WALES. A NATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR THE ENGLISH SPEAKING WREXHAM HUGHES AND SON, 56, HOPE STREET. INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME III. T will be noticed that, in this number, all serials and every series of articles are brought to an end. Some have been running from the first or second number of WALES, many have run through the second and third volume. It was my aim from the beginning to arrange that everything continuous should have FINIS as its last word in the last number of the third volume. I thought that three years would give me enough experience to decide whether my conntrymen in the English parts of Wales wanted my proffered service. And it is very soon found out whether a magazine is required or not, -the truth goes straight to a publisher's or editor's pocket. Some of my friends have already prophesied that my country has given the verdict against me; and are, no doubt, preparing for me those gorgeous eulogiums which embitter an editor's failure, and for which he sighed in vain when struggling on: I do not blame my kind friends; it is a kind of "the whole duty of man" to abstain from kicking one who is still able to walk, and to give him a cheery word as you pass him when he is down. The editing of three volumes of WALES has given me unalioyed pleasure. I have made many friends; I am not aware I have made any enemy. I have been treated by contributors with the greatest kindness and forbearance possible,-they all know that I am a busy man,-because their only object in contributing was to serve Wales, and their modesty prevented them from telling me what in most cases would have been true, that they know how to serve Wales better than I do. I do not know how other editors fare, but I know that the editor of WALES has been treated as a chairman of a meeting, or as the Speaker of the House of Commons is treated, with a respect which determines not to see his faults. My friends tell me that vanity is not quite the most prominent of my feelings, but I am vain enough to believe that I have been the means, entirely through the efforts of those who have so generously helped me, of doing some little good. I have made no princely fortune by the venture, and none of the contributors to WALES have become millionaires within the last three years. But we have all the consciousness that we have, to the extent of our ability, served the best interests of our country. WALES has brought many minds together that are otherwise separated by religion, politics, sentiment, interests, and even by that imaginary division called "racial difference." Its pages have appealed to all; and I have been told by men of very different ways of thinking, who at first sight seem to have nothing in common, that they. were surprised when they realized upon how many points we all agree. WALES has, I believe, brought some to take an interest in Welsh history and in Welsh life generally; it has been of some help to those who were already students of everything relating to our mountains. The reception accorded WALES has been cordial beyond my expectations. It has made me feel that, whatever other work and pleasure are to be sacrificed for its sake, it must continue. And I am not without a feeling of certainty in my own mind the reception that will meet it in 1897 will be heartier than ever. In 1897 the price of WALES will be lowered, and its size somewhat diminished. This is done in deference to a very general desire to bring it within reach of the farmer, the artisan, and the labourer. It will be more fully illustrated; its articles will be shorter, -rarely exceeding two pages, -and the life described will be more modern and of more general interest. The important questions of to-day,-in so far as they are not the exclusive property of political parties or religious sects,-will |