Thomas Davies

“ Thomas Davies, D.D., Bishop of St. Asaph, was a native of Llanbeder, near Aberconwy, Caernarvonshire, where he was born about the year 1515. He received his academical education at St. John’s College, Cambridge. He became rector of his native parish, and was also made archdeacon of St. Asaph, and chancellor of Bangor. In 1561 he was advanced to the bishopric of St. Asaph, where he continued to his death, which took place in 1573. He was a very pious and charitable person, and founded a scholarship in Queen’s College, Cambridge. ”

“ To me he was much, to Hobhouse every thing.—My poor Hobhouse doted on Matthews. For me, I did not love quite so much as I honoured him; I was indeed so sensible of his infinite superiority, that though I did not envy, I stood in awe of it. He, Hobhouse, Davies, and myself, formed a coterie of our own at Cambridge and elsewhere. Davies is a wit and man of the world, and feels as much as such a character can do; but not as Hobhouse has been affected. Davies, who is not a scribbler, has always beaten us all in the war of words, and by his colloquial powers at once delighted and kept us in order. ”

“ It is written in rhyme, in the common heroic ten-syllable verse, but disposed in quatrains, like the early play of Misogonus, already mentioned, and other poetry of the same era, or like Sir Thomas Overbury's poem of 'The Wife,' the 'Gondibert' of Sir William Davenant, and the 'Annus Mirabilis' of Dryden, at a later period. No one of these writers has managed this difficult stanza so successfully as Davies: it has the disadvantage of requiring the sense to be in general closed at certain regularly and quickly-recurring turns, which yet are very ill adapted for an effective pause ”

“ G.
[241] Met. III., 320, &c., &c. G.
[242] Cf. L'Allegro 'Lap me in soft Lydian airs.' (l 136.) G.
[243] Qu: couch? G.
[244] Incremation. G.
[245] Pursue or succeed. G.
[246] The Cenci of Shelley has 'married' this tragical crime to 'immortal verse.' G.
[247] In first edition, 'murthering.' G.
[248] In first edition also spelled 'dilphins' = dolphins. G.
[249] In first edition, 'they.' G.
[250] Note here, 'True Loue inventor of dauncing.' G
[251] Spelled 'Liues.' G.
[252] Thomas Davies and Southey, as before, misprint egregiously 'that.' G.
[253] Margin-Note here, 'Concord.' G. ”

“ Herbert" (the Bibliographer I opine) wherein he takes different ground. We must traverse his charge. He thus writes:—"Dear Sir, I have lately purchased the following old books" (he enumerates several) .... "I have also got 'Wither's translation of Nemesius de Naturâ hominis' by which I find Sir John Davies's poem on the Immortality of the Soul is chiefly taken from Nemesius" ... "I have picked up a tract in 4to. by Thomas Jenner, with some very good plates, the marginal notes of which seem to be what the heads of Tate's edition of Sir John Davies's are taken from." ”

“ Davies died unmarried and intestate at Bodlondeb on 29 Dec. 1905, and was buried in the parish churchyard of Llangefni. His estate was valued at under 500,000l.
His younger brother, Richard Davies (1818–1896) , possessed business and public qualities of a high order. A liberal in politics, he unsuccessfully contested Carnarvon Boroughs in 1852, but in 1868 he was returned unopposed for his native county of Anglesey, for which he sat till 1886. ”

“ You must excuse my flippancy, for I am writing I know not what, to escape from myself. Hobhouse is gone to Ireland. Mr. Davies has been here on his way to Harrowgate.
"You did not know M.: he was a man of the most astonishing powers, as he sufficiently proved at Cambridge, by carrying off more prizes and fellow-ships, against the ablest candidates, than any other graduate on record; but a most decided atheist, indeed noxiously so, for he proclaimed his principles in all societies. ”

“ Davies is to be distinguished from a namesake, David Christopher Davies (1827-1885) , a native of Oswestry, who, though humbly born and self-educated, attained some distinction as a mining engineer and geologist, and was the author of the following among other works: 1. 'Christ for all Ages, and other Lay Sermons,' preached on the North Wales Border, London, 1871. 2. ”

“ The belief in transformation and transmigration has lingered among some people almost to the present day. Mr. Thomas Evans, Gwaralltyryn, in the parish of Llandyssul, informed me that he was well-acquainted with an old Ballad singer, who was known as Daniel Y Baledwr. Daniel lived near Castle Howel, and sang at Llandyssul fairs, songs composed by Rees Jones, of Pwllffein. This ballad-singer told my informant that he was sure to return after death in the form of a pig, or of some other animal; and that an animal had a soul or spirit as well as a man had. ”

“ My informant was an old farmer, named Thomas Stephens, near Mydroilyn.
[Contents]
SPIRIT FUNERALS CARRYING PEOPLE TO CHURCHYARDS.
I obtained the following account from an old man in North Pembrokeshire:—
About seven o’clock one winter evening, David Thomas, Henllan, Eglwyswrw, went to the village shop to get some medicine for a sick animal. When he was returning home, it was a fine moonlight night. All of a sudden, however, he found himself in utter darkness, being carried back to Eglwyswrw almost unknown to himself by a “Crefishgyn” as such an apparition is called in North Pembrokeshire ”

“ The father of this accomplished family was himself a man of considerable talent, and the author of several unavowed poetical pieces; one of which, a Parody of Pope's Eloisa, written in early youth, has been erroneously ascribed to the late Professor Porson, who was in the habit of reciting it, and even printed an edition of the verses.
[21] "One of the cleverest men I ever knew, in conversation, was Scrope Berdmore Davies. Hobhouse is also very good in that line, though it is of less consequence to a man who has other ways of showing his talents than in company. ”

“ He was buried in Allhallows churchyard in Thames Street, where a plain tombstone was placed, bearing a Welsh inscription with ‘englynion’ by the Rev. Walter Davies (Gwallter Mechain) which were sadly mutilated by the English engraver. His portrait was painted for the Gwyneddigion Society in 1802 by John Vaughan, one of the members; it was engraved for Leathart's ‘History’ of that society. Jones's elegy was also written for the society by John Jones of Glanygoes (1763–1821) [q. v.] ”

“ Men and Women of the Time, 1899; Allibone's Dict. Eng. Lit., Suppl.; A. H. Miles, Poets and Poetry of the Century (1892) , v. 591-620. As to Morris's work in connection with Welsh movements, especially education, see Sir Hugh Owen, his Life and Life Work (1885) , by W. E. Davies (for which Morris wrote a preface) ; Report of the Hon. Society of Cymmrodorion for 1906-7 in Transactions for that year, p. v; Annual Reports of the National Eisteddfod Association from 1881 on; The University of Wales (in College Histories series) , by W. C. Davies and W. L. Jones (1905) , 111-118 129, 221 ”

“ Davies, trumpeter. Tell him to halt his party where they are, and say I wish to see him at once." Dashing the tears away from his eyes, little Murray said, "Yes, sir," and mounted his horse. He was starting when Devers called him again. "You needn't tell Mr. Davies what's happened," he said. "It would demoralize him entirely;" adding in an undertone that was none the less audible to the men around him, "He's worse than demoralized now."
Digging graves with hunting-knives and fingers as the only tools is wearisome work. "What's the use of it anyhow?" reasoned the captain, impatiently. ”

“ It was always torture to Davies to feel a good breeze running to waste while he was inactive at anchor or on shore. The “shore” to him was an inferior element, merely serving as a useful annexe to the water—a source of necessary supplies.
“Let’s have lunch,” he pursued, as we resumed our way down the fiord. A vision of iced drinks, tempting salads, white napery, and an attentive steward mocked me with past recollections.
“You’ll find a tongue,” said the voice of doom, “in the starboard sofa-locker; beer under the floor in the bilge. ”

“ Here, I saw, was a genuine innocent, writing odds and ends of verse about odds and ends of things; living quite out of the world in which such things are usually done, and knowing no better (or rather no worse) than to get his book made by the appropriate craftsman and hawk it round like any other ware."
It is more than likely that Davies' first notoriety as a tramp-poet who had ridden the rails in the United States and had had his right foot cut off by a train in Canada, obscured his merits as a genuine singer. ”

“ As the wretch looks o'er Siberia's shore, When winter-bound the wave is; Sae droops our heart, when we maun part Frae charming, lovely Davies. Her smile's a gift frae 'boon the lift, That maks us mair than princes; A sceptred hand, a king's command, Is in her darting glances; The man in arms 'gainst female charms Even he her willing slave is, He hugs his chain, and owns the reign Of conquering, lovely Davies. My Muse, to dream of such a theme, Her feeble powers surrender: The eagle's gaze alone surveys The sun's meridian splendour. I wad in vain essay the strain, The deed too daring brave is ”

“ Davies is the natural, untaught lyrical genius. His capacity is neither so deep nor so intense as that of Burns, but within his limits he can write poems of great beauty. When he writes of nature he almost recreates the spirit of Wordsworth, he shows such insight, freshness, and ease. His artless simplicity is at times almost grotesque, yet the reader cannot help admitting that it is in keeping with his subject. This marked naïveté, however, is often given a queer metaphysical twist; or it sometimes rises, with a mighty rhythm, into passages of noble harmony. ”

“ There was a little bit of a looking-glass, picked up at some rubbishy auction, as old as the hills, with some tarnished gilding about it, in the narrow bit of wall between the windows. Paul Davies could look at nothing quite straight. He looked now at himself in this glass, but it was from the corners of his eyes, askance, and with his sly, sleepy depression of the eye-lids, as if he had not overmuch confidence even in his own shadow. ”

“ Though Davies stood somewhat apart from the main currents of thought both without and within his church, and was largely unknown to English audiences or readers, he exercised a strong influence on Welsh life and thought in the 19th century. He was a serious student, especially of anti-theistic positions, a good speaker, and a frequent contributor to Welsh theological journals. ”

“ When he had become older and more mature, when he had reached an age at which he could better judge the sort of woman he should marry, Davies, as his father said he would, had come upon the discovery that all feminine creatures were hopeless bores. ”

“ Davies had never set eyes on him from the moment of their parting at dusk that gloomy Dakota evening to the northwest of the Springs,—from that evening to that of his return. Totally ignorant of much that had taken place during his illness, he was ready to serve his captain faithfully, even though he felt that he could not like or trust him. They had but brief converse. "Take all the time you need to get your quarters ready, Mr. Davies. You and Hastings can divide the detail work of stables and roll-call between you," said Devers. ”

“ I bowed; possibly I smiled. I do smile sometimes when a ray of real sunshine darts across my pathway.
“I should be very glad to try such a situation,” I replied.
A look of relief, so vivid that it startled me, altered at once the whole character of his countenance; and perceiving how intense was the power and fascination underlying his quiet exterior, I asked myself who and what this man was; no ordinary personage, I was sure, but who? Had Miss Davies purposely withheld his name? I began to think so. ”

“ Thou that hast fashioned twice this soul of ours,
So that she is by double title thine;
Thou only know’st her nature and her powers,
Her subtile form Thou only canst define.
We that acquaint ourselves with every zone,
And pass the tropics and behold each pole;
When we come home are to ourselves unknown,
And unacquainted still with our own soul.
Davies.
Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,
Fooled by those rebel powers that thee array,
Why dost thou pine within, and suffer dearth,
Painting thy outward walls so costly gay? ”

“ At the back of such mind as was left me lodged two insistent thoughts: “we must hurry on,” “we are going wrong.” As to the latter, take a link-boy through a London fog and you will experience the same thing: he always goes the way you think is wrong. “We’re rowing back!” I remember shouting to Davies once, having become aware that it was now my left scull which splashed against obstructions. “Rubbish,” said Davies. ”

“ Davies was gradually resuming his natural self, with abstracted intervals, in which he lashed the helm to finger a distant rope, with such speed that the movements seemed simultaneous. Once he vanished, only to reappear in an instant with a chart, which he studied, while steering, with a success that its reluctant folds seemed to render impossible. Waiting respectfully for his revival I had full time to look about. The fiord here was about a mile broad. From the shore we had left the hills rose steeply, but with no rugged grandeur ”