#WaterPoet2017 Update (in which I'm a bit mean about JT)
On this day in 1652 John Taylor reached Cardiff and dined with Aaron Price, the Town Clerk:
the 23 of August, I rode eight miles to the good town of Cardiff, where I was welcome to Mr Aaron Price, the town clerk there, with whom I dined, at his cost and my peril. After dinner he directed me two miles further, to a place called Llanrumney, where a right true bred generous gentleman, Thomas Morgan Esquire, gave me such loving and liberal entertainment, for which I cannot be so thankful as the merit of it requires.
John Taylor's account of Wales is full of such entries about generous hospitality. His account offers a glimpse of Wales at an interesting time following the Civil War. As someone who grew up in Wales, I'm fascinated by Taylor's travel writing about the country. As Taylor has gone on his journey this summer I've been criss-crossing Wales myself, conscious of his achievement to travel, while in his early seventies, with his pony in a country where he didn't speak the language and often didn't know his way. And yet, insightful as he can be, I'm also often frustrated that he didn't say more about certain places that he visited.
Taylor is equally interested in discussing his experience as he is in telling his readers about Wales. In a sense this is as it should be because Taylor wasn't writing a history of Wales, as he reminds readers at the end of his account. However, sometimes his brevity makes one wonder if he took any notes at all on his journey, or was simply writing from memory on his return. If it wasn't for some very specific information (for example, about market prices in Carmarthen), I'd be tempted to think he had lost his notes!
'sometimes what I would like to know is not what Taylor wants to tell us'
Having said all that, Taylor is not afraid to ramble (!) on at times or to take time (or rather space) to share over-dinner stories, for example the tale he hears while staying at Golden Grove. Paper wasn't cheap as all that, and there must have been some pressure to keep the account of his 600 mile journey to a reasonable length, but sometimes what I would like to know is not what Taylor wants to tell us. He can be very specific about what he had for dinner when he is proud of himself for acquiring food in a poor area (for example, a hen boiled with bacon in Barmouth), but he doesn't have much more to say about Cardiff, where I live, other than that it is a 'good town': still, it receives higher praise than Aberystwyth, which he calls 'a miserable market town'. But even this needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Arguably, Taylor goes out of his way to show the downfall of the town because he counts Thomas Bushell, who used to run the silver mines there, as 'a good friend': he implies that the loss of Bushell has contributed to the poverty of the place.
Frequently, Taylor is not afraid to praise his friends or patrons in his account. There is clearly a reciprocal relationship in which Taylor pays back his host and hostess by painting his stay in glowing terms to the public. Perhaps Taylor is 'in peril', as he says after his meal with the Cardiff Town Clerk, because he is in debt until he has returned the favour in some way? Is this a cosy form of blackmail?! If you don't put me up for the night and look after me, then I won't have anything nice to say about you in my account. Taylor was a public figure: not only did he publish his travel writing but he also ran a pub with his wife in London. No doubt Taylor would have traded his stories about people and places there too. That said, he clearly did enjoy people's company and they often enjoyed his. He wouldn't have been welcome to stay at Llantrithyd for three nights if he wasn't entertaining company.
There are also gaps in John Taylor's account, which I have discussed with people on twitter as the project has developed. For example, Taylor almost certainly took the ferry from Aberdyfi to cross the estuary before travelling on to Aberystwyth but he doesn't mention it. Did he not mention it because he was worried about being perceived as cheating in his travels? Taylor's Bill, attached to the the start of his account, suggests that there was something of a wager element to his journey and Taylor may not have wanted to give his readers any excuse to renege on their promise to pay him for his account on his return.
Another lacuna is apparent when John Taylor travels in Pembrokeshire. The Water Poet specifies that he stays at The Hart in Tenby thanks to Mistress Powell, probably the landlady. But he doesn't have anything to say about his lodgings in the rest of the area, such as at St Davids. Did he lose his notes, or did he actually stay most of the time in Tenby or Carmarthen? Do have a look at his account and tell me what you think!
If you want to talk about John Taylor, you can use #WaterPoet2017 on twitter or visit the John Taylor Facebook page.
John Taylor has nearly completed his journey around Wales but he still has more stories to share as he travels home. When it comes to stories along the way, he certainly saves the best for last. Follow on #WaterPoet2017 @DrJ_Gregory.
