Richard, yn ei falchder diniwed, yn meddwl mai efe oedd biau bobpeth. Gan fod cymaint o siarad ar draws ac ar hyd wedi bod yn y wlad ar y pwnc hwn, ni a ddyfynwn, yn yr iaith yr ysgrifenwyd ef, eiriad gwylaidd Ceiriog ei hun am y drafodaeth, y rhai a welir yn Oriau'r Haf, tud. 14:—
THE National Eisteddvod held in Carnarvon Castle, August 26th to 30th, 1862, was brought to a close by performing Owen Alaw's "Prince of Wales Cantata." I had written this Cantata at the request of the General Council of "Yr Eisteddfod," to commemorate the birth of the first Prince in that castle, referring to the coming of age of His Gracious Majesty Albert Edward, our present illustrious Prince. On the morning following the Eisteddvod Mr. Brinley Richards and myself happened to call at the same time at the offices of the Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald, to obtain that day's paper containing a full report of the National Festival and the evening concerts. He congratulated me for having written the words of the Cantata, which he stated had given him some satisfaction. I replied that my share of honor could be but small, and attributed the immense success of its performance, firstly to the composer of the music, secondly to the enthusiasm then existing generally throughout the United Kingdom on the advent of the coming of age of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. The ability of the choir and the historical associations of the place where the Cantata was performed were also referred to. This led to further conversation, during which one of us said that His Royal Highness was not only coming of age, but was reported in the papers to be married shortly to the Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The Principality, since its union with England, had no appropriate National Anthem, but the high tide of overwhelming enthusiasm was approaching, and we decided to have something to launch, for there was a tide for songs as well as fortunes. I then expressed a wish that Mr. Richards would kindly compose music to suitable words for a national song, which I would endeavour to furnish him. The words were forwarded in due course, and were shortly returned to me with the music. Llew Llwyfo and several friends of mine sang them in public concerts for two months before the English version was written. In fact the song was intended to be purely a Welsh one, and the idea of obtaining an English version was an after-thought which naturally suggested itself to the composer when he was about arranging with the publishers to buy the copyright.
Mr. Brinley Richards and myself had many English versions to select from, before we decided upon Mr. Geo. Linley's, and I believe Mr. Richards himself wrote the whole of the chorus part, commencing:
"Among our ancient mountains," &c.
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