Welsh Journals

further, they expect some acknowledgement from Mr. E. Jones for the pains their father (the late W: Jones) took in transcribing for him. I would have wrote to Mr. E. Jones himself had I not lost his address which was given me at Dol Howell. You could cut off this half of the Letter & send it to Mr. E. Jones, & by it he may be convinced that there is but that one copy what became of the others which he claims, he should be the better Judge himself. Wm Jones's Daur's have returned two copies to Mr. Vaughan of Hengwrt since their father's death. He (Mr. E. Jones) claims, I believe 3 books more-but I really believe they are not to be had-If they were lost, they were lost upon the road, which as far as I have experienced is but seldom the case." W. LL. DAVIES. THE MORRIS BROTHERS AND THE SHIRBURN CASTLE COLLECTION. Many of the larger manuscript volumes of Welsh poetry in the Shirburn Castle Collect- ion have, bound with them, neatly prepared and carefully written indexes by Richard Morris of the Navy Office, one of the famous Anglesey brothers, the survivals of whose voluminous correspondence with one another were published by John H[umphreys] Davies between 1906 and 1909 under the title of The Morris Letters. This note is concerned with references to the Shirburn Castle Welsh library in The Morris Letters, and with two draft letters in N.L.W. MS. 476 which were probably borrowed by the Reverend John Williams of Llanrwst (d. 1826) from the library of the Welsh School at Gray's Inn Road. In the course of literary activities in London Richard Morris became very friendly with William Jones, F.R.S., father of Sir William Jones, the Oriental scholar, and a native of the same parish as the Morris brothers, viz. Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd in Anglesey. This William Jones had purchased of the widow of the Reverend Moses Williams, F.R.S. (d. 1742), the collection of Welsh manuscripts and books which the latter had brought together. The first reference to the library of William Jones in The Morris Letters occurs in a letter, dated January 4, 1744/5, from William Morris, the brother who remained in the native island, to Richard, who must have given him, in a letter now lost, an account of the collection. During the years 1746 and 1747 Richard Morris was busily engaged on the indexes to the collections of Welsh poetry in the library. How does Squire Jones and his library do? is one of the questions asked by William Morris on September 4, 1747. Two years later, on September 2, William Morris had heard of the death of William Jones and wondered whether his widow would dispose of his Welsh books by sale. By the begin- ning of November he had learnt of the terms of the will of William Jones, who had bequeathed his library to his pupil, George Parker, second earl of Macclesfield, and Morris despaired of any good from them. Llyfrau Cymraeg yn nwylo plant Alis sydd ail ifodrwy aur yn rhwyn hwch I was his bitter comment. In 1754 Richard Morris decided to appeal to Lord Macclesfield for permission to borrow some of the manuscripts. A draft of this letter, in Richard's own hand, is pre- served in N.L.W. MS. 476, and is here reproduced in full: NAVY OFFICE, 8th July,1 1754. My Lord Having had the pleasure of a particular intimacy with the late Wm Jones of Beaufort's buildings Esqr. for some years before his death, when I was engaged in collating & correcting the Welsh Bible, in which he generously assisted me with the 1 Scored out by the writer.