It's a fact that when it 1 to violent nationalism, the Welsh are not in the same league as the Basques or the Northern Irish, but they can be bad 2 The Welsh do have a distinct nationality, with a language and literature of their own. Indeed, they have their own cultural festival, with music and singing, 3 an Eisteddfod, which dates back to 1176. The Eisteddfod forms part of the Gorsedd, or assembly, founded many centuries before the Christian era. At the Eisteddfod, the poets, or bards, wear long white, flowing robes, and 4 themselves very seriously. Like Brittany, Wales is rather isolated. It is a mountainous lump 5 England and the Irish Sea. Because it is isolated, and because it contains little 6 stealing, the place has been left to its own devices, so that half a million people 7 speak the ancient Welsh language. However, the proportion of the population who speak Welsh has fallen 8 1960 from about 30 percent to about 20 percent.