Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 61.djvu/469

 from a brother the little estate of Pant y Celyn, near Llandovery, and thus he was in no pecuniary difficulties. In 1749 he married Mary (d. 1799), daughter of Thomas Francis, of Pen Lan, Llan Sawyl, and with her portion bought more land in the neighbourhood of Pant y Celyn. Pant y Celyn was henceforth his home. His ordinary duties included regular preaching at Llan Geitho, Llan Lluan, Llan Sawyl, and Caeo, but he spent many weeks each year in evangelistic tours through other parts of Wales, and continued active in this itinerant work until the close of his life. He and his family were members of the methodist society of Cil y Cwm. He died on 11 Jan. 1791, and was buried at Llanfair ar y Bryn. Two of his sons survived him: William, who became curate of Newlyn, Cornwall; John (d. 1828), who was ordained in 1779 and held several curacies, but threw in his lot with the methodists in 1786. Pant y Celyn passed ultimately to the descendants of a daughter, Sarah.

It is said that Williams's poetic gifts were first discovered in 1742 as the result of a friendly contest in hymn-writing set on foot by Howel Harris. His first volume of hymns was issued in 1744, and at once placed him at the head of Welsh hymn-writers—a position still by general consent accorded to him. Over eight hundred hymns are ascribed to his pen, and of these a large number are still in constant use, forming, indeed, the nucleus of most Welsh collections. Williams's hymns had, like those of Charles Wesley, no small share in the dissemination of methodism, and are in doctrine and in spirit a characteristic product of the movement. ‘Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah’ (first published as a leaflet in 1772) is a free translation from Welsh partly by [q. v.] and partly by the author.

The following is a list of Williams's works, from which, however, the numerous elegies and some small tracts are omitted:
 * 1) ‘Aleluia,’ a collection of hymns, Carmarthen, 1744; some of these had already appeared in another form; further parts of ‘Aleluia’ were published in 1745, 1746, and 1747, and complete editions in 1758 and 1775, all (except the last) at Bristol.
 * 2) ‘Hosanna i Fab Dafydd,’ a second set of hymns, Bristol, 1751; there was a second part in 1753, and a third in 1754, from the same press.
 * 3) ‘Golwg ar Deyrnas Crist’ (‘A Prospect of Christ's Kingdom’), a long religious poem, Bristol, 1756; 2nd edit. Carmarthen, 1764; 3rd edit. Trefecca, 1799; 4th edit. Carmarthen, 1822; 5th and 6th edits. Newcastle Emlyn, 1845.
 * 4) ‘Rhai Hymnau a Chaniadau,’ more hymns, Carmarthen, 1757.
 * 5) ‘Sicrwydd Ffydd,’ a translation of a sermon by Ebenezer Erskine, Carmarthen, 1759; reissued in 1760 and 1800.
 * 6) ‘Hosanna to the son of David,’ Bristol, 1759, a collection of fifty-one English hymns by Williams, of which a few only were translations from the Welsh.
 * 7) ‘Pantheologia,’ a Welsh history of the religions of the world, with geographical notes; it appeared in instalments from 1762 to 1774, the earlier portions at Carmarthen, the later at Brecon. In this, his first prose work, Williams adopted the dialogue form, which became his favourite style of prose composition.
 * 8) ‘Caniadau y rhai sydd ar y môr o wydr’ (‘Songs of those who are on the Sea of Glass’), Carmarthen, 1762; a collected edition of Nos. 2 and 4 reprinted in 1764, 1773 (Brecon), 1795 (Trefecca).
 * 9) ‘Letter by “Martha Philopur” to “Philo Evangelius,” with Reply,’ Carmarthen, 1763.
 * 10) ‘Ffarwel Weledig, Groesaw Anweledig Bethau’ (‘Farewell, ye things visible; welcome, ye things invisible’), Carmarthen, 1763, the first part of a new set of hymns, followed by a second part in 1766 (Carmarthen), and a third in 1769 (Llandovery); the collected edition was styled ‘Aleluia Drachefn’ (Carmarthen, about 1785).
 * 11) ‘Life and Death of Theomemphus’ (i.e. according to Williams, ‘Seeker after God’), a Welsh allegorical poem in dialogue form, conceived in the spirit of the ‘Pilgrim's Progress;’ the editions were as follows: 1st, Carmarthen, 1764; 2nd, Brecon, 1781; 3rd and 4th, Trevecca, 1795; 5th, Carnarvon, 1822; 6th, Carmarthen, 1823; 7th, Newcastle Emlyn, 1845.
 * 12) ‘Crocodil Afon yr Aipht,’ Carmarthen, 1767, a prose dialogue on envy.
 * 13) ‘Hanes Bywyd a Marwolaeth y Tri Wyr o Sodom,’ Carmarthen, 1768 (reprinted at Merthyr in 1821 and at Swansea in 1852), a similar dialogue on the use of riches.
 * 14) ‘Gloria in Excelsis,’ a further collection of hymns, of which part i. was published at Llandovery in 1771, part ii. at Carmarthen in 1772; an English set appeared in 1772 (Carmarthen), under the same title.
 * 15) ‘Liber Miscellaneorum’ (verse), Llandovery, 1773.
 * 16) ‘Aurora Borealis,’ Brecon, 1774; 2nd edit. Brecon, 1784; 3rd edit. Ruthin, 1832; a letter from ‘Ermenus’ to ‘Agrupnus’ on the religious revival in the north.
 * 17) ‘Templum Experientiæ Apertum,’ Brecon, 1777 (reprinted at Aber Ystwyth in 1839); a Welsh essay in dialogue form on the methodist ‘society’ meeting.
 * 18) ‘Ductor Nuptiarum,’ Brecon, 1777 (reprinted at Aber Ystwyth in 1810);