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Gamage, Edward, -1734? Welsh language -- Dialects.
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Geirfau, etc.,

Miscellaneous papers containing notes, extracts, transcripts, lists, etc., in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together in one volume. Pp. 9-62, 68-73, 76- 90, 107-48, 213-20 and various other pages in the volume contain miscellaneous Welsh word lists frequently, but not invariably, with English definitions and illustrative excerpts from the works of Welsh poets. Other items include pp. 63-5, an incomplete 'Cornish - Silurian vocabulary' (words beginning with letter A only); 75, a comparative word list with the superscription 'Peculiarities of the Silurian and Venedotian dialects'; 93-106, a list of popular proverbial and figurative expressions or phrases in Welsh (see IM, t. 389); 149-50, 157-63, lists of Latin proper names, common nouns, etc., largely connected with ancient Gaul; 153- 6, 165-208, a French - English vocabulary with Welsh cognates of the French words; 221-30, a Cornish - English vocabulary with the superscription 'Borlace Vocabulary' [probably transcribed from, or based upon, the vocabulary to be found in William Borlase: Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall . . . (1754, 2nd ed. 1769)], with Welsh cognates of the Cornish words; 236, 'Some Names of Rivers in Glamorganshire'; 237, a copy of a poem attributed to Taliesin; 240, notes headed 'Names of Mountains'; 241-2, notes headed 'Appelative Name of Watter', and 'Proper Names of Rivers'; 251-8, a collection of Welsh proverbs arranged alphabetically according to the initial letter (incomplete, G-Y only); 260-61, a Welsh poem by Edward Williams; 262, a list of 'Silurian words agreeing with Armoric'; 273-4, two lists with the headings 'Books and MSS. useful towards the History of Cardiff', and 'Hints and Materials for the History of Cardiff' respectively; 281-2, a copy of a thirty-eight stanza anti-Puritan poem entitled 'Cân i Ladron Morganwg' attributed to 'Jenkin Rhichards o Flaenau Gwent' and dated 1646 (for an assessment of the historical evidence presented in this poem see Thomas Richards: A History of the Puritan Movement in Wales (London, 1920), p. 211, and the same author's Religious Developments in Wales, 1654-1662 ( London, 1923), pp. 191-4, and for doubts as to its authenticity IM, tt. 254-63); 283-4, a transcript of a letter from [the Reverend] Edw[ar]d Gamage [from St. Athan] to Llywelyn [ab Ifan] 'o'r Cannerw', undated (replying to a request for the names of books for the study of the Welsh language, observations on differences between the dialects of Glamorgan and North Wales, a suggestion that a scholarly, bardic language be formed from the best elements in all regional dialects) (for a holograph copy of a letter from Edward Gamage to Llywelyn ab Ifan see NLW MS 13077B and for transcripts by Edward Williams of letters from, or allegedly from, Gamage to the same recipient in addition to the present example see NLW MSS 13095B, 13100B; for observations on these letters and the dubious authenticity of the Williams transcripts see IMCY, tt. 58-60, TLLM, tt. 107, 195, and IM, tt. 245-6); 285, a copy of an 'englyn' descriptive of a silkworm and 'composed of vowels'; 291, an incomplete transcript of [Thomas] Gray's 'Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude'; 295-8, a chronicle of events in British-Welsh history, 1076-1110; 299-300, notes on the Welsh bardic order with references to [James] Macpherson's theories about the druids and bards and a comment on his Fingal poem; 302, extracts from the Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure, 1768; 303-04, a transcript of [Taliesin's poem] 'Gwaith Argoed Llwyfain' with an English translation thereof by W[illia]m Whitehead (see Edward Jones: Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards . . . (1784), pp. 5-6); 307-10, an English translation of the title-page of Theophilus Evans: Drych y Prif Oesoedd . . ., ail arg. [1740], and of pp. 107-10 of the text of the work; 315-16, a copy of a letter from 'Christopher Crabstick', servant of Mr. Windham [Thomas Wyndham of Dunraven Castle, co. Glamorgan], to Captain Wind[s]or [Captain Thomas Windsor, R.N.), undated (a satirical attack on recipient's decision to offer himself as a candidate in the parliamentary election for the county of Glamorgan [?1789]); 323, draft copies of an election song to accompany the preceding item; 317-20, brief notes on the topography, agriculture, mineral wealth, etc., of the three main divisions of Glamorgan; 321-2, an advertisement for a proposed history of the town of Cardiff and lordship of Glamorgan; 326, a copy of the proposed title- page of Edward Williams's intended 'History of the Ancient British Bards or Druids' to be published in 1795; 327-30, notes on Welsh poetic metres ('Am gysefin ansawdd y mesurau') and on bardic ceremonial ('defodau . . . wrth gynnal gorsedd'); 333-4, prose items with the superscriptions 'Casbethau serchog', 'Llyma lythr anfon serch o waith D.G. o lyfr Ovydd', 'Dewisbethau serchog o lyfr Ofydd', and 'Casbethau Eiddig'; 335-6 two sequences of stanzas (twenty-one and twenty-four respectively) of Welsh prophetic verse with each stanza commencing with the words 'Coronog faban . . .', the first sequence being taken, with revised orthography, from Thomas Pugh: Brittish and Out-landish Prophesies . . . (London, 1658) [pp- 47-51, 37-8] (for the text of both sequences see Iolo Manuscripts . . ., pp. 276-82); 337-8, an incomplete copy of a Welsh poem describing the county of Glamorgan, its towns, etc. (for the missing portion, i.e., stanzas 1-30, see Iolo Aneurin Williams MS 97 in the National Library of Wales); 339-40 transcripts of two 'cywyddau' attributed to Ieuan ap Hywel Swrdwal and Gruff. ap Ieuan ap Llywelyn Fychan; 341-2, a transcript of a letter in Welsh from the poet Gronw Owen from Donnington, co. Salop, to William Elias, 1751 (for the text of this letter and notes on problems relating thereto see J. H. Davies (ed.): The Letters of Goronwy Owen . . . (Cardiff, 1924), pp. 3-4, 203-04); 343-5 medical maxims in Welsh; and 347-8, transcripts of 'englynion' by Wm. Llyn, H[uw] Llyn, and Edward Morris. Also included are miscellaneous notes on bardic, literary, and historical matters, etc.

Miscellanea,

A composite volume consisting of papers and note-books containing miscellaneous material in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound together. The contents consist largely of miscellaneous Welsh word lists, the words in many instances being followed by English definitions and/or illustrative excerpts from the works of Welsh poets. Pp. 25-47 contain an incomplete transcript of a letter in Welsh sent in 1726 by the Rev. Edward Gamage, rector of St. Athan [co. Glamorgan], to Llewelyn ab Ifan of the parish of Llangrallo [co. Glamorgan], providing the recipient with genealogical and historical data relating to the Stradling family ('achau y Stradlingiaid o Gastell Llan Ddunwyd y Fro . . .'). This appears to be a variant, much fuller version (but wanting the end section) of the letter sent by Gamage to Llewelyn ab Ifan in November 1726, a copy of which, in Gamage's own hand, is to be found in NLW MS 13077B (for other transcripts by Edward Williams of letters from, or allegedly from, Gamage to the same recipient see also NLW MSS 13091E, 13100B, and for observations on this correspondence and doubts as to the authenticity of the present and other Williams transcripts see IMCY, tt. 58-60, TLLM, tt. 107, 195, and IM, tt. 245-6). Other items in the volume include pp. 60 + 57, a list of Glamorgan place names found in genealogies; 74, 193, brief lists of Glamorgan idioms or proverbs; 78, 103-04, two short, incomplete lists of Welsh triads with the superscriptions 'Llyma drioedd a gafwyd yn y Bewpyr . . .', and 'Trioedd o Lyfr Gutto Ysgolhaig o Lanhari'; 82, brief notes headed 'Cadeiriau Morganwg a Thir Iarll'; 87-91, lists of, or notes relating to, households in the parishes of St. Athan, Eglwys Brewis, Flimston, and St. Mary Church, and parts of the parishes of Penmark and Lancarvan [co. Glamorgan], ? in the late eighteenth century, showing how many contained infants under the age of ? sixteen; 92-3, brief notes attacking the assumption made by the advocates of paedobaptism that the families of Lydia and the jailor [whose baptisms are recorded in Acts, chapter XVI] contained infants who were baptised, and utilising the statistical evidence extracted from the lists in the preceding item to demonstrate that the majority of families at any given time did not contain infants; 130, a note on 'the modern Literary Dialect of the Welsh language'; 144-5, 147, 149, lists of early bishops of Morganwg, early and pre-Saxon bishops of Landaff, and pre-Saxon archbishops of London; and 179, a list of 'Glum[organ] names of grasses'. Also to be found on various pages are grammatical and etymological notes and other miscellanea. In one instance notes have been written on the reverse side of an imperfect copy of a printed handbill announcing an 'eisteddfod' to be held in Caerwys [co. Flint] in 1798 under the patronage of the Gwyneddigion Society.