DEATH OF GLASLYN – A WELL KNOWN WELSH WRITER – FACTS OF HIS CAREER

After a prolonged illness, Glaslyn, the well-known Welsh bard, died last Sunday night at Llys Ednyfed, Penrhyndeudraeth, aged 80 years. He was a native of Llanfrothen, and resided for many years at Beddgelert, where he filled the office of deacon at the C. M. Chapel. For a time he kept a bookseller’s shop, and also worked as a quarryman. He and Glasynys were great personal friends. Glaslyn was a ravenous reader both of English and Welsh books, and he became an authority on Beddgelert antiquities. His nervous style, whether poetry or prose, made him a very popular writer. His many articles in “Y Cymru” and other periodicals, showed him to be a man well versed in the literature and the history of the subjects he treated upon. Politically he was a Labourite, and when the late Mr Morgan Lloyd came out as an Independent candidate for the representation of Merioneth in Parliament, Glaslyn stumped the county on his behalf. In spite of infirmity, adversity, and other disheartening circumstances, Glaslyn kept on writing and reading. The last time the writer of this note saw him, the bard was in bed reading one of Hawthorne’s books. Had the deceased had the same genius for self-control as he had for literature, he would have attained a high place in the ranks of Welsh authors. His poetical works are being collected, with a view to publication, by Cameddog.

Source: The North Wales Express, published 19 March 1909