ld in a place
called Lower Pen Parchell, on land which once belonged to the celebrated
Iolo Goch. My parents afterwards removed to the Nant (or dingle) near
Nantglyn, situated in a place called Coom Pernant. The Nant was the
middlemost of three homesteads, which are in the Coom, and are called the
Upper, Middle, and Lower Nant; and it so happened that in the Upper Nant
there were people who had a boy of about the same age as myself, and
forasmuch as they were better to do in the world than my parents, they
having only two children whilst mine had ten, I was called Tom of the
Dingle, whilst he was denominated Thomas Williams."

After giving some anecdotes of his childhood he goes on thus:--"Time
passed on till I was about eight years old, and then in the summer I was
lucky enough to be sent to school for three weeks; and as soon as I had
learnt to spell and read a few words I conceived a mighty desire to learn
to write; so I went in quest of elderberries to make me ink, and my first
essay in writing was trying to copy on the sides of the leaves of books
the letters of the words I read. It happened, however, that a shop in
the village caught fire, and the greater part of it was burnt, only a few
trifles being saved, and amongst the scorched articles my mother got for
a penny a number of sheets of paper burnt at the edges, and sewed them
together to serve as copy-books for me. Without loss of time I went to
the smith of Waendwysog, who wrote for me the letters on the upper part
of the leaves; and careful enough was I to fill the whole paper with
scrawlings which looked for all the world like crow's feet. I went on
getting paper and ink, and something to copy now from this person, and
now from that, until I learned to read Welsh and to write it at the same
time."

He copied out a great many carols and songs, and the neighbours observing
his fondness for learning persuaded his father to allow him to go to the
village school to learn English. At the end of three weeks, however, his
father, considering that he was losing his time, would allow him to go no
longer, but took him into the fields in order that the boy might assist
him in his labour. Nevertheless Tom would not give up his literary
pursuits, but continued scribbling, and copying out songs and carols.
When he was about ten he formed an acquaintance with an old man,
chapel-reader in Pentre y Foelas, who had a great many old books in his
possession, which he all