:

Powells that held possession of Celvydd Ievan. The following extract from Dr. W. O. Pughe's Dictionary, under the word "Čelydd," relative to the same MS., no doubt refers to the Powell family:"Celydd Ieuan, a house in Glamorgan, the inheritance of a family that is in possession of a manuscript of the Welsh Bible, translated by an ancestor, about a hundred years before the present version."

I am informed that about the year 1770 the "widow" Ann Evans was married to Mr. William Basset (of Lanelay), who practised as a solicitor at Neath. That Mr. Basset having become a widower, married, secondly, a Miss Lloyd, from Breconshire, to whom he bequeathed the lands at Bettws acquired by his first marriage, together, it is assumed, with the personal property so acquired, including of course the MS. in question. In what way, or to whom the widow Basset disposed of the said personal property, I have no means of ascertaining. Her right to the Bettws estate, however, was contested by one of the Powell family, and the consequence was a suit in Chancery, which was not terminated till about 1810, when the contending claimants compromised the matter, and joined in the sale of Celvydd Ievan, with other farms, to the late John Edwards, Esq., of Rheolan, the father of the present proprietor, N. Edward Vaughan, Esq.

I leave to others to take up the thread of the inquiry where I have been constrained to drop it. It is an interesting subject; let it be well ventilated.-I remain, &c.,

Bridgend, June 10, 1859.

CERRIG Y GWYDDYL.

JOHN E. JONES.

To the Editor of the Cambrian Journal.

SIR,-Can any of your readers inform me whether there be traces of a circle to be seen at the place called Cerrig y Gwyddyl? If so, I should be inclined to believe that Gwyddyl here must be synonymous with Gwyddon, and that the whole expression must mean 66 the stones of the wise men," or Druids.—I remain, &c.,

DON.

"GWYDDYL IWERDDON, MON, A PHRYDYN." Taliesin in "Armes Prydain."

To the Editor of the Cambrian Journal.

SIR, The Irish were possessed of Anglesey, as well as of a part of Scotland, in the time of Taliesin. See also Caradoc, from whom the same appears. Caswallon Lawhir, it should seem, did nor extirpate the Irish in Anglesey, but only subjugated them. That they remained there, and at last became as it were incorporated with the native Welsh, is clear from Caradoc. They also remained in other parts of North Wales, Arvon, Meirion, &c. They were for ages,

especially in Anglesey, disaffected towards the Welsh princes, siding with the Norwegian and Danish invaders, with the Earls of Chester, the Kings of England, &c. There are all over North Wales nearly the vestiges of round stone-built huts, which are everywhere called Cyttiau'r Gwyddelod; none in South Wales. "The Irish Invasion" would not be a bad subject for an Eisteddvod.—I remain, &c., OSBORN.

IOLO MORGANWG'S FAMILY.

To the Editor of the Cambrian Journal.

SIR,-If I recollect rightly, nothing is said of old Iolo's family in his Life, which was published some years ago. Allow me to make up this deficiency. Iolo Morganwg was descended from William Cogan, Esq., coroner for the county of Glamorgan, A.D. 1500, who sold Little Cogan, in the said county, in the time of Henry VII. The Cogan arms were "Gules, three fig leaves, argent; crest on a wreath of the colour, (viz., argent and gules,) a lion's head erased with mullets of six "or." Perhaps in a future letter I may furnish you with the intermediate links. Yours truly,

GWAETHVOed.

ANNALS OF THE CYMRY.

To the Editor of the Cambrian Journal.

SIR,-The papers entitled "Traditionary Annals of the Cymry," that have already appeared in the Cambrian Journal, have given me very great pleasure, and I am sorry to find their discontinuance in the last Volume. I trust, however, the series will be continued, and that some one of your contributors, fully competent for the task, will undertake a History of Wales from that point at which the "Annals” will naturally terminate. The Institute will then have been the means of furnishing a good and complete History of Wales, free from those defects that must necessarily belong to the productions of foreigners imperfectly acquainted with the traditions, language, and customs of the Cymry. I remain, &c.,

March 1, 1859.

CARADOC.

[Our correspondent will find that his wish, in respect of "The Traditionary Annals of the Cymry," has been anticipated in the present Number.-ED. CAMB. JOUR.]

EXPOSITION OF DRUIDISM.

To the Editor of the Cambrian Journal.

SIR, I was surprized to find that the report of the proceedings at the Llangollen Eisteddfod contained a most imperfect account of the

remarks made on that occasion by Myfyr Morganwg. As the subject on which he spoke is one of great interest, this is very much to be regretted. I trust, therefore, you will be able to prevail upon the Arch-Druid to furnish the readers of the Journal with an exposition of his views on Druidism, which will be the only means of compensating for the disappointment experienced, I have no doubt, by many besides myself, by the omission of the Druid's address.

Although we may be disinclined to assent to all the doctrines he may broach, surely we should not be afraid of their enunciation, as the cause of truth has nothing to fear from free discussion; especially when, in the case of the readers of this Journal, the audience will be composed of educated men.-I remain, &c.,

Tenby, March 25, 1859.

THOMAS PUrnell.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES.

THE BISHOP OF BANGOR.-At last the claims of Wales have been attended to, and the policy which the English government had adhered to for the last 150 years has been reversed. During all that time it has been supposed that English prelates would have succeeded in Anglifying the Principality. It has been at length admitted that the experiment has proved a failure. We have no doubt that ere long it will be found out in like manner that the exclusion of the Welsh language from our national schools will have failed to answer the same purpose. That exclusion is already bearing fruit in the Literary Meetings which are rapidly spreading over the whole of Wales.

THE HENGWRT LIBRARY.-We are glad to find that the unrivalled collection of MSS. made by R. Vaughan, the antiquary, has been bequeathed by the late owner to W. W. E. Wynne, Esq., of Peniarth, the respected member for the county of Merioneth. Mr. Wynne is a man who knows how to value these treasures, whilst, at the same time, he will, we have no doubt, render them accessible to all such scholars as may be anxious to see, or to consult them. We trust that he will take immediate measures towards the publication of that unique volume, the GREAL. The loss of this MS. would be irretrievable. It is said to have been written in the sixth year of Henry I.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS AND DRESS Of the Welsh DURING THE MIDDLE AGES.-A correspondent is anxious to see in our pages a paper on each of these subjects. Will any of our readers furnish one or both of them?

The first butterfly is thus saluted in Wales,—

"Gloyn Duw annerch Dduw

Pan ddel yn ol ni ddaw etto."

The sun was called simpliciter Duw, whence Gloyn Duw (the butterfly), ministra Dei, vel precursor, or harbinger of the sun's return to the northern climate.

REVIEWS.

GEIRIADUR Cenhedlaethol Cymraeg A SAESNEG. A National Dictionary of the Welsh Language, with English and Welsh Equivalents. By W. OWEN PUGHE, D.C.L., F.S.A. The Third Edition, Edited and Enlarged by ROBERT JOHN PRYSE. Part I. Denbigh: T. Gee. 1859.

The Editor tells us that his chief object in this work is to give a complete list of all such words as are to be found in Welsh authors from Aneurin down to Ieuan Glan Geirionydd. From the Part before us we infer that he has been very industrious in making his collections, and that, as he says, the work will contain "scores of thousands of words in addition to those which are to be found in Dr. Pughe's Dictionary. Besides being greatly enlarged, the work exhibits Welsh as well as English equivalents, whilst it has dropped almost all of the great lexicographer's quotations. Why under such circumstances it should be considered as an Edition of Dr. Pughe's Dictionary surpasses our comprehension.

It is expected that the work will be completed in about 30 Parts. We wish it every success.

TALIESIN; Cylchgrawn Chwarterol at Wasanaeth y Cymdeithasau Llenyddol, yr Eisteddfodan, a'r Orsedd yng Nghymru. No. I. Ruthin: J Clark.

1859.

This is the First Part of a Quarterly intended for the use of the Literary Meetings, the Eisteddvodau, and the Gorsedd in Wales. Its contents are," Introduction," "The Llangollen Eisteddvod," "Adjudication on the Chair Ode,” ""Ode on the Battle of Bosworth Field," "Hell," "My Mother's Grave," "Englynion on the River Dee," "Epitaph on Llywelyn," "Ruthin Eisteddvod," "An Essay on Juvenile Depravity," "The Village Funeral," "Baron Bramwell," "Love Letters," "Miscellaneous," "Correspondence," &c. It promises to be popular.

THE

CAMBRIAN JOURNAL.

ALBAN

(AUTUMNAL EQUINOX.)

Elved.

AN ESSAY ON THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY, BY PRINCE MADOG AP OWEN GWYNEDD.

(Continued from p. 106.)

IN Owen's British Remains, printed in 1777, there is another account that was communicated to the abovementioned Charles Lloyd, Esq., of Dôl y Frân, by one Mr. Steadman, a native of Brecknockshire, in which he relates that, being in a Dutch ship, about the year 1650, and landing on the American coast, he met with an Indian people who spoke Welsh.

Mr. Charles Lloyd, about the same time, received another account from one Oliver Humphreys, a Welshman, who lived for some time at Surinam, where he became acquainted with an Englishman, who, he says, had been among the North American Indians, and had learned the language of one of their tribes, which Mr.

CAMB. JOUR., 1859.

Y