Welsh Journals

Oct., 187S. BYE-GONES. 217 October 1, 1873. NOTES. MONTGOMERYSHIRE MANNERS AND CUS¬ TOMS.—Id Bye-gones a poet of a past period, one Vernon by name, has been already quoted. In his Welsh journey this accurate observer of nature and manners discovers beauties and blemishes hidden from ordinary eyes. This is his picture of Montgomeryshire, in Gent: Mag: May, 1757:— Here purling liv'lets sweetly fall, and there Down dashing cataracts astound the ear. The birds of night excursive hover round, And savage houlings thro' the woods resound. Thepeasaut here enjoys the meanest lot; Coarse are his meals, and homely i^ his cot. In sable tube, not quite four inches long, He smokes mundungus vile.—Meantime his tongue Endless narration holds; strange tales he tells Of Arthur's deeds, and Merlin's magic spells. Now whether it is that in modern Montgomeryshire a more fragrant tobacco is smoked by the peasantry, so that he does not care to lose its sweetness by airing his mouth with talk, or that the legends of Arthur and Merlin were only told to tourists,—true it is that the modern peasantry know nothing about them. The poet Vernon seems to have ended his rhapsody in Montgomeryshire, and it will be a curious study to discover which portion of the county he intended in the following description :— In this cold region, this unfertile soil, The haivest scarce repays the ploughman's toil. The blasted mountains, and the naked rocks, But just with life sustain the climbing flocks. Yet the people are thankful, for— Yet here old honesty, devoid of art, And gen'rous love springs native in the heart. Here health, content, and temp'rance, close ally'd, With smiling mirth eternally reside. . If this was so, then might modern Montgomeryshire well take a lesson from its forefathers. H B. QUERIES. THE JUBILEE TOWER ON MOEL VAM- M AIT. — Can any one state the year in which the erection of this famous tower was completed? Notwithstanding the appellation of " Lord Kenyon's Folly," with which it was originally greeted, its repair would be a most accept¬ able work, as it not only commands a magnificent prospect, but was a landmark visible from a vast distance; for ex¬ ample, from the port of Liverpool before its partial over¬ throw by the winds? Cannot some of the magnates of that metropolis of commerce be induced to take up the matter ? A very large expenditure would scarcely be re¬ quired, as the materials are all in situ. The additions of a suitable inscription, and of an apartment for the shelter of visitors, by whom it is constantly frequented are also greatly to be desired. H. W. L. THE BAYONET A WELSH INVENTION. In the notes and queries column of The Antiquary (pub¬ lished weekly, price Twopence ; London, 81a, Fleet-street), there has appeared a short correspondence on 'The Bayonet.' In the number for July 26, J. White writes as follows:— " In a cutting from an article on the bayonet, published in an old military magazine, dated 1838, the writer says, 'Were the bayonet really a French invention, I should say little in its defence; but.it, in truth, was first borrowed fiom the Wekh and Bretons, who in their mountains and marshes generally fought with sabres, similar to those of French sapeurs, and strong round leathern targets; but, when descending into open ground, fixed their swords at the end of leaping-poles to keep off cavalry. At Bosworth they beat off in this manner the bravest chivalry England could produce.' The writer evidently alludes to the glaive, but where is there any account of a division of Welshmen repulsing a charge of cavalry at the battle of Bosworth P . A reply by H. Wright appeared in The Antiquary of* Aug. 9, in which the history of the bayonet is traced to Bayonne, and the pike is given as the Welsh implement of war. The following is the only portion of the reply that applies to Wales:—" A pword fixed at the end of a leaping-pole to keep off cavalry would be called a pike, and not a bayonet (such as is alleged to have been used by a Welsh contingent at the battle of Bosworth). The English forces of those early days had usually a great number of fighting Welshmen in their ranks, and we are informed they generally fought with the lance, or glaive. Holinshed informs us that ' the wild Welshmen, pitching the end of their spears in the ground, turned the points against their enemies, stood at defence, and so kept off the horsemen.' " It will be seen that one portion of the query has not been answered. Were the Welsh engaged at Bosworth ? Welsh Ftjsilieb. REPLIES. CONCERNING THE KING'S MAIESTIE'S STILE OF GREAT BRITAINE (Sep. 17, 1873).— There is an error in the " Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries," as quoted in Bye-gones. The representative of Sir William Maurice is Mr Ormsby Gore, who inherits Sir William's estates of Porkington, Clenenney, and Llan- dyn, and is descended from Wm. Wynn Maurice, his eldest son. Mr Wynne, of Peniarth, represents the second son, Ellis Maurice, who, in the year 1600, commanded certain troops raised in Carnarvonshire, for service in Ireland, and whose wife was Jane, one of the daughters of Sir Wm. Mering, of Mering, in Nottinghamshire. W. DEATH OF KING OSWALD. (Sep. 17, 1873.) Forty sa one like Obitch's Cowt.—I promised to give Mr Hartshorne's conjectures as to the origin of this saying. At page 520 of his most interesting and valuable book, he writes as follows:—" The origin of this common phrase has heretofore lurked in impenetrable obscurity. There exists another simile amongst us of like import, and whether 0 bitch or Rhoden was the real owner of the horse in question is a matter much contested. We will not investigate that point now, but illustrate the history of Obitch by a legendary account which has been taken down from the lips of a nurse. She gathered her lore from MelverUy, her birth-place, and coming from so unfre- quently visited a quarter, where little corruption has flowed into the language, we may be allowed to receive the history following as a general record of the animal's marvellous qualities. To write, however, without figure, the tale does appear to have taken its birth from tradition; and if any reader wishes to know how it first received its present form, and he will implicitly believe conjecture, I start one for his edification. It is one of those 'very probable' ones which Antiquaries love to produce. We are told in the third book of Beda, that not long after the death of Oswald, which we have presumed happened at Maesbrook, in the immediate neighbourhood to Melverley, a certain traveller passing by the spot on horseback, found his beast suddenly grow weary, hang its head, and foaming 43