Welsh Journals

78 BYE-GONES. July, 1874. The other document I refer to is endorsed " Copy of Petition delivered by Mr C. Lloyd to Mr Aubrey, on Thursday. 30th Mar., 1814, to be sent to the Transport Board." It runs as follows :— " We whose names are hereunto subscribed take the liberty of submitting to the consideration of your honourable Board the following statement, by which it will appear that the child of a British Subject has been rescued from a situation of extreme peril, by the prompt and humane exertions of a French Prisoner of War upon his parole in this town. Upon the 17th of March inst. MaryJacksoD, a poor widow, took her infant child (a boy about four years of age) to see a collection of wild beasts, and, having incautiously approached too near a cage in which two lions were confined, one of the animals suddenly darted his paws through the Iron Bars and fastening upon the child's clothes with its claws dragged him out of his mother's arms close to the bars of the cage, to which he was pressed with con¬ siderable violence, being embraced by the two paws of the Lion. The poor woman, from her extreme terror, was incapable of ren¬ dering the child any assistance. In one instant he would pro¬ bably have been torn to pieces. At this critical juncture, Joseph Mandet, Ensign de Vaisseau in the French Navy, rushed for¬ ward, extricated the child by main force from the animal's grasp, and happily restored him to the arms of his mother. The action speaks for itself, and requires no comment. The Child's Clothes were torn to rags in the act of disengaging him from the Lion, and his face, mouth, and side were very much lacerated on his first seizure. The nature of the wounds inflicted will appear in the report of the Surgeon which is hereunto annexed. As we have reason to believe (from our knowledge of the facts thus represented) that the Child's life has been preserved by this act of humanity, we think it right to testify our sense of it, and, at the same time, to recommend the person who has been instrumental in the deliverance of the Child to the favour of your Honourable Board, in the hope that he may be permitted to return to his native country, and that a passport may be granted him for that purpose." This petition, which was dated " Oswestry, March 25th, 1814," was signed by the following gentlemen :—" Charles Lloyd, mayor; John Jones, deputy-mayor ; John Croxon, coroner ; J. W. Bourke, vicar of Oswestry; Th. L. Jones ; Owen Owen, rector of Llangyniew ; Chas. Thos. oones ; Jas. Donne, vicar of Llanyblodwel: P. Roberts, rector of Llanarmon ; John Whitridge; W. Wynne Owen, A.M. ; Saml. Leach; Wm. Roberts, LL.B.; Lewis Jones, Town Clerk." Does anyone know whether this petition was granted ? And did all the petitioners reside in Oswestry ? There are names this generation knows nothing of. --------- Jahco. CURRENT NOTES. The Globe remarks that there is no doubt the belief among his countrymen in an ancient prophecy as to the succession, greatly aided the attempt of the Earl of Rich¬ mond on the throne occupied by Richard III. The preva¬ lence, especially among Celtic people, of any prophecy itself helps to create and hasten the event predicted, and it has always been the interest of any contending faction to invent and circulate a saying favourable to its claims. Ac¬ cordingly, most of the "predictions," when they have not been concocted after the event, bear evident traces of their pater¬ nity, just as that which promised the throne to one of an¬ cient British lineage was accepted by Henry Tudor and his partisans as applying to that prince. Welsh prophecies are more specific than those of ancient nations. Delphi and Dodona gave uncertain utterances, but there is nothing doubtful or ambiguous in those attributed to the bards of Wales. Most of them are well known. A correspondent of the Cambrian has, however, supplied us with one, which, we must confess, is new to us. It is credited to " a Welsh poet in the days of the Conqueror," and is couched in these words :—" Three kings shall not reign in immediate suc¬ cession over Britain without some untoward incident break¬ ing the direct hereditary line." How much truth there is in this may be seen by a reference to history. The Cope.—W« take the following interesting extract from the Llangollen Parish Magazine:—" It may not be generally known that the registers of this parish are of greater antiquity than those of most parishes. The Vicar has lately come across a very valuable r«dic of public pro¬ perty of this description, which is written on thick vellum, and carries the records of Llangollen far back into the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It is very difficult to decipher the dif¬ ferent handwritings in it, but we hope from time to time to print extracts which may prove to some to be interesting and important family records. Al! the entries are of course made iu Latin, and signed at intervals by the vicar and wardens for the time being. There were three wardens, one for each Traian. It is also worthy of remark that all through the Commonwealth the Vicar of Llangollen was at his post, stoutly supported by the wardens, and that our parish registers were regularly kept during the turbulent days of Cromwell. The first entry is that of a marriage, which dates as far back as November, 1587. It is thus worded:—' Hughe ap John et Maria de Thomas disponsati sunt;' the day of the month cannot be deciphered. The earliest record we have of burials dates as far back as Sep¬ tember, 1597, and the earliest baptismal entry occurs in June, 1623. In the year 1626 we have the following curi¬ ous inventory of divers articles of furniture belonging to the church:—' A tru note of the goods of the church delivered to the churchwardens whose names are underwritten. Mw. Mathew Trevor, Owen ap Edd, Thomas Jennings. Imprimis : on silver cupp : on silken cope : on board cloth: on carpett: on linen wallett: on pewter bottle : on wooden bottle: on ladder: on mattoge: on spade : on byble in Engeliesh : on byble in Welsh: tow comunion books in Welsh : on homely booke in Welsh : four psalme bookes in Welsh : on psalme book in Welsh : on booke of consti- tusion.' In 1627 there is exactly the same kind of inventory with the following additions:—'On silke quishion : on paper booke for the accounts of wardens: on comun prayer booke which we had from David ap Nicoles of Kassultia.' The above extract tends to throw some light upon of the lead¬ ing controversies of the day, viz., the post-reformation vest¬ ments used in our parish churches. The cope is ordered by the Purchas judgment to be used only in cathedral and collegiate churches, but from this inventory of goods be¬ longing to Llangollen parish church in the the time of King Charles I. we find ' on silken cope' used. What has be¬ come of our silken cope ? Can any of our readers inform us when and why the use of it was discontinued in our parish church ?" July 15, 1874. NOTES. . SINGULAR FUNERAL CUSTOMS.—In the parish of Darowen, Montgomeryshire, where my mother was bom. several singular customs prevailed sixty years ago, among them the following:—Funerals in those days were public, and the greater esteem in which the deceased was held, the greater the number of persons who attended the funeral. On these grand occasions the parson and the clerk received large sums of money from the "offerings." My own grandfather's funeral was one of this kind, and I was told by my mother that the clergyman on that occasion received upwards of fourteen pounds in "offer¬ ings." and „the clerk more. The " offerings," made by friends of the deceased, were only loans, in a way of speak¬ ing, as the members of the deceased's family were expected when any such melancholy event happened in the family of any of the persons who attended the funeral to attend and do the same. It was then the custom to regale all who at-