A composite volume consisting mainly of a commonplace book of Rice Pierce (ob. 1766), rector of Llangelynnin, Merionethshire. The contents include poetry in Welsh, English, and Latin by Rice Pierce; ecclesiastical precedents; lists of bishops of Bangor, St Asaph, Llandaff and St Davids, deans of Bangor and archbishops of Canterbury; verses by Tho[mas] Owen of Aberffraw; 'Descriptio Salsae Paludis, Wallice Pwllheli'; entries of birth and/or baptism of children of Hugh Thomas of Hendre [parish of Llangelynnin], 1685-7; lists of beneficed clergy in individual parishes in Anglesey; the 'valor' of benefices in the dioceses of Bangor and St Asaph; notes on Oxford Colleges built on the site of old Halls; a list of bishops educated at Jesus College, Oxford; notes on the founders and patrons of individual churches in Anglesey, extracted from Henry Rowland: Mona Antiqua Restaurata (Dublin, 1723); 'englynion' by Edwd. Lloyd [recte Lhuyd], Ashmolean Museum, with a Latin rendering by Tho[mas] Richards, rector of Llanfyllin; 'Cambriac Suspiria In Obitum desideratissimae Reginae Carolinae, dedicata Ad Isaacum Madoxs ... Episcopum Asaphensem' by Tho[mas] Richards, rector of Llanfyllin; etc. The section of the manuscript not in the hand of Rice Pierce contains notes on logic ('Physica non est scientia : Ergo fa[lleris]', etc.), extracts from Daemonology of James I, etc.

Miscellaneous papers containing notes, lists, transcripts, extracts, etc., in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together in one volume. The contents include pp. 13-39, copies of ten tales or fables in Welsh, nine bearing the titles 'Dammeg y Dial', 'Dameg y Ceiliog Rhedyn a'r Moryn', 'Dammeg y Dylluan, y golomen, a'r ystlym', 'Dameg y geifr, y Defaid, a'r bleiddiaid', 'Dameg y march gwyllt', 'Dammeg yr Eos a'r hebog', 'Dammeg Cenfigen yn Llosgi ei hun', 'Dammeg y Gwr a'r [Ebol]', and 'Dammeg Meredydd ap Rhosser o Lanbedr a'r Fro am gastell Tre Warin', and the tenth telling the story of Tanwyn, the son of Trahaearn, the bard (for the Welsh text of nine of these see Iolo Manuscripts . . ., pp. 167-84, and for English translations ibid., pp. 577-96); 38, brief notes with the superscription 'On the affinity of the ancient Gallic or Celtic with the Modern British', being presumably the introduction to a proposed essay or article on the said subject; 43-8, sketches ? in connection with the construction of a 'wheel oared boat'; 49- 64, 66, 68-96, 136-7, genealogical and other data relating to British saints some allegedly extracted from the manuscripts of Tho[mas] Truman, Iaean Deulwyn, Iaean Brechfa, Antoni Pywel, and Watkyn Owen; 65, a collection of miscellaneous Welsh words with English definitions, etc.; 66, ten stanzas of Welsh verse by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' attacking [Owen Jones] 'Owain Myfyr'; 67, a short list of Welsh triads; 97, an extract from the Gent[leman's] Mag[azine], 1780, relating to the cultivation of a new kind of wheat; 98, lists of pre-Saxon archbishops of London and early bishops of Llandaff; 99, notes on English history temp. Richard II - temp. Henry VII; loo, a list of the kings of Wales, A.D. 181- 517; 101, three draft stanzas of religious verse [? by Edward Williams]; 102, an incomplete, ? draft copy of a letter relating to Cattwg Sant and 'proverbs, moral aphorisms, etc., attributed to him'; 110, a Welsh-English list of species of apples; 111, a list with the superscription 'Llyma enwau wyth Esgobion Cymry Cyn dwyn o Saeson goreuon eu gwlad oddiar y Cymry'; 124, a list of 'Churches in Glam[organ which] are not generally called by the names of saints'; 131 + 133, an incomplete list of the names of those who had founded churches in Glamorgan ('Enwau y Rai a wnaethant Eglwysydd a Chorau ym Morganwg') (see Iolo Manuscripts . . ., pp. 219-22, 635-8); 155-74, 183-4, 187, 197, 203, notes relating to the special alphabets which, according to Edward Williams, were in use amongst the Welsh bards and monks, the four-sided billets of wood used as a writing surface when these two alphabets were used, the 'peithynen' (the name given to a series of such billets inserted in an upright frame so as to allow each to be rotated), the mythological account of the origin of letters and the basic alphabet, the acquisition and development of the alphabet by the Cymry, the use of wood as a writing surface in Wales in the Middle Ages, etc.; 166, four stanzas of English verse being doxologies written by Edward Williams in 'long metre', 'common metre', 'short metre', and the 'metre of Psalm 148'; 175-6, a copy (probably not in the hand of Edward Williams) of the assessment for poor rate in [the parish of] Lantwit Major [co. Glamorgan], 1753-1754; 180, 182, 194, 200, 205-08, 211, miscellaneous notes on bardic and literary matters; 181, a transcript of the beginning of a text of 'Brut y Brenhinedd'; 185-6, an incomplete ? copy of a letter from Edward Williams to John Nichols, esq., containing a description of an accompanying example of a 'peithynen' (see above), a note on the word 'peithynen', observations on the connection between Latin and Welsh, brief comments on Edward Llwyd and Doctor [John] Davies [of Mallwyd] and their knowledge of the Welsh language, etc.; 189-92, a list in Welsh of twenty-two of the basic principles or regulations of the bards of the Isle of Britain ('Defodau a Breiniau Beirdd Ynys Prydain') with an English version of the first twelve; 198, five stanzas of a Welsh hymn; 215-116, brief notes relating to the administration of justice in Glamorgan, 12th-16th cent.; 2117, an anecdote relating to Sir Risiart Grinvil [Norman knight, 1st half 12th cent.], the bringing of the builder Lalys ? from Rome to Glamorgan by the said Sir Risiart, and the building of the monastery at Glyn Nedd, the church of Llandaff, and castles at Caerdyf, y Coetty, San Dunwyd, etc., and the founding of Trelalys by the said Lalys; 218, an anecdote relating to [the Norman knight] Syr Rhobert Fitshamon and Ifor Bach, lord of Regoes and Glynrhondda; and miscellaneous notes, etc. The reverse side of printed handbills containing proposals for publishing Edward Williams's two - volume work Poems Lyric and Pastoral and a new edition of Dr. [Samuel] Johnson's Dictionary have been used in two instances for writing notes.

Miscellaneous papers containing notes, transcripts, extracts, etc., in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together into one volume. The contents include pp. 1-16, extracts from the works of various Welsh bards under the superscription 'Bardic allusions to ancient usages, institutions, ideas, &c.'; 16, a list of the seven attributes of God ('Saith Angheneddyl Duw'); 16-17, a group of eight Welsh triads attributed to Syr Wiliam Herbert of Raglan; 18-19, a brief note on the Irish in Anglesey and North Wales; 19-20, Biblical allusions to the practice of writing on wood; 22-3, further extracts from the works of Welsh poets similar to those on pp. 1-16; 25, Welsh triads; 26, a transcript of an 'englyn' attributed to Evan Evans y Prydydd Hir; 27, three stanzas of a Welsh poem headed 'Pennillion Iolo Morganwg'; 34-5, a list of thirty-six 'Southwalian Gogynfeirdd'; 35, a brief note on Gruffudd ap Cynan's introduction of 'Scaldic Literature', etc., into Wales; 36-7, notes on the use of the 'englyn milwr' measure by 'Southwalian Bards', and on the meaning of the word 'anaw' and of the element 'chwyfan' in the name of the Flintshire antiquity 'Maen chwyfan'; 38-9, a list of 'Writers on the Art of Poetry now Extant' in South Wales and N[orth] Wales; 41, a query relating to 'the Caerwys Bards or Eisteddfod'; 41, a note on the Welsh bards' refusal to introduce fiction into poetry; 42-4, notes headed 'On Coelbren y Beirdd'; 45-50, notes headed 'Bards of the 11th to the 13th centuries' stressing the impact on Welsh poetry of the Scandinavian Scaldic influence introduced via the court of Gruffudd ap Cynan; 51-9, notes headed 'Bards of the 15th Century in S[outh] Wales' dealing mainly with the influence of Norman and Provencal poetry on the twelfth century Welsh poet Rhys Goch ap Rhys ap Rhiccart and other Welsh bards via the courts of the Norman lords in Glamorgan, its continuance in the work of Dafydd ap Gwilym, etc.; 60-73, notes headed 'Modern Poetry of North Wales' containing general, mainly derogatory comments on North Wales poetry from the seventeenth century onwards with references to Lewys Morris, Edward Morris, Hugh Moris, Rice Jones of Blaenau, Goronwy Owain, and other poets, the practice of borrowing or imitating metres from English songs and ballads, the results of the literary competitions inaugurated by the Gwyneddigion Society, etc.; 74-92 notes headed 'Modern South Walian Poetry' dealing mainly with the 'song writing' or 'popular poetry' tradition in South Wales as contrasted with North Wales; 93-6, notes relating largely to the tale called 'Cyfarwyddyd Einiawn ap Gwalchmai a Rhiain y Glasgoed'; 97-102, miscellanea headed 'Mân bethau perthynas (sic) i'r Beirdd a Barddoniaeth'; (continued)

104-08, notes relating to the society commonly known as 'Gwyr Cwm y Felin' which existed at Cwm y Felin in Betws Tir Iarll [co. Glamorgan], with references to its connection with the druidical and bardic tradition and its association with Lollardy in the past and Unitarianism in the present (see NLW MS 13121B above); 109, a transcript of three stanzas of Welsh verse headed 'Myned yn y maen. To take the chair. . .'; 110, notes on a theory that there were two poets called Dafydd Nanmor, the one a grandson of the other; 121, a list of seven rules headed 'Some Rules of Welsh versification'; 122, a 'scheme' or chapter headings for a 'History of the Bards'; 123-46, a short essay or article on the 'History of the Welsh Language' containing observations on the three main dialects, viz. Silurian, Demetian, and Venedotian, their use in Welsh literature, etc.; 147-9, lists of early bishops of Llandaf and of the bishops of Wales before the time of Garmon ('Escobion Cymru Cynog Amser Garmon'), and notes on the meaning of the words 'cor' and 'bangor'; 151-3, a pedigree of the ? Williams family of Aberpergwm; 163-88, notes and extracts relating to the manufacture of beet sugar, the cultivation of trees and potatoes, the making of varnishes, wines, etc., and medicinal recipes; 201-02, a note headed 'Bards secret and gripe'; 203, a list headed 'Proverbial and idiomatic expressions in Glamorgan'; 215-18, transcripts of miscellaneous Welsh verse including two 'englynion tawddgyrch cadwynog' attributed to Edward Evan 'o Aberdar' and Lewys Hopcin of the parish of Llandyfodwg [co. Glamorgan], an 'englyn' attributed to Siôn Tudur, and six stanzas headed 'Y Credadyn ar farw idd ei enaid' being reputedly a translation from Pope's ode entitled 'The dying Christian to his soul', and extracts from 'cywyddau' attributed to Edmund Prys; 228, notes headed 'Gwehelyth y Simwniaid'; 229, a note on madness in dogs; 240-41, a list of Welsh names of fruits; 247-53, extracts from The Monthly Review, 1790, vol. I, including a transcript of 'Robinson's Elegy on leaving Westminster College'; 278, a note referring to the tradition relating to the alleged Trojan colonization of Italy; 285-6, a ? draft of proposals for publishing a Welsh religious and literary journal to be called 'Goleugrawn Deheubarth Cymry', publication to be annually or quarterly, the first number to appear towards the beginning of 1817; 303- 05, an extract relating to 'healing wounded trees'; 310-11, notes on a proposed 'water wheel at ye present forge [at Kevan] . . ., 29 Jan. 1787'; 315-16, a horticultural note and a medicinal recipe; and 321-7, transcripts of three 'cywyddau' ? attributed to Dafydd ap Gwilym. Also found on various pages are groups or lists of Welsh words, miscellaneous Welsh triads, and other miscellaneous items. Some of the notes have been written on the blank verso or in the margins of copies of printed leaflets advertising 'Sea Bathing' and 'Genteel Lodgings' at the Ball, Swanbridge, seven miles from Cardiff, the wares of Tucketts and Fletcher, Bristol (Tucketts and Fletcher, grocers and tea-dealers, no. 11, Corn-Street, Bristol ([Bristol], [1795?], ESTC T230410)), and the wares of E. M. Downing at his 'Grand Musical Repository', Bristol, and a printed copy of 'An Elegy on the late Reverend John Wesley'.