Welsh Journals

salvaging and exploitation of the vocabulary of their distinguished literary forbears, the poets. It is a difficult task to carry out a comparative study of this kind, and to convey the flavour of the period and its literature, without extensive quotation of primary sources. This can often be a snare; it certainly leads Dr. Jones into difficulties at times. For instance, quotations by John Foxe and Sir John Price, found on p. 23, are repeated on p. 41. Similar duplication occurs on p. 50 and p. 66 when the same quotation from Y Drych Cristianogawl (1585) appears. Moreover, the tendency to scaffold the general thesis with quotations from too many secondary sources can be distracting. It would be sad, also, if the general reader were to shrink from tackling a book which contains copious quotations in five different languages, with no translations provided in the footnotes. Nevertheless, this is an important book. Not least among its virtues is the lucidity of style. Dr. Jones writes clearly and perceptively, and presents his arguments with scholarly exactness. He has collected and marshalled his evidence with diligence and skill. This is a book that should be welcomed as a most valuable contribution to our understanding of vernacular movements in the sixteenth century. GERAINT H. JENKINS. Aberystwyth. Elis Gruffydd, CASTELL YR IECHYD (gol. S. Minwel Tibbott). Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, Caerdydd, 1969. Tt. xvi, 216. 35s. (£1'75). Mae llawysgrifau Elis Gruffydd y milwr llengar a diflin hwnnw o Galais ymhlith y cyfrolau rhyddiaith meitha yn y Gymraeg. Mae Mrs. Tibbott wedi golygu, yn gryno a diwastraff, ddarn o lawysgrif fawr feddyginiaethol Cwrtmawr I sydd yn y Llyfrgell Genedlaethol yn Aberystwyth, darn sy'n gyfieithiad gweddol rydd o The Castel of Helthe gan Sir Thomas Elyot. Cyflwynwyd y llyfr printiedig i un o arwyr Elis (a oedd yn Brotestant efengylaidd iawn), Thomas Cromwell. Tipyn o hypochondriac oedd Elis, gallswn farnu, ond fe gyfieithodd y gyfrol yma i'r Gymraeg rywbryd cyn 1548, a dyma gyfnod salwch hir a blin i Elis, a chyfnod pryd y bu ei gefnder ar ei wely angau yn nhy Elis yng Nghalais. Mae'n debyg mai yn ystod ei adferiad ara-deg yr aeth Elis ati i gyfieithu. Gwellwyd ef gan feddyg yng Nghalais-yr unig un o werth yno oedd Ffrancwr o'r enw Dr. Philibert de Moncheaulx. Rhyfedd yw nodi mai albwm meddygol nid annhebyg i un Elis (ond wedi ei sgrifennu yn Ffrangeg) yw un o'r ychydig lawysgrifau o Galais i ddod i lyfrgell Bodley yn Rhydychen. Ai at hwn mae Cwrtmawr I, t. 132 yn cyfeirio, tybed? Mae maes darllen Elis yn eang iawn os ystyriwn ei lawysgrifau, ond hawdd deall pam na chyhoeddwyd hyd yn hyn ond rhyw fan-ddarnau