Welsh Journals

Dec, 1881. BYE-GONES. 347 reign of Richard II., the Manor of Oswestry was granted to Lord Scrope, King of Man, the armorial bearing of which Island is well-known to be the Three Legs of Man —the very form of the above street." The communication was signed "L.M.O." Commenting on this statement;, "N.W.S." in Bye-gones, Feb. 23, 187G, quoted Price's History of Oswestry for the fact that the street was called Leg-street at an earlier date, and it will be seen by those of your readers who are subscribers for the publica¬ tions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society that Mr. Stanley Leighton refers in one of his papers to a Grant (18 Edw. It, 1324) by the Earl of Arundell to the Bur¬ gesses of Oswestry of two shops '' in the row which is called Legge streete, betwixt the shop3 of Richard the stranger and William son of William the baker." In looking over the Oswestry Corporation books I have found an entry, under the date 1687—when Jame3 Felton was Muringer—of an account " P'd Edward Morris for mend¬ ing y'e bridges in Newgate & Legg streete gate." This is the only entry I have found where the Black Gate is so called; and it plainly indicates where one of the "legs" stretched out. The other two branched (from the 'seat' in the open space near the Cross Keys) to the Cross in one direction and the top of Beatrice-street in the other. Can any reader say where the old hostel called " The Three Legs of Man " was situated ? Jarco. REPLIES. PARLIAMENT OF ENGLAND (Nov. 30,1SS1). In the history of Oswestry Grammar School, published in the new number of the Shropshire Archaeological Society Transactions, it is stated that there were probably two David Holbache's who were local members of Parliament early in the fifteenth century, but that they wer e never in Parliament at the same time. In looking over the list of Shropshire members in Bye-gones (Mar. 24,1880,) I find under the year 1413, that David Holbach is returned both for the County of Salop and Borough of Shrewsbury. How is this discrepancy to be explained ? Akgus. [We are obliged to Argus for giving us the opportunity of explaining. According to the new " Blue Book " there were two elections in 1413, the one for a Parliament summoned to meet at Westminster 14 May, 1413, and the other to meet at Leicester 29 Jan., 1413-14. A David Holbache is given as representing the county town in the former, and the county in the latter ; though it should be observed that no return for the county town is given for the latter date, so it may be after all the fact that two David Holbache's sat in the same Parliament.—Ed.] SHROPSHIRE BORDER WORDS (Sep. 7, 1881). In looking over an old Table of Tolls taken at the Oswes¬ try Gates in 1673, I have found a few terms I cannot quite comprehend, and should be glad to have elucidated. I give the entries in full, with the words I am in doubt about in italics :— ffor ev'y horse load of spills £ penny ffor ev'y horse load of yarn to make mapps a penny ffor ev'y pack of moulds a penny ffor a Pedlar or Shempsters box a penny ffor ev'y horse load of wooden canns a penny. Jabco. Joram.—Hartshorne, writing in 1841, says that this word means " a large dish," but Miss Jackson, forty years later, gives the meaning as "a large quantity of good eatables or drinkables." Doubtless the one is the ori¬ ginal, and the other the secondary, signification. In the course of time the name has been transferred from the vessel itself to its contents. This seems to be an instance of the change which Archbishop Trench thus notices, in his English, Past and Present. "Sometimes a word does not thus merely narrow or extend its meaning, but alto¬ gether changes it, and this in more ways than one. Thus a secondary figurative sense will occasionally quite put out of use and extinguish the literal, until in the entire pre¬ dominance of that it is altogether forgotten that it ever possessed this." Nurse-tender.—I do not find this word in either of our county glossaries, but it is perhaps sufficiently peculiar to be worth notice here. It simply means one who nurses or tends the sick and dying, and is a specimen of that Salopian love of duplicated terms which gives rise to such expressions as a "double couple" for twins, and which led a woman to say of a drunkard that " he soon brought his end to a speedy close." R.E.D. Shrewsbury. [" Nurse-Tending " was mentioned in Bye-gones Sep. 6, 1S76.1 TWM SION CATTI (Nov. 2, 1881).—I was for¬ tunate enough the other day to pick up an original edi¬ tion of this work. It was published at Aberystwyth by John Cox in 1828, by whom it is stated to have been " printed for the author." The second edition,of which I also possess a copy, was printed and published at Cow- bridge by J. T. Jones for E. Pool : there is no date on the title page but the special preface to this edition is dated " Builth, Breconshire, August 1839." The second edition differs considerably from the first; several scenes are changed ; fresh characters are introduced ; and there is perhaps as much as fifty or sixty pages of additional incident. On the fly leaf of this latter volume the follow¬ ing announcement is made :— Works ready and preparing for the press, By the Author of Twin Sion Catty. 1.—A Tale of the Times of Terror, and specimens of an un¬ published work to be entitled the Worthies of Wales with National Songs and Scenic Sonnets. 2.—The Points and Poetry ot the Welsh Watering places and other Cambrian haunts of pleasure. 3.—The Dolorous Doings and Merry Mishaps of Dick Shon Davydd.the Welshman who forgot his mother tongue. 4.—The life and adventures of Will y Tee-Heer (Will o'r Ty Hir) the Welsh Smuggler. Whether any of these works actually were published I cannot say: I suspect they never appeared, for I have sought for them in several public libraries and have not found them. Mr. Prichard was a ready and versatile writer; his poem of "Cantref y Gwailod, or, the Land beneath the Sea," deserves to be better known than it is. There are selections from it given in that dainty little volume of poetry relating to Wales, compiled by him, called the " Cambrian Wreath." Then he wrote a biographical work entitled " Heroines of Welsh History," dedicated, I believe, to Lady Llanover—which, though it may be complete as far as it goes, was not carried as far as its author intended. A "Guide to Aberystwyth," which went through several editions, is the only other work with which I kno%v his name to be connected. While in Swansea this summer I made enquiries respecting the latter days of this sadly neglected Welsh author, and I was told I would find all I wanted to know in " Gam- well's Guide to Swansea." I procured the book, but I am sorry to say the information there given (p. 104) is but meagre. All it says is that " he lived for some time in Swansea, where he was derided by the vulgar on account of his artificial wax nose, which was kept in its place by his spectacles. He fell asleep over his books in his poor lodging at Thomas-street and his death was accelerated by, if not the result of, the burns he received from his clothes and papers taking fire." From other sources I learnt that for several years before his death he was in deep poverty, private charity only interposing itself betwixt him and the workhouse, hia best