Notes and Queries, Number 04, November 24, 1849Various
History
Notes and Queries, Number 04, November 24, 1849
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
Sir,--I am very glad to have elicited the information contained in your
number just published respecting the copy of Borde's work in the Chetham
Library. As I have a great respect for Mr. Ames, I must remark that he
had no share in the blunder, and whenever a new edition of his work is
undertaken, it will be well to look rather curiously into the
enlargements of Dibdin. In the mean time this information naturally
leads to another Query--or rather, to more than one--namely, "_Had_ Mr.
Bindley's copy this unique imprint? and what became of it at the sale
of his books? or is it only one of the imaginary editions which give
bibliographers so much trouble?" Perhaps some one of your correspondents
may be able to give information.
Yours, &c.
S.R. MAITLAND.
* * * * *
QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 2
MADOC THE SON OF OWEN GWYNED.
The student who confines himself to a single question, may fairly expect
a prompt and precise answer. To ask for general information on a
particular subject, may be a less successful experiment. Who undertakes
extensive research except for an especial purpose? Who can so far
confide in his memory as to append his name to a list of authorities
without seeming to prove his own superficiality? I throw out these ideas
for consideration, just as they arise; but neither wish to repress the
curiosity of _querists_, nor to prescribe bounds to the communicative
disposition of _respondents_.
Did Madoc, son of Owen Gwynedd, prince of Wales, discover America?
Stimulated by the importance of the question, and accustomed to admire
the spirit of maritime enterprise, at whatever period it may have been
called into action, I have sometimes reflected on this debatable
point--but can neither affirm nor deny it.
I advise the _student_, as a preliminary step to the inquiry, to attempt
a collection of all the accessible evidence, historical and
ethnographic, and to place the materials which pertain to each class in
the order of time. The historical evidence exists, I believe
exclusively, in the works of the chroniclers and bards of Wales; and the
ethnographic evidence in the narratives of travellers in America. The
opinions of modern writers, the gifted author of _Madoc_ not excepted,
he is at liberty to consider as _hors-d'oeuere_--to be passed on, or
tasted, _à plaisir_. As an exemplification of this plan, I submit some
short extracts, with critical remarks:--
"Madoc another of Owen Gwyneth his sonnes left the land
[North-Wales] in contention betwixt his brethren, and prepared
certaine ships with men and munition, and sought adventures by
seas, sailing west, and leaving the coast of Ireland so far
north, that he came to a land unknowen, where he saw manie
strange things."--CARADOC OF LLANCARVAN, _continued--The
historie of Cambria_, 1584. 4º. p. 227.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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