and which, first filtered for her through his own master-mind, he loved to pour into her eager childish ears in forms best suited to her capacity. Many were the happy hours she spent with him, drinking in all that she could grasp of so great a wealth of learning, and turning with reverent fingers the pages of many a tempting volume, for the understanding of whose contents he told her she must needs wait till more than twice seven years had rolled over her head. Within the old monastery walls she likewise heard many an interesting converse between her own beloved old master and a certain cousin of his, of some fame in the valley, one Master Rhys Prichard, vicar of Castell Leon, a man of much learning, and well known for his devotion to his own Welsh tongue, the use of which at this time was in many counties fast dying out, many persons regarding it as a badge of servitude to the English conqueror, and as a barbarous tongue, which were best forgotten, since it tended towards the continued isolation of the Welsh people, and hindered that complete union with their English brethren, which, in their devotion to the Stuarts, their hearts as a nation had for some time earnestly craved. Yet in many villages the love of the old tongue still lived in full force, and among its most staunch defenders was Master Rhys Prichard, who conversed much upon the subject during his visits to his reverend cousin of Cwmfelin, and delighted in the skill and fluency with which Little Miss Primrose could repeat to him those famed Welsh poems, in which, for the sake of his poorer and more unlettered countrymen, he had embodied in popular form the Gospel story, that until such time as a Welsh Bible should be given them, they should not be without some book of holy comfort in their own tongue and within their own homes. Often in passing the boatman's cottage the two clergymen would linger for an hour before the open casement, discoursing upon this and other matters with Jack, whose shrewd wit and well-informed mind made him no mean controversialist, and who, while second to none in his devotion to the English king, yet retained so strong a love for his own country and its ancient tongue and customs, that he was a zealous supporter of Master Prichard, and a warm admirer of his poems; and when at last the Welsh-speaking party were rewarded by the issue in the year 1630 of the order for the use of the Welsh Bible in all the churches, he took to himself much credit for his share in bringing about this much-desired consummation of the efforts of his party, and pointed out with great pride on the following Sunday, to Little Miss Primrose, the two Bibles and Prayer Books, now chained together in friendly relation upon the desks of the little hillside church. As for the child herself, her silvery tongue could prattle as well in the one tongue as in the other, though in the spirit of loyalty, which was very strong within her, she expressed at an early