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A volume of notes in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bearing the inscription 'History of the British Bards. Common Place Book. No. IV. By Edward Williams . . .' on the 'title-page'. Pp. 2- 11, 32-61, 70-103, 112-25 contain the text of an essay on various schools of Welsh poetry which, under the title 'History of the British Bards' and with the subtitles 'Primitive School', 'School of Taliesin', and 'School of Gruffudd ap Cynan alias of Glynn Achlach', was subsequently published in The Cambrian Journal, 1858, pp. 161-9, ibid., 1859, pp. 10-29, 132-41, 241-55, and ibid., 1860, pp. 7-21. Pp. 12-24 contain extracts from, and abstracts of sections of, two letters from Sharon Turner to the Reverend John Brand as secretary of the Society of Antiquaries which, under the headings 'An Inquiry respecting the early use of rhime . . .' and 'A further inquiry respecting the early use of rhime ...', were published in Archaeologia or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity, vol. XIV, 1803, pp. 168-204. These extracts, etc., were published in The Cambrian Journal, 1858, pp. 353-63 being inserted there as a section of the aforementioned essay entitled 'History of the British Bards'. Pp. 26-7, 62-5, 126-31, 192- 203, 232-3 (each page headed 'Alphabet Bards. Allusions to') contain couplets or longer extracts from the works of Welsh poets, these apparently being presumed to contain references to the bardic practice of writing on wooden surfaces using the special alphabet allegedly used by the Welsh bards (see the preceding manuscript No. 13107B) or words and phrases whose metaphorical use reflected such a practice. The contents of other pages include p. 28 (headed 'Hu Gadarn'), two couplets of Welsh verse relating to Hu [Gadarn]; pp. 66-9 (each page headed 'Bards Discipline Miscellaneous'), extracts from the works of Welsh poets, etc., relating mainly to the bards of Tir Iarll; pp. 104-05, notes under the page headings 'Preface to the History of the Bards, Collections for' ( these notes also appear in The Cambrian Journal, 1860, pp. 10-11, as part of the abovementioned essay on the Welsh bards although they obviously do not form part of the narrative of the text of that essay); pp. 132-6 (each page headed 'Schools of Welsh Poetry [Primitive School]'), further observations relating to the primitive school of Welsh poets, its survival in Glamorgan until the seventeenth century, and the foundation of a new school of poets beginning with Rhys Goch ap Riccert, circa 1130, 'in the Silurian district of Wales'; pp. 137-43, blank except for page headings as in pp. 132-6; pp. 150-51, each page headed 'Ossian', otherwise blank; pp. 180-83 (each page headed 'Alliteration'), a note on the definition of the word alliteration, an analysis of an example of alliteration in English verse, examples of its use in 'Caedmon's Paraphrase on Genesis', and a brief note on its use by Saxon poets and its introduction into Welsh poetry; pp. 204-15, each page headed 'Institutes and customs alluded to', otherwise blank; pp. 216-23 (each page headed 'Mythologies'), a triad relating to the proper name Menw on p. 216, otherwise blank; and pp. 240- 41, each page headed 'Inquiries Miscellaneous', otherwise blank. On a 'fly- leaf' at the beginning of the volume are sketches of five musical instruments surrounded by a number of circles containing the names of grades of Welsh bards and musicians extracted 'from a MS. in the Havod Library, 1790'.

Miscellaneous papers containing lists, notes, etc., in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together in one volume. The contents are extremely varied and include miscellaneous series of Welsh triads including series with the superscriptions 'Trioedd Ieuan ap Hywel Swrdwal', 'Trioedd o Lyfr Esaia Pywel sef Trioedd Llelo Llawdrwm', 'Trioedd Iaith ac Ymadrodd Iorwerth Fynglwyd', 'Trioedd Dwyfolaeth', 'Trioedd athronddysg', 'Trioedd Serch Dafydd Morganwg Bardd Ifor Hael', and 'Trioedd Esaia Powel' (pp. 1-3, 12, 14-15, 18, 24, 26, 28, 30-33, 35, 54-5, 83); lists of Welsh words sometimes with English definitions (pp. 10, 81-2, 86-7, 91-2, 101, 103, 105-06, 115-16, 120, 127, 129-33, 138, 149-52, 157- 203, 244-5, 251-4); lists of Welsh proverbs and proverbial expressions including one list headed 'Meteorological and Terracultural proverbs in Glamorgan' (pp. 28, 69-72, 77-80, 107-08, 113-14, 260-61); notes relating to the order of Welsh bards and musicians (pp. 6-7); a copy of an English poem with the superscription 'Bardic Institutes Written at Carn Moesen an ancient Druidical pile on the top of Craig y Llynn Mawr, a high mountain in the northern part of Glamorgan in Wales' (pp. 20-22); miscellaneous genealogical notes (pp. 39-42); lists [of Glamorgan relevance] headed 'Tai Cre[fydd]' (p. 47), 'Hen Gaste[lloedd] . . . Morgan' (pp.48-9), 'Llysoed[d]' (p.50), 'Hen Drefydd' (p.50), 'Glamorgan Topography' (p. 52), 'Beirdd Morganwg' (p. 56), 'Villages in Glamorgan wherein Town Halls and Market houses are still standing and kept up in good repair. They were originally used for holding markets and Baronial Courts of the Lords Marchers, now the hall is used as a school room, for dancing, . . .' (pp. 64-5), 'Present Market Towns' (p. 65), 'Antiquities in Glam[organ]' (p. 66), and 'Old names in Glamorgan' (p. 98); a short list of the names of Welsh bards, 12th - 17th cent. (p. 53); Welsh stanzas with the superscription 'Bedd bennillion a gant I. Mg.' (p. 58); notes relating to a reputed attempt by King Arthur to regulate the rules relating to armorial bearings (p. 68); a chronological list of events in British / Welsh history, 5th - 6th cent. ( pp. 73-6); Welsh verse with the superscription 'Hen ddiarhebion ar fesur dyri gan Iolo Morganwg' (p. 77); two short Cornish-Silurian lists of words (pp. 85, 88); the first lines of thirty nine 'awdlau' and 'cywyddau' ? attributed to the poet Iolo Goch 'yn Llyfr R. Jones' (pp. 96-7); 'Deuddeg Cynneddf Doethineb' (p. 117); notes relating to the poet Rhys Goch ap Rhiccart and his possible imbibing of Norman - French poetic influences ( pp. 121-2); a brief note on the 'stile and dialect and idiom' of the Welsh bards (p. 128); notes relating mainly to the Glam[organ] system and the North Wales system [of Welsh strict metres] (pp. 136-7); an incomplete account of ? rules and regulations reputedly drawn up by King Arthur at a conference at Caerleon for regulating the conduct, etc., of the Welsh bardic order (pp. 225-8); notes headed 'Llyma'r Drefn a wnaeth yr Amherawdr Arthur ar Fonhedd ag Anfonedd yr hon drefn y dylai bob bardd ei gwybod . . .' (pp. 229-34); notes relating to successive Welsh princes, etc., who had drawn up or revised codes for regulating the conduct, etc., of the Welsh bards and musicians (p. 235); miscellaneous notes relating to Welsh bardism and strict metres (pp. 236-40, 264); miscellaneous extracts of varying length from the works of various Welsh poets sometimes to provide examples of specific words (pp. 241-56); and extracts 'Ex Cwtta Cyfarwydd o Forganwg' listing the cantrefi and cymydau of Glamorgan (p. 262). In one instance the blank dorse and margins of a printed pamphlet bearing the superscription 'An Affectionate Address to Colliers, Miners, and Labouring People', 1785 (pp. 61-2, 67-8) have been used for writing notes, and in two other instances notes have been written on leaves bearing two poems entitled 'War' and 'Liberty' attributed to Morgan Williams, 1821 (pp. 109-12) and a poem entitled 'Picture of a Good Man' attributed to Edward Martin, 1818 (pp. 101-02, 119-20).

A volume of notes in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bearing the inscription 'History of the British Bards. Common Place Book No. 111 by Edward Williams . . .' on the title-page. The contents include pp. 2-35 (each page headed 'Alphabet (Bards)'), brief notes on a mythological and pseudo-historical account of the origin of letters and the British bardic alphabet, comments on the paucity of evidence, other than mythological accounts, relating to the origin of alphabets, examples of alphabets designated 'Coelbren y Beirdd' or '[British] Bards Alphabet', 'Coelbren y Meneich' or '[British] Monks Alphabet', 'Egwyddor Gymraeg' or 'Modern or Common Welsh Alphabet', and 'Old Monumental British', 'Old Gallic', 'Runic', and 'Ancient Etruscan' alphabets, notes on the origin of, or connection between, these alphabets, notes on the use of the Welsh bardic alphabet for writing by inscribing on wooden surfaces, a description of a 'peithynen' i.e. a series of four- sided 'billets' of wood (ebill, plural ebillion) upon which literary or other material had been inscribed in the bardic alphabet and which had then been inserted in sequence in an upright, wooden frame in such a way as to allow each unit to revolve, a list of 'catachrestical words and phrases to prove that the ancient English or Saxons practised a method of inscribing letters upon wood', and further observations, etc., relating to the above topics (see also NLW MSS 13087E, 13093E, 13097B); pp. 36-43 (each page headed 'Poetry preceded Prose [authorities]'), extracts from the works of various English authors on the theme that poetry preceded prose in the literatures of various nations, and notes on the literature of North and South Wales, 12th-14th cent., referring to the South Wales poet Rhys Goch ap Rhys ap Rhiccart, the superiority of North Wales in the field of poetry and of South Wales in the production of prose, and the belief that the 'Silurian dialect' was the 'written literary dialect' of North Wales down to the mid-sixteenth century; p. 44 (headed 'Letters, when first known in Britain'), a brief comment on the antiquity of the Welsh language and on the knowledge of letters, etc., amongst the Britons; pp. 45-7 (blank, but each page bearing the same heading as p. 44); pp. 48-65 are blank; pp. 66-70 (each page headed 'Poetry preceded Prose [Authorities]'), extracts from the works of various authors on the theme denoted in the page headings; pp. 71-7 (blank, but each page bearing the same heading as pp. 66-70); and pp. 78-83 (each page headed 'Letters, when first known in Britain'), extracts being mainly extracts from Caesar: De Bello Gallico relating to the Druids. The remaining pages (pp. 84-254) are blank.

Miscellaneous papers and home-made booklets containing material in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together in one volume. The contents include pp. 1-10, an incomplete, alphabetical list (A - G only) of the names of Welsh bards with dates (floruit) and occasional notes, allegedly transcribed in the house of [David Thomas] 'Dafydd Ddu o Eryri' at Traeth Coch, Anglesey, in 1799 from a volume previously in the possession of the Reverend Dafydd Elis of Amlwch, Anglesey; 23, notes relating to bardism; 24-5, anecdotes relating to Ieuan Deulwyn and Antoni Pywel of Llwydarth incorporating 'englynion' by both; 27-9, notes relating to the bardic 'cadair Tir Iarll'; 39-42, notes headed 'Llyma Ddosparth ar Deilyngdawd y Beirdd herwydd pob un ei radd a'i swydd'; 45-7, notes on measures taken by Ceraint Fardd Glas, Rhys ap Tewdwr, and Gruffudd ap Cynan in connection with the Welsh strict poetic metres; 55-87, references to, and extracts from, the works of various Welsh poets mainly the 'cywyddwyr', with notes on some of the poets and/or poems and their contents; 88-98, notes on Dafydd Ddu o Hiraddug referring to his connection with the 'cywydd' measure, the bardic grammar associated with his name and that of Edeyrn Dafawd Aur, and the translation into Welsh of the Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and mentioning the possibility of identifying Dafydd Ddu Hiraddug with Dafydd Ddu Fynach 'o Fonachlog Nedd' and Dafydd Ddu Athraw of the parish of Pen Tyrch [co. Glamorgan]; 104, a philological note on the word 'Cymmry'; 105- 15, notes incorporating comments on the word 'Cymry' (Kimmeri) as a national appellative and the early development of the language of the Cymry, an attack on tendencies to introduce new rules of orthography into the Welsh language, a comment on the need for 'a good Dictionary . . . of the Langu[age] as well as a good Grammar', a suggestion for establishing a 'Welsh corresponding Academy for restoring to its pristine purity the Ancient British or Welsh Language', etc.; 116, a list of twenty literary and historical subjects headed 'Progress of literary taste for improvement in Eastern South Wales'; 117, copies of two alphabets described as 'The most ancient Irish Alphabet named Bobeloth' and 'Irish Marcomanic or Marcomanic Runes'; 119, notes on ? bardic and public alphabets; 121-2, further notes on the Cimbri, Cymmry, or Cimmeri and their language; 137-41, lists or groups of miscellaneous Welsh words or phrases; 153-68, a brief account of religious dissent in Glamorgan in the 16th and 17th centuries with mention of Thomas Llywelyn, the bard, preaching to congregations at Blaen Cannaid and Rhegoes and translating the Bible into Welsh, and references to Wm. Erbury, Walter Caradog, Morgan Llwyd's visits to Glamorgan, the congregation at Blaen Cannaid, Lydia Phelle, meetings at Mynwent y Cwacers, Samuel Jones of Brynn Llywarch, and chapels or congregations at Tref y Ryg, parish of Llantrisan, Cefn Hengoed, parish of Gelli Gaer, Cwm y Glo near Merthyr, Ynys Gou in Merthyr, Coed y Cymmer near Merthyr, Cwm Cynnon near Aberdare, Hirwaen Forgan, parish of Aberdare, and Cymmer yr Ystrad, parish of Llantrisaint, all under the superscription 'Mân gofion am rai pethau eglwysig a chrefyddol a gefais gan y diweddar Mr. Morgan Llywelyn o Gastell Nedd'; 185-209, groups of Welsh words, verse extracts, etc.; 215-17, two lists containing the names of authors (Geoffrey of Monmouth, Morgan Llwyd, etc.), individual literary or historical works (Mabinogion, Drych y Prifoesoedd, etc.), and categories of material (Achau'r Saint, Triads, etc.), the first headed 'Our Ancient [Welsh] Prose Classics' and the second 'Modern [Welsh] Classics in prose', with a brief note on the language, etc., of these authors or works and criticism of the language of works written by modern, Welsh Unitarian writers; 218-20, brief notes on the characteristics of Welsh poetry from the earliest times with mention of Gruffudd ap Cynan, Rhys Goch ap Rhiccert, and Dafydd ap Gwilym; 221-3, notes on the formation of compound words in Welsh; 236, a list of words headed 'Specimens of roughness or of rugged words in the English'; 241-4, extracts from the works of Wm. Cynwal, Iorwerth Fynglwyd, Gwilym ab Ieuan Hen, Meredydd ap Rhys, and Llywelyn ap Ednyfed under the heading 'Caethiwed y Beirdd wedi darfod y Tywysogion'; (continued)

245-6, extracts from [? Henry] Hunter: Sacred Biography [London, 1783]; 247, brief notes headed 'Traddodiadau Morganwg am Owain Glyn Dwr'; 265-6, extracts from [Richard] Baxter: Poetical Fragments [London, 1681]; 269, extracts from Wm. Forbes: [An Account of the] Life of [James] Beattie [1807]; 269, an anecdote relating to Owain Glyndwr and an ash tree on Sterling Down [co. Glamorgan]; 270, brief notes headed 'Meteorology of Glam[organ]'; 271, a transcript of six stanzas of English verse headed 'Old song commonly sung in Glamorgan]'; 273, a transcript of three 'englynion' attributed to Rhisiart Tomas of Pen y Bont ar Ogwr, with a note thereon by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg'; 274-5, a list of names of saints with churches founded by them in cos. Glamorgan and Monmouth allegedly from a volume in the possession of Siôn Bradford; 283, a note on an 'eisteddfod' held at Ystrad Ywaen [co. Glamorgan], ? 1603; 283-4, a note relating to the preservation of traditions, historical memorials, etc. in Wales; 285-7, a list of miscellaneous Welsh words with English or Latin definitions; 287, copies of four 'englynion' by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg'; 301-?92, extracts from ? [J. Pinkerton:] Walpoliana; 393- 415, extracts from The Monthly Review, 1790, vols. 1 and 2, ibid., 1807, etc.; 415, a transcript of two 'englynion' to the Baptist meeting house at Maeshaleg [co. ] attributed to Harri Siôn of Pont y Pwl; ? 422 + 423, a short list of Welsh maxims headed 'Agricul[t]ural Maxims in Glamorgan]'; 424, four Welsh proverbs described as 'Glam[organ] proverb]s'; 424, specifications of 'Buarth mawr in Wick, a large Ruin, an Armory of the Dutchy of Lancaster ait Thos. Truman'; 428-9; a list of invaders of Britain ('Llyma son ysbysbwyll am yr Estroniaid a ddaethant i Ynys Prydain yn ormes yn erbyn Braint Cenedl y Cymry'); 429-37, miscellaneous groups of Welsh words, miscellaneous memoranda, and two stanzas of Welsh verse attributed to Siôn William; 438-40, suggestions in Welsh concerning matters for discussion at an annual meeting of Unitarians ('y Dwyfundodiaid') [to be held] in Aberdare [co. Glamorgan], N.D.; 441-56, miscellaneous memoranda, a brief note on the difference between North Wales and South Wales dialect, extracts from The Monthly Review, 1807, a transcript of a brief letter, 1807, from J. Franklen from Lanmihangle to Mr. Hooper, ? concerning a right of way, a brief note on Chinese methods of propagating fruit trees, extracts from speeches by Napoleon, etc.; 461- 4, a transcript of a sequence of thirty 'Englynion y Gorugau' attributed to Y Bardd Glas o'r Gadair; 465, a short list of Welsh triads ('Trioedd Amrafaelion'); 466, a note on Hugh Lupus, earl of Chester, ob. 1107; 468, a transcript of six more 'Gorugau' stanzas; 470, an anecdote relating to Ieuan fawr ap y Diwlith 'o Gil Fai'; 471, brief notes headed 'Llyma son am Glymau Cerdd dafawd herwydd y mesurau'; 472-3, 476 lists or groups of Welsh words; 477, notes with the incipit 'Llyma'r modd y nottaynt yr hen athrawon hyspysu cof amseroedd'; 478, a list of Welsh poetic measures headed 'Hen Ddosparth Tir Iarll', and a brief note commencing 'Llyma ddosparth y Corfannau a wnaeth Hopkin Thomas o Gil Fai . . . '; 479, rules relating to the training of bardic trainees or disciples; 480, a note relating to 'mesurau profest'; 480-85, pseudo-historical notes relating to the Welsh strict metres and the bardic system with mention of Rhys ab Tewdwr, Gruffudd ap Cynan, Llawdden Fardd, Dafydd ap Edmwnt, 'eisteddfodau' at Carmarthen 1450 and 1460, etc.; 486, a list of Welsh words ending in - ur with English definitions; 488, an anecdote relating to Sir Edward Stradlin and Dr. John David Rhys; 491, a short list of Welsh proverbs headed 'Diarhebion Morganwg'; 493-6 a brief note on the appearance of double and alternate rhymes in South Wales and on the form of the verbal termination for the third person singular past tense in the works of medieval Welsh poets, and miscellaneous Welsh word or phrase lists; 514, a short list of Welsh words with, in some instances, English or Latin definitions or equivalents; 519, notes on financial contributions headed 'Dwyfundodiaid, 1813, Gelli Onnen'; 521-9, miscellaneous notes noting, inter alia, archaeological remains, remains of abbeys, 'edifices by Inigo Jones' and repairs effected by him, various plants, fruit, trees, minerals, rocks, etc., to be found in various locations in co. Glamorgan; 531, brief notes on Dunraven Castle, Boverton Castle and Place, and Hays Castle in Lantwit and the remains of a camp adjacent to it; 532, a biographical note on John Hopkins 'versifier of the Psalms', ob. 1541; etc.