REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, For the Year ending November 9th, 1885. THE Council, in again meeting the Members at the close of an administrative year, have much satisfaction in recording the continued usefulness and popularity of the Society. The satisfaction of the Council is, however, tempered by the consideration of the many gaps which have been made by death in the Society's ranks; foremost among them being that of our honoured President, the worthy bearer of an ancient name held in highest esteem throughout modern Wales, the late Sir Watkin Williams Wynn. The loss of Mr. Brinley Richards leaves a place blank among leading Welshmen which will not easily be filled. The grief with which the news of his death was received by the Council and the Society was an image of that which was felt throughout the whole of Wales. Two of our Corresponding Members have passed from our number, the Rev. William Watkins, M.A., of Llandovery, a contributor to Y Cymmrodor, and a helper in much of the Society's literary work; and Mr. T. Alun Jones of Liverpool, to whose exertions as Honorary Secretary the success of the Cyminrodorion Section of the Eisteddfod of 1884 was so largely due. The well-known name of Mr. Askew Roberts of Oswestry, the able and zealous antiquary and editor of Bye-gones, is amongst those which will no longer be found in our list; and we cannot, without a word of comment, pass over the death of another Oswestry man, Mr. D. G. Davies, F.G.S., whose paper on the "Metalliferous Deposits of Flint and Denbighshire", published in Y Cymmrodor, has received the honour of translation into several of the languages of Continental Europe. The Council has appointed the following gentlemen as Corresponding Members of the Society : Prof. JOSEPH LоTH, Rennes ; Prof. ERNST WINDISCH, Leipsic. During the past year the following publications have been issued by the Society: ANNUAL REPORT OF COUNCIL AND REGISTER OF MEMBERS for the year ending Nov. 9th, 1884. HANES AC HENAFIAETH CANU GYDA 'R TANNAU (Idris Fychan). Y CYMMRODOR, vol. vii, Part 2. THE BLESSEDNES OF BRYTAINE, by Maurice Kyffin. Facsimile The following Meetings of the Society have been held during the Session : In London:- On April 16.-Mr. Stephen Evans, J.P., in the chair.-A paper on "Bi-Lingual Wales" was read by Mr. Dan Isaac Davies, B.Sc., H.M. Sub-Inspector of Schools. On May 7.-CONVERSAZIONE, with Exhibition of Works of Art. On May 21.-Mr. T. Marchant Williams, B.A., in the chair.—A paper entitled "Reminiscences of the Eisteddfodau of Wales from 1819 to 1884", was read by Clwydfardd. At Aberdare, in connection with the National Eisteddfod of 1885 (Cymmrodorion Section) :— On August 24th.-The High Constable of Aberdare in the chair.An Inaugural Address was delivered by Mr. W. Cornwallis West, on "Art Culture in Wales and its Future Development". On August 26th.-Mr. T. Marchant Williams, B.A., in the chair.— A paper was read by Mrs. Bryant, D.Sc., on "University Local Examinations in Wales", and was followed by a Discussion, in which many prominent educationists took part. On August 27th.-Dr. Isambard Owen in the chair.-A Report by a Committee of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion on "The Advisability of the Introduction of the Welsh Language into the Course of Elementary Education in Wales" was presented. A paper was read by Mr. Beriah Gwynfe Evans on "The Utilisation of the Welsh Language for Educational purposes in Wales", and was followed by a Discussion. August 28th.-Mr. Arthur J. Williams in the chair.-A discussion was held on "Working Men's Dwellings: their Requirements and Possibilities", opened by a paper from Dr. Isambard Owen. The overflowing attendance at the Aberdare Meetings, and the marked interest displayed in them, is a strong witness to the confidence and esteem which the Society has gained from our countrymen in Wales. Social Gatherings were held in the Library of the Institution, Lonsdale Chambers, on the evenings of Thursday, January 29, February 26, March 26, May 30. The following Presents have been received and duly acknowledged by the Council on behalf of the Society: MS. copy of Wyllyam Salesbury's Englyshe-Welsh Dictionary, by the late Rev. Robert Jones of Rotherhithe, presented by H.I.H. Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte. The Aryan Maori, by Mr. Edward Tregear, Wellington, New Zealand. County, Pennsylvania, settled 1698 by Welsh Immigrants, by Y Drych, presented by Mr. J. G. Griffiths, Utica, U.S.A. The Cambrian, a Bi-Monthly Magazine, by Mr. D. J. Jones, Cincinnati. Bye-gones, by Mr. W. Woodall, Oswestry. Montgomeryshire Collections, by Mr. Morris C. Jones, F.S.A., Hon. Sec. Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall, by Major E. Parkyn. Annual Report of the National Eisteddfod, by Mr. T. Marchant, Williams, B.A. R Journal and Proceedings of the Hamilton Association, Canada, vol. i, pt. 1, by Mr. G. Dickson. Owen Pughe's Welsh and English Dictionary, by Mr. Henry Davies, Medallist of the old Cymmrodorion Society. On the Laws concerning Religious Worship, by Mr. John Jenkins. Twenty vols. of valuable works presented by Mr. John Davies, of H.M. Treasury. Tales of the Cymry, by Motley. History of Wales, by Warrington, 2 vols. Y Gododin, translated by Ab Ithel. Heroic Elegies, etc., of Llywarch Hen, by Dr. Wm. Owen Pughe. Rowlands' Cambrian Bibliography. Grammar of the Welsh Language, by Dr. Wm. Owen Pughe, first edition. Transactions of the Cymmrodorion Society, 1822, vol. i. Southey's Madoc. Welsh Sketches, third series. Welsh Sermons, by the Rev. Thos. Marsden. Flores Poetarum Britannicorum, by Dr. John Davies. Aeron Afan, Prize Essays, etc., of Aberavon Eisteddfod, 1853. Cell Meadwg, works of Ellis Owen, F.S.A. Cyff Beuno, by Eben Fardd. Welsh Names of Places, An Essay on, by the Rev. J. James (Iago Emlyn), subscriber's copy. Nineveh and its Remains, by A. H. Layard, translated into Welsh. Welsh. Religious System of the Amazulu, by Canon Callaway, presented by the Folk-Lore Society. "The Wild Welsh Coast," from Harper's Magazine, by Henry Blackwell, New York. The Council beg to recall to your attention the following passage in last year's Report: "During the coming year the Council hope, without incurring undue expenditure, to utilise these rooms to a much greater extent for the benefit of Members. A Sub-Committee is at present considering the means of keeping them open to Members under the charge of a custodian during certain hours of the day, and of arranging for a series of informal gatherings of Members during the winter months, in addition to the usual series of meetings." In pursuance of this intention, which met with the approval of the last General Meeting, and in deference to a wish frequently expressed by Members of the Society, the Council, in January last, opened the Library to Members for use as a Reading-room and place of meeting on five days in the week for four hours each day, and appointed Mr. David Owen, M.A., as Librarian in charge. At the June meeting of the Council, however, so few Members were reported by the Librarian as having availed themselves of the privilege, that the Council considered they would not be justified in continuing the experiment, which entailed a charge, though a moderate one, upon the funds of the Society. The opening of the Library, therefore, has not been continued since that date. The other experiment foreshadowed in last year's Report, namely that of holding informal social gatherings during the winter months, has proved, the Council are glad to say, a complete success. Most of these meetings were well attended, and evidently gave great satisfaction to the Members who were present. It is with much regret that the Council announce the retirement of Professor Powel from the editorship of the Society's publications, which he has carried on with such marked ability and success since the year 1879. The Council, in making this announcement, beg to express their sense of the unremitting care which Professor Powel has bestowed upon the publications, and of the great value which the high quality he has given to them has been to the success of the Society in Wales, and to its reputation among continental scholars. The Council, on the recommendation of Professor Rhys of Oxford, have placed the future conduct of the Society's publications in the hands of one of its own body, Mr. Egerton Phillimore, whose recent contributions to Y Cymmrodor |