Welsh Journals

MORE ABOUT SIR JOSEPH BANKS. A note on p. 38 of the Journal states that the Wigfair Manuscripts contain nearly seventy letters written by Sir Joseph Banks to his Welsh friend, John Lloyd, F.R.S., of Wigfair, near St. Asaph. The National Library has another manuscript (N.L.W. MS. 147), which was unidentified at the time it was catalogued by the late Principal J. H. Davies, but which would appear to be a transcript of a MS. diary kept by Banks. This is, Copy of Journal of an Excursion to Wales, l £ c, began August 13th, 1767. ended January 29th, 1767. At the top of the title-page is the signature of S. S. Banks and the date 1772. Certain facts pointed to the probability of the original having been written by Sir Joseph Banks, whose biography (London 1911) by Edward Smith gives some clues which enabled identi- fication to be made. Smith writes of Banks's diary habit the MS. is in diary form. From the same source comes the information that' barrows were of especial interest to him this would account for a large portion of the MS. being taken up with an account of a barrow at Llan- sadwrn, co. Carmarthen. Again, Sir Joseph is described as being arduous in studying methods of agriculture, which, in his eyes, was really a branch of botanical science," and it is to be noted that the MS. contains the botanical names of numerous plants and many remarks on the methods of agriculture in Wales. The date of the MS. tour also furnishes a clue. It is at this time (1767) that Banks is described as being very fond of rambling about the country." During this year, too, two trips were undertaken by him, one which appears to have ended in May, and another which was taken this summer in the company of two companions. They spent a week or two in North Wales, mostly botan- ising. William Hudson was one of the party." (? Was John Lloyd the second.) This trip could have taken place between May, when the first trip ended, and August, the date of the commemcement of the MS. tour. The MS. also fills in a gap in Smith's biography, for after an account of this Summer trip in North Wales, the narrative jumps to March, 1768. The writer of the MS. tour went on writing until January, 1768. Another possible clue is the fact that the writer of the MS. stayed with Thomas Pennant at Downing. Banks was well acquainted with Pennant, and accompanied him on his Tour in Scotland in 1772. Finally, Sarah Sophia Banks, the sister of Sir Joseph, often made copies of parts of her brother's Journals, whilst it has also been established, by comparison, that the hand- writing of the Journal' is the same as that of certain autograph letters of Miss Banks addressed to John Lloyd of Wigfair (see N.L.W. MS. 12,416). All this, together with the evidence of the signature on the title-page, points conclusively to the fact that the Journal is a transcript made by Miss Banks of her brother's original manuscript. ETHEL M. WILLIAMS. THE LLEWELLIN-TAYLOUR DONATION. It is now more than ten years since Mr. A. R. Llewellin-Taylour, M.A., of Lincoln's Inn, London, made his first gift to the National Library. This consisted of four early- printed law books, two in English and two in French, all printed in London. Since then Mr. Llewellin-Taylour's gifts have been many and valuable, especially books on law and legal subjects, including copies of A Treatise of the Lawes of the Forest, by John Manwood (London, 1615), the first edition to contain the 'Pourallee'; De Laudibus Legum Angliae, by Sir John Fortescue (London, 1672); an edition of the Institutiones of Justinian, by Arnoldus Vinnius (Amsterdam, 1663) and the digest of the year-books, La Graunde Abridgement, compiled by Anthony Fitzherbert (London, 1565), the standard authority on the law of England previous to 1500.