Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/132

  first assumed the power to ordain their own ministers; and he grew up amid the controversy over Calvin's five great points. Ebenezer Morris, John Elias, &c., were then leading lights in the denomination. In 1835 he became editor of 'Cronicl yr Oes,' perhaps the first Welsh political paper; this he conducted for four years, writing most of it himself. The leaders in the 'Chronicle' for 1836 on the 'House of Lords,' 'The Ballot,' and 'Church Rates' were strongly radical, and they brought on young Edwards the charge of socialism and sympathy with Tom Paine. From 1839 to 1874 Le was secretary of the Calvinistic Methodist Association. In January 1845 appeared the first number of the 'Traethodydd,' of which he was co-editor with his namesake [q.v.] till 1855, and after that with another till his death in 1886. He was editor of the 'Drysorfa' (a magazine founded in 1779 by of Bala [q. v.] 1846-86. Besides this he published two volumes of the 'Preacher,' a hymn-book, the Welsh Psalmist; 'Methodist Diary;' James Hughes's 'Expositor,' with additional notes; Henru Rees' of Liverpool, 'Sermons,' 3 vols. He was the first to publish a serial story in Welsh; of these he wrote three.



EDWARDS, SYDENHAM TEAK (1769?–1819), natural historical draughtsman, was the son of a schoolmaster and organist at Abergavenny. Having made copies of certain plates in Curtis's 'Flora Londinensis,' they were seen by a Mr. Denham, and by him brought under the notice of, the founder of the 'Botanical Magazine' [q. v.], who was so pleased with their execution that he sent for Edwards to London, and there had him instructed in drawing. From 1798 onwards Edwards made nearly the whole of the drawings for the 'Botanical Magazine,' and several for the 'Flora Londinensis.' He accompanied Curtis on various excursions, that the plants and animals they found might be drawn from life. His patron died in 1799, but Edwards continued to furnish the 'Botanical Magazine' with drawings, and he also issued six parts of 'Cynographia Britannica, consisting of Coloured Engravings of the various Breeds of Dogs in Great Britain,' &c., London, 1800-5, 4to. He also supplied the plates of a serial publication, the 'New Botanic Garden,' which began in 1805, was completed in 1807, and was reissued by a different publisher in 1812 with text, the title being altered to 'The New Flora Britannica.' In 1814 Edwards was induced to withdraw from the 'Botanical Magazine,' and to start the 'Botanical Register,' the text of which was at first contributed by J. B. Ker-Gawler, and at a later period by Dr. John Lindley. Edwards died at Queen's Elms, Brompton, 8 Feb. 1819, in his fifty-first year.



EDWARDS, THOMAS (fl. 1595), poet, was the author of two long narrative poems, 'Cephalus and Procris' and 'Narcissus,' issued in a single volume by John Wolfe in 1595. The book is dedicated to 'Thomas Argall, Esquire,' and although Edwards's name does not appear on the title-page, it is appended to the prefatory matter and to the end of each poem. As early as 22 Oct. 1593 a book entytuled "Procris and Cephalus," divided into foure partes,' was entered in the Stationers' registers and licensed to Wolfe, A passage in Thomas Nashe's 'Have with you to Saffron Walden' (1596) referred to the poem, and was until recently misinterpreted to imply that ] was its author. Mention is also made of a poem called 'Cephalus and Procris' in W[illiam] C[lerke]'s 'Polimanteia,' 1595. The work has only lately come to light. In 1867 a fragment was discovered in Sir Charles Isham's library at Lamport Hall, Nottingham; in 1878 a complete copy, and the only one known, was found in the Peterborough Cathedral Library. The latter was reprinted, with elaborate critical apparatus, by Mr. W. E. Buckley for the Roxburghe Club in 1882. 'Cephalus and Procris' is in heroic couplets, 'Narcissus' in seven-line stanzas; Ovid's stories are for the most part followed, but there is much originality in the general treatment, and real poetic feeling throughout, Each poem concludes with a lyrical envoy; that to 'Narcissus' refers in appreciative terms to Spenser, Daniel, Watson, and Marlowe under the names 'Collyn,' 'Rosamond,' 'Amintas,' and 'Leander.' 'Adon,' another of Edwards's heroes, is probably Shakespeare. The poet is doubtless identical with a Thomas Edwards who contributed to Adrianus Romanus's 'Parvum Theatrum Urbium,' Frankfort, 1595, fifty-five Latin hexameters on the cities of Italy (reprinted and translated in Robert Vilvain's 'Enchiridium Epigrammatum Latino-Anglicum,' London, 1654). Two short, poems signed 'Edwardes,' from Tanner MS. 306, f. 175, are printed as by the author of 'Cephalus and Procris' in Mr. Buckley's volume.

There is some reason to suppose that the poet was an Oxford man, but it is not possible