Canmlwyddiant Marw Iolo, 1926
Yn ystod ail hanner y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg daeth Iolo Morganwg yn ffigwr chwedlonol poblogaidd yng Nghymru.
 "Y gofeb i Iolo Morganwg, Y Bont-faen")
Y gofeb i Iolo Morganwg, Y Bont-faen
Yn ystod y 1920au drylliwyd y darlun arwrol hwn o Iolo Morganwg pan brofodd G. J. Williams fod Iolo wedi twyllo cenedlaethau o Gymry trwy'r cywyddau a briodolodd i Ddafydd ap Gwilym. Cydnabu G. J. Williams gymhlethdod cymeriad a chymhellion Iolo, ond prin bellach y gellid dathlu ei onestrwydd a'i gymwynasau llenyddol â'r un sicrwydd, hyd yn oed os oedd 'Cywyddau'r Ychwanegiad' yn profi ei fedrusrwydd fel bardd.
Dathlwyd canmlwyddiant marwolaeth Iolo Morganwg yn Rhagfyr 1926, ychydig wythnosau cyn i gyfrol G. J. Williams, Iolo Morganwg a Chywyddau'r Ychwanegiad, ymddangos. Cynhaliwyd y prif ddigwyddiad
 "Maer y Bont-faen, W. H. John, yn dadorchuddio'r gofeb i Iolo. Saif D. O. Roberts, Aberdâr, llywydd y seremoni, ar y chwith.")
Maer y Bont-faen, W. H. John, yn dadorchuddio'r gofeb i Iolo. Saif D. O. Roberts, Aberdâr, llywydd y seremoni, ar y chwith.
Yr oedd sefydlu cymdeithasau lleol yn rhan o genhadaeth Undeb Cenedlaethol y Cymdeithasau Cymraeg, ac yn Ionawr 1927 cynhaliwyd cyfarfod cyntaf Cymdeithas Cymrodorion Y Bont-faen, a ffurfiwyd yn uniongyrchol o ganlyniad i ddathlu canmlwyddiant marw Iolo. Er na lwyddodd y gymdeithas i ddal ei thir am fwy nag ychydig fisoedd yn nhref Seisnig y Bont-faen, dylid ystyried yr ymgais i gofio Iolo fel rhan o weithgarwch cyson yr Undeb dros y Gymraeg rhwng y ddau ryfel byd, yn enwedig yn sir Forgannwg.
Ymhlith y rhai a fu'n talu teyrnged i Iolo ym 1926 yr oedd John Evans, prifathro Ysgol Heol-y-cyw a cholofnydd rheolaidd i'r Glamorgan Gazette. Er na fu'n cymryd rhan yn y cyfarfodydd dathlu yn y Bont-faen, y mae'r ysgrif hon o'i eiddo yn crisialu apêl Iolo i'w edmygwyr. Pwysleisiwyd yn gyson yn ystod y dathliadau fod enwogrwydd Iolo i'w briodoli nid yn unig i'r hanesion rhyfedd amdano, ond hefyd i'w waith diflino dros ei genedl fel hynafiaethydd a bardd. Nodyn cyffredin arall oedd fod cymeriad moesol ac egwyddorol Iolo yn parhau yn her ac yn ysbrydoliaeth, ac y mae hyn yn esbonio paham na allai John Evans ac eraill ddygymod â dehongliad mwy cymhleth G. J. Williams yn sgil ei ddarganfyddiadau diweddar.
Every Vale native knows of Iolo, but few appreciate the Herculean services he rendered not only to Welsh, but also Celtic literature. Even in the Vale and all Glamorgan it has been too much the fashion to regard the sage of Flemingston as an eccentric who always went up and down the land accompanied by his little pony, which he never rode, and only utilised to bear his wallet of books and manuscript in turns with himself.
Iolo was an eccentric, but he was infinitely more - an emancipation of his race, an antiquarian and archeologist, richly endowed with the capacity and genius of painstaking [research], a poet of no mean merit, and above all an honest man of sterling worth, whom nothing or nobody could deviate an inch from the paths of virtue and rectitude. His 'Gorsedd y Beirdd', 'Coelbren y Beirdd', 'Hynafiaeth Barddas', etc., will endure and be prized as long as Welsh, spoken or printed, remains extant. The Vale has known and is proud of other excellent men, Welsh, Norman and English, but Iolo, take him all in all, is without a peer, and his savoury name outlives, and will outlive them all.
The genial Professor G. J. Williams, lecturer at the Cardiff University, and the urbane Sir Vincent Evans, who promise us, or threaten, wonderful disclosures relating to Iolo's delinquencies in attributing his own work to Dafydd ap Gwilym, will not add an inch to their stature, nor detract an inch from that of good old Iolo, who eccentric and opinionated as he was, would hardly be sufficiently so to palm his wares on those of another, who had lived and flourished in the fifteenth century. When men condescend to forgery they always do the very reverse of what Williams and Evans allege Iolo did, and if they vowed their allegations till red in their faces, few, if any, will ever believe them. They may set afoot some such stunt as that of the Bacon-Shakespeare disputation, which might flare for a day and then flicker and die out.
Iolo, who knew the virtue of every herb in field and garden, is too firmly fixed on his pedestal among English and Welsh men of letters to be affected in the least by derogators, be they small or big fry. Iolo's 'Myfyrian Archaeology', . . . is in itself an imperishable monument to the integrity, industry and ability of its famous author, who though dead since December 17th, 1826, yet liveth and inspires a multitude, scattered all the world over.
Iolo was an eccentric, but he was infinitely more - an emancipation of his race, an antiquarian and archeologist, richly endowed with the capacity and genius of painstaking [research], a poet of no mean merit, and above all an honest man of sterling worth, whom nothing or nobody could deviate an inch from the paths of virtue and rectitude. His 'Gorsedd y Beirdd', 'Coelbren y Beirdd', 'Hynafiaeth Barddas', etc., will endure and be prized as long as Welsh, spoken or printed, remains extant. The Vale has known and is proud of other excellent men, Welsh, Norman and English, but Iolo, take him all in all, is without a peer, and his savoury name outlives, and will outlive them all.
The genial Professor G. J. Williams, lecturer at the Cardiff University, and the urbane Sir Vincent Evans, who promise us, or threaten, wonderful disclosures relating to Iolo's delinquencies in attributing his own work to Dafydd ap Gwilym, will not add an inch to their stature, nor detract an inch from that of good old Iolo, who eccentric and opinionated as he was, would hardly be sufficiently so to palm his wares on those of another, who had lived and flourished in the fifteenth century. When men condescend to forgery they always do the very reverse of what Williams and Evans allege Iolo did, and if they vowed their allegations till red in their faces, few, if any, will ever believe them. They may set afoot some such stunt as that of the Bacon-Shakespeare disputation, which might flare for a day and then flicker and die out.
Iolo, who knew the virtue of every herb in field and garden, is too firmly fixed on his pedestal among English and Welsh men of letters to be affected in the least by derogators, be they small or big fry. Iolo's 'Myfyrian Archaeology', . . . is in itself an imperishable monument to the integrity, industry and ability of its famous author, who though dead since December 17th, 1826, yet liveth and inspires a multitude, scattered all the world over.
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