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Miscellaneous holograph letters and documents which include five letters, 1671/2-1672/3, from G[eorge] Scudamore, Monmouth Forge, to Sir Robert Clayton and to John Morris at Augustine Friers, etc. (relating to the Rotherwas estate, collection of rents in the lordships of Dinder and Much Dewchurch, etc.); eleven letters, 1673-1673/4, from Abr[aham] Seward, Hereford, to John Morris and to William Belke at Sir Robert Clayton's house in London (repairs to the fulling mills and its effect on the cloth trade in Hereford, the leasing of Rotherwas estate, etc.); one letter, 26 January, 1678/9, to Lady [Ann] Jones [of Fonmon Castle]; two letters, 18 October, [16]88, to [George Jeffreys, 1st baron Jeffreys of Wem]; two dockets, November, 1688, of grants to Richard Bulkeley, 3rd viscount Bulkeley, of the offices of chancellor and chamberlain of the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth, and of constable of the castle of Beaumaris and captain of Beaumaris; a covenant, 1 September, 1691, in respect of the tithes of Yestradvellty and hamlet of Glyntawy; etc.
Amongst other references are those to the Alltycadno and Gwilodymaes estates in Carmarthenshire; and Kidwelly Tin Works.

Seventy-one holograph letters, 1658-1665, of William Rogers from Chepstow, Gloucester, etc., to Thomas Yates (Yattes), Lincolnes Inne Fields, John Morris in Corne Hill, Robert Clayton in Corne Hill, Sir Edward Heath, and Sir John Cutler in 'Gratiens' Street, London, relating to the production of mine and cinders in the Forest [of Dean] and the lading of vessels at Chepstow, Monmouth, Lidney Pill, etc., for Wexford and Eniscorthy. The writer refers to negotiations for favourable freight charges, shipwrecks at Wexford Bar and Milford Haven, attacks on ships by pirates, methods of weighing, complaints of the foulness of mine and cinders shipped to Ireland, the purchase of elms for belly-boards for the furnace and forge, the prices of barrel staves, etc., at Bristol, requests for advances of money for the payment of wages, the hiring of workmen for service in Ireland and payments to their wives, difficulties in employing finery men, a request for additional hammers and anvils (those 'that are made of our fforest mettle doth not hold'), timber trees in the Forest reserved for the Navy, the sale of the Kington estate for £850 to a schoolmaster in Worcestershire, the results of the parliamentary election of April, 1661, etc. Also included in the group are detailed accounts of receipts and disbursements, particulars of stock, etc., by William Rogers, 1656-1662; acquittances, 1657/8-1659, by William Rogers to Colonel John Nicholas, governor of Chepstow Castle, for sums of money to the recipient's use paid by Thomas Yates to Thomas Davies, Warwick Court, London; and an acquittance, 24 November, 1663, from William Rogers to John Morris for £25 for one year and a quarter's service since Mr. Morris 'entred on the Irish busines'.

(a) Eleven holograph letters, 1665-1668, from John Hinton from Pembroke, etc., to John Morris (Morice) in Corn hille and Augustin Fryers, relating mainly to an action resulting from the arrest of iron shipped on board the 'Katherine of Waxford' by John Chaplyn (Shapland), together with affidavits, 3 January, 1667/8, of Thomas Dulan, factor of the iron, and David St. John, master of the vessel, taken before Jno. Hinton, mayor of the town and liberties of Pembroke, and a contemporary copy of a letter [26 December, 1667] from John Morris to John Hinton. (b) Nine holograph letters, 1678/9-1679, of Hugh Mathews, from Cardiff and Aberthaw, the first written to Samuel Sumerford, Lincolnes Inne, and the remainder to Sir Thomas Bludworth, M.P., at Camden House near Goldsmith's Hall, relating to the administration of the estate of Sir John Jones of Fonmon Castle (d. 15 October, 1678). The letters refer to difficulties between Dame Ann Jones (daughter of Sir Thomas Bludworth) and her brother-in-law Oliver Jones in connection with manorial rights, an allegedly irregular manorial court held at Lancadle, an inventory of the estate, the payment of bills, the letting of properties and collection of rents, and the loading and manning of Dame Ann Jones's vessel 'Ann' from Aberthaw to London. Also included are transcripts of a letter, 16 November, [16]78, from [Dame Ann Jones] from Fonmon to Hugh Mathews, commissioning the latter to be steward of her estate, and of her instrument of appointment, of even date, of Edwd. Williams of Wringestone, Glamorgan, yeoman, as bailiff to take care and dispose of her stock of cattle and sheep.

An album of nearly four hundred holograph and autograph letters, with some accounts and other papers, 1846-1856, of the Committee of Visitors of the United Lunatic Asylum for the counties of Cardigan, Carmarthen, Glamorgan, and Pembroke (to be established under the provisions of Act 8 & 9 Victoria, c. 126). Almost all of the letters are addressed to the clerk of the Committee, namely Thomas Dalton, Cardiff, who was Clerk of the Peace for Glamorgan, and the writers include John Nicholl, M.P., Merthyr-mawr, etc.; [Sir] Denis Le Marchant, Whitehall [Under-Secretary to the Hom Department]; Walter Coffin, Llandaff, etc.; George Child-Villiers, 5th earl of Jersey; [Colonel] N. Cameron, London, etc.; and [Sir] George Tyler, M.P. The majority of the letters relate to negotiations for the purchase, as a site for the lunatic asylum, of part of the Danygraig estate near Swansea in the possession of Lord Jersey and in the occupation of Col. Cameron. Towards the beginning of the volume are orders and/or resolutions of the Courts of Quarter Sessions and/or the provisional county committees of Justices of the Peace for the counties of Pembroke, Monmouth, Cardigan, Carmarthen, and Glamorgan, the county borough of Carmarthen, and the town and county of Haverfordwest, 1846-1848; printed minutes of the united Committee of Visitors of the proposed asylum, 1848-1849; and the opinion, 1849, of Arthur Morgan, Equitable Assurance Office [London], on the value of the fee simple of the proposed site. Inset are statements of accounts due to Edmd. Scott Barber, civil engineer and surveyor, 1849-1852 (with a covering letter to Thomas Dalton, 1853), and to Thomas Dalton, 1853-1854; resolutions of the Courts of Quarter Sessions for the counties of Glamorgan and Cardigan, 1855-1856; a resolution of the Committee of Visitors, 1855, endorsed with the approval of [Sir] George Grey, Home Secretary; and draft minutes of the Committee of Visitors, 1856.

A seventeenth and early eighteenth century manuscript of Welsh and English poetry, medical recipes, prophecies attributed to Myrddin and Taliesin, triads, and later additions of a miscellaneous nature. The volume is in several hands, and some of the additions seem to be in the autograph of Richard Wiliams, soap boiler, of Abergavenny. According to a note on the cover (see 561, below) it belonged to the Catholic Chapel, Abergavenny, and much of the contents is of Catholic interest. The free-metre poems include a satire upon legal proceedings (in a mixture of Welsh and English), a dialogue in two hundred and twenty-three stanzas of 'triban' metre between a Catholic and a Protestant, a poem consoling members of the Holy Church in persecution, a poem in 'triban' metre by Henry Williams, a Christmas carol, and an elegy on the death of David Lewis, Catholic martyr, 1679. The poems in strict metres contain 'cywyddau' by Sion y Kent, Ievan Deylwyn, Lewis Glynn Kothi, Ievan Tew Brydydd, Robin Du o Fon, Rys Nanmor and others, and a number of 'englynion' in Welsh and English, including satires upon Puritans. The English poems include 'An Hymne on our Saviour Christ's Ascension' and 'An Epitaph vpon the Death of John Pym'. The miscellaneous material at the beginning of the volume includes material of Brecknockshire interest; a presentment of Popish recusants in Monkstreet ward in the town of Abergavenny, 1709; medical recipes; and a precept relating to the House of Correction in Brecknockshire, 1670.

A typescript copy of a Baptist church register entitled 'Llyfr Cofnodol Perthynol I Eglwys Gristianogol Dan yr Enw Y Bedyddwyr Neulltyol Yn Cyfarfod yn ngyd ar brydiau i Dori Bara yn yr Amriwiol Leoedd Canlynol Sef Argoed a Phenycoed yn Sir Abertifi Abarduar Bwlch y rhiw Bethel a Salem Yn Sir Gaerfyrddin &c'. The original register covers the period 1751-1857, while Evan Lewis's transcript [see note under 561 below] was used independently and unofficially till 1875 and varies considerably from the original after 1841. The first part of the original register, from 1751 to 1765, is in the hand of the Reverend Timothy Thomas ('Y wisg Wen Ddisglair') of Aberduar, but the greater part of the volume was written by his brother the Reverend Zacharias Thomas and by the latter's son David Thomas of Llwynywermwd, Llan-y-crwys. Most of the entries recorded by David Thomas, from 1789 to 1839, relate only to the churches of Bethel (Caeo), Salem (Caeo), and Bwlch-y-rhiw.

A volume of English verse and translations from Horace, Martial and other Latin poets. The English verse includes poems 'Vpon ye death of a magpye that talkd very well, & was killd no body knew how, 1653'; 'To Mr. Frampton from my Lord of Stamfords at Broadgate in Leicestershire 1655, who was then Chaplaine to ye Earle of Elgin'; 'To Mr. Frampton my Lord of Elgin's Chaplaine 1654'; 'Vpon Mrs Rhods lending me an iuory Table, booke wh I returning not at the time was to expiate wth a paper of verses, 1654'; 'Vpon my Lady Bruce's being brought to Bed of my Lord Bruce now Earle of Ailsbury 1655'; 'Upon Waller's Panegyrick to ye Protector, 1656'; 'Too Mr Cheek by my Lord Bruce's appointment to begg a hound bitch for him of my L: Manchester, 1656'; 'To Mr. Cheeke upon his breaking his Legg very daungerously, 1657'; 'To Mr. Frampton chaplaine to my Lo: Elgin vpon our journey from Roehampton to Amptill, 1657'; 'An Epilogue vpon Sr Tho: Clarges Aeractions being translated out of French, 1664, by him'; 'Vpon Sam Parker Bp of Oxford'; 'Vpon my horse falling vpon the stones and breaking his skull'; 'In mortem Reginae Wmi Regis vxoris'; 'Vpon the young Duke of Gloster's death'; 'Vpon the birth of Mr. Tho: Bruce, now Earle of Alesbury'; Latin epitaphs:- 'Epitaphs vpon Dr Chamberlain's son & daughter buried in Chelsey church'; 'Epitaph on Dr Chamberlain's daughter buried in Chelsey Church'; 'Vpon the death of my Lord Chief Justice Ireby' with a translation; 'An inscription vpon ye King of France's statue'; and two prose items:- 'About the Controversy betwixt the Gentlemen and the Vestry in Clerkenwell', and an account of a journey from London to Graueling, 1658.

A return of their six favourite Welsh books in answer to a questionnaire, issued by Howell Elvet Lewis, April 1892, the respondents including Anna Walter Thomas ('Morfudd Eryri'), Sarah Jane Rees ('Cranogwen'), Thomas Edward Ellis, John Rhys, Daniel Owen, John Parry, Llanarmon, John Gwenogvryn Evans, Owen Morgan Edwards, Michael D. Jones, David Howell ('Llawdden'), Evan Herber Evans, Lewis Probert, John Davies ('Gwyneddon'), John Edward Lloyd, J. J. Roberts ('Iolo Caernarfon'), John Ceulanydd Williams, Daniel Lleufer Thomas, Charles Ashton, John Owen Williams ('Pedrog'), Owen Davies, Caernarfon, John Morris-Jones, Evan Rees ('Dyfed'), T. C. Evans ('Cadrawd'), Thomas Levi, J. Bowen-Jones, David Adams, E. Gurnos Jones, Watkin Hezekiah Williams ('Watcyn Wyn'), H. Cernyw Williams, D. Emlyn Evans, W. T. Rees ('Alaw Ddu'), D. Rowlands ('Dewi Môn'), Ellis Roberts ('Elis Wyn o Wyrfai'), and 'T.C.U.' [Rees Jenkin Jones], Aberdare, and letters declining to state their preferences from Thomas Charles Edwards, D. Silvan Evans, and others. The lists were printed in Cyfaill yr Aelwyd, 1892, pp. 160-4, 190-4.

Holograph manuscripts of poems by John Jones ('Talhaiarn'):- 'Clod ac Anglod i Lundain', 1845, with a glossary 'for the benefit of country cousins who do not understand their own langauge'; 'Cân i fy Mam' copied out in a letter to Thomas Jones, 1852, 'the best song, in my opinion, I ever wrote'; 'To Aled [O Vôn]', 1857; 'Cymru lân, gwald y gân', 1857; an englyn to 'David Owen Williams, mab bach Eryr Môn', 1867, with an English translation; 'Photograph Talhaiarn', two 'englynion', 1863; 'Gweno fwyn gu', 1868; 'Cerdd i Lanfair Talhaiarn'; 'Mae Robin yn swil'; 'Brenin y Canibalyddion', a broadside; a group of miscellaneous poems:- 'Galar-gân ar ôl Ann Hughes, yr Harp, Llanfair Talhaiarn', by Joseph Roberts, Bryn-neuadd, 1876; 'Llef o'r Ysbyty' by Hugh Edwards ('Huwco Penmaen'), 1882; 'englynion ar briodas Meistr Thomas Hughes a Miss Ann Jones of Harp', 1847; 'englynion o ddiolchgarwch i Talhaiarn a Thomas Jones, yr Harp, am Razor' by 'Irwedd Min Elwy', 1858; 'Galar gŵr ar ôl ei wraig' by Thomas Hughes; 'Cân dewis gwraig' and an 'englyn ar briodas Owen Williams' by 'Eilydd Elwy'; 'Cân i Maria Hughes, Harp', by 'Eilydd Elwy'; a stanza to a young maiden by 'Ysbryd Glan y Gors'; 'Englynion ar ddychweliad Talhaiarn o Ffrainc'; a poem to 'Talhaiarn' by 'Aled o Fôn'; an incomplete letter addressed from Oswestry, 1836, with a poem entitled 'Tri phenill i'w canu ar hyfrydwch y Brenin Sior'; 'At fy nghyfaill Talhaiarn', 1852, a broadside, probably by 'Aled o Vôn'; 'Wanted a Clerk, a new song dedicated without permission to W. G. & Co.' and a Spanish dialogue 'Patron y Dependiente' probably by Thomas Jones, Valparaiso, 1848; and an 'Invocation to the Muse', 1895; autograph letters from Thomas Jones, Valparaiso, 1845, to J. D. Jones, grocer, St Asaph, and John Jones ('Talhaiarn'), 1863-7, to John and Maria Hughes; an account of the administration of the estate of John Jones ('Talahaiarn') by Thomas Jones, 1871; a copy of a letter by Mahomed Cassein; and press cuttings of poems by 'Talhaiarn' and Robert Jones ('Meigant'), articles on 'Eglwys y Cymry', 'Llanfair Talhaiarn', a letter by John Williams ab Ithel on the subject of the chair poem at the Llangollen eisteddfod of 1858, and a broadside reprint of the 'Reasons assigned by Cadvan and Talhaiarn for their withdrawal [from] the London Eisteddvod', 1855.

Incomplete autograph manuscript, 1916-1928, by Josef Charles Holbrooke of his three-act opera Bronwen (op. 75), being the third and final part of his operatic trilogy The Cauldron of Annwn; Act I is lacking. The libretto, based on the narratives of The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, was written by Holbrooke's patron, Thomas Evelyn Scott-Ellis, eighth baron Howard de Walden.
Mostly composed at Harlech, the work was completed in parts, the Overture (MS 23863F) (published as a piano arrangement in 1917), here dated July 1916 (p. 17); Act II (MS 23864F) dated 5 August 1918 (p. 183); and Act III (MS 23865F), dated 12 October [19]24 (p. 295); the latter is probably the completion date of the full score (confirmed by the note at the end of the published version of 1929), as opposed to the vocal score of the opera, which was apparently completed at Harlech on 5 February 1920 (see note at end of the published vocal score (1922), and cf. George Lowe, Josef Holbrooke and His Work (London, 1920), p. 273). However, a note added at the end of the Prelude to Act III (MS 23865F, p. 190) suggests that a final revision was made in 1928. The vocal score was first published, with English and German words, as Bronwen: A Music Drama (No. 3) (London, 1922), and the full score in 1929 (see British Library Catalogue of Printed Music); the opera was first performed by the Carl Rosa Opera Company in Huddersfield on 1 February 1929.

Miscellaneous documents from the Clayton manuscripts, consisting of a statement relating to the estate of John Bodvell under a deed of 20 February 1639/40; a quotation from William Lane of the Inner Temple to [Judge] George Jefferies with authority to the latter to deliver his chamber in the Inner Temple to Thomas Sturmy, 8 July 1665; a letter from John Moorer to William Davies at Drusloyne [Dryslwyn] concerning iron at Carmarthen and elsewhere, 1669; a letter from H. Buller to Sir Robert Clayton concerning a loan on the security of Streetmarshall and other manors, 26 May 1673; a bond from Paul Cole and Judith Faustus to [Sir] John Jones of Fonmon, 14 December 1674, for the performance of covenants; a receipt by John Jones of Fonmon, 4 May 1676, for the marriage portion of his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Bludworth; letters from Henry Morgan to Sir Robert Clayton, September-November 1676; an order in Council, 30 October 1678, signed Phi. Lloyd, to Sir George Jefferies, recorder of London, to attend to the prosecution of one Child; a bill from Jo. Henley, tailor, to Sir John Jones, June 1677; a receipt by Anna Morgan, 4 October 1679, for a tally on Excise revenue; a petition by John Williams to the Right Hon. George, Lord Jefferyes, Baron of Wemm, Lord High Chancellor, circa 1680; opinions in favour of the King's dispensing powers given by Sir Thomas Powys and Richard Hopton, Justice of North Wales, 1686; a letter from George Evans to the Lord Chancellor concerning a riot in Southwark, 15 April 1687; a docket to the Lord Chancellor of the offices of the Marquis of Powis in Wales, 4 April 1688; a letter from Sir Thomas Powys to the Lord Chancellor, 9 May 1688; a letter from Jo. Brecknocke to John Saville; a quit claim from James Jones of Abergavenny, hair bletcher, to John Sutherland, hair merchant, 24 November 1719; a letter, 1 November 1755, from John Rees, Penymas concerning lead ore under Maesgwenllian in Kidwelly and concerning the seizure of a ship and cargo of brandy; a certificate of the baptism of Robert Chiping at Bletchingley, 16 February 1701; and a warrant, 25 November 1806, signed by Charles Watkin Williams Wynn for the payment to Peter [Burrell], Lord Gwydir, of £85 for the attendance of attendants and marshalls at the trial of [Henry Dundas] Lord Melville.

Thirty-four letters, 1886-1907, to William Marcus Thompson (1857-1907), barrister-at-law, mostly relating to his editorship of Reynolds's Newspaper and to political life, in particular the activities of the Independent Labour Party and the Social Democratic Federation. The correspondents include Horatio Bottomley (3) 1899-1905, H. Hamilton Fyfe (1) 1894, David Lloyd George (1) 1901, H. M. Hyndman (3) 1893-4, and Benjamin Tillett (2) 1899-1901. Also included are a few legal and other papers.

Commonplace book, [c. 1817]-[1883x1887], of John Price (Old Price), containing entries relating mainly to the natural sciences (with a few drawings and specimens) and the niceties of classical philology, some entries indicating that Price was also interested in the Welsh language. There are references to members of the Darwin family of Shrewsbury on ff. 20, 31v, 46, 47v, 50v. An index is on ff. 144-156v.

Notes and extracts, [c. 1565]-1574, from manuscripts and archives, by several hands, the main one being that of Thomas Talbot, the antiquary, clerk of the records in the Tower, who according to personal memoranda on f. 75 was deprived of his living in April 1560 and apparently lived near Clitheroe, Lancashire, in 1563. The notes were compiled on loose bifolia which were later gathered haphazardly into four large quires stitched into two bifolia of a 14th century noted missal (ff. 1-2, 140-1); this arrangement results in wide separation of related matter on the two leaves of some bifolia.
The matter mostly relates to early English history: pedigrees of Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Angevin royal and noble lines, extracts from records in the Tower (e.g. patent rolls, ff. 26-8 verso), chronicles (e.g. Geoffrey Baker, f. 31 verso, Nicholas Trivet, f. 78 verso, Walter Hemingford, f. 109, William of Jumieges, f. 114, John Pyke, f. 118). Other items include a working list of records in the Tower in 1572 [William Bowyer was then Keeper] which gives the numbers of rolls or bundles in each class for each reign from John to Edward IV (ff. 101-2 and 139): a list of forty-nine evidently manuscript books and fragments, mostly connected with English history and by Northern writers, at least one in Anglo-Saxon (ff. 24, 29 verso) [cf. Talbot's list of MSS printed by A.G. Watson, The manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (London, 1969), pp. 78-81]; arms blazoned and in trick, including blazon of arms in 'Mr. Boldes Hall' in Salisbury (f. 6); part of a martyrology for England and Wales (f. 51 recto-verso); pedigree of Sir Ralph Eure compiled by Thomas Pickeringe, precentor of Whitby Abbey in 1458 (ff. 86-7), and, among contemporaries, of Elys ap Howell ap Day ap Ithel [of Tegeingl, co. Flint], in Welsh (f. 110 recto-verso), the Hagerth family, 1571 (ff. 120 verso-121) and the Doyley family (f. 132); an inquisition from Lancashire Quarter Sessions, 1568 (f. 3 recto-verso); poetry in English, apparently original and autograph (ff. 15, 23, 75, 119, 124 verso, 133) and in Latin (f. 111, Walther 3934); the order of burial of Sir Thomas Chaloner, 1565, with a list of personal expenses in London at that time (f. 52 recto-verso); f. 112 was first used to begin a draft deed to which Thomas Heneage, esq., was party, 1574 [Sir Thomas Heneage succeeded Bowyer as Keeper of the Queen's Records in the Tower].

A volume, 1794-[1827] (watermark 1794), in the hand of Capt. Frederick Jones of Brecon, Breconshire, and Pencerrig, Radnorshire, younger brother of the artist Thomas Jones, Pencerrig, comprising a short narrative account, [1794], of his military career in India while serving as an officer in the army of the East India Company, 1777-1788 (ff. 37-40 verso), and brief diary entries for October 1788-February 1827, described as 'Memorandums extracted from Pocket book ledgers &c of my own' (ff. 41-168, rectos only). The diary entries record his life after his return to Britain from India and refer mainly to family matters, excursions, journeys, and visits to and from friends, with occasional comments on local, national, and European events.
The diary is bound together with copies of Jones's two published volumes, A Brief Account of the Tullaugaum Expedition from Bombay… (Brecknock: W. and G. North, 1794; Libri Walliae 4972, ESTC T113094), published anonymously and based on diaries which he subsequently destroyed (ff. 1-15); together with Copies of Letters, merely intended for, and by the Desire of Intimate Friends (Brecknock: W. and G. North, 1795; not in ESTC), also published anonymously, being three letters from him, two sent from Canton, China, in 1787 and 1788, and the third from Paris, September 1789 (ff. 16-32, the stub of f. 16 apparently being the remains of the title page). The diary includes references to the French landing at Fishguard in 1797 (f. 59), family monuments erected in Nantmel Church and Caebach Chapel, 1810 (ff. 84, 86), and the introduction of gas lighting in Brecon, 1822-1823 (ff. 143, 145). The stubs of ff. 34-36 contain fragments of text. For extracts of the diary see 'The diary of Captain Frederick Jones', ed. by R. C. B. Oliver, Transactions of the Radnorshire Society, 53 (1983), 28-56; 54 (1984), 41-57; 56 (1986), 52-71; 60 (1990), 41-65; and 61 (1991), 54-70.

Papers of Owen Morris Williams, shoemaker and musician, Morfa Nefyn (1870-1958), including anthems, letters, etc.

Letters, 1824, from George Rice Rice-Trevor, 4th Lord Dynevor to his future wife, Frances Fitzroy.

Correspondence of Lady Julia Henry (and leather writing case).

Letters (21) and postcards (4) from J. Enoch Powell to Stephen J. Williams, 1936-1941, concerning the volume entitled Llyfr Blegywryd, in the hand of J. Enoch Powell and typescript.