John Morgan (7 February 1688 – 28 February 1733 or 1734) was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 clergyman, scholar and poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

.

Life

Morgan was born at Llangelynnin

Llangelynnin, Gwynedd

Llangelynnin is a small village and community in Gwynedd, Wales.- Location, History & Amenities :It sits on a slope above Cardigan Bay to the north of Tywyn. The A493 road and Cambrian Coast railway pass through the village, although Llangelynin station was closed in 1991...

, Merionethshire

Merionethshire

Merionethshire is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, a vice county and a former administrative county.The administrative county of Merioneth, created under the Local Government Act 1888, was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 on April 1, 1974...

, the younger son of the local curate

Curate

A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...

. He studied at Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...

 from 1704 to 1708, and is thought to have been influenced by Edward Lhuyd

Edward Lhuyd

Edward Lhuyd was a Welsh naturalist, botanist, linguist, geographer and antiquary. He is also known by the Latinized form of his name, Eduardus Luidius....

, the antiquary, whilst he was there. He was ordained in 1709 and spent a year as curate of Llandegfan

Llandegfan

Llandegfan is a village on the south of Anglesey, North Wales.The original village Hen Llandegfan was on the ancient way from the crossing of the Menai Strait at Porthaethwy via Pentraeth to Beaumaris...

, Anglesey

Anglesey

Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

. From 1710 to 1713, he was curate of Llanfyllin

Llanfyllin

Llanfyllin is a small town in Powys, Mid Wales, United Kingdom.- Location, history and amenities :Llanfyllin's population at the date of the 2001 Census was 1,407. The town lies on the River Cain by the Berwyn Mountains in Montgomeryshire. It is known for its holy well, dedicated to Saint Myllin....

, Montgomeryshire

Montgomeryshire

Montgomeryshire, also known as Maldwyn is one of thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. Montgomeryshire is still used as a vice-county for wildlife recording...

 before becoming curate (1713) and then vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

 (1728) of Matching

Matching, Essex

Matching is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England.The village of Matching lying on undulating land is separated from Stort valley by the parishes of Harlow and Sheering...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, a position he held until his death in February 1733 or 1734. This led to his commonly being known as John Morgan Matchin. He was buried in the parish church in Matching.

Work

Morgan had a particular interest in Welsh literature, and was one of the "London Welsh", a group intent on preserving and promoting Welsh culture in the capital, from around the time of his appointment to Matching. He wrote poetry, but was also a prose writer and translator. His best known work is (‘Devout musings on the four last things’), first published in 1714, became a minor classic, with an eighth edition appearing in 1830, almost one hundred years after his death. Other works include a collection of proverb

Proverb

A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...

s and colloquialism

Colloquialism

A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...

s and, it is thought, some translations of Tertullian

Tertullian

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian , was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and...

 and Cyprian

Cyprian

Cyprian was bishop of Carthage and an important Early Christian writer, many of whose Latin works are extant. He was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa, perhaps at Carthage, where he received a classical education...

 published in 1716. He was concerned about the English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

-only education policy of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, saying in letters to his Oxford contemporary Moses Williams

Moses Williams

Moses Williams was a Welsh antiquarian scholar.He was born the son of Samuel Williams, Vicar of Llan Dyfriog and Rector of Llan Gynllo, Cardiganshire, and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Jenkin Powell Prytherch, in Y Glaslyn, near Llandysul, Ceredigion, in south-west Wales.He was ordained a deacon...

that the result would be "barbarism". He also discussed matters of literature and antiquary, and these letters were studied later in the eighteenth century by those involved in the cultural revival of Wales at that time.