Welsh Studies

LITERATURE SINCE 1500 By DAVID R. JOHNSTON, Lecturer in Welsh in the University College ofCardiff

B. Jarvis, 'Dysgeidiaeth Cristnoges o Ferch a'i gefndir', YB, I3: 2 Ig--26, discusses Renaissance attitudes towards women's educa• tion, with particular reference to Richard Owen's Welsh translation (preserved in a MS of I 552) of De Instructione Feminae Christianae by Juan Luis Vives. D. Evans, 'Mwyalchen wen mewn caets', NLWJ, 23: 329-33, publishes the text of a cywydd by the late I 6th-c. Glamorgan poet Sils ap Sion about a caged white blackbird. The cywydd deuair jjrion metre and the tunes to which it was sung from the I 6th c. onwards are discussed by M. Evans, 'Deuair fyrion ac alawon', Canu Gwerin, 8: I6-3r. M. Burdett-Jones, '"Sacrafen Penyd" ', YB, I 3: 227-3 I, shows that a now lost Welsh translation of the recusant text, A Short Treatise of the Sacrament of Penance, made by the Renaissance scholar Thomas Wiliems, was in the hands of the I8th-c. lexicographer Thomas Lloyd, who refers to the manuscript translation to illustrate words in his copy ofJohn Davies's Dictionar• ium Duplex. Two documentary references to Thomas Wiliems, dated I602 and I604, are printed and discussed by G. C. G. Thomas, 'Dau gyfeiriad at Syr Tomas Wiliems, Trefriw, ym mhapurau'r sesiwn fawr am swydd Ddinbych', NLW}, 23:425-27. Isaac Thomas concludes his study of the translation of the scriptures in 'Y fersiwn o'r Hen Destament Hebraeg ym Meibl Cymraeg I62o', ib., 24: I-45· T. attempts to show in detail the amount and nature of the I 620 revision of William Morgan's I588 Old Testament. Just over one third of Morgan's text was changed, mostly to bring it into line with the English Authorized Version. The translators' main criterion is shown to be faithfulness to the Hebrew, including literal translation of idioms, but clarity and elegance were also important considerations. The orthography was brought closer to the standards of strict-metre poetry. Sixteen Welsh metrical versions of Psalm 23, ranging from the I 7th c. to the present day, are published by E. W.James in 'Dim pall ar Salm xxm', BCEC, 2:2 IS-22, adding to the 43 others already published in the same journal. D. W. Wiliam, 'Cerdd Robert Humphrey i'r schismaticiaid', Y Cofiadur, 50: I 2-I 7, prints the text of a poem of I 747 by H. attacking Nonconformists, and gives some details about the author. B. L.Jones, 'Benjamin Francis: yr alltud "ymhlith y Saeson'", YB, I 3: 232-46, summarizes the life and work of an I8th-c. poet and hymn-writer (in both Welsh and English), who spent most of his life as a Baptist Literature since 1500 s8g m1mster in Gloucestershire. Particular attention is given to F.'s Welsh hymns. The original version of the hymn 'Dilynaffy Mugail o 'modd' ( 1786) is compared with the version current today, showing that its poetic power has been considerably weakened by editorial interference. Jones shows that F.'s attitude towards language and metrics was more classical than that ofhis Methodist contemporaries. The work of one of the most important of the second generation of Methodist hymn-writers is considered by D. C. Griffiths in 'Emynau Pedr Fardd', Y Traethodydd, 140: I24-36. P. F.'s hymns are shown to be more polished than those of the 18th c., containing more doctrine at the expense of personal feelings. G. G. Evans has published two articles on the 18th-c. interludes. 'Er mwyniant i'r cwmpeini mwynion - sylwadau ar yr anterliwtiau', Taliesin, 51:31-43, describes an interlude written by Huw Jones of Llangwm and Sian Cadwaladr ofBala, c. I 765, and attempts to account for the popular• ity of the interludes, laying particular stress upon the prominence of sexual elements. In 'Henaint a thranc yr anterliwt', ib., 54: 14-29, E. considers the attitude of the secular and religious authorities towards the interludes, and argues that their decline in the late 18th c. was principally due to opposition from the Church. The influence of Methodism on the work ofElis y Cowper and Twm o'r Nant is briefly discussed. A number of articles by G. Bowen on early eisteddfodau and bardic ceremonies contain valuable details of the literary life of the period: 'Beirdd Ynys Prydain ac Eisteddfod Caerwys', Taliesin, 52: 44-52, is on an attempt by David Samuel and William Owen Pughe to connect Gorsedd y Beirdd with the Caerwys Eisteddfod of 1798; similar connections are discussed in 'Eisteddfod Ceria Gorsedd Bron Aran 182 1', Barn, 2 70: 266-68, and 'Gorsedd Eisteddfod Caerfyrddin 1819', Barddas, 9g-wo: 1o-1 1; 'Gorseddau cynnar Mor• gannwg, 1: I 795-1 797', Barn, 266: 1 16-18, and 'Gorseddau cynnar Morgannwg, n: 1798', ib., 269: 231-33, are on lolo Morganwg's bardic ceremonies, with extensive quotations from his papers; lolo Morganwg and his son Taliesin ab lolo are the central figures in 'Gorsedd Twynyrodyn, I825, ac Eisteddfodau Tafarn y Fotas, Merthyr'' Barddas, 97: 6-7; 'Gorsedd Dinorwig (I 799)'' ib., 98:5-7, is on the enmity between Iolo Morganwg and Dafydd Ddu Eryri, and Gwynedd poets' opposition to linguistic and literary innovations from south Wales and London. Mari Ellis, 'Angharad Llwyd, I78o-1866', Taliesin, 52: 1o-43 and 53: 2o-3 1, is a welcome study of a neglected figure, concentrating on Ll.'s literary and antiquarian activities in connection with the eisteddfodau of the period.]. E. Caerwyn Williams, Defnydd Nofelydd, Mold, Pwyllgor Y stafell Goffa D. 0., 8 pp., is on the people and events which influenced Daniel Owen's development as a novelist, emphasizing his family circumstances and his decision to