Welsh Journals

esting and credible explanation, 'the water gushed forth at this particular spot about the time that the attack was made on St. Winifred and in a credulous and superstitious age it was not unnatural to associate the one with the other and regard them as cause and effect.' The Rev. Dr. J. W. James contributes a learned study of 'The Excommunications in the Book of Llan Dav.' Here it is interesting to note (a) that the Church used the weapon of excommunication to increase her power and influence (b) the development of the bishop's status in Wales in the ninth and tenth centuries, with the bishop appropriating to himself many of the privileges of the ecclesiastical abbots (c) the remark- able influence of England upon Llandaff, 880-915 A.D. through Asser,. Bishop of St. Davids, friend and counsellor of Alfred the Great. How much is known about the bishops of Llandaff in this period? For in addition to the two reasons given on p. 7 we may conjecture that the personality of the bishops of Llandaff at this time counted for much in the story. The volume also includes 'Royal Briefs for the Restoration of Churches in Wales' by the Venerable Gwynfryn Richards, M.A., 'The Consistory Courts in the Diocese of St. Davids' by W. T. Morgan, B.A., and 'Dylanwad Mudiad Rhydychen yng Nghymru' by the Rev. Eifion Evans, M.A. Earlier contributions on these subjects-already commented upon in Bathafarn-by the respective authors were published in Vol. vi. & vii. These further studies maintain the same high scholarly standards. The Rev. Eifion Evans again contributes the only Welsh article in the volume. His essay 'The Influence of the Oxford Movement in Wales' was awarded the Council of the Eisteddfod Prize, at the Aberystwyth National Eisteddfod, 1952. One remembers that the adjudication indi- cated that the work contained an estimate of the attitude of Wesleyan Methodism to the Oxford Movement. If this portion is published in a further volume of the Journal-for which we are so greatly indebted to the Editor, Rev. Canon E. T. Davies, M.A. — it will undoubtedly prove of great interest to readers of Bathafarn.-H. M. Pennant Lewis. RHODDION (GIFTS) 24. Gan y Parch. Gwynfryn Evans, Aberffraw: Plan Cylchdaith Wesleyaidd Caergybi, 1894-95. Gweinidogion: Lewis Owen ac A. Lloyd Hughes. Argraffwyd y Plan hwn ar liain gan "J. E. Edwards & Co. Llyfr-Rwymwyr, Stanley Crescent, Caergybi".