The name of this amiable person was Rice ap Thomas. The
romance was certainly at one time in his custody, and was handed down as
a valuable legacy to his descendants, among whom the present translator
has the honour to rank himself. Rice ap Thomas, Esquire, was a man of a
most sweet and inoffensive disposition, beloved and respected by all his
neighbours and tenants, and "passing rich with 'sixty' pounds a year."
In his domestic he was elegant, hospitable, and even sumptuous, for the
time and country in which he lived. He was however naturally of an
abstemious and recluse disposition. He abounded in singularities, which
were pardoned to his harmlessness and his virtues; and his temper was
full of sensibility, seriousness, and melancholy. He devoted the greater
part of his time to study; and he boasted that he had almost a complete
collection of the manuscript remains of our Welch bards. He was often
heard to prefer even to Taliessin, Merlin, and Aneurim, the effusions of
the immortal Cadwallo, and indeed this was the only subject upon which
he was ever known to dispute with eagerness and fervour. In the midst of
the controversy, he would frequently produce passages from the Pastoral
Romance, as decisive of the question.
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