Welsh Journals

[See Journal, No. I., p. 51, for a note as to the purpose and scope of this section. — Editor, ] D.N.B. — The Dictionary of National Biography. THE REVEREND EDWARD OWEN, WARRINGTON (1728-1807; D.N.B. xlii, 404). N.L.W. MS. 475, which is one of the Sir John Williams manuscripts, contains twenty- five letters, dated from 1789 to 1805, from the Reverend Edward Owen, Warrington, to the Reverend John Williams, Llanrwst (1760-1826). Edward Owen, a Welshman from Llangurig, Montgomeryshire, and a member of the Owen family of Cefn Hafod and Glan- severn in that county, was appointed headmaster of Warrington Grammar School in 1757 and rector of Warrington in 1767. He held both appointments until his death. Edward Owen was well acquainted with Goronwy Owen during the years spent by the latter as curate of Walton, near Liverpool, and these letters to John Williams, Llan- rwst, prove that he was to a great extent responsible for obtaining information regarding Goronwy's life in America. At John Williams's request he instituted enquiries among people who had connections with America and, in this way, elicited considerable inform- ation about Goronwy, and succeeded eventually in getting into touch with Goronwy's son. The result of his enquiries is given in these letters to Williams, which throw light also on his aspirations and achievements as a scholar. Copies of these letters, together with copies of two additional letters from Edward Owen to Williams, are to be found in N.L.W. MS. 107, whilst copies of a Latin epitaph to Edward Owen are to be found in N.L.W. MSS. 308 and 342. These three volumes are in the Sir John Williams collection. The Library has a further group of Edward Owen letters in the Glansevern collection of manuscripts. These, as might be expected, are mainly family letters. Megan ELLIS. THE REVEREND WILLIAM GAMBOLD (1672-1728). The Reverend William Gambold, lexicographer, grammarian, and antiquary, was born at Cardigan on August 10, 1672. He was educated at St. Mary Hall and Exeter College, Oxford, and on December 1, 1709, after a period of curacy, was presented by William Warren, Trewern, to the rectories of Puncheston and Llanychaer, co. Pembroke, where he remained until his death on September 13, 1728. The following original manuscripts of Gambold are preserved in the Sir John Williams Library Llanstephan MS. 189. 'Lexicon Cambro-Britannicum,' in two parts. 1721-2. Llanstephan MS. 190. A Welsh-English Dictionary, being an enlarged edition of Llanstephan MS. 189, part ii. 1722. Llanstephan MS. 191. A Welsh Grammar. 1724. (There is another holograph copy of the Welsh Grammar in N.L.W. MS. 3488.) Descriptions of these manuscripts are to be found in the Historical Manuscripts Com- mission Report on Manuscripts in the Welsh Language, Vol. II, Part ii, pp. 776-7, in