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A composite volume containing miscellaneous notes, jottings, etc., of an extremely varied nature in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg'). Included, pagination in brackets, are small groups or short lists of Welsh words sometimes with English definitions and sometimes with illustrative extracts from the works of Welsh poets, grammatical notes, etc. (41-2, 51, 55, 63-4, 72, 85-6, 89-93 99, 163-6, 168, 171-3, 178); transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Iorwerth ab Sierlyn 'uwch benn Bedd Siôn Ceiriog . . . 1792' (54) and Huw Llwyd Cynfel (187); extracts consisting of single stanzas, couplets, or even single lines from the works of the Welsh poets D[afydd] ab G[wily]m, W[ilia]m Cynwal, Gruff. ab . . . ab Tudur, Lewys Morys, Edm[wn]d Prys, and [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' (38-41), Gwalchmai (48), Wm. Midd[leto]n (49), Thos. Prys of P[las] Iolyn (50), Howel ab Owain Gwynedd (52-3), Iolo Goch or Gruff. Llwyd ab Daf ab Einion (63), Llen. Moel y Pantri, Tudur Aled, and Guttun Owain (to illustrate specific words) (85-6), ? Thos. Redwood (93), and Teilo Sant (95); transcripts of English verse including anonymous stanzas (41), four stanzas with the superscription 'Question in Arithmetic from the Welsh' ( 87), an epitaph by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' (95), and a stanza again by 'Iolo Morganwg' (187); miscellaneous items including a list of six principles headed 'requisites of Language by Ed. Wms.' (17), notes relating to bardic ceremonial (20), two bardic triads (38), notes relating to the division of a community into four classes, viz. grand jurors, jurors, private citizens, and subjects, and their roles in government (45- 6), notes relating to mottoes and titles of bardic 'gorseddau' (56-9), a note on metempsychosis (60), a list of twenty books and authors with a note written sideways in the margin 'Books and Authorities for the History of the Bards' (73), brief notes referring to old inscriptions [in Britain], the features called Caer y Vynwent and Maen y chwyfan in co. Flint, the administration of the Isle of Man, and the Picts (77-80), a brief note relating to medieval North Wales prose (86), notes headed 'August 30th 1808' containing brief topographical, agricultural, etc. memoranda referring to places called Bryn y Menyn [on] Coettre Hen Estate, Cefn Hirgoed, and Hirwaen [? co. Glamorgan] (90), a brief note relating to 'chware cnau mewn Ilaw Morganwg' (93), lists of subject or chapter headings for a ? four - volume work to be divided into 'Volume of Welsh Tracts Translated', 'Historical Volume', 'Vol. III. Barddoniaeth amrafaelion oesoedd a Thestunau', and 'Volume IV' (no headings but to contain sections on, or relating to, 'Meddygon Myddfai', 'Cato Gymraeg', 'Trin Perllanau', 'Hen arddoriaeth', etc.) (94), a brief note on influences on North Walian and South Walian poetry (95), a note on the number of letters in the ? Welsh alphabet at various times (96), a Welsh bardic triad (96), a short list of Welsh proverbs (97), a note referring to the state of the Welsh language and the language of the Normans at the time of the Norman settlement in Wales, the adoption of Welsh by Norman authors such as, allegedly, Robert, earl of Glo[uceste]r, Walter de Mapes, Robert, duke of Normandy, etc. (98), a list of various taxes or fees, e.g. churchwardens' rate, fees for notices to quit, charges for parish register certificates, etc. (100), brief notes relating to the functions of the 'Penrhaith, the most ancient Title of sovereignty in Britain, i.e. Chief or Foreman of the Rhaith or Senatorial Assembly', the lesser officials called 'pencenedl', the assembly called 'Rhaith Gwlad', etc., references to the allegedly false views of the seventeenth century antiquary Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt on these matters in his book British Antiquities Revived, and more general remarks on 'monokingism' and what is termed 'natural Government, not hereditary, not elective' (101-07), a brief note relating to 'corfannau' ( 110), notes referring to scripts of ancient inscriptions headed 'Saxon Characters' (111-112), a note relating to 'Englynion byrron' and 'Englynion hirion' in Glamorgan and the defining of certain types of 'odlau' by . . . Swrdwal (113), a note relating to the word 'rhath' and to the village and church of Rhath near Cardiff (120), statistics relating to the religions of the world 'From Malte Brun's System of Universal Geography, Paris, 1816' (125), a list of various bardic 'cylymau' headed 'Cwlm Eisteddfod, cwlm gorsedd' (166), a note headed 'Sapiential and Satyrical Triades' (167), a list of ten subject or chapter headings under the general superscription 'Collections for a History of the Ancient British Bards and Druids' (169-70), three lists of Welsh historico-literary material and / or authors under the headings (1) 'Oldest Documents', (2) 'Northwalian Grammars', and (3) 'Southwalian recent' (170), a note containing generalisations concerning the Welsh language (179-80), and other miscellanea; extracts from a variety of printed sources including [Henry Home] Lord Kaimes: Elements of Criticism, [John] Lempriere: A Classical Dictionary, [Paul Henri] Mallet: Northern Antiquities, Monthly Review, Month[ly] Mag[axine], The Edinburgh Review, The Critical Review, Courier, and Thomas Langley: [An Abridgement of the Notable Worke of] Polidore Vergile; etc.

A composite volume consisting of previously separate, home-made booklets containing material in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound into one volume). P. 11 (probably the 'title-page' of the section now paginated 13-100) is inscribed 'General View of the Agriculture of the County of Glamorgan, 1796', and is followed (pp. 13-100) by an incomplete essay on the said county [by Edward Williams]. This essay contains four chapters with sectional sub-headings 'Situation, Extent, etc.', '[Divisions and] Market Towns', 'Climate', 'Soil and Surface', 'Minerals', 'Water' (rivers, springs), 'State of Property' (mode of tenure, a list of the principal landholders), 'Buildings' (building materials, a list of the seats of landed gentry, a description of a typical farmhouse, outbuildings, cottages, etc.), 'Size of farms and character of farmers', 'Rent', and 'Tithes'. P. 101 bears the inscription 'Antiquities of Lantwit Major in the County of Glamorgan. Collected from various Documents. By Edward Williams. 1800', and is followed (pp. 105-39) by material relating to St. Illtud and the monastery and monastic school at Llanilltud, descriptions of inscribed stones at Llanilltud, and details of a twelve- point plan for setting up a committee and employing salaried research workers to supervise and undertake research for a history of the county of Glamorgan. A good deal of the material relating to Llanilltud is allegedly taken from an account compiled by the Reverend David Nichols, M.A., in 1729, and the whole of the contents of pp. 105-39 is presented in the form of a letter [from Edward Williams] to David Thomas, esqr., at Bath, 20 October 1798 (see IM, t. 307). P. 165 is inscribed 'Collection for the History of Dunraven, 1814', and is followed (pp. 169-87) by miscellaneous historical, pseudo-historical, and genealogical material relating to Dunraven Castle [co. Glamorgan] and its owners, and to Bran Vendigaid ap Llyr and his son Caradog (Caractacus) both of whom allegedly resided at Dunraven, (p. 188) an outline scheme or chapter headings for a proposed history of Dunraven Castle, and (on two unnumbered leaves between p. 188 and p. 189) a copy of a letter, ? 2 February 1818, from [Edward Williams] from Keven Cribor [co. Glamorgan], to Mrs. Wyndham of Dunraven Castle relating to the writer's research work concerning the said seat and the notes he was forwarding. Pp. 211-17 contain an incomplete copy of 'An Account of the cause of the conquest of Glamorgan by Sir Robert Fitz Haymon and his twelve Knights by Sir Edward Mansell of Margam, Knight' (for this and a fuller 'account' attributed to the same author in NLW MS 13161A (Llanover C. 74) see TLLM, tt. 200-03). P. 251 is inscribed 'List of Sheriffs and Und[er]sheriffs For the County of Glamorgan From the year 1541 To the year (blank) From a MS. in the Possession of the Revd. Mr. Davies of Wenvoe . . . 1808', and is followed ( pp. 255-71) by the said list for the period 1541-1808. Other items in the volume include extracts from a biographical dictionary (1798) relating to the English poet John Gower, Robert of Gloucester (temp. Henry II), and [Thomas] Sternhold (ob. 1549) (pp. 155-6); further notes relating to Dunraven Castle (p. 190); an extract from a letter from W. Davies to O. Jones, 1792 (p. 195); anecdotes relating to the brothers Richard and William Twrch and the building of a porch at Bewper [co. Glamorgan] (see also NLW MSS 13089E, 13103B, and IM, tt. 272-3) (pp. 205-07); a list of 'Castles in Gower' (p. 232); notes on birds (unnumbered leaf between p. 232 and p. 233); a note on the construction of a wheelbarrow (p. 233); a copy of an 'englyn' by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg', etc. (p. 234); a copy of the inscription on the tomb of Edward Pritchard, rector of Flimnston (sic) [co. Glamorgan], ob. 1742, and his wife Margaret, ob. 1707/08, in Trefemin (Flemingston) church (p. 235); notes on Caer Fule, a Roman fortification near St. Olave's Church, Newport, and Trefela, a village in the parish of Llangwm near Usk (p. 236); a note on the rocks in Glam[organshire] (p. 237); copies of an 'englyn' and a six-line stanza of Welsh verse by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' (p. 238); brief notes referring to Jenkin Jones of Llangyfelach, 'minister of a Catabaptistical Congregation circa anno 1649', [William] Erbury, Walter Caradoc, Samuel Jones of Bryn Llywarch, and Morgan Llwyd (p. 239); a note on Huw Spencer, the younger, and his building activities in Glamorgan, ? temp. Edward II (p. 240); a list of Welsh superstitions ('Ofergoelion Gwlad Gymru') (p. 242 ); and notes on an outbreak of plague at Drenewydd Notais (Newton Nottage) [co. Glamorgan], circa 1620-1630 (p. 243).