Part 6

_Sir John Glynne_, an able political lawyer in the time of Charles the First, and during the Interregnum, was born in the year 1590. He received his academic education at Hart Hall, Oxford, and afterwards studied at Lincoln’s Inn, where he became a bencher. His talents were quickly discovered by the popular party, and through the tide of opposition, he was buoyed up above the common level. He became steward of Westminster, was returned for two parliaments that sat in the year 1640; was made recorder of London, and at length lord chief justice of the upper bench. Cromwell made him one of his council, and placed him on the committee appointed to inquire into the title most proper for the usurper to assume. He continued in office till the Restoration, when he prudently and promptly determined to submit to the new government. After having been one of the ablest supporters of the protectorate, he was received by the reinstated King with the most distinguished attention, and obtained honorary marks of royal favour, for he was appointed prime serjeant, himself knighted, and his eldest son created a baronet. He appears to have been of considerable service, by sitting in the convention parliament, as a representative for Caernarvon; assisted by his advice to obtain the act of general amnesty; and particularly in his judicial capacity, establishing the first precedent of granting a rule for new trial in cases where excessive damages had been awarded by the partial, or inconsiderate verdicts of a jury. He died in the year 1666.

_Doctor Gabriel Goodman_ was a native of Ruthin, distinguished for his various learning, but especially eminent as a linguist and divine. He was promoted by Queen Elizabeth to the deanery of Westminster; and, with other distinguished characters, appointed an assistant in that great work, a version of the Holy Scriptures. By his translation of his “First Epistle to the Corinthians,” wholly performed by him as well as other parts assigned him, he acquired great fame; yet he obtained no higher preferment, dying dean of Westminster after forty years’ incumbency, in the year 1601. His regard for learned men was great, as appears from his having helped to support Camden in his travels, who, through the dean’s interest, was made under master of Westminster School. His desire for perpetuating learning was no less conspicuous in the free-school founded in his native place, and his philanthropy still lives in an hospital established for the aged poor.

_Howell Harris_, an eminent preacher, distinguished as the introducer of Methodism into Wales, was born at Trevecca, in Brecknockshire, on January 23rd, 1713; and being designed for the church, was admitted a student of St. Mary’s Hall, Oxford, in November, 1735. Here, however, he remained only during one term, at the expiration of which, he quitted the University, with the design of entering immediately on the duties of the clerical profession. He had by this time, apparently, imbibed the tenets and spirit of Whitfield, and determined to propagate the doctrine of Methodism; with this view he applied for orders, but was refused. Having commenced his ministerial career, he came to his native place, and exerted himself with great zeal and earnestness. His style of preaching was much the same as that practised by the ministers of his connection, particularly among the Welsh, who have probably taken him for their model; it was bold, declamatory, and animated, to a degree that might often be denominated vociferation. At a period when religious freedom was but imperfectly understood, even by those who deprecated persecution, a man of Mr. Harris’s active zeal for proselytism, was not likely to pass unobserved. He was in some instances prosecuted, but more frequently persecuted: his undaunted resolution, however, triumphed over every opposition, and rendered impotent every attempt to reduce him to silence. He married in the year 1730, Anne, the daughter of John Williams, Esq., of Screene, by whom he had one daughter. In the year 1756, when some apprehensions of an invasion were entertained, he made a voluntary offer to furnish at his own expense, ten light-horsemen completely armed and accoutred, which proposal was accepted. Three years afterward, A.D. 1759, Mr. Harris himself, embarked in a military character. He was first appointed to an ensigncy in the county militia, and afterwards invested with the command of a company, in which were enrolled many of his own followers. In the latter part of his life, he derived much support from Lady Huntingdon, the warm patroness of the Calvinistic Methodists, who came to reside in the neighbourhood. Mr. Harris died at Trevecca, July 28, 1773, and was buried in Talgarth church. In the year 1752 he formed the plan of a religious community, something similar in its constitution to the Moravian societies; and in the same year he laid the foundation of Trevecca house, with a sufficient extent of buildings and garden, and other ground to accommodate a large number of inhabitants. Here he invited his disciples to assemble, and to invest their property in a common fund, of which all members, as occasion might require, were equally to participate.

_Morus Huw_ of Perthi Llwydion, near Cerrig-y-Druidion, Denbighshire, a distinguished poet, who flourished from about the year 1600 to 1650. He is generally considered to be the best song writer that has appeared in Wales. Many of his compositions are in the Blodeugerdd.

_Thomas Jones_, bardd cloff (the lame bard). This highly respectable bard was born at Mynydd Bychan (the little mountain), in the parish of Llantysilio, Denbighshire, April 15, 1768. When quite an infant, he met with an accident which lamed him for life—hence the appellation of the lame bard. In 1775 Mr. Jones’s family removed to Llangollen, and Thomas was sent to the best school in the town; in 1782 the family removed again to Machynlleth, in the county of Montgomery. In 1780, Mathew Davies, Esq., brought young Jones to London, and placed him in his counting-house, in Long Acre, where Mr. Davies carried on a very large establishment in the coach and military-lace line. Mr Jones was exceedingly fond of reading, particularly poetry; and about this time he began “to torment the Awen” (Muse), as he used to say; and wrote several things both in Welsh and English. In 1789 he was elected a member of the Gwyneddigion, and shortly afterwards he became secretary to the society. At the time when it was regularly attended by Owain Jones, Myfyr, Dr. W. O. Pughe, &c., who encouraged the young bard, and gave him much valuable advice. In 1794 we find his name as one of the stewards of the festival of Ancient Britons, and in 1801, as llywydd (chairman) of the Gwyneddigion. In 1802 he published “An Ode of St. David’s-day,” and the following year Mr. Davies made him the head manager of his business; a convincing proof of the rectitude of his conduct, which was farther testified by his becoming a partner in 1813. The Metropolitan Cambrian Institution, founded on the basis of the Cymrodorion (established in 1750) was revived, and Mr. Jones was elected treasurer; and he gained the gold medal offered by the society for the best poem in the Welsh language, on its revival. In 1821 he was president of the Gwyneddigion for the third time; and at the jubilee anniversary dinner, he was presented with the society’s silver medal, to commemorate the event. Mr. Jones gained several prizes at the different Eisteddvodau held in Wales. And, after residing for a period of forty-five years (with little intermission) at No. 90, Long Acre, departed this life February 18, 1828, esteemed and lamented by all who knew him. Mr. Jones was an open-hearted, generous, hospitable, benevolent man; no indigent countryman appealed to him in vain; his name was invariably found in every list of subscription raised for the promotion of literature, or the relief of distress. Y bardd cloff, was, like his equally generous countryman and friend, Mr. David Jones, of the House of Commons, universally known by the Cymry, both in London and the principality. And when he was gathered to his fathers, the Cymrodorion offered its silver medal for the best approved of marwnad (elegy) on his lamented demise, which was awarded to Robert Davies, bardd nantglyn.

_John Jones_ of Celli Lyvdy, distinguished as one of the most indefatigable collectors of Welsh literature that have appeared among us. He continued translating old Welsh manuscripts for a period of forty years, as it appears from some of his volumes, which are dated variously from the year 1590 to 1630; and of whose works in this way upwards of forty large volumes still exist.

_Edward Jones_ was born at a farm in Meirionethshire, called Henblas, or Old Mansion, on Easter Sunday, in the year 1752. His father was what is generally termed a musical genius: he could not only perform on various instruments, but he also made several. He taught two of his sons, Edward and Thomas, the Welsh harp, another son the spinnet, and another the violin, and he played himself on the organ—so that the “Family Concert” was at least a tolerable strong one. Edward Jones came to London about the year 1774, under the patronage of several persons of distinction, connected with the principality. His performance on the harp was considered in those days, when taste, feeling, and expression, were the characteristic features of a lyrist, to be very superior. He met with great encouragement, and had the honour of giving instructions to many ladies of rank. He was appointed Bard to the Prince of Wales in 1783, but it was merely an honorary situation.

In conjunction with Dr. Owen Pughe, Mr. Walters, and a few literary friends, he published a volume of Ancient Bardic Lore, and Welsh Airs, in 1794, and, in four years afterwards, brought out a second volume. In 1820 he published the first part of a third volume, and had employed his days chiefly since in preparing the remainder, so as to complete the work; but he was not permitted to accomplish it. He had been severely afflicted with rheumatic pains for some time, and his memory became daily more defective; he was a very reserved man, and passed most of his time alone, with his chamber door locked.

He had been a collector of scarce books, and possessed many valuable ones; but his inability to follow his professional pursuits, and his high spirit preventing him from making his situation known to his relatives, caused him to dispose of a part of his library, on the produce of which he subsisted.

Several friends saw that he was daily becoming an object of their friendly attention, who endeavoured to ascertain his circumstances; but from him they could learn nothing, notwithstanding it was pretty certain that he passed many days without a dinner.

It became at length a duty incumbent on them to take him under their care; a recommendation to the Governors of the Royal Society of Musicians was promptly attended to, and an annuity of 50_l._ was granted unknown to him. This single act of benevolence speaks volumes in favour of that excellent institution, which was founded in 1738, with a view of shielding the “child of song,” in the decline of life, from penury and want; also to provide for the widows and orphans of its indigent members, at their decease. Mr. Jones entered the society in 1778.

Mr. Parry was deputed to give him the first monthly payment. It was in the evening when he called; he found the Bard locked in his room, at his lodgings in Great Chesterfield-street, Marylebone, and was admitted: he did not recollect Mr. Parry immediately, although most intimately acquainted with him; he had his dressing-gown and night-cap on, his harp standing by the table, on which was a blotted sheet of music paper. Mr. Parry told him the purport of the visit, but he did not pay much attention to it, and only asked, with much fervency, whether he knew “The Melody of Mona,” (See Relicks, vol. i. p. 168,) a most beautiful pathetic Welsh air, in the minor key, to which Mrs. Hemans has written an excellent song, called “The Lament of the last Druid.” He took his harp, and with a trembling hand,

“Struck the deep sorrows of his Lyre.”

It was impossible not to feel affected on such an occasion—the scene reminded him of the dying hour of a celebrated Bard, who called for his harp, and performed a most plaintive strain—

“Sweet solace of my dying hour, Ere yet my arm forget its power, Give to my falt’ring hand, my shell, One strain to bid the world farewell.”

In a few days afterwards he fell in a fit; the landlady who sat in the apartment below, heard a noise; she ran up, but could not gain admission; the door was burst open, when the poor Bard was found lying on his face, with a heavy chair on his back. He remained senseless for two days, and expired without a groan on Easter Sunday, April 18, 1824, aged 72. He was conveyed to his silent tomb, in St. Mary-le-bone burial-ground, on the following Sunday. Mr. Jones left a number of scarce books, and much music, which were disposed of by public auction in February, 1825, and produced nearly 500_l._ He had, at various times previous to his death, sold books and prints to the amount of about 300_l._, so that his whole collection may be stated at 800_l._; an extraordinary sum, considering the habits of the collector! Of his professional abilities, his “Relicks of the Welsh Bards” bear ample testimony; and will convey his name, with honour, to posterity. They are the result of forty years labour and research; and his countrymen of the Principality may now boast, that, as well as the Irish and the Scotch, they also have their “Melodies.”

_Rice Jones_ of Blaenau, in Meirionethshire, one of the most eminent poets of Wales of recent times. He died in the autumn of the year 1801, at the great age eighty-six. In the year 1770 he published a “Welsh Anthology,” in quarto, containing choice selections from the poets of different ages.

_Theophilus Jones_, the ingenious and learned author of the “History of Brecknockshire,” was born Oct. 18, 1758. He was the son of the Rev. Hugh Jones, successively vicar of the parishes of Langammarch and Llywel, Brecknockshire, and a prebendary of the collegiate church of Brecknock. With his grandfather, Mr. Theophilus Evans, Mr. Jones passed much of his early life. His principal education was completed in the college school at Brecknock. Being destined by his parents to the law, Mr. Jones, at a proper age, was placed under the care of an eminent practitioner then resident in the town of Brecknock; and after having passed with credit the period of his probation, entered into the profession upon his own account, and continued in it for many years, practising with equal reputation and success as an attorney and solicitor in that place. Upon a vacancy in the deputy registrarship of the archdeaconry of Brecknock, he was appointed to that office, and held it till his death. From the documents committed to his charge, and to which he was particularly attentive, he derived much valuable information connected with the parochial history of the county. After Mr. Jones commenced the history of his county, finding that the duties of his profession could not be attended to, and antiquarian pursuits followed at the same time, he disposed of the attorney’s and solicitor’s business. Being now more at liberty to pursue the great object of his ambition, he spared neither pains nor expense to carry it into execution. There was no part of the county into which he did not extend his personal researches, inquiring most minutely into the natural history and antiquities of every place and parish. The first volume of his history of Brecknockshire in quarto, was published at Brecknock in the year 1805, and the second volume in 1809. With the exception of two communications to periodical publications, and two papers in the Cambrian Register, this was his only literary production. It was his intention to publish a history of Radnorshire, but his enfeebled state of health would not allow him to make the necessary exertions. His last literary attempt was a translation of that well written Welsh romance, entitled “Gweledigaethau y Bardd Cwsg,” or Visions of the Sleeping Bard, by the Rev. Ellis Wynne. He died upon the 15th of January, 1812, and was buried in the parish church of Llangammarth.

_David Jones_ of Trevriw, in Caernarvonshire, a poet who flourished from about the year 1750 to 1780. He edited two collections of Welsh poetry, one called “Diddanwch Teuluaidd,” and the other “Dewisol Ganiadau.” He also formed a large collection of old manuscripts, which have been lately purchased from his sons by the Rev. H. D. Griffith, of Caer Rhun, and appropriated by that gentleman for the enriching of the Welsh Archaiology.

_Richard Llwyd_, generally known in North Wales as the Bard of Snowden, and Author of “Beaumaris Bay,” two volumes of poems, &c., was born at Beaumaris, in the Isle of Anglesea, in 1752, and terminated a life devoted to the interest and literature of his country, on the 29th December, 1834, at his residence in Bank-place, Chester. The morning of his days was clouded with adversity. While yet a child, his father, who traded on the coast in a small vessel of his own, was shipwrecked, and lost at once his vessel, his cargo, and his life!—a calamity which plunged his surviving family in hopeless poverty and distress. The extreme poverty of his mother precluded her from giving Richard any education. Nevertheless, in early life his propensities for knowledge discovered itself in a variety of ways, and in spite of the obstacles with which he was surrounded, gave an early promise of the brightness and ardour of his genius, and that greatness of character in which he afterwards so eminently distinguished himself. There was, fortunately for him, at Beaumaris, a free-school, founded by Mr. David Hughes, a man born, like himself, in the vale of humility, but who afterwards became a blessing to his native island. Hence he says in one of his notes to “Gayton Wake,” I received an education of nine months, and I acknowledge this blessing with humble gratitude as it has been to me an inexhaustible source of happiness. At twelve years old, his mother gladly accepted a situation for him in the service of Henry Morgan, Esq., of Henblas. Here he remained several years, and here it was that his character was formed; he had not many opportunities of gratifying his insatiable thirst for reading, but such as he had he availed himself of, with unremitting zeal and ardour. He always rose at a very early hour, and devoted the time he thus gained to reading and studying. In temperance and frugality he was remarkable through life, and always studied and practised it with the utmost exactness, which gave him a constant feeling of dignified independence. In the year 1780 Mr. Lloyd entered into the service of Mr. Griffith, of Caer Rhûn, near Conway, as superintendent of a large demesne and family. Mr. Griffith being in the commission of the peace, and the only acting magistrate in an extensive district, Llwyd acted as his clerk; this situation offered him an opportunity of pursuing his favourite studies. Here he lived until Mr. Griffith died, and with what he had saved, aided by bequeaths from two friends, he retired from the world. In 1797 he published his poem of “Beaumaris Bay,” which was extremely well received by the public, and materially added to his pecuniary resources. Mr. Llwyd had successfully studied the antiquities of his country, and was exceedingly well versed in heraldry, which added to his native vivacity, wit, and good humour, made his company courted by the first families in the principality, at whose mansions he was always a welcome guest. In 1804 Mr. Llwyd published his “Gayton Wake,” and two volumes of poems, “Tales, Ode,” &c., translated from the British, which show the extent and variety of his genius, and which met with extensive encouragement. In 1814 he married Miss Bingley, daughter of the late Alderman Bingley, of the city of Chester, with whom he lived happily in comfortable independence, and whom he survived about twelve months.

_William Maurice_ of Cevyn-y-Briach, in Denbighshire, a distinguished antiquary and the assistant of Mr. Robert Vaughan, of Hengwrt, in collecting old Welsh manuscripts. The collection made by Mr. Maurice is now preserved at Wynnestay. He died about the year 1660.

_William Middleton_, sometimes called in Welsh, Gwilym Ganoldrev, an eminent poet and grammarian of the family of Gwenynog, in Denbighshire, who lived from the year 1560 to 1600. He served in the armies of Elizabeth, and was afterwards a captain of a ship of war; and, it is worthy of notice, that the principal work that he left behind him was done at sea, being an elegant “Version of the Psalms,” in the higher kind of Welsh metre. This work we find, from a note at the end of it, was finished January 24th, 1595, in the West Indies, and was printed after his death by Thomas Salusbury in 1603. The only other performance of this author which has been printed is his “Grammar,” and “Art of Poetry,” which he published in the year 1593.

_Richard Morris_, a brother of Lewis Morris, of Penros Llugwy, Anglesea, an ingenious Welsh critic and poet. He passed the greater part of his life as first clerk in the Navy-office; during which, he superintended the printing of two valuable editions of the Welsh Bible. He died in the year 1779.

_Paul Panton_, Esq., of Plas Gwyn, in Anglesea, a character distinguished for his acquaintance with the history and antiquities of his native country, and who left behind him a valuable collection of Welsh manuscripts; but who was more conspicuous for his liberality in aiding others, who pursued a similar track with himself. In addition to his own collection of papers, he also became possessed of the books of the Rev. Evan Evans, author of the Desertatio de Bardis, and other things, in consequence of having settled an annuity of £20. on that child of misfortune, towards the close of his life. Mr. Panton died in 1797, in the sixty-seventh year of his age.