Another Welsh scholar who spent some time in Italy, but who returned to die in a cottage in Brecoushire, was Dr. John David Rhys, already mentioned. He left the University of Oxford in 1555 without taking a degree, and resided for some time at Sienna and Padua, where he practised as a doctor of physic, and published a book in Italian on the study of Latin, and a book in Latin on the pronun ciation of Italian. His principal work is his grammar of Welsh, Cam brobrytanniew Cymrmeueve Lingwe lustitutiones et Rudirnenta,' in which he enters at great length and with much learning on the subject of Cambrian prosody, on which lie is still consulted. The book was published in London in 1592, at the expense of Sir Edward Stradling, of St. Donat's Castle, a munificent patron of Welsh literature, and a cousin of that Sir Edward who was so near losing his life on suspicion of being a Saxon. Rhys, who was born in 1534 in Anglesey, died in 1609 in Brecon, and is said by Anthony a Wood to have died as he had lived, a Roman Catholic ; but in the title page to his Institu tiones ' lie lays especial claim to the merit of facilitating the study of the Holy Scriptures, "lately "so elegantly and chastely translated into Welsh," a circumstance which, with some others, favours the supposi tion of his having become a Protestant.
One of Rhys's friends, to whom he refers in his works as an excellent genealogist and antiquary, was Thomas Jones, of Tregaron, or Twm Sion Catti, whose remarkable career has already been noticed in con nection with his transcript of the Triads.' Jones was a poet as well as an antiquary, but while his reputation as a robber and magician still survives, that as a poet has passed into oblivion. He died about 1620.
A metrical version of the Psalms, which was written about this period, is still in high esteem. 1 It was produced by a captain in Queen Elizabeth's fleet—William Myddelton, the elder brother of Sir Hugh Myddelton, the projector of the New River, and himself remarked for having been one of the first three who smoked tobacco in England, when crowds gathered round to witness the phenomenon. He did warlike service in America and the Azores, and records in a Latin note to his last Welsh Psalm that ho finished it on the 24th of January, 1595, at "Scutum," one of the 'West Indian Islands. The Psalms, which appeared in 1603, were a posthumous publication, but Captain Myddelton had issued in his lifetime, in 1593, the first part of a treatise on the art of Welsh versifieatiou, Bardeloniaeth; which was never completed. The Psalms were reprinted in 1S27.
The most popular poem, not only of that period, but of tiny period In the history of Welsh literature, was produced, it is said, by the simple process of turning into verse a series of sermons. The Rev. Rees Prichard, known u the Vicar of Llandovery, was as popular a preacher in his lifetime as after his death ho became a popular poet. When he preached at SL David's the cathedral was too small to hold his congregation, end he was cited in the ecclesiastical courts fur having set up a movable pulpit in the churchyard. Perceiving the partiality of his flock for verse he turned his homilies Into rhymes, and the col lection was first published iu 1646—two years after his death. " The work," says Williams, in his' Lives of Eminent Welshmen; " was no sooner printed than it appeared in almost every hand, and was heard from almost every mouth throughout the principality, and it is scarcely credible with what uncommon avidity and pleasure it was received, read, and repeated by the people." The Italian student is reminded by this account of the passage in Bernardo 'l'asso's letters, in which he speaks of the first appearance of Ariosto's epic and its overwhelming success. The secret of the popularity of Prichard's volume, the ' Canwyll y Cyntry; or ' Candle of the Cambrinna,' as it is called, appears to have lain in its combineal, religious and homely character— it did not fly one inch above common apprehension. A passage has been already quoted front an English translation of it by the Rev. William Evans, which was published in 1771, and this passage may be taken as an average specimen. The' Candle of the Cambrians' is not yet extinguished, for the last edition, about the twentieth, appeared with notes, in 1858. Its author was born at Llandovery in 1579, became vicar of the parish in 1602, and died at Llandovery in 1644, and the two last and best editions of his work are from the Llandovery press.
The next bard who deserves attention in a general survey of Welsh literature is Iluw Morus, or Hugh Morris, who was born in 1622, and survived till 1709. " Ho is to bo ranked," we are told iu the ' Cam brian Register,' among the first of the Welsh poets. Ile eminently excelled in that talent which we call humour, and was equally master of the pathetic and the sublime." The same writer states that hie
' Elegy on the Death of Mrs. ..11iddleton; is equal or superior to " the two most beautiful compositions in the English language on the same subject, the Monody' on the death of his lady, by Lord Lyttelton, and that ' To the ,Memory of a Young Lady,' by Mr. Shaw." The works of Huse Morus were published in two duodecimo volumes, at Wrexham, in 1823, under the title of Eos Ceiriog,' or "Phe Nightin gale of Ceiriog.' The most distinguished bard of the 18th century was Gorouwy Owen, who is styled by Owen Pughe " ono of the greatest poets that appeared among the Welsh." He was the son of it peasant in Anglesey, where he was born on the 1st of January, 1722, and was indebted for his education to Mr. Lewis Morris, a distinguished antiquary, who had him brought up for the church. He married in Oswestry, where he was citrate, and says in one of his letters," My wife speaks very little Welsh, yet she understands some ; so that I fear that if I go not to \\'ales, my boys will be Saxons, for by the life of me I cannot teach the eldest one word of Welsh." lie was curate to Dr. Douglas, afterwards bishop of Salisbury, " the person," he says. in one of his letters, " who defended the poet Milton against the insidious defamation of Lauder. Be it as it may, he is sufficiently severe and hard towards me. I hold some little land of hint appertaining to the school, and though it was set too high before, yet he has sent down this year orders to raise the rent, lest a poor wretched curate should gain anything in his service, or obtain too good a bargain at his hand." Ilia career appears to have been a very unfortunate ono ; but it must not be forgotten that he was an incorrigible drunkard. His poverty led him to petition the Cymin rodorion Society, in 1757, for assistance towards paying his passage for America, where he settled at Williamsburg in Virginia ; and after the year 1767 nothing further was heard of him. "About the year 1798," says Owen l'ughe, in the' Cambrian Biography,' "some persons who revered his memory tried to obtain information if he were alive or dead, and with that view sent a letter over to his son. Him they found perfectly Anteriertnieed ; before any answer was sent, lie must first know who would pay him for his trouble." In a life of Goronwy Owen by Mr. Borrow, first printed in the ' Quarterly Review' for 1861, it is stated that he died about 1780. The principal poems of (loronwy Owen are to be found In the first volume of a book called ' Didelanwch Teuluaidel: ' Domestic Amusement,' printed at London In 1763. In a curious preface the printer atatea that the work was put into his hands by the editor, liugh Jones,' who " owned himself Incapable of writing an English preface to it, and therefore desired me to do that office for him." " The editor," he Adele, " being an itinerary hard In the manner of the ancients, lintli given ine leave to tell his readers that he pretends to neither learning nor languages ; he devises them all except ldiaoe n, as the chief Greek poets did, calling other languages barbarous!. Ile MU hardly be persuaded that the English or Fiend, natious have anything that may properly be called poetry ; such is man's partiality Weenie his own country and people." ,,The prose literature of the third period is remarkably poor. Its most popular production is itself onl7 an adaptation or imitation of a foreign original, the Ilardd Cwsg, or Sleeping Bard,' of Ellis Wynne, find published in 1703, and since frequently reprinted, the last time in 1S61, with notes by Silvan Evans. It consists of a series of visions of hell and the invisible world, chiefly taken from the 'claims of Quevedo, the Spanish hannourist, which were translated into English, and for a time enjoyed considerable popularity. Wynne had prepared a second work, Gweledigneth y Nev,' or ' A Vision of Heaven,' but was so mortified at being spoken of as a plagiarist from Quevedo, that he threw the manuscript into the fire. The plan', of the "Bardd Cweg " is a singularly gloomy and repulsive one for a satire; but the beauty of the style is so striking, that the book remains popular in Welsh ; and, strange to say, a translation of it into English was published in 1861 by Mr. George Borrow, the author of ' The Gipsies, and ' The Bible in Spain.' Ellis Wynne also translated into Welsh, Jeremy Taylor's Holy Living,' and revised the version of the Common Prayer, and though most celebrated for his prose, enjoyed some reputation as a poet. lie was induced to take holy orders, though he had no inclination for the ministry, and hold the rectory of Llanvair. lie was born in 1670 and died iu 1734.