This chapter is about the religious fervour that overtook Wales in the 18th Century.

Visitors to modern Wales, if they are lucky enough to get in on a "singing night" at a local pub, are usually thrilled by the quality of the singing and the extraordinary harmony of the singers. The songs are usually the standards for large choirs, classical and semi-classical or hymns. As Wales still regards itself as a Celtic nation, one would expect to find the kind of music played and enjoyed in Ireland, Scotland or Brittany; certainly it may come as a shock to one not accustomed to the repertoire of Welsh Male Voice choirs to hear a whole room full of people burst into the chorus of the hymn "Cwm Rhondda" (Guide Me, Oh, thou Great Jehovah) without missing a beat.

The Welsh have a long, long tradition of singing in harmony.

These , Welsh Choirs are still present if hard to find at times. During the last twenty-five years, they have been undergoing something of a revival as the youth of Wales discovers its heritage. However, they have not yet fully emerged from what some people have seen as a great shadow cast over Wales for the past three centuries, and for what others have seen as a great awakening -- the Methodist Movement. Whatever it did bring to Wales, and there were certainly incalculable benefits, it also managed to stifle in many ways its native musical and artistic talents by transferring so much of its energy to other, more pious causes.

The 18th century in Wales can be called the century of Methodism, for the lives of its people were altered immeasurably, for better or for worse, by the coming of the Spirit. Historians generally agree that it was as if a different Wales came to be invented out of the turmoil brought on by the benign neglect of the English Parliament, the Royal family, and the Welsh landed gentry. Wales needed new and effective leadership if it were to remain in any sense a nation, and this was provided, not by those in government at Westminster, nor by its great families, mostly gone over to the English cause, but by the soldiers of the Methodist Church

When the great Methodist preachers burst upon the Welsh scene, they found the ground had been well prepared. We have already seen the work of the results of the Propagation Act and of the pioneer Puritan labourers. Their work had been made relatively easy by the dismal state of the regular clergy in Wales. One problem for the Church had been that the Parish priests no longer could receive the lucrative tithes, which had been awarded to the local gentry. The result was a dismal compensation for the clergy, few of who had been to the university and very few of who knew the language of their parishioners.

From 1713, not a single Welsh speaker was appointed to a Welsh bishopric for over 150 years. Appointments in Wales were seen as mere stepping stones for more lucrative positions east of Offa's Dyke: they were mostly filled by non-residents. The Established Church in Wales had neither the financial resources nor the willingness to reform itself, thus the way was open for the ministers of the new faith.

Before the Nonconformist movement could develop fully, however, and especially that part dominated by the Methodists, there had to be a groundwork laid in the field of general education among the masses, mostly ignorant and all too often ignored by those in authority. Hand in hand with the religious reformers, then, there was a burst of activity in more secular matters, such as teaching the people to read and write.

The new preaching zeal, with its emphasis on individual salvation, and especially by its emphasis on "the word," brought home the need for literacy and education and thus the demand for more printed works. The number of books printed in Welsh increased rapidly in the fifty years after the restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. As so often in Welsh history, the impetus came from outside -- in 1674, a charitable organization, the Welsh Trust, was set up in London by Thomas Gouge to establish English schools in Wales and to publish books in Welsh.

There were impressive results: over 500 books came off the printing presses in Wales in 1718 and 1721 at Trefhedyn and Carmarthen respectively. Many of these were translations of popular English works, mainly Protestant tracts that encouraged private worship and prayers. But along with the six major editions of the Bible that appeared during the same period, the books had the unpredicted effect of ensuring the survival of the language in an age where more than one scholar was predicting its rapid demise.

Consequently, Jones persuaded the Society to donate Welsh Bibles from which he could teach people to read. As there were not enough qualified teachers in each parish to maintain a school, itinerant ministers were employed, and by this method, schools were conducted in almost every parish in Wales. Evening classes were set up for the labourers and farm workers and those who worked in the trades, and the "circulating schools" as they were called, have been regarded as one of the few great success stories in the long history of Wales.

Eighteenth century Wales was thus made one of the most literate countries in Europe, with much of its population acquainted with the literary language of the Bible. Jones provided details each year of the number of pupils attending the circulating schools that showed almost half the total population of Wales was affected: once again the Welsh had found a way to hold on to their language.

Though not intended by Jones (the rector of Llanddowror Parish and therefore not a Nonconformist minister) his writings created a substantial Welsh reading public. The were primed and ready to receive the appeal of the Methodists, whose ability in such preachers as Hywel Harris was matched by their eloquence in the pulpit, and who obviously filled a great need among the masses.

Hywel Harris shared the leadership of the Methodist Revival in Wales with Daniel Rowland, who had converted in 1737 after hearing a sermon by Griffith Jones. His sermons held at the chapel at Llangeitho that made him famous were published in two volumes along with a number of other works in Welsh. Rowland's enthusiasm, along with that of his colleagues attracted thousands of converts. Though their initial intention was to work within the Established Church, opposition from their Bishops, all of who had little real interest in Wales and knew practically nothing of its language and culture, led finally to the schism of 1811 when an independent union was founded. This was the Calvinistic Methodist Church that is today known as the Presbyterian Church of Wales.

Some members of the landed gentry clung to the established anglicized Church; just about everyone else joined the new religion. The new movement provided the excitement and fervour that the established church had been lacking for so long. It certainly did much to pave the way for the rapid growth of the other non-conformist sects such as the Baptists and Independents. In addition, Methodism was responsible for producing two names that are outstanding in the cultural history of Wales are William Williams and Ann Griffiths

Much has been written about William Williams (1717-91), the greatest of all the Welsh literary Methodists. Williams was converted after hearing a sermon preached by Hywel Harris at Talgarth. He adopted the name Pantycelyn (the name of his family farm in Carmarthenshire) as his bardic title. Refused priest's orders for his radicalism, even though he had been ordained as a curate, Williams became a preacher and organizer of Methodist societies, but he is best remembered as a the most important hymn writer that Wales has ever produced. In ten years, he produced a collection of over 130 hymns, the great classical body of Welsh hymnody, "Caniadau y rhai sydd ar y Mor o Wydr" (Songs of those that are on the sea of Glass).

Williams' best-known hymn has remained a standard, sung throughout Wales (even at rugby football games): Cwm Rhondda, sung to the words "Guide me, oh, thou great Jehovah." He was particularly fond of using the quality known as "the hiraeth" -- a word that describes a nostalgic longing for home and things long-missed that is said to be an essential part of the Welshman's character. Williams also wrote numerous prose works, rebuking the Welsh people for their sinful state and providing spiritual guidance for those who wished to mend their ways by converting to Methodism.

Ann is regarded as the most important female writer in the history of Welsh literature before the 20th century. Though she died giving birth to a child before her 30th birthday, she left behind a collection of letters, poems and hymns that vividly reflect not only her own religious awakening, but also indicate the great emotion experienced by the Movement in general. It is generally recognized that the hymns she produced on her spiritual pilgrimage makes her one of the great poets of her native Wales, but also of Europe.

Ann had little formal schooling, but she was lucky enough to be raised at Dolwar Fach, in an area rich in traditional culture and where the art of carol and ballad singing is retained today. According to author Alan Luff, the making of poetry was and is taken for granted in such a Welsh community. Historian Meic Stephens also sees much of Anne's work influenced by the folk-song and seasonal carols of her native district by the hymns and sermons she heard weekly, but especially by the Bible.

The Methodist hymns, powerful and majestic became practically the only form of music known by much of the population of Wales. Traditional forms of music, folk dancing and long-practiced games and customs went by the wayside, many forever, unless preserved by a few gypsy families such as that of Abram Wood, (Teulu Abram Wood) in North Wales. The chapel became the main focal point of so much social life in Wales, creating an atmosphere that lasted right up until the end of World War II.

Yet, all that took place was not doom and gloom; there were some remarkable individuals and some striking events that, in many ways, acted as a counterbalance to the religious atmosphere created by the Methodist Revival. And to be fair, it was Methodism that greatly aided the people of Wales in their ever-lasting struggle to retain their spirituality, their language and their sense of independence.

It wasn't only Methodism that changed life in Wales during the 18th century. Other great changes were about to take place that not only included an impressive literary renaissance but also the coming of a giant industrial revolution. Both were to make permanent imprints upon the life of a nation that somehow continued to cling stubbornly to its separate identity within the British Isles.