Edward Evan (Q387474)

Overall: Evan took an early interest in Welsh poetry. The DNB records an oral poetry performance in 1735 -- an englynion he sang in the eisteddfod held in Cymer, Glamorgan. While apprenticed to Hopkin, Evan worked on mastering the Welsh strict metres and bardic grammar; he composed an ‘exemplifying ode’ -- "a composition incorporating one of each of the canonical twenty-four strict metres" (DNB). He also made some Welsh translations of Pope, Samuel Butler, Bishop Horne, and Isaac Watts. His verse was popular among the Welsh inhabitants of upper Glamorgan. "He became a somewhat romantic figure after it was claimed in the Gentleman's Magazine in November 1789 that he and Iolo Morganwg were by then the only surviving legitimate descendants of the ‘Ancient British Bards’" (DNB).