecting from his
hand a temple or a palace. Thus they wonder that I, amidst the many
great and striking subjects which the world presents, should choose to
describe and to adorn, with all the graces of composition, such remote
corners of the earth as Ireland and Wales.
Others again, reproaching me with greater severity, say, that the gifts
which have been bestowed upon me from above, ought not to be
wasted upon these insignificant objects, nor lavished in a vain display
of learning on the commendation of princes, who, from their ignorance
and want of liberality, have neither taste to appreciate, nor hearts to
remunerate literary excellence. And they further add, that every faculty
which emanates from the Deity, ought rather to be applied to the
illustration of celestial objects, and to the exultation of his glory, from
whose abundance all our talents have been received; every faculty (say
they) ought to be employed in praising him from whom, as from a
perennial source, every perfect gift is derived, and from whose bounty
everything which is offered with sincerity obtains an ample reward. But
since excellent histories of other countries have been composed and
published by writers of eminence, I have been induced, by the love I
bear to my country and to posterity, to believe that I should perform
neither an useless nor an unacceptable service, were I to unfold the
hidden merits of my native land; to rescue from obscurity those
glorious actions which have been hitherto imperfectly described, and to
bring into repute, by my method of treating it, a subject till now
regarded as contemptible.

What indeed could my feeble and unexercised efforts add to the
histories of the destruction of Troy, Thebes, or Athens, or to the
conquest of the shores of Latium? Besides, to do what has been already
done, is, in fact, to be doing nothing; I have, therefore, thought it more
eligible to apply my industry to the arrangement of the history of my
native country, hitherto almost wholly overlooked by strangers; but
interesting to my relations and countrymen; and from these small
beginnings to aspire by degrees to works of a nobler cast. From these
inconsiderable attempts, some