I think I ought to mention here, that the "Ode on the Death of a very
Intimate Friend" (page 199), was written in 1853, before I came to
reside in Wales. About three or four years after this--I forget the
date--a prize was offered at an Eisteddfod held at Neath, by Mr. James
Kenway, the then Mayor, for the best monody on the death of Mr. Edward
Evans. I competed for the prize, and obtained it. The model of the
Ode was taken by me in writing the Monody, the general conditions of
the two events being somewhat similar, and much of the same language is
used in both poems. I may add, as a matter that may be interesting to
some, that the Neath Eisteddfod prize was the first for which I
competed, and the first I obtained. The adjudicator was the late Mr.
J. Roberts (Iuan Wyllt), whose death, as I write these lines, is being
recorded in the newspapers. In adjudicating upon the poem, Mr. Roberts
said: "In this production we have the traces of a muse of a superior
order. The language is chaste and poetic, the versification is clear
and melodious, and the mournfully pathetic strain that pervades the
whole elegy harmonises well with the sorrowful character of the
subject. As regards both matter and manner, the writer has excelled by
many degrees all the other competitors, and his elegy is fully
deserving the offered prize." It is not too much to say, that to the
encouragement contained in the foregoing remarks of Iuan Wyllt was due
the spirit of emulation which led me subsequently to compete at the
various Elsteddfodau in the Principality with so much success.