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JJTERARY ASSOCIATIONS OF MERTHYR TYDFIL. [BY A. J. PERM AN, M.A., COTXNTY SCROOL.1, (Given before Merthyr Naturalists' Society. (Continued from last week.) And now that I have presented to you the ert Merthyr antiquarian, the translator, and the literarv historian of the nineteenth century, ycu will expect me to produce a Merthyr poet, and it is pleasant to be able to gratify you. In 1327 appeared "Cardiff Castle: A Poem, with explanatory remarks, and historical extracts" by Taliesin Williams. The author was the fam- ous schoolmaster, son of Edward Will tarns (Iolo Morganwg, a celebrated bard) whose school in Merthyr was attended by many boys who have since become notable. Of these, two, at any rate, may be mentioned—Mr. Charles Herbert .James, M.P. for the Borough, and Sir W. T. Lewis. Taliesin Williams, or "Ap Iolo," to give him his bardic name, was a constant, and successful competitor at Eisteddfodau. He won special praise for a treatise on the "Bardic Alphabet;" he wrote much Welsh poetry, which is greatly admired; and he devoted much time to the arrangement and publication of valua- ble materials left by his father. lie died in 1347 it the age of 60. Of his first English poem, "Cardiff Castle," he says in the preface. "About a third of the following little piece was composed a few weeks before Christmas, and spoken by one of my pupils at an nnnua.l recitation on the eve of the vacation. Should this little publication," he goes on. "be deem- ed worthy of encouragement, I purpose direct- ing my attention to the other castles which be- came the spoils of Norman rapacity." It is a poem of about 300 lines in metres like those of Scott's poems, end it is clear that the Scott series so enormously popular between 1805 and 1813 had larjrel- influenced the author "Why not do for Wales," lie may have reasonably asked, "what Scctt has done for Scotland?"! Unfortunately, the Scott metres are danger- ously easy for a man of any poetical facultv, and Taliesin Williams was hardly a Welsh Scott. The chief subject of the Cardiff poem is the storming of Cardiff' Castla by Ivor Bach (the redoubtable Lord of Upper Senghenydd, who is reputed to have lived at Morlais Castle) and his men in the time of th second Norman lord, Robert of Gloucester, and the temporary re- lease of the surrounding country from the Norman vassalage. It begins :— "The Norman long has ceased to sway In fair Glamorgan's Vale. Fitzhamon's race have passed away, Their deeds as transient as their day; Whate'er their might, no minstrel lay Perpetuates the tale But old tradition through the land Still speaks of raplnels fearful hand That followed in their train." and contains several interesting and forcible passages. For example, the couplet on Liberty "None. none, possess except the free Th' elastic spring of Liberty." the reference to Ivor: "And bright his deeds while ages roll, Brave Ivor of the giant soul; Who drew his sword in freedom's cause Asserting Howell's liberal laws." and the reference to Robert of Normandy: "That gateward Tower, Oh! could it tell Of all the miseries that befell To Royal Robert there Doom'd to its awful prison cell In anguish and despair; Deprived of sight by cruel hand, His sceptred brother's stern command. And lost to nature's page, He withered on thro' manhood's prime And bow'd beneath the hand of time And found decrepit age." On the whole it may be pronounced a pleas- ing and spirited poem, not disfigured by any ari glaring deficiencies, but at the same time not in any way original or rising to anything more than the second rank. DLAMORGAN TRADITIONS. The "Doom of Colyn Dolphyn: A Poem with note3 illustrative of various traditions of Glam- organshire," published in 1337, is a much more ambitious work, and on the whole a less suc- cessful one. It is founded on a story found in the records of the family of the Stradlings of St. Donat's. It is said that a certain Sir Harry returning once from the English side of the Channel, was taken prisoner by a notori- ous sea thief (hailing from Brittany), named Colvn Dolphyn. and obliged to pay a ransom of 2,000 marks, which was raised by the sale of several manors. Sir Harry then had a watch tower built on the coast, and one stormy night, Colyn, having mistaken the light, was wrecked with all his crew on the Nash sands near by, and beinrr captured, was tried by Sir Harry, and hanged in the Castle. The poem is in three cantos called respectively, "The Va.se and the Huntsman," "The Trial," "The Execution," and the narrative is supposed to be given by an old huntsman—Howell (another reminiscence of Scott), at a Christmas festival given by Sir Ed- ward Stradling (grandson of Sir Harry) in St. Donat's Castle somewhere about the middle of the sixteeoth century. A "reat deal of the first canto is taken up by a description of a -vase oa which are pictured figures illustrative of Welsh myths and mythological heroes. Sir Edward then says to Howel:— "Recall thy youthful years-relate 1 The tale of Colyn Dolphyn's fate. The wreck is described with some vigour. One of Sir Edward's men says: "Ho Colyn Satan's tough compeer, At last his victim, art thou here? Bear up, old Dreadnought, hail, what cheer? Coma, clear this pool-nor fume nor fret, Exalted fate awaits thee yet." Colyn is thus described: "Fierce Colyn of resounding tread Whose frame athletic, stature tall Like Saul in Israel tower'd o'er all." In the trial canto a long and rather dull dia- logue takes place between Colyn and Sir Harry, and the third" canto describing the execution the hanging of Colyn and his men—is gruesome without bein speci- ally striking. The actosyllabic couplet is man- aged with ease and smoothness, but the narra- tive is a little confused and laboured, and the descriptive passages are not of aJiv special beauty. If "Marmion," and "The Lord of the Isles," and "Harold the Dauntless" have all been more or less forgotten by the modern reader, we can hardly be surprised if "Colyn Dolphyn" shares the same fate. "Cardiff Cas- tle," on the other hand, is worth preserving, and in a popular form would serve admirably for use in Welsh and especially South Welsh Schools. LOCAL HISTORY. As we approach in our survey the records of our own times, the difficulty of choice increases. The press, for example, offers a theme for in- vestigation fascinating enough. But, the his- tory of the press in Merthyr, although near to our subject, must on this occasion be passed over. The bards, too, who in recent times have upheld the poetic traditions at the Eisteddfod, in the press, and in private, must be left with but scant notice. There is a general literary activity in our days which almost makes of every educated man and woman something of an au- thor. And the present writer knows only too well the impossibility of presenting any account of his subject which could be aught but incom- plete. There are however, a few names which stand out, and with some slight mention of these the present sketch may be brought to a close. Among contemporary writers must be mentioned the veteran historian of Merthyr, without whose assistance any such effort as this would hardly be possible, Mr. Charles Wilkins. Mr. Wilkins has, with an assiduity and perse- verance beyond praise, devoted himself to the accumulation of historical material, and in his "History of the Coal Trade," his "History of the Iron, Steel, and Tinplate Trades," his "Lit- erature of Wales," his "Wales, Past and Pre- sent," and in many scattered articles and es- says. he has laid all future writers under im- mense obligation to his laborious efforts. It is safe to say that his books are indispensable to those who study local history. They show doubtless less power of selection than of accu- mulation, but the facts are there in abundance, and whoever will may take what he requires. Such men as Mr. Wilkins are worthy of all honour. Investigations such as his may often seem parochial and trifling. But history is catholic in the full meaning of the word, and it is this patient gathering of local annals which makes the wide generalisations of national his- tory possible. Mr. Charles Herbert James, for a number of years member of Parliament for the Borough, published several valuable lectures on economic subjects, of which those upon "Capital and Labour" and upon "Wages,' may be mention- ed. The present head of the Bradford United College (Congregational) Principal Griffith Jones—was born in Merthyr, and may, there- fore, be claimed amongst its literary men. He has published several theological works—one, "The Ascent through Christ"-wl)iclt have given him more than a denominational repu- tation. And the versatile Stipendiary Magis- trate for Merthyr, Sir T. Marchant Williams, has shown the lighter as well as the more strict- ly patriotic side of his nature by publishing a volume of Welsh lyrics, and he has accomplish- ed what may be thought somewhat of a literary feat in translating a, number of the quatrains of Fitzgerald's "Omar Khayyam" into Welsh verse. -I

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Merthyr Corporation Finances.

A Million Oddfellows.

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