Amongst the Logia recently discovered by the explorers of the Egypt
Fund, there is one of which part was already known to have occurred
in the Gospel according to the Hebrews. It runs as follows:--'Let
not him that seeketh cease from his search until he find, and when
he finds he shall wonder: wondering he shall reach the kingdom, and
when he reaches the kingdom he shall have rest.'...We believe that
Butler was one of the first to share in the Renascence of Wonder,
which was the renascence of religion....Men saw once more the
marvel of the universe and the romance of man's destiny. They
became aware of the spiritual world, of the supernatural, of the
lifelong struggle of the soul, of the power of the unseen.
The words quoted by Dr. Nicoll might very appropriately be used as a
motto for _Aylwin_ and also for its sequel _The Coming of
Love: Rhona Boswells Story_.
PREFACE TO THE TWENTY-SECOND EDITION OF 1904
Nothing in regard to Aylwin has given me so much pleasure as the way
in which it has been received both by my Welsh friends and my Romany
friends. I little thought, when I wrote it, that within three years
of its publication the gypsy pictures in it would be discoursed upon
to audiences of 4000 people by a man so well equipped to express an
opinion on such a subject as the eloquent and famous 'Gypsy Smith,'
and described by him as 'the most trustworthy picture of Romany life
in the English language, containing in Sinfi Lovell the truest
representative of the Gypsy girl.'
And as regards my Welsh readers, they have done me the honour of
suggesting that an illustrated edition of the work would be prized by
all lovers of 'Beautiful Wales.'
Although such an edition is, I am told, an expensive undertaking, my
friend and publisher, Mr. Blackett, sees his way, he tells me, to
bringing it out.
Since the first appearance of the book there have been many
interesting discussions by Welsh readers, in various periodicals,
upon the path taken by Sinfi Lovell and Aylwin in their ascent of
Snowdon.
A very picturesque letter appeared in _Notes and Queries_ on May
3rd, 1902, signed _C. C. B._ in answer to a query by E. W.,
which I will give myself the pleasure of quoting because it describes
the writer's ascent of Snowdon (accompanied by a son of my old friend
Harry Owen, late of Pen-y-Gwryd) along a path which was almost the
same as that taken by Aylwin and Sinfi Lovell, when he saw the same
magnificent spectacle that was seen by them:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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