A Biographical Sketch of some of the Most Eminent Individuals Part 1

A Biographical Sketch of some of the Most Eminent Individuals which the Princ.i.p.ality of Wales has produced since the Reformation.

by Robert Williams.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, ETC.

_William Baxter_ was born in Wales in the year 1650. In his eighteenth year he was sent to Harrow School, when he could speak no other language but Welsh; he, however, soon acquired English, and triumphantly overcame all these disadvantages, and at the age of twenty-nine he commenced author, with the publication of his "a.n.a.logia Linguae Latinae." He afterwards was appointed master of the Mercer's School, in London. He soon made himself known as an excellent philologist and antiquary, by several learned works, and more particularly his Horace and his Dictionary of British Antiquities, ent.i.tled "Glossarium Antiquitatum Britannicarum," in which he attempted, from his knowledge of the British language, to determine geography by etymology. He died in 1723.

_Lewis Bayly_, an eminent prelate, was a native of Caermarthen, and studied at Oxford. He was appointed chaplain to Henry Prince of Wales, son of James the First, to whom he dedicated a religious work, ent.i.tled the "Practice of Piety," which has pa.s.sed through a vast number of editions. He was rector of St. Matthew's church, in London, and afterwards bishop of Bangor; and died in 1631. His son,

_Thomas Bayly_ was educated for the church at Cambridge; and during the civil war he resided at Ragland Castle, as chaplain to the Marquis of Worcester; after the surrender of which he travelled on the Continent; and on his return to England he published his "Certamen Religiosum, or a Conference between King Charles the First and Marquis of Worcester, concerning religion, in Ragland Castle, Anno 1646," which he is supposed to have written to justify his embracing the Roman Catholic religion. He also published the "Royal Charter granted to Kings," for which he was committed to Newgate. He also published another work, ent.i.tled "Herba parietis." Having made his escape from prison, he died in France in 1659.

_Morris Clynog_ was a native of Caernarvonshire, and was educated at Cambridge, where he graduated L.L.B. He was appointed rector of Corwen sinecure in 1556, and became a prebendary of York, and an officer in the Prerogative Court, under Cardinal Pole, archbishop of Canterbury, and he was nominated to succeed Dr. William Glynn in the bishopric of Bangor; but the queen dying before he was consecrated, he fled beyond sea, and going to Rome he became, some years after, the first rector of the English hospital there, after it was converted into a college for English students, where he became much noted for his partiality to his countrymen of Wales, which always caused a great faction between the Welsh and English students resident there.

_Thomas c.o.ke_, the eminent missionary, was the son of a surgeon at Brecon, in South Wales, where he was born in the year 1747. He was educated at the College school at that town, and in due time he was entered a Gentleman Commoner of Jesus College, Oxford. He took the degree of L.L.D. in 1775; and becoming acquainted with Wesley, he supported his opinions with great zeal. He commenced his labours as a missionary in North America in 1784, where he remained for several years in great popularity with the Methodists; but his advocating the cause of the negroes, and his opposition to the inhuman traffic in slaves, brought upon him the indignation of the Americans, and he was obliged to leave the country with precipitancy, and it was with great difficulty that he escaped to England. He afterwards made nine voyages as a missionary to the West Indies with great success, which must be attributed to his pious zeal and learning, which he has left several works to prove. His character has always been greatly extolled for the judgment which he exhibited in very trying periods, and for the amiableness of his disposition. He died on his voyage to the East Indies in 1814.

_Francis Davies_, D.D., an eminent and pious prelate, was a native of Wales, and was born in the year 1604. After an academical education, he entered the church; he received various preferment, and in 1660 he was appointed archdeacon of Llandaff. In 1667 he was raised to the bishopric of the same diocese; and died in 1674.

_John Davies_, D.D., the celebrated Welsh antiquary and learned divine, was born at Llanverras, in Denbighshire, and was educated at Ruthin School, under Bishop Parry. He was entered at Jesus College, Oxford, in 1589, where he graduated. In 1608, he removed to Lincoln College, and took his Doctor's degree in 1616. Having been appointed chaplain to Bishop Parry, he was made canon of St. Asaph by him; and in 1604, he was presented to the rectory of Mallwyd, and subsequently to those of Llan yn Mowddy and Darowen; and in 1617 to the prebend of Llannfydd, and subsequently to Llanvor sinecure. His character was held in high estimation in Oxford for his proficiency in the Greek and Hebrew languages: a most exact critic, and an indefatigable searcher of antiquities. His celebrated works are "Antiquae Linguae Britannicae Rudimenta," 8vo., 1621, and "Dictionarium Britannico-Latinum, and Latino-Britannic.u.m," which was published in London, 1632, folio. At the end of his dictionary is a good collection of Welsh proverbs. He died in May, 1644, and was buried in the church of Mallwydd, Meirionethshire.

_Miles Davies_ was a native of Whitford, near Holywell, in Flintshire.

He was originally intended for the church, but from some unknown cause he left his native country, and went to London, where he subscribed himself barrister at law. Here he commenced author, and published three volumes of his "Athenae Britannicae," in 1715, which contain much curious and valuable knowledge. Very little is now known of his history, but he is supposed to have been unfortunate in his later career as a literary character. It is uncertain when his death took place.

_Richard Davies_, D.D., was the son of David ap Gronw, and was born in Denbighshire, and educated at New Inn Hall, Oxford. Having entered the church, he became vicar of Burnham, and rector of Maids-morton, Buckinghamshire, which preferment he was deprived of in Queen Mary's reign, for being married; and he consequently retired to the Continent.

On the accession of Queen Elizabeth he returned home, and was raised by her to the bishopric of St. Asaph, in 1559, from whence he was translated to the see of St. David's in 1561. This eminent prelate was a man of great learning, and he was employed, with others, in translating the Bible into English, and he translated all from the beginning of Joshua to the end of Samuel. He also translated part of the New Testament into Welsh, particularly some of the Epistles. He published also some other works. He died at the Episcopal Palace of Abergwyli, Caermarthenshire, in 1581.

_Thomas Davies_, D.D., Bishop of St. Asaph, was a native of Llanbeder, near Aberconwy, Caernarvonshire, where he was born about the year 1515.

He received his academical education at St. John's College, Cambridge.

He became rector of his native parish, and was also made archdeacon of St. Asaph, and chancellor of Bangor. In 1561 he was advanced to the bishopric of St. Asaph, where he continued to his death, which took place in 1573. He was a very pious and charitable person, and founded a scholarship in Queen's College, Cambridge. He bequeathed also considerable sums of money for other pious uses.

_Walter Devereux_, Earl of Ess.e.x, the father of the unfortunate favourite of Queen Elizabeth, was born in Caermarthenshire in the year 1540, and succeeded his grandfather in the t.i.tles of Viscount Hereford and Lord Ferrers. His joining the Earl of Lincoln with a body of troops against the rebels who rose in the North, recommended him to the favour of Queen Elizabeth, who created him Earl of Ess.e.x in 1572, and made him a Knight of the Garter. He was afterwards appointed governor of Ulster in Ireland; and his death, which was supposed to have been hastened by poison, by his enemy the Earl of Leicester, took place in Dublin in 1576, leaving the character of a brave soldier, loyal subject, and disinterested patriot.

_David Dolben_ was born at Segrwyd, near Denbigh, in 1581. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he proceeded regularly through his degrees to that of doctor. He became a prebendary of St.

Asaph, and vicar of Hackney, in Middles.e.x; and in 1631 he was raised to the bishopric of Bangor. He died two years after his promotion, in London, and was buried in Hackney church.

_William Edwards_, one of the most wonderful examples of self-taught genius, was a native of Glamorganshire, where he was born at Eglwysilan, in 1719. At an early age he attracted notice by the neatness of his workmanship, in building walls on his father's farm; and gradually he arrived at the building of houses and larger structures. Having given great satisfaction to all his employers, he undertook, in 1746, to build a bridge over the river Tav, which was executed and greatly admired; at the end of two years and a half it was destroyed by a tremendous flood, which carried it away: he immediately commenced a new one, which however was likewise a failure. The third was completed in 1755, and remains a splendid monument of his talent, and is one of the most beautiful in the world; its span is 140 feet; and it exceeds the famed Rialto of Venice, which was supposed to be the largest arch in the world, by 42 feet. He devised several important improvements in the art of bridge building, and the success of his last bridge over the Tav introduced him to public notice; and he was employed to build numerous other bridges in South Wales. He died in 1789. It is rather singular that his son and grandson were equally possessed of the same taste and architectural talent.

_Thomas Edwards_, better known by his familiar appellation of _Twm o'r Nant_, was born at Nant, near Denbigh, in the year 1739. He received but a poor education in his youth, and was brought up to no regular trade, but worked as a labourer; his genius however showed itself at an early age, and he gave proofs of his Awen in the composition of a peculiar species of dramatic writing, known in Wales by the name of "Interludes,"

which were very common there in the last century. They appear to bear some a.n.a.logy to the New Comedy of the Athenians, where he satirizes living persons under fict.i.tious names; and although there are numerous examples of low scurrility and satire, yet they abound with fine strokes of genuine wit, and excellent poetry. He possessed a command of language, and was a good writer when he pleased; a neat specimen of which exists in his Autobiography, in Welsh. He spent his life in various parts of Wales, in different occupations, although he esteemed the acting of his Interludes not the least profitable. He generally bore a part in the exhibiting of his compositions, and gained considerable profit by selling printed copies of them, which he hawked about the country himself. Some of his poetry on various subjects has been published, and two portraits of him. He was a man of great muscular power; and he died in 1810, in the seventy-first year of his age.

_John Evans_, D.D., was born at Wrexham, in Denbighshire, in 1680. He was an eminent Dissenting divine, and graduated both at Edinburgh and Aberdeen; he was the author of several most excellent sermons on the Christian Temper, which have been admired by divines of every denomination. He for some years was the minister of the congregation of Independents in Petty France, having succeeded Dr. Williams; he was also lecturer for some time at Saddlers' Hall; and he died of dropsy in 1732.

_John Evans_, D.D., was born in Llanarmon, Denbighshire. He received his education at Jesus College, Oxford, where he proceeded through his degrees. Having taken orders, he obtained the living of Llanaelhaiarn, in Carnarvonshire, and in 1701 he was promoted to the bishopric of Bangor, and he was translated thence to the bishopric of Meath, in Ireland, in 1715.

_Evan Evans_, an eminent divine and poet, better known among his countrymen by the bardic appellation of Ienan Brydydd Hir, was born at Cynhawdrev in Cardiganshire, in the year 1730. He received his education at the grammar school of Ystrad-meurug in the same county, whence he removed to Oxford, and was entered at Merton College in 1751. After leaving college he officiated as curate at several places; and applied himself with great diligence to the cultivation of Welsh literature, and employed his leisure time in transcribing ancient ma.n.u.scripts; for which purpose he visited most of the libraries in Wales, where ma.n.u.scripts were known to exist. In the pursuit of his literary labours he for some time enjoyed the patronage of Sir Watkin W. Wynne, and Dr. Warren, Bishop of Bangor. He received an annuity of 20_l._ from Paul Panton, Esq., of Plasgwyn, in Anglesea, on condition that all his ma.n.u.scripts should on his death become his property; and in consequence, the whole collection, amounting to a hundred volumes, was deposited in Plasgwyn Library, where they still remain. He published two volumes of Welsh sermons, and was the author of an English poem, ent.i.tled the "Love of our Country;" but his chief work which ranked him high as an antiquary and critic, was a volume of Welsh poems with Latin translations, prefaced by a learned "Dissertatio de Bardis." The Welsh poems in this volume furnished Gray with matter for some of his most beautiful poetry. Mr. Evans was a man of excellent disposition, and great abilities as a Welsh scholar, but for some reason he never obtained any preferment in the church. He served in succession the curacies of Towyn in Meirion, Llanberis, and Llanllechid in Caernarvonshire. He died suddenly at the place of his birth, in August, 1789.

_Richard Fenton_, well known as the author of a "Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire;" was born in Wales, and was for several years an eminent member of the Welsh bar. He was also author of other works which were published anonymously, of which "A Tour in search of Genealogy," and "The Memoirs of an Old Wig," were highly esteemed as works of great interest, and abounding in wit and anecdote. He was a particular friend of Garrick, Goldsmith, Glover, and other great wits of the day. He translated also the works of Athenaeus, which were never published. He died at an advanced age in November, 1821.

_John Gambold_ was born at Haverfordwest about the year 1706. He received a liberal education, and was entered at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree of Master of Arts in 1734. He was presented to the living of Stanton Harcourt by Archbishop Secker in 1738, which he resigned ten years after, from motives of conscience, having become a convert to the opinions of Zinzerdorf, an account of whose life and character he published. He was appointed by the Moravians one of their bishops, of whom he had become a distinguished member in 1754. While at Oxford, he was the author of a "Sacred Drama," which was published in 1740, on the subject of the martyrdom of Saint Ignatius; and he superintended an edition of the Greek Testament at the Clarendon press; he translated also a History of Greenland from the Dutch, besides several sermons and other productions. He was a man of blameless morals, deep erudition, and sincere piety; and he was greatly beloved for the amiableness of his manners. He died at Haverfordwest in 1771. He was author of a "Welsh Grammar," and an able critic in the language.

_William Glynn_, D.D., was born in 1504, at Malltraeth in Anglesea, and educated at Cambridge, where he became Master of Queen's College. In 1549, he was presented to the living of St. Martin's-le-grand, London; and in 1551 he was made rector of his native parish of Heneglwys, and in 1555 he was promoted to the episcopal see of Bangor, where he died in 1558, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. Fuller, in his Worthies of Wales, gives a high character of this excellent bishop; and he was a man of great natural abilities and learning, and strictly attentive to the duties of his high station.

_Edmund Griffith_, D.D., was a native of Lleyn in Caernarvonshire, where he was born in 1570. He was educated at Brazen-nose College, Oxford, whence he removed to Jesus College, where he graduated. In 1599, he obtained the rectory of Llandwrog, and the following year he was made canon of Bangor; and after other preferments he was made dean of the same diocese in 1613, and he was promoted to the bishopric in 1633. His death took place in the year 1637.

_Elizabeth Griffith_, who has distinguished herself in the literary world by several productions, was a native of Wales; she married an Irish gentleman of the name of Richard Griffith, and little is known of her except her works. She first published "Letters of Henry and Frances,"

which is supposed to contain the genuine correspondence of herself and her husband before, and for some time after their marriage. She was the author of several dramas, novels, and several other productions, which obtained various success. She died in 1793.

_George Griffith_, D.D., was born at Penrhyn, Caernarvonshire, in 1601.

He was educated at Westminster School, from whence he was elected student of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1619, where he became an eminent tutor and preacher. He was appointed chaplain to Bishop John Owens, and was by him presented to the rectory of Llanvechain, Montgomeryshire, which he subsequently left for Llanymynech, and he also had the rectory of Llandrinio. In 1631, he was made a canon of St. Asaph. On the commencement of the civil war, he lost his preferment on account of his attachment to the royal cause, to which he rendered good service; but on the Restoration he was rewarded, and raised to the bishopric of St.

Asaph. In a convocation of the clergy in 1662, he was an active member in drawing up the Act of Uniformity, and making several alterations in the Liturgy; and he is supposed to have written the form for the baptism of those of riper years. He was also author of some Plain Discourses on the Lord's Supper. He died in 1666.

_John Gwillim_ was born of an ancient Welsh family in Herefordshire, in 1565. He was educated at Brazen-nose College, Oxford, and became a member of the Herald's College, London, in which he obtained the appointment of Rouge Croix Pursuivant, in 1617, which was owing to the appearance of his famous work, the "Display of Heraldry," which first appeared in 1610, and has since gone through several other editions. His death took place in 1621.

_Matthew Gwinne_, M.D., was an eminent physician, and was the first professor of medicine on Sir Thomas Gresham's foundation. The exact year of his birth is uncertain, but he was born in London of Welsh parents; and he received his education at Merchant Tailors' School, whence he removed to St. John's, Oxford, of which college he became a fellow. He composed a Masque, which recommended him to King James the First, before whom it was performed in Oxford; and he rose higher in that monarch's favour by an essay which he wrote against tobacco. He was the author of various other poems and prose works. He died in 1627.

_John Hanmer_, a member of the ancient family of the same name, living at Hanmer, in Flintshire, was educated at the University of Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship in All Souls College. He subsequently became a prebendary of Worcester, and rector of Bingham, Nottinghamshire. He was appointed chaplain to King James the First, who nominated him bishop of St. Asaph in 1623. He died at Pentre-pont, near Oswestry, in 1629; and bequeathed several sums of money for charitable purposes.

_Sir Thomas Hanmer_, Baronet, was born in 1676, and succeeded to the t.i.tle and estates of his uncle Sir John Hanmer, in Flintshire. He was educated at Westminster School, and Christ Church, Oxford. He commenced his parliamentary career in the representation of the county of Suffolk; and in 1713, he was elected speaker of the House of Commons, which honourable office he held until the end of his parliamentary life, which from its commencement lasted upwards of thirty years. He then withdrew altogether from public life, and turned his attention to literature; he published an elegant edition of Shakspeare in six volumes, quarto, which was printed at Oxford in 1744; and he liberally presented the copyright to the University. He died at his seat in Suffolk in 1746.

_Howell Harris_ was born at Trevecka, in Brecknockshire, in 1714. His parents were in humble circ.u.mstances, but they contrived to give him a cla.s.sical education, and kept him at school until he was eighteen, when his father dying, he was obliged to support himself by giving instruction to a few boys in the neighbourhood, intending at a proper time to enter the established church. In 1735, he went to Oxford, and was entered at St. Mary Hall, where he did not remain to complete his studies. In 1739, he began to traverse Wales, preaching in the open fields and streets according to the tenets which Whitfield was spreading in England, and gaining numerous converts every day. The sect which he introduced is still very great in Wales, and after spending seventeen years in spreading his doctrine, he came to reside permanently at his native town of Trevecka. After an active life, he died in the year 1773.

_John ap Henry_ was born in Wales in 1559, and was a celebrated character at that period, better known by his a.s.sumed t.i.tle of Martin Marprelate.

He was entered at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he took the degree of B.A.

in 1584; he afterwards removed to Oxford, where he graduated M.A.; he preached frequently in both Universities, and gained great reputation, and he afterwards became a notorious Puritan. His embracing the principles of the Brownists, rendered him obnoxious to a vindictive government, to the cruelty of which he afterwards fell a victim. He was prosecuted for some libellous pamphlets which could not be proved against him; and afterwards he was most illegally tried and condemned on a charge of denying the sovereign's authority, for which he was accordingly executed. He was a man of great talent and learning, but his productions are chiefly political tracts which related to that period.

_Matthew Henry_ was the son of Philip Henry, an eminent Nonconformist, and he was born at Broad Oak, in Flintshire, in the year 1663. He was early instructed by his father in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, in which he made great proficiency, and being originally intended for the bar, he was entered at Gray's Inn; but his great predilection for divinity induced him to leave that profession, and for twenty-five years he was the zealous pastor of a Dissenting congregation in Chester. In 1702, he removed to Hackney, where he paid the most sedulous attention to the duties of his ministry; he remained there until his death, which took place in 1714, of a stroke of apoplexy. His numerous works are a proof of his deep learning, and he enjoyed great popularity both as an author and a preacher; his chief work is an Exposition of the Bible, in five volumes, folio, which has gone through numerous editions.

_Edward Herbert_, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, eminent for his character and writings, was the son of Richard Herbert, Esq., of a very ancient family, and was born at Montgomery Castle, in North Wales, in 1581. His proficiency was so great in his early education that he was entered at University College, Oxford, at the age of twelve. In 1600, he came to London, and being introduced at court, he became a Knight of the Bath soon after the accession of James the First. After spending his time in visiting various courts of Europe, and serving for some time under the Prince of Orange in the Low Countries, in 1614, he was sent on an emba.s.sy to the court of France; and having been recalled, he was sent amba.s.sador a second time, and while there he printed at Paris his famous book "De veritate prout distinguitur a Revelatione." In 1625, he returned home, and was created an Irish Peer, and afterwards an English Baron. He afterwards retired from public life, and upon the breaking out of the civil war, he joined the parliamentary party, but he soon quitted it, and joined the royal cause, and consequently he was a great sufferer in his estate. He died in London, in 1648, and was buried in St.

Giles's-in-the-fields. He wrote the Memoirs of his own Life, which were not published until the year 1764, by Lord Oxford. The character of this distinguished n.o.bleman was brave, generous, and disinterested.

_George Herbert_, younger brother of Lord Herbert, distinguished himself as a poet and divine; he also was born at Montgomery Castle, in 1593. He was educated at Westminster School, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship; and in 1619, he was chosen public orator.

Having taken orders, he applied himself with great a.s.siduity to the duties of his profession, and the first benefice which he received was a prebend in the diocese of Lincoln, and the parish church connected with it was rebuilt mostly at his own expense. He subsequently obtained the rectory of Bemerton, near Salisbury. His death took place in February, 1633. He published the "Country Parson," and he was the author of the "Temple," which contains poems on sacred subjects, besides other minor pieces.

_James Howel_, the author of the popular and interesting "Epistolae Hoelianae," was the son of a clergyman, and born in Caermarthenshire, in 1596. He took his degree of bachelor of arts in Jesus College, Oxford, in 1613. When he left the University, he was appointed, through the interest of Sir Robert Mansel, to superintend a patent gla.s.s manufactory in London, which had been established by some men of rank. In 1619, he commenced a tour on the Continent in the service of his employers, and during the three years that he continued abroad, he visited Holland, Spain, France, and Italy; in Venice he engaged some workmen for his manufactory, for the Venetians were at that time very famous for their skill in casting plate-gla.s.s. Soon after his return to England he was elected fellow of Jesus College, and travelled abroad again with the son of Lord Altham. He afterwards had the office of secretary to Lord Scrope, then president of the North, and was elected member of parliament for Richmond, and subsequently he was appointed secretary to the English Amba.s.sador, the Earl of Leicester, in Denmark. In 1640, he was made clerk of the council, which he did not long retain by reason of Cromwell's usurpation. His works are numerous, and he was the first who held the office of Historiographer, which he obtained on the Restoration.

He died in 1666.

_William Hughes_, D.D., was a native of Caernarvonshire, and was educated partly at Oxford, whence he removed to Christ's College, Cambridge. He was chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk, and he took his degrees of divinity in Oxford, having been incorporated from Cambridge. He was afterwards rector of Llysfaen in Caernarvonshire, and in 1573, he was consecrated Bishop of St. Asaph. He died in 1600.

_Humphrey Humphreys_, D.D., was born at Penrhyn-dau-draeth, Merionethshire, in 1648. He received his education at the free grammar schools of Oswestry and Bangor, and in 1665, he was admitted a member of Jesus College, Oxford, where he obtained a scholarship, and afterwards a fellowship; he proceeded regularly through his degrees, and became rector of Llanvrothen, which he left in 1672 for the living of Trawsfynydd.

Having been made a canon of Bangor, he was installed dean of the same cathedral in 1680, and in 1689, he was raised to the bishopric, from which he was translated to the see of Hereford in 1701. His death took place in 1712. He was a person of excellent virtues during the whole course of his life, and an example of piety, and strictly attentive to the duties of his high station.

_George_, _Lord Jefferies_, _Baron Wem_, was the son of John Jefferies, Esq., of Acton, in Denbighshire, where he was born in the beginning of the seventeenth century. He received his education at Shrewsbury School, and Westminster, and was entered at the Middle Temple to study law. His father's family being large, his allowance was consequently very scanty, but his industry and ingenuity supplied all deficiencies. On commencing his professional career, he was made a citizen of London through the interest of a relation; and he was subsequently chosen recorder of the corporation. This high station recommended him to the notice of the court, and furthered his advancement. He was appointed successively a Welsh Judge, and Chief Justice of Chester, and created a baronet. Having been appointed Chief Justice of the King's Bench, he was employed to prosecute the adherents of the Duke of Monmouth, which office he executed with great cruelty, and for his zeal in this service he was rewarded by the vindictive and cold-hearted James with the post of Lord High Chancellor. It is acknowledged, however, that he showed himself an able and impartial judge in cases which were not connected with politics. On the accession of William the Third, he was committed to the Tower, where he died in April, 1689. He was succeeded in his t.i.tle and estates by his only son, whose daughter was married to Earl Pomfret; and after his death, she presented the n.o.ble collection, known by the name of Pomfret marbles, to the University of Oxford.

_William Lleyn_ was a very celebrated Welsh bard, and flourished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was a native of Llangain in Lleyn, in Caernarvonshire. He excelled all the bards of his time in sublimity of thought and poetic fire, and was much admired for the sprightliness of his wit. His compositions are remarkable for grave sentences, and maxims of policy and wisdom. He had a poetical contest with Owain Gwynedd, a contemporary bard, which is still extant, besides several other pieces which have never been published. He died at Oswestry.

_David Jenkins_ was born at Hensol, in Glamorganshire, in 1586. He was educated at Edmund Hall, Oxford, and entered at Gray's Inn. Being called to the bar, he was subsequently made a Welsh Judge, and continued in this office until he was taken prisoner by the parliamentary forces at Hereford, and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Having rendered himself obnoxious to the parliament, in consequence of his having condemned, when judge, several who had taken arms against the King, he was brought before the House of Commons; whose authority he denied, and called the whole a.s.sembly a den of thieves; being provoked by this language, they voted him guilty of high treason, and sentenced him to be hanged; on which he undauntedly observed that he would suffer with the Bible under one arm and Magna Charta under the other. He escaped however this punishment, but was fined 1,000_l._ for contempt, and his estates were confiscated.

He was committed to Newgate, where he remained until the Restoration; but it does not appear that he obtained any reward for his courage and fidelity from the forgetful Charles. He died in 1667, at Cambridge.