Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

standard, and it was greatly appreciated. In fact it is doubtful whether any other nineteenth century religious journal attained a higher standard of excellence. Thomas Jones himself contributed sermons and letters, cywyddau and hymns, (the best known being Mi wn fod fy Mhrynwr yn fyw ') and edited religious and secular news items from material supplied by Charles, the Missionary Society, and current English periodicals, including The Gentleman's Magazine. A special feature was made of poetry which included work by Twm o'r Nant and Sion Lleyn. It is significant that when the Treasury was revived in 1809, this later publication, in which Thomas Jones had no hand, contained hardly any poetry and had nothing of the distinction of the original journal I have taken the Spiritual Treasury as my starting point because it does show what a many-sided man Thomas Jones was. He had already, in spite of chronic ill-health, travelled thousands of miles on foot and on horseback, preaching to little groups of Calvinistic Methodists all over North Wales, especially in Flintshire and the Vale of Clwyd, and attending the Quarterly and Annual Meetings held by these people who were not as yet a separate denomination. Nominally they still belonged to the Anglican Church, and Thomas Charles, their leader in North Wales, was an ordained priest. At this time, however, he was the only one in the North, and the Methodists still had to receive the sacraments at the hands of their parish priest except on those memorable occasions when they travelled in great companies to Bala, and even to Llangeitho, to receive the communion from their own leaders. Thomas Jones had himself been intended for the Anglican ministry. Born in 1756 at Penucha, a freehold near Caerwys which had been in his family for over 300 years, he had attended a school at Caerwys kept by the Rev. John Lloyd, the friend of Thomas Pennant and father of Angharad Llwyd. This learned and charming man later became vicar of Nannerch and finally returned to Caerwys as rector in 1778. Thomas Jones did so well at school that his father decided to make a parson of him, and in preparation for the University sent him to a grammar school at Holywell kept by another J. Lloyd and held in the medieval chapel built over St. Winifred's well. He seems to have been a young dare-devil, and tells us in his autobiography how- I used to go sometimes to the top of the bell tower. One day I went and stood on one foot on the top of the parapet. I even looked down and around me, took off my hat and shouted for joy. But suddenly hearing the frightened cry of an old man in the churchyard, I became alarmed and dizzy myself and fell-but through the goodness of God back onto the lead roof." But, though foolhardy on occasions, Thomas worked hard, and left school with a thorough grounding in the classics. He also took his future calling seriously and tried as best he could to prepare himself for the priesthood. But he was discouraged, 1 For the details of his early life, see Hunangofiant y Parch. Thomas Jones, ed. Idwal Jones. Aberystwyth. 1937.