AWDURON ac ARTISTIAID / AUTHORS and ARTISTS J–W

Yr oedd Lewis Morris yn un o ffigurau pwysicaf y ddeunawfed ganrif yng Nghymru, ac nid tasg hawdd yw rhoi darlun cyflawn ohono mewn erthygl fer. Wrh ysgrifennu amdano yn 1966, dyma oedd gan y diweddar ysgolhaig Hugh Bevan i ddweud amdano:

Yr oedd y bardd hwn ar yr un pryd yn ysgolhaig, yn wyddonydd ac yn dechnolegwr cynnar. Cynlluniodd offer mor wahanol â melin wynt a meicrosgob.Wrth ei alwedigaeth bu ar wahanol adegau yn wyliwr trethi, yn fesurydd tiroedd, yn wneuthurwr mapiau ac yn oruchwyliwr mwynfeydd. Yn ei oriau hamdden ymddiddorai mewn llysieueg, cregineg, peirianneg, cemeg a llawer gwyddor arall . . . Pan aeth i Landrindod er mwyn ei iechyd, aeth â’i feicrosgob ac offer pwrpasol eraill gydag ef i ddadansoddi’r dŵr er mwyn dewis y ffynnon fwyaf llesol.

Y mae nodiadau ymhlith ei bapurau ynglŷn â sut i fynd ati i lunio telyn – yn wir, fe geir dywediad adnabyddus amdano sy’n honni ‘y medrai wneud telyn a’i chanu, gwneud llong a’i hwylio, a gwneud cywydd a’i ganu gyda’r tannau’. Yn ei ddydd yn ddiamau, ef oedd y pennaf awdurdod ar yr iaith Gymraeg a’i llenyddiaeth, a chydnabyddid hynny gan bawb yng Nghymru a oedd yn abl i farnu, a chan bawb y tu allan i Gymru hefyd, a oedd yn ymddiddori yn ei hiaith a’i hanes. Bu’n athro ac yn gefn i feirdd a llenorion ei gyfnod, megis Goronwy Owen ac Evan Evans (Ieuan Brydydd Hir) ymhlith eraill. Er gwaethaf yr helbulon a ddaeth i’w ran wedi iddo symud i Geredigion (gweler isod), parhaodd i gasglu’n ddyfal ddeunydd ar gyfer ei eiriadur mawr, Celtic Remains, na welodd olau dydd hyd ar ôl ei farw, a hynny’n rhannol yn unig.

Gŵr tywyll ydoedd o bryd a gwedd, ac yn dra chorffol a barnu yn ôl rhai o’r llysenwau a roddwyd arno gan ei frodyr a’i nai, John Owen, wrth ysgrifennu at ei gilydd –’Y Tew’, ‘Y Tew Mawr o Allt Fadog’, ‘Y Bras o Benbryn’ a ‘The Fat Man of Cardiganshire.’ Y dystiolaeth sydd gennym yw nad oedd yn ŵr hoffus. Gŵr balch ydoedd, trahaus ar brydiau, caled a dideimlad. Un parod iawn i ddigio a llyncu mul. Tueddai i guddio pethau oddi wrth y rhai agosaf ato, ac yr oedd iddo’r gair o fod yn ariangar a chybyddlyd ? hynny cyn iddo ddod i Geredigion. Gŵr hunanol yn barod i fanteisio ar garedigrwydd eraill. Eto ceir cip arno yn un o’i lythyrau yn mwynhau ei hun yng nghanol ei blant ar ei aelwyd, ac ni ellir llai na chlosio ato pan sonia mewn llythyr at Edward Richard, Ystrad Meurig, am farwolaeth ei fab John, o’r frech wen pan oedd yn ddeg oed, ‘Collais y dydd arall fy mebyn annwyl’, meddai, ‘dros yr hwn y rhoeswn fy hoedl’.

Gŵr o Fôn oedd Lewis Morris. Yno y ganed ef yn 1701, yn un o bedwar brawd ac un chwaer, ac yno y bu byw hyd ei ddeugeiniau cynnar. Dysgodd grefft y cowper gan ei dad, ac ymddiddorodd mewn syrfeiaeth. Cyflogwyd ef yn 1724 i wneud arolwg o stad Owen Meyrick, sgweier Bodorgan, ac ar sail y gamp honno, a dylanwad Meyrick, comisiynwyd ef gan y Morlys i wneud arolwg o arfordir Cymru o gyffiniau Penmaen-mawr hyd at Aberdaugleddau. Y dasg saith mlynedd hon a ddaeth ag ef gyntaf i Aberystwyth, ac yno denwyd ef gan y diwydiant mwyn plwm a oedd mewn bri yng ngogledd y sir yr adeg honno. Y canlyniad fu setlo yma, a dod yn fuan iawn yn ddirprwy stiward tiroedd y Goron (hynny yw, y Llywodraeth) yng Ngheredigion. Yn y swydd honno un o’i ddyletswyddau oedd sicrhau bod y tirfeddianwyr lleol yn talu rhan o’r elw a gaent am y mwyn plwm ar eu tiroedd, i’r Goron, ond cyndyn iawn oeddynt i wneud hynny. Amhoblogaidd iawn oedd Lewis yn eu plith, a’r canlyniad fu i ugain mlynedd olaf ei oes, a dreuliodd yn yr ardal hon, fod yn rhai cythryblus a gofidus iddo. Bu’n rhaid iddo dreulio cyfnodau maith yn Llundain yn ymladd achosion cyfreithiol, a dioddefodd ei iechyd o’r herwydd. Mynych y sonia yn ei lythyrau at ei frodyr am y peswch a’r ‘fygydfa’ a’i blinai’n barhaus, ac am y meddyginiaethau rhyfedd ac ofnadwy a lyncai i geisio eu lleddfu.

Pan ddaeth Lewis Morris gyntaf i’r ardal hon yr oedd yn ŵr gweddw a chanddo ddwy ferch a adawyd yng ngofal ei deulu ym Môn. Tebyg iddo fyw am ychydig yng Nghwmsymlog, ond erbyn 1747 yr oedd wedi prynu rhan o fferm Allt Fadog, nid nepell o Gapel Madog. Uwchben drws Allt Fadog gwelir carreg i goffáu ei drigiant yno, a osodwyd rai blynyddoedd yn ôl gan Gymdeithas y Penrhyn. Bu’n byw yno gyda’i ail wraig, Anne, a oedd hanner ei oedran, sef unig ferch ac aeres stad fechan y Penbryn yng Ngoginan, lle aeth y ddau i fyw yn ddiweddarach. Ganed iddynt naw o blant, ac yn ychwanegol at y rheini daeth ei ddwy ferch o’r briodas gyntaf i fyw ato, yn ogystal â’i nai, John Owen, mab ei chwaer, Elin.

Y mae hanes ei flynyddoedd yn yr ardal hon yn un tra diddorol. Ar wahân i’r helynt a gafodd gan y sgwieriaid trachwantus lleol – daliodd un ohonynt bistol llwythog wrth ei ben unwaith, a’i lusgo i’r carchar yn Aberteifi – cafodd drafferth di-ben-draw hefyd gan ei ferch Pegi, o’i briodas gyntaf, a fynnodd garu a phriodi yn groes i’w ewyllys. Bu â’i fys mewn sawl antur yn y diwydiant mwyn plwm ei hun, a breuddwydiai’n gyson am y ffortiwn a fyddai’n sicr o ddod i’w ran rhyw ddydd. Ni ddaeth serch hynny, a bu farw’n gymharol dlawd yn 1765 a’i gladdu o flaen yr allor yn eglwys Llanbadarn Fawr lle gwelir maen yn y llawr yn nodi ei fedd – maen a osodwyd yno gan ei or-ŵyr, y bardd Saesneg Fictoraidd, Syr Lewis Morris.

Lewis Morris was one of the most important figures in Wales during the eighteenth century, and to do him justice in a short article is a well-nigh impossible task. Writing about him in 1960, the late Hugh Bevan, had this to say:

This poet was at the same time a scholar, a scientist, and an early technologist. He devised instruments as varied as a windmill and a microscope. By occupation he was at different times a collector of taxes, a land surveyor, a cartographer and a mine supervisor. In his leisure hours he took an interest in botany, in sea-shells, engineering, chemistry and many other sciences. . . When he went to Llandrindod [Wells] for his health’s sake, he took with him his microscope and other relevant instruments in order to analyse the water and choose the most beneficial well.

In his day he was without doubt the greatest authority on the Welsh language and its literature, a fact acknowledged by all in Wales who were in a position to judge, and by all those outside her borders who took an interest in her language and history. He acted as teacher and supporter to many young Welsh poets and scholars of his period, as for example Goronwy Owen and Evan Evans (Ieuan Brydydd Hir), both of whose contribution to Welsh poetry and scholarship is of prime importance. In spite of the tribulations that were to beset him after he moved to live in Ceredigion (see below), he continued to gather material for a project which he called Celtic Remains, a vast dictionary of place-names and personal names mainly. Sadly he died before the work was ever published, though part of it saw the light of day after his death.

He was dark and swarthy of appearance, and of some corpulence judging by some of the nicknames given him by his brothers and his nephew, John Owen, in their letters to one another, among them being ‘The Fat Man of Cardiganshire’. The evidence that we have is that he was not a likeable man. Proud and arrogant, he could be hard and unfeeling. He was ready to take offence and to hold a grudge. He tended to keep things from those nearest him, and was considered to be tight-fisted and miserly – traits that he had before ever coming to Ceredigion. A selfish man who was not averse to taking advantage of the kindness of others. Yet we catch a glimpse of him enjoying himself among his grandchildren at his fireside, and one cannot but feel sorry for him when he informs Edward Richard of Ystrad Meurig of the death from smallpox of his ten year old son, John. ‘I lost the other day my dear son’, he writes, ‘for whom I would have given my life’.

Lewis Morris was an Anglesey man. He was born there in 1701, one of four brothers and a sister, and it was there that he lived until his early forties. He learnt the cooper’s trade from his father, but also interested himself in land surveying. He was commissioned in 1724 to survey the estate of Owen Meyrick of Bodorgan, and on the successful completion of that feat, and through the good offices of Meyrick, he was commissioned by the Admiralty to survey the coast of Wales from Penmaen-mawr in the north to Milford Haven in the south. It was this seven-year task that brought him to Aberystwyth for the first time, and there he was drawn to the lead-mining industry that flourished in north Ceredigion at that time. The result was that he settled here, and was soon appointed deputy steward of the Crown manors in Ceredigion. In that post one of his duties was to ensure that the local landowners forwarded a percentage to the Crown of their profits from the lead mined on their land, which they were exceedingly reluctant to do. As a result, Lewis became very unpopular in their sight, and the last twenty or so years of his life that he spent in this area were for him years of afflictions and grief. He was called upon to travel to London on several occasions, being forced to remain there sometimes for months, while various issues and wranglings between the greedy landowners and the Crown passed through the courts. His health suffered as a consequence, and his letters to his brothers are full of references to his chronic coughing and asthmatic attacks, and to the weird and wonderful medicines he took in an attempt to ease his discomfort.

When Lewis Morris first came to this part of Ceredigion he was a widower with two daughters who were left with members of his family in Anglesey. He probably lived for a short period at Cwmsymlog, but by 1747 he had bought part of Allt Fadog farm near Capel Madog. Above the main entrance to Allt Fadog a plaque was placed some years ago by Cymdeithas y Penrhyn to commemorate the fact that he had lived there. Sharing his new home was his second wife, Anne, who was half his age, and who was the heiress of a small esatate called Penbryn in Goginan, to where they both later moved to live. Nine children were born to them, while his two daughters from his first marriage came to live with him, as well as John Owen, his sister Elin’s son.

The story of his years in this area is an interesting one. Apart from the difficulties presented by the local squires – one of them on one occasion held a loaded pistol to his temple, and had him dragged to Cardigan prison – his daughter Peggy from his first marriage was also a source of great tribulations. He took part in several lead-mining ventures, dreaming always of a large fortune which was bound to come his way some day. It never did come, and when he died in 1765 he was far from being a rich man. He was buried inside the church of Llanbadrn Fawr, near the altar, where his memorial stone may be seen, and which was placed there by his great-great grandson, the Victorian poet and man of letters, Sir Lewis Morris.

Saif y gerflun ar lechwedd a dyrra uwch dirwedd ucheldir Cymru (ger Llyn Syfydrin 15 Mehefin 2019) , mae’r gwaith Gwrthsefyll yn atseinio adeiladedd siambr gladdu Neolithig, ond heb ei ddynwared. Mae’n wead ac yn blygion bwaog yn codi o’r ddaear, a charreg mwsoglyd yr oesoedd Neolithig yn cael ei ddisodli gan ymblethiad o fil o fandiau elastig.

Yma, fe ddynwared yr artist elfennau o dirwedd Cymru, gan ddefnyddio iaith weledol a dylanwadau diwylliannol sydd wedi dod i’w rhan ers byw yn Llundain. Mae’n priodi cerrig llonydd sydd wedi diffinio’r tirwedd ers cyn cof, gyda gwrthrych masgynhyrchiad, tafladwy, ac sy’n rhan annatod o dirlun materol de-ddwyrain Llundain. Ardal sy’n llawn siopau nwyddau rhad a siopau trin-gwallt aml-ddiwylliannol.

Mae’r hyn sy’n ymddangos yn gyfuniad bywgraffyddol, yn archwilio hefyd ein canfyddiad o’r hyn a grëir gan ddyn, h.y. y naturiol yn cyferbynnu a’r hyn a gynhyrchid yn fasnachol. Mae’r gweddillion Neolithig sy’n ymdoddi yn y dirwedd naturiol yn eistedd yn lletchwith wrth ymyl y bandiau elastig, cynnyrch synthetig sy’n cael eu troi allan gan ffatrïoedd pell, a’u cludo dros gyfandiroedd. Miloedd o flynyddoedd yn ôl bu i’r bobloedd Neolithig hefyd gynhyrchu gwrthrychau, fel y tystia llefydd a gyfeirir atynt fel ‘ffatrïoedd bwyeill’, e.e.ffatri fwyell Mynydd Rhiw ym Mhen Llŷn yn un o nifer. Torrwyd cerrig anferth o chwareli, a’u cludo dros y tir am gannoedd o filltiroedd, fel cerrig gleision a gludwyd o’r Preseli i greu Côr y Cewri. Saif bwlch amser rhwng y ddau fath o greu-gynhyrchu, ond diwallu anghenion dynol yr oes yw nod gyffredin y ddwy.

Wrth gyfuno gwrthrych cyn-hanesyddol ag un a fasgynhyrchwyd, crea’r artist creiriau posib sy’n talu teyrnged i adeiladedd Neolithig, tra ar yr un pryd yn adlewyrchu diwylliant defnyddwyr yr oes. Dyma ddiwylliant sydd mor anghynaladwy ag ydy yn amgylcheddol drychinebus, ac felly cwestiyna’r gwaith ein defnydd difater o adnoddau naturiol, ein hetifeddiaeth i’r blaned.

As a sculpture that stands on a ridge overlooking the Welsh landscape (near Llyn Syfydrin 15 June 2019), Gwrthsefyll echoes the structure of a Neolithic burial chamber,without imitating it. It arches and weaves through itself, rising out of the ground, the moss-covered stone surfaces of Neolithic structures being replaced by a net of thousands of woven elastic hairbands.

Here, the artist mimics elements of the Welsh landscape using the visual language and cultural influences that she has gained through living in London, merging the unmovable stone structures that have marked the land since prehistory with a throwaway, mass-produced object that plays its part in shaping the material landscape of south-east London, an area filled with bargain pound shops and multicultural hair salons.

This seemingly biographical combination is also an exploration into our perception of the ‘man-made’, questioning what is perceived as natural versus the manufactured.The Neolithic remnants that blend into a natural landscape sit awkwardly alongside the elastic hairband,a synthetic product churned out by factories and transported across continents. Yet Neolithic man also manufactured objects, such as their sites known as ‘axe factories’, found in places such as Mynydd Rhiw axe factory in Pen Llŷn. Large pieces of stone were also cut out of quarries and transported over hundreds of kilometres of land, including the famous ‘blue stones’originating from the Preseli mountains that are now part of Stonehenge. Both production systems are separated by the gulf of time yet share the manipulation of materials to satisfy human needs.