THGOPHII.US JONGS, 
 
 HISTORIAN: 
 
 HIS LIFS, LGTTGRS AND 
 
 LITGRARY RGMAINS
 
 HENRY GRAY'S Periodical Catalogue, No. 283. 
 
 / 
 1 Morgan. Theophilus Jones, F.S.A., Historian : i jF 
 
 1 his Life, Letters and Literary . Remains. 1 
 Edited by Edwin Davies. Portraits, Arms, 
 Monument, etc. 8vo, cloth, list of sub- \ 
 ssribers, pp. xi., 158. Brecon, 19" 5. 7s 6d : 
 ^ 42 ^' 
 
 Historian of Brecknockshire, bum at Brecon. Con- 
 tains Pedigree of the Morgans of Tredegar, Machen, 
 Llantamam, etc. 
 
 ^^^/(/b-^rl ff^'xj^^ 

 
 ( See ixtijK 21.)
 
 THEOPHILUS JONES, RS.A., 
 
 HISTORIAN : 
 HIS LIFE, LETTERS & LITERARY REMAINS. 
 
 EDITED BY EDWIN DAVIES. 
 
 "CAS NI CHARO Y WLAD A* I MAGO. 
 
 BRECON : 
 
 Published by Davies & Co., Bridge Sthekt ; 
 
 AJ»D PBINTBD FOB THEM BY ANTHONY BKOTHEBB LIMITED, " HEREFOED TTMEi 
 OITICBS, HEBEFOHD. 
 
 1906.
 
 TO THE 
 
 RIGHT HON. LORD TREDEGAR. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I was privileged to inscribe to you my Reprint of 
 Theophilus Jones's History of Brecknockshire, in the 
 production of which you manifested a kindly interest. 
 
 I have thought that the following pages of 
 Biography and Letters of the Historian might be 
 acceptable to his countrymen, and I am happy in the 
 knowledge that the enterprise has your lordship's 
 approbation. 
 
 To you, therefore, the most generous Patron of 
 Welsh Education, Literature, and Art, the distinguished 
 and beloved Welsh Hero and Philanthropist, I likewise 
 Dedicate tliis Volume, and count myself doubly 
 honoured in being permitted to do so. 
 
 I am, my l/ord, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
 206'7339
 
 Right Hox. Lord TiiKUHciAR. 
 
 ( l-'rom I'hoto bij Alfrnl Freke, Queen St., Cardi//'.)
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Portrait of Theophii^us Jones. 
 
 The House Where he Died. 
 
 His Book-plate. 
 
 Fac-simii,e of Tombstone in L,i,angammarch 
 Churchyakd. 
 
 Portrait of Lord Tredegar.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 npHESE I<etters, written by Theophilus Jones, now 
 ■^ published for the first time, form part of a most 
 interesting collection of MS. Letters from eminent 
 Welshmen now in the possession of the Cardiff Free 
 Library Committee, to whose courtesy, as well as that 
 of their accomplished Librarian, I am indebted for 
 permission to copy and print. 
 
 The personaUty of the writer of the Letters is 
 admirably described in Miss Morgan's Biography, 
 and it is unnecessary to add anything further in that 
 direction. But I may perhaps be allowed to say here, 
 that the letters are a complete refutation of an 
 assertion which has gained currency to the effect that 
 the History which Jones published was largely the 
 work of another person. It is quite true that 
 Theophilus Jones obtained information from every 
 source which he thought to be reliable. He was also 
 diligent in seeking advice from those he thought capable 
 of giving it, and in verifying facts about which he had 
 any doubt. But the work was his from beginning 
 to end. These Letters are a striking testimony of the 
 patience with which he, under many trying circum- 
 stances, carried his great task to a successful 
 conclusion. 
 
 For the most part the Letters were written by 
 Theophilus Jones to his Hfe-long friend, the Rev. 
 Edward Davies, of Olveston, Gloucestershire, but 
 there are a few others to the Rev. Walter Davies 
 (" Gwalter Mechain"), and for these I am indebted 
 to Mr. J. Glyn Davies, the Welsh Librarian at 
 Aberystwith College.
 
 Vlll. 
 
 Of the Rev. Edward Davies, in whose career the 
 Historian took such an affectionate interest, it should 
 be stated that he was a Radnorshire man, bom on the 
 7th July, 1756, some three years before Jones's birth, 
 at a farm called Hendre Einon, in the parish of Llan- 
 vareth, three miles from Builth. His father was 
 farmer of a small estate of which his uncle was the 
 proprietor. 
 
 Edward Davies was a student for a Httle over a 
 year at Christ College, Brecon, and in 1775 opened a 
 school at Hay, and was ordained curate of Bacton, in 
 Herefordshire, four years later. He served this and 
 several other curacies, after the manner of his time, 
 besides keeping his school ; and it is stated that he 
 conducted five services every Sunday, and travelled 
 30 miles to do so, for £30 a year. Mr. Davies was 
 master from 1783 to 1799 of the Grammar School at 
 Chipping Sodbury, in Gloucestershire, and in the 
 former year he married his first wife, Margaret Smith, 
 of Whittington, 
 
 Mr. Davies devoted his leisure to Celtic antiquarian 
 studies, to poetry, and divinity. He made the 
 acquaintance of Owen Pughe, Edward Williams, and 
 other leading Welsh antiquarians. Some of the poems 
 of the ' ' Myvyrian Archaiology ' ' were taken from 
 his transcripts. In 1799 he went as curate of Olveston, 
 also in Gloucestershire, and it was to this address 
 that Jones, the Historian, directed nearly all his 
 Letters. 
 
 Jones, who was Davies's contemporary at school, 
 exerted himself to obtain for him some preferment, 
 and many of Jones's Letters betray anxiety on account 
 of his friend's impoverished condition. Theo. Jones 
 only too well knew the exacting character of the literary 
 work in which Edward Davies was engaged, and no
 
 IX. 
 
 doubt desired to get his mind relieved of the cares due 
 to his evident financial embarrassment. After pro- 
 longed efforts, Theo. Jones appears to have succeeded, 
 for in i8g2 Mr. Davies secured the perpetual curacy 
 of i/lanbedr, and in 1805 the rectory of Bishopston, 
 in Gower, near Swansea. He continued to live at 
 Olveston until 1813, when he removed to Bishopston. 
 Bishop Burgess, who expressed himself as charmed 
 that Edward Davies ' ' was not a mere black letter 
 ' ' man, but an orthodox divine and admirable theo- 
 " logical writer," in 1810 gave him the prebend of 
 Llangunllo, in the then almost dilapidated Christ 
 College at Brecon. 
 
 In 1816 Mr. Davies took to himself a second wife, 
 Susanna Jeffreys, and was made Chancellor of Brecon 
 and Rector of Llanfair Orllwyn, in Cardiganshire, 
 but as Theophilus Jones died in 1812, he was not per- 
 mitted to rejoice over his friend's increased prosperity. 
 
 The Letters show a constant anxiety on the part 
 of Jones with regard to Edward Davies's eyesight, 
 which, in consequence of an accident received when a 
 boy, was always defective. In his latter days, he 
 became totally blind. When he relinquished his 
 clerical duties in 1823 in consequence of ill-health, 
 he was soon after elected an associate of the Royal 
 Society of Literature, and thus obtained £100 a year. 
 He died on January 7th, 1831, and was buried at 
 Bishopstone. The Rev. Edward Davies's chief works 
 were — 
 
 1. Aphtharte, the genius of Britain ; a Poem written 
 
 in the taste of the i6th century ; 1784. 
 
 2. Vacunalia ; consisting of Essays in verse ; 1788. 
 
 3. Eliza Powell ; or the Trials of Sensibility ; a 
 
 novel ; 1795.
 
 4- Celtic Researches, or the Origin, Traditions, and 
 Language of the Antient Britons, with Intro- 
 ductory Sketches on Primitive vSociety ; 1804. 
 This is his best known book. 
 
 5. A Series of Discourses on Church Union, in which 
 
 it is maintained that the duty of Communion 
 with the ApostoHcal Church remains iincancelled 
 by the tolerance of the British Laws ; 181 1. 
 
 6. Immanuel, a Letter on Isaiah vii., 14, in answer 
 
 to the Strictures of a Modern Jew; 1816. 
 
 7. The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, 
 
 ascertained by national documents and com- 
 pared with the traditions and customs of 
 Heathenism ; 1809. 
 
 8. The Claims of Ossian, examined and appreciated 
 
 together with some curious particulars relative 
 to the State of Poetr>^ in the Celtic dialects of 
 Scotland and Ireland ; 1825. An attack on 
 Macpherson for disparaging the Welsh Bards. 
 
 9. Various Papers and Translations, such as those 
 
 of Davydd ap Gwilym, which are printed in 
 the Cambrian Register. 
 Through the efforts of Miss G. E. F. Morgan, of 
 Brecon, money was raised in 1899 for the purpose Of 
 placing a tablet in Llangammarch Church to the 
 memory of Theophilus Jones and for renovating the 
 memorial to him in Christ College chapel. The 
 omission may be entirely due to an oversight ; but it 
 is to be hoped that at Christ College there will shortly 
 be erected suitable memorials to the Rev. Edward 
 Davies and the Rev. Thomas Price (" Carnhuanwc ") 
 two remarkable Welshmen and both students of the 
 school.
 
 XI 
 
 To this collection of Letters are added some 
 anonymous papers by Theophilus Jones, as well as 
 some accoimt of his books, &c. And, as they are of 
 local interest, and were for the most part written 
 whilst visiting Theophilus Jones, several extracts from 
 Richard Fenton's MS. Diary are also included. 
 
 Miss Morgan has very kindly revised and enlarged 
 her Biography of the Author of ' ' Brecknockshire, ' ' 
 and the new portrait of him has been engraved from a 
 portrait in her possession, drawn from life by the 
 Rev. Thomas Price, Cwmdu. 
 
 The Author's book-plate was fortunately dis- 
 covered before going to press. It is taken from a 
 photograph of the plate in the 2nd vol. of Jones, 
 History, which was presented by his widow in 1827 
 to the Welsh I,ibrary at St. David's College, I^ampeter ; 
 and I have to thank Mr. William Davies, the Bursary 
 Clerk, for attending to this matter. 
 
 Mr. Ifano Jones, of Cardiff Library, has been good 
 enough to look over the Welsh in the letters. 
 
 The pedigree of the " Morgans of Tredegar," &c., 
 forms a part of the MS. collection by Jones, and for 
 that reason it is now included. 
 
 THE EDITOR, 
 
 Brecon.
 
 tri&eopl&ilu^ Woxxe$, ^^S^n. 
 
 " If anything I have suggested shall be pro- 
 ductive of benefit to one deserving person, or my 
 lucubrations shall afford amusement and satis- 
 faction to the public, my ends are obtained. The 
 utmost extent of my ambition is, that I may live a 
 few years in the recollection and approbation of 
 my countrymen after Providence shall have con- 
 signed me to the long silence of the grave." 
 
 Theophilus Jones. 
 
 H EARLY a century^ has passed since the words 
 quoted above were written by the Historian of 
 Brecknockshire, and the fact that a reprint of his 
 History — without note or comment, but an exact 
 copy of the first edition — should have been eagerly 
 subscribed for at this distance of time, is proof, if any 
 such were needed, of the vitality of the book, and of 
 the place which Theophilus Jones holds in the hearts 
 of his countrymen. 
 
 The saying " Happy is the country that has no 
 history ! ' ' may also apply to individuals, and in that 
 sense it is true of the subject of this sketch. His un- 
 eventful existence passed in a quiet country town 
 furnishes no stirring incidents from which to weave 
 an elaborate biography, the story of his life being 
 that of his History. Some three generations have 
 passed away since he walked through the land he 
 loved so well, yet into our own time there have lived 
 those who knew him, who have watched him fishing 
 of a summer's evening, who have spoken of his 
 kindliness, and who have nothing to tell that does not
 
 confirm the impression left on our minds after reading 
 his great book, that he was a God-fearing, amiable 
 and upright man. His life was one of simplicity and 
 hard work carried out during a period of physical suffer- 
 ing heroically borne. He turned from the possibilities 
 of wealth (his partner and successor amassed a large 
 fortune, and purchased a considerable estate in the 
 neighbourhood), to comparative poverty", in order that 
 he might rescue from oblivion the memorials of past 
 days, many of which would otherwise never have 
 come down to us. The debt which the posterity of a 
 county owes to its conscientious, careful antiquary can 
 hardly be over-estimated, and Brecknockshire has been 
 peculiarly fortunate in this respect. It is surely a 
 matter of no small pride and satisfaction to us to realize 
 that the best County History in Wales was written 
 by Theophilus Jones, that the best Historj^ of Wales 
 in Welsh, " Hanes Cymru," was the work of the Rev. 
 Thomas Price, vicar of Cwmdu, and that the only 
 History of Wales written in English (until Prof. Owen 
 Edwards recentlj^ gave us ' ' Wales ' ' in the ' ' Story 
 of the Nations" series) was by Miss Jane Williams, 
 " Ysgafell," all of whom belonged to Brecknockshire 
 by birth, breeding or descent. 
 
 Theophilus Jones was the only son of the Rev. 
 Hugh Jones, Vicar of I^langammarch and Lb'wel, 
 and Prebendary of Boughrood IJanbedr Painscastle, 
 whose father, another Hugh Jones, married Mary, 
 daughter of Rees Lloyd, of Nantmel, a member of 
 the famil}' of lyloyd of Rhosferig and Aberannell. 
 Our Historian was thus of the line of Elystan Glodrydd, 
 Prince of Ferregs, whose descendants peopled the 
 hundred of Builth, and through his paternal grand- 
 mother he was connected v/ith the Jeffreyses of 
 Brecon and the Watkinses of Penoyre.
 
 The Rev. Hugh Jones married Elinor, elder 
 daughter of the Rev. Theophilus Evans, vicar of 
 Uangammarch from 1738 to 1763, in which year he 
 resigned the living in favour of his son-in-law, Mr. 
 Hugh Jones ; Mr. Evans was also vicar of St. David's 
 Brecon, to which he was inducted 8th June, 1739, 
 It is always interesting to note the hereditary 
 influences, which have helped to form the tastes and 
 characters of remarkable men, and no account of 
 Theophilus Jones's life would be complete, that did not 
 touch on the career of his maternal grandfather, who 
 seems to have been a man of considerable ability, and 
 is spoken of by his grandson with affectionate respect. 
 
 Theophilus Evans was the fifth son of Charles 
 Evans, of Pen-y-wenallt, Cardiganshire, of the tribe 
 of Gwynfardd Dyfed, whose father had suffered even 
 to imprisonment for his loyalty to Charles I. He was 
 born in 1694, ordained deacon in 1718, and priest 
 in 1719, by the Bishop of St. David's. The friend- 
 ship existing between his countrymen the Uoyds 
 of Millfield and the Gwynnes of Glanbran, induced 
 him to settle in this county. Here it may be well 
 to give a short account -of his literary work. 
 His first publication was in Welsh, it appeared in 1716, 
 and was called " Drych y Prif Oesoedd," or a 
 " Mirror of Ancient Times," being a brief history of 
 the ancient Britons. "This book," wrote his 
 grandson, ' ' seems to have been more read and admired 
 ' ' by the inhabitants of South Wales than any other 
 ' ' ever published in the language, unless it be Uyfr 
 ' • y Ficcar Llandyf ri, and it is still as great a favourite 
 "as ever in this part of the Principality." There 
 have been fourteen Welsh editions of this remarkable 
 work, the latest being that published by Spurrell 
 of Carmarthen in 1884. In 1739 appeared his " Pwyll y
 
 Pader," being an exposition of the Lord's Prayer in 
 several sermons, which he dedicated to Sackville Gwynne, 
 Esq., of Glanbran, to whom he pays a compliment for 
 his zeal in the encouragement and promotion of the 
 worship of God by the erection of the church of Tyr 
 Abot, which was Mr. Evans's first curacy ; he was 
 also domestic chaplain to Mr. Gwynne of Garth. The 
 dedicator}' portion of the work concludes with a prayer 
 to the Deity, " that as his patron had until that day 
 ' ' lived in a mansion situated in a rich soil and in the 
 ' ' fat of the land, nourished and fertilized by the dew 
 " of heaven, after a length of days spent piously and 
 " happily in this world, he might be awakened by 
 " an angel of life in the realms of bliss." In 1752 
 he published in English " A History of Modern En- 
 thusiasm," of which another edition was brought out 
 in 1757 ; both are now very rare. This book contained 
 a severe attack upon all dissenters from the Estab- 
 hshed Church. The circumstances under which this 
 work, which roused so much feeling, was published, 
 have not been fully recognized. In 1743 the Rev. 
 John Wesley paid his first visit to Brecknockshire, 
 which had already been stirred by the preaching of 
 Howel Harris and Rowlands of Llangeitho. We read 
 in his Diary (which Mr. Birrell has recently told us 
 throws more Ught upon the moral and social conditions 
 of England in the eighteenth century than an^- other 
 book,) under date 
 
 " May, 1743, Wednesday 3rd. — came to Builth. 
 " Mr. Phillips, the Rector of Maesmynis (at whose 
 " invitation I came), soon to take knowledge of me. 
 " I preached on a tomb at the east end of the church 
 " at four, and again at seven. Mr. Gwynne and 
 " Mr. Prothero, Justices of the Peace, stood on 
 " either hand of me."
 
 Mr. Gwynne was of Garth, and previously to this had 
 stood with the Riot Act in his pocket near IJanwrtyd 
 Church to hear Howel Harris preach, determined to 
 arrest him, not doubting he was a madman, but was so 
 deeply impressed by his preaching, that at the close he 
 grasped Howel Harris's hand, besought his pardon, and 
 took him home to Garth. Dr. Stevens gives a very 
 interesting account of Mr. Gwynne : — " In Wales the 
 * ' Wesleys were entertained at the opulent mansion 
 " of Marmaduke Gwynne, Esq., a magistrate, of Garth. 
 " His princely establishment usually comprised, beside 
 ' ' nine children and twenty servants, a chaplain, and 
 " from ten to fifteen guests. . . . The Wesleys 
 ' ' preached to them daily while seeking repose amid 
 " their hospitality." The chaplain was the Rev. 
 Theophilus Evans, as has been said, and he must have 
 had many arguments with Mr. Wesley during their 
 frequent and lengthy interviews, though when Charles 
 Wesley, the sweet singer of the movement, wedded 
 Miss Sarah Gwjmne, we do not find that the chaplain 
 assisted at the ceremony. To quote again from John 
 Wesley's Diary : — 
 
 " 1739. April, Friday 7th, we reached Garth. 
 " Saturday 8th, I married -my brother and Sarah 
 " Gwynne. It was a solemn day, such as became 
 "the dignity of a Christian marriage." 
 
 Unconvinced by all that he saw and heard, Mr. 
 Evans felt it his duty to protest, and Mr. Wesley and 
 Mr. Whitfield wrote a reply to his book. In later 
 years his grandson apologised for the bitterness of 
 his tone in the following words: — "He wrote as a 
 " member of the Established Church to prevent by 
 " timely warning the repetition of those calamities 
 " produced by fanaticism in the generation preceding 
 " him, of the recurrence of which he seems to have been
 
 " apprehensive from the spread of an enthusiasm equally 
 " mischievous, though assuming a different garb, artfully 
 " fomented and encouraged, as he apprehended, by the 
 " Church of Rome." It is curious to read, that he 
 seriously thought the Methodists were emissaries of the 
 CathoHc Church, though it was not an uncommon belief 
 at the time, John Wesley himself having been taken for 
 a Jesuit in disguise, when preaching in South Wales ; 
 the memory of the Rising of 1745, and the sympathy 
 of the Catholics with the cause of the White 
 Rose, made the poptilar mind ready to assign 
 any new departure in rehgion or politics to the influence 
 of the Jesuits. Then the traditions of family suffer- 
 ings and losses during the Civil War doubtless account 
 for a genuine though exaggerated alarm at the doings 
 of John Wesley and his followers. To his mind the 
 terms ' ' fanatic ' ' and ' ' enthusiast ' ' were evidently 
 synonymous, but to us, who are looking back at the 
 course of events he anticipated, it seems impossible to 
 imagine what the religious and social Hfe of the 
 eighteenth — nay, even of the nineteenth — centuries 
 would have been without the " enthusiasm" of the 
 great Fellow of Lincoln. 
 
 At the same time whilst it is customary to pour 
 contempt on the clergy of the Church in Wales during 
 the last century, it is refreshing to think of Mr. Evans 
 as one, who may not unreasonably be taken as typical 
 of the better kind of Welsh parish priest, of whom 
 such a character remains as that given to him by 
 Theophilus Jones : ' ' My revered, learned and respec- 
 table grandfather "... who, notwithstanding the 
 bitterness of his tone towards those who differed from 
 him in their forms of faith, ' ' had perhaps as much of 
 " the milk of human kindness as any man who ever lived. 
 ' ' Of the value of money he knew little, books were
 
 ' his only treasures, and employed the greatest part 
 ' of that time in which he was not engaged in the 
 ' duties of his holy function, and in this character he 
 ' was remarkably eminent ; many of the sectaries 
 ' whom he condemned heard his exhortations with 
 ' pleasure, if not with improvement, and his sermons 
 ' are even now recollected with rapture ; he had a 
 ' method of bringing home his arguments to the 
 ' feelings of his auditors, without descending to low 
 ' or familiar phrases, which was peculiarly 
 ' persuasive. ' ' 
 
 Mr, Evans was a fellow-labourer with the Rev. 
 Griffith Jones, vicar of Llanddowror, the founder of 
 the first day and Sunday schools in Wales. His cir- 
 culating schools were started in 1730, in which year 
 Mr. Evans wrote a " Letter on Education," published 
 by Mr. Robert Raikes, of Gloucester, who may have 
 been induced by the example of these Welsh clergymen 
 to establish Sunday schools in England. It is pleasant 
 to trace their beginning to our own county. When 
 the good Vicar of Llanddowror, ' ' The Morning Star 
 of the Welsh Reformation," died in 1761, these schools 
 had been instrumental in teaching over 150,000 of the 
 W^elsh people to read God's Holy Word in their own 
 tongue. 
 
 In the previous century the Rev. R. Powel, vicar 
 of Boughrood, whose pious memory so many Brecon 
 boys have had reason to bless, had left money by his 
 will ' ' to teach and instruct poor children, natives of 
 " Brecon, in the English tongue, the better to enable 
 * ' them to serve God, and manage their trades or occu- 
 " pations," on which Theophilus Jones makes the 
 following remarkable commentary, which at least shows 
 that he did not share his grandfather's opinions in 
 relation to Simday schools : — " It is not clear to me
 
 8 
 
 " from these words, whether this good divine intended 
 ' ' these children should be taught to read and write or 
 ' ' not. I am sure I should respect his memory much 
 *' more, if I thought he did not, notwithstanding the 
 " fashionable mania for parochial and Sunday schools, 
 ' ' which, nineteen times out of twenty, only teach boys 
 " to misapprehend their Bible, to prate and become 
 "troublesome in their neighbourhood." One hundred 
 years have passed away since that sentence was written 
 in happy unconsciousness of the advent of a com- 
 plete system of Welsh education, which will give our 
 boys and girls the same advantages that Scotland 
 has so long enjoyed, and which will make Brecon an 
 educational centre of the greatest importance, if our 
 countrymen realize the possibiUties now within their 
 grasp. 
 
 In the year 1732 Mr. Evans discovered the mineral 
 springs of Llanwrtyd, called ' ' Ffynon Drewllyd 
 (stinking well), so valuable as a cure for scrofulous com- 
 plaints. In a letter to the Editor of the " St. James's 
 Chronicle," in 1738, he gives an interesting account 
 of the manner in which his attention first became 
 attracted to these waters. In his quaint style he says : — 
 ' The writer hereof, being then almost worn out by a 
 ' disease of many years continuance, was casually 
 ' informed of this then reputed venomous spring. 
 ' His curiosity led him that way, which, by the smell, 
 ' he could easily find without a guide. He sat on 
 ' the brink of it a long time dubious what to do. As 
 ' he was thus musing and revolving in his mind what 
 ' he had best do, a frog popped out of the bottom, 
 ' looked cheerfull}^ and, as it were, invited him to 
 ' taste of the water. He then immediately concluded 
 ' that the water could not have any poisonous quality, 
 ' because of that creature's living so comfortably
 
 " there, and took a moderate draught, about half-a- 
 ' ' pint or more, without any concern or dread of danger. 
 " By the use of this for about two months, and by 
 " taking baths in the water every day, he became 
 " perfectly whole, though his case had been deemed 
 ' ' incurable. ' ' 
 
 Mr. Evans lived at L,lwyn Einon, in Llangam- 
 march (now a farmhouse), and on his death left the 
 little estate to Theophilus Jones, who honoured the 
 memory of his grandfather by a peculiar attachment 
 to the place. The Rev. Theophilus Evans died 
 September nth, 1767, aged 73, and was buried in the 
 Churchyard of lylangammarch, " near the stile 
 entering from the east." 
 
 Theophilus Jones was born in Brecon on i8th 
 October, 1759, and on 8th November following he was 
 baptized in the chapel of St. Mary in that town. His 
 father was at that time curate of St. David's, Brecon, 
 and lived in a charming old house in lyion street (one 
 of the many town residences of the county families, who 
 used to come to Brecon for the Assizes and other gather- 
 ings), where Dr. George Bull, Bishop of St. David's, had 
 died earlier in the century. The future Historian 
 passed some of his early years at 1/lwyn Einon, and, 
 young though he was, there can be little doubt that his 
 antiquarian tastes were awakened and fostered by his 
 grandfather, from whom he inherited valuable 
 materials for the History. The Rev. Thomas Price, 
 who was born in the hundred of Builtli less than a 
 generation later, has left a graphic picture of the 
 manners and customs of the inhabitants of that district : 
 " Brought up, as I have been, in the remote parts 
 " of the PrincipaHty, often do I dwell with pleasure 
 upon the recollections of my infancy : when in the 
 " winter's night I sat in the circle around the fire
 
 lO 
 
 ' under the spacious chimney-piece, and Hstened to 
 ' the songs and traditions of the peasantry, or to the 
 ' poetry of David ab Gwilym read by the fireHght ; 
 ' and if but a harper should chance to visit us happy 
 ' was the day, yea, I might say, earthly speaking, 
 ' blessed was the time. . . . About the year 
 ' 1750 the young people in Wales were very fond of 
 ' dancing. They met together frequently in parties, 
 ' and danced country dances, some of which had four 
 ' and twenty variations, all of which were to be danced 
 ' through ; and I think there were variations in the 
 * figure of the dance to correspond to those of the 
 
 ' tune The introduction of Methodism 
 
 ' made a great change in the habits of the people. 
 ' Dancing was altogether discouraged as profane." 
 
 Theophilus Jones was educated at Christ's 
 College, Brecknock, which was then a large and 
 flourishing school, attended by the sons of the 
 surrounding country gentry, amongst whom he found 
 many friends, and here began the life-long regard which 
 existed between him and the Rev. Edward Davies, of 
 Olveston, co. Gloucester, the learned author of 
 "Celtic Researches," "Mythology of the British 
 Druids," and other works. To him he dedicated the 
 second volume of his History. During the time he was 
 at Christ's College, the Head Master was the Rev. 
 David Griffith (grandfather of the late Rev. Charles 
 Griffith, M.A., of Glyn Celyn, Brecon), an accomplished 
 scholar, of whom he spoke in after years as " the 
 respected and respectable preceptor of my youth. ' ' His 
 parents having decided that he should become a lawyef, 
 Theophilus Jones was articled to Mr. Penoyre Watkins, 
 a solicitor in large practice then living in Brecon, and 
 having passed through this period with great credit, 
 upon the expiration of his articles he entered the pro-
 
 II 
 
 fession on his own account, and continued in it for 
 many years, practising vdth equal reputation and 
 success as a solicitor and attorney in his county town. 
 He married Mary, daughter of Rice Price, Esq., of 
 Porth-y-Rh5'^d, in the county of Carmarthen (who 
 was a member of the family of Price of Cilgwyn, a branch 
 of the Prices of Glynllech, in Ystradgunlais), by Mary, 
 daughter of Daniel Williams, Esq., of Llwynworm- 
 wood. A vacancy occurring in the Deputy Registrarship 
 of the Archdeaconry of Brecon, he was appointed to 
 that office, which he held until his death. To this 
 circumstance we are probably indebted for the History, 
 which will be for ever associated with the name of 
 Theophilus Jones. Amongst the documents committed 
 to his care were the records of the various parishes for 
 centuries past, in the perusal of which he must have 
 obtained a great amount of the information he after- 
 wards introduced into his History. There is every 
 reason to believe, that he had no natural inclination 
 for the profession, to which he had been brought up, his 
 chief delight being in literary studies and antiquarian 
 research, but it was not until the year 1800 or 1801, 
 that he seriously entertained the idea of writing the 
 History of his native county. His father, the Rev. 
 Hugh Jones, died 2nd April, 1799 (and was buried in 
 St. David's Churchyard with his wife Elinor, who died 
 24th July, 1786), and this circumstance may have had 
 much to do with the determination he now formed. 
 He found it was quite impossible to write the History 
 and at the same time to carry on his other duties. 
 On their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Theophilus Jones lived 
 in a large and comfortable house in Mount Street, 
 Brecon, now converted into an inn known as " The 
 George," the rooms of which are oak-panelled and 
 lofty, where they remained until his father's death, 
 when they moved to the house in Lion Street, in
 
 12 
 
 which the History was written. In a letter, dated 
 Oct. 4th, 1801, to the Rev. Edward Davies, he says : 
 
 * ' I've such a room ! such a stud}^ ! 
 
 "it is at the back part of the house, no noise or 
 ' ' interruption, except now and then a call into the office 
 " . . . I laugh, I laugh at the imps of gloominess." 
 Having a small patrimony of his own, he deter- 
 mined, with his wife's consent, to give up his practice, 
 and live upon his private means, so that he might 
 have time to prosecute his labours in compiling the 
 History, which he succeeded in doing, though he lost 
 upwards of £400 in the undertaking. He disposed of 
 his practice to his partner, Mr. Samuel Church, of Ffrwd- 
 grech, reserving to himself the Deputy Registrarship, 
 which enabled him to have access to the various deeds, 
 wills, &c., which were so important in his researches, 
 though it was not until 1809 that he was able 
 to write : ' * Done with the law ! ' ' Having 
 now the leisure in which to pursue the great 
 object of his life, he spared neither time nor expense in 
 its execution. He personally visited every parish in 
 the county ; he copied the mural and monumental in- 
 scriptions in every church (many of which have since 
 entirely disappeared during the " restorations " of 
 recent years) ; he collected the folk-lore and legends 
 from the aged inhabitants ; he gathered all the 
 information that could be acquired, and industriously 
 gleaned from every repository that was open 
 to his inspection, the contents of such documents 
 as might enlarge, illustrate, or enrich his work. 
 His perfect acquaintance with the language 
 of his country enabled him to employ them to 
 the best advantage. He availed himself largely of 
 Hugh Thomas's MS. "Essay towards a History of 
 Brecknockshire," which is preserved at the Bodleian 
 L/ibrary, Oxford, and a portion of wliich is in the posses-
 
 13 
 
 sion of Mr. George Hay, Brecon. This Essay was 
 written about i6g8, and as far as it goes forms an 
 invaluable contribution to local history, bringing the 
 Brecon of the seventeenth century very vividly before us. 
 Hugh Thomas was a member of an old Brecknockshire 
 Catholic family settled at Llanfrynach from the earliest 
 times. He was a deputy herald and lived in Blooms- 
 bury, London, though from his intimate knowledge of 
 the place and people, he must have frequently visited 
 Brecon, where he stayed with his kinswomen, 
 Mary and Margaret Thomas, of saintly memory*. 
 His spelhng is peculiar, but his style of writing is 
 easy and pleasant, at times gliding into gossip and 
 long-forgotten scandals connected with the town. He 
 was greatly impressed by the wickedness of the Normans 
 in appropriating to themselves the fair lands which 
 belonged to the native Welshmen, and never wearies 
 of pointing out how the judgment of God had fallen 
 upon their descendants for that and other sins, and 
 how the Welsh had reasserted themselves even in his 
 time as owners of the soil, the old Norman families 
 having merged their names in those of the Welsh, or 
 " extinguished themselves in heiresses," or sold their 
 lands, so that the principal landowners in 1698 bore 
 Welsh surnames. The following (the introduction of 
 which may be forgiven, as Jones has not quoted it), 
 is a fair specimen of his style, though it is rather 
 involved : — 
 
 " Hugh Havard was 4 times Baylif and twice 
 " Alderman of Brecon. This man began to write 
 " a book of pedigrees t about January, 1580, and not 
 " ended until about 1600. He tells us that in the 
 " year 1590, there was no rain from Easter till All 
 
 * See " Forgotten Saints," by G. E. F. M., Brecon Parochial 
 Magazine, 1902. 
 
 t Harleian M.S. 3525,
 
 14 
 
 " Saints, and that on loth December following 
 " began a hard frost and snow, which continued 
 " till 25 March, 1591, on which day there happened 
 " with the thaw such a tempest of Raine as occasioned 
 ' such Fluds, that the like was not known since the 
 " time of Noah, which carried away all stone bridges 
 " and great mills, and the same year all manner 
 " of Beasts died for want of fodder. That year 
 " our Lady was upon Good Friday. The Havards 
 " have for sometime been the most landed and 
 " florishing family of the County and older in this 
 " Parish (St. John's, Brecon,) than any other family 
 " whatsoever, tho' now for their offences against 
 " God and their neighbours brought down to 
 " nothing. Having once to the Honour of God 
 " builded a suptious Chapell adjoined to the Priory 
 " Church, which yet retains their name, and is 
 " called Capell Havardiad, where I conjecture they 
 " ordained a priest to pray for their souls for ever, 
 " and were most of them buried, but now the 
 " good reformers have reformed this Chapell almost 
 " to the ground, as they have not only this worthy 
 " Family, but almost all the noble Families of the 
 " kingdom out of their estates, (and almost all their 
 " gravestones thrown out or broke to pieces) for 
 " their great negligence in promoting these abuses." 
 
 There is yet another unrecorded paragraph by Hugh 
 Thomas, which no lover of Brecon would wish to be 
 omitted, and which many still believe to be as true 
 as when it was written : — 
 
 " Brecon is well stored with wood and water and 
 " fish especially trout, ye best and ye most in ye king- 
 " dom are taken in Uske river, no better in all 
 " Wales, having abundance of fine springs and 
 " purling streams besides the rivers Uske, Honddu
 
 15 
 
 " &c. &c. which makes the country most pleasant 
 " and healthy, insomuch that it wants nothing that 
 ■' can make a man happy, and from ye top of our 
 " Hills seeing ye most pleasantest I,andskips in 
 " nature, having at one view the prospect of hills, 
 " valleys, wood and water. The state of the 
 " people are as in most parts of ye kingdom, their 
 " complexions very comely, and much better than 
 " those of ye sea coasts, neither are their humours 
 " less commendable. Deo Gratia ! " 
 
 But Hugh Thomas's most valuable contribution to 
 Brecknockshire history is his volume of MS, pedigrees 
 in the Harleian Collection at the British Museum 
 which he bequeathed to Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford. 
 Of the value and interest of this book it is hardly possible 
 to speak too highly. Modern genealogists tell us, that 
 no other pedigrees relating to our county families 
 of the seventeenth century are equally satisfactory 
 or correct, and the more it is studied, the stronger 
 grows the impression, that Theophilus Jones 
 knew little about it, even supposing he ever saw it. 
 Had he known it well he could never have omitted many 
 items of interest there recorded. For instance Hugh 
 Thomas's pedigree of the Walbeoffes of Llanhamlach 
 is given with a fulness of detail wholly absent from the 
 genealogical table of that family given by Jones, who 
 has also omitted entries of the greatest importance 
 relating to the families of Games of Aberbran and 
 Vaughan of Newton, Llansantffread, whilst the very 
 interesting pedigree of the ancient family of Powel of 
 Maespoeth, which Hugh Thomas gives at length, does 
 not appear at all in Theophilus Jones's History. It 
 is quite possible that he may have hastily glanced at 
 the volume during a visit to London, or he may have 
 been told of it by a friend ; that he knew of its existence
 
 i6 
 
 is proved by his reference to the pedigree in it of the 
 Powels of Castle Madoc, which vaiied from his account 
 of the same family. Genealogy and heraldry were 
 the favourite subjects of his enquiry. His pedigrees, 
 generally speaking, are correct. That here and there 
 some names may have been omitted, that some errors 
 from misinformation may have crept in is very possible, 
 but such lapses are unavoidable, certainly in the first 
 edition of such a book. In a work of such multi- 
 farious enquir\^, where the materials are collected 
 from many different sources, where the families them- 
 selves, to whom theA^ more immediately relate, are 
 so often ignorant, and still more frequently indifferent, 
 it is scarcely possible for the historian to be 
 minutely accurate. No man, how^ever, could have 
 taken greater pains than Mr. Jones did, and we ma}' be 
 quite sure that whatever errors may occur in the 
 earlier part of his genealogies (and they are few), they 
 are correct for at least one hundred years before the 
 time he wrote, which period would include all his 
 original work. So painstaking a man would have 
 carefully recorded from the lips of the oldest members 
 of the various families the names of their immediate 
 ancestors, and any circumstances of interest connected 
 with them. 
 
 That he, to some extent, shared the prejudices 
 of his grandfather, and was not altogether unbiassed 
 as an historian, is shewn by his ignoring the 
 martyrdom of John Penry and the life-work of 
 Dr. Coke, both of them men who from their characters 
 and actions were deserving of more than a passing 
 allusion. It was probable that he regarded John 
 Penry as a traitor who died an ignominious death, 
 whose fate it was better to pass over in silence, and it 
 may have been for the same reason, that he made no
 
 I? 
 
 mention of another Brecknockshire martyr, the 
 Venerable Father PhiUp Powel, aUas Morgan, O.S.B., 
 who suffered at Tyburn, 30th June, 1646, for adherence 
 to his Faith, being technicaUy guilty of High Treason 
 under an Act passed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
 Howel Harris also, one of the founders of Welsh 
 Calvinistic Methodism, lived too near to Theophilus 
 Jones's own time to receive the appreciation which 
 posterity accords him, from one who evidently 
 looked with suspicion and alarm on all forms and 
 methods of religion outside the Established Church. 
 But a man's deeds are often much better than his 
 opinions and words, and the most prominent traits 
 in Mr. Jones's character were kindliness and 
 benevolence. ' ' lolo Morganwg ' ' has written very 
 bitterly on the innumerable mistakes, which 
 he says were made by Theophilus Jones, in whose 
 defence the Rev. Thomas Price, " Carnhuanawc," 
 wrote: "Mr. Jones, whilst preparing his work 
 ' for the press, was so grievously afflicted with 
 ' gout, that his left hand had to support the 
 ' wrist of his flannel-bound right as he guided 
 ' the pen, with the tips only of his fingers at liberty, 
 ' while severe twinges of pain every now and then 
 ' arrested his progress, and under such circumstances 
 ' it is wonderful that the mistakes were not still more 
 'numerous." Had he lived to bring out another 
 edition of his History, we cannot doubt that these 
 mistakes would have been corrected. He, himself, 
 complains of his ' ' constitutional indolence and 
 " aversion to writing. . . . Indolence is the 
 "passion of T.J.," and yet he accomplished his 
 labours in so short a time. We are so accus- 
 tomed to speak of him as " Old Jones," in terms of 
 affectionate regret, that it does not occur to us, until 
 we are reminded of the fact, that he died in the prime
 
 i8 
 
 of life, and that it is cause for wonder and congratu- 
 lation that he should have achieved so much in the few 
 years out of a short life which he devoted to his great 
 work. 
 
 But the severest criticism, which has been passed 
 on our Historian, is that by modern writers on his 
 treatment of Henry Vaughan (Silurist). It is not 
 necessary here to repeat the epithets which have been 
 hurled at him, though at the same time it is impossi- 
 ble not to make a protest against the injustice of the 
 attack made upon him. Even in the present day, 
 when Vaughan' s Poems have passed through many 
 editions, his audience is ' ' few but fit ; " when Jones 
 wrote, the quaint little volumes were very rare, and 
 it is doubtful whether anyone then living appreciated 
 the Silurist excepting Wordsworth, who had a 
 marked copy of ' ' Silex Scintillans ' ' in his cottage 
 at Grasmere. It is quite certain that Theophilus 
 Jones had never seen nor read the majority of these 
 Poems, and he even supposes " Olor Iscanus" (which 
 he knew), to have been written by Thomas Vaughan, 
 and whilst he quotes two of the most striking poems 
 in that book, he ignores those which contain local 
 references, that he could not have passed over had he 
 carefully read them. As in the case of Hugh Thomas's 
 Pedigrees, he probably only saw the book during a 
 visit to Oxford or lyondon, and had not time to fully 
 possess himself of its contents. The most curious 
 thing is, that whilst he quotes at length from Anthony 
 a Wood's account of Thomas Vaughan, he seems to 
 know nothing of the same writer's notice of the 
 Silurist, which settles the authorship of ' ' Olor 
 Iscanus." The biography of Henry Vaughan given 
 by a Wood is the more interesting, as it was written 
 by John Aubrey, a Brecknockshire man, and cousin
 
 to the Vaughans, who supplied a Wood with much 
 of the iuformation in his " Athense Oxonienses." 
 He says : 
 
 " Henry Vaughan followed the pleasant paths 
 " of poetry and philology, became noted for his 
 " ingenuity, and published several specimens thereof, 
 "of which his " Olor Iscanus " was most valued. 
 " Afterwards applying his mind to the study of 
 " physiC; became at length eminent in his own country 
 " for the practice thereof, and was esteemed by 
 " scholars an ingenious person, but proud and 
 " humorous." 
 
 These last words may partly account for what 
 was undoubtedly the local opinion of the brothers, 
 who are described by Jones as " eccentric," a term 
 not unlikely to be applied to poets and Rosicrucians by 
 their Welsh neighbours two hundred years ago. He 
 faithfully wrote down all that he knew and heard of 
 them, and when we remember that Denys Jones, Henry 
 Vaughan 's grand-daughter, was living in Brecon at 
 the same time as Theophilus Jones's parents, it is pro- 
 bable that he reflected the true impression of con- 
 temporary popular opinion respecting the Vaughans. 
 Mr. Jones's assertion, that he had not been able to 
 trace any of their descendants, and that the line had 
 become extinct, has not yet been refuted, though of 
 recent years the closest search has been made on the 
 subject. To blame him for not appreciating the 
 Silurist's Poems, which he had not read, is hardly 
 criticism. Theophilus Jones had the limitations of 
 his environment, limitations which probably conduced 
 to the success of his History, though they would hardly 
 have made him in advance of his age in admiring poetry, 
 which belonged more to the school of Wordsworth 
 and of George Herbert than to that of the eighteenth
 
 20 
 
 century. The most that can be said is, that he was 
 a better historian than he was a literary critic, for 
 he recorded his dehberate opinion that " Gower, 
 " Chaucer and even Spenser (whom I think the most 
 " respectable of the three) are not to be compared 
 * ' with Pope, Dryden or Gray, ' ' and again ' ' no 
 " comparison whatever in the poetry of Chaucer and 
 " Pope." 
 
 It is matter for regret that he never saw the 
 Aubrey MSS. which contain so many references to 
 Brecknockshire people, and which were published 
 for the first time in 1898, under the title of " Brief 
 Ivives," by John Aubrey. 
 
 Whatever imperfections may exist in it, Jones's 
 History is stiU the standard History of Brecknockshire ; 
 though admitting this by no means ignores the fact, 
 that a great part of the histor>' of our county still 
 remains to be written.* The late Mr. Edwin Poole's 
 History is invaluable in recording the local events 
 of the last century, and fills up the gap from 1809 
 to the present daj^ but there are sources unknown 
 to Theophilus Jones, that have simpty been untouched. 
 The histor^^ of a county is the history of its land, 
 the land which remains (even the names of places 
 rarely changing), whilst the families who at various 
 times own it pass away, their history being mainly 
 recorded in relation to their estates. The history 
 of the land is to be found in the records of 
 litigation arising in connection with it ; for instance, 
 at the Record Office the Brecon Plea Rolls afford a 
 mass of information, which has never been published, 
 and only slightly examined. There is a complete series 
 
 * Mr. John Lloyd, Barrister-at-Law, of 15, Chepstow Place, 
 Loadan, is pviblishia^ muoh original informatioa from inaccessible 
 docutnents in " Historica' Memoranda of Breconshire," the second 
 volume of which is now ready.
 
 21 
 
 from 1603, and seven, odd, earlier Rolls, they are all 
 in Latin. Another very valuable source exists in the 
 Exchequer Depositions, and the Fines, which contain 
 many useful facts regarding Brecknockshire estates. 
 Then again the Brecknockshire Wills in the Registry 
 Office at Hereford would give such an insight into 
 the social habits and customs of our forefathers, as can be 
 obtained in no other way, but they are not even indexed. 
 
 There is also an unwritten history lying around 
 us, which he who runs may read, in the British camps 
 on the hills, in the Roman roads and remains, in the 
 silent stones, and in the place-names of our farms, 
 houses and even fields. No record exists in any library 
 of the fierce battle, which took place near Scethrog 
 between the Roman legions passing from the Gaer 
 to Cwmdu and the Welsh, who may have descended 
 from their hill entrenchment on the AUt, but we have 
 the memorial stone to the Roman general on the road- 
 side, and we have the name, which still clings to the 
 dingle close at hand, Cwm geleddion, i.e., " The 
 Valley of Corpses," which remind us of 
 
 ' ' Old, unhappy far-off things 
 And battles long ago." 
 
 Generations have listened with mingled awe and in- 
 credulity to the legend of the sunken city beneath 
 Llangorse Lake, the chime of whose church bells (a 
 mediaeval addition this) could be heard on summer 
 evenings by those who sailed on its waters ; the anti- 
 quity of this legend has been proved in our own day, 
 by the discovery of a crannoge on the island at Llyn- 
 savaddan with all the usual signs of its occupation in 
 prehistoric time by lake dwellers. Legends are not 
 in themselves evidence of historic facts, but it is 
 always worth while to cc>nsider them, as they may, as 
 in this case, contain a germ of truth.
 
 22 
 
 In regard to place-names, it is well to remember 
 that in Wales, at least, all the names have descrip- 
 tive meanings, which are either historical, ecclesiastical 
 or geographical. In this interesting study Theophilus 
 Jones will be found a great help, as he took immense 
 pains to arrive at the correct translation of his 
 native language. 
 
 The first volume of ' ' The History of Brecknock- 
 shire " (in 4to), comprising "The Chorography, 
 " General History, Religion, Laws, Customs, Manners, 
 " Language and System of Agriculture used in that 
 " County," was issued from the press of Messrs William 
 and George North, at Brecknock, on 13th September, 
 1805. It was dedicated to his friend the Venble. 
 Archdeacon Payne, who had supplied him with most 
 of the information concerning the parishes in the hun- 
 dred of Crickhowel. The second volume, divided into 
 two parts, containing ' ' The Antiquities, Sepulchral 
 " Monuments and Inscriptions, Natural Curiosities, 
 " Variations of the Soil, Stratification, Mineralogy, and 
 " a copious list of rare and other Plants ; also the Genea- 
 ' logics and Arms of the Principal Families, properly 
 " coloured or emblazoned, together with the Names 
 " of the Patrons and Incumbents of all the Parishes 
 " and Livings in that County," in 1809. This last the 
 author has inscribed (as has been mentioned) with much 
 affection to his old friend and schoolfellow, Mr. 
 Davies — ' ' The associate of his youth, the kind corres- 
 ' ' pondent and assistant of his Hterary pursuits, the 
 sincere friend in mature age ; and oh ! may he add 
 "in trembhng hope {si modo digni erimus), the par- 
 ' ' taker of a blissful eternity ! ' ' 
 
 Mr. Jones, in the patriotic ardour of his heart, 
 caused not only the printing of his book, but 
 even the manufacture of the paper to be carried
 
 23 
 
 out in his own county, the latter being executed 
 at the Llangenny Paper Mills. The plates of 
 arms in the second volume were drawn by the 
 Rev. Thomas Price, and many copies of these plates 
 were coloured by his indefatigable hand. Most of 
 the engraved representations of archaeological remams, 
 which illustrate that volume, were taken from original 
 drawings made by him. He likewise prepared the 
 ground plan of the Priory, &c. The engravings of 
 castles, towns, &c., were by J. Basire, after drawings 
 by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, who himself superintended 
 and corrected the proof plates, The writer of this 
 Biography has in her possession the original sepia 
 drawing by vSir R. C. Hoare of Brecknock Castle and 
 Bridge, taking in Buckingham House, which is not 
 included in the engraving of this picture in Jones. 
 It is dated 31st May, 1793, and is the only drawing of 
 the old home of the Aubreys, as it appeared before 
 its architectural features were destroyed by ' ' res- 
 toration ' ' at the beginning of the last century. The 
 gateway on the bridge is also clearly to be seen on the 
 east side of the river Usk. One illustration (that of 
 Porth Mawr, Crickhowel, the ancient seat of the Breck- 
 nockshire Herberts), bears the famiUar name of 
 Landseer as the engraver. The History is weak m 
 portraits, which is the more to be regretted, as so many 
 engravings of Brecknockshire worthies were available. 
 It is true that of some there are no portraits extant, 
 and under this head must come the Silurist and 
 his brother, Thomas Vaughan, but the book is the 
 poorer for not possessing Holbein's fine drawing of 
 Sir Thomas Parry, of Tretwr, and the interesting en- 
 graving of Dr. William Aubrey, called by Queen EUza- 
 beth "her Httle doctor." We also miss the stately 
 figures of Edward Stafiord, last Duke of Buckingham 
 of that creation, and his father, Duke Henry, not to
 
 24 
 
 speak of the Ven. Philip Powel, [Morgan] O.S.B., John 
 Aubrey, the antiquary, the graceful cavalier and 
 traveller James Howel, and others. Mr. Jones in 
 his Preface speaks of a portrait of Sir David Gam, 
 which he hoped to reproduce in his History, but on 
 examination this picture turned out to be that of his 
 descendant. Sir John Games, the builder of Newton, 
 1582, " a great traveller, who visited Rome and 
 " Jerusalem, and several other remote parts of the 
 "world," according to Hugh Thomas, and whose 
 picture (in a ruff and high hat) is in the hall at Penpont 
 amongst other paintings of members of the Games 
 and Williams families. 
 
 The accompanying portrait of Theophilus Jones is 
 engraved from a photograph (in the possession of 
 the writer) of a sketch of Mr. Jones taken by the Rev. 
 T. Price, underneath which the latter has written : 
 " An excellent likeness, taken a short time before his 
 death by me, T. Price. ' ' The kindly, benevolent coun- 
 tenance justifies the character given him by his 
 friends, whilst the firm mouth and chin show that he 
 was a man of strong opinions and convictions, possess- 
 ing moreover a considerable amount of humour. 
 
 The original MS. of the History was in the late 
 Mr. Joseph's library, and is now in the possession of 
 his grandson, Mr. Buckley, of Bryn-y-Caerau, Car- 
 marthenshire. " In style of language and expression 
 Theophilus Jones is" (to quote the remarks of a 
 learned and esteemed friend of his, who had ample 
 opportunities of knowing his private worth, and was 
 well qualified to appreciate the importance of his 
 literary labours), " for the most part plain, manly 
 " and unaffected. It cannot, however, be denied, 
 " that in some instances he has indulged too freely in 
 " that species of facetiousness, which the severer
 
 35 
 
 critics may be inclined to treat as unworthy of the 
 sober dignity of history. But the real fact is this : 
 Theophilus Jones on all occasions wrote with the 
 same freedom and honest independence as he thought 
 and spoke. ' I might as well,' said he to a friend 
 to whom he had shewn his MS., ' endeavour 
 ' to write a history in rhyme, as in what is called 
 ' dignified prose, but which I call sombrous or sleep- 
 ' provoking paragraphy. M}^ disposition and 
 ' turn of thinking and speaking must discover 
 ' themselves. I should almost think myself a hypo- 
 ' crite to conceal them ; if I am not notorious for 
 ' buffoonery or imbecile attempts at wit, I shall 
 ' not much care whether my readers laugh at me 
 ' or with me.' As a county historian, we may 
 venture to assert generally that he is faithful." 
 Bishop Burgess, in his charge to the Chapter of St. 
 David's at his primary visitation of the Cathedral 
 Church on 30th July, 181T, spoke of the "History 
 of Brecknockshire " as "a very interesting, elaborate 
 and useful work." Lowndes remarked, "that it 
 " was a work of considerable labour and research, con- 
 " taining a great mass of information." lylewellyn 
 Prichard in his "Heroines of Welsh History," says: 
 " Candour calls for the admission that, notwith- 
 " standing the errors in taste and the mis-statements 
 ' ' abounding in that work, the ' History of Breck- 
 ' ' nockshire ' contains much valuable information, 
 ' ' brought together from innumerable and f ar- 
 " spreading sources, too difficult of access for the 
 " researches of the modern antiquary and historian." 
 Dr. Nicholas, in his "Annals of Wales," published 
 in 1872, observes : ' * Theophilus Jones produced one 
 " of the most complete and methodical county his- 
 " tories in the EngHsh language, the ' History of 
 " Brecknockshire,' a work which much requires
 
 26 
 
 " republication, with notes and additions, bringing 
 " it down to the present time." The late Mr. G. T. 
 Clarke, in his "Land of Morgan," published by the 
 Cambrian Archaeological Association, wrote : ' ' There 
 " is but one history of any Welsh county at all worthy 
 "of the name — Jones's Brecknock." 
 
 Allusion has been made to the assistance Theo- 
 philus Jones received in his work from the Rev. Thomas 
 Price ; he was the son of the Historian's old friend 
 and neighbour, the Rev. Rice Price, vicar of I.lan- 
 wrthwl (who during many years had rendered him 
 valuable help in collecting topographical information), 
 and having in the 5^ear 1805 become a student at 
 Christ's College, he received a great deal of kindness 
 and hospitality from Mr. and Mrs. Jones, which he 
 ever remembered with affectionate gratitude. In the 
 Letters to the Rev. Edward Davies frequent reference 
 is made to ' ' Tom Price, ' ' and the infinite pains Mr. 
 Jones took to procure a Hebrew Psalter for him is 
 very characteristic of his kindly nature. ' ' This 
 ' ' boy, ' ' he wrote, "is a most valuable ornament 
 " to the Principality, and there is nothing that I can 
 "do that shall be omitted to serve him." In the 
 ' ' Literary Remains of the Rev. Thomas Price, ' ' a 
 delightful memoir of this great and gifted Welshman by 
 Miss Jane Williams (" Ysgafdl ") we have a pleasant 
 ghmpse of the social life of the time. After the battle of 
 Trafalgar several French naval officers, prisoners of 
 war on parole, resided then and in subsequent years 
 in Brecon. They were men of intelligence, good 
 breeding and accomplishment, and Mr. Price frequently 
 met them at the hospitable board of Mr. Theophilus 
 Jones. It is not recorded whether music formed part 
 of the entertainment at these gatherings, but in his 
 early years Mr. Jones learnt the Welsh harp, the first
 
 27 
 
 tune he played on that instrument being the old Welsh 
 air, " Pys a Menin " (Butter and Pease). In 1811 
 Mr. Price was ordained by Dr. Burgess, Bishop of St. 
 David's, later he was appointed vicar of Cwmdu, and 
 became known throughout Wales by his bardic name 
 " Carnhuanawc." He was an exemplary clergy- 
 man, beloved by all who knew him, an accurate his- 
 torian, and an enthusiast on all matters relating to 
 the preservation of the ancient language and customs 
 of the Welsh people. He died 7th November, 1848, 
 at Cwmdu Vicarage. 
 
 Fifty years ago Jones's History could be purchased 
 for about £2 ids. ; now it has become so rare that 
 when copies turn up for sale they realize from £y to 
 £10 los., according to the condition they are in. 
 About the year i860 a dealer in Brecon bought the 
 surplus copies of Vol. II. and the copper-plates from 
 I. Booth, the London publisher, the former at five 
 shillings each. Mr. Joseph secured some of the plates. 
 Therefore, to all who love Brecknockshire, it is a matter 
 of deep satisfaction, that through the public spirit of 
 Mr. Edwin Davies, the Editor and Publisher of the 
 reprint, this valuable work is within reach of all who 
 care to read it. Theophilus Jones intended writing 
 a similar History of the adjoining county of Radnor, 
 but the state of his health was such that he was un- 
 able to attempt any additional work. He was a 
 martyr to hereditary gout, which crippled him to so 
 great an extent, that latterly he could walk with 
 difficulty. But notwithstanding his severe and con- 
 stant sufferings, his bright cheerfulness never forsook 
 him, and to the end he continued to write upon those 
 subjects to which his life had been devoted, though 
 with the exception of the following papers contributed 
 to the magazines of the day, his History was the only
 
 literary work he published. He wrote an article for 
 the second volume of the " Cambrian Register," 
 signed " Cymro," entitled " Cursory Remarks on 
 Welsh Tours or Travels." The same volume contains 
 from his pen " Remarks on the History of Mon- 
 mouthshire by David Williams." On loth January, 
 1797, Mr. Jones addressed a letter to E. Williams, 
 Strand, London, the publisher of the " Cambrian 
 Register," which was printed in the third volume of 
 that periodical, which also contains a " Biographical 
 Sketch of Howel Harris, Esq., of Trefecca," by him. 
 A letter to Lancelot Morgan, Esq., Brecon, preserved 
 in MS,, gives a most interesting account of a " Cist- 
 vaen " (stone coffin), discovered on Ty-yn-y-llwyn 
 Farm, in the parish of Lianfrynach, after the publi- 
 cation of his History. Mr. Jones conjectures that 
 the interment took place during the early Christian era. 
 On October 28th, 181 1, he addressed a communica- 
 tion to the Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, Mr. 
 Nicholas Carlisle, giving an account of some Roman 
 remains near Llandrindod, which was read on 14th 
 November, and printed in the seventeenth volume 
 of the ' ' Archaeologia. ' ' He was elected Fellow of 
 the Society of Antiquaries 20th December, 18 10, Sir 
 H. Englefield, vice-president, in the chair. His last 
 literary attempt was the translation of his favourite 
 romance in the Welsh language, entitled " Gweledi- 
 gaethau 3^ Bardd Cwsg," or " Visions of the Sleep- 
 ing Bard ' ' (in the manner of the ' ' Visions of Fran- 
 cisco de Quevedo,") by the Rev. Elhs Wynne (*), 
 which is in style one of the most beautiful works 
 Welsh literature possesses. Mr. Jones translated it 
 with great spirit, as well as close accuracy. Though 
 
 * Rector of Llanfair, Merionethshire. He was bom 1670, 
 riied 1734. He was an excellent poet, and stands unrivalled as a 
 Welsh prose writer. In 1701 he published a translation of Jeremy 
 Taylor's " Holy Living."
 
 29 
 
 this translation has never been published, George 
 Borrow, author of "Wild Wales," "The Bible in 
 Spain," &c., gave to the world another translation 
 of this extraordinary production, which was published 
 by Murray, i860. Amongst his friends and corres- 
 pondents he numbered Mr. William Williams, of Ivy 
 Tower, Pembrokeshire, the author of " Primitive 
 History " (a presentation copy of this work from 
 Mr. Williams to Theophilus Jones was in the late Mr. 
 Joseph's library) and "The Head of the Rock," 
 a poem in which he refers with enthusiasm to the in- 
 habitants of Brecknockshire : — 
 
 " Brecon, fertile of the best of men. 
 Hail, Brecon, hail ! with every comfort blest, 
 That mothers know of pious sons possessed." 
 
 * * The Traveller, tired and lone, partakes of Good. 
 Mountains are level'd to prepare his Road" (*) 
 
 " Nor in thy soil do these, fam'd Brecon, rise 
 Sole treasures ; other riches greet our eyes ! ' ' 
 
 " Distinguished land, each spot each virtue fills, 
 Thy valleys patriots, saints adorn thy hills ! " (f) 
 
 Mr. Williams was maternally descended from Robert 
 Ferrar, the martj^red bishop of St. David's. 
 
 Theophilus Jones was a prominent member of 
 the Loyal Brecknock I^odge of Freemasons, and his 
 name is enrolled as its first Worshipful Masters in 1798. 
 
 The following description of the character of 
 Theophilus Jones was written by his friend, to whom 
 
 * This county introduced the newly-cotiatructed road^ into 
 Wales,— 1775. 
 
 t A reference to St. Elyned, who was martyred on Slwch 
 Tump.
 
 30 
 
 reference has before been made : — " In private life 
 ' ' he was truly, ' the generous friend and best-hearted 
 " of men.' Few, indeed, were more generally esteemed, 
 " or more sincerely regretted by those who knew him 
 " best. In his profession he was that highly estimable 
 " character, an upright, independent lawyer, zealous, as 
 " in duty bound, to protect and vindicate the legi- 
 " timate rights and interests of his clients, but never 
 " sacrificing the convictions of his own unblemished 
 " conscience at the sordid altar of advantage. In 
 ' ' society he was kind, affable, and good-humoured ; 
 ' ' hospitable, but unostentatious in his habits and 
 " mode of living ; and considerately benevolent to 
 " the necessities of his poorer neighbours. In his 
 " religious creed he was upon the strictest principle a 
 " member of the Church of England. He embraced 
 " her tenets, not from the mere prejudice of education, 
 ' ' but from conviction ; for in this, as in all other 
 " matters, he strictly acted as he thought, but still 
 ' ' in Christian charity towards those who conscien- 
 " tiously differed from him." 
 
 The accompanying Letters to the Rev. Edward 
 Davies, his " dearest friend," as he called him, reveal 
 a whole-hearted, affectionate capacity for friendship 
 of the most disinterested kind, which was a delightful 
 trait in his character. The correspondence of a 
 lifetime shews what infinite pains and trouble he was 
 constantly taking to help his friend in the management 
 of his affairs, and how eagerly he used his influence 
 amongst his ecclesiastical acquaintances to obtain the 
 recognition of Mr. Davies, which he felt his talents 
 and character deserved. This was acknowledged by 
 the Rev. Edward Davies, who in the preface to his 
 " Celtic Researches" wrote " Mr. Theophilus Jones of 
 * * Brecon, my generous friend and the best hearted of
 
 3^ 
 
 '* men, had, for a course of years, made it extremely 
 " difficult for me to say for which of his affectionate 
 " boons to me I thanked him the most and loved 
 " him the best." His last letter to him closes with 
 the following words of faith and hope : ' ' My 
 * ' good friend, let me remind you without flattery, 
 ' * and, I trust, without presumption, that in consequence 
 * ' of the hardships of your lot here you may entertain 
 * ' a well-founded hope of a far more eternal and exceeding 
 " weight of glory hereafter. — Thus sincerely prayeth 
 "your friend, Theo. Jones." 
 
 His last illness is supposed to have arisen from 
 the effect of gout upon a constitution much weakened 
 by repeated attacks of the malady. His lingered for 
 some time, and after severe suffering died 15th January, 
 1812, at his house in Lion Street, Brecon (now the resi- 
 dence of Captain D. Hughes Morgan, J. P. for the 
 County and Borough of Brecon, and H.S. in 1900), where 
 his father, the Rev. Hugh Jones, had lived and 
 died. He was buried at Llangammarch, in the same 
 grave as his maternal grandfather, whose memory 
 through life he held in the highest veneration. ' ' When 
 " I am dead," he said, ' let me be buried in the 
 " grave of my grandfather, and let my inscription 
 " be : ' Here lies Theophilus Jones, the grandson of 
 " Theophilus Evans.' " His widow erected in Christ's 
 College Chapel, Brecon, (where he had been educated 
 when a boy, of which he had been for many years 
 chapter clerk, and in the improvement of which he 
 had ever taken the deepest interest), a white and 
 grey marble tablet to his memory, with the following 
 inscription (*) : — 
 
 * There is some mistake as to liis age, but the inscription i^ 
 given as copied from th? tablet. On his tomlistone in Llangammarch 
 Churchyard, a print of which appears at the end of the biography, 
 the Historian's age is stated to be 52.
 
 32 
 
 To the Memory 
 of 
 Theophii^us Jones, Esq., 
 Late Chapter Clerk of this Collegiate Church, 
 and 
 Deputy Registrar of the Archdeaconry of Brecknock. 
 He died January the 15th, 181 .i, 
 Aged 51. 
 His remains, with those of his maternal grand- 
 father, Theophilus Evans, Clk., lie interred 
 in the Cemetery of lylangammarch. 
 This Marble but records his name — the History of 
 this, his loved, his native County will long survive 
 
 and be his Monument. 
 
 The above Theophilus Jones was the son of the 
 
 Rev. Hugh Jones, who was Prebendary of 
 
 Boughrood, Llanbedr Painscastle, of this 
 
 Collegiate Church. 
 
 The tombstone in Llangammarch Churchyard 
 has been recently restored, and there is also a memorial 
 tablet in that Church. 
 
 His library, containing a large and valuable col- 
 lection of books, was sold by public auction in the 
 town of Brecon by Mr. Wise, of Bath, and very good 
 prices were realized, many of the volumes being anno- 
 tated by himself. The copyright of his History, with 
 the copper-plates and some MS. collections in his own 
 writing, were purchased by Mr. George North, of 
 Brecknock, for the sum of £2^^. Mr. Llewelyn, of 
 Penile' rgaer, bought a large number of his books, 
 and these were until recently in the library at Hen- 
 drefoilan, the seat of the late Mr. Dillwyn, M.P. for 
 Swansea. Theophilus Jones possessed a MS. copy of 
 Aneurin's " Gododin." Its date appears to be about 
 the year 1200. It is a small 4to of thirty-eight pages,
 
 {hrutii ji/wto 1/1/ W. J. Miltcv, l.mupi^ler).
 
 33 
 
 written upon vellum, and the lines are filled to the 
 margin, irrespective of the metre. Capital letters, 
 ornamented and coloured alternately red and green, 
 are used only at the beginning of the paragraphs. 
 The names of Gwilym Tew and of Rhys Nannor, who 
 flourished 1440- 1470, are inserted on one of the pages 
 as severally owners of the MS., and the style of their 
 penmanship appears to be more modern by at least 
 two centuries than that of the book itself. Mr. Jones 
 attached to this MS. the following note : — " This copy 
 " Mr. Davies, of Olveston, supposes to be that men- 
 " tioned by Llwyd, and said to have been lost out 
 ' ' of the Hengwrt Libra^>^ It was given me by Mr. 
 ' ' Thomas Bacon, who bought it from a person at 
 " Aberdar." It afterwards became the most valued 
 possession of the Rev. Thomas Price, " Carnhuanawc," 
 on whose death it was purchased by Sir Thomas 
 Phillipps, Bart., of Middle HiU, Worcestershire, at 
 whose sale it was bought by the Cardiff Free L/ibrary, 
 where it now is. 
 
 The heraldic bearings borne by Mr. Jones, and 
 engraved on his book-plate, are those of Elystan 
 Glodrydd, Prince of Ferregs, and are as follows : — 
 Crest : A demi-lion, ramp. sa. Arms : Quarterly ist 
 and 4th Sa. a lion, ramp, regard, or., 2nd and 3rd Arg. 
 a chev. sa. betw. 3 boars' heads couped of the second, 
 crined or. impaling his wife's — Az. a hon ramp, 
 regard, arg. Motto : " Cas ni charo y wlad a'i mago." 
 
 After the death of her husband, Mrs. Theophilus 
 Jones removed to Llandovery, where she resided until 
 her decease. During the commercial panic of 1827, 
 she seems to have shared the general anxiety, and 
 for a short time to have anticipated ruin. A letter 
 from her, dated 17th April, 1827, to her old friend, 
 the Rev. Thomas Price, bears witness to the faithful, 
 
 c
 
 34 
 
 grateful and generous spirit in which ' ' Carnhuanawc ' ' 
 had volunteered his services, and offered his purse 
 and home to her. The cause for anxiety cleared away, 
 but she did not long survive ; she died on July 22nd, 
 1828, aged 70 years, and was buried in the chancel 
 of Myddfai Church, Carmarthenshire, near her own 
 relatives, where there is a tablet to her memory. By 
 her will amongst other bequests she left £500 and all 
 her plate to her niece, the late Mrs. Powell, of Maes- 
 carnog ; the plate bears the crest and arms of 
 Theophilus Jones. 
 
 Theophilus Jones had an only sister, Miss Sarah 
 Jones, who, dying in May, 1832, was buried in St. 
 David's Churchyard, Brecon. There is a chest tomb 
 over her grave on the right hand of the main entrance 
 to the Church, but the inscription has wholly disap- 
 peared owing to the perishable nature of the stone. 
 There is also a marble, mural tablet inside the Church 
 erected to her memory by her grandson, Mr. Hugh 
 Lawrence, to whom she left her property. 
 
 Dr. Johnson laid down a rule, " That nobody 
 " can write the life of a man, but those who have ate 
 " and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him." 
 This is perfectly true, but as at this distance of time 
 so ideal a biography is impossible, the next best 
 thing has been done, and use has been largely made of 
 the writings of those who knew Theophilus Jones 
 intimately, and who wrote down their impressions 
 immediately after his death. 
 
 To the writer of this altogether inadequate sketch 
 it has for years been a labour of love to collect every 
 incident and detail connected with Theophilus Jones, 
 arising no less from admiration of the character and 
 work of the Historian, than from a deep sense of 
 gratitude for the interest and delight his ^History has
 
 35 
 
 brought into so many lives, and as a remembrance 
 of the friendship which existed between him and her 
 kinsmen one hundred years ago. 
 
 The information so collected has been chiefly 
 obtained from the rare library of the late Mr. Joseph, 
 F.S.A,, of Brecon, whose unique collection of MvSS, 
 and books relating to Brecknockshire was simply 
 invaluable for such a purpose, access to the same being 
 at all times generously given. 
 
 The writer is also much indebted to the late Rev. 
 Prebendary Herbert Williams, whose kindly sympathy 
 and ready help were unfailing ; to the Rev. B. h- Bevan, 
 Vicar of Brecon ; to the late Rev. Rees Price, Vicar 
 of St. David's, and to the Rev. David Williams, Vicar 
 of Myddfai, for courteously allowing unlimited 
 reference to be made to the Parish Registers and 
 records in their charge. 
 
 " CAS NI CHARO Y WLAD a'i MAGO." 
 
 GWENLLIAN E. F. MORGAN. 
 
 Buckingham Place, 
 
 Brecon.
 
 M 
 
 S.M of 
 
 TKeof)hilus J^vans 
 laie/ Yica-T opdhie 
 Farifh and AISO 
 of St IDavid's la 
 
 BTtECON 
 He died Sepi. 11^ 
 
 I-rrKE lie 
 ■thje- Remains of 
 Thoop?llUus tJoTieS 
 
 lid cr^tx-l/ooJ' of the' 
 |}Tg died JaiTy 15" ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 /cam 
 
 £S rALC/\RTl4 
 
 ^. 

 
 Hettetjs* 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES, HAY. 
 
 Brecon, A-pril 30, 1780. 
 Dear Parson, 
 
 I have read the Pastoral you sent me and the 
 other poem. Pray who is the author of the former ? 
 It is but an indifferent performance. Indeed every 
 poem of that nature is at best but a composition of 
 water gruel, sweetened with honey ; but when the 
 Poet substitutes sugar instead of the honey it is not 
 palatable. Such I am afraid has the author of the 
 pastoral above mentioned infused in his mess. ]\Ir. 
 Phillips has contrived, I own, to make the gruel 
 agreeable, but his sweet n'or is the genuine — manufacture 
 (excuse the expression) of the Bees of Hybla. But I 
 must candidly confess that I prefer Mr. Pope's gruel, 
 which is seasoned with the true Altic salt, to Mr. 
 Phillips'. His pastorals, Hke the rest of his com- 
 positions, contain a strong nervous diction, and every 
 line conveys sentiments which will appear just, when 
 applied to the various scenes and incidents in real life ; 
 and if sometimes he strays into the mazes of 
 extravagant fancy and exceeds the bounds of 
 probability', you will always find him return, as soon as 
 his subject will permit, into the more natural plains of 
 truth and propriety. Those warm passions, those 
 gentle breezes, cooUng arbours, and romantic 
 descriptions of beauty and place, are not calculated to 
 please the English reader. Our dispositions and 
 climate render us so very inadequate of recognizing 
 the pleasures, and enjoying those very fine feelings 
 ascribed to the lovers in pastorals, that nothing but the 
 most delicate dress can ever prompt us to read them, 
 and then it puts in mind of a handsome, tho' extravagant 
 young fellow who is perhaps going to the gallows, and 
 we are obliged to exclaim ' * Oh ! what a pity it is such 
 a fine young man had not applied himself to a better 
 employment."
 
 38 
 
 Britannia is worthy of the penf of Mr. Davies ; 
 it is exceedingly well wrote. I must therefore beg 
 leave to keep it a little while, and I shall send you a 
 small pamphlet of my comments upon it. The 
 Preface has a quaintness in the stile which I do not 
 admire. I would therefore wish you would either 
 omit it "or substitute another in its stead. It has so 
 much of the old stile of " Gentle Reader," &c., that I 
 cannot say I admire it at all, but however shall leave 
 you either to rescind or amend it at your own 
 discretion. 
 
 Miss Winter's mother is dead. The ladies are 
 much pleased at your compliment, and if I mistake 
 not would wish they were included in it. I shall 
 expect to see you Whitsuntide to spend a week with 
 me. I have a great deal more to say, but must 
 conclude, as I have a call at present very incidental 
 to human nature. I am going to dinner. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 I beg you'll write to me once a week at least. 
 
 To THE Rev. EDWARD DAVIES, HAY. 
 Dear Parson, 
 
 Tho' I have not corresponded with you as 
 frequently as usual, you will not, I trust, impute it to 
 want of esteem, but to that constitutional indolence 
 and aversion to writing, joined to the hurry of 
 business, which is really the occasion. This letter is 
 the T3th I have wrote to-day ; you may, therefore, 
 suppose I must be pretty well tired of this kind of work. 
 Your friend the lawyer has wrote to your debtor by 
 this day's post, and will, if you are not paid in one week, 
 take proper steps to get you your money. I feign 
 would write more, but have two long bills of costs to 
 write out immediately. You'll therefore excuse the 
 brevity of 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 1781. 
 
 Charge Ashley 3s. 6d. for the letter, if he pays you. 
 If you staj' in Brecon I shall expect you will be with me 
 at my house.
 
 39 
 To THE REV. EDWARD DAVIES, HAY. 
 
 Brecon, Oct., 1782. 
 
 Dear Parson, 
 
 As I have a few leisure hours to spare, I shall 
 dedicate them to a purpose which ought 'ere now to 
 have taken up their attention. . . . Indolence is 
 the poison of T. J. ; to give you an instance of your 
 friend's laziness, I am now much pressed for money, 
 yet I have not resolution enough to sit a few hours to 
 write out my bills, which I know would be paid me, 
 most part of them, on demand, and which would 
 treble the sums I owe. Account for this, ye logicians ! 
 Account for this, ye learned in metaphysics ! 
 Account for this, O all ye moral philosophers ! But 
 it is unaccountable. Therefore don't put your addle 
 heads together to do what you have often done before — 
 to attempt to account for impossibilities ; better you 
 should puzzle your bald pates about the diving bell 
 at Plymouth, the weight of water upon the Royal 
 George, the longitudes, or the cost of flying, than 
 endeavour to make inconsistency consistent. 
 
 Rise Conrad, thou that slumherest and sleepest, 
 and snoorest among the peaceful dead, once more 
 shalt thou wield the faulchion, and once more fight thy 
 battles o'er again ; no longer shall the ball pated 
 mower brandish his scythe o'er thy grave, restored by 
 the revivifying hand of a Davies (confound it, your 
 name is not poetical ; I wish you had some fine sounding 
 apellation ; but, however, merit will obliterate that 
 misfortune). High ! High ! where am I going to now } 
 
 I was just going to say but what signifies what I 
 
 was going to say, 'thou = Let it rest, let those two 
 black strokes explain my meaning if I had any, which 
 will admit of a doubt. Conrad is without flattery 
 a very perfect resemblance of the author. It is a heap 
 of spar, an imperfect gem ; had the author the 
 advantage of a liberal education (you know what I 
 mean by Hberal) he would, I precUct, have been an 
 honour to the country ; as he is, and as his book is, 
 they are far from being deficient of literary merit ;
 
 40 
 
 however there are several speeches in the book alluded 
 to that want correction, several that the most rigid 
 critic cannot correct, and some few that had better 
 not have appeared at all in it — to instance some of 
 the first. 
 
 Scene i. Act ist. Hold my Arvizagus, how I 
 would halt one moment to enjoy the open air, and now 
 we do not understand that Malgo is just come out of a 
 dungeon or a prison. If that had been the case no 
 wonder then if he had wished to take a walk in the 
 Priory Groves to enjoy the fresh air. As to me, I cannot 
 help thinking when I read this of my dog Toss, 
 whom I've often seen running against the wind and 
 snuffing the fragrant gale, as the song has it. Then 
 comes in next page a truly beautiful sentiment, 
 and well expressed, "The patriot's honour is better 
 treasured in the people's breast, than spent in banquets, 
 feasts, and guady titles. " "He cri'd ' ' : there is no 
 need for that abbreviation ; cried is often used as 
 one syllable. ' ' Envy wtll rise ' ' ; this is very ill 
 expressed. The word rise is very inadequate to 
 convey the idea you mean to convey ; however, my 
 paper will stint me in my further progress, which you 
 may expect to find thro' the whole work and in the 
 which you will find me deal with the same candour as 
 I have in the above critique. I needn't tell you my 
 motive for dealing with you in my observations with 
 so little sorrow — you guess it I'm sure. The postscript 
 to your last is very brief and very pithy — could not 
 conceive the meaning of it. Went from Presteign to 
 Glo'er. Can't tell where I was on last Thursday 
 fortnight. Was at home when I read your letter, 
 but knew not the reason of our servant's giving it me 
 so secretly. Here followeth the history of the 
 transaction. When I came into the house (at g o'clock, 
 being a good hour for a rake) the girl pulled your letter 
 out of her bosom and gave it me slily, and then vanished 
 like the baseless fabric of a vision. What all this 
 mistery meant she will not inform me. Poor E. W. will 
 be wrote to this post by 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 THEO. JONES.
 
 41 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DA VIES, CHIPPING SODBURY, 
 GLOS. 
 
 1798. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I am extremely obliged to you for your letter 
 and translation, which arrived here when I was in 
 London, in which place I was confined for near 6 weeks 
 — I say confined, for after 9 days or a fortnight 
 London becomes disagreeable to me. I dined with all 
 our Cambrian Register men ; one day at Williams's, 
 and was much pleased with some of them. Some of 
 them are dumb fish and some of them are (I am afraid) 
 dull fish. David Williams (who, however, is not one of 
 us) is certainly a man of strong sense and a very able 
 writer, notwithstanding he has been washed by the 
 ignis fatuus of the modern enlightened Philosophy as it is 
 called. It is strange to me that men of learning who, the 
 further they proceed in knowledge, must find how much 
 more they have to know, and who must be satisfied 
 that there are so many things which it is impossible 
 human learning can ever comprehend, should upon 
 that most serious of all subjects, Religion and Futurity, 
 stumble because it is not within the reach of our finite 
 capacities. Yet these folks will readily admit that they 
 cannot comprehend the primary causes of the most 
 common operations of nature. Yet so it is, and because 
 David Williams's strong, manly understanding cannot 
 comprehend the Trinity in Unity, the necessity of 
 Atonement, &c., he is become a Deist, if not an Atheist, 
 for the transition from the one to the other is less than 
 is generally imagined or admitted. I shall send you j^our 
 Armes (for these are mihtary days) by coach. It 
 appears to me to be an incoherent, rhapsodical com- 
 position, not without beauty certainly, but you'll pardon 
 me for differing with you as to the merit of the early 
 publications in our or indeed in any other language 
 I am acquainted with. There is certainly something 
 more nervous, more comprehensive, and expressive, in 
 the compound words in the early Welsh poems than 
 those of a later period. 
 
 The sterling Bullion of one antient hue* 
 
 Drawn in modern wire wo'd thro' whole pages shine. 
 
 ♦ I may say word.
 
 42 
 
 And there is less affectation in these ideas ; they were 
 Nature's children, and their dress was simple and plain, 
 but I should no more prefer your Disgogan awen 
 dygobryssyn to " Hoff iawn oedd gorphennu Tuy 
 haf wrth lynn Tyfi " than I should the rough music 
 of the Otaheite or the American Indians to the notes of 
 Handel or Purcell. My opinion is the same as to the 
 English ; Gower and Chaucer and even Spencer, whom I 
 think the most respectable of the three, are no more to 
 be compared to Pope, Dryden, or my friend Gray, than I 
 am to Ned Davies. It may be said that our late 
 authors and poets have borrowed several of their 
 most beautiful thoughts from the antients. I am 
 not disposed to deny that, and perhaps it may be 
 more difficult to avoid plagiarism than is generally 
 supposed. What Puff or Bayes (I don't know which) 
 says, tho' jocularly, ' ' Why, I think I have seen that 
 thought or that line somewhere before " ; " well, 
 suppose you did, it only proves that two great men 
 thought alike, and the thought occurred first to your 
 author," — is more true than the writers of the present 
 age wiU allow ; it would be a curious disquisition to 
 ascertain how long ago the world has been compleatly 
 peopled with ideas or whe'r it has yet happened. I 
 am inclined to believe the former, not having so high 
 an opinion of the perfectibility of the human species 
 as Mr. Godwin. Pray is that idea a creation of the 
 present day or not ? I think not, tho' there has been 
 a pretty long, long parenthesis, from its first ist 
 generation to its regeneration. This is something hke 
 digression, if an epistle, not professing to treat upon 
 any particular subject, or boasting of anything like 
 connection, may be said to digress. I was just before 
 talking to you upon the beauties of antient and 
 modern poetry. Will you permit me to say I prefer 
 Gray's Triumph of Owen to the original. My friend 
 Owen grinds his teeth with a most Druidic and 
 bardic grin when he pronounces 
 
 A'r Gild gad greudde 
 A'r Gryd gryd graendde. 
 
 Bravo, Bravissimo. Divine ! says I. Oh, beautiful, 
 quoth he. Nothing like it among the moderns. 
 Certainly not, say I, for when I see a good-natured 
 fellow riding his hobby horse, admiring him as he goes
 
 43 
 
 along : " Isn't this a pretty pony — do look at him, do 
 stroke him," there is no harm in indulging — nay, it is 
 ill-natured not to do it — but ' ' Ar Tal y moelfre mil o 
 fanieri," tho' expressed in soft language, is not equal 
 to Talymoelyfre's (which the English Galymalfries 
 have made Talymalfry's rocky show. 
 
 Echoing to the battle roar 
 Where'er his glowing e^^eballs turn, 
 A thousand banners round him burn. 
 
 These two last lines are exquisite. Now I'm getting 
 on horseback, and take care I don't kick you. I know 
 there is something like this said of Horton, but Mr. 
 Pope's " fames in the van, and blazes in the war," is 
 not equal to Gray — at least in my opinion — the original 
 I have forgotten : nay the letters have almost become 
 pot-hooks and links to me. It is strange how that the 
 1st ode of Aneurin, or at the least the beginning 
 of it, is still familiar to me, and I was going to say 
 sometimes haunts me. Now to Armes again. I have 
 sent you with your MS. some notes I made, not intended 
 for inspection, but merely for my own amusement. 
 However, as you wish to have them, and, as I sometimes 
 think, tho' by no means a democrat, that two heads 
 are better than one, I have sent them to you without 
 altering a letter. You are welcome to burn them, to 
 laugh at them, reject them, or make any other profitable 
 or convenient use whatever of them. If you should take 
 the trouble of perusing them you will probably say this 
 fellow knows little of his subject ; he does not understand 
 the language, and when he does ride his hobby horse how 
 he looks for all the vassal world like a Taylor riding to 
 Brentford. Talking of Democrats just now, pray are 
 you democratically inclined ? Owen is, but is either 
 afraid or ashamed to own it. As he writes (poor 
 fellow) for bread, it may be prudent to say nothing 
 upon the subject in his book ; but I see no necessity 
 for concealing it among friends. It is no more any 
 impeachment upon a man's head or his heart that 
 he should be a Republican than a Monarchist, and tho' 
 I am of opinion that the latter is the least evil of the 
 two, I don't hold it necessary to knock down or quarrel 
 with any man who differs from me. Without being 
 vain, I wish to God all the world would agree to differ
 
 44 
 
 in this manner, and I should have no more objection 
 to change our Government every 6 or 7 years, or 
 reform what we must admit to be rotten, than I have 
 in changing my shirt every day, but such is the 
 tenacity of power on the one side and the untameable 
 phrenzy of the multitude on the other that, from the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer to the little paltry 
 Corporation of Brecon, not one iota of their power or 
 their superfluous riches will the}^ part with till they 
 cannot avoid it, and then the strong, the furious, the 
 undiscriminating arms of the mob levels all distinctions, 
 and the most eminent abilities or exalted virtues are 
 disregarded and laid in the dust. But where the 
 
 d 1 am I driving to now ? What will be the next 
 
 subject ? I've done. I've only one wish more, which 
 is your health and happiness. If I can throw- in a word 
 for you with the Bishop of Gloiicester*, without being 
 impertinent, I'll do it, but I have no dependence upon 
 m3^ influence. I would not, therefore, buoy you up 
 with false hopes. Pray write when you are at 
 leisure to, dear Davies, 
 
 Your old and sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 [The following are the notes referred to in this 
 letter. A reference to Arymes Prydain Vawr, translated 
 into English bj^ the Rev. Edward Davies, shows that 
 several of the alterations suggested by Theophilus 
 Jones were adopted by Mr. Davies. The Welsh Poem 
 and the English translation are to be found in the 
 Cambrian Register. — Editor.] 
 
 Line. No. 
 
 13. Pell dysgoganer appears to be " Far and wide shall be sung," 
 or ' ' renown'd in song in distant climes, shall be the time when 
 their sway or dominion shall commence " ; if it had been 
 dysgoganed T should have said my friend Davies was right. 
 There is no when in the two following lines, nor do I see any 
 necessity for introducing one, or supposing it to be understood. 
 
 Ymhervedd eu rhagwedd is Shakspearian or Shakespeare in Camhrian. 
 " Thus far have we travelled into the bowels of the land." 
 
 25-6. That we had not revolted from the Government and our 
 partiality or ill-judged fondness for the Saxons — I hope cychmyn 
 is not plural of cachwron, the adjective is by — or at least 
 naturalized, the termination is certainly hardly a denizen. 
 
 ♦ Richard Beadon, Bishop of Gloucester, 1789—1802.
 
 45 
 
 or .tS„c»°of Vortigwn." from thoLr hav.ng oome th«. f.r 
 in their journey of plunder ? 
 9S Ff f^rhant &c T should read this " May they reach Germany 
 n^ trni'shm^nt/' that is banishment from the country, and 
 nerhaps thirpiophet might think, as is now sarcastically said 
 Ef tScotch^ that to beSent back again into their ane conetrey 
 was the worst species of banishment. 
 W DreiEhvnt. that stopped or stay'd or cast anchor in every harbour 
 to wWch they were driven, meaning that wherever they came 
 theTe was no^getting rid of them ; they stuck to he country 
 liTe lelches, and never quitted it till they had swal owed all its 
 fridts! Mr. Owen, if he has not made nonsense of the passage, 
 has made it certkinlv most delightfully obscure ; it is not 
 however, improbable that these seers frequently affected 
 obscurity, in^ which they have in general been extremely 
 successful. 
 33 Anfonedd, a misfortune T should translate, for the vonedd is now 
 ^^- in common parlance of a noble or antient origin and of co^ae 
 Infonedd the reverse ; vonedd is sometimes used for goodness, 
 happiness, or felicity. _ 
 
 S5 to 40 are fine lines. Thev contain a beautiful invocation or appeal 
 to the pLsons of the Poet or Prophet's injured countrymen. 
 Think of the fandful mead's insidious bowl, 
 Which manv a thoughtless guest bereft of soul, 
 The mortaf wound, the widow's bitter tear. 
 The daily sorrows they are doom'd to bear, 
 Think of those wrongs which Britons must endure. 
 When scoundrel Saxons shall their rei?n secure. 
 42. I should rather think that the country of the Britons shoiJd be 
 'iven up to or destroyed by the powerful or anarchica Saxons 
 ^I feel the difficulty of thus translating it. T"«^d not remind 
 my friend that to rise ar/ainst is a phrase to which pobsh d 
 Author's are not accustomed, nor need I inform him what tarddu 
 means in English. "Urn g6r, un gyngor, un eifor ynt — 
 Th^ is not the style of the time, and I am rather surprised at 
 meeting it here ; this wo'd do for the most polish'd author of 
 the 18th century. . ,• i 
 
 57 ' ' And the gi-ove trembles at the warrior's shout —hyperbolical, 
 
 but boldly and beautifully expressed. 
 79 Utterly kill is a phase not much in use now ; perhaps utterly 
 exterminate or destroy or the Scripture phrase of they will 
 xitterlv destroy ' ' would do better. 
 82. The surgeon shall not receive advantage from what they 11 do. 
 
 Cad a wnaant— they shall make a slaughter. 
 87 88 Thev shall have a song and be a light in darkness in the grove, 
 the fields? and motmt." Conan shall be their leader m every 
 
 106 Is^noTiTohawr (tho' the termination is now obsolete and hardly 
 interisible\, F v, or mav they fly, and not may they be made 
 to fly.^ (Se; no^c to line 47, surely this is peculiar to this poem 
 and the author seems to bo fond of it). Ho bonydd, shall fly 
 daily ; see above. ,, 
 
 114 Eu henydd, is, I believe, their forefathers or ancestors as well 
 a^ their Chief, and certainly will apply well here in that sense 
 
 117 Pen heb emmenydd, the brainless sku/l is more literal, and 1 
 think less equivocal than empty skull.
 
 46 
 
 Line. No. 
 
 125. The Welsh succeeded or successful were from their being 
 unanimous ; they were one in goodness, one in language, one 
 in sound (this seems to be a repetition) and one in faith. 
 
 133 to 140. A number of pertinent and probable questions are asked 
 the Saxons, to which T believe they would be puzzled to give 
 satisfactory answers criminating themselves. 
 
 143. Hyd pan dalont (till they pay) here means till they have been 
 compelled to pay. 
 
 160. The destroyer in battle, the destroyer of armies. 
 
 171. The prophetic song of the Druids ; a multitude shall come 
 forth ; from Mynaw to Lydau shall be in their hands ; from 
 Ddyfod to Ddaned shall they possess ; from Wa-wr to Weryd 
 shall be their harbours ; and their dominion shall be extended 
 even over the west. This is much in the style of the Bible 
 prophecies. 
 
 189. The Germans are retreating fcychwyn vant) or upon their journey 
 to the place of banishment, or as we should now say, they're 
 on board a transport bound for Botany Bay. 
 
 193. Let not the Bookworm and the Man of Books, or the interested 
 Poet be sought. The concluding lines are very fine — "he 
 shall not fly," &c. Be firm as a rock and conscious of the 
 Stability and justice of Him in whom he confides, he shall not 
 even tremble ' ' but stand ' ' unmov'd amidst the wreck of 
 matter and the crush of worlds." 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIRS, CHIPPING 
 SODBURY, GLOS. 
 
 February ii, 1799. 
 My Dearest Friend, 
 
 Don't suppose I have forgot you because you 
 have not heard from me for some time. . . I am 
 going to London in a fortnight and shall see the 
 Bishop, though I am afraid my influence with him is 
 not very great ; yet still I'll try what I can do. Pray 
 write to me the particulars of your situation, your 
 health, &c., and everything else which your discretion 
 may think requisite or befitting a Bishop's ears to 
 hear. I have no great hopes, but if we fail we shall 
 not be worse off than we are at present. Direct to 
 me next week at No. 37, Golden Square. I have 
 translated Gronwy Owen's Poem upon the Day of 
 Judgment into Rhyne. I shall send it you to explain, 
 amend, alter, add, erase, diminish, cut down poem, or 
 transpose at your own will and pleasure, provided 
 always, nevertheless, that 3^ou do it dashingly and 
 without any fear of offending the pride or the learning 
 of the Rhymetagger — I mean 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES.
 
 47 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES, CHIPPING 
 SODBURY, GIvOS. 
 
 Why, how now, Adam ! No greater heart in thoe ? Live a little, 
 comfort a little, cheer thyself a little. Thy conceit is nearer death 
 than thy powers. For my sake be comfortable ; hold death awhile at 
 the arm's end . — Cheerly, good Adam ! 
 
 My Good Friend, 
 
 Comfortless as your situation is at present, 
 still recollect how many thousands (I will not say more 
 deserving, but excellent men) are even more miserable 
 than the curate of Chipping Sodbury. I think 
 
 How many pine in want and dungeon gloom, 
 Shut from the common air and common use 
 Of their own hmbs. How many drink the cup 
 Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread 
 Of misery — sow pierced by wintry winds ; 
 How many shrink into the sordid hut 
 Of cheerless poverty. 
 
 Very fine (^^ou'll say) my fat and pamper' d friend, 
 sitting in your own parlour and enjoying all the 
 conveniences and many of the luxuries of life. 
 Admitted, but the advice is salutary, whether it come 
 from the palace or the cot. Look below you. It 
 will help to reconcile you while you struggle thro' 
 your difficulties and wrestle with your misfortune, 
 especially when you consider that they are ordained 
 by the all wise dispensation of Providence — 
 probably — very probably, to prove your fortitude 
 and to intitle you to a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory hereafter, in proportion as 
 3'-ou support them with magnanimity now, and let 
 me add that while you continue to keep in view that 
 sweet reward it is not necessary you should lose sight 
 of hope here. I send you, hereunder, the substance of 
 the Bishop of Gloucester's to me, which I enclosed to 
 the Bishop of St. David's, who appears to me from his 
 term ' ' abandoned " to be an unfeeling — shall I say 
 Scot ? No, that would be illiberal, but as I have at 
 present no proper phrase to express myself in, I wish 
 — a speedy translation — and depend upon it I will 
 never lose sight of you if I can do anything for you. 
 I really beheve the Bishop of Glos. wishes to assist you, 
 and we may have a Bishop of St. David's who will not
 
 48 
 
 call an attempt to seek a livelihood abandoning the 
 diocese. You'd have heard from me sooner, but tho' 
 I wrote to the Bishop of St. David's a month ago, 
 I did not receive his letter till to-day, but as he kept 
 your letter and that of the Bishop of Glos'ter's, I 
 augured well from this. Yet often how vain is the 
 hope of man, says poor old Walters in his Preface, 
 which I wish you to read as one of the most beautiful 
 specimens (or as Churchey calls it, specimena) in the 
 English or any other language. After losing two 
 sons who were an honor to him, as well as his country, 
 while two others are idiots and drunkards survive, 
 he concludes his affecting lamentation with a bleeding 
 heart and overflowing eyes, with the following quotation : 
 
 Accept fraternal band 
 This last sad tribute from a father's hand. 
 My poor father has at last (I trust) ascended the realms 
 of Peace, after a long and afflicting illness of near 
 three months, in which he could be barely said to have 
 existed. I wish you could have succeeded him in 
 Llywel, but I find it is promised, and not to my friend, 
 but let me give you the Episcopal Letters addressed 
 to, Dear Davies, 
 
 Your very sincere friend, 
 Brecon, April 14, 1799. THEO. JONES. 
 
 Let me hear from you. 
 
 FROM THE BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER. 
 Yoiir recommendation of Mr. Davies required no apology. I 
 know the worth of his character, and heartily wish it was in my power 
 to render the situation more comfortable, but jou seemed to be 
 thoroughly apprized how very poor a patron I am, and must add as a 
 confirmation of it I have only disposed of one living, vacant by death, 
 in the ten years I have been Bishop of Gloucester. His stipend for 
 serving httle Sodbiu-y is, I think, too small, and if he thinks proper 
 to apply for an augmentation he shall have my support in obtaining 
 it ; but the appUcation should be first made as a matter of civility 
 to Mr. Coxe, the incumbent, whose address he must send me if he 
 wishes me to write him. With respect to Yale, I expect Mr. Hay to 
 reside himself as soon as his house is finished, but till that time I shall 
 not readily consent to a change of curate. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 R. GLOUCESTER. 
 
 FROM THE BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S. 
 I am to beg your pardon for not giving j'ou a more immediate 
 answer (the cause, his children's illness). Mr. Davies's case appears 
 to be deserving of notice, but I know not how to assist him. I have 
 many claimants whom I wish to satisfy, and those who live within 
 my diocese have certainly a better right to preferment in my gift 
 than gentlemen who have thought proper to abandon it.
 
 49 
 
 To THE Rev. EDWARD DAVIES. 
 
 "Thou Shalt not die for lack of a dinner if there be "-any 
 lii,ing-'^ in this district. "-Cheerly good Adam. 
 
 Why don't I hear from you ? I am afraid those 
 eyes of yours will play you a trick ; if they do, 
 thcif eyes. 
 
 I have written to my friend George Hardinge 
 this evening, who is as inconsistent and eccentric as 
 he is benevolent. Hardinge is our Judge, and m 
 Parhament. 
 
 Forgive my hawking you about m this manner. 
 God and perhaps the world will reward me. I ask 
 not for the praise of the latter, but upon your account. 
 
 I hope you have had my letter with copies of the 
 Bishops of Gloucester's and St. David s. 
 
 Let me hear from you, tho' you cannot depend 
 
 upon the success of ■ c • a 
 
 ^ Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 Brecon, April 27, 1799- 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES, CHIPPING 
 SODBURY, GLOS. 
 
 May 6, 1799. 
 
 My Dear Davies, ^ 1 *• „ ^^ 
 
 Herewith I send you my tame translation or 
 parodv or paraphrase, call it what you will, of Gronwy 
 Owain's subUme poem. I insist upon you correcting 
 altering, adding, %runing, revising, and ameiiding 
 without mercy, or I'll have none upon you There are 
 Tophistries out of number which should be weeded , 
 wrong translations numerous, which you must rectify 
 and inaccuracies which you must attend to. I will 
 not have it back unless I observe frequent marks of 
 your fingers upon it-tho' it is but a dirty thing now 
 having travelled with me to London. I wish, however, 
 to see it returned more blotted, erased, and interlined 
 from Chipping Sodbury, together with the parcel with 
 which you threaten me and which I hope to receive 
 soon The 2nd vol. of the Cambrian Register is out. 
 Your Armes is in it, two critiques of mine upon 
 Welsh Tourists and Williams' Monmouthshire— mo-t 
 damnaUy^pnnted (as the Vicar and Moses hath it),
 
 50 
 
 such confounded blunders in punctuation, and even 
 grammar, such alterations as to make me sometimes 
 talk nonsense, and sometimes the very reverse of 
 what I meant. A long preface of my review of 
 Williams directly against niN"- opinion, and a tail piece 
 to contradict what has preceded it — in fact I am 
 perfectly ashamed of my appearance, and only tell 
 3^ou in confidence I am the author of them. Pray send 
 for this book, if you have it not. I understand they 
 want to give it you, if not, be sure you tell them to 
 put it to my account, for 'tis shamefully dear, los. 6d. 
 Upon second thoughts. I'll write to Williams about it, 
 so you need say nothing. I don't know what Owen 
 is about at present, nor indeed do I know what 
 Williams means. 
 
 You see my little friend the Judge* is not idle. 
 He is a Quixote in benevolence, and will knock his head 
 against a windmill to serve you, and make some of the 
 pillars of our Church shake unless he is attended to, 
 tho' God knows I much fear that many of them have 
 no more feeling than those supports in architecture. 
 
 Do you mean by the Archaeologia the 2nd 
 vol. of lylwyd ? If so, I can't get at it. I am at 
 present about a very heavy work — mining — 
 extracting silver out of lead, exploring those ■ dark 
 caverns and black letter repositories, the Statutes at 
 large, for illustrations of the manners and customs 
 of other as well as the present times, and comparing 
 them with some of our Historians and correcting the 
 anachronisms and inaccuracies of the latter. It will 
 take me a considerable time to lick the work into shape ; 
 at present I have not determined upon that part of the 
 subject, but it shall certainlj^ however questionable 
 it be at present, not bear the least semblance of a 
 lawyer. Seven years hence you shall see it. See it, 
 quoth you. Yes, see it. 
 
 Pray don't forget the parcel and the revised Poem 
 as soon as you can. Mrs. Jones is as warmly 
 interested for you as, dear Davies, 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 * George Harding, Chief Justice of the Brecknock Circuit 
 1787 — 1816. See hia Biography in W. R. Wihiama' Welsh Judges, 
 p. 149.
 
 51 
 
 To THE REV. Mr. DAVIES, OTA^vSTON, 
 THORNBURY, GLOS. 
 
 Brecon, May 6, 1800. 
 
 My Dear Davies, , 
 
 I should have written to you earher, but that 
 I fooHshly hoped to have addressed you as Vicar or 
 Rector, but all we can get from the great men are 
 " Goodly Words," and now something like promises. 
 I'll never cease to plague them until something is 
 done ; they shall not at least sleep undisturbed. In 
 the meantime I shall be glad to know what your present 
 income is. The Bishop of Gloucester I think, said 
 something about your having two good curacies and 
 being at present well provided for— how is that ? 
 Not that I think it material, for I have endeavoured 
 to explain myself as well as I could that it is not the 
 necessity of the moment, but the contingency of your 
 being unable to perform your professional duty that 
 I wish to provide for. I however hope, whether I 
 succeed or not, that that may never happen both on 
 your own account and on my own. Your kind 
 attention to my last letter proves to me how much 
 I am interested in the preservation of your visual 
 powers. I subscribe almost in toto to your clefimtions 
 and your reasonings, and if I was not writing to a 
 friend whose apphcation and reading I have long 
 known, I might perhaps have thought it necessary to 
 compHment you upon your learning, but as I see your 
 capital is strong, and you agree to accept, I shall 
 certainly draw upon you. I shall this summer see 
 as much of the county as my professional avocations 
 will give me leave to, for tho' the clergy m general 
 have very kindly answered such questions as I h^ve 
 sent to them, I chuse to trust my own eyes. There 
 is one great stumbling block to information which 
 they and others can seldom get over -that which is 
 in their neighbourhood and which they see every day 
 they consider to be known to all the world ; there 
 are also several little anecdotes and also occurreiices 
 &c generally known near them which might be ot 
 real' use which they suppose to be too insignificant 
 to be communicated, whereas the aggregate ot 
 historical knowledge is formed from the combination 
 of facts and circumstances which separately frequently 
 appear trifling.
 
 52 
 
 Let's look at your book. I have a definition of 
 Chweore which preceded yours Chi Dwfrfri — pretty and 
 ingenious. Yours, however, will do for me. In 
 Camlas you are correct, but Dulas I cannot so readily 
 give up ; it shall be considered. Grw>'ne being 
 a rocky river full of deep holes has been derived 
 from Gerwynau, and we have a part of the river 
 Taaf of this description which is called Y Gerwynau 
 Duon, but perhaps you will tell me the river ran and 
 had a name before . . . were in fashion. 
 Admitted. Crawnon I have seen antiently written 
 Gerwynion. Dihonwy is a briskly flo^\ing river 
 and not sluggish, but running from the Turbaries 
 I think it takes its name from the color Du Mawn 
 w^^ You have given me Mardwl, whether from 
 me or from the maps, T don't know ; the little 
 brook by Brecknock is Mardrel. I used to derive 
 Mellte from Mellt w\^ — water swift as lightning. How 
 is it that in almost all old MSS. Tarell is called 
 Tartarell. What are Pirgad and Rhiangoll ; they are 
 the only rivers I can recollect at present. You shall 
 have a cargo of land and water after my visitation. 
 So much for the great the hea\-y work 
 
 How often would he dine 
 On some bulky school divine. 
 And for dessert eat verses. 
 
 (Shenstone tt-pon a College Motive). 
 
 I, too, eat verses occasionally, and amuse myself 
 with translating Welsh Peninllion. I have a bag full 
 which I have a good mind to throw into sheets in a 
 few days. They are converted into English verse 
 with great ease. The thoughts are sometimes 
 strikingly humorous, and those as well as the metre 
 which may be in some degree initiated, would be new 
 to an English reader. Take the following out of 50 : — 
 
 On'd yd}^' hyn rhyfeddod 
 Fod dannedd wraig yn darfod 
 On'd tra fo yn ei geneu chwith 
 Ni dderfydd byth mo''i thafod. 
 
 Translation : 
 
 And is't not strange to say 
 
 That females' teeth decay. 
 
 By while the've Ufe and breath to scold 
 
 We ne'er perceive the tongue grow old,
 
 53 
 
 Clywais siarad ctywais dwndro 
 Clywais rhan o'r byd yn beio 
 Erioed ni chlywais neb yn ddatcan 
 Fawr o'i hynod feiau ei hunan 
 
 Translation : 
 
 I've heard men talking, heard them bother 
 Each still blaming one the other ; 
 But though our faults to all are known 
 I never heard one blame his own. 
 
 Os collais i fy nghariad Ian 
 Mae Bran i fran yn rhywle 
 Wrth ei bodd y bo hi byw 
 Ag Ewyllys Duw i minneu 
 
 Translation : 
 
 And if I've lost my dearest love, 
 There's Dove for Dove designed ; 
 May she Hve pleas'd and happy still, 
 To God's high will I'm perfectly resigned. 
 
 I believe the Cywydd, the Awdl, the Englyn, and the 
 Pennili to be what we would call in Enghsh the Poem, 
 Ode, Stanza, and Epigram. I mean to give a specimen 
 of each. Gronwy Owain shall go for the ist, the 2nd 
 I shall take from some of the antients, and Englynion 
 and Penillion we have thick as hops. By the bye, let 
 you and me have a little conversation about these 
 same antients, I know Owain and you (who it is 
 nothing like compliments to say are more profoundly 
 and intimately acquainted with the language than 
 myself) pity us poor children who are pleased with 
 the rattle and gingle of the modern rhymer. When 
 sense is sacrificed to sound I give it up, but I 
 apprehend both may be produced and the harmony 
 of letters and syllables may recommend and assist 
 the sentiments, and are certainly a help to the 
 memory. This gingle, however, has been objected 
 to by some men of learning, even to Pope, and they 
 have preferred Chaucer to him. Now I have a hobby 
 horsial turn for antiquities, and I hope have all due 
 respect for the learning of our ancestors, of which I am 
 willing to allow them a greater stock than is generally 
 attributed to them, but I really can see no comparison 
 whatever in the poetry or language of Chaucer and 
 Pope or Tahessin and Edward Richard, the latter of
 
 54 
 
 whom I know Owain despises. Let us have a little 
 of our favourite Penbeirdd : — 
 
 Dyhuddiant Elphin. 
 Elphin deg taw ath wylo 
 Na chabled neb yr eiddo 
 Ni wna les drwg obeithio 
 Ni wyl dyn ddim ai portho 
 Ni fydd goeg gweddi Cynllo 
 Ni thyrr Duw ar addawo 
 Ni chad Ynghored Wyddno 
 Erioed cystal a heno. 
 
 Translation : 
 
 EivPhin's Lullaby. 
 Pretty Elphin, donna cry 
 Don't despair boy ! becase why 
 It really donna signify 
 Man should not believe his eyes 
 Nor good Cynllo's pray'r despise 
 
 Ne'er was caught in Gwyddno Weir 
 Such a draught as this I swear. 
 
 From this as well as the remainder of the poem 
 we learn that Elphin had a private fishery (I am sorry 
 to find these cursed monoplies are of so old a date) ; that 
 instead of salmons he one night caught a ballad singer; 
 who by way of comfort tells him that if he (the little, 
 Elf) gets into a scrape he'll do him more service than 
 300 Salmon. "Oh," says Elphin — or I dare say he 
 thought as Jack Wilkins did fishing upon Glazbury 
 Bridge with his rod and line and fly about 6 yards 
 above the water — " I wish the Lord I could catch a 
 salmon."* 
 
 T have taken very little hberties with the 
 originals here, and there are more which are equally 
 childish and flimsy. I am ready to allow the old Bards 
 great merit ; though their language was rough and 
 dissonant, and by no means as polished and copious 
 as that of the 14th, 15th, or even i6th century, their 
 compounds were very comprehensive. Multum in 
 
 * The Rev. John Wilkins, B. 1742 (younger brother of Mr. 
 Walter Wilkins, M.P., who purchased the Maesllwch Estate). He 
 was known by the pseudonym, " Catch-a-Sahnon," a favourite 
 phrase of his.
 
 55 
 
 parvo, and what was said of French wire may be well 
 applied to them — 
 
 " The sterling bullion of our British line," &c. 
 
 I am about Aneurin Gwawdrydd's " Englynion 
 y Misoedd." I am sure you have seen it. I've 
 translated the greater part of it into something like 
 verse. There is much merit and much oddity in this 
 
 composition. I am much pestered by my d d 
 
 profession and the folks of the fair, or I should have 
 given you as much more nonsense as my paper would 
 permit. Write to me at your leisure, but let it not be 
 lazy, lounging leisure. Is there no servus servorum 
 Dei (I don't mean the Pope, but a journeyman 
 parson) ? who would serve for you for 2 Sundays 
 this summer, while you sport a few days with, dear 
 Davies, 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 Least after my Pennill about the female tongue 
 you may suppose I am damning the fair sex in general, 
 or my wife in particular, know that this is our 
 commercial fair day — and a fine day it is, thank God. 
 
 To THE Rev. EDWARD DAVIES, Near 
 THORNBURY, GI.OS. 
 
 Brecon, July i8, 1800, 
 My Dear Davies, 
 
 You will no doubt consider me a strange, 
 inconsistent fellow, one moment professing friendship, 
 then apparently deserting or seeming to forget it for 
 a 12 month, but the truth most assuredly is that I 
 have not lost sight of you since you left school. I 
 pray God that may not be the case in one sense with 
 yon, in that sense in which I use to you I am sure it 
 never will ; and first then let me ask how are your 
 twilights ? I hope since you have left off playing 
 Floggum, and of course working as Mr. Floggum, 
 they improve, and that you now see thro' a millstone 
 or a 9-inch board at least. 
 
 I should certainly have noticed your last sooner 
 if Mr. Hardinge had not pocketed it, and tho' I told
 
 56 
 
 him I did' not know how to direct to you without it, 
 his eccentricity has probably applied, or rather 
 misapplied, it to most base and ignoble purposes long 
 ere this. I learned, however, accidentally from the 
 Bishop of Gloucester in a letter which I lately received 
 from him that a letter directed to you near Thornbury 
 would probably find you. I shall therefore venture 
 to send this so addressed. 
 
 I have been among Bishops and among lords by 
 the half dozens — one has a son to prefer and a 
 chaplain to promote, but as to the Bishop of Rochester, 
 says Mr. Hardinge, " Napthali is a hand let loose, 
 he giveth — Goodly Words." In short, I don't know, 
 or rather I do know, what to think of them, but I 
 shall persevere. I can do you no mischief, tho' if I 
 were sure Providence would enable you to go thro' 
 your professional duty I'd see the tj^the of them (at 
 least) hanged first. 
 
 I now ride a pony of another colour from that 
 which I kept when I wrote to you last. That if you 
 recollect was an old big black nag called Antient 
 vStatutes ; this is an ambling, shuffling little fellow, 
 who frisks up our hills and down our vales, over tomb- 
 stones and cromlechs, thro' ford and whirlpool, over 
 bog and quagmire. He is not called (as you may 
 suppose) Flipportigibbot, but is hereafter to be 
 instituted The History of Brecknockshire : whether 
 he may not (as is frequently the case among great 
 folks who call their children George Augustus Stanislaus 
 Bouned) have the additional appellation of statistical, 
 topographical, geometrical, or geographical, I am not 
 yet determined. I have ridden very hard of late, 
 and am now, to use a phrase of these days ' of 
 encampment, resting upon my arms, but I shall mount 
 again shortly — hold my horse's head for a moment. 
 In Builth the tenants of the manor pay upon their 
 admission fines to the lord called Maccwyn and 
 Mabryddiaeth ; the former is only paid in a small 
 part of the district. What is the import of the ist 
 word in particular, the second I can guess at. Owen, 
 who speaks very highly indeed of 3-ou, says it is now 
 become extremely fashionable to give definitions in the 
 pail up and easian style, and that I must attend to
 
 57 
 
 that carefnllv. I now, however, to prove that you 
 must get up' behind, set you a task for your leisure. 
 What do the foUowing rivers in Brecknockshire 
 mean ? I know the import of many, but I wish to 
 compare yours with my own. 
 
 j My eye, Betty Martin, 1 suppose, this 
 is unintelhgible to me. 
 
 Mehascyn 
 
 Cynrig. 
 Caerfanell. 
 Annell. 
 Tarell. 
 
 Dihonwy. 
 
 CiUeni. 
 
 Grwyne. 
 
 Nedd. 
 
 Escyr. 
 
 Honddu. 
 
 Taaf. 
 
 Bemw. 
 
 I 
 
 Senny. 
 Crai. 
 Cynlais or 
 
 Cynlas. 
 Mollte. 
 Gwidderig. 
 Camarch. 
 Olchon. 
 Crawnon. 
 Mardrol. 
 Hoywy. 
 Brynich. 
 
 Clydach and 
 
 Ysclydach. 
 Gwessin. 
 Palleg. 
 Craaf. 
 Chwefri. 
 
 And any others you 
 can recollect whose 
 names you know 
 to be difficult of 
 translation. 
 
 Mrs. Jones presents her respects and best wishes. 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE REV. EDWARD DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, Oct. 4, 1801. 
 My Dear Da vies. 
 
 Dr. Turton and I had talked over your 
 business at Swansea, and he had suppHed me with your 
 prospectus before your parcel arrived. Pray whom 
 have you employed at Hay to receive subscriptions ? 
 I'll get some person there to refer to if you have not 
 alreadv spoken to anyone. I had hung up a bit of 
 pasteboard in the coffee house at Brecon and at North's 
 about a fortnight ago, and I have a subscription for 
 50 copies. The Judge promises me to do great things 
 for you in Tondon. I think you had better write 
 to him to say I have comnmnicated his kind intention 
 to you and to thank him for his kindness ; you may 
 at the same time state the big beatings you have
 
 58 
 
 received from the bitch Fortune for these last lo or 
 15 years. Pray let this be done. He was very 
 anxious to set about a subscription for you about 2 
 years ago, which, however, I put an end to by 
 insisting that in case of your becoming blind I could 
 afford, to buy a dog and a string for your employment 
 in the day and a bed at night. For this he called me 
 a proud, impudent fellow, but though I am as much 
 hurt as any man at your situation and circumstances, 
 I cannot promote any subscription to improve them 
 which may injure your feelings or degrade the 
 establishment. By the mode now proposed, I trust 
 neither are affected, nor do I see any impropriety in 
 your accepting the first reward of your labours (in part), 
 however, without being too nicely attentive to the 
 size and bulk of the book. I mention this because 
 Turton told me you were a little squeemish upon this 
 part of the subject. 
 
 Our correspondence is something like what the 
 Spectator (I think it is) describes that of Hilpa and 
 Shalum (two antediluvian lovers) to be ; the last 
 letter which I wrote was about a year and a half ago 
 expressing a desire of seeing you here, since which you 
 
 have not given me one word. I suppose has 
 
 been entertaining you all this time with the virtues 
 of Jamaica pepper, or the mode of ciiltivating sugar 
 canes ; he has, however, I trust sold you some ex- 
 perience, tho' I am extremely sorry it cost you so 
 much ; but really books are bad instructors if they 
 either do not teach us to read mankind or to conduct 
 ourselves with caution in our concerns with strangers 
 at least. 
 
 Now we are upon the subject of reading, I assume 
 (a great effort certainly) that you have read the 
 fable of the Good Samaritan. You shall have a 
 parody. I was mentioning to a rich clergyman that I 
 had a friend whose purse did not, as I apprehended, 
 run over, and that this friend, who was in the Church, 
 was now publishing a book by subscription. " Ho," 
 quoth the lycvite, " these are not times for sub- 
 scriptions," and so he passed by. I was entertaining 
 a lawyer with a dismal tale of a poor parson who was 
 not quite so well rewarded as I thought he ought to
 
 59 
 
 be "Ay" savs he, "is he the man you describe 
 him ?— then he" shall have my hving on the first 
 vacancy" But tho' I am satisfied he'll religiously 
 stick to his word, the curate of Olveston may outstrip 
 the present incumbent— who is between 50 and 60— 
 in the race to heaven. I shall certainly employ you 
 before vou go (if Providence permit it) m my 
 Breconshire business, for we lawyer men have always 
 an interest in view when we take any trouble. You 
 will however, give me credit for other concomitant 
 motives, at least, and beUeve me to be, dear Davies, 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 Mrs Jones presents her compliments. She tells 
 me there is a spare bed or two in the house. Oral 
 language would, I think, have better than vocal m 
 your proposal. 
 
 Direct to George Hardinge, Esq., M.P., Weymouth 
 Street, Ivondon. 
 
 I've such a room ! such a study. 
 You rogue ! so snug ! that if you 
 Could see it, I'm sure you'd like it. 
 It is at the back part of the house, no noise or 
 interruption, except now and then a call mto the ofiice 
 from those cursed fellows John Doe and Richard 
 Roe. 
 
 To THE REV. EDWARD DAVIES, OLVESTON, 
 GLOS. 
 
 Brecon, Dec. 16, 1801. 
 Dear Davies, 
 
 Our friend Mr. Hardinge called out to a young 
 barrister (who was remarkablv nervous) while he was 
 cutting up a goose, ' ' Have a care, Mr. Gw>'lym, the 
 eyes of all Europe are upon you." I have sent you a 
 list of your .subscribers on the other side to show you 
 that the Bench of Bishops are extremely kind and 
 always ready to reward merit. You have also a letter 
 to Mr. Hardinge from Briareus Briant, the hterary 
 giant, part of which I can't read, and some of it I 
 don't understand. No language is older than
 
 6o 
 
 another, but the Chaldaic is the oldest of them all ! 
 Homer and Heriod knew nothing of Moses, yet his 
 (Bryaint's) Book is published to prove that the heathen 
 Mythology is borrowed from Scripture. As to the 
 
 Celtic, it's blown to the d ; Mr. Hardinge is his 
 
 convert. I am not, but I own to you that I know of 
 no literary Remains of the Celtic. Be it yours to show 
 them, but as lads in high life below stairs say Mind 
 y'r hits. 
 
 Mr. Hardinge had desired me to set his name 
 down for what number of copies I want to write my 
 own. I wrote lo, but you see he says 2 — this may be 
 right, because we must not appear to be more liberal 
 than our greaters, but you'll consider me as 10. 
 There are two or three of Dr. Turton's men in this 
 Hst, but I should explain to you that I had them only 
 a few days after the proposal came out at Swansea. 
 The Bishop of Gloucester has a list for you which I've 
 not got by me, but which he writes Mr. Hardinge 
 word he hopes will not be contemptible. Don't publish 
 till after the circuit. Mr. Hardinge desires this, as 
 he intends to poll the lawyers (he says) as he has the 
 parsons. I have much to say to you as to his mode 
 of pushing on this business, but it is late, and I'll write 
 to you again when I can get a frank. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, May 22, 1802. 
 My Dear Davies, 
 
 I have received a letter from the Prebendary 
 of Llandilo-graban to say that if he does not serve 
 the curacy himself (which I know he will not) he will 
 attend to my request ; so that the moment the present 
 curate retires to Abraham's bosom, you may go to 
 Botany Bay, which you'll not dislike, as you have 
 relations among the natives. You shall hear from 
 me when the cancer has done its work. 
 
 Mr. Hardinge has sent me your letter. I agree 
 with you in toto ; and, as the man said about the 
 Peace, may he who hkes you not, be shotto. The
 
 6i 
 
 Judge accuses you of being low spirited. I tell him 
 he may as well condemn you for being afflicted with 
 a fever or an ague. If I understand one part of your 
 letter, Mr. H. wanted you to say something in your 
 work about the Persian and Indian languages. I 
 have told him that cannot now be done, and he, as well 
 as I, wish you immediately to go to Press. Take as 
 much exercise as you can, but don't read or write. 
 Enquire instantly as to the value of the Crown 
 livings in Gloucestershire. I insist upon it ; your 
 letter must only contain their names, value, and the 
 probability of their becoming vacant ; if you say one 
 word more you will hurt yourself, but much more 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THKO. JONES. 
 Go to Press instantly. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, June 26, 1802. 
 My De\r Davies, 
 
 The curacy of Painscastle is vacant, but alas ! 
 Llandilo-graban is in the nomination of the lessee (and 
 not the Prebendar>') and he has promised it. I doubt 
 whether this is worth your acceptance ; however, 
 if you can find time come down, and I'll go with you 
 and endeavour to find out the value of it. I rather 
 think it is a poor thing, and will not suit you, but our 
 friend Payne will not give it to any other person till 
 he has your answer. 
 
 Yotirs very sincerely, 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES, 
 
 Brecon {Sunday Mornins), 1802. 
 Dear Davies, 
 
 A short letter, for I am but barely recovered 
 from the gout and my wrist aches. Mr. Hardinge 
 wishes you to employ Faulder as your bookseller in 
 lyondon ; have you spoken already to any of those 
 thieves ? Write to him to inform him how and about 
 it. The Bishop of Gloucester writes me a very kind
 
 62 
 
 letter in which he states he has procured you over 
 70 subscribers, the Duchess of Gloucester, Prince 
 William, and the Princess Sophia at the head of them 
 — that he shall persevere till your work is published, 
 and he adds (which gave me great pleasure) ' ' from 
 Mr. Davies's letters to Mr. Hardinge I am not afraid 
 he'll throw any discredit upon those who have 
 recommended him . ' ' 
 
 What is the reason that in Welsh we call a week 
 8 nights and a fortnight 15 nights ? 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 TIIEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIBS, 
 
 Cardiff, Wednesday Morning. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 The account you gave me and the statement 
 in your letter to Mr. Hardinge, as far as it respected 
 your health, alarmed me nmch, and finding your 
 pains and headaches were increased by writing, I took 
 the liberty of writing to him that it might hurt you to 
 apply often, even to 5'our favourite subjects at present, 
 and I at the same time told him that I intended to 
 request you would not write to me for some time till j^'ou 
 had found your health improved, which (in the language 
 of the circuit) I hereby give you notice to abstain 
 from ; and I should not even puzzle your poor 
 blinkers to pore over these tiny hieroglyhics if I was 
 not anxious to communicate the pleasure I feel from 
 a perusal of Dr. Moncriffe's letter, who assures our 
 friend Mr. Hardinge that excepting your defect of sight 
 (which he does not think hkely to become worse, unless 
 yoiir application to books is too intense) he apprehends 
 no danger whatever from your other complaints, which 
 he thinks are nervous, and which may be easily 
 removed ; this being the case, I don't think it 
 improbable you may yet be forced to tell a truth 
 where all your predecessors have bounced, and in spite 
 of your holo Episcopari may furnish a bed occasionally 
 for your friend at Abergwili, as soon as his present 
 lordship shall march upstairs. Send me Whitaker's 
 Manchester, and the Itinerary as soon as you can. I 
 do not perfectly comprehend the wythnos, or the
 
 63 
 
 Pymthenos, but if you give me your opinion I'll throw 
 it in, though if it exceeds three hues, for much as I 
 value them I will not have long letters from you at 
 present. Before my great evil appears pubhcly, you 
 Shan hear more oi my sentiments as to the Dimotoe 
 and Silures, which I rather think alarmed you as much 
 as your symbols did Mr. Hardinge. It is not necessary 
 that either of us should yet thmk upon the subject. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 I,I.ANBEDR, NEAR CrICKHOWEU,, 
 
 Wednesday Evening (1802). 
 
 Dear Davies, 
 
 I am now at my friend Payne's, who _ is 
 Prebendarv of Painscastle, and has the nomination 
 to the perpetual curacy of that parish. He tells me 
 Powell, who officiated there, cannot hve many weeks 
 It is I beHeve, about the annual value of £50, and it 
 Llandilo-graban could be had, which is now served 
 by the same person, it would be about £100. Before 
 he nominates any person he wishes to know if this 
 would suit you. Tell me whether, if I can also get at 
 the Prebendarv of I.landilo-graban, you would like 
 to take theni. Consider well before you answer, 
 because (without being sanguine) I hope you are now 
 in a fair way of doing better ; but I would not lose this 
 opportunitv of mentioning this to you before I write 
 to the Prebendary of Llandilo, and let me have your 
 answer as soon as possible. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 ■ THEO. JONES. 
 
 Direct, of course, to Brecon. 
 
 To the Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 1802. 
 
 My Dear Davies, 
 
 Our whimsical friend Hardinge is of all whimsical 
 men the most whimsical. One letter brings me 
 complaints of your book, that it does not jump out ot
 
 64 
 
 the Press, and begs that I'll goad you. The next comes 
 to complain that you don't take the MS. out of the 
 printer's hands to send to him. In answer to a 
 remonstrance which I sent him against increasing 
 the expense by printing additional lists of subscribers 
 and pointing out to him that he was only serving the 
 paper makers and printers, as I doubted whether you 
 would get IS. a copy by them, whereupon the said 
 George Hardinge chargeth the said Theophilus with 
 ingratitude and strictly injoineth and commandeth 
 him to send the MS. copy now in the said T.J.'s 
 possession to the said Edward Davies, in order that 
 the said may be sent to the devil,* I have obeyed 
 with reluctance, and this day's coach conveys the 
 parcel to Messrs. Whitcomb, Griffiths and Philpott, 
 Attorn ies, Glo'ster, where it will wait till you send 
 for it or direct it to be conveyed by a safe conveyance. 
 When I say it is with reluctance, it is because, if the 
 book turns out well, I fear he will take more merit 
 for smooth polishing than he deserves. I am in love 
 with Dafydd ap Gwylym's poem to the wind ; when your 
 eyes are better, give me a literal English translation. 
 I believe I understand it perfectly, but I would not 
 distort or lose a thought for the world, and I want to 
 give it an English poetic dress. I think it superior 
 to " C5nvydd y Daran," and " Dwynwen deigr 
 danian Degwch," which Owen has taken the pains 
 to convert into " Dwynwen fair," as the glittering 
 drops of morn is to m.e nonsense in English or Welsh. 
 He has also, I think, wrongly translated 
 
 Dy laeblaid yn dy Iwysblwyf, 
 Doslurus ofalus wyf. 
 
 Grant me thy extended protection in thy pleasant parish, 
 for I am in pain and anxiety. I think it should be I 
 am thy hmnhle or prostrate suppliant, full of pain and 
 care in thy abode of chearfulness or in thy chearful 
 parish. 
 
 Now for the goad. Get on with the book — sans 
 delai et sans peur. ' ' But can that be done ? ' ' says 
 the curate of Olveston. " Sans monish," as my devil 
 careth not for the sentence of Judge Hardinge, or the 
 
 * The printer, very often so called (See Dr. Brewer's Diet- 
 of Phrase and Fable, p. 222.
 
 65 
 
 excommunication of Jones, the Registrar. Ay, there's 
 the rub. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 I never had either letter or message or the least 
 intimation that the MS. was to be sent to you till to-day. 
 They were delivered to me loosely by Church 63% who, 
 I suppose with his uncle's and aunt's and sons and 
 daughters, have read and formed their opinions of the 
 work. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DA VIES. 
 
 L,I.ANBEDR, Aug. 9, 1802. 
 
 My Dear Davies, 
 
 I have written the Bishop of St. David's to 
 request he will inform me when you may wait upon 
 him, but as great men move slowly, and answer letters 
 slowly, I would not advise you to wait till you hear 
 from him or from me ; you may depend upon his being 
 at Abergwili whenever you chose to come down, and 
 the sooner the better. Your nomination was signed 
 this evening in the presence of Sir Wm. Ouseley and 
 myself. I shall leave it in Mrs. Jones's hands, and if 
 you go in the coach you need not fear knocking at 
 my door, though the coach comes at an hour when 
 our family will be snoozing. I shall tell Mrs, Jones 
 that your arrival will be expected, and conjointly it 
 will be ready for you at a moment's notice. You will 
 not find me at home, for our circuit begins this day 
 se'nnight, but your friend Mr. Payne expects you will 
 spend a few hours with him before you return. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, Aug. 21, 1802. 
 Messrs. North. 
 
 Pay the Rev. Mr. Davies Five Pounds for 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 THEO. JONES.
 
 66 
 
 You know North's are booksellers at Brecon. 
 Hardinge tells me he promised not to show the extracts 
 from your book to anyone. I have engaged to 
 indemnify him. You have delighted one and kept 
 one alive during a penniless session, but I cannot 
 attempt to follow you round the world. You'd break 
 my neck. Hereafter I may creep along your road. 
 We do vastly well about the Druids ; we think much 
 alike without interfering or crossing or jostling each 
 other. I want much to know " Hu Gadarn," but 
 doubt as to his being Noah. Your discovery (for it 
 is your own) of the Trioedd in Greek and Latin pleased 
 as well as surprised me. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Bristoi,, Monday. March y, 1803. 
 Dear Davies, 
 
 Here I am in my way to the Speaker of the 
 House of Commons who has ordered (as I will the 
 contrary at my peril) that I appear at the Bar of that 
 House on Tuesday at 3 o'clock, but least you may 
 suppose I have committed anything like a Breach of 
 Privilege, know that it is the Carmarthenshire 
 election which takes me up and 1,000 men and women 
 and children besides. What's become of your book ? 
 — it's time it should come out now. Can I do 
 anything in London for you upon that or any other 
 subject ? Pray command your 
 
 Very sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 I shall be at No. 11, Golden Square. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, March 11, 1804. 
 My Dear Davies, 
 
 I write this speedily to you, because I am in 
 hopes to relieve you in part of your doubts and 
 anxiety, when I tell you that I have now before me a 
 letter of Mr. Booth's, dated in October, 1802, which 
 was in consequence of my remonstrance to Mr. 
 Hardinge about the expenses of printing your letters
 
 and subscribers, in which Booth says : "I am 
 surprised at Mr. Jones's fears, and disapprobation 
 of the expences incurred, &c. That I might be able 
 to satisfy myself as to the justness of the application, 
 I have taken some trouble to ascertain the probable 
 profit which may accrue to Mr. Davies, the result of 
 which is that he gains £390 " (the number of 
 subscribers were then 1950). He then goes on to 
 state further particulars, and calculates 5s. 6d. each 
 volume — this may perhaps not be perfectly accurate, 
 but if Booth is an honest and a man of judgment, this 
 should make your mind perfectly easy upon this part 
 of the subject. 
 
 As to Hardinge, the ingenuity of active malice 
 could not have been more tormenting than his 
 services, and yet he has placed you in so awkward a 
 dilemna that 3^ou must not complain. I was hurt, 
 I own, at the omission of Turton, to whom I have 
 written to-day, and am very certain his hberality will 
 overlook the apparent neglect, when he knows you 
 are not to blame. I also note that the name of your 
 friend, and mine, Henry Thomas Payne, R. of 
 Lrlanbedr, does not appear among your subscribers, 
 tho' he was one of the earliest on my list. John 
 Josiah Holford, Esq., of Culgwyn, Chas. Holford, 
 Esq., Richard Hill, jun., Esq., Plymouth Lodge, — 
 Yeats, Esq., Monk's Mill, and, I have no doubt, 
 several others are forgotten, but I feel more the 
 apparent inattention to Payne than the rest. Pray 
 write to him to state that the fault does not lie with 
 you, and to saddle the right horse. I shall send him 
 a book, and at the same time explain to him to whom 
 the neglect attaches. 
 
 I fear you have been imposed upon by Owen as 
 to the Coelbren 5^ Beirdd. I am very much mis- 
 taken if that alphabet is not the manufacture of 
 Ned WiUiams*, and himself and the behaviour of Mad 
 Ned at last Cardiff Assizes, when he heard that you 
 had inserted those letters in your book, convinces 
 me he fear'd detection ; he only pretended to me to 
 trace the discovery to John Bradford, excepting in 
 some dark allusions — as a stave in singing — writing 
 
 ♦ " lolo Morganwg " (The Rov, Edward WUliams).
 
 68 
 
 a good stick, &c., but this, compared with the time 
 which has elapsed since they were used, is not above 
 a minute in 24 hours. Owen is undoubtedly barned, 
 and Williams has eccentric talents, but both are 
 system mongers, and, I believe, system makers. 
 
 I see your book has upon the cover 12s. in boards. 
 I presume this is to non-subscribers, for I have been 
 in the habit of receiving half a guinea, which was the 
 original subscription : if I am wrong you must write 
 me immediately. If I don't hear from you I shall 
 conclude I am correct. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Bristol, March 22, 1803. 
 Dear Mr. Da\t[ES, 
 
 Upon receipt of your letter, I called \ipon Mr. 
 Booth and found that that part of your work which 
 was printed was not even then arrived in town. I 
 therefore determined to call upon the Bristol man in 
 my way down, and to " bullers him a bit." I have 
 just been there, and a lad in the shop, if he is to be 
 believed, assures me that he saw the printed sheets, 
 &c., put into the wagon for London on Saturday last ; 
 if this is correct all's well ; if it is not, and you don't 
 hear in the course of a week or 9 days from Mr. Booth 
 that he has received it, pray write to me, and you may 
 depend upon it I'll compel this fellow to do you 
 justice, and whatever you do, resist despondency 
 and low spirits. I am just off for Cardiff, where our 
 circuit commences this evening. 
 
 I am, my dear friend. 
 
 Yours verv sincerelv, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. EDWARD DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, June 11, 1804. 
 My Dear Da vies. 
 
 Our visitation, or rather the Bishop's visitation, 
 of this Archdeaconry will be held at Brecon on the 
 24th of next month, when I hope to see you, and when
 
 69 
 
 you will hear me. I shall reserve a bed for you, if you 
 say you mean to occupy it. Give me a line to signify 
 your intention. 
 
 The Gentleman's Magazine has noticed you, but 
 with few comments. I believe the reviewers had better 
 adopt the same plan, for if they pretend to give their 
 sentiments upon many parts of your work, I firmly 
 believe they'll break their necks. 
 
 I have now money for you, and will give you a 
 list of subscribers when we meet. 
 
 I have given, in your na}n'i, one of your books 
 to the Library at Ystradmeurig. Williams, the 
 schoolmaster, was install' d here yesterday to the 
 prebend of Trallong in our nearly dilapidated College 
 Church. 
 
 Will not our Sovereign Lord the King recommend 
 you to the Dean and Canons of Windsor to succeed 
 the late Vicar of Talgarth, in this county ? 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 1804. 
 
 Dear Davies, 
 
 Cive me credit for £4 till our next account, 
 which will be soon opened, as I learn that qo of your 
 books are on the road to Brecon, and Booth tells me 
 to remit to you. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Wells, Rector of Ilston and Penmaes, 
 is dead, and the livings are in the gift of the Chancellor. 
 Tnrton gave me a hint that you had some expectation 
 of them thro' Hardinge's assistance ; had you not 
 better write to [him] ? We are civil, but do not 
 correspond since I objected to the expence of 
 publishing more lists and more letters from you, and I 
 don't know whether he does not consider us both as a 
 couple of ungrateful scoundrels ; but never mind that, 
 jog him. 
 
 Say you have received the enclosed from 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 I shall keep two of your books.
 
 70 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 1804. 
 My Dear Davtes, 
 
 I enclose you £50 on account of the subscriptions 
 I have received for your book ; you shall have a list 
 when I have completely stock'd the market, or (as the 
 ironmasters say) gobb'd the furnace here. Never 
 mind the profits of the book ; you'll be safe, and unless 
 the devil rides rough shod over the legislative as well 
 as the episcopal part of the creation, you must be 
 preferr'd. 
 
 I received a letter from Dr. Turton yesterday ; 
 he tells me he has advertised that the books are ready 
 for delivery, but that the subscribers are rather shy 
 of bringing in the money ; that will not do. I never 
 press'd anyone to subscribe, and wish the Judge had 
 not, but I'll make ever^^ one pay who breathes the 
 same atmosphere with me, provided I can prove they 
 put down their names, or consented they should be put 
 down. It is not sufficient to say the book is ready ; 
 call for it. I carry it in one hand, and hold out the 
 other for the half guinea whenever I meet them. 
 
 That d n'd good natured friend of ours, Hardinge, 
 
 could not help persecuting you with his kindness here 
 during the Inst sessions, tho' I told him I had supplied 
 most of the subscribers here, and had books for others, 
 he must send down for them by coach, when, after 
 making Churchey (who is his clerk) dance about to 
 20 or 30 persons, to whom I had already delivered 
 them, he found they were not wanted, and they were 
 sent here by sixes and sevens, and I was desired to 
 sign a receipt for them without seeing or reckoning 
 them, which I did. He says he'll pay the expense 
 of the carriage, but he is so extremely fond of the 
 devil (I mean the printer's devil) that he must have 
 -printed receipts for the guinea and half guinea. 
 Myn Duw y mae whiw yn ei ben. 
 
 I am happy to teU you that Mr. Nichol, the 
 barrister, who is one of the ablest and most acute 
 reasoners, as well as profound thinkers, I ever met 
 with, is a convert to your sentiments in general. The 
 first time he read your book he was witty upon it ; the 
 second time " there was more in it than he at first
 
 conceived," and after a third reading he said to me 
 with a very grave face, ' ' Such another book, Jones, 
 would make me an inveterate and confirmed Linguist 
 and Antiquarian." If you were acquainted with the 
 gentleman you would know how to appreciate his 
 approbation ; unfortunately, he thinks too fast for 
 me, and will not permit me to chew the cud ; he goes 
 thro' the circuitous chain of reasoning, and infers, 
 deduces, and concludes before I can comprehend his 
 position, tho' he is always accurate in stating, and 
 generally correct in deciding upon it. 
 
 I hope to see you next summer, and that you will 
 contrive to spend one da^^ with Pajme, where you will 
 meet with 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, May 5, 1805. 
 My Dear Davies, 
 
 At last I forgive Hardinge for all his faults 
 and I trust that Providence will have mercy upon his 
 manifold imperfections, in consideration of his having 
 done some good acts. He write to me that Bishop 
 Watson offers him the hving of Bishopston, near 
 Swansea, worth £130 per annum, and desires that you 
 will hesitate before you refuse it. I doubt much 
 whether it is worth half that sum, and I am sure thou'Ut 
 not increase it much ? But it is still a certainty, and I 
 believe you'll not hesitate to determine. The Bishop 
 insists upon residence, tho' I doubt whether there is 
 a parsonage house on the living. It is, however, in 
 a comparatively cheap country, 5 miles from Swansea, 
 upon the seashore, and you will be within an hour's 
 ride of our very eccentric friend Turton, to whom I 
 write this day to make inquiries as to the value, &c. 
 
 I enclose you a five-guinea bill, which is nearly the 
 amount of what I have received since my last. We'll 
 state and settle the account when you proceed to take 
 possession of your Bishoprick. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES.
 
 72 
 
 COPY OF LETTER FROM W. TURTON TO 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 Swansea, May 9, 1805. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 Your letter about Davies has rejoiced me 
 exceedingly. He will, of course, not hesitate in 
 accepting the Bishop's offer, far as it is below his worth 
 and his merits. I yesterday went to Bishopston to 
 make aU the inquiries I cotdd about the vicarage. I 
 was just in time, for the churchwardens were about to 
 sequestrate the living, but I informed them it was 
 unnecessary, as I had no doubt but that their future 
 Pastor would shortly be among them. There is a 
 parsonage house, but totally dilapidated and 
 unrepairable. From the last incumbent no dilapi- 
 dations can be expected* .... There are 30 
 acres of excellent glebe land, now let for 30 guineas, 
 the remaining tithes are let for fifty pounds, but as 
 they were leased to a sly old cock, who had advamced 
 money for the necessities of the late parson, it is 
 probable they are much tmdervalued. It is the 
 opinion of the curate, who lives and has an estate in 
 the parish, that the real value, without injury to any 
 party, is from one hundred and thirty to one hundred 
 and fifty pounds. A lead mine has lately been opened 
 and is now working to advantage in this parish, but 
 whether these pigs are titheable you know better than 
 I. The situation is dry and healthy, and the distance 
 from Swansea about five miles. When you write to 
 Davies say to him that if he comes into this neigh- 
 bourhood my house is to be his home till he has 
 arranged everything to his mind, or else his house 
 will never be my home. 
 
 Bassett wants a curate here and at the Mumbles 
 —perhaps something may be hit off between them to 
 put an additional twenty or thirty pounds into 
 Davies's pocket. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 W. TURTON. 
 
 * Thiti Incumbent died in a state of great poverty.
 
 73 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, May 12, 1805. 
 
 Dear Davies, 
 
 On the other side you have a letter from our 
 friend the Doctor in answer to mine, by which you wiU 
 finri th?t vou have no tumbUng house upon youi 
 hvfng for Hs afready tumbled down. All dja^ou 
 Ar. ;« fVik rase is to request from the bishop a 
 Zl'tZ, ^d rappropriaa a part of you. i„^n,e 
 sav /^o per annum, towards it, and m that case i 
 hould h^pe 3 or 4 years at the .f^f^-^' ^^f f^ 
 finish it for I do not apprehend that a palace is 
 neceLry, tho' your parish be a Bishoprick. 
 
 I sent you a letter on this day se'nnight (if that 
 be not a soUcism) in which was inclosed a hve-guinea 
 bill. Pray have you received it ? 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 June, 1805. 
 
 My Dear Davies, 
 
 A^ T was writing to the Bishop of St. David s 
 
 r;.r.r,.;;;3S-j, ,.„ j- - - s 
 
 him as soon as you please, ^na maL y 
 
 r o) S Lid your present curacy for a 12 month
 
 74 
 
 I'll send to j^our brother, and I dare say he will lend 
 you a horse to come from Swansea to this place on 
 your way back. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. EDWARD DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, July 14, 1805. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 I received your maps, and am perfectly aware 
 of the value of them ; indeed they were not new to 
 me, tho' I was never before possessed of them, but 
 I did not think I ought to put you to the expence of 
 postage merely to acknowledge the receipt of them. 
 
 I continue in my resolution of preventing the 
 men of Bishopston from imposing upon you further 
 that 15s. in the pound, and perhaps we'll make them 
 stop something short of that. I shall take care of your 
 letter, and as I always go to Swansea after the circuit 
 I'll play the lawyer the registrar, the proctor, and 
 possibly the gentleman at the same time. What you 
 have hitherto done has been right. Rely upon it, 
 that with all the friendship I bear for you I do not 
 forget that your pecuniary interest is not what ought 
 to be chiefly in view, but that with a proper regard 
 to prudence, you ought to possess the friendship and 
 goodwill of 3-our parishioners, unless they chuse to set 
 such a price upon it as to make you a beggar. 
 
 Under this impression, I will not send that Scotch 
 fellow Clark, the Surveyor, over to them, whose 
 chiefest excellence is in the application of the 
 thumbscrew, and who knows precisely what quantity 
 of pain a man can bear without actually putting him 
 to death ; but I have in my mind's eye a sensible 
 farmer, who is conversant on this subject, and who, 
 I beheve, will teU us what you reasonably and fairly 
 ought to have, and what they can fairly afford to pay. 
 So till you hear from me again, make your mind easy, 
 and in the meantime your affairs shall not be neglected 
 
 ^y . . 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES.
 
 75 
 
 To THE REV. EDWARD DAVIES. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, Aug. 2, 1805. 
 
 My DEAR Friend, 
 
 system or plan to rce^vepupiL ^^^^^^ ^^_^ ^^^^_^^_ 
 
 SaUo^he isC%n4 - Place u^d. you. care . 
 
 LI' him 'in board! washing, a,:d •odgmg.^f";^,™'^-^^ 
 he begs to have your terms, but tho i snouia leei 
 anxious as weU as my relation, to place hun with you 
 I beTthat if from the state of your eyes, or some other 
 circumstances you have given up the education of 
 vour you win not hesitate in saying so, or be ed 
 Cr^ friendship to me to sacrifice either your health 
 or convenience. . 
 
 Should it suit you to receive my httle cousin and 
 
 1^ TViPo-nhilus Tones, I know you'll not be 
 
 namesake, itieopniius juucs, , ^^ 1 ^^ rantion vou 
 
 iefe^rwevT^lt^' ^r^^^^^^ ^^, 
 Tnd tSore' he must try the atmosphere of 
 Gloucestershire or some other country air^ Write to 
 me by return of post direct to No. 11 as above. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 July {or August) 1805. 
 My DEAR Davies, 
 
 As our Member* is here and we have nothtng 
 to do (this by way of compliment) I ^^y as well emp^^^^^ 
 a few moments in an invitation to my friend to dance 
 down to Abergwile next week, and to request he will 
 indSge our Uttie Earner with a few hours' conversation 
 ehher^going or returning. I do this by his particular 
 
 * Sir Charles Morgan. Bart..^ ^^Tredogar was M^?;^ for 
 Brecknockshire, and Sir Robert Sahsbury. Bart., of Llanwern. 
 Mon., M.F. for the Borough, at the tune.
 
 76 
 
 desire, having just seen him, and received a copy of 
 one of your chapters. He thinks you are too fond 
 of Vallancey, too nearly converted iDy him, not fond 
 enough of the Bishop of Dromore, and that you don't 
 quote authorities often enough, but perhaps Bishop 
 Horsley or Dr. Vincent would be offended if you told 
 them that lertoger vitce scelovisque punts was a 
 quotation from Horace. I have received a very civil 
 letter from our Bishop ; part of it (it is true) I don't 
 understand, but no matter for that, he says you will 
 find him at home whenever you come down. We shall 
 be in Brecon on Saturday, and remain there a week ; 
 so that if you cannot come next week, you will find us 
 the following week (until Friday) at Cardiff. You'll 
 have a coach, which will take you from Caermarthen 
 to Caerdiff. I desire you'll not be pendatic ; least 
 you may want cash, I'll send you a draft for a trifle 
 which you may have in your way thro' Brecon, and 
 when you see me you may have more if you want it, 
 to be repaid me out of the first fruits of your 
 Bishoprick. 
 
 {This is not signed). 
 
 To THE Rev. EDWARD DAVIES. 
 (In answer to June ii, 1805), 
 
 Od. 4, 1805. 
 My Dear Davies, 
 
 I have been at the palace, and overlook' d the 
 Cathedral ; the former consists of a beautiful cluster 
 of ruins, and the latter is a most venerable edifice, 
 thro' which the air is here and there (from salutary 
 motives, no doubt) permitted to ventilate the interior. 
 I have desired an architect at Swansea, in whom I 
 think I can confide, to look over the estimate sent you, 
 and he accompanied me to Bishopston to look at the 
 dilapidations ; his report has not reached my ears. 
 I shall go to Bishopston when the time for payment 
 for the present year expires, and see what I can do 
 with those Flemings. 
 
 The book* is out, and I'll send it you in the course 
 of a week together with Mr. Peach's, tho' it has a 
 confounded circuitous route to reach you. The Bishop 
 
 * The First Vol. of " Brecknockshire."
 
 77 
 
 of St. David's speaks very handsomely of it, and the 
 approbation of Dr. Burgess is no trifling acquisition. 
 He says " Highly as he esteemed my talents as an 
 antiquary and historian, the pleasure he received in 
 reading the book far exceeded his expectation." I 
 shall fire off, or in the language of our shop, set off his 
 praise against the bayonets of the critics and the 
 stings of the mosquitoes — a race to whom you will 
 be introduced when you read the book. 
 
 I have just bought Ossian's Poems, and have 
 been reading Dr. Blair's critical dissertation upon 
 their merits. There is a great deal of good sense and 
 a great deal of learned nonsense in what he says. 
 
 What a resemblance there is between the sisters 
 Gaelic and Cymraeg, 
 
 A chos air Croraleach, druim-ard, 
 Chos air Crom-meal dubh 
 Thoga Fion le lamh mhoir, 
 An d'uisge o I^ubhair na fruth. 
 
 A'i gos ar Cromlech, Twyn ardd, 
 A'r ail gos ar Crommel ddu 
 A dwg Ffion a'i law mawr 
 Yr wysc o Llifwy'r ffrwd. 
 
 You told me something about Tyssiho — more 
 about him if you please. 
 
 By the bye, I don't think I have written to you 
 since I left London ; if so, I'm a good for nothing 
 fellow, as you might fancy I was sulky. No such 
 thing, be assured ; the proposal about the little boy 
 was made to you in expectations that it was perfectly 
 convenient to you if you had taken him, and any 
 difficiilties occurred in consequence of your kindness 
 for me. I should have thanked you, but by no means 
 have been satisfied with your determination. The 
 boy has 50 places to apply to, where he may be well 
 brought up and kindly treated, and it was only in 
 consequence of my partiality for you that my uncle 
 wished to give you the preference, in hopes it would 
 be advantageous to you. 
 
 Pray what is the rule in trade as to the allowance 
 to booksellers where they only disperse books to the 
 subscribers and receive the money for the author.
 
 78 
 
 My trade price is £2 5s ; price to subscribers, 
 £2 I2S. 6d. ; to non-subscribers, £2 15s. Are Booth 
 and the rest of them entitled to 7s 6d. out of those 
 subscribed for, or only for such as they sell to non- 
 subscribers ? It seems to me to be too much to say 
 they ought to have 7s. 6d. where they run no risk and 
 have no merit ; but upon the other hand, people in 
 trade should not take any share of trouble or lose 
 their time without some recompense. This is material, 
 therefore drop a line to 
 
 Your very sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 Mrs. Jones joins in warmest wishes for your health 
 and welfare. 
 
 To THE Rev. EDWARD DAVIES. 
 
 Sunday Evening, Oct. 10, 1805. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 By North's waggon of this night, I send you three 
 copies of my first volume, one for the curate of 
 Olveston and one for his friend Mr. Peach, and another 
 for Captain Davies, of the Caermarthenshire Militia. 
 I have advised the latter gent, of the route his book is 
 likely to take, that he may have it upon appl5dng to 
 you, should no opportunity occur of forwarding it 
 from Olveston, and that he may pay his subscription, 
 £2 I2S. 6d., to you, or by draft to me, and you will act 
 accordingly. Mr. Peach will, of course, pay you, 
 and you may remit to me. 
 
 Since I wrote to you last, I have received a letter 
 from the architect I spoke to at Swansea, who tells 
 me the carpenter's estimate sent to you is extravagant, 
 and that he will attend to the repairs of the palace ; 
 but nothing effective can be done till I go to Swansea 
 in January next, and then you will hear further from 
 your thoughtless. 
 
 But very sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 The books are directed to be left at the ' ' Ship * * 
 at Olveston ; deduct the carriage. God bless you.
 
 79 
 To THE Rev. Mr DAVIKS. 
 
 Brecon, Nov. 17, 1805. 
 My Dear Davies, 
 
 You need not have informed me that you were 
 in better health when you wrote your last letter than 
 when you wrote the former ; the handwriting, tho' 
 the writing of the same hand, would have told me as 
 much. I hope the next will again improve. 
 
 Have you received 3 of my books addressed for 
 you at the ' ' Ship ' ' at Olvestone. If not, let me 
 know, but I should not probably have asked this 
 question at present, if Mr. Hardinge, in answer to an 
 inquiry of mine as to Astle's " Progress of Writing," 
 had not informed me that you referred to it in your 
 book ; it is material to me in my progress among the 
 tombs that I should see this publication, and if you 
 have it, or can procure it from any friend of yours, 
 I'll give my bond to return it safe and unsoiled at any 
 time that the return may be required, even if only one 
 day is allowed for a hasty view of it. 
 
 I am stuck fast in our Priory Church, and when I 
 shall extricate myself from thence to proceed in my 
 tour I know not, but most assuredly the name of the 
 man that had the seven league boots is not like that of 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, March, 20, 1806. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 After near three months' confinement by my 
 inveterate enemy*, and under the custody of my 
 winter gaoler, I tried to escape into Carmarthenshire 
 and Glamorganshire, but was re-taken in the latter 
 county, and brought back, tho' not without some 
 difficulty, to my former pri-on, where I am again tied 
 to th chair or the bed, how long to remain I know not. 
 Probably (or at least I hope so) when warmer weather 
 permits other reptiles to appear, I may be permitted 
 to crawl about, certainly not to fly, for a few months. 
 
 * Gout,
 
 8g 
 
 I was told your Celtic Researches now sell for a 
 guinea at Bristol : pray tell me if that be the case, 
 as I may upon receiving such information make a penny 
 in an honest way. 
 
 Poor Owen's head is turned about the Millennium, 
 and " a slip-shod sybil," of the name of Johanna 
 Southcote, drags him into storms and tempests which 
 he tells me are to commence in this Island during the 
 summer of 1807, when he gives me formal and serious 
 notice that the restoration of all things is to take place, 
 and the devil is to be the scapegoat for all the believers. 
 In the meantime he is translating the Mabinogion, 
 which I hope he'll finish, tho' I have advised him to 
 get a smooth polish for his Enghsh style, for he really 
 does not translate intelligibly in his "Dictionary." 
 Sir Wm. Ouseley is so struck with the nonsensical 
 translations that he insists the Welsh authorities can 
 have neither sense or meaning. 
 
 My wrist aches. I must, therefore, conclude 
 with a carpenter's wish : ' ' Health, peace of mind, 
 a clean shirt, and a guinea to you." prayeth 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, June 6, 1806. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Who was the bookseller to whom your Vicar 
 applied for my book, tho' I suppose the London book- 
 seller was too indolent to call at Mr. Booth's, Portland 
 Place, for it, who has plenty of them to dispose of. 
 Duncomb, the man of Herefordshire, writes me word 
 that Dr. Aitkin in his Annual Review has favourably 
 reported my case, tho' he has put blisters upon his 
 back. Pray have you seen this review ? I don't 
 expect to sell the whole of the first volume before the 
 second is printed ; tho' more than half are gone ofif, 
 for owing to the tricks of Polwhele and others, many 
 persons are cautious how they purchase incomplete 
 works. Did you see Turton's attacks upon Mr. 
 Justice Hardinge. The latter frequently does
 
 8i 
 
 imprudent things with impunity, but is generally 
 attacked when he does not deserve it. I don't think 
 what he said on the trial called for this from the 
 Doctor, tho' I highly disapprove of his publishing 
 his speech and the trial in the Cambrian. Turton is, 
 in my mind, equally imprudent to provoke a 
 discussion of his conduct in the business. He was sent 
 for on behalf of the prisoner to Cardiff at an ordinary 
 pra;mium without ever having seen the body of the 
 girl supposed to be murdered, merely to watch the 
 surgeon's evidence, which looks like an engagement 
 to testify in proportion to the reward received ; but 
 Turton is and always will be eccentric. 
 
 I should be glad to hear when you are at leisure 
 how your eyes serve you and what you are about — 
 whether you have given a public blast to Tyssiho or 
 not ; is another question from 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIEvS. 
 
 Jiily, 1806. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I am sorry you should put yourself to the trouble 
 of inquiring about Astle, for I do not think it would 
 answer my purpose, which was to obtain a specimen 
 or specimens of the handwriting principally seen from 
 1400 to 1600. As you say Massey's is Mr. Hardinge's. 
 I presume I am to deliver it to him. What is the 
 technical descriptions of letters cut into the stone 
 and what of letters raised above the surface of the 
 stone? I beUeve the latter are said to be in rehef. 
 I certainly received the bill and the letter enclosing 
 it, and thought I had acknowledged it, but my 
 thoughts are running idly into every dark hole and 
 corner but where they should be. 
 
 I approve much of your coimterblast to Tyssilio 
 and wish you would publish it ; but stooping to 
 notice the critic you shall have it with my remarks 
 by Captain Davies in his return. Pray say where 
 at Bristol it shall be left for you. For God's sake, my
 
 82 
 
 sjood friend, don't talk of the arrogance of criticising 
 upon my work — you have ten times the capability 
 of those who will undertake it, and if anything occurs 
 let me know it. It is singular that at the very moment 
 I received your last letter I was employed in 
 the manner you recommend, which was in noting 
 down any error I observed in a book kept for the 
 purpose. 
 
 Whether the sea swans or the flamingos of Gower 
 are the prettiest birds, I know not. I have no 
 partiality for either, but those which have the smallest 
 swallow and can build the most convenient nest are 
 those which I seek for. Wallis told me that the 
 estimate I sent him which was received from you was 
 too high in some particular. I have not heard from 
 him since, but I have written to Turton to beg he will 
 press for his answer, and he who will do the work 
 cheapest and best ought to be employed. The barn 
 must be undertaken and built as soon as the season 
 will permit ; or we shall never be able to manage 
 those fellows. I'll take care, meo proviculo, costs and 
 charges, it shall be done. I have likewise requested 
 Turton to ask the man when he receives for last year, 
 and not to make agreements in future without my 
 knowledge. 
 
 Poor Churchey* has followed lyord Nelson with 
 his elegy in his hand. May he improve in his 
 singing, and our late Admiral be permitted to hear him. 
 Don't read or write too much, but in order to save a 
 shilling or two in an honest way, tell me shortly where 
 your MS. is to be dropp'd at Bristol. Tell Mr. Peach 
 I am proud of his approbation, for tho' I am not 
 personally known to him, I am no stranger to his 
 merit or abilities. 
 
 Mrs. Jones unites in best wishes with, dear 
 Davies, 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 * William Churchey, a member of an old Brecon family, 
 published a volume of Poems in 1789, and some Ones " addressed 
 to Lord Nelson on his arrival at Brecknock amidst the joyful 
 acclamations of the people, on July 26th, 1802," for which he 
 received tho hero's thanks.
 
 83 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, Sept. i8, 1806. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 How go you on with Tyssilio and Ossian. 
 My second vol. is finished, but, like the fellows in the 
 farce of the Critic, whenever I get a good thing, 
 I never know when I (or rather my readers) have 
 enough of it. I am now at Vol. 2, part 2, and if the 
 gout will let me alone it will be in the Press next 
 spring. My friend Payne has lent me Astle's 
 " Progress of Writing," and a very young but a very 
 zealous antiquary* is now copying the Saxon hands 
 into a book, which has the Norman characters in the 
 different reigns, which will complete my graphic 
 collections, for I cannot follow you into the wilderness 
 and the woods. By the bye, talking of woods and 
 woody writing, that fellow Nedd Williams is a 
 strange fellow, and all that can be said for him he is 
 mad ; he now finds fault with Owen. He, however, 
 suggested to me one part of my work which I should 
 be sorry to have omitted. I mean the poets of 
 Breconshire. I did not know we had any 
 
 Cisca 1 180. Macclaf ap Llywarch. 
 
 A.D. 1460. Bedo Brwynllys. 
 Siencin Defynog. 
 Dafydd Epynt. 
 Rhys Celli neu o'r GelU. 
 Tho. o Frwynllys. 
 
 A.D. 1500. Rhys Brychan. 
 
 leuan ap Rhys of Merthyr Cynog. 
 Gwynfardd Brecheiniog. 
 
 Pray can you give any information as to the 
 dates (where here omitted) of any of them ? Any 
 anecdotes of them or any other of their Breconshire 
 fellows, and what were their compositions ? If you 
 can, without blinding yourself find, or rather recollect 
 any, pray send them to 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 * The Rev. Thomas Price, '* Carnhuanawc."
 
 84 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIEvS, 
 
 Brecon, Dec. 31, 1806. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I have been confined here these two months 
 with an oozing at my heel without any pain, which 
 the apothecary says is a mere flea-bite, and which 
 indeed I believe to be a friendly effort of nature. 
 During this time my hand has been free, my head 
 unaffected, and my spirits uncommonly good, so that 
 I have nearly finished the 2nd part of my 2nd Vol. 
 As I shall want again to deal with the engravers, I 
 have now some thoughts of taking a jolt up to lyondon, 
 for I am told I may, and ought to do it, as the best 
 remedy that can be applied. 
 
 Your very sincere friend. 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 Brecon, Feb. 18, 1807. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I just say a word to you to make your mind easy 
 and to remove your apprehensions as to the strong 
 house. WHien it is necessar>^ you should pay the £50 
 I insist upon yont writing to me, and I'll advance it 
 you. At this moment the expenses of my journey to 
 town, &c., have drained my pockets, but don't suffer 
 yourself to be sued ; when it comes to ne plus ultra 
 tell me, and I'll stop dunny's bawHng. 
 
 As to my heel, it is all my eye as the doctors tell 
 me, for which information I gave a guinea and was 
 sent about my business. 
 
 I am going to Haverfordwest, and have at present 
 no time to say more than that I am 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, June, 1807. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 I have received your book, and you may be 
 sure I have redde it (as Bishop Horsley wrote it) before
 
 85 
 
 I put pen to this paper. All I have to say at present 
 is that with some parts I am very well pleased ; with 
 the Gododin and your remarks I am enraptured, 
 but the Mythology I am neither prepared to admit 
 or deny. At present, therefore, I quit the stage and 
 leave you to boil your hell broth with Ceridwen. 
 
 Double, double, toil and trouble, 
 Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 
 
 I am sorry to find that your friend Mr. Peach's 
 name is so sinful a parent, and as I believe he formerly 
 had a better, if my advice were good without a fee 
 I would recommend him again to adopt his paternal 
 appellation. Morant, in his History of Essex, 
 says the name of Peche, Peach, or Peachy, is derived 
 from Williams Peccatum (Temp. i8i) of Netherhall 
 jn Essex, ' ' a very wicked fellow surely, the name 
 gignifying sin in the abstract," says the author. 
 
 In a survey of the Manor of Brecon, about the 
 time of Elizabeth, is the word Maurode, evidently 
 signifying the roll of tenantry. The number of the 
 Maurode in patvia, 515, ; in villa, 617. 
 
 Boneddig, says Owen, is gentle ; is it not bon 
 hyddig of high descent, tho' I don't see such an 
 adjective in Owen, but I am inclined to think I have 
 seen such a word in that sense. 
 
 Milast, 5''ou say correctly, is a greyhound 
 bitch, but what is Lluast, which occurs as the 
 name of several places in this county. I thought it 
 a corruption of Elu arth, the encampment of the 
 army or Elu arthan. 
 
 I am very much pleased at your exposing and 
 detecting the frauds and the tricks of Ned Williams, 
 adopted, partly by choice and partly by combination, 
 by Owen, but you have in one part of your book 
 accredited their mummeries by quoting Owen for the 
 drawn sword placed at the Gorsedd. Depend upon 
 it, all these monkey tricks exhibited at Primrose Hill 
 by Owen and others have no more foundation or 
 pretence for antiquity than Williams's Chair of 
 Glamorgan. But, however, I shall explain myself 
 further upon this and other parts of your book, which 
 musi be published, tho' it will, as you say, want further
 
 86 
 
 arrangement, and the ist part must, I believe, be licked 
 into the shape of a preface, having too much of 
 private anecdote and too little of mythology and 
 Ijistory. 
 
 When I have gone over j^our book once more, 
 to which I shall make some notes in pencil, which you 
 may adopt or notice, or not, as you please, it shall be 
 returned you with the little MS. book of which your 
 translation has made me comprehend the full value. 
 I mean the intrinsic value of the poem, which I really 
 did not before understand. 
 
 I am, dear Davies, 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, T.$ih July, 1807. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 As my Mr. Hall was sitting at my elbow in 
 our Hall, I axed him for a frank to save a penny for a 
 poor curate when I was about to inform him that I 
 sent Aneurin Gwawdrydd, and the Druidism of the 
 Bards, yesterday se'nnight, per mail coach, from 
 Brecon to Gloucester, carriage paid, to be forwarded 
 from thence to you at Olveston, near Bristol, and to 
 be left at the * ' Ship ' ' at Olveston. Have you 
 received them ? If you have drop me a line to say so, 
 and solve me the difficulties as to the Maurode, &c 
 
 I have just sent the sixth of the Simons of 
 I^lanafan fawr out of the county. A father and son I 
 prosecuted and convicted for murder, two nephews 
 of that father I convicted of sheep stealing, the son 
 of that father, whose evidence hung him, as well as the 
 witness's own brother, fled from the kingdom, and the 
 brother of the first named has been convicted within 
 this half hour of sheep stealing. Such a gang, perhaps, 
 never existed. Two of this man's sons escaped last 
 Sessions ; I have no doubt I shall have them again, 
 and if I can drive them away I shall have thinned 
 their ranks tolerably. 
 
 Yours verv sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES.
 
 8? 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, Jtdy 28, 1007. 
 
 ''^ "riuTvou your MSS. with many thanks, 
 accomparied by-Aneu'rin Oh that Grey had been 
 alive to see this put into Enghsh prose ; it wou^d nave 
 Formed an admirable structure for a poem by h.m 
 hut as he is dead I'll try it some day or other the I 
 must"ose%ight of him and keep too -les behmd hnn^ 
 PrQ^7 answer me as to Maurode, and me omer 
 HtUe trifling questions which I put to yon, but which 
 T have now forgot, when you have leisure, 
 t' lam very nmch satisfied with the toitt ensenMe 
 te vonr^ook though some of the features are rather 
 ^L'^strong Trposit that the early inhabitants 
 of BrS had a tradition of the Deluge and the 
 
 Patriarch and his family, that they P^^s^^J^d^^^T^f^t 
 of this event, and that they afterwards deified not 
 If NoTh and His faini> but the very m^^^^^^^ 
 
 ?^sSvS . nc^ on^^rob^e but ^^ -tai. 
 
 s;;Ltr^in;i^^&r th/^- ^= cf 
 
 and the words Ark and Arkite Mythology 
 occur too frequently ; they should be janed it you 
 ran I wish you much to correct the insolence 01 
 Nedd Wmkms"^ and I intreat that he may not be 
 stSred but as I said in my last that part of the Mb. 
 Ci wSch appears like a defence, is out of order 
 as an Essay and therefore should form a preface, 
 :^th'which% would 3ustify yo-eH ^ 3ustificat^^^^ 
 were necessary) for appearing agam b^ore the pubfic 
 and expatiating upon a subject upon which you have 
 
 ^'nVvTalL'ffew notes in pencil wMch you may 
 attend to or not, just as you please. Some ot ^em I 
 know are wrong, as I saw upon second reading I did not 
 S.e vour meaning on my first perusal ; many of them 
 a^ merely the correction of hasty clerical errors 
 YourTote^s will want revising, as the same thing s 
 repeated twice or thrice, but this is not what you 
 were writing to me about. The mine you were 
 Tay'ng^or Tyssilio and Ossian, I suppose you have a 
 dozen of those brats, to all of whom I beg you would 
 introduce Your very sincere^frigd, ^^^^^
 
 8B 
 
 There is a letter written by ' ' Wal. Churchey,' ' 
 dated " Brecon, January 21, 1806," on behalf of 
 Theo. Jones, "who is in the gout." It deals 
 principal^ with the tithe account, but proceeds : 
 
 " You'll acquaint your friend that Mr. Jones's 
 2nd Vol. is in the press, but goes on slowly for want 
 of printers. Mr. Jones wishes much to know whether you 
 could not procure him a couple of journeymen in that 
 trade at Bristol, who will come down here, and for what 
 price ? The expenses will be paid them, and they will 
 be employed for six months certain— perhaps more." 
 
 Attached to this letter is the dedication : " To the 
 Rev. Edward Davies, " &c. (See " Brecknockshire.") 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, Nov. i, 1808. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I see (I hope you do see) that you are again got 
 into print nolens volens, and perhaps you'U excuse my 
 adding all your titles and preferments. Rector of 
 Bishopston, in the county of Glamorgan, and curate 
 of the perpetual curacy of Boughrood, Elanbedr, Pains- 
 castle, in the coimty of Radnor. You shall have the 
 book or rather two ' ' d — big square books ' ' shortly, 
 accompanied with sets for all the subscribers in your 
 neighbourhood, whose names I'll send you. I'll 
 trouble you to dispose them, and after deducting the 
 carriage, to place to my credit the sums received for 
 them ; which reminds me that Christmas is 
 approaching, soon after which I hope to scramble for 
 a little of the Gower cash for you. I have ordered 
 the repairs of the house to be snipped, pared, and cut 
 into as small a pattern as may be. The hobby 
 horse led me home from Glamorganshire this Sessions 
 without permitting me to take an excursion to 
 Swansea, so that I cannot tell how we stand ; before 
 another year expires depend upon an account, and I 
 trust a completion of ever^^hing like repairs, after 
 which I hope to be able to arrange with my friend 
 James, so that you may have an annual certain sum. 
 How are your daylights ? if there be enough left, and 
 it do not injure you, write to inform 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES.
 
 89 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, 2^th January, 1809. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 Your last letter was received, and the names 
 of the Commissioners to value your curacy in 
 Radnorshire forwarded to the Bishop at Durham, 
 but to avoid more applications to you, I have sent 
 them to the Lord Charles Morgan at Caermarthen, 
 who is a greater man than his master. I'll look for 
 your license when I get my office into anything Hke 
 order ; at present it is chaos, for I have done with the 
 Law, as I hope the Law has done with me, and am now 
 only an ecclesiastical officer, tho' I may occasionally 
 serve a few friends in an amphibious capacity. 
 
 By the last night's wagon, directed to you to be 
 left at the ' ' Ship ' ' at Olveston, I have sent you four 
 of my second volumes— one for yourself, another for 
 Sir Samuel Fludyer (Lieut. -Col. of our Militia at Bristol), 
 another for Mr. Peach of Tockington, and another 
 for the Rev. Mr. Davies, Clifton. Will you be good 
 enough to procure them to be delivered, and request 
 they will pay you £4 for each, which, when received, 
 you'll place to my credit, and charge the carriage for 
 the parcel to me. 
 
 I have seen all that is printed of your book, and 
 this day return to Booth your MS. as to coins. Your 
 first and principal observation is so clear as almost to 
 defy contradiction ; it is absurd to suppose that a 
 man who would give us a human head as well as we see 
 it on some (indeed most) of these coins should represent 
 a horse's with the bill of a bird, his back like a bow 
 or a boat, and his feet like detached drumsticks ; 
 therefore there is mysticism in the figures ; ay, and 
 Druidic mysteries, too, in which your Arianrhod 
 comes in well and opportunely to support you against 
 the assertion of the keeper of the coins in the British 
 Museum, who told Booth that the Druids knew 
 nothing about coins. He probably knows as much 
 about the Druids as the keeper of the lions in the Tower, 
 and I have assured Booth he may place equal confidence 
 in both. Thus far you are seen travelling gaily 
 and treading on terra firma, but having got on board
 
 go 
 
 the No Van it, I fear the critics will tell you, you 
 have touched at Pail-up-and-ease-us, and are bound 
 to Utopia. Well, fare you well, " Nulla vestigia 
 retrorsum," as we landmen say, and I am not without 
 hopes that your voyage of discovery may produce 
 treasures for the learned, present pay to the pilot, 
 and I hope fame and some wealth to the Captain. But 
 
 to sea you must go post , as I have told Booth ; 
 
 your vessel makes a goodly shew, and must not be 
 suffered to rot in the dock at Olveston. 
 
 Talking of Owen's translation of Gorchan 
 Cynvelyn, your phrase is " but besides that his 
 version is not sufficiently close for a disquisition of this 
 kind, I observe," &c. The commencement of this 
 sentence is not elegant, if indeed it be not equivocal 
 and liable to be misunderstood. I have therefore 
 altered it thus : ' ' But not to dwell upon the freedom 
 of his version, which is not sufficiently close for a 
 disquisition of this kind, I observe," &c. ; and there 
 are also two or three ' ' buts ' ' immediately following, 
 and standing so near each other in the ranks that I 
 have displaced them and taken a substitute for one or 
 more. These trifling amendments I have told Booth 
 to adopt meo periculo. 
 
 I relish your present title much better than your 
 former relics. Booth sent it me with the MS., 
 and if we could have preserved so valuable a life to his 
 country as Sir John Moore, I should have more easily 
 have swallowed the news of this morning, and almost 
 rejoiced at the safety of our retreating countrymen. 
 This will lead to a transient and delusive peace, which 
 however may perhaps endure as long as you and I 
 live, but if the foul fiend* survives us, he will 
 ultimately subjugate this country. He must give his 
 commercial subjects breath, and therefore I am 
 inclined to think he will offer us terms if Spain is subdued, 
 which I suppose we must accept, tho' we may depend 
 upon it that 
 
 Hush'd in grim repose he'll expect his ev'ning's 
 prey, 
 and if can only teach the Monkey-Tigers to swim, 
 most assuredly we shall feel their claws. 
 
 * The Great Napoleon.
 
 9' 
 
 But, ah, why sho'd we know our fate 
 Since sorrow never conies too late 
 And happiness too swiftly flies. 
 
 Therefore, as you and I cannot keep away Apollyon, 
 though we are neither of us men likely to run away, 
 let us hope that Providence has not designed our 
 speedy destruction, and that it may be consistent 
 with His dispensation to spare the rod and to remove 
 the Scourge of Europe before he has completed 
 his triumph over our hitherto highly favoured Isle. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 There is a letter dated Jan. 28, 1809, relating to 
 the Bishopston tithes — and at the end it is clear, from 
 a remark made by Jones, that his legal work had passed 
 into the hands of Church — " for I cannot refer to letters 
 now, as between Church's office and my own, papers 
 are now at sixes and sevens." 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, March 3, 1809. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 You know how fond our Bishop is of the Hebrew 
 language. I am just this moment informed by my 
 ingenious young friend and artist Tom Price, who is 
 now at the College School, and chops the language 
 like a dragon, that he (the Bishop) gives a premium 
 at Easter to any boy who will copy a Hebrew Psalm. 
 Now let me request, as a particular favour, that you 
 would send me per coach instanier that book, if in your 
 possession ; if not, and it be not very dear, buy me the 
 book of Psalms of the most improved or approved 
 edition in Hebrew and charge it to my account. This 
 boy is a most valuable ornament to the Principality, 
 and there is nothing that I can do that shall be 
 omitted to serve him. 
 
 I hope you have had my big square books ere this. 
 Sir Samuel Fludyer returns to Bristol this month, and
 
 '92 
 
 he tells me he only wants interest and influence, or on 
 my recommendation, he would make you a Bishop. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 If the book is your own, my life on't, it shall be 
 returned. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Hereford, Monday Morning, 
 
 March 21, 1809. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I do not wish to obtrude my book upon Dr. 
 Davies or any other person, but I could have wished 
 that if he did not chuse to be considered as a subscriber 
 he would have informed me before the book went to 
 press. I will thank you if you'll drop him a note to 
 tell him that if he'll part with the first vol., and it is in 
 a saleable condition, that I should be glad to purchase 
 it, and in that case you will pay him for it, allowing 
 him to fix any sum he pleases for reading it, because 
 I shall now, I apprehend, be in want of ist vols., of 
 which not above 40 remain, while I have near 100 of 
 the 2nd. Sir Samuel Fludyer either is, or v/ill be, in 
 Bristol this month. I have requested him to make 
 you a Bishop, which he says he'll do, if his influence is 
 powerful enough, which if it be, ne nolo episcopari to me. 
 
 I have received the Hebrew Psalter for which you 
 have Tom Price's thanks and mine, and likewise the 
 MS. of Ossian, the style of which pleases me very- 
 much, but I recommend a preface, in which you 
 should explicitly and unequivocally declare that your 
 objection to Macpherson's book is that he wishes it 
 to be considered as a history, and that you are not bUnd 
 to those poetic merits of the work as a collection, 
 though you consider the epic poem as an imposition, 
 and therefore to be reprobated. I have already said 
 as much, but the object of your argument and attack 
 cannot be too prominent. 
 
 I am here quasi registrar only, and have, thank 
 God, no interest in the forensic war of woods that is 
 waged with such violence, and this attendance I was
 
 93 
 
 enjoined not to omit under pain of woe. The threat 
 was unnecessary, as the exercise will be of service to 
 
 Your very sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, April g, i8og. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I thank you for Miss Brook's book. The taxes 
 of all description, income, property, land, church and 
 poor of Bishopston are paid on the spot, and a pretty 
 spot they make in the annual amount of the living. 
 
 I cannot yet find the commission to inquire into 
 the value of Painscastle. Your brother was here 
 yesterday, and tells me he has searched the post offices 
 at Hay and Builth without success. Perhaps it may 
 have been sent to Mr. Drake at Clyro, or Mr. Hughes 
 of Glasbury, two of the clerical commissioners ; I go 
 that way tomorrow, or next da3^ and will make another 
 effort, when (if it fail) I will write to the Bishop. Our 
 Judge* Harlequin made several inquiries about your 
 forthcoming book- — whether it has come forth, 
 whether I saw the MS., what I thought of it, whether 
 you are fortified against the artillery of Edinburgh, 
 &c., &c. He plays all sorts of monkey tricks — rides 
 into the houses of country gentlemen and orders 
 breakfast, dinner, and supper, whether they are at 
 home or not, criticises upon them if he finds any 
 awkwardness in their person, address, or in the 
 conduct of their families, writes upon subjects upon 
 which he ought not to interfere, such as the length 
 or sentiments of sermons, the mode of education 
 adopted by a schoolmaster, abuses one day, and invites 
 most politely the same person to dinner the next, and 
 then wonders he does not attend, and lastly, after all 
 this, lumps us as a proud snifi'-necked generation. 
 He is highly offended with me for exposing a 
 misrepresentation of his to Lettsom and Neild in my 
 book ; is at this moment bottling up his vengeance 
 for a Philipic in his charge to the Grand Jury next 
 Autumn Sessions, and seeking for evidence to support 
 
 * Hardiuge.
 
 94 
 
 it at the same time — that I see and hear : * ' Dear Sir, 
 Dear Jones, I hope you'll not deprive us of the 
 pleasure and honour of your company to dinner," 
 &c., &c. Such dissimulation, or if he pleases to call 
 it, in lyord Chesterfield's phrase, whom he copies in 
 manners and principles, simulation, is the detestation 
 of 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, April 20, 1809. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I sent you by last night's coach directed to the 
 "Ship" at Olveston your MS. upon Ossian, 
 your Whitaker's Manchester, which had almost 
 gained a settlement in this parish, and four additional 
 addenda or corrigible corrigenda, which you will divide 
 among the purchasers of my book in your neighbourhood. 
 
 Assuming, as I do, that your references are correct, 
 your reasoning is irresistible, and you will pardon me 
 if I say your ch'ef d ceuvre. I intreat as a personal favour, 
 and on pain of responsibility and indemnity against 
 any loss, that you would publish it. I have made some 
 verbal alterations in pencil, to which I beg you will 
 pay no attention unless you think they deserve it. 
 
 I have not had the commission to inquire about 
 Painscastle, tho' I hear of their being executed all 
 round me. I write to your brother to-night to beg 
 he'll inquire about it ; to-morrow I'm off for Caerdiff, 
 quasi compounder, not for emolument but for the 
 preservation of my health ; this is the best physic, 
 but it is confoundedly dear ; they'll not shake you 
 there and back again under 10 pounds or guineas. 
 
 Has Miss Brookes a translation of the Irish Poems ; 
 if she has, and it is in your possession I should be glad 
 to see it, but the original is as tremendous to my eyes 
 as our mountain Greek to a Saxon. Booth says you 
 come out upon Coins before the end of this 
 month, and that you have the Wands of Prospero, 
 Morpheus, &c., which will set aU the critics in a sound
 
 95 
 
 snooze for a thousand years. Quere de hoc, saith 
 the sceptic ; courage mon ami, shew them that 
 you are now a tough bit, and if they bite and attempt 
 
 to swallow you, I pray G , after choking them, 
 
 you may come out whole ; and that you will survive 
 it, notwithstanding the operation may be painful 
 to you for a time, is the firm conviction of 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 I need not say, received the Gododin. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, March lo, 1809. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 This will come to you ' ' trwy Fuallt i Henffordd," 
 Anglice, from Brecon thro' L^ondon to Olveston, 
 but there is part of it which I wish Booth to see ; unless 
 he has already christened and registered your Pagan 
 Babe ; if so be, then I must put up with the relics or 
 relicts or reliques of Druidism. We have heard of 
 Celtic Remains, we have seen Celtic Researches, 
 and now proceeding on, alphabetically, to D, we have 
 Druidical reliques. Now will not some of the wags 
 say those Celtic fellows sell nothing but old cloaths 
 or the offals of the regular shops, mere remnants, 
 scraps, patches. I wish, if it be not too late, and you 
 agree with me, and if it pleases our Dancing Master 
 in Portland Street, who, being more than a godfather 
 has a right to be consulted, that the brat should be 
 named The Mythology of the British Druids, or 
 if that be promising too much, as from the recollection 
 I have of the book I think it is, suppose you say an 
 Essay on The Mythology of the British Druids, 
 of if that be too much, Essays upon the Principal 
 or several or many of the tenets and Mythology of 
 &c. Consider this well in council, but I leave you 
 both to determine, tho' I feel almost as much interest 
 as either of you in the success of the work. 
 
 I shall cause my books to be unshipped at the 
 "Ship" at Olveston, and perhaps may send you a 
 copy more than is subscribed for, which you may 
 place with some respectable bookseller at Bristol,
 
 96 
 
 if such a character can be found there, for entre nous 
 I have my doubts, and would prefer deahng with the 
 Shylocks of, what d'ye call it ? place in lyondon, than 
 with the fair tradesmen of Bristol : the devil sent me 
 from there is one of the most rascally imps that ever 
 issued from Pandemonium ; he drinks on one or two 
 days in the week, and not only sins himself, but like 
 his brother or his uncle Beelzebub seduces the other 
 black boys ; and now that the work is near a 
 conclusion, not having employment in view, he 
 absolutely keeps away on purpose to prevent its 
 completion. 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DA VIES. 
 
 Brecon, 2T.st April, 1809. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I shall write by to-night's post to James to 
 furnish you with the survey of Bishopston, made by 
 one Evans by my direction soon after your induction, 
 but I am, previous to your examination of it (as I have 
 always been), firmly of opinion that it would be the 
 most eligible step you can take to let the tythes at a 
 sum certain. If I could have brought Harry L,ewis 
 to this, I should have dealt with him, but he was for 
 poundage only, £70 per annum, but it seems even your 
 drunken predecessor, by his being upon the spot^ could 
 make more of them than Mr. Davies at Olveston or 
 Mr. Jones at Brecon, for the distance at which I reside 
 I found it was impossible to manage such rogues as 
 these men of Gower. Take an instance of one of their 
 tricks. I had information that a Thos. Hopkin had 
 carried his corn in in the night to cheat the parson. 
 The clergyman of Cilfrwch, the tenant of your glebe, 
 and the parish clerk employed to look after your tythes, 
 all agreed there was some foul play, but then how to 
 catch him was the point. Nothing easier. A 
 Captain Hammond of this parish told me that he and 
 his servant saw the corn carried home by Hopkin. 
 I still hesitated about going to law, because my poor
 
 97 
 
 parson was a nervous man and hated disputes. 
 ' ' Very right and compassionate, ' ' quoth he, * ' but I 
 hope you don't mean to call upon me for tythes ; if 
 
 you do, I'll be d if I pay them." Thus situated, 
 
 I cited the man to the Bishop's Court ; he came to 
 Brecon, denied the accusation with many asservations. 
 I told him I had proof of the offence, but if he would 
 pay 2 guineas for the citation and service, and 
 promise not to do the same again, I would forgive him. 
 This he refused, and chose to spend £io at least in his 
 defence. When the business was ripe for producing 
 the witnesses I called upon the Captain, who by this 
 time had made it up with his neighbour, who was a 
 poor man with a large family, not worth following. 
 Beside he could not be certain as to the quantity of 
 corn, the time, or even the person who carried it in. 
 Thus situated, I was glad to bring your Proctor and 
 the cause out of Court without paying costs. 
 
 James, I am fully persuaded, is an honest man, 
 tho' I am sorry to learn he is indolent in answering 
 letters, which in my mind is an unpardonable offence 
 in business. His charge for his own trouble in the 
 account he sent me was very moderate (£5 5s.), but 
 I am almost satisfied he must be imposed upon in the 
 deductions. It is, however, useless to attempt 
 bringing the business to a speedy conclusion by a 
 correspondence. You must fix a day for letting the 
 tythes, and that during the next month, before the 
 tythe lambs and wool are due, and you rmist go down 
 yourself to see that they are let at a fair price, and 
 to prevent and defeat a combination to lower their 
 value, if such should be formed, or perhaps to guard 
 against friendships or partiality in those who may 
 have the management of the sale. I am satisfied, 
 notwithstanding your fears and reluctance to quit 
 your home, the journey would be of service to you. 
 As to myself, tho' I am a few miles nearer (for I must 
 go thro' Caermarthen) as I cannot travel at night, 
 and consequently must take a chaise part of the way, 
 the exposure therefore would be considerably greater 
 than your coach hire from the Passage ; beside I do 
 not know whether James would not now consider me 
 as a kind of spy or supervisor whose company might 
 be dispensed with.
 
 98 
 
 I will do all I can to prevail upon the Bishop to 
 grant you a non-residence license, and to excuse your 
 attendance, whether at Caermarthen or Brecon, but 
 he is one of the most unaccountable beings that ever 
 wore lawn sleeves. 
 
 I have been lately teazed by Meyrick, who has 
 written a sort of history of Cardiganshire, to request 
 some translations from the Welsh from you. I have 
 no notion of compl^nng with this : he knows nothing 
 of the language, which he has mutilated in a most 
 barbarous manner, and wants to borrow the assistance 
 of others to make up a book upon subjects which he 
 does not understand, and consequently cannot elucidate. 
 I beg you will take no notice of him if he writes to you : 
 I have told him your state of health is such that I have 
 taboo'd your apphcation to literature for some time, 
 which I hereby do. 
 
 Perhaps James may have greater influence with 
 the Bishop of St. David's than I have, for they 
 possess a wonderful similarity of manners. My I^ord 
 never answers letters ; if, however, I write to him on 
 your case he may vouchsafe me a verbal answer on 
 his way down. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DA VIES. 
 
 Brecon, 22nd April, 1809. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 (Letter opens with a reference to the fact that 
 the Commission for the valuation of the profits of 
 Painscastle has arrived). 
 
 Our friend Payne and his wife will be our guests 
 during the whole of next week. 
 
 One word more. My old friend, the Rev. John 
 Hughes, of Glasbury, died 15th of this month, aged 
 60, leaving three daughters. He had an ample 
 property, which he neither squandered or hoarded, 
 tho' he placed now and then some money in the funds ; 
 be was by no means deficient in talents, and liberal
 
 99 
 
 almost to a fault to the poor ; for no one was ever turned 
 from his door, consequently he was sometimes imposed 
 upon ; reserved in manner, but of inflexible integrity, 
 I believe never told an untruth in his lifetime ; steady 
 in his attachments and friendships, for several years 
 an active magistrate and an excellent father. Try-- 
 your hand at an epitaph for a plain oval marble tablet, 
 which I wish to be erected in that church in which for 
 many years, notwithstanding his ample income, he 
 officiated as curate, without receiving any emolument 
 or any benefice in the church until a few years before 
 his death, when he had the prebend of lylansaintfread 
 and the vicarage of Pembroke. 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DA VIES. 
 
 Brecon, Jtme 5, 1809. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 On the 15 th of this month the subscribers to 
 the Clerical Fund for the relief of the distress' d 
 widows and orphans of the clergy of this Arch- 
 deaconry meet at the Lion. I will venture to put 
 your name down as curate of Painscastle for los. 6d. 
 annually to this excellent institution, which actually 
 preserves three or four distressed women from 
 starving and materially relieves others. 
 
 I wish you would think of paying a visit to your 
 parishioners at Bishopston as soon as you can find a 
 cloak and trimmings for two or three Sundays. My 
 arms are not long enough to reach to Gower, and the 
 Flemings are confounded rogues ; the last year's 
 receipt was most terribly frittered away. My friend 
 James, the Attorney of Swansea, will show it you ; 
 he is an honest young man and will assist you in 
 increasing the rent of the glebe, which must be done, 
 and I hope in renting out the tythes at a certain 
 annual sum. 
 
 When you go down you will also see what state 
 the house is in, and tell them what you would wish 
 to be done.
 
 100 
 
 Mr. Hardinge admires your Dedication to the 
 Bishop of Llandaff, and so should I if you had 
 omitted the word ' ' competence " ; he has not given 
 you a competence or anything like it, tho' the public, 
 and among them the Bishop, will think he has, and 
 quote your admission as proof. 
 
 I see a catalogue of books to be sold at Gutch's, 
 a bookseller at Bristol, advertised. I should wish to 
 have one (price id.) especially if Whitaker's library 
 is among them ; but how can you convey it to 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, June i8, 1809. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 A young friend of mine who is captain in our 
 local Militia was summoned to appear at Bristol on 
 Friday to sit on a Court Martial upon some rioters 
 at Hereford. When they came to Durdham Down 
 they were informed by General Ward, not General 
 Watch, that their attendance at Bristol was not 
 necessary, that they might return to Brecon, and 
 proceed to Hereford to assist at the trial ; there is 
 nothing like method in business ! 
 
 My yoimg captain, however, went on to Bristol 
 and during the hour or two he remained there he 
 bought me the catalogue, which he delivered me last 
 night ; it is not (as you observe) what I want, tho' I 
 should be glad to get hold of one book it contains, if 
 you can lay hands upon it, No. 1306 Brook's " Dis- 
 covery of Errors in Camden, &c., with the Answers," 
 price los. 6d. If you buy it, send it down with my 
 2nd sleeping and sleepy volume (intended for Dr. 
 Davies who is properly awake to his own interest), 
 the original Ossian, and the Appendix only, con- 
 taining Whitaker's books ; all of which that are 
 valuable, will (I dare say) be snapped up before I can 
 get at them. 
 
 I have no doubt of your meeting the approbation 
 of the learned readers of your last work, and you must 
 habituate yourself to the kicks of the jackasses 
 who are turned out by the mob for the same purpose
 
 lOI 
 
 as over-driven oxen in the streets of London ; their 
 tunes upon the harp, which it seems you considered 
 inharmonious, were, unintentionally on their parts, 
 so many hymns to merit, and the highest eulogy they 
 could pay you. In your conclusion as to your 
 having reached the acme of your preferment, I trust 
 equally wrong ; but I must intreat that to arrive 
 at something nearer the acme of the value of what 
 you have, you will exert yourself, chase the blue devils 
 out of the chimney corner, and if they return to the 
 charge, see whether the mail coach to Swansea will 
 not distance them ; my life on't, you are more 
 certain of success than Captain Barclay. Cor- 
 respondence will not do ; if that could have effected 
 your purpose, the business would have been completed 
 by me ere this ; but I have more than once been 
 baffled in my attempts to serve you through the 
 medium of correspondence. However, that you may 
 place matters in a proper train, and settle such 
 preliminaries as may be prudent or necessary, 
 previous to your visitation, you may communicate 
 your sentiments to Mr. John James, Attorney, 
 Swansea ; tell him of your intention, then ' ' prime 
 and load," "make ready," "present," "wait well 
 or the word." Say I requested you to write. 
 
 You see " Nos quoque tila sparsimus," tho' now 
 lame, spavin' d, and wind-gall'd, but yet with some 
 blood, and good spirits on getting rid of a confounded 
 corn which plagued me more than the gout, and as to 
 the blues, a fig for them. I laugh at them until I am 
 reminded that they torment my friends, when I feel 
 something like the claw and long nails of one of the 
 imps. I long to see your Ossianomastrix in good 
 birth, after which you may lie upon your oars for some 
 time. Pray can you beg, borrow, hire, or steal from 
 your friends (I'll indemnify you in any case) Col de 
 la Motte's " Principal Historical and Allusive Arms 
 borne by the families of the United Kingdom of Great 
 Britain," &c. (read England). A similar undertaking 
 for Monmouthshire, South Wales, with a brief 
 genealogical history and anecdotes is now the hobby 
 horse ot Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 Received Payne's book and deUvered, I believe.
 
 I02 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 1810. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I cannot believe that Gutch's Catalogue contains 
 the whole of Whitaker's books ; if it does, tho' they 
 may be more expensive, and more numerous, I 
 would not give mine in exchange for them. Pray get 
 hold of the following if you can, and send them me. 
 
 i s. d. 
 2840 Pillitior (I presume Polontier is 
 meant) Dictionare de la langue 
 Brit 
 
 2853 Pigge's Archseologia, &c. 
 
 2854 Shaw's Gaelic Dictionary . . 
 3908 Smith's Gaelic Antiquities . . 
 
 Of the first of the four I know nothing ; perhaps you 
 do. If it contains nothing more than what may be 
 seen in lylwyd's Archseologia I would not have it ; 
 if there is any new or additional matter, I should be 
 glad to possess it. 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 I 4 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 £3 10 
 
 6 
 
 Mr. John Place, of the Abbey Copper Works, 
 near Neath, tells me he thinks there is fire clay (and I 
 think there is lead also which may be converted into 
 England gold) under the glebe [at Bishopston] for which 
 he offers most liberally 6d. per ton. This will never do, 
 but I have promised him that you will consider his 
 proposal ; you will do well, therefore, to settle this 
 business also yourself when you come down, and in 
 the meantime desire James to make inquiries with 
 some intelligent person conversant in business of this 
 nature what would be a fair compensation or ground 
 rent to the landlord to a speculator finding and 
 raising this article, and how much he ought to be 
 compellable to raise per week or month, or to pay a 
 certain sum in lieu. 
 
 I beg you would not fail come down and give your 
 parishioners a sermon on honesty into the bargain ; 
 let me know a day or two before you set off, and if you
 
 I03 
 
 come back this way you shall have my account, if 
 not it shall be sent you. 
 
 Mr. S. Meyrick, who has just published a history 
 of Caerdiganshire, thus writes to me : ' ' Will you have 
 the goodness to ask your Celtic friend Mr. Davies 
 what Cambrian, Greek, Roman, or other proof there 
 are of the time when Britain was first peopled. The 
 Welsh Chronicles, I beUeve, place it about 1300 years 
 before Christ, Mr. Davies about 1000, Mr. Roberts 
 700. All that can be advanced about settling the 
 period I should like to have, and also if he knows 
 anything about the first peopHng of Ireland. I mean 
 previous to the Belgiaid, who were the lyloegrians, 
 termed by the Irish Fitzbolg, and the Damnonians 
 going there. Was it before peopled from Britain or 
 were the first inhabitants the Nemetas only, who came 
 from Gaul ? How long after their arrival does he think 
 the lyloegrians quitted Britain for Ireland ? " If 
 you have leisure to answer these queries direct to Mr. 
 S. R. Meyrick (or Meyrick, Esq.) No. 3, Sloan 
 Terrace, Chelsea. 
 
 Mind you go to Gower, or you will be excom- 
 municated by 
 
 Your friend, 
 THE DEPUTY REGISTRAR. 
 
 To The Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, August 14, 1810, 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 The Bishop very readily excused your absence 
 at the Visitation, and said he would dispense with 
 the medical certificate, but he says as to the license 
 you must write him, and explain your grounds for 
 requesting it ; which letters must remain among the 
 the papers of the Diocese as his justification for granting 
 it. I stated to him that there is no house on 
 Painscastle ; that the barn at Bishopston cost between 
 £100 and £200 in repairing, or rather re-building, and 
 that the house the money is laid out upon annually 
 is not yet habitable. I mention this in order that 
 you may know the reasons I have given for your non- 
 residence, and which I firmly believe to be true.
 
 I04 
 
 Don't be surprised if I send you a History of the 
 World before the Flood. Mr. Wilhams, of Ivy Tower, 
 a very learned man, but Penuhiwish and book 
 maddish, is extremely delighted with your last book, 
 which I presented to him, and threatened to send you 
 his own if he can convey it. The address to Paul, 
 " too much learning," &c., will tmquestionably apply 
 to him, but he means well, and is a zealous Christian, 
 notwithstanding his truly Cambrian irritability, of 
 which you may have seen a very impolitic and rather 
 incoherent specimen in the last Swansea paper, if it 
 reaches you. 
 
 I am glad to inform you by command of Booth 
 that your book, which has hitherto been too shelfish 
 begins to move. I do all I can to recommend, because 
 I highly admire it and wish to serve you, but the knack 
 or habit of lending and borrowing is become so 
 prevalent, that I fear authors must eat even less than 
 they have been hitherto compelled to starve upon. 
 
 It is very extraordinary that my volumes have 
 been reviewed by all the gentry of that description, 
 except by the British Critic, a publication which 
 professes to support the Established Church and those 
 writers who are zealous for its honour and the 
 maintenance of its discipline and doctrines. There 
 is something wrong, and I suspect venal in this shop. 
 I am totally unknown to them. I have received 
 assistance at the British Museum from one or two of 
 them, and yet my book has lain nearly 6 years upon 
 their shelf, while Meyrick's Caerdiganshire, which 
 has hardly appeared 6 months back, has been 
 reviewed, and what is extraordinary, commended ; 
 tho' it is already mere waste paper in the principality, 
 being a chain of notorious and egregious blunders 
 from the preface to the index. 
 
 Pray let me hear from you, and I hope hear a better 
 account of your health, if you should catch any 
 Jaffers on their way to the Passage. 
 
 You shall see the Bishop's charge as soon as it 
 comes out ; it is in my mind the most orthodox, the 
 ablest and the soundest that ever was delivered, or 
 at least that has been ever heard or read by 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES.
 
 I05 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, Sept. i8, 1810. 
 
 My Dear Davies, 
 
 Your half-saved, quarter-saved, half-quarter 
 saved, drunken, idle curate, lost a paper delivered 
 him by the Bishop at the Visitation under the direction 
 of a late Act for Augmentation of Small Livings. 
 Seeing your brother at Kington, I desired him to inquire 
 about it, and received an answer from him that it 
 could not be found, whereupon I wrote as the Bishop 
 had instructed me to Richard Burne, Esq., Dean's 
 Yard, Westminster, stating the above fact, and 
 requesting he would send me another, which I would 
 take care should be properly executed ; to that letter, 
 tho' post paid, I received no answer ; I therefore 
 recommend you to try your hand, informing this 
 Burning man that you have heard of the above 
 circumstances from me, that you are the Ucensed 
 curate of Llanbedr Painscastle, and requesting he 
 would send one to you, or you may lose a future 
 advantage by Hwlws's neglect. 
 
 I sent you Mr. Williams's, of Ivy Tower's book 
 a fortnight ago, directed to you at the "Ship" at 
 Olveston. I hope you have received it, tho' I doubt 
 whether it will entertain you, for the author is 
 certainly of the Pen-whiw family. 
 
 I don't mean again to deal in County Histories 
 I mean that I don't intend risking the expence o 
 printing, &c., tho' I have no reason to complain of 
 the experiment I have made ; but my worthy and 
 excellent friend, Mr. Richard Price, the Member for 
 New Radnor, is very anxious about that county, and 
 I have promised to make collections for him, assisted 
 by Cheese,* Lewis of Harpton, and one or two more. 
 As Captain of this press gang, I seize you, and insist 
 upon your becoming one of our boat's crew and 
 handling your oar immediately. Heave off — and away 
 we go ! 
 
 What do you consider to be the meaning of 
 Radnor, and when and by whom was it first adopted ? 
 
 * Thia Cheese was graiidlather to Edmuiid H. Cheese, Esq., 
 Solicitor, of Hay.
 
 io6 
 
 What is the meaBing of Maelenydd Melenidd, 
 alias Elvil Uwch Mynidd, or Ecton ? 
 
 What of Elwel or Elfel Is mynidd ? 
 
 And of the following parishes : — Llanbister, 
 Nantmel, Llanddewi Ystradenni, Clyrow, Llowes, 
 Disserth, Llanfaredd, Llanelwedd, Llanyri, Glandestry 
 or Gladestry, and Cregrina ? 
 
 Who was Saint Wonno to whom Llanono is 
 dedicated, as well as two other churches — one in 
 Monmouthshire and one in Glamorganshire ? 
 
 Answer me these questions in seamanship as soon 
 as you can, and if you know of any able minded lad 
 or greybeard, living or dead, willing to lend a hand, 
 give notice to the Captain, and you shall have plenty 
 of flip for your trouble. 
 
 I was very happy to see your last letter, from which 
 it appears that the blues have been blown out of 
 Olveston ; be assured that burying them occasionally 
 in the red sea is a proper remedy, and may be justified 
 in your case, provided it be not too often resorted to. 
 
 As for your friend, ' ' whom villainous company 
 hath been the spoil of," who hath tried the experiment 
 and who in consequence hath ' ' cramps ' ' 
 
 Side-stitchy that do pin his breath up, urchins 
 That for the vast of night while they do work 
 All exercise on him, and oft he's pinch' d 
 As thick as honey combs, each pinch more stinging 
 Than bees that made them. 
 
 And yet, notwithstanding this, I laugh, I laugh, at the 
 imps of gloominess, and have just now discovered, 
 as they tell me, a cure for the gout, or at least I am 
 determined to try it, for I cannot contemplate the 
 loss of the use of my right hand, which must follow 
 repeated attacks for a few winters to come. While, 
 however, I can thus apply it I know not how to do it 
 more agreeably than by assuring you 
 
 That I am, 
 
 Your very sincere friend, 
 I THEO. JONES,
 
 I07 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, Nov. i8, i8io. 
 
 My Dear Davies, 
 
 I wish to have a seal engraved, because I some- 
 times write to great men. The arms I know ; but 
 the motto must be my own :— 
 
 ' ' Me studia delectant domi 
 
 ' ' Cas ni charo y wlad a mago 
 
 " Cas ni char y wlad a mag." 
 
 Utrumhorum ? 
 
 Give me your opinion. 
 
 I shall be at No. ii, Golden Square [London] 
 for the next month, where I beg you will command 
 the services of 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 Given under our hand and wafer, not 
 
 having at present a seal, at Brecon, in 
 
 the County of Brecon, i8th Nov. 1810, 
 
 tho' meant for Gloucester, Thursday, 
 
 20th. T. J. 
 
 You know all my propensities, and therefore I 
 
 leave it to you. I should like (if you prefer the Welsh) 
 
 to puzzle the English with the appropriate rhyme 
 
 and jargon : but I cannot make up my mind which of 
 
 the two mottoes to prefer. 
 
 Point out any other mottoe, not such as your 
 friendship may suggest, but which you in sincerity 
 would recommend me to adopt— for I have alrea,dy 
 chopp'd and changed 50 times without satisfying 
 myself at last. 
 
 To THE Rev. EDWARD DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, April 6, 181 1. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 Vive I'eau Mediimorle ! It has done its duty, and 
 if it had failed I should have lain in bed in London 
 until the present fine weather brought me out with 
 other reptUes.
 
 io8 
 
 Our Bishop is a nondescript of the class just 
 mentioned ; nothing is aimed particularly against you, 
 but inattention to letters is one of his common vagaries ; 
 however, you need not t.pply to him upon the business 
 of the augmentation, as you'll observe the certificate 
 of his Registrar will do, and, indeed, is that which is 
 generally seni. I advise you to write the Sec't for 
 £8, viz., for the two years due Lady Day last, and if 
 they object to it we can send another. Booth will, 
 I dare say, do this for you. I received from him this 
 week your vol. of sermons. No other copy has as yet 
 reached this place, tho' I advise a few to be sent here. 
 
 I think you had better write a most humble address, 
 petition, and remnsirance to your Diocesan to remind 
 him of the liability to attack to which you are now 
 exposed ; tho' you possess no mansion upon the one 
 or habitable dwelling on the other benefice, and tho' 
 you have not the sine qua non to provide a sufficiency 
 of soil even for the semper vivum tectormn, if he does 
 not attend to you, let me know and I'll prevail upon 
 Charles Morgan to be flapper. 
 
 Your information as to the plague and trouble of 
 purchasing for the county is correct ; however, you'll 
 do what you can, and so will 
 
 Your very sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 To THE Rev. Mr. DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, July 7, 1811. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 A Shot for the Blues. 
 
 And if I do not scare them, then am I no gunner. 
 You are, I see, at this moment comfortably in their 
 power, and yet I believe they never had so little reason 
 to triumph, for you never were in your lite so much in 
 the sunshine of episcopacy as you are at this moment, 
 and I reaUy have sanguine expectations that the next 
 summons to Saint David's will be accompanied with 
 the ofl'er of another living in the diocese. To account 
 for all this, which will appear a marvel to you while 
 you are reading it, know then that upon the 25th of 
 last month your Diocesan was at Brecon, and showed
 
 log 
 
 me your long letter, as well as the Bishop of Gloucester's, 
 upon which followed numerous interrogatories and 
 explanations, and a conversation twice as long as both 
 their letters. He did not seem to understand what 
 you meant by expecting cold comfort or encouragement 
 on your living, nor indeed did he seem to me to know 
 whether j^ou were to be sent to Painscastle or 
 Bishopston ; but when I told him what a set of Goths 
 and knaves your parishioners were, how miserable 
 the house was, and how exposed to the weather the 
 situation (tho' this last argument, of course, did not 
 weigh much with the founder of T.landdewi Brefi College) 
 he evidently relented and promised me to write to you. 
 He was, however, so taken up with the controversy 
 with Sir John Nichol upon the case of Wickes for not 
 bur^dng a Dissenter that (knowing the man) I don't 
 wonder he lost sight of the letter. In the course of 
 the day he asked me for your book of sermons, with 
 which I furnished him, and now again he lost sight of 
 Wickes and appeared quite in raptures with your 
 composition. "Why," says he, "if our society had 
 offered /^too to support our institution it could not be 
 more effectually or ably done than by this work of 
 Mr. Davies's. I thought him, Mr. Jones, a mere 
 antiquary or black letter man like yourself, but I find 
 him an orthodox Divine and an admirable writer on 
 theological subjects." You need not trouble 
 yourself about sending a book to him, he has probably 
 had it ere this, for he said he should send for it 
 immediately, which I daresay he did, unless Wickes's 
 case again drove away the sermons. I shall, however, 
 have in the case of next week a parcel from Booth, 
 in which I desired him to send a copy for Payne and 
 half a dozen for sale here, if I can dispose of them. 
 When they arrive it will afford me an opportunity of 
 asking the Bishop whether he has had the book or 
 whether I shall send it him ; and at the same time 
 reminding him that the long letter of the curate of 
 Olveston remains unnoticed ; which I'll take care shall 
 be done in such a manner as shall not give offence. In 
 the meantime set your heart at rest as to the estimation 
 in which you now stand with him. 
 
 I am sorry on both your accounts to hear of your 
 wife's general state of health. Sed levius fit patientia
 
 no 
 
 quicquid corrigere est nefas, for medicine I fear has very 
 seldom any salutary effects in correcting the evil when 
 long and deeply rooted ; persuasives, however, to resigna- 
 tion are unnecessary with you, who have had so many 
 and such impressive lessons that if you have not already 
 learnt to submit, at least without whining or kicking, 
 it would be useless in me to either preach or pray, 
 to lash or to pat you. Still, my good friend, let me 
 remind you without flattering, and I trust without 
 presumption, that in consequence of the hardship of 
 your lot here you may entertain a well founded hope 
 of a far more eternal and exceeding weight of glory 
 hereafter. 
 
 Thus sincerely prayeth. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 THKO. JONES. 
 
 To THE EDITOR AND PUBLLSHER OF "THE 
 CAMBRIAN REGISTER." 
 
 Brecon, Jan. lo, 1797. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I embrace the first moment the wheel will 
 permit me to thank you for a few hours' agreeable 
 amusement, received in the perusal of your Register. 
 The book has much merit, and will, I think, claim and 
 deserve the public attention ; and as you desire my 
 free thoughts upon it, you shall have them freely and 
 candidly. It has its faults, and I will point out to you 
 what appears to me to be such ; not for the purpose 
 of displaying my learning, or indulging an ill-natured, 
 but too prevalent propensity to disparage the labours 
 of others but merely to point out inaccuracies which 
 may be corrected, and some trifling errors or instances 
 of neglect, which, by a very little attention, may be 
 avoided, either in a future edition or volume. You 
 know I wish well to the work, and I am sure you will 
 require no further apology. 
 
 You have published a very sensible letter of Mr. 
 Ivewis Morris's, about Geoffrey of Monmouth and his 
 giants ; and yet I am afraid, that under the title of 
 History, you arc publishing Geoffrey and not 
 Tyssilio's history ; or, at all events, you have
 
 Ill 
 
 translated Caur, a giant, which is by no means the 
 sole or exclusive meaning of the worrl. You remember 
 in my MS. review, for my own amusement, of Mr. 
 WiUiams's History of Monmouthshire, I observed that 
 Choir Gaur (Stone Henge) does not probably mean chorea 
 gigantum, but chorea regum, principum, sacerdotum, 
 legislatorum, or probably of all those characters united. 
 Caur had much the same meaning, or might, at least, be 
 as equivocally applied, as a great man in Hnglish, a term 
 which appHes equally to size and abilities. How the 
 deuce came Penteulu to be translated patron of the 
 family ; a term neither intelligible, nor warranted 
 by the original ? The office meant in the original 
 was well known in all, or at least most, monarchial 
 courts, and has existed ever since, though the duties 
 of it may differ in different counties ; and I think you 
 anticipate what I can hardly call information, when I 
 say that the master of the household is meant. Gostegur 
 might as well have been translated by Crier as silentiary, 
 as the former is much more easily understood. 
 
 As I have pointed out to you all the faults which 
 now occur to me (and believe me I am not as trite to 
 pick out more), let me notice the beauties. The 
 observation upon the language, upon the origin of the 
 Cymri, has much learning, much sound sense, great 
 ingenuity, bordering now and then upon our favourite 
 topic. etymologA^ ; (Pail up and ease us /) and will, if 
 continued and conducted in the same manner, not 
 disgrace any publication, in however high estimation 
 among the learned, few of whom but condescend to 
 pick up instruction as well as amusement from it. Sir 
 Rhys ap Thomas's Life is a precious morceau. As a 
 piece of modern biography, indeed, it would be 
 considered astedious ; but as a specimen of the style 
 of the age in which it was written, containing many 
 particulars which cannot be generally known, it is a 
 valuable curiosity. Pray do not omit to continue the 
 Mabinogion ; you must endeavour to please all 
 palates, and these have the double chance of amusing 
 the antiquary and the novelist, or, at least, the 
 romance-reader ; there are indeed some Welshisms 
 that I could wish were dropped, as "Of all the hounds 
 in the world he had ever seen." Of all that he had
 
 112 
 
 ever seen in conversing with her, she was most un- 
 embarrassed. Perhaps it is presumption in me to say 
 I could better this style, but I cannot help saying I 
 should have been glad to have seen it before it was 
 published, to have suggested my opinion upon it, 
 whatever attention had been paid to it. I am pleased 
 to see a translation of Hywel's Laws, though there is 
 one in Latin, but the book is so scarce that they are 
 little known. Pray continue them, except those as 
 to fornication or adultery, which I am certain neither 
 Mr. Owen's nor your modest}^ will permit you to read, 
 much less to clothe in an English dress. Your two 
 first statists are men of sense, and valuable corres- 
 pondents. The parson of lylanrhug has sent you, I 
 really believe, a hteral copy of his answer to the 
 Bishop's queries at the last visitation : — " In my 
 parish " is so extremely like that style, that, 
 accustomed to it, as I have been, I could hardly help 
 turning the leaf to see whether I had marked upon it 
 the payment of his visitation fees. More of I^ewis 
 Morris's Letters,* and more of everything that belongs 
 to him, pour ramour du hon Dieu. This part of your 
 work is worth its weight in gold. I did not think 
 Evan Prydydd Hir the poet he was. I knew him well, 
 but I suppose the Cwrw had expelled the Awen before 
 I became acquainted with him. 
 
 Your vignette is elegantly executed, and will not 
 attract the eyes of a street-lounger as he passes by the 
 shop. O'ch ! to be sure — no it will not ; and you 
 had no idea of its attracting attention. 
 
 God bless you ! and be as merry and happy as a 
 warm room, a piece of roast beef, mince pies, or good 
 port, an amiable wife, a prattling little one, and a good 
 conscience, will give you leave. Make my com- 
 pliments to that same rib of yours, and to Owen, when 
 you see him, and believe me to be, dear Williams, 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 THEOPHILUS JONES. 
 
 * Lewis Morris's Letters are delightful. I hope there is no end 
 to them. Gronwy Owen does not write as well as from his adver- 
 sary I should have expected. The History of Pembrokeshire has 
 much curious and genuine information, but upon the whole hangs 
 heavy. / trust in God the tale from '• Mabmogion " can be com- 
 pleted ; if it cannot, you have only tantalized ua.
 
 "3 
 
 To The Rev. WALTER DAVIES (" GWALLTER 
 MECHAIN") MEIVOD, MONT. 
 
 Brecon, Dec. 23, 1799. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 You see how important and familiar I am, 
 but it is a professional fault, and tho' perhaps you would 
 not recognise either my hand or my features if I 
 introduced myself to you, I have taken it into my head 
 from reading lyavater and the Cambrian Register that 
 I should instantly know the Rev. Mr. Walter Davies, 
 I believe he is good humour'd as well as learned, and 
 as a proof that I so think of him, I have taken the liberty 
 of informing him that I am at present forming a Great 
 Evil and furnishing the world with a proof of my Folly 
 in Folio. Perhaps one of the shelves at Meivod or 
 Yspythy Ifan may hereafter groan under its weight. 
 Now to the purport of this letter, and I proceed without 
 further ceremony to ask (which I am sure with you 
 will have the authority and weight of a command) 
 whether you can give me any assistance or hint how 
 I may obtain any information as to the History of 
 this County. It is necessary I should tell you I have 
 Tanner's Notitia Monastica, and that I have, or at 
 least am in a train of procuring all the materials there 
 stated. I have also officially some particulars which 
 cannot be elsewhere procured. Do you know where 
 I can get any others ? What are become of the 
 Celtic Remains ? I think our friend Williams, the 
 bookseller, of the Strand, told me you were about them. 
 That rogue has used me very ill in our last volume ; 
 he has made me talk nonsensically and ungram- 
 matically et omne quod exit in allay, and his excuse after 
 two years' delay was — he had no time ! ! ! You of course 
 know Owen. These dogs the booksellers will kill him. 
 I know it, and hereby testify it will be murder — it is 
 done with malice prepense — poor fellow ! It is really 
 hard so able a man should be obliged to fag and starve, 
 for he does little better, but virtus laudatur et algei — 
 as it was in the days of Horace, is now and ever shall 
 be. Do favour me with a few lines (if you can be of 
 any service to me, or even if you cannot) in answer 
 to this incoherent epistle. I am much afraid those 
 Appenines, which at this moment might certainly be 
 
 H
 
 114 
 
 written Penwin (for the plural would spoil the pun) 
 will prevent our meeting, but if you should surmount 
 and cross them no person will be happier to see you 
 than 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 You'll be good enough to direct to Air. Jones, 
 Registrar, Brecknock. 
 
 Dugdale's M. I have. 
 
 I wish Owen had condescended to write his 
 dictionary in the character now used, for tho' he had 
 authority for his letters we have so long accustomed 
 ourselves to a different mode of reading that I am now 
 and then tempted to exclaim as the Frenchman did 
 upon purchasing Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. Begar, 
 I find if I buy Monsr. Owen's Welsh Dictionary I must 
 buy another Dictionaire to explain de lettre of Monsr. 
 Owen. I mentioned this to him before he began ; 
 I hkewise pointed out to him the impropriety of 
 attempting his quotations in English rh^mie. The 
 latter hint he attended, but his v's and his s's, &c., &c.. 
 he would not part with. They have hurt the sale of 
 his book here very much. 
 
 To The Rev. WALTER DA VIES. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 Brecon, June 27, 1802. 
 
 Great facts, like great wits, have, I presume, 
 a plentiful stock of absence (to use an Irish phrase). 
 In your descent from our Snowdon the farmer tells me 
 you borrowed a great coat, which you have either 
 mislaid or wrapped up in your own by mistake. If the 
 former be the case, pray tell me where I am to enquire 
 for it, as I hear tis not at the Lion. If you have it, 
 I'll thank you to send it by the coach directed to my 
 house. 
 
 Remember (if I have not the pleasure of seeing 
 you again) that you were good enough to promise me 
 the outlines of your labours in Breconshire, and the
 
 "5 
 
 obligation shall be always acknowledged in private 
 if you don't wish I should do it publicly by 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 How can I get at your last Prize Poem ? I'll 
 thank you for the printer's name. 
 
 To The Rev. WAI.TER DAVIES. 
 
 Brecknock, Nov. 23, 1806. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 When I had last the pleasure of seeing you iu 
 Brecknockshire, you gave me hopes of a communi- 
 cation upon the subject of the mineralogy of the 
 county. I have written to you twice by private hands, 
 but not hearing from you I fear they have met with 
 the fate of many letters thus attempted to be 
 conveyed, and under this impression I take the 
 liberty of making one effort more to obtain your 
 assistance before I finish my 2nd vol. of the History 
 of this County, which I hope shortly to send among the 
 devils. 
 
 An answer to the following queries will much 
 oblige, but even an answer saying I will not, or I cannot, 
 or I have no leisure, or anything of that nature will 
 be preferred to no answer ; for I shall then know 
 what to expect. Mrs. Jones tells me that you have 
 been in Breconshire without calling upon 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 What is the position of the strata in the Vale 
 of Usk in Breconshire ? 
 
 What in the Vale of Wye ? 
 
 How do they dip and rise, and are there any 
 remarkable instances of their being thrown out of 
 their courses ?
 
 ii6 
 
 How many different strata do they consist of 
 and their depth ? 
 
 What are the component particles of each ? 
 
 What are the stones pick'd up on the surface at 
 different places, and be pleased to name the places 
 where stones of peculiar or uncommon substances 
 are found ? 
 
 Did you observe the crumbling argillaceous stone 
 in the Vale of Irvon and Hundred of Builth ? What 
 is that called ? 
 
 Any other observations in your mineralogical 
 Tour ? 
 
 What are the strata of the Beacons ? 
 
 If you have any rough draft of your report to the 
 board that is legible and will lend it, send it per post. 
 I don't care for the expence. I only want to pick out 
 a few articles of information, and it shall or shall not 
 be known they came from you — as you please. 
 
 To The Rev. WALTER DAVIES. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 How are you, and what are you now about ? 
 
 I purpose giving an heraldic and genealogic map 
 of Wales in the style and by the way of enlargement 
 of Yorke of Ecddig. Can you, or rather will you assist 
 me with the Arms of the families in N.W. or any of 
 them, their origin, or that of their mottoes ? 
 
 Do you publish in N.W. ? I see nothing from 
 thence ; but, alas ! there is a great gulph between 
 thee and me. 
 
 Owen Jones' 3rd vol. of the Archa. is a paltry 
 compilation. I expected Owen would have given 
 us the remainder of the Mabinogion and other extracts 
 from the Llyfr Coch and Llyfr Du at Oxford : much 
 of them should be pubHshed. 
 
 Pray have you seen my friend Davies's Mythology 
 of the Druids (lyondon, 8vo., Booth, 1803) ? If you
 
 117 
 
 have not, I beseech you to read it. Bishop Watson 
 in a note to our judge says : " It will be an eternal 
 monument of his learning, his ingenuity and his labours." 
 I can hardly hold my pen, while I assure you that I am 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 Gout ! villainous gout, 
 Hath been the spoil o' me. 
 
 What do you understand by the Eagle of Pengwern 
 and EH, the Churches of Bassa and the Kini of 
 Edeirnion in Llywrch hen's Elegy to Cynddylan ? 
 Pray give me your opinion per post letter at your 
 leisure. 
 
 I don't approve of my countryman Williams of 
 Ystradteilaw's translation of Cen i Ddewi. See how 
 beautifully, almost literally, the four first hues may 
 be rendered into English verse : — 
 
 ♦Almighty Pow'r in midnight's shade, 
 May balmy sleep my frame pervade. 
 And e'en the morning dawn appear 
 The Poet's fire my spirit cheer. 
 
 To The Rev. WALTER DAVIES. 
 
 Brecon, Oct. i6, 1811. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 May the hour in which you lost your MSS. in 
 my study be the most unfortunate of your hfe. 
 
 If I publish my translation of Budd Cwrc, I should 
 wish to say something about Ellis Wynne ; if, therefore, 
 you know or can procure any anecdotes relative to 
 him, pray communicate them when you send the 
 pedigrees and the copy of your poem, which perhaps 
 may be conveyed by the Receiver, who will not be here 
 until next month. At present you are, I presume, 
 in your Perihelion, as I beUeve Crickhowel was your 
 Aphelion. When your return into our more southern 
 
 * Not creative pow'r.
 
 ii8 
 
 skies will be I have not yet been able to calculate, 
 but instead of dreading it, as we have been taught to 
 do those other luminous but inexplicable appearances, 
 depend upon it your approach will always be greeted 
 with pleasure by 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 The following undated letter, belonging to the Rev, 
 M. Powell Williams, Rector of Llansantffread, shows 
 that Mr. Jones's conscientious anxiety for the welfare 
 of his friends and clients was not limited to that of his 
 old schoolfellow, the Rev. Edward Davies : — 
 
 TO MR. WALTER PRICE, GIvYNLLECH, IN 
 YSTRADGUNLAIS. 
 
 Dear vSir, 
 
 As I find Mr. Bishop in my absence drew Mr. 
 Jones, of Blarngwrthyd's Will (which I am happy to 
 hear is in favour of you and 3'ours), I could not when 
 I heard of it (which was not till this evening) but be 
 uneasy at my not seeing it, and as no person has your 
 interest more at heart than myself, I was much more so 
 when I found that the real estate was devised with 
 remainders over, which I am afraid Mr. Bishop, or 
 indeed any other Clerk is hardly capable of doing with 
 propriety ; if therefore you can either send me a copy 
 of it, or if you think I can with propriety wait upon 
 you at Blarngwrthyd, or if you can bring the Will to 
 Brecon, it will make my mind easy, as I should be 
 exceedingly hurt, if hereafter any dispute should arise 
 from the ignorance or inadvertence of any person 
 connected with me, where you are concerned. However, 
 if you are satisfied that the present Will needs no 
 revisal, or if (for this may be the case) you may think 
 that it may be hazardous or improper to make any 
 bustle or stir in the business by bringing up the 
 business afresh, let me hear from you and I shall 
 acquiese. 
 
 I am, Dear Sir, 
 
 Your obliged humble servant, 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 Wednesday, past 11 at night.
 
 1 19 
 
 To NICHOLAS CARLISLE, Esq., SECRETARY TO 
 THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. 
 
 Brecon, Oct. 28, 1811. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I send you a sketch and a letter which I lately 
 received from a young but intelligent and zealous 
 antiquary ; you will be pleased to communicate them 
 to the Society, if you think them worthy of their 
 attention. 
 
 The great camp and station at Cwm, in the parish 
 of Llanfihangel-Helygen, is the same that is men- 
 tioned by Mr. Strange, in a paper read to the Society 
 in May and June, 1774, and I beheve pubhshed in the 
 Archceologia. He is inclined to fix the Magnis of 
 Antoninus (he says) at Cwm ; but I must take leave to 
 differ from him here : later antiquaries have, I think, 
 correctly placed Magna or Magnis at Kenchester, in 
 Herefordshire. Certain I am that this station (for such 
 it appears to have been) lies very much out of the 
 road from Gobannium, or Abergavenny, to Uriconium, 
 or Wroxeter. It is forty-four miles from the first- 
 mentioned place ; and a traveller from the first 
 station to the latter by Cwm, would describe nearly 
 the same angle as one starting from Guildford, in 
 Surrey, through Reading to London. 
 
 Cwm was, I apprehend, the next station on the 
 south-west to Caer-sws in Montgomeryshire, and 
 situated on the Via Helena, or more correctly, in my 
 opinion. Via Leona, the Chester road ; that city being 
 called Caer - Lleon - Gawr. At Cwm, this road 
 bifurcated ; one branch proceeding through the 
 Hundred of Builth, near Llandovery, and along the 
 north side of the Towy to Muridumum, or Carmarthen ; 
 the other branch led to the station at Gaer, near 
 Brecon ; soon after which it again formed two lines, 
 one proceeding to Nidum, or Neath, and the other 
 directing its course more westwardly to Trecastle, 
 Talysam, and along the south side of Towy, until it 
 united again with the road just above mentioned at 
 Muridumum. 
 
 I fear we seek in vain for either the Roman or 
 most ancient British name of the station at Cwm :
 
 I20 
 
 for Castell Coll-llwyn, the castle of the brake, only 
 describes its dilapidated state, when even its ruins 
 were over-run with underwood. It is remarkable, 
 that though this castle (as the Welsh call it) is situated 
 in the Hundred of Melenydd, its name should be 
 similar, and indeed the same, though differently 
 pronounced, as a hundred lower down the Wye, called 
 Coll-wyn, correctly Coll-llwyn, for the same reason as 
 the site of the fortress is now so denominated ; because 
 that district was also anciently overgrown with 
 underwood. 
 
 If I should hereafter discover anything further 
 as to the name of this place, which may amount to 
 somewhat more than conjecture, if I may hope to meet 
 with their approbation, it shall be communicated to 
 the Society, by 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 Their and your obedient humble servant, 
 THEO. JONES. 
 
 [The sketch referred to is by Thomas Price, clerk, 
 curate of Llanyre, " Carnhuanawc." — Editor.]
 
 I elyn ap 
 
 II Welsh, 
 
 1. Jane, dau. of Roger 
 Bredwardine. 
 
 Philip Morgan, m. Nest, dau. of Hywel Melyn, from him are 
 descended the Lewis' of St. Pierre's. 
 
 Thomas, m. Jennett, dau. of Llew. Fyclian, Llewelyn, 
 ap. Cynfrig. I 
 
 Morgan, m. a dau. of Llewelyn Powell Fychan Powell. 
 
 John Hik, m. a dau. of Tlio. Nerber, of Castleton. 
 
 2dly Marg. dau. of 
 Matthew Heu. 
 
 J 
 
 J
 
 Pedigree of the MORGANS of Tredegar, Machcn, Llantarnam, &c. 
 
 Blwlri, Lord of Klved. bur. ot Lltiiigadook. 1119, in. Clydwon, Hmi. uf 
 
 
 """Y owe yc inn. ^'■'''How'^ror'As'ora.Vy Symi?.ln.H!Vslr JiTCv'v" 
 
 Kill, or as om. Thoa. Welsh, at Lliuiywom. 
 
 
 
 . Herbert, of Itt.>n. 
 
 ~ . r 
 
 yn Sarpli. Km 
 
 at .fns. Lriuigloy, John Jonkin a 
 
 Ph. MoHUAN. of W«mgIopf 
 
 mvor W.nartin. t. M. m. 2ndly a <lttu. of — .' I ' 8ir Ed. M. of Honiy M. m. Jsshkt. dnu. of 
 
 in Soiii. [ Limit. (L) Jolm Games, of Aberbraii. 
 
 organ, m. Blandi. dan. of W. Morgan. Thomas, in. a dau. of Sir Kitli. VV. Morgan. n>, Blnncli. dan. Sir Ed. M. (M) Rowland Morgan, ni. a dau. ot 
 
 1. of H. JDotio, of Pictoii, by whom ho had MiiddMcoinbi-. and from Iiim ut<- diMnmdod E.— Sir W. Morgan. Knt., marn(<d Florence, dau. ot Sir Giles BurgM, Knt. 
 
 , nftorn-ardB ot Cydwoh. in Carmurthonsluro. F.— .lolin Morgan, of Cacrlcon. ni. Kli/. , dim. .T I.:'u-ifl mi Biolmrd Owin. 
 
 .r Cruflilla. dau. ot Evan Gwin Gwylym David, ot Rhj 
 Pancarn, in Newport parish, m. " ■' '" ' 
 of Wood Cwin, Devon. 
 
 Sir Maltliow M* 
 
 1, St, John, ot I 
 * HhiWDcrrra, 
 
 of SI. Loo of SoKUirarl. 
 
 r
 
 HOWEIv HARRIS. 
 
 Howel Harris was born at Trevecka, in the parish 
 of Talgarth, in the county of Brecknock, on the 23rd 
 of Januar>% 1714 ; his parents were of Caermarthenshire 
 extraction, in low circumstances ; they, however, 
 contrived to give him a classical education, and he was 
 kept at school until he was 18 years of age, at which 
 time his father dying, he was obliged to employ 
 himself in instructing a few boys in the neighbourhood 
 in reading and writing, in which situation he supported 
 himself for some time, intending at a proper age to 
 take holy orders. 
 
 In November, 1735, he went to Oxford, and entered 
 at St. Mary's Hall, under the tuition of a Mr. Hart, 
 but here he did not remain long, as we find him in the 
 following year keeping a school at Trevecka, which 
 he afterwards removed to the parish church ; he now 
 seems to have given up every idea of the Established 
 Church, and to have adopted the opinion of a sect 
 since called Methodists, and which were then in their 
 infancy. 
 
 About this time a man went about the country 
 instructing young persons to sing psalms ; on these 
 occasions he first appeared as a preacher, in which he 
 met with no opposition, but being sent for by a 
 gentleman in Radnorshire, who had heard of his rising 
 fame, to preach before a large congregation, either 
 his doctrines or his conduct gave offence to some of 
 the clergy or magistrates of the county, and he was 
 turned out of his school. This, however, did not dis- 
 courage him, and he continued from thenceforward 
 to preach publicly, sometimes twice or thrice a day, 
 being supported by several who became converts to 
 his opinion. 
 
 In 1739, while Mr. Harris was in exercise of what 
 he no doubt conceived to be his duty, and holding
 
 122 
 
 forth to a congregation in Merionethshire, he was 
 charged by some magistrates with a breach of the 
 Conventicle Act (a law made in the reign of Charles 
 II. for the suppression of seditious assembhes). Mr. 
 Harris observed upon this occasion with great 
 propriety, that he was not within the purview of this 
 Statute, that he was a Conformist, and that neither he 
 nor his hearers entertained any seditious intentions ; 
 upon which, and upon consulting some lawyers, the 
 prosecution was dropped ; but notwithstanding this 
 he met with considerable opposition in some places ; 
 et Machynlleth, in Montgomeryshire, a pistol was 
 fired at him ; at Pontypool, in Monmouthshire, his 
 congregation was dispersed by a magistrate, who read 
 the Riot Act to them, and Mr. Harris was bound over 
 to appear at the Assizes, where, however, upon further 
 consideration, it was not thought expedient to pursue 
 the business. He also met with very rough treatment 
 in several other places, and once or twice narrowly 
 escaped with his life from the fury of a bigotted and 
 ungovernable populace. 
 
 In the month of March, 1739, he first became 
 personally acquainted with Mr. Whitfield, though he 
 had previously received a letter from him, approving 
 of his conduct, and encouraging him to proceed in his 
 itinerant exhortations. Mr. Whitfield in his Journal 
 describes the pleasure he received in the interview 
 with his brother Howel Harris, at CaerdifF ; he says 
 that ' ' he generally discoursed in a field, from a wall, 
 or table, but at other times in a house, or anything 
 else ; and that he had established near thirty 
 societies in Wales." The friendship formed between 
 these two extraordinary characters, from the 
 unanimity of their sentiments upon religious subjects, 
 and particularly as to free grace and election, in which 
 they differed in some points from the followers of Mr. 
 Wesley, continued during their Hves. 
 
 In 1744 he married Anne, daughter of John 
 Williams, of Skreen, in the county of Radnor, Esq., 
 by whom he left issue only one daughter, Elizabeth, 
 who married Charles Prichard, of Brecon, Esq., by 
 whom she has several children.
 
 123 
 
 After preaching in different parts of Wales and 
 England for upwards of seventeen years, a wish 
 probably to enjoy a home occasionally, and domestic 
 fehcity, induced him to lay the foundation of the present 
 building of Trevecka which was begun in April, 1752, 
 At this time the funds were very inadequate to the 
 undertaking, but the subscriptions of many who wished 
 well to the undertaking, and of some who being fond 
 of Mr. Harris's manner and style of preaching, desired 
 to reside in what was afterwards called the Family 
 of Trevecka, enabled him to complete the work. Here 
 he established a small manufactory in wool, and in 
 1754 there were settled under the same roof with him 
 100 persons, the profits of whose labours were applied 
 towards a general fund for their support. The com- 
 munity, or family, still continues, but since his death 
 the numbers have considerably decreased. 
 
 Soon after the breaking out of the war with France, 
 in the reign of George II. the Breconshire Agricultural 
 Society offered to form themselves into a troop of horse 
 to serve in any part of Great Britain, without pay ; 
 on this occasion Mr. Harris engaged to furnish ten men 
 and horses, with their accoutrements, to attend them 
 at his own expence ; for some reasons, which do not 
 now appear. Government did not think it expedient 
 to accept their services, but on his recommendation 
 five young men, who were settled at Trevecka, entered 
 into the 58th Regiment of Foot, and fought for their 
 King and country at the Seiges of Ivouisbourg, Quebec, 
 and the Havannah. 
 
 In the year 1759 the loyalt}^ of Mr. Harris 
 becoming generally known and approved of, he was 
 solicited to accept of an Ensign's commission in the 
 Breconshire Militia ; this, after some consideration, 
 he agreed to do, and having taken with him from 
 Trevecka twenty-four men, twelve of them at his own 
 expence, as to clothing and arms, he joined the regiment 
 in 1760, and some time afterwards he was advanced 
 to the rank of Captain in that Corps. The first year 
 of their services they were ordered to Yarmouth, 
 whither Mr. Harris accompanied them, sometimes 
 joining his men on their march, in singing hymns and 
 psalms, and at other times, and in most towns through
 
 124 
 
 which they passed, preaching to them in his 
 regimentals, a sight at that time perfectly novel, and 
 not very common at this day. 
 
 In 1762 he returned from Plymouth, upon the 
 conclusion of the war, to Trevecka, after having served 
 three years in the Militia. In 1767, Selina, the late 
 Countess Dowager of Huntingdon, came to reside at 
 Trevecka, where she established what was called a 
 college, for the education of young men of this 
 persuasion who were intended for preaching, to which 
 several resorted during her life time, but it is now 
 nearly, if not totally, deserted. 
 
 In the year 1770 he lost his wife, and in the year 
 1773, upon the 21st of July, an attack of the stone 
 and gravel, to which he had been then lately subject, 
 put a period to his existence. He was buried at 
 Talgarth, and over his grave in the church there is a 
 long epitaph, on the merits of which readers will 
 probably differ. 
 
 His character. Uke most of those who have made 
 warm friends and bitter enemies, has been variously 
 represented, with one set he was an angel, with another 
 a knave. Charity, though it may not inspire us with 
 the raptures of his admirers, will induce us to hesitate 
 before we admit either his hypocrisy or roguery ; to 
 his only daughter he was hardly just, and by his will 
 it appears that he was extremely anxious that the 
 whole of his property should go in the first place in the 
 discharge of his debts, and the remainder to those 
 whom he conceived himself obliged for assistance, 
 in money or otherwise. He was a strong robust man, 
 though not tall, his voice was loud, and by some 
 thought sonorous. He was, when preaching, always 
 completely cloathed in sulphur, fire, and brimstone, 
 which he dealt out liberally and with no inconsiderable 
 effect. The terrors of hell, which he painted with almost 
 a poet's fire, contributed, no doubt, frequently to frighten 
 men from their vices ; but it is submitted (without 
 the least idea of blaming those who may differ with 
 the writer in opinion), though it would be much more 
 conducive to the cause of Christianity, and conse- 
 quently to the advance of virtue and true reUgion,
 
 125 
 
 to address the reason, rather than the passions of 
 mankind. The old gentleman with his horns and hoofs 
 sometimes terrifies, but like the scare-crow in the garden, 
 the intended effect is lost by his frequent introduction 
 and atheism sometimes follows ; whereas if a man can 
 be convinced that it is his interest in this, as well as in 
 a future world, to lead a virtuous life, he will feel 
 benefits more immediately, and yet they will certainly 
 be more endurable. 
 
 T. J. 
 
 [This Biography appeared in the second vol. of The 
 Cambrian Register, and was written by Theophilus 
 Jones. — Editor\
 
 REMARKS ON WELSH TOURS. 
 
 The Article opens with a reference to the alleged 
 practise of Courtship in Bed by the Welsh, and Theo. 
 Jones most emphatically declares that there was no 
 such custom in general. He then proceeds : — 
 
 I am happy in confirming the account of strewing 
 flowers upon the grave, a practice frequently observed 
 in some of the country churchyards, and has truly 
 the becoming appearance of veneration for the dead 
 at the same time that it produces a sentiment of pleasing 
 melancholy in the living. Yet, in this, our pleasant 
 traveller cannot help bellishing and adorning his 
 tale when he informs us that the woman with whom he 
 was in conversation, told him ' ' that if a nettle or a weed 
 was to be seen to-morrow (meaning on a Sunday) in 
 the churchyard — the living party to whom it (the grave 
 I presume, on which it grew) would he hooted after divine 
 service by the whole congregation ! ' ' Sad jade, to impose 
 thus upon a stranger. " Hooting ! " — hoot awa, mon, 
 it's nae sic a thing ! 
 
 The Welsh weddings are prittey much as described 
 by this author : noisy, riotous, and dedicated by the 
 guests drinking and singing. He might have added 
 that they are frequently preceded, on the evening 
 before marriage, by presents of provisions, and 
 articles of household furniture, to the bride and 
 bridgegroom ; on the wedding day as many as can 
 be collected together, accompany them to the church 
 and from thence home, where a collection is made in 
 money from each of the guests, according to their 
 inclination or ability, which sometimes supplies a 
 considerable aid in establishing the newly-married 
 couple, and in enabling them to " begin the world," 
 as ih&y call it, with more comfort ; but it is at the same 
 time considered as a debt to be paid hereafter, if 
 called upon, at any future wedding of the contributors,
 
 127 
 
 or their friends, or their children, in similar circum- 
 stances. Some time previous to these weddings, where 
 they mean to receive contributions, a herald with a 
 crook or wand, adorned with ribbons, makes the 
 circuit of the neighbourhood, and makes his 
 ' ' bidding ' ' or invitation, in a prescribed form. 
 The knight errant cavalcade on horseback — the 
 carrying off of the bride — the rescue — the wordy war 
 in rhythm between the parties, &c., which formerly 
 formed a singular spectacle of mock contest at the 
 celebration of the nuptials, I believe to be now almost, 
 if not altogether, laid aside everywhere throughout 
 the principality. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the Welsh have much 
 superstitution amongst them, though it is wearing off 
 very fast. But the instance adduced here, that of their 
 predicting a storm by the roaring of the sea, is a curious 
 kind of proof of their superstition. Their predictions, 
 if they may be so called, are commonly justified by the 
 event ; and may, I apprehend, be accounted for from 
 causes as natural as the forebodings of shepherds ; 
 for they have rules and data as well known to 
 themselves, and, perhaps as liable to error, as any of 
 those established by the more enlightened philosophers 
 of the present day. That, among the lower class of 
 people, there is a general belief in the existence of 
 apparitions is unquestionable : but as to the lighted 
 candle, springing up upon the errand of love, I believe 
 that no person in Wales has ever heard of it. The 
 traveller has probably confounded it with a very 
 commonly received opinion, that within ihe diocese 
 of St. David's, a short space before death, a light is seen 
 proceeding from the house, and sometimes, as has 
 been asserted, from the very bed where the sick person 
 lies ; and pursues its way to the church, where he or 
 she is to be interred, precisely in the same track in 
 which the funeral is afterwards to follow. This light 
 is called canwyll corph, or the corpse-candle. 
 
 The extravagant ravings of Methodism, which 
 the author very truly and properly represents as 
 exceeding everything which can be seen or heard in 
 any civilized country, are certainly a reproach to the
 
 128 
 
 good sense and understanding of the inhabitants. 
 Between 30 and 40 years ago a branch of the sect of 
 Mr. Whitfield's persuasion began to exhibit certain 
 enthusiastic extravagancies from which they are some- 
 times denominated Jumpers. Persuading themselves 
 that they are involuntarily actuated by a divine 
 impulse, they become intoxicated with this imagined 
 inspiration, and utter their rapture and their triumph 
 with such wildness and incoherence — with such 
 gesticulation and vociferation — as set all reason and 
 decorum at defiance. This presumption, seizing 
 chiefly the young and sanguine, and, as it seems, like 
 hysteric affections, partly spreading through the crowd 
 by sympathy ; its operation and effects extremely- 
 varying according to the different degrees of consti- 
 tutional temperament, mock all description. Among 
 their preachers, who are also very various in their 
 character (illiterate and conceited, or well meaning and 
 sensible, or, too frequently, I fear, crafty and 
 hypocritical), some are more distinguished by their 
 success in exciting those stravaganzas. . . The 
 Gleaner next .... tells us that in Wales the 
 beHef in Fairies is general. That there are silly weak 
 people in all countries every man who has travelled 
 must be convinced ; and that there may be many of 
 the lowest kind of people in Wales, as well as in 
 England, who beheve in ghosts, gobhns, and fairies, 
 I k^ow full well : but that there is a greater proportion 
 of the credulous in the former than in the latter 
 [Glamorganshire and Pontypool] though I have seen 
 a great deal of the manners of all ranks in both, I have 
 fovmd no reason to affirm 
 
 I wish we could admit, as a fact, that there is a 
 harper in every village, and a bard to every mountain 
 in Wales. The truth is some of the villages of North 
 Wales have their harpers ; in South Wales there are 
 few. As to the bards, alas ! they may be said to be 
 nc more. The Awen — the Welsh vis poetica, seems nearly 
 extinguished ; and though some few scintillations may 
 still sparkle in two or three of the bards of North 
 Wales, I am much afraid that like the faint and 
 transient blaze of a nearly wasted candle, they only 
 forbode its approaching extinction. . . .
 
 129 
 
 Salmon, per lb. . . . o 
 Turbot, per lb. . , i 
 
 Cod, per lb o 
 
 Eggs, 3 a penny 
 Couple of fat ducks . 2 
 Chicken, per couple . i 
 Goose 2 
 
 Prices in Brecon, 1796. 
 s. d. 
 
 6 Bacon, per lb. 
 o Beef, per lb. 
 6 Mutton, per lb. . 
 Pork, per lb. . 
 6 Veal, per lb. 
 o Coals, per bushel 
 o Wheat, per bushel 
 
 d. 
 o 
 6 
 6 
 6 
 6 
 6 
 
 Rents in retired places for a tolerable house and a 
 few acres of land are given as ^25 per annum. In 
 populous counties, a gent's house with a dozen acres 
 of land, £40 or £50 was the rent. 
 
 [This criticism by Theophilus Jones was written for 
 and published in The Cambrian Register, vol. 2 ; it was 
 signed •• Cymi'o." — Editor.
 
 SALE OF THEO. JONES S BOOKS. i 
 
 There were 430 lots at the sale and 1,220 volumes. 
 
 The title page of the Catalogue read as follows : — 1 
 
 ' Catalogue of the Valuable Library, Prints, Micro- j 
 
 ' scopes, Globes, Library Table, Book Cases, and other ] 
 
 ' effects of the late Theophilus Jones, Esq. (deceased) ' 
 
 ' to be sold by auction by Mr. Wise, of Bath, on the j 
 
 ' premises at Brecon, Wednesday, Sept. 2nd, and two j 
 
 ' following days [1812]. Sale to commence each 
 
 ' morning at eleven. Price one shilling. George \ 
 
 'North, Printer, Brecon." Size of catalogue, large i 
 
 post 8vo., 23 pages. , 
 
 The whole of the Catalogue is not here given, but : 
 
 included in the sale were : — j 
 
 I Fenton's " Pembrokeshire." i 
 
 I Meyrick's " Cardiganshire." 1 
 
 6 Jones's " Brecknockshire." 'i 
 
 I Williams's "Monmouthshire." , 
 
 Maps of Breconshire and seven prints. | 
 
 14 small Ditto Ditto ; 
 
 I Duncombe's "Herefordshire." I 
 
 ' * A very curious Black Letter Bible before the division i 
 
 into verses, and undoubtedly one of the earliest j 
 
 copies printed." (Lot 225). ; 
 
 A Black Letter Edition of Fox's ' ' Martyrology . ' ' 1 
 
 Sir Richard Hoare's "Wiltshire," the i.st and 2nd 
 
 Parts, folio (2 vols.) 
 
 Fenton's " Pembrokeshire," fine paper elegant. i 
 Plot's ' ' History of Staffordshire ' ' (very scarce). 
 
 Plot's "History of Oxfordshire." J 
 
 Worsley's " Isle of Wight." '] 
 
 Millar's "History of Doncaster." ': 
 
 Whitaker's "Manchester" (very rare). i 
 
 Reynold's on God's Revenge against murder and | 
 
 adultery (the scarce edition, 1640, plates, folio). j 
 
 Deering's "Nottinghamshire," 1751 (scarce). \ 
 
 Enfield's " History of Liverpool." U 
 
 Price's "Leominster, Ludlow," &c., 1795. '' 
 North's "Dial of Princes," 1557, very rare, black 
 letter, and an extra fine copy.
 
 Smith's "History of Cork, Kerry, and Waterford " 
 
 Queen ^Sbeth's Prayer Book, curious wood cuts. 
 
 black letter, 1608 (rare). 
 Wit's " Common Wealth " (very scarce). 
 The Life of Sir Francis Drage (scarce). 
 Life of Sir Philip Sydney (very rare). 
 
 ?hf f lua'Sir'Soppe. Plates belonging to Jones's 
 
 ^wU' X^:t^ an-tttroTthe 
 
 Second Vol. in quires. 
 Edmonson Baronagium Genealogicum or Pedigrees 
 Edmonson st5a g coloured, according 
 
 ?o the Blazonry of the Arms, and enriched 
 with additional MS., folio, calf gilt, 6 vols. 
 
 290 Cambrian Biography, Owen's, and History 
 ^ of the Gwedis Family - v°^^- 
 
 2QI Itinerarii Cambrise, the original edition of 
 '^ Giraldus, 1585. and Ware's Antiquitatis 
 
 Hibernia, 1654, (both scarce) _ 2 xois. 
 
 292 Dafydd ap Gwilym and Edwards s Welsh^ ^^^^ 
 
 2QCI Fitz^rovl Antiquities of the Gauls and 
 ^^^ Son's History of Britain (both scarce 2 vols. 
 
 294 Heylin's Help to History, British Anti- ^^^^^ 
 quities, Tracts, &c., h_ , 
 
 2Q5 Warner's Albion's England, 1602 (scarce) i ^ol 
 
 2q6 Stowe's Survey of London, 1618 (scarce) 
 
 297 Camden's Remains and Ridley's Civil and 
 
 ^' Ecclesiastical Law ^ 2 vo s. 
 
 298 Carolau Duwiol, Worthies of Wales, &c. 2 vojs. 
 
 299 Welch Common Prayer Book, Gramma. , &c 5 vo s. 
 
 300 PoweU's History of Wales (scarce) i vol. 
 
 301 Mercurius Rusticus, 1685 (scarce) and 
 
 ^ Howell's Familiar Letters „ .^ ^ '^°^^' 
 
 302 Whitaker's History of the Antient Britons 
 
 ^ and Two Welsh Tours 3 voi^. 
 
 303 Linden's Treatise on the Waters of Llan- 
 
 drindod and History of Wales 2 vols. 
 
 304 Welsh Bible, Richards's Welsh Dictionary ^^^^^ 
 
 &c.
 
 12 
 
 vols. 
 
 Tour 
 
 
 2 
 
 vols. 
 
 6 vols, 
 
 I 
 
 vol. 
 
 I 
 
 vol. 
 
 I 
 
 vol. 
 
 I 
 
 vol. 
 
 I 
 
 vol. 
 
 I 
 
 vol. 
 
 132 
 
 LOT 
 
 305 Baxter's Glossarum Antiquitatum and 
 
 Jeffrey of Monmouth's History of 
 Britain 2 vols. 
 
 306 Pritchard's Welsh Poems. Vicar of I,lan- 
 
 dovery, and Williams's ditto 2 vols. 
 
 307 Evans's History of Britannic and Welsh 
 
 History of the World 2 vols. 
 
 308 Three Vols, of Selections of Welsh Poetry 
 3oq Miscellaneous Welsh Books 
 
 310 Excursions down the Wye and 
 
 through Wales 
 
 311 Tracts, &c., Miscellaneous 
 
 312 Price's Cornith Grammar, 4to 
 
 313 Welsh Bible by Balkett 
 
 314 One ditto 
 
 315 Davis's Mythology of the Druids 
 
 316 Davis's Celtic Researches 
 
 317 Rowland's Mona Antiqua, 4to 
 
 318 Walker's Memoirs of Irish Bards and Life 
 
 of Lord Herbert of Cherbury 2 vols. 
 
 319 Vallancey's Irish Grama, Kelly's Monks, 
 
 and Bishop of St. David's Charge 3 vols. 
 
 320 Warrington's History of Wales, 8vo. 2 vols. 
 
 321 Cambrian Register 2 vols. 
 
 322 Quantity of Welsh Tracts, Pamphlets, &c. 
 
 323 History of the Gwedir Family, the original 
 
 MS. I vol. 
 
 324 Glamorganshire Pedigrees in MS. i vol. 
 
 325 Quantity of MS relating to the History 
 
 and Pedigrees of Brecknockshire. 
 
 326 Well Springe of Welch Nobilitee. By G. 
 
 Owen, Harrie and others, curious MS. 
 of Welsh Pedigrees. 
 
 327 Miscellaneous Welsh MSS. 
 
 328 Powell's Historic of Wales, the old Black 
 
 Letter Edition of 1584 (very rare) i vol. 
 
 329 T. Richard's Welsh Dictionary and 
 
 Grammar i vol. 
 
 330 Dav^is's Welsh Dictionary, folio i vol. 
 
 331 J. David Rhees's Welch Grammar, foUo i vol. 
 
 332 Jones's Collection of Welch Poetry i vol. 
 
 333 Walters's EngHsh and Welsh Dictionary, 
 
 Russia, quarto, 1794 i vol. 
 
 334 Ditto in numbers, the edition of 1788 i vol.
 
 133 
 
 335 Matth. Paris Historia, 1571, folio i vol. 
 
 336 Matth. Westr. Flores, Histonamm, 1750 8 vols. 
 
 337 Prvme'sHistrio Matrix Welsh Hd., 1633, 4to i vol. 
 
 338 Hardvng's Chronicle, black letter, imprint i vol. 
 33Q Price''s Leominster and Hereford, Thorley 
 
 on Bees, &c. 3 vols. 
 
 340 Hederici Lexicon, 1727 i vol. 
 
 341 Ainsworth's Latin and English Dictionary, 
 
 Morell, 1796 I vol. 
 
 342 Boyer's French Dictionary, 1727 i vol. 
 
 343 Maw's Gardener's Dictionary, 4to. i vol. 
 
 344 Johnson's Eng. Dictionary, 4to, 1785 2 vols. 
 
 345 Weever's Funeral Monuments, 4to, 1767 i vol. 
 
 346 Harris's English Insects, color'd plates, 4to i vol. 
 
 347 Gerarde's Herbal, foHo, 1633 i vol. 
 
 348 Dillwyn's British Confervae, col. plates i vol. 
 C54Q Minshaer's Dictionary of Nine Languages, 
 
 1627 I vol. 
 
 350 Spelman's Glossary, fine copy, 1637 i vol. 
 
 351 Samm's Antiquities of Britain, 1637 i vol. 
 
 352 Strype's Memorials, 1721, good copy i vol. 
 
 353 GwyUim's Heraldry i vol. 
 ■^^A Dugdale's History of Warwickshire, title 
 
 wanted i vol. 
 
 355 Registrum Honoris de Richmond, 1722 
 
 (scarce) i vol. 
 
 356 Wilkin's Leges Anglo Saxonicae, 1721, a 
 
 large paper copy i vol. 
 
 357 Wotton's Laws of Howel Dha, large paper, 
 
 1720 (scarce)
 
 134 
 
 From The Cambrian, Sept. 13, 1805 : — 
 This Day was published, 
 
 Price £2 I2S. 6d. to Subscribers ; to Non-Subscribers, 
 
 £2 15s. 
 
 A HISTORY OF BRECKNOCKSHIRE. 
 
 VOL. I. IN ROYAL QUARTO. 
 
 Containing the Chronography, General History, 
 Religion, Laws, Customs, Manners, Language, and 
 System of Agriculture used in that County. 
 
 By THEOPHILUS JONES, 
 
 Deputy Registrar of the Archdeaconry of Brecon. 
 
 Illustrated by a new and accurate Map of the County 
 a Map of the Ancient Provinces of Demetia and 
 Siluria, and with views of most of the Towns and 
 Castles of Brecknockshire. 
 
 Brecknock, sold for the Author, by W. M. and 
 Geo. North ; and by John Booth, Duke Street, Portland 
 Place, London ; and may be had of most others of 
 the principal Booksellers in England and Wales. 
 
 The Second Volume is in considerable forwardness, 
 and will complete the work.
 
 135 
 
 From The Cambrian, Dec. 24, 1808. 
 
 Brecon, Dec. 19, 1808. 
 
 On Monday, Jan. 2, will be published 
 And may be had of the Printer of this Paper, 
 
 The Second and Concluding Volume op 
 A HISTORY OF BRECKNOCKSHIRE, 
 
 By THEOPHILUS JONES, 
 Deputy Registrar, &c., 
 
 In Two Parts, Royal Quarto, illustrated with numerous 
 Engravings. 
 
 Two title pages are given with this volume, in order 
 that the parts may be bound in one or separately. 
 Containing the antiquities, sepulchral monuments 
 and inscriptions, natural curiosities, variations of the 
 soil, stratification, mineralogy, a copious list of rare 
 and other plants, and also the genealogies and arms 
 of the principal families properly coloured or blazoned ; 
 together with the names of the patrons and incumbents 
 of all parishes and Uvings in this county. 
 
 Price to original subscribers, who are requested 
 to be as early as possible in their application for this 
 book, £4. — Price to Non-Subscribers, £4 14s. 6d. 
 
 Brecknock : Printed and sold by George North, 
 Bookseller, &c. ; and sold also by J. Booth, Duke 
 Street, Portland Place, London ; and by the Author 
 at his house, in Brecon. 
 
 Where also mav be had some remaining copies of 
 Vol. I., price £2 15s.
 
 EXTRACTS FROM RICHARD FENTON'S 
 DIARY. 
 
 The distinguished Author of A Tour Through 
 Pembrokeshire, first pubHshed in 1811, and recently 
 re-printed under my supervision, left in MS. some 
 account, in the form of a diary, of a tour through parts 
 of Wales which he made in company with his friend 
 and patron. Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Those MS. notes 
 are now in the Cardiff Library, and I have copied 
 therefrom Fenton's references to his visit to Brecon- 
 shire and some portions of Radnorshire. They are 
 here given because of the frequent mention made of 
 Theophilus Jones and his friend Archdeacon Payne 
 and others. It should be stated that Fenton had an 
 idea of writing a History of Wales, and his tour 
 appears to have been taken with that object in view. 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
 May 19, 1804. — A fine day. We set off from 
 Builth for the station on the Ithon, and went by Court 
 Llechryd, a farm situated within a large square en- 
 trenchment, but on examination, and in the opinion 
 of Sir Richard Hoare, very conversant with such 
 matters, with the corners not sufficiently rounded to 
 pronounce it Rom.an ; yet it puzzles me to determine 
 what it could have been. Probably the Britons 
 finding that the Romans had occupied the spot, and that 
 it was a convenient place for guarding the Ford below 
 it over the Wye, did away with the greater part of the 
 Roman traces. However, it is clear that it had been 
 a place of some consequence, either as the occasional 
 residence of one of the Princes of South Wales or 
 usurping chieftains of the Normans. Powell's 
 Chronicles mentions a battle fought there between 
 Rhys ap Tewdwr and Madoc Cadwgan and Ro'syd, 
 sons of Blethyn ap Cynfin, when Madoc and Ro'syd 
 were slain ; and there is a field on the farm to this day 
 called Maes Madoc. The farmer at the house told me 
 that a very large human skull had been dug up there,
 
 137 
 
 and some silver small coins, but of what age he could 
 net say. The farm is now the Court House of a large 
 lordship belonging to the daughters of the late Thomas 
 Jones, Esq., of Pencerrig, lately married the same day, 
 the eldest to one Thomas, of Glamorganshire, the 
 yoimgest to one Capt. Dale, It is finely wooded with 
 venerable and round oak. After riding about 2| miles 
 on the Rhayader road, we turned off over a large 
 common, hoping we might discover some traces of 
 the Roman Road which we had pursued over the hills 
 above Glanbrain, and which, from its bearing, must 
 have crossed the Wy somewhere by the west of Builth, 
 and probably at I^lechryd, but by the track of the old 
 Roman Road we fell in with on the western side of 
 Llandrindod Common, it must, after crossing the Wy, 
 struck off rather to the eastward of the place we turned 
 up to out of the Rhayader road. On that common 
 we followed it for about a mile, pointing exactly to the 
 station in question, and within half a mile of it. There 
 can be no doubt of the other road from the Gaer, in 
 Brecknockshire, portions of which are discernable near 
 and on the present road from Builth to Llandrindod, 
 in several places uniting with it before it crossed the 
 Ithon to the station, though we could not discover 
 this union. We crossed the river by a wooden bridge 
 and came to Cwm, the seat, or rather the wretched 
 farm house of a Mr. Wilhams, a man of large fortune, 
 and a Radnorshire magistrate (a pretty specimen). 
 We rode up to the house ^ and this rough unbottoned 
 'squire appeared, and having asked his permission, 
 we rode on to see the station, which lay a few hundred 
 yards beyond his house. Saw several pieces of brick 
 and the foundations of several stone buildings, the 
 whole circuit without the camp having been built on. 
 Sir R. Hoare, in a ploughed field adjoining, picked up two 
 pots of very fine pottery, with enough of the antient 
 glazing on it to distinguish it. 
 
 The Camp, Mr. Williams told us, was called Caer 
 Collen, i.e., the Hazel Camp, as he supposes from the 
 number of hazels growing over the sides of it, but why, 
 more properly, may it not be a corruption of Caer 
 Cae Cen, the Camp of the field of Legion ? On our 
 return, rode up to see the wells of Llandrindod, a
 
 138 
 
 miserable place, and by so doing overshot that part 
 of the present road on the common where traces of 
 the Roman appear, having kept too much to the east. 
 Saw a circular camp near Howey, a dingle we crossed, 
 falling into the road in time to distinguish the traces 
 we were in quest of. To the west of which and close 
 to it a very fine tumulus. Riding on towards Pencerrig, 
 found several bits of the road too strong for anything 
 but Rom^an 
 
 We dined at Builth, and after dinner walked to the 
 church, an ordinary plain building with a tower at the 
 west and dignified by a town clock ; standing in a very 
 large cemetery where, though the town is populous 
 and the parish considerable, few graves are seen, and 
 those that are, all on the south side. In the chancel, 
 on the south side, is the effigy of a warrior of great size, 
 as represented, particularly his head ; it is in armour, 
 legs mutilated, of a purplish stone of the country. 
 The inscription belonging to it is one brass plate affixed 
 to a piece of old oak, and shown by the clerk. From 
 thence continued our walk over the bridge on the 
 Irvon, and through pleasant fields and woods to Builth 
 Wells, with an octagon building. There are three 
 pumps not above four feet asunder, the water of each 
 differing from the other. One, a strong sulphurous 
 and saline mixed, another of a weaker sort, and the 
 third only sulphurous. A little way off to the north- 
 ward another spring and place to bathe in, the water 
 of which was of the sulphurous and saline mixed, but 
 infinitely more brilUant and lively than the other 
 waters. The wells are very inconvenient for invalids, 
 who generally lodge at Builth, at least a mile and a 
 quarter off, there being no accommodation nearer, 
 except some veiy ordinary ones, at a farm house near. 
 Returned to tea and closed a pleasant day. 
 
 May 20. — Stopped at Builth. Wrote after break- 
 fast for an hour, then walked to see Builth Castle, 
 or rather the place where the Castle stood, which con- 
 sists of a very large tommena in the centre, surrounded 
 with a very deep ditch circular, and that by an outer 
 one, a very small portion of wail here and there ap- 
 pearing. It occupied a considerable space, and of its 
 size very strong. Two or three beautifvil and very
 
 139 
 
 picturesque ash trees are growing in the sides of the 
 entrenchments. After dinner strolled as far as the 
 Irvon, and turned to the left at the bridge, where I 
 met Price, of Builth, with his wife and another lady- 
 admiring the river in that place rushing rapidly over 
 a bed of slaty rock, the sides of which contain very- 
 curious pieces of lean ironstone, almost globular, 
 bedded in the slate. A little above the place was 
 formerly an old bridge which must certainly be the same 
 mentioned in Powell's Chronicles as Pont Orewyn, for 
 Pont ar Irvon, at which pass there was an obstinate 
 encounter between Mortimer and Llewhellin, who was 
 encamped on that singular Peninsular formed by the 
 Irvon called Caerbiris, there being a very antient 
 castelet at the extreme point. Walked on the old 
 turnpike, which forms one of the finest terraces that 
 can be conceived, boldly placed above the river, taking 
 the most romantic bends below, with its banks finely 
 wooded, with all the near and distant scenery producing 
 the most striking effect, but particularly the range 
 of the Ellenith mountains deliciously tinged by the 
 setting sun. 
 
 May 21. — Left Builth after a shower, which gave 
 freshness to the air and made the roads pleasant. 
 About a mile beyond Llanelwydd Church, descending 
 into a little valley, one of the most beautiful landscapes 
 imaginable presented itself, Sir Richard Hoare ob- 
 serving that he never saw more charming circumstances 
 united. Turning to the left we forsook the Wy and 
 our road became rather uninteresting. At a place 
 called Penybont at the upper end of a small dingle, 
 observed one of the usual round tummens or castelets 
 entrenched, and near it in a field a tumulus and 
 another without on a common. It seems there are some 
 very strong mineral waters at a place called Blan Edw. 
 Our road to Glascwm. then took a turn to the left, 
 leaving Creggrina to the right, marked b}' a yew tree 
 or two. It seemed nothing but a plain roof, no cross 
 aisle, steeple, or aperture without for a bell. After 
 passing a bridge, we opened the little narrow but beau- 
 tiful valley of Glascwm, terminated by the church and 
 village. The church, like the last, but larger, had a 
 porch, and on the south side the remains of windows
 
 140 
 
 that in former days showed handsome stone work, but 
 was stopped up and repaired in various ways. Vide 
 Giraldus to account for taking this very out of the way 
 route. Ascending a very steep hill we rode some miles 
 in rain over the summit of the mountain between 
 Glascwm and the Wy, on several parts of which my eye 
 caught the larger kind of "love and idea," a ,flower I 
 never saw wild before. The hills passed, we caught a 
 fine view of the rich vale of the Wy, and our place of 
 destination. The Hay, and the lovely country aroimd, 
 backed by Talgarth mountains. Within a mile and half 
 of Hay bridge near a farm house, one of the frequent 
 castelets, and at last got to the Hay through most 
 horrid roads, but a beautiful country, thank God 
 without any accidents, and with only my feet a little 
 damped. 
 
 After dinner, walked about the town of Hay. 
 Sir R. Colt Hoare stopped and made a drawing of the 
 only bit of the old Castle now existing, which is 
 a very fine gateway, with the place for the portcullis, 
 and the old oak door from its appearance, thickness, 
 size, and rust of its hinges, and all over studded with 
 bolts which might be coeval with the building ; part of the 
 outer wall, finely clad with ivy to the east and a square 
 tower to the west, which, though old, appears less so 
 than the gateway it joins. A large mansion, about 
 the age of Queen Elizabeth, or rather later, belonging 
 to the Wellingtons, who own the site of the Castle, 
 adjoins the old part. The windows are more modern 
 than the other part. Walked to the east of the town 
 for a quarter of a mile without the walls, which there 
 show pretty entire, and once enclosed a very large space. 
 The gateways were taken down in the memories of 
 several now living. The Church, prettily situated, 
 has been loftier in roof and steeple. Nothing worth 
 notice in the Church and nothing without, but a stone 
 with an effigy on it so very much mutilated and worn 
 that even the sex of the figure it represented cannot 
 be correctly ascertained. The common people call 
 her Maud Walby, and say she was a witch. 
 
 May 22. — Set off from the Hay to Brecon, called 
 at the Rev. Mr. Hughes's, of Glasbury, at whose house 
 we expected to meet Mr. Theo. Jones, of Brecon, but
 
 141 
 
 he was gone from there the day before. Mr. Hughes 
 and a Mr. Ainsworth accompanied us to see a small 
 cromlech near a small farm called Brynygroes, and 
 in a field called Clos y Llechau. We walked to it across 
 a field, and found a pretty large stone resting on one 
 side an old thorn, and on the other an old ash stump, 
 which they say by the strength of vegetative power, 
 have raised the incumbent stone oft" from the end stones 
 that once supported it, which certainly at present it 
 does not appear to touch, and this is said to be con- 
 firmed by people living who remember the progress 
 in the elevation of the stone. 
 
 Passed by Gwernyfed Park to the left, formerly 
 the seat of Sir David Williams, one of the 12 Judges 
 in Queen Elizabeth's time, and to whose memory- there 
 is a monument in the Priory Church, Brecon. It must 
 have been a charming place in its time, finely wooded, 
 fine in equalities everywhere, and bounded bya fine range 
 of mountains to the east. At a modernish mansion 
 on an eminence in the Park called the Lodge lives a 
 Mr. Allen, a barrister. The old house lies low, at some 
 distance from that. There is something like a Camp 
 in the Park, seen from the road, and of a form that 
 tempted us to think it Roman, but on examination 
 it was doubtful if it had been a Camp or not. 
 
 Rode on and came to Porthamal. now a farm house, 
 but formerly the baronial residence of the Vaughan 
 family. The gateway, with a tower over it, is supported 
 by a groined arch, simply elegant, which Leland speaks 
 of, still exists. Thence to Brynllys Castle. While 
 Sir Richard Hoare took a sketch of the only tower now 
 up, I walked to the farm house standing in the 
 midst of the old building. Nothing now discernable 
 of the old Castle but the above tower of considerable 
 size with walls of immense thickness, the lower apart- 
 ment being arched, and in all likelihood a dungeon or 
 prison. The farmer told me he had opened a 
 tumulus near Talgarth, and found an urn and a flint 
 spear head, an exact drawing of which I saw with Mr. 
 Theo. Jones. The flint was dark in the middle, with 
 sharp edges yellowish. Another tumvilus existed on 
 the same spot. In Buck's view of this Castle there is 
 a considerable portion represented, scarce a trace of 
 which now remains.
 
 142 
 
 Thence, through a pleasant country with a fine 
 view in front of the Van, and its retinue of mountains, 
 to Brecon. After dinner, walked out to see the 
 Collegiate Church, the nave and other parts of which 
 are entirely in ruins, the grass having grown over the 
 tombs in the nave and almost over all the pediments 
 of the fine old pillars that supported the roof. The 
 choir and chancel, where the stalls are in a very little 
 better state, though the floor is covered with very antient 
 tomb stones, and its side and walls dignified by many 
 elegant monuments and tablets, such as those to the 
 memory of Bishops Biill, Mainwaring, and l/ucy. The 
 neglect of a place of worship so uncommon is shameful, 
 to say nothing as a mausoleum of the respectable dead 
 it contains, is such a reflection on the See of St. 
 David's that language is too weak to represent it 
 properly. 
 
 Walked then to the Priory, a most venerable, 
 large building, whose pavement is pregnant with 
 sepulchral history, and whose sides exhibit several 
 curious and antient monuments. I never saw a church- 
 yard so full of graves. The walls of the church, and 
 even the tower, are full of yew trees growing out of the 
 small interstices of the stones. 
 
 The Priory walks above the Honddu, though now 
 much neglected, but used as a fashionable promenade, 
 are charming, overhanging and winding above a narrow 
 dingle, steep and magnificently wooded. 
 
 The old gateway of the Priory to the north, ?3 well 
 as that to the west, and many other parts of the old 
 building still exist : a wall with embattlements en- 
 compass the whole. 
 
 In the evening on our return we had the company 
 of Mr. Theo. Jones, and a very sensible divine, Mr. 
 Payne, who sat with us for an hour. 
 
 May 23. — Set off accompanied by Mr. Payne to 
 see the Station at the Gaer, charmingly situated near 
 the Usk, nor can a finer situation be imagined, 
 whether we consider the aspect, the river, the woods, 
 and the sublime background of mountain seen through 
 a skreen of trees. Observe the Roman Road from 
 Gobannium just entering the Station and a Roman
 
 143 
 
 monument representing a man and his wife with a tablet 
 
 underneath, on which " Conjunx Eju T" may be 
 
 read distinctly ; standing on the edge of the old Road, 
 which falls in at right angles with that towards the 
 Ithon, and that which led to Neath and lylanfair 
 Arybryn, united till they cross the Usk beyond the 
 Church of Aber Eskyr. At the farm house of Aber 
 Eskyr saw a brick about 9 inches square and 2 thick, 
 stamped with 
 
 "LEG II AVG." 
 
 Went to Llandevaelog Church, after, as we thought, 
 having traced the Ithon branch of the Roman Road 
 almost opposite to Mr. Thos. Watkins' seat called 
 Pennoyar, on the brow of the hill to our left. Saw the 
 long stone on the south side of the church, 7ft. gjin. 
 long and 15 inches wide, with a very rude figure 
 sculptured in the middle compartment, on the upper 
 a cross with rude ornaments round it, and on the lower 
 compartments rude ornaments, said, but without the 
 least foundation, to be the tomb of Brochmail Yskithog. 
 There is a place near called Sarnau, which probably 
 may refer to a Roman Road, but I did not see it. 
 Returned through pleasant lanes enriched with the 
 luxuriancy of bird cherries which grew here, and in 
 some parts of Radnorshire wild, and dined at Mr. 
 Theo. Jones's. The party, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Miss 
 Jones, "Mr. and Mrs. Payne, vSir Richard Hoare, and 
 myself. We had an elegant dinner — Welsh antiquities 
 the principal topic. 
 
 May 24. — Rainy day ; bringing up the leeway 
 in my journal. Dined at Mr. Theophilus Jones's, and 
 saw for the first time the Rev. Mr. Watkins, whom I 
 found a pleasant, well informed man and in no way 
 conceited or assuming as he had been represented to 
 me. Passed a pleasant evening. Conversation various. 
 Mr. Watkins enquired poUtely after ray sister, and Mr. 
 
 C , and gave me a very cordial invitation to his 
 
 house. 
 
 Friday. — Set off from Brecknock for the Rev. 
 Mr. Payne's, Uanbedr, near Crickhowell, through the 
 beautiful Vale of Uske, which, whether we consider 
 its form, its cheerfulness, its boundaries, is without 
 comparison the prettiest vale in the kingdom ; a very
 
 144 
 
 peculiar feature of it is the endless openings into smailer 
 vallies on each side. Pass the Peterstone, and here 
 the monument of the I^ady whom Mr. Theo, Jones 
 cannot make out is, but this is Fast Day and service 
 performing we could not see it. On the other side of the 
 river, Penkell}^ Castle, once the seat of a branch of 
 the Herberts ; now shows nothing of the Castle but the 
 knoll on which it stood, or very little more. Before 
 we came to Crickhowell some miles we leave on the right 
 a large comical hill, wooded charmingly and studded 
 with houses almost to the top, which breaks the 
 regularity of the vill and forms a beautiful amphi- 
 theatre up to Crickhowell. Saw the course of the new 
 canal to Brecknock for a great way on the north side 
 of the Uske and then on the south side. Crickhowell, 
 the most cheerful looking town I ever saw, left to the 
 right, a narrow ascending road bringing us in about 
 two miles and a half to Mr. Payne's house. On our way 
 to it have views of several beautiful openings into 
 little well wooded and watered vaUies bounded by 
 fine motmtains. To the left of the road above Crick- 
 howell observ-e a truncated conical hill, the summit 
 of which is a camp called Crug Howel. Arrived at 
 Mr. Payne's, we found a little paradise — the house 
 neat, situated in the churchyard, the north side of 
 which is close shaven and made a lawn of, with a walk 
 all round skirted with shrubber3\ In the churchyard 
 are some of the largest old yew trees I ever saw. The 
 church is situated on the summit of the hill over- 
 hanging the Gronw^^ fychan, a beautiful mountain 
 stream ftill of trout, that flows and foams at the bottom 
 of a narrow dingle, the sides of which are charmingly 
 wooded, particularly with oak, beech, and wych elm, 
 through which Mr. Payne has made walks with great 
 taste, extending for a considerable way between two 
 bridges of a single arch most remarkably clad with ivy. 
 The garden behind the house, a mixture of kitchen, 
 fruit and flower garden, exhibits a scene at once com- 
 fortable, picturesque, and cheerful. 
 
 Mr. Theo. Jones accompanied us to Mr. Payne's, 
 and indulged in the evening's conversation, anticipating 
 the business of the cromlech meant to be examined 
 the following day.
 
 145 
 
 Saturday. — This great, this most important day, 
 rose most favourably for our plan ; we breakfasted 
 early, and were on horseback soon after, and a pleasant 
 ride brought us to the scene of action, about a mile the 
 Brecon side of Crickhowell. We found the incumbent 
 stone, after being spUt in two, removed from off the 
 supporters, and the small area within was soon cleared 
 till we got below the bottom of the supporters, and 
 found nothing but small bits of charcoal and several 
 small bones. There was a piece of dry wall, regularly 
 built, between two of the upright stones, which 
 appeared coeval with the cromlech, what I never saw 
 before in any. In short, from what appeared, there 
 was nothing' turned up that would favour the sup- 
 position of these being sepulchral. The company 
 present were our own party. Admiral Gell, Sir William 
 Ouseley, and a Mr. Everest. This grand ceremony 
 over, we looked at the old gateway at Crickhowell, 
 the remains of the Castle, and the Church, in which 
 there were some old monuments, particularly of the 
 Pauncefoot, verv much mutilated, who appeared to 
 have been a Crusader. The effigy is of stone, and 
 the shield bears three Uons. as in the Arms of the 
 Herberts, but without the distinction of party perpale. 
 The Pauncefoots were owners formerly of the Castle. 
 After dinner we rambled through the charming walks 
 at Uanbedr above mentioned, from which it was with 
 difficulty I could tear myself, and of which I talked 
 with imabated rapture the whole evening. 
 
 Sunday.— Breakfasted early, being engaged to 
 attend Mr. Pa5aie to the church of Partrico, a chapel 
 annexed to Uanbedr, where I saw the most elegant 
 and perfect rood loft perhaps now extant in the 
 Kingdom, of seemingly Irish oak, which fortunately 
 has "^escaped either whitewashing or painting. In a 
 mansion not a great wav from the church lived a Herbert, 
 and to that family may in all probabiUty be ascribed 
 this curious relick. Below the church saw the samted 
 well of Ishaw, being a very scanty oozing of water, 
 to which, however, was formerly attributed great virtue, 
 as within the building that encloses it there are little 
 niches to hold the vessels visitors drank out of and the 
 offerings they left behind. The road to Partricio is
 
 146 
 
 through steep, stony, narrow lanes arched with wood. 
 Obser\^ed the Sugar Loaf on my return from this 
 church Hke a small ridge, in no way like its appearance 
 from I/lanbedr. vSaw to the left, returning, Coed 
 Gronw {vide Giraldus). Dined at Admiral Gell's, a 
 very pretty situation about a mile from Crickhowell, 
 the house an odd looking building by Nash. The 
 Admiral is a very singular character — the rough 
 swearing tar with a most excellent heart. Our dinner 
 good, with good Maderia, the company Sir R. Hoare, 
 Sir W. Ouseley, Mr. Payne, Mr. Theo. Jones, a Mr. 
 Russel (an angling tourist), and myself. At parting, 
 the Admiral gave me a general invitation, and begged 
 
 I would make an inn of his house, " for d n me," 
 
 says he, "I hke that an inn would be made of my 
 house." Sir William Ouseley distinguished himself as a 
 scholar and a gentleman in the course of the con- 
 versation. Returned and passed a pleasant evening in 
 talking of antiquities, &c., and was much pleased with 
 Mr. Payne's accoimt of the Book Club at Crickhowell. 
 
 Monday. — Imprisoned all day, as it rained so hard, 
 but in a charming cell, viz., Mr. Payne's study ; made 
 several extracts. Saw some things with Mr. Payne 
 taken out of MS. by George Owen Harry of Kernes. 
 Will ask Mr. Theo. Jones to borrow it for me of Mr. 
 Bold, of Brecon. 
 
 Tuesday. — Set off after breakfast to see The 
 Gaer, in Cwmdu, a Roman station first discovered 
 by the Rev. Mr. Payne. Beyond the cromlech we 
 opened on Saturday, to the right of the road, pass one 
 of the tommens or castelets, of which there is no 
 history, but that it was used for the view of Frank 
 Pledge in the lordship of Crickhowell. It is now 
 overgrown with trees, and has an yew on it. Went 
 by Tretower Castle, which now consists of a round 
 tower of considerable size, within an outer wall battle- 
 ments with a larger embattled wall, on each side to 
 small bastions, including a very considerable area. 
 In the great tower there appeared to have been 
 elegant chambers, if we may judge by the remains 
 of the chimney pieces, for that age. Near it are the 
 remains of the old and dignified mansion of the 
 Vaughans, entered from the road by a handsome
 
 147 
 
 gateway with a chamber in a square tower over it. 
 Rode on to see a camp which Mr. Payiie took to be 
 the castrum cistvaen of The Gaer, just above a wood 
 called Coed y Gaer, but vSir R. Hoare seemed to think 
 from long observation that the Romans never chose 
 any very elevated situations for their camps ; besides 
 we found it to be not of the figure they always 
 used, viz., an oblong or a regular square, as the 
 angles rounded, but of a something between a triangle 
 and an oval. We descended from this camp, which 
 occupied a projecting point of land commanding 
 two valHes, and rode on to The Gaer, which 
 occupied a small rising in the vale at the foot of the 
 Myarth. We found the square camp had been 
 enclosed by a wall, in the rubbish of which was seen 
 brick of various shapes and sizes. At one end of the 
 square is nearly a semi-circular elevation supposed 
 to be the Prsetorium. In the fields adjoining, several 
 hewn stones, bricks, and pieces of pottery, &c., have 
 been seen at different times, which proves beyond a 
 doubt that this had been a considerable station, as 
 it was called Tref y Caeraii. In one of the fields near, 
 a stone lies with an inscription that might have been 
 on the side of the Roman Road leading towards 
 Gobannium. Having thoroughly examined the place, 
 returned to lylanbedr to dinner. After dinner 
 ascended Crug Howel, a prodigious height, on the 
 summit of which a camp surrounded with vast 
 entrenchments of loose stones with a very deep foss, 
 entered by an opening to the East or N.E. From 
 this eminence had a most extensive view of the Vale 
 of Uske to the South, but to the North shut up by the 
 higher hill, on the summit of which there is a small 
 vein of lime stone. Descended very gradually, 
 enjoyed a cup of tea, and went to bed perfectly 
 fatigued. 
 
 TtJESDAY. — Left Ivlanbedr, Mr. Payne accom- 
 panying us, for Hereford, purposing to visit Dor Abbey 
 and Kilpeck in our way.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A Lost MS., 117 
 
 Abbey Copper Works, 102 
 
 Aneuriu'g " Gododin," 32, 33 
 
 ArkitQ Mythology, 87 
 
 Astle's ' ' Progress of Writing, 
 
 79 
 Aubrey, John, 19 
 Aubrey MSS., 20 
 Aubrey, WiUiam, 23 
 
 Bishopston, living offered to Rev. 
 E. Davies, 71 ; letters on, 
 72-74 ; visit to, 76 ; difficulties 
 in collecting tithe", 96 ; 
 
 Brecon, French Naval officers 
 at, 26 
 
 Brecon, great floods in 1591, 14 
 
 Breconshire Pleas Rolls, 20 
 
 Breconshire Poets, 83 
 
 ' ' Brecknockshire, ' ' advertise- 
 ments of, 134, 136 ; pubhca- 
 tion of Vol. I., 76 ; price of, 78 ; 
 second vol., 83 ; original MS. 
 of, 24 ; comments on by Bishop 
 Burgess, Lowndes, Llewelyn 
 Pritchard, Dr. Nicholas, G. T 
 Clarke, 25 ; plates and surplus 
 copies, 27 ; second edition of, 
 27. 
 
 Builth Manor fines, 56 
 
 Bull, Dr. George, Bishop of St. 
 David's, 9 
 
 Caermarthen, a journey to, 97 
 Cardiff, cost of a visit to, 94 
 Carhsle, Nicholas, letter to, 119 
 Camhuana\\c, on the manners 
 and customs of the district, 9 ; 
 defends Theo. Jones, 17 ; as 
 an artist, 23 ; some notes on, 
 26 ; Jane WiUiams' Memoir of, 
 26 ; at Christ College, 91 
 " Celtic Researches," subscrip- 
 tions to, 67 
 Cheese, of Kington, 106 
 Church, Samuel, of Ffrwdgrech, 
 
 12 
 Churchey, Judge Hardinge's 
 
 clerk, 70 ; death of, 82 
 Cistvaen at Ty-yn-y-Llwyn, 28 
 Clerical widows and orphans' 
 
 fund. 99 
 Coelbren y Beirdd, 67 
 Court Martial upon Rioters, 100 
 
 Dafydd ap Gwilym, 64 
 
 Davies, Rev. Edward, memoir of, 
 
 vii.-x. ; Jones's Letters to, 
 
 37-11-2; preferment, 88; 
 
 manuscript on '' Coins," 89 
 Da\'ies, Capt of Carmarthenshire 
 
 Militia, 78 
 Dedication, iii. 
 
 Defence of Judge Hardinge, 80, 81 
 Deluize, tradition of, 87 
 Dissenter, Wicke's refusal to bury, 
 
 109 
 Druidic Mystei'ies, 89 
 
 Evans, Charles, of Wenallt, 3 
 Evans, Rev. Theophilus, Hterary 
 
 work, 3 ; burial place, 9 
 Exchequer depositions, 21 
 
 Fenton's Diaby, 136-147. On 
 the Ithon, 136 ; Maes Madoc, 
 
 136 ; the daughters of Pen- 
 cerrig, 137 ; visit to Rhayader, 
 
 137 ; Sir R. Colt Hoare finds 
 ancient pottery at the Cwni, 
 137 ; Caer Collen, 137 ; Builth 
 Wells and Castle, 138 ; Builth 
 to Glascwm, 139 ; Hay Castle 
 and Town, 140 ; Glasbury, 
 Talgarth, Gwemyfed, to Brecon 
 140, 141 ; Cromlech at BrjTiy- 
 groes, 141 ; Gwernyfed Park, 
 141 ; Porthamal, 141 ; Bronllys 
 Castle, 141 ; tumulus near Tal- 
 garth, 141 ; Collegiate Church 
 at Brecon, 142 ; Priory Church 
 and Graves, 142 ; the Gaer, 
 142, 143 ; Llandevaelog Church 
 143 ; Brecknock to Llanbedr, 
 143 ; Crug Howell Camp, 144 ; 
 Crickhowell Church and Castle, 
 145 ; Cromlech near Crick- 
 howell, 145 ; the Pauncefoots 
 and Herbei-ts, 145 ; Partrico 
 rood loft, 145 ; Gaer, in Cwmdu 
 146 ; Tretower Church, 146 ; 
 Tref y Caerau, 147. 
 
 Games, of Aberbran, 15 
 
 Game-J, Sir John, builder of 
 
 Newton, 24 
 " Gododin," 85 
 Urifiith Jones, founder of Simday 
 
 and Day Schools in Wales, 7
 
 150 
 
 Griffith, Rev. David, head master 
 
 Christ College, 10 
 Ghosts, gobblins, and fairies, 128 
 ' ' Gwalter Mechain, ' ' letters to, 
 
 113-118 
 Gwynne, Marmaduke, of Garth 4 
 Gwynne, Sarab, marries Charles 
 
 Wesley, 5 
 
 Havard, Hiigli, bailiff of Brecon, 
 13 
 
 Haverfordwest, a visit to, 84 
 
 Hill. Richard. 67 
 
 Hoare, Sir R. Colt, Bart., 23 ; 
 sketches Brecknock Castle and 
 bridge, 23 
 
 Holf ord, John Josiah, of Culgwyn, 
 67 
 
 Holford, Charles, 67 
 
 Howel, James, cavaLier and tra- 
 veller, 24 
 
 Hughes, Rev. John, of Glasburj', 
 98 
 
 Hugh Thomas's MSS., 12 ; pedi- 
 grees and his description of 
 Brecon, 14, 15 
 
 Hywel's Laws, 112 
 
 Haebis, Howel, of Trevecca.- — 
 Theo. Jones' Memoir of, 121- 
 125 ; Harris marries a daughter 
 of the Skreen family, 122 ; his 
 " Family," 123 ; forms a troop 
 of horse, 123 ; accepts Ensign's 
 commission, 123 ; promoted to 
 Captain, and serves at Yar- 
 mouth, 123 ; returns to Tre- 
 vecca, 124 ; Selina, Countess of 
 Himtington, 124 ; his death 
 and burial, 124 
 
 lolo Morganwg, 67 
 
 Jones, Theophilus : BioonAPHY 
 
 I ; descent and family, 2, 3 ; 
 his grandfather, 6 ; birth place. 
 9 ; niarriage and profession, 
 
 II ; Brecon residences, 11, 12 ; 
 intended History of Radnor- 
 shire, 27 ; his anonymous 
 papers, 28 ; literai-y transla- 
 tions, 28 ; Freemasonry, 29 ; 
 description of his character by 
 a friend, 29, 30 ; last illness and 
 death, 31, 32 ; memorials of, 
 
 32 ; librarv, 32, 33 ; book plate 
 
 33 ; his wfe, 33, 34 ; her will, 
 
 34 ; his only sister, 34 ; arms 
 and Welsh motto, 35. Letters, 
 37 ; various criticisms, 37-39 ; 
 visits London, 41 ; meets Cam- 
 
 brian Register men, 41 ; The- 
 ology, 4] ; Armes Prydain, 
 41-43 and 44-46 ; Repubh- 
 canism, 43 ; Remarks on 
 Gronwy Owen's Poem upon the 
 "Day of Judgment," 46-49; 
 liis fatlier's death, 48 ; begins 
 'Brecknockshir.%' 50 ; arranges 
 to visit parishes, 51 ; Brecon- 
 shire rivers, 52-57 ; Welsh 
 Peninllion, 52-54 ; translates 
 Aneurin Gwawdrydd's ' ' En- 
 glynion y Misoedd, " 55 ; in- 
 terest in ' ' Celtic Remains, ' ' 
 60 ; " My friend Payne, " 63 ; 
 at the Bar of the House of 
 Commons, 66 ; \asits Bristol, 
 68 ; his nephew, 75 ; attends 
 Glamorganshire Assizes, 88 ; 
 rehnguishes the law, 89 ; 
 Catalogue of his books, 130-133 
 Jones of Blarngwthyd's Will, 118 
 Joseph Joseph, F.S.A., his libi-ary, 
 
 33, 35 
 Judge ' ' Harlequin, ' ' 93 
 
 Lewis of Harpton, lOt 
 
 Lewis Morris and Geoffrey of 
 
 Monmouth, 110; his Letters. 
 
 112 
 Llangenney Paper mills, 23 
 Llangorse Legend, 21 
 Lloyd's ' ■ Historical Memoranda 
 
 of Breconshire," 20 
 
 Mabinogion, Owen's translation 
 
 of, 80 
 Methodist Revival, 127 
 Mevrick's "Cardiganshire," 98, 
 
 103 
 Mineral Springs discovered at 
 
 Llanwrtyd, 8 
 ;\Iineralogy, 115 
 Moore, death of Sir John, 90 
 Mythology of British Druids, 95 
 
 Napoleon, 90 
 
 Nichol, Mr., a barrister, 70 
 
 North's, booksellers, 66 ; North's 
 
 waggon's, 78 
 North Wales famihes' arms, 116 
 
 Ossian's Poems, 77 
 
 Owseley, Sir WiUiam, 66 
 
 Owen and the Millennium, 80 ; 
 his translation of Gorohan 
 Cynvelyn, 90 ; Dictionary, 
 114
 
 151 
 
 Peach fa mily, 85 
 
 Porthmawr, 23 
 
 Powel, Ven. Father PhiHp, O.S.B., 
 
 17 
 Powel's of Castle Madoc, 16 
 Powel, vicar of Bovighrood, 7 
 Powel of Maesporth, 15 
 Powell, of Maescarnog, 34 
 Preface, vii 
 
 Prices of Glynllech, 11 
 Prices of Porthyrhyd, 11 
 Price, Richard, M.P., for Radnor 
 
 105 
 Price, Walter, letter to, 118 
 
 Radnorshire, Notes for a History 
 
 of, 105, 106 
 Rents and prices in Brecon, 1796, 
 
 129 
 Roman Remains, 28 ; Camps, 119 
 
 Scethrog, great battle at, 21 
 ' ' Ship ' ' at Olveston, 79 
 Simons family, transportation of, 
 86 
 
 Stevens, Dr., his account of 
 
 Gwynnes of Garth, 5 
 Stone Henge, 111 
 
 Thomas, Sir Rhys ap. 111 
 Tm-ton, Dr., 70 
 
 Valley of Corpses, 21 
 Vaughan the Silurist, 18 
 Vaughan of Newton, 15 
 
 Walbeoffes of Llanhamlach, 15 
 Wesley, John, in Breconshire, 6 ; 
 
 thought to be a Jesuit, 6 
 Wilkins, Walter, of Maesllwch, 
 
 54 
 Welsh Customs, 126, 127 ; Tours, 
 126 ; superstitions, 127 ; place- 
 names, 22 
 Wells, Rev. M., 69 
 Williams, Daniel, of Llwynworm- 
 
 wood, 11 
 Williams, of Ivy Tower, 29 
 Williams, Rev. Edward, 85 
 Williams's " Chair of Glamorgan" 
 86
 
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