Welsh Journals

THE COMPLETE READING LIST OF A CARMARTHENSHIRE STUDENT, 1763-7 MS. 2.169 in the Cardiff Public Library is a quarto vellum-bound Common- place Book. On the fly-leaf is a printed book-plate1 with an interlacing pattern around the name: Thomas Beynon of Greenmeadow. Facing it the word 'Common-place Book' is written in a bold copperplate hand; in the top right-hand corner is the name 'D. R. Rees'.2 Thomas Beynon of Greenmeadow is mentioned once elsewhere in the Cardiff Public Library. MS. 2.1293 contains on the bound spine the legend: 'Meddygon Myddfai, 1753. Thomas Beynon of Greenmeadow'. More recently it has been ascertained4 that although the first page of this bound manuscript repeats the above statement of content and author, the text which follows is a copy made by the amanuensis William Bona of Llanpumpsaint of 'Geir Lyfr Llysiau', a Herbal Dictionary by lago ap Dewi. The last page of the copy contains the words: 'Diwedd 1753'. However, the title-page referred to above is written in the same bold hand which is used on page 2 of Thomas Beynon's Common-place Book (hereafter referred to as C.P.B.). The contents of this C.P.B. deserves (and will receive elsewhere) a separate treatment as a guide to the reading not only of Welshmen but also of English read- ers during the second half of the eighteenth century. In this article I am solely concerned with the remarkable reading list with which it ends and the identification of its writer. From internal evidence it appears that he wrote Welsh5 and was interested in Carmarthenshire. The clue of the 'Meddygon Myddfa' volume narrowed the search for 'Greenmeadow' which eventually proved to be situated in the parish of Llansadwrn; a sufficient number of records6 connected this parish with a family of Beynons, some of whom were titled 'gent'. Since the writer of this C.P.B. was an educated man with a good knowledge of Latin and an up-to-date acquaintance with English writers, I expected to find his name in the records of Oxford and Cambridge Colleges or the Carmarthen School. He is not to be found at Oxford or Cambridge although the name of Beynon is found at both places, and the Carmarthen records have too many gaps. 1 This book-plate is very like that of 'The Rev. Evan Evans' (leuan Brydydd Hir, about 1755) printed opposite page 180 in Transactions of the Historical Society of West Wales, Vol. IV. 2 Since this volume belongs to the 'Tonn Collection', he can be identified as David Rice Rees. See Y Byw- graffiadur Cymreig. 3 This is Fenton MS. No. 29 (Phillips 14439). 4Cf. G. J. Williams: 'Meddygon Myddfai', Lien Cymru, I, td. 169-173. 5 Pages 25-27 of the C.P.B. are headed The tenets of the Methodists. It begins: 'Y mae'r Methodistiaid yn arwyddocau jawn drefn, Cyfenw yw hwn, mae'n debygol, a ddarfu i'r sect hon gymhwyso attynt eu hunain, o her- wydd eu bod yn bamu fod crefydd wedi myned allan oi lie ai threfn. er ys llawer o amser, hid nes darfu iddynt, hwy gyfodi. Canys maent yn dal ag yn haeru'. This is followed by twenty points in Welsh made by the sect. At the bottom of the entry is the tag, 'Nequid Nimis'. 6 Particularly those recorded in Transactions of the Historical Society of West Wales.