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 ex-
tent than it is at present, and comprehended all the country
beyond the Severn, that is, besides the 12 counties included
in it at present, those of Herefordshire and Monmouthshire,
which now are reckoned a part of England, were then in-
habited by three different tribes of the Britons, namely, the
Silures, the Dimetie, 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 a-
mong his three sons; and the names of these divisions were,
Demetia, or South-Wales; Powys, or Powis-Land; and Ve-
nedotia, or North-Wales. Another division is mentioned a-
fterwards 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 Sax-
ons, who by those terms denote a country and people to
which they are strangers; for the Welsh, in their own lan-
guage, call their country Cymry, and their language Cym-
raeg. 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 Llewellyn 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.
As to the character of the Welsh, they are said to be
a brave, hospitable people; and though very jealous of af-
fronts, 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 lan-
guage, which is the ancient British; and not only differs en-
tirely from the English, but has very little affinity with any
of the western tongues, unless we should accept the Gaelic,
Erse, or Irish. It is said to be a dialect of the ancient Cel-
tic, 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 Welsh as in English, excepting in the
towns, where the latter is the prevailing language. The
inhabitants are computed at about 300,000.
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 a-
bundance.
Wales is bounded on all sides by the sea and the Se-
vern; except on the east, where it joins to the counties
of Chester, Salop, Hereford, and Monmouth. Its length,
from the southernmost part of Glamorganhire to the ex-
tremity of Flintshire north, is computed at about 113 miles;
and its greatest breadth, from the river Way east to St Da-
vid'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 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 o-
ther subsequent statutes their provincial immunities were
still further abridged: but the finishing stroke to their de-
pendency 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 insensibly put upon the same
footing, and made fellow-citizens, with their conquerors.
It is enacted by the 27 Hen. VIII. 1. That the domi-
nion 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 regula-
tions of the police of this principality. And the 34 and
35 Hen. VIII. c. 26. confirms the same, adds further regu-
lations, divides it into twelve shires, and, in short, reduces
it into the same order in which it stands at this day; differ-
ing from the kingdom of England in only a few particulars,
and those too of the nature of privileges (such as having
courts within itself, independent of the process of West-
minster.
minster-hall), and some other immaterial peculiarities, hardly more than are to be found in many counties of England itself.
New WALLS. See New BRITAIN.
New South-WALES. See New HOLLAND.
Prince of WALES. See ROYAL Family.