introduction he gives a little personal history of some value and interest; addressing the "Darllenydd Hynaws" he says:
"Nid oes i ti ddisguil fod y cyfieuthiad hyn mor gywraint o ran ymadrodd ffraeth areithiawl, ag y gwnaethai cymreigiwr hyddysc, canys yr ydwyf yn cyfaddeu, nad oes oddiar gwartar blwyddyn, er pan ddarllenais I un Llyfr cymraeg gyda dim hoffder."[1]
As the error of William Rowlands in his "Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry" is accepted by Charles Ashton in "Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig," and by others, it may not be out of place to state that John Rogers, who printed the above book, was not the same as John Rhydderch or Roderick.
Another work of Theophilus Evans, undated, is attributed to 1715 by William Rowlands. It is entitled :
"Galwedigaeth ddifrifol i'r Crynwyr, i'w gwahawdd hwy i ddychwelyd i Grist'nogaeth. O gyfieithiad Theophilus Evans. Mwythig."
No doubt the young translator went to Shrewsbury to see these books passing through the press, for we find from the Introduction to the 1st edition of "Drych y Prif Oesoedd," published there by John Rhydderch the following year, that it was in the Library of the Free School, Shrewsbury, he obtained most of the material which he worked into the "Drych." But though his visit may have been in the first instance connected with the publication of the two books named above, the enormous amount of reading and investigation involved in the preparation of "Drych Prif Oesoedd" must have greatly prolonged his stay at Shrewsbury.
- ↑ Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, p. 144.
