Davies, Sir Walford (Editor) (1923)
A Students’ Hymnal

Reprint 1957, Sixteenth impression
Oxford University Press

This small hymnal was the one that was handed out in assembly each morning. Measuring 6.5 inches by 4 inches with 382 pages, it contains English hymns, numbers 1 to 200, and Welsh hymns, numbers 201 to 323. Towards the end it contains six anthems, six carols, four Psalms, and at the very end the Lord's Prayer in English and in Welsh to two different melodies, though neither is the one we used at school. At the beginning of the hymnal there are forty-eight pages about hymn singing, the tonic sol-fa syllables, a general index and a metrical index of tunes.

From all of these, the one I remember singing most often is
“O Iesu mawr, rho’th anian bur”, to the tune Llef.

O Iesu mawr, rho’th anian bur,
I eiddil gwan mewn anial dir,
I’w nerthu drwy’r holl rwystrau sy
Ar ddyrys daith i’r Ganaan fry.

Pob gras sydd yn yr Eglwys fawr,
Fry yn y nef, neu ar y llawr,
Caf feddu’r oll - a’u meddu’n un,
Wrth feddu d’anian di dy hun.

Mi lyna’n dawel wrth dy draed,
Mi ganaf am rinweddau’th waed,
Mi garia’r groes, mi nofia’r don,
Ond cael dy anian dan fy mron.

from Colin Rees