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An imperfect manuscript containing fifty 'cywyddau' and five 'awdlau' written during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The majority of the poems are drafts by, and in the respective hands of, the herald bards Rhys Cain and his son Siôn Cain of Oswestry, the former being represented by twenty-seven poems of which some are dated between 1582 and 1612 and the latter by twenty poems of which some are dated between 1609 and 1634. Other poets represented in the volume are William Llŷn, James Dwnn, 1616 (holograph), Edward ap Raff, Richard Cynwal, Lewys ap Edward, and Siôn Phylip. About three fourths of the poems are hitherto unrecorded. The volume is made up of individual poems written on separate papers which were previously stitched, though probably not for the purpose of covering and binding in book form, and as in the case of other manuscripts deriving from the Cains, e.g., Peniarth MS. 117, each paper bears evidence of having at one time been folded and filed in a bundle, generally with an endorsement, until eventually it became worn and tattered at the creases. The title of one 'cywydd' by Rhys Cain has been added in the hand of Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt.

A small volume written in the eighteenth century lettered on the spine 'Llyvr Dos=parth a Cadwe= digaeth Cerdd Dannau, I'. The scribe was David Jones ('Dewi Fardd') of Trefriw. The contents are as follows: pp. 1-23, 'Clod Cerdd ai Dechreuad' beginning 'Fy Mryd sydd ar hyn om llafur ddwyn ar ddeall it Darllewr . . . Eithr o arfer Cerdd Theoricall y Nef, ni ymadroddwn am dano' [cf. B.M. Addit. MS 14989, ff. 82 recto-111 verso, and also D. Gwenallt Jones, 'Clod Cerdd Dafod', in Llên Cymru, I, pp. 186-7, and Gwendraeth Jones, 'Siôn Conwy III a'i Waith', in B.B.C.S., XXII, pp. 23-4 in particular]; pp. 24-30, 'Gryffydd ap Cynan Twysog Cymru a wnaeth Gyfraith ar y Gwyr wrth Gerdd, yr hon a elwir Ystatud Gryffydd ap Cynan', beginning 'Llyma y sawl y sydd rydd yddynt Glera . . .' and ending '. . . a Disgyblion, gwedi Cael graddau or blaen mewn Eisteddfodau neu Neithorau Reiol. Ac felly y Terfyna Ystatud Gryffydd ap Cynan Twysog Gwynedd, ar y Gwyr wrth Gerdd'; pp. 32-54 , 'Naw o Gyd-gordiadau sydd mewn Desgant neu Brior . . .' followed by lists of airs, etc. ('Ar y Bragod Gywair', 'Y Clyme, y Gogywair', etc.) ending with 'Llyma'r 24 mesurau Cerdd Dant' and 'Llyma y Rheolau Cerdd Dafod'; p. 55, 'Llyma Lyfr a Elwir Cadwedigaeth Cerdd Dannau' beginning 'Nid amgen, Telynnau, a Chrythau o fewn 3 Talaith Gymru . . .'; p. 59, 'Llyma fal y nodwyd wrth Ystatud Gryff: ap Cynan, Rhoddion i bob Gradd yn ei Radd, o Gerdd Dafod, a Thant', beginning 'Tair Gwyl arbennig sydd nid amgen Nadolig, Pasg, ar Sul gwyn . . .'; p. 62, a 'cywydd' by William Llun ('Cywydd i ofyn Telyn i Siencin Gwynn, o Lan=idlos'); and pp. 65-71, a list of the names of bards ('Henwau'r Beirdd'), A-R, with one or two later additions, one name on p. 66 ('Gruffdd. ap Lln. Vychan'), being probably in the autograph of Edward Williams, 'Iolo Morganwg'. There is a triad on p.54. On the fly-leaf in a later hand is written 'Dosparth Cerdd Dafod'.