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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.

Miscellaneous papers, home-made booklets, etc., containing material in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together in one volume. P. xliii bears the inscription 'Trioedd amrafaelion a gynnulliwyd yng Ngwynedd yn y Flwyddyn 1799', and underneath this is a list of the names of six series of Welsh triads and a note (probably in the hand of Taliesin Williams, son of Edward Williams) which reads 'This Packet contains a variety of Triads resembl[ing] very much those of the Island of Britain and that are in all probability some of the lost ones of that Class. Jan. 17, 1831'. P. 1 bears the inscription 'Trioedd amrafaelion a gasglwyd yng Ngwynedd yn y flwyddyn 1799 Gan Iolo Morganwg', and underneath this is a list of the names of seven series of triads. Following on pp. 3-70 are series of triads with the superscriptions 'Trioedd Cerdd o Ddosparth Cerdd Dafawd Simwnt Fychan Bencerdd, A Robert Fychan o Hengwrt a'i dadysgrifennodd o Lyfr yn Llaw S.F. ei hun' (according to a note added to this superscription and a further note on p. 16 this series was copied in 1799 by Edward Williams from Panton MS 35 [now NLW MS 2003] in the hand of the Reverend Evan Evans ('Ieuan Brydydd Hir')), 'Trioedd o Lyfr y Parchedig Mr. Davies o Fangor' (with added note 'Yn Llyfr Twm o'r Nant y mae'r Trioedd hyn a'r rhai a'u canlynant dan enw Trioedd Llogell Rhison'), 'Trioedd Taliesin o'r un Llyfr' (with added note 'Trioedd Llogell Rhison yn Llyfr Twm o'r Nant'), '[Trioedd] Eraill o amryw lyfrau' (with added note 'Twm o'r Nant, D. Ddu, &c .'), 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain o Lyfr D[afydd] Ddu Eryri', and 'Llyma Drioedd Llogell Rhison o Lyfr Mr. Davies o Benegos' (with added note 'y mae y rhain yn Nosparth y Ford Gron cynn amser Llogell Rhison'). P. 81 contains a list of the contents of pp. 87-121, and is followed by pp. 83-4, a series of miscellaneous triads, p. 85, a note headed 'Mesurau Cerdd dafawd', pp. 87-112, a series of triads entitled 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain', and pp. 112-21, a list of 'Dewis bethau Taliesin', three triads, eight stanzas of Welsh verse entitled 'Cân y Magwraeth' and attributed to Gwion bach, further miscellaneous triads, and a series of triads with the superscription 'Trioedd o Lyfr Mr. Panton'. Pp. 133-202 contain a series of one hundred and twenty-six triads with the superscription 'Llyma Drioedd Ynys Prydain sef ydynt Trioedd Cof a chadw a gwybodaeth am hynodion o Ddynion ac o bethau a fuant yn Ynys Prydain ac ar ddamwain a damcwydd i Genedl y Cymry' reputedly compiled by Thomas Jones of Tregaron ['Twm Siôn Cati'] in 1601 from the works of Caradawc Nant Garfan and Ieuan Brechfa and copied [by Edward Williams] from a volume belonging to the Reverend Mr. Richards of Llanegwad [co. Carmarthen] then on loan to Rys Thomas, printer, and the Reverend Mr. Walters of Pont Faen, Glamorgan (see the notes at the beginning and end of the series on p. 133 and p. 202). This is the series of triads generally known as 'The Third Series of Trioedd Ynys Prydain' the text of which was published in The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales . . ., vol. II, 1801, pp. 57-75. (continued)

Other items in the volume include a note on the development of 'These Triades' [i.e. the Trioedd Ynys Prydain] (125), an incomplete list headed 'Pedwar Cerddawr Graddawl' (126), a note on the composition of a barony or manor (131), a list of the twenty-four knights of King Arthur's court ('Llyma enwau y pedwar marchog ar hugain a fuant gynteifion y Ford Gron gydag Arthur ymherawdr Ynys Prydain yng Nghaerllion ar wysg (o Lyfr Twm o'r Nant, 1799)') (209-14), further triads including 'Trioedd Barddas' and 'Trioedd yr Ellyllion A wnelynt Ryfeddodau a gwyrthiau . . .' (217-18, 221-2, 229-38, 241-3, 246-7, 258-65, 272, 283-5), lists Of 'y saith gelfyddyd wladaidd' and 'y saith gelfyddyd ddinesig' (219), an English translation of triads 1 and 2 of 'Trioedd Ynys Prydain' (222-3), a further list of King Arthur's knights ('Pedwar marchog ar hugain oedd [yn] llys Arthur ac arnynt gyneddfau naturiol o orchest bob un mwy nog ar arall . . .') (225-7), an anecdote relating how Papists set fire to the house and outbuildings of Dr. William Morgan, incumbent of Llanraiadr ym Mochnant, in an attempt to prevent him proceeding with his task of translating the Bible into Welsh extracted allegedly 'o Lyfr Dyddgof y Parchedig Evan Evans y Prydydd Hir . . .' (254), a sketch plan relating to a furnace and forge (270-71), a short Welsh - English word list (278), a list of 'Dewis bethau Gwion Bach' (283), notes relating to the development of Welsh strict-metre systems or schemes (291), notes relating to the so-called 'Moelmutian' triads and laws (293-300, and ? 309-12), and transcripts of, or extracts from, miscellaneous Welsh strict- and free-metre poems including stanzas, etc., attributed to Gryfydd Gruc, Rhys Tyganwy, D[afydd] ap Edmund, Gwawdrydd, Sir Thomas Jones (circa 1600), D[afydd] ab Gwilym, and Gwion Bach (219-20, 227-8, 253, 257, 279-82). In one instance notes have been written on the dorse of a printed leaflet containing proposals for publishing 'A Welsh Paraphrase on St. Matthew's Gospel or a Translation of Dr. Clarke's Paraphrase . . .' by the Rev. Richard Jones, curate of Ruthin, in 1799, and in another on the dorse of a printed leaflet announcing the printing of Edward Williams's two volumes of English verse Poems Lyric and Pastoral.