Welsh Journals

Sep., 1874. BYE-GONES. 107 That they were not the same people is certainly the opinion of many eminent writers—the author of "The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon" among them. This is what Mr Wright says—"While the Saxon tribes were penetrating into the island from the east and south, other races were establishing themselves on the eastern side, whose history is completely lost. We are assured by nearly contemporary writer? that, when the Teutonic invaders began to harass Britain, the Picts and Scots, who were of course joined by the Irish, carried on their destructive in¬ roads on the other side of Britain, which would be left in a comparatively defenceless state by the withdrawal of the legions from Deva (Chester) and Isca (Caerleon), some years before the Roman Emperors relinquished the island.— From this time history and tradition are equally silent, until when we arrive again at the period when the annals of at least one part of the island become authentic, we find three distinct Celtic states in existence, that of the Cumbrians in the North, that of the Wealas, or Welsh, in the moun¬ tainous region to which they have given their name, and which was divided into several petty states, and that of the Cornwealas, who gave their name to Cornwall..... . . . We can hardly doubt that it was the Caledonian Picts who, while the Angles were establishing themselves in Bernicia and Deira got possession of the district extend¬ ing on the Western side of the island from Lancashire, of which they formed a kingdom known by the name of Cumbria and called by the Scots the kingdom of Strath- clwyd, because its northern limits lay upon the Clyde, ......The legendary Scottish annalists give us names of the kings of Strathclwyd and speak of their ex¬ ploits—some of them pretend that Carausius granted Cum¬ berland and Westmoreland to a Scottish king named Crathlynt, in consideration of important services which he had rendered to that usurper, and they add that Crath- lynt's son was confirmed in possession. All, however, that we know with certainty is—that the Cumbrian Britons were at an early period engaged in war with ihe Angles, and that the southern part of the kingdom of Alclwyd, with the city of Carlisle, fell eventually under the power of the Northumberland kings. Here we have evidence that the Cumbrian Britons were not identical with the Welsh. Bede says "This island, at present, contains five nations, the English, Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latin, each in its own peculiar dialect cultivating the sublime study of Divine Truth (pp. 5-6). See also note at foot of same page as to the origin of the Picts. Dr Latham (Ethnology of the British Islands p. 253) says— " For my own part I should not like to deny the presence of Scandinavians in certain parts of Great Britain at the very beginning of the historical period. That this was the case with Orkney and Shetland few, perhaps, are inclined to deny But the gloss, dal, combined the exception which can be taken to the words penn fahel gives a prob¬ ability to the Scandinavian origin of the Picts, which has not hitherto been generally admitted, the present writeramong others having denied it." As to the language he says- Could this Pictish have been Scandinavian closely allied to the Anglo-Saxon without Beda knowing it ? I once answered hastily in the negative, but the fact that he actually overlooks the gothic character of the word dal (=pars) has modified my view." Skene, who perhaps has paid as much attention or more Jhan any preceding writer to this question, has in his Four Ancient Books of Wales" two elaborate chapters on (o) the place of the Picts among the races of Britain, and (o) the probable character of their language. As to the l0]™er he concludes that the main body of the Picts were Albampure or old Gwyddyl, and as to the latter, that it is not Welsh, neither is it Gaelic, but it is a Gaelic dialect partaking largely of Welsh form. This conclusion is different to Dr Latham's. For provincial students in ethnology and philology, like my reverend opponent and myself, to pretend to settle so obscure a question as this would be almost farcical. I do not want to push this question too far. I cannot pretend to say whether the Picts came as far south as the Mersey, which Mr Wright maintains they did, nor can I say whether the Brit-Welsh who were split into two (as it were) by the invasion of jEthelfrith ever coalesced again, or whether those who lived on the Welsh side of the district fled to the mountains of North Wales, and those on the north side joined and intermixed with the Picts; but whether they did or did not, as I said in my former communication and repeat now, it really does not affect the main question, namely,how is it if the archaic and dialectical words which are used in Montgomeryshire are also to be found in Lan¬ cashire, and if this resemblance comes from the fact that at one time both people spoke one common language— Welsh—then the words or roots of the words are Saxon, not Celtic ? Chatterton. {To be continued.) September 2, 1874. NOTES. OMENS PORTENDING DEATH.—It is an opinion now prevailing in many p»rts of Montgomeryshire that the howling of a dog is a certain sign of the approach¬ ing death of some person in the family who inhabit the house near or at which the dog makes this unearthly noise. I myself have no faith in this fancy, but I will state a circumstance that came under my own observation and leave the readers of Bye-gones to form their own conclusions. Some years ago I had an old setter dog. I dare say he was a dozen years old at the time I write about, and the old dog was a general favourite, living a life of dignified ease as a pensioner, his working days being over. With my father and mother lived a relative—a clergyman— who used to take this old dog with him for his walks; they were great friends. This relative fell ill and was confined to his room, but before this a little, the dog had got to dislike him and would not go with him for the usual walk, in fact fought shy of him—and this circum¬ stance formed the subject of many comments by members of the family. During the illness of my relative nothing would induce the dog to stay in the room with him, or go near the room, but a night or two before his death, the dog of his own accord went and lay down in a passage outside and close to the door of the room where my rela¬ tive was, and set up the most hideous noise any person ever heard. He quite alarmed some of the members of the family and had to be removed by force, and tied up away from my father's residence. The relative died, and, I having left home some years before this event, asked some time after where old "Don" was—and was informed he was so disliked by my father after this howling that he had him destroyed. Pearmain. QUERIES. SHROPSHIRE CONTESTS.—I have been told that somewhere about the middle of last century when Mr Rowland Dicken was elected to the office of coroner, the contest cost £5,000. Can any one give particulars of this event ? Salopian.