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GRAMMAR
The only poem remaining of James Jenkins of Alverton (printed by Pryce and Davies Gilbert) is a sort of irregular ode, which refuses to be satisfactorily analysed. The lines are all sorts of lengths, they may begin with an accent or they may have one or two light syllables before the first strong beat, the rhymes may be single or double. The principle of the first part seems to be little lines of two beats, varying from three to seven syllables rhyming in couplets. Thus:
| Ma léeaz gwreag | There are many wives |
| Lácka vel zéag, | Worse than grains [i.e.brewers' refuse], |
| Gwéll gerrés (or gwéll gerrés) | Better left |
| Vel kómmeres (or vél komméres), | Than taken, |
| Ha ma léeaz bénnen | And there are many women |
| Pókar an gwénen | Like the bees, |
| Ey vedn gwerraz de go tées | They will help their men |
| Dendle péath an beaz. | To earn the goods of the world. |
| Fléhaz heb skéeanz | Children without knowledge |
| Vedn guíl go'séeanz; | Will do [according to] their sense; |
| Buz mar crówngy predéry | But if they do consider |
| Pan dél go gwáry | What their play is like, |
| Ha mádra tá | And consider well |
| Pandrig'séera ha dámma, | What did father and mother, |
| Na ra hens wrans?] móaz dan cóoz | They will not go to the wood |
| Do kimtle go bóoz.[1] | To gather their food. |
- ↑ The spelling of one of the original MSS. has been preserved here, except that, in order to avoid confusion as to the number of syllables, the final mute e is omitted. In this ee = î, ea = ê, oo = ô.
