Christened 29 October 1732, son of John Pierce and his wife Anne who kept the 'Harp' inn at Llanfair-talhaearn, Denbighshire. The poet Talhaiarn quotes David Jones's self-portrait: 'long, lanky, hirsute, and thirsty.' He was the boon-companion of Ieuan Fardd when Ieuan was curate of Llanfair; other cronies of his were Robert Thomas and John Powel - according to Additional Letters of the Morrises of Anglesey (1735-86) (p. 736) he wrote an elegy upon the latter. J.H. Davies gives a list of printed ballads by him (Bibliography of Welsh Ballads, 85, 676, 684, 721); the most famous of these was his song in praise of the harp. Some of his work appeared in Cyfaill y Cymro, 1767. It is believed that he died c. 1782.
Published date: 1959
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