Welsh Journals

Sep. 2, 1891. BYE-GONES. 159 THE WELSH UTILIZATION SOCIETY. The annual meeting of the Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language was held at Swansea in con¬ nection with the recent National Eisteddfod, The Ven. Archdeacon Griffiths presided, and amongst others present were Professor Rhys, of Oxford, Pro¬ fessor Lloyd, of Aberystwyth, and the secretary, Mr Beriah Evans.—The annual report of the Council congratulated the members upon the progress of the movement. During the past year a Committee of Welsh scholars had been engaged in drafting a re¬ port on Welsh orthography, including recommenda¬ tions having for their object the fixing of a recog¬ nized standard of Welsh orthography. The Com¬ mittee had given much time and labour to the work, and had now placed in the hands of the Council a final report which will shortly be published in Welsh and English. Another Sub-Committee had been engaged in drafting a detailed scheme for teaching Welsh in intermediate schools. The Council decided to offer a prize for the best Welsh historical narrative or story founded on any Welsh historical incident, suited for the reading exercises of Stage III. of " Welsh as a specific subject." The particu¬ lars of the competition will be supplied by the Secre¬ tary on application.—A report of the Intermediate Schools Scheme Committee was read, it being signed on behalf of the Committee by Principal Roberts of Aberystwyth. The report said it was necessary that steps should at once be taken to bring with as little delay as possible before the Central Education Committee meeting at Shrews¬ bury, the Joint Education Committees, the Gover¬ nors of Intermediate Schools, and the Head Masters and Head Mistresses of such schools, the import¬ ance—fa^ " Of giving to the Welsh language a place iu the system of education both as an instrument of culture along with Greek, Latin, and the modern languages, and as a means to the acquisition of English ;" and (b) " Of giving to the history, anti¬ quities, and geography of Wales a recognised place in the curriculum ;" and other recommendations with regard to regular school instruction in the Welsh language, and exercises for the Higher and Lower Forms of the Schools.—After some discus¬ sion, the following resolution was unanimously agreed to :—"That this meeting approves of the report of the Intermediate Education Committee, and wishes in addition to impress upon the members of the Welsh County Councils, and the authorities of Welsh Intermediate Schools, the great desirableness of giving considerable weight to a literary knowledge of Welsh in the appointment of head teachers to such schools, and trusts that in districts where Welsh is spoken no Head-masters or Head-mistresses not possessing this qualification will be appointed except where other suitable candidates are not forthcoming."—The report of the Orthographical Committee was read, after which the meeting ter¬ minated with a vote of thanks to Archdeacon Grif¬ fiths for presiding. SEPTEMBER 2, 1891. NOTES. GWEN AB LLYWARCH.-In an old Welsh MS. there is an account of a person accidentally killing in a battle the horse of Gwen ab Llywarch, and then dispatching Gwen. Some time afterwards the skull of the animal was placed across the Morlas rivulet, near Selattyn ; and who happened to pass that way but Llywarch Hen. So his servant said to him, " Here is the skull of your son Gwen ab Lly wareh s horse." The veteran bard composed the following pithy lines on the oc¬ casion :— Mi welais ddydd i'r march, Ffriw hydd, tafledydd tywarch, Na sangai neb ar ei en, Pan oedd tan Gwen ab Llywarch; That is—" I have seen the day when this horse was swifter than the stag, ploughing up the clods of the valley. No one dared to tread on his jaws when under Gwen ab Llywarch." Llywarch Hex. MYVYRIAN LETTERS, Continued (August 19, 1891). XIII.— IOLO MORGANWG TO OWEN JONES :— Aberystwyth, Novr. 12th, 1799. Dear Sir,—Here I am at length after very great difficulties, the unremitting rains detaining me almost everywhere on the road, so that for some days I have not been able to budge out of the hole where I had sheltered myself. I was two days going from Bangor to Conway; after being detained there for another day I reached Llanrwst—wet to the skin. There the rain kept me for almost two days; a fair morning set me once more a going, but before I reached Y Foelas I was overtaken by rain, and at Corwen that night I was obliged to wring the water out of my shirt in going to bed; this I am obliged to do almost every night on the road. I have indeed several shirts, &c. with me, but being obliged to wrap them about my papers to preserve them from ruin, 1 am always without a dry shirt, and it is hardly ever that 1 can find an opportunity of drying one. I could not reach Bala from Corwen in less than two days—half an hour's cessation of rain en¬ couraged me to set out for Dolgelley, but ere I reached Llanycil the usual weather came on, and only five miles from Bala, at Llanuwchllyn, I was obliged to stop—as wet as a drowned rat. Next I reached Dolgelley, and waited on Mr Herbert— perused "Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin" and "Llyfr Taliesin," in the same handwriting; and it seems also as ancient as the other—both on parchment and very legible. I perused also a very large folio col¬ lection of historical fragments, the same I take it that Mr Edward Llwyd terms "HanesynBlodeuog." I also perused other MSS. There is also a transcript, by the celebrated Robert Vaughan, of the Llanerch copy of " Brut y Brenhinoedd," supposed to be written by Tysilio. This I copied, as I supposed you would be glad to have it; it i3 a small thing. I also copied what followed in continuation of the History down to the year 1400. This History is said to be written by Guttyn Owain in a book of parchment for the monastery of Dinas Basi (Basing- werk). It is indeed (as that infamous rascal, Lewys Morys, observes), without the miraculous and fabu¬ lous accounts of Brutus, Arthur, &c, that Galfrid has. But there is nothing under the heavens more