Cylchgronau Cymru

Ife Christian ^tan&ar& Vol. No. 4. OCTOBER, 1891. Price One Penny. REV. D. CHARLES DAVIES, M.A., PRINCIPAL OP TREVECCA PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH BY REV. J. PULESTON JONES, B.A., BANGOR. AVID CHARLES DAVIES comes of a Merioneth¬ shire family on his father's side, and is, through his mother, the grandson of David" Charles, Car¬ marthen; and in addition to being thus claimed equally by North and South in his own country, he has Jewish blood in his veins. His birthplace was Aber- ystwith. He there attended John Evans' celebrated school. Strange that the two greatest thinkers in the ranks of Welsh Methodism, who have added to their genius the equipment of ad¬ vanced scholarship, should have been at different times in the same school — Dr. Edwards, and Princi¬ pal Davies. He was in the first group of students that formed Bala College, having come thither at the age of eleven. He was NEVER IDLE, never mischievous, nor even sufficiently fond of play. He thus missed, for better and for worse, some of the checks by which boys of striking thoughtfulness are commonly preserved from overwork. William Charles, of Gwalchmai, used to say, that this boy had fallen in Adam, and never fallen since. Had his life been moulded by precisely the same influences which mould the lives of other boys, we might have had a man with a stronger physical frame; but the man we have, with his altogether exceptional combination of powers, could probably have been produced only in the way appointed for him. His work and play are both in the realm of thought. He revels in analysis, whether it be of a text, of a theme, or of a character. Men of this type are rare. Gladstone is an instance of exactly the opposite sort. But Principal Davies is one of the few men whose pastime and ulework are essentially the same thing. We will not quarrel [Jno. Wickens, with the training, however seemingly one-sided, which has given us such & product. From Bala his mother sent him to Eanley, to read withi Mr. Fletcher, who took a small number of private pupils. His business during the three or four years he spent there, was to prepare for a course at University College, London. There was little effective teaching, very little; but the young man still grew by reason of his own industry. At this time he had thoughts of the bar, and had no intention then of becoming a regular preacher. Yet he preached to a small colony of Welshmen, without being formally authorized to do so. His first arrival as a student in London—the place which was to be the scene of labourj for the riper years of his manhood —has -about it an air of CLASSIC ROMANCE. The first night was spent at the Euston Hotel. An utter stranger in London, with no information that might lead him to fix upon a per¬ manent lodging, he bought a map, and strayed about till the sight of a penitentiary at Pentonville re¬ minded him that the matron of the place was a friend of his. Her daughter, a Miss Cooper, had been governess at his home. Mrs. Cooper recommended him rooms which he kept right through his three years' course at the University. The preaching was here also continued. Often announced, without his leave, in the morn¬ ing, to preach in the evening, he was too conscientious to de¬ cline, though the time for preparation was so short. Mr. Davies took his M.A. degree in the University of London at the excep¬ tionally early age of twenty-one. Straight from his degree examination he went to EDINBURGH, Upper Bang or] and spent one session there. It was one of almost constant ailing, and sometimes of serious illness, the result of over¬ work in London. He returned home to Aberystwyth, and preached much in the neighbourhood, often as the companion of his uncle, Rev. Edward Jones, of Aberystwyth. His mother was strongly opposed to his becoming a barrister; and that was one of the chief reasons at the time, that led into the ministry of the Word. Those who think that a call to