Miscellanea,

Miscellaneous papers containing notes, lists, transcripts, extracts, etc., in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together in one volume. The contents include pp. 13-39, copies of ten tales or fables in Welsh, nine bearing the titles 'Dammeg y Dial', 'Dameg y Ceiliog Rhedyn a'r Moryn', 'Dammeg y Dylluan, y golomen, a'r ystlym', 'Dameg y geifr, y Defaid, a'r bleiddiaid', 'Dameg y march gwyllt', 'Dammeg yr Eos a'r hebog', 'Dammeg Cenfigen yn Llosgi ei hun', 'Dammeg y Gwr a'r [Ebol]', and 'Dammeg Meredydd ap Rhosser o Lanbedr a'r Fro am gastell Tre Warin', and the tenth telling the story of Tanwyn, the son of Trahaearn, the bard (for the Welsh text of nine of these see Iolo Manuscripts . . ., pp. 167-84, and for English translations ibid., pp. 577-96); 38, brief notes with the superscription 'On the affinity of the ancient Gallic or Celtic with the Modern British', being presumably the introduction to a proposed essay or article on the said subject; 43-8, sketches ? in connection with the construction of a 'wheel oared boat'; 49- 64, 66, 68-96, 136-7, genealogical and other data relating to British saints some allegedly extracted from the manuscripts of Tho[mas] Truman, Iaean Deulwyn, Iaean Brechfa, Antoni Pywel, and Watkyn Owen; 65, a collection of miscellaneous Welsh words with English definitions, etc.; 66, ten stanzas of Welsh verse by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' attacking [Owen Jones] 'Owain Myfyr'; 67, a short list of Welsh triads; 97, an extract from the Gent[leman's] Mag[azine], 1780, relating to the cultivation of a new kind of wheat; 98, lists of pre-Saxon archbishops of London and early bishops of Llandaff; 99, notes on English history temp. Richard II - temp. Henry VII; loo, a list of the kings of Wales, A.D. 181- 517; 101, three draft stanzas of religious verse [? by Edward Williams]; 102, an incomplete, ? draft copy of a letter relating to Cattwg Sant and 'proverbs, moral aphorisms, etc., attributed to him'; 110, a Welsh-English list of species of apples; 111, a list with the superscription 'Llyma enwau wyth Esgobion Cymry Cyn dwyn o Saeson goreuon eu gwlad oddiar y Cymry'; 124, a list of 'Churches in Glam[organ which] are not generally called by the names of saints'; 131 + 133, an incomplete list of the names of those who had founded churches in Glamorgan ('Enwau y Rai a wnaethant Eglwysydd a Chorau ym Morganwg') (see Iolo Manuscripts . . ., pp. 219-22, 635-8); 155-74, 183-4, 187, 197, 203, notes relating to the special alphabets which, according to Edward Williams, were in use amongst the Welsh bards and monks, the four-sided billets of wood used as a writing surface when these two alphabets were used, the 'peithynen' (the name given to a series of such billets inserted in an upright frame so as to allow each to be rotated), the mythological account of the origin of letters and the basic alphabet, the acquisition and development of the alphabet by the Cymry, the use of wood as a writing surface in Wales in the Middle Ages, etc.; 166, four stanzas of English verse being doxologies written by Edward Williams in 'long metre', 'common metre', 'short metre', and the 'metre of Psalm 148'; 175-6, a copy (probably not in the hand of Edward Williams) of the assessment for poor rate in [the parish of] Lantwit Major [co. Glamorgan], 1753-1754; 180, 182, 194, 200, 205-08, 211, miscellaneous notes on bardic and literary matters; 181, a transcript of the beginning of a text of 'Brut y Brenhinedd'; 185-6, an incomplete ? copy of a letter from Edward Williams to John Nichols, esq., containing a description of an accompanying example of a 'peithynen' (see above), a note on the word 'peithynen', observations on the connection between Latin and Welsh, brief comments on Edward Llwyd and Doctor [John] Davies [of Mallwyd] and their knowledge of the Welsh language, etc.; 189-92, a list in Welsh of twenty-two of the basic principles or regulations of the bards of the Isle of Britain ('Defodau a Breiniau Beirdd Ynys Prydain') with an English version of the first twelve; 198, five stanzas of a Welsh hymn; 215-116, brief notes relating to the administration of justice in Glamorgan, 12th-16th cent.; 2117, an anecdote relating to Sir Risiart Grinvil [Norman knight, 1st half 12th cent.], the bringing of the builder Lalys ? from Rome to Glamorgan by the said Sir Risiart, and the building of the monastery at Glyn Nedd, the church of Llandaff, and castles at Caerdyf, y Coetty, San Dunwyd, etc., and the founding of Trelalys by the said Lalys; 218, an anecdote relating to [the Norman knight] Syr Rhobert Fitshamon and Ifor Bach, lord of Regoes and Glynrhondda; and miscellaneous notes, etc. The reverse side of printed handbills containing proposals for publishing Edward Williams's two - volume work Poems Lyric and Pastoral and a new edition of Dr. [Samuel] Johnson's Dictionary have been used in two instances for writing notes.

Title based on contents.

Formerly known as Llanover C. 6.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 13093E.

The description is also available in the Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Volume IV (Aberystwyth, 1971).

Published