PREFACE.

Several of these papers appeared in the Sunday at Home during 1887-8. They were very kindly received; and as a consequence they have been revised and much enlarged, and are now offered in a separate volume.

No history of Welsh Hymnology has been written in the vernacular. But I must acknowledge my indebtedness, in the historical part, to articles by the Revs. Thomas Rees, D.D., of Swansea; Wm. Rees, D.D., of Liverpool; W. Glanffrwd Thomas, of St. Asaph; and W. Alonzo Griffiths, of Sketty. Especially in the case of Mrs. Ann Griffiths, I owe much to her biography, edited by Mr. Morris Davies. Beside this, I have been aided in several matters by my friends the Revs. J. B. Jones, B.A., Brecon, and J. Evans-Owen, Llanberis.

In the hymns themselves my chief help has come from EMYNAU Y CYSSEGR ('Hymns of the 6 Sanctuary,') a national collection published by Messrs. Gee and Son, Denbigh. To them I am also obliged for permission to use some of the copyright hymns; and to Messrs. Hughes and Son, Wrexham, for a similar permission in the case of Islwyn's hymn.

The metres of the original have been adhered to, except in very few and trivial instances.

The selections given are representative only not exhaustive of authors, and much less so of hymns. Mr. Gee's collection contains 2,685--and that by no means drains the stream. A few have attempted more or less in this work before me: there is plenty of room for others to come after. May it be to these what it has been to me--a lasting pleasure of love!