Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

not fit to be employed in matters of state, as Parsons confesseth, because he could not keep Parsons' counsels in certain causes which he imparted to him" (Dom., Eliz., 34, Add. n. 42, ii). This may supply the clue to Griffith Roberts' mysterious warning to Smith in 1596 against crossing the Alps and putting himself in the power of those who remembered the old feud ("yr hen genfigen"). Parsons may have been angry with Smith for his republi- can and nationalist views. Smith was certainly, in 1598, violently anti-English and anti-Spanish, in spite of his views in favour of Philip's title, expressed in his MS. book (which was never presumably published), to the throne of England as the only Catholic claimant (v. App. B). It is clear, however, that Smith was at heart opposed to the pre- tensions both of Philip of Spain and James of Scotland. What he really wanted was the establishment of a repub- lican system which would give to Wales a full measure of internal independence, such as was enjoyed by the Italian States. From 1596 onwards Smith seems to have lived in Paris, where he published his Welsh translations of Catholic works. In 1609 appeared his Crynodeb o addysg Gristnogaivl, where he describes himself as "D. Rosier Smith .Athraw o Theologyddiaeth." In 1611 appeared his translation of Catechism Petrus Canisius, which is said (but quite erroneously) in Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry to have been printed from the same type ("yr un llythyren") as Griffith Roberts's Welsh Grammar. The type is similar, but is obviously not the same, being much smaller. In 1615 he published in Paris his Theater du Mond, sef iw Gorsedd y Byd. Lewis Owen, in the Running Register (p. 19) which was published in 1626, says that Smith "died last year in Paris". He would then have been about 79 years of age. APPENDIX D. MORRIS CLYNOG AND SIR WILLIAM CECIL. I am indebted to the courtesy of the Marquis of Salis- bury, and to the kind assistance of his private secretary, Mr. Gunton, for permission to copy and photograph the following interesting letter, which is in the Hatfield