The Revival gave
literature in every branch a new strength and greater wealth.
It created a demand for education. Griffith Jones of Llanddowror
established a system of circulating schools, the teachers moving from
place to place as a room was offered them--sometimes a church and
sometimes a barn. Charles of Bala established a system of Sunday
Schools, and the whole nation gradually joined it. The Press became
active, newspapers appeared. It became quite clear that a new life
throbbed in the land.
CHAPTER XXII--THE REFORM ACTS
The new life brought an inevitable demand for a share in the
government of the country, and this brought the old order and the new
face to face. The political power was entirely in the hands of the
squires, alienated from the peasants in many cases by a difference of
language, and in most cases by a difference of religion.
The Act of 1535 had, as we have seen, given Wales a representation in
Parliament. Each shire had one member only; except Monmouth, which
had two. Each shire town had one member, except that of Merioneth;
and Haverfordwest was given a member. The county franchise was the
forty shilling freehold; it therefore excluded not only those who had
no connection with the land, but the copyholder--who was really a
landowner, but whose tenure was regarded as base, on account of his
villein origin.
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