Welsh Journals

NOTES AND QUERIES. S9 "Dark-eyed WELSHMEN" (vi—476, 574).—The following passage, taken from p. 36 of " Carnhuanawc's " book, mentioned by " F. S. A., Brecon," proves it to have been Mr. James Bon wick's authority on the above subject :— " It is a remarkable fact, and no less so as having remained so long un • "noticed, that in Britain the dark coloured eye is always found to prevail in "the neighbourhood of coal mines, and where coal is used as geneial fuel." London. Av Ifan. # * The Six Eater (vi.—477).—" Black Letter Folio " will find reference to this custom in a book entitled The Jicmaincs of Gentilisme a»d Jvdaisme, by John Aubrey, 1686-87 (London, 1881, 8vo.) On page 35 of this work the author mentions the practice as existing in Hereford in his time where he saw the Sin-Eater, who was " a long, leane, ugly, lamentable poor raskal " This custom, "though rarely used in our dayes, yet by some people was < .. , | even in the strictest time of ye Presbyterian government." He also states it was practised at Llangorse, in Brecon, where "Mr. Gv\in, the minister, about 1640, could not hinder ye performing of it. I believe this custome was heretofore used all over Wales. This custom (methinks) alludes something to the scape-goat o ye old lawe. See Lev., chap, xvi., verse 21, 22." London. At Ifan. * * Pontypridd Bridge (vi.—569).—This famous bridge was for many years after its erection the longest spanned in the world ; but since the beginning of this century it has been surpassed by several in this country as well as in other countries. The longest in the United Kingdom at present is the Grosvenor Bridge, Chester, which has a span of 200 feet; next comes London Bridge, with its centre arch, which has a span of 152 feet (the arches on each side of it are 140 feet), which is of the same span as Pontypridd Bridge. Beside the above, Edwards built many other bridges in various parts of South Wales, which are here inserted in the order of their erection :—1, Usk Bridge, at Usk ; 2, a Bridge over the Tawy ; 3, Pont-ar-dawe, 10 miles above Swansea ; 4, Bettws Bridge ; 5, Llandovery Bridge ; 6, Wychbree Bridge, about two miles above Morriston ; 7, Aberavon Bridge ; 8, Glasbury Bridge, near Hay, on the Wye. London. Ap Ifan. The span of this bridge measures 140 feet, the largest by 42 feet of any other in the world at the time the bridge was completed in 1755. Edwards built Pantyscallog Bridges on the Usk, near Trecastle ; Dolauhirion Bridge, on the Towy, near Llandovery, and "numeious other bridges in South Wales." 1 have in my collection several engravings of Pontypridd Bridge—the largest after Richard Wilson, the celebrated landscape painter—as well as an engraved portrait of William Edwards, the self-taught bridge builder. [" Cattwg" (Merthyr) is thanked for a reply embodying some of the same facts.—Ed. H.D.] Brecon. F.S.A. * * u "Pontyprcdd" (vi.—569).—The original name of this place is Pont y-ty-pridd. The bridge of the earthen house," so called in the neighbourhood from a mud house which stood near it. London. Av Ifan. # * Iolo Morganwc, and Lord Macat lay (vi.—186, 282, 376, 572).—I thank your Chelmsford correspondent " C for his bad opinion of me. It would be a pity, however, to enhance the notion of self-importance in him by reciprocating, and so I forbear. Will you allow me to state that although I remembered Carlyle in a list of woks he was advising a convalescent correspondent to read included " Macaulay's aiitory or any other novel," yet I assure your ill-tempered correspondent that, with this exception, I had not seen or heard of another word the s-age had said