Inclosed I send you the old papers, you talked of when here. I never looked into them till now; and cannot guess at the authors quoted therein, except G. for Galfrid; T. W. Thomas Williams, and H. Lh. Humphry Llwyd. What is Scr. Sc., and H. C.?
Be sure to keep up your correspondence with that very curious and valuable man, Mr. Percy. I am afraid that there are not many such learned critics in the kingdom.
I was heartily sorry to see you in those foolish difficulties, when you were here last. For heaven’s sake, for your own sake, and for the sake of us all, do not run yourself into those excesses; but shew the world that you have not only learning and knowledge, far above the common herd; but that you have also discretion and prudence, without which no man will ever arrive at greatness. Nennius will set you up out of the reach of little folks, if you stick to him.
I am yours sincerely,
Lewis Morris.
Penbryn, June 26, 1763.
Rev. W. Wynn to the Rev. Evan Evans.
Iolo Goch, o Goed Pantwn, yn Mhlwy Llan Nefydd yn Sir Ddinbych; y mae yno glwt o dir a elwir, y dydd heddyw, Gardd Iolo.—The tradition is fresh in the neighbourhood. I have read in the little book many good C. of D. ap Gwilym since I saw you, tho’ there are some very poor ones amongst them. What I had then read were looked over in haste, and it is impossible to form a right judgment of such things, without a careful perusal, especially when there are uncommon words or various readings to disturb the attention, as there are many in this book. I desire you’ll dash out of my Cywydd y Farn—Tawdd y mellt greigiau gelltydd, and insert these two in their stead—Rhed filfil rhawd ufelfellt, Rhua drwy’r main rheieider mellt—See Edm. Pr. and Wm. Cynwal, Cyw. 29. I have had access to Llannerch library for three days successively, where there are a great many MSS., though few to your taste or mine.—English history, exploded philosophy, monkish theology, and such trash in abundance, written on fine vellum, in a most curious manner. Three good pedigree books, six or seven volumes of Welsh poetry, but for the most part very incorrect. Some of them are most shamefully mangled by the transcribers. I have borrowed one large quarto, transcribed about the conclusion of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, by an ignorant, slovenly fellow, who has murdered the orthography in a most barbarous manner. Yet I think it valuable, because, upon collating some parts of it with other copies, I found it in the general more genuine than the common run, notwithstanding the barbarity of the orthography. Where tarw garw occur, this scribbler always robs the line of a syllable, which is the greatest injury he commits. I have transcribed Duchan Gwyddelyn, o waith Iolo. Marwnad Mad. ap Gr. Mailor, 1236, by Ein. Wan, Mar. Tywysog Llew. ap Gr. by Gwgon, Mar. Ow. Goch; a gânt Bleddyn Fardd; Cyw. merch da, o waith G. O.; Cyw. da i ofyn Cledd, o waith G. O.; Mar. Lleucu Llwyd, o waith I. Ll. G. M. H. Mar. Ll. G. M. H., o waith Iolo.
There is at Llannerch a little old rag, consisting of about 20 pages accurately written, out of which I have transcribed a curious ode if not two. It begins thus: Nid wyf ddihynwyf hoen. Kreirwy hoywdec am hudawdd mal Garwy. After eight Englyns, there is a blank, without the author’s name, and below that begins either another ode of the same person’s, or a remainder of the foregoing, beginning thus: Mireinwawr drefawr dra vo brad ymddwyn, and subscribed Howel ap Eignion ai cant i Vevanwy vechan o Gastell Dinas Bran. After the last stanza is written Mireinwawr drefawr, with a dash, which makes me suppose they are two poems, though on the same subject; because it is common to conclude an ode with a repetition of the first stanza.—Quere, Whether the first of these is not the same with your Awdl Myfanwy? I cannot recollect, but I think it is longer than yours; it ends thus:
Lliw eiry cynnar pen Aran—
Lloer bryd lwys fryd o lys Vran.
I lately borrowed a quarto, fairly written by a man of learning and great knowledge in antiquities, but ignorant of the Welsh prosody, for which reason it is not very correct. There are many of D. G. in it, Owdl Fair, by I. R. I. Ll. of Gogerddan; one quarter of which is Latin. I have seen the same in another book given to D. N---, Mawl Edw. 3 ryw bryd gwedi Aerfa Cressi, o waith Iolo.—That battle was fought in the year 1346.—Edw IIId. died 1377.—This is demonstration that Iolo ought to have been placed much higher in chronology than the year 1400; and by his own testimony we find he was a mere Cleirirach before the commencement of the 15th century, though he lived about ten years after. This, though in Iolo’s usual style, I think the most ancient Cywydd I ever saw, excepting one of D. Ddu, Digam gwnaeth Duw oi gymwyd; and even this is, by some, fathered upon Iolo. Mar. Tywysog Llewelyn—Gwaith Bleddyn Fardd—Iolo Goch was of the family of the Pantons, of Coed Panton, and Plas Panton, in the parish of Llan Nefydd, Denbighshire. The Latin version in Saphics of Taliesin’s ode Ef a wnaeth Panton, and some good Cywydds of Iolo’s, that I never saw before, M.D. ap Gr. ap Llew—a lâs yn y Mwythig, a gant