_William Owen Pughe_, D.C.L., was born at Ty’n y Bryn, in the parish of Llanvihangel y Pennant, county of Meirioneth, on the 7th of August, 1759. A man who is, by universal consent, pronounced the greatest literary character which old Cambria has ever produced at any period of time; and this may be truly said, without detracting from the unfading renown of our Taliesins, Aneurins, Gwalchmais, Cynddelws, Hywel Ddas, Goronwy Owens, or any other Cambrian author, because they did not exercise their talents, however great, in so varied and rich a field, or so extensive and bright a sphere as Dr. Owen Pughe. The family removed to Egryn, in Ardudwy, a short period after his birth, and there he passed his youthful days until he was sent to school at Altringham, near Manchester; and when arrived at seventeen years of age, he settled in London. Here he became intimate with Owain Myvyr and others, members of the Gwyneddigion; and projected and commenced his great work, the “Welsh and English Dictionary.” He laboured, at intervals, upon this arduous undertaking for the space of eighteen years, during which he read all the remains of antiquity which could be procured to furnish materials to incorporate in this thesaurus of the words of the Welsh language. In conjunction with Owain Myvyr and Iolo Morganwg he became engaged in a work, which must elicit the warmest thanks of all Welsh scholars, intended to perpetuate, for the benefit of posterity, the existing documents of the Cymry to the close of the thirteenth century. This splendid memorial of patriotism and industry is entitled the Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, and has afforded a facility for the study of British Antiquities, which will place this department of the history of our island on a sure basis. The Cambrian Biography, the translation of the works of Llywarchhen, and an agricultural treatise for Mr. Johnes, of Havod, the superintendence of the Cambrian Register, the Greal, the edition of the poems of Davydd ap Gwilym, and numerous important communications to such works as Rees’ Encyclopædia, Warrington’s History of Wales, Hoare’s History of Wiltshire, Britton’s Beauties of England and Wales, Campbell’s Books on Wales, Gunn’s Tracts, Meyrick’s Cardiganshire, Cox’s Publications, Chalmer’s Caledonia, were the fruit of his studies and indefatigable perseverance at this period. In the year 1806, an estate in Wales devolved to him, where, after intervals spent in London, he finally settled. During this retirement he translated “Milton’s Paradise Lost,” “Heber’s Palestine,” many of Mrs. Heman’s poetical pieces, &c., into Welsh, and the “Mabinagion,” &c., into English, besides many original productions of great merit. The University of Oxford, as a testimony of estimation for his arduous and useful labours, conferred on him the degree of D.C.L. He breathed his last at Dolydd y Cae, a house at the base of Cader Idris, where he had spent a few days in the same tranquil manner as had distinguished him through life, on the 4th of June, 1835; thus closing a life useful to his country, and endeared to his family and friends, at the foot of the same mountain which had witnessed his birth. A subscription has been entered into for the purpose of raising a fund to defray the expense of erecting a monument to the memory of the erudite and amiable William Owen Pughe.