)
There is an interesting note on Sir Richard Clough, the founder of Bach
y Graig, in Professor Rhys's edition of Pennant's _Tours in Wales_
(vol. ii, p. 137). The Professor writes to me:--
'Sir Richard Clough's wealth was so great that it became a saying of the
people in North Wales that a man who grew very wealthy was or had become
a Clough. This has long been forgotten; but it is still said in Welsh,
in North Wales, that a very rich man is a regular _clwch_, which is
pronounced with the guttural spirant, which was then (in the 16th
century) sounded in English, just as the English word _draught_ (of
drink) is in Welsh _dracht_ pronounced nearly as if it were German.'
_Evan Evans._
(Vol. v, p. 443.)
Evan Evans, who is described as being 'incorrigibly addicted to strong
drink,' was Curate of Llanvair Talyhaern, in Denbighshire, and author
of _Some Specimens of the Poetry of Antient Welsh Bards translated into
English_. London, R. & J. Dodsley, 1764. My friend Mr. Morfill informs
me that he remembers to have seen it stated in a manuscript note in a
book in the Bodleian, that 'Evan Evans would have written much more if
he had not been so much given up to the bottle.'
Gray thus mentions Evan Evans in a letter to Dr. Wharton, written in
July, 1760:--
'The Welsh Poets are also coming to light. I have seen a discourse in
MS. about them (by one Mr. Evans, a clergyman) with specimens of their
writings.
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