Llythyrau Goronwy Owen/Llythyr 7
| ← Llythyr 6 | Llythyrau Goronwy Owen golygwyd gan John Morris-Jones |
Llythyr 8 |
𝔏𝔩𝔶𝔱𝔥𝔶𝔯 7.
At WILLIAM MORRIS.
DEAR SIR,
Ir is a sad case to be forced to begin a letter to a friend with an apology. I own I had need to do so; though at present I shall only beg your pardon for my dilatoriness, which I doubt not but you will grant without an apology. It is a sufficient punishment, to be deprived, by my own tardiness of the pleasure of your letters. I have not heard from Gallt Fadog since the beginning of October, though. I wrote about a month since. Mr. Llewelyn Ddu talked of going to London; and I fear he had set out before my letter reached Ceredigion. I heard from the Navy Office not long ago, and am still a letter in debt to Mr. R. Morris, which I intend to discharge very soon.
Chwi gawsech glywed oddi wyrthyf yn gynt, ond odid, oni buasai y rhew tost a fu'n ddiweddar. Nid yw'r Awen ond fferllyd ac anystwyth ar yr hin oer yma. Ni chaiff dyn chwaith mo'r amser i brydyddu gan fyrred y dyddiau, a chan ymysgrythu ac ymwthio i gonglau; a pha beth a dal crefft heb ei dilyn? Pa wedd bynnag, dyma i chwi ryw fath ar bwt of Gywydd o goffawdriaeth am yr hen wraig dda o Bentref Eiriannell gynt. Hoff oedd genyf hi yn ei bywyd, a diau fod rhywbeth yn ddyledus i goffadwriaeth pobl dda, ar ol eu claddu; yr hyn, er nad yw fudd yn y byd iddynt hwy, a all ddigwydd fod yn llesol i'r byw, i'w hannog i ddilyn camrau y campwyr gorchestol a lewychasant mor hoyw odidog yn y byd o'u blaen hwynt. Nid yw cymmaint fy rhyfyg i a meddwl y dichon fod ar law dyn o'm bath i ganu iddi fal yr haeddai: beth er hynny?
'Melusaf y cân eos, ond nid erchis Duw i'r frân dewi.' Yr asyn a gododd ei droed ar arffed ei feistr, ac nid llai ei ewyllys da ef na'r colwyn, er nad hawddgar ei foesau. Fe all Bardd Du ddangos ei ewyllys, ac nid all Bardd Coch amgen, cyd bai amgen ei Gywydd.
I do not remember that I ever saw a Cywydd Marwnad by any of the ancients—men whom I would willingly imitate —and so cannot tell how such a Cywydd ought to be made; neither do I call this a Cywydd Marwnad, but Cywydd Coffadwriaeth. I did not rightly know how to go about it; for I could not form any proper idea of it in my mind; and so I was obliged, as it were, to build without a plan. I saw myself under several difficulties. Poets in these cases. are—and I think are allowed to be, though they ought not. —very lavish of their praises, even to an hyperbole, and seldom free from flattery, even of the grossest kind, that is, hard lying. I proposed to myself to keep a strict eye on truth; but then I saw that my truth, would, of necessity be so like other men's falsehoods, that the counterfeit would hardly be distinguishable from the sterling coin; and for that reason I was afraid to say what my love of truth would needs force me to say. I saw that I could say nothing of that excellent woman—though perhaps true of her only, and peculiar to herself—but what had been ascribed before by the prostituted breath of some execrable poetaster or other to, perhaps, the most worthless miscreant. I am sure my main. endeavour was to avoid all appearances of flattery; and that at the expense of suppressing some truths. And if anything looks like it, it is foreign to my intention, and I utterly disclaim the meaning of whatever may be perverted to such. a construction. These were some of my main difficulties; but whether I have surmounted them I leave you to judge. I have one favour to ask you; and that is, that you would. present this Cywydd in my name to your father, whom I am really sorry for; and send me a copy of Y Bardd Coch's Cywydd, i gael gweled pa ragor rhwng Coch a Du. But for love's sake do not you take example by me in deferring to write. I beg I may hear from you as soon as conveniently may be; and I shall never again be faulty in point of expeditiousness
Os gwyddoch pa le y mae, rhowch fi ar sathr y brawd Llewelyn Ddu. Yr wyf yn tybio ei fyned i Lundain cyn hyn; ac os felly, yn iach glywed na siw na miw oddi wrtho hyd oni ddychwelo.
My compliments to Mr. Ellis; and if he chooses to join in the publication of the Cywyddau, he shall be very welcome, and have my thanks too. But I am afraid the. Cywyddau will never be printed, because I doubt the money cannot be raised. The rate of printing at Salop is two guineas a sheet for 1,000 copies, which is three times too much to bestow on them; and there would not go above two or three of them at most on a sheet. For my part, I am very indifferent whether they are printed or not.
Ai byw yr hen Gristiolus wydn fyth? Is the curacy of Llanrhuddlad disposed of? What other curacy is vacant? for I am sure I shall never better myself by staying here. I have already sufficiently tried the generosity of my Scotch patron, and find it too slender to lean upon. He is the hardest man I ever dealt with. Waethwaeth yr a'r byd wrth aros yma; prin y gellir byw yr awrhon— a pha fodd amgen, tra bo y brithyd am goron y mesur Winchester, a'r ymenyn am saith ceiniog, a'r caws am dair a dimai'r pwys?—a pha sut y gellir disgwyl byw tra cynnydda'r teulu, ac na chynnydda'r cyflog? Y llangciau a ant fwyfwy'r clwt, fwyfwy cadach; ac ymhell y bwyf, ïe, pellach o Fôn nag ydwyf, os gwn i pa'r fyd a'm dwg. Ni's gwybûm i mo'm geni [er clywed gan fy mam ganwaith,[1]] nes dyfod i fysg y Saeson drelion yma. Och finnau! Mi glwyswn. ganwaith sôn am eu cynneddfau, a mawr na ffynnasai genyf eu gochel. Mi allaf ddywedyd am danynt, fal y dywed Brenhines Seba am Solomon, "Gwir yw y gair a glywais yn fy ngwlad fy hun am danynt, etto ni chredais y geiriau nes im' ddyfod ac i'm llygaid weled; ac wele ni fynegasid i mi yr hanner." Nid. oes genyf fi lid yn y byd i'r Doctor E—s; mae yn rhydd iddo ef ddictatio fal y fynno, onid fod yn rhydd i minnau wneuthur yn fy newis ai canlyn ei ddictat ef ai peidio; a pheidied o a digio oni chanlynaf, ac yno fe fydd pob peth o'r goreu. Cenawes ystyfnig ydyw 'r Awen. Ni thry oddiar ei llwybr ei hun er ungwr. Ac yn wir nid yw ond digon afresymol i ŵr na fedd nac Awen na'i chysgod gymmeryd arno ddysgu un a'i medd, pa fodd i'w harfer a'i rheoli. Fe ellir gwneuthur pwt of bregeth ar y testyn a fynno un arall ; ond am Gywydd, ni thal ddraen oni chaiff yr Awen ei phen yn rhydd, ac aed lle mynno. A phwy bynnag a ddywedo amgen, gwybydded fod ganddo Awen ystwythach na'm Hawen i, yr hon ysgatfydd sydd mor wargaled o ddiffyg na buaswn yn ei dofi yn ieuangach. Cennad i'm crogi onid wyf yn meddwl fod yr Awen, fal llawer mireinferch arall, po dycnaf a diwyttaf y cerir, murseneiddiaf a choocaf fyth ei cair. Nis gwn i, pe'm blingid, pa un waethaf ai gormod gofal, ai gormod diofalwch.
We have here in this parish of Wroxeter some very curious pieces of antiquity lately found. They are three Roman monuments, set up, as appears by the inscriptions (which are very plain and legible-the stones, too, being entire), about the time of Vespasian; one being for Caius Manlius,-a Prætorian legate of the twentieth legion; and another for Marcus Petronius, an ensign or standard-bearer of the nine- teenth legion. Wroxeter was once one of the finest cities in Britain, though now but a poor village, as appears by the ruins that are now to be seen, and are daily more and more discovered, and by the vast number of Roman coins that are yearly and daily found in it. It was called by the Romans Uriconium" and "Viriconium," perhaps from Gorygawn or Gurogion, and probably destroyed by the Saxons; for we have here a tradition, that it was set on fire by a flight of sparrows that had matches tied to their tails for that purpose by the enemy.
Nodiadau
[golygu]- ↑ Nid yw'r frawddeg sy rhwng cromfachau yn argraffiad R. Jones. Cymerir hi o argraffiad Llanrwst.