• Name: Williams, Edward (Iolo Morganwg)
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 10  March  1747
• Death Date: 18  December  1826
• Occupation: Welsh-language poet
• Occupation: literary forger

Godwin's first entry for 1795 on the 1796 lists is 'Williams bard'. Then, in darker ink, 'bard' is crossed out and 'E' inserted before 'Williams'. This is slightly strange, though it seems to indicate two different ways of referring to the same person - as suggested by the fact that the same is done with the next name, 'T Walker Manch' - and that Godwin is referring to Edward Williams, also known as Iolo Morganwg, the Welsh poet. His DNB entry shows he was in London at this time: 'Williams tired of his work as a mason in 1791 and went to Bath, hoping to become an Anglo-Welsh poet, but soon moved to London, where he appears mostly to have remained until 1795, surviving on the charity of English patrons and the London Welsh, having a wide circle of friends, such as Robert Southey, the generous London Welsh currier Owen Jones (Owain Myfyr), father of the designer Owen Jones, and several political radicals favouring the French Revolution.'

There are two appearances at the start of January 1795: '2. F. Write 1 page: revise. Tea Dyer’s, w. Porson, Holcroft, Williams bard, Staley, Thelwal, Chennels & mrs Spence.' '3. Sa. Revise. Dine at Northmore’s, w. Walker Manchr, Wakefield, B. Hollis, Disney, Dyson & Williams b.; talk of God.' There is corroborating evidence in Ford K. Brown's biography of Godwin, who refers to him 'as one of the oddest characers whom the diary mentions for these years' and quotes a Coleridge letter to Thelwall - 'poor Williams, the Welsh bard (a very meek man), brought the tear to my eye by a simple narration of the manner in which Godwin insulted him under the pretence of reproof, and Thomas Walker ot Manchester told me that his indignation and contempt were never more excited than by an unfeeling and insolent speech of the said Godwin to the poor Welsh bard.' (p. 106) There is a chance that there might be more - there are many uncoded Williams, especially in the 1790s, with several possible candidates.

• DNB
• Ford K. Brown, The Life of William Godwin (London and Toronto: J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd. and New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1926).

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.