Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Myddelton, William
MYDDELTON, WILLIAM (1556?–1621), Welsh poet and seaman, was the third son of Richard Myddelton, governor of Denbigh Castle, by Jane, daughter of Hugh Dryhurst, also of Denbigh. Richard Myddelton was the fourth son of Foulk Myddelton, who claimed descent from Ririd Flaidd; on Richard's death in 1575 his elegy was written by Rhys Cain, and he was buried at Whitchurch, the parish church of Denbigh, where there is a brass effigy showing Richard kneeling at an altar with his nine sons behind him, while round the figure of his wife, who had predeceased him in 1565, are grouped their seven daughters. Among the sons were Sir Hugh Myddelton [q. v.] and Sir Thomas Myddelton [q. v.], lord mayor of London, the father of Sir Thomas Myddelton (1587–1666) [q. v.], the parliamentarian. William was, according to Wood, educated at Oxford, but he must be distinguished from the 'William Myddelton of co. Denbigh, gent.,' who matriculated from Gloucester Hall on 23 Oct. 1584, aged 15 (Foster, Alumni Oxon.), and was of Gwaynynog; no other Oxford student of the name appears in the university register at a possible date. Myddelton, while young, certainly became a seaman, and may have been the 'Captain Middleton' mentioned in a letter to Lord Burghley of 6 Nov. 1590 as ' returning with a prize of pepper' (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser.); though possibly this refers to John Middleton [see under Middleton, Sir Henry]. In 1591, when the English squadron, under the command of Lord Thomas Howard, had been sent to the Azores, with the view of intercepting the homeward-bound treasure-ships of Spain, George Clifford, earl of Cumberland, who was then on the coast of Portugal, sent off a pinnace, under Myddelton's command, to warn Howard of a powerful fleet that was on the point of sailing from Spain to attack him. The pinnace being 'a good sailer' Myddelton was able to keep company with the Spanish ships for three days, 'both to discover their forces as also to give advice of their approach,' and on 31 Aug. (1591) he delivered the news to Howard scarcely before the Spaniards were in sight. Howard forthwith retired, but Sir Richard Grenville (1541?–1591) [q. v.], in spite of Myddelton's eloquent entreaties, remained behind in the Revenge (cf. The Last Fight of the Revenge at Sea, ed. Professor Arber, London, 1871).
Previous to this Myddelton was a recognised authority on Welsh prosody; Dr. John David Rhys speaks eulogistically of him in his 'Welsh Grammar' (London, 1592, fol.), and inserts therein an appendix contributed by Myddelton, under his bardic name of Gwilym Ganoldref—a Welsh translation of William Middle town—together with two original poems intended to illustrate Welsh metres (Cambrytannicæ . . . Lingua Institutiones, &c., pp. 235–49). But finding that Rhys's 'Grammar,' owing to its being in Latin, was of little use to his fellow-countrymen, Myddelton, in 1593, published a work of his own, entitled 'Bardhoniaeth neu Brydydhiaeth, y Lhyfr Kyntaf' (London, 8vo), which was reprinted in 1710 as a part of a work called 'Flores Poetarum Britannicorum, sef Blodeuog Waith y Prydyddion Brytanaidd' (Shrewsbury, 12mo; 2nd edit., London, 1864; 3rd edit., undated, Llanrwst), and has been laid under contribution by almost every subsequent writer on Welsh prosody. Myddelton's chief work was his metrical version of the Psalms, published in 1603 (after the author's death) by Thomas Salesbury, under the title 'Psalmae y Brenhinol Brophwyd Dafydh, gwedi i cynghaneddu mewn mesurau cymreig,' London, 4to. This work was finished, according to a note; at the end, on 24 Jan. 1595, in the "West Indies, 'apud Scutum insulam occidentalium Indorum.' A second edition, edited by the Rev. Walter Davies [q. v.], was published at Llanfair Caereinion in 1827. Being written in strict Welsh metres, this version never became popular, and was superseded by the free metrical version of Edmund Prys [q. v.] Myddelton died on 27 March 1621, probably at Antwerp, where he was buried. From his brother's account-book, which is extant at Chirk Castle, it appears that he was a Roman catholic.
Pennant (Tours in Wales, ed. 1883, ii. 146) and several other writers (e.g. Yorke, Royal Tribes of Wales, ed. 1799, p. 107) state that Myddelton, with Captain Thomas Price of Plas iolyn and a Captain Koet, was the first who smoked tobacco publicly in the streets of London. A similar story is told of his brother Hugh.
[For the pedigrees of the Myddeltons, see Dwnn's Heraldic Visitations, ii. 334-5, and Llyfr Silin, printed in Archaeologia Cambrensis, 5th ser. v. 107-12. See also Wood's Athenæ Oxon.; Williams's Eminent Welshmen, p. 353; Hollands's Cambrian Bibliography; a Memoir of Chirk Castle, Chester, 1859. An excellent Welsh biography, by the Rev. Walter Davies, was published in Y Gwyliedydd for March 1827, and reprinted in Davies's Works (Gwaith Gwallter Mechain), pp. 431-40.]