The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-25 00:00:00

THIS EVENING,

Will be produced Lord Byron's gorgeous Spectacle of MAZEPPA
Pnd the WILD HORSE. Mazeppa, Mr. N. T. Hicks.
In consequence of the immense success of the Equestrian Ladies'
Fete, it will be repeated, the Scenes of the Circle being performed
and conducted exclusively by the highly talented Female Artists of
the Establishment. •

To conclude with Fitzball's popular Melodrama, entitled WAE,
DOCK RENNELSON.
Box-office open from Eleven till Four.
Stage Manager, Mr. W. West.

BIGII WATER Al LONDON BRIDGE.

Tao Day —Morning 0 min. after 4 I Evening 16 min. after 4
To-Molsow— Morning 33 min. after 4 I Evening 53 ann. after 4

THE WEATHER.—Star OFFICE, SEPTEMBER 25,
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
63—highest since noon yesterday.
48—lowest this morning and during the night.
6l—this day, at noon.

BAROMETER, 29.83.
WLND S.W.—Morning, dense fog ; Afternoon, fine.

144.
C txmina
• -
LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1850

An ancient festival is now being celebrated midway
between tae town of Rhyl and the city of St. Asaph,
at the ruins of the castle of Rhuddlan. In an age of
innovation like the present, when regard is princi-
pally restricted to the most modern institutions, and
to the most recently contrived ceremonials, it becomes
peculiarly interesting to observe the continuance of
old customs, or the revival of antique festivities—and
this not so much as a subject interesting to antique-
rief, as one important to all who are anxious to wit-
ness the maintenance of the spirit of nationality.
Nowhere is this preservative prinCiple more requisite
than in the country of the ancient Britons, where
it is rendered just now especially necessary as a
means of counteracting the influence of those edu-
cational improvements which must before long be in-
troduced among the Welch multitude, and which,
unlees thus counteracted, must tend in a great mea-
sure to obliterate the national character. At any
time, therefore, the public could scarcely fail to re-
mark with interest the celebration of this ancient fes
tiv&, the festival of the Congress of Bards, otherwise
called the Royal Eisteddvod, but more particularly,
must that popular interest in its performance be en-
hanced at a time like thi', so singularly calculated to
diffuse its most beneficial influences. It will conse-
quently be with no inconsiderable curiosity or satis•
faction that the generality of lettered readers wilt
scrutinize the reports published of the proceedings
constituting the curreet feast of the Eisteddvod, and
dietinguiehing it from its scarcely numerable prede-
cessors. Contrasted with those predecessors, the pre
sent celebration may lack much of the ancient splen-
dour of the Eisteddvod, either NN hen held in the pre-
sence of the Prince of Powie at Mathraval, of the
Prince of South Wales at Dinevawr, or of the Prince
of North Wales at Aberffraw. In all other respects,
however, the Eisteddvod of 1850 may dispute the
palm with all competitors, from the year
1100, the year of its first celebration, when the Prince
G BUFFUDD invited across St. George'e Channel the
most illustrious of the bards of Ireland to aid him in
compiling a code of laws for the better conduct of
the C imbrien musicians. Under the presidency of
Lord 1105TTS, in the reign of Queen Vicroare, and
under the especial patronage of his Royal Highness
ALBERT, the youthful Prince of Wales, the Rhuddlan
Royal Eisteddvod assumes to itself, in 1850, a dis-
tinction in no degree inferior to that enjoyed on any
prior occasion of its celebration.
At:ting under the inspiration :of the bard alaze
(Paer.T), who twenty years ago ventured, in
spite of enormous opposition, to combine the
witcheries of modern an 1 ancient music in
the performance cf tbie great national ceremony,
the persons eetrutted with the direction and manage.
merit of the present year's Eisteddvod, headed by the
organist at the cathedral of St. Asaph, have
resolved to carry out the scheme of the f,.s-
tivities in this artistic particular on a scale
of unusual magnitude and of unprecedented
excellence. Learning this intention, the general ex-
pectations of the attendants of the Eisteddvod must
perforce have been materially increased ; yet
notiso much so, we are satisfied) [(from the
ability of those deputed to preside over
the proceedings), as to lead to anything like disap
pointinent. Whatever may he thought of the su
perior attractions of the modern and more cultivates
system of music, as it will be represented on this oc

casion, we are persuaded, from the very nature of
that occasion, that is blandishments will fail to
eclipse the interest surrounding that contest of the
bards which will yield oral examples of the ancient
theories of harmony and instrumentation. Of the
nature of this amicable and artistic contest, where
various c mnpetitors vie with each other
for the dignity of supreme head or chief-
tain of the order, it is scarcely possible
to speak in terms of exaggerated commendation, cal-
culated as it is to advance the most elevating and
most humanising of the fine arts both i❑ regard to
its own intrinsic improvement and also, and in a pe-
culiar manner, in the national estimation. Umpires
having been selected wall skilled and accomplished
in poetry, mutic, heraldry, and the Welch language,
themes were propounded to the different bards for
competition, the subjects ranging lariously in any of
the twenty-four metres, though always excluding per-
sonalities, erotic fancies, and satirical allusions.
By this judicious arrangement everything provocative
of irritation was scrupulously avoided, and the bards
were restricted in their flights of imagination and
effusions of melody to the atmosphere cf high art, a
region conducive only to the noblest ends conceiv-

able. Whether or not the present Congress of the
133rtls, commencing ye.itcrday, will he productive of

any outpourings of genius, or be merely the tedious
contention of ambitious inAiocritieg, it would be idle,

ii not invidious, to conjecture. But this, at least, may

be at once and safely predicated of the

Rhuddlan

Roya! Rsteddvod that its effect

upon the intelli;e:l portion of the Welch population
cannot fail to be LeneEcial, inciting the popular

spirit of the country to new and nobler exertions,

sustaining the !ove of nwionality where yet remem-
bered, and reviving it where nearly forgotten and
extinguished.

Whatever miy ba nought of th I preservation of
these ancient ceremonies by those who laugh them to

scorn as idle relics of sr' tiquity, it cannot be denied that,

if useless in all other respf ct-, they are in the highest
degree commendable and cdvantageous, inasmuch as
they directly tend to conserve the venerable sentiment

of nationality. In this particular the Royal Eis-
teddvod must not in any way be confounded

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