WILLIAM WOTTON’S EXILE AND REDEMPTION: AN ACCOUNT OF THE
GENESIS AND PUBLICATION OF LEGES WALLICAE
DAVID STOKER
Introduction
All great books have their own story to tell in terms of the individuals who created them
and the circumstances of their creation, although some of these are more inspiring or
poignant than others. This is an account of such a work that was undertaken both to repay
a debt to friendship and to help rebuild a shattered life. It is also the story of how an
Englishman came to discover a unique Welsh culture and helped to recover a significant
part of what had been lost for many centuries.1
One night in May 1714 Dr William Wotton, the rector of Milton Keynes, Prebendary of
Salisbury Cathedral, and a Fellow of the Royal Society, quietly left his newly rebuilt
home together with his wife and their thirteen-year-old daughter. The family travelled
across country to Gloucester, where they remained living incognito for a few days staying
at an Inn, until they received word from a friend that they should continue into southwest
Wales. Once at Carmarthen, Wotton and his family were provided with accommodation
in the house of a Mr Joseph Lord, and he later found employment as a curate at St Peter’s
church. He remained living there for the next seven and a half years. His wife did not
survive to see her home in Milton again, and it would be nine years before the father and
his daughter were able to return to their parish. During his years at Carmarthen, Wotton
wrote several books and pamphlets and also contributed to other publications, either
anonymously or else using the initials M.N. (taken from the last two letters of his names).
By far his most remarkable achievement, however, was to learn to speak and write Welsh
and to set about collecting and translating the ancient Welsh laws into Latin. These were
said to have been reformed and codified by an Assembly convened by Hywel ap Cadell,
or Hywel the Good, in the tenth century, and were collectively known as Cyfraith Hywel
Dda. Wotton’s son-in-law later described the complexity of his task:
The present Welsh Language was the least part of the Difficulty. It was necessary
for him to recover the meaning of all their old law terms and phrases, which had
now for some centuries been intirely disus’d. The most skilful in the Welsh
language were quite strangers to them. But by the assistance of the Reverend Mr
Moses Williams in comparing a great variety of different Mss, and barbarous
imperfect versions, they at last finshd the Translation of the laws.2
1
Ultimately it became apparent that the task could never be satisfactorily completed in
Wales, and publication was delayed until Wotton’s circumstances allowed him to return
into England in the autumn of 1721, shortly before his proposals for the publication were
issued.3 Ill health and financial problems then ensued causing yet further delays, but with
the continued assistance of Moses Williams, the translation and annotation were
ultimately completed. The main text of Wotton’s work, which is usually referred to by its
Latin title Leges Wallicae, was largely printed by the time of his death in February 1727.
However, the finished work was not published until 1730, when it appeared with a
preface by his son-in-law William Clarke.4
This account will focus upon Wotton’s years after his removal to Carmarthen and
specifically upon the compilation and production of Leges Wallicae. It will seek to
answer a number of questions:

what circumstances led a 48-year-old clergyman, from the Home Counties, to
move to Carmarthen and live under an assumed name?

how was he received by the natives of the town?

why did he embark upon a translation of the ancient Welsh laws?

how did he set about identifying manuscripts and establishing the text?

how did he manage to translate the obsolete mediaeval Welsh terminology?

what were the circumstances under which the work was announced to the public,
printed, and ultimately published?

what helps did he have?

what impact did the publication have on the development of the study of the
Welsh language and the history of Wales?
In order to understand Wotton’s later career, however, it will be necessary to give some
information about the childhood of this remarkable man.
Background
William Wotton was born 13 August 1666, the second son of Henry Wotton, rector of
Wrentham, near Southwold in Suffolk, and Sarah his wife.5 As a child he was blessed
with an extraordinary memory and was a prodigious natural linguist who could read
Latin, Greek, and Hebrew verses aged five. He was initially educated by his father, who
later described his son’s remarkable abilities in An essay on the education of children
(which he wrote in 1672, but which was not published until 1753).6 William was admitted
2
to St Catharine’s College Cambridge in 1676, aged nine, and both matriculated and
graduated in January 1680.7 He had by then acquired Arabic, Syriac, Chaldee, French,
Spanish and Italian, and a good working knowledge of logic, philosophy, mathematics,
geography, chronology, and history. The diarist John Evelyn described him as ‘so
universally and solidly learned at eleven years of age, that he was looked on as a
miracle’8.
Wotton lost both of his parents in 1679, and after leaving Cambridge, the thirteen year old
prodigy was invited to London by Gilbert Burnet (later bishop of Salisbury), where he
was introduced to some of the greatest scholars of his age.
When he was very young he could remember the whole of almost any Discourse
he heard, and has often surpris’d a preacher with repeating his own sermon to him.
This first recommended him to Bishop Lloyd, to whom he repeated one of his
own sermons, as Dr. Burnet had engag’d that he shoud;9
William Lloyd, then bishop of St Asaph, took the young man up to his diocese and
employed him in his library. Francis Turner, bishop of Ely, afterwards procured for him a
fellowship of St John’s College Cambridge in 1682, where he graduated as M.A. in 1683.
Wotton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1687, at the remarkably early age of
twenty-one, and quickly established an international reputation as a linguist and a scholar
in several disciplines, but his chief interest was in the area of theology. He graduated as a
Bachelor of Divinity in 1691, and soon afterwards began translating the thirteen volumes
of Louis Dupin’s A new history of ecclesiastical writers, in to English, which were
published between 1692 and 1699. In 1693 Wotton was ordained at Salisbury Cathedral,
and presented with the living of Llandrillo yn Rhos in Denbighshire, on the North Wales
coast. Soon afterwards he was appointed chaplain to the statesman Daniel (Finch), Earl of
Nottingham, and tutor to his family, having been recommended by bishop John Moore of
Norwich. Finch also presented him with the valuable rectory of All Saints at ‘Middleton
Keynes’, in the diocese of Lincoln in December 1693, which he held until his death.10
In 1694, shortly after moving to Milton Keynes, Wotton published his Reflections upon
ancient and modern learning, which has been described as “one of the first historical
accounts of the growth of scientific ideas”, 11 It was written in answer to Sir William
Temple’s Essay on ancient and modern learning, of 1691, thus beginning the famous
“Battle of the books”, which was later to involve Richard Bentley, Jonathan Swift and
3
many contemporary writers.12 Wotton was satirised as a pedant by Swift in 1704, in A
tale of a tub, and The battle of the books, but the following year he defended his work and
ridiculed Swift in an appendix to a new edition of his Reflections.13 Of all the works
published during the controversy between ancient and modern learning, Wotton’s
Reflections was later described as “easily the most complete and the most judicious”.14
In April 1696, Wotton, who was then twenty-nine, married Anne Hammond, the twentyfive year old daughter of William Hammond of St Alban’s Court, Nonington near
Canterbury.15 She came from an aristocratic family; her great aunt had been married to
the antiquary Sir John Marsham, and her cousin was the first Baron Romney. William and
Anne’s only child, a daughter also named Anne, was born 3 June 1700.
In addition to his scholarship in theology and the history of ideas, Wotton also has a place
in the development of scientific knowledge. He took part in the early debates upon the
origins of life at the Royal Society and in 1695 contributed to the Philosophical
Transactions an abstract of Agostino Scilla’s work on marine fossils De corporibus
marinis lapidescentibus. In 1697 he also wrote a ‘Vindication’ of the same work
published in John Arbuthnot’s ‘Examination of Dr Woodward’s account of the deluge’.
Soon afterwards Wotton began compiling a biography of the Chemist Robert Boyle, at
the suggestion of Bishop Burnet, and with the help of John Evelyn. 16 He likewise
corresponded with Sir Hans Sloane on scientific and natural history topics,17 and with the
philosopher Gerhard Leibnitz.18
Wotton’s classical learning was demonstrated by the publication of his History of Rome
from the death of Antoninus, published in 1701, dedicated to Burnet, and which was later
used by Gibbon as an important source for his Decline and fall of the Roman Empire.19
Similarly, his knowledge of languages was shown by the publication of a useful
conspectus of George Hickes’s massive Thesaurus, of Anglo-Saxon, Frankish, Icelandic
and northern tongues in 1708. This was done with Hickes’s approval and incorporating
his footnotes, despite the fact that the two men held markedly differing religious and
political beliefs. His most particular and long lasting friendship, however, was with Dr
William Wake, a Canon of Christchurch Oxford, and from 1703, Dean of Exeter. Wake
was a major historical scholar in his own right, as the author of the magisterial State of the
church and clergy of England (1703). In 1705 Wake was appointed the bishop of Lincoln
4
and so became Wotton’s Diocesan superior; thereafter the two men regularly exchanged
letters on learned and political matters.
William Wotton was therefore a true polymath. His son-in-law William Clarke later
provided an account of his character to Thomas Birch.
He was much acquainted with the several Branches of Learning, and a great
Variety of Languages ancient and modern; His knowledge (to use an expression of
one of his patrons in giving the character of another) was all in ready cash, which
he was able to produce at sight upon any question; His great memory made him
have little occasion for these resources, which are so necessary to most scholars,
whose treasures of learninge often lye by them as a dead stock, which they cannot
without some difficulty get off their Hands. … But above all he had great
humanity and friendliness of temper; his time and abilities were at the service of
any person, who was making advances in real learning.20
He appeared to be set for a distinguished career in the Church of England, particularly
when his patron bishop Burnet presented him a prebend’s stall in Salisbury Cathedral in
1705, and when, two years later he was awarded a ‘Lambeth’ degree of Doctor of
Divinity by archbishop Thomas Tenison, on the recommendation of bishop Wake.
However, together with his impressive intellectual achievements, and influential
friendships, it was apparent relatively early on that the distinguished young scholar also
had clay feet. Before he had moved to Milton Keynes, the antiquary Abraham de la
Pryme described him in his diary as “a most excellent preacher, but a drunken whoring
soul”.21 Unfortunately these were not just the transgressions of a foolish young man, and
similar comments were made about him throughout his years in charge of his parish.
Writing forty years after the events, William Cole, rector of the neighbouring parish of
Bletchley, described him as “known in the learned World for his ingenious writings and
in the country where he inhabited for his Levities and Imprudencies”. 22 In one of several
acerbic comments, Thomas Hearne referred to him as “little better than a madman”. 23
Likewise, when giving a brief account of Wotton’s life, the printer William Bowyer II.
explained:
He lived at a season when a man of learning would have been better preferred
than he was: but it is supposed that his behaviour and conduct, which were very
exceptionable, particularly in regard to the fair sex, prevented it.24
Yet, despite his disreputable behaviour, Wotton continued to receive preferment and
recognition within the Church of England largely due to the friendship and patronage
offered to him by some of the most influential churchmen in the country. This was partly
5
out of a respect for his undoubted learning, but also he could also be very useful to them
as a writer of religious and political tracts in support of the Whig episcopacy during the
acrimonious debates of the Convocation Controversy, and against the Deists. For
example, in 1704 he joined the attacks upon John Toland with a tract entitled A letter to
Eusebia.25 Two years later bishop Wake chose him to preach at his Episcopal visitation to
Newport Pagnel, and suggested that his sermon should answer Matthew Tindal’s, The
rights of the Christian church asserted. Wotton’s entitled his response The rights of the
clergy in the Christian church asserted. It was later published “for the Benefit of the
Poor” and went through several editions and was also later reprinted in a collection of
famous sermons. 26 Again, in 1711 Wotton drew up The Case of the present Convocation
consider’d, in answer to some reflections by Dr Swift in the Examiner at the request of his
friend. The bishop had sent his request for such a response by one post, and Wotton sent
back his seven and a half thousand word text by the next.27
But later that year Wotton’s behaviour began to deteriorate to such an extent that even the
most powerful churchmen could no longer condone it.
Wotton’s conduct at Milton Keynes
William Cole left the following graphic account of Wotton’s behaviour in his parish:
The Doctor’s morals were as bad as his Parts were excellent: having no regard to
common Decency in Respect of Wine and Women, both equally his Passion: it
being no unusual Sight for his Parishioners to find him drunk under a Hedge and
fallen from his Horse, and to know that he was 2 or 3 nights together at Houses
where he could have no other business than to defraud Mrs. Wotton of her due
Benevolence. … so little Care did he take of his temporal affairs: so that he had
his Bottle, and other Amusements, among which his Books and his Studies had an
equal Share, he little regarded how the World went on.28
Wotton and his wife were constantly in debt throughout their tenure at Milton Keynes, for
according to William Bowyer who knew the family in later life “he had not a grain of
oeconomy”. 29 William Cole noted how they rebuilt the rectory “in a very elegant and
expensive manner”, transforming it into a thirty-two room mansion enclosing a paved
court.30 Although the family was living beyond their means, Wotton was always able to
secure credit despite his local reputation as a drunkard and whoremonger, due to his
future expectations of preferment.
6
The circumstances which led inexorably to the family being forced to leave their home
were set in train in August 1711, when bishop Wake began to hear further scandalous
reports of his friend’s behaviour in his parish. The details of the incident are not recorded
but were sufficiently bad to elicit a long letter of warning and pastoral advice to his
friend:
Blessed be God, there has hitherto been no complaint regularly brought before me
against you; and therefore I think I may justify myself in taking that course which
will equally become me both as your bishop and friend; which is, privately to
admonish you, as I hereby do, of your fault; and earnestly to exhort you, even by
the bowels and mercies of Jesus Christ, whom we both serve in the same ministry
of his gospel, to consider, to repent of, to amend whatever has been done amiss.31
The bishop pointed out the damage Wotton was doing to his reputation and suggested five
resolutions for his friend. First of all “to go abroad as little as possibly you can”, and
when it could not be avoided never to go alone or without his clerical habit. He should
whenever possible avoid public houses, and be careful of the company he keeps. Finally,
he should be usefully employed at home on some appropriate study. Wake was not
willing to propose any specific method or topic of study, but recommended “upon the
present occasion, would you turn your thoughts to consider the several parts and duties of
the pastoral office; of the life and conversation of a clergyman, and how he ought to
conduct himself in all these; it might at once both have a very happy effect upon yourself
and produce somewhat that might serve to direct others hereafter”.32
Wake’s letter was delivered by Thomas Franks, Archdeacon of Bedford, who interviewed
Wotton and subsequently sent a report of his meeting to the bishop.
I charged the unhappy man home with the several particulars I had heard
concerning him; and very warmly laid before him the aggravations of his guilt,
and the fatal consequences of it; and particularly the greif of heart he had caused
your Lordship, and all his friends; and the reflections his evil conversation had
cast on them. In this manner I handled him above half an hour; whilst he sat as
one perfectly amazed and confounded, without giving any answer to particulars;
only said, you shall see I will be a new man; I hope God has not wholly forsaken
me, do not cast me off as desperate and lost &c. He read your letter, which I
delivered open, under the like appearance of confusion: said nothing whilst he
perused it; and very little afterwards except a repetition of his promises of
reformation. 33
In the same letter Franks also reported his concerns over Wotton’s growing financial
difficulties:
I did not stay with him above an hour, he taking Horse for London, to get some
money there, to stop the mouths of his Creditors which begin to bear very hard
7
upon him: and, to assure me of the truth of it, he produced two or three letters;
and promised to return home the beginning of the next week. This gave me
occasion to enquire into the state of his debts; and to assure him withall, that if
he would become a new man, I would labour to find out a way to make him easy
with his creditors. He told me this was his unhappynesse, and the ill state of his
circumstances had been the too sad occasion of his disorders; and promised, at
his return, to give me a schedule of his debts, and in every respect to pursue my
measures: and comforted himself, that your Lordship would not utterly reject
him.
Wotton clearly gave some thought to his recent behaviour during the ensuing trip to
London, for on his return, he wrote to Wake explaining how he intended to mend his
ways and seeking the bishop’s help in repairing his damaged reputation:
The scheme which I propose for my future conduct is this: to preach a penitential
sermon in my own Church, as soon as I go home, of which I will send a copy to
your Lordship, to fast regularly thrice a week, and all the other Fasts of the
Church; never to go to a public House but when I can’t help it, and not to stay
longer than till my Business is done; and not to appear abroad alone. Since my
design to publish an Account of Mr Boyles Life and Writings is public all over
Europe, to conclude that out of Hand, that so the World may see I am not idle.
When it is done, to undertake some learned Work in Divinity, in the undertaking
of which, I will be entirely guided by your Lordship. My design in all this is to let
the World see how I spend my time. When they see it laudably employ’d it will
convince them more than any thing my Friends can say for me, or I for myself,
that I am thoroughly reformed. These steps I believe are all right, and will be
approved by your Lordship.34
He simultaneously begged for Wake’s help to “pacify” four of the senior clerics who had
helped his career in the past, namely archbishop Tenison, and John Lloyd, by then bishop
of Worcester, Gilbert Burnet bishop of Salisbury and John Moore bishop of Ely.
The most significant result of the unfortunate incident during the summer of 1711 was
that Wotton lost the neighbouring and valuable rectory of Sherington, which had recently
become vacant. The living had previously been promised to him by Wake, and might
have held in plurality with Milton. The income from this benefice would have greatly
improved his financial situation. However, Wotton recognised that as a result of his
recent scandalous behaviour he must forfeit that preferment, and the best he could do was
to pass on the name of another to have it in his place. He did so in melodramatic terms:
I humbly beg your Lordship will give Mr Woodward the Living of Sherington
which is now void if he or some person whose character your Lordship can
entirely confide in, has it not, I must forthwith betake myself to a Prison, and there
end the remainder of my miserable Days.35
8
In the event Wake did not present the living to Mr Woodward. He took advice from
another of his Archdeacons who considered that Archdeacon Franks might be seeking to
take advantage of Wotton’s misbehaviour for his own purposes.
First I was satisfied that the Dr did not otherwise nominate Mr Woodward than as
he was put upon it by the Arch Deacon and Mr Disney, and this I am told Mrs
Wotton declared, and I can assure your Lordship that tho’ the Dr is so much
superior to both in Learning &c. yet his unfortunate behaviour had made him so
inferior to ‘em in cunning and authority, that he is a perfect child in their hands
and has always been managed as such by ‘em.36
Wake therefore chose to present the living to an elderly clergyman, who would not live
for many years, so that his friend might be able to benefit from it at a later date, if only he
were able to reform his conduct. He outlined his plan to Archdeacon Franks who soon
after wrote to promise Wake that he would “gladly do him [Wotton] all the good I can at
all times; and the rather because I know your lordship's concern to prevent the ruin of
himself and family."37 Shortly before Christmas Wotton wrote again to the bishop both to
offer his thanks “for your great goodness to me in the matter of Sherington”, and his
resolution for the New Year.
It shall be the study of my Life to behave myself so in every point, as may give
your Lordship no cause to repent of your Protection and shelter of me at this
Time. And my conduct is such as the strictest examiners cannot I think find
exception against.38
Unfortunately this promised reformation and his resolution not to venture abroad alone
lasted less than four weeks. Early in the New Year he received a stinging letter from
Archdeacon Franks seeking an explanation of why he had been found drunk in a
bawdyhouse in London. Wotton’s letter in which he attempted to explain his conduct
shows the depths to which his affairs had sunk.
Being prest for money, I got my wives leave in Jan. to carry up some jewels of
hers to Town to pawn. I got to town on Saturday Jan 12. … I found a lawyer that
night, who engaged to let me have some money upon them. On Monday I was to
receive it. That day before I went to him, I went to see a sick acquaintance and
tho’ what I drank was very little, yet it unhappily treated me; having lived for a
good while very abstemiously. That night (which was the 14th) I lost my jewels in
a little house in Little Gray’s Inn Lane. This put me in pursuit of them to get them
agen. Two or 3 nights after I was at the House you menconed. But I had not to the
best of my rememberance been there much above an Hour, when Mr Edward
came in, and I was onely by the Kitchin Fire. I never had bin there above once
before, to the best of my knowledge. And never in a Private Room with any
Body.39
9
At the end of his long letter he again he again begged for forgiveness, describing his
recent attempts at reform prior to his relapse. Finally, he again re-iterated his promise to
reform, but this time with an air of desperation.
I have also been very diligent in study: and that upon laudable Things. I have
laboured to do service to Men and Causes, which we both value and reverence,
and wd still continue to do so with all my might, if those that set me to work, will
not abandon me as a worthless wretch. God grant they may not. Indeed Mr
Archdeacon I labor, to be a true Penitent. Some talents that God has given me, I
may still exercise, and will do so. One with another I study, and writ 7 or 8 Hours
in a Day. I have now a young Gentleman with me of admirable Hopes, whose
studies I wholly guide; He rejoices at my now example, and I hope I may form
him to be eminently one day serviceable to God and his church. I am content to
live as retiredly here as shall be required, and am willing with the Lepers in the
Mosaic Law to be sequestred from the World. Once more, I throw myself at the
good Bishops Feet: Ingratitude to him is not the least aggravation in my mind of
my late Relapse. It has cost me many a sigh, and many a Tear, and broke me of
many an Hours rest. Peccavi, obstinatus esse nolo. Do not quite leave me: so you
conclude in your Letter that you will. Jesus Christ knows, that this Letter is not
dictated by Hypocrisy, but true compunction, and sorrow for me sins as such. I
can no more. Adieu.40
Receiving no response, from either the bishop or the archdeacon, Wotton sent off a
second letter to Franks, which he copied to William Wake, promising yet further
safeguards:
I am firmly resolved not onely to set an Example quite contrary to what I have set
these last years past, but likewise resolved to put my Lord, and your self out of all
manner of Doubt and Suspicion I have actually begun an exact Journal of what I
do, and shall for the future do, for the remaining part of my Life. This Journal, I
will every half year copy out, and lodg one copy with his Lordship and another
with you. This I shall be ready, and able to attest, if need were upon Oath. If I am
abroad any where I will set down the Reasons of my going, and of any stay. If at
any Time I should be in London, it shall contain every single place where I go,
and the time of my stay. This I will do both to guard my self, first, and to justify
my self afterwards. … I onely beg, that his Lordship, may not despair of my
serious Amendment.41
But it was now too late. Wotton had transgressed once too often and thereafter the regular
correspondence between the bishop and his troublesome friend ceased.
The flight to Carmarthen
No further instances are recorded of Wotton’s misbehaviour in Milton Keynes, but once it
became widely known that he had alienated his powerful friends, his creditors began to
10
exert further pressure for repayment. All Wotton could do was to ask for their patience,
but his recent behaviour and the loss of his prospects did not engender their confidence.
He managed to stave off bankruptcy for a further two years, but in the early months of
1714 a local tradesman took the necessary steps to have the rector imprisoned for his
debts, which would have resulted in the total ruin of himself and his family. It was then
that he hurriedly made arrangements to flee beyond the reach of all his creditors. He
needed somewhere remote where he might live frugally and discreetly with his family,
without the burden of his past conduct and reputation, but not entirely without the
benefits of society.
One of Wotton’s drinking companions in London was the essayist and Whig politician
Richard Steele, 42 who in 1707 had married the heiress Mary Scurlock of Ty Gwyn,
Llangunnor on the outskirts of Carmarthen. Steele’s wife had influential relations in the
town, including an uncle, John Scurlock, who was an alderman and had formerly served
as mayor.43 In 1714 Carmarthen was the largest town in Wales, an important river port,
and the commercial capital of the southwest, but with a population of between 2,500 and
3000, it was only the size of many English market towns. The distance from London (via
Gloucester) was about 220 miles which was a few miles more than a journey to York, but
the Welsh town was regarded as far more remote, and the journey much more
problematic. Furthermore, the population were of a different race, with different
traditions, most of which spoke a different language. Carmarthen therefore appeared to be
an ideal place for Wotton and his family to hide from their creditors so long as the natives
would accept such newcomers from England.
Wotton asked Steele for his help in recommending him to some influential person in the
town, and he in turn wrote to John Scurlock, explaining his friend’s situation, and seeking
his assistance in finding suitable accommodation for the family. In the meanwhile Steele
suggested that Wotton should remove himself and his family to Gloucester and remain
there living under an alias whilst he waited for a reply. Thus, for the next six years
Wotton would be known to all but his closest friends as Dr Edwards.44 Four weeks after
his arrival in Gloucester, Wotton received word that his family might find refuge in a
large and capacious house in King Street Carmarthen owned by the Scurlock family,
which was only partially occupied by their tenant Joseph Lord. 45 They arrived in the
town towards the end of June.
11
Scurlock was both kind and welcoming to the fugitive family and frequently invited them
to his own home at Blaencorse, introducing them to the educated society of the town.
However, only four months after their arrival in Carmarthen, the family lost their new
patron who died suddenly one night 46 . Thereafter Wotton appears to have found
employment as a curate in St Peter’s church in the town. Doubtless due to his learning he
appears to have been welcomed by the local gentry. Indeed his skills as a pamphleteer
were soon put to good use as significant political events were happening on the national
stage.
Soon after I came at the desire of the Gentlemen of the County I drew up an
address to his Majesty upon his Landing, & since the breaking out of the
Rebellion at the Instance of the Gentlemen of the County, I drew up an Address to
the County, both which were presented.47
Any qualms concerning the friendliness of his reception were quickly allayed, as he was
later to report to a friend once his whereabouts had been discovered.
I have lived 27 months in this Town, where, and from the Clergy and Gentry of
the greatest and best characters in the country, I every day meet with greater
instances than other, not of civility onely, but of favor and protection in such a
manner as few strangers found. My creditors have found me, yet have not been
able to hurt me.48
Although his creditors were unable to gain redress so long as he was at Carmarthen, they
were at least able to ensure that, if he ever did seek to return, he would be promptly
arrested and imprisoned.
Yet Wotton’s powerful friends in the Diocese of Lincoln had not entirely abandoned him.
He had left his living without making any provision for a curate or for the upkeep of the
church, so it would have been possible for either the patron of the living or the bishop to
apply for a sequestration and appoint another man in his place. Yet they chose not to do
so, as Lord Nottingham explained in a letter to Bishop Wake:
The unhappy circumstances of Dr Wootton obliging him to leave Milton, and he
not having appointed any person to doe his duty for him in his absence, I presume
your Lordship will not disapprove my recommendation of Mr Banks to supply
that cure, since he is not unknown to you and has already had a great share of
your favour: I am very unwilling to add to the misfortunes of Dr Wootton by
taking this advantage which I might doe, against him, and Mr Banks is willing to
undertake that charge for £40 per annual which I hope your Lordship will think a
fair and reasonable reward for his pains and will accordingly appoint that summe
12
for him; and to officiate in that Cure until Dr Wootton be in a position to return to
it.49
Wake also asked David Trimnell, one of his Canons, to help disentangle Wotton’s
financial affairs and treat with his creditors. Trimnell was able to arrange for the upkeep
of the church and the provision of services by a curate, whilst still setting aside a
proportion of the income from the living gradually to repay his debts.50 Wotton and his
family lived modestly on a curate’s stipend at Carmarthen, where he was far from his
usual temptations.
Another friend and former neighbour that stuck by Wotton throughout his troubles was
the antiquary Browne Willis of Whaddon Hall Buckinghamshire, who had spent several
years as a private pupil in Wotton’s house during the 1690s. Willis was not blind to the
faults of his friend and former tutor, and in 1711 had described him as “a very debauch’d
man, and that by his Folly he is like to be undone” 51 . Yet he also recognised his
considerable gifts, and sought to steer him away from strong drink and bad company. As
Wotton reported in one of his penitential letters to Archdeacon Franks:
Mr Willis treats me voluntarily as a Brother: came lately and stayd 2 Days with
me; rejoiced with my wife at my conversion; and sent me a handsome present of
wine at his going home, and by his good will wd have me with him once a
week.52
Following his flight to Carmarthen, Wotton had a great deal of leisure but had only
managed to bring “two or three Boxfulls of Books to employ my self withal in my
flight”. 53 Willis therefore commissioned his friend in 1715 to make the necessary
journey to St David’s Cathedral to prepare a written description of the fabric on his
behalf. He also arranged for Wotton’s neighbour Joseph Lord to accompany him and
prepare an engraved plan and an illustration of the south prospect. Their survey was
published in 1717, together with various antiquarian notes, compiled by Willis as a
Survey of the Cathedral Church of St. David’s. Wotton’s description, which represented
nearly half of the volume, appeared pseudonymously under the initials M. N. 54
Wotton’s survey also had the benefit of bringing him to the notice of the bishop of St
David’s, Adam Ottley.
In 1717 Wotton also compiled a similar account of the decrepit Llandaff cathedral near
Cardiff, which Willis likewise published in 1718.55 However, on this occasion Wotton’s
outspoken report on the lamentable state of the church and what he saw as the misuse of
13
the cathedral revenues by the chapter caused a controversy and won him no friends
among the cathedral clergy. 56 Likewise during 1718 Wotton assisted in the preparation
of Willis’s accounts of St Asaph and Bangor cathedrals 57 by editing and writing up
notes taken by Joseph Lord, during the latter’s visits to them, although in this case
neither Wotton nor Willis actually visited the cathedrals concerned.58
Without the influence of his erstwhile drinking partners, Wotton appears to have become
a reformed character after his removal to Carmarthen and lived the life of a model
clergyman, conducting services, visiting the sick, and returning to his studies. In addition
to Willis’ss surveys of Welsh cathedrals, he embarked upon a more ambitious work of his
own, Miscellaneous Discourses relating to the Traditions and Usages of the scribes and
Pharisees, which was published anonymously in two substantial quarto volumes by the
bookseller Tim Goodwin during 1718.59 This work was intended to give young students
of divinity a basic understanding of Jewish learning, to show of what authority it was, and
what use might be made of it within Christian teaching. Buried within the preface, is the
first rather incongruous recognition by Wotton of his new surroundings and of the
significance of the Welsh language.
And as to People’s preserving their own Chaldaic Dialect in Jesus Christ’s time,
why should that be thought so strange I cannot see. Do not the Welshmen still
preserve their Language, tho’ the Romans, the Saxons and the Normans have by
turns conquered the Countrey of which the ancient Britons once were Masters?
…This love of their Mother Tongue is not only to be seen amongst the common
People, but among Men of the greatest Rank, and the best Education. … I am
pleased that my Subject has given me a handle to go a little out of my way, that I
might say this of a worthy and valuable People, to whom I have so great
Obligations, and of a copious and elegant Language, in which there are still extant
very considerable Remains, some of the chiefest of which will I hope shortly see
the Light.60
Other small works written during his years at Carmarthen included The omniscience
of the son of God, (published in 1719) , and the work suggested to him by Wake in
1711, Thoughts concerning a proper method of studying divinity, which was published
in 1734, and which was reprinted on several occasions over the next century. 61
However, these were all either minor works for a man of Wotton’s intellect and
productivity when sober, or else were based on work he had already undertaken prior to
his arrival in the town. He now needed an entirely new project that would occupy his
mind and help repair his damaged reputation with the learned world. His much delayed
14
life of Boyle, on which he had been working for more than a decade, would now have to
be abandoned as he no longer had access to his notes or other relevant materials which
fell into the hands of his creditors.62 He therefore looked for something else to occupy his
time whilst he was living in South Wales.
Re-establishing contact with Wake and the origins of Leges Wallicae
Archbishop Thomas Tenison died on 14 December 1715, and two days later William
Wake was nominated to succeed him. Over the next few weeks Wake received dozens of
letters of congratulation from friends and others seeking his patronage. Among them was
a note from William Wotton, which, after the customary statement of praise and
congratulation, included the following tentative attempt at reconciliation.
Permit me now my most honoured Lord, to say one Word of myself. It is onely this;
that since my withdrawing from my Living, which is now full nineteen months, I
have given no manner of Cause either to my Friends or Family to lament my
Conduct, or of offence to other Men. I have not lived in a Corner, and can produce
a cloud of witnesses to prove what I say. And for that reason I propose to stay
where I am, till my Affairs will allow me to return into England. My worthy and
excellent Friend Dr Pinfold, to whom I send this, can give Your Lordship
undeniable proofs of what I here affirm, if your Lordship will have the goodness to
ask him any Questions about me or my Affairs. And he is fully instructed in every
Thing relating to them, from Men whom I could not bias; I shall bless God if your
Lordship will vouchsafe to make a short Enquiry from him concerning me.63
Upon reading the note the new archbishop made a brief formal enquiry of Dr Pinfold as to
Wotton’s health and passed on a verbal message to the latter asking for more information
of his recent activities.
He [Dr Pinfold] told me that it now lay upon me to clear up one point, which was,
that for these last nineteen months my conduct has been such as might be
justified. He advised me to do it as soon as I could, and the sooner, he sayd, the
better. 64
As soon as he heard of the archbishop’s reaction to his overture, Wotton sent back a long
account of everything that he had done since his flight, re-iterating his good behaviour
and “because I cannot expect to be believed upon my own word”, suggesting ways in
which his account might be verified independently.
My highest aim at present is not to be quite abandond, and if I could do any
farther good hereafter I should rejoice to be directed by your Lordship.65
15
The archbishop sent only a short note in reply to this long letter, but Wotton was
overjoyed:
Nothing sure could have been a greater Cordial to my wounded soul, than that
unexpected Instance of your Graces Goodness. When I opened his [Dr Pinfold’s]
letter and saw your Hand, my Heart leaped for joy, for sure I was, that your Grace
would not have vouchsafed to write if you had not in some measure believed what
I sayd relating to myself. I could be glad if your Grace would enquire further,
because I thank God I am not afraid of a scrutiny.66
Wake took him at his word, and over the next few weeks made discreet enquiries
regarding his former friend’s recent behaviour. In a letter to Browne Willis, thanking him
for a copy of his A Survey of the Cathedral Church of St David’s, (much of which had
been pseudonymously written by Wotton) Wake showed that he was capable of
forgiveness and even had some hopes for his friend’s future.
I have lately corresponded with your Neighbour, and am pleased with all Proofs
of his diligence. Could he but approve his morals, as well as his parts; and be as
good a man as he is good natured, I should not know a more valuable
clergyman in England. I believe he is much better in all respects than he has
been: and he is yet young enough, by God’s Grace, to make an eminent Figure
in the Church. 67
Shortly afterwards Wake outlined a project he had in mind to ensure that his friend stayed
away from the brothels and public houses of South Wales.
The publication of William Wake’s State of the church, in 1703 secured his reputation
as a scholar and his promotion to the see of Lincoln in 1705, although according to
Thomas Hearne, the work had “cost him prodigious pains and probably broke his
constitution”.68 Thereafter he began to collect information on the councils of the British
church from its beginnings, to enhance and complete the work left unfinished by the
death of Sir Henry Spelman in 1641. 69 After 1709 Wake was assisted in this task by his
young protégé David Wilkins, and by his friend William Nicolson, bishop of Carlisle,
who in 1705 had published a historical collection of Anglo-Scottish treaties, entitled
Leges Marchiarum. During the same period the Saxonist William Elstob had announced
his intention of publishing an account of the Anglo-Saxon civil and ecclesiastical laws,
which would have been a useful preliminary to the Concilia, but he had died in March
1715 before he was able to execute his plan. 70 Wake therefore encouraged Wilkins to
undertake the task, which resulted in his Leges Anglo-Saxonicae, published in 1721.71
16
The archbishop was also aware of the survival of a body of ancient Welsh laws said to
have been codified by Hywel Dda,72 but he knew little about them, or whether they might
be relevant to his project. Spelman had printed some excerpts from the Welsh
ecclesiastical laws in his Concilia, taken from a Latin manuscript formerly in the hands of
John Selden,73 but these were both limited and inaccurate. Wotton later refers to them as
Spelman’s lame extracts, “For sure I am that good Man did not fully understand what he
writ, nor, I believe have ten men since that work appeared.”74 The reason was due to the
inability of Spelman and his various helpers, to translate the many obsolete Welsh terms,
which appeared in the text.
The Librarian whom Sir H.S. used could read the Latin well, but the Welsh which
often occurs is miserable. In a word he was in a Wood, and could not find the way
out, nor did he always know when he was bewildered.75
The Celtic scholar and antiquary Edward Lhuyd had published a catalogue of ancient
Welsh manuscripts in his Archaeologia Britannica of 1707, which included several
copies of the laws, including one of a text in Welsh in Jesus College Oxford.76. Knowing
Wotton’s facility to learn new languages, Wake considered that his former friend might
be persuaded to learn Welsh and undertake a scholarly edition with a Latin translation of
this manuscript. He suggested the idea to Wotton in a letter written in late October 1716.
Wotton was clearly gratified by the archbishop’s renewed confidence in his abilities,
although hesitant as to whether he could do so successfully now that he was marooned in
Carmarthen:
That Your Grace should think me capable of publishing Howel Dda’s Laws, is to
me in my circumstances a very pleasing Consideration but I am afrayd the
Knowledge I have in that Language is so very small that I shall not answer your
Graces expectation.77
Nevertheless, he had made some enquiries before replying to Wake and obtained a clearer
idea of what might be involved. He set out a strategy to undertake the work in a letter
written early in the November, but neither of them fully understood the magnitude or
complexity of task involved.
There are a great many Copy’s of those Law’s extant, and all extreamly different
from one another, for Thomas Powell, son of Sr John Powell of Broadway in this
County, who was a judg in Westminster Hall in K. Williams Time, has a copy
which I can have. From that I will take a Copy, by which to collate what else I can
procure.78
17
The key to completing the task would be the use of the manuscript in Jesus College,
which had been described by Edward Lhuyd. Wake therefore suggested that Wotton
might secure the loan of the manuscript, possibly through the intervention of his new
diocesan bishop, Adam Ottley.
Your Grace thinks it proper for me to apply to his Lordship. I shall therefore do
so, tho‘ I know not what Interest his Lordship (who is a Cambridg Man) has in
Jesus College. My Lord Bishop of S. Asaph is Principal of that College. If your
Grace will give me leave to use your Name, I will venture to write to him. Mr
Edward Lhwyd left behind him great Numbers of Papers relating to the British
Antiquity. Of these some may relate to this matter. All his MSS are in Sr Thomas
Seabrights Hands, but how to apply to him I cannot tell. But the Jesus College MS
is first to be procured. If I can get these Helps I will most willingly undertake it.79
Wotton was at this time still involved in seeing his account of the Hebrew laws and
traditions through the press, which he was later to dedicate to Wake with the archbishop’s
permission. Nevertheless, it is clear that he had already begun to learn Welsh, and in the
same letter he reported:
The Bible, Liturgy, and Mr Nelsons Fasts and Feasts, are the only Welch Books I
have yet read. Of them I am allow’d to be a competent Master.80
The following January he was reporting to Wake that he had “found a teacher who can
pretty well instruct me”.81 Thirteen months later, despite several bouts of ill health in the
intervening period, he had obtained a fair degree of proficiency in both the written and
spoken language.
Yesterday sevennight I resolved to read Welsh Prayers in Carmarthen Church
where it is constantly read every Sunday before English service begins. I went
privately that I might not be throng’d at first, by impertinent Interlopers out of the
English Congregation. The People whom I read to, some with shooes, and some
with none, were all Judges of what I did. This obliged me to use the greatest care
as well as Pains to make myself clearly understood. It had its effect with them.
And several of them have with an unusual satisfaction in truly [illegible] their
sense of it to me in that Language; But the Fatigue that that put me too, brought
on a fit of the gout which appeared that night.82
It would be six years before Wotton was able to complete his task, and a further eight
years before his work was published. These delays were partly due to the complexity of
the tasks of locating an ever-growing number of surviving manuscripts, establishing a text
and translating their obsolete terminology, together with the logistical difficulties of being
unable to travel to consult manuscripts in London, Oxford or Cambridge. There were also
time-consuming problems in determining the most appropriate means for financing the
18
publication. However, by far the most significant factor explaining why the book took so
long to appear was the author’s declining health. Wotton’s years of excessive drinking
finally caught up with him, and the regular recurrence of his gout and other arthritic
conditions features in a large proportion of his letters thereafter. One such quotation from
a letter to Wake in March 1720 will have to suffice for a dozen or more similar ones in
describing the circumstances in which he sometimes had to work’.
Your Graces kind condoleance for the lamentable condition I have been in with
the Gout since Jan. 1. last is a mark of your Goodness for which I ought to pay my
humblest acknowledgments. I am now pretty well I bless God, tho I cannot yet
stand, yet with my feet enclosed within a table, like a cage I can settle to work
with some chearfullness. If I know myself in the least, the loss of my time gave
me more pain than my Disease.83
Identifying and obtaining the manuscripts
Whilst Wotton was learning the language, he was also seeking to identify how many
manuscripts of the laws were extant, and Wake was using his influence to help his friend
borrow them. The task was complicated because of Wotton’s inability to leave Wales in
case he should be arrested. Wake initially wrote to David Wilkins then at Oxford, who
reported back in January 1717.
Lhuyd … gives a catalogue of the MSS of Hoel Dda’s Laws, and adds that in Mr
Vaughan’s Library (which if I mistake not is in Merionethshire) there is a
translation of them. I hear since by a Welsh Gentleman that Sir Thomas Powel
within four miles of Carmarthen has a translation of them in his study. And that
Sir Tho. Seabright has an ancient copy of the Laws in their originals bought out of
Mr Lhuyds study. That of Jesus College is very ancient, written upon pargement
with large letters, in 8vo, and seems to contain a great deal more than the Latin
translation now extanct in Merton College, which is rather an Abstract of King
Hoel’s Laws.84
Three weeks later Wilkins sent further details of the Merton manuscript.
… which explains all the hard or Critical words of these Laws, and sometimes
contains a true translation of some of them, both which are absolutely necessary
to be perused by a Translator of the Laws. If your Grace thinks fit, I shall get a
transcript of this in MS.85
In the meanwhile Wotton was making his own enquiries with bishop Wynne, and secured
agreement for him to borrow the Jesus College copy.
My Lord Bishop of St Asaph has done me the Honor to answer my Letter in the
most obliging manner. His Lordship tells me that I shall have the use of the MS.
19
Of Hoel Dda’s Law’s as long as I shall have occasion for it, onley expects that
some of this County should engage for its being returned. This difficulty is
obviated. A very worthy clergyman in this neighbourhood Mr Thomas Philipps, a
Relation of Sr John Philipps, writ to Mr William Jones, President of Jesus College
in his own Name and Mine, upon the same Account. Mr Jones, sent word back
that he and Mr Philipps should pass there words to the College for the
forthcoming of the MS.86
A month later Wotton had managed to procure the manuscript and was reporting to
Wake “It is very well writ, and as far as my little skill in those Things reaches it is
above 300 years old.”87 Wotton had also by then made contact with Sir Thomas Powell,
and Wake had secured the promise of a transcript of the Merton manuscript from David
Wilkins.
I have now little more to do, but to try if I can procure the favour of the Harleyan
MS. Or at least when I have transcribed the two MSS. I have by me, to get my
copy collated. But if that be done by a Man that is wholly unacquainted with the
Welsh Tongue (and how few are there that know anything of it!) what he does I
cannot rely upon.88
By the end of May 1717, Wotton had received the Merton transcript and was reporting his
progress to Wake.
I have run over it, and find it will do me signal service. It is written by a Man who
seems to be competently versed in the subject which he undertakes. I am now
constantly employ’d in copying Sr Thomas Powell’s MS which I hope to finish in
a few weeks. I choose to endeavour to understand everything as I go, because by
that Means Time is saved in the whole. And the Language by reason of the
different Ideas from any Thing now in Use is widely different from what we meet
with in Print or Conversation. I begin with that because it is written by a learned
Man, who had collated other Copy’s, and wrote a good Hand, and very correctly.
The Jesus MS. is not so legible to a stranger, and therefore is left to the last,
because of the number of obsolete words, in which otherwise there might be great
Mistakes.89
Wotton’s progress with the work was hampered for the remainder of the year by
persistent attacks of gout, which affected his hands, and also his need to deal with the
proof sheets of his Miscellaneous discourses relating to … the Scribes and Pharisees.
Nevertheless during the summer he was announcing to Simon Ockley, professor or
Arabic at Cambridge “Now I have got quit of my Talmudic Doctors, I am put upon by a
very great man who has a right to dispose of my Time, to prepare an Edition of the great
Welsh Lawgiver Howell Dha’s Laws”.90 He was then also enquiring about the loan of
further manuscripts from Oxford.
20
The following spring Wotton was well enough to return to his project and again seeking
assistance to gain access to the substantial collection manuscripts owned by Robert
Harley, Earl of Oxford.
I can now with pleasure tell your Grace, that I have for some weeks returned with
all the assiduity I am capable of to the Laws of Howel Dda; and hope with the
helps which I still expect, besides the materials which I have by me, to give in due
Time a good Account of that work. The Bishop of St David was so kind as to
promise me his Interest with the Earl of Oxford to procure his MSS of that
Princes Laws. His Lordship will be in London before the end of this month. He
will wait upon your Grace (as I suppose) before he leaves the Town. If you would
mention that Affair to him it would spur him on. I would fain leave as little
behind me for future diligence, as I possibly could. And I am assured that his
Lordship has the oldest Latin MS of those Laws that is in England or Wales.
Perhaps his Lordship may know how to get it again, or at least to put another in a
way how to come at the sight of it.91
In the event, bishop Ottley’s influence with the Earl of Oxford was not sufficient to
persuade him to allow his valuable manuscripts to take the perilous journey back into
their homeland, but he was able to help in another way. Ottley was aware of some
transcripts of the Harleian manuscripts, executed by one of his clergy who was both a
proficient antiquary and a Welsh speaker, and he undertook to use his influence to borrow
these in place of the originals. Moses Williams had been vicar of Llanwenog near
Llanybydder in Cardiganshire since 1715, although he spent most of his time living in
London. He had previously been one of Edward Lhuyd’s assistants at the Ashmolean
Museum in Oxford and later a sub-librarian at the Bodleian Library.92
A month later, Wotton, who was unaware of these developments, was reporting further
problems in tracking down manuscripts to Wake, but also had some good news.
I have unexpectedly received a noble Collection of MSS. Transcribed from the
originals by one Mr Moses Williams, who I suppose is no stranger to your Grace.
He is printing a Welsh Bible in London, where it has been in the press above 3
years. This transcript made for his own use some years ago, and coming down
within these 3 weeks, he left the Transcript for my use in this town, where I found
it at my return out of Pembrokeshire.93
When he examined the manuscript volume in detail Wotton discovered that it contained
Williams’s transcripts of seven manuscripts, five of which were of collections of ancient
laws.
There are in that Collection 3 MSS out of the Harleyan Library, 2 Welsh, and one
Latin; and 2 more Transcripts of MSS in the Cotton Library so that of one sort or
21
other, I have nearly nine MSS Copy’s of the Laws in both Languages. I wish I
may make good use of them, if God spares me life.94
He had yet to meet Williams and did not know how much his work could be relied upon.
He therefore continued to seek other avenues to persuade the Earl of Oxford to change his
mind.
I have some Reason to think one of the Harleyan Copy’s is older than any other I
have by me. Dr Jenkins has it seems an Interest with Lord Harley, and he has
promised to use it, that I may be entrusted with the original MS. I had rather have
that, than trust to the Copy of Mr Moses Williams which was procured for me by
the Lord Bishop of St. David.95
Wotton would later come to revise his opinion of Williams following their meeting in
December 1720 when he described him to Wake “as the most accurate Welshman now
living so by his care I doubt not to give satisfaction to the candid part of mankind”.96
During that meeting he would also discover from Williams that there were not two but
rather six manuscripts of the laws in Sir Robert Cotton’s library, all of which would have
to be collated. 97 Eventually Williams would also be permitted to borrow two of the
Harleian manuscripts on Wotton’s behalf in 1722, but only after the latter had returned
into England.98
Wotton’s projected edition was now becoming widely known both in Wales and among
the senior clergy. In June 1718 in the same letter which he had announced the arrival of
Williams’s transcripts, Wotton relayed to Wake news of yet another relevant manuscript
from William Nicolson the newly appointed bishop of Derry.
He therein says that the late Bishop of Bangor helped him to a sight of Mr
Rowland’s MS. But that he knows nothing whether that Gentleman was alive now
or no, so that what to do farther I know not. It is plain to me that the Bishop of
Meath had an Influence over Mr Rowlands. And I have writ to Sir Arthur
Rowlands (who know’s me very well) to enquire in Anglesey where his ancient
estate lys, whether he be alive or dead. But I have not yet had an answer. What it
is (for I am sure of having one) I shall acquaint your Grace with it, as soon as I
receive it.99
This manuscript took a further six months to track down, by which time two others were
in his hands.
By the end of 1718, despite a further “confinement from writing and in a great measure
from reading for a full moneth”, Wotton felt that he had at last assembled all the
manuscripts necessary to undertake his task. He then had about a dozen manuscripts or
22
transcripts available and had also secured the willing co-operation of the antiquarian
community. He now considered he was in a position to more forward and to choose an
exemplar.
I have now got as many materials as I shall need for my Howell Dda for Arthur
Owen has with great humanity procured me the MS History of Anglesia written
by Mr Rowlands, for which I in vain applyed to my Lord Bishop of Derry. Mr
Rowlands has gone farther, for he has encouraged me to write to him in difficult
cases, and by his work it appears that he is exceedingly skilled in the Antiquity’s
and Language of his Country. I have also got two MSS more of Howell Dda
which were once Mr Edward Llwyds and which Sir Thomas Seabright bought
with the rest of his Papers of his Executors after he dy’d. Of these one is in
Welsh, the other in Latin, and both at least 400 Years old. Of all these not one
exactly answers to another, as I think I acquainted your Grace formerly. But one
is to be published entire, and by the rest the Difficulty’s which occur in that will
be tolerably removed.100
Henry Rowlands’s “archaeological discourse on the antiquities of Anglesey”, entitled
Mona antiqua restaurata, would appear in November 1723 a few weeks after his death,
but his account of the parochial antiquities of the island, to which Wotton was given
access remained unpublished until the middle of the nineteenth century.101 Wotton was
later to acknowledge further helps from the elderly antiquary.
By what I have received already from Mr Rowlands of Anglesey, I have grounds
to hope for great Assistances from him, who is in truth exceedingly learned in the
Antiquity’s of his own Nation – And he seems mighty ready to help me in all my
difficulty’s.102
He was then expecting to return to England at any time: as he explained in a letter to
Browne Willis
I must attend to Howel Dda, before I leave Wales, that the Archbishop justly
expects, & a great deal must be done to it, before I trust to the finishing of it at
Milton, where I propose to do it. (Bodleian Library, Ms. Willis 38, f.210).
Thus by March 1719 Wotton was ready to begin work on establishing and translating
the text, and reported to Willis “I am up to ye Ears in ye Welsh Laws designing to print
proposals for subscriptions in a few months, (Willis Ms 42 f. 210). Yet, as will be seen,
he would soon afterwards discover that he had far from exhausted the potential suppl y
of manuscripts of the laws and would continue to be notified of the existence of yet
further examples throughout the editing period.
23
Mr William Philipps Recorder of Brecon has lent me a MS. which I am to receive
this week, that Mr Wms believe to be near 500 years old. And I am promised
another from Bristol. Mr Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt an eminent Antiquary in K.
Cha. IIs Time, was at the Pains to procure all the Copys he could come at of
Howels Laws, and have them transcribed into one large Volume, which he
entituled Corpus Hoelianum. To these he made an accurate Index, which he called
Repertorium Hoelianum which constituted a Volume near big as the former.
These Books are now in the possession of Mr Watkin Williams of Llanvorda in
Denbighshire. But I fear they can not be come at.103
Wotton appears to have been misled or misunderstood the information given to him since
the ‘Deddfgrawn’ (otherwise known as the ‘Corpus Hoelianum’) was not compiled by
Vaughan but rather by his associate William Maurice of Cefn-y-braich during the 1660s
and 1670s when he collated sixteen codices including those in Vaughan’s collection.104
Wotton was not able to visit this collection, nor was he given access to Maurice’s
‘Deddfgrawn’ or the ‘Repertorium Hoelianum’ referred to above, which would have
greatly assisted in the task of comparing different versions. Moses Williams was however
later able to collate the text of Maurice’s own manuscript of the laws from the Llanforda
collection, after Wotton’s death.105 The Llanforda Manuscript was later lost some time
after 1773.106
Likewise Wotton appears to have been unable to consult Robert Vaughan’s priceless
library Hengwrt near Dolgelly, which then contained about a dozen mediaeval
manuscripts of the laws.107 The collection was not usually available to scholars during
this period.108 Wotton does however make use of one Latin version of the laws that was at
one time in this collection, presumably using a transcript made by Moses Williams in
1722,109 but it is not clear how this was executed. Aneurin Owen likewise noted Wotton’s
“slight” acquaintance with the Hengwrt collection.110
In July 1721, four years after he commenced work Wotton was reporting to Wake his
receipt of “the three remaining Copy’s out of the Cotton Library carefully transcribed,
and the Transcripts collated by Mr Moses Williams” and was awaiting the arrival of a
transcript from Leiden University of a manuscript formerly in the possession of the Dutch
scholar Isaac Vossius (1618–89).111 Even in February 1722, after the proposals had been
circulated and the first sheets of the work had been sent to the printer he was reporting the
discovery of a new manuscript and an early printed reference to the laws.
My work is like to grow upon my Hand. Mr Price of Queens Coll in Cambridge
sends me word that there is a Welsh MS. of Hywels Laws in Bennet Library, sent
24
thither by Abp Parker; and to that is prefixed an extract out of his Laws printed by
some Body in 1550. That extract Mos. Williams has and will send it me; it is a
mistaken interpretation of a Triad in those Laws which the editor fancyd was a
proof of the Approbation of the marrying of the clergy in Hywels Day’s; I am
glad to hear of it because that Trial will come in my way, when the other Trials
(which will be a book by themselves) are published by themselves. If the MS. be
worth any thing we will get it transcribed.112
The manuscript proved to be worth causing yet further delays whilst a transcript was
obtained and yet further readings were inserted into the text. It is a testimony to Wotton’s
thoroughness and dedication to his task, that even at this late stage he could contemplate
interrupting his progress whilst it was examined: “for there is no leaving any thing of that
sort unexamined behind us”.113
Not all of the manuscripts ultimately used in the preparation of the edition are mentioned
in Wotton’s correspondence, or indeed are known to have been preserved. For example
there was a copy belonging to Owen Meyrick of Bodorgan in Anglesey, and an ancient
paper manuscript largely corresponding with one of the Cottonian manuscripts, which
belonged to Moses Williams.114 Likewise three further paper codices were listed, only
one of which is now known. 115 Yet another manuscript is preserved in the National
Library of Wales.116 This was not used by Wotton but was at some point in the hands of
Moses Williams (although presumably only after the completion of the text of Leges
Wallicae).
Writing in 1986, Dafydd Jenkins noted the survival of about forty manuscripts of Welsh
law written compiled between the early thirteenth and early sixteenth centuries (in
addition to later transcripts by antiquarians and scholars).117 Of these, six were written in
Latin and the remainder in Welsh.118 Wotton and Williams seem to have been able to
consult and collate about half of this number, although these included several which are
no longer known. The “near twenty” Welsh manuscripts, and “several old Latin versions”
mentioned in his proposals eventually grew to a total of twenty-five.119
Establishing the text
Once Wotton started examining the dozen manuscripts or transcripts of the laws he had to
hand at the outset, he quickly discovered the task of editing the text was going to be far
more complex than he had first imagined. According to William Clarke who was both his
assistant, and later his son-in-law:
25
The diversity of wording, sequence and content of his sources at first appalled
him and engendered in him a great deal of uncertainty and hesitation about his
wisest means of approach.120
It would not simply be a case of deciding which of the manuscripts contained the earliest
or most correct text and then noting any variations in later manuscripts. Neither Wake nor
Wotton initially realised that the system of Welsh law was essentially different from
either the civil-law tradition of Scots law or the common-law tradition of English law,
and these manuscripts were rather “collections of custom and applications of principle,
made by specialist lawyers”. 121 There was no fixed canon of Welsh laws, and the
surviving manuscripts came from different traditions depending upon their date and the
area of Wales in which they were compiled. Despite the supposed association with the
tenth century King Hywel related in the prologues to many of the copies, all the surviving
manuscripts examined by Wotton were dated between the thirteenth and fifteenth
centuries and broadly reflected the law at the time of their compilation.
Following the publication of Aneurin Owen’s Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales in
1841, based on the unpublished researches of William Maurice, scholars would identify
the three redactions of a basic Welsh text. These are now known as the ‘Cyfnerth’,
‘Iorwerth’ and ‘Blegywryd’ redactions.122 The ‘Cyfnerth’ manuscripts tend to be shorter
and may reflect an early text of the law, although the surviving examples date only from
the 14th and 15th centuries. They also are a more heterogeneous group than the remainder
and seem to originate from the south-east of Wales. ‘Iorwerth’ manuscripts tend to be
more sophisticated than the remainder and may reflect the law as it was practised in
Gwynedd in the north-west, dating from the 13th to 15th centuries. The ‘Blegywryd’
manuscripts are southern or south-western texts dating from the 14th and 15th centuries.123
Each one of these texts consisted of a number of ‘tractates’ covering particular subjects,
such as the law relating to women, children and paternity, animals, land etc. These varied
greatly in size and orderliness, and might be further sub-divided.124 The ‘Cyfnerth’ and
‘Blegywyrd’ manuscripts also contain collections of triads, relating to the law. The triad
was a literary form, which arranged related topics or statements into groups of three, and
was intended as a mnemonic device for those who had to memorise large sections of law.
In addition to these Welsh texts of the ancient laws, there were also a number of surviving
versions in Latin, principally dating from the 13th century. It was these that Wotton
thought might provide him with a key to translating the obsolete Welsh legal
26
terminology. However, the Latin texts also retained large numbers of Welsh technical
terms where there was no equivalent translation.
As mentioned above, William Maurice (1620-1680) of Cefn-y-braich was the first scholar
to consider a wide range of Welsh law manuscripts systematically.125 It was his analysis
of the texts, which laid the basis of the modern classification. 126 However, the pattern
only emerged as many versions were compared. Wotton was aware of the existence of
Maurice’s ‘Deddfgrawn’ but did not have access to it and so was initially unaware of the
relationship between the manuscripts available to him.127 At first sight it appeared to him
that no two of the manuscripts were alike.
Soon after drawing up his proposals in October 1721, Wotton indicated to Wake that his
work would be divided into four books. 128 These covered the laws of the court
(Cyfreithieu y Llys Beunyddjawl / Leges Aulicae), the laws of the country (Cyfreithieu y
Wlad / Leges Patriae), a book to examine the knowledge of justices, usually referred to as
the ‘test book’ which is found in the ‘Iorwerth’ manuscripts (Llymma y dechrau y Llyfr
Prawf / Liber de Judicis Examinatione), and a collection of triads relating to the law
(Trioedd Cyfraith / Triades Forenses) compiled from the ‘Cyfnerth’ and ‘Blegywyrd’
manuscripts. At some point between the summer of 1722 and mid 1726, when he was
collaborating with Moses Williams, the edition grew still further with the addition of a
fifth book of forms of pleading (Llyfr Cynghawsedd / Formulae Placitandi). This book
makes copious reference to a manuscript designated JDR, belonging to Moses Williams
and so was probably added at his suggestion. Similarly, an Appendix to the work was also
added by Moses Williams.after Wotton’s death, 129 The rationale for adding this material
was not discussed in the correspondence.
The accepted practice when editing such a text, which was followed by Wotton, was to
transcribe, translate and publish one manuscript in its entirety and then identify the different
readings among the remainder either bracketed within the text or else in footnotes or
shoulder notes. As he noted in his proposals “additions are inserted in their proper places
out of all the other copies, with a particular mention of the several books out of which they
are taken in making”.130 He realised the impossibility of making a satisfactory text out of
such a variety of manuscripts “but he has been condemned for it as if he was not aware of
it”.131 For example, Aneurin Owen, whilst acknowledging that the sense was admirably
rendered, criticised Wotton’s approach as the variant readings “differed widely from the
27
text, and were sometimes contradictory of it”, and the cause of the anomaly was not
explained.132 A twentieth century commentator, Hywel D. Emanuel, also stated that “such
an unfortunate choice ... of editorial method detracts from the practical usefulness of
Wotton’s edition”133 However, other scholars have differed in their opinion, for example,
Dafydd Jenkins noted “perhaps British learning was rather too lazy to fight the confusion,
for continental scholars were able to use the text effectively for comparison”.134
Wake’s initial suggestion had been for his friend to use the Jesus College manuscript as
the exemplar, as he was confident that he had sufficient influence with the Principal to
secure it on loan. However, Wake’s advice was based on his own experience of editing
Latin and Anglo-Saxon texts and Wotton quickly came to see that his task would be
somewhat more complicated. Writing to Wake in May 1717 in which he acknowledged
receipt of the Merton transcript, Wotton set out the problems.
The Jesus MS. is not so legible to a stranger, and therefore is left to the last,
because of the number of obsolete words, in which otherwise there might be great
Mistakes. But alas! neither of these MSS answer to one another. Nor, as I am
informed, do any other MSS. now extant. For instance, towards the beginning of
Sr Tho. Powels copy there is a long and a particular discourse concerning the 24
Officers of the Houshold of the British Kings. This is neither in the Jesus MS. nor
in the Merton Latin: And every where else there is no mending one Copy by
another, as we may in Virgil and Cicero. I believe these MSS might (if it can be
reasonably done) be joined so as to make it one Body. They must therefore be
transcribed severally, and then compared and set together.135
After receipt of this letter Wake was beginning to realise the scale and complexity of the
assignment that he had set his valetudinarian friend. He began to wonder whether he
might be expecting too much by way of penance, and wrote to excuse Wotton from
completing the task if he considered it too difficult for him. However, Wotton was now
determined to redeem himself in the eyes of his archbishop as well as the local
antiquarian community.
The great freedom which you shew me in leaving me to my Liberty to go on with
Howell Dda’s Laws or not is of the same nature with what I every day experience.
But I think I ought not to make use of that License. The Gentlemen of this country
were apprized of my Design, and should I leave off they would certainly compare
me to the Gospel-Builder who was forced to desist for want of computing the
expense. I am sure of what Assistance the South Wales Antiquary’s can give me,
And if I err (since they themselves have never attempted an Edition of this noblest
remains of their Nation) men of candor will forgive me. For the rest, I must as
others have done in all Times take my chance. When Sr Thomas Powell lent me
his MS he sent me a Letter which it would be great Vanity in me to transcribe.
28
And I have been well known to him (who is a learned man) ever since I came
hither.136
An important preliminary to establishing the text was to determine which of the various
manuscripts was the oldest, although this would not necessarily contain the earliest version
of the text. As mentioned above, in March 1719 Wotton had “some Reason to think one of
the Harleyan Copy’s is older than any other I have by me”.137 However, once he received
Moses Williams’s transcripts he found there would also be problems with this copy.
The Compiler professes to have made his collections out of the Copy’s which he
could procure throughout the three greate Provinces of Wales. That is very
imperfect, and had it been entire would have done me great service. But it seems
to have been once as big again as what we have left.138
Nevertheless, by November 1720 Wotton felt that he had identified the best text he was
able and was making reasonable progress with the translation.
My Health is I bless God so well established since the last fit of the Gout, which
kept me from my business all September, and a good part of October, that I can
with some with some exultation assure your Grace, that I may venture to publish
proposals for subscriptions for my Welsh Laws next spring, if I do not relapse.
The Difficultys being in a great measure conquered, nothing is now required but
Labor which is truly delightful to me when I hope I have a fair prospect of doing
what will not be unacceptable to your Grace.139
Just over a month later an event took place which would both be greatly to the long term
advantage of the project, but would also be the cause further delays and force Wotton to
reconsider everything he had hitherto done. This was Wotton’s first meeting with Moses
Williams.
The reputation of Williams as an antiquary and a scholar of the Welsh language had been
growing, particularly following publication of his Cofrestr o’r holl Lyfrau Printjedig in
1717, described as “the cornerstone of Welsh bibliography”.140 This was the result of an
unrivalled knowledge of Welsh antiquaries and their libraries acquired during 1714 on his
tour of the country seeking subscribers to his planned edition of his Bible in Welsh, and to
collect materials in preparation for a projected revision of John Davies's Welsh-Latin
Dictionarium. 141 In 1719 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and issued
Proposals for printing by subscription a collection of writing in the Welsh tongue to the
beginning of the sixteenth century.142 When he read these proposals Wotton realised that
29
Williams and he were both involved in a similar quest to recover the riches of Mediaeval
Welsh literature.
I suppose your Grace has seen the proposals which Mr Moses Williams, the editor
of the late Welsh Bible, has published for printing of the lucubrations of his
British ancestors (except the laws of Howel which are left to me, and a physic
book which will be undertaken by one of the faculty) from the days of Taliesin to
the year 1300. If you have not been applyd to about it, I shall have the pleasure of
acquainting your grace with it another time. If we finish what we have
respectively begun, and he lives to compleat his dictionary and grammar, that
noble branch of the ancient Celtic tongue will be as easie to understand as this
[two words illegible]. The Cui bono men, whom I have long taken to be some of
the worst enemies learning has, will I know laugh at these things. But those that
truly have an affection for good letters will think that what they cannot
themselves use, others may.143
In 1718 Williams had been presented with the living of Defynnog in Breconshire which,
although it was nearly forty miles from Carmarthen, lay on the main road to London.144 In
December 1720, the two men at last met when Williams devoted nine days out of his
Christmas vacation to visiting Carmarthen. Wotton was initially elated by the visit:
I have got a Master who is much the greatest Master of the Language since Dr
Davies of Mallwyd to whom his Country was so much obliged in K. Cha. 1s time.
That is Mr Moses Williams, to whom we are indebted for the late most accurate
edition of the Welsh Bible, which (I speak from experience) is truly a noble
performance; ... He went over a good deal of what I had done. He is now at work
for me at home and voluntarily promised to revise the whole at last, and fit it for
the Press. In short, he has put new life into me. I work now incessantly, and being
confident that my Design will be brought by Gods Blessing to a prosperous
Issue.145
However three days later he was reporting to Wake some worrying news “Mr Williams
tells me there is a MS in the Cotton Library of great Antiquity which has not been yet
looked into”.146 Williams agreed to investigate the contents of the Cottonian library upon
his return to London.
Whilst he was waiting for news of this new manuscript from Moses Williams, Wotton
wrote to Dr Edmund Waller Fellow of St John’s College in Cambridge, describing his
progress:
My Welsh Laws go on apace: but it proves another manner of work than I at first
imagined. The ground which I cultivate proves to be entirely new. The Helps I
have had (and I have had what the Nation affords) are in Comparison very little,
… But I doubt not, if my shattered Health will give me Leave to bring my work to
30
bear, in such a manner as will satisfy the candid Part of the Natives; and other
men must take what I say on Trust.147
Three months later, during his second visit to Carmarthen, Moses Williams brought back
news confirming his original suspicions, but undertook to provide Wotton with “exact
Transcripts of all the MSS. in the Cotton Library; so that matter is happily at an end as I
hope and believe”.148 Thereafter, the help Wotton received proved to be somewhat more
substantial, for in Moses Williams he found an ideal collaborator who spent much of his
time in London but yet regularly journeyed into South Wales. Williams not only had all
the required knowledge, and skills to be able to transcribe ancient Welsh texts, but also
had the reputation and contacts, which secured him access to them.
The newly discovered Cottonian manuscript was therefore elevated to the status of
exemplar thereby involving the reworking of the planned edition and its importance was
explained in the proposals drawn up the following October:
One of the oldest, the fullest, and the most methodical of these copies is in the
Cotton Library, which will be exactly and entirely represented, after having been
compared with many others of great antiquity, which are preserved both there and
'in the Harleian Library, besides several other copies of great value, which the
Editor has been favoured with the use of, and of which a full and particular
account shall be given in the Preface. The Cotton Book is intended to be the
foundation of the whole work; but additions are inserted in their proper places out
of all the other copies, with a particular mention of the several books out of which
they are taken.149
However, it is noteworthy that Wotton was now describing his task as the publication of
“an entire Collection of the Welsh Laws, both Ecclesiastical and Civil”, as opposed to a
scholarly edition of any one manuscript.
Wotton’s new analytical approach to dealing with laws appearing in the different
manuscript redactions is demonstrated in his treatment of the triads, which constitute the
fourth book of Leges Wallicae. Triads are found elsewhere in Welsh literature, but are of
particular significance in Welsh legal manuscripts of the southern tradition (the
‘Cyfnerth’ and ‘Blegywryd’ redactions), where they are both interspersed in the main text
(to match or illustrate the topics under discussion) and also provided in separate
collections (sometimes containing more than one hundred triads) at the end of many of
the surviving law books.150 Wotton (perhaps with the advice of Williams) appears to have
taken the logical decision to continue the process of collecting the triads begun by the
31
‘Cyfnerth’ and ‘Blegywryd’ manuscript redactors. Thus he removed all the triads
appearing in the texts and incorporated them into one single collection of 297 triads,
arranged alphabetically according to their heading, where necessary providing variant
readings. In doing this, Wotton and Williams were able to consult two ‘Blegywryd’
manuscripts which have long tails of additional material including triads.151
After Wotton’s death, Moses Williams discovered many additional legal triads, including
a substantial number not already included in the text, during a visit to the Hengwrt
Library in 1728. However, by then the relevant pages of the Leges Wallicae were printed,
and all he could do was to transcribe them into a manuscript volume, possibly with the
intention of publishing them at some future date.152
Translating and annotating the laws
Wake had always envisaged a scholarly edition of the Welsh laws aimed at an
international audience, which would correspond with David Wilkins’s Leges AngloSaxonicae, then in active preparation. At one stage he even suggested that Wotton’s work
might appear as an appendix to Wilkins’s edition.153 If the laws were to be translated,
therefore, it would be into Latin rather than English, and in any event, he was aware from
Lhuyd’s catalogue of the existence of an early Latin manuscript, which might be used to
assist in the new translation. The agreed plan was therefore for parallel texts in Welsh and
Latin, together with explanatory footnotes, and a glossary with the meanings of technical
or obsolete terms. However, as already mentioned, whilst Wake was aware of the
difficulties in translating early texts it is doubtful if he had any idea of how complex the
task would ultimately prove to be.
Wotton had begun by inspecting the Welsh manuscripts and was soon aware that the
modern Welsh of the Bible, or that spoken every day in Carmarthen, was quite different
from that of Cyfraith Hywel. Thus in January 1717 he was eagerly awaiting the transcript
of the Merton manuscript in Latin from Oxford.
Without that Version (which I hope is ancient) I am assured it will scarce be
possible to do any Thing to Perfection, The Language of those Laws is now
obsolete, and besides, the Introduction of the English Laws and Customs among
the Welch, (which was begun by Edw. and perfected by Hen. VIII.) has
obliterated the Memory of the ancient Welch ones in a great Measure. However, I
will do what I can. As far as the Men of South Wales can help me, I shall not
want their Assistance.154
32
The discovery that much of the Welsh used in the legal texts was obsolete was yet another
factor which led Wake to offer to excuse Wotton from completing his appointed task.
The existence of the fourth group of Latin versions of the laws, in addition to the three
Welsh redactions, was an important factor in deciphering the obsolete teminology, as was
later noted in the proposals:
the Editor has been assisted by several old Latin versions; which, though very
barbarous and imperfect in the main yet have, in abundance of places, enabled
him to clear difficulties, which without their assistance could never have been
explained.155
Over the next two years, as his own knowledge of Welsh etymology developed and with
the assistance of the Merton and other early Latin versions, Wotton was gradually able to
make sense of the texts. He outlined his method of working in a letter to Wake.
Examining the sense all along as I went, not being able to endure the fatigue of
copying unknown words has made me pretty tolerably a master of the sense of
this ancient Lawgiver, and having his Constitutions in my Head, I hope I shall
render them tolerably well into Latin, As there are many things for which I know
not proper words in Latin, so I must, as Dr Cowell has done before me in his
Institutions Leges-Anglicarum use Terms of Art which ought to be explained in a
distinct Glossary.156
Three months later whilst apologising for his lack of progress due to “a very
incommodious fit of the gout” Wotton was nevertheless expressing his optimism for the
future:
Your Grace will I hope excuse Delays that are so little in my Power to help. But
now I hope to be free this summer, and if I can scape this winter I shall think it a
happy composition now I have masterd the greatest difficulty of my undertaking,
I would not willingly be cast away in the Haven. But God’s will be done.157
The collaboration with Moses Williams from 1721 onwards undoubtedly lightened the
load, and William Clarke later referred to the two men “comparing a great variety of
different Mss, and barbarous imperfect versions, they at last finshd the Translation of the
laws”.158
Yet in spite of this continued progress, there still remained a hard core of references to
technical terms which neither Wotton nor later Moses Williams was able to translate. The
solution was eventually suggested by Lord Harley’s Librarian, described by Wotton as
“the incomparable Keeper of these Treasures, the excellent Mr Humfrey Wanley, who
33
perfectly knows what they are, and to what uses they may be applied, has shewn himself
always ready to assist the learned in their enquiries”. 159 The Harleian Library contained
an Elizabethan transcript of a fourteenth century manuscript formerly held at Caernarvon
Castle, the original of which had almost been destroyed by damp. The ‘Carnarvon
Record’ was a survey conducted during the reign of Edward III., of the counties of
Caernarvon and Anglesey, in imitation of the Domesday survey of England. It was
written in Latin but contained many of the Welsh legal terms, and proved to be the key to
filling many of the gaps in the translation of the ancient laws.
Upon his return to London in 1722, Wotton wrote a short account of this manuscript in a
periodical collection of miscellaneous scholarly notes entitled Bibliotheca literaria. This
small publication gave him the opportunity to publicise his own work and also to
acknowledge the help that both he and Moses Williams had received from Lord Harley
and his librarian.
It is not foreign to the Design of this Paper to take notice of the great Readiness
with which all the Copies of the Laws of Howell Dda in this Library, and other
Books useful to me in publishing those Laws, were communicated to me: Among
which this Record deserves a particular Acknowledgment; it having been of
singular use to me in this Work, to solve many Difficulties which occurred
therein, which could not otherwise have been explained. And should this valuable
MS. be published, it would, together with the Welsh Laws now in the Press,
considerably illustrate the Antiquities and Constitutions of a noble and ancient
Nation, who for many Ages struggled bravely for their Liberties, and surrendered
them honourably at last.160
Wotton outlined his rationale for the annotations in his published proposals. These were
intended “to explain the test of the Laws, where it could not have been cleared in the
Version without running out into a tedious paraphrase”.
As a linguist, Wotton also saw one important part of his role as the rediscovery of
mediaeval Welsh vocabulary, and in this respect a key part of the finished work would be
a glossary of legal terms.
And whereas the terms of art made use of in these Laws are very many and very
different from any thing to be find at present either in other books or in common
speech, he intends to add a large Glossary, wherein all those terms will be
explained, many of which are very imperfectly accounted for in Dr. Davies's
(otherwise very excellent) Dictionary, and many more of them wholly omitted by
him; by which means he hopes to clear many things which have been little known
by the natives themselves, since their coalition with our Nation.161
34
Wotton’s collaboration with Moses Williams after 1721 naturally brought the latter into
contact with archbishop Wake. Williams dined at Lambeth Palace on several occasions
when he reported to Wake their progress or else brought the draft proposals for his
comment.162 Wake continued to take an active interest in the project and make his own
suggestions. Thus, when writing from Bath in January 1722, Wotton noted his agreement
to a suggestion by Wake’s that Williams might also contribute a short Welsh grammar to
the publication.
He mentioned that your Grace had advised him to add a short epitome of the
Welsh Grammar at the end of my work. He was pleased with the Honor of
receiving such a command. And I encouraged him to do it. The Truth is, since this
undertaking is designed for all the learned men of Europe, a Grammar or
Rudiments of a language which is so perfectly strange to them all will certainly be
greatful. [sic] Dr David’s Grammar is known to few but Natives, most of the
copy’s which I have seen among them are worn out, wanting beginning or end or
both. And John Davy Rees’s Grammar in Folio printed towards the latter end of
Q. Eliz’s Reign, is so very intricate and puzzling, that no Man (I believe) ever
try’d to learn Welsh by it. He writ Latin to great perfection, and taught Welsh
very obscurely.163
In the event, no such grammar by Williams was included, probably because he discovered
that the Reverend William Gambold of Puncheston in Pembrokeshire was working on one
of his own, which was published at Carmarthen in 1727.164
The re-growth of a friendship
There are more than a hundred surviving letters written by William Wotton to William
Wake during the nine and a half years between the initial letter of congratulation in
December 1715 and a final letter in May 1725, at which point Wotton became too ill to
continue with the correspondence. It is also clear that the archbishop must have written
almost as many letters in reply, which have failed to survive. Their correspondence was
not restricted to the publication of the Welsh laws and Wotton’s declining health, but
included many other matters relating church politics both in the diocese of St David’s and
the province of Canterbury, the state of the Cathedral at Llandaff and the proposed move
of that See to Cardiff. Once it became obvious that Wotton had truly reformed, (or at least
was no longer physically capable of his previous unruly lifestyle) Wake began to regain
some of the affection he had once held for his friend, and on occasions the archbishop
was able to open his heart in his letters to the curate in Carmarthen. Wotton was gratified
by the trust that was again being placed in him.
35
I think myself bound to own in the best manner I am able the inexpressible
satisfaction which I feel in this my Banishment, in that condescending manner by
which your Graces opens your own troubles to a man every way so unworthy of
so great Freedom. Tho’ one thing I may justly affirm, that your Grace shall never
suffer by any thing which you shall ever communicate to me.165
He was undoubtedly sorry for his previous behaviour and was determined to restore his
reputation if he could. He was particularly happy when he discovered from Wilkins that
Wake had even mentioned Wotton and his project to the King.
I rejoice in the Hopes I have now conceived that your Grace will not be ashamed
of having employd me. And I trust you will never hereafter be ashamed of me for
anything else. I have lived near seven years here, and my way of Living has not
been hid from you.166
Now that he was living a steady and abstemious life, Wotton began gradually to be able
to repay his creditors in Milton Keynes, and looked forward to the day in the future when
he might be able to return safely to his homeland. During the summer of 1718 he
apologised that he had not travelled as far as Brecon to meet Browne Willis:
my Affairs would not give me leave: and indeed I stirr very little abroad. It is
expensive and expenses are what I cannot in any measure bear.167
The twelve months following October 1718 appear to have been a particularly difficult
and discouraging period for Wotton, in which he suffered three serious bouts of illness,
followed by the death of Anne, his long-suffering wife, on 8 October 1719. 168 The
following month he wrote to Wake to explain his lack of progress during the year.
Your Grace will now demand what Account I can give of my Time with relation
to the Welsh Law’s. I must implore forbearance, tho I have not been idle. What I
have often said to other Creditors, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all,
I must offer as my plea poor as it is to your Grace. But as they have seen in a
great measure the effect of their lenity, so I trust in God will yor Grace. … Indeed
after a little recoverd my self from the stunning stroke with which it has pleased
God lately to cast me down, I was tempted to divert myself with Meditations of
another Nature, than commenting on the Laws of Howel.169
An elaborate memorial to Anne was subsequently erected in the vestry of St Peter’s
church, consisting of a stone tablet with a carved wooden surround. This spoke of her
family background, her rare and heroic character, and how for twenty-three years she had
stuck with him through adversity.170 There is no indication as to whether this was erected
by Wotton or possibly later by his son-in-law and daughter.
36
Wotton was now very aware of his own mortality and the meditations in question took the
form of a written discourse upon St. Mark XIII. 32, “but of that day and that hour
knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father”.
This was published the following year as The omniscience of the Son of God, an
undoubted argument of His divinity.171 Wotton also sought to unburden his conscience in
a letter to his friend:
If I can find Pardon in this calamitous juncture, in which those subjects have bin
some relief to my wounded soul I desire no more. I desire to live no otherways
nor any longer than whilst I can give an Account under God to your Grace of
what I do without Blushing. I would do some good before I dy otherwise I often
think with Jonah, it is better for me to dy than to live. But I thank God I have a
country here to bear me witness that I eat not the Bread of Idleness. I most
humbly beg pardon for troubling Yor Grace with my poor Affairs. I hope I shall
not be thought presumptious in taking so great a liberty. I have but two Blessings
left me in this world (besides the enjoyment of the common necessarys of life)
Your Graces Countenance, and a good prospect for my child. Forgive this my
Lord (for out of this abundance of the Heart the mouth will speak where it thinks
it may) and you shall not be troubled again in this Nature a great while.172
Anne Wotton had somehow managed to preserve some of her family money in her own
right, which could not be touched by her husband’s creditors, and which was intended to
provide her daughter Anne with a dowry. This money was invested in the South Sea
Company, which had been promoted by Robert Harley in 1711, and benefited from a
monopoly for trading with the South Seas. The company had been performing well and in
1719 appeared to have excellent prospects when the directors proposed the novel and
financially risky course of taking over responsibility for public debt of the British
government. The proposal was accepted in April 1720, after bribery of politicians and
members of the court with shares. As a result, the share price began to spiral upwards.
The bursting of the South Sea Bubble in the summer of 1720 brought about large
numbers of bankruptcies and blasted the prospects of many small investors such as the
twenty-year old Anne Wotton.
William Wotton refers to his daughter’s losses as a result of the ‘South Sea Bubble’ in
several letters, and this was the source of considerable anxiety to him. Following the
investigation into the financial crisis in 1721 and the uncovering of the widespread
corruption involved, the young lady had to take the perilous journey up to London alone,
“to take what the S. Sea has left her into her own hands”.173 For the previous seven years
she had led a sheltered and secluded life in Carmarthen, but her father’s friendship with
37
the most powerful prelate in the country now paid dividends. In the July he was writing to
thank the archbishop “for the kind and condescending reception of his daughter at
Lambeth Palace”.174
Wotton’s task of paying off his debts would have been made easier if he were able to
increase his income by taking on additional duties or responsibilities within the church.
He hoped that his learning and exemplary lifestyle in Carmarthen might one day secure
him promotion within the See of St David’s. In June 1717 he had even asked Browne
Willis to tone down some of his comments on the state of St David’s Cathedral.
For as St Davids is not a ruinous Church, so it cannot wthout an injury to the
present set of Canons be sayd to be so. Besides every thing that you say will be
layd upon me, who despair not of being a Canon there before I dy.175
Three months later the post of Chancellor of St Davids became vacant and Wotton sought
both Wake’s support and a testimonial from various local clergymen to his application for
the post. 176 He was to be disappointed. Bishop Ottley may have respected Wotton’s
intellect, and was happy to assist him in securing manuscripts, but he had his own plans
for awarding preferments within his diocese, and gave the appointment to his son.
By March 1721 Wotton had at last made sufficient of a settlement with his creditors that
he was able to freely use his own name.177 However, he was by then so infirm that it must
have been obvious to himself and his friends that he did not have many years to live, and
would not have enough time to repay all his debts and also repair his daughter’s shattered
prospects. His ambitions of rebuilding his life and reputation seemed to contract, and
when it was suggested to him that he might take on the role of a corresponding member
of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, he asked to be excused as he was
“now very infirm and devoted to a recluse life in his study”. 178 Nor was he able to take on
any additional role that involved physical exertion. He also suspected that the climate of
Carmarthen was making his arthritis worse: “persons of all Ages, and Sexes, the
Temporals, as well as the irregular are here afflicted. At least ten to one to what we have
in England”179 His only hope was the award of a sinecure by his powerful friend, and so
three weeks after Wake had assisted Anne Wotton, her father wrote tentatively seeking
the sinecure preferment Mastership of the Hospital of St Cross near Winchester, which
was in the archbishop’s gift.
38
I have now, as your Grace well knows, been above 7 years in this Town … I am
inevitably forced to return to Milton next year, since my Lord N. begins to declare
his uneasiness, especially since there is a prospect of my doing it with safety. 180
Wake refused the request, presumably because he had other plans for the living, and
Wotton promptly wrote back apologising for his temerity in asking. Three weeks later
Wake came back with an alternative offer of a sinecure within the diocese of Hereford,
which was not sufficient to solve all Wotton’s financial problems but would at least
enable him to move away from Carmarthen.181
On 1 November 1721 Wotton wrote to the archbishop from Bath both to announce his
departure from Wales, and the imminent completion of the text.
After having been crippled with the Gout and a seven years stay in South Wales, I
am come hither to try if the use of the waters here, will do me any good. My
Health grew gradually so very bad, that I am fully satisfy’d a few years longer
stay would in that countrey have made me utterly incapable of being any farther
useful in my generation. The Clergy of Carmarthen accompany’d me one Day’s
journey in my Journey thro their Country, at their own expence. Which was a
mark of regard never pay’d in our time to any man; and we scarce parted from
any body with dry eyes. And I believe no stranger ever left a place with a more
general regret. … I may also finish my translation of my work which is in good
forwardness. The text is ready. The proposals are sent to the press. And your
Grace will see them with a specimen of Welsh and Latin in a few weeks. Mr
Moses Williams, who has just built a house but yet habitable has leave from his
Diocesan to stay in London next summer where he will correct the Press; by this
means the marks of my being a foreigner will not appear.182
Plans for publication
Although Wotton’s printed proposals for the work were dated November 1721, discussion
as to the mode of publication had been taking place for nearly three years beforehand.
Clearly, it was going to be a highly specialised work with a limited readership, and could
not be published through normal book trade channels. Furthermore, somebody other than
Wotton would need to underwrite the publication costs.
I can do nothing myself more than preparing the Copy, and engaging my own
Friends to subscribe. I can make no agreement with any Bookseller, and much
less print at my own expence for a Reason which your Grace too well knows.183
Early in 1719 Wake suggested that Wotton’s work might be usefully combined with
David Wilkins’s account of the Anglo-Saxon laws then nearing completion. Wilkins and
his collaborators might then take over both the responsibility for negotiating with a
39
bookseller and securing a sufficient number of subscribers, which might otherwise be
difficult for Wotton to undertake from Carmarthen. Wotton signified his agreement to this
proposal, although he was a little anxious that his text would not be ready in time,184
Wilkins was likewise approached, and went even further by offering to see Wotton’s text
through the press and correct the proofs.
Dr Wilkins’s kind proposal to take care of my work has cheared my Heart. He
(who has something very like the gift of Tongues) may perhaps have learnt Welsh
enough to overlook the Revise sheets of the work. I think I may confidently say
that I can get subscribers to pay 10s for small paper, and 15s for great, … I may
begin … by Michaelmas at farthest. The Welsh Text will come under 200 pages
of the Bigness and Hand in which this Letter is written.185
In the same letter, Wotton tentatively raised the question whether he might seek royal
patronage for his publication.
And now my Lord, I would most humbly beg leave to propose one Thing to your
Grace, which if you do not approve, I hope you will pardon. This work which I
am now about, if well done, will do some Reputation to Wales. That I will do my
endeavour to send it put tolerably correct, your Grace is satisfy’d I have
sometimes fancy’d that if his R.H. the Pr. Of Wales were apprized of what I am
about, for the Honor of his Principality, that he might be willing to give me
something towards the expence of the work, and to support me whilst I am
labouring at it, I can easily forsee that your Grace may not be willing to appear in
such a thing yourself; and without your approbation I would not attempt to make
any Applications by any other Hand.186
Wake advised that he would be prepared to approach the Prince on Wotton’s behalf when
his work was approaching completion, and Wotton again indicated his appreciation.
I was exceedingly afraid that I had offended in the Proposal I made relating to his
Royal Highness: And the more because Mr Brigstock had intimated to me in a
Letter which I received a little before I had the Honor of your last, that it would
not be proper to offer any thing of that nature till the work was finished. In every
thing in which your Grace shall have the Goodness to concern yourself about my
Affairs I shall entirely and willingly acquiesce. Since I may now hope to have
leave to prefix his R. Highnesses Name to my work, it will be upon a second
motive an encouragement to me to make hast, tho I wanted no Reasons to do so
before.187
It was perhaps just as well that Wake cautioned patience before approaching the Prince
since it would be more than a decade before the book was published. By that time Prince
George had ascended to the throne, and so the work was ultimately dedicated to his son
Frederick the new Prince of Wales.
40
No further mention was made of a publication date for more than eighteen months, but in
November 1720, immediately prior to his initial meeting with Moses Williams, Wotton
was indicating his intention to publish his proposals the following spring, 188 but
Williams’s news about the additional text in the Cotton Library, was to invalidate these
plans. Whilst Williams was engaged in investigating the Cotton manuscript, Wotton was
being urged by other friends to proceed.
Mr Brigstock sent me a Letter .. to desire me to publish Proposals for my work
before the Parliament rises. He sayd he could do me ten times the service that he
could at any other Time, from whence I gatherd that he thinks of bidding adieu to
the Town for a great while. It is fit that in this particular I should be determind by
your Grace, if you shall condescend to direct me. To go into the Press before the
Text, Translation, and Necessary notes to be put under every page are ready, will
be madness upon the Account of mortality. If I dy, I know no man in England
would (or perhaps could) take it up except Moses Williams. The Glossary which
will be large, and the Preface may be written whilst the rest is with the press. The
text is in a measure fixt, and transcribed fair. The translation is in a good measure
finished, so that if my Health stands as 'tis in any tolerable measure, I may be
ready for the press by Michaelmas Term.189
Following Williams’s return visit to Carmarthen in the spring Wotton reported to Wake “I
have Reason to believe that I have done prudently in taking Dr Wilkins’s Advice, who
dissuaded me from publishing Proposals till my work is in a greater forwardness”. 190
Wake agreed with Wilkins and urged Wotton to ensure that his text was ready before
publishing any proposals. However this created another problem since Wilkins was now
ready to go ahead and publish his work.
In all these matters I must crave the assistance of Dr Wilkins. I daily find the good
effects of his Friendship. But this is such a thing, that I am ashamed to ask. And
besides, I know at this time he is exceedingly prest. These things, my Lord, put
me to a stand. I must humbly beg yor Graces Pardon for my Presumption, and yet
I have no person else to apply to.191
All concerned agreed that David Wilkins would go ahead and publish his account of the
Anglo-Saxon laws whilst Wotton and Moses Williams continued to amend the text of
those from Wales. Six months later Wotton sent a progress report to Wilkins in which he
was talking of publishing proposals in the Spring of 1722.192
During the course of 1721 William Wotton and Moses Williams worked closely together,
not only to revise, correct, and extend Wotton’s existing the text, but also in devising a
strategy for publication of the work. The book would now need to be published partly on
41
subscription, with advance payments meeting many of the initial production costs.
Williams agreed to take on most of the financial risk involved in return for the profits
from the sale of the first 400 small paper copies. Wotton would receive the profits from
50 large paper copies, plus anything else sold after the initial 400. Wotton’s new
diocesan, bishop Philip Bisse, was unsure of the wisdom of his entering into such a
financial arrangement with a Welshman, but Wotton now had complete confidence in
Williams and was determined to proceed.
Dr Bisse (wn I told him at Hereford that I had made an Agreement with Mr
Williams) rallied me and sayd if I had not care he would bite me. I entered into no
particulars to satisfy the Dr not caring it should be publicly known, for which
reason I told it no body at Carmarthen. But the resolution we came to were, that
he was to contract for Paper and Printing, and to print it as fair as Dr Wilkins’s
Laws on a like paper and character as in the proposals, and whatever could be got
beyond 400 copies was to be mine, besides all the great Paper which I particularly
reserved; of which I propose to print 50. We hope to get 500 in small paper, and if
so, that and the great Paper besides will come to something. Whether in this I
have done wisely I know not. But there was no man in England whom I could
employ but him; He is an admirable corrector of the press. Mr Baxter’s
Glossarium Antiqq. Britannicarum he printed by subscription 3 years agoe, and it
is one of the most correct Books that I ever read in my Life, as well as one of the
prettiest Books in its kind in my opinion I ever had. His Welsh Bible is also
exceedingly exact, so that by this means I hope to have an exact and elegant Book
for the rest I must take my chance.193
In the same letter, Wotton introduced to Wake, a protégé of his own, and a young man
who would ultimately play an important role in the publication. In a previous letter he
referred to an unnamed young man at Carmarthen whom the archbishop might wish to
use to answer controversial tracts. He now introduced William Clarke, a Fellow of St
John’s (Wotton’s old college), who “came into Wales on my instance 3 years ago”.194
Clarke was then employed as a chaplain of bishop Ottley, but Wotton, who was now
settled in Bath, was anxious to make use of his abilities as an assistant on his project. The
following year William Clarke was in London where Moses Williams introduced him to
Humfrey Wanley and to the resources of the Harleian Library.195
William Wotton and Moses Williams had drawn up the proposals for their own
independent publication on 20 October 1721, before Wotton left Carmarthen:
The Laws of the antient Welsh Nation, by which they were governed whilst they
continued a distinct people under their own Princes till the time of our Edward l.
having never yet been printed either in their own or in any other language (except
those few imperfect Excerpta of their Ecclesiastical Laws which Sir Henry
42
Spelman printed above fourscore years ago, in the first volume of his British
Councilae) the Editor proposes to publish an entire. Collection of the Welsh
Laws, both Ecclesiastical and Civil, which he has collected with no small labour
and pains out of near twenty manuscripts.196
The proposals set out in some detail how the editing and translation processes were
conducted, and the manuscripts on which it was based, and the apparatus to be provided
to assist the users. The editors envisaged publication by Lady Day (25th March) 1722,
which in spite of the delays was still hopelessly over-optimistic They could not then
confirm the size of the work and so instead proposed to charge two-pence a sheet for the
small paper work, and three-pence for the large. As a means of raising money to finance
the work they asked for an initial payment of ten and fifteen shillings respectively, “the
remainder to be paid upon the delivery of a perfect Book in sheets.”
The proposals make no mention of any direct involvement of a member of the book trade
in the publication, implying that they would take financial responsibility for the
publication. In place of a list of London and provincial booksellers they had rather
secured a number of their friends strategically situated throughout England and Wales to
take in subscriptions on their behalf. These included David Wilkins then at LambethHouse, William Jones Principal of Jesus college in Oxford, the antiquary Humphrey
Foulkes of Marchwiel, and John Price fellow of Queen's college Cambridge, as well as
Wotton’s friends David Havard, the rector of Abergwili, Morgan Owen, at his Chambers
in Gray's-Inn, and Thomas Kilpin, in Sheer-lane London. However, the involvement of
booksellers in the distribution to subscribers was inevitable, particularly as the work
would be delivered in sheets. Therefore their costing needed also to take account of an
allowance to cover their commission.
Wotton corrected the proofs of the proposals on 11 December together with a specimen of
the planned edition and asked Williams to deliver a copy to Wake at Lambeth palace as
soon as they were ready. The following week the printer produced 750 copies.197 Moses
Williams delivered a copy to Wake on 1st January and was invited to stay for dinner. 198
This was fortunate timing since Wake was also entertaining two of the most important
legal figures, the Lord Chancellor Thomas Parker (Earl of Macclesfield) and William
Fortescue who was later attorney general to Frederick Prince of Wales. The proposals
were discussed and approved of:
43
The novelty of the undertaking invited them, as I hope it will other curious Men.
It is my part now with the utmost Industry and Application to finish it as well as I
can. And if I have health I hope in some measure to answer the expectation of the
Public.199
Despite his growing reputation among the Welsh antiquarian community, Wotton was
still a little anxious that, as an Englishman, his work might lack credibility among native
Welsh speakers. He therefore indicated in his proposals:
And upon all occasions when any doubts have arisen, he has not omitted to
consult the most learned Natives, whom he intends to mention in his Preface, as
guarantees to their countrymen for the fidelity of his Translation.
Yet whilst the proposals rightly acknowledge Wotton as the editor, they do not
specifically refer to Moses Williams’s already significant contribution to the work. This
may have been because, Wotton, who was now living in Bath, and in far from robust
health, was beginning to be a little anxious whether he might lose some of his due credit
from undertaking the work.
I find by Mr Williams that the Welsh Antiquary’s about Town are a little diffident
of my strength and (tho he will not say so) that they believe he drew up the
specimen. As he knows the contrary so I intend to send up the first Book (the
whole will be divided as it is in my copy into 4 Books) which treats onely of the
officers of the Houshold fitted for the press in a few weeks. That I hope will
convince Gainsayers; especially since I am here by my self without any Body to
consult upon any single Difficulty.200
Wotton’s fears that the prime responsibility for his work might one day be attributed
to Moses Williams were not unfounded. One recent study refers to his role as “to
assist Moses Williams in the publication of a Welsh translation of the Laws of Hywel
Dda”.201
The printing of Leges Wallicae
There was never any question in the minds of the editors that the work might be printed in
Wales. The commercial press was non-existent in the country before 1718, and although
Nicholas Thomas, the second printer in the country, set up in business in Carmarthen
about the same time that Wotton was leaving the town, his press was miserably illequipped and utterly unsuited to undertake a work on this scale.202 Following the lapse of
the regulations controlling provincial printing in 1695 some Welsh-language printing had
been undertaken in English towns close to the border, such as Shrewsbury, Chester,
44
Oswestry or Bristol. However, no provincial press would have sufficient stocks of type to
print a folio edition of the complex parallel text in Welsh and Latin, together with
annotations. The work was therefore bound to be printed by one of the larger printers in
either London, or the else the University towns.
The printer selected to undertake the task was William Bowyer of Dogwell Court,
Whitefriars, London. Bowyer was then one of the foremost scholarly printers in
England, who had been responsible for printing great works such as Thomas Rymer’s
Foedera. Both William Wotton and Moses Williams had dealt with him before, and his
firm had some experience of printing in the Welsh language. 203 Fortunately, several of
the ledgers from the Bowyer printing office have survived for this period and so it is
possible to trace the work through the print shop and identify the costs of paper and
printing.204
On 26 March 1722, writing to Wake from Bath, Wotton was at last able to announce that
he had sent the first part of his text to the printer.
All that related to the Houshold, and the Officers of the Princes Family (which
will make as I judg about 24 printed sheets) is gone and Mr Williams has received
the greatest part of it. I had finished since just before passion Week, and now I
begin again where I left off, and with the extream feebleness of my feet and
knees, which I fear will not much leave me.205
During the spring Wotton appears to have enjoyed a brief remission for in May he wrote
to Williams that he was amusing himself by reading John Urry’s recent edition of the
works of Chaucer. 206 He was particularly impressed by the accompanying glossary
compiled by Timothy Thomas.
Who ever writ it is a very able Man. He seems to me to understand Welsh; he
quotes Welsh words every now and then, & always to the purpose. If you know
who writ it, let me know; for I perceive Mr Urry did little or nothing in it.207
The following month he felt his health was sufficiently recovered for him to move from
Bath to London, where he could keep a closer eye on the progress of his work, and at
last he was in a position to consult some of the original manuscripts in the Cottonian
and Harleian Libraries. 208 Wotton called at Lambeth Palace on 19 June and saw his old
friend for the first time in a decade.209 He was then invited to return and dine with his
daughter a fortnight later, and shortly afterwards he spent the whole day with the
45
Archbishop together with Dr Pinfold, who had helped bring about their
reconciliation.210
Wotton also appears to have visited William Bowyer’s printing office on 3 rd July,
presumably to discuss the design and layout of the book page, and where he handed
over a down payment of thirty guineas, derived from the initial payments handed over
by his subscribers.211 Moses Williams and William Clarke made further payments of
twenty-five guineas and twenty guineas on Wotton’s behalf during the August and
November, respectively. However, due to the complications of the page design and of
setting the text in two non-English languages the work proceeded quite slowly, and by
the middle of August only ten sheets had been printed, although Wotton, writing from
Sheer Lane pronounced himself satisfied with the progress. 212 The first section of the
book entitled ‘Cyfreithieu y Llys Beunyddiawl’ or ‘Leges Aulicae’ in fact took 18
sheets and were not recorded in Bowyer’s ledger as having been completed until 22
October.
Printing in contemporary Welsh was usually undertaken using a traditional roman font
but it needed a slightly different character set than English, since the orthography required
the use of the tô bach (circumflex) over vowels (including ‘ŷ’ and ‘ŵ’). William Bowyer
appears not to have possessed these sorts and so the accents over the long vowels in
Wotton’s text were ignored. Edward Lhuyd had also retained the Greek chi ‘χ’ character
and the Anglo-Saxon form of ‘g’ for the early Welsh texts in his Archaeologia Britannica
but in Leges Wallicae these were represented by ‘ch’ and ‘g’ respectively.
The folio pages were arranged in two columns, each containing one of the two versions of
the text, and with the notes (also in two columns) at the bottom of the page. On verso
pages the Latin text was in the first column and the Welsh in the second, whereas on recto
pages the order was reversed so that in any double page spread the two columns of Welsh
text would be adjacent to one another. Because of the large number of variant readings
noted in square brackets in the Welsh text there was a need to leave frequent short spaces
between the paragraphs in the Latin translation so that the parallel texts could continue to
correspond with one another. Further complications occurred when a chapter ended midway through a page, for the printers did not automatically start a new page, and the
remaining notes for the earlier chapter would be given before moving on to the next
chapter. Thus there are many pages that contain two separate sets of notes.
46
Unfortunately there is no information on the identity of the compositors for the main text
or division of work between them, although there is a Wages check book surviving for the
period 1730-1739 (Ledger C) which provides this information for the preliminaries of the
work. Many, but by no means all, of the printed sheets in the small paper copies contain
numerical press figures, usually on the verso of pages. These indicate that different parts
of the work were probably printed on all eight of Bowyer’s presses.213 The sheets in the
large paper copies rarely contain press figures however, and were presumably printed
separately from the remainder.
The planned four hundred copies were printed on demy paper, but the number on larger
royal paper was initially doubled to a hundred copies and then later increased to 160. In
addition, Wotton had four copies printed on an extra-large ‘super’ sized paper,
presumably for presentation to the Prince of Wales and archbishop Wake. 214 By this time
the original 750 copies of the proposals had been distributed for nearly a year and so a
further five hundred copies were also needed. The distribution of these appears to have
secured a number of additional subscribers since further payments of twenty-six guineas
and seven guineas were made in the December and January respectively.
By the spring of 1723 news of the publication had spread among the Welsh community
in London, and Wotton received the singular honour for an Englishman, of receiving an
invitation to preach the St David’s day sermon in Welsh before the Society of Antient
Britons. 215 He used the opportunity both to display his skills in speaking the Welsh
language and also publicise his forthcoming work. The sermon went down well with the
audience and was subsequently ordered to be printed by Bowyer. It may have been a
factor in the decision taken in April 1723 to raise the print run of the royal paper copies
to one hundred and sixty. This inevitably involved further delay and also additional cost
as it is likely that the type of some of the earlier sheets would by then have been
distributed.
The Bowyer ledgers indicate that by May 1723 the greater part of the text of the laws had
been printed. All that remained was the fifth book of forms of agreement entitled
Formulae Placitandi, together with the preliminary and subsidiary materials. These
included the appendix, the introduction, dedication, glossary, index, and list of
subscribers. The following month Wotton, who had by then returned to Milton, was
reporting only gradual progress to Wake, but at least he was now confident of completion.
47
I stick close to my Howell, Mr Williams was here last week, and took up with him
10 or 12 sheets for the press. I have not yet the pleasure to find my work easier as
I go along, But by the Blessing of God I hope to have the satisfaction to lay next
spring a new Book of above 100 sheets at your Graces feet.216
But this promise was not to be fulfilled, due to his declining health, as he explained one
year later.
Mr Williams has been here about a fortnight, and we hope to see an end of our
work this winter, if I have my health or anything tolerably but the lamentable
estate of my health this last winter, and likewise of his wives, whom he buried
some time ago, has retarded us full sore against our wills.217
This was the last reference to the work made by Wotton in his correspondence with
Wake.218 Whether he was able to finish work on the fifth book during the two and a half
years of life remaining to him is not known. Certainly the glossary was still far from
complete and was ultimately finished by Moses Williams, and the introduction and other
preliminaries and end matter was written by William Clarke.
By the end of 1723 William Bowyer had charged £145 16s 0d to Wotton’s account,
without including the cost of paper, and he had received £106 13s in payment. 219 This
would indicate that Wotton then had received advance payments from about 150-170
subscribers. At this point all progress on the work, and all further payments to the printer
appear to come to a stop for six and a half years.
Wotton’s move to Sussex and his death
A few days after preaching his sermon to the Society of Ancient Britons, Wotton and his
daughter returned to their rectory at Milton Keynes for the first time in more than nine
years. The errant rector appears to have been well received by many of his former
parishioners, but his health was now so precarious that it was obvious to his patron that he
would no longer be able to undertake his parochial duties or dispense with the services of
a curate.220 As archbishop of Canterbury Wake had a number of good livings in his gift,
and when one of these became available at Buxted in Sussex the following March, he
thought himself bound to remember his friend. Wotton needed the additional income, but
knew that his life was drawing to its end and his main concern now was for the long-term
security of his daughter Anne, left without a dowry or income as a result of the South Sea
Bubble. An elaborate plan was therefore devised, with the apparent willing co-operation
of all concerned. Wotton recommended to Wake that he should rather offer the vacant
48
living to William Clarke, who was young enough to be able enjoy it for many years to
come, but on the understanding that he married Wotton’s daughter.221
On 14 April 1724 Wotton wrote to apprise Wake of the marriage settlement between
Anne and William Clarke, and Clarke was collated to Buxted rectory in the same
month.222 The couple were married at Milton Keynes on 29 September 1724, and shortly
afterwards Wotton again left Milton Keynes for the last time to live with his daughter and
son-in-law at their new rectory in Sussex. Wotton’s first grandchild, William, was born in
1726, but died shortly afterwards. The old man’s health appears to have declined further
over the next few months and all further progress with the work ceased.
William Clarke reported to Bowyer on 31 January 1727:
Dr Wotton is still very ill: his physician gives him hopes yet; but I am afraid,
without reason. His dropsy (of the anasarca kind) continues as violent as ever; I
wish he may be able to live this spring. (Nichols, Literary anecdotes, IV, 398).
He died at Buxted on 13 February 1727, and was buried four days later in the parish
church. In contrast to his wife’s elaborate memorial, he insisted upon the simplest of
inscriptions:
Depositum
Gulielmi Wottoni S.T.P.,
Qui obiit XIII die Februarii A.D. M.DCCXXVI,
Aet LXI 223
The antiquary Thomas Hearne had never liked William Wotton, primarily because of
their political differences. Over the years Hearne had made several barbed comments
about Wotton in his notebooks, but in an entry for 14 March 1727 he recorded his
adversary’s death in more measured terms.
About a fortnight since I hear died Mr. William Wotton, commonly called Dr.
Wotton, who took the degree of Bach. Div. many years ago at Cambridge, of wch
Univ. he was originally. He was a man of great natural parts, and might have
proved a great man, had he stuck to any particular sort of Learning. But being a
rambling genius, he dealt in many things, and in his latter time applied himself to
the British Language, and got a great deal of knowledge on it. He was a bold
impudent man, and committed some years ago such indecent Actions in
Buckinghamshire (where he had a good Living) as made him fly into Wales,
where he absconded often under a fained name Several years. Besides his
Reflexions upon ancient and modern learning, he hath written and published
49
many other things, among wch about English Antiquities (viz. the Accounts of
Welsh Cathedrals), for the Service of his admirer Brown Willis, Esq., who was
spoiled by this Wotton. Mr, Wotton also made great Progress in printing Howell
Dha’s Laws, wch will now (I hear) be finished by Moses Williams and somebody
else.224
The “somebody else” referred to was perhaps his son-in-law William Clarke, who had
benefited most from the generosity of both Wotton and Wake. Wotton had not lived to
settle his debt to William Wake, although he survived to see the greater part of his work
printed and the future of his daughter secured. Moses Williams and William Clarke now
saw it as their duty to see the work through to publication. For Clarke it was partly for the
sake of the good name of his father-in-law, and also for the sake of the subscribers who
had handed over their advance payments and had received nothing in return. For Williams
it was for the sake of the Welsh language to the study of which he had devoted his adult
life.
William Clarke, Moses Williams and the publication of Leges Wallicae
Moses Williams was later to claim that he had
labour’d above seven Yeares in assisting Dr Wotton to publish the Welsh Laws
…, which had it not been for him, must have been lost to the world, as the Doctor
dyed some Years before that laborious work was finished.225
Working back from the publication in the spring of 1730, this implies that the two men
had been working together from about the second half of 1722, which roughly coincides
with the date of Wotton’s return to south-east England. By the time of Wotton’s death
four years later, the text of the laws was complete, and a large proportion of it was
already printed. The Appendix containing transcripts of the texts of seven mediaeval
charters relating to Wales or the borders, taken from the Carnarvon Record and various
public records, was not a part of Wotton’s plan but according to the title page was
added by Moses Williams. The fact that one of these texts, ‘De Liberatibus Burgensium
de Rothelan’ was taken from a charter in the Hengwrt Library, suggests that the
supplementary material was added after 1727. 226
The most important task left outstanding in 1727 was undoubtedly the completion of the
glossary, in which the meanings of the many legal and other obsolete terms were for the
first time discussed using Latin, Welsh or occasionally English terms. Although
William Clarke was a talented antiquarian with a classical training, he was no Welsh
50
scholar, and this task could only be satisfactorily undertaken by Moses Williams. It is
impossible to say how much work had been completed on this prior to Wotton’s death,
but Clarke later refers to “Glossarium vero imperfectum reliquit” in his preface, and
there is little doubt that Williams was largely responsible for this section of the work.227
During 1728 Williams was able to visit both the collections at Hengwrt and also
Llanforda in connection with his work on the glossary, and one manuscript at Llanforda
(designated Ll. in his list of manuscripts) was noted as having been useful in this
respect.228 He was also able hurriedly to collate some of the law manuscripts in these
libraries, and at Llanforda he was at last able to consult William Maurice’s
‘Deddfgrawn’. However, since Wotton’s text was already printed at this time, all
Williams could do was to note page references to any textual variants her found in a
notebook.229
Williams was also responsible for compiling the four pages giving unusually detailed
descriptions and analyses of the manuscripts used in the work, which was added after the
introduction.230 Each entry also acted as a key to Wotton’s abbreviations used in the text,
and the descriptions are of continuing value to scholars of the ancient laws. In one brief
passage, when reproducing an inscription from the Llanforda manuscript (referred to
above) Williams used a special ‘y’ character incorporating a dot over the letter in an
attempt to copy the orthography of the original.231 Exactly why this was done at this point
is not clear.
Once the glossary and list of manuscripts was finished, William Clarke had a number of
further tasks to ensure completion of the work. Firstly, he needed to secure the promised
sponsorship of the Prince of Wales. Presumably the necessary arrangements were made
through Wake, although the file of the latter’s correspondence in Christ Church only runs
until 1726. Thus there is no record of whether the Prince gave “something towards the
expence of the work” as previously envisaged by Wotton or merely allowed his name to
be appended to it. The elaborate four-page dedication to Frederick Prince of Wales, with
an engraved headpiece and capital was however written by Clarke.
The second outstanding task was the writing of an introduction to the ancient laws. Moses
Williams would have been the most suitable person to write such a piece but this was not
to be, possibly because of his other editorial commitments.232 Clarke therefore undertook
the task himself, although he reported to Bowyer that he had “no ambition either to be, or
51
to be thought to be, an Author” (Nichols Literary Anecdotes, IV, p.405). and He wrote a
long, rambling, and only partly relevant historical treatise in Latin containing:
An Enquiry into the State of the Provincial Britains, and the Nature of the WELSH
LAWS, wherein Mr. Somner’s Arguments against Welsh Gavelkind are examined,
the Original of our Grand and Petty Juries accounted for, the different Opinions
of our Antiquaries concerning the Value of the Saxon Pound reconciled, and
several Mistakes in our Historians corrected.233
The account even contained an engraving of a marble inscription to the ancient British
King Cogidubnus, discovered at Chichester in 1723.234 Nevertheless, Clarke did briefly
set out the intention of the work at the outset and described some of the difficulties of
dealing with obsolete vocabulary.235 He also acknowledged the considerable contribution
by Moses Williams, both on the title page and spelled out in more detail in his preface. 236
The compilation of the remaining supplementary parts of the book (the title page, the list
of subscribers and the index) also appears to have been Clarke’s responsibility. Indeed,
Clarke’s inability to cope with the mutated word forms in the Welsh text meant that his
index was confined to the Latin translation.
The final, and most sensitive task facing Clarke involved negotiations with William
Bowyer both to complete the printing and to unravel the complex financial arrangements
left at the death of his father-in-law. In this respect he was fortunate since he had been at
University with Bowyer’s son William, who by 1730 was working in partnership with his
father. Indeed, William Clarke and the younger William Bowyer were to remain friends
throughout their lives.237 One of the last items to be added to Bowyer’s account was six
shillings “Pd at treating the two Arbitrators” and it appears that these men were employed
to try and unravel the financial complexities of the publication, many copies of which had
been subscribed for and initial copies had been sold.238
The Bowyer ledgers record no progress with the printing between 1723 and 18 April
1730, when the compositor Charles Micklewright was paid for setting five sheets of the
introduction, and a week later for the half-sheet list of subscribers. 239 At some point also
nine sheets of the additional 60 large paper copies, that had been ordered in April 1723
had to be again reprinted as they “got damage by lying” incurring an additional expense
of £7 17s for both paper and print.240 On 2 May 1730, the pressmen Robert Collyer and
Richard Franklin were paid for printing the title-page in black and red, and the following
52
week Micklewright and John Lewis received their payments for making the final
corrections, and the completed work was recorded in Bowyer’s ledger. 241 It was
advertised in several London newspapers between 12th and 15th May, and fifty copies of a
half sheet notice of “the Welsh laws being finished” were printed.242
Leges Wallicae consisted of 162 sheets; resulting in a retail price to subscribers of £1 7s
for demy copies delivered in sheets, and £2 for royal paper. The cost of the paper actually
used was calculated by Bowyer at £177 16s243 bringing the total cost for printing, paper,
engraving and advertising for the edition to £370 14s 9d. At the time of publication
approximately £258 9s 9d of this money was still outstanding. The first receipts from the
publication were recorded on 25 June when the bookseller Robert Gosling paid eight
guineas for four small paper copies he had sold outright and six copies delivered to
subscribers.244
The exact financial arrangements between William Clarke, Moses Williams and William
Bowyer are not recorded and may have involved more than just this work. Clarke appears
to have handed over Wotton’s manuscript of his Discourse concerning the confusion of
language at Babel, 245 which was both edited by the younger Bowyer and printed and
published at his expense in June 1730 simultaneously with the final sheets of the Leges
Wallicae. 246
William Clarke handed over a further payment of ten pounds on 29 November 1730, and
eight pounds the following March. Moses Williams made a final payment of twenty
pounds in November 1732. Bowyer then seems to have accepted the remaining payment
in the form of a substantial part of the edition. Some of these copies had been subscribed
for, and so he would only receive the balance outstanding, whereas others were
unreserved copies, which might be sold directly to customers at their full-price, or else to
booksellers at a trade discount. As a result, the book keeping became somewhat more
complex than his normal practice and would not fit in the space in the ledger allocated to
this job. Bowyer therefore inserted a folded sheet into the ledger entitled “Books of
Welsh Laws debited” which gave him an additional four pages for more detailed
entries.247
This ledger slip recorded the sale of 184 copies (71 large paper and 113 small paper), but
only 138 of these were credited to the account, the remainder were shown as for either
53
Clarke or Williams. The sums credited ranged from a maximum of £1 10s and 14s 6d,
depending upon the size of the copy, whether any advance payment had been made, and
any discount was due. Many of these sales were to names appearing on the list of
subscribers, but others were bulk sales to booksellers, such as five copies to Mr Innys and
sixteen copies to Mr Payne at Wrexham.248 As a result of these sales a further £120 7s
was credited to the main account in several subsequent undated entries, but by 1733
nearly £90 remained outstanding and Bowyer still had substantial numbers of unsold
copies on his hands. Copies were still being advertised twenty years later, 249 and
eventually on 26 September 1767 the surplus copies were remaindered and sold off to the
booksellers Thomas Payne, Samuel Baker, William Owen, and Lockyer Davis who paid
£10 16s each. This still left an overall balance of £46 8s 9d which represents Bowyer’s
loss on the publication.250 This figure does not take any account of the cost of storing the
printed sheets for between seven and forty-four years.
The subscribers
The list of subscribers, which was inserted into those copies of the Leges Wallicae which
had been subscribed for, is the only section of the work that was wholly written in
English, and for some of the aristocratic subscribers may have been the only part they
ever read. This list records 405 subscriptions (125 on royal paper and 280 on demy) out
of the known edition size of 564, but this may not give the full picture since it does not
identify multiple subscriptions. For example, the ledger slips show that Edward Harley,
2nd Earl of Oxford subscribed for three copies of each version, whereas the list of
subscribers merely shows him as a subscriber to the royal paper version. 251 Likewise the
Duke of Beaufort and Richard Viscount Bulkeley, also purchased two copies each.
Another complication was that many of the original subscribers from 1722 had died
before the book finally appeared in 1730. Twenty-five of the subscribers are described as
“late”, but other deaths such as those of the lexicographer and grammarian William
Gambold or his friend Sir Richard Steele (who died in 1728 and 1729 respectively), had
not been notified to the publishers. Whether all these subscriptions were subsequently
honoured by the families concerned is not known.
An analysis of the subscription list shows a divers but highly influential collection of
individuals. The largest single group of subscribers were the country gentry representing
more than 36% of the total with 138 subscriptions identified as “Esq;” or “the Hon.” and
54
seventeen knights, (which did not also specify any profession). In addition, there were
significant numbers of the aristocracy and nobility, including one duke, eleven earls, two
barons, eight baronets, and five unspecified lords. The largest single profession
represented was the church with a total of 114 subscriptions representing more than 30%
of the total. This group included two archbishops and thirteen bishops, four deans, eleven
canons or prebendaries and seven chancellors of dioceses. The legal profession was
represented by fifty-two subscriptions (12.8%) including forty-three from the civil law,
nine from the ecclesiastical law (including the seven chancellors already mentioned). The
civil lawyers included the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Baron of the Court of
Exchequer, the Solicitor General, and several judges as well as country attorneys.
Just under ten per cent of subscribers were connected with education, including thirteen
masters, presidents or wardens of Oxford and Cambridge colleges as well as eleven
fellows and two university professors as well as the masters of several schools including
that at Carmarthen. The medical profession was represented by ten doctors, and that of
architecture, by Sir Christopher Wren and his son. Other notable subscribers included six
Fellows of the Royal Society and two Heralds. Only eleven subscribers were described as
tradesmen, including six booksellers, and one each of the trades of hosier, perukemaker,
plumber, painter and merchant. Fourteen copies were purchased for institutions including
twelve Oxford and Cambridge Libraries and the Cathedrals at Lincoln and Canterbury
(presumably through the influence of William Wake). A large paper copy, subscribed by
Richard Miller, was described in the list as “a Gift intended for St. Martin's Library”. It
was eventually presented to the collection on 6 February 1730/1, presumably having been
bound in the intervening period.252
It is only possible to identify the country of origin for 273 of the subscriptions, but of
these 56.8 % came from England, 41.8% from Wales, and 1.4% from Ireland. However,
many of those living in England were from the Welsh diaspora, and so by subtracting
those subscribers with Welsh names from the English total and adding them to the Welsh,
it may be said that about 51.3% of the subscribers had some apparent Welsh connection.
Many of these came from Carmarthen and Pembrokeshire, and had perhaps been
acquainted with Wotton, although Moses Williams’s reputation must also have been an
important factor among the Welsh antiquarian community. An analysis of the English
subscriptions shows that a significant number came from the vicinity of Milton Keynes or
55
else from the diocese of Lincoln, including Wotton’s former Archdeacon, Thomas Frank,
and his pupil Browne Willis.
Thus the impression gained from the subscription list is that Wake had been very
influential in securing subscribers from the church and the nobility and that Wotton
retained a large body of friends in both Buckinghamshire and Carmarthen.253
Epilogue
Eighteen months after Wotton’s death William Clarke received further preferment in the
form of a prebend’s stall in Chichester Cathedral. Once his father-in-law’s work was
published his main preoccupation was as the canon librarian of Chichester in which office
he served from 1731 until his death.
He supervised the moving of the library to the lady chapel in 1750, worked
extensively on the catalogues and in listing the archives, and made an orderly
compilation of the cathedral's statutes, forms and customs, episcopal injunctions,
and chapter decrees.254
He was also briefly chancellor of the cathedral, from June 1770 until his death, in October
1771. His only other significant published work was an account of ancient Roman and
British coinage. 255 William and Anne Clarke appear to have had a long and happy
marriage and enjoyed the income from the Buxted rectory until 1768 when he resigned
the living in favour of their second son Edward (1730-1786).256 She died 11 July 1783
and is buried in Chichester cathedral.257
Moses Williams was not successful with his later publishing ventures. Only 47
individuals subscribed for his edition of Humphrey Llwyd’s Britannicae descriptionis
commentariolum, in 1731 and the print run of 66 copies was clearly uneconomic.258 His
Proposals for … a collection of writings in the Welsh tongue were never executed,
presumably because of lack of subscribers. Likewise his plans for a revision of John
Davies’s Dictionarium duplex were forestalled by the dictionary of John Rhydderch and
the announcement in William Gambold’s grammar that he too was intending to publish
his own such work. 259 Williams’s other proposed works included an account of the
scriptures in Welsh, but he lacked patronage and academic support to publish them. He
also appears to have been in dispute with two of the Archdeacons of his diocese which
hampered any hope he might have of preferment.260
56
By 1731 he had become discouraged about making any further progress in Wales, and so
he again petitioned the Lord Chancellor for a new living “to enable Mr Williams the
better to prosecute his Studies, & finish his Designes”.261 His petition was successful, and
he was presented with the rectory of Chilton Trinity and vicar of St Mary's, Bridgwater in
Somerset, which were under the patronage of the crown. Whether Wake was involved in
securing the livings for Williams, in return for his work on the Leges Wallicae, is open to
question, but there is no documentary evidence either way. In 1732 Williams left Wales,
and in the same year he issued proposals for an edition of William Baxter’s Notes of
Juvenal, but once again he did not find sufficient subscribers and he appears not to have
undertaken any further scholarly work. 262 He died in 1742.
William Wake likewise found himself unable to complete his proposed edition of the
Concilia due to his duties as Archbishop. During the 1720s he gradually handed over
more responsibility for the project to David Wilkins who was then working as his
librarian at Lambeth Palace. 263 In 1732 he finally recognised that he would never
complete the work and handed over the entire project.264 Wilkins went on to complete and
publish the work under his own name five years later, which he dedicated to the
Archbishop.265 Wake died in January 1737 whilst the work was in the press.
The publication of the Leges Wallicae was not a commercial success for those involved,
nor did it ultimately contribute much to the completion of Henry Spelman’s Concilia, as
envisaged by William Wake. Nevertheless the appearance of the work proved to be a
landmark in the study of the development of European Laws, the foundation of the study
of the ‘Cyfraith Hywel’ and in the study of Welsh culture.
In 1724, even before it was published, Wotton’s work was being eagerly anticipated by
the English translator of Claude Fleury’s The history of the origine of the French laws.266
When it did eventually appear it was cited by some of the more eccentric philologists of
the mid-eighteenth century, such as Rowland Jones, who thought that Welsh held the key
to primeval speech, and propounded a theory that the people of Wales ‘continue to speak
a language which will define all European languages’. 267 Likewise the novelist John
Cleland used the work to postulate a link between the Welsh and Hebrew languages.268
However its greatest contribution was to aid the work of the eighteenth century
57
lexicographers of the Welsh language such as Thomas Richards and John Walters. 269 In
this respect, the glossary, left unfinished at Wotton’s death, proved to be one of the
most valuable parts of the work. It is odd therefore that Walters should warmly praise
the work of Wotton and William Clarke in the foreword to his A dissertation on the
Welsh language, but make no reference to the contribution of his countryman Moses
Williams.270
More than a century had elapsed after publication of Leges Wallicae before it was largely
superseded by Aneurin Owen’s Ancient Laws (1840), which collated many more copies
than Wotton’s edition. However even after the appearance of Owen’s work:
Leges Wallicae … retained then (as it does now) value as an aid to finding
parallels to the passages in the main text since the sources of these parallels are
always named, they can usually be traced in more modern editions. The Latin
translations and the Glossary are often helpful, and one of the Appendices
provides the only printed text of Edward I.’s Commission of 1281, a precious
source of information about Welsh legal practice and opinion of the period.271
The Welsh legal manuscripts translated by Wotton form a large part of the surviving
material from the mediaeval period in the Welsh language and they have a significance
far beyond the history of the law in Wales.272 They also throw light on such matters as the
organisation of contemporary society, the agricultural techniques employed, and other
patterns of economic activity. Above all, however, their translation proved to be a major
contribution to the study of the Welsh language. Unlike in England, where the courts used
law French throughout the Middle Ages, the contemporary language of the law in Wales
was Welsh.
… the Law of Hywel was one of the two elements which made Wales a nation at
a time when she had no kind of political unity. The other uniting element was the
Welsh language ...273
When, on St David’s Day 1723, Wotton commended the Stewards of the Society of
Ancient Britons “for having the Book of God so accurately translated into Your own
Language”,274 he was simultaneously congratulating the Welsh people as a whole and,
more specifically, his collaborator Moses Williams 275 who had recently seen his own
edition of Y Bibl through the press. Wotton then went on to remind the members of the
Society “You have also the Usages and Constitutions of Your Ancestors still extant in
58
Your Mother-Tongue”. Yet at the time of his writing no contemporary Welsh speaker,
(other than perhaps Moses Williams) would have been able to understand much of the
technical vocabulary that was contained within these documents. The eventual
appearance of the Leges Wallicae seven years later provided a ‘Rosetta stone’ to help
unlock much of the mediaeval Welsh vocabulary which had been lost, and thereby
greatly assisted the process of charting the development of the language. Leges
Wallicae demonstrated that in mediaeval times “the Welsh language contained an
abundance of words and technical terms with definite and exact meanings”. 276
During his years living at Carmarthen Wotton had begun to understand the significance of
their language to the Welsh people as a fundamental part of their cultural and national
identity.
It argued a true Love for Your Country to preserve such a Record for so long
entire. France has no Monuments of its primitive Language before Julius Caesar’s
Time; the French must apply themselves to You, if they would know what
Tongue the old Gauls conversed in. Spain has little or nothing of their original
Tongue to boast of. The poor Remains of old Cantabric Language are by no
means comparable to Your ancient Stores. And yet though Our Island was
brought under the same Yoke with the populous and mighty Nations, and your
Forefathers submitted to the Romans for near four hundred Years, You continued
a distinct People all that Time.277
Thus the compilation and eventual publication of the Leges Wallicae may be seen as the
repayment of two debts incurred by William Wotton during his seven-year exile at
Carmarthen. One of them was to Archbishop William Wake, who in spite of many trials,
ultimately stood by his old friend. The other debt was to the people of Wales, who had
provided shelter and protection to the dissolute and near destitute fugitive and his family
in 1714, and enabled him to redeem his reputation.
April 2006
Appendix 1 William Wake’s letter of admonition and advice
[The letter survives in the form of a draft which has been heavily amended, particularly in the
opening paragraph. It is not possible to establish the final text of the letter, and so it is reproduced
in the form given in Norman Sykes, William Wake, (Cambridge: University Press, 1937), I. pp.
196-8.]
Wake sent a very long letter pastoral counsel to the rector, in which he began by saying that he
had put aside various reports which had reached him concerning Wotton’s conduct hoping that the
59
offence would not be repeated, until further rumours came to his knowledge, after which he
awaited a visit from Archdeacon Frank to ascertain the truth of the matter.
What I learnt of him was chiefly from your own letters; which, as it put me into a very
great disorder at first, so I do assure you I cannot yet think of it without shame and
confusion.
What now can I do? or how must I behave myself? My character you know; and of which
how unworthy soever I esteem myself and really am, yet I ought for that very reason to
take the more care how I behave myself under it.
My friendship to yourself is no less known, and I hope you are fully persuaded of it; it is
very sincere, and I assure you I would act no otherwise towards you than if you were a
child or a brother.
Blessed be God, there has hitherto been no complaint regularly brought before me against
you; and therefore I think I may justify myself in taking that course which will equally
become me both as your bishop and friend; which is, privately to admonish you, as I
hereby do, of your fault; and earnestly to exhort you, even by the bowels and mercies of
Jesus Christ, whom we both serve in the same ministry of his gospel, to consider, to
repent of, to amend whatever has been done amiss.
I need not use any arguments to induce you hereunto, who are so well acquainted with
the many obligations that lie upon you in respect of duty to God; of love to your own
soul; of the success of your ministry; of your esteem and reputation in the world; of the
comfort of your friends (especially those of your own house), and the censure of your
enemies; of the scandal which may from hence arise to the good, and the unhappy use
that may be made of it by the wicked and profane. You know all this better than I can
write it to you; and it will be your misfortune that you do so, unless you make that good
use of your knowledge which you ought, to draw yourself out of the snares of the enemy,
who has of late too much led you, captive to his will. Only let me beseech you in a
particular manner to consider what our Saviour heretofore said to his disciples with
respect to their ministerial office, St Matthew v. 13, etc.; and upon which one with whom
you are very well acquainted among others, makes this remark: Οί μευ γαρ άλλοι μυριάκις
πίπτοντες, δύναυται τυχεϊυ συγγυώμης. ό δέ Διδάσκαλος, έάν τοϋτο παθη, πάσης
άπεστέρηται άπολογίας, καί την έαχάτην δώσει τιμωρίαν. 278 And then to reflect that
perhaps never was there a time in which that saying was more verified in a Christian
country than it is in our present times (Matt. x. i6: Behold, I send you forth as sheep in
the midst of wolves); or by consequence, in which we ought to be more careful in our
observation of what is there recommended to us upon that account: Be ye therefore wise
as serpents and harmless as doves.
I cannot think you will expect that I should offer any particular directions to you, how to
conduct yourself in either of these respects. You need not my advice. Yet that I may not
be wanting in anything that may shew how truly I love you, and how earnestly I desire
both your present and future welfare, some few hints I will take this occasion to give you
with relation to both the ways of prudence and innocency which our Lord there refers to.
Supposing then the other remedies of meditation, prayer, and in your case, of fasting and
self-denial (according to that of St Paul, I Corinthians ix. 27—But I keep under my body
and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I
should myself be a castaway), to be in the first place carefully practised by you, as
absolutely necessary to what you seem, and I trust are, truly disposed, of a hearty
repentance for your past irregularities; the method I should think most likely both to
recover your esteem of those who are at present but too much offended at your illconduct, and to keep you from future danger is this:
First, to go abroad as little as possibly you can. It is your happiness that you have always
the best and safest company in your own house, and know how to entertain yourself with
60
them. From these you may learn a great deal of good; you can receive no prejudice; and
having such company to converse withal, a man of your parts and learning will find little
need of any others. Secondly, to be usefully employed at home. Your active mind must
be employed some way or other; therefore fix it on that which will turn to your chiefest
advantage in the way that you may seem most to need it. Learning you have enough,
perhaps too much. For I am very well satisfied that no temptation is more dangerous than
an immoderate thirst after knowledge, or more apt to prevent our growth in goodness. It
takes off the mind from better exercises, and sets it still a-rambling after needless and
unprofitable pursuits; and if it does us no other harm, yet thus far certainly it injures us,
that it diverts us from the practice of piety and devotion; and makes us often neglect other
things for the sake of it. I will not so far expose myself as to propose any method of study
to you. But upon the present occasion, would you turn your thoughts to consider the
several parts and duties of the pastoral office; of the life and conversation of a clergyman,
and how he ought to conduct himself in all these; it might at once both have a very happy
effect upon yourself and produce somewhat that might serve to direct others hereafter.
Thirdly, when either prudence or necessity shall call you abroad, never go alone. If you
have no other company, take your servant with you. Your character requires it, and it will
conduce both to your security and reputation. For both which reasons I entreat you
further never to go without your clerical habit, which at once will be both a restraint and a
monitor to you. Fourthly, have a just regard to what places you go to. A clergyman
should as much as possible avoid all public houses. But because that cannot always be
done, one of your character should certainly choose those of best resort and reputation,
and avoid all little, suspected places; from whence even an innocent person can hardly
escape without some censure upon his conduct. Fifthly, take the same or rather a greater
care of the company you keep; some may be too high, others too mean for you. The one
may expect too large compliances, the other may treat you with rudeness or ill-nature; to
be sure they can never neither please nor profit one of your parts and character. But
especially avoid all those of every rank who may be likely to draw you into any excess,
or otherwise to seduce you from those strict measures of sobriety and abstemiousness
which I promise myself you will hereafter oblige yourself to observe.
These things, reverend sir, I write unto you, hoping they may make a due impression on
your mind and help forward your good dispositions, which in the midst of all my concern
I rejoice to find are still remaining in you. I beg you for God’s sake, for your own, your
family’s, your friends’ sake, for my sake who take a very particular share in whatever
happens amiss to you, to let them sink down deeply into your mind; that so, by the grace
of God, they may have an effectual influence upon your life and actions. I have written
the more fully to you because, to confess the truth, my tenderness towards you is such
that I cannot at present see you. But I trust, through your good conduct, that I shall
hereafter not only be able to see you, but to rejoice the more with you and to bless God
on your behalf. This, as it is my most earnest desire, so I shall not cease to beseech him
who is the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, to assist and strengthen you with his
grace, that you may be perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that
which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory for
ever and ever, Amen.’
(Wake Letters 3. 196-8, undated draft )
Appendix 2 Wotton’s views on the importance of the Welsh Language
And as to People’s preserving their own Chaldaic Dialect in Jesus Christ’s time, why
should that be thought so strange I cannot see. Do not the Welshmen still preserve their
Language, tho’ the Romans, the Saxons and the Normans have by turns conquered the
Countrey of which the ancient Britons once were Masters? The Conquest of the Romans
was entire, and they possest all South-Britain for above 400 Years. Now tho’ there are
very many Latin words crept into the British (or Welsh) Language, by reason of the long
61
Commerce which their Forefathers had with the Romans, yet the Language may justly be
looked on as still the same in the main: The English, who live commonly among them in
all Parts of Wales, have been so far from destroying their Tongue, that at the Reformation
it was found to be necessary to turn the Bible and Liturgy into Welsh, for the use of the
Inhabitants. Carmarthen is one of the largest Towns in Wales; English is there commonly
spoken, and there are very many Persons of Distinction who live in that Town, all of
whom speak English perfectly well, and several of them with little or no Welsh: Yet there
are several hundreds of People in that Parish who scarce understand a word of English,
and they make up a numerous Congregation who attend the Service of God with a very
commendable Assiduity, performed in their own Language every Lord’s Day. In all the
other Parishes of Carmarthanshire (which is one of the largest Counties in Wales) except
in some few by the Sea-Side, if the Service of God should be performed in any other
Tongue besides Welsh, scarce one in ten of the People would understand what was said in
any tolerable measure. And it is not easie to be believed by an Englishman who has not
lived a good while among them, how very tenacious that People still are on their
Language, in which they have many Volumes both in Prose and Verse, but chiefly in the
latter, both printed and in MS. which are preserved with great care in the Libraries of the
curious.
This love of their Mother Tongue is not only to be seen amongst the common People, but
among Men of the greatest Rank, and the best Education. I could name more than one or
two Counties of Wales, where the Gentlemen who have all had their Education in
England, (where they have made as good a Figure of Learning and Politeness as any
Englishmen whatsoever, and where they have been deservedly esteemed and preferred to
the most reputable Posts of the Gown and the Sword, without any manner of
discrimination) and yet speak their native Tongue, not only readily but elegantly, and
value themselves upon that their knowledge. I am pleased that my Subject has given me a
handle to go a little out of my way, that I might say this of a worthy and valuable People,
to whom I have so great Obligations, and of a copious and elegant Language, in which
there are still extant very considerable Remains, some of the chiefest of which will I hope
shortly see the Light.
William Wotton, Miscellaneous Discourses relating to the Traditions and Usages of the
scribes and Pharisees, 2 vols. (1718), ‘Preface’ p. xxi …
Appendix 3 The manuscripts used to compile the Leges Wallicae
Wotton’s
Designation
CCCC.
C.L.& C.
Leid.
vel. Cod.
Leid.
Cott. 1.
Cott. 2.
Redac
-tion
Current
Location
Codex membranaceus in 8vo Versionem Legg. Wallicarum Latinarum exhibent,
pulcre satis, non a Wallo, sed ab Extraneo quodam exaratus, id quod Sphalmata
probant. Extant in Bibliotheca Collegi Corporos Christi Cantabrigiensis inter Codd.
MSS. Quibus olim Reverendissimus Vir Matthaeus Parkerus, Archiepiscopus
Cantuariensis, Collegium istud donavit. Inscribitur Q.XI.2.
Codex chartaceus, in quo continentur Interpretatio Legg. Wall. Latina. Hunc Cl
Junius ex Anglia asportavit, & inter alios Codd. MSS. Literatorum in usum Leidae
reliquit. Apographum quo usi sumus, acceptuum refertur Cl. V.D. Abrahamo
Gonvio, avitae & paternae laudis aemulo, qui pro singularis sua humanitate propria
manu idem descriptsit, & in Angliam misit.
Lat.
Corpus
Christi
College
Cambridge
Lat.
Codex membr. Latinam Legg. Wall. Versionem continens, CCCL abhinc annis
exaratus. Extat in Bibliotheca Cottoniana, ubi & quinque insequentes reservantur.
Ad calcem Libri haec legere est; “Pagina 85 numeravi 23 Jun: 1613: sinem non
inveni; nemo in aliquot uno volumine omnes Leges Wallensium reperiet: Fra:
Tate.” Inscribitur Vespasianus E. XI. i.
Codex Legum Wallicus membrane D retro annis exaratus, & quantivis pretii modo
non imperfectus esset quamplurimis in locis, ut Lector in Impresso nostro
observabit. Variantes ejus Lectiones relligiose exhibuimus, & hiatus notavimus.
Lat.
Copy made
by Gronovius of
Leiden,
Cod. Voss.
Lat. Oct.35.
BL Cotton
Ms. Vesp.
E. XIII
Moses Williams’s Description
62
Ior
BL Cotton
Ms.
Caligula A.
Cott. 3.
Cott. 4.
Cott. 5.
Cott. 6.
H. I.
H. 2.
H. 3.
J.
JDR
Inscribitur Caligula A. III. 3. Vide Ll. Infra.
Codex Legg. Wallicus D abhinc saltem, aur eo amplius, membrana exaratus,
omnium quos vidimus absolutissimus; ideoque illum prelo commisimus una cum
variantibus Lectionibus & Additamentis omnibus quae in aliis Codd. Observatu
digna existimavimus. Constat foliis 73, & inscribitur Titus D. II.
Codex Legum Wallicus, membrana CCCC plus minus abhinc annis exaratus. Quoad
dictionem, ordinem, materiam & quantitatem omnino diversus est a duobus
immediate praecedentibus, licet sui generic sit omnium perfectissimus, & secunda
Classis antesignanus. Inscribitur Titus D. IX.
Codex Legg. Wallicus, membranaceus, CCCC abhinc annis exaratus. Titulum hunc
prae se sert, Llyfr Cyfnerth ab Morgenau, i.e. Liber Cyfnerthi Morgenaei Filii; sed
an Autographum sit necne incertum, nec multum interest, nam Compendium esse
videtur * Cott. 4. vel vetustioris cujusdam Codicis ejusdem Classis. Inscribitur
Cleopatra, B. V. 2.
Codex item Wallicus, CCCC retro annis exaratus. Ejusdem Classis est cujus & Cott.
4. excepto quod ut ceteri sere omnes, in nonnullis ab eo differat. Inscribitur
Cleopatra, A. XIV.5.
Codex exiguae milis Latinus, ceteris compendiosior, plus D. abhinc annis
membrane exaratus. Glossa hunc inde interlineari Wallica gauder. Exstat in
Bibliotheca Harleiana, & inscribitur 93 C. 23.
Codex Legg. Wallicus, membranaceus, CCCC abhinc annis & plus eo exaratus.
Eiusdem Classis est atque Cott. 4. sed principio & fine caret. Exstat in eadem
Bibliotheca & inscribitur 63 B. 10.
Codex item Wallicus, CCCC abhinc annis membrane exaratus, & eiusdem Classis
cujus & H.2. Hic etiam imperfectus est. Non ita pridem D. Gul. Baxteri peculium
suit, sed nunc asservatur in Bibl. Harleiana, qua vero Capsula nescimus.
Codex Wallicus membranaceus, circiter CCC retro annos Hergestiae in Com.
Hereford. Uti videtur, scriptus. Ejusdem Classis est cujus & Cott. 4. excepto quod
nounulla in medio habeat quae ext Cott. 2. vel alio ejusdem Classis Codice,
descripta fuisse videantur. Exstat in Archivis Coll. Jesu Oxon.
Excerpta quaedam ex Ll. Vel alio quodam Codice ejusdem Classiss descripta per
Johanne Davidem Rhesum, Medicum Senensem, Gramaticae, cui tit. Linguae
Cymraecae Institutiones accuratae, Londini A.D. 1592. auctorem. Penes Mosen
Gulielmium.
63
Ior
III. 3.
BL Cotton
Ms. Titus
D. II.
Bleg
BL Cotton
Ms. Titus
D. IX.
Cyfn
BL Cotton
Ms. Cleopatra B. V.
2.
Cyfn
BL Cotton
Ms. Cleopatra A.
XIV. 5.
BL
Harleian
Ms 1796
BL
Harleian
Ms 958
BL
Harleian
Ms 4353
Jesus
College
Oxford 57
Lat.
Bleg
Cyfn
Bleg.
?
Unknown
Ll.
M.
Mert.
MW.
P.
R.
Record.
Carnarv.
S.1.
S.2.
S.3.
S.4.
S.5.
V.
Codex Wallicus, perantiquus, membrane pulcre quidem scriptus, sed quo seculo
non ausim determinare. Concordat ad amussim cum Fragmentis quae supersunt **
Cott. 2. excepto quod ambo esse videantur apographa vetustioris cujusdam Codicis,
qui nunc, quoad sciam, non exstat. Mancus est in uno & altero loco, sed quae inibi
desiderantur, ex Cott. 2 suppleri possunt. Asservatur in Archivis D. Gul. Williams
de Llanfordaf, Baronetti, qui mihi copiam dedit eundem cum Impresso nostro
conferendi, ideoque illum in Glossario saepius laudavi. Notam quam Librarius, at
calcem hujus Codicis reliquit, hoc loco (ne alia non detur occasio) subjungere
Lectori curioso forte non ingratium erit, servata relligiose antique scribendi norma
Librariis istius aevi usitata, ut de Codicis antiquitate judicum melius feratur.
Codex Wallicus, membrane annis abhinc prope CCCC exaratus. Plurima in hoc
libro desiderantur, sed quae supersunt non admodum diversa sunt a Cott. 4. Hunc
Codicem nobis commedavit D. Owenus Meyricke de Bod Wrgan (alias Organ) in
Insula Monensi, Armiger.
Codex Latinus chartaceus. Exstat in Bibliotheca Collegii Merton. Oxonii, &
apographum est Codicis chartacei exstantis in Bibliotheca Hengwrtiana, quod
probant Glossae interlineares recentores, quas omnes, licet in hoc distinctae sint,
Librarius in Codice Mertonensi uno contextui inseruit.
Codex chartaceus Wallicus, perantiquus. Convenit plerumque cum Cott. 4. Penes
Mosen Gulielmium.
Codex Wallicus, membranaceus plus CCCCL annos abhinc exaratus, quem nobis
commedavit D. Gulielmus Philipps, Armiger, non ita pridem Propraetor Brecon [4
words in Greek] Convenit cum Cott. 4. sed hinc inde mancus est.
?
Presumed
destroyed.
Cyfn
Private
hands
Bodorgan
Anglesey
Merton
College
Oxford 323
Fragmenta Legum nonnulla Wallice membrana exarata ob eodem Librario quo & S.
2. quem videsis. Missa sunt nobis a Rev. V.D. Henrico Rowlands, Rectore de Llann
Nidan in Mona Insula, Auctore Libri nuper editi, cui Titulus, Mona Antiqua
Restaurata.
Codex membranaceus, forma majori, regnante Edv. I. exaratus, in quo praetor in
Appendice descripta, continentur plurima ad Antiquitates Venedoticas, tam
Ecclesiasticas quan Civiles spectantia. Singularem vero de praestantissimo hoc
codice Dissertationem in Bibliotheca Literaria No. VI. Non ita pridem edidit
doctissimus Wottonus. Exstat in Bibliotheca Harleiana.
Codex perantiquus membrane partim Latine partim Wallice exaratus. Hoc Cod.
Olim usus est Spelmannus, unde & Excerpta quaedam edidit in Conciliis suis. Satis
infeliciter propter verba Wallica, & abbreviata lectu difficillima, quibus scated.
Peculium postea suit Seldeni, & aliorum. Nunc vero asservatur inter Codd. MSS.
Tho. Saunders Sebright, Baroneti, qui non solum hunc, sed & quattor Codd.
Insequentes nobiscum comunicare dignatus est.
Codex Wallicus membranaceus plus CCCL abhinc annos in Agro Cereticensi
scriptus, id quod invocate subinde Sanctorum nomina isti Regioni propria, ut Dewi
Brefi, Dewi Bryngwyn, Gwenog helpa, & similia, satis luculenter probant. Hic
Codex in pluribus rebus quamproxime accedit ad Cott. 4. H.3. P. & ejusdem classis
Codd. recentiores.
Codex chartaceus apographa utplurimum ex variis Codd. Antiques ejusdem classis
cujus & Cott. 4. Cott 6. P. & H.3. continens. Ad calacem tamen quamplurima habet
quae ex Ll. Descripta Suisse videntus.
Codex chartaceus exiguae molis; multa tamen continent quae cum Ll. & aliis
convenient, & notatis digna sunt..
Codex iste iteme chartaceus est, sed ex Legg. Hoelianis duo tantum Capp. Viz. XIX
& XX. Lib. II. Continent.
Omnia quae Litera signantur in Glossario, accepta referuntur D. Roberto Vaughan
de Hengwrt apud Meirionenses, Armigero, qui Codicum unde ea descrisi, copiam
facilis fecit. Codices isti numero prope viginto sunt (ni male memini) & omnes sere
membranacei, & (uno & altero excepto) quam proxime accedunt ad Cott. 4.
?
64
Lat.
?
Unknown
Bleg
Boston
Historical
Society
LIGC
11125A
Unknown
-
BL Harl
Ms. 696
Lat.
Oxford,
Bodleian
Library
Rawlinson
C. 821.
Bleg
BL. Add.
22356
Bleg
NLW
Peniarth
258
Unknown
Unknown
General reference to
Ms in Hengwrt
Library used in
Glossary-
Appendix 4 Proposals for Leges Wallicae
[p.1] Proposals for printing by Subscription a Book entituled, Cyfreithieu Hywel Dda, ac eraill:
seu Leges Wallicae Ecclesiasticae et Civiles Hyweli boni Principis Walliae, et aliorum : quas ex
variis Codicibus Manuscriptis primus eruit, Interpretatione Latina, Notis et Glossario illustravit
Gulielmus Wottonus, S.T. P. Londini, typis Gulielmi Bowyer.
[p.2] Proposals.
The Laws of the antient Welsh Nation, by which they were governed whilst they continued a
distinct people under their own Princes till the time of our Edward l. having never yet been
printed either in their own or in any other language (except those few imperfect Excerpta of their
Ecclesiastical Laws which Sir Henry Spelman printed above fourscore years ago, in the first
volume of his British Councilae) the Editor proposes to publish an entire. Collection of the Welsh
Laws, both Ecclesiastical and Civil, which he has collected with no small labour and pains out of
near twenty manuscripts. One of the oldest, the fullest, and the most methodical of these copies is
in the Cotton Library, which will be exactly and entirely represented, after having been compared
with many others of great antiquity, which are preserved both there and 'in the Harleian Library,
besides several other copies of great value, which the Editor has been favoured with the use of,
and of which a full and particular account shall be given in the Preface. The Cotton Book is
intended to be the foundation of the whole work; but additions are inserted in their proper places
out of all the other copies, with a particular mention of the several books out of which they are
taken in making; the Latin Translation of this Work, the Editor has been assisted by several old
Latin versions; which, though very barbarous and imperfect in the main yet have, in abundance of
places, enabled him to clear difficulties, which without their assistance could never have been
explained. And upon all occasions when any doubts have arisen, he has not omitted to consult the
most learned Natives, whom he intends to mention in his Preface, as guarantees to their
countrymen for the fidelity of his Translation. He proposes in the Notes to explain the test of the
Laws, where it could not have been cleared in the Version without running out into a tedious
paraphrase. And whereas the terms of art made use of in these Laws are very many and very
different from any thing to be find at present either in other books or in common speech, he
intends to add a large Glossary, wherein all those terms will be explained, many of which are very
imperfectly accounted for in Dr. Davies's (otherwise very excellent) Dictionary, and many more
of them wholly omitted by him; by which means he hopes to clear many things which have been
little known by the natives themselves, since their coalition with our Nation. This Work is in so
great a readiness that it will be put into the press by Lady-day next at farthest, after which it shall
be dispatched there with all possible expedition. The number of sheets in this Work cannot easily
be computed; the Editor therefore proposes to deliver the Book to subscribers at two-pence a
sheet the small paper, and three-pence the large; the first payment to be ten shillings for the small
paper, and fifteen shillings for the large; and the remainder to be paid upon the delivery of a
perfect Book in sheets.
Subscriptions are taken in by the Editor; and, for his use, by the Reverend Dr. Wilkins at
Lambeth-house, the Reverend Dr. Jones Principal of Jesus college in Oxford, the Reverend Dr.
Foulkes at Marchwiail near Wrexham in Denbighshire, the Reverend John Price, B. D. fellow of
Queen's college in Cambridge, the Reverend David Havard, M.A. at Carmarthen, Morgan Owen,
esq. at his Chambers in Gray's--Inn, and Thomas Kilpin, esq. at his house in Sheer-lane.
Octob, 20, 1721.
[Pages 3-4 contain a specimen of the text from Book I. Chapter XVI.]
[p.4] Received the
Copy
Day of
172 of
the Sum of
being the first Payment of his Subscription Money for
of the Book mentioned in these Proposals.
Bodleian Library fol. 663 (39). [Pages 1-2 are reprinted in John Nichols, Literary anecdotes of
the eighteenth century, 13 vols. (London: J. Nichols, 1812-15), I, 488.]
65
Appendix 5 Bibliographical description of Leges Wallicae
Title page Transcription
CYFREITHJEU │ HYWEL DDA │ AC ERAILL │ SEU │ LEGES WALLICAE │ EccleÉaÌicae &
Civiles │ HOELI BONI │ ET │ Aliorum WALLIAE Principum, │ QUAS │ Ex variis
Codibus ManuÇcriptis eruit, Interpretatione Latina, Notis │ & GloËario
illuÌravit │ GULIELMUS WOTTONUS, S.T.P. │ ADJUVANTE │ MOSE GULIELMIO, A.M.
R.S.Soc. │ Qui & APPENDICEM adjecit. │ [double rule] │ LONDINI: │ Typis GULIELIMI BOWYER.
│ MDCCXXX. │
Formula: 20: π2 πA2 a-h2 i2 [2A]2 B-7O2 (-702); [i-xxxviii], [1-3] 4-586 [587-606]. [Sheet i is found in
subscribers’s copies only].
Contents: π1a half title, π1b [blank], π2a title page, π2b [blank], A1a – A2b [Dedication] ‘Serenissimo
Frederico Walliae Principi.’, a1a – g2b [‘Praefatio’] Gulielmus Clarke Lectori S.D., h1a – h2b [List of
manuscripts], i1a – i2b List of subscribers, [2A]1a [section title], [2A]1b [blank], [2A]2a – S1b [text of Lib. 1]
S2a [section title], S2b [blank], T1a– 3Aa [text of Lib. 2] 3Ab – 4Fa [text of Lib. 3] 4Fb – 5N1a [text of Lib.
4], 5N1b - 6O1b [text of Lib. 5] 6O2a [section title], 6O2b [blank], 6P1a – 6Z1b [Appendix] 6Z2a [section
title], 6Z2b [blank], 7A1a – 7I1b [Glossary], 7I2a – 7O1b [index].
Paper:
1. 560 copies on Demy at 14s per ream
2. 100 copies on fine Holland Royal at 28s per ream
3. 4 copies on Super
Paper supplied by Hoole & Brewer stationers
Types:
1. Text: english (92mm x 20 lines), roman, italic and some black letter
2. Footnotes/glossary: pica (83mm x 20 lines), roman, italic and some black letter, also some saxon sorts
used in the glossary
3. Dedication: double pica (circa 150mm x 20 lines but leaded to 185mm), roman and italic
4. Index: long primer (66mm x 20 lines), roman
Intaglio Ornaments and Illustrations:
1. Engraved headpiece 175mm x 84mm [two male figures, one of which is crowned, sitting either side of a
shield on which is depicted an Angel writing in a ledger.] - A1a
2. Engraved initial ‘H’ 39mm x 44mm [male figure walking, angel flying above] - A1a.
3.Marmor Cistrense, [Reproduction of a damaged Roman inscription excavated at Chichester] Includes a
scale in feet, labelled ‘Ped. Roman Scala’. Engraved by George Vertue (cost £7 1s 0d) - b2b.
Relief Ornaments:
(Reference numbers are given according to K.I.D. Maslen, The Bowyer ornament stock, (Oxford: Oxford
Bibliographical Society, 1975).
Headpieces
Maslen 11 - 3A1b
“ 20 – a1a, T1a, 5N2b, 7A1a
“ 21 - [2A]2a, 4Fb, 6P1a
Tailpieces
Maslen 117 – 7O1b
“ 126 – 6Z1b
“ 135- 7I1b
“ 141 – g2b
“ 148 – 3Aa
“ 152 – 5N1a
“ 175 – 4Fa
“ 185 – 6O1b
Factotum
Maslen 215 – a1a
Initials
Maslen Series
187 ‘P’ and ‘Q’ – 3A1b, ‘T2’ and ‘T3’ – 4F1b, ‘S’ and ‘O’ - 5N2b
66
“
“
189 ‘H1’ and ‘H2’ - [2A]2a, T1a
Production notes from the Bowyer Ledgers:
Sheets A-R printed by 27 October 1722
Sheets S-6L printed by 2 May 1723
The remaining text was printed during April 1730.
Entered in ledger as completed 2 May 1730.
The large paper copies of sheets A-O exist in two states and some copies have therefore been reprinted at
some point between October 1722 and May 1730 (see Bowyer Ledgers, A152).
Press figures
1. i1b, a1b, b1b, G1b, T1b, T2b, 2F1b, 2M1b, 2M2b,
2. c1b, c2b, d2a, f2b, h1b, D2b, E2b, H2b, I2b, N2a, R1b, R2b,
3. E1b, F1b, H1b, I2a, K2b, L1b, L2b, M2a, M2b, N2b, O2b, P1b, S2a, U1b, U2b, 2B2b, 2G1b,
4. Y1b, Y2b,
5. B1b, Z2b,
6. A2b, B2b, C2b, D1b, 2C1a, 2C2a, 2D1b, 2D2b, 2H2b, 2N1b, 2N2b,
7. a2a, d2b, e2a, e2b, g1b, h2b,
8. F2b, G2b, 2E1b, 2E2b, 2H2a, 2I1b, 2I2b, 2K2a, 2K2b, 2L1b, 2L2b,
Publication notes from the Bowyer Ledgers:
Seven hundred and fifty copies of Proposals for printing by Subscription a Book entituled, Cyfreithieu
Hywel Dda, dated 20 October, 1721, printed 18 December 1721. A further 500 copies were printed 30
November 1722.
The finished work was advertised in the London Journal & Daily Journal 12 May 1730; in the London
Evening Journal & Fog's Weekly Journal 13 May 1730; in the London Evening Journal and the Daily
Journal 14 May 1730; and the Post boy 15 May 130.
50 Printed Notices of “the Welsh Laws being Finish’d” printed 22 April 1731[?].
67
Notes
1
As a non-Welsh speaker I would not have been able to tell the story of William Wotton and the Leges
Wallicae without the assistance of a number of scholars of the Welsh laws, language and history who have
been most generous with their time and knowledge I should particularly like to thank Dr Sara Elin Roberts
and Mr M. Paul Bryant-Quinn of the University of Wales Institute of Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies,
Dr Brynley F. Roberts, formerly the Librarian, National Library of Wales, Professor Dafydd Jenkins,
formerly of the Law Department and Mr Rheinallt Llwyd of the Department of Information Studies,
University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Any errors are my own responsibility.
Joseph Towers, ‘The Life of Dr. William Wotton’, British biography; or, an accurate and impartial
account of the lives and writings of eminent persons, in Great Britain and Ireland; 10 vols. [Sherborne],
1766-72. Vol. 7 454-462, p. 460. The life was written by Thomas Birch from materials supplied Wotton’s
son-in-law William Clarke (British Library, Additional MS. 4224 ff. 148r –167v).
2
3
Proposals for printing by Subscription a Book entituled, Cyfreithieu Hywel Dda, ac eraill: seu Leges
Wallicae Ecclesiasticae (Londoni, William Bowyer). The Bowyer Ledgers, ed. Keith Maslen and John
Lancaster (London: Bibliographical Society, 1991), item 803. The proposals were published in John
Nicholas, Literary anecdotes of the eighteenth century, 13 vols. (London: J. Nichols, 1812-15), I, p. 488,
and are reproduced in Appendix 4.
4
William Wotton, Cyfreithjeu Hywel Dda ac eraill, seu Leges Wallicae Ecclesiasticae & Civiles Hoeli
Boni et aliorum Walliae Principum (London: W. Bowyer, 1730), hereafter cited as Leges Wallicae.
5
He was christened 26 August 1666.
6
Henry Wotton, An essay on the education of children in the first rudiments of learning, (London:
Waller, 1753). Almost half of this work consisted of ‘A narrative of what knowledge William Wotton,
a child six years of age, had attained unto’, which included a certificate from the Norwich physician
Sir Thomas Browne confirming the proficiency of the six-year-old Wotton in reading English, Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew verses aloud (p.59).
A certificate from “St. Katherine’s Hall” dated June 1682 confirmed that Wotton “hath behaved himselfe
soberly and studiously during his residence amongst us” Admissions to the College of St John the
Evangelist (Cambridge: Deighton Hall, 1903), p. 88.
7
8
John Evelyn, The diary of John Evelyn (London: Everyman’s Library: 1907), ii p. 135
9
BL Add. MS. 5841 ff. 18-19.
David Stoker, ‘Wotton, William (1666-1727)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford
University Press, 2004 [accessed 26 Sept 2004: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30005], and the life
of Wotton in British Biography … from Wickliff to the present day, ed. Joseph Towers, 10 vols. (London: R.
Goadby 1773-80). In his correspondence, Wotton usually refers to his living by the more modern form of
‘Milton Keynes’.
10
Michael Hunter, Robert Boyle by himself and his friends with a fragment of William Wotton’s lost Life of
Boyle (London: W. Pickering, 1994), p. xxxvi. For an analysis of Wotton’s contribution as a historian of
science see A. Rupert Hall, ‘William Wotton and the history of science’, Archives internationales d’histoire
des sciences, 9 (1949), pp. 1047-1062. For a more detailed account of Wotton’s contribution to the “Battle
of the books” see Marie-Luise Spieckermann, William Wottons “Reflection upon Ancient and Modern
Learning” im Kontext der englischen “Querelle des anciens et modernes” (Frankfurt: Lang, 1981).
11
12
See Joseph M. Levine, The battle of the books (Ithaca: Cornell University, 1991).
13
Swift in turn attacked Wotton again in 1710. See Levine, The battle of the books, pp. 120-1.
14
Levine, The battle of the books, p. 34.
Details are given in Anne Wotton’s funeral monument in the vestry of St Peter’s church Carmarthen, see
below note 171.
15
16
For details of this project (which was never completed) see Hunter, Robert Boyle by himself and his
friends.
17
BL Sloane MS. 4036, f. 242, and 4041, f. 317. .
18
Levine, Battle of the books, 350 and BL Add. MS 28927 f. 111.
68
19
Levine, Battle of the books, p. 351.
20
Towers, ‘Life of William Wotton’ 461.
21
The diary of Abraham De la Pryme, the Yorkshire antiquary, ed. Charles Jackson, Surtees Society v. 54
(Durham: Surtees Soc., 1870), p.28.
22
BL Add. MS. 5831 f. 122
23
J.G. Jenkins, The dragon of Whaddon: being an account of the life and work of Browne Willis (16821760) (High Wycombe: Bucks Free Press, 1953), p. 119.
24
John Nichols, Anecdotes of William Bowyer (London: J. Nichols, 1782), p. 52.
William Wotton, A letter to Eusebia; occasioned by Mr Toland’s letters to Serena (London: T. Goodwin,
1704).
25
26
William Wotton, The rights of the clergy in the Christian church asserted (London: H. Hills, 1706).
Wotton later admitted in a letter to bishop John Moore that Wake had appointed him to preach at Newport
and given him the subject, and also that he should publish his sermon (BL MS Add. 29747 f. 50). Matthew
Tindal responded in 1707 with A defence of the rights of the Christian church : against a late visitation
sermon, intitled, The rights of the clergy in the Christian church asserted; preach'd at Newport Pagnell in
the county of Bucks, by W. Wotton, B.D. (London, 1707), and A second defence of the rights of the Christian
church (London, 1708).
27
BL Add. MS. 5841 ff. 18-19. William Wotton, The case of the present Convocation consider'd; in
answer to the Examiner's unfair representation of it, and unjust reflections upon it (London, J. Churchill,
1711). The tract relates to Jonathan Swift’s comments in The Examiner, 28 December 1710.
28
BL Add. MS. 5841 ff. 18-19.
29
Nichols, Anecdotes of William Bowyer, 51.
30
BL Add. MS. 5841 ff.18-19. and 5836 f. 123. The rectory still exists largely as Wotton left it except that
it has been recently converted into a number of dwellings. Nikolaus Pevsner described it as “a fine early
C18 house of red brick”, Buckinghamshire (Buildings of England series) (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,
1960), p. 210.
31
Oxford, Christ Church Arch. Epist. W. 3. ff. 196-8, the Correspondence of William Wake (hereafter cited
as ‘Wake correspondence’) William Wake to Wotton, undated draft. The full text of this interesting letter is
reproduced in Appendix 1.
32
‘Wake correspondence’ 3. ff. 196-8, and Appendix 1.
33
‘Wake correspondence’ 1. f. 282, Franks to Wake 24 August 1711.
34
‘Wake correspondence’ 1. f. 297, Wotton to Wake 12 November 1711.
‘Wake correspondence’ 1. f. 294, Wotton to Wake 31 October 1711. The “Mr Woodward” was perhaps
John Woodward, author of An essay toward a natural history of the Earth (London: R. Wilkin, 1695).
35
‘Wake correspondence’ 17. f. 299 David Trimnell [Archdeacon of Lincoln] to Wake 15 November 1711.
The “Mr Disney” referred to is Matthew Disney, rector of Bletchley.
36
37
Norman Sykes, William Wake (Cambridge, 1957), 195-6.
38
See ‘Wake correspondence’ 17. f. 303, Wotton to Wake 20 December 1711.
39
‘Wake correspondence’ 17. f. 307 Wotton to Franks, undated.
40
Ibid.
41
‘Wake correspondence’ 17. f. 312 Wotton to Franks 20 March 1711/12.
Wotton also contributed a translation to Steele’s short-lived periodical The Guardian, (No. 93. 27 June,
1713).
42
43
Francis Green, ‘Scurlock of Carmarthen’ West Wales Historical Records, IX. (1920-23), 135-144, 142.
44
‘Wake correspondence’ 20. ff. 10-11 Wotton to Wake 12 January 1715/6.
69
See Bodleian Library, MS. Willis 37, f. 12 “Letters from Will Wotton Bd who then absented himself out
of Bucks and lived in Wales at Carmarthen with Mr Lord. And took the name of Dr Edwards”. Joseph Lord
(d.1743) was a heraldic painter and draughtsman of genealogical charts for the local gentry, who was later
responsible for drawing the plans and elevations of the four Welsh cathedrals published in Browne Willis’s
surveys. The house in King Street subsequently became the Ivy Bush Hotel (before it moved to its present
location in Spilman Street about 1810). It was ultimately demolished to make room for Assembly Rooms
and these in turn made way for the Lyric Cinema. Richard Steele had himself to withdraw into
Carmarthenshire in 1722 (several months after Wotton’s departure from the town) in order to avoid his own
creditors and the expenses of living in London (Calhoun Winton, ‘Steele, Sir Richard (bap. 1672, d. 1729)’,
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [accessed 29 Sept 2004:
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26347]).
45
‘Wake correspondence’ 20. ff. 10-11 Wotton to Wake 12 January 1715/6. Scurlock was buried in St
Peter’s Church, 25 October 1714 (Green, ‘Scurlock of Carmarthen), 142.
46
47
‘Wake correspondence’ 20. ff. 10-11 Wotton to Wake 12 January 1715/6.
‘Wake correspondence’ 20. f. 185 Wotton to Wake, 22 October 1716. The following May, Wotton wrote
to Browne Willis “Writs upon Writs have been sent after me. Yet the Attorneys have sheltered me here,
tho’ they are as greedy of money (& a good deal has been offerd) as they are in Bucks. It has cost me mony,
but comparatively speaking not very much” (Willis Ms.38 f.353-6).
48
‘Wake correspondence’ 5. f. 72 Daniel Finch to Wake 20 July 1714. Lord Nottingham’s unwillingness to
make matters worse for Wotton may be related to Wotton’s recent publication of A vindication of the Earl
of Nottingham from the vile imputations, and malicious slanders, which have been cast upon him in some
late pamphlets (1714). This was a refutation of the claim by Nottingham’s enemies that a tract Observations
upon the state of the nation, in January 1712/3, had been written by him. Wotton appears to have finished
work on this in Carmarthen as the preface is dated 21 June 1714.
49
See ‘Wake correspondence’ 5. ff. 163-4 David Trimnell, to Wake 31 July 1715, and ff. 168/9 Trimnell to
Wake 28 August 1715.
50
51
Thomas Hearne, Remarks and collections of Thomas Hearne Part: Vol.3: May 25, 1710 - December 14,
1712, edited C.E. Doble, Oxford Historical Society v. 13 (Oxford: Oxford Historical Society, 1889), 236.
52
‘Wake correspondence’ 17, f. 307 Wotton to Franks, undated.
53
‘Wake correspondence’ 20. ff. 10-11 Wotton to Wake 12 January 1715/6.
Browne Willis, A Survey of the Cathedral Church of St. David’s (London: R. Gosling, 1717). According
to Wotton, “In this Affair he went too fast for me, and that was the cause of the numerous errata at the end
which I drew up. But he means exceedingly well, and therefore to be loved.” ‘Wake correspondence’ 20,
314 Wotton to Wake 24 January 1716/17. For an account of Wotton’s contribution to Browne Willis’s
Surveys of St David’s and Llandaff, see David Stoker, ‘Surveying decrepit Welsh cathedrals, the
publication of Browne Willis's accounts of St David's and Llandaff’, Y llyfr yng Nghymru/Welsh book
studies, 3 (2000), 7-32.
54
55
Browne Willis, A Survey of the Cathedral Church of Llandaff (London: R. Gosling, 1718).
Stoker, ‘Surveying decrepit Welsh cathedrals’, p. 23-26. Wotton and Willis were later attacked by
Richard Smalbroke, the treasurer of the cathedral in The reverence due to the house of God. A sermon
preach’d in the cathedral-church of Landaff, July 2d, 1721. (London, 1722), preface iii-xiii.).
56
57
Browne Willis, A Survey of the Cathedral Church of St. Asaph (London: R. Gosling, 1720), and A Survey
of the Cathedral Church of Bangor (London: R. Gosling, 1721).
Bodleian Library MS. Willis 42, ‘Notes on St Asaph’ f. 85 letter from Wotton to Willis, 20 October.
1718.
58
59
William Wotton, Miscellaneous Discourses relating to the Traditions and Usages of the scribes and
Pharisees, 2 vols. (London: T. Goodwin, 1718)
Wotton, Miscellaneous Discourses, ‘Preface’ p. xxi. This passage is reproduced in full in Appendix 2
below.
60
61
William Wotton, The omniscience of the Son of God (London: T. Goodwin, 1719), and William Wotton,
Thoughts concerning a proper method of studying divinity (London: J. Roberts, 1734).
70
In a letter to Thomas Birch dated 7 September 1741 William Clarke said that his father-in-law “had made
a some progress in that work, but when he was forced to leave his House, these papers fell into such Hands,
as never returned them” (BL MS Add 4302 f. 256). In the subsequent biographical account, Birch wrote
that Wotton “had made considerable progress in his Collections for that purpose, as appears from some of
his Adversaria, which I have seen; But most of the papers were unhappily either lost or destroy’d, and he
was so much affected with his misfortune to have spent so much time to no Purpose, that he had not
Resolution enough to think of turning all the same Books and papers over a second time, and beginning
again”, BL MS. Add 4224 ff. 148 –167v.
62
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 7 Wotton to Wake Innocents Day [28 December] 1715. The “Dr Pinfold”
referred to was Charles Pinfold LL.D, Commissary of Westminster.
63
64
‘Wake correspondence’ ff. 10-11 Wotton to Wake 12 January 1715/6.
65
Ibid.
66
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 7 Wotton to Wake 31 January 1715/6.
67
BL Add. MS, 5841 f. 18 Wake to Willis 10 March 1715/6.
68
Thomas Hearne, Remarks and collections of Thomas Hearne, vol. 11, December 9, 1731 - June 10, 1735
ed. Herbert Edward Salter (Oxford: Oxford Historical Society, 1921), xi, p. 144.
69
Henry Spelman, Concilia, decreta, leges, constitutions in re ecclesiastica orbis Britannici 2 vols.
(London: P. Stephani, and C. Meredith, 1639-64).
John Nichols Anecdotes of William Bowyer, p. 48, and Margaret Clunies Ross, ‘Elstob, William (1674?1715)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [accessed 23 Nov 2004:
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8762].
70
71
David Wilkins. Leges Anglo-Saxonicae ecclesiasticae et civiles (London: R. Gosling, 1721).
72
For historical background on the laws and a discussion of their significance see Goronwy Edwards,
‘Studies in the Welsh laws since 1928’, Welsh History Review, special number (1963), pp. 1-17, Dafydd
Jenkins, ‘The significance of the law of Hywel’, Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion
(1977/8), pp. 54-76, and Hywel Dda: the law (Llandysul: Gomer, 1986), introduction and T.M. CharlesEdwards, The Welsh Laws (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1989).
73
Spelman, Concilia vol. 1 p. 408. This manuscript was later used by Wotton (designated S1).
74
‘Wake correspondence’ 22 f. 8 Wotton to Wake 3 April 1721.
75
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 305 Wotton to Wake 5 January 1720/1.
Edward Lhuyd, ‘Antiqua Britanniae lingua scriptorum quae non impressa sunt, Catalogus’, in
Archaeologia Britannica (Oxford: printed for the author, 1707), p. 258, under “Kyvreth Hywel”. The
manuscript is Jesus College MS. LVII and was published by Melville Richards, Cyfreithiau Hywel Dda yn
ôl llawysgrif Coleg yr Iesu LVII Rhydychen (Caerdydd [Cardiff]: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 1957, revised ed.
1990).
76
77
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 200 Wotton to Wake 8 November 1716.
78
Ibid. Thomas Powell (1664-1720) was attorney general of the Carmarthen circuit and member of
Parliament for Carmarthenshire, 1710-1715.
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 301 Wotton to Wake 5 January 1716/17. The bishop of St Asaph was John
Wynne (1647-1745). Sir Thomas Saunders Sebright, Baronet of Beechwood purchased Lhuyd’s
manuscripts in 1717 (see Eiluned Rees and Gwyn Walters, ‘The dispersal of the manuscripts of Edward
Lhuyd’ Welsh History Review, 7 (1974), 148-178), the Lhuyd/Sebright manuscript is now BL MS. Add
22356 (see Christine James, ‘Golygiad o BL Add. 22356 o Gyfraith Hywel ynghyd ag astudiaeth gymharol
ohono a Llanstephan 116’, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Ph.D. thesis 1984.
79
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, ff. 200-1 Wotton to Wake 8 November 1716. The works concerned are Y Bibl
(Rhydychain [Oxford], 1690), Ffurf gweddi i’w harfer (Llundain (London), Charles Bill, 1699), and Robert
Nelson, Cydymaith i ddyddiau gwylion ac ymprydiau Eglwys Loegr (Llundain [London] William Bowyer,
1712).
80
81
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 301 Wotton to Wake January 5 1716/17.
71
82
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, ff.502-3 Wotton to Wake 24 February 1717/8.
83
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f.213 - Wotton to Wake 12 March 1719/20.
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 310 David Wilkins to Wake 15 January 1716/17. The references are to
Robert Vaughan, great-grandson of Robert Powell Vaughan (1591/2-1667), the founder of the library at
Hengwrt, which contained several copies of the laws. Thomas Powell see above note 79; The Merton
College manuscript is MS. 323 (see Hywel D. Emanuel, The Latin Texts of the Welsh Laws (Wales
University Press, 1967), 410-2.
84
85
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 323 David Wilkins to Wake 5 February 1716/17.
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 314 Wotton to Wake 24 January 1716/17. Presumably the “Thomas
Philipps” mentioned was vicar of Laugharn who later subscribed to the work. “Sir John Philipps” (16661737) was member of Parliament for Haverfordwest.
86
87
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, ff. 344/5 Wotton to Wake 9 March 1716/17.
88
Ibid.
‘Wake correspondence’ f. 20, 390-1 Wotton to Wake 29 May 1717. The Merton manuscript referred to is
Merton 323 in the hand of the mathematician and astrologer Dr John Dee (1527-1608), and is not therefore
mediaeval.
89
90
Cambridge University Library MS. Add. 7113, 41, Wotton to Ockley 22 July 1717 (quoted from Levine,
Battle of the books, p. 411).
91
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 536 Wotton to Wake 17 May 1718.
Brynley F. Roberts, ‘Williams, Moses (1685-1742)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford
University Press, 2004 [accessed 25 Sept 2004: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29532]. There is
also a more detailed (although now dated) study of the life and works of Williams in Welsh by John Davies,
Bywyd a gwaith Moses Williams, 1685-1742 (Cardiff: Wales University Press, 1937).
92
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 555 Wotton to Wake 18 June 1718. The transcripts referred to are now
National Library of Wales (NLW) Llanstephan MS. 71.
93
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 566, Wotton to Wake 2 July 1718. Williams’s volume of transcripts is
described in Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report of the manuscripts in the Welsh language, 2 vols.
(London: 1899-1902), vol. 2 pt. 1, pp. 557-8. The Harleian Manuscripts are MS. 958 and 4353 (Welsh) and
1796 (Latin). See note 98 below for details of the Cotton manuscripts.
94
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 107 Wotton to Wake 7 March 1718/19. The “Dr Jenkins” referred to was
perhaps Robert Jenkin, D.D., Master of St. John’s College, Cambridge.
95
96
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 88 Wotton to Wake 11 December 1721.
97
BL Cotton MS. Caligula A. III; Cleopatra A. IV & B.V; Titus D. II. & IX and Vespasian E. XI.
98
C.E. and Ruth C. Wright, The diary of Humfrey Wanley (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), pp.
149-50. Williams borrowed BL MS. Harleian 958 and 1796 “to be consulted in printing of D r. Wotton’s
intended Edition of Howel Dha’s Laws”; his receipt for the loan is BL MS. Lansdowne 1039, f. 42.
‘Wake correspondence’ f. 555 Wotton to Wake 18 June 1718. John Evans was bishop of Bangor 17011715 and thereafter bishop of Meath. Prior to Evans’s appointment, William Moreton (1640/41-1715) had
been the bishop of Meath, The “Mr Rowlands” referred to was Henry Rowlands, rector of Llanidan (16551723).
99
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 64 Wotton to Wake 4 December 1718. The Arthur Owen referred to was
probably Sir Arthur Owen of Orielton, Pembrokeshire.
100
Henry Rowlands, Mona antiqua restaurata (Dublin, 1723). The ‘Antiquitates Parochiales’ were
published in Archaeologia Cambrensis between 1846 and 1849. See also D. R. Woolf, ‘Rowlands, Henry
(1655-1723)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [accessed 17 Oct
2004: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/24216].
101
102
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 120 Wotton to Wake 16 April 1719.
72
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 8 Wotton to Wake 3 April 1721. The references are to William Philipps
(d.1721) whose manuscript is now in the library of the Boston (Mass.) Historical Society; see further
Morfydd Owen, ‘Llawysgrif gyfreithiol goll’, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies. 22 (1968), pp. 338-43.
For Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt, see above note 35. The Llanforda estate near Oswestry was acquired by
Sir William Williams (1634-1700), Speaker of the House of Commons, who married Margaret, daughter of
Walter Kyffin of Glascoed House, Llansilin (Denbighshire) and was the grandfather of Sir Watkins
Williams Wynne of Wynnstay, Ruabon. The estates and libraries were thereby brought together and the
library moved from Llanforda to Wynnstay in 1771 (see Dictionary of Welsh Biography, pp. 107 and 1100,
and Daniel Huws, ‘Robert Vaughan’ in Medieval Welsh manuscripts (Cardiff: University of Wales Press
and Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales, 2000), p. 296. Many Wynnstay manuscripts were lost in a fire
in 1858.
103
104
Aled Rhys Wiliam, Llyfr Iorwerth: a critical text of the Venedotian code of medieval Welsh law (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 1960), xv-xvii. The ‘Deddfgrawn’ is now NLW MS. Wynnstay 37 and 38. It is
described in Dafydd Jenkins ‘Deddfgrawn William Maurice’, National Library of Wales Journal, 2 (19412), 35-36. The “Repertorium Hoelianum” is not known.
105
The Llanforda manuscript was designated by Williams as Ll.
For an account of the missing manuscript see Dafydd Jenkins, ‘Llawysgrif Goll. Llanforda o gyfreithiau
Hywel Dda’, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, xiv, (1951) pp. 89-104.
106
107
These are now included within the range NLW Peniarth MS. 28-40 and are described in the Historical
Manuscripts Commission, Report of the manuscripts in the Welsh language, vol. 1 pt. 2, Peniarth Mss. J.
Gwenogvryn Evans, who catalogued the Peniarth manuscripts, believed that four fifths of the collection had
previously been at Hengwrt. A catalogue of the Hengwrt library compiled in 1658, published in the
Cambrian register, 3 (1818), pp. 278-301, indicates that there were at least ten manuscripts of the laws then
in the collection.
See Huws, ‘Robert Vaughan’ in Medieval Welsh manuscripts, pp. 287-302 (297). Moses Williams was
allowed limited access to the collection in 1728, but by this time the text of the laws had been printed,
although the work was not yet published. Williams was then working on the completion of the glossary, and
also added a transcript of a charter in the library to the Appendix of Leges Wallicae.
108
Designated S3 by Wotton, now NLW Peniarth MS 28 (formerly Hengwrt MS. 7). William’s transcript of
this manuscript is NLW Llanstephan MS. 67.
109
110
Aneurin Owen, Ancient laws and institutes of Wales; comprising laws supposed to be enacted by Howel
the Good (London: Record Commission, 1841), p. xxvi.
111
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 38 Wotton to Wake 13 July 1721.
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 110 Wotton to Wake 5 February 1721/2. The reference to the manuscript
in “Bennet Library” refers to Corpus Christi College Library, Cambridge, MS. 454. The printed extract is
from Ban wedy i dynny air yngair alla[n] o hen gyfreith Howel d[d]a … A certaine case extracte out of the
auncient law of Hoel da (London: R. Crowley, 1550), believed to have been written by William Salesbury
(see Christine James ‘Ban wedy i dynny: Mediaeval Welsh law and early protestant propagranda’,
Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, 27 (1994), 61-86). The “Mr Price” referred to was John Price, B. D.
fellow of Queens’ College, who was Wotton’s subscription agent in Cambridge.
112
113
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 110 Wotton to Wake 5 February 1721/2.
114
The Bodorgan manuscript, designated M by Wotton, remains in with the Meyrick family at Bodorgan.
The Williams manuscript was designated MW and is not now known.
115
These were designated by Wotton as S3, S4 and S6, the first of which is now NLW Peniarth MS. f. 258.
116
NLW MS. Llanstephan 116, see Timothy Lewis, The laws of Howell Dda (London: Sotheran, 1912), p.
ix.
117
Jenkins, The law of Hywel Dda, p. xxi.
118
Jenkins, ‘The significance of the law of Hywel’, p. 74.
119
See Appendix 3 below. Twenty six entries are noted in the list of manuscripts appended to the edition
but one of these was the ‘Carnarvon Record’ (see below 160) which was used to assist in the translation of
73
technical terms and was not a law manuscript as such; another was ‘Linguae Cymraecae Institutiones
Accuratae’ by Siôn Dafydd Rhys, which contained only excerpts.
Hywel D. Emanuel, ‘Studies in the Welsh Laws’, in Celtic Studies in Wales: a survey (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 1963), pp. 73-100 (73). This passage was translated from William Clarke’s
‘Praefatio’ to the Leges Wallicae, p. [i].
120
121
Jenkins, ‘The significance of the law of Hywel’, p. 55.
122
Aneurin Owen, Ancient laws and institutes of Wales; comprising laws supposed to be enacted by Howel
the Good (London: Record Commission, 1841). Owen referred to the redactions as the ‘Gwentian code’, the
‘Dimetian code’ and the ‘Venedotian code’ respectively, but this terminology is no longer used (for a
detailed explanation see T.M. Charles-Edwards, The Welsh Laws (Cardiff: University of Wales Press,
1989), pp. 19-20.
123
Charles-Edwards, The Welsh Laws, pp. 20-21.
124
The different redactions and their structures are discussed in Jenkins, The law of Hywel Dda, pp. xxixxvi.
125
See above note 105.
Daniel Huws, ‘Maurice, William (1619/20-1680)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford
University Press, 2004 [accessed 4 Oct 2004: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18388].
126
127
NLW MS. Wynnstay 37 and 38.
128
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f.99 Wotton to Wake 6 January 1721/2.
129
See below note 226.
130
See Appendix 3.
Timothy Lewis, ‘A bibliography of the laws of Hywel Dda’, Aberystwyth Studies X (1928) pp. 151-182
(152).
131
132
Owen, Ancient laws, p. viii.
133
Emanuel, ‘Studies in the Welsh Laws’, pp. 73-4.
134
Dafydd Jenkins, The law of Hywel Dda, p. xxxix.
135
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, ff. 390-1 Wotton to Wake 29 May 1717.
136
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 395 Wotton to Wake 13 June 1717.
137
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 107 Wotton to Wake 7 March 1718/19.
138
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 299 Wotton to Wake 5 January 1720/1.
139
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 286 Wotton to Wake 19 November 1720.
140
Geraint H. Jenkins, Literature, religion and society in Wales 1660-1730 (Cardiff; University of Wales
Press, 1978), p. 54.
141
Roberts, ‘Williams, Moses (1685-1742)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
142
The Dictionary of Welsh biography to 1940 (London: Cymmrodorion Society, 1959).
143
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 191 Wotton to Wake 14 December 1719.
144
Williams was presented to the living by the Lord Chancellor on the recommendation of Mr Justice Price
one of the Barons of the Exchequer (Davies, Bywyd a gawith Moses Williams, pp. 25-6).
145
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 298 Wotton to Wake 2 January 1720/1. Dr John Davies of Mallwyd, was
the author of a Welsh-Latin dictionary and a Welsh grammar (see Ceri Davies Dr John Davies of Mallwyd
(Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2004). Y Bibl cyssegr-lan, sef, yr hen destament a’r newydd (Llundain
[London], Newcomb, and Hills, 1717-18) was translated and edited by Moses Williams.
146
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 305 Wotton to Wake, 5 January 1720/1.
147
BL MS. Add 5831 ff.122 and 124, Wotton to Waller 27 February 1720-1.
74
‘Wake correspondence’ 22 f. 8 Wotton to Wake 3 April 1721. Williams’s transcript of BL Cotton MS.
Titus D.ii., is now NLW MS. Llanstephan 69.
148
149
See Appendix 3.
For the significance of the triads, see Sara Elin Roberts, ‘Welsh Mediaeval Legal Triads, (Jesus College,
Oxford unpublished D.Phil. thesis 2001).
150
151
These were the manuscripts designated S2 and S3 (which are now BL MS Add. 22356, and NLW
Peniarth 258). S.3 has an extended triad collection, and S.2 has a separate triad collection (of c. 60 triads),
and also several mini-collections, in its tail (information from Dr Sara Roberts).
152
The transcript is NLW Llanstephan 73. John Davies, suggests he may have been intending to publish
these triads (Bywyd a gwaith Moses Williams, pp. 25-7).
153
As mentioned above, Wilkins’s work was already something of a co-operative venture with major
contributions by Wake, and by William Nicolson who also wrote the Latin preface (Douglas, English
scholars, pp. 81-2).
154
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 314 Wotton to Wake 24 January 1716/17.
155
The five surviving lawbooks in Latin are described by T.Charles-Edwards (The Welsh Laws, p. 20).
They form a loose family but two of them were compiled in south Wales and the remainder in the north.
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 107 Wotton to Wake 7 March 1718/19. The reference is John Cowell,
Institutiones juris Anglicani (Cambridge: John Legat, 1605).
156
157
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 134 Wotton to Wake 17 June 1719.
158
Towers, ‘Life of William Wotton’, 461.
William Wotton, ‘An account of a book lately published by Roger Gale, Esq; entituled, Registrum
Honoris de Richmond; and also of the Record of Carnarvon, a MS. in the Harleyan Library’, Bibliotheca
literaria, being a collection of inscriptions, medals, dissertations, &c. Edited by S. Jebb, VI. (London: W.
& J. Innys, 1723) pp. 15-28, (28); the manuscript is BL Harleian MS. 696. It was borrowed by Moses
Williams on 20 October 1722 and returned 14 June 1723 (see Wright, Diary of Humphrey Wanley, p. 165).
159
Wotton, ‘An account …’, p. 17. The publication of this short paper is now recognised as the beginning
of the modern study of the anicient laws of Wales (Emanuel, ‘Studies in the Welsh laws’, 73).
160
161
‘Proposals for Leges Wallicae’ (see Appendix 3).
162
Lambeth Palace MS. 1770 (Wake’s appointment diary), ff. 247a and 257b.
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 106 Wotton to Wake 20 January 1721/2. The references are to John
Davies's Welsh grammar in Latin, Antiquae linguae Britannicae … rudimenta (London: J. Bill, 1621), and
Siôn Dafydd Rhys (1533/4-c.1620), Cambrobryttanicae Cymraecaeve linguae institutiones et rudimenta
(London: T. Orwin, 1592).
163
164
William Gambold, A Welsh grammar (Carmarthen: N. Thomas, 1727).
165
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, f. 519 Wotton to Wake 5 April 1718.
166
‘Wake correspondence’ 21,f. 298 Wotton to Wake 2 January 1720/1.
167
Bodleian Library, MS. Willis 42 ‘Notes on St Asaph’ f. 83 Wotton to Willis 25 August 1718.
Anne was buried in St Peter’s church, where there is a memorial tablet to her, see Mary Clement,
Correspondence and minutes of the S.P. C.K. relating to Wales 1699-1740, (Cardiff: University of Wales
Press, 1952), p. 110.
168
169
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 183 Wotton to Wake 16 November 1719.
The Latin memorial reads as follows: ‘H.S.E. ANNA WOTTONA. GUL. HAMMONDI. ST
ALBANENSIS CANTIANI. ARM. FILIA. IOH. MARSHAMI EQ. AUR. ET BAR. MAGNI ANTIQQ.
AEGYPT STATORIS EX FILIA NEPTIS ROB. MARSHAMI BARONIS DE ROMNEY CONSOBRINA.
RARISSIMI EXEMPLA ET HEROICI ANIMI ET IN SECUNDIS ET IN ADVERSIS REBUS VIRUM
ASSIDUE COMITATA FATALI TANDEM ET IMPROVISO MORBO CORREPTA. PLACIDE IN
DOMIN REQUIEVIT TRISTE ET NUNQUAM INTERMORITURUM SUI DESIDERIUM SUIS
OMNIBUS RELINQUENS. OB. VIII KAL OCTOB. A.D. MDCCXIX VIXIT ANNO. XLVIII MENS IX
170
75
DIES XVIII. ANNA FILIA UNICA RELICTA SUPERSTITE. GUL. WOTTONS S.T.P.
MERENTISSIMAE ET INCOMPARABILI CONIUGI HOC ULTIMUM AMORIS SUI
MONUMENTUM MOERENS ANIMO. PC. FUNCTA IACES HIC SED VIVIS VIVES QUE MARITO
ANNA TUP DEBENT NEC BENFACTA MORI.
171
See note 52 above.
172
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 183 Wotton to Wake 16 November 1719.
173
‘Wake correspondence’ 23, f. 32 Wotton to Wake 19 June 1721.
‘Wake correspondence’ 23, f. 38 Wotton to Wake 13 July 1721, and Lambeth Palace MS. 1770 f. 241b.
6 July 1721.
174
175
Bodleian Library, MS. Willis 42 ‘Notes on St Asaph’ f. 81 Wotton to Willis, 19 June 1717.
‘Wake correspondence’ 20, ff. 454/5 Wotton to Wake 12 September 1717. See also f. 488 which is a
copy of a letter of recommendation of Wotton for the Chancellorship 23 November 1717 signed by various
local clergymen in Carmarthen and district.
176
177
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 315 Wotton to Wake 13 March 1720/1.
178
Clement, Correspondence and minutes of the S.P. C.K. relating to Wales, p. 111, 1 January 1720/1.
179
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 183 Wotton to Wake 16 November 1719.
180
‘Wake correspondence’ 23, f. 48 Wotton to Wake 4 August 1721.
181
‘Wake correspondence’ 23, ff. 51 and 59 Wotton to Wake 24 August 1721 and 16 September 1721.
182
‘Wake correspondence’ 23, f. 76 Wotton to Wake 1 November 1721.
183
Wake Correspondence’ 21, f. 306 Wotton to Wake 2 February 1720/1.
184
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 84 Wotton to Wake 11 January 1718/19.
185
‘Wake correspondence’ 21,f. 107 Wotton to Wake 7 March 1718/19.
186
‘Ibid.
187
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 120 - Wotton to Wake 16 April 1719.
188
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 286 - Wotton to Wake 19 November 1720.
189
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, f. 306 Wotton to Wake 2 February 1720/1.
190
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 8 Wotton to Wake 3 April 1721.
191
‘Wake correspondence’ 21, 306 Wotton to Wake 2 February 1720/1.
192
Ibid.
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 93 Wotton to Wake 27 December 1721. William Baxter, Glossarium
antiquitatum Britannicarum (1719).
193
194
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 93 Wotton to Wake 27 December 1721.
195
Wright, The diary of Humfrey Wanley, i. 178, 15 December 1722.
196
The Proposals are reprinted in full in Appendix 3.
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 88 Wotton to Wake 11 December 1721, and see Appendix 5.The Bowyer
Ledgers, item 803.
197
198
Lambeth Palace Ms. 1770 f. 247a 1 January 1721/2.
199
‘Wake correspondence’ 9? – Wotton to Wake 6 January 1721/2.
200
Ibid.
201
Geraint H. Jenkins, Literature, religion and society in Wales, 216.
Eiluned Rees, ‘Developments in the book trade in eighteenth-century Wales’, The Library: Transactions
of the Bibliographical Society, 5th series, xxiv (1969), 33-43.
202
76
203
For an account of the firm see the John Nichols, Anecdotes of William Bowyer (1782). Bowyer had
already printed Wotton’s Linguarum vet., septentionalium thesauri grammatic-critico & archaeologici,
auctore Georgio Hicksi, conspectus brevis, in 1708, and Miscellaneous discourses relating to the traditions
and usages of the Scribes and Pharisees, in 1718, and Moses Williams’s Proposals for printing by
subscription a collection of writings in the Welsh tongue, 1719. Likewise he had printed Robert Nelson’s
Cydymaith i Ddyddiau Gwylion ac Ymprydiau Eglwys Loegr (the Welsh translation of Companion for the
festivals and fasts of the Church of England) in 1712.
204
The Bowyer Ledgers, ed. Keith Maslen and John Lancaster (London: Bibliographical Society, 1991).in a
separate ledger slip – see The Bowyer Ledgers. The work features in all three of William Bowyer’s
surviving ledgers
205
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 119 Wotton to Wake 26 March 1722, written from Bath.
The works of Geoffrey Chaucer: compared with former editions … by John Urry (London: B. Lintot,
1721).
206
207
Quoted from Caroline F.E. Spurgeon, Five hundred years of Chaucer criticism and allusion (Cambridge
University Press), 3v. I. 363.
Whilst he was in London he stayed initially at the house of Mr Rice Williams’s House in Lincoln’s Inn,
and subsequently at that of Thomas Kilpin, in Sheer-lane.
208
209
Lambeth Palace Ms. 1770 f. 251 June 19 1722.
210
Lambeth Palace Ms. 1770 f. 251b 4 July 1722, and fol.253a 25August.
211
Bowyer Ledgers, A93 and A152. .
212
‘Wake correspondence’ 22 156 Wotton to Wake 13 August 1722.
213
Bowyer Ledgers, p. lix.
214
Bowyer Ledgers, ‘Checklist of printing’, item 1549.
215
William Wotton, A sermon preached in Welsh before the British Society ... upon St. David's day, 1722.
(London, 1723).
216
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 223 Wotton to Wake 3 June 1723.
217
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 306 Wotton to Wake June 21 1724.
Two further letters (‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 336 September 1724 and 23, f. 8 of 5 May 1725)
relate to family matters and his health problems.
218
219
Bowyer Ledgers A152.
220
The name of a new curate, Thomas Day, is found in the registers of All Saints Milton Keynes between
1723 and 1726.
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, ff. 277/8, Wotton to Wake 19/22 March 1723/4. In fact Clarke enjoyed the
living for forty-four years and then was able to resign it in favour of his own son.
221
222
‘Wake correspondence’ 22, f. 284 Wotton to Wake 14 Apr 1724.
223
BL MS. Add 4224 ff. 148 –167v.
224
Remarks and collections of Thomas Hearne, IX., 286. March 14. 1726/7.
225
Davies, Bywyd a gwaith Moses Williams, pp. 26-7.
226
In addition the text of the Domesday Survey for Herefordshire was given at the end of the list of
manuscripts consulted, and the assistance of Richard Topham and George Holmes (Keeper and Chief Clerk
of the Records of the Tower of London, and Thomas Eyre and John Lawton (of the Exchequer) was
acknowledged.
227
NLW Llanstephan MS. 76 and 78 contain Williams’s indexes to the subject matter and phrases in the
laws and appear to have been compiled in connection with his work on the Glossary.
Also referred to as ‘lib. Mred’, see Jenkins ‘Deddfgrawn William Maurice’, 35, and Jenkins ‘Llawysgrif
Goll. Llanforda’, 89.
228
77
Also referred to as ‘lib. Mred’, see 229 “Variantes Lectiones & Additamenta Ex Codd MSS. Gul.
Williams Baronetti”, NLW Llanstephan MS. 74. See also Jenkins ‘Deddfgrawn William Maurice’, 35, and
Jenkins ‘Llawysgrif Goll. Llanforda’, 89..
229
‘Notitia Codd. MS. In hoc opera laudatorum, in quibus designandis sequentibus Abbreviaturis usi
sumus’, [xxxiv] h1a- h2b
230
231
On leaf h1b, under reference Ll. The manuscript was identified as having been valuable in the
compilation of the Glossary.
In 1726 Williams edited William Baxter’s Reliquiae Baxterianae, and this was followed in 1731 by his
edition of Humphrey Lhuyd's Britanniae descriptionis commentariolum (Roberts, ‘Williams, Moses (16851742)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).
232
233
Advertisement in William Wotton, A discourse concerning the confusion of language at Babel, p.70.
234
This engraving was made by George Vertue, and cost £7 1s, with a further 6s for the rolling press work.
Bowyer Ledgers A15. It is discussed in Richard Gough, British Topography (London: R, Payne, 1780), II,
287.
“Erant solummodo Commentarii sive Conspectus Legum Wallicarum, in quibus sine ulla interpretatione,
ut plurimae essent auctoritatis & nullus usus, servata errant omnia juris vocabula, verba desuetudine jam &
vetustate horrida dicam, an obsoleta, & vel ipsis Linguae Wallicae peritissimis hujusce seculi non ante
audita”, William Clarke’s ‘Praefatio’ to Leges Wallicae, [1].
235
236
Vocavit igitur in partem curarium Rev. V. Mosen Gulielmium, in Lingua patria, siquis alius,
versatissimum; siquidem communicando, monendo, & sociatis fere laboribus instituti operis taedium
facilius devoraretur: Hic in evolvendis Legum Codicibus magnam adhibuit diligentiam, inter quos cum
Cott. 3. caeteris absolutior visus fit, posito hoc quasi operis fundamento, excerptas ex aliis Libris
Constitutiones ad hujusce ordinem digessit & revocavit. Amota jam omni ex hac parte solicitudine, Legibus
interpretandis acrius invigilavit Wottonus, quod, licet saepius urgente Podagra misere affectis, demum
executus est. Glossarium vero imperfectum reliquit, & sui in hoc labore Consortis fidei commisit, ut jure &
arbitrio suo quidlibet imutatarer, adderet vel detraheret, William Clarke’s ‘Praefatio’ to Leges Wallicae, ,
p.[1]. Williams’s assistance in compiling the list on manuscripts was likewise acknowledged on the final
page of the preface.
237
Nichols, Biographical and Literary Anecdotes of William Bowyer, pp. 26-29, and Literary anecdotes,
IV, 370-5. William Bowyer II re-joined his father’s firm after college in June 1722, just as work was
commencing on the Leges Wallicae, (Biographical and Literary Anecdotes, p.17).
238
Bowyer Ledgers, A153 Bowyer had already received 8 guineas for books delivered to subscribers by the
bookseller Robert Gosling in June 1730.
239
Bowyer Ledgers, C1412, and C1413.
240
Bowyer Ledgers, (A152.) states that nine sheets were reprinted, whereas an examination of surviving
copies indicate that fourteen sheets (A-O) exist in two states.
241
Bowyer Ledgers, C1414., and item 1549 on the ‘Checklist of Printing 1710-1777’.
242
Bowyer Ledgers, A152, and A28, the entry for the completion notice is dated 22 April 1731, although
this may be an error for 1730? The text of the advertisement is given in Nichols, Literary anecdotes, I., 434.
This day is published, Leges Wallicae, &c. With a Preface containing an Enquiry into to Origin and Nature
of the Welsh Laws, wherein several Mistakes of our eminent Historians are corrected. Books are delivered
by R. Gosling in Fleet-street, Fletcher Gyles in Holborn, Charles Davis in Paternoster-row, S. Brindley in
New Bond-street, and W. Bowyer, printer in White Fryars. Price to Subscribers in sheets, large paper 40s
and small pager 27s.”
243
Bowyer Ledgers, A152. The 400 copies of the demy paper issue took up 133 reams of paper at 14s per
ream, costing £93 2s, whereas the 160 copies on royal paper took 55 reams at 32s per ream, costing £84
16s.
244
The price received from booksellers after deducting their commission was £1 6s 6d for royal paper and
£1 0s 3d for demy. Likewise for books delivered to subscribers by booksellers the receipts were £1 1s 6d
and 14s 6d.
78
245
William Wotton, A discourse concerning the confusion of languages at Babel; proving it to have been
miraculous, from the essential difference between them, (London, 1730).
246
Nichols, Literary anecdotes, I. 438-442, and Bowyer Ledgers, A26. This work, concerning the origins of
languages, had been written by Wotton in 1713 and had been published without his knowledge, poorly
translated into Latin, in John Chamberlayne’s polyglot collection of the Lord’s Prayer, Oratio Dominica, in
1715. It contributed to current ideas about language families by relating Icelandic, the Romance languages
and Greek, thereby pre-dating Sir William Jones’ famous lecture comparing Sanskrit with the Classical
languages, by more than seventy years. He also suggested the technique of glottochronology (calculating
the rate of change of language by comparing ancient texts of known date, with modern forms). See
Archaeology and language, ed. Roger Blench and Matthew Spriggs, 4 vols. (London: Routledge, 1999),
vol. 3, Artefacts, languages and texts, 6-9.
247
Bowyer Ledger¸ slips S1635-1638.
Bowyer Ledger¸ slips S1635-1638. The references are to William Innys in St Paul’s Churchyard and
Thomas Payne bookseller in Wrexham. Other booksellers mentioned in the ledger slips or in the list of
subscribers include Thomas Longman, Charles Rivington, Jacob Tonson, Joseph Smith, John Brotherton,
and Thomas Ward, of London John Lewis of Holywell, and Messrs. Hammond and Leake of Bath.
248
The work is described as ‘Lately published’ in an advertisement in John Burton. Odoiporountos
meletemata. (London, J. & J. Rivington, 1752).
249
250
Bowyer Ledgers, A153
251
It was a frequent practice for Harley to make multiple subscriptions to such learned works and then give
the extra copies away to libraries (David Stoker, ‘Harley, Edward, second earl of Oxford and Mortimer
(1689-1741)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [accessed 1 Oct
2004: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12337]).
252
The inscribed copy is currently in the Lambeth Palace Library as part of the Sion College collection.
253
Geraint H. Jenkins has undertaken an analysis of the social standing of the subscribers to eighteen
significant Welsh titles published between 1707 and 1731 (Literature religion and society in Wales, 258-9).
From this it is clear that only Edward Lhuyd’s Archaeologia Britannica (Oxford, 1707), which had half as
many subscribers as Leges Wallicae, had a higher proportion who were either titled, designated as esquire,
or else were members of the higher clergy.
John H. Farrant, ‘Clarke, William (1695-1771)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford
University Press, 2004 [accessed 25 Sept 2004: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5538].
254
255
William Clarke, The connexion of the Roman, Saxon, and English coins deduced from observations on
the Saxon weights and money (London:1767).
256
They also had a daughter Anne, born 1729.
John Nichols gave a brief sketch of her character (Literary anecdotes, v.4 374-5). “Nature and education
never formed, I believe, a more singular and engaging compound of good-humoured vivacity and rational
devotion. Her whole life seemed to be directed by the maxim … ‘Serve God, and be chearful’. There was a
degree of irascible quickness in her temper, but it was such as gave her rather an agreeable than a dangerous
spirit to her general manners. Her anger was never of long continuance, and usually evaporated in a comic
bon-mot, or in a pious reflection.”
257
Keith Maslen, ‘Printing for the author: from the Bowyer printing ledgers, 1710-1775’, The Library:
Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, 5th ser. XXVII (1972), 302-309, 308.
258
259
John Rhydderch, The English Welch dictionary (Shrewsbury: printed and sold by the author, 1725).
Gambold’s dictionary was complete in 1722 and proposals for its publication were advertised in 1727, but
he died in 1728 before it was published, Dictionary of Welsh biography, 273, and Rees. ‘Developments in
the book trade’, 37.
260
Davies, Bywyd a gwaith Moses Williams, pp. 25-7.
261
Ibid. p.25, quoting from B.L. Sloane MS. 4067, f.213.
Roberts, ‘Williams, Moses (1685-1742)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and Dictionary of
Welsh biography, 1060, and the entry for Baxter in Biographia Britannica: or, the lives of the most eminent
262
79
persons who have flourished in Great Britain and Ireland, from the earliest ages, 5 vols. (London, 177893), vol. 2 p. 23.
263
Lambeth Palace Ms. 1373 fo.73, letter from Wake to David Wilkins 1 Feb. 1727/8.
264
Lambeth Palace Ms. 1373 fo.103, letter from Thomas Tanner to David Wilkins 28 Apr. 1732
265
David Wilkins, Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae, a Synodo Verolamiensi, A.D. 446, ad
Londinensem A.D. 1717. (London: R. Gosling, F. Gyles, T. Woodward, and C. Davis, 1737), which was
dedicated to Wake. For an account of Wake’s role in the compilation of this work see David Douglas,
English scholars (London: J. Cape, 1939), 276-284.
“And no doubt, other Saxon and British Princes before thes, published divers Laws; as may be Instanced
from the Laws of Howel Dha, which as we hear, will speedily be published by the Reverend Dr. Wotton”.
Claude Fleury, The history of the origine of the French laws. Translated from the French. By J. B. Esqr;
With a preface and notes, shewing, the analogy of the laws of the antient Gauls and Britons. (London,
1724).
266
267
Rowland Jones, The origin of language and nations, hieroglyfically, etymologically, and topografically
defined and fixed, (London, 1764).
268
John Cleland, Specimen of an etimological vocabulary, or, essay, by means of the analitic method, to
retrieve the antient Celtic. (London, 1768).
269
See Melville Richards, The laws of Hywel Dda (Liverpool University Press, 1954), 12-4. The works
referred to are Thomas Richards, Antiquae linguae Britanniae thesaurus (1753) and John Walters, An
English-Welsh Dictionary, (London, 1794).
John Walters, A dissertation on the Welsh language, pointing out it’s antiquity, copiousness,
grammatical perfection, (Cowbridge, 1771).
270
Dafydd Jenkins, ‘A hundred years of Cyfraith Hywel’, Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie, 49-50 (1997),
349-66, 351.
271
See T. Gwynn Jones ‘Social life as reflected in the laws of Hywel Dda’, Aberystwyth Studies, 10 (1928),
103-28, and T. Jones Pierce ‘Social and historical aspects of the Welsh laws’, The Welsh History Review,
special number (1963), 32-49.
272
273
Goronwy Edwards, ‘Studies in the Welsh laws since 1928’, 27.
274
William Wotton, A sermon preached in Welsh before the British Society in the Church of St Mary leBow, London, upon St David’s Day, 1722[/3]. (London, 1723), foreword
275
Y Bibl cyssegr-lan, yr hen destament a’r newydd (Llundain [London], 1717).
276
Thomas Parry, A history of Welsh literature, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955, 67.
277
Wotton, A sermon preached in Welsh, foreword.
St Chrysostom, In Matthaeum Homilia xv. “For others indeed, if they fall ten thousand times, can obtain
forgiveness. But the Teacher, if this befalls him, is cut off from all excuse and must pay the last penalty.”
278
80