Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

9 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

Advertising

CAMBRIAN GOSSIP.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

CAMBRIAN GOSSIP. The bards of Festiniog have conferred upon the slippery De Wet the title of Slywan y Vaal' (the Eel of the Vail). 000 Among the examiners at Oxford for next year are Mr. Owen M. Edwards, Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and Mr S. G. Mostyn, Exeter C ollege, Oxford, who was at one time mathematical lecturer at St. David's College, Lampeter. 000 Mr. Vernon Stanley Jones, of Ystrad Meurig-the boy who delivered a Welsh speech at Eton when at school there in 1894, and who afterwards took the highest honours in classics at Cambridge Univer- sity-bas just been elected fellow and tutor of Magdalen College, Cambridge. 0 0 0 'Out of ,the 20 Cabinet Ministers, the Prime Minister is of Welsh descent; the Chancellor of Exchequer is Sir John Lle- welyn's brother-in law the Secretary for Scotland was the chairman of the Welsh Sunday Closing Commission; the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland bears a Welsh name and the Postmaster-General hAS an estate and a seat near Aberystwyth. This,' writes a keen Welsh correspondent of M.A.P. is the best I can make out of the new Cabinet. They will have to do the rest.' 000 At the annual meetings of the Free Church Council of Wrexham and the dis trict, held last week at Wrexham, a report was presented stating that at the request of the Federation of the Evangelical Free Churches of North Wales, a Morgan Llwyd Memorial Committee bad been appointed, and the committee suggested that an obelisk be placed in the Rhosddu Cemetery, where the mortal remains of the late Morgan Llwyd have been interred. The report was adopted, but it was decided to postpone the issuing lof an appeal for subscriptions towards the proposed obelisk until about March next. ooo The members of the new Crongregational Free Church which is now in course of erec- tion at Wrexham, are also taking steps to perpetuate the memory of the late Morgan Llwyd, and in front of the building a me- morial stone has been placed by Mr. Alfred Neobard Palmer, the well-known historian of Wrexham. The stone bears the following inscription: 'In memory of Morgan Lloyd (Morgan Llwyd o Wynedd), first Indepen- ent minister of Wrexham. Born 1610. Died 1657.' Mr. Palmer, who is acknow- ledged to be an authority on the history of Morgan Llwyd, has since the publication of The History of the Olden Nonconformity of Wrexham' in the ye r 1889, in which he gives a biography of Morgan Llwyd, gained additional knowledge relating to Morgan Llwyd, which throws considerable light upon several important events ia his life, as well as upon his works in poetry and in prose. 000 In bis Oliver Cromwell,' recently issued, Mr. John Morley says of the Great Protec- tor :-He was the descendant in the third degree of Richard Cromwell, whose earlier name was Richard Williams, a Welshman from Glamorganshire, nephew and one of the agents of Thomas Cromwell, the iron handed servant of Henry VIII., the famous sledge-hammer of the monks. In the deed of jointure on his marriage, the future Pro tector is described as Oliver Cromwell, alias Williams- LTence,' continues Mr. Morley, 'those who insist that what is called a Celtic strain is needed to give fire and speed to an English stock, find Cromwell a case in point.' 000 A correspondent received a letter and cablegram from Major Owen Thomas, Bryn- ddu, Llanfechell, Anglesea, who has from the start of the war been associated with Brabant's Light Horse, and seen much active service. Cabling from Cape Town on Saturday afternoon, he states that he had authority to form a squadron of light horse, composed in the greater part of Welshmen, and that the Prince of Wales has allowed his title to be identified with the squadron. Major Owen Thomas says that there are some vacancies. Non commissioned officers are engaged for six months' service at a daily pay of 5s. and all found. Cablegrams and applications will find him for the pre- sent at Cape Town. ooo 'A Gentleman's Tour Through Mon- mouthshire and Wales,' published in the year 1797, is a .book that cannot be read with- out amusing the reader. In his preface the author, with the Englishman's usual aptness for foreign languages, gives directions as to the pronunciation of Welsh place names. 4 LI,' says he, is pronounced as Thi, strongly aspirated,' and adds that Llanfyllin should be pronounced Thlan-vuth-lin. His re- marks on the then condition of various towns are interesting. 'Cardiff is a popu lous but ill built town.' 'Llandaff is a paltry village.' Swansea makes a hand- some appearance.' Carmarthen is a large and handsome Welsh town.' 'Newport (Pem.) is a beggarly town.' 'The dirty vil- lage of St. Dogmael's.' Brecon is a large, handsome town.' 9QO It is not generally known that there is Íù North Wales a Charles Dickens* Village, a village and parish which form the subject of one of the chapters of the great novelist's Uncommercial Traveller.' This is the village of Moelfre, in the parish of Llanall- go, Anglesea. Here, in 1859, Dickens spent his Christmas, Two months before had oc- curred in Moelfre B ky the long-to-be-re- membered wreck of the Royal Charter.' Dickens had been touched by the accounts he had heard of the goodness and kindness shown by the cler ymanof the parish on the lamentable occasion, and the novelist said to himself, 'In the Christmas season of the year I should like to see that man.' And he saw him, not only at Christmas as des- cribed in the book, but on two or three sub- sequent occasions. Some of the people have a distinct recollection of the great man's visits. 000 Mr. Owen M. Edwards is said to be spend- ing his Christmas vacation at Oxford, en- gaged in writing his story of Wales for the Story of the Nations" series. It is no exaggeration to say that the book is awaited with eager expectation by a whole nation, and that it is hoped that he will do for Wales what Franz Palacky has done for Bohemia and Alexandra Herculane did for Portugal. That Mr. Edwards is pre emi- nently qualified for his task, is known to all who have read his contributions on the history of Wales in his own magazine, 1 Cymru.' Apart from his special knowledge of Wales, it may be considered fortunate that the writer of the book is a tutor and sxaminer in history at Oxford, where he not )nly took first-class In the History School, but won the Stanhope, the Lothian, and the Arnold University prizes, though he was technically debarred from being granted the Arnold prize. 000 While Wales can claim Sir Lewis Morris as a Welshman, o waed coch cyfa,' it is not generally known that she can also lay some claim to William Morris. In The Lite of William Morris,' published about a year ago by Mr. J. W. Mackait (an examiner of the Board of Education, and a son-in law of Sir Edward Burne-Jones) it is stated that 'the Morrises were originally of Welsh descent, and their native country was the valley of the. Upper Severn and its tributaries, where the mixture or antagonism of two races in a country of exceptional natural beauty has bred a stock of fine physical quality, but of no remarkable gift either of intellect or imagination.' But Mr. Mackail remarks in another part of the same book, 'In spite of his WeLsh blood, and of that vein of roman- tic melancholy in him which it is customary to regard as of Celtic origin, his sympathies were throughout with the Teutonic stocks. Among all the mythologies of Europe, the Irish mythology interested him least, for Welsh poetry he did not care deeply, and even the Arthurian legend never took the same hold on his mind, or meant as much to him, as the heroic cycle of the Teutonic race.' 000 A very popular American author, Mr. John Burroughs, is very appreciative of Welsh scenery in his Winter Sunshine.' In his 'October Abroad' he describes his journey from Chester to Holyhead The ride along the coast of Wales was crowded with novelty and interest-the sea on one side, and the mountains on the other-the latter bleak and heathery in the foreground, but cloud-capped and snow-white in the dis- tance. The afternoon was dark and lower- ing, and just before entering Conway we had a very striking view. A turn in the road suddenly brought us to where we looked through a black framework of heathery hills, and beheld Snowdon and his chiefs apparently with the full rigours of winter upon them. It was so satisfying that I lost at once my desire to tramp up them.' Mr. Burroughs then proceeds to romance' about the Welsh character, being his judgment on the few companions he had in the train. His view of the Welsh charac ter is as reliable as his statement—a poetical license-that he beheld Snowdon.' No- where on the run from Chester to Conway which he describes, is Snowdon itself visible, and what he took for the monarch of the Welsh mountains is the conical Moel Sia- bod, which dominates Capel Ceryg and Bettws y Coed.

!FLINTSHIRE & DENBIGHSHIRE…

DISTRESS IN SIBERIA.

diirbcnmg. ; t

WATERING FORCED CROPS.

PESTS OF FORCED MELONS.

---,.,-----""....,_..::::::…

[No title]