undertaken largely because of the mother's great horror of the ocean.
A friend of the family, writing on this movement from Ty'n-y-celyn to Plas Llanychan, says:—
"Ty'n-y-celyn was a modern dwelling, with ample grounds laid out in carriage drives, ever-green plantations, grass-plats, flower-beds, &c, and it was here, amid these charming surroundings, that R. Ddu, as a boy, began to versify while attending Hwlkin School. Ty'n-y-celyn was a large farm, able to hire men and women for the hard work indoors and out, while Plas Llanychan was too small a place to afford as much house-help as the family had been used to have at Ty'n-y-celyn.
The children found it hard to adjust themselves to the harder duties of the smaller farm, and the house being near the river made it malarious, so that they were constantly racked with neuralgia, &c. Richard and Emily were of a studious disposition, so they both found solace in literary persuits. Hence the Blaenffrwyth from the pen of R. Ddu, and frequent contributions from Emily, which were always welcomed by Ieuan Gwynedd of the "Gymraes" and by the editor of the "Carnarvon Herald" Being of kindred minds, their fellowship was more marked than that of the other children."
Risiart Ddu, being a poet, and finding his duties at Plas Llanychan uncongenial to him, became more and more a disciple of the muse; and composed many short poems which he published in 1858 in a volume entitled "Y Blaenffrwyth" (First fruits), when he was yet only 22 years old. That some of these poems show the immaturity of youth is only to be expected; but they are all specimens of good
