Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales: His country, his times, and his contemporariesHood, Edwin Paxton
History
Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales: His country, his times, and his contemporaries
Hood, Edwin Paxton
Evans, Christmas, 1766-1838
We may be sure he came where corpse-candles glittered, unquenched by
nineteenth-century ideas, along the road; for those travelling times were
much nearer to the days of Twm ór Nant, who, when he kept turnpike, was
constantly troubled by hearses, and mourning coaches, and funeral
processions on foot passing through his gate. Through lonely places and
alder swamps, where nothing would be heard but the murmuring of waters,
and the wind rushing down the gullies,—sometimes falling in with a pious
and sympathetic traveller, a lonely creature, “Sorry to say, Good-bye,
thank you for your conversation; I haven’t heard such a treat of talk for
many a weary day.” Often, passing through scenes where the sweet voice
of village bells mingled with the low rush of the river; and sometimes
where the rocks rolled back the echoes like a pack of dogs sweeping down
the hills. “Hark to the dogs!” exclaimed a companion to Mr. Borrow once.
“This pass is called _Nant yr ieuanc gwn_, the pass of the young dogs;
because, when one shouts, it answers with a noise resembling the crying
of hounds.”
What honour was paid to the name and memory of the earnest-hearted and
intrepid Felix Neff, the pastor of the Higher Alps; but does not the
reader, familiar with the life of that holy man, perceive much
resemblance in the work, the endurance, and the scenery of the toil, to
that of Christmas Evans? May he not be called the pastor of our English
Engadine?
All such lives have their grand compensations; doubtless this man had
his, and _great_ compensations too; perhaps, among the minor ones, we may
mention his ardent reception at the great Association gatherings. At
these his name created great expectations; there he met crowds of
brethren and friends, from the remote parts of the Principality, by whom
he was at once honoured and loved. We may conceive such an occasion; the
“one-eyed man of Anglesea” has now been for many years at the very height
of his popularity; his name is now the greatest in his denomination; this
will be one of his great occasions, and his coming has been expected for
many weeks. No expectation hanging upon the appearance of Jenny Lind, or
Christine Nielson, or Sims Reeves, on some great musical festivity, can
reach, in our imagination, the expectations of these poor, simple
villagers as they think of the delight they will experience in listening
to their wonderful and well-loved prophet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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