Daniel Lleufer Thomas

“ He never lacked courage, but frequently lost control of his temper. North describes him as a ‘cunning Parliament man.’ He was somewhat hard and grasping in his dealings, but entirely free from the fashionable vices of his time, and, in spite of his prosecution of the bishops, seems to have been affectionately attached to the church of England. His portraits represent him as strikingly handsome. One was formerly at the Town Hall, Chester, and an engraving of it was published in Yorke's ‘Royal Tribes of Wales.’ A bad portrait hangs in the speaker's house at Westminster. ”

“ Petitions signed by one hundred and fifty Welsh clergymen against the adoption of his system were presented to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and were so far successful that the old orthography was adopted in the society's Welsh editions of the Old Testament. After his return to Wales in 1841 Jones took an active part in the Eisteddfod and other literary gatherings, particularly the brilliant series held at Abergavenny, which resulted in the formation of the Welsh MSS. Society. ”

“ The air, however, possesses a distinctly Welsh character. According to the Welsh tradition, Dafydd when on his death-bed had fallen in a trance, and was believed to be dead, but, suddenly reviving, told his mother that he had just heard one of the sweetest songs of heaven, which, on his harp being handed him, he then played; but as the last note was dying away Dafydd, too, died. The air was preserved from memory by his mother, who was herself a good harpist and a fair poetess. ”

“ By nature he was more a critic than a poet, and his influence as such has been deeply impressed upon modern Welsh literature, his grammars having long served as the text-books of the humbler school of Welsh writers, while at nearly every eisteddfod of importance held during the last twenty years of his life he served as one of the adjudicators. ”

“ Jones was an independent, and wrote, at the request of ministers of that denomination, a large number of Welsh hymns, which rank in popularity second only to the productions of the greatest of Welsh hymn-writers, William Williams of Pantycelyn (1717–1791) [q. v.] , the methodist preacher. Like Williams's hymns, Jones's works do not bear the impress of sectarian theology, and are in common use throughout Wales at the present day. Always joyful in tone, they move easily and are clear in thought and expression. ”

“ Being an anti-Jacobite as well as methodist, he was on one occasion locked up for the night by Sir W. W. Wynn in the kennels at Wynnstay (Cymru, i. 43, 72) . About 1759 it occurred to him to utilise the press as an instrument for evangelical work, and he thereafter became the chief contributor to the religious literature of Wales during the eighteenth century. His greatest undertaking was the publication at his own risk of a family edition of the Welsh bible with annotations of his own at the end of each chapter, this being the first Welsh commentary on the whole bible ever issued. ”

“ On leaving Pontoise, Jones went to Rome and entered the convent of the Observantines of the Ara Cœli, embracing the order of the Reformed Friars or Observantines of the Roman Province in 1591. After remaining at Rome for about a year, Jones, with the permission of his superiors and the blessing of Clement VIII, returned to England, and stayed for a few months in London in a house established by John Gerard for the reception of priests. ”

“ LEWIS Morganwg, i.e. of Glamorganshire (fl. 1500–1540) , Welsh bard, was the son of another bard named Rhys Llwyd ab Rhys ab Rhicert (fl. 1450–1490) , otherwise known as the Old Grey Bard of Glamorgan, who lived at Blaen Cynllan in that county. ”

“ Sion Mowddwy, a contemporary, says he was an usher in the Glamorgan court of great sessions, but he gained his living mostly by transcribing Welsh manuscripts for Glamorganshire gentlemen, and had access to the libraries at Raglan, Y Vann, and other places. About 1575 he is mentioned under the name Lewelyn John by Sir Edward Mansel in his 'History of the Norman Conquest of Glamorgan,' as a learned and diligent collector of Welsh manuscripts. ”

“ By the year 995 the sons of Meirig gathered a sufficient following to return to North Wales, and, by defeating Meredydd at the battle of Llangwn, Idwal at last succeeded to the sovereignty. But the Danes had overrun the country during Meredydd's feeble reign: the churches had been spoiled, the people were demoralised, and there was a great scarcity of food. Idwal is eulogised in the 'Gwentian Chronicle' for his bravery and statesmanship in attempting to repair these disasters. ”

“ He gained a great reputation as a lecturer, his best-known subjects being ‘Vicar Prichard,’ ‘John Penry, the Welsh Martyr,’ and ‘Self-made Men.’ He was a resolute enemy of the church establishment in Wales, and both by pen and speech he rendered an invaluable service to Welsh liberalism. He contributed largely to Welsh periodicals, commencing while at Kilsby with articles on political, social, and educational questions in ‘Y Traethodydd’ and ‘Y Byd Cymreig.’ For many years he was Welsh editor to William Mackenzie of Glasgow. ”

“ On the revival of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, he was appointed in 1876 the first editor of ‘Y Cymmrodor,’ being the transactions of the society, and was the author of ‘The History of the Cymmrodorion.’ In 1864 he published a reprint of the first edition of ‘Flores Poetarum Brittanicorum: sef Blodeuog Waith y Prydyddion Brytanaidd,’ by Dr. John Davies of Mallwyd, and he also edited for the Cymmrodorion Society, but at his own expense, a facsimile reproduction of the original black-letter edition (1547) of William Salesbury's ‘Welsh-English Dictionary,’ London, 1876. ”

“ Jones interested himself in the reform of university education, and in 1836 a paper of his was read before the Statistical Society of Manchester, urging the inhabitants to establish in their town a university college in connection with the university of London. The suggestion was not acted upon, but on Jones's return from France he started a college of his own in Manchester; this, however, met with little success, and was shortly afterwards abandoned, though it prepared the way for the establishment of Owens College in 1851. ”

“ In the early days of this parliament the king appears to have made some overtures to Williams with the view of conciliating him, for, according to the latter's own statement, he was offered the chief-justiceship of Chester—an office peculiarly acceptable to a Welshman, and then held by Jeffreys, whose removal the commons were demanding—but he declined it because ‘he would not be thought to do anything that might seem to incline against the interest of the commons in that trust’ (Wynn, Argument, 88) . ”

“ OWEN, WILLIAM (1530?–1587) , Welsh poet, better known by his bardic name of William Lleyn or Llŷn, was born at Llangian in Lleyn, Carnarvonshire, being, according to tradition, a natural son of one of the Griffiths of Cefh Amwich, by whom he was educated for the church. ”

“ JONES, SAMUEL (1628–1697) , one of the founders of Welsh nonconformity, was the son of John Roberts of Carwen in Merionethshire, but was born near Chirk Castle in Denbighshire in 1628, and, according to the Welsh custom of that age, adopted his father's christian name for his own surname. He entered Merton College, Oxford, probably as a commoner, and in 1648 was summoned before the parliamentary board of visitors, to whose authority he refused to submit. ”

“ Lady Carbery (whose great piety has been recorded by Jeremy Taylor) is then said to have influenced Cromwell so strongly as to produce in him a warm regard for her family, evidenced by his sending to the earl a few years later ‘several stagges to furnish his park at Golden Grove’ (Cambrian Register, loc. cit.) .
Carbery is, however, less celebrated as a man of action than as the patron who for many years gave hospitable shelter to Jeremy Taylor at Golden Grove. ”

“ He is almost the only Welsh poet of the day who was not a Roman catholic, and he is credited with having instructed in the rules of Welsh prosody Edmund Prys [q. v.] , the evangelical psalm-writer. Owen shows himself a master of style, but his poems also possess such intrinsic merit that he is generally considered the greatest Welsh poet in the period between Dafydd ab Grwilym and Goronwy Owen. ”

“ JONES, JOHN (1788–1858) , versifier, also known as ‘the Welsh Bard,’ was born in 1788 at Llanasa, Flintshire, where his parents held a small farm. From 1796 to 1803 he was apprenticed to a cotton-spinner at Holywell, Flintshire, where he learnt to read and write. In 1804 he went to sea in a trading vessel sailing from Liverpool to the coast of Guinea, and in 1805 joined an English man-of-war, called The Barbadoes, which cruised in the West Indies. ”

“ Owing to her weak health, Miss Williams spent the first half of her life at Neuadd Felen, near Talgarth, Breconshire, where she acquired a knowledge of the language and a taste for the literature of Wales. Here she also made the acquaintance of Lady Llanover, who introduced her to many literary friends. From 1856 onward she lived in London, first at 9 Hans Place, and afterwards at 30 Oakley Crescent, Chelsea, where she died on 15 March 1885, and was buried in Brompton cemetery. ”

“ During his ministry there he delivered in 1794–5 ‘some admirable courses of lectures on the philosophy of the human mind, as connected with education, the theory of morals, and also on history.’ Turning to the study of the law, he was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn on 1 May 1795, was called to the bar on 26 June 1800, and practised chiefly as a chancery barrister, but attached himself as well to the Oxford and South Wales circuits. ”

“ Iago's brother, Ieuav, had left behind him a son, Howel, who watched his opportunity to avenge his father's wrongs. About the time of Edgar's visit to Chester, Howel succeeded, with Edgar's support, it is stated (Brut y Tywysogion, p.262) , in seizing Iago's throne. Iago probably fled to Lleyn, where Howel and his English allies made a raid about 979. The following year Iago was captured by the Danes, who sailed in a fleet to Chester, and laid the city waste. Howel ab Ieuav thus acquired the complete sovereignty of Gwynedd, and Iago is not heard of again. ”

“ JONES, JOHN (1767–1821) , Welsh comic and satirical song-writer, is better known as Siôn Glanygors, from his birthplace, Glan y Gors, near Cerrig y Druidion. He was baptised at Cerrig, 10 Nov. 1767. While still young he settled in London, where, with one interval, he spent the remainder of his days, becoming in later life proprietor of the King's Head Inn, Ludgate Hill. ”

“ Although he refused to take holy orders, he became master of the free school at Denbigh, and proved ‘very useful and successful’ there, being, according to Calamy, a ‘man of ingenuity, considerable learning, and noted piety,’ and having a ‘vein of poetry in Latin, English, and Welsh.’ He was ejected from his post on account of his nonconformity, and on similar grounds was subsequently compelled to abandon a private school which he opened at Henllan. ”

“ In 1824 Mackenzie's father and Sir Walter invited Williams to become headmaster of a proprietary day school, to be called the Academy, which they were then promoting at Edinburgh, with the view of raising the standard of classical education and especially of Greek learning. ”

“ VAUGHAN, RICHARD, second Earl of Carbery (1600?–1686) , was the eldest son of John Vaughan, first earl, of Golden Grove, Carmarthenshire, by his first wife, Margaret, daughter of Sir Gelly Meyrick [q. v.] The family claimed descent from Bleddyn ab Cynvyn, prince of Powys (cf. Robert Vaughan, Brit. Antiq. Revived, 1662, pp. 40–3, correcting Enderbie's Cambria Triumphans, iii. 2) . ”

“ Jones wrote a spirited reply to Griffith in four letters, and addressed two able letters to Lord John Russell, in which he brought statistics to refute the charges of the commissioners. Both series of letters were republished in book form under the title, ‘The Dissent and Morality of Wales.’ Jones also continued in Welsh and English journals to expose what was known in Wales as ‘Brad y Llyfrau Gleision’ (The Blue-book Treachery) ”

“ HUGHES, HUGH (y Bardd Coch) (1693–1776) , Welsh poet, born on 22 March 1693, was son of Gruffydd Hughes, who derived his lineage, according to the Welsh genealogies, from Tegeryn ab Carwed, the lord of Twrcelyn. He was chiefly self-educated. He resided chiefly on his estate at Llwydiarth Esgob, near Llanerchymedd, Anglesea. He died on 6 April 1776, and was buried in Holyhead churchyard. ”

“ An oil painting of Williams by Colvin Smith, executed in 1841 on the commission of some old pupils, hangs in the great hall of the academy at Edinburgh. There is also a marble bust of him by Joseph Edwards in the library of Balliol College, a cast of which is at the University College of Wales, Aberystwith.
Besides being one of the greatest classical scholars that Wales has produced, Williams made a special study of the early history of the Celtic races, and particularly of the language and literature of Wales. ”

“ In recent years much doubt has been cast on the genuineness of the poetry ascribed to Llywarch, on the ground that there is no evidence that he ever was a poet, beyond the fact that the above mentioned poems are put into his mouth by Welsh tradition, poems in which he figures as a spokesman. ”

“ OWEN, GEORGE (1552–1613) , county historian, born in 1552 at Henllys, near Newport, Pembrokeshire, was the eldest son of William Owen (1469–1574) [q. v.] , by Elizabeth Herbert, a descendant of William, first earl of Pembroke of the Herbert line. On the attainment of his majority, Newport Castle and the baronial rights of the lordship of Kemes were delivered to him by his father, and for twenty years of his life he was in conflict with the council of the marches as to his possession of ‘jura regalia’ within the barony. ”

“ All contain valuable historical material. Thirty-two of his poems have been printed in the 'Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales,' pp. 199-217; one of these is an invocation when undergoing the fiery ordeal to exonerate himself from having any knowledge of the fate of Madog (fl. 1172) [q. v.] , the son of Owain Gwynedd, who it was subsequently alleged had sailed for America, which he had discovered in 1170. Llywarch possessed more poetic genius than any of his contemporaries, and has been justly described as the most illustrious Welsh bard of the middle ages. ”

“ According to these sources, which have history and romance very much interwoven, it is gathered that he spent some time at Arthur's court, and took part in the battle of Portsmouth (?) about 530, but subsequently returned to his own province, and there, along with Urien Rheged and Owen, the son of Urien (who became one of the chief characters of mediæval romance) , fought for many years against Theodoric, king of Northumberland. ”