the haunt of the king of the efync, baited a huge hook attached to a
cable, flung it into the pool, and when the monster had gorged the snare
drew him out by means of certain gigantic oxen, which he had tamed to the
plough, and burnt his horrid, wet, scaly carcass on a fire. He then
caused enclosures to be made, fields to be ploughed and sown, pleasant
wooden houses to be built, bees to be sheltered and encouraged, and
schools to be erected where song and music were taught. O a truly great
man was Hu Gadarn! though a warrior, he preferred the sickle and pruning
hook to the sword, and the sound of the song and lute to the hoarse blast
of the buffalo's horn:

"The mighty Hu with mead would pay
The bard for his melodious lay;
The Emperor of land and sea
And of all living things was he."

This probably represents Borrow's view of early history, simple, heroical
and clear, as it would have been had he been in command of it. The
article professed to be a review of Borrow's "Sleeping Bard," and was in
fact by Borrow himself. He had achieved the supreme honour of reviewing
his own work, and, as it fell out, he persuaded the public to buy every
copy. Very few were found to buy "Wild Wales," notwithstanding. The
first edition of a thousand copies lasted three years; the second, of
three thousand, lasted twenty-three years. Borrow was ridiculed for
informing his readers that he paid his bill at a Welsh inn, without
mentioning the amount. He was praised for having written "the first
clever book . . . in which an honest attempt is made to do justice to the
Welsh literature," for knowing far more than most educated Welshmen about
that literature, and for describing his travels and encounters "with much
of the freshness, humour and geniality of his earlier days," for writing