Thanks David,   You commented:-   "Not sure whether the comment is intended as optimistic about the  language or implies some fear of the foreign nature of Welsh to the  English [...'Double the number of persons now speak Welsh who spoke it in the reign of Elizabeth.']   I can't quite understand the newspaper comment since the population had probably increased since the times of Elizabeth - perhaps a spot of early newspaper spin creeping in there.  Your report (1849) from the Australian newspaper is arguably reflecting the growing opinion that the Welsh language was a drawback to social progression and written two years after the Treachery of the Blue Books (1847). (BRAD YR LLYFRAU GLEISION). These are on the LLGC web pages http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=295 (saesneg) http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=295&L=1 (cymraeg)   In 1870 the Compulsory Education Act came in - more or less in good working order in Wales by 1880. From 1891 census returns in Wales asked for the Language spoken,  and in the 1911 census in Cardiganshire parishes and elsewhere I have noticed enumeration responses being given in Welsh - eg penteulu rather than Head (of household) etc.   Many thanks   Jen   --- On Sat, 14/11/09, David Rowlands <drowlan1@bigpond.net.au> wrote: From: David Rowlands <drowlan1@bigpond.net.au> Subject: [Dyfed] The Welsh language in 1849 To: "Dyfed DYFED" <Dyfed@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, 14 November, 2009, 6:32 A bit O/T, I know, but here's a two-sentence item from an 'Odds and  Ends' column in the Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 26 December 1849.  That places it around the about the time my great-grandparents were  born. Not sure whether the comment is intended as optimistic about the  language or implies some fear of the foreign nature of Welsh to the  English: 'In Cardiganshire only 3000 people out of 68,706 speak English. Double  the number of persons now speak Welsh who spoke it in the reign of  Elizabeth.' David Canberra ================================ Dyfed list http://home.clara.net/daibevan/DyfedML.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DYFED-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message