Sydney Smith [q. v.] to give his opinion on the recently appointed ecclesiastical commission, and in reply appeared the first of three remarkable letters which Sydney Smith addressed to him on the subject. Singleton died, unmarried, at Alnwick Castle on 13 March 1842.
[Gent. Mag. 1842, i. 560; Stapylton's Eton School Lists, p. 30; Grad. Cant. p. 366; Reid's Life and Times of Sydney Smith, pp. 103, 326; Cat. of Dublin Graduates, p. 518.]
SINNICH, JOHN (d. 1666), theologian, was born in the county of Cork of Roman catholic parents. He was educated at the university of Louvain, where he took orders as a secular priest and obtained the degree of doctor of theology. In 1641 he became president of the greater theological college at Louvain, and in 1648 he was appointed professor of theology in the university. He died there on 8 May 1666, leaving his personal property to the college to found bursaries to maintain students from Ireland at Louvain, Bruges, or Turnhout.
He was the author of: 1. ‘Confessionistarum Goliathismus Profligatus; sive, Lutheranorum Confessionis Augustanæ Symbolum profitentium Provocatio repulsa.’ The dedication is dated 31 Oct. 1656. A second edition, of which a unique copy is in the British Museum, was published at Louvain, 1667, fol. 2. ‘Saul Exrex: sive de Saule, Israeliticæ Gentis Protomonarcha,’ licensed at Louvain on 30 May 1662. A second edition was published at Louvain in 1665, and a second part was published at Louvain in 1667 after Sinnich's death. Both are in the British Museum. His death prevented the issue of a third part. Johann Hallervord (1644–1716), the German bibliographer, assigns to him ‘Vindiciæ Decalogicæ,’ Louvain, 1672, 4to (Bibl. Curiosa, 1676, p. 203).
[Ware's Irish Writers, ed. Harris, 1764, p. 165; De Ram's Analectes pour servir à l'Histoire de l'Université de Louvain, ii. 64, 89.]
SION or John, LLYWELYN (d. 1616?), Welsh bard, of Llan Gewydd, near Bridgend, Glamorganshire, was one of the series of mid-Glamorgan antiquaries who carried on the bardic traditions of this district from mediaeval times to the age of Iolo Morgannwg [see Williams, Edward, 1746–1826] and Dr. William Owen Pughe [q. v.] Among his instructors are mentioned Meurig Dafydd and Thomas Llewelyn; like the former, he became (in 1580) president of the 'Gorsedd' or bardic congress of Glamorgan. A letter from him to Meurig Dafydd, printed in 'Adgof uwch Anghof' (Penygroes, 1883, p. 1), shows him as a copyist of Welsh manuscripts, whose work was to be paid for at the rate of 1l. a month. Many of the manuscripts printed from Iolo Morgannwg's collection in the Iolo MSS. (1848) were transcribed by him. His chief work was a complete account of the bardic system of Glamorgan, which he wrote in his old age. It formed the basis of 'Cyfrinach y Beirdd,' compiled by Edward David or Dafydd [q. v.], and sanctioned at a 'Gorsedd' held in 1681. It was not published till 1829. Sion died about 1616.
[Preface to Heroic Elegies of Llywarch Hên (1792), lxiii; Edward Dafydd's preface to Cyfrinach y Beirdd; preface to Barddas (Welsh MSS. Soc. 1862), vol. i. pp. lxxxiii-v.]
SION LLEYN, known to his neighbours as John Roberts (1749–1817), Welsh poet, was born in 1749 at Traean in the parish of Llan Armon, Carnarvonshire. He spent most of his life as a schoolmaster at Pwllheli, in the Lleyn district of the same county. Becoming skilful in the Welsh ‘strict’ metres, he was for about forty years a well-known, though not specially gifted, member of the group of the Carnarvonshire poets who held a commanding position at this time. Dafydd Ddu Eryri was his close friend and correspondent, and in 1810 included in his collection of Welsh verse entitled ‘Corph y Gainc’ four of the compositions of Sion Lleyn. In 1800 Roberts wrote for the Gwyneddigion Society of London a ‘cywydd’ on ‘Knowledge and Learning,’ which the society printed soon after with some other poems. Ashton mentions (Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, p. 590) a pamphlet printed at Dolgelly (no date) entitled ‘Caniadau Moesawl a Difyr,’ as the work of Sion Lleyn; but most of his poems are, it is believed, still in manuscript. He died 7 May 1817, and was buried at Deneio, near Pwllheli. Sion Wyn o Eifion (John Thomas) was his nephew. ‘Gardd Eifion’ (Dolgelly, 1841) contains (pp. 111–12) an elegy by Robert ap Gwilym Ddu upon him.
[Ashton's Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig; letters in Adgof uwch Anghof (Penygroes, 1883); Leathart's History of the Gwyneddigion, p. 33.]
SION TREREDYN (fl. 1651), Welsh translator. [See Edwards, John.]
SION y POTIAU (1700?–1776), Welsh poet. [See Edwards, John.]
SIÔN GLANYGORS (1767–1821), Welsh comic and satirical song writer. [See Jones, John.]
