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"OLD BRECKNOCK CHIPS/' A Column of Antiquarian Chit-Chat relating to the County of Brecknock. NOTES, QUEEIES, AND EEPLIES, on Subjects inter¬ esting to Breconshire, must be addressed to EDITOB, Brecon County Times, Brecon. Real names and addresses must be given in confidence, and MSS. must be written legibly, on one side of the paper only. NOVEMBER 5th, 1886. NOTES. A BEECON POETESS OF THE 18th CENTUKY.—In Poems on Various Subjects, Entertaining, Elegiac, and Religious, by Jane Cave (afterwards Mrs Winscorn), whose father was an excise officer at Talgarth, Breconshire, about the time when Howel Harris waj in the zenith of his fame, there is a " Poem on the Death of Mrs Maybery, of Brecon " (page 69), which I have tran¬ scribed, thinking it of more than passing interest:— And can it be ? and is her spirit fled ? Is dear Ophelia numbered with the dead ? Are all the days of her probation past ? And is her die unalterably cast ? Heart piercing thought—flow tears from ev'ry eye, While ev'ry bosom rises with a sigh. What goodness, prudence, wisdom, laid in dust! Ah ! Who the greatest Potentate can trust ? Where's he! could I each mortal's name rehearse, Who pow'r hath gain'd this sentence to reverse. Obdurate King—Insatiable Death ! Who thus a period puts to mortal breath ; By thy rude hand no deference is paid Greatness with indigence is laid ; Destruction is effectual to thy name, And all thy direful acts thy pow'r proclaim. What hopes are spoil'd ? What near connections broke, By this thy sudden unrelenting stroke ? The life destroy'd, the valuable life Of mistress, sister, daughter, mother, wife. See her domestics who her goodness knew, Pour forth the tribute to her merit due, While weeping sisters, bath'd in tears remain, And sighing brothers scarce their grief sustain. While tender, aged Parents' hearts o'erflow, Nor joy nor rest, nor consolation know. While duteous children, sent her by the Lord, In fruitless tears the mournful day record. And then behold, but ah ! what heart can guess The grief profound, the depth of that distress, Which seized at once the partner of her bed, When told his wife, his otner self was dead ? Trembling,methinks, with ev'ry thought amaz'd. Astonish'd at the messenger he gaz'd ! The vital stream congeals in ev'ry vein, While scarcely spirits, strength, or life remain. Anxious at once the whole dread scene to know, Yet dreads to hear what will increase his woe. At length inform'd—delug'd in grief he lies, Nor hopes redress, but from his weeping eyes He calls the friendly tear to ease his grief, But these recoil, nor deign to give relief. Thus with a heart o'erborne, and spirits broke, He sinks beneath th' intolerable stroke. He ruminates—at length the silence breaks, And thus, methinks, in pensive accents speaks : Alas ! for me, my happier days are o'er, I hear the voice—behold the face no more Of her, my friend, my best belov'd, my wife, The joy, support, and comfort of my life; The tender mother of my progeny, The prudent mistress of my family ; How many useful years might she have spent, To bless those children which by Heaven are lent, To guide their feet, inculcate filial fear, While ev'ry look maternal love did bear ? Her care judiciously rul'd all within, When I for weeks and months have absent been. My helpmate she, who with superior grace, Adorn'd the mistress, wife, and mother's place. Thus mourns her spouse, while numbers swell the cry, Her death demands a tear from ev'ry eye. In her the poor and wretched found a friend, On her did for their chief support depend. Blest with a noble, fi ee, and gen'rous heart, In her mean av'rice could claim no part. And now 'twould be but just, if in return, A flood of tears were pour'd upon her urn ; While all those grievances she did redress, Her name and memory for ever bless. The book from which I take this poem was published at Winchester in 1783. A second edition was published in 1789 at Shrews¬ bury. In both editions there are some lines " On the death of the Author's mother, Mrs Cave, of Brecon, who died February 6,1777." The Author's father, I have been told, died at Brecon, where he set up in his business as a glover, after leaving the excise : he lived in the Struet, somewhere near where Mr Williams's factory now stands. The late Mr John Lewis, the glover, who died a year or two ago, at an advanced age, well remembered Mr Cave. The poem on Mrs Maybery gives a fair idea of the Author's elegiac powers : the book also contains an elegy " On the death of the Bev. Mr Howell Harris, who died July 21, 1781." Another " On the death of the Bev. Mr Watkins, of Llanwrsk, in the County of Brecon, who died the 9th of January, 1774." Also a " Hymn for Consecration sung at the Open¬ ing of the Countess of Huntingdon's chapels in Brecon, Worcester, etc." The Editor. CHUBCHYABD'S DESCBIPTION OF "THE TOWNE AND CHUBCHE OF BBEAKENOKE." {Continuedfrom September 11th). THE AUNCIENT HOUSE OF GAMS. Three couple lyes, one ore the others head, Along in tombe, and all one race and lyne : And to be plaine, two couple lyeth dead, The third, likewise, as destnie shall assyne. Shall lye on top, right ore the other twaine : Their pictures now, all readie there remaine, In signe when God appoynts the terme and date, All flesh and blood must yeeld to mortall fate. These are in deede, the auncient race of Gams, A house and blood, that long rich armes doth give: And now in Wales, are many of their names, That keepes great trayne, and doth full bravely live. The eldest sonne, and chiefest of that race, Doth beare in armes, a ramping lyon crownd,