Welsh Journals

Richard Parry, Lord Bishop of St. Asaph. 1623-1923. By the Venerable the Archdeacon of Bangor. AT the present moment the whole world is deeply interested in "Carnarvon" and Tutankhamen, and during the present year Wales should also be in the tercentenary of the death of two illustrious sons,-Richard Parry and Edmund Prys. This is no more than they deserve. Both accomplished notable services for Wales, from which the Principality has derived incalculable benefits for over three hundred years. To neither is there any monument, save what he erected for himself. The one lies in St. Aspah Cathedral, and the other in Maentwrog Parish Church, Merioneth, but each in an "unknown" grave. It is true that in 1892 a public memorial was raised as a national mark of respect to Bishop Morgan, and under the shadow of that great benefactor of Wales, as if by a sidelight or afterthought, niches were found and filled with what were supposed to represent Richard Parry and Edmund Prys. It appeared as if the promoters of the memorial, in trepidation and fear, had said, "We had better include everybody lest nothing more be done." And so on the column with Morgan we find seven others rc- membered, among whom are Parry and Prys. It may be that in Wales to have been a bishop, or even an archdeacon, is a disqualification for a commemoration. Wales is not so rich in national heroes that we can afford to forget any of them. Rome suggests to Wales the care which is in- volved in placing names on the calendar of her saints. It often means not the lapse of a few years but even of centuries before a name is finally adopted. The value of great services displays itself with passing years. Distance of time rather enhances than detracts from the per- manency of work of real worth. Richard Parry was born in Ruthin and so was a Denbighshire man. He died in the Arch- deacon's house at Dysserth, a village in Flint- shire, on the 26th of September, 1623. (It would be interesting to know what became of these Archdeacons' Houses. Shakespeare knew of one at Bangor, vide Henry IV, Act III, Scene 1). Two days after his death the bishop was buried in the Cathedral Church of St. Asapn, which was only five miles distant, but unfortunately by to-day, there is nothing to show the place of sepulture. The tessellated tiles of our days often blazon forth rank vandalism. As a boy Richard Parry was educated at Westminster School, and according to Wood, was actually taught by William Camden, who was an Usher at the school. At the same time good Gabriel Goodman was holding his forty years tenure of the deanery of Westminster (1561-1601). The coincidence of these names and the connection between the Dean and Ruthin, are a sore temptation to dilate and imagine, but this we do know, that Camden was a protegé of Goodman, and that the latter afforded home and assistance to William Morgan in 1587, yes, and that Parry while at Oxford went to Llanrhaidr-yn-Mochnant to read with Morgan. In 1579, at the age of nineteen, Richard Parry entered Christ Church, as most of Westminster scholars do, and five years later, to be exact, the first of May, 1584, we find he was ordained deacon at Bangor Cathedral by Bishop Nicholas Robinson. Who was the pres- enting Archdeacon on the occasion? It may well have been Edmund Prys, when the cir- cumstances and ages of the other two Arch- deacons are considered. On the fourth day of the same month, he was instituted to the corn- portion of Llanelidan (which is the endowment of Ruthin School), and this he obtained through the resignation of Henry Goodman (? Hugh). If Simwnt Vychan is correct in the year, 1574, which he mentions in his ode to Gabriel Good- man, as that of the foundation of Ruthin School, Parry must have been one of the earliest masters of the school. There is nothing improbable in this, as Simwnt Vychan was a native of Llan- elidan, and a contemporary of Goodman. Very possibly a school was started long before the form and character, as well as the provision for the schools were finally settled. Private dona- tions, of which usually there are no records, precede often endowments which, for the per- sonal convenience of the donor, are after in- cidents. Whether at the present school or not, Parry spent these years teaching at Ruthin. In the year 1592, he was installed as Chan- cellor of the Cathedral Church of Bangor. (It must be remembered that at this time Ruthin and the neighbouring parishes were in the Dio- cese of Bangor). For some reason or other Parry resigned his stall in 1594. The same year as he became Chancellor, he was preferred to the Vicarage of Gresford, near Wrexham. This living he held for many years, and from extant letters it may be inferred that until he became Bishop of St. Asaph, he looked upon Gresford as his home. He became Dean of Bangor in 1599. As his predecessor in the office, Henry Rowlands, was appointed bishop, Richard Parry's nomination to the deanery would be by the crown. Arma et virumque cano, sang Virgil. The circumstances loomed in the poet's mind more prominently than his hero, and so also do the stirring events of Elizabeth and James I to the Welsh historian. Yet it must be acknowledged that the Welshmen of the time held their own. Shakespeare smiled at their Doric but respected or feared the men. Though the period gave birth to giants, yet many natives of Wales seemed to have had the gift of discovering opportunities in London,­·Gabriel Goodman at Westminster,