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A manuscript in two volumes containing a corpus of Welsh strict-metre verse consisting almost entirely of 'cywyddau', and a few Welsh prose items. The foliation of the 'text' (original f. 1 missing, original ff. 2-21 renumbered 1-20, a previously unnumbered folio between original ff. 21-2 now f. 21, ff. 22-623 as originally numbered with 75 twice and 265 and 577 missed out) is continuous, and the division into vol. I (ff. 1-300), now NLW MS 13061B, and vol. II (ff. 301-623), now NLW MS 13062B, occurs in the middle of a poem. Unnumbered leaves of later origin than those of the text have been inserted at the beginning and end of each volume. The manuscript, sometimes referred to as 'Y Byrdew Mawr', is in the hand of Thomas ab Ieuan of Tre'r-bryn, parish of Coychurch, co. Glamorgan, the scribe of NLW MSS 13063B, 13069B, and 13085B, and was probably transcribed in the last quarter of the seventeenth century, partly from the manuscripts of an earlier Glamorgan copyist, Llywelyn Siôn (see TLLM, tt. 95, 167-73, 218-19, 268; IM, tt. 87, 154, 264; and IMCY, tt. 81, 175). It was probably presented to Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') by the copyist's grandson also named Thomas ab Ifan (see TLLM, tt. 170, 268). The contents include (revised foliation) :- 1 recto - verso, rules re interpreting the significance of dreams in relation to the phases of the moon (incomplete); 1 verso-8 recto, another set of rules (183) for interpreting dreams ('Deall braiddwydon herwydd Daniel broffwyd'); 8 recto-11 recto, a sequence of forty-eight 'englynion' entitled 'Englynion rhwng Arthur a Liflod i nai' (see The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, vol. II, pp. 269-86); 11 recto-verso, a poem attributed to 'Taliesin ben bayrdd'; 12 recto-15 verso, prognostications including 'Arwyddion kyn dydd brawd', and four 'englynion'; 16 recto-21 recto, 'Llyma anian diwarnodav y vlwyddyn o gwbl oll'; 21 verso, prognostications re birthdays; and 22 recto-623 verso, poems ('cywyddau' unless otherwise indicated) by Iorwerth Vynglwyd (17), Ieuan Rydd, Tydur Aled (12), Howel ap Rainallt (3), Mathav ap Lle'n Goch, Lewys y Glynn (7), Davydd ap Edmwnt (5), Siôn y kent (24), Davydd llwyd (2), Risiart Iorwerth (4), Llawdden (or Ieuan Llawdden) (6), Davydd Nanmor (5), Iolo Goch (8), Ieuan Daelwyn (13), Lewys Morgannwg ( 18), Thomas Lle'n (5, also 1 'englyn'), Howel ap Davydd ap Ieuan ap Rys (17), Ieuan Tew Bry[dy]dd Ievank (3), Huw Kae Llwyd (8), Ieuan Dyvi (2), Ieuan ap Howel Swrdwal (2), Davydd Llwyd Lle'n ap Gr' (3), Risiart ap Rys Brydydd (3), Tomos Derllysg (4), Gyttyn Kairiog, Ieuan Llwyd ap Gwilym, Ieuan Rydderch ap Ieuan Llwyd (3), Robert Laia, Ieuan Du Bowen Lle'nn ap Howel ap Ieuan ap Gronw (7), Rys Goch 'o Vochgarn', Ieuan Brydydd Hir, Gytto'r Glynn (25), Maredydd Brydydd, Howel Swrdwal (3), Thomas Lle'n Dio Powell (2), William Kynwal, Siôn Tydyr (7), Hyw Davi 'o Wynedd' (3), Huw Davi, Tomas ap Siôn Kati (2), Syr Rys 'o Garno', Syr Lewys Maudw, Syr Phylip Emlyn (2), Huw Lewis, Davydd Ddu Hiraddug, Davydd ap Gwilym (10), Bedo Aurddrem, Morys ap Howel, Ieuan Tew Brydydd (9), Siôn Brwynog, Harri ap Rys ap Gwilym (3), Morys ap Rys, Davydd Benwyn (11), Rydderch Siôn Lle' nn, Sils ap Siôn (3), Lle'n ap Owain, Syr Huw Robert L'en (3), Davydd ap Rys, Thomas Gryffydd, Siôn Phylip, Gwyrfyl verch Howel Vychan, Morgan ap Howel (or Powel) (4), Lle'n Siôn (8), Gryffydd Gryg (5), Maredydd ap Rys, Tydur Penllyn (2), Gronw Wiliam, Bedo Phylip Bach (4), Siôn Mowddwy (11), Rogier Kyffin (4), Wiliam Gryffydd ap Siôn (2), Hyw Dwnn, Lewys Môn (5), Wiliam Egwad (2), Ieuan Du'r Bilwg (2), Rys Brydydd, Daio ap Ieuan Du or Daio Du o Benn Adainiol (3), Gwilim Tew Brydydd (10), Rys Brychan, Maredydd ap Roser, Daio Lliwiel, Lle'nn Goch y Dant, Gryffydd Davydd Ychan (2), Syr Gryffydd Vychan, Lang Lewys, Rys Llwyd Brydydd, Meistr Harri Le'n ( 2), Siôn ap Howel Gwyn (2), William Llvn (5), Ieuan Gethin (ap Ieuan ap Llaison) (3), Gwilim ap Ieuan Hen, Ieuan ap Hyw, Gryffydd Hiraethog (5), Rys Pennarth, Davydd Llwyd Mathav (4), Davydd Emlyn, Davydd Goch Brydydd 'o Vyellt' (2), Rys Nanmor (3), Risiart Vynglwyd (2), Watkin Powel (6), Mairig Davydd (4), Ieuan Rauadr, Owain Gwynedd, Morgan Elfel, Syr Davydd Llwyd (3), Ieuan Thomas (4), Rys Goch 'o Eryri' (3), Lle'n vab Moel y Pantri (2), Syr Davydd ap Phylip Rys, Rys Trem, Siankin y ddyfynog (3), Morys ap Lle'nn, Risiart Thomas, Lle'nn Mairig, Gryffydd Llwyd ap Davydd ap Einon, Gryffydd Llwyd ap Einon Lygliw, Hopgin Thom Phylip, Edward Davydd (4), Ieuan Du Davydd ap Owain, Bedo Brwynllys, Thomas ap Rys 'o Blas Iolyn', Thomas Wiliam Howel, Davydd ap Ieuan Ddu, Syr Owain ap Gwilym, Rys ap Harri 'o Euas' (2), Edwart ap Rys, Davydd Manuel 'o Sir Drefaldwyn', SiamsThomas, Thomas Brwynllys, and Swrdwal. The unnumbered folios at the beginning of each volume contain a list of the contents of the volume giving, in the case of the poems, the name of the poet, in a hand bearing a strong resemblance to that of William Owen Pughe, and the title of the poem, in the hand of Edward Williams. The folios at the end of the first volume contain an index of the bards whose works appear in both volumes. This is possibly in the hand of Hugh Maurice, tanner and copyist. On one of the added folios at the end of the second volume is a poem to the Reverend John Jones, D.D., dean of [the cathedral church of] Bangor. Both volumes contain marginalia in the hand of Edward Williams.

Miscellaneous papers and booklets or note-books containing notes, lists, transcripts, etc., in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together in one volume. The contents include, pagination in brackets, a list of one hundred and sixty-one items headed 'Welsh MSS. in the Possession of E[dward] Williams ['Iolo Morganwg']. Transcripts' (1-13); a list of thirty-one items headed 'Hen Ysgriflyfrau' being apparently manuscript volumes in the aforementioned Edward Williams’'s possession (15-16; many of these items can be identified amongst the Llanover manuscripts now being described); a list of titles of ? 'cywyddau' with numbers, poets' names, and page references headed 'MS. at Revd. Mr. Peter Williams', etc. (17-19); a list of the titles and / or first lines of forty-four 'cywyddau' and 'awdlau' under the name H[ywel ap] D[afydd ap] I[euan ap] Rhys and of two 'awdlau' under the name Gwilym Tew with page references, these corresponding to the pagination of transcripts of poems with the same titles or first lines by these poets (excepting one by Bedo Brwynllys to the said Hywel Dafydd) in Cwrt Mawr MS 12 in the National Library of Wales (20-24); a list of the titles of ? 'cywyddau' with the poets' names or initials and page references headed 'D[afydd] Dd[u] Eryn Broad Folio' (25-6); a list of the titles of 'cywyddau' and 'awdlau' headed 'Long vol. folio Piser Hir' with the poets' names or initials and page references the latter corresponding to the pagination of transcripts of poems with the same titles by the said poets in the manuscript known as Y Piser Hir now NLW Deposited MS 55 (27-30); a brief note referring to 'A Book with D.T. containing a large collection of Gronwy Owain's Letters . . .', etc. (31); extracts from poems attributed to R[hys] G[och] Eryri, Gruff. ap Daf. ap Einion Lygliw, L[ewis] G[lyn] Cothi, Iolo Goch, and B[edo] Brwynllys, (41-4); (41-4); a sequence of entries consisting of titles of Welsh poems, mainly 'cywyddau', with or without the name of the poet, first lines of, or extracts from, such poems, attributions only of poems, brief data re a poem or a poet, brief comments relating to a poem such as 'good, to be copied', 'to be copied, important', often without the name of the poem or poet, etc., these entries being accompanied by page references and these obviously referring to the pagination of the Welsh Charity School MS which is now British Museum Add. MS 14866 (44-58); further extracts from, or references to, items in ? the Welsh Charity School MSS now in the British Museum including transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Wm. Cynwal, D. ab Edmund, and Tywysog Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (58-60, 69); a brief note relating to court officials in [medieval] Gwynedd, Pywys, and Deheubarth (71); an incomplete note re a linear measure called 'Mesur Llath Fleddyn' (72); a survey of Welsh bardism from the time of the Emperor Arthur to the seventeenth century attributed to Edward Dafydd referring to, inter alia, the measures taken by the Emperor Arthur to restore the bardic system, the 'eisteddfodau' of Gruffudd ab Cynan, the 'eisteddfod' at Caerfyrddin in 1452 and the twenty- four strict-metre system adopted there, 'eisteddfodau' held at Yr Adur and Aberpergwm in the time of Iorwerth Fynglwyd and at Abertawy in the time of Lewys Morganwg, a volume on the allegedly truly traditional poetic metres compiled by Lewys Morganwg and volumes by Meuryg Dafydd and Dafydd Benwyn on the same theme, an 'eisteddfod' at 'Castell Caer Dydd' convened by Sir William Herbert where Llywelyn Siôn was chief adjudicator, the condemning of the Carmarthen system of strict metres and the authorising of an alternate, truer system [the Glamorgan system] at this 'eisteddfod', a volume by Llywelyn Siôn containing an account of this system, and the writer [i.e. Edward Dafydd]'s intention of publishing this account and other bardic material in a printed volume (73-82; see the foreword in Cyfrinach Beirdd Ynys Prydain attributed to the said Edward Dafydd, and for a comment on the whole matter see TLLM, t. 91); (continued)

Notes on Welsh poetic metres headed 'Llyma son am y mesurau Cerdd Dafawd ag fal au gwellhawyd o amser i amser ag o beth i beth ag o farn i farn' (82-8); an incomplete ? draft of an undated letter from . . . to . . . containing observations on a book (? in two parts or volumes entitled 'Oes Ymbwyll' and 'Oes y Pwyll') by recipient concerning revealed religion (89-104); a list of words, phrases, etc., headed 'Allusions to Coelbren y Beirdd in D.G. and to other arts and sciences' with page references to the said allusions [these, by inference, being extracted from the collection of Dafydd ap Gwilym's poems published by Owen Jones and William Owen in 1789 under the title Barddoniaeth Dafydd ab Gwilym] (105-07); miscellaneous notes relating to bardic matters such as the nature or attributes of 'cerdd gadair', 'cerdd arwest', 'cerdd dant', 'arwyddfardd', and 'cerdd deuluaidd' (113-25); notes relating to the contribution of Talhaiarn Fardd, Ystudfach Fardd, Ceraint Fardd Glas, Taliesin Ben Beirdd, Rhys Goch ap Rhiccart, Casnodyn Fardd, Dafydd ap Gwilym, Ieuan fawr ap y diwlith, and Llesoed Fardd to the Welsh metric system (126-17); copies of memorial inscriptions including seventeenth century inscriptions relating to members of the Powell family in the churchyard at Llangynwyd [co. Glamorgan] (128); brief notes referring to the expressions 'Hu ynys' and 'Gwyr Hu', and to Hu Gadarn and early mythological bards of Britain (133); notes relating to 'cynghanedd unodl', 'cynghanedd gytsain', and 'corfannau' (138-9); transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Rhisiart Iorwerth, Rhys Meigen, and Wm. Llyn (140 ); a brief note relating to a poetic metre known as 'toddaid Taliesin' with transcripts of two Latin stanzas in 'englyn' form attributed to D.N. and ? Samuel Jones 'o Fryn Llywarch' (141-2); notes relating to the decline of knowledge concerning the old Welsh bardic order in Gwynedd in the late middle ages, literary patronage in Morgannwg during the post Norman conquest period, poetic composition ? in relation to the 'pedair ansawdd ar hugain Cadair Morganwg', and 'Y Bardd Glas Ceraint' (143-7); an extract from a 'cywydd' attributed to Rhys Goch Eryri, a note on the words 'clws' and 'tlws' and the use of the first for the second with a transcript of an 'englyn' attributed to Hugh Jones 'o Langwm' to illustrate this usage, and three Welsh triads (148-51); lists or groups of Welsh words sometimes with English definitions and / or illustrative excerpts from Welsh verse (152-3, 155, 164, 172-3, 200, 203, 210, 335, 337, 341, 343-6, 348, 350, 353-4 356, 360); a number of 'Quotations in exemplifications of the sense or meaning of [specific Welsh] words' (165, 168-9); a list of eleven questions, ?forming a questionnaire, relating to the Welsh language, its major dialects, local words and idioms, the possible possession of ? old Welsh manuscripts ('hen ysgrifeniadau') by the person questioned or acquaintances, etc. (174-5); brief notes relating to Siôn Rhydderch and Lewis Morris (179); transcripts of stanzas of Welsh verse attributed to Gwalchmai and Elidir Sais (189-92); notes headed 'Silurian Contractions' (197); a group of Welsh words illustrating the use of de- in Sil[urian] where dy- would be used in N[orth] W[ales] as the first syllable (198); a note on the two sounds of the symbol Y in the Welsh alphabet (199); a list of kings of the British, 481-683, and of Plantagenet and Yorkist kings of England, 1307-1483 (201); notes deriving the Latin word bellum from a Celtic word bel signifying war and referring to the cognate element -fel in Welsh words (204 + 209); a list of the kings of England, 1272-1558 (212 ); an incomplete author index to Sion Rhydderch's edition of [Thomas Jones :] Llyfr Carolau [a Dyriau Duwiol], 1745 (249); brief notes, sometimes merely dates, relating to Rowland Vaughan 'o Gaer Gai', Richard Huws, Wmffre Dafydd ab Ifan, Syr Lewys ab Hugh 'o Fochnant', Edmund Prys, Huw Morys, and Rhys Pritchard (250-5I); an extract from the Gentleman's Magazine, 1809, relating to the Mears family (253-4); (continued)

Comments reflecting the writer's attitude towards the ? introduction of an artificial regularity into the Welsh language (257-9); a very brief note on Ty Newydd, Y Fotffordd [Watford, co. Glamorgan], [Nonconformist] meeting house, and an anecdote relating to Sir Wm. Lewys of Gilfach fargod and ? a conventicle being held in the parish of Gelli Gaer [co. Glamorgan], temp. Charles II or James II (274); dates of the deaths of David Jenkins of Hensol [co. Glamorgan], judge, and his son and grandson (278); miscellaneous extracts from, or references to, various printed works (279- 81); data relating to the Kemis family of Cefn Mabli, Llanblethian, and Newport [cos. Glamorgan and Monmouth] (291, 293-4, 298); notes headed 'Peculiarities of the Dimetian Dialect' (301-03); a brief note relating to incursions into the Isle of Man and Anglesey, A.D. 431, transcripts of stanzas of Welsh verse attributed to R[hys] Goch ab Rhiccert and Taliesin, copies of two versions of an 'englyn' by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg', two Welsh triads, a list of six 'Books at Wm. Morris, 1783', a list of four 'Reasons for supposing that the South Wales Poets imitated the Troubadours', etc. (317-21); a list of twenty-four topics or subject or chapter headings with the superscription 'Hints for a Tour in Wales' (322 + 327); data relating to Thomas ap Evan ap Rhys, 16th cent. poet (324-5, 323 ); a transcript of six stanzas of Welsh religious verse (328); a list of Welsh proverbial expressions, etc. (331, 358); a list of Welsh expressions incorporating the name of God headed 'Traces of Ancient Welsh Piety' (333); and a four-line stanza of Welsh verse by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' (359). Pp. 213-48, which formerly formed a separate booklet, contain miscellaneous notes, extracts, memoranda, etc., including extracts from Welsh poems attributed to Robin Ddu, Cynddelw, Pryd[ydd] y Moch, Hywel ap Iolyn, W[illia]m Cynwal, Ed[mwnd] Prys, Daf. Goch, Inco Brydydd, Rhys Nanmor, Math. ap Lln. Goch, Ieuan Du'r Bilwg, Gruff. ab Mared., Siôn Ceri, L[ewis] G[lyn] Cothi, Lln. Fardd, Iolo Goch, Gruff. Grug, and R[hys] G[och] Eryri; comments on the need for a better grammar of the Welsh language which, inter alia, would pay attention to 'dialectical peculiarities'; a list of seven topics or subject or chapter headings for 'Historical Dissertations on the Ancient British Bards and Druids, etc.'; chronological computations concerning the possibility of a certain Dafydd Jones, a native of Cardigan, having seen, circa 1530 or 1540, an elderly woman who remembered another elderly woman who had seen D[afydd] ab Gwilym; groups of, or notes on, Welsh words; etc. Notes in two instances have been written on the verso and margins of a printed circular announcing the printing of Edward Williams's two volumes of English poems entitled Poems Lyric and Pastoral (202 + 211) and of a printed copy of the resolutions of a meeting of gentlemen and woolgrowers of the county of Glamorgan held at Cowbridge, 16 April 1806, when it was resolved to establish a wool fair for the said county to be held at Cowbridge in July (unnumbered pages between p. 317 and p. 318 and p.319 and p. 320).