Welsh Journals

LITERARY AND ART NOTES. 563 Lazarus, and Mr. Barrett. Among those classed proxime acceserunt at the same examination was Miss Keturah Evans, also of Dowlais. In the great fire which recently took place at Messrs. Kegan Paul and Company's premises in Paternoster Row, a beautifully" illustrated edition of Mr. Lewis Morris's " Epic of Hades " was destroyed, as also were several editions of his other works. It is to be hoped, however, that the copies will very shortly be reproduced. Since the publication of our last number Mr. Askew Roberts writes as follows: —The question has been asked if some of the funeral customs within the memory of those now living do not point to a more pronounced ceremony on the part of our forefathers ? One writer states —but only on hearsay —that last century it was usual, when the corpse was brought out of the house, and laid upon the Elor, or bier, for the next of kin of the feminine gender " to give over the coffin a number of white loaves, in a great dish, and sometimes a Welsh cheese with a piece of money stuck in it, to certain poor persons, after which a cup of drink was presented, also over the coffin, of which a little was to be drunk immediately. When this was done the minister knelt down and said the Lord's Prayer." No one has corroborated this from the definite information of father or grandfather; but they have spoken of a more modified form of, perhaps, the same ceremony, within their own re¬ collection. Less than half a century ago it was usual at every " respectable " funeral to have made up into packets a couple of bfts of cake—one of rich plum, and the other plain— wrapped in black-edged paper and sealed with black wax. One of these was presented to each of the invited guests, who took it home unopened. At funerals of less pretensions a " large round biscuit, of the size and form of an ordinary tea-saucer inverted, took the place of the packet of cake. These were * served ' to each of the parties attending the funeral (by one of the most respectable men present) on a tray called the ' Hand- board,' or * Server.' The ceremony was gone through just before ' Raising the Body.' After this the < Tankard' of not- spiced ale was offered to each person present. This was made of pewter, and had a lid: everyone was expected to take a sip." In narrating this in Bye-yones of May 17, 1882, the writer also called attention to a note in the history of the parish of Llan- feehain, published in Mont: Coll: by the Rev. Maddock Williams in 1872. He became rector in 1851, and found it was usual to allow cne of the sacramental vessels (a silver flagon presented to the parish in 1691) to be used in place of the •customary tankard—a custom he at once denounced, to the no small chagrin of the parishioners. How far these customs form a lingering remnant of the Sin Eater, your readers must judge for themselves. L L 2