Welsh Journals

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disliked serving as assistant curate throughout the parish but when he achieved his ambition of becoming the curate responsible for the Welsh church, St Mair, he criticised the puritanism of the congregation there and the influence of the "chapelisers" who worshipped at St Mair after defecting from the Welsh chapels in Aberdare. My favourite line from Griffith's Aberdare diary was recorded on 22 September, 1881: "English organists are the death of our Welsh psalmody". The references to his diaries in the Bangor Manuscripts are given in the DWB. It is much to be hoped that a Welsh scholar, perhaps in the vicinity of Bangor, will feel suitably moved to edit the diaries of the Revd David Griffith for publication. Arthur Edwards Cwmbran The Revd Joshua Watkins a request for information The Revd Joshua Watkins [1769-1841] was minister of the Baptist cause, Penuel, Carmarthen, from 1796 until his death. An influen- tial figure in his denomination, he was also a bookseller and printer in that town. Mr Philip Booth is anxious to obtain information about him and his family, especially his brother, Benjamin, who died in 1822. The family appear to have come from the border area of Monmouth to Llangorse, Breconshire. He wonders, too, if there is a family link with Thomas Watkins of Olchon. Mr Booth may be contacted at 26 Portia Terrace, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, SA1 6XW [Tel: 653451]. ARTICLES IN THE WELSH LANGUAGE One of our readers recently expressed his disappointment that no articles have appeared in Welsh in this Journal to date. He writes, "As the history of Wales and its language are inextricably linked, this would appear to me to be an omission which is very difficult to comprehend." In our reply we pointed out that we had produced a supplementary volume, an introduction to Y Drych Cristianogawl by Dr Geraint Bowen, in 1988, which we felt clearly expressed our