Two volumes of transcripts, etc., lettered on the spine 'Collectanea concerning Caermarthen . . . Alcwyn C. Evans, Caermarthen'. In addition the fly-leaf of the first volume is inscribed 'Collectanea relating to the Town and County of Caermarthen'. The contents include a printed copy of Cartularium S. Johannis Bapt. [recte S. John the Evangelist] de Caermarthen . . . (Cheltenham, 1865), together with a transcript, an English translation, notes, references, a list of priors, and indexes compiled by the scribe in 1869 [see Peniarth MS 401 and NLW MS 12376C]; inscriptions and epitaphs in the churches and churchyards of Llanelly, Penbre, Kidwely, St. Ishmael, Llanstephan, Cilycwm, Mothvey, Mydrim, Llanvihangel, Llanginning, Llandevaelog, Llanvihangel Aberbythich, Llanvynnydd, Llanfair ar y bryn, Llanarthney, Cowbridge, Llanbleiddian in Llantrissaint, Llanfihangel (Y Pont Fon), Llandochai, St. Hilary, and the Irish Franciscans' Church in the Convent of Isidore at Rome, together with a few plans and armorial bearings, the latter both emblazoned and in trick; reminiscences of 'old' David Rees, clerk of St. Peter's Church, Carmarthen (a list of public houses in the borough in 1798, a grinding mill in Blue Street, the imprisonment of the French on 26 February 1797, the pillorying of Thomas Evans ('Twm Penpistyll') ['Tomos Glyn Cothi'] four times in one year for treason, the visit of Lord Nelson, etc.); annotated transcripts of 'cywyddau', etc., by Hopkin ap Thomas ap Eineon, Ieuan Deulwyn, William ap Ieuan hen, and Lewis Glyn Cothi; archaeological and historical notes, from Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1852-1859, on Castell Carreg Cennen, Cwrt Bryn y Beirdd, 'Llyn fan. The Caermarthenshire Van pool and its fairies', Kidwelly Castle, Kidwelly Church, and the boundaries of Carmarthenshire; abstracts of grants of the manor of Emlyn otherwise Emlyon, co. Carmarthen, 1611-1614; transcripts of an instrument of sequestration of the fruits of the parish church of St. Peter's, Carmarthen, 1705, and of the presentation of Richard Prichard, M.A., to the benefice, 1709; 'Hanes Mynachlog Talyllychau. The History of Talley Monastery' by David Howell ('Llawdden'), with an English translation by Edwd. Davies, classical tutor in Brecon Independent College; an annotated transcript of a letter from John Vaughan, 2nd viscount Lisburne, from Crosswood, to Thomas Pryse, M.P., at Gogerddan, 1739 (the writer's misfortune at Llannidloes, observations on the inhabitants of Cardigan and a wish for the recipient's success); a transcript of 'Valoi Benefic' in Wallia' from Harleian MS 128; 'An Inventory of the White or Grey Friars at Caermarthen' [1534] transcribed from public records; a transcript of 'The Roll of Fealty and Presentments in Caermarthenshire on the accession of Edward the Black Prince to his Principality of Wales', 1343; a biographical note on Sir Stephen Bawcen ( ob. 1257); 'cywyddau' and 'awdlau' by David ap Edmund and Lewis Glyn Cothi, with annotations; accounts of the Caermarthen Literary and Scientific Institution from its foundation in 1841 to 1863; lists of officials (chancellors, precentors, treasurers, and archdeacons) of the diocese of St. Davids from the twelfth to the nineteenth century; 'Chwedyl o Rhydychain'; a parchment missive in Norman-French, 1356, from John Laurens, mayor of Caermarthen, to the people of Barnstaple, 'expressing Reciprocal Professions of Good Will' (endorsed 'Agreement . . . to have access to each other's Fairs without Toll'), together with an English translation; epitaphs in the church and churchyard of St. Peter's, Carmarthen; poetry, partly extracted from Rhys Jones: Gorchestion Beirdd Cymru (Amwythig, 1773), by Aneurin, Taliesin, Risiart ap Rys ('o Langarfan'), Llywarch Hen, Bardd Glas o'r Gadair, Rhys Goch (Tir Iarll), and Rhys Goch o Eryri; two English translations, one being by Lady Flora Hastings, of poems by [Johann Christoph Friedrich von] Schiller; a bill from John Jones, Carmarthen, for engraving the inscription (enclosed) on a brass plate put in the foundation stone of St. Paul's Church, Carmarthen, and the inscription on a silver trowel used by Thomas Burgess, bishop of St. Davids, in laying the first stone, 1824, with annotations by the scribe; extracts from Cambrian Register and Archaeologia Cambrensis, etc. ('What 'Dyved' was', 'The Caio Gold Mines', 'The Rebellion. Temp. Oliver Cromwell', translations of poetry by Lewis Glyn Cothi, Gogofau, Owen Glyndwr's progress in South Wales in 1403, a description of Allt Cynedda, 'Eisteddfodau: Temp. Henry IV', 'On Carn Goch in Caermarthenshire', 'The Dolau Cothy Stones', etc.); a 'cywydd' by Gruffydd Llwyd ap Dafydd ap Eineon Lygliw, with an English translation and annotations; extracts relating to the tale of Merlin; a list of festivals of Welsh saints; a 'cywydd' by William Egwad ('o'r Ynyswen'); a history of Dryslwyn Castle; an English translation of the charter granted to the burgesses of Llaugharne by Sir Guy de Bryan, circa 1300; 'A Sketch of the Life of Revd. John Evans [Unitarian minister at Evesham and Carmarthen], written by his nephew'; extracts from public records relating to Carmarthenshire; a list of parliamentary representatives for the county and for the county borough of Carmarthen, with dates and biographical details, for the period 1536- 1895 (continued)
Printed abstracts and manuscript transcripts of fourteen charters of the borough of Cardiff, 1338-1687, and transcripts of cases and opinions of John Richardson, Middle Temple, 1818, Henry Al(s)worth Merewether, Chancery Lane, 1824-1825, etc., relating to the appointment of constables and capital burgesses, exemption from corporation tolls, etc.; a grant of the lordship of Kidwellie to John Vaughan, 1st earl of Carbery, and Richard, lord Vaughan, his son and heir apparent, 1630; transcripts and translated abstracts of the parish registers of Trelech a'r Bettws, 1663-1837; abstracts of pre-1600 probate records preserved in the St. Davids Diocesan Registry, Carmarthen, with a list of testators recorded in each bundle and an index of places; material towards a history of the families of Vaughan and Lake, in the form of annotated transcripts and abstracts of probate records, compiled pedigrees, extracts from the parish registers of Llandevaelog, 1695-1780, Llanfihangel Aberbythich, 1704-1774, Llanarthney, 1729, St. Peter's, Carmarthen, 1704-1806, Llandybie, 1702-1781, Llangunnor, 1728-1779, and Llangendeirn, 1739-1779, similar epitaphs from the parish churches of Llangunnor and Llandevaelog, and records of the services of Captain Harry Vaughan, R.N., Carmarthen, and of his brother-in- law Captain James Katon, R.N.; material relating to the families of Bloome (Blome) and Copner, in the form of annotated transcripts and abstracts of probate records, compiled pedigrees, and extracts from the parish registers of Abergwili, 1723-1767, St. Peter's, Carmarthen, 1675/6-1756, and Llanvynydd, 1692-1782; a transcript of the will of Walter Rees of Water Street, parish of St. Peter, co. of the borough of Carmarthen, 1824; pedigrees based on probate records of the family of Thomas of Trelech a'r Bettws, Mydrim, Llangeler, etc. (among them being Samuel Thomas, Principal of Carmarthen Presbyterian College); a transcript of the will of William Davies late of Carmarthen but now of Five Fields Row, parish of Saint George, Hanover Square, co. Middlesex, 1788, providing for the establishment of a free school at Trelech a'r Bettws; an account of the action of the King v. General Thomas Picton in the Court of King's Bench, 1806-1808, on a charge of putting Louisa Calderon to torture in the island of Trinidad; pedigrees based on probate records of the family of Philips (Phillipps, Philipps, etc.) of Marthri [sic], co. Pembroke, Cwmgwili, Llandissilio, Laugharne, Llanarthney, Henllan Amgoed, etc.; the names of the clergy evicted from churches in co. Carmarthen by virtue of the Act of Uniformity of 1662, extracted from Edmund Calamy: The Nonconformist's Memorial (London, 1775); annotated selections, 1662-1683, taken in August 1890, from an 'old MSS Book, parchment bound, in Caermarthen Registry' [i. e., a register of St. Davids Chapter acts and leases now designated SD Ch/B 19 in the Church in Wales Collection in the National Library of Wales]; abstracts of miscellaneous probate records in the Diocesan Registry, Carmarthen, among them being the records of the family of Middleton of Pwllcrochan, co. Pembroke, etc.; 'Notes made in a search for the ancestry of Horatio Davis, of Boston, Mass., U.S.', including abstracts of Bristol and St. Davids probate records, and extracts from the parish register of Tickenham, co. Somerset, 1540-1674; poetry by John Blackwell ['Alun'] ('o Wyddgrug'), [Thomas Evans] 'Tho[ma]s Glyn Cothi', David ap Ieuan ap Rhydderch (i.e., David Davies, Castell Hywel), Siams Dafydd ('Iago ab Dewi'), 'Gwilym Tew Glan Taf', Edw. Williams ('Iolo Morganwg'), Henry Thomas ('Don Glantowy') (a poem entitled 'Bryn Grongaer' written without a single apostrophe), and the Reverend John Evans, Coed (1808-1819); lists of freeholders and of land- and householders sworn at Carmarthen, 1764; a description of 'Caermarthen Civic Emblems'; 'Old Welsh Phrases. Collected by Mr. Lloyd Morgan, of Llanidloes', almost entirely taken from William Owen [-Pughe]: A Dictionary of the Welsh Language, vol. I (London, 1803); a transcript of George Owen's Brief Account of Wales; etc. There is a list of contents of the first volume and an alphabetical index to the second volume. Inserted as a frontispiece to the first volume is an etched view of the quay and town of Carmarthen, 1868, by D. Jones, and to the second volume an engraving of the bridge and town, and in the text there are a number of pen-and-ink illustrations.
Alcwyn C. Evans.
