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Dafydd, Meurig, 1514-1595 Alphabets
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Barddoniaeth, trioedd, etc.,

Miscellaneous papers containing notes, transcripts, extracts, copies of his own poems, etc., by Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together in one volume and paginated 1-390. The contents include notes on the perpetual calendar carved on wood known as 'The Staffordshire Clogg' (p. 13); notes on the special alphabet usually inscribed on wooden surfaces which, according to Edward Williams, was used by Welsh bards (pp. 15-25); notes on the method of inscribing the said bardic alphabet headed 'Llyma ddangos y modd y gwneir Coelbren y Beirdd' (p. 29; see John Williams: Barddas . . ., vol. I, pp. 142-51); notes, often in the form of questions and answers, on Welsh bardic lore relating to the origin of letters ('Pa fodd y cafad Gwybodaeth gyntaf ar lythyr' (p. 36), 'Pwy a wnaeth Lythyr gyntaf' (p. 41), 'Pwy gyntaf a gafas ddeall ar lythyr' (p. 91)), the origin of life ('O beth y Gwnaeth Duw'r byd a bywydolion' (pp. 77-8)), etc. (for much of this material see various sections of John Williams: Barddas, vol. I); notes on matters of bardic significance under headings such as 'Trioedd y Ford Gronn sef Trioedd Cadair Tir Iarll Er dangos a Gyrru addysg ar y Gwybodau a'r gelfyddyd a'r drefn a ddylid ar gadair a gorsedd ac ar Gerdd Dafawd . . .' (p. 72), 'Llyma Dderwyddoniaeth Beirdd Ynys Prydain a'i Barn am Dduw a phob bywydolion . . .' (pp. 85-9; see Barddas, vol. I, pp. 204-13), 'Llyma Rol Cof a Chyfrif' (pp. 212-14; see Iolo Manuscripts . . ., pp. 45-9, 424-9), and 'Teuluwr-Datgeiniad' (p. 244 ); notes on Welsh poetic metres, etc., headed 'Cerdd Deulu' (p.42), 'Llawrol y Beirdd Meyryg Dafydd' (pp. 51-2), 'Cylmau sef Caeau Cerdd Dafawd' (p. 180), and 'Pedwar Mesur ar hugain Dosparth Caerfyrddin' (p. 355); lists, many incomplete, of miscellaneous Welsh triads including lists with the headings 'Llyma Drioedd y Beirdd' (p. 78), 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain o Lyfr Iaco ab Dewi gan Rys Thomas' (pp. 157-63), 'Trioedd Cymmysg, 1798' (pp. 169-70), 'Trioedd o Lyfr Menw Hen' (p. 171), 'Trioedd Bonedd' (p. 172 ), 'Trioedd Addwynder' (pp. 173-5), 'Trioedd Gruffydd ab Cynan' (pp.183-? 90) 'Trioedd Dosparth y Ford Gronn' (p. 221), 'Trioedd amravaelion' (pp. 223-4), 'Trioedd Cerdd' (pp. 232-3, 267-8, 273), 'Trioedd Ach a Bonedd' (p. 234), 'Trioedd y Beirdd (Octr. 1797)' (pp. 241-2), 'Eraill o drioedd y Teuluwr' (pp. 245-6), 'Llyma drioedd Cerdd o Lyfr Celli Wion' (pp. 246-7), 'Llyma Hen drioedd Cyfarwyddyd . . .' (p. 249), 'Trioedd Cymmysg' (pp. 249- 50, 271-2), 'Trioedd Derwyddoniaeth' (p. 254), 'Trioedd y Beirdd' (pp. 258 + 252), 'Trioedd Barddas a Defodau' (pp. 260-62; see Barddas, vol. I, pp. 344-57), 'Trioedd Bonedd' (pp. 263-5, ? 262), 'Llyma Drioedd Llelo Llawdrwm . . .' (pp. 270-71), 'Llyma Drioedd o amrafaelion lyfrau . . .' ( pp. 273-4), and '. . . Rhai o drioedd ynys prydain a gymerwyd allan o lyfr Mr. Fychan yn Llyfrgell Hengwrt gan Lewis Morris, Esqr., 1738' (pp. 279-80 ); English translations of two of the aforementioned lists of triads under the headings 'The Bardic Triades' (pp. 251 + 253), and 'Druidic Triades' (p. 255); a copy of an 'awdl' attributed to Dafydd y Coed (p. 56); notes on Sir Gruffydd Llwyd, son of Rhys ap Gruffydd, and the late thirteenth century Welsh poet Trahaearn (p. 57); a copy of an epitaph attributed to Edw[ar]d Rich[ar]ds, Ystrad Meurig (p. 118); music and words under the heading 'Cyngog yr Iuddewonn' (p. 123); notes headed 'Collections for a Silurian Grammar' (pp. 129-30); notes ? on a proposal to publish a multi-volume work or works on matters of Welsh bardic, literary, linguistic, historical, and antiquarian interest (pp. 229-30, 236); notes on various forms of the proper name Einigan (pp. 238-9); a list of the names of ancient Welsh bards (p. 248); a version of the Welsh prose text 'Breuddwyd Gronwy Ddu' (pp. 275-6); a list of the traditional thirteen royal treasures of the Isle of Britain ('Llyma drithlws ar ddeg o frenin dlysau ynys prydain . . .') (p.276); draft proposals for publishing Cyfrinach Beirdd Ynys Prydain (p. 281); and a letter from [Edward Williams ] 'Iorwerth Morganwg' from Tredelerch, to John Edwards at Mr. Owen Jones, London, 1784 (personal, a ? proposed publication by 'Sieffrai o Walsal', Mr. [William] Warrington's proposed 'History of Wales', the writer's interest in the old realm of Glamorgan, changes in the names and boundaries of the medieval divisions of Wales, mention of [Owen Jones, 'Owain] Myfyr' and the Cymmrodorion and Gwyneddigion Societies, a request for a copy of 'awdl Aneurin ar amrafael rhannau Cymru') (pp. 343-6). The contents of pp. 289-342 and 347-82 consist almost entirely of transcripts of Welsh strict-metre poems in the form of 'cywyddau' and 'englynion'. Many of these bear one of the various bardic names adopted by Edward Williams at various times ('Iorwerth Morganwg', 'Iorwerth Gwilym neu brydydd bychan Morganwg', 'Iolo Morganwg') and all may possibly be his compositions.

Miscellanea,

A composite volume containing miscellaneous material in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg'). The contents include pp. xiii, xv-xvi, two lists of the contents of pp. 1-160; xvi, a copy of an 'englyn' by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg'; 1-5, a version of the rules for regulating the Welsh bardic order ('Ystatun . . . ar wyr wrth Gerdd') attributed to Gruffudd ap Cynan and Bleddyn ap Cynfyn; 5-9, comments by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' on the attribution of the formulation of such rules to Gruffudd ap Cynan and others; 110-114, a copy of a proclamation announcing that an 'eisteddfod' was to be held at Caerwys, co. Flint, 26 May 1567, and a list of the bards and musicians licensed at the said 'eisteddfod'; 115-116, descriptions of 'finger-signs' used to represent letters of the alphabet ('Egwyddor Awgrym Llaw'); 117-27, extracts, including examples of Welsh strict metres, from Welsh bardic grammars described in the first aforementioned list of contents as 'Pigion o Hen Lyfr Dosparth Cerdd dafawd' and 'Amrafaelion [d]darlleniadau yn Nosparth Edeyrn Dafawd Aur ag un Dafydd Ddu o Hiraddug' and in the second as 'Amrafaelion o Hen Ddosparth Cerdd' and 'Darlleniadau amrafaelion Dosparth Dafydd Ddu Hiraddug neu Dafydd Ddu Athraw'; 28, transcripts of three 'englynion' attributed to Rhys amheyrig 'o'r Cottrel'; 28-32, transcripts of two letters reputedly exchanged between the sixteenth century Welsh poets Siôn Mowddwy and Meyryg Dafydd (see also NLW MS 13121B above, pp. 501-05); 32, a brief note on 'eisteddfodau' held at Caerfyrddin in 1451 and 38 Henry VI; 33-118, an incomplete version of a Welsh bardic grammar consisting of part III (pp. 33-55 under an initial superscription reading 'Llyma Ddosparth Cerdd Dafawd a wnaeth Simwnt Fychan Bencerdd Fr Meistr Pirs Mostyn o Dalacre. Hwnn yw Trydydd Lyfr Cerddwriaeth Cerdd dafawd') dealing with the structure of the strict metres, part IV (pp. 55-76) dealing with 'cymmeriadau' and 'cynghaneddau' ('yn nesaf ysbysswnn o'r pedwarydd Llyfr Cerddwriaeth Cerdd dafawd nid amgen noc o'r Cymmeriadau a' r Cynghaneddau . . .'), and part V (pp. 76-119) dealing with faults in metre and 'cynghanedd' and the objects to be praised in verse, and containing at the end a series of eighty-two bardic triads ('Trioedd Cerdd y rhai y mae Beirdd Ynys Prydain yn ymarfer o'i cofiaw a'i ystyried'); 119- 22, a copy of the proclamation announcing the holding of an 'eisteddfod' at Caerwys, co. Flint, 26 May 1568, and the licensing of Simwnt Fychan as 'pencerdd'; 122-3, a note on the adoption of family surnames by the Welsh in accordance with a decree of the aforementioned 'eisteddfod' and on the mode of registering the said names; 124-37, a version of the code of rules for Welsh bards and musicians attributed to Gruffydd ap Cynan as reputedly confirmed by Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and others and at the aforementioned 'eisteddfod' at Caerwys; 138-40, a note relating to Dafydd ab Edmwnt and the 'cadwyn fyrr' strict poetic metre with an example of the said metre; 141, transcripts of 'englynion' attributed to Hywel ap Syr Mathew, Simwnt Fychan, and Howel Bangor; 142-51, a further version of the bardic rules attributed to Gruffudd ap Cynan 'fal ai conffirmiwyd yn Eisteddfod Caerwys . . . 1567'; 152, a note by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' on the aforementioned code of rules; 153-7, transcripts of 'Cywydd y Delyn Ledr' attributed to Dafydd ap Gwilym, two stanzas attributed to Llywarch Hen, and four unattributed 'englynion'; 158-60, a series of Welsh proverbs extracted allegedly 'o Lyfr Harry Siôn o Bont y Pwl'; 197-231 (previously paginated 1-35), notes dealing largely with the phonology of the Welsh language; 268, ? a proposed scheme or list of chapter headings for an 'Analytical Dissertation on the Welsh Language'; 273-392, mainly lists of Welsh words grouped according to their terminations; 376-8, stanzas of psalm tunes; and 409-12, notes on Welsh phonology.