WALES, a county situated in the south-west part of Britain, into which the ancient Britons retired from the persecution of the Saxons. Anciently it was of greater extent than it is at present, and comprehended all.
all the country beyond the Severn, that is, besides the twelve counties included in it at present, those of Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, which now are reckoned a part of England, were then inhabited by three different tribes of the Britons, namely, the Silures, the Dimetæ, and the Ordovices. The Romans were never able to subdue them, till the reign of Vespasian, when they were reduced by Julius Frontinus, who placed garrisons in their country to keep them in awe. Though the Saxons made themselves masters of all England, they never could get possession of Wales, except the counties of Monmouthshire and Herefordshire, formerly a part of Wales. About the year 870, Roderic king of Wales divided it among his three sons; and the names of these divisions were, Demetia, or South-Wales; Powys, or Powis-Land; and Venedotia, or North-Wales. Another division is mentioned afterwards in the records, viz. North Wales, South Wales, and West Wales; the last comprehending the counties of Monmouth and Hereford. The country derived the name of Wales, and the inhabitants that of Welsh, from the Saxons, who by those terms denote a country and people to which they are strangers; for the Welsh, in their own language, call their country Cymry, and their language Cymraeg. They continued under their own princes and laws from the above-mentioned period, and were never entirely subjected to the crown of England till the reign of Edward I. when Llewelin ap Gryffith, prince of Wales, lost both his life and dominions. Edward, the better to secure his conquest, and to reconcile the Welsh to a foreign yoke, sent his queen to lie-in at Caernarvon, where she was delivered of a prince; to whom the Welsh, on that account, the more readily submitted. Ever since that time the eldest sons of the kings of England have commonly been created princes of Wales, and as such enjoy certain revenues from that country. But though Wales, from that time, was subject to the crown of England, yet it was not united and incorporated with it till the 27th of Henry VIII. when, by act of parliament, the government of it was modelled according to the English form; all laws, customs, and tenures contrary to those of England being abrogated, and the inhabitants admitted to a participation of all the English liberties and privileges, particularly that of sending members to parliament, viz. a knight for every shire, and a burgess for every shire-town, except Merioneth. By other acts made afterwards, the country was divided into four circuits, and two justices were appointed for each, containing three counties; but at present there are only two circuits and four judges, two for each. In fine, the government here, both civil and ecclesiastical, is now the same as that of England.
As to the character of the Welsh, they are said to be a brave, hospitable people; and though very jealous of affronts, passionate, and hasty, yet are easily reconciled. The common people look with a suspicious eye on strangers, and bear an hereditary grudge to the English nation, by whom their ancestors were expelled from the finest parts of the island. The gentlemen are apt to value themselves upon the antiquity of their families; and with some reason, as they can generally trace them much higher than the inhabitants of most other countries.
All the better sort, both in town and country, can speak English, especially in the counties bordering upon England. The common people, in general, only speak their own language, which is the ancient British; and not only differs entirely from the English, but has very little affinity with any of the western tongues, unless we should except the Galic, Eric, or Irish. It is said to be a dialect of the ancient Celtic or Gomerian, and in many respects to resemble the Hebrew. Most of the clergy are natives of the country, and understand English so well, that they could exercise their functions in any part of Britain. The public worship, however, is as often performed in the Welsh as in English, excepting in the towns, where the latter is the prevailing language; nay, there, even most of the meaner sort understand it. The inhabitants, who are computed at about 300,000, are not, in general, wealthy, though the land-tax of Wales brings in 437521.
The country, though mountainous, especially in North Wales, is far from being barren or unfruitful; the hills, besides the metals and minerals they contain, feeding vast herds of small black cattle, deer, sheep, and goats, and their valleys abounding in corn, as their seas and rivers do in fish. Here are also wood, coal, and turf for fuel, in abundance.
Wales is bounded on all sides by the sea and the Severn; except on the east, where it joins to the counties of Chester, Salop, Hereford, and Monmouth. Its length, from the southernmost part of Glamorganshire to the extremity of Flintshire north, is computed at about 113 miles; and its greatest breadth, from the river Way east to St David's in Pembrokeshire west, is nearly of the same dimensions, being about 90 miles.
After the conquest of Wales by Edward I. very material alterations were made in divers parts of their laws, so as to reduce them nearer to the English standard, especially in the forms of their judicial proceedings; but they still retained very much of their original polity, particularly their rule of inheritance, viz. that their lands were divided equally among all the issue male, and did not descend to the eldest son alone. By other subsequent statutes their provincial immunities were still further abridged: but the finishing stroke to their dependency was given by the statute 27 Hen. VIII. c. 26. which at the same time gave the utmost advancement to their civil prosperity, by admitting them to a thorough communication of laws with the subjects of England. Thus were this brave people gradually conquered into the enjoyment of true liberty; being infinitely put upon the same footing, and made fellow-citizens with, their conquerors.
It is enacted by this statute, 27 Hen. VIII. 1. That the dominion of Wales shall be for ever united to the kingdom of England. 2. That all Welshmen born shall have the same liberties as other king's subjects. 3. That lands in Wales shall be inheritable according to the English tenures and rules of descent. 4. That the laws of England, and no other, shall be used in Wales: besides many other regulations of the police of this principality. And the statute 34 & 35 Hen. VIII. c. 26. confirms the same, adds farther regulations, divides it into twelve shires, and, in short, reduces it into the same order in which it stands at this day; differing from the kingdom of England in only a few particulars, and those too of the nature of pri-
privileges, (such as having courts within itself, independent of the process of Westminster-hall), and some other immaterial peculiarities, hardly more than are to be found in many counties of England itself.
When the polity of Wales was settled in the reign of Hen. VIII. private courts of a limited, though extensive, jurisdiction were erected all over the country; principally by the statute 34 & 35 Hen. VIII. c. 26. though much had before been done, and the way prepared by the statute of Wales, 12 Edw. I. and other statutes. By the statute of Henry the Eighth before-mentioned, courts-baron, hundred, and county courts, are there established as in England. A session is also to be held twice in every year in each county, by judges appointed by the king, to be called the great sessions of the several counties in Wales: in which all pleas of real and personal actions shall be held, with the same form of process and in as ample a manner as in the court of common pleas at Westminster: and writs of error shall lie from judgments therein (it being a court of record) to the court of king's-bench at Westminster. But the ordinary original writs or process of the king's court at Westminster do not run into the principality of Wales; though process of execution does: as do also all prerogative writs, as writs of certiorari, quo minus, mandamus, and the like. And even in causes between subject and subject, to prevent injustice through family-factions and prejudices, it is held lawful (in causes of freehold at least, if not in all others) to bring an action in the English courts, and try the same in the next English county adjoining to that part of Wales where the cause arises. But, on the other hand, to prevent trifling and frivolous suits, it is enacted by statute 13 Geo. III. c. 51. that in personal actions, tried in any English county where the cause of action arose, and the defendant resides in Wales, if the plaintiff shall not recover a verdict for ten pounds, he shall be nonsuited and pay the defendant's costs, unless it be certified by the judge that the freehold or title came principally in question, or that the cause was proper to be tried in such English county. And if any transitory action, the cause whereof arose and the defendant is resident in Wales, shall be brought in any English county, and the plaintiff shall not recover a verdict for ten pounds, the plaintiff shall be nonsuited, and shall pay the defendant's costs, deducting thereout the sum recovered by the verdict.